We Appreciate Manga

Having played the original Gameboy videogame 23 years ago, Will and James take a trip down memory lane and decide to read up on its popular manga adaptation. Does it make us want to play the game or does it make us want to read more manga? Now that is the question!

Skip plot summary @ 10:11

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116: Pokémon Adventures vol. 1

Chapters 1 to 14, 'A Glimpse of the Glow' and 'That Awful Arbok!'

Story by Hidenori Kusaka

Art by Mato

English Translation by Kaori Inoue

Lettering and touch up by Wayne Truman

Pokémon depicts a world of creatures known as Pocket Monsters, a.k.a. the titular Pokémon. Some use Pokémon as pets, others for fights, and if you are like the Rocket gang, you use them for labour and genetic experimentation. But the story starts with a boy named Red who is a trainer and catcher of Pokémon, and upon hearing a commotion in the woods, secretly follows the Rocket gang as they hunt the legendary Mew. A Pokémon of great mystery. Red encounters a trainer like himself, Blue, who teaches Red that they are both not ready to catch a Pokémon as strong as Mew.

This prompts Red to visit Proffessor Oak, a Pokémon researcher who can help Red become a better trainer. However, Red makes the mistake of releasing all the monsters in Oak's lab and so he helps Oak find and capture the escaped monsters. In turn Oak gives Red a Pokémon, the grass type Bulbasaur upon seeing red demonstrate good knowledge in harnessing Bulbasaur's talents. Oak also gives Red a Pokedex, an electronic encyclopaedia that is used to log the existence of Pokémon, the same gadget that Blue also has, which is no surprise since Red learns that Blue is Oak's grandson. It's in their second encounter that Red stops Blue from capturing a Kangiskhan, Red remembers Oak's advice that to be a good trainer takes heart, not just brute strength and power. He then heals a wounded Pokémon that is hidden within Kangiskhan's pouch, then goes on his separate path away from Bluem by this point Blue shows a lack of humility whereas Red is the compassionate of the two.

It is on his quest as Oak's protégé that Red learns of a Pikachu terrorising a town, he captures and tames the electric mouse type that is the Pikachu as well as reunite many other characters with their Pokémon. When Red reaches Lavender Town he learns of Blue having entered a haunted tower but never having come out. Red investigates and finds Blue possessed by a Gastly, a ghost type monster resembling a purple ball of gas. Red defeats the Gastly by having Bulbasaur using the bulb on its back as a vacuum sack, sucking up Gastly and spitting him out as a devastating beam that blasts through the tower walls.

Afterwards Red and Blue make their way up the tower only to be attacked by the Ninja Koga and his venomous Pokémon. Red recognises Koga as a Rocket gang leader he fought on Mt. Moon and Koga reveals that the tower is a secret base for the Rocket gang.

A Little Context:

Pokemon was first released on the Gameboy in February 1996 in Japan, in the following years it would see multiple editions released with a special Pikachu Edition (Pokemon: Yellow) released in Japan within the fall of 1998 and finally released for English speaking countries between the fall of 1999 and the summer of 2000. Pokemon: Yellow would be a tie in with the anime spin-off and coinciding with the release of the franchise's first Theatrical release, unoriginally called Pokemon: The First Movie, but affectionately given the subtitle Mewtwo vs. Mew in Marketing. The games would get a sequel during this time so western audiences could see new Pokemon within the movie, Including Marill who was bizarrely named "Pikablu" by fans.

The Gameboy and the Gameboy Color was a must have toy because it had Pokemon as the dominating app for it. And for many American and European children it was the first anime they grew up watching, thus their first experience with Japanese culture, albeit having undergone heavy localisation by 4Kids entertainment.

Differences from other Media:

· Like the game, Pikachu is caught near Viridian City, unlike the TV Anime where Oak gives away his newly caught Pikachu. Dengeki Pikachu follows the plot of the anime however Pikachu is captured upon invading the main character's home and eating it's the electrical wiring.

· Brock is more representative of his game counterpart, a stoic man and gym leader who does not join the main character on his quest.

