JoJo's Bizarre Adventure S02E23-24 Review: Final Tarot

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Stardust Crusaders, Episodes 23-24: High Priestess

We've reached the halfway point of Stardust Crusaders, and the subsequent episodes are all titled the "Battle of Egypt", released after a half-year hiatus or something along those lines. In either case, we've run out of Tarot cards (or, well, we're saving two more -- one is Dio's and another one belongs to a main party member we'll meet next episode), leading to the final Tarot-themed Stand, High Priestess. Overall, we've gone through 24 episodes and a huge chunk of it is just kind of fighting. That's really the biggest criticism anyone can give about Crusaders -- its pacing, especially in its first half, is just action scene followed by action scene followed by a couple of jokes followed by more action scenes.

Very few character development really happened or stuck, and a lot of the episode setup isn't really the best. And we still have another 20+ episodes to go before Crusader's end. And honestly, a good part of why the pacing of Crusaders feels off is partly due to its own setup. We establish early on how Holly is dying, how the oh-so-evil Dio Brando has returned and is behind everything, including the endless army of enemies sent their way... but then we spend some episodes where our heroes decide to take a camel, or to find some exotic country and have a brief bit of tourism... the sense of urgency and the actual pace taken by individual episodes and arcs don't really feel like they fit together. It's something that's actually avoided by most other Parts of JJBA, with them employing multiple antagonists, or to have the main antagonist not actually aware of our protagonists until halfway through the Part -- something executed particularly well in Parts 2, 4, 6 and 7.

And the reason why I'm having this brief recap is, well, a good chunk of the second part also ended in a relatively long recap of all of their enemies and fights, and I honestly don't think all of them are necessary. It's a necessary evil because JJBA is a serialized manga, and also they had to sort of finish all of the Tarot motif... but it does make a relatively huge chunk of this half-season pretty repetitive. And as much as I enjoy the cast of Stardust Crusaders, they do kind of... don't really develop all that much, yeah? It's something that subsequent Parts will at least try to fix, at least a little. JJBA is a series that's all about the action scenes first and foremost, after all. 

Anyway, other than the novelty of fighting in a submarine, and later underwater, "High Priestess" is actually a bit of a letdown as far as action segments go. It starts off somewhat promising, with the introduction that High Priestess is apparently well-renowned for being a long-distance stand that's able to transform into anything inorganic -- first disguising itself as a mug, then later as parts of the submarine's interior, and even one point disguising itself as Polnareff's rebreather. But for a Stand that can supposedly transform into anything, it's even more grossly inefficient, taking its time to become a harpoon gun that reloads slowly, and not trying to do anything actually lethal when it had the chance to do so to Joseph (as the cup, merely slicing off Joseph's arm) or Polnareff (she was halfway down his throat). Moreover, High Priestess's real durability also seems particularly inconsistent. Throughout her scuttling around in her smaller form, she can apparently withstand practically anything our heroes' Stand throw at her, but when she's large and apparently more powerful, Jotaro just... punches through her teeth and defeats her? I dunno. Add the "Jotaro tries to flatter Midler scene, which just plain doesn't work, and the entire two parter is honestly pretty underwhelming. It's a bit of a shame, really. 

We did get a fun moment where Polnareff dicks around with sign language, making up "I can see your panties" with sign language, the normally-serious Kakyoin getting it, and then the two of them spending an entire scene making a fun little bro-handshake. That is adorable.

(Also, we get an "OH MY GOD" not just from Joseph, but at one point from Polnareff when Joseph's knocked out.)

Honestly, the most interesting segments of this episode, I feel, are the phone calls to Suzie Q, Joseph's wife, which helps to remind us the stakes and what Joseph and Jotaro is fighting for. It's a fun little conversation, and the anime expands a lot on the otherwise-short conversation. I'm pretty sure the scenes after the recap, with Dio and Geb killing the random Speedwagon spy, is also original to the anime.

And, honestly? I think that more than anything, this two-parter could've been a single episode. Between the recap, the added scenes (which are nice but ultimately unnecessary), and a whole lot of shots of the pretty ocean, it's not like there's a lot of things that actually really happen here. A pretty slow two-parter and a pretty bland antagonist, honestly.

Anyway, to allow me to catch my breath a little, I'm going to take a brief break from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure for around a month or so. In the meantime, enjoy some Kaiji. 

The JoJo Playlist:

• Midler borrows her name from Bette Midler, an actress and a singer, most famously known for her single Wind Beneath My Wings.