The first 12 episodes of Stone Ocean are finally available on Netflix for JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure fans, and they are absolutely worth an audible chef’s kiss.
The male JoJos of Parts 1–5 have each offered something unique and special.
It’s not all that bothersome that men have been the focus – which isn’t something I say very often – considering how queer the show is and how many queer folks in the fandom claim every Joestar.
(Mild spoilers ahead.)
Stone Ocean introduces the first female JoJo, Jolyne Cujoh (voiced by Kira Buckland in the English dub), the daughter of fan favourite Jotaro Kujo (Matthew Mercer).
Their relationship is fractured and a source of pain for Jolyne, due to Jotaro’s having not been around much and divorced her mother when she was younger.
After a car accident (which is later revealed to be planned), Jolyne is convinced by her cockroach boyfriend to hide the body – only to be arrested anyway.
She is put on trial with a scumbag lawyer who works against her.
Before she’s sentenced to 15 years in prison, Jolyne’s attorney gives her items from both her mother and father.
The item from Jotaro is a pendant with a piece of a Stand arrow inside.
When it pricks her finger, it awakens her Stand, which she later names Stone Free (or Stone Ocean in the English version).
Jolyne befriends a fellow inmate, Ermes Castello (Tiana Comacho), who is not very femme at all, lending to a queer reading of the character.
They have great chemistry and are very shippable, in my opinion.
The episodes move along at a good pace and introduce us to memorable characters, most of whom end up being Stand users in one way or another, including Ermes, who also pricks her finger after Jolyne throws the pendant away.
You may be asking: where’s the queerness?
Well, first off, there are rumours that Jolyne was originally meant to be a lesbian in the manga.
Plenty of fans still claim her as queer because why couldn’t she be?
Aside from Jolyne, a plethora of characters can be read as queer, such as Foo Fighters (Brittany Lauda), a mix of plankton colony and Stand.
Stone Ocean is very wacky in the best ways and dips its toes into more explicit content and a lot of cursing.
It’s refreshing to hear women discuss masturbation, but what’s especially realistic is the shame that’s still placed on the act itself.
And to me, Jolyne not being a man gives it a certain vibe.
The main antagonist, Pucci (Yong Yea), is a priest who works at Jolyne’s prison.
Importantly, there’s extreme debate about Pucci’s ethnicity.
Most fans already know a lot of details about him, including that his best friend was former Big Bad Dio (Patrick Seitz) and he is taking revenge on Jotaro for killing him and destroying Dio’s notebook, which had details about reaching heaven without dying.
The Dio and Pucci backstory is complicated and a bit touchy for some.
There’s much to love about Stone Ocean and these episodes so far, including the fucking fantastic opening and ending themes, the characters, and the plot.
It’s impactful that we’re getting the first female JoJo during this time of representation evolving, and knowing there are openly queer voice actors behind some of the characters makes it even more special.
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