English Dub Review: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable “Bites the Dust, Part 1”

Kira walks warily down the street, With the brim pulled way down low…

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Rohan and Koichi narrow down their search to the Kawajiri house with Reimi’s help, though Kira is now in panic mode. In his haste to get back at Hayato, he kills the boy and hastily tries to hide the body. Yoshihiro pesters him with the news that the Joestar group is closing in and that Kira should begin his escape, but he refuses to leave the town. When all seems hopeless, the Stand Arrow pierces through Yoshihiro’s photo and moves up Kira’s arm, causing Deadly Queen to undergo a frightening transformation.

The next day, Hayato is alive and well but is on his toes planning his next step. From his perspective, he ran off after his argument and left him be. So, it’s a surprise to him that Kira shows up to breakfast with a new hairdo and a disturbingly relaxed attitude. After a tea related mishap, Hayato takes his walk to school, though Kira decides to take the stroll with him…mainly to gloat about how there’s no way Hayato will ever expose him, so there’s no need to kill the boy. The situation seems hopeless and only gets more confusing when he runs into Rohan, who uses Heaven’s Door to peek into Hayato’s thoughts. This reveals that Kosaku Kawajiri is really Kira in disguise. But to Rohan’s surprise, those thoughts start to predict small things happening around them like sudden rain or a man coughing, almost as if he’s predicting the future.

And among them, a declaration that Rohan Kishibe will also die.

With that, Deadly Queen Bomb Type Three activates, entering Rohan’s pupil and causing him internal damage. Kira goes on to explain that it activates whenever someone asks Hayato about his real identity. He then blows up Rohan right in front of Hayato, who witnesses his death…

…only to wake up back at the start of the morning. Like clockwork, everything starts happening like it did before. He tries to change things by catching the falling teapot, which gives him away to Kira that he’s gone through these events before. Oddly enough, Kira does not remember the previous iteration of time, but does tell him that the new power is called “Bites the Dust”, as well as the fact that he’ll be using Hayato as bait for anyone else looking for Kira’s real identity.

OUR TAKE
I am ready. I am ready for this. I am hanging on the edge of my seat. This is the beginning of the end for Diamond is Unbreakable, where Yoshikage Kira unveils his most deadly power. Said power basically subjects its victims to being both a hook for attackers and going through a Groundhog Day like loop for who knows how long, which is a pretty scary thing to go through. It’s also where Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure really starts dipping into the overly specific Stand abilities that it would come to be both famous and infamous for, but what helps to make those work is making sure those abilities are used in interesting and suspenseful ways. And I’d say being the last ditch move of a serial killer desperate to escape justice is probably a good usage of that for those purposes.

Now that all the silly disposable enemy stuff from the past few episodes is done with, the story can finally shift into the more calculating and eerie stuff with Kira. He’s proven to be a very adept and quick thinker, especially when it comes to protecting his sick and twisted lifestyle, so Bites the Dust (which is fittingly based on another Queen song) is a fitting extension of that. Need evidence of a crime you’ve committed erased? Just turn back time and the crime never happened! Even better, if anyone tries asking the previous victim about their attacker, then they’re instantly killed. And as we’ll see next episode, that isn’t even the worst thing about this new power, as the day simply being reset does not mean Rohan is suddenly saved from his fate.

Part of me mourns for the potential happy family life Kira has forsaken to double down on his villainous ways. I honestly do wonder if he couldn’t have acclimated to being Kosaku Kawajiri after awhile. Maybe he’d learn to accept Shinobu’s love and try being a better father to Hayato than the real Kosaku ever was, perhaps even letting go of his murderous impulses altogether. Though then again, that would probably be dreadfully anti-climactic, as well as basically leave him without paying for his previous crimes. No, we need to see Yoshikage Kira go down and go down hard, though not before he pulls out every card he has to make this as painful a process as possible. And I look forward to seeing that process increase in pain as we continue to final countdown to this season.