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A satisfying conclusion to the first real fight of Part 4. Even beyond the grave, Dio's evil influence lingers. It's actually one of my favorite things about Dio, but we'll have time to talk about that later.
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Sep 5, 2015 10:50
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Bad Seafood posted:A satisfying conclusion to the first real fight of Part 4. My favorite thing about Dio is a spoiler. 
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Sep 5, 2015 15:21
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Such a satisfying conclusion for a first villain. We knew Josuke could kick rear end, but Araki wastes no time in giving him a villain to let loose against. Now we have a benchmark for what to expect when a truly evil person makes him angry, and it's scary in a way Jotaro could never manage.
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Sep 5, 2015 16:45
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Angelo just pulled a Steely Dan.
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Sep 5, 2015 17:25
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Angelo wishes he got off as easily as Steely Dan.
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Sep 5, 2015 20:21
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MonsieurChoc posted:My favorite thing about Dio is a spoiler. Say it in the manga thread, I want to know!
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Sep 6, 2015 00:22
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ascalapha odorata posted:Say it in the manga thread, I want to know! Done. It's nothing that special anyway.
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Sep 6, 2015 14:54
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So, thoughts on this arc. I really enjoyed how Araki showed us several different facets of Josuke's character without making it seem forced. Interesting that DIO is still in the story, although I really hope that he doesn't get revived because that would cheapen the end of Stardust Crusaders. I'm guessing that his charisma led to him having a bunch of followers who are still dedicated to his cause even though he's dead. Wondering if he had an underling who became the new boss of his cadre of baddies and if that's gonna be the main bad guy of this story. Ahhh, but the most interesting thing here is that there's an artifact that can make someone a stand user. Wondering if we'll get an explanation of what stands are exactly, maybe a history of stands or something? I really liked what we saw of Josuke in this story. He seems like a very interesting character whose personality is very realistically drawn - for the most part. I could see some of the traits he exhibited in this story becoming somewhat cutesy and tired if they end up being exaggerated, which seems par for the course in shonen. What concerns me in particular is his obsession with his hair, from freaking out when it's insulted to his grooming habits. If those become exaggerated to the point that they pop up even in moments that don't seem natural to the story, they'll wear out their welcome extremely quickly. That's the main thing that has me a little wary going forward. On the other hand, the fact that Josuke, who has been shown to be a sensitive kid with a bit of inner pain (see prior discussion on kids who have to shoulder the emotional well-being of others) can also slip into a mood in which he is crueler and more arbitrary is extremely intriguing and could be absolutely brilliant if given a deeper more dramatic focus. This arc was also fun for letting us see how Jotaro has developed as a man. He seems quite a bit more chilled out now, which is nice. I'm guessing he's gonna head on home after this arc now that he's passed the protagonist torch on to Josuke. I thought the fact that he named Josuke's stand was a really nice touch. And I'm sure that he'll be back for future adventures every now and then. Others have said what I was gonna say about Angelo, so I thank you all for that. You guys are awesome! All right! Coming up next: The Nijimura Brothers!
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Sep 7, 2015 06:09
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I think you'll be pleasantly surprised on most of the points you made, Xibanya. As the parts go on, Araki's skill at art improves (beyond simply making the characters more effete) but also his storytelling and writing as a whole improves a lot, I feel. The dynamics between the main characters is one of my favorite things about part 4, and I'm very interested to see your take on it. I really hope that you keep on writing these breakdowns, as it's really giving me a whole new level of appreciation for a piece of media that I already have a lot of love for.
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Sep 7, 2015 06:55
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i like to think of arc 4 as the one that truly sets the tone for the series in general, because even if the later arcs are wildly different in various ways they still keep the same sort of cohesion that diamond is unbreakable brings to the table, and i feel like that is part of why it's so popular with a lot of people. there's still room for araki to grow at this point in the series, but he has the basic formula down of what he wants. it took basically all of stardust crusaders to get there and the result is wonderful.
