Disclaimer 1: I go over it in the Essay but the Dao is extremely difficult to talk about as the Dao that can be named is not the real Dao. The extent of Daoist literature is also extremely vast, and so I stuck to the core text, the Dao De Jing, as it serves as a consistent baseline. Were Araki to be drawing from Daoism, the major elements would likely tie back in with the Dao De Jing. While I've read a few translations of the text, the one referenced in the essay will be Gia-Fu Feng's translation. This translation makes use of the Wade-Giles Romanisation, instead of the more modern Pinyin Romanisation. As such, Dao De Jing is rendered as Tao Te Ching.
Disclaimer 2: In this essay Dragona Joestar will be referred to using she/her pronouns. As of this moment, her exact gender identity is not confirmed — at least not in the English speaking sphere. Her being transgender seems to be the most likely direction Araki is taking her character, but she could just as easily be gender non-binary or fem-presenting gender fluid. All that really matters is that she is subverting her assigned gender/sex at birth, and so any queer identity being attributed to her is valid. For simplicity, I will be using she/her pronouns.
Disclaimer 3: For a quick explanation of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure for the uninitiated who may be reading, the story takes the form of an anthology series, each new ‘part’ following a new member of the joestar family. Each character, for the most part, also possesses a stand; a supernatural spirit that can be summoned at will, each one with its own ability. These abilities include stopping time, turning regular objects into explosives, manipulating the weather, and more. This essay will contain spoilers for JoJo’s, but that is to be expected.
Disclaimer 4: I will probably come back later and change the accenting on japanese and chinese words, but I need to be more familiar first before committing to this and it doesn’t change the essay’s content (and it would only conflict more with the translations cited) so for now I’m going to leave it
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure has long included religious, or more broadly mythological, themes and imagery throughout its many years of publication. From the vampires of Part 1, Phantom Blood to the Christian iconography of Part 5, Vento Aureo; the spiritual and supernatural dominate the series. While the most noteworthy of these are the fighting spirits known as stands, perhaps the second most important of these is fate, which has been present throughout JoJo’s since Phantom Blood and up until Part 9, The JoJoLands. Though generally a minor aspect of parts 1 and 2, it would begin gaining prominence in part 3, Stardust Crusaders, which featured a series of ‘fated’ encounters brought about by familial revenge schemes — ending in the clash between the vampire DIO and the Joestar family.
This theme of fate would be even more prevalent in Vento Aureo and Part 6, Stone Ocean — both of which delved into those of us set up for failure by fate. These parts make clear that JoJo’s world is ‘fatalistic’, which refers to the idea that “at at certain checkpoints in our lives, we will necessarily find ourselves in particular circumstances [...] no matter what the intervening vagaries of our personal trajectory" (Denette, 104). This is most clearly shown at the end of part 6, wherein every person becomes aware of their fate. People unwillingly think out “strange predictions”(Araki, Part 6, ch.157 5) of future events that inevitably come true, such as a prison guard who is “going to step on some papers and trip” (Araki, Part 6, ch.157 5). Despite thinking to himself that he will just “be careful” (Araki, Part 6, ch.157 5), he is unable to avoid tripping on the papers. Other stands throughout the series, such as Thoth and Epitaph paint a similar picture. While thoughts seem not to be determined, actions are. This is, generally speaking, a Christian understanding of fate. While individual believers and separate sects vary on this, God is thought of as having “comprehensive foreknowledge” of events that is argued to be "incompatible with human free will” (Johnson, 435). It's worth noting, this is very general and it is, of course, a matter of academic debate. This is particularly noteworthy as it relates to JoJos, as many of the characters rooted in Christianity become tied with fate in some way. DIO, bearing the Italian name for God, is the central figure in the fateful clash between the Joestars and the Brandos. Diavolo, standing in for the Devil, can foresee fate with Epitaph and uses that information to set up key events with his primary stand, King Crimson. Finally the American priest Enrico Pucci, who is responsible for creating the world at the end of part 6 previously described.
