I got to give it to Araki. The cheesy shounen power of character motivation being dropped on me along with the great play by play commentary from Joseph worked. I wanted my beloved Nori-chan to win the race so badly. I wanted it! And even though he lost, I found myself laughing at how much fun I was having. With the back and forth Joseph Joestar-esque out-planning their plan to out-plan your plan nonsense, and the hot blooded video game racing of these boys, this is too much fun.
Kakyoin slipped into the tunnel, but in the blind maneuvering D’arby took the lead, however, Kakyoin used his lessened power to knock him off the track.. Yet, D’arby used that like a professional speedrunner to take an unintended shortcut. Somehow, with stakes this real, that felt as cool as if they did in real life, or maybe cooler because of how sincerely possible that trick is. The D’arby brothers know how to make things intense and I like how nobody is made dumb in these arcs, it’s more so the opponent was capable enough to outdo the great plan and skill of their foe.