List of cultural references and inspirations from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is also very popular among other professionals and commonly influences many works.

Music

 * Ponponpon.jpeg the music video for "PONPONPON" performed by Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, she can be seen doing several different poses referencing different animes throughout the video. Before jumping into the air and ending the song, she performs one last pose, which happens to belong to JoJo.


 * Shokotanjojo_(1).jpg Otaku idol Shoko Nakagawa (a.k.a. Shokotan), a dedicated fan of the manga series, has performed JoJo’s pose during an interview and her live performances on stage.
 * Yuka Kashino from Japanese electropop group Perfume often talks about her love for JoJo in the media and has struck the pose with other members during photo ops.

Anime/Manga

 * Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei: In Episode 4 of Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, they find some "ultimate weapon" buried beneath them, which turns out to be an Ultraman stone mask. Also throughout the series, one of the characters, Usui, is constantly trying to get attention due to being unnoticeable. To do this, he usually tends to appear in a Jojo art style as well as poses.


 * Hunter x Hunter : The manga has at least two potential Jojo references. Yoshihiro Togashi is noted to be a fan of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. Zeno Zoldyck and Hisoka share resemblances to Wang Chan and Part III Dio Brando respectively. Additionally, the Madhouse reboot of the Hunter x Hunter anime in the early opening scene shows a mask that is near identical to the famous Stone Mask from Phantom Blood.

Video Games

 * World Heroes series: Dio and Neo Dio are based on Dio Brando and Araki's earlier work Baoh. Neo Dio's visual design is based on the protagonist of the manga Baoh, while the dialogue in his first appearance (in World Heroes Perfect) is a reference to Dio Brando (in Neo Geo Battle Coliseum, his dialogue is more like Santana's). Dio's dialogue from World Heroes is also a reference to Dio Brando's lines.
 * Guilty Gear series: Dio Brando is referenced by the characters Robo-Ky and Justice, who both shout WRYYYYYYYYYYYY during certain attacks. Robo-Ky has an Overdrive move where he unleashes a rapid barrage of punches while the words "dame dame" (駄目駄目) appear repeatedly in comic text bubbles. In Japanese, "dame" and "muda" share the same meaning (useless).
 * Castlevania series: A stone mask can be found in Castlevania: 'Symphony of the Nights library, which is where Johnathan and Dio studied the properties of the mask.
 * In the cirque du freak manga Steve Leopard vampanze hunter outfit is smilar to Dio's Vampire Attire.

Video Games

 * Guilty Gear series: Chipp Zanuff has an arm-blade that looks and functions identically to the one used by Cars.
 * Ninja Gaiden: In the background of Round 6 in the arcade version of the game, small Stone Masks can be seen as wall decorations, as well as murals of all four Pillar Men.


 * Street Fighter series: Guile_stroheim.jpg is based on Rudolph von Stroheim. Although some surmise that Guile could also be based on Dire from Phantom Blood, Stroheim seems more logical given both characters' military backgrounds and similar hairstyles.
 * Rose's outfit is almost identical to that of Lisa Lisa, and she channels her "Soul Power" into her scarf to fight. One of Rose's alternate costumes in Street Fighter 4 is Lisa Lisa's outfit. Rose also references Abdul in that she is a fortune teller and many of her animations feature tarot cards. One of Rose's win poses features her waving her finger in a "Tch-tch-tch" manner, a favorite of Abdul's.
 * Dhalsim bears a striking resemblance to the prisoner that Stroheim uses to test Santana's abilities.

Anime/Manga

 * Naruto: Tsunade, a 50-year old woman who doesn't age, is a Lisa Lisa reference.

Music

 * Daishi, ex-vocalist of the former Japanese Visual Kei group Psycho le Cému, dressed like Jotaro in the group's last PV, "Love is Dead."

