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JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 8 JoJolion Arc by Arc Review (4/9)

"I Am a Rock"


Using Yotsuyu's scent from Yasuho, Norisuke manages to find the architect in his rock form. Scratching the rock skin with a boulder, and seeing it bleed, Josuke and Norisuke are puzzled by Yotsuyu's true nature. Yotsuyu uses their momentary distraction from observing the canisters of pesticide converging toward Josuke, Yotsuyu appears before them and declares that he will obtain the Higashikata's wealth and that Josuke is checkmate before disappearing again when Soft & Wet punches him away.


Knowing that Yotsuyu will use Yasuho against him, Josuke chooses to go on the offensive and foregoes defending himself against the canisters. Spotting Yotsuyu from the bleeding scratch, Josuke imprisons him in a bubble and begins to transport him to the coast. Yotsuyu reveals his Stand, I Am a Rock, and pops the bubble with converging rocks as the canisters of pesticide reach Josuke.


Covered in pesticide, Josuke nonetheless pushes Yotsuyu off the cliff with him and both fall into the sea. Communicating underwater with his bubbles, Josuke envelops Yotsuyu who changed into his rock form to protect himself in several fishnets thrown by Norisuke at his request. Josuke gives Yotsuyu a choice, either revealing him who he is, or face lingering underwater forever in his rock form for fear of drowning. Enraged, Yotsuyu only reveals that he killed Josuke earlier and that Kira saved him. Attacking Josuke again, but beaten, Yotsuyu starts breaking down and dies, only saying that Josuke will be betrayed by the Higashikatas in his dying breath. At the same time Josuke spots a mysterious fruit sinking in the water from the architect's bag.


Pulling Yotsuyu's remains off the water, Josuke and Norisuke inspects them, still baffled by Yotsuyu's rock physiology. In the bunker, Tsurugi sees his grandfather and Josuke come back with Yasuho and take her to the bedroom, and reveals that after investigating Yotsuyu, he couldn't find any address or bank account despite his qualifications as an architect, raising the question of where does Yotsuyu come from and how was he raised and educated. Tsurugi then asks if they have seen the cure for the disease, which first being denied its existence by Norisuke, is then confirmed by Josuke when he reveals that he saw a fruit sinking down the sea. Linking that fruit to a possible motive for his presence in Morioh, Josuke decides to investigate the fruit to uncover his past. In the bedroom, Yasuho discovers a piece of the mysterious fruit in her pocket, and goes back to sleep.


Rating: 8/10


Ever Day Is a Summer Vacation


At the Higashikata's, the family members are having fun showing each other the strange gifts Jobin got for them. Josuke asks if he can go to Jobin's room, saying he needs advice for raising his stag beetle. Accompanied by Joshu, Josuke is accepted into Jobin's room, where he sees a wall full of a multitude of exposed beetles, entomologyW books, and a rearing room for Jobin's collection of live beetles.


A flashback narrates Josuke going to Tsurugi and asking him what Jobin's Stand ability is. Tsurugi was reluctant at the idea of acting against a family member, especially his own father, but Josuke pressures him, telling Tsurugi that his father was keeping the source of the cure for his disease a secret to his family, and that Norisuke would rather preserve his eldest son than his grandchild. Tsurugi finally reveals that Jobin could be manipulated using his obsession with beetles and beetle fights.


Josuke inspects the live beetles, and pointing at one Palawanicus, nonchalantly mentions that his Palawanicus could beat it in a straight fight. Interested, Jobin then challenges Josuke to a beetle fight, just as Tsurugi predicted. Josuke uses the opportunity to raise the stacks with a bet. Setting a fighting arena made of cork circled with soft rush plant, Jobin explains the rules of a beetle fight:


According to the apparent 45-second memory of the beetles, during which they are eager to fight, a determining factor in a fight can be raised by brushing them with female beetle pheromones.

The contestants make the beetles fight for a period of 45 seconds. The beetle that is killed, is lifted up for 10 seconds, or leaves the ring loses.

Jobin then demonstrates the fighting proficiency of his own Palawanicus by making it kill a Japanese hornet and proposes that the loser shaves his eyebrow, to which Josuke accepts.


The first round begins between the two Palawanicus. At first, Jobin's beetle gets the upper hand due to its sharpened mandibles and planted female pheromones from a brush, making it push Josuke's beetle to the border of the arena. The tables are turned when Josuke releases the pheromones he planted in the soft rush plants with his bubbles. Josuke's beetle then makes Jobin's beetle flee out of the arena. A frustrated Jobin shaves off his left eyebrow.


Meanwhile, Yasuho begins to master her Stand Paisley Park when Tsurugi rings the bell and asks her to follow him. Despite his loss, Jobin is enjoying himself and challenges Josuke to another beetle fight, and again Josuke accepts. Josuke then proposes his true goal; the LamborghiniW Jobin owns. If Josuke wins, he can check the event data recorder in secret, and Jobin unknowingly accepts. In the Higashikata house, Tsurugi tells Yasuho that Paisley Park's power will be crucial in the investigation. The second opponent is a golden stag beetle, also known as a Rosenbergi. As the match begins, Jobin tells Josuke that if he wins, he is allowed to lick Josuke's eyeball.


The Palawanicus' superior size and weight enables it to push the Rosenbergi to the border of the ring. However, the Rosenbergi suddenly moves in an unnaturally precise manner, knocking the Palawanicus over and biting off one leg. The Palawanicus is almost pushed over the border as Josuke reads from an encyclopedia that stag beetles instinctively play dead when feeling strong vibrations at their legs. Intrigued that the Rosenbergi could exploit this weakness, Josuke secretly deduces that Jobin could in fact remotely command it. As the Rosenbergi chomps off another leg, Josuke notices liquid oozing from its head. The Palawanicus falls from the ring, but since the clock went over 45 seconds, Josuke has not lost.


Before the second bout, Josuke secretly plunders the scent from Jobin's paintbrush and then inquires about the liquid. Jobin reveals that it's wax, that when melted will cause convulsions in the beetle and eventually kill it, but not before Jobin wins. As the second round begins, Josuke pops the bubbles that plundered the air around this paintbrush, and is baffled to discover that the paintbrush has exuded a temperature as high as 60 °C. As the Rosenbergi slowly overwhelms the Palawanicus with its precise movement, Josuke witnesses a faint apparition of Jobin's Stand. Josuke then realizes that the beetle fight has been a front for a Stand battle. Suddenly Joshu knocks his foot on the tank where the hornet was killed and asks where the lower half of it's body with the stinger went. The abdomen is shown to be near Josuke who is now showing confidence as the Rosenbergi goes mad and convulses. Josuke had planted some of the hornet's poison in Jobin's brush, which eventually killed his beetle, making Josuke the winner.


As Josuke takes the Lamborghini's keys with him and leaves the room, Jobin stops him, having realized that Josuke went there for an ulterior motive. The keys are transported anyway to Tsurugi with a bubble, and he goes to investigate the car in the garage.


Rating: 9/10

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