It’s already obvious that Caato’s character at some point is based on Jolyne Cujoh, the main protagonist in part 6. But to what extent Caato is written as the embodiment of Jolyne?
First, she appeared as a newly released inmate, as Jolyne's early reference, Caato was incarcerated in a prison called Stone Ocean, wore the Stone Ocean prison uniform and wearing a space buns hairstyle. Not only that, her hair was tied back in a single low ponytail, similar to Jolyne, only the later’s hair was braided. In addition, Caato was arrested for murder and her prison term was 15 years, similar to how Jolyne ended up in prison.
After that, there weren't so many references about Jolyne to her anymore. Caato's appearance changed after she was released. Her role as a 52 years old former housewife is very different from that of a girl who is not even 20. Her personality also doesn't really look exactly like Jolyne. Apart from being a reference of Jolyne, Caato's characterization is also based on the theme of playing cards.
I thought that was the end of Caato as Jolyne’s reference, after her debut she only appeared only 4 chapters in total!
However, she reappeared at the end of the climax, even with her newly changed look.
And with her new design, she looks closer to Jolyne.
Jolyne wore a miniskirt at the beginning of her debut, but throughout the story, she wore long pants. At first, Caato wore a very stylish sleeveless long dress. But in her latest appearance, she wears long pants and a short-sleeved shirt. She also wears a medium split-skirt, and I think it sorta resembles the lower part of the long jacket that Jolyne wore.
Also, take a look to the changes in her bangs. At first, Caato modeled her bangs as wavy, slightly complicated and unrealistic just like Kira Holy's. But in her last appearance, she modeled her bangs simpler, and in her last moment when her bangs fell naturally, that making her look more like Jolyne.
On top of that, they even got injured in similar place (only the sides were different, right and left) right before they died.
But, is Caato as Jolyne's reference limited to her look and trivial coincidence? I think, it is much more than that.
I feel like there's a hidden symbolization of Caato's role in finishing the big bad Tooru, instead of Josuke. Could this be Araki's redeem for Jolyne because she wasn't the one who ended Pucci, but Emporio?
There's one more thing about Caato that reminds me of Jolyne. Namely, her marriage.
I've made a fad post about the oldest and youngest parent in JJBA, haven’t I? There you'll find out at what age Caato got married.
Caato had her first child Jobin when she was around 20 years old. Assuming that the conception was not a product of out-of-wedlock, the possibility of Caato marrying Norisuke IV is when she was ±19 years old.
But the 19 years old Jolyne never married right? She didn't even survive the end of the Stone Ocean. Of course, the original Jolyne did not have a chance to get married during her life, but not with her new version who was the result of reset universe, namely Irene!
It was implied that Irene and Anakiss will get married soon. But the rest of how they live? We never knew.
Before we talk about Caato more, let's find out first, to what extent are the similarities between Jolyne and Irene? And is there any difference between them?
You are free to correct me, but what I understand from Reset Universe is that in it has lost the influence of Pucci, so that the Jolyne in Reset Universe never goes to prison and experiences bizarre adventure.
And I think, not only Pucci, but the influence of DIO is also partly lost.
Many readers think that the events before part 6, such as Stardust Crusaders and Vento Aureo still happened.
But I think, in the timeline before part 6, why RU!Jotaro named his daughter 'Irene' instead of 'Jolyne'? This means, the event in Jolyne's birth has also changed at some point!
I’ve heard that the change of name from Jolyne to Irene symbolizes that the new Irene is no longer a JoJo (main protagonist), and she lives a normal life, free from bizarre adventure (just like Kujo Holy).
But back to my point earlier, that there must be a change in a course of event in Irene's birth!
Regarding Jolyne and Irene, with the changing events (of their situation), I think that the upbringing between Jolyne and Irene is also shifting.
I feel that Jolyne and Irene are slightly different people, even if they supposed to be the same person (a counterpart).
The ‘Jolyne’ we know is a wild tomboyish girl, pretty manly for your typical girls imo. I’d say, as Jotaro’s daughter, she is just his female version.
But this ‘Irene’ is definitely gentler, softer, and feminine. Reminds me a lot of Holy. Look how she met and cared Emporio, the boy she just met on the spot!
I mean, the slightly bizarre thing is when she gave Emporio a kiss-&-hug. It's as if Irene has shown her motherly nature (for a 19 years old girl), reminds me of Holy a lot! No wonder she feels ready to get married.
According to Jolyne’s wiki page, it is also mentioned that she has a caring attitude towards Emporio, like a mother (though imo, it’s more like a big sister figure). But as I remember reading part 6, I don't remember that the way Jolyne cares to Emporio is the same like how Irene cares to him.
Not saying that Jolyne is colder than Irene, considering the situation that they were on a dangerously bizarre adventure, there was no time for Jolyne in babying Emporio, like… we have to act really quickly otherwise we’re screwed, but I can see that Jolyne does care about him.
The closest I found of Jolyne’s caring gesture towards Emporio is this:
At least, there is a little gesture similar to Irene with how Jolyne gently touched Emporio’s cheek.
Think like this, Jolyne and Irene are the same soul. But with different upbringing and different histories, they may develop different personalities. In essence, Jolyne and Irene are both caring people, but how they care about someone, they might show them differently.
Related post: Stone Ocean’s Universe Resets & jolysui vs irekiss
Now, let’s back to Caato, as a character who is being Jolyne's reference a lot, I also think that she is Irene's reference at some point.
She was married at the age of ±19 years, symbolizing Irene's possible future which was implied at the end of the Stone Ocean (the epilogue).
After I tried to differentiate between Jolyne and Irene, I came to the conclusion that Caato has both of their traits.
Irene is such a gentle and motherly person, she also longs for marriage at a young age.
But Jolyne, in her story, even romantic thoughts did not really exist in her mind. She lusted after a warden who looks like Tom Cruise at the beginning of the story, but that's about it. She was kinda hopeless romantic with her ex-boyfriend and it ended badly.
Anasui who was crazyly in love with her? Jolyne was totally oblivious about that and misunderstood his feelings. She was too busy in getting free and saving her father.
This is also what distinguishes the results from Reset Universe, Anakiss and Irene somehow become two lovebirds who want to unite, but Anasui and Jolyne as a couple were completely hopeless (nigh impossible).
Irene's personality is similar to Holy. Caato is the night-&-day to Holy. Caato is into selfish act for the sake of her own family whereas Holy is the embodiment of selflessness.
Caato had no regret with her method in ruthlessness.
And so does Jolyne… (as she took revenge on her lawyer and taught her ex-boyfriend a lesson).
So, personality-wise, Caato is more similar to Jolyne than Irene.
However, the concept of her characterization is a combination of Jolyne and Irene.
I suspect, that in Caato's youth (before she got married), she was just like Jolyne (in personality and demeanor).
But she is also an Irene, who in her youth decided to have a married life.
Of course in the 32 years of her life as a mother, she shows her motherly nature, where she looks closer to Irene than Jolyne. She has gotten used to that role.
But with her extreme love for her family (especially for Jobin), she took a step that is not morally acceptable by allowing someone (outsider) to die for the sake of her family (her inner circle).
And she accepted her karma by leaving the family she loved for 15 years, alone.
Of course she wasn't happy with that, but she didn't regret it either.
Even so, she also missed the children she left behind.
Caato as a married woman has had quite a bad luck, from having a child with rock-illness, stuck with the family curse of the man she married, to the point that she had to spend 15 years in prison, divorced and estranged from her family.
Did Caato ever regret that? Her decision to marry and have a family at a relatively young age (especially, with a man like Norisuke IV)? I wonder.
I think, thinking about this is quite human.
Then is it possible if the married life that Irene dreamed of ended up similar to Caato?
Though I think that Anakiss' personality might be much different from Norisuke IV (LOL).
When Caato was released from her sentence, the first person she called was her son Jobin. The next, on her second appearance, she visited Higashikata's house to reunite with her children she missed a lot. Sadly that, apart from Jobin, her children were hesitant to interact with her.
And when they met again for the second time, they didn't have the chance to interact properly.
Now, this is just my headcanon, but I think that there is some kind of regret for the path in life Caato has chosen, from her decision to be wed to what she has done that her marriage was falling apart.
But the regret is healed by the memory of Jobin, that no matter how bad her life becomes, no matter how low she falls, as long as she lives for her son, it would be alright.
“I have done something despicable, but that's fine as long as it's for Jobin's sake.” (chapter 55, 58 and 64)
“As long as it’s for my family sake.”
That's why Caato didn't budge even though Tooru was talking about the value of 'memory'.
And despite her composure and courage in facing Tooru to the end, her tears of grief for Jobin and her family still didn't stop flowing.
So, no matter how far you've gone wrong,
whenever you regret your decision,
what happens let it happen,
keep on living your life,
as long as the future is there for you,
and be wiser by learning from the mistakes you made in the past.
And because of that, even though Jobin was gone, Caato with her very limited 'future' decided to move forward and not just give up, by fulfilling her son's wish in curing her grandson and breaking the family curse.
There is also a fanfiction I’d like to recommend to you, it tells Caato's POV in reflecting on her married life, pretty in-character I’d say. Though I’m not into the miscarriage part, it’s not a bad trope but it’s almost as overused as the rape trope for fishing drama (in fiction):
A Worthy Exchange, by winter_dawn
P.S: I colored the panel with Caato’s new design in chapter 107, because I couldn’t find it everywhere. Basically I just go into mode “fine, I’ll do it myself.”
JoJolion Meta: understanding the changing of Rai's past
Previously, I've talked about Rai's past in What actually happened in Mamezuku Rai’s past?, regarding the change Araki made from chapter 75 to chapter 99. Before, I attempted to 'fix' this change, denying it as a retcon by reordering the events in both versions of Rai's past. But now, I'm pretty sure that this is indeed a retcon.
But have you ever thought about why the changes were made?
Of course it is impossible for me to find the true answer, because my chance to meet and interview Araki in person is just a dream (LOL).
But it is also not forbidden for us to try to find the answer using our own perspective. And now, I will share my perspective on this issue.
First, let's take a look at Rai's past back in chapter 75:
When Rai was a child, his parents grew prized high-class pears which would sell for millions of yens. However, because their techniques were leaked, a competitor tied to money-lenders ravaged Rai's parents' orchard, ruining their crop and forcing them to sell the land. Unable to forgive his parents' incompetence, Rai secluded himself on a mountain slope and managed to cultivate fruits in spite of the harsher climate. He was found by Norisuke IV and then he was appointed in secret as his personal fruit grower and appraiser.
If we take a look to the bolded words, there are leaked techniques, competitor, money-lenders, sabotage and intimidation. What is capable of doing all this? Surely, an organization. And what antagonistic organization is in the JoJolion’s story? It’s obviously The Rock-humans’ Organization!
