JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable - Chapter 1 (film)

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable - Chapter 1 (ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 ダイヤモンドは砕けない 第一章) is a live-action movie adaptation of Diamond Is Unbreakable of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure manga series.

The film was directed by Takashi Miike, and co-produced by and. It was officially announced on September 28, 2016 and released in Japanese theaters on August 4, 2017.

Crime Wave in Morioh
One night, a man dines at an apartment, his hostages tied on the ground. At the same time, the police surround the building and evacuate the residents, who are all accounted for except the Yamashita. Officer Ryohei Higashikata decides to call them, as he has their phone number, but the call isn't answered. Instead in the apartment, the man sees the officer's name on the phone and flees, but not before stabbing the husband in the throat with a fork. Ryohei can only see the criminal fleeing through the roofs of the neighbouring buildings, and scream the man's name, Katagiri.

Katagiri then unexpectedly meets a teenager wielding a bow. The teen shoots him in the throat and retrieve his arrow but the murderer survives and is congratulated by his assailant who departs, unnoticed. Caught by an helicopter, Katagiri awakens a strange power. When he is interrogated at the police headquarters, he massacres the staff and escapes.

The story jumps to Koichi Hirose, a second year high school student who's just moved in the peaceful town of Morioh, currently plagued by a number of unexplainable murders. On his way to school, Koichi is mugged by two schoolmates, but they are interrupted by another high school student: Josuke Higashikata. The muggers taunt the interloper, and insult his hairstyle. Angered, Josuke summons an invisible arm which punches the two, and scares them off. Grateful, Koichi tries to discuss, but Josuke soon leaves, disinterested. However, Koichi's broken bicycle has mysteriously been repaired.

At Budaoka High School, Koichi has yet to make friends and sits alone, observing Josuke who likewise only stares at the horizon. Yet, Koichi is approached by his fellow classmate Yukako Yamagishi, who acts too friendly for his comfort.

The scene changes to two thugs on the street harassing women. Ryuhei arrives to talk to one of them, Masaya Yoshizawa, who's left his job. Although he's unwelcome, Ryuhei extends a helping hand to Masaya and then leaves. Later the two fool around at a park when Masaya's comrage Hirata is killed by the water of a foutain, which then attacks Masaya.

At the end of school day, Koichi leaves the pushy Yukako behind to follow Josuke. Meanwhile, the police has noticed Hirata's death and investigates when Masaya takes a cashier hostage. Josuke and Koichi are among the witnesses. Masaya then taunts Josuke, whom approaches them and makes the situation degenerate, culminating in Masaya stabbing the cashier. However, Josuke summons again something punching through both the cashier and Masaya. Strangely, neither display any injury although the knife is trapped inside Masaya's stomach. Masaya collapses, and a water creature emerges from his mouth. Invisible to all but Josuke, the mass of water jumps into the gutter. Josuke then flees when the police arrives, but neither he nor Koichi see that Katagiri has been observing the scene.

Ryohei returns home, greets his daughter Tomoko and scolds his grandson Josuke for recklessly intervening in the hostage situation. Moreover, Ryohei's intrigued, as he thinks Masaya would never commit such a crime in normal circumstances. In his room, Ryohei contemplates a wall full of drawn thanks, and punches it, frustrated that yet another member of his community has died.

This same night, the mysterious bow-wielding teen shoots a disgruntled salaryman, but is disappointed to see that his target has died.

Jotaro Kujo's Coming
The next day, Koichi brings a mysterious man clad in white to Josuke. The stranger presents himself as Jotaro Kujo, his nephew, and explains to him that he is the bastard son of Joseph Joestar. Troubled by these explanations, Josuke can only apologize for the trouble he's caused, to Jotaro's consternation. Moreover, Jotaro asks him if he's seen strange phenomenons, but their discussion becomes a fight when Jotaro unwittingly insults Josuke's hair. Josuke summons his power, but Jotaro also brings out his own ability, a humanoid warrior. Jotaro then explains that both are Stand Users, who can use psychic creatures invisible to ordinary people. Angry, Josuke still attacks and Jotaro stops the flow of time to avoid the strike and punch down Josuke. The fight has defused, and Josuke reveals the water creature he's witnessed yesterday before leaving. Worried, Jotaro reports to Joseph about the incoming crisis.

That night, Katagiri meets with the teen who's granted him this power. Dining at a restaurant, Katagiri demonstrates his control over water, and also vows to kill the teenager who "got in his way". When the teen asks if Katagiri's father also "got in the way", only for him to declare his hatred as his father made him into a psychopath. Katagiri offers to also kill the teen's father; angered the latter uses his power to attack Katagiri, who's intimidated into backing up. Although the teen lets Katagiri roam free, he doesn't reveal anything about him.

At the same thing, the Higashikata Family is having dinner. Although Tomoko is worried about the local crime wave, Ryohei tells her to believe in the good of Morioh's inhabitants.

Production
Initial rumors in July 2016 of a movie adaptation of Stardust Crusaders being in production began to circulate only for no official confirmation to validate the authenticity of the claims. Eventually on September 28, 2016, at a panel to promote JoJo's Bizarre Adventure the film was revealed to the public, instead being an adaptation of Diamond is Unbreakable. producer Takashi Hirano explained that the staff decided to adapt the manga's Part 4 storyline since it features a Japanese protagonist in a Japanese setting. He then further clarified that the cosmopolitan nature of the manga offers a chance for Japanese cinema to expand across the world; including actors of a particular Part (such as English or Italian characters) to be played by their appropriate race.

