For positives, I liked the visuals, the music, the sound design, the acting (both the dub and sub are great), the creativity in (most of) the Stands and their powers, the stylish transitions, and the first two Kira episodes, which were by far the best parts of the series. They're still incredibly flawed (it's JoJo, of course they are) but they're the only episodes where the pros outweigh the cons. They excel in establishing Kira as an interesting and intimidating villain, and Shigechi's death is the best and most emotionally intense scene in all of JoJo. It succeeded in making me upset over the death of someone I despised. Everything else was pretty terrible. In storytelling, the execution is far more important than the concept, and JoJo as a franchise is brimming with brilliant concepts and awful execution.
Josuke was a decent character. I don't have much to say about him because I didn't find anything particularly outstanding or problematic other than how his fear of turtles was an odd thing to focus on in the first episode when it never comes up again. This is obviously a nitpick, but it's still strange that they'd set it up without it ever leading to anything. It would have made more sense to show this if one of the enemy Stands looked like turtle, and Josuke had to get over his fear to defeat it, or maybe he needs help to take it on.
Okyasu was also fine. He was endearing enough as the dumb best friend trope, though his stupidity often felt more like a plot convenience to justify him sometimes not doing the obvious thing he should be doing, like getting Chili Pepper away from the bike, or stopping Kira from running away. He randomly has moments of good ideas like when he destroyed the bike, or pulling Stray Cat away from Killer Queen, which makes his spurts of stupidity feel arbitrary.
Koichi is also just fine. His arc could've been handled better, as it felt like he was suddenly gaining bursts of confidence and then regressing back to his normal timid self until the plot needs him to be confident again, but I wouldn't go so far as to say that it was executed "poorly". I might have to watch the series for a 3rd time to explain why, but his shifts between confident and timid felt a little unnatural.
Jotaro is exactly what I expected an adult version of Part 3's Jotaro to act like. He's still the stoic tough guy, but he's much more level-headed and far less prone to outbursts than his teenage-self. I have nothing else to say about him.
For the side cast, while you'll occasionally get an endearing weirdo like Mikitata (who is without question an alien. He can't see Stands, and the arrow bounced off of him. This is not up for debate, he is not a Stand user, stop acting like this is ambiguous), but for the most part they're just passable. However, I do take issue with several of the villains.
The trend of one-off villains suddenly changing personalities after getting their asses kicked is a big problem.
Tamami turning into Koichi's loyal lapdog was a strange shift given what a devious and manipulative bastard he was before. You'd expect him to play the part while he tries to find a way to get back at Koichi somehow, but the show treats him like his change was genuine.
Why does Hazamada no longer want to kill Jotaro after he gets beat up? Why would that change anything? He should be plotting something new, not giving up and becoming a completely different person.
I don't believe for a second that the psychotic stalker Yukako who kidnapped Koichi and tortured him is capable of changing as drastically as she did after one act of kindness. One sufficiently dramatic incident can be enough to make a person reevaluate their worldview, but she's not just some clingy lovesick schoolgirl who went too far, she's genuinely insane and needs to be in a mental hospital. Those kinds of people don't have moments of self-reflection that make them change their ways, their brains don't function normally. Also, why didn't Josuke, Koichi, and Okyasu call the police on her? There's plenty of evidence at the place Koichi was being kept, but even if they can't prove she kidnapped anyone, they can at least charge her with breaking into a house that doesn't belong to her.
I also find it rather disgusting that Yukako and Koichi end up together. Koichi has no rational reason to ever associate with that lunatic ever again, so the only explanation for why he was into her is Cinderalla changing his brain to make him like her using it's love luck powers, and that's sickening.
Toyohiro seemed so motivated to get out of Super Fly, but getting beat up was enough to make him give up entirely and decide he didn't want to leave. It might have been more interesting if he *DID* escape, but after spending a while in Morioh he decided he didn't like it and wanted to go back to his pylon. It could've been a nice little character moment where he lets Josuke go and apologizes because Kira's dad was filling his head with ideas about going outside that didn't meet his expectations.
