Top notch art on this one. Araki has really come a long way. (& I'm not talking about the photocopy backdrops either). Highly recommend the fan-colored scanlations, they did a much better job on Jojo 3 than they did on Jojo 2. (At least until the latter volumes when they get lazy & stop coloring the backgrounds). It's a smorgasbord of 80's pop culture references (moreso than previous seasons) so it will appeal far more to readers 30 & up. Having grown up on horror movies, I have to say this is some of the most hilarious gore I've seen since "The Story of Ricky" live action movie. The background characters however are very cartoony looking, like they don't even belong in the same universe.
This series makes me think of a more adult take on Yu Yu Hakusho (of which I have only read the first 2 arcs of sofar) crossed with JJBA. Jotaro is Yuusuke/Kuwabara, Kakyoin is a less feminine Kurama. Jotaro's stand is based on Baoh (so was Cars' arm scythes), another manga by the same creator, but rather than Jotaro transforming into Baoh, it's a somewhat separate entity based on himself, his Chi given form. A cross between a guardian spirit that acts on its own & a 1980's VR avatar where any damages sustained in the game transfer to the real world. But not all that separate a being like in Yugioh Abridged where Yuugi & Atem can converse with each other. Dio reminds me of Hisoka from Hunter x Hunter crossed with Lucio from The Arcana.
This Jojo is even more of a delinquent that his grandfather & easily the smartest Jojo, & the most handsome Jojo. He worries about others more than he'd like, despite being absolutely punch-drunk. He's a chick magnet but finds them exceptionally annoying. He's in high school, putting him at about 17-ish years old, but like his forefathers, he looks like a wrestler of 25-35, or maybe a Chippendale's stripper. He doesn't talk much unless he had a question or wants to make a statement, & kind of just becomes a secondary character in his own manga in the shadow of the talkative Joseph & Polnareff until Dio appears. He was already my favorite JoJo from early on, but sealed it for sure when he slashed the tires of an escaping vehicle; something the cops on NCIS & Law & Order infuriatingly never think to do.
His mom looks about his age, his grandfather, who's personality has changed drastically with age & parenthood, only looks about 45-50. He's also taken over for Speedwagon as team cheerleader & sports commentator. Kakyoin, who looks like something out of an Aeon Flux cartoon, looks 35-40, which is bad because he's also in high school. Abdul is, according to an interview with Araki, supposed to be in his 20s but looks 40-50.
Lastly there's the arguably funniest & most fabulous character; Polnareff, who is the first & certainly not last Jojo character to have a ton of jewelry & an outfit blatantly inspired by women's clothing. He was so popular that he became an ascended character & arguably a co-protagonist equal to a Jojo then the series seemed to focus more on him while pushing everyone else into the background. He's a two-sided coin. He is the most oblivious & naive character, but he's the most intuitive & tactical when it comes to battle. He's a little girl-crazy (as in he & Joseph are the only two who seem even remotely interested in women on the occasion) but he's also the chivalrous ladiesman of the group. He's apparently a match for Jotaro in combat, as he nearly killed him when possessed by a stand. While he is oblivious to things others notice, he notices things others are oblivious to, therefore he will be the last OR first to know what's going on & usually the first to know they're being followed.
Araki loves him some western movies, & I don't mean cowboy western either. Still using 80s bands & fashion designers to name characters after, stands present references to 80s movies, with Joseph himself being retooled into either an aging Indiana Jones or Jones' dad. He seems to really hate animals though, because damn near 100% of every animal that appears in this series first a horrible death.
The humor is more tame in this series without the Pillar Men, but there's a LOT more of it.
Holly's stand is a freaking raspberry bush, Joseph wears a ridiculous outfit foreshadowing the fashion of seasons to come. When Holly collapses & her ass grows to the size of horse. A shot of Star Platinum's bare man-ass, because we didn't see enough of that last season. Whatever Kakyoin is doing with his legs when their stands are getting named. Joseph brushing his daughter's teeth. From the side, you can't tell where Jotaro's hair stops & where his hat starts. Kakyoin's uniform is so skin-tight that you can practically hear his bulging muscles scream for freedom. They meet a dwarf woman (or a crotch-high toddler who hit puberty damn early) who tries to fight them all at once, saying her knife screams for blood.
