Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind Episode 4: Joining the Gang

I’m listening to the full version of Fighting Gold as I type this and my god. I told you, I needed the opening to warm up to me more because the Jojo openings tend to do that. They’re always very different from typical anime OPs so you kinda have to get used to them. Well, it didn’t take me long to listen to Fighting Gold on repeat, making me want to pick a fight with someone because the song is so damn good. There’s also an official English version of the song so now I can actually sing along to it, I’m so glad. Anyway!

Let’s switch gears and listen to some Black Sabbath songs because Black Sabbath is here! Quickly, Giorno is able to learn that the Stand can only move through the shadows. Which is a huge problem because the sun is setting and the shadows are only growing. Black Sabbath is only around for a bit but it’s such a cool stand. It has an obvious weakness, but it’s design is just really regal and cool! So figuring out its weakness was easy but it was still the struggle for Giorno. But then Koichi comes out and accuses Giorno of killing the old man and then says he saw the whole thing. Which means he saw the lighter be relit. As Koichi is in the shadows, Black Sabbath travels to him and grabs Echoes and tries to stab it with the arrow. Thankfully Giorno acted quick and turned the handrail into some vines and flowers and made it so the sunlight would hit Black Sabbath but it manages to get away through the shadows that were still around it. Koichi explains what kind of stand Black Sabbath is based on its actions.

The stand only attacks those that have seen the lighter be relit. No matter how many people it is, it’ll target them and decide with the arrow their two choices. Die, or become a chosen one. Koichi immediately recognizes the arrow and explains to Giorno that getting stabbed by it can possibly give someone to ability of a Stand, but if they don’t have that ability, then they’ll just die. This happened to Koichi, this happened to many other characters. We know all this because this all happened in Diamond is Unbreakable! So now it all makes sense to Giorno. And because Polpo has done this same exact test for other hopefuls that wanted to join Passione, who knows how many other Stand users there are. Well, we’ll meet a certain group of them next episode.

After getting into the safety of the sunshine, the two boys make a game plan and head out. But Black Sabbath follows them in the shadows of crows that flew by and goes to grab Giorno. With much teamwork and fakeouts (“This is what I actually wanted!”), with the help of Echoes’ 3 Freeze, Giorno was able to use Gold Experience to manipulate a tree from its tree roots and with sunshine on them, they were able to MUDA Black Sabbath into dust. Koichi goes off to call Jotaro about the arrow but Giorno stops him because if word got out about this, this whole mafia organization would cause major trouble.

So Giorno the next day goes to visit Polpo and dear god, to reiterate what Midnight said last week, this dude is fucking disgusting. He was already gross enough in the manga but he’s even worse in the anime. The voice acting and the sound effects really sell it, though I really like that he rolls his R’s a lot. So, Giorno proves that he’s trustworthy and Polpo congratulates him and lets him join. But Polpo gives Giorno some words. Fighting over money, power, a seat in the bus is stupid but he believes God forgives murder when it comes to insulting someone, and Polpo will not stop from killing someone after they have insulted him.

I absolutely loved this part. While Giorno had reached out to take the gang’s pin, he used Gold Experience to grab one of Polpo’s guns and turn it into a banana. From what he said, Polpo insulted the old man’s death, and using Polpo’s words against him, as Polpo ate the banana it turned into a gun and killed him. Giorno’s words and expression were amazing, and right before we saw all this, we listened as Koichi told Jotaro that Giorno isn’t as dangerous as he thought at first. In his inner monologue he talks about how Giorno is actually a good person who has the same determination and righteousness of the Joestars. And it’s true. The only reason why Giorno is joining the mafia is so he can save people from violence and drugs. Though Giorno is an interesting character in that he’s kind of like an anti-hero. He has a good heart and a golden dream. He cares about people and felt disgusting inside for what happened to the old man, but he will kill others if they cross him. He killed Polpo in a dastardly way in honor of the innocent old man that was killed. He’s a good kid but his actions kind of contradict that whatever the reason is. Giorno’s pretty cool that way.

So now that he’s an official Passione member, he follows Bruno to where his little gang is and that’s when we’ll finally meet the rest of the main cast, or as I like to call them: The Fashion Disaster group.

Fun fact for this episode. It’s just one:

• Obviously, it’s Polpo’s Stand Black Sabbath. Named after the rock band of the same name, Black Sabbath was a 60’s band from the UK who are deemed to be the first ever heavy metal band! They certainly are very iconic, but this isn’t much of a fun fact because everyone knows who Black Sabbath are. ^^;