English Dub Review: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders “Hol Horse and Mondatta, Part 1”

And the horse you rode in on.

Overview (Possible Spoilers Below)

The episode begins when the long unheard from Hol Horse meets up with Dio, who gives him one final shot to take-out Team Joestar despite failing twice. It’s a well-established & creepy scene between the two as we’ve never seen them interact before. At first, it starts out in an argument, which results in Hol Horse pulling his Gun-Stand “The Emperor” on Dio, but Dio scares Hol shitless with his unknown yet incredible powers to the point that it forces the cowboy to forever cement his loyalty. And Dio, of course, makes it abundantly clear what the consequences of failure are, while complimenting how ballsy Hol Horse was to pull his Gun-Stand out without flinching or losing his composure.

As the title implies, Hol Horse kidnaps Mondatta in the most unusual way possible to further accomplish his goals and takes him with him to Cairo, coercing him to team up with him so that he combines Tohth’s prediction abilities with his Emperor’s Stand powers. A good portion of the episode is spent on situational comedy between the two, as Hol Horse at first, doubts the accuracy of Mondatta’s “Tohth” Stand due to the vagueness of its predictions, but despite the grotesquely-drawn art style of these oddly specific predictions presented in Mondatta’s book, he soon discovers that not even his own willpower can resist them.

While Team Joestar has very little screentime or focus in his episode, We at least do get a scene where Joseph learns that Holly’s condition has worsened and she could possibly have days left to live which helps give a plot a sense of urgency, while reminding the audience why Team Joestar is even out to stop Dio in the first place. Tohth gives Hol Horse an absurdly specific prediction that he will have a chance to kill Team Joestar by sticking two fingers up Polnareff’s nose, which he is obviously skeptical about but who wouldn’t be after hearing something gross like that? However, when Polnareff gets the jump on him and almost discovers Mondatta, Hol Horse gives into fate and hilariously attempts to follow this absurdly specific prediction to the letter, And the episode ends on a comedic cliffhanger as it’s left uncertain how the rest of Mondatta’s prediction will play out against the rest of Team Joestar.

And much like the past episode involving the two brothers, This Two-Parter also utilizes different credits representing Mondatta’s Stand powers which are often drawn in a grotesque & disjointed art style while accompanied with an even newer goofy tune which helps fit the comedic tone of this episode and possibly the next one is going for.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8u9Pe9qftxo

Our Take

While the start of this new two-parter feels slightly, like filler with the return of Hol Horse and Mondatta, the episode excels the most with the humor regarding the interactions between the two. As they both find common ground due to their failed attempts to kill Team Joestar in previous episodes, but as a duo, Hol Horse at least see’s potential for victory, no matter how weird these Tohth predictions are presented on paper.

Strangely enough, Mondatta later points out that going against any predictions from the book regardless of their vagueness would have devastating consequences, but I guess it looks like we won’t know what those are until next episode, as this one had the perfect balance of tension, suspense, and humor without making Team Joestar the focus.