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JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Main Character Index
Phantom Blood: DIO
Battle Tendency: Joseph Joestar
Stardust Crusaders: The Joestar Group (Jotaro Kujo | Jean-Pierre Polnareff) | Egypt 9 Glory Gods | DIO's Household
Diamond is Unbreakable: Heroes | Yoshikage Kira
Golden Wind: Team Bucciarati (Giorno Giovanna) | La Squadra di Esecuzioni | The Boss
Stone Ocean: Heroes | Enrico Pucci
Steel Ball Run
JoJolion: The Higashikata Family
The JOJOLands
One-Shot Characters | Spinoff Characters

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♫ The words will make you out 'n' out! ♫

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Heroes

Joseph Joestar

See Joseph Joestar

Caesar Anthonio Zeppeli

Voiced by: Takuya Sato (TV anime, All-Star Battle (R), Eyes of Heaven) (Japanese), Bryce Papenbrook (English)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jojosbizarreadventurebattletendencycaesarzeppeli.png

"A true man knows his history!"

"We Italians have the strongest familial bonds of any culture in the world. We are very proud of that tradition! It is everything to us!"

The grandson of Will A. Zeppeli. A shameless flirt with more training in Hamon than Joseph. He is recruited to help hone Joseph's skills.

Adaptation Dye-Job: Whatever color they're supposed to be, his cheekmarks are purple in the anime and Eyes of Heaven, and turquoise in All-Star Battle.
Affectionate Nickname: Joseph eventually starts calling him "Caesar-chan" ("Caesarino" in the dub and official manga translation, "[my] little Caesar" in most fan translations), a term with potentially flirty implications.
Ambiguously Bi: Caesar's Establishing Character Moment shows him to be quite the lothario around women, but at one point Messina cheekily teases him◊ for his affection towards Joseph, jokingly describing him as having fallen harder in love with Joseph than any of the various women he's been with (comparing him to a Smitten Teenage Girl in the Japanese no less). Caesar for his part does not deny the accusation. That the first thing he does upon reuniting with Joseph◊ is a stock Tsundere reaction, also doesn't help his case. His Character Signature Song also has lyrics of him speaking about his love for someone who is implied to be Joseph.
Anyone Can Die: Runs in the family; despite being a main character, he's killed in a combination of being fatally wounded by Wamuu's Holy Sandstorm, before being completely crushed underneath a section of stone ceiling just as he finishes using the last of his Hamon to help Joseph. His death serves to rise the stakes of the story, showing that even main characters aren't safe.
Be Careful What You Wish For: Caesar's father, Mario, walked out on him and his siblings, leaving him poor, bitter, and itching for a chance to kill his father in Revenge. He ended up killing him indirectly by unknowingly walking into a dangerous situation, which led to his father losing his life to save him. The guilt from this incident fuels his desire to wipe out the Pillar Men.
Bubble Gun: His signature technique uses soapy water to create swarms of Hamon-infused bubbles which he can control remotely.
The Casanova: His defining trait, which makes his talent with words and mannerisms contrast with Joseph's Brutal Honesty.
Contrasting Sequel Main Character: To both Speedwagon and his grandfather William.
- While Speedwagon was only antagonistic to Jonathan for a moment and became friends with him right away for sparing his life, Caesar and Joseph don't get along right away but slowly develop into friends over training. In addition to that, Speedwagon is extremely emotional but also determined, whereas Caesar prefers to act calm but in reality is very reckless and impulsive. There's also the fact that Speedwagon never learned Hamon and lived a happy life, whereas Caesar knew it and met his end in battle.
- In comparison to his grandfather who was welcoming of Jonathan as a student and took a fatherly mentor role with him, Caesar sees Joseph as a failure at first before learning to respect him. When William dies, he chooses to sacrifice himself to save Jonathan and give him his Hamon while Caesar runs off to battle Wamuu in a fit of anger and dies giving his headband to Joseph.
Cultured Badass: Played With. He's a suave ladykiller who's more polite than Joseph and presents himself as a sophisticated and cultured man, but he used to be a Delinquent just like Joseph is, he just hides it well and interactions with Joseph just brings that side of him more.
Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: His father Mario abruptly abandoned the family upon discovering the Pillar Men, who he dedicated the rest of his life to destroying.
Dark and Troubled Past: After his father abandoned him, he became a hopeless and near-murderous delinquent, using a wrench and his latent Hamon to beat people senseless. As an adolescent, he finally discovered his father beneath the Coliseum with the Pillar Men statues, only to get him killed when he touched the diamond Kars was holding, after which Esidisi extended his tentacles, eating Mario whole through the petrified Kars.
Death by a Thousand Cuts: His bubbles don't do a lot of damage individually, but he can generate them in large numbers.
- It contributes to his death via Wamuu's Holy Sandstorm cutting him to shreds.
A Death in the Limelight: His final battle with Wamuu showed that you didn't need to be a Joestar to be a badass in the series.
Delinquent: He became a violent delinquent in his youth, due to his pent-up anger at his father for suddenly abandoning his family. He only stopped once he encountered his father again, and discovered Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You. Even as a adult that past still haunts him, as it's the source of his Hot-Blooded nature, and why he now tries to act like a calm and sophisticated man.
Determinator: Despite being hit by Wamuu's Death by a Thousand Cuts, he still tries to keep fighting, even managing to grab Wamuu's lip ring so Joseph could take it when he dies.
Facial Markings: Has these marks on his cheeks, but we are never told what they are or how he got them.
Fire-Forged Friends: He doesn't care for Joseph at all at first, but his opinion of him improves after Joseph shows what he's capable of during his first fight with Wamuu, and they become friends after going through Training from Hell together.
Forgotten Fallen Friend: They remember him for a little while, but after Joseph's fight with Wamuu he isn't mentioned again, and the Zeppeli bloodline disappears from the story entirely until Part 7. The anime plays with this - when Kakyoin dies in Part 3, Joseph's expression is exactly the same as when Caesar died, implying he's remembering one lost friend as he loses another.
Heart Is an Awesome Power: Caesar has a preference to channel Hamon through bubbles, fragile fleeting things that would ordinarily not last more than a few seconds. He makes very good use of it however.
Honor Before Reason: Decides to hunt the Pillar Men by himself, despite being told it's a trap, in order to avenge his family's loss. It results in his death.
Hoist by His Own Petard: After trapping Wamuu with his Bubble Lenses, the Pillar Man tries to save himself with his Wind Suit. In order to stop that, Caesar leaps at him to finish him off, but this unfortunately creates a shadow that let Wamuu counterattack with a point-blank Divine Sandstorm. This proves to be his undoing.
Hot-Blooded: From the start, he has a temper, but he initially hides it better than Joseph. Ends up being a Fatal Flaw, though, as it gets him killed.
I Just Want to Be Loved: Storge version. His dream was to have a radiant family. Too bad he died before he got it back.
Improbable Weapon User: His Signature Move are Bubbles, which combined with his ripple powers actually make for powerful explosives.
It's Personal: Caesar desperately wants to kill the Pillar Men due to their roles in the deaths of his great-grandfather, grandfather, and father.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Post-Character Development. He's still a hothead who doesn't always get along with Jojo, but he cares for his friends and his mentor.
The Lancer: He's Joseph's for Part 2. Their contrasts are played up quite a bit when they first meet but they're also shown to be not so different. Even after they grow a mellow respect for each other, their differing approaches to problem solving are often played against one another.
Magic Kiss: He manipulated a woman with a Hamon Kiss, allowing him to control her actions.
Making a Splash: Caesar's strategy in battle involves shooting Hamon-infused bubbles at his enemies.
Mercury's Wings: The feathers woven into his hair can come off as this depending on the panel/frame. More apparent in his ASB model, where they're either this or a pair of Tiny Tsundere Twintails.
Odd Friendship: His best friend was Mark, a Nazi. So enough said.
Passing the Torch:As he lay dying in the mansion, he poured all of his Hamon into a bubble of his own blood. He also put his headband and Wamuu's antidote ring inside it. When Joseph grabbed it, Caesar's Hamon merged with his.
The Power of the Sun: He is a Hamon user.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: Generally the blue to Joseph's red, though this becomes inverted after his past is revealed and Joseph Took a Level in Kindness.
Relative Ridicule: He blames Joseph's grandfather Jonathan for the death of Caesar's grandfather Will.
Revenge Before Reason: His desire to kill the Pillar Man more or less drives him to the point where he lashes out at Joeseph for not going after them when their base is right before them. It ends up being the death of him.
The Rival: To Joseph. He's a better Hamon user than Joseph for starters, and even though Wamuu kills him, Wamuu had to exploit a brief opening to do so. Wamuu even admits that if Kars had been the one to fight him, he would have probably lost, since it was Wamuu's unique elemental ability that allowed him to exploit that opening.
Sacrificial Lion: It's a genetic trait of the Zeppeli family. He's killed at the end of the second act to raise the stakes of the story and personally motivate Joseph.
Senseless Sacrifice:
- Caesar's rampage against Wamuu gets him killed for no good reason. In his final sacrifice, he manages to snatch Wamuu's lip ring with the final antidote to Joseph's poison and deliver it via a Hamon bubble composed of his own blood. Joseph collects the ring but refuses to use it until he legitimately defeats Wamuu, per the terms Wamuu originally set. And he does.
- It eventually ends up being Subverted in a really strange way. Caesar leaves his headband behind as a Tragic Keepsake for Joseph, who wears it during his final battle with Wamuu. It turns out to be the Improvised Weapon that lands the killing blow on Wamuu. Without the headband, Joseph would have been screwed.
Squashed Flat: How he ultimately dies. Despite being cut to shreds beforehand by Wamuu's Divine Sandstorm, Caesar toughs it out long enough to set up his last Hamon bubble — containing his Hamon energy, his headband, and Wamuu's lip ring with the poison antidote in it — to help Joseph, just before a heavy section of the stone ceiling breaks away and comes down on top of him.
Super-Empowering: His brief battle with Joseph has him use a Hamon-charged kiss to hypnotize a woman, as well as give her a boost of Hamon energy to fight Joseph.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: In spite of being of the Zeppelli lineage, Caesar has a surprising amount of similarities with Dio Brando of all people, looking more like the latter than anyone in his lineage. Both are blonde young men that hide their violent tendencies behind a suave facade, have a violent feud with the Joestar of the part, and has a negative relationship with his father. The big difference is that Dio Brando is a pure evil sociopath who ultimately kills his father and adopted brother intentionally to separate himself from his past in the case of the former while exploiting the physical resources of the latter's body. In contrast, Caesar is ultimately a good person unintentionally kills his father, rekindling his pride in his lineage and ultimately sacrifices himself to empower his comrade.
Technician Versus Performer: The Technician to Joseph's Performer. Unlike Joseph, who simply got used to using Hamon growing up, Caesar spent several years of his life honing the skill upon meeting Lisa Lisa, and develops his own unique fighting style with Hamon. As a result, Caesar can use much more complex Hamon techniques than Joseph, who tends to mix basic usage of Hamon with creative tricks and whatever he can get his hands on.
Took a Level in Badass: Went from not even being close to challenging Wamuu to being seconds away from killing him in the span of a month.
Thou Shalt Not Kill: As a street thug, he committed all sorts of crimes, but stopped short of murder. He has no issue with killing the Pillar Men, viewing them as monsters.
A Tragedy of Impulsiveness: As Eyes Of Heaven cements, the disagreement between Joseph and Caesar with the latter rushing off to fight Wamuu was ultimately due to both Joseph and Caesar and saying things neither party meant, and ultimately leads to Ceasar to what would be his untimely death. Old Joseph comments on this, and is able to de-escalate the situation both parties contributed towards.
Tricked-Out Gloves: A downplayed example, in they're just soaked in a thin layer of soap so that Caesar will have ammunition for his bubble attacks.
Tsundere: While he's usually not willing to admit it when Joseph is around, it's clear that he respects him deeply and cares about him enough to die for him.
Vitriolic Best Friends: While he and Joseph are borderline inseparable, that doesn't stop them from being at each other's throats half the time. Their habits of butting heads sadly leads to Caesar making an impulsive decision to fight Wamuu on his own, something that results in his death.
What Happened to the Mouse?: Caesar has four siblings that are never mentioned again once the part has concluded.
Wrench Whack: It's briefly mentioned during a flashback that in his youth, hitting people with a wrench was Caesar's favorite way to start a fight.

Lisa Lisa

Voiced by: Atsuko Tanaka (TV anime and All-Star Battle (R)) (Japanese), Wendee Lee (English)

"If you truly wish to master Hamon in a month, you must be prepared to DIE for it!"

"I did not accept the responsibility of training you just you can save your own skin. I am forging a squad of warriors capable of annihilating our enemies!"

Caesar and Joseph's Hamon master. She is named after American R&B singer Lisa Velez.

