#johnny joestar character analysis
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A "Brief" Analysis of Religion and Johnny Joestar
Introduction
I would be remiss not to begin by addressing Stone Ocean. I believe SO was where Araki really began playing with the idea of faith. Enrico Pucci is a priest, and his outfit is emblazoned with a giant cross. While there is something to be said about Pucci's repurposing of religion to suit his own goals (there are several good discussions of Pucci's character with relation to his faith that others have made, though I don't have them on hand), for my purposes there are only two aspects of Pucci's connection to Christianity that are relevant here:
a) His actual religious faith is somewhat disingenuous (Pucci listens to Dio's Heaven Plan because it serves his own aims - like Hot Pants)
b) He belongs to organized religion (introduced in a church, works in a prison chapel, 'Father' Pucci)
And one aspect of his character that is relevant:
a) He fully believed the Heaven Plan was righteous and would be a boon to humanity
Given that Pucci is the villain of the part, I think it's safe to say that we are supposed to take away that all of these are negative qualities.
I bring this up specifically to juxtapose SO's depiction of Christianity to SBR's. Steel Ball Run is a natural evolution of Stone Ocean's religious theming that represents both a critique and affirmation of faith. This analysis will focus on the character I think best represents SBR's religious themes: Johnny.
Unlike Pucci, Johnny's faith isn't immediately obvious. He wears no crosses and, if it weren't for his own narration, we likely wouldn't know he was religious. After all, Jesus appears to multiple people throughout the part, not just Johnny. It is possible to reduce Jesus' manifestation to simply being the work of corpse parts, but working in tandem with Johnny's character, it becomes plain there's stronger themes about Christianity and religion at work in the narrative.
(It's also very telling when even ten years later (as seen in Jojolion Chapter 22: Morioh, Year 1901) one of the few panels we get of Johnny is him in prayer.)
Johnny's character is extremely rich, but for this analysis I'll choose one of the more prominent overarching themes for his arc: the search for forgiveness. The concept has another name too - redemption. I'll be using them interchangeably.
Section I - An introduction to Johnny Joestar
I'll start with a quick rundown of Johnny's backstory.
Here's a few panels to representative of George's parenting:
And here's a few of Nicholas. After several panels of darkness, from Johnny's POV we're given this:
Johnny admires him greatly, but already feels a great sense of inferiority toward him.
"Maybe I'm not your real brother?" Gee, I wonder who put that in his head.
Here's what we learn about the Joestar family:
(a) George Joestar is a Grade-A asshole. This will be a running theme.
And (b) Nicholas was everything to Johnny.
I want to point out this panel:
Even with George essentially physically threatening him to kill his pet, Johnny's kindness still wins out. His kindness toward animals is a consistent trait and also functions as indicator that, at some point in the past, he was far less aloof than he is in SBR. As readers, we find out this is because of Nicholas' death, which Johnny believes himself to be responsible for.
Johnny's perception of his own guilt in the accident is not helped by George's constant criticizing and reinforcement of Nicholas' amazingness:
It is made abundantly clear that Johnny isn't good enough for George.
And Johnny never will be good enough. He's already the youngest person to ever win the Kentucky Derby (one of the qualifying races for the Triple Crown, which it's previously stated his father won several times) but George doesn't care. You can explain this with grief, but it seems clear that Johnny was always the unfavorite. Nicholas' death just cemented things.
The death of his brother and his relationship with George severely damaged Johnny's beliefs about himself.
Chapter 42: A Silent Way (Part 2)
From a very young age, Nicholas' death caused Johnny to perceive himself as a murderer, willing or not. In other words, he has almost always considered himself a sinner. The 'sin' he committed of killing his brother is why he believes he is undeserving of happiness (Cain and Abel anyone?).
Because he is a 'sinner' - an unforgivable sinner - Johnny cannot fathom his life through any other mechanism but karma. He will always deserve the awful things that happened to him, because his sin is too great to forgive. God just hasn't noticed his mistake yet.
Section II - Broader themes in SBR
These are two main themes I will discuss here:
Individualism
2. Religion
My discussion on individualism in SBR will be limited to its connection to the religious theming. If you want a more in-depth look at this theme in general, check out this video.
As noted above, in Stone Ocean Father Pucci was a member of organized religion. Yet his faith was not truly in the church, but in the 'Heaven Plan', the completion of which would enable people to know their fate. They could not deviate from their set course, but the intention was that they would be able to find 'peace of mind' in that idea. This is how things are supposed to be.
We can also look at the Heaven Plan through the lens of "God has a plan for you". No matter what struggles you endure, you are supposed to be able to find comfort in the idea that some unknowable thing has it all taken care of. Is it a trial of your character? A test of your faith? If you accept God has a plan, then no matter what happens you can be assured you made the right decision (and alleviate your guilty conscience). If you live your life according to the Bible, then you have nothing to fear. If your life sucked in particular, then don't worry, because Heaven's waiting. Faith is based on the idea of "hope". That's what a prayer is - hope that someone is listening.
These ideas of religion and God's plan (i.e. fate) are also present in SBR, in a more subtle capacity. Most obviously, we have the corpse parts. The corpse is understood to be an object of power and value by most everyone in the story.
Here are a few panels of how different characters perceive the corpse.
Chapter 27: Tusk (Part 3)
Gyro understand the corpse in the capacity of its ability to grant power and glory to the nations of the world. Still, he acknowledges "saints exist for the common people".
Chapter 57: Civil War (Part 2)
Chapter 75: D4C (Part 8)
Hot Pants initially seems to have a similar impression of the corpse as Gyro. However, as the story progresses, we learn that they and Johnny's motivations to collect the corpse are quite similar. The difference is that while HP wants the corpse for themselves (to earn forgiveness), they believe they can accomplish this forgiveness by giving the corpse to a higher cause (the Vatican). Hot Pants, too, acknowledges that the miracle of the corpse is supposed to belong to the people.
