The last episodes of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean have just debuted on Netflix, but a translated interview making the rounds indicates that this might be the end for Jojo's anime.
With the conclusion of Stone Ocean, the Jojo anime is in an interesting spot. Parts 7 and 8, known as Steel Ball Run and Jojolion respectively, are set in a rebooted universe and share little continuity with the first six parts, which mark their own complete story. These two parts are also considered to be for the "seinen" (young adult men) demographic rather than shonen (younger teens and boys), and are both considerably longer than any of the parts that preceded them. There are a lot of reasons why it makes sense to stop at part 6, but is that really what animation studio David Production is planning?
In an interview from a Japanese-language Netflix Anime podcast known as "Fukabolix," Series Director Kenichi Suzuki was asked, "did you expect the anime to last this long?" In response, Suzuki said "The production committee had discussed the possibility of animating up to Stone Ocean, if it was popular." The phrasing suggests that there hasn't been discussion about adapting Steel Ball Run or Jojolion--the latter of which, to be fair, had barely started when the production of the first season of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure began. Also present for the interview was Jolyne's Japanese voice actress, Fairouz Ai, who agreed, stating "that's probably the best choice since Stone Ocean depicts the conclusion to the Joestars and Dio's shared destiny."
The End of Jojo?
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure is more popular than ever thanks to the anime, which finally prompted official English translations of some Jojo manga for the first time in several one-off chapters of Thus Spoke Rohan Kishibe that could be animated, including two new stories released this year.
Whether Jojo's Bizarre Adventure continues to be animated is a question that might not have a solid answer for a while, but all previous patterns suggest it's unlikely to see any new Jojo animated content in 2023 at the very least.
Source: Jojo Wiki (via Twitter)
