Jojo's Bizarre Threadventure

[SirGauoftheSquareTable]

...I shall leave final judgement on Jojolion until it's finished.

Understandable, but considering how noticeable the retcons have been, and because at this point, there's no one aside from Yasuho I can really root for, it's falling flat. Unless something is done to make another sympathetic, more-or-less good person, I can't really care all that much.

- - - Updated - - -

I love Phantom Blood's setting and atmosphere, and for all that the characters are all one-or-two-dimensional, I'd say that mostly works to the story's favour. Battle Tendency has what feels like a very disjointed narrative, but it's so balls-to-the-walls crazy, and Joseph is such a fun character, it makes up for it plenty. Stardust Crusaders can drag on sometimes with the whole Stand User of the Week format, but the main characters are very endearing, and I feel the battles are a good mix of traditional shonen fights and creative usage of off-the-wall abilities; plus, its high moments (off the top of my head, there were the battles with Anubis, the elder D'arby, and DIO) are really, really good.

Basically, I'm a huge fan of the original DIO trilogy. It's not that the other parts are bad (and Josuke, appropriately enough, is nearly as much a fun character as Joseph), but none of them made me feel like the first three - until Steel Ball Run, that is. That one might actually be my favourite part.

SC and VA made me feel sympathetic fatigue for the characters as I read them, though the anime did improve things for VA. In any case, I don't like the whole Stand-of-the-week formula that much. Stone Ocean did it better and also somehow made it less tiring and made it more so that I admired Jolyne's grit. I honestly just like the original universe quite a bit.

[mAc Chaos]

Sympathetic fatigue?

[weeblord]

4 > 7 > 5 > 2 > 6 > 3 > 1

fell off the 8 ride and havent caught up.

[Skull]

I suppose I might as well jump on the bandwagon and put my entire list up.

7 > 1 > 4 > 2 > 6 > 3 > 5

[SirGauoftheSquareTable]

Sympathetic fatigue?

Like I felt exhausted from the sheer number and frequency of fights as if I was there.

[mAc Chaos]

Oh. That’s good then.

[Skull]

Like I felt exhausted from the sheer number and frequency of fights as if I was there.

Mmm...I can kinda understand. Unlike Part 4 which was an ensemble cast of main characters where everyone got some spotlight in fights and such, Part 8 is very much the story of Josuke and almost every fight involves either just him or with occasionally someone helping him.

I could see it getting very tedious if you aren't invested into Josuke's quest and character development.

[SirGauoftheSquareTable]

Mmm...I can kinda understand. Unlike Part 4 which was an ensemble cast of main characters where everyone got some spotlight in fights and such, Part 8 is very much the story of Josuke and almost every fight involves either just him or with occasionally someone helping him.

I could see it getting very tedious if you aren't invested into Josuke's quest and character development.

Spoiler:

I like Josuke's quest, but I don't like the Higashikata family's struggle. They all are awful in some way, except maybe Haato and Norisuke IV. Also, I feel maybe the whole identity thing was resolved too early, and I just wish there was more connection between Part 8 and Part 7.

[Skull]

Spoiler:

I like Josuke's quest, but I don't like the Higashikata family's struggle. They all are awful in some way, except maybe Haato and Norisuke IV. Also, I feel maybe the whole identity thing was resolved too early, and I just wish there was more connection between Part 8 and Part 7.

Spoiler:

[[ I'm personally fine with the moral ambiguity of the Higashikata family, it's nothing new to the SBR-verse especially after Araki introduced the whole "Dark Will" concept that the heroes had but not the villain in Part 7 (also Josuke in Part 8). It adds to the complexity of the characters in my opinion.

As for connections between Parts, I'm fine with that as well since I think every Part should be able to stand on their own without using a previous one as a crutch. ]]

[Toa of Gallifrey]

Spoiler:

Who dares imply best girl Daiya is anything beneath perfection?

[SirGauoftheSquareTable]

Spoiler:

[[ I'm personally fine with the moral ambiguity of the Higashikata family, it's nothing new to the SBR-verse especially after Araki introduced the whole "Dark Will" concept that the heroes had but not the villain in Part 7 (also Josuke in Part 8). It adds to the complexity of the characters in my opinion.

As for connections between Parts, I'm fine with that as well since I think every Part should be able to stand on their own without using a previous one as a crutch. ]]

Spoiler:

It's just, these events happened in the same reality, they should be related, and it's also the history of it all. Also, about Johnny's supposed moral ambiguity, sure his goals are less than honorable at first, and he is kind of a jerk, I actually never found him that "dark", do to speak, especially in the second half, except when he kept shooting at Love Train and killing random people. All the Higashikatas are actually worse in some way.

[Skull]

Spoiler:

It's just, these events happened in the same reality, they should be related, and it's also the history of it all. Also, about Johnny's supposed moral ambiguity, sure his goals are less than honorable at first, and he is kind of a jerk, I actually never found him that "dark", do to speak, especially in the second half, except when he kept shooting at Love Train and killing random people. All the Higashikatas are actually worse in some way.

Man, this thread is full of spoilers today.

[[ Hmm... I disagree that they "should" be related just because they're in the same reality. Very little of Part 5 has any connection to what happened in previous Parts.

As for Johnny, moral ambiguity is a clear theme of SBR throughout. Johnny even mentions to Gyro in the final arc that Valentine might even be morally superior to them but he still won't give up on his selfish desires. It's part of the reason why I love the "True Man's World" arc where Ringo states that only Johnny is worthy of fighting him because he possesses the "Dark Will" and would be willing to fight to the death. Gyro is constantly trying to talk his way out of fighting and Johnny states that it's that weakness that's holding him back and why he keeps losing to Diego. After Johnny is defeated by Ringo, Gyro has this whole mental image of his father advising him to not get personally involved but Gyro finally decides that he's going to get his hands dirty in order to achieve his goals and that's when we get this zoom in of Gyro's face and he's finally got the Dark Will in his eyes as well and when he kills Ringo, Ringo even congratulates him on finally becoming a man.

