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fauzhee10069 · 4 years ago

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JoJolion chapter 107 review (starring Higashikata Caato)

Why not? This chapter does star her.

We’re finally almost free from the crap of Caato’s hypes because she finally does something right now. This chapter is about her fight against Tooru and more about her character.

Previously related post:

The Long-Awaited Most-Hyped Character Finally Made Her Appearance: Caato

MAJOR SPOILER AHEAD!! Don’t read more if you haven’t read the newest chapter (107) yet and don’t want to get spoiled!

JJL chapter 107: Kaato Higashikata's "Attack"

First, I’d like to try her recipe.

Actually, the reason she is in Higashikata’s house right now is to deliver Jobin’s favorite dish made by her… what a lovely mother. Too bad, instead she found her son’s dead body.

This actually should debunk some Caatofags silly idea of her as an evil person who doesn’t really care about her family. When it looks like more about Jobin, I think she does care to her daughters as well when she asked them to stay in their place.

Also, the speculation of Tooru’s tricking Caato also got debunked, obviously because Yasuho is there to tell her about what was really going on.

Yasuho in this chapter mostly just explains anything happened and her explanation regarding rock-humans and New Locacaca is because she has no reason to assume that Caato already knows about these things.

I like how Caato looks calm when Tooru was pointing knife (more like saw I think) at her, those tears in her eyes are still tears of grief over Jobin’s death, not due to her fear.

read it from left to right -->

That really sounds like a villain speech and it is said by Tooru. At this point I’m getting even more conviced that he is the true main villain of part 8.

Caato then revealed her Stand, the name is 「Space Trucking」 and I have explained its newest mechanism in my other post, so I won’t go in depth in discussing her Stand here. In short, she uses her Stand to hide some of Tooru’s limbs to incapacitate him.

Apparently, the one who called her “K-Kaato-san” in the last page of previous chapter was Yasuho and Tooru also knows about her (Caato). Just like what Maako, the girlfriend of Ojiro said that the news about her murdering a child 15 years ago is a well-known sensational news in Morioh, so it is not surprising if several characters in JJL know her.

I like Caato’s composure and softness here, kinda reminds me of Jolyne… yeah, she has been compared to Jolyne numerous times, her intro in prison is definitely a Jolyne’s reference. Araki once said that Norisuke IV is the JJL version of Josuke in part 4, as his elder counterpart so, what if Caato is also the elder counterpart of Jolyne in JJL? That kinda makes sense.

Caato already knows about the New Locacaca and so, does this mean that Caato was hiding another pot of the New Locacaca?? Or is that the same pot that Tooru and Yasuho had been fighting for in previous chapters?

My guess is that it is the ‘same’ pot, look how the pot that Caato reveals does not have any fruit either. I think Caato is just playing with her Stand’s ability while talking about the New Locacaca or… perhaps, while she looks like she is playing, she actually manages to hide and steal a part of the plants(?)

Look, a flashback of Caato and Jobin! I think it officially becomes her trait to always barge in unannounced and startled whoever was in the room. They were in Jobin’s beetle collection room where he hid the New Locacaca there.

Look at the window that still looks intact there, then this flashback happened before the fight between Jobin-Tsurugi and Ojiro.

This is so wholesome this scene basically tells that no matter how old Jobin is he is still Caato’s baby.

Okay, I’m not into symbolization but now I want to talk about it just a moment, while this could be simply a JoJo thing that Jobin was wearing such impractical design for the sake of fashion, with that outfit he basically locked his own wrist which might symbolize of being handcuffed.

If you’re willing to take a look at the flashback scene in chapter 64, Jobin started wearing such outfit when he was a teenager right before Caato got caught by the police. Is this a form of Jobin's empathy for his mother who was in prison? Even though this symbolization is slightly missed because he was already wearing that outfit just before Caato got caught.

Told ya, the window still wasn't broken yet.

So, Jobin eventually told everything to his mom, about the New Locacaca, its equivalent exchange ability, the orchard burning and Tsurugi’s involvement.. and the most important thing that’s being revealed here is that the sap has the same power as the fruit! Those beetles show that we don’t necessarily need to have the fruit to get the effect of perfect equivalent exchange!!

Also, this actively debunk those wild theory of Caato being the mastermind of everything, she did not seem to possess any Locacaca before, she did not know the existence of the New Locacaca (and possibly about the rock-humans either), she did not know what truly happened during the orchard burning, she doesn't look like she is a secret rock-wahmen either, etc.

She is not as mighty as those Caatofags want her to be, however…

…her character remains consistent since the early of her introduction, that she actually had a conflicting view with Norisuke IV regarding the family’s ethic and moral value. This is about what we call “selflessness vs selfishness” again, and Caato’s view is more dominant in influencing Jobin.

Caato is not the mastermind controlling Jobin like a puppet like those Caatofags was promoting. Everything Jobin has done in this story is of his own will, starting from his cooperation with rock-humans, the struggle of the New Locacaca and the burning orchards. However, Jobin's way of thinking, motivation and ambition have been influenced by Caato's views and how she has nurtured him.

And in this chapter, Caato is being supportive towards Jobin like she had always been (read: chapter 59 and 64). Plus, Caato and Jobin’s Stand names being references to Deep Purple’s songs may signify their close relationship.

Looks like she just basically activated her Stand on the plant, it could be hidden whenever someone tried to come and get it but it wasn’t truly activated, at least that’s what the translation implies.

read it from right to left <---

「Wonder of U」 starts appearing behind Caato, does it mean that Caato really start harming Tooru? Another new feat of her Stand’s ability that it is able to fully hide a living being, which she uses to hide her grandson Tsurugi.

She makes Tooru to do equivalent exchange with dying Tsurugi while 「Wonder of U」is seen rushing towards Caato… end in cliffhanger. Probably my favorite page here. Basically, what Caato does is ‘two birds in one stone’ movement, breaking the Higashikata family’s curse by saving her grandson while eliminating Tooru.

And what could happen next?

My thought…

This chapter shows how awesome Caato truly is, starting from her soft side as a mother to her toughness against the enemy.

Araki is really doing her well, I thought there was no need to turn her into an antagonist with great power/influence or a silly plot twist that this unassuming grannie is the mastermind behind anything.

Caatofags had once described her as a mother who directs Jobin like a puppet and supervises Tooru as her subordinate whereas in reality, Araki has been portraying the three of them in a more balanced way rather than one being above anothers.

I really like her relationship with Jobin, I once said that they would make good partners if they were to be the final antagonists after Tooru, but sadly at this point I feel that Jobin is permanently dead.

There won’t be Yoshihiro-Yoshikage(like)’s cooperation against Josuke in this part… however, Caato continues to carry out her supportive role towards Jobin by trying to fulfill his main goal of curing Tsurugi and breaking the family curse.

Even so far, I haven't considered Caato as an antagonist, I still think of her as a 'wild card' for Josuke and Yasuho.

The mystery and next chapter prediction…

If this goes well, it looks like Caato's action in doing equivalent exchange to Tooru and Tsurugi will succeed in curing Tsurugi. The cracks on Tsurugi's face seemed to be diminishing. But with the 「Wonder of U」 following behind her, it shows that Caato's life too is in danger.

Then what will happen to the fully healed Tsurugi? Considering that the fusion happened to Josefumi and Kira does not make any of them 'alive' with their consciousness and instead creates a new consciousness we called “Josuke”, the new Tsurugi might not be the Tsurugi we know all along.

Besides, the equivalent exchange that happened on Tooru and Tsurugi is an exchange between rock-human and normal human and so far we still don't know what the effect will be. Will this be the answer to Tsurugi's weird behavior in the flashforward of chapter 83?

Then I also questioned about the harvest countdown of the New Locacaca in the flashforward, that in the previous chapter (106), the fruit in the pot was already gone. But in this chapter, there could be a possibility that Caato might hide the other parts of the plant (perhaps some branches) using her cards.

I think that there is starting to appear a slight hint linking the current events to the flashforward in chapter 83.

#jojolion spoilers #chapter review #kaato higashikata #tooru jojo #tsurugi higashikata #jobin higashikata #jjba part 8 #jojo's bizarre adventure #caato

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fauzhee10069 · 3 years ago

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JoJolion chapter 108: The End of Calamity

Aka. ‘The End of Tooru’

Chapter 108 just released guys, let's review it!

JJL chapter 108: The Last Calamity

Continuation of the last page in chapter 107, Caato uses The New Locacaca’s 'tree sap' to do equivalent exchange and cure Tsurugi. Then what about the little unripened fruit that Tooru ate? I think it should still have the ability of equivalent exchange, but considering Tsurugi's state and illness, it's like healing a burn with fire.

Not only that, Caato also destroys the plant completely, perhaps she thinks that “this fruit should never exist in this world” or so that Tooru doesn't get what he wants, but at least she got chance to use it to cure Tsurugi.

