31 August 2016: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable is MAMIKORE
Domesticity Is Unbreakable.
I am enjoying Diamond Is Unbreakable quite a bit more than I enjoyed Stardust Crusaders. This is not to say Stardust Crusaders wasn't good, but rather its strengths involved a lot of shounen jive. I got my fill of that pretty quickly. On the other hand, Diamond Is Unbreakable does not seem to involve inflated power levels or a bunch of stalling with mini-bosses. Rather, it seems to be more about the Bizarre than it is about the Adventure or even the JoJo.
It's still my show, right?
Instead, Diamond Is Unbreakable features a lot of modestly threatening miscreants who apply their newly acquired superhuman abilities in a variety of ways—not all of them hostile. Not every episode is about Josuke either, and the other protagonists are quite a departure from the scowling beefy dudes I've associated with the JoJo's franchise thus far. Koichi, the shrimpy kid voiced by Kaji Yuuki in a mostly non-annoying sort of way for a change, got to face off in episodes eight and nine against Yukako, voiced by Noto Mamiko.
It's not a Meet Cute because they've already met.
Yukako returned in episode 20, and, Haruhi bless her, she still sort of psycho. I'm pleased to report DARK MAMIKO remains as good as ever. If anything, Noto Mamiko's angry voice has even improved since I heard it last. I think my earliest memory of DARK MAMIKO comes from her supporting role in Dai Mahou Touge (Magical Witch Punie-chan) about 10 years ago. Sadly, nearly all of her roles before and since tend to be for pillow-soft Shimako-type voices. Now that we have Hayami Saori also filling that niche, hopefully we'll get more furious Mamiko characters ripping into people on a regular basis.
Koichi gets a feeling so complicated.
Yukako, incidentally, is fantastic, and would probably be the lead candidate for your Best Girl in Diamond Is Unbreakable even with someone else voicing her. With the power of DARK MAMIKO behind her through three solid episodes so far, Yukako is probably going to boat race the rest of 2016's Girl of the Year field (assuming I get around to writing one of those entries up this year). I'm not just saying that either merely because Yukako has such excellent hair. Psycho chicks are the best.
