English Dub Review: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders “Wheel of Fortune”

We’re back after Toonami’s Samurai Jack Halloween marathon.

Overview (Spoilers Below)

As Team Joestar proceeds to drive towards Pakistan, they come across Anne whom they last saw in Singapore.  Reluctantly, take her along, and upon continuing their journey, the red car that’s secretly following them gets in their way by leading them into the path of an oncoming truck. After Jotaro quickly uses Star Platinum to help them avoid possible danger, he questions whether or not this was a Stand User sent to kill them or just some random douche on the road.

Much of the episode at that point is spent on Team Joestar searching for answers about the red car as it becomes a suspenseful game of cat & mouse when Team Joestar gets misdirected at almost every turn until they end up trapped in a dead end, where they’re almost pushed off of a cliff. Thankfully, Kakyoin & Jotaro manage to use their Stand powers to get them out of danger once more while knocking the red car down the cliff in the process. Just then, a voice comes from their own car’s radio, revealing the red car is a Stand called “Wheel of Fortune”, which emerges from the ground and destroys their vehicle, transforming into a what looks like a grotesquely designed hot wheels car.

At that point, Wheel begins attacking Team Joestar with a seemingly unseen projectile, forcing everyone to escape. As Jotaro prepares to unleash an attack on Wheel’s underside, only to learn that the projectile attacks were to soak them in gasoline. Wheel’s user attempts to set Jotaro ablaze, but Jotaro cleverly avoids danger and uses Star Platinum to send Wheel’s user flying out of it and later they chain him to a rock. Afterwards, Team Joestar takes what’s left of his working red car, and continues their journey but the episode cryptically ends when Enyaba decides to take matters into her own tiny hands against Team Joestar herself.

Our Take

It’s clear much of this episode was heavily referencing killer car movies along the lines of Stephen King’s Christine with how tenaciously sinister that car was. The tension & suspense along with some comedic moments were good in places and probably what kept me watching, but after Wheel’s user was finally revealed is where it got underwhelming and was hard to take seriously as a threat once his full body was shown. I’m very much looking forward to the next episode since they’ve built up Enyaba to be a threat for quite some time now.