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JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Battle Tendency
Author: Hirohiko Araki
Arc Episode Length: 17
Characters
Joseph Joestar: Jonathan Joestar’s American grandson. Though not as skilled at Hamon as his grandfather, Joseph’s untapped
potential and inherent cunning helped him defeat the Pillar Men alongside his allies.
Erina Joestar: Jonathan Joestar’s widowed wife and Joseph Joestar’s grandmother.
Caesar Zepelli: Will A. Zepelli’s grandson. His talent in Hamon and bond with Joseph aided in the defeat of the Pillar Men even after his defeat and death at the hands of Whammu.
Lisa Lisa: The guardian of the Red Stone of Aja and the teacher of Joseph and Caesar. Later revealed to be the child saved by Erina and Jonathan Joestar, Lisa Lisa is also the mother of Joseph Joestar.
Robert E. O. Speedwagon: The wealthy head of the new Speedwagon foundation and Jonathan’s old travelling mate. Speedwagon’s research into the stone masks leads him to get involved with the Pillar Men and the Nazis.
The Pillar Men: Kars (Cars), Whammu (Wham), Esidisi (ACDC), and to a lesser extent Santana. The Pillar Men are the source of the Stone Masks and seek the Red Stone of Aja in order to be able to walk in the sun as the ultimate lifeforms.
Rudol von Stroheim: A Nazi officer that is rebuilt with the best German engineering after he is torn apart by Santana. He aids in the fight against the Pillar Men and is eventually killed in action during World War II.
Plot
Decades after the death of his grandfather at the hands of Dio Brando, Joseph Joestar is faced with combat against a vampire and the news that Robert E. O. Speedwagon had been captured by the Nazis in Mexico.
A rescue operation leads to Joseph confronting the first and weakest Pillar Man, Santana. With the help of a Nazi Officer, Joseph is able to defeat Santana and travel arrangements are made to visit Italy where other Pillar men are being investigated.
After meeting up with Caesar Zepelli, Joseph’s party encounter the three main Pillar Men who had already slaughtered a group of Nazi’s. Severely outmatched, Joesph is able to use his wit to buy time and set a future confrontation up in combination with getting poisoned. To prepare, Joseph and Caesar seek out the Hamon master, Lisa Lisa.
Grueling training yielded results, allowing Joseph to defeat Esidisi and allowing the party to start their own offensive. Meeting back up with the Nazi’s, Joseph’s party tracks down and encounters the remaining Pillar Men. With a difference in opinion, though, Caesar goes after the Pillar Men alone and is defeated.
Despite being defeated, Caesar is able to help Joseph by acquiring the final antidote needed to heal him. Joseph and Lisa Lisa storm through groups of vampires and Joseph confronts and defeats Whammu. Lisa Lisa takes on Kars but is defeated, leaving Joseph as the lone warrior left.
With the power of the Red Stone of Aja, Kars ascends to the status of ultimate lifeform. Joseph and company, however, are able to defeat him by launching him into space. Years and years later, an older Joseph travels to Japan, setting up the next arc.
The Praise
Battle Tendency is by far my favorite part of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. The music is amazing (The Pillar Men’s theme song anyone?), the characters are charismatic and clever(especially compared to some Phantom Blood characters), poses are colorful and appropriately back-breaking, and the application of Hamon goes beyond just punching attacks. Coupled with overwhelming enemies and insane character growth, this feels like a perfect completion of the Joestar family legacy. Whereas part one focused on extreme strength and incredible power ups, this part marks a shift to more intelligent combat behind Joeph, and this shift is one that will continue further down the line. That’s not to say that this part is devoid of action, though. When I think of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure battle scenes, fights like Joseph v. Whammu, Caesar v. Whammu, and the initial appearance of the Pillar Men immediately jump to mind and such action is only amplified by the ramped up aforementioned weirdness of this part. Colors constantly shift, one-off techniques using things like bubbles and clackers are thrown around like candy, the already overwhelming odds are ever-escalating, and questions left unanswered from part one are addressed and then some. When taken in conjunction with part one, Battle Tendency is a master class in storytelling and honoring a legacy; when viewed alone it is an extremely good time.
The Critique
Again, just like Phantom Blood’s review, my critique of part two is that it might be too weird for people. Things like birds popping out of mouths, hands getting fused together, and Nazi’s being glorified in some respect are simple examples of story beats that might not land. Likewise, the pacing does feel off at times with training not feeling as significant as it should and battles coming earlier/lasting shorter than they should have. As I said before, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is not an anime for everyone because it is, for lack of a better word, bizarre.
The Verdict
I said earlier that this was my favorite part of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure and I would feel wrong not mentioning this again. Seeing a cast of characters so different than their predecessors mingle with the survivors from part one and carry on the torch of the original cast is an extremely underutilized storytelling device that has the potential to go very wrong yet does wonders when done right. While not as facially kind as Jonathan, Joseph’s cockiness and whit immediately won me over; Caesar’s carrying of the weight of family history was strong, relatable, and heart wrenching despite his playboy exterior; the strength of the Pillar Men made Dio Brando look like an appetizer. Everything I loved about part one was brought to a whole new level in part two, every story beat and character saw in part one was justified, and somehow Battle Tendency’s ending still was able to set up future parts in the context of the framework of Phantom Blood. I could gush about this series all day but to everyone reading this: Make it through Phantom Blood because Battle Tendency is the ultimate anime payoff.
Rating: 10 gold nuggets out of 10