“A Hero”s Proof” shows just how successful both Caesar and Jospeh are in their attempts to take revenge for Caesar’s fallen friend, Mark. Their battle with the consummate warrior Wham proves to be more than either of them is up to at this point. Each score a surprising blow on the Pillar Man, impressing him enough to not instantly kill them.
“Lisa Lisa, Hamon Coach” introduces the mysterious woman who taught Caesar Zeppeli. She has thirty days to bring these two boys up to a level to have a chance to defeat the men who almost wiped out the Hamon tribe two thousand years ago.
1. Warriors Three
“A Hero’s Proof” gives a fuller introduction to the just awakened Pillar Men Wham, Eshideshi, and Kars. It’s instantly clear that they are familiar with people who use Hamon as a weapon against them and in, Wham’s case, he’s fully ready and more than willing to face them. It seems that they thought they had extinguished what they call the “Hamon Tribe” two thousand years ago during the time of Rome, but here they are upon their awakening. Their laughter at Caesar’s distress and wrath over his dear friend makes them easy to hate. They are dismissive of the men facing them, even after Wham faced a coupe attacks from Caesar. The interactions between the three and Wham’s fight with JoJo shows a lot about these new antagonists. The three of them are definite individuals: Kars is motivated only by his ultimate goal and seems almost put out by having to be witness to the foolishness happening around him. Eshideshi seems at best bored till there is some potential fun to join in on. Wham we learn a lot about: he is a prideful warrior, he is motivated by the potential for a worthy fight, he actually lets both Caesar and Joseph become more skilled to be a more worthy opponent. To Caesar, he said he wanted to “admire your strength while I destroy you.” Despite the words there was a grudging respect in the sentiment. He does about the same things with JoJo but somehow with more a joking personality.
2. Soap and Clackers
Ok, sorry that is a terrible pun, but it does point to some of the inventiveness and imagination of Caesar and Joseph to make their Hamon more flexible. This new generation of the “Hamon Tribe” moved on from the “overdrive” attacks grandparents to something different. We even saw Hirohiko Araki do new things with the power in the first couple episodes with how Joseph launched bottle caps, used shot glasses and made a cactus explode. Admittedly, Caesar’s bubble launcher technique sounds terribly silly but the way it looks on screen is really pretty stunning; it might even look better on the screen then in the manga. Joseph employing the metal toy clackers to carry and deliver his Hamon is a more straightforward idea. The way that Araki employed it here was really clever and makes Wham respect the creativity of its user and creator. After this story arc, Hamon takes a back seat to the power that comes to define “Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure” but I can’t help wondering what else Araki might have done with it. I have to also wonder if there was ever a thought for fleshing out the deeper history of the so called “Hamon Tribe”
3. Joseph, send in the clown
Joseph put up a pretty impressive and fully improvised fight in “A Hero’s Proof.” Nothing he tries out is anything he’s used before. Hell, much like his Tommy Gun and Grenades in “New York’s JoJo,” we have no clue even where he got the clackers he deftly pulled out to attack Wham. Everything he does is tinged with his hallmark flippancy. The way he draws attention to himself, the way he roughly checks out Caesar’s eye, and his over the top build up to his attacks. He knows he’s outclassed, but he is committed to this fight. He even at one point thinks “This is going to be bad.” And he’s right, it is bad. With all this clowning he learns a lot about Wham’s personality and his conviction to his warrior pride. Joseph talks his way out of certain death, at least right now, because he has read his opponent and saw a way to capture the Pillar Man’s imagination with the promise of a better fight to come. It is silly and oh so Joseph that in that moment he says he’ll be a more fit opponent in a month rather than a year or something more reasonable. JoJo showed himself again to be driven towards heroism. His attempts to lure the big bad away from the wounded Caesar and Speedwagon didn’t really need the “is he a hero” narration as his intent was clear , but it was amusingly delivered nonetheless.
Continued below.4 Wedding rings of Death
Joseph’s big mouth landed him finally in a situation he can’t run away from, it is ironic because he intended just that. All his talk of a worthy rematch lead both Wham and, surprisingly, Eshideshi to place poisoned rings in JoJo’s body to keep him from running. It locks him into his one month timeline to fight them to get the antidote. That is not the interesting thing, however. The very existence of the rings and the implication of their regular use in this way implies something about the Pillar Men. It implies that they engage in a form of play and sets up a fair set of rules and a format for a brutal kind of game. Much like their laughter and a lot of Wham’s amusement and actions in the fight in “A Hero’s Proof,” there are some very human aspects in the action and emotions of the Pillar Men. Thinking about this made me realize there was a depth to these villains I didn’t notice before.
5 Mother of Invention
“Lisa Lisa, Hamon Coach” introduced as harsh a teacher as you might get in a classic Hong Kong kung fu film. Lisa Lisa is cold, inscrutable, and willing to lose students to make warriors. After ambushing JoJo with a devious breath training mask she dumps both of her charges into a death trap like training session that could have come from the Shaw Brothers classic Five Deadly Venoms. The Hell Climb Pillar sequence takes up most of the episode which in their time is sixty some odd hours. It is in many ways ridiculous, but it also leads to some ingenious escapes from certain death. It demonstrates the ingenuity of the characters and wild creativeness of the author to keep your suspension of disbelief in the face of the crazy he has written. Make no mistake, Lisa Lisa means every cold look she gives to Joseph but she is at least magnanimous with praise too. What remains is near a month of training that we see in montage with teachers Messhina and Loggins. Before the training even started Joseph can stand on water with his Hamon, The Hell Climb Pillar and these sequences show them clinging to slick surfaces with their fingertips, balancing on a spire point with one fingertip, and holding water in an inverted glass, in addition to lots of physical training.