This is important to mention as, while taking place in a new continuity, parts 7 through 9 of JoJo's feature and remix many of the same thematic features of the previous continuity. Interestingly, while Christianity remains a prominent fixture of the series, its ties to fate became looser. Abilities now often alter or distort fate, instead of affirming it. And the free will that was once minimized has since become far more important. In changing fate, it seems its basis has changed as well. That is to say, I would argue that the reboots’ conception of fate is rooted in Daoism, one of 3 major Chinese religions, rather than Christianity. Furthermore, this Daoist influence extends to many of the characters, major and minor alike. For this essay, I will begin by examining the system of fate and other general concepts shown to highlight the Daoist elements of the text, before looking deeper at characters from part 7, 8 and 9.
Firstly, we must outline how fate functions in this new world. In contrast to the continuity of parts 1 through 6, this new continuity places more importance on the free will of any given person. Take the stand Hey Ya, which is in-tune with fate. It can then relay the prophetic musings to its user Poco Loco. Notably, the stand does not talk in absolutes. Hey Ya says early in Steel Ball Run: “Hey! Don’t get distracted! Or else you might fall off the horse. You’re not supposed to fall off yet.” (Araki, Part 7, ch.9 7). The ability for events to play out differently is highlighted. The stand Wonder of U in JoJoLion reflects this too. It has the ability to redirect ‘the flow’ of calamities towards those who attempt to pursue the stand or user, Toru. The end-of-chapter page explaining the ability goes as far as to state “it’s best not to pursue” (Araki, Part 9, ch.100 34). Were fate to function as it did in parts 1 through 6, this advice would be useless as their pursuit would be predestined anyways. As such, it's clear that one’s intent is not bound by fate.
No better is this shown than in Funny Valentine’s speech regarding ‘the napkin’. He proposes the scenario where someone is "sitting down at” a table for dinner, and in that case, asks “which napkin would [one] take? The one on [the] left or the one on [the] right” (Araki, Part 7, ch.61 22). He makes the point that people take the napkin at either side of them depending on the whims of the first person to sit down. If they take “the napkin to their right, then there’s no choice for the others to take the ‘right’ napkin” (Araki, Part 7, ch.61 24). The current choice becomes fated by proxy of a prior, free choice. Free will, as such, is brought to the forefront and in-turn fate becomes more consequentialist; that is to say it is rooted in cause and effect. The abilities of Ticket to Ride, Wonder of U and the Lava Rock all convey this about fate. Wonder of U speaks of a “chain of logic” (Araki, Part 8, ch.104 7) to the calamities it protects itself with, and of a preexisting ‘flow of calamities’ that the stand is drawing from. For instance, a plane panel flies at our heroes during the arc, but the narration goes out of its way to explain the impetus for this happening with or without Wonder of U’s influence. That is to say, the event of the panel falling off of the plane was predestined to happen as the scientific conditions were met for it to happen, and Wonder of U simply uses these pre-existing misfortunes to its advantage. Similarly, the lava rock in the JoJoLands transfers wealth from one person or persons to another, but it doesn’t just do it instantaneously. Instead, it will cause a bank to seize people’s assets or for the wind to blow some paper money in just the right way. This process is referred to as, varyingly, the mechanisms or the absurdities in part 9, and their use is central to the plot. Instead of each person’s actions being determined already, mechanisms, absurdities, or as it will be referred to henceforth, the flow simply directs or pushes people and objects down certain paths.
Finally, flow in the new continuity is based on dialectics. It essentially comes in the form of good luck and bad luck, though both of these have several names attached; blessings, curses, miracles, calamities, &c. What is notable is that for there to be one, there must also be the other. The main example of this is the ability gained through the completed corpse Jesus Christ, Love Train. It creates a barrier of light surrounding the user that brings towards them good fortune, itself the only thing that is allowed to bypass the barrier. For this to work, however, misfortune must be created in other places. This is shown as having attacks be converted into misfortunate events instead of passing through the barrier, such as when a shot bullet becomes an arrow shot into the neck on the other side of the country. Similar is seen with Poco Loco early on in Steel Ball Run, where seemingly bad things end up working in his favour. Examples include starting the Steel Ball Run race late resulting in smooth ground to easily catch up while conserving energy, or manure being kicked up into his face hiding a gold coin. Another example is in JoJoLion, where a cliff collapsing results in two characters merging into the story’s hero Josuke Higashikata. This dialectic even maps on the progression of parts from one to the other: Steel Ball Run was about blessings and prayers, JoJoLion was about curses and calamities, and the JoJoLands appears to be about the progression of one to the other.
