Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-39927341-20191126193335/@comment-38952966-20200609202044

It's gotta be Johnny.

Araki's early parts (particularly parts 1-3) have a problem of not letting the main character be a real character. Jonathan is just the good boy, which is a good start for protagonists since you can build the other protagonists off that starting point, but he's not all that interesting and has no real arc.

Joseph is a little better, but that's mostly because his personality is more animated. As a character, his depth doesn't generally go past what we see from the start: he's cocky, clever, and has a strong sense of personal justice, and never really grows beyond these traits. Sure, he masters Hamon and defeats the Pillar Men, but he had no arc as a character.

Jotaro is, in my opinion, the worst of these. Jotaro has no arc in Stardust Crusaders. He is exactly the same person at the start of the story as he is at the end of the story. He never emotes or shows any degree of personality beyond being annoyed or pissed off or bored. Star Platinum is as powerful from the start as it is at the end, and nothing about the 50 day journey actually made Jotaro stronger. Luckily, he becomes a little better in Diamond is Unbreakable, as he's clearly more mature, but still holds remnants of his old personality.

Josuke is miles better than Jotaro, but still not great. Josuke has more personality and depth to him than the previous protagonists, between having a strong sense of personal justice but also having selfish and almost trickster-like tendencies (just like his father), and of course there's his freak outs like his obsession with his hair. Yet Josuke still doesn't have any kind of character arc, being pretty much the same person from the time his grandpa dies till the end of the series.

I like to think of Giorno as Jotaro, but done well. Like Jotaro, Giorno is mostly introverted, and has a calm demeanor on his face that doesn't generally give away what he's thinking. Unlike Jotaro, however, Giorno is allowed to fuck up sometimes, and we get to see Giorno actually freak out when things go to shit. Giorno's persona is a mask, and it's when we see the cracks in that mask that we see bits of the true Giorno. Giorno's got a surprising amount of depth to him as well, as he perfectly balances the best traits and weaknesses of Jonathan and Dio. Still, his arc is more of a static one, and while it's better than most other protagonists so far, it's not great.

Jolyne is where this trend finally turns around. With Jolyne, we get a character than can actually be a character. Jolyne perfectly balances the rough, rogue-like nature of her father with the more goofy, fun-loving nature of Joseph, and the strong sense of personal justice that Jonathan had. In a way, Jolyne is a perfect balance of the first three protagonists. She also gets a character arc, progressing over the course of the story from angry-but-horny teenager to calm-but-excitable leader.

Then we get Johnny, the highest tier so far. Johnny, especially at the start of Steel Ball Run, is kind of an asshole. He's the only protagonist to not really have that sense of personal justice. Yet at the same time Johnny is viciously determined to see his goals through, no matter the obstacle, and his flaws define him as much as his virtues. It's through Johnny's growing bond with Gyro that he begins to develop that sense of right and wrong, yet he does so without compromising the parts of him that make up who he truly is. All these things end up making Johnny relatable, far more relatable than any other protagonist in the series so far. Johnny's not trying to save the world, or catch a killer, or infiltrate a fucking gang; he's just trying to walk again. It's a surprisingly personal motivation that no other Jojo has had (except arguably Jotaro) and that makes him far more human.

I can't say too much about Gappy yet, since Jojolion is still running, but if part 8 sticks the landing then I'll likely talk about Gappy wth just as much if not more praise than Johnny.