· Ninja Koga is the main Rocket antagonist within the first chapters, where as in the TV Anime series it was original characters, Jessie and James (whom are named after the American outlaw, whilst in Japan they are named after rival samurai).

· It takes a "Pokéflute" to wake a Snorlax, however in this manga it took the smell of a Bulbasaur drenched in honey to do the trick.

· Gastly is a far more malicious being in this manga compared to the TV Anime show. It retreats once the sun rises in the show but in the manga, Red uses his Bulbasaur to defeat it.

References:

· The introduction to the character Bill is inspired by the 1958 movie, 'The Fly' (remade in 1986) Based on a short story by James Lagelaan.

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The conclusion to the manga like most Japanese slice of life and coming of age drama adds an expected air of ambiguity. But for one, we could not escape an Evangelion reference and talk musings on (or in Will's case rant on) our nostalgia baiting consumer culture having a harmful effect on us maturing into adults. Skip plot summary @ 3:03

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115: Welcome to the NHK vol. 8

Chapters 31 to 35, Welcome to the Party! and Welcome to the NHK!

Story by Tatsuhiko Takimoto

Art by Kendi Oiwa

English Translation by Katherine Schilling and Zachary Rau

Lettering by Star Print Brokers

Misaki decides to have sex with Megumi's brother but in doing so questions if any of her actions will make her happy. She quickly hears Sato's voice and puts her clothes back on. Megumi's brother realises he cannot give Misaki what she wants. Sato, Kaoru and Misaki are all together. Kaoru has a plan to grow seeds to help his revolution, Misaki convinces them to let her join and eventually the seeds turn into flowers. Misaki and Sato begin a relationship, Misaki using a check list to help nurture that relationship but the following pages show a deeply troubled, bizarre, mentally and draining relationship as Sato comes with Misaki who displays BPD. Eventually it all accumulates to Sato and Misaki in the attack of their old apartment building. As its ready to be demolished they talk about their feelings and everything else between them. Sato makes an escape and Misaki follows both of them claiming their hatred and love for one another. Cut to a couple of months later we see Sato trying his hardest to live a decent life, he looks at pictures of everyone he knows and say they are all doing good. One of the pictures is a smiling Misaki holding a degree in her hand to show she graduated.

Topics:

· Borderline Personality Disorder.

· The Hardships of relationships.

· The ambiguity of relationships at the manga's conclusion.

· Differences from the manga to the anime.

· Consumerism and the "Nostalgia baiting" effect as a detriment on growing up.

References:

· A reference to 'Neon Genesis Evangelion' is seen in volume 8, with Sato resembling the main character Shinji Ikari.

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Steven and Will talk about the characters near the completion of their developed arcs. Specifically speaking about BPD (borderline personality disorder) and musings on what type of person has romantic affairs. Skip plot summary @ 3:25 You can also follow us on social media @Weapemanga

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114: Welcome to the NHK vol. 7

Chapters 31 to 35, Welcome to the Training! and Welcome to the Desperate Liquor!

Story by Tatsuhiko Takimoto

Art by Kendi Oiwa

English Translation by Katherine Schilling and Zachary Rau

Lettering by Star Print Brokers

Kashiwa reminisces of her school days with Sato. Sato and Kashiwa seem to be ok living together until they have a "slap -slap-kiss argument" that makes them decide to make love. Sato in a hurry goes to the shops. During this time Misaki and her school counsellor (Kashiwa's husband) notices Sato.Sato comes back to apartment greeted by an alluring Kashiwa naked on the bed and shows Kashiwa bondage gear, she decides to play but takes the role seriously as she talks about the guilt of being in a loveless marriage. Sato pulls out a deck of playing cards to cheer her up and proposes to stay friends. Misaki and Kashiwa's husband bust into the room. When Kaoru goes missing both Sato and Misaki go to the inner city to find him. We learn that Kaoru slept with a trans gender woman and eventually became a male escort.

