Stardust Crusaders

Stardust Crusaders (スターダストクルセイダース) is the third (and perhaps most well known) major story arc in the Japanese manga series JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. It begins with the last chapter of volume 12 of the series (chapter #114) and continues through volume 28 (chapter #265). It is currently being published in English by VIZ Media and also has an Italian version published by Star Comics (Italy). Part III is generally considered the most popular series of the JoJo compendium by far, due to the fact that it has spawned multiple video games (including an arcade game made by Capcom that was later ported to Dreamcast) and even an original animated video series.

Plot Summary
Series 3 follows Jotaro Kujo (空条 承太郎 Kūjō Jōtarō), the grandson of Joseph Joestar. Jotaro is a troublesome student given to getting into fights at school and antagonizing his teachers. He is put in prison after beating up three armed men and a trained boxer, but he refuses to leave, claiming he's possessed by an evil spirit. To demonstrate, he takes a gun and shoots himself in the head, but the bullet is stopped by an arm shooting from his hand that only he and his mother Holy can see. Joseph Joestar soon arrives with his friend Mohammed Avdol. A battle ensues between Avdol and Jotaro in which Avdol manifests his own evil spirit, using it to provoke Jotaro out of the cell. Joseph reveals that Jotaro's "evil spirit" is actually a Stand, a manifestation of psychic power. Jotaro's Stand, named Star Platinum, possesses incredible precision and strength; Avdol's, known as Magician's Red, can control fire; Joseph's Stand, Hermit Purple, manifests as thorny vines that allow him to manipulate cameras and other mediums, capturing images from a great distance.

Joseph reveals that Jotaro's and his own Stand, having both manifested recently, appeared because of the reemergence of Dio Brando. When he sank to the bottom of the sea, Dio attached his severed head to Jonathan Joestar's body, using his new body's energy to remain alive. However, Dio's Joestar blood linked him to the rest of the family, and thus when Dio began to develop a Stand, Joseph and Jotaro did as well. Dio vows to destroy the Joestar family and sends a student, Noriaki Kakyoin, to dispose of Jotaro. Kakyoin's Stand, Hierophant Green, possesses a nurse and attacks Jotaro with its Emerald Splash maneuver, but Jotaro defeats him soundly.

It is soon discovered, however, that Holy has developed a Stand. Her Stand appears as ivy growing from her body, but because she lacks the fighting spirit to control it, the strain of its activity begins to slowly kill her. Joseph and Avdol determine that unless they kill Dio within fifty days and thus break his Stand's influence, Holy will die.

Star Platinum's keen eyesight helps the three determine that Dio is somewhere in Egypt. Kakyoin, freed by Jotaro from Dio's mind control, comes along to help the group. On a jetliner the group is ambushed by the insectile stand Tower of Gray, forcing Kakyoin to prove his worth. Jean Pierre Polnareff, user of the swordsman Stand Silver Chariot, challenges Avdol in Hong Kong but is eventually freed from Dio's control, joining the group to avenge his sister. The heroes take a ship to Singapore but are forced to battle the aquatic Stand Dark Blue Moon, controlled by an assassin who has murdered and impersonated Captain Tennille, who sinks their ship. Accompanied by a stowaway girl, the group boards an abandoned freighter but discover that the entire ship is a Stand called Strength, controlled by an orangutan. Devo the Cursed (Soul Sacrifice in the American version) uses his Stand, Ebony Devil, to accost Polnareff in Singapore, while Rubber Soul and his Yellow Temperance impersonate Kakyoin before attempting to consume Jotaro. In Calcutta they encounter the team of Hol Horse, user of a gun Stand called the Emperor, and J. Geil, the man with two right hands and the user of Hanged Man, a Stand of light that attacks from mirrors. Polnareff avenges his sister by slaying her murderer, J. Geil, but Avdol is apparently killed by Hol Horse, who flees the scene.

Joseph is infected with a boil that turns out to be Empress, a stand controlled by Nena, but outsmarts the cancerous foe. En route to Pakistan the party battles Wheel of Fortune, a car Stand controlled by ZZ. Enya Geil, mother of J. Geil, attempts to use her stand Justice in an attempt to avenge her son, sending an army of animated dead after Polnareff and Jotaro. In Karachi, Steely Dan (Rubber Soul in the American version) uses Lovers to hold Joseph hostage, forcing Jotaro into the role of personal manservant. Arabia Fats, user of Sun, attempts to thwart the group in the Arabian desert but is discovered and easily defeated. The group is soon saddled with the baby Mannish Boy, who uses his Stand, Death Thirteen, to attack in dreams. Only through Kakyoin's quick thinking does the group survive Death Thirteen's dreamworld. On an island in the Red Sea Polnareff is accosted by the genie Stand Judgement, but Avdol returns and saves the day. Avdol appropriates a submarine, but the vehicle is infiltrated by High Priestess, a Stand controlled by Midler that can take the form of anything metallic; however, Star Platinum's power proves a simple but effective counter.

