JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 3: Stardust Crusaders Chapter 14 Discussion

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                        The way Jotaro tricked the stand user into revealing himself was priceless

5 bucks we got ourselves our next mrs JoJo here.

Polnareff joins the crew YIPPEEEEEEEE  

I wonder who this person with two right hands could possibly be?

I'm curious about the origins of all these creatures tbh, not just for this chapter but the location from where this Jojo manga takes place in.



On another note, that is NOT a shark, obviously.

I got excited when Polnareff explained his mission, and to explain why gives me a good reason to delve into character motivations.  Joseph and Avdol had the first acting motivation in the manga.  Joseph was after Dio, this is a long time family battle and he was already the kind of guy to stick his neck into danger for goodness sake, even if he was a lazy kid.  Avdol seems good hearted, caring about Holly, and wanting to stop Dio while showing loyalty to Joseph.  Then, especially for Jotaro and Joseph, Holly was put in a life or death situation which necessitated taking Dio down.  Although this also stretches to Avdol and Kakyoin.  Kakyoin who has had a run in with Dio before may have some unfinished business, but from my eyes it’s because he has a golden heart, caring for Holly, and he feels greatly indebted to the compassionate and courageous Jotaro; evocative of Speedwagon’s joining of Jonathan.



Polnareff however does not share this.  He probably does want revenge on Dio, he was manipulated by him and apparently the man he wants vengeance on is one of Dio’s.  However, he primarily wants his own revenge. As far as we know he does not know about Holly, he’s joining with them because it is helpful for his cause when it comes to taking down the man with two right hands.  As cheesy as that mission is; revenge on the man with a distinguishable mark, it does a lot for the party.  Until now I had feelings of the cast being too samey, they feel like they all have a slightly different spin on the same baseline badass and determined personality and shared the same goal.  Mr. honour with his own mission separate from them gives Polnareff a striking personality; horny and a quickly changing mood, a thirst for honour and revenge, and intrigue on where his personal story will go.



This also serves a good place to touch on Dio’s charisma.  I had a discussion with my friend earlier regarding this notion of Dio’s inescapable charisma, something hinted at by Avdol’s language regarding their meeting.  However, I struggle to call Dio truly charismatic.  He’s a great liar and he can manipulate but nonetheless, through the parts he is prominent, he forces people to be his allies.  He makes them zombies, aka inherent followers.  He brainwashes them with vampiric powers- or at least the anime made it seem more like that when it came to Jack the Ripper and especially with the boy at Wind Knights.  He revives corpses already imbued in malice.  Or here in Stardust Crusaders, his minions have been brainwashed yet again- with flesh buds which force awe in his captives minds.  One could argue all of this is charisma, especially the notion of vampiric charisma.  However, I can’t help but find the notion of charisma when it’s always surrounded by forceful notions false.  The loyalty he creates is artificial rather than the likes of the Joestar's who win allies with their heart.  Or Cars who formed a brotherhood of pillar men despite slaughtering their kind.  Pillar men who would and did die for him.  However, here we finally got a nugget of true manipulative charisma outside of perhaps his first moments tricking George Joestar and Jonathan’s peers, true charisma meaning without supernatural help.  He at times sways his victims with sweet words and from there adds insurance such as the blinding flesh bud.



The formula is becoming evident and obvious but I can’t help but love it.  The crew advanced more on their tour around the world. The characters got different characterizing moments, Jotaro saving and feeling up the secret girl despite acting pissed, Kakyoin’s remark about being a proper student and reading, Polnareff’s respect of the girls guts to swim, and Joseph’s complaints about his grandson and Kakyoin dressing like losers.  And from there, a real sea monster, the next monster of the week arrived.  A stand-ship battle!  And I can’t help but get super excited to see how Araki utilizes the water and ship and characters to deal with this new enemy and their power.



P.S. I have to wonder if Dio is capable of using all of the Joestar’s stands as they came from Jonathan’s body which he controls.  That and, seeing him use Hermit Green without smashing the crystal ball leads to some questions about Joseph’s tactics.

@crocodileman94 The first time I read this (or rather one of the following chapters), I thought the same thing.
Good to see that I was not the only one tricked.



And yes, Tarot cards ran out before the end of the travel

Surprised that no one pointed out that outrageously fabulous Polnareff pose~ If he can defy gravity, he can definitely avenge his sister.



There was initially a Jaws vibe but when Dark Blue Moon revealed itself, it became more like The Creature From the Black Lagoon instead.



How you found out that the kid was a reverse trap was rather naughty, Jotaro...

Polnareff Is my favorite out of the three newcomers . Also , how did these guys even gets stands anyway ? Joseph did say that they got it cause of Dio’s awakening , but a lot of characters that have stands don’t have any connection to Dio . Does the flesh bud give them stands ?

The bastard who killed his sister will pay!

Lol at the way Jotaro found out that the kid was a girl.

Of course, you've got to have a revenge tale, led by some french man obviously. That, plus the "2 right hands" th



Jotaro being such a standout beauty even in China, I guess the "exotic" DNA explains it.



4/5 First thing I thought? Creature of the Lagoon





@gfsdfgsdgsdfgs Good point about the "boss" charisma (the forceful look of most of the examples left me disappointed after his beginnings, especially when the flesh parasites were introduced).

About Jonathan's original Stand (and Joseph's), let's say that DIO always liked to experiment all his newfound abilities while Joseph might be more "reckless". Although I simply think Araki didn't think it enough first (like many other little contrarities in Stands depictions) and chose this representation here because it suits DIO's "style" far more than smashing something into pieces (that being more "Joseph-like"). There will be many tiny bits of things later that you can oppose to the beginnings or even a fzw chapters earlier. It's a given for years-long series like Stardust Crusaders, especially when they're  they're all about the thrill of the week.