One would be hard-pressed to find a single anime fan today that hasn't seen Jojo's Bizarre Adventures. With its unique flare and constant meme content, everyone and their mother has delved into an anime that is exactly as bizarre as advertised. And while many fans may see Phantom Blood as the beginning of the madness, it was far from the storyline that kept the series in the anime zeitgeist during its more cult years.
That honor would go to the macho strangeness that is Stardust Crusaders. Its a story beloved for making Jojo's what it is today while also criticized for its more traditional, i.e. less bizarre, take on storytelling. This list will be looking at exactly why Stardust Crusaders is the series' best arc (& a few reasons why it's far from it).
10 It Is: Introduced Stands
The rest of Jojo's owes Stardust Crusaders a huge debt for amplifying how strange the series can really be. That is mostly due to the fact that it introduced Stands. Hamon was pretty good, but it was old hat in the industry when it was introduced. Pressed to create something truly original, Hirohiko Araki created a magic system that was as unique and powerful as the people using it.
Better yet, Stands weren't named after Japanese spirits or natural elements but after popular music. Everything about these mythical ghosts stuck to the fans' minds, and they all began in Stardust Crusaders.
9 It Isn't: Solved Everything Through Fists
Despite its creative new toy, Stardust Crusaders didn't necessarily solve things in the most creative way. While characters like Josuke and Giorno had to use their wits and talents to fight villains as if they were solving mysteries, Jotaro Kujo and the rest of the Crusaders pretty much solved their problems in the same way: By punching them.
There was even a perilous villain whose Stand was supposed to be near indestructible and was about to kill everyone, but Jotaro just started punching harder and made everything cool again. Battle Tendency had some harebrained schemes, but Stardust Crusaders sometimes just doesn't try.
8 It Is: Joseph Joestar
Joseph Joestar was incredible and had plenty of memorable moments in Battle Tendency. Whether it was his quick thinking or bright personality, Joseph immediately became one of the most defining Jojos.
However, the version of him that most people are gonna remember is gonna be his wacky yet still pretty clever self in Stardust Crusaders. Whether he's putting up with the hilarious magnetism gag or cursing in English, Joseph was an internet icon during this season.
7 It Isn't: Generic Villains
Jojo's Bizarre Adventures has one of the most eccentric rogues galleries in all of media, and they've developed some uniquely tense situations like Giorno having to avoid shadows or Josuke fighting an entire transmission tower. With some outrageous personalities to boot, the villains are every much as responsible for the series' success as the main characters.
The same can't be said about Stardust Crusaders. While Dio had his 9 Glory Gods and the series essentially ran down the tarot characters, it says a lot about the character writing at the time when fans can hardly remember any villain beyond Hol Horse and Oingo and Boingo.
6 It Is: Dio At His Most Powerful
While the arc didn't have the best line of villains, it was bolstered by having perhaps the most remembered runs for one of the greatest anime villains of all time. It is him: Dio. Stardust Crusaders immediately got a sense of suspense and mystery when it revealed that Dio was not only somehow alive but unleashing a new army of superpowered freaks upon the world.
When the Crusaders eventually got to clash with him after weeks of build up, he did not disappoint with how incredibly powerful and maniacal he was. He was every bit as egotistical as he was in Phantom Blood, but he got a major boost in having an incredibly overpowered Stand, The World. Between his heart-pounding bouts and his most memorable lines to date, Dio helped make Stardust Crusaders special.
5 It Isn't: Most Characters Don't Have Personality
As talented and eccentric as he is, even Dio can't make up for everyone else's lack of personality. The Crusaders mainly amounted to just being a group of muscular tough guys who'd solve their problems by attacking things (Joseph Joestar notwithstanding).
Can anyone really describe who Avdol, Kakyoin, and Polnaroff really are? What about Iggy, the dog that was kind of mean? Seeing how one-dimensional the core cast is, it's a wonder why the studio didn't just keep them on paper.
4 It Is: Jotaro Kujo
Jojo's Bizarre Adventures may be home to a long line of Jojos, each with their own beloved story and quirks, but one reigns above them all as the series most remembered main character. That would be the stoic, bad boy, Jotaro Kujo. Though he is a man of few words, he hardly needs any more than "ora."
He's tough, doesn't care what anyone thinks, and is able to solve all of his problems with ease...and fists. Jotaro is the exact type of hero that helped define the 80's and early 90's and is a perfect entryway for getting new anime fans into this eclectic series.
3 It Isn't: Main Character Has No Personality
With that being said, there's not much else to say. That isn't to knock people's tastes for the quiet and edgy main character, but there's hardly a shortage within the industry.
It certainly doesn't help that Jotaro continues the trend of Stardust Crusaders characters having no personality. Besides helping his mom, what does Jotaro want? What does he like? How is he uniquely interacting with any of the characters, even his own grandfather? It's hard to hate Jotaro, but there's not much to love in the first place.
2 It Is: Most Memorable Team
There are several team ups across the course of Jojo's Bizarre Adventures. Johnathan got to work under Zeppeli, Joseph had Caesar, Josuke had his high school friends, and Giorno literally helped lead an Italian gang. Each of these had plenty of personality and a mission to guide them, yet they haven't stuck to fans' minds the same way that the titular Stardust Crusaders have.
While they aren't that hard to keep up with as a society, that only makes it easier to get behind them as a unit. As a quintessential Shonen team, they were the center of an incredible journey full of fights, friendship, and tears.
1 It Isn't: Generic Shonen Story
Jojo's Bizarre Adventures has told some fascinating stories that are pretty hard to find in any other series. Whether they're fighting powerful Stands or solving high concept mysteries, this series always seemed to break the curve when it came to storytelling. The same can't be said, however, for Stardust Crusaders.
Above any of its other faults, what makes this series perhaps the hardest to recommend out of the rest of the series is how traditional and generic of a Shonen story that it is. The characters literally just move forward across Egypt, fight the villain of the week, and progress to an established final boss. Having borrowed as many tropes as it did, Stardust Crusaders is perhaps the least Jojo arc out of all of the arcs.