[Meeting…] Dio Brando

The character I am going to talk about today comes from the long-running saga Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, created by Hirohiko Araki in the 80s.

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure tells us the story of the Joestar family, since as a general rule, each of its stages is starred by a different member of the family, which allows the author to develop independent stories, in different times and parts of the world.

Dio Brando (whose name is a tribute to the singer Ronnie James Dio and Marlon Brando) comes from the first stage of jojo (known as Phantom Blood) and although He is not exactly a member of the Joestar family, he is linked body and soul to her..

The most humble origin in the world

Dio Brando is a boy raised in the most dangerous and poor neighborhoods of 19th century England. His father Dario Brando was a thief who, in a stroke of luck, discovered an accident where members of the wealthy Joestar family were traveling. Although Dario's intention was to steal the jewels from the bodies of the injured, Mr. Joestar and his son had survived, so he was forced to help them, thus leaving the millionaire in debt to the thief. The death of Dario Brando meant the release of his young and intelligent son, who showed up at the Joestar mansion with the intention of living a life of luxury.

However, Dio is tremendously ambitious, so he is not satisfied with being one more, he wants all the wealth of the Joestars, so he devises a plan to kill Mr. Joestar and physically and mentally destroy his son, Jonathan Joestar.

When Mr. Joestar falls ill with a strange illness, Jonathan Joestar cannot help but distrust his evil adoptive brother, so he begins searching the most dangerous neighborhoods for an antidote to the poison that is killing his father. For his part, Dio he plans to wear a stone mask, which Jonathan constantly studies, to cause his death in a way that seems like an accident, since said mask crushes the wearer's head if a drop of blood comes into contact with it. Such a picturesque murder must work perfectly, so Dio decides to test the lethal efficiency of the mask, at which point he discovers that The mask does not kill the wearer, but turns him into a vampire., granting him enormous strength and apparent immortality. Dio does not hesitate to use the mask on himself, thus practically becoming a God, whom only his brother Jonathan seems to want to confront.

With the powers of a vampire, Dio's priorities have changed, now his goal is to conquer the country and then the world, something that no one seems to be able to take away from him, although of course, his adoptive brother Jonathan and his companions DEO Speedwagon and Will Anthonio Zeppeli will try to get in the way of the blonde demon's plans.

DIO's awakening

Dio's next appearance in the history of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure It is in the third stage (Stardust Crusaders) the most popular of all those that make up the saga.

More than 100 years have passed since the disappearance of Dio Brado and the descendants of the Joestar family have spread around the world living their lives oblivious to the events previously told.

As it could not be otherwise, Dio manages to return, but his return will not be entirely a surprise to the Joestars, since several members of the family develop a special power (the invocation of Stands) at the moment Dio comes out of his slumber. Stands are a species of beings that are linked to the people who own them., so that if the Stand is injured, so is the wielder. If a person is not strong enough to withstand their Stand, it can take their life, a situation that occurs with the daughter of Joseph Joestar (grandson of Jonathan Joestar) who falls ill due to the awakening of her Stand, which drains her health little by little. Joseph had heard stories of Dio in his youth, so he didn't think twice. decides to form a group along with Avdol (a tarot reader friend of his) and his rebellious grandson, Jotaro Kujo to search for Dio and eliminate him once and for all, before her daughter dies.

Having seen how his first attempt at world domination was thwarted by a Joestar, this time Dio decides to send several of his followers to eliminate the group before it is too late. The vast majority of Stand users seem to obey Dio out of pure fanaticism, although there are obviously some who do it for money, power, or directly, because they have been mentally controlled by him.

At this stage, Dio appears less “angry” than in Phantom Blood (except when fighting the Joestars) and He is treated by all his followers as if he were a God., to the point that dozens of people offer themselves as food for the insatiable vampire.

Conclusion and Recommendations

Villains are generally more attractive than heroes, since they generally have deeper personalities and have sometimes taken a bad path due to some misfortune that marked them or forced them to choose that type of life.

Dio's case is not entirely like that, because although he grew up in a disastrous environment, it is impossible for me to imagine that if he had grown up in an ideal home it would be less bad than it is. We are faced with a person whose ambition could be classified as legendary. Dio is a tremendously powerful, cruel, evil being without any scruples. He's a real son of a bitch, but todo lo que tiene de malo lo tiene de carismático y es por eso que me gusta. Si hubiese que definirlo en una frase, esa sería «No es suficiente que yo triunfe, los demás deben fracasar».

Quien quiera conocer a Dio y a sus enemigos solo tiene que echar un vistazo a Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, donde Dio hace de principal enemigo en la primera etapa (Phantom Blood) y en la tercera (Stardust Crusaders) además de ser mencionado en algunas más. Lamentablemente, este manga no se ha editado en español (o al menos no tengo constancia de ello) sin embargo en Estados Unidos Viz Comics lo está publicando en inglés, un lenguaje mucho más accesible que el japonés.

Otra alternativa es ver la serie de animación Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure The Animation, iniciada en 2012 y que de momento cuenta con 3 temporadas (que cubren las 3 primeras historias, incluyendo las 2 en las cuales Dio aparece activamente).

 Jojo es una obra que muestra una evolución constante, si bien el primer arco es algo sencillo, Araki fue mejorando de manera notable en los siguientes, de manera que creo que vale la pena que le echéis un ojo, os sorprenderá gratamente.