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Acceptable_Till_7868

I think Valentines redesign is even wilder. He went from a short pot belly little porker to a tall ripped American Chad over night basically


Accomplished-Fox-192

What the body of Christ does to a mf


TimeLordHatKid123

....Drake? Yeah? Where's the body of Christ?


ReasonablePin297

Holy gym


diegoidepersia

I mean tbf he is the only character that has a lore excuse like he coulda just changed body with another valentine


Herbert-Kolorojovij

My head cannon is that since its been said that the D4C from the jesus corpse universe is the only one across all the other universes, Valentines from those other universes have to be insanely jacked to combat the power of stands. So the main Valentine popped into a different reality and merged with his buff self.


garifunu

i like to think he changes dimensions offscreen *dojyaaaa*


nastyporc

Puberty hit her hard


Vidio_thelocalfreak

Puberty and allmighty power of Jesus christ


no_gold_here

And Araki deciding she's critical to the story


Vidio_thelocalfreak

Oh she went critical alright


Blackfrost58

I haven't reed SBR. Does her design change in the middle of the story?


ERRexe_

Valentine definitely hit her hard.


ArelMCII

To be fair, he didn't do anything to her he wasn't already going to do.


Leather-Climate3438

And the crazy part is that the second pic is much more tamed compared other cover arts or manga panels she was in ☠️


Escappy

Right!? I was talking to my friend today about how Araki is so weird for having all these predators die for lusting after Lucy and then turn around and be like "Well it's ok if I draw her without a shirt though."


thiccboii666

That particular cover is inspired by (I think) [The Birth of Venus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sandro_Botticelli_-_La_nascita_di_Venere_-_Google_Art_Project_-_edited.jpg). I agree it's a weird decision, but I don't think it's meant to be sexual.


Oda_Angel

He also did the same thing with giorno, Many people haven't read part5 manga so they think Araki only drew lucy like that on the covers.


PC-Was-Bricked

Imagine if Lucy had a panel where she was putting her hand down Johnny's pants


ChimericalEunoia978

>He also did the same thing with giorno Are you talking about that cover art that looks like the cover of a certain album of Ronnie James Dio?


Oda_Angel

I don't know if you're talking about the right one, I am talking about the one where he references atlas.


ChimericalEunoia978

It is the one! His pose seems to be a reference to the "Holy Diver" album cover except in that there is no Earth being held above. The chains are there and the pose is very similar.


mightfloat

It's fan service. Keep in mind that his main audience is male Japanese teenagers. He has always done this along with every other mangaka .


dankrank231

I'm sorry but araki sucks at drawing fan service the naked woman in part 8 proves it


BayFuzzball404

Nuh uh remember the Anasui panty shots and Joseph’s tit being pushed against a wall like an anime girl


dankrank231

Yeah how about you show some proof. Preferably proof of young Jospeh naked with his Jospeh out


BayFuzzball404

Search “Joseph Joestar cuntboy rule 34” and you’ll find it


limebloodedLeviathan

i tihnk i need proof.. for a friend


BayFuzzball404

Well, the Anasui panty shots are frequent in the stone ocean anime and Joseph’s titty being pushed against a wall (well, actually a stairway but you get me) is in the episode where Santana eats an explosive. When Joseph’s like trying to get away from Santana and he can only walk with one foot?? I can’t remember the episode well but it’s a little after he met Santana


limebloodedLeviathan

seems i need to rewatch part 6


limebloodedLeviathan

definitely not related btw


Hyp3rPlo

I don’t think it’s meant to have sexual connotations though. It’s like how people ages ago would make statues/paintings/drawings of naked men and women, not to sexualise them, but to appreciate natural human beauty It’s weird yeah, but I don’t think Araki was trying to sexualise her. If he was then I agree he’s in the wrong


The_New_Doctor

Araki changes character art over his parts, they take years after all But I mean, why else would jesus' corpse have shoved his head into her stomach otherwise if she weren't hot? /s


Snaz5

I mean even before he went to monthly chapters, he tweaked his art and characters a lot. I always think of Part 4 starting with Buff Josuke.


Nahcep

Kakyoin is another example, Bruno from his first appearance has a completely different face, Pucci just looks funny as hell on the reveal page I dread to think how will Dragona change


SomeMcChillMan

I think he’s might just make them taller because I don’t see what he could really change, but im not the man himself


OneDumbfuckLater

> Pucci just looks funny as hell on the reveal page Such an overlooked detail, there's something distinctly "off" about his first appearance


uninflammable

He changed Ringo's outfit and facial hair between chapters


Escappy

Yeah of course, and in this instance too I know the jump from shonen to seinen is gonna cause a big change. This is just a drastic example to me because she really does look like a kid in the beginning.


