Plot Summary of Part 2

My Personal Thoughts on Part 2 Overall

Part 2 remains a personal favorite throughout my time with Jojo's, and that kind of comes as a shock to me. Over time, my love for it has been overtaken by my love for other parts, but this does not mean it is any less loved.

While still similarly a story about the consequences of Dio's actions, Battle Tendency feels so seperate from it, to me. This might just be that the Pillarmen are so literally stronger than Dio that it's hard to fathom them as a consequence, especially since they were predicted to wake up. It feels more like Dio is a consequence of them.

Regardless, I really enjoy Part 2. Aspects of it still have me crying like a little baby, even almost a whole year later. I think of Caesar and I feel physically ill. I think of the Pillarmen and feel ill. I think of anything and feel ill. Good time.

The villains of Part 2, the Pillarmen, remain my favorite aspect of the story. They are my favorite villains within Jojo's overall. I really love them as a different "take" on vampires, and have a LOT of thoughts surrounding them, which can be read later on in this page. Yay vampires!

The Nazi Problem

My praise of Part 2 is not without criticisms. The choice of choosing to write a story that takes place during WWII is always tricky, and I don't think Part 2 clears the bar.

First, of course, there's Stroheim. He perturbs me for a variety of reasons, most notably being the fact that he is someone Joseph teams up with. His respect for Stroheim notwithstanding, the fact Stroheim is as such treated as a protagonist pisses me off. Don't even get me started on how the fandom absolutely rides his dick for being "funny". The other thing that bothers me about Stroheim is that I can't help but think of all of the experimental technology that later come to make up Stroheim's body, and I feel ill. The kind of people that would have had that sort of experimental tech 'trial run' on them would have been the same people put in camps. I hate it.

Of course, there's also the problem of Caesar, He is, for all intents and purposes, at least a Nazi sympathizer, and this is like... really hard for me to wrap my head around. Being friends with German Nazi's as an Italian in WWII, when Italy can largely be credited for "inventing" fascism is an unsurprising and yet still bad look. I don't really think that it was intended by Araki to make Caesar appear as a Nazi sympathizer, so I try not to read into this angle too much, but it nonetheless sits in the back of my mind.

This, ultimately, becomes my main gripe with Part 2, and is why I can't confidently refer to Part 2 as my favorite. It's impossible for me to ignore the Nazis being treated like protagonists throughout the story.

My Thoughts on the Manga

I think the manga overall remains my favorite way to experience part 2. The fights feel frenetic and action-packed, the pacing is stellar, and my GOD the colors. Genuinly i am so obsessed with the colors of part 2. They are so vibrant and bold the whole time, it's so fun and enjoyable. Araki's art style remains pretty similar to the art style of Part 1, though I think he draws muscles MORE detailed than in the prior part? Which is interesting! It makes a lot of sense considering part 2 is largely about strength and overcoming weakness and all that stuff, which I talk about more when actually discussing the themes. I really like the manga. Genuinely one of my favorite parts.

The paneling of part 2 is also really interesting, because the stuff that isn't directly related to a fight looks so small and silly. Joseph and Caesar have panels where they constantly look so fucking goofy, it's really endearing. I think the fact that Araki was a different artist then than he is in later parts means that you get more silly facial expressions out of characters, which gets kind of lost in later parts (not completely though... he still does many a silly face). I am just particularly fond of how silly and dumb Caesar looks in a lot of panels.

My Thoughts on the Anime

I like it a lot! The color choices for the pillarmen are.... strange, to say the least. I don't really like the color choices for Santana or Wham (why is.... why is Wham blond ????) but as an adaptation of the manga it does a bang-up job. It's well-paced and enjoyable to watch from start to finish. I am quite the fan of the anime just because it is very well-done. I still wish Stroheim wasn't there. In either of them. I hate that guy so fucking much. Regardless, I think the English dub of part 2 is... interesting? It's what I watched with my friend (I will watch the sub with my other friend and most definitely will enjoy it more), and most of what I have to say is that everyone sounds so fucking annoying but Joseph's voice is so fucking perfect because he sounds like an annoying spoiled brat. I also like what Joseph and Caesar look like in the anime... Caesar looks so pretty especially.