Dio's ridiculous surcoat overalls that would fall off if not for the neck strap. The goofy gore of the impaled sailor is like a cheap B Movie prop. An obese orangutan in a sailor suit smoking a pipe & playing with a Rubix Cube. A burly 6ft tall man crawls out of a tiny mini fridge. When you realize that Devo has been "whipped good." Polnareff's unfortunate hand placement when he & Devo are summoning their stands. Polnareff using an unwashed jockstrap as a bandage. Polnareff tied to the underside of a bed & threatened by a doll with a bottle of shampoo. Silver Chariot is a suit of armor that bleeds & is fighting a doll with piranha teeth.
Devo's corpse is more hilarious than horrifying. Close-ups of Kakyoin's derpy-ass face. Extra-derpy zombie-face Kakyoin. Kakyoin eating bugs right off a tree. Rubber Soul's stand is a giant flesh-eating booger. When the thing they thought gave Fake Kakyoin away as an imposter turned out to be a thing Kakyoin actually does. When Joseph's politically incorrect worries about India being a complete hellhole turn out to be immediately true. The toilet pig incident. The Emperor card totally looks like a dick. When you realize that Kakyoin's forelock has no consistency, being on the corner, side, or middle of his forehead depending on the direction he's facing.
For a man who fought against the Pillar Men, Joseph sure is a wuss when it comes to getting an infection removed by a doctor. Every time Joseph gets a new pair of gloves, he loses a finger. When Joseph's arm grows a pair of arms. Enya in general. Polnareff, Enya, & Hol Horse are 3 of the funniest characters in this arc, so the chapter focusing on the 3 of them fighting is hilarious. Jotaro getting stabbed by a zombie baby, with its tongue. The camel incident. The Sun stand is defeated by a rock before the user could even be introduced. The wound on Polnareff's tongue is the only wound in the entire series that doesn't magically disappear after a battle ends. A dead dog calls Polnareff a dumb SOB.
The Death stand is basically Freddy Kreuger. The creepy-ass baby stand user, especially when they make him eat his own shit as punishment. Abdul has a bunch of chickens named after Michael Jackson, Prince, Lionel Richie, & he feeds them clams. Polnareff frees a genie from a lamp who offers to grant him three wished, Polnareff responds by challenging the genie to a fight. Abdul finds a stand user hiding underground & pees into his breathing tube. Geb is basically a Graboid from Tremors. Polnareff getting a shave despite having no stubble. Anubis panicking after his sword frisbees off towards the Nile. Joseph at the sand toilet. When Joseph becomes a living magnet. When Joseph & Abdul become stuck together.
Little girls playing bartender in the mud instead of having a tea party. Polnareff was one UGLY kid. Baby Polnareff's humiliation conga & saving himself by flinging turds & running around nude. Whrn Boingo gets carsick on Hol Horse. When Hol Horse shoved his fingers up Polnareff's nose. Polnareff trying to gesture behind him with his tongue. Hol Horse turns into a high-strung spaz for the rest of the arc. The fact that Jotaro would be dead if Polnareff hadn't sneezed in his face. The amazingly creative way Hol Horse accidently offed himself. The beggar in Cairo. Creepy-ass Kakyoin puppet. Joseph going ape on his grandson for sucking at a video game.
Vanilla Ice's ridicuolously revealing unitard & pretty much everything about his introductory chapter, especially his Stand. Not that Dio's costume isn't every bit as GAR with the skintight bodysuit, buldge-exposing pants, & hearts everywhere. Jotaro's unmentioned ability to contort his legs into impossible shapes & directions. If you adjust for inflation, Jotaro spent $363 on one pair of pants. After over a month of traveling by car, plane, & submarine, the guys suddenly gain the ability to fly out of nowhere after meeting Dio.
Explanation of how Jotaro gets stronger at the end.
Jotaro & Dio don't just have similar stands, they are the same type. Jotaro takes awhile to figure out that he can do the exact same shit as Dio, like flying & stopping time, minus the vampire's ability to heal of course.Though it doesn't explain how Joseph & the others suddenly learned to fly as well.
If you're playing a drinking game when you read all the Jojo's take a shot every time someone gets stabbed or walked in the hand or the leg, Polnareff is involved with bathroom-related humor, an animal is brutally slaughtered, when something happens to Joseph's prosthetic hand, every time their ride gets destroyed. Every time Polnareff calls out a distance, measurement, or temperature. Every time Joseph screams in Engrish. "Oh my God! Holy shit! Son of a bitch!"
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