Review of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind

I liked the previous Jojo parts except for one - for the purpose of this review, this will not be revealed until I review said part. However, I have not been more baffled in a long time by a part of Jojo that was 'this' consistent in being badly executed, and I will explain why. The pacing of the story was decent, it was certainly even better than Part 4 and Part 3, but I found no enjoyment in the experience, I couldn't tell why at first. It even did the fights right, there was tension in each fight. But then it dawned on me,it clicked, why this part didn't work.

Reason 1: The Failure of its Premise.

The Premise was good in concept but so ridiculously bad in execution that it was hard to justify. For one, it is introduced as a Mafioso story in Italy, with Stands of course, and this Giorno Giovanna guy wants to take out “The Boss” of Passione (the most powerful crime syndicate in Italy) to stop the drug trade in his home country. While on the surface a neat idea, 'why doesn't it work?’ one might ask. Simply put, the main character has no reason to justify his position. I mean we are introduced to him through Koichi (from Part 4), and the first impression is that he is: a thief, his initial encounter with Leaky-Eye Luca and Polpo reveals that he is willing to murder to achieve his goals and has no remorse for his murders. So how does he take the high ground in the end when he defeats Diavalo?

To establish a main character's philosophy is important for having any purpose to the story, and seemingly the story after shooting itself in the proverbial foot, in this manner, tries to redeem itself through its side characters, and somehow screws it up even here with an exception. While the introduction of Bruno Bucciarati is much needed as it keeps the plot moving forward and adds a layer of morality and specifically the philosophy of Bruno Bucciarati that allows the team and the cast to feel like, (and I mean this in the clearest terms: ‘feel like’ not actually the good guys in this story) it adds some much needed contrast in the difference of motivation between Bucciarati and Diavalo’s outlook on the criminal lifestyle. But this could only work, if Bucciarati was the main character because he mirrors the Boss in the duality of ‘supposed’ good and evil.

We are given Giovanni’s half-baked backstory which is a rip-off of Goodfellas (from getting belted by his Step-father to entering the good-books of a Mafioso) that I suppose Araki saw the film while smoking his weed and listening to Rock bands, and it suddenly dawned on him to rip off this perfectly okay plot-point without understanding why this backstory worked for Henry Hill’s motivations to become a gangster, but meant that Giorno would have zero reasons why he should stop the drug trade.

In this regard, Araki failed and had to fill this through Bucciarati’s backstory which perfectly explained his hatred of the drug trade and his philosophy of viewing his loved ones as more than just pawns in a game, rather as a family. The problem however arises when you realize, that we are only given this backstory mid-way through because by that point Araki must’ve realized how bland and stupid the motivations of his main “JoJo” are. This would’ve been fine had Bucciarati been the JoJo of this part but he’s not and hence the whole premise fails.

You see Bucciarati never intended to “take down” the Boss, his only motivation was gaining influence in Passione, he decided eventually to betray ‘The Boss’ because he could not forgive his (Boss’s) attempt to murder his own daughter to secure his Identity. His nature and upbringing contradicted this, hence he decided to betray Passione, and this makes sense, Giorno wanting to betray Passione from day one just made Giorno look like an egotistical psycho as if he thought he was better than any of the rest of criminal scum just because of his refusal to peddle drugs. Yeah, very heroic!

Reason 2: The Failure of its Side Characters.

And the rest of the side characters except for Mista and Narancia are downright unlikeable. Trish is an awful excuse of a character for most of it, and Abbacchio’s backstory has some BS about justice and police corruption, granted, these are real problems, however it was so poorly executed, that I never for a second felt bad for the guy as if he had guilt or remorse for his actions. And his ____ scene was handled so poorly, like becoming a Mafioso was his way of seeking Justice when we all know that this is complete crap. Fugo was such a horrible character that he’s given a completely meaningless backstory, which doesn’t go anywhere and he was so awful apparently, that he was abandoned halfway through the plot and he doesn’t even come back as a villain nor does he get a death to perhaps amplify the stakes, he just disappears from the Plot. Lol. I know Araki wanted to do something with his betrayal but everything about him was so mediocre, that he must’ve realized it wouldn’t work, he could’ve at least made him die or something. The other traitors were okay, however they reminded me what this story could’ve focused on, a crew of criminals that gets slowly taken out by the Boss and is forced to go rogue, was kind of interesting until you realize that they got very little screen-time and were dehumanized for apparently no reason. And I don’t mean that they died horribly, no these guys died in VAIN! But our main crew doesn’t apparently, because Giorno becomes the Godfather by the end, how trite!

Reason 3: The Incoherence of the End goal.

Does becoming Godfather of Passione stop the drug-trade? Temporarily perhaps – It really depends, it could allow for decreasing it. Permanently, however? Absolutely freaking NOT! The problem is, as long as the corrupt Mafioso system is in charge of a country, anything really goes as long as it’s profitable. Who is to say the system doesn’t create another Diavalo, in fact, I think it’s 100% the case that it produces tons of people that find drugs to be profitable? Has Araki actually understood the movies that he’s paying homage to? In Godfather I & II, Michael Corleone opposes the drug trade but despite all his efforts is forced to become a silent observer in the matter. Henry Hill becomes a drug king-pin and has to snitch his way out of the situation to save his life. Tony Montana despite refusing to assassinate a man with his wife and kids there turns into the very thing he despises. This is the destiny of what it means to become a Gangster, there is no justice in that sort of lifestyle. However, this stupid story thematically justifies this end, which is a ridiculously horrible message. And if it wasn’t even bad enough, we get 2 prequel episodes at the end that justify the inevitability of fate arguing that to fight fate makes fate worse. What?? This is the most pessimistic garbage message that the writer could’ve decided to give the audience. But then he says it’s somehow worth it because of the journey? If so, why was it not worth it for the other traitors that died? And I will not buy the logic of them being evil, because everyone was evil in one way or another in this Show.

