I like how Jotaro had no reason to assume he could also wager with souls that weren't there, and then the moment Darby makes him wager Kakyoin's soul, confirming that it's possible, he's like "Aight bet. I wager my mother's soul"
Dio's a vampire, he doesn't have a soul. What is it he said? "I'm giving up my humanity, Jojo" something something stand represents his fighting spirit something something his soul is The World something something
I always thought the implication is that D'Arby KNOWS dios stand ability, and because he knows, when he sees jotaro doing that shit with the drink and the cigarette he's like "oh fuck this guy is just like dio he's totally cheating somehow, he stacked the cards in his favor somehow" only to reveal at the end that he didnt
That's an angle I somehow never considered. From his POV he would really be very much like Dio, just that he doesn't know he's just very fast. And like we later see he wasn't even wrong.
I know this is a late reply but I’m pretty sure it’s pretty much confirmed that D’arby knows DIO’s stand ability because Jotaro tells him that he has to wager it in return for his mothers soul and that’s why D’arby gets so nervous
literally what happened, confirmed by the dialogues, jotaro wages his mother's soul and raises D'arby to reveal Dio's stand. Him knowing means Dio will kill him if he speaks, and Jotaro outsmarted him by pretending he cheated then putting Dio's pressure against d'arby, making him faint yes, but also mentally lose as his stand considered he gave up.
My headcanon is that Darby actually knew Dio's secret. Hence when Jotaro lit the cigarette and brought the drink to star platinum so fast that Darby did not see it, he thought that Jotaro had time stop and hence why he was so afraid of it. Especially when linked to that fact that Jotaro demanded to know Dio's secret, and then Jotaro seemingly winning adter it.
See: Crazy Diamond Demonic Heartbreak. Half-canon ish. Dio recruits Darby playing a game of poker with him. He pulls the exact shit Jotaro does but actually switches the cards around with timestop. This, ofc, scares the shit out of Darby alongside Dio's regular scare tactics
@@royalgelly8948he also jerks him off within the Ten Seconds so that means he lost his virginity and if he lost his virginity that means he lost the game
It makes perfect sense, yeah. 👍 If I had to guess the reason that he talked about Star Platinum’s speed is because that’s the intel he had but then he noticed that it looked… *suspiciously* like The World.
There's that saying about the difficulty of writing intelligent characters is they can only be as clever as the author, and beyond that they tend to get "magic mind powers" in place of believable intelligence, and I think this arc does a really good arc of selling how clever these characters are. D'Arby is here for all of 3 short games but comes off as believably one of the most well prepared and cunning opponents the Stardust Crusaders face in their whole journey short of DIO himself. Joseph's old trickster nature rears it's head with a clever cheat and could have earned him the win had D'Arby not already been one step ahead, presumably having been informed about the crusaders prior to meeting them which would likely mean he already knew some about Joseph's cheating nature and would've accounted for it. Jotaro's wits are shown in his ability to quickly figure out what he should actually be trying to do in his poker game (apply psychological pressure to D'Arby) and how to go about doing it effectively.
very true, i talked about that concept in a previous video, can't remember which one. one of my design professors introduced me to the concept "we like to look at interesting things" and "we like to see thought behind art," the same idea of incredible work indicating an incredible artist. but on the other hand, someone doesn't need to be extremely smart to create something we think is amazing, their work just has to excite or inspire us, and a lot of the time it's just a case of refining and tweaking something to perfection, which I think is at least a small part of what makes jojo such an amazing series.
Exactly, if you can't win against a gambler (because he knows and does ALL the tricks) you have to do a different strategy, in this case, psychological torture. Brilliant text.
with writing intelligent characters it also helps that as a writer you can take as much time as you like to figure out their plans. Many intelligent characters (like jotaro) are able to improvise and come up with plans on the spot (that are albeit sometimes a bit over the top). Writing those kinds of traits into a character is a lot easier when you have a day to figure out a plan, rather than the few seconds someone like jotaro has, lol. I do believe anyone could write a scene like the Crusaders v D'arby if given enough time, though of course the more you know, the less time you'd need.
