Tropedia

  • Before making a single edit, Tropedia EXPECTS our site policy and manual of style to be followed. Failure to do so may result in deletion of contributions and blocks of users who refuse to learn to do so. Our policies can be reviewed here.
  • All images MUST now have proper attribution, those who neglect to assign at least the "fair use" licensing to an image may have it deleted. All new pages should use the preloadable templates feature on the edit page to add the appropriate basic page markup. Pages that don't do this will be subject to deletion, with or without explanation.
  • All new trope pages will be made with the "Trope Workshop" found on the "Troper Tools" menu and worked on until they have at least three examples. The Trope workshop specific templates can then be removed and it will be regarded as a regular trope page after being moved to the Main namespace. THIS SHOULD BE WORKING NOW, REPORT ANY ISSUES TO Janna2000, SelfCloak or RRabbit42. DON'T MAKE PAGES MANUALLY UNLESS A TEMPLATE IS BROKEN, AND REPORT IT THAT IS THE CASE. PAGES WILL BE DELETED OTHERWISE IF THEY ARE MISSING BASIC MARKUP.

READ MORE

Tropedia
Register
Advertisement
Farm-Fresh balanceYMMVTransmit blueRadarWikEd fancyquotesQuotes • (Emoticon happyFunnyHeartHeartwarmingSilk award star gold 3Awesome) • RefridgeratorFridgeGroupCharactersScript editFanfic RecsSkull0Nightmare FuelRsz 1rsz 2rsz 1shout-out iconShout OutMagnifierPlotGota iconoTear JerkerBug-silkHeadscratchersHelpTriviaWMGFilmRoll-smallRecapRainbowHo YayPhoto linkImage LinksNyan-Cat-OriginalMemesHaiku-wide-iconHaikuLaconicLibrary science symbol SourceSetting
  • Alas, Poor Villain: Sandman Soundman, Bruford, Wamuu, Ringo Roadagain.
    • Diego Brando from Steel Ball Run.
  • Big Lipped Alligator Moment: Gyro's cheese song and the "Seven Days in a Week."
    • Really, anytime Gyro comes up with a gag, odds are it's gonna be one of these.
  • Can't Unhear It:
    • Takehito Koyasu will always be famously remembered as Dio's voice.
    • Ditto to Daisuke Ono, as his Badass Baritone voice is forever associated with Jotaro and Jotaro alone.
  • Common Knowledge:
    • While the ability of time-manipulation actually comes from a chapter of a Doraemon manga first, the said ability is forever associated with DIO and DIO alone.
    • When it comes to discussing Manly stuff in Anime, fans today would often use JoJo (at least the first three parts) as the only major staple example, ignoring the other old series with the same genre.
  • Crazy Awesome: The whole goddamn series. This is a manga that turned Rock-Paper-Scissors into actual combat power, and made a completely epic battle involving it to boot!
  • Crowning Music of Awesome: Black Sabbath's battle theme in the Golden Wind PS2 game.
  • Draco in Leather Pants: DIO's a Grade-A+ asshole, but he's so damn cool that he's easily the series' most popular character.
  • Ensemble Darkhorse: Quite a few characters, such as Muhammad Avdol, Daniel J. D'Arby and Rohan Kishibe. Avdol in particular was so popular that he was spared an early death.
    • Earlier on, there was William A. Zeppeli and Robert E.O. Speedwagon, mostly due to their respective Nice Hats, as well as Zeppeli's grandson, Caesar.
      • In fact, Speedwagon's popularity ended up landing him a major role in the Eyes of Heaven videogame.
    • In the English-speaking fandom, Ringo Roadagain is the subject of a great deal of awe, respect and adulation.
