Illuso

"Now that you've seen me...it's already over for you!"

- Illuso

Illuso (イルーゾォ) is a minor antagonist featured in the fifth part of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure series, Vento Aureo, specifically the "Man in the Mirror and Purple Haze" story arc.

A member of La Squadra Esecuzioni, Illuso faces Pannacotta Fugo, Leone Abbacchio and Giorno Giovanna in in a race to grab an important key left by the Boss. He is a Stand User and exploits the mirror powers of his Man in the Mirror to ambush his enemies.

Appearance
Illuso is a man of above-average height and slim to medium build. He has light-colored eyes and past shoulder-length hair tied into six pigtails. His outfit is entirely quilted: a vest with long sleeves with matching pants. With this outfit, he wears dress shoes in a similar style to Giorno's and metal cuffs on the sleeves. He also has on circular knee and elbow pads with straps and a belt with a square, metal buckle. Holes are cut into the outfit to reveal most of his abdomen and neck areas.

In some panels, his sleeves, instead of ending in metal, simply end in more quilted fabric colored a like color. His vest also changes details, such as having a flap with buttons that buckles it together or simply being one strip.

Personality
Illuso appears before Fugo, Abbacchio, and Giorno as a confident and smug assassin. Singling out each of them, he expresses great confidence and revels in his advantage as his power makes his opponents powerless before him. He also takes a bit of pride in the ability his Stand has, noticeably flashing his neck at Fugo and also reminding him several times that Man in the Mirror has removed his ability to attack. However, when he is pushed into a corner, Illuso shows the nerves to always think of moves to return the situation to his advantage until his fate is sealed. Illuso is also very calm for the first half of his fight, such as when he quickly got over the dead crows and Moody Blues' surprise attack. His confidence is such that he lets Fugo live while he's had the advantage to pursue Abbacchio, which proves to be a mistake by letting his opponents with a Stand in the normal world.

The anime expands on his unpleasantness, showing him jeering at Formaggio's power, calling it useless, and acting the most insensitive to Sorbet and Gelato's disappearance, wondering if they aren't spending time together and openly mentioning the rumor of the two being a couple.

Illuso is also highly perceptive of his surroundings, such as hearing Abbacchio's footsteps despite yelling at Fugo and also quickly noticing the key was missing from the room. As well, he became very alarmed and panicked when Abbacchio cut off his hand, a mood that continued until Illuso's demise.

He alluded as possibly being an informant of sorts to La Squadra, as out of all of the members, he had the most information on Team Bucciarati. He revealed he had all of Fugo's past written down in a journal he kept, alluded to the idea of having the same for Abbacchio and would've had something similar on Giorno if he wasn't new, and despite not having any information on their Stands soon quickly realized what everyone could do. He also had a journal of some kind on him, which may have held more information.

In Purple Haze Feedback, when Sheila E insults Illuso, Murolo (who is revealed to have hated La Squadra), laughs and asks what Illuso had done to deserve insults. This may imply that, out of everyone in La Squadra, Illuso hadn't been the worst member.

Stand
Illuso's Stand is Man in the Mirror. It is a humanoid Stand of moderate bodily power, and with which Illuso may isolate opponents in discrete alternate spaces reflected in mirrors.

Background
Illuso was a member of La Squadra Esecuzioni, a team of nine assassins working within Passione. However, the team was frustrated they only received compensation for each kills while the rest of the gang was getting rich from the drug trade. One day their teammates Sorbet and Gelato disappeared while they were trying to investigate the Boss' past. They found Gelato choked on a gag in his house, with a piece of paper on which was written the word "punishment". Later, the team received the sectioned body parts of Sorbet encased in formaldehyde, showing the team the power of the Boss. They despaired of ever finding about the Boss. However, they then heard about Trish Una, and thought that she would be the key to discovering the Boss' Stand ability. The team rebelled and began searching for her. Just after Trish was taken in by Pericolo, La Squadra Esecuzioni ransacked Donatella and Trish's appartment in search for clues, missing a crucial picture of Donatella that was taken by the Boss himself.

Purple Haze Feedback
(The information below derives from a Light Novel not written by Araki. As such, it may or may not be considered canon.) Sometime before the main storyline, Illuso killed Sheila E's sister; it is unknown why. This spurs her to join Passione for revenge. Later on, Giorno mused at one point that while experiencing his slow and agonizing death, Illuso came to regret every decision and life choice he had made.

Vento Aureo
Illuso is first introduced when Abbacchio, Giorno Giovanna and Pannacotta Fugo go to the ruins of Pompeii. Ambushing them by using Man In The Mirror's ability to hide Illuso from sight in the Mirror World, Iluso singles out Fugo and drags him into the mirror world as Fugo tries to warn his comrades. After punching him, Illuso asks Fugo where Trish is and why the team is going here. Fugo refuses and tries to summon his Stand, but Purple Haze is left out of the mirror world. Illuso thus attacks Fugo, intending to kill him and get the information of whoever will be his last target. Man in the Mirror freely pummels the helpless Fugo. Fugo tries his best to attack Illuso by smashing a wall and throw its pieces at Illuso but he effortlessly deflects them and sends them back at Fugo. Illuso approaches Fugo and then discovers Purple Haze's flesh-eating virus, eating a crow's corpse that has fallen from the sky. Unnerved, Illuso is safe from the virus nonetheless. Fugo attacks the mirror but Illuso then says that it's no use and attacks. However, he then hears footsteps. Realizing that Fugo's allies are going to their objective, Illuso lets Fugo leave and follows the sounds.