With all of this laid out, we can begin to discuss its relation to Daoism. The most obvious is its use of dialects. One of Daoism’s core aspects is the recognition of opposites that compliment and define one another: “All can know good as good only because there is evil” (Laozi, ch. 2). The most well known version of this is the concept of Yin and Yang, which are opposite forces that, when combined, “achieve harmony” (Laozi, ch. 42). While there are very abstract examples of these dialectics mentioned, such as between good and evil, there are more concrete examples too. Take, for instance, that “Men hate to be "orphaned," "widowed," or "worthless, / But this is how kings and lords describe themselves” (Laozi, ch. 39). As stated previously, flow makes heavy use of the dialectics of good and bad fortune, and that in reality they are two sides of the same coin. For someone to experience good fortune, someone (usually, someone else) must experience bad fortune. They are inseparable in the same way good and evil are. This is clearly reflected in how fortune is presented in the reboot.
We can also understand flow as being similar to the titular Dao itself. Now, by the nature of Daoism and the Dao, it is somewhat difficult to talk about. This is due to the linguistic philosophy that Daoism puts forth — that in line with Yin and Yang, all words are defined by what they are not and so are inherently reductive and can never capture the true existence of something. The Dao, which is the “unfathomable source of ten thousand things!” (Loazi, ch. 4), is generally meant to be irreducible, and as such, “The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao”(Loazi, ch. 1) It is for this reason that Laozi forgoes outright explaining the Dao in favour of metaphors, allusions and other poetic techniques to gesture at the Dao. Regardless, there are parallels that can be drawn between the Dao and flow. The Dao, or more specifically the Dao of Heaven. acts as a cosmic force guiding the world in Daoism, and appears similarly in some varieties of Buddhism. It can be translated as the path, or the way. Notably, it is not the only Dao Laozi references, as he also mentions “Man's way” (Loazi, ch. 77), which can be thought of as either human nature, or a spiritual elevation of human nature. Both of these generally align with the flow, but there are more specific examples. Just as with the flow, the Dao of Heaven is intertwined with the idea of one’s fortune in life: “The Tao of heaven is to take from those who have too much and give to those who do not have enough” (Loazi, ch. 77). However, notably, Man’s way “takes from those who do not have enough and give to those who already have too much” (Loazi, ch. 77), which in particular can be compared to the mechanisms of the Lava Rock.
Another aspect of the Dao is its formlessness. As the Dao is “forever undefined” (Loazi, ch. 32) , it is commonly referenced as having no shape: it is “an empty vessel; it is used, but never filled” (Loazi, ch. 4), and “Small though it is in the unformed state, it cannot be grasped” (Loazi, ch. 32). This formlessness is seen most clearly with the absurdities of the JoJoLands. Throughout the JoJoLands so far, absurdities are used to describe the "shapes and forms” (Araki, Part 9. ch.1 45). that facilitate the flow, or the mechanisms as Jodio identifies them. Essentially, they are events, occurrences and curious happenings that push reality down a certain path. For instance, the presence of an “oddball” (Araki, Part 9. ch.1 65) being on a team of four people, or a shady business deal that backs someone into a corner at seemingly every turn. Implicitly, needing to appear as shapes and forms indicates the flow as an intangible force. These absurdities occur “without connection to the life one has lived up to that point. In fact they have no meaning at all” (Araki, Part 9. ch.13 25), however this is only a façade. Like police corruption and stands, they only remain “unseen” to those who “do not try to see them” (Araki, Part 9. ch.1 1). This is in line with the flow of calamities and Wonder of U. Its flow is described as having “every form of harmful force” (Araki, Part 8, ch.92 28) crash into its pursuer. The stand, being “‘disaster’ taken form” (Araki, Part 8, ch.97 6), has the additional ability to take a human appearance but in truth it “has no face” (Araki, Part 8, ch.92 28) and merely steals the identities of others — which symbolically shows that calamities as specific events are just forms that the flow manifests as.