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Sep 7, 2015 07:30
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Telltolin posted:I really hope that you keep on writing these breakdowns, as it's really giving me a whole new level of appreciation for a piece of media that I already have a lot of love for. Thank you! It's comments like these that make me love writing long effort posts! I have every intention of seeing this through to the end! Together we will read Diamond is Unbreakable, even if it takes well into next year! For those of you who share with your non-goon friends, I've brought the blog up to date: https://manuelamalasanya.wordpress.com/lets-read-jjba/ Bad Seafood, can we change the title to "The JoJo Thread for Posters Who Can't Read Good (Anime & Part 4 Let's Read Thread)" to reflect the fact that more than anime chat is happening here?
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Sep 7, 2015 08:03
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Done.
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Sep 7, 2015 08:11
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Bad Seafood posted:Done. I literally laughed out loud. Thank you!
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Sep 7, 2015 08:24
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Xibanya posted:This arc was also fun for letting us see how Jotaro has developed as a man. I can't remember if I actually typed out my thought but I really did find it funny that Jotaro was trying to pull Josuke back at the very end of the Angelo fight (for a good reason, of course, since he cared about the kid). Teenage Jotaro was fine with busting up an entire bar full of people to get to the one he wanted and certainly didn't let any onlookers get in the way of a brutal asskicking. I mean, he had a heart and everything, but clearly knew his own abilities well enough to not be concerned. He's not quite there with Josuke. Adult Jotaro is a weird, weird creature all on his own. edit: gah, I forgot to include what I actually came here to post. Somebody on tumblr was talking about just how much Josuke looks like his dad. I'll link the images here- they are from future panels, but there's no spoiler since you have absolutely no frame of reference. If it should still be linked anyway I can come back and edit. http://inlovewithjojo.tumblr.com/post/128528783528/when-i-reached-part-4-i-could-not-get-over-how 
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Sep 7, 2015 08:38
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adult jotaro is the best jotaro because it's actually fitting for him and i like the general interpretation of him being more tired and more focused on doing weird research stuff than belting out one-liners and punching people. he's like the cool uncle who brings you fun gifts from his travels and will tell you about the time he almost got choked to death by a giant squid, except in this case he's technically the nephew.
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Sep 7, 2015 08:44
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Your effort posts are bar none my favorite thing about this entire sub forum. Did they just switch the hair? If that's all they did then wow.
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Sep 7, 2015 17:05
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I like to believe that Jotaro named Josuke's Stand Crazy Diamond because there were no more Tarot Cards to name his Stand after, so he just decided to use playing cards instead. And Josuke just got done doing something Crazy, so... Unfortunately, everyone afterwards would take it as the musical reference, causing the end of Stands with card based names.
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Sep 7, 2015 17:42
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Hobgoblin2099 posted:I like to believe that Jotaro named Josuke's Stand Crazy Diamond because there were no more Tarot Cards to name his Stand after, so he just decided to use playing cards instead. We haven't had "Ace of Spade" as a Stand Name yet.
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Sep 7, 2015 17:58
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MonsieurChoc posted:We haven't had "Ace of Spade" as a Stand Name yet. If I remember well Vanilla Ice original name for his stand was "ace of cups" or something like this
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Sep 7, 2015 20:00
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Cups is a suit in the minor tarot.
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Sep 7, 2015 20:03
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YggdrasilTM posted:If I remember well Vanilla Ice original name for his stand was "ace of cups" or something like this
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Sep 7, 2015 20:19
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Senor Candle posted:Did they just switch the hair? If that's all they did then wow. Pretty sure they just switched hair. And yes, Cups are a minor arcana suit and I don't think he was exploring that.
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Sep 7, 2015 22:09
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Hobgoblin2099 posted:I like to believe that Jotaro named Josuke's Stand Crazy Diamond because there were no more Tarot Cards to name his Stand after, so he just decided to use playing cards instead. "If I establish a card suit naming theme now, then we'll only have to fight three more enemies at most. I am a genius."
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Sep 8, 2015 00:08
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Suaimhneas posted:"If I establish a card suit naming theme now, then we'll only have to fight three more enemies at most. I am a genius." Hahahahhahhaah This is a thing Jotaro would probably actually think, you know. OK, ok, not really. But it's a teenage Jotaro thing to say/think.
