JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 6: Stone Ocean

In what can be considered the grand finale of Jojo, Stone Ocean has a lot to live up to. But does it deliver? STORY: 9/10 Stone Ocean starts 10 years after Golden Wind. It follows Jotaro’s daughter, Jolyne, as she’s wrongfully imprisoned in a jail whose warden, the mysterious Father Pucci, my have ties to DIO. Stone Ocean is one of the more dramatic Parts. It is much more story focused than other Parts, who used their stories as excuses to go on a voyage to encounter fight after fight. Stone Ocean’s plot is one that truly concludes Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure up until this point,and it delivers. In particular, the ending is one that deserves praise and offers a beautiful end to one of the most legendary manga series of all time…until Part 7 that is! Stone Ocean is a fantastic and dramatic ride that packs an emotional punch that hits harder than the physical ones thrown in fights. ART: 9/10 I may be a tad biased because Stone Ocean is the only Part whose colored scans are fully translated in English. It has some truly beautiful artwork and the colors make it all the more better. Character designs take a minor hit however. Jotaro looks nothing like the bulked up beast he used to be, DIO is just ugggggh, and a character named Anasui is nearly a copy and paste design of Diavolo from Part 5. Others like Jolyne, Foo Fighters, Weather Report, and Father Pucci have excellent designs. CHARACTERS: 8/10 The supporting cast is fun. Jolyne’s best friend Hermes is funny and badass, Foo Fighters is adorable and hilarious, Weather Report is very mysterious and his Stand power is crazy. However, Jotaro and Anasui are the weakest links. Jotaro is ruined in Part 6, a shell of his former Part 4 prime self and Anasui is literally a “muh waifu” edgelord. The Jojo of this Part is the only female Jojo to date, Jolyne. She’s a very interesting and dynamic character who goes through serious change throughout the Part and is really fleshed out as her own individual. The main villain, Father Pucci, is my second favorite Jojo antagonist. He’s threatening and all-powerful, but he is not maniacal like his master DIO. Pucci is one of the most human Jojo villains and his backstory really justifies his actions and points of view. ENJOYMENT: 8/10 Stone Ocean is a compelling and entertaining Part. The characters make it all the more great and you really care for each and every one. Jolyne’s adventure is one of the most mature and well-written character arcs in Jojo and the fights are awesome. It also has some of the most insane and devastating Stands and is easily the most “bizarre” Part. OVERALL: 8.5/10 Stone Ocean is great. It’s a very mature turn for Jojo and foreshadows Jojo’s shift from shounen to seinen in Part 7 and is a great story period. The ending is one that commands discussion and interpretation and is one of the best I’ve ever read. Filled with compelling drama and blood boiling fights, Stone Ocean hits the reader with surprise after surprise and isn't afraid to take extreme and bold risks.

Arguably the most controversial part in all of JoJo, JoJo's sixth instalment of the now iconic franchise is one of the most split parts of JoJo, many loving and hating it at the same time, with all the negatives do I still think this is a good read? if your looking for my answer then it is yes. Q: Should I read JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken Part 6: Stone Ocean? A: Part 6 is probably the one part of JoJo I would not recommend to new comers of the series, part 6 is heavily referential to the other parts and is not good for new comersof the series, the parts that should be read by new comers are, Part 5, Part 7 and Part 1. As for fans who have seen all prior parts this is an essential viewing, it's what can be considered the grand finale of the JoJo franchise. One thing a lot of people seem to do is they fast forward this part or completely skip it just to get to the Magnum Opus of the JoJo franchise Steel Ball run, but trust me when I say part 6 is good and there is no need to rush through it, I know the whole idea of steel ball run being one part away is tempting but there is no need to skim through part 6, its a good worthwhile read. ~Review Portion~ [story-6/10] In the year 2011 the daughter of part 3's protagonist Jotaro Kujo sits in a prison cell for a crime she did not commit, she was convicted of a DUI after a freak accident with her boyfriend after he hit someone fatally, they tried to cover up the incident and Jolyne's boyfriend Romeo blamed the fatal incident onto Jolyne, and then Jolyne Cujoh was sent to Green Dolphin Street Prison JoJo part 6 has a very meh story, it's well paced and has good action scenes and some interesting ideas, themes from prior parts are re-integrated into part 6 very well, such as Fate. The story of Jolyne trying to regain her fathers memories is ok, it's this parts way of making disposable villains for the Stone ocean gang to defeat, the