veemonjosh
Stone free, do what I please
Opening theme: “Great Days” by Karen Aoki and Daisuke Hasegawa
Ending theme: “I Want You” by Savage Garden
Characters
Josuke Higashikata
Voiced by: Billy Kametz
Stand: Shining Diamond (JP: Crazy Diamond)
Ability: Strength, Speed, Precision, and Restoration
Stats: Destructive Power - A / Speed - A / Range - D / Durability - B / Precision - B / Developmental Potential - C
Namesake: “Shine on You Crazy Diamond” (Pink Floyd song)
Josuke is a high school student in the small Japanese town of Morioh, a kind teenager towards those he cares about and a badass toward those who get him angry (especially when insulting his hair). The son of Joseph Joestar from an affair, Josuke was tracked down by Jotaro to inform him of being included in Joseph’s will, but is now caught up in the family business of dealing with bizarre threats. More recently, he is now on the hunt for a serial killer lurking in Morioh who murdered his friend Shigechi. Josuke’s Stand, Crazy Diamond, fits his personality to a T, being a destructive force similar to Star Platinum, but also capable of compassion by healing as well. However, it cannot heal Josuke, cannot revive the dead or heal illness. Also, if Josuke tries to “fix” something while upset, it may come out looking a bit weird.
Koichi Hirose
Voiced by: Zach Aguilar
Stand: Reverb (JP: Echoes)
Ability: Sound Generation, Sound Effect, and 3 Freeze
Stats: Destructive Power - E (ACT 1) C (ACT 2) B (ACT 3)/ Speed - E (ACT 1) D (ACT 2) B (ACT 3)/ Range - B (ACTs 1 & 2) C (ACT 3)/ Durability - B / Precision - C / Developmental Potential - A
Namesake: The Hirose River (a river in Sendai, Hirohiko Araki’s hometown and the real life basis for Morioh) / “Echoes” (song by Pink Floyd)
A classmate of Josuke, Koichi is friendly and courageous, polite towards others, and possesses a gentle heart. This allows him to see the good side of people, even his girlfriend Yukako, who thought kidnapping and holding him hostage was a romantic gesture. Unique among Stands, his Stand, Reverb, can alternate between three different “Acts”, each progressively more powerful than the last. ACT 1 can generate physical words that can be used to create sounds (examples include creating a simulated dial sound to use a payphone or influencing someone to believe Koichi). ACT 2 takes this one step further by creating physical sound effects that create an effect similar to the sound produced when touched (such as the word “hot” creating a hot surface). The strongest, ACT 3, his the ability “3 Freeze”, which greatly increases the weight of whatever it punches.
Okuyasu Nijimura
Voiced by: Jalen K. Cassell
Stand: The Hand
Ability: Elimination
Stats: Destructive Power - B / Speed - B / Range - D / Durability - C / Precision - C / Developmental Potential - C
Namesake: The Band (band)
Okuyasu Nijimura met Josuke under rocky circumstances involving his brother Keicho, but they’ve become fast friends. He’s not too smart, but has a strong heart. His Stand, The Hand, is an extremely dangerous one capable of erasing space with its hand and closing the gap between, with its user having no knowledge where the erased material goes. While this Stand seems overpowered, it’s balanced out by the fact that Okuyasu is an idiot.
Rohan Kishibe
Voiced by: Vic Mignogna
Stand: Heaven’s Door
Abilities: Book Transmutation, Memory Removal, Written-In Commands
Stats: Destructive Power - D / Speed - B / Range - B / Durability - B / Precision - C / Developmental Potential - A
Namesakes: “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” (Bob Dylan song)
Rohan Kishibe is a manga artist, passionate and dedicated to his craft, with his wish being to have as many people as possible experience his work. As a teenager, he became the author of the popular Shonen Jump series, “Pink Dark Boy”, which Koichi is a fan of. For those who do manage to meet the man himself, they’ll find he is generally unpleasant to be around, being rather arrogant and impolite towards others. He actively seeks new experiences and information, in an effort to gain inspiration for his manga. His Stand, “Heaven’s Door”, helps him do this by turning a person into a living book of sorts, with their skin peeling away like pages to reveal written information detailing their life, including their darkest secrets. Rohan can also write information on the inside to make someone do what he wants, or to erase their memory of an event.
