#holly joestar kira

[ourpleova]

kei nijimura my sweet silly girl you will never do any wrong ever

[fireyfobbitmedicine]

jojolands leak

[riverf1sh]

day 18 - Jojolion character

1st photo - Yasuho, Josuke and Joshu

2nd - Yasuho, Josuke and Karera

others? idk)

[duhragonball]

JoJolion Ch. 100-104

Yeah, that'll happen.

Continuing from last time, Josuke has lured Toru's Stand, Wonder of U, into the Locacaca lab in the hospital. But instead of attacking Josuke as expected, Wonder of U deploys a rock insect with bullshit powers. It can hide in flat surfaces, and its poison sting makes asbestos fibers come out of "every hole in your body" whenever you extend your limbs.

This is stupid because Josuke's expereinced this about three or four times, and it doesn't seem to be causing him that much difficulty. Hell, Rai takes a shot from the stinger to protect Josuke, and I can't help but wonder why it matters. It barely seems to bother Josuke at all, and it doesn't slow Rai down much either.

Also, every time the asbestos fibers appear, it looks like they're coming out of the characters' pupils, which sounds really distressing, but they just pull it all away and they're fine. They need to pull it away, or they won't be able to see or breathe. But Wonder of U said "every hole", so I have to assume that Josuke's urethra and anus are just lousy with asbestos fibers right now, and that won't be fun to remove.

Anyway, Josuke's problem with the Rock insect is that he can't attack or defend against it, but Rai manages to slither up to the ceiling and get the drop on the thing while it's setting up another attack on Josuke. He takes it out with a single strike of his body-cord.

And that just so happens to put Rai within striking distance of Wonder of U. We already know how this will go. If thinking about pursuing Wonder of U will get you pulverized with killer rain, how in the hell can this be a good idea? I think Rai's logic is that if he can kill the Stand quickly enough, the calamity effect will be canceled before any reprisal can occur. Or maybe Rai is willing to sacrifice himself just to get off this one shot. Or maybe Wonder of U's description of its ability is just a bluff. Maybe it's only good at repelling people from a certain distance, and once you're close enough you don't have to worry about it.

Wonder of U admits that Rai might be on to something, since this situation is unprecedented. No one's ever managed to get this close before, which I guess is a testament to Josuke's original strategy. Wonder of U can keep its distance from Josuke in this room, but it's still in the room, and there's only so much space to maneuver around. And Rai got this close because he was sneaking up on the Rock Insect, not approaching Wonder of U. It just so happens that they were fairly close together.

Josuke pleads for Rai to back off, but Wonder of U reminds him of his dead father, so Rai takes the shot.... and it doesn't work. This is what I was talking about when I said I misremembered Jobin's death scene. I thought he and Rai both got an "almost-got-'im" moment against Wonder of U, but no, it was just Rai.

Here, the calamity that strikes Rai is the soap bubbles Josuke placed throughout the room. Even though Josuke was controlling them, they still went wild and carved out chunks of Rai's body, leaving him with fatal injuries. How and why did Josuke set up bubbles with such a destructive power? I'm not so sure that he did.

Rai's missing a chunk of his head, but he still lives long enough to encourage Josuke to keep going. He explains something important to Josuke about his Stand ability: The bubbles are made of strings that spin very fast, and this is part of an unseen phenomenon.

Then he opens his.... coat? I don't know. The point is that a bubble carved a hole through Rai's torso, but it did not go through his clothing. It was an invisible bubble, something different from the usual Soft and Wet powers, and that's what Rai desperately needs Josuke to understand.

Now, this whole development bugged me a lot when I first read this part of the story. This is, of course, a callback to "Spin", the power weilded by Gyro Zeppeli in Steel Ball Run. Over the course of Part 7, Gyro taught Johnny Joestar how to do "Spin" himself, and this greatly advanced the abilities of Johnny's Stand, Tusk.

Now, in Part 8, Rai is telling Josuke to apply "Spin" concepts to his own Stand to overcome Wonder of U. Well, not exactly. Rai is actually telling Josuke that he's already using "Spin" all the time. He just needs to become aware of this and use this property to his advantage. But how would Rai know anything about "Spin"? He's not a Neapolitan executioner, he's a Japanese Plant Appraiser. That's what bothered me so much in 2021.

Since then, I've watched a Hamon Beat video about the topic, and it clarified some of the relationship between "Spin" and Stands. The "Spin" relies on the Golden Ratio, which is a fundamental property of life (according to the SBR lore, anyway). "Spin", like the Arrow and Stone Masks from Parts 1-6, are advancements that allow humans to approach the kind off powers found in Stands. This is why Johnny was able to combine his "Spin" techniques so effectively with his Stand ability, and why Gyro eventually developed his own Stand, Ball Breaker, near the end of Part 7.