Obligatory Bloody Stream mention... genuinely the best opening in the entire series and one of the best ever.... not only does it sound good both with lyrics and as an instrumental, but the animation, MY GOD, THE ANIMATION. The colors are so bold and vibrant it's such a beautiful opening. I love Bloody Stream thank you Coda.

Themes of Part 2

One thing that really strikes me about part 2, and the pillarmen overall, is how adament they are that life is something short and precious. All of them regard humans with general disinterest, but still continue to tell them that life is short and not to be squandered. Kars especially seems to be fond of things that are short-lived, protecting a puppy, ricocheting himself around the bottom of a cliff to not crush flowers, using his power as the ultimate lifeform to create a squirrel and butterfly (even if they were like... evil. I think it counts). The Pillarmen are constantly searching for an eternal life without weakness, but they acknowledge that the weaknesses of fragile things that die is not necessarily inferior. It's really interesting, in part because it means that it's hard for me to view the Pillarmen as wholly villains. They are animals (much like humans) at the top of the food chain, so to speak. That humanity deems something above them to be dangerous is interesting, and I think that's where part 2 really shines to me. Ultimately, part 2 is about striving towards goals, but I think the existence of perfection being something better than humanity that humans fear is so very interesting.

Pillarmen as an adaptation of vampires

The Pillarmen are interesting to me within part 2 because they are technically a kind of vampire, and yet they feel so wholly different. I think a large part of that, to me, comes from what the Pillarmen are representative of. Rather than being a representation of an evil of mankind, like most vampires (and monsters) are, the Pillarmen are simply a classic kind of horror monster. They represent not one of humanity's evils, but one of humanity's fears: that they are not the top of the food chain. Pillermen, as they are written, are apex predators. They would be at the actual top of the food chain if they were real, not humans, and I think that's what makes them interesting. The pillarmen become reflective not of evil, but of fear: they are humanity taken to the most extreme and arrogant. In some ways, they serve as a cautionary tale, and I think this is especially true because of how Joseph's fight with Kars ends. It does not end with ultimate triumph, Kars does not die, rather it is through sheer dumb luck that he was able to defeat the Pillarmen. Kars becomes representative of mankind's hubris and desire to overcome everything (Kars' desire to become immune to sunlight feeling akin to humanity's desire to become immune to the effects of climate change, for example). Ultimately, I think this leads to them being a very interesting vampire adaptation, simply because it feels very refreshing in many regards. I am quite fond of monsters as representations of fears.

Joseph Joestar

Caesar Zeppeli

Lisa Lisa

When I first read through part 2, Lisa Lisa was one of my favorites. I stand by this because I think she's really interesting, but my first thought when i saw her was that she was SUCH a fucking badass. I think this is still true, even though upon reread I realized she only fought maybe twice in the whole story. I just think fighting with a scarf made to channel hamon is so interesting and shen she does kill that one guy who can like phase through the door and turn into spikes it was SO COOL. Her just straight up lying to Kars about blowing up the red stone of Aja is super interesting too. She was so funny for that.

Lisa Lisa in part 2 is interesting to me because for all intents and purposes she is... kind of a terrible mother? Arguably she is a worse parent than Kars, completely leaving her child with no parent (even if Joseph had Erina and Speedwagon), ultimately becoming more of a mother to Caesar than to Joseph. I have to wonder if their relationship following Part 2 was particularly tense. I don't know if Joseph would hold a grudge, but Joseph did kill her father-figure, and there is the undeinable fact that Lisa Lisa only even entered Joseph's life because he was literally going to die if she didn't. The whole time she made no move to tell him this information either. What was her relationship with joseph after part 2.... like yeah joseph killed her basically-dad but does she have any right at all to be upset with him? i dont really think she does. does joseph resent her? idk its so interesting I think she's really interesting from this perspective, the fact that she is cool and badass but also not necessarily a great person makes her a very compelling character to me.

