English Dub Review: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable “Bites the Dust, Part 2”
And another one gone, and another one gone…
OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)
Given a second chance at this morning, Hayato attempts to redo the events to stop Kira, but soon finds that some things are playing out exactly same regardless. First, the tea pot breaks without anyone dropping it, but even trying to avoid Rohan doesn’t keep him from exploding. Kira explains that this chain of events is now destined to happen over and over again until he undoes Bites the Dust, which will make them permanent. But before that, he’ll use the trap on Hayato to lure the rest of Rohan’s friends and get them caught in the same trap too.
In his despair, Hayato doesn’t notice Josuke, Okuyasu, Koichi, and Jotaro arriving to meet Rohan, so he tries to flee before they notice who he is. This proves to be futile, as his name gives him away as the son of the man who is their prime suspect. The questions soon start, with Hayato giving himself a nosebleed to get away, but Josuke heals it. When asked directly, he screams for them not to ask, which onlymakes him look more suspicious. When THAT fails, he tries a drastic measure of trying to kill himself with a box cutter, hoping that they’ll still be able to stop Kira once he’s gone. But Deadly Queen stops the blade from hurting him, which he can’t see because he can’t see Stands. Josuke and the rest DO see it, causing Bites the Dust to activate and kill them all, then sending a devastated Hayato back to the start of the hour.
With everyone who could possibly help him doomed to die in the next hour, things seem hopeless. The only options are to kill Kira or get him to shut off Bites the Dust before the others die. So, Hayato uses the last remaining trick left to him: the stray cat plant hidden in the attic. The hour begins as it did before, but with knowledge of things to come, he allows Kira to hold the cup so that he’ll be scalded by the coffee when it breaks. He then tries luring Kira out to get the plant to wound him with its air attack, hopefully forcing him undo the time loop before Rohan dies. He manages to land one hit, but then Kira reveals it only hit his metal watch, which he removed when the coffee spilled on him.
OUR TAKE
Whether it’s Kira versus Koichi, Kira versus weird vegetation, or Kira versus a scared child, it looks like I’m gonna love it as long as it’s a Kira fight. Between this and the first fight with the rolling tank, those mainly focused on Kira’s opponent starting the battle confident but slowly overpowered by his sheer force of will, whereas the one against the stray cat had that reversed. In this case in particular, Hayato is probably the weakest opponent Kira has ever faced, but he’s also the most useful for solidifying his long sought happy life, as well as the one most capable of destroying it. With Bites the Dust, Kira can now wipe out all of his enemies before they know what’s happening, but leaving Hayato with the memories of all those resets might be a mistake.
The main progression in this episode inches Kira’s plans further to completion. Hayato is further distraught by reliving the same morning three times and pretty much all of those who have met Kira and lived are now stuck in a loop of dying that he can make permanent once he figures this out. However, like replaying a stage in a video game over and over, Hayato is slowly learning the pattern to follow and how to make it work in his favor. The first retry after Rohan’s death taught him to catch the coffee, the second taught him to use that against Kira while also knowing where to find a hidden weapon. But it’s also looking like hurting Kira might be impossible too, as the very act that was meant to hurt him also ended up protecting him from the air blasts. There’s still rules to this that are left to be uncovered.
There are only three episodes of this season remaining, so there are also some things that I feel have to happen to make the ending feel resolved. For one, Josuke, Jotaro, and the rest have to get out of the time loop somehow and learn what’s happening to them so that they can fight Kira head on. As we’ve seen when they last fought, a direct battle will likely lead to a close but certain victory against Deadly Queen, which is why Kira has hidden in the shadows and with other techniques for so long. All that’s left is to break the unbreakable loop of time and give him a taste of the Crazy Diamond.
…crap, I meant Shining Diamond! DON’T SUE ME PINK FLOYD!
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