“Calamity approaches. Even though I warned you to stop... The chain of death will start with you.”
Wonder of U is the Stand of Toru featured in JoJolion.
The Stand's alias, Satoru Akefu is portrayed as the Head Doctor of TG University Hospital, and mastermind of the Locacaca Organization. He is an elusive figure with almost no public presence despite being in charge of a major institution of medicine. After his user Toru is destroyed by the Higashikata Rock Disease, Wonder of U's ability remains, briefly, as it tries to attach itself to Norisuke Higashikata, but in the end it is destroyed ultimately by Soft & Wet: Go Beyond.
It was made out to be that Akefu was a Stand User but it is revealed that he is the Stand itself. Wonder of U's ability is to cause calamity to anyone who has the intent to pursue or work against him.
Physical Appearance[]
Wonder of U's most common appearance is its hybrid form that combines its Head Doctor appearance and its full Stand form. It is a black and red robot with red eyes and gold highlights that wears a maroon suit and a yellow scarf. He wears a bowler hat and carries a cane.
Design Variants[]
In The Wonder of You, Part 16, Satoru Akefu is seen at Mamezuku Rai's father's funeral in a black suit.
His Stand form has a red and blue doll-like body, with a massive torso but thin, tubular arms. Each of its articulations, from the waist to the elbows, is a pivot joint. Its body is covered with light circular ridges evenly spaces. It also has a long curved blade at each wrist much like Kars. Its head has a flattened ovoid shape, still black with the same ridges around its head. Moreover, it has a reverse U-shaped ridge framing its face and two pair of round mechanical eyes that are a throw back to Akefu's monocle. The eyes are decorated with a sun motif, similar to the symbols found on Toru's outfit.
When in human form, he looks like an old man with a bowler hat and a brown jacket with a yellow scarf.
In The Wonder of You, Part 9, Satoru Akefu is shown at a lecture at TG Univeristy Hospital without his hat, unobscuring his face.
In The Wonder of You, Part 15, Wonder of U fades between his human form and his Stand form and phases through the walls of TG University Hospital.
In The Wonder of You, Part 21, Wonder of U merges between his Stand and human form, with Satoru Akefu's face popping out of his Stand form's head.
In Safety First, Wonder of U gets attacked by one of Soft & Wet Go Beyond's bubbles and a hole appears in his hat where he was hit.
In Go Beyond, Part 2, Wonder of U persists after Toru's death and attacks Norisuke IV's body. In his form he is headless, and is no longer humanoid but made of limitless calamity energy.
Video Game Appearances[]
| Video Game Appearances | |
|---|---|
 Wonder of U in All-Star Battle R |
Powers and Abilities[]
It is unknown how or when Toru awakened to this Stand, however it is known that all Rock Humans possess one, likely due to the fact that they have a connection to "blessings of the earth," locations like the Devil's Palms and Wall Eyes, which are locations that grant Stand abilities. With Toru's Stand Wonder of U, he is able to protect himself from attackers by sending "calamities" in their direction. If someone even has the intent to pursue him or the Head Doctor, they will be met with danger. The more they want to pursue them, the more dangerous the thing gets sent their way. The Stand is also capable of merging between a human form and a Stand form, and it appears that those who know its true identity are able to see the Stand form and those who are unaware (or are non-Stand Users) only see him as the Head Doctor. He is able to be countered with Josuke's invisible bubble ability, Go Beyond.
- Calamity: Wonder of U's main ability revolves around the concept of 'Calamity', bringing impending doom to anyone pursuing Toru or Akefu (the Stand's 'human' form). The pursuit does not have to be in the form of a direct chase, as even the intention, will, or desire to pursue Wonder of U in the future will cause the Stand to activate. The intent to pursue seems to need to be more than just coincidental, however, as Akefu had to coax a declaration of intention out of a reporter who threatened to expose him. Only when the reporter's intention was clearly stated to be in pursuit of Akefu and the Locacaca was Wonder of U able to kill the reporter with a calamity. This is in contrast to the crowd of hundreds of people who came to the hospital with the specific intention of listening to a presentation given by Akefu, none of whom were affected by a calamity.
- Posthumous Activation: It is revealed in JoJolion Chapter 108 that even after Toru's death, Wonder of U can still function due to the fact that it represents, and is made from the idea of the Calamity itself, with Yasuho even theorizing that it was born from some type of "calamity energy".
