Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders S2 – 20

No doggy bag needed as Iggy leaves nothing…and no one…behind

I survived the crowds, sweltering heat (mixed with freezing cold nights), and endless lineups of Anime North. After spending 3 days secluded from the real world, I feel like I have a lot of catching up to do. It still feels a little odd to sit in front of a computer and do work instead of being surrounded by cosplayers all the time. I guess I’ll just watch anime to fill the void until next year’s con.

Last week I was afraid to commit to saying Polnareff was truly dead because I suspected something like this might happen. Looks like being jaded and slightly paranoid served me well this time. I grinned from ear to ear when I saw good ol Polnareff plastered to the ceiling in a ball of sand. Yes, this is exactly how things should be! Kill the dumb dog just as he becomes tolerable so my last memory of him is a good one and then let the best character of the series live on! What a nice fake out. I’m so glad Polnareff was the one to survive because it just makes so much more sense.

Ah yes, the warm embrace of sand rubbing into your open wounds

There wasn’t much left to be done in the Vanilla Ice fight aside from Polnareff finishing him off. Even with just that shred of material to work with, the fight ended spectacularly in a vengeance-fueled comeback from Polnareff. I had attributed Vanilla Ice’s tenacity to being a total creepazoid who probably has a shrine of Dio in his closet that he prays to every night. His personality made his ability to come back after becoming a shish-kabob (several times!) seem like a result of pure willpower. In reality, he was able to overcome all the extra ventilation Polnareff gave him because Dio turned him into a vampire.

The signs of him being a vampire were all there, but I completely missed them. It’s classic for a vampire to create minions by feeding them vampiric blood. It’s also suspicious that Vanilla Ice fights in a dark room the entire time. But because he’s such a devoted lunatic, I didn’t think much about him coming back from even the most fatal of blows. You would think I would have twigged in to his true nature when he got up after having his head twisted around by a rapier shoved in his forehead. That’s just how much of an impression his obsession made on me.

Light beam-chan gets violent

So Vanilla Ice dies after he becomes more like the man the idolizes…how ironic. It was a bittersweet end because Polnareff pulled through brilliantly, but you could tell he was in pain. He lost both Iggy and Avdol. And a significant hunk of flesh from his leg jesus christ that must be smarting right now. Anyways, it was definitely a great battle with all the overdramatic farewells I could ever hope for.

In contrast, the rest of the episode was a wash – almost as if to stall for time. Nukesaku built it up like he would be the dark horse who was secretly more powerful than everyone else, but he turned out to be another one hit KO like Billie Jean. Geez. I’m more interested in HOW he got a moving, talking, woman’s face on the back of his head than anything else. Likewise, I was bored to tears at watching Susie Q be an annoying tourist. I’m not watching the Jojo gang go on a journey because I care about Holly – I’m watching it so I can see them beat up Dio! Holly is just extra baggage I have to get through to see the good stuff! I didn’t even remember she existed until now.

The good news is that we got through the lame stuff and now it’s time for DIO! Or maybe not. The preview sure didn’t show a whole lot of him. But then again, previews can be very deceiving. I’ll just stick my foot in my mouth and wait to see what happens.

Simbaaaaaa…

About Overcooled

A neuroscience graduate, black belt, and all-around nerd. You'll either find me in my lab or curled up in my rilakkuma kigurumi watching anime.