In regards to the film's subtitle of "Chapter I", Hirano explained that due to the complexity in the plot and characters of Part 4 it would be impossible to adapt its entirety into a two-hour film. Hirano then said that if the film is a commercial success, he'd love to adapt the remainder of Part 4 through more films. Director Takashi Miike decided on the Spanish city of as the shooting location after looking through options worldwide. He acknowledged that the original manga's setting is loosely based on the real Japanese city of Sendai, but determined Sitges was the closest match to Morioh's fictional setting.

On August 4, 2017 it was released on 325 screens nationwide in Japan, opening with a gross of 166 million yen. Its opening weekend attracted 164,496 people and ultimately grossed 226.316 million yen.

Manga/Film Differences

 * Some of the characters in the film (notably Jotaro and Josuke) have had their costume designs simplified and/or changed when compared to their manga counterparts.
 * The film starts off with Anjuro Katagiri murdering a man named while Ryohei Higashikata and Morioh's other police break into the house in order to catch him. Anjuro flees the scene and is shot by Keicho Nijimura. He is caught by the policemen but uses his new Stand Aqua Necklace to escape.
 * Koichi Hirose just moved to Morioh three days before the film starts. He is seen unpacking and putting Pink Dark Boy volumes on his shelf as well as a large Pink Dark Boy poster on his wall.
 * Yukako Yamagishi's character appears earlier than in the original material. She gives Koichi a notebook filled with several pages of homework, intimidating him as he has to finish all of it in one day.
 * Ryohei has a lot more prominence in the film, being respected by the people of Morioh. A young adult named litters and Ryohei lectures him to throw it out properly. He mentions Masaya quitting his job and lets him know he can call Ryohei whenever he needs help. Aqua Necklace later kills Masaya's friend and then enters Masaya's body, controlling him to become a 🇺🇳 of a convenience store.
 * Josuke Higashikata's confrontation with the street thugs at the beginning takes place in a small alley, as opposed to near the bus stop in front of Koichi Hirose and Jotaro Kujo. Koichi is actually the first to be bullied until Josuke appears, and Jotaro does not arrive until later.
 * Jotaro encounters Koichi after school while he's reading a book and walks in front of Koichi's bike, rather than at the bus station while looking at a map.
 * Angelo's first murder was his father who he hated.
 * Keicho and Angelo are shown interacting together after Keicho shoots him with the Bow and Arrow. They meet at a restaurant with Angelo showing off the power Keicho gave him. Angelo offers to kill Keicho's parents if Keicho hates them but Keicho reacts by shooting at Angelo's side of the table with Bad Company, missing his face on purpose in order to intimidate him. Angelo says he was just joking and leaves, saying he won't oppose Keicho.
 * Okuyasu Nijimura is revealed earlier and teleports Koichi away from Yukako, jealous of him being near a cute girl.
 * Animal cruelty (such as Angelo killing a man's dog) is omitted.
 * Ryohei is shown weight-lifting in order to get stronger to protect Morioh. He drops one of the weights, scaring Josuke into thinking something happened to him.
 * Ryohei is in his civilian clothes rather than in his police uniform when he dies.
 * Jotaro uses his Time Stop at Josuke's house to save him from Aqua Necklace.
 * During Angelo's fight against Josuke, he doesn't try to take a kid hostage or insult Josuke's hair.
 * There is a scene of Keicho and Okuyasu discussing Josuke being the one to defeat Angelo, but Keicho reassures Okuyasu that they're stronger than him.
 * Before Ryohei's funeral, Josuke reads a sketchbook in his room detailing the murders of Reimi Sugimoto and her . Her parents are named in the film: Takashi (45) is her father, and Kazuko (39) is her mother.
 * Tomoko tells Josuke how Reimi was Ryohei's source of encouragement and he regret not being able to protect her the most. He was awarded a watch for his 20th year of service but he smashed it against a wall, believing he was a failure of a policeman if he couldn't even save a young girl. Since then, he didn't care for promotion and only aimed to protect his town. Koichi and 🇺🇳 attended his funeral.
 * Keicho appears at the cemetery, presumably at his 🇺🇳 grave. He smirks when Josuke notices him, leading Josuke to chase him to his house. Koichi follows him because they were worried that he suddenly disappeared.
 * Okuyasu defeats himself because of a statue by his house smashing into his face instead of a flower pot.
 * Echoes hatches into its ACT1 form during the fight against Bad Company, rather than during Koichi's confrontation with Tamami Kobayashi, as the latter is omitted. However, it doesn't manage to do anything except buy Josuke time to activate his plan.
 * DIO is never mentioned in the film, nor is it explained how the body of Nijimura's Father became that way.
 * Red Hot Chili Pepper and Akira Otoishi are completely omitted. Instead, Sheer Heart Attack kills Keicho Nijimura, also exploding the Bow and Arrow he was holding rather than it being turned in to the Speedwagon Foundation.

Trivia

 * Director Takashi Miike revealed that he did not sleep for three days after receiving the offer to direct the film project.
 * The film's premiere was held at the Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival (NIFFF) in Switzerland on Sunday, July 2. It was later shown again at the 21st Fantasia International Film Festival (FIFF) in Montreal, Canada between July 13 to August 2.
 * At the film's premiere at the 21st FIFF, a live violinist performed renditions of the anime's opening songs, including chase.