Things pick up pretty quickly as the gang’s journey to roam continues. While not one of my favorite sets of Stand battles, they are entertaining for one reason or another. Or should I say seven reasons or another?
In any case, there’s a lot to cover here, so let’s keep the ball rolling.
Following Team Bucciarati’s narrow escape from 「Green Day 」’s fungus, we get a moment with Cioccolata and Secco, showing us their deranged relationship. Cioccolata then tells Secco to go after Bucciarati and the others using his Stand, 「Oasis」 (called Sanctuary in the English dub). Meanwhile, Bucciarati and Mista search for a car to take to Rome as everyone else licks their wounds. However, Trish is especially put off by Bucciarati’s seemingly cold behavior.
As Bucciarati and Mista make their way to the street above, they’re attacked by Secco. Using 「Oasis」, Secco causes the steps to sink into the ground. However, after a fierce first round, Mista and Bucciarati escape to the top. They’re attacked again, except in a last-ditch effort, Bucciarati decides to play the sacrificial lamb. He runs off the edge of the street to the dock below, exposing himself to 「Green Day」 and Secco. Secco goes to attack but suffers a beat down from 「Sticky Fingers」. Secco retreats for the time being, allowing Bucciarati and the others to escape. During this time, Secco calls Ciocolata with an observation. He noticed that as Bucciarati was falling, he wasn’t infected with 「Green Day 」’s mold, which attacks any living creature. Even Mista is impressed with this as he and the others escape to Rome. But it’s here we learn how and why Bucciarati was immune to the effect.
Bucciarati reveals to Giorno that he died in his encounter with the boss in Venice. And while Giorno healed his injuries, it didn’t save him from that fate. However, Gold Experience did give Bucciarati enough energy to revive himself, if only for a little longer.
Basically, Bucciarati is a zombie.
He has Giorno swear to keep this between them as they enter Rome. No sooner do they arrive than trouble starts.
Once they enter the city, a body infected from 「Green Day 」’s mold falls from the sky, causing the team’s getaway car to crash. They manage to escape safely, though they quickly realize the grave danger they’re all in. Cioccolata and Secco took a helicopter to Rome. And with the two high above ground, 「Green Day 」’s fungus begins to infect the city, killing thousands in almost minutes. Secco also enters to initiate an attack. And despite the height and distance, Giorno encourages Mista to shoot the helicopter. He’s hesitant, but Mista ultimately complies, using 「Sex Pistols」 and Giorno’s help. The initial shot misses, but using Gold Experience, a tree grows that traps the helicopter in midair. While Giorno and Mista go to finish off Cioccolata, Bucciarati stays to fight Secco, who’s made his appearance by this point.
The battle between the two is intense as Secco’s speed matches Bucciarati’s and 「Sticky Fingers」. But slipping away for a brief moment, their battle is paused until later.
Mista and Giorno, on the other hand, investigate the helicopter. But when he uses 「Sex Pistols」 to scout the craft, Mista is viciously attacked via his Stands being torn to shreds by Cioccolata. With Pistolette Number 5 remaining and Mista passed out, Giorno ventures into the aircraft. He finds nothing at first except for some medical tools. He’s then almost attacked by Cioccolata, who cuts himself to literal pieces to hide and evade Giorno and Mista.
Giorno’s injured in the scuffle and almost thrown from the helicopter, but Gold Experience gives him an upper hand by seriously injuring Cioccolata. He falls onto the tree, appearing to be dead. Giorno doesn’t buy it, believing it to be a bluff. It turns out he’s correct, as Cioccolata uses his free arm to take Mista and the turtle hostage. But during this, a beetle sprouts from Cioccolata’s head; from his head injury earlier, Giorno turns the piece of shrapnel into a horned beetle.
Cioccolata makes one last desperate attack, but Giorno gives him the mother of all beatdowns, killing him instantly.
After this, Giorno discovers a cell phone on the ground. He puts together that it must be Cioccolata’s and that he was calling someone during the battle. That’s when we cut to Secco, who’s hiding from Bucciarati. While he can’t call Ciocolata back, Ciocolata relays a message to him. In it, he states how he has no qualms about going after members of Passione and even the boss if he has to. Secco returns to the surface to find Bucciarati slowly fading away as another round between the two ends the episode.
When discussing this set of episodes, I have to talk about the legendary 7-Page Muda. This famous moment is Cioccolata’s beatdown, getting its name from the manga, where the moment lasted seven pages. It’s one of the greatest and most satisfying beatdowns in Jojo if not all, anime. There’s something about watching a scumbag like Cioccolata get the mother of all butt-whoopings that feels good. To give the unnecessary backstories some credit, looking back on his past contributes to the oh-so-satisfying feeling of watching this beatdown.
Justice is served in deluxe Italian style, and it is glorious to watch.
Though speaking of Cioccolata, I never had the chance to mention it in yesterday’s review, but Cioccolata’s English dub is one of my favorite performances. Maybe I was still reeling from yesterday’s theory on Stands—seriously, that’s still the dumbest and most insulting thing.
Cioccolata has a unique voice in the original Japanese version, and Bill Butts does a fantastic job of voicing him in the English dub. His performance has a hint of Vincent Price to it, which works well for this villain. This is an outstanding performance that I enjoy that doesn’t get a lot of attention.
Oh, and here’s some trivia on the English dub and the 7 Page Muda. According to Mr. Bill (I refuse to call him Mr. Butts), Philip Reich, the voice actor for Giorno, did the 7 Page Muda in one take. That’s pretty impressive!
Other than that, I honestly don’t have that much negative to say about these episodes. I think they’re good episodes that properly highlight the battle with Cioccolata. Considering we get one of the most iconic beatdowns here, it is an especially considerable highlight to Golden Wind.
But moving on from Cioccolata to Secco, we watch the battle between him and Bucciarati as the fight between the most reviled characters in Part 5 makes their exit.
Until then, enjoy the rest of your duwang!
-Hanime on Anime
Hanime on Anime 