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Will and Steven are perplexed by the plot as it shuffles along but find time to discuss the characters and their relationships to one and another, be it toxic or not. Skip plot summary @ 3:12

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113: Welcome to the NHK vol. 6

Chapters 26 to 30, 'Welcome to the Migrant' and 'Welcome to the Shuffle'

Story by Tatsuhiko Takimoto

Art by Kendi Oiwa

English Translation by Katherine Schilling and Zachary Rau

Lettering by Star Print Brokers

Sato believes that Misaki is his guardian angel and decides to move back to Tokyo to meet her, taking his parents money however he quickly spends it on games, food and gambling, he soon realises he is homeless and comes to Kaoru for help but Kaoru is busy with his girlfriend and plans to go back to his family home.

Kaoru and his girlfriend have a bizarre break up at the train station, Misaki decides to help and counsel her own school counsellor and Megumi's brother, in doing so he goes to hurt herself in attempting to change Megumi's brother behaviour. This puts Misaki in hospital.

Sato decides to squat in his former apartment, in a bizarre twist of fate kashiwa buys the apartment Sato is squatting in. After a brief surprise encounter Kashiwa decides to let Sato stay there, living together to help one another.

Sato looks at Kashiwa's diary feeling he is a pet project for her and decides to run away, he notices Misaki running to the park and readies his feelings, saying what he wants to say to her in his mind but to his surprise another man is saying those exact words to Misaki, the man being Megumi's brother. Misaki and him hug each other. Sato decides to live with Kashiwa in the hopes they become lovers.

Topics:

• Co-habitation
• Story Pacing
• Rating character relationships in terms of mental health in the long run.

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Today's episode contains explicit talk since we are talking about a manga about a porn addict who lives with his parents. It's Welcome to the NHK! Skip plot summary @ 3:10

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112: Welcome to the NHK vol. 5

Chapters 21 to 25, 'Welcome to the ARCADIA VILLAGE!' and 'Welcome to the NEXT STAGE!'

Story by Tatsuhiko Takimoto

Art by Kendi Oiwa

English Translation by Katherine Schilling and Zachary Rau

Lettering by Star Print Brokers

The gang go to a hot springs sauna to unwind from the drama of the last volume's events however Kaoru has been given drugs that make him have a psychotic episode, leading him into the hospital. Once in hospital Satou's parents have no choice but to take him back to the family home and help him recover from his depression and mental struggles.

Misaki enrols back into high school in the hopes to becoming a better person and Satou also tries his best to finish the game however falls into a slump and once again struggles with his addiction to porn giving us a comical scene of his mom catching him masturbate.

All the side characters we seen in this manga are revealed to be connected to each other one way or another, Kashiwa's now husband is the school counsellor to Misaki and the woman who was in the pyramid schemes brother is an online gaming companion to.

All characters are still dealing and coping with their struggles in life. The ups and downs of it. Kaoru and his crush Nanako argue, Nanako calls Kaoru out on his fear of intimacy and love for real women. Then Nanako decides to seduce and have sex with teary eyed Kaoru.

Satou calls Misaki and hears a man in the background assuming the worst not knowing it's her school counsellor. Kashiwa who is feeling lonely emails Satou wanting intimacy from him. In his sadness Satou comes to terms with his situation and feelings for Misaki. He has another psychotic episode of Misaki as an angel coming to his side.

Topics:

·

Getting Setbacks on goals.

·

Addiction

·

Living with Parents

·

Coping with love

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EXPLICIT CONTENT as we talk about mature themes, you can skip the synopsis @ 3:18 Email: [email protected]

111: Welcome to the NHK vol. 4 Chapters 16 to 17 'Welcome to the NO FUTURE' and 'Welcome to the Starry Sky' Story by Tatsuhiko Takimoto Art by Kendi Oiwa English Translation by Katherine Schilling and Zachary Rau Lettering by Star Print Brokers

Sato becomes afraid of Misaki and shuts himself inside his room. Eventually Kaoru who has been arguing with his parents bursts into Sato's apartment and complains about life. They decided to play videogames, eat and drink. For a dare Kaoru invites his classmate Nanako so he can confess to her his perverted hobbies and she eventually comes to the apartment. Surprisingly she actually likes that side of Kaoru and seems to have hidden feelings for him, kaoru messes up and insults her, making her leave.

