This review contains spoilers for Golden Wind
A New JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Review? Di molto!

Hello and welcome back to my review series on JoJo's Bizarre Adventure! As of this writing, this is the latest animated JoJo Part. With that, six months after I began, I bring this series to a close, albeit only briefly, as Stone Ocean's adaptation premieres this December. It's been a fun ride and I'm looking forward to getting on it again in December, with the ability to experience it as it airs, to boot. That said, I'm also grateful for the break, as it means I can get around to giving other anime some love (if you listen quietly, you can hear Shaman King (2020) and Symphogear GX sobbing in the distance). JoJo's Bizarre Adventure grips my attention in a way that few other anime have.

Last time, I covered Part 4 of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Diamond is Unbreakable. While I went in with tempered expectations, I couldn't stay stonefaced when met with the colorful world of Morioh, and it ended up being my favorite part. While Part 5 seemed to be a return to adventure form, since I loved Diamond is Unbreakable so much, it had its work cut out for it.

How did it fare?

While enjoyed Part 5 a great deal, both as an anime in general and as an entry in a franchise that I adore, it fell short of my love for Diamond is Unbreakable. It also falls short of the expectations I had for the show itself.

Haruno Shiobana is the son of DIO. Haruno didn't know his real father growing up, instead being "raised" by his neglectful mother, who didn't want to give up her party lifestyle (one isn't down to clown with DIO unless they like to live on the edge, after all) to take care of him. Things didn't look up for Haruno once his mother moved to Italy and married an Italian. Haruno was forced to trade his mother's passive neglect for his new step-father's active abuse. Outside of home, he was relentlessly bullied by his peers. Seemingly hated on all fronts, Haruno retreated into himself. One day he stumbled upon a man being searched for by the police and upon refusing to give up his location, the man takes Haruno under his wing. As the man turns out to be a member of the criminal organizationn, Passione, the impressionable Haruno is inspired to follow in his footsteps. Now, he's 15 and has inexplicably gained the power of a Stand along with the blonde hair of his father. Going by the name Giorno Giovanna, he has a dream: become a ~~gangster~~ GANGSTAR and reform Passione in order to stop it from selling drugs. Extortion, murder, trafficking, racketeering, and fraud are A-OK. Drugs? Fuck ‘em. Just because you're a member of a violent criminal organization doesn't mean you forego standards, you know? What Giorno doesn't know is that infiltrating and reforming Passione will be difficult, as he's soon embroiled in a mission that will put him and his new team to the test as they face a conspiracy that will rock the organization.

Golden Wind is certainly an ambitious entry in the franchise. Perhaps the most ambitious yet. I won't beat around the bush — I think that Golden Wind doesn't quite live up to its ambition. That said, for every one thing it does poorly, it does two things amazingly.

One of those things is the soundtrack.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure as a whole has had good music. The only reason why I didn't touch on Diamond is Unbreakable's soundtrack is because I really didn't have much to say besides "the music's ~~great~~ gu-rei-to." I'm taking time to talk about the OST of Golden Wind because the music isn't great. It's amazing.

You can't mention Golden Wind's soundtrack without talking about its main theme — Giorno's theme, "Il vento d'oro."

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This was the first piece of (non-licensed) JoJo music that I associated with the franchise. Not Awaken, not Kira's theme, not the main theme of Diamond is Unbreakable, not even Jotaro's theme. It was Il Vento d'oro, a song that's painstakingly designed to leave an impression, to get your heart pumping. It's more triumphant than Jotaro's theme and Virtuous Pope, it's more ear-wormy than Diamond is Unbreakable's theme. Like Kira's theme and Awaken, it’s used somewhat sparingly (at least its standard variation) and saved for key moments, making it all the more memorable when it does show up. The guitar, the trumpets, and the vocals all work in tandem to create a song that's elegant yet undoubtedly cool.

And then there's the breakdown, the piano riff that gives way to strings, and the "JOJO GOLDEN WIND" choral chant. This section of the song is used even more sparingly and it's better for it. This is the part of the song I first heard and when I first heard it used at the end of episode five, I had the biggest, stupidest smile on my face. It was like I had come full-circle. As far as I'm concerned, "Il vento d'oro" isn't GioGio's theme, it's JoJo's theme, as it captures the energy of the series so well — elegant, rough, and cool.