The existence of Rock-humans and The Organization were first introduced early in the chapters of Yotsuyu’s debut. Initially, we only knew its smuggling team (Damokan Group). Later, there is another group in higher position, the research team (or better known as The Head Doctor’s gang), which was hinted back during Urban Guerrilla’s arc.
We knew that the smuggling team had their shady business with Higashikata Jobin. We spent enough chapters about them until Josuke killed its leader, Damo. Then the protagonists shifted their focus and confronted the researchers.
What had the research team done? They were behind Holy's mysterious illness, by using her as a guinea pig. They were supervisors of Damokan Group. They were developing a miracle drug called Locacaca 6251.
In chapter 72, 3 chapters prior to Rai’s original flashback, there was a flashback of Jobin with his father Norisuke IV, before his first (official) meeting with Damokan Group in stadium. When Jobin was arguing with his father, he mentioned the doctors from T.G. University who have indirectly interfered with their family business:
JJL chapter 72: The Northern Higashikata Estate, The Orchard
Therefore I think, Araki had intended to develop the influence of this villainous organization. In other words, the villains work in the form of an organization, that our villain is an organization! And Araki ultimately put The Head Doctor (Tooru and 「Wonder of U」) as its leader.
That was the reason… of Rai’s flashback was made in such a way in chapter 75.
And then Rai’s past in chapter 99 (and chapter 100):
17 years ago, Rai found his parent's orchard infested with insects. After informing his parents, his father rushed out of the house to deal with it, but was killed by a landslide caused by a typhoon. Later, Rai’s mother died long after the death of his father, underwent great mental anguish brought on by the debts.
The bolded words in chapter 99 and 100 consists of infestation, natural disaster (typhoon), accident (killed by a landslide)… and debts. Also, killed by a landslide caused by a typhoon is basically a causality, one event (a cause) contributes to the production of another event (an effect). And because that event was someone's (Rai’s father’s) misfortune, then it is a calamity.
What is calamity in JoJolion? It is the main ability of 「Wonder of U」!
Everything that happened in Rai's flashback in chapters 99 and 100 is a natural occurrence belongs to calamity, the infestation, natural disaster, the death (of his parents), except the debts, but I will talk about it later.
If the events of Rai's backstory in chapter 75 sound orchestrated, then the events of his backstory in chapter 99-100 were happened by chance or coincidental. The later doesn't look like the work of an organization.
But in JoJo, an innocent natural-yet-bizarre-looking event is often the work of enemy’s Stand. And in this case, it's pretty clear that Rai's backstory in chapters 99-100 was the work of 「Wonder of U」.
JJL chapter 99: Endless Calamity – part 5
“But in the flow of calamity… Mamezuku Rai… 17 years ago… you told him there was an invansive insect in his pear orchard… so he went to go see it for himself. Your father died in a landslide. And then your mother… overwhelmed by mental anguish and racking up debt from the pear orchard… fell ill and died, too. Your life was submerged in the flow, as it is now. And by chance, you’ve ended up here. That was also the flow of calamity.”
When the backstory in chapter 75 could be the work of an organization, the backstory in chapter 99-100 was more of the work of an enemy’s Stand.
What is the significant difference between the two versions?
In the first version, the work of an organization shows that there should be cooperation from several individuals within the organization (the members). Regarding how the 'organization' works, particularly The Rock-humans’ Organization, the members may work in a system designed by 'the leader'.
We don't know who interfered with the Higashikata family’s business? Who did illegal experiments on Holy? And who leaked the technique, sabotaged Rai family's orchard & ruined their business? Etc. But everything should have been done systematically in an organizational style.
But in the second version, the work of a Stand's ability will be the work of its Stand’s user, an individual. In this case, the leader of Rock-humans’ Organization.
The backstory in chapters 99-100 looked like a series of natural events that lead to Mamezuku family's misfortune, but in reality it's all due to 「Wonder of U」’s calamity.
What was the reason Araki changed it that way?
Unless there's an interview asking that and Araki answers it, we will never know. But in my opinion, I guess that Araki has wanted to build up 「Wonder of U」 (which indirectly is Tooru) to be more dominant as an antagonist. He has even changed some of the chapter titles with the name Wonder of You, which further strengthens the dominance of 「Wonder of U」.
In my old post about Tooru, I once mentioned his existence which is considered less dominant, his scenes are lacking, his leadership on Rock-humans’ Organization is non-existent. There is a disconnection in Tooru's role as the villain inside JoJolion’s story which I’d like to discuss more later.
Unlike the previous villains, who simply exploited their Stands’ abilities. Tooru and 「Wonder of U」 are like two entities doing their own jobs. Inside his arc, Tooru’s role was around Yasuho while 「Wonder of U」 dealt with Josuke and Rai in the hospital. This is the disconnection I mean.
This is similar to the case of Diavolo-Doppio, where many readers ended up rating Doppio with deeper impression than Diavolo.
And in the end, his Stand, 「Wonder of U」 ended up being more dominant in the story than the user himself (LOL).
Headcanon time: The unfulfilled and forgotten theory
As I said before that I've attempted to make these two versions of Rai's backstory to be really happened and plausible.
The events in chapter 75 could have happened before chapter 99-100 (as both of Rai's parents were still alive at that time), but we have to rule out Norisuke IV’s part in recruiting Rai, because it should have happened after the event of Rai's father’s funeral.
Or the events in chapter 75 can also happen after the events in chapters 99-100, because both versions have mentioned 'debt' at some point. It's just that, in chapter 75's backstory, there were only Rai and his mother, because his father was supposed to be dead. Also, there's no need for Rai's part to be disappointed and run away from home. It's enough to have his mother died of grief and stress over the debts.
Whatever it is, there is actually someone I want to be involved in the 'debt' part… obviously, the Higashikata grandma, Caato.
A statement that once shook the fandom and got her placed on a pedestal as the main villain candidate, only to be abandoned by the plot to the oblivion.
The only clue as to when Rai's backstory took place is that his father's death happened 17 years ago (JJL chapter 100). Caato said that she had contributed to the success of Higashikata's business in the last 15 years, and at the same time, she had also just finished spending 15 years of her life in prison.
「Wonder of U」in chapter 100 told that Rai’s mother died long after the death of his father, underwent great mental anguish brought on by the debts. How long it is meant that can truly be defined as “long”? One or two years? Or decades?
If the debts was the work of Caato, therefore the debts were more or less likely had happened roughly 15-16 years ago, at least just before her incarceration in order to make this a little more sense, perhaps some months of 15 years ago just before she was busted.
Therefore, Rai’s mother died long after the death of his father could be just a year or two later.
Whatever it is, the theory remains unconfirmed, nor it gets debunked. Thanks for this, it gives me the chance to convert this old theory into a headcanon.
To be honest, I just don't want Caato's controversial statement that once shaken the fandom to be wasted for nothing.
Diavolo and Doppio. Multiple Personalities (DID) or Possession?
I’m aware that the corrected term is Dissociative Identity Disorder, but I will use Multiple Personality as a form of simplification, since the manga also used that term as well.
The first clue about Diavolo’s personality was back in early chapter of Trish. Pericolo told the gang that The Boss had always been a secretive man, using fake names and never revealed his identity to anyone including his men. He lied to his then girlfriend Donatella under the false name of Solido Naso, causing her to be unable to find him. (Chapter 469: "Capo Buccellati; The First Order from the Boss")
VA chapter 30: Capo Bucellati; First Order from the Boss
Trish told the gang a little thing of what she heard from her mother about her dad, that he came from Sardegna island and he was a native there. (Chapter 533: "Notorious B.I.G - part 1")
VA chapter 94: Notorious B.I.G – part 1
The first scene that showed Diavolo and Doppio shared the same body is when they transformed in front of a fortune teller in Sardegna. The fortune teller described the transformation as a teen who changed into a grown up man in a few seconds. (Chapter 541: "Storm Warning in Sardinia Island!")
VA chapter 102: The Island of Sardegna – Storm Warning!
The ‘growing in age’ was also confirmed by Risotto Nero in chapter 547 (King Crimson vs. Metallica - part 4).
DID or Possession?
Manga Portrayal
The transformation from Doppio and Diavolo was first shown in his scene with a fortune teller. Right before that, the fortune teller had divined Doppio's past through his palm.
When the fortune teller brought up his daughter Trish, Doppio did not remember about her and denied it.
And after Diavolo revealed his true face to the fortune teller, the fortune teller regarded it as “a double personality!” despite his bizarre transformation.
Doppio also did not recognize Donatella as his past lover.
Doppio had several times shown signs of "memory loss", he had experienced gaps in autobiographical memory, including personal details (his past lover and daughter) and some activities he had just done, something that is quite common to the people with multiple personality disorder. (Chapter 543: "My Name Is Doppio - part 2")
When Diavolo communicated with Doppio, the former said that “I gave you a part of my 「King Crimson」’s abilities”. Stands are defined as personifications of "life energy" (although it's later changed to "spiritual energy") whose abilities are given visual form.
This sounds more likely that Diavolo is the ‘real’ user of 「King Crimson」 instead of both of them (including Doppio). Does this mean that the two of them have separate "life energy"?
During the fight with Risotto Nero, when Doppio and Diavolo were conflicting, Risotto also regarded it as “multiple personalities”, which he believed based on the old german medical documents from 16th century.
VA chapter 108: King Crimson vs Metallica – part 4
Diavolo brought up the "life/spiritual energy" to Doppio when zombified Bruno was dying.
As Bruno could only see by sensing the form of that the life energy takes, that was what he saw in Doppio. Diavolo told that he gave Doppio portion of his ‘spiritual form’, which its scent is similar to Trish’s. (Chapter 568: " His Name is Diavolo - part 1")
VA chapter 129: His Name is Diavolo – part 1
With this, Diavolo had tricked Bruno by using Doppio as Trish. Doesn't this mean that Doppio is not the father of Trish as only Diavolo’s spirit that has similar scent to Trish? NO, he's still Trish's father, because what connecting Diavolo & Trish as a ‘family’ (similar souls, can sense each other) is because the Stands they had.
Therefore, this scene proved that Diavolo is the ‘true’ user of 「King Crimson」. Doppio technically did not have Stand, but because his 'soul' was connected to Diavolo as his 'double personality', Doppio could use KC even though it was mainly under Diavolo's control. Doppio is still proven to be the father of Trish as said by the fortune teller. Remember that the fortune teller was not a Stand user! He did not perceive the blood relation between Doppio and Trish through ‘spiritual sense’ via Stands.
