Time to Reap the Preorders! A Sneak Peek at The Gold Experience Box!

Two days. Is everyone ready? I confirmed my order earlier today, so now all I have is to sit and wait. I wasn’t able to get The Gold Experience Box, though. I ended up having to get the vanilla edition, though that still comes with the Kira voucher. Someone else, however, was able to get the special edition and was nice enough to post some pictures like the above. As you can see, it comes in a huge box because of the bonus Jotaro and Star Platinum figure pack in.

Though some assembly is required.

And since it doesn’t come with Dio and The World, you may have to improvise.

There’s also the OST that comes on the Star Platinum Stand Disc.

The special box comes with a track listing of 35 total tracks from the game. I can only make out the titles for a few, but it seems to be the personal theme of each character and the opening track “All Star Battle” and one other I don’t know. “DIO’s World” for Part 3 Dio, “HELL 2U” for Abdul, “GO! GO! ZEPPELI” for Gyro, “New York JoJo” for Joseph, “KILL A” for Kawajiri Kira, “Arrivederci” for Bruno, and several others I’m not able to read.

This image is the one I think is the biggest deal, though. That character select screen is different from the one we saw in the 11 minute demo video. In contrast to that version, we still have the first 7 main characters, but we have Part 1 Dio, Hermes, Kakyoin, Caeser, Gyro, and Bruno instead of Polnareff and Part 3 Dio. I wondered if the demo video was using a different version than the retail, but I figured it was too close to the launch date for them to mess around with it. Is this going to be this way between versions where the special edition starts with these and the vanilla starts with what we saw before? Who knows? I’ll take a picture if it’s weird once it shows up.

(Thanks to the JoJo F2C for collecting the pictures. There are a few more there for you to check out too.)

ASB PV 6 Full Subs

I had forgotten that someone would come along and sub the PV, but man am I appreciative. There’s a lot of small nuance to be picked up here and there. I had no idea that Abbacchio would be the one in charge of replays or that Terrence would be the one showing off models. The little details like that really make me appreciate the effort put into the game even more. It’s an even better showing than I would have expected all the way around.

All Together Now! All Star Battle PV 6!

I’m just going to say this now: Valentine fighting using an American flag may be the best thing this game has ever given us. Or, I guess you’d call it a Valentininan flag when he uses it? Regardless, that is easily my favorite aesthetic yet. I like things like the way Another One Bites the Dust pulls Hayato out of nowhere just so Kosaku can blow someone up, and I like that you go to space when time is accelerating beyond human perception into the realm only visible by gods, but there’s something special about the president pulling you into another dimension by slapping you with a flag. I also like the way he appears from it.

So here it is, the final stop before the game comes out. The new characters are the stars this time, flag, discs, frozen chunks of corpses, and time warping children bombs and all. We also get to see some situation finishes like the one at Dio’s Castle. Right at the end, we also see some of the menus. Story mode is of particular interest because it looks like you’re picking only from the main JoJo cast. If that is the case, I immediately go to that each character would follow the story of their own part, but the character roster isn’t geared towards that. If it works that way, Jolyne would have one fight with Pucci and maybe also a fight with Jotaro until the end. It’s just not enough, so I assume there’s more to it. I just don’t know why you’d have what looks to be like such a limited choice of characters for it then.

We saw the announcement characters and some alternate costumes. I don’t think the Darby Brothers need any introduction, but I’m happy to see Ringo Roadagain and Abbacchio. The most noticeable alternate costume is Johnathan’s, his green outfit he makes his most famous cover pose in. There were also some other ones, Josuke in something red, Joseph with a riding cape, and Jolyne in something fanserive looking, but most of those go by too fast for me to get a real beat on which outfits they are.

22 days. It’s almost right at our doorstep. I imagine there’s time for one more Famitsu special, and there’s also ASB League which I should be able to get you later today.

Stroheim, AWAY! “Little by Little” Translated

A mysterious and anonymous translator has put out a translation of the JoJo’s doujin “Little by Little.” Made by the Virgina Room doujin circle by Virginia Nitouhei for Golden Blood back in 2011, it’s a short manga of one-off gags for all the JoJo characters and parts. A lot of the good jokes are based on quick visual gags.

And a lot of the really good jokes are somewhere between quick visual gag and something you’re almost surprised Araki didn’t try himself.

For real. That this didn’t happen in Part 2 shocks me.

I would say this is maybe what would happen if the guys who made Cromartie were tasked to make a JoJo manga. The absurdity is at least on that level, and its humor is so charming while it catches you off guard. The gags are almost perfect to that style of humor both visually and idea wise. It’s easier to picture if you imagine that Freddie riding Mechazawa is catching Joseph instead of Stroheim. He’s not helping. He’s just sort of there.

