JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure has lasted for decades for one simple reason: it never lets itself get comfortable. Every major arc resets the series with a new time period, setting, and lead, which means it’s constantly reinventing itself without losing its unmistakable flavor.
That rotating lineup of protagonists is a huge part of why JoJo feels so addictive. Each JoJo has a different vibe and a different way of approaching conflict. Some are noble and traditional, some are loud and impulsive, some win through mind games, and some are so morally complicated they barely feel like heroes at all. Even when the premise shifts from part to part, the protagonist anchors the story, sets the tone, and determines how the series’ weirdness is expressed.
In this article, I’m ranking every JoJo protagonist and breaking down what makes each one work as a lead. I’ll talk about their personality, growth, strengths, weaknesses, and how well they carry their part overall. If you’re a fan of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, I hope you enjoy this ranking of all JoJo protagonists.
Mild spoiler warning: I’ll avoid major plot beats, but some character details are necessary to explain the ranking.
With that said, here’s my ranking of all JoJo protagonists (last updated: February 2026).
9. Jonathan Joestar (Part 1 – Phantom Blood)
Jonathan Joestar is the protagonist of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Part 1 – Phantom Blood.
He’s raised by his father alongside his adopted brother, Dio Brando. From the beginning, Jonathan comes across as a true gentleman, defined by honesty, kindness, and pride in the Joestar name. He’s also deeply selfless and courageous. He fights with honor and carries an unwavering moral compass.
Over the course of Phantom Blood, Jonathan grows from an innocent, naïve youth into a powerful and determined hero. In many ways, he’s the most traditional JoJo: a straightforward hero archetype who faces evil head-on and refuses to compromise on what he believes is right.
His rivalry with Dio Brando sits at the heart of Part 1 and drives the entire series forward. Dio’s influence doesn’t end with Phantom Blood either. His legacy hangs over the Joestar bloodline for generations, shaping later parts in ways that trace back to Jonathan’s original conflict.
That said, Jonathan is also the most traditional shonen protagonist in the lineup, and by far the least complex. Compared to the wildly distinct JoJos who follow him, he can feel too bland and too familiar, and he doesn’t stand out much from the other shonen protagonists of his era.
8. Josuke Higashikata (Part 8 – JoJolion)
Josuke Higashikata, also known as Gappy, is one of the more unique JoJo protagonists, and he’s the main character of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Part 8 – JoJolion.
On the surface, Gappy looks like a typical JoJo: physical strength, sharp instincts, and strong combat ability. What truly sets him apart, though, is the fact that he’s an amnesiac. JoJolion follows him as he tries to piece together who he really is, and that identity hunt becomes the core of both his character and the part’s mystery-driven structure.
Personality-wise, Gappy is a great mix of traits that don’t always sit comfortably together. He can be kindhearted and compassionate, but he can also be ruthless, brutal, and intensely logic-driven. That darker edge shows up most clearly in battle, where he often has no qualms about killing opponents in cold blood if he decides it’s necessary. Compared to many other JoJos, he feels less like a heroic ideal and more like someone operating on survival instincts and personal purpose.
His Stand, Soft & Wet, is also one of the most creative in the series. It lets him produce bubbles that can steal aspects or properties from anything they touch, which allows for some wildly inventive strategies. It’s the kind of ability that feels perfectly suited to JoJolion’s constant rule-bending fights, and it’s a huge reason the battles are consistently interesting.
That said, the amnesia angle is also what makes Gappy a relatively weak protagonist. Again and again, he ends up in conflicts he doesn’t fully understand, dealing with people and situations where the emotional stakes exist, but he doesn’t have the memories to connect with them. Still, that weakness feels intentional. It feeds directly into JoJolion’s atmosphere and its larger focus on identity, family, and truth-seeking, and it helps the story maintain that persistent feeling that something is always slightly out of reach.
7. Joseph Joestar (Part 2 – Battle Tendency)
Many people consider Joseph Joestar one of the best, if not the best, JoJo protagonists. He’s the lead of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Part 2 – Battle Tendency.