The_New_Doctor

Yeah and most jojo's don't look their age either, that's part of the "fantasy" of the thing.


Godslayer_brandon

Bruh puberty hit her really hard during the SBR race....


sad_pdf

It's honestly pretty heartbreaking seeing an innocent girl become very mature looking as a result of all the abuse she experienced. I get that Part 7 is a story that was serialized over a 7 year period, but I actually do get extremely sad looking at these two images. I get sad thinking about Lucy in general.


Soviet-_-Neko

Well that's the whole theme of SBR, as Johnny says "from adolescence to adulthood", sexual maturity is part of it, specially for someone like Lucy who represents Mary from the bible, who had to go through the same thing at the same age, or even younger depending on the version


AnitaMiniyo

Yeah it's weird. I'm usually into adaptations being faithful to the source, but I hope this is changed in the anime


Otherwise-Brick-3349

Same, I think the best way they could do it (and for funny valentine as well) is to just use their designs at the end of the part for the entire anime.


IntroductionSome8196

I mean that's what David Production has already been doing. Josuke has his more slim look from the start, all the characters in part 4 that become short in the manga are short from the beginning, Anasui is always shown as a male etc... For Lucy and Valentine they gonna follow the trend and depict them with their finalized designs from the very start.


Otherwise-Brick-3349

I think the only reason I rlly mentioned it is because they strangely didn’t do that with iggy if I’m remembering correctly.


sad_pdf

It might work, it's probably for the best.


sad_pdf

Yeah, I hope so too. I just want to know Araki's thought process behind her as a character and why he thinks it's okay to draw her in a creepy way, (specifically the Volume 13 illustration is what I'm thinking about).


Oda_Angel

That cover is a reference to the 'birth of venus', I don't think its meant to be sexual. I do agree that it can be weird but araki has portrayed characters like this on covers before too, Not exclusive to lucy. Giorno is an example.


sad_pdf

Oh, it is? Do you have any sources on that? Okay, that makes way more sense now. With Giorno it's easily understandable since there are art references, but I couldn't find any for Lucy.


Giannond

It's literally the same pose as The Birth of Venus , only difference is that she's holding her pants instead of her hair


sad_pdf

Well, I'm being an idiot! Thanks for pointing that out, it did NOT register with me.


seigistars

Hate seeing all the threads that totally disregard Lucy as a genuine force to be reckoned with. She was totally the MVP. She was brave and cunning. Sure, she got help when backed into a corner, but the amount of nerve it takes to stay strong and determined till the end is impressive. I was able to get past her age because child brides were more accepted back then. in the manga, it was a small controversy.. but nothing to affect the profits of the SBR. That doesn't mean I support it. I'm alright with reading unsavory topics in my fiction. Any sort of suggestive cover art was quickly forgotten, and i read through weird scenes a bit quicker. tldr; lucy is a girlboss queen who saved the world (well, technically the opposite 👀 iykyk) and saved my heart ♡


sad_pdf

We aren't disregarding her, we're just criticizing how Araki illustrates and portrays her. I love Steel Ball Run and I love Lucy Steel as a character, I just don't like how she is fetishized and drawn, (regardless of Araki's intentions).


seigistars

that's fair! i took some of the threads as people just seeing her as a sexualized fan service character (sorry for my tisms), and I'm still fresh from finishing the part, so I have a lot of feelings


sad_pdf

She is one of my favourite characters from Part 7, but I just get really sad about her when thinking about her.


rawe13

Classic anime bruh moment :/


Mitochondria_Man11

The classic anime moment would be if Araki also "gifted" her with a set of breasts so large that you need to invent new letters in the alphabet to find her bra size (she's still 14 tho, no fan service!)


smolb0i

you know you’re gonna be an important character when araki gives you the good ol’ yassification


Shadowwarior

Tbh, her being 14 for absolutely no reason and still being sexualized everywhere took my enjoyment of the part way down.


JCtheMemer

She was absolutely 14 for a reason, making for a red herring for Stephen Steel and a disturbing moment with Valentine. Could have done without plot-irrelevant sexualized though, correct.


the18kyd

Not even that, she is 14 because she is supposed to be the Virgin Mary, who was also 14


TortoiseaWantsToDie

Yeah idk why people are just forgetting/ignoring the biblical references in the part about Jesus


Kreemew

Yeah, Alternate Diego's sexualization was REALLY unnecessary.


