Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure / Tropes P to T

Tropes for JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
Tropes A to B (Adaptation Dye-Job) | Tropes C to D (Dub Name Change) | Tropes E to F (Evolving Credits | Famous Last Words) | Tropes G to K (Hate Sink | Heart Is An Awesome Power | Hoist By His Own Petard | Jerkass) | Tropes L to O (Logical Weakness | Nice Guy) | Tropes P To T (Shout-Out | Story-Breaker Power) | Tropes U to Z

P

• Parental Abandonment: Most protagonists (save Josuke) have at least one or both parents dead or missing. Although in some cases, like Giorno and Trish, this was probably for the best considering who their dads were.
• Parrying Bullets: The most physically powerful and fastest Stands can stop or even catch bullets. In Diamond is Unbreakable, Crazy Diamond is deflecting a hail of bullets with its bare knuckles.
• Paying It Forward: After being shown mercy by Jonathan, Robert E. O Speedwagon eventually goes on to found the Speedwagon Foundation and become a great philanthropist.
• People Fall Out Of Windows: Josuke's reaction to Koichi's admission that he kissed Yukako was to lean back on his seat while drinking through his straw, a flat/unaffected look on his face. The only problem was that he was sitting on an open window ledge three stories up at the time. Crazy Diamond - clinging to the upper part of the window frame and reaching down to grab him - was the only reason Part 4's JoJo wasn't killed by architecture as opposed to the Big Bad.
• Permafusion: Three notable examples happen in parts 5, 6, and 8:
  • At the climax of Golden Wind, the gang tries to play keep away with a Stand arrow that Diavolo/The Boss wants to get in order to pierce King Crimson with it and turn it into a Requiem Stand. However, Giorno grabs the arrow and stabs himself with it, which causes the arrow to merge with him and allow Gold Experience to evolve into Gold Experience Requiem.
  • The main plan of the main antagonist of Stone Ocean involves doing this with Stands. More specifically, Pucci wants to merge his Whitesnake with the Green Baby, a humanoid reincarnation of Dio made with a ritual involving sinners, with the fusion resulting in the stand evolving into C-Moon, which becomes Pucci's stand from that point forward until he manages to further evolve it into Made in Heaven, allowing him to set his universal reset plan in motion.
  • Jojolion eventually reveals that main protagonist Josuke is actually a permanent fusion between Josefumi Kujo and the new world's Yoshikage Kira, as a result of the Wall Eyes merging them together while they were in a near death state.
• Pietà Plagiarism:
  • In Part 5, Giorno holds an injured Mista this way at the end of the White Album arc. Unlike other examples, the one who dies is their enemy Ghiaccio.
  • Happens again in Part 8, with Holly holding Josefumi.
• Please Wake Up
  • In Part 3, when Avdol is supposedly killed by Hol Horse, Kakyoin responds this way in the anime.
  • In Part 4, when Josuke finds his grandfather's body ravaged by Angelo's Stand, he immediately uses Crazy Diamond to mend his wounds. Unfortunately, his grandfather was already dead, and no Stand in the world can bring him back to life.
• Plot Hole:
  • In Phantom Blood, Erina and the baby Lisa Lisa survive by using Dio's coffin to float to the surface of the ocean. Except in Part 3, Dio returns, somehow inside his coffin, which is dredged up from the bottom of the ocean.
  • In Battle Tendency, Kars understands who the characters mean when they refer to Santana/Sanviento without needing clarification, even Kars, Wamuu, and Esidisi were still locked in stone and nowhere nearby during the whole ordeal with the youngest of the Piller Men.
• Pocket Protector:
  • In Part 3, Jotaro survived a storm of knives thrown at him by DIO during a timestop because of his hat and several copies of Shonen Jump he had stuffed in his jacket (the fact his Stand was able to move for 1 second during the timestop and deflect half of the knives helped, but he still would have died were it not for the hat and magazines).
  • In Part 4, happen to Kira. 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.
• Polite Villains, Rude Heroes: Part 1 aside, the JoJos are more often than not teenagers or young adults not yet concerned by social conventions such as politeness while the main villains are usually mature men with a respectable position such as mafia don, politician, or priest. This trope is however Downplayed as the JoJos are nice to their friends and no villain is above a Cluster F-Bomb. One particularly shining example would be comparing DIO and Jotaro's Battle Cries: Jotaro's "ORA" is originally written in katakanas, and doesn't mean anything but sounds cool while DIO's "MUDA" is written in kanjis and roughly mean "futile". In effects, Jotaro is continuously letting a primal cry while DIO is continuously shouting a fancy word.
