English Dub Review: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Golden Wind: “Head to Venice!”

(Possible Spoilers Below)

Giorno now has an advantage against Babyhead in battle and then proceeds to make short work of this human/Stand monstrosity despite its physical growth in a clever & badass fight. After managing to return Bruno and Trish to normal, another Hitman Team member named “Ghiaccio” arrives at the parking lot sometime after, only seeing a bunch of stolen cars. Although Melone assures his team on the phone that he can track Bruno’s group again, it doesn’t take long for Giorno’s Stand powers to find Melone and permanently stop him in his tracks in such a way, that it even left me wincing. Of course, this doesn’t stop The Hitman team’s leader Risotto from finding another trail…

Coming to the realization that they’ve essentially killed 3 out of the 5 Hitman team members in the previous episodes, Bruno’s gang then finds instructions to use Abbachio’s moody Jazz Stand to receive the boss’s final orders. It’s here when Moody Jazz transforms into the Passione’s longtime member Pericolo who’s recording has set up further instructions for them: they must retrieve a disc hidden near Venice’s train station to read how to deliver Trish. Moreover, Pericolo has shot himself in an effort to keep the information from falling into the wrong hands, While their still mysterious Boss awaits Trish’s arrival.

Under Bruno’s orders, Giorno and Guido are sent together retrieve the disc, while the others remain in Cocoa Large, however, Another Hitman Team member, by the name of “Ghiaccio”, catches up with their car and attacks them using Ice Powers from his Stand “White Ice”. In a well-paced action sequence, they manage to shake him off by combining their Stands’ abilities, but Ghiaccio catches up again and uses his Stand as body armor which design-wise, makes him look like a Power Ranger on ice-skates. But as the two reach Venice, the episode ends on an intense cliffhanger when Giorno attempts to defeat Ghiaccio by driving their car into potential danger…

Our Take

The outcome of that Babyhead battle, along with what happens to its user Melone were both brutal, badass and even wince-worthy to watch yet-deserving as Melone’s actions in the last episode left a bad taste in my mouth…

As the newest villain being introduced, Ghiaccio has this unusual mental tic where he’ll make enraging rants about idioms and Italian pronunciations at random which comes out of nowhere but gives you a level of understanding how crazy he is. While Ghiaccio isn’t the first stand user with Ice Powers within the history of Jojo (That honor goes to “Pet Shop” from Stardust Crusaders), The creativity of these Stand battles never fails to amaze me.

Overall this was a really good episode that found a way to properly transition between finishing the last episode’s battle with a satisfying ending, only to lead towards another at a brisk pace. I should also note that this battle could have taken place in a “normal” setting, but instead, added a level of uniqueness by having it happen in a car that’s speeding down the road which helped make the battle’s proceedings suspenseful and thrilling as hell too.

I can’t wait to see how Giorno and Guido get out of this one!