Dio's World, Part 3 (Episode)

DIO's World, Part 3 (DIOの世界 その3) is the seventy-third episode of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure anime, the forty-seventh episode of Stardust Crusaders and the twenty-third episode of the Egypt Arc. It covers second half of Chapter 256 through the first page of Chapter 262 of the manga.

Summary
Confident in The World's superiority over Star Platinum, DIO stops time to try and finish Jotaro. However, he discovers that, due to Star Platinum being the same type of Stand as The World, Jotaro appears to be able to both perceive him and move himself, albeit only slightly, while time is stopped. DIO initially assumes this to be trick Jotaro pulled by planting a magnet on him to move his fingers, but this turns out to be a bluff by Jotaro, who uses Star Platinum to counterattack during stopped time. Realizing that Jotaro can only move for a brief moment while time is stopped, DIO stays out of his attack range and attacks using time-stopped knives, managing to land some hits on Jotaro. While Jotaro, managing to survive thanks to some magazines he hid under his clothes, is forced to play dead until he recovers, Polnareff attempts to stop DIO from finishing Jotaro off but is knocked out by him. Drawing DIO's attention away from Polnareff, Jotaro continues to play dead, going as far as to use Star Platinum to stop his own heart, until DIO gets close enough, allowing him to bash DIO's skull and paralyze him. However, DIO tricks Jotaro into punching him over to where Joseph is, allowing him to drain his blood and complete his merging with Jonathan's body.

Manga/Anime Differences

 * Some lines from the narrator and DIO in the manga are not in this episode.
 * In the manga, the man who fires the shotgun only shows his two hands. In the anime, that man is Nukesaku.

Commentary
"In this episode, time stops during the opening itself. At Kamikaze Douga, which is in charge of the animation, it was something that Junpei Mizusaki wanted to direct ever since the beginning of the Egypt Ard.

The confrontation between Jotaro and Dio is full of power. The animation is striking in the power it conveys, and the casting was at least as good, they were both remarkable.

Mr. Mimuro, our key animator, had bought a model of a human heart to use as reference for the scene where Jotaro manually stops his own heart. To this day, this model stands on my desk. (laughs).

The second part of the episode is dedicated to Jotaro's furious counter-attack against Dio. But at the very end, a sudden twist reverses the situation, next stop: the last episode for the conclusion...

This episode being dedicated to the fight, it was surely one of the heaviest episodes in terms of production. It is full of action scenes which will be impossible to reuse. The number of shots is also well above the average of the season. I want to deeply thank the whole team for having held the line despite this considerable work."

- Naokatsu Tsuda, Blu-Ray limited edition commentaries

Trivia

 * This episode has a different ending to the opening credits. Rather than Star Platinum punching the screen, The World punches it instead - stopping time. A fully revealed DIO then walks past Jotaro and unfreezes time. As Jotaro turns, The World and Star Platinum begin their attack rushes as both of their users look on.
 * Footage of the first season of the anime is shown as flashbacks.