There is a distinct trend when it comes to the quality of Jojo episodes, whichever arc you are talking about – the more obnoxious men shit-talking (basically meaningless babble to make themselves sound cool) before, during and after fights, the greater the episode. It’s really that simple. Clearly, episodes focused solely on the two most obnoxious members of the cast of Stardust Crusaders will be great. This series continues to live up to that trend.
Episode 11 had a great focus on Polnareff and finding Centerfold, the Stand user with two right (or was it left?) hands that brutally murdered his sister and gave him a sad backstory that I honestly didn’t give a crap about because who even cares for Polnareff’s sister when her lines basically included nothing but her ~tragic cries for help~. That’s alright though, because while it would’ve been /nice/ if we did manage to get a more engaging backstory for Polnareff its usually never the motives of the fight that matter in Jojo, but the flamboyance of the fights themselves. Basically, men acting stupid is more important than an actual narrative is what I’m trying to get at. But can you blame me when the mindless gore and violence is this enjoyable? You really can’t, and it’s this pulpy nature of Jojo that most Jojo fans (myself included) find ourselves drawn to.
Speaking of pulpy, I love Jojo’s use of horror undertones in its violence – we’ve got a creepy slasher doll reminiscent of Chucky, a cherry-licking yellow goo stand thing, a man’s entire face being sliced off, and now we’ve got one Stand user creeping up on Polnareff through the mirrors a la your favourite horror flick. Love this stuff to bits. (It happens in episode 12 too, but more on that later!) I also like the Western influence one of the opposing Stand users introduced as well – Hol Horse is his name, a really stupid one to match a really stupid stand user. Alright, I say he’s stupid, but honestly its in the blood of all the best Jojo characters to be stupidly flamboyant and obnoxious, he’s no exception, and he’s also crafty. He’s teamed up with Centerfold to defeat the Joestars, and puts his Stand to great use. In fact, save for Joseph and maybe Jotaro, he’s probably the most proficient Stand user so far. Many are aware of their own weaknesses, but they avoid meeting conditions that would trigger their weakness to affect them in battle – Hol Horse readily accepts it, and puts the strengths of his Stand to the best of his ability, teaming up with someone. He’s resourceful. Also great to see him literally just make a run for it once he finds out his partner’s been eliminated. He’s secretly Joseph Joestar’s cousin I bet.
And speaking of the fight between Polnareff, Kakyoin and Centerfold! Still doesn’t beat any of the fights in Part 2 so far, but it comes close. Like I said, this fight had extra doses of shit-talking and body horror and animal abuse as a snake is pulverized for no good reason. Polnareff and Kakyoin working together to battle against what is honestly the toughest Stand user yet – the Hanged Man stand with the ability to ‘travel’ or reflect itself into surfaces like shards of glass and water under sunlight to deal significant damage to its enemy. It’s definitely a fight with much more at stake compared to the usual Stand fights we’ve seen so far, and it was a really entertaining spectacle. To see Kakyoin and Polnareff talk absolute shit and pretend they’re absolute geniuses while the beat Centerfold to a pulp is just the best thing ever. Gives me the shivers.
While episode 11 was great, episode 12 is probably my favourite episode since the crazy doll, face-slicing episode. It’s no surprise that it’s an episode focused on Joseph really, because everyone that watches Jojo knows that he is the best Jojo. By far. I love him, a lot. If that wasn’t clear enough. Sure, he was a great fighter when he was younger, did things crazier than anything we’ve seen in Part 3 so far really (and his bromance with Caesar ;___;), but as Stands were introduced and we see his power it’s really obvious he got screwed over in terms of combat ability really – his Stand of the Hermit is meant for map-drafting and spirit photos, and some weird purple thorns that barely do shit. It suits his nature though, and it’s really wonderful to see how the mangaka Araki managed to weave his personality into the nature of the Arcana (by that I mean his Stand, the Hermit) – he wins his fights rarely by ability, but by trickery and pure obnoxiousness, and the Hermit arcana reflects that.
Anyways, he gets attacked by the Empress Stand, which starts out as a weird growth on his arm, this leads to pretty funny stuff. The growth gets bigger and bigger, and the Joestars (save for Joseph) decide that he needs to get it removed, to his dismay. He is afraid of needles and pain and surgery equipment. I love this man so much. This man, that piloted a plane filled with piranhas, fought a crazy Terminator Nazi, got rid of an immortal being, is afraid of pain from removing a small growth. I’m in tears.
Also extremely amusing is that Araki probably hasn’t actually visited any of the places he writes about and bases them on near-racist national stereotypes, but this week’s India stereotype is probably accurate. To be fair to Joseph I would probably bolt right out of the hospital if the doctor told me his scalpel was a little rusty too.
The eventual fight itself, after the growth became a sentient being of sorts after killing the poor doctor, was tons of fun too, as one would expect from any fight involving Joseph. Okay okay, I’ll stop fangirling now. I swear. Seriously though, that is probably the most amusing fight I’ve seen so far – the weird growth keeps talking shit to Joseph, saying that he’s old and he sucks now. Of course, he tries to make himself sound smart and confident to try and throw off his opponent while thinking about what the hell he’s gonna do. Great stuff. Eventually he manages to discreetly create a map with his Stand that led him to a barrel of coal tar as he kept the Stand bound by using the purple thorns, and dunked it in, afterwards proceeding to shit all over his opponent as it desperately cries for him to stop:
I’ve been to India before, and the one hospital I visited was perfectly fine, actually. :/ I know people who’ve been studying medicine there, and honestly, the facilities are nothing like the clinic shown in this episode. Of course, this is just one hospital, and India’s a huge country (plus the area where this episode took place in is pretty much all the way on the other side of India from where I visited); it’s definitely possible for there to be areas where the hospitals are great and the doctors are well-trained, and areas where they’re…not so much. Just clarifying. ^^;
That aside, these were pretty entertaining episodes. I thought the dust-map was a really cool idea especially. 😀
Not to worry, I know Jojo’s settings are based off (racist) national stereotypes – Singapore is my home country actually :p
Though there’s also the time period to consider, 1980s India… I wouldn’t know much about that though.
Anyways, thanks for clarifying! I probably shouldn’t have worded that as ‘probably accurate’ but I’m too lazy to edit the post now 😛