#part 4 jotaro is best jotaro imho

[thepenguinweeb]

Currently rewatching part 4

So you know

If anyone wants to request.. 👀

[ghostoftheyear]

I keep having thoughts about JJBA, so I'm just gonna stick them here.

So first of all, I really like the epic nature of the whole thing. The fact that it starts out in England of all places and doesn't really move towards Japan until Part 3 is an interesting choice. Obviously there's the interesting plot point of Dio being a recurring villain who looms over the family for generations. Even after he's taken out in Part 3, his actions have repercussions that continue into the next several parts.

Jumping through generations is a good choice for the narrative, too. I think it makes sense that some of the family either wouldn't be extraordinary or would have lives cut short by what is essentially the family curse (i.e. George, Joseph's father). It also means Joseph starts out not knowing much about his heritage and has to learn, which gives him important character growth. Also, there's great diversity in terms of personalities. The original Jonathan is just an All Around Good Guy who does things because they're right. Joseph is a trickster, angers easily, can be seen as a little cowardly even, but uses those things to his benefit in the end.

I'm not so hot on the fact that Holly is portrayed as childlike and a bit dumb; the way she continues to treat Jotaro like a child even after he's grown up rubs me the wrong way, not to mention how she acts with her father. Weird interactions all around. Still, Jotaro is a good character, if fairly static. Aside from him seeming to be a delinquent (without much explanation for why he changes into that from the good child he's shown as in early parts of Part 3), and seeing Star Platinum as an evil spirit until he's given an explanation of stands, he's pretty much the same from beginning to end. Acerbic, thoughtful, doesn't let people see what he's thinking, makes quick choices and plans on seemingly instinct, rarely taken off guard (he's really put off by Terence D'arby's seeming ability to read his thoughts). He also loves his mother and is the type to defend his friends and loved ones.

Instead of another generational skip, and I'm not sure why except that maybe time in the series was catching up to when the manga was coming out at that time (Part 4 is set in 1999 and I am very confused about when the manga was releasing/dates in it, so I'm just gonna stick to the anime), the protagonist of Part 4 became Joseph's illegitimate offspring. This is one of the plot points that really bugs me. Up until then, Joseph is shown as being a stand-up man in terms of loyalty and devotion to his wife. He does lie to her for a long time about the events of Stardust Crusaders, which is sort of understandable -- he doesn't want to worry her about Holly's condition, thinks he'll be able to take care of it before there's bad news, etc. Now I feel like supernatural activity like Stands (and Ripple/Hamon, for that matter) should be known to Suzie Q already, given how she was personally affected by a Ripple attack in Part 2, but whatever. Let's lie to the women and keep them in the dark! It's better if they don't know! (This is another sticking point for me and always will be.)

Anyway, suddenly Joseph cheated on Suzie Q with a Japanese woman in 1983. And it apparently wasn't just a quickie, because when Tomoko mistakes Jotaro for Joseph, she has an intense emotional reaction and tells him she loves him in a huge outburst. She reels it in when Jotaro corrects her, but it's clear that she still has deep feelings for Joseph. Why? Why was this necessary? I'm guessing it had to do with the fact that there were very few branches on the family tree and they didn't want to keep Jotaro as the protagonist for the next part, but it just kind of puts a bad taste in my mouth. Josuke as a character is perfectly fine and honestly has one of the best Stand abilities, imho, and is another who has a great unique personality (even if the way he gets tilted over his hair being insulted is the tiniest bit one-note to me, and yes I do understand the story reasons behind it). I also like the overall change in atmosphere with Part 4; after the huge expanse of Part 3, it felt fresh to have everything set in one smallish town that had that certain local charm. The gang that formed around Josuke, the redemption of various people who got turned into Stand users, and the overall plot was all entertaining, and references to Part 3 weren't too heavy-handed (aside from an older Jotaro being present).

So then it shifts again with the entirety of Part 5 being set in Italy (with a brief cameo from Koichi to tie it all together, pretty much). The story there is entirely self-contained; Giorno, with his innate Stand ability, is revealed to somehow be Dio's son and... so what? Nbd, apparently. No one seems bothered by it. Whatever. And then we're on Part 6 and suddenly Jotaro has an adult daughter, Jolyne, and an ex-wife, and is still drawn looking about 18 (I'm all for the art style but gah, did he age *down* after Part 4?), and we're back to the generational sort of story. I've only watched the first half of Part 6, so I can't speak to the rest, but I just really hope Jotaro isn't. Well.

