User blog comment:JoJoEraX/What is your Favorite JoJo part?/@comment-27659575-20170208230418

My  favorite  parts (lots of spoilers): 1. Steel Ball Run: My  favorite  part in the entire serie. I felt that when Araki went on publishing Jojo as a seinen, he too went to the True Man's World. Everything is almost perfect: compelling and interesting characters, great fights, especially the final confrontation between Valentine and Johnny/Gyro, it was very great to see that Araki could think of a non time-related ability that was even more broken. I really liked Gyro's shitty jokes, how Lucy Steel infiltrated the White House, Dio's final apparition with The World, even the minor villains were great, especially Ringo. The death of Gyro was very sad and the finale was splendid, mirroring that of the first part, when Jojo crosses the Atlantic. It does have a few weak points, the beginning with the race, which was so fantastic, was followed immediatly by several uninteresting fights that broke down the hype a little for me. But Araki redeemed himself with Ringo. Overall a great seinen, one of the best in the entire genre, I hope Araki will do even better.

2. Battle Tendency: Starring my  favorite  Jojo, Battle Tendency has everything an action manga could hope for: Joseph is a guile hero that uses tricks instead of brute force or a hidden technique, and that alone makes BT better than most action manga. Then Araki offers us a fast-paced story inhabited by great and unforgettable if somewhat cliché characters, the Pillarmen were very good villains, offering nice fights, Stroheim was so good and hammy of an anti villain that I regretted his death, talking about death, Ceasar's was very sad, and I cried when he died. Battle Tendency is nonetheless tainted by the fact that Joseph steals the spotlight, and each of his allies ends up being sacrificed to demonstrate that the Pillarmen are a great threat so Joseph looks awesome when he beats them, especially Lisa Lisa who disappointed me as the first action girl in the serie ho gets beaten in less than a minute. Cars is also one of the most forgettable big bad of the franchise. Still it is a part of great quality.

3. Golden Wind: This part has neither the greatest fights, nor the greatest protagonist, not even the greatest villain. It's one of my  favorite  because Golden wind has a consistent quality that is almost excellent. Not like a lots of people I really like Giorno as a protagonist because he's the silent type yet has a lot of passion, and I greatly admire Diavolo as a devious mafioso who manages to hold his own against several stand users and it took overwhelmingly broken powers to put him down. Starting from Giorno vs Buccelatti, every confrontation with either La Squadra di Esecuzione or Diavolo's goons were very good, as the group was fun to watch, the enemies quirky but smart. Also Polnareff.

It does have the second least good final battle of the serie, and a somewhat confusing end with the sudden introduction of Rolling Stones. The "adventure" part of JJBA was also decaying, as the fact that La Squadra went one by one on their way capture Trish instead of together made me cringe a little, Nero is not that stupid is he ? Overall a great part of Jojo, underserving of the bashing it receives.

4. Stardust Crusaders<span style="color:rgb(170,170,170);font-family:"LucidaGrande","TrebuchetMS",Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;font-weight:normal;">: The most epic part of the serie. Having the merit of introducing Stands and forever changing how powers were imagined in mangas, it features an epic crew, lots of simple but effective humor such as Polnareff's shenanigans and his literal toilet humor. One great thing about SC is that the nine gods of Egypt were very nice enemies that effectively posed a threat. And that final battle between DIO and  the whole crew<span style="color:rgb(170,170,170);font-family:"LucidaGrande","TrebuchetMS",Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;font-weight:normal;"> was the best fight I've ever seen so far .Stardust Crusaders has lots of iconic moments that make the serie stands out as a whole, notably Jotaro guessing Enya was a villain, Jotaro bluffing D'arby into madness, or DIO making sure Jotaro was dead. <span style="color:rgb(170,170,170);font-family:"LucidaGrande","TrebuchetMS",Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;font-weight:normal;">As is mentioned, a lot of the attention is stolen by Jotaro (a legacy of Battle Tendency?): he's so iconic a character that his companions seem invisible in comparison. Araki did a sloppy job at giving them good fights and it shows. In fact, Abdul does almost nothing during the adventure. Also the overall level of mindgame that was a trademark of Jojo fights was somewhat toned down as Araki had to adapt to his Stands <span style="color:rgb(170,170,170);font-family:"LucidaGrande","TrebuchetMS",Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;font-weight:normal;">A hard transition from the Ripple to the Stands but Stardust Crusaders deserves his place among the greatest shonen.

5. Diamond is Unbreakable<span style="color:rgb(170,170,170);font-family:"LucidaGrande","TrebuchetMS",Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;font-weight:normal;">: I call it "Jojo's Daily Adventures". DiU's numerous strong points are: the best companionship Araki made so far; be it Josuke, Koichi, Okuyasu, Rohan or Jotaro, I like every one of them and each have their moment of glory. Araki's choice of giving this part the "urban fantasy" setting let him free to use his imagination to create memorable moments such as Tonio's restaurant, Fatty's Harvest, Cinderella, the epic rock-paper-scissors fight and so on... Also Araki regained his ability to think his fights in a smart way, giving his Stands new unconventional powers that the characters uses with imagination. Here are also lots of humor, notably the day Josuke tricked Rohan in a rigged game of dice. <span style="color:rgb(170,170,170);font-family:"LucidaGrande","TrebuchetMS",Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;font-weight:normal;">However the hype is brought down hard because of the antagonists, mainly Kira. Several of the enemies are very bland and not as good as in other parts, their goals are pretty lame and their means to reach it are lame as well. But nothing is worse than Kira, who in my mind spoiled what could have been a nice day to day manga. First of all the plot is pretty weak, as it is developed halfway through the manga and it would have needed time to flesh out how Kira's action affected the town as a whole. Secondly I find Kira to be very annoying and dumb. He isn't cunning, he's a man who relies on his overpowered Stand to get him out of trouble, several of his actions are utterly dumb, such as wasting time fixing Koichi's socks or worse, following the instructions of the new voice on the phone, resulting on him killing his father in the overall pretty weak final battle (I blame Araki on that last one). Even Bites the Dust was a bad power when you think about it. Killer Queen was wasted. <span style="color:rgb(170,170,170);font-family:"LucidaGrande","TrebuchetMS",Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;font-weight:normal;">A good manga that would have been great if not for the horrible finale.

