Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, Part 6: Stone Ocean vol. 2

…like, right now.

Once the confusion over the showdown in the visitor’s room is over, things become much more focused again.  To the point where the real narrative thrust of this “Part” becomes clear as it turns out that it’s not just Jolyne’s future that’s at stake here, but her father’s as well.  The stand known as Pale Snake has put her father in a dire position and now his daughter has to find out why he’s done so and what he’s stolen as well.  To do that, however, she’s going to need some friends, and the best kinds of those here are other Stand Users.  So she’ll either have to get to know one of the other ones that are within The Aquarium, or through the tried-and-true fashion of beating up a villain until they become besties.

This is an altogether stronger volume than the previous one.  What with its upping of the stakes and addition of new and memorable villains and allies to make it clear that, even if the setting for this “Part” is just going to be within a prison, mangaka Hirohiko Araki has lost none of his ambition.  Or capacity for weird storytelling devices as fellow inmate Ermes has to struggle with a suicidal janitor who’s also obsessed with her.  Which is followed by a storyline that takes the basic premise of “They Were 11” and goes both smaller and stranger with it.  Then the volume ends on a cliffhanger involving THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME OF CATCH EVER PLAYED!  Things could all fall apart at a moment’s notice, but I’m already feeling like “Stone Ocean” is hitting its stride.