JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Which Part Should You Start With?

Reading order is the most argued question in the JoJo fandom, and there is no neutral answer.

By MangaBase Editorial ยท Dec 5, 2026

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Which Part Should You Start With?

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is eight-plus stories under one banner, which makes the entry point genuinely difficult. The purist position is simple: start at Part 1 and go in order, because later parts reference earlier ones and the escalation of the Stand system only makes sense as a progression.

The pragmatic position is that Phantom Blood is the weakest part and the worst ambassador. These readers recommend starting with Part 3 or Part 7, where the series is already confident, then looping back once the reader is invested.

Both camps are loud, and both have a point. JoJo is one of the few series where a best manga to read recommendation genuinely depends on which part you name.

Editorial Discussion

There is no correct answer, only a trade-off. Reading in order preserves the generational structure and the slow build of the Stand concept, but it asks a new reader to sit through the roughest material first. Jumping ahead guarantees a better first impression at the cost of context. Editorially, the most useful advice is to name the reader's tolerance honestly: if they bail on slow starts, send them to Part 3; if they hate skipping, tell them Part 1 is short and worth surviving. Pretending there is one right order helps nobody.