6. Phantom Blood<span style="color:rgb(170,170,170);font-family:"LucidaGrande","TrebuchetMS",Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;font-weight:normal;">: It's a strange case because there's no great weak point but also a lack of strong points. The fact that PB is so cliché is what makes me enjoy it: be it Jonathan being very noble, Dio being very evil, or Speedwagon realising Jonathan is a kind man... The plot is very classic however it takes time to develop the relationship between Jonathan and Dio, I found the addition of the three monks a waste of time, as they are not developed enough, and the minor villains barely make it above the line of annoying characters. One of my greatest disappointment was the fight in Dio's castle that hadn't the tension of the one in the Joestar Estate, and we all know that in an ultimate feat of bravery, the good guys won... <span style="color:rgb(170,170,170);font-family:"LucidaGrande","TrebuchetMS",Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;font-weight:normal;">Or so we all thought when Jonathan punched Dio, and while the final fight was foreshawowed a little, no one would have guessed an that Jonathan would die almost helpless and that he would reconcile with his half-brother on the verge of death!!! I have to applause Araki here because he had the balls to have a foreign main character, and have that main character die so he can be replaced! For a newbie mangaka, that might have took a lot of courage. <span style="color:rgb(170,170,170);font-family:"LucidaGrande","TrebuchetMS",Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;font-weight:normal;">Phantom Blood is a prototype of Jojo: many things are lacking, but the core of the identity of JJBA is already present (such as the battles of wits, the over-the-top characters, the legacy of one's bloodline...); a pretty average manga by itself, and the least interesting of the parts, but it announced decades of awesomeness for us manga readers.

7. Stone Ocean<span style="color:rgb(170,170,170);font-family:"LucidaGrande","TrebuchetMS",Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;font-weight:normal;">:Stone Ocean is my least  <span class="posthilit" style="padding-right:2px;padding-bottom:1px;padding-left:2px;font-variant-numeric:inherit;font-weight:normal;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:13px;line-height:inherit;font-family:"LucidaGrande","TrebuchetMS",Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(219,114,63);">favorite <span style="color:rgb(170,170,170);font-family:"LucidaGrande","TrebuchetMS",Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;font-weight:normal;"> part for two big reasons, the characters and the setting. Araki hit a bottom point in the creation of his characters be it protagonists or enemies. Though it features Jolyne who was the most developed Jojo at the time as well as Pucci whose personality and backstory made him very interseting as a whole, it isn't the same wwith the side characters. I found Hermes, Emporio and Annasui to be very forgettable and bland, even though F.F. was a nice touch of bizarre within the group and within the bad guys, only Pucci and Rykiel stand out. Yes I can't remember the enemies, and that's what I don't like Stone Ocean. Araki forgot that an enemy wasn't just a Stand, but a Stand user as well. Little to no development is given to the characters, and this is made worse by the fact that the design of said characters went from fabulous in Golden Wind to horrible. I cannot say a lot about the prison, I just don't like it, as wll as the atmosphere of "rotting" that it created. <span style="color:rgb(170,170,170);font-family:"LucidaGrande","TrebuchetMS",Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;font-weight:normal;">There are things Stone Ocean did right, and tremendously right: first of all Jolyne is a full fledged action girl, with insecurities that make her relatable, but so badass that she faces certain death at the hands of Pucci to save one friend, with enough spirit to taunt him. Talking about the ending, it is for me THE ending of Jojo, the very best, beginning in Cap Canaveral, the finale proves to be heart-warming, heart-breaking, absolutely epic while retaining the bizarreness of the serie. After reading this whole part, you cannot help but cry with Emporio... Other great parts are whenever Weather Report uses his powers and Bohemian Rhapsody, even though I can't stand Ungaro. <span style="color:rgb(170,170,170);font-family:"LucidaGrande","TrebuchetMS",Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;font-weight:normal;">A succession of fights featuring bland characters, so unlike Araki. Stone Ocean's few saving moments are overshadowed by its faults.

Jojolion<span style="color:rgb(170,170,170);font-family:"LucidaGrande","TrebuchetMS",Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;font-weight:normal;">:So far Jojolion showed a classic setting of someone who wants his memories back, in a brand new Morioh, but Araki still finds good ideas such as Gappy himself, the Higashikata family who are all stand users, offering a new type of interaction as family bonds are important but often underdeveloped in JJBA, good humor, a developed romance, new powers. It does have a good rhythm, which is important as Jojolion is published monthly. The battles are not what they were, but Araki still can make them intense. It's just there's not the back and forth of the great battles of previous part. <span style="color:rgb(170,170,170);font-family:"LucidaGrande","TrebuchetMS",Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;font-weight:normal;">Still with so many good things, Jojolion may very well dethrone Battle Tendency by the end, let's wait for the new chapters...