In a world where pessimistic thoughts are so common place, having a work so dear to me be described as "an affirmation that humanity is wonderful" makes me emotional in ways I cannot understand myself.
Thanks for addressing the misconception about DIO's Part 6 characterization. I think way too many fans have this flanderized image of DIO in their heads from memes, thinking DIO is nothing more than "Road Rolla" or "Muda Muda". Also, I always loved how, despite not being there for it, DIO's heaven plan strongly mirrors the story of William Zepelli. Zepelli too was made aware of his own tragic fate, which allowed him to come to terms with it and die without fear or regret, something DIO wants to force on everyone while ironically being unable to accept his own fate of being destined to lose.
i agree with your whole comment except the end. Dio has a complatee understanding of fate, not complete knowledge of it. Dio doesnt know that he is fated to lose
Ironically, I don't think Dio would obtain a peace of mind if he knew that he was destined to fail, I feel like he would try and escape his fate like Diavolo never being able to accept his fate even as he dies.
his last words were "I am dio", like "how can this be happening to the apex of humanity like myself? I should be destined to win". he clearly was in denial
this was the reason why ultimately the heaven plan failed. If Pucci accepted the fate as it had already been shaped instead of trying to eliminate Emporio because he was feeling insecure that Emporio could break the plan, then the plan would succeed
@@atijohn8135I believe it would've failed regardless. The whole point of the heaven plan was enforcing Dio's idea of peace of mind on every living being, disregarding if they would actually want that or not. That by itself is a form of injustice, so it would've been rejected by fate.
@@t-universegamer7609I wonder, since Made in Heaven indirectly kill and hurt a lot of people in the time acceleration, it wouldn’t be surprised if fate retaliate brutally because Pucci just interfere fate of so many beings in the universe
I absolutely love how Dio's speech to Polnareff about the peace of mind perfectly ties to his idea of Heaven in Part 6. It fits incredibly good. Dio believed that everyone do everything they do to achieve peace of mind, and that achieving peace of mind is the goal of humanity, and that's why for him knowing everything that will happen to you is the true "Heaven", because nothing could give you a bigger peace of mind. Of course the series proves him wrong because characters like Avdol did things like saving Polnareff and Iggy, this being and act not to achieve peace of mind, but an act out of love and justice, the main themes of the series. Without knowing their fates, characters like Avdol, Jotaro, or Jolyne, were able to sacrifice themselves out of love, something Dio could never do, precisely because he threw away his humanity
he mentioned that doint something for the sake of love is also doing it for the sake of peace of mind 🤦♀ this jojo fans contrarianism about villains is so annoying, you 100% would justify this belief if it was one of heroes who said it.
I would argue that selflessness does not negate attaining peace of mind here. Avdol, because he loved his friends, sacrificed himself to save them and therefor achieved his own definition of peace of mind by knowing he had saved his friends. It is merely that because DIO is a selfish prideful man that his definition of peace of mind is inherently tied to total control and domination, helpfully showcased by what Tarot his stand is linked to.
Araki philosophy is really beautiful. It's sad that many fans can't see it, but all Jojo's are righteous even with their flaws and "bad traits"/sins. I think that's because we are locked on a mind of Good vs Evil, instead of what's Right vs what's Wrong.
Jojo are definitely both good vs evil and right vs wrong. But good isn't present fair and evil appears as being of light. And there more depth for good and evil, seeing their personal lives and how they go about it.
@@basketcaseface813I was thinking the same thing. Not only do we have a Duo with ever growing purposes and newly defined objectives, but even the minor characters and villains blur so many lines. So much shit could be justified, and lots of the minor villains are doing what they are because they have to. Such amazing writing on Araki's part!
This is a much needed video. Dio holds so much of Arakis themes in the entire series, and really made me think while reading the story. He truly brings out the philosophical side of Arakis beliefs and that's so interesting. To this day the concept of gravity and fate has been my favorite thing Araki had created. It's so intriguing and really just kept me believing in it as the story of stone ocean kept going, as well as looking back at the rest of the original universe and how there events played out.