I slightly disagree with Tooru, I think the fruit can still be produced. Didn't the New Locacaca fruit exist because of planting the regular Locacaca one on the Higashikata's land (which has its own equivalent exchange ability). If those regular fruits are also extinct, then it is still possible.

I don’t know if the regular Locacaca is extinct, back in Holy’s lab, Rai has destroyed all the fruit stored there. But then in Doobie Wah arc (the fight with Aishou), it was implied by Yasuho that some of the Locacaca were stored around the stadium. Even if the Locacaca is no longer in Japan, can't we just get it back from New Guinea, where the fruit originally came from?

The thing I love most about JoJo and Araki is how his villains become lost & pathetic the moment they face their downfall, instead of being cool till the end.

So, this is really the end of Tooru? Instead of Josuke, it is Caato who actually defeat him? Him looking at the wasp and having his final nostalgia reminds me of Funny Valentine who had reminisced with the handkerchief his late father gave to him.

I thought Caato would be spared by the calamity because Tooru is already dead, but calamity still befalls and kills her in the end.

I think this is fair, because Caato has managed to do a lot of things (which should be considered threatening) to Tooru and got away with it while people like Josuke, Rai, Mitsuba and Jobin were very susceptible to calamity even with their very little actions.

That part was a bit confusing, but if I comprehend it right, Caato was using her cards to hide (and subdue) Tooru’s hand which happened to be carrying a saw. His hand and the saw was secured by Caato’s playing cards, she used his hand to crush the branches and she kept the cards on her side (waist) then the saw (aka calamity) kills her.

With Tooru’s demise, Yasuho started to resume her monologue (the thing she had done in the very first chapter of JoJolion). The main theme of this chapter 8 is about “breaking the curse.”

So that’s how the reason of Norisuke IV is in the body bag, it’s not about something evil Tsurugi will do to him, it's just an evacuation??

With this I am getting more convinced that the flashforward in chapter 83 will not happen, it gets retcon’ed. As time went on, my theories became more and more ridiculous and pointless.

Of course, seeing every new JJL chapters that keep releasing and deviating from the flashforward, I already suspected that that scene would not be realized. However, I was still optimistic and trying to find potential connection with the events that occurred during Wonder of You arc.

Maybe it's time for me to give up on the chapter 83 flashforward, but I'm still 'a little' hopeful that the current event (in chapter 108) occurs in a universe (belong to Josuke and Yasuho we know) and what happens in flashforward is an interdimensional event (something like D4C’s shenanigan).

But considering Yasuho’s monologue, I think it is highly unlikely.

Is Tooru really dead? Why does his Stand still exist? So, that’s why Caato can still be hit by calamity, Tooru isn't really dead yet??

Apparently, Tooru is indeed dead, but his will and Stand can still manifest. This is not the first time this happens in JJBA. There are posthumous Stands, notably 「Anubis」, 「Cheap Trick」 and 「Notorious B.I.G」. Perhaps 「Wonder of U」 becomes that kind of Stand. Even a ghost (a dead person) like Kira Yoshihiro can have his Stand, 「Atom Heart Father」.

Tooru is officially dead by Caato’s hand, a little disappointing because it wasn't Josuke who gives him final blow. However, he comes at the right time and eventually does the final blow to 「Wonder of U」, using his newly found ability, 「Soft&Wet」: Go Beyond.

By the way, the last panel of Josuke and Yasuho look wholesome.

My thought…

The fight from the previous chapter (107) continues immediately in this chapter (108). The death of Tooru and the end of calamity (WOU) were resolved quite satisfactorily.

But overall, this chapter is disappointing.

Because the way this chapter is handled, hints that we're really getting to the end of the story. Starting from the closing narration/monologue by Yasuho, the aftermath of the Higashikata family, the end of calamity and the implication that the flashforward in chapter 83 will not be realized.

My main issues from this chapter are the pacing and unresolved plotholes. The fight itself is quite well done.

Now let me talk about the fight first. A bit disappointing that Josuke did not have time to face Tooru directly, instead it became Caato’s job. However, this role is awesome for Caato. Symbolically speaking, Caato's character is a heavy reference from french playing cards. The cards are very commonly used for gambling and so on.

There's a term "trump card" and it has been discussed several times about Caato's role as ‘the trump card', but finally it was answered in this chapter (108) that Caato was the trump card in breaking the family curse of Higashikata and even in defeating the big villain.

For years Caato was believed to be the main villain, “she helds the trump card” “she is the mastermind”, etc. There were also those who believed that she would be the final villain ala AU!Diego. She has long been considered an antagonist or villain by readers, despite her never been in conflict with Josuke.

In the end, Caato is neither Valentine 2.0 nor AU!Diego 2.0. She's more like Gyro 2.0 in my opinion, she became Tooru's hardest hindrace and left space for Josuke to give WOU a final blow… at least in this chapter.

Still for the entire story, Yasuho is the true Gyro 2.0.

Disappointment behind satisfaction

Personally, I wished that this chapter didn't come out this month. This chapter should be out next or two months later.

Wasted potential of Tooru

Tooru's defeat did look satisfying, but not with his characterization. I expected a follow-up flashback regarding Tooru's past, at least how he was able to found and lead the rock-humans organization anonymously.

Besides, I also hope that Tooru is connected to the Higashikata's family curse, or at least in Johnny's death in the past. Being a rock-human makes him possible to be present in Johnny's flashback.

Johnny's sudden death from being crushed by a boulder looks like a result of calamity. Yeah, you can argue that he used his 「 Tusk Act 4 」 and that was the cause of his death, but couldn't a series of Stand attacks be under calamity's influence? We also had Lucy in that flashback. It would be dope if we get a flashback of Johnny, Lucy and Tooru in which they were connected and involved in the same events.

In case you can’t read the image as it's blurry from getting compressed, I will quote it for you:

Wonder of U is such a waste of potential to create a genuinely thrilling and exiting stand fight. Tooru didn't have to do jack shit on his part to fight back, all he had to do was keep his distance and miraculously the enemy would get one shot. There's no interactivity between Tooru or the enemy he's fighting.

Dio stopped time to dodge attacks and gain advantageous positions.

Kira created stalemates with his bombs and utilized range to keep his enemies at bay.

Diavolo percieved the enemies movements and skipped time to best utilize weakpoints in the enemies’ strategies.

Pucci knew when and how to strike, forcing his enemies into bad positions as he made a move.

Valentine manipulated his enemies to such an extent that three of them basically killed themselves, despite them being knowledgable of Valentine's potential.

I propose that this stand would be way better if it acted the way it did when we were first introduced to it.

If someone tries to chase either the stand or the stand user, then whenever they collide with something, it will deal immense damage to them. By actively moving towards Tooru or 「Wonder of U」, they would endanger themselves to possible hindrances which would severely impede, if not straight up kill them.

Then the stand suddenly gains the power to miraculously direct objects to collide WITH WHOEVER IS CHASING THEM. Not as before where they would collide with objects and get hurt, but where objects were redirected into their path to damage the pursuers. Even as much as damaging 「Wonder of U」 or Tooru is enough to instantly bend reality to instakill someone.

Now what if, instead, the stand and the user are genuinely vulnerable. The catch is that Tooru has to make an effort to put objects in the pursuer’s path. Walking through thick branches, throwing a bottle of water, closing doors, kicking up sand. These all present instakill scenarios, but there is an INTENT behind every attack. Creative problem solving for each attack.

Besides, there is also wasted potential in Josuke and Tooru's rivalry.

You know what annoys me more than the wasted potential of WOU? The wasted potential that was the Josuke - Tooru rivalry. They had such good setup, they were polar opposites thematically, they could have clashed earlier before we knew Tooru's real identity, but instead everything was drowned by “muh love triangle” that went nowhere, Rai's incessant babbling and Caato being shoehorned in the fight for “muh curse”.

Tooru's good two speeches about memories and The Locacaca were addressed to Caato instead of Josuke, which is absolute bullshit, because they don't make her doubt herself, anything, they don't make her flinch at all. They would have fit Josuke so much better. To add insult to injury, Araki had Josuke show up all triumphantly after Caato did all the work and ora ora whatever was left of WoU. In before Go Beyond, it lost all momentum after it was introduced.

Unresolved mysteries and plotholes

Actually, there are four misteries that should have already been answered:

We still don’t know what the point of the Wall Eyes

It’s JJL version of ‘Devil Palm’, it bestows Stand to the people living nearby. My theory is that it’s also connected with how the Higashikata’s land have equivalent exchange ability (besides Johnny’s death).

We still don’t know where did the bite marks came from

Isn’t it came from the Wall Eyes? It’s like ‘a mark’ for the Stand users who have been bestowed. Read more about it here.

