JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: How does Hamon energy work?

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is best known for Stands at the time of writing, but Ripple was the first primary power system for the heroes of Phantom Blood and Battle Tendency. As an aside, the terms "Ripple" and "Hamon" are used interchangeably throughout the series.

According to the translated subtitles of the anime, Hamon is the energy that flows through the body, while Ripple is the manifestation of that energy.

The techniques are quite versatile, enabling the user to heal injuries and make their strikes burn as hot as the sun, among many other uses. They prove particularly useful against the vampires and zombies that primarily menace the first two parts, and even make an appearance in Stardust Crusaders.

Though it was dropped after the third part of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure in favor of Stands, Hamon is still worth examining due to its versatility.

Disclaimer: The following article will contain spoilers for JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. All opinions are exclusive to the author. For this article, Ripple will be referred to as Hamon, as it's the more often used term in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.

Explaining and examining how Hamon works in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

What it is and how it works

According to Will Anthonio Zeppeli's explanation to Jonathan Joestar in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood, Hamon energy is generated through controlled breathing. This produces ripples of energy from the bloodstream to the rest of the body. It's emitted as ripples of light that mimic the heat and energy of the sun.

Hamon works by utilizing controlled breathing and channeling that energy through the blood when striking. It requires proper breathing techniques and, if not years, hours of training; only one in 10,000 people can manifest and use it. Physical exercises and training regimens, such as the Hell Climb Pillar in Battle Tendency and learning martial arts like Sendō, help in honing the energy.

Hamon energy can also be transmitted through objects like small darts and even swords. Joseph Joestar infamously used clackers infused with his Hamon, Caesar Zeppeli used bubbles laced with Hamon as his primary attack, and mentor Lisa Lisa was able to use Hamon through her scarf.

Practical Usage

Hamon energy usage circa JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood (Image via David Production)

Hamon energy is rather versatile in its usage in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: offensive moves are only the beginning. As mentioned above, objects can be infused with Hamon energy and thrown at opponents. Even something as simple as globs of spit infused by Hamon can be used to deflect objects and cut through rocks and brick.

Hamon isn't just about offensive techniques. It also includes healing techniques like Focused Ripple Breathing, which Zeppeli applied to Jonathan to heal his injuries and allow him to produce Hamon. The Ripple Detector technique allows the user to send Hamon into liquid, such as a wine glass, as demonstrated when Jonathan fought a reanimated Jack the Ripper.

This technique likewise spreads Hamon energy throughout the environment to help the user keep their bearings.

In his first-ever demonstration of the ability, Jonathan passed his Hamon energy to a nearby decaying tree and restored its flowers and leaves. He likewise walked across a lake with Zeppeli, without sinking. Later, the two used the energy to magnetize leaves to make a massive hang glider to escape Tarkus.

Advanced users can use Hamon to repel attacks, hypnotize people, transfer their life energy to another person, and slow the aging process.

Enemies and valid targets

Enemies of Hamon users (Image via David Production)

According to the first two parts of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Hamon energy was studied extensively in ancient times to fight off the Pillar Men, as well as the vampires and zombies created by the Stone Masks. The original clan that discovered the technique was slaughtered, but the knowledge of Hamon survived into the Victorian England era.

Enemies of Hamon energy users tend to be beings obsessed with the concept of immortality, supernatural creatures like zombies, vampires like Dio, and the Pillar Men. The heat and energy of Hamon mimics the sun's properties, which can kill these beings straightaway upon successful contact with the brain or by completely incinerating the body.

That said, it doesn't affect normal people unless it's supercharged. At most, Hamon can affect regular humans, making them faint from heat exhaustion. Kars was nearly able to melt Joseph Joestar's flesh with it, but that's excused by Kars having the complete Red Stone of Aja and becoming godlike by the end of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Battle Tendency.

Overdrive

Some of the powerful applications of Hamon in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure are called Overdrive. The basic Overdrive technique allows a user to imbue Hamon energy into their limbs, usually their arms and legs, for offensive attacks. However, when things get kicked up a notch, the true power of Hamon begins to show.

Overdrive is used as a signature move, complete with callouts. Jonathan used Scarlet Overdrive to set his hand on fire to break out of Bruford's bloodsucking hold. Jonathan blasted powerful tempests in the water using Turquoise Blue Overdrive. Jonathan's signature technique was Sunlet Yellow Overdrive.

Joseph used Beat Ovedrive to slash Esidisi's face, cutting a wool rope to wrap it around his face and slice it up. Zeppeli used Tornado Overdrive, which was used against Tarkus. Zeppeli also used Deep Pass Overdrive to transfer all his life energy to Jonathan when he died.

Weaknesses

Just as Stands usually require the user to be conscious and aware, Hamon also has its own set of weaknesses. The first and most obvious is breathing. All Hamon users need to breathe to utilize the energy. Any disruption to breathing, whether due to injury, asthma, or exposure to limited air sources, such as being submerged underwater or a punctured trachea, will result in disrupted Hamon flow if not a complete stop.

Since Hamon energy in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure likewise requires oxygenated blood, disrupted blood flow or excess blood loss will dull the effect and impact of Hamon energy. The former was shown with Dio flash-freezing both Jonathan's and Zeppli's arms in Phantom Blood. The latter was shown when Caesar couldn't finish off Wamuu due to losing too much blood.

Hamon energy can't smash through iron or steel, and it can't remove an object from a user's body if said object is made from the user's flesh. Both of these weaknesses nearly kill Joseph in Stardust Crusaders after the Empress Stand attempted to kill him via its parasitic abilities.

Why was Hamon phased out in favor of Stands?

A major question in the grand scheme of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure's overall story is: why was Hamon phased out in favor of Stands? Several answers can be attributed to the fiction, but very few details on a more author-based level can be gleaned through interviews and development statements.

The first basic answer is that Hamon served its purpose in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. With the Pillar Men taken care of and no undead enemies rising from the grave, save for Dio in Stardust Crusaders, Hamon became less relevant. Additionally, Stands proved more effective at fighting and have far more uses than Hamon does.

Finding out why mangaka Hirohiko Araki replaced Hamon with Stands required some digging. One reason was the need to innovate how characters fought each other, as types of ki, chakra, and other internal power sources were far too commonplace for Hamon to stand out.

The other part of it revolved around spiritualism. Araki drew inspiration from the idea of otherworldly beings protecting individuals, a concept found in Yokai legendarium, Japanese folklore, and Shinto beliefs. He was also influenced by the idea of a guardian spirit, as depicted in Jiro Tsunoda's Ushiro no Hyakutarō.

Final Thoughts

Other uses of Hamon across JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure (Image via David Production)

Though Hamon energy only has true relevance in the first two parts of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, it deserves examination and attention as much as Stands have gotten. It laid the foundation for the series, being the first real power system the series had, and helped center the bizarreness the series is known for.

As Stands, and later powers like Spin, circa JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run, became so popular, Hamon energy faded in relevance. It became a vastly underrated part of the series despite being one of the starting power systems. Ultimately, Hamon deserves its place in the echelon of shonen power systems and a lot more recognition than it's given otherwise.