• Powers Do the Fighting: While the first two parts of the series focus on direct physical fighting, the series evolves into this when Stands are introduced. In most battles, combatants don't lay an actual finger on their opponents, allowing their Stands (and the crazy abilities they have) to do the fighting. Aside from most Stands just beating the crap out of the foe or hitting them with long-range attacks, some Stands are based on remote-controlled use, and some even work without the user being aware of it.
• Power Floats: Wielders of particularly powerful Stands will float without any assistance. This happens to Jotaro and DIO during their clash, as well as Giorno when he acquires Gold Experience Requiem. Strangely enough, Rohan and Oyanagi float too when they play Rock-Paper-Scissors.
• Power Glows: Most Stands are represented with an aura around them.
• The Power of the Sun:
  • Hamon uses energy from the sun's rays to vaporize objects, make objects more volatile, and destroy vampires.
  • The Part 3 Stand The Sun is literally this trope, with the added ability to fire laser-like bursts of solar energy.
• Portal Cut: Present in Part 3 and 4. In Part 3, Vanilla Ice's stand Cream has the ability to devour itself and its user to create a void that severs and teleports anything it touches at the expense of not being able to see. In Part 4, Okuyasu's stand The Hand can vaporize anything its right hand touches and presumably sending them to an alternate dimension, allowing him to pull in opponents by destroying the air between them. This trick leads to his downfall due to his dim-nature.
• Prehensile Hair: Bruford can control his hair via a move he calls "Danse Macabre." Yukako as well, through her Stand, Love Deluxe.
• Product Placement: In tune with Araki's willingness to make his settings somewhat realistic and familiar, several real-life products are mentioned in the story.
  • In Stone Ocean, Jolyne gets attacked by a Pepsi and the word "Pepsi" is thrown around 8-9 times.
  • Joseph using a Coca-Cola bottle cap to smash a corrupt cop's finger in Battle Tendency. He also drinks it in Stardust Crusaders, and even uses it in an analogy.
  • During the battle with DIO in the Stardust Crusaders OVA, Joseph and Kakyoin can be seen behind a large 7-UP sign atop a building.
  • Jotaro is seen reading Shonen Jump while sitting in prison.
  • Shonen Jump also shows up in Diamond is Unbreakable, as well as a few manga being referenced such as Tomorrow's Joe.
  • In one scene of Golden Wind, Mista asks if Narancia brought drinks. He asks him for a Sprite and proceeds to spill it on Narancia's boombox.
  • In episode 33 of the Diamond is Unbreakable anime, the camera lingers on the rooftop Pepsi billboard for good few seconds.
• Progressively Prettier: Some of the characters also turns into this within their own parts as a result of Art Evolution. Examples include Kars from Battle Tendency, Iggy from Stardust Crusaders, Rohan from Diamond is Unbreakable, Johnny and Gyro from Steel Ball Run.
• Protagonist Title: The six original parts were published under these with a subtitle, with the exception of Diamond is Unbreakable, which was simply Josuke Higashikata.
• Psychic Powers: Stands, which can have pretty damn crazy abilities at times. It's not just humans who can have them either; Iggy, a dog (who's Stand turn into sand), faces off against DIO's pet falcon Pet Shop (who can create ice). Other Stand users include a rat (who can melt organic tissues), an orangutan (with telekinetic control over every single piece of a boat), a cat that died and grew into a flower (who can use the air to fire "bullets") and a colony of plankton (that can form one or more bodies and manipulate them using water). Araki's insane.
• Psycho for Hire: A notable number of Ax-Crazy Stand users are in the service of the antagonists. Examples include Alessi who loves to hurt and kill helpless children, Terence who emprisons the souls of his victims into puppets, or Cioccolata a Mad Doctor enjoying the screams of his victims.
• Punny Name: A few because many characters' names are that of a rock band.
  • Dire and Straizo from Phantom Blood.
  • Oingo and Boingo from Stardust Crusaders. In some English editions, their names are instead Zenyatta and Mondatta.
• Puzzle Boss: The very first big fight scene featured Jonathan and Speedwagon trying to figure out what could kill a seemingly-immortal vampire, and Battle Tendency had (among other things) an extended battle consisting of nothing but two men atop stone columns, thinking of no fewer than four different ways to outflank each other with telekinetic string. The introduction of Stands turned many fights into these, especially once some of the more esoteric Stand abilities were introduced.