Hamon Beat's logic, then, is that since Rai's a Stand User and an expert on plants, he would have a keen insight into "Spin", which has ties to both Stand powers and the natural world. We know that's the case, because Rai was observant enough to notice Soft and Wet's bubbles were made of strings way back in Chapter 70, when they finished defeating Urban Guerrilla. He compred the rapidly spinning strings of Soft and Wet to the cords of his own Stand, Doggy Style, so Rai could apply things he knows about his own powers to Josuke's.

So it's not quite so far-fetched after all. The other thing that bugged me about this scene, though, was that Rai explained all of this despite having huge chunks of his body cored out by the bubbles. But Rai's been taking a lot of damage this whole time, and since his Stand lets him unravel his body into cords, he seems to be able to withstand a lot more punishment than the average Stand User. It's kind of like how Jolyne would stitch herself back together, or Bruno Buccellati would use his zippers to disassemble and reassemble himself. Rai is dying, make no mistake, but he's not dying as quickly as his injuries would make it seem.

As far as the whole "unseen power" goes, I think Rai is alluding to the similarities between the "Spin" and Stands. Both are imperceptible to those who aren't familiar with their power. Only other Stand Users can see Stands, and they can become intangible as well. Paisley Park can travel through cell phone signals, so what is it even made of, then? Maybe all Stands are just infinitely thin strands, and the vibrations of those strands is what gives them form.

Meanwhile, at the Higashikata's house, Joshuu has brought the Locacaca plant to Yasuho, because he plans to use the fruit to heal her injuries. He both castigates himself for being so useless in this crisis, and he proclaims that he'll save everyone with the Locacaca fruit. All he knows is that the Locacaca is important, but he doesn't seem to know how to use it. His first step is to save Yasuho, I guess, but he doesn't seem to know what that'll get them.

He also doesn't understand how the fruit works. Well, no one truly does. Nearby, Toru watches this scene unfold, and decides he might as well let them try this, since the branch can always grow more fruit later on. This way, he can see exactly what the new Locacaca can do. Joshuu thinks that it'll fuse his and Yasuho's body together, like how Josuke was made from Kira and Josefumi, but he convinces himself that it'll be like sex, so I guess that's why he wants to do this.

Yasuho is reluctant to try this, because there's so many unknowns to the New Locacaca, but then she realizes the Enemy Stand User is nearby, but the only one who could be here is Toru, whom she called for help a while back. Realizing that Toru is the Stand User, Yasuho suddenly goes for the fruit and takes a bite.

I think the idea here is that Yasuho is all about finding and sharing information, and while she gets stuck in dilemmas sometimes, she gets unstuck when she has important information to pass along. Now that she knows the Head Doctor's true identity, she desperately wants to pass that knowledge along to Josuke, and she can only do that healthy.

Then we flash back to when Toru first met Yasuho. No, I don't mean when they dated in high school, I mean when he just showed up at her first day of summer camp and gave her special rocks to help her light a fire. He tells Yasuho that he's looking for someone important, but he doesn't know his name, only certain parameters that sound more like a database search than an acquaintance. Yasuho manages to track down eight people who match his criteria, and one of them is Satoru Akefu, a 79-year-old doctor in a nursing home.

Of course, Toru's true objective here was to find a human whose identity he could assume using Wonder of U, but Yasuho doesn't realize this, any more than she's aware of her own Stand. By the time they meet again in high school, she doesn't remember him from summer camp.

Yasuho calls him out on this, and asks him how long he's been in her life, stealing from her. I'm not sure what she means by this, but maybe she thinks he sent that hair clip her way, or some other misfortune she may have endured. Toru warns Yasuho that she can be spared the fate he's planned for the Higashikata family, but if she takes any action against him, or even looks at his face, then she'll be the very next one in line to die.

Defiantly, Yasuho looks right at him and holds up Joshuu's cell phone. As she looks for some way to contact Josuke, Joshuu gets upset because his arm was deformed in the equivalent exchange and now he's having buyer's remorse.

In particular, he's upset at the thought of Yasuho using the arm she took from him to give handjobs, or to fondle Josuke's balls. Joshuu's the fucking worst. This was basically the moment where he justified his presence in the story, healing the dueteragonist in her hour of need, but he can't have even a shred of dignity about it. As violent as he's acting here, he doesn't even actually do anything to Yasuho, which kind of makes him even more pathetic.