Illuso finds Leone Abbacchio near the mosaic dog and attacks through a mirror. Abbacchio kicks the mirror but Man in the Mirror can grab Abbacchio's arm through a shard of the mirror. He drags Abbacchio inside as the latter almost took a key but Abbacchio suddenly chokes his Stand. In truth, "Abbacchio" is Moody Blues disguised as Abbacchio. Moody Blues take the advantage in a short close-quarters fight. Nonetheless, Illuso manages to grab another shard and direct it at the real Abbacchio, who is half-dragged inside of the mirror while Moody Blues is half-rejected, immobilizing both. Illuso savors his position and threatens to push a glass shard in Abbacchio's month, but he realizes that the key has disappeared. Interrogating Abbacchio, Illuso is told that Moody Blues' hand is being rewinded back to Giorno, with the key.

Worried, Illuso pursues the hand but then sees Giorno kneeling to take the key ans staying immobile. Laughing at the new guy's slow wits, Illuso then attempts to drag Giorno into the Mirror World and succeeds without a fight, only for Giorno to reveal one of Purple Haze's virus capsules. Giorno has infected himself with the flesh-eating virus and passes it on to Illuso as well. Illuso throws Giorno away from him and is left with no choice but to flee back to the real world, cutting off his infected hand in the process. However, Giorno creates a snake from a brick that tracks Illuso's position and allow Purple Haze to hunt him down. In a last-ditch effort, Illuso catches Purple Haze's fist and attempts to send it into the mirror world to prevent the capsules containing its virus from being released. This fails, as Purple Haze shoots the capsules before he succeeds, the virus directly infecting his face. In the end, Purple Haze itself pummels Illuso to death, spreading the virus through his entire body and leaving him a puddle of flesh and discarded clothes.

Vento Aureo (PS2)
Illuso appears as the enemy faced in Chapters 5 through 7 of Super Story Mode, making him the enemy faced the second most in the entire game (behind Diavolo/The Boss). Illuso's main attack pattern is going back and forth between the normal and mirror world, represented as him teleporting to any of the seven mirrors strewn around the stage. Other than using Man In The Mirror to deliver punches and kicks, his main form of attack is to come out of a mirror or pile of mirror shards and throw multiple shards of broken glass at the player in a ranged attack that is difficult to dodge. Another attack has Illuso use Man in the Mirror to attempt to grab the player from behind and slit their throat, dealing substantial damage. All of his attacks are middle-to-long-ranged, with the grab attack easily reaching across the screen.

During Chapter 5 the player takes control of Fugo without his Stand, Purple Haze, during the fight the player needs to survive for two minutes. For all battles in the Mirror World, the left and right movement controls are inverted, while up and down are not, creating a disorienting experience. In Chapter 6 the player takes control of Abbacchio, and unlike the previous chapter Abbacchio can use Moody Blues. During this segment, the player only needs to damage Illuso until his health bar reaches roughly half. While Abbacchio plays with inverted controls (same as Fugo), Moody Blues' controls are regular.

Illuso is faced again during Chapter 7, with the player controlling Fugo again (and also with inverted controls). Since Illuso will now keep changing between the normal and mirror worlds, the player must manually switch between Fugo and Purple Haze with the Stand activation button, with Purple Haze having regular controls. Wherever Fugo is in the mirror world, Purple Haze will appear horizontally mirrored (e.g. if Fugo is touching the stage's left wall, switching to Purple Haze will have it touching the stage's right wall). Purple Haze will deal immense amounts of damage per attack in contrast to Fugo. This is countered, however, by Purple Haze being easily Stand Broken, forcing control back to Fugo and the player losing time having to turn Purple Haze back on.

Chapter 5

 * 1) Fugo must attempt to activate Purple Haze (L1 button). This Secret Factor will only count if it is the first Secret Factor achieved in the level. (Value of 2)
 * 2) Fugo must check any of the mirrors within the level's stage. This will activate a cutscene of Fugo peering out of the mirror, and rather than seeing his own reflection, he sees Purple Haze ready to attack on its own. Illuso will then explain that effect of Man In The Mirror. (Value of 3)
 * 3) Fugo must walk past any of the two garbage cans. It is possible to lose this Secret Factor as the garbage cans can be destroyed by Illuso. (Value of 2)
 * 4) Fugo must walk past the broken mirror that is second to furthest to the left of the stage. (Value of 3)

Chapter 6

 * 1) Abbacchio automatically starts the level with his Secret Factor level at MAX. (Value of 10)

Chapter 7

 * 1) Fugo automatically starts the level with his Secret Factor level at 8. (Value of 8)
 * 2) Fugo must defeat Illuso with a Level 3 Stand Shoot. (Value of 2)

Gallery
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Trivia

 * Illuso's death is nearly identical to Captain Frye's death from the 1996 film, . Both are killed after an incurable toxic agent enclosed within a bulb is shattered near them, causing them to melt and asphyxiate.