SC Episode 38

The Gatekeeper of Hell, Pet Shop, Part 1 (地獄の門番 ペット·ショップ その①) is the thirty-eighth episode of Stardust Crusaders, the fourteenth episode of the Egypt Arc, and the sixty-fourth episode of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure anime. It covers Chapter 222 through most of Chapter 225 of the manga.

While the Joestar Group seek DIO's Mansion, Iggy stumbles upon the building by pure luck. However, he now has to contend with Pet Shop, the ruthless falcon guardian of the mansion gifted with ice powers.

Summary
Holy now only has a couple of days until she dies, but the group still hasn't found DIO's lair.

It is a particularly hot day in Cairo and Polnareff tries to rest in the shadows with a rag on his head but the Frenchman ends up fighting with a beggar. Indeed, Cairo's beggar population is particularly organized when it comes to begging and Polnareff unwittingly intruded in the beggar's territory looking like a foreigner in need of money. Incidentally, the beggar had an appointment with Avdol and the fortune teller pays the beggar to find DIO's hideout. Funnily, the beggar take off his rags, revealing that he had a suit but also a luxurious car parked nearby. The man subsequently leaves to search the city. Afterward, Polnareff notices that Iggy has disappeared again.

Meanwhile, Iggy wanders in the streets of Cairo and fatefully comes across the building itself. When two dogs come snarling, Iggy intimidates them and the dogs decide to go for a weaker prey. Spotting the shadow of a bird from under a door, the dogs crawl inside the property, only for Iggy to see their heads flying, impaled on an ice spike while their bodies are forcibly dragged inside. A falcon then appears, watching Iggy suspiciously. However, the falcon then spots the beggar and creates an icicle large enough to crush the beggar. As the falcon flies around, Iggy realizes the falcon is a Stand User protecting the mansion and that it may come for him next. Indeed, the falcon Pet Shop is the wielder of the Stand Horus.

Pet Shop sets his attention again on Iggy, who tries to play dumb as he doesn't want to get involved in the disputes of humans he doesn't care about. However, a young boy comes looking for his dogs. Seeing his dogs' collars, he tries to crawl under the gate of the mansion too and gets attacked by Pet Shop too. However, Iggy comes to the rescue, not having the heart to let a dog-loving kid be killed.

After helping the kid escape, Iggy confronts Pet Shop but is taken by surprise when Pet Shop freezes the ground and shoots icicles at him. Iggy is forced to flee but the eagle-eyed falcon easily spots him and pursues him down to a sewer. However, when Pet Shop shoots Iggy, it turns out Iggy was a clone made of sand. Iggy comes out of the shadows and has The Fool claw at the bird. Injured, Pet Shop decides to deploy the full strength of his Horus, turning the whole sewer into an icy world. In the humid environment, Iggy finds himself at a huge disadvantage. When Iggy's paw is frozen in place, the dog now cannot avoid Pet Shop's next shot.

Commentary
"First, I must say that Pet Shop is bloody terrifying. He has no lines, but I find that it only reinforces the terror he inspires. And all the chase scenes with Iggy only show us how merciless he is. Surely because he's a bird of prey.

Mr. Suzuki was in charge of the storyboard, on which he had shown a lot of ease conveying his intentions to the animators. The exposition frames, usually numerous in a classical storyboard, were so much rarer in this episode. (laughs)

Horus, Pet Shop's Stand, allows him to manipulate ice. It's really pretty once colored onscreen.

It's interesting to note that Kenta Mimuro, our action animation director, went to a zoo in order to gather data and study the movement of falcons and eagles. It's thanks to this that we'd managed to create a high-quality Pet Shop, who immediately looks menacing. Because he had no voice, we had to use sound effects. These computer-generated screams fit the animal very well and only increase the terror he exudes."

- Naokatsu Tsuda, Blu-Ray limited edition commentaries

Trivia

 * The yellow car under which Pet Shop flies has been modeled after a Porsche car, also named a "Yellowbird". It is Kenichi Suzuki, who was in charge of the storyboard for the episode, who speculated that the same car in the manga might have been a "Yellowbird" and as such, he decided to fully model the car in the episode after the real-life model.