JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken Part 4: Diamond wa Kudakenai

The year is 1999. Morioh, a normally quiet and peaceful town, has recently become a hotbed of strange activity. Joutarou Kuujou, now a marine biologist, heads to the mysterious town to meet Jousuke Higashikata. While the two may seem like strangers at first, Jousuke is actually the illegitimate child of Joutarou's grandfather, Joseph Joestar. When they meet, Joutarou realizes that he may have more in common with Jousuke than just a blood relation.

Along with the mild-mannered Kouichi Hirose and the boisterous Okuyasu Nijimura, the group dedicates themselves to investigating recent disappearances and other suspicious occurrences within Morioh. Aided by the power of Stands, the four men will encounter danger at every street corner, as it is up to them to unravel the town's secrets, before another occurs.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kuujou, Joutarou Main

Ono, Daisuke Japanese

Kira, Yoshikage Main

Morikawa, Toshiyuki Japanese

Higashikata, Jousuke Main

Ono, Yuuki Japanese

Kishibe, Rohan Main

Sakurai, Takahiro Japanese

Nijimura, Okuyasu Main

Takagi, Wataru Japanese

Hirose, Kouichi Main

Kaji, Yuuki Japanese

Joestar, Joseph Supporting

Ishizuka, Unshou Japanese

Sugimoto, Reimi Supporting

Hara, Sayuri Japanese

Yamagishi, Yukako Supporting

Noto, Mamiko Japanese

Trussardi, Tonio Supporting

Kawashima, Tokuyoshi Japanese

Fukuda, Jun Producer

Kajita, Kouji Producer

Hayashi, Toshiyasu Producer

Kasama, Nobutaka Producer

Reviews

Jan 1, 2020

SynthwaveCrusade

Recommended

JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken Part 4: Diamond wa Kudakenai, the 4th part of Hirohiko Araki's iconic manga series. After the most iconic manga series of all-time, stardust crusaders, what can you do? Well, you make the greatest bit of media to even scrape the heavens.

[story-10/10]
Jojo part 4 takes us to the sleepy town of Morioh Japan, we follow part 3's protagonist Jotaro Kujo, Jotaro is looking for Josuke Higashikata, son of Joseph Joestar, of course Jotaro is here to talk about splitting the cash when Joseph dies, and also here on official business about a murder and the stand arrows, Jotaro meets Josuke and ... thus our journey starts.

Now to be fair part 4 starts slow, really slow, the first 15 so episodes are dedicated to exploring Morioh and expanding the cast of characters while building up to the main event with episode 17, Rohan Kishibe's Adventure and the introduction to Kira Yoshikage and Sugimoto Reimi, everything after episode 17 is what I consider the greatest piece of television, I absolutely love this part of the story and especially the Bites The Dust arc, JoJo part 4 has the hands down best story of any Jojo part.

[Art-7-10]
Why a seven? Well in the manga, Araki's art is flawless and is some of the greatest in the series to date, part 4 also marks a shift in Araki's manly art style of parts 1-3 to the more effeminate designs of part 5 and onwards, However, part 4's anime has some of the sloppiest animation and many character don't stay on model, this can be seen in the infamous Shinobu Kawajiri and Kosaku (Kira Yoshikage) Kawajiri scene, also Kira's model is often times off, there are also many issues with the animation, but this is made up for in the anime with the amazing still character shots that look absolutely beautiful, although there are many flaws they can be overlooked, also sometimes the animation has moments of sakuga, albeit the animation can also be very janky.

[sound-8/10]
The Ost is AMAZING. The best JoJo Ost to date, it has some of my favourite sound tracks, such as the incredible theme of Kira Yoshikage, which blended with the visuals is thematically fitting for kira and also a greatly composed piece, The openings are incredible, "Crazy Noisy Bizarre Town", "Chase" and "Great Days" are some of the best anime openings to date, there packed with subtle foreshadowing, metaphors and references, the ending "I want you" by savage garden, classic Australian pop/rock band and one of my favourite songs of all time. The VA work was incredible, the Voices of Jotaro Kujo (Daisuke Ona) and Josuke Higahsikata (Yuuki Ona) were phenomenal, of course I loved the voices of Kira (Morikawa Toshiyuki) and Kishibe Rohan (Takahiro Sakurai) as well as others.

