Forever (フォーエバー Fōebā) is a minor antagonist appearing in Part III: Stardust Crusaders.
Forever is a malicious orangutan in Dio's service, confronting the group in the South China Sea.
Appearance
Apart from the two stripes or scars on each side of his head, there's not much to be said about Forever's appearance as he looks like a normal orangutan, though he does have the tendency to dress himself with a captain uniform when his stand is revealed. Like a normal orangutan, Forever's strength is approximately 5 times greater than a normal person, enabling him to easily rip a person's arm off.
Personality
Forever will sometimes act like a human being. He seems to be attracted to human females - he looks at pornography magazines and seems to lust for the Runaway Girl. He also smokes cigarettes and can cut his own apples, showing unusually high intelligence for an orangutan. Furthermore, he can read and quickly solve puzzle games, like a Rubik's cube.
These human abilities coexist with his brutal animal nature: he plays with his victims, confident of his control over the ship, but should his strong sense of pride be hurt, he would lose his calm and quickly become violent. His character design is presumably inspired by the super-intelligent yet malicious orangutan from the movie, Link.[2]
Like many other Stand Users from Part III, Forever is a henchman of Dio Brando who has been ordered to kill Jotaro and his friends before they reach Egypt, where Dio lurks.
Abilities
- Main article: Strength
Forever's Stand is Strength, sharing its name with the tarot card. In its only display, it transforms a ruined yacht into a massive oil freighter, which functions as an intricate booby trap for the allies.
When the Joestar group first enter the big freighter Strength is bound with, no one thought that the simple orangutan in there had the potential to control a Stand, even though he was the only living being inside the ship. He proves to be a big challenge to the group and kills several people before finally being defeated.
According to a dictionary held by Forever, Strength is one of the Tarot Cards that symbolizes a challenge to fight, strong will and hidden potential and is represented by Forever's Stand. In some Decks the Strength Tarot Card is called Lust, represented by Forever's lustful personality.
Synopsis
Stardust Crusaders
Forever confronts Jotaro and company at sea between China and Singapore on their way to Egypt, right after the confrontation with the Captain Tennille Imposter. Jotaro, his comrades, and Captain Tennille's seamen approach a large oil carrier and get aboard, only to find out that nobody is on the deck nor in the cabins. The only living being they meet is Forever, a seemingly normal orangutan, lying in his cage. After the death of one of the seamen, caused by the mysterious activation of a mechanical hook, Jojo's group begins to suspect about the presence of a Stand user.
Attracted by the Runaway Girl, Forever leaves his cage, kills all of the remaining seamen and ambushes the girl in the shower. He is stopped by Jotaro, only to quickly regain control of the situation by exploiting the fact that Jotaro and the others couldn't imagine the enemy Stand to be the entire ship. Immobilized by the evil primate, Jotaro manages to provoke his opponent by hitting him with a button from his uniform, hurting his pride and getting him in the range of his Star Finger.
Caught by surprise by the now unbound Jotaro, Forever begs for mercy. Jotaro refuses the ape's proposal, saying that Forever has rejected the rules of the animal world, becoming just as corrupt as a human being, and kills him with a barrage of Star Platinum's punches. With Forever's death, the ship collapses, returning to the original wrecked boat it was and the heroes are free to continue their journey.
Video Games
JoJo RPG (SFC)
The events from Strength occur in a different way. The Stand takes the form of a building instead of a boat, and the battle takes place in Japan instead of Singapore in comparison to the original story.
Heritage for the Future (PS1/DC)
Forever appears as a mini-game boss during the SUPER STORY (featured only on home console releases).
His mini-game consists of the player shooting whenever Forever appears on the screen (the shots will represent Star Platinum's Star Finger). For defense, Forever will always throw random stuff at the player, such as fans, pipes or rocks. Ann, the runaway girl, also appears randomly on the screen; if the player hits her by accident, the life bar will be decreased.
Stardust Shooters (Android/iOS)
Both Forever and Strength appear as two of the several characters who possess a Metal Striker in the game. Their FINISH MOVE makes the fan which was on the ship fly and cut the opponent.
Trivia
- Forever is the first non-human Stand user to appear.
- Forever's is also the first physical Stand 'bound' to an object.
- Forever's Stand remains the largest, occupying the space of a freighter; as well as the potentially largest, next to Notorious B.I.G.
- Among his possessions there is a Rubik's Cube, with monkey and banana pictures on it.
- In the OVA adaptation, Jotaro remains incapacitated during the fight against Forever. Instead, Polnareff returns after Avdol left him for dead, and proceeds to slice Forever in half with Silver Chariot.
- Forever being a primate is a bit of an ironic callback to Dio's words during his penultimate fight with Jonathan in his keep: "Can a monkey reach a human? You are but a monkey, JoJo!" - The one who would later enlist a primate with the purpose of killing men.
- Forever may be a reference to Edgar Allen Poe's novel "Murders in the Rue Morgue" where the orangutan committed murders.
- In the anime he shares the same voice actor as Shigechi in All Star Battle.
- Forever lusting after a human girl and his pornography interest can represent his Stand as the Strength is replaced with the Lust in some tarot decks.
Gallery
References
- ↑ Justice - Vol.3 "Shueisha Jump Remix Stardust Crusaders Edition" P70 · 71 The Secret of JOJO Characters
- ↑ Artbook: JOJOVELLER