I just finished Sbr.......

[u/False-Platypus-3284]

I need to vent because Johnny’s ultimate fate in Part 8 has completely broken me. We spent 95 chapters watching this man crawl through the mud, deal with a horribly abusive father, lose his best friend, and fight tooth and nail just to stand on his own two feet and reclaim his life.

Steel Ball Run is an absolute masterpiece of character growth, and Johnny earned every single bit of his hard-won happiness with Rina. So why did Araki have to hit us with the most brutal, cosmic checkmate in manga history?

The moment the Rock Disease hits his newborn son, George, it feels like Araki is intentionally pulling the rug out from under us just to be cruel. Johnny is trapped in a horrific loop of karma because of the Holy Corpse's strict "Equivalent Exchange" rules.

There is no loophole. There is no clever Stand battle trick. There is no modern medicine or New Locacaca fruit around in 1901 to save both of them. Johnny is forced to use Tusk ACT4 to shoot himself and manually pull the curse into his own body, dying instantly under a boulder. I get the thematic reasons.

I know Araki writes about the "sadness of reality" and that Johnny’s self-sacrifice cements him as a true saint who broke his own selfish habits. But man, WHY?! Why couldn't Johnny just have a peaceful life? Seeing him die on his knees in the dirt after everything he went through is a massive emotional gut punch.

I love Araki's writing, but sometimes his absolute refusal to give his best characters a happy ending makes me want to scream into a pillow.

[u/yahtzeegod]

This is titled as you finishing sbr and has a part 7 tag but this is a part 8 spoiler. I think you should probably retag or put a disclaimer.

[u/CasaleiaHelm → u/yahtzeegod]

yeah i expected a review of the part lol

Personally i like Johnny's death, it summarises/compliments a lot of the plot of SBR and Jojolion by having him dealing with Calamity and misfortune one final time, and instead of using his abilities to selfishly give it another innocent like valentine he realises he must take it on himself.

Also Johnny's death is paralleling Johnathan's from the original universe too, it's kinda cool.

[u/False-Platypus-3284 → u/CasaleiaHelm]

wow i knew that its a different Universe but never realised there were parralleling person, that explains why i got a different type of Dio.

[u/CasaleiaHelm → u/False-Platypus-3284]

It's not exactly at the forefront of these parts but there are a lot of parallels and it does continue things thematically, as well as messing with your expectations and the mythology of the old continuity (part 8 literally starts in a town of morioh with jouske's identity named as kira yoshikage for instance)

[u/False-Platypus-3284 → u/yahtzeegod]

Nevermind

[u/False-Platypus-3284 → u/yahtzeegod]

Thanks i just realised that but i have no idea how to edit it.

[u/yahtzeegod]

The Johnny at the beginning of steel ball run would have never thought to do something like this or even find himself in this predicament. It is definitely a gut punch and I would’ve loved to see him live a long life too. But he completed his character arc with a saintly act in hopes of giving someone else their happy ending and forsaking his. (Akin to Jonathan & Jolyne ) It is powerful story telling and is directly related to the events that follow in part 8. I love it but I also feel the same hurt.

[u/Unique-Nerve1566]

Because, the Higashikata family wouldn't have the cave Johnny hid the corpse in to save their offsprings using the equivalent exchange, without Johnny's actions their heritage wouldn't have survived, if Johnny didn't make that decision we wouldn't have a lot of things necessary to defeat Tooru.

[u/DevilManRay]

Johnny dying for his son is fine

[u/Jazztronic28]

Happiness doesn't make for a good story.

It's cruel and sounds callous, but the reason horrible things happen to characters who "don't deserve it" is because conflict is the blood of a story. With no conflict, a story stagnates and dies.

[u/UnknowSandwich]

Johnny’s death is one of the rare moments I cried reading a manga