[Characters-10/10]
easily my favourite in the entire series, seeing fresh faces such as Josuke, Okuyasu and Koichi was nice while also adding onto our veteran cast such as Jotaro and Joseph, seeing Josephs transition from street smart punk, to battle hardened veteran and eventually to loving caring grandfather and father, its bittersweet seeing his progression as a character, Jotaro turns from a brash and rude teenager, to a mentor and father figure. The new characters are great Josuke is the love child to Joseph and Tomoko, he's brash, quick witted, but passionate and kind hearted, he is one of the best Jojo's in the series, Second best JoBro Okuyasu Nijimura, is fun, loveable and dumb as shit, like Josuke, he acts more on Passion then Witt, and its also fun seeing him solve problems using brawn over intellect, of course the rest of the supporting cast is great, characters such as Rohan Kishibe, Koichi Hirose and especially Kira Yoshikage, Kira's desire to live his peaceful life is a breathe of fresh air compared to the world changing ideologies of Dio and Kars, Kira wants to live life doing what he loves as he pleases, his ideology of "why be first when you could be second?" is so contradictory to humans and is so interesting to me, everything about him is normal, until you count in the fact that he's a vicious serial killer who kills women for there hands using his stand "KILLER QUEEN", and during his time as Kosuku, I even sympathised with him, as Araki humanises him. Characters were fantastic.

[Stand Powers-10/10]
part 4 has some great stands "Killer Queen Bites The Dust" made one of the greatest arcs in Shonen anime history, 'Crazy Diamonds" is simple yet brilliant, I could list all of the phenomenal stands from this part (Echoes, Enigma, The hand, Star Platinum, Heavens Door etc), but if there's one thing unique about the stands of part 4, its the shift from tarot cards to the new way of naming stands, iconic 80's rock bands, albums and songs. Some of the best stands and some fo the most creative ideas in JoJo.

[Enjoyment-10/10]
Part 4 is fun as fuck! It's funny, action packed and most of all, engaging, I was never bored once, it keeps on the edge of your seat from start to finish.

[overall-10/10]
an essential viewing for any JoJo fan and a great introduction for new comers, it has mainstream ideas that anyone can enjoy while having enough to provide high end anime enthusiasts or Elitists with enough to dig their teeth into.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Jul 8, 2017

Kak1

Mixed Feelings

I'd like to preface this review by saying I totally understand why you might enjoy this show. Don't just look at this review, see its rating then click off. This review is a thorough dissection of Araki's Manga and DP's adaption of DiU. It's more of a fun than deep experience but I'm going to explain why DiU's critical flaws make the show very VERY difficult for me to enjoy.

Story: 5/10

The story starts off insanely strong with a shot of a severed hand being in someone we don't knows home. The story is about a serial killer using his Stand to hide himself and ... kill. That's an awesome premise. Too bad its hardly a factor of the story and it's mostly just the cast stumbling upon enemies that are just trying to use their stand to regenerate their body and petty theft. It loses so much focus. YUKAKO HAS A DEVELOPMENT ARC AND THEN HAS LITERALLY NO IMPACT OR TIME IN THE STORY AFTERWARD. IT WAS PROBABLY THERE JUST TO SHOW AYA TSUJI EXISTED.
Now onto why these fights and arcs have no impact on the story and why its downright purposeless...

