SC Episode 7

Strength is the seventh episode of Stardust Crusaders and the thirty-third episode of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure anime. It covers part of Chapter 130 through the first half of Chapter 133 of the manga.

Stranded in the middle of the sea, the Joestar Group encounter a mysterious freighter, devoid of crew or passenger save for an orangutan. It is clear that an enemy Stand is trying to kill the heroes but they cannot either find it or its user.

Summary
In his lair, DIO asks Enya about what it means to live. She answers with 'to obtain one's desire'. DIO states that there will always be a battle to obtain one's desires and when the battle is lost, they will fear for the next battle and mentions that conquering fear is what he believes to be what it means to live. Enya reminds DIO of the power of his Stand and his immortality and asks him if he fears anything. DIO responds by saying that the Joestars are not what he's afraid of but rather the fact that he cannot underestimate them. Enya reassures him as she also notes that there are seven Stand users already on their way to eliminate the Joestar group.

On the ocean, the Joestar group and the 🇺🇳 of sailors that followed board a large freighter. The group searches the freighter only to find it completely abandoned but with all its machinery still functioning. Anne finds an orangutan in a cage but Joseph dismisses it and suggests they split up to find its owner. While the group was on the deck, a sailor is impaled by the hook of a crane which the sailors claim moved on its own. Joseph instructs the sailors to head down to the cabin and Kakyoin uses Hierophant Green to search the ship. Anne goes back to the room with the orangutan and it signals her to unlock the cage door. It tries to give her half an apple for compensation and she notices it was freshly cut. The orangutan proceeds to light a cigarette for itself and read a pinup girl magazine. Back on the deck, Kakyoin states to the group that he can't find any other signs of life anywhere on the freighter. As Anne observes the sailors trying to use the radio, she realizes that the saltwater was making her body sticky and heads to the shower room to wash it off. The sailors are shown dead as the orangutan opens the door to the shower room. Jotaro sees the orangutan's cage door open, and the orangutan is seen attacking Anne.

Jotaro intervenes as the orangutan approaches Anne, and hits it in the head with a lock. As he fights with it, he is suddenly hit by a fan and confirms the orangutan is a Stand user but wonders where's the Stand. The orangutan disappears into the wall after fighting him. On the deck, the Joestar group is shown sinking into the ship and they, along with Jotaro, assume that the freighter is the Stand. The orangutan returns to the showers and presents the name of his Stand, "Strength" based on the Tarot card Strength as he taunts Jotaro with his intelligence. Jotaro flicks a button from his jacket at the orangutan while it's distracted by Anne to anger it. The orangutan jumps at him to attack him but is shot in the head by another button delivered by Star Platinum's Star Finger technique. It surrenders to Jotaro but he states that it had already broken the rules of being an animal and proceeds to finish it off with a barrage of Star Platinum's punches. Soon after, the freighter starts distorting and the group manages to board the emergency boats they came with as the freighter changed into a small boat.

The scene cuts to DIO being informed by Enya of Strength's defeat and the remaining six Stand users, one of which is her son as she shows her two right hands linking her relationship with the man with two right hands. She mentions that she stayed with DIO to see how his life ends up. The group finally arrives in Singapore and decide to stay at a hotel. In a suite of the same hotel, a doll is shown on the nightstand.

Commentary
"This episode followed the tropes of psychological horror movies. We concentrated on their application to compose with this horrific tension. For instance, we had to choose where to not have soundtracks. The tanker's layout was tricky since we had to animate the whole Stand.

Personally, I appreciate the secretive and claustrophobic atmosphere of the ship. We also had the inevitable feminine nude scene that goes well with the horrific context (laughs).

The orangutan is really an imposing animal. At first glance it looks kind of cute with its big eyes, but in reality it's a real pervert. Note that real orangutans are not this tall in real life. Ours is one and a half times more imposing than usual. But this exceptional height partly allows to justify its abnormal intelligence."

- Naokatsu Tsuda, Blu-Ray limited edition commentaries

Trivia

 * From attacking Forever to when Forever hides in the ship's walls Jotaro's hat and coat are colored in his other common color scheme of blue.
 * This is the first time Jotaro's face is conveniently censored when he smokes.