Anime Update: Iron-Blooded Orphans and Unbreakable Diamonds

As mentioned in my year-end posts for 2015, I did not complete nearly as many anime series in 2015 as I had hoped, despite my best intentions. However, I intend to make up for that in 2016, and I’ve already hit the ground running, finishing series that I started last year, and doing my best to catch up on as-of-yet-ongoing series.

First out the gate was One Punch Man, and that is almost certain to be the subject of my first anime review of the new year. I also viewed the second film in the Berserk Golden Age trilogy shortly after Christmas, and plan to follow up with the third film before the end of January. I will be reviewing that trilogy as a whole, as opposed to providing three distinct reviews for each individual film. For my first direct exposure to anything from Berserk, it’s proven decently entertaining, though the films are hardly consistent in quality, which is a point that I will cover more in-depth in my full review of the trilogy.

I’ve also devoted some time to the two latest Mobile Suit Gundam series, Iron-Blooded Orphans and the four-episode OVA known as Gundam Thunderbolt. While I only have five episodes of Iron-Blooded Orpahans under my belt, and there has only been a single episode of Thunderbolt released as of yet, I feel both are off to incredibly strong starts, and bring a wonderful mix of ‘something old, something new’ to the table. Meanwhile, I’m itching to get back to Ninja Slayer, as it was one of the most utterly bananas shows I’ve viewed in many years.

In April, the fourth part of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure will see its anime debut with the first episode of Diamond is Unbreakable. Stardust Crusaders crushed the competition in 2015, becoming one of my all-time favorite anime series. I can’t wait to see Okuyasu, Josuke, Koichi, and Kira animated, as David Production has done an absolute knockout job with adapting all of the previous parts of Hirohiko Araki’s long-running action/comedy series.

Other series on the horizon include Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040, Gundam Reconguista in G, season three of Sgt. Frog, and the original Mobile Suit Gundam. All of these are series that I have watched within the past year, but have simply been watching with a lower priority. But, considering that I am nearly halfway through each of them, and they have proven quite entertaining, by and large, I feel compelled to follow them through to completion.

Perhaps there will be other series that join the pool in 2016 – the Digimon reboot is something that I would like to look into, and Daisuki has proven a strong go-to website for the general variety and quality of anime it is hosting. Depending on the release schedule of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin, it may also join the ranks of my 2016 reviews. And I have yet to view Tekkon Kinkreet, a movie that I purchased a couple of years back, and have neglected to pop into my DVD player, despite hearing only good things about it.

Top 3 Anime of 2015

While I did manage to start quite a few anime in 2015, I was not able to finish half of them. Part of this was a result of my attempting to juggle too many at a time, part of it was due to personal events outside of the blog that demanded my attention late this year. Despite this setback, I did manage to complete three series that stood as a cut above the rest. I’ve nearly finished two anime properties that I hope will kick my 2016 anime reviews off with a bang. Until then, here are me picks for the three best anime that I viewed in 2015.

#3) Mobile Suit Victory Gundam: Considered by many to be the height of series creator Yoshiyuki Tomino’s ‘kill-‘em-all’ presentations, Victory Gundam carries a melancholy tone - more so that most other Gundam anime projects - which provides a curious but surprisingly effective contrast to the positivity exhibited by young protagonist Uso Evin. The hand-drawn animation still holds up quite well today, and avoids reuse of stock footage whenever possible, only increasing the perceived production quality for its day. The efforts of the League Militaire against the Zanscare Empire mirror the fight that the A.E.U.G. took to the Titans in Zeta Gundam, while also harkening back to the severity of losses during original Mobile Suit Gundam’s One Year War. The mobile suit designs are at their most bizarre for a Universal Century setting in Victory Gundam, with many of the Zanscare Empire’s bearing insect qualities. There are a couple laughable moments of gaps in logic, but on the hole, Victory Gundam still holds up well more than twenty years after its original release.

#2) Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine: A return to the flashy and upbeat action the series is known for, The Woman Called Fujiko Mine also displays a sultry, mysterious side befitting of the titular character. Effectively one of the earliest tales in the Lupin III chronology, The Woman Called Fujiko Mine focuses in part on how the classic cast first crossed paths with one another, but also explores Fujiko as a complex individual – the motivations behind her life of thievery, her sexuality, ghosts of her past, and the image others have of her versus how she perceives herself. While it certainly does not skimp on exciting chase sequences and zany humor that the franchise has become known for, The Woman Called Fujiko Mine treads into darker, more serious territory than most of its predecessors, to a mostly-successful payoff.

#1) Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders – Battle in Egypt: Building upon the already-stellar previous half of Stardust Crusaders, Jotaro, Joseph, Avdol, Kakyoin, Polnareff and newcomer Iggy face their toughest challenges yet from Dio’s Nine Egyptian Gods on their journey to defeat the time-stopping vampire. With each new installment in the Jojo’s anime series, the animation improves upon greatness, with wild color palette swaps, intense Stand battle sequences, and tactfully drawn-out scenes of drama and grief. This second half of the Stardust Crusaders anime adaptation wonderfully brings to life some of the most memorable encounters from the grander Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure storyline, balancing its action, humor, and mild horror elements with absolute perfection. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders is the best anime adaptation of the classic manga storyline fans could have hoped for. The absurd attention to detail and labor-of-love conveyed through this series make it easily one of the best anime of the past year, as well as among the most masterfully-executed anime of a generation.

2015 Year in Review: Anime

Resident Evil: Damnation

My rating: 7.75

Persona 3: The Movie – #1: Spring of Birth


My rating: 7

Lupin the Third: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine

My rating: 8.25

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders – Battle in Egypt

My rating: 9.75

Mobile Suit Victory Gundam

My rating: 8.5

Anime review: Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders - Battle in Egypt

Picking up directly where the mid-season break left off, the Egypt arc of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure sees Jotaro Kujo and the rest of the Stardust Crusaders facing down the last remaining loyal followers of Dio. Most notable among these foes are the Nine Egyptian Gods, foes whose Stands prove among the most intimidating and powerful the heroes have encountered yet. And at the end of the journey, in mansion deep within the heart of Cairo, awaits the main villain himself, Dio Brando. Yet, the Stardust Crusaders have a few cards up their sleeve, revealing clever and previously unseen applications of their Stands, a few assists from the Speedwagon Foundation, and a new ally in the form of the temperamental and selfish Iggy, a scrappy dog who wields the Stand known as The Fool.

