List of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure characters
The JoJo's Bizarre Adventure manga series features a large cast of characters created by Hirohiko Araki. Spanning several generations, the series is split into eight parts, each following a different descendant of the Joestar family. Parts 7 and 8 take place in a separate continuity from the previous six. Many of the characters have supernatural abilities which give them a variety of unique traits.
Creation and conception
Part 1: ''Phantom Blood''
When first beginning the series, Dio Brando is the character that Araki looked forward to drawing the most. Inspired by FBI profiling of serial killers and how they control their victims through psychological manipulation, he gave Dio a similar trait, using his charisma to ensure his followers do his bidding. Araki revealed that he had not thought up a weakness for the character and that it was difficult to come up with a way for Dio to be defeated. As the first Joestar, Araki created Jonathan to be "a symbol of purity and dignity", which he admitted might have resulted in him being "boring." Jonathan's physical transformation during the seven year skip was done with his upcoming battle with Dio in mind and inspired by muscular film actors popular at the time, such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone. A fan of karate manga as a child, Araki also wanted JoJo to exude an aura of strength like in Karate Baka Ichidai, leading to the character learning the supernatural Hamon technique. As Jonathan's teacher, Araki modeled Will A. Zeppeli after martial arts masters in Jackie Chan movies and Mr. Miyagi in The Karate Kid, whose "silly" appearances hide their strength. Araki dressed him as a magician and modeled his mustache after those of Salvador Dalí and the character Iyami from Osomatsu-kun. The Zeppeli name is derived from the English rock band Led Zeppelin.Part 2: ''Battle Tendency''
Because it was "unprecedented" to kill off the main character in a Weekly Shōnen Jump manga, and wanting to shift from physical battles to more "cerebral" fights, Araki made Part 2's protagonist look very similar to Jonathan but with a more adventurous and confrontational personality. The author referred to Joseph as "a muscle-bound B.T.", the main character from his earlier series Cool Shock B.T.; a shōnen manga hero who bends the rules as he fights. Having not been able to show a friendly rivalry between Jonathan and Dio, Araki introduced Caesar Zeppeli to present a more positive friendly rivalry between him and Joseph. Wanting each user to have a different type of Hamon with a unique design, he gave Caesar the seemingly fleeting-bubbles as a "representation of his fate and the burden he is carrying." He enjoys giving characters weapons with faults and having them make up for it with strategy. The author stated that these "spheres" were inherited by both Gyro Zeppeli in Steel Ball Run and Josuke Higashikata in JoJolion. Araki created the warrior-type Lisa Lisa, based on a neighborhood girl he knew as a child, to stand out compared to previous shōnen manga female characters who were typically cute and designed to be "a man's ideal woman". He stated that at the time it was hard to get Japanese readers to remember a foreign name, so he chose something with repetition. Having to surpass Dio, the Pillar Men's designs were based on Roman statues, Egyptian sphinxes and Japanese nio statues to give them godlike features. Araki designed Kars with a turban to show his superior intelligence and that he is their king, his Brilliant Bone Blade ability harkening to Araki's earlier series Baoh.Part 3: ''Stardust Crusaders''
Although a Japanese protagonist, Araki modeled Jotaro after American actor Clint Eastwood, including his poses and catchphrases. Although the author said the character might seem "rough" compared to other Jump protagonists, Jotaro fits his own image of a hero perfectly as a "loner" who does not do the right thing for attention. Araki said the character wearing his school uniform in the desert has its roots in Mitsuteru Yokoyama's Babel II, and that if he were to draw the part over again, he would base the Stands on Tetsujin 28-go. Araki said he had a lot of readers asking him to bring older characters back. Although he is not a fan of bringing them back simply for nostalgia, he did not hesitate having Joseph return to save his daughter because it is completely true to the character. The author thought of having Joseph drop out partway through due to his age, but ended up "playing it by ear" as serialization continued. He gave him the role of "navigator", introducing the readers to the Joestar family, Dio, Hamon and Stands, and his own Stand being a support ability rather than offensive. Araki said he gave Avdol an "ethnic" design to have some sort of connection to Egypt and that at the time of serialization, he and most of the readers had a strong interest in the "birthplaces of civilization," making the design a "product of the times."Araki stated that he had Kakyoin act as a foil to Jotaro. Although they both wear school uniforms, Kakyoin's well-tailored one gives him the feel of an honor student, while Jotaro's loose-fitting one and accessories convey that he is a delinquent. He made him Jotaro's first real Stand opponent to visually convey the concepts between short-range and long-range Stand abilities. The author revealed that he always read the kanji for Kakyoin's given name as "Tenmei," but his editor approved the reading Noriaki for the tankōbon much to his surprise. In order to not have him overlap with Jotaro and Joseph, Polnareff was given a distinctive look and personality, which in turn made him shine on his own. Because he is a versatile character who could say goofy lines or serious ones, he "needed" to make more appearances. More appearances means more fights, and because he made it through so many life-or-death situations, Araki feels that Polnareff grew the most in the story. The author used foreign models as reference for his hair, and also drew it like Rudol von Stroheim's from Battle Tendency. The character's name was inspired by those of Araki's three favorite French people, actors Alain Delon and Jean-Paul Belmondo, and musician Michel Polnareff. Not having any limitations on what he can put in the series, Araki has animals appear and even had one join the Joestar party. Although he feels that The Fool is a perfect fit for Iggy, it just happened to be the last tarot card for him to assign aside from The World. Additionally, he thought of assigning The Fool to an enemy instead, but things just "ended up working out the way they did." Being the first time he made an animal a major character and the first time he showed one in battle, Araki used Yoshihiro Takahashi's as a reference.
