JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken Part 3: Stardust Crusaders
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 3: Stardust Crusaders

Edit

What would you like to edit?

SynopsisBackgroundAlternative TitlesPictureChapters/VolumesPublishing DatesRelationsTypeExternal Links  

The fighting shounen manga is possibly the most widely read and widely published genre in circulation today. Hence, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders faces a great deal of competition for the attention the reader. However, JoJo's visual flare, entertainment value, and unrelenting creativity make it the cream of the crop among shounen adventures.

The story takes place 40 years after the events of Battle Tendency (the second part of the JoJo saga). The protagonist is none other than the grandson of Joseph Joestar -- Jotaro Kujo. When the coffin of the vampire Dio (the antagonist of part one, rival of Joseph’s grandfather Jonathan Joestar) was excavated ... off the coast of the canary islands, the ancient enemy of the Joestars awakened mysterious powers known as "stands" in Joseph, Jotaro, as well as Jotaro's mother Holly. However, Jotaro's mother is unable to control the consuming power of her stand and falls gravely ill. In order to save Holly from eventual death, Jotaro, Joseph, and Joseph's stand-user companion Avdol must embark on a journey to Cairo in order to destroy the root of her illness: Dio, while making new friends along the way. However, Dio's army of stand-users await our heroes at every turn to impede their progress.

While the outlandish premise of JoJo may not blow anyone away, the sheer creativity employed in the numerous fights will. The term "fight" is used loosely here, as many of the encounters don't rely on the trading of fists, but rather a test of wits and quick-thinking. This is largely due to the dizzying array of abilities that the enemies possess. While the stands of protagonists have more or less conventional superpowers (save for Joseph Joestar), anything is fair game for their foes, with powers ranging from bestowing magnetic pull to the bodies of opponents to the ability to merge with mineral objects, demanding a combination of brains and brawn from the heroes. The action is often visceral, suspenseful, and full of intrigue, especially as the series progresses onwards, when the more outlandish enemies make their appearances. The occasional emotionally charged encounters further enhances the intensity of the story, especially towards the end of the adventure, producing an adventure that is not merely flashy in its action, but truly a memorable journey.

The characters of JoJo are simple and straightforward, each with their own undeniable charm. The strong and reserved Jotaro is the embodiment of "cool", while Joseph makes for spectacular comedic relief with his offbeat attitude, especially for a man of his age. However, most of the villains the group encounters don't have much character behind their stand powers -- they either fall in the "hopelessly psychotic" category, or are bound by their greed for wealth and power, though there are a few exceptions. This is forgivable flaw, given the format of the story, which is a fast-paced ride from one opponent to another, with only brief introductions to the exotic locales in between. There is no mistake in that JoJo does not take itself seriously, as it gives no pretence of plot and character depth, but rather opts to focus on entertainment value, and to this end, JoJo succeeds spectacularly.

The art of Stardust Crusaders, like the previous instalments of the JoJo saga, remains one of the key selling points. The distinctly bold and detailed art style makes it difficult to believe that JoJo was produced weekly. Like the previous incarnations, the characters in part 3 all sport heavily muscled builds, though their bulkiness has taken a step towards moderation from the ridiculous flesh fortresses that appear in the previous two instalments. The fashion sense of the characters is equally wild -- one only needs to take a glance at Jotaro to notice the logic-defying style employed in the manga. Author Hirohiko Araki makes good use of his outrageously stylish artwork by producing action on the page that's ready to leap out at the reader. The fights are kinetic and brutal in presentation, locking the reader's attention and never lets go.

In the end, finding a concrete flaw in JoJo proves to be a difficult task. Its lack of depth is obviously intentional, as JoJo is meant to be a thrill ride -- and what a thrill ride it is. With style, creativity, and exciting bursting at the seams, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders is a no-brainer for any fan of the shounen fighting manga. Even to those who don't usually read works of this genre, JoJo has plenty to offer, and one is bound to be charmed by one of the many positive aspects of Hirohiko Araki's highly influential work.


Pros:
-- Endlessly creative
-- Outrageously stylish
-- Superb action, enhanced by stunning bold art

Cons:
-- The first few encounters don't measure well with the later encounters, though respectable in their own right.
-- Over-muscled men may be a turn-off for some readers.

Stardust Crusaders is the third, and most famous part of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. This is for a lot of reasons - it's the arc that introduced Stands, the core mechanic of the series that has stuck with it for the last 25 years. It marks the return of Dio Brando, JJBA's most instantly recognizeable character. It stars the iconic Jotaro Kujo, who is the poster-boy for the series. It was, until recently, the only arc to have an official translation in English, and it produced multiple games based on it.

So, with that in mind, it's kind of surprising that Stardust Crusaders isn't really one of ... the better parts that JoJo's Bizarre Adventure has to offer. It's arguably the quintessential JoJos arc, codifying what would follow in most of the parts to come - but that doesn't compensate for its flaws.

