why are so many vls fans still so into violence & gore
Like Thorfinn's character is a caricature of toxic masculinity and societal pressures to act as a man. He is seeking revenge for his father, he is actively extremely violent, he murders with no thought, it's the whole shabang all starting at the age of six (which seems utterly ridiculous, but that's part of the point!) But so many ppl just say he's cool and badass for it?? Like that's a child..just a baby
But then ofc we have season 2 (peak btw) where Thorfinn goes through the most change. The way most (specifically male) fans react to this are divided into 2 sections.
Claim that Thorfinn is 'based', say 'I'm him', and overall just connect this progression w just self improvement and becoming a better person and not to the non-violent ideals now placed in the character. [the problem w this interpretation is that many of these fans still praise the violence of the show! they praise the exact thing vinland is against.]
2. Say that Vinland 'fell off' and that it sucks now bc there's no longer violence and wars (or at least, not as many) [the problem w this is more obvious. They are so violence addicted that they don't even realize the anti-war ideas the show has been slapping in their faces the whole time. vinland saga isnt a shonen anime made for fights. get over it!]
Either way, these types of responses just don't understand the purpose of the show because they are, at the end of the day, too into anime fights and gore and I really don't understand it. Is there a name for this phenomenon? stupid man syndrome?
ok i've seen everyone go crazy shipping lang qianqiu with his assistant/friend/implied guard, but tbh...i think they're cute n all but this is not the lqq content i was expecting with s2
dont get me wrong, i LOVE that we're now focusing on a lqq ship that isnt him and the guy that literally killed his whole family, but i wish people would make some content for lqq's actual character? im really just being a hater with this but like...hes just so interesting and i would love to see more people explore his actual canon arc and not just the guy he has 2 mins of screen time with
also idk yall're fake for shipping him with xiao mengyou and not an le....jokes haha
but like idk...is this annoying to post abt? yes. will i do it anyways? also yes
like xiao mengyou is cute with him, but i've barely seen anyone talk about what's actual happened in the episodes. however i do think their relationship could be interesting to explore, specifically post-banquet.
aka a commentary on the treatment of Speedwagon by the fandom, and how it’s managed to fully feminize him in a unique way.
Speedwagon is a main ally in JJBA Part 1. He’s Jonathan’s best friend and yknow does a bunch of shit for him, including creating the Speedwagon Foundation.
Now, what I really want to talk about is how fans treat Speedwagon. The main ‘joke’ of the fandom—which is for some reason both long running and ongoing—is that Speedwagon is the ‘#1 Waifu’ of both JJBA and anime in general. Now, in case u somehow don’t know, a ‘waifu’ is a female anime character that people simp for/consider ‘wife material’ I guess. It’s a term generally used by greasy guys who live in their moms basement. A good example of a ‘waifu’ would be Hinata from Naruto.
So already, this idea of Speedwagon being a waifu feminizes him an intense amount. I mean, it’s literally grouping him together w a bunch of otherwise female anime girls. However, this ‘joke’ also branches into simply using female terms for Speedwagon. Wife, mommy, best girl, and terms along those lines are commonly used to describe him (who I would like to remind everyone is a MAN…)
“Caitie, it’s just a joke. Why is this a problem?”
Well, first of all, it’s just unfunny. It’s the same level of unfunny as when ppl include tequila Joseph or Bruno in a pic of “hot anime girls.” Secondly, part of why I find this so harmful is another factor. Most people agree that Speedwagon is into Jonathan.
It’s not like it was much of a secret. However, people use Speedwagon as a way to joke about gay men. They call him a woman, wife, and overall feminize him the same way homophobes treat actual gay men.
People also use him as a way to joke about other people being gay. This joke isn’t really harmful but it sure is annoying
But the thing that really takes the feminization of Speedwagon to the next level is the way the fandom boils him down to what he’s done for Jonathan—the main (and male) protagonist. Many fandom spaces do this. They only treat female characters “well” if they think she’s been helpful enough or has done enough for the male mc.
I’ve also seen people compare Erina and Speedwagon in a way that’s very reminiscent of arguments like Sakura vs Hinata.
