Long Journey Farewell, My Friends (Episode)

The Faraway Journey, Farewell Friends (遥かなる旅路 さらば友よ) is the seventy-fourth episode of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure anime, the forty-eighth and final episode of Stardust Crusaders, and the twenty-fourth episode of the Egypt Arc. It covers Chapter 262 through Chapter 265 of the manga.

Summary
As he expected, Joseph's blood has empowered to DIO to new levels and the Vampire becomes just as ecstatic as he was a century before. Joseph's soul then appeared to Jotaro, telling him to stay calm despite what anger DIO may cause him, and confesses that this journey with his grandson has been a very enjoyable one. Joseph's spirit then ascends into the sky. DIO then completely drained Joseph's body, causing a furious Jotaro to charge directly at DIO. The two clash mid-air as DIO freezes time. Counting the seconds, DIO is seemingly overpowered by Star Platinum until it soon freezes. Now supercharged, the duration of stopped time increases to a maximum of nine seconds. His insanity was visible on a complete scale: DIO is overjoyed to have completely fused with Jonathan's body and being at full power, declaring he was experiencing "the greatest high" and delightfully drills his index finger into his skull. Tormenting an immobilized Jotaro, he uses The World to constantly pummel him and send him flying onto a bridge. He then stops time and declares that his next time stop will be the last one. The Vampire disappears, only to return with a steamroller and threw it directly at Jotaro in an attempt to kill him by crushing him underneath it. Jotaro tried to push it back with Star Platinum but was unable to continuously do it as DIO and The World forces it down, and after a final punch, Jotaro is seemingly crushed beneath the steamroller. It had seemed that DIO was finally victorious in his century-long feud with the Joestars. Seconds later, DIO found himself unable to move because Jotaro himself was able to stop time, doing so at the last second to take the advantage and proving that the parallels drawn between their Stands have eluded to a greater similarity all along. Jotaro describes the time stop's effect on others, comparing it to drowning and being pushed further down. He kicks DIO's weakened legs just as time resumes, shattering them completely and sending DIO cascading across the ground. Jotaro advances on the grounded DIO and, due to his noble nature and not wanting to strike a man while he's down, he waits for DIO to get up before ending him. DIO, having been mocked by Jotaro's words and determined not to lose, reminds himself that victory is the one true thing he desires. DIO then sprayed the blood from his legs onto Jotaro's eyes in an attempt to obscure his sight and began a strong kick with his good leg. However, Jotaro was able to see through Star Platinum's eyes and lands a punch which connects with the kick. The kick connects at approximately the same point on The World's leg as where DIO broke his. Because injuries to a Stand and its user echo each other, this is where The World's own structure was weakest. Jotaro's hand breaks but  DIO's The World then began to crumble from the attack, causing DIO's body to break down and split in half. Even as he shouted how his defeat was impossible, DIO's head exploded, and his upper body was destroyed. DIO had finally been defeated, and that defeat had costed him death.

Afterward, Jotaro and Polnareff's injuries were dealt with by the Speedwagon Foundation. Since DIO had taken much of Joseph's blood, Jotaro asked for a blood transfusion from DIO's body to Joseph's. After using Star Platinum to restart Joseph's heartbeat, the transfusion began. The shriveled-up body that Joseph had after losing so much blood began returning to his normal muscular figure and Joseph fully revived. Joseph uses the opportunity and plays a joke on Jotaro, claiming to be DIO possessing Joseph's body which nearly causes Jotaro to attack him. Luckily Joseph is spared a beating by claiming it was a joke. When the sun rises, the two expose DIO's remains to sunlight, causing them to turn to dust and finalizing the century-long struggle between the immortal monster and the Joestar Family putting to rest the combined struggles of five generations. They then gave one final moment of thought for Kakyoin, Iggy, and Avdol. At the airport, Joseph and Jotaro gave a final goodbye to Polnareff, who was finally ready to return to his home country of France. Joseph asks Polnareff to come with him to America, knowing that the latter had no one waiting for him back home. Polnareff refused the offer, stating that despite being alone, France was his homeland. The trio gave their final goodbyes and left, promising to see one another again someday. Back in Japan, Holy has completely recovered and freed from the curse. Even miles away, she knew her son and father were coming home. Indeed, Jotaro and Joseph are already on a plane to Tokyo, Jotaro reminiscing his adventure across the world with he's taken with the group.

Manga/Anime Differences

 * In the anime, Polnareff further embraces the other two during their goodbyes, as opposed to just placing his hands on their shoulders.
 * Joseph's Walkman isn't explicitly shown to have the cassette tape for "Get Back" by The Beatles at the airport.
 * An extra scene shows Jotaro in the plane, looking at the photo from SC Episode 25.

Commentary
"The last episode happens just after DIO's new evolution. The color of his lips was advised from Mr. Araki himself.

About the pre-opening scene, the composition is a throwback to the Volume 28 cover of the tankobon.

One scene of the final battle uses really particular colors, as DIO is purple here and Jotaro's uniform turns blue. And if we had the color of the aura surrounding the characters, I think that the color scheme is rather good overall.

As for the action, every scene is very energetic and classier than ever. The final nail being the road roller scene, with this completely crazy pummeling.

DIO finds himself cornered and is heavily bleeding. It feels funny to see him diminished like this. He was such a charismatic man, but even he can only break against the Joestar family.

The last part is a straight dash to the conclusion while leaving Joseph some time for a bad joke. We can now weep in front of the airport scene.

Jotaro is looking at the group photo while lightly smiling. We had added this final scene during the finalization of the storyboard. It is cut in a manner perfectly closing the long journey. The curtain falls."

- Naokatsu Tsuda, Blu-Ray limited edition commentaries

Trivia

 * Like the other season finales, this episode's opening added sound effects. This special opening also added various shots of The World, DIO, and Star Platinum throughout it and included DIO's time stop scene from the previous episode's opening.
 * Unlike the final episode of Season One, which included a teaser of Stardust Crusaders, this season ends without the traditional "To Be Continued" or any form of a teaser for Diamond is Unbreakable. Despite this inconsistency, a Part 4 adaptation was confirmed later on.
 * Two girls that wanted Jotaro to take a picture for them in the 5th episode of Stardust Crusaders appeared again as passengers on the plane that Joseph and Jotaro took at the end. They were replaced in the Blu-ray release.
 * In the English dub, Jotaro says "if this were the Wild West, the hero would say 'it's high noon'". While the phrase itself is a reference to the Wild West culture in the same vein as in the original Japanese dialogue, this bit was popularized by the popular first-person shooter Overwatch, spoken by one of the game's heroes, McCree, wherein he calls out his special attack by saying the same phrase. At the same time, this is a reference to Jotaro's voice actor, Matthew Mercer, who also voiced McCree.
 * Famous parody singer and songwriter "Weird Al" Yankovic is mentioned near the end of the episode. To figure out whether or not Joseph was really possessed, Jotaro asks him who sung the parody of Michael Jacksons hit song Beat It titled Eat It. Joseph responds confidently with the artist. Shortly after airing, "Weird Al" Yankovic posted a short recording of the subtitled scene on his Instagram account with the hashtag #PointlessCrap.