OK so the whole reason I started this was to get some stuff off my chest, so here goes, in no particular order.

Why IS Holly such an airhead? Grown woman with a child and she still acts like a tween. I can't stand it. I have to write her as an adult. Also the whole "we can't tell her why she's sick, for her own protection". More like "because then we'd have to explain ourselves and we can't do THAT."

Shizuku. A baby is just found abandoned, her parents are never found, and elderly Joseph who seems to have dementia about half the time just ends up with her. I refuse to believe that an infant's parents wouldn't be looking for her day and night, that they wouldn't be heartbroken she was gone. She adds nothing to the story, she has no reason to be there except for a way to occupy Joseph's time. And then she isn't even going to be important to the plot in the future? Why. Just why.

Not a fan of elderly Joseph showing up in part 4 after they state he can't make the voyage due to his age, but eh. Whatever. (It was an interesting choice to see him kinda withered with age, if saddening.)

Fugo. Loyal member of Passione for half of Part 5, then decides he's not going to follow Bruno after they make the choice to go after the boss, and just... disappears. For the entire rest of Vente Aureo. No one mentions him, no one even so much as says they miss him. He just stops existing. I was really hoping he'd come back in some way, but nope. Just gone.

Giorno being Dio's son. I feel like Diavolo/Doppio was explained in some way (honestly I'd kind of checked out and wasn't paying attention at that point), but did they ever even mention who Giorno is or his significance? As far as we see, he just shows up, tells Bruno he wants to take down the boss bc he hates the drug trade, and Vente Aureo kicks off. Now I'm still reading the manga, so I'm hoping there's more of an explanation eventually, but I really don't know. (Not to mention all of Dio’s other random children.)

OH YEAH why did they depict Kakyoin’s Stand being controlled by art at first (with a painting and then with a wood mannequin), but afterwards just completely dropped that? Why bother to use that and then change it entirely within the span of like... two issues?

ANNE, I was just reminded. What the fuck? Did they feel like they needed another kid character after Poco and Smokey Brown, and then got bored and shipped her off again after she stopped being interesting? That was such a random plot thread that literally just went nowhere.

The high-school-age dude with the bouffant who helped push Tomoki’s car out of the snow when Josuke had a fever as a child, with suspicious cuts and bruises, and as a result Josuke hero-worshiped him and wore his hair the same way for no other reason. WHO THE FUCK WAS THAT DUDE. Why did it never get answered?

There'll probably be more as I go, but that's all I can think of for now. And to be clear, a few nitpicks over the entire series? I think that shows how good it is overall. (I'm still kinda peeved about the quotes I saw of Araki saying that he doesn't like Gundam and Evangelion because of the depressed protagonists, but dude, come on, every story is different. Yours aren't better or worse, you don't have to pick on other stories to make yours sound better.)

[specialability]

I finished watching Stardust Crusaders. Even though I’m kinda meh on a large part of it, the ending is really solid (T_T). Unfortunately, we still don’t have an animated Part 5 to motivate me to power through Part 4. People talk all the time about skipping part 1 & 2, but to me 4 is the least interesting arc by far. There are interesting individual parts and characters, but I’m not that into the protagonists and the more pure shounen-y vibe. Killer Queen is the best stand design and Kira’s death is some A++ good shit, but all the goofing around town isn’t my thing. Vento Aureo is definitely my favourite arc story-wise. It manages to maintain the pace and tension through the whole story. Jotaro is my favourite Jojo. Stone Ocean is almost my favourite all-around arc, but I really hate the part of the story between leaving the prison and the final battoru. Yet there are parts of SO that I really love too.

Anyway, I stopped watching Jojo at the end of Part 3 and am now re-reading Vento Aureo and it’s still some good stuff. Trish’s character development is some of the best in the whole series imho. And there will be more reblogging because dang there is a lot of good Jojo Content™ and I am super late to this fandom.