Jojo's Bizarre Adventure; Part I: We're Lacking Poses!

[The Troubadour]

I would agree if most of Dio's minions were not blaaaaaannnnnnddd

I partly agree, and I partly don't. I mean, the vast majority weren't really characters, they were basically plot devices, so the fights lacked any real emotional connections. But I found the fights themselves were fun, especially as Araki started using more creative abilities.

I do kind of wish Hamon stayed "relevant" through the series, if only because I like cool martial arts. But it's okay that it didn't since Stands rule.

To be honest, I was also bummed at first - I expected the man who defeated the Pillar Men to be much more useful. But eventually I made my peace it: Part 3 was Jotaro's time to shine, not Joseph's. Plus, the fights we did get - against Empress and Bast - were so Joseph it made me happy.

-Joseph refusing to use Hamon any time when it would be useful (which is many, many times during part 3). Yeah he's "out of practice"...until he needs to use it to cover his whole body in Hamon'd up Hermit Purple vines.

Using it to cover his body with the Hermit Purple / Hamon combo should be really easy, though, considering he could channel Hamon through his body back when he was 12 and Hermit Purple is still basically himself.

Most egregious vs D'arby and even more so when there was a prime opportunity for Joseph to shine in a fight against ZOMBIES, the one thing his power is tailor made to deal with!

We already covered D'Arby - no way to use Hamon without it being obvious. As for Justice - seriously? They're not nearly the same kind of zombies. Justice's zombies are basically corpses telekinetically puppeteered by Enya's Stand, they're not corpses reanimated by vampiric fluids (which is what Hamon actually attacks).

EDIT: One should also keep in mind that the vast majority of Hamon abilities are specifically geared toward fighting vampires and their ilk. I mean, I have no doubt Joseph can still punch really, really hard... But I also have no doubt he can't punch nearly as hard as Star Platinum, for instance - or even cause more damage punching than just tearing things apart with Hermit Purple, like he does to Empress.

-Kakyoin's abilities to possess people and perform frickin' voodoo sympathetic magic never show up again after their first use.

And when would that ability be more useful than Hierophant Green's regular stretching abilities or the Emerald Splash, even if we presume that non-mind-controlled Kakyoin is ok with using that ability?

-Aforementioned, ANY of Dio's vampire abilities when they'd be useful.

And when would they be more useful than simply attacking with The World, whose feats of strength and speed far outstrip even those of the Pillar Men, much less regular vampires?

-Silver Chariot's ability to cut things like fire.

...And when did they fight an enemy Stand user who used fire?

-I am convinced Okuyasu frequently forgets he HAS a Stand. Possibly excused by the fact that he's as dumb as a box of rocks but can anyone really be THAT dumb?

Not "possibly", but "explicitly said so". Remember his introduction, how his brother even berated him for it?

-Not necessarily forgetting, but Star Platinum/The World is under-utilized.

It's explicitly said Jotaro can't use his timestop ability as often and for as long as Dio (possibly because he's not a vampire).

-Where did the restriction on Heaven's Door that required the victim to look at a page from Rohan's manga go?

Rohan explicitly says his Stand got stronger AND he's seen drawing things on the air.

Like any writer in such a dense series, Araki forgets a lot of things.

There are a lot of things for which one can criticise Araki's writing (for instance, I'm convinced he doesn't plot things too far in advance and mostly writes by the seat of his pants); it helps to have actually paid attention to said writing, though.

[LaZodiac]

I didn't mention it myself but yeah, Okuyasu being THAT stupid is literally a plot point and an important part of his character growth.

[Fri]

IIRC on Star Platinum's the world, I think it's mentioned somewhere (might be later than where we're at now), that stopping time taxes his heart? That's why Star Platinum's endurance keep getting lower in each arc Jotaro's in.

[Rynjin]

From what I know, that's a flaw introduced only after certain events in Stone Ocean that drastically reduce Star Platinum's durability. Like, A rank durability to D rank levels of drop.

[Anonymouswizard]

So I've just watched the Holiday Horse and Bingo episodes, and I have to say that they were much more enjoyable than most lately. The beginning scene with DIO was amazing, and just what I needed. Although I'm confused on how Thoth works.

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If a prediction has a time do you have to act at exactly that time or have the prediction backfire on you? Why couldn't Hold Horse have fired more bullets into the pipe?

[Yael]

From what I know, that's a flaw introduced only after certain events in Stone Ocean that drastically reduce Star Platinum's durability. Like, A rank durability to D rank levels of drop.

That's certainly a spoiler :^)

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Still, Jotaro's time to shine is basically over by the end of Stardust Crusaders. He does help in the events of DiU, and Stone Ocean, but he's not required almost at all (except for the end of Crazy Diamond is Unbreakable, and Sheer Heart Attack). Consider him one of Araki's mistakes, making him a Gary Stu per see.

