SC Episode 40

D'Arby the Player, Part 1 (ダービー·ザ·プレイヤー その①) is the fortieth episode of Stardust Crusaders, the sixteenth episode of the Egypt Arc, and the sixty-sixth episode of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure anime. It covers Chapter 228 through most of Chapter 232 of the manga.

The Joestar Group have reached DIO's Mansion. Telence T. D'Arby appears to greet them but drags Jotaro, Joseph and Kakyoin further inside of the mansion to bet their souls in a contest of video games.

Summary
As the Joestar Group opens the front door of DIO's Mansion, a new challenger comes out of the shadows to greet them. Polnareff summons Silver Chariot, but the man then throws a card to interrupt his attack, finishing his formal greeting. The man presents himself as Telence T. D'Arby, butler of the mansion and younger brother of Daniel J. D'Arby. However, he reassures his guests that he bears no ill will for his brother's defeat, explaining his superiority to Daniel. Telence openly brings out his Stand Atum, and when Jotaro comes out and summons Star Platinum, Telence perfectly guesses Star Platinum's incoming attack and evades it. Grabbing its arm as a dark hole appears on the floor, Atum drags Jotaro with it into the hole, followed suit by Joseph and Kakyoin. However, Joseph manages to instruct Avdol to burn the place in ten minutes.

Jotaro, Joseph and Kakyoin find themselves on a strange island in the middle of the sea, said island in the middle of which are a bunch of TV sets and a game console. The mystery of D'Arby's prescience is still intact, but Joseph cuts to the chase and tries to investigate the powers of those few remaining enemies inside the mansion. D'Arby explains that they won't be able to proceed until they defeat him. When Joseph points out that it is a three-against-one fight, D'Arby then shows his as testament of his strength, and incidentally showing his twisted soul. Indeed, Telence can also steal the soul of anyone who loses to him in a game. Moreover, D'Arby already has his grip on part of Jotaro's soul due to having guessed Jotaro's next blow earlier. Thus, the group is forced to play games with D'Arby to defeat him.

D'Arby requests that Kakyoin is the first to challenge him to a video game of his choosing, to which he agrees as he himself is quite talented at them. Thus, Kakyoin chooses, a racing game. On the starting line, Kakyoin forgets to mash the acceleration button that gives the cars a boost. D'Arby is now slightly ahead and is confident that he will keep his advantage but Kakyoin purposefully spins his car and crashes it against Telence's, making things even; still, Kakyoin is at a slight disadvantage. As D'Arby praises Kakyoin for resisting his fear, Kakyoin internally thinks about the moment he met and fell to DIO, which was the most terrifying, reassuring and humiliating moment of his life. Determined to erase the dishonor of having been brainwashed, Kakyoin is determined to win this race.

At the sixth corner of the race track, both players expect to enter a shortcut tunnel, but the tunnel is only large enough to fit one car. Due to his spinning, Kakyoin's car has less energy and is pushed aside by Telence's but he then expertly makes his car drive on the wall of the tunnel. The cars enter the shortcut's most dangerous area where they cannot see the car yet must avoid the mines and a cannon. The suspense rises until both cars emerge from the tunnel and D'Arby is shown to still have the lead.

Commentary
"We're about to get into serious business leading to the finale, but alas, the first fight is via a video game. (laughs)

Telence's dolls were animated by Reki Taki, who is really one of Hirohiko Araki's old assistants. We didn't get to him through Shûeisha or anything, it was pure luck. He had found himself among us via a completely different path. But thanks to him, the dolls are all the more successful and creepier.

For the racing video game, we had decided to make everything in 3D. Some of us would have preferred to make it with traditional drawings, but I won't dare imagine the exertion and hard work we would have to endure for these parts. In fact, people were wondering if we really could render a video game from the 80's in 3D. Even if it's a good question, let's say that the end justifies the means. (laughs)

Building the race track for F-Mega was really interesting. The game session itself is rather enjoyable. The Stands pummeling the buttons without reason, Joseph being completely invested in what he's seeing, the sensation of absolute speed coming out of the game... What a fun atmosphere."

- Naokatsu Tsuda, Blu-Ray limited edition commentaries

Trivia

 * The spin attack used by Kakyoin is a reference to the same technique that can be performed in the F-Zero games