JJL Chapter 89 cover
JJL Chapter 96 cover
JJL Volume 23 Cover
Satoru Akefu (明負 悟, Akefu Satoru) is an antagonist featured in the 8th part of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, JoJolion, and introduced in the "The Wonder of You" story arc.
Satoru is the head doctor of TG University Hospital, and presumed mastermind of the Locacaca Organization. Said to be 89 years old[1], he is an elusive figure with almost no public presence despite being in charge of a major institution of medicine.
Like the Rock Humans that appeared before him, Satoru is a Stand user, and wields an as of yet unnamed Humanoid Stand which uses its mysterious object-manipulating ability to attack anyone who attempts to pursue Satoru.
Satoru is an elderly-looking man with a slightly stocky build. His arms and legs are noticeably slimmer than the rest of his body. He wears a dark-colored hat and suit, along with a lightly colored scarf with a pattern of irregular "-" shaped slits cut into it. He also wears dress shoes and uses a cane to walk.
From Chapter 90 onward, Satoru is depicted as having a thin furrowed face with prominent cheekbones, sunken eyes, and a large nose. His most notable features are a beard styled into multiple short spikes and a monocle on his right eye. His hair is lightly colored and much thicker than what a human at his supposed age would have. Much like his subordinate Wu Tomoki, the hair on the sides of his head is stylized into many round shapes. The hair on the top of his head is much more natural, although appearing somewhat unkempt. His sideburns feature a similar pattern, but are shaven into rectangles instead.
Satoru's personality is currently a mystery. He's a rather elusive figure despite holding an incredibly prestigious title. Similarly to other Rock Humans he demonstrates antisocial behavior, completely ignoring Josuke Higashikata, Yasuho Hirose, and Rai Mamezuku. While he avoids direct confrontation with the trio, he's the user of a ruthless automatic Stand ability that attacks anyone attempting to chase after or find him.
Satoru is shown to be unexpectedly nimble and fast for a man that uses a cane to walk and is also approaching his 90s, a fact which caused Rai to question the doctor's alleged age on multiple instances. During his debut, he was able to outrun three pursuers who were each a fraction of his age, and has since been shown appearing in locations (such as the Higashikata estate) quickly, without anybody noticing him approaching.
As a physician in charge of an entire hospital and presumed mastermind of the Locacaca Organization, it can be inferred that Satoru is knowledgeable on both general medical knowledge, as well as medicinal applications of the Locacaca fruit.
Satoru is the user of a currently unnamed humanoid Stand. The head doctor's Stand is mechanical in appearance, and possesses an automatic ability that functions at an extremely long range. Satoru's ability can be activated on any person who has looked at his back. While Satoru's ability is active, targets will repeatedly collide with objects in their environment, resulting in far greater injury than is possible under normal circumstances.
There is a strong correlation between the size of an object and how immediate and severe the injury will be upon impact. For example, while a discarded cigarette striking Josuke's hand resulted in it immediately piercing his palm, colliding with an umbrella stand caused a much more serious wound on Rai's leg, though with a noticeable delay between the collision and appearance of the injury. It seems that for collisions with larger objects, there's a waiting period in which the effects of this impact can be transferred to another person. A bystander was shown to suffer a sudden, fatal neck injury after coming into contact with Josuke's blood within moments of the latter being hit by a car during this Stand's attack.
Once a person has been targeted by Satoru's Stand, any attempt to pursue its user will cause the it to manifest and re-activate the ability, regardless of the target's distance from the head doctor. The threshold for re-activation is extremely sensetive; Satoru's ability was able to re-activate from Josuke merely intending to go after its user. It's also possible for Satoru to manually re-activate his ability on a target by finding them and having them look at him from behind, as demonstrated on Mitsuba Higashikata.
As head doctor of TG University Hospital, Satoru seemingly oversees research on the Locacaca fruits and gives orders to fellow Rock Human doctors, such as Wu Tomoki, Urban Guerrilla, and Poor Tom. Due to his honorary position, he is stated to not be involved in any actual medical practice.[2]
Satoru along with his colleague Wu Tomoki attempt to meet with Poor Tom to retrieve the grafted Locacaca branch. They disguise as ambulance drivers and arrive at the Higashikata orchard. However, they are tricked by Jobin and Tsurugi Higashikata into getting an ordinary pear branch from Poor Tom instead. They realize it was someone else other than Josuke and Poor Tom who lit the orchard on fire and that the other party now has the real Locacaca branch.[3]
Satoru is pursued by Josuke Higashikata, Yasuho Hirose, and Rai Mamezuku. Completely ignoring them, Satoru sends his Stand after the three and makes his getaway on a bus. He's later spotted by Mitsuba Higashikata at both her son's elementary school and on the property surrounding the Higashikata House.
Josuke and Mamezuku discover that Akefu is scheduled to give a lecture on regenerative medicine. Deciding to pursue him to that lecture causes Akefu's Stand to activate and attack them just as the rain begins to fall. Cornered by the rain and the police, Josuke decides to let the raindrops shoot through him and be brought to the hospital. Meanwhile, Satoru keeps stalking the Higashikata Family and his ability causes disaster after disaster for them, with Tsurugi's illness triggering at the same time.
On the day of the lecture, Satoru unveils his product, the Locacaca 6251, to the public. He presents his new medicine and its processes. Meanwhile, Josuke is again attacked by Satoru's ability and eventually revises his plans. On the day of the harvest, Satoru is again seen by Mitsuba and Yasuho lurking near the Higashikata House, his ability causing a string of events that lead to the new Locacaca being exposed. As Jobin argues with Norisuke and eventually takes him out, Satoru silently waits for thing to unfold.
JJL Chapter 89 cover
JJL Chapter 96 cover
JJL Volume 23 Cover
Satoru near the Higashikata household
A photgraph of Satoru and Mitsuba Higashikata
Satoru presents Locacaca 6251 to the audience
Satoru suddenly appears on a wall surrounding the Higashikata House, as seen on a security camera by Mitsuba Higashikata
Satoru's sudden appearance is noticed by Yasuho Hirose
The tailpiece of JJL Chapter 85
The tailpiece of JJL Chapter 89