JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure’s Most Underused Side Characters

The ongoing JoJo's Bizarre Adventure has given viewers many unique personalities and over-the-top characters. Each part of the popular anime sees the titular JoJo surrounded by new key characters who show great promise to have a bigger role to play. While the show does a great job at utilizing the many different side characters in the elaborate storylines that unfold, here are some whose increased involvement could have made for interesting plotlines.

Robert E. O. Speedwagon

The first to set the trend of antagonist turned loyal JoJo ally is Robert E. O. Speedwagon. When first introduced, we see Speedwagon as an Ogre Street thug boss provoking a fight with the English gentleman JoJo, Jonathan Joestar, who is searching for an antidote to save his father from Dio Brando's poisoning. Speedwagon's attempted assault proves a miscalculation as he quickly realizes he is outmatched. Witnessing Jonathan's mercy, Speedwagon offers his services to help track down the antidote.

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From there on out, his role becomes that of a loyal companion and cheerleading narrator who gushes over Jonathan's gentleman personality. While Speedwagon fails to master the art of Ripple (or Hamon), seeing more of his cleverness and intelligence utilized in the first bizarre adventure would have fulfilled the promise of his dramatic introduction.

Speedwagon is reintroduced as an old man and the founder of the Speedwagon Foundation, which never fails to emerge for any given high-stakes situation. In the series' second part, Battle Tendency, he transforms into a quiet supporter and his company follows the adventures of all coming JoJo's in their pursuits to fight evil from behind the scenes.

Okuyasu Nijimura

Next up is a character with one of the most powerful and underused Stand abilities, Okuyasu Nijimura. JoJo's Part 4, Diamond Is Unbreakable, shows the youngest of the Nijimura brothers as a cruel antagonist to the eighth JoJo, Josuke Higashikata. Okuyasu's mysterious Stand, The Hand, is quickly seen in action. Its power to remove physical space makes him one of the most powerful and dangerous Stand users known. Okuyasu is another case of antagonist-turned-ally with a great redemption arc -- so much so that the visible hate between Josuke and Okuyasu in their first face-off transforms into a true friendship.

What makes Okuyasu the most underused ally of all is that his Stand ability proves an efficient problem solver but is rarely put into action. As the show progresses, his usage of The Hand decreases significantly -- all the way up to the climax with Yoshikage Kira. With such a powerful introduction stating his immense ability, it's unfortunate to see Okuyasu's potential go to waste as he becomes another underutilized JoJo sidekick.

Pannacotta Fugo

Part 5, Golden Wind, sees the hilariously named Pannacotta Fugo introduced at a small café when JoJo number five, Giorno Giovanna, joins the Passione gangster organization on his mission to become a Gang-Star. The quick-tempered subordinate of Bruno Bucciarati's team has a hidden Stand ability that isn't revealed until provoked by an enemy Stand -- Man in the Mirror -- during the mission of protecting their gangster boss' daughter, Trish Una.

Fugo's deadly Stand, Purple Haze, is described as a reflection of his violent side and contains a deadly flesh-eating virus. Upon release, it infects any living being it touches and makes them rot from the inside. Because of this, Fugo rarely uses his fatal Stand and it remains that way until the quick-tempered JoJo ally departs from the rest of the team.

Sadly, Fugo doesn't make a heroic return and is only seen wandering the streets during Narancia's final monologue before his sudden death. Seeing Fugo finding creative ways to use Purple Haze and giving the character more development like the rest of the team could have seen Purple Haze prove the most powerful Stand of all.

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