Meanwhile, Valentine uses the corpse as proof of the 'napkin law'. Whoever has the corpse will have the power to influence the rest of the world. This is representative of religion as an influencer and indication of power.
Chapter 78: D4C (Part 11)
Valentine quite literally claims the power of the corpse - the power to control the right to good fortune, to decide who deserves good things and who doesn't - as his own. He even decides this power doesn't belong to the corpse, but was his all along, his own potential just waiting to be drawn out. He compares this new ability to that of God himself. Valentine is putting himself in the position of God.
All of these characters consider the corpse in terms of what it means to a larger cause. The corpse, and thus religion, is a tool to grant power to those who possess it. It enables whatever entity possessing it to impose "God's plan" (I use that liberally) onto others, supposedly for their own good. Even HP, who has the motivation closest to Johnny's own (even mirroring his 'any means necessary' approach), still views the corpse in terms of its wider applicability. These viewpoints are starkly contrasted by Johnny's own; he just wants the corpse to be able to walk again. Johnny's motivation is very base, but out of the everyone in the cast, it is the humblest and I would argue the most sincere. It's a wish that would affect only himself. The corpse - and thus religion - is something deeply personal to him.
This relatively deterministic stance on religion - as a power related to fate and a tool to control the fates of others - would be in strong contrast with SBR's individualistic themes, were it not for Johnny.
Section III - Understanding Johnny's Search for Redemption
Now I will take a moment to address the unfortunate elephant in the room, namely Araki's treatment of Johnny's disability as a metaphor. I'm not happy with it, and I think magically healing his injury was kind of bullshit when the narrative had reached a point and almost spelled out that it wasn't necessary, but it is what it is so I'll be discussing his disability in this essay in that capacity.
On a related note, I’ll say something kind of controversial: Johnny’s hunt for the corpse was never really about his legs, though that was certainly part of it. As discussed in my Civil War analysis, the parallels between HP and Johnny reveal something else: narratively, gathering the corpse is shortcut to characters earning forgiveness. I’m not sure Johnny himself realized it before Philadelphia, but at some point the corpse became less about his disability and more about spiritual redemption. Healing his legs is representative of cleansing himself from his 'original sin' of "killing" Nicholas.
Chapter 72: Ticket to Ride (Part 2)
Johnny perceives his shooting as the ultimate payment for Nicholas' death. He ran from George after their falling out, pretending he was living the good life without actually forming genuine relationships with anyone. He ran from the guilt he felt toward Nicholas' death for even longer, only recently truly facing his trauma in the Civil War arc. His disability prevented him from being able to run away anymore and forced him into further isolation. It was the final proof he needed that he is someone not allowed to be happy - not allowed to be forgiven. As he is, he's not worth anything to anyone. That's why he's so desperate to walk again. Johnny has been in the 'negative' his entire life. The corpse granting him mobility would be the ultimate proof that he is a person worth healing / saving.
I'll also suggest that his statement of "not giving a fuck if the corpse is a saint or whatever" is less how he feels about religion and moreso about the apparent reverence everyone around him has for it, namely Hot Pants, Valentine and even Gyro. They all believe the corpse to be something valuable because of what it means to a larger cause or organization. For Johnny, it's a means to an end. At this point in the story, it's become clear that the one thing Johnny wants most of all is to be forgiven for his 'sin' - a chance to wipe the slate clean.
Section IV - Johnny and Faith
Firstly, Johnny was raised in a religious household. As seen above, his father is obviously religious to some extent, and when Gyro initially questions him about the corpse he's able to list off a few Saints.
Chapter 27: Tusk (Part 3)
At the same time, however, I believe there's enough evidence to suggest he's in a crisis of faith. As per evidence I'll show later, he may simply think God has abandoned him like everyone else.
I'll move on to Johnny's perception of himself and how that relates to the religious themes in the story.
Chapter 41: A Silent Way (Part 1)
Stands are reflective of their user's fighting spirit, or, more literally, their soul. Tusk's bullets being destroyed so quickly is reflective of the weight of Johnny's guilt against his goal of forgiveness. At this point, Tusk is still in Act 1. Johnny feels any progress he makes towards forgiveness simply... fizzles out. Forgiveness means he can be happy, but he can never be truly happy because he has always been a sinner.
The dinosaurs here function as a metaphor for Johnny's guilt (isn't that a sentence?). He was able to start down the road to forgiveness through the hunt for the corpse parts and gaining Tusk, but at this point he still doesn't feel like he's truly earned the right to have them. 'Fate' will catch up with him before he can be forgiven, because he doesn't deserve to be forgiven.
Contrary to popular readings, as much as Johnny appears rather cold most of the time, he's actually an extremely caring person. His kindness with Danny backfired on him in a big way, which I why I think he tries to shut down the softer part of himself so hard, but it still comes through. We can see it in his loyalty to Gyro, putting up with his jokes and even playing along, as well as putting his life on the line to protect him several times when the easier option would have been to run away. He feeds the stray wolf in Wrecking Ball because he felt bad for it. He's also one of the only people to be genuinely kind to Lucy, even defending her to Gyro and protesting her involvement in the corpse hunt. Think about that - Johnny, Mr. "Get the Corpse at any cost" Joestar, was obviously willing to put Lucy's safety before his determination to get the corpse. Much of his coldness can be attributed to walls he built due to those he cares about frequently abandoning him, voluntarily or otherwise.
Chapter 42: A Silent Way (Part 2)
And if everyone has abandoned Johnny - because he has never been worth anything, because he is a sinner - then God surely has too. Very early in his life, he closed himself off to other people (and we can infer, by extension, closed himself off to God).
Because of this - because of his lack of connections to others, because of his low self-worth, because he feels he isn't someone who deserves happiness - Johnny's conviction to collect the corpse parts frequently wavers.
