I’ve tried to watch JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure before, but its brand of high-octane violence, goofiness, and melodrama only sometimes works for me. Still, I respect the hell out of this series, which remains true to its insane, ridiculous roots every single time.

You just don’t judge JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure by exactly the same rubrics of character and plot as you might judge other shows. It’s bizarre and it’s supposed to be bizarre. It’s in the title! JoJo’s isn’t an anime, it’s an experience. And it will shoot you like a baffled cannonball from scene to scene, with revelations and ridiculousness unfolding in equally outlandish measure.

Episode 1 of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure season 3 seems to stick faithfully to the JoJo’s mold visually. The eyes are thickly lashed and bright, a notable characteristic of JoJo’s style. The clothes as grandiose, the characters’ builds as cartoonish, and the linework as bold as ever. I especially enjoyed Diamond is Unbreakable ’s unusual color work, which reminds me of Prince of Stride: Alternative.

As for the plot, Episode 1 of Diamond is Unbreakable doesn’t do much to hold new viewers by the hand and lead them into the wacky mysteries of the JoJo universe. You learn what you need to learn and meet who you need to meet: Jotaro all huge and strident with a notably cool hat, young Josuke with his punk hair, Josuke’s hot mom and the little everyman narrator who serves mostly as a stand-in for the viewer’s gawping wonder.

The plot is this: Joseph Joestar made a child in his old age, and Josuke Higashikata is that child. This big cool buff guy Jotaru, technically Josuke’s nephew, needs to make plans for splitting the inheritance. He comes to Josuke and explains this. But he also comes with a warning: a powerful Stand user is heading for Josuke’s town, and Josuke needs to be wary.

Josuke is a cool kid with an affable air - unless you insult his buoyant pompadour, at which case he is immediately filled with powerful ire and unconsciously summons a Stand. A Stand is “the physical manifestation of your psychological energy,” which basically summons buff chrome-plated humanoids to battle on your behalf. (Everything is buff in JoJo’s. ) Josuke’s Stand has one special ability: things busted by it will heal in unpredictable ways.

It’s all the kind of exuberant goofiness you just… expect from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure , but with the promise of some cheery grotesquerie made at the very start of the episode by a severed arm left on a cheery breakfast table. And there’s plenty of humor. The episode’s tiny narrator, a freshman in high school, runs straight into Jotaro’s iron crotch; Josuke’s hot mom bashes a catcaller into his own car window; her dad the cop patiently and kindly explains why he won’t lift a finger to help the guy; and Josuke’s explosions over his hair are goofy but still amusing somehow.

As for the villain, he’s the Most Villainous of Villains (is it JoJo’s without hyperbole?) who was sentenced to death, didn’t die, and then escaped prison. His name is Angelo and he’s also a Stand User. Angelo has the ability to possess people with his Stand and he uses it at once to take control of a passing local lout, brutalizing and murdering the lout’s girlfriend, whose broken body we see casually hidden off the side of the road.

Then he holds a convenience store clerk hostage, but Josuke’s on the scene with his hilariously tiny friend whose presence next to the enormous Josuke is a visual joke of its own. The possessed lout makes the mistake of calling Josuke’s hair ridiculous, because you can’t just leave Chekhov’s Pompadour unpoked, so Josuke hulks out -- the drama is intense . His Stand punches a hole through both clerk and lout. The clerk heals, but the lout’s own knife is left in his belly.

Things get interesting when it’s revealed that the lout is possessed: Angelo’s Stand slithers out of the guy’s mouth, looking like a cross between Frieza and Alex Mack, and promises to watch Josuke always as he slithers away into a nearby gutter. Now Angelo knows that Josuke is a Stand User. Cut to Angelo possessing a delivery driver near Josuke’s home, eyeing Josuke’s hot mom with unmistakable malice. The danger is real. End of episode.

So should you watch season 3 of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure?

While I’m sure I’m missing quite a lot of the background that might help me appreciate this episode even further, I think it’s safe to say that Episode 1 of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable perfectly suits what most fans expect from JoJo’s . It’s worth watching if you’re a fan of JoJo’s , of bizarre and sometimes gruesome humor, of crazy characters, dramatic fights and wild plots, and of one of the most distinctive art styles in the business.

Please note: this preview review for JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Season 3: Diamond is Unbreakable is based solely on my impressions after viewing Episode 1 only.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable is available to view on Crunchyroll here. It will stream Fridays at 12:30 PM EST this spring anime season.