Having a visual representation of when someone dies goes to great effect. Something attached to them which fades as their life does. Stands serve many purposes, and especially because they are literal life energy, they can serve this purpose perfectly. But don’t worry folks, Joseph isn’t dead until we are told he’s dead! It may come later, like with Abdul, but until then we can have faith in our grandpa.
I love Dio so much. To mock Joseph and then coldly state “by the way Kakyoin is dead too” had me cackling. He relishes in tormenting people and I can’t get enough of it. But like he said about Joestars being stubborn, where Joseph can play tricks on Dio which I do wish we saw more of because his bravado would be a hysterical countermeasure to Dio’s ego, Jotaro may be the best Joestar to counter Dio. Not only because their stands are nearly identical, they are fated to fight with stands that can work against each other, but also because of his mean-ass poker face. Tell him that his friends and grandpa are dead and in the moment, he’ll hardly show it. Dio cannot get under his skin, at least metaphorically, he could twirl his vein around like he did to Jonathan. And with this encounter, the famous “I can’t kick your ass unless I come closer” page arose. In context of Dio stopping time, it makes it far cooler to show off Jotaro’s guts and composure.
What ensued was a barrage of mudamudamuda’s and oraoraora’s and it was the second moment that had me laughing incredibly hard. How ridiculous! During the fight Dio said that he vowed to show no mercy on the Joestars and finish them off quickly which kinda goes against my point last chapter, but with how he tested their strength and speed against each other and the joy he took in it all, I don't think it completely counters what I was suggesting. Actions speak louder than words!!
I'm excited to see whatever crucial piece of the puzzle Polnareff fits into as well.