Robert E.O. Speedwagon

Erina Joestar

Granny Erina is so funny to me. She's kind of such an iconic grandmother too. She's like "Jojo stop beating people up needlessly. If you're going to beat up someone, make it that racist guy over there. Thanks dear." I genuinely love her in Part 2. I think her as a figure surrounded by grief is so interesting too. Joseph and Speedwagon both lying to her about what's going on with Joseph because they don't want to cause her more grief is so dear to me. Erina not only do you have to grieve your husband and your son, but also your daughter-in-law you thought died, and you nearly had to grieve Speedwagon and then did grieve Joseph (even if he ended up living). It makes me so sad to think about, the knowledge that Erina has only ever existed surrounded by grief at the hands of Dio. While every Joestar suffers because of Dio, I think Erina's suffering is one of the most tragic, because her suffering and grief is borne out of a genuinely love for Jonathan and her family. I don't think anyone ever gives her much thought, and I know for a fact that Jojo's fans almost never think of her after part 1, and I think that's a real shame. In part 2 she becomes a much more interesting figure for what she represents, that being the very devestating and immediate cost of Dio's actions, that her family has died and will always be haunted by this ghost, but that she has no means to protect them in the end. I love you Erina Joestar.

Stroheim

I hate him. He pisses me off. I wish he died for real. I saw an AMV of him to one of my favorite And One songs and that pisses me off also so I hope he extra dies for that.

Santana

Santana is interesting to me, in part because he is both the first Pillarman we see, and also the weakest, so to speak. Part of me wonders if his weakness is similar to Kars, especially because Santana is highly intellegent. All of the Pillarmen are, of course, but I find it of note that people comment on just how fast Santana picks up on language. Santana is also the most detached towards humanity overall, showing mostly disinterest in the nazis and is entirely unamused at Joseph's antics. It leads me to believe he's the most stoic out of the group, which I find endearing since he's also the youngest.

I think the fact that Santana is the youngest and weakest is also interesting, considering he was left behind by the others. I'm unsure how Santana himself felt about it, but I think that to the others it was a percieved act of kindness. Especially to Kars. More on that in his section.

Wham

Esidisi

Esidisi is like... a Looney Tunes character, to me. He matches Joseph's freak perfectly in part 2, by which I mean he's unhinged and doing slapstick skits with Joseph during their fight. It's honestly one of the most entertaining fights in the manga to me, simply because of the absurdity of it all.

Kars

Kars is SUCH a fake idgaf-er. He is the guy who cares the most in the entire damn manga.

In all seriousness though, I do think it would be fair to say Kars borders on caring too much. When Joseph taunted Kars about actually wanting to get revenge for Santana and Esidisi, I think he hit the nail on the head. Kars is shown multiple times throughout part 2 to do borderline crazy things because of just how much he cares. He makes that one guy crash a car to save a puppy, ricochets himself like a pinball aroound a cliff face to avoid squishing a flower, seems distressed at the fact Esidisi doesn't call him, and the first thing he creates when he becomes the ultimate lifeform is a squirrel and a butterfly, two things that to many would be considered harmless. I think that the way he talks about leaving Santana behind for being weak is interesting in this regard, because to me it makes it read like an act of trying to protect Santana. If Santana was not strong enough for their very dangerous mission, it makes sense that Kars would try and find a way to protect him as best he can. He's literally so Santana's dad.

I also find Kars interesting because of his obsession with becoming the best version of himself. It is, admittedly, a kind of very transgender narrative to fight to attain this thing that everyone else is keeping from you in order to attain a version of yourself you would be most happy with. The fact Kars transforms himself and gives himself wings to fly feels very symbolic in this regard, as wings and birds are often representations of freedom. Kars is finally freed from his limitations and is his most perfected self, and it makes me wonder how much he wishes his felllow Pillarmen got to experience it with him. I hope he got to experience at least a little joy, knowing he had achieved his most desired form.