JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable

Episode 35

Things just keep getting better and better for JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, as Part Four barrels toward its conclusion. Last week, we left the confrontation between Hayato and Kira with little to no chance of Hayato's survival. It turns out that Hayato did indeed get killed between episodes, but there's a catch. In the midst of Kira having an anxiety attack over his serial killer shenanigans unraveling, the stand-making arrow summons itself to unlock a third ultimate power within Killer Queen. This new power, Bites the Dust, accompanies Sheer Heart Attack as yet another Queen reference in Kira's arsenal.

What is Bites the Dust capable of? Well, that's the million dollar question prompted by this episode. We're left with twenty minutes of pure suspenseful mystery, in which we lack the necessary information to make sense of what's going on. Why is Hayato suddenly alive? Where is Kira's second wind of confidence coming from? We see Kira "transform" once he's gained this new power, complete with a new hairdo, but the episode is content to tease us until the very end. It almost feels like Kira himself is directing the episode, with this sense of showmanship on hand.

The immediate assumption is that it must have something to do with time travel, considering Hayato's return as if the bathroom confrontation never happened. Afterall, Stardust Crusaders ended with a time stopping showdown, and we still have questions left over about Josuke's weird memory of himself from his childhood. So time travel would feel like a natural step in making the villain more threatening. Perhaps to Hirohiko Araki, time is simply the ultimate power.

Long story short, it is a form of time travel. Although considering Killer Queen's bomb theme, there's enough uncertainty for us to doubt the possibility until the last second. That suspense is key to what makes this episode such a ride, as one of the most gleefully entertaining entries in Diamond is Unbreakable so far. There's something perverse about the new sense of power and safety that Kira has attained. This show is transforming with its villain, and now there's a new stench in the air signaling that things are about to get much worse before they can get any better. Kira is happy, which means the rest of us should be sad.

The main scene in this episode centers on Rohan interrogating Hayato, having used Reimi's help to determine that Kira is possibly playing the role of the young boy's father. It's here where Rohan, independent of Kira's presence, is killed by Bites the Dust, a curse that will explode anybody who questions Hayato about Kira or who Hayato runs to for help. His death is accompanied by a time reset, Bites the Dust's main hook. He's returned to the beginning of his day where Kira is more than happy to explain the crazy extent to which everyone but him is now helpless. Every loose end to his life of peace has been tied up, and as an added bonus, his problems get solved with a big explosion! Killer Queen is a pretty overpowered Stand.

Bites the Dust is another power for the list of JoJo abilities that don't make a ton of sense, but at the same time, it doesn't really matter. I was heartbroken but also amazed at the sight of Rohan's demise. I remember bemoaning in an earlier review that the show didn't have the balls to kill off Koichi at Kira's hand, and I was ready to eat my words with another character (*ahem*) biting the dust in his place. Of course, the time reset implies that Rohan is probably alive and well again, though the show hasn't really addressed how that works. Part of me hopes that dead people stay dead, but I'm ready for that not to be the case. Regardless, I was super-impressed by that death scene on top of an already stellar episode.

I can't express enough how much the tone has been nailed this week, creating a world that completely belongs to its villain. Every moment of Kira's new family life (which I maintain is the most entertaining stuff in this last third of the series) has made Kira's weaknesses and insecurities clear. He's played it cool, and he knows what he's doing for the most part, but everything was always ready to unravel at any moment. That insecurity used to be what made Kira more pathetic than scary, because it was the last thing keeping him from being the all-powerful villain that he has now become. We got so close to seeing him fall into a complete mental breakdown, but then that arrow had to come in and cut him a break. Now it's Kira's show and we're just watching it.

Rating: A+

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Sam Leach writes and records about One Piece for The One Piece Podcast and you can find him on Twitter @LuckyChainsaw