As fate would have it, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure has a rather – well – bizarre history. The cult hit had had decades to build up its reputation as a supernatural staple, and its anime continues to wow today. However, there are pieces of history the franchise has forgotten which fans have not, and it seems one such event is resurfacing against all odds.
Over on Reddit, a user surprised fans of JoJo when they posted a pilot reel many thought was lost to time. The clip, which can be seen above, shows off footage from the 2007 film adaptation of Phantom Blood which is known as one of anime’s greatest pieces of lost media.
Videos by ComicBook.com
As you can see, the clip features the song “VOODOO KINGDOM” from the band SOUL’d OUT. Fans can watch as an array of familiar characters like Jonathan Joestar and Dio Brando appear. The film, which Studio APPP oversaw, was released over a decade ago to commemorate the 25th anniversary of creator Hirohiko Araki’s career. But thanks to film’s lackluster performance, Phantom Blood was give a limited theatrical run before disappearing all together.
To date, no home video has ever been released for this iteration of Phantom Blood, and it has become a sort of myth amongst fans. Only snippets of the actual film remain along with a few short trailers, but this new reel appears to contain new footage. In fact, the footage is said to hail from the 2004 Tokyo International Preview Fair which showed a 2-minute reel of the final Phantom Blood movie. The clip, which is said to be lost, showed wildly different footage from the actual film and featured different character designs as well as leads like Robert Speedwagon. It appears this 2-minute clip is the one which this new clip is taken from, and netizens are not sure where the original footage was found from.
Now, fans are wondering whether the folks behind JoJo are considering an actual re-release of the fabled film. But for the time being, fans will have to simply imagine what was when it comes to this curious piece of lost anime history.
Do you think this complete JoJo movie will ever surface online some day…? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind is the fifth and most recent part of Hirohiko Araki’s series, and follows Giorno Giovanna, the son of former series villain Dio Brando, as he joins the mafia group Passione in order to change and reform them into reputable thieves and crooks from the inside. The anime adaptation premiered last October, and can be currently found streaming on Crunchyroll.
