Battle Tendency (Japanese: 戦闘潮流, Hepburn: Sentō Chōryū) is the second story arc of the manga series JoJo's Bizarre Adventure written and illustrated by Hirohiko Araki.

Along with the Hamon master Lisa Lisa, Joseph and Caesar seek to prevent ancient humanoids called the Pillar Men, who invented the stone masks from Phantom Blood, from obtaining a powerful stone called the Super Aja, which would evolve them into ultimate beings and conquer their vulnerability to sunlight.

[5] Battle Tendency was adapted as part of the first season of David Production's 2012 anime television series JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.

Kars, an underground-dwelling humanoid being known as a Pillar Man, created a stone mask which grants immortality by absorbing life energy to conquer the sun (which kills his kind).

[17] At the start of the series, in the fall of 1938 where World War II looms, Joseph and Erina move from London to New York.

[18] Meanwhile, former thug turned oil baron Robert E. O. Speedwagon invites Straizo to Mexico to destroy a sleeping Pillar Man with Hamon.

Intrigued, Joseph goes to Mexico and is informed that Speedwagon was taken to detention by the Nazis, who also hold the ambition to study the Pillar Men to serve Adolf Hitler's world conquest.

[21] Joseph and Speedwagon travel to Rome, where they meet Caesar Zeppeli,[22] a man who trained in Hamon to continue the legacy of his father Mario and grandfather Will.

[31][32] On February 28, 1939,[6] Kars acquires the Super Aja[33] and uses it along with the stone mask to become the ultimate being, despite efforts by Joseph and his newfound allies von Stroheim to prevent it.

In the epilogue, set in 1987, an aged Joseph takes a flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport to Japan, where his daughter and grandson live, directly leading in to the first chapters of the following story arc, Stardust Crusaders.

[37] Because it was "unprecedented" to kill off the main character in a Weekly Shōnen Jump manga in 1987, Hirohiko Araki made the protagonist of Battle Tendency look very similar to Part 1's Jonathan, but with a more adventurous and confrontational personality.

Araki called Joseph a swindler in comparison to the gentlemanly Jonathan, because he is constantly looking to win and will do insane things without hesitation.

He wanted Joseph to be a shōnen manga hero who bends the rules as he fights, like the protagonist of his earlier series Cool Shock B.T., winning by cunning and logic, instead of bravery and perseverance.

[39] Araki stated that at the time, female characters in shōnen manga were typically cute and designed to be "a man's ideal woman."

Araki also said that the supernatural basis of the fights in his series evened the battlefield for women and children to match up against strong men.

He speculated that many readers were probably reminded of the similar Reskiniharden Saber Phenomenon technique from his series Baoh, and admitted that aspects of Kars' goal to become the ultimate being somewhat overlapped with the earlier work.

[64] The young Joseph of this series appears as a playable character, alongside his older self, in Capcom's 1998 arcade fighting game, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.

Anime News Network's Rebecca Silverman described Battle Tendency as "less urgent" than Part 1, which allows for more humor and insanity, while still letting the reader get attached to the characters.