We still don’t know what is Jobin’s hidden ability

When did we first hear that? Iirc, it was in chapter 63 (the end of Blue Hawaii arc), in the first page’s infobox. I can't remember that Jobin once said it on-screen.

What is clear, is that we started hearing “Jobin's hidden ability” long before his fight with Ojiro. Therefore I think, his hidden ability should have been revealed post that fight:

「Speed King」 has the primary ability to store heat and temperature within a short localized point. It can only affect objects within 10 centimeters, but it is shown that said objects can travel far away from Jobin and still be affected by Speed King's heat storage. For instance Ojiro Sasame could travel from the Higashikata House to downtown Morioh and still be affected.

At this point, we shall believe that this is the hidden ability that was hinted. Especially, as Jobin’s status is already dead, so we won’t likely see more of 「Speed King」.

We still don’t know the effects of eating a ripe New Locacaca

Wasn't Yasuho already eat the ripe fruit?

JJL chapter 101: The Wonder of You (The Miracle of Your Love) - part 18

If we still take into account the countdown, the time when Yasuho ate the fruit was around 2h11m before the harvest (which is pretty pointless at this point). I’m not a botanist, so I don’t really know, whether there is a difference between the fruit that is fully riped and the unripened fruit 'only' by 2 hours.

The effect in Yasuho shows that the New Locacaca can cure the recipient fully by exchanging the body part of someone who come into contact with her.

Why is it different from Josefumi and Kira? Maybe because when Josefumi did the exchange with Kira, Kira was already dead. Besides that, their bodies got buried in Higashikata’s soil, while Yasuho did not.

I think, 2 hours or not, the effect of the fruit won’t be much different.

We still don’t know why the new Locacaca healed Tsurugi instead of Tooru

This one, I will try to answer it with my theory. Tooru has eaten the small, unripened fruit. Tsurugi drinks its tree sap. I think both can be the 'recipient' of equivalent exchange (aka the one who will be cured).

Why, instead of recovering, Tooru is cracking? Because by doing 'exchange' with Tsurugi who is dying, it is the same as treating burns with fire. Why is Tsurugi cured despite Tooru was also badly beaten? I don’t know but perhaps this has something to do with Tooru being a rock-human… or also because of the comparison of Tsurugi's state, which is worse than Tooru.

Now, regarding the other misteries like the flashback man, the beach baby, Iwasuke, Karera’s goal, and hair clip rock-insect in my opinion are not something so crucial. They can be treated as trivial.

But the mystery that should have been vital to be resolved is:

“How is Holy gonna be saved now that the New Locacaca plant has been destroyed??”

It will be whether Holy immediately died following her children (aka. failed to be saved) or eventually cured.

But how can she be cured since the plant is already destroyed? As long as the next chapter hasn't been released yet, I still hold my theory that Caato hides a (New) Locacaca inside her cards.

Seeing that the cards are scattered on her body instead of perishing, it is possible that 「Space Truckin’」’s ability can still be used on those cards. Perhaps only Caato’s soul and the humanoid form of her Stand that departed. It’s possible that 「Space Truckin’」 works similar to 「Cream Starter」 in which if the user dies, the Stand can still be used at some point.

And with the one and only remaining fruit, it can be used to cure Holy (I am still pretty optimistic for that).

But what if Holy won't be safe? Doesn't this mean that Josuke has failed to achieve his goal as the main protagonist?

The purpose of Josuke

Josuke as the main protagonist in JJL has two main objectives: In the first half of JoJolion, he was looking for his identity. And he found it after he met Holy in chapter 58.

In the second half of JoJolion, he wants to cure Holy, a figure whom he acknowledged as his mother.

Perhaps Josuke (as a protagonist) has fullfiled his first objective but fails his second one.

Josuke’s Go Beyond, a wasted power-up

I shouldn't consider his power-up in vain, but the potential is also lacking as well. The mechanism is still very confusing: “breaking the logic of 「Wonder of U」, enables him to bypass WOU’s calamity and makes his attack capable to reach Tooru.”

Actually, in the mechanism there is nothing special in Go Beyond, he only sent out his bubbles (just like in the beginning of his debut) to his target. It's just that if his regular bubble-attack doesn't work on WOU, this one works as it bypasses the calamity.

「Star Platinum」: The World is very distinct from Jotaro’s regular attack at the beginning of part 3 that was just pure brute strength, it can stop time now.

「Killer Queen」: Bites The Dust can do a time loop now whereas Kira’s regular attack was just blowing up the stuff.

「Gold Experience Requiem」reverts actions and willpower back to the state of "zero", completely nullifying them and preventing them from becoming "real" (aka. Ctrl+Z), totally different with regular 「Gold Experience」who is able to make inanimated object into a biological object.

Even 「Tusk」: Act 4 as the upgrade of the previous Tusks, each (act) has a mechanism that is easily distinguished.

In addition to its unclear mechanism, the use of 'Go Beyond' is also very brief and seemed anticlimatic.

The mishandle of tree sap alternative

The tree sap alternative ruins the conflict that was built all this time, or more precisely it's poorly handled.

The findings that New Locacaca’s sap produces the effect of 'equivalent exchange' happened before Jobin and Caato. As I said before, their flashback happened before Ojiro’s fight.

If the sap can be used, why did Jobin went to great lengths to protect the plant? I mean, why did he 'keep the plant for himself and don't want to share'?

What is the point of fighting over the plant (and fruit) all this time?

To be fair, Tooru and Josuke’s gang did not know about the sap’s capability.

But thinking it again, Jobin's selfish attitude (read: keeping the fruit for himself) has something to do with his desire for the glory of his family business. Beside to cure Tsurugi, just like Tooru, he wanted to commercialize the fruit and sell it at a very high price.

Ok, forget about the conflict between Josuke, Tooru and Jobin. Speaking of narration, why were we wasting our time with the countdown of New Locacaca’s harvest? If in the end the fully ripe fruit never existed and Tsurugi & Yasuho were cured without it. Not only the non-existent harvest, even at this point, we won't reach the flashforward in chapter 83 (as I’m more sure that it won’t happen/aka. gets retcon’ed).

I think, it would be better if the tree sap’s capability was discovered by Josuke instead (or even Holy, the one who had even done secret research). After the fruit runs out (suppose Caato heals Tsurugi using the fruit instead of sap) and Tooru dies, Caato doesn't destroy the plant, allowing Josuke to despondently take the plant to Holy and discovers the benefits of the sap instead.

And lastly…

The origin of Higashikata’s family curse

This should be the main mystery to get resolved! Back to what I said earlier, this chapter (108) should be out next or two months later. For me, the chapter that should be the continuation of chapter 107 can be used for flashbacks. The cliffhanger in chapter 107 was done nicely. We shouldn't rush to finish it. Interrupting with flashbacks to explain the unanswered plotholes would be a wiser decision than what we got now.

The flashback about Tooru's personal past and also the origin of Higashikata’s family curse.

Like I said, I need to know how he was able to found and lead the rock-humans organization anonymously to the point of how he ended up being like this.

I also wished Tooru to be connected with the Higashikata's family curse, thereby strengthening his status as a major villain.

Imagine, a flashback, a chapter or two that tells the origin of Higashikata’s family curse, Tooru's past and also his encounters with Johnny and Lucy!!

What a shame, seeing how this chapter came to be, this will be just my wishful thinking (aka. headcanon). Why so? Tooru is done. Moreover, the expectation that there will be a posthumous shenanigan like how Funny Valentine using AU!Diego in SBR is also highly unlikely.

Because 「Wonder of U」 that manifested into the posthumous Stand was also instantly annihilated by Josuke.

Besides, when WOU sneaked into Norisuke IV's body, he might be able to possess and control him. Therefore, we can have a way to the more satisfying final fight with Josuke vs WOU and another chance to put the flashback that can close the hole from the remaining plotholes!

Next chapter prediction…

I don’t know, at this point I think we likely will get a neat epilogue. Even Yasuho has started monologuing in this chapter. After we see the aftermath of the Higashikata, maybe next month we will see Josuke and Holy’s aftermath.

Plus, it’s nice to see more about Caato’s Stand and that it is eventually named. But seems like we will never see Holy’s Stand and its name, just like Kujo Holy in part 3.

#jojolion spoilers #tooru jojo #wonder of u #josuke higashikata #kaato higashikata #jjba part 8 #jojo's bizarre adventure #chapter review #gappy higashikata #caato #ending soon

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fauzhee10069 · 4 years ago

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Tooru, the main villain or the red herring?

aka “Tooru, the underrated villain”

Tooru, the mysterious boy who started from being an unassuming part-time worker and Yasuho’s ex-boyfriend, is currently the main focus in JoJolion since chapter 97.

