Hello again, good folks! How’s it going? Did you have a good week? Did you work/study/play hard? Did you give it all you’ve got? Because if you haven’t… That’s ok too! Are you ready for another Stardust Crusaders comparison? Today we’re going to take a look at episode #11, “The Emperor and the Hanged Man - Part 2”! It’s going to be a long one, so sit comfortably and get something to snack on.

Let’s go!

• Today’s first difference is this bit, in which our old friend Mr. 片山貴仁 (Katayama Takahito) has been added to the opening credits and everything has been aligned to the right:

• This whole flashback sequence is sharper, has better contrast and brighter flashes:

• This other animation, instead, is just brighter and sharper:

• Let’s move on to some redraws! Here, Jotaro’s face has been retouched and is now no longer sporting the longest chin in the world. A couple of lines on his neck have also been changed, and the round thing on his hat has also been shaded a little better:

• Kakyoin’s face has received a pretty good makeover here:

• And here, both faces have been retouched, the insides of Kakyoin’s uniform near his right leg and left arm are darker and his left wrist is no longer bandaged:

• In some later frames of the same scene, Polnareff has more blood on his neck:

• This very brief scene is a little brighter:

• Both faces have been retouched once again here, and Kakyoin’s hand shading has also been fixed:

• Another slightly brighter scene here…:

• Kakyoin’s face and ear have been retouched again here:

• Pretty much everything has been retouched here:

• And again here! In addition, Kakyoin already looks at Polnareff in the beginning of this bit here:

• Another scene with brighter contrast here:

• The BDs added a slight glint in Polnareff’s eyes, here:

• Our boys’ faces, again:

• Guess what? A brighter bit! Here:

• And now, guess what…? Exactly! Their faces, redrawn:

• And now for something refreshing… Here, EVERYONE in the background has been redrawn:

• Let’s go back to brighter and/or sharper animations! Here, have a spoonful:

• Let’s take a closer look to our favourite French boy! Here, the shading lines around his nose are longer, his nostril area and the corners of his eyes have been retouched, and the little highlight on top of his upper lip has been removed:

• In some later frames, the blood on the right of his mouth is a little different, and there’s an extra tiny line on his teeth:

• Have a couple of retouched Kakyoin faces:

• Here, Polnareff re-joins the redraw party:

• Have a second big serving of brighter and/or sharper animations:

• Here, Polnareff has been COMPLETELY redrawn! It looks like one of those BEFORE/AFTER ads that are supposed to make you buff or something. Kakyoin’s face in the background has also been retouched, and that guy at the right of Polnareff has been removed:

• This other flashback scene has had two flashes added, one at the beginning and one at the end (no, the video has not frozen, there’s just a very long still frame in the middle):

• Have one last brighter and sharper bit, for old times’ sake:

• And, once again, Kakyoin and Polnareff have been redrawn here:

• And here, one last retouched Polnareff:

And that’s it for today! Phew, now this was a proper comparison! Is this where Stardust Crusaders’ budget started to dwindle very slightly? We’ll see in the upcoming comparisons… Meet me here next week for the episode #12 comparison, “The Empress”!

See ya!