The rest of the OST isn't anything to sneeze at, with other standout tracks including Bucciarati's theme and Mista's theme.

Then there's the OPs and EDs. Coda, the vocalist for Part 2's OP, "Bloody Stream" makes his triumphant return to perform "Fighting Gold," Golden Wind's first OP and he doesn't disappoint, as "Fighting Gold" quickly went on to become one of my favorite JoJo OPs. It has a lot of intensity, yet it’s an intensity that's somewhat muted and understated. The vibe I get from "Fighting Gold" is that it could be the theme of a spy/thriller movie. Golden Wind is a kind of thriller featuring gangsters, so close enough. It's also cool that the visuals of the OPare very esoteric and silhouette-based, much like "Bloody Stream."

I'm definitely less partial to the second OP, "Traitor's Requiem," but it has the most hype and intricate "villainous takeover of the OP" so far.

I laughed my ass off once I first heard Jodeci's "Freak'n You" as the ED. It's just so delightfully insane that this anime has a bonafide R&B sex jam as its ending song. Not that I'm complaining, its silky smoothness combined with the soul of Jodeci's voice makes it a very relaxing yet powerful song to wind down too. In JoJo, (golden succ aside), it sure isn't fulfilling its intended purpose, but goddamn if it isn't oddly fitting. Anyone who hated this ED is a coward...unless they're ace in which case, yeah, it's probably an uncomfortable pick.

Yet have no fear because, for the first time in the series, a Part gets not one, but two EDs. The second ED is "Modern Crusaders." It's definitely one of the most hype EDs I've heard. It's really hard to wind down when Enigma demands me to stand and join him as a modern crusader; it makes you want to watch another episode. In some ways, it's more hype than its equivalent OP and I'm here for it.

The magnificence of "Il Vendo D'oro" would be nothing without fight scenes for it to back. Call the fights of Golden Wind Doordash because they deliver. Araki truly has outdone himself with battles that are as imaginative as they are exciting. This is achieved thanks to the STANDO POWAH on display. Gone are the days of the Stardust Crusaders and their simplistic Stands. Giorno's Stand, Gold Experience's primary power is being able to give life to inanimate objects. This is a very imaginative and versatile Stand, with endless possibilities as to how it can be used in a fight. We see Araki really stretch himself to use Golden Experience to get our heroes out of sticky situations and it still feels like we're barely scratching the surface of what it can do. Speaking of "sticky," there's deuteragonist Bruno Bucciarati's Stand, Sticky Fingers which creates zippers that it can open and close. A few things it can do are create openings in walls, dismantle opponents, and send its fist flying by unzipping their connection to its arms. Beyond these, in Bucciarati's team, to wit, we have a miniature, CO2-seeking fighter plane, a Stand that can replay past events, a Stand that can change the elasticity of any object, and a biohazard Stand. I think the most notable Stand to illustrate the change in complexity is Mista's Stand, Sex Pistols. In Part 3, Hol Horse's Stand, Emperor, was...literally just a gun. It was very no-nonsense and effective (or at least, theoretically effective). Fast forward to Mista who also uses a gun stand. His bullets are powered by six adorable little gremlins. It really goes to show how far Araki has come by seeing how he went from depicting a gun in the least creative way possible to the most creative way possible.

The villains aren't slouches either and with some of their more esoteric abilities, pretty much every fight ends up being a gripping battle of wits. Plus we get to see some of the most terrifying Stands so far in terms of collateral damage — Green Day and The Grateful Dead come to mind. Similar to Sex Pistols, King Crimson's powers also show how Stands have grown more complex. The World can stop time. Killer Queen can make bombs, Sheer Heart Attack is a bomb, and Bites the Dust can turn back time. What does King Crimson do? Fuck if I know. All I know is,

until

The characters here are perhaps the best they've ever been, having the dynamism of the Crusaders yet the independence and fleshed-out personalities of Diamond is Unbreakable’s crew — they work really well both as a unit and alone. This is an ensemble story, even moreso than what's come before. It helps every main character (save for Trish) have episodes delving into their backstories. While the backstories really only serve to set up the characters and hardly come back in the present day, they go a long way in making the characters feel more real, tragic, and complex. JoJo has never been deep, still isn't as of Part 5 (for reasons I'll get into), but it's hard to deny that it certainly starts dipping its toe in.

