JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable

Episode 39

It's easy to say "Oh, I wish this series would never end," but I don't think it ever dawned on me just how much I was going to miss JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable until this final episode began to play. Not only is this probably the best episode of Part Four, but it made me reflect on all the little things that made the series so special. That's just the thing that I demand out of an ending for a longer show like this, and it delivered to my wildest expectations.

The story picks up where the last episode left off, with Yoshikage Kira's defeat and confrontation by the our main cast. Last week I was wondering if there was room left in the story for one final ditch effort from Kira to worm his way out of a hopeless situation, and the show answered my curiosity appropriately. The answer is "sort of," as he crawls to the side of a nurse when help is arriving at the scene to respond to the bloodshed. As he's setting this woman up to be the new trigger for Bites the Dust, he admires her hands as creepily as Yoshikage Kira can, sharing an anecdote about that time the Mona Lisa's hands turned him on. (Of all his lines in the series, "I got an erection" seems to be an instant classic.)

From Kira's point of view, we see Bites the Dust succeed. We see time and space open up and warp him back in time in a humongous wave of light and color. At first, it seems like he has won yet again, but he's really wound up in the ghost alley, where Reimi Sugimoto and Arnold's souls wait for him. He died thanks to a combined effort between Koichi and Jotaro's Stands, followed by a freak poetic accident in which a hurried ambulance ran over his already dizzied head. This non-chronological sequence allows the story to filter its drama in the most effective way possible. Kira's as good as defeated, but it didn't feel like quite the right time to declare him dead and beaten in terms of the episode's rhythm. Instead, we got a big flashy moment where we think he's about to save himself one last time, keeping us at the edge of our seats, only to discover that Kira's fate is far more pathetic than expected. It also allows his defeat to feel like a team effort. Josuke did most of the heavy lifting, but the rest of the fight was up to Okuyasu, then Koichi, then Jotaro, then fate itself, and finally Reimi.

The rest of the episode focuses on the necessary goodbyes. Now that her soul has found peace, it's time for Reimi to pass on to the afterlife (with an adorable, begrudged "I'll miss you" from Rohan). It's also time for Jotaro and Joseph to return home, and that's where the strongest sentiment comes in. Diamond is Unbreakable began with Jotaro's arrival in Morioh, and the sense of characterization for the town itself is stronger than it's ever been as we bid it farewell. Morioh feels like its own character with a pulse and personality all its own. It's designed to represent an ordinary suburban Japanese town from the 90s, but it feels like so much of its own thing regardless because of this show's stellar cast.

This is the perfect kind of bittersweet ending, where I can't really tell what's making me happy and what's making me sad. Am I sad that the overall dynamic of the town's population will no longer include the likes of Jotaro, Joseph, Reimi, or even Kira? Or am I happy that things have been able to find a new normal, and that the friendships made throughout these 39 episodes will get to continue in peace, long after the audience has moved on? The episode ends with a montage set to an alternate recording of 'Great Days', which is coming dangerously close to usurping 'Bloody Stream' as my favorite JoJo opening, and every inclusion of the remaining characters (even the ones whose arcs didn't really go anywhere) made me feel a tiny bit misty-eyed.

This final episode is JoJo's Bizarre Adventure at its best. I love Morioh. I love these characters. Everybody who appears in this episode, from Kira to Reimi to the bit players who appear in the montage, just light up with energy and charisma, and the fact that the show is over now has moved me much more than I thought it would. Episodes like this actively make the show better, but also make me appreciate the stuff that came before even more. Regardless of how much I enjoyed each individual episode the week they aired, I think the big picture, how it feels when it all comes together, is incredibly strong. I can now claim with confidence that Diamond is Unbreakable is my favorite JoJo part by far.

Rating: A+

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

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