Guided by Paisley Park, Yasuho calls Kyo Nijimura, alias Kei Kira, I guess. I never knew for sure if "Nijimura" was her real last name or not. She's been absent from the story for a while now, but it's not too surprising to find her taking care of her sick mother, Holly. She's probably doing this all the time when she's not working as the Higashikata family maid.

I've often wondered why Kyo kept up this maid job, since she only did it to infiltrate their house and spy on them for Yoshikage Kira, but hell, she probably needs the money to help pay for Holly's medical care, and the Higashikatas need a maid, so why not? I'm not sure if the Higashikatas ever learned the truth about Kei/Kyo, but it sort of doesn't matter at this point.

Yasuho reaches her on the phone and asks her to find Josuke and give him her cell phone so Yasuho can talk to him. And Kei knows exactly where to find Josuke, because Holly wrote it down on her hand before she went into a coma. This kind of supports my theory that Holly's Stand somehow helps grease the wheels for the good guys.

So Yasuho has made her play, but Toru's warning will come true. High above Morioh, a panel off a jet plane has come loose and its heading for her right now.

Back at the Locacaca lab, Wonder of U still won't approach Josuke, so he starts smashing up the place, destroying vials of Locacaca 6251. That annoys Toru enough for Wonder of U to come closer, but then calamities start attacking Josuke anyway. So I guess breaking Toru's things count as a pursuit? I don't know.

Josuke tries to kick Wonder of U, maybe in desperation, and the calamity turns his soap bubbles against him, just like they hurt Rai earlier, and I think this is what gives Josuke the insight he needs to understand what Rai was saying.

Okay, so causing Stands to backfire is a known effect of Wonder of U. We saw it earlier when Mitsuba tried to use her force arrows to flush Paisley Park down the toilet, only for one of the arrows to go wild and blast a hole in the wall, revealing the Locacaca branch to the rest of the family. I don't think Toru caused that specific thing to happen, but it goes to show that it's not just random cuts or falling objects that get caught in the effect. Even Stands can improbably malfunction. I'd like to think Nut King Call has been kicking Joshuu in the groin whenever he's off-panel.

Like I was saying before, I don't think Josuke made these soap bubbles into deadly cutting weapons. I think that happened from them getting affected by the calamity power, the same way those raindrops hit harder than they should have. In other words, Wonder of U caused the soap bubbles to behave in a way that was possible, however improbable. And it's a way that Josuke had never considered before, which is the unseen property that Rai wanted him to know about.

And I think feeling that effect on his own leg might have helped him understand all of this. He lost control of his bubbles, but he could make them do the same thing deliberately, if he set his mind to it.

Then Born This Way rushes into the room, and it freezes the soap bubbles with the cold wind that it generates. This blows the bubbles directly into Wonde of U, and a few of them actually connect! His cane breaks and everything.

And now Toru's finally beginning to understand what Rai was talking about. Among the bubbles he can see, there's also bubbles that can't bee seen. Wonder of U operates on a logic of cause and effect, but if there's something in Soft and Wet that operates outside of reality, then it wouldn't be bound by the logic of Wonder of U. And if that's true, then Josuke might be able to find a way to hurt him after all.

Meanwhile, Kei has already suffered a fatal calamity. When Wonder of U's cane broke, a chunk of it went flying into her eye as she walked in. As she dies, she tosses her phone to Josuke and says it's for him.

Yasuho quickly sends Paisley Park to Josuke, and fills him in on everything she's just learned. Toru is the Stand User. I don't know how this helps Josuke, but at least everyone's up to date now.

So Toru decides to call off his plans to kill Josuke and withdraws. Whatever's going on, he can't afford to take any chances, and if he can just grab the Locacaca branch and leave, he can disappear the way the Rock Humans always do. He can just start a new identity somewhere else and start over with his plan. This might be why Yasuho told him what she knew, so that Josuke would understand the stakes involved. It's not just a question of whether they can defeat Wonder of U. Now they have to beat him, because if he gets the branch and leaves then they'll never get another chance.

Somehow, Rai encourages Josuke from beyond the grave. This also annoyed me in 2021, but we've seen dead comrades do this in other JoJo parts so I guess it's okay.

Toru advances on Yasuho to get the branch, and when Joshuu tries to defend her a falling leaf cuts off some of his fingers. Serves him right.

Yasuho warns Josuke that Toru has the branch, so there's no time to play it safe now. He has to pursue Wonder of U and try to attack with this unseen power Rai was talking about. And he has to do it now, before it's too late. So Josuke takes aim and fires...