This second half of the Stardust Crusaders anime feels more tightly-wound, its narrative more focused. From the moment the heroes set foot in the Egyptian desert, there is a sense of urgency about their journey that was no so prevalent in the first season. The stakes are also higher, with these new villains challenging Jotaro and company in battles of wits or other indirect means, while those that do fight them outright play host to some of the series’ stranger but more memorable Stands.

The voice work is superb, all around. While the core has the obvious task of carrying the show from one episode to the next, the villains who appear for only two episodes at a time leave a lasting, often humorous impression. As is only appropriate, Dio’s presence commands as much attention as they show can offer Stardust Crusaders chief villain. The final confrontation between Jotaro and Dio is among the most intense and rewarding endgame battles in any anime of this episode count I’ve come across.

Meanwhile, the vast majority of Dio’s loyal henchmen and women receive ample screen time as well. Some of the fights feel perhaps a bit more drawn out than necessary, but by and large, it is to the series’ benefit, as practically zero of the finer details are left out from the manga version, and the battles are not resolved in too quick a time frame that would negate the drama and intensity. Each member of the main cast undergoes significant maturation since the outset of their journey, and it’s wonderful to see just how naturally this is conveyed. Later episodes play at viewer’s emotions with masterful technique, as there are callbacks to the earliest moments of the Stardust Crusaders’ quest, as well as a severe gravity of present events as they unfold.

The animation budget seems to have received a considerable boost since the first half aired, which in and of itself gradually improved in quality from the airing of its first episode to its twenty-fourth. While most characters stick to a particular color palette for their clothing, scenes where the Stand fights become especially intense warp to more psychedelic colors, a nice nod to manga author Hirohiko Araki’s tendency to present variations on the previously-established appearances of characters. The soundtrack is catchy, moody, and always appropriate, with rock influences playing in subtly as Stands clash and the Stardust Crusaders scour Egyptian streets for any clues that might lead them to Dio.

Stardust Crusaders does offer a definitive conclusion to its own arc, and does provide a satisfying endgame for the three story arcs thus far. However, there is still plenty of money to be made by David Production should they choose to animate Diamond is Unbreakable and other later arcs of the manga, and I have no doubt they would do a similarly stellar job adapting the stories of Josuke Higashikata, Giorno Giovanna, Jolyne Kujo, and so on. It has been many years since an anime left as strong an impact on me as Stardust Crusaders has managed, but I believe it is safe to say that David Production has made one of the greatest adapted anime series of all time. In so far as I am concerned, Stardust Crusaders has earned its place among the company of Neon Genesis Evangelion, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, and Unicorn Gundam as one of the most impressive works of its medium.

My rating: 9.75 (out of 10)

My rating for the Stardust Crusaders series as a whole: 10 (out of 10)

25 Days of Jojo’s - #1: Gyro Zeppeli

(Fair warning: there will be spoilers abound in this series of posts, as I find there are major moments that define some of these characters late in their respective story arcs. So in the event that you have not yet read/watched a particular part of the Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure storyline, you may wish to skip over certain entries.)

#1 - Gyro Zeppeli: Prior to Steel Ball Run, there were two members of the Zeppeli family that played important roles in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. The first was Will A. Zeppeli, who served as mentor and to Jonathan Joestar during the events of Phantom Blood, teaching him the mystic arts of the Ripple. The second was Caesar Zeppeli, who transitioned from Joseph Joestar’s rival to his ally in the Battle Tendency arc. Thereafter, the Zeppeli family fell into obscurity, until the Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure universe was rebooted in the seventh arc, Steel Ball Run.

Gyro Zeppeli fills all the roles of his predecessors and more, beginning the race across America as a man shunned from his home country of Italy for breaking from tradition and disagreeing with the particular rules associated with his family’s legacy as executioners. Gyro, though bound to the law by his societal role and bloodline, did not consider children to be deserving of such a violent fate, especially when there was a notable lack of evidence to properly convict them. Gyro appealed to the Italian government with the hope that he might spare the child in question from execution, and thus left the country to participate in the Steel Ball Run race as a show of his worth, skill, and conviction.

Cocky for the majority of his time racing across the country, Gyro’s gold-studded teeth and his taunting catchphrase of “Nyo-ho!” become immediately iconic. He is a force to be reckoned with, almost always placing near the front of the pack in each leg of the race, and forging rivalries with other racers Diego Brando and Hot Pants. He does, however, form a partnership with Johnny Joestar, which gradually results in them becoming strong friends, backing each other up in the most dangerous and intense of situations as they seek out the corpse parts in an attempt to stay one step ahead of Diego Brando and any of Funny Valentine’s hired muscle.

Gyro is also the source of a great deal of humor during Steel Ball Run. Often times, he will boast about his greatness and ask Johnny to back him up, only for Johnny to fail to provide the desired response, or Gyro will start a joke, which Johnny will offer a flat or overly serious answer to. The interactions the two share is amusing throughout, and solidifies their friendship as one of the most genuine relationships in all of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure.

Which makes it curious, then, that Gyro also plays the role of mentor to Johnny, teaching him the art of the Spin, a skill Gyro picked up from his days practicing medicine. Though originally intended to provide healing and comfort to those in the infirmary, Gyro applies it as a combat tactic with his signature steel balls, flinging them at enemy Stand users with incredible precision. Johnny – slowly but surely – begins to master the Spin with his projectile fingernails, courtesy of his own Stand, Tusk. Gyro’s Stand, Ball Breaker, is not made visible until late in the story of Steel Ball Run, but lends to his incredible power and accuracy when flinging the steel balls, and amps his signature moveset up a notch, causing any living thing that his steel balls make contact with to age rapidly.

