Part 1 of Jojo gets shit on as the worst part, false. Part 1 lives up to what it is supposed to be, which is more than I can say for part 8 or part 5. I actually like part 1 a lot, and I feel like a lot of people think it's bad because the anime adaptation didn't really do it justice. I'm here to set the record straight on why part 1 isn't so bad, here we go!

The story. The story is very very simple, Dio bad, me get revenge, ooga booga. Yes ladies and gentlemen it's really that simple, but I feel like it's because the plot is so simple that this part works, like it isn't overachieving by trying to be something it's not, and in a show like Jojo, I don't always want the plot to be complex, the reason being that the fights are very complex, I love seeing Jojo think his way out of a fight, I want the story to take time to explain how he figures out how to beat his opponents rather than why he wants to beat Dio. Dio is evil and Jonathan is good, and to be honest a simple reason that just works is better than a more complex reason that fails to live up to its own hype. Because the plot is so cut and dry it lets jojo focus on what it does best, which is the intense mindgames and crazy fights.

The art, oh baby. Araki as we know him today is an incredible artist, but back then his style was still developing, and Jojo had yet to fully come into its own though. It does show its age but despite that it still sticks out as something different. I know that Araki is actually a big fan of zombie movies and "The Walking Dead", this is clearly evident in part 1 as Araki does his own take on the horror genre. The artistic mood of part 1 is like a classic victorian gothic horror story with vampires, revenge, and tons of weird japanese bullshit.

Characters.

Speedwagon: The greatest Jojo character of all time, speedwagon alone is enough to secure a 10/10 for part one, but unfortunately that would be unfair, so I can't really rank him

Will Zepelli: This guy is actually a really decent jobro and mentor to jonathan, in the manga his backstory was a little more fleshed out than it was in the anime, and it was cool to see his path to learning hamon, and how he's destined to die if he pursues the mask. Despite this Will jumps headfirst into death like an absolute badass because he knows this conflict is more than just himself, in doing so Jonathan is able to finish the job on Dio, Will knew fear and made it his own, that's courage.

Jonathan: Constantly shat on as the first Jojo, but what's actually bad about him? I can at least tell what Jonathan's personality type is, and his personality remains unique among the Jojo's, as no one else is really like him. He's a gentleman, and there's some real charm to that, if Jonathan wasn't such a good guy then Dio wouldn't have been as good of a villain. You see Dio and Jonathan are truly bound by fate, they have a dichotomy, and because jonathan is so good and dio is so bad that actually makes them both better characters then they were before. Most of the other Jojo's really weren't that interesting, they seemed to be de emphasized as the main character, jotaro, josuke, giorno, jolyne, and gappy all get shown up by their peers, and it's good to have good side characters, but it feels like the jojo's always get the shit end of the stick when it comes to personality. Jonathan is honestly one of the better jojos out there.

Dio. Holy actual shit Dio is so goddamn cool, I love him. He's so deliciously evil in the best way possible, he doesn't really have a super good reason for this, and that's why some people don't like him, but the reason isn't important. You're not thinking about Jojo in the right way, it's all about the style points, don't think about it logically, this isn't where you use logic in Jojo, just love the characters for what they are, if you do then you'll realize that Dio is the embodiment of everything that the Jojo series is. He's smart, weird, beautiful, graceful, flamboyant, crazy, bizarre, gay, powerful, immortal, I mean he's just the best.

Enjoyment: It was cool as shit, I mean this manga was chock full of crazy ass shit that just keeps you engaged constantly. Part 1 is truly a marvel of its time, and to truly appreciate it you have to understand some historical context. Anyone who calls part 1 stereotypical and cliche doesn't know shit about shit, because this was so extraordinarily revolutionary for manga than no one has ever attempted this besides araki. Araki broke just about every rule in the book when he made part 1, and he got a lot of shit for it, but look at it now, all of that paid off in the end. You weren't supposed to have a non japanese protagonist, or non japanese characters, or a non japanese setting, Araki changed all of that, Araki killed Jonathan. Killing your protagonist was the kind of shit that would get your manga cancelled, Araki took big risks, and it paid off. Part 1 is amazing, just amazing.