[goatpaste]

Kofi commission for a lil Holly joestar from JJL :)

just a lil redraw of her over some DiU panels!

[Commission Prices][Etsy][Buy me a Kofi]

[nataliens]

Мне очень нравится их рисовать 😭

[foodlesoodlesdoodles]

i would love to know more about ur jjba ocs :D

‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️ AN EXCUSE TO YAP . GODSPEED BELOVED CITIZEN. FOR SPACING I MAY HAVE TO DO A MULTI PART BUT I THINK ILL START WITH THE OGS. Honestly I wouldn’t mind an input about which one to clarify about,,,,, also Godspeed because you did this anon off which I could never be brave enough to do (positive) OKAY OKAY SO.

The Primary setting is Diamond Is Unbreakable. Featuring my favorite four gay college aged losers.

JOUJIROU HANABUSA is, quite obviously, yet another illegitimate child of a certain old man. 20 years old and studying to become essentially a professional bug researcher? She was actually made separate from the entire groups theming. She’s kindhearted and struggles to stand up for herself or take things serious, as she feels great remorse for who she was previous to college. She used to be a big hothead boy (‼️TRANSFEM BTW) who was the classic archetype of kid having a rough time at home (or at this case, lack thereof as she was in the foster system at a very small age) and took it out on other people. She struggles with feeling like she’s constantly left out or behind, which emphasizes itself when shit kicks into high gear in the story. (AU pictured briefly here where Joseph finds her at 11 and takes her to be apart of the family)

This kind of reputation proceeds her in the small town, and as such she’s become much more withdrawn and introverted. She left for a period of time as to help her adoptive father on business trips. After which, she came across her little half brother after he accidentally bumped into her while she was frozen looking at a millipede on a streetlight. They didn’t like eachother at first! But brother, once the moms found out it was OVER.

Her stand is The Seven Plagues of Egypt, a very odd place for a stand such as this! But that’s sort of her whole point, she’s sort of an echo of someone she never knew and the issues resulting sort of warping her life and behavior forever unintentionally. (Fun fact: she was 11 when the SDC arc happened!) her stand itself is disturbing and odd, manifesting itself not just out of the material it controls (locusts, fire, blood, etc etc) but also her own internal issues.

The stand itself is crazy, but it’s in the hands of a person who never wants to hurt anyone. Her favorite bugs are of course locusts, having certain earrings and a ponytail holder resembling the insect. It’s range is rather questionable, as Seven Plagues did fuck up— Y’know— Egypt. Or at least a wide range. I don’t have an exact number, as it’s very hard to pin down! She sees through the eyes of the locusts, and can pretty much go anywhere with it even though she can’t use her abilities through the bug outside of a certain radius.

Speaking of, as to how she takes damage— a lot of her stand is multiple organisms in hordes, and she often uses these creatures passively. Whether it be one or 30 all hidden around the room to listen and watch. They appear as small cuts on her body whenever they die, which is HIGHLY annoying for her. (and, newsflash: she DOES get headaches from being rattled around in a jar)

(AU pictured briefly here where Joseph finds her at 11 and takes her to be apart of the family part 2) I’ve tried drawing it only a handful of times once before, but I do struggle to capture it in a way I like. I have far better sketches I know I’ve deleted but can find! But I’d rather not accidentally delete all of this as I’m on mobile.

Her SCARRING is something very important, as it actually doesn’t come from her hurting herself! It’s a close call with Yoshikage Kira, and brother she FELL for that damsel in distress act he put up and he GOT her ass. Luckily he was on the run so she didn’t have to worry about any extra shit, but needless to say her persistent belief in the goodwill of others gets her in trouble. (I am totally certain this won’t happen a second time with a pink haired man who has some weird shit goin on)

This is the most RECENT but UNFINISHED mapping of her scars, body and shape. As you can tell I made the center of the blast sort of blister into a star mark. She gets more later, but as of right now we’re focused on part 4 Jouji. This obviously fucked her up big time, destroyed any feel in that side of her body and definitely needed several surgeries, medications and a cane. Her eye technically survived but it’s very piss poor vision on her other side.

She functions poorly in serious social situations, often opting to do bits or try to lighten up the mood. Though she can hold her own close range as well as a regular buff ass 6’6 woman can, she doesn’t often resort to that unless it’s protective. She at least knows how to try her best in situations where people need support or feel isolated, as she knows those kinds of feelings well and tries to befriend people through food and gifts. This is actually why all of her friends came not from college, but from the cafe Norman works at!