Chapter 44: A Silent Way (Part 5)
His 'dark determination', first seen in True Man's World, demonstrates that he does have the motivation to collect the corpse parts at any cost. At the same time, A Silent Way highlights his tendency to give up on himself. That's the struggle he must overcome in that arc. Johnny must harden his resolve, because despite still feeling like he doesn't deserve anything, he does want the corpse parts so that he can be someone worth something - to Gyro, at the very least. And because of his strengthening bond with Gyro, Johnny finds the resolve to fight on not just for Gyro, but for himself as well, evolving Tusk into Act 2. Even so, at the end of this arc, Johnny is still wavering. His still isn't sure of his worth because he has yet to pay for his 'sin'. Deep down, he believes he is not and never will be worth forgiveness.
But he keeps trying.
Johnny is the first to explicitly recognize the corpse as Jesus Christ, and Johnny is the only one to whom Jesus speaks directly and addresses by name.
Chapter 58: Civil War (Part 3)
As discussed in my Civil War analysis, his connection to Jesus, and Christ's words to him, are critical in Johnny realizing that Nicholas' death was not his fault. At the end of the arc, Johnny is purified, because Nicholas' death was never his sin to bear. Furthermore, despite threatening it several times, Johnny has never murdered in cold blood. Each and every time was self-defense against Valentine's minions (ironically, Gyro probably has a higher kill count.) When Axl Ro kills Johnny, his old self quite literally dies, and he is reborn purified of past sins (hey, that's a familiar story).
What we learn here is that it was the one man who was collecting the corpse - again, representative of a shortcut to forgiveness - for his 'selfish' goal of spiritual redemption that Christ deemed worthy of showing himself too. By reading Civil War as Johnny reconnecting with his faith through finding forgiveness for his sins in both himself and Christ, we understand that he isn't wavering anymore - now, he does believe himself someone worthy of redemption. But even with his faith in God and Christ solidified, Johnny still believes he hasn't been completely forgiven, as his legs are still not healed. Hence why he fights so desperately to reclaim the corpse in the D4C arc.
Section V - The Two Sides of Religion
First, the corpse siding with Valentine causes Johnny to have another crisis of faith.
Chapter 79: D4C (Part 12)
Valentine and Johnny's stances on faith are opposed to one another throughout the final confrontation. Valentine is trying to impose his version of "righteousness" onto the world. Valentine believes that, through the corpse (religion), he has the right to decide who is worthy and who is not. Johnny, by contrast, is fighting to save Lucy and reclaim the corpse - to make himself someone 'worth something' again. Yet we see that even Johnny isn't completely sure of that his path is the 'righteous' one. Does someone like him (someone still unworthy, a sinner) even have the right to oppose Valentine's vision? Is he worthy of forgiveness?
Chapter 88: Break My Heart, Break Your Heart (Part 1) - quick side note: notice how Johnny still has very low self-worth and continues to condemn himself as a 'sinner' (someone evil) frequently and without much cause. Even after Valentine literally killed his best friend, Johnny struggles to see himself as someone who even at the bare minimum deserves to judge others. George Joestar when I get you...
Valentine assumes a similar role to Pucci. In this final confrontation, he is representative of the use of religion as a tool of power.
Quick aside here:
The comparison of those involved in the race to a lamb - famously associated with Jesus Christ himself - is curious.
Chapter 85: Ball Breaker (Part 3)
Valentine indirectly refers to Johnny as his 'greatest challenge' and moreover attempts to force him to attack first (Chapter 85: Ball Breaker (Part 3)). Valentine is trying to force Johnny to become a sinner again before he condemns him to death for being unworthy of Valentine's 'righteous' world. Valentine is literally acting in God's place as judge, jury and executioner by determining who is 'worthy' and 'unworthy'.
Johnny, on the other hand, is representative of religion as a healing influence. He doesn't want to influence large groups of people or protect any nation. His connection to God and Christ through his faith is far more individualistic and personal. I think it's very telling that he's the winner here.
Section VI - Conclusion
At the end of SBR, we learn that despite everything - even through his crisis of faith - still, Johnny prays. He's always been praying.
Chapter 95: The World of Stars and Stripes
The story of Steel Ball Run is about finding your faith again. Johnny always prayed, even when he thought he’d never be forgiven, even when he believed God wasn’t listening. He is the kind of person that miracles are for (as alluded to by Gyro and Hot Pants in Section II). Johnny is the only religious character to escape the narrative unscathed, largely because religion was something so deeply personal to him. Rather than simply being 'selfish', his goal was personal, spiritual redemption. Faith carried him across the continent, helped him overcome his trauma, helped him connect with Gyro, and showed him how to find self-worth again after his lowest point. His faith was sincere and for himself, in contrast to most everyone else in the story who tried to impose their beliefs onto others.
Hot Pants, a member of organized religion, used it as a means to an end but never found the forgiveness they were looking for because their faith was performative. Pucci too failed because he used his faith (in the Heaven Plan) to try and assume control of the fate of others (similar to Valentine).
In contrast to Pucci and Valentine, Johnny absolutely wavered in his faith. Several times, in fact. He believed for most of his life that no one, least of all God, was listening. God had no plan for him, because his life was a mistake. Even so, he found comfort in praying for himself and Gyro, and by the end at last believed himself someone worth forgiving. And he was forgiven - cleansed, if you will. His being able to walk at the end of SBR is indicative that he no longer considers himself a sinner, but someone worthy of a new beginning as a person.
By the end of SBR, it’s apparent that the corpse itself isn’t what Johnny needed. It was because of his relationship with Gyro and the trials they faced together that he was able to gain a better understanding of himself, where he fucked up in the past, and learned how to be a better person. Lesson 5 is the key. "The detour was the shortest past." (Chapter 84: Ball Breaker (Part 2)) Johnny never fully possessed the corpse, preventing him from using it as a shortcut to redemption. It wasn't the corpse, but the corpse hunt itself that enabled Johnny to find forgiveness in himself and reconnect with his faith.
