English Dub Review: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders “Set’s Alessi, Part 1″

“Atta Boy!”

Overview (Spoilers Below)

While Jotaro, Polnareff, and Iggy go off in search for Joseph & Avdol, after not hearing back from the two due to their preoccupied battle against Mariah, What they don’t know is that they’re being followed by another Assasin hired by Dio named Alessi. As a character, I can only describe Alessi’s appearance & personality as an unholy union between Krusty the Clown and early 90’s Pauly Shore who gets his jollies terrorizing & abusing children and frequently uttering the phrase “Atta Boy!” whenever he experiences sadistic joy. As Jotaro & Polnareff continue their search, Iggy straight-up splits from the two to scavenge for food, but it leads to a comedic scene where the Iggy notices Joseph and Avdol’s battle with Mariah actively going on, but hilariously ignores it. As their search continues, Polnareff begins to notice that they’re being followed by a strangely dressed dude who turns out to be Alessi.

At first, Alessi tries to act casually but Polnareff is quick to see through the bullshit and compels Alessi to reveal his Stand through summoning his Silver Chariot, to which Alessi responds by introducing his Shadow-Stand that’s named “Set” that according to Egyptian mythology, was an Egyptian deity who represented “Storms and Chaos” which further adds to his malevolent nature. As the shadow-Stand reaches toward Polnareff briefly touching him before jumping back, Polnareff yells for Jotaro as Alessi flees from the battle. At the sound of Polnareff’s cries, Jotaro turns around but is unable to find his friend. During a scene where Polnareff gives chase, it’s shown through a first-person perspective, but gradually see what happens when people touch Alessi’s Shadow-Stand as It turns out that anyone who makes physical contact with it is transformed into a child, along with a smaller stature.

It’s made even worse that Polnareff’s mind starts reverting to a child as well, causing him to slowly lose his adult memories as exemplified in a scene where he later finds Jotaro but is unable to ask for help which I’m sure would’ve been a much shorter episode otherwise. When Alessi drags the newly underaged Polnareff into an alley for a one-sided beatdown, Polnareff discovers after a near-death experience that he’s able to activate his Silver Chariot Stand that’s also been affected by Set’s power. Barely managing to escape Alessi after Silver Chariot’s blade hits his neck out of dumb luck, Polnareff escapes. But is abruptly taken in by a beautiful stranger who takes him to her place to treat his injuries. I know her actions seem well-intentioned, but I couldn’t help but feel creeped out by the suggestive subject matter of a child sharing bath-time with a complete stranger regardless of the context or situation. But just when you think this scene isn’t unnerving enough, the episode ends on a foreboding but effective cliffhanger before the credits.

Our Take

While the pacing dragged in places when they felt the need to show where Iggy was going, It finally picked up when Alessi made his presence known at the Three-minute mark. In terms of Alessi’s Stand-abilities, I certainly wasn’t expecting a User with the power to turn adults into children, but given Alessi’s cowardly nature it kinda fits his schtick of bullying the weak & powerless. I can understand if some parts can make viewers (including myself) feel pretty damn uncomfortable, but I guess if you’re going to make a villain terrifying, You have to put the protagonist in a vulnerable situation that helps build the right amount of tension & suspense to effectively work.

Above all, I’m still compelled enough to keep watching just to see how a child-version of Polnareff will get out of this terrifying predicament, but I can definitely do without the suggestive scenes of child nudity which Adult Swim thankfully had the courtesy of censoring with a mosaic.