LASTLY, she warms up to her new dad rather quickly! She’s an adult, and she tries to reassure him he couldn’t have known she or her brother were born. (“Though, did you HAVE to cheat on your wife? I mean, thanks for the life and all…… but jeez, dude— TWICE? at your age? Damnn….”) she can’t help but wonder if somewhere in the back of his mind, he knows what her mom is like. who she is. She was left alone in Morioh at like 5, and doesn’t remember her twin brother. (And never learns of him until far, far, FAR later.) She just wants to know why she was left behind, and the only one to be. (It was the destructiveness of her stand, and for a assumedly standless mother— it was far too much to handle. So she took the other less exhausting son.)

Though…….. if she were smaller it would NOT be the case.

[incorrect-jojolands-quotes]

holy: who's the pygmy? what's it doing in my seat?

barbara ann: sister, this is your nephew jodio.

holy: ... and who the heck are you?

yoshikage: yeah, i think mom is confused again.

kei: mom, what was the last thing you remember?

holy: *points to yoshikage* that dopey sailor-looking kid who went out for bubble gum ice cream.

dragona: wow... auntie's forgotten the last ten years.

[kkujo]

people who still think kira and josefumi are related are literally the stupidest people ever oh my god

[nami-moittli]

Done with part 8 and currently catching up on part 9, so here’s the rest of them!

The father that would’ve survived if he was just a little more of an asshole, the WWI vet (dead), the damsel in distress best mom ever, the father that I’d accept the redemption of if he was he had just a little more screen time, the No one named George has any good things happen to them, the damsel in distress best mom ever, but if she went cRaZY, the What if the hand fetish serial killer guy wasn’t a hand fetish serial killer and was instead a boat doctor, “my mom could beat your mom in a fight” -Drug Dealer, and the transfem allegory

Every family has, the guy who got the bloodline cursed for 7 generations, the silly, the guy trying to hard to be cool, the bastard child, the Wait, how did you get here? the daddy issues, the There’s more of you?!? (x3) the you’re not even human, the Okay, you’re DEFINITELY not supposed to be here (x2), the horse girl, the amnesiac and the drug dealer

[artychaild]

KEI NIJIMURA! IS MY BLORBO! GIVE HER PLUSHIES! AND TIME WITH HER MAMA! 

[ourpleova]

Holly Kira and Her Son

[hwaaaanarii]

I've watched JJBA Part 1 to 4 and overall FOR NOW(don't you guys dare bully me for this) here's my fav character ranking from part 1 to 4!!

At number 10 we have Koichi!; so my reason for putting koichi at 10 is because he didn't really give me enough personality other than screaming at my ears but he's a good little munchkin :D

9. Wamuu; The thing is that he gave me so many mini heart attacks to the point that I had grown to like him a lil(ESPECIALLY AT THAT ONE PART EHEMEHEM)

8. Suzie Q and Holly; Now I know some of yall disagree with me here but these two are just so adorable even with little screen time LIKE HOW CAN YOU NOT LOVE THESE TWO!!!

7. Stroheim; Absolutely amazing, chef's kiss, love this dude

6. Speedwagon and Zeppeli; These two are just one of the most loyal people ever like generations after generations absolutely loyal, i love them sm

5. Avdol and Cesare; YES, I AM! LITERALLY THE SWEETEST GUYS EVER THEY'RE BOTH SO UGHHHHHHH MADE ME CRY SO MUCH BRO

4. Polnareff; THE FUNNIEST CHARACTER DON'T EVER ARGUE WITH ME I WILL NOT CARE!!

3. Josuke and Rohan; Y'all are gonna hate me sm but who cares, I love these two so much one the best characters ever written(iloverohanmore)

2. Kakyoin and Jotaro; BEST DUO BEST DUO BEST DUO BEST DUO BEST DUO

1. Joseph; Best joestar, argue with the wall if you disagree. MANS HAS LIVED FOR SO LONG I HONESTLY DON'T GET HOW HE DIDN'T DIE EVERY MINUTE

Bonus!! Iggy, Kira Yoshikage, Dio Brando, Okuyasu, The fuckin cat plant in part 4, the invisible baby, the Cinderella lady, Hol horse, oingo boingo brothers, lisa lisa, kars, and erina!

So yeah that's my ranking, don't hate me, don't dox me, this is just my opinion and if you didn't see your fav character IT'S MY RANKING!!!

[duhragonball]

JoJolion Ch. 89-94

"What are you boys doing up there?"

"We're having a delicious breakfast, mom!"

