JoJo’s Part 5 Episode 15

JoJo’s Part 5 Episode 15

The Grateful Dead Part 1

Let’s begin this week’s review of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 5: Golden Wind with a quick recap of what happened during last week’s episode.

The JoBros, along with Trish, boarded a train with a key and a turtle given to them by the boss. It turns out that the turtle is a stand user, and when the key is inserted into its shell, the turtle becomes a kind of mobile command center for the group.

However, our heroes aren’t alone on the train. Besides the civilian passengers, there are also two members of the hitman squad, Prosciutto and Pesci, with their stands, The Grateful Dead and Beach Boy respectively.

The Grateful Dead’s ability is to rapidly increase the aging of anyone within its area of effect based on their body temperature. The hotter the person is, the faster they age. Beach Boy, on the other hand, takes the form of a fishing rod which can ensnare enemies through solid objects such as walls.

When Prosciutto’s stand ability begins to rapidly age the JoBros, Mista is sent out of the turtle room to take him down. However, shortly after leaving the safety of the turtle’s stand, Mista is caught by Pesci’s Beach Boy.

Mista vs. Pesci

Now that we’re all caught up, the first thing you may have noticed about this episode is that it’s named for Prosciutto’s stand, The Grateful Dead, and not Pesci’s stand, Beach Boy. Because of this fact, we can already assume that Pesci isn’t going to be defeated once and for all in this episode, or even the next.

Yes, it’s possible for both of these members of the hitman squad to be defeated in the same episode, but as a general rule each enemy stand gets its own mini arc, even when users work as a team. I’m not saying that Pesci is necessarily going to make it all the way through the major arc, but at the very least he’ll get his own time to shine after Prosciutto.

But, since the first half of this episode focuses on Pesci, let’s get into a little discussion about his stand. Along with it being able to hook people through solid objects, we know that Beach Boy also works as an information gathering stand.

When he originally used it during the previous episode, he was able to determine how many people and/or living creatures were in the front of the train without visually seeing inside. This time around, when Mista is hooked, Pesci is able to determine his gender, his weight, and where on his body the hook went into, all without seeing him.

But, Beach Boy is more than just a trap/information gathering stand. Once the hook has entered a body, it works its way up to the brain, and we can assume once it reaches that point, the victim dies. Further, the line can’t be severed, and instead, any damage done to the line is directed back at the attacker.

This means that when Mista shoots the line in an attempt to sever it, he actually takes the impact of the bullet himself. This is just like how Giorno’s stand works when he turns objects into living creatures. However, Beach Boy seems to be less versatile than Gold Experience as far as defensive options are concerned.

Interestingly, Prosciutto also mentions that Pesci’s stand has the potential to be “unstoppable” if he were to actually use his head. This is reminiscent of Okuyasu’s stand, The Hand from Part 4, being unstoppable if not for its user not being smart enough to use it effectively.

However, while The Hand was indeed an overpowered stand, I don’t see Beach Boy being the same. Yes, Beach Boy is versatile in that it can gather information, trap opponents, and even kill them, it’s not a very good stand on its own. Pesci is extremely vulnerable when using it, even to the point where the one who he hooks can still end up defeating him.

A support stand like Beach Boy is good, but only when paired with another competent stand user, and because of this I have a hard time seeing how it has the potential to be unbeatable. In fact, Mista actually defeats him in this episode, and he only comes out of the fight alive because Prosciutto was nearby to save him.

Prosciutto from the anime series JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 5: Golden Wind
Prosciutto

Buccellati vs. Prosciutto

After Prosciutto “executes” Mista, he and Pesci return to the front of the train to find the rest of Buccellati’s team. In the end they find the turtle, because as I mentioned last episode, turtles aren’t the most inconspicuous of animals. However, upon closer inspection, it’s revealed that Buccellati is nowhere to be found.

I should also mention here that those outside the turtle’s stand can see into it, but as far as I can tell, those inside the turtle’s stand can’t see out. This is just one more reason why I don’t actually think the turtle’s stand is that good, and if you missed out on my other reasons, you can go back and check out last week’s episode review.

The reason Buccellati isn’t inside the turtle’s stand any longer is that one of Mista’s Sex Pistols was able to race back to the front of the train and inform the rest of the team that the enemy stand users were headed in their direction. Buccellati then laid a trap by zipping himself into the ceiling via his stand, Sticky Fingers.

Again, if you read last week’s episode, you’ll know that I actually suggested this exact thing be done. Being zipped into a ceiling by Sticky Fingers is much more practical, reliable, and hidden than the turtle’s stand.

When he springs out of his hiding place, Buccellati quickly incapacitates Pesci so that he can focus entirely on Prosciutto. He knows that if he’s able to defeat Prosciutto, then the rest of his team will be reverted back to normal and therefore won’t be sitting ducks for Pesci’s Beach Boy.

To this end, Buccellati actually plans to sacrifice himself so that the rest of his team can complete their mission. When Prosciutto grabs him to increase his aging even further, Buccellati surprises him by grabbing hold as well. He then has Sticky Fingers unzip the side of the train, and both men are thrown out.

This is where the episode ends, but I want to mention a few predictions for the next episode. First of all, we should all know that Buccellati isn’t actually going to die here. So the question instead becomes, did he really plan to die with Prosciutto when he threw the two of them from the train?

My guess is that this isn’t really the case and was instead a kind of bluff. Yes, Buccellati accepts that he might die at any point, but no, he’s not going to throw his life away like that. If he happens to die, so be it, but he’s not going to go out of his way to do so.

Because of this, I’m guessing that we’ll see Buccellati actually had some sort of plan to survive his jump out of the train, but I’m not sure what that plan is exactly. Perhaps he’ll save both himself and Prosciutto, but since they’ll no longer be on the train, the rest of his team will be out of the area of effect of The Grateful Dead’s ability.

Conclusion

Overall, I really liked this episode of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 5: Golden Wind. There was plenty of action, and if I’m being honest, that’s what I mostly watch JoJo’s for. But, what did you think of this week’s episode? Do you think Beach Boy is potentially unbeatable?

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My review of the next episode is available here.

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