by Katherine Simon
With Episode 5 of Vento Aureo being the first where Giorno is directly involved in Passione as well as the introduction to the rest of the part’s core cast, it was important for the episode to leave a good first impression and sell us on what the show will be like moving forward. Luckily, this episode does not disappoint in that regard, however it leaves much to be desired in terms of plot progression.
Early on in the episode, we are introduced to the remaining four Passione members who make up the part’s main ensemble; Narancia Ghirga, Guido Mista, Pannacotta Fugo, and Leone Abbacchio. In this scene, the gang members are all out getting dinner and Fugo is tutoring Narancia in math. The group then gets into a fight, with Fugo and Narancia arguing over not getting a multiplication problem right and Mista being upset that the cake the group ordered came in slices of four. The tension quickly drops as soon as Giorno introduces himself to the group.
Image from Crunchyroll
To mess with Giorno, Abbacchio urinates into a teapot and serves it to Giorno, expecting him to drink it. However, Giorno catches onto his trick and uses Gold Experience to turn his tooth into a jellyfish that’ll absorb the urine before he can drink it. Even if “most intense urine drinking scene in anime” isn’t the most prestigious award to give a show, this is Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure we’re talking about. The series is absolutely notorious for making its characters do weird stuff like this and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Afterwards, Giorno tells the gang that he has a stand, but won’t go into the specifics until everyone else shares what their stands are.
The main conflict of this episode deals with the aftermath of Polpo’s death. Two Passione members named Sale and Mario decide to go after his rumored hidden treasure of 10 billion Italian lire. Only problem is that they suspect Bruno of knowing about the treasure due to his close ties with Polpo, so Mario decides to pursue Bruno to prevent him from reaching Polpo’s fortune first. He decides to strike when Bruno and the rest of the gang rent a yacht to retrieve the aforementioned fortune in Capri Island.
While on the boat, Narancia, Mista, and Fugo end up disappearing and it’s up to Giorno, Bruno, and Abbacchio to find out where they went. They quickly find out that the missing three are still alive and that the boat is under attack by an enemy stand user. After Giorno puts himself at risk to expose the enemy stand, Abbacchio decides to summon his stand, Moody Blues, before the episode ends.
Image from Crunchyroll
Up to this point, Jojo has had a track record of creating some of the most memorable and entertaining supporting casts in all of Shonen, and Vento Aureo is definitely no exception. While the Diamond is Unbreakable gang is still my favorite, the Passione members are still endearing in their own right. The two standouts in particular are Narancia and Mista. While Narancia may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, his interactions with the other Passione members (especially Fugo) are fun to watch due to his personality. Mista fills the quota of “Jojo character with one oddly specific quirk” with his irrational hatred of the number four. This, on top of his ridiculously jerk-ish behavior, makes him the funniest character in the part thus far. Although Fugo didn’t have much of a presence as the other Passione members in this episode, his interactions with Narancia are incredibly entertaining.
As for Abbacchio, well… let’s just say that he’s about as likeable as someone who makes a 15-year-old boy drink urine can be. While his development much later on in the manga makes him a more interesting character, he is arguably the least likable of everyone in Passione due to his poor treatment of Giorno for seemingly no reason. That scene aside, there’s a part later on in the episode where he refuses to help Giorno until he willingly puts himself in danger. While I don’t hate Abbacchio and think that he gets much better as the story goes on, I can definitely see why this scene would leave a bad first impression for anime-only viewers who don’t have context for his characterization yet.
Characters aside, the episode itself was rather uneventful. Most of the time was spent getting to know the characters, explaining the rumors behind Polpo’s fortune, and setting up for the fight against Mario in the next episode. While none of that is bad by any means, the lack of action or plot progression until the very end made this a hard episode to review because there wasn’t much to delve into aside from the characters. While it’s important to have scenes or episodes dedicated to down-time so the series doesn’t feel too overwhelming, the episode doesn’t stand out much compared to the previous four episodes due to how little there is to talk about, infamous urine drinking scene aside.
