21) in the akatsuki what color would you paint your nailsmmm I’m gona go for a dark maroon, also I’d get deidara to paint them for me 25) favorite clanfffff nara clan because when shikamaru was introduced I was well impressed
YES ARLEN. and tbh i think it is an unpopular opinion because i remember in that pretty setter squad poll he was ranked like #10 and i was physically hurt by that.
ur tags in that jotakak post!! i feel them!! i feel them so very deeply
you mean this, right?
i know… i know… just. a lot could be improved in jojo if more time was spent on emotional development, and additionally if that development was through canon jotakak. because there’s very little. i feel super rushed through relationships and i adore characters but i wish they would just get more TIME devoted solely to character interaction and growth outside of fighting so i could i could like them even MORE and get attached to them, their goals, and their growth. these characters have so much potential to make me feel so much more, if more interaction and dialogue was shown on screen.
it’s difficult to see development in any of the characters, simply because it isn’t shown, and it’s less dynamic because it’s not easily found in how they interact with other characters. it’s all in monologue, often internal. polnareff gets a good deal of visible development, i suppose, but that’s basically because he’s so extroverted. but it’s not… solid. there’s little change in his behavior, just his stated goals. abdul bears the brunt of the undervelopment - he doesn’t even get a proper backstory. this post really summarizes my feelings about that, but since i’m talking about jotakak today and also about vital character interaction, i’m spending more time on kakyoin and jotaro.
SO: here is my very rough edits to the story of stardust crusaders to make it more compelling to me.
if i added in a jotaro/kakyoin relationship, i would make jotaro more cold, rude, and ruthless in the first episodes - he would have to be cajoled into saving kakyoin’s life from the flesh bud by his mother (and his acquiesence to only her would show that he has some emotional attachment to her) - and then, when the journey begins, have more time shown jotaro learning to slowly trust kakyoin. they would fight together, and their complementary stands would be highlighted (short range precision and long range spray; watching closely and wide spread surveillance; etc). kakyoin would save their asses a few times, and there would be a big emotional hurdle jumped after kakyoin puts himself in danger to save joseph’s life. this demonstrates to both us and jotaro that kakyoin is a genuinely good and loyal person who will fight and die for those he loves. jotaro smiles for like the first time in the series and calls him by his first name and it would be really positive for both of them. this takes about half of the first season.
after this, they fight together more, they would have a lot of Held Gazes, and be shown as a pair in the team and have a lot of little humorous side conversations, which would endear the audience to their partnership and interactions. also, i would have kakyoin help jotaro explain things he’s trying to do or something, showing that the two of them easily and naturally understand each other.
jotaro would go to kakyoin with worries about the journey, his mother, and eventually himself & his emotions. jotaro showing vulnerability to both kakyoin and the audience would endear him to us and make him more human (rather than BUFF HERO GUY), and firmly establish an arc in him becoming more tender and okay with his emotions and displaying them - which a developing romance with kakyoin would make incredibly apparent. his trust in kakyoin would build up kakyoin’s confidence in himself and his fighting abilities - jotaro telling kakyoin to watch his back and depending on + trusting him on the battlefield - which would feed into an arc of kakyoin becoming more brave and accepting his strengths and himself.
to firm up that emotional arc, i would have kakyoin freeze up in fear/holding back both during early fights and talking with the other crusaders. i would solidify that he’s fine talking to strangers, that he’s a kind person at heart, but he’s scared of being misunderstood in close relationships. i would show him realizing that he’s gotten close to the other crusaders and pull away, scared that they don’t feel as close to him. i would have jotaro pull him back and set him straight. here, i would have kakyoin divulge his backstory in the last few episodes of season 1, before the basic resolution of polnareff’s arc. this would set us up to see how difficult it has been and would be for him to change, open up, and become confident in himself and his relationships, drawing a few parallels between him and jotaro. showing this VERY SAD backstory would also make us feel VERY SAD for kakyoin just after we’vegotten to know and like him. caesar’s backstory was shown right before his death to make his death feel even more like a punch in the stomach and cause us more agony, but if we showed kakyoin’s backstory way beforehand we would more keenly experience his emotional growth, and such and such. this private conversation would also illustrate the immense amount of trust they have now in each other, and jotaro’s healthy and good reaction to it (prompting a BIG BEAUTIFUL SMILE from kakyoin) would show that he’s becoming someone less harsh, and that kind response would be in definite contrast with how he treated holly and his admirers at the beginning of s1, signifying, you know, GROWTH into a LIKABLE PROTAGONIST. and if we saw kakyoin helping him become a bit more kind we would believe that their relationship is a good thing and root for it.
along with all this, i would amplify a lot of interactions those two have. for example, rubber soul would be a bigger deal and jotaro would notice something being wrong really fast and show concern and anger over rubber soul assuming kakyoin’s face and disrespecting him like that.
