Crazy Diamond's Demonic Heartbreak

"This is the story of a boy and those who seek what they have lost."

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Crazy Diamond's Demonic Heartbreak (ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 クレイジー・の悪霊的失恋) is a spin-off manga written by Kouhei Kadono, author of Purple Haze Feedback, and illustrated by Tasuku Karasuma, author of .

It was announced in the September 2021 issue of Ultra Jump on August 19, 2021, and started in the January 2022 issue of Ultra Jump released on December 18, 2021.

It is also the first official JoJo's Bizarre Adventure manga spin-off to not be illustrated by Hirohiko Araki.

The first volume of the series released on June 17, 2022, the second volume released on December 19, 2022, and the third volume is set to release in June 2023.

Hol Horse's Mission
In Cairo, Egypt, March 1999, an elderly woman asks Hol Horse to find her missing parrot. The woman is the mother of an animal trainer who notably owned Pet Shop but had been killed by DIO. Because the parrot was trained alongside Pet Shop, there is the possibility that it is a Stand User and that the Speedwagon Foundation is trying to eliminate it. Hol Horse accepts the old woman's request out of kindness.

Hol Horse then heads to a hideout to find an old comrade of his, Mariah, and they discuss the psychological scars DIO has left in them. Hol Horse accidentally makes Mariah angry and she uses her Stand Bastet to attack him. Hol Horse gets stuck on some pipes and is nearly impaled by several swords. However, Hol Horse survives and he meets Boingo, with whom he teams up again to find the parrot. Using Tohth's power of prediction to divine their path, Hol Horse and Boingo see that they must go to Morioh, Japan.

Arrival in Morioh
In Morioh, a young girl named Ryoko pays her respects to Noriaki Kakyoin's grave. It is revealed that she is Kakyoin's cousin and that she too was approached by DIO ten years ago. On her way back to university, she finds Tohth on the ground. Reading it out of curiosity, she reads DIO's name in the page and realizes that it must have some importance. She takes and hides the book in her bag just as Hol Horse walks by her. Hol Horse has just lost Boingo's trace and he tries to ask the locals for their assistance without success. Suddenly, a car driven by a possessed man surges towards Hol Horse. Hol Horse suddenly finds himself paralyzed by his old fear of DIO and is only saved by Josuke Higashikata's intervention. However, Josuke has seen Hol Horse's Stand Emperor. Considering him suspicious, Josuke challenges Hol Horse. Josuke and Hol Horse mock each other's sense of fashion when the possessed driver almost collides into Hol Horse from behind. Josuke protects Hol Horse again by punching the driver in the face and then healing the man's wounds. Josuke also heals the injuries of everyone wounded from the car accident. However, the pedestrians assume Josuke and Hol Horse caused the accident because of their appearances. While Josuke intimidates them, Hol Horse takes the opportunity to run away. Hol Horse thinks to himself about everything that happened and wonders about the Stand User that possessed the driver. Suddenly, Josuke appears behind him as he didn't want to be at the accident scene when the police shows up. Josuke stops Hol Horse from running away with his Stand, forcing Hol Horse to introduce himself. From afar, a parrot watches them with its Stand.

Meanwhile, Ryoko thinks about the book she picked up and wonders whether it will have any clues about Noriaki's death when new pages suddenly appear. An elderly lady kindly asks a thug to move his car since he's parked in the middle of the road, but he tosses his phone at her in response. Ryoko intervenes and says the thug should park somewhere else. At first the thug assumes Ryoko is one of Yuya's girlfriends, but then insults Ryoko’s dangling hair claiming Yuya wouldn't date someone like that. Josuke, who was behind Ryoko, assumes the thug was insulting his hairstyle instead. Josuke rapidly punches away the thug’s car with Crazy Diamond and reshapes the car's roof into a cage. Ryoko is surprised to see that everything the book predicted in its new pages came true.

Ryoko and Josuke's Conflict
Ryohei talks to Boingo at Budogaoka Police Station and learns about Boingo's predicament. Boingo had dropped Tohth somewhere and got lost while searching for it. Ryohei asks his co-worker, Karaiya, to take Boingo back to his hotel. Just then, they receive a police report about Inspector Hiraoka's car going out of control and crashing into a shop. Ryohei hears that a student was at the scene, whose description sounds a lot like Josuke. He rushes out of the station on his bicycle, hoping Josuke hasn't gotten into trouble again. Meanwhile, Josuke is angry at Ryoko for indirectly insulting his hair. Hol Horse gets in between them and calms Josuke down. Josuke and Hol Horse explain to Ryoko how Hol Horse is looking for Boingo and asks whether she has seen him. Hearing about Boingo's comic book, Ryoko realizes it must be the book she picked up but she keeps it hidden, wanting to keep it for herself until she finds out the cause of Noriaki's death. She tells Hol Horse to go ask at the neighborhood police station nearby.