Action Girl: She is a Hamon master who kills vampire mooks with style, and only lost her fight against Kars because he cheap-shotted her with a mook disguised as himself.
Action Mom: She's Joseph's mother and a powerful Hamon master.
Action Dress Rip: Does this to escape after taking revenge on the zombie who killed her husband.
Agony of the Feet: After she is stabbed in the back and rendered nearly dead by Kars, he stabs two holes in her feet and binds them with rope to bait JoJo into an uneven fight, knocking off her pumps in the process.
Amazonian Beauty: A very beautiful and feminine woman who is also very strong physically and has a very imposing and muscular figure. Then, it's JoJo after all.
Badass in Distress: Due to Kars' cunning, he fatally injuries her and Joseph has to rescue his Hamon master.
Bathing Beauty: Taking luxurious baths is described as being one of her hobbies.
Big Good: Of Part 2, though she is more of an anti-heroic example. She leads the heroes to counter Kars and the Pillar Men and is the one in possession of the MacGuffin that the Pillar Men seek.
Buxom Beauty Standard: She has a well-endowed figure, which Joseph takes notice of when she hides the Red Stone of Aja in her cleavage.
Combat Commentator: She and Kars commentate Joseph's duel with Wamuu.
Compressed Hair: In her first appearance, she has her long hair put under a hat. This plus her Cool Mask causes Joseph and Caesar to mistake her as a male gondolier at first. Not as jarring as many examples of the trope, as the gondolier hat is quite tall, making it more reasonable that she could fit her hair there.
Cool Mask: She first confronts Caesar and Joseph in a Carnevale mask.
Cool Shades: She always has a pair of aviator glasses on her, which helps with her stylish aesthetic. She only wears them when things get serious.
Crazy-Prepared: Her scarf isn't just an accessory, it's a life-sensing tool and a way to channel Hamon to both assist her movements and give her further reach. Not that it helps her when her guard is down...
Crusading Widow: She did not react with grief when her first husband George was murdered. She reacted with blithe fury and immediately went and murdered the undead monster responsible for killing him, one of Dio's henchmen who had survived to see World War I and infiltrated the ranks of the British Royal Air Force. However, this backfired on her because her rage clouded her judgement and she wound up with a witness who was unaware of the context behind this act. The people who were under that zombie's command (unaware of his malevolent nature and role in George II's death) thought it was a wanton assassination and branded her an international criminal, forcing her into the life of a fugitive and leaving her no choice but to conceal her identity from her own child and give him up as an infant to live with Erina for his own safety.
Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: Or Mommy, in this case. It's a bit hard to raise your son when you're the number one fugitive of his home country.
Depending on the Artist: She is depicted with the Joestar birthmark in the Hirohiko Araki JoJo Exhibition 2012, even though she's not a Joestar by birth and shouldn't have it.
Didn't Think This Through: She could have been able to kill the zombie that murdered her husband without being noticed, but due to her rash fury, she ended up becoming a fugitive and not being able to be with Joseph during his childhood.
Foreshadowing:
- When Caesar picks a fight with Joseph over the latter hitting on Lisa Lisa, Caesar curiously mentions that he respects Lisa Lisa as if she were his mother. This was an early hint at both Lisa Lisa's real age and her actually being Joseph's mom.
- The most skilled Hamon masters before her aged very slowly. The skill she demonstrates in her introduction is easily at their level, suggesting that she could be quite a bit older than she looks.
Formal Characters Use Keigo: Due to being a graceful woman, and probably also due to Erina's influence, she usually speaks in a very polite manner, even to her much younger disciple Caesar and her own son Joseph.
Going Commando: In the anime, there's a scene of her stripping off her dress before taking a bubble bath. It turns out that she wasn't wearing any undergarments whatsoever.
Guile Heroine: She had a plan waiting to trick Kars and Wamuu into letting her and Joseph escape from a trap that had them dead to rights by claiming she had rigged the Aja stone to explode if she and Joseph weren't back in time to stop it. It works, since she's so cool under pressure that even Kars can't tell if she's bluffing. Joseph and Jotaro got it from her, apparently.
Happily Ever After: After the battle with the Pillar Men, she met a screenwriter and fell in love with him, going on to enjoy the rest of her life in peace as his wife.
Happily Married: She and George II were very happy together before his untimely death. She's so enraged by his death that she immediately avenges him without thinking much about the consequences. Also, the epilogue states that she eventually met a screenwriter and fell in love with him, taking him on as her second husband, and by extension, that unnamed man became Joseph's stepfather. Like many of the plot-insignificant members of the Joestar family tree, he gets little more than a footnote.
Hartman Hips: Lisa Lisa has a curvaceous body, emphasizing her role as a motherly Ms. Fanservice character in addition to a capable warrior.
Hidden Heart of Gold: Towards Joseph mainly, being his Sink or Swim Mentor and putting up a heavily nonchalant facade. That is, until Caesar's death.
Informed Ability: Downplayed. Lisa Lisa is stated to be much better at Hamon than Joseph or Caesar, but never really gets an opportunity to show this off outside dealing with a few mooks. Not helping things is that her anticipated fight against Kars is muddied by Kars deceiving both Lisa Lisa and Jojo by using a body double.
Lady of War: Very graceful and dignified in her Hamon use. At one point, she even wins a fight using a silk scarf.
Large Ham: Falls into this a few times, specially when lecturing Joseph while the latter is trying to climb the Hell Climb Pillar.
Lisa Lisa: HELL CLIMB PILLAR ACCEPTS ONLY HAMON AND REJECTS EVERYTHING ELSE!!!
Luke, I Am Your Father: Gender Inverted. She's Joseph's mother.
Making a Splash: In Lisa Lisa's debut scene, not only does she Walk on Water like a true Hamon master, she uses her Hamon to create two pillars of water to hold an oar up for her to use it as a high beam.
Master of Threads: Lisa Lisa can manipulate her Scarf of Asskicking by infusing it with Hamon.
The Mentor: She's a Hamon master who has Caesar as her pupil, and she also takes Joseph as one of her pupils during the story, to train his Hamon abilities for the upcoming battle with the Pillar Men.
Mentor Occupational Hazard: Barely subverted. She was defeated in combat by Kars (who used a body double to trick her), narrowly avoiding death thanks to Joseph who manages to save her just in time.
Ms. Fanservice: She is a beautiful woman who is portrayed in a rather sexualized way, even getting a Bathtub Scene where there are several Male Gaze shots of her naked backside and towel-clad body, especially in the anime.
Musical Theme Naming: She is named after Lisa Lisa.
Nerves of Steel: She keeps her cool, even when faced with situations a lesser man would break under.
Not So Above It All: For such a strict mentor, Lisa Lisa is very amused and very proud of every cheap trick Joseph uses during his fight with Wamuu. Since it's the first time she sees her son fight a proper battle, it makes sense.
Wamuu: Rrrgh... JoJo! HE did this!
Lisa Lisa: That cheeky little devil!
Kars: You BASTARD!!
Not So Stoic: She's rather stoic until Joseph notices that she put her cigarette in her mouth backwards during one particular dramatic moment. When he mentions this out loud, Lisa Lisa has a moment of quiet surprise before she breaks down weeping for her murdered student once she and Joseph see Caesar's blood pool beneath the boulder. The anime makes it worse by showing Lisa Lisa vainly trying to choke back the grief before openly losing herself in tears along with Joseph.
Older Than They Look: Looks like she's in her 20s, but is actually 50. It's justified since mastering Hamon also slows down aging.
Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: One of her most alluring features. She has very long and attractively sleek hair, but is also very unusually and mysteriously fair-skinned due to her extended youth.
Repetitive Name: Lisa Lisa. Making it Alliterative Name also.
Samus Is a Girl: When Joseph meets her, she is initially fully dressed and her face is masked, and he thinks she must be a man... until she reveals her face.
Scarf of Asskicking: Literally — she puts Hamon energy into it and uses it as a weapon.
Lisa Lisa (in All Star Battle): "Think you can touch me?" [Enemy character lands attack] "Think me weak, do you?" [Scarf repels the attack and wraps around attacker] "How do you like my Sathiphorosia Scarab-thread scarf? It transmits 100% of the Hamon that flows through it!" [Attacker is electrically shocked as Lisa Lisa lands multiple punches] "It was specially made..." [One final kick] "...and rather expensive."
Sexy Mentor: To Joseph and Caesar. However, she doesn't exploit it, likely because she's Joseph's mom. She's also the one woman Caesar won't flirt with since he greatly respects her and views her like a second mother.
She Is All Grown Up: She was the orphaned baby Jonathan gave to Erina at the end of Part 1.
Sink or Swim Mentor: Her first lesson involved tossing Joseph into a pit where the only exit was by climbing up a huge, oil-covered pillar. If he didn't master the Hamon techniques needed to climb it, then she would let him starve. Even Caesar objects to her putting them through such intense training, mentioning that he had heard trainees had died attempting the challenge. Normally, she wouldn't be so harsh, but Joseph was going to die in a month anyway if he didn't complete his training.
Smoking Is Cool: Invoked unsuccessfully. She calmly pulls out a cigarette when Caesar dies in an attempt to maintain her aura of cool stoicism. It almost works... until Joseph points out that her cigarette is backwards.
Statuesque Stunner: She's most definitely beautiful, and she stands at the rather tall height of 175 cm (5'9'').
The Stoic: Puts forth an air of cool detachment, even when she finds out about Caesar's death, which pisses off Joseph...
Strong and Skilled: As a renowned Master of Hamon, Lisa Lisa is both much stronger and much more adept at using Hamon than Caesar and Joseph, even after their training. Her loss was only due to Kars blind sighting both her and Joseph after putting up a facade of honor before their match.
Sugar-and-Ice Personality: At first, she's presented as a stoic person and as a mean, harsh teacher who is willing to assault Joseph and even let him starve to death in a pit. Once Joseph earns her respect, however, she starts to show a nicer side, praising his ingenuity and putting her trust in him, even letting herself get emotional around him after Caesar's death.
Supermodel Strut: Downplayed. It is stated in her profile that she has a very alluring walk, and she definitely has the confidence to pull it off, but this is never properly illustrated, though the fact she's often seen in a Contrapposto Pose implies she's often just done it off-screen.
Supernaturally Young Parent: She's actually Joseph's mother and also about 50 years old, but she looks so youthful because mastering Hamon slows down aging.
Violently Protective Girlfriend: Deconstructed. Because she killed her husband's killer (a zombie disguised as a high member of the Royal Air Force) without thinking it through, she became a national fugitive and had to abandon Joseph when he was just a child.
The Worf Effect: She is defeated and nearly killed by Kars to show how much more cunning and dangerous a villain he is, despite not being as mighty a warrior as Wamuu had been. To her credit, this only happens once, and it's lessened by the fact that she has been shown to be able to dispatch vampires easily before. And it can be easily inferred that if circumstances had played out as it was expected, she would have won.
Worf Had the Flu: Kars effortlessly beats Lisa Lisa by virtue of completely blind sighting her with a body double to take his place, having been lulled into a false sense of security by his seeming willingness to honor the clash between Wamuu and Joseph without stepping in or attacking her when he had the chance during the former two's fight and even offers her a weapon in the spirit of Wamuu's honor. Joseph calls him out on it, but Kars defends the action by saying he'd do whatever it takes to win.
World's Best Warrior: Stated to be one of the best Hamon users alive of her time, and taught both Joseph and Caesar how to use Hamon properly.
World's Strongest Woman: A master of Hamon with at least 30+ years worth of training, Lisa Lisa is the strongest non-stand using woman in the entire series. This is also subverted, she's presented as the strongest Hamon user in the series until she is surpassed by Kars after he successfully obtains the Red Stone by backstabbing Lisa Lisa.
You Killed My Father: She admits to having complicated feelings towards Joseph due to him being the one to kill her adoptive father Straizo at the beginning of Part 2, though she is more disappointed in Straizo losing his way and succumbing to his desire for immortality.

Rudol von Stroheim

Voiced by: Atsushi Imaruoka (TV anime, All-Star Battle (R), Eyes of Heaven) (Japanese), Dan Woren (English)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jojosbizarreadventurebattletendencyrudolfvonstroheim1.png

"YOU UTTER FOOL! GERMAN SCIENCE IS THE FINEST IN THE WORLD!"

^{SPOILERS: Click here to see Stroheim as he appears from "Von Stroheim's Revenge" onwards.}

"No need to look so pale. I told you from the start that there was nothing to fear."

A Nazi officer experimenting upon the Pillar Men and vampires in Mexico to explore their potential as weapons of the German army. He is named after Austrian-American movie director Erich von Stroheim.

Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Downplayed. In the English dub, Stroheim seems to put a lot of faith into Joseph during the final confrontation with Kars, explicitly stating he'd do anything Jojo asked of him, giving the impression they had bonded so much Joseph had earned his undying loyalty. Though in the end, their relationship never gets to being anything more than an Enemy Mine.
All for Nothing: When we see him again with his cybernetic body, he explains that every inch of his arsenal was built around Santana's physiology, thinking it should be effective against Kars. However, Stroheim hadn't counted on the fact that Santana was by far the weakest of the Pillar Men; so while he does manage to throw him for a loop at first, Kars quickly proves Stroheim's upgrades insufficient with little effort.
Anime Hair: Notable case in that Stroheim was the inspiration for Guile's hairstyle.
Anti-Villain: He's an unapologetic Nazi that comes to side with the heroes as his main motivation in fighting the Pillar Men is not to save the world, but to solidify his country's superiority.
Big Damn Heroes: While being quite ineffectual at dealing with the Pillar Men by himself, Stroheim does come to Joseph's aid in the nick of time, saving him once (twice if you include the anime) through the story.
Boisterous Bruiser: The guy seems incapable of battling without talking about how great he is.
Break the Haughty: After realizing he has no hope of taking on the Pillar Men without Joseph's help, he is wiling to work with the British heroes. It doesn't stop him from bragging about the superiority of German Science.
Butt-Monkey: For all his bluster and flashy cyborg tricks, Stroheim has absolutely horrible luck in his fights, and both of his battles with Kars end with him being reduced to a torso and put on Combat Commentator duty.
Came Back Strong: After blowing himself up to take down Santana, he's rebuilt by German science into a superhuman cyborg engineered specifically to kill Pillar Men. Unfortunately, all the physical data they had regarding the Pillar Men came from the aforementioned Santana, who was the weakest of the four.
Camp Straight: There's no indication that he's anything but straight; it's even more likely he's not gay because he's a Nazi officer, a profession where being gay generally led to a short career (and lifespan). He's still incredibly flamboyant no less.
Chest Blaster: A .50 cal M2 Browning machine gun, which later gets an ultraviolet light upgrade. His ridiculously campy pose when using it is infamous in the fanbase.
Cultured Badass: Stroheim quotes Plutarch's lines on the courage of man in the face of peril as he attempts a Heroic Sacrifice with a Stick Grenade to kill Santana.
Stroheim: "Human greatness lies in one's ability to face down their fears". Do you know who said that? The Greek historian, Plutarch. Farewell... annoying Englishman!
Cyborg: After blowing himself to smithereens in an attempt to kill Santana, Stroheim returns as a cyborg, complete with a suite of weapons built into his prostheses.
Deadly Distant Finale: Stroheim is said to have died during the Battle of Stalingrad... somehow. The anime shows that he sacrificed himself to cover a German retreat; ultimately falling to the Soviet forces in their counterattack, and was later stated to have been killed by a Russian Stand user in particular.
Disney Death: Of the "We Can Rebuild Him" variant, his fight with Santana resulted in a botched Heroic Sacrifice.
Enemy Mine: With Joseph. Remember, it's okay to team up with Nazis, but only if your mutual enemies are a race of super-powerful vampire-eating demigods that pose a direct threat to all humanity, whereas the Nazis only threaten most of humanity. A comment Joseph makes at the end of Battle Tendency confirms that their alliance was only temporary, and in Stardust Crusaders, the Speedwagon Foundation easily takes over the responsibility of repairing Joseph's prosthetic hand.
Joseph: I've been meaning to ask Stroheim if he can jazz it up with a gadget or two... but I guess that went out the window with our fighting Germany.
Evil Is Not a Toy: Subverted. While initially he's researching the Pillar Men for the purposes of strengthening the German army, he orders Santana's destruction upon seeing just how dangerous he is. As he is about to self-destruct, he explains that they awoke Santana so they could learn how to destroy Pillar Men, not gain their powers. Santana is just that dangerous.
Evil Versus Oblivion: Make no mistake, Stroheim is a loyal Nazi to the very end, but he sides with Joseph and the rest to prevent the world from being subjugated against the Pillar Men.
Eye Beams: His UV Beam attack. It turns out to be extremely effective against the Pillar Men and their minions, and is later converted into backpack-mounted and platform-mounted versions for use by regular soldiers.
Failure Hero: One of the biggest reasons why he's so sympathetic for a Nazi character. Stroheim starts off as a typical sadistic dog-kicker, but after Santana awakens, he never accomplishes anything — or, at least not on his own. At his best, Stroheim is capable of showing up when the heroes are in trouble and evening the odds enough for them to get the upper hand again, and at his worst, he'll get his ass kicked as soon as he's done bragging about GERMAN SCIENCE.
Fatal Flaw: Pride; he is overconfident in virtually all situations and is always looking down on the Pillar Men. The first case even resulted in a Disney Death.
Foil:
- To Joseph, whose imposing and harsh demeanor conceals a juvenile and strangely honourable character. They both strive to extensively prepare for difficult challenges, but Stroheim lacks Joseph's ability to improvise, so he's completely at a loss when his (admittedly large) batch of tricks runs out.
- He's one to Wamuu as well. Both are blonde men with a sense of honour and bravery, and come to respect Joseph for exhibiting those same traits despite his juvenile personality. Wamuu, however, is the Token Good Teammate of his fellow Pillar Men, while Stroheim is the Token Evil Teammate of the heroes as he's still a Nazi.
Good Thing You Can Heal: Most characters get wounded over the course of the series. Stroheim gets torn to pieces in every fight he gets into, because aside from his left arm, head, and upper torso the rest is easily replaceable machinery.
Half the Man He Used to Be: He destroyed the lower half of his body with a grenade once Santana started crawling inside his leg. He manages to survive this long enough for Nazi scientists to rebuild his lower half with cybernetics.
Heroic Sacrifice: Attempts to sacrifice himself to kill Santana by setting off a grenade against both. It doesn't end up killing him, and he gets rebuilt with Nazi science.
Hollywood Cyborg: After his Disney Death, he's resurrected as a super-strong half-machine with weapons hidden throughout his mechanical body.
Kick the Dog:
- A Mexican woman he ordered to help him shave accidentally cuts him, so he tells her to lick it off. By that, he puts the sharp edge of the straight razor under her tongue, so if she moves she'll cut herself on the blade, laughing and taunting her as he does so. Fortunately, the woman leaves with her tongue intact.
- When the Nazis plan to feed the Pillar Men blood, they send in a group of civilians they have forcibly seized to use as food. Stroheim then brings out an actual Nazi practice: he offers a trade, letting one civilian die for the others to live. One boy steps forward, and Stroheim congratulates him for his courage... then has his men open fire on the rest of the civilians.
Large Ham: GERMAN SCIENCE IS THE GREATEST IN THE WORLD! MY BODY... HAS BEEN FULLY REPAAAAAAAIRED!
Leitmotif: "Hike"/"Propaganda".
A Lighter Shade of Black: He's portrayed as being evil, given he willingly participates in the Nazi regime, but possesses Noble Demon traits and chooses to ally himself with the heroes to prevent the subjugation of all mankind.
Majorly Awesome: Initially he holds the rank of Major within the SS. Gets promoted to Colonel once he returns as a Cyborg.
Mighty Glacier: After being rebuilt as a cyborg, his mechanical body has almost double the strength of a Pillar Man (which translates to about 6 times the strength of a strong vampire), at least in terms of finger grip strength, and his mechanical arms are tough enough to block Kars' bone blades (which slice through human bodies and buildings like butter) as long as they're not actively in Light Mode. Unfortunately for him, he's just too slow to defend himself when Kars (who's fast enough to deflect automatic weapons fire) gets really serious with the slicing and dicing.
More Dakka: The modified M2 Browning machine gun built in his torso can fire 600 rounds a minute through 30mm armor plating. However, Kars still dodges it easily.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: His overzealousness in finishing off Kars leads to him accidentally powering the Red Stone mask he secretly put on, leading to his becoming the Ultimate Life Form. When he realizes what is going to happen, all he can do is yell a Big "NO!".
No Indoor Voice: His VA really exaggerated his Large Ham tendencies in the 2012 anime.
Noble Demon: Severely downplayed. Despite being a fanatical Nazi officer, he seems to lack the hate of foreigners common among Nazis (the reason may be, that according to the Nazis, the British were not deemed an "inferior race"). And also realizes that destroying the Pillar Men takes far higher priority than trying to use them as soldiers after what happened in Mexico. He seems to see himself as a German first and foremost, and is not particularly focused on the Nazi ideology.
No Celebrities Were Harmed: His facial features and hair brings Dolph Lundgren to mind.
No Swastikas: Curiously, despite being a Nazi officer, there are no swastikas anywhere on his uniform. His use of the Nazi salute is also removed in the anime, having been changed to him merely pointing a finger in the air, and the English dub rarely uses the word "Nazi" to describe him.
Patriotic Fervor: He's very fond of declaring that German [X] is "THE GREATEST IN THE WORLD!"
Phallic Weapon: The design of the machine gun built into his chest isn't even subtle. The pose he strikes while firing it makes the imagery even less subtle.
Pride: The heroes note that this is his Fatal Flaw.
Politically Incorrect Villain: Well, he's a Nazi. Strangely for ANY media, he's an Anti-Villain rather than a full blown villain, and spends a lot of his screen time allying with the heroes. While he doesn't really have the same overtly racist views as most did, he still acts like Germany is superior to the other nations, and uses that as the reason for his actions when first introduced.
Rocket Punch: In the climax he demonstrates this ability, though unlike most examples it's not designed to come back. It's also notable that he doesn't use this ability to punch anybody, but rather blast Kars and pin him to the plane he had grabbed onto in order to trap him there while it crashes.
Running Gag: If Stroheim shows up to the battle in one piece, full of bravado, and generally combat-capable, don't expect any of that to be true by the end. You can also expect him to brag about the superiority of German science.
Screams Like a Little Girl: He can hit some pretty high notes when he screams in horror.
Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: A variation. Once he realizes how dangerous the Pillar Men are, he ignores any orders or attempts to capture them and immediately sets out to kill them, knowing it is too dangerous to let them live.
Shout-Out: Over a decade before JoJo was conceived, Go Nagai had a German cyborg named Stroheim appear in Mazinger Z.
Social Darwinist: He values strength and courage above everything else; while this compels him to ally with the heroes when they show strength against the Pillar Men, this also compels him to be an unrepentant Nazi who slaughters entire villages without a second thought.
Stupid Jetpack Hitler: "GERMAN SCIENCE IS THE GREATEST IN THE WORLD!!!" On a darker note, he's researching Pillar Men and stone masks to enforce the strength of Nazi Germany, though he abandons that plan when he sees how dangerous Santana is
Super Prototype: His UV Beam eye laser. It proves extremely effective, and the technology is given to the Speedwagon foundation to mass-produce anti-vampire weapons.
Taking You with Me: Successfully pulls this on Santana, by way of blowing both him and the Pillar Man up with a Stick Grenade. It doesn't quite work, but unlike most cases, he also survives.
Tempting Fate: Might as well be his catchphrase. Every time he says something with confidence, he gets proven wrong in minutes. Even his claim that GERMAN SCIENCE IS THE GREATEST IN THE WORLD!!! was followed by him failing to do any major damage to his target barring knocking him off his feet.
Those Wacky Nazis: His initial appearance screams every bit of the stereotypical Nazi evilness that he is, but after his Heel–Face Turn, he cranks up his German antics to an entertaining level.
Token Evil Teammate: To an extent. He's a Noble Demon, but he is also a proud German officer during 1930s-era Germany, meaning he's a member of the Nazi party (and with a tag on his collar, possibly the SS). Although he is introduced doing some cruel and evil actions, once it becomes clear that the Pillar Men are a truly dangerous threat, he becomes an ally of the heroes from then on. However, the alliance stops as soon as the Piller Men are defeated.
We Can Rebuild Him: Twice! German Science revives him and makes him stronger.

