DISCLAIMER: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is a currently ongoing series with (at the moment of writing), 7 complete parts and one ongoing one. It's important to first make the distinction that this is NOT one ongoing story split into parts, but rather 8 stories in the same universe following the Joestar bloodline, that share similar elements, plot points, and even motivations in some cases.
Due to that, this and my other JoJo reviews will follow an unique JoJo rating system, since in my opinion it cannot be easily compared to other manga, done in a beginner-friendly way so as to illustrate whether or not it is worth it to get invested in the series, and how it compares to other parts of it.
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Diamond is Unbreakable stands out from the rest of the JoJo series up until this point, because it changes the concept of "adventure". It's not about fighting a world-ending threat, and it's not about stopping someone from conquering the world. The adventure this time is completely self-contained in the small town of Morioh.

It consists of our lovely new Joestar, Josuke, making new friends and living his school life while dealing with stand users. Right off the bat you'll notice the atmosphere is totally different, as there is no urgent threat, only smaller threats resulting of bad people with stands using them to do bad things. It's a departure from the previous part's treatment of enemy stand users as hired henchmen, and the main cast as "heroes". In this part, they're just normal students who want to do good.


You can really tell Araki learned more than a few things after finishing Stardust, because DiU has a LOT of interesting stands, and it is at this point where stand fights essentially become puzzles where the characters have to find an opening in the enemy's stand ability to dish out as much damage as they can, before readjusting to the situation.
This means just about every single fight in this is extremely entertaining, and due to Josuke's stand ability of "repairing things to their original state", there are a lot more things to do in a fight, one of the most notable examples being destroying a bike to vault over a baby, and repairing it mid-air so he can fall back on it and continue driving away.


As previously mentioned Stand Abilities are now more situational and therefore, deadly. Because of that, the main cast has to use everything they can to think outside the box in order to outsmart their opponent. Sometimes in a logical manner, sometimes in a "I CANNOT BELIEVE THEY JUST DID THAT" manner, in the best way possible.


The art is a slight step-up from Stardust, looking less stiff, but equally as amazing and far more colorful. Not much to say here other than once again, the designs of characters and stands are rather impressive.


The main cast is one of the most likable shonen main casts I've seen, and one of the best in all of JoJo. Josuke looks like a delinquent, but he's a total goofball sweetheart, and everyone around him are amazing friends and truly interesting people. They feel like actual people you would probably meet in school and that adds to how much you care for them.
The "stand users of the week" are also surprisingly interesting, and because they're real characters and not just hired henchmen this time, it feels far more enjoyable to watch their fights with the main cast.


But most importantly, this has probably the best villain in JoJo, in contrast to the previous parts' world-ending threats. Not just that, he doesn't even show up until halfway through the manga, and when he does, you can tell right away how much of a threat he is, not to the WORLD, but to this small town that you've come to love. Because of that, you are much more invested in seeing how they'll deal with him than you were when the villains were just "bad guy who wants to end world".


There's not really a way to sum up Diamond is Unbreakable, but if you enjoyed the concept of stand fights and wished to see more of it, this will most likely be a very good surprise. The cast is amazing, the story's amazing, and it never tries too hard to be too serious despite the urgency of the main plot.