WARNING: All spoilers on this page are unmarked.
A No Recent Examples rule applies to this trope and examples shouldn't be added for 6 months. This is measured from release or when the issue becomes divisive, whichever comes later.
- Which part is the best part? Each part is different in its own way, so each of them has its rabid fans and haters. The most divisive parts tend to be the following:
- Part 1, Phantom Blood. It's near-universally considered to be one of the weaker parts, but the debate is on whether it's still good on its own, or a boring slog that acts as a steep barrier to cross in order to get to the good parts. The most controversial aspect by far is the Slow-Paced Beginning, which is almost entirely lacking in action and fighting, instead belonging to the genre of drama. Some fans enjoy the insight into All-Loving Hero Jonathan and Dog-Kicking Dio's family life, while others find it boring.
- Part 3, Stardust Crusaders, is the part that introduces the series' signature gimmick, Stands. Part three fans love how the Stands allow every fight to be very unique and creative. The Big Bad DIO gets a lot of praise, being one of the most popular and quotable villains in manga history. Some fans are also fueled by nostalgia, as for decades Stardust Crusaders was the only part to be marketed in the West, with the OVA and Capcom fighting game being many fans' first taste of JoJo. But the part also has many detractors, who criticize it for its highly formulaic structure, extremely basic and simple plot, large amount of Plot Irrelevant Villains, and relatively plain Stand abilities compared to those in future parts. The protagonist, Jotaro Kujo, is also polarizing, with his fans loving his stoic personality, while his detractors consider him a boring, emotionless character. There's also a small minority who dislike how Stands result in Hamon being almost entirely phased out of the series, and wished that Hamon was still the Joestars' main weapon.
- Part 5, Vento Aureo, is loved and hated for similar reasons to part 3. It brings back the Monster of the Week formula that made Stardust Crusaders so polarizing, although this time the abilities tend to be more diverse and interesting. The group of heroes is considered to be one of the best in the series thanks to their close bonds, although the protagonist, Giorno Giovanna, is sometimes criticized for being a Supporting Protagonist who takes a back-seat to Bruno Buccellati. Another common criticism is the Big Bad, Diavolo, who is either a mysterious and threatening figure, or a boring and generic villain with incomprehensible motives. The final confrontation is also extremely divisive, with its detractors pointing to the Mind Screw-worthy abilities of the characters making the action nearly impossible to follow, while its benefactors argue that the whole confrontation against Chariot Requiem and trying to fight for the arrow was for trying to reach a win condition, and that it was a great climax.
- Part 6, Stone Ocean, is controversial mostly for its ending, which acts as a huge Reset Button for the entire franchise. Some fans applaud the audacity of killing off the heroes and resetting the universe and consider it an emotional sendoff for the original universe (as the next part, Steel Ball Run, is a Continuity Reboot), while others feel it makes everything that happened up to this point completely pointless. It also is home to some of the strangest Stands in the series (Like Heavy Weather or Bohemian Rhapsody) and has some of the suckiest (Like Highway to Hell, Survivor or even Dragon's Dream); either this is fine, since JoJo isn't a stranger to bizarre themes or weak abilities, it's pushing the "Bizarre" aspect of the series too far with Stand powers that are just laughably counterintuitive, or the third option of only some Stands sucking... but which ones do and which ones don't is its own can of worms.
- Part 8, Jojolion, while for the most part is liked for its cool battles and strong characters, suffered through this for how it concluded things, and especially its Big Bad. One group likes how it portrayed its themes of defying destiny in a unique way, think the villain's stand fight is one of the best final battles and overall liked how most characters got to contribute something to fight the villain. Other group however think that the battle is a mess, killing characters for no other reason other than to rise the stakes, and think that the big bad is the worst in the series for not having clear motives and being very ambigous even after the part ends. And another group admires the attempt of having an epic conclusion, but thinks it could've been handled way better if Araki had more time to develop it.
- Reception to Araki's Art Evolution post Stone Ocean. On one hand, many fans celebrate the more detailed art and the higher degree of realism that Araki's style took, praising it as one of a number of aspects that the series that improved during Steel Ball Run. Others acknowledge that Araki has improved in many ways but are more critical, saying that the realism came at the cost of making Only Six Faces and Dull Surprise much more common (in contrast to the earlier parts, which had much more lively expressions and varied designs) and that the pre-SBR characters just don't look right in the new style. Some people feel that these aspects are being improved upon in JoJolion, however.
- As with all English dubs, the one for the 2012 anime has created some division:
- Anime fans who are tired of hearing Johnny Yong Bosch everywhere aren't happy that he plays Jonathan, while others don't mind (and some even praise his performance, particularly the Sunlight Yellow Overdrive speech).
- Bryce Papenbrook's performance as Caesar is quite divisive, especially thanks to his Italian accent.
- Some are upset that some of the memetic lines like "Speedwagon withdraws coolly" and nearly all of Joseph's Engrish have been changed, while others point out that a one-to-one translation would be impossible. A good example of this is Joseph's "OH NO! This woman is unbelievable!" from the end of Part 2; in the dub, he instead says "You had one job, woman! ONE! JOB!"
- The casting of Ben Diskin isn't being debated as good or bad (most agree that he does a good job), but whether it's appropriate that he sound just like Numbuh One or whether he should've tried for a more unique sounding voice. Others debate whether his British accent was a good fit, or whether he should've used a different kind of accent such as Cockney or Estuary, or none at all. The same goes for all the other characters with accents.
- Averted for most of the other actors, with Patrick Seitz as Dio, Keith Silverstein as Speedwagon, and the Stardust Crusaders "test dub" cast garnering nearly universal praise (with Matthew Mercer's Jotaro being called "perfect" by some). Though some still called foul when it turned out that Patrick Seitz did not do the iconic "Wrrryyyy!" at least when Dio first became a vampire.
- At AnimeEXPO 2016 it was revealed that the English dub for Stardust Crusaders would drop the accents. Some are okay with it since the accents were considered by many to be the weakest part of the dub and it allows the actors to give a more natural performance. Others however aren't fond of the change since it's inconsistent and supporters felt that it made the dub more fun.
- Whether or not Bang Zoom! Entertainment was a good choice to produce the English dub. Some felt that a lot of the issues with the dub fell mostly on Bang Zoom's involvement. In particular many Bang Zoom detractors feel as if the studio has become notorious for constantly reusing the same voice actors in leading roles (especially in non-union dubs) and as such the dub played it safe. It especially didn't help that the detractors felt that Bang Zoom's usual talent pool now donning fake accents to be eye-rolling. There's also the fact that New Generation Pictures is based in Los Angeles and their work on Hellsing proves that there are British voice actors in the area and non-British voice actors can pull off solid accents. This has led the detractors to believe that New Generation Pictures would have been a much better choice. Others however didn't mind Bang Zoom's involvement seeing as how many of their fans find that their recent dubs have been relatively strong and have been pleased with the recent talent pool that Bang Zoom has been using in the past few years.
- If you're just talking about JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: The JOJOLands as a whole, you're free to call Dragona Joestar a he, she, or they without stirring up too much drama, but if you specifically try to draw attention to the topic, or try to present proof of one interpretation being more valid, you will be buried under a mountain of contradictory arguments. The one thing people agree on is that Dragona is biologically male, but whether that means they're a gender nonconforming man, transgender woman, or non-binary is responsible for some heated debates.
