REVIEW: ‘Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Vento Aureo’ Episode 24: “Notorious B.I.G”
Disclaimer: This review contains spoilers for this episode and previous episodes of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure.
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Disclaimer: This review contains spoilers for this episode and previous episodes of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure.
by Allyson McClain Disclaimer: This review contains spoilers for this episode and previous episodes of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. The last we left off with Giorno and the crew, they had just defeated the stand users of Talking Head and Crush. With no more apparent assassins trailing them, Bucciarati plans on them getting into a plane to get Sardinia as fast as possible, a plan that has Jojo viewers restless. In the Jojo universe, referencing back to Stardust Crusaders, riding a plane when you are being targeted by stand users generally never turns out well. It is a decent thought that this was the best way to keep a safe distance from potential new pursuers while also confusing the enemy about their exact location. Bucciarati is even smarter about this when he chose to board an empty plane and let Abbacchio’s stand, Moody Jazz, fly the plane by recalling the pilot’s movements. It’s a pretty cool use of Moody Jazz’s power, one I would have never thought of. Things start to look a little hectic when an enemy appears before the plane begins to take off. Mista kills the man in an instant with his six pistols but not before Giorno, Narancia, and Mista get a look at the man’s stand for only a moment. The stand user had no lines but the sound effects he himself had were chilling, and the noise he made while he was smiling was terrifying. A man so ready to die, and we realize why when weird things start to appear in the plane. Fingers, to be exact, and they start to show up in the fridge. As the gang starts to figure it out, the background music is reminiscent of the sound the stands user’s voice made when he first appeared, a creepy chilling sound before he was shot. That fact alone is terrifying, which makes me appreciate the soundtrack of this episode even more. The freakiness of this occurrence is not lost in the scene, a stand that appears when one is dead. It does beg the question: how did that assassin know his stand could do that before he actually died? His stand’s name is Notorious B.I.G (called Notorious Chase in the sub), a fitting name for a stand that could make the living fear for their lives. It absorbs or infects someone by touch, eating them alive, and grows the moment it touches a stand or human. The stand follows noise, as Trish figures out later on; it will follow the movement of something without fail like a remote stand would do. It’s faster than a plane, and when Giorno makes a desperate move, everything gets rather dark. Notorious B.I.G devours part of Mista and Narancia’s stands which directly hurts them. Giorno cuts off both of his arms in attempt to stop the stand, the sacrifice that could have cost him any sort of recovery. That is not the end of Notorious B.I.G, as we have Trish being the main character witnessing its return to the plane. Trish, realizing that the stand must have flown toward the jet, reacts to its movement. This is a turning point for Trish to become a main part of Part 5, something I have personally been hoping for since she was introduced to the show. We know she has some sort of stand, but she hasn’t yet brought it forth into the corporeal world. Hands down we are going to see some Trish development soon, and I am excited for it. Trish is being viewed as more concrete of a character, rather than being just the boss’s daughter. We are getting some more details to her character with the way she is reacting to Notorious B.I.G, how she is reacting to Giorno’s stand remaking his arms, and being the new target of Notorious B.I.G. Will she finally find the strength she needs to fight for the people who have protected her? The development is much needed, and the music going in the back shows promising hope that she will not be cast aside for Bucciarati to save the day. This will be a journey for Trish, and now, with a time limit put in place with Notorious B.I.G closing in on Golden Experience, things are certainly getting more dire. Trish is needed more than ever.
