I think I get what you are hinting at
Spoiler
It’s mark isn’t it?
I finished reading Steel Ball Run (Part 7) today. Did anybody else feel completely unsatisfied with that ending? Seriously, that ending was straight up ass and I’m really disappointed with it. The beginning was so strong with well executed story elements as well as keeping things feel like a JoJo manga, but as it transitioned into the main storyline it started to falter. Then the build up to the climax was absolutely amazing but the climax itself was incredibly anti-climatic. The denouement was soooooo bad and undermined many things established at the beginning.
Steel Ball Run is about the journey, not the destination.
I marathoned steel ball run a week ago and I felt the same way. The whole story felt really good then once I got to D4C, i got confused then once i reached the last parts I just felt disappointed.
Jojo 13 was great. Wonderful fight. Not too much censoring. I can’t wait for the uncut Blurays.
*What didn’t you like about how things wrapped up? I’m intrigued. *
Steel Ball Run
[details=Spoiler]The ending seemed rush to me, as the after math was briefly done and didn’t really tie things up nicely. It left several loose ends and you don’t get a good sense of closure. Here’s some of the personal issues I had with the last volume.
The fated showdown between Dio and Johnny that was foreshadowed throughout the manga ended up anti-climatic, in my opinion. I don’t think most people were satisfied with Dio outsmarting Johnny in the battle and winning the race. I felt doing that undermined some of the actions Johnny took during the course of the race.There was history between those two characters that created a really important rivalry and conflict, which was further enhanced knowing the history of the Joestar family and Dio (despite being an alternate universe). As the reader, you felt compelled by these two characters so when it came to the final showdown you naturally want to see Johnny win. It would bring about a sense of closure to the trials and tribulations Johnny went through during the race - the determination he had to obtain the corpse, the reconciliation he had with his father, regaining his ability to walk, defeating Valetine and finally obtaining the corpse but only at the cost of Gyro’s life. All of that felt it was like undone when Dio stole the corpse, outsmarted Johnny at the end, AND won the race. It just leaves an incredibly bitter taste.
The after math with Gyro was also a bit unsatisfactory. They didn’t dwell on his death too much and they kind of screwed him over with his family moving to a different country and the kid he wanted to save ended up dying from a cold later on.
Pocoloco’s character was never really explained in any detail and there’s several questions surrounding his character. Sure he was a minor character but not doing anything with him during the after math just makes him a throw away character.
There’s several other details that are left unexplained or are briefly skimmed over so I can’t help but feel unsatisfied with the way things ended.[/details]
They actually going to do that or is this just fan wishing? I hated how they “darkened” all the more violent aspects, which seems to be one of the key things the Manga loves to portray. I’d love to see these uncut.
Well it’s wishing on my part anyway. I don’t see why they wouldn’t.
*I really like this post! *
However I disagree
[details=Spoiler] It’s funny how you mention that it was a fated showdown between Dio and Johnny at the end. I felt that it was tacked on to preserve that Dio is and will always be a pretty big player in any JoJo universe. I felt it was a neat trick to tie into Valentine doing whatever he could to preserve that America would be safe in the coming decades and utilizing the old adage “The enemy of my enemy is my friend” entrusting alternate Diego to try and defeat Johnny. It’s was a nice little spice for Valentine last ditch effort being to entrust Dio a person who tried to kill for the corpse parts and disliked Johnny as much as he had in that moment to be the savior, the last resort to not just secure the future prospects of america but to undermine Johnnys efforts.
