Deep question for you here,, do you think Johnny would have ever met Rina and been in a relationship with her if Gyro lived? Would jojolion even happen if so? And how would Gyro react if he found out Johnny and Rina were together if he lived without Johnny knowing..
i assume ur asking bc i briefly mentioned this in a recent post… and tbh its a tricky thing to think about bc its just so hard to picture a “good” ending for sbr.
there’s two routes i think: one where gyro invites johnny to italy, and one where johnny never goes. i think the latter is more likely, as the only reason johnny traveled at the end of sbr is to bring gyro’s body home. there is the slight possibility of johnny meeting rina at some sort of race finale event, as norisuke and her would probably be together again by that point - or even while sending off the ship at the dock. potentially they meet there, but johnny being preoccupied with saying goodbye to his partner would probably nix any real connection they could have had. because, i think in any scenario, gyro’s going back to italy for his vocation. if he survives sbr, he has found his own golden path and would probably feel far more confident in going back to rejoin his father.
assuming gyro lives, johnny would still have regained his mobility and would probably have reason to stay in america to continue his beloved horse racing career. because although i would think he doesn’t care anymore about fame (he’s had enough of that) he would never give up his love of horses. and his father’s blossoming respect for his younger son would probably lead that relationship to continue more amicably than in the past.
so no, i think if gyro lives, johnny doesnt meet rina… in a canon convergent, “non-romantic” reading of sbr, johnny has no reason to be on the same ship as gyro: they have both completed their journeys. in the canon sbr verse, bringing gyro back was the final step in johnny’s path to ‘walking,’ or ‘becoming a man’ or whatever was said in the first chapter.
that being said, i feel like jojolion wouldn’t happen, at least not in the same way. the rock humans still exist, but no devil’s palm has appeared with johnny’s bringing of the corpse to japan, so there might be an antagonistic force harnessing the locacaca for evil with no one to stop them. i wonder if the wall eyes would exist, thus whether josuke would exist, as im not actualy sure whether they stemmed from the corpse or not. but since the locacaca would exist with their equivalent exchange criterion, it makes sense that a similar power would exist with the wall eyes.
in a sense (someone i cant remember who said something similar i wish i could credit), johnny’s losing gyro is the first equivalent exchange to kick off jojolion. his selfish determination led him to not examine the consequences of going to finally face valentine, and led gyro’s sacrificiality to fully kick in to save both lucy and him. his desperation left over from choosing gyro and losing the corpse during sugar mountain caused an overcompensation i think. having chased ‘zero’ for so long, it became not just about his legs but about finding ‘something,’ something to make him better as a person, which is what the corpse represented but did not fulfill. in the end, it was johnny’s choice to defeat valentine over bringing back gyro that defined his moral growth once and for all. perhaps it was a shallow decision made out of grief at his friend’s death, and refusal to accept a dissimilar replacement, but in the end it was the better choice for the situation. so he lost his friend but defeated the evil and regained his legs, the original reminder of his shameful past.
thats why its tough to envision a different ending: i can’t imagine them leaving each other while living, and it’s johnny’s curse of carelessly trying to throw away his misfortunes without consequence (which backfired on his wife, son, gyro, nicholas, and danny) which kicks off jojolion’s themes of equivalent exchange. johnny is the perfect vector to bring this unluckiness to japan, but i find it very comforting to know that his jizo is fondly taken care of. he may once have been at a negative, but now strangers and descendants alike remember his story as one of selfless sacrifice.
ok moving on to the second part of your question which is if JoRina did happen and gyro found out or something… im not sure about the logistics of that but… unfortunately i dont know if there’s anyting gyro could really do about it 😭💔 in a romantic reading of sbr, i could imagine him feeling incredibly shunned or unrequited, but course correcting by also finding someone to stave off the loneliness… i mean they were both canonically playboys in the past so… i see neither of them having trouble with that sort of thing… bi kings that they are…. but what with the law at the time or whatever (they cant get together or live together without suspicion), as well as gyros sense of duty towards his job, i do see him very easily doing what his father did. being that he didnt die, he could continue the family business and the zeppelis wouldnt have to move. then again, they moved with the crown was overthrown, so they’d probably do that anyway. i think gyro’s main goal then would be to find a sense of purpose, but i can see him settling down in a small home and enjoy raising kids (bitch ass being mean to lucy but then dying for her ok guy (nonchalant ass acting all cocky but having joined the race to save a kid from the death penalty ok guy))… i do hope they’d remain in touch though.
dang i put a lot more thought into this ask than i thought but it was very fun to think about. im not as knowledgeable about jojolion as i am sbr (i cant STAND tooru or his motivation or joshu or like anyone except the talented yasuo or the underrated rai or also underrated jobin or my KING norisuke, josuke is also interesting i guess) but i hope i remained true to canon there… also this is a lot to read but if u made it to the end thanks for reading this nonsense… im sure theres run ons and parts of it probably are divergent but i feel like i got my opinions on what could be realistic in there……..
thank u thank u thank u for the ask anon 💙🙏
