English Dub Review: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable “Chili Pepper, Part 2”

Real Morioh-nication.

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Jotaro observes Joseph’s incoming vessel, of which he is the only passenger. He and Okuyasu head over by speedboat to protect him while Josuke and Koichi stay on the docks to keep an eye out for Chili Pepper’s user, who Jotaro figures will try to send a remote-controlled plane to put his Stand on the boat to kill Joseph. Joseph himself is not doing too well, being as feeble, blind, and hard of hearing as Jotaro described. Josuke’s just as out of sorts, but mostly out of nervousness meeting his estranged father for the first time.

Just then, Chili Pepper’s user finally reveals himself: Akira Otoishi, age 19, aspiring rocker, and already crazy enough for the music industry. He and Josuke proceed to have an increasingly intense battle, with Chili Pepper making use of the storm drains to attack from all sides, and Josuke using Shining Diamond to turn the asphalt into conductible tar in order to better track the enemy’s movements. Koichi…provides commentary.

Soon enough, Josuke lands a solid hit on Chili Pepper, and by extension Akira. With no other options, Akira uses all the power in the town in order to blind Josuke and land some hard blows on him as well, only to get trapped in a rubber tire that sends him flying into the water once he punches a hole in it to escape. Chili Pepper is disintegrated by the water and Akira is seemingly defeated, so now Josuke must face an even greater enemy: awkward family reunions.

At least, that is until Akira makes in on board and tries taking out Joseph personally, but Okuyasu redeems himself by finishing the job himself. Joseph makes it to Morioh unharmed but breaks his cane getting off the boat. Instead of fixing it, Josuke decides to help his dad walk into town.

Anyway, once they get the Bow and Arrowback, everything will be back to normal. I’m sure that hand in the shower only means good things in the future.

OUR TAKE

As expected, Chili Pepper’s user turned out to be…just some guy. I guess it’s good that we didn’t try forcing a greater goal of world domination just to overinflate him as a threat, but he still feels pretty disconnected from things. His closest relationship among the main cast is with Okuyasu by being the guy who killed his brother, but a lot of that got resolved last week. Still, I appreciate that they gave Okuyasu the last punch as acknowledgment of that. The fight with Josuke was also just as much of a chess match as the better fights of this season thus far, so it’s good they didn’t get lazy with it, but the enemy is still a big part of making that work, and Akira Otoishi just did not stack up to his hype.

We also have the proper return of Joseph Joestar to the story, who is once again a completely different character than he was in the previous season. In Part 2, he was the leader with the youthful trickster mindset. In Part 3, he acted as the Team Dad who corralled the rest of the guys. Here, he’s an ACTUAL dad but is practically dead already. He’s also a noticeably more complicated character now, with his affair being the main strike against his previously mostly spotless character. It’s a bold move to retcon such a morally gray thing onto his history after seeing him play the hero in the last two arcs, though him being here probably means he’ll be redeeming himself somewhat. Still, having a child and then leaving them behind is quite the dick move, especially when that child takes over as the protagonist.

Good thing there aren’t any other absent fathers in this franchise, right Jotaro?

And we should probably briefly touch on that severed hand in the shower. Fans of this series or people like me who spoiled themselves know full well what this is setting up, which is going to send us flying into the next big segment of Part 4, but at least for now, the heroes have a big win under their belt. The next enemy is going to test everything they’ve got, especially in terms of what readers and viewers have come to expect from this story in terms of bad guys, and I don’t imagine anyone will be getting much rest until it’s stopped. So sleep well while you can. Halloween may be over, but the true terrors are just getting started.