Narratively, Hot Pants, Valentine and Pucci were punished because they were not sincere in their proclaimed beliefs or otherwise abused religion in a position of power. Yet religion itself still isn't represented as a negative thing. Johnny's character carefully combines themes of individualism and religion to demonstrate the healing influence of personal faith.
Closing Notes
This essay was a much bigger undertaking than my previous analyses, primarily because I feel I am not the person to be writing it. I wasn't raised particularly religious (I barely know the cliff notes of Christianity), but at the very least I hope this is valuable jumping off point for others.
I apologize if I repeated myself too much. This was a very messy essay and I tried to clean it up a bit, but I'm sure I missed some things.
Based on some brief scanning of different Christian denominations and what occurs in SBR, I'd say Johnny was probably raised Lutheran. What do you guys think?
Also, shoutout to Johnny’s little devil horns.
Thank you for reading! Please feel free to share your thoughts as well.
#johnny joestar#steel ball run#sbr#sbr analysis#funny valentine#hot pants#jojo's bizarre adventure#jjba#jjba part 7#jojo's bizarre adventure part 7#wow this was a lot#i love u johnny joestar...#my posts#johnny joestar character analysis#hopefully my last sbr analysis... yippee!#ofc this is only one aspect of johnny's character but i feel it's one often overlooked#when it's almost critically important to understanding him#steel ball run analysis
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I finished reading SBR AND I HAVE THOUGHTS
Going to focus on my favorite moment, how it ended up being the overall theme for part 7, and how it came back for the ending. Long read, spoilers ahead.
The initial moment I'm talking about is in Vol 12. This was the moment that REALLY got me invested in Johnny and Gyro's story and it was also the turning point in their relationship. Up until this point you could view their alliance as something mostly rooted in convenience. They both had goals that were adjacent to each other, but they also had an understanding that if their goals were no longer aligned then they'd go their separate ways without a second thought. It was transactional. Don't get in my way and I'll lend you a hand as long as it doesn't slow me down. They had common enemies but really couldn't be described as friends per se. At least not until this moment.
Johnny, whose entire disability was brought about by his own hubris and a moment of selfishness, the boy who has only recently begun to understand his stand abilities and feel hope over his condition improving, is given a choice. Does he sacrifice Gyro to keep the corpse parts which he fought so hard to collect in the first place? Or does he let the corpse parts go to save the life of someone who he's not even that close to? Does he choose himself or someone else?
And this is a huge turning point for Johnny's character as a whole. This leads to him making an incredibly selfless decision, one which goes against his instincts and which even Gyro seems surprised by.
This is it. This is the moment when Gyro realizes that Johnny is more than just a traveling companion. He knows exactly how much those corpse parts meant to Johnny. He can see the despair that he's fallen into and yet it's clear that Johnny doesn't regret his decision or hold any resentment towards him, and it's in that moment that Gyro realizes he would have done the exact same thing for him.
Imagine my surprise when Johnny has to make a similar decision at the end of SBR, but in the opposite direction.
Valentine, in a desperate attempt to save his own hide, offers the one thing that Johnny can't refuse. The chance for him to see Gyro again and let him live. He bends over backwards and swears up and down that he has good intentions and that no harm will befall either of them and Johnny wants to believe it more than anything. He is once again given a choice. Does he make the selfish choice to give Valentine the corpse in exchange for his friend or does he make the selfless choice and let him go?
It's a fascinating exchange because as Johnny is questioning Valentine and asking him to prove his good intentions, it feels more like he's trying to convince himself that Valentine is trustworthy than the other way around.
He's trying to convince himself that saving Gyro is the better option even though, as painful as it is, he knows deep down that it isn't. He knows that the Gyro who would be brought to his universe wouldn't be the same. It wouldn't be his Gyro. He knows that Valentine is a smooth talker who can't be trusted. He knows that no matter what justification Valentine gives for his actions, that they were always motivated by a desire for power and personal gain.
And so he makes what is, most likely, the most difficult decision of his life. He tests Valentine one more time.
Valentine, being the bastard that he is, can't resist the opportunity to kill Johnny. And with that, Gyro is lost forever. It's just a really powerful moment and ties back to vol. 12 beautifully.
This is the overall theme of SBR. The idea of self sacrifice and letting things go for the greater good.
I'm just so proud of these characters and how they grew over time both in their relationship and as people overall. It was an honor to go on this journey with you boys.
Cheers, and to the next part and the goal.
#jjba#B talks JoJo#jojo's bizarre adventure#steel ball run#johnny joestar#gyro zeppeli#funny valentine#character analysis#I really enjoyed reading SBR#it wasn't my favorite arc and it certainly had some issues but Gyro and Johnny were just wonderful#I just think they're neat#Araki you bastard you've done it again#how dare u make me feel things#long post
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TUMBLR, NOOOOO!!!
I was just about to post a detailed character analysis on Jojolion, DILF Johnny when the fucking app crashed and now I've lost the draft!!! 😭😭😭
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What Makes Jotaro Kujo The Most Powerful Stand User
Sorta. Arguably he’s beaten out (with good reason) by GER Giorno and Johnny’s Act 4 Tusk in terms of power, but in-universe he’s considered to be the world’s most powerful Stand user both by characters within the text treating him as such and the overall narrative.
Case shut, post over it seems, but let’s dig a little deeper into the why… besides being the main character.
The above screenshot frames Jotaro as the most powerful Stand user, but he doesn’t even have the most powerful version of his Stand in Diamond is Unbreakable (it’s actually the weakest). The Stand stats page for Stone Ocean’s Star Platinum reveals that the most powerful version of Jotaro is “when Jotaro was in his prime (18 years old).”