Tooru appeared first in chapter 81, during the middle of Dr. Wu fight. It happened casually as Yasuho coincidentally met with him and they greeted like an old-friend, it was then revealed that he was her ex-boyfriend. He doesn’t give strong impression to the readers, though his sudden appearance while a Stand fight was still going on is quite suspicious. In the pursuit of HD, he bumped several times with Yasuho (and the gang) with the intention of going steady with her again, while sometimes he acted rather suspiciously.

The mystery regarding Tooru is slowly being revealed, in chapter 97 we begin to see him as a villain: he didn’t come to Higashikata’s mansion to save Yasuho, he seemed to know the situation that had happened in the mansion, he is “somehow” connected to The Head Doctor that he seems to know what is going on there (hospital) and finally, he also wanted The New Locacaca.

Chapter 98 even revealed the bigger twist that Head Doctor Akefu is actually a Stand! It is quite impressive that a Stand can hold an important position as Head Doctor in a well-known hospital, it even held a conference not long ago. This chapter also revealed the connection between Tooru and Akefu, he knows the situation there through Akefu’s eyes. He also mentioned “calamity” which is the keyword for HD’s ability. Another mystery brought by Tooru is that he knows about “the saint”.

JJL chapter 98: Endless Calamity – part 4

Chapter 99 revealed greater information about Tooru, that he is a rock-human. This answers the mystery of how he knows about “the saint”. Furthermore, we found out the name of HD as a Stand, 「Wonder of U」. 「Wonder of U」 also revealed that he had a hand in ruining Rai’s life in the past.

Chapter 100 still affirmed 「Wonder of U」’s involvement in Rai's past and talked about “calamity”. This chapter also reinforced the notion that Araki does eventually change Rai's backstory (so that the story in chapter 75 becomes less relevant).

Therefore, what we got about Tooru so far:

He is a part-time worker in T.G.U Hospital.

He is Yasuho’s ex-boyfriend who dated her during her high-school years.

He is somehow connected to the Head Doctor Akefu.

He is a rock-human.

He wants the New Locacaca.

He knows about “the saint”.

He knows about “calamity”.

Head Doctor Akefu is a Stand named 「Wonder of U」 and Tooru could be the user.

What are still lacking from Tooru are his personal backstory and his motivation, but given that Araki is focused on him right now, I am sure that this mystery will soon be resolved.

How is Tooru underrated?

Many readers doubt Tooru’s role as a big villain, the main reason is because of him appeared in the story fairly late. I myself am still wary and do not immediately believe that he will be the main villain.

However, with those eight points above Tooru had in recent chapters, should be enough to consider him a big player in “the race of (New) Locacaca”. If he is not the main villain, at least he should be a major villain.

TL;DR is available in the end

Tooru and 「Wonder of U」

One of the things that makes readers doubt him is about his connection to 「Wonder of U」. Some have already believed that Tooru is its user, whereas some others haven't. Those who don’t believe it assume that Tooru is more of a partner to the original WOU’s user. Perhaps the thing that makes it difficult for readers to consider Tooru as WOU’s user is because Araki had been building up WOU as a figure, “The Head Doctor Akefu Satoru”.

Prior to Tooru’s debut, HD Akefu became a major player associated with Locacaca and the rock-humans organization. He had been hinted since chapter 76, the end part of Ozon Baby arc. He led the Head Doctor gang, he let Damokan Group to roam around (under his watch), chapter 99 and 100 also revealed that he has been involved in Rai’s past.

When the first hint of HD existence emerged, his subordinates had begun to fall one by one at that time (Urban Guerilla and Poor Tom). HD became the main focus in the pursuit by Josuke’s gang since chapter 83.

HD Akefu has prominent role in the struggle of Locacaca and the rock-humans, HD Akefu to the readers is like an individual character (a rock-human) who has a hand in the race of New Locacaca. Therefore, when he was revealed to be a Stand, it becomes difficult for the readers to accept that.

How can a Stand be able to act like human-being? Of course in the previous parts of JJBA, we already know about the existence of "sentient Stands", such as 「Anubis」, 「Baby Face」, 「Cheap Trick」, and 「Foo Fighters」, etc. But, no Stands have sentience capability to the extent of HD Akefu as it was able to hold a prominent position as The Head Doctor in a well-known hospital and even held a conference not long ago.

As readers, we should also remember that what we are reading here (JJBA) is the work of fiction, with Araki as “the god” in this fictional world. Thus, he has the right to change or add new things in his work and one of them might be: “a whole new type of Stand”.

The problem of some readers nowadays is that they are too fixated on the old rules/establishment, even though every rules contained in fictional stories can be added or changed at any time as the author wishes. JJBA might add new rule or category to its universe, as far as it doesn’t destroy its own world-building.

With the mindset that a Stand should not be able to do so, some readers have speculated that the real Head Doctor named “Akefu Satoru” character might actually exists, whether he is the big boss who is currently hiding or even as a posthumous character whose identity got stolen by rock-humans.

In addition, some readers are a bit uneasy to accept Tooru's plot twist that started from being a part-timer boy to be the leader of HD gang out of sudden. Which I think it’s quite contradictory to Caatofags who want a plot twist from an ex-housewife to be the grand mastermind. However…

In fact, the connection between Tooru and Head Doctor/「Wonder of U」 has been hinted at by Araki since his first debut.

Tooru made his debut in the two chapters prior to the pursuit of HD since chapter 83. His debut was in JJL chapter 81 during the middle of Dr. Wu arc.

Akefu Satoru is first mentioned in chapter 83, then made his first appearance in chapter 84. The title of chapter 84 itself is:

What a coincidence that HD Akefu's debut was in a chapter with its original name as 「Wonder of U」. Though it’s originally titled “The Head Doctor of TG University Hospital - part 1”, but the change of title is still Araki’s decision.

Besides, Tooru who coincidentally bumped several times with Yasuho (and the gang) acted like harmless neutral individual who is willing to help them modestly. As a part-timer in the hospital, he made them believe that he could lead them to Akefu.

JJL chapter 84: The Wonder of You (Your Miraculous Love) – part 1

Yeah, the first time Tooru led them to Akefu was also in the same chapter with the fully debuted Akefu, in the first part of “Wonder of You” arc as well. Six chapters (one volume) later, he was acting suspicious again as he lured Yasuho back into chasing Akefu.

JJL chapter 90: The Wonder of You (Your Miraculous Love) – part 7

Then, in the same chapter just before his suspicious action, Tooru had been talking about wireless charging, with electricity spills out and flies into the sky without the holes in the power lines.

I don’t want to be those Caatofags who’re overthinking everything, but this could be a hint of how he can connect with The Head Doctor, of how both he and his Stand can act independently, despite their great distance, and how both of them are able find out their respective situations at the same time.

Then he also told about the existence of “anxiety” and “anger” side by side. What he said reminds me of the duality in Diavolo and Doppio, perhaps this is a hint that there is also a duality between Tooru and Akefu Satoru/「Wonder of U」 or at least about Tooru’s true nature.

I may be thinking too much though, knowing how Araki likes to put small pieces of information unrelated to the plot yet quite informative. But putting that aside, there is another hint regarding Tooru and 「Wonder of U」, that both have blank eyes for a moment.

In chapter 97, there was a moment where Akefu was seen standing still strangely, like a machine that was turned off.

It is as if Tooru and Akefu take turns moving their consciousness. In addition, the same chapter also showed that Tooru was aware of the situation regarding Josuke in the hospital. Notice Tooru's eyes that didn't look blank at that time!

Endless Calamity – part 3

The recent chapter of 101 further emphasizes that Tooru is indeed the user of 「Wonder of U」.

JJL chapter 101: Endless Calamity – part 7

The Climactic Power of 「Wonder of U」

Out of all the Stands in JoJolion, 「Wonder of U」 is the most powerful Stand that has ever been shown so far. WOU has given a lot of trouble to the many factions in JJL who are actively fighting over The New Locacaca.

Sadly, some readers (especially The Caatofags) downplay its power and the fight that goes with it. They compared WOU arc like arcs with Vanilla Ice (3), Cioccolata (5), Donnatello Versace (6) and Axel Ro (7), that WOU will just be a closing fight between the protagonists and the last side villain, which will lead them to the actual main villain. How are they even comparable to be honest?

First, let's compare the arc length of each:

side villains comparison (by Caatofags)

Keep in mind that up to part 6, JJBA was published on “Weekly Shounen Jump”, in which the average number of pages per chapter at that time was only ±17 pages. Take a note as well that Wonder of U arc is still on-going, therefore the number of chapters on it will continue to grow.

As a side note, Underworld (Donatello)’s arc was dominating only up to chapter 124, the focus of subsequent chapters are then divided on “Heavy Weather arc” with Pucci and Weather Report. It's just that I decided to include them because Donatello officially died in chapter 137 (at the end of Heavy Weather arc).

