JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure – 02-03

Well now – I don’t what I could possibly add to that.

I would love to have been a fly on the wall when these eps were recorded, because I can only imagine that those sessions must’ve been at least as entertaining as the series itself.  The phrase “Give me more!” must surely have escaped the director’s lips a few times, especially when it comes to Koyasu Takehito’s unbelievably larger-than-life nuclear annihilation of a performance as Dio.  You wouldn’t get more ham and cheese at a croque monsieur convention.

I’ve been sort of reluctant to write about JoJo, because there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of point in trying to sum up a series like this with words.  I guess the best thing I can say is this – if the show backed off even one-tenth of one percent it wouldn’t work, because it’s the most preposterous, ridiculous and absurd thing on the air.  But it does work for precisely the reason that the commitment level – from the cast, from the writing, from the animation – is 100%.  It’s just plain batshit crazy and I can’t really compare it to anything else I’ve seen.  I wouldn’t say JJBA is necessarily my cup of tea, but it’s a lot of fun for its uniqueness and sheer bravura if nothing else.

It appears that the first episode – live dogs in furnaces and all – was merely a preamble to what was to come.  Grisly traffic accidents and betrayal and psychopathy give way to Ogre Street, Robert E.O. Speedwagon (Ueda Youji, giving Koyasu-san a run for his money) and vampirism.  But these aren’t your prissy twink vampires of “Twilight” ilk, or even classically suave and terrifying ones in the classic Bram Stoker mold – these are GAR killing machines who wake up hungry and in a bad mood and just get worse from there.  Given what Dio Brando was like when he was human, you can only imagine what he’s like as a vampire.

Taking a classic movie plotline liken the stepson poisoning the rich stepfather and merging it with this insanity is a pretty heady cocktail.  There were several moments from the climactic mansion scene in episode 3 that stand out, starting with Speedwagon’s “You’re probably asking, “Who’s this guy?” appearance.  I have no idea what “Urreeyy” means but coming from vampire Dio, it somehow fits.  So does “Goodbye, JoJo!” in Engrish – but I think JoJo’s save by sticking his knife into the stone wall, vaulting on top of it and then snagging Dio with his belt and shouting “I’m back, Dio!” probably tops the list.  I mean, why not – what else is he going to say?

I’ll certainly be keeping an eye on this one, though I won’t guarantee I’ll be blogging it – realistically, I’m not sure there’s really anything any blogger could contribute when it comes to a show like JoJo.  Considering all that we’ve covered in three episodes and that the manga is something like 70 volumes, I don’t think they make a thesaurus big enough.