Giorno Giovanna

"I, Giorno Giovanna, have a dream that I know is just. (このジョルノ・ジョバァーナには正しいと信じる夢がある.)"

- Giorno Giovanna,

Giorno Giovanna (ジョルノ・ジョバァーナ) is the main protagonist of the fifth part of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure series, Vento Aureo, and the fifth JoJo of the series.

Giorno is the illegitimate son of DIO, conceived with Jonathan Joestar's stolen body. He is introduced as Haruno Shiobana (汐華 初流乃), a half-Japanese teenager living in. Giorno speaks of his intention to join the powerful gang Passione and his dream of becoming a "Gang-Star" (combining "Gangster" and "Superstar") ("Primo mafioso" in the English dub) to restore virtue to the corrupt Italian mafia.

Giorno is a natural-born Stand User wielding the life-giving Stand Gold Experience in battle.

Appearance
Giorno is a teenage boy of average height, a slim yet muscular build, and is far smaller in stature than previous JoJos. He has golden hair of moderate length tied back in a short, braided tail, with three distinctive oversized curls arranged in a row over his forehead. His hair was originally black and unkempt, barely past his neck. But transformed upon awakening his Stand. His eyes, especially present in earlier depictions, sharpen at the end similar to his father's.

Giorno wears a two-piece suit with a checkered coat tail and several ornate features, including wing-shaped emblems on the collar and a heart-shaped opening in the chest area. The most distinctive feature on his suit are the three ladybug emblems located on either side of his chest and directly below his zipper, matching the appearance of his Stand. Later on, his shoes also have the same ladybug emblem on them. He wears a small stud in each ear.

Giorno's hair curls were patterned after 's statue, Araki got the idea from the curls around the statue's forehead.

Personality
"This is resolve! It is to carve out your destined path through the darkened wastes!"

