English Dub Review: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Golden Wind: “The Sleeping Slave”

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Continuing within the abrupt flashback sequence after Giorno’s victory, Guido investigates on Bruno’s behalf a particular case involving a young girl’s suicide and starts to see a random Boulder following him wherever he goes. But things begin to take a more serious direction when Guido sees the chilling image of Bruno in that very same Boulder in an Elevator while investigating. And It’s here when everything beings to actually makes sense as Guido encounters a Stand User who turns out to be a sculptor associated with the girl by the name of Scolippi and demands answers. Scolippi is revealed to be a benign Stand User whose automatic Stand called “Prophecy Stones” (AKA: “Rolling Stones” in Japan) relentlessly tracks people fated to die and preemptively kills them and Bruno has now become its latest target.

As Guido further interrogates Scolippi, he explains that his Stand “Prophecy Stones” creates large boulders with images of people at the moment of their deaths. Once a person touches their own stone, they are allowed to choose to accept their death. Scolippi affirms that by explaining that after Florist’s daughter touched her stone, that her fate that was finally revealed be inescapable but was destined for a legitimately selfless purpose that would save her father’s life in the future. Upon learning this, Scolippi’s Boulder Stand slowly teleports to Bruno’s direction as Guido’s Stand Powers detect that Bruno just so happens to be nearby within the same building.

Guido begs Scolippi for a solution and the sculptor suggests that he may change Bruno’s fate by breaking the stone. Guido manages to delay Prophecy Stones and ultimately jumps down the building with the Prophecy Stone to break it, surviving by landing on Fugo’s car. In the aftermath after everyone leaves, Scolippi’s Prophecy Stone after being shattered from impact takes a revealing shape of something even I wasn’t expecting. Back in the present, Giorno and the others learn that, despite his original body being dead, Polnareff managed to keep his soul attached to the Cocoa Large Turtle (A Turtle with Stand Powers mostly deigned for travel), which Giorno decides to keep the arrow inside for safekeeping. The series ends with a surprisingly emotional post-credits scene that shows the newly elected Passione Mafia leader being watched by Guido and Polnareff in his new Turtle body.

Our Take

I find it both Ironic and symbolic that out of everyone in Bruno’s circle, Guido Mista, a guy who is obsessed with luck and superstitions, is in the center of everything. Even the Florist’s daughter’s fate that was finally revealed was quite unexpected. Although I was caught off guard with the random abrupt flashback after Giorno gave Diavolo the worst fate of his life. I don’t think Guido’s actions in destroying the Prophecy stone interfered with itself since the Prophecy Stone’s ability is just to prophesize your death and then euthanize you after touching it.

However, If there’s anything I can take from this ending the most, it’s that while the Jojo Storyline Diamond is Unbreakable taught us that fate doesn’t mean anything and that we can break out from it, Golden Wind’s conclusion was arguably the opposite in saying that we shouldn’t strive to change a predetermined fate, but that we should try to find meaning in it. Sure, Bruno could’ve just left a young girl he barely knew like Trish to die by her own father Diavolo and that’d be the end of it or had a peaceful death during his battle with Diavolo rather than be made to struggle against an overpowering foe. But the struggle itself and value for human life is what allowed Giorno to ultimately win. Fate may be inescapable, but what we make of it, is whether or not we decide that our life was ultimately one worth living, and that choice alone is left entirely up to us.

As a whole actually liked the ending thematically, as it served as a good reminder of Bruno’s crew’s and the journey & sacrifices they made. The animation was decent and it also had a great orchestral arrangement of Giorno’s theme near the end during the post-credits which I found surprisingly emotional.