So where were we? Oh, right, Josuke was on the run from the police, so Rai told Yasuho to head off by herself and link up with them later. I guess Rai and Josuke are sticking together since they'd have a harder time finding one another than Yasuho would with Paisley Park. Somehow, they got Josuke's Lambroghini up in a tree. I'm thinking Soft and Wet could do that, but we don't get much of an explanation. Anyway, Rai bought a paper on his last trip down the tree, and it says that Satoru Akefu is doing some sort of public lecture at the TGU Hospital. They see this as a perfect opportunity to get a look at his face, but as soon as they agree to do it, the Enemy Stand appears in the back seat of the car. It vanishes almost as soon as Josuke sees it, but they soon realize that even thinking about pursuing the Head Doctor will trigger the Stand's ability, which is to inflict misfortunes on the target.

So they get down from the tree lickety split to get clear of the car before something hits it. But then it starts to rain, and even the raindrops hit them hard enough to cause injury. The only shelter available is...

... inside one of the police cars currently searching for them. The boys agree to surrender themselves, but they refuse to step out of the car, which creates a standoff. For some reason, Rai and Josuke have a whole conversation during this, like the cops are just standing there waiting patiently for them to make up their minds.

Rai's a realist, so he's concluded that pursuing Dr. Akefu is a non-starter. His Stand is too strong, and too sensitive to hostile intent. They can't even come up with a plan to go near him without getting attacked from all directions. He doesn't give up, but he's not exactly coming up with any better ideas, either.

But Josuke's too stubborn to quit. He reminds Rai that his name, "Josuke Higashikata", is just a placeholder he was given until he could find out who he used to be. But now he knows he's a mix of Yoshikage Kira and Josefumi Kujo, and he's essentially a whole new person. The police won't find any records of him anywhere. The only thing that gives his life purpose--"proof of existence" as Josuke puts it-- is his quest to save Holly. And so he refuses to stop pursuing Dr. Akefu, regardless of the danger.

Brave words, but he only makes it a few paces out of the squad car before the rain injures him enough to knock him out. So the cops send Josuke to the hospital in an ambulance, while Rai gets taken to the station. On the way, Rai realizes that Josuke's play was actually brilliant. This way, he gets a free ride to the hospital, where Dr. Akefu will be delivering his lecture. Well, it's not that brilliant. They were all together in the hospital when this chase started, remember? And it went so poorly that they wound up in this mess. At best, Josuke's starting over from square one, only he's in worse shape this time around.

As Yasuho tries to track down Josuke and Rai, she gets a visit from Toru, who continues to try to rekindle their relationship. He tells her about something she said once about power lines that inspired him to invent a way to recharge a cell phone without cables. This technology is widely available in 2024, but I think in 2011 it was still in the early stages. Anyway, Toru tried to take the idea to big tech firms, but they dismissed him as too inexperienced and behind the times. The idea had already been developed, and no one really had any confidence in someone his age.

When he sees Yasuho trying to get a lead on Josuke and Rai, Toru offers to show her a photo he once took of Dr. Akefu at the hospital, and Yasuho recognizes the other person in the picture as Mitsuba Higashikata.

This intensifies Yasuho's belief that the Locacaca Branch is at the Higashikata estate. I'm not quite sure how this proves anything that Yasuho didn't already know, but she asks Toru to drive her to the Higashikata mansion right away. It's almost like Toru wanted her to do this... hmmm...

At the Higashikata place, Mitsuba sees how stressed out Tsurugi has been, and she reads about the death of whatsername and Ojiro Sasame, and she starts to put everything together, but she can't quite make sense of it all. I think Mitsuba has most of the pieces, but she'd need someone like Yasuho or Josuke to connect the dots. To be fair, this is all pretty complex, and she's been absent for large swaths of this story. Also, she keeps seeing Dr. Akefu outside the window, and that makes no sense to her at all, since she doesn't know how he fits into any of this.

Finally, she checks on Tsurugi and finds him in this state, and he says it must be the Rock Disease, although it seems to have advanced much more quickly than it did for his father or grandfather. This visual made no sense to me the first time I read this chapter, but now that it's in color I can tell that Tsurugi's body is turning into some sort of half-human/half origami crane. This is probably due to him losing control of his Stand, since Paper Moon King lets him turn other objects into origami, like cell phones and such, but now it's turning him into an origami crane.

This is what Tsurugi was talking about when he told Yasuho about the bunker's purpose way back in his earliest appearances. It was designed to contain the eldest son whenever he succumbed to the Rock Disease. That didn't make sense to me at the time, but we know it causes mental problems and memory loss, and everyone in the family is a Stand User, so yeah, I could see Tsurugi or his ancestors getting potentially dangerous to be around in this condition.

