It's been 49 years after Jonathan Joestar's death, and a much older looking Speedwagon and Straizo travel to Mexico to investigate a mysterious underground caverns. There they find it filled with similar Stone Masks to the one that was destroyed many years ago, as well a body integrated into a stone column. Meanwhile, in New York, Jonathan's grandson, Joseph Joestar (also nicknamed "JoJo"), saves a young African-American pick-pocket named Smokey Brown from some corrupt policemen using the Ripple. After saving him, Smokey tags along as Joseph and Erina head to a restaurant.
Back in Mexico, Speedwagon is betrayed by Straizo, and is presumably killed. Straizo had apparently envied the youth that the Stone Mask had granted Dio and dons one himself. After dealing with a mafia henchman at a restaurant, JoJo, Erina, and Smokey meet a mafia acquaintance of Speedwagon's who informs them that Speedwagon has been murdered by Straizo. Later that day, JoJo is confronted outside a cafe by Straizo, who had regained his youth as a vampire. Straizo plans to kill Joseph before he can unlock the full potential of the Ripple, but Joseph quickly pulls out a Tommy-Gun and promptly blasts Straizo through the cafe window.
The scene of Speedwagon revealing a mummified Stone Mask vampire to Straizo was removed from the anime.
After Joseph introduced himself to Smokey, the manga shows a single panel where Joseph says he wants to flip up some girl's skirts, which causes Smokey to question his British heritage. This was skipped in the anime.
Some lines of dialogue were censored in the TV version, but were added back in the Blu-Ray.
The police originally calls Smokey a derogatory term for a black person (黒人野郎), but the phrase is replaced with "a pile of garbage" (ゴミクズ野郎) in the TV version, putting less emphasis on Smokey's race.
Similarly, Joseph calls the police officer a "yankee" (アメ公) after punching him in the manga, but it's changed to a slang word for "policeman" (ポリ公).
Joseph's Coca-Cola bottle was changed to a generic soda.
Originally Joseph was a reading a Superman comic while Speedwagon's plane was being hijacked. In the anime, the comic was changed to Baoh instead.
Minor details are erased from some scenes (ex. a glass of wine being thrown in the back of Smokey's head by the gangster).
Commentary
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This is the first episode of the Battle Tendency arc. Our approach was globally different from that of Phantom Blood. Notably concerning the colors.
Thanks to the experience from the first part, the team knew which direction to take. Ideas flew, everyone had something to say. It was the perfect state of mind for this Episode 10. It contains many day to day scenes. It was really interesting: the action is in suspension, so to speak; it was the mundane scenes that were the most spirited (laughs).
The plans with the pop colours were one of Yasufumi Soejima's ideas, our visual director. They remind of the aesthetic of the comic-books from this era while keeping the spirit of JoJo, and the drawings get sharper.
The dusk also has a small effect. The sky is blue. It is the color designer Shunichirô Yoshihira, who insisted he tried something with the sky. The results is, frankly, cool.
Episode 10 is also that of the cops or the guy with the brass knuckles. The casting was on top of its game.
The back cover of the Baoh manga features a legitimate comic ad for Aurora car models. The actor on the ad, Don "Secret Agent 86" Adams, was the star of the hit 1960's series called Get Smart.
