Here’s an important question right off the bat:
what is the difference between the Stands in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders and the Personas from Persona 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1?
They’re extremely similar, so I don’t blame anyone
for getting confused by the two. Men and
women tap into a mix of psychological and spiritual power to summon
crazy-looking warriors to fight on their behalf. Only a chosen few can manifest them; the rest
are lucky to even see them. Unreal
powers are slung around as easily as a softball in a pickup game of catch. They’ve been the centerpieces of multiple
fighting games. They’ve experienced no
shortage of popularity over the years, if not a surge in fan interest. Honestly, I’d say that at this point, the
fact that there’s no dedicated JoJo X
Persona game is an affront to every deity imaginable. Magician’s Red vs. Take-Mikazuchi? Come on, that’s easy money.
It should go without saying, but I’m a fan of both
franchises -- and it just so happens that I’ve been grinding my way through as
much JoJo as possible over the past
few months. As a result, I’ve finally
done what thousands (if not millions) of fans have done already, and completed
Part 3 -- Stardust Crusaders. And now I can tackle the question for
myself. Not the question of “is this any
good”, oh no. (Though I’ll be doing that
anyway at some point.) No, I think it’s
time for me to split hairs on an ultimately inconsequential issue.
I have a theory -- a shaky theory, but a theory
nonetheless. The Personas are what you
really are deep down. The Stands are
what you want to be…but fail to be regardless.
That’s a bold claim, I know. And in a sense, it’s one that’s popping up
way too early; why would someone who hasn’t written anything on Part 1 or Part
2 even think of jumping ahead to Part 3?
Well, Part 3 is fresh on my mind by virtue of finishing it most
recently. There are things that I can
think of that might be worth saying (or reading about, maybe) right now,
instead of waiting for a post in the distant future. Besides, I’ve been down this road
before. I want to talk about some of the
characters, and I’m guessing that if I try to do that in a comprehensive post
on Part 3, it’ll blow past the 7000-word mark.
So I’ll do it here and now to keep things manageable.
Now then.
Let me say this to start: I like Part 3.
I like it a lot. Still, I can’t
say it’s my favorite of the JoJo franchise
so far; if anything, it’s in third place, and that won’t change for a while
yet. Top honors go to Part 1, but Part 2
is literally just a step below it.
Comparatively? Part 3 is several
steps behind and below Part 2. That
sounds pretty damning, but think of it this way: being a few steps behind the
other JoJo parts is nothing to be
ashamed of when we’re talking about a staircase that scrapes the heavens
themselves.
I’ll explain why I think Part 3 is super-solid
(along with the other Parts) at a later date.
But for now? Let’s talk about
Stands.
The weird thing about Stands is that, by their
very nature, they turn pretty much every direct battle into an indirect
one. Anime and manga in the shonen
demographic feature plenty of fights, but they tend to focus on one-on-one
battles between super-powered rivals. DBZ and Naruto are prime examples, but let’s not forget that Part 1 and
Part 2 of JoJo had its characters hash
it out with good old fisticuffs. Well,
it’s a bit more complicated than that -- body modifications, buffs, debuffs,
and trickery all feature prominently -- but the point remains. It’s usually about a straight-on duel between
opposing parties. With Part 3, the
Stands create an entirely different approach to each engagement. Setting aside the fact that it’s technically
a 2-on-2 duel (most of the time), it’s often less about overpowering a foe and
more about breaking down their strategy.
At a base level, battles in Stardust Crusaders are won based on three principles:
1) Figure
out who/where the Stand user is
2)
Figure out what the Stand’s power is
3)
Figure out how to counter/disable the Stand’s power
A lot of fights may end with the expected ORA ORA
ORA thing, but Jotaro and crew have to fight for their right to land the
finishing blow(s). Plus, the Crusaders
are usually at a disadvantage; they’re ambushed by Stand users, and their
powers are already well-known by that point.
So it’s usually a matter of reversing their fortune and regaining the
advantage -- an advantage that’s usually lost depending on the environment
they’re in. What this means is that
instead of every fight being a Mach speed punch-up, they’re usually cerebral
struggles for control of (and momentum in) a given situation.
Alternatively?
It’s less about this…
…And more about this.
It’s something that’s appreciable, for sure. But it’s expected and unexpected at the same
time, if you can believe that. If your
knowledge of JoJo comes solely from
memes, JPEGs, and random clips, then the assumption is probably that there’s a
lot of posing and rapid-fire punching.