Rohan's personality change from lunatic to rude asshole was also abrupt and jarring. Not as bad as the others, as Rohan is more eccentric than insane, but it was still a pretty sharp shift given the evil things he was doing to Koichi before.
The only villain character arc I found even remotely believable was Yuya Fungami, because Josuke's willingness to die for Koichi resonating with him and his feelings for his fangirls is far more believable than the inexplicable changes in Yukako, Rohan, Hazamada, Toyohiro, or Tamami. It's not a GREAT arc, but at least I bought it as a possibility.
The show talks about Kira as if he's an evil parasite infecting this quiet peaceful town, but Morioh seems to have more psychos per-capita than any city on Earth. Even putting aside Angelo (who's a mass murder and serial rapist), the number of people who are willing to kill team JoJo immediately after getting their Stands is staggering. If a sinister and suspicious stranger stabs you with an arrow then tells you to go kill some people you've never met, would you listen to him? Just because someone has Stand potential doesn't mean they're killers, and you can't argue that the Stand Arrow is drawn to people with murderous tendencies because it targets Mikitaka, and he's incredibly docile.
Speaking of Angelo, why did Keicho choose to use the arrow on a rapist serial killer about to be executed? He's trying to find someone with an ability that could kill his immortal dad, so why did he go so far out of his way to get Angelo? How did he even get into the prison to shoot him with the arrow in the first place? The flashback showed him inside Angelo's cell, which seems to imply he has some teleportation or wall-phasing ability, but he has Bad Company. If he broke into the prison and snuck into the cell, how did he do that without getting caught? Regardless of how he got in there, Angelo seems like that last person you'd want to give magic powers to. What was his thought process? Even if Angelo did have the power he wanted, did Keicho seriously think he could get him out of death row and convince him to help him with his dad? Even if he agreed, how did he expect to get him out of there? What if he had the power he wanted but he ended up getting executed anyway because it couldn't help him escape?
After Angelo broke out, did Keicho try to get his help and fail? Did he give him power and just up and leave him to be executed and just HOPED he had the right power and would escape and would somehow find out about his dad and help him? Did he not care that he helped a rapist serial killer get loose? What was Keicho's plan if he got caught breaking into the prison? Bad Company is pretty strong and I could imagine it keeping the guards off him, but his Stand isn't very fast. It would take a LONG time to get out of the prison with his Stand protecting him, and back-up with guns would've arrived long before he got out. Plus they would've seen his face, or at least his school uniform, so even if he DID escape the authorities have a pretty good lead to where they might find their perp. Seriously, why did he wear it to the prison? Even if Bad Company DID let him phase through walls or teleport, someone still might've seen him. His hair stands out pretty hard even as a silhouette, so not only should he have worn a different outfit, but he should've styled his hair differently and covered his face.
Unlike Kira's dad who was following where the arrow pulled him, Keicho seemed to be randomly shooting people with the arrow (he didn't seem particularly surprised when Koichi looked like he was going to die after shooting him with it), so what made him think going after Angelo was a good idea in the first place? The fact that he shot an innocent bystander like Koichi implies he doesn't know that Stands powers are tied to their user's nature, so there's no reason for him to seek Angelo for his evil murderous tendencies. This is so incredibly stupid. Did Araki put ANY thought into this beyond 'this sounds like a neat idea'?
On the subject of Stand users, in Part 3 they say that people who are too weak can't handle a Stand, so how did Masazo Kinoto get one? He was too weak-willed to control Cheap Trick, so why was the arrow drawn to him? He shouldn't even have Stand potential. They could've at least gone with the Koichi style where he was weak but had Stand potential, so his stand appeared as a worthless egg that gradually gained new powers as he gained more confidence. The same should've happened with Cheap Trick, but Araki had a neat idea for a story so he ignored what he previous established. Someone having Stand potential but being too weak to control their Stand never shows up again in the series, which further cements the idea that it was just a spur of the moment idea that Araki wrote and forgot about.