Narratively, the most powerful Stand user is Jotaro at the very tail end of Stardust Crusaders, after he has gained Time Stop. This is his prime. Another way to pop the bubble on my own analysis here is point out that canon focuses on this moment because it’s right when he kills DIO. Very much usurping a king to take the crown.
But before the story ended, we saw Prime Jotaro do something else which I believe is (also) what makes him the most powerful Stand user in existence. It’s a small, almost forgotten moment. Tucked in between Jotaro learning about Kakyoin’s death and reviving his grandfather.
It’s the time when Jotaro tries the impossible.
SDC Time Stop Jotaro isn’t considered the most powerful Stand user because he’s in his physical prime with a powerful ability. He’s considered that because this was the very moment he decided to try. That’s what makes him the most powerful Stand user.
Which makes it all the more painful meaning that the times that Jotaro fails are the moments were he doesn’t try enough.
More analysis below the cut. Spoilers for part 6 btw.
There’s that common joke pointing out how ridiculous it is that Jotaro tells Josuke that “you can’t bring back a life once it’s lost” after Josuke’s grandfather dies because Jotaro was literally able to do just that. Sure, the circumstances were different especially with the vampire blood giving immortality, but Jotaro’s attempt was to see if flushing Joseph’s body back with his Joestar blood would revive him, with no intention to turn him vampiric (which it doesn’t. Or it does and Joseph gets the immortality but not the rest of the bad side effects. Joestar blood is too op pls fix in next patch dev team). Regardless, it’s pretty odd and perhaps unintentional parallel that two grandfathers tip the bucket and one survives and the other’s grandson is told that the dead will always remain dead.
Speaking from a in-universe perspective, Jotaro’s speech to Josuke should be taken at as the truth. Bruno dies against Diavolo during their first encounter, with him essentially living as a ghost(/soul) within his own withering corpse thanks to Giorno’s intervention. More obviously in Stone Ocean, when Pucci finds Perla’s body and gets a memory of DIO telling him that there’s no way to bring back the dead.
So the one exception of cheating death outright is in Joseph being revived by Jotaro. It could be explained by the aforementioned vampire/Joestar blood BS. It could be a simple retcon that got established in DiU so a situation like Joseph wouldn’t happen again. Both interpretations make sense and I would agree with both.
However, I would like to argue that Joseph’s miraculous survival is not a narrative oversight. His revival is proof of Jotaro’s power as a direct result of Jotaro’s willingness to try. Jotaro plans for DIO and Joseph’s body to be put into the same ambulance to return the Joestar blood back to his grandfather. It’s an idea he’s not even sure that works, he asks the doctors if it was possible to transfer blood between the corpses. Joseph is very much dead at this point. If Jotaro calling Joseph’s body a corpse and seeing his soul float off wasn’t enough proof, the doctors immediately call the revival plan impossible/useless.
I want to stress this is the worst night of Jotaro’s life.
Right before this scene happens he overhears the radio confirm that Kakyoin is dead. He went into the final fight with DIO knowing Avdol and Iggy were both dead, upping the pressure to keep the rest of his friends/family alive. He watched his grandfather die right in front of him and DIO promptly desecrate the corpse. If it weren’t for his own actions, Polnareff would be dead too. He doesn’t know if he killed DIO in time either, from his perspective his mom could’ve died before he could save her in time. (Ha. Time.)
I suppose, in a sea of despondent despair, there was no other options than to cling to the impossible. After all, against all odds, he was able to learn Time Stop and kill DIO. He had to make it worth it. He was there to save his family, his friends died to save his family, if Joseph or Holly died… well.
He wanted to beat the odds again. And he did. In a way, this is him beating fate or at the very least—fate was literally in his hands and he made the decision to bring his grandfather back no matter what.
In DiU and beyond, Jotaro becomes resigned to fate and thus the weakening of his power overall. If fate determined that his friends would die in Egypt, then that would lessen the weight of blame on him and put their deaths as more of an inevitability. Fate is final. You can’t change it.
Jotaro doesn’t feel pressured to act upon something until he has to, then he does what he needs to be done. In SDC he doesn’t really care about women until they need to be saved or protected. In DiU he says he “hates doing anything tiring” as he saved Koichi from Sheer Heart Attack. He doesn’t visit Jolyne until she’s in jail because of a plot against him (and he couldn’t let DIO’s resentment ruin his daughter’s life).
The actions he takes are what he believes to be the best option, but that option is probably a compromise, not an attempt at the best possible outcome. His treatment to Jolyne is the subject here. He focused his priorities on keeping his family safe by baiting his enemies to himself instead of them, instead of trying to find a compromise where he could be with his daughter and protect her. I can’t blame Jotaro for this decision, but I also can’t avoid the simple fact that he hurt himself and his family for being distant. When fate does catch up, as he expects it to, it bites him in the ass—the stubbornness of DIO’s followers outlived Jotaro’s and he ends up in a coma, unable to act and unable to protect his daughter.
I don’t mean to say that effort isn’t shown by him, he’s extremely observational and analytical and uses those skills to his advantage in practically every fight he’s in. I think the Anubis fight is good proof of that, being brought to his physical limits to the point he can’t move after it. He tries plenty, but it seems clear to me that he tends to only lose when he’s not trying hard enough.
He almost died to a rat because he didn’t plan ahead and figure that the bullets would ricochet. In Stone Ocean, his Time Stop isn’t long enough to save everyone from Made In Heaven. He didn’t maintain his prime Time Stop or sought to expand it, because that was DIO’s goal or, more simply, he didn’t bother to. He went ten years of not needing to use it until Josuke forces him to.
