Narancia's Li'l Bomber (Episode)

Narancia's Aerosmith (ナランチャのエアロスミス) is the eleventh episode of Golden Wind and the one hundred twenty fourth episode of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure anime. The episode covers from Chapter 475 to the first half of Chapter 478 of the original manga with parts of Chapter 472.

Summary
A recap of the last episode relates how Narancia Ghirga has failed to kill the shrunken Formaggio. Having shrunken himself to the point that his attacks cannot hurt the assassin anymore, Narancia Ghirga recalls Aerosmith and decides to flee into an alleyway. Confronted by a hungry cat, he manages to repel it by shooting at it with Aerosmith. Yet before he can hide, Formaggio blocks his path by pouring the content of a can on his path. The assassin then stomps Narancia under the sole of his shoe and resumes his interrogation, angrily asking where is Trish Una.

Narancia Ghirga's past is revealed. Narancia, born in 1984, was once a normal bouncy child like any other. At age ten, his mother died from an eye infection and his father, already neglectful, cared even less for his son. Eventually Narancia stopped attending school and hung out with a group of friends with whom he could commit petty thefts and other crimes. One time, one of his older friends told him to dye his hair blond to look cool, but Narancia was then arrested and put into reform school for a year as he was mistaken for another young blond criminal who beat up and robbed an old woman. Narancia wouldn't plead guilty and the police beat him, leading to a lingering eye infection. At the same time, Narancia was suspicious about his "friend" but shut his worries down, as he believed friends were everything in the world. However, these same friends ostracized him when he got out, avoiding him because of his eye infection and the same blond friend slandering him. Betrayed and ill, Narancia became desperate and lived from now on as a miserable vagrant in the streets, letting himself die little by little. However, he then fortunately met Pannacotta Fugo and Bruno Bucciarati, who took take of him, had him cured of his infection and treated him again as a human being. Despite Bruno wanting to keep Narancia out of the gang, the boy was determined to work for that man and took Polpo's test, becoming a full-fledged member of Passione.

Back in the now, Narancia vehemently refuses to tell where the hideout is, stating that he isn't one to sell his friends to save his own hide and calls out Formaggio for involving the poor girl into their vendetta. Unimpressed and angry, Formaggio presses his questions and reveals that he thinks Trish has a Stand whose power could be a lead to The Boss' own ability. Taking out a spider in a bottle out of his pocket, Formaggio threatens to put Narancia together with the arachnid to see it hunt the boy. Although Narancia summons Aerosmith and shoots, Formaggio moves the bottle to protect the spider and grabs the shrunken plane Stand with Little Feet, disabling it for good. Narancia is forcibly pushed inside the bottle and a desperate fight against the spider begins.

The spider appears huge compared to Narancia and Formaggio gleefully wonders about its venom dissolving Narancia's insides. The boy reveals that he's taken a glass shard with him as a makeshift knife and defends himself courageously, but the spider soon uses his webs to trap and bind him. Finally defeated, Narancia persists in his silence but Formaggio spots a map of the surrounding Narancia has made and drawn on to not get lost, but lost from his pocket during the fight. Growing the map back to its normal size, Formaggio thus finally discovers where Team Bucciarati is hiding.

However, Narancia reveals his hidden move: when he was shooting with Aerosmith, he was in reality aiming at his car nearby and fired in the gas tank with his tracer bullets to set it on fire. The car finally explodes and Formaggio is temporarily taken out, returning Narancia to his normal height. Burning because he was near the explosion, Formaggio cuts himself in the wrist and then shrinks, using the blood to extinguish himself. Moreover, since Narancia has started a huge blaze, there is no way for him to track him precisely so Formaggio is sure to escape. Unfazed, Narancia decides to destroy every car in the vicinity and set the whole street on fire, forcing Formaggio to grow back. Heavily injured but in rage, Formaggio confronts Narancia in a last Stand duel but Narancia wins, his summoning being faster than Little Feet's strike. Shot down, Formaggio finds a spiteful solace in knowing that the battle will attract the attention of La Squadra Esecuzioni and make Team Bucciarati's mission impossible. Narancia has won the battle but failed his mission.

Back to the vineyard, Team Bucciarati is thrown in disarray as their hiding spot is now likely to be discovered by the enemy. Under the weight of his failure and heavily scolded by Fugo, Narancia's spirit is somewhat lifted when Giorno Giovanna declares that Narancia has nonetheless done the best course of action given the circumstances. Moreover, he is sure that The Boss will contact them. Sure enough, Mista announces that a message has been received, which instructs them to obtain a key hidden in the ruins of Pompeii near the famous dog mosaic. Having learned his lesson, Bruno now sends in three of his men, Fugo, Giorno and Abbacchio.

Manga/Anime Differences

 * Narancia's flashback is moved to this point of the plot and is more elaborate than in the original manga.
 * Narancia's mother is shown in the hospital on her deathbed, with Narancia holding her hand as she passes away. Narancia and his father are next seen at her tombstone with Narancia mourning.
 * Narancia's mother's name, Mela (literally "apple" in Italian), is revealed on her tombstone, along with her date of birth (September 21, 1958) and death (January 16, 1994). This makes her 35 years old at the time of her passing.
 * Rather than the narration claiming that Narancia's father didn't care for him and was neglectful, he is simply shown as being apathetic and distant, and avoiding reciprocating conversation with his son.
 * The information that Narancia's father was a gardener is omitted.
 * Narancia is shown committing theft with his friends as well as spending time with them.
 * At a bakery, Narancia distracts the clerk by asking for directions on a map as two of his friends shovel bread into bags.
 * Narancia's initial belief that friendship was the most important thing in the world is confirmed by the same blond-haired delinquent that would later scapegoat him.
 * Rather than being present after Narancia dyed his hair blond, the delinquent is absent.
 * The scene of his arrest is more elaborate.
 * In an interrogation room, the old lady who was beaten by the blond-haired delinquent enters and accuses Narancia of being the culprit. Narancia gets up from his seat trying to convince her, but is pinned to the wall by one of the investigators.
 * Narancia's eye infection was received when the investigator headbutts him in the eye, blackening it and allowing the infection to occur.
 * Narancia, while in prison, correctly theorizes that he was purposefully tricked into dyeing his hair to become the scapegoat. He quickly denies the thought, believing that his "friend" wouldn't do such a thing.
 * When Narancia returns from prison, his "friends" are shown actively shunning him, and the same blond-haired delinquent that framed him is the one that spread the rumors of the eye infection being contagious.
 * Fugo brings Narancia into the same restaurant the team is seen hanging out in Episode 5.
 * The spaghetti dish is shown to be spaghetti with squid, reflecting Bruno's own tastes.
 * This period between Narancia getted treatment for his eye infection and him deciding to join Passione is illustrated. After returning home and re-attending school, he visits his mother's grave again holding books. Despite his son having been in prison, Narancia's father remains neglectful.
 * Formaggio imagining Narancia's insides being dissolved by the spider's venom is represented.
 * Narancia's plan is shown on screen.
 * Narancia is also shown directly growing back to normal on screen.

Trivia

 * The imagination shot of Narancia dissolving is a reference to the poster of, a horror movie.