Summary
Hirohiko Araki’sJoJo’s Bizarre Adventureis categorically a work of art: a genre-defining shōnen/seinen whose wide net has captured influences like high fashion, classical statuary, hair metal, and theoretical physics. Since part 3,Stardust Crusaders,battles are fought with Stands, unique manifestations of the user’s energy. Hurting a Stand hurts its user, and generally only Stand users can see other Stands. However, those without Stands can still be affected by them.
Unfortunately, like many good works of art, it’s not always easy to know what the artist intends. Other times, it’s perfectly clear, but what they intend doesn’t make sense — the possible fault of both the writer and the reader.These Stands are complex, and they’re responsible for more questions and plothole accusations than any others.
10 Scariest Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Stands That Are an Absolute Nightmare in Battle
While the series has memorable Stands that range from adorable to majestic, it also has some truly terrifying ones that act as nightmare fuel.
Chapter #148, “C-MOON, Part 8”
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Episode 36, “Made in Heaven, Part 1”
Made in Heavenbrings an end to the originalJojo’s Bizarre Adventureuniverse. Pucci’s initial stand, Whitesnake, evolves into C-MOON after Pucci fuses with the Green Baby. A careful ritual prescribed by DIO transforms C-MOON into Made in Heaven, with universal control over gravity alongside impeccable speed. Gravity figures into Made in Heaven’s time manipulation, drastically accelerating everything except for biological processes. His intent is to reach a singularity point, “Heaven”, wherefate is written subconsciouslyin the souls of all who survived the acceleration.
A major question about Made in Heaven is how DIO discovered its ritual. Despite many fan theories,it’s never been officially explained. Others wonder about the fate of characters like Josuke. From Araki’s description, they’d be in the same universe as Emporio, unless they died before or during time acceleration. Finally, people wonder whetherSteel Ball Run’s universe is Pucci’s new universe.The JOJOLandsdid fuel speculationby introducing a carbon copy ofDiamond is Unbreakable’s Rohan Kishibe, but the question hasn’t been definitively answered.
Episode 33, “His Name is Diavolo”
After Polnareff desperately pierces Silver Chariot with a Stand Arrow, it becomesChariot Requiem: an autonomous Stand visible to non-Stand users, with immense strength and durability. The arrow reacted to Polnareff’s immediate desire to keep it from Diavolo,making Chariot Requiem’s entire mission to protect it. Most importantly, Chariot Requiem has power over souls, swapping the souls of living creatures indiscriminately. Stands are attached to the souls of their users, so they move too, becoming stronger and sometimes turning against them.
If the body possessing a soul dies, the soul will die too. In these cases, the original soul can reclaim its body, but only if the body is still livable.
The Stand is almost invincible, and will only grow stronger. It has a weakness, though. Diavolo notices that Chariot Requiem’s shadow follows him. He intuits thatthe shadow is the soul of the observer. Since the shadow is always in front of Chariot Requiem, he determines there must be a psychic light source behind his head manifesting it. Once Diavolo destroys the light, Chariot Requiem is defeated.
Chapter #103, “Three Men in the Hospital”
Episode 25, “Bohemian Rhapsody, Part 1”
Bohemian Rhapsodytakes fictional characters out of media and brings them to life (creating a potential copyright nightmare forJojo) with their power relative to the creativity that went into the original work. When someone meets a character they like, their soul is extracted from their body (as seen with Anasui above) andforced to live the character’s role. Since it’s already been written, the soul cannot change the story or retaliate against the character.
This extraction is almost imperceptible to the body, which continues to act normally. Bohemian Rhapsody itself doesn’t have a body; it’s a global phenomenon with no center, making it difficult to fight it and impossible to find its user. The stand is only defeated whenWeather Report and Van Gogh collaborate to create a fictional characterwhose purpose is to put the other characters back in their stories.
Toru
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Chapter #84, “The Wonder of You (The Miracle of Your Love), Part 1”
Wonder of Uis a sentient stand and a manifestation of the “natural law of calamity.” It disguises itself as a human called Satoru Akefu, director of TG Hospital, and brings calamity toanybody who looks at its human form’s back. It can reactivate this power when pursuing a threat. Calamity is misfortune contingent on a target’s actions and whereabouts. Wonder of U can infuse calamity into objects too, and also summon a kind of rock insect called Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da.
When not targeted, calamity is karmically proportionate: better-behaved people suffer less. Calamity can also be ruthless and brutal. It targets those who pursue it and Toru, and in so doing, protects Toru’sLocacaca Organization. Since it’s the manifestation of a natural law, Wonder of U stays until defeated, even if Toru dies. Josuke eventually discovers that the only way to beat the Stand is tobeat calamity itselfwithSoft & Wet: Go Beyond, bubbles that don’t technically exist and aren’t tethered by natural laws.
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: 10 Best JoJo Villains
The villains of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure are all strong and entertaining, but which ones stand out in this flamboyant crowd?
Chapter #62, “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap”
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap(D4C) is a dialogue with multiverse ideas first emerging inStone Ocean, allowing Funny Valentine to dimension hop. He does so byclosing himself between two objects, creating a portal. Whenever badly injured, he can swap himself out with the Funny Valentine of another dimension and transfer his Stand to the new one. He can also summon Standless copies of himself for combat.
