Reviews

Jun 10, 2024
In the small town of Morioh, located in Japan, things are quaint. The people go to work, the children go to school, and life is normal. Nothing seems out of the ordinary. Nothing, that is, except for one person: a broadshouldered gigachad named Jotaro Kujo arrives. And from there, the town gets a little more... Bizarre.

The general plot structure of Part 4: Diamond is Unbreakable follows the structure of Stardust Crusaders. Groups of chapters cover encounters with other Stand users. The thing that sets these encounters apart is that, instead of seeming like the minions of the main villain are hunting down the heroes, a bit of lore is added that Stand users are naturally drawn to each other. While it doesn't have the same urgency, the setting of a small town where these special people run into and conflict with each other still makes for fun and interesting battles. In addition, nearly all of the stands have new and unique abilities compared to the last part. The only Stand with any blatant similarity to a previous one is Shining Diamond, but even then its primary power is new.

One another positive is the cast of heroes present. As much as I like the Stardust Crusaders, the new group inarguably has more personality. Jotaro takes a backseat and lets Josuke Higashikata, his uncle, take over. Josuke's presence is quite a refresher in the series as, unlike his predecessors, he feels a lot more... I dunno, natural? He doesn't have the sheer badassery of Jotaro, but still has his moments of coolness; he has a way of living honorably like his great-grandfather Jonathan, but he's more lenient with it and still gets into mischief; and while he can butt heads and be a bit of a troublemaker like his father Joseph, he doesn't toe a line that makes him unlikeable. On top of that, his friends Koichi and Okuyasu are good foils to him as the nice guy to his delinquent and vice versa, respectively. All of the other new ally Stand Users also stand out in their own ways, but no one can top Rohan Kishibe. Every time this smug mangaka shows up, you're in for some quality entertainment, whether he's twisting Koichi's arm into accompanying him on some manga research or having a staredown with Josuke.

When the story reaches the halfway point, it seems like it's run out of steam. However, that's when the plot kicks back into gear with the introduction of a new villain who is just as intimidating as Dio. From then on, the goal of the crew is to stop them, and the hunt lends to quite a bit of tension as they look for clues. It becomes a bit of a murder mystery, except you know the secret and are waiting for the heroes to learn it, lending to some nice dramatic irony whenever they get close.

As much fun as this series is, there are some problems I have. The main one has to do with character deaths. There are a few times where someone will come close to dying, and while I wasn't rooting for it to happen I feel it would've been more emotional to lose them. On the contrary, there are some times where a new character gets introduced only to die soon after. This isn't to say that you shouldn't get attached to anyone, just that there's a chance you'll get sad. The other complaint I have is a romance that develops partway through not being the healthiest development. I'm just saying: if the genders were reversed, people would probably destroy Part 4 on Twitter.

Even with those problems (or ignoring them), Diamond is Unbreakable does a great job following up Stardust Crusaders. It does a great job keeping up the momentum of Part 3, which is important since it more than doubles the length of the Jojo Stand Saga. Highly recommend, especially if you like Persona 4. They have the same general vibes.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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