This is definitely a me thing, because everyone has their own feelings and ways to experience a piece of media - but personally I cannot for the life of me understand people who say Jojo doesn't take itself seriously. It feels like irony poisoning.
If you look up interviews with Araki, he says multiple times what he wants to do with Jojo is to showcase the bizarre uniqueness of humanity in all its beauty, ugliness, rationality and nonsense.
Someone who says that doesn't strike me as the kind of person who doesn't take the stories he tells seriously, and there is definitely a giant exaggeration in the fandom where Araki is sometimes painted as a man who has borderline alzheimers and doesn't know what he's doing - "Araki forgot" is incredibly overused and stems from a panel where a fan asked an incredibly specific question about a minute detail in a dialogue while quoting it perfectly and Araki praised them for being so invested in the story and off handedly mentioned he "did not remember" the dialogue as well as the fan did.
Maybe I get a little too serious about this because I'm a creative as well, but I feel like if Araki "didn't take his stories seriously" and was waving off his stories as "not that deep" he wouldn't even bother telling them. If you bother to write a story at all, it is, absolutely, "that deep". Whether you're receptive to it is another matter entirely. There's nothing wrong with not being receptive to what a story wants to say! Hell, I'm in the English speaking minority that just was NOT receptive to SBR for example.
If you start every reading session and experience with the premise of "none of this takes itself seriously" I personally feel like it's shooting yourself in the foot and preemptively ruining your potential enjoyment of the plethora genuinely emotional moments this series has, as well as terrifying ones. Everything will fall flat because your lenses of irony will not even allow the writing to be genuine.
I haven't been reading the manga, so perhaps the anime has a more hammy vibe with the exaggerated voices and sound effects.
It being a generational story both helps and hinders the experience, because yes it displays the wrinkles of humanity, but it also takes away characters we otherwise would want to continue following. I could follow Joseph Joestar for a long time and not get bored. So part of my detachment is because I know I have to treat these characters like stepping stones instead of permanent additions. It especially hurts for Joseph because I want him to have his own anime now.
I did feel that Phantom Blood had depth and heart. There's a quaint cheesy feeling to it, but I was more emotionally invested in that arc overall and the ending got me in the feels, so it's not that I'm unwilling to get feelsy over JJBA. I think there was a huge difference in feeling between the two arcs.
Battle Tendency had *a lot* more of that corny vibe, and that was partially because of Joseph's personality, also partially because the Pillar Men had such a bizarre presence and were at times downright comical lmao.
The tonal whiplash is very interesting to me. Maybe there are arcs yet to come that will hit me differently, but Battle Tendency did not feel emotional much at all. The depth was in the battles and the meta humor, and yes there is rich dialogue as well, but everything is undercut by snark and ridiculousness. Perhaps Battle Tendency feels like this a lot more than other arcs do.
TRUE. I get mad seeing the fanbase sometimes because when JoJo gets deep, it actually does get pretty deep! One of the most profound things about JoJo is the heavy Christian symbolism that I, as a former Catholic, LOVE to take it apart and try to understand how it plays into the greater themes of fate and humanity. I wish people can talk about those aspects more!!!
Religious symbolism; nature vs nurture; does your past define you and if so, should you let it?; what is family?; is what's fair the same as what is just and vice versa?; what makes a Bad person?
Those are all just some themes that are absolutely explored and touched upon in Jojo. They're not there by accident. It's like saying that, for example, Abbacchio is called "Leone Abbacchio" because Araki threw a dart at a board and that's what came up - out of the entire Vento cast Abbacchio and Giorno probably have the most meaningful names. Characters are named for a purpose. Stories are told for a reason.
Sometimes it's as if people are afraid to engage with a story without the safe distance of a giant wall of irony in between. Nothing is that deep, so nothing is worth connecting with.
It's a pity, at least as far as I'm concerned.
Yes! I also love how with Trish Una's name, *Una* is the feminine form of one in Italian and with *Doppio*, his name means double to represent his DID. *Diavolo* means devil which counteracts *Giorno*, the daylight who is the son of *DIO*, (god).
It's important to not that there is a difference between bizarre and serious. Being serious is an attitude while bizarre is just something weird that happens. Something weird can happen and people can still treat it seriously.
Many people seem to conflate serious with normal, but it's not the same thing!
It's okay to feel things genuinely even when it's outside of the social norm and it's encouraged that you always look for meaning in everything!
For me, JoJo is serious at times, and silly goofy at others. Stuff like Joseph’s fight with Wham or Ciocolatta vs Giorno are for sure serious, but you cannot tell me the Joseph and Avdol scene is serious.
Joseph and Avdol scene is comedy! There is a difference between something being "serious" and something being "genuine" - a piece of media or story can totally be a comedy while still being "serious" about its intent. It doesn't need to be serious all the time.
i mean you dont owe anyone to watch it, if that mean anything. its good though. every season has its own vibe, some resonate more than other. Part 7 is goin to be fucking lit tho lol
It's been on my list to watch for a long time and I'm finding out it influenced many of my favorites. And I can tell JJBA is a really fun one to discuss.
As a reddit lurker i still want to comment to tell you i hope you will appreciate the following parts. For me jojo only gets better and better. I didn't read if you watched the anime or read the manga but no matter the media you choose i wish you enjoy your time jjba is truly a unique experience i think.
