Manga / JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable

Parts of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
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Spoilers for all parts of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure preceding this one, particularly Stardust Crusaders are unmarked. You Have Been Warned!

This is great!^note From left to right: Yukako, Tomoko, Ryohei, Rohan, Jotaro, Koichi, Josuke, and Okuyasu.

"Humans thrive on the destruction of others. But among them, there's you, and your power is the kindest, most generous ability one could ever have."

— Jotaro Kujo

Diamond is Unbreakable^note also known as "Diamond is not Crash", a common mistranslation that appeared on Japanese merchandise until 2013 (ダイヤモンドは砕けない) is the fourth part of the long-running JoJo's Bizarre Adventure saga. It is preceded by Stardust Crusaders and followed by Golden Wind. It ran on Shonen Jump between 1992 and 1995. Hirohiko Araki still considers Diamond is Unbreakable his Magnum Opus today, even compared to all the parts of JoJo written both before and after it.

Set in 1999, this Part stars the friendly, confident high school student Josuke Higashikata, the product of an extramarital affair between Joseph Joestar and a Japanese college student. Jotaro Kujo travels to the northeastern Japanese town of Morioh to track down Josuke in order to sort out his placement in the aging Joseph's will, as well as warn him of a dangerous Stand user Joseph foretold. After encountering this Stand user, Jotaro and Josuke learn that he obtained his Stand as the result of being struck with an ancient arrow fired from a bow used by a local high school student. Jotaro stays in town to find the bow and arrow, believed to be the source of the Joestar family's Stands, while Josuke encounters multiple Stand users created as a result of the arrow, including classmates Koichi Hirose and Okuyasu Nijimura and local famous manga author Rohan Kishibe.

After the bow and arrow is retrieved, and Josuke reunited with his father, the group learns from the earthbound ghost of a murder victim that there is a Stand-using serial killer loose in town. Josuke and his friends must find the murderer, Yoshikage Kira, before his murder spree continues, thwarted by several other Stand users created by a second bow and arrow.

An anime adaptation, once again handled by David Production aired from April to December 2016, spanning 39 episodes. An OVA of episode 5 of its spin-off, Thus Spoke Rohan Kishibe, is a bonus for those who buy the entire DVD set for Part 4. A live action film directed by Takashi Miike and starring Kento Yamazaki was released in 2017 to coincide with the franchise's 30th Anniversary. The English dub of the anime adaptation aired on Toonami on August 18, 2018.

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I'm gonna fix this manga and reduce it to its original tropes!