While stands were introduced in this arc, Araki wasn't entirely sure how they worked at first, resulting in a small handful of plotholes and/or irrational elements that would go on to be ignored later. Similarly, while Stands would later prove to be a brilliant idea, it didn't seem to hit Araki straight away how much of a masterstroke they were, so a lot of the earlier Stand abilities are either generic, or simply uninteresting. Sure, the series gave us some fantastic battles - especially in the Egyptian God half - but for every Cream, there's a Tower of Grey. For every Bast, there's a Wheel of Fortune. For every Hanged Man, there's an Empress. You get the picture.

Similarly, the plot isn't very interesting. Or rather, what plot there is is interesting, but there just isn't that much of it. The idea is simple - Dio is in Egypt, we need to get to Egypt, there are stand users in the way. The Monster of the Week formula is unimpressive and can drag after a while, especially if you're coming off the heels of Battle Tendency, one of the most dynamic arc in the JoJo canon.

Now, odds are, you've checked my score already and are wondering how I gave this a 7/10.

You see, JJBA relies on trickery and strategy rather than a slugfest of punches, drawn-out powerups, and plot twists from nowhere, as many bog-standard battle shonens are likely to - and the addition of Stands, flawed as they were at this stage, allowed a lot variety in battles than Hamon did. It even allows more variety in its enemies... I mean, where else can you see the protagonists fight an Orangutan, a bird, and A GODDAMNED BABY?

But the most immediate improvement on the previous arcs that the new formula allows is that, in the previous parts, too much of the story hinged on the titular character. OF COURSE he was going to win! Who else could?

Well, not any more. With Stardust Crusaders revolving around a team of 6 protagonists rather than just one, Stardust Crusaders had more flexibility and was able to shake up the formula simply by using a different character each time. However, it wasn't an entirely fair balance - Jotaro and Polnareff did take about 50% of the screentime between them, leaving the remaining 4 protagonists comparatively little, with Kakyoin and Abdul going largely underdeveloped.

This new formula also worked well with Jotaro Kujo, our new JoJo, who had a more stoic, laid back, bancho style than Joseph. having the screentime more split between the main cast allowed Jotaro to take a backseat and maintain a cool demeanour of indifference peppered with badass one-liners. Meanwhile, Polnareff picked up any slack that Jotaro's stoicness left, with his balance of wit and idiocy (coupled with some actual character development!).

And, as I said before, a lot of the latter half's fights (and some of the former half's) remain amongst the best JJBA has to offer - the epic 16-chapter "Dio's World" remains a personal favourite.

...Judgement was still absolute bullshit, though. Just pure crap. Worst JJBA moment ever, no exaggeration.


Final Words: Flawed, but entertaining.

Story/Plot: 5/10.
Characters: 7/10.
Art: 8/10.

Overall: 7/10.

For fans of: Fist of the North Star, Shaman King.

Stardust Crusaders is by far the most iconic, recognizable and popular part in the Jojo's Bizarre Adventure series. It was very influential and when there is a Jojo reference anywhere, it tends to be this part, particularly to Jotaro who is the most famous Jojo in the entire series.

Unfortunately, the earlier parts of the series have really not stood the test of time, and Stardust Crusaders, especially given its status as the most iconic part, might be the biggest example of this.

The basic idea is fairly sound: Dio returns after being absent in part 2, Joseph and his grandson Jotaro along with a few other ... people go to Egypt to save Joseph's daughter and rid the world of Dio once and for all.

To give credit where credit is due, SC introduced the concept of "Stands" to the series, which is much more interesting than the "Hamon/Ripple" of the previous two parts and allows for a lot more diversity and cleverness in the fights.

The thing is, while it may have been good for its time, the characters and storytelling in SC are now honestly pretty lackluster, outside of some entertaining fights it doesn't have anything that you haven't seen done better in a modern shounen 1000 times already. Jotaro is a pretty bland Jojo all things considered, and the rest of the cast is pretty forgettable. Even Polnareff, as entertaining as he can be, pales in comparison to just about any side character in part 4 and onwards.

Stardust Crusaders is also unnecessarily long; it is more than twice as long as both parts 1 and 2 combined, and most of it is just a "monster of the week" that gets dull fairly quickly. You really wish they would just get to Dio already, especially considering that there's no real interesting drama, substance, or character development going on.

The art in this part is improved from the previous 2; characters are still bulky and overly muscular, but they do generally look more natural and expressive. The art is by no means bad, but I can't say it's that much of a high point either unless you really really love the retro fist of the north star look.

There are some pretty good moments, admittedly, such as Jotaro's game with D'Arby and the final fight against Dio, but none of that really makes up for how underwhelming SC is compared to future installments in the series.

Stardust Crusaders IS entertaining and serviceable, but it is noticeably dated. if you want to experience this part i suggest watching the currently airing anime adaptation of it as it makes it a lot more entertaining.