Pocoloco
Pocoloco is a racer and minor character appearing in Part VII: Steel Ball Run.
Personality
Pocoloco is carefree and spends his days lying down and counting something overhead, be it the clouds while farming or insects around a lamp before sleeping. Despite waking up late for the race, Pocoloco is not shown to be worried at all, and is rather cheerful when he realizes just how easy the first part of the race was because the ground was already beaten by the hooves of multiple horses. He has incredible faith in his luck, and realizes it where acts that would have otherwise been unfortunate to him have in fact ended up saving him and giving him advantages in the race. This realization is often accompanied by expressions of utter amazement and joy, as well as variations of the exclamation "UH OH!".
Synopsis
Steel Ball Run
Pocoloco was born in Georgia in 1869. Three days prior to the starting day of the Steel Ball Run race, he went down to the city to gamble. After losing, he met a fortune teller who greatly resembles Enya Gail. This fortune teller told him that he would be at the highest point in his life for two months, so Pocoloco decided to take advantage of his newfound luck and enter the race.
Although he slept in on the morning of the race, he managed to catch up within a matter of minutes, due to the ground already having been pounded by the other racers. Manure was kicked up onto his face, making Pocoloco think that his luck had ran out, but a golden coin was inside the manure. Seconds later, a female racer wipes manure off her clothes in disgust, exposing her cleavage, and not long after, a wanted criminal wipes the manure off his face, unintentionally creating an impromptu beard that matches the wanted poster nearby. Pocoloco then follows a group of racers who were misled by Sandman to the edge of a ravine, but, believing in his luck, is undeterred and leaps across the ravine and onto the rock that Sandman was grabbing onto. Just as he is about to slip, Sandman advises him to use the rope at his waist to carry himself and his horse out of danger and Pocoloco is saved again.
This shortcut enables Pocoloco to easily reach the head of the group, where he rides neck to neck with Johnny Joestar, taking time to call his riding "lazy". When Gyro Zeppeli decides to head into the forest to cut down on his riding distance, Pocoloco follows suit, confidently shutting his eyes and riding straight into the forest, believing that his luck will carry him all the way.[3] Soon after Johnny passes him, however, Pocoloco is grazed by a tree branch, which forces him to open his eyes, gasp in fear at a large incoming branch and be slammed off his horse. Still, his luck remains strong, as Pocoloco is instead dragged by his horse, his left boot having been caught in its stirrup, and completely escapes the harm that the higher branches could have caused him. He is then bounced back onto the saddle by the trees that Gyro moved with his steel balls to clear a path and soon catches up to Gyro.[4]
Around the downhill dash segment of the first stage of the race, Pocoloco means to endure the slope and build up his energy. However, his stand appears and criticizes his idealistic strategy, telling him to "remember the cow", have faith in his luck, and charge forward. Seeing the hand of his stand sink into his own gives him confidence, and Pocoloco begins by taunting Gyro and charging forward in the downhill dash. However, soon after the downhill dash, he and his horse trip and tumble, though it is revealed that both had landed directly onto a dead cow's body and used it to slide downhill.[5]
JoJoLion
It is mentioned in JoJoLion that he was claimed the winner of the Steel Ball Run race after Diego Brando's death.
Trivia
- Pocoloco's racing number is A-777. This reflects his complete reliance on, and victory through, his sheer luck throughout the race.
- Pocoloco shares a namesake with Poco, a boy who is saved by Jonathan Joestar and Will A. Zeppeli in Part I: Phantom Blood, but does not resemble his namesake.
- Pocoloco's unnamed stand is quite similar to Kenzo's stand, Dragon's Dream, though reveals "lucky" locations only to its user.
References
- ↑ SBR Vol. 2 Ch. 6: The Dried-Up River; Diego Brando p. 24
- ↑ SBR Vol. 3 Ch. 12: 1st Stage Disqualified From Victory
- ↑ SBR Vol. 2 Ch. 7: Pocoloco and the Sandman
- ↑ SBR Vol. 2 Ch. 8: Crossing the Forest
- ↑ SBR Vol. 2 Ch. 9: Long, Long Downhill
