English Dub Review: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Golden Wind: “Narancia’s Li’l Bomber “

(Possible Spoilers Below)

In the tradition of the previous episodes, we begin with a flashback/origin story of sorts, but Narancia is at a complete disadvantage as he has shrunk to the point where he cannot do significant damage to that douche-nozzle Formaggio. Failing to hide, the assassin stomps him under his foot and resumes his interrogation, but Narancia doubles down on his silence. Intercut with this is a flashback while Narancia is facing mortal danger, but it does tell us everything we need to know as he didn’t have the best childhood as he grew up losing his mother at an early age and being homeless on the streets but always remained loyal to his little band of delinquent peers who would often commit small crimes such as shoplifting, unfortunately, this all changed when he was later betrayed, arrested and was thrown into reform school for a year, only to be shunned when he got out. Ill from an eye-disease and alone, Narancia escaped certain death thanks to the efforts of Fugo and Bruno, that with no questions asked, took him in and later gave him proper medical treatment and he eventually joined Bruno’s gang.

After quickly escaping Formaggio’s foot, Narancia ends up trapped in a what looks like an empty squared liquor bottle with a spider inside as another method of interrogation regarding Trish’s whereabouts and Formaggio even theorizes that if their mysterious boss has Stand powers, so should Trish since Stand powers can be passed down at birth. However, Narancia reverses the situation thanks to the use of his Lil’Bomber Stand to severely injure Formaggio in one of the most clever & badass moments in this show so far which manages to restore Narancia to his normal size.

After almost getting his ass fried from a car explosion, Formaggio shrinks himself and attempts to escape under the smoke affecting Lil’Bomber’s radar. However, Narancia causes more explosions, surrounding Formaggio with more fires that force the coward to finally reveal himself leading to two a final stand-off, resulting in an epic finish. Back at the vineyard after Despite not being able to get the stuff needed in his shopping run, Narancia at least still lives to tell the tale, but Bruno receives instructions from their unknown boss via-e-mail to travel to Pompeii to retrieve a hidden key for a vehicle which can escort Trish to safety and the episode ends when Bruno sends out Fugo, Abbacchio and Giorno to retrieve it.

Our Take

Really glad we get even more focus on Narancia and his character this episode. Got to know more about his family and past although it wasn’t pleasant to see. And compared to the flashback of the last episode, it was more thematically relevant towards Narancia’s determination and the strong desire to keep his friends safe. It’s an ironic world we live in where upper-tier criminals like mobsters are more capable of showing humanity to a homeless kid than our self-proclaimed “civilized” society.

Aside from the backstory the battle itself against Formaggio did the impossible and managed to make me like Narancia even more and knew how to build the right amount of tension and suspense with the sadistic use of Formaggio’s Stand powers. I’m also quite impressed by the level of ingenuity and intelligence Narancia that was utilized in the use of his stand and the many ways Carbon Dioxide played a role in helping him in combat.

With their new mission given to them from their unknown boss, I’m anxious to see what “bizarre” direction this story goes next!