It's also interesting to compare this contest to the one with the younger D'Arby brother. Terence was a lot less cunning than Daniel because he was used to being easily able to win with his truth-reading ability; I seem to recall the characters even commented on how Daniel would have immediately caught the trick that Terence was completely fooled by.
My favourite part of this was the idea that D'Arby actually did know about DIO's stand, which is the reason why D'Arby knew he was in so much danger. If D'Arby actually did not know about DIO's stand, he would not be in any danger to actually make that bet. Think about it like this: let's say that D'Arby won and captured the souls of the Stardust Crusaders. Great, he reports back to DIO, get's rewarded, but... oh no, it turns out another of DIO's informants saw the poker game. DIO learns that D'Arby was so flippant about such sensitive information, which can only be a danger if the threat was credible. Enraged by this, DIO finds and kills D'Arby in an incredibly brutal fashion. That looming threat, the overwhelming danger that DIO poses, is what causes D'Arby to fold. Also, we can all agree that D'Arby the gambler is a much better villain than D'Arby the gamer. Telence had hax and couldn't beat Jotaro, meanwhile Daniel was able to take out two members with just his wits and skill.
Yeah that was the core of Jotaro‘s strategy. If D‘Arby lost, he would have to tell about Dio‘s Stand. If he won he would be known as unreliable by Dio, this killed. His only way out was a third option: going insane and essentially white out.
My favourite thing about the D'arby brothers is that their stands completed their skillset. Daniel was a genious at cheating and how to play around people's tricks, as shown with Joseph, so he has to be beaten by bluffing, aka psychology. Terence was a genius at actually playing, with little cheating involved, but could know if he was being bluffed. Daniel was immune to cheating thanks to his knowledge in games, and has to be defeated by extreme bluffing, while Terence was immune to bluffing thanks to his stand, so he has to be defeated by cheating, because otherwise he would have been unbeatable at games.
I think the detail you mentioned about the anime revealing Jojo's win a bit too early ended up heightening the experience. When Jojo's theme starts up, it's clear he's won so you can somewhat relax since the characters aren't in real danger anymore. But, D'arby is a smug arrogant little shit and you *really* want to see him get what's coming to him. So rather than following the generic 3 act emotional structure of "Rising action, climax, then descent into the finale", the anime choses to hit the climax, tease you with the slightest start of a descent, only to suddenly reverse direction into an even higher second climax JUST to really make D'arby's breakdown feel that much more enjoyable. D'arby didn't just lose, he was put under SUCH INSANE pressure from Jotaro that it completely and utterly broke him, and the viewer can't help but go wild at how insane the entire scene was.
that's true, most people's reaction to this scene (in their own mind at least) is that one meme of people silently watching something in the TV of a bar and then screaming and cheering after slmething happens
Kinda similar to his usual win. Jotaro mostly meme'd that he ORAORA his way to defeat his enemies. What usually happen is, he defeat the enemy first, THEN he goes ORAORAORA
i still remember the experience of watching these episodes. it was the first time ever in my life that I genuinely was on the edge of my seat, and eventually was standing up from having too much excitement. the only other time this would ever happen again was when I was watching Jotaro vs DIO. To this day, nothing has given me that same high anywhere else. The D'arby fight solidified to me what a good writer Araki is, and that Jojo would be one of my all time favorites. To be able to make me feel so much emotion as to elicit an actual physical response? No one else but Araki can do that for me.
Yeah, I remember seeing the Maria ( Magnet Stand User ) parts and actually almost choking as I laughed. No other anime has done that to me, other than Konosuba maybe.
@@ruanquang3367 no joke i actually watch professional poker now because of Darby. i learned the rules and even play at some tables sometimes... i suck at it though and always lose which is why i don't do it too often. i'd kill to get Jotaro's confidence and bluffing ability.
“Play the card game” “Wow, I have the best cards. I’m so good. I’m just the absolute best at this game I can’t be beat” *ekenajkansbendjdjbdkslakakjw dies*
Perfect choice for a video. D'arby is always my key reference for talking about the evolution of jojo's writing style. D'arby was the moment Araki unlocked his immense ability to write interesting, engaging encounters.