Finally, there are some other concepts or tidbits in Daoism which are present in more minor ways in JoJos. For instance, Daoism emphasises the importance of negative space: “Shape clay into a vessel; / It is the space within that makes it useful [...] / Therefore benefit comes from what is there; / Usefulness from what is not there” (Laozi, ch. 11). In JoJo’s, negative space is somewhat tangible and can be manipulated. This is seen in the stand of Dragona Joestar, Smooth Operators, which allows her to heal herself by dragging the negative space of cuts and injuries onto other objects. I.e., what is not there, and how that contributes dialectically, is given focus in both. The Dao of Heaven is referred to as impartial, as it sees “the ten thousand things as straw dogs” (Laozi, ch. 5), and similarly in JoJos, even for “a saint who makes no mistakes / it is unavoidable that bad things will sometimes occur / that is calamity” (Araki, Part 8, ch.98 9). The phrase ‘heaven and earth’, which appears frequently throughout the early chapters of the Dao De Jing, is used to describe that which Wonder of U’s ability affects.
There are also times where specific passages are paralleled. Just as Laozi proclaims that “People usually fail when they are on the verge of success” (Laozi, ch. 65), “The point where those on a long journey are most likely to meet an accident... / is just before returning home” according to the Wonder of U (Araki, Part 7, ch.98 26). The word ‘flow’ itself, coming from the Japanese word 流れ, refers to the flow of a river or stream. While this is not the Japanese word for the Dao, 道, the Dao is compared to a “river flowing home to the sea” (Laozi, ch. 32). Finally, during the Sugar Mountain Spring arc of Steel Ball Run Johnny Joestar and Gyro Zepelli are tasked with using up and or giving away their possessions of wealth so as not to become guardians of the tree. Being the first to accomplish this, the current guardian of the tree proclaims “those that are willing to ‘lose’ / they’re the ones who’ll ultimately ‘gain’ everything” (Araki, Part 7, ch.48 18). This is in keeping with the Daoist belief that “He who saves will suffer heavy loss. / A contented man is never disappointed” (Laozi, ch. 44).
To summarise, since the move to a new continuity, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure has made a noticeable transition to the use of Daoist ideas and beliefs. This is most apparent in the changes between fate between the old and new continuity. Whereas before fate in JoJo’s heavily leaned in favour of a preordained world, the new continuity instead has an underlying force that drives the world, but that is not actively constraining. This is, generally, in line with the Dao of Daoism. However, Araki did not simply feature fate for the sake of it — it mattered for the characters narratively and thematically. In part 3, it served to add gravitas to the various conflicts between families in the part. In part 5, being dealt a dysfunctional hand by fate is what connects the majority of its main cast. In part 6, then, these two angles become combined and subverted, and fate itself becomes more textually significant than ever before. It only makes sense, then, that Araki would do the same with the new fate he had created for Steel Ball Run and beyond.
Throughout the Dao De Jing, the most prevalent piece of advice given is that one should practice ‘wu-wei’, which can be translated as effortless action or “non-action” (Laozi, ch. 43). The concept is simple on paper. In line with Daoist dialects “When nothing is done, nothing is left undone” (Laozi, ch. 37). As a formless entity, the Dao is the ultimate example of this ‘non-action’, as in doing nothing “The ten thousand things rise and fall without cease” (Laozi, ch. 2). This adherence to effortless action can be compared, in particular, to two central characters in Steel Ball Run: Gyro Zepelli and the president of the United States, Funny Valentine.
Both exhibit interventionist tendencies that run counter to wu-wei. For Gyro, this is best shown through his relation to his father, Gregorio Zepelli. There are a few examples to draw from. Working as a doctor, Gregorio forgoes healing a woman’s damaged optic nerves as not to “overstep boundaries” (Araki, Part 7, ch.52 12), instead only having gone as far enough to “save her life”. This is in keeping with the Daoist sage who “must know when to stop” as “Knowing when to stop averts trouble” (Laozi, ch. 32). The comparatively brash and inexperienced Gyro, in going too far, takes the woman from visually impaired to fully blind. Gregorio’s criticisms of Gyro for acting “sentimentally” (Araki, Part 7, ch.24 17) could be likened to the impartiality of the Dao and the Daoist Sage. There is also Gregorio’s metaphor of the tennis net. In advising Gyro of the dangers of sentiment and defying nature, he relays that “during the sport of tennis, there may be a time when the ball hits the net. Which side of the net will the ball fall on…?” (Araki, Part 7, ch.48 16). The answer is that “it is in the realm of infinity” (Araki, Part 7, ch.48 17), or put simply, that it can not be predicted. What is notable about this is its premise. It is not simply saying that nature is unpredictable, but that intervening with nature can lead to “a miracle” (Araki, Part 7, ch.48 16) or a curse, as the ball can only hit the net through the action of man.