With that being said I really liked that Dio won. In the grand scheme of things while yes Johnny was after the corpse parts the entire manga, his real purpose was trying to walk. Not just physically but spiritually as a character, as a person. He goes from a fuck up, to a rich jerk, to a physically impaired person outcasted by his family and society in the beginning of the story. Experiencing loss after loss and becoming a bitter person because of these experiences yet he still has hope, a dedication to improve himself. His losing to Dio was his final trial of character it was to display just how much he grown from the person we’re introduced to into the person he became. *
*By losing to Dio (just like Johnathan ultimately lost to Dio in the main universe) he is given a chance to show how he handles loss after the experience and guidance he gained from his journey with Gyro. Before whereas Johnny would have blamed himself for Gyros death (who had grown to become like a surrogate brother) because of his inability to help him from dying instead he uses everything he learned from Gyro to continue fighting on. Whereas before Johnny would have caved into Valentines “deal” to bring everyones alternate self back to life because of his severe grievance and wanting everything to be “right” again he refutes the deal. Where before him losing to Dio and subsequently losing the corpse parts, not coming in the the top 5 of the race and being left for dead would have wrecked him emotionally and mentally he stands tall, strong and proud in the end. In showing him experiencing all of these things and STILL finishing the race (coming in as one of the last people to finish), returning Gyros body and using Gyros laugh we see a character who has grown and is now able to stand on his own without a wheelchair and without the emotional crutch that Gyro was for him. *
*I agree that I wish Araki said more about the time Johnny spent with the Zeppeli family and whatnot but even then I got a minimalistic feeling from it. The kid dies (as everyone must do someday), the zeppeli family escapes the king being overthrown and moves and Johnny gets married. In the end life goes on. Just like Johnny moves on from his experiences at the Steel Ball Run race so do does everyone elses life continues. Even though it’s a manga where we have these super powered beings fighting each other for scattered remains of Jesus Christ we get a simplistic and understated ending of “and the world turns”. *
*Pocoloco who I really wanted to see more of was unfortunately just used as a plot device to push the idea of a “luck based stand” to the reader. It’s why Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap: Love train was able to come off as not so farfetched even in the world of JoJo: Chekovs gun in the form of a Luck altering stand. Heck I would have loved to see more stuff gone into detail with Lucy and Stephen Steel after the race or the “terroists” that Oyecomova belonged to that ultimately overthrew the king but even I have to just accept it. [/details]
*
I still think the SBR ending was better played out from the Stone Ocean one. I mean, double you tee eff…
One thing I do like about SBR’s ending…
[details=Spoiler] Lucy saved the day by throwing Dio’s severed head at Dio. Where else but JJBA can that sentence make sense?
If anyone deserved to win the day, that wasn’t Johnny, it was Lucy. She went through so much crap in the story. She also racked up (directly or indirectly) quite a body count. She filled that one rain controlling agent with bullets, took out the first lady, slashed the neck of one instance of Valentine, took out several guards trying to abduct her, and exploded Dio’s head with another Dio’s head. All to save Steven.
If ever a character positively reflected “stand by your man” it’d be her. [/details]
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Bad Pun
Spoiler
So, Lucy was Steven’s stand, and turned out to be the strongest stand in SBR? :lol:
WHY DID I CLICK THAT?!
Steel Ball run spoilers
[details=Spoiler] I liked the ending. Dio winning felt like a last hurrah for the character, who in one way or another was always present throughout the entire series, and who by the looks of it won’t have an impact on the manga after that point (the only exception is if he has a descendant pop up in JoJolion or something). It was also a nice callback to their original versions, at least Johnny lived this time. I can understand why a person may not like seeing the villain win though.
It was also never really Johnny’s goal to win the race, he wanted to walk at first (which he accomplishes), wanted to earn his father’s love (also accomplished) and he wanted to collect the corpse parts. It was Gyro who wanted to win in order to free the boy, and despite not winning (due to death) he accomplished his main goal. Actually a lot of people accomplished a major goal in the story. Valentine kept the corpse out of foreign hands. Diego managed to win the race (sure he was disqualified but he didn’t know that). Poccoloco actually won. Lucy was able to protect Steven and took out the bad guy, Steven had a huge success in the race etc.
The only real downers were in my eyes were Gyro’s death (but as a Zeppelli I always knew there was a large chance of that happening) and the boy’s death, but Gyro’s main purpose was to serve justice, as he felt the boy didn’t deserve to be punished, and he did accomplish the serving of justice, as the boy did get a little extra time, and was acquitted. It still is a bit of a downer but i’ve grown to appreciate the irony of it. [/details]
Uhg, well there goes my drive to finish for a while.
Sorry about that, I noticed right after it posted, tried to fix it, but Shoryuken stopped working for me right at that moment. Sorry to anyone I spoiled.
Hey it’s cool dude, SRK been all kinds of fucked up for a while now. I haven’t read Steel Ball Run but I’m also smart enough to recognize broken spoiler tags in the middle of a SBR conversation and evert my gaze.Just wanted to make sure you knew your tags didn’t work.
Yeah this site is all jacked up. I can’t even access my favorites from tapatalk at the moment. Also spoilers that have a little title to them don’t work right, in Tapatalk.
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