Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure 27

Hirohiko Araki – Viz – 2010 – 101+ volumes
English volume 15, I just like using the Japanese numbers.

As expected, this gets quite a bit more serious as Dio steps up to the plate. We do get one more wussy minion just before the final fight, as one last taste of hilarious stand fights (including an awesome face-punching scene), but Dio is strictly business. It takes the entire volume for the characters to figure out what his stand’s power is, and before then, he does quite a bit of damage to the team and the surrounding city.

Actually, I take back what I said about Dio’s sense of humor. Because it’s difficult for Jojo to go more than a few volumes without gratuitous animal cruelty, as a display of his stand’s power, he walks through the street and dismembers a cat, throwing the pieces into the drinks and sandwiches of nearby diners. I promise it’s way less gross than it sounds. He also has a habit of exploding various body parts of passerbys and yanking teeth out, stuff like that. He really knows how to make a first impression.

But it is mostly straightforward, as Kakyoin and the Elder Jojo lead Dio through the city while Jojo and Polnareff try a different tactic from behind. Because they… er, “share blood,” Dio and the Joestars can sense each other, but Dio can’t tell the difference between Joseph and Jotaro. He seems to prefer Jotaro, but the distinction is not important since he only needs the blood of a Joestar to fully assimilate with his body, the former Jonathan Joestar.

Kakyoin and Joseph are the ones who are doing most of the experimenting as to what Dio’s stand ability is, and Kakyoin is the one that finally figures it out. It doesn’t really do anyone much good in the end, though, and the only ones still standing in the end are Jotaro and Dio, exchanging “ORAORAORA” for “MUDAMUDAMUDA.”

And that’s really as it should be. I love this series so much, I can’t properly express why. It’s so over-the-top and manly, and I am so pumped for the final volume now. I should have held onto this one a little longer, because I probably will put off talking about the finale, but just know that I love it. I love every page. I just cannot get enough Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure.

This was a review copy provided by Viz.