JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

[LumRanmaYasha]

Based on how it was originally thought the anime was going to be 24 episodes long, I'm wagering that's the episode we'll be leaving off on. My guess is that all the pre-Egypt stuff will be taken care of by then. I'm expecting Iggy's introduction will be the first stuff that gets covered when the series comes back from the break.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I'm fine with this. Since I'm still reading the manga, and don't plan to start the anime for SC until I finish that arc in the manga, it gives me plenty of time to catch up before the second half of it premieres.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

So, I'm at what I presume is about half-way (or almost half-way), through Part 3 in the manga. Now, to be clear, I do like it, so don't take my opinion as negative, but considering the series as a whole, I still like Part 2 the best so far, unless part 3 gets substantially better in the second half. For one thing, the stand user of the week formula is starting to wear thin for me, and I find myself wishing the manga would take a break from some fighting and get to more plot developments for at least a little but. I felt that part 2 had the perfect balance between story and fighting.

And then, as for the actual fights, the general consensus seems to be that part 2 has the better story and part 3 has the better fights. Perhaps I'll change my mind by the time that I finish this arc, but while the stands themselves are cool, I don't necessarily think that they have made the fights any more interesting than they already were in part 2, and for that matter, I loved how Joseph used various accessories in such cleverly strategic ways. It felt that he made the best out of shit situations. Comparatively, a lot of fights (with a few notable exceptions), have the stand users on both sides seem like they are at the top of their game. That leads to interesting enough fights since they are evenly matched, but I miss that feeling of desperation that was present in many of he fights from part 2, but once again, this could change later on in part 3, but for now I honestly prefer the fights in part 2 along with the story.

Like I said, I still like part 3 (it's better than part 1, for sure, and is even managed to still like that one, even though most people don't care for it), but so far my opinion is that part 2 was much stronger, so far. Even if I was only comparing the first half of that arc to the first half of this, in order to be fair, I'd still stand by that opinion. I am hoping that things improve with the rest of this arc, though, and since it's pretty long, I still have a lot left to read, so for all I know it could get ten times better than it already is. At this point, though, I'm currently more interested in getting to part 4, since a lot of people seem to consider it a fan favorite (I know that CX likes part 6 the best, but 4 seems to be the most popular among manga readers).

Also, why doesn't Joseph use his character quirk of predicting what his opponent will say to throw them off, anymore? I get that he's not exactly the same character now that he's older, but it seems like such an iconic quirk that was so identifiable with this character that getting rid of it in this part doesn't sit with me too well.

[LumRanmaYasha]

A lot of people prefer part 2 to 3, actually. The Stand of the Week format of part 3 isn't appealing to many, and it's been a source of complaint for a lot of the new JoJo's fans who got into the series through the anime, haven't read any of the manga, and are watching SC right now. It's interesting, considering that Part 3 is the most popular part internationally, but to be honest, popular =/= best, and I personally like parts 4 & 6, and even 5 (which is an unpopular opinion, but imo it has a way better story to it), better. I actually do enjoy it more overall than Part 2, though.

Personally, I enjoy the Stand fights because they are very diverse and often strategic and not always physical in nature, which I've always found more interesting than regular fights, but the early ones are a lot weaker than the ones in the second half. The best fights in Stardust Crusaders, imo, are the ones with the D'Arby the Gambler, D'Arby the Gamer, Iggy vs. Pet Shop, Polnareff and Iggy vs. Vanilla Ice, and the final battle with Dio. Those last three are more traditional-y fights, but they have that sense of desperation that I think you're talking about, and are some of the best fights in the entire series and some of my all-time favorites in manga as well.

While I'm pretty sure Part 7 is the most critically acclaimed/praised part of the series, I think that Part 4 is definitely the most popular among JoJo's fans these days, for good reason too, and that was the part that made JoJo's my favorite Shonen Jump and battle-shonen series. It definitely has the best cast and art of all the parts, imo, and the Stand fights are much more interesting and Yoshikage Kira is probably the best villain in the series (though, Part 6's Enrico Pucci is a more interesting/developed one). I do think part 6 is stronger story-wise though, and has more interesting concepts and themes behind it, which is why it's my personal favorite (though, again, I'm not done with part 7 yet).

As for why Joseph doesn't use his quirk anymore, I remember he did do it once in SC, at the end of the Empress fight. I'm not sure why that personality quirk was dropped, but I'm guessing it's because the focus moves away from him so much and he's basically more of a comic relief character in Part 3, and Jotaro and Polnareff get the most fights/focus in the series.

[The Shadow Gentleman]

The first half of Part 3 feels like Araki is just experimenting with the ideas of Stands. It gets a little better during the second half, but 3 is still probably one of the weaker parts to me. I'm currently reading trough Part 4, and I can tell you that it does indeed get a lot better.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Like I said, I like the stands themselves. Much like Nen, it's a really cool concept that can lead to interesting battles. It's just that so far, I don't think that the manga has used that concept to its full potential, but I'm sure that later fights will eventually change my mind.