After Hol Horse leaves, Ryoko reads new pages in Tohth which predict that Ryoko will slap Josuke and kick him to learn the first hint toward Noriaki's death. Josuke suddenly grabs her and tells her to leave because he doesn't want his grandpa finding him. The two end up arguing over Ryoko's attitude and each other's hairstyles, leading Ryoko to eventually slap Josuke for insulting her cousin, as Noriaki was who she based her hairstyle on. However, Josuke smiles in response, asking if she feels relieved now. Hol Horse enters the police station only to learn that the possessed driver from the car crash is actually a police inspector. Inspector Hiraoka insists to his co-worker that he's innocent and the car crash wasn't his fault, as his co-worker tries calming him down. Hol Horse decides he should leave before the inspector sees him but then suddenly sees the parrot and its Stand. The parrot activates its ability and punched cards enter Hol Horse's body. He starts hearing DIO's voice again and becomes unable to control himself, forced to point Emperor at the back of Inspector Hiraoka's head from behind, just like he was about to shoot DIO ten years ago.

Hol Horse's Dilemma
Hol Horse continues hearing DIO's voice, realizing that the parrot is making him reenact his own events from when he heard DIO's words ten years ago. Suddenly, he notices two sparkling cufflinks on Hiraoka's sleeve when a pedestrian signal behind him flashes green. The green light and the sparkling cufflinks evokes a memory of Hol Horse seeing Hierophant Green's Emerald Splash technique in the skies of Cairo when Noriaki was fighting DIO. At the time, a bandaged Hol Horse and Boingo were running away on the street when they saw the numerous Emerald Splashes above them.

Focusing on the different memory allows Hol Horse to escape from the Stand's grip and he pukes out the Stand's punched cards. Hol Horse leaves the police station, surmising that someone must have stolen the parrot to make use of its power. Just then, a group of four female chefs from a pastry shop walk out of their store, each holding knives. One of them slashes the neck of an elderly woman who had just arrived to pick up her order. Walking as if they're in a trance, the women all exclaim that they're offering everyone's blood to DIO.

One of the women stabs Hol Horse in his side. He realizes his dilemma as he's up against an enemy he can't simply shoot with Emperor. Meanwhile, a mysterious figure watches the battle with the parrot perched on their arm. Intrigued by the discovery of other Stand users being in the town, they declare that they'll show the real power of the parrot, revealing its name to be Petsounds.

Meanwhile, Josuke asks why Ryoko doesn't go to Noriaki for help if something's troubling her and then awkwardly apologizes when Ryoko reveals that he passed away. Just then, Josuke hears a gunshot nearby, though Ryoko didn't hear it. Ryoko suddenly sees one of the possessed chefs charging toward them with a knife and kicks Josuke out of harm's way, fulfilling Tohth's next prediction. Struggling on the ground, Hol Horse yells out to Josuke, warning him that the women are being controlled. Trying to go as easy as he can, Josuke summons Crazy Diamond and rapidly punches all of the women at the same time. Josuke pretends that the whole thing was all a live performance. Meanwhile, the chefs get up and are no longer controlled, and everyone heads back to work.

Josuke quickly runs to Hol Horse and heals him. Hol Horse reveals the parrot is a Stand user that was trained under the orders of a man named DIO. Josuke feels dumb realizing that even a bird could have a Stand. He had been sensitive about it because he thought he was the only one with it, as if it was some kind of sickness. Hol Horse also reveals that their problem isn't the parrot's Stand itself but the person who is hiding somewhere and manipulating the parrot. Since Hol Horse doesn't want to kill the bird and let its owner down, he asks Josuke for his help. Josuke agrees, feeling that it's nice to be relied on.

Ryoko was eavesdropping on their conversation, realizing that Hol Horse mentioned "DIO". Wanting to learn more about what he knows, Ryoko looks at the new pages in Tohth to see what she should do. The Stand mentions that she shouldn't just ask him directly because he'll play dumb. The best thing to do is look for a fuse waiting to be lit and then ignite it. After that, she'll finally reach the truth while everyone is screaming from the explosion.

