MINDSET:
No utter doubt that this is simply a downgrade in comparison with the first season, and that one was just awesome! So be prepared for a more lack luster plot and worser characters. But is it a mediocrity or dog shat? No!
SYNOPSIS:
The Joestar family have been fighting the mythical vampire known as “Dio Brando” and soon enough, after he's death from hundreds of years in wait inside a special box, he somehow manages to finally get out when the box he was trapped was suddenly discovered. We now take place in Japan, after four generations of Joestars from that faithful day when the first one met Dio, now to carry out the legacy and for the good of the world, Jotaro, the newest member of the Joestar bloodline now has to go thorough a long journey to find where Dio is, and kill him to stop the mayhem of he's actions. He and he's grandfather Joeseph coupled with other masculine men, are working together for the same goal.
REVIEW:
Adimitively, I do actually miss the Hamon thing, the whole show now treats it as if it was some sort of back drop to be abandoned or barely used at all. It was cool to see the new Stand powers, but its not cool to overshadow Hamon completely. And would it not be cool if they used both Hamon and Stands simultaneously?
Instead of having this easy to follow, yet well executed plot, the biggest difference between Stardust and the first, is mainly that Stardust just loses so much of its appeal on what made it more than just “Pure Action” it aims for this more episodic approach, as each one or two episode mini arcs is basically the enemy first gaining the upper hand, then the gang defeats the enemy after that episode, then they are one step closer to finding Dio, as he is making he's own stands for people to fight for him as pawns.
For what Stardust Crusader was worth, it really is just “Pure Action” sure its quite silly at times, and it still has that same JoJo like vibe that we all love with men screaming at the top of there lungs going “OOOHH MY GOOOOD” in one of the funniest engrish I've seen since JoJo was the only one who did that whole Engrish thing right! (and maybe Golden Time)
At the same time, its not doing anything particularly wrong for its own merit, the plot is very simplistic and straight forward for You to get the gist of it and follow, and it just seems to fit right in for being just “Pure Action” and I really feel that this is how all the tension of the battles eventually fade away, You no longer feel the fact that JoJo and the team are really in danger, its like hey, these guys will eventually make it out alive with the bad guy(s) already killed, because we just want action, not tension or all of the crying Drama BS.
Characters are simply fun to be around with, sure there are characters like Polnareff with he's Sister complex being all corny and that, and sure, You definitly do not want to f**k with any of these guys! When I do like to maticulosly judge the characters held persona, what I really see is a bunch of two dimensional fighters. We have Jotaro, the silent type and cool type, Avodol the mentor who teaches all stand users under him, Joseph is no longer that fun, sarcastic, cheeky and feisty man who has the brains of 10 war tacticians, but a much more serious and calm man who is more focused than smiling and screams some Engrish from time to time, and whoever voiced Joeseph's Engrish, deserves a bronze medal for not actually making it tolerable, but soooo cringe worthy every time I see it.
Overall, the characters lose what little bit of development they have, nor do they feel like there powers are ever devloping, and its like they can just come up to Dio after Jotaro's entire gang of super muscular men are all here. Yes, it does get quite repetitive at times and it is not something that I'm a fan off, but again, its not really doing anything wrong if that is what the show initially wanted to accomplish in the first place. However, both action shows are both self-aware on what they are doing and do not fail at it either. Its just that they changed the formats to quite a big difference and one seems better than the other.
Another thing that I don't like about Stardust, is that the characters just seem to magically loose there respect to there opponents when they are defeated, like how this stand was defeated and 2 of the group found the stand user was hiding underground breathing on a blow stick then they happily took a wee in it, or how this stand was defeated and one of them found out that the stand user was a baby, when he fed him baby food, he first took his sh*t and mixed it with the food, forcing the baby to eat it. I know, this is supposed to be funny, but I really do not like how Stardust just completely disregards the respect of its death to death battles of the enemy. I would be p!ssed if the first season did that.
At the end of the day, Stardust Crusaders is still “JoJo” the characters may not be as complex or as memorable, but they still somehow manage to fit the whole JoJo-like vibe. The plot might as well be backdrop, but hey, the first season had battles as its most memorable moments ever. The pacing has slowed down since Stardust has been reduced to just “Fighting” but at least it was very self-aware and was never afraid to give You its entertainment.
David's getting quite a hit ever since they decided to adapt JoJo into one of the best 80's remakes ever! (and was approved by Roriconfan for it being better than the original) the newly improved animation just captures the style, self-awareness and the masculinity of the show. Character designs are still JoJo, and I really like the whole super macho men idea fighting to the death. (makes me want to make my own manga about that...) Backgrounds are pretty good all throughout, and the budget remains very consistent and not a dingle moment when I was rather annoyed that it dropped. The action scenes look cool, but there does seem to lack an emphasise on great choreography for the first one, and it sometimes felt that there was not as much thought put in on making these scenes look as cool as I wanted them to be.... Though it is beyond sufficient. The shift into random colours are a nice touch when its used correctly, but nothing worthy for bonus points because its really to stylise the animation.
The OST is far from bad, it is one of those great variety soundtracks that plays with all sorts of different sounds to create better immersion for each different situation. Of course, I am no music critic, so take these skills into a grain of salt. The sound effects do feel like that excact same thing from the Original, and they seem to fit quite well, but it does'nt have so much impact. (And this is probably the only show that made Engrish sound funny)
LEGACY:
To a great tale of spoofing the 80's fighting shounen, has now been reduced to just “Tama want Battle!” is really all what JoJo is now... but if such direction has been decided to really reduce it to that minimalistic state, is it a bad action show? Hell No!
SCORES:
6/10 - Plot has been reduced to just “Fighting” but at the same time, its not doing anything particularly wrong.
5.5/10 -The characters are less complex, and are quite corny. However, they are still sufficient for being fairly entertaining.
7.5/10 – Consistent animation from David, with great character designs. The action scenes tend to lack great choreography but its still better than average.
6.5/10 – Large variety of music... I'm no music critic, but go take a listen to the OST Yourself. Sorry :/
6/10 - Since it is only entertaining for the action.
FINALE: 6/10 – FOR ME TO PREDICT THE ENTIRE EPISODIC PLOT.