I will accept the fights could be entertaining but the fights of this part are just not as well executed or choreographed as those from other parts. There are some exceptions like Highway Star but Araki even recycles ideas for stands and the environments are very strained as its mostly taking place in a house or on a street. Also these fights have minimal stakes due to Crazy Diamond being able to perfectly regenerate people. AND these brawls just have really forgettable, uninteresting enemy abilities. It puts these at even more discredit because these fights DON'T feel connected to the plot. Unlike parts like 1, 3, 5, and 7 where the enemies are either other members of the mafia that want something the heroes have, opponent racers pursuing the same goals, assassins hired by the enemy, minions, etc. The enemies in DiU are mostly just randoms. Plus the characters associated with the fight and some of the unique ideas usually carry the bland and boring execution on its back.

Art: 6/10

The art looks great and on model at times as does the animation but the key word is sometimes. Its animation can be fluid. The character designs are honestly great even for the minor villains. Although the characters can look great but even with the very simplified facial designs and vibrant colors the show still has big aesthetic problems. There is constantly bad frames. This is likely because the seasonal split that SDC had wasn't there. So they didn't have time to break or get back budget. The constant outsourcing made the main villains stand reveal a literal laughing stock. So much so I still see it getting meme-d on social media. The animation and art in DiU can be vibrant and fluid but it also gets unattractive and stiff. So much so you start to wish there was a seasonal gap.

Sound: 7/10

The music is catchy and fits the situation but it feels like a drop from SDC. Also Savage Garden all the way through instead of something as calming and beautiful as Last Train Home was a huge mistake. Last Train Home surpasses it in every way. You just get this tranquil feel of the Crusaders comradery. As you see them casually moving around Egypt together. It paints a very peaceful picture in your head. With I Want You, you have a very out of place song with very out of place direction. The Josuke in the end credits singing is so spontaneous and out of place. Its not remotely edited well is really forced in. (I'm not gonna criticize I Want You as a song because I am not into music criticism so that's why I more criticized its sloppy direction and what it does for the anime as opposed to dissecting the lyrics of a song from a 90's Boyband)

Character: 6/10

Here's where we get to DiU's biggest problem as well as it's best part.
I'll start by putting it simply Rohan, Koichi, and Kira are the best characters of this arc. Their characterization, development, and their focus almost always makes the episode great. I could do an essay on why Rohan is such an amazing character BUT simply put he is an excellent, greatly developed, incredibly layered and interesting character. Also the fights on the aforementioned tend to have impact on their character more so than ANYONE else in the show. Araki also does a very poor job at doing mass characterization AND making characters likable. Unfortunately you see a lot of Josuke and Okuyasu. Now I know A LOT of people like these characters. But hear me out. I do not hate these characters but they have very BIG problems as basically the leads of the part.
1) They have confused character motivation
2) They are stagnant and their development arcs doesn't effect them as characters
3) They are less interesting than characters that could've got more spot light

Okuyasu:
His brother dying is one of his main drives into the plot. That and his attachment to Josuke leading him in conflict by association. But Okuyasu wants revenge even though he accepts his brother is a bad person. They do not flesh out the fact Okuyasu wanted to avenge someone he knew was wicked. It doesn't dive into his psyche or feelings of justice or ideals. Just simple revenge motivation. It's insanely shallow and doesn't do ANYTHING fresh or unique. Now maybe I would forgive this if Okuyasu just didn't feel so bare. He meets his brothers killer, the person he wanted to commit revenge on. Then he loses. Then he meets him again. Can't beat him and then Josuke beats him. So Okuyasu gets no resolution with his brothers killer AT ALL. He doesn't confront him in the hospital. He doesn't kill him. They have no excuse because Kakyoin and Polnareff just is so much more satisfactory in terms of ending Pol's revenge arc. Kakyoin even helps him on what to say so he can feel fully satisfied when murdering the man who killed and raped his sister. And after this arc that goes literally nowhere Okuyasu doesn't get any more development for the rest of the show. Which honestly makes him just a one dimensional comic relief. He's entertaining but his character goes nowhere, is shallow, and has a really lame arc that doesn't effect him.

