Dire

Dire (ダイアー) is a minor ally featured in Part I: Phantom Blood. Dire is a Hamon ("ripple") user and a student of Ripple Master Tonpetty.

History
Dire was a good friend of Will Anthonio Zeppeli, who trained with him and Straizo to be ripple masters under Tonpetty. When Tonpetty received a letter from Will revealing the location of the Stone Mask Dire joined his master and Straizo on their way to help Will.

Phantom Blood
Dire first introduced himself after suddenly attacking Jonathan Joestar, where Dire used his Thunder Split Attack. The ripple user then revealed that he only attacked Jonathan to test his strength and see if he really was Zeppeli's friend. To prove he came to help, Dire gave Jonathan the letter Zeppeli wrote.

Before Dio Brando and Jonathan had their last fight, Dire fought Dio to avenge Zeppeli. However, even Dire's best attack, the Thunder Cross Split Attack, didn't stand a chance against Dio's Freezing Attack, which completely turned his body into ice and then shattered it. Dire, now only a head, was able to use his last ounce of ripple energy to shoot a rose into Dio's eye. For that, Dire's head was turned into ice as well and destroyed.

Abilities
Dire has shown incredible mastery of Hamon. He has complete control of his body and its speed, to the point of making enemies view him as blurred when moving. He manipulates his speed to look slower than he actually is, a technique to make enemies over-confident and eventually lower their guard. He also is able to infuse objects with the ripple and can use it, oddly enough, after getting decapitated.


 * Thunder Split Attack (稲妻空烈刃（サンダー・スプリット・アタック）): Dire jumps at his opponents and does a split with their arms. He then attacks their neck with a chop so fast he would even be able to put objects on them without anyone noticing. This attack's weakness is that it leaves Dire's guard open for a headbutt or another direct attack.


 * Thunder Cross Split Attack (稲妻十字空烈刃（サンダー・クロス・スプリット・アタック）): Dire's best attack. This is an advanced version of the Thunder Split Attack that covers its weakness by making his hands form a cross. It is described as a perfect technique in both attack and defense, so no one, aside from Dio, has ever defeated it.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood (PS2 Game)
Dire appears as a playable character on some chapters and Extra Mode on the PS2 title. Due to never truly fight an enemy aside from Dio on the manga, Dire only uses normal punches and kicks as moveset, with his special hamon move being Thunder Cross Split Attack (with two variations, one where he attacks only once if the hamon gauge is not fully charged and another where he keeps attacking with punches the trapped enemy, showing how the attack was suppose to work if both Jonathan and Dio didn't stopped the attack against Dire on their fight showed in the original manga storyline). He can also throw ripple-charged roses and dodge attacks the same way he controlled his body speed in the manga.

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle
Dire appears as a support character in the game's Campaign Mode, where he attempts his Thunder Cross Split Attack on the player's opponent, which will heavily reduce their health if successful. He is also available as an avatar image and quote for the player's profile in Campaign and Online modes.

Trivia

 * Guile from Street Fighter appears to be based on Dire. However, due to Guile's military background, it seems more logical that he has been inspired by Rudol von Stroheim, who also shares a similar hairstyle.