Q

• Quick Draw: Sometimes characters will face their opponents, daring the other to see who can summon their Stands and attack the fastest. Played more straight in Part 7 where characters actually use guns and projectiles.

R

• Rain of Something Unusual: The aptly named Weather Report of Part 6 has a power that allows him to control the weather. At one point, he makes it rain poison arrow frogs, as it has rained frogs in the past.

• Rank Scales with Asskicking: DIO and Diavolo are the top dogs of their respective organizations, and of course get the most powerful Stands.
• Rated M for Manly: It's been described as "the glam version of Fist of the North Star" for a good reason: even though 90% of the characters are well-dressed, sparkly attractive guys, it oozes testosterone, blood and raw fighting spirit from every page.
• Really 700 Years Old: Vampires and Hamon users have a greatly extended lifespan. Jotaro actually seems to appear younger as the series progresses due to Hirohiko Araki's shifting art style de-emphasizing the linework on his face.
• Real Men Wear Pink: Pick a male character in this manga. Any male character. Chances are they can kick your ass six ways from Sunday and look absolutely fabulous in the process.
• Recurring Element: Throughout the series, there are several supernatural phenomena and items related to earth or rocks:
  • The Stone Mask, introduced in Part 1, allows human beings to become vampires.
  • Part 2's antagonists are the Pillar Men, who turn into stone when exposed to sunlight or they choose to hibernate.
  • Also, the main conflict of Part 2 revolves around the Red Stone of Aja, a "perfect" gemstone that can refract light into a concentrated beam.
  • The Stand Arrows were created from a supernatural meteorite. If an Arrow wounds somebody, the latter's spiritual energy will be overcharged, leading to them either developing a Stand or dying.
  • In Part 4, two particular rocks end up becoming tourist landmarks in Morioh. Josuke fuses serial killer Angelo with a nearby rock, creating the grim-looking Angelo Rock (with Angelo still alive). Later on, when Yukako fell on a spiky rock Boyoyoing Cape but harmlessly bounced back thanks to Koichi, the local fishermen begin to pray to that rock for good luck.
  • In Part 5, the Stand Rolling Stones is, well, a stone that can roll around autonomously. It chases people who are fated to die soon of a horrible death; if it touches the target, instead they will die immediately and peacefully.
  • Dio's fossilized bone is instrumental to Pucci's plan in Part 6.
  • The Devil's Palm, first seen in Part 7, is a small desert surrounded by five finger-like rock formations, hence the name. They appear and disappear at random, and function similarly to Stand Arrows in the sense that getting lost in one can either kill you or grant you a Stand.
  • Part 8 has a bunch of these:
    • The Wall Eyes are tall cliffs with weird holes in them, hence the name; being buried, falling into a fault, or even being near a Wall Eye can cause people to develop Stand abilities. In some locations, burying two organisms together will cause them to trade parts with each other.
    • The Higashikata family is afflicted by a curse that petrifies and kills each generation's eldest son.
    • The main villains of this Part are Rock Humans, silicon-based beings that look human but periodically turn into stone to hibernate. Later on we're introduced to Rock Animals and Insects, which are much more obviously weird.
    • Finally, the Rokakaka fruit can heal any ailment or injury, at the cost of turning a random body part into stone.
  • Part 9 features a mysterious Lava Rock, which makes it so that "wealth" is attracted to its owner.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Duos of people with contrasting personalities are frequent in JoJo.
  • Joseph and Caesar form the first of such duos, Joseph being crude and extrovert in contrast to the more sophisticated Caesar.
  • Jotaro and Polnareff share the same dynamic, Jotaro being more cold and cool-headed than the hotblooded Polnareff.
  • Giorno and Mista, with Giorno acting as the brain and Mista as the brawn.
  • Gyro and Johnny, with Gyro as the red oni, extrovert, flamboyant, hotblooded manly man to Johnny's cold, depressive and more careful sensible man.
• Red Shirt: Don't work for the Speedwagon Foundation if you're interested in any kind of life expectancy.
• Reference Overdosed: Don't try to start a Drinking Game with a shot for every reference to music (or fashion brands, if you're knowledgeable and pick up Stone Ocean) you find here. You'll die of liver failure before you know it.
• Removed Achilles' Heel:
  • Achieved by the Big Bad of Part 2, Kars, as part of his Evil Plan.
  • The Stands Cheap Trick and Notorious B.I.G. were impossible to destroy because their users were dead. However, for Cheap Trick, Rohan found a way...
• Retcon:
  • The concept of the Joestar birthmark was only introduced in the third part of the manga, Stardust Crusaders. Also, on a meta level, the art design of some characters changes completely. While some of this can be chalked up to Art Evolution, in some cases, it serves a purpose; Iggy's face is depicted as more human-like the more the story goes on, to show his bond with the group, and his growth as a character.
  • The anime, on the other hand, plays with this quite a bit. On one hand, the Joestar birthmark is depicted from the beginning of the series, on the other hand, the first three parts of the manga are depicted in the anime with the very same Art Evolution the manga had when possible. The anime adaptation of Diamond is Unbreakable, on the other hand, incorporates various elements from the three art styles that the manga took on during Part 4's progression.
  • Stone Ocean changes the end of Stardust Crusaders with a mention of Jotaro reading DIO's diary whereas nothing like this happened in Part 3.
  • In JoJolion, Josuke's birth was retconned as the memory of him meeting an unknown man at night on the beach are completely forgotten for completely different contexts.
• Revive Kills Zombie: Hamon was as bad as sun for vampires, but when Zeppeli first learned about it, it was used for medicinal purposes in normal humans. Also, Hamon can make plants grow. Depending on the intensity of the Hamon and the experience and animosity of the user, its effect on humans can vary from nothing to healing, controlling their bodies, causing internal damage, and melting flesh. For vampires, it causes partial or total destruction.
• Rocket Tag: The essential quality of battles between close-range Stands, exemplified in the fight between DIO and Jotaro at the end of Part 3. Close-range Stands are so powerful, they can annihilate an unguarded human target in less than a second. A battle between two such Stands can only end when one is either tricked into letting its guard down or caught unawares.
• Rule Magic:
  • Hamon is a martial art technique whereby the user practices special breathing techniques to convert their vital energies into sunlight, allowing them to fight and destroy the undead (and in Part 2, the Pillar Men). In order to properly use Hamon, respiration and circulation must be unimpeded; blood loss, suffocation, or even extreme cold can result in one's Hamon becoming weakened due to the inability to properly oxygenate one's body. Beyond this, the uses of Hamon are very broad and limited only by one's creativity.
  • Stands take on many forms and have many abilities, but follow three stringent rules: a person may only have one Stand at a time (although a Stand may change form under the right circumstances and autonomous, userless stands may possess stand users, essentially making then into a user of two stands temporarely), damage incurred by a Stand transfers to its user and vice-versa (if a Stand loses an arm, its user will lose that arm, bound-type and automatic Stands are exempt from this rule), and Stands are typically Invisible to Normals (unless bound to physical objects like The Fool's sand body or the puppet body of Ebony Devil).
• Rummage Sale Reject: Some characters have not quite practical outfits. Fugo's suit would be normal if not for the numerous holes in it, while Yotsuyu's outfit is a mixmatch of spikes and different rags.
• Running Gag:
  • Joseph crashing a plane and Polnareff's fear of foreign toilets.
  • Heck, whenever a Joestar gets into a flying vehicle, it's never a smooth trip. What with Joseph, Jotaro, and Giorno's airplanes, and Jolyne's helicopter...
  • The secret Joestar technique to run away.
  • The sites of Part 4's Stand battles becoming urban legends and/or tourist traps, such as the rock Josuke fuses Angelo with or the cliffside where Koichi fought Yukako.
  • Dogs (and, to a lesser extent, cats) aren't exactly treated well in this series. If one appears, 9 times out if 10, it won't be alive for very long. On the contrary, Araki actually loves dogs, but the reason it's done so often is so you hate the villians more.

S

• Sacrificial Lion: A whole family of them. The Zeppelis seem to be here for the sole purpose of providing a sympathetic companion to die for their respective JoJos. Similar characters fill the role if there's no Zeppeli around.
• Sanderson's First Law: Subverted. With all the inconsistencies, plotholes and retcons in the series, rules about Stands are more guidelines than real established limits, and those limits are not exposed clearly anyway.

• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Running away from a fight in order to buy time to strategize seems to be a favorite tactic of the Joestar lineage; Joseph and Jotaro have both used it at least once.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: DIO was trapped in a coffin for a hundred years at the bottom of the Atlantic, and the Pillar Men sealed themselves under the Coliseum to sleep.
• Seinfeldian Conversation:
  • Despite being arguably the most battle-centric arc, it shows up a few times in Golden Wind. Whenever Bucciarati's group stops to eat, Mista invariably leads them into an odd conversation, with such topics as how hardcore vegetarians are and how Narancia would be the tastiest of the group to eat.
  • Also prevalent in Stone Ocean. It's practically slice of prison life at times.
  • In Steel Ball Run, for another example, Johnny suggests that he and Gyro take a moment to think about how they're going to cross the Mississippi River. Gyro then interrupts to share the totally awesome song about cheese he just came up with. Johnny is, naturally, incredibly amazed by his friend's talent.
• Serial Escalation:
  • The series goes through this, as it brings a whole new level of "over-the-top" with every succeeding part, no, chapter. Vampires can do stuff like shoot Eye Beams which are basically high-pressure vitreous humor? How about a super vampire who can sprout Killer Rabbits from their skin? Dogs and birds with superpowers? Pfft! Try plankton! Jotaro has insanely fast and strong punches and can stop time? Well, Giorno can literally Retcon any action taken against him and make his opponent experience death...forever.
  • If the manga is bizarre, then the Jorge Joestar novel is 765 pages of completely insane Japanese text and keeps getting crazier. There's more than one utterly impossible Villain Team-Up, the entire landmass of Morioh and the Passione's island sprout legs and start walking around, and the Holy Corpse from Steel Ball Run was the original Dio's body, not Jesus', and Jonathan fuses with it after returning to life. There have actually been several universal reboots, not just the one with Stone Ocean and they're actually limited to Earth. In most of them, the basic plot of Battle Tendency happens, so there are 36 different versions of Kars living on Mars together. One of the Kars manages to convince Killer Queen to leave Kira and become his stand, uses Bites The Dust to reverse time so that all 36 universal reboots never happen, reaches the Steel Ball Run universe, and gets Made In Heaven Requiem.^note The book hasn't been fan-translated completely to other languages yet so it's not known if all of it Makes Just as Much Sense in Context.
• Serial Killer:
  • Yoshikage Kira, the Big Bad of Diamond is Unbreakable, whose Stand Killer Queen makes him that much harder to track down, since he can easily dispose of bodies without leaving a trace behind.
  • And before that was Jack the Ripper in Phantom Blood.
  • Many minor villains qualify, including Wired Beck, J. Geil, Anjuro Katagiri, Cioccolata, and probably several others.
• Series Continuity Error: One paragraph describes the men of the Joestar family as only having one woman in their lives. In Part 4, it is revealed Joseph cheated on his wife.
• Shared Signature Move: Jotaro and Dio's Stands, Star Platinum and The World, are revealed to share the rare and powerful ability to freeze time. Oddly, Dio gained Stand abilities by assimilating the deceased remains of Jotaro's ancestor, Johnathan, which granted him a Stand similar to Johnathan's grandson, Joseph. The World however was gained from a Stand Arrow, meaning it's entirely Dio's own Stand, so how it's so similar to Jotaro's is unclear. Jotaro's time-stop let's him cancel out Dio's and allow the two to engage in more equal combat, after Dio spent the whole arc curb-stomping other Stand users.
• Shōnen: The first six parts were published in Weekly Shonen Jump, although one may not realize it nowadays due to the intense violence.
• Short Cuts Make Long Delays: Steel Ball Run gives a very straight (if particularly layered) example in the final stretch of the part, said by Gyro right before dying at the hands of Valentine (having realized he wouldn't win).
  "I always tried to take the fastest shortcut in this Steel Ball Run, but 'the shortest route was a detour'. 'It was the detour that was our shortest path.'"
  • Johnny ends up realizing the message's true meaning in a moment of desperation, having fallen off his horse: that even though the power of the Golden Rectangle was mainly drawn upon by running with the horse naturally, he could also get it by making it kick him by throwing Gyro's remaining steel ball at it, (effectively skipping taking a painful shortcut).
  • The more standard interpretation is that it was the struggles of the race that gave the journey meaning, and that without them, neither Johnny nor Gyro would have been able to mature and grow (unlike people like Pocoloco, who breezed through any obstacles in their way but do not develop at all).
• Shout-Out: With its own page.
• Showdown at High Noon: The clock striking noon and the use of guns are usually exempt — the latter being replaced with Stands — but Araki loves this trope.
  • Stardust Crusaders:
    • The fight between Polnareff and Hol Horse starts when the latter mentions he's a mercenary hired by DIO, and the two mock and belittle each other with some pre-fight taunts. While the both of them are laughing silly, a single drop of water falls into a nearby puddle, which serves as the signal for both Stand users to begin their "draw".
    • The Geb fight culminates in another showdown. N'Doul, who is blind and uses a cane to listen to vibrations in the ground caused by people walking, has lost track of where Jotaro is and is frantically listening for his footsteps. Cue Jotaro announcing that he's right behind him. N'Doul lets his cane drop, and its crook hitting the ground is the trigger for both fighters to attack with their Stands.
  • The final duel against Kira in Diamond is Unbreakable starts off with one of these, with Josuke and Kira staring each other off in a tense few pages. Josuke tells Kira to bring out Killer Queen, at which point their Stands start duking it out.
  • In Golden Wind, the Formaggio fight ends with one of these. A tense staredown in the inferno Aerosmith has created leads up to both fighters simultaneously drawing their Stands and attacking as fast as they can.
  • Steel Ball Run wouldn't truly be a western without one of these; the Mandom arc is a continuous, back-to-back string of showdowns, between the multiple characters attempting to challenge Ringo Roadagain and the latter's ability to reverse time, forcing those successful to have to retry their attempts.
• Shown Their Work: The series occasionally explain things in great detail, from the local customs in the place the protagonists are travelling through, to the construction of a villain's favorite guitar and why he bought it.
• Shut Up, Kirk!: This exchange from Phantom Blood, a favorite among fans:
  Zeppeli: Bastard...How many lives have you devoured to heal those wounds?
  Dio: Do you remember every piece of bread you've ever eaten?
• Signature Headgear: A recurring fashion element in the series is distinct hats that identify the character.
  • Baron Zeppeli and, later, Joseph and Jotaro are practically identified by their headgear.
  • Gyro has a sunhat with holes to resemble a cyclist helmet, while Johnny wears a beanie with a star pattern.
  • Esidisi has a distinct hat that covers his horn.
  • Speedwagon's hats are easily recognizable. His first one doubles as a bladed throwing weapon, while his second one was a parting gift from Zeppeli.