Sato who's in denial about Kashiwa's marriage calls Kashiwa to meet and arrange a date. Kashiwa accepts and they meet at a cafe unbeknown to them Misaki is stalking them. Eventually they decide to go to a love hotel and Sato's imagination runs wild. Kashiwa earnestly asks if they want to have an affair, this question makes Sato clear his conscious and he declines making them remain friends.

Misaki feels threatened by Kashiwa and Sato's relationship so she organizes a deviant and clever plan to gain Sato's sympathy. Misaki announces how she was abused and made "fragile" by her past. They eventually go on numerous dates including a fun fare and Sato notices Kashiwa with her fiance. Sato realizes his feelings for Kashiwa and the situational awareness in his life makes him have a emotional mental breakdown that drives him into suicide. Misaki and Kaoru come to help Sato and Misaki States that all that she said about her abusive past was a lie. Sato in shock decides to kill himself by bashing his head into a rock only to knock himself out again.

References:

• 'Rumble Roses' is a videogame released originally for the Playstation 2 in the Fall of 2004, it is comparable to the 'Dead or Alive' franchise for its use of "Fan Service" as it features an all women roster of wrestlers, including mud fighting.

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EXPLICIT CONTENT! Today's episode, Will and Steve talk about videogame addiction and Hikikomori culture as it pertains to this volume 3 Welcome to the NHK. Our protagonist falls for a Pyramid scheme and Misaki's tortuous methods to cure him do no good (no surprises there) skip plot summary @ 4:45

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110: Welcome to the NHK vol. 3

Chapters 11 to 15 'Welcome to the ONLINE!' and 'Welcome to the REFRAIN!'

Story by Tatsuhiko Takimoto

Art by Kendi Oiwa

English Translation by Katherine Schilling and Zachary Rau

Lettering by Star Print Brokers

Tatsuhiro Sato is a 22-year-old university drop out and hikikomori who believes in conspiracy theories and has been a social shut-in for 2 years. One day a religious woman with a leaflet knocks on his door accompanied by a Mysterious young girl called Misaki Nakahara who eventually helps him from becoming a social shut-in as they do weekly therapy meetings.

Sato's neighbour is an incel and old acquaintance named Kaoru Yamazaki who happens to be a raging otaku and a computer programmer. These two people will help Sato on his journey to change himself.

Sato becomes addicted and wastes his time playing an online videogame also known as a MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online game). Misaki enters his apartment and is shocked at Sato's decaying health. Misaki tries to seduce and distract him but to no avail. Sato only snaps back to reality when a player asks if they can meet in real life making Sato run back to Misaki begging forgiveness.

Misaki decides to do a psychological torture technique by binding, blinding and imprisoning Sato in his body whilst in his apartment in the hopes of changing his way of thinking. This does not work as planned and eventually Misaki decides to live with Sato as a live-in carer. This makes Sato feel depressed and he attempts to kill himself by falling out of the window, an ankle sprain and hospital visit later Sato bumps into an old female classmate from school who eventually tricks him into a cult like pyramid scheme.

Misaki is worried and confronts the woman but in doing so gets tricked into the pyramid scheme too.

Topics:

Gaming addiction has become more prevalent since the use of the internet, players now having the ability to invest their time in virtual stock and reward systems. It is also classified as a serious disorder under the World Health Organisation, under the term "Gaming Disorder". Some reports have gathered resources in order to help those with addiction but there are also many sensational horror stories having been reported too.

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As an example of videogames having a positive sense of community, actor Lance Reddick, famous for his role in the 'John Wick' movies and the videogame 'Destiny 2' had many of his fans set up vigils within the game's virtual space of Zavala after reports of the actor's death which occurred on March 16, 2023. Reddick was also a fan of the game and played it often.

·

Psychological torture differs from that of physical and interrogational torture, which Neuroscientist Shane O'Mara's argues on the efficacy in his book 'Why Torture Doesn't Work', saying compelling arguments such as for one, the damage to memory and recall that torture can have on individuals. However Psychological torture still has its criticism and its tactics and strategies have been applied to "conversion therapy"; a torture that cares less about what is true and serves only to subjugate and deconstruct an individual's sense of identity from the mistaken belief that it can "cure" the recipient. Psychological torture and abuse are one and the same, there is no evidence that supports the practice having a healthy outcome on the recipient.

