Dio's World, Part 2 (Episode)

DIO's World, Part 2 (DIOの世界 その2) is the forty-sixth episode of Stardust Crusaders, the twenty-second episode of the Egypt Arc, and the seventy-second episode of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure anime. It covers the last one page of Chapter 252 through the first half of Chapter 256 of the manga.

Summary
Kakyoin and Joseph swing from rooftop to rooftop with the help of their respective Stands while DIO pursues them by flying. Kakyoin reminisces his friendless youth, then plans to uses Hierophant Green's original ability to make itself invisible to force DIO to reveal The World's power. While Jotaro and Polnareff find the car crash, DIO is ambushed by Hierophant Green's invisible strings who attack DIO when he touches them. DIO realizes that he is surrounded while Kakyoin confronts him directly and Joseph carefully observes them. Kakyoin launches a volley of Emerald Splash from all directions when DIO suddenly disappears and Kakyoin is violently propelled toward a water tank, a gaping hole in his stomach. Too weak to talk, Kakyoin uses Emerald Splash on a nearby clock tower and destroys the clock, then expires. Joseph must flee again but understands that Kakyoin meant that DIO stopped the clock and thus has the power to stop time. This suspicion is confirmed in a flashback explaining how DIO evaded the attack and punched through Kakyoin. When Joseph reveals that knowledge to DIO, the vampire is unimpressed and propels him into the streets. Joseph barely manages to stop his fall and meets Jotaro whom he warns about DIO but is interrupted when DIO stops time and throws a knife at his throat. Joseph loses consciousness and Jotaro approaches DIO anyway to fight him. As the episode ends, Star Platinum and The World violently fight each other.

Manga/Anime Differences

 * Flashback scenes of Kakyoin's youth: his mother and teacher were added.
 * Joseph mentions his grandmother Erina when threatening DIO.
 * The Emerald Splash countered by DIO goes through a sign board instead of destroying a building.
 * The scene of The World punching through Kakyoin was removed from the actual battle and placed as a flashback later on, possibly done to reinforce suspense and pacing.
 * After Joseph is fatally stabbed, Hermit Purple is shown crumbling into ashes rather than fizzling out.

Commentary
"This episode begins exactly where the last one finished, with Kakyoin announcing that he's found a way to reveal the secret of DIO's Stand. We follow with a flashback scene, which is always a sign of a character's imminent death. (laughs)

Kakyoin is shown in primary school, with a cherry motif on the pocket of his shirt; it is one of Mr. Kato's personal touches, I think it was a good idea bringing a little originality.

Hierophant Green deploys his famous web and it is beautiful. At the start, the Stand didn't have this luminescent effect. We had added it afterward and it was an immediate hit for us.

Kakyoin's death was of course a great moment. I think you can say that this episode is mostly used to show DIO's might, as he's fearsome from beginning to end.

The precise moment where time stops is really cool. We could have just made it simple, with only an emanation of stopped time coming from DIO. But by testing image contraction effects, the sensory enjoyment was multiplied tenfold. It immediately pleased the special effect team, who didn't ask twice to perfect The World up to the version you know here."

- Naokatsu Tsuda, Blu-Ray limited edition commentaries

Trivia

 * The episode adapts the 2009 censored version of Volume 27 with Kakyoin fighting on an eletrical pole instead of a mosque-like building, and the Emerald Splash countered by DIO does not destroy another mosque-like building.
 * In the OVA, during the duration of The World, a reverb effect when DIO speaks was added to emphasize the time being stopped. This effect was not employed in the TV anime, nor in the Namco Bandai games, only in Heritage for the Future, for his voice in general.