  • Gappy/Part 8 Josuke wears a 'dixie-cup' style sailor hat, constantly. He even gets pulled out of the ground in it.
• Signature Sound Effect: The series is famous for its liberal use of written sound effects. The "DODODODO" and "GOGOGOGO" Japanese sound effects are highly associated with the series even though they aren't exclusive to it. Sometimes, the manga also uses nonsensical sound effects such as "MEMETAH" for the sound of a frog being punched, which became iconic within the Japanese fanbase.
• Significant Double Casting: Because Stands are a manifestation of their user's spirit, they typically share voice actors with their users whenever animated adaptions or video games require the use of a voice actor.
• Silent Scenery Panel: Araki likes to present the scenery with one silent panel with an overview of the new location, with some narration detailing the place.
• Single-Stroke Battle: Generally speaking, this is what will happen when two physical short-ranged Stand users clash; the battle is usually over once one of them can unleash the series' trademark Spam Attack successfully. The problem, of course, is actually pulling that off.
• Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: The series is firmly idealistic; believing that whatever life throws at you, the human spirit will conquer it all. It's just that it'll have to go through a lot of shit, before it does.
• Sliding Scale of Realistic vs. Fantastic: JJBA is on the Fantastic side, although Araki firmly roots the series in the "real world", while supernatural events rule the plot.
• Sliding Scale of Silliness vs. Seriousness: JJBA varies wildly on this scale. The four two parts were more silly with occasional seriousness, but from Part 5 onward, the tone shifts into more mature and serious territories, where humour is now occasional.
• Slow Clap: At the end of the Steel Ball Run when Johnny's father confesses his sins and gives Johnny the boots.
• Smoking Is Cool: In the earlier parts, established Badasses like Lisa Lisa or Jotaro smoked. Other less badass characters like Polnareff and Hol Horse smoked too.
• So Last Season: Hamon, the magic system the characters relied on in the first two parts, is reduced to a footnote in part 3, and then disappears for the rest of the series, replaced by Stands. Partly this is because the enemies from Part 3 onwards are almost all normal humans which Hamon isn't as effective against, and partly because Stands are far more flexible in their applications and don't require training to master.
• Sorting Algorithm of Evil: Hirohiko Araki discusses the trope on Volume 46's notes.
  Araki: I was thinking about how strong enemies show up in manga. After them, an even stronger enemy shows up, and after them, an even stronger one… so what happens at the very end? It's kind of like thinking about the edges of the universe. Once you look about the world, you realize that what it really means to be a 'strong' person is not to do bad things. 'An enemy who does bad things' is a person who has a spiritual weakness, and what’s truly scary is when someone takes that weakness and uses it to lash out against others.
• Space Is Cold: Kars's undoing; launched into space, he attempts to propel himself back to Earth by ejecting air from his body, but it freezes on the way out — and soon enough, so does the rest of him.
• Spam Attack: "ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORAAAAAAAA!" "MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDAAAAAAA!" Though, frankly, every humanoid Stand can do this to some extent.
• Spared by the Adaptation: In the Super Famicom game of Part 3, every single playable hero can survive the adventure.
  • Done again, and on a much grander scale, in the epilogue of the Story Campaign for Eyes of Heaven as Jotaro's defeat of Heaven Ascension DIO results in a new timeline being created where most of the heroic figures in each Part that died in canon are instead alive, such as Baron and Caesar Zeppeli, and Avdol, Iggy, and Kakyoin.
• Special Edition Title: Starting with Stardust Crusaders, the anime adaption has the Parts' main villains interrupting the intro in some way, usually in the finale episodes.
  • Episodes 47 and 48 of Stardust Crusaders have DIO stop time, and pace around Jotaro. Time then resumes, and the two trade punches.
  • Episode 36 of Diamond is Unbreakable has Kira use Bites the Dust to rewind the intro to the beginning. The intro resumes as normal, but the visuals are modified to reflect what happened during the "Bites the Dust" arc.
  • In episodes 34 to 37 of Golden Wind, Diavolo uses King Crimson's time erasure ability to position himself behind Giorno, followed by Diavolo using Epitaph to forsee the beatdown Giorno gives him. Come episode 38, and we see it happen in full except now, Gold Experience Requiem reverses Diavolo's time erasure shortly before presumably pummeling Diavolo.
  • In the finale of Stone Ocean, Jotaro uses Star Platinum to stop time, but that proves to be futile, as his time stop quickly ends as Pucci uses Made in Heaven to reset all the way back to "Sono Chi no Sadame", where Jolyne and Pucci face off as the universe starts to crumble around them.
• Spell My Name With An S: Along with the usual problems, many characters aren't directly named after something despite fans generally preferring to spell it that way. For example, while he's named after Wham!, he's officially Wamuu, not Wham; while he's named after Dire Straits, it's Straizo, not Straits. The Writing Around Trademarks necessitated by the current attempts at English adaptations (such as All Star Battle) introduces another layer; for example, Santana becomes Santaviero in ASB and Sanviento in the anime's dub.
• Spoiler Opening:
  • The first opening shows major events in Phantom Blood: Erina being kissed by Dio, Jonathan's fistfight against Dio triggering the Stone Mask, the Big Bad being shot at by the policemen with an image of Jonathan holding his father's corpse, etc.
  • The opening of Battle Tendency spoils Caesar's death. Specifically the part where Joseph ties Caesar's headband around his head while crying. You can also clearly see Kars standing before the rising sun, spoiling that he becomes immune to sunlight.
  • The first opening for the Stardust Crusaders anime shows Kakyoin and Polnareff fighting as part of the group, even though they initially appear as antagonists; additionally, during the shot of five stars shooting towards DIO's lair, a sixth one joins the group, foreshadowing Sixth Ranger Iggy. The second opening shows, although much faster, shots mirroring those just before the deaths of Avdol and Kakyoin, as well as the near-death of Joseph, and is replete with clock/gear imagery representing the fact that DIO's Stand can stop time. And there are many more split-second ones, such as Jotaro's hand moving during DIO's time stop and The World appearing in Star Platinum's reflection.
  • Diamond is Unbreakable's first opening spoils some characters joining the heroes, especially Okuyasu.
  • Golden Wind spoils Trish's presence before she's introduced. The second one spoils a bit of what happens during the climatic fight between Diavolo and Giorno, and about Spice Girl.
• Splash Panel: Inevitable in an action manga, but they have the unique property of only covering 70% of a given double page and be combined with a reaction shot.
• Spoiler Title: Chapters are most of the time remaned into "Stand name, Part x" when reedited in the tankobons, spoiling the name of the Stand(s) appearing in the arc. The anime does it in a similar way.
• Stealth Pun: The Hero of Part 5 is DIO's bastard son, and the Big Bad is named Diavolo. In other words, the son of God is fighting the Devil.
• The Stinger: The anime adaption has one at the end of Part 1 and Part 2 as a teaser for the next one.

