Since it started its run in 1987, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure has been one of the most unique series in the manga industry. Over 20 years later, it is still going strong, and the manga recently concluded its 8th part, while its anime just concluded the 6th. Due to the structure of the series, this means 8 different stories with 8 different protagonists, all with their own unique personalities, powers, supporting casts and antagonists. The 9th part of the series; Jojolands, was announced soon after part 8: Jojolion concluded.
While it’s been an amazing run for the series, all things must eventually end. It’s only a question of when. While some fans are hoping to get at least 10 parts at the end of the day, there are many clues that point towards Jojolands being the final part of the series.
The Trio of Trios
While 9 is generally not a clean number, for Jojo it certainly is. At the moment, the series is divided into a series of thematic trios. Parts 1-3 all feature the original 3 Jojos, who all have to fight against some kind of vampiric force as their main antagonist. These are also the only 3 parts where the series’ original power system; ’hamon’ appears in.
Following that comes parts 4-6, which could be called the ‘next generation trilogy. These parts are all notable for starring the children of the original 3 Jojos, with Joseph(part 2)’s son Josuke(part 4), Jonathan(part 1)’s indirect son Giorno(part 5), and Jotaro(part 3)’s daughter Jolyne(part 6). These parts are heavily tied to the events of the original trilogy, but don’t feature any vampiric opponents or hamon.
Following that, parts 7 and 8 take place in a completely different continuity to the first 6 parts, but are tied directly to each other. This sets them up as the first two parts of the ‘alternative universe’ trilogy, which could fittingly be ended with part 9, which has been confirmed to take place in their continuity.
The Alternative Retelling
Even with the triple trilogy structure, some could argue that it would make sense for the series to have a total of 12 parts; 6 for each continuity. However, there’s a running theme in the new continuity that makes this unlikely.
Part 7 is very much its own unique story, but it borrows a lot of elements from parts 1 and 2. It mostly borrows character names and some traits. For example, part 7’s Johnny Joestar has the same name, rival and wealthy upbringing as part 1’s Jonathan, but more of the personality of part 2’s Joseph. He also has a Zeppeli for a partner, just as Jonathan and Joseph did.
The same trend continues in part 8, which blends elements of parts 3 and 4. In fact, part 8’s protagonist is named Josuke Higashikata, the exact same name as part 4’s Josuke. The Joestar family bloodline also plays out similarly as it did in part 3, and the character Josefumi even has an updated version of part 4 Josuke’s design.
Due to this, it would be fitting for part 9 to blend together parts 5 and 6, likely featuring similar characters, and a protagonist who shares a name with either Giorno or Jolyne. This means that part 9 will likely bring the new continuity back to where the old one left off, making for a clean, full-circle ending for the series.
Araki’s Age
While he might not look it, Jojo creator Hirohiko Araki is already 62 years old. Mangaka have been known to work into their 70s if their health allows it, but he’s reaching the point in life where most people begin to slow down.
If he was still working off previous release schedules, he might still have more parts in him. The first 6 parts of Jojo were serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump, and at the longest, took around 4 years of publication to be completed. Once Araki swapped over to the monthly Ultra Jump however, things slowed down. Part 7 took 6 years to be completed after its move to Ultra Jump, and part 8 took a whopping 10 years.
Going off the time frame for part 8’s completion, Araki would be in his early 70s by the time Jojolands finished. This doesn’t mean he’d have to stop work entirely, but it’s hard to see him delivering a 10th part afterward, which would easily take him into his 80s. It would honestly be nice to see his later years used to explore new non-Jojo projects, and 9 parts would be far from a bad run for Jojo as a franchise.