You could make this same argument for Notorious BIG in Part 5 (my favorite Stand) because it breaks the rule that Stands are part of the user's soul and shouldn't be able to exist if they're dead, but the fact that death is it's activation requirement makes it more excusable because a Stand is supposed to be a representation of it's user's nature. If Cheap Trick's ability was always to kill it's user and jump to the other person, but not because Kinoto is weak but because he's bitter at the world and wants to die, I would've let it slide. It would've been the most unlucky draw in Stand user history, but it would make sense. In regards to BIG, Carne's casual willingness to die for The Boss and the very miserable description we're given about him; to me at least; makes a feral and immortal Stand that exists after death seem like an ability that would be feasible for someone like that. It's possible that my emotions are getting the better of my logic, but as far as I can tell that's not the case here.
The cooldown for Star Platinum The World is never given, which constantly makes me ask why Jotaro doesn't use it more because I have no idea how long it takes for it to come back. This also applies to Za Warudo and King Crimson in Parts 3 and 5. Cooldown times for abilities that powerful are pretty much mandatory if you want a fight to be understandable because otherwise, it just feels like Araki is randomly pulling shit out of his ass to fit how he wants the scene to go.
Another Stand I have an issue with is Heaven's Door because they never establish a limit on what it can do. Rohan wrote onto Josuke that he'd go flying backwards at 60 kph, causing him to launch back far faster than the limits of his body could possibly allow, and in Part 5 he wrote into Koichi that he could speak fluent Italian, which makes me wonder just how far can this Stand's power go. Could he write that someone has the strength of a Strongman champion? Could he give a normal person Stand potential? Could he implant the knowledge to create weapons of mass destruction or the cure for cancer just by writing in someone that they know it? This Stand needs Death Note style rules laid out so we can get some idea of it's limitations.
Also, when Rohan wrote that Josuke would go flying backwards, it somehow caused Josuke to turn 90 degrees and launch him out of the tunnel instead of going straight into the wall behind him. The effect also wore off as soon as he hit the ground. Heaven's Door's effects should be constant, right? They could've at least had a throwaway line explaining that certain effects can be negated under certain circumstances or something.
When Red Hot Chili Pepper came out of the bike battery, why did everyone stand around like idiots and listen to his evil monologue when they were only a couple feet away? Jotaro could've easily stopped time and beat the shit out of him, Okyasu could've pulled Chili Pepper or the bike away with The Hand, Crazy Diamond is pretty fast so he could've landed some blows if he ran at him, and Koichi... I could understand him doing nothing, he didn't have Act 3 yet.
When Okyasu was fighting the weakened Chili Pepper alone, he was cutting up the ground with The Hand, but the ground wasn't filling in. His power is to erase things and then the area around it reforms to replace what was lost, but the gashes in the ground stayed. Why did this happen here and no where else? This is a rhetorical question, because I actually know why they didn't reform. Because Araki wanted Chili Pepper to escape, and there was no way that could happen unless he changes the way The Hand works for this scene. This is what we call "bad writing".
Speaking of that scene, when Kira's hand was cut off later in the show, why didn't Josuke use Crazy Diamond to pull Kira back to it like he did when Chili Pepper dragged Okyasu into the electric wires? How did a severely injured Kira missing a hand have time to find someone with an identical build to his, drag him into Cinderella, force Aya to swap their faces and hair, and plant a bomb on them all before team JoJo could catch up? You'd think they would've been booking it after him to make sure he didn't escape. The fact that Kira actually got away makes team JoJo look like a bunch of inept morons because there's no way they couldn't catch up to him before he did all of that unless they casually walked the whole way, and I can't imagine any rational person would do that when dealing with a mass murderer.
Why did the blast kill both Aya and vaporize Kosaku Kawajiri's body? In every other instance of Killer Queen's bomb being used, it only affects the one person who was touching the object that was made into a bomb, and their clothes, so the blast seems to be pretty short-range. If he can boost the radius, why didn't it also destroy the desk and the rest of that side of the room? If it only affects people, why does it destroy clothes?
How did neither Hayato nor Shinobu notice Kira's voice when he impersonated Kawajiri? There's no way they have both the same body type and the same voice.
