[Movie] JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean – Episode 18 Recap & Review

Episode 18 of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean Part II shares a brief retelling of events that led up to the fight between F.F. and Kenzou. Jolyne attempts to help F.F., but Anastasia stops her in her tracks. Kenzou celebrates his victory over F.F., but Jolyne points out that F.F. is not dead, but barely alive and needs water.

F.F. attacks Kenzou unknowingly. She manages to wound his arm with her plankton bullets. Kenzou backs off to the safe zone, allowing F.F. some time to strategize. She plans to create a mirror out of the water to misdirect Kenzou, but she needs to focus on gathering water to heal herself first.

While F.F. is pondering, Kenzou laments about his past life. He plans to build another cult where people will worship him as their savior. He advances toward F.F. and orders Dragon’s Dream to ready itself. He jumps into the air and tries to kick F.F., but she manages to dodge his attack via a backflip. She runs toward a hose to collect water, but Kenzou pursues her.

Jolyne orders Anastasia to help F.F., but Anastasia refuses because of the deal he and F.F. made. He vowed only to protect Jolyne and F.F. told him that she wants to fight alone. F.F. reaches the hose and looks for the faucet. However, Dragon’s Dream appears and warns her that she needs to focus on fighting Kenzou instead. Kenzou leaps at F.F., but F.F. plunges her arms into Dragon’s Dream, losing both in the process. Kenzou tries to kick F.F. but she sneaks inside the hose and opens the faucet. Unfortunately, her severed arms strike her, causing her to fly down the staircase and land on an execution chair.

Anastasia informs Jolyne that she landed on the chair, worrying her in the process. As she lands on the chair, the hose from earlier messes with the room’s control board, starting a countdown that will enable the execution’s chair electric circuits. F.F. panics and tries to escape. However, she gets swarmed by many unlucky circumstances that prevent her from leaving the room and the chair.

She removes the buckles binding her to the chair and heads for the exit. Unfortunately, Kenzou arrives, provoking F.F. to shoot at him as a form of distraction. However, the bullets only shatter Kenzou’s decorative beads as they scatter across the floor. F.F. ends up tripping on one of the beads and lands back on the chair. F.F. throws a punch at Kenzou, but he deflects it. He kicks her back on the chair as the countdown completes.

The electric chair activates and starts frying F.F. Kenzou boasts about his victory and future plans. Dragon’s Dream tells him to stop and says this went according to her plan. Essentially, F.F. collected water from Kenzou’s sweat and managed to create a mirror. This mirror showed him a fake version of Dragon’s Dream to misdirect him into an unsafe spot. This misdirection allows F.F. to grab Kenzou, as he joins her in the electrocution.

Both individuals suffer from the excursion. Anastasia tells Jolyne that they should focus their attention on finding Dio’s bone since F.F. and Kenzou’s battle has been decided. She ignores him and leaps down the stairs. Jolyne lands near the electrocution room’s entrance and notes that Dragon’s Dream is still floating above Kenzou’s head. This indicates to her that Kenzou survived the electrocution.

Jolyne readies herself for battle and sends a pointy thread toward Kenzou. He avoids it and advances toward Jolyne. Jolyne finds out that there’s a small puddle of water nearby and a chunk of F.F. still remains. However, she fails to realize that a piece of her threads got caught inside Dragon’s Dream’s bubble. This makes Kenzou confident that Jolyne will die from his next attack. However, Anastasia intervenes as Kenzou plunges his feet inside her throat to drown her.

He gloats but realizes that he’s high in the air, causing him to bump his head on the top staircase. Bewildered, Kenzou orders Dragon’s Dream to find him a lucky spot, but Kenzou falls and bounces off the floor. He discovers his legs have become human springs, as he’s having trouble finding his footing. To his dismay, Jolyne ended up surviving his attack, too.

It turns out that Anastasia utilized his Stand’s ability to save Jolyne from harm. He had hidden it inside her body. When Kenzou touched Jolyne, his legs were modified upon impact. Kenzou continues bouncing around the area as F.F. manages to gain consciousness. Jolyne’s bewildered by Anastasia’s dangerous methods while he finds her gaze romantic. Kenzou lands in a bucket and finds himself unable to move.

Jolyne stands up but has trouble maintaining her balance. F.F. suggests that she wait for her wounds to heal, but Jolyne insists that they find the small man who was playing with Dio’s bone quickly. The episode concludes by transitioning our attention toward Jotaro, who is being taken care of by the Speedwagon Foundation’s doctors.

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The Episode Review

Well, it turns out F.F. still had a lot of life left in her system. She didn’t have enough strength to put Kenzou down, but she pulled off a brilliant fight. I adored the strategies and tactics at play in this bout. While F.F. has a naïve understanding of humans and romance, her wit shines through during the heat of battle. I didn’t adore the coincidences that cropped up in this episode. It made shenanigans like F.F. casually falling into the electrocution chair feel wackier than authentic. I understand it ties into the theme regarding luck and unlocks, but it made the fight feel more comical and less serious.

This episode kind of lowered my excitement for Kenzou, though. His overt cocky attitude didn’t mesh well with the wise-elder persona he exhibited in the past episode. His gloating and boasting led to his downfall, and I’m unsure if that sits right with me. Dragon’s Dream’s bias toward F.F. and friends bothered me, too. He states in episode seventeen that he’s a neutral individual. However, he sides with Kenzou’s targets moreso than Kenzou. It made F.F. and friends’ victory over them feel less deserved and too easy for my taste.

I found it unwise for them to keep them alive. Although I can excuse Gwess’s survival in part one, it’s odd that Jolyne and her friends didn’t decide to finish Kenzou off completely. I understand that his legs and body are no longer functional, but he’s still an enemy at the end of the day. There is always a chance that one of Enrico’s minions will stumble upon him and revitalize his legs. Therefore, it would’ve been better to have F.F. end Kenzou’s life to avoid that possibility.

Besides that, I enjoyed what this episode had to offer. I wasn’t a fan of Jolyne and the crew’s decision to keep Kenzou alive, but I loved the fight with him. It was full of history, wisdom, and strategy. It allowed F.F. to prove herself as one of the show’s protagonists. I’m looking forward to seeing how Jolyne and friends will contend with Kenzou’s partner and the small man playing with Dio’s bone. I hope the brawl with those individuals has a better conclusion than this one.

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Expect A Full Season Write-Up When This Season Concludes!