fights are very fun and enjoyable, the story surrounding Pucci and Dio to me is the most interesting part of the part 6 story, seeing this whole new side to dio , much more elegant and graceful then the one that appears in part's 1 and 3, this also adds more to dio and it unlocks this sense that Dio has an impact no matter where we go. Part 6's story overall is fine and isn't the main focus of the part. [Art-10/10] Araki once again shows us how excellent of a draftsmen he is, the art is phenomenal it's again fantastic, the character designs and if there's one thing I want to mention about the art in part 6 is that it has probably the best volume cover art and chapter art in the series, the poses and the art itself is amazing and in colour even more so. [Character-9/10] There characters are awesome, Jolyne is badass and fun, she's much more likeable than Jotaro and has a lot more charisma, she's got a mix of Jotaro and Jospeh and It works wonderfully! Weather report is one of the best characters of all time his duality with Pucci is not only interesting but thought provoking and novel, Foo fighters is not only adorable but complex and relatable, Jotaro is fantastic in this part as well, we see this whole new part to him, we see how he's protective of his daughter, we see how he's matured and it's nice seeing him again. on the other hand we have characters who I don't like that much, Herme's is a bad character, she's boring and like Kakyoin she's missing for half the part but unlike Kakyoin who missed significantly less time then Hermes, Herme's isn't even re introduced until Jolyne escapes from prison and misses a lot of the story, Anasui is just there to be the love interest, and sure he can be funny and he works well with weather report but by himself Anasui is kinda lame, Emporio is a meh character, he's good sometimes and terrible others, He reminds me of Hayato from part 4 but much much better. [Enjoyment-10/10] as much criticisms for part 6 as I have I loved reading this from start to finish, reading through this magnificent journey put a little tear to my eye. JoJo part 6 while not flawless is a satisfying climax to the former JoJo universe and is one hell of a ride from start to finish. [overall-9/10] While it had it's flaws, JoJo part 6 is still one of the greatest manga ever written and Is not only a satisfying conclusion but a perfect Ending.

JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken Part 6: Stone Ocean Review (This review is not spoiler heavy nor is it spoiler free) Story (7/10) Good More Specifically (7.50/10) Good The story for Part 6 Stone Ocean was good but it definitely is probably the least liked story of JoJo's thus far overall including Part 1. Now the reason I say this is not because of it's main plot which at the beginning had A LOT of potential and I was hype for it. I personally care far more about execution of a story you have versus what the story actually is. I feel the execution of Part 6's storyleft much to be desired. I don't care how much hype or suspense you built up in the synopsis or those first few chapters because when it's all said and done and you look back on how it went through and concluded I can't give this any higher than a 7.50. Which isn't bad 7 means good to me. But coming from JoJo's that is quite low for me. What I think really killed it for me the absolute most was the ending and if you know how it ends then I don't need to say anymore. As far as I see majority of the people liked it because it gave them the "feels" or because it's the first female Joestar protag but for me I can't cosign this as very good conclusion or an overall story and also the villian of the week formula for this part I felt it is at it's weakest least memorable (which is probably why this part was the last part to heavily rely on that formula). Art (8/10) Very Good More Specifically (8.75/10) Very Good+ The art in Part 6 was very good and out of all the categories I would say it's the best thing Part 6 had to offer was it's art style. It was definitely better than part 5. Character designs were better than the previous part also but I would consider it only a tad better for characters like Part 6 Jotaro, Enrico Pucci, Jolyne and Sports Maxx. The only design I didn't like was Annasui for the same reason why I couldn't get behind majority if not all of the designs for the Part 5 cast it's too flamboyant for me (And yes I do know Annasui was suppose to be a girl but either way not a fan of that character outfit design at least for a guy), I know this is JoJo's but at the end of the day I don't like it and characters like Jotaro prove that Araki doesn't have to make then look like drag queens especially when we see Annasui in his purple outfit now that's better. Anyway the fight choreography I had a quite few issues with back in Part 5 but Part 6 not so much. Part 5 it happen in almost every fight but in Part 6 I only really remember it happens about twice and see at that Part 6 is longer than Part 5 I do see that as an