  • Fandom Rivalry: Fans of JJBA tend to be very antagonizing towards Sword Art Online, considering it the epitome what they see of wrong in modern anime. To be more precise, they consider Kirito's ever-growing set of female friends a "childlish sexual fantasy", and the main character itself a Marty Stu, and on top of that attack Kirito's physique. Interestingly, both series target a young male demographic and started way before(1987 for JJBA, 2002 for SAO) getting popularity in the West in The New Tens. But why specifically Sword Art Online? Well, why it's pretty popular.
  • Fan Wank: As with Giorno having two fathers (DIO and Jonathan, with the latter's body being stuck with Dio's head), some fans tend to see Jolyne Cujoh being related to Kakyoin (given the reputation of the pairing between Jotaro and him, plus the fact that Jotaro divorced his ex-wife due to their relationship issues) as well.
  • Fashion Victim Villain: DIO and Vanilla Ice in Stardust Crusaders, the Pillar Men in Battle Tendency and Diavolo in Golden Wind.
  • First Installment Wins: Subverted - thanks to Memetic Mutation and the Fighting Game, Stardust Crusaders is the most notable installment, with Battle Tendency and Diamond is Unbreakable not far behind.
  • Freud Was Right:
    • Quite a few examples, but the most egregious probably being the overwhelming subtext in Pucci's flashbacks of Dio.
Cquote1

"Do you believe in gravity, Enrico?"

Cquote2
    • Also, Dio Brando's "bone".
  • Fountain of Memes: If Dio doesn't inspire this, nobody does.
  • Game Breaker: Pet Shop in the fighting game. He can freely fly around the screen, shoot tons of ice projectiles like it's nothing, and is overall a terribly cheap character to use. Fortunately, he takes more damage than most.
    • Once Gio's Gold Experience gets bumped up to Gold Experience Requiem, its new power is pretty much a one-hit kill - except you keep on dying. Not to mention you have absolutely no chance of hurting him no matter WHAT you do...
  • Gateway Series: The anime adaptation introduced fans (either casual or the LGBT Fanbase) in the 2010s to both the manly and the action anime genre.
  • Germans Love David Hasselhoff:  Either due to the series' writing and it's major memes, The series also gained extensive popularity outside Japan (mainly America, and Italy (thanks to Vento Aureo))
  • Growing the Beard: Part 3, when Stands were introduced and replaced the Hokuto Shinken-esque style of martial arts used in the previous parts, is considered by many to be the point when the series really came into its own.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight: The villain of Episode 4: a Bishonen Serial Killer looking to make the world adapt to his will. His name: Kira. "Just as planned..."
    • During the fight with Hanged Man in Part 3, Polneraff thinks that it attacks from "A world inside the mirror". Kakyoin dismisses it, saying that there is no such thing as a world inside a mirror. Cut to Part 5 where Illuso and his Stand, Man in the Mirror, attacks by dragging people into a world inside a mirror.
    • Terence T. D'Arby's stand - Atum, which is all about different sorts of games.
  • HSQ: Just about everything, from Those Wacky Nazis pulling a Heel Face Turn to a guy who can open your head like it was a CD player and take out CDs containing either your Psychic Powers or your soul. They can also bring physical memories of the Miami Dolphins to attack you.
    • Battle Tendency has Nazi-eating, vampire squirrels grown out of the shoulder of Kars.
    • Due to the author's don't-show-everything-at-the-start storytelling style and... imaginativeness, the series continually throws ever more crazy Stand abilities at the reader. Start from chapter one of Stone Ocean - and you'll still go "WTF???!!!!" trying to figure out the freaky basis of the latest enemy Stand!
  • Iron Woobie: Several characters in the series have tough backstories.
      • Okuyasu from Diamond is Unbreakable is one as well (including his abusive older brother Keicho), which is part of the reason why he's so popular among the English-speaking fanbase.
      • Ringo Roadagain survived a massacre, was almost raped as a child, and fended off his attacker before becoming one of Funny Valentine's strongest mercenaries.
  • It's Popular, Now It Sucks: At least a few detractors think that the series is overrated thanks to the anime's extensive popularity and the memes.
  • Magnificent Bastard: DIO in parts 1 and 3.
