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VS JOJO

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Over Heaven

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JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Over Heaven is a light novel written by Nisio Isin with illustrations by Araki Hirohiko. It was released as part of the special JoJo 25th anniversary project "VS JOJO."

The book is written and presented as the lost transcript of DIO's Diary, featured in Stone Ocean. In the book, he reflects upon his battles throughout the original series, describes his ideals and plans for "obtaining heaven" and talks about the concept of death, as well as his unfortunate mother.

205 pages, ebook

First published December 16, 2011

27 people are currently reading
425 people want to read

About the author

NisiOisiN

288 books966 followers
Nisio Isin (西尾維新 Nishio Ishin), frequently written as NisiOisiN to emphasize that his pen name is a palindrome, is a Japanese novelist and manga writer. He attended and left Ritsumeikan University without graduating. In 2002, he debuted with the novel Kubikiri Cycle, which earned him the 23rd Mephisto Award at twenty years of age.

He currently works with Kodansha on Pandora, the Kodansha Box magazine, and Faust, a literary magazine containing the works of other young authors who similarly take influence from light novels and otaku culture. He was also publishing a twelve volume series over twelve months for the Kodansha Box line; Ryusui Seiryoin was matching this output, and the Kodansha Box website stated that this is the first time in the world two authors have done twelve volume monthly novel series simultaneously from the same publisher.

In February, 2008, his novel Death Note Another Note: The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases was released in English by Viz Media. Del Rey Manga has already released the first volume in his Zaregoto series. His Bakemonogatari, Nisemonogatari and Katanagatari novels have been adapted into anime series. Nekomonogatari (Kuro) has been adapted into an anime TV movie, and Kizumonogatari will be release in theaters this year. Monogatari Series: Second Season, adapted from 6 books in Monogatari Series will air in July 2013. Another of his works, Medaka Box (manga), has been adapted into a two-season anime series.

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5 stars
68 (25%)
4 stars
78 (28%)
3 stars
92 (33%)
2 stars
25 (9%)
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8 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
Profile Image for Eva.
141 reviews5 followers
April 9, 2019
I’ll assume anyone wanting to read this has read up to the end of Stone Ocean, and as such this review has some spoilers for parts 3 and 6.

It was certainly entertaining. Not my favourite version of Dio and doesn’t feel like canon but for the most part the changes could work out or are interesting aspects to consider.

The story ends up following the plot of part 3, however the plot relevant for part 6 seems to have been altered. I always had the notion that Pucci and Dio met well before the crusaders’ trip started but that’s not the case in here.

What I do appreciate the most in this fake diary however, is all the theories that were created to explain various plot points. Why those specific requirements for achieving ‘heaven’, what ‘heaven’ is really meant to be and why Dio wants it, how the fleshbuds actually affect people. Although I don’t agree with many of these bizarre explanations and would rather leave such things unexplained, they nonetheless spark theories of my own.

And, if it’s worth anything, I had a good laugh with this novel. Be it due to some especially outlandish explanation for something better left a mystery, or Dio getting unexpectedly emotional over some petty thing.
Profile Image for Casey.
403 reviews8 followers
June 2, 2020
As much as I love Jojo's this really just feels like the ramblings of a mad man...

It's nice to see Dio showing his softer side, but as this isn't by Araki (therefore not canon) it's basically publish fanfiction. Though it has some nice art by Araki. The story is basically about Dio recounting every single detail from parts 1, 3, and references to part 6. If you've read those parts you know everything. The added parts are Dio going on about how his mother is a "holy" woman but he hates her for it, but at the same time thinks she may or may not be able to go to heaven. Hard to say depends on what chapter your on. Also he views Holly and Erina as this but sometimes not. Also I think he wanted to bang Erina, must be his Johnathan side.