Reason 4: The Weakest JoJo Villain upto now. (Spoilers - skip to Reason 5)

I have not seen any parts following this one, so I am not sure if worse villains are yet to come. As a concept the Boss was menacing, for at least the first multiple episodes, but once they introduced the character I was shocked. And I don’t mean, the episode where he fights Bucciarati for the first time. No! I mean the episode where we see him in Sardinia. Once it is revealed, that the Boss has multiple personality disorder, I was confused. How in the F*** did this dude survive all these years with his passive naïve and stupid half as a part of him? I’m sure this could’ve been done well, as Diavalo was living double lives, but this would’ve made more sense, if his other personality wasn’t a bumbling idiot, I get that because of this no one suspected him, but to me what I saw in that episode, it made everyone suspect him as soon as getting a glimpse of this guy. I mean how wouldn’t you? I know it was supposed to be comedic but him making a phone out of literally the first thing that he’d find just to talk to his other half repeatedly, makes it impossible for him to have hidden his identity for this long. Araki successfully created a plot-hole just to make his villain more bizarre and unsettling. Like, Yoshikage Kira was weird and unsettling but he was thorough in his pursuit of appearing normal, he rarely had these freak-outs in public, he’d act normally. For such a “mastermind” of Italian black market the Boss sure seemed to be a complete give away, and his ability to erase time didn’t help either. Not to mention, I presume Araki ran out of new ideas for main villains. To put this in perspective, Dio could stop time for a few seconds, Diavalo could erase time a few seconds into the past/future. While Dio was the first villain with this type of stand, so he gets a pass, this was nowhere near as terrifying or creative as Yoshikage Kira’s “bites the dust”.

But okay, maybe let’s not compare him to already-established iconic villains, let’s instead compare him with Kars. Kars was an ancient Pillar-man who created the stone-mask to transcend his mortality, whose goal was to reach the pinnacle of perfection in being. He sought the power that would make him unstoppable to every creature on the Planet. So therefore, his pursuit of the Redstone of Aja, makes sense. He wants to achieve that state, and unlike this abomination of an anticlimax in Part 5, Kars actually achieves this state and is only bested by luck. He gives into emotion to avenge his fallen comrade against Joseph, goes into a murderous mission to kill him. The heroes don’t get any stupid power-ups, Kars is simply outwitted by the creativity of a Nazi and an Englishman and a bit of luck by their side, and hence it’s an entertaining finale. Whereas, Diavalo was magically rejected by the Arrow for being evil and it chose Giorno for no other reason than “the plot required it!” seriously? The guy who in his introduction murdered Polpo and robbed Koichi for no apparent reason, the arrow deemed him good? What BS!

Reason 5: No effort for the Italian Mafioso Aesthetic.

Character designs are important, it’s why novels spend so much time describing the type of clothes a character wears as it signifies many different aspects about said Character’s personality without even needing to go into freaking monologues and backstories. It also important for the sake of enhancing the immersive-ness of the Setting. Now, it’s not like JoJo is magically immune to this. In Part 1 All of the characters except for Vampires carry 1800s Victorian aesthetic of Britain. Even the minor characters from Tibet have different clothing than the British to emphasize that they are Tibetan. The same is true of Part 2, where Joseph wears 1940s American clothing with an edge to it. Caesar looks Italian, Lisa Lisa looks British, and they are not wearing freaking weird punk rock-band outfits. This is consistent in Part 3, where Kakyoin and Jotaro wear Japanese school uniforms, Muhammad Abdul wears Egyptian robes, and Joseph carries an American grandpa aesthetic sense. Even in Part 4, the characters who go to school wear uniforms, and Yoshikage Kira wears expensive suits which signifies that he is a working man. The only character that does wear Punk-inspired clothes is Rohan and he’s a Mangaka, so it’s not unusual for an Artist to have such an Aesthetic. However, in Golden Wind, suddenly everyone looks like a punk-rocker, they have rock-band name for Stands and even the freaking Boss, who I presume was supposed to wear formal clothes is revealed to have the same lame punk aesthetic. It’s ridiculous. No one looks like an Italian and no one looks like a Mafioso. The character designs are horrible.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, I would say this Part of JoJo had some interesting ideas that were horribly executed. While this doesn’t suffer from the Filler episodes of the previous Parts, somehow it actually has significantly less things going for it. And while I wouldn’t say it was bad – per say, it was definitely a lot weaker in its Characters and Story and the overall premise failed to make any sense thematically or otherwise.

The things that did work in this Part, included the Soundtrack, the Animation was alright, the Stand battles were good, and the humor in regards to Mista and Narancia was good. But that’s about it. Overall, it was not bad, it had a ton of potential but it wasn’t good either.

6/10