While Phantom Blood and Battle Tendency helped cultivate a lot of the long-term storytelling ideas behind JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, the series really found itself in 1989 with the release of the third part, Stardust Crusaders. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure takes a hard turn here as battles become more plentiful and much more unique due to less of a focus on a martial arts style of combat, the parts begin to get much longer, and the chapter-to-chapter narrative structure is given more of a monster-of-the-week feel with mini-arcs highlighting the various small-time opponents that the cast needs to overcome. We now jump from the 1930s to the 1980s with Stardust Crusaders, the most popular part of one of the most popular manga series of all time.
Stardust Crusaders opens on its JoJo, Jotaro Kujo, having been arrested and refusing to leave his cell due to his concerns that he is being haunted by an evil spirit. Jotaro is visited by his grandfather, a much older Joseph Joestar, as well as a fortune teller named Mohammed Avdol. The two explain to Jotaro that the spirit in question is a manifestation of his fighting spirit known as a Stand and that Stands have been coming into existence thanks to the return of Dio Brando. Dio’s goal is to exact revenge on the Joestar family by eliminating the entire family line including Holly, Joseph’s daughter who is also Jotaro’s mother. Holly’s Stand awakens and begins to slowly kill her so the group sets out for Egypt to put an end to Dio once and for all.
Stardust Crusaders could be seen as a very soft reboot of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure in the overall storyline as well as retrospectively after having seen that future parts follow the template built by this part. There is very much the presentation of a reboot despite this being a direct continuation of the story: The first villain is brought back and placed front and center as the direct cause of both the main conflict and the new combat focus, Joseph returns to help bridge the gap between old and new, and there are plenty of fight scenes to show the versatility of this new fighting style.
Stands are one of the most iconic aspects of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure as well as one of the most famous combat gimmicks in any manga series. A Stand is a person’s fighting spirit given shape, often in the form of a humanoid creature existing within that person’s immediate space. Stands can come in all shapes and sizes with any number of powers from controlling fire to stopping time. From a writing perspective, the most interesting aspect of a Stand is not its power but how that power is applied in different scenarios against other powers.
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure has a one-of-a-kind wit within its fight scenes that started budding in Battle Tendency but blooms in Stardust Crusaders. Instead of relying on power-ups to overcome difficult foes, characters are written to use their existing powers in new and unique ways to compensate for raw strength differences. This often comes off as kind of silly but overwhelmingly brilliant in its executions and also helps to show that the characters are smart as well as strong. Creative writing like this also helps the rare occasion when a character does get a direct power-up feel like as big of a deal as it should since those occasions are so few and far between.
Jotaro Kujo is the most famous JoJo and is presented as a bit of a badass. Jotaro’s delinquent clothing and stern face give him an evil demeanor, but he is actually a very kind-hearted person whose ideals fall more in line with Jonathan than Joseph. He does not speak nearly as often as Joseph and his dialogue is very selective and calm to help reaffirm his coolness. Jotaro’s Stand is named Star Platinum and its powers are superhuman speed and strength.
Joseph makes his return in Stardust Crusaders as an older man whose personality has not changed at all in fifty years. Joseph is a part of the main cast of the series but is relegated to a smaller comic relief role to give Jotaro his time as the protagonist. Joseph’s Stand is Hermit Purple which allows him to create vines and perform minor divinations through cameras and televisions although the piece of equipment is destroyed as a result. These vines can also be used for mobility and combat and can even be used in conjunction with Joseph’s powers from his days fighting the Pillar Men.
Stardust Crusaders continues the development of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure as a whole by making everything bigger. Whereas Phantom Blood and Battle Tendency were each released over roughly a year, Stardust Crusaders marks the beginning of each part being released over at least three years. Fighting becomes extremely prevalent to the point where it is almost constant as the group continues their journey, and the main cast of characters is expanded and given a lot of focus to help prevent Jotaro from getting too much attention for fear of overexposure.
The plot of Stardust Crusaders is laid out bare right away and its presentation exists in an odd grey area within JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure as a whole. Stardust Crusaders takes an element from its predecessors by establishing its villain very early on while also beginning the series trend of separating the villain from the protagonist for as long as possible to build up the final confrontation. Dio is shown to be the main antagonist almost immediately and the part consists of the journey to track him down and defeat him, but there is still a journey to go on. Dio himself does not need too much development since he is a returning villain with a simple, understandable motive, so the bulk of the story can be spent developing the protagonists and highlighting their adventure.
A basic plot outline consisting of a heavy focus on the journey towards the final battle is a very reliable template in manga. In an industry where the author does not necessarily decide the length of their work, it can be difficult to keep a coherent story when that story could suddenly be expected to finish in seven weeks or could be contracted for another three years. Focusing on the journey to an established ending ensures that issues with changing the length of the series are nonexistent. Should there be a cancellation or should the author accept a contract to continue serialization, the ending of the series is unaffected since the journey can just be lengthened or shortened as needed.
By combining past characters with new ideas, Stardust Crusaders pays tribute to its origins while also firmly asserting its format as the new standard for the series. The overall template for JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is almost in place and will be finalized with the next installment. I’ll give you three hints as to where Stardust Crusaders is available.
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