- Giorno, encouraged by Mista's determination,

Giorno's childhood was filled with unhappiness and loneliness due to bullying and the abuse by his stepfather. As a result, he was initially cold and uncaring towards everyone and believed himself to be scum just for the way people treated him. Those that knew him would easily think he'd grow up to become a twisted individual. This changed when he befriended an injured gangster he saved. As the man protected Giorno from those that did him wrong in return for his aid, he learned that he could trust people. Since then, he has become a more confident and solicitous person. A defining characteristic of Giorno, shared among his peers through him, is his ; something that can be described as his ability to make important decisions without hesitation and seeing them through to the very end, even in the face of pain, sorrow, and tragedy. Throughout Part 5, Giorno's resolve is such that in the heat of battle, he is frequently willing to allow himself to be injured if it leads to an advantageous situation. An ambitious individual, he readily takes any opportunity to achieve his final goal of becoming a "Gang-Star". Upon beginning to cooperate with Passione gangster Bruno Bucciarati, Giorno wastes no time in infiltrating the gang to steadily work his way up the ranks. His assassination of Polpo was partially a way to get a promotion for Bucciarati. Later, Giorno also tried to personally approach the Boss of Passione, and planned to plant a tracking device on him. Being a very serious teenager, Giorno's mind doesn't stray off the path from his mission and the goals he's set for himself. However, Giorno has occasionally thought about more mundane subjects such as the delicious margherita pizza from Naples, right before being attacked by Notorious B.I.G.. Giorno tends to approach many things with a calm demeanor, and demonstrates immense composure even when confronted by dangers he might not understand completely, with Koichi describing him as having a 'shining serenity' in place of where most apprehension should be. However, he can still become anxious when things go south. Giorno rarely allows his anger to get the best of him, but shows moments of tranquil, if not oppressive fury against certain enemies. At his worst, Giorno becomes desperate for solutions to problems and can be seen yelling and breaking out in a sweat when emotionally distressed, though he never reaches a level of panic to become reckless or impetuous. With others, Giorno treats people with the amount of respect he believes they deserve based on his observations of their beliefs and actions. He seems to have inherited both of Jonathan Joestar and Dio Brando's traits, with the former's being present towards peers and allies, and the latter's towards enemies. He has a good heart and wants to help out anybody who has demonstrated kindness to him or others, but casually disregards the law. He was a petty thief when he first encountered Koichi and bribed the airport security guards before stealing Koichi's luggage. Overall, he follows his own morality without compromise. However, Giorno values life greatly and always seeks to never leave someone to die if he himself is able to help it, even putting himself in danger if another can stay unharmed. He believes that a "will of self-sacrifice", or giving one's own life for the sake of others, is not a part of what he believes resolve is, revealed during his and Mista's battle with Ghiaccio. In many cases, he will put his own life at risk and make himself the target of injury if those actions are able to assist his allies. In reality, he carefully plans out those courses of action to ensure that he will always come out of those situations alive. Within the same vein, Giorno's dreams are rooted in his desire to put a stop to the drug trafficking ruining countless innocent lives in Italy. On the other hand, Giorno will punish without hesitation those that needlessly and intentionally hurt other people, as shown when he engineers Polpo's death to avenge an innocent janitor that Black Sabbath killed, and in fact, he will be particularly vicious when doing so. Except for Bucciarati, whom he spared because he recognized that the former was a righteous person, Giorno has killed everyone he's fought against without hesitation, and all have died gruesome deaths. For instance, he had Melone bitten by a venomous snake made of his own Stand and rapidly kicked Ghiaccio until his neck, stuck on a splintered lamppost, was completely impaled. In the middle of battle, he is not even above lying: he first lied to Bucciarati about not allowing civilians to get involved with their fight, before letting a bystander that Bucciarati was hiding in to get hurt, in order to force him out into the open. Much later, Giorno would deceive Cioccolata into believing that his life would be spared, when in reality he was merely lowering Cioccolata's guard and buying time for a bullet lodged in his head to transform into a scarab which would devour the scientist's brain before Gold Experience finished him off with a brutally lengthy attack; Giorno remained completely unfazed through the display. Usually introverted, Giorno regularly maintains a facade of confident boldness, backed up by his intelligence and his natural charisma, to make him look like a flawless person by his peers. This is especially visible upon his first meeting with Bucciarati's team. He switches from a passive and polite demeanor to a self-assured persona when they try to bully him, and impresses the whole team. When alone, Giorno is shown to be more humorous and only in these moments does he allow himself to think about something else than his goal or act seriously. His parents' abuse encouraged his introverted nature and his habit of observing others, resulting in his deductive skills but also making him a silent person until something of importance needs to be said. On the contrary, when Giorno has an enemy at his mercy, he is prone to chitchat and speaking at length, either exposing his way of life or analyzing their thoughts in order to make them see their errors as well as the futility of their situation. Thus, he is much like his father DIO, and even spitefully taunted Diavolo during their climactic battle. Giorno is polite in his interactions with figures of authority or his superiors, and in fact doesn't swear at all, possessing consistently well-mannered speech patterns for the entirety of his journey. He nonetheless doesn't shy from expressing his opinions even if they contradict those of his interlocutor, as seen when he argues against Abbacchio about abandoning Fugo to the enemy for the sake of their objective. Giorno also has the habit of assuming the responsibility of his actions alone, leading to a temporary state of panic when his plans fail. Giorno is very upset when he cannot do anything about his situation, going as far as to deeply apologize to Mista for being unable to use his Gold Experience effectively against Ghiaccio's White Album. Over the course of Vento Aureo, however, he slowly learns to trust his teammates and make use of their individual abilities. Instead of assuming control or acting by his lonesome, Giorno eventually fully cooperates with them, creating an effective, synergistic teamwork dynamic among the whole group. Even when Giorno cannot take action by himself, he often takes steps to guide his more capable teammates into advantageous situations.

