JoJo's Bizarre Adventure S01E16 Review: Training Montage

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Season 1, Episode 16: Lisa Lisa, the Hamon Coach

[updated 10/2018]

Bit of a gap between the previous review and this one, and for that I apologize.

Anyway, episode 16 is... it's very much a cooldown chapter, and there really isn't much to go on. We get the meeting of another mentor character, the enigmatic Lisa Lisa, who is introduced in more or less the same way that Caesar was introduced -- someone Joseph underestimates and acts like a buffoon around. Turns out she's the hamon master.

And the training, this time around, ends up taking up the entire episode, and it is woefully bland. Lisa Lisa isn't really super interesting as a character, and while the concept of the gigantic pillar with oil that Caesar and Joseph have to climb is definitely interesting (the "Hell Climb Pillar", as Lisa Lisa calls it), it's also just sort of... feels like it's kind of out of place. It's one where the over-hamminess ends up making the scene feel silly more than anything, and Joseph's continued subplot of "oh no, is Caesar disappointed in me" is definitely fairly grating.

It's just a huge hammering down of how Joseph and Caesar are BFFs forever and ever, but it's executed pretty poorly, honestly. Lisa Lisa's introduction takes up a significant amount of time, but the episode just really ends up focusing entirely on the Hell Climb Pillar sequence and Joseph's bromance deal with Caesar. I realize we need to show some time passing between the previous episode's "we'll meet again" and them, y'know, meeting again... but there really should have been a better-paced way to do it than this.


The JoJo Playlist:

• Lisa Lisa is a reference to the lead singer in the 80's pop band Cult Jam (sometimes Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam). Selected discography include I Wonder (If I Take You Home), All Cried Out and Lost in Emotion.
• Messina and Loggins, the two assistants, are named after the duo act of Loggins and Messina, a 70's rock duo comprised of Kenny Loggins and ex-Poco member Jim Messina. They're perhaps best known for Danny's Song.
• Suzie Q (alternately, Suzi Q, Susi Q, Susie Q etc) makes her first appearance here, though she doesn't do much. She draws her name from the old Dale Hawkins song, Susie Q, although an alternate possibility is the 80's British rapper Suzy Q, or the 70's American songwriter Suzi Quatro.
• Lastly, Air Supplena Island is named after the 80's band Air Supply, with a lot of iconic songs I'm personally fond of. Goodbye, Making Love Out Of Nothing At All, Two Less Lonely People in the World and All Out of Love are some choice songs of the band.