JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable

Episode 22

I didn't even realize until now that Shigekiyo's voice actor was Kappei Yamaguchi of Usopp fame. I feel like a lot of One Piece actors go unnoticed by me in this show, and now I feel like I have to turn in my nerd card.

Of course, this realization comes just as poor ole Shigechi exits the show. Last week's episode ended with a confrontation between him and our serial killer baddie, Yoshikage Kira. Kira unveiled his Stand, Killer Queen, and this week opens with the reveal of Killer Queen's power: it can turn anything it touches into a bomb. This ability is demonstrated several times, first in the form of a simple coin and later in the form of a door handle. Shigechi is horribly damaged by the coin, but manages to survive long enough to escape and attempt to warn Josuke and Okuyasu. The best scene in the episode is when we believe that Shigechi is safe from harm but gets tracked down by the tactful Kira regardless. Shige is forced to stand outside the classroom door where his friends await, unaware as he is murdered in cold blood. The scene is drawn out to build the tension and only further highlighted by the sad orchestra.

However, for the time being, I'm not especially impressed by the creativity of Kira's Stand. I was half expecting something more abstract or interesting, and bomb powers feel like something we could have seen as early as Stardust Crusaders. That said, it doesn't lessen the overall impact. I was in awe during Shigechi's death scene, where the explosion tore his body to shreds and left nothing behind. The visual style of the explosion was intense, and it really makes the power feel devastating when it lands.

This is the point in the series where it's clear that we're more or less done establishing the town of Morioh. Shigechi's death is felt by all of the other Stand users in town, and we even see them all gather to confirm with Reimi the ghost girl that her killer was a Stand user who had just claimed another victim. Even the Italian chef guy and the beautician lady are present for this briefing. When we first met Reimi, there was a question as to whether or not the JoJos would investigate a run-of-the-mill serial killer, but now that he's 100% confirmed to have a higher Stand-ing, it's detective mode activated.

Personally, I'm still trying to get a feel for Kira as an antagonist. Even though Diamond is Unbreakable has had much lower stakes than past JoJo adventures, the sudden inclusion of character death doesn't make him especially threatening when compared to other shonen villains. Nothing about him seems dramatically smarter or stronger than the Dio's more competent henchmen in Stardust Crusaders, for instance. He's got a cool, simple design and a few interesting serial killer hooks, but so far he's not scratching any itches for me.

Regardless, this episode really shows its stuff in the drama department. The execution of Shigechi's death scene is kind of beautiful in its own sad, twisted way. The image of him beaten and desperate, holding onto the door knob and looking through the window as Josuke and Okuyasu chat up a storm without a care in the world, is really evocative. Shigechi didn't get to be around the story for very long, but his touch-and-go relationship with our heroes feels especially tragic now that they had a potential common enemy to unite against. But alas, this show never intended to be so kind.

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