Tropes # to B

• 2D Visuals, 3D Effects:
  • Used for the buildings in the anime's ending credits, as well as the brief shot of Traffic (the boat that brings Joseph to Morioh).
  • Shigechi turns into this briefly while using Harvest to flee from Josuke and Okuyasu in his introductory arc. It goes by incredibly fast, but due to the fact that he's coming right at the camera, it's hard to miss it.
• 20 Minutes into the Future: From here until Stone Ocean. Began publication in 1992, takes place in 1999.
• Absurdly High-Stakes Game:
  • Rohan's fight with Ken Oyanagi is a game of Rock–Paper–Scissors; when Rohan loses a round, Boy II Man takes a third of his stand, which also allows Ken to weaken and control Rohan to make winning easier. If Ken wins three rounds he gets Rohan's stand, but if he loses three rounds, then the stand returns to its user. Unlike the Darby brothers in Stardust Crusaders, however, Ken's stand doesn't grant him any inherent advantage or has rules against cheating. Rohan wins by taking Shizuka from an unsuspecting Joseph and using Heaven's Door to make her invisible and make Ken's winning hand into a losing one.
  • After meeting the shapeshifting "alien" Mikitaka, Josuke has him change into a pair of dice so he can swindle Rohan. Unfortunately, Mikitaka has absolutely no sense of subtlety, so when Rohan rolls nothing but Snake-Eyes and Josuke rolls nothing but Boxcars, he realizes something is up. Rohan proceeds to chop his own pinky finger halfway off, saying that he'll let Josuke heal him if and only if he can't figure out the trick^note And he says that if Josuke stops cheating, he'll just finish hacking the finger off; on the other hand, if Rohan does figure it out, he'll chop off one of Josuke's fingers as punishment. In the end, Rohan accidentally sets fire to his house due to a misplaced magnifying glass, and in the confusion, Josuke heals his hand, grabs Mikitaka and runs, which (combined with the bill for repairing his house) just makes Rohan hate him even more.
• Accidental Public Confession: Hayato tries to assassinate Kira, but it fails due to sheer bad luck. Kira, in his gloating, slips out his name, and is overheard by Josuke.
• Action Bomb: Kira's Stand Killer Queen can turn any object, including humans, into a bomb.
• Actor Allusion:
  • For the anime, Takahiro Sakurai was cast as Rohan, who is a cold, aloof loner, whereas Toshiyuki Morikawa was cast as Kira, who haunted his past and murdered a woman near and dear to Rohan, motivating him to take down Kira for good. Said castings mirror that of arguably the actors' most famous roles, Cloud Strife and Sephiroth respectively.
  • In the dub, Okuyasu is voiced by Jalen K. Cassell, who also voiced Vanilla Ice in the Stardust Crusaders dub. Both are characters with powerful Stands that send objects and people to an unknown void.
  • Kappei Yamaguchi voicing Shigechi might be an allusion to his role as L from Death Note, as both stories are about murders commited by someone known as Kira.
  • Showtaro Morikubo was cast as the aspiring, eccentric guitarist, Akira Otoishi. This appears to be an homage to how Showtaro is a musician on the side, notably singing the credits music to Mega Man X5 (where he voiced X in the exact same game), and having a guitarist alter-ego known as Ediee Ironbunny.
• Adapted Out: The live-action movie removes Akira Otoishi and his Stand Red Hot Chili Pepper, meaning Keicho Nijimura dies at the hands of Killer Queen's Sheer Heart Attack instead. Since Koichi gets his Stand here, Tamami and The Lock are also absent.
• Adaptation Distillation: The live-action film only covers the events of the first two story arcs (Angelo and the Nijimura brothers), but adds in elements from later in the manga (see below) and removes any deeper references to Parts 1-3 (only the elements that are directly relevant to Josuke's story, like Jotaro's presence and the explanation of his heritage, come into play).
• Adaptational Early Appearance:
  • Yukako Yamagishi is present from the very beginning of the live-action movie, having been assigned by the teacher to help New Transfer Student Koichi get caught up and already showing Yandere traits towards him.
  • Also in the movie, Koichi develops his Stand powers during the battle against Bad Company; while Echoes Act 1 appears, it doesn't actually do anything other than distract Keicho for the few moments Josuke needs to enact his plan.
• Adaptation Expansion:
  • A few instances of Foreshadowing are added in the anime that hint at Kira's role as the Big Bad, and give many characters small cameos early on.
  • The anime also adds a new character Kai Harada who hosts the Morioh Town Radio show.
  • Episode "Another One Bites the Dust, Part 1" of the anime adds some extra scenes better explaining what's going on, such as showing what happened right after Kira was pierced by the arrow, something the manga more or less glosses over with just some exposition by Yoshihiro, as well as a scene where Hayato is told by Kira how Bites The Dust works in detail, complete with Kira gloating about having actually killed Hayato before Bites The Dust first activated, where in the manga he just figures that out by himself.
  • The final episode's ending includes a number of extra scenes showing off the supporting cast whereas in the manga, just a few text boxes told us that what happened to Okuyasu's dad and Shizuka. The anime even gives Toyohiro and Angelo some final cameos and shows that Okuyasu is trying to fix his dad through Pearl Jam's cuisine.
  • The anime also adds scenes that explain what Jotaro's doing during the chapters where he's not directly involved with the plot (investigating Kira's crimes and helping his elderly grandfather take care of a baby, apparently).
  • Because the live-action movie only covers the first couple of story arcs, it gives greater focus to characters who didn't last very long in the manga, like Angelo, Josuke's grandfather, and Keicho.
• Adaptation Explanation Extrication: The live action film removes any reference to the events of Stardust Crusaders. Nijimura Senior is still a mutant frog-beast, but with no mention whatsoever of DIO and his flesh buds, the only explanation given is Keicho suggesting it's punishment for him being a terrible person.
• Agony of the Feet: Shinobu approaching the newly-resurrected Stray Cat in her back garden prompts the flower-cat-thing to blast her big toenail off with its seeds. Yikes!
• Always Someone Better: Kira purposely invoked this trope during his childhood by purposefully coming in third place in many competitions just so there would be no attention drawn towards him.
• Amazon Chaser: Koichi falls in love with Yukako due to her forceful personality.
• Anyone Can Die: Has a much lower body count than usual, and none of the main protagonists die, but that still doesn't stop a few noteworthy characters (I.E. Shigechi and Aya, the former of whom had just been set up as a new member of the gang and friend of Josuke/Okuyasu) from getting killed. Even very few minor villains die (though that's NOT a good thing for some of them, such as Angelo and Terunosuke) and other minor characters as well as Big Bad Yoshikage Kira.
• Arrested for Heroism: Josuke stops a hostage situation with his Stand Crazy Diamond, but gets arrested because his recklessness endangered the hostage anyway and the policemen cannot see Stands.
• Art Evolution: This Part marked the transition to more realistic, slimmer proportions over the muscular character designs from Parts 1-3.
• Art Shift:
  • Araki's art style for this part and the franchise as a whole abruptly changes towards the end of the first half.
  • Episode 16 of the anime is noticeably drawn in a different style due to getting a different director; character models have thicker outlines and Jotaro and Josuke look closer to their early Part 4 designs (as in taller and bulkier).
  • The intros for this season are handled by david production in 2D animation like the rest of the series, instead of being handled by Kamikaze Douga in CGI.
• Ascended Meme: In the English dub, Okuyasu tells Koichi "I feel you deeply" in regards to Yukako, taken from a line from the infamous Duwang scans.
• Asshole Victim: Though it does not justify Yoshikage Kira's actions, a good number of his victims (with the notable exception of Reimi) are cruel, materialistic, and shallow women who use their looks to seduce naive men, and then "love them and leave them" for the next mark/sucker when they outlive their use as a walking ATM. He actually has a preference for killing such horrible women over decent ones, though he won't be as particularly picky if the "girlfriend" of the day has beautiful hands...
• Author Avatar: Rohan Kishibe is based on the author, but there are a couple of differences. For instance, Rohan despises Josuke, despite Araki stating that Josuke is his favorite character. Though apparently, Araki dislikes when fans are intimidated by him due to his similarities with the (actually frightening) Rohan Kishibe. Apparently, the real Araki is terribly laid-back, and wishes to be seen as someone who strangers can relax around.
• Awful Wedded Life: Shinobu Kawajiri's marriage is loveless, and she seems to take revenge on her husband by slighting him at every occasion. Very ironically, she starts to actually love her husband… when Kira steals his face and replaces him.
• Awkward Father-Son Bonding Activity:
  • Josuke momentarily takes care of his elderly father Joseph, whom he never met, and he finds the moment very awkward indeed.
  • Horrifically averted with Hayato and his dad Kosaku, who is actually Kira impersonating the latter.
• Babies Make Everything Better: Josuke and Joseph's awkward relationship as bastard son and estranged father improves considerably after they have to take care of an invisible baby together. It's also mentioned that after Joseph brings Shizuka home to Suzi at the end, she's angry at first (thinking he cheated on her again), but taking care of a baby ends up making their elderly life more lively.
• Baby Carriage: One of the most awesome scene of Part 4 happens during a chase between Josuke on a motorcycle and Highway Star. A random woman and her baby carriage appear and block Josuke's way. Instead of turning or braking, Josuke destroys his motorcycle to flip above the carriage and repairs it to resume riding it.
• Badass Normal: A notable example in that this Part is the last one with a notable normal character in Hayato, who manages to keep up with Stand users, outsmarting the Big Bad himself and acting as a Combat Commentator in the final battle.
• Bait-and-Switch Comment: When Ken Oyanagi decides to gamble whether Josuke and Joseph will help Rohan, Joseph takes notice of Ken and realizes that he's... one of Rohan's fans.
• Beneath Notice: This is Yoshikage Kira's schtick, being so average in appearance, behavior, or achievement that he's pretty much The Generic Guy and no one gives a thought about him.
• Beta Couple: Koichi and Yukako, the former being a major character but not the main protagonist and the latter being a supporting character, get together in a side-plot.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Josuke is the nicest character of Part 4, but he can also inflict you a Fate Worse than Death.
• Berserk Button: Josuke will indiscriminately assault anyone who insults his pompadour. This is eventually revealed to be because Josuke's pompadour is modeled after one worn by a stranger who saved his life as a child.
• Bittersweet Ending: Ultimately, the story ends on a positive note: the town will forever be free of Kira's terror, and all that have been murdered by him have been avenged. However, the ending of the story makes it painfully clear this victory is not a very happy one. Due to the fact that Killer Queen destroys all evidence, those murdered will forever be missing people, their cases never solved. The families of his victims will forever be waiting for the daughters and sisters stolen from them, waiting for them to come home. Even if they come to accept they will never return, they will never understand why they were taken. Shinobu will forever wait for Kosaku to come home, never knowing the truth of what happened to him, a burden Hayato must now live with. Shigechi's parents will forever wonder what happened to their 14-year-old son. Despite all of this, Joseph ends the part by telling Jotaro that he believes that one day, the same spirit that allowed the gang to reach Egypt ten years ago that he saw in the young people of Morioh will be able to heal the town's wounds.
• Bland-Name Product: Jotaro and Josuke use, among others, Janta (Fanta) cans for target practice.
• Body Horror: Despite being lighter than the other Parts, this is alot more prominent. Tonio's cooking causes those to undergo effects that cure their bodies such as Okuyasu peeling off dead skin of his body, and Bug Eaten's Ratt turning its victims into blobs of flesh.
• Book Ends:
  • Both the Starter Villain and Big Bad are Serial Killers. Most of the build up reserved for the former at the beginning of the story wouldn't be out of place for the latter.
  • A rather drawn-out example regarding Joseph's character — he is first introduced at the beginning of Battle Tendency when Smokey steals his wallet, and he is last seen at the end of Diamond is Unbreakable when Josuke, his son, also steals his wallet.
• Boring, but Practical: Tamami Kobayashi's Stand "The Lock" is Exactly What It Says on the Tin. Yet it is a very effective Stand for getting information out of enemies or getting them to give in to demands.
• Braving the Blizzard: Discussed; After witnessing Josuke's rage making him immune to Rohan's Stand, Koichi remembers a history about Josuke's Berserk Button involving a man helping his mom and him (who was developing a sickness thanks to DIO's power) during a hail storm. The man eventually succumbs to the hail, but thanks to his actions, Josuke and Tomoko reached the hospital, and as a homage, Josuke keeps his pompadour as a personal hairstyle.
• Breather Episode:
  • The "Let's Eat Italian Food" arc following Yukako and Koichi's battle. A simple story arc about Okuasyu and Josuke going out to eat Italian food with no enemy Stand users or battles to speak of. There's many fakeouts and near-misses, and Tonio is a stand user, but he's a completely benevolent one, and every seemingly-menacing setup leads to a punchline of Okuyasu genuinely being better off.
  • The "Achtung Baby" arc after the fight with Akira Otoishi. A simple short arc about Joseph and Josuke encountering an invisible baby who happens to be a Stand user with some funny yet endearing interactions between Josuke and his illegitimate father.
  • The "Cinderella" arc was this in the original manga. The arc, which was about Yukako seeing the beautician Aya to improve her looks for Koichi, came right after "Yoshikage Kira Wants a Quiet Life". The anime better integrates the arc by putting it immediately before said arc so that the anime version would immediately move into "Sheer Heart Attack" which ends in Aya's death.
• Bubble Shield: The stand "Stray Cat" is a cat that was killed and reincarnated into a plant. Its abilities revolve around air bubbles, manipulating the air pressure around itself to form invisible bubbles. One of the primary applications of this is creating an air bubble around itself that can't be pushed through.