Making Giorno repeat himself greatly annoys him, as he believes it means his conversational partner is stupid. This is especially ironic since his own battle-cry consists of angrily repeating "Muda!". He also lets out a "WRYYYYYY!" during his climactic pummeling of Cioccolata. In addition, much like Jotaro, Giorno is shown to be annoyed by the numerous girls flirting with him and bluntly dismisses them.

Gold Experience
Gold Experience is one of the most versatile Stands in the series. It has the ability to create and manipulate life, which Giorno most often uses to produce plants and small animals. Both can be used for a variety of purposes ranging from disguise to tracking origins. As a Power-type, it is also capable of unleashing a rapid barrage of punches, which Giorno uses almost exclusively with lethal intent.

Gold Experience Requiem
Gold Experience Requiem is obtained after Giorno pierces Gold Experience with the Stand-creating Arrow. It has the ability to turn the opponent's willpower and actions to zero and will protect Giorno without him being aware. Whoever is killed by Requiem will also "have their death turned to zero", forcing them into a death loop for all eternity. As part of its evolution, Requiem retains the ability to create life but to a much more lethal degree and can also seemingly levitate alongside its user.

Mastery
Giorno proves to be a creative and proficient Stand User, if not passive in his progress. Thanks to his encyclopedic knowledge about biology, fauna, and flora, Giorno can efficiently use Gold Experience's power to give life by thinking about the best lifeform to create and expecting what they are most likely to do, which gives him a semblance of control over the lifeforms it creates. For instance, he specifically created a snake against Illuso who was hiding in a parallel world, using its supposed tendency to seek sources of heat to find the enemy. Giorno has also proven to be imaginative by exploiting the properties of his powers to his advantages, for instance exploiting Gold Experience's ability to rapidly grow trees as an area of effect impaling attack, or making a tree wither to trick Black Sabbath into daylight.

However, Giorno hasn't sought out his Stand's full potential, unlike his father. For instance, having no need to use Gold Experience in a fight until he confronted Passione's members, he only discovered Gold Experience's offensive ability to infuse people with life during his scuffle with Bucciarati and likewise had to observe Baby Face's power to be inspired into creating specific body parts and organs.

Giorno works well in conjunction with partners. He is essentially the party's healer and is often partnered with members of the team like Guido Mista whose bullets are perfect projectiles that can be turned into lifeforms from a distance. In one instance, Giorno transformed the bullets into a tree and managed to trap a helicopter that would otherwise be untouchable for both of them.

Personal Skills
Intelligence: Giorno is a very competent tactician. An observer by nature, Giorno likes to assert his opponents' abilities and plans before acting. He then uses his observations to probe for any weakness of their part and predict what they will do, often returning their moves against them. Using his Stand with remarkable imagination, Giorno gives himself a wide range of possibilities, the exploitation of Gold Experience's power and the characteristic of animals he transforms objects into allows Giorno to, among others, reposition himself quickly or track his opponents. Moreover, he is good at using his environment to his advantage. Giorno is quick on his feet and is able to formulate plans on the spot.

Giorno has shown himself adept at cooperating with other Stand Users with maximum effectiveness, particularly Guido Mista with whom he is close with. Giorno is able to exploit his partner's power almost as effectively as his own, taking account of their precise abilities and using them in his tactics. Most basic of all is transforming Mista's bullets into other lifeforms to take his enemies by surprise and multiply Giorno's effective range.

Despite seeming to have a reckless side, notably infecting himself with Purple Haze's virus, Giorno is a very careful person, constantly warning his partners of their impatience. He always has backup plans and makes sure his enemies are eliminated. While appearing as heedless, Giorno actually takes calculated risks.

Knowledge: Giorno is very knowledgeable in biology. His encyclopedic knowledge of fauna and flora allows him to transform objects into the lifeforms most suitable to his goal, as well as deducing his enemies' powers.

