DEATH BATTLE! S08E12 - DIO VS Alucard / Recap

Wiz: Dio Brando, everlasting adversary of the Joestar bloodline.
Boomstick: Alucard, undying enforcer of the Hellsing organisation.
Wiz: Vampires, the spawn of nightmares formed from the blackest pits of man's demented imagination.
Boomstick: Anime, basically the same thing. What do you get when you combine them? Two of the meanest monsters out there!

In darkest, blackest night, these two vampiric terrors go about, striking terror on all they encounter and feasting on their blood as well. With terrifying strength, equally spine-chilling powers up their sleeves and a Dark and Troubled Past each in their name, these vile, bloodthirsty fiends will now go blow for blow, to prove who's the stronger bloodsucking nightmare in a death battle.

Dio Brando began his life as a poor boy with an abusive father in London's slums but when his dad died, Dio was adopted into the wealthy Joestar family. In his pursuit for power, he planned to kill his adoptive father, George Joestar, to inherit the Joestar fortune, all while taking advantage of everyone he sees. However, his ambitions were opposed by his noble foster brother, Jonathan "JoJo" Joestar, and the two clashed ever since their first meeting. When Jonathan foiled his plot with help from a thug who befriended him, Dio used ancient stone mask to become a vampire.

As a vampire, Dio's strength increased, and he gained many abilities such as summoning zombies in droves, freezing people, Eye Beams and hypnotism in his quest for world domination. However, Jonathan had mastered Hamon, a martial art using sunlight (which can destroy vampires like Dio himself). Still, Dio stole Jonathan's body while in a coffin in the middle of the sea, and emerged in Egypt 100 years later where he got a Stand he named The World. This Stand can stop time at his will, with each use increasing its duration. It also matches the bizarre strength and lightning-fast speed of Jotaro Kujo's Star Platinum, and even the strength of Jolyne Cujoh's Stone Free which could pull meteors from space. To compliment his mighty Stand, Dio is calculative, manipulative and a very cunning strategist. However, none of this prevented Jonathan's great-great grandson, Jotaro Kujo, from figuring out how to stop time with his own Stand like The World, and killing him afterwards. Even then, one of his most faithful followers managed to complete his plan thanks to his huge charisma transcending even his own lifetime, proof that having a name which means "God" can make you great... in the most twisted way possible.

Dio Brando: You thought your first kiss would be JoJo, but it was I, Dio!

Alucard is the mysterious top enforcer of the clandestine Hellsing Organization which has saved the world time and time again from vicious monsters and vampires in England. He is armed with the Casull and the Jackal handguns for his job, but he can use some of his unique abilities such as walking through walls, casting illusions, reading minds and telepathic communication to aid him in his missions. He also has an insane healing factor allowing him to survive anything and can absorb people's souls when he drinks blood from them. He even survived an explosive kamikaze on an aircraft carrier in a Blackbird flying thrice the speed of sound and caught a bullet moving way faster than that plane. Alucard can also freely release six levels to utilize his powers on all of his victims, including the dreaded Level 0, where he unleashes his victims' souls in a sea of zombies and blood at the cost of leaving himself vulnerable.

DIO VS Alucard contains examples of:

