While playing Granblue Fantasy: Relink – Endless Ragnarok, the moment Beelzebub appeared, one thought hit me.
Isn't this guy basically DIO?
The outfit that bulks up his upper body, the oddly confident stance, the way he seems to look down on everyone. Even the poses that show off his arms and chest feel strangely JoJo.
At that point, though, it was just "huh, this character looks kind of like DIO" and nothing more.
The real problem came right after.
Beelzebub isn't just a muscular guy with his upper body on display.
His whole stance is packed with:
- the confidence of someone who thinks he's at the very top of the world
- an attitude that doesn't treat anyone as an equal
- theatrical poses that deliberately make his body look bigger
- an intense self-image as "the absolute being"
So if you know JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, you can't help thinking of DIO.
It's less "he resembles DIO" and more a muscular guy from a different series going all out on DIO's "absolute ruler" pose.
Then Flau starts talking about "The World"
What makes it even funnier is that Flau, standing near Beelzebub, says something along the lines of "we have to talk about The World."
Of course, this has nothing to do with JoJo's Stands.
Relink: Endless Ragnarok really does have a primal beast (a god-like creature in the Granblue universe) called "The World."
The official site describes it as "one of the Arcarum series of primal beasts plotting to reform the world."
But here's what you actually see on screen.
- Beelzebub puffs up his upper body and strikes a DIO-style pose
- Right next to him, Flau starts talking about "The World"
- An enemy actually named "The World" shows up
If you know JoJo, that's more than you can take.
"Come on, bringing up The World right in front of that guy? That's pure JoJo."
That's the reaction.
Even the enemy's moves and stance feel like JoJo
If it were only the name, you could write it off as coincidence.
But some players say that The World's moves and stance in battle also remind them of The World from JoJo.
A huge body, a powerful stance, arms spread wide as it moves. The details don't match perfectly, but once you know the name, the JoJo image pops into your head anyway.
In other words, the fun of this scene doesn't rest on a single element.
- Beelzebub's DIO vibes
- the proper name "The World"
- Flau's line
- The World's own stance and movements
All of these land at exactly the same time.
As a result, even though the developers have said nothing, JoJo assembles itself in the player's head.
Other players had the same reaction
In fact, I found a post on X saying something similar:
"The World in Relink made me laugh lol The moves and stance are straight out of JoJo's The World lol"
This is almost exactly the strange feeling I had.
They didn't laugh just because the names match. They wrote that even the moves and stance reminded them of JoJo's The World.
So this impression isn't just one person's imagination.
At least some players, looking at the actual gameplay, think:
- "Isn't this JoJo?"
- "Even the movements look like The World"
- "Beelzebub looks like DIO"
Even the official profile feels very DIO
Look at Beelzebub's official introduction and the DIO feeling gets stronger.
The official site describes him as someone who reigns over the sky world as an "absolute being" and is trying to make his supremacy final.
Put simply, he's a character who:
- believes he alone is supreme
- wants to rule the world
- shows off overwhelming power
- looks down on everyone else
It's not just the looks. Even his philosophy is that of "an absolute ruler trying to stand at the top of the world."
Then the words "The World" fly into the middle of that, and for anyone who knows JoJo, avoiding the association is the harder thing to do.
Meanwhile, officially, The World is a primal beast created by the ancient Astrals, who later gained a will of its own and began acting by its own choice.
So within the Granblue setting, it stands on its own.
It isn't just a JoJo copy. It's a "The World" with its own Granblue backstory.
Conclusion: not sure it's an official nod, but the association is natural
As of now, I can't find anything where the developers explicitly said
"This is a reference to JoJo's Bizarre Adventure."
So I can't claim it's an official homage or parody.
Still, we have:
- a Beelzebub who looks like DIO
- an official profile of an "absolute being" trying to reign over the world
- Flau saying "The World"
- a character actually named The World showing up
- moves and stance that recall JoJo
- other players who felt the same way
If you know JoJo, it's hard not to say:
"Even if they weren't aiming for it, this ended up completely JoJo."
Beelzebub stands there completely serious as an absolute being.
Flau is completely serious about passing on enemy info.
The World is completely serious about plotting to reform the world.
And yet in the player's head, DIO and his Stand just come together.
I think this gap, where nobody in the story is joking at all but it looks hilarious from the outside, is the best part of this scene.