Despite his often less-than-serious demeanor, Gyro does briefly display a soft side when he decides to order a small teddy bear from a catalogue when camping out with Johnny one night. He is also a confident fighter, able to coordinate with Johnny, and change strategies on the fly. He instills confidence in Johnny during their time racing together, as they manage to overcome increasingly difficult odds. And though Gyro ultimately perishes during the climactic fight with Funny Valentine, he weakens the villain a great deal, and imparts upon Johnny the final lesson of the Spin, allowing Steel Ball Run’s hero to defeat President Valentine.

As with the two Zeppelis before him, Gyro dies before the major threat of his story arc is vanquished, but he makes it a considerably further distance than Will or Caesar, sees greater levels of involvement in his respective storyline, and has more compelling development as a character. Gyro passes on a hero, teacher, and friend to Johnny Joestar, and unknowingly influences some of the events that would follow between Steel Ball Run and Jojolion, the culmination of which earns him the number one spot among my all-time favorite characters in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure.

25 Days of Jojo’s - #2: Jean Pierre Polnareff

(Fair warning: there will be spoilers abound in this series of posts, as I find there are major moments that define some of these characters late in their respective story arcs. So in the event that you have not yet read/watched a particular part of the Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure storyline, you may wish to skip over certain entries.)

#2 - Jean Pierre Polnareff: While each of the Stardust Crusaders undergoes a certain degree of maturation during their quest to defeat Dio Brando and all of his dark underlings, Polnareff’s is perhaps the most drastic. Much like Noriaki Kakyoin, Polnareff is introduced as a foil to Jotaro and company, having been infected by one of Dio’s vampire spores. After having it removed, Polnareff reveals that he wishes to join the Stardust Crusaders in order to track down J. Geil, the man who killed his sister. Polnareff’s original reason for tagging along on the arduous, often wacky journey to Egypt was to seek revenge – plain and simple.

However, seeing this task to completion was costly, as Avdol nearly died in the process. As Polnareff was unaware of his friend’s survival until meeting up with him on the island after his wounds had healed, he spent a good deal of the time grieving and beating himself up over those events. He came to place greater trust in his comrades, value the particular skills they brought to the table, and work better as a team player, assisting Kakyoin in battling the Lovers Stand on a microscopic scale and trying to protect friends new and old in a child’s body when fighting Alessy.

That is not to say that Polnareff’s role as comedic relief was lessened any, but it was altered. Later in the Stardust Crusaders arc, Polnareff largely cuts out his ogling of women and attempts at being a smooth talker. Instead, he has a couple of awkward run-ins with rival and foe Hol Horse, one where he is nearly forced to lick clean a toilet bowl, and the other resulting in his nostrils being invaded by two of Hol Horse’s fingers. Iggy gives him a difficult time as well, viewing Polnareff’s hair as his new favorite chewing toy and farting in his face while he mauls the Frenchman’s carefully-sculpted flat-top.

Polnareff’s Silver Chariot is all about quick and decisive strikes. Against less calculating foes, it’s a force to be reckoned with, but as proves the case late in the Stardust Crusaders arc, it is less than ideal for fighting the likes of Vanilla Ice’s Cream or Dio’s The World. Still, Polnareff is never one to give up, knowing how much his friends have sacrificed to allow him to live on and fight another day. He is the first of the heroes to encounter Dio Brando during the buildup to the final climactic battle, and despite Dio’s taunts, chooses to charge him head-on. While Jotaro is responsible for the majority of the damage Dio takes during the nighttime showdown in the streets of Cairo, Polnareff comes to his aid, piercing through Dio’s skull, aware that such a brash surprise attack could spell his own death. But after witnessing the deaths of Avdol and Iggy, and knowing that Kakyoin and Joseph had similarly fallen in combat with Dio, he was determined to do whatever he had to in order to stop the powerful vampire.

Polnareff, Joseph, and Jotaro eventually part ways after letting Dio’s body crumble to ash in the desert sun, but he makes a return in the later chapters of the fifth arc of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, Vento Aureo. Polnareff plays the part of the contact Giorno Giovanna and the rest of the Gangstars are supposed to meet up with, and explains how he spent the years post-Stardust Crusaders researching the arrow until his leads led him to Italy and Diavolo, the man who crafted the arrows and ultimately put them into hands of Dio and Yoshikage Kira’s father, among others. Polnareff’s deductions cost him yet again, however, as he lost both of his legs in a battle with Diavolo, resulting in his being wheelchair-bound.

However, Polnareff has an ace up his sleeve in the form of one of the arrows, which he uses on his own Stand, elevating it to Silver Chariot Requiem, and losing control of it entirely as it rampages of its own will. During the chaos that erupts in the coliseum, Polnareff’s consciousness leaves his human body and is transferred to that of the turtle that had previously offered the Gangstars a safe haven from Diavolo’s thugs. Still able to speak, Polnareff offers what limited assistance he can to the Gangstars as the climactic showdown with Diavolo draws near, and at the conclusion of Vento Aureo, Polnareff is shown to be very much healthy and alive in the company of Giorno and the surviving Gangstars, albeit as a turtle.

25 Days of Jojo’s - #3: Yoshikage Kira

(Fair warning: there will be spoilers abound in this series of posts, as I find there are major moments that define some of these characters late in their respective story arcs. So in the event that you have not yet read/watched a particular part of the Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure storyline, you may wish to skip over certain entries.)

#3 - Yoshikage Kira: Unlike most of the other major antagonists in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, Yoshikage Kira is not driven by dreams of grandeur, nor does his boast his powers. He is a simple enough man, carrying on his day-to-day routine as an unassuming well-dressed citizen of the town of Morioh. He enjoys the company of his girlfriends, taking them out for picnics and rides in his sleek car. Of course, the only part of his girlfriends that ever remain intact are their hands.

Yoshikage Kira is a serial killer, and his m.o. is to destroy every trace of evidence of his murders with the explosive powers of his Stand, Killer Queen – every trace, save for the aforementioned hands. When a hand begins to decay, Kira disposes of it and moves on to a new victim, and this series of murders is largely responsible for setting in motion the events of Diamond is Unbreakable. Kira is smooth, charismatic, and very attentive to the finer details in covering his tracks.

That is, until he begins to slip up. A simple mix-up between his lunch bag containing the hand of Kira’s most recent girlfriend with the lunch bag of one greedy and dull-witted teenager, Shigekiyo Yangu, blows Kira’s cover. And while he is quick to use Killer Queen’s destructive abilities to permanently silence Shigekiyo, he unintentionally lays a thread for Josuke Higashikata and friends to follow. Eventually, Kira is forced to face them on more direct terms, once they discover he was the one responsible for Morioh’s murders. However, Kira formulates one last-ditch plan, forcing the local salon owner to use her Stand, Cinderella, on him, swapping bodies with another local man named Kosaku Kawajiri. Believing Kira has bled out and died of the injuries he sustained in battle, the gang temporarily believes the case to be closed.

However, Kira has simply adopted an alternate strategy, masquerading as a family man and piling his resources for the perfect chance to re-emerge and take down his foes. He grows the sentient plant, Stray Cat, as a secret weapon that can be stored within Killer Queen’s hollow chest cavity, and acquires one of the arrows, granting himself new powers, including the ability to plant his Sheer Heart Attack bombs within people from a distance, and the ability to form temporal loops to iron out any errors he might make in exposing himself to Josuke and company.

Kira’s intellect shines through even during the final battle between his Killer Queen and Josuke and Okuyasu’s Crazy Diamond and The Hand. He plots out strategic approaches to combat, preferring to pinpoint the boys’ location and strike from a distance. However, Kira’s newly-instilled cockiness coupled with his intense focus proves his ultimate undoing, as an ambulance that arrives on the scene runs him over, killing him instantly. Kira isn’t even aware of the fact that he has died the second it occurs, believing he has trumped Josuke’s troupe, but is shocked to find that he has, so many years later, come face-to-face with the ghostly form of Reimi Sugimoto, his first victim, from a time before Killer Queen was awakened. With the spirits of the alley upset with Kira’s murderous streak, their hands drag him into a hellish shadow, tearing both his body and Killer Queen’s apart, like statues crumbling to pieces.

25 Days of Jojo’s - #4: Joseph Joestar

(Fair warning: there will be spoilers abound in this series of posts, as I find there are major moments that define some of these characters late in their respective story arcs. So in the event that you have not yet read/watched a particular part of the Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure storyline, you may wish to skip over certain entries.)

#4 - Joseph Joestar: In stark contrast to his noble and perhaps naïve grandfather Jonathan, Joseph Joestar is a more carefree hero, playful and comedic, but also not afraid to take justice into his own hands when necessary. The earliest impressions Battle Tendency offers as to what kind of protagonist Joseph will become arise from his handling of a few events in his home turf of bustling New York City. He give a couple of dirty cops a taste of their own medicine for their heckling young Smokey Brown, giving them mild injuries to teach them not to pick on people smaller than they are. Then, when Straits reappears and displays his fall from grace in embracing the vampiric powers once utilized by Dio Brando, Joseph displays a combination of fearlessness and resourcefulness, opting to pump Straits full of lead and play mind games with this ally-turned-foe before ultimately besting him.

Joseph is a goofball, sometimes a jackass, but no less of a hero than his grandfather or any of those who would follow further on down the Joestar bloodline. His ability to predict his foes’ behavior gives him a distinct advantage in surprising them, and when he himself is caught off guard, Joseph has a knack for crafting lucky half-baked gambles of plans on the fly. He is initially impatient during his training with Lisa Lisa and Caesar Zeppeli, thinking the former is asking the impossible of him, and not getting along too well with the latter. However, when the threat of the Pillar Men and their inhuman abilities becomes a more immediately pressing matter, Joseph tightens his composure and remains focused under pressure.

Despite exclaiming that his plans involve running away on multiple occasions, Joseph is far from a coward. These plays are almost always either a deliberate means of messing with his opponents and attempting to throw them off their game, or an attempt to bait his foes away from his friends and allies in order to ensure they are no longer in harm’s way. Joseph returns in later parts of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, acting as a core ally and mentor to Jotaro Kujoh and the other Stardust Crusaders, and later traveling to the Japanese town of Morioh to meet his estranged son Josuke Higashikata. Joseph is arguably the second most well-kown Jojo after Jotaro, having a similarly large impact on the course of events that shape the Joestars through the decades.

25 Days of Jojo’s - #5: Okuyasu Nijimura

(Fair warning: there will be spoilers abound in this series of posts, as I find there are major moments that define some of these characters late in their respective story arcs. So in the event that you have not yet read/watched a particular part of the Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure storyline, you may wish to skip over certain entries.)

#5 - Okuyasu Nijimura: Playing host to one of the most powerful Stands in all of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure and being a loyal friend through thick and thin to Josuke Higashikata and Koichi Hirose, one might expect Okuyasu Nijimura to be a huge hindrance to Yoshikage Kira’s killing streak and the machinations of the other lesser antagonists of Diamond is Unbreakable. In truth, though, Okuyasu is more of a hindrance to himself than anyone else. While his Stand, The Hand, can effectively displace anything that it touches from the current plane of reality to somewhere else (meaning that any hit he lands is as good as an instant kill), Okuyasu is, unfortunately, a rather dim-witted individual. He is initially introduced as a trouble-making punk, fighting Josuke alongside his brother, but soon after befriends Josuke and becomes a primary friend and ally. His preference of brawns over brains does grant him a certain charm, and when he does find the occasional stroke of genius, Josuke and Hirose are almost always more impressed with his discoveries than he himself is. Okuyasu proves instrumental in besting a number of Morioh’s local baddies, and offers both plenty of action-packed showdowns and comedic relief to the fourth act of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure.

25 Days of Jojo’s - #6: Narancia Ghirga

(Fair warning: there will be spoilers abound in this series of posts, as I find there are major moments that define some of these characters late in their respective story arcs. So in the event that you have not yet read/watched a particular part of the Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure storyline, you may wish to skip over certain entries.)

