Jojo's Bizarre Threadventure

[Skull]

No, but the lengths Diavolo/Soze goes to erase his identity and the fact that literally no one in his gang knows his true name or face do strike me as somewhat unique.

^ So I looked into it, and at the very least this aspect likely isn't taken from The Usual Suspects as Chapter 488 - where Bucciarati tells Giorno about the Boss and how nobody in the gang knows his face or name came out two months before The Usual Suspects aired in Japanese theatres.

Now I'm not saying the entire theory is bunk as Araki clearly made some changes to Diavolo between his first appearance when Bucciarati takes Trish to him and then when we see him revealed at last, and it's possible Araki incorporated some aspects of Soze into Diavolo later.

[SirGauoftheSquareTable]

Who's to say he only saw that movie when it was released in Japan?

[Skull]

Who's to say he only saw that movie when it was released in Japan?

That's why I said "likely".

- - - Updated - - -

If reading Bakuman has taught me anything, it's that writing for WSJ doesn't give you lots of free time to go jetting abroad.

[RoydGolden]

^ So I looked into it, and at the very least this aspect likely isn't taken from The Usual Suspects as Chapter 488 - where Bucciarati tells Giorno about the Boss and how nobody in the gang knows his face or name came out two months before The Usual Suspects aired in Japanese theatres.

Now I'm not saying the entire theory is bunk as Araki clearly made some changes to Diavolo between his first appearance when Bucciarati takes Trish to him and then when we see him revealed at last, and it's possible Araki incorporated some aspects of Soze into Diavolo later.

Fair enough. That theory isn't as likely as I thought then. Still interesting though. Also, I just looked at the Wikipedia article for Keyser Soze out of curiosity and weirdly, it mentions under the "In popular culture" section that the character of Diavolo is based on Soze. At first I got excited thinking my theory was officially confirmed by the author, but it turns out the "source" is just a random post on GameFAQS making the same theory I did.

Feels like whoever wrote that particular part should've been a little more careful in distinguishing theories and facts...

[mAc Chaos]

With his name literally meaning Devil, his backstory is written like a horror movie.

[SirGauoftheSquareTable]

Specifically, the Omen series.

[mAc Chaos]

Ah! That's the one. I was trying to remember which it was, but it reminded me of the Omen. That shit freaked me out as a kid. DAMIEN

[SpoonyViking]

If he's the Devil, wouldn't that make Trish Damien?

[Toa of Gallifrey]

He's not making a pastiche, just using it as inspiration.

[RoydGolden]

He's not making a pastiche, just using it as inspiration.

Pretty sure Spoony's reply was meant as a joke, not a serious question. Obviously Araki isn't trying to copy some movie in every exacting detail.

[SpoonyViking]

Yeah, I was being facetious. :-)

[Toa of Gallifrey]

Ah, sorry. My sensor broke.

[Skull]

With his name literally meaning Devil, his backstory is written like a horror movie.

Hmm... so the

Diavolo

Devil

is in charge and the only one who can oppose him is the Son of

DIO

God

...

I forgot how much Araki likes his S Y M B O L I S M.

[SirGauoftheSquareTable]

Hmm... so the

Diavolo

Devil

is in charge and the only one who can oppose him is the Son of

DIO

God

...

I forgot how much Araki likes his S Y M B O L I S M.

Especially with his volume cover arts, which really push the whole Giorno is Jesus thing with the subtlety of a sledgehammer.

[SirGauoftheSquareTable]

And thus the biggest For Want of a Nail of Part V has happened. I honestly wonder what might have happened had you-know-who not been gunned down by Aerosmith.

[RoydGolden]

And thus the biggest For Want of a Nail of Part V has happened. I honestly wonder what might have happened had you-know-who not been gunned down by Aerosmith.

If Risotto won the final battle of the season probably would've been between him and Bucciarati's group for control of Passione's drug trade. Though that makes me wonder, would any of the main gang have been able to defeat Risotto/Metallica in a straight up fight? Given Doppio had to literally see the future just to react to Risotto's attacks I kind of have my doubts...

[SirGauoftheSquareTable]

If Risotto won the final battle of the season probably would've been between him and Bucciarati's group for control of Passione's drug trade. Though that makes me wonder, would any of the main gang have been able to defeat Risotto/Metallica in a straight up fight? Given Doppio had to literally see the future just to react to Risotto's attacks I kind of have my doubts...

I think Bruno with his undead status would have either been immune or resistant to Metallica for reasons you will see later in Part V.

Spoiler:

Also, PHF spoilers, but: there is no drug supply chain to take control of. They're all produced by one guy's Stand, and they only last for 2 weeks.

[RoydGolden]

I think Bruno with his undead status would have either been immune or resistant to Metallica for reasons you will see later in Part V.

Spoiler:

Also, PHF spoilers, but: there is no drug supply chain to take control of. They're all produced by one guy's Stand, and they only last for 2 weeks.

Actually, almost right after posting that I realized that just about every member of the gang except Abbacchio and maybe Narancia would have ways to deal with Metallica.

-Giorno could transform random objects into fresh blood to replace the iron torn out of him, or even nullify Metallica's attacks outright by turning the blades Risotto forms right back into living blood before they can damage him.

-Bruno could just unzip himself to pull the blades out without needing to damage his body (plus the zombie thing you mentioned).

-Mista would have harder time, but the Beach Boy/Grateful Dead fight shows that Sex Pistols can go inside his body and move around, so he could use them to pull out the blades, though not without taking some damage in the process.

-Narancia wouldn't have any direct counter to Metallica, but the Clash fight shows he can keep his cool and attack even when his neck is being savaged by a miniature shark. It'd take more than vomiting up a few razorblades to get him to let up. Plus Aerosmith's radar would let him track Risotto even while he's invisible, removing one of the latter's major advantages.

If anything the whole deal with Risotto shows one of the things I like most about Araki as a Shonen writer: he's not slavishly bound to "power-levels" as a means of deciding who beats who in a fight. Most of the main cast would've been able to defeat Risotto fairly easily in a straight fight, but he still manages to get within a hair's breadth of killing the main villain, purely through clever tactics and the fact that his ability was almost perfectly geared for the setup of that particular fight. It shows that in a real fight, things like tactics, preparation and how well the respective opponents' skillsets counter each other can matter just as much or more than who's technically "stronger" on paper.

Also I was aware of the PHF spoiler, but A: Neither Bruno's gang or Risotto know that, and B: it's a spinoff not written by Araki himself and thus doubtfully canonical.

[mAc Chaos]

That was a great fight. Risotto said the person who gets most excited loses, and it was true. He probably could have used his magnetism on those bullets otherwise.

[RoydGolden]

That was a great fight. Risotto said the person who gets most excited loses, and it was true. He probably could have used his magnetism on those bullets otherwise.

Metallica seems limited to specifically manipulating iron, not metals in general, and most bullets nowadays are made with lead instead of iron, so probably not. Also, Aerosmith's bullets are psychic constructs like the Stand itself so who knows if they even obey regular laws of physics like magnetism in the first place. But yeah, that was an awesome fight.