by Allyson McClain
by Allyson McClain Disclaimer: This review contains spoilers for this episode and previous episodes of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. “The 'G' in Guts” is an appropriate name for this installment of Jojo after the 21st episode and the events that took place between Bucciarati’s crew and Passione. Bucciarati and his gang are now on the run from Passione after Bucciarati refuses to let the boss kill Trish. With a miracle, Bucciarati is alive once more and all who fled with Bucciarati and Giorno are willing to risk their lives. They had the guts to go against Passione and it shows as they strategically leave by gondola, with Narancia using “Little Bomber” to be on the lookout for any assassins or guards sent by the Boss. The Boss’s elite guards, in particular, will most likely be searching for them and be out for their heads. Oddly enough, this was never mentioned before in the show and this is the first time Bucciarati brings them up. It seems sudden but believable after seeing what type of man he is. In terms of direction, this was probably the best way to introduce the boss without adding any extra paranoia to the man. Back to the story, Mista’s stand, “The Sex Pistols," gets really hungry and wants to eat. This is curious as no other stand that we have seen so far has been so needy and apparent with their stand user. Mista’s relationship with his stand is similar to him being a pet owner, feeding them and putting up with their fighting. We saw a bit of a similar situation with a stand user in Part 3, but it was still a stand user dominated relationship while as here we see more of a give and take relationship between Mista and “Sex Pistols." Then came an aspect of the show that I don’t enjoy as much, the new opening: ”Traitor’s Requiem." Of course as a who watches mostly anime, I cannot judge how fitting this opening is with what we know right now, but it certainly doesn’t have that punch I was expecting from the second part of such an action packed season of Jojo. The ED however is interesting; the order that they are placed in on the totem is specific and might suggest that it is somehow ordered based on the order of how the enemies will appear or how characters in the main crew will disappear. Either way, everyone in Bucciarati’s crew pulls their gondola over to eat at a restaurant where they have playful banter. In a funny turn of events, Narancia beats up on some guy and Mista joins in. Just when you think that’s it, Abbacchio decides to join in the childish fun after sipping wine so elegantly, which is definitely a little irony to make viewers laugh. It is amusing, but a little out of place with the current atmosphere after previous events in the plot. It just doesn’t seem to be the right time to add comedy. Immediately after this funny scene, they bring up Giorno’s suspicions about what is happening to Bucciarati’s body. It would have been better to put the humor after Giorno’s serious thoughts about Buccirati, then have the enemy attack when they let their guard down with playful banter. The narration here is noticeably spoiling the flow within the story. Trish then tells everyone that she knows something about the identity of her father based on how he met her mother and where he was born in Sardegna. Trish is fully on board to fight on their side, which is great, but then everything gets crazy when an enemy stand, “Clash,” appears. Narancia starts to choke on his tongue as the enemy stand takes off a chunk of it, but there is a serious issue with how Giorno knows how to stab a pen in the throat to help Narancia breathe. He is one of the youngest in the group; the only one who might know that would be likely be Abbacchio since he was a police officer. The amount of germs on that pen that came from Mista’s boot though was probably not the most sanitary thing to get stabbed with. Then enters two of the elite guard of Passione (who are very touchy feely with one another), Tiziano and Squalo, whose two stands work together. Squalo’s “Clash,” called Crush in the sub, attacks and then Tiziano’s stand “Talking Head” (Talking Mouth in the sub) attaches itself to the tongue of Clash’s prey. Talking Head can control what one says and can even extend and manipulate its host tongue to act like a third hand. Narancia tries to physically protect the crew but his words confuse them, leading towards dangerous water where Clash could attack. Giorno, being very intuitive, picks up that something is wrong. Giorno figures it out, but it is too late! He is bitten, neck-first, by Clash, which leaves viewers genuinely interested in what will happen next.
Disclaimer: This review contains spoilers for this episode and previous episodes of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure.