- Human Disguise: Wonder of U is able to disguise itself into Satoru Akefu and can also undo it anytime. This ability allows Toru to freely use the hospital as a secret lab for Locacaca research.
- Teleportation: The Stand can also teleport at will, as it completely disappeared when being pursued by Rai. Later on, it was able to instantly shift places between TG University Hospital and the Higashikata House. In addition to its ability to teleport directly between locations at a distance, Wonder of U can also move rapidly within a smaller area by gliding along and within flat, reflective surfaces. It is also possible that the Stand aparating in front of its next victim is the indication that an attack is about to begin, as Rai and Josuke saw Wonder of U in the back seat of their car the moment before they were struck by calamitous rain.
Appearances[]
| Quick Jump | |
|---|---|
Part 8: JoJolion[]
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Trivia[]
- Wonder of U's name was hinted from the name of the story arc it was introduced in, The Wonder of You.
- The covers of Ultra Jump 2020 Issue #5, JJL Volume 23 and JJL Chapter 96 all feature imagery of multiple instances of Satoru Akefu levitating in the sky, bearing resemblance to the work Golconda of Belgian artist René Magritte.
- The fact that he is stated to be 89 years old by Rai is foreshadowing for his calamity ability, as in Japanese the word for "89" and "calamity" both sound the same when said out loud.
- Wonder of U mirrors the Part 5 Stand Silver Chariot Requiem in that their roles in both their stories are that the main protagonist must pursue them to meet some goal, but the act of pursuit leads to calamities (or in the case of SCR, their Stands attack themselves.)
- The arc he was introduced in, The Wonder of You, is currently the longest arc in the entire JoJo's Bizarre Adventure series, even beating the page count of Part 1: Phantom Blood by 30 pages, making it longer than all of Part 1.
- Wonder of U's Stand design and appearance on many covers are based off of artist René Magritte's work, for example 'The Man in a Bowler Hat' for the Stand's true form.
- Wonder of U is the second Stand of a main antagonist to not have some sort of ability regarding time, the other being Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap.
- In JoJolion Chapter 97, Toru can be seen listening to The Wonder of You by Elvis Presley on his MP3 player. This makes Toru the first Stand user to listen to his Stand's namesake in-universe.
- Wonder of U's abilities to cause disastrous calamities to pursuers and in juxtaposition to its more lighthearted musical namesake is likely based upon black comedy skits within more cynical and darker toned movies, shows, and commercials, with easy listening music being played over scenes of mass disorder and chaos to purposefully evoke dissonant effects for darker punchlines.
- In connection with Tooru's kuma taiji themes, Wonder of U is evocative of a demon, specifically of Japanese folklore that are said to act behind people's backs and cause misfortune, from illness, accidents, and natural disasters. It being comprised of "the energies of calamities" and being able to act on its own is also evocative of Magatsuhi no Kami, who is considered an evil god within Shinto said to be the god of disaster.
- There is a pattern among the Stands of the main antagonists in the second continuity, in that none of them have mouths. D4C, Wonder of U, and Howler's Stand all lack a mouth in their design.
Cover Gallery[]
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| JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Series | |
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Phantom Blood ∙ Battle Tendency ∙ Stardust Crusaders ∙ Diamond is Unbreakable ∙ Golden Wind ∙ Stone Ocean ∙ Steel Ball Run ∙ JoJolion ∙ The JOJOLands |
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Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan ∙ Deadman's Questions ∙ Crazy Heartbreakers |
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Jonathan Joestar ∙ Joseph Joestar ∙ Jotaro Kujo ∙ Josuke Higashikata ∙ Giorno Giovanna ∙ Jolyne Cujoh ∙ Johnny Joestar ∙ Josuke Higashikata (Part 8) ∙ Jodio Joestar | |
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The Passion ∙ Hermit Purple ∙ Star Platinum ∙ Crazy Diamond ∙ Gold Experience ∙ Stone Free ∙ Tusk ∙ Soft & Wet ∙ November Rain |
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Dio Brando ∙ Kars ∙ Yoshikage Kira ∙ Diavolo ∙ Enrico Pucci ∙ Funny Valentine ∙ Toru ∙ Acca Howler |
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The World ∙ Killer Queen ∙ King Crimson ∙ Whitesnake (C-Moon, Made in Heaven) ∙ Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap ∙ Wonder of U ∙ Acca Howler's Stand |
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