Charisma: Giorno is a charismatic individual, able to sway people to his side easily, either through speech or key actions. His habits of observing his peers allow him to then deduce the best way to impress them and make them an ally, granting them resolve and confidence when they work with him. Arguably, this trait is likely inherited from his father.

Stealth Thievery: As he himself admitted, Giorno is an accomplished pickpocketer. Although demonstrated only once, his skill is undeniable as he was able to steal a prison guard's wallet in the middle of his body search. In the anime, Giorno was able to grab a wallet back from a pickpocketer who had snatched it from a woman. After he returned it to her, he used his Stand ability to transform the money in the wallet into butterflies, which then flew back to him.

Ear Trick: Giorno has shown the ability to stuff his entire ear into his head, and that was, in fact, the very first ability he displayed when he was introduced. However, although it is quite entertaining as a parlor trick, it has no practical use. Giorno used his trick to help smooth talk two security guards into letting him scam tourists at Naples' airport.

Relationships
"Making me repeat myself... it's useless. It hate it because it's useless, useless, useless..."

- Giorno Giovanna,

Family



 * Dio Brando/DIO: While Giorno has never been shown interacting with his birth father, he has been shown to value his birth father to some degree as his wallet was revealed to contain a photograph of DIO. Giorno does inherit some of DIO's ruthless and brutal nature, as well as his ambition and charisma. However, he does not use it for evil ends. Giorno even uses the "WRYYY!" scream at one point, and also uses his "Useless!" Stand cry.


 * Jonathan Joestar: Unknown to even Giorno, his biological ancestry comes from Jonathan's DNA. As DIO conceived him using Jonathan's body, this allows Giorno to gain the Joestar Birthmark. From Jonathan, Giorno appears to have inherited his noble, polite, and overall kind nature toward good people, observed by Koichi to a degree. Even though DIO is the one who conceived Giorno, Koichi noted that the Joestar bloodline's influence is visible.


 * Mother (maiden surname Shiobana): Giorno's mother had rarely cared for him when he was a child, viewing him as a hindrance to her party life and often left him in the dark whenever she went out, where he was too scared to even cry.


 * Stepfather: Initially, Giorno's stepfather would often beat Giorno when his mother was away, angered at his habit of always trying to read people (although it was his abuse that inspired this behavior). This changes after Giorno meets the gangster, after which the stepfather was likely intimidated out of trying to beat Giorno again.


 * Donatello, Rikiel, and Ungalo: The three are Giorno's half-brothers. It is unknown if he was aware of their existence.


 * Jotaro Kujo: While they have never formally met, Jotaro investigated Giorno due to his connections to both DIO and the Joestar family. Having found out Giorno's relation with DIO, Jotaro avoided meeting him in person and trusted Koichi to judge him in his stead. It is assumed Jotaro has no ill will towards him following Koichi's report of him being a reasonable and Joestar-like person.

Allies
"Mista... your resolve shines with a radiance that eclipses even the sun rising at our backs and sheds light upon our path... and it illuminates the righteous fated path that we shall walk together hereafter, as well!"

- Giorno Giovanna,




 * Bruno Bucciarati: Giorno and Bucciarati met as enemies, but Giorno was able to deduce from the flaws in Bucciarati's tactics against him that Bucciarati was a good person, and decided to work with him in the conclusion of their fight. From that point on, the two have formed a relationship of mutual trust, even with Giorno unconditionally accepting that Bucciarati will not help him if he is found out as an enemy of Passione, while Bucciarati assists him in rising in the ranks. Giorno is able to save Bucciarati from complete and utter defeat at the hands of the Boss using one of his ladybug brooches, causing him to mentally note how Giorno always fills him with courage. After Bucciarati's soul is finally put to rest, Giorno immediately fights Diavolo, revealing his emotions towards his friend's death.




