JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Part 1--Phantom Blood, Vol. 1

Re-read this one for a second or third time after a year of letting it sit in a bag waiting to sell it somewhere. I blamed Dio Brando for that as his efforts to bring Jonathan Joestar to his knees for the sake of inheritance went too far. My big gripe was the fact he incinerated Jonathan's dog Danny by the means of boxing him in with the rest of the trash. Brando's kiss with Erina also made me cringe similarly. It would be accurate to say that I "problematized" Dio and disregarded the fact that he was supposed to be this psychopathic leech.

I thank Netflix for bringing me back to JoJo with the help of his companion Robert E. O. Speedwagon. In this English translation, they call him Speedwagon the Meddler, but sorry I can't ignore the wordplay. It gets better in later volumes, but I won't spoil it here.

Honest review in sum: Volume drags out a bit to showcase Dio's lust for power and ultimately his role as the epitome of darkness-a point made by Araki himself in the end interviews. Star docked for the death of the dog. Cliffhanger promised a lot of action and had me ready for more.

Phantom Blood 1 and 3 where he talks about creating Jonathan Joestar and Dio Brando respectively.

**Animal violence is sort of a thing in this series along with straight-up gore. I would keep that in mind if you're interested in reading this.