The Structural Beauty of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable 

Hey guys don't hate on kato, Even josuke's mom thought Jotaro was Joseph

My favorite moment of Part4 was when Joseph Joestar used Hermit Purple and Hamon to punch Kira Yoshikage.

5:05 Yeah, we all know how incredibly powerful Joseph was in Part 4.

Good video, however I am 100% sure that people are going to meme the shit out of you calling Jotaro “Joseph”

Honestly if Kira would have wanted he could’ve just stalk josuke home and turn the doorknob into a bomb *But he doesn’t. Because he wants to live a quiet life like a plant.*

Kira is honestly my favorite thing about Part 4. Up until his arrival Part 4 felt like it was recycling the Stand of the Week formula from Part 3 but only far more lighthearted in nature, dealing more with slice of life themes. For me this honestly felt incredibly jarring for a series with the words 'Bizarre Adventure' in its title, especially having just finished Stardust Crusaders which personified those 2 words with its action packed, high stakes epic journey. DiU just felt too... Normal. All these characters in this town fighting each other but almost always making up and becoming friends in the end as opposed to the protagonists just beating the shit out of them. This was _JoJo's Slice Life_ and I wasn't sure if I liked it. Characters were well written and likeable sure but they weren't the larger than life icons from the previous parts. Enter Kira. This dude shook everything up and turned the entire part downside up. Everything that was missing came back - a larger than life being filled with charisma and charm disguised as an ordinary man. Not to mention an iconic design - he's anime David Bowie with stands named after Queen songs. Suddenly I understood what Araki was doing - the town of Morioh wasn't just the setting, it was a character itself made up of all the others, and it needed to get its shit together to track down this mad man. Morioh was the true protagonist of this part and Kira was the big bad bastard with the power to take it on. Bravo Araki! This may not be my favorite part but it is easily one of if not your best written part.

*The structural beauty of Shigechi* That darn thick woman.

There is certainly people who don't like part 4 who don't read in in to this structure and misinterpret the part as one with filler fights that don't amount to anything even though as put in this video they do add up to stuff in the long run

Something else we also have to consider when complementing the story telling in the JoJo anime, especially in part 4, is just how good of a company David Productions is to fans of the show. They add small details that you don't notice when you first watch but you'll understand on repeat viewings. An example I can point out in this video is that at around the 7:58 mark, there's the shot of the crew looking at a sea of people looking for Kira, and to first time watchers they would just think that it's just a shot to show how he's gone missing, but in reality, you can see the back of Kira's new identity to the right of the screen, something only repeat watchers would catch, and to add to that, in the very same shot, we see 3 characters that will come up in the next few episodes of the story. To the left of Kira we can see Enigma, to the center of the screen we see YuYa, then to the left of the screen we see Mikitaka. And that's just in this one scene, there are plenty of small details that reward you for either rewatching episodes or paying real close attention. One more example I can give that wasn't in this video is during the 3rd time loop Hayato answers the phone, something he hasn't done the past two loops, then even after he hangs up, he still hangs on to the phone, but our focus isn't with Hayato and the phone, it's with Kira and Shinobu, so later in the episode Josuke shows up and confronts Kira, and it's revealed that Hayato called him, so if you either went back or were really paying attention to Hayato instead of Kira, you can hear the faint sound of a phone ringing, indicating that Hayato was calling Josuke at that moment. This just goes to show how dedicated and invested David Productions is when considering how to tell the story.

any creator: makes a video praising jojo in any way JJBA fans: InstaLike

*Star Platinum gives jotaro free stuff that he likes* Jotaro: “Theres an evil spirit behind me dont let me out.” Star Platinum:....

Team JoJo? You mean the Duwang Gang my good sir.

Kira the 10/10 villain. Dude just wanted a quiet life.

Last air bender is very good at this in the same episodic & Serial Part

Aya Tsuji's Stand may have also had an effect on Shinobu Kawajiri with her falling madly in love all of the sudden with her 'husband'

Episode 24 was such a gut punch the first time I watched it. Mostly for the fact that up to that point I was watching those episodic episodes and just enjoying the random-ass characters so for one of them to be brought back just to be murdered just hurt like hell, that and the fact that I was getting over the heartless murder of Shigechi and was just hit right back with its memories when I saw Aya dead. Basically Araki pulled a classic Araki move on me, make 'em love a character and then MURDER THE HELL OUT OF THEM. I should learn my lesson and just stop loving the characters but I just can't, and I fell for it in part 5 again so I guess I never learn. Great video, Episode 24 really was a culmination of the season up to that point and really set Kira UP as a clever well-prepared motherfucker if it wasn't obvious at that point.

