Also, new opening sequence!
The battle between Joseph and Straits continues as each man tries to outwit each other in battle! Can Joseph finally avenge Speedwagon's death? Also, how strong is vampire Straits that caused a lot of damage in public property?
Before talking about the battle between Joseph and Straits, this is the first episode that featured the new opening theme, "Bloody Stream" by CODA. The new opening sequence is filled with spoilers that will happen in Part II and to some extent, spoiled some elements from Part III. If you are a big JoJo fan, you can spot these spoilers with ease. To give you an idea, Joseph's Stand in Part III, Hermit Purple makes a brief appearance. If it is not enough for you, the relationship between Joseph and Caesar as rivals and allies was also seen in the opening sequence.
Aside from these spoilers, it also gives us a glimpse of the Pillar Men, the major villains in Part II and the ones responsible to the creation of the Stone Masks. Other characters that will appear in Part II such as Loggins and Messina, Suzie Q and of course, Lisa Lisa are also seen in the opening featured in their original artwork from the manga. Visual wise, compared to the gritty and manly Part I opening sequence, Part II's opening sequence leans more on the fabulous side of things and I like it.
For the actual episode itself, it is during these moments when I am reading the manga that I said to myself, "Joseph Joestar is the best JoJo." Indeed he is the best JoJo for reasons that he knows how to play dirty! Unlike his grandfather who likes to play fairly, Joseph likes to the use of dirty tactics just to defeat a single vampire. For crying out loud, he just grabs a freakin' Tommy Gun out of nowhere and shoots Straits till he runs out of ammo! What's more, he likes to act like he is getting killed by Straits' attack only to pull some big trick just to fool the guy in thinking that he killed him!
To make it more awesome, when his Ripple attack is not effective thanks to Straits' scarf, what he did is attach a grenade on the scarf! It's a good attempt to kill a vampire but he noticed it. What happens next is something that caused my eyes to widen and made me raise my fist with you. The guy freakin' attached more grenades in Straits' back without him noticing it! I don't know how the heck Joseph did it but whatever trick he did just to pull that move, I want to learn it!
As expected, the move worked wonders but the problem is, Straits is regenerating and the body parts that are detached in his body are combining. Since the guy is regenerating, Joseph then tells Smokey his plan B. The way Joseph said it made the plan sound so serious, it is so serious that I am at the edge of my seat waiting what is his plan B. As it turns out, it involves the use of legs strength. By leg strength, I mean the leg strength to run away! This scene is one of the many reasons why Joseph is my favorite JoJo. He knows when to retreat and when to fight back.
Since they are now running away from the regenerating Straits, a female reporter took pictures of this incident and ended up becoming Straits' hostage. As for the hostage taking scene, I just love how he doesn't care about the female reporter. It sums up that the only things that he cared about are his grandma and Speedwagon. The only time he decides to fight Straits in this scene is when he removed the reporter's molar. This made me think that Joseph is one of those guys that need to be provoked first if you want him to save some person that he doesn't know.
The fight between Joseph and Straits in the Golden Gate Bridge is probably, one of my favorite moments in the series. Even though Straits has the upper hand in this one now that Joseph barely has any tricks left in his sleeve, Joseph showed us that he has the Joestar blood running in his blood. What I mean by barely any tricks left is that he still has those shot glasses that he got from the cafe that he used to deflect Straits' laser eye attack thing. It's cool how Joseph was able to figure out that he can deflect those laser eye attacks after their fight in the restaurant.
After Joseph punched Straits with one Ripple-filled punch, he saved the falling Straits, only to ask him about Speedwagon after he learned that the man is still alive after all. The Pillar Man that they discovered was then brought up before Straits committed suicide with the use of the Ripple inside his body. I am not sure if his death is what you can consider a heroic one but the fact that he told Joseph that Speedwagon is alive and that a threat stronger than him is about to be revived, guess I can consider it as such.
Though Joseph did a lot of great stuff in this episode, I am disappointed with vampire Straits. For a Ripple master AND a vampire and is supposed to have the upper hand from a newbie such as Joseph, he barely did anything that has something to do with the Ripple. The only Ripple related that he did is the use of the Ripple conducting scarf that he is wearing during their fight. The use of a hostage just to provoke Joseph to fight is something that I didn't expect for him to do since he is a proud master of the ancient Ripple arts.
Meanwhile, somewhere in Mexico is a Nazi camp lead by Major Stroheim who is busy with some special research about the Pillar Man in Mexico. First impression on Stroheim is that he is one crazy German soldier. For starters, he wanted the Mexican servant that cut his cheeks to lick the cut part. Second, it is his voice, it sounds like he can do something crazy and I am right. This something crazy is reviving the Pillar Man and he wants Speedwagon's knowledge of the Joestars, the Pillar Man and of course, the Stone Mask after bragging about how German medical science is THE BEST IN THE WORLD! I am starting to like Stroheim.
Back to Joseph, after his fight with the female reporter, he heads to Mexico to save his Uncle Stroheim form the Nazis. But someone is following him. Also, where did he got his motorcycle and in some extent, his driver's license? As for these Nazis, the human sacrifices needed to revive the Pillar Man are being processed and Speedwagon continues to be afraid of things to come.