Jotaro Kujo
Voiced by: Matthew Mercer
Stand: Star Platinum The World
Abilities: Strength, Speed, Precision, and Time Stop
Stats: Destructive Power - A / Speed - A / Range - C / Durability - A / Precision - A / Developmental Potential - A
Namesakes: The Star and The World (tarot cards)
The previous JoJo, Jotaro Kujo was a high school student when his grandfather Joseph took him on a global trek from Japan to Egypt in order to take down the vampire DIO, who had been a plague on his family’s bloodline for over a century. On the journey, he came to learn and master his Stand, Star Platinum, eventually gaining the same time-stopping abilities as DIO’s own Stand, The World, which he used to put an end to the demon once and for all. Now, a decade later, Jotaro is a marine biologist, and was helping his grandfather put together his will, when the discovery of his illegitimate son Josuke brought Jotaro to the small town of Morioh. Currently, he is helping to deal with an elusive killer with an extremely dangerous Stand. Jotaro’s Stand, Star Platinum, has amazing strength, speed, and precision, which on its own makes it one of the most powerful Stands around. On top of this, with its added ability The World, which Jotaro learned during his fight with DIO, he can stop time for a second.
Hayato Kawajiri
Voiced by: Laura Stahl
The son of Kosaku Kawajiri, the man who Kira killed and stole the identity of. He’s a quiet boy who has a strained relationship with his parents. Upon discovering the Stray Cat plant and overhearing Kira muttering to himself, Hayato has realized the man now living with his father’s face isn’t really his father, and is setting out to prove it.
Yoshikage Kira
Voiced by: D.C. Douglas
Stand: Deadly Queen (JP: Killer Queen)
Ability: Bomb Transmutation
Stats: Destructive Power - A / Speed - B / Range - D / Durability - B / Precision - B / Developmental Potential - A
Namesakes: “Killer Queen” (song by Queen) / “Sheer Heart Attack” (song/album by Queen)
Yoshikage Kira was an office worker who lead the most ordinary life possible, something he intentionally strived for in order to maintain a quiet peaceful lifestyle. This facade he had created masked his true nature, a serial killer with a sexual fixation on women’s hands, and he will go to any lengths to hide it and eliminate those who discover it. He maintained this cover for decades, until a run-in with (and subsequent murdering of) Shigechi brought him to the attention of Morioh’s Stand community. After they uncovered his name, he managed to change his appearance and successfully took on the identity of another man, Kosaku Kawajiri, as well as his family. His Stand, Deadly Queen, has the power to turn any surface into a bomb which detonates when someone touches it, vaporizing the victim to the atomic level with an explosion completely silent to those around them.
Yoshihiro Kira
Voiced by: Steve Kramer
Stand: Heart Father (JP: Atom Heart Father)
Ability: Supernatural Photography
Stats: Destructive Power - E / Speed - E / Range - Null / Durability - A / Precision - E / Developmental Potential - E
Namesake: “Atom Heart Mother” (song/album by Pink Floyd)
Yoshihiro is the father of Yoshikage, an elderly man who passed away several years ago. However, his spirit never departed, with his love for his son and concern that Yoshikage’s murderous tendencies would eventually catching up to him keeping him bound to the land of the living. To this end, he possesses one of the Stand-granting Arrows, which gave both him and his son abilities. Yoshihiro’s Stand, Heart Father, takes the form of a polaroid camera; Yoshihiro exists in whatever the latest image taken by the photo is, sealing off the area within the photo and allowing him to manipulate objects shown in the photo. If anyone attempts to destroy one of these images, it will kill anyone shown within the photo. However, Jotaro managed to trap Yoshihiro within a photo of himself, essentially negating his Stand. But Yoshihiro still managed to escape with the Arrow, determined to make a slew of new Stand users to distract Josuke and his friends from tracking down Yoshikage.
