English Dub Review: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders ”The Curse of DIO”

Let the “Bizarre Adventure” begin!

Following the events of the last episode, Joseph reveals that the object on Kakyoin’s forehead is a “flesh bud” that’s basically a parasite extracted from Dio’s cells and attaches itself into the victim’s brain as a form of mind control. Avdol then reveals in a detailed, unnerving and intense flashback that “four months ago” while working as a fortune teller in Egypt, Avdol randomly encountered Dio one night and almost fell victim to him in this manner but managed to escape unharmed. Determined to save Kakyoin, Jotaro uses the meticulous nature of his Stand to carefully remove the bud from Kakyoin’s forehead. Despite the bud’s attempts to invade Jotaro’s body in self-defense, Jotaro remains calm until the bud is safely extracted. Afterward, Joseph quickly destroys it with a “Hamon attack” (Note: Hamon is a form of “Chi” in the Jojo Universe that creates solar energy through a particular method of breathing which is better explained in Season 1).

The next day, as Kakyoin is recovering from his injuries, Avdol walks to the kitchen and stumbles upon a spoon on the ground, and soon after Holly’s unconscious body slumped in front of the refrigerator. He discovers ghostly rose vines growing from her backside and concludes it to be a Stand. Though due to Holly’s kind nature, she lacks the willpower to manifest or control it properly and it’s slowly killing her which understandably leaves both Jotaro & Joseph horrified to their very core. After learning from Joseph that Killing Dio will save Holly and lift her curse, Jotaro uses his Stand to analyze the Polaroids Joseph had previously taken of Dio and manages to identify an insect lingering in the dark scenery within one of them by having it draw a detailed image of it on a notepad.

After doing some research, Avdol determines the insect is a species of fly which is found only in the “Aswan region of Egypt”, where they believe Dio to be hiding. Kakyoin, who had previously learned from Avdol that Holly has only “50 days to live”, confirms their theory, mentioning how he met Dio while on a family vacation to Egypt, and decides to join the group in their search for Dio because of a particular fondness he feels for “women like Holly”. After Joseph contacts the “Speedwagon Foundation” to look after Holly, and Avdol uses his deck of Tarot cards to give Jotaro’s Stand the name “Star Platinum”. As the group takes off on a flight towards Egypt, it then cuts to Dio using a Stand power similar to Joseph’s “Hermit Purple” to take a photograph of the Joestar group’s location, and the episode ends in cliffhanger fashion in a post-credits scene when Joseph cautiously feels like they’re being watched when they enter a commercial aircraft and tells Jotaro to stay alert for any trouble while it randomly shows a small insect inside the plane.

One final note, the end credits now have an Iconic 80’s song you wouldn’t expect to hear in an anime, “Walk Like an Egyptian” from the Bangles. The song itself combined with the symbolic imagery of the main protagonists and their “stands” each showing the specific tarot card they represent, strangely works.

Our Take

While the episode had very little action, it compensated this by showing genuine character moments of determination and humanity which is exemplified in varying ways such as Jotaro selflessly extracting the flesh bud from Kakyoin’s head, Joseph putting Holly in medical care and Avdol digging into the encyclopedias for info about that particular insect. But what stuck with me the most in the episode was Kakyoin’s speech about protecting women like Holly which at first sounds adorable and heartfelt but comes off as unintentionally funny because it sounds like he’s professing his love for Jotaro’s mother right in front of everyone (Consequently, this made Kakyoin the subject of Milf Jokes & Memes on Tumblr). Episode 3 was spent entirely within the Kujo household but now their real quest begins as they must travel to Egypt within 50 Days to not only save a beloved family member but to seek & destroy the monster who’s brought so much grief & tragedy to the Joestar family for generations. Dio Brando!