English Dub Review: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable “Yoshikage Kira Just Wants to Live Quietly, Part 2”

Shigechi, “Keep Yourself Alive”!

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Kira tries to silence Shigechi with Deadly Queen’s special ability, which can turn ordinary objects into bombs. Miraculously, Shigechi survives the blast and attempts to flee, but Kira threatens his parents if he doesn’t tell him if Josuke and Okuyasu, who Kira saw with him, have Stands of their own. Using Harvest, Shigechi escapes and tries to find Josuke so Shining Diamond can heal his injuries. However, just outside Josuke’s classroom, he’s found by Kira and killed. With the last of his strength, Harvest reaches Josuke with a button he pulled off Kira’s jacket, but then disintegrates. Reimi also sees Shigechi’s spirit in her realm, confirming his death. Knowing something’s up, Josuke and Okuyasu gather all of their friends and family (and Yukako and Aya for some reason) to reveal that the serial killer they’re after has killed Shigechi AND they have a Stand. Meanwhile, Kira spots his next victim.

Four days later, the group hasn’t found hide nor hair of their suspect. Koichi runs into Josuke to go find a tailor who may be able to identify the button. Coincidentally, they find the exact person who tailored the coat it belongs to, but before they can get the name of the owner, they are suddenly attacked by another Stand of Kira’s, a small tank with a skull on it, which kills the tailor and explodes.

OUR TAKE

Alas, poor Shigechi, we knew him…well, for about five episodes, so not a huge loss. I guess that made him a prime target to be the Kira’s first kill of a named character. He only just showed up, but he is a known friend/acquaintance of Josuke and Okuyasu, so him dying would be something that would be felt by at least the main character to highlight how serious things have become. And, as Josuke mentioned, Harvest was a very strong Stand on its own, so getting rid of it now saves Kira a lot of trouble. This has demonstrated how much of a threat Kira presents, both in mind and in power. That said, as meaningful as the gathering of the good guys is, why was Aya there? Yukako, I don’t care for, but I understand that Koichi’s dating her (against his best interest, but still). AYA, however, just got done almost mutilating the both of them, so now I’m seriously questioning Koichi’s ability to forgive people here. Also, hi Okuyasu’s mutant dad!

Though the second half of the episode is very glaringly part of another story, which continues into next episode. I understand they probably couldn’t stretch out the death of Shigechi, but I almost felt like Toonami accidentally left the autoplay feature on and showed the next episode by mistake. It’s ultimately not a huge problem, but it was something I felt I needed to point out. As for what happened in that half, I didn’t quite expect to see them encountering Kira again so soon, nor for him to have a second Stand (assuming that’s what it is), but I guess giving him only one way to use his move would get boring fast. Then again, the big lasting hook of this show over other shonen battle shows is that the fighters use their minds to make their seemingly boring powers into smart battles, so I think he’ll get at least a few chances to show his intelligence.

With this, the story’s darker tone fully takes hold as the true threat has emerged. Everyone is in danger and no one is safe. We’re approaching the end of the second third and things will only get more bizarre from here. Hopefully the list of at risk characters isn’t just left to supporting characters so the tension is allowed to feel like its escalating, but I’m still looking forward to how strange it can get regardless.

Score
7/10