Stone Ocean


Stone Ocean is the sixth story arc of the Japanese manga series JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, written and illustrated by Hirohiko Araki. It was published in Weekly Shōnen Jump from January 1, 2000 to April 21, 2003 and was collected into 17 tankōbon volumes. In its original publication, it was known as It was preceded by Golden Wind and followed by Steel Ball Run.

Plot

Set near Port St. Lucie, Florida, the story follows Jotaro Kujo's daughter, Jolyne Cujoh, who is framed for a murder and ends up in Green Dolphin Street Jail. However, an amulet containing the head of the Arrow from her father allows her to unlock her Stand, Stone Free. Jotaro soon comes to visit her and informs her that a disciple of DIO's framed her so that he could kill her in prison, and urges her to escape. This plan goes awry when a Stand named Whitesnake uses its power to remove Jotaro's Stand and memories, in the form of discs. Jotaro sinks into a deathlike state, and Jolyne must somehow find a way to recover the discs from Whitesnake's user, the mysterious prison chaplain Enrico Pucci. Along the way, she picks up allies such as Emporio Alniño, a boy whose late mother gave birth to him in prison, Ermes Costello, an inmate searching for her sister's killer, and the convicted murderer, Narciso Anasui, who soon falls into unrequited love for Jolyne. Most notable of her allies is Weather Report, an amnesiac like Jotaro ever since Pucci stole his memories, though he retains his weather-controlling Stand, also named Weather Report. She also meets Foo Fighters, a mass of plankton and hybrid of Stand and Stand User that had been made sentient via Whitesnake and assumed the human appearance of a recently-deceased female inmate, who becomes a core ally before her untimely demise at the hands of Pucci.
Pucci knew and idolized DIO sometime before the events of Part 3 occurred. While in DIO's company, DIO spoke of "Heaven" and how to create a "perfect world" when certain conditions were met. Pucci, keeping DIO to his word, proceeds with his plan to realize this "perfect world", which involves absorbing the remnants of DIO's bones in the form of a green homunculus and arriving at a predestined place on the night of the new moon.
Sometime after the death of F.F., Jolyne, Ermes, and Emporio escape from prison on their hunt for Pucci while Anasui and Weather Report also escape in pursuit of Jolyne. She succeeds in sending both of Jotaro's discs to the Speedwagon Foundation and the "resurrection" of Jotaro quickly goes underway. During the battle with Donatello Versus, one of the sons of DIO, Weather's memory disc is returned to him, after which he remembers his true name, Wes Bluemarine, that Pucci is in fact his long-lost twin brother, and the torment he went through before his memories were taken. With his memories returned, Weather unleashes his Stand's true powers on the world and faces Pucci in combat. Weather Report is ultimately killed, and Pucci continues on to Cape Canaveral in time for the new moon.
Jolyne and company catch up to Pucci but all seems lost when they are faced by the next evolution of his Stand, C-Moon. Jotaro arrives just in time and defends Jolyne and her friends from Pucci. However, Pucci is able to survive and realizes he can use C-Moon to replicate the gravitational conditions required for his plan. Unlocking his ultimate stand, Made in Heaven, Pucci speeds up time itself causing the rapid acceleration of the world around Pucci and the Joestar group. Pucci aims Made in Heaven to maneuver Stone Free into successfully killing Anasui, but Jotaro is able to stop time. Made in Heaven greatly shortens Jotaro’s time stop, and upon saving Jolyne from Pucci’s attack, Jotaro and Ermes are killed in front of Emporio. Jolyne sacrifices herself to halt Pucci and save Emporio, being quickly obliterated by Made in Heaven’s punches.
The final effects of Made in Heaven are completed when time accelerates to the end of the universe, leading to a new cycle of time and a parallel universe in its place, where all surviving humans have precognitive understanding of fated actions in their lives; all deceased humans became different, but similar versions of themselves. Pucci, who believed that such knowledge of one's fate would bring all people happiness, proceeds to hunt down Emporio to ensure that the future does not change. As he is about to kill Emporio, he inadvertently changes fate when Made in Heaven pushes Weather Report's Stand Disc into Emporio’s head. Although Pucci accelerates time once more, Emporio is able to use Weather Report to raise the concentration of the oxygen around him, causing both him and Pucci to suffer from oxygen poisoning. Pucci pleads with Emporio not to kill him, but Emporio uses Weather Report to crush Pucci’s head. The universe reaches its end again, and another parallel universe is formed, without the precognitive effects of Pucci's universe.
Within the new universe, Emporio meets a young woman who looks identical to Ermes, and a couple in a car who look similar to Jolyne and Anasui introduce themselves as Irene and Anakiss. They offer Emporio and the new Ermes a ride as they head to see Irene's father. Irene pushes Anakiss to pick up another hitchhiker who bears a striking resemblance to Weather Report as they drive off in the rain.

Characters


2008 release


Reception

Kono Manga ga Sugoi! recommended the series, and called Jolyne a distinctive character within the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure franchise. In a 2015 poll on Charapedia, Japanese readers ranked Stone Ocean as having the seventeenth most shocking ending of all time in manga and anime.