This is what I think makes Speedwagon’s feminization so different from other characters that are also feminized. For example, Noriaki Kakyoin from JJBA Part 3. (Or Bruno, or Doppio, ect, ect) Kakyoin is feminized in a way that fetishizes gay men, as it’s always in ship art/fan fictions with him and Jotaro. Kakyoin is depicted as weak, small, girly, and just overall the female love interest. However, he is still a man. Why? Because this is fetish art drawn by women who are into gay men that fit heteronormative dynamics.
Meanwhile, Speedwagon isn’t generally depicted as small or feminine. Yet, people genuinly act like he’s a woman. They compare him to Erina, they use feminine terms for him, and use him to be their little gay joke.
Anyways I’m done. This is a silly rant but I’m passionate abt it. Leave Speedwagon (and Erina tbh) ALONE!! He is not ur waifu. He is not ur wife. He is just a guy!!
so many people ignore avdol (a long complaint and lots of rambling)
Avdol is one of the core character in Part 3, yet it's rare to see content of him outside of the ship between him n Polnareff. This is SO annoying to me. People put their whole tushies into loving Kakyoin (who got so little screen time) but then ignore Avdol. Now I could go into WHY i think this happens, but instead i'll just complain about his treatment in canon as well.
Avdol is treated with less care by canon than any of the other characters. How? He's given no backstory, his death is overshadowed (and unnecessary imo), and he is simply pushed to the side so much.
For example, him and Kakyoin were both sidelined due to injuries in the part, but you know what happens when Kakyoin is killed? He's given an entire backstory (and even flashbacks in the anime.) His death is the key to the other Crusaders learning of Dio's stand ability. Compare this to Avdol's death now.
First of all, why was the fucking dumb dog's death treated as the same level of severity as Avdol's (the PERSON??) Like I can't even find a fucking angst edit abt Avdol's death without people including Iggy clips and voicelines from Polly abt it. Well okay, I know the reason for this. They're treated at the same level in canon. If anything, Polly is practically more torn up over Iggy's death than Avdol's honestly.
It's fucking stupid. First of all, it's ridiculous that Iggy survived longer than Avdol and it's stupid that he's the one who helped actually defeat Vanilla Ice. Secondly, Iggy should've died during the Pet Shop arc in all honesty.
But reallly, it should've been Polnareff to die. Avdol dying in the end is just an unsatisfying arc for the two of them. It's just Avdol sacrificing himself for Polnareff two times and Polly just crying. It would've been better for Polnareff to be able to save his loved one for once, something he couldn't do for Sherry. It would also be more satisfying considering Avdol has, again, already been shot in the head for Polly.
And don't get me started on the bitches that don't include Avdol in SDC content oh my god yall desever NOTHING
Ok I've officially decided in my head that I'm going to at least plan out a part 4 rewrite, which is why now im going to give u all an extremely messy and poorly organized list of ideas I have just to like..help myself think them through more!
Ok so I'm having trouble deciding how I want to start the story off. Mainly because I don't want to include the Anjelo arc. I've always thought of part 4 being messily divided into 3 parts (Anjelo, Akira, Kira), which is something I know I want to change and have the whole plot just focus on Kira. I was thinking maybe just have it start in a slice of life style like some of the filler eps but the main problem is that I need to figure out what exactly sparks the whole 'we need to catch the killer' thing. Maybe Josuke and Koichi find Reimi instead of Koichi and Rohan? Idk!
And yknow mentioning Akira, I think this is the hardest arc to write out of the story. I don't want to include it very much, but it was really important for Okuyasu's character arc imo. I also just need to reread part 4 i literally own all of the p4 manga why haven't I done that yet..
I'm thinking of changing stuff w Reimi. I kind of want to make her be born a bit later, therefore killed later. Mainly so that she could be connected to Josukes past and this would better set up the framing of Jotaro that I want, as it would make him 17~ when Kira first kills her (I’d also make kira 5 yrs younger ofc)
For josukes past I’m still a little iffy. I think I might have Reimi just be there w the boy to help pull Tomokos car out of the pothole but idk. Is that cheesy? Just bc I still want Josuke to have his hair and everything..
I want to give Keicho Surface. Ik he alr has a stand, and I love Bad Company, but I wanna make Surface plot relevant and give it to someone who I also want to be plot relevant soo..yeah. In my rewrite I imagine Keicho teams up w Kira bc Kira promises to find a way to kill Keicho’s father.
Also yeah I want to have Jotaro be framed for all of the murders bc again that’s fun idk. And this way there can be a subplot abt clearing his name. Also I want to add holly and possibly baby Jolyne (is that too self indulgent?)
