After a burning wreck of a first season, Battle in Egypt (tentatively shortened BE) follows the same pitfalls and mistakes until, that is, around episode 40. But I'll come back to that. BE continues where the last season of Stardust Crusaders ended and in traditional Stardust fashion, has a heap of monster-of-the-month type enemies awaiting Jotaro and companions.
From the fluidity of Battle Tendency, this method of throwing random enemies into the show served only as filler to the final confrontation with Dio. While some enemies were interesting, their battles were not. For 30+ episodes we've followed the same worn-out formula to where we expect fights to go one of two ways, diverging when it seems that one of the heroes has won: Either they orate some witty one-liner before defeating their foe, letting them know how they lost (such gentlemen), or the villain declares it was all part of his plan, wounds the hero but the hero seems to have either predicted that or still beats the villain regardless.
There's no tension and no reward with fights that are all, essentially, the same. The circumstances and environment might change, but the equation for solving their problems doesn't. Each fight feels like filler where nothing would actually change with their removal. Stardust, as a whole, could have been considerably shorter and told the exact same story, only we'd have less reptitive confrontations that are, in my opinion, lackluster and boring, and get straight to what I expect the majority of JoJo fans have been waiting for.
Which is why it's all the more satisfying when one of the heroes actually dies. Suddenly the rules have change and Stardust Crusaders isn't willing to continue apologising for its Saturday morning cartoon "plots". At the moment that this hero dies, Stardust grows up.
While I can't say much for the plot, the characters themselves are interesting, varied and likeable. Yet I find myself enamoured by Dio the most, and it's criminal that he's had so little screen time. But that makes the final confrontation all the more worthwhile when we do get to it. Mind games, lots of MUDA MUDA MUDA, and an insane fight that's as bloody and gory as it is exciting. Dio shines in his moment. He's ruthless, ambitious and monstrous. He's everything I remember from Phantom Blood, only you actually feel the effect of time on Dio's evolution. Dio is the centre-piece of this whole affair and should have been brought out a lot sooner.
He also looks fabulous.
Vanilla Ice is a villain I have to applaud for doing what no other villain in the show was capable of: changing the rules. It was at this point, with Ice's appearance, that the show began to resemble the majesty of Phantom Blood. I'm not going to spoil it for those who have yet to watch it but it managed to wring out many tears and fist pumps of joy.Ultimately, the show really only mattered from episode 40 onward, while everything else felt like filler. The only basis of these episodes was to flesh out the characters, give them personalities and struggles to overcome. In the case of Kakyoin and Polnareff, this was reasonably well done, but we're talking about JoJo, where the show is more about the flashy and spangly shit than it is on sociology. Jotaro and Joseph feel static throughout the entire show, but we sort of forgive this because, again, it's JoJo and they already have decent characterization. It's a flimsy excuse that wouldn't hold up in other shows, but JoJo isn't trying to take itself seriously - it knows it's ridiculous and uses that as a strength.
Had this show been considerably shorter it definitely would have seen a higher score from me. The last 8 episodes were a 9/10, but the show, not just BE, is dragged through fields of cow shit for some 30+ episodes.If you watched Battle Tendency and are expecting the same vibe and engagement here, you'd do well to skip Stardust Crusaders and just go watch Diamond is Unbreakable. Or, if you love Dio as much as I do, watch it until you get bored and skip to episode 38 if you already know who Iggy is, although I recommend just watching the OVA if you're unsure because it really is not worth slogging through just to get to the relevant parts.