Comics / Manga

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Part 2 - Battle Tendency Volume 3

By Leroy Douresseaux
May 14, 2016 - 08:24

Jojo's Bizarre Adventures: Part 2 - Battle Tendency Volume 3

Rated “T+” for “Older Teen”

VIZ Media is publishing the legendary Shonen Jump manga, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, in English for the first time.  The series is being repackaged in deluxe edition, hardcover, graphic novels with color pages and new cover art.

Created by Hirohiko Araki, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is a multi-generational tale that centers on the heroic Joestar family and their never-ending battle against evil.  JoJo's Bizarre Adventure begins with the “Phantom Blood” arc and continues in the “ Battle Tendency” story arc, which is set in 1938.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Part 2 – Battle Tendency, Vol. 3 (Chapters 37 to 49) opens in the aftermath of our hero Joseph “JoJo” Joestar's battle in Rome against the immortal Pillar Man, Esidisi.  JoJo has defeated and destroyed Esidisi, or so he thinks.  JoJo travels to the Venetian island of Master Lisa Lisa to deliver to her the “Red Stone of Aja,” but they soon find that the stone has again been spirited away from them.

So JoJo, Lisa Lisa, Caesar Anthonio Zeppeli, and Instructor Messina head to St. Moritz, Switzerland to retrieve the Red Stone.  Before he can recapture his prize, JoJo will have to contend with an old Nazi acquaintance and yet another Pillar Man, Kars.

THE LOWDOWN:  The JoJo's Bizarre Adventure manga was first published in 1986 in Weekly Shonen Jump.  I have to say that it is like nothing that I have ever read before it, but that is manga for you; no genre, sub-genre, or genre mash-up is left unturned.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Part 2 – Battle Tendency, Volume 3 is the best volume yet of this second story arc.  I can honestly say that the story gets better with each arc.  I think that this historical fiction and dark fantasy hybrid is so unusual that it can be off-putting.  I enjoyed Vol. 1, but I had a lot of questions about it.  After this volume, I am anxious to see where the story goes and how it concludes.  I won't recommend that the reader just jump in anywhere, but new readers don't need to go back to “Phantom Blood.”  Begin with the first volume of “Battle Tendency,” which stands on its own quite well.

POSSIBLE AUDIENCE:  Fans of weird shonen manga will want to try the Shonen Jump Advanced series, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Part 2 – Battle Tendency.

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Rating: A /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12