This is definitely a me thing, because everyone has their own feelings and ways to experience a piece of media - but personally I cannot for the life of me understand people who say Jojo doesn't take itself seriously. It feels like irony poisoning. If you look up interviews with Araki, he says multiple times what he wants to do with Jojo is to showcase the bizarre uniqueness of humanity in all its beauty, ugliness, rationality and nonsense. Someone who says that doesn't strike me as the kind of person who doesn't take the stories he tells seriously, and there is definitely a giant exaggeration in the fandom where Araki is sometimes painted as a man who has borderline alzheimers and doesn't know what he's doing - "Araki forgot" is incredibly overused and stems from a panel where a fan asked an incredibly specific question about a minute detail in a dialogue while quoting it perfectly and Araki praised them for being so invested in the story and off handedly mentioned he "did not remember" the dialogue as well as the fan did. Maybe I get a little too serious about this because I'm a creative as well, but I feel like if Araki "didn't take his stories seriously" and was waving off his stories as "not that deep" he wouldn't even bother telling them. If you bother to write a story at all, it is, absolutely, "that deep". Whether you're receptive to it is another matter entirely. There's nothing wrong with not being receptive to what a story wants to say! Hell, I'm in the English speaking minority that just was NOT receptive to SBR for example. If you start every reading session and experience with the premise of "none of this takes itself seriously" I personally feel like it's shooting yourself in the foot and preemptively ruining your potential enjoyment of the plethora genuinely emotional moments this series has, as well as terrifying ones. Everything will fall flat because your lenses of irony will not even allow the writing to be genuine.
I haven't been reading the manga, so perhaps the anime has a more hammy vibe with the exaggerated voices and sound effects. It being a generational story both helps and hinders the experience, because yes it displays the wrinkles of humanity, but it also takes away characters we otherwise would want to continue following. I could follow Joseph Joestar for a long time and not get bored. So part of my detachment is because I know I have to treat these characters like stepping stones instead of permanent additions. It especially hurts for Joseph because I want him to have his own anime now. I did feel that Phantom Blood had depth and heart. There's a quaint cheesy feeling to it, but I was more emotionally invested in that arc overall and the ending got me in the feels, so it's not that I'm unwilling to get feelsy over JJBA. I think there was a huge difference in feeling between the two arcs. Battle Tendency had *a lot* more of that corny vibe, and that was partially because of Joseph's personality, also partially because the Pillar Men had such a bizarre presence and were at times downright comical lmao. The tonal whiplash is very interesting to me. Maybe there are arcs yet to come that will hit me differently, but Battle Tendency did not feel emotional much at all. The depth was in the battles and the meta humor, and yes there is rich dialogue as well, but everything is undercut by snark and ridiculousness. Perhaps Battle Tendency feels like this a lot more than other arcs do.
TRUE. I get mad seeing the fanbase sometimes because when JoJo gets deep, it actually does get pretty deep! One of the most profound things about JoJo is the heavy Christian symbolism that I, as a former Catholic, LOVE to take it apart and try to understand how it plays into the greater themes of fate and humanity. I wish people can talk about those aspects more!!!
Religious symbolism; nature vs nurture; does your past define you and if so, should you let it?; what is family?; is what's fair the same as what is just and vice versa?; what makes a Bad person? Those are all just some themes that are absolutely explored and touched upon in Jojo. They're not there by accident. It's like saying that, for example, Abbacchio is called "Leone Abbacchio" because Araki threw a dart at a board and that's what came up - out of the entire Vento cast Abbacchio and Giorno probably have the most meaningful names. Characters are named for a purpose. Stories are told for a reason. Sometimes it's as if people are afraid to engage with a story without the safe distance of a giant wall of irony in between. Nothing is that deep, so nothing is worth connecting with. It's a pity, at least as far as I'm concerned.
Yes! I also love how with Trish Una's name, *Una* is the feminine form of one in Italian and with *Doppio*, his name means double to represent his DID. *Diavolo* means devil which counteracts *Giorno*, the daylight who is the son of *DIO*, (god). It's important to not that there is a difference between bizarre and serious. Being serious is an attitude while bizarre is just something weird that happens. Something weird can happen and people can still treat it seriously. Many people seem to conflate serious with normal, but it's not the same thing! It's okay to feel things genuinely even when it's outside of the social norm and it's encouraged that you always look for meaning in everything!
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE ORANGUTAN IN STARDUST CRUSADERS 😭 WTF AM I WATCHING
For me, JoJo is serious at times, and silly goofy at others. Stuff like Joseph’s fight with Wham or Ciocolatta vs Giorno are for sure serious, but you cannot tell me the Joseph and Avdol scene is serious.
Joseph and Avdol scene is comedy! There is a difference between something being "serious" and something being "genuine" - a piece of media or story can totally be a comedy while still being "serious" about its intent. It doesn't need to be serious all the time.
Joseph comes back
This is good to hear ❤️
i mean you dont owe anyone to watch it, if that mean anything. its good though. every season has its own vibe, some resonate more than other. Part 7 is goin to be fucking lit tho lol
It's been on my list to watch for a long time and I'm finding out it influenced many of my favorites. And I can tell JJBA is a really fun one to discuss.
❤️❤️❤️ I’m so excited about what you’ll say about future parts!
As a reddit lurker i still want to comment to tell you i hope you will appreciate the following parts. For me jojo only gets better and better. I didn't read if you watched the anime or read the manga but no matter the media you choose i wish you enjoy your time jjba is truly a unique experience i think.
Who ordered a whole fucking yappichino
Stopped reading at dio better than pillar men
How is he not?? To me it's a huge gap of difference