English Dub Review: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Golden Wind: “Express Train to Florence”

Overview (Possible Spoilers Below)

After achieving their goal in getting the Key and getting themselves out of that dangerous Mirror Stand-situation, Bruno’s gang follows the key’s oddly specific instructions engraved on the key to drive to Naples’ railway station in order to find the supposed vehicle this key unlocks and to use this yet to be revealed vehicle in transporting their unknown bosses daughter Trish to Venice by train. Meanwhile, two members of the Hitman team, oddly named Prosciutto and his carrot-headed underling Pesci, just happen to show up at the station in an attempt to find Bruno’s gang.

This also leads to a very tense & suspenseful scene where Prosciutto and Peci are slowly on their tail, while Bruno attempts to follow the weird instructions on the key which involve a drinking fountain and a Turtle, but eventually, Bruno discovers that the key fits into something rather unexpected. It’s an unusual twist worthy to make sense in the universe of this franchise in the most weirdly entertaining way imaginable, but without giving the twist away, Trish, Bruno and everyone else within Bruno’s gang (including Giorno) remain safe while sort-of hiding in plain sight even after the two Hitman Team members stow-away on the train.

In an effort to find Bruno’s gang and draw them out, Prosciutto activates his Stand, “The Thankful Death” which spreads a gas throughout that causes everyone within the train to rapidly age regardless of whether or not they’re even in the damn train. Of course, this gas proceeds to take effect on Narancia, Fugo, Abbachio, and Giorno as they begin to quickly age, but Giorno notices that Bruno, Mista, and Trish are aging slower than the others. Seeing that they each have cold drinks, Bruno deduces that the aging gas is less effective on those with cooler body temperatures. In response to this, Bruno sends out the relatively unaffected Guido Mista with a couple of Ice cubes to go out and fight the enemy. However, when Guido tries to activate the train’s air conditioner, The episode ends on an intense cliffhanger when Guido is ambushed by Pesci and his unusual fishing-rod Stand, blandly called “Fisher Man”.

Our Take

While they do quickly provide a quick explanation of how Abbachio is able to recover from the Injuries he got in the last episode, The twist involving this unusual Key was a weird one to comprehend. I think it’ll be better explained in the next episode as it does lead back to a previously established rule in past Jojo stories regarding what constitutes a Stand User in the grand scheme of Jojo storylines. At first Peci’s Stand having the form of a fishing rod sounded lame & weird as his carrot-shaped head, but the moment he put that Stand into action and hooked Guido when he setting off the Air Conditioning trap, I stood corrected very quickly. I had a similar childhood accident involving a fishing hook, and I can honestly vouch that it’s both a painful and unpleasant experience.

As for Thankful Death’s ability, it’s kind’ve the opposite of Alessi’s Stand from Stardust Crusaders but on a larger scale. While it was amusing to see Narancia reminisce about the simpler times while skimming through a gardening magazine of all things, it gradually turned into nightmare fuel for everyone else in the train and gets the point across the sense of urgency of Bruno sending Guido out to take care of it.

Overall this episode still manages to hold together some decent entertainment value while still delivering on the scares and clever Jojo moments the franchise is known for. The new end credits animation was visually pleasing to look at and I can’t wait to see how Bruno and his team get themselves out of this one.