Man, I love everything JoJo. From the anime, to the video games and especially the manga
which I've totally read. But what's near and dear to me is the recent anime
adaptation of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 4: Diamond is Unbreakable. Now, don't
get me wrong, I' m a huge fan of David Pro's work on JoJo's, but this
season; it has something special - everything from the huge artistic shift from Part 3 including
the addition of abstract colors in backgrounds, the more slim & trim character designs (ESPECIALLY
ESPECIALLY DEM POUTY LIPS! MMM CUTE BOYS! To the MASSIVE cast of offbeat yet relatable characters. This all comes together
to make an unforgettable season of JoJo. But y'know if I was to be perfectly honest,
what I appreciate above all else is.....JOSUKE PUNCHING A PLATE OF SPAGHETTI!
All goofs aside, lemme breakdown what
allows Part 4 to shine amongst the rest of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure - the
slice of life approach.
So slice of life. It, uh, sounds pretty boring on paper; it' s a style of storytelling
where the audience gets to experience the day to day life of a character or a group
of characters without an overarching plot. Typically focusing on character interactions
& character growth rather than a centralized narrative. So technically it' s a show
about nothing. [seinfeld bass] For some reason one of my childhood favorites Boy Meets World,
always comes to mind as an excellent example of slice of life! It's a sitcom following
Cory Matthews & to a lesser extent his friends & family from his middle school days all the
way to college. We watch on as he grows up; all the while learning of his aspirations,
laugh at his older brother's goofs, & crack a smile as Cory tries to figure out
girls. I've grown to love this style of storytelling because you grow to relate
and also appreciate the main character's struggles & successes.
unique way - retaining the day to day structure; focusing on character growth & interaction
while also including an overarching plot throughout the season. There's a great deal of
character heavy stuff going on in the background as the central narrative moves onward. Yet
despite having a focused plot, Part 4 still makes room for smaller plot threads; involving
romance, family drama, cute ghost girls, and of course my favorite, fine Italian cuisine.
It takes what we' ve seen before, following a relatively small cast of highschool boys;
Josuke , Okuyasu , & Koichi
as they live in the small Japanese town Morioh. Their lives are fairly normal - going
boi) as they live in the small Japanese town Morioh. Their lives are fairly normal - going
tracking down serial killers & fighting evil stand users -
baddest boy around, Dio.it was him dio.
baddest boy around, Dio.it was him dio Is that a JoJo ref- Back in Part 3, Dio obtained
a stand possibly as a byproduct of being pierced by a magical bow & arrow owned by his faithful
stinky witch, Enyaba. I hate her! As fate would have it, somehow the mysterious bow
& arrow found its way to Morioh and so does this he no-nonsense buff boy from Part 3,
his teenage uncle Josuke,and Morioh locals to find & destroy this dangerous relic.
Real quick; YES IT'S WEIRD TO HAVE A TEENAGE UNCLE, BUT SO IS JOJO! I MEAN IT
HAS BIZARRE IN THE TITLE! ALSO CAN YOU BLAME JOSEPH JOESTAR FOR SEXING HER?
THAT'S A GOOD MILF.
MILF.) \par \par
\par \par
This serves as the main plot thread throughout most of Part 4; which sounds like it would
be at odds with the slice of life setup. Yet it manages to combine the best of both shonen
or dealing with the main antagonist of this arc, .
The non-plot-centric episodes play out like a good ole fashion coming of age slice of life anime with a dash of JoJo
absurdity. These are the episodes I keep coming back to; they're more light hearted,
we get great character development and they usually have, like, really bizarre crap in
them. For instance, there's this one arc where Josuke befriends a shape-shifting
we get great character development and they usually have,like, really bizarre crap in
ends with Rohan's house tragically on fire!
It's uh pretty bizarre to say the least!
ends with Rohan\rquote s house tragically on fire! It\rquote s uh pretty bizarre to
say the least! \par \par
character growth & interactions. Like in that alien arc I was talking about earlier,
it sounds like a bunch of unrelated crazy boosh with an alien and a house on fire,
but its purpose was to deepen the relationship between Josuke & Rohan.
Aka make Rohan hate Josuke more, but I digress...
their motivations, and their relationships more complex and compelling.
No such arc illustrates this better than what I lovingly refer to as the Ed, Edd, & Eddy arc.
this better than what I lovingly refer to as the Ed, Edd, & Eddy arc. \par
middle-schooler named Shigekiyo Yangu or... as his parents call him Shigechi.