I’m still going to keep the plot w Cinderella (as in kira changing his face) bc I love hayato and shinobu. Plus that whole arc is when we got into p4 being rlly good
For yukako I’m thinking of making her josukes cousin, mainly so that they can have a pre established relationship since yukako probably isn’t getting her stand in this (bc she got it from the arrow right? I don’t want to include that arc. It drove me crazy how everyone kept getting a stand)
I’m thinking Joseph gets introduced after Jotaro is arrested and Jotaro is all like “u need ur dad to help solve this!!”
I wanna focus on the conflicts between Josuke and Joseph. I especially think this could be fun bc ryohei would still be alive, so it’s like a case of “u might be my biological dad, but my REAL dad is right here.”
I also want to let Tomoko actually do something but I haven’t decided what yet.
I’m keeping mikitaka in somehow bc believe it or not I do enjoy fun and whimsy
I’m probably cutting out Rohan entirely tho. He was honestly a good antagonist and I love his stand so I might use that somewhere but I just can’t stand him. (lmfao stand)
Also like at the end of the day this is my au and I do what I want!!
I think I might make one of yukakos parents be a police officer. Bc 1. whether I make her and Josuke related or not, they’re still connected by their relatives on the force and 2. I feel like this could possibly help set her up to help in the kira investigation? Like maybe she’s planning to become a cop or detective in the future so she alr has some skills. Or maybe she could help find files or something. No matter what, I want her to get to actually help w the plot instead of just kidnapping koichi then being sidelined like in canon
For okuyasu I’m thinking his arc is going to be changed a wee bit. Like his brother works w kira, but he befriends Josuke and realizes that what his brothers doing is wrong and like..learns to stand up for the right thing regardless of what his brother says. And a bump in this road could be keichos death. Like imagine ur finally branching off from ur brother and then he DIES? I’d be crawling back to his grave too lmfao
I’m going to work on stand profiles and giving them actual limits and rules. Bc a LOT of them just don’t have that.
I think some stands I’ll still include just bc I like them. Like highway star (even tho that arc was so boring the stand is cool).
Also I still want to focus on the affects of Dio for part of it. I think I might mainly do this w Jotaro and his ptsd tho..
Overall I’m excited and I hope I can flesh this out more !!!
Surface (in case you don't even remember it) is Hazamada's stand. And while Hazamada sucks ass, his stand sure doesn't!
It's abilities are simple: it appears as a wooden mannequin and once a person touches it, it can become a direct copy of that person. Right down to height, voice, mannerisms, and even fingerprints.
But I don't want to just talk about it's abilities, but also it's wasted potential plot-wise
When we’re introduced to the stand Surface, we’re still in the early era of DIU, where the actual plot (Kira) hasn’t been introduced yet. I find this IMMENSELY disappointing bc like..can you imagine how much better this would’ve been if Kira had used this stand?
First of all, give the stand to someone else. I hate Hazamada’s guts.
Second of all, let’s talk about how Kira could’ve utilized Surface to hide his identity and keep out of trouble.
In my humble opinion, I just overall think this stand should’ve been introduced later due to its ability to mimic people’s identities. I mean, Kira could’ve easily used this as an escape plenty of times if he had Surface. He could’ve just had Surface copy him and run away. A classic cartoony escape!
Or—something I find very fun in concept—is that Kira could’ve framed someone else to be ‘the killer.’ We know Surface can make a copy right down to the persons voice and appearance—minus the screw and on the forehead but like..just get some foundation 🙄—so he could’ve easily made a copy of someone who’s lived in Japan before, is the correct age to be the killer, and—JOTARO HE SHOULDVE FRAMED JOTARO!!
Yes, Jotaro is 5 years younger than Kira, so he would hypothetically be 13 when he starts killing people, however part 4 includes the mention of a 12 year old robber and rapist so I don’t think it’s that crazy.
Part of why I would’ve eaten this up is because for a lot of part 4, Jotaro doesn’t really have anything to do. This way, while he would be moved to a plot device role, he actually HAS a role in the story, lol. Also cmon it would’ve been funny for him to be back in jail like when he was 17.
Also, this stand is just so cool. It should’ve gotten a cooler user and more screen time.
I love DIU..however, I consider it one of the post flawed of the JJBA Parts. Honestly, I feel like Araki didn't fully know where he was going with it til halfway, which is why the plot can be so janky. No matter what, let's dive into it. First, characters.
