JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Golden Wind Episode 2 Review: Bucciarati is Coming

The opening and ending sequences for Golden Wind are here! Welcome back, Coda! Your voice just screams JoJo to me. We are only at the tip of the character introductions so far, but this episode gives us a good grip on the personalities on the two young men who drive this series. You may have noticed that this review is suuuper late, but I’ve been on quite the bizarre adventure of my own! I will have the reviews up for Episodes 3 and 4 as soon as I can, and I’m very looking forward to watching two episodes in a row!

Let’s take a look at Episode 2 of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind!

Thoughts on Episode 2: Bucciarati is Coming

Japanese title: ブチャラティが来る

Here it is, the thing I have most been waiting for: the opening sequence! I have to say I am not disappointed in the slightest. Although my tastes go more towards the powerful CG openings of the earlier seasons, ‘Fighting Gold’ and its accompanying animation fit the style of Golden Wind perfectly. The bright, almost papercraft-like colors, the representations of each character and their Stands, and the music in general. There are no other characters, just family. It really fits together. Coda has performed quite a few songs for JoJo, including the opening to Battle Tendency as well as a character theme song for Stardust Crusader’s Iggy (which I listen to in heavy rotation). His soft and husky vocals were 100% the right choice for this opening in my humble opinion. Speaking of the opening sequence, this was our first look at the main female character of the series! I won’t give much away for you anime-only fans, but I’m glad we’ve gone for the pink color scheme, and I can’t wait to find out who will be voicing her.

Anyway, onto the actual episode- and the narrator is back! I’m glad to hear Toru Okawa as the narrator, not just because he has narrated every series so far, but because Okawa actually went on hiatus for a short while due to illness. I’m glad that he is back and sounds the same as ever. It wouldn’t be david productions’ JoJo without him. Our narrator takes us through Giorno’s tough past, and how the kindness and fairness he experienced in a world of abuse shaped his ideas of what is fair.

Despite the fact he already had his power as a child, Giorno’s Stand only truly awakened a few months ago. This means he isn’t completely sure what Golden Experience can actually do, and Bucciarati becomes his human experiment. It turns out that punching a human with his Stand practically gives them an out-of-body experience as their senses go crazy. Bucciarati very quickly understands the power of this ability, but Giorno stops his attack the second time. This is because he notices Bucciarati’s tiny expression of shock when he saw the marks on the child which suggested drug abuse. From this tiny action, Giorno was able to judge Bucciarati as being a good man. This is a huge moment in Golden Wind and the true beginning, as we learn not just of the kindness of Giorno and Bucciarati, but just how INTELLIGENT Giorno is; not forgetting that we have his famous declaration of his dream to be a ‘Gang Star’.

As expected of JoJo, we got some great color play as well as some interesting textures during the more dramatic scenes. I love the highlights on the more famous manga panels. For example, when Bruno escapes from the cable car via a zipper is a pretty well-known panel, and we even get a slight freeze frame to highlight this famous panel. It was a delight to watch even if the character models seems a teeny tiny bit off here and there.

Highlights

The sudden jump from the moving flashback to Bucciarati’s ‘bleh’. I can’t get enough of that ‘bleh’
That slow-motion punch to Bucciarati’s beautiful face. I honestly winced when watching it.

Trivia

Sticky Fingers

Bucciareti’s sexy stand has been revealed! And it has a sexy name to go along with it. ‘Sticky Fingers’ is the name of a Rolling Stone’s album which is pretty well-known for its cover of a guy with a, ahem, large bulge in his pants. According to my friend Wikipedia, the original cover had a working zipper! Sticky Fingers is one of my favorite stands, and it is so perfect for BBBB (Best Boy Bruno Bucciarati). His name in the localization is ‘Zipper Man’, apparently. I mean, it describes him well…

Freek’n You

JoJo always uses famous pieces of Western music for their ending themes and, for some reason, this time the track is ‘Freek’n You’ by Jodeci. Apart from the obvious link (one of the members is called JoJo) I’m not sure why the ending track is one you’d normally bonk to rather than one you’d associate with JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. Perhaps it inspired Araki when writing the story? Anyway, the song is cool and I like the simple animation that goes along with it. It’s a little bit of a letdown after the amazing animation from Diamond is Unbreakable’s ending sequence, but who knows, maybe it will start changing in future episodes.

Spring forth

This episode was important in introducing us to the values of Giorno and Bucciarati. Giorno has come from a place of abuse and is greatly inspired by the kindness he received from somebody in the underworld. Bucciarati, on the other hand, is already part of the underworld but is disgusted by the selling of drugs to children by his own mafia. Both young men are very powerful and not afraid to use that power when needed to. Yet, deep down, they are both good people.

‘I will become a Gang Star’

I’m glad we got some action in this episode, and it was interesting to see that we are learning about Giorno’s Stand along with Giorno himself. There was quite a bit of CG in this episode, but I don’t really think it felt that awkward at all, which is a big relief. It’s starting to feel a bit lonely with just Bruno and Giorno in the picture, so I really hope that the next episode will have some of the other characters! I’ll be back very soon with my thoughts on Episode 3!