JoJo’s Part 5 Episode 23

JoJo’s Part 5 Episode 23

Clash and Talking Head

Today I’m going to be forgoing the usual episode summary for the most part and instead discussing some glaring issues I had with the episode. Now, to start, this isn’t really an issue with the episode, but Narancia is my least favorite of the current JoBros, so any episode focused on him is automatically lower tier.

He’s simply too unpredictable for me to enjoy his character. Sometimes he’s extremely stupid, other times he’s a genius. But, it’s not as if his character is actually growing in any way, because right after making a 200 IQ play, he’ll go back to his usual 50 IQ state.

Basically, Narancia has some pretty hefty plot armor, and that’s what I don’t like about him. But, as we’ll see, Narancia’s fluctuating brain power isn’t the only set of plot armor featured in today’s episode.

And, before moving on to discuss those various sets of plot armor, I’d also like to mention that I’ve heard people complained about the animation quality in this episode compared to the previous 22 episodes. All I have to say on that matter is this, JoJo’s is known for its shots of manly men striking manly poses, not for its sakuga.

Plot Armor or Stand Ability?

I never really felt like Abbacchio’s Moody Blues was a very good stand. Of course it has its uses, but it’s an extremely niche ability, and as we know, niche abilities are pretty bad. Think of it this way, it would be nice to have a stand that makes your eyes bulletproof, but how many times are you getting shot in the eyes?

Now, I get that Abbacchio’s stand has a more general purpose than the stand in my example, but the fact of the matter still stands that he’s useless in combat. Would it have been so bad to give his stand some sort of secondary ability?

But, the fact that Moody Blues can’t do anything outside of its specific purpose isn’t merely a general complaint I have, it opens the door to my real complaint, which is that it isn’t even all that good at what it specializes in.

Although he wasn’t a major player in today’s episode, we do see Abbacchio use Moody Blues briefly. And, to be honest, it was extremely disappointing. While Moody Blues was replaying the movements of Clash, we learn that while Clash can teleport, Moody Blues can’t.

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

So, why is this such a big deal? You might be thinking, “well of course Moody Blues can’t teleport, that’s not one of his stand abilities!” And, you’re right, except there are a few issues with that line of thinking when it comes to Moody Blues specifically.

First up, while stands are considered a “physical” manifestation of one’s willpower, they aren’t really all that physical. They can appear and disappear at will, and so a stand like Moody Blues which isn’t directly tied to its users body should theoretically be capable of close-range teleportation if it’s replaying a scene.

But, more importantly, if Moody Blues can’t replay teleportation simply because it isn’t physically possible for it to do, then what about other movements which it can’t physically do? What if it’s replaying someone standing on a table which is no longer in the room? Can Moody Blues not replay that because it would have to be standing in mid-air?

Either Moody Blues is a much worse stand than I previously thought because it has many more constraints on how it can be used, or this was just one of the many instances of plot armor in this episode.

The Worst Stand?

And now, for the introduction of potentially the worst stand in all of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure up until this point, Talking Head. Talking Head is another niche stand, but one that’s far less effective than Moody Blues, despite what some of you may think at first.

I went over how this stand ability works in my review of the previous episode, but this week we were given a few more details regarding the specifics. I had thought that Talking Head actually put words into the mouths of its victims, and was able to control the rest of their body slightly, but that’s not really the case.

Instead, Talking Head simply causes the victim to say, or do, the opposite of what they mean when they’re attempting to convey information.

So, what does this really mean? For starters, it means that Talking Head doesn’t actually control what its victim says or does. Narancia can still say and do whatever he wants, with the exception of sharing information. He can point upwards for no reason, but he can’t do so in order to tell someone to look up.

But, more importantly is the fact that Talking Head merely causes its victim to say or do the opposite of what they mean. It can’t cause Narancia to tell Mista to shoot unprovoked, but it can make him say “shoot” when he intends to say “don’t shoot.”

Why does this make Talking Head a bad stand? Because not only is it a niche, non-offensive ability, but it’s extremely easy to counter. For example, let’s pretend Narancia wants to tell Giorno that the enemy is to his right, there are two possible scenarios.

The first is when Narancia means to say right, but ends up saying left due to the stand affecting him. This would be a success for Talking Head. However, the second is when Narancia purposely intends to say left so that the stand causes him to say the correct direction, right.

This is exactly what Narancia ends up doing in order to defeat both Squalo and Tiziano on his own. He first purposely makes them believe he lost track of Clash, and then later purposely makes them believe that he knows their whereabouts in order to flush them out.

Seriously, a stand with such an obvious and simplistic weakness should be stronger than Talking Head was in order to compensate.

Unnecessary Sacrifice

Once the secret of Talking Head is figured out, Tiziano knows that his usefulness has come to an end and that it’s up to Squalo to complete the mission. However, Squalo can’t use Clash to defeat Narancia in the city square due to a lack of nearby water.

It’s the combination of these two situations that prompts Tiziano to make the ultimate sacrifice. He jumps in front of his partner and takes the bullets from Narancia’s Aerosmith for him. Not only does this save Squalo, but now Tiziano’s blood can be used to summon Clash into the square.

Squalo holding Tiziano's body from the anime series JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 5: Golden Wind
Squalo holding Tiziano’s body

So, was Tiziano’s sacrifice worth it? No. Why not? Because there was already blood in the square that could have been used to summon clash.

Maybe you didn’t notice, but Narancia was already covered with blood when he entered the square in search of the enemy stand users. Not only could this blood have been used to summon Clash, but it could have been used to summon Clash before Aerosmith would have shot Squalo.

Essentially, there were two reasons Tiziano gave his life, to protect Squalo and to generate a liquid for Clash to use, but both were unnecessary. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is plot armor at its finest. There wasn’t really any reason for Narancia to win that fight regardless of how bad of a stand Talking Head is.

Conclusion

So, what are your thoughts on today’s episode of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 5: Golden Wind? Do you think there were too many cases of plot armor or plot holes? Do you think Talking Head and Moody Blues are actually as bad as I say? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of the next episode is available here.

3 Replies to “JoJo’s Part 5 Episode 23”

  1. Could be worse. Your stand might be Cheap Trick.

    Also, what’re your thoughts on Tiziano’s voice?

    1. I completely forgot Cheap Trick existed. Yeah, that would be a pretty bad stand to have since all it does is kill you.

      As for Tiziano’s voice, I thought it was fine. I didn’t notice anything particularly good or bad about it when I originally watched the episode, so I went back and rewatched some scenes. Even after rewatching I think his voice is fine.

      I also looked up what other roles his voice actor has done, and there’s nothing that stands out too much other than maybe Hannes from Attack on Titan. But, even that’s not a major role in any way.

      1. I’m just bringing up Tiziano’s voice because the way he says “Squaaaallooo” is pretty whew

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