GW Episode 4

Joining the Gang (ギャング入門) is the fourth episode of Golden Wind and the one hundred seventeenth episode overall of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure anime. The episode covers from Chapter 451 to Chapter 455 of the original manga.

Giorno and Koichi are both attacked by Polpo's Black Sabbath, who is powerful but can only dwell in the shadows. The duo must find a way to defeat before the sun sets and the whole city is plunged in the dark.

Summary
Black Sabbath impales the old janitor in front of Giorno Giovanna with an Arrow and kills him as the janitor had no potential to be a Stand User. After tossing the corpse aside, Black Sabbath detects Giorno and attacks; although Giorno evades the strike and jumps up the staircase handrails, Black Sabbath grabs Giorno's shadow and drags Gold Experience out of it, ready to use the arrow again.

Giorno is cornered and must command Gold Experience to seriously fight back against the capo's Stand. However, when it pummels Black Sabbath, it disappears again. When it emerges from the shadow and sneakily grabs Gold Experience, Giorno understands Black Sabbath's ability is tied to the dark. By chance, Black Sabbath lets Giorno fall into the courtyard when it gets exposed to sunlight. Giorno experiments with the shadows and understands that Black Sabbath is confined to them. However, the setting sun means that soon Giorno won't have anywhere safe to run to. Koichi barges out of the dormitory but attracts Black Sabbath who attacks him with the Arrow. Giorno nonetheless saves him by turning the handrails into flowers and forcing Black Sabbath to flee.

During this reprieve, Giorno explains to Koichi that despite everything he is righteous at heart. Somewhat calmed, Koichi explains the use of the Arrow and that Black Sabbath must be an automatic Stand following preset instructions. Black Sabbath eventually outmaneuvers the two by using birds to move between shadows and grabs Giorno from the shadow of a nearby tree. But Echoes then shatters tiles and Gold Experience overcharges the roots of the tree with life, making it wither and exposing Black Sabbath to the light. Now considerably weakened, Black Sabbath is pummeled into disappearing for good. Afterward, Koichi rushes to call Jotaro Kujo for help against the Arrow, but Giorno stops him. As Polpo is probably unaware of the battle, Giorno sees an opportunity to continue infiltrating the gang. Revealing his dream to Koichi, Giorno convinces him of his righteousness and to keep his secret. Later, Koichi says he will report to Jotaro and leave for good.

The next day, Giorno returns to Polpo with the lit . Before officially allowing him inside the gang, Polpo takes the time to lecture Giorno on the honor code of gangsters, which is founded on trust and respect that every gangster will fight to the death for. Meanwhile, Giorno turns one of the guns in the cells into a banana and hides it in the fridge. Out of the prison, Giorno then goes to meet with Bruno Bucciarati and confirms his admission within the gang. While Bucciarati and Giorno walk the street, Polpo eventually eats the banana which turns back into a gun, making the capo shoot himself as gruesome revenge for the janitor. The Arrow is incidentally destroyed.

Giorno then asks where they are going, to which Bucciarati replies that he'll now meet his team of Stand Users.

Commentary
"I had to shout muda sixteen times. The day before recording, I practiced how to count the mudas in my head (I had decided to count four by four), but when I was actually in front of the mic shouting with all my energy. I kept missing by one, shouting one too many, ending with mudada, etc... It was a struggle, to be honest."

- Kensho Ono, Blu-Ray limited edition commentaries

"The color design of the prison scene reminds me of the 70s Italian horror movies Suspiria and Deep Red. It seemed scandalous seeing the female prison officer feeling up a young man's body. Also, this is a comment about episode three, but I thought the little bird in the cuckoo clock in Polpo's cell was incredibly cute."

- Nobutaka Kasama, Blu-Ray limited edition commentaries

"1. Battling Black Sabbath

It was important to make the complexity of the battle easier to understand, so Black Sabbath's behaviors are depicted as robotic, with set phrases and movements. The sequence where Black Sabbath moves with the shadow of a flying bird was not originally planned for the episode, but was added in to showcase the Stand's abilities.

2. MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA!

Thanks to the idea of key animator Takeshi Morita, the frames in Giorno's mid-episode muda feature pencil-like brush strokes and gradients, employing a coloring method usually only reserved for backgrounds and print material and rarely used in key animation. The result, however, gives Giorno's rage a visual punch.

3. Back to Polpo's Cell

Giorno appeared overwhelmed by Polpo's presence in episode three, but when he visits Polpo again in episode four, his expression is closer to that of a mafioso. The sound effect for Gold Experience is snuck into the part where the gun transforms into a banana. And Polpo's burp was all due to the power of voice actor Hideo Ishikawa!

4. Carrying the Joestar Spirit

Director Kimura explains that the anime-original scene with Koichi on the phone with Jotaro was created because he "wanted to draw the curtains on Koichi's character properly instead of just fading him out. And having Koichi describe Giorno's heart of gold right before Polpo is murdered by Giorno marks a memorable contrast."

- Yasuhiro Kimura, Blu-Ray limited edition commentaries

Trivia

 * The anime shows that Polpo kills himself with a revolver.
 * The English dub on Toonami cut part of the opening, keeping only the introduction with the statue and the chorus.