First Impressions – Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 4: Diamond is Unbreakable

Can you feel the love?

I’ll say right off the bat that I won’t be blogging Jojo, largely because talking about this show tends to inevitably become just recapping all the twisted moments. There’s little insight to be given about a show where people punch each other to death except for re-iterating what already happened on screen. But I’ll still be watching it each week, and I definitely wanted to write about the opening episode at the very least.

Everyone loves a good boy who’s bad

The legacy of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure continues! First, we had Jonathan Joestar, the original Jojo. His descendant was Joeseph Joestar, who remains my absolute favourite because he’s such a silver-tongued rogue. Joseph Joestar then gave birth to Holly (who then gave birth to Jotaro, the hero of part 3) and an illegitimate child…Josuke. This is our first time meeting this product of Joseph’s love affair, which once against cements in my mind how interesting a character Joseph is to still be throwing dirt in our face 2 seasons past his original arc.

However, Josuke looks like he might live up to the bar set up by Joseph for me. Our new Jojo protagonist dresses like a complete vandal, but he’s actually very kind and even a little sheepish. He only falls into that punk attitude when you insult his hair, which leads to a stark contrast in personality. At some point I think he’ll be able to slip into his berserker state without specifically being told his hair sucks, because I don’t know how long that gimmick will last. But for now, it’s fun to see him go from being the most gentle of Jojos into being just as much of a thug as Jotaro. Maybe even more.

Not sure if I’d want him to save me, actually

The real lasting power of Josuke isn’t just from how he’s so uniquely Jekyll-and-Hyde compared to the others, but from how that tumultuous nature directly translates into his Stand’s ability. His Stand is able to change the shape of whatever object it attacks. This allows him to punch a hole right through an innocent hostage and a possessed robber without injuring the victim. It’s a really interesting take because it allows him to be as reckless as he wants without having to reap the consequences. I mean, even if he knew the poor cash register lady would be fixed afterwards, it’s still pretty brutal to drill a hole into her stomach in the first place. If she felt the pain before he morphed her back then that’s pretty cruel.

So Josuke is like a cleric who hits you over the head with their staff before healing you. It’s a strange mix of violence and peace that he integrates into his Stand’s ability, and that fits his off-and-on personality perfectly. It’s such a cool ability (especially compared to Star Platinum’s ability just being “punching real fast”) that I can’t wait to see how it will be used in the future. Putting a knife inside a guy’s stomach was already pretty darn good.

Final Thoughts

I’m digging it! I always thought Jotarowas way too rough around the edges and cold to be an interesting lead character. Josuke is the perfect remedy to this as he’s sweet, but still has a sharpness to him when it comes down to business (that business being dealing with hair insults, of course). We still don’t know exactly what’s going to happen in terms of a story, aside from Josuke being stalked by the world’s most dangerous escaped convict. If this is another Stand-of-the-week arc, then I don’t know where all these Stands will come from…yet. I appreciate they took some time to flesh out Josuke more instead of immediately launching into a set routine.

The real question for me is if this will fall into the same trappings of Part 3 that I couldn’t stomach. It became so stretched out and repetitive that I was just dying for it to end. I hope this adventure in particular has a little more creativity and a little less rigidity. Fingers crossed!

About Overcooled

A neuroscience graduate, black belt, and all-around nerd. You'll either find me in my lab or curled up in my rilakkuma kigurumi watching anime.