English Dub Review: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders “Death 13, Part 1”

“Lali-ho!”

Overview (Spoilers Below)

The episode begins when Kakyoin has a trippy dream that takes place in an empty amusement park, accompanied by a random dog yet everything seems strange & unusual while echoes of a baby are crying in the background and the “Death 13” tarot card appears. And in a surreal yet terrifying scene, let’s just say Jojo’s creator never shy’s away from animal death. Polnareff wakes him where it appears they’re in a hotel room to inform him that they’re about to leave town after they eat. Later on their way out, things begin to get creepy and ominous when Kakyoin he finds his hand has been cut in his sleep and much like the killing methods of Freddy Kruger, he spots that same dog he saw in his dreams and killed in the exact same manner. When the two catch up, Joseph is told that the Cessna plane he sold yesterday will be refunded to him as the pilot wishes to take a baby who has a high fever to the hospital and given that the same plane Team Joestar needs to use just so happens to be the only working one, Joseph offers to take the child with them which leads one of the creepiest scenes where nobody but Kakyoin notices the baby smile has unnatural looking fangs. Joseph is then given the option to take the baby with them to leave it at the hospital on their journey with Joseph entrusted to keep the infant safe.

 

Afterwards, the lady who gave the baby to them later reveals to the plane staff that she isn’t the mother of the child but was told by a voice in her head that it wanted to fly with Team Joestar. While in flight, both Kakyoin and Polnareff begin dozing off and find themselves at the same amusement park from Kakyoin’s dream, but at this point, it’s easy to assume that if Death 13 is Jojo’s version of Freddy Kruger, then the Amusement Park is his boiler room. Kakyoin stresses the matter to Polnareff about being cautious, until Death 13 makes itself known oncemore while spouting his obnoxious catchphrase “Lali-ho!” and proceeds to attack both of them when the two learn they’re at an extreme disadvantage when they can’t summon their Stands to defend themselves, but before Death 13 lands a killing blow on Polnareff, Joseph wakes him up to have him change the baby’s diaper, leaving Kakyoin on his own while Polnareff wakes up not remembering what just happened in the dream world with Kakyoin.

 

When Kakyoin is approached by Death 13, he begins to freak out to the point that his arms & legs move around in panic while sleeping and ends up kicking Joseph’s face in the process causing the plane to spiral downwards while Death 13 begins torturing Kakyoin in very disturbing ways, but makes an off the cuff remark letting Kakyoin figure out that his User was the 11-month-old baby the whole time. As Kakyoin attempts to wake himself up out of desperation by cutting his arm, Joseph regains control using his Hermit Purple Stand leading to one of the funniest scenes when the plane crashes into a pair of palm trees waking Kakyoin up in the process. As Team Joestar sets up camp to prepare for rescue, Kakyoin begins to notice that the cuts he made on his arm were the words “Baby Stand”, leading him to realize what we the audience already know at this point, but The episode ends on a suspenseful cliffhanger as Kakyoin plans to warn Team Joestar, while the sinister baby Stand user is pleased that his plans to kill them are slowly coming to fruition.

Our Take

While the pacing, suspense & atmosphere kept me on my toes, It’s pretty obvious that the villain of this 2-part storyline pays homage to the 80’s horror Icon Freddy Kruger. The amusement park scenery in the dream world had an excellent color scheme and helps give shocking contrast to the gore & surreal imagery in clever & creative ways. While the creepiness was at an all-time high, I couldn’t help but feel that it was forced in places such as the scene when they find out that only one plane was in working order but I’m also left wondering how super-intelligent is this baby? I was also more surprised that Adult Swim even made the effort to censor the feces during the diaper changing scene on the plane.

All that aside, the episode still got me hooked enough to see what happens next in Part 2 in regards to the seemingly impossible odds that Kakyoin and the rest of Team Joestar have to face.

Score
8/10