Warning: Contains spoilers for JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: The JOJOLands chapter 1.JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: The JOJOLands has finally started, and it’s already breaking a major series tradition regarding Stands. The JOJOLands’ protagonist is Jodio Joestar, a teenage gangster in Hawaii with dreams of becoming rich. Much like Passione from Golden Wind, Jodio’s gang appears to consist largely of, if not entirely of, Stand users, and Jodio’s Stand is November Rain, a spider-like Stand that can bombard people with incredibly dense rain droplets.
Not much is known about November Rain’s full capabilities at this moment, but it’s already breaking a major tradition for the Stands of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure protagonists. With its spider-like design, November Rain is the first Stand of a protagonist to not resemble a human or, in the case of Johnny Joestar’s Tusk, any sort of bipedal creature. It’s certainly an unexpected design choice, but at the same time, it’s in line with how the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure manga has been progressing over the years, and it also wouldn’t be impossible for November Rain to become more like its predecessors over time.
Jodio’s Stand Fits JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure’s Current Style
The design of Jodio’s November Rain is very different from the Stands of previous protagonists, but at the same time, it’s perfectly in line with JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure’s current style. Ever since Steel Ball Run, there have been fewer and fewer Stands with humanoid designs, with most fights revolving around their specific abilities instead of close-quarters combat. Those types of Stands still exist, of course, but it’s clear that Hirohiko Araki has moved away from making them the sole focus, so Jodio’s Stand being the way it is makes perfect sense.
November Rain’s design also works with Jodio’s character. While it’s only been one chapter, 2023’s The JOJOLands has characterized Jodio as something of a villainous protagonist through his occupation, his arrogance, and his volatile behavior. This is important because it’s often the villainous characters in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure who tend to have grotesque or largely inhuman Stands in the same vein as November Rain, so its design could be seen as a representation of the current role Jodio has in The JOJOLands. If that is the case, then November Rain’s design being so different from its predecessors would actually make a lot of sense.
Steel Ball Run Proves Jodio Can Have A More Traditional Stand
November Rain is a large departure from how JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure protagonists’ Stands usually look, but The JOJOLands can easily reverse that, and Steel Ball Run already showed how. Steel Ball Run’s protagonist, Johnny Joestar, who shares a voice actor with Attack on Titan‘s Eren Yeager, also had an inhuman Stand in Tusk, but Tusk was able to take on alternate forms called ACTs, and Tusk ACT 4 looked like a typical human Stand. Based on that, it would be easy enough for November Rain to also have ACTs and progressively become more human until it becomes a fully humanoid Stand, just like the Stands of other protagonists.
November Rain having ACTs could also tie into a hypothetical character arc for Jodio in The JOJOLands. Johnny’s arc in Steel Ball Run revolved around him slowly becoming a better person and moving past his trauma, with each new ACT symbolizing a new stage of Johnny’s growth. If November Rain had ACTs as well, then each new form could tie into The JOJOLands‘ Jodio Joestar’s character arc, with each one symbolizing his growth into a more heroic figure that eventually peaks at a more traditional Stand. There’s no way of knowing if Jodio will have an arc like that, but it would hardly be out of the question, either way.