Tama
Stand: Stray Cat
Abilities: Reincarnation, Plant/Cat Constitution, Aerokinesis
Stats: Destructive Power - B / Speed - E / Range - Null (within line of sight) / Durability - A / Precision - E / Developmental Potential - C
Namesake: Stray Cats (rockabilly band)
Tama was originally a blue British Shorthair cat who lived his life as a stray. One day, he was stabbed in the neck by the Arrow, and shortly after found his way to the basement of the Kawajiri residence. However, after a run-in with Shinobu, he was accidentally killed and buried in the backyard. The next day, strangely, a flower sprouted on his grave, which turned out to be Tama reincarnated as a Stand, Stray Cat. Now being a Stand (though visible to non-Stand users), his ability is the power to create pressurized air bubbles that are fast and deadly, but completely invisible. He initially reacted with murderous intent towards Shinobu, recognizing her as the person who killed him, and attacked Kira when he attempted to protect her. But he eventually took a liking to Kira, who put him in the attic and brings him cat food.
Shinobu Kawajiri
Voiced by: Jennifer Losi
The wife of Kosaku Kawajiri. She met her husband in junior high and dated him because her friends thought he was cool, and they got married when she became pregnant with Hayato. However, they only stuck together because of their son, and the marriage had become completely void of passion for years. That all changed recently, as her husband’s personality seemed to suddenly change into someone she found attractive, not suspecting that her husband is quite literally a different man now.
Episode 35 (109)
“Bites the Dust, Part 1”
Chapters adapted: 417-421
Previously on JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure:
Having become the unwilling user of Cheap Trap, Rohan was trapped in a situation where he could only get rid of the pestering Stand by showing his back to someone else, at the cost of his own life. With no other options (and knowing that Josuke and Okuyasu would never help him), Rohan was forced to contact Koichi for aid. However, he was unable to convince Koichi that Cheap Trap existed, as the fact that the Stand was only visible to its user, combined with Rohan's inability to show his back outright and the fact that Masazo's corpse shriveled into a doll in the time that passed, left him without any evidence. Koichi left, thinking that Rohan was just playing a trick on him, which forced Rohan to find Jotaro at the Morioh Grand Hotel for help, all the while having to endure his unwelcome new Stand's constant pestering him to burn the photographs of Morioh's residents.
Throughout his trip to the hotel, Rohan was continuously forced to use absurd means to hide his back, such as sticking his back to a random pedestrian's while crossing an intersection, using Heaven's Door to keep the man from turning around in response to Cheap Trap's insults, as the latter was capable of speaking to Stand users and non-Stand users alike. Eventually, Rohan came across a cat and a dog staring at him, followed by large hordes of both. Cheap Trap revealed that he was able to talk to animals as well, and sent the dogs and cats to attack them, which placed Rohan in checkmate. However, the animals were suddenly frozen and driven off by Reverb Act 3; Koichi stated that he saw Rohan continuing to hide his back even after the two's earlier meeting, which indicated that Rohan's claims of an enemy Stand on his back were true. Koichi tried to use Act 3 Freeze to pry off Cheap Trap, but was forced to abort this when he learned the hard way that Cheap Trap would kill his host if removed, regardless of the circumstances. A hysterical Rohan then surrendered, turning his back to Koichi and letting Cheap Trap take his next victim. However, Rohan revealed that everything had gone according to plan: he took Cheap Trap into Reimi's alley and forced him to turn around by showing him to Koichi. Because Cheap Trap turned around, he was taken away into the afterlife, and Rohan sealed the deal by using Heaven's Door to ensure that Cheap Trap would be sent to Hell. Afterwards, Reimi looked at the pictures Rohan took, and pointed out the two pictures with an aloof salaryman being followed by a boy.
Meanwhile, Kira continued to struggle to maintain his disguise as Kosaku Kawajiri, with his murderous urges growing more and more. While on the subway, he was pestered by a couple after he accidentally irritated them, and was mocked by them for his bowling pin nail clipper. In retaliation, Kira gave in to his urges and followed the couple home, calmly destroying the man with Deadly Queen and forcing the woman to clip his nails, which had gone untreated since he first forced Aya to give him Kosaku's face. Kira tormented the woman, pinning her boyfriend's earrings, his ears still attached, to her before using Deadly Queen to completely obliterate her, save for her hand. However, Kira's moment of calm joy was interrupted when he realized that he was being covertly filmed by Hayato. Not wanting to be exposed, Kira destroyed the woman's hand before following his "son" back home. Hayato realized that the man pretending to be his dad is no ordinary man, and that the footage he took probably wouldn't be taken as credible by anyone. Hayato decided to recuperate in the bath, only to be joined by Kira. After a very tense time together, Kira and Hayato turned on each other when Kira confirmed that Hayato was taping him. Kira attempted to kill Hayato and make it look like an accident, only for Hayato to point out that all of this was being filmed as well. Trapped between a rock and a hard place, both Kira and Hayato's tensions came to a boiling point.
