JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders Egypt Arc

Episode 21

The battle against Dio has finally begun!

Um. Kind of. It has sort of almost begun a little bit. Exciting!

This episode is a good example of the perils that come with telling a legendary manga's story after 20 years have passed between saturation and adaptation. I don't think it's a stretch to assume that most Jojo's fans, even if they were introduced to the franchise solely through this anime, know all about "The World," Dio's almighty stand. Not only has it been a meme (even in the English-speaking world) basically since the internet existed, it would be immensely difficult to avoid spoilage about it after this many episodes leading up to the finale. For the sake of argument, let's say you don't know The World's secrets yet. Let's just go with the episode heart and soul; let's commit completely to the fear and confusion The World inspires in our heroes and wonder aloud to ourselves what Dio's secret could be.

Maybe it's because I already know that "Darth Vader is Luke's father" here, but I really feel like if you've thought about it for even two seconds, then you've already figured out what The World's powers are. And yet, this entire episode is filled with bloviating on the Mystery of Dio, as he kills the traitorous Nukesaku and escapes his hideout at the very moment the sun sets. It's a race to the sunrise as Dio runs rampant through Cairo in his own monstrously detached way, commanding a visiting senator to drive him around the city (and through innocent pedestrians) while the Stardust Crusaders draft a seat-of-their-pants gameplan.

That's pretty much all that happens this time! This episode is also not aided by unfair yet unavoidable comparisons to the 90s OVA version, which illustrated all these events in a far more entertaining fashion. I decided not to make comparisons to those old OVAs in either D'Arby's episodes or Vanilla Ice's, principally because this series' presentation of those fights blew the socks off both "classic" renditions, but unfortunately that's not the case with this prelude to the final battle. This episode is easily one of the flattest and least visually interesting in the series so far, mostly packed with talking heads and anticipation. On the one hand, this might be a good sign in disguise. It could be that david production is showing extreme restraint for this episode so they can save their big guns for the last gasp and hold nothing back in the final episodes. On the other hand, Dio's cavalier tour around Cairo and torture of Senator Phillips was one of the most memorable parts of the OVA, really bringing home Dio's potential threat to the world at large in more than just vague words and bizarre similes from the Stardust Crusaders. (Even if those bizarre similes are pretty great: "His murderous intent is so intense, it feels like someone stuck up an icicle up my ass!")

It's not all tepid prelude, though. This episode's greatest saving grace is the amazing use of sound effects and musical scoring, pumped into overdrive perhaps to compensate for the humbler visuals. We get to hear new pieces and unique combinations of foreboding foley that haven't come up before, and they help cement the tone of terror much better than the endless repetitive dialogue from our frightened heroes. There's also a nice nugget of twisted Dio philosophy at the top of the episode, when he tries to seduce Polnareff back to his side by insinuating that all human effort is expended only for peace of mind. "When people get married, start a family, or do something for 'love' or 'justice,' it is all merely to give themselves peace of mind." He presses Polnereff further by using The World's powers to screw with his head. He's only helping out the good guys because their friendship gives him peace of mind, right? But what if they fail? What if they all die? If he pledges loyalty to Dio again, he will be promised eternal peace of mind, by always being on the side that wins. It's a pretty speech, but considering how many of Dio's minions were driven to insanity for fear of failing him, along with the fact that he's never experienced love or friendship before, it's all just honey-tongued lies. The immortal enemy of the Joestars sure is a great villain!

Apart from that, this is mostly a transition episode when it could have been more exciting, but I guess corners have to be cut somewhere to make for a truly kickass final battle. I've had my fill of waiting, Jojo's! Let's break out the big mudamudamuda's for the final curtain!

Rating: B

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders Egypt Arc is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Hope has been an anime fan since childhood, and likes to chat about cartoons, pop culture, and visual novel dev on Twitter.