VA chapter 130: A Story of The Recent Past
The next chapter told a story of the birth (origin) of Diavolo. Born in Italian female prison with even the guards were all female, his mother insisted that ‘the father’ had already died of illness and she had become pregnant over two years ago, how it was possible?
There was an interesting narrative box which said that “she might as well have told them that a barnacle had grown in her knee,” did this also imply that Diavolo’s mother also had a mental disorder? Considering how her son had eventually buried her alive.
In Diavolo's past, I also thought that the priest who adopted him was quite strange too, as if he also had ‘conflicting nature’. The anime potrayed him as a nice & supporting father, but by paying attention to the words in the story, I found conflicting matters regarding his treatment of Diavolo.
First, he agreed to the villagers that he also considered young Diavolo as a ‘cowardly’ and ‘clumsy boy’, weak traits that tend to be negative and less liked/appreciated by people in general. Why didn't the priest try to cultivate Diavolo's self-confidence and instead agree with those things?
But on the other hand, he was also a supportive father by agreeing to young Diavolo's aspiration to become a 'sailor'.
When he saw young Diavolo dating a girl, the priest wanted to buy him a car. He then began to make a garage for the car first, then why was he digging the ground in Diavolo's room instead? And he did not ask Diavolo's permission either. Surely I would be mad if my room was suddenly vandalized without permission (even if it was by my parents).
He was really inside a bedroom! In all my life, I have never seen anyone build a garage by destroying the room next to it first. If there is anything that needs to be broken down, it's usually the wall (to install the door), not a floor/ground.
The name "Diavolo" has been debated by readers several times, was that his legal name or was it just a cool nickname (that Diavolo created himself, like “Kira” from Death Note)? But looking at this panel, I am getting more convinced that “Diavolo” is the name he was born with and when he was adopted by the priest. So, the priest had labeled the mysterious baby with the name 'devil'… bruh. (Chapter 569: " A Brief Flashback")
VA chapter 138: The Requiem Plays Quietly – part 6 (from left to right)
This time, it was an analysis from –the sage turtle- Jean Pierre Polnareff. Several times he said that it was "two personalities", that Diavolo has “a split personality”. However, he also said that “the boy and Diavolo are the same person, with different souls!”
Polnareff also analyzed that “a strong shock during childhood can rend a person’s soul and that may develop into a distinct personality that ages separately.” He claimed it as “the theory of multiple personalities”, he based it on reports from Germany and Britain, plus the best-selling book ‘The minds of Billy Milligan’.
He used the word 'personality' multiple times but he ended up saying “requiem’s ability ripped his souls from his body,” yeah… he also used the word ‘soul’. I’m gonna say that part 5 manga as a whole treats personality = soul, as the same thing. Thus what makes us readers even more confused whether this is a case of multiple personality or possession.
Anime Portrayal
Golden Wind Episode 26 (JJBA S4E26)
In the manga, it wasn’t shown of how Diavolo’s mother carried her pregnancy, we just had been told that the sire died two years ago. With that statement, it is easy to conclude that she had become pregnant over two years ago.
However, the anime showed that Diavolo’s mother’s pregnancy happened spontaneously, that her belly grew in an instant. The anime delivered this scene in a more supernatural and bizarre way than the illogical or beyond common sense way.
The anime also showed that this mysterious baby somehow changed the color of his eyes in a blink, from brown to pink/red and back to brown again. Brown is the color of Doppio's eyes in the anime, but Diavolo’s eyes are constantly shown as green, if those pink eyes symbolize Diavolo's soul/possession, why not green?
In (official) manga coloring, both Doppio and Diavolo’s eyes are pink, though in Diavolo’s case, it often appears dark to almost black. Do Diavolo and Doppio have different eye colors? The manga never mentions this at all, what is clear is that their appearance differs in body size and age. Also, the basic rule is that… there is no canon color in JJBA!
Still, with the way the anime chose to portray Diavolo-Doppio’s duality, I think that they lean towards demonic 'possession' as opposed to multiple personalities (mental disorder).
The Key is that part 5 treats personality = soul. Though DavidPro anime portrayed ‘The Boss’ more like having two souls (possession) than multiple personalities, I think the manga original intention was to leave it in vague. It is up to us the readers to choose whether it was multiple personalities or possession, there's no wrong answer... just like Mikitaka situation in part 4, is he an alien or Stand user? That's up to our perspective.
I would also like to recommend you a fanfic that explains well of how multiple personalities actually work, that Diavolo-Doppio might experience:
Diavolo, Doppio, and How they work by ultimateshsl
Note: this post was very long overdue, I was writing this since during part 5 anime (past episode 26/ Diavolo’s flashback obviously) but ended up post this when the anime has long been over to the point that we already got part 6 anime teaser.
This should be a history throughout JoJolion’s writing process, when the true main villain was still a mystery. Readers were enthusiastically cheering on their favorite characters to take the villain crown, but among the candidates, it was Caato who was the most dominating at that time.
How could she dominate despite her very limited appearance in the story? This topic is interesting enough that I want to review it further.
How has Caato been treated compared to the other main villain candidates?
Her supporters have never stopped in hyping her, even over the years since her last appearance at that time (in chapter 64).
Damo was simply eliminated after his demise. But readers who still hope for relevance from Damokan Group (Smuggling Cartel) have made up a theory that Caato was the secret mastermind behind the Rock-humans’ organization.
At that time, Jobin was the most active candidate and had the most scenes. However, his relationship as Caato's son makes him often regarded as a child who is indirectly controlled by Caato. “Everything he did was dictated by his mom,” they said.
Tooru was still a wild card character, his appearances were still very limited (just like Caato’s). Most readers did not think much of him or just simply ignored him. But as time goes by, Tooru began to dominate with hints slowly being revealed, about who he truly is and what was his role, making him a character who has more relevance than Caato. However, some readers who were still in denial considered Tooru as a red-herring and only a subordinate of Caato.
After we read the end JoJolion, surely it becomes very clear by now that Caato, in fact, is not an antagonist at all!
What is an antagonist? A person who actively opposes or is hostile to main character (aka Josuke in this story).
Turns out that Jobin is more an antagonist than his mother.
Then how can many readers misunderstood and even been delusional to this phenomenal milf character?
Her Introduction
Caato was the actual last member of Higashikata family to be introduced, her first appearance was a surprise for the readers. Prior to her appearance, she had never been mentioned by the other Higashikata family members as if she did not exist.
JJL chapter 55: Walking Heart, Breaking Heart
It was revealed that she was in prison all this time and had just been released. Her first scene and how she was drawn is quite cool. Her face was partially hidden, then the angle trick that only reveal a little hint of how she looks. This surely gives us the vibe of major character, that she would be important in the future. Who is she and what is her role? Not only that, he also drew her fairly attractive in contrast to those ugly extras. The chapter also implied that there is something dangerous will be brought by this character.
She got introduced just after Damo had been eliminated and his arc was done, so it made sense that the readers’ started hyping her to be new candidate of the main villain. She also demonstrated her Stand during her intro...
...which eventually led to the next hype:
Her Stand
「Space Trucking」 mechanism which has similarities with 「D4C」, namely the caught-in-between two objects mechanism is what makes the readers compared both Stands. This comparison also conceived the idea of Caato as the main villain. The time-based theme that incidentally became the pattern of main villains’ Stand in OG verse (part 1-6) has caused the readers to think that the reboot verse (part 7 onwards) will have space-based Stands as the main villain’s Stand.
JJL chapter 107: When All Curses Are Broken
While in fact, the real keyword here is HIDE, not “space”. It indeed utilizes “space” to use its ability just like D4C, but「Space Trucking」 works by hiding various objects into her cards, its ability is more similar to 「Enigma」 than 「D4C」.
Her Appearance and Design
Caato’s seemingly youthful look (from her age) is because Araki has drawn her without visible wrinkles as a typical grandma. This was what made readers often theorize that Caato is a female rock-humans.
In truth, it is actually just his recent art-style, because to be fair, Holy and Suzuyo who are also middle-aged women are also drawn as quite young-looking, the only difference is that Caato already had a grandchild.
With his current art-style, Araki only draws the old women with wrinkles only when they are over 60 years old.
In-universe, there was absolutely no hint that Caato looked much younger than her actual age. If Caato really looks younger than her age like Lisa Lisa, Joshu, who wasn’t sure that she is his mother should have said: “No way you are our mother! You don’t even look much older than Hato!” or something like that. Josuke who was seeing Caato for the first time also didn’t have any opinion regarding her look, even after Hato told about her age.
Then at the beginning of her debut, a panel that highlighted Caato's eyes once shook the fandom. It caused many readers to speculate that Caato is a merged-human, just like Josuke. But in the end, it's just a deceptive shadow on her eyes.
Moreover, a die-hard Caato supporter once said that Caato’s hair resembles hornet’s abdomen, the “abdomen” is a part of the body that reflects “motherhood”, the wasps in chapter 99 have played the role of as “surrogate mom” to the rock-babies because their mother had little affection to them and abandoned them. Caato being a mother who was made to abandon her children for 15 years might foreshadow her rock-human’s nature.
In fact, the bottom part of Caato's hair had changed a lot, its design was not always consistent. The only thing consistent in her hairstyle is her space buns (which is a callback for Jolyne).
Her intention in making a scene
Still in her early debut, Caato had uttered an intention that sounds antagonistic.
Later, she made a surprise visit for her family but instead got confronted by them. Disappointed at her family's reaction, she showed her resentment at Norisuke IV and her intention to take what's rightfully her, she wants the Higashikata’s fortune, to take back what she thinks her right. She held revenge on her ex-husband due to him abandoned her.
JJL chapter 58: Dawn of the Higashikata Family
Almost forgot to mention that Caato has been imprisoned for murder. At that time we didn't know what the murder was and what was behind it, but seeing Caato had no regrets about it certainly made us believe that she will be an antagonist here. Then…
These subsequent remarks led to the birth of various theories which later grew wilder and weirder as Caato specifically claimed that she also contributed to the success of Higashikata’s business over the past 15 years! But how so? Had not she been in prison in the last 15 years?
This also became the reason to reinforce a theory that Caato is associated to rock-humans (via Damokan Group). She is in contact with Jobin, whom is also associated to Damo. Jobin has been doing illicit business with Damo, which could be the main reason for the success of Higashikata’s business. Jobin has been doing this behind Norisuke IV’s back, Caato is in a bad relationship with Norisuke IV. Therefore, Caato might have made Jobin to work with Damo.
So it was not surprising that her motive was adding more the hype for the readers.
Ultimately, this mystery was never answered till the end, I think Araki may have forgotten about this or simply abandoned it.
