Emperor and Hanged Man, Part 1

Arriving in India, the travelers find every warning about the country coming true at once. Polnareff treads in cow dung, a pickpocket lifts Kakyoin's wallet, and Joseph's taxi halts because a sacred cow has fallen asleep in the road. Avdol assures them the land grows beautiful once one adjusts, a view Jotaro shares. Inside a restaurant, Polnareff recoils at the toilet, where a pig waits below to feed on the waste.

Rinsing his hands, Polnareff spots a Stand bearing two right hands that shows only in the mirror. Recognizing the ability of the man who murdered his sister, he shatters the glass and scours the crowd for the culprit. After a bitter quarrel in which he brands Avdol a coward for once fleeing DIO, he splits from the group to chase the killer alone.

Elsewhere, the gunslinger Hol Horse and his lover Nena arrive at some ruins astride an elephant and part after professing their devotion. Hol Horse then meets J. Geil, the two-right-handed wielder of Hanged Man, and admits he is merely exploiting Nena's blind loyalty. When a snake strikes, the pair unite Emperor and Hanged Man to shred it apart. Later, as Polnareff searches for a lead, he watches the two approach him, but J. Geil suddenly slips out of sight.

Hol Horse introduces himself and boasts that a gun outmatches any blade, insisting his Emperor beats Silver Chariot. Polnareff mocks the claim by deliberately mishearing it, provoking Hol Horse to conjure Emperor and open fire. Silver Chariot sheds its armor to intercept the shot, but the bullet curves around the sword and nearly strikes Polnareff. Avdol shoves him clear, only for the round to change course and target Avdol instead. As Avdol summons Magician's Red to burn the bullet, Hanged Man stabs him from a puddle's reflection while Emperor's shot pierces his head. Kakyoin arrives to witness a fallen Avdol and a sobbing Polnareff.

This installment was the first in the series to carry numbered parts in its title. The adaptation adds rain to show how the puddles form and to reveal J. Geil's habit of skipping across raindrops, while trimming many manga panels that dwelt on culture shock and shortening Hol Horse's speech about guns and swords. In one small change, Polnareff's tears drop to the ground rather than onto his shoes.

Production notes highlight the difficulty of the many mirror shots, since Hanged Man exists only in reflected space and every image had to be reversed and double-checked. The staff also praised the striking debut of Emperor, for which the action director hand-picked the color of its muzzle flash and smoke.