English Dub Review: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Golden Wind: “The Second Mission from the Boss”

(Possible Spoilers Below)

As Giorno, Fugo, and Abbacchio arrive at the famous ruins of Pompeii at Bruno’s behest, the trio proceed to seek the key under the oddly specific instructions of “walking toward the dog mosaic” carpet. Upon entering the area, they come across a strange mirror where Fugo is suddenly dragged into by Hitman Team member Illuso and his Stand, “Mirror Man” whose Stand powers are a cross between the DC Comics Flash villain, “Mirror Master” and the Jojo Stardust villain “Centerfold”. As Fugo attempts to summon his “Purple Smoke” Stand it only seems to surface outside of the mirror as noticed by both Giorno and Abbacchio who warns Giorno not to make any sort of contact with the Purple Smoke due to how dangerous it supposedly is, but its presence gives Abbacchio assurance that Fugo is still alive.

Much like the previous episodes, we shift gears with an obligatory flashback of a character’s backstory and it’s here when we learn about Fugo’s past. As it turns out, he comes from a wealthy family and was once academically smart with an IQ level of “152” and an extensive knowledge about the judicial system. Unfortunately, the emotional weight and pressure of living up to what his demanding parents wanted, made him prone to fits of rage that he struggled to control. At the age of 13, Fugo had already entered a university to study law, although he had a poor relationship with his professors. At some point, his rage surfaced in the worst possible way which consequently leads to getting his ass expelled then later disowned, eventually meeting Bruno and being swayed to his side where his genius-level intellect and knowledge were put to better use.

Back to the present, Fugo tries his best to fight Mirror Man indirectly but Illuso easily bests him while Purple Smoke’s actions cause one of the capsules on his fist to crack, revealing its ability to release a deadly flesh-eating virus that instantly kills several birds. It’s here when Abbacchio decides to prioritize the objective of getting the key and ditching Fugo, which Giorno’s finds objectionable and gets into a heated argument about helping Fugo in his current life-threatening situation despite Abbacchio’s priorities and his personal mistrust towards Giorno. The episode ends on an intense cliffhanger as Illuso’s Stand approaches Fugo for what could potentially be a killing blow…

Our Take

This was quite a thrilling episode with Fugo struggling a lot against this murderous weirdo with six ponytails. It’s also Interesting to see bits of Fugo’s past too, though it’s unclear if the flashback involving that specific professor genuinely wanted to help Fugo school-wise or had disturbing intentions. Maybe if we knew what kind of person that specific professor was, it could’ve given us better insight into how Fugo could easily assume the worst from this person before delivering that brutal beatdown which cost him everything before meeting Bruno. You can make the argument that these info-dumps and flashbacks can come across as annoying or unnecessary, but I welcome them because Jojo’s creator Hikohiro Araki knows how to write and design characters that we the audience form a connection within such a way that it actually makes us give a shit about them when the stakes are raised.

The scenes with Purple Smoke in action were both dangerous and a little comical in places as Abbachio explains that Fugo’s Stand represents his repressed rage but the Stand itself isn’t exactly known for its intelligence. I also like that Giorno has some degree of honor and actually values the people in his circle despite Abbacchio’s begrudging attitude towards him and manages to make Giorno come across as an altruistic person compared to Abacchio who was more willing to ditch Fugo for the sake of the mission Bruno put them on. Hopefully, this fight will make him change Abbacchio’s attitude and learn to trust people more.

With the way this ended, I can’t wait to see what happens next!