JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Season 1, Episode 13: JoJo vs the Ultimate Being
[Revised 10/2018]
The battle between Joseph and Santana begins in earnest and ends in this episode, and it's more of a demonstration of the abilities of a Pillar Man more than anything, because as Stroheim reveals to Joseph at the end of the episode, there are at least several more Pillar Men found in London.
I do so appreciate how the battle starts in typical Joseph Joestar fashion, with Joseph bopping Santana in the nose, going with a silly HALLO before going to a "Happy, joy-py!" rant. I don't quite find this as memetic as most of the JJBA fans out there, but it is pretty hilarious.
And then we continue to have some body horror from Santana, with him breaking his leg bones and reforming it in response to Joseph tripping him up. Santana himself ends up settling back into "observe and learn" mode, being suspicious of the mysterious Hamon, a new experience for him. And in the ensuing battle, Santana shows off some pretty horrifying moves, like my favourite -- using rib blades to unleash bone claws from his ribs to try and trap Joseph, or "meat invade", which involves him shooting out clumps of flesh to slow down Joseph. Poor Speedwagon has several fingers inserted into his head, and that's absolutely horrifying-looking. Throw in Santana managing to find a way to neutralize Hamon quickly by manipulating his skin, and that's one of Joseph's strongest weapons out for the count.
One criticism I do have with the episode are the strange, random introdumps with little information corners rather odd and a forced way. I get that it probably feels a lot natural as part of the manga format, but I really wished that there was a way to do this more efficiently instead of interrupting the action scenes with the narrator yapping about. Another poorly-paced bit? That bit where Joseph's hand seems to be eaten and it's actually just a prank. I don't mind Joseph dicking around, but the pacing was kind of bad for this particular joke.
Joseph does manage to trick Santana into attempting to eat him, but that's just a ploy to "blow him up from the inside" with Hamon, a common trope in action movies against larger monsters, but even this last-ditch effort didn't work since the Pillar Men has the same regenerative abilities as the vampires. And then Joseph teams up with Stroheim (who has this epic leitmotif) to make use of this connection and attempt to expose Santana to some sunlight. Poor Stroheim, for all his hamminess, is just a normal soldier dude, and Santana's horrifying parasite invader thing continues to be creepy as he invades Stroheim through his leg wounds -- and later on, Stroheim straight-up is willing to blow himself up with a hand grenade. It's a pretty badass exit for Stroheim, sort of him taking responsibility for unearthing this monstrous apex predator.
Of course, that doesn't quite take care of Santana just yet, but it does get him into the open. Joseph manages to get a gambit in involving a convenient well, with a "Now you'll say [X]" triumphant declaration, trapping Santana between the actual sun and the sunlight reflected off of the clear water of the well. Santana falls and is killed... but Stroheim leaves behind an ominous revelation that the German army have found more of these Pillar Men, and Joseph makes it clear that the only reason they won against Santana is that they manage to corner him out into the open where there aren't anyone suitable for him to invade.
Overall, it's a pretty damn epic, if short, fight, with Santana's abilities being displayed pretty well, and the story managing to deliver a victory to our heroes while still making it look like a bit of a long shot. It's the last "short arc" of Battle Tendency, though, as the subsequent stories will all revolve around the remaining Pillar Men.
The battle between Joseph and Santana begins in earnest and ends in this episode, and it's more of a demonstration of the abilities of a Pillar Man more than anything, because as Stroheim reveals to Joseph at the end of the episode, there are at least several more Pillar Men found in London.I do so appreciate how the battle starts in typical Joseph Joestar fashion, with Joseph bopping Santana in the nose, going with a silly HALLO before going to a "Happy, joy-py!" rant. I don't quite find this as memetic as most of the JJBA fans out there, but it is pretty hilarious.
And then we continue to have some body horror from Santana, with him breaking his leg bones and reforming it in response to Joseph tripping him up. Santana himself ends up settling back into "observe and learn" mode, being suspicious of the mysterious Hamon, a new experience for him. And in the ensuing battle, Santana shows off some pretty horrifying moves, like my favourite -- using rib blades to unleash bone claws from his ribs to try and trap Joseph, or "meat invade", which involves him shooting out clumps of flesh to slow down Joseph. Poor Speedwagon has several fingers inserted into his head, and that's absolutely horrifying-looking. Throw in Santana managing to find a way to neutralize Hamon quickly by manipulating his skin, and that's one of Joseph's strongest weapons out for the count.
One criticism I do have with the episode are the strange, random introdumps with little information corners rather odd and a forced way. I get that it probably feels a lot natural as part of the manga format, but I really wished that there was a way to do this more efficiently instead of interrupting the action scenes with the narrator yapping about. Another poorly-paced bit? That bit where Joseph's hand seems to be eaten and it's actually just a prank. I don't mind Joseph dicking around, but the pacing was kind of bad for this particular joke.Joseph does manage to trick Santana into attempting to eat him, but that's just a ploy to "blow him up from the inside" with Hamon, a common trope in action movies against larger monsters, but even this last-ditch effort didn't work since the Pillar Men has the same regenerative abilities as the vampires. And then Joseph teams up with Stroheim (who has this epic leitmotif) to make use of this connection and attempt to expose Santana to some sunlight. Poor Stroheim, for all his hamminess, is just a normal soldier dude, and Santana's horrifying parasite invader thing continues to be creepy as he invades Stroheim through his leg wounds -- and later on, Stroheim straight-up is willing to blow himself up with a hand grenade. It's a pretty badass exit for Stroheim, sort of him taking responsibility for unearthing this monstrous apex predator.
Of course, that doesn't quite take care of Santana just yet, but it does get him into the open. Joseph manages to get a gambit in involving a convenient well, with a "Now you'll say [X]" triumphant declaration, trapping Santana between the actual sun and the sunlight reflected off of the clear water of the well. Santana falls and is killed... but Stroheim leaves behind an ominous revelation that the German army have found more of these Pillar Men, and Joseph makes it clear that the only reason they won against Santana is that they manage to corner him out into the open where there aren't anyone suitable for him to invade.Overall, it's a pretty damn epic, if short, fight, with Santana's abilities being displayed pretty well, and the story managing to deliver a victory to our heroes while still making it look like a bit of a long shot. It's the last "short arc" of Battle Tendency, though, as the subsequent stories will all revolve around the remaining Pillar Men.
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