It's a novel for fans of the series, which is safe to say you would be to even know about it in the first place. For a Jojo light novel it's okay the writing isn't terrible, not great but I've read worse. *Jorge Joestar* plus this book feels like the author knows what a narrative is, so there's that!
Profile Image for Gongjin.
117 reviews2 followers
June 10, 2014
5 stars for Araki's illustrations. 3 Stars for Nishio Ishin's story. Review to come.
Profile Image for Suzan.
6 reviews16 followers
April 13, 2020
I liked the way Dio was speaking about his ideas and thinking, memories from the past... the things he hated and keep thinking about it till over 100 years...
Profile Image for Joms.
32 reviews1 follower
May 3, 2020
I really enjoyed seeing Dio's perspective on the events of part 1 and 3, even if most of the journal was just recounting the same things I had seen in JoJo. This gives Dio a lot more depth than he'd been originally given in part 1 and 3. I think seeing a more complicated Dio in the original story might've made both parts a bit more enjoyable.
Profile Image for alexa.
6 reviews2 followers
May 3, 2015
It was ok. The translation probably wasn't the best but if you're a JoJo fan it's an interesting read.
Profile Image for Irumi Zoaldick.
16 reviews
July 5, 2019
It gave me a good prespective of Dio. And it I felt like being under a spell. The words are very entrancing. I could not stop reading
Profile Image for Spooky.
87 reviews
June 29, 2023
You were expecting a review, but it was me, DIO!
Profile Image for Kakuzō Akutagawa.
132 reviews44 followers
August 14, 2020
"The difference between humans and animals isn't that one has a soul and the other one doesn't, the difference is that humans are the only ones that think about going to heaven."

My thoughts on "Over Heaven"
Written by NisiOisiN
Illustrated by Hirohiko Araki

The story: (Jojo part 1,3 and 6 spoilers)
After defeating DIO Jotaro finds a notebook on DIO's mansion, he takes it to the Speedwagon Foundation to have it translated and it ends up being DIO's diary. This is retold by the "translator" who translated it, in the first chapter.

The book is all the diary of DIO, there is no action, basically, it's a 300-page long diary. In the diary, itselfDIO retells the events of parts 1,3 and how he met characters from the 6th part. All of this while trying to find a way and the meaning of going to heaven.

Reading this novel in Japanese:
It's not impossibly difficult but it still took me a lot of effort to read, there were some chapters (there are 80) that I completely didn't understand. But overall I would say I understood about 80% of it.

If you want to read this book in Japanese:

If you feel like reading this book in Japanese I made a vocab list with the words that I found the most difficult while reading it.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sYWK...

Enjoyment:
It is a very slow book, pretty uneventful, boring at times but overall very interesting, especially the chapters where he talks about his mom and the meaning of heaven are very good. It's an interesting read but not a very fun one.

The verdict:
The little details that nisio makes to make reading this book as if it weren't fiction are incredibly good and interesting. Being a diary, the way of it being bitten is very interesting, and some chapters are outstanding. But not all of it. Over Heaven is a 7.5/10
Profile Image for gil madrid.
75 reviews
October 2, 2025
Over Heaven is one of those rare companion works that feels both indulgent and strangely necessary for fans who want to dig deeper into the mythos of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. Told through the perspective of Dio’s private journal, it reimagines the events of Parts 1 and 3 from his own twisted philosophy, granting him a voice that is equal parts arrogant, reflective, and oddly mesmerizing. Reading Dio's words puts his ambitions, his disdain for humanity, and his relentless pursuit of “heaven” into words, giving the series a different texture that enriches our view of him as more than just a flamboyant villain. It finally contextualized the readings that Pucci so commonly referred to in Part 6.

The novel is at its best when it blurs the line between diary and manifesto, letting Dio spiral into grandiose meditations on power, destiny, and immortality. At the same time, the work cannot escape a certain repetitiveness. For some readers, this makes the experience drag, though for others, it is precisely that obsessive fixation that makes Dio such a fascinating character.