I would argue Avatar:The Last Airbender falls in the middle of the serialized and episodic venn diagram

Expanding on one of your points here: JoJo is built in a way that it can be watched by people of not a specific age, but of ANY age. I've seen children at ages of 9 or 12 watching and loving the show, and people in their 40's watching it even though neither of them are intense weebs or anything of that nature, they're just kind of in that world. I myself have not watched any other anime, and I started watching jojo because it was just one big meme to me, but I instantly fell in love and before I knew it I had watched all 5 available parts in 1 or 2 months. There is not one single demographic for jojo. It's just jojo.

I'm about to have a mental break down break down

Yes! Absolutely. I would like to add that part of the episodic structure of early part 4 serves to cement Morioh the town and its people as a character of its own (Like Gotham in The Dark Knight). Josuke swears in the first few episodes to protect the town in his grandfather's place. We feel nothing for the people and places of Part 3 (I don't, at least)--they really are monsters of the week, but the incidences of Part 4 all serve to give us a portrait of Morioh, of the community. Both in giving us storytelling strands or characters that might be directly relevant later, but also in order to make us care about the community of people called Morioh--so that Kira Yoshikage seems like a threat to that place, to these people. These episodic characters and people of Morioh all serve as a tapestry of humanity--we see their goals, motivations, desires and how their acquisition of stands has brought out the worst or best in them. In some ways we have an account of communal flourishing, their collective happiness or misery very much depends on the ways they all choose to treat one another, especially given the powers of some of its citizenry. So what would happen if someone were so oriented toward brutal, ruthless killing, and didn't even have an understanding of how wrong their behavior was--who wanted to be invisible to society, to pass through life quietly while committing atrocities all the same? What if that person had a stand that let them act that desire out perfectly? The viewers implicitly recognize what a threat this person is to the community, to the good people we've seen so far without it even being explicitly said. It's not just our protagonists at threat, all the desires, hopes and dreams of Morioh's people are at risk of being manipulated, used and snuffed out in Kira's quest for nonrecognition, killing and hands. It should go without saying as well, then, that a lot of what seems purely fun, episodic, or filler in Part 4 is actually necessary to creating that sense of urgency and worry--Kira isn't going to destroy the world or even subjugate it, but he is going to kill people we care about and threaten the places in which they live and thrive. We need that episodic content in order to build up those characters, that community, so we can at least sympathize with them. Otherwise, by the time Episode 24 rolls around or whenever the gang confronts Kira, Morioh would just be some town, like any other. Community, place and people are really central to Part 4, and its structure complements those themes.

7:57 you can actually see Kira and the next stand users to appear in the show

episode 24 is one of my favorites in jojo

Setting truly is narrative. By making it dynamic you can mix episodic elements with grand narratives. Great vid as always!

(JoJo) Starts at 4:23 The intro states it's going to be about balance between "episodic & continuity", "pick-up & long-term", "diversity & depth", "consumption & investment", and so on; while doing so on fewer topics and more references. Finishes at 8:20, and the temporal proportion of subject_matter-to-outro is nice.

5:07 it is jotaro not joseph that is it nice video over all

Can I just say how amazing the transition from The Flash theme to Crazy Noisy Bizarre Town was

4:23 I like how Crazy Noisy Bizarre Town starts playing in the background as soon as the Chase opening starts. It almost makes me forget he called Jotaro Joseph

7:58 in this shot you can see kira, the user of higeway star and enigma. I founder it to be A nice Edition for people that really pay attention

I just finished Diamond is Unbreakable today.

Yoshikage Kira is the best Jojo and anime villain in my opinion

The entirety of jojo works by this same structural theory, especially post part 3. Great video!

I love that every single part has something to offer

Diamond is Unbreakable is very interesting in that it starts really slow, specially compared to the previous parts, as it's basically a Slice of Life anime...and then Kira enters the picture. The story now moves at breakneck speed and you realize the laggy start was intentional.

Awesome video. Part 4 is great

5:05 Pretty sure you mean Jotaro, Joseph is a shell of his former self in P4.