Being manly, being fabulous, being GAR, etc. But it’s typically not that simple. Even though virtually every member of the
cast is beefy as hell (even a simple student like Kakyoin looks ready to shred
his uniform), it’s actually pretty uncommon for the boys to do the actual,
head-on fighting. It’s all done with
their Stands.
Makes sense, I suppose. I don’t doubt that Jotaro could murder people
with a breath, but his Star Platinum is shown to be able to punch through
diamonds with a rush that could outstrip the average Gatling gun. Best to leave it to the more capable of the
two, right? Then again, that just
highlights the necessity of the Stand battles’ cerebral nature. Star Platinum’s stats are
a hair away from god-tier, so letting it run wild means that virtually every
straight-up fight becomes a curb stomp.
Seriously, this is what
happens once Jotaro gets his hands on you.
Cripes, it’s a wonder Steely Dan wasn’t liquefied on the spot.
Whatever the case, Stands create an interesting --
if unspoken -- dynamic in the show.
Success with them usually doesn’t come down to a display of brute force,
but of cunning and preparation.
Alternatively, it’s a matter of using the abilities you have to outstrip
the enemy abilities -- even if it means thinking several miles outside the
box. Based on that, it’s a safe bet that
the Stand users have put a lot of time and energy into figuring out how to get
the most out of their phantom partners.
Take Steely Dan up there, for example. How many head-on fights do you think he’s
going to win with a Stand that’s virtually microscopic? Not a lot, I’m guessing. So he had to figure out how to use it
effectively, and did; he admits that his Stand is incredibly weak, but gears it
in such a way that any pain dealt to him is dealt several times over to
whatever target his Stand (The Lovers) can sink its claws into. He wisely decides to set his mark beforehand,
and ends up using Joseph Joestar -- the guy who basically conned his way to
victory in Part 2 -- as a hostage under penalty of lethal brain damage.
If sucking at playing fighting games has
taught me anything, it’s that the more you practice with or use a character,
the deeper your bond with them becomes.
Learning how to use a Stand likely works on the same principle; you learn
the ins and outs and what to do in a rough situation, sure, but your
appreciation has to increase over time -- especially when you plan to use that
Stand in a life-or-death struggle. With
that in mind, there’s a difference between a fighting game character and a Stand
that’s worth pointing out.
As a Guilty
Gear player, I’m a big fan of Axl Low.
I’ve been that way for years. But
even if that’s true, I didn’t make Axl; he’s just someone I happened to glom
onto, and someone designed to tick boxes for gamers across the world. He may act on my behalf in a match, but there’s
a gap between me and Axl; he’s not me in any sense of the word. If I had a Stand, however, things would be
different. True, I wouldn’t have created
it either, so it’s not like I’d have any say on whether I got a wild-haired
warrior or a crab-clawed parasite. The
tradeoff is that even if I didn’t make my own Stand, I’d still have an
intrinsic, intimate connection with it.
It’s one thing to train with a fighting game
character. It’s another thing entirely
to train with your metaphysical embodiment.
I mean, have you seen
some of
the latest
Personas? All of them look slick as
hell, albeit for differing reasons. And
going solely by the Persona 4 canon,
it’s something you have to earn. If you aren’t
able to get past the “I am a Shadow, the true self” phase, then you’ll end up
getting slaughtered by a monstrous version of your darkest thoughts. Accept yourself, though, and you get an
embodiment of your strength, tailor-made to suit you and your tastes. The graceful heiress gets a winged, flowery
dancer. The rough-and-tumble punk gets a
hulking robot with bone decals. The
wannabe cool kid gets a stylish disco ninja frog. And so on, and so forth. The forms are esoteric, but they’re
representations of the self.
So what does that mean for JoJo and Stands? It’s muddy
territory, to be perfectly honest.
Depending on your interpretation, the Stands are still representations of who you are deep down. But I don’t think it’s quite as simple as
that; if it was, then why would Joseph’s Hermit Purple end up being a bunch of
thorny vines? Why would Steely Dan get a
tiny bug? Why would anyone get anything?
The simplest answer is probably that the creator,
Hirohiko Araki, pretty much just made whatever he thought was cool. I mean, I can’t blame him for it, but boy
does it make for some inconsistency.
Still, I don’t think I’m that far off-base. For
starters, there’s no great endeavor or revelation involved when it comes to
getting your Stand (and for the sake of argument, let’s just leave out the
other Parts’ content/revelations for now).
You don’t get a chance to discover or face your true self in an
in-depth, introspective moment. Once
you’ve got it, it’s yours. That’s the
form it takes, give or take an evolution.
