JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind

Episode 32

Some baddies just can't stay down, and it's up to the heroes to put them in their place. Cioccolata's dead, but Secco still has an entire episode's worth of fighting left in him. I've been surprised by Secco proving to be potentially even more monstrous than his partner, going so far as to laugh at Cioccolata's heartfelt final message. If a man's only as good as the enemies he can kill, Secco is ready to throw his man to the curb. I'm awash with conflicting emotion, since this episode does such a good job luring you into the assumption that these villains care for each other mutually, and now I feel bad for Cioccolata despite him being, you know, Cioccolata.

The biggest standout this week was the episode's soundtrack. There's a whole narrative arc happening in just the music, opening with a sorrowful hum in the wake of Cioccolata's defeat, but then it keeps going as Secco rejects the fruitless sentimentality. As the fight picks back up and Secco hones in on Bruno, the soundtrack dips out more, letting us sit in silence more than usual. Artistically this conveys emptiness, but it also serves a practical purpose since much of the battle takes place underground with both characters having to listen closely for distant rumbling. Even when the action gets intense, there's carefulness and patience backing it up.

Elsewhere, we get to see more of Polnareff, who's keeping an eye on the fight from the Roman Colosseum and sitting in a wheelchair after suffering from some unknown injury. There's a lot being banked on with the secret of the golden arrow, which Polnareff is confident holds King Crimson's only weakness. Even at this hour, when the Execution Squad is all dead, the enemy members of Passione seem to share this desire to overthrow the boss. Part of Cioccolata's phone message to Secco was urging him to uncover the boss's weakness so that they could claim power together, but now Secco's alone so who knows what he'd do with the boss's secret.

Not that it would matter much. The climactic scene ends with Secco taking Doppio hostage by surprise, thinking he's some ordinary kid. Uh-oh! Secco should have figured this boy was too colorful to just be some random extra. The audience's expectation's get played with a lot in this scene. Is the boss about to kill Secco himself? Does Bruno notice something suspicious about Doppio? In the end, Bruno simply uses Sticky Fingers to punch past Doppio's body and finally ends the fight by causing Secco to stumble into a garbage truck, just like his partner.

This episode is little more than a cap for the Green Day/Oasis fight, but I did find it entertaining. I liked seeing Secco grow increasingly deranged as the battle went on, and knowing what we do about Bruno's condition has me on the edge of my seat. Any moment could be our last with him, so I'm trying to enjoy the time that we have. I think it's fun when you can kill off a villain like Cioccolata, who you assume is the big bad of the fight, but the fight has to keep going with his weirdo sidekick. It's not that different from what went down with Prosciutto and Pesci. When your understanding of the villains' relationships is forced to evolve several times over the course of the fight, that's pretty cool.

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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