JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Vento Aureo S04E20 Review: It Just Works

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind, Season 4, Episode 20: The Final Mission From The Boss

I'll reserve my complaints about King Crimson's ability for a later video, I think, because this episode handles it relatively well, by keeping it mostly mysterious and seemingly unbeatable, the same way that Killer Queen and The World were originally introduced. We get hints to the true nature of his ability, but until the show itself tries to explain King Crimson and the convolutedness behind it, I will refrain from going on a rant about how silly King Crimson is.

This episode is kind of a simpler one, basically there to build up tension for The Boss, who has been an enigmatic but consistent presence throughout the past 19 episode. And it's... it's a slow-paced episode as Team Bucciarati gets the titular final orders from the Boss, who gives them this elaborate plan to have a single bodyguard bring Trish up the cathedral of the San Giorgio Maggiore, which is a real church secluded on an island, so good on the writer for doing his research. It's interesting that the Boss keeps insisting that they bring no weaponry, and that any deviation from his orders will be treated as treason.

I do like the brief bit of argument where the B-team are happy that their job is almost over and they're planning a holiday, only for Bucciarati to admonish them. I also like the little detail of Narancia's little radar extension being used to monitor them, and the brief argument between Abbacchio and Giorno on who should be Trish's bodyguard. Of course, Bucciarati has to go as the Capo of the group, but Giorno makes it clear (albeit non-verbally) to Bucciarati that this is their chance to find out the true identity of the Boss. To this end, Bucciarati ends up taking one of Giorno's big-ass ladybug brooches -- imbued with Gold Experience powers -- to act as a tracking device.

But then we get a brief scene of Trish being utterly scared about what's going to happen, how she doesn't understand anything -- including who her own father is -- but Bucciarati ends up giving her a reassuring pep talk while also not hiding the fact that, hey, she might have a new name and maybe a new face, but at least she'll be safe and will be enjoying a whole ton of great perks in life. Of course things go south, with Trish disappearing, leaving behind only a bloody stump of hand (and we see later that this is Trish's real hand, unlike many other cop-outs in JoJo), with the assailant having snuck in from the corner of the lift and abducting Trish.

And it's curious how Bucciarati immediately jumps to the conclusion that this is The Boss himself, wanting to finish Trish off himself, instead of, oh, thinking that there's another enemy, like Risotto, the remaining member of the Execution Squad, or, like, any other renegade member of the organization. I know Bucciarati hates the Boss, but I'm genuinely baffled why he thinks that it's the reason.


At which point, we get our first proper Bucciarati flashback, which is interesting! He's the only member of the main cast that we haven't had a flashback episode with, with Bucciarati often being played as the charismatic saviour that saves the others from falling into darkness. We learn that Bucciarati's dad is a honest fisherman, and he ended up staying with his dad on the fishing village instead of going with his mother to the city after a divorce -- reasoning that his dad needed the emotional support more than his mother. Bucciarati's dad ends up taking up extra jobs to send Bucciarati to school, including ferrying tourists around, but this ended up with him getting shot by a bunch of drug dealers when he accidentally witnesses a drug deal.

Bucciarati's dad survives, but this led a young Bucciarati to commit murder by slashing the two drug dealers to death when they come to finish the job, which is... brutal, but beautifully animated. Of course, his dad is in bad shape, and Bucciarati resolves to protect his father by joining the organization which he thought was the 'epitome of justice'. His dad died of complications five years later, though, and Bucciarati found out that the organization he worked for is actually the biggest mover of drugs in Italia. The flashback, as usual, has been modified a fair bit from the original manga version to flow better, which is neat.

Regardless, though, Bucciarati lets out a huge roar of "YOU HAVE ONCE AGAIN BETRAYED MY HEART!" and goes off after the Boss, using Sticky Fingers to unzip his way through the church's infrastructure. In the process, Giorno's beetle tracker gets stuck onto Boss's body. And as Bucciarati moves around with some pretty cool zipping action, we get his inner monologue noting that this is now an assassination. But the Boss ends up being savvy enough to realize that Bucciarati is hunting him when they reach what seems to be the cellar of the church... but Bucciarati attacks again with Sticky Fingers. We get a cool bit of Bucciarati attacking pillars by unzipping them and sending the pieces crumbling all over the place.

And Bucciarati's most angry about Trish, of course, while the Boss is just confused why Bucciarati would be care so much, before asking Bucciarati if he's greedy and/or cocky. The Boss can apparently disappear from sight any time Sticky Fingers attacks, causing Bucciarati to call Giorno for backup to know where the Boss is attacking from. Hilariously, he apparently hid his cell phone within his own face. Giorno tells Bucciarati the Boss's current position, while warning Bucciarati that something seems wrong.


And then Bucciarati attacks the pillar... only to punch himself? We then have the creepy proper debut of the Boss, in the form of his Stand, King Crimson. Noting that this is the 'true power' of King Crimson, the Boss gives Bucciarati one last 'parting gift', telling him that King Crimson allows him to erase time and leap in it, causing Bucciarati to punch himself in the future. It's... it's a bit weird, but surely we'll get a proper explanation in the future, right? I just hope the anime does it better than the manga. Before we get any real time to think about just what this means, though, Bucciarati gets stabbed by King Crimson straight through the gut in a pretty graphic manner, which is honestly a pretty great, if brutal, cliffhanger. Pretty great stuff in this Boss/King Crimson encounter, and I really don't have a whole ton of complaints.

The JoJo Playlist:

• King Crimson is a British rock band, with some of their highlights including Starless, Court of the Crimson King and Epitaph. It's a band that I wasn't aware of prior to reading this series, and it's one that I have been a pretty huge fan of.