JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind – 06

「ムーディー・ブルースの逆襲」 (Moody Blues no Gyakushuu)
“Moody Blues’ Counterattack “

Our latest episode of Golden Wind examines Leone Abbacchio, whose struggles with Zucchero and his Stand Soft Machine give the anime the chance to give us his personal backstory. His lack of trust in Giorno is given a clearer understanding with how much his own trust in those around him were pushed to their limits when he was younger. The misfortune that followed Abbacchio as a former police officer would continue to pile up to the point of no return when a criminal, who he previously took a bribe from, killed his best friend / partner. Disallusion is a running trend in Abbacchio’s life with both his dreams of being a cop and his aspirations to do good being slighted once he realized the contradictions that came with being stuck in a role where he is seen as unhelpful as the populace and as a stooge by criminals who can pay their way out of being brought to justice. With Bruno as the only person who had his back after the ordeal, it’s easy to see why he’s quick to distrust those around him. However, Giorno’s daring and reckless personality surprises him, and despite having no trust in the new recruit, the impulse that he has to gain Abbacchio’s trust pushes him to find out how Soft Machine works for his sake. Along with Giorno, Abbacchio also has his Stand born from his inability to move forward from his painful past as Moody Blues can replay past visions at his own convenience. It’s clever and also bears significance to how Stands function as a part of a person’s psyche.

With regards to the fight itself, the series continues to place emphasis on the growing complexity of the fights themselves by transforming them from crafty challenges and quick reflexes to complicated puzzles that twist and turn as our protagonists try to solve them. The solutions get increasingly eccentric, but part of the fun in the Golden Wind fights come from how ridiculous they can become when protagonists and antagonists alike have highly convoluted ideas about what they can do with their Stands to gain the upper hand. Finding out that the Stand user is hiding a ship inside of their ship after following a blood trail Abbacchio left behind that guided him to the Stand user’s location, and then proceeding to sink their ship in order to force the Stand user out. Other staples of Araki’s quirkiness come out during the Soft Machine fight as well with one of the many body horror moments of Golden Wind as Bruno and Abbacchio examine Narancia’s deflated body, the crude humor of Bruno comparing the feeling of his deflated body to a condom, and a serious conversation where Bruno tells Zucchero as he communicates from a fly that he’s mistaken for assuming the black-tailed gulls are seagulls.

There’s a ton of optimism to be had with the way that the material in Golden Wind is treated. Now that we’re halfway through the first-cour, many of the part’s fights have been faithfully adapted, been granted new life through additional material, and introduce later material much earlier on such as Abbacchio’s origin story to help us get attached to the characters earlier. The trend of having stunning and smooth transitions continues with this episode right from the start with how slick Abbacchio strolled into the next scene of his flashback. The next episode is looking fun with the introduction of Sex Pistols and the adaptation of another beloved scene from the Golden Wind manga that happens after the Soft Machine fight.