About
“It was me, Dio!” (also known by its Japanese variant “Kono Dio Da!”) is a memorable quote from the Japanese manga JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. The line is spoken by the eponymous antagonist Dio Brando to supporting character Erina Pendleton, with the former stating that he stole her first kiss. Recreations of the scene have become popular on the internet, along with variants on the quote.
Origin
The scene originally occurred in chapters 3 and 4 of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood, which were released in 1987[1][2]. After protagonist Jonathan ‘JoJo’ Joestar and Erina Pendleton share a day together, Erina discovers that Jonathan harbors feelings for her. She runs away as she is unsure of what to do next, but she ends up crossing paths with Dio Brando, who seeks to emotionally manipulate Jonathan for his own gain. Recognizing that Jonathan is in love with Erina, Dio steals her first kiss as a way of alienating her from Jonathan, gloating “Your first wasn’t JoJo! It was me, Dio!”.
Spread
The screencap of the scene which had become associated with the quote and spawned the majority of the derivatives, came from the first episode of 2012 Phantom Blood anime adaptation[3]. It was first seen on 4chan as early as October 6th, 2012, the day after the episode was broadcast in Japan.[4] Since then, many 4chan discussions that involve Dio Brando often mention this scene or feature the screencap.
The anonymous user that uploaded the photo alluded to the quote’s similarity to the Glasses Sayaka meme, although the JoJo quote precedes it by over two decades. On October 14th, 2012, the derivative of the Glasses Sayaka meme (pictured below, right), featuring Dio, was posted on 4chan’s /a/ board.
Notable Examples
Search Interest
External References
[1]JoJo’s Bizarre Encyclopedia – Beloved Erina.
[2]JoJo’s Bizarre Encyclopedia – Mustn’t Lose.
[3]JoJo’s Bizarre Encyclopedia – Dio The Invader.
[4]/a/ – It was me, Dio!.
[5]Twitter – Dio strikes agains