The Dark Knights (Episode)

The Dark Knights (暗黒の騎士達) is the fifth episode of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure anime. It is also the fifth episode of Phantom Blood. It covers Chapter 24 through Chapter 28 of the manga.

Summary
Upon arriving in Windknight's Lot, JoJo's group is pickpocketed by a talented young boy named Poco who uses a slingshot to shoot himself across a nearby lake. After using the Ripple to walk on the water, JoJo and Zeppeli manage to catch Poco, after Jonathan hits the cliff Poco is climbing with a ripple punch. Jonathan catches Poco, but strangely enough Poco does not remember where he is or what he was doing. As the sun falls, they find themselves confronted by Dio, who had hypnotized Poco to lure JoJo's group to the graveyard where they are attacked by his legion of zombies. Zeppeli attempts to use his Ripple attacks on Dio, but Dio counters by freezing his veins. Just before Dio finishes him off, Jonathan joins in the battle for a quick defense, but both he and Zeppeli are easily defeated. Dio then summons the two undead legendary Dark Knights, Tarkus and Bruford to finish the job. Dio allows Bruford to solo Jonathan and the two commence their battle.

After a couple dodges, Jonathan is thrown into a lake where he is unable to breath. Regardless of Bruford's armor, he is able to maneuver easily in the water and is not burdened by the need to breath due to being a zombie. Jonathan is forced to dive deeper into the water and dislodge a rock at the bottom of the lake. Some trapped air underneath the rock gives Jonathan enough ammo to get his breathing back up and he unleashes an Underwater Turquoise Blue Overdrive upon Bruford.

Manga/Anime Differences

 * In the manga, Zeppeli explains to Speedwagon that only a few have the talent for the Ripple and that Speedwagon isn't pressured enough, despite Speedwagon's insistence. The discussion between them and how Speedwagon wants to help is shortened in the anime; it cuts to Zeppeli hitting Speedwagon in the diaphragm only to accidentally hit the wrong spot.
 * Poco moons the group after stealing from them in the manga, which is cut in the anime.
 * Many of Speedwagon's attempts to help the others are cut or shortened: in the manga Speedwagon asks Zeppeli to make him to be able to create small ripples (scene shown offscreen and only mentioned later on the anime) and also tries to use the Ripple to walk on the water, but fails at it and has to swim. He also uses a hammer to fight the zombies, but it is nowhere to be seen until later episodes.
 * Speedwagon also mentions having been to many places in the manga when heating Zeppeli's arm, which is not mentioned in the anime.
 * The 77 Rings Challenge and Bruford's hair having turgor was not explained in the anime.

Commentary
"From Episode 5 onward and Bruford and Tarkus' appearance, the scenes all happen at night. The Ripple, no sooner introduced during the last episode, it already countered by Dio. What a shock!

Up to now, we had trouble putting everything into the episode. This time, it was more than a minute of flashback we had to insert. But it was necessary to understand these new characters. They are perfectly depiced and we understand what is driving them. Their design is rather simple and the voices fit perfectly.

The zombie mobs weren't a piece of cake. Every zombie had its individual sketch but the masses they form are really dense is difficult to manage. The underwater fight scene was also of prime importance. The part with Jonathan's father ("Jojo, you have to sse it from another angle") was cut at first, but after consideration, we included it because it wouldn't have been Jojo otherwise."

- Naokatsu Tsuda, Blu-Ray limited edition commentaries