Jojo's Bizarre Adventure is often regarded as one of the more esoteric and inaccessible anime series. On top of its aggressive and jarring art style, its story takes place over hundreds of years, weaving together dozens of different characters and feuds in a dizzying and complex supernatural saga. One significant, and challenging element of Jojo is its connection to music, particularly to Rock and Progressive Rock. From its now-infamous closing theme "Roundabout" Jojo integrates a wide variety of musical themes, names, and motifs into its story and action. A major debate among Jojo fans is whether or not the music has any real significance beyond a form of absurdist ornamentation.
To this end, a theory by the YouTuber xForts connects the themes and aesthetics present in Jojo with those of their most likely musical inspirations. This theory centers on the most unique and truly bizarre of Jojo's elements, its Stands. In brief, Stands are psychic entities tied to a particular character's essences, that provide certain supernatural abilities in tune with that character's personality. Even though the majority of Stands in Jojo are named after a song, band, or album, this only adds to the confusion. Such as it is, the workings and inspirations of Stands, though demonstrated in the series, remain esoteric - - their origins continually discussed and debated on forums, message boards, and subreddits to this day. xForts proposes that one particularly confusing Stand, King Crimson, must be understood in context with its inspiration by the progressive rock band of the same name. In particular the themes of alienation and apocalypse in their seminal 1969 album, "In the Court of the Crimson King."
In the Court of the Crimson King
"Once anyone witnesses King Crimson... As of that moment... they no longer exist in this world."
For xForts, the key to understanding the Stand King Crimson lies in the music, and in particular its emphasis on loneliness and fore-knowledge. The basic thrust of the theory is that the Stand, "King Crimson", like the album "In the Court of the Crimson King," describes an individual's dislocation from the regular passage of time, and the resulting alienation brought by this insight. While xForts' theory remains mum on details, examining the Stand from Jojo alongside the album "In the Court of the Crimson King" is eye-opening.
For starters, the finer points of the Stand, King Crimson support xForts' theory: when used, the Stand "King Crimson" allows Diavolo to erase time, and predict the future. In doing so, Diavolo becomes intangible - - immune to attacks - - but removed from the universe altogether, only able to interact with himself. The Stand is itself also divided: a second, smaller Stand, "Epitaph" providing this secondary, prophetic function. "Epitaph," appears as a smaller face protruding from the original Stand's forehead warns Diavolo of any impending danger through isolated images projected in space. Yet while the effect of these mechanics in the series is impressive, the musical source of their inspiration adds an entirely new level to the experience.
The Schizoid Man's Epitaph
These details dovetail closely with the album's music and themes: both the Stand's internal division and Diavolo's fractured personality evoke the discordant images and theme of "21st-Century Schizoid Man," an individual removed from their historical moment.
This affinity continues amid the bleak serenity of "In the Court of the Crimson King;" one line in particular, "I run to grasp divining signs/To satisfy the hoax" describes exactly how Epitaph functions in combat. Its user scrambles to react to the prophecy Epitaph provides. However, it is within the longer meditations of the song "Epitaph" that the Stand's mechanics, Diavolo's motivations, and its significance in the story of Golden Wind all come together. Like the speaker described in King Crimson's lyrics, the power to destroy time at will only engenders deeper alienation and helplessness. In Golden Wind, Diavolo, obsessed with erasing his past, uses the precognitive powers of King Crimson to place himself beyond the regular flow of time and life. While doing so allows Diavoloto to correct mistakes, the obsession emphasizes his inner helplessness with regard to his own past. This is felt in Diavolo's infamous words regarding the past: "...even when you break it to pieces and entomb it in stone, it crawls out like a worm." In light of his futile quest to undo the past, his own broken psyche, and the imminent emergence of alter-ego Doppio, Diavolo's bitter sentiments echo a pair of fateful lines from"Epitaph:"
"Confusion will be my epitaph/As I crawl, a cracked and broken path."
Having debuted in 1995, Golden Wind is as old now, as "In the Court of the Crimson King" was during the manga's initial run - - 26 years. It seems only fitting, that Jojo has enjoyed the same longevity as its inspiration in the work of Greg Lake, Ian Mcdonald, Michael Rex Giles, Peter John Sinfield, and Robert Fripp in King Crimson. Convoluted, overwrought, and broad in its influences, for decades both Jojo and King Crimson have rewarded the tireless attention of their fanatical devotees with endless and timeless inspiration.
