The set up for Part 3 is more fitting for a video game than a manga, as its broad nature allows for battles with random bad guys to be added or taken out with ease. Araki, having not become fully comfortable with Stands yet, struggles to keep these fights memorable and creative throughout the first half of Part 3. Some are refreshing and add to the ongoing sense of adventure, but others are varying degrees of dull. While the latter camp can be more easily forgotten about in manga form, and still does add to the overall weight of the story, they are unfortunate and drag down the series majorly as a whole. This padding makes certain underdeveloped characters and regrettable plot elements seem even more frustrating, as the extra time spent makes it feel like we deserve better.
These more uninteresting filler battles bring out the worst in our brick of a protagonist, Jotaro Kujo. Throughout Part 3, Jotaro is shown to be both untouchably strong and untouchably smart, with dashes of great kindness and great bravery on the side. Araki soon realizes Jotaro is boring and turns the endearing, relatable Polnareff into the main focus for most of the fights hence forth. Other cast members, though overall less charming than Part 2's cast, range from lovely to a tad confused. Araki has bitten off more than he can chew, and does not start getting control over his mouthful until about halfway through Stardust Crusaders.
The second half of Part 3 brings out the strongest elements of what came before. Exciting, creative battles with great humor and originality, and occasional moments of pathos, though not as powerfully as in the first two parts. I'd almost wager the last third or so of Part 3 couldn't possibly have been any better, as Araki raises the stakes with ingenious timing and rhythm, all the while introducing his now essential technique of actively sculpting the reader's perception of time. Sculpting time is an inherent part of all narrative storytelling (I stole that thought from Andrei Tarkovsky, I'm not creative), but artists tend not to wield this hammer with as much conscious control as Araki begins to at the end of Part 3. The blood curdling tension of a great JoJo battle is one of a kind, and Araki's manipulation of the reader's experience of time through panel size, focus, level of detail, etc. is an essential piece of that.
Still there are deeper issues with Stardust Crusaders. JoJo is, for the most part, a fatalistic story (see: FATE), though I'm aware it contradicts that to an extent, but Part 3 takes this fatalism to an unsettling degree. "I'll never forgive you" is a phrase uttered ominously often by our supposed heroes (including one especially demonic instance from the usually kind Avdol), and it colors the tone of this familial struggle towards authoritarian bloodright, as opposed to a classic battle between righteous and evil. At best, this redemption-less fatalism adds an uncomfortable undercurrent to the story being told. Araki must be aware of this, though, as he goes to great lengths to undo it in Part 4.
Araki's artistry is as strong as ever, and his cleverness finally reaches a comfortable place in the second half of this part, but small holes are more numerous and crippling for Part 3 than for the previous parts.
