i went into the end of stone ocean thinking there's genuinely no fucking way that he will be able to pull off a satisfying ending to this. there's just no practical way to execute a resonant, satisfying ending to what has been built up. i came out of stone ocean thinking jesus christ. this is one in a million. if anyone else had done this i would have never shut up about how much i hated it. and yet araki threads the eye of the needle so deftly and elegantly and with such evident delight in the world he's created and love for his characters that i was, in fact, sobbing like a baby. on a technical level, watching araki's work, or reading it, even, gives me the same feeling as watching any master of their craft-- the steps are visible, his process is straightforward, and the result, the gestalt of all these weird little steps, is still this sort of arcane miracle pulled out of thin air. it's a worthwhile watch even just for this.
anyway, stone ocean is extremely, extremely good. jolyne kujo's very existence substantially tips the anime misogyny scale in favor of cool as shit and well written women. not enough to make up for the field as a whole or anything, but she's significant. it's a good story. you could say it was made in heaven.
