JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders Egypt Arc

Episode 16

The Stardust Crusaders have finally set foot inside Dio's mansion, only to confront their nemesis' floating butler instead, a man by the name of...D'Arby?! This is Terence T. D'Arby (or "D'Arby the Younger" in the subtitles, but let's be honest with ourselves, it's a reference and the Engrish is clear to the ear.) He is ten years younger than Daniel J. D'Arby, wields the stand of Atum the Egyptian God of Creation, and has very different attitudes about gambling than his older brother. You see, he approaches wagers of the soul in more direct ways, by um...by erm...you know, the episode doesn't make it entirely clear.

Let me see: D'Arby likes to predict his opponent's moves and make wagers on them, but whether he wins or loses doesn't seem to matter much because his goal is only to make physical contact with his opponent's stand and possess its soul with Atum. However, this has little to do with his main mode of gambling, which is based entirely in skill-based competitions fought fairly: specifically video game competitions. D'Arby #2 is a gamer, and Kakyoin must beat him in a game of F-Zero, I mean F-Mega. If he loses the game, D'Arby will put his soul in a creepy doll. Because he also likes porcelain dolls, I guess.

Huh.

Yeah, this is not one of the stronger Jojo's fights. It's certainly not bad! The episode is solidly entertaining and moves at that familiar pulse-pounding JJBA clip, but the best Jojo's battles have clearly established rules and themes, even if they're based in wild nonsense. Terence T's modus operandi is just all over the place, but not in a fun-wacky-random way. Most of his powers seem co-opted from other stands. Atum possesses and restrains others like The Empress, but he also has the power to open holes in space like another stand we'll meet in the near future. Both these abilities are sidelined pretty quickly in favor of a more cliche version of Dan D'Arby's soul-transplant powers that uses creepy dolls instead of poker chips, and a superpowered button-mashing speed ability similar to the three teenage Stardust Crusaders' speedy abilities. He's a weird chimera of powers and conditions that doesn't really come together into a striking whole, and it doesn't help that his fight is taken deadly seriously when amping it up for comedy would have worked better. You can't follow an act like Pet Shop for dramatic tension with this weaker gumbo of stand powers.

So, for all his braggadocio about being younger and more flexible than his old-fashioned brother, Terence T's fight lacks the energy of the standout Daniel J fight, but it's not all bad. David Productions' clever (and money-saving) morphing effect animations on D'Arby's doll collection gives it a more unique creepiness than it would have had on paper, and the CG graphics of the combatants' F-Mega race are a fun changeup of visual style for the show. Fun yes, but not visually impressive, and I think an emulation of SNES graphics would have been a more fun joke than the late-90s arcade-game style of CG that they ultimately went with, but Gamer Kakyoin battling Gamer D'Arby is more fun than watching this lesser brother monologue about his talents.

The episode does tip its hand at the end both by giving us a heartfelt Kakyoin flashback, and showing Terence become frustrated by Kakyoin's skill at the game. The Stardust Crusaders only defeat their opponents when the show has dragged them down to their lowest point, so the wave of hope that Hierophant Green's master is currently riding has to come crashing down soon. I can't blame Araki for wanting to spotlight his mad skillz, though. Next time, it will be Jotaro's turn to step up to the plate.

Rating: B

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders Egypt Arc is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Hope has been an anime fan since childhood, and likes to chat about cartoons, pop culture, and visual novel dev on Twitter.