• Super Mode: Essentially what the "Requiem" effect is the Arrow has on Stands. A Stand struck by the Arrow and which proves worthy receives a dramatic upgrade in which their old power is cast away and they get a Story-Breaker Power which dwelves into the metaphysical.
• Supernatural Hotspot Town: The town of Morioh as seen in Diamond is Unbreakable becomes a hotspot for Stand users especially after the Bow and Arrow is introduced, unlocking the potential among the townsfolk — though other supernatural phenomena exist as well, such as a man who may or may not be an actual extraterrestrial. Its counterpart in JoJolion is no stranger to weirdness either, being home not just to Stand users which range from regular humans to an actual street, but also serving as home to many of the enigmatic Rock Humans.
• Supernatural Martial Arts: Sendo is an ancient form of martial arts that allows a human with the right potential to generate Hamon, an energy similar to sunlight using precise breath control. Hamon is especially powerful against beings that cannot withstand sunlight like vampires and the Pillar Men.
• Superpower Lottery: Like every series with superpowers, some Stands go from being a downright curse to be so overpowering that they dip into the metaphysical. As Stands are the reflection of one's soul, their form and powers are nearly limitless, and Stands are not created equals. It's also notable that no one has ever complained about his Stand being weaker than someone else's, since a Stand is de facto tailored to its user. Some of the minor characters will have weak and very specialized powers which are useful in one type of situation (usually the situation they're introduced in) such as Tamami Kobayashi's The Lock, a supernatural lock multiplying the feeling of guilt which he uses to scam people via a guilt-trip. Others will have Stands that are detrimental, such as Superfly which emprisoned its owner inside a tower. However, a large majority of the characters have seemingly-weak Stands which are deadly in practice as long as the user knows what he/she's doing, for instance, Osiris which can imprison the souls of people when they lose in any game. The protagonists' Stands (due to needing to appear multiple times) usually have average to powerful Stands whose power is versatile. Once or twice every part, an enemy Stand user presents themselves with a particularly powerful Stand, such as Cream or White Album which pose a great threat to the protagonists and can lead to their death.
  • Even among the protagonists, Jotaro Kujo's Star Platinum shines as it is the physically fastest, strongest, toughest and most precise of all the Stands. Its prowess was such that it didn't even need a power to punch its way from Japan to Cairo. The fact that it can also stop time makes it even more effective.
  • Main antagonists, save Kars who has an Adaptive Ability turned up to eleven and Valentine, are Time Masters who can affect the flow of time in one way or another. This ability to operate in a dimension unreachable by most of the other Stand users makes them more than able to kill the protagonists. Araki himself said that time ability was the strongest type of power.
  • Funny Valentine's D4C-Love Train makes him practically invulnerable, as the concept of "bad" itself is repulsed when it meets the dimensional wall. Only a power able to cross through dimensions could break through it and at the time, only two people on Earth had the ability to do so.
  • Requiem Stands, exclusive to Golden Wind, are another level of overwhelming, as they freely manipulate metaphysical concepts. Unlike other "lesser" soul manipulating Stands, Chariot Requiem can freely swap souls, empower Stands, and even mold souls into new ones. In the same vein, Gold Experience Requiem turns anything back into a "zero" state, nullifying anything done against it.
  • The Superpower Lottery is somewhat alleviated because everyone instinctively wants to use their Stand in a way that makes them more powerful. Thus characters always take the time to set up a plan or attack in advantageous circumstances.
• Surveillance as the Plot Demands:
  • DIO sometimes looks over the heroes via his own spirit photographs.
  • In Stone Ocean, Pucci uses the constant surveillance by the prison guards to look for any suspicious move from Jolyne's part.
  • Subverted in Steel Ball Run, Valentine watches over the heroes by using the observation balloons that are normally used to watch over the racers, but comments that balloons aren't fit for constantly watching over them.
• Survival Through Self-Sacrifice: A Black Comedy example played straight. Stroheim tells a group of prisoners that includes women and children that he needs a Human Sacrifice to awaken one of the Pillar Men. When a child offers himself, Stroheim spares him for his guts and orders his men to kill the rest.
• Swiss-Army Superpower: Stands tend to be restricted to one or two powers, but those powers tend to be rather hands-off with limitations. One of the strongest examples is Stone Free, which just allows its user to turn herself to string; that string is weaving bulletproof fabric, stitching together its user's own wounds, laying itself all over surfaces to detect movement, turning itself into a Tin-Can Telephone, and so on.
• Synchronization: Any damage done to the Stand is inflicted upon its wielder, and vice-versa. Of course, since Stands are essentially a projection of the wielder's mind and personality, you technically are hitting them when you hit their Stand.
  • There are specific Stands that create synchronization between themselves and a target as a means of attack. Steely Dan's The Lovers and Thunder McQueen's Highway to Hell are prominent examples.
  • Automatic Stands are a major exception, as they can act independently from their user and don't share damage with them (although they will deactivate if the user faints or dies). The major drawback is that they tend to obey predefined rules, and the user has limited control over their Stand, if at all.
  • Stands that manipulate physical matter or possess physical objects are also usually exceptions, as at that point you're damaging the object the stand inhabits rather than the stand itself. The downside is that their abilities are mostly limited to manipulating the item they are possessing, though that can amount to a lot more than you might think. Examples include The Fool, Wheel of Fortune, and Surface. Examples of stands that are both automatic and bound to physical matter are Anubis and Superfly, which are able to persist without their user. (the former's user having died ages ago)

