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JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable
Episode 9

by Sam Leach,

How would you rate episode 9 of
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable ?
Community score: 4.4

This week on JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Yukako continues to be pretty intense as far as self-appointed girlfriends go. She's ransomed Koichi's food and bathroom privileges behind study questions, and continues to baby him with the arrogant assumption that he needs her in his life in order to find success and happiness. Every attempt Koichi makes at deflating her delusions with the blunt truth that he's just not that into her is met with even further delusion.

Koichi is almost at a complete loss during the situation, however the silver lining is the Yukako doesn't seem to be aware of his Stand powers yet. Elsewhere we see Josuke and Okuyasu trying to figure out where in Morioh Yukako could have hidden their friend. Word is that Koichi's parents are about ready to call the police. Koichi's best chance is to use Echoes to call a nearby pay phone and alert the others of his situation while Yukako is out buying groceries.

The story of this two-parter is very much akin to the Stephen King novel, Misery. And since Diamond is Unbreakable has clearly been drawing a lot from horror fiction in general, that feels like a natural connection. Though, as horror-inspired and violent as JoJo's tends to get, it continues to be so bright and colorful that the comparison demands a bit of hesitation. Are we drawing from horror simply as a source of ideas, or is there something meant to be genuinely scary about these scenarios? The given atmosphere doesn't imply the latter.

Long story short, Koichi's attempts to call his friends doesn't pan out too well, and Yukako discovers Koichi's Stand and goes berserk. All hope is lost until Echoes rolls up into some kind of cocoon before metamorphosing into a new form. Yet another similarity to Cell from Dragon Ball. The new form, along with a significant upgrade in abilities (I'll get to that in a bit), also comes alongside a new haircut for Koichi. I'm gonna miss the Super Saiyan 'do. The new military flat top just can't compare.

“Echoes Act Two” gains a new set of skills that make it much more interesting in the kind of JoJo's scenarios we often see. Instead of its written sound effects just making noise, they also creates a physical condition when somebody touches them. For example, touching a door with the sound effect “FWOOSH” written on it will create a gust of wind that knocks you back. This opens the door for all sorts of unique problem solving in the future, though as usual the actual rules for how the power works are a little loosey-goosey.

All on his own, Koichi seems to have Yukako beat as the situation escalates to an all out Stand-off between Echoes and Yukako's hair powers. It's all showy and dramatic and accompanied with great music, as you can expect from JoJo's. The fight brings them to the edge of a cliff (i.e. the most dramatic place a fight can ever go) as Yukako is descending into the height of her madness. One of Koichi's attacks even knocks the color out of her hair somehow. It all culminates to Yukako's brashness causing her to get caught on the breaking part of the cliff, and Koichi using his Stand to save her life.

In the end, Yukako finally accepts that she was wrong. She's not letting go of her love for Koichi, if anything she loves him more now, but she sees the error of her ways. It's a pretty basic "all's well that ends well" type deal. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is a series that continues to be solid, alternating between wildly entertaining and run-of-the-mill. I'm totally in love with the cast and aesthetic of Diamond is Unbreakable, but I'm still waiting for an episode that has that significant "oomf" for me.

Rating: B

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


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