Allies

Erina Joestar

See Phantom Blood

Robert E. O. Speedwagon

See Phantom Blood

Smokey Brown

Voiced by: Yu Hayashi (Japanese), Robbie Daymond (English)

A pickpocket who steals from Joseph in New York. However, Joseph defends him from the abusive cops who attempt to arrest him, making him into one of his closest friends.

Adaptation Expansion: Not much, but in the anime adaptation of Stardust Crusaders (which is set almost 50 years later), he briefly appears on the cover of a magazine, which shows that he became the mayor of New York City.
Back for the Finale: Smokey is only a sidekick during the short New York arc, but he returns later for the finale battle, even if he can't fight.
Black Dude Dies First: Averted. The epilogue reveals to the viewers how and when several of the characters have died after the finale, but since Smokey is younger than the rest of them, he doesn't die of old age or succumbs to any illness, but instead it shows him rising up as the first black mayor of Georgia. The TV adaptation of Part 3 also adds a scene that he is still alive and the mayor of New York.
Good Counterpart: His first meeting with Joseph parallels how George Joestar I bailed out Dario. Unlike Dario, Smokey actually pulls a Heel–Face Turn and shows genuine gratitude towards his savior rather than taking advantage of him. Smokey also uses his gratitude for good use and becomes Georgia's first black mayor.
Named After Somebody Famous: A double whammy. He's named after Smokey Robinson and James Brown.
Nice Guy: He's only a pickpocket out of necessity when he's befriended by Joseph. Otherwise, he is a nice kid.
Only Sane Man: He is a normal kid caught up in the bizarre events surrounding JoJo's life and family background, and thus he reacts to those events and backstories like any normal person would.
Put on the Bus: Smokey doesn't follow JoJo when the later leaves New York, thus he leaves the story early on. He does come back much later, but after the epilogue, he never comes back to the story at all.
Rags to Riches: Smokey is a little pickpocket at the beginning of the series, but the epilogue of Battle Tendency reveals that he has become a successful politician.
Token Minority: The only black character of the group. Early on he is subjected to racism, but JoJo and Erina kept defending him. Because of that, he stays as a loyal friend to the Joestars.
Undying Loyalty: Despite having no combat abilities whatsoever, he still risks getting chased by Kars in order to tell Joseph about Lisa Lisa. In general, he's got this to both Joseph, who saved him from racist cops despite being his pickpocket victim, and Erina, who took him in like family (in defiance of her having grown up and aged in times unkind to black people), such that in the epilogue of Part 2 years after, he's among the close family gathered at Erina's side on her deathbed.
The Watson: Smokey has no knowledge of Hamon, the Pillar Men, the Stone Mask, Dio Brando, or any of the other craziness that Battle Tendency runs on. Most of his reactions, as a result, allow the other heroes to explain what they wouldn't have a reason to talk about.

Mark

Voiced by: Ryōta Ōsaka (TV anime) (Japanese), Kyle McCarley (English)

Died in Your Arms Tonight: Dies in Caesar's arms.
Fatal Family Photo: Shows off a locket photo of his fiancee. Wamuu kills him ten minutes later.
Go Out with a Smile: He smiles in peace when Caesar's Hamon dulls his pain, thanking him before passing away.
Half the Man He Used to Be: Wamuu removes half of his body...vertically!
Mercy Kill: Wamuu walks through him, causing half of Mark's body to be absorbed. His final wish was for Caesar to kill him so that he could die a painless death, which Caesar obliged to by sending Hamon through his heart.
Nice Guy: According to Caesar. Which is an... interesting claim to make about a soldier of the Nazi party.
No Swastikas: He, like Stroheim, is a Nazi soldier without any swastikas on his body, but unlike Stroheim, is portrayed sympathetically.
Odd Friendship: No matter how you think about it, someone like Caesar being friends with a Nazi soldier is a very odd revelation.
Red Shirt: He's alive for barely five minutes of screen time before he's killed off, with only the bare minimum known about him.
Patriotic Fervor: He has much love for his country, despite the fact that the Nazi party and the Holocaust were happening at this same time.
Small Role, Big Impact: He doesn't have much screentime, but his death motivates Joseph and Caesar to defeat the Pillar Men.
Token Good Teammate: Subverted. Despite having some qualities that could put him in this position (a friendship with Caesar and a willingness to help the heroes), he's very proud of his country, showing he is a Nazi through and through.
Those Wacky Nazis: Averted. He is a good guy that expresses full enthusiasm for his role as a Nazi because he can serve his country.
We Hardly Knew Ye: There was very little characterization for him to go with before he bit the dust.

Loggins and Messina

Loggins voiced by: Yutaka Nakano (TV anime and All-Star Battle (R)) (Japanese), Ray Chase (English)

Messina voiced by: Hidetoshi Nakamura (TV anime and All-Star Battle (R)) (Japanese), Michael McConnohie (English)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/loggins_and_messina.png

Loggins is on the left, Messina is on the right

Lisa Lisa's bodyguards and Joseph & Caesar's Hamon mentors.

An Arm and a Leg:
- After killing Loggins, Eisidisi kicks off his left arm in order to replace the one Joseph burnt off.
- Messina loses an arm to Wamuu, but at the funeral, he seems to have a prosthetic.
The Cameo: The duo run the Training Mode in All-Star Battle, fitting their status as mentors for Joseph and Caesar.
Dub Name Change: The English dub renamed them to Loggs and Meshina.
Good Hair, Evil Hair: Unusually, Messina is a heroic character with a Fu Manchu mustache.
Graceful Loser: When the final exams come along, Messina squares off against Caesar. They seem evenly matched until Messina surrenders, noting that in spite of his shorter training, Caesar has surpassed him and a prolonged fight would only end in a fatal loss of life (more so for him rather than Caesar). With that, Messina tells him he passed.
Informed Flaw" Loggins was apparently so awful to Joseph that he truly held a grudge against his mentor, but considering the one scene we see of him before his death is him being pretty friendly, we never see it.
Named After Somebody Famous: They are named after Loggins and Messina.
Stern Teacher: Their characterization is extremely limited, but they come off as this. Joseph mentions nearly hating Loggins after all their offscreen training, and when traveling through Switzerland; Messina slaps Joseph awake after catching him dozing off.
Those Two Guys: Never mentioned without one another.
We Hardly Knew Ye: Loggins is immediately killed by Esidisi before Joseph has a chance to spar with him.
The Worf Effect: Pretty standard for mentor characters. Only Loggins's is fatal, though.

Suzi Q

Suzi Q / Suzi Q Joestar

Voiced by: Sachiko Kojima (TV Anime), Shoko Saito (CD drama), Ryoko Kinomiya (OVA) (Japanese), Stephanie Sheh (English)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/suzie_young.jpg

Click^here
to see her as she appears in Stardust Crusaders.

Lisa Lisa's maid and eventually Joseph's wife.

She is named after the Dale Hawkins song "Susie Q" (famously covered by Creedence Clearwater Revival) and/or Suzi Quatro.

Assist Character: She appears as one in Diamond Records, providing the active character with healing and a defense boost.
Body Horror: She practically explodes with blood when Esidisi was possessing her.
Brainless Beauty: Zigzagged. She's got the looks, and a lot of the time it seems there's not much going on upstairs, but as explained below, Suzi Q is actually smarter than she acts.
Demonic Possession: Gets possessed by a Not Quite Dead Esidisi.
The Ditz: Without a doubt her most defining mental trait. First, she doesn't recognize Joseph at one point because he wasn't wearing his breathing mask. Secondly, Joseph's family and friends end up thinking Joseph died because she forgot to mail them the news he was alive, safe and recovering.
Flowers of Femininity: Her white headdress is decorated with red roses.
The Gadfly: She's consistently successful in trolling Joseph by playing dumb, which is probably why they got married. Even in the finale, when he's chasing her around a car because she apparently forgot to tell everyone that he was alive, he never considers the possibility that she did it to mess with him.
Hellish Pupils: Briefly took a hexagon shape with segmented lines when possessed by Esidisi.
Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Suzie Q is small and waifish, while her eventual husband Joseph is tall and very muscular.
Like an Old Married Couple: Though they don't get much time together on paper, the end of Part 2 shows that she and Joseph perfectly complement each other; in the anime, the flashback of their entire courting period is nothing but a series of stills of her trolling a practically paraplegic Joseph. Part 2 ends with Joseph chasing her around a car, threatening her with his prosthetic hand for letting everyone think he was dead for weeks on end while he was stuck in the hospital and getting married (having stumbled upon his funeral).
Love Interest: To Joseph; they even get married, though you'd already know this by now.
Ms. Fanservice: Being a maid for starters. While she was always a cutie, she turns out to be quite the bombshell at the end of Battle Tendency. Even in Stardust Crusaders, she still looks good depite her age. Joseph is one lucky JoJo.
Muggle: Suzie Q is among the few members of the Joestar family who doesn't have the power of Hamon or a Stand.
Musical Theme Naming: She is named after the Dale Hawkins song "Susie Q".
Obfuscating Stupidity: Is very self-aware in her troublemaking shenanigans. When she doesn't inform the Part 2 cast that Joseph isn't dead, her first instinct is to run away, seemingly prepared for such an outburst from Joseph. Even when she's old, she knows that Joseph and the crew are out on a large-scale adventure and that something's wrong with Holly, yet plays dumb when Joseph calls her on a submarine.
Silver Vixen: Even as an old lady, she's still got quite the figure, as the Part 3 anime helpfully points out.
Smarter Than You Look:
- Despite pretty obviously being quite out of the loop on a lot of things, she was still smart enough to figure out that her daughter's life was in danger despite Joseph and Roses deliberately hiding said fact from her to keep her from worrying, and understands that Joseph and Jotaro's trip to Egypt was actually to save Holly from dying from DIO's curse.
- Her ditziest, most infuriatingly stupid lines are all directed at Joseph, who gets precisely as irritated as you'd expect. He doesn't seem to realize the connection between this and their Ship Tease moments.
Supermodel Strut: In her youth, she starts moving with a deliberate sway to her hips at the end of Battle Tendency. Part 3 shows that she's still doing it even in her late sixties.
Woman Scorned: Not shown on-screen, but Jotaro mentions during the events of Part 4 that the Joestar estate is, "in shambles," upon Suzi learning that Joseph had an affair with Tomoko Higashikata, resulting in the birth of Josuke.

George "Jorge" Joestar II

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/george_joestar_ii.png

Jonathan's son and Joseph's father. An ace fighter pilot in World War I who died during the war while flying.

The Greatest Story Never Told: Jorge Joestar, which tells the story of his childhood and romance of Elisabeth Straizo (Lisa Lisa), among other things.
Minor Major Character: He's Joseph's dad, but he is not really addressed fully in the series. There is a (non-canon) light novel that discusses his life, though.
Posthumous Character: Due to Dio's surviving zombie.

Villains

Straizo

Voiced by: Nobuo Tobita (TV anime and All-Star Battle (R)), Hiroaki Miura (Phantom Blood video game) (Japanese), Dave Mallow (English)

Previously one of Tonpetty's students, he developed a fear of growing old and dying, which led him to use the Stone Mask to turn himself into a vampire. He acts as the Starter Villain of Part 2, trying to eliminate Joseph before he can develop more Hamon experience. See also his folder on the Part 1 page for more information about his role in the previous part.

