Jonawagon

JoJo x Speedwagon

JonaWagon is a ship with Jonathan Joestar and Robert E.O. Speedwagon.

## Popularity Level

JonaWagon is quite popular. It's the 2nd most popular ship in Phantom Blood behind Jonadio. The ship is often seen as one-sided, due to different factors, such as a lack of information, incomplete context, and subtext occasionally getting lost in the translations. However, there exist plenty subtext and indications between the two and their relationship that suggests a mutual trust and affection that runs deeper and is more intimate than people sometimes give it credit for (this topic is covered a bit more in depth below in this article), all of which translates into this ship not being as "unrequited" or as "one-sided" as it is sometimes mistakenly believed.

In addition, plenty of Speedwagon's biographies over the years have acknowledged that he fell in (romantic) love with Jonathan. Some bios even go as far as to mention right after addressing Speedwagon's feelings that the two became "unique friends".

It is mostly known in the Western fanbase as "jonawagon", but it can also be found as "jonaspeed" or "speedjona". In Japanese its mostly known as "ジョナスピ" (reads as "jonasupi") or "スピジョナ" ("supijona"), but it is also sometimes addressed as SJS (abbreviation of SpeedJonaSpeed). In Korean its usually known as "죠나스피" ("jonaspeed") or "죠너스왜" ("jonasuwa").

People also ship a poly relationship with Jonathan, Erina, and Speedwagon; JonaEriWagon.

## First seen in:

Speedwagon is first introduced in chapter 8, or episode 2 (chapters 6-10), when Jonathan and Speedwagon meet on Ogre Street.

## Reasons to ship it:

Because of Speedwagon's unwavering love and loyalty towards Jonathan from the start, which later reflected through the efforts made by him to support the Joestar lineage, as well as Jonathan's deep sense of caring for Speedwagon throughout all the time they spent together (in and off screen) and the instances they're shown caring for each other, worrying over the other and protecting each other. Some of these instances are better seen in the manga, as some scenes and background from the manga were shortened or completely left out of the anime.

The amount of time they spent together, with them being one of the Jojo/"Jobro" couples who knew each other for the longest time in their respective part (implied to be around 5 months by the end of PB).

They were each other's confidants and "partners in crime", as stated by Jonathan some time after the fire at the Joestar mansion. Only Speedwagon and him knew exactly what had happened that day, and this is a dynamic that was inferred to have been a constant between them, with it having a callback sometime in Battle Tendency, when we're told that there were things involving Jonathan that not even Erina knew, but Speedwagon did.

They were through hell and back together, facing countless horrifying events, cruel and gruesome deaths, so they definitely understand each other. Despite coming from very different social classes and backgrounds, both know very well the pain of a harsh past, which could serve as yet another thing they bonded over.

The mutual trust and care that blossomed between the two shortly after they met for the first time. Their trip from London to Liverpool was said to have lasted 3 days. By the time they reach the Joestar estate, Speedwagon has been fully informed about the situation they were dealing with, along with the things Dio has done against Jonathan and George (this being inferred by Speedwagon himself some time later on), meaning that they trusted each other enough to share that sort of delicate information, and which later on also showed in the way they continued trusting each other, such as Jonathan trusting Speedwagon with the Luck & Pluck sword, an irreplaceable object that had been granted to Jonathan by Bruford.

The subtext that usually gets lost in most of the translations due to language barriers and lack of literal translations of some terms/speech forms, as well as it not being always possible to provide sufficient context to explain some of those things. Jonathan never using honorifics when he addresses Speedwagon would fall under this category. In Japanese, it is considered a grave insult to address someone without using a honorific along with their name. The only cases in which this is okay to do being when you address a family member, or when you address someone you are close and intimate with, such as a lover.

They complement each other and balance each other. Despite Speedwagon's shortcomings due to him not being able to use the ripple, he's always shown supporting Jonathan one way or another, providing comfort and emotional support. In Jonathan's case, he's seen worrying and rushing over to Speedwagon whenever the latter happens to get injured (this can be seen in the manga, especially during the fight against Jack The Ripper, as well as when Zeppeli punches Speedwagon while "trying" to activate his hamon breathing), sometimes even serving as bait in order to protect him, just like he does when the fire breaks at the mansion and Jonathan lures Dio away from Speedwagon so Speedwagon can escape, with this being a feat Jonathan does once more near the end of PB, when he tries to save Erina by luring Dio away from her so she can escape. It was also implied that it was Jonathan who healed Speedwagon's injuries using his ripple techniques on Speedwagon as, by this point, there was a lot of hostility running between Speedwagon and Zeppeli, as shown precisely with that "failed attempt" of activating Speedwagon's hamon breathing from Zeppeli (despite most translations putting Zeppeli and Speedwagon being "civil" towards each other, in reality, they spend most of their interactions calling each other names and being rude towards the other).

