Continuing our read along of Phantom Blood we get our first appearance of the Yoda figure and Jobro Mr. Zepelli! A man who is willing to teach Jojo all the vegan chi powers he can muster (that's Hamon energy to Jojoites). Now a lot of sagely teacher characters can come off dull and boring but not in Jojo's world! We also talk about how brave characters can beget empathy from the reader and fact check the historical fantasy of the manga.
Skip synopsis @ 6:47
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105: Jojo's Bizarre Adventure vol. 3
Chapters 18 to 27, 'Jack the Ripper and Zeppeli the Strange part 1' and 'Tarkus and the Dark Knight Bruford part 2'
By Hirohiko Araki
Translation by Evan Galloway
Lettering by Mark Mcmurray
Our hero Jojo, having fought a vampire who killed his dad has recovered well from his injuries. It is at this time he meets a new mentor, the odd and mysterious Baron Will Anthonio Zeppeli or Mr. Zeppeli for short. He helps Jojo's arm heal faster with the use of Hamon, translated literally as ripple or wave energy. He teaches Jojo Sendo, the way of the hermit, a martial art that will allow him to harness the power of Hamon, in return he asks that Jojo helps him find and destroy the stone mask that birthed the vampire Dio. Since the once young Zeppeli himself had an unfortunate encounter with the stone mask.
One of Dio's agents attacks Jojo during his training but it serves only as a demonstration of Jojo's power, soon Jojo, Zeppeli and Speedwagon track the follower of Dio to a tunnel where they are attacked by another servant of Dio, the infamous Jack the Ripper. During the fight Jack flees into the darkness of a hidden cavern, Zeppeli gives Jojo a glass of wine and tells him that if he is to train in future with him then he must defeat Jack on his own without spilling a single drop. Turns out the glass of wine acts as a conduit of Hamon and thus reacts to the presence of Jack, avoiding any surprises, Jojo uses the Hamon to blast jack to his demise, all thanks to Zeppeli's loaded weapon of a wine glass.
Afterwards a boy steals the men's bags and lures them to a trap encounter with Dio amongst a sun set, having hypnotized the boy to do his bidding. Zeppeli makes his attack. Dio however has found a way to avoid Hamon strikes by using the laws of thermodynamics in conjunction with his vampire body. Heat is absorbed by Dio's body and in turn causing Hamon users to get frost bitten if they make physical contact with him. Dio summons two warriors from their graves to take his place in the fight with Jojo and the injured Zeppeli. These are Tarkus and the Dark Knight Bruford, former retainers to the deceased Queen of Scotland, Mary Stuart.
Topics:
· We have the first appearance of a Yoda figure, the "Jobro" Zeppeli, and we talk about what makes him such an entertaining teacher for our hero.
· Author Hirohiko Araki demonstrates his ability to incite empathy through the bravery of his characters, in the next volume he'll go on to set up and pay off certain events by having characters become brave enough to face their fate.
· The new Rohan Kishibe movie will be released on May 26, 2023 (James is mistaken to believe it is in March 2023) For those who do not know, Rohan Kishibe is a character who first appears in the fourth part of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, 'Diamond is Unbreakable'. The film itself 'Rohan au Louvre' can be viewed as a sequel to the live action TV series (which is currently on its third season), this is also based of the manga spin off 'Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan' which tells the story of manga artist Kishibe's travels as he satiates his voracious curiosity for a need to seek new inspiration, often encountering dangerous and supernatural threats.
Other references:
· Jack the ripper was a real and unidentified serial killer active in the London district of Whitechapel in 1888. The name comes from the historical letters claiming to be the killer. The events revolving around the Zodiac killer are similar to Jack the ripper in terms of the communication between the alleged killer and authorities, but it's also important to note that the Unabomber was caught because he published a manifesto which was key in his brother identifying him to the FBI.
· The Highlander movie starring Sean Connery was released in the summer of 1986, since the Phantom Blood manga was first published in the winter of 1987 it is a fair assumption to say that Araki was inspired by the movie.
· Unlike the manga, Mary, Queen of Scots has no blood relation to the Tudors, belonging from house Stewart of the Stewart dynasty. She was also in fact executed in 1587 at the age of 44, where as the manga shows her executed at the age of 23 in 1565. Her retainers in the manga are also fictitious. Her execution was a result of her complicity in treason against the Tudor queen, Elizabeth I.
· Zeppeli's name is a reference to Led Zeppelin. A band whose contemporaries would have been the bands Deep Purple and Black Sabbath. English bands that were undoubtedly the progenitor for heavy rock and metal, and are historically significant because of it.
· Dio's name is also a reference to ex-lead singer of Black Sabbath, whom recorded the 'Heaven and Hell' album in 1980 after Ozzie Osbourne was fired, Ronnie James Dio, formed a band with the name of Dio in 1982, one of his most famous songs from that era being 'Holy Diver'. He died in 2010.
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