JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood is a Japanese manga series created by Hirohiko Araki. It is the first manga to a much bigger JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure series.

The manga series was originally serialized in Shueisha’s Weekly Shounen Jump in 1987. It’s chapters are collected in 5 separate volumes. The entire series has over a 100 million copies in circulation, worldwide, making it one of the best selling manga series ever.

Phantom Blood got its anime adaptation by David Productions in 2012, consisting of 26 episodes.

The story begins in between the 12th and 16th century, where an ancient Aztec ritual is taking place in Mexico. A man sacrifices a woman, which causes the activation of the stone mask, giving the man, eternal life.

He then stabs one of his followers, causing the stone mask to absorb his life and making itself even stronger.

We are then taken to the year 1880, where a dying Dario Brando, tells his son, Dio Brando, that 12 years earlier, while coming back from a bar, he came across an accident.

Dario thought of stealing the man’s valuables, but the man woke up and thinking that Dario saved him, promised to help him, while introducing himself as George Joestar.

Before dying, Dario gives his son a letter to give to the Joestar family. After his death, Dio recalls all the misdeeds that his father had done and spits on his grave, vowing to become a very rich man by using the Joestar’s.

Meanwhile, somewhere else, two boys have stolen a doll from a young girl named Erina. A young boy comes running to her rescue but gets his nose bloodied up by the two boys. He takes out a handkerchief with his name written on it, Jonathan Joestar.

As the two bullies leave, Jonathan tells Erina that he did not try to save her to get her attention, and that he is going to become a Squire.

As Jonathan heads home, he sees Dio stepping out of a carriage and recognizes him. He introduces himself and calls his dog, Danny, to meet Dio, but Dio knees Danny in the jaw.

As Jonathan is infuriated by this action, Dio is mentally devising his plan to destroy Jonathan and becoming the sole heir to the Joestar fortune.

What adventures await Dio and Jonathan? What role does the Stone Mask play in this story?