REVIEW: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure - Stone Ocean

Stone Ocean Part 1 is a promising start to a highly anticipated entry in the franchise

After a seemingly never-ending wait, the next part of JoJo is finally here

Stone Ocean's first twelve episodes released on December 1st exclusively on Netflix.

Three years have passed since the release of "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 5: Golden Wind" and fans were getting noticeably antsy for more of the legendary shounen saga created by Hirohiko Araki. 

Fast forward a few months, and we finally have brand new episodes to binge. Though the production has shifted a bit in terms of the staff overseeing it, as the franchise seems to have made its new home on Netflix, David Production, the studio behind the past seasons of the anime, has stayed the same.

Jolyne's stand, Stone Free.

Covering a brand new part in the series, Stone Ocean focuses on Jolyne Cujoh, the daughter of Jotaro Kujo who starred in his own anime back in 2015. 

Stone Ocean kicks off to an immediately engaging start, as she is involved in a car accident that results in a lengthy prison sentence. There, she meets other prisoners and potential allies, Ermes Costello and F.F.

Almost immediately into the first episode, Jolyne acquires her "stand," which as long term fans know, is the current power system that the JoJo series uses. 

For the uninitiated, a stand is simply a manifestation of the user's spirit. It embodies their personality and serves as their gateway into the hidden world of other stand users. 

Stone Ocean isn't too different from previous entries in the series. It's a battle anime at its core, delivering some of the most entertaining and bizarre fights in anime history, and it's nice to see that some things never change.

However, while the core storytelling components of the series remains unchanged, Stone Ocean deviates slightly, showcasing some of the most bizarre fights the franchise has seen yet. 

We've seen some truly bizarre stands before. Stands that are literal electrical pylons, stands that embed themselves in food and heal you, and even a stand that steals an enemy's stand if they lose to the user in a best of three game of rock-paper-scissors. And yet, Stone Ocean finds new ways to get even more bizarre.

Already, we've been exposed to a weird two-in-one fight, where the characters thought they were fighting one stand, but were actually being trapped by another stand, which is then revealed to actually be the first stand they were fighting, but the first stand fight actually didn't happen and was all a dream. Weird stuff.

As someone familiar with the source material, Stone Ocean has a lot more to offer in the department of oddity, but the initial glimpse viewers are given is a good metric for determining how the other fights in the part will play out.

The animation, as always with David Production, is stellar. The time between Part 5 and 6 was longer than any other waiting period between parts, but it's clear that the extra time paid off, as Part 6 looks amazing. Though I do have one gripe with the animation.

With the advent of new technology being integrated into the medium of animation, we've seen the rise of CGI in anime, a traditionally two-dimensional art form. Some anime, like "Dorohedoro" and "Lupin the Third: The First" have pulled off the look, but those works are purely CGI, with very little traditional 2D animation being integrated at all. 

However, as one might expect, CGI does not mesh well with 2D animation. Part 6 is the first part to extensively feature CGI in it, and while I believe it serves a purpose in the long term run of the show, the CGI itself is off to a rocky start. Sometimes, it works. It can mesh well with the characters and environments, and even elevates a few fights. Most of the time though, it's noticeable and off-putting.

Specifically, its presence in some of the later fights, where most of the sets and characters are 2D, is incredibly noticeable. In my experience watching these fights, I've found that the bad CGI can break immersion. Anything that makes you pause to question the production choices in the middle of a tense fight, where your undivided attention is required, isn't optimal. But I digress.

Other than some mediocre CGI implementation, Stone Ocean does little wrong. The new voice cast is incredible, and based on early interviews done for promotion of the anime, it seems that all of them are incredibly passionate about their roles, with Fairouz Ai, the voice actress for Jolyne, citing that her love for JoJo's spurred her interest in voice acting in general. In the end, her passion paid off immensely.

I'm optimistic that the series will carry momentum throughout its entire run, with promising fights later on, some amazing character development, and an unbelievably thrilling conclusion. 

Rating: 8/10