Stand powers tend to be much simpler in the early days, but Death Thirteen has the unique ability to attack opponents in their dreams. The carnival-like nightmare world that the stand controls is perfect for isolating users from their stands and torturing them while leaving no memory of the incident in the morning.

Kakyoin is attacked every time he falls asleep, but since the stand user is a baby that the group is escorting and he can’t remember what happened in his dreams, his efforts to warn the others about the threat just come off as insane. However, he makes a kickass comeback when he figures out how to bring Hierophant Green into the nightmare world and uses his long-forgotten possession technique to force Death Thirteen into retirement. And, as if that wasn’t enough, the battle features one of his best color changes (black clothes and white hair), the “Noble Pope” leitmotif, and an appropriately petty punishment once Kakyoin and the baby meet again in the real world.

Rather than using the structure of a normal stand battle, this part 8 arc plays out much more like a horror film in the style of It Follows or Terminator. Blue Hawaii is an automatic stand belonging to the largely immobile Rock Human Dolomite, who wants to use his stand’s mind control powers to capture Gappy and force him to reveal what he knows about equivalent exchange. What’s so terrifying is that Blue Hawaii can control anyone if it touches their body, their hair, or even just a blood splatter.

The stand transfers itself between bodies while chasing Gappy through Morioh, never giving him a moment’s pause to figure out what’s going on. It’s tense and nerve-wracking, especially once Gappy realizes that he can’t fight back and desperately asks Yasuho to find the stand user before he’s inevitably captured. In the end, Yasuho manages to save the day at the last minute by smashing Dolomite’s head in with a pipe moments before a mind-controlled Gappy drowns himself in a lake. Yikes!

Before stand powers, and even before Hamon, Jonathan and a newly vampirized Dio fight to the death in the burning Joestar mansion. It’s remarkable how, even without any supernatural powers, Jonathan is still strong and smart enough to defeat his brother with whatever resources he can find.

This battle harkens back to the gothic horror stories that inspired Araki, complete with dramatic declarations and tearing heirloom weapons from the walls. This all leads up to the fateful conclusion where Dio falls onto the spike atop the statue of the Joestar family’s guardian angel. Assured that Dio will be burned faster than he can regenerate in the raging fire that consumes the Joestar mansion, Jonathan just barely makes it out alive. Too bad that his adoptive brother is more tenacious than he thought...

The very last obstacle before Bucciarati’s gang faces off against the boss is an arduous battle against the sadistic surgeon Cioccolata and his human pet Secco. Cioccolata’s stand Green Day is one of the most dangerous abilities in the entire series – it releases a highly toxic airborne mold that decays flesh almost instantly if the target moves downwards. On top of that, Secco’s armor-like stand Oasis makes him immune to the mold and allows him to turn solid ground into mud.

Since this fight takes place in a populated village, Green Day’s mold quickly spreads through bystanders and Oasis’ liquefying ability melts any structures that the gang could use to move upwards. It’s only with Bucciarati’s strangely unaffected body and some badass/homoerotic teamwork between Giorno and Mista that they manage to win without losing anyone to the mold.

When the ultimate lifeform clashes with the luckiest and craziest JoJo in the entire series, insanity is certain to ensue. Normally, Araki tries to stay away from contrived coincidences that sway the flow of battle, but in a fight where Joseph’s battle strategy involves divebombing an exploding plane into a beefcake vampire to drown him in an active volcano, anything goes.

As far as final villain battles go, this one invokes a pure feeling of hype that not even Jotaro’s fight with Dio can quite match. Joseph skyrockets Kars into space with his own severed arm while the Phantom Blood opening plays and we can’t help but cheer for our hero’s completely accidental success.