miguel55 - 2016-12-30 20:01:44

Most enjoyable JoJo of them all.

riley12 - 2016-12-28 14:24:14

Deep Breathes

Let’s do this.

From vampire and zombies, to Aztec vampire gods, to psychic assassins and now to a quiet resort town. How does this Part in the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure story stand out from the previous ones?

Story:
Here we enter the 4th story of the JoJo generational saga, Diamond is Unbreakable.
The year is 1999, 11 years after Jotaro’s final battle with DIO in Stardust Crusaders; the story is set in the bed town of Morioh and it follows 16-year old Josuke Higashikata (son of Battle Tendency protagonist Joseph Joestar) who is tasked to help search for the Bow and Arrow, an ancient artifact that is capable of giving the person shot by it, a Stand. Josuke is supported by his nephew and Stardust Crusaders protagonist Jotaro Kujo, the timid but dependable Koichi Hirose, his best friend Okuyasu Nijimura, and many more characters the encounter in their search for the Bow and Arrow and the Stand users created by it.

After the action-comedy macho fest that was Stardust Crusaders, Hirohiko Araki decided to take a different approach in Part 4 that made it self stand out even more in comparison to the previous parts, he toned down the “Bizarre” elements while keeping things normal, well normal in the JoJo definition of it.
Compared to its predecessors, Part 4 seems rather calm and down to Earth, while the story is centered on a mystery and stopping a bad guy from causing more trouble, Diamond is Unbreakable feels more like a slice of life anime; but where as a slice of life anime shows what it’s like to live in a normal life, JJBA: DiU takes normal and cranks it up to 11. For example, you can take an episode where the characters go out to eat, they eat the food, and the food immediately makes one of the character’s organs pop out of their stomach.
This sense of grounded reality but crazy turn of events is what it gives Diamond is Unbreakable it’s charm; even when the story shifts from looking for a lost object to looking for a serial killer it never feels like it has forgotten what kind of show it is.

Characters:

For the characters I’m gonna limit it to just the main characters that were introduced in episode 1 and the main villain of the entire Part.

Diamond is Unbreakable is a wide cast of characters, some of which either get more or less screen time than others, but despite that, the characters do in the end do the thing that they are required to do when the situation is presented to them.

Let’s start off with our protagonist Josuke.
Josuke is a rather humble person, he’s loyal to his friends and family but his personality can go from modest citizen to blood hungry thug when people dare to insult his trademark pompadour. His character gets another bonus once you discover the reason why he gets so mad when people insult his hair. In a way this makes him appear like a very real character, like a character that could have existed in the real world. I mean he did attempt to try scamming one of his allies in a simple gambling game in time. In some ways he’s an amalgamation of previous JoJo protagonists, he has Jonathan’s sense of justice and level headedness, Joseph’s cheeky and trickster personality that he applies to some of the Stand battles in the show, and Jotaro’s ability to appear cool in almost any fight he’s in.

Speaking of Jotaro.
Jotaro, now 28-years old returns as a supporting character, which most people who have seen Stardust Crusaders suits him much more than the protagonist role, and just like Joseph in Part 3 he also partially serves a mentor role to the protagonist, this was made present in the “Let’s Go Hunting” episode where he and Josuke were hunting for a rat Stand User, in this episode we see Jotaro legitimately talking to Josuke in a somewhat casual manner which in Stardust Crusaders we the viewer only got in rare instances because Jotaro himself doesn’t outwardly express his emotions, in this episode he completely puts his faith in Josuke to pull through in the hunt and it’s the character dynamic that shows that Jotaro has come a way as a character. The mentor role however does not only apply to Josuke, but to Koichi, especially when the latter saved his life during the Sheer Heart Attack arc, at that point Jotaro found respect in his new ally. While this small amount of character of development is welcomed, we can’t forget the number of events he could have prevented first hand if the plot hadn’t demanded him to stay put in one place.

The last of the main three is Koichi Hirose.
Koichi is one of Josuke’s classmates and is the first person Jotaro meets when he arrives in Morioh, he originally starts off as a regular human until he is put in a situation where he is shot by the Stand creating arrow, from there we the viewers see him grow as a character from timid high schooler to small psychic powered badass. In a strange way is the one that’s usually in the first in trouble when encountering a new Stand user, and while the puts him in the situation of damsel in distress he breaks that trope by actually trying to save himself with his limited resources. If there are two word that goes with Koichi near the end of the series, it’s the words “brave” and “reliable”.

Now the last character that I’m going to talk about is the series’ big bad, Yoshikage Kira.
In my opinion, I consider Kira to be the best JoJo villain so far in my time with this franchise. Kira is not as egocentric as DIO or a megalomaniac like Kars, he’s just a paraphiliac serial killer who wishes to live a quiet life; this goal contrasts with his disturbing fetish with female hands. The thing about Kira, despite being the bad guy he is by far the most understandable character because he serves as a vessel for some of those dark thoughts that we carry in our everyday lives and in a way sometimes, you actually want Kira to succeed with his goal, especially when he’s been forced into a corner by the main cast during their first face to face encounter.