But actually, that's not what's truly important. We should also consider how their respective arcs were being played out:

Vanilla Ice 「Cream」

Being brutally honest, comparing the WOU arc to Cream's battle is ... ridiculous. Why? Because the storyline of each part is already very different.

Let’s talk about part 3, it started with Kujo Holy who fell seriously ill, it turned out that the illness was caused by the awakening of the Joestar family’s Stands who was forced out by DIO. In order to save Holy (Jotaro's mother), The Stardust Crusaders went to Egypt to pursue DIO and stop him. Since then, DIO’s underlings appeared one by one to block the crusaders.

In short, since the beginning, the main story in part 3 focused on the crusaders' journey to stop DIO. DIO since the beginning had been the main objective for protagonists, in other words, “the main villain”. Yeah, the storyline in part 3 did not hold much mystery and was more straightforward. We knew the main villain since the very beginning and there was no surprising plot twist halfway that distorted the original objective.

Therefore, since the beginning, Vanilla Ice was just a side villain. Since the beginning of his debut, he was immediately introduced as DIO’s loyal servant and nothing more. Even if his battle with Polnareff and Iggy (RIP Avdol) was dramatic and tense, Vanilla Ice from the start was still a side villain whose sole purpose was to lead the crusaders to his DIO-sama.

Besides, the 「Cream」’s fight did not involve all the crusaders: Jotaro, Joseph and Kakyoin were away and uninvolved at the time.

Caatofags definitely need to learn how storylines actually work before they come up with any weird theories.

Cioccolata 「Green Day」 (and Secco 「Oasis」)

Comparing the WOU arc to the Green Day’s fight is just as ridiculous as “Vanilla Ice”. Unlike part 3, the appearance of the main villain in part 5 did happen a bit late. Throughout the Buccellati’s gang’s journey in uncovering his identity, he had remained mysterious.

However, since the beginning, part 5 has also been about Diavolo as the mafia boss. The protagonist joined his mafia, the protagonists gang was his underling. Since the beginning of the story, the protagonists have been somehow connected to the main villain.

The nature of the boss is so mysterious to the point that his underlings questioning him. Giorno as supposedly the main protagonist was targeting him, he intended to approach him via Buccellati and then overthrow him. Buccellati gang's first assignment (as Capo) was to escort the boss' daughter, during that mission they were blocked by the traitor gang, La Squadra Esecuzioni.

Apart from the boss's identity, his role initially was not very clear. Would he only become Giorno's boss to be eventually dethroned, or would he become their main enemy? However, after the end of La Squadra and Bruno successfully escorted Trish to the boss, that was when “the status of the boss” became clear: that he ultimately became the main enemy of the protagonist's gang.

Since then, Buccellati’s gang had been pursuing the boss while trying to uncover his identity. A character named Vinegar Doppio appeared, whose character had been closely tied to The Boss. Just then, Cioccolata and Secco made their debut as the members of Unita Speciale to stop the protagonists.

VA chapter 113: Pronto! On The Line – part 2

And just like Vanilla Ice, Cioccolata and Secco were not the main villain since the beginning. The Boss was talking about them to Doppio. Therefore no way that Cioccolata is the main villain.

The length of Green Day arc was quite long, though keep in mind that Vento Aureo was released weekly on WSJ, which made the average number of pages per chapter was about ±17. Besides, the fight with 「Green Day」 happened alongside with 「Oasis」. Therefore, we didn't just witness a single Stand battle in that arc.

The battle also didn't involve all the protagonists: only Giorno, Mista and Bruno. Although Green Day's ability was quite menacing that it made some parties and almost entire citizens paralyzed.

Anyway, Green Day (and Oasis)'s battle hardly be compared to WOU, because it was clear that Cioccolata and Secco were not the main villains.

Caatofags definitely need to reread JJBA.

Donatello Versace 「Underworld」

Still published on WSJ, Underworld arc alone only happened in 6 chapters, hardly comparable to Wonder of U. Besides, the fight did not involve all protagonists: only Jolyne and Hermes.

After his solo arc ended, Donatello betrayed Pucci by stealing Weather Report's Memory Disc, Weather eventually regained his memory back. Thus, began the Heavy Weather arc where Donatello was no longer the main player. The focus shifted to the family drama between Pucci and Weather Report Wes Bluemarine. Donatello eventually died in the hand of Jolyne and Anasui, thanks to 「Whitesnake」’s illusion.

It was clear since the beginning that Donatello was not the main villain, he was introduced together with his half-brothers: Rikiel and Ungalo. Since the beginning of Stone Ocean, we followed Enrico Pucci’s character as antagonist.

Pucci started from being shady until a few arcs later, we can see how he dominated the clash against the protagonist, that he sent his underlings, that he was a villain with grand purpose, that he had the most powerful Stands compared to other antagonists, thus made him the main villain. All of that was revealed even before Donatello’s first debut.

Caatofags definitely need to realize that JJBA has a broader plot and concept in every part than their fan-made parallelism.

4. Axel Ro 「Civil War」

As part 7 was started to be published on “Ultra Jump”, the average number of pages per chapter became greater than on WSJ, it is ±35 on average. Civil War arc only last for 4 chapters, which is ridiculous to even compare it to WOU, though I’d say that it had troubled most of the protagonists (excluding Lucy).

Civil War arc has been very meaningful arc, and it had paved the way to the beginning of confrontation with Funny Valentine, the main villain. Since then, the long battle between the protagonists (plus Diego and Wekapipo) and the main villain has begun. The D4C arc itself was slightly punctuated by the Chocolate Disco arc, albeit very briefly.

Funny Valentine, as the US president, had fairly major role since the beginning. He had also clashed with Johnny's gang several times in gathering the Holy Corpse’s parts. But, the direct confrontation between him and the protagonists (with other factions) eventually began after Civil War arc ended, thus his status as the main villain became very clear.

Axel Ro himself only appeared in his arc Civil War, which of course it made him absolutely NOT the main villain.

Caatofags definitely need to improve their reading comprehension.

「Wonder of U」

main villains comparison

Wonder of U arc began at the same time as the investigation and the pursuit of Josuke's gang on HD Akefu's identity. Since then, WOU has been attacking them with "calamity". It has directly been attacking major factions that are fighting over The New Locacaca: Josuke, Yasuho, Rai, Jobin, and Mitsuba.

If we also consider the "calamity" that WOU said in chapters 99 and 100, that it also affects those around the target indirectly:

The calamity that happened to Rai's family, starting from the insects’ infestation, the death of Rai's father by a landslide caused by a typhoon, the destruction of his pear orchard, the debt trap that had caught his family and the death of Rai's mother.

Then it can be assumed that what is happening in the Higashikata family right now:

Mitsuba has met Tooru, the school incident involving Tsurugi happened, Mitsuba saw the Head Doctor on CCTV, Jobin committed murder on Ojiro and Makorin, Tsurugi's illness that is getting worse, WOU which once again attacked Mitsuba exposed the New Locacaca, Norisuke IV’s investigation to the New Locacaca, the murder committed by Jobin got exposed, Jobin attacked Norisuke IV fatally, Norisuke IV’s dying, the terror of WOU to Mitsuba which eventually led to Jobin’s dying.

All of those happened because WOU had been attacking Mitsuba!

Don’t forget that Yasuho is also seriously injured and lost an arm at the moment because she was pursuing the HD.

And that’s how Rai is fatally injured by Josuke’s Soft & Wet.

WOU had successfully been causing chaos to the major parties: on Josuke’s side, Yasuho is seriously injured and Rai is also fatally injured. On Higashikata family, Jobin and Norisuke IV are dying and Tsurugi’s condition is getting worse, the rest of the family is also in panic.

And all of that happened in the chapters titled “Wonder of You (Your Miraculous Love)” and it’s still being continued with “Endless Calamity”, which is the keyword for its ability. Then how can the outcome in “Wonder of U” fight become comparable to the Cream, Green Day, Underworld and Civil War fights?

I think it’s kinda fortunate that Caato on her first debut has already revealed her Stand. If not, I'm sure Caatofags will take their opportunity to say that she is the real Wonder of U’s user.

Read further: The Climactic Battle of 「Wonder of U」

Read also: Wonder of U and its mechanism so far

The (weak) buildup of Tooru as “the villain”

Many readers have complained about Tooru's late debut and their lack of familiarity to him. They think that his role as “the big villain” was too sudden and out-of-nowhere.

I myself also don't want to rush to think of him as the main villain, at least until JJL's story is completely done. But for me, he deserves to be considered as a major villain. He alongside HD has provided greater tension than the previous villains in JJL.

Let’s get back to the readers’ doubt regarding Tooru's connection to 「Wonder of U」, I have just explained how powerful 「Wonder of U」 is with its ability that has been troublesome for most major characters, all “the calamity” that befell Rai’s family in the past and the Higashikata family (including Josuke’s gang) in the present are the work of 「Wonder of U」. Then…

The cover chapter of 99 really suggested that Tooru is connected to all the events that are happening. I do not know where the event in question began, is it only limited to the WOU arc? Or is it all the events that happened in JJL since the beginning? Or does it include the past as well?

