JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure’s first live action adaptation, directed by Takashi Miike, is set to open in Japan in August. Now, thanks to the film’s newest trailer, fans can see one of the things that makes this series truly unique: Stands.
Stands are a staple of JoJo from the third part of the manga and anime onwards. You can’t fully understand them until you see them in action, but they’re basically the physical projection of a psychic power. JoJo is a show about rowdy boys getting in cool fights (among many, many other things), and the Stands make these fights even more dramatic, heart pounding, and creative. Not seeing the Stands in any of the previous two trailers has made fans pretty worried, as how they’re portrayed could make or break the movie.
This new trailer finally shows them off. And they look… pretty alright?
In my opinion the very worst way the Stands could look would be “a guy just standing there,” so at least this doesn’t look like that. But the glimpses are brief, and the scenes are dark. While the particular effects in this trailer look better than, say, the Fullmetal Alchemist movie, Miike’s track record as a director is extremely hit or miss. It sucks to feel like Stands are still a mystery even after finally seeing them, but at least we know they’re in there.