Phantom Blood
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Phantom Blood is the first part of the manga series JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. It spans the first 44 chapters of the series, which were collected in Vols. 1 to 5 of the Jump Comics collected editions.
[edit] Plot
Part 1: ファントムブラッド
The story begins in Victorian England with young Jonathan Joestar living at his father George's wealthy estate. Another young man, Dio Brando, is adopted by them having recently lost his father, Dario Brando, whom George falsely believed once saved him from an accident.
Jonathan attempts to befriend Dio, but Dio's plan from the start is to drive JoJo to madness and earn George's trust so that he can become the heir to the Jostar fortune. Dio violently beats JoJo in a boxing match, turns his friends against him, steals his girlfriend Erina's first kiss, and even burns his dog Danny to death in an incinerator. Meanwhile, he gains the trust of JoJo's father through his etiquette and manners.
Seven years later Jonathan's father falls ill. Dio is very attentive and brings him his medicine every day. Jonathan is suspicious as he is certain Dio is up to no good. Jonathan discovers an old letter written by Dario Brando on his deathbed requesting Lord Joestar care for Dio. In his letter, Dario describes his symptoms, which are identical to Lord Joestar's mystery ailment. Jonathan believes that Dio must have poisoned his own father and is now trying to do the same thing to Lord Joestar. Dio discovers Jonathan with the letter and Jonathan accuses Dio of poisoning Lord Joestar. Dio decides that he must kill Jonathan before he is exposed.
In order for Dio to kill Jonathan, he puts on a cursed mask that transforms its user into a vampire permanently. Fighting ensues and Jonathan is able to burn down their house with Dio inside. However, Dio survives, and takes off to plot his revenge. At this time, Jonathan meets a man called Will Anthonio Zeppeli with a strange power called the ripple (波紋 hamon) which is most effective against vampires. It is basically a martial arts technique that allows the user to focus bodily energy into other kinds of energy via proper breathing (they focus it into the energy of sunlight, which is effective against vampires). After teaching Jonathan how to use the ripple they set out, along with Jonathan's good friend Robert E. O. Speedwagon, to seek out and defeat Dio.
Their chase takes them to a village in Europe where most of the villagers have been turned into vampires by Dio. They fight their way to Dio; William Zeppeli loses his life in battle on the way. Zeppeli's master in hamon, Tonpetti, and his two disciples Dire and Straizo then show up to help Jonathan and Speedwagon go on. Eventually, a fight between Dio's eye beams and Jonathan's ripple ends with a loss for Dio, but not before Dire is killed.
Somehow Dio's head is still intact, and when Jonathan is on a cruise ship for his honeymoon, he is ambushed by Dio. Dio manages to sink the ship and take Jonathan's body with him to the bottom. Jonathan's young wife (who is pregnant) manages to escape, along with a baby she saved from the ship.
This arc was made into a video game for the Playstation 2 by Bandai. A movie version of this part has been made and was released on February 17, 2007 in Japan.
[edit] Characters
- George Joestar
- Jonathan Joestar's father. He lost his wife in a carriage accident where he met Dario Brando. After Dario's death, Dio went to live with George and Jonathan at the Joestar Estate (because George thinks Dario saved his life so takes in Dio as thanks. When in actuality George knew all along but still took Dio in). Eight years later George had caught a disease. After Jonathan returned from Orge Street, Dio attacked Jonathan with a knife (which George blocked) and got stabbed in the back. His blood landed on Dio which turned Dio into a vampire when he died.
- Danny
- Jonathan Joestar's pet dog and companion Jonathan's father bought Danny—still a puppy at the time—when Jonathan was five years old. Danny was very afraid of unfamiliar places and strange people. Jonathan and Danny didn't get along for a while, which caused Danny to bite Jonathan. Jonathan, in turn, attacked Danny by throwing stones at him. One day, while swimming in a river, Jonathan started drowning and was saved by Danny, which made them the best of friends. When Dio arrived, he kneed Danny in the jaw and later put him into a box, planning to incinerate the dog. Danny was burned to death and buried in the backyard of the Joestar Estate. That night, Jonathan cried while laying awake in bed, remembering Danny's death.
- Erina Pendleton
- Erina first appears as a small girl, with Jonathan Joestar rescuing her from bullies. When she appeared again, she and Jonathan was going out, and eventually they fell in love. However, after Dio seized her, kissed her, and then brutally beat her, she felt humiliated and stayed away from Jonathan for a long time. She did not appear again until after Dio's first near-defeat, when she nursed Jonathan back to health. After that, Jonathan finally defeated Dio using a hamon. They subsequently renewed their relationship and got married. They took a ship to go on their honeymoon to America, but the voyage was cut short by the appearance of Dio. The ship went down, and Jonathan stayed behind, trying to kill Dio. Erina took an orphaned infant and escaped. Years later, she and her grandson Joseph Joestar were the last of the Joestar clan, and they traveled to New York on the invitation of Robert Edward O Speedwagon, which sets off the events of the second story arc.
