JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Set 7 - Golden Wind Part 2 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.5

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Set 7 - Golden Wind Part 2 Blu-ray Movie Review

The adventures continue.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind – Set 2 brings more exciting thrills to the table. Golden Wind comes from original creator Hirohiko Araki. Produced by Hiroyuki Oomori (Umineko – When They Cry, Comic Party Revolution), Jun Fukuda (Cat Planet Cuties, Girls Beyond the Wasteland), Ryosuke Mori (Black Clover, B Gata H Kei – Yamada's First Time), and Toshiyasu Hayashi (Matoi the Sacred Slayer, School-Live!), JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind – Set 2 delivers more thrills for fans of the franchise.

Giorno Giovanna (Kensho Ono) wants nothing more than to be a successful gangster. Giorno is not a traditional Joestar but he finds his own path – despite his blonde hair making him an easy target for unfair jokes. Capo Bruno Bucciarati (Yuichi Nakamura) ends up joining forces with Giorno as he embarks on a team mission to defeat the head-honcho boss of the mafia family, Passione.

These undeniably strange mafiosi face unexpected obstacles on their journey to stopping the rule of the dangerous famiglia boss. Can Giorno emerge victorious from the mission? Or will the quest lead to the downfall of Giorno? Adventure and mystery unfolds – one battle at a time.

The saga continues to explore new terrain. The characters are on a dangerous mission – and the saga reflects that. Venice is beautiful but there is also a dark side to the coin. The production manages to focus intently on the characters journey (and the darkness within). Golden Wind expands upon the franchise. These episodes continue to explore contrasting elements.

The animation remains one of the best elements of the production of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind. The animation direction by Haruka Tanaka (A Certain Scientific Railgun, Attack on Titan) and Shun'ichi Ishimoto (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders Battle in Egypt Arc, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable) soars to new heights with these episodes. The production has epic, grand-scale background animation.

The animators involved on the production clearly invested a lot of time and effort in to the production and the impressive aesthetic is the result of that dedication from the production staff. With art direction by Megumi Kato (ef: a tale of memories, Negima!? Summer) and Shunichiro Yoshihara (After the Rain, Aquarion Evol), JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind makes a solid impression. The art direction also helps the animation reach its goals.

A worthwhile premium edition for die-hards.

The character designs by Takahiro Kishida (Welcome to the Ballroom, Durarara!!) were completed with Takahito Katayama. The designs by Kishida (with Katayama's aid) are noteworthy. The series features a compelling cast of larger-than-life characters. The main characters on the series have distinctive personalities and these elements are conveyed through the character designs for JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind.

The cinematography by Kazuhiro Yamada (House of Five Leaves, Ergo Proxy) remains one of the best components of the franchise. Yamada is a first-rate cinematographer. Yamada imbues the production with a sense of creativity and a sense of ambition. The visuals emphasis both the light and dark elements of the storytelling.

The music score composed by Yugo Kanno (Psycho-Pass, Gundam Reconguista in G) is a good match for the material. Kanno does a solid job with the compositions. The music enhances the tone without seeming out-of-place. The score highlights the drama and the characters. A solid effort by Kanno.

Written by Yasuko Kobayashi (Trigun: Badlands Rumble, Attack on Titan), JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind is an entertaining series with some compelling developments in the saga. The storyline unfolds with ambitious splendor. Kobayashi remembers to focus first-and-foremost on the characters. While the action component is important, Kobayashi delivers storytelling that is engaging on multiple levels (thus delivering what fans of the series want to see).

Hideya Takahashi (Anonymous Noise, My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU) and Yasuhiro Kimura (Plastic Memories, Mushishi: The Next Chapter) directs JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind. Ambitious, daring, and complex, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind is a compelling chapter expanding upon the franchise. Fans of the series won't be able to resist this installment in the saga.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Set 7 - Golden Wind Part 2 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Arriving on Blu-ray from VIZ Media, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind is presented in 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high definition presentation in the original television broadcast aspect ratio of 1.78:1 widescreen. The animation looks gorgeous and the presentation does a solid job of preserving every nuance of the animators work. Background animation, character designs, and line art are all well preserved by the encode. The release doesn't suffer from any egregious encoding anomalies (such as distracting banding). The release is a solid effort from VIZ Media.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Set 7 - Golden Wind Part 2 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The release includes a selection of lossless audio options: Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo (with English subtitles) and English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo. The lossless, high resolution presentations make a solid impression and help to enhance the experience. The audio has reasonably engaging bass and LFE. Despite the lack of a 5.1 surround sound mix, the stereo audio imaging is immersive and helps the series excel.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Set 7 - Golden Wind Part 2 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The premium edition includes a deluxe chip-board art-box. The set comes with a 48 page booklet including a story guide, staff interviews, and credits. There is a plethora of information contained within the accompanying booklet and fans of the series will appreciate having some special content exclusive to the collectors edition. Though the standard edition will fit the bill for casual fans, the diehard fanbase may want to pick-up the deluxe edition for these noteworthy extras (not included with the standard edition release).

On disc extras:

An Interview with Lizzie Freeman (HD, 6:42)

An Interview with Mick Lauer (HD, 14:36)

Art Gallery:

Art Gallery 1 includes 22 click-through illustrations. The illustrations highlight the central characters.

Art Gallery 2 includes 34 click-through illustrations. The illustrations highlight supporting cast and characters.

Art Gallery 3 includes 55 click-through illustrations. The illustrations highlight background animation (including layout art).

Clean Opening/Ending (HD, 5:11)

More from VIZ Media (HD, 3:09)

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Set 7 - Golden Wind Part 2 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind delivers more excitement for established fans. The anime series is worth checking out for newcomers as well. The animation is beautiful and crisp. The Blu-ray release has solid video-audio and a decent selection of bonus features. The collectors edition is well worth the extra cost for die-hard fans. The premium edition includes a gorgeous art-box and a 48 page booklet including staff interviews, an episode guide, and more. Recommended.