Her Character Background (Identity)
Who is Caato? She was introduced as the mother of four Higashikata children, ex-wife of Higashikata Norisuke IV, the current patriarch of the family and the head of its family business (The Fruit Company). An ex-convict for murder.
Quite a number of readers have overestimated the role of the Higashikata family, to the point of disregarding the role of Rock-humans and their organization. They think that Rock-humans aren’t that important and their arc would be just an intermezzo arc, happened in the middle. They were thinking of a Game of Throne-style concept, where there would be a struggle for throne and power dynamic between Higashikata family (in which Josuke gets caught in it) which would split into several sides (war within the family).
In fact, the role of Higashikata family happened alongside with Rock-humans, and in the end, the later was more dominant with their kind vs humanity.
Her shady little action
JJL chapter 59: Dolomité's Blue Lagoon - part 1
Caato was relaxing on hammock while she secretly observed Norisuke IV and Josuke from afar. She briefly interacted with Norisuke IV and noticed her ex-husband’s habit then realized that he was hiding something she did not re~~ally know. She called Jobin to warn him and also saw that Josuke was carrying a cellphone, she concluded that he was going to meet someone.
Given that Jobin had been antagonistic towards Josuke and Caato had also helped him, coupled with the previous hypes about her, surely made readers think that she could be the true mastermind behind any problems and dangers that Josuke had faced so far.
JJL chapter 61:Dolomite's Blue Lagoon - part 3, is Caato an antagonist? She is definitely a wild card for now
Her misunderstood flashback with Jobin
20 years ago (±1991), Jobin went to his school trip, he was bullied there but the bully got attacked by Jobin’s Stand 「Speed King」 in a self-defense. Jobin had already been hit by family curse, the rock-disease and Caato was actually looking for a cure, she also already knew about equivalent exchange ability possessed by Higashikata’s land. Instead of using herself, Caato took the chance to use the dying bully boy as a sacrifice in Jobin’s healing ritual. She justified her action that it was the bully boy’s fate, and that they, as Higashikata, were above him. Five years after the incident, Caato went to prison for what she did.
JJL chapter 64: Mother and Child
The mystery of why Caato went to prison and the murder she committed got answered in this chapter. She did not kill any important character. We learned more about her character that she had the selfishness not to put herself below. But her mother’s love for Jobin enabled her to make sacrifices in her own way, that she was willing to do bad things for his sake.
I don't think this chapter actually intended to mislead the readers in understanding Caato's character, but it's more likely that many readers themselves misunderstood her.
What did this scene make Caato a manipulative mother? Before the murder happened, Caato was shown as a doting mom, she loves Jobin and took care of him. She didn’t want Jobin to get hurt, when Jobin climbed a tree, she was very worried about him as he could fall at any time.
Caato doesn’t like to be controlled (specifically by men). However, if she had to sacrifice for the sake of her son Jobin, she is willing to do so. That’s what she literally said in the flashback. There is no way Caato could be a controlling mother. Instead, she is a supportive mom for Jobin and this has been shown in chapter 59 and 107.
JJL chapter 64 and 107
Her Comeback Scene
And then lastly, even her reappearance towards the end of JJL after a long time she was MIA, readers were so hyped that Caato would beat Tooru & be the final villain.
JJL chapter 107: When All Curses Are Broken
In the end, she did defeat him, but sadly her supporters’ dream that she would be the final villain was also immediately crushed after she ended up getting calamiti’ed.
JJL chapter 108: Go Beyond – part 2
To be honest, I don't think that Araki intentionally wrote Caato as a red-herring character.
It's just that, I feel like there were few Caato’s rabid supporters who intentionally were trying to lead readers’ opinion in believing that she will be JoJolion’s main villain. Besides, until now we still haven't had a female as JoJo’s main antagonist, so that readers who really crave it become easily fooled to believe the concept of Caato as the main villain.
Given the possibility of part 9 (JoJoLand), I truly hope that someday we will have a female JoFoe, the big antagonist. Hopefully her characterization will be much more believable than the idea of making Caato as the big villain, no need for wild and far-fetched theories, no need for headcanons, she will naturally be our newest main antagonist.
If you want to understand more about what Caato's supporters did wrong, you can read more about it in "How does the hype of Caato turn really bad?". But keep in mind that the post was written when JJL was not finished yet, so some of the words there sound outdated (but more or less still relevant).
You may be getting bored with all of LoL t3h hyPe of Ca4t0 post, do not worry because this will be my last post on this topic. At the very least, I wanted to write this one last time after JJL is finished.
Let Caato rest in peace because all this time she did nothing wrong, whereas her supporters did everything wrong.
”King Crimson” and its confusing mechanism (Vento Aureo)
Alternative title: “how it indeed just works”
「King Crimson」 is the Stand of Diavolo, the main villain of Vento Aureo. It has a sub-Stand ability called Epitaph, which was primarily introduced by Vinegar Doppio.
A mandatory introduction, just skip this if you are already very familiar with 「King Crimson」!
Ability
Time Erasure/Time Skip
「King Crimson」's signature ability is to erase a given frame of time; it starts from the instant the ability is activated and can be made to last up to 10 seconds.
During this period of erased time, only Diavolo remains fully conscious and is the only one who can re-adjust his actions.Other people will be unable to experience anything that happens and will continue to act as they would have. After the effect of the ability ends, all people other than Diavolo will retain no memories of anything that happened during the erased period.
After the allotted time frame, people will suddenly find themselves in the situation they were supposed to be in afterwards. For example, when Fugo asked Giorno for a soda, the soda was suddenly in Fugo's hand without Giorno ever actually handing it to him, when Narancia thought that someone had eaten his chocolate, while in truth he had already eaten the chocolate himself. (VA chapter 80)
There is, however, one instance where a person (Bruno) was able to see their double before finding themselves in their future position (which unfortunately has never been brought up again). (VA chapter 80)
According to JOJOVELLER, Diavolo and KC become intangible during time erasure, allowing attacks to pass through them, as the moment that the attack would have hit was erased. However, this also means Diavolo himself is unable to attack while KC's time erasure is active.
As a result, he often relies on the ability to avoid attacks and move into advantageous positions, such as the enemy’s blind spot, then directly attacks the enemy with KC's great destructive power the moment the ability ends.
He may also use said intangibility for a brief period of time in order to cause an attack to pass through him and hit whatever is on his opposite side. However, during his fight against Polnareff, Diavolo is also able to splatter his own blood onto an enemy's projection in anticipation of blinding them.
Forecast via 「Epitaph」
「Epitaph」 serves as a sub-Stand that assists and completes KC's time erasure. Epitaph gives Diavolo/Doppio the ability to forecast what will happen into the future up to ten seconds, using Doppio’s bangs or Diavolo’s long flowing hair as a projector.
Diavolo and Doppio often use the forecasting ability of Epitaph to predict any incoming threat, making sneak attacks ineffective against them.
However, the visions are incomplete and only show the final result without the events leading up to it (hence the 10s limit), and thus can be subject to interpretation. In one instance, Doppio could see himself on the ground with a severed human foot flying by; he initially thought that the foot was his own, but was mistaken. (VA chapter 106)
While the predictions seen by Epitaph are unavoidable, they still effectively warn Diavolo and Doppio against incoming danger, allowing them to steer events to lessen the potential damage, such as when Doppio realized a pair of scissors would form inside his throat, he easily tore them out in order to save himself. KC itself can prevent the predictions from being completed if it erases the frame of time when the prediction would have come true.
How does it mean that Diavolo can’t interact during “time erasure”?
Through Diavolo’s POV, he had shown how the "time erasure" process happened during his fight with Bruno, we can say that this is what is called “during time erasure”:
Diavolo used his "time skip" to dodge 「Sticky Fingers」's punch, but isn't this called "interaction"? That Diavolo is able to move inside his "time skip"?
I thought what it meant by "he is unable to interact" is that he cannot move or do anything at all, then what is the true meaning of "unable to interact"?
Based on the description from the JOJOVELLER, I think what it means by "unable to interact" is that Diavolo can't use KC to (physically) attack. Like in his fight with Bruno, why didn't he attack him and just dodge “during time erasure”? Why didn't he punch Risotto "during time erasure" and just dodge 「Aerosmith」's shots?
Therefore I concluded that KC cannot do two tasks at once: “time erasure” and “physical attack”, because both can only be done at separate times. His “prediction using Epitaph” and “time erasure” are also carried out by him sequentially, not simultaneously.
But what about the event when Trish's hand was cut off after the "time skip"? Or when the fortune teller's hand got cut off? Didn’t both events happen "during time erasure"?
To be honest, I also think that those events contradict what JOJOVELLER has explained, but only by assuming that their hands were chopped off by KC. However, what if Diavolo actually didn't cut their hands using KC? Yet using another unknown method? But we never saw him carry any weapons other than his Stand.
I think this mystery is quite impossible to answer, other than simply admitting that Araki did a retcon (the case of inconsistency). Still, by rereading chapter 102 (the fortune teller scene): right after the fortune teller realized that his hand was cut off (after the "time skip"), KC obliterated the fortune teller physically.
VA chapter 102: The Island of Sardegna – Storm Warning!
Your mileage may vary, but I have a feeling that Diavolo had not used KC to cut off the fortune teller's hand, otherwise why would he strike him twice with KC (during and after the time skip)?
You may say that he chopped off the fortune teller’s hand as a distraction, but why would he need “distraction” if he was able to kill him using KC “during the time skip"? After all he was carrying a briefcase back then, in which it was quite possible to keep a weapon there.
The same thing might have happened to Trish, we didn't see Diavolo carrying any weapon at the time, but given the fairly large arena (in the tower of San Giorgio Maggiore), he could have thrown it away “during time erasure".
But what about Narancia’s death? As he was impaled by the fence “during the time skip”, it can be said that he died by “getting impaled by the fence”, not because of a physical attack from KC, even though KC (Diavolo) himself is the one who put him there.
Therefore, KC can’t directly attack its target (with its own body) but it is able to move and do anything else inside “time erasure”.
Even so, I also partially think that Araki did retcon KC's ability and limitation so that whatever excuse my explanation about this will always be contradicting to each other. Therefore, I am not saying this as fact, but only as theory, it's up to you if you agree to this or not.
Does 「King Crimson」 really “erase the time”?
VA chapter 80: The Mistery of King Crimson – part 2
In Japanese, KC (Diavolo) did say 「時間を消し去て」”jikan o keshisate” which really means “erase the time” and then “I make sure that I will have everyone who jeopardizes my everlasting climax/peak to be vanished” 「消え去てもらう」or something like that.
Therefore, he really said that he erased the time and jumped over it/leapt past it, but by taking into account the scene and the atmosphere at that time, I thought that he was dramatizing his choice of words, so that "erasing" might not actually be erasing in literal sense, but still… the time (feels) skips due to KC’s ability.
