English Dub Review: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable “Goodbye, Morioh – The Heart of Gold”

The show must go on.

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Kira is completely cornered with Josuke, Okuyasu, and Hayato on one side, Koichi, Rohan, and Jotaro on another, and multiple civilians swarming in as an ambulance arrives to treat the wounded. When a female paramedic arrives to help him, he turns her into a bomb with Deadly Queen, though Hayato believes he’ll use Bites the Dust to turn back time. Before he does this, he starts rambling to the woman about the beginnings of his hand fetish and even confesses his name. Jotaro rushes to get close and stop time in order to keep Kira from triggering the bomb, but is too late. Kira activates Bites the Dust and escapes through time.

…at least, that’s how it seems. What’s actually happened is that he’s arrived in Reimi’s alley, the one that acts as a pathway between the living and the dead. Meaning that Kira himself has bitten the dust. Reimi shows up to gloat and make him remember exactly how he died: Turns out that thanks to Koichi’s Reverb Act 3 weighing Kira’s hand down, Jotaro actually DID manage to get to him in time, use Star Platinum’s time stopping abilities to pummel him, which sends him flying across the street. And that’s why Koichi gets to be in Part 5.

Then, by completely coincidence, the ambulance backs up right over Kira’s head, killing him instantly. As he recalls this, the now dead Kira realizes that Reimi is trying to make him look back and be swallowed up by the spirits. Eager to escape justice till the very end, he tries tricking her into doing the same, so her dog Arnold distracts him by chomping off his hand, forcing him to turn around and be captured, disappearing along with Deadly Queen into the void.

Reimi and Arnold finally pass on after a tearful goodbye to everyone. With that, the survivors all try to move on with their lives. Hayato hesitates to tell Shinobu that her husband is dead. Joseph, Jotaro, and the invisible baby ship out, though not before Josuke steals Joseph’s wallet for some overdue allowance. And Josuke, Okuyasu, Koichi, and everyone else return to their peaceful existence in Morioh. And they all lived happily ever after.

OUR TAKE

So ends the fourth installment of the strange epic that is Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. As of this writing, the next season, Golden Wind, is still airing in Japan and has yet to be dubbed in English, so we won’t be seeing it on Toonami for some time. In the meantime, we can look back on what made this season great, specifically this final episode.

Once again, I feel the need to compare this to the last season’s finale that concluded the battle against DIO. While I did enjoy the fight in that season more than this fight against Kira, I actually appreciate the ending to this story more than Stardust Crusaders. Back when that aired, I found the wrap up a bit too neat for all the resolution I expected to take place, especially considering how much build up from the previous seasons led into the last fight against the time-stopping vampire. It pretty much came down to ending the fight with one more triumphant punch from Jotaro and a little bit of wrap up getting rid of the body and mourning the dead and…that was it.

Compared to that, Diamond is Unbreakable’s ending feels much more complete, helped by its antagonist being at least slightly more complex in his wickedness and how his actions have impacted the heroes fighting against him. By this time, EVERYONE has a grudge against Kira for one reason or another, so while Josuke does get the majority of hits in, just about everyone in the main cast and some of the supporters gets to contribute to his defeat. Okuyasu swipes away Stray Cat with The Hand, Koichi stops Kira from activating Bites the Dust with Reverb Act 3, Jotaro gets to give his trademark ORA ORA ORA with Star Platinum, and Reimi’s alley finishes the bastard off by showing that what goes around does indeed come around. Rohan…doesn’t really get to do anything besides get blown up a couple times, but given that he’s basically the author’s self-insert, I can appreciate restraint on that part.

With all that, checking in on all the survivors and them returning to their normal lives feels so much more satisfying, not the least to do with that we have more actual characters than last season, but I’ll go more into that in the Season Review. And besides, what better way to end Kira’s story than this? What, you think they’d turn him into some sort of wandering ghost who tries to make amends for his actions by taking jobs killing people? That’s a bit TOO bizarre.

But sadly, this is also where we say goodbye to many of the characters we have come to know over the course of this season and even multiple seasons. Along with the majority of Part 4’s cast, Josuke will not be carrying on the tradition of showing up in later stories to help out the next generation, or even make any other appearances after this episode. Or at least, not THIS Josuke. This is also the last we’ll see of Joseph, who we’ve seen the most any protagonist now or since, from his youth to his twilight years, but it was a fitting final scene to mirror his first in Part 2, both times with someone stealing his wallet. And it’s likely the last time we’ll be hearing Vic Mignogna in any new anime, so I hope you remaining fans of his savored it while it lasted!

We WILL be seeing Koichi again and Jotaro will be making appearances in later seasons, but this is all but the end of our Chase to our Great Days in this Crazy Noisy Bizarre Town.