Even with his ability becoming duller in later parts, the story and characters still treat Jotaro like The Most Powerful Stand User. In DiU, after the culmination of the Gang’s efforts, it’s up to Jotaro to stop Kira from reactivating BtD. In Stone Ocean, it’s up to Jotaro to kill Pucci when no one else is literally able to. Stardust Crusaders’ final fight is when Jotaro is completely alone, when there’s no one left but him to stop DIO.
The narrative again and again reenforces the idea that Jotaro is the strongest Stand user in the story, that everything falls on his shoulders and he is the one to make sure the evil dies and who’s left, lives. Past part 3, the narrative continues to say that he’s the most powerful Stand user, but it’s also clear that it’s not true anymore. His Time Stop isn’t as strong as it was in his prime. He no longer lives up to the expectation he made for himself in the few minutes after he killed DIO.
That moment in the ambulance, that’s the moment Jotaro tries without the pressure of death—the dust has already settled—or his own sense of justice—the evil has been fought. Joseph is dead and DIO is dead. Out of the desire and the off chance that he could hear his grandfather share stupid trivia with him, Jotaro reaches for the impossible, the best possible outcome, and gets it.
After the end of Stardust Crusaders, Jotaro no longer is at his ‘prime’. For someone who hates useless things, he becomes what he deems as useless. He’ll live the rest of his life in the shadow of his own self, the self that proved that he could do the impossible.
#jjba#jojo’s bizarre adventure#jotaro kujo#stardust crusaders#stone ocean#diamond is unbreakable#character meta#skyspeaks#my writing
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Trauma and Stands in JJBA
So this has been swirling around my head for a bit, and because I just lost my job today I figured it would be good to take my mind off of it by indulging in a bit of analytical escapism instead.
It’s stated several times throughout Jojo that Stands are a manifestation of a person’s most innate self, their “soul” if you will. Some Stands can be a manifestation of positive aspects of a person’s soul, such as Tusk Act IV being a representation of Johnny Joestar’s resilience or Crazy Diamond being a representation of Josuke’s protective nature. It can be a great character analysis to just break down the aspects of a stand and how it relates to each character of Jojo. But that’s gonna be a super long essay that I don’t have the energy to write.
What I want to talk about is how Stands can be a representation of things like trauma and negative coping mechanisms associated with it. Specifically, part 5 characters that are good examples of this. There could obviously be others from different parts, but these are the ones that I’ve been thinking about.
The most obvious one would be Fugo. His stand has a lot of meaning to it. I think a lot of people tend to look at his character at only a surface level. Even if you want to discount the anime’s expansion on his backstory, it’s super clear that this kid has experienced serious trauma. Children don’t just become angry without reason. Fugo’s anger is a direct result of trauma, and we can see that with Purple Haze. It’s a Stand built to push people away, to lash out at friend or foe, or even Fugo himself. It’s a representation of Fugo’s desire to isolate himself as a way to cope, which is a common trait among people with CPTSD (article here: https://medium.com/invisible-illness/the-reasons-people-with-complex-ptsd-self-isolate-846266b52a6d). That anger, and by extension Purple Haze, are walls and armor Fugo built.
Another obvious example would be Abbacchio. While his Stand is useful in the events of Vento Aureo, Moody Blues’ ability is a clear representation of symptoms of rumination in PTSD (article here: https://sites.tufts.edu/emotiononthebrain/2014/11/18/hooked-on-a-feeling-intrusive-and-ruminative-symptoms-in-ptsd/). It’s ability is to play back the events of the past, much like how a person with PTSD will replay the memories of a traumatic event in their minds. Obviously the trauma of losing his partner as a cop would make this make sense. Personally, this makes me feel like Abbacchio is one of the most tragic characters in part 5 at least. What would his stand look like if he hadn’t experienced what he had? Not to mention his meeting with Bruno heavily implies engaging in substance abuse.
Less obvious, but still interesting would be Bruno’s stand. There’s an issue with children of divorce having to deal with “split loyalty.” Even if the divorce his parents had was amicable, and even if Bruno decided to stay with his father, he had to essentially split himself apart to stay loyal to both parents. I honestly highly doubt his mother was just cool with him staying with his father, either. But you could chalk that up to extrapolation. So how does this relate to his Stand? Well, remember the fight with Pesci? When Bruno had to divide his actual physical heart in half to survive? That was not just a fight, that was a demonstration of his childhood.
This post is so long, I need to go to bed. And find a new job. I hope this made sense to someone.
#panacotta fugo#leone abbacchio#bruno bucciarati#bruno bucellati#jjba#vento aureo#jjba part 5#rambling#analysis#I need to go outside more
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the answer to your tag is "fuzz". 1, 3, 6, 30, 47
yayayayayayayay
1) Fave Jojo?
I remember it being Jolyne when I read the manga but let me tell you, Netflix sure is Trying me
3) Fave anime opening?
GREAT DAYS GREAT DAYS GREAT DAYS. Honorary mentions to Traitor's Requiem, for how rad the alternate versions are, and Bloody Stream for being the first Jojo opening to ever put stars in my eyes.
6) Fave stand?
OH NO THAT'S A REALLY TOUGH ONE... oh god. hm. In terms of design, probably Black Sabbath (actually that's an easy one, haha), but in terms of abilities... I think I have to give it to Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap. Fuck the King Crimson memes, Who Shot Johnny Joestar is THE most confused I've ever been reading Jojo and I kind of loved it?
30) Rank your order: Jojo main villains
OH MAN THIS ONE'S EVEN HARDER... pls don't look at these too closely, the rankings could change at the drop of a hat. I am extremely malleable
Yoshikage Kira still takes the top spot, I think. Probably the most realistic Jojo villain (bearing in mind that that's a WILD metric lmao), fun to watch, easy to root for AND against, meets a satisfying and appropriate end. I love you Part 4.
HMM. hm. I think Enrico Pucci takes this one because he's so damn compelling. Though I am finding that I don't have much to say about him right now... I blame Netflix Jail.