8:26 actually, i think d'arby knowing dio's stand is what made this play work for jotaro. D'arby saw that star platinum has the speed and power that dio's stand does, so he was likely considering the possibility that it had the same time stopping ability, meaning now in his mind, it actually _was_ possible for jotaro to switch the cards without him noticing.
One thing that I love about both D'arby brothers is how poetic their matches are. The gambler is a cheater at heart who outsmarted the best cheater in the gang, yet was beaten by Jotaro who played cleanly. The gamer was a techmaxxer who never cheated but perfected his gampeplay, he defeated the best gamer of the gang, and afterwards was beaten by Jotaro, who cheated to win. Both brothers defeated their biggest counterpart in the Crusaders gang, and both were defeated by Jotaro, who knew just the basics of what they were playing, using the other brother's style. It's just fantastic.
10:14 specifically the blu-ray release is uncensored. The censored version was just for Japanese TV broadcasting. The blu ray is uncensored and given a few touch-ups on various key shots
"Horror comedy thriller" is not how I would have described the series, but now that youve said it, you're right. Thats super accurate. Id also add mystery to the list
Also, in a weird way. The D’arby brothers are a first full reveal that people of familial relation can have the same type of Stand. Both Star Platinum and The World having the same abilities and powers later on isn’t that far fetched if you consider the bond between DIO and the Joestars, family wise and spiritually
watching this I had to immediately go rewatch the two episodes. Man, absolutely a high point in the entire series, the tension and resolution are INCREDIBLE
You've convinced me that this fight is perfect. As Joseph is my favorite Jojo, I've always hated how hard he got nerfed in Part 3. I thought the man who's successfully gambled his own life multiple times in Part 2 would be the best person to defeat Darby the Gambler. In the first 3 parts main character is responsible for 90% of success, and I didn't like it. Jotaro has already had a lot of cool battles, so let the old man have this fight for fuck's sake. But as you've said Jotaro learns a lot from this battle. Not to mention if Joseph had to win, and this fight was to be equally tense, everyone else including Jotaro would've had to lose. Actually, as I'm writing this I again think it could be done with Joseph. So now I no longer complain that Joseph didn't win, but I still think with some changes he still could be the sole Darby "survivor" and the fight would've been just as good.
As later fight with Younger Darby shows; Joseph is great cheater, it's just Older Darby were greater cheater. And while Jotaro great at intimidation and determination, they're quite useless with younger Darby who can (limitedly) read his mind.
Yeah, Joseph gets the runback by helping cheat against D’arby Younger, which is great. Especially since he does it without any communication to Jotaro. One thing I notice with Joseph in both parts is that people who expect him to cheat often get an edge on him, and that he gets into a tight spot very quickly if his initial trick fails (exception was with ACDC who he used a double trick on). He’s mostly good at improvising a new trick to save himself, but he went all or nothing against D’arby so he couldn’t get the chance.
I also love Joseph so I'm a little bit biased but I definetely think he should have won this one. Outsmarting people and cheating to win is his whole thing. Jotaro already gets to beat most of the villains so he really did not need this one. That's actually one of my main issues with Part 3, you've got 5 different protagonists but other than Jotaro only really Polnareff gets to shine
Yeah, and another scene that bother me is during the Sun fight, where they all realize the mirror trick, except for Joseph. Yes, even Polnareff realizes it, and Joseph doesn't. Kinda stupid ngl
@@gustavosauro1882i mean, it's mostly a comic relief scene, but yeah, it's dumb. Maybe it's something to do with Joseph aging not so as fine wine but it could be portrayed in a less humiliating way
This fight was my favorite fight in Stardust Crusaders by a long margin, so I'm always glad to see more people talk about it. Oh right, the uncensored version is from the Blu-ray release of Stardust Crusaders.
For me, this was the first Stand battle that really set the precedent for what makes Jojo's Bizarre Adventure so special. Hard to predict, intense as hell, and impossible to replicate in another format.