#6 - Narancia Ghirga: Beyond a shadow of a doubt, Narancia Ghirga is the most dim-witted of the Gangstars. He is also the smallest and most gangly in physical stature of all the major protagonists. Narancia plays something of a younger sibling role to the other Gangstar members, often displaying the greatest degree of excitement over their intent to take down Diavolo’s criminal empire, yet is similarly the most visibly upset when Fugo decides to part ways with the rest of the Gangstars over a disagreement as to how they should proceed.

Upon his initial introduction, I mistook Narancia for a female, given his smaller frame and overall androgynous appearance. Whether intentional on the part of author Hirohiko Araki or not, Narancia’s male gender is not explicitly stated until a little while his initial appearance. This may also be due in part to the fact that much of Narancia’s character progression occurs later in Vento Aureo than the development his allies receive.

Despite the group dynamic that remains prominent over the course of Vento Aureo, many of Narancia’s spotlight chapters see him fending for himself, taking advantage of whatever resources he can to best Diavolo’s lapdogs. Whether he’s shrinking to the size of a toy, or spouting nonsensical warning to his comrades, Narancia manages to get out of most pinches through a combination of dumb luck, careful timing, and general resourcefulness. While Narancia is not the brightest Gangtar, his smarts are more visibly apparent when he’s forced to act quickly, indicating that he may just be poor at making plans or thinking with any long-term picture in mind.

Narancia, is, however, a fierce fighter, and loyal to his friends and allies to the bitter end. He shares a particularly brotherly dynamic with Guido Mista, often becoming overly energetic about certain topics only for Mista to sort of nod along in agreement, but tell Narancia that he ought to calm down. Narancia meets an unfortunately gruesome end during the Coliseum encounter with Diavolo, having his consciousness swapped with Giorno’s and subsequently finding himself impaled by iron bars. While Narancia and his Stand Aerosmith did not play a direct role in the final showdown with the time-erasing mob boss, they served their friends well during the fifth arc of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, through some of the most intense and strange of encounters.

25 Days of Jojo’s - #7: Enrico Pucci

(Fair warning: there will be spoilers abound in this series of posts, as I find there are major moments that define some of these characters late in their respective story arcs. So in the event that you have not yet read/watched a particular part of the Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure storyline, you may wish to skip over certain entries.)

#7 - Enrico Pucci: Pucci is cunning, intelligent, and above all else, subtle – that last feature being something that his mentor Dio Brando lacked entirely. Buying wholly into the twisted teachings of Dio, Enrico Pucci devotes himself to removing the threat of the Joestar family one by one before he can put in motion his master plan of reviving a sliver of Dio’s power. Early in Stone Ocean, Pucci’s Stand Whitesnake seals both the memories and Stand of longtime protagonist Jotaro Kujo, effectively leaving his inmate daughter Jolyne to mount an opposition to this then-unseen foe on her own terms. The problem for Jolyne, of course, is that at the time of these events, she has no idea who she can trust within the Green Dolphin Street Prison, and has very limited understanding of how her Stand Stone Free operates.

Pucci relies on the both the most despicable of inmates and the most easy-to-influence characters to play small roles in his larger plan, asking them to carry out tasks that will hinder Jolyne, Foo Fighters, Ermes, and Weather Report in ways that they are often not fully aware of. He is a master manipulator, and while he is similarly left somewhat in the dark for a time about Jolyne’s allies, he manages to adjust his plans accordingly at nearly every turn, whether he is laying traps or hoping that a gauntlet-style deathmatch among some of the prison’s most dangerous inmates will see to the end of Jotaro’s daughter.

While the vast majority of Stone Ocean deals with Pucci making careful moves within Green Dolphin Street Prison, the late chapters force him to actually participate in direct combat with his foes. After exhausting all of his other options and throwing Dio’s offspring at Jolyne and company, Pucci reveals that his Stand has evolved from Whitesnake to C-Moon, and finally to Made in Heaven, courtesy of the last remaining finger bone of Dio Brando. Each plotted move he has made over the course of the Stone Ocean arc has led him to the Kennedy Space Center, where he unleashes Made in Heaven’s newfound powers, speeding up time and forcing the Joestars, their allies, and everyone else on Earth to rapidly age before he is able to reset the clock and create a world that he and Dio would have wanted – a world without the Joestar bloodline.

Of all the villains in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, Enrico Pucci is the only one to fully succeed in carrying out his master plans, which - I feel - lends him to be so much more of an intriguing foe than the likes of Diavolo or even the iconic Dio Brando. Pucci’s victory is, however, short-lived, as he fails to account for Emporio being the lone survivor of his rewriting the world. With Weather Report’s Stand under his control, Emporio kills Father Pucci, forcing yet a second rewrite of the universe, which ultimately results in the creation of the Steel Ball Run universe, wherein the Joestar Bloodline still exists, albeit under slightly altered conditions.

25 Days of Jojo’s - #8: Jolyne Kujo

(Fair warning: there will be spoilers abound in this series of posts, as I find there are major moments that define some of these characters late in their respective story arcs. So in the event that you have not yet read/watched a particular part of the Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure storyline, you may wish to skip over certain entries.)

#8 - Jolyne Kujo: The tough, punky daughter of Jotaro Kujo, Jolyne finds herself being jailed for a crime she is not guilty of at the start of Stone Ocean. That’s not to say that Jolyne has had a perfectly clean track record, however – she participated in car thefts and other illegal activities during her teenage years, behavior that certainly was not aided by her father being absent for the majority of her formative years. She’s a girl that can hold her own, even in the highly dangerous environment of the Green Dolphin Street Prison.

Also occurring early on in Stone Ocean is Jolyne’s unexpected visit from her father, who brings her a shard of one of the series’ infamous arrows in order to awaken the abilities of her Stand, Stone Free. Things quickly go awry from there, however, as Jotaro’s memories and his own Stand, Star Platinum, are sealed away by the mysterious and sinister Whitesnake. Left with only her wits and a Stand with which she is almost wholly unfamiliar, Jolyne must find a way to retrieve her father’s discs and pass them off to the Speedwagon Foundation so that Jotaro can be returned to normal.