Animation and Sound:
To be honest, when the anime was announced I was little worried how DavidPro would animate this Part mostly because Part 4 was the part when Hirohiko Araki began his art style change from macho men to slightly more effeminate men, but in the end DavidPro managed to pull off character designs that looked like a mix of the early and new art style, from which I was rather satisfied.
As for the animation, just like Stardust Crusaders it’s an improvement from its predecessor appearing much more fluid and colorful; should also give special mention that this is the first JoJo anime that doesn’t use CGI openings, that can either be a good or bad thing depending who you are and what your preferences are, but I personally welcome colorful 2-D openings.
As for the music, Kanno Yugo returns to the helm as the main composer for the series and just like in Stardust Crusaders, he gives us a soundtrack with action packed songs and many more silent and eery songs to fit in the more quiet and unsettling scenes in the show. He also features the return of Stardust Crusaders tracks such as Jotaro’s two main battle themes and “Return of Travelers”. My personal favorite tracks from DiU were “Evolution”, “The Hand”, “Stand Activated”, “Cunning Rats” and “Killer”. Lastly in regards to the opening, it goes without saying that Diamond is Unbreakable as the best openings in the entire JoJo animation series, “Crazy Noisy Bizarre Town” does a good job setting up the slice of life vibe in the beginning of the Part, “chase” shows the tonal shift in the show as it begins its 2nd half, and “Great Days”, oh man “Great Days”, that opening and all its version are an experience that need to be seen and heard to know why it’s without a doubt the best JoJo opening.

Overall Thoughts and Conclusion:
Diamond is Unbreakable was Hirohiko Araki’s attempt to make JoJo less predictable and make the series stand out more, from this point on JoJo could be about anything and set anywhere and be just as bizarre (no pun intended). By the end of the story you feel as you’ve been on a long journey with these characters and you feel a sense of community among them, they may have started off as enemies but they live in the same town and they wish to live their own life; all of these characters seems like people you could find in your own town the only difference is that they have Stands, that’s it.
Overall, I enjoyed Diamond is Unbreakable very, very much and I hope for more JoJo adaptations in the future. I give it a 9/10.

mariana32 - 2016-12-27 00:04:18

As with all JoJo seasons, this season presents the most ludicrous scenarios imaginable and are only solve by each character playing an even more ludicrous game of one-upmanship to defeat each other. If you’ve been following jojo over the years and like it, this show is for you.

wisozk.wilhelm - 2016-12-24 20:44:04

Le ART beautiful

archibald28 - 2016-12-24 02:47:45

ambulance/20

zachary68 - 2016-12-24 01:57:52

Masterpiece…

hackett.randal - 2016-12-18 05:26:09

Part 4 of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure may be the best part so far. I’ve already completed the manga, and the ending is amazing.

It has great fights, likable characters, mesmerizing abilities, and the slice of life style just fits.

Josuke, Okuyasu, and Koichi are a tighter gang than the Stardust Crusaders. Jotaro is even better and more likable in this part (in my opinion). And Araki creates a main villain that’s relatable by creating a human connection with him and the viewer. What I mean by that is, Araki makes him seem more human as he gives details about his life and shows him as an average person… Well besides his bizarre tendency…

Sometimes, the anime suffers from animation issues with some frames looking odd, but that may be due to David Production going all out on Stardust Crusaders, since they thought it would be more appealing to the mainstream.

Overall, I’d give this show a 9.5/10, and I’d recommend any JoJo fan to give this a chance and to not be put off by the changed art style.

(Sorry, this was my first time writing a review, I apologize if it wasn’t that good.)

kyleigh97 - 2016-12-17 03:13:14

Great series

thompson.kassandra - 2016-09-23 05:46:55

jojo bizarre adventure part 4 is one of the best part of the series i'm currently reading steel ball run it's good but not  amazing for my taste. i can relate to this series as a slice of life slow the more you watch the more bizarre it gets araki you have so many ideas man.

bins.arnoldo - 2016-07-22 20:43:09

I haven't read the manga but I believe its awesome.
But adapting it to anime isnt so easy it seems. Story drags too much for my taste.

I hate it when everything happening on the screen have to be explained by the characters. The anime really underestimates its viewers.

"Oh no! That enemy is punching Jojo in the face! And now he stopped to laugh at him, but now Jojo is punching HIS face!"

I mean come on! We can SEE whats happening! And its the same thing every episode!

Most people think Jojo is one of the best anime series at the moment, but the more I watch the less I agree.

I dont really like the slice of life style of Diamond is Unbreakable.
The earlier ones where better with their ongoing stories.

I really miss Jonathan and Joseph...

And naming EVERY stand after a song or artist, got really old ages ago.
I mean use some imagination Araki! Most of the time the name has nothing to do with the stand!

I might write a longer review if my opinion changes or something.

Jojo seems to get worse every season :(
I should have stopped after the pillarmen stuff.