Why does Killer Queen have a door in it's abs, and how did Kira learn how to turn the air bubble into bombs and how to control them? There at least should've been a scene of him experimenting with what he could do with Stray Cat, but no, Araki wanted to surprise the audience by Kira unveiling a new ability. There could've been a flashback briefly showing him trying to it figure it out, anything at all would've been nice.
How did Jotaro find out about Josuke? I don't have any kids and I don't live in Japan so I don't know the procedure for it, but did Tomoko fill in some paperwork after her son was born saying his father was Joseph Joestar? Even if that were the case, how did Jotaro find that information? Assuming this hypothetical paper exists, I find it incredibly hard to imagine he could've found it in 1999, when the internet was in its infancy. You'd think the only place this information would've been stored was in whatever hospital Josuke was born at, and I don't known what would compel Jotaro to go digging through birth records at some random hospital in a town he has no reason to visit. Did he go to every town Joseph ever visited in his nearly 70 years of life? There could have at least been a throwaway line about Jotaro visiting Morioh to look into some business Joseph had there, and while he's there one of the locals mentions that they remember Tomoko saying Joseph was the father of her child, which could lead him to looking into the hospital records. That would've been a pretty wild contrivance, but it's better than having no explanation at all.
This isn't a nitpick, this is critical information that kicks off the entire plot and there's no explanation for it. It's not enough to ruin the whole story, but I still need to bring it up because all flaws are worth mentioning, regardless of how damaging or inconsequential they are.
Why in the first episode did all of Joseph's spirit photographs show Angelo in sinister poses with Aqua Necklace? It's not like the guy knew he was being magically photographed. Why did it show Angelo at all, and why didn't they use Hermit Purple to try finding Kira? They could've had a line saying Joseph's age has made his Stand less reliable, but they didn't. They could've at least had a scene of him trying to find Kira with photos and picking up other people instead. Even if he did pick up other people he could potentially find other enemies they don't know about. His photos picking up Angelo isn't enough information to make assumptions about Hermit Purple's functionality weakening. Anything would've been better than nothing, because as it stands this is a massive plot hole.
The Bug Eaten fight retroactively makes Part 3 dumber and has me constantly asking through the rest of the franchise why everyone doesn't carry rocks, bullets, or ball bearings in their pockets. Star Platinum's only weakness is it's range, but if Jotaro always had a throwable object in his pockets, he'd be nearly unstoppable. Think of how many Stands would benefit from this. As long as they have pretty good strength and precision, they'd make great use of it. Even Kiss in Part 6, with it's C in precision, could throw a bunch of rocks like a shotgun blast with it's A in speed and strength. Hermes could easily use her Stand to break off some piece of the prison wall or floor and carry around a few bits as a throwing weapon just in case.
Why did the person who crafted the bow and arrows make arrows to begin with? If you found a magic meteor, why make it into a projectile weapon? Wouldn't it make more sense to craft a bladed weapon so you're less likely to accidentally miss? The point of arrows is to kill someone from far away, so it doesn't make any sense to turn your very limited supply of space-virus rock into a weapon meant for long-distance combat. Even if they were meant for combat, it would be a really dumb idea because I can imagine a lot of soldiers would have the willpower to be Stand users, so you'd just be making your enemies stronger. You're also not guaranteed to get them back in a situation like that. If they only had a ceremonial use, arrows are still less practical than a dagger. Without a bow, arrows are just wonky stabbing weapons anyway, so cut out all of that bow business and save everybody some time by just making them a bladed weapon. Arrowheads also seems like a waste of material when you only need the sharp parts, so daggers are the better choice in every way. Maybe there could've been some legend about ceremonial blades that granted incredible power to the worthy and killed the weak. The Stand Arrows are another instance of Araki coming up with a neat idea without considering the implications.
