JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable

Episode 7

Sometimes you gotta feel bad for the people localizing JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. The name changes for all the western music references have got to be non-negotiable from a legal standpoint, but it's so blatant sometimes that it gets a chuckle. The Crunchyroll stream of this episode has a shot of a character announcing, “This Stand's name is Show Off!” in the subtitles while a big title card saying “Surface” sits in plain view. Whoops. At least Savage Garden seems to like being on the show.

Diamond is Unbreakable seeks to take us back to high school; the lockers, the love letters and all the rumors flying around about local teens gouging their own eyes out with pens. Yes, there appears to be another Stand user hanging about Morioh, and this time he's among Josuke and Koichi's classmates. His name is Toshikazu Hazamada, and he commands the aforementioned Surface, a wooden doll Stand that can mimic another person and control the original like a puppet. Josuke becomes the primary victim of this power after accidentally touching it while looking through Hazamada's locker.

It isn't long before Hazamada and Surface's trickery have Josuke and Koichi bested, and Hazamada is out on the town looking to take advantage of his new Josuke lookalike. Hazamada is after Jotaro, and it appears that he's part of some secret group of Stand users who are looking to avoid being stopped by our friendly neighborhood JoJos. We still know very little about this group, so this episode decides to focus on Hazamada specifically, who is characterized as a bitter loner nerd type. In the midst of his scheming, we see him lashing out at his own fake-Josuke for getting so much attention from girls out in public, though his Stand remains obedient and accommodating to his master's whim. Hazamada is a sad, jealous little man.

Once Josuke and Koichi catch back up, we get to see some pretty cool and clever problem solving, where the two of them use their respective Stands in creative ways to slow Hazamada down. Josuke throws a shattered bottle, only to use Crazy Diamond to reconstruct it around Surface's hand when it reaches out to catch the shards. Koichi uses Echoes to create the illusion of a train in the distance, tricking Hazamada into taking the long way around instead of just crossing through. It's a lot of little thoughtful ideas that don't feel contrived, as JoJo's often isn't afraid to be.

I'm reminded that Jotaro is even in this show at all. I'm pretty on board with the whole Part Four cast as it stands now, so I'm pretty okay with that, but I wonder what he does with all his spare time? Does he just sit in his hotel room and talk to people on the phone every now and then? The episode wraps when Surface has control of Josuke in Jotaro's presence, pretending to be a reflection in a nearby window. Josuke is about to be forced to stab Jotaro in the back of his head with a pen (I guess pens are just Hazamada's thing), but is saved when some nearby tough guys! find Hazamada and beat him up for dirtying their motorcycle earlier in the episode with his bloody hand. Our villain is done in by his own lack of respect for others.

This is a pretty mild episode of JoJo's if ever there was one. I like seeing bits and pieces of the school setting, as it reminds me more of cheesy high school sitcoms than the usual anime high school we've seen so many times. I think the 90s time period helps separate it from what the otherwise hyper present setting of modern anime. The story and conflict of this episode feels like it's gone in a blink of an eye. It's very quick to get started, and it's very quick to get wrapped up. It's one of those twenty minute episodes that feels more like five. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it makes for a pretty soft experience overall.

We've now established a villain group of some kind, a string of people I'm sure we'll see get taken down one at a time. While the show is still keeping it character-focused, I think there's a notable juxtaposition between Josuke and Hazamada. The two are opposites, basically. Hazamada is small, creepy, and angry at the world, whereas Josuke is strong, popular and always finding himself helping others. I don't think the episode is making any grand statement there, but it is an example of how Diamond is Unbreakable focuses on the emotional weaknesses of its villains. I think we're going to see more of Hazamada (I'm just assuming this about everybody who appears in the opening), so maybe we'll get to see that go somewhere interesting.

Rating: B

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

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