By Hirohiko Araki
VIZ, 199 pp.
Rating: Older Teen (16+)

Finally, it’s April. The season of rainy and windy days, May flowers and the triumphant return of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure! For those of you who haven’t heard, I am a big fan of the series and was devastated when I heard that volume eleven wasn’t going to be released until April 7, 2009, an astonishing year later from volume ten, which came out on April 1, 2008. There was some controversy surrounding this series recently, as reported by Anime News Network. Dio, the main vampiric villain, was pictured in the sixth anime episode reading the Qur’an. Muslim viewers took offense to the scene, saying it depicted Muslims as terrorists. According to ANN’s report, Shueisha put out a press release, apologizing to the Muslim Community and that the anime staffers added the pages of the Qur’an inadvertently, not understanding the meaning of the actual content. The company also announced that they were going to be reviewing the anime and manga for any further offensive material. It’s possible that this might’ve had something to do with the delay in Viz’s release schedule, as well. In any case, after a year-long wait, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure has resurfaced onto American shores with the eleventh volume.

Volume eleven offers a different spin on the traditional Jojo storyline. The series is known for being very action-packed, sprinkled with countless fight scenes and an excessive amount of blood. This story, however, focuses on another aspect of the action: psyching out your opponents through deception. Finally, after having reached Cairo, Jotaro, Joseph, Polnareff and Avdol encounter another mysterious “stand” user named D’Arby. Instead of an insatiable lust for destruction and killing, D’Arby is a compulsive gambler, who spends his time challenging people to any sort of game, cheating his way to winning, and then stealing their souls, which cleverly appear in the form of poker chips.

The book pits Polnareff, in a guessing game, and Joseph, in a contest of dropping coins into an overflowing glass, against D’Arby, where they both lose their souls despite honest and dishonest efforts (Joseph cheats a bit, giving himself an edge). Ultimately, it is Jotaro that comes to the rescue, bluffing his way out of a game of Five-Card Draw. What I enjoyed most about this storyline was the use of the characters’ intellect rather than their violent and sometimes redundant use of their stands. Joseph uses a cotton ball to add more liquid into a glass, D’Arby uses a chocolate bar to tip the glass in his favor and Jotaro escalates the art of deception by literally betting his life away. I am a fan of poker; however, I can’t cheat to save my life. The Joestar bloodline is known for their cunning, tactical mentality, and this is story arc is one of the prime examples, at least in this installment of the Jojo series.

Another great aspect of this book is the very apparent presence of Hirohiko Araki’s study of the culture of gambling and essentially, the world around him. For anyone who’s read Jojo before, you can relate. Araki takes the time to study different regions of the world and depict them accurately and also really puts himself into his subject matter. This book features information about second deals, security seals on packs of cards, and tales from ancient Egypt about gambling and gods. Jojo offers an endearing sense of realism to manga. Sadly, this book has the same problem as the last ten books: it is way too short! Araki is able to craft fine-tuned, well-detailed stories and fits one and a half into the book. I got through volume eleven in about fifteen minutes and read it again. They have good reread value but unfortunately lack a sense of depth.

The art, though nothing left me awestruck in this book, is still consistently some of the best art in manga. This is another factor of realism Araki brings to the series. Thought very cartoon-like in nature and extremely muscular, Jotaro and company appear to be very human. On the other hand, Araki’s artwork is very fantastical when it comes to the supernatural and more importantly, the stands. D’Arby’s Osiris is depicted as a very grotesque creature, almost like a baby covered in pulsating veins. To conclude, I am exceedingly happy that this series is coming back into circulation. The colorful covers, simplistic storytelling and graphic art style make it a shining example of the shonen genre. If you want to read it, start with number one!

Volume eleven of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure will be available on April 7, 2009.