Video Games

 * Touhou Project: Sakuya Izayoi is a maid who is the servant to the vampires Remilia and Flandre Scarlet. It's generally assumed that she's a tribute to Dio, as she employs the same style of combat (stopping time and using throwing knives) and even has an attack named after Dio's Stand power, The World. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure has been referenced several times in the official games. Related to the theory that Sakuya may have committed devilish homicide before, there has been one episode where Dio served as a subordinate to Jack the Ripper.
 * Castlevania series: In Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance, if the Sacred Fist sub-weapon is used without a spellbook activated, the protagonist shouts "Ora ora ora!" and unleashes a flurry of extremely fast, blur-like punches (in reference to Star Platinum).
 * In Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, a soul called "Cagnazzo" can be obtained that makes a demon appear behind the protagonist and punch wildly whilst shouting "ora ora ora!" in another reference to Star Platinum.
 * In Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, one of the boss characters, Zephyr, utilizes time stopping abilities in conjunction with knives (Much like Dio).In the japanese version of the game he shouts "Toki yo tomare (time has stopped)." while he stop time. However,in the USA version when stopping time he shouts "Star Platinum!" just as Jotaro does in the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure videogame. His fight ontop of the clock tower is another reference to Part 3 of the manga.
 * Guilty Gear series: The main character of Guilty Gear, Sol Badguy, draws influence from Jotaro. Several of Sol's moves are influenced by Jotaro's moves from JoJo's Venture. Both of them also share the same "cooler-than-thou" attitude and the same catchphrase ("Yare yare daze.").
 * Other characters who draw influence from Jotaro are: (an "alternate history" Sol Badguy who has an attack called Fafnir that shares the same animation as Jotaro's Star Finger attack from JoJo's Venture) and Johnny, who has several moves that has similar animations to Jotaro's attacks from JoJo's Venture.
 * Zato-1/Eddie's in-game win pose is similar to Jotaro's. Eddie also fights by summoning a "living shadow" that sometimes takes over his body, similar to a Stand.


 * King of Fighters series: Benimaru is based on Polnareff. His appearance was loosely based on Polnareff, right down to his outfit in The King of Fighters '94 and The King of Fighters '95. Even after Benimaru's name was decided, the game developers continued to refer to him as Polnareff. Additionally, his taunt in The King of Fighters XI mirrors Polnareff's stature from the manga.

Anime/Manga

 * Air Gear: When Ikki gropes a naked Simca, Ringo is so furious that a monstrous Star Platinum-shaped shadow appears behind her.
 * Busou Renkin: At one point in the series, the Warrior Chief Captain Bravo mimics Polnareff's "bravo, oh bravo!" pose (while riding a surfboard).
 * During the same episode of the Anime, he quotes Abdul's line of "YES I AM!" upon being recognised by the other characters on the beach.
 * Earlier in the TV series, Kazuki Muto draws a picture of missing school student Koshaku Chono to show to other classmates, this picture is humorously drawn in the artsyle of Hirohiko Araki, much to everyone's surprise.

Other

 * Heroes: In the NBC drama Heroes, a fictional Japanese salaryman named Hiro Nakamura is a fan of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. In his blog, he states that he wants to "be like JoJo and Vaan and go on adventures". One of his powers includes time manipulation, a gift shared with both Jotaro and Dio Brando. Hiro later posts on his blog under the pseudonym Jotaro Kujo.
 * The series, but most notably Part III, has been featured in a variety of Japanese art memes and parodies of other manga and anime works drawn in Araki's style. A collection of such can be found here.

Anime/Manga

 * Hellsing: In an omake of the manga, one character states that "volume 6" can be read as "ro-kan" while another says that sounds like "Kishibe Rohan." A picture of Rohan in the Hellsing-omake style is present as well.
 * Baka and Test: The series is littered with Jojo's Bizarre references; ranging from poses, art style and even plot aspects. During a specific scene, Akihisa is seen trying Himeji's Bento, only to be dragged into the darkness by a bunch of hands.

Video Games

 * Guilty Gear series: Zappa is a character whose clothing is a strange combination of outfits worn by Narancia, Vanilla Ice, and Dio. His walking animation is also the same as Dio's walk animation from JoJo's Venture. In the Guilty Gear story, Zappa is possessed by multiple spirits and is seeking a doctor to help cure his condition. The spirits that possess him hover around him in wraith-like forms, similar to a Stand. Zappa's most powerful "summon", Raoh, looks very similar to Star Platinum. When Zappa is possessed, he twitches wildly and strikes increasingly bizarre poses, a subtle references to Araki's notable style of drawing his characters striking poses.

Anime/Manga

 * Lucky Star : The show has a few Jojo references. One in particular when Hiyori is trips and falls to the ground in a dramatic manner. Her art style changes to that of Jojo and the similar Kana appears around her as well.

Video Games

 * Street Fighter series: Juri from Super Street Fighter IV has hair and clothes similar to Jolyne's. She also uses the "Ora" battle cry.