How David Productions Finally Solved the Puzzle of Adapting JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure
This article originally published on October 6, 2022.
Founded in 2007 by former Studio Gonzo president K?ji Kajita and producer Taito Okiura, DavidPro was a small fish in a large and very competitive pond, and that’s how they wanted it.
The name “David” was chosen purposefully, as Kajita and Okiura envisioned the studio as a small company that could stand among the goliaths of the anime industry. The company had just started producing its own anime when Warner Bros. Japan producer Hiroyuki Omori approached them with the opportunity for a new adaptation of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Hirokiko Araki’s ongoing (1987-present day), multigenerational battle-shonen series. Omori was impressed with DavidPro’s work on 2009’s The Book of Bantorra, a title that featured strong line work and attentive animation—something essential when trying to depict Araki’s distinct art style.
Everyone understood that the task at hand would be difficult. The early character designs were made at a time where Shonen characters were built like Mr. Universe contestants, so there was no telling whether it would translate with contemporary audiences who were not familiar with the source material. And the story—a mixture of body horror, highly physical and mental one-on-one confrontations, extreme melodrama, and dashes of tongue-in-cheek humor—would be hard to pin down successfully. However, what pushed those concerns aside for both Omori and the staff at DavidPro was the belief that Araki’s story had not withered with age. The main challenge would be how to depict it faithfully, and to succeed where others had failed.
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is one of the most popular and influential shonen sagas ever published, but as prominent as the manga had been for over 20 years, by the time DavidPro began working on the series, a proper anime adaptation had proved to be quite elusive. There had been a pair of little-seen OVAs released during the twilight of the medium’s boom period that didn’t really capture the essence of the manga or its unique appeal, and a 2007 film release that made drastic alterations to the series’ first chapter so as to whittle it down to a 90-minute feature was pulled after just a few screenings. It is a testament to the story’s enduring popularity and legacy among both the Japanese manga and anime industries that a third adaptation was even pitched.
With a studio chosen, DavidPro producer Hisataka Kasama joined the project to assist Omori and to put together a staff. Understanding that Araki’s manga would be too much for a single director to handle, Kasama decided that the best course of action would be to hire two directors: Naokatsu Tsuda and Kenichi Suzuki. It was an unusual move, but Kusama believed that by having each director bring on their individual strengths (Tsuda comedy, Suzuki action) while also collaborating on all other aspects of the adaptation, the two would essentially work as a team to crack the code. Both producers and directors were huge admirers of the manga, so they obviously wanted to do justice to the material. Wanting to make certain that they wouldn’t end up repeating the mistakes of the past, Omori provided the staff with a straightforward request during the first production meeting of what exactly DavidPro should do with this series. It was just two simple words: “make JoJo.”
The staff began studying the manga as if it were a religious text, every page and practically every individual panel, eventually coming to the conclusion that in order to properly adapt something like JJBA, conventionality would only hinder their chance at success; Kasama said in the series’ production notes: “If we follow the usual methods of creating animation, we’ll end up with ‘JoJo’s Ordinary Adventure.’ JoJo has to be a ‘bizarre adventure.’ If you think about it, the answer was in the title from the very beginning.”
The series adapts the first two chapters of Araki’s manga, Phantom Blood and Battle Tendency. The former introduces us to the rivalry and eventful duel between Jonathan Joestar, a young, upper class Englishman living in 19th century Liverpool, and his conniving and supremely callous adopted brother/nemesis Dio Brando. Battle Tendency, which takes place almost a half century after the events of Phantom Blood, follows the adventures of Jonathan’s grandson, Joseph Joestar, as he and his companions travel across the world chasing after, training for, and doing battle against the last survivors of a group of ancient humanoids who wish to obtain a mythical gemstone that would transform them into beings of ultimate power.
Sitting through JJBA is like watching wrestlers of the Hulkamania era try to perform a high-end melodrama in the middle of fashion week; walking through the runway while trading punches with vampires, zombies, and other supernatural creatures. It’s ridiculous, hilarious, intense, and amazing just how serious the story takes itself while also not taking itself seriously at all.
In what other series will you find our hero fighting an undead Jack the Ripper, who appears by slithering out of the head of a horse he just decapitated, while holding a full wine glass that his mentor, the eccentric Baron Zeppoli, gave him the strict order to not spill a single drop of in his one-on-one battle with history’s most famous serial killer? That happens in just the second episode.
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