Death 13, Part 1 (Episode)

Death Thirteen, Part 1 (その1) is the nineteenth episode of Stardust Crusaders and the forty-fifth episode of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure anime. It covers Chapter 168 through Chapter 170 of the manga.

Summary
Kakyoin has a dream where he is in a deserted amusement park, accompanied only by a dog. Suddenly, the Death tarot card appears, and he is attacked by its image, the Stand Death Thirteen, killing the dog, before Polnareff wakes him up to tell him that they are on the way out of town. Kakyoin becomes concerned when he finds his hand has been cut in his sleep, and more so when he spots the dog he saw in his dreams, killed in the same manner as he saw in the dream.

When the two catch up with the others, Joseph is arguing with a man he had planned to rent a plane from, who has now refused to let him go as they need to get a baby to the hospital. Joseph offers to take the child with them, and a woman with the child agrees. As the group takes off, the woman says she must find the child's mother, admitting that the child, Mannish Boy, is not her own, and she was scared of his fangs. While in flight, both Kakyoin and Polnareff fall asleep and find themselves at the amusement park, again.

Kakyoin tries to warn Polnareff that he was attacked in his dreams by a Stand, using the dead dog as proof, but Polnareff does not seem to pay much attention, until Death Thirteen makes itself known once more, attacking the two of them. They find that in their dreams they cannot summon their Stands to fight back, but before Death Thirteen lands a mortal blow on Polnareff, Joseph wakes him up to have him change the baby's diaper, leaving Kakyoin on his own.

As Death Thirteen is revealed to be the Stand of Mannish Boy, Kakyoin cuts his own arm, as he thrashes about in his sleep, causing Joseph to crash the plane. As the team sets up camp to prepare for rescue, Kakyoin sees that he has cut the words "Baby Stand" into his arm, leading him to realize that the child they have been taking with them is their attacker. He tries to warn the others, but they do not believe him, as Mannish Boy is pleased that his plans to kill the group are succeeding.

Commentary
"Here is a new episode for Toshiyuki Kato. It is in fact a pair of episodes of which he only directs the first one. Nonetheless, he managed to build a good basis for how things should go, set up norms and composition effects, and took care of many details. Thus, thanks to his help, everything was ready for the second episode, which went without a hitch.

Mannish Boy is a baby, but remains as fearsome as J.Geil or Dan. And with an opponent of this level, the story only becomes all the more engaging. Ikue Ootani marvelously played Mannish Boy by giving him a cute, but mean voice.

The portraying of the dream world had given us some problems; we had to be in tune on a sufficiently cohesive overall design. Thus, the difference between reality and the dream is really marked. We instantly know which side we are on.

This episode is a purgatory for Kakyoin. Not only does he tenaciously struggle alone, but his companions find him suspicious. But overall, he puts up a good performance and progresses slowly toward the end."

- Naokatsu Tsuda, Blu-Ray limited edition commentaries

Trivia

 * This is the first episode in Stardust Crusaders with a non-conventional preview, consisting of only Kakyoin sleeping and Mannish Boy crying in the background.