Joseph is immediately more distinct than his grandfather. Where Jonathan is the straightforward gentleman hero, Joseph is a cocky, sarcastic trickster, and that shift gives Battle Tendency a much-needed breath of fresh air. He feels like the first JoJo who’s willing to be messy, annoying, and wildly entertaining all at once.
In battle, Joseph doesn’t just rely on physical strength or Hamon techniques. He wins through ploys, psychological tricks, and clever strategy, constantly outthinking opponents who are usually stronger than he is. That approach makes his fights feel different from Part 1’s more direct clashes, because the tension often comes from whether his mind games will actually pay off.
Over the course of the story, Joseph matures and becomes more capable and grounded than the impulsive young man he starts out as. Even so, he never truly loses that cocky jokester personality, which is a big part of why fans love him.
Personally, though, Joseph started to wear on me. His sarcasm and confidence are fun at first, but after a while they become tiring, especially when paired with his constant clever comebacks. Too often, his strategies didn’t feel like believable outplays so much as unrealistic cop-outs, or Araki leaning on a deus ex machina to let Joseph win.
So while Joseph is widely regarded as a fantastic JoJo protagonist, I never grew truly fond of him in the way other fans did.
6. Jodio Joestar (Part 9 – The JOJOLands)
Jodio Joestar is the protagonist of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Part 9 – The JOJOLands, and he’s easily one of Araki’s best new-era leads so far. He’s a 15-year-old living in Honolulu, Hawaii, and unlike many earlier JoJos, he isn’t pulled into a grand heroic quest. He’s already operating on the fringes of crime, running jobs connected to the local underground drug trade, and chasing one specific outcome: getting filthy rich by any means necessary.
What makes Jodio stand out is his mindset. He leans into calculation and volatility over righteousness, and he can escalate to violence with almost no hesitation. That gives Part 9 a colder edge than a lot of earlier arcs, because Jodio doesn’t feel like a hero so much as a problem solver who’s willing to do awful things if he thinks it gets him closer to the goal. At the same time, he’s not portrayed as invincible or purely cool-headed. The story frames him as someone who struggles to feel genuinely happy, and he’s diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder by his school’s counselor, which adds an uncomfortable layer to how he relates to other people.
His Stand, November Rain, fits him perfectly. It generates localized rain that Jodio can manipulate, including adjusting its height and pressure to create crushing, selective downpours. It’s straightforward in concept but brutal in execution, and it supports the tactical, rule-based fights Araki is leaning into.
Because the JOJOLands is still ongoing, Jodio’s full character arc is still unfolding, so I can’t rank him higher just yet. The foundation is already strong, though: he’s ambitious, unstable, frighteningly pragmatic, and genuinely fresh compared to the JoJos who came before him.
5. Jotaro Kujo (Part 3 – Stardust Crusaders)
Jotaro Kujo is the protagonist of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Part 3 – Stardust Crusaders. He’s easily the most iconic and popular JoJo protagonist, and he shows up frequently in later parts, which only adds to how central he feels to the franchise.
As a lead, Jotaro works because he’s a strong middle ground between the first two JoJo protagonists. He has Jonathan’s steadiness and sense of duty, but he also has some of Joseph’s sharpness and attitude, just without the nonstop sarcasm and showboating. The result is a more well-rounded protagonist who feels tougher and less bland than Jonathan, while also being less exhausting than Joseph at his most cocky.
He’s also one of the strongest characters in the entire series, and his Stand, Star Platinum, is the reason. It’s one of the fastest and most powerful Stands in JoJo, and it makes Jotaro feel intimidating in almost every fight he’s in.
Character-wise, Jotaro stands out as a brash, stoic delinquent, and at first he can come across as cold and unlikable. But he develops noticeably over the course of Stardust Crusaders. He learns how to open up to others, shows more of his softer side, and gradually settles into a strong sense of justice that becomes one of his defining traits.
