JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is an anime series based on the manga of the same name by Hirohiko Araki. It began in 1987 in Weekly Shonen Jump and is still running in the monthly seinen publication Ultra Jump. The series follows a different person with the nickname JoJo every season, each related by blood and linked by the Joestar birthmark. With so many JoJos running around, it stands to reason that one might want to know just how many exist in this weird and wonderful world.
The simplest way to look at the count of JoJos is to count the amount of leads in the anime series, since that’s the biggest point of access right now. The recent release of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean puts our lead JoJo count at six: Jonathan, Joseph, Jotaro, Josuke, Giorno, and Jolyne. Each character has a unique personality, travels to diverse settings, and stars alongside a different batch of supporting players, some of whom even appear in supporting roles for future protagonists.
The manga currently has two more leads: Johnny from Steel Ball Run and Josuke Higashikata from JoJolion, bringing us up to eight JoJos. That’s not how deep this well goes, though, as throughout the manga’s run we’ve seen 17 characters in the Joestar bloodline whose names could be shortened to JoJo but who simply weren’t the stars of their respective shows. George Joestar the 1st and 2nd, Holy Kujo Joestar, Shizuka Joestar, and Josefumi Kujo all add a lot to their given JoJo plots, providing motivation, backstory, or a humanizing moment for one of the starring JoJos.
Holy, in particular, even gets an alternate universe part for being the mother to a second JoJo protagonist with an increased part in the story beyond simply being someone for the protagonist to save. George Jostar the 1st is in many ways the person who triggered the events of the first six parts of the JoJo manga by adopting Dio Brando, who would be the lead villain of two parts, the father of one protagonist, and the person who created the plan for another lead villain in another part.
We could dive even deeper into JoJos whose existences have been implied ⏤ which would make it 20 or more in total ⏤ but in reality the ones who matter most will always be the ones at center stage in both the anime and manga. If you want to get to know these JoJos, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean is now airing on Netflix across the globe, and you can also pick up the manga currently being published by Viz in the U.S.