Okay I'm putting Funny Valentine in this spot because I find him to be a pretty well-written villain by Jojo standards, and I love his stand and I love the magician shtick he's got going on, but Jesus Christ dudebro Funny Valentine fans are the WORST
You may be surprised that Diavolo ranks so low, but the thing with Diavolo is that all the other villains so far did not have their writing muddied by the final arc of their respective parts and I did not need to read thousands of words of fanfiction and good takes or engage in Watsonian analysis to forgive that blunder. Though uhhhh I'll grant the brain worms give him a honorary number 1 spot.
Dio Brando (PB) may not be the most believable villain in fiction, but there's something to be said for how hard he carries Part 1. Not to mention this quintessential experience.
DIO (SDC) does nothing for 95% of the story and he still manages to be iconic, and I think that's very sexy of him. Plus, we wouldn't have Pucci without him.
There's nothing wrong with Kars, really, and him being this low doesn't mean I hate him? In fact I do quite appreciate the Ultimate Ace Icon. I just don't have a lot to say about him either.
I don't hate Toru either! On the contrary, I do love me a fuckboy, and I honestly waffled on naming Wonder of U as one of my fave stands. But man, uh, the shake-up to the usual Jojo formula did not work out for his potential impact as a character, and I have to wonder if DavidPro is going to do anything to help that when they animate Jojolion in 30 years.
THERE'S ONE MORE DID YOU FORGET
47) Moment you wish could have happened?
God I'm sure I could think of So Many if pressed but I saw somebody else answer this with "Doppio should have interacted with Trish" and now all I can think about is that.
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Blog Navigation
Important -
Flashing gifs will be tagged with the tags gif, flashing, flashing gif, flashing lights, eyestrain.
I tag spoilers for major events / character deaths in Parts 7-9 only, tags formatted as [part name] spoilers, eg: the jojolands spoilers.
Currently live-blogging my first read through of Jojolion with the tag reading jojolion. Also using the tag reading the jojolands as the chapters release.
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Overall Tags -
fave
mine
joestar family (posts featuring multiple JoJos)
stands
jjba & jojos bizarre adventure (for posts I make that I want to go into the main tags)
important (valuable masterposts / informative posts)
ask
my edits (credit not required)
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Medium Tags -
art (used for any sort of stationary, visual post)
text
video
music
gif (flashing gifs also tagged as flashing, flashing gif, flashing lights, eyestrain)
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Topic Tags -
emotional
funny
analysis
theory
lore
trivia
critical & jjba critical (hate towards specific characters will be tagged, eg: jotaro kujo critical)
shipping (posts featuring / about ships, only listed ships will be tagged)
fandom (posts about the JJBA fandom)
outsider (posts about outsider perspectives on JJBA because I find them funny)
cultural impact (posts about wider cultural significance of JJBA)
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Other Tags -
icons
headers
background
opening credits (posts about the anime OPs)
ending credits (posts about the anime EDs)
crossover (posts featuring other franchises)
oc (other people’s ocs and fan-made stands)
au (other people’s aus that I enjoy)
merch (merchandise but also for official displays / installations)
spinoff (the games, side stories, etc.)
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Ship Tags -
(Not big on shipping but enjoy these so I’m tagging for my own convenience)
josuyasu
jonaeri
avpol
yasugap
foolymes (I use this tag for any combination of Jolyne, Ermes and F.F. just for simplicity)
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Part Tags -
phantom blood
battle tendency
stardust crusaders
diamond is unbreakable
golden wind
stone ocean
steel ball run
jojolion
the jojolands
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JoJo Tags -
jonathan joestar
joseph joestar
jotaro kujo
josuke higashikata 4
giorno giovanna
jolyne cujoh
johnny joestar
josuke higashikata 8
jodio joestar
Characters should have their full name used for tagging. Names, spellings and punctuation are based on the character’s title on the JoJo Wiki. Exceptions are -
Sandman is tagged as soundman
Magent Magent is tagged as magenta magenta
Tizzano is tagged as tiziano
Weather Report is tagged with both weather report and wes bluemarine
For alternate versions of the same character, the original is tagged without a number and the alternate has their part number added, eg: rohan kishibe and rohan kishibe 9. (The Josukes are an exception to this and both have a number because I love them and they’re special).
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Stands are tagged by their original names, I don’t currently bother differentiating different acts / forms / alternate counterparts / substands and just tag the base stand.
Eg: A picture of Gold Experience Requiem, Echoes Act 3, Part 8′s Killer Queen and Epitaph would just be tagged with gold experience, echoes, killer queen and king crimson.
~
#fave#mine#joestar family#stands#important#emotional#funny#analysis#theory#lore#trivia#critical#shipping#fandom#outsider#cultural impact#art#text#video#music#gif#phantom blood#battle tendency#stardust crusaders#diamond is unbreakable#golden wind#stone ocean#steel ball run#jojolion#the jojolands
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tag drop.
#awaiting tags.#character : 「 angel of death 」 ⇢ cioccolata .#character : 「 prehistoric impulse 」 ⇢ diego brando .#subject : 「 starlight bloodline 」 ⇢ joestars .#subject : 「 blood-poisoned bloodline 」 ⇢ brandos .#character : 「 unlucky kentuckian 」 ⇢ johnny joestar .#character : 「 caged in hands 」 ⇢ yoshikage kira .#character : 「 rainbow in darkness 」 ⇢ weather report .#out : 「 friends come in many forms 」 ⇢ recommended .#out : 「 then perish 」 ⇢ delete later .#character : 「 soldier of love 」 ⇢ jonathan joestar .#character : 「 unbreaks the broken 」 ⇢ josuke higashikata .#study : 「 viewed under a microscope 」 ⇢ analysis .#character : 「 like clockwork 」 ⇢ narciso anasui .#study : 「 philosophy of beauty 」 ⇢ aesthetic .#out : 「 entering the world of fiction 」 ⇢ official content .#character : 「 touch of grey 」 ⇢ prosciutto .#character : 「 overlord of evil 」 ⇢ skeletor .#character : 「 zora’s dearest son 」 ⇢ prince sidon .#character : 「 soul built of ancient ruins 」 ⇢ pannacotta fugo .
