Monday, December 15, 2014

12 Days of Anime 2014--#11: Grandpa Joseph

12 Days of Anime Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Image 1

You've got that right.

12 Days of Anime Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Image 2

I love Jojo, but I'm going to be completely honest here: I'm not sure why everyone loves Stardust Crusaders when Battle Tendency exists. I know, I know, but hear me out! Stardust Crusaders definitely has the upper hand in presenting crazy and imaginative battles, and the introduction of Stands lends a lot to Jojo, but as far as characters go, I'm not as attached to Jotaro as I am to Joseph. Jotaro is the main character because he has the Stand that beats every other stand regardless of the situation. Joseph on the other hand, well, he's created his own category.

Which is why some of my favorite parts of the anime adaptation of Stardust Crusaders involve him. And not just the "Oh my God" moments either (although thank you for the meme reaction pictures, Joseph. You never let me down). He's a consistent source of hilarity and references to the series' orevious arcs, but he's not on the Egypt trip as the comic relief (Polnareff mainly holds that title for all the unfortunate situations he finds himself in). He can still hold his own in a battle, even though his stand doesn't manifest in the same way as the others.

12 Days of Anime Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Image 3 12 Days of Anime Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Image 4

And for all the craziness about Stands and strategies and manipulating your opponent, it was nice to see t least one villian defeated not just by a Stand, but by Joseph's ability to adjust to any crazy situation on the fly. That episode alone made me want to rewatch all of Battle Tendency again. It would be nice to see that kind of strategic thinking in Stardust Crusaders abit more often instead of the "heads I win, tails you lose" nature of Jotaro's Stand.

I guess that this is just a long way of saying that I watch Stardust Crusaders because Joseph is still around.

Images from Crunchyroll.com.

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