Gyro, for much of Steel Ball Run, fails to inuit this teaching from his father, due in part to their mutual animosity and his desire to be a “true man”(Araki, Part 7, ch.39 19). He still, however, has a respect for nature shown through his link with the golden ratio — a real life observation that many things in nature form in the mathematical ratio of roughly 1:1.618. This can be likened to the Daosit principle that you should “See simplicity in the complicated. / Achieve greatness in little things” (Laozi, ch. 63), especially given it is through seeing the golden ratio in nature that Johnny, Gyro’s protege throughout the part, is able to evolve his stand Tusk for the first time. It may be worth noting that this moment is reflected later, when both Gyro and Johnny achieve their ultimate power, albeit through the golden ratio more generally and as such this moment represents a general respect for nature. He also gives Johnny a series of teachings throughout the part that reflect Laozi’s own. For instance, he tells Johnny that “the shortest path is a detour” (Araki, Part 7, ch.84 7), which parallels the notion that “the easy way seems hard” (Laozi, ch. 41). The same could not be said of President Funny Valentine. While Gyro had a tendency to butt in where he didn’t belong and overstep boundaries, Valentine is a full-on imperialist. As explained earlier, Valentine recognises the chains of collateral that underpins reality. In order to be the one who ‘takes the napkin' of America's continued prosperity, Valentine seeks out the corpse parts of Jesus Christ to obtain his miracle bringing ability. As stated previously, for there to be miracles means calamities must be created elsewhere. His goals then can be compared to an imperialist power which cyphens the wealth of far off countries. This is apt for a villainous portrait of the President of the United States, but it can also be viewed as extremely unDaoist.
There are easy differences one could draw between Valentine and an ideal Daoist sage; his active attempts to influence the outcome of events contradicts the adherence to non-action, and his ambitious plan to secure the future of the United States stands in stark contrast to the sage who “does not attempt anything very big” (Laozi, ch. 63). There is a greater comparison to be made, however. The Dao De Jing makes repeated criticisms of politicians who rule without the Dao of Heaven. These rulers may “rule with severity” (Laozi, ch. 58) or “cunning”; both of which describe Valentine perfectly. He organises and funds the Steel Ball Run race across America as a covert way to collect the corpse parts of Jesus Christ, and employs several assassins to meddle with the racers who possess the parts. He is also willing to endanger the lives of ordinary citizens to get this way, such as when he kills or threatens the various transport staff working in Philadelphia. For this sort of ruler, Laozi says they will inevitably “cheat the country” (Laozi, ch.65) and will create “clever” (Laozi, ch. 65) people. The former occurs in a very literal sense, that at the height of his popularity after the Steel Ball Run Valentine dies and leaves the country without a leader. However, the latter is also seen, as Valentine is only killed when Johnny cleverly uses his limited resources to unleash a powerful attack, piercing Love Train’s barrier of good fortune.
Instead of ruling with the Dao of Heaven, Valentine rules with the Dao of man. His imperialist aims clearly adhere to the notion of “[taking] from those who do not have enough and [giving] to those who already have too much” (Laozi, ch. 77), which could be generally applied to the capitalism that the US, especially in the late 20th century, represents. However, there is something to be said about how Valentine implements this. His control over the flow of the world comes from reconstruction of the corpse parts of Jesus Christ. As such, Valentine enacts an inversion of Gregorio Zepelli’s metaphor of the tennis net. The ball hitting the net is an intervention of man, whereby the ball is then left “in the realm of God” (Araki, Part 7, ch.48 17). Meanwhile, Valentine uses Love Train, controlling JoJo’s Dao of Heaven, to bring about a Dao of Man. It flies in the face with the teaching that “The world is ruled by letting things take their course. / It cannot be ruled by interfering” (Laozi, ch. 48).