I basically had the exact train of thought as this video a few nights ago in bed, after having finished Jojo part 4 for the first time. Glad to see it put into better words than I could and re-affirmed for me.

Fun fact: at 7:57, you can actually see Kira amongst the crowd of people (white jacket purple pants).

I was actually explaining this exact concept to my friend the other day lol after recently finishing this season. Crazy coincidence. One of the best seasons of television ever imo

I love your intro (and content of course) about the TV show structures! Believe me or not, but in my opinion and from what I've watched, Ultraman Gaia had a really good balance between episodic and a large looming storyline. Each episode is connected to the storyline, but in ways that you wouldn't really be left out on if you missed an episode earlier. And it also has more meaningful themes that only as an adult I noticed and appreciate

Ah yes, Joseph Kujo and his stand Hermit Platinum

This was great, felt a little short though.

Goddamn it took 5 minutes for you to get to jojo a different title might bee a good ideea, great video!

This is also a strength of the anime adaptation since, as I hear it, the order of events was different in the manga. As I heard it, Kira’s defeat was coming up too soon for Araki’s liking and he had written himself into a corner. To fix this, in the middle if the Kira fight, the manga flashes back to set up Cinderella so it could be used to get Kira out of danger. Of course I cannot say this with certainty since I only watched the Part 4 anime, and if someone wants to come correct me for giving Araki too little credit then by all means.

Kira: *can blow up anything he touches, and trap people in a hour long ground hog's day* Kato: N O R M A L D U D E

'inconsequential puzzle' I see what you did there.

Ghost in the Shell SAC, also had the stand alone / complex episodes. 4:31 If not mistaken, that started in Part3.

I didn't like Jojo's much, but man did I love that twist. I would agree in saying it's probably the best moment in Jojo's.

Deep Space Nine is very good at this as well. Most episodes work as a one off but all build to a larger storyline unlike other Star Trek shows of the time

When I was first watching diamond is unbreakable I thought that it was dumb to have a villain of the week structure until later episodes. For example, when hazamada comes about as a villain stand user but then he is another one of the townspeople (stand users) that end up on the look out for yoshikage kira. Also hazamada kind of leads the viewer and koichi to a very important character, Rohan Kishibe, who ends up being a part of the main character gang (jotaro, josuke, okuyasu, and koichi).

I don't think I'd go so far as to say that the first half was "episodic". It was world building and character introductions for the most part. Certain episodes were, in the grand scheme of Part 4, unnecessary information. Tonio Trussardi probably being the best example. He at first was led to make the viewer and protagonist believe he was a villain but it turned out he was just a dude trying to use his stand for good. It developed the world of Jojo even further showing that not all stand users outside of the main cast were out to further their own selfish goals. But if you skipped that episode you wouldn't be missing any key information either. This episode was episodic in that sense. But only that episode. Every other episode where in a new character is introduced bears some weight to the over all plot because they help out in some way or another to either aid or hinder Kira's plans. The information conveyed in these episodes, however little it may be, is important in some regard. Not all of it is absolutely necessary but it's not filler either.

Never miss an jojo episode

part 4 needs more love

One of my favorite things about Kira is how while his stand is duelling Jotaro and Koichi he is sitting at a cafe ordering an espresso. What a Chad.

What do you think of kekkai sensen kinda similar I guess in story telling?

I think this also applies to the final battle of Part 4; all the episodic fights that may seem filler, culminate into Josuke everything he learned throughout his Journey to defeat Kira.

Golden Wind's getting dubbed and now a Diamond is Unbreakable video 🔥🔥🔥

This structure was great executed on Slam Dunk manga. The editor realize to do switch progression after character well-introduced to be well-developed

This video made me realize that my top 3 favorite anime are all both episodic and serialized story telling. Gintama, Jojo, and Saiki.

7:55 well episode 1 of part 1 is reaaaally good too as a piece of storytelling

It's also reflected in the final fight. Josuke use the tricks he learned hunting rat, escaping from Highway Star and so on. Kira (and this is what make it really good) ALSO use tricks he learned when he evaded the Joestar, like with stray cat. This is what make the kind of deus ex end of Part 5 somewhat unsatisfying, they mostly win thank to a big power up and only the loss endured stop it from being empty (along with David pro making a good job at adapting it).