Also, I was googling for any forums that discuss this issue and I found a very interesting one:
King Crimson (JJBA) does NOT erase time!
According to “Beatrice The Endless Witch”:
Diavolo causes fate to follow through unhindered for a period of time while he himself slips out of the physical world. Basically, everyone moves as they had planned to, unconsciously, while he himself phases through everything. Araki shows King Crimson dodging punches and Diavolo constantly refers to "erasing time" and stuff like that...that's all nonsense. I don't know if Araki himself wasn't sure what KC did so he constantly retconned it into ways that still made some sense, or maybe he didn't care about explaining it and he or his editors were like, "we'll just show some neat visual stuff and have Diavolo say one-liner to get the point across." It's possible, right?
I'm not Araki, so I don't know what his thought process was...but I'm guessing it was this:
“I want a Stand that can skip time forward - just like how CDs skip if they're scratched."
"But that wouldn't be beneficial to the user...so maybe the user is invulnerable to the time skip."
"But wait...if he's conscious during the skipped events, other people must be unconscious. Otherwise it doesn't work."
"But wait again! Can Diavolo just fucking wreck people during these events? Well...I guess he's just ethereal. He can't affect things." (which came the “unable to interact during time erasure”)
"...Well that's a great way of confusing people, but how does he fight with it, he just follows people? That's dumb. I guess he can see where they'll end up when the time skip finishes, so he can be prepared." (Epitaph)
"I guess that means other people can't phase like he does, because it'd contradict his predictions. This is good, he can use this to make people shoot each other or run into traps and stuff."
And that's how we got 「King Crimson」 and 「Epitaph」. It also fits well with his character (someone whose ability is easily felt by the entire world would be quite paranoid and need ways to avoid relying on its usage) and also does something that Araki likes in explaining real-world phenomena (short term amnesia, people spacing out).
Some people argue that KC erases the cause and keeps the effect except that doesn't make sense. Cause and effect are not two separate entities, but instead two ways of describing the same event from a different perspective according to the flow of time. You can't just pick and choose what you like to call cause and then label everything else as an effect. If you run down an alley and shoot a person during KC's time skip, you're telling me that you will end up down the alley but the person won't be shot, but there's literally no difference between the movement of your person across the ground and the movement of pieces of your skull as it gets shattered by a bullet. The CAUSE of moving your ass down the alley wasn't erased? Why not? Cause you don't want it to be?
I think s/he meant that “if you shoot a person” inside “(during) time erasure”, which the action is referred "cause", then “after time erasure”, the “effect” which should be “the person got hits by bullet” should not have happened, because the "cause" was already removed by KC so the "effect" shouldn't have existed in the first place.
I'd like to remind you that if Diavolo could attack people in time skips he would've done so against Buccellati, Polnareff or Giorno, but he didn't.
Hence my theory that KC can't attack physically with its body “inside/during time skip”.
People also argue that Diavolo hitting Polnareff in the eye with his blood makes no sense if time was skipped, but it does. Why wouldn't it stay there? It's no longer part of Diavolo, so it gains collision. And Diavolo doesn't erase time, so the blood is still there when the ability deactivates. Same with Josuke (part 4) when he used his blood as an attack, when it leaves his body, it's no longer part of him.
However, the reaction by “TehChron” suggested him/her to basically suspend his/her disbelief:
That's because you're misunderstanding how Araki presents time in JJBA. He presents it as a true 4th dimension, which has its own rules and effects, which he admittedly bullshits at times, but “Time” and “Gravity” are the highest natural forces he presents in the series. In effect, he treats them as constants across the mutiverse that exist as fundamental physical laws.
「Made In Heaven」 doesn't merely reset the Earth by infinitely increasing the flow of time from a single point at in Florida. Because what they are doing is manipulating time itself as a force of nature, rather than a concept.
Araki states that King Crimson erases time, and therefore is given the difficulty of expressing that in tangible effects, which is where we get "erasure of cause and keeping of effect", which is a nice way of summing up the ability in a way that we can observe in the series proper.
You say that cause and effect are interchangeable based on the flow of time, but that is incorrect “based on how Araki treats time”. I've explained it elsewhere when describing "relative time", but when a character gains the ability to manipulate time, they move under a different set of laws, much like swimming or flying.
Therefore, what KC would be erasing in cases where he phases through bullets are the "cause" of a bullet connecting with Diavolo, and as a result the "effect" of the bullet doing damage to Diavolo would be changed to an "effect" of "the bullet continuing along its course harmlessly". It erases a "cause" and as a result produces an entirely different "effect" based on that event.
As such, in instances where it appears that Diavolo teleports, he could use KC to erase the "time" experienced by his opponent. The "cause" of recognizing Diavolo's actions eliminates the "effect" of an opponent being able to react to him.
Rather than erasing time as if someone were scooping water out of a river, KC, and even most time-related Stands treat “time” as if it were a physical thing to be interacted with.
If 「The World」 and 「Star Platinum」 affect time by holding it still, then KC affects time by removing unwanted chunks from it. 「Bites the Dust」 uses specific stimulus to roll time back, as does 「Mandom」, to a lesser degree. MIH treats it like physical loop of some kind, and simply speeds it up until it loops back to the beginning or another desired part that had already been passed up. With alterations, if desired, naturally.
In the end, both agreed with this explanation. As for me, I think "time erasure" is more like "cause erasure" or even "causality manipulation", although only limited in removing a certain factor inside the "cause" (based on above explanation).
Does 「King Crimson」 have “universal range”?
I was also googling for a forum that discuss this issue as well and I found one:
Does King Crimson really have a universal range?
According to “Power That Preserves”:
Actually this is also a big question for me regarding KC’s range. And admittedly, I also agree with him/her. Logically, it should be really weird if we (the people) experience "time skip" several times around the world. At this point, it should have become a big "phenomenon”, not just a simple memory loss that happens to several people (who are aware of it) in one place.
The example brought by “noobthemusical” also makes sense, during Bruno vs King Crimson arc in Venezia, the rest of the gang who were outside at that time, not all of them realized that the "time skip" happened.
It is possible that not everyone realizes that time has just been skipped, especially for those who are daydreaming or who tend to ignore the events around them.
Others opposed him/her by referring to Araki's interview. Let's see what the interview actually was:
At the beginning of the interview, they did say about "time-based" abilities in general. However, when Shibasaki asked about the "range", she specifically asked about the "affected range" of the time stop, in other words: the range of this particular Stand named 「The World」! Hence Araki's answer which said that it is "all the way out into space", it is an answer regarding the "range" of the ability to stop time, (it should be) not the ability to manipulate time in general.
“Power That Preserves” has also understood this, s/he even admitted that a “localized time-stop” won't make sense, but for him/her, not for the “time-skip”.
You really think the writer will think of this and go out of his way to show us? The feat is there and the range is given, trying to break your head over it will not end well especially if the writer doesn’t care to show us the consequences of such an ability being used. – said “Tranquil Fury”
I think so too, s/he basically said again to “just suspend your disbelief, that’s a fiction for ya!” I also feel that Araki probably didn't think too deeply into this, let alone use the "real life logic". I think his main priority was that the main villain had invincible ability that makes it difficult for the protagonist.
They have tried to use their logic and that's not really wrong. But for me, they are the type of readers who prioritize the mindset "suspend your disbelief because it's fiction" or generalize the above interview by thinking that "the interview is about JoJo villains’ time manipulations, therefore the questions and answers from there are surely related to that".
What I regret about them is their lack of careful reading, in which Shibasaki’s question was obviously: “What is the maximum affected range when time is stopped?”
And of course Araki’s answer was about the range of 「The World」, which is universal.
They are very much the opposite of "Power That Preserves" who was being hard to suspend his/her disbelief and fixating on the "real life logic" of understanding fiction.
But the more interesting thing here is actually about 「Made in Heaven」, where “Schneider” and “zenieth” have said that the range of it is "universal", which is of course true, because in Made in Heaven arc, the effect of MIH’s time acceleration around the world had been shown to us. (SO chapter 150)
Localized time-stop doesn’t make sense (and impossible), so does “time acceleration” because time is universal, therefore logically as well, this also (should) apply to the "time skip".
Some have explained that KC’s time skip around the world to most people feels like a momentary "memory loss". But is there nothing dangerous about it (apart from those who are confronting Diavolo)?
「Made in Heaven」 has been shown to be an extremely dangerous Stand, given the impact it has had around the world:
SO chapter 150: Made in Heaven – part 2
One of the fatal consequences caused by MIH was this traffic accident, in which all vehicles were traveling very fast beyond the control of the drivers.
KC’s "time skip" that happened in VA often made people who realized it become shocked (the scene when Trish's hand was chopped for example), but at other times when the atmosphere is relaxed, those who experienced it just think of it as a momentary "memory loss".
But then, what will happen if the "time skip" occurs on a traffic? For example, when we are about to cross, a "time skip" occurs, will we be hit or hit something because we lost focus and didn’t prepare for a moment?
Then what about some jobs that require time observation (e.g. some researches or manufactures), in which it’s highly possible to notice that a "time skip" has occurred? Not to mention there are a lot of such jobs which require observation. "Power That Preserves" is not wrong when s/he brought up the lack of attention to "the law of common sense".
And I agree that we can't necessarily apply all of the laws of physics. That's why I think there can be localized timeskips without the affected area becoming seperated from the rest of the Earth, but King Crimson's power affecting the entire world and going unnoticed by the public isn't a matter of violating the law of physics, it's violating the laws of “common sense”. – said "Power That Preserves"
This is something that was very unfortunate in the forum, "Power That Preserves" was not entirely right (where s/he had difficulty understanding "fictional logic" yet proposed the “localized time-skip”), but s/he also had an opinion that deserves to be taken more seriously than simply "suspend your disbelief", "the author said so in his interview”, “there is fictional canon fact that you have to accept" and “don’t you dare to question the author!”.
This is the point where discussion can't really develop well, in the end, "Power That Preserves" did not get a satisfactory answer, instead s/he was bullied for his/her critical thinking. His/her critical opinion was underappreciated because of the mindset of those responders who were too accepting of everything that was "canon", even though the canon itself is “illogical”.
Unfortunately, there are many readers who have this kind of mindset.
We may not get the "right answer”, but had they been a little wiser, at least it might be possible to reach a conclusion that would satisfy both parties. I would like to join them to neutralize the atmosphere in the forum at that time, if only I had found this forum ten years earlier.