Also if you replace Jotaro with a gorilla.

Not all of the jokes are perfect. The ones using the Part 5 characters don’t make sense to me because it’s a Japanese culture joke I’m not privy to. Something about Nagoya and Sendai citizens making certain sounds? I’m sure the joke works, it’s just not something I understand. The jokes at Part 5’s expense, however…

Throw in a dick and bondage joke or two and you’re good to go. So go give it a look. It’s up on Batoto if you follow the link at the top and the one I’ll put at the bottom in the “Where this stuff came from” line. It’s a fun time. Also, keep in mind that this came from the Golden Blood event. Next time that comes around, you might consider getting something from it.

(All images from Batoto. Read the whole manga there.)

Preorders for JOJOveller Now Open!

We’ve run out the clock. It’s time for JOJOveller. (Sound Warning)

A massive compilation cap to everything about the 25th Anniversary of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. Artwork, documentaries, interviews, the works. It’s all here.

The Artbook

The JOJOveller Artbook focuses mainly on Parts 6 through 8. It contains some stunning artwork in the same vein as the artwork in JOJOmenon. Also, it blows up because Kira got into the production line.

The Stand Book

You know how there were little readouts on the Stands in between chapters that gave a brief overview of a Stand’s ability, powers, and whatnot? This is going to be that, but so much more comprehensive. Power ratings, ability comprehension, various artworks, and all for every single Stand that has appeared since Part 3.

The History Book

The History “Book” is actually a book and video interview with Araki. Go back in time and look at everything JoJo including Araki himself stepping back and looking at his whole 25 year magnum opus where he will apparently be revealing classified JoJo information that we’ve never heard before. Maybe he’ll explain how Gold Experience Requiem works.

The Documentaries

There are two documentaries in this collection. The first one is the JOJOmenon video that was part of an Ultra Jump release a little bit ago. They put up a new, more robust preview video.

The second one is a little sitdown with Araki at his desk walking us through his creative process in “The Making of JoJo.”

The amount of artistic media that he goes through to make his artwork. I never would have guessed he uses airbrushes.

Special

This isn’t as much part of the book itself as the PV I embedded up at the top. The big deal for this page, though, is the bonus images. All these pictures that I’ve been using are on the page, but what they are is the physical JOJOveller book being affected by different stand powers. You can probably guess what most of them are. The site will release all these pictures on a schedule as wallpapers for desktops. Currently, the only available ones are Echoes Act 3 and Cream. They’re all available in two sizes. The next one, the exploding one, will be available on the 26th.

So how do you get it? Reservations for copies are now available through a number of different sites and also a printout order form you presumably mail in to somewhere. I would go through the Amazon page. It’s going for the heavy price of ¥20,000 ($209) and here’s the big part: JOJOmenon will officially ship on September 19th, but preorders are only being accepted until Tuesday May 7th, Japanese Standard Time. If you’re looking to own, you need to move fast.

Edit: There will also be information released alongside Chapter 19 of JoJolion in the most recent Ultra Jump.

(All images Copyright Luckyland Communicaitons, Hirohiko Araki, and Shueisha)

JoJo Royale Stage 6 End; Stage 7 GO!

Another Stage of JoJo’s Royale is closed and the winner of Araki’s drawing desk is being determined. I think it might be because BLOCK was such a simple, approachable concept, but this Stage got more entries than any previous Stage so far. The personality and creativity here is really high, and what people were able to do is really impressive. Here’s a few of what I think are outstanding entries.

Typing on this keyboard will drastically increase your typing speed.

And I couldn’t leave out the entry by our very own DoubleGomez.

It reads “Scary Monster”

You can see the full gallery of BLOCK entries here.

With the closing of one stage comes the opening of a new stage. JoJo Royale Stage 7: POP

The POP competition is for you to create a sign encouraging people who’ve never read JoJo’s before to go out to a bookstore and pick up a copy to read. Obviously, this only applies to Japanese bookstores, but don’t think you need to advertise in Japanese.

Funny Valentine speaks in such an elegant font

A little MS Paint and some elbow grease could put you well on your way to winning a few Stone Ocean Memorabilia: A diorama of Jolyne in her prison cell, the satchel of Stand Discs, the carrier pigeon that returned the Star Platinum Disc to the Speedwagon Foundation, and this adorable crocodile with a bow puppet.

You can post your entries here at the Google Plus page for Stage 7. The deadline is March 1st, 8PM Japanese Standard Time. Good luck!