Wheel of Fortune (Episode)

Wheel of Fortune is the thirteenth episode of Stardust Crusaders and the thirty-ninth episode of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure anime. It covers Chapter 150 through the first few pages of Chapter 154 of the manga.

Summary
On their way driving to Pakistan, the group spots a child hitchhiking at the side of the road whom quickly reveals themselves to be Anne. They reluctantly take her along with them, and upon continuing their journey, a red car gets in their way and leads them into the path of an oncoming truck, with Jotaro quickly using Star Platinum to avoid a fatal collision.

After stopping at a roadside tea house later on, the group, believing the owner of the red car to be a Stand user, spots the car parked nearby and they start pressing the other customers much to Kakyoin's protesting, only for the car to drive off. They chase after the car, following a signpost that the car had switched around in advance, and wind up at a dead end, where the car appears from behind them and pushes them off of a cliff. Kakyoin manages to stop their fall by having Hierophant Green hook a cable to the other car, before Jotaro uses Star Platinum to pull themselves to safety, knocking the other car down the cliff in the process. Just then, a voice comes from their own car's radio, revealing the red car to actually be the Wheel of Fortune Stand, which emerges from the ground and destroys their vehicle, transforming into a stronger form.

The Stand starts attacking Jotaro and the others with a seemingly unseen projectile, forcing the group to try and escape. Jotaro prepares to unleash an attack on Wheel of Fortune's underside, only to learn that the purpose of the earlier attacks was to soak them in gasoline. Wheel of Fortune's user, ZZ, uses the sparks on his car to set Jotaro ablaze, seemingly killing him. However, Jotaro manages to avoid the flames by digging underneath the ground and uses Star Platinum to destroy Wheel of Fortune and send ZZ flying out into the open. After chaining ZZ to a rock, the group borrows the car, which had reverted to its original dilapidated form, and they continue their journey with the promise of putting Anne on the first flight back to Hong Kong. Meanwhile, Enya, frustrated that all of her Stand wielders have been defeated, decides to confront them personally with her own Stand: Justice.

Commentary
"With this episode taking place mainly inside a speeding car, we had asked ourselves how to correctly manage a scenario with a gradual progression while staying in the same place.

Another question was also whether to draw the car by hand or use a 3D model. In the end, the choice depended on the scene. For the 3D, Khara studio (of Rebuild of Evangelion) was a precious helping hand. With our tight planning, they sure saved us.

The action takes place at the indo-pakistani border, and we had applied an exclusive filter to this Episode 13 in order to underline the particular atmosphere of this mountain step.

A car chase is rather difficult to put onscreen, but thanks to Jin Tamamura's direction, I think that the episode is full of great moments. Once the work was done, we felt a little like the driver of the enemy Stand, "End of the 3rd round!" (laughs). By the way, it's a cool scene.

About Wheel of Fortune's design, I would have imagined a more cartoony visual, but Mimuro, in charge of the mechanical animation, had managed to combine his own style with a series of special effects to give an almost realistic rendering. The processing of the image marvelously works, for a striking result.

Incidentally, this is the only time you'll see Jotaro take off his jacket, so enjoy it. And we also see him smile."

- Naokatsu Tsuda, Blu-Ray limited edition commentaries