Coincidentally, I recently came across a fanfiction from AO3 that might unintentionally acknowledge the criticism from "Power That Preserves" ten years ago. Particularly, in this part:
TowerDogs’s Golden Redemption, chapter 24
“Memory manipulation”, really? But didn't Diavolo (Araki) clearly say that 「King Crimson」's ability was "time skip"? Do you seriously believe in fanfiction more than “The Word of God” (canon)?
Of course I'm not saying that KC's true ability is "memory manipulation", but considering some confusion and contradiction that indeed exist in the manga (Vento Aureo) itself in portraying KC and its time skip, this fanfic is more to explain about how to understand the mechanism of KC in its own language.
The fanfic also uses the same logic as "Power That Preserves" in that the so-called ‘time skip’ has a limited range.
Using the term "memory manipulation" is not too far-fetched in itself if we consider these scenes:
VA chapter 80 and 101
In which both Fugo and the hotel employee only thought that they forgot a moment and brushed it aside, but what if it happens when we are doing something like "observation", in which we were observing something moving like this:
Without blinking, we clearly see that the blood drip suddenly adds up against their supposed sequence (no longer drop by drop).
If so, doesn’t the excuse that it is a "memory loss" (as in the chapter 80 and 101) become invalid? Yes but actually no, because I think what “TowerDogs” means might be that Diavolo's "memory erasure" works by erasing everyone's memory in 10 seconds without leaving any details behind. People who lose their memory don't just forget about a single thing (for example: what they were doing at the time), but the whole memory for that 10 seconds (including what happened at that time and what they were doing at that time).
Then as I said before, the people who have the jobs that require high focus and observation are not just a few in around the world.
Hence, “Power That Preserves"’s logic which said that “when it happens to everyone in the world every time Diavolo uses his powers, this should be big news pretty fast” becomes something that should not just be brushed aside because canon.
And I also believe that the fanfic is aware of such problem as well (hence the “limited radius” which has been written there).
「King Crimson」in my own word
Although both interpretations from “TowerDogs” and “Power That Preserves" are controversial and might contradict the canon portrayal, thanks to them (and the explanation from “TehChron”) that I can get a better understanding of 「King Crimson」's true ability.
In order to be more accurate, I will leave aside the terms that often used by the manga canon: "time erasure" & “time skip”. These terms are what often misled the readers, if I have to interpret the meaning of “time erasure” alone, of course I would interpret it as "erasing the time elapsed for 10 seconds along with all the events (which contain causes & effects) that occurred during that time without a single trace", example:
Mista runs down an alley and shoots Diavolo “during KC's time erasure”, the outcome of KC's time erasure would be that Mista never ran into the alley and shot Diavolo in the first place as the events (which contain causes & effects) got erased along with the time (10 seconds).
To be honest, the above interpretation is more suitable for 「Gold Experience Requiem」.
What about “time skip”? The example of “skipping time for 10 seconds regardless of events (which contain causes & effects) that are happening during that time” will be like:
Mista runs down an alley and shoots Diavolo “during KC's time skip”, the outcome of KC's time skip would be that Mista already arrived at the end of the alley with Diavolo who got shot without seeing the process where Mista ran and shot in the previous 10 seconds as the events (which contain causes & effects) still happened and only the process got skipped.
But canonically, KC doesn't work that way, the result of KC’s time erasure based on the example above will be that Mista shot did not hit Diavolo and instead hit someone else (who should have been blocked by Diavolo prior to the manipulation).
In the end, I conclude that from several events that occur for 10 seconds “during KC's time skip”, Diavolo manipulates one of them (which is called "a cause") by removing several factors inside it, so that when the time skip ends (10 seconds later), the “resulting effect” of the "cause" which has been manipulated becomes "different" as desired by Diavolo.
During Diavolo’s manipulation, only he has the “consciousness”, as the people other than him will only feel the altered "effect" based on his manipulated "cause".
Still, Out of respect for Araki, let us just call this ability as a "time skip / erasure", it’s the easiest term to describe 「King Crimson」 ‘s ability.
「King Crimson」’s callback in “Hunter x Hunter”
Major spoilers of HxH!
“Hunter x Hunter” also made a callback of 「King Crimson」 through a character named Tserriednich. The Kakin Prince has developed Nen ability that has a similar mechanism to KC.
HxH chapter 387: Replay
“Similar but not the same” is the right word to describe it, Tserriednich also mentioned "parallel world" which for me could be a callback for 「D4C」 as well.
Unlike KC, in which time is noticeably skipped so that people affected are either shocked by the sudden event or experience a momentary “memory loss”, Tserriednich’s Parallel Future doesn’t skip the time at all, instead he just alters an event (a “cause”) through his personal “parallel world”. Initially, the affected people are not aware of the change and experience the original "effect" of the unaltered "cause", only then he surprises the people with the new “effect” of his altered "cause."
What KC and “Parallel Future” have in common is that both use forecasts for 10 seconds ahead of reality (Epitaph’s mechanism), it's just that Tserriednich’s forecast happened during the reality, but the future 10 seconds forcasted by Tserriednich are compressed. Tserriednich can also sense forecast and reality simultaneously (as if he is inside two parallel worlds that are being merged).
Amusingly, Tserriednich also made a reference to the initial mechanism of KC where Diavolo cannot interact during the “time skip”:
If you want to know about “Parallel Future” more, you can read chapter 387 of HxH, starting from page 3 to page 17.
Pannacotta Fugo, as a character whose role got prematurely terminated due to Araki’s personal issue, had his backstory told only by a single panel.
Then, prior to anime adaptation, his backstory was only told through “Purple Haze Feedback”, a novel which was written by Kadono Kohei instead of Araki and only considered to be partially canon.
The novel gave a brief explanation of his family background & history more than the anime.
However, both novel and anime portrayed that Fugo’s parents were overbearing, controlling and authoritarian to Fugo.
Though the novel said that Fugo is the youngest of three brothers, the anime did not show that, implying that Fugo is the only child in his family. The anime also emphasized Fugo’s struggle to keep his murderous temper.
Both novel and anime also followed manga canon that Fugo had beaten and seriously injured his professor by a 4kg encyclopedia. However, since the manga hadn't had time to disclose the motive (only implying that it had something to do with his temperament), this is when the novel and the anime took different paths on Fugo’s motive.
The anime took a dark and tragic approach by implying sexual harassment and pedophilia. The depraved behavior of the professor became a major factor which ignited his anger whereas his strict parents and the pressure his family put on him were the fuel source of his anger that he had endured all this time.
But the novel took a more personal and relatable issue where the family matter was the background of the incident. Fugo’s relationship with his beloved grandma was the most important thing that gave him strength and her love is like the water that quells his burning anger. Inside his abusive family, she became a moral support for him.
The beating of the professor and the explosive outbursts of his uncontrollable anger, all of it came from the grief over his grandma’s passing. His family ostracized her and treated him like a tool. Both the professor and his family regarded her death meaningless. Both were self-centered, it made him sick.
Regardless the motivation, in the end Fugo went to jail.
In the anime, the students in his college ostracized him, gossiping bad rumors about him, making him look even more pathetic and miserable.
In the anime, it was Fugo’s parents who bailed Fugo out of jail, using their money. But then they ended up disowned him.
Therefore, Fugo became a homeless boy who had to survive by his own… until mama Bruno found him and saved him.
The novel focused more on Fugo’s outburst. Unlike the anime, in the novel, his parents never bother to bail him out, they simply abandoned him when he was in jail.
It was Bruno who bailed him out of jail.
The novel gave a clearer reason of why his parents had disowned him.
And thus, mama Bruno had adopted recruited him.
My thoughts:
Well, to be honest, I am more inclined to like the novel version of Fugo’s backstory, it is more relatable, flows better and makes more sense. Instead of making Fugo just a sad boy with dark and troubled past, the novel made us get to know him more personally. We saw more of what he feels than what he had experienced. For me, his family dynamic, his thoughts about his family and his relationship with his grandma, his love for her, those are things that are easier for me to relate, it makes me easier to be empathized with him. Almost everybody was demanding to him due to his extraordinary intelligence, without considering his feeling and what he truly wants. But his grandma was the only one who treated him like human being, she gave the love and affection that he truly needs.
The anime rather directed us to see that he just had experienced something terrible, designating the professor to be a pervert with despicable behavior. The oppressive parents and the pedophiliac professor don't really feel connected with Fugo’s eventual outburst. The sexual harassment just made me feel sorry to him and that’s all, his beating of the professor looked more like an uncontrollable self-defense than showing that his suppressed rage had finally exploded violently (after the similar triggers pushed him that far). I don’t even like the additional scene when the other students were badmouthing him, it just made him look even more sad and pathetic, the poor victim we are supposed to pity.
I’m not underplaying sexual harassment nor saying that I cannot sympathize with that, but we’re talking about the writing of fiction (fictional character and fictional story) here. It has nothing to do with how I handle the real life issue or anything.
Also, the parents’ treatment of Fugo after he went to jail made even more sense in the novel than in anime. I don’t get the logic of why his parents bothered to bail him out, wasting their money for that if they eventually just disowned him? Especially if Fugo is their only child. After he left, do they plan to adopt a new child? I think the novel had it more believable that Fugo’s parents had simply abandoned him when he was in jail, unilaterally cutting of the ties with him, isn't this method more economical? They also don't need to think too much about heir as they also had other children as alternative.
As for Bruno’s role, I don’t have any issue with both versions. In the anime, he took Fugo and recruited him as gangster, freeing him from vagrancy. In the novel, he was the one who bailed Fugo out of jail and recruited him as well, although the novel version of Bruno’s role sounds more similar to Mista’s past.
Still, if I could somehow fix the anime version of Fugo’s backstory, I think it would be better if… instead of his parents just disowned him, it is Fugo who ran away from home of his own accord. After his parents bailed him out, they became more controlling, harsher and more abusive to Fugo until he was fed up and finally snapped out, then decided to run away from his family, getting sick with all of those shits. With his wits, he survived living on the streets until he met Bruno, his savior.
TL;DR
Instead of Fugo’s parents disowned him after they bailed him out like fools they are, Fugo is the one who took initiative to run away and cut ties with his parents, living on the streets until he met Bruno.
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.
Related post: The cacophony of JJL main villains (how JoJolion can be saved)
Read also: Kira Holy Joestar, the underrated 52-years-old mother
With the rise of youthful looking moms in JJBA, has Araki lost his ability in drawing 'old people'?
Araki’s evolving art-style
First, let's review his art-style and art-revolution in previous parts:
Part 1: Phantom Blood
I don’t really remember any significant old people here, so I’ll give it a pass.
Part 2: Battle Tendency
There was grandma Erina and Speedwagon in their 70s, both really looked their age.