It's also possible that Tsurugi's rapid onset of the disease may also be partly due to the presence of Dr. Akefu. No one in the mansion is pursuing him, but he seems to be having some sort of effect on them anyway. I look at it like a kind of probability warping. The Stand makes accidents more likely and more dangerous, so it's conceivable that it can make Tsurugi's illness progress more quickly than it normally would. Also, his sudden decline has gathered the entire family together in the hallway, so that may also be part of the enemy's plan.

What about Josuke? Well, his dumb plan doesn't work. He wakes up in the hospital and manages to incapacitate the police watching him, but as soon as he tries to get on with his search for the Head Doctor, the calamities start all over again and he falls flat on his face before he can do anything.

But just as he's about to give up hope, who should come to his aid but.... Dr. Holly Joestar-Kira?! But how? Turns out her coma was only a temporary situation. Parts of her body have turned to rock, but they're constantly moving. When they reach her brain, she goes into a coma, but she's been dealing with this for a while, apparently, which is why she wrote a bunch of notes on her body with a felt-tip pen. I once wondered why we never saw any of this before, but in her previous appearances she was always covered head-to-toe, and she had some sort of head scarf over the side of her face.

Okay, so how to sum all this up? Somehow, Holly managed to come out of her coma just in time to find out Josuke was in the hospital, and she threw on a uniform and a pair of sunglasses so she could go to his aid. She only has two minutes before she goes into another coma, but she plans to take him to the secret room where they store Locacaca. Not the plants this time, but the vials of Locacaca 6251, the new pharamceutical version that Dr. Akefu is announcing in his lecture.

Here he is now, explaining the drug and medical implant which he developed to provide this revolutionary treatment. The whole presentation seemed half-baked to me, since this is just a refined version of the Locacaca fruit that the smugglers were selling, and it's a gamble at best. Why would you go to market with something as unpredictable as this?

Then I realizes that Akefu isn't trying to sell this product here. He's just telling people that it exists, and that it's currently still being studied and submitted for approval. Akefu isn't making a sales pitch here, he's giving this talk to attract investors. They get excited about the drug, pour a bunch of cash into the TGU Hospital, and Akefu gets richer and more powerful without putting a drop of Locacaca on the market. It's brilliant, really.

So how does Holly know about this? Well, Dr. Wu said that Holly once did research on Locacaca herself. He called her efforts a "failure", but I think the implication from her story is that she was actually investigating something fishy at the the hospital. By the time she found out anything substantial, she was already beginning to succumb to the effects of her illness, which appears to have been caused by the Locacaca drug. As her health declined, the Four Rock Human Doctors joined the staff, and she never had a chance to tell her son, Yoshikage Kira, what she had discovered. So Kira had to discover the Locacaca Fruit on his own, and he tried to steal a sample, never realizing that it had been the cause of Holly's illness from the beginning.

Holly even knows about Damo's group smuggling the fruit into Japan, but they didn't know about the Four Doctors, apparently. Akefu was using their smuggling ring as a "clinical trial". He was also, most likely, using Holly as a guinea pig too. Josuke asks if they were dosing her with Locacaca, but she never directly answers. Maybe at this point it's obvious.

Wait, so if Holly's been to the Locacaca room before, why didn't Yasuho find her credentials in the security system for the room? That's because Holly has a special key to get in the room, and it's shaped like a motherfuckin' ax! Part 8 Holly is hot as hell.

Holly gives Josuke a dose of the Locacaca 6251 and explains how it works, though Josuke already knows. As far as I can tell this version is just safer to use, as it only forms rocky growths on the skin instead of inside your brain or your uterus or whatever. But even as she warns Josuke not to pursue the Head Doctor, he still feels compelled to go after him. This causes another calamity, and the drug petrifices his mouth and nose before it can heal him. So Holly pours another dose in a hole in the side of his face. This time it works, since she's the one pouring, and she has no intention of chasing the Head Doctor.

I'm wondering if this might have something to do with Holly's illness. Maybe she had tried to use Locacaca 6251 during her conflict with the Four Doctors, and Afeku's power caused it to backfire on her in a way that led to the illness she has now. I'd almost describe her current state as a perpetual equivalent exchange, with parts of her body turning to stone then flesh, then stone again without ever settling on a single configuration.

The last piece of advice she gives Josuke--whom she keeps addressing as Yoshikage because she doesn't know what's happened to him-- is that he can make the Head Doctor pursue him. It won't activate the Stand if Josuke is the one being pursued. As she goes back into a coma, Josuke thanks her for her help and acknowledges her as his mother.

Okay, one question before we move on: How did Holly just happen to wake up just in time to tell Josuke all of this, and how did she even know he was here?

