JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Golden Wind Episode 1 Review: Golden Wind

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind is the 4th televised anime adaptation of Hirohiko Araki’s super-popular manga JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. This is actually based on Part 5 of the manga, as the first series of the anime covered both Parts 1 & 2. I’m sure there may be some of you who are new to the series and are wondering if you should watch the earlier seasons first. The answer is: it’s not a requirement but I HIGHLY recommend it.

Each Part has its own distinctive style, but they do connect to each other in a loose way. If the first episode of the series takes your fancy, I recommend going back and trying the others, too. As for me, I’ve been pretty much muttering ‘JoJoJoJoJoJoJo’ under my breath constantly for the past couple of months, so I’m just glad that the series is finally here.

Thoughts on Episode 1: Golden Wind

Japanese title: 黄金体験（ゴールド・エクスペリエンス）

One of the reasons that the david production’s adaptations of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure are so highly acclaimed is because they adapt the source material very closely, making improvements right at the perfect places. Just like how Diamond is Unbreakable started with a scene in Kira’s kitchen, Golden Wind also begins with an original scene. In this one we get to take a walk with Giorno through the beautiful city of Naples while witnessing some of the less savory aspects of the city, such as pickpocketing, bribery, and drug dealing. We also get a perfect introduction to Giorno himself, with just those few seconds giving us a very good idea of his personality- a sweet but tough boy who knows how to get by in such a society. The golden wind blowing through Giorno’s hair as the title came onto the screen was a wonderful touch.

The visuals in this series seem strong so far. The most obvious thing you may have noticed is the character designs, and if you have seen the previous seasons, then you will have noticed that they differ very much series-to-series. This reflects the changing art style in the manga itself, and the anime actually goes as far as to employ a different character designer for each series. Golden Wind has Takahiro Kishida (Durarara!!, Puella Magi Madoka Magica) adapting the designs for animation. The anime designs are pretty close to those from the manga, and I’m very glad to see the distinctive shapes of the noses intact. An original touch by the animation studio is the style used for the irises. I loved Diamond is Unbreakable’s designs for its beautiful multi-coloured irises, which perfectly fit the funky atmosphere of the series. The eyes in Golden Wind drop the multi-coloured eyes for very thick black lines within the irises, and bright colors in around the pupils which make the eyes almost look like they are glowing. They perfectly fit the character designs, which use very heavily-inked outlines to fit the world of Golden Wind.

The series is already playing around with colour palettes right from Episode 1, with the best use perhaps being the red glow when Bucciarati is interrogating Giorno. If you are new to the JoJo series, then you’d better get used to colour schemes changing completely during intense scenes. It really is one of the biggest highlights of the series as a whole!

The first episode seems gently-paced, yet fits a lot in it. We see a lot of Giorno’s power without completely understanding it, and we see that Giorno’s personality is as unique as the other members of the Joestar family. Having the episode get up to Bucciarati’s first appearance was juuuust the right point, because I let out an ‘ohhhh’ when the episode came to an end!

Highlights

I loved the little ‘bleh’ that Bucciarati let out as he licked Giorno. It’s not quite Kakyoin’s ‘RERORERO’ (that caused some awakenings within me), but it was still quite cute.
The introduction to Bucciarati was perfect. The way the camera panned up from the coin to his face made me shudder a little. But perhaps this is because Bucciarati is by far my favourite character of Golden Wind. I might as well call him Best Boy Bruno Bucciarati (BBBB).

Trivia

Ono’s Bizarre Adventure

Following Daisuke Ono as Jotaro and Yuki Ono as Josuke, Kensho Ono is the third Ono (小野) in a row to play a JoJo!

Joestar Birthmark

We can see Giorno’s Joestar birthmark after Luca’s spade pulls down his outfit and exposes Giorno’s shoulder.
I’m sure most of you noticed it the first time around, but the coloring of the birthmark is so subtle that I missed it the first time. (Yes, I admit it, I was too busy reviewing Giorno’s physique)

Muda, Muda

Giorna said the word ‘muda’ (‘useless’) at least six times this episode. Remind you of somebody?

The Joestar Family Tree

Giorno is only 15 but is technically Joseph’s uncle, Jotaro’s great-great uncle and Josuke’s great uncle… or something like that?

Gold Experience

Giorno’s Stand is named after the Prince album ‘The Gold Experience’. From Episode 1, it’s clear that Giorno’s stand can create life, and that life can apply any damage inflicted upon it back upon the attacker. We will learn more about this Stand a little later.

The English translations use alternate names to avoid copyright infringement, so you may know the Stand as ‘Golden Wind’. For consistency’s sake (and because I don’t know much about the English subs) I will use the original Japanese names for Stands in my reviews (but I’ll add in the alternate names if I remember)

III

Notice that Koichi’s uniform now has a ‘III’ on the collar. This is because the series is set two years after the events of Diamond is Unbreakable, meaning Koichi is now in his third year of high school and hasn’t grown at all. (I’m not sure why he feels he has to wear his uniform all the way to Italy, though)

Lira

Golden Wind is set just before the introduction of Euro coins and banknotes, so the currency used in the series is the Lira. The coin which appears during the eyecatch with the Stand is based on a 500 or 1000 lira coin.

Life, Spring Forth!

I originally got into JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure via the david production anime adaptations, so this show is by far my most hyped show of the year. This is actually my first JoJo series that I will be watching weekly, so I’m sure it’s going to be torture having to wait a whole week between episodes!

Episode 1 is only able to touch upon the surface of the world of Part 5, but the show has done a really good job of getting me gripped, ending at such an intense point between the two Stand-users was both clever and cruel, and I can’t wait to see more (of BBBB) next week. Even more than that, I can’t wait to see the opening sequence, which will be animated by Kamikaze Douga!

Ciao!