In “A Hundred Against Two,” Joseph and Lisa Lisa come face to face with the remaining Pillar Men and an assembled army of vampires. The stage is set to reveal the remaining secrets of the heroes and final battles for the Aja stone are arranged. In “A True Warrior,” Joseph and Wham begin their promised rematch as the climax of the story arc begins.
1. “Twelve mangy dogs can kill a lion…”
“A Hundred Against Two” opens with a very brief encounter between JoJo, Lisa Lisa, and a vampire called Wired Beck as they follow the path of Wham’s blood. Its a brief reminder that vampires are still a possible threat, if a lesser one. Lisa Lisa makes quick work of this one and its death is nearly an afterthought as Joseph plays it for laughs. When Lisa Lisa and JoJo finally catch up with Wham, they find themselves faced with an undead army of one hundred vampires created by Kars, as well as Kars himself. Its an untenable situation and even the flippant Joseph knows that they really can’t take on that many opponents and survive. Kars nearly has his army kill the Hamon users despite Wham’s request to have his one on one battle with Joseph. It is pragmatic and would have been the end of the story without Lisa Lisa’s cleverness in not bringing the stone and her threat to its existence. Much like Joseph, she knows Kars’s only weakness is his desire for the stone and uses that to its best effect here.
2. Honor Denied
The dynamics between master and servant in the above scene were interesting to watch. Wham is ever the good servant to Kars; he doesn’t react much, or at all, negatively to having his rematch with Joseph initially denied. He does, although, subtly react later in the episode to Lisa Lisa’s manipulation of Kars. He slyly smiles, perhaps only as an aside to us the audience, when the Hamon coach shows she doesn’t have the stone and tells Kars of the explosives that will end it if its not seen to. It’s this manipulation that gives him his rematch back and brings a bit of joy back to this consummate warrior. Kars many not care for things such as matters of honor, but they sure matter to characters like Wham. His amusement in seeing a warrior in her element is one of the many little things that make Wham a likable enemy. His personality carries a bit of whimsy and amusement that the other enemies in this arc lack.
3. Lisa Lisa and the Secret Jam
In “A Hundred Against Two,” Lisa Lisa finally steps out of the background. She shows off her combat skills and intimidating the story’s big bad into a one on one fight. We also get some ample hints as to the secrets behind Caesar and Joseph’s coach. Caesar once said of her that no one knew much about her origin or even her real name. Joseph gets a hint when he finds an old photo among her things when he goes to retrieve the Red Aja. The fifty year old shot includes Joseph’s Grandmother Erina, Speedwagon, a young vital Straits, and two children. JoJo confronts Lisa Lisa and learns some interesting things about her connection to his bloodline, in addition to the fact she was one of the the babies in the photo and that she was raised and trained by Straits. We do get some classic JoJo as he reacts to her being fifty years old despair her young appearance. Their reunion is interrupted by the arrival of vampire horse drawn chariots for the fight between Joseph and Wham. There is a bit of the secret left hanging and though JoJo is well clever enough to make the logical leaps to realize who Lisa Lisa is in relation to him we can forgive him for not seeing it. He has got other things on his mind.
4. Bread and Circuses
The aesthetic choices that the Pillar Men made show that their minds are still trapped in the past. Though Kars apparently knows some things about the present, he surrounds himself by the imagery from when he was last conscious. He somehow dressed his entire vampire army in Roman style armor. Even more then the style choice for his troops is the set up for the final showdowns and the choice of venue. The final battle between Wham and Joseph takes place in a Roman-style colosseum, complete with chariots drawn by vampire horses. It is all setting and window dressing for a fight but it shows the attachment that the Pillar Men have to earlier eras.
5. A True Warrior
The rematch between Wham and Joseph is the battle that Hirohiko Araki really built towards in this story arc. He is not the “big bad” of the story, so he’s allowed to be more a man of honor and the fight with him is something to behold. This fight carries an emotional punch, but I won’t spoil and of the fight itself by giving a sportscaster like blow by blow account,.I’ll leave that for Kars to do during the episode, as he does kind of become the town explainer for his audience of one, Lisa Lisa. The fight between Wham and Joseph is as much a contest of skill and power as it is a contest of cleverness. JoJo may have gained expertise in his use of Hamon in his time with Lisa Lisa, but it’s his wits that carry him trough this fight. Wham is nearly his equal in this match of witss, as we see in this first half of the fight. Having the fight left mid stream may mimic the experience of reading the manga as this battle too place over multiple weeks, but it’s frustrating when the end credits start to roll in the middle of their battle.
