Games

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Every Part, Ranked By Length

Published

5 hours ago

January 8, 2025

Christoph Rediske

Summary

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure has eight parts, varying in length, offering both short, immersive experiences and longer, epic adventures.
Some parts like Battle Tendency and Steelball Run are highlighted for their content and pace, making them fan favorites.
Each part, like Phantom Blood and Stone Ocean, offers unique storylines, characters, and tones, contributing to the series’ longevity.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is a story that has been running for over 3 whole decades by this point. However, while the series is known for its unique character designs and quirky dialogue, one other way it differentiates itself is by being split up into multiple parts. These are essentially the equivalent of story arcs, as with each part comes a new character, a fresh story, and sometimes, an entirely different tone from what came before.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Best Manga Covers

Hirohiko Araki certainly knows how to grab a reader’s attention, especially through his vibrant and colorful covers for JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure.

When excluding JoJolion, which is currently still ongoing, there are a total of 8 JoJo’s parts altogether, though all of which vary quite a bit in length. A shorter part can be ideal for re-reads, or for any outside onlookers who want to get a taste of the series without needing to watch or read too much, while on the other hand, a longer part can feel more immersive, as if fans are embarking on a grand adventure with plenty of twists and turns along the way. Before analyzing the length of each part, this aritcle will only focus on total manga chapters, as the anime episodes tend to stick to a specific limit, and also since some of the parts haven’t yet been animated.

8

Phantom Blood

Chapters: 44

The very first part of JoJo’s, Phantom Blood, is a fairly brief section of the story which largely acts as an introduction to the series and its characters, primarily the Joestar family and the devious troublemaker known as Dio. Set in Victorian England, Phantom Blood follows Jonathan, a polite and well-mannered young man who eventually forms a heated rivalry with the mysterious Dio, who becomes immensely powerful after harnessing the power of a stone mask.

While it is commonly said that newcomers to the series can skip Phantom Blood if they find it too slow or uninteresting, the truth is, there’s a lot packed into these few chapters that will be referenced much later down the road, so it’s still well worth checking out.

7

Battle Tendency

Chapters: 69

While it was clear Araki was still figuring out the identity of the series in part 1, in Battle Tendency, which takes place in America a year before the Second World War breaks out, he had started becoming more confident in fleshing out the characters and world a little more. As a result, this part features a lot more content than Phantom Blood did, with the spunky new protagonist, Joseph, getting involved in all kinds of weird and chaotic situations along his adventure.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Manga Moments That Were Censored In The Anime

Not everything from the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure manga made it into the anime. Here are some moments that were censored.

While the part starts off by showing Joseph’s everyday life as a rebellious and cocky teen, once he receives training from Lisa Lisa, and forges an unlikely bond with Caesar, the stakes begin to rise as he is soon forced to face off against a new group of enemies known as the Pillar Men. Battle Tendency is a part of the series which provides fans with more than enough content to enjoy without feeling like it ever outstays its welcome.

6

Steel Ball Run

Chapters: 95

Steel Ball Run, often touted as being the best part of the entire series by many fans, is the seventh part of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure which follows Johnny, a paraplegic ex-jockey seeking for a way to somewhow regain the use of his legs. Considering Steel Ball Run is essentially a reboot of the story, it meant Araki was able to craft an entirely new adventure with only subtle references to the previous parts. However, rather than go too far with an abundance of new ideas and concepts, the talented author instead managed to cram a truly epic and quite emotional story into less than 100 chapters.

As a result, Steel Ball Run feels like a compelling and satisfying part of the series that always moves at a steady pace, ensuring readers never get bored and that the story never lingers on without having anything to say. Alongside its suitable length, Steel Ball Run also stands out for its villain, Funny Valentine, who will hopefully appear in animated form very soon.

5

JoJolion

Chapters: 110

By the time JoJolion had rolled around, the series was now being published in Ultra Jump, a seinen magazine which allowed chapters to come out every month, rather than weekly. This gave Araki the opportunity to present a story which was more of a slow-burner, resulting in JoJolion; a weird and wonderful story about a young man known only as “Josuke”.

Since Josuke wakes up with amnesia, having no idea about who he is or where he even came from, much of the story is dedicated to unraveling this mystery. This usually sees Josuke putting himself in pretty dangerous scenarios, such as taking on the patriarch of a ruling family, just to try and put the pieces together and discover who he really is. While it’s already pretty long, many fans wished that JoJolion had just a few extra chapters to show off its major villain, Toru, a little more, since he only shows up very abruptly near the end.

4

Stardust Crusaders

Chapters: 152

Despite being by far the longest part in the anime, Stardust Crusaders lands at the middle of the road when taking the total manga chapters into account, though it still makes for a pretty lengthy read nonetheless. This does make sense though, considering part three is supposed to be a globe-trotting adventure where Jotaro and the gang visit a plethora of different countries in the hopes of eventually arriving in Cairo to confront Dio, who has awakened from his slumber to seek revenge on the Joestar family.

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure - Best Endings Ranked Header

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Every Ending Song, Ranked

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure has some incredible ending songs, but not all of them are equally amazing.

Though this part initially starts off in a monster-of-the-week format, it eventually becomes much more focused with every member of the main cast receiving a fair bit of development over the course of the adventure. By the end, fans really do get the feeling that they have just hit the finish line of an epic road trip that they will never forget about, which is why the length of this part really works in its favor.

3

Golden Wind

Chapters: 155

Golden Wind is often seen as one of the more divisive parts of the story, primarily because of how outlandish some of the abilities would become, specifically King Crimson. However, considering how long it is, every fan will still be able to at least find some parts to enjoy, since there’s still a lot to love, especially when the story focuses on Giorno and his bond with Bucciarati and the rest of the gang.

Golden Wind introduces a large cast of new characters who help to keep the story moving by giving Giorno and his friends new objectives and goals, including rescuing the enstranged daughter of a shady boss, whom the gang try to protect from a plethora of evil henchmen. While clamping down on the drug culture that has seized the city of Naples is the initial mission, the story soon blossoms into something much bigger, especially once Diavolo, the main villain, is introduced.

2

Stone Ocean

Chapters: 158

Clocking in with just 3 more chapters than the part that came before it, Stone Ocean is the second-longest part of the entire series, and essentially acts as the finale to the original timeline. Because of this, Araki would need to tie up quite a few loose ends in this particular arc, including building up the relationship between Jotaro and Jolyne, and showing the lingering impact that Dio left on the world, and more specifically, his followers.

Stone Ocean also deals with a few pretty complex ideas that Araki needed some time to really emphasize, especially the whole concept of Pucci’s heaven, and how that results in an entirely new timeline. Needless to say, Stone Ocean’s story isn’t one that could simply be wrapped up in a few volumes, hence why it needed to be stretched out so long in the end.

1

Diamond Is Unbreakable

Chapters: 174

Who could have guessed that a part of the story set in the small and sleepy town of Morioh could end up being so long? The truth is, Araki took his time when writing Diamond is Unbreakable, deciding to give readers a feel for the environment first rather than rushing into the action. As a result, many chapters are literally dedicated to Josuke and his friends hanging out at malls or messing around with their stands. At the same time, because the part spends a lot of time developing its side characters, including Rohan, who many see as a stand-in for Araki himself, this also ends up adding to the length.

Though the stakes of this particular part in the story therefore don’t feel very high for a good chunk of it, once the eerie Yoshikage Kira makes his first appearance, the story kicks into high gear and starts to feel a lot more familiar. Nonetheless, though, this is still a part which can be a little tricky to re-read in full due to how much content there is, though this has also allowed the part’s cast to shine considering how they all get to share the spotlight equally.