Tropes C to E

• Call-Back: In spite of being a Post-Script Season, a good number of elements of this part relate to elements in previous parts.
  • Most notable is the Stand Arrows that were introduced in this part. These are the same arrows that gave DIO and most of his henchmen Stands, with Jotaro outright referencing the trip to Egypt after the discovery of the arrows.
  • Okuyasu's father had the same flesh bud implanted in his brain that DIO used to mind control Kakyoin, Polnareff, and any of his minions that weren't paid mercenaries. However, Okuyasu's father delves into the horror of what it would be like if one didn't have their flesh bud removed by Star Platinum.
  • Cheap Trick is a remote Stand that cannot be controlled by its owner and has multiple users much like Anubis in Stardust Crusaders.
  • Okuyasu compilments Josuke's mom like Kaykoin did, but less respectfully.
  • Josuke shares the beliefs of his nephew, Jotaro, concerning paying for bad food.
  • In one scene, Joseph is seen drinking Japanese coffee and proclaiming he likes it. In Stardust Crusaders, there is a scene where Avdol brews him American coffee that he thinks is Japanese and he proclaims to hate Japanese coffee.
  • Okuyasu's Stand "The Hand" can erase any physical space in front of him. This is very similar to Vanilla Ice's Cream in Stardust Crusaders that can absorb physical matter into a Pocket Dimension.
  • Rohan's fight with Ken Oyanagi has him playing Rock, Paper, Scissors with his Stand on the line. This is similar to the fights with the D'Arby brothers in Stardust Crusaders, which had the protagonists playing poker and video games against them and losing their souls as the cost of a loss.
  • Yukako's Stand allowing her to use her hair as a weapon is very similar to Bruford using his hair to wield his sword in Phantom Blood. This should show just how skilled Bruford was. Yukako was a Stand user and her hair was her Stand; Bruford had so much control over his body that he could naturally control his hair.
  • Early in the anime, Josuke is shown playing the latest version of Oh! That's A Baseball, the video game Jotaro played against Terence D'Arby back in Stardust Crusaders.
  • When Josuke and Joseph first find the invisible baby, Joseph mentions having done similar in the past but not quite remembering how it went thanks to his advanced age. This is both a nod about how Joseph's memory is not what it used to be (with Holly) and a reference to the Death 13 arc in Stardust Crusaders.
  • This exchange between Keicho and Josuke calls back to a famous exchange between Jotaro and DIO, in which the former approaches the latter.
    Keicho: Oh ho. You presume to enter my home?!
    Josuke: Isn't that obvious? If I don't come in, how else am I supposed to beat your ass and heal Koichi?
• Call-Forward:
  • The third opening of the anime adds in a sign that says "VA 2001". 2001 is the year Vento Aureo takes place in. The localized version instead has "GW 2001". GW now stands for Golden Wind, as it is called that in this version.
  • In Part 3, Jotaro had no idea how to hold a baby (Mannish Boy), but in the anime, he's seen carrying Shizuka in his arms several times towards the end. Guess the birth of Jolyne gave him some experience.
  • In the live-action movie, Tomoko mentions that she's going to Trussardi, Tonio's restaurant, and invites Josuke along.
• Carnival of Killers: After Jotaro and Josuke find Yoshihiro Kira in the old Kira household, he uses his Stand Arrow to create one by giving regular people in Morioh Stands so he can take out the protagonists. Doesn't go as well as he would have liked, however, since some of his victims don't antagonize the protagonists, such as Mikitaka (assuming he has a Stand), have specifics that made them very niche (Super Fly can't move at all) or aren't direct threats themselves (Kinoto didn't mean to harm Rohan, but rather his Stand "Cheap Trick" is the antagonist).
• Casting Gag: Yūki Kaji is cast as Koichi in the anime, which directly mirrors his role as Johnny Joestar in All-Star Battle, being a social outcast who goes through a Coming of Age Story, with his Stand evolving through "Acts" as a way of representing his growth and maturity.
• Composite Character: In the live-action film, Yoshikage Kira takes Akira Otoishi's place as the killer of Keicho Nijimura. In the manga and anime, Otoishi's Red Hot Chili Pepper drags Keicho through some power lines, electrocuting him; in the movie, he's blown up by Sheer Heart Attack instead.
• Compressed Adaptation: The first live-action film covers the first two major story arcs (the introduction/Angelo arc and the Nijimura Brothers arc), with little teases here and there to the rest of the story. At this point, it's unclear how future films will handle this... or even if, considering the first movie was reportedly a Box Office Bomb.
• Confused Question Mark: Josuke is surrounded by them when the self-styled alien Mikitaka and his mother both pretend that the other is wrong.
• Cowardly Lion: Koichi Hirose is arguably the bravest character of the part because he jumps straight into the most dangerous situation while shaking from fear. He later grows out of the cowardly part.
• Creator Career Self-Deprecation: "Anyone employed as a professional manga artist is definitely 'eccentric'!"
• Crop Circles: Josuke and Okuyasu see a crop circle while walking to school and, to their surprise, find Mikitaka sleeping under the cut grass who claims to be an alien and says he's responsible for the circle.
• Curse Cut Short:
  Mikitaka: Yes, I am indeed an alien.
  Okuyasu: You know, you're a looney mother—
  Josuke: You said you had a ship, right?
• Cutting the Knot: When Akira Otoishi impersonates a SPW worker and accuses an actual one of being an impostor, Okuyasu punches him out. When asked how he figured it out, he admits that he was going to punch both just to be sure — it was just luck that he got it right on the first try.
• Dancing Theme: To acknowledge the shift in tone to a more Slice of Life style, Part 4's anime uses a more lighthearted disco/funk theme as its first opening ("Crazy Noisy Bizarre Town" by The DU) with 2D animation, in stark contrast to the first three season's hotblooded, CGI animation-filled themes. Most of the characters (Josuke, Koichi, Okuyasu, Yukako, and Tonio, for example) dance and pose along with the music, while Jotaro just stoically walks on by, though he does smile and pose a little bit, turning his signature finger-point into a John Travolta-type pose, denoting his Character Development.
• Dangerously Garish Environment: In the anime adaptation, Morioh is depicted with unusual coloration (such as yellow skies, green roads and purplish/bluish trees). This is quite notable as previous and subsequentel Parts have more realistic colors in their settings, barring the occasional color shifts.
• Date Peepers: Josuke and Okuyasu peep on Koichi having his first date with Yukako.
• Darker and Edgier: Part 4 is notable for being one of, if not the most lighthearted entry in the series. However, the live action movie of this part is considerably more grim, with changes such as a subdued and more realistic color-palette (the film notably gets rid of Morioh’s strangely colored skies) the tone is less “slice-of-life” and more “supernatural detective story”, and some characters, like Josuke and his grandfather, are not as jovial as they were in the manga/anime.
• Defeat Means Friendship: Many of the Stand Users encountered end up becoming allies with Josuke and Koichi. Josuke ends up befriending Okuyasu, Shigechi, and Yuya after he outsmarts their Stand while Koichi becomes friends with Tamami, Hazamada, Yukako, and Rohan after their defeat.
• Defiant to the End: Koichi is cornered by Yoshikage Kira and defiantly manages to learn his identity and taunt him about how careless the supposedly meticulous serial killer is. His last words before being punched through by Killer Queen is to say that he'll be waiting for Kira in the Underworld. Subverted when Josuke heals Koichi.
• Demoted to Extra:
  • Joseph was the main character of Part 2 and a main supporting character in Part 3 but gets only a couple of appearances in Part 4.
  • Happens to a lot of characters who have arcs centered around them early on but only have prominent appearances in one later arc before only making cameos later. Yukako and Hazamada in particular have a couple of appearances in the first half but don't appear as much later on, and Yuya and Mikitaka are pushed to the side after the battles against Kanedaichi and Miyamoto, respectively.
• Denser and Wackier: A smaller setting with much bizarre opponents and Stands. These include Pearl Jam, a non-combat Stand that can cause the food its user creates to cure what ails his customers. Albeit gruesomely and explosively.
• Destroy the Product Placement: Well, not destroy, but a major driving force during the "Bites the Dust" arc is lightning striking down on a Pepsi sign.
• Deuteragonist: Koichi Hirose, who is the first character we’re introduced to and narrates the story. After getting pierced and gaining a Stand, he gets arguably the most Character Development, rivals Josuke in both screen time and fights, earns even Jotaro’s respect, and gets 2 more versions of the aforementioned Stand.
• Dirty Old Man: Despite having been married for forty years and being in his sixties, Joseph is revealed to have cheated on his wife with a 20 years old Tomoko Higashikata.
• Disc-One Final Boss: Akira Otoishi is the primary antagonist of the first half, being the one who steals the Stand Arrow from Okuyasu and Keicho and kills Keicho. After his defeat, Jotaro reclaims the Stand Arrow from him, wrapping up that part of the story.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Zig-Zagged with Terunosuke. Josuke transforms him into a book for kidnapping his mother, despite Terunosuke not harming her and other Stand Users such as Tamami doing similar actions with significantly less punishment. However, of the latter four Stand Users that Yoshihiro sends after the group, Terunosuke is the only one that is perfectly fine with killing members of the group to aid a serial killer.
• Dragged Off to Hell: Anyone who looks behind in the Ghost Alley is grabbed by an otherworldly force and taken into oblivion. Yoshikage Kira ultimately gets sent there after his death.
• Early-Bird Cameo: The anime adds in a lot of these.
  • Okuyasu, Keicho, Hazamada, Yukako, and Rohan are present in the crowd at the convenience store in the first episode.
  • Yukako gets one in the "Surface" episode of the anime, having a non-speaking appearance in the school at the halfway point.
  • Before his first official appearance, there is a scene of a manga editor having a meeting with Rohan.
  • Kira and Kosaku can be seen walking from their jobs at the end of the "Red Hot Chili Pepper" arc.
  • After the "Sheer Heart Attack" arc, Mikitaka, Yuya, and Terunosuke are present in a crowd shot.
  • Technically, every character gets one, as in the first opening, there is a scene where silhouettes fly across the screen, which are every character that appears in this part. This also includes characters who don't appear during the first opening.
• Early Installment Character-Design Difference: Combined with a case of Art Evolution in the manga.
  • Josuke, like the past JoJos, was much more buff and looked twice his actual age.
  • Okuyasu's hairstyle was a pompadour. As time went on, it became more of a flattop.
  • Both Tamami and Hazamada were much taller in their first appearances. After their introductory arcs, they became only barely taller than Koichi.
• Emerging from the Shadows: Keicho Nijimura is placed in the shadows until his reveal.
• Evolving Credits:
  • The first opening sequence ("Crazy Noisy Bizarre Town") shows the protagonists posing with their Stands. In the episodes before Koichi awakens his Echoes/Reverb, it doesn't show up, but he still makes the pose.
  • The ending credits of the anime adds in new characters as they are introduced.
  • Bites The Dust Part 2 changes the opening by giving Kira his "matured" hairstyle as well as using the last verse and chorus from "Great Days" (which starts with the song playing in reverse) after it pauses on the second stanza of the intro. It also skips to the very end of the opening and plays the whole thing in reverse in order to show the effects of Bites The Dust, much like how the last two episodes that used "Sono Chi no Kioku" had The World stop time before ending on Kira activating Killer Queen and everyone in the background turning to look at him.
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Tamami's Stand "The Lock" is a lock, albeit one that can place restrictions on people.

