JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind – 02

OP Sequence

OP: 「Fighting Gold」 by Coda

「ブチャラティが来る」 (Bucciarati ga Kuru)
“”Buccialati Is Coming

With our second episode for Vento Aureo, we are given the conclusion to Giorno’s fight with Bruno, but first, we learn about Giorno’s childhood. Much like the other times that our good friend and narrator Okawa Toru has appeared in other JJBA anime adaptations, it gives us more insight on the problems that Giorno had faced growing up. While the manga reveals his origin on the surface with some of the details

While the manga gives you a rundown of how his respect for gangsters came from both a mysterious gangster he saved and his mistreatment at the hands of his neglectful mother, his abusive step-father, and the racism he had to face as a half-Japanese kid in Italy, the anime includes aspects that breathes life into these scenes and add more context to Giorno’s personal ethos. Similar to how Giorno’s distaste for his city’s drug problem was shown in the intro from the first episode, there is an added segment in his childhood to show how the same mysterious gangster he saved began his personal investment in using less-than-ethical means of stopping drugs from being spread around. Rather than Giorno being motivated to work his way up Bruno’s gang to end his boss’ drug empire for the sake of making Giorno a gangster of love and peace, the depth is built from the importance that the gangster he saved had on how he wanted to work against the unjust society he faced by reforming it through any means necessary.

In the same vein, what Giorno saw in the mysterious gangster who kept him protected was the same spark he ended up seeing in Bruno. The fight sequence plays out similarly in the manga save for some cool technical flair like screen filters and color schemes, but it doesn’t diminish the effect that Bruno’s fight has on him when Giorno awakens his own repressed feelings about his boss’ drug trafficking. The weight that comes from seeing a teenager with signs of drug use on their arm was something that Giorno picked up on, and was the deciding factor for the two sparing one another at points where they could have gone for the final blow. Luckily, the two were able to understand each other at a more fundamental level after Giorno opened up about why he saw good in Bruno, and in turn, Bruno is willing to hear him out and accept Giorno’s dream of becoming a Gang-Star.

Giorno’s fight with Bruno was also revelatory in both of their Stands’ abilities. Although Giorno is still getting the hang of Gold Experience’s ability to give life to objects as he hasn’t attacked anyone with it just yet, he’s able to pick up on his offensive abilities quickly with how it’s life-granting ability can also reinvigorate a person’s subconscious. In the process, it freezes their own inhibitions, resulting in situations like the infamous moment Bruno faced where he was frozen in his tracks as he could feel the punch knocking one of his teeth out to later use to reflect damage on him like with Luka. And speaking of Bruno, we got to see more of Sticky Fingers, which is a fun Stand because it’s one of the few that uses its namesake album from The Rolling Stones as the power’s inspiration. Although the English release uses the comical Zipper Man, it’s not far off as it uses the album cover’s crotch motif as inspiration to create a stand that can make zippers everywhere. It’s capabilities to go from stuffing anything into Giorno’s mouth to hiding inside of people and creating pathways are genuinely neat and lend itself to how innovative and fun the stands got even in its earliest stages.

Now to finish on the fun part, the music. The music throughout the episode was spot-on, but we have both the new OP and ED premiere this time around. With Coda returning, we’re given “Fighting Gold”, that takes “Bloody Stream” and includes a serious edge that is stylish and bleak. It fits the part really well and the visual finishes are very cool and unique compared to the brighter OPs the anime has had. It builds up such good dramatic tension throughout the song that Coda excels at and plays to his expertise of gathering momentum towards a bombastic chorus. And y’all been waiting for this: the ending song. Jodeci’s R&B classic “Freek’n You” was a bold choice, not just because this means every cliffhanger or dramatic “To Be Continued” will be greeted with “I WAKE UP FEELING SO HORNY!”, but it also mirrors the decision in the DiU adaptation to choose a song more for atmosphere like Savage Garden’s “I Want You” than deeper thematic ties like the Part 3 endings featuring “Walk Like an Egyptian” or “Last Train Home”. Much like Savage Garden, Jodeci fits the 90’s aesthetic to a T, and it helps set the tone for the period that Part 5 was written in. “Freek’n You” is one of the many ways that the Part 5 anime taps into the spirit of JoJo between Parts 4 through 6 when Araki embraced sleeker characters and made further references to modern R&B performers through Stand names. With how much of Part 5 felt like it had the style and funk of Prince’s music, something sexy and contemporary for the time like “Freek’n You” fits that vibe that a chic gangster boy band from the mid-90’s would give off. It’s not as thematically relevant to mobbing compared to fan-requested choices like “Smooth Criminal” or “Gangsta’s Paradise”, but it still feels like it fits perfectly in a time when R&B was immersing itself further into popular, trendier sounds. One of the singer’s names being JoJo is just icing on the cake. The good thing is that the episode ended on such an upward note with Giorno’s declaration to join Bruno’s gang that it’ll bring something cool to his transition in the next episode towards the gang life.

ED Sequence

ED: 「Freek’n You」 by Jodeci