So, I’ve always been puzzled at the vampires or vampiric beings in JoJo because of how
out of the ordinary they are to the story.
While stands become a phenomenon later that are even more puzzling, it doesn’t take
away too hard from what had happened.
With the vampire-like beings in the franchise, a bunch of other odd things come out of the
blue in later parts and you can think of those things falling into that extremely mythical
part about JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure.
Now, what was the reason for these beings being in a story where it’s reasonably normal
without them.
Araki goes about this in his author note for the very first volume of JoJo’s Bizarre
Adventure.
“Put simply, the theme of this work is "living".
Through the two main characters, I want to examine two ways of living.
It's all about singing the hymn of the battle between "human" and "non-human".
This work was made for your enjoyment, I hope you like it.
” With that quote, you can understand to where we’re going in Phantom Blood, but
what if we had adapted it differently.
Instead of human and non-human, let’s try seeing it as humane and inhumane.
Even when adapting that over, it still ties in very well because of the two characters
representing each side, the two being Jonathan Joestar and Dio Brando.
See, one my favorite content creators “Now You See It” had this video on vampires and
it’s hard to explain it on easier terms, but for what it connects to in this video
is that vampires are what they are but aren’t what they supposed to be.
While Dio is a vampire, being a vampire is not what had defined him.
Vampirism itself was a medium to show the worst of humanity or the extremely taboo areas
of it.
For what attributes make up a lot of the vampires we know in fiction, Dio holds a good portion
of that even before becoming a vampire.
It’s just that as soon as he did, it became largely better and noticeable for his character.
He’s cunning, strong, charismatic, and all these other attributes, but for him to have
these attributes shine to what degree they are now, he had to do something major.
See, originally Dio had been an overwhelming power to Jonathan, but that power is what
made Jonathan a lot stronger.
Realizing what he had done, he needed a jump to push him past Jonathan.
Not in terms of strength, but in every way possible so that he is the victor of it all.
It’s obvious that what Dio did to make himself stronger was to make himself into a vampire.
Dio knew about the strength of vampires because of what he had created with that two men he
came across on his drunk tirade.
The thing is, two things are running parallel when this happens.
There’s what we see, but then there’s the symbolism what I was talking about earlier
running silently behind this all.
Dio turning the man into a vampire had shown him the strength he desires but remove the
vampires and what do we have.
Dio’s first kill of a human is what showed him this ridiculous strength.
While seeing the vampire do his work was a visual interpretation for both us and Dio,
it’s Dio’s actions that’s what defined this situation.
See, the action of taking another person’s life is such a largely inhumane thing.
Once you take someone’s humanity, you lose yours in the process, and that’s where Dio
power had lain.
This is such a huge defining moment that happens in Dio’s life, and for what happens, it
separates Jonathan and Dio between this large gap on good and evil.
That’s even before the biggest thing Dio does.
Dio’s next step to define himself and pull himself further from humanity is taking another
life.
While he had been doing this passively through poisoning, the actual action of doing it is
what branded Dio.
Taking the life of someone who had taken care of him like a son, the life of the father
to someone who had originally believed they were brothers.
It’s unimaginable, and he does this all while laughing in this contemptuous and confident
tone.
His laugh isn’t that he’s gaining the power he knows they won’t be able to touch
him with, he laughs at everyone in the room for who they are.
He laughs at humanity for not being able to take the steps to reach to where he is.
Removing the vampirism, it’s the murder that makes him stronger.
Being able to do this to those that had loved him means that he’s able to do this with
ease at this point.
Which is what he does in that room.
Inhumanity is what made him stronger, and none of the people there could be on that
level with Dio.
The fight follows up and Jonathan wins for the time being.
At the end he’s sad for what he had done, but then finds Dio to be still alive.
Dio goes on this journey of recovery and we see a lot of attributes become a lot more
prominent.
His power to manipulate others, his charisma being a strength to draw in people without
the actual use of power, his strength, and all of that was growing to take over the world
if nothing was going to be done about it.
He had gained this following, and at this point, Dio was leading not just an army of
vampiric zombies, but instead leading evil itself.
Adapting this into Stardust Crusaders, where it’s evident that he doesn’t need zombies.
He leads all these stand users and even regular people, all of them swoon for Dio because
of who he is.
All these stand users and even our main cast, all of them falling victim to DIO.
Not to his powers, but him.
While the flesh buds are ever so present in a lot of people and it’s not what pulls
people to him.
Both Kakyoin and Avdol had spoken about Dio and they described the enchanting energy that
was pulling them towards him.
A reassuring voice filled with kindness.
Avdol had got away from it because the temptation of it all is what terrorized him and snapped
him right out of it.
If he didn’t run, he would’ve been controlled like everyone else we know with a flesh bud.
See, the evil that Dio originally had in Phantom Blood isn’t as present in Stardust Crusaders
and then on.
This evil that Dio has now is a matured evil that makes more sense for what it does and
what purpose it serves.
Surprisingly, while he isn’t as much of a vampire as he used to be, he’s following
the attributes of a vampire way better than the original Dio.
