The Hidden Speedwagon. Designs from the Phantom Blood Movie

Who remembers the Phantom Blood movie? A lot of you probably remember that it exists, the song by SOUL’D OUT, and the rumors about Araki hating it so much he blocked it ever getting a DVD release, but I imagine not many of you have had the chance to see it outside maybe this YouTube video with 16 minutes of clipped out footage.

So did you ever want to know more about it? Tumblr is here to help.

These are all the character designs for how everyone looked in the movie. These are mostly useful for comparing the designs for what was a potential movie compilation to the current anime run we’ve gotten. The designs here, Johnathan and Dio aside, are a lot more normal. Characters are dressed fairly normally and the art style has a generally more realistic feel to it. I’m not sure how to describe it. I’m not a fan because there’s something about the style that makes everyone look like they have a really fat face, especially Johnathan and Dio.

There’s also voice. All the voice actors are listed there. Here’s a rundown for any you may not have known:

Johnathan Joestar: Katsuyuki Konishi (Kamina from Gurren Lagann)
Dio Brando: Hikaru Midorikawa (Lancer in Fate/Zero, Heero Yui in Gundam Wing)
Will A. Zeppeli: Rikiya Koyama (Currently Yoshikage Kira in ASB)
Erina Pendleton:Nana Mizuki
Tonpeti: Yoshisada Sakaguchi (Briareos in Appleseed, tons of dubbing roles)
George Joestar I: Tsutomu Isobe (Runge in Monster, again, tons of dubbing roles)
Dario Brando: Kazutaka Ozawa
Wang Chun: Jun Itoda
Tarkus: Yoshinori Sonobe
Bruford: Toru Nara

Two of those names are of very special interest, and I’m not talking about Yoshikage Zeppeli or Kamina Joestar. I’m talking about Kazutaka Ozawa and Jun Itoda. One of the things you may have also remembered about the Phantom Blood movie is that it was so condensed they [Edit: supposedly] forgot to put in Danny and Speedwagon. If you look next to Ozawa and Jun’s credits on the sections for Dario and Wang Chun, it says “Speedwagon” next to their names. This confused me to no end until I was able to look them up on Japanese Wikipedia and found out they they’re part of a comedy duo act called “Speed Wagon.” So, you see, the movie always had Speed Wagon. Just not Robert Edward O. Speedwagon.

Yeah, learning that didn’t make me any happier about the movie either.

(Thanks to JoJo’s Tumblr for reblogging the pictures from here)

OPJ Podcasts! “HEY MAN”

It’s finally time. We’ve been hit with JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: The Animation and it’s better than we could have ever hoped. Style savvy studio working around a crappy budget makes the source material and its fans proud.

Alternatively:

The times ov arivall is heer! The Strange Journey of Joey JOjo belongs with my attack and has quality were we dint put it. Fashion intelligent animationers work for moneyless drawing makes the originalp rideful happy and enjoyment group.

Download it here!
Send questions, complaints, an requests for autographed body parts here!

Up, down, back, forth, over and over.

If you’d like to watch the whole opening, watch the show, but if you want a preview, head to this Dailymotion video since I’m still having issue embedding it. 

A Shonen Manga All-Star Art Book for JoJo’s Year 25!

It happens to be the 25th year of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure just in case you couldn’t tell it was a special time for it considering all the good news that’s been going on. And the goodies keep coming. Ultra Jump, the same company that brought you Shonen Jump, has released an artbook containing sketches from Jump artists abound.

Click the picture to visit the online images for the book.

And when I say lots of Jump artists and writers, I mean it. Here’s the list of names I’ve been able to translate, using copious amounts of Google, and the page/image that’s theirs.

7. Akira Akatsuki (Medaka Box)
8. A forward by Nisio Isin (Bakemonogatari)
9. Osamu Akimoto (Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Kōen-mae Hashutsujo)
10. Akira Amano (Reborn!)
11. Kyosuke Usuta (Sexy Commando Gaiden: Sugoi yo!! Masaru-san, Pyu to Fuku! Jaguar)
12. Tsugumi Ohba (Death Note author)
13. Takeshi Obata (Hikaru no Go, Death Note artist)
14. Eiichiro Oda (One Piece)
15. Masashi Kishimoto (Naruto)
16. Tite Kubo (Bleach)
17. CLAMP (X, xxxHolic, Cardcaptor Sakura)
18. Hiroshi Shiibashi (Nurarihyon no Mago, Assistant to Araki on Steel Ball Run)
19. Kenta Shinohara (Sket Dance)
20. Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro (Seikimatsu Leader den Takeshi!, Toriko)
21. Hideaki Sorachi (Gin Tama)
22. Kazuki Takahashi (Yu-Gi-Oh)
23. Hiroyuki Takei (Shaman King)
24. Ryūhei Tamura (Beelzebub)
25. Yoshihiro Togashi (Yu Yu Hakusho, Hunter x Hunter)
26. Akira Toriyama (Oh, come on)
27. Tadatoshi Fujimaki (Kuroko no Basuke)
28. Yusuke Murata (Eyeshield 21)

And the final words for the final page, which I must thank user Flashbang! from the Something Awful forum’s JoJo thread:

“The first art collection since Jojo A-Go!Go! 12 years ago

Araki Hirohiko’s new art collection has finally gotten moving!

It of course has a collection of various beautiful illustrations,

Araki’s first editor looks back,

An Araki Hirohiko history book and

also contains the newest version of the stand encyclopedia

Reservations begin soon”

All the artists, authors, and fans have stepped up to show their appreciation, love, and respect for JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure and Hirohiko Araki. And at the bottom we got some bonus preview art for the upcoming JoJo’s anime.

It’s a great year to be a JoJo’s fan.