With the series meant to be long-running, Araki took great care in deciding which unique Stand user to put the main cast against and when, in order to keep readers interested. He designed Strength, Ebony Devil, and Yellow Temperance so that their appearances and abilities did not overlap. But as these were all one-on-one battles, he then decided to introduce Hol Horse and J. Geil as a team. He had always planned on having Noriaki Kakyoin and Jean Pierre Polnareff switch allegiances to the good guys, but not Hol Horse. Although he drew a color illustration with Hol Horse alongside the Joestar group and had the character return several times through the story, he suspects he did not go through with it because his personality overlaps with Polnareff's. He also said that because he did not put many limitations on Hol Horse's Stand, it kind of got out of control, plus it overlaps with Kakyoin's Emerald Splash. He did enjoy Hol Horse's "why be number one when you can be number two" philosophy, which the author carried over to Yoshikage Kira in Diamond Is Unbreakable, and his outlaw appearance is similar to that of Gyro Zeppeli from Steel Ball Run and might have been inspired by Buichi Terasawa's Cobra.
Part 4: ''Diamond Is Unbreakable''
With Part 4, Araki said that he moved away from "muscle men" as they fell out of popularity with his readers and he wanted to focus more on fashion. When designing his characters' outfits, Araki considers both everyday fashion and "cartoonish, bizarre clothing that would be impractical in real life." He also forgoes using specific color schemes for his characters and gives his readers different impressions through various color combinations. Araki said that while he drew several character in Parts 1 through 3 naked to evoke Greek or Roman gods, he stopped doing it so much with Part 4 to be a "bit closer to home."Part 6: ''Stone Ocean''
For Stone Ocean, Araki wrote a female protagonist for the first time which he found complicated, but also interesting due to the humanity she could possess.Part 7: ''Steel Ball Run''
For Steel Ball Run, having not specifically set out on creating a disabled character, Araki explained that Johnny Joestar's Paraplegia was a natural result of wanting to show a character who could grow, both physically and mentally, during a race where "he would be forced not only to rely on other people, but horses as well."Characters
The series' protagonists are the members of the Joestar Family, with a majority of its members bearing a star-shaped birthmark above their left shoulder blade. In Parts 1–6, the Joestar bloodline was inherited by the Kujo Family and Josuke Higashikata. Dio, having stolen Jonathan's body at the end of Part 1, fathered a few sons bearing the Joestar bloodline while awakening use of Stands in Jonathan's descendants. In the alternate universe depicted in Parts 7 and 8, Johnny Joestar marries Rina Higashikata with the Higashikata Family becoming a distant branch of the Joestar family.Part 1: ''Phantom Blood''
Set in England in the 1880s, the Joestar family adopts the orphaned Dio Brando.Part 2: ''Battle Tendency''
Set in 1938-39, about 50 years after the events of Phantom Blood.Part 3: ''Stardust Crusaders''
Set from 1988 to 1989, the series follows Jotaro Kujo and his comrades who travel to Egypt from Japan in search of the evil and immortal vampire Dio Brando, now referred to as DIO.Part 4: ''Diamond Is Unbreakable''
Set in 1999, 10 years after the events of Stardust Crusaders, in the fictitious Japanese city of Morioh.Part 5: ''Golden Wind''
Set in 2001 Italy, two years after the events of Diamond is Unbreakable.;