(also quick disclaimer: this is all my opinion and i am biased for MANY things.)
if u diagree w me dont tell me i think it would crush me
Characters [Josuke, Jotaro, Okuyasu, Kira]
Josuke Higashikata
I LOVE Josuke. I think he's a lovely character concept and his design is really cool. My main problem with him is literally his LACK of screen time!! He is the Jojo of this part, yet his spotlight is constantly stolen by other side characters like Koichi, Rohan, and even Jotaro. This also happened a lot in Part 3, with it basically being the Polnareff show (idk why Araki did this sm in pts3-5...either let the mc have screen time or don't have them be the mc!!)
I think Josuke had some of the most missed opportunities in DIU. Especially with his relationships with other characters. I think this part could've been way more interesting if it chose a solid theme, and one that I think would've made sense is commentating on death & tragedy and how that can impact personal relationships. The reason I believe this is because there's already easy set ups for this in the story. Ryohei's death, The Nijimura Brother's family, Reimi, Shigechi, and Jotaro all have that theme in place, but not enough connecting points or real arcs related to this. What was the point of killing off Ryohei (who was the only father figure Josuke had growing up) if you're not going to show how this impacted Josuke, Tomoko, and how he acts with others besides one single page? Sure, it taught him that his powers have limits and that he can't save everyone, but that was a stupid thing to teach him because Okuyasu doesn't fucking die when he should've!! Like why did we make an arc saying 'hey stands aren't magic they can't bring ppl back to life' just for EXACTLY THAT to happen??
Moving on, I also have problems with his stand. I LOVE Crazy Diamond, I think it has a super cool design and power concept, but personally I wish it's powers were more grounded and had clear limits. I feel like a lot of stands suffer from this treatment of vague power limits (ex: Golden Wind..) but my problem with CD is that there were MANY opportunities to add one! For example: we know Josuke couldn't bring back Ryohei even after using his stand on him. So that bears the question: what can CD not fix? What is the real reason it can't bring a dead person back to life? Jotaro says "No stand has the power to bring back the dead" WHY?? am i missing something? Have I forgotten when it was officially established that stands cant do that? I mean, literally in part 3 there was a stand that could reanimate corpses. So does it have to do with the soul? No matter what, I would've used this moment to establish that CD can't bring back ANY living thing. I actually wrote a short fic abt this and included the fact that he also couldn't "fix" a dead leaf. I feel like overall his stand needed more grounding.
Also, I have beef with Josuke's backstory, but I'll get into that later.
Jotaro Kujo
Ok firstly, I have MAJOR beef with his design in part 4. Mainly the fact that he's drawn extremely pale in the anime. Like..obviously he COULD be pale as he is wasian (im not trying to say all wasian ppl look the same), but he is TAN in part 3. Why did they take that away?? Pisses me off to the extreme. At least they fixed it in p5+6. Anyways..
Character wise, I really enjoy Jotaro's personality in p4. I like how he's mellowed out in comparison to p3. However, I feel like he needed a more clear role in the story. He showed up to figure out grandpappy's shit, and then took the leader role when facing Kira. Why don't I like this? Because most of the time Jotaro was just..there. I think Araki wanted him and Josuke to have a mentor/student relationship (ex: rat episode) but just didn't focus enough on them or Josuke training with his stand for this to work.
Also, the fact that it took Jotaro so fucking long to figure out who Kira is WITH the help of all those other stand users is so goofy. Like him and the gang back in '89 found Dio's ass from a goddamn microscopic fly in a photo but couldn't find Kira's identity?? Like ugh he almost redeemed himself with the button thing but then he got blown up like gosh what happened king
When it comes to stands, I forever find it stupid that Jotaro didn't work with his stand to become more powerful. Araki just had to nerf him (which is something he does with most reoccurring characters, ex: Joseph). I don't like it and it pisses me off.
With the death of Ryohei, I feel like it would've made more sense for Jotaro to somewhat open up to Josuke and be a bit more sympathetic towards him about it (or maybe he stays closed off until Josuke explodes, causing Jotaro to reveal the truth about his past.) Either way, I think the two of them could've bonded over shared grief.
Okuyasu Nijimura
I absolutely ADORE Okuyasu. I think his dynamic with Josuke is really fun to watch and his personality is just overall super enjoyable.
