How Stone Ocean Explores the Complex Relationship Between Father and Daughter
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean is a compelling story that drew me in from the first chapter. From the engaging characters to the nostalgic 2000’s feel, there was so much about Part 6 that I was captivated by.
Yet nothing hit harder than the complicated and heartbreaking relationship between Jolyne and her father, Jotaro.
Jolyne and Jotaro’s journey is a rough one, filled with angst and the dangling possibility of death. In this analysis, I break down the conflicts and layers within their relationship, and ultimately how far they were willing to go for one another.
A Distant Relationship
Since the beginning of Stone Ocean, it’s made apparent that Jolyne and her father have always had a very strained and distant relationship. Jotaro was never at home, depriving Jolyne of the parental love she needed. And as a result, Jolyne acted out by joining gangs and getting arrested, hoping that Jotaro would pay attention to her. Unfortunately, this didn’t work.
This led to Jolyne growing up under the impression that her father did not care about her. Yet this was untrue.
Jotaro’s main reasoning for distancing himself from his daughter was to protect her. After Jotaro killed DIO at the end of Part 3, the threat of enemy stands still remained, particularly from those who were DIO’s followers. Jotaro continued to investigate these and keep the world safe, yet by doing so, the possibility of his family being put in harm’s way increased. This is what resulted in Jotaro’s absence in Jolyne’s life.
As one can expect, when Jotaro visits Jolyne in prison to help her escape, it’s not a pleasant reunion. Jolyne punches a guard, threatening to go to solitary confinement after seeing her father. Even after all these years, her anger towards him has not faded.
However, from the way Jotaro communicates with Jolyne, it is clear that he doesn’t fully understand this. One example is when Jolyne trips over the steps and Jotaro catches her.
For a moment, Jolyne believes it is out of concern for her, however, her joy is diminished when Jotaro claims it was because he didn’t want her to lose the super-important amulet she was holding. Of course, Jolyne did not react to that well and her anger rushed right back.
From this, it can be seen that Jotaro does care for Jolyne, but he struggles to properly express this. Jotaro has always had this issue since when we met him in Part 3, but this is the first time it’s shown to significantly affect his relationship with someone. Jotaro tends to be more rational and introverted, not feeling a need to express his emotions as openly as most people. However, Jolyne is different.
In many ways, Jolyne is the opposite of Jotaro. She’s extroverted, reckless and driven by emotion. Because of this contrast in their personalities, Jotaro failed to understand how to cater to Jolyne’s needs as a parent. Maybe Jotaro having an absent parent growing up wasn’t a great ordeal to him, but this wasn’t the same for Jolyne.
If Jotaro had been around more, he may have understood her better, and known how to make her feel more comforted and loved. However, because he prioritised protecting her and decided to keep his distance, this didn’t happen. And as a result, Jolyne grew up feeling severely unloved by her father.
From Jotaro’s Perspective
Jotaro was not a good father — there’s no denying that. But that doesn't mean that he never cared for Jolyne. If anything, it’s the opposite: Jotaro loved Jolyne more than anything else in the world.
We first gain an insight into the love Jotaro has for Jolyne when he has his memory and stand discs stolen. In what he probably believed may be his last moments alive, he tells Jolyne that he always cared for her. Jotaro speaks this with raw honesty. He knew that his actions had hurt Jolyne — and he was not seeking forgiveness for that — but he needed to let her know that he never stopped thinking about her.
For the majority of the story, Jotaro remains in a coma-like state, but when he finally awakens with regained memories, he sends a text message to Emporio, telling him that he can feel that Jolyne is barely alive. From his words, it’s clear that his main concern is for Jolyne’s safety and wellbeing, as it always has been.
Yet at the same time, he has great confidence in her abilities. He knows that her strength is the reason why she still remains alive amongst all the danger. He first acknowledged this as he began to bleed out after he lost his memory and stand discs. He gazed at Jolyne as she fought Johngalli A, stating:
“If Jolyne’s mind is this strong… then i’m sure she’ll survive”
He acknowledges her again once he recovers and returns to join the fight, telling Jolyne that she has grown. He knows that the past few months weren’t easy for her, but he’s proud of her for enduring all that she did.