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Con artists and pyramid schemes go hand in hand, at first, the "pyramid scheme" seems like a multi-level marketing plan but the profits of such a scheme do not come from selling a product but instead from hiring workers, who in turn get a profit from those they hire. This is an unsustainable business practice since only those who are at the top will ever get a benefit from it. For example, if six individuals were at the top of the pyramid and to make profit, they need to individually hire six more, then that makes a total number of thirty-six for the second layer. By layer twelve, workers would need to hire a total of individuals greater than the earth's estimated population. In practice Sato needs to sell 'Mouse Road' products to vendors and get a percentage from their sales if he is ever to make his money back, and depending on how low he is on the pyramid, it means the more people he needs to recruit, the odds would not be in his favour, especially if he is below the third layer.

·

Misaki's true intentions

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EXPLICIT CONTENT! Inspired by today's manga, Will talks to Steven about his own personal ordeal with depression and suicidal ideation. They speak about their own relationship troubles. As well as how easy it is for people to become dependent on that which is not healthy for them. All in all, 'Welcome to the NHK' shows us that manga can deal with real, dark and murky issues albeit easily digestible when it is done with a humorous tone. Skip synopsis @ 4:19

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109: Welcome to the NHK vol. 2

Chapters 6 to 10 'Welcome to the Moratorium' and 'Welcome to the Heaven'

Story by Tatsuhiko Takimoto

Art by Kendi Oiwa

English Translation by Katherine Schilling and Zachary Rau

Lettering by Star Print Brokers

Tatsuhiro Sato is a 22-year-old university drop out and hikikomori who believes in conspiracy theories and has been a social shut-in for 2 years. One day a religious woman with a leaflet knocks on his door accompanied by a Mysterious young girl called Misaki Nakahara who eventually helps him from becoming a social shut-in as they do weekly therapy meetings. Sato's neighbour is an incel and old acquaintance named Kaoru Yamazaki who happens to be a raging otaku and a computer programmer. These two people will help Satou on his journey to change himself. Satou is being distracted on the game project he is making as he fantasizes about Misaki being in a porno. Kaoru helps him snap out of it by saying how women will cause them trouble. Kaoru talks about his past lost love and how a girl broke his heart only for his female classmate to call him saying she Is free to see the fire-works festival that night. Kaoru (like a "simp") runs to her. Misaki knocks on Satou's window and invites him to the festival too. The fire-works festival brings back memories for both Satou and his old school friend Kashiwa-san who happens to call him and come to his apartment the following night. They drink heavily and Satou invites Kashiwa San for a vacation, misinterpreting and assuming something else, Kashiwa San thinks Satou Is talking about the offline group meeting that is planned for the summer so she decides to take him. Unfortunately for Satou this is a meeting of suicidal people who plan to kill themselves once they spend some time on a private island owned by one of the suicide pact members. Misaki who has secretly bugged Sato's apartment over hears of the offline meeting. Misaki becomes visibly scared once she realises what is going on and goes to Kaoru for help to find and stop Satou. During this time Misaki tells her feelings for Sato to Kaoru and that she wants to be an angel to help him. Eventually the suicide pact members change their mind and find reasons to live but this makes Satou become suicidal. Satou tries to kill himself but manages to knock himself out, he wakes up with Kawashi telling him he is safe and they are all going home. Satou returns home and meets with Misaki.

Topics:

First love and bad luck in relationships

·

Chasing girls

·

Suicide pacts

·

Depression

·

Drug dependency

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Will gets Steven to read one of his fave mangas, a story that revolves around the lives of several young adults all living in or around the city of Tokyo. Many different lifestyles are shown but most of the time the story focuses on the concept of being a hikikomori (a reclusive individual who withdraws from society) and chooses to surround themselves in the comfort of all that is anime and otaku. Most of the characters experience intense feelings of depression and loneliness. You better believe this one is for adults only. Skip synopsis @ 3:47

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108: Welcome to the NHK vol. 1

Chapters 1 to 5

Story by Tatsuhiko Takimoto

Art by Kenji Oiwa

Tatsuhiro Sato is a 22-year-old university drop out and hikikomori who believes in conspiracy theories and has been a social shut-in for 2 years. When a religious woman with a leaflet knocks on his door accompanied by a Mysterious young girl called Misaki Nakahara.

