It begins.
Dio is in big trouble now as JoJo is aware of his plot and that he is no escape from the cops. With no other option left, he decides to wear the Stone Mask and tries to kill JoJo! What are the results of Dio's attempt to go beyond humanity?
The episode can be divided into two parts, the first part involves how Dio transcended beyond humanity, causing him to become a vampire because of the Stone Mask and the second part is the battle between JoJo and Dio. For the first part of the episode, one thing that I liked about this episode is how Dio tries to overturn the situation he is in right by what else; fake some tears as it might appeal the kind hearted JoJo! This is when Speedwagon appears and tells us that the guy is rotten to the core along with throwing the Chinaman who sold Dio the poison that slowly killed Mr. Joestar.
Now that he has nothing left to hide, JoJo cuffs Dio for the cops and it turns out that Dio is just waiting this opportunity to kill JoJo. Much to everyone's surprise, JoJo's father jump in and protected his son. This moment is one of those moments in the series that is really emotional, Mr. Joestar is a father to both of these boys and seeing that Dio doesn't mind killing the man who took care of him for seven years is quite a sad sight to see. As for JoJo, seeing his own father die in his arms is something a son can't accept, yet something a father cherished since at the end, he continued to fulfill his role as a father.
But even if his father died in his arms, there is something his father passed on to him, his will and his strength as a human being. It's quite a fantastic sight to see and the anime adaptation did a great job in conveying this scene well. One thing I noticed during these scenes is how Speedwagon acts like the narrator while telling his own comments about what he can say on an event that happened on JoJo's life. I am starting to like Speedwagon more, especially how he goes overly emotional in some scenes.
George Joestar's death also showed us his kindness towards others thanks to the tale of one police officer about Dario Brando and his kindness towards the man years ago. Because of this tale, it is safe to say that his son inherited his kindness and I really like it. Because of Mr. Joestar's death, Dio used his blood to become a vampire but since they are unaware of that, the cops continue to shoot him until they think that he is now dead.
This is when the second part of the episode kicks in, as expected; Dio is now a vampire and goes on a killing spree! One thing that really disappoints me about this scene is the censorship. For a show that airs around midnight in Japan, I am still quite surprised that they allow censoring the gore of the deaths of some cops. Oh well, there is still a Blu-ray release for the series so it is likely we will see an uncensored version of those killing scenes.
Dio as a vampire is quite terrifying, unlike the first vampire we saw that was created by the Stone Mask, vampire Dio is actually smarter than that guy. He doesn't act a bit zombie-ish like the vampire we saw in the previous episode and acts more of a cold and calculated killer. Cold and calculated killer in a sense that his first kill feels like he is testing his new found strength as a vampire first on one of the cops before starting to suck some blood and create his first servant before proceeding to try and kill JoJo.
As for JoJo, he is stunned that his research gave birth to a creature that transcended beyond humanity, even if that is the case, he is willing to kill Dio, what's more, he is scared that he will face someone that is beyond human. I admire JoJo for his rather futile move but this move showed his determination and his courage to finally end everything. The fight between the two is quite intense as it began with JoJo's willpower as a human being against Dio's power as a vampire but as expected, JoJo's futile resistance didn't gain him anything but injury.
The turning point of their battle begins when JoJo decided to burn Dio, which began the battle of wits between the two. It's quite entertaining to see how Dio can put this situation into his own advantage since JoJo clearly has an upper hand on this one... or so I thought since Dio keeps on regenerating even after his body is badly burned by the flames! Even if that is case, JoJo continues with his plan, which is still unclear until since all he did is to climb on top of his burning house while Dio is just casually walking towards JoJo. Dio clearly has the advantage in this one... or so I thought.
Turns out that JoJo planned to burn his entire house so that the flames can build up inside it and he will jump inside the burning house along with Dio so that Dio can continuously burn in those flames! That plan might work but it will risk JoJo's life at the end, making this plan risky on both parties since for starters, Dio is a vampire and it is not sure how long can he last and second, JoJo's physical conditioning is above an average human being. If you look at it, both men have high chances to survive in these flames.
The battle between the two ended because of one surprise element that came in between that is, luck. JoJo is just lucky during that time since a bit of the spear that stabbed him earlier in the episode and used it to support his large body and used it in his advantage so that he can drag Dio onto the Statue of Venus that ended (?) him! Now that Dio's gone, it seems that JoJo's life will go back to normal after it... or so we thought. As it turns out, the Chinaman escaped Dio's killing spree. While he is searching for the Stone Mask, Dio's weak hand sucked his blood. Guess this is not yet the end of Dio.