Tropes F to O

• Fairy Godmother: Aya Tsuji the beautician fancies herself being one during the Cinderella arc, making girls more "lovely" (literally) and making them find love, just like in Cinderella.
• Fate Worse than Death:
  • Okuyasu's father was turned into a human-shaped Blob Monster after the death of DIO. He is incapable of proper speech, and above all cannot be killed in spite of how miserable he seems. Made even worse is the fact that it's unknown if he'll ever die naturally or is stuck being immortal forever. Josuke's piecing together his family photo, Okuyasu's more loving attitude as his caretaker after Keicho's death and Tonio's cooking seems to make life much more bearable for him, though.
  • Angelo and Terunosuke get this fate after their defeats. Angelo is forced to live the rest of eternity inside a rock while Terunosuke is trapped inside a book after Josuke uses his Stand ability against him.
• Fetishes Are Weird: Yoshikage Kira, a depraved Serial Killer who acts as the Big Bad of the story, has a fetish for women's hands. He claims to first have developed this fixation after seeing the Mona Lisa in a book during his childhood, and this later evolved into an obsession, motivating him to murder several women, then keep their hands, treating them like "girlfriends" until they start to decay, at which point he disposes of the appendage and seeks out a new victim.
• Finger Framing: Kira forms a protractor with his fingers to aim accurately with his invisible air bombs during his final fight with Josuke.
• Food-Based Superpowers: Tonio Trussardi is an Italian chef whose Stand, named Pearl Jam, grants curative properties to the food he prepares. Each dish has a specific effect (for example, his Spaghetti Alla Puttanesca can treat dental cavities).
• Food Porn: The Italian Food Arc is mainly dedicated to it.
• Fooled by the Sound: Enforced. Due to a translation error, the first official subs had Jotaro remark that he thought the heavy rain sounded like Josuke's voice. It was corrected later — Jotaro thought he heard Josuke's voice through the rain, but dismissed it as just his imagination — but by then, the line had already gained fandom infamy.invoked
• Five-Second Foreshadowing: After Crazy Diamond heals Koichi's wound from the Arrow, he briefly looks down at his chest, implying that he can see Crazy Diamond's hand on it. Since only Stand users can see Stands, it serves to foreshadow that Koichi developed a Stand from the Arrow.
• Foreshadowing:
  • After the discovery of the Stand Arrow in Morioh Town, Jotaro proclaims that he wants to prevent another Stand like "The World" from emerging. In the final arc, Kira is hit with the Stand Arrow again and awakens to the power Bites the Dust, which can create a "Groundhog Day" Loop. Taken even further in Stone Ocean where Pucci awakens to the Stand "Made in Heaven" that can fast forward time and ultimately allows him to create a new universe. And it just so happens that Jotaro was able to witness both of these occurrences. And gets killed by them (though the latter was permanent).
  • Jotaro states that the Arrows were "acquired" in Egypt by Enya before she used them on DIO and gave them to Okuyasu's father and Yoshihiro Kira, implying someone gave them to her. Golden Wind shows Diavolo was the one who found and stole the Arrows (except the beetle-decorated one, found by Polnareff) during an archaeological exploration in Egypt 3 years before Stardust Crusaders and sold them to Enya, save one he kept for himself (presumably how he obtained King Crimson) and later gave to Polpo to create Stand users for Passione.
  • The anime adds many instances of this trope. Before Kira's appearance, there are shots of murders he has committed throughout town, and he's even seen walking home from work after Otoishi's defeat. The anime also features silhouettes of characters that will appear later in crowd scenes and even has small stints of Yukako and Rohan before their official debuts.
  • Koichi, bleeding to death, mocks Kira for having his identify figured out by a random child, and hopes it haunts him to the end of his life. Another "random child" would happen to be incredibly vital to Kira's eventual defeat.
  • The openings have plenty of instances of this...
    • Koichi and Yukako starting a relationship is foreshadowed in the first opening as Yukako's shadow remains by Koichi while the shadows of Keicho and Father Nijimura dissolve next to Okuyasu.
    • Reimi is foreshadowed in the first and second openings via the motif of the characters pointing their fingers into the air. Made more apparent in the second when the background is her alleyway and Rohan is looking into it.
    • The glass sheet above Josuke and Koichi walking to school in the second opening foreshadows Shigechi's desire to have friends and death before he was able to reach Josuke and Okuyasu.
    • The dotted line down Aya's arm in the second opening foreshadows her death at the hands of Yoshikage Kira.
    • In the "Bites the Dust" version of the third opening, Shinobu instead of looking at Kira as Kousaku looks at him and falls over. This foreshadows the fact that she'll never see her husband again but doesn't know that he is dead.
• Four Is Death: Inverted; Diamond is Unbreakable is the most lighthearted part of the manga so far. A bit ironic when considering that Part 5, one of the more Darker and Edgier parts, especially when coming off the heels of this one, has a protagonist who lives in fear of this trope.
• From Hero to Mentor: Jotaro Kujo undergoes this from Stardust Crusaders, where he takes a backseat to let the new characters shine, while helping them in a few fights and with the investigation into Morioh's strange events.
• Genre Shift:
  • Though still first and foremost an Action-Horror Manga, Diamond is Unbreakable marks the first chapter in the JJBA Saga to not have Vampires as its primary narrative drive and focus, and eventually depart from the Vampire-Genre completely by the time the universe reboots in Part 7. As a whole however, Part 4 is notable for its smaller scale focus on a Japanese town instead of a grand adventure, and draws inspiration from both murder mysteries and slice of life comedies where wacky neighbors are Stand users as well, genres that fit well in the suburban scene.
  • Invoked by Aya during the Cinderella arc, who more or less gets Yukako and some other customers to go through a fairytale-like story to find true love, with the typical punishments and rewards that are found in them. Essentially, the chapters and Episode 20 are therefore a fairy tale story as told by JoJo characters.
• Gone Horribly Right: When Koichi gains an Abhorrent Admirer in the beautiful yet deadly Yukako Yamagishi, Josuke suggests that Koichi act like a total loser to turn her off. While the act does manage to convince Yukako, she doesn't become turned off; instead, she becomes determined to rehabilitate Koichi by kidnapping him and holding him hostage until he becomes a proper man under her very strict tutelage. Yukako tones down her yandere tendencies when she and Koichi become an Official Couple later in the story, though.
• Greater-Scope Villain:
  • Keicho is the one who gave many of the characters in the first half their Stands in an attempt to find a Stand to turn his father back to normal.
  • Yoshihiro Kira acts as this in the second half since he is the one who granted Yoshikage Kira "Killer Queen" with the second Stand Arrow, gives Stands to the antagonists of the second half, and eventually gives Kira "Bites The Dust".
  • In the end though, the ultimate Greater-Scope Villain of them all is the archenemy of the Joestar Bloodline: DIO himself. It was he who entrusted Mr. Nijimura and Yoshihiro with Arrows when they still served him before his demise, who after his defeat still retained their Arrows, leading to all the misery Kira would spread with his murders and Keicho's determination to find a Stand that could fulfill his desires: which never would have been necessary at all had DIO not corrupted Mr. Nijimura. In the end, the people of Morioh, like so many, were also victims of DIO's ambition, albeit indirectly.
• "Groundhog Day" Loop: Kira's Stand ability "Bites the Dust" causes a repeat of a day's events whenever Hayato witnesses him killing someone.
• Hand Wave: The "Stand users are naturally drawn to each other" concept. It serves to explain how Stand users, supposedly a minority in the world's population, are somehow meeting left right and center during the events of the plot, usually without anyone actively seeking anyone else. However, this doesn't explain how characters like Rohan and Tonio haven't met other Stand users until they encountered the protagonists; if Stand users are fated to meet, then why haven't they seen others with similar powers before?
• His Name Is...: Happens twice when the heroes are chasing after Kira, facilitated by the fact that he can make people explode.
• Hoarding the Profits: At one point, Josuke, Okuyasu, and Shigechi find a winning lottery ticket and agree to give half of the money to Shigechi while Okuyasu and Josuke get the other half. However, after getting the money, Shigechi gets greedy and tries to keep most of the cash for himself, arguing that since he did most of the work, he should get a bigger cut. After beating some sense into him, Shigechi gives up and agrees to split it fairly.
• How Did You Know? I Didn't: Resident dumbass Okuyasu is confronted by two Speedwagon Foundation agents — one of which is Akira Otoishi, an evil Stand user — claiming each other to be the enemy in disguise. He punches Akira, and when he is asked how he could deduce the identity of the enemy, he reveals that he planned on punching both of them.
• How Many Fingers?: After healing him with Crazy Diamond, Josuke asks Koichi how many fingers he's holding up. Koichi, seeing two on one hand and three on another, correctly answers five.
• Human Architecture Horror: Josuke uses his Stand's reconstructive abilities to fuse Starter Villain Angelo with a boulder because Angelo killed his grandfather. At first, Angelo's head and hands are visible outside the boulder, playing this trope straight. But when Angelo attempts to hurt an innocent child utilizing his Stand "Aqua Necklace" and insults Josuke's hair, Josuke retaliates by having Crazy Diamond rearrange the villain and stone [1]. In this second form, the boulder vaguely resembles Angelo's face, with only the eyes unaffected — making it a downplayed version of this trope. The "Angelo stone" is still conscious, alive, can be heard breathing and has become a local landmark for couples.
• Humble Goal: Kira, who, unlike many other villains, is content with living an "ordinary" life. Except he cannot resist the urges to kill people.
• Idiot Ball: Koichi grabs a hold of it during the Sheer Heart Attack arc. Instead of using Echoes to protect himself from the bomb as advised by Jotaro, Koichi instead opts to track down the bomb's user. This oversight leads to the bomb exploding and Jotaro nearly getting killed trying to protect Koichi.
• Idiot Hero: Okuyasu. While Polnareff may be dense at times and Narancia may be really Book Dumb, Okuyasu manages to hurt himself with his Stand and doesn't even use its full potential. However, considering its power, it may be the best for the story.
• If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him!: Angelo invokes this against Josuke and Jotaro, suggesting that, even though he's an escaped death row inmate and murdered Josuke's grandpa, killing him would make them no better. Predictably, it fails miserably at saving his ass, especially since Josuke never had the intention of killing him in the first place.
• Ignorant About Fire: Josuke Higashikata cheats in a game of cee-lo with Rohan Kishibe by using dice that are actually a shapeshifted Mikitaka Hazekura. Rohan suspects Josuke of cheating because Mikitaka overdoes it on the dice rolls, and is determined to figure out his trick. Mikitaka is almost discovered when he breaks out in a rash due to the sound of sirens, until Tamami points out that the fire the sirens are heading to was coming from Rohan's house. Rohan is still more concerned about Josuke's cheat than his own burning house.
• Impairment Shot: When Josuke and Okuyasu give chase to Shigechi who stole their 5 million yen redeemer, the two suddenly receive dazed vision when Shigechi uses Harvest to inject alcohol into their bodies.
