The Dark Knights (暗黒の騎士達, Ankoku no Kishitachi)[1] is the fifth episode of season one of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: The Animation. It is also the fifth episode of Phantom Blood. It covers Chapter 24 through Chapter 28 of the manga.
The heroes reach the town of Windknight's Lot where Dio is hiding. However, they are ambushed by Dio's Zombie minions and Jonathan must fight Bruford and Tarkus, two medieval knights resurrected as powerful zombies.
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 Mary as a traitor and waged war against Mary's armies. Mary Stuart eventually lost and was imprisoned while Tarkus and Bruford were still battling Elizabeth's forces, having been unbeaten until then. The two were then tricked into surrendering in exchange for Mary's life, but just before dying, they were shown Mary'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.
Appearances
Credits
石神 潤
糸井 恵
横山 謙次
亀井 隆広
Keiko Yamamoto
Tatsuo Amemiya
山本 径子
雨宮 達夫
Ippei Masui
Shinya Nogami
Satoru Yamashita
Chuji Nakajima
Tomoki Koda
Shinpei Koikawa
Koji Morishima
Koji Miura
Satoshi Sakai
Kumiko Kasuga
Minoru Morita
Susumu Nishizawa
Momoko Nagakawa
Rui Kondo
Kazuaki Matsuda
桝井 一平
野上 慎也
山下悟
なかじま ちゅうじ
香田 智樹
鯉川 慎平
森嶋 浩二
三浦 弘二
酒井 智史
春日 久美子
森田 実
西澤 晋
永川 桃子
近藤 瑠衣
松田 一聡
Shinichi Suzuki
Asuka Kurokawa
Sakurako Sagano
Zinnmu Zinnmurar
Meta Studio
Studio Liberty
鈴木 伸一
黒川 飛鳥
佐賀野 桜
山口 夢仁
メタスタジオ
スタジオリバティ
Zinnmu Zinnmurar
山口夢仁
Mutsumi Sasahara
Sayo Endo
Rika Satou
Chou Meitetsu
Yades
Hanil Animation
J&K Corporation
Beep
Big Owl
Jumondo
DCI
AI
White Line
david production
笹原 睦未
遠藤 小夜
佐藤 里佳
チョウ・メイテツ
Yades
韓一動画
J&Kコーポレーション
BEEP
ビッグオウル
寿門堂
DCI
AI
WHITE LINE
david production
Daiki Kitamura
Hiroki Ueno
北村 大輝
上野 洋樹
Puavaranukroh Taweeporn
Music
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.
- When Dio mockingly asks Zeppeli how many breads he had eaten, Jonathan angrily shouts Dio's name.
- The trial of the 77 Rings and Bruford's hair having turgor are not explained in the anime.
In other languages
| Language | Title | Translation |
|---|---|---|
 Japanese |
暗黒の騎士達 | The Dark Knights |
 Chinese |
暗黑的騎士們 | The Dark Knights |
 English |
The Dark Knights | |
 Spanish |
Los caballeros de la oscuridad | Knights of darkness |
 Portuguese |
Os Cavaleiros Negros (Crunchyroll) Os Cavaleiros das Trevas (Netflix) |
The Black Knights The Knights of Darkness |
 French |
Chevaliers des ténèbres | Dark Knights |
 German |
Ritter der Dunkelheit | Knight of darkness |
 Hebrew |
האבירים האפלים | The Dark Knights |
 Arabic |
فرسان الظلام | Dark knights |
 Italian |
I Cavalieri Neri | The Black Knights |
 Czech |
Temní rytíři | Dark knights |
 Danish |
De mørke riddere | The Dark Knights |
 Polish |
Czarni rycerze | Black Knights |
Commentary
CommentaryUp 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.