JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure TV & OVA Filler Guide

Jojo is a popular manga series written by Hirohiko Araki and originally published in Weekly Shonen Jump from 1986 to 2004. This anime is based on the manga, with a second series called Stardust Crusaders being a heavily modified version of the first 3/4s of the manga, and all of Diamond Is Unbreakable being original content.

The anime is split into 2 main parts: Phantom Blood and Battle Tendency. Phantom Blood is pretty faithful to the manga, but Battle Tendency changes a lot of the story and characters, mostly due to time constraints.

The anime then received two adaptations of the next part of the manga, called Stardust Crusaders, a TV series which is heavily modified for time and story reasons (so much that some fans consider it a different anime) and an OVA which is basically the same story but with only 13 episodes.

After that, there was a movie trilogy (Steel Ball Run) loosely based on an original part of the manga. It’s not considered canon and it barely shares any similarities with Jojo other than characters. It’s also incredibly boring and has some of the worst animation I’ve ever seen.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Plot

The first part of the story is about Jonathan Joestar, who is an incredibly powerful boy who is considered to be a genius. He has an adopted brother, Dio Brando, who hates him and wants his fortune.

Dio’s plan to get the fortune is to poison Jonathan and then use an ancient stone mask which can turn people into vampires to steal his body. The plan fails and Dio ends up in a coma. Jonathan then travels to Mexico and meets a brujo named Zeppeli, who trains him in the ways of Hamon, an ancient martial art that uses the power of blood to create “hamon energy”, basically like magic energy. By drawing circles with your fingers you can create swords made of energy that can cut through anything.

How Much Filler is in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure?

The Jojo series has a remarkably low filler episode rate. There are a total of 152 TV episodes in the series, and no filler episodes. There are a total of 13 OVA episodes, and no filler episodes.

TV Quick Filler & Canon Lists

TV Complete Filler List

OVA Filler & Canon Lists

OVA Complete Filler List

List of filler episodes for JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure OVA in chronological order – Learn if it is worth watching

Episode 2 Hierophant green

Episode 2 is a filler episode in the sense that it was not adapted from the manga, but is instead a recap of what happened in episode 1. In fact, the episode is used as a means to introduce fan-favorite Kakyoin and his Stand, Hierophant Green.

Jotaro Kujo is the grandson of Joseph Joestar. After Jotaro’s father died, he was sent overseas. He returned to Japan after receiving an invitation from his grandfather to come see him and take his father’s place as the next head of the Joestar family and wielder of The World — a nearly invincible Stand with abilities far beyond even Star Platinum’s own power level.

In this episode, Jotaro learns of the flesh bud that DIO has implanted into his friend Noriaki Kakyoin, and attempts to remove it in order to save Kakyoin from being possessed by DIO. He succeeds, and the group then decides to head off to Egypt in order to defeat DIO once and for all.

The original episode 2 was an adaptation of Part 1 chapter 7 “Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure” (1986). This chapter was later adapted into episode 6 of the anime. However, this episode contained many scenes that were deemed too violent or sexual for TV broadcast. These scenes were then cut in order to make them fit within TV broadcast standards. Those same scenes can be found here in this “Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure OVA Complete Edition”.

This version of episode 2 remains faithful to the manga’s original story, up until a scene which was cut from the TV broadcast version but restored here: where Jotaro uses Star Platinum’s time stop powers to torture some gangsters who had been following him and his grandfather earlier on in the series.

Episode 3 Silver chariot and strength

Episode 3 is a filler episode, meaning that the episode is not canon to the story. This is because the events of this episode do not happen in the manga, and instead takes place in an alternate universe. It is unclear why this episode was made.

The main story of Stardust Crusaders features Jotaro Kujo and his companions as they travel to Egypt to defeat DIO, who has risen again after his death at the hands of Jotaro’s father, Jonathan Joestar. In this episode, the protagonists are traveling to Egypt on a plane when it suddenly catches fire and they are forced to make an emergency landing on a nearby boat. The story introduces Jean Pierre Polnareff and his Stand Silver Chariot, but does not explain how he connects with the main plot line.

In this OVA, Polnareff is shown as being acquainted with DIO; he becomes hostile towards Jotaro’s group when they board his boat, claiming that he has known DIO since childhood. Polnareff picks a fight with Avdol and tries to use Silver Chariot’s speed against him by attacking from all directions at once; however, Avdol uses Magician’s Red’s flame to create a hole in the floor, allowing him to attack from below and defeat Polnareff. Polnareff is then shown to be a friendly person who helps Jotaro’s group when they are in trouble.

This episode is included in the PlayStation 2 game as one of the series of events that occur when playing as Jotaro on disc 3, after DIO has been defeated. The events of this episode do not occur in the manga nor in the main anime story line.