• Injured Self-Drag: When affected by Rohan's Heavens' Door, Koichi immediately crawls to the front door to warn Josuke and Okuyasu about the situation, then gets immediate Laser-Guided Amnesia the second he opens the door.
• Insane Equals Violent: Kira is an insane sociopath with a sexual fixation on hands, and is one of the most unhinged characters of the series.
• Intergenerational Friendship: Jotaro and Koichi like and admire each other.
• Invulnerable Knuckles: Averted when Star Platinum breaks its fist trying to punch Sheer Heart Attack.
• Ironic Echo: A moment of banter between Keicho Nijimura and Josuke closely mirrors dialogue between DIO and Jotaro from over a decade earlier.
  (In Stardust Crusaders) DIO: Oh? You're approaching me? Instead of running away, you're coming right to me?
  Jotaro: I can't beat the shit out of you without getting closer.
  (In Diamond is Unbreakable) Keicho Nijimura: Oh? You've decided to come into my house?
  Josuke: No shit I have! I wouldn't be able to kick your ass and heal Koichi if I didn't!
• Irony: Kira, a serial killer who murders women and cuts off their hands, has his own hand ripped off just before he's dragged into the afterlife. For bonus poetic justice, his very first victims (a young girl and her dog) are the ones to do it. Needless to say that his defeat was ensured by a Stand named after his fetish - Okuyasu's The Hand.
  • Also, Kira spent his entire life maintaining his public image to be as unnoticeable and inconspicuous as possible; he doesn't want to be seen. His death is because the ambulance driver who accidentally run him over didn't see him lying limp on the road.
• Jerkass Has a Point: While Rohan may be a grouchy, grudging Insufferable Genius, his anger with Josuke for trying to scam him out of his money, unprovoked, was quite justified.
• Kirby Dots: When manga artist Rohan Kishibe is feeling passionate or emotional about something in the anime, sometimes the shading on his body will gain these, or they'll appear in the background. He's also been framed by "ink splotches", black and white speed lines, and even rulers. Here's a few examples.
• Knight of Cerebus: Inverted; the first few villains are either genuinely standout horrific or simply played as frightening, from a serial-rapist serial killer, to an abusive elder brother, to a threatening debt-collector/con-man, to a creepy schoolboy and out-and-out yandere, but the following two arc subjects are downright comical. First, Tonio turns out to have been Good All Along, turning the entire arc into a gag-heavy Breather Episode right before the big fight with Red Hot Chili Pepper, and then when its user shows up, he's a Laughably Evil 19 year-old petty criminal obsessed with his guitar. And then Kira plays it terrifyingly straight, but even he isn't above being humiliated and played as a joke when the situation arises.
• Knight Templar Parent: Yoshihiro Kira has always been, supportive of his son, to an excessive degree. When Josuke and his gang go to Kira's old house to look for clues, he attempts to kill them using his stand, Atom Heart Father. And when that fails, he attempts to assassinate them by creating a bunch of stand users in Morioh in hope that one of them will kill the people chasing after his son.
• Lack of Empathy:
  • Subverted with Jotaro and Josuke: when it seems like Okuyasu has been killed by Red Hot Chili Pepper, Koichi breaks into panicked tears, while Jotaro and Josuke apparently coldly discuss the aforementioned Stand's capability. When Koichi angrily calls him out on this, it turns out they were only certain that Okuyasu would make it out alive because of Crazy Diamond's power.
  • Several villains, however, play this trope horrifyingly straight.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: The first few chapters assume that you are aware that Jotaro defeated Dio in Egypt, Dio's Stand "The World" was capable of freezing time, and Jotaro had learned that Stand power himself.
• Let's You and Him Fight: Jotaro and Josuke's first meeting includes a fight between the two when the former accidentally insults the latter's hair. It serves to establish that Josuke's Crazy Diamond is on par with Star Platinum in strength, and Jotaro is only able to avert a visit to the hospital by using his time stop.
• The Law of Conservation of Detail: One morning, the series shows minor details, such as a news anchor coughing before realizing he's already on air, the Kawajiri residence getting a phone call, an old man walking by with his fly unzipped and lightning striking a Pepsi sign, among others. All these become significant in the "Groundhog Day" Loop and Hayato's strategy to outwit Kira.
• Lighter and Softer: Easily fits this trope the most of the first 6 parts. Aside from moving away from the horror elements in favor of a more Slice of Life element, it's worth noting that the majority of enemy stand users not only survive, but end up on the hero's side. None of the heroes die (unless you count the main gang being killed by Bites the Dust and Shigechi’s murder), and Kira is a lot more Affably Evil than DIO or Kars were. While Anyone Can Die is still in effect, Diamond is Unbreakable easily has the lowest body count of any Jojo story.
• Living Photo: One of the villains, Yoshihiro Kira, once used his Stand "Atom Heart Father" so that he can stay alive, after his bodily death, in a photo. He, through said photo, frequently assists his son, Yoshikage, in his Serial Killer antics; he can also entrap people inside his photo.
• Loophole Abuse: In a way, this is how Koichi gets his Stand. How the Arrow works is that you get shot by it, and if you're worthy of a Stand, you survive, and if you're not, you die. Koichi wasn't worthy, but since Josuke was able to use his Crazy Diamond to heal him before he succumbed to the Arrow's power, he was able to get a Stand anyway.
• A Love to Dismember: Ever since he saw the Mona Lisa's hands, Kira has had a sexual fixation on that specific body part. Unfortunately, that love stops at the wrist thus Kira uses Killer Queen to disintegrate the body of his victims save their hands.
• Loners Are Freaks: Yoshikage Kira hates social relationships because he looks down on everyone, and only talks to his girlfriends, which are severed hands.
• Madwoman in the Attic: Keicho Nijimura keeps his monstrous father in his attic. Later Okuyasu sets him free.
• Magic Plastic Surgery: More like "Stand Plastic Surgery". Yoshikage Kira forces Aya Tsuji the beautician Stand user to change his face and hair with the ones of a random guy he just killed, so he could escape the protagonists.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Mikitaka is an odd case; the "magic" here is that he could be an alien with Stand-like abilities, and the "mundane" is he could be just a Stand user who likes pretending to be an alien. On the one hand, he's got Stand-like powers which all have a musical motif name like most stands from Part 4 onwards, and he seems to have a human mother. On the other, he seems to be unable to see Crazy Diamond, is allergic to the sound of fire truck sirens, and the Stand arrow actively curved away from him rather than taking a direct flight to pierce him.
• Mood Whiplash: During the climatic battle that pits Josuke against Yoshikage Kira, we are treated a scene after Okuyasu's near-death at the hands of Kira, where a very ugly, very perverted neighbor is blown up by panties, thanks to an extremely envious Kira. We then cut back to Josuke mourning the (presumed) death of his best friend Okuyasu, shortly before the climatic battle resumes.
• Mook Maker: Part 4 features a pair of mystical bow and arrows that can induce stands in people, used to create most of the stand users in Part 3, and passed on through different characters (Keicho Nijimura, Akira Otoishi and Yoshihiro Kira) in Part 4 as they create more Stand users to hassle the protagonists and further their own ends.
• Mouse Trap: Jotaro uses mouse traps in an attempt to catch Bug Eaten. Bug Eaten manages to use one of the traps on Josuke's hand when the latter attempts to investigate a strange piece of wood, distracting him and giving Bug Eaten an opportunity to attack him.
• Mr. Exposition: Koichi spends plenty of time watching his buddies fight and crying out what's happening.
• Mundane Utility: Because it takes a strong, fighting spirit to control one's Stand, the vast majority of Stand users throughout the series are psychos, delinquents, and/or heroes. Diamond is Unbreakable, however, being more about (relatively) normal people tapping their Stand powers, introduces Antonio, a chef who only uses his Stand to produce miraculously healthy food, and Aya, a beautician who uses hers to alter the features of her customers.
• Musical Theme Naming: JoJo has always been known for doing this, but similarly to how Purple Haze Feedback had a common naming theme of Jimi Hendrix, Diamond is Unbreakable has a common naming theme of Pink Floyd. Even Part 4's name is based on one of their songs. In regards to what Stands and characters are named after Pink Floyd songs...
  • Crazy Diamond: Shine On You Crazy Diamond
  • Echoes: Echoes (duh)
  • Reimi Sugimoto: See Emily Play
  • Arnold: Arnold Layne
  • Atom Heart Father: Atom Heart Mother (Suite)
• Mythology Gag: The anime adaptation turns Morioh's sky yellow, its trees blue, and its grass a greenish turquoise. These colors are shared with the All Star Battle depiction of Morioh (released just under three years before) and the Eyes of Heaven depiction of the Higashikata family's house in Part 8 Morioh (released about 3 months before).
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Yoshikage Kira, as Yoshikage means "lucky shadow", and Kira is a pun on the word "KILLER".
• Nasal Trauma: Josuke first reveals the power of Crazy Diamond by breaking a delinquent's nose and using his healing power to rearrange its structure.
• Near-Death Experience: Okuyasu is seemingly killed in the final arc, only to return in Big Damn Heroes fashion. He explains that he had a dream where he saw a bright light and met his dead brother Keicho and realized that he must have died. However Keicho, who'd always done the thinking for both of them, told Okuyasu that it was time for him to decide for himself what he was going to do; he decided to return to Morioh and help his friends, and woke up just in time to save Josuke.
• Near-Villain Victory: Thanks to Bites the Dust, Kira is able to kill Josuke, Okuyasu, Koichi, Jotaro, and Rohan; if he'd cancelled the time loops there, he would have won. However, he doesn't know what happened in previous loops and thus didn't know to stop them; this gave Hayato the chance to turn things around.
• Neighbourhood-Friendly Gangsters: After their initial battle, Josuke and Okuyasu don't really act like typical Japanese delinquents and mostly brand themselves as such for the fashion, the street cred, and to boost their chances with the ladies. Unfortunately for the duo, it's only their friend, the straight-laced Koichi who manages to have any luck with women.
• Never Win the Lottery: Josuke, Okayasu, and Shigechi manage to acquire a legitimate jackpot lottery ticket that was thrown away. They have to jump through a lot of hoops to get the money, though; they almost get arrested because they didn't buy the ticket. And then Shigechi gets greedy at the last seconds and tries to abscond with the money, but Josuke forces him to split it as they agreed. In the end, everyone receives their fair share... but Josuke's mother quickly impounds his share because it's too much money for him to handle.
• New Baby Episode: Josuke and Joseph, fresh from beating Akira Otoishi, try to have some semblance of a father-son relationship (not helped by Josuke's outright rejection of the senile Joseph) when they stumble across an invisible baby. The rest of their day is both of them dealing with her and her antics and even saving her from drowning. At the end of the story, Joseph adopts her.
• Nightmare Hands: The climax ends with Yoshikage Kira in a mysterious alleyway that sort of acts as a gateway to hell. If one looks behind, then they will get Dragged Off to Hell. As punishment for being a Serial Killer, Reimi tricks Kira into looking behind. As a result, countless ghastly hands grab him everywhere, as he is forcefully dragged into the abyss of darkness that lurks.