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Sep 8, 2015 01:15
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Fun fact: In the localization of All-Star Battle, Crazy Diamond is renamed Shining Diamond.
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Sep 8, 2015 01:35
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Jotaro probably just keeps some Floyd in his Walkman, like Joseph with The Beatles
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Sep 8, 2015 05:42
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[quote="Waffleman_"post="449914050"] Fun fact: In the localization of All-Star Battle, Crazy Diamond is renamed Shining Diamond. [/quote] Like the eyes of the cat in the black and blue... something is coming for you!!!
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Sep 8, 2015 07:56
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Just finished reading part 5, Jojopinions follow: I loved it most of the way through, even though GioGio forgot about his stand's most useful ability (and the sped-up perception thing), wasn't too keen on it becoming a discount Crazy Diamond about 3/4 of the way through - the ending was a bit of a mess though. Also, if you're going to have a power as complicated as Diavolo's, at least be consistent with it. While I'm moaning: too many stands had the power to make something become soft. In all: good, but no part 4. Was at its best when people were resolving mundane problems with totally sensible tactics, such as turning one of their teeth into a jellyfish.
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Sep 11, 2015 20:51
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You should probably post Part 5 stuff in the manga thread. I'll post a reply there.
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Sep 11, 2015 20:59
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I'm rewatching Stardust Crusaders with a friend and I only just realized that Part 3 ends with the characters flying home in a plane without crashing.
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Sep 15, 2015 19:43
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Hobgoblin2099 posted:I'm rewatching Stardust Crusaders with a friend and I only just realized that Part 3 ends with the characters flying home in a plane without crashing. It also starts with Joseph arriving in Japan after an incidentless flight.
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Sep 15, 2015 19:50
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Hobgoblin2099 posted:I'm rewatching Stardust Crusaders with a friend and I only just realized that Part 3 ends with the characters flying home in a plane without crashing. It actually did crash, just offscreen, and also on the runway.
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Sep 15, 2015 19:51
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ChaosArgate posted:It also starts with Joseph arriving in Japan after an incidentless flight. The trick is to not let him fly it Honestly the whole Joseph and Planes thing is overblown. The only time he hosed it up was when he was an incompetent old man, the first two times everything was going exactly as planned. A more thoughtful meme would be 'Joseph can't solve all his problems by crashing planes into them' No Dignity fucked around with this message at 19:55 on Sep 15, 2015 |
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Sep 15, 2015 19:52
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A Steampunk Gent posted:A more thoughtful meme
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Sep 15, 2015 21:40
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Hobgoblin2099 posted:I'm rewatching Stardust Crusaders with a friend and I only just realized that Part 3 ends with the characters flying home in a plane without crashing. It's a pretty magical scene, given that Jotaro is sitting in a way that can't even be possible given his height. Where are we with the readalong. Why am I being tortured, I want to talk about my bro. Xibanya where are you!!!
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Sep 15, 2015 23:16
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ascalapha odorata posted:It's a pretty magical scene, given that Jotaro is sitting in a way that can't even be possible given his height. I'm here! So I'm almost done with the first chapter of Nijimura brothers! Yeah I know it's been over a week. Yikes! Lots of good stuff coming though, particularly on how Araki translates several cinematic techniques commonly found in horror films to comic book form. Also I'm currently shopping around for a friend to shittily play the part of Okuyasu for my extremely dodgy Let's Cold Read Duwang videos.