Similar to an episode of Ed, Edd, & Eddy, this newly formed trio has a singular goal
middle-schooler named Shigekiyo Yangu or... as his parents call him Shigechi. Similar
to an episode of Ed, Edd, & Eddy, this newly formed trio has a singular goal - not jawbreakers,
but rather, cold hard cash. Josuke and Okuyasu recognize Shigechi\rquote s stand, Harvest,
is a cash cow - Harvest is composed of 500 small bumblebee looking\rquote gremlins that
can scout out an entire city and carryback whatever its user desires. We see this at
the beginning of the episode, Shigechi celebrates his heaping pile of one yen coins as the two
teenagers marvel at his money-making skills. This leads to a rather awkward encounter as
Shigechi is quickly brought to tears as he considers these two strangers as his FIRST
FRIENDS. What a sweet boy! Shigechi hastily offers his collected money to them as a token
of their newfound friendship, but that feels off to Josuke. You see despite being kind
of shitty person, Josuke has..some pride. Josuke admits to Oku that he wants the money,
but feels weird just taking it off the kid. Instead, he then offers an equal business
partnership. This is Ed, Edd, & Eddy. \par ENTER MONEY MAKING SCHEME #1. Josuke devises
a plan involving collecting lost & unwanted stamps, vouchers, lottery tickets & coupons.
First, Shigechi uses his stand to collect all previously mentioned items. After everything
is collected, Josuke uses his stand Crazy Diamond to repair everything to their original
form. AND THEN PROFIT!!!! They return all restored vouchers & coupons to the respective
stores for cash or trade them in for goods. In doing so, the boys manage to pull together
only receive 10k instead of their agreed half.
of A bucks today. Josuke & Oku exclaim they couldn't have done it without Shigechi.
The boy now has confidence. Which instantly screws over Josuke & Okuyasu, as now they
only receive 10k instead of their agreed half.
I love this scheme so much! Not only do we get to see Josuke in his prime - using his
wits to come up with a scheme that will net him a ton of cash, but we also get to see
Okuyasu act as his hype man throughout the entire time. Granted, Oku doesn\rquote t bring
a lot to the table here initially, but his sincere and excited reactions to everything
GIVES ME SO MUCH LIFE.
But above all else, you get to see a lot of growth from this new
character, Shigechi. At first he\rquote s this super awkward kid, just excited that
these older guys even want to talk to him, and then becomes more power hungry as he realizes
how useful his stand can be. Its interesting that Shigechi's greed awakens as soon
as he is told he is of worth. And then promptly betrays his agreement with his friends. Something
about that feels revolting yet genuine at the same time. Look I'm no Shigechi
apologist here, but the way Shigechi reveals his greedy nature as their plan goes successfully
feels believable especially considering what little we do know about him. A lonely, awkward
kid into collecting stuff. And this pairs beautifully with the heroic scumbags Josuke
& Okuyasu who're only using the kid to make a quick buck. To have their partnership
beverages, Oku decides to go through their collection of lottery tickets. And wouldn't
ya know it, Okuyasu finds a winning lottery ticket worth 5 MILLION YEN. NANI THE HECK
A-Anyways, you would think this would be the end of the Ed, Edd, & Eddy saga, but it only
leads to their second plan. While Shigechi and Josuke enjoy their celebratory ice cold
beverages, Oku decides to go through their collection of lottery tickets. And wouldn\rquote
t ya know it, Okuyasu finds a winning lottery ticket worth 5 MILLION YEN. NANI THE HECK
NANI THE FUCK?! ENTER MONEY MAKING SCHEME #2 The rest of this plan shifts gears into
stupidly tense confrontation as the trio tries to convince a skeptical bank manager that
the winning ticket is theirs and totally not something they found. With Josuke\rquote s
quick wits and stand trickery, they manage to convince the manager, and receive a promissory
note that they can cash in in three days. This leads to hands down one of the most gif-able
sequences of pure joy as Josuke & Okuyasu rejoice getting the 5 million yen. Unfortunately,
the celebration is cut short as Shigechi declares that he doesn\rquote t want to share the money.
This sets off the sensitive Okuyasu, and he SLUGS the baby boy. The rest of the episode
is a sequence that\rquote s more goofy than it\rquote s thrilling as the Josuke and Okuyasu
chase down and fight Shigechi. The result of which makes Shigechi realize what a greedy
boy he\rquote s been, and they decide to split the 5 mil three ways.\par
\par These character interactions work as a foundation
not only for this budding friendship but also a storyline for the main plot to build off
of. Another reason why I love this arc is that it shows how stand users can use their
abilities in clever, non-violent ways. Despite the absurdity of this arc, it\rquote s somewhat
relatable. We\rquote ve all had a friend that might\rquote ve been a bit to greedy or quick
to anger or heck, maybe convinced you to be a part of a \ldblquote great plan\rdblquote
; the adventures of stupid boys doing stupid things is something we\rquote ve experienced
or seen second hand. As pure and fun as this budding friendship is, it sets the stage for
something sinister.\par \par
A few episodes later, we have the sandwich arc, aka Yoshikage Kira wants to live quietly.
