JoJo Sono Chi no Kioku ~end of THE WORLD~

"JoJo Sono Chi no Kioku ~end of THE WORLD~" (ジョジョ その血の記憶～end of THE WORLD～) is the second opening theme song of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders and the fourth overall opening theme of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure TV anime. Animated by Studio Kamikaze Douga, the song was sung by Hiroaki "TOMMY" Tominaga, Coda, and Jin Hashimoto as the JO☆STARS.

On the Oricon's Weekly Singles Charts, "JoJo Sono Chi no Kioku ~end of THE WORLD~" peaked at number 17 during the week it was released.

Opening Animation
In a dark background of turning gears and a swinging pendulum, it shows Jonathan Joestar, Dio Brando, Joseph Joestar and Jotaro Kujo, with the pendulum progressively moving upwards. The music also has a heartbeat which synchronizes with the pendulum's swing, referring to how Jotaro had to stop his heartbeat to trick DIO. Each of the characters overlap the gears in the background, until DIO is shown in between the gears, referencing the power of The World and how DIO believes he has escaped the bonds of time and fate, but Jotaro appears and DIO is seen overlapping the gears again, referencing Jotaro pulling him back into his fate.

After the pendulum's last swing, the scenery changes to the desert with clockwork gears strewn about. Here, the sextet demonstrates their powers, most notably with Jean Pierre Polnareff dual-wielding rapiers, implying him unwillingly falling again under DIO's control via Anubis, the Sun is seen behind him in a way that references his battle with Vanilla Ice. The scenery changes after Silver Chariot unleashes splitting and swinging attacks, at what appears to be Kenny G's labyrinth.

The sextet are then seen climbing a dark staircase, a spotlight swings left and right 4 times, each swing showing a silhouette of Egyptian gods, foreshadowing the enemies whose Stands are based on the deities. The scene switches to the downward view of the staircase, with Polnareff and Joseph on the left, Jotaro on the center, and Iggy, Muhammad Avdol and Noriaki Kakyoin on the right side. The scene zooms into Jotaro before the staircase shatters around him. Jotaro then summons Star Platinum in sync with Jin Hashimoto's singing part. This scene is yet another foreshadowing of who survives and who would become victims, with the soon-to-be-fallen appearing on the right side of the screen.

The scene changes into the sextet standing on top of a building, watching the sky turn into dusk, and the lights turning on at the Cairo skyline, circles highlighting where DIO uses The World's power. The pendulum swings, each showing the heroes fade into a silhouette, and speed lines seemingly surrounding them. This is actually a foreshadowing of the fate of the heroes, cleverly disguised as visual effects. The most notable is how Jotaro briefly moves a finger during the freezing, implying his eventual tolerance to The World's time stop abilities. The scene changes into shooting stars, with the sextet emerging from it, referencing an artwork by Hirohiko Araki. The sextet is seen standing shoulder to shoulder, which then very briefly switches to them having their Stands out.

Jotaro is then seen reaching the top of a flight of the stairs, his fists clenching, with Star Platinum emerging from within, who then unleashes blazing fists. A view of The World can be briefly seen before the screen shatters. The scene zooms onto Jotaro's face, with a silhouette of who appears to be DIO appearing to the right. Jotaro immediately turns around and unleashes a barrage of punches.

The scene changes into a flurry of ORA, in Katakana, which turns into JO, also in Katakana. All three singers chant Jotaro's battle cry repeatedly. A view of Star Platinum and The World trading punches can be seen briefly. The Jo☆Stars shout "ORA!!" as the logo shows, that is later vaporized by what appears to be the sun, the same fate that ultimately finished off DIO.

