What 'Jojo's Bizarre Adventure' Means to Me
7/13/2018 index.html What 'Jojo's Bizarre Adventure' Means to Me [Credit: David Production] When I first started this #30in30 series for the anniversary, I had a lot of trouble finding my feet, trying to figure out where to start with it all. I had so much to say, so much love to give, so many different angles to attack from. So I ended up taking a step back, shelving it for a bit, and getting some perspective. You see, my main issue when bringing up Jojo’s to the uninitiated isn’t trying to explain things rationally, or making salient points about craft or narrative arc – the series has that, but it’s one of those works that’s so absurd that you kind of have to let yourself get excited in the idea of how engrossing the bold stupidity is before you can commit, if you approach it in a classical sense. If I tell you, “Oh yeah, there’s this part where they fight Jack the Ripper as a zombie who rides around on an eviscerating trap made out of an over-sized human rib cage and they destroy him with the power of sunlight while balancing a wine glass,” it sounds like the dumbest mashup of The Walking Dead, My Little Pony, and a fever dream your crazy uncle went through in rehab. Maybe that kind of wackiness sells you, but, more likely, like I did when I first watched the anime adaptation, you just sit there going, “Okay, this is the most asinine thing I’ve ever seen, what the actual hell?” So how did I go from utter revulsion at the sheer blunt stupidity of the setup to an overly-aggressive mega-fan pleading with everyone I know to have their lives changed by this series? Because I saw myself reflected in the characters and world.
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