JoJo’s Part 5 Episode 37

JoJo’s Part 5 Episode 37

King of Kings

Today is the final JoJo Friday. There are still two more episodes of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 5: Golden Wind, but they’ll be airing as a one hour special on Sunday, July 28th. That’s right, we have to wait over three weeks to see the conclusion of Giorno’s adventure.

But at least we can be pretty sure that it’s going to be a good conclusion. Overall this season of JoJo’s has probably been my favorite so far. As some of you are probably aware, I wasn’t the biggest fan of parts 3 and 4, but I did really like how part 5 handled a lot of the situations the JoBros found themselves in.

With that said, I do have a few, minor complaints to address in today’s review. Don’t worry, I still enjoyed the episode and thought it was good. But before I get into all of that, there’s one other thing I’ve been thinking about for a few weeks now.

Remember how Koichi from part 4 and Jotaro from part 3 made appearances at the start of the season? What ever happened to them? I figured they would have some small, supporting roles, but it seems like they were simply forgotten. Will they make a comeback in the final two episodes?

It’s not like I need them to play any important roles in the end, but it would be nice if they were acknowledged once more, especially since Polnareff is now dead. Perhaps we’ll get to see Giorno or one of his surviving comrades join the Speedwagon Foundation and tell Jotaro about the death of his friend.

Buccellati’s Last Stand

Bruno Buccellati has finally passed on, but not after dealing one final blow to Diavolo. The only issue is, it doesn’t really make sense. Remember how last week I was puzzled by how Diavolo “defeated” Silver Chariot Requiem? Well this week Buccellati does something similar, but with wildly different consequences.

Just as Diavolo is about to grab the stand arrow in Mista’s body, Buccellati smashes the star behind his own head (in Diavolo’s body). In Diavolo’s case, this stopped Chariot Requiem from continuing to pursue him. However, in Buccellati’s case, this somehow completely defeats Chariot Requiem.

And once Chariot Requiem is defeated, all of the swapped souls return to their own bodies. Ergo, Diavolo is swapped back into his own body which is out of reach of the stand arrow. Unfortunately, this also means that Buccellati finally ascends to heaven rather than going back to his body.

Bruno Buccellati's soul going to heaven from the anime series JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 5: Golden Wind
Bruno Buccellati’s soul going to heaven

And here comes my next minor complaint, the fact that Buccellati got a send-off by Giorno. I guess this isn’t really a complaint, but after the sudden deaths of the Abbacchio and Narancia, Buccellati’s soul ascending to heaven felt a bit drawn out and overplayed.

At the same time, since it was only Giorno who was able to see his soul, likely because of Gold Experience’s abilities, the other JoBros are going to have a rude awakening when they find out Buccellati is gone for good. I thought it was a good end for Buccellati, but a bit out of place for part 5 as a whole.

Gold Experience Requiem

After Buccellati’s final act, the smoke dissipates and what do you know, the stand arrow is in Giorno’s hand. That alone is a plot hole, but whatever, at this point I’ll allow just about anything. He then pierces Gold Experience with the arrow and Gold Experience Requiem is born.

Also the stand arrow gets absorbed into Gold Experience Requiem so it can no longer fall into Diavolo’s hands. The image of the arrow then appears on Gold Experience Requiem’s forehead, begging the question of whether or not Black Sabbath from the beginning of the series was secretly a Requiem stand.

The only two official Requiem stands had the stand arrows pictured on their bodies, but so too did Black Sabbath. However, once we look closer at the abilities gained by stands that have achieved Requiem status, it becomes clear that Black Sabbath was not one of them.

Giorno Giovanna and Gold Experience Requiem from the anime series JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 5: Golden Wind
Giorno Giovanna and Gold Experience Requiem

The abilities gained by Requiem stands are the perfect abilities for the exact situation the stand user happens to be in at the moment the arrow pierces their stand. While these abilities are definitely overpowered, there’s no guarantee they’ll be useful outside of that one specific situation.