I'm going to chalk all of that up to her unseen Stand. We know Holly has a Stand because she was aware of other Stands in this story. She asked Yoshikage to use Killer Queen to remove a blood clot from Josefumi Kujo, and then when Yasuho visited her in the hospital, Holly noticed Paisley Park before Yasuho had realized it herself. She also knows a lot about Dr. Afeku's ability, although his power seems like the kind of Stand that even non-Stand users could perceive.

So we know Holly has a Stand, but we never learn anything about it. We never see the Stand, nor find out its abilities. That's frustrating, but it also works out very nicely for explaining Holly's odd behavior throughout JoJolion.

For example, she said certain encouraging words to Yasuho back when she was a child. Yoshikage dismissed them as nonsense, but Yasuho recalled them later and realized they were what led her to pull Josuke up from the soil in Chapter 1.

When Yasuho visited Holly later on, Holly seemed to recognize Yasuho as someone who would be a great help to her son. She was right, but how could she have possibly known that?

Holly also had a profound influence on Josefumi Kujo, which is why Kujo was so devoted to Kira's plan to save her. So maybe she said some inspiring words to Josefumi back when she saved him as a child.

I'm just spitballing here, but it feels like Holly contributes more to the plot than she ought to be able to contribute. It's like she somehow intuits all of these fated connections that don't get realized until she's too sick to get involved herself. Maybe her Stand can see the future, or maybe it just recognizes people who are destined to do good later on. Her illness may have compromised its ability, but it still had enough power to lead her to Josuke in this scene. I think she just has some sort of special insight. This might explain some of the markings she put on her body. Her Stand may have helped her know where to put the tick marks on her face.

So Josuke is healed--aside from some rocky growths on his face-- and he follows Yasuho's advice. He calls a courier and sends him off with a package, and then he sits down in the Locacaca room and waits.

... like a BAMF. Look at this cool dude with his adorable li'l sailor outfit. Yasuho's a lucky woman, I tell you what.

Speaking of Yasuho, she arrives near the Higashikata house and sends Paisley Park inside to scout around for the branch. But when she finds Tsurugi and discovers how sick he is, she also finds...

A TRAP! Jobin was expecting her to try something like this, so he grabs the cell phone she was using to contact Tsurugi and drops it in the toilet! Paisley Park can't jump into any other devices to get out, and as the phone gets soaked, Yasuho begins to drown and disintegrate.

Tsurugi begs his dad to spare Yasuho, but Jobin explains his intention to use the new Locacaca to cure Tsurugi and every other generation of their family. I think he plans to cultivate the fruit in secret, and with the Rock Disease out of the picture and his "might makes right" philosophy, Jobin thinks the family will be unstoppable in the future. All he has to do now is keep Tsurugi alive for a few more hours, and give him the fruit when it's ready for harvest.

The thing is, he says that there won't be any further need for "sacrifices", like the way Norisuke's mother died for Norisuke, and Caato killed that bully to save Jobin. Except, yeah, the new Locaca totally works that way. You can only remove the Rock Disease from Tsurugi by sending it into someone else. I don't know why Jobin doesn't seem to understand this, or maybe he does understand, and he's just become so cool with murder that he doesn't see it as a problem anymore.

Mitsuba sees Paisley Park in the toilet, begging for help, and Mitsuba is moved at first, because she still owes Yasuho for saving her from Dr. Wu. But her loyalty to Jobin and her fear of everything going on is stronger, so she shuts the toilet lid, apparently consigning Yasuho to her fate. I'm not sure I understand why Yasuho must die for Jobin's plan to work. Maybe he's just that paranoid about Josuke showing up to screw him over, but right now he doesn't even know where Josuke is.

So Yasuho's stuck out in the yard, drowning. Then she sees the Head Doctor nearby, and the calamity hits her and lops off her arm. This sucks.

Well, it's still better than riding around in Joshuu's pants.

As for Mitsuba, well... I guess it comes down to her being too scared for her family to do the right thing. She tries to use her Stand to force Paisley Park down the drain, but then something goes wrong and her Stand misfires. She recognizes the calamity from before, when she saw the Head Doctor outside, and I think she believed that Jobin's "Kill Yasuho" plan was supposed to resolve that, but no. Jobin doesn't know jack shit about the Head Doctor.

Instead, her force beam shoots the wrong way and blasts a hole in the wall that reveals the New Locacaca fruit that Jobin had been hiding. And it just so happens that the whole family is there to see it. Oops.

[goatpaste]

some stills from the animatic i made yesterday :3