Character of the Month: Joseph Joestar

Greetings, ladies and gentlemen!  The end of June is here and that means it’s time to reveal this month’s Character of the Month!  This month’s pick was really not that hard to choose given that I had a pretty well known show on my review table this month.  So, yeah, it seemed kind of ridiculous not to consider this guy.  Plus, even with a well known show on my hands, I still felt like a lot of what I reviewed was either lack-luster or something I pulled out at the last minute.  But part of that was due to a very busy and hectic summer.  This month’s pick was still worthwhile regardless, though.  Anyways, let’s get on to talking about June’s Character of the Month, Joseph Joestar from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, the Battle Tendency arc!

I’m going to assume that you all either know about Battle Tendency or that you’ve at least read my review on it because I’m going to skip the synopsis this time around and go straight to the point here.  I’ve said before that Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure is a unique franchise in that you really can’t review it as a whole.  Given that it’s an anthology, each arc has a different story, and with each new story, new characters are introduced.   So really, you have to break down each arc and review it and its contents separately.  That being said, Joseph Joestar is probably the best Jojo in the franchise.  Why?  Well, it’s solely for the fact that he’s so well developed.  I noted this in my review on Battle Tendency a few weeks back.  In comparing him to Jonathan Joestar in Phantom Blood over a year ago, Joseph Joestar started off as something of a delinquent who had to learn how to use his abilities properly. By arc end, he not only masters his abilities,  but he grows up a little.  Jonathan Joestar in Phantom Blood was painted as almost this all holy savior that was destined to have full control of this power the minute he learned about it (which was well into his adult life).  As a result, Jonathan’s journey in using hamon becomes dull and predictable and has no development to it that gives us any reason to be excited about it.  Plus, this whole destined perfect child bologna leaves him with zero character development.   In saying all of that, the point is that unlike Jonathan, we watch Joseph change and grow in both strength and character as Battle Tendency progresses.  Joseph still keeps the same rascal personality up until the end of the arc, but at least we can definitively say that he’s a different Jojo by then.  Now to be fair, I haven’t seen Stardust Crusaders or been introduced to Jotaro Kujo, both of which are popular and the most memorable facets of the franchise.  But based on what I’ve heard about Stardust Crusaders, Jotaro suffers from the same problem as having no development and being this chosen one for great power.  Again, this is going off of what I’ve heard.  But for now, I can say without a doubt in my mind that Joseph Joestar is probably the best Jojo in the franchise solely for the fact that he’s so well developed.  So strike a pose and hamon on, Joseph “Jojo” Joestar, cause you’re Hanime on Anime’s Character of the Month of June!

And so that wraps up this month’s posts.  July will be about the same, with a Talkative Thursday here or there.  However, as I stated earlier, this summer has been pretty busy, so a Talkative Thursday might not be guaranteed.  But like I always do, I’ll let you know if there’s one in the near future!  In the meantime, be sure to stay tuned next week for another new review!

-Hanime on Anime