After Lucy integrates the Corpse Parts, D4C is supported by Love Train, an ability tethered to Lucy’s body. It provides Funny Valentine with a parallel dimension bounded by vertical light rays. There, any misfortune is redirected. Attempts to hurt Valentine becomea punishment for someone else on Earth. Only things capable of crossing dimensions, like Gyro’s Ball Breaker, are able to defeat Valentine.
Episode 20, “The Boss’s Last Orders”
Diavolo’sKing Crimsonis the butt of jokes in theJoJocommunity thanks to an early translation rendering it incomprehensible. King Crimson is intuitive, though. Start by imagining three points in linear time:A,B, andC. Given starting pointAand endpointC,King Crimson works with what happens inB. King Crimson is capable of making it likeBnever happened to anyone except itself and its user.
In this way,it erases time, and everyone else goes straight fromAtoC. Meanwhile, because this time is treated as a void yet he knows the chain of events that would have happened (visualized through its sub-power, called Epitaph), it’s easy to set up a retaliatory blow during the erased time. It’s worth noting, though, that during this (non-)time, King Crimson can’t interact with anything.
Another way of explaining King Crimson’s power is that it can erase the relationship between cause and effect. Giorno’s Stand final form, instead, has the opposite power.
Chapter #4, “The Man with the Star Birthmark”
Episode 1, “A Man Possessed by an Evil Spirit”
It’s strange to placeHermit Purple, seemingly one of the simplest Stands, just after King Crimson, the Platonic Ideal of “Confusing JoJo Stand.” In Hermit Purple’s case, it isn’t confusing in terms of what itcando,but what itcan’t. As a support, Hermit Purple is limitless, capable of divining any worldly information and hijacking technology of all kinds. On one occasion, it’s used to draw a map in the sand; on another, it overrides a failing plane’s systems.
It’s also more physically useful than it gets credit for: it can become a rope for climbs and descents, coil around enemies, and conduct Hamon - very noteworthy if one looks at Hamon’s potential inPhantom BloodandBattle Tendency. If Joseph had kept up his Hamon, Hermit Purplecould have been physically devastating. Hermit Purple is already the subject of “Araki forgot” scrutiny over when it’s used or not. Clearly defined limits or rules would have gone a long way towards narrative coherence.
Chapter #24, “Ermes’s Sticker, Part 4”
Episode 10, “Operation Savage Garden (Head to the Courtyard!), Part 1”
Burning Down the Houseis a pivotal Stand inStone Ocean. Several rooms burned up long ago in Green Dolphin Prison, and Emporio is able to use theghosts of things that were burned. This includes the ghost of a music room, accessed by an entrance only visible to Stand users.
This room is where Emporio lives in secret. This room is not only where the main gang of Stone Ocean gather and organize, but where Emporiotraps Pucci in the middle of the universe reset, interrupting Made in Heaven using Weather Report’s Stand DISC. This prevents the singularity and stamps out Pucci’s Heaven.
Episode 29, “Under World”
Weather Report’s Stand powers are limited to fine-grained control of the weather and the atmosphere. Although it looks like many distinct powers, their diversity mostly arises from thecreative use of basic weather principles, like the protective cloud suit in chapter #44. The confusion mostly arises after Donatello Versus unearths and returns his memories. A newly misanthropic Weather Report then unconsciously activatesHeavy Weather, an automatic ability that manipulates the ozone layer.
Heavy Weather is a sterling example of how Araki creatively combines diverging ideas, but for some, it’s so strange it doesn’t click. Bychanging the refraction angle of solar rays, it makes rainbows. Touching the rainbows causes living creatures to subliminally perceive themselves as snails and transform their bodies irreversibly. Snails asexually reproduce, and the snail count fast grows into an existential threat. The Stand only abates when Weather Report is killed by Pucci, reverting those who had only partially transformed.
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Episode 37, “King of Kings”
The fifthJoJogains overwhelming power after his Stand is pierced by the Stand Arrow,becoming the strongest Jojo. In addition to greater strength and speed, the Stand gains the ability Revert to Zero, which nullifies any actions directed against Giorno. This is famously used todefeat Diavolo by putting him in a death loop, a major point of confusion. There’s no official confirmation of the death loop mechanics. However, context provides one explanation that could line up with the body/soul mechanics already explored with Bucciarati, Chariot Requiem, and Polnareff earlier in the part.
Gold Experience already displayed incoherent powers before its evolution, with its “life-giving” ability doing essentially whatever the plot needed it to do.
InGolden Windchapters #148 and #149, it’s repeated that Diavolo will never return to “reality” or experience the “truth of death." Therefore, it’sdoubtful that the dying scenarios really happen. It’s possible that, instead, Revert to Zero traps Diavolo’s soul in his erased time outside reality to infinitely experience dying, while his physical body is killed by Giorno. His soul outside time could be the life Trish senses, and also plausibly be unaffected by his bodily death. Ultimately, though, this is only one interpretation of an opaque scenario.
Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is a Japanese multimedia franchise created by Hirohiko Araki. It follows the adventures of the Joestar family, spanning generations, each with unique abilities and battling supernatural enemies. Known for its eccentric characters, distinctive art style, and creative battles, it includes manga, anime, games, and merchandise.
