How did JoJo's Bizarre Adventure become popular again?

Discuss anime, especially but not limited to 1950's~1990's series, and related sub-topics
Post Reply
User avatar
mbanu
Posts: 476
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2017 3:26 am
Anime Fan Since: 2001

How did JoJo's Bizarre Adventure become popular again?

Post by mbanu »

The original OAVs (OVAs?) were an old-school favorite, but by the time I became involved as an anime middle-schooler, they didn't seem very popular or well known. There was a movie in 2007, but apparently it wasn't very good... then 19 years later, they start spitting out a new series every couple years! Usually it seems like reviving old anime is tricky to do -- maybe that's not the case anymore? Anyone have the scoop on how or why JoJo's became popular again?
mbanu: What's between Old School and New School?
runesaint: Hmmm. "Middle School", perhaps?
User avatar
Captain_EO
Posts: 48
Joined: Tue Jan 15, 2019 4:06 pm
Anime Fan Since: 2002

Re: How did JoJo's Bizarre Adventure become popular again?

Post by Captain_EO »

I remember the OVAs and that "Street Fighter"-esque video game being relatively popular in the early 2000's - But as you said, that interest eventually died down.
To my understanding, the recent JoJo's boom started from the 2012 anime adaptation, which was made to celebrate the series' 25th anniversary... And boy did it turn out successful. Question is, why did it take off? It's hard to say definitively, but I think people were just really enthralled with its fight scenes and dramatic characters. Additionally, its western pop music references really caught on with people online. (Key example: "Roundabout" by Yes as the credits theme along with several character names)
The ball kept rolling from there; the series spread big-time through word of mouth and internet jokes.

But that's just my two cents. I'm interested to hear what other people's reasoning may be.
User avatar
mbanu
Posts: 476
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2017 3:26 am
Anime Fan Since: 2001

Re: How did JoJo's Bizarre Adventure become popular again?

Post by mbanu »

Captain_EO wrote: Sun Nov 28, 2021 10:18 am that "Street Fighter"-esque video game
That's interesting! My gaming fixation back then was buying $1 NES games, and I never bothered with the game rooms at cons -- I bet that colored my impression of JoJo's. So maybe the flame was kept lit during the JoJo's-Dark-Ages through the game? I know a couple folks who were introduced to old mecha anime that way, so that would make sense to me.
mbanu: What's between Old School and New School?
runesaint: Hmmm. "Middle School", perhaps?
George W
Posts: 69
Joined: Thu Oct 28, 2021 6:06 pm
Anime Fan Since: 1985
Location: Rochelle, IL

Re: How did JoJo's Bizarre Adventure become popular again?

Post by George W »

The formula described (catchy music, engaging characters) is pretty much how most series take off.

Where the original series lacked one of these key elements, the 25th anniversary hit the formulas smack-bang-dead-on.

And now you have a sudden success.

It doesn't defy logic. Most likely, they got better writers. The rest as they say, is money in the bank.

That's how I see it.
User avatar
usamimi
Posts: 2783
Joined: Fri Jan 25, 2013 2:00 pm
Anime Fan Since: 1987
Location: The Lonestar State
Contact:

Re: How did JoJo's Bizarre Adventure become popular again?

Post by usamimi »

mbanu wrote: Sun Nov 28, 2021 7:52 am The original OAVs (OVAs?) were an old-school favorite, but by the time I became involved as an anime middle-schooler, they didn't seem very popular or well known. There was a movie in 2007, but apparently it wasn't very good... then 19 years later, they start spitting out a new series every couple years! Usually it seems like reviving old anime is tricky to do -- maybe that's not the case anymore? Anyone have the scoop on how or why JoJo's became popular again?
It's not really that hard to believe JJBA became a hit again. In Japan, the manga has been huge for decades, since it's still ongoing. It became a huge pop cultural icon that most people would recognize, even if they'd never read the manga themselves, along the lines of Dragon Ball.

The old OVA was only a very small chunk of the story, so the fact that the new anime started at the very beginning, at parts that had never been animated before, was a huge deal! So of course, that really brought a ton of new fans into the series. When that new one finally made it overseas officially, it was easy to market: this was a WILDLY popular shounen series that was loved by millions in Japan, so of course it generated a lot of buzz (along with the buzz from the small US fandom who'd been waiting for that day, of course). So by the time they announced a dub and got the series on TV, it only got bigger and bigger from there! It also helps that JJBA is....pretty "bizarre" (rimshot), so there's been memes of it all over the internet for years from it's various incarnations (the game, the old poor fan translations of the manga, and the screencaps of the fansub "YOU THOUGHT IT WAS ___, BUT IT WAS ME DIO!!!", etc etc), which was basically free advertising :lol: All of these factors came together to really help the series take off in the US, so it's no wonder that they've been cranking out anime seasons fairly regularly now, because it was easy to see that it wasn't JUST popular in Japan anymore, but world-wide! The fact that Netflix specifically released Stone Ocean worldwide WITH a dub so quickly also proves they KNOW just how popular JJBA is. If they didn't have it as soon as it was released, people would definitely go watch fansub streams elsewhere...and with a title that hugely popular, they wanted those numbers.
*:・゚・✧ TwitterThe Anime Nostalgia Tumblr & Podcast ✧・゚・:*
Post Reply