Stardust Crusaders, to me, is a little more reserved in how manly it is. It still has the posing, ridiculously proportioned men, and ove-the-top shounen dialogue but it doesn’t have the impact the action of the first season had. If you’ve read my discussions on Jojo before then you know what I’m talking about. What really drags Stardust Crusaders down is the introduction of Stands. Well, that and the fact it doesn’t do too much to innovate or make itself any more than a show about fighting for fighting’s sake.
It’s the late 1980’s and Jotaro Kujo, grandson of Joseph Joestar, is a high school student. When he manifests a spiritual familiar he locks himself up in a prison cell until Joseph and an Egyptian fortune teller named Avdol show up and explains to him what is happening. Dio has returned, attaching his decapitated head to Jonathan Joestar’s body, and now every Joestar has manifested a so called “Stand”. Jotaro’s mother develops a Stand she is too weak to control and it begins to kill her. Now, with assassins being sent at them left and right, the Jojo’s, Avdol, and a few allies fight their way to Egypt to save her by killing Dio.
And that’s the extent of the story. For the entire series. Each episode is a Stand user appearing and trying to kill the good guys and that’s it. There’s not a lot of drama, nor is there as much a reason to stick around as there was for the first season. In that regard, I understand the complaints and I totally don’t mind when people say that Stardust sucks.
But the episode-to-episode action isn’t my problem. It’s Stands themselves and how lame they are. Something I never got over when reading the manga was how the series established Ripple as the main technique of battle, but then changes it to something that is basically a violent version of Pokemon. Each Stand has unique powers and weaknesses so that you have to really think when fighting a new one. The Stands add a new layer of weird to an already wacky show, but they don’t provide for the same level of action. It doesn’t feel as hard hitting or violent when the guys aren’t using their own fists to beat each other up. There’s something about remotely fighting an enemy that isn’t as manly as using your own fists.
I will admit there are some cool Stands and good ideas coming from them. The fog stand is neat, Kakyoin’s Hierophant Green is interesting, J. Geil’s Stand was really good. But then there are some that are ridiculously stupid. The boat and wish granting ones come to mind. So it’s a mixed bag where some episodes are a lot stupider than others. And sure, this series is supposed to be over-the-top, but there are some points where it crosses a line and gets a bit too much for my taste.
And that will be the segue-way to my discussion of the characters. Especially Polnareff. Despite the fact Jotaro should be the main character, a lot more time is given to Polnareff than anyone else for some reason. He’s the lady’s man and giant idiot who provides a lot of humor to the show, though is sometimes one of the worst parts. I guess because he’s the idiot he makes a good punching bag, but there’s something about him I don’t like. Perhaps he’s just not manly enough. He’s not bad by any means, but he doesn’t fit in with the rest.
Avdol and Kakyoin are pretty decent characters and so is Joseph, but Jotaro is kind of bland. He’s quiet, treats people like shit, but he is a genuinely nice guy deep down. Comparing him to Jonathan and Joseph, he’s the weakest lead of the series so far. There’s nothing likeable about him, nor any humor. It’s pretty sad that the guy who should be the lead is being outshined by an idiot who is forced to lick a toilet.
As for the bad guys, good luck finding a decent one. They’re just obstacles. Some have character, others are just bad guys because they are. There are a couple like Hol Horse and Enyaba who get enough time to take on personalities, but even then they’re not memorable. Dio gets some time onscreen but is more of a menacing off-screen presence than anything else. The first season made me hate the guy, really showing him to be the epitome of evil. This season he’s just the final boss.
The animation is nostalgic and hearkens to the source material. It’s not expensive at all, but it gets the job done and takes me back to a time when shounen were about men, not boys.
The music is just as good as the first season. A very catchy opening, great music during the show, and Walk Like an Egyptian as the finale. The voice actors are all over-the-top (especially Joseph) making it just that much more fun to watch.
Stardust Crusaders is good but not great by any means. It has its moments, but, for me, it dragged on a bit too long and Stands took away from what was otherwise a great fighting system. Yet I can’t help but look forward to watching the Egyptian Arc. There’s something about Jojo that is hard to hate, even when it does slip into negative territory.
I’d give Stardust Crusader’s a hesitant suggestion. It has enough problems to warrant quitting, but it has enough crazy entertainment to keep you glued to your seat.
