Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, Part 4: Diamond is Unbreakable vols. 6 & 7
It took a while, but “Diamond is Unbreakable” finally realized its main plot and actually steered a couple of its principal characters into a conflict with Stand-wielding serial killer Yoshikage Kira. However, the characters in question were Jotaro Joestar and Koichi. In other words: “Guy Who was the Protagonist in the Last Arc” and “Best Friend of the Main Character in This Arc.” Both of which would be fair game to kill off in order to raise the stakes in the fight against Kira. While I won’t spoil the outcome of that conflict, it does lead Josuke to investigate Kira’s house, which is still occupied by his father who has his own Stand. Surprisingly, this leads directly into an arc where Rohan Kishibe takes part in the most dramatic game of rock-paper-scissors that you will ever see in comics. Period. Yes, it’s another diversion from the main story, but it’s good even by the standards of the many we’ve seen in this arc so far.
One other thing that I liked about the wrap-up to the Kira fight from vol. 6 is how it took one of those stories that looked like a diversion and made it into a key part of the storyline. As to what it is, I’ll just say that Kira is now living a new life as a family man, and struggling to be as normal as possible. A task which proves difficult when a Stand-wielding cat enters his basement (and trust me “Stand-wielding cat” is the least weird thing about that storyline). So it’s entirely possible that these “diversions” are simply mangaka Hirohiko Araki’s way of setting up plot points that he plans to spring on the reader when they least suspect it. In that case, we can be sure that the shape-shifting schoolboy who claims to be an alien, the Stand-wielding biker punk, and the guy living on an electrical tower, who figure prominently in vol. 7 may have much different roles to play as the conflict with Kira goes on. It’s a thought I’ll be clinging to as the series looks to throw more diversions at us with this volume.