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Sep 15, 2015 23:26
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It's good to be back, folks! If you missed any previous entries, please click the ? under my name or go to https://manuelamalasanya.wordpress.com/lets-read-jjba/ And if you're all caught up, welcome back to THE STORY THUS FAR! While sorting out the elderly Joseph's estate, it was discovered that he had a child with a Japanese university student four years before the events of Stardust Crusaders. Jotaro travelled to Morioh, where Joseph's son Josuke, now 15 (and a half!) years old, lives in order to make contact with him as well as to investigate a mysterious artifact once posessed by DIO that can turn people into stand users. Josuke's family was attacked by a stand user, Angelo, who managed to murder Josuke's grandfather before Josuke fused him with a rock and gave him brain damage severe enough to render him catatonic. Jotaro was simultaneously intrigued and wary of Josuke's abilities and gave Josuke's punchghost the name Crazy Diamond! In the last story we got to hang out with... Josuke  Our protagonist! He is very attuned to the feelings of those around him and is highly aware of the effect his own demeanour and body language has on others. Is generally rather adept at regulating his level of emotional arousal, which is quite typical of an only child of a young single mother. Ability to concentrate is spotty. Also seems to sometimes have angry mood swings and presents an inconsistent persona at times (possible identity dissociation.) For this reason I hypothesize that Josuke has ADHD. I'm quite impressed actually at how strikingly realistic Josuke's various traits are given his background, so hats off to Araki. I only hope that he can keep it up, since Shonen characters in long-running series have a tendency to get painted in broader and broader strokes as the series goes on. I'm concerned in particular about how he loses his poo poo when his hair is insulted. To me it seems way too engineered as a marketable character trait for ads/merch/whatever, believe it! Tomoko  Josuke’s mom. Did sex with Joseph at least once. Appears to be willing to commit aggravated assault and battery on a whim; also seems to be caffeinating her teenager on the reg. Clearly a public menace. Her dad just died but we haven't see how she's taken the news. Angelo  Serial killer/rapist. Murdered a bunch of people, including Josuke's grandpa. Got fused with a rock, dismembered, mutilated, then brain damaged to the point of not having enough cognitive function to speak or operate his stand. According to a side note is currently a local landmark. Most interestingly, got his stand as an adult after being shot with a magic bow and arrow by a man wearing a high school student's uniform. Josuke's Grandpa  He died as he lived: in a liquid haze. Jotaro  I like dolphins. Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, Chapter 274 Chapter 9 of Diamond is Unbreakable The Nijimura Brothers (Part 1) Translation: Invincible Trio Koichi is back to give us some exposition! He lets us know that Morioh has been around for centuries, but it's only in the 80s that it had extensive development. (It should be noted for context that the 80s was the last time Japan had a really good economy. It's been in a deflationary demand-side nightmare ever since the 90s.) Morioh's population is 58k, meaning it's too big for the community at large to give a poo poo about getting to know you but too small to have anything fun to do on a Saturday night. Ugh, just like my hometown in Texas. More accurately though, it sounds to me a lot like Ueda. If you wanna see what I mean, pop on over to google street view for Ueda and have a look around. Once you get past the "holy poo poo glorious nippon~!" aspect, you realize that it's pretty dang boring. And that's a city with a castle for cryin' out loud! Now, true, Ueda has about twice the population of Morioh, but that just shows how boring Morioh probably is. Anyway, Koichi mentions another detail: Morioh has 7 or 8 times the average number of missing people for a town its size. Average of what? The province? Japan? What's the sample size here? Joking aside, the methodology of whatever study was used to arrive at that number is unimportant to the narrative; what Araki is doing here is building suspense, which, if you recall, means raising a question with some intriguing possible answers. It doesn't really matter how Araki communicates this, so if it's some study Koichi read somewhere that's fine. What we're supposed to get is that something weird and sinister is happening in Morioh, which builds tension because we know that eventually Josuke is going to tangle with whatever is behind these spooky disappearances. We get a large establishing shot of Josuke and Koichi walking down a middle-class suburban street. This panel has a lot of cool things going for it. First, the point of view is interesting - it's like we're sitting on the roof of the house