• No Body Left Behind: The fate of anyone that Killer Queen comes into contact with. Once Killer Queen detonates its victim, there are no more traces of their existence.
• No Communities Were Harmed: Morioh Town is directly modeled architecture and culture-wise off of the city of Sendai in Japan's Miyagi Prefecture, but had its name and businesses changed to avoid the controversy of including Sendai's name directly in the story.
• Non-Residential Residence: Toyohiro Kanedaichi lives inside of an abandoned radio transmission tower against his will, as part of the ability of his Stand, Super Fly. The tower is remarkably well-suited for living, having amenities such as a stove, a living area with futon and table, and even electricity, as well as constant sources of food provided by fishing in a nearby river and a garden which is fertilized by... well, his own leavings.
• Nothing Is Scarier: The malicious spirits of Ghost alley. No one has seen their true form because anyone who turns back in the alley is dragged somewhere by hundreds of ghostly hand, and no one knows their motives. They are arguably the scariest things in the manga because so little is known of them.
• Odd Name Out: Reimi is the only human character in this part whose name is a music reference: it's an anagram of the Japanese spelling of "Emily", taken from the Pink Floyd song "See Emily Play".
• Offing the Annoyance: In one of the later arcs, Kira is having a very bad month since he's forced to hide from the other Stand users, and is sexually frustrated. A couple publicly humiliate him and he follows them up to their appartment to atomize both.
• Oh, Crap!: Koichi has one, when Jotaro gets hit by Sheer Heart Attack's explosion.
• Our Ghosts Are Different: They exist, though invisible to most people unless you have a Stand or are spiritually attuned, and most seem to have some form of Ghostly Goals. The spirits in Ghost Girl's Alley are noticeable for being one of the few beings in the series able to ignore the rule that only Stands or Stand Users can harm Stands by grabbing (as Cheap Trick found out to its horror) and destroying them (as Killer Queen found out to its regret).