In the case of Chariot Requiem, Polnareff needed to keep the stand arrow away from Diavolo, and so that’s what all of Chariot Requiem’s abilities were for: keeping the arrow safe. Gold Experience Requiem has a different goal: defeating Diavolo.

If you’re interested in learning more about Requiem stands, and are also interested in some theorizing on how Kira Yoshikage from part 4 may have had the first Requiem stand, there’s a great video on the subject by xForts. In particular, I really enjoyed his breakdown of Killer Queen and Killer Queen Bites the Dust.

Another DIO

But Gold Experience Requiem actually brings us to my biggest complaint about this episode, which is that Diavolo is essentially another DIO. I get that they’re two separate characters, but let’s face it, they have a lot of similarities.

They both view themselves as above the common man (which DIO is more so than Diavolo), they both have time-altering stand abilities (which are among the most overpowered possible), and because their stand abilities are so strong, both require a Deus ex machina to defeat.

It’s this final point which is revealed in this week’s episode. Requiem stands were essentially introduced into the series as a way to deal with the overwhelming power of Diavolo’s King Crimson and Epitaph. The evidence for this is that Gold Experience Requiem’s abilities are tailor made to defeat Diavolo.

For starters, it can reverse time back to before the point that King Crimson’s time skip began. But what truly makes it the perfect stand for the situation is that it can also seemingly alter the future so that Epitaph’s predictions, while still technically correct, do not come to fruition.

It’s almost like Gold Experience Requiem shifts the world line (to steal terminology from Steins;Gate) to one in which Epitaphs prediction doesn’t come true. The predictions are still technically correct, just not in the universe they have now been shifted into. Or at least that’s how I interpreted what I watched.

Regardless of how exactly Gold Experience Requiem’s abilities work, the outcome is the same. Just as Jotaro’s Star Platinum suddenly developed time-altering abilities to defeat DIO’s The World, so too has Giorno developed time-altering abilities to defeat Diavolo’s King Crimson.

Conclusion

So what are your thoughts on this final Friday episode of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 5: Golden Wind? Did you like how Buccellati was sent off? And do you think it was a good idea to introduce Requiem stands with the express purpose of using them as a Deus ex machina? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, be sure to click the like button ❤ down below. Also follow me over on Twitter @DoubleSama to stay up to date with my latest content. Later today there will be a poll to determine which series you’d like to see in the Friday slot for my Summer review schedule: Fire Force or Dr. Stone, so make sure to vote!

Finally I’d like to thank HeavyROMAN for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of the final two episodes can be found here.

3 Replies to “JoJo’s Part 5 Episode 37”

  1. To be fair, while Abbacio and Naracnia’s deaths were sudden, Bruno’s really is meant to be very slow and drawn out like a terminal cancer patient. Ever since he was a dead man walking, his impending death is an inevitability that marches towards you with no recourse.

    When Diavolo disabled Chariot Requiem, he didn’t fully break the light of his soul while Bruno shattered his, resulting in CR’s death.

    In the manga, GER’s ability is described as the ability to reset anything to zero and nullify all attacks, various people who love talking power levels say that this is OP on the guise that you cannot do anything AT ALL to Giorno as he would just turn it back to zero (regardless if it’s time manipulation or not).

    Also, cinematic parallels between God (DIO) and the devil (Diavolo): When Polnareff saw DIO, he was at the bottom of the stairs; when he saw Diavolo, he was at the top instead.

    1. Wouldn’t The World still be more powerful than Gold Experience Requiem? Unless GER can move during stopped time, The World would be able to kill it before the reset to zero happens.

      1. Well yes because Gold Experience Requiem reverses every action to protect it’s user and itself. Which means if Dio attacked Giorno in stopped time, the moment when Dio tried to attack would reverse in his eyes but to Giorno it would look like Dio never did anything.

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