improvement because no one likes being confused. Lastly the art style on the character's faces did change through out the series but none of them where bad art style choices to me and it really wasn't even that noticeable when the change occurs which is a good thing because I saw it in Part 4 and Part 5 to a noticeable degree and I had to live with it. Characters (7/10) Good More Specifically (7.75/10) Good+ The characters in Part 6 Stone Ocean I thought didn't live up to what I usually expect from JoJo's. Coming into this Jolyne being the daughter of Jotaro I felt had great potential, her start was fun and extremely unique in comparison to any Joestar protagonist before her. She had some character development with her father and she stayed at a consistent pace of fun/chipper during regular downtime events and brave/fearless during serious/battle moments. I didn't have that big of an issue with Jolyne Cujo as I do think she is more entertaining than Giorno, Jotaro and Jonathon she's arguably up there with Josuke and Joseph. I would say she's a mix of Joseph and Jotaro entertaining like Joseph and fearless like her father and she knows when to stop her comedic relief and act serious and vice-verse where as Joseph as comedic relief all the time and Jotaro was serious all time (which isn't a bad thing but it helps Joylne as a character standpoint being more dynamic when comparing her to those two). Now as far as majority of the other characters in Part 6 this can't be said. Emporio was an ok character and I felt he was basically the Speedwagon, Robert E. O or Koichi of this part where majority of the time his role was to commentate on what's going on during fight scenes which isn't a bad role it's just besides that I felt he didn't serve much of a purpose until the very very end of the manga I didn't care for him too much for majority of the manga which even a the ending I felt he out of all characters didn't derserve that shine. Annasui's character made no sense to me as he's first introduce as a character that apparently doesn't give a shit about anything according to Emporio and all of a sudden falls for you know who and it just felt out of no where and forced which is probably was since he wasn't even supposed to be a he to begin with but we aren't going to talk more about that. Weather Report I felt was another dull character and aside of his backstory which we got close to the end of the manga he had nothing going from him as a character I'm suppose to stay interested in either, (in hindsight I like him a lot but not because he's interesting in present story but because his backstory holds up very well). Costello Hermes was a decent character and although her backstory wasn't as entertaining as Weather Report and is a bit to similar to that of Polnareff in Part 3, she still ends of being entertaining and keeping up with Jolyne's wild/entertaining side the alligator scene just shows that Hermes and Jolyne were like to peas in a pod and it was always entertaining to read with little downtime we actually got in this part. Foo Fighters I felt was a random character, unique and debatable if I liked her or "it" as a character, I felt it died a bit too early and that hindered my final impressions on the character because I wanted to see more. Enrico Pucci is a very good villain as when every time he's shown suspense occurred within me he's a character with a semi-god complex and those types are always cool to me. His two backstories were also entertaining to read and gave us a better look at a side of a previous villain that we barely see and with the combination of him and Enrico made that other villain's characterization retroactively deeper which some can see that as a good thing or a bad thing, I see it as a good thing since it doesn't heavily contradict the characterization of that said past villain. And other backstory he had the intertwines with Weather Report was also a very good but fucked up backstory. I never thought Enrico Pucci by the end of Part 6 would leave this much of an impact on the entire series because when you think about it he indeed leaves the biggest impact BY FAR. All of the side villains other than Sports Maxx and MAYBE Versace aren't really worth mentioning which is a bad thing. So with all that being said the only characters from Part 6 I can give my personally approval to is Jolyne, Hermes, Pucci and maybe Weather Report which isn't closer to a bad thing than a good thing seeing as that's only 4 characters overall. (Jotaro doesn't count since he's a returning character and I maybe would give some extra points if I saw a father/daughter ORA ORA beat down but that never happened). Enjoyment (6/10) Fine More Specifically (6.75/10) Fine+ My enjoyment for Part 6 Stone Ocean was a roller coaster as when it first started I was really hyped as far as what I heard, people's rating of it, and the adventure of following the offspring of Jotaro. But once the cast is introduced and the constant flow of uninteresting enemies came flowing in I quickly