Attack in the Subway Station
Sitting in a hotel room, Boingo thinks back to Tohth telling him that he has to part ways with the book for a while. Feeling nervous about not knowing the future anymore, Boingo recalls a memory of when his father sold the book for drinking money. However, Tohth reappeared by his side soon afterwards. Although DIO and his allies said Tohth was Boingo's Stand, Boingo feels that there really is a god named Tohth who chose him to be the keeper of the comic book. He wonders if Tohth left him to help him get over his fear of DIO. Deciding that he should go find the person who has his book, he takes a step to leave the hotel but ends up collapsing, too afraid to go alone.

Meanwhile, Hol Horse summarizes what they know about the parrot's Stand ability so far. He and Josuke wonder how they can do something about the bird before it attacks them first. They think they might be safe since they're in the subway and the bird probably won't come flying there. Josuke asks whether they should go look for Boingo but Hol Horse thinks having Boingo with them would weigh them down and just be putting him in danger since he can't fight. Josuke suggests that one of them should try acting as a decoy when they fight the parrot, when suddenly, a helicopter starts whirring behind them. Hol Horse starts trembling and wonders if he was that worried about hearing DIO's voice again. However, Josuke reveals that he also feels terrified all of a sudden and that something doesn't feel right. Just as the duo realize they're already under attack, they turn around and see each other's eyes are affected by Petsounds's Stand. They hadn't heard any voices, but they realize that it was the sound of the helicopter which triggered the ability.

Several civilians start running away from the illusionary helicopter. Josuke and Hol Horse witness a man getting shot by several bullets, but when they go up to him, they notice his wounds are all gone. Although the helicopter isn't actually there in the subway with them, everyone being controlled by the Stand is forced to reenact the scenario that the Stand is replaying from the parrot's memories. Hol Horse realizes that the scenario they're reenacting must be that they are citizens or rioters being shot down by a dictator's army in Egypt.

To make matters worse, a kid in front of them is shot by an arrow from a crossbow all of a sudden. Josuke realizes that it's a real arrow and not an illusion. He uses Crazy Diamond to heal the boy but then Josuke is also shot in the back. After Crazy Diamond takes out the arrow, Josuke furiously runs toward the mysterious enemy, planning to take him down. Hol Horse is surprised that Josuke could break free from Petsounds's ability. The enemy shoots arrows at Josuke again, with one of them nearly striking Josuke's forehead. However, his Stand manages to grab it in time before it could fully pierce him. Fear overwhelms Hol Horse as the military helicopter whirs above him, leading him to imagine his hand getting a hole shot through it. He eventually overcomes his fear and withstands the parrot's ability by realizing that the fear he feels now is nothing compared to what he felt back when he gave into DIO's will ten years ago.

Regaining his composure, Hol Horse fires two bullets with Emperor, blowing off the enemy's ear and a fragment of his crossbow. The enemy and Petsounds both flee but Josuke restores the fragment of the crossbow that broke off to track the enemy down. Hol Horse also manages to shoot Petsounds, blowing off a wing from the parrot. The crossbow wielder hides in the bushes, hoping Josuke will follow his blood trail so he could ambush him with an arrow. However, Josuke appears behind him while the man's crossbow is restored by Josuke's Stand. Josuke pummels him with several punches using his Stand and then takes the money from the man's wallet. He learns that the enemy is named Koji Kiyohara who is a university student. After Josuke ties Kiyohara to a tree, Ryohei arrives. Josuke tells his grandfather to arrest Kiyohara.

Searching for Tohth
Ryohei informs Josuke, Hol Horse, and Boingo about what happened to Kiyohara after he was taken to custody. They are planning to do a psychological evaluation on him because of videos they found in his home. Josuke and Hol Horse leave to go find Boingo's book for him, while Ryohei gives Boingo some motivation to search for the book on his own since he treasures it. Josuke eventually realizes that he saw Ryoko carrying the book earlier and goes to confront her. Ryoko tries to run away from him but is cornered into a dead end. With nowhere to run, she reveals that she can't give the book back yet because she is trying to find out the truth about what happened to her cousin. She tells Josuke about how Noriaki became a servant to DIO ten years ago and then mysteriously died.

