Part 8: JoJolion



Part 8 of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, subtitled JoJolion, is preceded by Steel Ball Run and followed by The JOJOLands. Josuke Higashikata is the JoJo, and Toru is the main antagonist. The Rock Humans serve the villainous faction.

This is the second part set in the second continuity, that takes place in a parallel world from the first six parts. This part continues the narrative revolving around Spin and Stands, and introduces the Locacaca Fruit, a plant that has ties to the holy land in Morioh.

JoJolion released in monthly Ultra Jump from 2011 to 2021 for a total of ten years and three months, making it the longest part of the JoJo series yet, with 110 chapters, 27 volumes, and over 4,600 pages.

As of now there is no official manga release for Part 8 in English.

JOJO Portal
''The world of "JoJo", which entered a new stage in Part 7, has finally returned to Morioh (although it is different from Part 4...). The story begins with Yasuho Hirose discovering a naked young man by the "Wall Eyes". The mysterious young man has lost his memory, and Yasuho will also help the young man find his memory because of the consequences of his help. However, once one mystery is solved, more mysteries await them...!? The latest "JoJo" unfolds in the new Morioh Town!''

Summary
The eighth part, and second in the new continuity, is once again set in the fictional town of Morioh Japan, and follows an amnesiac man that goes by the name Josuke Higashikata. Josuke is first discovered lying in the dirt of the mysterious Wall Eyes by Yasuho Hirose, and the story revolves around the two of them attempting to find out Josuke's true identity. After meeting the bizarre Higashikata family, it is revealed that Josuke is the fusion of Yoshikage Kira and Josefumi Kujo as a result of being eveloped by the Wall Eyes and consuming the mysterious Locacaca fruit. The second half of the story revolves around Josuke, Yasuho, and their ally Rai Mamezuku, attempting to uncover the mysteries of the Locacaca and the Rock Humans that hunt it, as well as to save Josuke's mother Holy Joestar-Kira. In the end, Josuke fails to use the Locacaca for his own benefit, but stops the Rock Humans from cultivating it, finally ending the curse that the plant has on Morioh. Josuke joins his family as they celebrate their freedom.

Characters

 * Josuke Higashikata
 * Yasuho Hirose
 * Rai Mamezuku
 * Tsurugi Higashikata
 * Jobin Higashikata
 * Mitsuba Higashikata
 * Toru

Creation & Development
Before settling on the name JoJolion, the name "JoJo Town" was considered for Part 8. Araki seems to have wanted to return to Morioh for the eighth part as far back as 2004, during the serialization of Steel Ball Run. In 2012 during an interview in JOJOmenon, only a year or so after JoJolion began serialization, Araki revealed that he had an urge to return to Morioh due to the seriousness of Steel Ball Run.

His earliest ideas for JoJolion didn't go very far, except for the fact that he knew that he wanted Johnny and Josuke to be related by blood through some special connection, and that he wanted to depict some classic characters from Part 4 in some new form. He mentioned he would maybe have liked to depict an alternate Shigechi or Rohan, but neither character ever appears in JoJolion, although a Rohan Kishibe variant does appear in Part 9.

Another candidate title for Part 8 was "JOJOmenon," which happened to be the name of the mook the interview came out in. JoJolion's title is derived from the word "Evangelion" which means evangelistic or "blessed thing." By combining the word with JoJo Araki means to symbolize the main protagonist Josuke in that way.

Trivia

 * It is the longest JoJo part in publication and by page number, having been published almost up to 10 years, and with the most number of pages out of any previous part.
 * The Wonder of You Arc, which is the penultimate arc of this part, is the longest story arc in the entire series, beating the entirety of Phantom Blood by page count.
 * This part continues the trend of referencing events from the previous JoJo parts through its antagonists. Picking up from where 7 left off, the characters are as follows:
 * Yoshikage Kira directly references Yoshikage Kira from Part 4; they both also posses the same Stand, Killer Queen.
 * Satoru Akefu/ Toru parallel Diavolo/ Doppio in that Toru and Diavolo are both the leaders of their respective organizations, but hide behind a false persona in order to keep their identities a secret.
 * This part introduces two Stands that are similar/ the same as ones from the previous continuity. In Part 7, THE WORLD acted as the final boss of the part. Following suite, JoJolion introduces Killer Queen and Sheer Heart Attack, as well as Hermit Purple.
 * JoJolion turned 10 years old in May 2021 at the release of Chapter 107.
 * Part 9's official title being The JOJOLands makes Part 8 the only part thats name is never changed at any point before or after its release.
 * The final page of this part, like every part before it, says the parts name followed by "The End" in Japanese (完). However, in this part it is written in different characters than in previous years (終).
 * It is theorized that it may be because the second kanji might possibly be less of a definitive "end," meaning there may be more in the upcoming part that may give answers to questions left over from Part 8.
 * It is also entirely possible that it may just be an editor's mistake.

Iconography
JoJolion uses two main pieces of imagery to represent itself, those being the star and the anchor. Both of these images can and have been used to represent other parts in the past, the star most often being used to represent the series as a whole in reference to the Joestar name and their shared star birthmark shape, and the anchor often being used as a symbol for Diamond is Unbreakable. The star in JoJolion is used very often in the manga and included in the official logo, as it is the image depicted on Soft & Wet's bubbles. Josuke's star birthmark is also more emphasized in this part than in most, with the bubbles originating from it, and the Go Beyond ability also appearing from the birthmark as well.

The anchor symbol is used mostly in other promotional media, including in All-Star Battle and Eyes of Heaven.

Continuity

 * This part's main protagonist, Josuke Higashikata, is a distant relative of the previous protagonist, Johnny Joestar. Due to Josuke being a fusion of two people, he is technically even more distant of a relative from him because he's only half of whatever Yoshikage Kira was related to him.
 * The hat shop that Josuke and Yasuho visit is called the SBR shop, named after the Steel Ball Run Race. Inside of the shop can be seen the hats of iconic JoJo characters such as Jotaro, Emporio, Johnny, and Gyro.
 * The fate of Johnny is revealed in this part. After the SBR race he moved to Japan with Rina Higashikata, the daughter of Norisuke, previously a racer in the SBR race. There, he had a son, George III. Unfortunately, his wife became afflicted with a disease that runs in her family, the Higashikata Rock Disease. In order to dispel this fatal illness, Johnny retrieves the Saint's Corpse from America and uses it to accidentally transfer the disease to his son, and then himself. In this act of selflessness, he is declared a Saint, and his body created the Stand Les Fueilles, which then kills him with a rock.
 * While the Saint's Corpse was in Morioh, it was buried under the Twin Pine, which would later become the site of Johnny's burial and later a shrine. The land surrounding the pine would also become known as the Wall Eyes, a similar phenomenon to the Devil's Palm from the previous part.
 * The Devil's Palm and Wall Eyes are known as "blessings from the earth" according to Rock Humans.
 * It is also revealed that after the events of Part 7, Lucy Steel became a member of the Speedwagon Foundation, and began investigating Morioh. She was the one to retrieve the Saint's Corpse from Morioh and bring it back to America, and while in Japan became interested in studying a mysterious fruit that started growing there, the Locacaca.
 * The lineage of Josuke's other personality, Josefumi Kujo, is debated. In one scene he is revealed to have the Joestar birthmark, however any relation to the Joestars is not brought up. In fact, it is outright denied in the final chapter where it goes in detail about where his name came from, but his family is not mentioned at all.

Gallery
"'Thank you very much for these past 10 years of JoJolion! Let's take a bit of a rest, and then meet again with the new ' JOJOLANDS' (tentative).'"