Jotaro Kujo! Meets Josuke Higashikata (Episode)

Jotaro Kujo! Meets Josuke Higashikata (空条承太郎! 東方仗助に会う) is the first episode of Diamond is Unbreakable and the seventy-fifth episode of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure anime. It covers Chapter 266 through Chapter 269 of the manga.

Summary
It is a typical, peaceful morning in the town of Morioh. While listening to Morioh Town Radio, an unseen killer is cooking breakfast with a woman's severed hand. 12 years after the fight with DIO, Jotaro is seen looking for someone with the last name Higashikata. He bumps into a student named Koichi Hirose then sees a freshman named Josuke Higashikata being bullied by some 🇺🇳 although he appears to take it in stride without breaking composure. Josuke's kind, tolerant attitude persists until the senior disrespects his hairstyle, and Jotaro is surprised to witness Josuke using a Stand to strike and badly injure the delinquent's face only for it to be restored, if deformed, and scares the bullies away. Jotaro confronts Josuke and reveals that he is the bastard son of Joseph Joestar, and says that he is entitled to a share of Joseph's inheritance. However, Josuke only wants to reassure his estranged father that he and his mother are fine. A short fight ensues when Jotaro inadvertently insults Josuke's hairstyle. Josuke reveals his Stand Crazy Diamond which is powerful enough to force Jotaro to use his time stop to defeat him. Jotaro resumes his conversation and begins speaking about Anjuro Katagiri, a criminal possessing a Stand for unknown reasons who has recently escaped, and Jotaro is looking for him. Josuke and Koichi then go to school. Meanwhile, Josuke's mother and grandfather Tomoko Higashikata and Ryohei Higashikata talk about Josuke and at the same time, an unknown man does something to 🇺🇳. At the end of the day, Josuke and Koichi observe a hostage situation committed by the same man the unknown person met earlier. The robber insults Josuke's hair, antagonizing him. Josuke then attacks the robber by using his Stand to punch through both him and his hostage, grabbing the knife as he does. He leaves the knife inside of the robber when he heals both, and a liquid-based Stand emerges from the robber's body before sliding into the sewer. Meanwhile, at the Higashikata estate, Anjuro dons the guise of a milkman and vows to murder Josuke and his family for interfering in his plans.

Commentary
"I was in charge of the storyboard for this first episode.

Part 4 and Part 3 are very different in nature, and the question came down to how we could "change the flavor" of the show. Because of this, I needed a whole month to finish the storyboard (bitter smile). We also had to rethink how to manage the colors in general.

The opening scene directly presents what the audience may guess will be Kira. This scene was made to be as natural as possible, just a simple preview of the oncoming storm. Since episode 1 only revolves around the cast, there aren’t a lot of major events, and nothing has been resolved. However, thanks to the strength of the original manga, nothing stagnates and everything flows naturally toward episode 2. In terms of directing, I tried to give off the rhythmic feeling of a Music PV through rapid shot sequences. I think that overall, we’ve started off strong, don’t you think?

Morioh Radio’s jingle was discovered by Yasuko Kobayashi, the writer. She was looking for “this little something that would be pervasive to the whole town”, and she found it. It really gets stuck in your head, it’s crazy (laughs)! I hope this was a good surprise for you too during the broadcast."

- Naokatsu Tsuda, Blu-Ray limited edition commentaries

Trivia

 * This is the first anime episode to feature an ending preview without a character narration or clips of the next episode, instead the preview was uploaded to the official website.
 * In addition, this is also the first episode to feature a radically different design and look to the ending preview.
 * As the cab driver passes a radio tower, he mentions that he always gets a good signal once he gets past it. This could possibly be a foreshadowing reference to Super Fly.
 * The added scene foreshadowing the Killer as the main antagonist of Part 4 was included at the request of Araki himself.

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