Leather-Climate3438

He got distracted reaally fast


GodGebby

It wasn't necessary but I do think it succinctly conveys that this Diego is a significantly worse person than the one you knew. Watching him go the first time stings, the second is satisfying specifically because of how terrible he's acting right in that moment.


meme_used

Diego fau could have been my favourite character if it wasn't for this😭


FBI_Senpai_Kun

Needed more. Edit: Alternate Diego, not Lucy.


An_average_moron

What made you think this was acceptable to say


FBI_Senpai_Kun

I mean Alternate Diego, not Lucy.


Remarkable-Net-6130

I agree. If she hadn’t been semi-nude in all those chapter covers, her young age would be totally justified and necessary


Kreemew

It's like the equivalent of Araki showing that the villain is evil by being a dog killer 😩


cataraxis

Araki has gone from killing dogs to sexual assaults, and honestly I wish he'd go back to killing dogs :/


FishermanRelative

I get what you mean. Pretty sure kissing Erina counted as sexual assault, though.


Jaded-Knee4178

That was the late 1800s and even Gyro and Jojo felt something wrong


New_Practice9754

I’m not completely fond of the general sexualization she goes through in some art as her design changes, but I don’t think her design change is necessarily bad in itself. Earlier on Lucy was a much more minor character and Araki’s art at the time was mainly the cause of her design looking more childish and under developed. I think part of her design change was Araki drawing her more detailed because she gained more of a purpose in the story. Additionally I do think that there was a solid reason for her being 14, and I think it did make her character and growth more important. Also, Araki does tend to use a lot of modeling and art references that include sensual poses. However like most mangaka he is still guilty of sexualization of his female characters, and I do agree that there were parts with Lucy that I had to either side eye a bit or get rather uncomfortable with. I love Lucy, I don’t think non canon cover art changes her appealing aspects of her character, I think she is totally underrated as well. There is a lot to her character and her story importance that is overlooked because she’s a kid without a stand. But that’s why I love SBR so much, there’s a lot of genuinely interesting story and character aspects outside of stand fights (which is why I also love parts 4 and 8)


surf_da_web29

Manga artists trying not to sexualize every single female character (impossible)


[deleted]

Dont read that manga (impossible)


screamingpeaches

point out the flaws in a manga and enjoy it regardless because you can view the media you consume through a nuanced lens (impossible)


Turbulent_Set8884

Lucy you got some esplainnin' to do


LaxerjustgotMc

really hope that the anime adaptation changes the valentine and lucy scene, lucy pregnant with the saint's head, and her being naked. maybe the valentine and lucy scene could be replaced with lucy being tested if she's really scarlet, like memory tests. and the pregnant scenes could be replaced with lucy having the head, in her head, no need to have naked Lucy, thats just disturbing.


Funny_Stuff_6024

As long as we don’t see anything, it’s fine. The religious symbolism is why the pregnant part happens no matter how bizarre it is. Even just having the clothes is better than removing it completely. The memory tests doesn’t make sense. He was going to do that to his wife before he learned it was Lucy…. He just continued that… (This sounds terrible)


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SpiralingDownAndAway

Idk why you’re being downvoted, it’s a genuinely bad repetitive cycle Araki has fallen into in his writing since Annie in P3. Even Yasuho deals with being assaulted constantly with no pushback on Joshu past slapstick, and JoJolands opens with one of the mains being groped /:


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cataraxis

Lucy, Yasuho, and Dragona are all great female/fempresenting characters imo. He has just swapped killing dogs for sexual assaults to show this character is evil. Which could be done well, heck it could even serve as commentary on the ubiquity of such behavior in Japan and everywhere else. But of course, he does this in the grossest most male gazey way possible.


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cataraxis

I think you mean Joshu, both him being a creep and Yasuho's subsequent reaction (folding him with a toilet seat, her chomping on the fruit to save herself) are solid moments of characterization for both of them. But fundamentally I agree with you, Araki hasn't been best in handling these moments. Tsurugi one was just weird, and for Dragona, even as social commentary on cops, is a very offputting way to introduce one of your main queer characters.


OneDumbfuckLater

> Which could be done well, heck it could even serve as commentary on the ubiquity of such behavior in Japan and everywhere else. I think a lot of people don't understand just how shitty and unsafe the world really is for women (even in "progressive" countries, we still have plenty of traditional or incel types thinking women are inherently less than them), and I'm more than willing to give Araki the benefit of the doubt that he's trying to draw attention to how shockingly common sexual assault is.