Stand wise I do think Araki slightly nerfed him by making him dumb as fucking rocks, but I let this slide a little more just bc he's a side character..
I honestly think Okuyasu has the best character arc out of the whole part 4 cast. I think he definitely deserved more screen time, but what we got was really solid in my opinion. His relationship with his brother was well developed and it was really interesting to see how it still affected him even after his brother's death. The way he felt a need to get revenge for his brother and still felt like he wasn't enough really hit me in the gut. I love him.
When it comes to Okuyasu's "death" I have very mixed opinions. On the one hand, ofc the goat of part 4 survived. On the other hand, I feel like him surviving goes directly against the idea we've been given since the beginning. You can't save everyone. And on the one hand, I enjoy the subverting of expectations. On the other hand, I don't like how it's still just never fully explained. I guess in JJBA as long as your soul doesn't feel like dying yet, you won't. I wish we saw Okuyasu actually speaking to his brother when he "died" however. I find him and Keicho's relationship really gut-punching and that would've been a fire scene imo.
I have more to say on him, his dad, Keicho, and the arrow, but I'll save that for when I'm talking about the plot.
Yoshikage Kira
I find Kira to be a really interesting villain. I really enjoyed every moment we got going deeper into his psychology and it's something I really wish we got to see more of. I enjoy his sleek design and he's fine asf tbh.
Im not gonna give commentary on his stand rn bc honestly i dont fully remember how that shit worked by the time he was using the arrow
Character wise I just really wish he was established as the main villain sooner. The build up and hints dropped about him were so addictive, so it's disappointing that they're only there a little before his full introduction.
The psychology of Kira is something I really liked. The way he truly believes he's never really done anything wrong and only wanting to live a peaceful life is something I wish was even more looked into. Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but from my memory, in the manga Kira's whole thing with his nails growing quicker when stressed/when his need to kill is getting too strong was only psychological. At least, I don't remember them growing the same way it's shown in the anime. I think this would've been something really interesting to deep dive into. The fact that he believes his nails grow when his need to kill is really high is really intriguing and the overall connection between hands and his killings are something I wanted to be fully developed more. I know it was kind of just a weird ass fetish but like..that's interesting!! this is interesting!!
I'll probably make an individual post to talk more abt him.
Plot
Where do I even begin. The plot of part 4 is all over the place. I loved many episodes, and I enjoyed when it leaned more into the slice of life style, but why the fuck where there like 3 seperate plots? Honestly, cut out Anjuro. His whole plot shit was annoying as hell. Didn't care for him.
Akira's entire plot pissed me off. I only like this arc because of Okuyasu. Overall I found there to be a lot of plot holes and just annoying parts. Everything til Kira was like this for me. Like get to the REAL plot please.
The arrow annoyed me. I've never wanted to rip my hair out more than when Kira's dad got a hold of it. He was SO GODDAMN ANNOYING. I like the concept of Kira using the arrow to get allies or ways to cover up his plot, but most of the stand users that came out of this were annoying and Kira's dad was insufferable in the worst way possible.
I think something I wish was more covered by the plot is the aftermath of Part 3 and Dio in general. This is something that CDDH (best jojo spinoff) covers really nicely, however. Go read it.
I also just in general think more should've been done w Okuyasu's dad, as he is a direct aftermath of Dio.
I feel like a lot of the women in Part 4 were set up to have strong, actually plot-influencing roles, but then were totally side-lined. I'm going to make a full post abt this tho.
Reimi being connected to Rohan never made sense to me. Just narratively speaking, why did you connect the main motivation for catching Kira to a side antagonist instead of the main character? This is slightly fueled by my hate for Rohan but like, c'mon! I think it would've made more sense to 1. just not include Rohan so fucking much and 2. connect Reimi to Josuke's past.
Speaking of Josuke's past, I feel like it just..needed more. Or at least, I think something needed to be done with the boy who saved him. I can appreciate the idea of it connecting to a theme of the general kindness of strangers, but you don't see that theme pop up as much in the rest of the plot. Also, I again would've connected Reimi to Josuke because WHY ISN’T SHE CONNECTED TO THE MAIN CHARACTER OH MY GOD
Overall tho I like the vibes of part 4, i really enjoyed different arcs and characters, and I just wish Araki got more time to flesh everything out and refocus on certain themes and characters.
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