Ambition Is Evil: Downplayed. Although Straizo confesses to have admired Dio's youth and power as a vampire years ago, he's mostly after the "beauty and eternal youth" bit of it (as he is afraid of dying as a withered old man), unlike Dio who just craved power and sought out a vampire's eternal life to get rid of his own mortality and limitations as a human.
Better to Die than Be Killed: He commits suicide by channeling Hamon into his body as a vampire after being defeated by Joseph.
Calling Your Attacks: "SPACE RIPPER STINGY EYES!"
Eye Beams: Uses Dio's old eye beam attack on Joseph after becoming a vampire. He gives it a really stupid name (Space Ripper Stingy Eyes), too.
Even Evil Has Standards: After he turns into a vampire using the blood of his own Hamon disciples and Speedwagon's, his first act is to dump their bodies into a river. The reason for this, as Straizo later reveals to Joseph, was because he watched Santana's still dormant, petrified body absorbing the blood from the corpses (and Straizo himself was frightened by the sight of it), and realized Santana would awaken completely if let be.
Fallen Hero: Lisa Lisa herself laments how such a hero like Straizo was Driven to Madness by his fear of aging.
Face–Heel Turn: He turns into a vampire, inspired by Dio's eternal beauty and power.
Fangs Are Evil: After becoming a vampire.
Forgot About His Powers: Justified. He doesn't use the flash-freezing technique, which while useful, he doesn't use- having seen it fail against Jonathan who exploited its weakness- and assumed Joseph- his grandson- would have an answer to that technique. He instead goes for the Eye Beams that managed to kill Jonathan as a more practical means of killing him.
Full-Frontal Assault: After Joseph blows Vampire Straizo up with a bundle of grenades, he regenerates and continues to fight Joseph naked.
Gratuitous English: The aforementioned Space Ripper Stingy Eyes.
He Knows Too Much: Why he claims he's trying to kill the Joestars after becoming a vampire, knowing that as Hamon masters, they would eventually be a threat due to Hamon being a weakness to vampires- something he knows all too well as a former Hamon master human himself.
I Regret Nothing: Even as he's dying, he doesn't regret becoming a vampire, because he'd rather die violently as a young man than wither away peacefully.
Immortality Seeker: Even though the Hamon slows aging down, it can't stop it completely, which is why he becomes a vampire.
Implacable Man: As a vampire, he can survive a Tommy Gun's entire drum magazine's worth of bullets. Having several grenades blow up while attached to him does put him down, but only for a short time.
A Lighter Shade of Black: Compared to Dio, or really, ANY other vampire in the series, Straizo only kills sparingly rather than attempting to create a zombie army or even take over the city/the world. He kills his students and betrays Speedwagon, but when he's lost some blood thanks to Joseph, he moves to take a woman hostage and inflicts upon her a non-fatal injury (removing her tooth) in order to get Joseph to come to him rather than take her blood to heal himself, or attempt to attack anyone else to eat/convert them. While still vile, this is all rather minor compared to Dio's heinous actions.
Named After Somebody Famous: He and Dire are named after Dire Straits.
No-Nonsense Nemesis: Straizo claims that while Dio spent too much time playing around with his powers, which allowed Jonathan to master Hamon and defeat him, he'll eliminate Joseph before he can become a threat.
- However, his determination to kill Joseph as soon as possible ends up doing him in, after Joseph blows him up with a handful of grenades, damaging Straizo's body a big deal — he insists in going after Joseph even though he has not healed completely, and in their rematch at the bridge he continues attacking Joseph with his Eye Beams once more, even after Joseph has already figured how to counter the technique and reflect it back at him.
Pet the Dog: Despite his later turn to villainy, he was genuinely a good father and mentor to Lisa Lisa, who confesses that despite knowing about his heel turn she has mixed feelings about Joseph being responsible for Straizo's death.
Pulling Himself Together: After Joseph blows him up, his body parts all crawl back together, though the process takes long enough that Joseph and Smokey can run away.
Scarf of Asskicking: Just like his adoptive daughter Lisa Lisa's, his scarf doesn't just look cool, it's made from beetle intestines that conduct Hamon. However, whereas Lisa Lisa uses her scarf to conduct her own Hamon energy into an opponent, Straizo uses his to conduct an opponent's Hamon into the ground, giving him a way to nullify Hamon attacks.
Secretly Selfish: His sole reason for learning Hamon was to stop himself from aging. Even as a former ally of Jonathan, he actually admired Dio for his power and beauty, and after acquiring vampiric powers he has zero qualms about turning on his former friends and threatening innocent people to draw Joseph in.
Silver Fox: Speedwagon notes that the last 50 years have been kinder to Straizo than to himself thanks to the latter's training in Hamon. Unfortunately, Straizo is unsatisfied with this and decides to reclaim his youth by becoming a vampire.
So Last Season: He uses the Eye Beams that killed Jonathan in Phantom Blood against Joseph; Joseph figures out the move after watching it several times before reflecting them back with Hamon-infused shot glasses.
Starter Villain: Takes this position in Part 2, kicking off Joseph's involvement in the plot in the process.
Stealth Mentor: While he did have some bad intentions, he got Joseph fully aware of his Hamon powers to fight the Pillar Men, and tells him about Santana.
Sudden Sequel Heel Syndrome: Turns on Speedwagon and becomes a vampire right at the start of Battle Tendency.
Wrong Genre Savvy: Straizo assumes Joseph is basically the same as Jonathan. He's mostly wrong, though he was ultimately right that Joseph would agree to fight him if an innocent bystander was in danger.

Donovan

Voiced by: Ken'ichirou Matsuda (Japanese), Ray Chase (English)

A Nazi agent sent to interrogate Joseph. Donovan is an SS Commando who's highly skilled at stealth, tracking, and interrogation.

He is named after Donovan.

Cloth Fu: Uses his cloak to misdirect enemies, such as using it to hide a cactus to protect himself from punches.
Dub Name Change: In the English translations, his name is Donobang.
Elite Mook: He's an extraordinarily skilled tracker and interrogator, but in the end he's still just a mook who gets taken out by Joseph in less than five minutes.
Eye Scream: When he gets turned into a Human Pincushion, many needles are visibly stuck in his eyes. In the manga, Joseph also sticks a compass in his eye socket for good measure.
Human Pincushion: Gets taken out when Joseph uses his Hamon to make a cactus explode in his face, leaving him riddled with needles.
Irony: Supposedly an expert interrogator sent after Joseph, but in the end he's the one who gets tortured into giving Joseph information.
Stealth Expert: Claims to be so stealthy, even bats can't sense his presence. He can even sneak up on someone in the middle of an open desert.
Too Dumb to Live: Clearly, when you see a cactus bulging and swelling unnaturally, the smart thing to do is lean in real close, right? Donovan thinks so, and gets turned into a Human Pincushion when Joseph's Hamon makes it explode in his face.
Uncertain Doom: We last see him tied to a cactus in the middle of a desert. Unless he was found by someone who untied him, which is very unlikely, his chances of survival are rather slim, but his ultimate fate isn't confirmed.
Whip Sword: His weapon is a knife that can extend like a whip. It's unclear how exactly he can control its movements precisely enough to strangle Joseph without cutting his throat. The anime removes this ability, instead giving him just a regular knife.

Wired Beck

Voiced by: Satoshi Tsuruoka (Japanese), Mike Davis (English)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/beckanime.png

A murderer freed from prison and turned vampire by Kars, who guards the abandoned hotel which serves as a hideout for the Pillar Men and their vampire minions.

He is named after Jeff Beck and his 1976 studio album Wired.

Ax-Crazy: He murdered his girlfriend and was sent to prison for it, before being freed by Kars.
Bald of Evil: He loses all his hair after popping out his spikes.
Curb-Stomp Battle: He's done in by Lisa Lisa before even realizing what's going on.
Effeminate Misogynistic Guy: He's particularly cruel to women, having killed his girlfriend back when he was a human, behaving rather rudely towards Lisa Lisa and remarking that "women should be punished", all the while displaying very campy mannerisms himself.
Expy: Just like Jack the Ripper in Phantom Blood, he is a former human criminal turned into an undead minion by the part's Big Bad, and he also has sharp protrusions coming out of his entire body.
Faux Affably Evil: More talkative than most bad guys, which only beguiles his murderous tendencies... and makes his misogynist views all the more apparent.
Named After Somebody Famous: He is named after rock guitarist Jeff Beck and his solo album Wired.
Spikes of Villainy: Weaponized variant. When he tries to be serious about killing Lisa Lisa and Joseph, he projects spikes all over his body, turning himself into a human (vampire) porcupine and trying to grab Lisa into a deadly hug, but neither she nor Joseph are impressed, and she just dodges him without breaking a sweat.
Underestimating Badassery: He thinks Lisa Lisa is just a pretty woman and pounces on her, ignoring both her completely calm and composed attitude and her threat that it will be the last thing he does. Naturally, it doesn't end well for him.
Verbal Tic: Tends to end most of his sentences with "zura?" (which is roughly translated into "okay?")
What the Hell Is That Accent?: The English dub gives him a bizarre cadence somewhere between a stereotypical Camp Gay and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Would Hit a Girl: A violent, misogynist guy who killed his girlfriend in cold blood while he was still human, and as a vampire he tries to off Lisa Lisa as well. Too bad for him she is a master of Hamon while he's just a vampire Mook.
You Are Already Dead: Lisa Lisa just wraps Wired Beck in her scarf and dashes past him, calling Joseph in to go after Kars while ignoring Beck completely from that point on. Baffled, Beck effortlessly tears the scarf apart freeing himself, but when he tries to get Joseph to agree with him in that Lisa Lisa was being disrespectful and "deserves punishment", Joseph retorts that she killed him already as her Hamon, sent by her through the scarf, is now burning his body from the inside. Right as Beck tries to object, the Hamon's effect is made apparent, melting him into nothingness.

Pillar Men

In General

The main villains of Part 2. Tropes that apply to all of the Pillar Men:

Always Chaotic Evil: Averted. Out of the entire Pillar Men race, Kars only managed to convince Esidisi to join him and was assaulted by the entire remainder of the species when they found out his ambitions. Wamuu and Santana were infants at the time and were raised to serve Kars afterwards.
Ambiguously Brown: Apparently Mesoamerican in origin, though the Pillar Man race appears to predate history and has traveled all over the globe during their quest for the Red Stone.
Artistic License – Biology: Apparently, their species evolved naturally and predates humans by hundreds of thousands of years. Don't think too hard about how.
The Assimilator: Able to consume organic matter by touching it.
Crazy-Prepared: When Jojo challenges them to a fight after giving him time to train, they immediately force a time-delayed poison into his body so they can use a Poison and Cure Gambit to make sure he can't back out. Esidisi, Wamuu, and Kars were all carrying hollow rings filled with poison just for this purpose. They also ensure that their rings are filled with different poisons and fuse them into Joseph's vital organs to ensure that their victim must face them individually and can't remove the rings surgically just to ensure that there is no escape, while other similar piercings of theirs carry the antidotes.
Determinator: Their Healing Factors allow them to come back from life-threatening injuries and make them very difficult to kill. And even after suffering injuries beyond the scope of their Healing Factors, they still keep fighting.
Evil Is Visceral: The Pillar Men have near-absolute control of their bodies, to the extent that they each have their own way of weaponizing the different systems in their bodies. ^note
Facial Markings: Wamuu, Esidisi, and Santana all have visual facial markings unique to them.
Food Chain of Evil: Kars created vampires that plagued the previous series to act as both minions and a food source. By devouring the life force of multiple living beings in one body, vampires become far more nutritious meals than any normal life form could be to a Pillar Man.
Four-Temperament Ensemble: The Pillar Men can be divided into 4 parts of the ensemble:
- Sanguine: Kars, who can be very aggressive and violent yet calculated and calm to get the Red Stone of Aja.
- Choleric: Esidisi, due to his emotional tendencies like crying to calm himself down can be overly dramatic, even as a nervous system.
- Melancholic: Santana, who is very quiet when attacking, and is very calculating to a horrifying degree when fighting in the Nazi facility.
- Phlegmatic: Wamuu, a proficient fighter with a code of honor, a stoic nature, and a loyal affection towards Kars and Esidisi.
Genius Bruiser: In addition to being very powerful fighters, they are also geniuses in and out of battle, and are capable of understanding modern language and technology in mere seconds.
Gone Horribly Right: The majority of the race believed Kars's experiments to gain true immortality would be disastrous if they succeeded. While it's possible for them to get stronger through Stone Masks, doing so means they need to consume more lifeforms to fuel their new strength, which could result in them consuming faster than other lifeforms can reproduce.
Good All Along: It turns out that Kars and Esidisi are aberrations among their kind. Every other Pillar Man lived peaceful, quiet lives and only consumed just enough life to sustain themselves. They turned on Kars because he threatened to destroy the balance of the Earth through his ever-increasing power and hunger.
Healing Factor: Their regeneration is so strong that they can come back from being blown into chunks in less than a minute. Nothing short of Hamon or the Sun can slow their healing. Even that can be recovered from if they can avoid more exposure for a few minutes and their brains survive.
Horned Humanoid: All of the Pillar Men have horns, varying in number and size between individuals. They normally cover them, displaying them signifying either respect or aggression.
Humanoid Abomination: At a glance, the Pillar Men look human, but their horns and Lovecraftian abilities prove they are anything but.
Immortality: Of the From a Single Cell type. It's worth noting that the original race of Pillar Men, unaltered by the Stone Masks do die from age eventually or can be killed by sustained injury.
Immune to Bullets: As seen in Joseph's fight with Santana, their skin conducts Hamon, so unfocused Hamon strikes just slide off harmlessly. Joseph ends up having to go through Training from Hell to develop his Hamon to the point where his strikes can harm them, and he ends up primarily fighting them by finding ways to penetrate their skin to get a Hamon charge inside them. Oh, and they're immune to actual bullets as well.
Knight of Cerebus: Battle Tendency starts off much more lighthearted than Phantom Blood, but once the Pillar Men are introduced, it starts getting far more serious.
Large Ham: All of them are boisterous in their own ways, with Santana and Kars initially being reserved while dramatic.
Last of His Kind: The 4 Pillar Men are the last members of their race. Kars slaughtered the rest. This is especially applicable to Santana, because despite being petrified, he's still alive and he outlives his superiors, making him the very last pillar man and the only one to survive past the end of Battle Tendency.
Leitmotif: "Awaken" for the Pillar Men as a whole.
Manly Man: Santana gives zero cares about the Nazis he massacres with the very bullets he was shot with, Wamuu is a proud, honorable warrior who respects his opponents, Esidisi has no qualms about expressing his emotions, and Kars will stop at nothing to get the Red Stone and become the Ultimate Life Form. Since they all are muscular and pose like bodybuilders in a way that would make Jonathan, Joseph, and Jotaro pale in comparison, they aren’t called the Aztec Gods of Fitness for nothing. Even their character theme will give you muscle mass just by listening to it!
Master of Your Domain: Pretty much their hat. All of the Pillar Men have extreme, near-Lovecraftian control over their own bodies to the point of Body Horror, resulting in a unique display of disgusting shapeshifting and biomass absorption for each. Think of them as Phantom Blood Dio on steroids, and Santana and Esidisi show the worst of it.
Musical Theme Naming: The Pillar Men are named after Santana, The Cars, AC/DC, and Wham!.
Never Heard That One Before: Their reaction in general to those saying they'll take revenge for fallen friends. It both bores and amuses them.
Only Known by Their Nickname: The actual name of their race is unknown; they're only called the "Pillar Men" by the other characters because they were hibernating in stone pillars. It's likely that their race doesn't actually have a name.
Our Vampires Are Different: Subverted. While the Stone Mask-augmented Pillar Men have vampiric traits such as being Life Drinkers and being weak to sunlight and Hamon, they're never officially referred to as vampires (in fact, they eat vampires) and show a few noticeable differences. Not only does sunlight merely turn them to stone, but their consumption of other beings seems to be inherent, as normal Pillar Men bore fangs and claws while showing no sign of bloodlust or ferocity.
Physical God: Their goal is to become this, although they're already pretty damn close. Kars literally is one after he becomes the Ultimate Life Form.
Pragmatic Villainy: They all display this, fitting considering they look down upon humans and do not consider them worth their time. They don't go out of their way to kill humans for no reason, and almost all their actions relate to getting the stone in some way, outside of Santana, who was simply trying to see the world. Wamuu was content to leave Joseph, Caesar and Speedwagon alone when Joseph claims he'll beat him in a month, and Esidisi initially completely ignores Joseph when looking for the Red Stone of Aja. Kars in particular seems capable of interacting in human society, getting new clothes and waiting in a city without doing anything needlessly cruel, even if he has no desire to be a part of it.
Puny Humans: Humans are merely prey to the Pillar Men. They've always looked down on our race as primitive and inferior. Hamon users and the likes of Jojo always impress or amuse the Pillar Men for being abnormalities from the pitiful creatures they're used to.
Really 700 Years Old: They predate human civilization; Wamuu and Santana are stated to be 12,000 and 10,000 years old respectively. They're the youngest ones. Meanwhile, Esidisi and Kars are 92,000 and 102,000 years old respectively. They entered their previous slumber during the height of the Roman Empire, having been enshrined beneath the Roman Colosseum.
Retcon: The Stone Mask in Part 1 was thought to be a ritual mask created by Mayincatec cults who desired immortality. Part 2 introduces the Pillar Men, the real creators of the mask.
Sealed Evil in a Can: The details of their reasons behind hibernation are vague, but they are definitely immobile until the 30s and wreak havoc onto the world once they're all unsealed. Bonus points for Kars and Santana, who get sealed twice, the former once through hibernation and a second time when his Adaptive Ability works against him, putting him into frozen stasis in order to survive space; the latter being sealed after being exposed to sunlight.
Sorting Algorithm of Evil: These guys make the vampires look like chumps and employ them as mooks or food stock. Even Phantom Blood Dio, who mastered and honed his vampiric abilities to a level no vampire shown before or since him did (even Straizo never used the flash-freeze technique), would probably only register as an Elite Mook in comparison to them in raw power.
Stripperific: If they wear anything more than a loincloth, it usually isn't much. Averted briefly when Kars switches to a Badass Longcoat to better fit in.
Super Mode: With the exception of Santana, each one has a unique one of these. Esidisi uses Fire Mode, Wamuu Wind Mode, and Kars Light Mode.
Super-Toughness: The Pillar Men are extremely tough against anything except Hamon-based attacks; Esidisi once ate a stick of dynamite and was able to easily absorb the explosion without any injury. In contrast, Straizo, a tougher-than-normal vampire, was blown to tiny bits by a few grenades, although thanks to his regeneration, he was able to pull himself back together in a few minutes. Added on top of their extreme regeneration abilities, and it's clear that ordinary humans don't stand a chance against the Pillar Men without Hamon or sunlight.
Super-Senses: Their senses are much more powerful than humanity's; Santana was able to see and hear through soundproofed one-way glass, and Kars was able to detect body heat through walls accurately enough to determine the exact position of everyone inside a room from the outside.
Super-Strength: Much stronger than any human or vampire. Official stats put their raw physical strength as being at least three times stronger than even a particularly powerful vampire like Straizo.
Time Abyss: The Pillar Men race predates mankind and is implied to have fully evolved during the formation of the Earth. Indivudally, they can all live for thousands of years without assistance from the mask with Kars himself is over 100,000 years old.
Villain Forgot to Level Grind: When Esidisi, Wamuu and Kars appear, it's clear that Joseph and Caesar have no real chance to even hope to challenge them, Joseph gets one good hit on Wamuu and tricks him to get him away from Speedwagon and Caesar, but is otherwise at the Pillar Man's mercy. After a month however, Joseph is both strong and tricky enough to defeat Esidisi, and Caesar is strong enough to pose a legitimate threat to Wamuu, while the Pillar Men have spent that month looking for the Red Stone of Aja.

