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One of the biggest pleasures when it comes to reading long-running manga is seeing a mangaka grow and evolve over the course of the series. Some mangaka start out solid and grow into masters and others experiment with a variety of visual styles and techniques over the course of their career. Others learn to take advantage of their page count, turning an entire chapter itself into a storytelling tool or spending pages upon pages to really explore just one moment in time or one scene, turning what could've been a throwaway moment into something heartbreaking or exhilarating.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusader, Vol. 10 is the last volume of Hirohiko Araki's fan-favorite arc. It's the culmination of the Joestars' journey to Egypt, the climax of their bloody struggle to rescue Jotaro Kujo's mother, Holly. This point in the series ties together the past and future of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, as Joseph was the star of the previous arc, Battle Tendency, and his grandson Jotaro is a major character in the fourth arc, Diamond Is Unbreakable. As you read this last volume of Stardust Crusaders, you'll soon come to realize exactly why Jotaro is one of the coolest heroes in manga and why Araki Sensei is an all-time great.

A big part of the fun of the tail end of Stardust Crusaders is seeing how Araki Sensei ups the stakes for everyone involved, himself included. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure more than lives up to its name, as the team faces down a mixture of super-powered animals and humans on their way to Egypt to battle DIO. Araki Sensei set the bar for weirdness and action for the series, so the cool thing about volume 10 is that you get to see how he tries to top what came before.

I don't want to spoil the book for you, but let's just say that Araki Sensei is very successful at that goal. There's a moment where DIO's powers are explained, and the way Araki chooses to depict that is fascinating. His art makes you want to pore over each page every time you read it, examining his brush strokes on the color pages and appreciating everything about the inked ones. The characters move and live and breathe in incredibly expressive ways, with Araki Sensei's grasp of perspective and focus making scenes that would be mundane under someone else's pen into something impressive. There's a panel in here of Dio and Jotaro striding towards each other that's positively iconic—so iconic that it's been homaged dozens of times, and with good reason.

Jotaro really comes into his own in this volume, too. We've seen him fighting as part of a group and alone, but he's never been in such dire straits as when he goes up against DIO. This vampiric foe feels completely unbeatable, with a power that seems invincible and a swagger that hammers home exactly how confident he is. If Jotaro's Star Platinum is the unstoppable force, then DIO'S The World is the immovable object. What happens when they clash? Manga magic, that's what.

The battle between DIO and Jotaro is truly one for the ages. Araki Sensei's execution is exquisite, full stop. The mind games, bluffs, double-bluffs, and dirty tricks they use against each other are sure to make a lifelong JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure fan out of the curious. It’s never as simple as just punching the bad guy until he gives up. Araki makes sure that the reader, Jotaro, and DIO all feel the full weight of the past nine volumes of story, so that when Jotaro’s hopes and dreams come face-to-face and fist-to-fist with DIO's thirst for viciousness and unfettered malice, the reader gets the most explosive possible ending to the saga.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure continues on later this year with the first volume of Diamond Is Unbreakable, a fitting follow-up to the high standard set by Stardust Crusaders. But for now, sitting down with the final Stardust Crusaders hardcover on a quiet evening and slowly reading and re-reading every page may be one of the best experience you’ll have with manga in recent memory.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Part 3--Stardust Crusaders, Vol. 10 is available right here!