I can't pull up the kanji right now, but there's two separate terms used - "Inryoku" (Pull-force) and "Juuryoku" (Gravity) - by which, of course, both are gravitational.
Araki is a genius. He's not just an artist and writer. He's a philosopher as well. It's interesting to see Araki's whole world view unfold onto his manga.
I wish to express how PHENOMENAL this video is but I don't know how. You just get DIO's character!! Not a one-dimensional character people know from the memes, not 3 separate personalities from 3 different parts. He's one and always the same. Thank you for recording this!!
This makes me wonder about Jodio's fate and development by the end of Part 9. The golden path is going to apply to him even if he's the darkest protagonist by far.
I imagine if Jodio is going to take the path of Johnny and become a good person, is him realizing that becoming the one filthy rich boy out of all his friends was ultimately shallow and meaningless. He will become dangerously close to losing his humanity, before returning to golden road after huge sacrifices. Araki’s sudden title drop last chapter shows that in one way or another his JoBros aren’t going to bask in wealth at best or even end up dead at worst.
I love everything about it. It also explains why all the enemies have time based - and there fore gravity - and there for fate based stands, trying to change the fate of them or the world for their power. Be it skipping the things fate will bring you, returning in time if fate had been not as wanted or by commiting to the heaven plan. In contrast the righteous actions of those that dont try to fight against their fate, and instead staying to their golden path, their destiny and defeat the evilness in the world no matter the costs. no man can escape his fate, but no matter what fate has to offer for you, you can always stay on the right path and accomplish greatness in your life!
Right from the very beginning of our introduction to Dio in Part 1, we see him as a deeply intellectual and philosophical individual who's ambitions outweigh his contentment. Every evil action he takes is calculated, and stems from this ambition. Before he learns of the stone mask, he simply wants to steal Jonathan's life from him, literally. He wants to take his place as heir to the Joestar's fortune and influence, and even goes so far as to attempt to kill his adoptive father with poison to speed this process along despite the kindness shown to him by said adoptive father. This trend continues after he used the mask to become a vampire, with him spending his time largely contemplating things philosophically. His explanations for his actions from this point on are much larger in scope than just his own ambitions for himself. Rather than being content to just inherit the Joestar fortune, he sees himself as above all mankind and being uniquely qualified to decide its fate. It is for this very reason that Jonathan needed to undergo his journey to begin with; Dio had become a not just a personal threat, but a threat to the entire human race. Just about every single scene we get with Dio in Part 3 before his fight at the end is of Dio's philosophical contemplations and how they impact those around him. At this point he has realized that outright hostility isn't very efficient and that making people into zombies is a waste of effort. People make for much better servants when they are both alive and willing, and so he has adapted his approach into becoming a presence that inspires awe and respect. He only even uses the flesh bud in occasions in which he finds himself unable to win someone over for some reason, and probably devised that method out of a desire of avoiding the problems associated with using zombies. He has both philosophically and intellectually progressed beyond himself from Part 1, becoming terrifyingly efficient and familiar with his own limitations. Part 6's flashback scenes come off to me as very in character with all this context in mind, and with the context that they are being viewed through the perspective of how Pucci saw Dio. Through Pucci's eyes, we see Dio as a man deeply contemplative and philosophical, and yet also kind and trusting towards those willing to give him a chance despite his "condition". In reality, Dio was probably treating Pucci the way he treats all of his minions; generating trust and loyalty through manipulation. From Pucci's perspective, Dio was his best friend. From Dio's perspective however, Pucci was likely just another mostly disposable human to toss aside when the time is right but who could be useful for his own ambitions in the meanwhile.
As always, your content is very well-researched, organized, and communicated. I always find your topics to follow my favorite things about JoJo and appreciate what you do for this community. I really wish your style of researching and making videos was more common throughout this platform! I’m a major fan of your work, and this is no exception. Keep it up man!