Tropes P to Z

• Pac Man Fever:
  • The anime has a very interesting case: when Josuke is seen playing a videogame, it's both a recognizable game and a real console (specifically Gradius IV and a Nintendo 64). Thing is, while a N64 port of Gradius IV was indeed scheduled for release in 1999, the year the show takes place, it was ultimately cancelled. You decide whether it's an oversight or a nod to a piece of videogame history trivia. Another scene averts this by instead having Josuke play Oh! That's a Baseball '99. In the manga, Josuke is playing on a Super Famicom instead, as the Nintendo 64 did not exist yet when the manga was being written.
  • In the live-action movie, Josuke plays video games with a Super Famicom/SNES controller (painted metallic green) and we hear generic space shooter-esque noises, but never see the console or the TV.
• Penny Shaving: Shigechi uses his Stand, Harvest, which is actually many small creatures, to gather the loose change that people have dropped all over Morioh and didn't consider important enough to retrieve. It adds up surprisingly quickly.
• Pocket Protector: After Hayato Kawajiri uses the time loop caused by "Bites the Dust" to spill hot coffee on Kira, he puts his wrist watch inside of his shirt pocket instead of wearing it on his burned wrist. It saves his life when Hayato later tries to kill him with Stray Cat's air bullets.
• Posthumous Character: Both Reimi Sugimoto and Yoshihiro Kira died before this part started. Yet Reimi takes on the form of a spirit that stays in contact with the heroes while Yoshihiro's Stand allows him to continue his existence after death.
• Potty Failure: When Koichi is abducted by Yukako, he finds out too late that she's put a combination lock on the bathroom door, and he has to solve a history question to find the code. He fails to answer it in time and wets himself, much to his embarrassment (though Yukako doesn't mind washing his clothes).
• Pragmatic Adaptation: Four of the penultimate arcs ("Let's Live on a Transmission Tower", "Enigma Boy", "My Dad is not my Dad", and "Cheap Trick") were all covered separately, through flashbacks. For the 2016 adaptation, these events are, while still mostly linearly, shown happening when the events of said arcs started before covering those episodes, which neatly keeps the plot moving and streamlines what would otherwise likely be a confusing arc.
• Precision F-Strike: In the English dub of the anime, Kira's infamous "I got an erection." line in reaction to seeing Mona Lisa's hands in her portrait was changed into the much more vulgar "It gave me a rock-hard cock!" This is particularly notable in that said line was uncharacteristically censored by a bleep when it aired on Adult Swim, which is something that never happened previously with the dub. The sudden vulgarity also fits Kira's unstable state, as he usually does not resort to profanity of that nature.
• Prehensile Hair: Yukako Yamagishi's Stand, Love Deluxe, allows her to manipulate her hair.
• Pre-Violence Laughter: In a dice gambling game, Rohan suspects Josuke of cheating (which is true, the dice are actually a shapeshifter). He starts laughing, and Josuke then does so too. But then Rohan (with a stern face) suddenly sticks a knife through his own finger, which snaps in a gory fashion, momentarily bringing Josuke to shock.
• Product Placement: A Pepsi sign gets struck by lightning during the "Bites The Dust" arc, in a surprisingly important event. Especially shocking when considering that products like Coca-Cola and Sprite ended up becoming Bland-Name Products.
• Psycho Electro: Akira Otoishi is an unrepentant killer who can channel the power of Morioh's electrical grid into his Stand.
• Pun: The anime's first opening theme, "Crazy Noisy Bizarre Town," contains the line "Dakedo kyo mo jojo ni monku nanka iiatte nichijō o odoru Crazy Noisy Bizarre Town!"
• Punch! Punch! Punch! Uh Oh...:
  • When "Sheer Heart Attack" takes a pummeling from Star Platinum's harder-than-diamond fists unscathed, it's a clear sign that it's Nigh-Invulnerable.
  • Happens to Kira near the end. When he can't get out of range, he decides to throw away his normal methods and engage Crazy Diamond in direct combat. As Killer Queen was never designed for direct combat, this backfires on him badly as Crazy Diamond effortlessly breaks Killer Queen's arms in seconds.
• Quieting the Unquiet Dead: Reimi Sugimoto is the ghost of the first victim of Serial Killer Yoshikage Kira. After she was killed, she and her dog Arnold decided to remain in an alleyway said to be the space between Morioh and the afterlife until her killer was brought to justice, where Reimi and Arnold would then finally depart to heaven.
• Revealing Cover-Up:
  • When Shigechi accidentally picks up the bag that contains Kira's latest "girlfriend", Kira is determined to get it back, and ends up having to kill Shigechi when he sees the contents... but because he overconfidently confronts Shigechi directly, and underestimates his toughness (he actually survives Killer Queen's first bomb), the boy manages to escape and deliver a Dying Clue to the heroes, which spurs them on to find him. Had Kira just kept the hand hidden at home instead of carrying it around in public, or destroyed Shigechi covertly like he usually does, nobody would have been the wiser.
  • Cheap Trick coercing Rohan to destroy the photos where a disguised Kira is seen as Kosaku Kawajiri tips him off that Kira is indeed among the crowd people, which leads to the gang discovering Hayato and ultimately leading to Kira's defeat.
• Reverse Whodunnit: Kira is revealed almost immediately after his introduction to be the Serial Killer who murdered Reimi (along with many other victims in the town of Morioh), but the protagonists don't know until he slips up when Shigechi accidentally takes one of his severed hands due to it being in an identical bag to his sandwich. It goes even further when Kira murders and steals the identity of another man: we get several scenes, and even a Villain Episode, of him attempting to fit in with his new "family", while trying to resist the urge to kill, but the protagonists are left unaware of his new identity until the very last fight.
• Rock–Paper–Scissors: The Stand Boy II Men, which leads to an insanely epic game. Were you to remove the dialogue, you'd think a climactic battle was going on. Even with the text, it still was.
• Running Over the Plot: Inverted. The main villain Yoshikage Kira is ultimately defeated when an ambulance accidentally runs over his head when he's lying on the street after Jotaro beats him up.
• School Uniforms are the New Black: The three main characters are consistently shown in their high school Gakurans, albeit ones that are more customized in the case of Josuke and Okuyasu. Koichi, however, averts it, choosing to dress in a more casual hoodie and sweatpants whenever he's not going to school.
• Sequel Hook: The live-action movie has a few; in the final scene, Yukako's hair shifts mysteriously, teasing the existence of her Stand Love Deluxe. Koichi developed Echoes Act 1 while fighting Keicho, but it didn't do anything of significance, meaning the audience would have to wait for a sequel to see it in action. The big hook comes in The Stinger, which teases the story's Big Bad Yoshikage Kira: Several mini-scenes flashing around the Kira household showing his 3rd place trophies, his jars of collected fingernails, his bowling pin nail clippers, and a woman's hand sticking out of a bag and clutching a broken Stand Arrow. These are broken up by VHS-like visual distortions that seem to be a sign of Killer Queen Bites the Dust and its time-loop powers.
• Serial Killer: Yoshikage Kira, the Big Bad of Diamond is Unbreakable. His character was created due to Araki's then interest in the phenomenon of serial killers and he created Kira in order to portray one in his series.
• Setting Update: No date is given in the Live-Action Adaptation, but it features smartphones which certainly weren't a thing in 1999. In addition Jotaro is sitting in front of a modern-day laptop looking at a picture of Angelo with Aqua Necklace after updating Joseph over the phone.
• Shoot the Hostage: More like Punch The Hostage, but same idea. A criminal makes the mistake of insulting Josuke's hairstyle. He thinks he's safe with a hostage, but Josuke just punches through both. Of course, the hostage is still safe and sound thanks to Josuke's healing abilities. Happens again when Aqua Necklace manages to get inside Tomoko's body. Josuke responds by making Crazy Diamond pick up a glass bottle, punch through Tomoko's stomach, crush the bottle, then pull its arm back out while healing both, which traps Aqua Necklace in the repaired bottle and Tomoko doesn't even realize anything happened.
• Shown Their Work: Shortly after being introduced, Rohan stabs a spider to death and eats it. He identifies it as Araneus ventricosus. This is a real spider, and its appearance matches the one in the manga.
• Sitcom Character Archetypes:
  • Josuke is The Wisecracker, his boisterous personality and zany schemes match the description.
  • Koichi is The Dork through he grows out of it, but he is more often the Butt-Monkey than any other, and doesn't have the same assertive personality as everyone else.
  • Jotaro isThe Square and overlaps with The Sage, he is the serious man of the group and is more focused than Josuke on the hunt for Stand users.
  • Okuyasu is The Goofball of The Ditz type, even less serious than Josuke, Okuyasu provides the humor more than anyone else.
  • Rohan is The Bully, he hates everyone equally. Unlike other bullies, he likes Koichi the most.
  • Other less recurring characters provide other archetypes. Joseph is another Sage while Shizuka is The Precocious, Yuya is a downplayed Charmer, Shigechi is a Bigmouth and Mikitaka is another Goofball of the Cloud Cuckoolander type.
• Skewed Priorities: When Rohan attempts to find out how Josuke is cheating during a dice game, Tamami points outs that Rohan accidentally set his own house on fire without realizing it. Despite the warnings, Rohan shouts that he doesn't care if his house burns down as long he finds out how Josuke is cheating.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Quite a few, due to the large cast in Part 4.
  • The unknown man who saved Josuke when he was 4, who would inspire Josuke‘s hairstyle, and his desire to do good deeds for the rest of his life.
  • Anjuro Katagiri, a.k.a. Angelo. The part’s Starter Villain, but one whose murder of Josuke’s grandfather inspires Josuke to fight to protect Morioh.
  • Josuke’s grandfather himself, who has one episode of screen time, but Josuke swears to fight to protect his town after discovering his dead body.
  • Shigekiyo Yangu, a.k.a. Shigechi. He has two arcs in the story, but his collection of Yoshikage Kira’s button allows the Morioh Stand users to get a lead to track down the serial killer.
  • Kosaku Kawajiri, the identity of the man who has his face stolen by Kira. He only appears in the story after his face has been removed, but it’s this very thing that kickstarts the part’s second half about tracking Kira down, and ultimately plays a major role concerning his son Hayato, and Kira’s ultimate defeat.
• Soft Reboot: The Parts from Phantom Blood to Stardust Crusaders were a loosely connected story, but Diamond is Unbreakable, while continuing some aspects of Stardust Crusaders, such as expanding on Stands through the Stand Arrow, along with Jotaro and Joseph being players in the Part, has the story be new with very little connection to the previous Parts, only vaguely bringing them up when the need arises.
• Spoiler Opening: The anime's first opening makes it glaringly obvious that Okuyasu will join the heroes.
• Sniper Duel:
  • How the fight between Bug-Eaten and Josuke shapes up, with both hiding behind cover and Jotaro out in the open attempting to draw fire from Ratt, which will expose Bug-Eaten's position. However, there is a twist; Bug-Eaten is using what is essentially a rat-sized artillery cannon, while Josuke has Crazy Diamond fire rifle rounds by hand.
  • The final confrontation between Josuke and Kira is also fought in this manner; an unconventional version in that neither side can see where their respective target is, and can precision control their missiles of choice.
• Stab the Salad: The anime adaption adds a new scene to the beginning of Tonio's arc, showing his cutting up meat with his knife while suspenseful music plays. Happens again when he holds a bar of soap over Josuke's head.
• Stalker with a Crush: Yukako Yamagishi develops a crush on Koichi and begins to stalk him, her cute demeanour hiding how unbalanced she truly is. She tones it down as the story goes along.
• Status Quo Is God: Played with. Josuke, Okuyasu and Shigechi use Shigechi's Stand, Harvest, to find unclaimed lotto tickets and they manage to obtain 5,000,000 yen from one of the tickets. This led to a scuffle over who gets to keep the winnings, a fight and ends in Josuke destroying the ticket to teach Shigechi a lesson about greed and sharing the money. Of course, Josuke is able to use Crazy Diamond to restore the ticket and everyone gets the winnings in the end split equally. The trope is zigzagged for Josuke as all three of them get to keep the money but Tomoko thinks that Josuke cannot be trusted with all that money alone and has his bank account frozen, bringing him back to square one with his personal spending money.
• Tactical Rock–Paper–Scissors: The Stands of Kira, Okuyasu, and Shigechi.
  • Shigechi's Harvest can overwhelm Okuyasu (and most stand users) with sheer numbers but is vulnerable to area-of-effect attacks like explosions. This, combined with his habit of having Harvest bring small objects to him out of curiosity, made him easy prey for Kira.
  • Okuyasu has such a limited range of attack that he is basically helpless against Harvest, but he is a perfect counter to Kira, who can only attack by empowering physical objects, which The Hand can swipe out of existence. It's telling that Araki knocked Okuyasu out in the first few pages of the final confrontation and didn't bring him back until Kira had clearly lost.
  • Kira could easily cripple Shigechi by using Harvest as a bomb delivery service, but had to resort to trickery to take out Okuyasu, who can erase bombs as fast as Kira can make them. Once Okuyasu was back in play, Kira was doomed, and fleeing was his only option.
• Take That!: The manga has a scene where Joseph asks Rohan if he ever considered getting his manga published in America, but Rohan dismisses the idea, saying that Americans have poor taste in comics. This exchange is conspicuously absent from the anime adaptation.
• Tall Is Intimidating: * At the start of the manga, Jotaro Kujo's imposing stature intimidates Koichi Hirose on his way to school.
• Tempting Fate: After learning about the serial killer, Josuke notes to Koichi that they don't have to panic and rush, because, aside from the killer likely not being a Stand user, they have nothing to go on and that "it's not like we'd run into him right away, like we'd hailed a taxi cab." Guess who nearly accidentally runs over Koichi with his car seconds later?
• Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: Koichi is 157 cm tall (and visually appears much shorter), while Yukako is an above-average 167 cm tall.
• Title Drop: The last story arc of the series is titled "Crazy D (Diamond) is Unbreakable".
• *Twang* Hello: Keicho Nijimura introduces himself shooting the Arrow at Koichi. In the live-action movie, he instead does it to Anjuro Katagiri.
• Unnaturally Looping Location: The Ghost Alley of Morioh goes around in a loop if someone tries to go back the way they came, always ending up back at the same corner. Likewise, the direction of up is twisted into going back towards the ground. Reimi Sugimoto, who resides there, explains the way to leave is by going in a different direction and keep going straight without looking back, otherwise an otherworldly force will drag them to the underworld.
• Villains Act, Heroes React: Inverted. Akira Otoishi and then especially Yoshikage Kira later on are actively being pursued by the heroes while just trying to live their villainous lives. Their goals effectively amount to killing Josuke and friends before they have a chance to get too close to them.
• Villain of the Week: More on the lines of "Stand of the Week" since a few of the arc characters like Tonio, Aya, and Mikitaka do not antagonize the main characters and have arcs to either introduce their Stand abilities or have the reader learn more about Morioh Town.
• Villains Out Shopping: The beginning of the Killer Queen arc has Yoshikage Kira going out to get a sandwich for lunch.
• Visual Calculus: During the fight between Yoshikage Kira and Josuke, Kira is able to calculate the travel speed of his air bullets by visualizing the distance between him and his finger as a triangle to do an equation.
• Water Is Blue: Averted in the anime: alongside other weird color choices like a yellow sky and pale green streets, the water around Boing-Boing Cape and the backdrop of the sea during Akira Otoishi's fight are both tinted a deep green.
• We All Die Someday: Jotaro expresses this viewpoint when he gives Josuke the devastating news, that not even Stands have the power to revive the dead. That even a healing power as potent as Josuke's can't bring his grandfather back from the dead. Taken further, this statement can be viewed as commentary that no matter how powerful Stands become in the series, they can't make you a god; death wins out in the end, no matter how powerful a stand user becomes.
  Jotaro: It can be said that the human organism needs to destroy in order to survive, but your Stand is an unparralleled act of compassion in a brutal world. However, no amount of compassion or love can bring back the dead — not even Stands have that power. I'm sorry, Josuke.
• Wham Line:
  • Jotaro reveals to Josuke why the latter's so important to the Joestars.
    Jotaro: Your father is Joseph Joestar!
  • Quite a few in quick succession when Rohan uses Heaven's Door on Hayato:
    • When Heaven's Door first activates, one of the first things we see written in Hayato is the words "Do not read beyond this point." Something like this — the books created by Heaven's Door showing anything other than a person's life — has never happened before.
    • And then, reading further, Rohan realizes that what's written in Hayato isn't the past, but is happening in real time. Somehow, this kid has knowledge of future events.
    • Finally, after finding out how Kira changed his identity, Rohan flips through a few more pages, looking for any more information... and boy, does he find it:
  "Rohan Kishibe also gets killed. Killed by the matured Kira."

