Review of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind

Frankly, this is my favorite Jojo adventure so far as an anime-only consumer. Araki's art style is mind-blowing as far as how creative he is in expressing each character's personality through their designs, and the story might be the most thrilling for me, with the show really leaning into its psychological thriller and horror components. The characters themselves, while Giorno can be a little bland at times, were all people that you can both love and hate, with their strengths and weaknesses never failing to be conveyed in the show. In my opinion, there really isn't a great amount of individual characterdevelopment besides their individual expositions, but growth is found through the way GioGio and the gang interact with each other.

Relating to action, each stand fight feels more creative than the last, and Araki still does a great job making the viewer feel as if Jojo and the gang are truly trapped. The music is amazing, and the animation, while it took me some getting used to transitioning from part 4 to part 5, I think was more detailed than part 4.

If I had any gripes with the show, it might be that as the stand battles get more and more bizarre, some people may not appreciate how outlandish some situations are. Without spoiling anything, you never know when someone truly dies in Golden Wind, but for me, this uncertainty greatly contributed to a personal curiosity for trying to get to know the world better and whatever bendable rules Araki may have put in this world.

For me, most stand battles were gripping, and before I knew it, I had binged all 39 episodes within 3 days. And while each individual battle was great, the overall story was thematically tight, discussing themes of fate and what it means to challenge it. If you are a Jojo fan, you're gonna watch this. If you're new to the series, this is a great place to start!

- MSYN