Fittingly, the Dao of Man has consistently been the basis for each parts’ main villain in the reboot. Part 8’s rock humans seek to abuse capitalist systems to upend “the distribution of power in society” (Araki, Part 8, ch.102 17). In order to do this they plan to use the ‘New Lokakaka’, a miraculous medicinal plant that can cure any ailment by passing the misfortune of that ailment onto someone else, which can be sold for a high price; initially “200 million yen each”, but in reality “the wealthy people of the world will pay any amount of money for” (Araki, Part 8, ch.102 17) the medicine. The rock humans, then, seek to exploit the capitalistic Dao of Man which dominates the world to “rise to the top” of society while the rest of humanity “constantly sinks downward” (Araki, Part 8, ch.69 7). Meanwhile Part 9 deals much more directly with Man’s way. The stated trajectory of the part is for “one boy”, Jodio Joestar “[to become] rich in the subtropical islands” (Araki, Part 9, ch.1 2). He seeks out the mechanisms in order to achieve this, which, as stated previously, veer much closer to the Dao of Man than the Dao of Heaven. The target of his wealth cyphening is the seeming main antagonist Acca Howler. Notably, Acca’s ancestors gained wealth, power, and most importantly for the story at hand, land ownership through their own lava rock. In an interesting twist on parts 7 and 8, both the protagonist and antagonist seek out a manipulation of the flow to gain the upper hand on the other. This is inline with the more morally dubious characterisation of Jodio compared to earlier protagonists, and only rivaled by Johnny Joestar in the beginning of part 7.
That only leaves the protagonist of part 8: Josuke Higashikata. Whereas most of the characters mentioned up until this point were poor examples of Daoism, Josuke’s character arc is emblematic of Daoism due to the importance of loss. This topic, along with related ideas, were addressed earlier, but they’re worth explaining deeper. In Daoism, the absence of something matters just as much as its presence. A simple example is that it is important to build a house with strong materials, but were the house fully filled with said material it would be unusable. A similar example given is water; it is “soft and yielding" (Laozi, ch.78), and lacks a solid form, but because of this it can overcome anything the “strong” or “stiff” (Laozi, ch.78). It is for this reason that, as a Daoist sage seeking to balance all opposites, one “knows when to stop” (Laozi, ch.44). For Josuke, his development throughout part 8 is about coming to terms with this as it relates to his forgotten past.
His story begins not as Josuke Higashikata but as two people, Kira Yoshikage and Josefumi Kujo, fused together by the strange grounds of the town of Morioh. Embedded in the earth, this new person awakes and is rescued, but having amnesia, begins to search for his past identity. In the meantime, he is adopted by the Higashikata household and is given the name Josuke. In aid of his search, Josuke makes use of the stand passed onto him by his past life, Soft and Wet. The stand has the ability to create “soap bubbles” (Araki, Part 8, ch.98 15) that, upon touching a surface and bursting, will “‘take something from there” (Araki, Part 8, ch.4 37). As the part continues, we see Josuke use more and more abilities derived from his past lives, such as the explosive bubbles of Kira Yoshikage’s Killer Queen. We also see him go from taking abstract properties, like sight or the ability to make noise, to more physical properties like the embers of flames or one’s facial hairs. This aligns with the search for his identity — as Josuke’s knowledge of his past lives deepens, the more abilities he unlocks and the more defined they become. Eventually, the truth of his past is fully illuminated, and he identifies himself as Josefumi Kujo. Along with this, his use of Soft and Wet resigns to just what Josefumi could do with the stand himself. As such, while he has ‘gained’ a great deal of knowledge about himself, it is not holistically helpful.
It is also destined not to last. As Laozi writes, “He who is attached to things will suffer much. / He who saves will suffer heavy loss” (Laozi, ch. 44). After finally understanding the truth of his past, Josuke feels the intense, emotional need to help Holly Joestar Kira; the closest person he has to a mother at this point in the story. Afterwards he declares that such a reaction “supports the idea that [his] ‘lost memories’ once existed” (Araki, Part 8, ch.58 17), and later still he claims his attempts to cure Holly “the one and only proof of [his] existence” (Araki, Part 8, ch.90 9). These show at least to some extent that despite accepting he may never recover his memories, he is still attached to the idea that there was a past life he had lived — that the fusion within the ground was not itself Josuke’s birth. His inability to simply accept the supposed lack of memories leads him to overlook “The valley spirit [...] It is the woman, primal mother” (Laozi, ch. 2). In turn, and no matter how noble the efforts to aid Holly may be, Josuke can not “shine forth” without “justifying” (Laozi, ch. 24) himself. Ultimately, Josuke’s attempts to save Holly, legitimised by his attachment to his past identity, bring him into conflict with the Rock Humans at the TG University Hospital. His action, spurned by attachment, brings peril.
