#and then gyro is having none of it even if he doesn’t like diego either 😭😭😭

[ghonorrhead]

i don’t give a freak who this upsets SHIPPING DIE/JO SHOULD AFFECT YOUR CREDIT SCORE

[mycatatemyslipper]

Warning: lots of negativity about part 7 ahead. I don’t think it’s a bad part and very easily can see how it is many people’s favorite part. I have a lot of little gripes I can’t shake and want to rant about it. I think all of the parts have similar levels of things I could pick at but for some reason part 7 bugs me in a way the parts 4-6 don’t.

Yeah I ultimately found steel ball run kind of disappointing. I liked Johnny and his character development a lot, I liked his final conversation with valentine, I just do not feel like we got any payout.

The corpse is in the same place it would’ve been if valentine had won anyways. Johnny essentially is alone with none of his allies (I mean he technically only had gyro, but he still feels lonely). I know he immediately gets a gf after the part ends but that feels not satisfying at all. Pocoloco did like nothing. The outcome of the race didn’t really seem to make a huge difference besides emphasizing that Johnny isn’t the victor at everything. It didn’t really feel like he had any wins in the end. Sure there was the thing with his dad but like, they don’t interact after that. Idk I wanted a bit more satisfaction.

I get that ppl like to bring up how “realistic” or “morally grey” some of the stuff in this part is, but idk, I wanted a little bit less meaninglessness. Araki gave us all this back story for almost everyone and then they just kinda end their lives and araki goes “whelp sometimes u get the shit outcome but hey other ppl have it happy”. Like a hopeful ending for was kind of only assured for the steels. I also didn’t like how Johnny was “cured” of his disability. Maybe that was supposed to be hopeful part for him? I dunno, that doesn’t feel like a satisfying resolution for me.

Part 6 was my second favorite part and I wasn’t super satisfied with that ending either, and I feel like I could make similar critiques of how it ended. Still, jolyne/Irene were united with key characters in the end.

Lucy becoming pregnant with the corpse was extremely off putting. Like araki used her in nearly every stereotypical way you can use a woman as a “woman” rather than a human being. Everything about her was focused on “how women are” or “should be”. She does everything for her husband/caretaker, she cries all the time, she acts in a way that is perfectly appealing and approachable and docile for men, she seduces a woman who is cheating on her husband, kinda seduces him too, she ends up representing some form of purity, always cries over her husbando, multiple men try to rape her, most men she meets want to marry/rape/love her for little to no reason, she gets used for pseudo reproduction, etc etc. And she’s 14. I wasn’t really thrilled when araki would focus the story back on her for these reasons. Gyro and Johnny doing stuff was the best part of part 7.

I was disappointed how hot pants was introduced in scenarios only to do like two things before being disposed of. The biphobia with Valentine’s wife and prevalent sexism after the awesome women of part 6 was off putting and disappointing.

What the part did well was Johnny’s character development, how Diego and Gyro were written (hot pants would be included if they hadn’t been dismissed all the time), many of the fights were interesting and engaging, and how Jonny interacts with Gyro and Diego. The pacing was good. I wish there had been stronger themes of bonds between characters. Valentine was well written but I hate him. Good job araki but also fuck what you did to Gyro. I like how Valentine was motivated by nationalism that he tried to make sound good even though he’s a lying fuck who just wants power and is xenophobic/apathetic esp to non-Americans. But like, I don’t understand how the result of what happened to the corpse is significantly different from his goals so ??????

I want to compliment the plot but some very minor inconsistencies kinda make me go :/. They kept teasing the corpse being Christ and then dropped it after civil war. It seems small but it being a representation of purity versus the central figure in a religion can have very different outcomes for how it manifests. It kind of felt like a lack of continuity. Also did they imply Jesus was a stand? Confusing. Jesus as a stand would be amazing though.

I think the themes didn’t relate to me as well as in the previous two parts. I liked Johnny’s negativity and selfishness and depression, and thought that he was in many ways relatable. But the cowboy machismo was pretty unrelatable to me, like a stand called Mandom in a chapter called true mans world really made me feel shut out. I know it doesn’t specifically have to men only, I guess??, but idk. The way some of the women were treated to and talked about really felt alienating. Like Johnny talking to Hot Pants in civil war was god fucking awful. There was a stronger presence of heterosexuality in main characters which varies from unappealing to appalling in how it manifested most of the time.

I wanted to like the part but all these little gripes keep pullin me down. Part 7 is one of the best written parts. I think despite inconsistencies and changes in plot direction you can argue it is the best written part. The art is beautiful. Plot progression and character progression/development is good. The character motivation I thought were mostly all eh. The stands were petty good, sometimes hit or miss but mostly hit imo. I fucking love Johnny. I didn’t think the story lagged even in the beginning. Occasional period typical racism was not needed and off putting.

I think when I reread this part someday I’ll like it more. Just disappointed I feel disappointed. People hyped it up and i read it almost directly after part 6, which i think is part of the problem for me. Low to no expectations is the way to go. Sexism in jojo has always been off putting and often ruins certain characters for me. I think i didn’t start taking the plot as seriously until mid way through part 4, when I felt like the writing and characterization started to get much better. Maybe I’m taking jojo too seriously now + higher expectations is bogging me down. I think part 7 again is easily the best or one of the best parts, just it isn’t my best or one of my best or favorite parts.

[sorayahigashikata]

Chapter 64: "Profiles in Asshattery"