I can just imagine the reaction that some of these guys had upon
discovering that their Stand was a pile of vines, a puddle of water, or even an
electrical socket. How do you work with
that? Nature finds a way, I suppose.
But assuming that these people are all adequately
briefed on what Stands are, it had to have left them wondering what it says about
them. “Is this the real me?” “Is this who I am deep down?” That’d be the stuff running through my head,
at least. But again, it’s not that
simple. Even if it varies from character
to character, I feel like the Stands are embodiments of desires, not just the
self. It’s about what the Stand users
want to do, and what they want to be.
That’s the thing, though. In the grand scheme of things, those desires
will go unheeded. Normal people can’t
see Stands (under normal circumstances), and it’s safe to say that they can’t
go around sensing their presence, either.
So really, the interaction between Stands and normies -- the show of
desires given form -- comes down to either “screw with the environment” or
“murder the crap out of people”. That’s
hardly a way to get your point across, but it’s what you’ve got to deal with when
invisibility is forced upon you.
So in a way, you can think of Stands as repressed,
unfulfilled desires -- but because of their very nature and the circumstances
thrust their way (i.e. battles with other Stand users), they’re inherently
incapable of being successful. And think
about it: even when they are seen --
when one of the Crusaders meets a crony of DIO, and vice versa -- there’s no
attempt at trying to bond or understand one another. It’s just a chance for one party to try and
beat down another.
“What you want is less important than what I
want,” they might imply. Or “I will deny
you, because you would deny me -- as countless others have before.” At least in the Persona users’ case, they’re
using their accepted (and even embraced) powers to try and make the world a
better place. In JoJo, it’s just a matter of trying to get what you want, and woe to
anyone in your way. The enemy Stand
users are in it for money, bloodlust, or just plain survival. The Crusaders are obviously part of the
nobler camp, but the thrust of their journey is still partly “beat the shit out
of a century-old vampire to save a doting mother”.
I don’t need to put up a spoiler warning to tell
you that the good guys win. So it
follows that, inevitably, every enemy Stand user that steps up to bat will strike
out hard -- literally in
one late-game instance. Given that
our heroes have to stomp all over every enemy assassin sent their way, that
means there are almost two dozen Stand users to beat up over the course of the
anime adaptation. There isn’t exactly a
lot of time to characterize a cast that large; it makes me wonder what got cut
from the original manga, but seeing the story behind guys like N’Doul or Rubber
Soul isn’t ultra-necessary. (Though in
all honesty, I’m a fan of N’Doul.)
That’s kind of what their Stands are for, albeit in an abbreviated
form. Taking their appearances into
account can help, but if you think critically about what they stand for, then
maybe you’ll be able to get more out of each character in spite of their lack
of development.
Does Steely Dan want to be a tiny, wimpy
insect? I doubt it. But it goes beyond that; Steely Dan wants to
be untouchable, which is why he’d
rather use heroes and innocents as hostages than go in for the kill. It doesn’t work out, because his Stand gets
ensnared and dragged out into the open -- which, of course, leads to his
liquefaction.
Then there’s Enyaba, DIO’s right hand woman; she
wants to be judge, jury, and executioner
-- someone who she can strike down for crossing her, her boss, or her son. It doesn’t work out, because when she tries
to go all Punisher on Jotaro -- itself following her failure to keep her
identity hidden -- she ends up nearly suffocating in the most humiliating way
possible. I guess that’s what you get
for trying to use a semi-sentient cloud to do your dirty work.
I could go on about the villains, but there are
WAY too many of them to go on about at length, and some of them are such bit
players that I can’t be bothered to remember their names. So let’s switch gears and talk about what
really matters: the Stardust Crusaders. As the five (and eventually six) main
characters, it’s only natural for them to get their time to shine, as well as
the most fleshing out. In all honesty
I’m not 100% sure how I feel about them -- and Part 3 at large -- in terms of
characterization. I’m satisfied with the
entry as-is, but I can’t help but feel like I’m left wanting. Like I got a good meal, but not quite a large enough portion. I’ll sort out my thoughts later on.
For what it’s worth, though? It’s a very good sign when your biggest
complaint is that you want to see more of
these characters. So let’s have at it,
starting with…a stopping point.
Yep. Might
as well cut it off here. But don’t
worry; I’ll be back soon with a deep look at each of the Stardust Crusaders and
their Stands. Will I offer up something
substantive? I don’t know, but there’ll
probably be a lot of words involved. So
yes, then! Or maybe no! Who knows?
Who cares? Just go for it! Shut up!
Okay, don’t shut up. Just -- let’s just be cool for a minute, OK?
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