In the end, Over Heaven is far from essential, but it is captivating in its own eccentric way. It is less a novel and more an extended character study, offering fans the pleasure of hearing Dio’s voice unfiltered, without Araki’s usual ironic distance. For me, it sits somewhere in the middle: not a masterpiece, but certainly a bold addition that deepens one of anime and manga’s most iconic antagonists.
10 reviews
December 8, 2022
My friend recommended the novel Jojo's Bizarre Adventure; Over Heaven by Nisio Isin.
He knows I'm a fan of the manga series and anime series by Hirohiko Araki. He's a really big
fan so he has the English translation and gave it to me so I could read it. It is 309 pages
The book Jojo'3 Bizarre Adventure: Over Heaven by Nisio Isin is definitely a good read.
The second time I read it I realized that It is different from the normal manga style of Jojo's but you can easily visualize it in the novel if you have seen the show or read the book. I also noticed It's a spinoff of one of the series's biggest villains, DIO, and is in the format of a diary telling us how he plans to achieve heaven and take over the world It fully connects DIO's presence in part 3 and part 6 as he's very different in those two parts. The diary also has significance in the actual manga so it's nice knowing what was actually in it.
Profile Image for Hadeshy.
30 reviews
March 1, 2025
The book is written like the notes of some crazy guy and it's exactly what it is; we read Dio notes as he remembers his past and report what is happening at the moment of writing (during act 3). This style is nonetheless very peculiar and can be off-putting to some. If reading the day to day journal of someone trying their hands at philosophy while recounting their lives doesn't sound like your cup of tea, you probably won't enjoy it.
It is very interesting to read Dio's perspective on the story we're so familiar with, as he tries to understand his failure and what paradise is and how to reach it (in correlation with act 6)
The occasional illustrations from Araki are a very welcome sight.
Overall a very enjoyable read I had a hard time putting off. But not for everyone, and clearly only for people already fans of JJBA who have read at least up to Stone Ocean.
Profile Image for Triscia Katerina.
138 reviews7 followers
April 7, 2021
You would have to go in to this novel without expecting anything new in order to appreciate it. It really is just DIO's supposed perspective over the course of JJBA.

There isn't really any flow to this, which really interferes with my reading. A lot of it was DIO describing events from part 1, explaining and describing his subordinates, and very little of it was stuff about heaven (which was what I had hoped to get more of) So naturally I did not enjoy this novel very much.

It really just felt like reading DIO's diary. The thought of DIO writing in his diary while the Crusaders close up on him is also hilarious imo lol.

What I do like about this is how the author made DIO respect Jonathan, and explained his character on why DIO felt that way towards him. I always felt that Jonathan was the one person DIO respected, and so I was really glad to see that the author adopted that perspective as well.

All in all, it was quite meh.
Profile Image for Raiza Arcanjo.
19 reviews8 followers
April 11, 2021
So, that was A Journey.

It could have done with 50% less Dio raging against "holy, foolish women" and the translation itself wasn't without issues (a very glaring one was the line where it says "an analogy of my failures". Taking context into consideration, it probably should be "an anthology of my failures"), but the way Dio pierces together his understanding of "heaven" is exhilarating and sheds a lot of light on Pucci's plans during Stone Ocean. All in all, an interesting read.
Profile Image for more ♡.
12 reviews2 followers
July 1, 2025
Este libro tiene una de las cosas que más odio en la literatura y es que agarra un concepto que el mismo crea y lo repite una y otra vez cada vez que puede hasta que se vuelve insoportable. Mas allá de eso me gustó, Dio siempre me pareció un personaje interesante, quizas poco construido, así que leer sobre lo que podría haber sentido en determinados momentos de la historia de jjba me dejo pensando bastante.
Profile Image for Dan.
83 reviews
August 17, 2021
Great book !
The vision of Dio about his history is really great.
It makes a great link between all the 6 first part of Jojo.
But something is weird even if it's non canon. If Dio talk about Pucci in this book and Jotaro had read it, he should have told Jolyne about Pucci in the beginning of the part 6.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Sachin.
4 reviews
November 12, 2021
over heaven is a 'i' tense novel which i liked alot and when you know it's author is Nisio then you know its absolutely great this novel describes and depicts the whole character of DIO and after reading this novel which is like Part 3 in pov of DIO and dio climbes more numbers in my antagonist list after this LN
Profile Image for Alex.
159 reviews
November 22, 2021
Eh, it's a fun read but it doesn't feel like it brings more to the table than really fanfic-y ramblings. And I'm not sure the translation was v good (really hard to judge when none of the languages are your native one) which is fine, fan translations are what they are, but it didn't help my experience, I guess.
Profile Image for Phil.
759 reviews12 followers
June 6, 2022
Quite good as a writing exercise in itself, but you really don't want to have your enigmatic villain pulled apart without the most expert of care. Purple Haze Distortion was better in this regard as it kept out of the head of anyone who was particularly consequential to the mainline story.

