#(one of them framed another one for vehicular manslaughter and sent him to prison.

[widowshill]

— I couldn't care less about your future. — Well, you'd better care, because you're part of it, and so is your wife.

r/v/b for @tortoisesshells.

[educated-ella]

Stone Ocean review

(Image courtesy of Shueisha)

Ah yes, Stone Ocean. “The Bad One.” Does it hold up, or are the nay-sayers right?

Stone Ocean follows Jolyne Cujoh, the daughter of Jotaro Kujo (though she’s not particularly happy about that fact). After being framed for vehicular manslaughter, Jolyne is sent to Green Dolphin prison despite her innocence. When her father comes to break her out of jail, his memory and Stand are stolen by the enigmatic Whitesnake. With Jotaro now at death’s door, it’s up to her to recover her father’s memories, bust out of prison, and maybe end the Joestar feud once and for all.

This is a very tricky part to talk about just because of how many risks it takes. We’ve got a female protagonist, we’re stuck in a stationary location for most of the story, both Jotaro and Dio’s backstories receive slight retcons, Jolyne was originally going to get a girlfriend--there’s a lot to talk about. Does it all work? Well...

Many fans refer to Stone Ocean as “The Bad One” for a lot of reasons. “Whitesnake” and many of Jolyne’s allies do not have much character depth, Green Dolphin prison does not make for an interesting setting, the “assassin” conflicts feel much more forced here than they did in Vento Aureo and take themselves much more seriously than in Stardust Crusaders; these are all common complaints that get thrown Stone Ocean’s way. But I think the real problem here is with the pacing. SO has, in my opinion, the worst pacing in the series. Major events, such as the prison escape, are skimmed over while minor fights end up lasting chapter after chapter without much actually happening. Many of Jolyne’s allies get written out of the story for long periods of time, meaning that they never get the opportunity to fully develop as characters (Stardust Crusaders also does this, but it’s also a much longer story and in one instance, a character being put on a bus is a major plot point rather than a footnote). Even when these characters do get some depth, it’s ruined by the wildly inconsistent pacing; of the four character arcs that Stone Ocean tries to juggle, only one of them feels well executed. This part keeps too many balls in the air and can’t juggle them all at once, and it’s its biggest flaw.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate Stone Ocean like many others online do. Jolyne’s character arc may be rushed to the point of almost not existing, but her character is leagues more charming and endearing than Giorno before her (and Johnny after her). The one character arc that is well executed, that of the plankton colony Foo Fighters learning to be human (welcome to JoJo, folks), is my favorite in the entire series. Some of the interactions between Jolyne and her allies are funny, and the fights that don’t stretch themselves out thin are very well done. But that aside, there’s really not much here that you can’t get from another, better paced part.

Except for the ending.

This is another thing where your mileage may vary. MAJOR SPOILERS, seriously, if you have any interest in getting into JoJo, don’t read ahead.

Stone Ocean ends with Pucci (aka Whitesnake) destroying the Joestar bloodline once and for all and resetting the universe. The bad guy wins. Or at least, I think that’s what happens, because in the new universe we see copies of Jolyne and everyone else involved in the part, just with different names. Some people think this ties off the original universe perfectly. Some people don’t like that Pucci of all characters was the one who “won,” seeing him as a bland Dio-worshiper with little depth. Me? I hate this ending. If Araki was going to kill of all the Joestars and end the series like that, it’d be fine. I’d be disappointed, but it would still be fine. What bothers me is that it’s never explained what the new universe is and how different it is from the original one. Did every Joestar die when Made in Heaven activated, or just those at the space station? If Jolyne is replaced by Irene in this new universe, then who does Jotaro get replaced by? How different is not-Jotaro from his original counterpart? How does that affect literally everyone who Jotaro has interacted with since Stardust Crusaders (No Jotaro=Dio lives, but that doesn’t seem to be the case here)? Did Made in Heaven get rid of all Stands? Is this new universe related to the one seen in Steel Ball Run and JoJolion?

All of these are questions that I had reading Stone Ocean’s ending, and none of them were answered. I get the feeling this is a me thing, lots of people online tell me I’m dumb for not understanding what exactly happened, yet they never answer my questions. Who knows, maybe you’ll love the ending. But it raises more questions than it does answers. It doesn’t give me the sense of finality that Araki was going for, it just makes me confused.