Jolyne’s encounters with her fellow prisoners is something of a crash course, finding many of them to be selfish, sadistic, or bribed by Father Pucci to hinder her progress. However, Jolyne eventually finds allies in fellow inmates Ermes Costello, Foo Fighters, Weather Report, Narciso Anasui, and a youth named Emporio Alnino. Ever-resourceful and quick to come up with plans on the fly, Jolyne and her friends gradually unravel the mysteries surrounding the Green Dolphin Street Prison, pinpointing Father Pucci as chief villain, and eventually escaping the prison grounds to pursue him, intent on stopping his nefarious plans.

Jolyne and friends take everything that Pucci throws at them, including Dio’s despicable Stand-using offspring trapping them in a memory of a plane crash, and the anarchy that ensues when storybook characters the world over bleed into reality. Jolyne is even able to reconcile her troubles with her ex-boyfriend Romeo, the man who struck the deal to pin her for crimes she did not commit, before cornering Pucci at the Kennedy Space Center. With Jotaro returning to aid her in the climactic battle, and warping her body into a mobius strip to negate any wounds Pucci might attempt to inflict upon her, it would seem that Jolyne has a distinct advantage over the villain – that is, until Pucci unleashes the full power of his fully-upgraded Stand, Made in Heaven.

With time speeding up and her body rapidly agining to the point of decay, Jolyne plays her final card, entrusting young Emporio to carry on and find hope without her and the others. When Pucci resets the universe and believes he has achieved victory over the Joestar bloodline, he stumbles across the hidden room in the Green Dolphin Street Prison where Emporio, Jolyne, Weather Report, and the others would secretly convene. Once inside, Pucci finds Emporio, who kills him, aided by Weather Report’s Stand, and causing the universe to reset once again. Whether she was fully confident in Emporio’s ability to save the day or she had simply exhausted every other option, Jolyne’s decision to see him to safety and entrust Emporio with Weather Report’s Stand disc ultimately led to the villain’s accomplishments being unraveled, and a brand new universe where the Joestar bloodline remains intact. Jolyne’s new self even makes a cameo at the end of Stone Ocean, referring to herself as Irene, and inadvertently evoking tears of joy and/or terror from Emporio.

25 Days of Jojo’s - #9: Johnny Joestar

(Fair warning: there will be spoilers abound in this series of posts, as I find there are major moments that define some of these characters late in their respective story arcs. So in the event that you have not yet read/watched a particular part of the Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure storyline, you may wish to skip over certain entries.)

#9 - Johnny Joestar: The Steel Ball Run counterpart to noble and heroic Jonathan Joestar, Johnny Joestar begins his tale aligning considerably less with attributes of the former. Once a well-known horse jockey, Johnny’s ego got in his way, and a bad encounter with an impatient gun-wielder cost Johnny the use of both of his legs. This, combined with the accidental death of his brother, and the fact that his father swore that God took ‘the wrong son’ from him, leads Johnny to initially be a protagonist who is a bit rougher around the edges than many of his predecessors.

However, this culmination of unfortunate events also provided Johnny with a great passion for horse jockeying, offering him something to prove to himself. Forging an early friendship with Italian-born Gyro Zeppeli, Johnny quickly discovers that there is much more at stake in the cross-continental Steel Ball Run horse race than some fat stacks of cash. Hoping to recover the mysterious corpse parts before President Funny Valentine and his many henchmen can, Johnny and Gyro find that their role in the Steel Ball Run is one less of landing a strong finishing place and more of unraveling the larger picture, while also trying to stay alive.

Johnny’s Stand, Tusk, is one that certainly puts the ‘bizarre’ in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. It allows Johnny to fire his fingernails as projectiles, ten at a time, but manifests new abilities over time, not unlike Koichi Hirose’s Echoes in Diamond is Unbreakable. The more powerful stages of Tusk allow Johnny to throw up defensive walls, create wormholes to fire at his foes through from surprise angles, and even perform the Joestar bloodline’s signature ‘ORAORAORA’. While Johnny plays the down-to-earth pupil to Gyro’s eccentric mentor role in learning the Spiral, Johnny is also shown to be a fierce and highly capable fighter, sometimes becoming so intent on completing his goal that Gyro has to snap him out of his focus, so as to prevent him from pushing himself too far.

25 Days of Jojo’s - #10: Weather Report

(Fair warning: there will be spoilers abound in this series of posts, as I find there are major moments that define some of these characters late in their respective story arcs. So in the event that you have not yet read/watched a particular part of the Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure storyline, you may wish to skip over certain entries.)

#10 - Weather Report: A character shrouded in mystery for the majority of Stone Ocean, Weather Report’s story is a slow burn. He allies himself with Jolyne, Ermes, and Foo Fighters not long after their initial encounter, and despite Emporio’s insistence that Weather Report can be trusted in the otherwise dangerous Green Dolphin Street Prison, a place filled to the brim with all manner of thieves, murderers, and fiends, Jolyne is initially skeptical, to say the least. Weather Report is a man of few words, but in a pinch, he’s an invaluable team member, with a Stand that forms a cloud body which is seemingly untouchable by any other physical Stand.

However, Weather Report’s cool and largely silent demeanor is explained during the late chapters of Stone Ocean, after the iconic Joestar family tattoo suddenly manifests on his shoulder. After acquiring one of Whitesnake’s discs, Weather Report’s tragic memories as Wes Bluemarine are restored, and he is able to unlock the full potential of his Stand, Heavy Weather. Unfortunately for both his antagonistic brother Pucci and inmate allies, Heavy Weather is a Stand whose powers nearly go off the charts, and one that begins messing with the weather and atmosphere in all sorts of zany ways. Weather Report's demeanor also changes to something sinister, and he appears to grow rather tired of Anasui's talking. It is a rare scenario where, exciting as it is to see Weather Report in his prime, the preventative measures taken by Pucci could be considered a lesser of two evils.

25 Days of Jojo’s - #11: Wham

(Fair warning: there will be spoilers abound in this series of posts, as I find there are major moments that define some of these characters late in their respective story arcs. So in the event that you have not yet read/watched a particular part of the Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure storyline, you may wish to skip over certain entries.)