Or well, it’s more so that Dio had become the romanticized and more known version of
a vampire than the traditional horror one.
The evil that Dio has now is one that pinpoints on the dark areas that all humans face and
it pulls it in ever so strongly.
The temptations that all humans have and keep at bay, Dio pulls them all in and wants all
those following him to make it as visible as possible.
All these Stand users using their power without guidance and using it as reluctantly as possible.
Dio wants you to be all that you can be and all that you will be, for him.
Calls to the “dark side” as we know it, aren’t as well as it’s supposed to be.
Usually it’s done with a promise of power, but Dio does it all for whatever the person
is looking for.
Some want a leader who will direct them to the best route of income, some want a leader
who will tell them that it will be alright and who will give them a path to the biggest
desires, and some just want someone to follow because they have no guidance or anyone to
cherish to them.
Dio gives them all of this, and it doesn’t sound like clear cut evil.
The thing is, the best type of evil isn’t even that apparent.
It’s masked in greatness and it’s meant to be something that pulls people into it
so that they get all that they could no matter the cost.
At this point you can’t even see what about Dio’s vampirism is pulling people in, but
that’s because that’s just Dio.
It’s always been him, the vampirism is just easier outlet for people to follow the reasoning
behind the evil.
His manipulation being so strong, and then we even had a physical manifestation for it
in JoJo.
When describing the flesh buds, it doesn’t even sound like a real thing, but more of
like an implanted mentality.
Something that’s inserted into the brains of living beings that controls them, and without
being extremely precise, you won’t be able to remove it, you’ll end up killing both
of you in the process.
This can easily draw back into Phantom Blood and pull forward into Stardust Crusaders.
Jonathan had been trying to take this thing out of Dio’s brain in hopes to change him
back to who thought he was, but that wouldn’t work because that’s truly who he is.
The Stardust Crusaders were able to do this to Kakyoin and Polnareff because what the
bud made them into, wasn’t really them.
It was their worst attributes made most dominant and it was like that while following Dio.
Now, notice how you can’t do what you did to Kakyoin and Polnareff to all the enemy
stand users we encounter.
They’re all like the Dio we know in Phantom Blood, you can’t remove this about their
character because this is who they truly are.
Then, the final victims of it all being the regular people being guided by flesh buds,
our biggest example being Okuyasu’s dad.
Now, when I was piecing this up, I got blown away on the levels of divine sandstorm.
Father Nijimura being the man who he was while getting the help from Dio was doing the best,
all because he was following Dio.
But then, once Dio had died, everything had gone downhill.
Father Nijimura became what we know now, but it’s what he became when you move the vampirism
aside.
Without Dio, he lost his guidance, lost his money, and worst of all he lost himself.
He had followed evil for what it gave him temporarily, but in the end of it all he lost
everything.
Everyday, continuously trying to put the picture of him and his family together.
Reminiscing of a time to where he was better because he wasn’t following the evil that
made him into what he is.
I think that’s why Araki had kept his look through DiU instead of giving a way to fix
him.
He visually turned into the evil that he was representing.
It originally looked promising and amazing, but in reality, it was as ugly as he is.
Father Nijimura’s appearance was his history of actions made visual, and he has to hold
that for as long as he lives.
That probably goes for all those that had flesh buds.
The good thing about Father Nijimura is that he was redeemed by his kids, and they had
accepted him for who he is.
While Okuyasu accepts him, what Father Nijimura has done will never be forgotten.
And while what bad he did was terrible against his kids, it was originally done for the good
of the family.
He wanted money so that hopefully his family could live better for it, and with that situation,
Dio’s attack of temptation was very easy.
He takes advantage of all the misguided people who just want all that life has to offer and
either promises them that or gives it to them immediately.
Either way, they’re going to be bound to any of Dio’s wishes from then on.
This is an evil that so many people follow in the world today.
It’s used in all types of things, but it just all directs back into temptation.
It’s so crazy that even if you do or don’t remove the vampire from Dio, he’s just extremely
great conman.
The attributes stay even if he does or doesn’t suck blood.
Vampires in fiction have always been this outlet for the darkest sides of humanity,
and in Dio’s case, it’s temptation, which is the catalyst to it all.
Temptations of wealth, power, happiness, anything.
All that’s needed is your devotion.
[Music fades]
Oh… wait so that’s why his name is God.
Because God promises all of you that too!
“You do know the devil does the exact same thing right.
And that makes more sense with that connecting to Dio because you don’t really know what
you’re in for with Dio if you’re one of the people he’s praying on.
At that point, you wouldn’t know if God or the Devil was talking to you.
That’s why it looks so good.”
Oh, well see now that you say it like that you make me feel dumb.
Thank you all for watching.
I was hoping to fit what I had wrote for the Pillar Men into here, but on paper it looked
pretty long so I didn’t want to push the lengths of this video in specific.
I’ll be sure to go over it later when I can.
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Comment any thoughts you had.
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Hopefully, I’ll see you all in the next one.
Until then, peace out, and God Speed.