We go from one of the saddest moments in Jojo to, for me, one of the most frustrating and confusing in Jojo. While this episode is a reprieve from Abbacchio’s death and a transition into the next battle for Team Bucciarati, I have quite a lot to say about it. The majority of it is pretty negative, though.
This is going to be an interesting review, so strap in.
With the team now possessing a mold of the boss—thanks to 「Moody Blues」 and Abbacchio—they pour themselves into research through police and death records. Nothing comes out of it. That’s when a mysterious voice on the other end of Bucciarati’s laptop claims to have information they need. This voice not only has information on the boss, whose name is Diavolo, but he also knows of a way to beat him. According to this voice, 「King Crimson」 is nearly invincible and impossible to beat. However, the one way that might work in defeating him is to use one of the Stand-wielding golden arrows. We then get a history of the golden arrows.
In 1978, a group of explorers found a meteorite in the mountains of Poland. Days later, everyone broke out in a horrible rash that killed everyone except for one explorer. Before he died, one of the men emitted some strange energy beam. A tissue analysis found a peculiar virus in all the explorers. This virus kills most infected, but those who survive are granted strange powers—Stands. This ties into the arrows because from this meteorite, a shaman thousands of years earlier carved several golden arrows from the rock.
According to the voice, the golden arrow might be the key to defeating Diavolo. And it just so happens that the voice happens to possess an arrow. He then instructs the group to meet him in Rome at the Colosseum. With this information, and despite not fully trusting this strange person, Team Bucciarati heads to Rome.
Meanwhile, Doppio reaches out to the boss, Diavolo. Diavolo believes that something is off based on Team Bucciarati’s reaction, or lack thereof, to Abbacchio’s death. Doppio returns to the site, realizes they found something at the scene and is acting on that lead. Diavolo then instructs Doppio to head to Rome and to contact the last line of defense, two mafiosi named Ciocolata and Secco.
The gang arrives at a small fishing village miles away from Rome by nightfall. Nothing seems off until a pair of drunks disintegrate before them. Upon further examination, the lookouts, Mista and Narancia, realize that everyone in the vicinity is dead. As the two try to escape, they’re infected by a strange, flesh-eating mold. It’s here we meet Cioccolata and Secco. And then we get Cioccolata’s backstory.
Yes.
Once a prominent surgeon, Cioccolata was discharged after an incident left a patient dead. However, this was intentional, as he has a nasty habit of misdiagnosing patients with unnecessary surgery so that he can operate on them and dole out some horrific torture. Even as a young man, Cioccolata was a sick individual. While volunteering at a nursing home, he would regularly experiment with the residents’ medication and even drive others to commit suicide so that he could record their faces after dying. This was what inspired Cioccolata to become a doctor. Secco, his partner in literal crime, was once his patient and, through some twisted way, only listens to Cioccolata. Little else is known about him.
Cutting back to the strange mold infestation, everyone immediately concludes that it’s the work of a Stand. This is correct, as it’s the effect of Cioccolata’s Stand 「Green Day」. In addition, Giorno theorizes that the ability works similarly to an actual fungus called. He concludes that the ability activates when the victim is lower to the ground than the Stand is. Mista shoots their boat’s motor, causing an explosion that allows them to reach higher ground. The gang thwarted 「Green Day」’s assault for now, but it’s only the beginning.
Okay, so I have quite a few problems with this. The first and most significant issue is the whole origin of the golden arrow.
What bothers me about this is that it chalks up Stands to being this alien virus. That’s not what Stands are intended to be! They’re meant to be a physical manifestation of a person’s soul. It’s a physical fighting version of who they are. Now, addressing the elephant in the room with that statement, a lot of this pertains to artificially created Stands, which you get when hit with the golden arrow. But even then, there’s more than one statement made about quite a few Stand users in Golden Wind that mention who their Stand is a representation of their character. One of the best examples of this actually comes from this and the next set of episodes: Cioccolata and 「Green Day」.
It’s stated on at least two occasions that 「Green Day」’s gruesome ability shows that Cioccolata is a man who cares very little about life and takes pleasure in pain and carnage. Even if Cioccolata gained his Stand through this ‘golden arrow virus,’ how can you tell me that’s not a confirmation that Stands are that glimpse into a person’s soul?
This theory on the golden arrow ruins the concept of Stands, which pisses me off as a Jojo fan. And speaking of pissing me off, we got another backstory here.
I mentioned earlier this month that among the many backstories, one is meant to intentionally hate a character. Well, that character is Cioccolata. And if my synopsis didn’t indicate it, there’s a good reason why. However, I don’t see why it was needed. In hindsight, the tidbit about Cioccolata being a doctor comes into play in the next episode. Otherwise, there’s no need to really see how depraved a human being he is. Everyone in this show goes on about how he and Secco are already human pieces of garbage, so why bother seeing why that is?
And of all the villains to get a backstory, why Cioccolata? There are other villains in Part 5 who deserve their own backstory. Risotto Nero immediately comes to mind. I guess in another hindsight, there’s a seven paged reason for that. Otherwise, I see no point.
Now, for all my problems, if I had anything positive to mention, I would say I liked that Polnareff is back. Yeah, I’m spoiling that one. Polnareff is the one who contacts Team Bucciarati with information on the golden arrow and Diavolo. It’s another one of those instances where I don’t know why certain characters are brought back, but at least its a good one. Other than that, that’s about all I got.
Yeah, I tore this episode a new one. There’s the usual writing nonsense that goes on, then you have the crazy theory that Stands are an alien virus. There’s a lot of crap that goes on in this episode.
But if nothing else, it leads to an intense battle and one of the most satisfying moments in Jojo.
Until then, it’s arrivederci for now, so enjoy the rest of your duwang!
-Hanime on Anime
Hanime on Anime 