Episode 4 The emperor and the hanged man

Episode 4 of the OVA is a filler episode. It takes place at the beginning of the Egypt arc, but does not advance the plot at all. It serves to introduce us to Hol Horse and Emperor, whom are not important characters in Part 3.

The Hanged Man is an assassin working for DIO, and he kills Polnareff’s sister, who was in Cairo with him and Iggy, before Polnareff came to Egypt. The Hanged Man is one of the only two Stand users that have been killed by another Stand user in the whole series (the other one being N’Dour).

Hol Horse is a bounty hunter who partners up with J.Geil, a ghoul seeking revenge on Kakyoin after the latter killed his brother Gray Fly earlier on in Part 3. Neither one of them are particularly important characters in Part 3 or even in Stardust Crusaders as a whole.

Episode 4 also introduces us to Sub-Zero who is featured only briefly with his Stand Iced Shell dealing with some cops harassing some street musicians (this happens right before Polnareff runs into Hol Horse). Sub-Zero doesn’t actually do much else besides this scene until Season 2 of Battle Tendency where he is featured more prominently.

The OVA’s version of India was shot in Sri Lanka, since it has a large Tamil population like India.

Episode 5 The judgement

Episode 5 is one of the Filler episodes of “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure” and, as a result, contains less plot than usual. It is also almost completely unrelated to the plot.

The first part of the episode has Polnareff and Kakyoin facing the enemy Stand, Hanged Man, for the first time. It displays an ability that is later explained in a flashback in episode 8, when Hol Horse explains that Silver Chariot must open his sheath to hit Hanged Man. An important aspect of this fight scene is that it shows how Silver Chariot can be upgraded through Star Platinum’s ability to rewind time (Action Replay).

After this fight, Polnareff spies J. Geil’s vehicle and sees him talking to someone on his phone about Avdol’s death. Polnareff decides to follow J. Geil but loses track of him. Jotaro and Joseph find Avdol’s body and are attacked by Hanged Man while they try to call Polnareff for help. They are saved at the last second by the arrival of Kakyoin and Polnareff who defeat Hanged Man with a combination attack. In this scene, we learn that Silver Chariot’s sheath is not only a weapon, but also a shield that can block attacks.

The episode ends with Polnareff and Kakyoin being fooled by J. Geil into thinking they have found him, only to discover that he has attacked an innocent bystander. The final scene in which Polnareff and Kakyoin leave their truck to defeat J. Geil (with the help of the beggars) is remade in episode 15 with a major change: the main protagonists are switched around since it is now Polnareff and Jotaro who face Hanged Man while Kakyoin and Joseph protect the truck.

The episode ends with the defeat of Hanged Man and Polnareff avenging Avdol’s death by killing J. Geil. As usual in this series, the main protagonists make an ambiguous statement at the end of each episode, in which they leave unclear if they have stopped being enemies or if they are still fighting each other: “I’ll head back to France now… unless you try something funny when I’m not looking.”

Episode 6 The mist of vengeance

Episode 6 of the anime is a filler episode. It does not present any significant plot development and mainly serves to introduce the next storyline. The episode is set in the middle of manga volumes 2 and 3 and was produced by Shueisha after the airing of Episode 5 in Japan. It therefore has no relation with either story arc, but is set within the time frame of its second part.

The episode sees Hol Horse having a dream of his past as he sleeps in the back of the truck. He is seen arguing with his comrade J. Geil, a young man who is the perfect double of DIO (except for his attitude) and whom Hol Horse uses to impersonate DIO during their assassination attempts. Enya, who is also there, tries to force Hol Horse to tell her why he betrayed DIO but he refuses to tell her anything. The scene then changes and Hol Horse decides to tell J. Geil that he was the one who killed Dio Brando while drunk. Hol Horse then wakes up and wonders if it was a dream or if it really happened. It is revealed that this was actually a flashback set in the past and that Enya has captured Hol Horse’s hands with her Stand, Justice. She tells him that since she knows about his betrayal, she can force him to kill himself by using his own hands against him.

At this point, the group decides to stop at an oasis in order to repair their truck and get some water for themselves and their camels (which are shown having a sort of friendship with each other). The group finds an oasis but are surprised when they find no people around except for corpses and people with weird skin diseases. They find an old woman in a hotel and decide to stay there for the night. The woman, who is actually Enya, lures them into a trap where she kills J. Geil by sticking a pick into his forehead. She then uses her Stand on Hol Horse’s hands and forces him to shoot himself in the head with his own gun, Emperor. Hol Horse’s hat then falls off of his head to reveal that he is actually dead.

This episode represents only the second time in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure that someone is seen dying onscreen (the first was Jonathan Joestar being killed by Dio Brando). In the manga the bodies of both J. Geil and Hol Horse are seen lying on the floor but this scene was never animated in Episode 6 or any subsequent episode of the anime series (the only exception being Episode 14).