The Grateful Dead (ザ・グレイトフル・デッド, Za Gureitofuru Deddo) is the Stand of Prosciutto featured in the fifth part of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure series, Vento Aureo.
It has the simple but deadly ability to rapidly age any living organism, with the rate of aging being proportional to the organism's body temperature.
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The Grateful Dead appears as a humanoid torso with long arms, large hands, and numerous angled eyes of various sizes embedded all over its face and body. Its face in particular has three horizontal or diagonal eyes on each side, with one larger vertical eye on the center of its forehead, and two horizontal eyes on the back. There are four horizontal eyes on its chest and back, with several more on its arms. It was designed with these multiple eyes to make it resemble a yokai.[1] Although it lacks a mouth, it has an oval-shaped protuberance extending from the center of its face to its chin.
There are screw holes in its shoulders, elbows, and wrists. Lacking a lower body, there are four segmented tentacles hanging from its waist instead. Rather than floating, it directly walks on the ground with its hands, with three huge metal-like segmented fingers evenly spaced around its circumference. Araki originally intended to draw the lower half of its body but changed his mind, thinking it looked fine as it is and appears more unusual this way.[1] The Grateful Dead represents how Araki chooses to design Stands based on their functionality. Since it doesn't have a physically-based ability and wouldn't need to punch, Araki removed the functionality of the Stand's hands by making them function as legs instead.[2]
The Grateful Dead constantly emits a light mist from its body when activating its ability.[3]
In the digitally colored manga, The Grateful Dead is portrayed as purple, with yellow scleras, and orange fingers. The Grateful Dead's appearance in GioGio's Bizarre Adventure is mostly the same, but the Stand's mouthpiece is yellow. In the TV anime adaptation, its body is ice blue, the metallic parts of its body are dark purple, and its eyes have lime green scleras with yellow pupils. The anime adaptation also changes the shape of its fingers, being more claw-like in appearance.
The Grateful Dead's greatest asset is its ability to forcefully age people over a large area, making it a terrifying power because of its potential for a massacre.
However, the aging can be slowed, and while The Grateful Dead isn't weak, it isn't a match for other close range Stands like Sticky Fingers.
The Grateful Dead has the ability to cause organisms to age physically and mentally at an accelerated rate.[3]
There are two ways The Grateful Dead can deploy its power. The first mode is to spread the aging over a large area and indiscriminately attack friends and foes, which is dangerous for Prosciutto's companions.[3] The second mode is to direct its power precisely by grabbing someone, in which case the aging is faster than one can react.[4] The activation of this ability manifests itself as mist spreading from The Grateful Dead.
When under the effect of The Grateful Dead, people age rapidly with all the effects it implies: their skin develops wrinkles, their teeth begin to fall out, the tips of the limbs start to necrose, the bones and joints shrink, and their cognitive ability is reduced.[3][5] Infants would succumb to the effect of "aging", with their skin wrinkling and hair falling out, rather than merely growing into an adult quickly. Even fruits and flower wither and dry up.[3][6]
Because the spirit is also aged by The Grateful Dead, enemy Stands are also weakened. Their power and stamina are sapped,[4] and even a powerful close-range Stand like Sticky Fingers can become slower than the rather slow The Grateful Dead.[7]
Prosciutto is normally immune to The Grateful Dead and can stay young inside its range. However, he can freely toggle the aging on himself, notably fooling Mista into thinking he's a mere civilian.[4]
The rate at which people age is dependent on their body heat. The warmer one's body is, the faster they age. Because of minute differences between men and women's bodies, women also age more slowly.[5] Thus things warming the body like intense physical activity will accelerate the aging[8] but exposure to cold, like ingesting ice, will counter and reverse The Grateful Dead's power immediately,[5] although both effects balance themselves and insufficient coldness will not have an effect.[8]
Manga Appearances
Anime Appearances
The Grateful Dead's description and stats
Pesci screaming when he sees the Stand
Prosciutto and The Grateful Dead
View of the Stand's back
The Stand's first demonstration; its effect on Narancia Ghirga
Ability's effect on Giorno Giovanna, Pannacotta Fugo, and Leone Abbacchio
A women and her child are affected by The Grateful Dead's ability
The Stand's ability reaching its peak in Narancia
Giorno discovers the secret of the Stand's ability
Trish Una puts some ice on Narancia's face
The train engineer attacked by Beach Boy dying of aging
A crowd of aging passengers
Prosciutto becomes an old man as a disguise when he sees Pesci before Pesci got attacked by Mista.
The stand's direct effect on Mista
Reverting it's user to his younger state.
Destroys a dashboard to find Coco Jumbo
Prepares to kill Team Bucciarati's members
Blocking a sneak attack from Bucciarati
Sticky Fingers dodges an attack from The Grateful Dead by using a zipper portal
Sticky Fingers is faster than The Grateful Dead
Bucciarati unzipping his head to dodge a punch from The Grateful Dead
Attacked by Sticky Fingers
Deflecting Sticky Fingers' punch
Cover A, Chapter 489
Cover B, Chapter 489
Cover, Chapter 492
Cover B, Chapter 493
Cover B, Chapter 494
Cover A, Chapter 495
Cover A, Chapter 497
Cover B, Chapter 497
Prosciutto and The Grateful Dead
Infecting the train with its ability to lure out the crew
The Stand's ability affecting Narancia
A close up on the Stand's bottom
Ice - the only way to reverse the aging ability
Direct contact accelerates the aging significantly
Defending his Master from a surprise attack done by Bucciarati
Fighting Sticky Fingers
Gaining the advantage on Bucciarati
Ready to finish off Bucciarati
Crumbling as its master dies
The Grateful Dead's stats
The Grateful Dead key art
The Grateful Dead near the bottom below Baby Face
Prosciutto and The Grateful Dead in GioGio's Bizarre Adventure
Fighting Bucciarati in Chapter 5-1
Prosciutto and The Grateful Dead as Naples Station's stage hazard, EOH
The Grateful Dead (Adventure Battle Card)
Significance of Resolution, Prosciutto & The Grateful Dead (Weiß Schwarz)
Statue Legend figurine
Statue Legend second color
Chara Heroes; Part 5 Vol.2
The Grateful Dead with Prosciutto, Super Action Statue
Weekly Shonen Jump #13, 1997
JOJO A-GO!GO! (Inside Illustration)
GioGio's Bizarre Adventure (Poster)
Prosciutto illustration drawn for a sick fan
Concept art, JOJOVELLER
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