Kars

Voiced by: Kazuhiko Inoue (TV anime, All-Star Battle (R), Eyes of Heaven) (Japanese), John Demita (credited as Will Barrett, English)

"No matter the method utilized, in the end, VICTORY IS THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERS!"

^{Click here to see Kars as he appears from "The Warrior of Wind" onwards.}

"Look at you fools! Don't you want to have dominion over the sun? To stand in ascendance over all life? TO PURGE YOUR FEARS AND REIGN FOREVER AS GODS?! If not, then die."

The leader of the Pillar Men, he and his two associates are revived in the 1930s when the Nazis unintentionally awaken them. His goal is to augment a Stone Mask with the Red Stone of Aja, allowing the Stone Mask's tendrils to pierce his and the other Pillar Men's brains and make them into Ultimate Lifeforms.

He is named after The Cars and/or the Gary Numan song "Cars".

Adaptive Ability: Once he becomes the perfect life form, he can adapt to almost any situation.
The Ageless: Once he becomes the Ultimate Life Form, the narration notes that Kars will never grow old.
Agent Peacock: He's incredibly powerful, dangerous, intelligent, and sadistic. He wears brightly sparkling blades, eye makeup and he has long purple hair. Both aspects of this trope are Exaggerated once he becomes the Ultimate Life Form, one of the most powerful beings in JoJo while sporting long head plumes that serve no practical purpose alongside his iridescent wings.
And I Must Scream: Even though he attains the immortality he sought, he's launched into outer space and has all of the air in his body frozen, being rendered unable to return to Earth and frozen in the form of a statue. Eventually, he goes insane and never thinks again to cope with the sheer horror of his situation.
Ambition Is Evil: His ambition to unlock his untapped potential and become the Ultimate Life Form takes him to literally genocidal extremes.
Animal Lover: For a majority of the part, he's shown to have an admiration for animals, best exemplified by how, when a stray dog is about to be hit by a drunk driver, he uses his blades to cut off the driver's arms and cause him to crash his car into a wall. However, after becoming the Ultimate Life Form, he Jumps Off the Slippery Slope and ditches this mentality, telekinetically turning his hand into a rabid squirrel and forcing it to devour another squirrel alive.
Artistic License – Ornithology: Obviously, a male harpy with a Lovecraftian Superpower isn't going to be scientifically accurate in any way, but the thumb claws on his wings should have alulas.
Artistic License – Physics: Kars' attempt to use air jets to push himself through space leads to him freezing solid since the air turns to ice as soon as it leaves the jets. Space IS Cold, but it's also so empty that the only way objects can lose heat is via radiation. It would've taken several hours to even have a thin layer of ice form on Kars' body, much less freeze over completely.
Awesomeness by Analysis: After becoming the Ultimate Lifeform, he's able to master Hamon to the point of becoming the most powerful Hamon user who ever existed, simply from having seen it being used previously.
Ax-Crazy: It's not as obvious as Dio Brando's/DIO's sadism is due to his initial impression of stoicism, but Kars displays a very depraved enjoyment in the suffering of his enemies. The mask briefly slips when he unleashes an Evil Laugh after being forced down a cliff by Joseph, then later his true colors come to light when he brutally impales Lisa Lisa. It escalates even more as the Ultimate Life Form.
Badass Boast: He gives a doozy of a boast after becoming the Ultimate Life-Form:
Kars: Alpha and Omega both, I am the pinnacle of all life that has ever trod the earth. All of their forms are mine to take. And you...! My old nemesis, I see how entrancing you are. Yours is a beauty the likes of which I have never seen! I once feared you... but now, I fear you no more! (laughs maniacally)
Badass Longcoat: Kars knows better than his companions how to blend into modern society with style.
Bad Boss: Despite caring for both Wamuu and Esidisi, he considers Santana nothing more than a guard dog. He also doesn't care for any of his vampiric subordinates at all and will willingly sacrifice them if it gives him the opportunity to catch Lisa Lisa by surprise.
Bait the Dog:
- The initial impression of Kars leaned towards him being a serious yet fair leader focused on the objective not indulging in Joseph's poison gambit like his colleagues. His later appearance would have him save a dog from being run over by a pair of drunk drivers- while killing them and purposely complicating his landing in order avoiding hitting a flower- painting him with a more respectable image. This makes his revelation of his going back on his word of playing fair in the memory of Wamuu's death — only to use a decoy to stab in the back to set up an unfair situation to sadistically torment Joseph, showing himself to be a dishonorable and sadistic prick that disrespects his allies' dying wishes — all the more shocking.
- Adding to this, his first action as the Ultimate Life Form is to have his hand turned into a squirrel devour another normal squirrel, showing he no longer cares for life that isn't himself anymore.
Barbarian Longhair: His mane is glorious only for its sheer length, otherwise it's unkempt and warrior-like.
Be Careful What You Wish For: He finally gets the perfect immortality he desires, only to soon regret it as Joseph inadvertently pushes him into space and forces him to forever drift through it while frozen, leaving Kars unable to think in the end.
Benevolent Boss: While he treats his vampire minions like crap and left Santana behind due to considering him nothing more than a guard dog, he genuinely cares for the rest of his Pillar Men subordinates. When Wamuu accidentally attacks Kars out of reflex when the latter stepped in the former's shadow, Kars lets the incident slide and even apologizes to Wamuu instead. After his subordinates' deaths, he personally seeks revenge for them and develops a grudge against Joseph.
Big Bad: He serves as the main antagonist of Battle Tendency since he leads the Pillar Men, is responsible for the creation of the Stone Mask, and ends up being the final opponent.
Blade Below the Shoulder: His primary power is a pair of curved blades growing perpendicularly from his forearms, which sets him up as the counterpart to the heroic Joseph's tendency to fight with rope.
Blue-and-Orange Morality: Exhibits this more than the other Pillar Men. He respects the natural world more than he does humans, leading to odd simultaneous dog petting and kicking moments where he will kill drunken drivers to save a dog, and purposely complicate a landing he could easily survive to avoid crushing a patch of flowers.
- Probably the best way to explain the value Kars places on life is to say that he values that which he is not. Before becoming the Ultimate Lifeform, he kills humans mercilessly because he knows he is better than them, but with animals and plants he isn't sure. Upon becoming the Ultimate Lifeform, he kills a squirrel using his hand that he turned into a squirrel because he knows he is above all life at that point.
Body Horror: Much less than his subordinates, surprisingly. About the only adaptation he displays are the light chainsaws that seem to grow out of his forearms. At least, until he becomes the Ultimate Lifeform by putting on a Red-Stone of Aja-enhanced Stone Mask (which, of course, does its thing) and gains the ability to morph his body into pretty much whatever. This leads into squirrels that drill through torsos, feather projectiles that turn into piranha and octopuses, etc.
Boring, but Practical: Compared to the other Pillar Men, Kars' ability is the most normal. Popping a blade out of your arm is a lot less flashy than twisting your arms so fast that they make a tornado, or sticking your blood vessels into people to pump your boiling blood into them. However, Kars' Light Mode is capable of cutting through just about anything, and even Joseph admits that he can't think of any way to get past his blades. However, this gets thrown completely out the window once he becomes the Ultimate Life Form, where his attacks get much, much flashier. The best example is probably firing his razor-sharp feathers at Joseph's plane before turning them into piranhas to eat through it.
Chainsaw Good: His arm blades are natural chainsaws, and the individual blades move at such a speed that they reflect light to dazzling effect, which is where the name Light Mode comes from.
Character Tics: On two occasions – removing his headscarf and basking in the light of the sun – he sticks his tongue out while posing, not to mention Licking the Blade below and his lips when saying "How long can you last?"
The Chessmaster: This line pretty much sums it up:
"Move your pieces effortlessly across the board, making them effortlessly reduce the risks to minimum! Chance has nothing to do with it! That's a true fight!"
Combat Commentator: He serves as a commentator alongside Lisa Lisa for Joseph and Wamuu's duel.
Combat Pragmatist: He proves how dirty he can be when he offers Lisa Lisa a weapon so that their battle will be fair in Wamuu's honor, yet uses a body-double to get her guard down so that he can stab her through the heart. He doesn't care about honor in the end — he just wants the Red Stone of Aja.
Complete Immortality: Upon becoming the Ultimate Life Form, he became totally immortal.
Compressed Hair: His headscarf is hiding a huge mane of hair.
Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: In contrast to Dio's egotism and For the Evulz tendencies, Kars is a much more amoral figure who cares only for his goal being achieved, cares deeply for his comrades, and goes out of his way to protect parts of nature that aren't human. In a more literal example, whereas Dio prefers to kick dogs, Kars would rather pet them. He's also more reserved than Dio was, at least on one's first impression.
- Goes completely out the window once his subordinates are dead and he indulges in levels of sadism that Dio would be proud of.
- It goes beyond that. While on the surface, Dio is a monster who enjoys killing people, he still has some sort of twisted sense of honor and even shows respect to those he considers Worthy Opponent. Kars, on the other hand, is willing to do anything to get his objectives, and, unlike Dio, he shows no respect or honor for his opponents.
- Kars has the distinction of not having a Stand, something that even his predecessor would gain upon his return to the series. He still manages to be a major threat due to his innate inhuman Body Horror abilities and later his Ultimate Life Form powers and gained knowledge of the utilization of Hamon, especially so as Stands weren't as common as they would be in the future.
- Kars unlike the others, with the exception of Yoshikage Kira- a loner- is implied by Wamuu's inference in a hypothetical situation against Caesar that he would lose the fight Wamuu barely won against and even Joseph himself notes he's not as strong as Wamuu- stating that he is not the strongest of the three Pillar Men initially, with Wamuu being the most physically powerful of the trio while being subservient to Kars out of loyalty; while clashes the usual Rank Scales with Asskicking notion that the other main villains had.
Consummate Liar: If he offers you the chance to fight fairly, he's planning to skew the playing field in his favour so hard it hurts. However, he's so good at sounding convincing that it's easy to be fooled by him.
Death by Irony: His immortality and adaptive ability are what ends up doing him in. When Joseph launches him into space, he curls up and evolves a thick shell to protect himself from the adverse conditions. He remains adrift in space, and his mind eventually shuts down.
Diagonal Cut: His Brilliant Bone Blade is so sharp, it can deliver a clean cut that only falls apart after a few seconds. Stroheim finds out, and so do some vampires who get in the way of Kars' fight with Lisa Lisa.
Disc-One Final Boss: He becomes immensely powerful after becoming the Ultimate Life Form and achieving Complete Immortality. He's also the creator of the Stone Masks, making him responsible for most of the conflict in the first two parts and making him inadvertently responsible for the events of Parts 3-6 through Dio's actions. Yet, despite his great power and influence in the series, he meets his end at the end of the second of eight sagas.
Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: He is the palest and darkest-haired of the Pillar Men in the 2012 anime.
Elemental Armor: He's able to keep his crab-carapace armor from melting away by generating air bubbles to ensure he can regenerate it quickly enough.
Empty Shell: The sensory deprivation caused by drifting uncontrollably through space eventually crumbles his mind into dust.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
- Esidisi's death pisses him off, seeing Joseph as his Arch-Enemy from then on, and plots to kill the man who killed his friend.
- He's hurt by Wamuu's death, even if he'll lie about following his honor code.
Even Evil Has Standards: While waiting on Esidisi to return from a mission, he sees a couple of reckless drivers dangerously close to running over a dog. He then proceeds to use his bone blade to slice the car (and the driver) in two, saving the dog in the process.
Everything's Better with Rainbows: In the anime, his Light Mode blades shimmer with rainbow light, he glows rainbow once the Stone Mask is activated on him, and his Hamon is uniquely rainbow-colored.
Evil Counterpart:
- He can be seen as one to Lisa Lisa in the sense that both are leader figures and Combat Pragmatists who focus on long-term strategizing and the big picture in contrast to their apprentices, who focus more on short-term tactics. Parallels extend to their physical appearances as well; Lisa Lisa's long hair makes her an elegant and Raven Hair Ivory Skinned Lady of War, whereas Kars is appropriately an Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette whose unkempt hair makes him both a Long-Haired Pretty Boy and also a Barbarian Longhair.
- Kars also counts as one to Joseph. Much like Joseph, Kars is a lot more cunning than his build would initially imply and can also be petty when things don't go his way or he is disrespected. He also shows himself to be a Combat Pragmatist willing to perform amoral actions in order to tilt a battle in his favour. However, unlike Joseph, who eventually learns to honour his opponents by showing Wamuu his respect after their final fight, Kars never shows this tendency and is not only willing to stab Lisa Lisa in the back during their fight, but kick her while she's down for good measure. The parallels between the two are even more obvious after said backstabbing when Kars notes to Joseph that he only cares about retrieving the Red Stone and any method to do that is acceptable to him, which is a similar line that Joseph himself said during his final fight with Wamuu.
Evil Is Petty: Had he chosen to ignore Joseph after his ascension, he might've had a less grotesque fate. Justified in that he was expecting to just squish him like a bug since he's that powerful now, and he was almost right considering what happened instead was actually out of sheer coincidence.
Evil Laugh: Underneath his stoicism, he's got an epically hammy laugh fitting for a JoJo Big Bad.
Evil Sounds Deep: When he isn't screeching like a banshee, Kars has a deep, husky voice to match his menacing stature.
Fantastic Racism: Unlike Esidisi and Wamuu, who only view humans as inferior in terms of evolution, Kars takes this a step further and sneers at any being that isn't a Pillar Man, be they human or vampire. This only intensified when he became a demigod as the Ultimate Being, with him now treating animals like toys despite him selflessly saving a stray dog previously.
Fate Worse than Death: His final fate at the end of Part 2 is floating through space, immortal and frozen. Eventually, he simply turns his brain off.
Fatal Flaw: Stubborness and ambition. Kars desires to become the ultimate lifeform and "conquer the Sun", and he's willing to sacrifice anything, from his own people to his moral standards, if they interfere with that goal. This obsession is implied to be the reason why he keeps chasing the Red Stone of Aja instead of trying to find an alternative method to evolve himself: he has decided to use the Stone (possibly also because of the idea of using the Sun's light to transform himself), so he will keep chasing it no matter what. This allows Lisa Lisa to make him back off by threatening to destroy the Stone. Later on, he gains the ability to use Hamon, an ability based on The Power of the Sun, and immediately decides to use it on Joseph. This directly leads to Kars' defeat.
Faux Affably Evil: He politely offers Lisa Lisa some poison to commit suicide with when it looks like Wamuu's going to win, but then shows himself to be the dirtiest of fighters during his battle with her.
Feather Flechettes: He performs a bizarre variant as the Ultimate Life Form by morphing some of his feathers into bulletproof armored scales before launching them.
Foreshadowing: Several of his actions directly or indirectly, imply his eventual true colors to be shown.
- His refusal to give the Poison Ring to Jojo is initially perceived as being pragmatic, somewhat noble as he's more focused on his objective. Retrospectively, it hints that he will not engage in a honor-bound match unless he twists to his own favor that it's unfair, nor would he come to respect Joseph as a Worthy Opponent.
- Subtly through his brief Badass Longcoat attempt as a Modernized God to go undercover- which contrasts with Esidisi and Wamuu who wore variants of ancient clothing, typical of the Pillar Men. This hints he cares nothing of the traditions of his race and is willing to adapt in order to get what he wants, no matter what tactic he is willing to do.
- He gives a sporadic Evil Laugh disrupts his stoic demeanor while swearing to get back at Joseph- hinting his true colors as a crazed sadist.
- And finally, when it seems like Joseph was about to lose in his duel with Wamuu, Kars offers Lisa Lisa a vial of poison to kill herself with. While Kars claims the poison would spare Lisa Lisa a grisly fate at his hands, in hindsight, it was to avoid fighting Lisa Lisa one-on-one. Had Wamuu won his duel with Joseph, Kars would have to uphold his promise to Wamuu to fight Lisa Lisa fairly, a promise that would have likely resulted in his loss.
Genius Bruiser: He's by far the smartest of the Pillar Men since he was the one who invented the Stone Masks. And he's every bit the Combat Pragmatist that Joseph and co. are, stooping to dirty tricks to gain the upper hand against his enemies.
A Glass of Chianti: He's drinking a red glass of something in a rather sophisticated manner during the Joseph-Wamuu duel.
A God Am I: He views himself as one even before he becomes the Ultimate Life Form.
Greater-Scope Villain: Since he was the one who created the Stone Mask that allows Dio to become a vampire and since he hails from a race where the purpose of the Stone Mask was to create vampires for nourishment, he retroactively serves as the larger-scope threat in Part 1. Since DIO is a major factor in several characters' motivations in Parts 3-6, Kars also serves as the indirect greater cause for those parts as well.
Harping on About Harpies: His Ultimate form resembles a rare male version of the harpy, being a humanoid with fangs, wild hair, and avian wings with thumb claws.
Hoist by His Own Petard: Much of his final fate can be attributed towards his own actions. First of all the same Aja stone that he uses to become immortal causes his launch into space later, then the arm he cut off of Joseph earlier during their fight prevents him from escaping, and finally, his own Adaptive Ability causes him to become frozen forever.
Honor Before Reason: Subverted. Despite claiming to honor Wamuu's wishes and give Lisa Lisa a fair chance, he uses a body double to cheat his way to a clean victory. This is not because he has no care for his fallen ally's wishes, but because he's simply doing whatever he can to accomplish his goals. When Joseph claims he doesn't care about his allies, it pisses him off.
Hypocrite:
- He has the gall to call Joseph a lunatic despite the fact that he committed omnicide of his own people and species.
- He complains about Joseph cheating by tricking him into playing into Joseph's plan by cutting the rope, enabling Joseph to save Lisa Lisa and get the upper hand against Kars. He's ignoring why Joseph's in the situation in the first place- Kars deceived Lisa Lisa into fighting a body double so he could take her by surprise and defeat her, then forced Joseph to hang onto the rope keeping her above the spikes, thereby putting him at a severe disadvantage in the resulting fight- which means that Kars cheats and lies even more than Joseph does.