Whatever it is, seeing 「Wonder of U」 which is also behind him, this made me even more convinced that he might be its user.

Suppose that he is the main villain…

Unlike most of the main villains from previous parts, in which they have started to play an active role at least halfway through the story, Tooru's debut happened when JJL seems to be entering its final arc.

That is also the reason for Caatofags who believe that Tooru will only be the final side villain, and they prefer Caato as the real main villain just because she appeared earlier in the story (despite her very limited appearance and development). Some of them also believed that JJL would have 40 or 50 more chapters to properly develop her. Only time will tell.

Tooru and Diavolo

The previous main villain who has a problem similar to Tooru is Diavolo. Diavolo's official debut happened when Vento Aureo was about to enter its climax. Since the beginning of part 5, Diavolo was just a mysterious figure who preferred to hide behind the scenes. His identity was unknown to his underlings. We had never seen his face until his debut in the beginning of the final fight. We don’t really know his personality (other than being hysterical and protective to Doppio).

But with the existence of Doppio, Diavolo and Doppio can be considered as one individual (who later experienced DID/split personalities), then Doppio's personality can also be considered as part of Diavolo's personality as well.

But there is a dispute between the opinion that believes them to be “two souls in one body/possession” and those who believe them to be “a case of DID”, that there are also readers who regard them as completely different characters. Regardless, I am pleased that Araki keeps this thing ambiguous.

However, Diavolo's role existed long before his fully appearance, we know that he was the boss of the most powerful mafia in Italy named Passione. We followed Giorno who joined the gang as a rookie. Starting from there, we knew the existence of "The Boss" and his mysterious nature.

Starting from Buccellati’s gang who carried out The Boss' orders to protect and escort his daughter, then turned into the betrayal from the gang. The boss who started as their superior turned into their main enemy. All of this happened before Diavolo even showed his face.

A bigger problem with Tooru compared to Diavolo is that: from the start of the story, we did not follow his character. We never heard about this part-timer who is also Yasuho's ex-boyriend. Let alone Tooru, we did not follow Head Doctor’s character as well since the beginning, both were built-up fairly late to the story.

Tooru and Kira Yoshikage (part 4)

While Kira had appeared much earlier than Tooru and Diavolo, Kira in part 4 also had a bit similarity with Tooru, namely that there was no foreshadowing of his character at the beginning of the story. He was only mentioned a few chapters away before his debut.

The beginning of the story in Diamond is Unbreakable did not start with Kira as a serial killer, but began with Josuke meeting his distant relative (Jotaro) and learning about his father (Joseph). After that, the story developed into the discovery of Stand users who had sprung up in Morioh.

Kira's existence was mentioned for the first time during the adventure of Rohan with Koichi. They met a ghost girl named Reimi who told them about a murder case in the past and the fact that the killer was still on the loose. A little intermezzo with Shigechi's arc until the official debut of the serial killer.

Kira was first mentioned in chapter 69 (volume 8) and officially debut in chapter 77 (volume 9) with the number of chapters in part 4 totaling 174 (18 volumes). Thus, Kira entered to the story right in the middle of part 4.

Unfortunately, Tooru had appeared much later than Kira in their respective parts and also with no apparent foreshadowing about him (prior to his debut). Of course, complaint from the readers become legit, especially for those who has a habit of comparing each part.

“With the lack of foreshadowing, Tooru as the big villain feels out-of-nowhere.”

Let us reexamine how the story works in part 8 since the beginning, a mandatory quick recap (just skip this if you find it boring):

It started from amnesiac Josuke who was found by Yasuho, together they were looking for Josuke's identity. They found about Kira Yoshikage, a ship doctor. Then Josuke met Norisuke IV and got adopted by the richest family in Morioh, The Higashikata.

Being adopted to The Higashikata gave Josuke chance to investigate the family tree, through the record, he found out about Holy Joestar, Kira’s mother and a doctor as well. The mother currently is seriously ill and being admitted at T.G.U Hospital. Josuke met Kyo and discovered about the “equivalent exchange” ability on Higashikata’s land.

Later, Josuke got attacked by Yagiyama Yotsuyu, the architect who works for Higashikata. Yotsuyu revealed the existence of rock-humans and Locacaca, the miraculous fruit. Apparently, Tsurugi, Norisuke IV’s grandson is hit by hereditary rock-disease, The Higashikata’s family curse.

Tsurugi’s illness is similar to Holy's condition, Locacaca fruit is believed to be able to heal them. Josuke intends to get the fruit to cure Holy, the fruit is connected to Jobin, Norisuke IV’s son. Josuke then investigated Jobin and found out about Damokan Group. Jobin and the group had been doing illicit business of smuggling Locacaca and money-laundering. Their business was discovered by Kira two years ago.

Josuke (Yasuho and Tsurugi) had been attacked several times by Damokan Group, who turned out to be the rock-humans. Sometimes ago, he met Karera and discovered about Josefumi, a part of his identity.

Josuke and The Higashikata family got attacked by Damo, the leader of Damokan Group. Damo revealed that Kira and Josefumi had stolen the Locacaca from them some months ago. The group got rid of them, but then it is revealed that Kira and Josefumi got fused and became Josuke because Locacaca fruit planted on Higashikata's land is consumed by them, which then dubbed as The New Locacaca. With the last of its member died, Damokan Group was disbanded.

The Higashikata's land does have healing properties, the Higashikata mothers (Tomoko and Caato) had been using the land in the past to cure their son of the rock-disease using a method called equivalent exchange.

Josuke and Yasuho were investigating Jobin, it was revealed by Dolomité that Jobin was a gofer aka not the big player in the “Locacaca games”. Dolomité hinted the existence of a bigger organization than Damokan Group.

Josuke set his eyes to get The New Locacaca in order to cure Holy. Josuke met Mamezuku Rai, a plant appraiser works for Higashikata, to identify The New Locacaca. Josuke, Rai and Yasuho got attacked by Urban Guerrilla, whom then also revealed as a doctor in T.G.U Hospital, he was instructed by Poor Tom who was also a doctor in T.G.U Hospital.

Meanwhile, Jobin worked with Poor Tom, to get rid Josuke and the plant appraiser. Jobin got tricked by Poor Tom and in return, he tricked Poor Tom (and Josuke) back by burning the orchard and using Tsurugi’s illusion). Poor Tom was eliminated by his own comrades who were disguised as ambulance drivers and Jobin secured the branch of The New Locacaca, which he would plant and use to cure his son.

Josuke and Rai were investigating the ambulance, meanwhile Yasuho was in T.G.U Hospital. She met Mitsuba, then both got attacked by Wu Tomoki, another doctor in T.G.U Hospital. In the middle of their fight, they met Tooru, who works as part-timer in the hospital. Wu revealed that Holy created the hidden Locacaca lab at the hospital but she failed in her research. Josuke finally came to finish off Wu.

Josuke, Yasuho and Rai began researching T.G.U Hospital and discovering its history and profile, they learned that Wu Tomoki, Urban Guerrilla, Poor Tom, and the unseen head doctor of the hospital were the only people to have entered the secret laboratory. Unable to find any information on the mysterious head doctor, they began to investigate him and that was where the Dangerous Pursuit with The Head Doctor had begun.

Josuke’s gang (with Yasuho and Rai), Jobin’s side (with Tsurugi and Mitsuba) and The Head Doctor gang, all of the factions are actively fighting over The New Locacaca for their respective objectives.

Just focus on the bolded words! Rock-humans, rock-disease (illness), equivalent exchange, Locacaca (the cure), doctors, hospital, etc, those are the core points in the story of JJL.

Problem 1: “The lack of foreshadow in Head Doctor gang as the big villain group.”

Part 8 which began with the search for Josuke's identity, also began with medical/health theme with “doctors” and “hospital” from the beginning (besides the motherhood of course). Just after Josuke got into a fight with Joshu, the setting moved to the hospital.

JJL chapter 2: Soft & Wet – part 1

Then, Josuke and Yasuho discovered Kira, a ship doctor.

JJL chapter 6: Soft & Wet – part 5

Later, Josuke found out about Holy, Kira’s mother who was also happened to be a doctor at T.G.U Hospital. She is currently being admitted at said hospital.

JJL chapter 11: Family Tree

Then we learned about the rock-disease, a mysterious illness that afflicts Higashikata family from generation to generation:

JJL chapter 26: Tsurugi Higashikata’s Goal and The Architect

and Locacaca, a mysterious fruit with healing properties:

JJL chapter 32:” I am A Rock” – part 2

38 chapters later, after Josuke finished dealing with Damokan Group (and Jobin), Dolomité gave him a hint about the existence of greater organization.

