JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Vento Aureo, Episode 3: Meet the Gangster Behind The Wall
This episode's a bit big on the world-building, continuing on the previous episode's mission statement about what Giorno really wants. And so Bucciarati tells Giorno about the name of the gang that runs Naples -- Passione, and that it's run by a system where no one knows who the ever-mysterious Boss is. Bucciarati himself takes orders from one of the many Capos, and Bucciarati himself is game for letting Giorno join Passione and eventually make his way up the Passione ranks.
But first, to join the gang, Giorno has to pass a test, which Bucciarati describes as being similar to a job interview. The thing is, the Capo in charge of their part of the town, a man called Polpo... resides in a prison as a permanent resident. It's definitely an interesting, fun trope to make use of -- one that I most recently saw in Daredevil's Kingpin, a similarly large-bodied criminal boss who continues to be a huge influence in the underworld while being ostensibly imprisoned.
Interestingly, the way Polpo is introduced is... pretty bizarre. Giorno arrives in a giant cell with a huge window, seeing nothing but a huge bed... which proceeds to transform into the massive form of Polpo, this gigantic rotund giant of a man with a horn-like nose and... and whatever the fuck that hat is supposed to be. It's honestly not made clear if the Harry-Potter-esque transformation from bed to human shape is part of Polpo's Stand abilities (since Black Sabbath has a completely different set of abilities) or if he's just... a contortionist or something, I dunno. Polpo's always a weird-ass dude. There's also the bit where he apparently chews his own fingers off but it's just... an illusion? Of some sort?
Anyway, the "job interview" angle is pretty interesting. Giorno shows off his ability, apparently stealing the ID card and money of the warden that patted him down, but Polpo notes that what he looks for in people isn't just ability, but rather their trustworthiness.
And then comes the little thing that takes up the majority of the episode. Polpo gives Giorno a single test in order to prove his trustworthiness -- keep a lighter flame on for 24 hours, without letting it go out. It's honestly something that I've never really considered as a difficult thing to do, and I have a feeling that the author must have gotten into a bet involving this at some point in his life. Polpo notes that it is an annoying but ultimately trivial task, as long as Giorno can avoid things like wind and water.
And while Giorno did come into some problems when the wardens checked him, forcing Giorno to use Gold Experience to turn the lighter into a flower, it's interesting to see just how many things are out there that might cause the flame to go out. Giorno eventually reaches his apartment and manages to put the lighter on a chunk of bread and surround it with books. It would be a simple task...
If only Koichi hasn't shown up, looking for his passport! And Giorno, having feared for the worst, had jumped out of the window outside of the apartment. It's a bit of a questionable scene why Giorno doesn't just try to talk to Koichi and stall him, but we do get a fun bit with Gold Experience turning a lamp into a snake that lifts the bread-lighter away from Koichi's sight, and Koichi does eventually get his passport back. Yay for that.
And after that huge, tense scene where you'd think that Koichi would be the unwitting antagonist, Giorno ends up walking down the streets, noting how it's going to be easy to backtrack back to his apartment... only for some random cleaning dude to accidentally spray the water onto the lighter and extinguish it. It's honestly kind of out of nowhere and hilarious, but the cleaning dude mucking around with the lighter and relighting it is apparently the trigger for the appearance of a Stand, who condemns the person that re-lights the lighter as an untrustworthy fucker.
Interestingly, Polpo's Stand has the Part 4 Stand-making Arrow as part of its Stand, declaring that there are two choices -- be worthy and live, or be unworthy and die. The old man's soul gets stabbed with the arrow and killed instantly... but then the Stand whirls around to face Giorno, setting up for the fight in the next episode.
Overall, it's definitely a slower-paced episode, but definitely a well-done one. After the intense, hot-blooded fight of the previous episode, this one is a neat contrast that shows Giorno as he slowly attempts to join the ranks of this organization. Keeping the focus on Giorno and leaving Bucciarati off-screen (and Koichi mostly just as a plot device) is also a good choice, alleviating one of my bigger problems with Diamond is Unbreakable, which is how Josuke really struggles for screentime despite supposedly being the main character, especially early on.
Overall, definitely a solid, if slow-paced, episode.
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