Sato eventually goes for a job interview where he bumps into Misaki again and eventually Misaki choses Sato to help her with a personal social project for the purpose to stop him from being a hikikomori social shut in, she does this by having regular meetings and counselling sessions with Sato. Sato's neighbour is annoyingly playing anime music, Sato has enough and breaks into his neighbour's apartment to berate him only to find out to his surprise his neighbour is an old college acquaintance Kaoru Yamazaki who is now an otaku.

During a project meeting and counselling session Sato lies to Misaki that he is a game programmer, to keep up with the lie he seeks the help of Kaoru and so they decide to make an erotic "Ero" dating simulator style videogame as Kaoru mentors him in the ways of otaku degeneracy. During his game research Sato goes shopping and an old high school friend named Hitomi Kashiwa spots him, they briefly have a conversation about drugs, social anxiety and being Hikikomori. Hitomi wishes to Sato again as she says farewell to him for now.

Kaoru gives Sato some illegal and dangerous research to the point Kaoru becomes addicted to porn and is digressing into a pervert by taking pictures of cute school girls. Misaki comes out of nowhere and this snaps Sato out of it.

Sato then gets a phone call from his mom, he lies to her about his job and a girlfriend, thus Sato seeks the help of Misaki and they decide to play the role of a couple, this gives them a chance to get to know each other.

References:

· Hikikomori

Is the Japanese word for post-graduates who become socially reclusive shut-ins, like NEET (not employed, in education or training) or Hermits, the widespread growth of such people has become a worldwide phenomenon but has been for the most part well documented in Japan. It is possibly a response, albeit one in the form of a silent protest, to the stress and pressures of youth entering a society that lacks employment security or is extremely competitive when it comes to the workplace.

· Moe and Lolita culture

Has a large presence throughout 'Welcome to the NHK'. Although the etymology behind the word "moe" is a slang word from the 90's that defines the aesthetic of a lot of Heisei era anime, to the point that it is often referred to by non-Japanese as "anime style" The idea behind it is to make characters as adorable and cute as aesthetically possible, so to appeal to emotions of love, care and sometimes to illicit a sort of parasocial relationship or paraphillia. This often results in characters or people looking younger than their supposed age and all anime itself to be mistaken for being aimed at and consumed by children. Basically a moe character is a young woman, "adorably cute, just a bit sexually appealing, and self-conscious but not yet cynical". With maid-cafés being a prime example and manifestation of this. A genre of (or extension of this aesthetic) is the controversial Lolicon which depicts budding romances between children, even being sexual in nature. The consumption of such media being psychologically harmful is debatable and certainly illegal in parts of the world.

·

Gravure Models (Idols)

Not to be confused with the word "Rotogravure", these are swimsuit and underwear models, basically magazine glamour idols, softcore pornography. Regardless of what Will says, Gravure idols are not in any form sexualized children, although the sentiment around idolising schoolgirls and pornographic content about schoolgirls is a great concern within Japan, which leads us to…

Laws regarding Age of Consent

Within Japan is no longer granted to people aged 13, as of the upload date for this podcast it has instead risen to 16 and up, similar to Britain and South Korea. As has the statute of limitations reporting such crimes, which has also been raised by 5 more years, we will not discuss when this law passed or what is considered "Romeo and Juliet laws" which is laws wherever consent between 2 children and their parent's permission results in a different sentence, simply because we are not experts on this topic. Ultimately, we at 'We Appreciate Manga' think that this is a good thing. We do not judge people by their culture but we do celebrate Japan's progressive stance towards bettering their own justice system.