in the foreground. We can see into the distance - no large buildings here. And this suburb is not very dense at all, which in Japan means upper middle-class, out in the sticks, or both. Check out the long shadows - it's an interesting detail that lets us know that the sun is setting. Also we're looking at Josuke and Koichi from behind, like we're creepers spying on them like Angelo was in the previous story. While Araki may not necessarily be communicating that Josuke and Koichi are literally getting creeped on, this kind of shot is frequently used in cinema to evoke a somewhat disquieting mood. Also check out how the house in the foreground is on the right side while the road curves off to the left. This makes sure your eye gets guided off to the left and almost resists going off to the right. Notice also that if you follow the sloped top border of the panel, your eye naturally goes down the tree and right to Josuke and Koichi. If you follow the rightmost border, your eye follows the dark negative space and again arrives at Josuke and Koichi. Really neat work by Araki here in a panel that a lot of people probably won't linger much on because exposition is pretty boring.  Josuke passes Angelo and greets him with casual disinterest. Angelo maybe sneers, it's (probably deliberately) ambiguous. Koichi is somewhat nonplussed but follows suit. Angelo grunts in response, which if we want to  doesn't indicate much awareness, since it could be a reflex; reflex actions are governed by the stuff in the brain stem, which is how you have folks who basically lose their entire brain still blinking and moving their head, but probably the intention is that Angelo is still somewhat responsive to external stimuli. Koichi asks Josuke about Jotaro and Josuke lets him know that Jotaro is still in town, staying at the Morioh Grand Hotel, busy investigating something. Side note: I found on my road trip through Japan that basically every town has a hotel called "[TOWN NAME] Grand Hotel," so the name doesn't necessarily indicate that the hotel is crazy fancy or anything. DUTCH ANGLE!!  Per Koichi, this mansion they're passing has been abandoned for three or four years now. Check this out:  Note use of cinematic techniques to signal that Josuke thinks he noticed something. Very horror-movie-like. Since in fiction we know that whatever the author shows us was chosen for a reason, we instinctively believe from this signalling that something is amiss OR it's a fake-out in order to show that the POV character is feeling anxious/paranoid (used a lot in the first act of a three act horror film so that you get your guard down and then suddenly BLAM JUMP SCARE YOU'RE IN THE SECOND ACT NOW, BITCHES!!) Koichi points out that at this point it would be cheaper to demolish the mansion and start over than fix it. I guess that means that the land the mansion is on is not particularly valuable or someone would have done that by now. Then Koichi says he thinks me saw someone in the window, the same one Josuke gave the side eye in the picture above. Josuke says that's impossible, he lives nearby so surely he'd notice if someone had moved in. Furthermore, a real estate agent comes by regularly to make sure there aren't any squatters. Uh, Josuke, if the real estate agent comes by to make sure the dirty poors have to stay out in the elements as befits their lowly station, then clearly THEY don't think it's impossible. But I digress. This panel I have to admit is kinda weird. It makes sense compositionally (you're clearly supposed to track up to the house in the upper left) but dang it sure is a weird-looking panel. Koichi's practically under Josuke's armpit. BOUNDARIES, KOICHI! This kid needs therapy.  We get some cool establishing shots of the mansion grounds as Koichi and Josuke approach.  Koichi pokes his head through the gate and spots a loafer! I mean a shoe, not an individual who has chosen to sit out of the transactional game played between labor and capital.  Then Koichi yells! But why? Oh how suspenseful!   Whoa!  poo poo!  Well who's this rear end in a top hat? I'm assuming he's a Nijimura brother.  Wow he's like Josuke except instead of hearts he's got dolla dolla bills. I should have known a libertarian was behind all this! "Hey rear end in a top hat! What's your problem!" shouts Josuke. Regulations? Feminism? Affirmative action? gently caress you dad? Instead of an answer, we get sound effects!  $ vs <3 LET'S ROCK! Milton Friedman lets Josuke know that his dad owns the house, so they shouldn't violate his property rights. Josuke tells him that he gives no fucks and that if he doesn't let Koichi go he's going to rain a monopoly on force on his rear end. This next bit of dialog I'll let you read for yourself:  gently caress YEAH! Suddenly an arrow-THE arrow zips past Milton Friedman's head! From his face it looks like even he wasn't expecting it.   