Upon arriving in Abu Simbel the heroes are joined by Iggy, a Boston Terrier and the user of The Fool, a simple but powerful Stand of sand. They are immediately attacked by the blind Stand user N'Dour, who attacks with Geb, a Stand of water and the first of the nine Egyptian god Stands; he is able to slash through Kakyoin's eyes before he is defeated by Jotaro and Iggy. Oingo and Boingo (Zenyatta and Mondatta in the American version, respectively), users of the face-altering stand Khnum and the future-predicting comic book Thoth respectively, attempt to defeat the heroes, but Oingo is incapacitated without the heroes even knowing he was there. Anubis, a sword inhabited by a Stand, possesses a farmer named Chaka, a barber named Khan, and then Polnareff, nearly killing Jotaro. Mariah, the sultry user of Bast, magnetizes Joseph and Avdol and leads them on a wild goose chase. Polnareff and Silver Chariot are reduced to children by Sethan, the Stand of the child-abuser Alessi. Later, the group encounters Daniel J. D'Arby, who offers information if they gamble with him, but when Polnareff and Joseph lose, D'Arby's stand, Osiris, transforms their souls into poker chips. Only by laying everything on the line can Jotaro hope to defeat the gambler. In Cairo the group meets Hol Horse again, who has partnered himself with Boingo, resulting in one memorable chapter revolving on the concept of a "prophecy going awry without contradicting itself". Later, Iggy battles Pet Shop, Dio's pet falcon and the user of the ice-slinging stand Horus. Kakyoin returns soon afterward, his eyesight mostly recovered.

The doorway to Dio's mansion is guarded by Terence T. D'Arby, younger brother of D'Arby the Gambler. His Stand, Atum, steals Kakyoin's soul after a round of video games, but despite D'Arby's mind games Jotaro is able to outwit him. Meanwhile, Polnareff, Iggy, and Avdol easily dispose of Kenny G, whose Tenor Sax Stand creates an illusory maze. Avdol is then killed by an invisible force that is revealed as Dio's henchman, Vanilla Ice, whose Stand, Cream, swallows itself into another dimension and instantly obliterates anything its sphere of destruction touches. Ice, who killed himself for Dio but was revived by Dio's blood, is able to nearly eliminate Polnareff, but a valiant maneuver by Iggy allows Polnareff to ultimately win. Unfortunately, this results in Iggy's death. Meanwhile, Jotaro, Joseph, and Kakyoin encounter Nukesaku, the Idiot, but easily defeat him.

Though wounded and alone, Polnareff confronts Dio but is confounded by the vampire's powers. When the four surviving heroes are reunited they climb to Dio's tower with the Idiot in tow, but when the Idiot opens the casket he inexplicably ends up mutilated inside it. Dio chases Joseph and Kakyoin across Cairo until Kakyoin, at the price of his life, discovers that Dio's Stand, The World, is able to stop time. With most of his friends dead or injured, Jotaro confronts Dio. Though The World has a huge advantage in the ability to stop time, Jotaro nearly defeats Dio, but the vampire restores himself by draining Joseph's blood, becoming even stronger. Finally Dio attempts to finish off Jotaro by crushing him with a steamroller, forcing Jotaro to use Star Platinum in ways he never thought possible.

After Dio is defeated, Jotaro oversees a blood transfusion from the remains of Dio, which, lies next to the newly deceased Joseph. As a result, Joseph is resurrected.

English Language Edition
The English language edition of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure opens at the beginning of Stardust Crusaders instead of the actual first story arc of the series. Minor edits were made to artwork where certain scenes of animal violence were redrawn by Hirohiko Araki for the English release. Japanese volume 15 (English volume 3) featured a single panel of a dog being decapitated which was redrawn from an alternate angle, and Japanese volume 18 (English volume 6) has several redrawn panels where a mutilated dog was changed into a large rat. Some names were altered for the English release, presumably for copyright reasons. Plus, the character named Devo was changed entirely. The series is edited by Jason Thompson, author of Manga: The Complete Guide.

Trivia

 * Part 3 is the first part where chapters began to be separated into Story Arcs.
 * Araki describes the basis for Part 3 much like a board game, where you go from one spot to the next. The part was also inspired by the movie, Around the World in 80 Days.
 * While he began plotting for this part, Araki first pitched it as a modern retelling of Dracula. There was only one person in the room who thought it was a good idea; the rest were utterly confused. His editors told him to have at least one Japanese character/story arc prior to this part, as they felt the story had too many foreign characters and settings for the comic's target audience.