ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 第8部 1

A story about a curse and also many disjointed things

This is a spoiler-free review for the entirety of JoJolion.

To begin with, the most obvious thing to point out is that this is the 8th part of a long-running series; if you've already read parts 1-7, then you're probably deep enough into this series to not need a recommendation to tell you to pick up the 8th part (especially for fans of P4). If you've never read the other parts, JoJolion is comprehensible without them, but references/parallels Diamond is Unbreakable (4) in semi-minor ways and has some continuity from Steel Ball Run (7), and I wouldn't necessarily recommend it as a first part. But if the premise speaks to you then by all means it's doable.

Language Learning: I would place it at a lower N2 level. If you've read SBR then the grammar used isn't anything new (with some exceptions), but the vocab hovers between every day usage and some niche-r terms thrown in. There's full furigana (minus the occasional newspaper clipping), and nothing that I personally found too confusing to comprehend coming in from the previous parts.

Entertainment: It's complex. The general plot is about a young man who wakes up in the dirt alone, naked, and with no memories of who he is. Throughout the series he uncovers the mystery surrounding his identity, a curse that plagues a certain family, and the inner workings of how things got to be this way. It's a mystery/slice of life/slight romance/action adventure seinen with themes of family and love that tries to mix in all of these elements together and more. For a general mystery, I found it quite compelling at times, and I would consider it the main appeal.

The problem comes from its pacing, where it takes volumes to get a single chapter of progression before it's back to the slice of life/fights, which I found underwhelming compared to previous fights in the series. As for the slice of life aspect, I both did and didn't like it. It was frustrating when there was an interesting plot developing and then the sudden tonal shift. It also does not help that, aside from our main character, none of the side characters really go through much character progression--they remain static throughout the part, with the plot-relevant ones dropping in and out when it's convenient and the more irrelevant ones becoming one-note in the background, potentially being lucky enough to drop a one-liner here and there. None of these side characters really grow (or appear) as people which, while excusable in a standard slice of life, can be annoying and feel sloppy in a 27 volume long plot-driven series. The highlight lies in the main character, and his mystery, overall.

JoJolion tries to balance many different concepts and yet throughout its long run it doesn't manage to hit the nail on the head for many of them, resulting in a story that, while cohesive enough, feels disjointed and rough around the edges that doesn't really justify its length. That being said, when this part manages to hit its high points, it can hit them well. I did love the mystery, there were some slice of life-ish scenes that I adore, and between the mismatched tonal shifts and random one note characters there was action and tension that felt fresh despite it being such a long-running series. The last string of 8 volumes is some of the strongest back-to-back action that this series has seen in awhile, and while it didn't make me overlook the more dull aspects, it definitely was a fun read.

Perhaps if you're a more patient person or more of a slice of life + battle fan than I am you can overlook these weaker points and love this manga, but I'll have to rank it as about a 3.5/5, as a diehard JoJo fan.