The reason is because Hamon is able to be seen by regular people. It’s actually really obvious when it’s being used so if Joseph used it he’d have lost immediately
After finishing watching all the anime parts I went on to read each part in manga form. And doing so made me realize that the two D’arby fights (but this one gets more credit due to coming first) were INTEGRAL to Jotaro’s growth as a combatant. Think about it, did any stand fight before this require him to deceive his opponent with his cool-headed personality and intimidating expression? Not to say he didn’t have to use brains or strategy in previous fights, but the D’arby fights were a game changer in the way he interacts with his opponent. From these fights, he learns how to get into their head. Where am I going with this? His fight with DIO of course. Jotaro only survives because he’s able to constantly get into DIO’s head, coming up with tricks on the fly to convince DIO he’s an unreadable threat and not another helpless victim of The World’s time stop. And I don’t think Jotaro would’ve come up with those plans if he hadn’t been forced to learn that mindset for making them in the D’arby battles.
@@lukewilsontvhey. Have you ever had to spar with smaller kids? They're unstoppable. Like seriously, they have even more energy than adults. Don't underestimate them.
The D'arby fights teach us is that a well-executed Batman Gambit is a lot of fun to watch. The most powerful weapon you can use is the one you cannot control, the actions of someone who is not on the same page as you.
I like how in the anime his face gets blacked out as he smokes a cigarette, legitimately hiding his face much like how a poker face hides one’s emotions. It’s fucking peak this entire “fight”
My cannon is that d'arby knew dios stand abilities, and when he saw the similarities he figured out star platinum is the same stand, meaning that he was in too deep and though that jotaro changed the cards by stopping time, uptimately making it the perfect bluff
Even though it has been quite a few years since I’ve watched part 3 and have forgotten many a detail, the D’arby fight is something I have always managed to clearly remember and continues to be one of my favorite fights from part 3 to this day
Another thing why the fans love this scene is that if it came down to it, Jotaro would have bet his hat, then his Jacket, all the way to his fanon stuffed dolphin
I think one major thing that make this encounter stand out so much is how it goes agaisnt most of the fights in part 3. Even if you compare with Steely Dan where circumstance and planning were their biggest weapons, D'arby's encounter feels like something out of part 4 or even part 8
When i was watching I thought Jotaro grabbing the drink was the nail in coffin, with it happening after Barbie had convinced himself Star Platinum can't be that fast, and regained his composure.
i feel like the order of characters doesn't get praised enough with how well it sells the intrigue of the fight First opponent being Polnareff is obvious: he acts impulsuivelly so he serves as a way to show off the main threat of Osiris & D'arby Joseph the Cheater being the second opponent serves to clue the audience that this isn't a battle of intellect, in fact, D'arby isn't gambling at all. This is gonna be a Battle of Intimidation & composure then we get to the preamble: Jotaro breaking D'arby's finger sends a clear message, If D'arby wants to scam Jotasro then he better bring his A-game & even that might not be enough so when Jotaro starts faking his cheating D'arby starts to assume how utterly outmatched he was & that's why he admits defeat and then the conclusion confirms that D'arby couldn't be out-gambled so Jotaro just intimidated him instead
Honestly, this fight was so awesome it got me legit interested in poker and card games, even tho I was usually turned off by them due to how deeply rooted gambling has become in these games now. I just loved the game of risk and deception between Jotaro and Darby, it got me wishing to play it myself (without any gambling involved ofc) This fight perfectly highlighted what makes fights in Jojo so impressively good
I especially love how after D’Arby had leverage so they couldn’t just kill him he basically challenged the protagonists to a game where cheating is only against the rules if they don’t get caught. As if to say “I’m going to cheat and you won’t be able to catch me and even if you’re also cheating I’ll still win.” He came extremely close to making good on this too, literally and figuratively beating Joseph at his own game. That’s also part of why he’s a better character than his brother, who needs to hide his own “not cheating” to stand a chance. Not to mention how differently they used the souls they’d collected. Both of them could have put them in coins and collect them as novelties but one of them instead put them in dolls to torture. We can only assume that that was an option to both as well and I’m confident that the gambler just didn’t see the pleasure in it. The ability to look through his victims and remember his victories was enough, rather than going and torturing them for some sick pleasure.
yeah i personally rewatch darby vs jotaro like hundred times because of the psychological aspect of Jotaro's bluff, and the way he built the tension by smoking and drinking cocktail. He did all that with such calm and determination as if he already won the game.
