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How The Structure of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Avoids The Pitfalls of Shonen Cliche


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Yuvelir



Joined: 06 Jan 2015
Posts: 1629
PostPosted: Sun Sep 22, 2019 5:23 pm Reply with quote
BadNewsBlues wrote:
- Jotaro and the others didn't defeat Kira but instead watched as an ambulance turned his head into a pancake.

To be fair, they already DID defeat Kira and even managed to shake him away from a potential hostage. All that was left was to ora ora him some more but the ambulance got to him first.
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Krunky



Joined: 08 Jul 2019
Posts: 59
PostPosted: Sun Sep 22, 2019 5:35 pm Reply with quote
BadNewsBlues wrote:
Krunky wrote:
spoiler[who is the only protagnist to fail to defeat the main antagonist and its in fact her male counterparts who wind up succeeding.]


Which is funny due to the fact

- That Johnathan did not kill Dio at the end of Phantom Blood which would lead to him coming back for Stardust Crusaders

- Joseph actually couldn't defeat Kars do to the latter being too powerful to do outright so Araki had to pull a bit of ass.

- Jotaro and the others didn't defeat Kira but instead watched as an ambulance turned his head into a pancake.

What the hell are you talking about? All three of them defeated their opponents. Johnathan did defeat Dio him coming back as a talking head doesn't negate anything since Dio would have died without Johnathan's body. Joseph did defeat Cars I'm not even sure what the hell was the point of in that. And yes Jotaro did defeat Kira considering they drove him into a corner where he couldn't actually escape anymore.
spoiler[
Jolyene is not only the first to be taken out of the final battle but after Pucci defeats Jotaro and Ermes Emperio has to literally asspull a victory but utilizing Weather Report's stand disc to defeat Pucci so she was completely ineffective in the final battle unlike the others who actually had a hand in defeating their respective antagonists.]
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maximilianjenus



Joined: 29 Apr 2013
Posts: 2912
PostPosted: Mon Sep 23, 2019 9:51 am Reply with quote
Lord Geo wrote:

This does exist, kind of, via those sequel manga to old manga, especially those that first ran in Jump, like Akatsuki!! Otokojuku, Kinnikuman II-Sei, or Ring ni Kakero 2. Of those, I think RnK2 actually utilizes that concept in the most interesting way, as it doesn't simply glorify the previous generation as idols, but instead gives most of them rather sad, dark, or downright tragic future; a few of them are even dead before the manga begins!


This reminds me of majisuka gakuen ; that one is a women's only delinquent/yankee school with cool fighting, but eventually the generations move and we see the mediocre lives that some of the girls end up living after graduation; one even becomes a prostitute. but the silver lining is that she seems to be happy at her job.

[quote="Olaole"]
Grasser1 wrote:
Especially in WSJ since their rating system is the most brutal out of all the big magazines.


In any other magazine a manga series selling hundreds of thousands of manga volumes per release would mean the author is set for life, in WSJ it means that series is blocking the way of a potential series that will sell millions of volumes.
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BadNewsBlues



Joined: 21 Sep 2014
Posts: 6364
PostPosted: Mon Sep 23, 2019 9:59 am Reply with quote
Yuvelir wrote:

To be fair, they already DID defeat Kira and even managed to shake him away from a potential hostage. All that was left was to ora ora him some more but the ambulance got to him first.


I mean going Terrence D'arby on him would've just left him busted up and bruised but not any less of a threat and being that no one there had killed another human I don't think they were going to go down that route either.

Krunky wrote:
What the hell are you talking about? All three of them defeated their opponents. Johnathan did defeat Dio him coming back as a talking head doesn't negate anything since Dio would have died without Johnathan's body.


Call me crazy but if Dio comes back as a disembodied head when he was thought to have been defeated. Kills Johnathan which he tried to do multiple times over the course of the 2nd half of Phantom Blood. And succeeds (eventually) in taking over Johnathan's body and comes back as a threat. It's really hard to say Johnathan defeated him.

Krunky wrote:
Joseph did defeat Cars I'm not even sure what the hell was the point of in that.


Kars defeated himself by letting himself think that Joseph had a trick up his sleeve. Since as mentioned by that point Kars was too powerful for Joseph to defeat him like he did Wham and Elsidisi. Joseph did nothing but literally run his mouth during the whole battle since that's all he could do.



Krunky wrote:

And yes Jotaro did defeat Kira considering they drove him into a corner where he couldn't actually escape anymore.


Oh? Jotaro (or rather Josuke) was driving the Ambulance that killed him? Even while one handed at the time it wasn't like Kira wasn't still a threat by that point. Especially since I don't think it was officially established that Killer Queen can only make all of it's bombs with only one working hand.


Krunky wrote:

spoiler[
Jolyene is not only the first to be taken out of the final battle but after Pucci defeats Jotaro and Ermes Emperio has to literally asspull a victory but utilizing Weather Report's stand disc to defeat Pucci so she was completely ineffective in the final battle unlike the others who actually had a hand in defeating their respective antagonists.]


Once again Joseph literally loses a hand, can't beat Kars with his Hamon like the other pillar men he fought and only survives his life and death struggle due to the main villain being a dumbass. He wasn't anymore useful in his particular situation than Jolyene was in hers.

Hell Joseph's initial strategy was to literally run away until he got forced into the final fight with Kars.
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Spike Terra
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Joined: 21 Mar 2016
Posts: 361
Location: Maryland
PostPosted: Tue Sep 24, 2019 12:41 pm Reply with quote
I think this is a pretty well written article. However I disagree a bit with the ideas that the author is presenting. I agree that the first three protagonists have understandable objectives even if Jotaro is a stoic slab of concrete. Josuke starts off the show with a great objective but he fulfills it early in the series and quickly becomes a secondary character in his own show. Early on, Giorno's objective seems to become a pun and get rid of drugs? Then he quickly becomes the least interesting character in his whole team. I would occasionally forget he's there through out the run of the show.

Honestly, I feel that Jojos' not only falls into shonen cliche on occasion, I think Araki owns the shovel that dug most of the holes. I find the monster of the week structure of parts 3, 4 and 5 to be filled with forgettable characters all defined by their powers which as the years go by feel like the powers of previous stand users. I actually really liked how Hamon was a very limited resource so it felt like the hero's would have to fight with more with their wits. I got bored of stands when Strength was introduced in part 3. There are few stand fights that feel like they have a sense of tension for me as it feels like every fight already has a predefined winner.

I find that conversations in Jojos' at this point is filled with dialogue just meant to explain powers and never really to further the characters at hand. Honestly I think the only Jojos' protagonists to actually grow are Joseph, Jonathan and Jotaro (though he grew off screen). I'm still looking forward to part 6 cause as it stands the female characters in this series are heavily underutilized (which I find to be another shonen cliche).

As someone who is under Jojos' burnout, I think Jojos' popularity in both the west and the east stems from Araki's funky fresh style. Like the anime of the past thirty years are filled with sends up given in dozens, if not hundreds of shows to Jojos. Araki's style is so identifiable that even people who know nothing about anime, can figure out what a Jojos' reference is. David Productions uses bright colors, excellent sound design and recognizable character designs to cement the popularity of Jojos in the modern anime landscape.
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