SC Episode 22

Judgement, Part 2 (その2) is the twenty-second episode of Stardust Crusaders and the forty-eighth episode of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure anime. It covers the last three pages of Chapter 176 through most of Chapter 179 of the manga.

Judgement the genie has shown his true colors and summoned man-eating copies of Polnareff's sister and Avdol. Unable to attack the images of his loved ones, Polnareff is cornered and in dire need of help.

Summary
As Polnareff's foolish wish of returning his sister Sherry is turning against him, Judgement gloats and calls out Polnareff for having been so naive and exposing the weakness of his heart with his wishes. Just as promised, Jugement then makes a clay doll of Avdol who attacks Polnareff.

The fake Avdol then reminds Polnareff of his responsibility in his death and demands vengeance, then joined by the fake Sherry who wants to eat him to "get better". Although Polnareff summons Silver Chariot, Judgement comes forth to bind Chariot and let the zombies eat at Polnareff, who finally accepts his fate. However, he then sees a second Avdol which he mistakes for an hallucination, but then this Avdol breaks the doll and summons Magician's Red.

It's revealed that Avdol had actually survived as Hol Horse's bullet only grazed his skull. Thanks to the assistance, Polnareff can muster the resolve to destroy the fake doll and the two confront Judgement, who seems to be a match for the both of them. Judgement snidely asks Avdol for his wishes, but Avdol plays with Judgement and proves that Magician's Red is in reality more powerful. Avdol ultimately destroys Judgement with ease. The two then find the user, Cameo, and retire him in a particularly humiliating manner.

After reuniting with the group, Polnareff is shocked to find that the others knew Avdol was alive the entire time, keeping it a secret from him to prevent the enemy from finding out. Avdol further reveals he had disguised himself as his father in order to purchase a submarine for the group.

Manga/Anime Differences

 * A dialog of the fake Avdol blaming Polnareff for what happened and showing the hole in his forehead made by Emperor's bullet is added.
 * A scene between the fake Sherry & Polnareff is added; originally Judgement throws her and Avdol incinerates the body with Magician's Red.

Commentary
"In this episode, Avdol officially comes back, and he's in tip-top shape. His famous "Hell 2 you!" remains an iconic line.

This second part gives prominence to the action, we can even say that there's only that. The tongue-shaped plants, about which I've already talked about, are neatly shaken by the wind.

Sherry has stayed a while on Polnareff to gnaw on him. He was already half-eaten when he got back on his feet to finally throw her away, as if he was thinking "okay, you've already eaten enough, here!" (laughs)

Since the fight is happening at the same place, we changed the scene's color scheme to give even more rhythm to these speeches, and it seems to me that it worked well.

Polnareff is really cool when he skewers Sherry. He hasn't always been this imposing during these two episodes, but he's reached an impotant step and manages to say goodbye. It's as if he's suddenly grown. However, some things never change and we see him flabbergasted to learn that everyone already knew of Avdol. Kakyoin sympathizes a little with him, but it's already time to leave...

The submarine appears in the very last scene. A normal submersible must surely cost several hundreds of millions of yen; this is really a luxurious journey. Seeing the size of this machine, it must cost into the tens of billions."

- Naokatsu Tsuda, Blu-Ray limited edition commentaries

Trivia

 * The stats for Magician's Red in the eyecatch are written incorrectly despite the chart displaying the correct stats. Its range and precision are written as D instead of C, and its developmental potential is written as E instead of D.