Finally, one of Jotaro’s most significant moments in Stone Ocean is when he sacrifices his chances to defeat Pucci, choosing to instead save Jolyne from the knives thrown at her. This is an incredibly important moment for Jotaro as a character, as this reveals how deep Jotaro’s love for his daughter truly went.
Deep down, Jotaro always knew that if it ever came down to it, he would always choose to protect his daughter over saving the world. He would do it every time and have no regrets because there was nothing in the world he loved more than his child.
This is why Jotaro distanced himself from Jolyne — because he didn’t ever want to be put in a position to make that choice.
This is the same man who dedicated his life to saving the world countless times over. The same man who is shown to have very few weaknesses, and in the few instances that he does have some, he is an expert at concealing them. For a man like Jotaro, having a weakness as large as Jolyne meant that she truly means more than the world to him.
In Jotaro’s last moments, after making the decision to choose Jolyne over the world, Pucci said to him:
“Jotaro Kujo, your daughter is your weakness”
I think it was fitting that these were the last words that Jotaro heard. Jotaro failed Jolyne over and over by choosing to protect the world over raising his daughter. But he died knowing that for once, he was able to choose Jolyne.
And that was a gift just as much as it was a weakness.
From Jolyne’s Perspective
Jolyne is heavily shown to be resentful towards Jotaro for being an absent father, yet this does not diminish her love for him. Jolyne’s main driving force throughout Stone Ocean is her desire to save Jotaro. She even sacrifices her one chance of escaping prison to retrieve Jotaro’s discs.
One of Jolyne’s most admirable qualities is her big heart, and her willingness to do anything to protect her friends and her loved ones, including the father she has a complicated relationship with. It’s a trait she inherited from Jotaro himself, who, as you may remember, put his entire life on hold and unflinchingly faced several near-death situations all to save his mother.
However, Jolyne’s feelings towards Jotaro are not just limited to her desire to save him. Sometimes she wants her father to protect her too.
This is evinced when Jolyne sends Jotaro’s memory disc to the Speedwagon Foundation, and she wonders if she should wait for Jotaro to return before she makes the next move. She questions whether she made the right decisions, and longs for her father’s advice.
“Tell me, Dad… What should I do?”
At this point in the story, Jolyne has greatly matured and faced many hardships. She is not incapable of fighting on her own. Yet there is a still a part of her that wishes to be protected by a parent.
Regardless of age, many of us still find safety and comfort in our parents during times of distress and anxiety. Like anyone else, Jolyne is no exception to this. Jolyne may be a powerful stand user, but as both the mental and physical exhaustion gets to her, she longs for nothing more than the guidance of her father.
And Jotaro does protect her, even in his last moments.
It is when Jotaro dies that Jolyne finally receives closure in their relationship. It’s bittersweet, as Jolyne reflects on the time when she was arrested for stealing a car.
Jolyne states that her father will “come save [her]” because those were the thoughts she had back then. But her father never did save her, and that left a scar deep within her.
But now, in the present, Jotaro did save her. He gave his life for her, and to Jolyne, that’s what matters. After all these years, she finally feels his love.
In Another World
In the new universe created after Pucci’s death, Jolyne is a new person, now named Irene. In this universe, it appears that due to the lack of Pucci’s influence, Jolyne now has a healthy and communicative relationship with Jotaro.
We can conclude that in this newly-formed world, Jotaro was absolved of the responsibility to spend his entire life fighting enemy stand users. As a result, he spent more time with his daughter, forming a stronger bond with her and consequently giving her the chance to live a happier life.
It’s bittersweet because the Jolyne and Jotaro that we grew to love never truly got a happy ending. But maybe in another world, they are nothing more than a contented father and daughter, unburdened of the Joestar fate.