  • Memetic Badass
    • Speedwagon, despite being a Badass Normal, is treated like this by many of the fanbases, with many proclaiming him to be the strongest character in the entire Jojo franchise.
    • Jotaro Kujo currently serves as the franchise's main poster boy of this trope.
    • At least one considers DIO as the ultimate vampire in the Anime/Manga world.
    • Insult Josuke Higashikata's hair and he'll give you an instant one-way-trip to the afterlife, destroying any potential usage of coming back to life beyond your death.
  • Memetic Mutation: HOLY MOTHERFUCKING SHIT, IS THAT A MOTHERFUCKING JOJO REFERENCE???
    • Thanks to a Capcom Fighting Game, plus a certain Flash video, DIO is one of the most infamous anime villains of all time.
    • MUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDA!
    • ZA WARUDO!
      • ROAD ROLLER DA!
    • WRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!
    • Dio is often used as a subject of the "cute vampires/blonde haired-girls" Anime meme.
    • "Even Speedwagon is afraid!"
    • Whenever an argument about who would beat who in a fight comes up, the answer is always Giorno.
    • The series' distinctive art style has become a meme, being a popular choice for Art Shifted fanart of other series.
    • The "Duwang" Scans.
    • When it comes to Engrish spoken by other Anime/Manga characters, expect the fans to call out as a "similarity" to Joseph's spoken Engrish in the original Japanese language version of the Anime.
    • Any of the girls who fawned to Jotaro, especially Tomoko Higashikata, is designated as a "thot". 
    • The "What chapter of Steel Ball Run is this?" comment is often used to weaponized ball-themed context.
  • Memetic Loser: The OVA version of DIO, notably after the release of the modern adaptation.
  • Moe: Speedwagon, Memetic-wise.
  • Moral Event Horizon: Again, DIO. In the first volume, to avenge himself from Jonathan giving him a much-deserved ass-whupping (in a fair fight, no less), he retaliates by tying up Jojo's beloved pet dog in steel wire, putting him in a wooden box, and putting the box in the Joestar estate's incinerator, so that when the butler lights it up... Plus, there's the business of the captive mother who lets herself be turned into a zombie by Dio if he will spare her baby's life...
    • Angelo crossed it when he killed Josuke's grandfather, then tried to strangle a young boy to death with his Stand.
  • Most Annoying Sound: It doesn't come across very well in English, but Magenta Magenta's voice is supposed to be incredibly whiny and nasal.
  • Narm : Johnny Joestar's scream of "I MUST KNOW THE SECRET OF THE BAAAAALLLLSSSS" is more hilarious (or ridiculous — take your pick) than the serious and emotionally impacting line it's supposed to be.
  • Narm Charm: All the Crazy Awesome makes the ridiculous names somehow great instead of pure corn. Consider — what other series could make you take a villain dressed in hearts named Vanilla Ice with his stand Cream seriously?
  • Needs More Love: One of the most influential manga of all time, with series ranging from Street Fighter, The King of Fighters, Castlevania and Heroes either referencing or taking ideas from it... but outside of Japan, it's still relatively unknown, even with all the Memetic Mutation surrounding Stardust Crusaders and it's later arcs.
  • Nightmare Fuel: Once you see how Illuso died, you can really appreciate Araki deciding to have Fugo Put on a Bus...
    • What happens to Masazo once Cheap Trick leaves his body...
    • Carne's stand, The Notorious B.I.G. As if being an indestructible, all-devouring blob monster wasn't bad enough, the is also the fact that the heroes can't kill it. It's still out there in the ocean, the text mentioning that it attacks passing ships.
    • And Cioccolata is this all by himself.
    • Sports Maxx's stand, Limp Bizkit. INVISIBLE. INAUDIBLE. ZOMBIES.
    • Remember Part 6's Ungaro and his Bohemian Rhapsody? That's probably the reason Araki was never picked as an artist for Disney. Considering how the Dwarves and Pinocchio turned out, we should all be glad that Mickey jumped ship before we could really see him.