A flashback with Yasuho also had hospital as one of its settings.

JJL chapter 71: Hairclip of the Qing Dynasty

In a flashback of Jobin’s first meeting with Damokan Group at a stadium, he had a quarrel with his father a moment before. He mentioned about the doctors from T.G. University who have indirectly interfered with their family business:

JJL chapter 72: The Northern Higashikata Estate, The Orchard

Josuke’s gang had been fighting with Urban Guerilla, another doctor and a rock-human:

JJL chapter 70: Urban Guerilla and Doremifasolati Do – part 3

Josuke, Rai, with Jobin and his family were against Poor Tom, the rock-humans. The losing Poor Tom got eliminated by his comrades disguised as medics in an ambulance.

JJL chapter 77: Head to T.G. University Hospital

Said ambulance led Josuke’s gang to the T.G.U Hospital, the fight with one of Poor Tom’s comrades, Dr.Wu also happened there. And Tooru also made his first appearance there as a part-timer:

JJL chapter 81: Doctor Wu and Awaking 3 Leaves - Part 3

The fight with Dr. Wu revealed the Locacaca lab created by Holy. Josuke’s gang began investigating to anyone who has ever entered the lab and found a group of rock-humans who work as doctors in the hospital:

JJL chapter 83: The New Locacaca

In the same chapter (83), Tooru also revealed to Yasuho that he is a med student:

And the main fight with 「Wonder of U」 has been happening mostly in T.G.U Hospital.

Therefore, since the beginning, “doctors” have been prominent in JJL story, “the hospital” also becomes the dominant setting in Morioh (besides Higashikata’s house).

JJL has main themes such as "breaking the curse", “family” and " motherhood", but what can link all those things in JJL’s storyline are medical-related such as illness, the cure, hospital and doctor that are reflected in the presence of “rock-disease”, “Locacaca fruit” (as a miracle drug), the profession of majority characters as “doctors” and “the hospital” being one of the main settings.

Albeit subtle, having a villain group as the rock-humans gang who work as doctors is in line with the theme JJL has. As such, they have more involvement and closest influence in using Locacaca fruit or conducting research on it.

Besides, “doctors” and “hospital” as profession and place for taking care the sick and the weak often traditionally associated with the nature of nurture in “motherhood”.

Problem 2: “The lack of relation and coordination between Head Doctor gang and the previous villain gang, Damokan Group.”

The Head Doctor gang only debuted after around 2/3 of JoJolion’s story up to the latest chapter (100), without apparent foreshadowing either. This becomes problem for some readers, so their opinion is divided. Some of them think that Head Doctor gang and Damokan Group are separate groups that operate independently, besides the plot hints that Damokan Group is connected to HD.

Therefore, readers find it a little difficult to think of HD gang as Damokan Group's superior. They consider Damokan Group and HD gang more as “two separated & independent villain groups” than as “one structured villainous organization”, and then concluded that HD gang is not an organization belonging to the main villain.

Such way of thinking is not false, the manga itself has implicated several times that there is a lack of coordination between HD gang and Damokan Group, even more so than Passione with its mysterious Boss.

JJL chapter 70: Urban Guerilla and Doremifasolati Do – part 3

JJL chapter 92: The Wonder of You (Your Miraculous Love) – part 9

The only things connecting them are: the fact that they are the rock-humans, Locacaca which is in their interest, and that they know each other. So, it is the case of yes but actually no.

The rock-humans and Locacaca, those two things are what defined JJL (part 8). The rock-humans came as the race of mysterious beings, who live side by side with humans but do not have mutual relations.

Araki has several times provided information regarding rock-humans, about their biology and also how they work in society, while he has made rock-humans into “the villain”. As both HD gang and Damokan Group are the rock-humans organization, let’s focus on the info regarding “how the rock-humans work in society”.

JJL chapter 46: Love Love Deluxe – part 4

From the beginning, Araki had emphasized that the rock-humans have incompatibility relationship with regular humans, that they have differences in the ways of life, philosophical views, and so on. Since the beginning of their debut through Yotsuyu (who had stolen a man’s identity), the rock-humans’ nature is antagonistic to the humans.

Therefore, it's no wonder that Araki made them “the villains” for the protagonists (and regular humans). It’s a reminiscing of The Pillar Men from Battle Tendency (part 2).

Based on Araki’s narration, rock-humans shouldn't have been created to conflict with carbon-based (regular) humans, but rather to serve as a backup instead those carbon-based beings fail. But over time, their existence has become like “day and night”, “sun and moon”, “black and white”, etc. Eventually, the rock-humans will always conflict with carbon-based (regular) humans.

Chapter 99 also said that even with each other, rock-humans do not have close bond or affection for each other. Starting from the rock-women who have no affection to their babies, the rock-humans live without parental figures and rely only on survivability.

The fact that since the very beginning they were born, the rock-humans were not familiar with the concepts of affection and intimation. Even in working together, there is no love and friendship between them.

JJL chapter 99: Endless Calamity – part 5

Therefore, based on all the explanations regarding the rock-humans, of course it makes perfect sense that the relationship between HD gang and Damokan Group were so lacking, it would not be any further than just mutual benefit.

Even when compared to the relationship between the teams in Passione, where there were (still) competition, selfishness and hidden agendas between them, HD gang and Damokan Group feel less coordinated than Passione.

But that's how rock-humans work in collaboration and organization, that’s how they operate. A sense of detachment is what truly defines rock-humans:

Rock-human babies are detached to their biological mothers.

Damokan Group is detached from HD gang.

The members of HD gang are detached from each other (as we don’t really see them communicated to each other “on-panel”).

Tooru, as the leader of HD gang, is detached to his underlings (as we never see him leading his men “on-panel”).

Suppose that Tooru is “de facto” leader of HD gang…

A brilliant Anon from 4chan summarized a possibility of Tooru as the big villain, orchestrating the plot in JJL:

Tooru as the true mastermind in Locacaca conspiracy through Head Doctor gang represents exactly how the rock-humans work (in society). “Blending” and “not standing out” in society are their nature. Tooru as the hidden leader of HD gang has also successfully made us the readers completely unable to predict his existence (something some readers complain about as: the lack of foreshadowing).

JJL chapter 92: The Wonder of You (Your Miraculous Love) – part 9

Tooru and Diavolo are both “The Boss” who lead their underlings in the shadows. But in the case of Diavolo, we can still see him giving instructions to his men remotely (via message), his underlings aware of his existence while questioning his identity.

And in the case of Tooru, who was impersonating as The Head Doctor Akefu Satoru, using his Stand 「Wonder of U」, his subordinates (perhaps) were completely unaware of his true existence, let alone his identity, which ultimately rendered himself unknown to us (the readers).

Tooru and 「Wonder of U」 are Diavolo’s wet dream. Diavolo who had been desperately hiding his identity was still terrorized by his former underlings who were after him. However, until now, Josuke, Rai, Yasuho and the Higashikata family who has been terrorized by WOU still don’t realize that Tooru is the source of all this.

Thematic Parallelism and Aesthetical Points

Rather than using story progression, action sequences and information (such as narrative box and mentions), JoJo fans nowadays prefer to focus on thematic significance (such as parallelism) and symbolism (aesthetical points) in determining “who will be the main villain”. It’s not that Tooru is lacking in those things, it's just that the fans overlook them in favor of hyping another character.

For example, in the panel above (just now), it is the members of the Head Doctor gang, taken from chapter 99 when we got new information regarding the rock-humans and their purpose to exist in this world. HD gang has become the antagonist group after Damokan Group finished.

Tooru is placed at the back (which coincidentally, he also appeared the last). The positions of the other members in front of Tooru are placed in a zigzag manner. Even Poor Tom, who is at the very front, leans slightly to the left.

Tooru’s position is in the middle of the panel and the most obvious, with his body also clearly visible, that he is standing behind them as if everything the other members were doing was under his instruction.

What is even more interesting: there is the absence of Akefu Satoru, I think this should be an implication that Tooru might indeed be HD Akefu's true identity, not his right-hand man as readers (wanted) to think initially.

Tooru also has little accessories that adorn his attire, as readers often think that JJL has a "motherhood" theme, the accessories on his attire could also be a symbol representing that theme:

Yeah, it’s a “bear”, so what do bears have to do with motherhood? Forgive me for answering a question with a question, but have you ever heard the term "mama bear"? Like many other mammals depicted throughout history as predators, bears are actually passive animals, and won't attack humans unless provoked. Despite this, if you even think about getting between a mother bear and her cub she'll tear straight through you. Threaten her children, and you are in for a world of hurt.

Of course, Tooru doesn’t have to be a mother to be the villain as Josuke the protagonist himself is not a mother (LOL).