11th-Hour Costume Change: When DIO is hit by Alucard's initial tidal wave attack, his sprite set shifts from one including his traditional yellow jacket to one without it. Much like the anime, this signals DIO attaining his most powerful "Greatest High" state. In both this fight and the source material, he reaches it through an intake of blood.
Actor Allusion: Alucard is played by Takahata101, who also voiced Alucard in Hellsing Ultimate Abridged. During the fight, in response to Dio asking what the hell Alucard is, he references a gag that appeared at the beginning of that series:
Dio: What the Hell Are You?
Alucard: A REAL f*cking vampire.
Always Someone Better: Why DIO won. As awesome as Alucard's feats are, DIO outmatches him by not only being much faster but also much stronger. As pointed out during the analysis, DIO had enough power to destroy meteors. The most obvious difference in power, of course, was DIO having a Stand, which can only be seen and hurt by other Stand-users.
Art Evolution: Compared to the DBX matchup between these two, there is a notable evolution in animation, such as smoke effects, Alucard teleporting, and a 3D animation of Alucard turning into a sea of blood.
Ascended Extra: Both DIO and Alucard fought each other in DBX nearly three years prior. While Alucard won in the DBX matchup, DIO wins this time in a researched battle.
Badass Boast: The fight is literred with them, but DIO gets special mention for working it into his invocation of his Stand.
Alucard: You want blood, you disgusting monster? Choke on your own.
DIO: I want... to rule... THE WORLD!
The Bad Guy Wins: Alucard is an extremely dark Anti-Hero that borders on Villain Protagonist while DIO is an extremely evil, monstrous villain. DIO wins.
Bloodier and Gorier: One of the bloodier fights in the show's history, as both fighters suffer gory hits from each other. At a couple of points, Alucard turns into a tide of blood and his death results in bloody rain. This is, though, to be expected, since Blood is integral to both characters' powers.
Bookends: Near the start of the fight, a close-up of a confused and startled DIO is seen with a reforming Alucard behind him before the latter begins to shred him. And at the fight's end before finishing him off, DIO can be seen in his iconic pose behind Alucard.
Bright Is Not Good: In contrast to the dark, but not evil Alucard, DIO is a handsome man who dresses in bright yellow, wears heart decorations, and summons a pale spirit dressed like an Egyptian pharaoh. He also happens to be a cruel megalomaniac who's had a long history of making others suffer for his own benefit.
Call-Back:
- While analyzing DIO's time-stopping Stand, The World, Boomstick makes a reference to a previous fight where another time manipulator fought, only for Wiz to cut him off.
Boomstick: Time, huh? Thanks for the- (cue Wiz hitting him offscreen) Ow!
- Once again, a Stand user attempts to crush their opponent's heart to take them out. Unlike Jotaro though, DIO was more than successful in pulling it off and finishing off his opponent.
Composite Character: Averted for Alucard. Although many fighters in Death Battle are sometimes often composited due to Wiz and Boomstick taking feats outside their main series into account and including arsenal they otherwise would not have normally, Alucard is exempt from this due to Wiz pointing out that, as stated In-Universe in Alucard's series, he cannot use his own abilities and Schrodinger's at the same time.
Curb-Stomp Battle: In the end DIO dominates Alucard in every way that mattered, and Alucard's advantages such as his Healing Factor are immediately negated by DIO's own feats. In fact, using Level 0 would actually end up expediting Alucard's defeat as DIO can destroy all of his familiars in one go with his Space Ripper Stingy Eyes and use all of that blood to heal himself back.
Darker and Edgier: Compared to the previous episode, which was a light-hearted gag episode, this episode is more grisly, featuring an incredibly evil villain in DIO and a dark Anti-Hero in Alucard. The environment is also dark compared to the colorful battleground in the previous episode.
Dark Is Not Evil: In contrast to the bright, but not good DIO, Alucard is a devilish figure and Humanoid Abomination whose powers invoke many different flavors of Body Horror, but remains a staunch Anti-Hero who fights for the safety of humankind.
Death of a Thousand Cuts: Fundamentally, the battle between DIO and Alucard is one of attrition, as both of them possess a Healing Factor that requires consuming blood to fuel it. The fight thus came down in large part to which of them could last longer, and this ultimately spelled DIO'S victory; with the time-stopping powers of The World, DIO could ultimately put out damage much faster, causing Alucard to exhaust his reserves first.
Freeze-Frame Bonus:
- DIO's victim at the beginning of the fight, only shown for a brief moment, is actually a palette-swapped Mai Shiranui.