 * Guido Mista: Mista is one of the initially nicer people to Giorno in the gang when he first joins and is quick to grow to him after seeing him in action. Mista is the second to realize Giorno's ability to guide others without their knowledge, viewing him as a source of hope. The two frequently team up together and place a lot of faith in each other's abilities, at one point combining their Stand powers in a moment of doubt to capture a helicopter. By the end of the story, Mista and Giorno are the surviving members of the team, and perhaps closer friends than the rest, continuing to work together in the gang when Giorno takes over as boss with Mista as his subordinate.


 * Narancia Ghirga: Initially, Narancia only interacts with Giorno by jokingly reminding him that he is his superior due to age. However, Narancia later begins to trust Giorno who repeatedly impresses him with his supportive attitude and quick thinking. Against Squalo and Tiziano, Narancia is happy to have Giorno assist him and even believing that the gang stands a chance against the Boss if they have him. After Narancia's sudden death, Giorno places a grave for him and mourns, promising to take his body back home.


 * Pannacotta Fugo: Fugo initially doesn't have time to think much of Giorno. During the struggle with La Squadra Esecuzioni member Illuso, he sees Giorno temporarily sacrifices his hand to trick Illuso into being killed by Purple Haze, earning Fugo's respect, and making him the first next to Bucciarati to see Giorno's valor and wits.


 * Leone Abbacchio: Abbacchio is highly suspicious toward Giorno's presence in the gang and constantly belittles him, notably refusing to reveal his Moody Blues to him even if the group is in danger; nonetheless, Giorno's actions still impress him. For his part, Giorno passively takes the abuse and tries to act in cooperation. During the battle with Illuso however, Abbacchio tries to sacrifice himself to allow Giorno to retrieve Mr.President's Key and get it to the rest, and later shows a begrudging respect for him when he defies this and stays to save the lives of all the members involved in the battle. Never shown warming up to Giorno completely as the rest of the team has, Abbacchio nonetheless loses all suspicion toward him at the time of his death.
 * Koichi Hirose: Koichi was sent by Jotaro to investigate Giorno. Despite the fact Giorno cunningly stole his luggage, Koichi becomes an ally to Giorno after he sees his inner virtue, comparing it to that of the Joestar bloodline. He ends up trusting Koichi enough to tell him and only him about everything. They go their own separate ways on good terms.


 * Trish Una: When Giorno is first introduced to Trish, he saw her escort mission as a prime opportunity to get closer to Passione's Boss than he had originally imagined. The two don't interact as much, but Trish is seen to believe in Giorno. As Vento Aureo progresses, Giorno demonstrates a degree of care for Trish, willing to sacrifice his chance to confront the Boss in order to tend to her and ensure her well-being. During the battle with Notorious B.I.G., Spice Girl openly admits that Giorno's actions have allowed her spirit to mature. Trish, like the rest of Bucciarati's team, has put her faith and trust in Giorno by the end, awed at Giorno's victory over her father.


 * Jean Pierre Polnareff: Polnareff and Giorno become allies during the fight against Diavolo, and Giorno is the most willing to listen to his advice. After his body switch, Polnareff becomes a guardian for the Stand Arrow and stays with Giorno and the newly-led Passione. It is unknown if he knows Giorno's connections with the Joestars and DIO himself.

Purple Haze Feedback

 * Sheila E: After Giorno became the boss of Passione, Sheila was placed as his bodyguard. When Sheila learned Giorno killed Illuso, she was content with the way he died.

Enemies
"One more thing. About that theory of happiness you spewed... even as I look at you now, I feel no happiness at all, because victory was mine from the very beginning."

- Giorno to Cioccolata,




 * Diavolo: As the Boss of Passione, which was selling drugs in the streets, Diavolo was de facto Giorno's archenemy and target. However, both didn't know or even personally meet each other until very late in the narrative. Knowing nothing about Diavolo, Giorno sought to climb the ranks and approach him in order to take over Passione, with his daughter's escort mission being a chance that Giorno would readily take to get close to him. However, Bucciarati's open rebellion hasted his plan and allowed him to take more initiative against Diavolo and Passione as a whole. While Diavolo learned very quickly how resourceful Giorno was and treaded carefully around him, he still treated him as inferior, calling him a "brat" and "hindrance", even when he viewed Giorno as his greatest threat during the final battle. On the other hand, Giorno only got to interact with Diavolo when he acquired Gold Experience Requiem and used the one moment to taunt the boss, especially challenging his philosophy rooted in 'results'.


