Stardust Crusaders - Episode 34
The Joestar Group have reached Cairo. Seeking DIO's Mansion, the heroes meet the gambler Daniel J. D'Arby who bets against Polnareff and steals his soul with his Stand Osiris. To save their friend, they must challenge D'Arby to various games.
Summary
The Joestar Group has reached its final destination, Cairo. However, they must now find DIO's lair and Cairo is a sprawling and labyrinthine city, thus forcing them to scan the outskirts first. Moreover, a few enemies remain and Holy's condition has worsened to the point she may only have a few days left.
After some time showing photos of DIO's hiding spot and asking about its location, the group eventually reach a café where they come across a man named D'Arby who claims to know where DIO's mansion is. However, D'Arby presents himself as an inveterate gambler and wishes the group to win the information on a gamble. He thus throws two pieces of dried fish in the ground and asks the group to bet on which piece a nearby cat will go for first. Although Jotaro and Avdol are suspicious, Polnareff accepts the bet and foolishly accepts to "bet his soul", taking D'Arby for a lunatic. Although Polnareff bets on the bigger piece, the cat goes for the other one first. D'Arby now demands his prize: his Stand Osiris appears and steals Polnareff's soul, turning it into a poker chip. After a single gamble, Polnareff has died.
The group realizes they have come across one of DIO's assassins but D'Arby dissuades them to beat him up, threatening to destroy Polnareff's soul. Moreover, the gambler unapologetically claims his pride in his ability to cheat and shows his collection of poker chips as proof of his skill. The group is forced to wager their souls to free Polnareff, so Joseph comes forth to challenge him. Filling up a glass with whiskey, Joseph invites both of them to take turns and put coins in the glass, whoever making the whiskey spill being the loser of the bet. As Joseph officially wagers his own soul, D'Arby accepts the game but also momentarily checks the glass for possible tricks. Having a lot of experience, Joseph evaluates that the glass will overflow in about seven coins. Trying to destabilize D'Arby by maliciously misnaming him, Joseph then secretly spills more whiskey in the glass as he puts the sixth coin, expecting D'Arby to fail. However, the gambler then puts the seventh coin without a hitch, taking Joseph by surprise. At wit's end, Joseph subconsciously acknowledges his defeat and gets his soul stolen by Osiris.
Jotaro looks at the glass and sees a piece of melted chocolate. D'Arby had in fact tampered with the glass, slightly tilting it to make Joseph underestimate the number of coins that could fit in it. Jotaro subsequently challenges D'Arby at a game of poker, the game D'Arby is best at. Despite Avdol's protestations, Jotaro is determined to win back the souls of his friend and grandfather.
Appearances
Credits
Kenichi Suzuki
鈴木 健一
伊藤 公崇
石本 峻一
Cha Myoung Jun
Takayuki Nakao
Shuhei Fukuda
Nagisa Takahashi
Akie Muratsukasa
Ayu Tanaka
Masami Gohda
Kohei Ashiya
Yuki Tsugihashi
Sayaka Maruyama
Bark Ma Kang
Takaaki Sekizaki
Tetsuji Shigesawa
Takafumi Mitani
Hitomi Shiroki
Kenji Yokoyama
Teruyo Kato
Kwon O Sik
Shinya Ito
Motonao Komiya
Akihiro Otake
Hiroki Goto
Yuichi Nakazawa
Yuki Ieda
Akinori Fudesaka
中尾 高之
福田 周平
高橋 渚
村司 晃英
田中 亜優
合田 真さ美
芦谷 耕平
次橋 有紀
丸山 沙也香
Bark Ma Kang
関崎 高明
繁澤 哲二
三谷 高史
白木 仁美
横山 謙次
加藤 照代
Kwon O Sik
伊藤 進也
小宮 素直
大竹 晃裕
後藤 洋輝
中澤 勇一
家田 佑樹
筆坂 明規
Rie Omori
Makoto Yaguchi
Sae Akama
Yuri Yamamura
Natsue Chibayama
Arata Kawabata
Ran'u
Mitsuko Arasawa
Saaya Kume
Kaede Yasuda
White Line
Teddy
大森 理恵
矢口 真琴
赤間 紗枝
山村 有理
千葉山 夏恵
川端 新
藍雨
荒澤 光子
久米 紗綾
泰田 楓
WHITE LINE
テディー
株式会社サイバーコネクトツー
Music
Manga/Anime Differences
- Added a scene where the Crusaders arrive in Cairo.
- Added a flashback where D'Arby gambled against the Moor family in person.
Commentary
Jotaro and co. have finally arrived in Cairo, but they are already gambling in a café. Polnareff is aggressive and is masterfully tricked, so his chances of winning were slim. (laughs)
I think the episode gives a really good visual of the playing cards. In fact, we had asked a professional magician (紙磨呂) to do some moves. We filmed it and used it as reference material for the animation.
Daniel has some really strange motifs on his face. During the animation process, we had treated them as tattoos but in truth I confess I have no idea what they could be. (laughs) The two brothers have similar motifs, maybe it's something genetic...
Also note that even if the story is the same, we've made multiples modifications on this Blu-Ray and DVD version. Have fun spotting all the differences.Trivia
- The ending in this episode includes a different part of Last Train Home. Given the dark tone the episode has, the ending features a black screen instead of the normal video.