#11 – Wham: While Kars may have been Battle Tendency’s ‘core’ villain, and certainly a sadistic being at that, Wham remains one of the most admirable foes in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. He forges something of a rivalry with Joseph, placing his ring within Joseph’s body, but does not let his impatience get the better of him as Esidisi does. His cyclone spins cover large distances, and mortal men are but an energy source to Wham. Despite the trouble Joseph and Caesar cause Wham and his fellow Pillar Men over the course of Battle Tendency, he displays a great deal of respect towards them, going so far as to deny lesser vampires the opportunity to intervene in his losing battle against Joseph within a coliseum.

25 Days of Jojo’s - #12: Yasuho Hirose

(Fair warning: there will be spoilers abound in this series of posts, as I find there are major moments that define some of these characters late in their respective story arcs. So in the event that you have not yet read/watched a particular part of the Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure storyline, you may wish to skip over certain entries.)

#12 - Yasuho Hirose: While Jojolion has proven one of the more polarizing arcs in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, I’ve personally found it to be quite an enjoyable read. I do find protagonist ‘Gappy’ a solid and compelling lead, though the most recent chapters have only just begun to unravel the mysteries of his identity and his past. As such, ‘Gappy’ did not make the cut for this list, and truth be told, were Jojolion closer to completion, his friend/ally/romantic interest Yasuho Hirose would likely have earned a much higher ranking in this ‘top 25’ series.

Yasuho is a quick-witted girl, both in tense and potentially dangerous scenarios, such as when she and the youngest member of the Higashikata family are tracing the origins of a strange fruit, or when she first encounters ‘Gappy’, naked and amnesiac at the landmark Wall Eyes. She often relies on her instincts when faced with a situation that demands immediacy, but is arguably more capable with long-term plans than ‘Gappy’, and certainly more so than Joshuu Higashikata and most of his siblings, who seem to simply waltz through life on a day-to-day basis. In a pinch, Yasuho is more than capable of taking care of herself, and her involvement in the events of Jojolion make her more apparent as a modern girl written for a modern audience than some of the major female characters of previous Jojo’s arcs.

With Gappy slowly regaining his understanding of the world around him, he constantly turns to Yasuho for advice, and she displays genuine concern for his health and safety. Yasuho does not appear to have the best relationship with her mother, and largely ignores the handful of times Joshuu attempts lustful and creepy advances toward her. Despite the incredibly awkard series of events that led to her finding and befriending ‘Gappy’, the two characters hit it off quickly, and within a few volumes of the story, forge a strong trust, behaving as if they’ve known each other for years.

While perhaps not a ‘head-over-heels in love’ sort of romance, there is a pretty clear indication that Yasuho and ‘Gappy’ harbor a mutual attraction towards one another, as in the most recent chapter they reunite after having spent quite some time apart from one another, and both start shedding tears of happiness, before walking hand-in-hand, sharing a simple but cute moment together. It’s a nice break from the Stand battles that Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure has been popularized by, and the natural pacing of the blossoming of ‘Gappy’ and Yasuho’s relationship coupled with Yasuho’s overall more intricate character traits makes their story more compelling than most of the major couples that Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure has delivered over the decades.

25 Days of Jojo’s - #13: Funny Valentine

(Fair warning: there will be spoilers abound in this series of posts, as I find there are major moments that define some of these characters late in their respective story arcs. So in the event that you have not yet read/watched a particular part of the Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure storyline, you may wish to skip over certain entries.)

#13 - Funny Valentine: Funny Valentine is a man who very much buys into the philosophy of ‘he who dares, wins’. Introduced in the earlier volumes of Steel Ball Run, it is never particularly secretive that Funny Valentine has dreams of grandeur. His confidants are made well aware that the race, sponsored by one Stephen Steel, is essentially a cover for his search for the mythical corpse parts, something that has dwelled in Valentine’s mind since his days serving in the Civil War.

Initially appearing as a short, stout man, Funny Valentine is smart, laying back and allowing others to uncover the corpse parts he so desires along the race route. While racers like Johnny Joestar and Gyro Zeppeli appear more or less unassuming to him at first, their consistency with gathering the corpse parts and fending off would-be thieves and pursuers draws President Valentine’s attention. He first sends highly-skilled and highly-dangerous Stand users after the duo, and though they suffer more than a few scrapes and bruises during their standoffs, Johnny and Gyro constantly manage to best their foes, forcing President Valentine to perform a more direct intervention.

Funny Valentine describes his ideology at a dinner table, with all the plates and silverware set out properly. He explains how the first person to take the napkin on either their left or their right forces everyone else at the table to follow suit, lest they be left without a napkin – essentially, the first person to make a decision causes ripples on down the line, a practice which can be applied to any number of real-world scenarios. Funny Valentine believes that if he is successful in securing the corpse parts, it will secure his place as the most powerful man in the nation, and perhaps even the world.

While Funny Valentine begins Steel Ball Run with a generally average, somewhat stout build, his later appearances are tall and muscular, thanks to the dimension-hopping abilities of his Stand, D4C (shorthand for Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap). D4C is one of – if not the single – strongest Stands in the entirety of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, and its only notable drawback is that it cannot warp to another reality unless there is a fold between two objects within the immediate vicinity. In the middle of a field, Funny Valentine is a sitting duck, but in the streets of a city, the wheels of a carriage rolling along the pavement could just as easily provide him a gateway to a parallel dimension as could the front door of a building.

The other significant catch with Funny Valentine’s Stand is that, while he is able to swap bodies with other versions of himself to heal any wounds, anyone else that might attempt to follow Funny Valentine to one of these parallel realities will ultimately be drawn towards that reality’s version of themselves, colliding with said counterpart, and then being torn apart, ceasing to exist on both planes. However, to call Funny Valentine’s strategies cowardly would be inaccurate. When cornered by Johnny Joestar near the end of Steel Ball Run, he explains the logic behind his plan, as well as the extent of D4C’s powers, offering to bring the now-deceased Gyro Zeppeli back to life by swapping his body with that of a Gyro from a parallel dimension, so long as Johnny allows him to obtain all of the corpse parts. Johnny, however, does not comply, and uses the fully awakened form of his Stand, Tusk, to finish off the already weakened and pleading Funny Valentine.

