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That run... Hol Horse's a Joestar!? Naw, just kidding. The fight against the Hanged man was really interesting, and really brings back the excitement that Part 2 had in its battles.
"I have blue eyes, blonde hair... uhhhh... gatling cannon..." My smile's fanbase... maybe...
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I'm against violence against kids but if I were in Polnareff's position, I'd break that kid's neck. I don't want to die yet! Stupid brat kept butting his nose in adult matters.
When Centerfold died.. it felt so freaking good I think I wet myself.
I wanted Hol Horse to die.. he killed Avdol, man.. Though this journey is all about finding Dio, who can say for sure that that bastard won't come back? tsk..
What's that? creepy shit got itself attached to Joseph.
it was odd how the people who wanted Polnareff's money didn't react when he was slashed open and his blood flew all over the place. Some of that blood was probably on them and they didn't even notice.
Wasn't too particularly keen on Avdol. He helped the plot to get going, but he wasn't a memorable character for me.
I'm curious to what that lady's deal is. Is her blood made out of an organism like those Dio brain parasites? Seems like it.
13:28 "These guys say they'll give you money!" Centerfold being certified dick
14:56 "Polnareff, that's not what you say here." Kakyoin almost being like a reverse-Joseph Joestar from Battle Tendency
18:51 Hol Horse uses the Joestar's secret technique.
21:14 Lucky that blood didn't hit a stone mask
21:57 Oh crap nvm
These two dudes are getting sliced up repeatedly and the money beggars don't notice it. lol
If you see that my post is exactly 1 month old (or more) from when it was posted... Don't waste your time, especially when you want to reply with something petty & insignificant. Assume that I've moved on (because I have).
The_Redux said: [spoiler]It was fatiguing reading so much non-stop fighting with no real rest periods in between, and the lack of any other major objective outside of the static "find and defeat Dio" goal made SC feel quite dull.
I just can't wrap my head around stuff like this, no matter how much I see it. Every part is a mix of non-stop fighting/Stand encounters (not all are necessarily physical fights). Every part is a nearly 100% linear quest to defeat the main villain and/or accomplish a goal while in the mean time vanquishing Stand users in the way. (Or simply enemies in the first two parts, but Araki seemed to be driving at Stand battles in Battle Tendency with the whacky Pillar Men abilities).
If you were fatigued by SC but not other parts, it was not due to the formula, all parts have the exact same formula. However, that is not to say preferring other parts would be condemnable, it's just a matter of taste, not some kind of objective judgement. It ultimately comes down to how much the reader enjoys the cast, setting, and presentation of action. Plot is pretty much irrelevant in Jojo outside establishing a direction and venue. It's entirely structured around fights and Araki just formulates a general point A to B which is usually scrapped at least a few times along the way to facilitate the fights.
In other words maybe SC dragged for some and that's fine, but saying it's because of how the plot is oriented around fights while the entire franchise is based on that isn't the best way of putting it.[/spoiler]
Again difference of opinion. I'll explain to further support why I feel that way.
I have to disagree with the "all JoJo is a linear quest to stop the villain, including plot and formula" argument, as that's the most applicable to Parts 1-3. Here's why (NOTE: Broad spoilers of the entire series are down below, new viewers should AVOID reading):
Part 1 is a linear quest defeat Dio. That's fair enough.
Part 2 is largely about eliminating the pillarmen, however a large secondary goal is keeping the Red Stone of Aja away from Kars. This adds another conflict and makes the story more interesting.
Part 3 is mostly linear hunting Dio stuff, with the only real fluff between being Polnareff's hunt for J.Geil (which is entertaining) and detours imposed my Dio's minions (which are dull, repetitive and predictable). Seriously, did they ever take a detour that didn't end up being a trap?
The first half of Part 4 involves tracking down and stopping the person who's making more stand users, while the second half is all about tracking down Morioh's serial murderer and bringing him to justice. Additionally the plot frequently changes focus between several different cast members (including the main villain), providing good fluff material.
Part 5's Giorno and Buccelatti's end goal is to overthrow the boss' rule and to reform their gang, with everything in the first half being done to get close to him and everything after that involving figuring out how to beat the boss and reactionary actions to the boss hunting their group down. Somewhat linear but still with enough twists and turns to remain engaging. Some fluff, but mainly used to make the characters more quirky/engaging.
First half of Part 6 involves Jolyne and crew trying to regain Jotaro's lost Stand and Memory discs while also trying to figure out who Whitesnake's user is, whereas the second half is catching up to Pucci to prevent him from achieving his goals. Fluff included Hermes and Weather Report seeking revenge on those who wronged them and Pucci's past (which was genuinely fascinating).
