Only took me a whole month.
Joining late to the party as usual, I think the conversation towards the quality and enjoyment of Stone Ocean has moved past the content and toward the delivery.
It seems to be the prevailing opinion that batch releases really ruin the pacing and I’m inclined to agree. The fact that I would have been even later to this post without having learned about Part 2 of Stone Ocean being released second-hand is testament to that.
Content-wise, Part 2 of Stone Ocean covered Limp Bizkit, Survivor, Planet Waves, Dragon’s Dream, Yo Yo Ma, Pucci’s Awakening, and Jailhouse Lock. My predictions from the first part’s review came true and we’ll be concluding the final remaining 12 episodes with DIO’s kids, Heavy Weather, C-Moon, and Made in Heaven.
Watching things in batches definitely moves things along really fast but man, Dragon’s Dream was as weird as I remember. The Survivor and Planet Waves fight is one of the more fondly remembered chapters from Part 6 and the combo of Dragon’s Dream, Yo Yo Ma, and the Green Baby stuff afterwards definitely bring things back into the weird Part 6 territory and we didn’t even mention Jailhouse Lock in that sequence of weird fights.
However, in-between the weirdness we did see the first of many deaths to come with Foo Fighters biting the dust and the confrontation between Jolyne and Pucci. Pucci being brainy with both of Whitesnake’s abilities to trick others with the illusion and the discs always made for interesting applications. I mentioned before how I think he’s one of the strongest things going for Stone Ocean and his extended appearance here is no exception.
I also need to correct a mistake I made in the first Stone Ocean post about Anasui’s voice actor, Yuuichi Nakamura already got himself cast as Buccellati years earlier. Speaking of Anasui, he comes off only a little less creepy but let’s not forget he’s still being pretty polite for a guy who rightfully sits in jail for dismantling people.
It’s a bit tough to describe this feeling in my gut that understands where the general complaint of batched releases killing an excitement waiting for each weekly episode. Between learning about Hermes’ sister and the tragedy of Foo Fighters’ death, experiencing the series in these strange intervals really does take something away. The strange this is that the flow of Part 6 definitely feels a bit more restrictive in its pacing that isn’t too friendly in a binging format. Since each arc builds towards the machinations of Pucci trying to obtain the Green Baby as well as Jolyne trying to survive institutionalization, Part 6’s structure is well-defined and makes use of its setting well but its standout fights are few and far between. While direct combat is still very much a thing, most of Stone Ocean’s puzzle like fights pale in comparison. Leave it to the most bloody fight thus far with Survivor and Planet Waves to bring back the visceral fighting that I tend to enjoy from Jojo.
Despite my justifications on why I find some parts of Stone Ocean admittedly weak, I feel like it absolutely picks up when Pucci becomes the focus again and while the three sons of DIO are another big source of weird, Heavy Weather and the ensuing finale with Pucci happen to be another high-point of the part. It’s something to look forward to while for comparison’s sake, Part 5 loses some steam in the second half of its story after Risotto Nero and Abbacchio’s death.
So I can totally agree with the pacing of the show being off on top of the batch release format exacerbating some of the weaker elements of Part 6’s pacing but at the very least I can promise anyone who somehow sat through my spoilers and still wanting to check the series out that something really good is coming.
Lair of the Idle 