English Dub Review: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Golden Wind: “Moody Jazz’s Counterattack”

(Possible Spoilers Below)

Much like the 2nd episode which delved into Giorno’s backstory, it begins with a flashback of sorts as we learn that Passione member Leone Abbacchio was once a street-cop who slowly fell into corruption by the unfair, hypocritical and contradictory nature of his surroundings and by-extension the justice system. However, everything went to hell for Abbachio when a series of bad decisions he indirectly made, came back to bite him on the ass and culminated in the murder of his police partner during a failed attempt to stop a robbery. Dishonored, Abbacchio became desperate until Bruno came to his doorstep.

Back to the present, where the last episode left off as Bruno’s Passionate branch is under attack, he and Abbacchio begin to investigate the enemy’s stand-powers using the powers of Abbachio’s Moody Jazz Stand to reenact and replay specific events from the past to discover how the enemy works. It doesn’t look like it’s suited for combat but it’s definitely a must-have for any crime scene investigator out there, let alone someone who works in the mafia. Just seeing the Stand’s power to recreate scenes like that with bizarre rewind sound effects were clever and his stand also indicates a hint of sadness about him as it could symbolize his desire to go back to the moment where he screwed up his life and do things differently.

Although they discover that the enemy can deflate people and is probably hiding in the pipes, they still have no luck finding him, Abbacchio later in a clever scene then sacrifices himself and uses his blood to make Bruno understand that there is a second deflated boat covering the first one. Bruno thus sinks his yacht on purpose, forcing the Passione mobster named/Stand-User “Zucchero” of the “Tender Machine” Stand who threatened Bruno earlier to reveal himself and the episode ends when Bruno proceeds to give him an instant ass-kicking though we’re left to assume everyone will be fine. After the credits, we also get a short but simple scene of how Bruno convinces Abbachio to join his gang and Bruno’s speech alone coupled with some heartfelt music was effective to get across Abbachio’s answer.

Our Take

Although the episode was pretty cool and well-paced while displaying the unique nature of Abbachio’s Stand, I also loved the mind games between him and Giorno on the boat in that specific moment. I kinda predicted that the introduction of these new characters would set up future storylines to give each of them their moments to shine and Abbacchio was no exception as he made the episode incredibly entertaining to me with his personality too. Plus the fact that Abbichio has detective skills makes his Stand really perfect for an ex-cop. I also Loved Abbacchio’s backstory as it doesn’t condone his actions but makes you understand them. The world we live in is sometimes a fucked up place and can change people for the worse which I felt was a lesson that was properly conveyed.

I also love how Abbacchio hates Giorno to the point that he pissed in his tea when they first met (Which was a situation that Giorno cleverly got himself out of with his Stand Powers) and out of principle refused to use his Stand in a life or death situation purely out of disdain towards Giorno, and even refused to listen to Giorno’s explanation until he threw himself into harm’s way to prove that he was truly on their side and then waited for him to be captured before bringing out his Stand.

We’re left to assume that everyone will be ok, but it remains to be seen what other challenges will Giorno and Bruno’s gang will also face when they get to Polpo’s fortune but I look forward to finding out!