Warning: spoilers for JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: JoJoLandschapter 12
Summary
- Charmingman in JoJo Chapter 12 mirrors his beloved ally Polnareff, forming a new version of the classic
Jojo
tradition. - Charmingman's past reveals his motivation: a connection between the lava stone and his missing brother, leading to an unexpected alliance.
-
Jojo
series often see enemies transformed into allies; The evolution of Charmingman will be interesting to follow in the coming chapters.
After an overview of the idea in the previous chapter, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure has officially recruited a new ally alongside Jodio, marking a return to the classic Jojo tradition of befriending a first opponent. In fact, this new ally has quite a bit in common with one of the most beloved examples of the trope in JojoJean-Pierre Polnareff.
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: JoJoLands chapter 12 opens with a surprise, diving into the history of the enemy that Jodio and his group had just fought. The character, who later reveals his name to be “Charmingman”, is shown cycling through a mountainous region of Hawaii, where the narration explains that there is almost no water. Charmingman is accompanied by his younger brother, who suddenly disappears. Charmingman searches in a panic and sees his brother being pulled into a lava tube filled with water.
Despite seeking help from the authorities, Charmingman returns and finds no sign of water, and suspicions of foul play begin to weigh on the innocent man.
Charmingman is a new take on a Jojo classic
Charmingman's past shows that he lost a sibling, and further flashbacks prove that the lava rock that Jodio and co. The theft stolen from Rohan Kishibe is somehow linked to this disappearance. This explains why Charmingman was so desperate to take the rock from Jodio, and why he might be willing to make a truce and work with them; he doesn't really care about the rock's ability to bring wealth, but rather its connection to his missing brother.
As a character who started out as an enemy, but eventually joined the heroes due to a lost/dead sibling, Charmingman is actually quite similar to Polnareff from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure part 3, Stardust Crusaders. Polnareff was controlled by Dio, rather than attacking Jotaro and his friends of his own free will, but as soon as he was freed, he became a valuable ally. Polnareff wanted revenge on a man with “two right hands”, who turned out to be working for Dio, and agreed to accompany them to try his luck.
Of course, many others Jojo Allies started out as enemies of their respective JoJos: Speedwagon is perhaps the most famous, but it also applies to Okuyasu in Part 4, Bucciarati in Part 5, and the Foo Fighters (FF) in Part 6 The trope has remained more or less unused in some parts. 7 and 8, which contained more focused stories that did not involve a large ensemble like the previous parts did. Since Part 9 started over with a larger ensemble, it's perhaps unsurprising that this trope is also back.
These characters often become popular and, despite their origins, can be very different from each other. It will be interesting to see how Charmingman's character develops now that he has aligned his interests with those of Jodio and his team. Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Part 9 may have been in the works for a year now, but it's only just getting started, so Charmingman has plenty of time to live up to Polnareff's popularity.
