I’m so glad that CG Jojo openings are back! The 2D openings were great but there was this certain charm to the 3DCG openings and I’m glad they’ve come back. And just the sheer amount of call backs to past Jojos and openings and that Stand Proud part AAAAH! It’s so good, so flashy, so fun. They really went all out with it and it makes me happy.
This episode was a good introduction to Green Dolphin Street Jail. Jolyne transitions into her new life, getting a very strange introduction of the jail by their weird-looking prison warden and his pink crocodile puppet. He goes over the general rules of the jail as well as what they are allowed to do, and just how things work. It’s pretty straightforward and Jolyne is led to her cell where she meets her roommate Gwess. Who leaves a terrible first impression with how unhinged she is. And yes, she is absolutely insane and not to be trusted.
At the end of episode 1, we saw her have the pendant in hand and this time we see her with it again. Understandably, Jolyne is excited to see it again and wants it back, but Gwess will only sell it to her for $200. After a strange night, Gwess is like a different person the next morning and sweetly apologizes to Jolyne for her behavior and lets her take a look at the now empty pendant. But this is a prison, you can’t possibly believe every little thing someone says to you there. Gwess seemed like she turned around, but she definitely did not as she played with Jolyne’s emotions and gave her a really hard time with the pendant, the water in the cell, and the food. Again I say, Jolyne can be a little naive. In a rough environment like this one, you have to watch your back and not let people walk all over you. Of course things got a little unique for Jolyne when she fell under Goo Goo Dolls’ shrinking ability, putting her under Gwess’ thumb…literally.
I know Jojo can be bizarre but for some reason I found this one to be extremely weird, and also very gross. I find it funny that people think mouse Jolyne is really cute, but I think this whole mouse part is super gross and it kind of makes me nauseous. I know that Gwess cleaned out the guts but Jolyne is still inside the carcass of a rat! And it probably smells! It was just stressful to watch lol. I’m not the biggest fan of the chapters with Gwess but I do admit it was still pretty entertaining. Gwess is a huge jerk but she is entertaining with how batshit crazy she is. Also very creepy. Also I couldn’t help but laugh with how sing-songy she is when she speaks, especially when she sung Jolyne’s name.
But of course my favorite part of the episode was the very end when Jolyne properly manifested her Stand, which she named Stone Free. It has a really cool design and while Stone Free has its own unique abilities with the string, her stand is similar to Star Platinum’s with the punches. And again, her similarities with Jotaro. Her Stand’s punches, her “ora ora ora!”, and her “yare yare dawa”. Even her theme! It kind of has the same jazziness and vocals that Giorno has in his theme, but Jolyne’s also has the rock guitar that Jotaro’s theme has and I love that combination of new Jojo with old Jojo in the song. And again, I just love those small connections to Jotaro and I really appreciate with what the anime has been doing in regards to that. I can fangirl about this forever. The animation in this scene was great, as well as the colors and the action. And Jolyne is just so cool. Hopefully with this experience with Gwess, Jolyne is a lot more careful in the jail and she continues to have that attitude of “I make the rules around here”.
We know that Hermes is the one that found the pendant and sold it to Gwess. Hermes was pretty friendly with Jolyne back in their holding cell and in the truck, but this is a jail. Is she to be trusted, and if she had the pendant does that mean she also have a Stand? Hmm hmm, we shall see.