by Allyson McClain Disclaimer: This review contains spoilers for this episode and previous episodes of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. Jojo is well known for some crazy turnarounds and some close-calls in fights, but Part 5 takes the cake in this aspect. The amount of near-death experiences in Part 5 so far is leaving some of us a little exhausted since it has been happening almost every episode so far. Mista almost died last episode and basically the whole crew has been slowly dying too. The showdown between Bucciarati and the two enemies Pesci and Prosciutto is coming to a closing point. Prosciutto now barely keeping his ability going while Pesci fights Bucciarati by himself. It’s an intense fight that we did not expect from the weak-willed Pesci, but perhaps that makes it more intriguing. To start with, Pesci’s “Beach Boy” (Called Fisherman in the English sub) is one of the stands we see that has a singular use that is really strong. Too bad Pesci is a wimp, but that changes when the cards are down and Prosciutto loses to Bucciarati. If Pesci had been able to draw his courage sooner, the two would have won early on, but it took the determination of Prosciutto to bring out Pesci’s strength. A small side note though would be that the voice actor for Pesci is super fun as a VA. It’s amusing to hear the change in his voice when he gathers his wits, while still keeping the key drawl to Pesci’s voice that makes the character unique. It makes Pesci’s character seem less annoying and more lovable, which is important for his development in this episode. It’s good to take this character seriously with a stand such as Pesci’s — Subaru Kimura voices him well in the anime and really draws in a good performance. While Pesci’s character and voice actor are great, notable plot holes start to show up in the logic behind the stands’ abilities. Similar to Grateful Dead’s ability, people age and lose their hair and teeth. So when the ability stops, do hair and teeth grow back or does it reverse in some way? Also, how does the Grateful Dead, weak from Prosciutto hanging out from the train, barely alive, have enough power to kill a man dead while Pecsi just watches unaffected right next to him? Another plot hole is when Pesci could sense Bucciarati opening a zipper on his own hand, but earlier he couldn’t tell the switch between Bucciarati and Proscuitto other than the weight difference? He felt so sure of where Bucciarati was when he dipped his hook back into him the first time, even with Bucciarati’s acrobatic performance trying to evade the hook, which is weird considering later, Pesci can’t tell where Bucciarati is when he is disassembled in the train car. The reason we have to bring this up that is stand logic — the limits to what certain stands can or can’t do — is very important in the Jojo franchise. It paves the way to show off character traits and skillful evaluation of opponents and allies. The fact that this episode is lacking explanations for certain attacks is a bit worrisome considering we don’t want Jojo to become some lawless power show like DragonBall Z. We like having some thought put into attacks and powers of the characters, it makes it more realistic when there are limits to what they can do and makes every win in a battle of skill that much more impressive. One other thing that bugs me about “The Grateful Dead Part 2” is when Bucciarati twists Pesci’s neck later in the episode. There was no way Pesci should have been alive enough to even speak, much less be able to get Trish out of the turtle that housed Bucciarati’s crew, yet he just magicked her out of nowhere from behind his coat? It seems a bit far-fetched that he had that much energy to do that. Something we need to address in this episode as well is Trish's character development. Trish is developing, or has developed, a stand. She wasn’t protecting herself from anything so why did her stand’s power appear? How has her stand not come out earlier in her life like many other characters we have met so far in JJBA? Usually, unless someone has developed a stand young or is hit by the arrow, you never gain a stand, yet Trish seems to be just developing one out of nowhere. It looks like a larger claw hand has touched the ground, the mark smoking, so it has to do with something like acid or heat? It’s only a guess but that seems like the most logical thought at the moment for her stand. Overall, everything with the Grateful Dead fight — while satisfying to have two villains instead of one — is missing a lot of its plot logic with both of the enemy stands.The amount of attention given to their stands’ powers and their limits are being sacrificed for the thrill of watching Bucciarati fight two stand users at once in “The Grateful Dead, Part 2." Some of the plot holes between those affected by Grateful Dead’s ability and how Pesci’s hooks people, are among the bigger issues in this episode. There are also a lot of appealing things in this episode like Pesci’s character and VA as well as the music introduced during serious scenes. The music, the voice acting, and the epicness of the fight scenes helped this episode a lot despite the amount of plot holes found in the stands’ abilities and their limits. Something that was amusing was when Bucciarati sees Pesci and started describing him as a ruthless killer. It is a pretty comical moment, which is a nice touch considering it is a serious scene with a new character appearing at the end. His name is Melone and his stand at this time in the anime is unknown, but we do know it has to do with Bucciarati’s blood. We can probably expect something a bit more interesting with the new character Melone than a simple tracking stand.
