Aaaand welcome back! There’s no time to dilly-dally… Let’s pick up right where we left off: Stardust Crusaders #22, “Judgement - Part 2”! As a brief disclaimer - this is going to contain a ton of videos, so if this comparison is acting up on your mobile devices, I suggest you read it from a PC instead. Anyhow…

Let’s go!

• This comparison comes out of the gates swinging, with this animation of… Sherry? Chérie? (I’m gonna call her Chérie, since her name is most likely a reference to this Polnareff song) munching on something gross! The scene has been uncensored, the general lighting is slightly different and she no longer freezes for the last six frames:

• Those strange plants no longer stop moving in this animation…:

• And here, this animation has a different distortion, there are more blood specks flzing around and those very gross wounds have been uncensored:

• Aaaand, right after the previous video, you’ll be able to see the first of several animations which have been entirely changed throughout this episode, in the same vein as Vento Aureo #18 (but to a much lesser extent!) Check it out, friends:

• This animation no longer has those weird black borders towards the end…:

• This sequence has been uncensored, the top-right corner is brighter, those weird veins on Chérie’s face have been textured better and taper off more smoothly, and there are stronger motion lines on the bottom-left corner as well:

• The background here is blurrier…:

• Now back to the good part! Here, in addition to the two clearly uncensored bits, the veins on both Chérie and Avdol’s faces have all received the same treatment as that previous difference:

• There’s a completely new animation, here…:

• …while this one has “just” been uncensored, and the camera also moves around differently:

• Here we have another uncensored video! In addition, the grass blades also move a little more naturally:

• And here we have another uncensored video, which has also received a shakier camera! In addition, some parts of the frame are blurrier and the general lighting is also different:

• Here, the lighting is different and the scene is (once again) uncensored; interestingly enough, in the TV version the censoring did not disappear immediately as the scene changed, but carried over for a few frames of the following shot as well. Check it out:

• Here we have another couple of completely different videos, friends! Love it! Weirdly enough, Polnareff’s expression is completely different in the first one:

• This animation has much better contrast in the beginning, and is also uncensored:

• Now for a very, very important difference… The very small dot on the bottom of the frame is no longer there. Shocking:

• Avdol’s final finger motion has been reversed, here:

• Avdol’s face has been retouched here and there…:

• There’s a new vignette here, and Avdol’s eyebrows have been also properly recoloured…:

• …as they have here too! Well, his right one at least:

• Here, the small bit of Judgement’s back you can see between his head and his right shoulder is no longer shaking as much as in the TV version:

• This here explosion is brighter…:

• Magician’s Red has received a brand new animation, here:

• And this one is brighter and sharper, instead:

• Another new animation! Hooray!:

• And this iconic golden shower scene is now… brighter, sharper, wetter:

• This disgusting conclusion to the previous animation has a new distortion, blurrier edges and new motion lines along the sides; on top of that, all the flying rocks are now also textured:

• And here, most flying bits are now also burning:

• In the TV version of this scene there was a small dot in Kakyoin’s eye; this has been removed in the BDs:

• Here, Kakyoin trembles less when Polnareff points at him…:

• …and he settles into a slightly different expression:

• Joseph no longer stands around with his mouth agape, here:

• And this scene has been, once again, completely re-animated! Check it, friends:

And that concludes this pleasantly lengthy comparison, friends! I hope you appreciated the double - and early! - post, and I wish you a super cool rest of the week. Meet you here next time for Stardust Crusaders #23, “High Priestess - Part 1”!

See ya!