- Before he uses his knives, DIO is shown landing in front of a store full of assorted bladed weapons, which explains where he got them from.
Hoist by His Own Petard: Level 0, while Alucard's most powerful trump card, was actually more of a detriment for him in the fight rather than something that gave him an edge. Due to the huge swarm of blood filled zombies, DIO had an endless source of blood to feed off of and heal himself with, and Alucard effectively put himself into sudden death due to releasing all his souls, hastening DIO's victory over him.
Invisible to Normals: One part of the reason DIO was able to use his time-stopping ability almost with impunity was that its source — his Stand, The World — was an entity Alucard couldn't see.
Karmic Death: Boomstick considers DIO's death in canon to be this, believing that a dog murderer like him deserved to "die like a Bitch".
Man of Kryptonite: DIO's far greater offensive power and ability to absorb blood from his fingertips effectively turn Alucard’s greatest strengths (his Victory by Endurance tactic and army of familiars as they are blood constructs) into his biggest weakness.
Monumental Damage: During the climax of the battle, both DIO and Alucard rip off Big Ben's clock hands for a supersized swordfight.
No-Sell: Because the vampires in the Jojo's universe do not have a supernatural quality, supernatural means of suppressing or fighting them do not confer additional damage (beyond what means they already had). For example, a bullet blessed to be able to destroy vampires would have no additional stopping power against DIO other than what the bullet itself already had.
Our Vampires Are Different: Both DIO and Alucard are vampires with different origins and powers, though DIO is more bizarre in both origins and abilities compared to Alucard. Particularly, DIO is more of an amplified human with vampire-esque abilities unlocked from the Stone Mask. This actually is a factor in DIO's victory, as because he's not a stereotypical vampire, Alucard's supernatural killing guns basically had no additional effect on him- their supernatural-slaying qualities did not confer additional damage. This is somewhat averted, though, as they were capable of causing damage in the traditional sense, as they are powerful handguns with large calibers. This is seen when Alucard blows off the back of DIO's head.
Padded Sumo Gameplay: Thanks to DIO's Stand, and its ability to stop time, and with Alucard's soul-substituting regeneration, both vampires were immovable objects in their own rights. Unfortunately for Alucard, only his ability has a finite pool, compared to Stands, which are invincible to anyone but another Stand-user.
Quantity vs. Quality: This happens between Alucard's Level 0 army and DIO's Stand, The World. Quality wins out as while The World is the only Stand DIO has, it is far stronger than the, mostly, human level zombies at Alucard's disposal and even the vampires among them such as Alhambra and Rip van Winkle who are far below DIO and Alucard's level.
Self-Deprecation: When Boomstick tries his "Time, huh?" call-back, Wiz smacks him offscreen.
Signature Move: There's more than one on both sides, with both characters gradually escalating as the fight goes on: the Casull/Jackal handguns vs. throwing knives, Baskerville vs. the ROAD ROLLER! and, lastly, Level Zero vs. The World.
Story-Breaker Power:
- Subverted with Schrodinger's quantum immortality, which the hosts point out is canonically stated to be an ability that Alucard actually can't possess: taking the power requires absorbing Schrodinger's as a familiar... but doing that causes Alucard's sense of self to blur, which in turn causes him to vanish in a Puff of Logic. Alucard literally has to choose between having Schrodinger's power and, well, existing. And even if he could somehow exist in the real world whilst having Schrodinger's soul bound as his familiar, DIO has hypnotic powers that could compel Alucard to eject Schrodinger's soul and cause him to lose that power anyway.
- The World, of course, proves DIO's decisive weapon. Firstly, it gives him a Lightning Bruiser bodyguard that, by the rules of Stands, Alucard can neither see nor hear nor actually harm, which lets DIO pile on damage in a fistfight with Alucard, deflect Alucard's bullets, and massacres Alucard's Level 0 zombie horde. Secondly, the ability to stop time essentially turns the fight completely in DIO's favor, as DIO can spam timestops as much as he needs to avoid attacks, pile on the damage or massacre Alucard's familiars.
Telephone Polearm: The combatants rip off Big Ben's clock hands to use as weapons.
Time Stands Still: DIO, naturally, can stop time with The World. In contrast to previous time manipulators, DIO isn't shown actually moving in frozen time for most of the fight; it's largely shown as Alucard sees it. This is a factor in his victory, as Alucard had no counter for it.

DEATH BATTLE! S08E12 - DIO VS Alucard / Recap - TV Tropes (2024)

DIO VS Alucard contains examples of: