So, I've never read Phantom Blood. I did watch the anime, of course, when I watched parts 1 to 4 that summer. But my experience with JoJo manga began with part 5 to 8 (I haven't read JoJolands yet) but upon the mess that Netflix has done to Steel Ball Run and that I am watching Stone Ocean, I kinda wanted to give the manga a shot.
Phantom Blood, which can be seen as an introduction but also as a separate body of work, introduces the key conflict of the series: The Joestar family and the constant threat of Dio. In a typical good vs evil setting, it also ties both of these characters permanently. You could argue that it ties both of these families, but it doesn't quite fit what Dio is to the Joestars. Even if he never felt like a Joestar and always wanted to usurp Jonathan's place, he was adopted by the family, so he was technically always a son or a brother. He even acknowledges this to Jonathan before they both die. Their legacies of light and darkness clashing on each other can be considered both sides of one house to an extent (especially when the descendants are taken into consideration).
However, that would be going too far, so let's focus on part 1.
Jonathan Joestar - who we meet as a golden hearted (if naive) young man who is the son of a noble and fights even when he thinks he will lose because is the right thing to do, has his life changed when Dio Brando comes to live with him and his father. Dio has the goal to sabotage Jonathan in the eyes of his father and peers, and he almost succeeds. He says Jonathan is a rat, sabotages his cute romance with Erina, and he kills his dog. As Jonathan never gets to see him as a brother, but even more important, after Dio assaults Erina by kissing her without permission, and Jonathan punching him, blood gets splattered in the mask that was bought by Jonathan's deceased mother that belonged to the Aztecs, and this mask is the one that years later will turn Dio into a vampire.
We see that Dio and Jonathan grow closer in their young adulthood - but Jonathan never gets to fully trust him after their harsh start (understandable to say at least) and then discovers that Dio poisoned his father, and is on the way to do that wih Jonathan's father too. When he gets caught in the act, Dio uses the powers of the mask to become a vampire, who creates zombies that bid to his willing. In order to beat him, Jonathan learns hamon from a strange man called Zeppeli. Hamon as a power system is very limited, but it sets up to what it's meant to do in parts 1 and 2.
Anyway, Part 1 is not the best - is largely carried by Jonathan and Dio personalities, and well, Zeppelli and Speedwagon are cool but the rest of the cast is meh. Something that improves later, but the beginning of the series is really strong, if only because of it's dramatic nature of it. It's like a soap opera than then turns into zombies (it really doesn't make sense a vampire turns people into zombies, but we will let it slide). But I think it is a lot better than what people think, despite that it shows it's age at times. Phantom Blood is a reminder of how a mangaka can evolve with the times and considering how far they've come, it is always good to look back.
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