Disclaimer: This review contains spoilers for this episode and previous episodes of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure.
by Allyson McClain Disclaimer: This review contains spoilers for this episode and previous episodes of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. “Express Train To Florence” is a literal expression of what Bucciarati and his gang do when the episode starts: they get on a train to Florence. But there were so many more title options they could have chosen for this episode that would have been better suited for Araki’s inner rock fan nature. They could have chosen a title like “Crazy Train” or “Railway To Hell.” These are just some fun examples all things considered but they would have suited this episode far better than the practical “Express Train To Florence.” It’s a minor thing to notice, but with the appearance of more rock star stand names showing up in Part 5, it felt more appropriate. Disappointing name choice aside, this episode has something every Jojo fan has become fond of in a way. This episode includes a “travel fight,” where a Jojo (or a character of a gang that includes a Jojo) is engaged with an enemy on some sort of vehicle or in a chase. The crazy travel scenes are a personal favorite of mine, because they truly bring out the best in the Jojo franchise. This might be because we always see something interesting from the villain and how they go about attacking Jojo’s crew. Civilians getting into Jojo fights happens in probably one outta every four fights, so seeing how the villain, or singular enemy, treats the civilains says a lot about their motivation and character. Even more minor villains showcase traits and attributes in how they treat normal people with their powers. Prosciutto’s stand, Grateful Dead (also named Thankful Death in the English subbed version), reminds me of Bane from the D.C Universe with the way Grateful Dead’s face design is, but that’s beside the point. From what we have seen in “Express Train To Florence,” Grateful Dead seems to have an ability to age people. This aging process able to be hindered by ice or moreover cooler temperature changes and potentially reversible. Something odd that is noticable in this episode, like when they showcased what Prosciutto’s done to the passengers of the train, was that so far all of them seem dead. You mean, to tell me, that all these train passengers didn’t have cool drinks on this train? That’s just not feasible. There are probably tons of people who take drinks with them everywhere, older people who bring drinks and stay hydrated. Perhaps they’re not as cold as being straight from the fridge, but it’s crazy to think no one brought a drink. Either way, someone who is not aging as fast, if there is anyone alive, should be freaking out unless Grateful Dead’s power gets stronger the closer you are. And if that is the case, Prosciutto walking on the train, passing through every car to search for Bucciarati’s gang makes it more plausible for this to be the result. If Grateful Dead does get stronger by proximity to its target, Mista is gonna have a hard time beating Prosciutto with only two ice cubes. From a viewer standpoint, when the stand Grateful Dead came in this episode, it felt like there was a lot of loopholes with the missing information of what is happening with the passengers on the chain. Either we aren’t able to understand his whole power yet or there is just inconsistencies in this stand user’s ability. This episode was engaging because of the newer characters and their stands making an appearance, but it felt a bit underloved in the planning department for the plot. The episode’s animation was nothing too different than the normal production value and while plot is indeed moving, it feels too slow in this episode. They got on the train, figured out the turtle is a hideout and has assessed the basics of the enemy’s abilities. While this seems to be a lot, it really doesn’t feel like much has happened overall in the general plot. It instead feels that this is a stagnating moment meant to be stalling for time. Unless something goes wrong with the turtle hideout and they have to abandon the train, this plotline doesn’t seem too interesting. The fight itself seems super disadvantaged on Mista’s side with his tiny two ice cubes for the next episode, so at least there is interest in how they will proceed and in how Grateful Dead fights against an enemy.
Disclaimer: This review contains spoilers for this episode and previous episodes of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure.
by Allyson McClain
Disclaimer: This review contains spoilers for this episode and previous episodes of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure.