Finally, there's the setting, which is absolutely gorgeous. While I prefer Diamond is Unbreakable's aesthetic, Golden Wind is just as beautiful. While Diamond is Unbreakable was Seussian, Golden Wind looks like a classical painting. Italy has been Araki's muse since JoJo's inception and that's most apparent here as we journey through it, seeing beautifully detailed locales along the way such as Venice, Rome, and Sardinia.

But now we must address the elements that I think Golden Wind handles poorly. As I said before, Part 5 still isn't particularly "deep." Because of this, it never quite lives up to its ambitious premise.

A big part of this boils down to how characters are utilized — two central characters have the potential to be interesting, yet Araki doesn't capitalize on this. Let's start by talking about Giorno Giovanna, shall we?

Going into Part 5, the most notable aspect of it seems to be that instead of a "proper" Joestar, it stars DIO's son. It's the type of thing that people find hard to keep mum about because it's just so exciting, so daring. Unless you're very good at dodging spoilers, you'll most likely start Golden Wind knowing who Giorno's father is and you'll assume that a lot of importance is placed on this fact. It's not quite fair to write this off as viewers having unrealistic expectations — Araki would know how big of a deal DIO, the franchise's most enduring villain, having a child would be to fans. Hell, the story itself acknowledges how important this is, with Giorno's introductory arc involving Koichi tracking him down at the behest of Jotaro due to Giorno's heritage. Even the narration acknowledges how bizarre Giorno's birth is, as it makes a point to state that no one knows why DIO didn't eat Giorno's mother like he did most other women. It's undeniable that, both in and out of universe, there was a lot of buildup to Giorno's parentage. Because of this, I was supremely disappointed to find out that, save for the initial arc, Giorno's relationship with DIO isn't addressed at all.

One might make the argument that similar to Part 4 not delving into the identity of Josuke's savior, Araki not putting ~~a lot of~~ any focus on Giorno's family illustrates a point: that your familial ties do not define who you are as a person. This falls a bit flat because I feel like there are interesting ways to communicate this point besides just...ignoring these ties entirely. I get that there's only so much you can do to explore a relationship involving a dead man, but there are certainly ways around it. Maybe Giorno's relationship with his mother could have been tweaked and he could have asked her about DIO. Hell, you don't even need to alter Giorno's relationship with his mother. Polnareff, someone who does know the evil DIO has done, is in the story, yet doesn't seem to know who Giorno is and thus doesn't talk to him about it. I was surprised to remember that Giorno has a picture of DIO in his wallet because it doesn't come up ever again and it doesn't seem he cares about his father beyond this. I don't need the deepest delve into Giorno's mind ever — something as simple as him vowing not to be the monster his father was or wishing he got to meet him would be good enough. But no, the most compelling thing about Giorno isn't utilized at all. It really doesn't help that in terms of personality, he's pretty bland. All in all, he's definitely one of my least favorite JoJos.

Which goes nicely with my least favorite main villain, Diavolo, who isn't much more than a pretty, watermelon-haired face. Much like Giorno, he has the problem of being interesting on paper, but very lacking in execution. Diavolo is a man who has two distinct personalities and has a familial relationship with one of the main characters. He's a brutal crime boss, but in a surprising moment of what might have been vulnerability, he had a child. None of these aspects of him are really explored. Is he the original personality, is there a deeper reason for him becoming a crime boss, why is he so paranoid, what was his relationship with Trish's mother? If you wanted answers to any of these, prepare to be disappointed. I know that being very deep and rich isn't the only way a character can be enjoyable, but much like Giorno, Diavolo's personality doesn't do him any favors. Unlike Kira, Diavolo doesn't feel menacing in his realness — Diavolo feels like a card-carrying villain. Why does he lead Passione? Because he likes power, I guess? This still isn't a death knell. You know who else likes power and is pretty one-note? DIO. The problem, however, is that DIO is extremely charismatic while Diavolo...is not. He's not even a villain you love to hate, he's kind of just...there. DIO was able to essentially sit back on his throne for an entire Part and still commanded our attention. This was in part because Part 1 already did the heavy lifting of establishing his character and why we should be excited. Beyond this, he was a large ham and chewed the scenery once he finally did appear. There's little excitement to be had when Diavolo finally shows himself. He's not the same force of personality that DIO, or to a lesser extent, Kars were. Diavolo isn't the type of guy to steal your girlfriend's first kiss out of spite, Diavolo isn't the type of guy to play your unconscious mother's legs like a guitar, Diavolo isn't the type of guy who'll reminisnce about the Mona Lisa's hands giving him a "rock hard cock." Save for his memorable design (though part of me wonders if this is mainly due to the extended song and dance of seeing him for the first time), Diavolo really doesn't have any traits that endear me to him.

It's a bit of an aside, but this brings me to the English dub. Thanks to his English voice actor, Kellen Goff, Diavolo does have a pretty notable trait. With his devilishly deep voice and anger so raw that it borders on mad, Diavolo steals whatever scene he is in. Compare him in the original Japanese to the English dub.

▶ ▶ Who knows, maybe this anger came across in the original Japanese, as well. If it did, I certainly felt it more in the dub. For the first time, in my watch of JoJo, I recommend trying out the dub. Before, while the dub could certainly be good (Diamond is Unbreakable features terrific casting), I always thought you were missing something in losing out on the Engrish memes. But now, it feels like you're losing something in not watching the dub — connecting with the villain. I really think it's worth missing out on a few memes and Stand Names in exchange for a more memorable villain. It certainly helps that the localization team brought their A-game. When Stone Ocean releases, assuming the English dub is simulcast, I'll alternate between subs and dubs each episode.

Moving back into the show itself, another disappointing aspect of Golden Wind is the final battle against Diavolo. While some final battles could be messy, they were all spectacular and I ended up enjoying them. I came to enjoy our heroes’ struggle to best the villain and their new powerup. Imagine my delight when the Stand arrow came into play — a way to make Stands even stronger. King Crimson would be even more powerful and unlike Jotaro, Giorno would have a good reason to suddenly be able to go toe-to-toe against Diavolo. It would be great.

Naturally, it didn't happen.

Giorno is the only one that gets to utilize the Stand arrow. He then uses his power to turn the tables against Diavolo and essentially send him to purgatory. It's cool, I guess? It's ultimately the weakest finale, in terms of fights, of all the Parts thus far. Maybe it's just because I'm partial to the villain getting what they want before having it snatched away but this feels like a real missed opportunity. The majority of the final conflict just consists of chasing a rogue, mindless Stand, Chariot Requiem. I suppose I appreciate the mind games of finding out what body Diavolo is in and preventing him from getting the arrow. The final arc definitely lived up to the bizarreness I've come to expect from JoJo, but I still wanted more of a spectacle, you know? At the very least the ending in which Giorno becomes the leader of Passione is pretty damn rad.

Despite some of my issues with Golden Wind, I had a good time overall, just like I have had with the other JoJo entries. Even if this isn't my favorite JoJo Part, the series overall has quickly become a favorite of mine. I was hooked from the first episode and, while there have been some bumps along the road, through five parts, Araki hasn't let me down. I know it sounds hokey and overwrought, but JoJo's Bizarre Adventure reminded me of why I love anime so much. When watching JoJo, I can marvel at breathtaking fight scenes I'd see nowhere else, I can enjoy a larger-than-life cast, and I can appreciate visuals that only animation could pull off. When watching JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, for 20 minutes (that feel more like five) I can let the world's worries wash past me, I can — and I say this with love — turn my brain off and just smile as I watch a show overflowing with a bizarre sort of heart and charm. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is a shining example of what the medium of anime has to offer. Whether you're new to anime or you've been watching for years, you can get something out of JoJo.

Until next time, Modern Crusaders.

I, Pockey Ramune, have a dream!