That said, Jotaro never fully clicked with me the way he does for a lot of fans. In some ways, he ends up feeling a little too close to a traditional shonen protagonist. While his early edge is refreshing compared to Jonathan, he eventually settles into something that can feel almost as familiar and heroic as Part 1. I also think Star Platinum is part of the problem. It’s so overpowered throughout Stardust Crusaders that it can flatten tension, because you often feel like Jotaro has an answer to everything.
The best part of Jotaro, though, is his dynamic with Joseph. Their relationship adds a lot to his character, and their interactions give him more warmth and dimension than he would have otherwise. Overall, there are plenty of reasons Jotaro is as popular as he is, but I still find several other JoJo protagonists more interesting than him.
4. Giorno Giovanna (Part 5 – Golden Wind)
Giorno Giovanna is the protagonist of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Part 5 – Golden Wind. He’s tied to both Dio Brando and Jonathan Joestar, which immediately makes him one of the most interesting JoJos in the entire lineup.
As a protagonist, Giorno is strong in a quiet way. He’s intelligent and calm, with a deep sense of pride, justice, and almost unreal determination. He also has the type of willpower that makes him feel unstoppable once he commits to a goal. At the same time, he’s not as loud or distinctive as some other JoJo leads, and because of that, he’s frequently outshined by the cast around him.
Giorno’s backstory helps explain both his ambition and his values. Growing up, he endured poverty and neglect, and his decision to enter the mafia isn’t just about gaining power or money. He wants to take control of Passione so he can eliminate the drug trade, cutting out the source of the suffering he experienced himself and saw in others. That Gang-Star dream gives him a clear moral purpose even while he’s climbing through the criminal world.
His Stand, Gold Experience, is also one of the more complex and versatile abilities in the series. It can bring inanimate objects to life, which opens up an endless range of creative uses in battle. And by the end of Part 5, it evolves even further into something that’s arguably the most powerful Stand in all of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure.
What makes Giorno especially interesting, though, is that his strong moral compass doesn’t make him gentle. He’s ruthless when he needs to be, and at times he can feel almost comparable to Dio in how coldly decisive he is. He doesn’t shy away from fights, and he has no problem killing if he thinks it’s necessary.
That said, the greatest strength of Golden Wind isn’t Giorno alone. It’s the character dynamic around him. His interactions with the rest of the cast make Part 5 such a delight to read and one of the strongest arcs in the series. And among that cast, Bruno Bucciarati stands out the most. He’s easily one of the best characters in all of JoJo, and he’s a big reason Part 5 hits as hard as it does.
3. Josuke Higashikata (Part 4 – Diamond Is Unbreakable)
Josuke Higashikata is the protagonist of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Part 4 – Diamond Is Unbreakable.
The first thing you notice about Josuke is how different he feels from earlier JoJo protagonists. He isn’t a gentleman like Jonathan, and he isn’t a larger-than-life badass on a globe-spanning mission like Jotaro. He’s just a normal high schooler living in Morioh, and that is a big reason why Part 4 feels so intimate compared to the arcs that came before it.
His Stand, Crazy Diamond, reflects that shift perfectly. Instead of being a pure combat monster like Star Platinum, it’s closer to a support Stand, with the ability to repair objects and even heal people by restoring them to a previous state. It can still be used offensively, but its core ability feels more personal and small-town than the brute-force powers that dominated the earlier parts.
As a character, Josuke can also be a little perplexing, and that’s not a bad thing. Early on, he comes across as impulsive and even a little vain, and he’s sometimes overshadowed by the personalities around him, especially by characters like Rohan Kishibe and Koichi Hirose. But that dynamic makes him feel grounded, like someone who exists inside a community rather than dominating every scene.
Josuke’s friendly, upbeat nature makes him easy to like, and he has a talent for turning strangers into friends. At the same time, he can get serious in an instant when something crosses a line. Unlike Jotaro, though, he isn’t the type to charge blindly into danger. He avoids fights when he can, and when he does step up, it usually feels motivated by loyalty or emotion rather than ego or a need to prove himself.
