English Dub Review: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders “Long Travels, Goodbye My Friend”

“We’ll meet again, Don’t know where don’t know when…”

Overview (Possible Spoilers Below)

Immediately serving as a continuation to their current battle, Dio tricks Jotaro into knocking his ass at close proximity to Joseph’s unconscious body, where Dio becomes empowered by the blood he extracted from Joseph, thereby making him able to stop time for longer periods with his Stand Powers. While this show firmly establishes that the Vampires in the Jojo Universe have the ability to drink blood with their fingertips, It’s still an unsettling moment that helps build the proper sense of tension, suspense, and urgency. But during this scene, Jotaro sees a vision of Joseph who urges him not to lose his cool in the battle against this reviled shit-bag.

Of course, holding back that anger goes about as well as you’d expect, but It’s the closest thing to seeing Jotaro expressing any other emotion other than quiet disdain but is put into a disadvantage when Dio stops time and in an intense scene, brings down a steamroller on top of him. But just when things seem bleak, to Dio’s shock, Jotaro manages to stop time himself at the last second to escape, giving Dio a taste of his own medicine. With one final blow, It leads to one of the most brutal & beautifully cathartic moments in this show’s history. And as icing on the cake, Jotaro utters one of hell of an epic catchphrase.

In the aftermath, While they do establish Polnareff being hospitalized, Jotaro works with the Speedwagon Foundation in an effort to save Joseph, by putting a simple theory of his into practice which leads to a series of moments that even played with my expectations in the best ways imaginable. Later on, a good portion of the episode ends on a high note with a long but satisfying epilogue as it ties up loose ends, such as Dio’s corpse being destroyed via-sunlight, What’s left of Team Joestar giving their deepest thanks to those who heroically sacrificed themselves to stop Dio, And with their journey finally over, The remaining members decide to go their separate ways on good terms With everyone going back home, knowing that Jotaro’s mother Holly has finally recovered from her illness.

Our Take

Damn. It’s been almost an entire year since I covered nearly every episode of this series, and the ride is finally over. While part of me wished it was longer,  the ending was well-paced and was kept free from filler or pointless dialogue. Sure, the conclusion can feel bittersweet to some people since half of Team Joestar died, but it’s one of those “Journey is important, not the destination” kinda stories and while the villains they encountered occasionally lived up to being legit threats, Dio’s display of power made all of them feel low-tier compared to his “final boss” status.

While this was easily one of the most epic finales in recent memory, another season was recently announced that will premiere next week on the 18th called Diamond is Unbreakable that sort-of puts Jotaro in a new bizarre adventure that will take place in the year 1999. I can’t wait to see what they’ll do with the dub!

 

Score
10/10