by Allyson McClain Disclaimer: This review contains spoilers for this episode and previous episodes of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. We start off “Sex Pistols Appears, Part 2” with a clear next move as we follow up the story of “Sex Pistols Appears, Part 1” with Mista jumping on the side of a truck to chase and fully kill Sale, who he shot through the leg in the previous episode. The last episode sent Giorno and Mista to kill/capture someone at the docks who knew about Polpo’s fortune and about Bucciarati and his gang coming to get the money. They tried to set up a trap for the mysterious enemy, but it went wrong. Now, Giorno is left at the dock while Mista has hitched a ride on a truck to engage the enemy. “Sex Pistols Appears, Part 2” has several good things going for it, which has brought more interest to the series. One thing it has done is solidified the answer to the question of whether or not they were going to continue to do introductions before a character’s first battle, and, so far, they seem to have created a pattern that most likely will continue. Another good part of this episode is the fact that Mista has shown himself to be a better character than Abbacchio, which instantly makes this episode more interesting to watch since Mista is such an odd character that needs explanation. Before “Six Bullets Appears, Part 2,” they have shown things about Mista to generate interest in him, such as his tetraphobia and showing off his stand Sex Pistols, all before revealing his back story. This generated more appeal in a possible backstory which we receive, and unlike how Abbacchio's backstory which had such a gap in explaining the current Abbacchio, Mista's backstory is simple and sufficient enough to explain him as a character and how he acts now. Abbacchio and Mista’s fight scenes had many differences between them. Abbacchio’s opponent was a mystery who did not reveal himself and his stand’s power was unclear. In this episode, Mista’s enemy appears rather quickly and shows off his stand immediately. Kraft Work, known as Arts & Crafts in the translation, is able to affix things by touching them. He affixes the driver of the truck’s hands to the steering wheel and the pedal as well as glueing one of Mista’s hands to the bar on the side of the truck. The enemy stand user shows an extreme amount of uses for his abilities that are believably true, like he is able to throw rocks into the air and affix them, using the rocks like a ladder to climb to Mista. Surely Mista’s awesome Sex Pistol stand can help him, and it can, except that even though he shoots the man in the forehead, the bullet itself pauses before it fully enters his brain as part of his stand’s power. One of the main items that made this episode really amazing was the straightforward hardness of this fight. How do you fight someone who can do so much with their stand, to the point where they are practically invincible? The sheer amount of uses for Kraft Work reminds many viewers that despite how many stands we have seen in the past, the wide variety and creativity put into how to use them to their full potential can still wow viewers. “Sex Pistols Appears, Part 2” shows the quality of the stands in this series will be just as good as every other season and also have the variety of stand battles we enjoy, at least that is what we hope. This battle between Sex Pistols and Kraft Work can be seen as a versatile stand versus a very simple stand. Kraft Work is able to be used to attack, defend, and ambush, as well as keep his user alive even from near death, while Sex Pistols is a simple and straightforward stand like his user. The matchup was exciting since it almost seemed too unfair to Mista, but then again that is how life works. The fact that Mista’s stand is like him and really symbolizes his way of life makes him easy to understand and more likable. Something that must be praised in this episode is that this fight is basically a fight on a car and, at a point, a car chase, and what movie with gangsters would be complete without the most stereotypical gangster scene, a car chase? Not any normal car chase either— it’s a car chase against an enemy able to climb in the air and the car is a semitrailer! Something fun about the whole thing was Giorno’s minor appearance in the episode, but that helped us focus on the fight more than usual since Giorno wasn’t getting anywhere quickly. It was funny to watch Giorno not be the highlight of the episode even when he was still in parts of it. The ending of the episode makes me wonder what will happen now that Mista is back at the docks with the body of his enemy, and Giorno is trying to go up the road to find Mista, who is already back at their meeting place, essentially switching places from the start of this episode.
Disclaimer: This review contains spoilers for this episode and previous episodes of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure.