JJL chapter 99: Endless Calamity – part 5

In addition, rock-baby Tooru also took over the body of hornet queen, “mother among mothers” which kinda implied that he became “the mother" of the hornet colony (for multiple generations).

Interestingly, in the cover of chapter 99, Araki has drawn a part of Tooru's trousers with Locacaca as the motif. Perhaps Araki really wanted to say that Tooru has a hand with Locacaca.

Then, regarding the parallelism, what is popular among readers is about "selflessness vs selfishness" that both protagonists and antagonists might represent. In mothers, it has been represented by Holy and Caato. It could also be represented by Josuke and Jobin, but what about Tooru?

His appearance which is still far less than Jobin makes it difficult for us to judge his true personality. However, his latest revelation as a rock-human can be used as a reference to his true nature, that being rock-human is not much different from being selfish. At least, we have seen that he has no intention of saving Yasuho (an act of selflessness) and he chose to continue his objective to acquire the New Locacaca (an act of selfishness).

Lastly, the Head Doctor gang and Damokan Group, both are the rock-humans villainous organization where one represents “medical experts/specialists” and the other represents illegal “pharmacy” that supply Locacaca (the cure) like a drug cartel… and Tooru supposedly was behind them.

Read also: JJL chapter 101: The Good and The Bad of “Symbolization”

Rock-Humans’ & The New Locacaca (Tooru’s possible motivation)

There is a small theory on why Tooru wants to perfect the Locacaca's Equivalent Exchange using the "New Locacaca", it has been written by u/TheNemesisT on reddit:

It's been pointed out during the exposition about Rock Humans birth process how the Female Rock Humans can reproduce with normal humans, but not the other way around. We've been also told in said exposition, that:

They also treasure places and objects that grant them special abilities. (JJL chapter 99)

Rock Humans lack the capacity to form "social bonds", with some exceptions such as the “Damokan Group” and the T.G.U. Doctors.

JoJolion has touched a lot of themes through these 100 chapters, but the recurring theme since chapter 001 has been “family and identity”, the rock-humans have neither of these, they are fabricated beings with fabricated identities, so to speak.

Despite the fact that Rock Humans lack the capacity to form social bonds, we've seen how some of them, such as Aishō tried to form relationships other than business, but ended up failing due to his rock-human nature.

Taking what we've seen up until this point of Tooru and Yasuho's relationship, we can assume Tooru is indeed the kind of rock-human that has tried to form relationships but ultimately, he put his nature to get anything that upgrades his being first.

From the speech given by "Akefu Satoru" we know that the New Locacaca's equivalent exchange is perfect, and it can mix and heal anything so perfectly that it would be unnoticeable. Putting it in simple words: Why would Tooru care about health if he lacks actual compassion for other beings?

The New Locacaca is the object rock-humans need to evolve. If it works as intended and the mix is perfect, it would give the rock-humans the ability to reproduce properly, it would grant them something they've never had, families and identities, the New Locacaca would grant them the ability to become “humans”.

This also relates to the theory proposed by u/Mamezuku from reddit:

What if rock-women no longer exist anymore? We have never seen any rock-woman (besides the flashback), only groups of men so far. What if the Doctors are trying to use the Locacaca in order to create a legacy, a rock-baby? That's why the perfect New Locacaca is very important to the Head Doctor’s gang. Notice how the narrator specified in this very chapter how normal men can make babies with rock-women, but not vice versa. The growth process that a rock-human has to go through is extremely harsh and difficult, hence why there's not many rock-human alive. What if no rock-women survive in this generation and only rock-men are left now? This would be an awesome motive for the rock-humans (Tooru) and so far it looks like it's heading this way.

Tooru and the other remaining villain candidates

Jobin and Tooru

Assuming that Jobin will survive (as his death isn’t confirmed yet): compared to Tooru, Jobin definitely had more screen time than him, which automatically makes him a more developed character. We have been following Jobin’s character much longer than Tooru, thus he left a deeper impression on readers than Tooru.

We already know who he is and are pretty familiar with him, we know what thing he likes, his relationship with his family, and his background is pretty clear. We have seen his flashback, we also have seen plenty enough about his Stand 「Speed King」. His motivation is not grandiose and idealistic but very humane, he only cares to his family and it’s always about his family.

He has a pretty good standing as the heir of Higashikata family, the richest family in Morioh. He was cooperating with Damokan Group in Locacaca smuggling and money-laundering, but Damokan Group's position as underling to HD gang and Jobin status to them as merely a gofer makes his connection to the Locacaca less influential compared to “Head Doctor”.

Tooru seemingly has a greater objective in utilizing The New Locacaca. He is just confirmed as a rock-human being and allegedly is the leader and the mastermind of the Locacaca Organization. As he has the access to assume The Head Doctor of T.G.U Hospital, it’s clear that he’s holding a high position. His Stand, 「Wonder of U」is already considered powerful and very dangerous.

However, his real identity and his origin as an individual is still unknown, his personal motive is also still in the dark. Though slowly but surely, his identity is being revealed. Chapter after chapter increasingly assures us that Tooru will be the actual “Head Doctor” that was in undercover.

Chapter 99 confirmed that he is a rock-human and also the perpetrator who ruined Rai's family & his life in the past. It's clear that Tooru also wants The New Locacaca. It’s also implied that being a rock-human, he is older than he looks and he also knows about “the saint”. There is still a possibility that we will see his connection with the pasts that have not been revealed yet.

Caato and Tooru

Caato had appeared 26 chapters earlier than Tooru, thus making the readers more familiar to her than him. Besides, her first appearance also gives a very strong impression on the readers. Araki totally dedicated her debut by giving her a dramatic shoots in the first chapter she appeared.

Caato's second appearance also added to the hype for readers, the supposedly entertaining family reunion scene also added mystery to her character regarding the murder she committed and the mysterious “15 years contribution” to the family business she claimed.

Caato also got her backstory along with Jobin, making her character even compelling and more solid. But unfortunately, many readers have misunderstood the true meaning of her backstory as Caato is surrounded with the overhypeness her supporters do for her.

Tooru did appear later than Caato, his appearance which was done very natural gives little impression to the readers. We knew almost nothing about Tooru during his early appearances. However, Araki is passionately developing his character in his recent chapters. We got information and solid hints regarding Tooru much more than Caato (and her supporters try to provide).

So far, Caato only appeared in 4 chapters and that's only how much her actual development is. Tooru had appeared in 10 chapters, he had already surpassed her appearance (and development) and will likely more. Unless, Caato will reappear again… only time will tell.

Conclusion (aka TL;DR)

Tooru’s debut which came quite late and with a weak impression as well causes the readers doubt his role as major villain. Even if the main villain's role will be his, readers would probably rate him fairly low (a similar case to Diavolo).

Jobin can even end up being fan-favorite villain, besides him not being “the main”. And if Caato will end up to be the main villain, I don’t think that she will be rated highly too, people will realize how ridiculous her hype was at the time.

So far, JJBA already had 8 story parts in it, and the story of each part is very unique to one another. Therefore, the conflict and the villain’s situation contained in each section should not work similarly.

Based on those eight parts, pattern and formula are getting noticeable. However, we should be aware that those patterns are being played with flexibility.

That Araki might use the "pattern" as a reference so that he doesn't make JJBA deviate from its world-building that has been set since the beginning.

But the pattern should not limit his creativity either, because as “the god" in the world he created, he has the right to add new ideas and concepts that have never been considered by readers before.

Here, I am trying to dig deeper into the story of JJL, in “what is this really about?” By studying the true meaning of JJL, I found that the concept of Tooru as the main villain in this story is very likely to work.

But Araki is not “the perfect” writer, we humans can't possibly please everyone. Using Tooru as the main villain has the potential to disappoint some readers. Because the readers’ taste does not always correspond with what is truly desired by Araki.

That's why I respect Araki, he is such unwavering writer. The opinions of his readers do not affect what he truly wants to say in the stories he writes.

He is also an experimental writer who is often interested in trying (and adding) new things to his world. Stone Ocean's failure did not discourage him, so he was able to create “a part” that becomes the most favorite among today's readers: Steel Ball Run.

Besides, as time goes by, readers are also beginning to appreciate Stone Ocean. In the end, the message that Araki wanted to convey in part 6 finally reached the readers who are willing to explore it more in depth.

SBR's success did not make Araki satisfied in his comfort zone, so he created a whole new story concept that very differs from SBR and all the parts he's ever created, a story with mystery as its main theme named JoJolion.

And with the mysterious nature JoJolion has, Araki makes the identity of the main villain much more mysterious than the previous parts. We as readers are still wondering who will be the main villain even after 100 chapters have already passed. Will it be Tooru? Again… only time will tell.

Of course there was always a risk in making Tooru the main villain, however, I believe that Araki is ready to accept that risk. He is such a writer who writes what he wants to write, not what his readers ask.