OPULENCE, DRAGONA JOESTAR OWNS EVERYTHING! | PART I
"THE MOST CUNTROVERSIAL DIVA OF THE JOJOLANDS!"
Until February of 2023, the ninth installment of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure remained shrouded in a thick fog of mystery. Where would this new part be taking place? Who will be the protagonist; who will be the “JoJo?” Will this be the final part? At this time, I had only been a JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure fan for about a year, and the realization that I would now be able to experience the serialization of a brand new JoJo part in real time was exhilarating.
When I was first introduced to Dragona Joestar, I immediately assumed that they were the protagonist of the JOJOLANDS. Dragona exudes that protagonist energy; their look and confidence makes them stand out drastically from previous JoJo characters. The first four parts of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure feature a predominately masculine cast, with part four’s protagonist Josuke Higashikata being the most effeminate. In part five, Giorno Giovanna is introduced as the new, very feminine, JoJo. The JOJOVELLER art book states that Hirohiko Araki, the creator of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, originally wanted to feature a woman as the “JoJo” of part five, but his editor at the time disapproved of the idea.
However, the idea of having a feminine lead for part five still stuck around, as both Giorno and his stand powers exude femininity. Araki broke barriers surrounding gender through his pushback against the cisheteronormative expectations of shōnen manga stories to bring characters such as Giorno to life. Vento Aureo (part five) was serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump from December 1995 to April 1999, during a time when gender was not commonly accepted as a social construct or viewed as existing on a spectrum, and Shōnen Jump characters were beholden to masculinity.
This brings us to Dragona Joestar. Not literally, as if you were to skip parts six, seven, and eight to tune into part nine, you would most certainly be very confused. After the depressing ending of part five (read/watch to find out why, it’s worth it), JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure finally features a woman (Jolyne Cujoh) as the protagonist of part six. The cast of Stone Ocean (part six) mainly consists of women/femmes that all exhibit a mixture of masculine and feminine traits. Josuke (4), Giorno, and Jolyne all display/exude both masculine and feminine traits, and this can be identified as the formula for most JoJo protagonists. Araki loves his androgyny, after all. Part seven features androgynous characters such as Johnny Joestar, Hot Pants, and even Funny Valentine himself. JOJOLION, part eight, has the best gender balance out of all of the prior parts. The Higashikata family features around a 50/50 split of mainly masculine or feminine characters. Also, do not forget my guy, Rai Mamezuku, who is moderately androgynous. Part four, Diamond is Unbreakable, is the best part of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, but honestly, I may have to say JOJOLION is the second-best. I can already hear the Steel Ball Run fanboys screaming in the distance.
But, I still have yet to fully discuss Dragona Joestar. Now, knowing this very brief history of gender performance among the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure cast, you will understand exactly how groundbreaking Dragona’s character is, in the world of manga, but also in the greater world of media portrayals of Queer folk.
Dragona Joestar is the elder sibling of Jodio Joestar, the protagonist of the JOJOLANDS. In the opening scene of part nine, Dragona is racially profiled, accosted, and sexually assaulted by a police officer. This scene is jam-packed with social commentary on police brutality, Queer and non-cisgender fetishization, and Black and brown racial profiling. This chapter is heavily influenced by two of the most defining aspects of 2020: the protests against the murder of George Floyd by police officer Derek Chauvin, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Clearly, Araki knew that setting the JOJOLANDS in present-day would require him to incorporate important current topics and references to ensure that part nine feels fresh. No, racially-motivated police brutality is not a fresh subject as the U.S. police force was created to brutalize Black and Brown people. But, the George Floyd protests shed a significant amount of light on the killings of Black and Brown folk by police, spreading awareness around the globe. This most likely got Araki’s attention and led him to open up the JOJOLANDS with Dragona being assaulted by a police officer.
This scene introduces Dragona as most likely identifying as non-cisgender, due to the fact that they were assigned male at birth and are undergoing feminizing hormone-replacement therapy. I’ve seen other thoughts about Dragona’s gender online that interpret their “cosmetic injections” as just a breast augmenting procedure— I feel as though Araki was referring to HRT instead, but this is not clear.
Dragona is perceived as a woman by most characters so far during the story. Yet, Jodio refers to them as “big bro,” not in a transphobic way, but because Dragona seems to identify with that term. As of chapter 24, what is most certain is that Dragona exists as femme, non-cisgender individual who may want to be referred to as either a man or a woman, but that is not 100% clear at this time. Dragona uses feminine pronouns to refer to themself, unlike Jodio, so Dragona may simply have a preference for both.
Regardless of how Dragona identifies, they still are an amazing example of Queer, femme Trans/non-cisgender representation as they reject the gender binary and live proudly. Dragona’s character is nuanced and genuine, and their Queerness isn’t used against them to dehumanize the Queer and Trans experience, rather to promote Queer and Trans inclusion.
In the next part of this miniseries, I will discuss Dragona’s backstory and the very cuntroversial scene from chapter 24. Definitely stay tuned, darling! There is so much to discuss regarding Dragona’s Queerness and overall character that I simply cannot consolidate all of the tea into one, sole serving. Don’t fret, your thirst will be quenched once again in two weeks…