JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind

Episode 30

Rome is our next destination on this Italian misadventure, and as always there's a pair of diabolical Stand-users getting in our way. Cioccolata and Secco's powers—'Green Day' and 'Oasis', respectively—make for a uniquely strong combination, where Green Day can only infect its targets with mold when they lower in altitude, and Oasis can liquefy the ground itself, giving our heroes little choice but to sink and get infected by the mold. Even something as simple as driving on a road can become a fraught endeavor once you start traveling downhill.

The aspect of the episode that jumps off the screen most is the twisted and perverse nature of our villains. Secco wears Oasis like some kind of bondage fetish outfit, and he fights for Cioccolata while begging for sugar cubes like a pet. Cioccolata, meanwhile, is such a devious bastard that anything less than the most perfect symbiotic relationship would probably lead him to murder Secco like he does everybody else. They seem to make it work. The sheer depravity of these villains is the episode's double-edged sword; I love the carnal violence in this show, but something about these guys doesn't sit right with me. The other characters talk up their vile nature so much that seeing them in action is kind of disappointing, a problem that isn't helped by how cartoonishly high the stakes escalate by episode's end. The entirety of Rome is now under Green Day's thumb, and millions of people are set to die as a result of how little Cioccolata values human life. We've seen Golden Wind plunge into the darkness of the human soul with a sincere—yet terrifying—reverence, so now this flavor of unquenchable heartlessness feels gauche by comparison.

More important to the overarching story is what's going on with Bruno. Things have been really strange with Mr. Bucciarati ever since he fought the boss, and now all those weird details about him no longer bleeding or feeling pain are starting to make sense. Pros: Bruno is immune to Green Day's mold, so he's instrumental to winning this fight! Cons: it turns out he may have been dead this whole time.

Yeah, so something about fate combined with Gold Experience's healing abilities have allowed Bruno to keep moving ever since he got a hole punched through him, but it's only temporary and Bruno considers himself to have already passed on. His extra life is starting to fade, and I figure we're on our way to a much more dramatic episode where we have to officially say goodbye. With Abbacchio already gone, I'm starting to worry that we're going to see the whole crew slowly bite the dust as we reach the series finale.

The Green Day/Oasis fight rages on, and I'm left unsure as to how I feel about most of what has been happening in JoJo's lately. Surprisingly, Bruno's demise is the part that makes the most sense to me. His willingness to keep fighting, even after a literal death, speaks to his strong and loving nature. I don't mind that the story had to invent a reason for him to continue. He's a good dude, so he's earned a second chance through some weird plot bullshit. As for the Stand battle itself, I'm mostly underwhelmed so far, but it's got at least one more episode to try and wow me.

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JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Sam Leach records about One Piece for The One Piece Podcast and you can find him on Twitter @LuckyChainsaw