To put it simply, everything in this part is build up but the payoff is rarely there or just unsatisfactory.
Jojolion presents itself as a mystery story (vaguely similar to the beginning of part 4) but I wouldn’t even call it a mystery story because usually there’s hints or clues that will make you go “Ah! That’s what it was” but in jojolion there’s really none of that.
What makes it even worse are the dropped/unexplained plot points that make things more frustrating and I refuse to use “araki forgot lol” because I respect him as a writer and an artist to give him a pass.
Arakis strongest suit are his characters, which are very good or very bad in jojolion.
The strongest written character I feel is jobin. His motives and backstory are amazing yet when his story comes to a close just felt out of nowhere, which is fine but he had buildup and unresolved conflict with not only the main character but his family as well.
You can say they interacted off camera but that’s bad writing.
These are things we need to see and there’s no indication of that either way.
Felt like such a waste. Karera shows up once and is forgotten. ko (kira/josukes sister) show up a few times and barely interacts with her own brother who’s been missing.
I like that araki tried something new but it just fell apart by the time of the harvest. Part 8 suffers because he tries to have a narrative plot and forgets about the characters interacting and their growth or he sacrifices too much plot to try and flesh out characters which many times feels out of place or random.
I’m sure you’ve heard speculation if part 9 tying up loose ends or relating to part 8 but you can only judge a story by its part, not based on what may happen or head cannon. Especially when it’s not even confirmed.
