REVIEW: 'Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Vento Aureo' Episode 22: “The 'G' in Guts”
by Allyson McClain
Disclaimer: This review contains spoilers for this episode and previous episodes of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure.
“The 'G' in Guts” is an appropriate name for this installment of Jojo after the 21st episode and the events that took place between Bucciarati’s crew and Passione. Bucciarati and his gang are now on the run from Passione after Bucciarati refuses to let the boss kill Trish. With a miracle, Bucciarati is alive once more and all who fled with Bucciarati and Giorno are willing to risk their lives. They had the guts to go against Passione and it shows as they strategically leave by gondola, with Narancia using “Little Bomber” to be on the lookout for any assassins or guards sent by the Boss. The Boss’s elite guards, in particular, will most likely be searching for them and be out for their heads. Oddly enough, this was never mentioned before in the show and this is the first time Bucciarati brings them up. It seems sudden but believable after seeing what type of man he is. In terms of direction, this was probably the best way to introduce the boss without adding any extra paranoia to the man.
Image from Crunchyroll
Back to the story, Mista’s stand, “The Sex Pistols," gets really hungry and wants to eat. This is curious as no other stand that we have seen so far has been so needy and apparent with their stand user. Mista’s relationship with his stand is similar to him being a pet owner, feeding them and putting up with their fighting. We saw a bit of a similar situation with a stand user in Part 3, but it was still a stand user dominated relationship while as here we see more of a give and take relationship between Mista and “Sex Pistols." Then came an aspect of the show that I don’t enjoy as much, the new opening: ”Traitor’s Requiem." Of course as a who watches mostly anime, I cannot judge how fitting this opening is with what we know right now, but it certainly doesn’t have that punch I was expecting from the second part of such an action packed season of Jojo. The ED however is interesting; the order that they are placed in on the totem is specific and might suggest that it is somehow ordered based on the order of how the enemies will appear or how characters in the main crew will disappear.
Either way, everyone in Bucciarati’s crew pulls their gondola over to eat at a restaurant where they have playful banter. In a funny turn of events, Narancia beats up on some guy and Mista joins in. Just when you think that’s it, Abbacchio decides to join in the childish fun after sipping wine so elegantly, which is definitely a little irony to make viewers laugh. It is amusing, but a little out of place with the current atmosphere after previous events in the plot. It just doesn’t seem to be the right time to add comedy. Immediately after this funny scene, they bring up Giorno’s suspicions about what is happening to Bucciarati’s body. It would have been better to put the humor after Giorno’s serious thoughts about Buccirati, then have the enemy attack when they let their guard down with playful banter. The narration here is noticeably spoiling the flow within the story.
Image from Crunchyroll
Trish then tells everyone that she knows something about the identity of her father based on how he met her mother and where he was born in Sardegna. Trish is fully on board to fight on their side, which is great, but then everything gets crazy when an enemy stand, “Clash,” appears. Narancia starts to choke on his tongue as the enemy stand takes off a chunk of it, but there is a serious issue with how Giorno knows how to stab a pen in the throat to help Narancia breathe. He is one of the youngest in the group; the only one who might know that would be likely be Abbacchio since he was a police officer. The amount of germs on that pen that came from Mista’s boot though was probably not the most sanitary thing to get stabbed with.
Then enters two of the elite guard of Passione (who are very touchy feely with one another), Tiziano and Squalo, whose two stands work together. Squalo’s “Clash,” called Crush in the sub, attacks and then Tiziano’s stand “Talking Head” (Talking Mouth in the sub) attaches itself to the tongue of Clash’s prey. Talking Head can control what one says and can even extend and manipulate its host tongue to act like a third hand. Narancia tries to physically protect the crew but his words confuse them, leading towards dangerous water where Clash could attack. Giorno, being very intuitive, picks up that something is wrong. Giorno figures it out, but it is too late! He is bitten, neck-first, by Clash, which leaves viewers genuinely interested in what will happen next.
