Casual reminder of the true nature of Speedwagon’s unyielding feelings for Jonathan Joestar (in case anyone still had their doubts about them)
And, in case anyone’s wondering, yes, the translation above remains true to the original text, just slightly “toned down” compared to the original if anything and I’ll add details as to why I mention this in a moment. Adding both the screenshot of the first half of it and a transcription, in case anyone want to check it out on any online translators, and yes, the term refers to a love of a completely romantic nature:
Part 1 「ファントムブラッド」の登場人物。
荒っぽいが気さくで世話焼き。 ロンドンの貧民街 でジョナサンに戦闘 をしかけるが敗北し、彼の紳士的な態度に惚れこみ親友となる。
Old news again, cause everyone in the fandom and their mothers already know Speebs is gay af, but it never hurts to bring it up again~ 🌈
For further context and a bit of tl;dr: The term used to describe his love towards Jonathan (惚れ込み/惚れこみ) is one that’s reserved for romantic contexts only, and which refers to a “deep romantic love”, often described as a love that knows no limits. Its closest direct translation to English would be “to fall deeply/madly in love with someone” or, in a more figurative way, “to fall head over heels for someone”. It is also a compound word/term formed by 惚れ(る) which means “to fall in (romantic) love” and 込む which alone roughly means “to (completely) become” and that, in conjunction with 惚れ means something closer to “filling one’s heart”. Essentially: 惚れ込み/惚れこみ refers to a deep romantic love that completes you/fills your heart.
Other things to keep in mind about all this:
This bio is not an EoH exclusive and has been around for the longest time (many years before EoH was even planned/written) and, as you can guess, it’s canon. Another one of these bios was also featured for years in Shueisha’s Jojo site before their revamp a couple years back.
As stated before, the term used to describe Robert’s affection towards Jonathan ( 惚れこみ/惚れ込み or it’s dictionary form: 惚れ込む ) is a term in Japanese that is reserved exclusively for romantic contexts when talking about a person. Remember that in Japanese there are many different ways to refer to the different types of love and that they’re most of time not interchangeable. So, yes!!! it refers to actual romantic love/attraction.
Said term can be translated literally as: “to fall deeply/madly in love with someone” or “fall head over heels for someone” as well as “losing one’s heart/mind/oneself completely to someone” and so on, again, all of this exclusively in a romantic way, and basically refers to a love so huge and deep it has no limits and knows no control.
There have been different canon bios for Speedwagon throughout the years and yet, whenever they covers this specific topic, the term mentioned in the previous points is the one they always go with to describe his feelings towards Jonathan, with the only “variation” so far being 惚れる which is also “to fall in (romantic) love with someone”, and which is basically part of the term we were discussing at first: 惚れこみ. Not to mention some of the terms and manners of speech Speedwagon himself uses to refer to Jonathan in the original dialogues in both manga and anime that sometimes get lost in translations (remember that the anime takes p much all of the dialogues straight from the manga).
As a little bonus of sorts, and as mentioned in this other post here: Both seiyuus (original voice actors) for Speedwagon and Jonathan have also acknowledged and openly mentioned that Speedwagon was in love with Jonathan, which was the main reason that made Robert follow him to literal hell and back and wanting to always be by his side. This was mentioned in none other than in an episode of Jojo Radio, an official radio show for JJBA that had Speebs’ seiyuu as it’s host and that aired back in 2012-2013, featuring different guests every 2 eps or so, from other seiyuus from PB/BT to people from the staff and so on, and where they discussed a variety of topics related to JJBA, parts 1 and 2 mostly. Add an extra mention here from the time Erina’s seiyuu was a guest in the show, as not only Speedwagon’s seiyuu makes a mention of the topic but, also, they tease each other on the matter a little lol.
And, as a second bonus, since I still see some posts claiming that “jonawagon can only be one-sided/unrequited” (which is not true), there’s plenty of evidence in canon that shows that the relationship between Jonathan and Speedwagon is a lot closer/more intimate and much more ambiguous from both Jonathan’s and Speedwagon’s sides than people sometimes give it credit for, and without leaving Jonaeri out. Basically: Jonaeri+Jonawagon rights!
