JoJo's Bizarre Adventure S01E04 Review: That Poor Frog!

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Season 1, Episode 4: Overdrive

[revised 10/2018]

After the huge, fast-paced and hot-blooded climax to the initial Jonathan/Dio conflict, we get into a bit of a slow burn episode that introduces the 'anime superpower' of the first two Parts of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. We're going to get Stands that'll define every other part of JJBA other than these first two parts, but for now, it's the debut of Hamon (sometimes translated as 'Ripple' in English localizations), JJBA's version of ki or chakra or nen or soul power or what-have-you. 

We get a brief re-introduction to bland-love-interest Erina, with the ever-memetic "Speedwagon withdraws coolly", before we quickly get introduced to Baron Will A. Zeppeli, a dude in a smashing suit-and-hat getup, and he's apparently what passes for a vampire hunter in this world. And instead of going all Van Helsing with it, Baron Zeppeli fights with the ancient hermit arts of "Hamon", manipulating the ripple-like energy that is both manifested by actual ripples (Zeppeli can stand on water by balancing the ripples), by steady breathing, and it's also concentrated sunlight. Yeah, it's one of those things that you just have to accept and move on. 

Zeppeli is our mentor figure, then, even if he doesn't look that much older than Jonathan or Speedwagon, and he shows off this Hamon thing by punching a poor frog, and shattering only the rock below it. Zeppeli's voiced by such an excited voice actor (Shioya Yoku of Saint Seiya fame) that he does manage to make the exposition nowhere as boring as it should be. I definitely didn't find Zeppeli all that memorable in the comics, but the anime gives him a pretty neat voice that balances authority and a high-strung energy pretty well. Zeppeli's introduction is honestly quite ridiculous -- the man jumps like twenty feet into the air, uses his pinky to stab JoJo in the stomach, then shakes some pepper onto his sandwich (which he produces out of nowhere) like it ain't a thing. And then mid-monologue he sneezes on the pepper and falls flat on his ass. 

Zeppeli also gives us a very quick backstory that I really felt could've been executed a bit better instead of just thrown to us whole-sale, although I guess it could be worse. The Stone Mask, it seems, is something that Zeppeli's father discovered, and as all demonic artifacts are wont to do, it causes the death of everyone on board the ship that excavated it, and Zeppeli's only saved because he managed to survive until sunrise. And then Zeppeli somehow tracked down monks (?) that teach this sacred energy of Hamon and use them to fight vampires and whatnot. 

And Hamon is... it's neat, in that it actually forces you to keep cool instead of just giving in to the energy and rage (something that JJBA will, sadly, drop around after the first couple of times it's relevant) and as with all sorts of ki-like power, Zeppeli shows off a bunch of wacky powers like healing Jojo's broken arm, extending his arm ("Zoom Punch"!) and creating energy discs.

The mission statement is then quickly shown to be hunting down Dio, and the trio end up quickly encountering Jack the Ripper (cleverly foreshadowed a couple of times in earlier episodes), who was turned into a zombie (not brainless at all in this world, but rather more like lesser vampires) by Dio. The actual fight against Jack starts off with a hilariously batshit crazy bit of Jack bursting out of the corpse of one of the horses pulling their carriage, then flexing his muscles because he's somehow hidden a couple dozen knives within his muscles. 

Zeppeli gives no fucks, though, and just treats it all as a lesson while pouring a glass of wine to pull off that "I didn't spill a single drop" kung fu trope as he gives a little speech about Vikings, fleas, bravery and anticipating the enemy's move. I really kind of wish the Hamon explanation has just started with the fight against Jack after the initial frog scene, so we could've integrated the tension and action scene with the exposition -- would probably flow a bit better, and worked better in a show-don't-tell way.

Oh, and this is where Jonathan Joestar delivers his iconic line ("furueru zo HEART! Moetsukiru hodo HEAT!" -- often translated to "resonate, my heart! The heat's enough to burn!" or variations thereof), which is pretty predictably hammy. But other than Jack's stylish entrance and Jonathan dropping that line, I actually found the fight against Jack serviceable but not quite as epic.

While all this is going on, Dio is learning how to properly utilize his vampire powers, and is totally buying into this evil vampire lord deal, having his minions push a wheeled throne around while he lounges with a Sith cloak on. The episode overall lays it on way too heavy with the monologue and the exposition, and it's genuinely baffling -- comparing it to the manga, the anime cuts out an action scene where Jonathan fights Wang Chan, the shady Asian drugstore owner, who was zombified by Dio between episodes 3 and 4. Wang Chan actually does show up later on, so I'm not sure  why they couldn't have just kept that scene and incorporated some of Zeppeli's dialogue there. I dunno. It's a bit of a clunky episode, and it's just as well that Zeppeli, Jack and Jonathan manage to make the best of it by hamming it the fuck up.

The JoJo Playlist:

• Will A. Zeppeli is, of course, a reference to the rock band Led Zeppelin. I could list a whole lot of Led Zeppelin songs, but if I had to select one, it's gotta be Stairway to Heaven. Other great hits include Whole Lotta Love, Immigrant Song, Black Dog and Since I've Been Loving You.