T

• Tactical Withdrawal: According to Joseph and Jotaro, the Joestar family's secret technique is to... run away. However, this is actually a very effective strategy most of the time- when encountering a foe who is simply too tough to beat and your life is on the line, you'd be stupid to stick around. Most of the time this retreat allows for the characters to think of a plan to defeat the people they're fighting as well.
• Tagalong Kid: A recurring feature of the series is to have one child character gravitate around the main cast and accompany them. Sometimes they contribute greatly to the team but at other times they are near useless.
  • Poco from the the first part meets Jonathan and contributes to save him from Tarkus.
  • Smokey serves as an Audience Surrogate when Joseph is introduced, but then is kept away from the battles with the Pillar Men.
  • The runaway girl (dubbed Anne in the anime adaptation) literally tags along the group in Part 3 during their travel to Egypt but after proving that she's a dead weight for the group, is sent away to safety.
  • Hayato is a late comer who discovers that his father was replaced by Kira, and thus ends up working with Josuke to take him down.
  • Emporio accompanies Jolyne during the whole part but takes a rather passive role as his Stand doesn't have any fighting ability whatsoever. However at the end he Takes a Level in Badass and is the one to kill Pucci.
  • Tsurugi Higashikata tags along Josuke and Yasuho because Josuke's search for his past coincide with Tsurugi's own search for a cure to his illness.
• Taken for Granite:
  • In Battle Tendency the Pillar Men are shown to hibernate as what appears to be rock-like reliefs on structures.
    • In the case of the first seen Pillar Man, Santana, he transformed into a rock-like consistency to avoid being destroyed by sunlight.
  • Meanwhile in Diamond is Unbreakable, Angelo is fused to a rock and becomes a local landmark.
  • It's almost a Central Theme in JoJolion:
    • The Higashikata family suffer a disease where the firstborn of every generation slowly transforms into rock and dies.
    • Josuke discovers that some people belong to a species almost identical to humans but whose people periodically hibernate in a rock form.
    • The prized Rokakaka is potent enough to regrow a whole leg, but in exchange a random body part transforms into rock.
• Take a Third Option:
  • During Joseph and Wamuu's chariot race, Joseph finds himself on the ground and Wamuu is about to trample him, ready to attack left or right if Joseph tries to leap either way. Joseph instead uses his hammer as a vaulting pole to to jump over the horses.
  • Underworld has trapped Jolyne and Ermes in a plane crash and also put several sick children in the seats of the eventual survivors. Donatello then dares Jolyne and Ermes to either die or sacrifice children in order to live. Jolyne and Ermes work together to duplicate the survivors and then refuse then to have everyone hide inside of them.
  • Okuyasu needs to quickly choose between two Speed Wagon Foundation workers, one of which is the enemy in disguise, before Joseph is killed by a Stand. He ultimately decides to beat up both of them. Fortunately he hit the enemy first and the Stand disappears.
• Takes One to Kill One: Except in very specific circumstances as proven by what the hands of Ghost Girl's Alley did to Cheap Trick and Killer Queen in Diamond is Unbreakable, a Stand can only be damaged by another Stand. Although some Stands can't be harmed at all.
• Taking You with Me: This is the specific purpose of a few Stands. Notorious B.I.G. in Golden Wind can only be activated upon its user's death, at which point it becomes an indestructible Body Horror Determinator. Stone Ocean has a more direct example in Highway To Hell. Its user has extreme suicidal tendencies, and whenever he attempts to kill himself, the exact same trauma will be experienced by the Stand's target.
• Takes Ten to Hold: Jonathan is shown playing football and needs to be tackled by three people to get him to drop to a knee. It takes several more to actually get him on the ground, but by that point he's already passed the ball to Dio, who cruises to an easy touchdown in the first and last time they properly work together.
• Talking Is a Free Action:
  • "You may not realize it yet, but you've just lost to Dio in this game of wits. Does this street look familiar to you, or, being the tourist that you are, do all streets look the same?" All said while flying backwards through the street at a ludicrous speed.
  • There's also Polnareff having almost an entire paragraph's worth of inner monologue as a bullet is flying at him.
  • The 2012 anime gleefully dives headfirst into this trope. There's rarely an episode where someone doesn't move in slow motion while thinking/talking at the speed of light. Of course, all the examples from the anime were present in the manga as well, such as Joseph and Kars' tumble off a cliff, where they have more than enough time to discuss strategies and counterstrategies against each other (especially when Kars rebounds Joseph off the cliffside to slice him up with his arm blade, during which he apparently has enough time to deliver a paragraph's worth of gloating.)
  • This is particularly common in part 3 when Dio's Stand, The World, is involved; it can only stop time for a few seconds at a time (and, eventually, Jotaro can do the same), yet characters inevitably spend far more time than that just explaining what they're about to do. Most obvious when Jotaro's final ploy buys him a literal single second of time when he can move and Dio can't, and he still manages to give Dio an entire "The Reason You Suck" Speech in that second before attacking.
• Tangled Family Tree: All thanks to Dio Brando and Joseph Joestar. Jotaro Kujo is just about the only man to have four great-grand-uncles that are half his age - and all with two biological fathers, no less.
  • At the beginning of Diamond Is Unbreakable Jotaro even lampshades how crazy it sounds to Josuke when he tells him that officially he is his Nephew, even with the 12 year difference of age.
• Thematic Rogues Gallery: Though they don't act as a Rogues Gallery in the traditional sense, the Stand-using Big Bads of each part all use time-based powers: Dio's The World can stop time, Kira's Bites The Dust creates time loops, Diavolo's King Crimson erases time and events, Pucci's Made In Heaven can cause time to accelerate, and Funny Valentine's Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap can access alternate timelines.
• Theme Music Power-Up: Starting with Part 3, each part of the anime adaptation has a recognizable "beatdown theme", which is named after the part itself ("Stardust Crusaders", "Diamond is Unbreakable", "il vento d'oro" (Italian for "Golden Wind"), and which plays when the protagonist has the villain on the ropes. So whenever you hear the beatdown theme, expect awesomeness to ensue.
• Theme Naming:
  • Every main protagonist has the name "Jo" in their first and last names (Giorno being an exception, but still pronounced the same). Jonathan Joestar, Joseph Joestar, Jotaro KuJo, Josuke Higashikata Joestar, Giorno Giovanna, Jolyne KuJo, Johnny Joestar.
  • Musical Theme Naming: With the exception of those from Golden Wind and Stone Ocean, nearly all characters in the series are some kind of reference to a band or song. This also applies to Stands from Diamond Is Unbreakable onward.
  • In Stardust Crusaders, the first 22 stands introduced are all named after the major arcana of the tarot. The main characters' Stands (save for Iggy) are unique in that a color is added to the Arcana names (Star Platinum, Silver Chariot, Hermit Purple, Hierophant Green, Magician's Red). Dio's nine Egyptian agents, meanwhile, have Stands named after Egyptian deities.
  • Edible Theme Naming: Many characters in Golden Wind are named after Italian foods. Examples include Pannacotta Fugo, Abbacchio Leone, Risotto Nero, Melone, Cioccolata, Gelato, Sorbet (which is not actually Italian, the correct word being "sorbetto"), Prosciutto, Pesci, Formaggio, and Mario Zucchero.
    • The extra-canonical light novel Purple Haze Feedback has every character's stand, save for characters who appear in Part 5 itself except for Fugo, named after a Jimi Hendrix song.
  • Characters in Stone Ocean are named after various fashion designers or clothing brands.
  • All the women of the Higashikata family in JoJolion, including Mitsuba, who married into it, are named after the four playing card suits.
    • And all the Higashikata family's Stands names have King in them. (Nut King Call, King Nothing, Paper Moon King, California King Bed, Walking Heart)
  • Josuke Higashikata and Yasuho Hirose's Stands are both named after Prince songs.
• Third-Person Person: Dio in the English dub of the OVA. He takes it to new heights: he refers to himself in the first person, then the third person ("I, Dio"), as an attempt at translating his Japanese "Kono Dio" tic. Calling oneself 'kono -your name here-' is putting on the ritz; appending -sama to your name is just being a giant blowhard. Dio, it seems, does both, hence his translated pronoun quirk.