· 30GB of imagery

Consisting of compressed JPEG files is between the worth of 15258 and 5755 images (removing the last digit of both figures calculates for raw uncompressed files) according to Western Digital. This does not sound like a lot in terms of data but for the standards of the time this amount of images would have taken over 50% of an average Drive, with the most expensive USB Drives only going as high as 16GB.

· Lexotan

Is one of many brand names for Bromazepam. A drug for treating anxiety.

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We talk about the conclusion to the Phantom Blood arc and how author Hirohiko Araki avoids "resetting to zero" in order to have a handle on the power creep of his heroes and villains. Skip synopsis @ 5:29

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107: Jojo's Bizarre Adventure vol. 5

By Hirohiko Araki

Chapters 38 to 44, The Three from a Faraway part Land part 3 and Fire and Ice part 6

Translation by Evan Galloway

Lettering by Mark Mcmurray

In the final volume of Phantom Blood, the Joestar group including new members Dire, Straizo and Tonpetty confront Dio. Dire makes his first strike only to be flash frozen and dismembered by Dio. Dire's head is thrown away and lands near a rose, in his final moment a conscious Dire uses his mouth to sling a Hamon infused rose at Dio and blind him in one eye.

Jojo then strikes Dio with a sword, splitting the body in twain, yet Dio reforms his body and grabs Jojo by the carotid artery, with the sword still attached. Dio attempts to freeze Jojo's feet in place as he uses his vampire venom on Jojo and keep him alive so to leach Jojo's life energy. The two form an impasse of physical dominance over each other. Yet the fast-thinking Jojo twists the sword towards a naked flame behind Dio. The thermal energy is channelled as Hamon and is used to free Jojo and defeat Dio, blasting the vampire out into the ocean. Jojo uses Hamon to push Dio's venom from out of his neck whilst Tonpetty and Straizo fight off the rest of Dio's zombies and save Pocco's sister in the process. Afterwards they destroy the stone mask that gave Dio his vampire powers.

Time passes and Jojo is on a cruise ship to America with his new wife Erina. He is alarmed when he sees Dio's servant Wang Chan on board, soon he discovers that Dio is on the ship now surviving as a head in a jar. Dio reveals his plan to turn everyone on the ship into his zombies and behead Jojo so that he can gain a new body. Believing that if destiny forces him not to beat Jojo then he may as well literally join him, Dio's brain to Jojo's flesh!

A desperate and cornered Jojo manages to infuse Hamon into Wang Chan, making the Chinaman a puppet to Jojo's will. Wang Chan's body is then used to block up the steam engine on the boat with Jojo's plan being to blow the ship with Dio and himself on it. Erina wishes to die with Jojo until Jojo asks Erina to live so that she may save the life of an orphan baby on board. This is Jojo's dying wish as an orphan whose mother also died cradling her child.

Jojo dies on the ship with Dio's head in his arms. Their fight finally at its conclusion.

Topics:

· Impressions and technical aspects of the manga.

· Original scene in the studio David anime, the chess scene.

· The "man vs man" conflict of shonen manga compared to the "vs nature" style of plot.

· "Never return to Zero" Hirohiko Araki's rule on storytelling, and how he compromises this by having his "heroes pass on the torch" a clever way on avoiding "power creep" settling in on his heroes and villains.

· Spin offs and media tie ins:

- The 2007 animated movie based on the manga has parts of the story, power element explanations, famous lines, and characters omitted from it. Since there are too many to list here you can instead read up on the differences on the dedicated Jojo Wiki.

- In 2006 there was a videogame adaptation for the Playstation 2, a sort of spiritual sequel to the previous 2003 game that was an adaptation of part 5 of the manga series. Considering the release date, it is fair to say that this was meant to tie in with the film release.

- A 2013 videogame, 'All Star Battle' originally for the Playstation 3 features characters from Phantom Blood as well as the rest of the series.

- A 2015 videogame called 'Eyes of Heaven' was originally released for both PS3 and PS4 Playstation platforms. The main antagonist of the game is "Heavenly Ascension Dio" a Dio from another reality that is able to use interdimensional travel as he fights multiple generations of the Joestar family. This version of Dio was made specifically for the story of this videogame.

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