Part 7/8 spoliers Au Diego is most likely the one chosen by the corpse. Gyro really had nothing to do with the corpse but the eye same with base Diego once Johnny got the corpse he died and Valentine lost to the un-chosen Johnny but Au Diego fought act 4 while having the corpse and he out played Johnny the whole fight once he put it in the vault his fate was then sealed.
@@crystalalumina Au Diego lost his leg but survived while Dio took a hit to leg and died while he took a sword to the head and survived while Au Diego was destroyed by a blow to the head.
@@Jarethttorney Pretty sure Araki did that on purpose, I mean Johnny's eventual fate in Jojolion mirrors what ends up happening to Jonathan after he dies.
I love the analysis of Giorno as reflective of Dio's more positive attributes! Dio truly is Araki's greatest villain! Hamon Beat is my fav jojo youtuber ever!! Keep up the good work and I would love to see more vids about Jojo's villains!!
Another banger. I really love these videos where you just look in depth to some themes or concepts within the series. They summarize amazingly the world of Jojo and help to appreciate a lot more some aspects of it uwu
Of course dio would act differently around father pucci (a guy whom he trusts and likes to have around), his minions and the stardust crusaders (mortal enemies). He's simply a more well composed and reasonable guy when there aren't people trying to kill him.
It seems to me like fate in jojo is kind of meta. Araki controls fate in the jojo universe and he knows it. The defeat of evil is inevitable in the jojo universe because it is a manga.
DIO isn't just a maniac, he's awfully clever one with the ambition to become a litteral god like his name says (which is also the reason why Ronnie James Dio chose that name as well)
I'd really like to see a similar video focusing on Funny Valentine! He's my favorite villain, from my favorite part, and I think his outlook on the world and the concept of justice is very interesting, specially when contrasted with Johnny's.
Thanks for clearing up misconceptions surrounding Dio 🙏 As someone who’s favourite character is Dio, it hurts to see people compact him into ‘muda Muda’
Hell yeah I was excited for this one! We definitely need more analysis videos like this on jojo characters there’s not enough on RU-vid. This just makes me love jojo even more. Please do gyro eventually!
Words cannot describe how overjoyed I was seeing this in my recommended before bed. Dio is my favorite character in JoJo, and I am all too used to people decrying him as shallow, or not as fleshed out as other antagonists. In my not so humble opinion, Dio is above and beyond one of the best written and most compelling antagonists in all of fiction. Thank you very much for the effort and dedication you put towards your content, you always manage to impress. This is another one to add to my favorites list.
to be honest this video is the best analysis i have ever watch. im happy people like you exist i hope you will succeed in anything you want and keep doing such a great videos (sorry for my poor choice of words im not native speaker)
Honestly, I have to think DIO’s life in that coffin was the most impactful thing in his life. Asking himself the questions that even he who believed in fate didn’t understand. Why was he driven to Jonathan? Who is he in the grand scheme of things? He believes his fate to be greatness, but with nothing to see left, what does that mean anymore? He has no rivals, so what purpose is there for him? I imagine the events that led him to Enya felt like everything needed to happen this way, and this may have reinforced something in his mind that leads him to his Heaven Plan. He saw himself as being the nexus of too many acts of fate to be anything less.
Love these types of character analysis videos, I'd never really realised how Dio links to the main themes of jojo's and I feel like you've shown stuff that I never would have considered. Would love to see a similar type of video for Jotaro since I would consider him to be nearly as prevalent in the series as Dio.
One important thing about Dio is that he's so self-centered that it affects his common sense. The "heaven plan" is built on the assumption that all humans are selfish like him. Even when he tries to do the right thing, he just cant help himself and makes his plan to save the world all about his ego. His idea of "friendship" is somebody who idolizes him. Despite his sophistication, Dio is completely one-dimesnsional. He's so selfish that it stunts his growth. Even after escaping his underwater prison, Dio never left his own little world.
