Fish and Chips wrote:Continent Warning: Violence, some language and (usually brief) sexuality, and the occasional bad joke.
uc pseudonym (post: 1191454) wrote:I would be glad to discuss this series at length, but I suspect most here already know many of my basic thoughts. As a starting point, perhaps everyone should post what they have read of the series and perhaps favorite arc? For myself:
Read: Volumes 1-49 (I-IV and some V) + Steel Ball Run
Favorite: Battle Tendency (II)
MasterDias (post: 1192382) wrote:I've read all of Parts 1 & 2, about half of Part 3, and all of Parts 4 & 5. Overall, I do enjoy it when I read it(well, mostly, I found Part 1 rather...dry...) but there are a number of things that manage to irritate me. So, as such, it's far from my favorite series.
Fish and Chips (post: 1192385) wrote:Actually, I have an arc question. How is Part V? I've been hesitant to read it, in part due to the character design, though it's pretty much par for the course in JoJo.
MasterDias wrote:What is everyone's favorite stand/power? I'm somewhat partial to Aerosmith in Part V.
MasterDias (post: 1192382) wrote:What is everyone's favorite stand/power? I'm somewhat partial to Aerosmith in Part V.
Mega.EXE (post: 1192942) wrote:How long is the manga, and is it finished or not? The second longest ever? That'll have to be pretty long, from the characters that I've seen in Jump Ultimate Stars it looks pretty cool.
uc pseudonym (post: 1193058) wrote:Only Battle Tendency has a story that develops somewhat, which is part of why I like it. Steel Ball Run looks to be broken into around 15 plot segments and thus will probably be the longest arc if it is included with the others.
If I recall volumes 1-2 covered the first race segment and 3-5 took us some distance into the second. At that pace Steel Ball Run will definitely be 30+ volumes, as I don't imagine he'll skip any of the race segments.
MasterDias (post: 1193047) wrote:Keep in mind that Kochikame is basically an episodic sitcom which has been running since 1976. It's sort of the Japanese equivalent to The Simpsons.
Fish and Chips wrote:Actually, I can see Steel Ball Run ending in roughly 25 volumes. The race being 9 stages, some of those considerably shorter than others, the Manga currently in the 7th Stage "Philadelphia." Still the longest arc though.
I also enjoyed the first two arcs because they actually had a developing plot (much moreso Battle Tendency than Phantom Blood), one of my disappointments with Part III pending it's fairly straight-forward "Goal" rather than storyline, and Part IV in taking half the arc to actually decide on a functional plot. One of the reasons I enjoy Steel Ball Run is because it looks like it's bringing back some of those plot elements.
Fish and Chips wrote:Aside from the necessary of the Shounen process, how do half these stand users end up with the powers they have? I mean, the arc bad guy (Dio Brando, Kira Yoshikage, Diavolo) always has some conveniently awesome stand, whereas more than a couple minions get the short draw.
uc pseudonym (post: 1200079) wrote:However, the fact that Bucciarati spends much of the story dead and he just keeps going makes up for some of this.
uc pseudonym (post: 1200079) wrote:Lastly, what did you think of Metallica? That's a pretty nasty ability. Not the most effective by a long shot, but...
Fish and Chips wrote:Still, a couple odd stands are definitely the bottom of the barrel. Notorious B.I.G. and Cheap Trick only activating on the death of the user? Unless automatic death stands carry on the conscious of their users, that's a fairly bad deal.
Fish and Chips wrote:I ended up liking Bruno a lot. Giorno's been a bit flat in recent chapters, so I see Bruno as a protagonist substitute at times. Which he kinda is, but he grew on me during the Grateful Dead chapters.
Fish and Chips wrote:Metallica, man....even knowing who Doppio was, I still wanted him to defeat Risotto. That's just cruel and unusual. Then again, Doppio's fond of sewing peoples' mouths shut with their own shoestrings. Lose-lose scenario either way.
uc pseudonym (post: 1200332) wrote:Also, that raises a very important question: how did they learn their Stands' abilities?
uc pseudonym (post: 1200332) wrote:I kind of liked the guy, for a random character. His fate was obviously death, given his opponent, but I thought he was interesting while he lasted. Then the secondary effect (iron deficiency) is the kind of trivial realism I find entertaining.
Still, a couple odd stands are definitely the bottom of the barrel. Notorious B.I.G. and Cheap Trick only activating on the death of the user? Unless automatic death stands carry on the conscious of their users, that's a fairly bad deal.
MasterDias (post: 1200766) wrote:Part V did quite a few interesting powers. But, sometimes, I don't think Araki really thought things through. Pannacotta Fugo was apparantly written out of the story because his Stand was so broken. Far from my favorite character, but I felt this was sloppily handled nevertheless.
And Diavolo's Stand soft of came off rather convoluted...
MasterDias wrote:Personality-wise, I liked Bruno quite a bit as well. The "plot twist" about him was heavily hinted at in previous chapters, but was still pulled off rather effectively.
MasterDias wrote:Pannacotta Fugo was apparantly written out of the story because his Stand was so broken. Far from my favorite character, but I felt this was sloppily handled nevertheless.
Fish and Chips wrote:Popular opinion has it that not even Araki knows how Diavolo's stand is supposed to work. Though with his habit of writing final bosses with time-based abilities, probably looked good on paper.
uc pseudonym (post: 1200976) wrote:But really, the same is true for Dio's Stand. If he stopped time, why do things he throws stop part way?
Fish and Chips wrote:If Dio can move freely in stopped time, and the rest of the world is motionless until he forcibly interacts with it, time is acting as friction. The knives stopped short because once he threw them, momentum could only carry them for so long before they "Slowed down" back to stillness.
uc pseudonym (post: 1201224) wrote:That is at least a logical way to think about it. On a scientific level, however, it breaks down in so many ways. But JJBA has never really been about physics, much less temporal physics, so perhaps we can all sit peacefully and drink cups of tea with our suspension of disbelief.
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