Immortal Procreation Clause: Being the Ultimate Life Form means he no longer needs to procreate.
Improbably High I.Q.: According to the narration, Kars' post-transformation IQ is a whopping 400.
In a Single Bound: The Red Stone allows Kars to leap 18 meters straight into the air.
Instant Expert: Upon becoming the Ultimate Life Form, he managed to gain instant knowledge on how to use a more powerful variation of Hamon on Joseph based on the fact he's now immune to the vampire's weakness to sunlight in a matter of moments. Even Jonathan, a prodigy in his own right, took weeks to gain the basics of Hamon utilization- something that usually takes decades to learn.
Interim Villain: He acts as one for Dio Brando, being the Big Bad of Part 2, until his return as DIO.
Irony: Kars is considered one of, if not the, smartest JoJo villain, smart enough to become the Ultimate Lifeform. So when he's finally beaten, it's his genius mind to go first, not his body.
It's Personal: Though at first ignoring Joseph while Esidisi and Wamuu took an interest, Kars bares extreme hostility towards Joseph upon their defeats.
Jerkass: Not obvious at first due to initially seeming to be the most serious and noble of the Pillar Men, but after backstabbing Lisa-Lisa while using a decoy, going back on his word to honor Wamuu's fight of honor, Kars reveals himself to be a dishonorable and sadistic asshole.
The Juggernaut: As the Ultimate Life Form, he becomes an unstoppable force. Sunlight and Hamon, his only weaknesses prior, no longer affects him, and he can shapeshift and adapt to any other attack, even magma. He's only defeated by blind luck on Joseph's part thanks to a convenient volcanic eruption sending Kars into space.
Kick the Dog:
- When he fights Stroheim he coldly dismisses Santana as their weakest member. Kars's most humanizing trait is his love and respect for his fellow allies which makes his disowning of Santana, whom he raised, especially cruel.
- When he becomes the Ultimate Life Form, he turns his hand into a squirrel which approaches another squirrel in nature and kills it. Kars's prior adherence to protecting nature in comparison to this action ultimately shows how willing he is to throw away his own morals once he gains the power he desires.
Lampshade Hanging: In the dub, he's the first and last character to acknowledge Joseph successfully predicting their next line, although it doesn't get in the way of him actually saying it.
Joseph: Let me guess. You're gonna say 'Did you plan this too, JoJo?! Tell me!'
Kars: How do you always know...?
[Gets drilled by hot rock fragments]
Kars: [Agonized scream] Did you plan this too, JoJo?! Tell me!
Large Ham: He slowly gets hammier with each appearance. By the time his turban comes off, it gets to the point of him playing "leg guitar" with the unconscious Lisa Lisa's legs just to gloat at Joseph.
Laser-Guided Karma: His final fate has so much of this. He's managed to become the Ultimate Lifeform, has Joseph cornered and with a severed hand, and is about to use the Hamon to finish him off with a flourish of irony. However, Joseph uses the perfect Red Stone of Aja, the item that made his plan possible, to block the attack, amplifying the Hamon into a beam that triggers a volcanic eruption which sends the two flying on a chunk of rock. Then, just as Kars tries to fly away, Joseph's severed hand distracts him long enough for volcanic debris to launch him out of the atmosphere. Finally, before he can return to Earth, his Adaptive Ability turns him to stone to keep him alive in the vacuum of space, leaving him stranded in space forever.
Leaning on the Fourth Wall: In the English dub, he hums the opening bars of Roundabout, the series ending theme, when playing Lisa Lisa's legs like a guitar.
Leitmotif: "Avalon" once he becomes the Ultimate Lifeform.
Licking the Blade: Does this with his own arm blade in anticipation of his fight with Lisa Lisa.
Light Is Not Good: His powers are light-themed. It's mostly aesthetic since his metal blades refract light, giving off the look that they are glowing. However, when he becomes the Ultimate Lifeform, he can use Hamon.
Limited Wardrobe: Averted especially at one point while his Stripperiffic allies only make some noticeable changes to their outfits in their second appearances, Kars briefly wore a Badass Longcoat, a wide-brimmed hat, and pants with boots in order to infiltrate the Nazi camp without standing out. He then goes back to his Walking Shirtless Scene outfit on the following reappearance.
Living Forever Is Awesome: He certainly seems to think so, since his plan is to gain immunity to the one thing that can kill him.
Long-Haired Pretty Boy: His long hair and feminine appearance gives him this vibe, though it's generally downplayed considering his body is drawn like a Hunk.
Logical Weakness: Upon being turned into the Ultimate Life Form, Kars is absurdly powerful, but his general durability and capabilities are limited to organic capabilities. As such, it's stated that a volcano's magma would've burnt him to a crisp if it wasn't for his quick thinking. Likewise, he's helpless when pushed into the vacuum of space as no creature has an ability to maneuver such a thing.
Lovecraftian Superpower: As the Ultimate Life Form, he can turn parts of his body into other animals. This includes things like turning his hand into a murderous squirrel and launching feather-arrows that turn into armadillo scales, piranhas, and giant cephalopods.
Loves the Sound of Screaming: He purrs "What a wonderful sound" as Joseph screams in agony after Kars cuts off his hand.
Mad Scientist: He's the inventor of the Stone Masks who callously murdered his entire species to pursue his studies further.
Mask of Sanity: Kars initially seems to be the most rational of the Pillar Men, complete with a stoic attitude. However, as the latter half of the series progresses, it becomes clear that it hides his sadism and psychotic arrogance. The mask first briefly comes undone after his first bout with Joseph, when he gives an Evil Laugh spontaneously out of nowhere, and comes off entirely when he shows his true self when he backstabs Lisa-Lisa, and especially after he becomes the Ultimate Life Form.
Meaningless Villain Victory: He succeeds in getting the Aja stone, putting it in his stone mask and becoming the Ultimate Life Form like he always desired, thus making him unkillable. However, thanks to Joseph's subconscious forcing him to hold up the Aja stone to block one of Kars's attacks, a volcano explodes and forces Kars into space. Thus, Kars's newfound immortality and power go to waste as he freezes and forever drifts aimlessly in space.
Modernized God: Unlike the other Pillar men, he briefly wears a Badass Long Coat and matching hat sometime after awakening.
A Molten Date with Death: Subverted. He almost dies this way even after becoming the Ultimate Life Form and gaining his Adaptive Ability because since no life on Earth has adapted to lava, his regeneration can't keep up with the damage. However, once he decides to use air as an armor layer, he's able to survive complete immersion in lava by never making contact with it.
Mr. Fanservice: The most feminine-looking among the Pillar Men, and described as having the beauty of a Greek god after becoming the Ultimate Life Form. Outside of that, he's probably the most shining example of a Walking Shirtless Scene within the series.
Nature Lover: Upon falling into a chasm, he sees that he's about to land on a patch of flowers, and his first instinct is to use his bone blades to bounce him all around the chasm and land next to the flowers, so that he doesn't trample them. Earlier than that, he saves a puppy by killing the drunk driver that was about to run over it. An indication that being the Ultimate Life Form has gone to his head is by creating a squirrel to kill another as one of his first actions.
The Needless: Once he becomes the Ultimate Life Form, he no longer has any need for sleep or procreation and he can go an entire year without eating or drinking anything.
No Love for the Wicked: He's a diabolical villain who's explicitly (and memetically) stated to have no need for sex, contributing to his definitely-not-human and definitely-evil nature.
The Older Immortal: Unlike the other Pillar Men we see, his age has reached the sextuple-digits.
Perpetual Molt: In his Ultimate form, he constantly sheds feathers from his body when he turns his arms into wings.
Physical God: As the Ultimate Life Form, he has total mutative control over his own cells, even remotely, and capable of choosing from every species that ever existed on Earth; regenerative abilities that are fast enough to give him temporary resistance to lava; and Hamon power that's enough to kill or physically harm non-undead opponents. Unfortunately, for all his physical power, his new form doesn't make him any luckier, or more appropritately, doesn't stop events from happening outside his control. So Joseph defeats Kars by turning his own Hamon against him and kicking off a dramatic course of events that he had, of course, "planned from the very beginning".
Playful Cat Smile: Has a smug cat smile on occasions◊ when he's feeling amused.
Power Gives You Wings: His most preferred transformation after becoming the Ultimate Life Form is to become a winged bird humanoid.
Pragmatic Villainy: He's able to procure clothes for himself as he's waiting for Esidisi to return, showing he can be somewhat capable of adapting to human society if he wanted. But he doesn't want to.
The Power of Creation: He can turn parts of his body into animals by manipulating his DNA after becoming the Ultimate Lifeform.
The Power of the Sun: He gains the ability to use Hamon after becoming the Ultimate Life Form.
Progressively Prettier: In the manga he started as the biggest of the Pillar Men with a rougher face than his subordinates. Over time he is drawn to look less like a hulking giant comparatively (although still ripped) and his face becomes more feminine.
Rank Scales with Asskicking: He's the leader of the Pillar Men in Part 2, and he's the one responsible for massacring most of his entire race. Though oddly enough for a main villain, it's averted with his two Dragons, as Esidisi shows himself to be more tactical by being the only character in the part to truly outwit Joseph while Wamuu seems to have the stronger ability, at least if his statement to Caesar about their battles' outcome is to be believed.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: The anime shows his eyes to be red, fitting his villainous status. In the opening, there's a lingering shot of his red eyes to highlight his menacing presence.
Revenge: Specifically grows a deep animosity for Joseph due to defeating the other two Pillar Men.
Sadist: Kars loves watching people suffer, especially humans. Notably exemplified when he could've easily insta-killed Joseph in their battle, but intentionally inflicted non-fatal yet excruciating wounds on him just because his cries of agony were pleasing to him, though this is explicitly due to Kars having personal animosity towards Joseph, as he otherwise attempts to end fights extremely quickly.
Seeking Ultimate Strength: Kars is the leader of Pillar Men, ancient supervampires, as well as the creator of the Stone Mask. Despite being confident in his superiority, he seeks Red Stone of Aja to reach further evolution and become the Ultimate Thing for the sake of remaining "at the top".
Self-Made Orphan: He killed his parents when they determined that his ambition made him a danger to everyone around him. Thus, it was kind of self-defense, unlike Dio Brando.
Shapeshifter Baggage: As the Ultimate Lifeform, Kars' shapeshifting can create mass out of nowhere. This also extends to the life he separates from his body — during the plane chase with Joseph, Kars fires armadillo plates into the plane before remotely mutating them into full-size piranhas and Giant Squid.
Spell My Name With An S: Kars is the official spelling, but various fan translations have made Cars, Karz, Kazu, or Kaaz almost as common.
The Stoic: Comes off as being the most serious of the Pillar men at first, though as he gets closer to the Aja, even he isn't immune to becoming a Large Ham.
Story-Breaker Power: He's notably the first character in the series to have a power that has the potential to break the story and the only non-Stand example. Not only does he get Complete Immortality and a virtually unlimited Adaptive Ability thanks to becoming the Ultimate Life Form, he's also immune to sunlight, the one Pillar Man weakness, AND can use Hamon; thus, not only could he not be harmed by the same Weaksauce Weakness as his companions, he could actually use it to his advantage. And since Kars gains this power before Stands are introduced, the only way to combat against this power is by sending Kars into the vacuum of space.
Superpower Lottery: Once he's the Ultimate Life Form, he not only has his usual abilities, but a variety of new ones. He now has Complete Immortality, an Adaptive Ability, a Shapeshifter Baggage that allows him to use the properties of any organic being on the planet and the ability to use Hamon hundreds of times more powerful than any Hamon user before.
Super-Reflexes: He's got the speed and reaction time to slice hundreds of bullets fired from a machine gun, perfectly down the middle with his Brilliant Bone Blade.
Super-Senses: As the Ultimate Life Form, Kars' eyesight is on par with that of a space telescope, his ears can detect sounds of any frequency, and he can grow antennae that can detect heat and air movements.
Too Powerful to Live: Or rather, he's too powerful to stay on Earth after becoming the Ultimate Life Form. Not only does he have a very impressive Adaptive Ability, but he has the power of Hamon on a much higher level than any character in the series. And since the metaphysical Stands that could have possibly stood a chance against Kars do not exist yet, Joseph has to very quickly force him into space to prevent Kars from completely dominating the Earth and preventing the rest of the series from happening.
Ultimate Life Form: He seeks to become the top form of life on Earth after finding the Red Stone of Aja. When he succeeds in doing so, he becomes immortal and able to mutate and evolve his form into other beings as needed, overcomes his natural weakness to the Sun and Hamon, and has no need for descendants and consequently, sex.
The Unfettered: What makes him so dangerous compared to the other Pillar Men is that things like scruples and standards won't hold him back from becoming the Ultimate Lifeform. Joseph even describes him as such, though in typical style he takes advantage of Kars' own persistence at various times to turn the tables on him.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Downplayed in that he's a villain himself, but by the time of Part 6, his actions would eventually result in the universe's demise through the butterfly effect. By being the crafter of the Stone Mask, Kars would allow Dio to go berserk as a vampire, thus leading to him crafting his own army of zombies and zealots. One of these minions would end up being Enrico Pucci, who through Dio's teachings, would strive to reset the universe, and ends up proving to be successful, both by his own hands via Made in Heaven, as well as once he dies at the hands of Emporio and the Weather Report Stand.
Vibroweapon: His Blade Below the Shoulder works by rotating at high speeds. The light he is known for is a side-effect.
Villainous Breakdown: Once he's stuck in space, he tries to get back to Earth, only to panic when the cold vacuum of space freezes his whole body. It all goes further downhill once he turns into a rock-like statue, to the point where his mind shuts down altogether from sheer despair and isolation.
Kars: NO! It's not working! I'm... freezing! The air is freezing around me! The moment it comes out of the jets, it turns to ice! (attempts to use his wings to control his trajectory, but those freeze immediately as well) I can't change my path! I CAN'T MOVE! (freezes completely) NOOOUUUUAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGH!
Villainous Friendship: He has a good deal of respect for his comrades, even raising Wamuu and Santana. Even after the reveal that many of his honorable qualities are an act he specifically states in his battle with Joseph that he intends to avenge his fallen friends.
Villains Act, Heroes React: If he hadn't made the Stone Mask, which in turn created vampires, Hamon wouldn't have found its combative use in order to counter the vampiric menace. And that's not even getting into how it would've drastically changed Dio and the Joestars' destinies if the mask didn't exist. Also applies to much of Battle Tendency itself. Once the Pillar Men are awakened and the heroes are pulled into the conflict, it turns into a race to see who can beat the other to the rings/stone/etc.
Visionary Villain: Kars' original goal was to allow his race to overcome their weakness to sunlight and become god-like beings, and his genocide of his people was only done in self-defense when they discovered the villainous aspects of this plan. He even provides the page picture.
Walking Shirtless Scene: Most of the time, but makes a notable exception to his colleagues as he wore a Badass Long Coat complete with a matching hat during his first attempt to get the Red Stone of Aja.
Weak, but Skilled:
- While he's extremely powerful in his own right, Kars's fighting style isn't as powerful nor as versatile as Esidisi or Wamuu's. However, he makes up for it through his cunning and willingness to use dirty tactics in order to outsmart his opponents.
- This gets averted once he becomes the Ultimate Life Form- becoming Strong and Skilled- with his physical traits taken even higher in addition to a variety of evolution based Body Horror and instantaneous use of Hamon on top of his eons of fighting prowess.
Weaksauce Weakness: As a Pillar Man, he has a natural weakness to sunlight. This is notably inverted as he gains The Power of the Sun as well as immunity to sunlight once he becomes the Ultimate Life Form.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: His original goal was to have his race overcome their weakness to become invincible. However, it would mean they'd have to waste a great deal of life in order to do so, as they hadn't discovered the Red Stone at the time. The result was Kars killing everyone in self-defense when they deemed him a threat to their society and that of the humans as well.
Who Wants to Live Forever?: Zig-Zagged. On Earth, Kars's immortality after becoming the Ultimate Life Form seems like it would be pretty great since he could forever reign supreme over all other living beings. Unfortunately, thanks to Joseph's subconscious intervention, a volcano launches him into space, which renders him frozen and unable to die. As the narrator puts it, Kars eventually goes insane from the isolation and the inability to die, and after that, his mind disappears altogether.
Winged Humanoid: He can turn into a humanoid creature with wings by making his arms wings after becoming the Ultimate Life Form.
Would Hit a Girl: He tells Lisa Lisa that he finds it distasteful to hurt a woman, then goes and brutally stabs her in the back anyway after tricking her into attacking a body double.
Would Hurt a Child: Unlike Wamuu, he is willing to kill children because they'll grow up to be powerful Hamon warriors seeking revenge.
Wounded Gazelle Gambit: He pretends to be unconscious in order to goad Stroheim into firing the UV rays to finish him off, which he then uses to activate the Stone Mask and the Stone of Aja to become the Ultimate Life Form.
World's Strongest Man: He becomes the most powerful creature on Earth after becoming the Ultimate Lifeform, which grants him Complete Immortality, Adaptive Ability, complete resistance to the Sun and Hamon greater than anyone else's. Fittingly, he's so strong that Joseph only manages to defeat him accidentally by ejecting him completely from the world and sending him out into space. While this can come into question after the introduction of Stands, he remains one of the top strongest beings undoubtedly.
You Can't Thwart Stage One: Kars' entire quest is to get the Red Stone to become the Ultimate Life Form. Of course he's going to get that far or else there would be no plot, though Joseph still manages to find a way. Kars still becomes the Ultimate Life Form, thwarting the heroes' attempts to stop it; however, Joseph still manages to send him into space, nullifying his threat.
You're Insane!: To say the least, he's rather taken aback when Joseph impales him onto a plane and flies it into an active volcano.
Kars: (horrified) You're a LUNATIC!