 * Polpo: Giorno met Polpo to pass the test to enter Passione. Giorno and Polpo were civil toward each other, but Polpo only saw Giorno as a potential tool and used his position of power to grimly warn the teenager about misconducting oneself. On the other hand, Giorno despised him as soon as his Black Sabbath killed a helpless civilian, prompting him to kill Polpo as soon as he could.




 * Baby Face: Giorno and Baby Face were enemies, and the Stand Baby Face tried to assassinate Giorno to make a getaway after capturing Trish and Bucciarati. Baby Face grew increasingly frustrated at Giorno's determination to the point it forewent any precaution and tried to fight him openly. Ironically, Giorno thanked Baby Face for giving him enough trouble to be pushed into a wall and progress. It didn't prevent Giorno from summarily killing it and sending a venomous snake after its user, Melone.


 * Cioccolata: While Cioccolata didn't think much of Giorno, only noticing that he discovered Green Day's ability rather quickly, Giorno witnessed the ruin Cioccolata's Stand brought to Rome, and greatly execrated the psychopath. When Giorno defeated Cioccolata, he reminded the mad doctor that those like him didn't deserve to live and vented his scorn with a lengthy and mortal pummeling before throwing Cioccolata's mutilated body into a garbage truck.

Other

 * Man X: When he was little, Giorno saved a wounded gangster by lying to his pursuers about where he was. Incidentally, Gold Experience subconsciously intervened by making the grass and other flora around the gangster grow. The man was grateful and ensured that Giorno would never suffer in his life, making Giorno's stepfather stop beating him, and stopping anyone from bullying him. He taught Giorno that there was good in humanity, and although he objected to Giorno joining a gang, Giorno dreamed of becoming a "gang-star".

Creation and Development
Araki initially threw around the idea of making Part 5's protagonist a female character. However, he discussed it with his editor at the time Hiroshi Sekiya who thought that a female lead would be a tough sell for the Weekly Shonen Jump's readers, so the eventual protagonist ended up being a young man. Sekiya notes that Giorno's Japanese name "Haruno Shiobana" is feminine and that Gold Experience's power to give life is reminiscent of a woman's own ability to give life. Because Araki did wonder (apparently jokingly) about the possible reveal that Giorno was a woman looking like a man all along, Sekiya theorizes that Araki could have entertained the idea of a female Giorno.

In Araki's top Ten Favorite Characters in 2000, Giorno ranked fifth, Araki's second favorite JoJo and third favorite Part 5 character; Mista ranked seventh, Diavolo at fourth, & Bucciarati in third place.

Casting
According to Kensho Ono, Giorno Giovanna's voice actor for the anime, it was a difficult task for him to adhere to the exact number of "muda muda" exclamations as the manga. Anime producer Hiroyuki Omori said the production team went back and forth about this because sometimes the cuts wouldn't fit the length of the battle cries. Takehito Koyasu seems to have been an exception, as Kensho Ono stated that Koyasu told him that he never thought of doing that and matched his battle cries to the length of the cut directly. Ono found it challenging to say "muda muda" rapidly and had to train while driving to get it right. He mentions that scrunching up the face helped him say the battle cry more rapidly. Ono also says that during his audition, he was unsatisfied with his performance on Giorno's battle cry and asked for a redo even though the casting director had greenlit his performance. He theorizes that it helped him get the role since it showed his commitment.

Giorno's voice actor in the Bandai Namco video games, Daisuke Namikawa, would later voice Narciso Anasui in the TV anime adaptation of Stone Ocean.