DU Episode 24

Sheer Heart Attack, Part 2 (シアーハートアタック その2) is the twenty-fourth episode of Diamond is Unbreakable and the ninety-eighth episode of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure anime. It covers a panel on the last page of Chapter 359 through Chapter 364 of the manga.

While Koichi has developed Echoes ACT3, Yoshikage Kira comes back to dispose of the boy once and for all before his allies can meet with him.

Summary
While Josuke and Okuyasu hurry toward Centipede Shoes to help Koichi fight Sheer Heart Attack, Kira drags himself through the streets with his left hand weighed down due to its link with the now-heavy Sheer Heart Attack, frightening two thugs away who tried to mug him in an alley. Meanwhile, at the shoe store, Koichi talks with Echoes ACT 3 who explains that Sheer Heart Attack will only stay weighed down if it is within 5 meters of him. Koichi then sees Kira approaching him and deduces that he is the killer. Angry, he sends Echoes to punch Kira, but Killer Queen easily parries Echoes and sends it flying; Echoes lands outside of his 3 Freeze attack's range, releasing Sheer Heart Attack and Kira from its weight. Disconcerted at the sight of Kira seemingly having two Stands, Koichi is easily defeated when Killer Queen stomps Echoes on the floor. Kira, deducing that he has three minutes to kill Koichi, decides to pay him back his public humiliation with a severe beating. However, Koichi shatters Kira's confidence when he steals his wallet, learns all of his personal information from his driver's license, and exposes how easily Kira will be caught. Outraged, Kira makes Killer Queen punch through Koichi. While Josuke and Okuyasu are still running, Kira tries to disintegrate Koichi but is distracted by Koichi's inside-out sock. After fixing it, he is interrupted by Jotaro, still heavily wounded, but whose Star Platinum is more than enough to pummel Kira and send him crashing into a garbage bin. Kira and Jotaro then both fall unconscious. When Kira wakes up, he hears Josuke and Okuyasu and sees that Josuke is healing Koichi and Jotaro. When Josuke and Okuyasu corner him, he decides to fake being a bystander who was caught in the explosion. His masquerade works until Kira makes the mistake of mentioning Josuke's power, which convinces the teenager that Kira is the enemy due to the fact that no ordinary person would have any knowledge of Josuke's abilities or Stands in general. However, Kira, still determined, cuts off his own hand and unleashes Sheer Heart Attack on the group before fleeing, no longer needing to worry about the burden of his left hand. Josuke, instead of fighting the sub-Stand, decides to repair Kira's hand so he can follow it back to its proprietor. The group eventually enters the Cinderella beauty salon where an injured Aya reveals that Kira forced her to switch his face with that of a random bystander. Aya explodes before revealing Kira's new identity, and the explosion, unfortunately, distracts the group, and they lose the hand within a crowd of commuters. Yoshikage Kira has escaped, having taken on someone else's face, clothes, and life.

Commentary
"The direct confrontation against Yoshikage Kira finally begins in this episode. We also discover his "fussy side" when he's disturbed by Koichi’s socks. Compared to other characters in the same category, he seems a lot less like a final boss.

I don’t know if the animation team suddenly doubled their efforts, starting with the animation director Shunichi Ishimoto, but from this episode on, the key frames are becoming more and more intense. It certainly helps increase the tension in the series.

By fighting Kira head on, Koichi finally looks like a true hero of the series. Jotaro also intervenes to save him at just the right time; the part when the Stardust Crusaders theme plays in the background is just phenomenal.

The climax of the story happens when Aya Tsuji and the real Kosaku Kawajiri die in a scene where the colors are much duller. Then the colors come back once they lose track of the enemy, being unable to identify his new appearance. I'll let you freely interpret the meaning of this scene."

- Naokatsu Tsuda, Blu-Ray limited edition commentaries

Trivia

 * In the final shot of the episode where Kira escapes, an advertisement for can be seen on the cinema marquee.