Great video as always!❤ I would love for you to do a similar extended analysis of the fight between Dio and Jotaro. I believe there are a lot of unexplored aspects of this fight, such as the reason why Jotaro was able to stop time and how it is true that it stemmed from tye fact than Dio made him angry enough to have the will and ambition to stop time for the sake of his friends. Keep doing such amazing videos 🔥
While I always thought Dio had more character and depth than people gave credit to him for, you opened my eyes. My interest in Dio has skyrocketed now, and I've only really started watching JoJo part 3 recently ( just 4 episodes in Lmao) Edit: Finished part 3, his speech about humans ultimately desiring peace of mind feels so spot on, although I'd argue satisfaction is a better alternative word for peace of mind imo
Is this gonna be a series or just a one time thing, cause it would be really cool to see videos like this of every other villian, possibly even protagonist
Araki knew he was going to kill Jonathan in Part 1 and he explains it in his "Manga in Theory" book that it was not only a subversion to the Shounen manga at the time but that he felt that Jonathan giving his life to save his wife and child was heroic and gave meaning to his death. And that the only way for the "Joestar's noble lineage" to be passed down required Jonathan's death. Character wise though? I don't think Jonathan was destroyed in favor of Dio as much as Araki may have had difficulty writing a character that's suppose to be Dio's opposite (and he did say that if he could do Phantom Blood again that he would make Jonathan less of a good person which IMO really wasn't really a problem). Characters that are self-sacrificing, strive to do good, and follow a code are often hard to write, even the best of writers struggle with them. That doesn't mean it can't be done because it has been done. And Jonathan did have traits that made him human, flawed, and not at all this pure innocent goody two shoes character that some people say he is. The problem is that there's not enough time or dedication in the Phantom Blood story to develop any of that further or explore it in a significant way. Interestingly enough Araki takes a lot of things from Jonathan's story and applies it to Johnny in a much harsher to the point of breaking Johnny and leaving him depressed which in turned jaded him and made him more of a more ruthless person. The other thing is that Phantom Blood doesn't work without Jonathan, because the story is driven by Dio and Jonathan's and their relationship. If Jonathan is not there Dio becomes some asshole that kills animals and people for convenience or petty reasons.
Would be cool to see analysis on other main villains) Unsure about Valentine and Toru. Because they could have posthumous influence in whoever is part 9's villain) But it'd be cool to see)
I recently watched all of JoJo and was kind of dubious about the fate thing, which by the end of part 5 seemed to me like a way to implement deus ex machinas into the story, but I can see now how it has more value than that. If all the characters' fate is already decided (in a way where they can struggle but the outcome will always be the same), then JoJo kind of takes the same shape as a greek tragedy, where the depiction of an often terrible fate is still meant to embolden us. We're meant to identify with the characters who realize that their fate is sealed, even if they most often ignore the outcome, and still decide to have resolve and fight for what is good in life. Dio forms a perfect contrast with his Heaven Plan, because the peace of mind he wants to offer seems more like a form of resignation. He and his followers don't want to accept the assured suffering that comes with their lives and want to let go of their own resolve and capacity for action. Knowing their fate with certainty would allow them to turn away from life in a way, in that they could cease to struggle for anything more. The protagonists realize that it's still worth embracing the apparent uncertainty, or acting as if things are not decided, because the value of their lives isn't negated by a tragic outcome, it depends only on their resolve in the face of assured suffering. If Dio thinks that destiny makes life worthless and that one should seek renouncement, the Joestars can see that it doesn't go against what makes life worth celebrating, it's even inseparably connected to it.
This was a really good video that showcases why Dio is one of my fav JoJo villains, I really love that character. That said I also think he's the type of character that needs other characters to connect to or else he's just this evil asshole. It's why I felt Part 1 and Part 6 had my favorite moments with him even though I did enjoy him in part 3 as well. Anyway there's more I wanted to write about Dio but if I put it here it's going to become a wall of text so I'm stopping myself now.
