Hanime on Anime’s Character of the Month of April: Dio Brando

Howdy, howdy!  April has come to a close, finals have come into full swing, and it’s time to reveal this month’s Character of the Month.  This month’s character is probably the first villain that I’ve had in a while.  In fact, he’s probably one of my favorites now.  So without further adieu, let’s talk about April’s Character of the Month: Dio Brando from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure.

Dio comes into play at the beginning of the JoJo saga in the Phantom Blood arc.  After being taken in by the Joestar family following the death of his alcoholic criminal father, Dio makes it his mission to make Johnathan Joestar’s life hell-and it actually happens within the first episode.  But after seven years, the two have somehow become friends (that’s still a mystery to me).  However, when Jojo discovers that Dio has been poisoning his father, Dio sets out to make sure Jojo is the only one who knows. Using a mysterious mask that Jojo had been studying for some time, Dio accidentally discovers that wearing the mask and smearing a little blood on it can turn one into a vampire.  And what does he do?  He kills Sir Joestar and uses the mask to turn himself into a vampire.  And from there, he continues to make Jojo and everyone else’s life miserable (that’s just to leave the spoilers out).

Well…uh…where do I begin with this guy?  He steals a kiss from Jojo’s girlfriend, kills his dog, attempts and succeds at killing his father, and kills hundreds of other people to create his army of the undead and restore his body.  There’s a lot of murder with this guy.  But it’s not that that necessarily got him the title.  While Dio is not the smartest anime villain out there, he’s definitely cunning and would outwit you if he could.  That’s probably what struck me most.  I like villains that are smart and actually plan things through.  Sure, not all of those plans went through, but just think about how far Dio got in his life because of him being a genius, and a total bastard.  And to be honest, Jojo could have used a personality.  And Shinji from Evangelion…well it was either him or Dio.  So going against my instincts was useless, useless, useless, useless!  And it’s useless to deny it, Dio!  You’re Hanime on Anime’s Character of the Month of April!

Now with April almost over, it means Miyazaki May is coming for its third year in a row!  So far, the line-up will include the legendary classic Spirited Away and one of the newly discovered Ghibli films Only Yesterday.  Now there has been a third film- Grave of the Fireflies- up for consideration.  However, I haven’t figured out how to watch the film without having to buy it (money’s been tight around here so I’m trying to cut spending where I can).  If worse comes to worse, I will be doing a Studio Ghibli related post if I’m not able to review the film.  But regardless, stay tuned next Sunday for the start of Miyazaki with the famous Spirited Away!

-Hanime on Anime

P.S.: I had to...