Esidisi

Voiced by: Keiji Fujiwara (TV anime, All-Star Battle (R), Eyes of Heaven) (Japanese), Chris Jai Alex (English)

"I'VE MET AND DEVOURED COUNTLESS HAMON USERS LIKE YOU THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO!"

"I'll tell you this one more time. Back away. You know that with one touch of my hand, you'll soon be missing half of your body."

One of the Pillar Men. A longtime supporter of Kars's cause, he is the second-in-command of the main trio of Pillar Men.

He is named after AC/DC.

Affably Evil: During his fight with Joseph he takes a moment to pleasantly discuss strategy and honestly compliments JoJo on his skills, deeming him a Worthy Opponent. He's also legitimately devoted to his comrades, enough so that even being reduced to a brain won't stop him trying to help them.
Agony of the Feet: Downplayed. When he arrives at Lisa Lisa's island he crosses a field of spikes meant to be traversed with Hamon, but he instead just impales his feet with each step without reacting.
A Lighter Shade of Black: Esidisi is not as honorable as Wamuu, but at the same time, he shows respect for Joseph as well as a sense of Evil Virtues, which Kars notably lacks, when he reveals his true colors.
Anime Hair: Seeing as we never see what's under his Signature Headgear before his body's demise, Esidisi seems to have a tuff of white hair that looks like a clownish hairstyle.
Blinded by Rage: Defied. Jojo predicted he would send Esidisi into a blind rage, but the Pillar Man instead openly weeps like a small child. After abruptly stopping his crying fit, Esidisi explains that he cries like that to relieve stress and anger to avoid flying into a rage.
Bloody Murder: He raises his body temperature in order to heat his blood to 500°C/932°F, then extends his blood vessels out of his body and makes them into long, prehensile needles with which he injects his hot blood into enemies.
Borrowed Catchphrase: While proving his own tactical wit, Esidisi uses Joseph's own, "Your next line is [X]" trick against him.
Brain Theft: Inverted-as a last desperate measure his brain, all that's left of him at that point, hijacks Suzi Q's body in order to delay them enough for the Red Stone of Aja could be delivered to Kars safely.
Clipped-Wing Angel: Briefly turns into a long-horned giant to attack Joseph after being Out-Gambitted.
Combat Tentacles: His fighting style. Esidisi uses his blood vessels to transfer his super-hot blood to burn his opponents alive.
Co-Dragons: With Wamuu, and fits the loyal servant part well.
Combat Pragmatist: Esidisi will use mind games, trickery and other underhanded tactics to get ahead.
Confusion Fu: The first opponent that Joseph is unable to read, though this doesn't last long.
Death Is Dramatic: Played with. He acts very over the top in his flashy "death" when Joseph outwits him. This is actually a decoy to allow Esidisi to possess Suzie Q and perform a failed attempt at Taking You with Me.
Demonic Possession: To Suzi Q, after being beaten badly.
Determinator: Even more so than Santana, if that were possible. His bones and muscles are destroyed by Joseph, but his brain and blood vessels possess Suzi Q who takes the Red Stone of Aja to Kars in Switzerland, and then tried to make her into a blood bomb. That takes guts.
Dirty Coward: Downplayed. While he would later possess Suzi Q as a hostage to prevent Joseph and the others from attacking, it was more of stall tactic to aid his comrade, and it was heavily implied that he was going to die anyway, having been reduced to a brain; attempting to rid them of remaining enemies. Joseph himself takes this action as a sign of Villainous Valor for his tendency to swallow his pride in order to further his comrades' cause.
Dub Name Change: Esidisi is the official English spelling and the equivalent of what his name is in Japanese, but various fan and international translations have used ACDC, AC/DC, Eisidisi, and Acideecy.
Emotional Bruiser: He even notes that he's more emotional than the other two.
Evil Counterpart: Esidisi is subtly the closest to Joseph out of all of the Pillar Men. While he initially hides behind a stoic first impression, in reality, he can be just as silly, boisterous and willing to use any trick in the book to defeat his opponents as Joseph is. Even to the point that he uses Joseph's Catchphrase against him due to reading him that well.
Evil Sounds Raspy: In Japanese, he has a very, very coarse voice.
Facial Markings: Has an X-shaped mark on his face.
Fingore: Usually extends his blood vessels through his nails, which open up to reveal the tendrils.
Foreshadowing: His first independent action outside of commenting on Wamuu's actions is to take the dynamite that Joseph was intending to use to harm the Pillar Man, swallow it to have it explode in his stomach, and then place another Poison Ring into Joseph's throat. This hints that later on during their fight, that he is able to read through Joseph's tactics and being able to counter them.
For the Evulz: Whereas Wamuu placed his death ring on Joseph in order to make sure he wouldn't back out on their promised battle time, Esidisi only places a death ring on Joseph afterwards because he just wanted to make things even more tough for Joseph for no real reason, even saying he doubts they'd fight in the allotted 33 days.
Genius Bruiser: He knows an excerpt from Sun Tzu's Art of War that "all war is based on deception", not because he read it from the book, but because he had met the man in person.
Hidden Depths: Esidisi initially seems to be another stoic yet haughty Pillar Man, but during his personal encounter with Joseph, he reveals a greater more depth than assumed.
- He met Sun Tzu during his very long lifetime and learned the man's philosophy on warfare to apply it for his own strategy. It's subtly implied that he might've spared the man and had some of amicable relationship with him, which speaks words about him considering at best, the Pillar Men see humans as mild amusements and at worst, food.
- His Taking You with Me tactic initially seen as a Dirty Coward move through the lens of Caesar, is seen with more nuance- the prideful Pillar Man being willing to cast aside his ego to do an underhanded method to ensure the success of his group.
Hot-Blooded: Both the metaphorical and the literal sense.
Improbable Weapon User: He uses his own blood vessels as weapons by extending them out of his body like tentacles.
Inelegant Blubbering: During his Villainous Breakdown, which, quite frankly, looks utterly ridiculous.
Manly Tears: Esidisi shows no qualms about crying and showing his emotions, especially since whoever seen him is probably dead anyways, except Joseph.
Minor Injury Overreaction: Losing an arm is a minor injury for a Pillar Man; but Esidisi reacts to this by sobbing and screaming like a spoiled child, which really freaks Joseph out. It's an act, though, since he's fine with spikes impaling his feet as he walks towards Lisa Lisa's place.
Mood-Swinger: It's merely a tactic to relieve stress and mess with the enemy, but it comes off as creepy, going from Inelegant Blubbering to Tranquil Fury and finally back to normal, which is very dissonant.
My Blood Runs Hot: His fighting style is to raise his body temperature to lethal degrees and then give you an unwanted, impromptu blood transfusion.
Nightmare Face: When Out-Gambitted by Joseph, he does this◊ in an attempt to kill him as well.
Not Quite Dead: Turns out Esidisi survived Joseph's Hamon as a brain with tissues long enough to do a Grand Theft Me on Suzie Q before he is ultimately killed. And this is after giving a very convincing act of actually dying at Joseph's hands.
Out-Gambitted: He boasts about figuring out Joseph's plan and cuts the strings meant to ensnare him, only to discover it was a trap and get caught by a set of backup strings.
- In a very convoluted example, he manages to do this to Joseph- he manages to first unnerve Joseph, briefly be able to read him enough to reverse the Joestar's infamous Catchphrase against him, and even when it seemed like he beat him, it was a ploy to get at the Red Stone of Aja, deliver it to Kars, and delay the heroes long enough to make it too late to stop him. It's really only due to the Nazis intercepting it and Kars bungling the retrieval himself that caused the plan to fail.
Personality Powers: He is definitely Hot-Blooded and he can literally increase the temperature of his blood to boiling heat.
Playing with Fire: Known as the "Eccentric Blazing King".
Taking You with Me: Attempts to pull this on Joseph at the end of his battle, and when this doesn't work, what's left of him also tries to pull this on Suzi Q as well in order to delay it.
Villainous Breakdown: Actually invoked for the sake of stress relief (and messing with the opponent), apparently.
- Suffers a real one once he's caught in a Hamon trap by Joseph.
Villainous Valor: For all his flaws, Esidisi truly cared about his fellow Pillar Men, and he will not give up for their sake even after being reduced to just a brain. After he knows he's screwed, he tries to take the heroes with him to make things easier for the Pillar Men.
Wicked Cultured: He knows The Art of War.
Worthy Opponent: He sees Joseph as one, and Joseph returns the favor after seeing his Villainous Valor.
- In Eyes of Heaven he reacts to Muhammad Avdol this way, complimenting him as a kindred spirit due to both of them using heat and flames as their weapons. Avdol seems to return the sentiment, calling his boiling blood impressive.
  Avdol, was it? Allow me to commend those flames of yours!
Wounded Gazelle Gambit: While possessing Suzi Q, he tries to convince Caesar that Joseph is picking on Suzi Q when Caesar arrives. Caesar isn't fooled for long, though.

Wamuu

Voiced by: Akio Ōtsuka (TV anime, All-Star Battle (R), Eyes of Heaven) (Japanese), Paul St. Peter (English)

"I admire your weapon, your courage and your creativity, human. I'm actually enjoying your company. You deserve time."

^{Click here to see Wamuu as he appears from "A Hundred Against Two" onwards.}

"To me, only the strong truly existed. Victory was the single quality to be admired. I existed only to my code of honour."

One of the Pillar Men. He is highly loyal to Kars and Esidisi, but loves nothing more than to have a fair fight with strong opponents.

He is named after Wham!.

