The second volume of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure begins with Jotaro Kujo and his allies dealing with the murderer on a plane headed for Cairo. The reawakening of vampire Dio has given birth to the supernatural "stands" in the Joestar family, gifting Jotaro and his grandfather Joseph with incredible abilities while placing Jotaro's mother's life in danger.
Point A to B, Interrupted by C-Z.
The second volume slides comfortably into a story structure typical in manga. The heroes on a quest are routinely challenged by villains that want to impede their progress. Jotaro dealt with two stand-wielding assassins in the first volume and several more await him in this volume.
At this point a reader should know if they'll enjoy Jojo's Bizarre Adventure or not as the formula that it utilizes will persist until the end of the manga:
- One or more persons are horribly maimed/killed in order to introduce the new, evil stand user.
- A good stand user announces that he'll fight the evil stand user.
- The two duke it out using equal parts ingenuity and sheer, brute force until only one is left standing.
Plot isn't one of the manga's strong suits and it's used mostly to coherently frame (or try to) all the bizarre happenings. The appeal of Jojo is reading the ludicrous and disturbing situations unfold as the characters escape death using clever (or nonsensical) solutions.
After Jotaro and company crash land their plane in Hong Kong, the manga takes on aspects of travel journalism as Araki dispenses his own insights as sidebars, commenting on the local customs and cuisine. The first few chapters of this volume has Jojo's heroes eating fried frog and shell fish at a Chinese restaurant before dueling another villainous stand user at Hong Kong's Tiger Balm Park.
Jojo was a Man Who Thought He was a Loner
Volume 2 also features the introduction of another villain-turned-ally with Jean Pierre Polnareff who uses a robotic fencer as his stand. The battle between Polnareff and Avdol is mostly spectacle with the two using their abilities to carve a table into a burning clock or cut ankhs into a person's skin. Polnareff is defeated with a blast of flames called "Crossfire Hurricane" which first introduces the musical references that Araki is fond of.
Jojo is a product of the Japan's fascination with the West in the 80's and nods to American music take form mostly in the names of characters and then later in the names of stands (when Araki runs out of tarot cards). Localization of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure was considered almost impossible by fans considering America's comparatively litigious society. VIZ handled the situation by changing the names in some instances, like turning Mohammed Abdul (as in Paula Abdul) to Mohammed Avdol. Although some of the references are too esoteric for American audiences, many are hard to miss like volume 2's sailor character Captain Tenille.
To be Continued
The volume closes with an action that sidetracks the heroes' journey to Cairo once again. A reader too anxious for Jotaro and company to reach their destination to enjoy the manga's journey is better off reading something else.
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