Throughout his trip to the hotel, Rohan was continuously forced to use absurd means to hide his back, such as sticking his back to a random pedestrian's while crossing an intersection, using Heaven's Door to keep the man from turning around in response to Cheap Trap's insults, as the latter was capable of speaking to Stand users and non-Stand users alike. Eventually, Rohan came across a cat and a dog staring at him, followed by large hordes of both. Cheap Trap revealed that he was able to talk to animals as well, and sent the dogs and cats to attack them, which placed Rohan in checkmate. However, the animals were suddenly frozen and driven off by Reverb Act 3; Koichi stated that he saw Rohan continuing to hide his back even after the two's earlier meeting, which indicated that Rohan's claims of an enemy Stand on his back were true. Koichi tried to use Act 3 Freeze to pry off Cheap Trap, but was forced to abort this when he learned the hard way that Cheap Trap would kill his host if removed, regardless of the circumstances. A hysterical Rohan then surrendered, turning his back to Koichi and letting Cheap Trap take his next victim. However, Rohan revealed that everything had gone according to plan: he took Cheap Trap into Reimi's alley and forced him to turn around by showing him to Koichi. Because Cheap Trap turned around, he was taken away into the afterlife, and Rohan sealed the deal by using Heaven's Door to ensure that Cheap Trap would be sent to Hell. Afterwards, Reimi looked at the pictures Rohan took, and pointed out the two pictures with an aloof salaryman being followed by a boy.
Meanwhile, Kira continued to struggle to maintain his disguise as Kosaku Kawajiri, with his murderous urges growing more and more. While on the subway, he was pestered by a couple after he accidentally irritated them, and was mocked by them for his bowling pin nail clipper. In retaliation, Kira gave in to his urges and followed the couple home, calmly destroying the man with Deadly Queen and forcing the woman to clip his nails, which had gone untreated since he first forced Aya to give him Kosaku's face. Kira tormented the woman, pinning her boyfriend's earrings, his ears still attached, to her before using Deadly Queen to completely obliterate her, save for her hand. However, Kira's moment of calm joy was interrupted when he realized that he was being covertly filmed by Hayato. Not wanting to be exposed, Kira destroyed the woman's hand before following his "son" back home. Hayato realized that the man pretending to be his dad is no ordinary man, and that the footage he took probably wouldn't be taken as credible by anyone. Hayato decided to recuperate in the bath, only to be joined by Kira. After a very tense time together, Kira and Hayato turned on each other when Kira confirmed that Hayato was taping him. Kira attempted to kill Hayato and make it look like an accident, only for Hayato to point out that all of this was being filmed as well. Trapped between a rock and a hard place, both Kira and Hayato's tensions came to a boiling point.
Now:
Hayato wakes up the next morning as if nothing had happened, except he notices Kira acting overly confident with a new hairdo. Something happened that night which changed him, something that may make him unstoppable...
JOJO'S JUKEBOX
This week’s Jukebox song is “Another One Bites the Dust” by Queen.
Notes:
- Bonus Jukebox song.
- The chapters which this episode covers can be found in volumes 44 and 45 of the Japanese manga release.
- The first BD/DVD set for Diamond is Unbreakable (covering episodes 1-20) is releasing July 2nd from Viz Media. Parts 1-3 are currently available.
- Viz will be releasing the Part 4 manga, with the first volume (covering Japanese volumes 29 and 30) now available. The manga for Parts 1-3 are also currently available in both hardcover and on Viz’s Shonen Jump app.
- Please, no spoilers about upcoming events and future arcs. If you’d like to discuss Part 5, Golden Wind, there’s a discussion thread on the Anime board.
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