For a long time, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure had a reputation for being ultra-masculine, and while it still does to some extent, that reputation definitely began to change once Jolyne Cujoh, the series’ first female JoJo, appeared. As it turns out, though, series creator Hirohiko Araki actually had a very difficult time getting to the point where he was even allowed to make his protagonist a girl.
As Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure is largely a shonen series, having run in Weekly Shonen Jump for years, it’s ultimately meant to appeal to teenage boys. That meant giving them cool male protagonists that they could look up to and relate to, or at least that’s how Araki’s editors seemed to look at it. Even Araki himself worried about having female characters in the early days of Jojo, thinking that fans wouldn’t enjoy seeing women getting beaten up in fights or having to go through the other absurd scenarios that Jojo protagonists often find themselves in. As he became more comfortable drawing women and including them in the series, he decided it was time that a major protagonist be female.
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventures’ Creator Had to Fight For Jolyne
However, this wasn’t the creation of Stone Ocean, which does star Jolyne. Araki actually wanted to have his female Jojo as early as part 5, Golden Wind, but was told no by editors at the time. In interviews during Golden Wind‘s run, he stated he did still want to have a female Jojo, but wasn’t sure when exactly that would be. Part 5 did include a female character in a big role in the form of Trish Una, however, Trish is often treated as a damsel in distress, so she wasn’t exactly a tough female character who could take the lead. After Golden Wind ended, and it was time to come up with the next part, Araki decided to try again to get a female Jojo. He pitched Jolyne as Jotaro’s daughter, but was once again told by his editors that he needed a male protagonist for his male audience. Araki stood his ground this time, however, and said that Jolyne had to be a woman for that exact reason. Stone Ocean, after all, flips the usual script on its head: instead of a father trying desperately to save his daughter, it’s about a daughter trying to save her father.
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventures’ Road to Jolyne
Knowing what Araki was up against trying to get a female protagonist in Jojo, a lot of details about her character begin to make sense. She’s an American, so she doesn’t need to obey Japanese gender norms, and she’s in a dangerous prison environment, meaning she needs to be tough enough to take care of herself with or without a Stand. It also makes her an interesting counterpart to Jotaro, who similarly went on a quest to save his dying Joestar parent, which could only be done by defeating an enemy Stand user. It might also explain why Jolyne is one of the few Jojo protagonists with a Stand that can act at range, as that allowed her to avoid some violence–although she still got a good old “ORA, ORA” in from time to time.
Given the popularity of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean following the anime, it seems Araki was right to push for a female Jojo, even if it took a while to get there.