Meanwhile, Kiyohara is sitting in his jail cell mumbling to himself in fear. When a police officer shines a flashlight at his cell, Kiyohara sees a memory of Kazuki Karaiya sitting beside him in a police car. Karaiya asks him how it felt to lose. When Kiyohara doesn't answer the question but instead asks who Karaiya is, Karaiya screams at him. Petsounds then appears behind Karaiya and activates its Stand ability on Kiyohara, causing him to shriek in his cell.

Karaiya looks at the civilians around him and feels that he is superior to all of them. He thinks back to a time when he was younger where he was chatting with his grandfather. Before World War II, he was at St. Moritz, Switzerland for an intelligence operation, where he experienced something that transcended all of creation. Back then, he learned from someone that the people who succeed don't concern themselves with things like pride or conviction. That person is now in a void far away from them, but Karaiya's grandfather believes he inherited their ideology and wants to pass it on. He reveals that his son was born before he became enlightened so his son and Karaiya never inherited it from him, but he will share a part of his essence to Karaiya when he becomes an adult. Karaiya thinks that with the power his grandfather gave him together with the power of Petsounds, he deserves to stand at the top. Karaiya then finds Boingo taking shelter from the rain and asks if he needs a hand.

Before Ryoko could explain to Josuke why she needs Tohth, Hol Horse arrives to take it back from her. Josuke asks Hol Horse if he could just listen to Ryoko since she has her reasons for not giving back Tohth but Hol Horse refuses since Boingo needs it back. Since he doesn't want to cooperate, Josuke destroys a dumpster behind Hol Horse using his Stand and then restores the pieces to trap Hol Horse inside it. He tells Hol Horse that it will just be for a little while and then runs away with Ryoko.

Ryoko asks Josuke why he helped her since she thought he would be on Hol Horse's side. Josuke replies that Ryoko has looked angry about something ever since they met and he didn't want to leave her like that. His response confuses Ryoko; she asks him what he thinks she's angry about, but Josuke tells her that only she would know. Subsequently, Ryoko runs away from Josuke. She starts wondering if there's even a point to finding out what happened to her cousin, because even if she did find out what happened, he won't come back. She wants to learn the truth because she feels guilty about being the reason for Noriaki's death, and she wants to know if he didn't die because of her. Ryoko realizes that the "fuse" was actually inside her all along and not Josuke. When she couldn't handle her inner conflicts anymore, she suddenly drops Tohth and falls down. Petsounds implants a memory to possess her, and Ryoko gets up and staggers away.

Karaiya arrives with an incapacitated Boingo in his arms. He picks up the book and reads the new prediction it created. The pages say to give Ryoko a gun so she can put a bullet right through Hol Horse's head. After reading the prediction, Karaiya becomes ecstatic that he can now control both the future and the past by combining the powers of both Tohth and Petsounds's Stand.

The True Enemy
Hol Horse manages to free himself from the dumpster. He sees one of his watches is broken, and it makes him remember something similar that happened ten years ago. After he got defeated by the Joestar Group, he was taken to the hospital. He later woke up at the hospital and wondered why he was still alive since DIO kills anyone who fails him. Boingo is there too, and they both assume DIO must be preoccupied fighting the Joestar Group. Hol Horse thinks the Joestar Group can't defeat DIO, so him and Boingo run away before DIO comes for them next. On the streets of Cairo they see Hierophant Green's Emerald Splash fire at a clock, and see a fatally injured Noriaki lying on a water tower. Hol Horse witnessed Noriaki's final moments, understanding that he discovered DIO's secret and let his allies know with his dying message. Hol Horse praises Noriaki for overcoming his fear, unlike himself who gave up. In the present, Hol Horse has a bad feeling about why he just remembered that moment right now.

A few minutes earlier, Josuke is looking for Ryoko. He suddenly starts hearing DIO's voice and sees falling feathers. He is surprised Petsounds is attacking him because he thought Hol Horse already killed it. Josuke sees Ryoko lying on the ground, but she actually turns out to be Boingo in Ryoko's clothes. Petsounds then controls Josuke and Boingo using its Stand, and suddenly Josuke and Boingo are in Egypt. Josuke points out that Petsounds's ability to replay past events are getting more realistic, and they might be stronger because Petsounds is closer to them than before. He keeps hearing DIO's voice. Josuke and Boingo turn around and see DIO with Petsounds on his shoulder. Petsounds is replaying the memory of when its original owner was murdered; DIO commanded Pet Shop to kill him for trying to flee. Pet Shop fires ice spikes at Josuke, just like he did to his original owner. The ice pierces Josuke through his chest, and Josuke feels the same pain of the owner who was killed.