by Allyson McClain Disclaimer: This review contains spoilers for this episode and previous episodes of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. “Moody Jazz’s Counter Attack” opens on a mysterious enemy stand who has taken Giorno hostage and is hiding within the ship. In the last episode, Giorno flung himself at the enemy stand after Bucciarati affirmed that Abbacchio’s stand can definitely solve the mystery. This was all a stunt for Giorno to show Abbacchio that he was serious and committed to Bucciarati’s gang and cause. In the process, Giorno was stabbed, deflated, and taken to who-knows-where, but not before he left his stand, Golden Experience, to help Bucciarati and Abbacchio try and solve the mystery of where the enemy was hiding. The enemy now has Mista, Giorno, Fugo, Ghirga in its clutches, alive but nowhere to be found. This is how “Moody Jazz’s Counter Attack” starts, with Bucciarati and Abbacchio trying to figure out where the enemy is, what his power is, and where their friends have gone. A few minutes into the episode, Abbacchio’s backstory starts when he had a job as a police officer, which was something unexpected since he does not remotely act or look like a police officer. His flashbacks dissected how he had watched corruption happen in his city and realized he had become part of the cycle. After that realization, he saw a robbery happening in front of him, yet he still allowed himself to just accept that the man involved in the robbery would never be convicted of anything. He figured he couldn’t break corruption in the police force, and he started to let the criminal go when the criminal pulled out his gun. A fellow officer took the bullet for Abbacchio’s mistake and died. That officer’s death was a key factor as to why Abbacchio decided he would no longer be a cop. As a backstory, it felt routine and somewhat like a let-down at the same time. The fact that the series focused on Abbacchio’s dream rather than his big appearance change, as well as the aftermath of the officer killed, makes Abbacchio a hard character to connect with or even like. It was clearly obvious that Abbacchio’s backstory was geared toward the goal of showing why he was with Bucciarati’s gang, but failed in gaining any sort of charm or explaining what he did after he quit being an officer. In the lyrics to the opening song, “Fighting Gold,” there are many mentions of fate, dreams, and passion, all of which already playing a big role in these beginning episodes of Vento Aureo. The fact that dreams are being brought up in backstories does raise the question of whether or not it will be a recurring theme in this part. The placement of this backstory is also curious; it is right before Abbacchio reveals his stand, and since all the other stands from Bucciarati’s crew have yet to be seen, the viewer is left wondering if this could be a trend in the show. It is a possibility based on how Vento Aureo has been structuring their episodes thus far. This could potentially make the randomness we love from the Jojo series into something of a chore, or rather a routine, which I sincerely hope does not happen. It would take some of the fun from Jojo and become a noticeable lag in the series later on. Abbacchio’s backstory would have been more successful at increasing his likability if it had shown what happened after the incident rather than before. They used the before to explain why Abbacchio joined Bucciarati’s gang, but it could have been brought up later in the series before a critical moment and done a better job at explaining Abbacchio’s place in the gang. This sort of backstory viewpoint isn’t effective of gaining fans of Abbacchio on a personal level; sure, he has a cool stand, but a better backstory would have made him more interesting as a character while still leaving mystery as to why he joined the gang. As a fan, I think it would have been more interesting to see the aftermath of his mistake and to see him at a vulnerable place in his life. It definitely would make me feel for this character who is currently still a bit of a jerk to Giorno. After this backstory we finally get to see Moody Jazz, who is Abbacchio’s stand, and whose ability supposedly would be able to solve the mystery and save the crew. This episode reveals that Moody Jazz is able to play with time and show recordings of the past. Trying to figure out the mystery was a real head-spinner, but somehow Bucciarati was able to accomplish this by literally cornering the enemy with an attempt to sink the ship, which was a decent option. The enemy stand’s power was definitely confusing as a viewer, because no matter how many clues they dropped, it was still difficult and even downright frustrating to figure out. That’s why it is so unbelievable that Bucciarati was able to solve it so quickly, but at the same time, you can tell Bucciarati didn’t even fully understand the enemy’s ability to a degree judging by his face when the enemy revealed himself. The reveal was rather unexpected, and while it definitely made sense when the enemy showed itself in boat form, the way Bucciarati unraveled it is incredible to the point of being unbelievable. How Bucciarati was able to figure out the mystery was difficult to understand without some sort of visual. When everything was revealed, it all made sense, but it was just too out there as an observation made by a single person, which made the whole episode feel a bit superficial. The purpose of “Moody Jazz’s Counter Attack” was to do two things: to show off Abbacchio as a character and to build up to Moody Jazz’s reveal, both of which it did, but sadly, it did nothing beyond that.