Part 7 for the most part is about Johnny and Gyro competing in the SBR race and getting wrapped up into a larger scheme involving the saint's corpse. All conflict with the main villain was driven by Johnny's selfish desire and FV's staunch patriotism to continue collecting the corpse parts, with their being no direct confrontation with the protagonists and FV until the last two legs of the race. Even then, both sides where painted to be morally ambiguous.
Part 8 is completely atypical at this point. We are only starting to get inclinations about the protagonist's past and why things are as they are right now. That may change later on, but for now it is distinctly different.
Summary: While you could argue that all parts involve non-stop fighting, it's how those fights are framed in the context of the story that truly makes the fights interesting to me. Parts that have more fluff/context and an interesting story I end up enjoying more whereas the parts that have less fluff/context and a less interesting story I end up enjoying less. Part 3 has the least context/fluff outside of Part 1, so it's one of my least favourite parts. Additionally it's quite long, with the fluff spread sparingly between each event being minute, which is what caused my fatigue.
Again this is all subjective, but this is how I genuinely feel.
As for your points about the enjoyment of a given series being linked to how much you enjoy the cast, setting, and the presentation of action, I do agree 100%. It is necessary for any series to have a strong combination of all of these to become enjoyable. While I felt that SC struggled with that initially, it does get better as the series goes on and while I don't like Part 3 as much as the other Parts in JoJo, I still do like it. Being able to criticise what you do and don't like is an important quality to possess.
A lot of your opinions on the various parts I agree with completely. Also one thing Phantom Blood has over Stardust Crusaders is its tighter pacing due to being shorter.
Finally the reason why I like part five more then part 3 or 1 is its cast of characters it has the slow pacing of part 3, but I can forgive it that do to its better (in my opinion anyways) overall cast.
That Indian lady needed a good backhand. I can't believe they let him go. Still a decent episode. I haven't read the manga, so I wonder if Anne is going to appear (probably kidnapped). The fact that they showed her sleeping in the train a few episodes ago says they aren't done with her character yet
Oh, fuck that royal bitch. They should've killed her while they had the chance.
It was a satisfying revenge against the hanged man. His stand was pretty awesome, but his actual person was no more than a snivelling coward. Next episode, that disgusting empress lady will probably the "villain of the week". The #2 guy was not all evil, but I look forward to his eventual death. It is still a shame that Avdol died!
looks like my predictions are going wrong left, right and center. i'll try to hold them on making any new ones now... :P
one thing though, why didn't Polnareff or Kakyoin actually target Geil himself when he was taunting them? His Stand may be untouchable but he sure as hell wasn't. The fight should've been over as soon as they found his physical body.
Can't really get myself to hate Hol Horse since he's just a mercenary taking out a target for money, not to mention it was ultimately Polnareff's fault for acting on his own and going into the fight without knowing their abilities. Different from J.Geil who murdered and raped people for the hell of it so that piece of shit definitely had it coming.
Wow, Polnareff's revenge scene was so satisfying. I don't get to see those kind of scenes that much. Also, I liked how the villains were dishonorable, and acted uncool once they knew they had no chance (especially J. Geil). As if it's a foil to Polnareff's more honorable behaviour (as shown in a previous episode with his fight with Abdul).
I have to say that, despite knowing in advance that this would be taking a monster-of-the-week format, it gets rather fatiguing. A lot of the stands have been pretty cool, though.
RIP Abdul. I forget that Jojo's Bizarre Adventure isn't afraid to kill the heroes every now and then. It's a shame it's so early for Abdul, but alas, a lesson had to be learned. A real tragedy.
Bruh... Advil can't be realy dead, right...? ;_; Where is Hamon when you need it the most?!
Good that Polnareff learned his lesson and got his revenge over Mr. Centerfold. Avdol shares huge part of Polnareff's change, and of course Kakyoin who saved the day by aiding Polnareff.
OHHHHH YEAAHHH!H!!!!! That's how you do it! Combo teamwork between Polnareff and Kakyouin allowed them to win and utterly DESTROY the ugly ass Hanged Man and the ugly ass user! Sliced torso, sliced face, countless holes and getting impaled from the mouth all the way to his ass! Mmm mmm what a satisfying victory!
Hol Horse is no match, that's true, especially against Jojo who can probably tank a couple of hundreds of bullets. But ok, the Indian Woman is definitely the Empress.
Hmm no more tears for advol time to get going.. and what happens? a nasty looking pimple thing eeeek
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But my feels.
The way fights play out in this part, where everyone is talking or standing aside commentating instead of taking actual action is very annoying. J Geil could have killed Polnareff a couple of times but instead he was just there standing and listening to him ranting...
Cool touch with J Geil's death in the Hanged Man position on that fence. But it is just so tiresome to get through these initial fights in Part 3.