Autumn 2018 First Impressions – Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 5: Golden Wind

Naples, 2001. Giorno Giovanna is a small-time crook with one big dream—to become a “Gang-Star.” No ordinary thief, Giorno has a connection to the remarkable Joestar bloodline, and possesses a Stand named Gold Experience. His dream starts to become reality when he meets Bruno Buccellati, a mobster from the gang Passione and a fellow Stand user himself. Realizing that they share similar ideals, and both disagree with the gang’s harmful affairs, Giorno reveals his goal to Bruno: with Bruno’s help, he will reform Passione by overthrowing the boss. – MAL

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 39

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: Naples, Italy is a beautiful city drawing tourists from far and wide, but it has a darker underbelly filled with drug use and crime. Teenager Giorno Giovanni exists somewhere in between, committing petty crime for profit and paying the police to look the other way, but also occasionally also thwarting the efforts of local gangsters. When he crosses Leaky-eyed Luca, a violent gang member after protection money, Giorno uses a mysterious power, called “Golden Wind,” to turn the tables on Luca. The gangster’s defeat draws the attention of his associates and puts a target on Giorno’s head.

In the mean time, Koichi Hirose arrives in Naples on the orders of Jotaro Joestar; he’s been sent on a mission to gain information (and perhaps a DNA sample) of a young man named Haruno Shiobana, who Jotaro believes may be the human son of DIO. After encountering Giorno multiple times (and being duped by him), Koichi is positive that Giorno and Haruno are on-and-the-same; Jotaro agrees, and believes Giorno’s un-Japanese blond hair is likely a symptom of the awakening of his stand powers. As Koichi mulls over how best to fulfill his mission, Giorno is cornered on the trolley by a gangster named Bruno, an associate of Luca and someone with frightening powers of his own.

Impressions: While it may have been more logical to save this impression for my upcoming “sequels” post, each season of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure is so distinct and relatively self-contained that I feel comfortable enough giving it its own highlight. That said, this season is deep into the saga’s overall storyline and has character crossover from parts 3 and 4, so it’s definitely not a good place for new viewers to jump in.

My measure of a good Jojo series might not be the same as everyone else’s; I’m much more about the humor than the very serious shounen action component. Parts 2 and 4 have been my favorites thus far, but I gave up on part 3 a few episodes in (though I’m slowly making my way through it now as I have some free time) because it seemed to take it self too seriously as the most “famous” story arc. I live for the unique and goofy internal logic, the barely-contained homoeroticism, and the continual escalation of plot intensity and mortal danger that makes the series what it is. I suspect these are the things that many female fans get from other shounen anime series, but for me there’s just something special about Jojo that makes me want to go out of my way to watch it.

Part 5 begins much like part 4, establishing the setting and giving the focal Joestar (or Joestar proxy) a chance to define himself through his actions. Giorno is already kind of an interesting fellow, definitely the type of person whose morality you’d expect to exist on the cusp between the upstanding Joestar family line and the pure, ridiculous evil of DIO. He’s clearly a “gangster with a heart of gold,” or at least that’s the impression he gives off. He’s not beyond manipulating people to gain some extra cash, but he also has little tolerance for outright violent criminality of the type displayed by Luca. He doesn’t run away from a fight, but he respects opponents (like Koichi) who aren’t out for the kill. He’s got his own moral compass and sense of justice even though he’s not really out to “do good,” and I think this introductory episode does a good job of presenting this. As someone who’s never read the manga, I suspect that some of the drama may revolve around which “side” of Giorno’s personality will eventually become dominant. Is his genetic destiny to become as evil as his father, or will his Joestar blood prevail?

Unlike Part 4, the setting of this series seems pleasant but visually lacking in style. I suppose it would be difficult to add much additional interest to Italy’s familiarly historic milieu, but Diamond is Unbreakable really wow-ed with its color-clash background artwork that gave the entire season an appropriately 1990’s flair and that’s certainly missing here. The background art in this installment seems like a step down and almost too “typical” for a Jojo series. On the other hand, important characters are immediately identifiable, probably more so than before, because their macho comportment and flamboyant sense of fashion is so entirely out-of-the-ordinary and sticks out like a sore thumb. I’ve heard that there are some staffing differences between this season and previous ones, so these differences are likely just a result of differing tastes and talents. It remains to be seen whether the changes are successful or at least fitting to this story or not.

Once again I’ll warn that this is not a friendly place for newcomers to join up with the story. This episode assumes that the viewer knows about the Joestar family and how DIO fits into that saga. There’s no explanation of the characters’ “stands,” the supernatural entities that “stand” beside them and exhibit all manner of different abilities. Jotaro is a fairly iconic (and meme-able) character, but Koichi certainly isn’t; I was surprised to learn that he’d be a part of this story (though he was important to the last one). There’s a lot of information to have on hand and only so much of it can be gleaned from a compilation video or a Wiki article. Though I realize that over a hundred episodes of “backstory” is likely a lot for most people to handle, I will say that it’s been a worthwhile journey for me to take and if any part of this review or ones you read elsewhere pique your interest I’d encourage you to give it a try.

There’s really not much more for me to say about this episode because Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure seems to be one of those franchises that people either love or don’t understand at all. It’s definitely not the type of anime series that I would have pegged as a favorite from description alone, but it’s certainly singular in its storytelling style and its sense of humor, which is something that I appreciate. At this point, there’s just something that makes me happy about having a Jojo series to watch week-to-week.

Pros: It’s always a great time for more Jojo!

Cons: The setting lacks visual flair.

Grade: B