#davidpro

Keicho’s desire to kill his father would seem to be a natural result of a typical cycle of abuse; his father beat him and Okuyasu as children, and it was only after Dio showed up that things became better for them, as Keicho’s father was now capable of providing for his family. The consequences of the abuse clearly still affect Keicho,1 however; growing up under his father taught him that violence is the only solution, and so he desires to use violence to “solve” the problem of his father, even going as far as to beat him into submission when he refuses to stop searching through a seemingly empty chest.

The chest isn’t empty, however, and when Josuke notices this, he uses Crazy Diamond to reveal the true reason Keicho’s father desperately clawed at it: it contains the fragments of a family photo, a photo that upon being put back together causes Keicho’s father to burst into tears. Despite being unable to communicate and generally acting bestial, Keicho’s father’s primary concern is having a chance to look upon an image of the family that he once had, and that he once loved dearly.

Keicho is thus forced to see that his abusive father is a far more complex man than he had previously given him credit for, and it here that Okuyasu attempts to reconcile with him, and set him on the path to looking for a way to heal his father rather than kill him. Unfortunately, Keicho’s own abusive tendencies are shown he when he chastises his younger brother for being incompetent, as well as through his willingness to disavow him over something as trivial as touching the bow and arrow.

Before the brothers can conclude their conversation, however, Red Hot Chili Peppers shows up, and he decides to completely shatter the pacing of this episode, which had previously all been carefully building to Okuyasu confronting his brother.

Now, on a certain storytelling level, this makes sense, as the introduction of Red Hot Chili Peppers gives us the catalyst for events going forward, but the timing is completely ineffective, breaking off the only real interaction between the Nijumura brothers that we’ve seen over the last three episodes. The only saving grace of this moment is that it is used to add complexity to Keicho’s character, as he immediately shoves Okuyasu away and takes the fatal blow himself, saving his brother’s life.

What’s left of the episode is an ominous phone conversation between Jotaro and Red Hot Chili Peppers, as well as a moment where Okuyasu shows up at Josuke’s house to walk with him to school. As much as I love how adorable Okuyasu is in the last scene, these moments both feel completely out of place with the rest of the episode, and seem shoehorned in as setup for future episodes.

Rating: 4/5

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Stray Observations

That the plot of this episode is all about introducing an unexpected consequence to the defeat of Dio adds to the meta-commentary of this series being a follow-up unintended by Araki.