Back to harpseal2's Profile harpseal2's Profile

Hello all, hope this review finds you well. This is my first real review, since my other one was a joke. Now let's begin this review.

Unlike many people on this site, I started JoJo on the manga, on the very first part. I vehemently hated JoJo for the terrible fanbase that I was constantly in contact with and had no option to avoid, due to the airing of the anime. However, I decided to give the series a shot, and I was hooked from the first page. Now, I've recently finished reading what is currently available of JoJolion. I was very curious about this ... little OVA series, as I had heard little of it and in my opinion it looked far better than the 2013 anime adaption of Stardust Crusaders. I gave it a shot, and to my surprise... I loved it. But I am a man of objectivity, so let me discuss why this series is worthy of the masterpiece ranking.

STORY - 9

I was not a huge fan of the Stardust Crusader manga. While stands were certainly an interesting concept, due to the sheer volume of stands and fights which resolved themselves in similar manners (i.e punchy ghost knocks them out), I found the part to be bloated and, dare I say, dull. Granted, this problem is mostly fixed when the Crusaders make their way into Egypt, and stands become far more interesting, like Anubis, Geb, and Osiris being highlights. I think Araki refined his craft in later parts, where stands really did just get more memorable. What has this got to do with the OVA? Well, this part of the OVA takes place in the later half in Egypt, and cuts out most of the uninteresting and, dare I say, shitty fights (like Sethan). I actually prefer this to the manga. I'm saying it now. A few decent fights were lost, but Geb and Osiris are highlights of the part and were kept as they should have been. DIO's WORLD is still kept as the epic conclusion, and its about the length of an average film in this, taking up half the entire episode count of the OVA. The only reason I'm giving this a 9 is because as an adaptation it isn't perfect.

CHARACTER - 10

Characterisation from the manga has not been lost from the transition in animated form. If anything, this OVA increased my appreciation for certain characters, who I cared little for in the manga, such as Kakyoin. I don't have much to say here, but the characters are as they were in the manga, which is a plus for me. Granted, characters who were fairly uninteresting like Avdol are still uninteresting, but I still found a greater appreciation for them in this, which says a lot.

ART - 10

The colours and the art in this OVA are much more vibrant and unique than the look of the 2013 adaptation, which just looks terrible in my opinion. The colours in the anime are duller and the art-style is far more generic and ugly. The detail in the faces of the OVA comes from more than just adding lines onto the faces of characters to attempt to replicate the chiselled, masculine look of Araki's art. Not to mention the animation itself in the anime is jerky and disgusting in comparison to the silky smooth animation of the OVA. This is courtesy of Satoshi Kon, whose work I am not familiar with but I am certainly interested in. His loss is one that cannot be overstated or comprehended in mere words, if this is anything to go by. I cannot judge the anime entirely, as I have only seen clips, but regardless I feel that the OVA is much better in this regard. This truly proves that the transition to digital art is a great shame, and the decline in OVAs as a result of Evangelion's popularity is a blight that should not be overlooked.

SOUND - 10

The sound design is excellent. When Dio is in stopped time, a unique effect is added to his voice, which really adds to the atmosphere of stopped time. The soundtrack fits the anime like a glove, and from what I've heard of the JoJo anime's soundtrack, this fits the series far better. The Japanese dub is the best way to go when watching this, but I am okay with the English dub. I feel the voices fit the characters better in the sub, and the performances are also a little less cheesy, which adds to the more serious atmosphere that this OVA sets (more on that in the next section). It takes a lot for me, as a firm sub watcher, to praise a dub, but I am admitting that this is a dub that is in fact watchable, and I might even watch entirely dubbed at some point in the future.

ENJOYMENT - 10

This OVA blew my mind. I hadn't heard much nice about it, but I approached it with an open mind, and what I found was a glorious adaptation of the best parts of Stardust Crusaders with all the shitty fights removed. The tone is a much more serious one than the one set up in the manga, but this OVA pulls it off flawlessly. It plays the ridiculous nature of the part completely straight, in comparison to the goofy manga and the goofy anime adaptation, which is something I do really like. This is one of my favourite entries on this site, and within the world of anime itself.

OVERALL - 10

This OVA is nothing more or less than a masterpiece. It is an underappreciated gem, that is far better than it's over-appreciated lump of coal sibling, the 2013 anime adaptation, speaking in raw technical aspects. Sure, the anime is a more accurate adaptation, but I would far rather watch this work of love than the ugly new adaptation. I would recommend anyone whose read the manga to watch this, and anyone whose watched the anime to stop being a dumbass and read the superior manga and then watch this OVA.

This is my favourite anime of all time.

The original show Neon Genesis Evangelion has absolutely nothing on this masterpiece, managing to explore the deep existential and religious themes of NGE within a much shorter timeframe and in a much less heavy handed manner. It helps capture a glimpse into the psyche of Ikari Gendo, one of the most cold-hearted and enigmatic characters of anime, and gives him a much greater backstory in 2 thirty second advertisements than NGE did in 26 full length episodes and 5 movies (hurry up and release 4.0 already Anno I'm sick of waiting for fu..)

The soundtrack destroys Evangelion's soundtrack. Every ... version of an NGE song used sounds better than ever due to HD mastering and mixing. Gendo sounds more like Gendo than he did in the Rebuilds for God's sake! The art is crisper and cleaner than it was in every iteration of Evangelion. The story was gripping and intense throughout, and made me weep like a woman to be quite honest with you.

The only thing better than these beautiful ads is That smooth feeling of Schick©, you can (always) be free and you can (always) have a smooth chin! Buy Schick©, and FREE YOUR SKIN®!