Once Josuke and the rest of the cast come to fight their leader, Toru and Wonder of U, his previous abilities are unable to overcome the calamities thrust upon him. It is pointed out, however, that Josuke’s bubbles have a way of bypassing the stand’s defenses. The plant appraiser Rai Mamezuku points out that Josuke’s bubbles are, in fact, lines that spin to the point of appearing as a soapy mass. Not only that, but Josuke’s lines spin so fast that the walls are infinitely thin, defying logic. This links the bubbles with the negative space identified in Daoism, as Josuke attacks are repeatedly referenced as not being physically present in some sense. They are “invisible” (Araki, Part 8, ch.104 22) or they might “not exist in this world” (Araki, Part 8, ch.104 10) for instance. This means that they defy the logic that the Wonder of U uses to operate its ability, which most clearly links to the passage “Without a body, how could there be misfortune?” (Laozi, ch. 13). Furthermore, they erase what they come into contact with, rather than taking it as before. Symbolically, this represents Josuke no longer needing the outside world to define him, but is defined by himself. The bubbles also exhibit a sort of non-action, as avoiding Wonder of U’s calamities is paramount to not pursuing the stand at all. This coincides with Josuke’s final resolution, that he is “the one that came from the soil, ‘Josuke’” (Araki, Part 8. ch.110 39) and no one else. In doing so, he is “at one with loss / The loss is experienced willingly” (Laozi, ch. 23). Whereas before he carried on the legacy of Kira Yoshikage and Josefumi Kujo, in particular relating to both their mothers, his actions are now reframed as purely compassionate. This resonates with the Daoist notions that the sage “is detached, thus at one with all. / Through selfless action, he attains fulfillment”(Laozi, ch. 7). A Bubble proved most useful when it was empty.
Religiosity, having been ingrained in human existence for so long, would naturally have a place in a series written as “an ode to life and a celebration of humanity” (Araki, Part 2) While Christian elements have remained present since its earliest parts, the adoption of Daoist ideas to shape the world and characters of JoJo’s has deepened Araki’s exploration of the topic. From a reevaluation of fate to character arcs in line with the messianic or priestly roles of the past, a Daoist lens seems to recontextualise the series, especially going forward. Some characters fail to live up to Daoist preachings, and both Gyro and Valentine pay the ultimate price of death. But whereas Gyrio’s respect for Nature and coming to terms with Daoist principles secures him a noble death and the ultimate victory through his protege Johnny Joestar, Valentine is forced to experience the most painful demise in the series. Meanwhile, other characters such as Josuke Higashitaka are able to veer much closer to Doaist principles, which helps ground and orient his personal development and the development of his stand throughout the part. There remains, I’m sure, the possibility for deeper analysis, such as key moments in particular fights or how ideas progress between parts 7, 8 and 9, but this essay will conclude here to avoid becoming even more bloated.
WORK CITED
Dennett, D. C. Elbow Room: The Varieties of Free Will Worth Wanting. MIT Press, 2015.
Araki, Hirohiko. “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 2 - Battle Tendency.” Lucky Land Communications, Vol 12. 1989.
— “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 6 - Stone Ocean.” Shonen Jump. 2001-4
— “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 7 - Steel Ball Run.” Ultra Jump. 2004-11
— “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 8 - JoJolion.” Ultra Jump. 2011-21
— “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 7 - The JoJoLands.” Ultra Jump. 2023-
Johnson, David Kyle. “God, Fatalism, and Temporal Ontology.” Religious Studies, vol. 45, no. 4, 2009, pp. 435–54. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/27750034. Accessed 16 Jan. 2026.
Laozi. “Dao De Jing.” Translated by Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English, Tao Te Ching, English by Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English, Terebess Asia Online (TAO), terebess.hu/english/tao/gia.html#1972. Accessed 16 Jan. 2026.
EDITING CREDITS
King of Five , thank you so much for agreeing to this btw.
SophieSpraoi (watch her videos their awesome http://www.youtube.com/@SophieSpraoi)
Comments
Post a Comment