    • Alessi is one of the more genuinely terrifying villains in the series. Granted, most of the time you see him, it's from the perspective of the de-aged Polnareff, but it works. And there's what happened to the woman who stayed in his shadow for a bit too long. She de-ages into a fetus.
    • Viviano Westwood was happily pounding on Jolyne while his left cheek was ripped enough to reveal some of the jawbone.
  • One True Pairing:
    • Joseph and Caesar in Battle Tendency.
    • Jotaro and Kakyoin in Stardust Crusaders.
  • Paranoia Fuel: "There's a shark in the soup!"
    • Terunosuke Miyamoto - his powers only work on a person if that person gets scared. This is much easier for him to do than you would think.
    • Pray to god that nobody looks at your back if Masazo Kinato's Cheap Trick is attached to you...
    • Polpo's shadow ability. It's to the point where he can come out of the shadows of flying birds.
    • It's Zucchero's sheer effectiveness with his Stand in staying hidden while attacking that makes him paranoia-inducing. It takes Moody Blues to actually find out why the hell the rest of the team is disappearing one by one.
    • Rubber Soul's stand, Yellow Temperance, allows to perfectly mimic any human being he sees.
  • The Scrappy:
    • Good luck trying to find anyone who's a fan of Arabia Fats.
    • Same with Tamami Kobayashi and Toshikazu Hazamada.
    • Giorno's unnamed, black-hearted biological mother in Golden Wind, which is ultimately ignored to the point of his son being born from two dads instead.
    • Pocoloco from Steel Ball Run is despised by many for not only being an incredibly boring character who constantly relies on the power of his nigh-useless Stand, but also being the one to win the titular race.
    • As mentioned in the Memetic Loser trope above, The 90's OVA version of DIO is this, mostly due to him having an uninteresting and bland voice compared to Takehito Koyasu's in the 2012 adaptation.
  • Seinfeld Is Unfunny:
    • This is the eighth-longest-running manga series ever, and it seems rather tame (but no less awesome) by today's standards, seeing as it basically invented most of the current shonen tropes.
    • Meta example: The "Jojo reference" meme is considered as overused, loud, and annoying for some fans.
  • Serial Escalation: The entire series has elements like this, which only become more and more prominent with each successive installment and Stand introduced.
  • Ships That Pass in the Night: Some people ship Giorno/Jolyne even though they've never met and he's her great-great-great-uncle.
  • So Bad It's Good: The "Duwang Scans" of Diamond is Unbreakable is awesomely bad.
  • Squick: Just try to look at how Pesci uses Beach Boy on Mista without cringing.
  • Tear Jerker: Polnareff watching Avdol and Iggy's ghosts floating away smiling at the end of his fight with Vanilla Ice, with tears in his eyes.
    • Jonathan Joestar's death at the end of Phantom Blood, along with Caesar Zeppeli's in Battle Tendency.
  • Viewer Gender Confusion: Narancia (a pretty boy with a thin androgynous build and wearing a skirt, not helped by his stand being called Aerosmith) and Ermes.
  • Watch It for the Meme: Usually, it's Dio's "MUDA MUDA MUDA!", "WRYYYYYY!""ZA WARUDO!", and "Oh, You're Approaching Me?"
  • Why Does Everyone Think I'm Inigo Montoya?: Although they look and act nothing alike, Polnareff and Montoya have oddly similar backstories, both being European fencers, despite the former never using one himself, who lost a family member after they were killed by a man with a deformed hand.)
    • More exactly, this is a simple Shout-Out. It's Lampshaded when he and Kakyoin are finally facing J. Geil and losing (badly). J.P. calmly explains to a desperate Kakyoin that, when the moment of revenge arrives, you don't just shout random insults. There's a certain code you have to follow, and there are some precise phrases that have to be spoken. You know how it ends.
Advertisement