GW Episode 19

White Album (ホワイト・アルバム) is the nineteenth episode of Golden Wind and the one hundred thirty second episode of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure anime. The episode covers from the end of Chapter 511 to Chapter 515 of the original manga with parts of Chapter 508.

Giorno and Mista are attacked by Ghiaccio. Ghiaccio's White Album is a dense armor of ice that is impervious to all but the most powerful attacks and the duo must find a way to bypass his defenses.

Summary
Giorno and Mista are still battling Ghiaccio, whose Stand White Album encases him in an invulnerable armor of ice. In an attempt to shake him off, Giorno decides to drive his car into the sea. He then pummels Ghiaccio's armor until Gold Experience's fists crack. He tells Mista to flee and accomplish the mission, as he theorizes that the mass of saltwater will impede White Album. Mista reluctantly crawls to the bonnet of the car but then Ghiaccio shows that he can freeze water faster than Mista could swim, creating a long stretch of ice in seconds.

Mista then tells Giorno to grow plants out of the bonnet of the car, eventually creating a makeshift snowboard out of frozen tundra grass and using the ice to his advantage to slide toward the shore. Ghiaccio is forced to cancel his freezing to stop Mista and abandons Giorno to target Mista. Trapped in ice, Mista hears Giorno tell him to shoot at some grass turning back into car parts. Thus the duo manages to drive a huge screw into Ghiaccio's helmet as Mista empties his gun into it, stunning and sinking him momentarily. But, although Mista almost climbs up to the shore, he suddenly decides that killing Ghiaccio is the best course of action and jumps back into the water. Here he finally sees that Ghiaccio's armor has a sizeable airhole on the back of the neck.

Ghiaccio's helmet partially covers the hole, but Mista has a plan. Preparing to shoot Ghiaccio as soon as he reaches the surface, the gunslinger distracts him by shooting the water. Ghiaccio turns his head and tilts his helmet, allowing Sex Pistols to ride a bullet into Ghiaccio's weak point. However, Ghiaccio reveals his special technique White Album Gently Weeps, freezing the surrounding air solid to deploy invisible shields against projectile and rebound the bullet back at Mista.

Injured, Mista climbs back up to the city but Ghiaccio overtakes him and eventually discovers the containing The Boss's orders. Mista gets desperate to reverse the situation and goes to the offensive again. Having been observing Mista's breakdown, Giorno notices that they must show true resolve in order to win. Thus he crashes his frozen arm into some ice and helps Mista by spraying his own blood at Ghiaccio from afar.

Mista suddenly remembers his journey in prison. Having been judged guilty and forced to sit in a cell, Mista has been suddenly freed by Bucciarati, who has discerned righteousness in him. Grateful, Mista accepts to join Bucciarati's team and is presented to his teammates, eventually finding worthy comrades in them.

In the now, the blood has revealed the nuggets of frozen air and allowed Sex Pistols to navigate several bullets ricocheting against a lamppost directly at the airhole. However, Ghiaccio unveils yet another layer of protection as he seals the airhole and absorbs the frozen air to act as reserves, then shoots the bullets back at Mista. But then Mista purposefully uses his own wound to spray blood at Ghiaccio's helmet and shoots him in the face, making him trip into a sharp end of the post Sex Pistols have damaged.

A metallic spike goes through the ice armor and threatens to push into Ghiaccio's neck. Mista thus attempts a last wild shootout, pushing Ghiaccio further into the post with his bullets as they come right back at him because of Gently Weeps. Unfortunately, Ghiaccio freezes his own blood solid to create pillars of ice and hits Mista in the head with a bullet.

Suddenly, the bullet wound is healed. Giorno has managed to swim to the shore during the fight and intervenes in time to save Mista. Praising Mista's spirit and summoning Gold Experience, Giorno has it repeatedly stomp Ghiaccio's face into the spike, finally killing him. The two gangsters have won just in time for the sun to peak through the horizon, and Mista silently acknowledges how Giorno has been pushing them towards victory. Giorno subsequently heals Mista's wounds but Narancia arrives with Team Bucciarati inside of Coco Jumbo, amusingly thinking that he's surprised the two during an intimate moment.

Meanwhile, the Boss learns that Passione has lost trace of Risotto and prepares to meet Trish and Team Bucciarati.

Commentary
"I loved how when Bucciarati changed his bruschetta order from four to five, Mista disregarded Bucciarati's next words and said, "Ok!" What a very Mista thing to do. The colors and music during the final legs of the battle were also superb. And I didn't know how far to take that last scene, but I decided to make it more like a comedy routine."

- Kosuke Toriumi, Blu-Ray limited edition commentaries

"I was pretty particular about White Album Gently Weeps. Creating a bullet sound effect is simple, but Giorno and Mista don't catch on to what it is until the end, so I had to adjust accordingly. I mixed sounds such as the creaking of ice and the cracking sound dry ice makes when it melts. I also added synth sounds to keep things fresh."

- Yoshikazu Iwanami, Blu-Ray limited edition commentaries

"1. All Thanks to the Staff

Director Takahashi points out a few stars: "Taizo Yoshida created a nice, balanced storyboard. Shinji Osada is someone who knows which spots to emphasize, so he was perfect as this episode's director. And thanks to production coordinator Shugo Tsuneoka's tenacity, we ended up with a solid episode!"

2. Mista's Past, Continued

Takahashi thought about what would make Mista unable to bear two years in prison. His conclusion was food. "We contrasted the prison food against the food of the restaurant. I think part of what drew Mista to Bucciarati was that experience of good food." The bruschetta was something the production staff enjoyed during their location scouting tour.

3. Scene-Specific Color Design

Color designer Yuko Sato was requested to use a monotone base for the sequences leading up to the daybreak scene. Takahashi explains, "We wanted to make the light of dawn really pop, so we basically went without color altogether. It ended up looking more tasteful than I imagined! The violet tones on Mista are beautiful."

4. Daybreak

The production staff matched the direction of the sunrise to the actual location, which they went to check in person. Takahashi tells viewers, "When you go to Venice, make sure to do two rounds of touring-one for the manga, and one for the anime!""

- Hideya Takahashi, Blu-Ray limited edition commentaries