All those traits, both the flaws and the strengths, are what make Josuke one of the more interesting and well-developed JoJo protagonists. His character development is a big part of it. Over the course of Diamond Is Unbreakable, he matures noticeably and grows into a more level-headed, compassionate young man, shaped by his friendships and by his connection to his estranged father, Joseph.
Despite his rough edges, or maybe because of them, Josuke remains a fan favorite and one of the most beloved JoJo protagonists.
2. Jolyne Cujoh (Part 6 – Stone Ocean)
Jolyne Cujoh is the only female JoJo and the protagonist of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Part 6 – Stone Ocean.
At first glance, Jolyne can come across as a lot like her father. She has that same sharp edge, with a snappy, sassy attitude and a tendency to hit back when she’s pushed. But there’s more to her than that, and in my opinion, she ends up being a more interesting character than Jotaro because we get to see her change so dramatically over the course of her part.
Her Stand, Stone Free, is also a perfect fit for that kind of protagonist. It gives her control over strings and even allows her to unravel parts of her own body into them, which makes it incredibly versatile. She can use it for stealth and utility just as easily as combat: hiding, pickpocketing, eavesdropping, creating traps, and even swinging around the environment. It’s one of those Stands that gets more impressive the more creative she becomes.
The biggest reason Jolyne stands out, though, is her character development. Stone Ocean starts with her as a lost young woman who’s been framed for murder and thrown into prison, and it ends with her becoming a badass and the leader of her allies. You can feel that growth in everything, from how she carries herself to how she talks to how she handles both friends and enemies when the pressure rises.
In fights, Jolyne consistently shows a strategic mind. She doesn’t just rely on toughness or raw power. She uses Stone Free in clever, flexible ways, adapting to whatever insane situation Araki throws at her. That creativity makes her a formidable opponent, and it also makes her battles some of the most interesting and unique in all of JoJo.
Jolyne stands out among JoJo protagonists not only because she’s the only female JoJo, but also because her arc is one of the strongest in the series. Her growth feels earned, her fights are consistently inventive, and she’s easily one of the most memorable leads.
1. Johnny Joestar (Part 7 – Steel Ball Run)
Johnny Joestar is the protagonist of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Part 7 – Steel Ball Run.
Set in an alternate timeline, Johnny is essentially a counterpart to Jonathan Joestar. He’s a former jockey whose life is shattered after a riding accident leaves him paralyzed from the waist down. Compared to earlier JoJos, he starts from a much darker, more fragile place, and Steel Ball Run doesn’t shy away from showing how bitter, stuck, and directionless that leaves him.
After meeting Gyro Zeppeli, Johnny enters the Steel Ball Run with one driving hope: finding a way to heal his legs. That goal shapes his entire arc. Johnny’s story is, at its core, a journey of self-improvement, a slow climb out of despair, and a fight to overcome both his limitations and his disability. Because of that, his struggles feel more personal and relatable than most JoJo arcs, and it turns him into an incredibly compelling protagonist.
In battle, though, Johnny is anything but gentle. He can be ruthless, and he has no qualms about killing when he decides it’s necessary. His Stand, Tusk, reflects that edge. It lets him fire his fingernails like bullets, and it evolves over multiple Acts, each one more powerful than the last. While Tusk isn’t as broadly versatile or conceptually weird as some other JoJo Stands, Johnny still becomes a formidable opponent because of how decisively he uses it.
Johnny can also be off-putting early on. He’s selfish, bitter, and sometimes outright unlikable. But the story makes it easy to understand where that ugliness comes from, and it never feels like cheap edginess. It feels like someone coping badly with having their entire identity ripped away.
And over the course of Steel Ball Run, that version of Johnny slowly changes. He grows into a more compassionate, confident young man, and you get to watch him genuinely earn that transformation step by step. A huge part of that growth comes from his relationship with Gyro, which is one of the best dynamics in all of JoJo. Gyro isn’t just his ally. He’s a mentor and a friend, and he pushes Johnny toward becoming someone better than the person he started as.
For all of those reasons, Johnny Joestar is my favorite JoJo protagonist and one of the greatest characters in all of JoJo.
