JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean – Episode 25 Recap & Review

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Episode 25 of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean Part II begins with Jolyne planning to secure a ride for her, Ermes, and Emporio. Meanwhile, Weather Report and Anastasia discuss Jolyne’s whereabouts.

Weather Report senses that Jolyne’s no longer at the female prison ward of the Green Dolphin Street State Prison. Anastasia spots the Joestar family birthmark on Weather Report’s neck and bombards him with questions about it. Weather Report doesn’t answer any of Anastasia’s questions. He only knows Pucci is their enemy and plans to beat the truth out of him.

Pucci listens to the radio in a taxi and learns that Jolyne and Ermes have escaped the prison. He’s infuriated that Mew Mew couldn’t stop Jolyne. To make matters worse, the taxi driver runs into a dilemma with his vehicle. He tells Pucci that he can’t get his car to work and that Pucci will have to find another means of reaching his destination.

Pucci heads for his location on foot. During his walk, he realizes that he’s been feeling ill since he took his new form. He has five days until the new moon rises to enact his and Dio’s plan. Pucci gets caught in the middle of a medical emergency involving a few crooks. A drug addict apprehends Pucci when he turns his attention toward the items that fell from each crook’s pocket.

The drug addict warns the police to put their weapons down as he threatens to murder Pucci if they don’t comply. During their skirmish, Pucci grabbed the quarter, skull ring, and the pistol bullet that fell from the weakened crooks’ pockets. Pucci utters some words about stars and criminals to rile up the drug addict. The drug addict stabs Pucci’s neck with the scissors, terrifying the officers.

The drug addict admits it wasn’t him, as Pucci confirms his suspicions. Thankfully for Pucci, the drug addict’s scissors didn’t stab him in a fatal area. Pucci tells the drug addict to forgo drugs and use his energy for brighter purposes. The drug addict shoves Pucci aside and makes a run for it. However, the officers open fire on the addict, and he lands in the bushes.

Pucci mentions gravitational pulls as it appears he bestowed a stand on the addict and the fallen crooks. Meanwhile, Weather Report and Anastasia have escaped Green Dolphin. Weather Report helps a man retrieve some groceries he dropped. Anastasia tells him not to draw any attention since their jailbreak is all over the news.

The man overhears their conversation regarding transportation and offers them a ride on his truck. Anastasia and Weather Report agree to hitch a ride in the vehicle. As they travel up north via the man’s truck, Weather Report senses they’ll eventually encounter Jolyne there. Anastasia picks up a theme park guide and notices the book’s characters are missing.

A strange creature rushes past these two at jet-like speeds. Anastasia uses his Stand Diver Down to capture the beast. Weather Report and Anastasia learn that they captured Pinocchio, who somehow escaped the book that lies next to them. Anastasia tells Weather Report to look for the Stand user. Weather Report shoots down the theory that the man driving is the user because it would be strange.

Anastasia has a hunch that Pucci is sending Stand users after them. Anastasia threatens Pinocchio to see if he can get some information from him. Pinocchio argues he’s the only being around, but his nose grows and scratches Anastasia. Pinocchio apologizes and promises that his nose grows on its own accord. Pinocchio confirms that he doesn’t work in pairs, but that doesn’t mean he’s the only one around. His nose shrinks which show that he’s speaking the truth.

Anastasia threatens him more, but Pinocchio promises he’s a kind-hearted fellow to everyone, including children. Anastasia notices feet sprawling from an apple nearby and investigates it. It turns out that they’re also dealing with the seven dwarves from Snow White. Suddenly, Snow White bursts from a crate, and Anastasia questions if there are more folktale creatures and beings they’ve yet to encounter.

Anastasia is lost in his thoughts when the truck owner’s radio broadcasts a news report regarding Batman and other fictional characters escaping from magazines and books. Anastasia yells at Weather Report for swiping the magazine. Suddenly, Weather Report starts calling out to Anastasia and tells the man to stop the truck. Anastasia wonders what’s wrong with Weather Report. He checks around the vehicle and notices his body being smeared on the pavement.

Anastasia wonders why a clone of his body is being smeared on the pavement. Pinocchio tells Anastasia that he split. Suddenly, Anastasia notices that the man driving has split too. The truck crashes into a pole, but Anastasia, Weather Report, and the truck owner escape the situation thanks to Weather Report’s Stand ability. Weather Report heads over to Anastasia and wonders why the Stand user’s ability only affected Anastasia.

He wonders if it influenced Anastasia because Weather Report holds no memories of his past, including fictional characters like Pinocchio. The real Anastasia, however, is holding Pinocchio by the throat, and he asks if he is invisible to Weather Report. Suddenly, we see iconic anime characters like Astro Boy and others hovering over our heroes.

Anastasia concludes that fictional characters are brought to the real world. They have the power to split people’s minds from their bodies. Anastasia demands Pinocchio tell him where his Stand user is located, but Pinocchio doesn’t budge. Pinocchio taunts Anastasia, leading to him severing his head with Diver Down. Anastasia ends up in a weird predicament and can’t locate Weather Report.

Suddenly, the truck driver reveals himself as the big bad wolf from Little Red Riding Hood. Anastasia murders the wolf with Diver Down but realizes that he’s trapped in some type of story loop. He spots Weather Report and his clone in a vehicle. Weather Report concludes the Stand user and their Stand are in separate places and are bringing characters to life.

Weather Report feels the Stand and the user’s aroma up North. The episode concludes with a brief shot of Little Red Riding Hood’s book as she has escaped her story.

The Episode Review

What a way to begin the final part of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean! We’re heading down to the wire regarding Pucci’s grand scheme, and it’s great to see our remaining heroes leave Green Dolphin behind. While they haven’t explored many areas yet, it’s great to see our cast exploring public locales.

Hirohiko Araki is at it again with more creative Stands. It makes you wonder if Netflix was the best streaming service to get their hands on JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure with all the fictional characters that crop up in this episode. It’s incredible that many of these characters retain their quirks but exhibit JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure mannerisms. Many fans will enjoy the small Easter eggs sprinkled throughout this episode.

At the same time, things were difficult to follow in the segment regarding Anastasia and Weather Report’s threat. It would have been better if the ability of the fictional Stand user had been explained more clearly. Some fans may find it challenging to pinpoint what’s going on with all the chaos in this set piece. Hopefully, the next chapter can slow things down and better explain the obstacle in Anastasia and Weather Report’s way.

Overall, this episode provided much confusion and intrigue. The tension between Pucci and the drug addict had me on the edge of my seat. With five days remaining before Pucci enacts his and Dio’s dream, I can’t help but feel excited about the events leading up to that exchange. Let’s hope that Anastasia and Weather Report can find a way to defeat this strange Stand user.