JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 4: Diamond is Unbreakable is the worst part in the Jojo's franchise and the most overrated anime of all time. When I first watched this after coming off the flawed but enjoyable adventure that was Part 3 of JJBA, I expected great things as Jojo fans sing the praise of this part all across the internet. However, in Part 4, I only found utter boredom and disappointment. To explain why I feel this way towards one of the most praised anime seasons ever, let's dive into each detail, starting with the terrible and almost non-existent storyline, down to the plain and underdeveloped cast.
JJBA Part 4 spends the first two-thirds of its runtime going basically nowhere, with the main cast chasing random nobodies with the most random stand abilities the author came up with during a long walk at the beach. Each episode is dedicated to fighting weird lunatics, most of whom don't matter in the grand scheme of things. Moreover, these fights are painstakingly slow-paced and can extend up to two episodes, essentially delivering very little substance for 45 minutes of your time. Most fights are just thrown in there to pad out the runtime for a show that could have ended in a third of its total length. The fights you see in Part 4 aren't interesting, as they are the same as Part 3, with nothing new added, therefore making the fights worse. Each fight follows a 4-step formula similar to this:
Steps 3 and 4 keep repeating until the author decides to give the hero that extra IQ point above the villain because tactics in Jojo's don't matter since literally anything goes. Yes, with a show about fighting, the fights are as boring as that.
After a whole lot of meaningless detours, the main villain finally shows himself in the final third of the season, just to only show up every third or fourth episode for a five minute scene while the main villain's dad trolls the main cast. Seriously? Like, come on, this speaks for itself...
Alright, enough about the non-existent plot, and onto the characters. The characters aren't fleshed out, and aside from a few, most don't get any development and if they do the development comes down to the typical "I once was a bad guy and I got beaten so now I'm good." The characters can sometimes be funny, but that really can't save how poorly they're written. And that's all I have to say about the characters because there isn't much to talk about here.
Ok, now for an obligatory review of the animation, so here it is. If you thought maybe the animation could save how poorly written this season was, then you're wrong because the animation is the most stiff I've seen in a Jojo's part. All fights are filled with still frames where only characters' mouths move. It's so bad that it actually pulls you out of whatever immersion there was to begin with.
Overall, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 4: Diamond is Unbreakable is an extremely overrated anime that spends 24 episodes of its 39-episode runtime going nowhere, and the remaining third trolling the viewer. There's even a better anime/game alternative with a similar premise called Persona 4 which is way better written and cares about it's story as it sticks with a firm motivation the entire time without having copious amounts of filler. So, if you want an anime that wastes your time with pointless detours, forgettable fights with nobodies, and a poorly planned narrative that won't take itself or you seriously, then this is for you.
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