There were also Straizo in his 70s and a 50 years old Lisa Lisa, as hamon users, they appeared younger than their age. Initially, Straizo looked like in his 50s and then in his 20s after he turned into vampire. Lisa Lisa looked like in her 20s, her youthful look had a purpose in-story and also got in-world recognition.
Then, there was also Erina in her 50s when she was holding baby Joseph, she really looked her age.
Part 3: Stardust Crusaders
There was this villainous villain named Enya Geil and she really looked old.
Then, a 69 years old grandpa Joseph really looked a granpa, despite being a hamon user. Readers believe that he rarely practices because he was lazy, but there is also wholesome speculation that he wanted to age together with his wife.
And Joseph’s wife, Suzy Q who is also a grandma looked old according to her age.
There was DIO who should be +100 years old, but just like Lisa Lisa and Straizo, as a vampire, he looked much younger than his actual age. Therefore, his youthful look had a purpose in-story.
Part 4: Diamond is Unbreakable
In part 4, there was Josuke’s grandpa, Higashikata Ryohei at 55 years old. He did look like a grandpa.
Then, a 79 years old Joseph who looked very old and frail.
There were also Kira’s parents who were in their old age.
Part 5: Vento Aureo/Golden Wind
Just like in part 1, I don’t recall any significant old people in this story, but there was a Stand named 「The Grateful Dead」 with its terrifying ability to forcefully age people over a large area. Araki had drawn the aging too well.
Part 6: Stone Ocean
I don’t really remember significant old character but I know about the user of 「Dragon’s Dream」, a 78 years old elderly prisoner named Kenzo. He looked bizarrely old like Enya Geil. But I think this part could be the beginning of the aging problem for certain parent characters.
First, Jolyne's mom (whom sadly never named) didn't really look like a middle-aged woman. Although her age was never mentioned, I believe that she should be in her 40s or at least late 30s which should be her youngest estimated age.
Then there was Mrs. Bluemarine, left panel is when her son was still a baby then the right panel is around 15 years later when she confessed her sin. Not only her face remained unchanged (with no apparent aging), the hairstyle and dress are hilariously not changed.
And the meme of Jotaro ages backwards is not without reason.
Part 7: Steel Ball Run
This part also has a similar problem with the previous, the main villain of part 7, Funny Valentine (43/48) in his sexy form (late appearance) didn’t look much older than Johnny (19) and Diego (20), when he should have been more than twice their age, old enough to be their dads. Can you see their age difference on these panels?
But interestingly, Araki was also able to draw the differences in age and facial features of the two females (Lucy and Scarlet), as the former (the 14 years old girl) eventually had to impersonate the later. I also believe that the first lady Scarlet was in late 30s or in her 40s.
Then, there was also Stephen Steel who was around 51-53 years old and he looked his age.
Perhaps in this case, Araki just wanted to tell that Funny Valentine was older than he looked.
And now, we reached JoJolion (part 8) that likely suffers from the ‘youthful moms’ syndrome. So how did this begin?
The Middle-Aged Moms and their looks in JoJolion
Kira Holy Joestar
The first middle-aged woman to be introduced in JJL was Kira Holy Joestar, a 52 years old woman. Interestingly, she really looked her age, a middle-aged woman.
This early Holy also has similar facial feature with Scarlet Valentine
In fact, I think Araki did really well when he drew her as we can see the age difference between Holy (52) and Yasuho (19) clearly, a thing I highly praise because Araki did not rely using the frown lines on the sides of the mouth to illustrate the aging.
Hirose Suzuyo
Another woman that we can consider as a middle-aged woman is Yasuho’s mom, Hirose Suzuyo. Even though she is younger than Holy, being 44 years old can already be considered a middle-aged.
But together with Yasuho on the same panel, she doesn't look much older than her daughter. She basically looks like Yasuho’s older sister than her mom.
And if you prefer '43' to be the correct age of Funny Valentine, then it would make Suzuyo a year older than the president (in their respective timeline).
(Higashikata) Caato
Then this infamous gilf who rocked readers in her early debut and still being hyped by her supporters, (Higashikata) Caato:
Being 52 years old, she is the same age as Kira Holy Joestar, but her appearances and the fact that she already had a grandson makes the readers thought that her youthful look must have ‘a reason’:
Is she secretly a rock woman?
Is she a fusion of two people by Rokakaka fruit that caused her stop aging (an outdated theory from redditors due to her strange eyes)?
Will her attractive look signify that she will be the main villain (like Funny Valentine)?
Besides, during her family reunion, it seemed that Araki no longer bothered to make her distinguishable and significantly belong to different generation from her daughter Hato.
Though I think, there was a moment when Caato kinda look her age just like Holy in her early debut:
What is behind their youthful looks?
I think it is kinda unfair to think that only Caato who purposely looks youthful while disregarding the other moms’ look. Holy's first debut with her middle-aged look was in chapter 14, then Yasuho’s mom, Suzuyo even debuted earlier back in chapter 8 and she already looked attractive and youthful there. Only then did Caato made her debut in chapter 55.
Many readers also don't consider Holy's appearance during the Vitamin C arc, flashback where she met Josefumi and her son Yoshikage. The timeline at the time should be around 2010, because a chapter earlier (50), Yoshikage talked about Iwakiri, a baseball player who was taking a year off since 2009 due to an injury. Then Josefumi and Kira Yoshikage took action to steal Locacaca's branch until afterwards headed to a scene with Holy.
JJL chapter 51: Vitamin C and Killer Queen – part 2
In other words, a year ago (2010), Holy was already in her early 50s! And her face here definitely looks younger than her face when she debuted for the first time. We can argue that perhaps her older look in present time (her debut) was caused by her strange illness, as people who are sick often appear older than usual.
But in Holy's most recent appearance in chapter 92, she looks much younger than her age:
Her wiki page also agrees and has described her appearance that she still having her ‘youthful look’:
Holy Joestar-Kira’s wikia page
So, here is the breakdown:
Hirose Suzuyo (Yasuho’s mom)’s debut in chapter 8, aged 44, she is older than she looks.
Kira Holy Joestar’s debut in chapter 14, aged 52, she looked her age.
Kira Holy Joestar’s appearance in chapter 51, aged 51, she is older than she looks.
(Higashikata) Caato’s debut in chapter 55, aged 52, she is older than she looks.
Kira Holy Joestar’s recent appearance in chapter 92, aged 52, she is older than she looks.
The mystery is why Araki changed Holy's appearance from her initial debut? Why does she become younger than before? Did he do this on purpose or is this purely due to his evolving art?
The Hidden Rock Woman and The Red Herrings
What is ‘female rock-human’ in general?
They are indistinguishable from (carbon-based) female humans.
Their life span is ±240 years (just like the males).
They can be older than they look (just like the males).
They need to hibernate (just like the males).
Their gestation period is 6 months and give birth in the spring and summer.
They rarely (if ever) have affection for or a parental relationship with their children.
Their babies have an average body length of 28 mm and weight of 15 grams.
They can procreate with human males.
As Araki has brought up about the existence of rock-human females in chapter 99, coupled with the possibility of reproduction with (carbon-based) human males, readers have created various theories about them.
(Higashikata) Caato
The most popular theory nowadays is about “Caato as the rock-woman”. Since the beginning, this female character is often hyped as the character who will play a major role, mostly in antagonist side, be it as the main villain and (now) as ‘the rock-woman’.
I think there are a lot of made-up theories and far-fetched reasons created by her supporters, problems regarding the theory of "Caato as the rock-woman" have been mostly explained in my previous post:
Is Caato a Rock-Woman?
Even so, I myself have not dared to confirm that Caato can’t be a rock-woman. However, my post there was more to show how forced, flawed and ridiculous the theories made by her supporters. I am worried that this would be 'the case of bad writing' so I also hope that Araki would not make it happen.
But if Araki is going to make Caato a female rock-human in the future, I hope that he can provide a nice explanation with a story that makes sense and is not forced. Still, I think to make Caato a rock-woman will be the most complicated choice.
We never saw the signs of Caato as a rock-human. In her flashback, she had already behaved very different from the rock-woman, she was shown as a doting mom, she really loves Jobin and took care of him, in contrast to rock-woman who abandoned her newborn baby. She didn’t want Jobin to get hurt, she almost cried (see the beginning scene when he climbed a tree), she was very worried about him. Unlike the rock-women, Caato certainly has affection to her children.
Then we’ve also seen how her children grew up like any normal human in contrast to the bizarre growth of the rock-humans:
We still don’t know what happens to the baby born from reproduction between human males and rock-women? A human babies, rock-babies or crossbreeds?
Then with the four children of Norisuke IV and Caato, we also have to begin questioning again about what Jobin, Hato, Joshu and Daiya truly are? Are they half rock-humans, fully rock-humans or just regular humans? The problem is: we’ve been following their characters and there is absolutely no hint that these four were somewhat different from regular humans.
If the crossbreeds are somewhat different than the normal humans, then Araki will need to further develop not just one, but “four characters!” to show how they slightly differ from normal humans. Then if Jobin is a half rock-human with Mitsuba as regular human female, is it possible for Tsurugi to be born then? This will also be a problem that must be resolved in the story.
As rock-humans need to hibernate, how is he going to show that Caato need it too? Or perhaps she is fighting it off? A Caatofag has theorized that she uses Locacaca to be able to do that, as her son Jobin has access to the fruit, this kinda makes sense. However, there are many plotholes in this theory that need to be explored.
The fact that Caato became a model prisoner and was able to perform the penal hard labor for 15 years should be contradicting the idea of her as a rock-woman, but a Caatofag uses Locacaca as the reason of why she was able to do that, because in chapter 32, Yotsuyu was able to cure the dog Iwasuke of the rock-disease by feeding it a piece of a it. But what about Aishō? The member of Damokan Group did not use Locacaca to fight off his hibernation, he still needed to hibernate and that was the cause of his break up with his (then) girlfriend.
Besides, if Caato fights off her hibernation to hide her status as a rock-woman, she should have done it since her marriage to Norisuke IV, as her (then) husband just found out about the existence of rock-humans after the death of Yotsuyu.
This meant that Caato should have used Locacaca long before she was incarcerated. Then if she already used it during her marriage to Norisuke IV, it should include the flashback in chapter 64 as well, when she cured Jobin of the rock-disease using equivalent exchange on Higashikata’s land. Why did she use her late mother-in-law’s method instead of Locacaca (which allegedly in her possession)? Isn't Locacaca the fruit believed to be able to heal the rock-disease?
Then supposed that the rock-disease that has befallen the Higashikata family is the result of reproduction between human male and rock-woman, Caato as ‘a rock-woman’ can’t be the cause because the disease has already existed since several generations before and had afflicted the daughter of the first generation of Norisuke (I), Higashikata Rina.
