The ninth part of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure has finally been released in Japan. As per the last two parts, this one takes place in the second continuity which started with Part 7. After what has felt like forever, the first chapter has been released and we’ve been introduced to our protagonist and his allies as well as some weird and wonderful new stands. Although it may be a while before we can properly read a localized version. As usual, the story follows a new member of the Joestar family lineage. Although this time, he’s got quite the supporting cast, and one of his closest allies is his brother Dragona.
Dragona is the elder brother of the two Joestars, the younger being Jodio Joestar, the protagonist of Part 9. The 18 year old is the grandson of Joseph Joestar and Suzie Q and they live in Hawaii with their family. Dragona works in a fashion boutique and is affiliated with the same criminal gang as Jodio.
Dragona is also the first trans Joestar to appear in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. They make an effort to dress as feminine as possible and have received cosmetic injections to give themself breasts. Dragona also refers to themself with female pronouns at times although Jodio always refers to his brother with he/him pronouns when narrating the story or talking directly to his brother. Aside from that, Dragona is often depicted wearing a crown of flowers and they seem to have an obsession with dragons (The name makes a bit more sense now).
Like Jodio, Dragona also has a stand. Smooth Operators (The name of Dragona’s stand) is a colony stand, and in the Jojo universe, this is basically a group of small stands. The Smooth Operators are robotic beings with the ability to move fixed objects in any direction. For example, Dragona uses his stand to pull someone’s eyes round to the back of their head. It’s a unique set of abilities that will be interesting to see how they’re put to use in the future. Due to the stand not having offensive capabilities, Dragona often tries to avoid any kind of physical altercation, unlike Jodio, who is the exact opposite.
It’s exciting to see where Hirohiko Araki will take these new characters and abilities that he has created in the latest part. It’s usually impossible to predict how the story will develop as Araki is notorious for changing things or forgetting abilities as the story progresses (usually for the better.) We’re sure that Dragona will change, as will his abilities, in the coming chapters.
Of course, being a close ally to the protagonist in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure usually means that character is the most at risk of biting the dust. We can only hope that being a Joestar will give Dragona some hope of making it to the end alive.