I also want to point out, this is one of the best poker scenes in media. because its one of the few games of poker in media that relies on actually playing poker, and not just getting dealt stupidly impossible hands.
this is the first video of yours that ive seen and its great. im not trying to be mean but a small criticism i have is that after every line you read, you look down to check your script. if i were you i'd cut that part out or just have them as voiceover lines if that isn't possible
I like to imagine that Darby heard jotaro ask about DIO's stand and misinterpreted it as hinting at the nature of his own stand. If Darby really knew what DIO's stand was about, then seeing Jotaro pulling things out of thin air would have been raising red flags that couldn't possibly be true. Imagine the sudden, seemingly intentional, revelation that some random punk's stand was the same as DIO. The one person with a cheat he couldn't beat, and NOW THERE WERE TWO OF THEM. He could have seen himself as damned either way at that point.
Don't forget the absolutely amazing soundtrack that is playing during the coin game and the poker game. It really underlines the mental pressure and deception that is going on between the two players.
First, this has always been my favorite fight in part 3, and possibly in the whole series. On a completely separate note, I need to correct some misinformation in this video. At 11:05, "breaking down the phonetics and finding links between [English and Japanese]" is a gross misunderstanding of Japanese. There is no phonetic link between the phrase "thank you" in English and how one would say "thank you" in Japanese. The writing used for the phrase "sankyuu" is called "katakana" and it's used explicitly for onomatopoeia and foreign words; it's literally an English word approximated using native Japanese sounds. Any apparent phonetic link is only because Japanese people are literally speaking English. On a similar note "gyangusutaa" is not a Japanese word; it's an English one; Japanese and English do not share any phonetic roots. It would be like saying we found a phonetic link between English and French because "deja vu" sounds so similar in both languages, when in reality it's a French phrase that has been popularized in English. Bonus fact: Japanese has an extremely "regular" alphabet, which means that each character typically only makes one sound every time that it appears. This has the benefit that Japanese people don't need to question how to pronounce something written (kanji is an exception), the characters literally spell out the pronunciation of the words.
Just cuz joseph is my favorite jojo doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate how the entire d’arby sequence was basically a microcosm of the whole franchise, this is the true distilled essence of jojo
Noncombat stands are some of my favorite stands. Really makes you get creative to beat some weird ass power. Darby, Alessi, oingo and boingo, and set really stand out in part 3 as some of my favorites
On your ending remark about how Araki might not plan every single detail in advance, you're spot on. At least when things were weekly, Araki essentially wrote the story chapter by chapter, not fussing too much with what would happen beyond each one. The reason he's able to do this is because he always makes sure that his characters are incredibly strong and life-like, to the point that they write the story themselves.
I actually think that darby does know what the worlds ability is; his suspicions about star platinum having the same might be why he freaked out so hard
That was a wonderful video, thank you! You got yourself a subscriber! Also, I am currently writing the first draft of an epic fantasy novel where my protagonist faces a similar gambling figure, and the only reason he wins is because of his moderate skill and bloated pride, goading and annoying his opponent until she slips up, and he doesn't even mean to do that, not entirely, he just gets so invested in this fantasy version of dominoes that he loses control. "I am delusional and mentally ill, I can do anything!" as he said. And his opponent doesn't realize that by losing her cool, she is losing the battle by getting caught in arguments. Anyways, thank you for teaching me about writing and good luck with your endeavors.
@@sakesaurus Yeah, don't worry, I won't spoil anything else of my novel! But because of your encouragement, I'll be sure to work at it even harder! Thank you!
big fan of your editing style and analysis! your writing style too also absolutely matches the casual silly vibe jojo has for me, it pairs really well and i wanted to compliment you for it!
"It kinda intimidates me because how could I ever create something so amazing?" And therein is the hardest part of being an aspiring writer/artist/any other kind of creator. Seeing other incredible creators and thinking "shit, I'm NEVER gonna be as good as them"
It’s worth mentioning that the kid wasn’t random; D’Arby planted him too to count cards and intentionally give Jotaro a shit hand. Further goes to suggest that he suspected that Jotaro shared a stand ability with DIO, given that it would not only be the only way that he could possibly win, but would guarantee D’Arby’s defeat.
