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TL;DR, if you are into modern and bizarre (no pun intended) Japanese detective fiction, READ THIS BOOK. Well, that and if you’ve read parts 1-7 of Jojo. Not everything will make sense because this book isn’t exactly solely a Jojo spinoff, but it’s still a great time. If you are not into weird detective fiction and just into Jojo, read chapter 5 of this book. It’s a really good read that can mostly stand alone, and is sorta like PHF in that accepting it into your personal canon makes the main series better.

Allow me to tell you the story of the no good, very bad ... JoJo novel. And by that I mean the story of a perfectly good novel that leads down a rabbit hole that has consumed almost a year of my life.

It all started when I wanted to read the funny Jojo meme novel. I downloaded it and was shocked at it being nearly 1000 pages. Well, I may as well read it. Everyone says it sucks, I‘ll probably drop it 4 chapters in. Haha... well that clearly didn’t happen. No one told me it was good! Probably because roughly 5 other people have actually read it. Guess I should go over the 5 main points.

Story: 8

Yeah, it’s completely insane. But also technically has no plot holes. Technically. So, here’s the thing about Jorge. You can understand a good chunk of this book off of just Jojo alone...

But it’s actually the final book of a trilogy of sorts. Why aren’t the first 2 books translated? Oh, that’s simple. They aren’t even Jojo related. The books are Tsukumojuku and Disco Wednesdayyy, which do have detailed summaries available at the very least. But wait, it gets more complicated. So Tsukumojuku is actually a spin-off of another universe created by renowned Japanese mystery author Ryusui Seiryoin. I read the summary with no knowledge of his work, which you can do, but it would be better to read some of his work first. But you kinda can’t. Though once again, there are summaries of a good chunk of his books. And also you should skim the Book of Revelations first. Yes, I do mean the one you’re thinking of.

BUT WAIT. THERE’S MORE. You see, the second book of this trilogy, Disco Wednesdayyy, not only expects you to have read Tsukumojuku, but also a ton of author Otaro Maijo’s other works. Mainly his debut novel titled Smoke, Soil, or Sacrifices, another novel titled The World is Made Out of Closed Rooms, and also a novel titled Asura Girl. There are summaries of the first 2, and Asura Girl actually got an English release. I would’ve personally chosen Smoke, Soil, or Sacrifices to bring over, but I digress.

Now that sounds like a lotta work. So perhaps just screw it and start with Jorge. The summaries are written by someone who started with Jorge anyway, so you might as well. And as I said, it’s still pretty coherent if you only have Jojo knowledge.

Anyway, on to the story itself, a lot of people have said it makes no sense and is impossible to follow. I strongly disagree. A lot happens and it will be confusing at times, but Otaro Maijo has a talent for making insanity digestible. While you’ll have a ton of questions about the wider narrative for most of the book, there is always a simple goal to follow. Things like “find out who murdered this man”, “escape from this situation”, or “get to this location”. Considering I was going in missing absolutely everything other than Jojo knowledge, this story made a shocking amount of sense.

Now I have given it an 8 for a few reasons. Firstly, while there’s technically no plot holes, the universe reason there are no plot holes is unsatisfying now and again. Secondly, I just feel like the story starts to fall apart towards the ending. It just feels oddly sudden and rushed. It’s as if Araki broke into Maijo’s office and begged him to stop writing. You know what, I’m just gonna imagine that is what happened.

One last side note before we move on, there are a lotta fake spoilers out there for this book. For example, apparently some people think there’s a part where Pucci gets pregnant? Yeah, that didn’t happen. Maybe the fan translator just cut every sentence referencing that little tidbit, but somehow I doubt it.

Art: 6

The cover art and back cover art are both done by Araki, and look exactly as you would expect from him. Great as always. But when you read the book you’ll notice something odd. There are diagrams now and then, but none of those images of artwork you see people post from time to time. Why is that? Well, you see, Maijo didn’t get Araki to do any more art than the cover for one of 2 reasons, not sure which. Either he wanted to do it himself since he does really seem to like drawing, or he wanted too much. What do I mean by too much? I mean that amount of art he drew for this book was so great that it all had to uploaded on Shueisha’s website instead of included with the book. How many pictures was it?

Around 500.

Yeah, Maijo is legitimately insane. The art itself looks mostly decent, though renditions of Jojo characters like Shigechi... look it up for yourself. It’s positively horrific. Though I do have to give points just for the absolutely ridiculous amount of art he drew. And while his artwork of people and stands isn’t the best, his backgrounds and other objects honestly look pretty good. It does suck that you’ve gotta go out of your way to see it, but I guess I can see why.

Character: 8

Characters in this book are pretty alright. Let’s start with the characters that are either mostly or entirely original. Jorge is a coward who slowly grows into the man we know him to be from his brief appearance in Part 2, and it’s a legitimately great arc to see through. You wanna root for the guy as he overcomes all the insanity and tribulations of his adolescence. Our other protagonist, Joji, is a bit lesser. He’s a perfectly fine character, but he doesn’t get as much development or focus as Jorge. He’s very reactionary. As for other original characters such as Penelope, Steven, and Tsukumojuku, they’re all pretty good. Especially Tsukumojuku, which I guess is what happens when you’ve already had a book of development before this. And when you have a really fun name to say.

Returning characters are also pretty good. Narancia is pretty fun, Pucci is better than ever, Lisa Lisa is great, Ultimate Kars is honestly better than he was in Part 2, etc. There are 2 major standouts to me though. Dio and Erina are amazing in this book, which is mainly showcased in my favorite chapter, chapter 5. You start to see more of Erina’s personality that she had in Part 2. You see her be a legitimate badass a few times, and I really grew a new appreciation for her. The book’s interpretation of Part 1 Dio is also incredible. It really made me see him in a new light. He’s still a complete bastard, but his actions make so much more sense. He’s almost pitiable really.

I’m leaving it at an 8 because there’s no one I would really say is “S tier” though. Maybe Dio, depends on the day you ask me.

Enjoyability: 10

Oh my god this book was so damn fun to read. It really kept me hooked from start to finish. There wasn’t a moment of this book where I didn’t have a blast. Mysteries were fun and compelling, fights were insane and cool, the plot was a total rollercoaster, my god I loved it. It is absolutely the strongest part of this book in my opinion. There’s not much else to say about it other than it was a really good time. The rabbit hole it has led me down has been equally interesting and enjoyable.

Overall: 8

Yeah I really liked this book. Is it perfect? God no. But there really is nothing else like it, and I feel it’s something every Jojo fan should at least try. And for everyone into bizarre modern detective fiction AND Jojo, it’s a must read. Just be prepared for a deep and rather explicit rabbit hole if you wanna go further into Maijo’s works.

If you actually read all of this, wow, I’m impressed. Not really sure how to end this...

Jorge gud.