In this week of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, we take a break from the action and move on to something I wouldn’t think of seeing in this series, especially during such a dire situation: gambling. Gambling for money is one thing, but how would you feel if you had to gamble on your life? Well, that’s exactly what our boys do. Even without all the fighting, I was still on the edge of my seat.
At long last, the boys finally arrive in Cairo. They go around with the spirit pictures, asking people if they recognize the building. They’re desperate, as they know Holly is on the brink of death. They go to a cafe and ask the man serving the drinks and the people around, but none of them know the building. It isn’t until a man speaks up and says he knows that building.
A rather classy-looking gentleman is the one who said this. Joseph and others go over to him, asking him about the building, but he won’t just tell them without a price. Thinking he meant money, Joseph handed him money, but instead this man wants to make a gamble. He throws two pieces of fish near a wall where a cat is, and bets them which piece the cat will take, the one on the left or right. They all think it’s stupid, and Jotaro and Avdol immediately become suspicious of him. No matter how much money they offer, the man won’t take it. Polnareff takes up the bet, with the wager being his soul. That’s a strange thing to say, but Polnareff thinks it’s a joke. So he accepts, and bets the cat will take the fish on the right, since it’s the bigger piece, while the man takes the left. At first it looks like the cat will take the one on the right, but at last minute it takes the one on the left. Just then, the man’s Stand, Osiris, literally takes Polnareff’s soul and turns it into a poker chip.
The man’s name is D’Arby, and his Stand lets him take the soul of the loser he gambled with. He’s done this plenty of times with people, carrying around a book with other peoples’ souls as poker chips, and honestly it was all very creepy. The cat that took the fish actually belongs to him, so he basically scammed them. The boys are angry, but they can’t kill D’Arby because if they do Polnareff loses his soul forever and he’s as good as dead. So the only way to get it back, they have to keep gambling with their souls on the line. Basically, he’s trying to take them out one by one.
Joseph doesn’t beat around the bush, and takes on D’Arby next. This bet deals with surface tension. Joseph pours liquor into a glass, filling it to the brim. Basically, what surface tension is what keeps the liquid from spilling out from the glass. The bet is put coins into the glass, and whoever makes the glass overflow is the loser. This is where Joseph shines, and it actually made me pretty happy because it plays back to his younger self that we grew to love in Battle Tendency. Joseph has always been clever and creative, and it showed once again. Like D’Arby did before, Joseph was cheating, and Jotaro saw. With a little piece of cotton wet with liquid between his finger and the coin, he added liquid, making it so D’Arby would be the one to make the glass overflow. Joseph laughs internally, thinking he won, but when D’Arby adds another coin and sees that nothing has happened, Joseph doesn’t understand, and knows he’s lost. His soul also gets taken.
Jotaro examined their bout, and picking up the glass, noticed a piece of chocolate underneath. I don’t want to explain this, this is actually better through watching than telling. Honestly, this whole episode is. So Jotaro takes it upon himself to face D’Arby, and with a poker match. And poker just has to be D’Arby’s best game, which isn’t surprising coming from a man who gambles all the damn time.
And so I’m looking forward to it! D’Arby surprised me. He didn’t sneak up on the group, he basically confronted them casually. But probably since the boys are so close to Dio, he wanted to get rid of them quickly. He’s not a violent man, but he’s tricky, so he’s very dangerous. But also very fascinating. He’s a lot better than Alessi, that’s for sure. This episode made me so nervous, and I REALLY wish Kakyoin were there with them. I can’t believe I’m really excited for a poker match next week, especially since I don’t know the rules to poker.
