JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean features the only successful JoJo villain so far in the series 

Over the years, Hirohiko Araki has gifted us with incredible characters and events through JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. Throughout the past decade, his published mangas have been animated to influence more people. Araki is the only mangaka creative enough to experiment with character styles and personalities and take them to the next level.

Among his visionary array of characters, Stone Ocean's main antagonist, Enrico Pucci, stands out for a simple reason. He is the only villain in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure who didn't have to taste a bitter defeat by the protagonist, and fans are not bothered by it. His story has been gifted to fans as Araki looks at the bigger picture for his ingenious manga through the ending of Stone Ocean.

So follow along as this article debunks how JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean features the only successful JoJo villain so far.

Disclaimer: This article reflects the opinions of the writer and contains spoilers for JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean

---

Enrico Pucci's ultimate Stand made him the only successful villain in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean

Pucci's rise and fall

Pucci's innocence as a priest in training was tainted by DIO's influence and knowledge. In his younger days, Pucci was forced to seek DIO's help as he awakened his Stand abilities due to the shock from the death of his dear younger sister, Perla.

Fans of the series are familiar with DIO's incredible skills in charisma and manipulation, and Pucci was attracted to his ideologies and views on life. With unnatural and incredible powers. His primary goal in life shifted from serving the Lord to changing his creations completely by 'attaining Heaven.'

DIO's instructions stuck with him, and he vowed to make it his life's work. Pucci's incredible Stand, Whitesnake, made it easier for him to achieve this ambitious endeavor. Thanks to DIO's diary, Pucci developed two other Stands with different powers.

C-Moon has the power to manipulate gravity and the second is, Made in Heaven, which has the power to accelerate time. Araki referred to the powers of Fate when he decided to give Pucci these abilities as the latter discussed Fate with DIO extensively throughout their time together, and he specifically dubs it "Gravity."

Moreover, Pucci and Made in Heaven proved to be a challenge for Jotaro Kujo, the Joestar who finally defeated DIO. Pucci slit Jotaro's face in two and instantly beat Ermes and Anasui. Jolyne struggled to save Emporio, but she was also unsuccessful. Araki has now given Pucci the ability to bring about the end of their universe.

However, fans were satisfied with the ending as Emporio exacts revenge on Pucci in his newly created universe by using his wits. Pucci suffered as he destroyed himself while creating an alternate timeline, where the Joestar bloodline still survived but had no memories of the past and was free from the constant turmoil of good versus evil.

---

Hirohiko Araki's Vision

Coloured panel from Steel Ball Run (Image via Hirohiko Araki/Shueisha)

Araki certainly didn't disappoint fans with Stone Ocean's ending, as they were familiar with his feelings thanks to his frequent updates on the author's notes. He believed that he had little to nothing to contribute to the story of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure and wanted to end his legacy gracefully.

By closing the chapters of the original universe, he chose to gift fans with a satisfying ending where the Joestars remained happy, and the world was free from DIO's influence.

This ending brought about countless other possibilities, and Araki could work with whatever he was comfortable with. In his case, he wanted JoJo's Bizarre Adventure to revisit the older setting it was originally set in and make it different from his previous works. Araki decided to call the next part Steel Ball Run without referring to JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.

---

Final thoughts

Hirohiko Araki's thought process behind making Pucci the only victorious antagonist was backed up by his indispensable need to restart the series. Although Steel Ball Run is referred to as a continuation to the world of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Araki didn't use the fame and goodwill of his previous work to influence his new beginning.

When Steel Ball Run was published, there was not a single reference to JoJo except in the author's note which read:

"I drew Steel Ball Run as the seventh part of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure saga. However for the readers who might begin with this volume, I preferred not to insist too much on that filiation."

"The problem is that to completely bury one's past work in order to create a brand new one is in my opinion, a bad habit for any mangaka."

Araki is an inspiration among several outstanding mangakas, and his work continues to surpass the limits and boundaries set in stone by other shonen creators of his time.

---