Abnormal Limb Rotation Range: How his Razor Wind works. Wamuu twists his arms into opposite corkscrews before letting them spin like rubber band propellers. The wind generated from this spinning from two opposite directions creates the Divine Sandstorm.
Affably Evil: Probably due to being the most honorable of the Pillar Men. Epitomized by the moment when Joseph pulls out some clackers to fight him with (which is considered to be Narm in-universe by all witnesses; Caesar outright says that "He's insane!"), yet he still treats it moderately respectfully as a 'weapon', aside from justifiably finding it amusing.
Anti-Villain: Downplayed. He may believe in playing fair and abiding by certain standards, but he's too battle-obsessed and firmly aligned with Kars to truly qualify.
Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: Wamuu is mighty full of himself, as the only reason he entertains Joseph's attempt to take him on initially is that he's confident in his superiority over the other man. When Joseph does manage to land a significant blow against him, he decides to not only kill Joseph for the transgression, but to also kill Caesar and Speedwagon for being witnesses to the act.
Berserk Button: Wamuu doesn't like it when people step on his shadow, and he'll reflexively attack anyone who does. His other button is any act of cowardice during battle, which Joseph uses to distract him at crucial moments.
Blood Knight: Despite his loyalty to his masters, he loves to fight as seen with Joseph as he spares the latter for the promise of becoming a stronger warrior.
Blow You Away: By using his barbed dreadlocks or turning his arms in opposite directions, he can create mini twisters or large torrents of wind.
Body Horror: Determines that the best way to stop getting tricked by Joseph in their final fight is to stop relying on his eyes. Thus, he stabs them out. More minor examples involve his wind jets, which emerge from within his body to suck and blow air, and his final technique, which rips up his own body when used.
Co-Dragons: With Esidisi to Kars, though Esidisi has more authority than Wamuu due to the fact that Kars and Esidisi raised him as an infant. Wammu becomes the sole Dragon after Esidisi is defeated.
Combat Pragmatist: He might not believe in full-blown cheating, but he can fight just as trickily as Joseph when he needs to. Look no further than how he takes out Caesar. The instant Caesar inadvertently creates a shadow that blocks out the sunlight frying him in the process of trying to stop him from using his Wind Suit as a last-ditch protection, Wamuu immediately goes right back on the offensive and unloads a point-blank Divine Sandstorm in Caesar's face, leaving him a half-dead and bloody mess.
Dangerous Forbidden Technique: His Desperation Attack, Atmospheric Rift, is incredibly powerful, but generates so much friction and heat in his body while in use that it starts falling apart on him.
Defeat Means Friendship: JoJo may have killed him, but in his final moments there was an undeniable sense of understanding, respect, and admiration between the two men, and yes, even palpable sadness on JoJo's part for Wamuu's passing.
Don't You Dare Pity Me!: After being reduced to a head and slowly crumbling away, Joseph decides to use his own blood to ease Wamuu's pain. Wamuu is outraged, thinking that Joseph is taking pity on him, though Joseph reassures him that it's not out of pity but out of respect for a Worthy Opponent.
Dragon-in-Chief: Not explicitly stated, but implied through dialogue. Wamuu notes that Kars would be in a far worse situation to fight Caesar than himself- a fight that nearly killed Wamuu himself if he didn't use an opening to win- and Joseph who fought Wamuu twice, noted that Kars was not as powerful as Wamuu himself.
Dying Moment of Awesome: Despite being reduced to a severed head that's slowly disintegrating from Joseph's hamon, he proceeds to use his head as a makeshift crossbow bolt to slaughter the vampire army when they tried attacking Joseph.
Establishing Character Moment: For him, and for Esidisi and Kars by proxy. Remember how Santana took a significant amount of time to learn human languages and regain his intelligence and coordination? Wamuu bursts out of his pillar not only by sneak-attacking a Nazi mook, but by making extremely deliberate stretching motions and demonstrating a complete grasp on new languages. Any viewer expecting this gang to be anything like Santana was certainly in for a surprise.
Eye Scream: To himself, as part of a gambit to beat Joseph.
Even Evil Has Standards: When Wamuu makes a promise, he will keep it, and if you prove to be an equally noble adversary, he will honor your final wishes in your place after slaying you. He also refuses to murder children, even if they are those of his enemies; a compunction that Kars does not share.
Evil Counterpart: Arguably is one to Joseph. Both have Undying Loyalty to their masters (although Joseph will never admit it). And in spite of their similarly Heroic Builds, both are masters of thinking on the fly who rely primarily on their wits to fight, and who base their tactics on reversing the flow of battle to surprise their enemies. They also occupy complementary positions on the morality scale: Joseph is an arrogant and jerkish trickster anti-hero who will do anything to win, while Wamuu is a polite and noble warrior who nonetheless enjoys a good punch up.
Evil Sounds Deep: Courtesy of Akio Ōtsuka, a low, menacing baritone is part and parcel.
Face Death with Dignity: Even in death, he doesn't allow anyone to sully the honor of his fight with Joseph and feels that he was a Worthy Opponent to kill him.
Fair-Play Villain: A defining trait. He could've killed off Joseph while he was bleeding and helpless in their first fight and destroyed Caesar's scarf holding the antidote to Joseph's poison ring after fatally wounding the latter, but his pride as a warrior caused him to not do so. This is, in fact, frequently exploited by Joseph to increase his chances of surviving against him.
Foil: He's one to Rudol von Stroheim. Both are blonde-haired men with a strong sense of honour, loyalty and bravery, and end up befriending Joseph who exhibits the same traits despite his juvenile personality. However, while Stroheim is a Token Evil Teammate on the side of the heroes due to his allegiances with the Nazis, Wamuu is the Token Good Teammate of his fellow Pillar Men as thanks to his more honourable traits.
Friendly Enemy: A little one-sided on his part. Wamuu is genuinely polite and cordial to Joseph, and enjoys having him as his Worthy Opponent. Joseph eventually returns the sentiment after landing the killing blow on Wamuu.
The Gift: Everyone calls him a "combat genius", and it shows — all of the battle-changing moves he makes are instinctual.
Genius Bruiser: He's the first opponent that could see through Joseph's gambits.
- He came up with the idea of making himself temporarily immune to sunlight by surrounding himself with a light-refracting wind suit.
Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!: He does this to himself when Joseph counters his Holy Sandstorm, by poking his eyes out.
Go Out with a Smile: In the end, as only a severed head, he dies smiling knowing he met someone as interesting as Joseph in his life.
Graceful Loser: He even helps Joseph as he dies because some vampire mooks tried to besmirch the honor of their battle.
Handicapped Badass: He makes himself even more powerful by blinding himself.
Hoist by His Own Petard: Several times during his duel with Joseph. Joseph wraps Hamon-infused reins around Wamuu's arms when he uses Holy Sandstorm which damages them enough that he can't use Holy Sandstorm again, and uses Wamuu's rebounding shot trick against him to sneak in a shot from behind. Wammu wastes valuable time trying to hit Joseph with his Atmospheric Rift attack because he couldn't aim properly since he poked his eyes out, and the extra time Joseph gets is enough to trick Wamuu into sucking in oil and Caesar's burning bandanna which blows him up.
Immediate Self-Contradiction: Despite declaring he didn't choose to spare Caesar's Hamon bubble containing his scarf and Wamuu's poison ring out of sentimentality, his very next lines as reflects about Caesar's actions and character as a Worthy Opponent while walking away are nothing but him getting sentimental over it.
Improbable Aiming Skills: He's an excellent shot with a crossbow, especially since he was reading air currents at the time instead of relying on sight.
Improbable Weapon User: At one point he uses a pillar as a javelin in his battle with Joseph. Also, his barbed dreadlocks, apparently designed for not just firing mini-wind blasts but for blocking projectiles.
Invisibility: Can manipulate the wind to make himself invisible, thus protecting him from the sun, since the light reflects off of his body due to the wind distorting the rays. He can only keep it up for a limited time, however, which is why he needs to stay in shadowed areas in order to recharge.
Leitmotif: "Burning Coliseum", aka "Holy Wubstorm" after his main technique.
Morality Chain: It's subtle, (and works only for a particular definition of morality) but he's the reason Kars upholds his promise to fight fairly. After Joseph kills him, Kars' Pragmatic Villainy kicks in. This turns the order of fights into a Xanatos Gambit on Kars' part, since either Wamuu wins, and they still have the strongest fighter (before Kars' ascension) to rely on, or he dies and Kars is free to use his tricks to compensate for his lesser fighting skills.
My Master, Right or Wrong: No matter what happens he's loyal to Kars, despite Kars being dishonorable and selfish.
Noble Demon: Keeps his promises, respects his enemies, and will not murder children. He still has some principles despite his loyalty to an evil cause.
Person of Mass Destruction: His Holy Sandstorm technique is extremely destructive, and can destroy entire buildings with just one usage. Joseph and Lisa Lisa identify Wamuu as a combatant even when they can't see him from far away just from the destruction Holy Sandstorm leaves behind.
Proud Warrior Race Guy: A trait that Joseph exploited to survive after losing the first fight.
Punch-Clock Villain: Downplayed. He's a Blood Knight and loyal follower of Kars who's fully willing to get his hands dirty when he has to, but he shows both a code of honor and no signs of sadism. Really, if Kars wasn't such a bastard Wamuu would likely have no reason or interest in doing evil or fighting the heroes outside of sating his desire for a good fight.
Razor Wind: His Atmospheric Rift attack has him suck in huge amounts of air, then expel it through a fine hole, creating a high-pressure whip of air sharp enough to cut through solid rock. The downside is that it generates extreme heat and friction that severely damages him whenever he uses it, so it's kept as a last resort.
Signature Move: Holy Sandstorm. By spinning his arms at high speeds, he can create tornadoes around them that shred anything in front of him to pieces with extreme erosion.
Spikes of Villainy: His shoulder bands are tipped with large spikes that add to his intimidating appearance.
Third-Person Person: Refers to himself like this in his first and last scenes.
This Is a Drill: His horn resembles one.
Undying Loyalty: To Kars.
Villain's Dying Grace: After being defeated by Joseph and the two acknowledge each other as Worthy Opponents, when a hoard of vampires try to kill Joseph in his exhausted state, an outraged Wamuu uses the last of his strength to launch himself at and kill them all. And this is after being reduced to a disembodied head.
What You Are in the Dark: After mortally wounding Caesar, causing the latter to generate a Hamon bubble to protect the antidote; Wamuu could've destroyed it — ruining Joseph's chances for a cure to his poison and no one would know. Despite this, he chooses not to out of a sense of respect.
The Worf Effect: Inflicts this on both Joseph (who defeated Santana beforehand) and Caesar (an accomplished Hamon user) by making short work of them. This shows that neither of them are on the level required to pose a threat to the remaining 3 Pillar Men yet.
Worthy Opponent:
- Dear heavens, does Wamuu enjoy having one in Joseph. Wamuu's dying words even note that he thinks he lived for as long as he did just so he could fight Joseph.
- Before him was Caesar. Wamuu said that his fight with him was the first fight to satisfy him in thousands of years. To the point that, when he fatally injured Caesar, he solemnly refused to fight him anymore, even consciously choosing not to absorb him despite his own grievous injuries, when any of the other Pillar Men would have taken the time to cruelly rub in their victory, and he ultimately chose to spare Caesar's Hamon bubble out of respect.
- There's an indication that he starts to see Lisa Lisa as one as well due to her confidence and craftiness in a situation where she's at an enormous disadvantage, but unlike the former two, nothing ever comes out of this.
Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Not afraid to pull off one of his own against Joseph.
Wouldn't Hit a Girl: According to Kars, Wamuu dislikes fighting women even more so than he does.
Would Not Hurt A Child: Even if they are the children of his enemies.
Your Head A-Splode: Inverted. His death comes from his body exploding, leaving only his head.

Santana

Voiced by: Kenji Nomura (TV anime) (Japanese), Kaiji Tang (English)

"It would... seem... that humans have... evolved. Their confidence..."

"You are playing... games, primitive. I do not... want to play... games."

One of the four Pillar Men resurrected by Stroheim. He is named after Santana.

Ax-Crazy: Unlike the other Pillar Men he actually presents himself as unstable and gleefully murders the scientist who have awakened him. Also during his fight with Joseph proves this further as he is happily to tear him apart.
Bad with the Bone: His Rib Blades ability, which allows him to extend his ribs out of his body to shish-kebab opponents.
Body Horror: He can do this with his body such as making it extremely thin to fit into an air vent or extending his ribcage out of his flesh as a weapon. He also inflicts an Eye Scream on a hapless Nazi, causing a Body Horror transformation into an obese sub-human. He can even weigh down opponents with stray chunks of his flesh.
The Brute: Not a man of many words, so he relies on physical action instead. Justified in that he's slowly learning the language after being imprisoned longer than his superiors.
Creepy Monotone: Subverted. He's just slow at picking up modern language compared to the other Pillar Men, and once he gets the hang of it, he's as hammy as the rest of them.
Death Glare: His default facial expression lies somewhere in between "I'm not a morning person" and "I'm going to enjoy killing you, primitive."
Disc-One Final Boss: He's initially referred to as the creator of the Stone Mask until his three superiors show up, one of which is the one who actually invented them.
Dub Name Change: The reference to him in All-Star Battle changes his name to "Santviento", which is claimed by Stroheim to mean "warm wind" in Spanish (which is quite wrong — if anything, Santviento seems to be a corrupted form of "santo viento", Spanish for "holy wind"). The anime's English dub cleans this up a bit by having Stroheim settle on the "Sanviento" name, supposedly to reference the Mexican wind in general.
Evil Is Not a Toy: The Nazis initially reawaken him for use as a tool to serve their own goals; he instead slaughters the soldiers there.
- Or didn't. They were trying to figure out how to destroy him, after all, it's just that they underestimated just how powerful he was.
Evil Sounds Deep: Santana's English and Japanese voices are both deep and rough from his time in hibernation.
Facial Markings: Has a marking under his left eye shaped like half of a gear.
Irony: Despite being the weakest of the four pillar men (to the point of even being looked down upon by the rest of them), he's canonically still alive despite being petrified, making him the very last remaining member of his race and the only pillar man to survive past the end of Battle Tendency.
The Friend Nobody Likes: Surprisingly, despite the Pillar Men showing Villainous Friendship for one another, the same can not be said for Santana. The others mock him when they find out he was defeated, and they show no interest in either avenging his defeat or rescuing him from the heroes.
Half the Man He Used to Be: Joseph bisects him during their fight. It barely even slows him down.
Implacable Man: He's like a biological Terminator! Joseph is able to slow him down at best and he's only defeated when exposed to direct sunlight.
Last of His Kind: By extension, as the four Pillar Men were the last members of their race. In his case, this applies more to him than the other Pillar Men, because despite being petrified, he's technically still alive and has outlived his superiors, making him the very last member of his race and the only pillar man to survive past the end of Battle Tendency.
Mook Horror Show: Santviento is seen eating a person affected by the Stone Mask in a rather disgusting way, to say the least, literally gets into a soldier, bursts open, then shoots every Nazi soldier with JUST HIS FINGERS.
No Name Given: His name was made up by Stroheim. However, Kars later refers to him as Santana, so maybe Stroheim happened upon the right name, or Kars heard it from when Joseph mentions him back in their first encounter.
Not So Stoic: After acting like a killer robot with a Creepy Monotone, when he is exposed to sunlight, he begins to ham it up like every other character in the series.
The Stoic: The least emotional of the Pillar Men.
Puppeteer Parasite: Does this to a hapless Nazi and Stroheim via Grand Theft Me.
Sorting Algorithm of Evil: Technically speaking, he's above both Dio and Straizo in terms of vampiric power. Meanwhile, as powerful as he is, he's still far inferior to the three Pillar Men in Europe, seeing as it took him a while to pick up modern language whereas the others were able to learn it in an instant, and his only unique ability is his ribcage attack, which is rather underwhelming compared to the elemental Modes the others have.
Sole Survivor: Of the four Pillar Men, Santana is the only one who's still alive at the end of Battle Tendency. Maybe.
Taken for Granite: Looks to be this when he is first found inside the pillar in Mexico, though he's actually just hibernating. Happens to him for real after Joseph takes care of him, though. Twice.
Ultimate Life Form: One of a group of uber-vampires, and described as being one, though the others are even more powerful.
Unskilled, but Strong: He's definitely powerful, certainly more so than a vampire, even one like Dio. But he doesn't seem to have the intelligence that made the other three Pillar Men so dangerous. All of his attacks are straightforward, with very little creativity to them. This enables Joseph to beat him by out-thinking him, even despite his Hamon being weak and untrained at the time.
Walking Shirtless Scene: Wears nothing more than a thong, which is far less than his slightly more dressed allies have. He was wearing armor when he was still hibernating, but it breaks off of his body once he awakens.
Wake-Up Call Boss: After Joseph's relatively easy fight dispatching Starter Villain Straizo Santana is introduced to show how much more terrifying and dangerous the Pillar Men are in comparison to one fairly strong vampire. At the same time however the introduction of his superiors not long after his early defeat show that, while still strong, he's nowhere near their level and as such Joseph is nowhere close to being ready to defeat them yet.
We Hardly Knew Ye: He spent the majority of his screen time trying to adjust to modern times, but by the time he fully adjusts, he is sealed away once more.
What Happened to the Mouse?: After he was trapped by the UV lights, there's no clue to where he is now. Assuming he's still alive.
When He Smiles: Parodied in the dub only. Joseph spends the opening of episode 13 trying to get Santana to crack a smile^noteThe Japanese gag, which relied on language-specific wordplay and Engrish, was impossible to translate. The gag is revisited at the end of the episode, where Joseph narrates the final shot on Santana's permanently-frozen Nightmare Face.
Joseph: He's a statue now... but, we finally got that smile!
- That said, he actually does smile slightly in a piece of promotional art for the 2012 anime.

Characters / JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Battle Tendency
aka: Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure Part 2

Heroes

Caesar Anthonio Zeppeli

Voiced by: Takuya Sato (TV anime, All-Star Battle (R), Eyes of Heaven) (Japanese), Bryce Papenbrook (English)

Lisa Lisa

Voiced by: Atsuko Tanaka (TV anime and All-Star Battle (R)) (Japanese), Wendee Lee (English)

Rudol von Stroheim

Voiced by: Atsushi Imaruoka (TV anime, All-Star Battle (R), Eyes of Heaven) (Japanese), Dan Woren (English)

Allies

Smokey Brown

Voiced by: Yu Hayashi (Japanese), Robbie Daymond (English)

Mark

Voiced by: Ryōta Ōsaka (TV anime) (Japanese), Kyle McCarley (English)

Loggins and Messina

Loggins voiced by: Yutaka Nakano (TV anime and All-Star Battle (R)) (Japanese), Ray Chase (English)

Messina voiced by: Hidetoshi Nakamura (TV anime and All-Star Battle (R)) (Japanese), Michael McConnohie (English)

Suzi Q / Suzi Q Joestar

Voiced by: Sachiko Kojima (TV Anime), Shoko Saito (CD drama), Ryoko Kinomiya (OVA) (Japanese), Stephanie Sheh (English)

George "Jorge" Joestar II

Villains

Straizo

Voiced by: Nobuo Tobita (TV anime and All-Star Battle (R)), Hiroaki Miura (Phantom Blood video game) (Japanese), Dave Mallow (English)

Donovan

Voiced by: Ken'ichirou Matsuda (Japanese), Ray Chase (English)

Wired Beck

Voiced by: Satoshi Tsuruoka (Japanese), Mike Davis (English)

Pillar Men

Kars

Voiced by: Kazuhiko Inoue (TV anime, All-Star Battle (R), Eyes of Heaven) (Japanese), John Demita (credited as Will Barrett, English)

Esidisi

Voiced by: Keiji Fujiwara (TV anime, All-Star Battle (R), Eyes of Heaven) (Japanese), Chris Jai Alex (English)

Wamuu

Voiced by: Akio Ōtsuka (TV anime, All-Star Battle (R), Eyes of Heaven) (Japanese), Paul St. Peter (English)

Santana

Voiced by: Kenji Nomura (TV anime) (Japanese), Kaiji Tang (English)

Alternative Title(s): Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure Part 2, Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure Kars

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Characters / JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Battle Tendency aka: Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure Part 2

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Heroes

Caesar Anthonio Zeppeli

Voiced by: Takuya Sato (TV anime, All-Star Battle (R), Eyes of Heaven) (Japanese), Bryce Papenbrook (English)

Lisa Lisa

Voiced by: Atsuko Tanaka (TV anime and All-Star Battle (R)) (Japanese), Wendee Lee (English)

Rudol von Stroheim

Voiced by: Atsushi Imaruoka (TV anime, All-Star Battle (R), Eyes of Heaven) (Japanese), Dan Woren (English)

Allies

Smokey Brown

Voiced by: Yu Hayashi (Japanese), Robbie Daymond (English)

Mark

Voiced by: Ryōta Ōsaka (TV anime) (Japanese), Kyle McCarley (English)

Loggins and Messina

Loggins voiced by: Yutaka Nakano (TV anime and All-Star Battle (R)) (Japanese), Ray Chase (English)

Messina voiced by: Hidetoshi Nakamura (TV anime and All-Star Battle (R)) (Japanese), Michael McConnohie (English)

Suzi Q / Suzi Q Joestar

Voiced by: Sachiko Kojima (TV Anime), Shoko Saito (CD drama), Ryoko Kinomiya (OVA) (Japanese), Stephanie Sheh (English)

George "Jorge" Joestar II

Villains

Straizo

Voiced by: Nobuo Tobita (TV anime and All-Star Battle (R)), Hiroaki Miura (Phantom Blood video game) (Japanese), Dave Mallow (English)

Donovan

Voiced by: Ken'ichirou Matsuda (Japanese), Ray Chase (English)

Wired Beck

Voiced by: Satoshi Tsuruoka (Japanese), Mike Davis (English)

Pillar Men

Kars

Voiced by: Kazuhiko Inoue (TV anime, All-Star Battle (R), Eyes of Heaven) (Japanese), John Demita (credited as Will Barrett, English)

Esidisi

Voiced by: Keiji Fujiwara (TV anime, All-Star Battle (R), Eyes of Heaven) (Japanese), Chris Jai Alex (English)

Wamuu

Voiced by: Akio Ōtsuka (TV anime, All-Star Battle (R), Eyes of Heaven) (Japanese), Paul St. Peter (English)

Santana

Voiced by: Kenji Nomura (TV anime) (Japanese), Kaiji Tang (English)

Alternative Title(s): Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure Part 2, Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure Kars

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Characters / JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Battle Tendency
aka: Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure Part 2