in season 2 i would open up with jotaro and kakyoin being very close over a map or a book or something - possibly have polnareff tease them? either way, there would be hands brushing and a small blush from one or both of them. this would make kakyoin’s injury at the hands of n’doul become more jarring, and set up s2 as a bit more perilous as they reach dio in this season. we would get to see the results of jotaro and kakyoin becoming close, with jotaro losing a bit of his cool and minorly freaking out over kakyoin. this little bit of ooc would demonstrate that his and kakyoin’s relationship and their future is important to jotaro, enough to jar him out of his chill demeanour (facade?). jotaro’s eventual forgiveness and respect for n’doul, even under these heightened emotional circumstances, would again illustrate that jotaro has gentled a bit over the course of the series, showing a huge disparity between the guy who had to be coerced into saving an innocent’s life (reminder: here, kakyoin was mind-controlled but jotaro was still pissy about his injuries and had to be convinced to save him) and now, the guy who showed respect to an enemy who had every intent to harm him and his loved ones.
during kakyoin’s recovery, i would show jotaro being kind of lost without kakyoin. maybe a phone call to kakyoin to update him. that doesn’t need to be shown onscreen, just show jotaro hanging up from it, and that could lead into a good talk with one of the other party members. every time kakyoin is mentioned - esp during the poker game (with kakyoin being bet really raising the stakes) - i want jotaro to look sad. this would firm up the jotaro fucking misses him, and that kakyoin is really important to him. jotaro actually REACTING to kakyoin’s absence would also demonstrate that the group has formed close bonds over the last few weeks and that everyone cares about it each other. it’s implied in the series, but it would be nice if it were really firmed up, and make the resolution of the series more harshly bittersweet.
when kakyoin returns, i want them to have a bit of time to talk and i want a HUG!!!!! A REAL HUG!!!! BOTH OF THEM SAYING FIRST NAMES SIGNIFICANTLY!!!!! a moment to rest, a lull before dio’s mansion, to allow time for emotional softness before the action ramps up as we reach the climax. here is where i would have them kiss for the first time - and then break away. now isn’t the time, they would say. when they defeat dio they’ll figure everything out; they would fight for that future. again, their burgeoning relationship would heighten stakes, esp in the video game fight. before they part ways, they kiss, and kakyoin would say something significant, emotional arc words for them, and jotaro would Smile softly and it would be so tender and so good. and it would be awful, because kakyoin still needs to die.
kakyoin would die as he’s just almost reached the end of his emotional arc - he’s grown, he’s changed, both him and the audience have gotten a taste of the bright future waiting him at the end of the journey. this would make kakyoin’s death absolutely terrible, even more than it already was. because we would want so badly for kakyoin to have the future he’s earned, the future he’s fought for, the happy ending we all want. for it to be jerked away right from under our noses would just be. agh. terrible. it would kill us. he never was able to live as the person he became - comfortable and happy with himself, with secure relationships and a family - and it would make you cry and mourn him even more keenly. (also, frame it as him sacrificing his life for jotaro to have a hope of surviving dio, and highlight the fact that they are so close and kakyoin loves him so much that he would literally die for him to have the slightest chance. make his last thoughts the most terrible heartbreaking thing ever. everything he never was able to properly say to jotaro. i weep.)
kakyoin dying would add even more fuel to jotaro’s fight with dio. it could even be worse if like, dio taunted him with it? but it would show jotaro fighting with emotion and using that to power him through, to make him more determined to beat dio. his emotional opening throughout the series, and this explosion of it right at the end, would show that losing that apathy within himself would make him stronger, where before he thought that showing emotion would make him weak. it would also set him up nicely against dio, who uses people entirely for his own ends, as jotaro is now easily seen, through every conversation, touch, and look with kakyoin and the others, as a person who deeply cares about the people near him and will fight to protect and avenge them.
the ending would be, as i said, bittersweet, and future parts would be able to show jotaro not really coping well with the emotional upheaval of those 50 days even better. it would add to the tragedy of his character and kakyoin’s death if we saw him clamming up (HA, HE’S A MARINE BIOLOGIST) and shutting down from other people and having a really, really difficult time communicating and forming bonds, even with family. we would again have to experience sadness at the happy ending jotaro and kakyoin could have had if they had been able to get through the entire series together with their arcs nicely ended. their arcs could have been tied up quite nicely with them going back to japan together and living their lives together as two people who went through hell and deeply understand each other. but they weren’t able to.
there’s a lot more stuff i could say, but i’m not that committed and i’m getting lazy. i’m just very frustrated with the forced masculinity ESPECIALLY when jotaro’s arc could have really benefited from gradually chipping away at all that bullshit. i don’t care about beefy characters, what i want are MEATY characters. and i really think the unnecessary screen time given to gratuitous and uncomfortable T&A shots could have been devoted to a really fulfilling and beneficial relationship subplot that would have driven everything home.
tl;dr less machismo and more gay would make jjba a more emotional and involved series to experience.
