Let me just tell you guys now, Dio is a fucking asshole but I can see why though. Dio’s dad Dario wasn’t shit but a thief, he drove his wife to death, and he was an awful father. In my opinion Dio’s dad is the main reason why Dio is so fucked up but later on in the arc those reasons that I provided couldn’t be used as an excuse. Dio is just a dick. With Dio’s goal of becoming the heir of the Joestar family and stealing their fortune, there was one person standing in his way, Jonathan (AKA Jo Jo). When Jo Jo first met Dio, Dio gave his dog a muay thai knee to the jaw. I mean he kneed the fuck out of Jo Jo’s dog; PETA wouldn’t have been pleased if they saw this. Dio would continue to make Jo Jo’s life miserable so he wouldn’t be a factor in his plot to get the Joestar family inheritance. Dio would beat up Jo Jo, turn people against him, kissed Jo Jo’s first girlfriend (before he ever did), and even killed Jo Jo’s dog by putting the dog into a box then putting the box in an incinerator thus killing Jo Jo’s dog alive.
As times passes (a few mini time skips in part 1) Jo Jo finally found out about Dio’s true motives and also found out that Dio killed his own father and tried to killed Jo Jo’s father which he eventually did. Dio would go on to use the stone mask to turn into a vampire. The stone mask that I mentioned in part 1 of my review has the power to turn the person who wears it into a vampire after they use the blood of someone they kill then apply that blood onto the mask. Then we transition to Jo Jo learning a new power that would help him kill Dio.
A man by the name of Will A. Zeppeli teaches Jo Jo how to use a power called Hamon, not going to go into much detail about Hamon but it’s pretty awesome. Jo Jo also has a side kick by the name of Robert E. O. Speedwagon (he was a criminal that Jo Jo befriended) and Jo Jo reconnects with his first girlfriend Erina. After more time passes Jo Jo and Dio would have their last big fight (they a few times but for the sake of this article I felt like I should talk about the main points). I’m not going to spoil the ending but after the last major fight they had, both Jo Jo and Dio had another encounter. All I can say is RIP Jo Jo :c Something happens with Jo Jo’s girlfriend (now wife) that would segue into part 2 (Battle Tendency) of the series.
Overall Phantom Blood was pretty damn good. At first I hated Jo Jo because I thought he was lame but as time passed I slowly became a fan of his. Jo Jo reminds me of Gon from Hunter X Hunter. I fucking hate Dio but I love his character at the same time and he is a great villain. Is Dio dead? I have no clue. Dio may appear in the series again for all I know. I definitely recommend this series to anyone that likes action, gore, guts, interesting characters, and just bad ass fights. The art style is wacky but it’s also unique. Parts 1, 2, and half of 3 are animated so if you want to watch cool if not read the manga. Not sure if all 8 parts of this series is translated to English at the moment. Also there are historical references in this series and other references that you may find interesting (got to keep you on your toes and let you figure out the rest). Jo Jo and Dio’s bond is somewhat similar to Naruto and Sasuke’s bond but overdosed on meth.
I know this review was pretty long also I didn’t cover everything in this review but I did touch on the main topics. Hope you enjoyed this review.
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Anime/Manga
