JJOCT7 R5M5 Jojolity

Judge Minos (Logic)

You can tell a political philosopher/lawyer had a hand in this match when a precondition of the Jojolity is “define justice”.

Kid’s justice is “execution of threats with extreme prejudice”, in keeping with his run. While the implementation is thus somewhat expected (I would have liked a bit more creativity via the specificity of how the mechanical decisions and framings reflect and cohere into this particular conception of justice), what’s there is evidently well integrated into the strat. Brighid has a creative interpretation of the Jojolity: showing Kid the result and futility of his choices before extending him the same possibility for rehabilitation. It makes for a compelling Narrative, but the connection of Dead End (“information overload”) and its context to such futility and narrative is somewhat tenuous beyond “it stymies his approach”—specificity in integration.

Put another way, while there was much Jojolity text, sharpening the plays and their framing so that they are tailored to the expression of the thesis. Where I've often spoken of wanting "more" from 6s and 7s as an expression of quantity or depth, "narrower" would push the expression of the thesis towards the more full-throated 8s and 9s that I have given.

I leaned heavily towards giving high 7s, and my emphasis on mechanical integration as the primary prong for Jojolity deliberation strongly persuades me to do so, but I will admit that the Narrative, in prose and in strategy, is so suffuse with thought towards the Jojolity that a fudge factor is reasonable. I'll go back and forth for a while, but I'm comfortable with low [8]s.

All in all, a pair of eminently solid strats that rose up to the narrative weight of the match!

Judge Rhadamanthus (Yuri)

Hi! Judge Yuri again! Let’s talk jojolity! You were both given the task of embodying your own form of ‘justice’. This is the kind of jojolity that outright requires a strong and well elaborated on thesis to pull through. Define your terms, and stick to them as tightly as you can.

For Brighid, justice is a hard wall. Try as you like, there’s no getting past it. This is defined early on, in the form of the dead end, and by god is that gotten across scarily well. Brighid is a solid wall of blood, focused on dissuading approaches and keeping Kid hopelessly on the backfoot as soon as possible. He’s forced to approach an impossible goal. Her justice is presented as strong, impossibly so, because it is more than just her own justice, and the strat’s mechanical text is well written enough to back that up. Mechanical integration!! Hell yes!! I would’ve liked a liiiiittle more here and there, but this is still a solid thesis that boosts the quality of the strat itself through sheer integration, and that’s the kind of jojolity effort that warrants a firm **8**.

For Kid, justice is whatever he damn well wants it to be, and I can’t believe a thesis like that works as well as it does. Kid defines himself once again as King Savage, and this time around in a far more literal sense. He is the king, who is the very definition of Justice, and thus his ‘justice’ must be extremely self focused. A single minded pursuit of the offender. The punishment flavoring really helps subtly seal the deal on what exactly this strat’s jojolity is about. Kid is the enforcer of punishment, and he follows through on all the brutality that suggests. The integration here is subtle but solid - I really like how little focus there is on environmental control or things like that this time around, the strat instead focusing on King Savage himself. His primary attacks are focused on short bursts of pure pain and damage such as the One Man Firing Squad and Flying Guillotines, rather than long term swamping, and even his finisher hardly involves any of that - he simply buries his adversary with whatever’s around him. Short sighted and brutally efficient; the will of a king made manifest. This one really tickled my fancy. You get a **9!**

Judge Aeacus (Archerous)

As for Jojolities, I’ll be brief. Both teams did an excellent job in bringing their justices to life in their respective strats. The Gallery made great use out of showing Kid the path he was on by literally stalling him in every opportunity she could, making it clear that if he were to continue down this path, there would be no end for him. This defensive approach to justice fits Brighid well and is integrated wonderfully into the strat. Thus, I’m giving her Jojolity an 8. Well done!

As for Kid, he skips all the legal formalities when dealing with Brighid, becoming judge, jury, and executioner. He deems her as guilty and dishes out a punishment worthy of such a heinous crime as to stand up to a king: death. His attacks are brutal, looking to deal the maximum amount of damage as possible. This is Kid’s justice, one that forces Brighid to feel everything that he’s been feeling, every weight upon his shoulders, until she can’t take it anymore. This is a great execution of the Jojolity, and thus, I’m giving it an 8. Well done!