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A Fool’s Analysis of the Joestars
George: He’s more of a fool than even I.
Jonathan: He’s wholesome. An ally to lesbians. He holds up the entire LGBT community on his back. He also invented crop tops, which was innovative of him.
Joseph: I want to punch him in the chest. Not because I hate him or anything. I don’t even think it would hurt him. I don’t think he would call me a slur either, despite his age, which is neat.
Holly: A milf. I think she could take any one of her bara relatives in a fistfight.
Jotaro: He aged like Benjamin Button. He got a Stand, assumed he was being haunted by a purple ghost, and put himself in prison, which is highly relatable somehow. He was a bad dad, though. Yare yare daze.
Josuke: My Little Bastard. He carried on Jonathan’s “lesbian ally” legacy. He’s so sweet he gave me a cavity. I’m glad at least one part wasn’t full of intense suffering. His hair makes me think of Space Dandy.
Giorno: I would actually commit murder for this child. He’s weird as fuck though, and not enough people bring this up. It’s really funny that he went “I’m 15, I don’t have a license,” and then drove into a river.
Jolyne: Her part was really stressful to read, but also somehow the most satisfying for me. She’s a bi icon. I wish she could have met Giorno, because that would be fun. Love that she was in Florida. Yare yare dawa.
Johnny: He’s really out here representing feral short people. We have a lot in common. I would also join a dangerous race to impress a sexy cowboy. His part also introduced Jesus as a canon Jojo character, which killed me on impact when I found out.
Josuke 8: He’s dumb bitch representation. I don’t know who, what, or where I am at any given time either. His brother is an incel, but he handles it pretty well. Also, his little sailor suit is adorable. The gap in his teeth is adorable. 10/10 on the Little Creacher scale.
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gonna write a character analysis of johnny joestar for one of my humanities classes
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First Line Tag Game
I was tagged by @tyriantyrant
Rules: List the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have less than 20, just list them all). See if there are any patterns. Choose your favorite opening line, then tag 10 of your favorite authors!
I usually dont do tag games, and i dislike tagging other people but this is fun enough lol
Unfinished Giorno/Trish/Mista Fic:
A house full of gangsters wasn't one you’d expect to be quiet or relaxed, full of homey goods or framed photographs.
Chapter 5 and 6 of a collab AbbaGio fic that hasnt been posted yet;
Giorno felt his eye twitch as he looked across the desk at the mountains of papers Bucciarati had slapped down in front of him.
+
Around him rushed with what seemed to be the entire hotel’s population, all shoved into one dimly lit and sweaty room.
WRH/JC MDZS Fic for a friend:
The Sunshot Campaign; mighty in name, mighty in effort. Mighty in it’s failure.
Omega Giorno fic for another friend:
Giorno wiggles deeper into the mountain of plush clothing, the three blankets thrown over the top shifting only slightly around the bulging sides. The pile was mainly consisting of pillows and soft t-shirts, though a few boxers were thrown in as well just for good measure.
Unfinished Bucci and Giorno bonding fic where they go to an art gallery:
Bruno Bucciarati is a weird man. There’s no questioning it, as much as Giorno cares about him, that the man is as odd and intricate as the rest of the people surrounding him.
He’s a caring soul, empathetic and kind with a fiery drive to help as many as he can. Yet despite that he has the capability to be as deadly terrifying and unhinged as one might expect from a man who had no issue Licking A Teenager’s Face as an interrogation tactic.
It’s odd to think that a year on, this guy was practically Giorno’s parent now.
Chose-Your-Own-Ending Game thingy:
-You decide to take the grassy path to the right.
- It wasn’t like the other paths would lead anywhere better, would they?
- Too late to think about that now.
Lonely Static: Self Insert Reader/Abbacchio (backstory for my OC fic):
There are a few irrefutable facts you know about your life.
Self Insert OC with with @togepixels oc:
People chatter happily as they walk along the sunny Italian street, their relaxed paces evidencing their easy going days. It wasn’t too late into the day, not even gone lunchtime yet, though quite a few people milled around the square in cafe seats or making their way from tourist attraction to tourist attraction.
Projections: RWCW Kid Giorno Challenge Fic:
“-And this is the Item Room!” the Speedwagon Foundation employee announces, throwing open the thick white door with as much flourish as a heavy fire door can be opened with.
Very Old Unfinished Voltron fic i will never finish:
The two blue stars either side glowed brightly in the empty void of space around them, and the base between them was imposing and mystical, hovering almost magically between the crushing gravity fields. While Lance may not have understood entirely how they worked or why they were dangerous, he’d spent enough time at home in the ocean to learn how to appreciate the beauty of peril.
Shimmering Stars: Johnny Joestar Character Analysis fic:
The fire was simmering down, the first drops of glittering snow fell around it slowly and softly. Each flake glittered in the light like the stars would above if the clouds thinned.
Privately Owned Spiral Galaxy:
The nineteen year old Don of Passione didn't do field work, didn't go on missions, didn't put himself in harms way. He shouldn't. He should be sat behind a desk, or in meetings, or in the corner of big networking events with a glass of awful champagne in his hand that he would not drink even a sip of.
Spring Cleaning (But In Fall) [Old BTD fic i wrote]:
“Where do you want these ones?” You heave, holding up two massive, off-colour pillows. Both are obviously covered in an assortment of old, colourful stains, but overall look relatively clean in comparison to some of the junk you’ve heaved to and from the rooms today.
thats all i can be arsed to do tbh I am very sleepy
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