Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-28702329-20200327150457/@comment-38952966-20200506153046

I personally, am not a fan of Stone Ocean, especially compared to the parts immediately before and after it.

Fights: They're hit or miss. It certainly doesn't have the consistently high quality of fights that Part 5 had, but there are some pretty solid ones in there. A lot of the fights suffer from horrible pacing issues, which is something I think the anime will end up fixing, but overall I'd say the fights are just ok. Some really cool ones, but some really horrible ones to balance it all out.

Stands: This is the one a lot of people seem to complain about, but I quite like the Stands themselves. They're appropriately varied and there are tons of creative abilities. My only problem is the main cast, as, with the exception of Jolyne, all of them have really overpowered Stands with poorly described limitations that makes some of the fights a little frustrating.

Characters: Vento Aureo this ain't. The protagonist, Jolyne, is certainly one of the most fun and fleshed out protagonists so far, but with one or two exceptions, the main cast is mostly pretty bland. The minor villains are incredibly forgettable and even the main cast mostly orbit around Jolyne without much reason or motivation. A lot of people praise the main villain and, while I certainly enjoyed him, he can't compare to certain other villains. Most of his interest lies in his backstory, rather than the character himself.

Plot: And here's where it really falls apart. The snow pacing I mentioned earlier really pervades in the middle of the plot. It takes so long for the plot to progress in any meaningful way. And even when the plot does progress, it relies heavily on a retconned interpretation of another character and plot points that really should have shown up earlier in the series if they're as important as their supposed to be. Imagine the part of Vento Aureo where Polnareff tells the gang her has the arrow, and extend that level of contrivance to the entire plot. That's Stone Ocean's storyline and it's the main reason why I, ultimately, don't like this Part very much.

Stone Ocean does a lot right, and if main characters and unique abilities are what you value most, then you'll love this part. However, I think the story is lacking and the characters aren't very interesting. Because of this, I'd recommend waiting for the anime as a lot of these problems could be fixed with the better pacing and presentation that the anime is likely to provide.

All in all, Stone Ocean in my opinion is mediocre at best but the anime is likely to improve it into something fitting for the original continuity's conclusion.