By Allyson McClain Disclaimer: This review contains spoilers for this episode and previous episodes of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. We continue the story of episode three at the start of episode four. An older man had died while trying to help Giorno Giovanna relight the lighter that was given to him as a test by Polpo in order to join Bucciarati’s gang. When the lighter had been extinguished and relit, it brought forth Polpo’s stand named Black Sabbath. Black Sabbath then killed the old man, stating that he had seen the lighter reignite, thus the man was subjected to Black Sabbath’s test of whether or not he could handle the arrow. The arrow in Black Sabbath’s possession is a recognizable symbol for those who have watched Jojo as it is how some stand user’s were created. It is a major part of the story and was rumored to be destroyed back in Diamond Unbreakable (Part 4), so the fact that Black Sabbath has the arrow is alarming and offers context into why there are so many stand users. It is a curious thing to wonder how a stand is in possession of it as part of its attack, but it is definitely not out of the realm of possibility. In “Joining the Gang,” Black Sabbath has now seen Giorno and now the blonde has become his new target of the arrow’s test. The arrow that will either kill you or make you a stand user. To this date, in the anime, there has been no record as to what would happen if a stand user was struck by the arrow. We can only assume that since they have a stand that they would probably die from the arrow. So, it is imperative that Giorno not be struck by Black Sabbath’s attack. Our main character does not know that though, as the episode begins and Giorno struggles to fight the strong long-distance stand with Golden Experience. In this fight we can see Giorno struggle because of Black Sabbath’s strength far surpassing Golden Experience. It is in that crucial moment that Giorno discovers its critical weakness: the sun. Black Sabbath seems to be unable to reach Giorno in the light. Enter Koichi, which once again makes us wonder why he is even randomly able to run into Giorno so often but hey “Stand users attract one another” is the saying of the show and it holds true now. Koichi begins to explain, after being almost killed by Black Sabbath moving through shadows, about the arrow and about what type of stand Polpo’s is. What he probably is referencing to is in Part 4 with Koichi’s personal experience against Kira’s long-distance stand Sheer Heart Attack, which was another part of Kira’s stand Killer Queen. Stands can be classified so far into 2 different types, long distance and short distance. Long distance stands are much more robotic with the ability to work far away from their user, they are also less likely to cause damage to their user. Often long distance stands have simplistic orders they follow without independent thought, while short distance are opposite of this. They must be close to their user, they are considered more powerful and flexible with orders as well as more likely to kill their user if they die. The one thing that is curious is that if we compare Sheer Heart Attack from Part Three of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure to Black Sabbath and the way they affect the user, we can see some huge differences. First of all, Koichi used his stand Echoes Act 3 on both stands. Somehow Sheer Heart Attack’s effect on his user was very noticeable when we were shown how Kira’s whole arm felt Koichi’s attack, but Polpo obviously felt nothing in terms of pain or even noticed there was a fight as we can see at the end of the episode. Both stands had simple commands, Sheer Heart Attack’s being that he was to attack anything with high temperatures and explode while Black Sabbath was meant to stab anyone who saw the lighter relight. Among both stands, the reason Polpo’s was probably weaker was because of his limitations of only being able to attack while he was in a shadowed area. This episode showcased that long-distance stands can still be very powerful and not hurt the user if they are destroyed. That opens up a whole can of worms on the how we view stands compared to other stands we have seen from Part 3 and up. Giorno was able to overcome Black Sabbath by using his stand Golden Experience to lure Polpo’s stand into shadows that he could manipulate with Golden Experience. Polpo’s stand showed us new capabilities of a stand user because while a long-distance stand such as Sheer Heart Attack wasn’t smart, Black Sabbath was able to be flexible enough to travel through the shadow of a bird which is insanely smart for a long range stand. Potentially this showcases that this season may start to show us the diversity of stands and more incite on Giorno’s seemingly odd personality. Giorno being kind to Koichi but turning in an instant showcases how even the slightest hint of maliciousness seems to set off Giorno Giovanna. In the beginning he seemed more kind and mature, while being misunderstood, but he now shows similarity to Josuke with potentially an explosive personality at the smallest mistake in personality.