I think its good to note most of how we see part 6 Dio is through the eyes of Pucci-- ya know, a follower of Dio heavily impacted and swayed by that direct charisma we saw in part 1 and what we can only assume is how he gained do many followers in part 3 without having to actually see those charisma scenes played out. Part 6 Dio is a completely different look because its not just Dio from our own lense we see him as but through someone being manipulated and driven by that same extremely intelligent man we saw in part 1. Part 6 is not changing him, its giving us that needed look into how part 3 managed to become the powerhouse, basically cult leader he was. And as you pointed out part 3 Dio is nearly always calm, mindful, and intelligent when he speaks not often needing this physical domination to get what he wants. It's literally only through Joestars and his extreme detestment for them that he loses that composure in a driven need to highlight his superiority over them by yelling and becoming more recklace. It's why he is able to have such a collected talk with Polnareff so close to the final battle because Dio really only has one trigger to the more intense, screaming 'meme-d' version fans depict him as. edit; spelling.
Great video. I disagree in either 2 minor things or none, depending on what you meant. (I made my own video on DIO not long ago, so I sort of use that as a source for info & conclusions;) On the topics of the Heaven plan not being benevolent, I essentially disagree but it would depend on the delivery; if you meant completely, then I fully disagree, if you meant it partially not being benevolent, then I concur. Likewise Part 6 DIO not being a retcon from Part 3 DIO is not something I would agree with, but not for the philosophy & views of DIO. The results of the Heaven plan were DIO's sincere idea of a good action; Happinness for the human race. It is an evil action overall, and DIO is an evil person, but the latter negatively affects his way of thinking so that this flawed idea is the best he can come up with when determining happinness for humanity. It is super arrogant, but that doesn't remove how well-meaning it is. DIO would also lose The World in exchange for Made in Heaven, a Stand whose ability he cannot use in battle & whose physicality is useless w/o said ability, throwing to the trash all the pride he had for The Wolrd as a Stand, all the work he put to learn to stop time better & longer, and the only weapon & resource he was shown using in battle, while far from helpless, DIO nerfs himself tremendously in combat, especially in a world with Stand users. This is pretty selfless from his part. Despite the happiness all humans would gain being DIO's own definition of happiness, DIO himself would get none of that, he would be the only one on Earth who doesn't see his own fate. This, as well, is pretty selfless from his part, which again, it's apart from how wrong DIO is in his views.You say that people would live beneath him because of the Heaven plan, but that's not true, they would be beneath him because of him ruling the world, I don't think that that and the Heaven plan relate to each other very well, if at all. DIO talks about ruling the world as minor next to the Heaven plan, never goes over his rule over humans when talking about Heaven, and it's very weird to think that he could still pull that off w/o The World, the Stand that he says its power is to reign supreme over the entire world. Because of this, one could infer that DIO would very much fail at that task, and while DIO could be arrogant enough to not see this coming, he is also not stupid, and would see it coming if he had this mind to it, but his priorities were elsewhere, in something that lasts forever even if he dies, to the detriment of his status as the eternal, immortal ruler of the world. So, it's as if both things weren't compatible. It definitely is a retcon to have a character say that his Stand's power is to rule the world but then also establish that he won't have that Stand when ruling the world, at least not forever, because you are very much implying that DIO will do this along The Wolrd. I understand this as DIO's goals being conflicted, "the evil thing he wants to do" vs "the good thing he wants to do", thus his actions don't make perfect sense in-universe, which in turn makes perfect sense for his character and makes him better for it, but it needs to be called a retcon because that wasn't within DIO's character before. His ability to forge a real friendship with another human being is also beyond insane from what Parts 1 & 3 DIO show. Yes, we saw something similar with Jonathan, but there was a lot of special, inevitable context making them have the relationship they had with DIO respecting him as an enemy, and while fate does have DIO meet Pucci, the rest all seems to be DIO using his free will to take decisions we would have never imagined he would take with how evil he is. This ability to build a friendship is a retcon, and it grows on its own from DIO's desire to do something good, which is a retcon as well.
