Every great franchise has a beginning, whether humble or loud. Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, the notoriously flamboyant and massive manga series falls under the first category. It's first story arc, The Phantom Blood is relatively normal and short compared to its future successors. Thus, it's unfair to compare it to the other Parts. The Phantom Blood is a fighting shounen tragedy with Victorian and Gothic horror elements. It follows an aristocrat's son named Jonathan Joestar in 1800's Britain. When he discovers his adopted brother, Dio Brando, seeks to destroy the Joestar family and manages to do so, Jonathan, also known as Jojo, must go through hell and back to take his vengeance on Dio.

Story: 7/10
The Phantom Blood's story is short but sweet for the most part. It suffers from an overlonged exposition featuring Jonathan and Dio's childhood. It adds some character, but it could be easily abridged, and has been in the latest anime adaptation. The Phantom Blood also partially suffers from being a Hokuto no Ken clone at times. However, there is separation, and the tow can't be called carbon copies. For starters, Phantom Blood's weird mix of action and horror works very well not only at delivering a good style but also heightening the tension behind the actions committed by the characters. Add that to the fantastic and tragic conclusion and you have a brief prelude to an epic series to come.

Art: 7/10
Jojo has one of the most unique and distinct artstyles in manga history, and here is no exception. Rather than the androgynous fatuousness later on in the series, Phantom Blood's art style is very testosterone filled and is a love letter to being a man. Characters are impossibly buff and mangaka Hirohiko Araki doesn't do proportions well at all. The section of Phantom Blood where Jojo and Do are children thoug,h yeah that art is grody. But everything after is pretty damn good, and the use of shading is excellent, even though it lacks the distinctive style Araki develops later on in favor of a Hokuto no Ken lookalike.

Characters: 9/10
It has a fraction of protagonists that future Parts have, but I loved everyone pretty near equally. Jojo's best friend, Robert E.O. Speedwagon, is hilarious and lovable. He ends up becoming arguably the most significant protagonist in the entire series later on and is one of the most selfless and kind characters ever conceived. Jojo's mentor, Will A. Zeppeli, is fun and easy to root for, even though his time spent with the reader is short. Dio is a fantastic villain and is certainty one of the most easily hateable ever made.

However, the real star here is Jonathan himself. He is one of the single greatest actions protagonists of all time, period. Jonathan is also one of the most perfect characters ever made in terms of temperament and beliefs. Jonathan is a truly selfless and righteous hero. He is the epitome of humanity, a perfect gentleMAN. He's manly in all sense of the word. He is ripped as all Hell and is a fearless and fierce fighter. However, he is also a noble and kind man at heart who believes in and fights for absolute good. This is a man who despite living a life of true suffering holds to the true ideals of the knight stories he grew up on. He never falls into "white knight" territory though because he only gets involved in matters that concern him. Rather than fight other people's battles, he seeks to better that person so they can fight for themselves. Jonathan's angelic and divine demeanor makes him impossible to not root for. He lost his family, fortune, love (For a bit at least), and dignity, and thus has nothing to lose. But as time goes on and he matures and begins to have a family of his own, he has everything to gain through vanquishing all evil that comes into his life, all coming from Dio. The ending is a testament to this. Because of Jonathan's struggle, his family is able to survive through generations and events he couldn't possibly conceive.

Enjoyment: 8/10
The fights are excellent and there is true raw emotion behind them. This is a fight to the death by two brothers that eventually encompasses much more than a family feud. Jonathan, unlike most action heroes at the time, is neither unstoppable or stone cold, and without going into spoilers he faces true tragedy and reacts realistically to it. And just as Jonathan sheds manly tears, I can say I'm feeling the chills up my spine recalling Phantom Blood's climax.

Overall: 7.8/10
Despite being considered the worst Part of the entire series, The Phantom Blood is nonetheless a fantastic action epic and a damn good Gothic horror story to boot. It sets the stage perfectly for the entire series and never overstays its welcome. Jonathan and Dio are both icons and inspirations to the medium as a whole and it's easy to see why. Araki's writing is strong and is only brought down by his young and inexperienced style, that only gets refined as the series goes on for the most part.