English Dub Review: : Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable “Let’s Go to the Manga Artist’s House, Part 2”

Knock, knock, knocking on the manga artist’s door.

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Koichi’s memories of yesterday come flooding back as he re-enters Rohan’s studio. Rohan wants to use Koichi’s memories to make the best manga ever, with no regard for how it will affect Koichi. Josuke and Okuyasu make themselves known in front of the house, but Koichi is physically incapable of telling them what’s going on because he’s been forbidden from saying anything that will put Rohan at a disadvantage.

Luckily, the two decide to break in, with Okuyasu going in through the window and Josuke observing behind the studio door. Okuyasu is turned into paper by Heaven’s Door and is forced to try setting himself on fire if Josuke interferes. So, he tries rushing in with his eyes closed so he doesn’t see the manuscript that will put him under Heaven’s Door’s control. Knowing his short temper about his hair, Rohan tries using insults to make him open his eyes, but all he’s done is make Josuke blind with rage, allowing him to pummel Rohan and set his friends free.

We then get a little backstory about why Josuke styles his hair the way he does. Turns out while he was having his awful fever (which was caused by DIO’s influence), his mom got her car caught in the snow on the way to a hospital. Just then, a student with an odd hairstyle helped them get free, and Josuke made his hair like that student’s in tribute to his hero, which is why he feels so strongly about his hair now.

A now defeated Rohan is inspired by this heartfelt story, though that doesn’t spare him from more beatings from Josuke, so his manga has to go on hiatus.

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

First up, we’ve got a new opening! “chase” by batta is a noticeable departure from “Crazy Noisy Bizarre Town” from the first second, having far more of a darker tone and color palette to reflect the likely more serious events we’ll be seeing soon enough. We get a few glimpses at a few new characters we haven’t seen show up yet, as well as Stands that will be popping up sooner or later. There’s also plenty of imagery that seems to suggest the main characters are getting more and more trapped by a sinister and menacing force that’s about to emerge, that being whoever they seem to be fighting at the end of the song.

As for this episode in particular, it looks like Rohan’s going to be sticking around, so this was a good enough way to wrap up his time as a bad guy. As it turns out, he’s not really out to rule the world, just make great manga, but his villainous traits come from the fact that he seems to prioritize that over the harm he causes with his abilities. Even when he’s finally beaten, all he cares about is finding new ways to be inspired to create. Even so, Heaven’s Door is still a really overpowered ability that I’m unsure can be used in any other way except for massive invasions of privacy, but I guess we’ll find out how else it can be done whenever Rohan comes back to the story.

The bit about Josuke’s hair’s origins was a nice bit of new info, though it did kind of halt the momentum of the episode. As I’ve mentioned, the time when Josuke had his fever overlaps with Holly had her’s during Part 3, so seeing more of that from his own perspective is neat, but I feel like this could have been placed in its own episode instead of taking up time in this one. The identity of Josuke’s hero is still a mystery among Jojo fans and has been since tossed in the pile of “things Araki forgot”, with a time travelling Josuke apparently being an accepted theory. Again, I’m glad I learned about it, but this really wasn’t the time.

This episode kind of stumbled on the landing for this two parter, but not enough to ruin the fun. Now we have yet another enemy turned friend with an even weirder power and he’s voiced by Vic Mignogna, so overall, I’d say this was a net gain.