  • And then we hear a "click", see something crawling out from under the next page... and Kira's new ability is revealed:
  Killer Queen: Killer Queen's third bomb: Bites The Dust!
• "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: The anime adaptation adds one. In it...
  • Tomoko opens her fridge to find that Josuke has eaten her food yet again. She drinks his juice in retaliation.
  • Koichi and Yukako go on a lunch date, implying they're now in a happy relationship.
  • Okuyasu takes his father to Trattoria Trussardi in an attempt to heal him. That doesn't work, but Okuyasu is happy either way. Yuya is also there with his fangirls, and Tonio's cooking has made him more beautiful than ever before.
  • Kira's death becomes the latest gossip.
  • Tamami bullies Hazamada by spilling juice over his new manga.
  • Rohan ends his hiatus, and starts working on Pink Dark Boy again.
  • Toyohiro and Mikitaka are shown living as good roommates inside Super Fly.
  • Joseph officially adopts Shizuka after going back to America. Whereas Suzi Q was initially furious upon Joseph (thinking he has cheated again). Raising the baby helped Joseph's mental health and made the elderly couple lively.
• White Shirt of Death: Wearing white is a great way to accentuate wounds and blood loss.
  • Jotaro's new white outfit becomes torn and soaked with blood during the Sheer Heart Attack bout and highlights just how much he's in bad shape.
  • Yoshikage Kira's outfit for the final battle was changed from purple to white for the anime. In the final bout, he bleeds quite a bit and the white business jacket makes the blood more pronounced, especially the two puncture wounds he gets on his back.
• Writing Around Trademarks: The Owson store outside Reimi's alleyway is drawn to strongly resemble the real-world Japanese covenience store chain, Lawson.
• Yandere: Produced one of the earliest examples of this trope in the form of Yukako Yamagishi who predates the trope name. Though her tendencies are toned down as the story progresses.
• Zany Scheme: The "invincible trio" of Josuke, Okuyasu and Shigekiyo use Harvest to gather many supermarket coupons and get prizes out of them, and later use a winning lottery ticket to claim the prize despite not being the buyers. Later, Josuke cooperates with the shapeshifting alien Mikitaka to cheat on a game of cee-lo and scam Rohan, who quickly catches on his scheme.

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Yeah, but first... Question: Can you repeat what you just said about my stinger, sir?!

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