JOJOLandsis the ninth installment in theJoJo’s Bizarre Adventureseries. It was announced in the September 2021 issue ofUltra Jump. Araki confirmed that he would be taking a small break before startingJOJOLands. Then, in December 2022, there was another announcement in which the release date ofJOJOLandswas confirmed.
According to the news, the ninth part will start serialization inUltra Jumpon February 17th, 2023. It came as a pleasant surprise to all the fans, as they had been waiting for a long time to get any updates on their favorite series. However, the jubilation didn’t stop there, as quite recently the officialTwitteraccount forJoJo’s Bizarre Adventurerevealed a drawing from Araki. At first glance, it looks to be nothing special, but on closer inspection, fans can see the head of a character.
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Is It The JOJOLands Protagonist?
The face of the character drawn inside the rabbit has been hidden by their hair. However, there is a star-shaped ornament in their hair that keeps it tied up. The biggest takeaway from the drawing is indeed the star, whichsymbolizes the Joestar bloodline. It basically confirms that the character drawn belongs to the Joestar bloodline. This ties in perfectly with what Araki had previously said in an interview about the protagonist ofJOJOLandsbeing a descendant of Joseph Joestar.
While the new protagonist belongs to Joseph’s lineage, fans can expect them to be different in terms of personality and fighting styles. Joseph wasn’t the confrontational type; instead, he relied on his wits to secure a victory. Also, Joseph didn’t shy away from running away if things got tough. The new protagonist may retain Joseph’s intelligence, which rescued the Joestar in many situations. Or, there is a slight possibility that the new character may even have Joseph’s comical nature. Either way, giving the protagonist ofJOJOLandsa few qualities of the iconic Joestar will unquestionably go down well within the community. But for now, the question of the character’s name still looms large.
Who Could It Be?
Ever since Araki started working on the partswithin theSteel Ball Rununiverse, he has taken the names or certain qualities of the Joestars from the original universe. For example, the name Josuke Higashikata was taken from Josuke Higashikata, who was the main protagonist ofDiamond is Unbreakable. While their names were the same, none of their qualities matched. So, fans can expect the protagonist ofJOJOLandsto be similar to Joseph in only a handful of ways. Just like the last two JoJos, there is a chance that the new protagonist’s name could be a combination of names taken from the previous main characters.
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While female protagonists in seinen series are limited, Araki has shown that he is capable ofcreating excellent female characters. The biggest proof of his outstanding writing is the entireStone Oceanseries, where almost all the main characters are females. Throughout the entire part, Araki was meticulous in his approach, which made the characters amazing. So, given the fact that he is fantastic at creating all kinds of characters, it is possible that the protagonist ofJOJOLandscould be a female.
InDiamond is Unbreakable, Joseph Joestar went to Morioh to meet his son, Josuke. Joseph’s journey proved to be fruitful as he managed to mend his relationship with Josuie. Among all the chaos in Part 4, one event was overlooked by Araki and the fans. While exploring the town with Josuke, Joseph came across a baby. This baby was born with a Stand that could turn everything invisible. Joseph adopted this baby andnamed her Shizuka Joestar.Sadly, she never appeared in any of the future parts.
However,JOJOLandscould prove to be the perfect setting for Araki to use her. While she may not be related by blood, she has the Joestar name. This may be a crazy idea, but it could be possible. Or if Araki doesn’t want to make her the protagonist, he could introduce her as one of the side characters. Either way, it will be interesting to see how things pan out inJOJOLands.
What Can Fans Expect From The Series?
At the moment, there is no concrete information about the setting ofJOJOLands. In his previous interviews, Araki did mention that he would like to explore Northern Europe or the Scottish Highlands. There have also been rumors about Araki wanting to revisit Italy. Many fans might think thatAraki might not go with Italy, asGoldenWindwas set in the same place. However, Araki has already based two of the three parts from theSteel Ball Rununiverse in the countries that he has already used in the earlier parts.
