The JoJo Part 9 release date is officially confirmed for February 17, 2023. JOJOLands Chapter 1 will be released in Shueisha’s Ultra Jump Issue 3, 2023.
Titled JOJOLands (JoJoranzu), the new manga by Hirohiko Araki will be JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 9 in the overall series. JOJOLands was originally tentatively titled “JOJOLANDS” by the original creator, but it has since been officially changed to JOJOLands (not JOJO Lands).
“Thank you very much for these past 10 years of ‘JoJolion’! Let’s take a bit of a rest, and then meet again with the new “JOJOLANDS” (tentative),” Araki-sensei stated in Ultra Jump magazine September 2021, which was published on August 19, 2021.
An official English translation of JOJOLands by VIZ Media has not been announced. But it’s likely to be several years before the English version is released.
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JOJOLands English release date by VIZ Media is years away
The JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure manga started serialization in Weekly Shonen Jump way back in 1987 and since 2005 the manga moved to Ultra Jump magazine and began releasing on a monthly basis. A total of 957 chapters have been collected in 131 volumes as of September 2021.
The JoJo: Stone Ocean manga reached its ending back in 2003 and the sequel, JoJo Part 7: Steel Ball Run, finished in 2011. JoJo Part 8: JoJolion started up in May 2011 and finished with 110 chapters in August 2021.
On August 19, 2021, JoJo Part 9 was announced with the tentative title of JOJOLANDS. Notably, a patent for the JoJoLands name was made the day before. The creator went on a hiatus before continuing to release the new story.
The JoJo manga hiatus in-between JoJolion and JOJOLands was the longest break Araki has taken between the manga parts. However, Araki spent the time creating JoJo magazine art, writing a novel about creating manga, and creating three chapters for Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan.
The official English translation of the JoJo manga is available from VIZ Media. Unfortunately, none of the JoJo Part 7 manga volumes have been officially released in English.
As of May 2021, VIZ Media had only caught up with Part 4: Diamond is Unbreakable. Part 5: Golden Wind was only up to Volume 6 out of 17 as of November 2022
Unfortunately, that means that even the JoJo Stone Ocean anime is substantially ahead of the official English translation of the manga.
JOJOLands story focuses on Joseph Joestar’s descendants
JoJo’s Bizzare Adventure Part 9: JOJOLands will be set in the same universe as JoJo’s Bizzare Adventure Part 7: Steel Ball Run and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 8: Jojolion. However, the characters will be different since there should be a significant time gap in the timeline between the story arcs.
A July 2022 interview with Araki in Kono Mystery ga Sugoi! 2023 only revealed that JoJo Part 9 will be focused on the Joestar bloodline and Joseph Joestar’s descendants in particular. Joseph actually appeared in the final 2 chapters of JoJolion as part of a flashback, which Araki says was foreshadowing that this story will be about his descendants in this new continuity.
Araki said in the interview that he sometimes likes to write without an ending in mind to the story. When he can’t think of a solution to the mystery faced by the protagonists, he’ll often cheer on his protagonist and tell them to give it their all, or ask God to help them out. He believes this organic approach to storytelling is a good thing since it helps show the reader how serious the stakes are for the protagonist.
The creator says he often looks to everyday life for mysteries, but sometimes he creates interesting mysteries that even the readers can’t figure out how to solve.
“I don’t do that only for mysteries, but even for my drawings. I sometimes start drawing without knowing what I’ll end up with. I often find myself thinking, ‘I wonder how I should draw this part,’ or ‘Oh, I screwed up this color.’ In such cases, I say, ‘God, I’m sorry, please help me.'”
However, it’s not like Araki does not have any idea where JoJo Part 9: JOJOLands is going with the story. Way back in February 2004 when he began writing Steel Ball Run, he had a general outline of each story theme planned up through JoJo Part 9. But even back then he knew JOJOLands would not be a direct continuation of SBR.
“This isn’t a saga like Star Wars. The theme and narrative structure will be completely different,” Araki explained.
As for the setting or location for JoJo Part 9, in March 2016 Araki discussed how he would like to depict future stories in Northern Europe or the Scottish highlands.
“Having never been to Northern Europe, I’d be interested in going there, as well as places that have a bit of a lonely feel to them, like the Scottish Highlands,” Araki explained.
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure manga fans will have to wait until the JOJOLands release date to find out more. Stay tuned!