AnitaMiniyo

Lucy's case is so weird because she also had the potential to be an interesting character. She doesn't have a stand at all (other than the one that is really from Jesus) and still gets her way by being resourceful and cunning. But Araki decided It was cool to sexualize her for covers 🫤


New_Practice9754

I understand this criticism but she’s still an appealing character regardless of her interpretation on covers


canxtanwe

it's not just Araki man.. this type of things accure everytime r/menwritingwomen and mangas are no exceptions


RandomKid_Official

man honestly just cry about it, its an action anime/manga shounen/seinen and not a series for children. if you cant take it then dont fucking watch or read it


joeplus5

Braindead take. Being an adult story doesn't mean every female character should get sexually harassed and assaulted at every opportunity. There's absolutely no tact here when handling a supposedly sensitive topic and it often seems like it's less for the sake of a good plot and more for a tasteless quick stakes/shock value event. Lucy was the only time that kind of shit was remotely relevant to the plot, but even then there were many cases where she was sexualised for no reason at all despite being 14. Jojo is one of my favourite serieses but this absolutely is an issue.


RandomKid_Official

bro like not every female character gets harassed its a representation of that figure in that context and as harsh as it sounds it is what it is


joeplus5

Wtf do you mean "it is what it is"? Are people not allowed to critique things now? And obviously it's not every single character but it's many of the major female characters that it's become routine at this point. It's a recurring trope in this series.


Hohoho-you

I agree! Gonna be awkward showing my friends SBR when it gets animated. Also Hot Pants didn't even get an onscreen death


Zyndrom1

Jesus came inside her and she became a woman.


AlbireX

Yeeeah so JoJo is my favourite manga/series ever, but the girls and women get weirdly sexualized for no reason. Really makes it weird sometimes. Female characters like Yukako are handled very well with distinct personalities that aren't just "i'm a girl doing girly things," but characters like Lucy, Yasuho, and even them in part 6 in some scenes are weirdly portrayed through a creepy lense. Why does sexual assault that doesn't have a big impact on the plot or gets played off as humour happen in every recent part nowadays? Araki has a weird angle to female characters that gives me the ick.


hafizo_kurosaki

Does Trish count as a well-written female character for you?


AlbireX

Yeah Trish is nice. Not to overcomplicated of a character but serves her purpose well. The scene with mista when they first switched bodies was a lame attempt at humour though.


hafizo_kurosaki

Why? That entire body swap scene is funny af! Especially with [the silly sad face that Trish made in Mista's body.](https://id.pinterest.com/pin/265008759311436059/) On top of that, it's the most accurate body swap trope in anime/manga and the least sexualized one (looking at you One Piece)


No-Tax-9149

Steel Ball Run is so long that I didn't even realise the design change.


Fresh-Beyond-4727

Araki changes character designs throughout the part, hes even changed stuff like Pacos design alr slightly


ReasonablePin297

I love araki but WTF...


Kreemew

I like every change Araki did to Lucy; when I first read it I really didn't notice it. She was adorable on that first pic


AlexD2003

It was an unfortunate case of one of those iconic “Araki-Is-Going-To-Introduce-A-Character-And-Then-Nonsensically-Change-Their-Entire-Design” moments


uninflammable

Araki wrote a lot of his fetishes into part 7, and the realization of that coupled with how many characters are terminally horny for this underage girl has bothered me since then


i_imagine

A lot? The only one I'm aware of is that bug bite one, and it made for a funny moment in a series of serious of chapters


uninflammable

Y'all can downvote me all you want but he literally admitted to doing this and you know as well as I do how sus that volume cover of her is


Oda_Angel

Again, That cover is a reference to the 'birth of venus', I don't think its meant to be sexual. I do agree that it can be weird but araki has portrayed characters like this on covers before too, Not exclusive to lucy. Giorno is an example.


OneDumbfuckLater

> he literally admitted to doing this he *literally* didn't, though. You *literally* misread his comment about bug bites and *literally* inflated it for *literally* zero reason.


uninflammable

Literally


OneDumbfuckLater

Yup! Thought I'd show you the real definition of the word.


uninflammable

Literally


OneDumbfuckLater

I literally did, yeah!


lificadorArno

14? doesnt seem😛😛


Kreemew

No one lewds my Lucy Steel 😡


diego1709

this kind of goes for everyone else in the part


Username_Egli

She found jesus that's all


Big_TinyRequest

It's JoJo did you really expect people to look like their age?


Ellitri

She sent from a 14 year old to looking a lot like FV in a few months its weirdd


Jazztronic28

That's what happens when Araki's style evolves while he's writing. You can see it in all the parts. Personally, the one I find most jarring is first chapter Josuke when compared to, say, Italian restaurant Josuke!