In addition to that previous point, Jonathan and Speedwagon can be often seen putting their lives and well being on the line in order to protect and save each other. Jonathan is shown doing this for Speedwagon on different occasions, such as the stated in the previous point. In Speedwagon's case, he is seen stepping in for Jonathan in different occasions, such as when he shoots Dio. It was also Speedwagon who carried a badly injured Jonathan to the hospital after the fire and despite the serious injuries Spw himself was sustaining at the time (broken arm, broken ribs, punctured lung), for example. This also extends to him always being by Jonathan's side despite him not being a ripple user and him being fully aware of all the risks and dangers he was willingly putting himself into and despite Jonathan's efforts to keep him out of this.

The times they care for each other and treat each other's wounds, such as those stated before, as well instances such as that near the end of the Windknight's Lot arc, when Dio has been defeated. Just like Jonathan does when Speedwagon gets hurt, Speedwagon is always the first to rush towards Jonathan. In this case, he holds him dearly after Jonathan passes out from exhaustion, protecting him from any potential threats from the remaining zombies.

Both share many similarities despite their many differences. They both helped each other grow and become a better person, and see the world in a different way than they did before. Their hobbies and interests also overlap in some parts, such as their interest in different cultures, which can be seen through his interest in archaeology in Jonathan's case, and through his countless journeys around the world in Speedwagon's case. They are also quite knowledgeable men, despite Speedwagon most likely never having a proper education, so their conversations can be about pretty much anything and everything.

As stated much earlier, plenty of Speedwagon's bios confirm that he fell deeply in love with Jonathan, with some of them even mentioning that they became "unique friends". The original voice actors for Jonathan and Speedwagon (Kazuyuki Okitsu and Youji Ueda, respectively) have also talked about the topic in some of the Jojo Radio episodes, talking about Jonathan as well as the reasons that made Speedwagon fall so deeply in love with him and deciding to be by his side. Even in the dub, Speedwagon's voice actor (Keith Silverstein) has also mentioned in some of his press conferences that Speedwagon was in love with Jonathan, sometimes even going as far as to mention that Speedwagon "would have loved to have a kid with Jojo".

Additionally, it can be inferred that JonaWagon has the potential of coexisting along with JonaEri without interfering or invalidating the existing canon relationship between Jonathan and Erina. This could be backed up by the fact that Erina appears to be aware of Speedwagon's feelings for Jonathan, and this is shown in Battle Tendency, during the taxi scene, and further confirmed by Joseph while he's being beaten up by Erina in the taxi scene when he shouts "I know Speedwagon is a loyal man!!" referring to Speedwagon's feelings for Jonathan and his relationship with him.

Speaking of which, there seems to be a bit of confusion around the taxi scene in Battle Tendency, with people often assuming some of the things in it are in the US dub only, however, the original dialogues in Japanese (anime and manga) make it clear that Joseph is already fully aware of the deep and long-lasting bond between Jonathan and Speedwagon (which also gives further context as to why in the original dialogues Joseph refers to Speedwagon as "grandpa" or "gramps" instead of "uncle", like translations often put it as). This is shown through his initial comment in that scene about the two before Joseph uses that to pull out his trademark playful teasing on Erina afterwards by switching things to her and Speedwagon instead just for fun, and that can be attested by Joseph's words and overall behavior as he teases Erina. Joseph's teasing and his eventual apology -along with Erina's reaction to said teasing- also confirm that there are no romantic feelings between Erina and Speedwagon and that, as mentioned before, she seems to be aware of Speedwagon's feelings for Jonathan. And, while there are no romantic feelings between Erina and Speedwagon, both seem to acknowledge and validate each other's feelings for Jonathan, being happy and completely alright with it, and this can be further seen in the way both raised Jonathan's children together, for him.

## Trivia

* There is a period of at least 15 days that Jonathan and Speedwagon (along with Straizo and Tonpetty) spent together in Windknight's Lot after Dio's defeat.
* It was implied through the dialogues that most, if not all, of the mourning Jonathan did, he did it with Speedwagon by his side, as they were each other's confidants.
* Them being close confidants also implies that Speedwagon is the only person asides from Erina who Jonathan trusted enough to see him in such a vulnerable state.
* The voice actors of both characters (Kazuyuki Okitsu -Jonathan- and Youji Ueda -Speedwagon-) seem to be big into their characters' dynamics and relationship with each other, often times discussing topics such as Speedwagon's romantic feelings and attraction to Jonathan in official Jojo media, such as Jojo Radio.
* In a different Jojo Radio episode, there is also a little friendly teasing over Jonathan done in character between Erina's voice actress (Ayako Kawasumi) and Speedwagon's voice actor.
* There was also an event that took place in a Tower Records store in Japan around the time Jojo Radio was being broadcast that had Speedwagon's VA as the main host, with Erina's and Jonathan's VA as co-hosts, along with Joseph's and Caesar's VAs.
* During the Eyes Of Heaven promotional campaign, there were some interviews with some of the voice actors involved in the project. In them, Jonathan's voice actor (Kazuyuki Okitsu) would often say things like "I'm so happy to be with Speedwagon again!" (EoH came out a few years after the PB anime was over).
* In the official interview for the 10th anniversary of JJBA's anime, Will Zeppeli's voice actor -Yoku Shioya- compared Jonathan and Speedwagon to the main characters of a BL dorama called "Kinou Nani Tabeta" ("What Did You Eat Yesterday?"). Said characters he compares them with are a loving gay couple.

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