D'Arby the Gambler, Part 1 (Episode)

D'Arby the Gambler, Part 1 (ダービー·ザ·ギャンブラー その1) is the thirty-fourth episode of Stardust Crusaders, the tenth episode of the Egypt Arc, and the sixty episode of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure anime. This episode skips Chapter 210 and covers Chapter 211 through most of Chapter 213 of the manga.

Summary
Upon arriving in Cairo, Jotaro's group heads to a café where they come across a man named D'Arby who claims to know where DIO's mansion is. Not willing to give up the information for free, D'Arby suggests they should instead gamble for it with their souls on the line. Polnareff goes first, and the two bet on which of two pieces of fish a 🇺🇳 would go for first. Polnareff loses, and D'Arby makes good on the bet by using his Stand, Osiris, to steal Polnareff's soul and implant it in a poker chip, with the cat soon revealed to be his pet.

The group realizes they have come across one of DIO's assassins, so Joseph puts up his own soul in a wager against D'Arby next. They bet to see who will cause a glass full to the brim to overflow by dropping coins into it. On his turn, Joseph tries to outcheat D'Arby by dropping more liquid into the glass, knowing that on D'Arby's turn it will overflow, but D'Arby easily puts his coin in. Joseph cannot figure out how his cheat did not work, and gives up in his mind, leaving D'Arby to steal his soul as well. Jotaro discovers D'Arby had used a small piece of chocolate to change the way the glass appeared to be full and let it melt, but he decides to step and face D'Arby next and tries to beat the man at his own game: poker.

Manga/Anime Differences

 * Added a scene where the Crusaders arrive in Cairo.
 * Added a flashback where D'Arby gambled against the Moor family in person.

Commentary
"Banjo Ginga, Daniel J. D'Arby's VA, was simply excellent. This sentence alone would be enough to describe the episode.

Jotaro and co. have finally arrived in Cairo, but they are already gambling in a café. Polnareff is aggressive and is masterfully tricked, so his chances of winning were slim. (laughs)

I think the episode gives a really good visual of the playing cards. In fact, we had asked a professional magician (紙磨呂) to do some moves. We filmed it and used it as reference material for the animation.

Daniel has some really strange motifs on his face. During the animation process, we had treated them as tattoos but in truth I confess I have no idea what they could be. (laughs) The two brothers have similar motifs, maybe it's something genetic...

Also note that even if the story is the same, we've made multiples modifications on this Blu-Ray and DVD version. Have fun spotting all the differences."

- Naokatsu Tsuda, Blu-Ray limited edition commentaries

Trivia

 * The ending in this episode includes a different part of Last Train Home. Given the dark tone the episode has, the ending features a black screen instead of the normal video.