This is similar to the slice of life episodes, but it also deals with the main plot as it
follows Yoshikage Kira, the serial killer of Morioh. Kira\rquote s pretty unusual as
far as JoJo villains go; he doesn\rquote t want to rule the world or end the JoJo blood
line - he only wants to live a quiet life. And also murder young girls and fetishize
their hands. Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I guess he\rquote s a bit more complex than Dio. Anyways, we
find Kira sitting under a tree enjoying a picnic. Savoring his Sir Gentleman sandwich
with his current favorite rotting hand. As he finishes his sandwich he notices the hand\rquote
s gone bad & needs to discard it - placing it inside his sandwich bag. Cut to Josuke
and Okuyasu running into Shigechi in the very same park - who also has a Sir Gentleman sandwich
of his own. At this point in time, the boys don\rquote t know Kira is the killer yet;
they\rquote re only aware that there is a serial killer in Morioh. Josuke and Okuyasu
ask to borrow money from Shigechi so they can get a nice lunch too. While recording
the money loan, a stray doggo steals his sammy. Afterwards, Shigechi mistakes Kira\rquote
s Sir Gentleman sandwich bag as his own, and the rest of the episode plays out as Kira
stalks Shigechi around town trying to get his rotting hand back. \par
\par This leads to a scene where Shigechi, Josuke,
& Okuyasu are eating lunch in the middle school teacher\rquote s lounge while Kira is hiding
underneath gym equipment. This makes for an INCREDIBLY tense scene as you want Kira to
remain unnoticed as he retrieves his rotting hand without being confronted by these sweet
boys, and somehow... he does! Kira manages to swipe the sandwich bag discreetly. Unfortunately,
Shigechi takes notice. Shigechi immediately puts the blame on his friends because really,
who can resist a Sir Gentleman sandwich? But before Shigechi gets a chance to search the
room, a teacher discovers the boys in the lounge and kicks them out. Shortly afterwards,
Kira leaves the premises victorious..and we have a sigh of relief - for at the moment;
it seems like things just might work out. That is until a spiky haired chubster calls
Kira out. Shigechi leaves no sandwich behind. Shigechi gets his sandwich bag back with Harvest
and realizes this is a stinky human hand not his delicious sammy! Kira realizes there\rquote
s only one way out now - he\rquote s gotta kill the boy. Shigechi is instantly outmatched
and runs away; desperately searching for his friends. Kira uses his stand, Killer Queen,
to explode Shigechi to ashes before he reaches them. Before Shigechi completely fades away,
he somehow manages to grab a button off Kira\rquote s exceedingly fashionable jacket and deliver
it to Josuke. This whole event sets the rest of the cast in motion - we got to find Shigechi\rquote
s murderer.\par \par
The meticulous pacing and goofy adventures in the Ed, Edd, & Eddy arc that leads to the
sandwich stuff with Kira is my favorite sequence of events in Part 4. It does a great job of
setting up the murder mystery with a smoking gun, but we also have a ton of fun along the
way. Upon my first viewing, Shigechi\rquote s sudden death hit me hard, a lot harder than
most other deaths in the series. Upon many repeated viewings, I realized his death isn\rquote
t impactful due to the suddenness of it, but rather because we grew to care about this
spikey-haired chubby little boy. We saw Shigechi grow from a greedy, lonely child and saw him
mature from hanging out with Josuke and Okuyasu. It makes you wonder what kind of schemes they
would run or even what kind of person Shigechi would grow up to be. Araki\rquote s decision
to splice in these slower, methodical slice of life episodes to build up or lead into
the classic over the top JoJo ass plot easily makes it my favorite Part in the series. Getting
to know our main characters - and even secondary characters better with often humorous or in
exceedingly strange situations allows the audience to connect and want to care for these
characters. In earlier Parts of JoJo, there were a ton of cool characters thrown our way,
but at times it can be hard to remember or even care about them when the focus was primarily
on the main character. The change to allow for a bigger, varied cast and slower pacing
to tie in with more of a slow-burn plot gives the audience so much time to soak it all in.
But more importantly it allows for events to carry much more weight.\par
For Anime think K-ON!...
not anime uh King of the Hill?
For more infomation >> DOKLAM IS NOT ABOUT A ROAD - Duration: 7:49. 
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét