Introduction:
It’s here, it’s finally here - after many many months of waiting (Diamond is Unbreakable did end in 2016 after all). JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind is finally here and i have quite a few things to say about these first two episodes so i decided to make this blog to convey my thoughts and opinions towards the first two episodes of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind. While i have read the manga and know what is going to happen in Part 5 - i am going to keep it strictly focused on what happened in these two episodes and my opinions on how the manga material was presented. I may do another one of these when the 1st cour of Part 5 wraps up but it depends on if i want to. Anyway here are my thoughts and opinions towards JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind Episodes 1 and 2.
Overview:
I am not going to give a scene by scene overview of what happens in these two episodes as that just wouldn’t be interesting and you can easily know what happens in these two episodes by simply watching the anime but i will be giving a quick story bit in order to get people who haven’t watched the anime - to understand the plot online of this show.
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind is the 5th Part of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure (Currently there are 8 Parts in JoJo). It is send in 2001 Italy and stars Giorno Giovanna who is the son of Dio Brando (the main villain of JoJo Part 1 and 3. He’s also a living meme at this point thanks to the internet). Giorno starts the story with a dream - in order to become a Gang-Star (basically his version of a gangster and to clean the mafia of its use of drugs), as such he wants to rise within the the ranks so he can get enough power to clear Italy of its Youth Drug Problem.
That is a very simplified version of the plot of Golden Wind but i think you get the general gist of it.Golden Wind is very much a mafia based story which is something Araki hadn’t done before but enough about the manga author - what about the Adaptation. Have these two episodes succeeded in adapting the manga to the anime: well
How well does the Golden Wind Anime adapt the Manga’s Story?
In my own personal opinion,extremely well. It has always been the case that the JoJo Anime has always been a faithful adaptation of the Manga and the Anime of Part 5 still adapts the Manga in a well told way though one of the most interesting things about the Story at least in the Anime is the fact they added a couple of scenes in that wasn’t originally in the manga.
The first scenes of note is that the first couple of scenes of VA are completely original and were not used in the manga at all - these include a scene where Giorno is walking through Italy and we see instances of crime,poverty and corruption going about:
While there are some Youtubers that weren’t that pleased with these scenes - personally i actually really liked these scenes as they clearly convey the setting of Italy as well as one of the main focuses of this Part - that being the crime and corruption going on in Italy (Italy may be a beautiful place but it has its own problems).
There is also another scene that focuses on establishing Giorno’s personality - in that he’s a nice guy but he also has a dangerous and deceptive side - almost like a rouge when he ends up giving a stolen wallet back to a tourist and then secretly took some money out of the wallet using his Golden Experience Ability:
These Scenes do a pretty good job at establishing Giorno’s Character as well as sitting up his clear disliking of crime and his good but deceptive nature. One scene i was a bit mixed on was the Leaky Eye Luca Scene which while wasn’t bad - i feel that they didn’t really need to add an extra scene but that’s just me however Episode 2 is when we get to one of the most notable changes in this adaption so far - that being the expanded backstory for the lead character Giorno - in the manga - Giorno’s backstory was only a page or two but they heavily expanded this for the anime adaption as well as having an entirely new scene where Giorno encounters a scene where he meets his gangster idol after he had murdered someone for dealing drugs only for that person’s kid to draw a gun on the gangster:
On the one hand you could make a fair argument that these scenes weren’t really necessary - on the other hand i feel it does a rather good job of portraying why GIorno admired the gangster he saved so much in a much more detailed showcase while also doing some more world building for Italy in that it’s really grounded. One of the strengths i have always had with JoJo is that while there are certain crazy insane powers and abilities in the JoJo verse - it still takes place in our world. While there are definitely shonen that to take place in our real world - usually the protagonist visits some supernatural world (like say Yu Yu Hakusho and Bleach) but even those instances are far outnumbered by the shonen that take place in a complete fantasy world like Naruto and One Piece. JoJo is neither of these things as it is always set in the world that we currently live in and thus the characters despite all the insanity that happens in the world of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure are kept grounded and relatable because these characters face real world issues and problems - that scene with the gangster and the drug dealer’s kid is a scene that could very much happen in real life as such i think while you could make an argument that the drastically expanded backstory was unnecessary - i thought it worked overall. The second scene was an added fist fight between Giorno and Bruno’s Stands which i felt was really well done so props to David Production for that.
Overall i would say David Production as done an extremely well done job in adapting this story as it’s kept faithful to the manga while also added some extra scenes that are well worth it even for me who has read the manga.
Characters:
While there are several characters in these first two episodes i am only going to be focusing on two - Giorno Giovanna and Bruno Buccellati - these two characters are arguably the main two protagonists of the Part (though there are allies that come in slightly later to expand out the cast - these two are the most important characters in Golden Wind but the question remains - did the anime do a get job at portraying these characters in animated form and i would say yes.
Let’s start with the main JoJo of this Part - Giorno Giovannia:
I am going to be honest - Giorno at least in the manga was always one of the weaker aspects of Part 5 at least in the Manga but i think David Production did a very good job of expanding and improving on Giorno’s character at least in these first two episodes. Giorno is very much unlike a lot of the other JoJos in that he’s very much a Joestar but he’s also very much a Brando. Like his father he retains Dio’s extremely ruthless streak as well as his ambition while also having Jonathan Joestar’s kindness and desire for justice and i think David Production portrayed this well. The expanded scenes helped give more context to Giorno’s past as well as the scene at the beginning of Episode 1 but i also thought David Productions did a good job with the manga scenes - in just first two episodes you get a clearly concise goal (he wants to get rid of the Drug Trade in Italy) as well as a very concise personality in terms of being more of a cold,calculating,thinker in contrast to the loud and brash Josuke.Giorno always read kinda boring in the manga but Kensho’s Ono voice for Giorno really did help him being brought to life so overall so far i think David Production have done a great job in portraying Giorno in this anime though i am still not a hundred percent sold on Pink Giorno.
Now there's Bruno Buccellati:
Bruno unlike Giorno has always been one of my favourite JoJo characters and is my second favourite Part 5 character (with my number one being a member of this Part’s Crew) and i really liked the way David did with his character in these two episodes. Bruno’s Voice Actor Yuichi Nakamura did a great job in portraying the character - both at the almost jokey tone he takes at the beginning of the exchange between Giorno and himself as well as the more serious and cold moments Bruno has when fighting Giorno. While there haven’t been too many expanded scenes involving Bruno besides the expanded fight scene - i really liked the final scene involving Bruno and Giorno where they were talking about Giorno’s desire to join the organisation that Bruno works for - i thought that was handled extremely well both on the scripting side and the voicing acting side. I liked that throughout out the two episodes - despite Bruno being an enemy of Giorno - there was this strange and almost likeable quality to him despite several moments of bizarreness:
Hello lick scene
I liked that the anime portrayed Bruno’s clear dislike of his organization using drugs. Not to go into any later spoilers but Bruno is clearly conflicted to his loyalty towards the organization he works for and his own moral ethics and i thought that was portrayed well in Episode 2 which later leads to a scene that likely will be in Episode 3 that i won’t go into due to this review focusing only on Episodes 1 and 2 but overall i thought Bruno was portrayed really well in this anime adaption - if this level of quality ends up being consistent - who knows but i pleased with what they have shown so far.
Let’s go onto one of the significant aspects of the Anime - the Animation.
Animation:
Every JoJo Part has both a different look and feel to do and with Part 5 it is no different. David Production for this Part 5 adaption decided to combine the more detailed shading of Part 3 with the more poppy colour art and colour changes from Part 4 and in my personal opinion - these first two episodes are some of the best looking JoJo has ever have been with some great use of character perspective, good use of CGI - which can’t be said for some recent anime:
As well as some great colour changes and some Sakuga Moments. I know what you must be thinking now - what is Sakuga is a term in anime where the is a term used in anime to describe moments in a show or movie when the quality of the animation improves drastically - usually Sakuga is saved for the really important scenes and this is no different with a particular highlight being the hand to hand fight between Gold Experience and Sticky Fingers:
Which reminds me a lot of the Josuke vs Kira fight but improved and what about those poses - one of the most iconic aspects of JoJo is those iconic poses and moments and personally i think they were portrayed well in the anime - conveying the sense of fabulousness right from the manga to the panel
I also like the use of sound effects as well as transitions they are doing with this Part 5 Adaption:
However, despite the praise i have given Part 5 it does have a couple of problems that i feel are worth pointing out which while are noticeable don’t affect the overall experience too much. One think i definitely noticed is that this adaption focuses much more on the close shots than the long distance shots which can lead to some shot’s looking slightly wonky though in this adaption - they tend to not detail the faces that can be seen in a distance. This shot’s are noticeable and expected - this is a TV Anime after all - they are not going to have the insane level of budget a TV Movie will have but they were still noticeable enough that i have to mention it. I also think while there are definitely some fun and interesting transitions between scene - it is slightly lacking the direction a lot of Early Part 4 had which is a shame but i would take Part 5’s artstyle over 4’s anyday. This is still early days and i am not sure how well the animation will hold up in Golden Wind’s 39 Episode Run but right now i am very impressed with it.
One last thing i have to talk about is the animation for the OP:
Honestly i absolutely loved the animation and music in this Opening Song - not only is Coda one of my personal favourite Japanese Singers but i loved the almost James Bond style imagery they had for this Opening (it reminds me a lot of Casino Royale’s opening which is my personal favourite James Bond Opening) and i love the use of transitions and Sakuga moments. I will say that it is a very different opening then a lot of JoJo Openings in that it is extremely fast paced which i think is fitting since Part 5 is by far the most action heavy part in the series. As for the foreshadowing - well not to spoil anything but there’s a lot to unpack in the OP and how it hints at certain events that have yet to be shown in anime.
Here is the Opening if you were curious.
So overall as of Episode 2 - i am really impressed with both the animation in both the show and the OP. While i don’t expect this level of quality all the way throughout Golden Wind’s Run - the art-style and effort being put into this adaption definitely have me on board with it so far.
Sound:
While Animation is certainly an important part of an anime - i would argue sound is equally as important. There’s three main categories of sounds when concerning anime - sound effects,music and the voice acting. Let’s start with the simple one first - the sound effects. JoJo as a series is always known for its excellent sound effects and these first two episodes do not disappoint in that regard - the sound effects especially when concerning punching are perfectly suited to what is happening and enhance the scene. For example - in the second episode there is a scene where Giorno punches Bruno with an extremely hard punch which you can see here:
While this scene is an impressive bit of animation from the animation team - it’s not nearly as good without any sound. The sound effects help make the weight of the punch feel real and heavy which makes sense considering the strength of the punch as well as the sound of the tooth being dislodged from Bruno’s mouth and this is not the only case of great sound work in order to enhance the fight scene - one particular instance is the hand to hand fight between Gold Experience and Sticky Fingers which while impressive in GIF Form - is even more enhanced with sound. So overall i am really impressed with the sound effects this season.
Now for the music and ho boy - JoJo has always had great music that were fitting of the time periods that each part is set in and man did David Production’s Music Team hit it out of the part for this one. Golden Wind is set in 2001’s Italy and as much the music in Golden Wind is very classical with a lot of instruments that would be found in traditional Italian Music and of course there is the ever present Italian Choir in order to enhance certain scenes where high amount of action is taking place. The Music Selection is overall extremely strong though but there are two potential highlights i would like to talk about - the first being Giorno’s Beatdown theme - unlike a lot of the music in Golden Wind which is very classical - Giorno’s Beatdown theme is very late 90s/Early 00s as well as inspired by Beatdown Themes of JoJos. It’s an extremely rocking track and was used extremely scene during the final bit of
Giorno and Bruno’s fight:
But there is of course there is one more music track that i have to talk about and that’s of course being the OP. Coda is my second favourite Japanese Singer who has worked on a JoJo OP (Number One being Tommy of course). He did a great job with Bloody Stream and he did a great job here. The song is not to everyone’s taste (some people even calling it a bit generic which i can’t agree with). I feel the song is perfectly suited to the more action based tone of Part 5 but that’s my own personal opinion. I understand that it’s not for everyone. One last note i have to talk about - Jodeci’s Freek’N You as the ED for Part 5. Honestly i really wanted to see Return of the Mack as the ED but i do admit i was happy with the choice of the ED though the song is extremely memeable thanks to the lyrics.
As for the voice acting - i honestly prefer Kensho Ono’s (the person who voices him in the anime) take on Giorno rather than Daisuke (despite me not understanding Japanese). He honestly sounds a little more natural than Daisuke did especially when considering the MUDAs. Daisuke’s MUDAs always sounded kinda weak to me and to me Kensho did a much better job. As for Bruno - i would say that Yuichi Nakamura has done a great job so far - portraying both the cool,confident side of Bruno as well as the moments where he loses his cool. I am kinda sad Noriaki didn’t come back for the Part 5 Anime but i feel that Yuichi has done a great job so far in his role. I do admit something felt a little off about Daisuke as Jotaro - maybe his voice is a little too high pitched compared to Jotaro in Part 3 and 4 but it’s not bad. The rest of the voicing acting in these two episodes were good (though i can understand if you don’t like Yuki Kaiji’s Koichi. Overall the sound in Golden Wind is great and i hope they keep to this level throughout the past (i am also excited to see.
Concluding Thoughts
Overall i am extremely pleased with the Golden Wind Adoption so far. I definitely do have some small problems with it (some of the dodgy face work as well some added scenes being a little on the unnecessary side) but the things that i feel are kinda meh about Part 5’s Anime Adaption are overwhelmed by the amount of positive thoughts and opinions about it. Like i said earlier - this is still very much early days and things could turn out to get really bad for the Part 5’s adaption but i remain faithful that the Part 5 Anime won’t let me down. Now is the best time to get into the series and see what you have been missing. I will admit the series is not for everyone but you want a series that is as well bizzare as JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure then i highly recommend it. I will be definitely continue to watch the Part 5 Adaption to see how the anime does some of the best moments in Part 5.If i were to give the show a rating so far - i would say a A but this ranking could certainly change. Thank you for reading this long review and...
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