JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind Episode 16 Review: The Thankful Death Part 2

Just when I thought I couldn’t love Best Boy Bruno Bucciarati more, he goes and proves me wrong.

Plot

Bucciarati forces Prosciutto out of the train with him, and they both hang on for dear life. Pesci tries to save his Bro with Beach Boy, but it ends up in Bucciarati instead. With Prosciutto now barely alive, Pesci attempts to use his Stand to kill Bucciarati. The Capo reacts by using Sticky Fingers to split himself into pieces, even going so far as to split his heart to prevent Pesci from finding him with Beach Boy. A stroke of luck pulls Bucciarati back together, and he faces Pesci directly. Bucciarati quickly gains the upper hand, but Pesci threatens to murder the rest of Team Bucciarati. BBBB responds by splitting Pesci into pieces. Prosciutto’s death means the team are back to their usual ages, but it looks like Trish may be awakening as a Stand user…

Japanese title: 偉大なる死（ザ・グレイトフル・デッド）その②

Thoughts

One thing I really love about this episode is Pesci’s sudden character development. I said last week that Prosciutto is a good aniki to Pesci, and that comes across even clearer in this episode. Although The Grateful Dead is quite a terrifying Stand, it’s actually Pesci’s Beach Boy that holds more potential, proving that you can’t just judge an enemy by the ability their Stand possesses, but by the mindset of the user. It wasn’t until Pesci went through his awakening that his Stand started to pose a serious threat. If he hadn’t had tried to stop the train, Pesci may well have come out top in this battle. Unfortunately for him, Bucciarati had luck and unwavering resolve on side, landing the assassin in literal pieces.

That brings me onto Bucciarati. This guy. The way he hung on to Prosciutto’s leg with a straight face, staring right into his eyes… it sent a shiver down my spine. His resolve is absolute, and he will do what it takes to complete his mission. Yet we can’t dismiss the resolve shown by the assassins, especially Prosciutto- who didn’t let something like drawing his last breaths stop him from keeping his Stand ability going. As always, this episode made excellent use of movement and color to give us exciting action

Highlights

– Bruno finally did his “ARI ARI ARI ARI ARI ARI ARI ARRIVEDERCI” and it was everything! Nakamura is perhaps the 3rd VA to play Bruno, but his “ari ari” is my favorite. He pulled it off perfectly!
– I have to give mad props to Kosuke Toriumi for his performance as Sex Pistols. Not only is he able to perform so well in that high-pitched voice, he actually can use the same speaking style and intonation as when he’s playing Mista! I’ve been a fan of his for many years and have always known how talented a voice actor he is, but he still continues to blow my mind.
– After the scattered pieces of Pesci fall, we get a shot focusing on Bucciarati’s face. This shot in the anime is way better than the equivalent panel in the manga. Bucciarati doesn’t need to move or say anything; that expression on his face tells us so much about his resolve to complete his mission. And it’s terrifying.

Trivia

– If you’ve seen Stardust Crusaders, you will probably remember this: Jotaro used a similar technique to BBBB, using Star Platinum to stop his own heart to trick DIO into thinking he was dead.
– There was actually a small scene cut out from Bucciarati vs Pesci. In the manga, when Pesci threatens to kill Bucciarati’s teammates by smashing the tortoise, he actually enters the tortoise and wraps his line around everybody’s necks. Bucciarati then throws Zippy Finger’s arm into the tortoise and hits Pesci. I don’t mind the anime version though as it makes Pesci come across as even more desperate if he just tries to smash the tortoise.

‘Bucciarati! Pull yourself together!’

I kind of felt emotional seeing Prosciutto using his final breaths to tell Pesci he believed in him and would be watching over him. Such a good Bro… *sniff*. This was an exciting episode and was animated beautifully. Although the fight against Prosciutto and Pesci developed at a great pace, I’m ready to move on to Melone!

Ciao for now!