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 the Vampire, warned by Wang Chan, has developed a technique to counter the Ripple. By vaporizing the moisture of his body, Dio can absorb heat and thus freezes Zeppeli's arms. Just before Dio finishes him off, Jonathan joins in the battle for a quick defense, but both he and Zeppeli are easily defeated. Satisfied, Dio then summons the two undead legendary Dark Knights, Tarkus and Bruford to finish them.

The tragic past of Tarkus and Bruford is explained. They were once loyal knights of Mary Stuart. However, Elizabeth I then condemned Stuart as a traitor and waged war against Stuart's armies. Mary Stuart eventually lost and was imprisoned while Tarkus and Bruford were still battling Elizabeth's forces, having been unbeaten until them. The two were then tricked into surrendering in exchange for Mary's life, but just before dying, they were shown Stuart's decapitated head. The two died, cursing the world.

Dio allows Bruford to fight Jonathan alone and the two commence their battle, during which Bruford shows his peculiar technique of wielding his sword with his hair. After a couple of dodges, Jonathan is thrown into a lake where he is unable to breathe. Regardless of Bruford's armor, he is able to maneuver easily in the water and is not burdened by the need to breathe 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 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
"With the appearance of Bruford and Tarkus, the scenes from Episode 5 and beyond all happen at night. The Ripple, no sooner introduced during the last episode, is already countered by Dio. What a shock!

Up until now, we had trouble putting everything into a 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 depicted and we understand what is driving them. Their design is rather simple and the voices fit perfectly.

The zombie mobs were not a piece of cake. Every zombie had its individual sketch but the masses they form are really dense, so it's difficult to manage. The underwater fight scene was also of prime importance. The part with Jonathan's father ("Jojo, you have to see 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