by Allyson McClain Disclaimer: This review contains spoilers for this episode and previous episodes of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure continues strong in episode two, throwing Bucciarati’s stand “Sticky Fingers” into the battlefield against Giorno’s “Golden Experience.” “Sticky Fingers,” as we saw in the first episode, has the power to create zippers on anything, and the second episode showcases just how Bucciarati uses his powers in a more serious fight. “Golden Experience,” on the other hand, is seemingly at a slight disadvantage before the fight even begins, because Giorno hasn’t used his power against anyone directly before. Usually that would make people assume that Giorno would have a tough time or maybe even be beaten by Bucciarati, but if there is anything Jojo does best, it’s showcasing how bizarrely amazing Joestars can be. Giorno doesn’t let his lack of experience faze him, which definitely feeds into the hype. The title ‘Bucciarati Is Coming’ says it all as we get the fight between Bucciarati and Giorno that we’ve been waiting for, along with some backstory on Giorno Giovanna’s life. What made the small boy Haruno Shiobana want to become a Gang-star named Giorno Giovanna? This episode starts dissolving some of the mystery behind the heritage of Giorno and how he is connected to the Joestar lineage. Episode one of ‘Vento Aureo’ foreshadowed the lineage with the photo of Dio that Giorno had in his wallet and the conversation on the phone between Jotaro Kujo and Koichi Hirose. The backstory was covered more thoroughly in this episode and didn’t feel too out of place. The placement of the story before the fight was smart, since putting backstory in the middle of fights tends to be overdone and usually hurts the quality and/or the hype of a fight when the backstory runs too long. This episode in particular seems to balance out the fighting and backstory really well, which definitely keeps the viewer’s attention on what’s important. Between the unique sound effects and the amazing construction of the fight sequence, the viewer’s attention definitely is pulled to the fight, which shows off both ‘Golden Experience’ and ‘Sticky fingers’ abilities throughout the fight. Something else notable in this episode are the attributes of Giorno Giovanna that are reminiscent of previous Joestars. Giorno starts to show off his Joestar affiliation almost immediately from the beginning, which then develops in the fight. Attributes like his elegant nature that reminds one of the original Jonathan Joestar, his deduction skills similar to Joseph Joestar, his ability to think rationally under immense pressure like Jotaro Kujo, and his kind heart similar to Josuke Higashikata. Each Jojo so far has been fairly different than the one before them, but Giorno seems to embody many of their core characteristics. While episode two has a lot things going for it, it also has a few things that weren’t quite up to par compared to episode one. The pacing felt faster than episode one, which was fine since they filled it with backstory, but the ending of the episode leaves one a bit disappointed as their fight ends too soon to be settled. Not to mention Giorno does a Sherlock Holmes-esque evaluation and deduces so many things at once about Bucciarati that it’s hardly believable—even for Jojo. Nevertheless ‘Bucciarati Is Coming’ comes to a still likeable close. Lastly, we must talk about the opening that played: “Fighting Gold” by Coda, who also performed “Bloody Stream,” which was the second opening of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. Immediately the song gives us the vibe of Vento Aureo, the title “Fighting Gold’ playing off the fact that the whole show will be about how enemies will be up against Giorno’s stand “Golden Experience.” You can connect the fact that Coda sang both “Bloody Stream” and now “Fighting Gold” simply from how similar visually similar the openings are, from the matte color on the silhouettes to the line animation with the hand giving life to chains. The song clearly sets the scene for some sort of mission mixed with a feeling of desperation that only comes to life when the background violins come in. The new opening was composed by the same composer and lyricist that made “A Cruel Angel’s Thesis” for Neon Genesis Evangelion, which is really cool considering it’s still a well known anime opening. As for the ending, "Freek’n You" by Jodeci, it sets an odd tone compared to the opening, but each is great in their own way.