Josuke checks where Boingo was hit by the icicle and regrets that his Stand cannot heal injuries that aren't real. DIO starts talking, repeating what he said to Pet Shop's trainer before killing him. DIO chose to make the man an experiment to see how he panics in this situation, as a reminder of how humans experience fear so he can decide what kind of ruler he should be. Suddenly, Josuke and Boingo are soaked in gasoline. Boingo wonders if this is the power of The World since their situation suddenly changed. Pet Shop flies behind them and drops a lit match. As soon as it hits the ground, Josuke and Boingo are covered in flames. Pet Shop then fires a barrage of icicles to put out some of the fire, saving them. Boingo wonders why he helped them but Josuke understands that the bird is just playing with its prey. It's cold enough for their bodies and the gasoline to freeze but as soon as the ice thaws, they would be burned to death. There's also no way for them to escape since a circle of fire surrounds them. Boingo starts crying and blames himself for getting Josuke involved, but Josuke cheers him up and comes up with a plan. He ignores the attack and lets the fire burn them. Although it seems as if their bodies were burned, Boingo suddenly wakes up coughing on the ground. Josuke reveals that he used his Stand to make Boingo's rope wrap around both of their necks just before they were killed in the illusion. The lack of blood flow to their brains shocked them back into reality, canceling the illusion's effects.

Shocked at them being alive, Karaiya grinds his teeth in anger wondering what kind of ability Josuke has. Karaiya reveals that since animals with Stands have less willpower than humans, animal Stand Users rely on their natural instincts. Petsounds isn't able to make use of his recordings on his own without another brain. Thus, Karaiya gave the parrot a piece of his earlobe to act as a controller, linking their souls together and making them share the same Stand. Karaiya assures that no matter what tricks Josuke uses next, he will never win against the abundant memories Petsounds has stocked up. He declares that his next attack will be a massacre and he'll kill all of them.

Josuke and Boingo meet with Hol Horse, and Josuke tells him the parrot is still alive. They suddenly see what appears to be a bird zooming past them, as well as Ryoko running up the stairs. Hol Horse says he'll go after the parrot while Josuke chases Ryoko. Left behind, Boingo worries that this is a trick to split them all up. Hol Horse catches up to the "parrot", but it ends up being a paper model of the bird. However, Ryoko ends up being behind him. Possessed by Petsounds's ability, she takes out a gun and points it to her head. Josuke reaches the roof of the building and seeing that no one is there, understands that he was deceived by Petsounds's ability replaying a memory of Ryoko running up the stairs. He is placed into another illusion, this time reliving Daniel J. D'Arby's encounter with DIO.

DIO challenges D'Arby to a poker game and intimidates him. However, D'Arby regains his composure, believing that DIO has no chance since the game is rigged in D'Arby's favor. Suddenly, D'Arby notices bloody fingerprints on DIO's cards, figuring out that it is his own blood. DIO caught D'Arby cheating and thinly sliced his fingernails while time was stopped. Nonetheless, DIO appreciates how D'Arby easily cheated and takes pity on him, allowing him to win, but also ordering him to never lose again. D'Arby severely panics upon seeing the power of DIO's Stand, breaking Josuke's mind. While Josuke is defenseless, Karaiya appears behind him with a cutting torch.

Battles

 * Hol Horse vs. Mariah
 * Hol Horse & Josuke Higashikata vs. Hiraoka (Petsounds's ability)
 * Hol Horse & Josuke Higashikata vs. Possessed Chefs (Petsounds's ability)
 * Josuke Higashikata & Hol Horse vs. Koji Kiyohara & Petsounds
 * Josuke Higashikata & Boingo vs. DIO & Pet Shop (Petsounds's ability)

Trivia

 * Kouhei Kadono first mentioned the title of the manga in January 2013, stating that he is planning to work on it and hopes not to get carried away.
 * The word "Demonic" (悪霊的) in the title uses the same kanji as Jotaro's "Evil Spirit" (悪霊) from Part 3.
 * The scooters on the postcard illustrations included with volume 1 or the July 2022 issue of Ultra Jump appear to be scooters, possibly chosen as a subtle reference to DIO due to the shared names.