Some of it lands some of it doesn't, but in the end it's muda, muda, muda.
Profile Image for Iria.
11 reviews
January 15, 2023
Maravillosa.

El punto de vista de Dio en toda esta historia enriquece muchísimo todos los acontecimiento de Jojo's y te permite comprender por qué Dio hace lo que hace.

Una lectura super necesaria y amena.

Como conclusión final: Dio es la Sharpay de Jojo's.
Profile Image for V J.
10 reviews
March 12, 2025
Rien de groundbreaking mais c'est cool d'avoir un aperçu dans la psyché de Dio, son côté un peu plus soft, et aussi sa folie

+1 étoile par pur biais, c'est entièrement assumé
Profile Image for Variaciones Enrojo.
4,158 reviews51 followers
Read
July 26, 2016
Últimas palabras
Según recuerdo, la primera "imagen" que leí de Jojo's Bizarre Adventure fue la del muñeco controlado por Ebony Devil cortándole la cara al empleado del hotel como si fuera una máscara. Por supuesto que entonces no entendía cómo era que se movía ese muñeco. Justo entonces apareció algo que parecía un guerrero con armadura, y yo seguí leyendo sin saber siquiera qué era un
Stand. Pero aun ignorándolo, o quizás precisamente por eso, todavía recuerdo como si fuera ayer la sensación tan intensa que me generó esa imagen. En realidad, yo ya había leído la Weekly Shonen Jump antes de eso, y haciendo fuerza me parece recordar que ya había leído, ni bien salió, aquel capítulo en el que Jotaro deducía la verdadera identidad del usuario del stand de Dark blue Moon. Entonces, evidentemente estoy equivocado cuando digo que la otra escena es mi primer recuerdo de Jojo, así que ni sé porqué dije que lo recuerdo como si fuera ayer. Bueno, siendo un poco más benigno conmigo mismo, digamos que la escena del corte de cara fue la que más me impactó de chico. No obstante, en la Shonen Jump actual, sería imposible ver una cara arrancada cual máscara. Podríamos decir que recuerdo aquello con cariño. Cambiaron muchas cosas desde aquellos días, pero lo que no cambió fue la influencia de Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, que la Jump mantuvo de algún modo. Incluso en aquellos que no la supimos interpretar en su momento.

Por todo eso es que pienso que esta es la novelización de una obra maestra del Siglo XX. No, una obra maestra de varios siglos. Una obra maestra que va a seguir siendo leída en cien años. Esta es la historia de Dio; perfectamente se podría cambiar el título de Jojo's Bizarre Adventure a Dio's Bizarre Adventure. Haber tenido la oportunidad de de escribir la historia desde el punto de vista de Dio, me hace sentir afortunado de ser novelista y fan al mismo tiempo... Y por eso mismo también me cuesta escribir una despedida así. En fin... Esto fue Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Over Heaven.

Por cierto, si bien dije que me sentí muy afortunado como autor y como fan, completar esta novela fue el reto más difícil de mi vida. Tuve que pasar por un montón de procesos distintos para llegar a esta punto. No tengo sino gratitud para con la gente del departamento editorial de Jump jBooks de Shueisha por esperarme perseverante y pacientemente hasta que completé el trabajo. Y mi agradecimiento al maestro Araki por tomarse el tiempo de dibujar la portada y las ilustraciones de este libro pese a estar ocupadísimo con
Jojolion, la octava parte de la serie. Hum... Me parece que me pasé un poco con las confesiones. Supongo que Jojo vuelve a la gente honesta.

Nishio Ishin



Transcripción del epílogo de esta novela de Jojo's Bizarre Adventure narrada desde la perspectiva de Dio Brando, el archivillano de Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Partes 1 (Phantom's Blood) y 3 (Stardust Crusaders). Over Heaven forma parte de la saga de novelas VS JOJO, en conmemoración por los 25 años de Jojo no kimyona bouken.
Profile Image for Bev.
39 reviews
March 2, 2017
If I have to read about Dio complaining about his mother one more time...
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews

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