7:59 never realized mikitaka, yuya, terunosuke and kira were all shown there

That was a good twist with the Cinderella shop. But to be clear, the vast majority of DiU is still worthless to the overarching plot. DiU can definitely be criticized the same way that you criticized Flash. I favor serialized stories, and I got bored out of my mind by how unrewarding the rest of the sideplots were. 1. Okuyasu's dad's condition 2. Joseph and Tomoko teased meeting 3. Josuke's hair backstory 4. Alien guy and other minor characters 5. Kira developing feelings for Shinobu 6. The invisibaby These plot threads actually give you the feeling that something important is going to come from them, so it is doubly frustrating when you get blueballed.

This also is the case for Goatama

For me Diamond is Unbreakable is the best animated part yet. For several reasons I am lazy to elaborate now.

I’m not gonna meme on you calling Jotaro his grandpa’s name, easy mistake. Great video.

"What type of show is capable of existing in the middle of these two structures?" TWIN PEAKS!

Hi Kato.. I wanted to rewatch one of your older video.. "Was Ozai a Good Villain?" that was tacken down. Can you give me a link to see it? even not on youtube.. I will realy appreciate that.

Are there any other examples of this elegant storytelling in part 4?

Teen Titans reference? In my JoJo video? NICEU!

I truly like serial-episodics series but I wouldn't call part 4 structure genius though. It jumps between monster of the week, to slice of life, then serial, then monster of the week again and then serial. I know it's Jojo and weird fights are what we all like, but tying them to the plot makes them more interesting. Though I didn't exactly dislike Kira's father monster-of-the-week fights, I don't think it was necessary at that point (except Stray Cat of course).

Anyone gonna talk about Doctor Who? Here come the drums.

Kato have you looked into Excel Saga?

Tha happend to me with supernatural, I started watching only the final 5 to 10 minutes of the monster of the day episodes.

3:30 adventure time has a plot, the first 2 seasons are just pop in i think but after that i does become a lot more complex, its a good show either way

Golden Wind, I'd say, is a binge-friendly JoJo Part.

yoshikage Kira sure is a smart villain

That doesn't cancel the nearly 15 episodes of nearly total-inconsequencies in my opinion.

My therapist: The Black screen to be continued dosen't exist, it can't hurt you Black Screen TBC:

Probably could have been a shorter video since the point was just "hey, those seemingly episodic episodes had some impact in the larger overall narrative, and thats cool" but good vid

Now this, this is ebic

Kato: *talks about episodic shows* Also Kato: *shows Adventure Time* A rookie mistake

I mean yeah, this one example is nice. And Shigech and Rohan also come back into play for the main plot. But there’s a lot of examples of episodes that don’t, and that’s the frustrating thing about part 4 for me. The slice of life stuff just doesn’t do it for me, but I know I’m in the minority on that

there are a lot of slice of life animes and ovas like diamond is unbreakable but man.... jojos bizarre adventure nailed it so well

Hold the phone, where did you get the uncensored version of jojo?? I have been looking for that literally everywhere.. Crunchyroll censors blood and gore, which kinda bothers me coz i feel like im missing out on something...

Okay, now where is the one person to comment Kira's long monologue

But how did Kira know about the salon tho?

My Favorite Anime Part.

Be real, part 4 has jack shit in terms of an overall narative. It's basically just a mix of cool stand fights thrown in randomly with Kira there to act as a final boss for actually no reason. Don't get me wrong, DiU is great as a form of media and well above average. But as a JoJo part? It's the weakest for sure.

Did he just say jojo's target audience is 12-19 *12*

"Kira Yoshikage is an normal dude" Yeah remember this KIRA YOSHIKAGE guy , like totally normal dude , just wanted a quiet life you know

Killer Queen has already touched that like button *click*

Yeah episode 24 is godlike

The video was good but the low framerate is quite distracting to me, 24 or 30fps is fine but this felt like 10 maybe.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine would also fit. Also a JoJo video! Is this a JoJo reference?

I think this could also apply to a show like gravity falls

star trek does this too

Another tv show that has a great balance of serialized and episodic is Avatar the last Airbender. It is probably the best example of how well it can be done.

4:53 "kira yoshikage is a normal dude" NORMAL? are you serious?

JoJo's analysis begins 4:25 lol

Kira is a realistic villian. That's what I liked about part 4. He was also competent. He was not a villain that has a stand that uses time like in Part 3, 5, and 6 and makes them overpowered.