I think the Heaven Plan is DIO’s ultimate idea of holding mastery over everyone, by holding mastery over their fates. And that’s not to say he devised the plan out of a cynical hatred for humanity or to punish them, he devised it because he consciously or subconsciously wanted to usurp the role of god, and “guiding humanity to heaven” is probably the most godly act there is. He wanted to make earth his kingdom and play the role of god in bringing his subjects to the peace of mind that is Heaven. So the only reason he sees it as benevolent is because he believes humans strive for and see Heaven is benevolent. But their idea of heaven is, of course, not DIO’s idea of it.
@@emblemblade9245 Well, that's not true because it's not in the story, and because what the story points to in those regards are other things entirely. I mean the "holding mastery over everyone", "holding mastery over their fates", and "usurp the role of god" parts. DIO did want to be the master of the human race, but not as part of his Heaven plan, in fact he sets that plan and his goal to be the ruler of the human race as separate goals. This established, the Heaven plan was never about having power over other, Pucci even says as much when we know they shared the same views (and even will over that). And that's just statements wise, in actions, the Heaven plan has nothing to do with having power over others, ruling them, or controlling their fates. Every person's fate is their own, DIO wouldn't control them. Again, if anything, DIO gets weaker because of the Heaven plan. Similar with "usurping the role of god"". No offense, but it's pretentious to claim characters to be god wanna-bes when they're not in-story and only seek power, even if said power is supreme in its setting or esoteric. DIO never wanted to be a god, he didn't want to guide humanity to Heaven due to thinking this the most godly thing there was, he wanted to do so because 1. He understood it as the best thing one could possibly achieve, even being the ruler of the human race or having an invincible body. So it was in part ego. 2. He understood it as the way to achieve true happiness for humanity, so it was in part a selfless act. By doing this, DIO wants to become a messiah, not a god, these things are not the same. There is nothing we could grab onto to say that DIO wanted to usurp or because a god when looking at the Heaven plan, it's just projecting an aspect of godhood into the Heaven plan because of how heavenly/divine-looking it is, superficially. If anything, when Pucci literally inherited DIO's will, if DIO wanted to do the Heaven plan to become a god, New Moon Pucci's intentions for doing what he's doing could have or would have changed into that, but he remains the same.
I never understood, even if Dio attained heaven, would he see his own fate like everyone else or would he be free and rewrite fate? During the process of making heaven people carry over actions from the previous universe but if Dio decides to alter or mess with a particular person, does that not deviate from their original fate? Does that not change the fates of those around them? E.g Person A marries person B and live out their lives in the original universe, thus in the heaven universe A and B are fated to be together and aware of this. If Dio murders person A before he marries person B, does that not change fates of both A and B and the actions of everyone else around them? Was reaching “Heaven” simply a paradox that fate would never have allowed?
"DIO has a chance at being the single greatest character Araki has ever..." Dire: "I'm about to thunder cross split attack this man's whole opinion..." 😤
There's only one thing i still don't understand: if the plan to achieve Heaven had succeeded as intended, wouldn't Dio be dead still? So how does Heaven benefit him?
I would argue in totality of the series existence the world(no pun intended) over, it is Jotaro that is the most recognizable, and associated character, of Jojo's Bizarre adventure by far. Now in terms of philosophy, a lot of the characters embodie various parts of Araki's philosophies. It's debatable, regardless of how entertaining he is written, whether Dio embodies Araki's manga philosophies the most. But that is the fun of JoJo is it not?
I fully watched the anime so far and I may be thinking about this wrong but I feel like the plan of Heaven is not wrong in of it self. Not saying the acts he took to reach heaven are good of course not! I'm just thinking about the base idea of heaven resetting the universe and have it so everyone knows there fate
That was the vision of Pucci's heaven. Pucci didn't really comprehended Dio's vision of heaven so he have his own vision. While Dio was to be on top of humanity, for Pucci was the peace of mind.
It’s pretty bad because it runs counter to the central protagonist theme of Jojo’s which is that the glory of humanity is bravery in the face of fear and uncertainty.
