There are all sorts of anime that turn into obsessions that last for decades. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is a particularly creative and ambitious example as it tells the generational story of the Joestar family through various members of the lineage.
JoJo features memorable characters, but the powerful Stand abilities have turned into one of the series’ most defining aspects. Nearly all of the Stands draw the inspiration for their names from musical artists, which leads to some entertaining examples, but they can sometimes seem more humorous than practical. In many cases this tactic happens to both belittle and oversell the complexity of these Stands.
10 Don’t Do Them Justice: The Fool
There are a lot of the reasons that The Fool can seem like a diminutive Stand. For one, its very name bills it as the joker-like card from the tarot deck, which isn’t typically intimidating. The Fool is also the Stand who belongs to Iggy, a dog, which makes it easy for people to not view either of them seriously as fighters. On the contrary, The Fool is a hulking goliath of sand and metal that takes advantage of the desert terrain that’s so central to Stardust Crusaders. It’s easy for The Fool to overwhelm its opponents.
9 Exaggerate Its Powers: Notorious B.I.G.
Notorious B.I.G. is a peculiar Stand from Golden Wind that belongs to one of the least threatening enemies, Carne. What’s so special about Notorious B.I.G. is that Carne’s death doesn’t affect it and this Stand is actually invincible, which means it has to be dealt with in unconventional means. Notorious B.I.G. detects motion and is drawn to whatever moves the fastest within its range. Both facets of this Stand’s name imply a truly malevolent force of nature, whereas Notorious B.I.G. is more just a reckless entity that can’t control itself.
8 Don’t Do Them Justice: Baby Face
Baby Face is the Stand that belongs to Melone from Golden Wind and it’s without a doubt one of the most disturbing creations to ever appear in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. The name Baby Face makes it seem like this could be a cute and cherub-like Stand, but instead the name is a reference to how the Stand incubates women and births a child.
Melone then proceeds to educate the Stand and teaches it to build a staunch hatred for a target. Both the execution and what follows with this Stand are a lot more wretched than this unassuming name indicates.
7 Exaggerate Its Powers: Sheer Heart Attack
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure features some highly effective villains throughout its run. Yoshikage Kira from Diamond is Unbreakable is definitely one of the most memorable and he’s a straight up serial killer. Kira demonstrates several variations on Stands that all make use of bombs as their main conceit. Sheer Heart Attack is an odd Stand that looks almost comical at first glance, but it is in fact highly destructive. Its deceptive nature is part of why it’s so dangerous. However, the name Sheer Heart Attack makes it seem even more debilitating and, like Kira, can kill people on a biological level.
6 Don’t Do Them Justice: Cream
Cream belongs to Vanilla Ice from Stardust Crusaders and it’s easily one of the scariest and most destructive Stands in the series. Cream is this Death-like monster whose mouth is a void to a dimension of darkness. It’s a purely destructive force and even if Cream manages to consume itself in this void, it turns into this destructive sphere of energy. Under the right circumstances, Cream could destroy the entire world, yet its name is incredibly basic. It’s one of the most difficult battles that Polnareff faces.
5 Exaggerate Its Powers: The Grateful Dead
Prosciutto and Pesci are a very dangerous team from Golden Wind, but Prosciutto's Stand, The Grateful Dead, causes a lot of destruction throughout Italy. The Stand releases a mist that dramatically ages those that it comes in contact with, which makes for one of the more challenging encounters for Mista and Bucciarati.
Despite the Stand's strength, its name conjures thoughts of zombies or something that's much more intense. The aging that the team experiences is of course a serious problem, but it’s a problem that they recover from quickly enough.
4 Don’t Do Them Justice: Cheap Trick
Diamond is Unbreakable really ups the ante when it comes to the creativity of the different Stands, but Cheap Trick is a truly morbid example. Cheap Trick attaches itself to a user’s back and becomes obsessed with killing them & finding a new host. Cheap Trick achieves this by getting someone else to look at his victim’s back. Curiously, it’s Rohan who primarily deals with this Stand, but its tactic could effectively take out anyone. The Stand’s name indicates it will be fun and playful, but the sick thing is that Cheap Trick views this form of torture as entertainment.
3 Exaggerate Its Powers: Burning Down The House
Stone Ocean has yet to receive an anime adaptation, but when it does, many JoJo fans will experience the weirdness of Part 6's Stands. Burning Down the House is a highly atypical Stand that belongs to Emporio Alnino. It has no physical form and it instead allows Emporio to interact with the objects and ghosts within a room. It's useful in very specific situations, but its name is a lot more intimidating and implies some fire-based Stand or at least a room that would trap its victim. This is much more utilitarian.
2 Don’t Do Them Justice: Purple Haze
The Golden Wind saga of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure gets even more playful with its Stands. Stands reach a new level of power here, but Purple Haze is actually so destructive that the series has to eventually write both it and Fugo out because it’d be too convenient to solve any situation. Purple Haze releases a mist-like virus that decimates anything that’s living and turns them into a biological mess in under a minute. Purple Haze is used sparingly as a result and it has no discretion towards who it infects, but its name still sounds romantic and mysterious.
1 Exaggerate Its Powers: Heaven’s Door
Rohan Kishibe is one of the more supporting characters to come out of a JoJo series. Rohan’s Stand is Heaven’s Door, which perfectly reflects his job as a manga artist. Rohan’s Stand allows him to turn his prey into open books, so to speak, and read their past to see if they’re being truthful. It’s a maneuver that looks really cool, but the other Stands in JoJo with Heaven in their name have much more global consequences. Heaven’s Door sounds like it could bring forth the Second Coming and it’s much less serious than that.