That said, I still alway prefer character first, story second, and action last. As far as character goes, the series hasn't I processed me too much, in that I like plenty of characters, but the only one I've ever really care about to a significant enough degree is Joseph, so far. In terms of story, I found part 2 to be pretty decent, and in terms of action, I really liked the fights in part 2 as well, and have enjoyed them in part 3 thus far, but still prefer the ones from part 2 at the moment.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

The first half of Part 3 feels like Araki is just experimenting with the ideas of Stands. It gets a little better during the second half, but 3 is still probably one of the weaker parts to me. I'm currently reading trough Part 4, and I can tell you that it does indeed get a lot better.

For some reason I always thought that you preferred part 3 to part 2, but I may have been confusing you for CX. At any rate, I haven't read a part that I don't like, yet (like I said, even part 1 has its moments), so it's all still good stuff. That said, I also have yet to fall in love with the series to the degree that most of its fans have. I'm hoping that part 4 is the part to finally win me over, in that regard.

[LumRanmaYasha]

I've always been a story/characters more than action guy as well, but even so, I just find SC a lot of fun on the whole. As far as the characters go, besides Joseph, Polnareff became and still is one of my top favorites in the entire series. Kakyoin and Avdol are alright, but I was never too attached to them. Iggy I really like, if for somewhat biased reasons, but he's a lot of fun and has some damn great moments in his two major battles. Jotaro, he's cool, but not one of my favorites, though Part 4 and Part 6 made me like him a lot more. He's somehow better as a supporting character than as the main protagonist, imo. Either way, story-wise I do think Part 3 is weaker than Part 2, since it's basically Stand-of-the-Week for most of it whereas Battle Tendency was a much tighter, focused narrative. That said, SC's second half did end up putting it slightly over BT for me.

If I had to rank the parts I've read so far:

Stone Ocean > Diamond is Unbreakable > Vento Aureo > Stardust Crusaders > Battle Tendency > Phantom Blood

I'm only a fourth of the way in Steel Ball Run, but if I were to put it in there, it would be between DiU and VA. Keep in mind liking VA more than SC and BT is actually an unpopular opinion among most people, though (I know Vlord doesn't like it much, and JoJo's is his second favorite manga). But honestly, I found it's core story and Buccellati's character arc really strong on the whole, and it comes off like a mix of the strengths of both BT and SC in a few regards, so I just prefer it over them overall.

[VLordGTZ]

If I had to rank the parts I've read so far:

Stone Ocean > Diamond is Unbreakable > Vento Aureo > Stardust Crusaders > Battle Tendency > Phantom Blood

I'm only a fourth of the way in Steel Ball Run, but if I were to put it in there, it would be between DiU and VA. Keep in mind liking VA more than SC and BT is actually an unpopular opinion among most people, though (I know Vlord doesn't like it much, and JoJo's is his second favorite manga). But honestly, I found it's core story and Buccellati's character arc really strong on the whole, and it comes off like a mix of the strengths of both BT and SC in a few regards, so I just prefer it over them overall.

I think I was too harsh on Part 5 when I first read it.  After re-reading parts of it, I've realized that VA had a lot of really good moments and the main cast was great (well, aside from Fugo  ). It's not one of my favorite parts, but I no longer consider it the weakest part of the series.
If I had to rank the first 6 parts:
Stone Ocean > Diamond is Unbreakable > Battle Tendency = Stardust Crusaders > Vento Aureo > Phantom Blood

[Avaitor]

Okay, so it does look like the show took a break a month or so ago, and I'm just about to watch that last episode now. I guess I should try to get into the other parts via manga in the meantime!

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I should get back to the manga, myself. I haven't caught up with the anime, but I think I'm just a little bit past the point where the anime took a hiatus, judging by the episode titles and comparing it to the chapter titles that I'm currently on.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Marty Friedman is using Jojo's to teach Japanese people English.

[LumRanmaYasha]

New promo for the Egypt half of Stardust Crusaders.

[The Shadow Gentleman]

Since I'm reading through Part 5, I'd thought it be good to share this post about how badly the only complete English translation fucks it up.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Premiere date for Stardust Crusaders -Egypt Arc- is January 9th. I've been missing the show these past few months, and it'll be good to have it again, especially since this season will cover the best parts of SC.

In Video Game-related news, the next JJBA fighting game has been announced, and Diego Brando will be a playable character! Great! His absence is All Star Battle was sorely missed. Hopefully they add more Steel Ball Run and Stone Ocean characters into this game's roster.

Additionally, here's a fun read: Jason Thompson covered the "Learn English with JoJo's Bizarre Adventure" book in the latest House of 1000 Manga. What I've seen of this and the Assassination Classroom learn english book are hysterical. I think we westerners could use a "Learn Japanese with JoJo's Bizarre Adventure" book ourselves.