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“
You fell for it fool! Thunder Cross Split Attack!
„
~ Dire's most famous quote
Dire is a minor supporting character in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood. He's a Hamon user who trained under Tonpetty who was a good friend of Will Anthonio Zeppeli. After the latter's death, Dire shows up alongside his master and partner, Straizo in order to aid Jonathan Joestar in his quest to defeat his vampiric adoptive brother Dio Brando.
He is voiced by Taketora, who also portrayed Akuma in the Street Fighter franchise and by Paul St. Peter in the english dub. In the PS2 video game adaptation of Phantom Blood he's voiced by Yukito Hori.
Dire was a student of Tonpetty who trained alongside Will A. Zeppeli and Straizo. He was particularly a good friend of Will, whom he appeared to share a special bond with. After Zeppeli finds out about the current location of the Stone Mask, Dire, Straizo and Tonpetty travel to Windknight's Lot to meet up with him and his group. Unfortunately, as they get there, it was already too late as Zeppeli had recently just died in his fight against Tarkus.
On his first encounter with Jonathan Joestar, Dire jumps and attacks him using his Thunder Split Attack technique, which Jonathan very quickly counters by headbutting him. Dire states that he only did that in order to see if he was indeed Zeppeli's ally, showing the letter he had wrote him to prove he came to help.
After the Joestar group arrives at Dio's mansion, Dire took a stand to avenge his deceased friend and decided to fight Dio by himself. He quickly attacked him with his strongest move, the Thunder Cross Split Attack, but was quickly subdued by Dio, who used his ice powers to freeze his body and shatter it completely, leaving him only as a head. On his last moments, Dire used his last remaining Hamon to keep himself alive and throw a Hamon-filled rose onto Dio's eye, dying soon after.
Powers and Abilities
Hamon
Dire is a skilled Hamon user and Sendō martial artist who has mastered several techniques under his training with Tonpetty.
Thunder Split Attack: Dire jumps at his opponents and splits his legs to immobilize his opponents arms. He then attacks the opponents with a swift chop on the neck. This technique, however, can be easily countered as it leaves Dire's head and chest exposed.
Dire's Thunder Cross Split Attack
Thunder Cross Split Attack: Dire's strongest Hamon technique. A variation of the Thunder Split Attack where Dire attacks the opponent by crossing his arms, simultaneously shielding his body. It's described by Speedwagon as the perfect technique in both attack and defense.
Afterimages: Dire can use his Sendō technique to move really fast, creating afterimages in the process
Overdrive: Much like all Hamon users, Dire can utilize an "overdrive" technique to pass high amounts Hamon energy into objects. He utilizes this move to attack Dio one last time with a Hamon-inbued rose.
Trivia
Dire, alongside his partner, Straizo, are both named after the British rock band, Dire Straits.
Dire's Thunder Cross Split Attack has become a popular internet bait-and-switch meme within the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure fandom, in which people will share links, claiming to be one thing, only to be redirected to a YouTube video of the Thunder Cross Split Attack scene, where Dire yells "You fell for it fool!". The meme is well-known on anime circles as a variation of the popular Rickroll prank.
In the unreleased 2007 Phantom Blood movie adaptation, Dire was originally going to be cut out entirely from the story and his death scene in the hands of Dio was actually going to be given to Will A. Zeppeli, who would utilize the rose in his jacket to attack Dio in his dying breath.
