Directed by: Takashi Miike (三池 崇史)
Starring: Kento Yamazaki, Ryunosuke Kamiki, Nana Komatsu, Masaki Okada, Mackenyu Arata, Takayuki Yamada, Yusuke Iseya, Alisa Mizuki, Jun Kunimura
The Film: A series of strange deaths and disappearances that are plaguing the the beautiful seaside town of Morioh-cho continue to mystify authorities. Leading the investigation, veteran policeman Ryohei Higashikata (Jun Kunimura) seems to be closing in on a suspect. Meanwhile, the newly transferred nerdy second-year high school student Koichi Hirose (Ryunosuke Kamiki) has trouble with bullies on his second day of school. Luckily, Koichi is rescued by his fellow student and high school heartthrob Josuke (Kento Yamazaki), whose amazing power erupts when anyone criticizes his unique hair style. The two form an unlikely friendship, and with the help of Josuke’s relative Jotaro Kujo (Yusuke Iseya), they become involved in an effort to restore peace to the town of Morioh-cho which has been thrown into chaos by a mysterious bow and arrow wielding assassin.
Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable is based on the fourth arc of the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure manga series of the same name and follows it quite closely. Without going into great depths on the history of the manga, here are a few things that might help the absolute newcomer to better understand the world in which the film takes place in. 1) Josuke is a descendant of the Joestar family, whose lineage has proven to hold great power. 2) Josuke is one of a handful of people on Earth with the power of a “Stand”. A Stand is basically the ability to create a unique physical entity, similar to an astral projection of sorts, that often has incredible fighting power. 3) All Stands are unique, have a name, take many forms, and can only be seen by other Stand users. Part of the fun in the manga series is discovering new Stands and their user’s motives. 4) When battles take place, Stands fight other Stands at the control of their users, who simultaneously look to exploit any weaknesses in their opponent’s Stand, often found through witty banter.
To helm a project as big and bizarre as Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, surely the best director for the job was Takashi Miike. Director Miike has helped to eradicate the word ‘unfilmable’ by bringing numerous manga and video game adaptations to the big screen such as Ichi The Killer (2001), Like a Dragon (2007), Crows Zero (2007), As the Gods Will (2014), and Blade of the Immortal (2017). Not only has Miike proven to be able to successfully adapt some of the crazier manga series out there, his stamp as a director is felt in almost every project he takes on, often turning what might initially be a mere studio cash-cow project into something more like a cult classic. Disappointingly, however, a lot of Miike’s signature touches seem to have been left out of Diamond is Unbreakable.
Unlike last year’s Gintama or even Miike’s 2016 manga adaptation of The Mole Song: Hong Kong Capriccio which also featured colorful characters and extensive visual effects, Diamond is Unbreakable is a bit of a let down. Even if the visual effects were not the best, the two aforementioned manga adaptations used their effects in creative ways that embraced their campy nature. Diamond is Unbreakable takes itself a bit too seriously for its own good and dials the fun factor way down, using effects shots only when absolutely necessary. And while the Stand battles do look quite cool for the brief screen time they get (especially the battle vs Aqua Necklace), the quality of the action sequences is inconsistent and leaves a lot to be desired. Lets hope Chapter 2 has more and longer lasting Stand battles, which are the defining feature of a the JoJo series!
The extensive dialogue mid-final-battle wasn’t handled in an entertaining way either, largely due to the lackluster character development for the main hero Josuke. The major motivating factor that thrusts Josuke into his role as the town’s savior is indeed legitimate, but it holds little dramatic weight since we know really nothing of Josuke except that he doesn’t like his hair insulted. Also, bizarrely, the villain characters are actually developed far better than the heroes are in Diamond is Unbreakable, and a majority of the dramatic moments center around them. While it was Jun Kunimura (Audition, 1999; Why Don’t You Play in Hell?, 2013) who stole the show with his performance as the veteran policeman who’s forgone all his promotions in order to work the streets where he can make the biggest difference in keeping his town safe, other characters such as Koichi’s bossy school love interest, Yukako (Nana Komatsu, The World of Kanako, 2014), get hardly any screen time at all (but will surely be back for Chapter 2).
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure has become one of the all time best selling manga series in history and the film assumes that most of its viewers will have at least some background knowledge of the characters and overall style of the JoJo world going in. That being said, it is likely that many western viewers will be coming into Diamond is Unbreakable with very little knowledge of the franchise, and for those I bid strong caution, as there is practically zero backstory to bring one up to speed. I wanted to love Diamond is Unbreakable, which may have been my downfall for feeling disappointed by it. Overall, it looks and sounds the part but is missing that extra bit of quirky humor and those peculiar character poses that stylized the manga and became a cornerstone of its identity. 6/10 Good (score weighted for Miike completists and fans of the manga)
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