Altered Versions
The Opening during DIO's World (3), and subsequently The Faraway Journey, Farewell Friends, has a different ending entirely. Rather than leaving to Star Platinum punching the screen, The World punches it as well as DIO calls out his Stand's name - stopping time as the screen shatters. The music pauses, with the only sounds being DIO's footsteps. A fully revealed DIO then walks past Jotaro, soon adopting a smug smile, in a sequence that takes exactly five seconds. After he walks past Jotaro, time resumes with a "Sono Chi no Kioku!". As Jotaro turns, The World and Star Platinum begin their attack rushes as both of their users look on, their battle cries ringing out as the blows land. The traditional scene changes into a flurry of ORA in Katakana, which turns into JO, also in Katakana, is instead a flurry of ORA in Katakana, and MUDA in Kanji.

In SC Episode 48, the final episode of the season, the opening has been changed even more to include sound effects, such as Silver Chariot's swishing swords or the general noise of Stands manifesting. Also, when the camera pauses after moving to Jotaro on the staircase, The World is seen punching away the credits and the staircase around him, explaining why it shattered in the original version. The silhouette section also adds new images for a split second; DIO is shown standing at the top of the "stairs" Polnareff, Iggy, and Avdol are climbing; the line representing DIO's knife flying at Joseph's throat is replaced by DIO's arm appearing to drain Joseph of his blood; when Kakyoin erects his barrier, The World appears in front of him, ready to strike him down; and when Jotaro is surrounded by knives, Star Platinum appears to try and knock them away.

Lyrics
Lyrics in red indicate lyrics sung by TOMMY, lyrics in green indicate lyrics sung by Coda, and lyrics in blue indicate lyrics sung by JIN. Lyrics in orange are sung together by TOMMY and Coda. Lyrics in Black/White are sung together by all three singers.

Gallery
First Version =

Trivia

 * This is the first opening to feature all the artists from the first three openings, forming the "JO☆STARS" group.
 * The opening heavily foreshadows later events in Part 3:
 * The clock motif that appears throughout the opening alludes to Star Platinum & The World's time-stopping abilities.
 * What is implied to be Jotaro's heartbeat, which Jotaro intentionally halts during his fight with DIO in order to appear dead.
 * Polnareff becoming possessed by Anubis.
 * A shot of the Crusaders in Kenny G's labyrinth, with the shadows of the Egyptian God Stands appearing on the walls.
 * The positions of the Crusaders on the stairs of DIO's mansion, referencing their fates.
 * Joseph and Jotaro's confrontation against The World.
 * As Jotaro punches the screen towards the ending of the original series of openings, The World can be seen briefly in the animation.
 * Jotaro's right-hand moves for a fraction of a second before the "knives" appear around him, foreshadowing his tolerance to The World.
 * At the end, the logo turns to stone and then vanishes like dust; foreshadowing how DIO's body is eventually disposed.
 * The opening sequence also showcases Silver Chariot being able to dual wield rapiers, though canonically one of the blades should be a partly-broken Anubis.




 * When Coda sings the line "Mada minu sadame", the song title changes into "JoJo ~Sono Chi no Sadame~ (ジョジョ ～その血の～)" for a frame, referencing the first opening of Season 1.
 * The previous openings of the show are referenced in the song's bridge: TOMMY's lyrics include the word "Destiny", Coda's lyrics include the word "Blood", and the final section of the bridge (sung by all three singers) includes the word "Pride". These lyrics reference "JoJo ~Sono Chi no Sadame~", "BLOODY STREAM", and "STAND PROUD" respectively.
 * The Japanese lyrics write Star Platinum's name as "Sutā Purachinamu" (スタープラチナム) instead of the usual "Sutā Purachina" (スタープラチナ).
 * The version of the opening used in episode 47 onwards started the tradition of the main villain interfering in the opening during the series' climax, which was featured again in two other openings during it's respective parts' climaxes.
 * The idea of having openings vary a bit to showcase DIO's time-stopping power came from Kamikaze Douga. During the presentation of the opening, Junpei Mizusaki, the president of the company, suddenly said, “It’s DIO, so we just need to stop time for 9 seconds."