Josuke:
Josuke is nowhere near as bad of a case as Okuyasu. Josuke just gets less development and less consistent development than side characters like Yukako. And often forgets everything about his development where he wanted to become a force of justice. He commits fraud, tries to scam Rohan out of a ton of money, bullies and manipulates a 12 year old for money, and it wouldn't be such a problem if his greed didn't undermine his one development arc. You CAN NOT make his ONE development arc motivate him to become a force of good to protect the town and then have him not FEEL LIKE protecting the town he was so motivated to save. Especially when he literally wants to go against the law he wanted to uphold earlier in the show. It creates some interesting and funny conflicts but just really hurts his character. He doesn't get development outside of that arc and the arc REALLY doesn't affect his character. Like I can't do a page long analysis of their character because its just contrary traits and shallow personalities. Which is a huge problem as they are the big main characters of the show and suck away characters like Koichi and Rohans time.

Now one problem about a really good character; Kira is they try to introduce this part of his personality where he's falling for Shinobu but they bring it up once, don't expand on it, and it just feels forced in and Araki probably just forgot to capitalize on it.

Back to one horrid aspect about Araki's mass characterization... you can't make a psychotic outcast like Hazamada likable when in the same arc you're trying to make him likable in you make Rohan read off that he tried to rape a girl and then chickened out.

Overall DiU has some of the best characters in the franchise but also some of the weakest. And Araki despite making a great villain has a very hard time at naturally tying characters to the plot AND handling mass characterization well.

Enjoyment: 5/10

I enjoyed it sometimes. It could be fun. It could look pretty. Its story could hook me in. And it genuinely has AMAZING characters. But for all the fun that I had, I was too distracted with problems to enjoy myself. For all the beauty there's ugliness. For all the times the story had me, the payouts and dicking around on side stuff lost me. For every good character's time in the spotlight there's a significant amount of time spent on a much weaker, shallow character. Every time DiU does something great or good it does some thing to balance out its positively with very damning problems.

Overall: 5/10

This is a perfect score for DiU. I feel like its truly great characters save it from a 4/10. It's also pretty damn weird and pretty damn funny. But the animation and art problems. And the shallow leads. And the poor mass characterization. And the much weaker soundtrack compared to other parts sits it in a very rough place in terms of JoJo parts and other seasonal anime at the time. Definitely not a bad show, I can see why a lot of people would find enjoyment in it. But its lack of focus on its best characters, its lack of focus on its originally incredible story, sits it in a purgatory. Stuck between giving it audience something to love and shooting itself in the foot for 39 whole episodes.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Aug 11, 2017

kfcrispy

Not Recommended

The JoJo series had been my favorite anime to watch (I don't read any manga), and this arc was a huge letdown after 3 solid, enjoyable, and often amazing arcs. The Stardust Crusader OVA from long ago got me hooked, and I was really looking forward to seeing Diamond is Unbreakable after finishing the TV series version of Stardust Crusaders.

I understand this TV series stays pretty true to the manga, but I feel that the writer Hirohiko Araki simply ran out of ideas after the EPIC Stardust Crusader arc and made this filler arc (for the money) about nothing significant, creating characters that were hard ... to appreciate because they were whiny, talkative, immature, stupid, and simply lucky, in some sense, when defeating these super random unmemorable opponents with vaguely-defined abilities. I understand the characters are supposed to be young and immature, but I got tired of constantly seeing the characters suddenly act immature over and over in the middle of life-and-death situations.

I really enjoyed the JoJo series as a whole because of amazing powers and the characters having to be clever and creative in order to win, but this arc barely tries. Or perhaps the characters are so unlikable I don't care if the main characters actually lost/died.

The series brings back the main characters from the past storylines, Joseph Joestar and Jotaro Kujo, but Joseph is completely useless in this series and the reasons change from him barely having any memory and barely able to walk to being able to walk and think but having to take care of a pointless baby. I assume the baby becomes a major character in a future arc, but it's super lame how they introduced the baby and how Jonathan was completely out of commission.

If you are a hardcore fan of the series like I am, watch it just to get it over with. If you are new to the series, I highly recommend checking out the first 3 arcs over this one.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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