Oh crap! Who could have-  Hmmmm! "Big brother?!" Milton asks, turning to the window. The shadowy guy (same guy who shot Angelo?) explains that he shot Koichi because he's with Josuke. "Since he's the one who defeated Angelo, that makes him a stand user...who should be dealt with before he interferes with out plan once again." VILLAIN PLAN! Aw yeah!  Josuke quickly deduces, sweat running down his face, that these guys are also stand users. Oh boy! I wonder what their stands are gonna be! Suspense! "Okuyasu! Eliminate him!" the shadowy older brother commands. I wonder how Koichi feels about this turn of-  Oh. "He's spilled blood..." Okuyasu's older brother (probably also a "Nijimura brother"?) exposits. He explains that since that happened, that means Koichi isn't gonna get a stand like Angelo did. Welp. Josuke rushes forward to heal Koichi.  Denied! Pretty sweet stand there! Looking forward to seeing if this punchghost can also do more than punch mans.  Stand fight! Stand fight! Stand fight! Josuke draws first blood but Okuyasu seems unconcerned. Another suspense-generating detail: it indicates that he's familiar with stands and he thinks that he can beat Josuke's -- so he's probably pretty experienced with his stand and has maybe defeated other stand users, which makes him a different foe from Angelo who was not very familiar with stands and didn't have much in the way of combat powers.  TO BE CONTINUED! Woohoo! I'm now actually caught up to where I was when I stopped reading the first time! All right, I'm really looking forward to what looks like the first proper punchghost fight in the series. I like how Okuyasu has already been presented as a sort of dark mirror of Josuke. His villainous ways are probably going to contrast with Josuke's heroic qualities in order to further claify who Josuke is as a person, which, given these are still pretty early chapters, continues to be important. I also want to point out from a storytelling point of view that having Koichi be critically injured and in need of immediate healing was absolutely necessary. A good author makes sure that there's a good answer to any question that begins with "Why don't they just...?" So if you ask "Why doesn't Josuke just say 'gently caress ya'll, Imma peace out'?" the answer is that he has to get past Okuyasu to heal Koichi! "Why doesn't Josuke grab Jotaro and then double team Okuyasu and his brother (who are probably the titular Nijimura brothers)?" the answer is that Koichi would have bled out and died by the time Jotaro could have arrived. And of course, the answers to "Why don't they just...?" questions should also reveal character traits. "Why doesn't Josuke just back off and let Koichi die?" Because he cares about Koichi's well-being. That seems like an obvious one, but we'll return to this concept later on. (And of course you can also read me discussing this building block of storytelling in the context of Dragonball over here: https://manuelamalasanya.wordpress.com/2015/05/05/dragonball-tell-dont-show/) Tune in next time to find out if Okuyasu and his older brother really are the Nijimura Brothers we were promised at the start!
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Sep 16, 2015 02:54
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Fun Fact: Okuyasu's stand, 'The Hand', is a reference the band named 'The Band' this is because, when written out in japanese katakana, 'the band' is literally all of like one mark away from 'the hand', so it's pretty much a pun
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Sep 16, 2015 03:05
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Okuyasu 
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Sep 16, 2015 03:05
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| # ? May 14, 2024 19:07 |
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Agent Kool-Aid posted:Fun Fact: Okuyasu's stand, 'The Hand', is a reference the band named 'The Band' Ha, I had wondered what the musical connection was there. And yes, I echo the Okyuasu because he's my perfect sonWe have to get further into this storyline for me to really say lots about him even in the context of the introduction but two things: I was saying that my initial impression of Morioh was basically 'a good setting for your typical horror movie' and this is exactly the kind of trope I was hoping that'd lead to, regardless of where it goes from here or how it's handled. You obviously can't expect a traditional horror story out of Araki necessarily but the old "weird house on the corner that has something suspicious" thing is great. I really like the initial shot of the house:  Also, Koichi getting wrecked like that was really startling to me. Okuyasu looks really loving scary the first time you see him and the figure in the window is pretty creepy, too. Like the idea that these guys are hanging out in an abandoned house just shootin' people with arrows... why? e: predictably, I uploaded the wrong picture. whoops Okuyasu Nijimura fucked around with this message at 04:03 on Sep 16, 2015 |
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Sep 16, 2015 03:22
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