25 Days of Jojo’s - #14: Lucy Steel

(Fair warning: there will be spoilers abound in this series of posts, as I find there are major moments that define some of these characters late in their respective story arcs. So in the event that you have not yet read/watched a particular part of the Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure storyline, you may wish to skip over certain entries.)

#14 - Lucy Steel: Introduced at a relatively early juncture in Steel Ball Run, Lucy Steel’s story is one that requires quite a great deal of buildup to come to fruition. The teenage wife of Stephen Steel, the man responsible for organizing the horse race across the United States, Lucy Steel rarely leaves her husband’s side. And while it might seem at first that she is being portrayed as something of a helpless damsel, she has good reason for being so attached to her husband – he is, in a way, her savior, though he certainly does not display such an ego for his actions.

Prior to her marriage to Stephen, Lucy’s fate was all but sealed as becoming a prostitute for mafia members that her father owed money to. After receiving motivation from Lucy to capitalize on his dream of running a horse race that would ultimately become the Steel Ball Run, Stephen decided to intervene, convincing the mafia members that he had previously had physical relations with Lucy – something that, though untrue, resulted in her not being used as payment to them. Lucy grew fond of Stephen, and though he insisted that she would be better off finding someone her own age, eventually gave in and agreed to marry her.

Lucy stands behind her husband as a source of support and positivity throughout the early legs of the Steel Ball Run. But when she learns of the search for the corpse parts and the fact that the individual most desperately seeking them has little care for Stephen’s safety or well-being, she begins an investigation. Working in secret with Johnny Joestar and Gyro Zeppeli, Lucy manages to divert attention from President Funny Valentine’s assassins away from her husband, and eventually winds up in the presence of Funny Valentine, disguising herself as his wife Scarlet, with the help of race contestant Hot Pants. However, her disguise only works so well, as President Valentine discovers her true identity, but decides to keep her in his company, as she bears the final piece of the corpse he has been seeking – the head.

After President Valentine’s defeat, Lucy catches wind of his final, post-mortem play to have the corpse parts sealed in a vault in New York City. She follows the version of Diego Brando that Funny Valentine had pulled from another reality with the help of his Stand, D4C, and confronts him about his agreement to carry out President Valentine’s work. She then reveals that, wrapped within cloth, she holds the severed head of the original Dio Brando, and uses its close proximity to this alternate Dio Brando to destroy him. Lucy Steel proves a compelling and human character, which seems to be a prominent theme across the wider cast of characters in Steel Ball Run. She takes bold actions out of necessity as well as the belief in her own perceptions of right and wrong, all of which results in her undergoing a journey of self-discovery and reaffirmation in what she stands for.

25 Days of Jojo’s - #15: Koichi Hirose

(Fair warning: there will be spoilers abound in this series of posts, as I find there are major moments that define some of these characters late in their respective story arcs. So in the event that you have not yet read/watched a particular part of the Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure storyline, you may wish to skip over certain entries.)

#15 - Koichi Hirose: The smallest member of Morioh's trio of main heroes, Koichi Hirose has an undeniably big heart. He seems to dislike conflict, or is at least made uneasy by it, as indicated during his earliest run-in with Okuyasu Nijimura and his antagonistic elder brother. However, when backed into a corner, Koichi will stand his ground and fight for what he believes is just and right. For a kid who constantly displays such a cheerful and friendly demeanor, the stark transition to his fierce battle stances can still be jarring in the late chapters of Diamond is Unbreakable.

Koichi is also rather naïve, finding himself caught up in the obsessive ‘romantic’ advances of Yukako Yamigishi. Being the gold-hearted high schooler that he is, Koichi tries his best to reason with her, despite his general confusion as to why she wants him all to herself, an whether she actually intends to shower him with affection or bring him physical harm. Though he doesn’t really want to, Koichi eventually unleashes his Stand, Echoes, on her agressive medusa-like hair, Love Deluxe. Later on, Yukako decides she would actually like to try and get to know Koichi on a genuine level, and while they are perhaps not head-over-heels in love with one another at the conclusion of Diamond is Unbreakable, they do appear to be on good terms, attempting something of a normal relationship.

As is perhaps most fitting of his personality, Koichi and Echoes do not see nearly as much consistent direct combat with other Stand users as his friend and schoolmate Josuke Higashikata does. He does, however, play a crucial role in the investigation to find Morioh’s local serial killer, and nearly dies at the hands of Yoshikage Kira before Jotaro and his other friends arrive to save him. The way that Koichi, Josuke, and Okuyasu’s personalities play off one another is thoroughly entertaining for Diamond is Unbreakable’s run, and is something that subsequent parts of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, given their wildly different settings and generally more serious and intense atmospheres, have never quite been able to replicate.

25 Days of Jojo’s - #16: Terence T. D'Arby

(Fair warning: there will be spoilers abound in this series of posts, as I find there are major moments that define some of these characters late in their respective story arcs. So in the event that you have not yet read/watched a particular part of the Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure storyline, you may wish to skip over certain entries.)

#16 – Terence D’Arby – The younger brother to Daniel D’Arby, Terence similarly wagers souls, albeit in matches of video games, with the intent of storing them within marionette puppets. Whereas Daniel resorted to trickery, Daniel has no need for such underhanded methods, as his Stand, Atum, allows him to read the soul of any opponent with ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answers to questions, such as which move they will make next. Terence makes a point of mentioning how he even beat up his brother when they were younger, due to Daniel attempting to steal his girlfriend, which grants Terence an intimidating parallel to his otherwise suave image from the start of his video game duel with Kakyoin, Jotaro, and Joseph. Terence’s powers provide him with a distinct advantage during his first match against Kakyoin, but are ultimately exploited during his baseball match against Jotaro, who gains a leg up on Terence D’Arby by capitalizing on everything he learned during his previous battle with Daniel D’Arby. Faced with an impending smackdown from Star Platinum, Terence’s true colors are revealed, as he begins to sweat in panic, begging that Jotaro just get it over with already and unleash his signature ‘ORAORAORA’.