[Flickerdart]

Consider him one of Araki's mistakes, making him a Gary Stu per see.

Granted, I haven't read Stone Ocean, but Jotaro hasn't really come across as a Gary Stu so far, any more than the JoJo du jour is supposed to. He kicked butt in Stardust Crusaders because it was his series, and in Diamond is Unbreakable he is on the sidelines.

[The Troubadour]

He is hyped quite a bit by the Part 4 characters, but I feel that's justified considering his powers and what he's done.

[Flickerdart]

He is hyped quite a bit by the Part 4 characters, but I feel that's justified considering his powers and what he's done.

He seems to be hyped too much, if anything.

[Yael]

Spoiler: Diamond Is Unbreakable

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Jotaro is basically who outshines Josuke⁴ when fighting against the main villain. He defeats Kira in the Sheer Heart Attack arc, and once again in Crazy Diamond is Unbreakable, preventing Another One Bites the Dust with his Star Platinum The World. He is feared by Kira because of his Time Stop ability, and does not even fear Crazy Diamond's matter alteration and direct counter to Kira's ability.

Spoiler: Stone Ocean

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During the beggining of Stone Ocean, Jotaro is quickly shutted down by Whitesnake, and gladly. He would have been the deciding factor against Pucci before C-Moon and Made in Heaven was made, so I'm glad Jolyne got a chance to shine. Further, making Jotaro as a whole be out of comission (not just Star Platinum), was wiser by adding more growth to Jolyne, unlike Josuke⁴, who runs for Jotaro everytime he needs help.

[Fri]

He seems to be hyped too much, if anything.

And for good reason!

The stupid kids actually don't listen to him enough (which is understandable, plus most of them are amusingly annoying brats).

Jotaro is way more experienced and had defeated a world-conquering vampire once. He should tell them that, really.

[LaZodiac]

And for good reason!

The stupid kids actually don't listen to him enough (which is understandable, plus most of them are amusingly annoying brats).

Jotaro is way more experienced and had defeated a world-conquering vampire once. He should tell them that, really.

I want to see Josuke trying to fight Jotaro in a mock battle and him just going "you know I punched a steamroller until it exploded right?"

"that's not impressive! I punched a motorcycle!"

"I was under the steam roller and it was being pushed onto me from above by a vampire."

"...oh."

[Gastronomie]

Spoiler: Characters from parts 1 to 6 in a mock battle

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"So I like defeated a vampire who was gonna take over the world, but oh s***, I died and now my body is said vampire's"

"So I like defeated a buffed vampire-ish something that eats vampires for breakfast and was gonna take over the world"

"So I like defeated the vampire who my great-great-grandfather couldn't defeat who was gonna take over the world and like all that"

"So I like... um, I killed a serial killer in my home town"

"lol you did what" "BTW I managed to clean up the Italian mafia" "And apparently the boss I killed was trying to take over the world"

"Don't worry Josuke, I actually couldn't stop the guy who was re-shaping the world, at least not on my own"

[The Troubadour]

Spoiler: Diamond Is Unbreakable

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Jotaro is basically who outshines Josuke⁴ when fighting against the main villain. He defeats Kira in the Sheer Heart Attack arc, and once again in Crazy Diamond is Unbreakable, preventing Another One Bites the Dust with his Star Platinum The World. He is feared by Kira because of his Time Stop ability, and does not even fear Crazy Diamond's matter alteration and direct counter to Kira's ability.

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Actually, there's a moment almost at the beginning of the final battle in which Kira acknowledges Josuke is the greatest threat thanks to Crazy Diamond's healing ability. Plus, Jotaro only stopped that last Another One Bites the Dust with Koichi's help - and that was the extent of his contribution, everything else had already been done by Josuke (with a little bit of help from Okuyasu).

Even Sheer Heart Attack was more Koichi's time to shine than Jotaro's.

[Flickerdart]

And for good reason!

The stupid kids actually don't listen to him enough (which is understandable, plus most of them are amusingly annoying brats).

Jotaro is way more experienced and had defeated a world-conquering vampire once. He should tell them that, really.

Sure, but the only hype he ever gets is "there goes Jotaro, I heard he could stop time, that's scary." Nobody mentions his experience as a fighter or his quick thinking.

[Anonymouswizard]

Just started Diamond is Unbreakable, and about to watch Episode 2. I'll see how this goes, but I'm enjoying Josuke as a protagonist more than I did Jotaro, who I think is going to be much better in a supporting role.

If it continues at the quality of episode 1 then when it comes to the best arc, it'll be Diamond is Unbeatable.

