Hitman Team (Episode)

The Hitman Team (チーム) is the tenth episode of Golden Wind and the one hundred twenty third episode of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure anime. The episode covers from Chapter 472 to Chapter 474 of the original manga with parts of Chapter 475.

Summary
A short recap of the last episode narrates Formaggio's confrontation with Narancia Ghirga. In the now, Narancia calms himself and finally notices that the shoe and knife that he's lost have become bigger than usual and so did his surroundings. Meanwhile, Formaggio is still hiding inside Narancia's dress pocket. Back at the hiding place, Fugo worries that Narancia is taking too much time.

Narancia understands that he is slowly shrinking and thus rushes to a nearby hall to use the phones inside. Because of his light weight, he is temporarily blocked by the automatic doors but uses Aerosmith to break the doors and pierce the payphones for their coins. To prevent Narancia from reaching his allies, Formaggio summons Little Feet to cut the phone's wire but Narancia understands that his enemy is nearby. Trying to hide at the bottom of the pocket, Formaggio is mysteriously detected by the boy, who squeezes him into his hand and shows him to Aerosmith to be shot at. Formaggio escapes out of Narancia's fist by returning a pen to its normal size, the sudden change propelling him out. Still, Aerosmith effortlessly tracks Formaggio despite his best efforts. Falling into a sewer but still being tracked even underwater, Formaggio weights his options while defending from Aerosmith's bullets.

A flashback reveals a meeting Formaggio had with some of his partners from La Squadra Esecuzioni while assassinating a target by making him unwittingly drink a shrunken car and then grow it back inside his stomach. After the deed was done, the team gathered to share their meager payment but noticed that two of their teammates, Sorbet and Gelato, had disappeared. Indeed, compared to the lucrative drug traffic and gambling other teams controlled, the Hitman team only received money through payments for assassinations and that frustrated them, to the point Sorbet and Gelato decided to look into The Boss' past. They spent time searching for the two but couldn't find any clue until Formaggio found Gelato's corpse, choked with a rag. The team then began to receive strange pieces encased in glass. Putting them together, La Squadra realized with horror that The Boss had had Sorbet cut into pieces and sent his corpse to the team as a well-orchestrated demonstration of his might while Sorbet choked himself with his own gag. Burying their comrades, the team then despaired to ever overthrow The Boss, until news of Trish fell into their ears.

In the now, Formaggio is still under attack, but noticing that Aerosmith has also needlessly attacked some rats, he understands that Aerosmith detects lifeforms through the carbon dioxide they release. Formaggio hides inside a swarm of rats whom he scatters and even wounds Aerosmith, but Narancia deduces that one rat breathing more heavily than the others must be carrying Formaggio and shoots. Formaggio is hit but it is too late: the assassin grows back into his normal size while Narancia has shrunk with his Stand, becoming too weak.

Manga/Anime Differences

 * Narancia's backstory is omitted from this point in the story.
 * An original scene of Team Bucciarati waiting for Narancia is added.
 * As Trish grows impatient for her mineral water, so does Sex Pistols due to not having lunch. Meanwhile, Fugo goes from being frustrated with Narancia running late to genuine worry for him, something Giorno takes notice of.
 * Formaggio is shown holding the ballpoint pen before he turns backs its normal size to escape from Narancia's grasp.
 * Added the "Sezione Gestione Sistemi informatici" to the Passione diagram.
 * The flashback of La Squadra Esecuzioni has been moved from when Formaggio catches a miniscule Narancia to earlier in the battle when he dives underwater in the sewer drain to escape from Aerosmith. It is also expanded upon, revealing the entire team and their personalities, as well as various interactions between them. As a result, their backstory is dramatically altered to accommodate for the presence of every member.
 * After leaving a restroom stall, Formaggio finishes shrinking a car to a near-microscopic size before dropping it into a target's drink in a restaurant. He then walks to a table nearby to meet up with Melone, Prosciutto, and Pesci. As the target and the woman accompanying him leave the restaurant, Formaggio lets Little Feet return the car to its normal size, exploding the target from the inside, but unintentionally crushing the woman as well.
 * Before the target's death, Prosciutto is shown reprimanding Pesci for drinking milk, to which he replies in a whiny tone that his stomach turns when he drinks espresso. Prosciutto calls him a "mammone" anyway. Later, upon the target's death, Pesci is left frightened at the gruesome display.
 * As the woman exits the door, Melone licks his lips watching her legs. He then gives a wide grin, repulsing the others.
 * When Formaggio and the others return to La Squadra Esecuzioni's base after the job, Illuso, Ghiaccio, and Risotto Nero await them. The group begins to discuss why Sorbet and Gelato haven't returned, and Risotto points out that Sorbet would never miss out on his pay, striking worry in everyone. After some time has passed, the group finds that they are unable to locate their two teammates.
 * Illuso is introduced belittling Formaggio's Stand ability, then jokingly wondering if Sorbet and Gelato were "getting it on" when he initially hears about their absence.
 * Illuso's comment is a bit more direct than the manga's "rumors of a relationship", as well as Gelato's hand being under Sorbet's shirt in the anime, seem to indicate that in this version their relationship is more official.
 * Ghiaccio asks Melone how much money they were getting paid for the job, being immediately infuriated upon hearing an answer of a 'cheap' 20 million lire. While the others search for Sorbet and Gelato, Ghiaccio frustratingly complains about how little money La Squadra Esecuzioni makes compared to Polpo alone (who controls Naples' gambling) and especially the team in charge of drug-dealing. He openly claims that Squadra Esecuzioni is the best team in Passione to rationalize their mistreatment.
 * Risotto, as the leader of the group, keeps Formaggio and Illuso in line as well as calming Ghiaccio's anger.
 * In the manga, Gelato was found dead in his house, with his corpse laying on his sofa. However, in the anime, his corpse is found in the place where his friend, Sorbet was cut to pieces.
 * Formaggio is the one who comes across Gelato's corpse.
 * The note left on Gelato's corpse now reads "punizione" and handwritten rather than "castigo" printed.
 * A scene of Sorbet being hacked to pieces is added. A silhouetted figure is shown dismembering the body, while another watches.
 * The lines describing Sorbet dying in the middle of being chopped alive were omitted. He now can be heard screaming and struggling as it happens.
 * The address the 36 formalin frames were delivered to is listed as "Vico Pallonetto Santa Chiara, 8, 80134 Napoli NA". This corresponds to a real-world back alley in the slums of Naples.
 * Pesci recognizes the nail polish on Sorbet's fingers before the team assembles the formalin frames. He also shies away in fear when the assembly is near-completion.
 * La Squadra Esecuzioni attends Sorbet and Gelato's funeral, where Risotto tells them to forget about Sorbet and Gelato; all of them leave with the exception of Risotto at the end.
 * Instead of spilling blood, the damage to Aerosmith's wing done by Little Feet causes it to catch fire, making the Stand more faithful to a real plane.

Trivia

 * Prosciutto calls Pesci a "mammoni" when he sees him drinking milk.
 * "Mammoni" is a grammatical error, "mammoni" being the plural form of "mammone".
 * "Mammone" is an Italian term, meaning someone excessively childish, whiny or attached to his own mother.
 * Likewise, Melone's message "L'avete trovato?" is grammatically incorrect, meaning "Did you find him?" instead of "Did you find them?". The correct sentence would have been "Li avete trovati?"