Goodbye, Morioh – The Heart of Gold

Goodbye, Morioh Town - The Golden Heart (さよなら杜王町-黄金の心) is the thirty-ninth and final episode of Diamond is Unbreakable and the one hundred thirteenth episode of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure anime. It covers Chapter 436 through Chapter 439.

Summary
Having been backed into a corner by Josuke, Okuyasu, and Hayato, Kira is left in disbelief at the prospect that Jotaro might finally catch him. As a paramedic crew who heard the explosion from earlier rushes to aid him, Jotaro, Koichi, and Rohan come to the realization that the man before them is the serial killer they've been searching for.

Seemingly delirious, Kira reveals his identity and his hand fetish to the female paramedic who comes to his side. Hayato suddenly screams for the heroes to stop Kira; he plans to use the paramedic to activate Bites the Dust and undo his defeat. Rohan tells Jotaro to stop time, but the latter notes that he's too far away to do anything. He runs at Kira as Killer Queen raises its left thumb...

...all for naught, as Bites the Dust activates. Kira gloats at his success, only to realize that he's in an unfamiliar part of town. When he looks at his watch to check the time, he notices that it's still damaged from Stray Cat's air bubble. As he contemplates his situation, he is confronted by Reimi Sugimoto, who reveals that Kira is, in fact, a ghost. At her prodding, Kira starts to remember how he died:

Just before he could activate Bites the Dust, Kira's trigger hand was weighed down by Echoes ACT3. Jotaro then used Star Platinum: The World to stop time, breaking Killer Queen's finger before pummeling the serial killer and his Stand. Once time resumed, Kira was thrown by the force of Star Platinum's punches into the path of the paramedics' reversing ambulance, which ran over his head and crushed it in, killing him instantly. The gruesome result horrified everyone, leaving Hayato bittersweet towards the death of the man who killed. Meanwhile, the police ask for the dead man's identity, as his face was scraped off by the ambulance's wheel; the female paramedic from earlier identifies him as Yoshikage Kira, all the while oblivious to the fact that he was a murderer.

Having remembered his death, Kira's skin starts to crack and bleed as Reimi reveals who she is by showing the wounds he gave her. Kira realizes that Reimi was actually trying to make him turn around and be dragged away by the alley's hands and tries to force her to turn around instead, suddenly reverting to his original face. However, Arnold bites Kira's hand and the alley hands tear the killer to shreds, ensuring that Yoshikage Kira will forever spend his afterlife as a damned soul. Having finally found peace, Reimi and Arnold are able to ascend to heaven, bidding farewell to Koichi, Rohan, and company. However, the price of victory over Kira is almost too steep to pay. Meanwhile, Hayato is left in tears at his home as his mother obliviously waits for her dead husband to return; in a narration, Rohan notes how because of Kira, so many families in Morioh have been left waiting for loved ones that will never come home.

With the summer of 1999 coming to a close, everyone is able to return to living normal lives. Among others, Joseph Joestar adopts Shizuka as his own daughter, Jotaro is able to obtain his doctorate after a successful thesis on a starfish he saw on Morioh's beach, Koichi and Yukako now live happily as a couple, Tonio Trussardi's restaurant booms in popularity thanks to Pearl Jam's restorative abilities, and Josuke, Okuyasu, and Koichi continue to hang out as an unbreakable trio of friends.

Manga/Anime Differences

 * Added a range indicator for Star Platinum: The World's time stop.
 * Added a flashback to Kira's youth while he's explaining the origins of his hand fetish.
 * Kira traveling back in time via Bites the Dust is much more intricate, with extended visuals and effects.
 * Kira's head being twisted around by the ambulance's tire is shown rather than obscured. The actual crushing of the head is still not shown.
 * Kira's face is shown transforming back into his original appearance as he attacks Reimi.
 * The hellish dimension Kira is dragged into is shown.
 * Reimi's final farewell scene is extended.
 * The narration detailing where all of the characters are after the story concluded in the manga was expanded into a series of short scenes:
 * Tomoko Higashikata is seen at her house complaining that Josuke stole her snack and drinks his juice as revenge.
 * Koichi Hirose and Yukako Yamagishi share a tender moment before Anjuro Katagiri's rock before departing together.
 * Okuyasu Nijimura and his father eat at Tonio Trussardi's trattoria with Stray Cat whom they adopted in hopes the father can be cured, it doesn't work but the father feels better.
 * Incidentally, Yuya Fungami and his posse leave the restaurant, satisfied with the rejuvenating property of Tonio's cuisine.
 * Tonio salutes Yuya while looking directly at the screen and expresses looking forward to their next visit.
 * Several minor characters are seen crossing the same street.
 * crosses the street surrounded by the ugly girl from the Cinderella Episode and the biker from the Surface Episode who both seem to have a relationship, and the Hirose family.
 * The mother and her baby from Highway Star Part 2 are seen passing by.
 * The friend of one of Yoshikage Kira's victim seen in Yoshikage Kira Wants to Live Quietly Part 2 is also seen passing by.
 * Yoshikage Kira's coworkers seen in Yoshikage Kira Wants to Live Quietly Part 1 are seen discussing Kira's death.
 * Tamami Kobayashi and Toshikazu Hazamada are seen arguing over a spilled can of juice that soaked Hazamada's jump magazine.
 * Rohan Kishibe exercises his hands before beginning drawing a new page of Pink Dark Boy at high speed.
 * Toyohiro Kanedaichi and Mikitaka Hazekura are seen together inside Super Fly. When Toyohiro asks if it's so interesting to look at this town, Mikitaka confirms.
 * Josuke, Koichi, and Okuyasu hang out in front of the Owson store discussing Rohan's possible shoplifting before departing.

Commentary
"For this final episode, I wanted to conclude with Yoshikage Kira being defeated by all of the town's inhabitants. Basically, there wasn’t any particular hero. That is why in the anime, there’s an original scene where Reimi tells the whole cast that they all saved Morioh. I also wanted to draw an epilogue after Reimi’s departure into the sky, so I asked Yasuko Kobayashi, this episode’s writer, to allot some time for that. I hope that by seeing all the faces of Morioh, the viewer will feel a certain nostalgia for having to leave this place. I think we pulled off a very good finale.

Going back to the scene where Jotaro stops time, this was actually the first time he's activated Star Platinum while every other character was in motion. I was initially afraid we couldn’t reproduce this part faithfully, but the post-production team did a fantastic job. We’re fortunate that they are here. (laughs) Likewise for the part where Kira thinks he’s triggered Bites the Dust, all the animators worked really hard to animate this scene in a magnificent manner. Everyone gave it their best in this last episode. Not to mention, don’t you think the final storyboard and the directing were also really well done? (laughs)"

- Naokatsu Tsuda, Blu-Ray limited edition commentaries

Trivia

 * A special compilation trailer for the last episode was broadcast at the 2016 Jump Festa Exposition, in addition to the regular trailer.
 * The added scene with Josuke, Koichi, and Okuyasu out in front of the Owson is an homage to one of the original JoJo commercials featuring the Part 4 cast, looking nearly identical.
 * The outfit Rohan is wearing in the epilogue, along with his finger exercises are a teaser for the OVA, Thus Spoke Rohan Kishibe.