Two months after the battle in Wind Knights Lot, Jonathan and Erina will finally have their honeymoon in America. On the faithful day of the trip, February 7th, 1889, something dark is looming around the corner, Wang Chung, Dio's faithful servant ordered a coffin to be loaded in the same ship the Joestars boarded going to America.
Before talking about the main content of the episode, let's talk about what happened after JoJo defeated Dio. Dio found a way for him to extend his life after JoJo hit him with the Ripple by cutting off his own head from his body. It's kinda brutal and since he is an immortal vampire clinging on to his life, I guess it is understandable. It didn't help that luck continues to stay on his side as his servant Wang Chung saved him!
As for JoJo and his friends, they destroyed Dio's Stone Mask and burned Dire's dead body and since they destroyed the Stone Mask, this is the last time we will see it again! Now that all is well, I guess it is time for the wedding of Jonathan and Erina and by the looks of it, JoJo decided to get married with Erina as fast as possible because according to the newspaper article were it was featured, it seems that the wedding took place a few days after the battle in Wind Knights Lot!
Two months later, they decided to have their honeymoon in America and all of their friends and allies are there to bid them farewell. One thing I notice aside from Speedwagon running a bit late is that there are two new disciples of the Ripple that are part of the group who will bid farewell to the Joestars. Hopefully, we will see them in the future... unless Araki decides to forget about these guys if he feels like it. Aside from the Joestars, also boarding in the ship is a coffin owned by a Chinaman and by the looks of it; it seems that Dio is inside of that coffin.
For a brief moment, we saw JoJo and Erina enjoying their times as newlywed couples. The way how they express their love for each other is so cute that it feels like it was yesterday when these two first met back when they are still kids. But everything will change because of Wang Chung's appearance in the ship. As expected, JoJo followed the Chinaman only to end up in Dio's trap. The coffin turns out to have two locks, one on the inside and one on the outside and it seems that Dio is planning to place something large on that coffin and that something large is no other than JoJo!
This is when we learn Dio's plan; he will steal JoJo's body and thinks that his body is the perfect body for his renewed immortality. The way on how Dio explains why he respected JoJo has some flashbacks on some major events of the series. It feels like it was yesterday when Dio wore the Stone Mask and became a vampire. What I find weird about Dio's explanation why he wanted JoJo's body sounded a bit gay to me. It didn't help that Dio looks a bit fabulous and the one who is likely to say those lines!
One thing that surprised me is that JoJo's response on Dio's attack is a bit slow that Dio had a chance to stun him before he can make a move. Since JoJo is now stunned, Dio used this opportunity to hit his head so that he can have the rest of his body! Thankfully, JoJo regained some of his sense and is able to evade Dio's fatal liquid eye laser attack. While this is all happening, zombies are infesting the ship and it feels like I am watching a scene straight from some zombie flick! Dang it, why is this show so awesome that we have zombies and vampires in one scene?!
Even though Erina didn't do much in this episode because she is completely unaware about JoJo's vampire hunting sideline, she only served as JoJo's emotional support that caused him to take action to use his remaining strength to create one final Ripple. Even though it didn't kill Dio or Wang Chung, at least it dealt a bit of damage and controlled Wang Chung's movement that caused him to stay on the ship's engine and since he is a zombie, his strength can cause a buildup on the steam and since the steam can't escape, as expected, the ship's machinery will explode!
Even though JoJo didn't directly killed Dio and Wang Chung, at least he can destroy the ship infested by zombies and might kill Dio and Wang Chung in the process, but how about Erina? One thing I like about Erina in this episode is her dedication as Jonathan's wife that she wants to die alongside with her husband. The final kiss between the couple is really touching; you can feel the emotion between the two, like Jonathan is giving his wife one final kiss before he can make his final sacrifice to save the world from zombies and Dio's wish for world domination.
Speaking of which, even though Erina wanted to die alongside with her husband, Jonathan requested her to save the baby and leave the ship. As expected, Erina followed his husband's orders. The ship finally explodes and Jonathan protected his wife for one last time. Jonathan's final words for his wife is really touching that even though I expected it, it made me teary eye for a bit when I first watched the episode. Because of the impact of the explosion, Erina and the baby that she is holding flew to Dio's coffin and escaped the ship thanks to the impact.
As for Dio, he used the final opportunity he had to have JoJo's body, only to be hugged by JoJo who wished to die along with his Dio, which he considered having a bizarre friendship with. The final scene between the two is really touching, even though Dio didn't say anything that can make you cry about JoJo's death, you can feel that deep inside, Dio is mourning over to the death of the only man that he can respect. Jonathan Joestar died peacefully and Dio's fate is still unknown. It is not clear if Dio survived at the end but I guess Araki will keep us hanging for a while then.
As for Erina, carrying her son with Jonathan on her womb and a baby on her hand, she will remember the day when Jonathan Joestar saved her life for one last time and promised that even though his history will not be part of history books but his descendants will remember the man named Jonathan Joestar who, along with his friends prevented a zombie outbreak lead by a fabulous blonde vampire. But this is not the end of the adventures of the Joestars as a new adventure will begin next week!
Final thoughts about Part I: Phantom Blood, it is really amazing. Aside that the animation team did a lot of experimenting in capturing the original author's infamous art style and choice of colors on some scenes, they were able to tell us an action packed story of a 5-volume part of the series in 9 episodes, which is approximately 2 hours. Even though they cut some minor scenes, it didn't affect the pacing of the series and gave us a show that is a mix of suspense, horror, thriller, action, drama and serious humor.
The characters of the series are a bit out of this world in terms of powers and abilities but their personalities are grounded to reality. Jonathan Joestar is such a gentleman that it is hard not to hate the guy. Speedwagon's dedication to serve JoJo is so impressive and I really like it. It didn't help that he sometimes do some commentaries on some scenes that he is part of! Baron Zeppeli is one amazing mentor and the Dark Knights are fun mini-bosses, especially Bruford. As for the Ripple disciples that were introduced at the near end of this story arc, they are just fun to watch and were there just for JoJo not to be distracted with his fight with Dio.
Dio is one despicable villain. Though at first I sympathized him because of his father and his love for his mother, I started to like the guy as a villain because of his dedication to be on top while stepping on other people and in this case, we have JoJo. His rivalry with JoJo was at first; one-sided until we saw JoJo's growth as a person and as fighter thanks to the supervision of Baron Zeppeli and the people he met along the way. The final episode of this arc showed us that at the end, Dio respected JoJo as his equal and I like this change of heart in him and because of this, he wanted JoJo's body to "complete" him.
Jonathan's story has just ended but this is not the end of the adventures of the Joestar clan! A new adventure begins in the year 1938 and it's time for a young Joseph Joestar to fight the origins of the Stone Mask, the Pillar Men! Joseph Joestar or JoJo's Bizarre Adventure will begin soon!