Ah, I really love SBR. ]]

[SirGauoftheSquareTable]

Man, this thread is full of spoilers today.

[[ Hmm... I disagree that they "should" be related just because they're in the same reality. Very little of Part 5 has any connection to what happened in previous Parts.

As for Johnny, moral ambiguity is a clear theme of SBR throughout. Johnny even mentions to Gyro in the final arc that Valentine might even be morally superior to them but he still won't give up on his selfish desires. It's part of the reason why I love the "True Man's World" arc where Ringo states that only Johnny is worthy of fighting him because he possesses the "Dark Will" and would be willing to fight to the death. Gyro is constantly trying to talk his way out of fighting and Johnny states that it's that weakness that's holding him back and why he keeps losing to Diego. After Johnny is defeated by Ringo, Gyro has this whole mental image of his father advising him to not get personally involved but Gyro finally decides that he's going to get his hands dirty in order to achieve his goals and that's when we get this zoom in of Gyro's face and he's finally got the Dark Will in his eyes as well and when he kills Ringo, Ringo even congratulates him on finally becoming a man.

Ah, I really love SBR. ]]

Spoiler:

That's actually why I disliked Part 5 at first, and still kind of do. Giorno is DIO's son, yet his struggle is almost completely unrelated to the Joestar struggle, and my favorite parts were when characters from previous parts appeared. In my opinion, JJBA is a multi-generational struggle in which each part feeds into the next one to create a greater unified whole, and sure the parts can stand on their own, but I feel they must connect back to the whole to truly be JJBA.

I understand the Dark Will for sure as it was presented in SBR, and I do agree the Ringo Arc was poignant in that way. However, I feel after the Ringo arc and towards the second half of SBR, Johnny and Gyro sort of switched places, with Johnny becoming the less confrontational one, and Gyro becoming stupidly aggressive. Also, about Funny Valentine. I probably am in the minority in that I think he lacks not only the moral high ground, but is on a slightly lower moral footing than Johnny. His whole ideology disgusts me to the core as an American, especially in light of Donald Trump, and his actions to get to it aren't really noble or well-meaning. He's more selfish than Johnny in that way, and I just wish SBR had any character who could actually have called him out on his shit because there's no damn way Johnny could.

[ItsaRandomUsername]

Latest episode where the GANGSTARS ditch Fugo's OP/would-be-traitor-in-the-original-draft butt compelled me to re-read the Purple Haze novel again. While I'm only about halfway through it, thus are its contents not as fresh in my mibd as they will be, it's still an enjoyable read on account of how Kadono builds upon Araki's work on both the characterization and setting fronts. PHF made me genuinely care for Fugo and also retroactively made Vento Aureo even better.

[SirGauoftheSquareTable]

I had the exact same reaction when I read it, hence why I prefer its version of Fugo's backstory to what the anime has given us.

Spoiler:

It does help that the Stone Mask made a return, something I always want to see.

[SirGauoftheSquareTable]

Well, a new opening dropped for VA. Here's the English version. I must say I actually like this opening. Fits the tone of the part and Giorno's beliefs.

[SirGauoftheSquareTable]

Actually, now that I think about it, the new opening sounds like a Bond theme, especially at the beginning.

[ChiakiKakumei]

That Golden Wind Ending 2 is a really good song in my opinion. Even better than Savage Garden and I actually like that song too. (I actually hear Savage Garden's "I Want You" in my workplace)

[SirGauoftheSquareTable]

I know! Totally love the ending! Currently shimmying to it!

- - - Updated - - -

Also, anyone know what the ED is called? Couldn't see anything at the end...

[RoydGolden]

Just watched the new episode this afternoon. Some thoughts below:

-The new OP sounds really cool. I think I like it better than the first one. Though did I mishear it, or did the singer literally say "Hell no!" in English near the end? I thought that was kind of hilarious.

-Crush/Clash (I'm confused since the wiki lists it as Clash but the VA himself sounds like he's saying "Crush") is my favorite kind of Stand. Its power (being a tiny shark that can teleport through any body of liquid) is simple enough that it's instantly understandable just from seeing it in action, but creative enough that it can make for a lot of outlandish situations in a fight. The scene where it first appeared in Narencia's soup was incredibly chilling and suspenseful.

-Though I have to say, all the main cast except Narencia really come off as infuriatingly dense in this episode. Narencia is attacked by a Stand and almost immediately starts acting incredibly strangely, making nonsensical exclamations and clamping his hands over his mouth like he can't control his own body, but the gang takes ages to even consider the possibility that he might be affected by a Stand's ability.

There's been moments before where the heroes have been weirdly slow to attribute the obviously freaky things going on around them to Stands (I'm thinking the beginning of the Ghiaccio fight where Giorno sees their car becoming coated in ice in the middle of spring and reacts by just casually opening a window to let some warm air in), but this was especially frustrating both for how long it was dragged out and the fact that they already knew they were being targeted by a Stand! Seriously, the crew shouldn't have nearly so quick to brush off Narencia's outbursts as they did. It honestly came off as a bit of an idiot plot, which almost never happens in Jojo.

-When Narencia was pissing in the toilet to scare Abbacchio and the others away, was I the only one terrified Crush was going to swim up the stream of pee and attack his dick like the (possibly apocryphal) story of the candiru fish? Thankfully the bad guys wanted to keep Narencia alive to use him a false prophet, or else Gold Experience might've needed to repair something rather embarrassing.