became less interested and if it wasn't focused on moving the main plot forward or showing off a backstory it kind of felt like a chore to read which is a bad thing, people complained about the villain of the week formula that Part 3 introduced but I personally felt Part 6 did it far worse, a decent amount of them were far from entertaining, I'm sure when it gets animated it'll probably be more enjoyable to experience. My enjoyment went up around the end but then that ending left me extremely unsatisfied because I'm a guy that loves a good pay off conclusion and Part 6's conclusion I would consider the most controversial to the entire JoJo universe at this point for obvious reasons I have no clue how anime watchers will reaction to such an ending when it ever gets animated. I've heard some people say they liked it and some like me say "wtf kind of ending was that". Overall (7/10) Good More Specifically (7.75/10) Good+ Part 6 was good but it in my opinion doesn't live up to the hype everyone gives it. This is probably my least liked part of JoJo's yet as now I would ranking them Part 4, Part 3, Part 2, Part 5, Part 1 and this one Part 6. I always wondered why Part 7 took place in an alternate universe and I thought that was a mangaka decision which was not on any affect of the part that happened previously to it. But I was wrong that ending felt like something you would expect from a DC or Marvel comic where the universe has to take place in a different one because of how messy it ended up getting in the previous parts before it and that's not a good thing in my books. Hopefully Part 7 lives up to the hype that everyone puts it at. A lot of people consider it "The best JoJo's Part Araki has ever created" now it just feels like moving from X-men 3 to Days of Future Past... we'll see when I read it in a couple of weeks..

For those already familiar with the series (or at least Stardust Crusaders) then the last name "Cujoh" may sound familiar to you. Which is because Jolyne Cujoh is Jotaro Kujo's daughter and has inherited every bit of badassery and cunning there is from the Joestar bloodline. Story: 8 Part 6 mainly takes place in a prison which has amazingly low restrictions and gives the residents a certain amount of free will. Life in the prison is easy if you have money, a fact that Jolyne learns from Hermes, a woman who is also going to Green Dolphin Street prison. Stone Ocean is no exception when itcomes to action (you can imagine the number of brawls that go on in a prison). The fight scenes are as over the top as ever. Araki comes up with a huge amount of ridiculous stands in ridiculous situations with ridiculous conclusions. The story itself is interesting and complex effectively winding together different character's lives and stories. You'll laugh and you'll definitely cry. Sure, Araki's writing isn't perfect, but it gets the job done well. Art: 9 Araki's style changes significantly throughout the entire series. Unlike Part 4's gradual, yet notable style change, Part 6 stays consistent throughout and is similar to Part 5's. The characters are still muscular which includes the stands. And, as always, Araki enjoys his gore so there's plenty of blood shed. What stood out to me the most, though, is that Araki draws a lot of...strange looking characters in Stone Ocean. I'm not talking about the stands (which have always been strange), but the people there almost look like aliens sometimes. Character: 8 Jolyne is the first and only Jojo to date which may throw some people off for different reasons. Jolyne is a complex character who can show femininity but can beat the crap out of anyone who gets in her way. Araki decided to give readers a bit of her background as well as making it clear how she felt about her father, other characters, and how other characters saw her throughout the course of the manga. Though her character, as well as other characters, felt unexplored in certain areas she still feels decently established. The important characters are all given backgrounds when needed which helps the reader empathize with their situation. In fact, the backgrounds of some characters are largely important to the main plot of the story (as I mentioned before Araki winds together these characters effectively). However, Araki's writing is flawed and he often writes retcons (watch for Annasui's introduction). These did not interfere with the enjoyment of the story as a whole though. Enjoyment: 9 I really enjoyed Stone Ocean. I wrote about the lack of strong female leads in comparison to the male leads in the series and someone had suggested I read this part since the main character was female. She did not disappoint me at all. I fell in love with the majority of the characters quickly (which led to some major heart breaking later on) and the weight of the background stories/main story still sits heavily in me today. Overall: 8/10! I absolutely recommend anyone who enjoyed other parts of JJBA to read it as well as anyone into action and an amazing main character!