Anime Review: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 5: Vento Aureo Episode 1

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 5: Vento Aureo Episode 1

Studio: David Production

Genre: Action, Adventure

Stream: Crunchyroll

After what felt like ages, JoJo Fridays have finally returned. With David Production returning as  the studio in charge of the project, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 5: Vento Aureo has been regarded by some as the best part of JoJo. While I might not agree with this claim, I do believe that Vento Aureo is the part that was made to be animated due to its return to the road-trip-adventure style, and therefore could be the best anime adaptation yet. As someone who’s read the manga, I’m already familiar with what’s in store for us plot-wise. However it will be interesting to see how David Production chooses to translate certain events from page to screen and what liberties they take with their storytelling.

Episode 1 introduces us to Giorno Giovanna, the son of Dio Brando, as newest JoJo (or GioGio in this case) and protagonist. As the son of Dio post-Jonathan-body-snatch, Giorno possesses both the blood of a Joestar and a Brando, and thus shares qualities of both lineages. He is a character who is determined and ruthless like Dio, but also virtuous and ultimately a man trying to do good like Jonathan. Anime-only fans who aren’t familiar with Giorno at all will be in for a new type of character who has a just goal but is willing to do less-than-savory things to achieve said goal. On top of this, Giorno is a criminal and mobster, so even from the onset he distances himself from his Joestar predecessors in this way.

The premiere episode covers the first 4 chapters of the manga, with Koichi Hirose from the previous series Diamond is Unbreakable arriving in Italy at the request of Jotaro Kujo to follow up on a lead from the Speedwagon Foundation about the existence of the son of Dio. Giorno also has run-ins with mob members Leaky-Eye Luka and (my personal favorite) Bruno Buccellati. While the Leaky-Eye Luka conflict is resolved in this episode, we’ll have to wait until next week to see the conclusion of the Buccellati encounter (although we did get to see an iconic scene from the manga animated in all its glory).

David Production has consistently brought us quality adaptations of the JoJo series, and so far Vento Aureo is no exception. The soundtrack, while minimal, sounded pretty good and felt very JoJo, and we even got a reprise of Koichi’s theme. It’s a shame that we didn’t get an OP or ED but that’s to be expected with a lot of first episodes. Something else praiseworthy David Production has been doing for a while is animating each part of the anime like its manga counterpart. Hirohiko Araki’s art style has continuously changed and evolved over the years, and each iteration of the anime has faithfully changed its style to match. There are a few scenes that were poorly animated, but for the most part the episode was very well done and I enjoyed the new part 5 style.

I really don’t have many complaints with this episode. I’m anxious to see how the anime plays out over the next 38 episodes. Hopefully it will live up to my expectations as the best JoJo anime, but as a fan of the series I’m just glad to have JoJo Fridays back.