We have seen how Caato handled the family curse in the past (chapter 64) and in that scene we did not see any hint of her as ‘a rock-human’ and her relation with the curse. It will be convoluted and redundant to have Caato reappears as a rock-human and involve her in Higashikata’s family curse once again. In short, Araki will need a lot of build-up to make Caato a rock-woman.
Kira Holy Joestar
Then, there is Kira Holy Joestar. If Caato becomes a candidate for secret rock-woman due to her youthful look (and various wild speculations), then Holy also deserved to be a candidate for the same reason.
Unlike Caato, in which her knowledge regarding Locacaca and her connection to the rock-humans are still pure speculations, Holy is already closer to both of these things (Locacaca & rock-humans). She has done scientific analysis on Locacaca and also knows about the rock-humans organization (Head Doctor gang and Damokan Group).
However, making Holy a rock-woman is probably more impossible than Caato because she is a descendant of Joestar family with very clear lineage too.
Johnny is clearly not a rock-human while Rina, she could be a descended from a rock-human (if that is the reason for the existence of the ‘rock-disease’). Holy can’t be a full blooded rock-human, but she can still be a crossbreed or a descendant of a rock-human.
By looking at Joestar family tree, it is still possible to make Johnny's son or grandson to marry a rock-woman. The rock-woman could be Elizabeth or Suzie Q, but I am more inclined to have Elizabeth as ‘the rock-woman’, she could be a little callback from Lisa Lisa in part 2 with her youthful look and how Lisa Lisa was made to abandon baby Joseph in the past. This can also be a nice parallelism to the rock-women's nature in abandoning their newborn baby.
In addition, Holy as a descendant of rock-human/crossbreed can be served as a nice reason of why the Head Doctor gang used Holy as their test subject.
Unfortunately, unlike the rock-woman, Holy also has affection to her children, even to other children whom she did not give birth to. However, if the speculation is only limited to "Holy as a descendant of rock-human", then this is still possible, because her traits might have been mixed with normal human’s traits.
Another problem is that Araki also has to build up Holy’s children, Yoshikage and Kyo, that they also have to descend from rock-human. However, they are still easier to build-up than Caato's children, as Yoshikage is already dead and Kyo rarely shows up.
If Kira Yoshikage is descended from rock-human, then Yoshikage who has turned into Josuke will make Josuke (the main protagonist) a part of rock-human as well. This can be an astonishing parallel if both Josuke and Tooru (as the main villain) are somewhat rock-humans (suppose that Tooru will be the main villain).
The next problem is about the existence of rock-disease that has befallen to the Higashikata family. If the crossbreeding between a human male and rock-woman was the cause of it, why didn't the curse fall on Johnny's descendants? It only ever struck his wife Rina in the past. Johnny's method in 1901 might have succeeded in protecting his descendants from the curse.
Holy's illness which was initially thought to be a part of family curse is apparently the product of illegal experiment. Therefore, will it be possible if Holy is a descendant of rock-human?
Hirose Suzuyo
Lastly, there is also Hirose Suzuyo who is still attractive at 44 years old, despite being several years younger than Holy and Caato, her youthful look should also be a consideration as well.
I think making Suzuyo the secret rock-woman would be the easiest choice compared to Caato and Holy. Out of the three characters, she has the least development and this instead becomes her advantage.
Caato and Norisuke IV have divorced and this is often used as an excuse by supporters that their failed relationship was caused by one of them (Caato) being a rock-human.
Caato is not the only person who has been divorced, Josefumi’s mother Kiyomi and Yasuho’s mom Suzuyo have also been divorced. Therefore, Suzuyo could have the excuse that her divorce from her husband could be the result of an incompatible relationship between a human and a rock-human.
JJL chapter 71: Hairclip of the Qing Dynasty
Chapter 46 told that “95% of rock-humans are Stand users”, Caato and (allegedly) Holy are Stand users, but what about Suzuyo?
Maybe yes maybe no, but the way she dressed when she debuted for the first time in chapter 8 could be a typical Stand user’s style:
Thanks to her limited appearance, it’s not difficult to suddenly turn her into a Stand user.
The only problem is that Araki (again) has to build-up Yasuho, the main female protagonist as a rock-human descent, but is it possible?
There is one particular incident in chapter 94, as Yasuho has snuck into Higashikata's house, Jobin caught her and flushed 「Paisley Park」 down the toilet, breaking both Yasuho and her Stand’s body in the process.
JJL chapter 94: The Wonder of You (Your Miraculous Love) – part 11
Seeing how her body was in the process of breaking apart, some readers pointed out that there is a resemblance to the rock-humans' body while breaking apart.
JJL chapter 32 & JJL chapter 42
Others simply assumed that Yasuho's breaking body is the effect of her breaking Stand as well.
I am also more inclined towards the second opinion, in which her body is breaking apart simply because of her breaking Stand. But the interpretation of this picture is still free, so it would be easy for Araki if he suddenly wants to decide that the reason of Yasuho's breaking body is due to her being a part of rock-human.
It is also fortunate that we have not seen normal humans and their Stands break apart like Yasuho and her 「Paisley Park」.
Perhaps, making Yasuho a part of rock-human could be the reason why Tooru dated her. I've always felt there must be something behind this. Tooru as the person behind HD gang can't possibly date Yasuho without reason.
Even though they had broken up, Tooru is still eager to to rekindle his relationship with Yasuho, but chapter 97 proves that his reason for that was not simply that he still loved her. There must be something that he wants from her and will take advantage of her.
But back to the issue of the origin of the Higashikata’s family curse, if the crossbreeding is the cause, why doesn't it befall to Yasuho too?
Once again, it is fortunate that we got the flashback of Higashikata Rina as the female affected by rock-disease. She became symptomatic as adult, in her late 20s. Yasuho is a female and she is still 19, it is possible if the rock-disease had not yet befallen her (suppose that she is a crossbreed).
The real problem is that Suzuyo has also shown that she cares to her daughter Yasuho, again, the opposite trait with the rock-women.
JJL chapter 24 & JJL chapter 71
Though she is not on Holy's level… or the level of Caato to Jobin, at least she is trying to show her love to Yasuho.
Then how about her job? Being a single mom should have demanded Suzuyo to have a job to support Yasuho and her life. We've never seen what kind of job Suzuyo has, we've only seen in her debut that she brought a man home from a club. Was this part of her job as a hostess or she simply had fun?
In her flashback of chapter 71, we have seen Suzuyo who was currently receiving a call, was the phone related to her job?
Suppose that it was related to her job, “Oh really? Sounds exciting, I’ll write that down”… an idea? Or was it a new job offer? Freelancing?
It is very fortunate that it is still very hard to determine of Suzuyo's actual career, Araki just has to give her a career that is suitable for rock-human if he wants to make her a rock-human.
Crossbreeding and developing affection in rock-women(?)
Apparently, these three women share the same problems, that they have affection for their children, the opposite trait of rock-women in chapter 99. The mother who had more of a similar nature to rock-women is (actually) Kujo Kiyomi, Josefumi’s mother. She almost left a drowning Josefumi, though the guilt overcame her in the end.
JJL chapter 52: Vitamin C and Killer Queen – part 3
Even so, Josefumi still felt that his mother had abandoned him. Could it be that she abandoned him again after the drowning event and that’s why Josefumi had a lot of respect for Holy as his mother figure? Or maybe it was only to that particular moment, but it was so engraved on Josefumi's memory that he hated his own mother?
And also remember that Kujo Kiyomi has been divorced. Too bad we never saw her again in her middle-aged, but I believe that if she will reappear, she will have that 'youthful look' like any others.
Regarding Caato and Suzuyo, suppose that they are rock-women, it is possible that they may develop affection for their children as a result of their copulation with human males.
To be honest, I think that Caato's role is more of a comparison to the other Higashikata mothers, so it would be too much if she is a rock-woman as I explained in my previous post.
However regarding Suzuyo, I think that her efforts to take care and love Yasuho are like a rock-woman learning to be a 'mother'.
JJL chapter 24: Paper Moon Deception – part 2
Perhaps it is just me, but Suzuyo’s response in that scene is a bit weird. She offered Yasuho to cook for her while playing video games, something that pretty normal in family dynamic. But then, Yasuho declined and said she was just going to go out again. Annoyed by her daughter response, she brought up Yasuho’s annoying attitude and likened her to her ex-husband (Yasuho’s father).
When Yasuho remarked that she was in a rush and didn’t have a time to be lectured her, Suzuyo out-of-nowhere brought up whether she wasn't motherly to Yasuho, something that I think was not quite related in a conflict. Because I have also experienced a similar conflict with my mother, but she wouldn't suddenly bring up of her being motherly and just straightly scolded me.
It was as if she said that “I’m trying to be a good mother for you, because I’m not like the other rock-women out there.”
JJL chapter 71: Hairclip of the Qing Dynasty
Her bad-mouthing her ex-husband (Yasuho’s dad) felt like she was trying to keep Yasuho away from her father. Besides, her words also indicate possessiveness towards her daughter.
Rock-humans in general have little to no relationship with their children, unlike (carbon-based) humans. So maybe Suzuyo is trying hard to get close to her daughter Yasuho while trying to keep her away from her father, because (perhaps) in her perspective, a close relationship between fellow humans will always be easier to achieve compared to the rock-humans.
Conclusion
At first I thought that ‘the youthful moms’ in JoJolion is just a deliberate artistic choice on behalf of Araki to make the characters more attractive, but what if it turns out to have a purpose?
Added with the recent chapter (99) which hinted the existence of rock-women, what if Araki wanted to make us wonder, is it true that currently there is a rock-woman among his characters? Which one?
I don't know why but I feel that possibility may lie in some middle-aged mother characters that look younger than their actual age. I also became suspicious, why Araki changed Holy’s appearance in chapter 92, that she significantly looks younger than when she debuted?
Especially with the reemergence of the theory about Caato as a rock-woman which becomes popular once again.
Of course I am more certain that a rock-woman will appear in the form of a flashback which will explain the origin of Higashikata’s family curse. It would also fit into the plausible theory of ‘reproduction’ that has been created by u/Mamezuku on reddit. But what if a rock-woman would appear in the present time as well? Who is she? Will it be Caato?
Of the three candidates I suspect, Caato will be the most difficult choice and requires a lot of build-up (and possibly retconing here and there). Holy highly unlikely will be a full blooded rock-woman, but it’s possible to make her a descendant of a rock-human and the build-up will be slightly easier. Suzuyo (Yasuho’s mom) will be an unexpected choice but she will be the easiest and least complicated to be built-up, the only big challenge is about the build-up of her daughter Yasuho as a crossbreed.