• This Is Unforgivable!: When Dio kicks Danny in the jaw, Jonathan is furious and says that he won't forgive him for this.
  • Attacking women and children will prompt this reaction from Jotaro, who will give you an extensive pummeling as punishment.
  • Josuke will not forgive anyone who harms or tries to harm his family. Angelo and Enigma Boy find this out the hard way.
  • Harming innocents will provoke this reaction from Giorno. The Boss's sale of drugs to kids is Giorno's motivation for wanting to overthrow him, and he brutally kills Cioccolata for involving innocent people in their fight.
• Time Loop Fatigue: The final fate of Diavolo has him subjected to dying endlessly in ways he can't change or predict. The last time we see him on-panel, he's reduced to screaming at a little girl to stay away from him, a far cry from the fearsome mob boss we were introduced to.
• Time Master: All the Big Bads are either immortal or can manipulate the flow of time in some fashion.
• Time Stands Still: Memorably, both Dio's The World (ZA WARUDO!) and Jotaro's Star Platinum have this ability, although Dio can only stop time for a few seconds at first. It's mentioned that if he hadn't been beaten, he eventually would've been able to stop time for as long as he wanted, due to his vampiric nature. Jotaro, on the other hand, can't, since he's human.
• Title Drop:
  • In Stone Ocean, Jolyne vows to escape from Green Dolphin Street Jail; she calls the jail a Stone Ocean.
  • In Steel Ball Run, the eponymous race is often talked about and thus title drops happens frequently.
• To Be Continued: One of the series' trademarks is a leftward "To Be Continued" arrow which concludes every arc of the series. An arrow which appeared in Stardust Crusaders and is used in the anime to conclude an episode.
• Toilet Humor: Araki isn't above making these kinds of jokes. In particular, Polnareff keeps running into Disgusting Public Toilets and Jolyne keeps having to pee.
• Took a Level in Badass: Many characters get stronger as they learn how to use a technique or acquire a new power:
  • Jonathan and Joseph Joestar learn to use the Hamon, enabling them to fight Vampires or Pillar Men.
  • Kars becomes the most powerful lifeform on Earth after using the Red Stone of Aja.
  • Polnareff and Giorno Giovanna acquire Story Breaker Powers after stabbing their Stands with an Arrow, Soul Power and Winds of Destiny, Change! respectively.
  • After completing a rather convoluted plan, Enrico Pucci becomes a Time Master who can accelerate time until the Universe disappears and another reappears in its stead.
  • Valentine becomes an extremely overpowered version of Karma Houdini by repelling the concept of "bad thing" to another random person on the planet after gathering the Corpse of Jesus.
  • Some characters like Koichi and Johnny Joestar begin as weak-willed or cowardly but grow a spine. Their Stands literally take levels in badass by evolving into different "Acts".
• Took a Level in Kindness: Joseph was a Jerk with a Heart of Gold in Part 2, but becomes a Cool Old Guy in Part 3 and 4, losing much of his irascibility and Troll habits.
  • Jotaro was a foul-mouthed and irreverent delinquent in Part 3 but learns to calm himself in the following parts, gaining in maturity.
• Torso with a View: Physically powerful Stands can punch through someone's chest, usually killing them.
• Translation Convention:
  • Near-constant. English, Spanish, Italian, Chinese, French, Hindi, Arabic, and others are all presented as Japanese — hardly surprising when, on the whole, very little of the series is actually set in Japan. Stardust Crusaders's protagonists consists of individuals of multiple nationalities that speak different languages who travel to multiple countries between Japan and Egypt, yet they have little trouble understanding each other.
  • When Koichi heads to Italy and confronts Giorno, Giorno commends him on his fluency in Italian, which Koichi lets slip that it was the result of Rohan using Heaven's Door on him. Regardless, both are presented as speaking in Japanese to the reader. All currencies are expressed in Japanese yen, despite Golden Wind taking place in Italy and lira coins are seen in the Little Feet arc.
  • Chapter 2 of Steel Ball Run has a disclaimer that says that all U.S. customary units will be converted to metric and currency amounts will be inflated to modern standards. Also, Sandman can apparently write Japanese.
• Translation Train Wreck: Though accurate translations of all parts are now available, this series is known for a history of laughably bad scanlations. Easily the most famous is the "Duwang" translation of Part 4 (so-named because the translator somehow managed to mistake the kanji for "Morioh" as "Duwang", the Chinese reading of the characters, giving you some idea of the quality involved).
• Troubled Backstory Flashback: Many flashback describe how horrible the protagonist's lives were before meeting the Jojo of the part.
• True Companions: In nearly every part, each JoJo can count on a number of their allies to help them.
• Truer to the Text: The David Production anime adapts the events of the manga more faithfully as previously adaptions deviated from the source material.
• Truth in Television: Araki likes to inspire himself from real-life and sometimes uses unbelievable yet true factoids for his series.
  • Sandman. Yes, there are Native Americans who have incredible running prowess, at least in terms of endurance.
  • The beggar in Stardust Crusaders with a Mercedes is Ripped from the Headlines (of the time)
  • Mista's backstory.

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