[Flickerdart]

If it continues at the quality of episode 1 then when it comes to the best arc, it'll be Diamond is Unbeatable.

There are some episodes that are better, and some episodes that are worse. So far, DiU has been heavily into "and this week we're doing X" which may be good or bad depending on your taste. For example, the restaurant and the rat episodes were, for me, pretty boring, but anything with Rohan Kishibe is amazing despite not tying that much into the main plot.

[Scowling Dragon]

And I loved the Restaraunt episode. Jogged my desire to cook some more. Now I discovered the true value of Mozzarella and Tomato.

[Gastronomie]

I personally enjoyed Part 4 most when it involved Kira, or alternatively, the episode was about superpower-wielding high-schoolers trying to do stupid stuff like any normal high-schooler would do, except utilizing their superpowers to do so.

[Yael]

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Actually, there's a moment almost at the beginning of the final battle in which Kira acknowledges Josuke is the greatest threat thanks to Crazy Diamond's healing ability. Plus, Jotaro only stopped that last Another One Bites the Dust with Koichi's help - and that was the extent of his contribution, everything else had already been done by Josuke (with a little bit of help from Okuyasu).

Even Sheer Heart Attack was more Koichi's time to shine than Jotaro's.

Spoiler: DiU

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It is, but is not. Jotaro poses a bigger threat, as his Another One Bites the Dust was obtained by the fear of both Jotaro's Time Stop, and to prevent his identity to be discovered, which in essence is stronger than Star Platinum The World.

Still, I don't like the Jotaro hype, and don't like the fact that he was such an overused character. It was good for the plot, connecting parts III through VI, but I think there could be a better way to do so... (Although IIRC, part V was just more like a cameo).

[Fri]

DiU is already generally my favourite to me, because "people doing mundane stuff over the top-ly" combined with low-key urban fantasy is some of my favourite premise in fiction, but two episodes:

Episode 21: Yoshikage Kira Just Want To Live Quietly
And Episode 24: Sheer Heart Attack Part 2

****, those are really amazing. Those might be some of my favourite anime episode of all time.

Also, Araki made a Gucci advertisement for a Fashion Magazine once, a comic starring our one and only favourite spider-licking, finger-stabbing mangaka Rohan Kishibe.

Someone dubbed it. Enjoy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJRxZkwF7ok

[NecroDancer]

Hey in part 6 how does F.F. Keep her body from decomposing? I've been thinking about it for a while but I can't come up with an answer.

[Yael]

Hey in part 6 how does F.F. Keep her body from decomposing? I've been thinking about it for a while but I can't come up with an answer.

Spoiler: Stone Ocean

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She just drinks and drinks water. All the time.

She shouldn't decompose because her very self is an empowered being (by the stand).

[LaZodiac]

Spoiler: Stone Ocean

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She just drinks and drinks water. All the time.

She shouldn't decompose because her very self is an empowered being (by the stand).

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Well remember FF is also...inside of a corpse. By this point she's probably broken it down and just emulated the appearance using water light refraction or whatever.

Anyway hey new episode!

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Beware this path. Do not stare back, or it shall steal your soul. Such a good ending to Cheap Trick.

And then we get into Kira, who reminds us...he is a SERIAL MURDERER and he s ****ING HORRIFYING.

[Anonymouswizard]

So I've just finished 'lets visit the crazy man's house', and I must say that the best bit was learning the origin of the steak hair. Not that the rest of it was bad, but this really makes the hair based anger work for me.

Also, old(er) Joseph! While I do miss Battle Tendencies Joseph a lot, there's just something about the old man that inherently fun (and also sad, it's a very accurate depiction of what age can do to you compared to most I see).

[Gastronomie]

Spoiler: Latest episode

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Jojo part 4 is the only manga/anime in which the completely naked final antagonist is confronted and pressed down by a completely naked elementary schooler in his house's bathing room.

Also, next episode... finally, ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST.

[LaZodiac]

Spoiler: Latest episode

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Jojo part 4 is the only manga/anime in which the completely naked final antagonist is confronted and pressed down by a completely naked elementary schooler in his house's bathing room.

Also, next episode... finally, ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST.

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Only in Jojo.

And yes...finally. Finally. BITES ZA DUUUSTOOO!

[NecroDancer]

I just finished Steel Ball Run. This has to be my favorite part. Gyro was an amazing protagonist and Valentine was the greatest villain (and president). High Voltage was my favorite chapter because it packed such a punch.

[NecroDancer]

"Nyo ho ho!"

[The Troubadour]

Part 7 is definitely awesome. As much as Joseph is my favourite JoJo of all and DIO is my favourite "JoJo" villain, I do think Part 7 is Araki's best work so far.