Why did the flesh bud in Okyasu's dad mutate and turn him into an immortal? Why would DIO's cells do that? I could maybe believe it turned him into a vampire or a vampire-like creature who hates sunlight, but he goes out into the sun more than once and he's fine. In fact, after Shigechi is killed and everyone gathers with Reimi to talk about it, why is Okyasu's dad there? This isn't really an issue with the plot or characters, it's just really strange that Okyasu would bring him because the only other time we see him out of the house is in the last episode when he's at Tonio's restaurant. It's not like he can aid much with the search when he's probably going to spend most of his time hiding in the house. If that scene was meant to imply that Okyasu is letting him out of the house unlike Keicho, you'd think a few random citizens would notice the horrific lumpy goblin creature walking around. There could have at least been a scene of people reacting to how strange he looks, even if no one approaches him or shows any significant reactions, they're going to talk about it. Don't you dare tell me that *you* wouldn't if you saw someone who looked like him. This isn't just some disfigured burn victim or a mentally challenged person making a scene by screeching and flailing about that you don't talk about because it's rude, this is an incredibly short, obese, hideous green man covered in lumps. That is tremendously unusual. Even if you just saw a dwarf in a mutant Shrek costume walking around, you'd take note of it, and probably tell someone about it. (I know Shrek wasn't out in 1999, I'm just trying to point out how much attention his appearance would draw even in modern day).
Hayato overhearing Kira's random-ass evil monologue while leaving the attic about how he's an imposter and that he'll have to kill Hayato if he gets suspicious of his true identity is an absolutely legendary contrivance. Why the fuck would he ever say that out loud? Normal people don't talk to themselves like that. I know it's an extremely common trope in anime, but it's still incredibly unnatural and forced.
The Plot Arrow randomly giving Kira a new power is an ass-pull to the extreme. It feels so random and out of nowhere because nothing like this had been established as a possibility. Even if it had been introduced or suggested earlier I would still consider the whole concept an arbitrary way for Araki to write himself out of a corner, but it would've been slightly more excusable because it had been previously established. Why has it never happened before, and why does it never happen again in later Parts? Why do we never see another arrow that is drawn to people the way Kira's dad was guided to potential Stand users by the arrow? Is this a unique arrow? That would be pretty lucky for Kira and incredibly contrived from a writing perspective.
Jotaro saying that the rain sounds like Josuke screaming is incredibly stupid. Pouring rain can be really loud, but he must have been less than 50 feet away. I don't believe for a second anyone would mistake screaming for rain at that distance. I also don't know how Koichi and Rohan didn't hear it, and how did none of them hear the Killer Queen explosions? There were a lot of them. Also, they were standing there waiting for Josuke, so if Jotaro heard him screaming he should've assumed he's nearby and something is happening.
After Kira was forced to drop Bites the Dust, why didn't he try to run and use it on someone else? If he goes back in time an hour, then everyone will forget his identity. Later when Josuke and Hayato were forced to run away from him, Kira ran into the weird stalker dude. Why didn't he use it on him? No one was there to stop him. It's like he forgot he even had Bites the Dust until after he got loopy from blood loss and told the medic lady about getting off to the Mona Lisa.
I immensely dislike the anime trope where time stops/slows whenever someone's talking. An inner-monologue during slow-mo is fine because the brain processes information much faster than you could speak it, but it's a huge problem when they're flapping their gums but time isn't moving normally. Just because it's commonly used doesn't mean it's good writing. It's lazy, terrible writing, and JoJo uses it constantly. I wouldn't be as harsh if it only happened a handful of times, like in Kuroko's Basketball (it's still a flaw, but it's slightly more excusable when it's used less frequently), but the frequency and duration of it's use in DiU is especially bad.
The passage of time in general is wonky in JoJo, with minutes passing but only a couple seconds have gone by in-universe. The most egregious use in Part 4 is during Bites the Dust when Rohan is going to die in about 30 seconds but after several minutes only 10 or 15 seconds have passed. If you need to deliver certain dialogue and you don't have time to say it, rewrite the scene. Just because the manga did it doesn't make it acceptable in an adaptation.
I didn't cover everything, so it's possible that I may update this review someday. It's not likely, as I'm confident that I've illustrated how flawed Part 4 is. I'm teetering back and forth between a 3 and a 2, and I could see it going either way.