- Robert Edward O Speedwagon
- He first appears as an Ogre Street thug boss, attacking Jonathan but soon realized the young man's worthiness and dedication, becoming his good friend. He helped uncover Dio's plot to poison George Joestar, and from that point onward he remained by Jonathan's side, helping in whatever way he could to defeat Dio. By the 1930's he is the head of the Speedwagon Foundation, a giant oil company, which assists the Joestar family a great deal in the Series 2-6. In 1952 he dies of a heart attack at age 89. Speedwagon's first three initials are R.E.O; REO Speedwagon is the name of an American rock band of the 70's and 80's. Speedwagon was absent in the 2007 animated movie version of the Phantom Blood story arc.
- William Antonio Zeppeli
- Zeppeli was on a ship with a crew studying Aztec ruins when he was younger when his father put on the mask and killed everyone in the crew but his son. After this horrific event, Zeppeli travels the world in order to destroy the mask, and sees this a man cure someone using the "ripple". Zeppeli is then directed to his master Tonpetti, who teaches him to use the "ripple". However, Tompetti foresees Zeppeli's death during his training, warning him that should he complete his training he will surely die. Zeppeli doesn't share this fact until the fight with Tarkus, where he afterwards gives his power to Jonathan Joestar, whom he trained after the Joestar's house burns down. His grandson is Caesar Antonio Zeppeli.
- Tonpeti
- Named after Tom Petty, is a hamon or "ripple" master who gave training to William Antonio Zeppeli, as well as many others. Tonpeti trained the then 25 year old Zeppeli in the ways of ripple and eventually revealed to him that he would face a gruesome death. Nevertheless, Zeppeli continued with his training. The only other known ripple students of Tonpeti were Dairo and Straizzo, who both accompanied him when they went to Dio's town. However, they did not meet with Jonathan Joestar and Robert Edward O Speedwagon until Zeppeli had died.
During the final battle between Jonathan and Dio, Dairo was killed but Tonpeti and Straizzo still helped kill Dio's remaining zombies. After the battle, Tonpeti was last seen at the docks (together with Straizzo, Speedwagon, and others) to say farewell to Jonathan and Erina Pendleton/Joestar while they went on their honeymoon. Tonpeti's whereabouts after this is unknown, but it can be assumed the he died during the 50-year gap between parts 1 and 2. Straizzo became his successor.
- Poco
- A young boy who lives in the village of Windknights. He fell in with the heroes after unsuccessfully trying to steal from them. His chief contribution was crawling through a narrow hole into the room where Tarkus and Jonathan Joestar were having their "chain match", so that the door could be opened and William Antonio Zeppeli could help Jonathan. Dio Brando later captured his sister and Jonathan rescued her from Doobie. He is named after the 70s rock group Poco, which was formed from ex-members of Buffalo
- Peggy
- Poco's sister, who was captured by Dio Brando and taken to his castle.
- Dario Brando
- Dio's abusive and alcoholic father. One fateful day, Dario noticed a carriage accident and tried to steal from the corpses inside. There he met George Joestar, who thought that Dario had come to save him instead of rob him, at which point George made a debt to Dario for saving his life. He beat Dio and worked his wife to death. As Dio recounts: "My father was a bastard, he worked my mother to death!" At one point, he even made Dio sell his deceased wife's dress. Dio then went to Orge Street and bought oriental poison from a Chinese man named Wangchan. On his death bed, he then had Dio go to the Joestar Estate to repay the debt. After he died and before leaving, remembering his deceased father's past wrongs and wretched behaviors inflicted upon him, Dio, in hate, spat on his grave.
- Wangchan
- A mysterious apothecary who provides Dio Brando with the poison he needs to kill George Joestar, the same kind used to kill Dario Brando before then years ago. Later, he gets brought back to the Joestar Estate and narrowly escapes the flames. As Wangchan searches for the stone mask in the rubble, Dio emerges and turns him into his zombie servant. In that regard, he serves loyally and for a considerable time, and after Dio's penultimate defeat, he takes care of his master and gets him aboard the ship carrying Jonathan Joestar and Erina Pendleton/Joestar, where he meets his end. Wangchan is named after 80s pop duo Wang Chung.
- Jack the Ripper
- Bruford and Tarkus
- A pair zombies ressurected by Dio Brando to fight Jonathan Joestar, William Antonio Zeppeli, and Robert Edward O Speedwagon. Centuries before, he was a follower of Mary Stuart, and was beheaded for attempting to rise against and kill Queen Elizabeth I. He is able, as a zombie, to use his hair to attack or entangle foes using his "Danse Macabre Hair" attack. He is, despite being haunted by revenge, a noble soul, and finally Jonathan is able to awaken this nobility. When his soul returns to him, he disintegrates peacefully. Bruford gets his name from Bill Bruford, member of Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe (ABWH), who were integral members of the 70s band Yes. Tarkus is named after the album Tarkus, by 70s progressive rock group Emerson, Lake & Palmer.
- Doobie
- A zombie who serves Dio Brando. His head is infested with snakes. Dio leaves Poco's sister to his tender mercies, but Jonathan Joestar takes care of him before he has a chance to do any real harm.
- Paige, Jones, Plant, and Bonham
- Four zombies Dio Brando conjures in an effort to defeat Straizzo. They are named after Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Bonham, and John Paul Jones, from the band Led Zeppelin.
[edit] External links
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