The Hitman Team, more so known as La Squadra Esecuzioni has been an experience.
Over the time of both reading and watching Golden Wind, I’ve gathered a lot of thoughts
on all the characters in this Passione sub-division, and I’m hoping that I’ll get majority
of what I want to say out into the open in this video.
I’ll be going in order of the fights, and appearance potentially.
Starting this off with Formaggio!
I remember my thoughts after the fight thinking about how Formaggio was potentially the Narancia
of the group.
Not because of intelligence but more so being open about his emotional ties to those he
cares about.
All the members in the hitman team were hurt by the deaths of Sorbet and Gelato, but Formaggio
is the one to be truly vocal about it and you can see that it’s a thing he does think
about when carrying out his mission.
I also think that they’re both the under credited members of the group in their own
ways, though it’s not an entirely major thing because both groups have massive respect
for their members.
Formaggio because the team believed that he had a weaker stand in comparison to anyone
else, and Narancia because of his intelligence compared to everyone else’s.
They’re also both extremely passionate, which is something that I give huge credit
to Formaggio.
Formaggio being the first member of La Squadra that we see was the beginning to my eyes unraveling
to the idea that La Squadra isn’t too different from our own group.
I’ll be going over general thoughts of the group at the end though instead of focusing
it to a character’s slots.
I loved the fight between Formaggio and Narancia, I had already talked about everything I wanted
to on that in the video on the arc itself though so I’ll be referring to that video
instead of reiterating things I’ve already said.
More on his character, I’m interested on where his morality truly stands because Formaggio
has terrifyingly sadistic behavior, but there’s a limit as to how bad is bad.
The Sorbet and Gelato situation can be an example here, but I think he holds stronger
ties to it because of his connect to those to.
At the same time, he wouldn’t look at Narancia being eaten because he’s not that sadistic.
I wonder where he’d be on the scale for assassins able to handle gruesome things.
Lastly, I like his design a lot, but this is a case where I would much rather have the
coloring from the manga than the one we have in the anime.
That’s just an opinion.
Onto Sorbet and Gelato!
They were the catalyst to why I believe there should’ve been some La Squadra OVA of some
sorts.
Granted, I do that with all types of villains.
We can see the significance of those two when it comes to the group because of how they
act towards their deaths, but I think an OVA or one-shot of some sorts about La Squadra
would’ve been nice for us to strengthen our bonds to the members of La Squadra.
Though I’m happy we had some sort of reincarnation of those character archetypes through Titziano
and Squalo so that was nice to experience.
On Illuso.
Well, the first thing that comes to mind is after the Man in the Mirror arc, I thought
a lot about how our group and La Squadra compare and contrast.
I think it’s safe to say that this was more so a Fugo focused fight?
To an extent at least, even though Abbacchio and Giorno were big parts of it.
Illuso to me as a character was this person who has such a strong confidence when fighting
his opponents because if his opponents were to ever have anything on him, he learns from
it, mirrors it, and then applies it into his intelligence bank.
Not like he’s Kakashi doing copycat ninja stuff, but more so…
Well let me make a quote that I think would fit Illuso.
“Alright, you got me with that, but I’m never getting hit by that again.
” Which for those that play fighting games or anything that requires you learning the
habits and patterns of your opponent, this should be common to you.
Illuso’s ability is not only one that circulates around mirrors, but also mirroring.
Like how when his arm got infected with the Purple Haze Virus, he didn’t just get rid
of his arm because that virus was going to kill him and it’s the logical thing to do,
he did because Abbacchio did it, and if he couldn’t do what his opponent had done,
then that would put him below his opponent.
More so not in the position of the fight, but instead inside of his head.
Illuso’s strength in battle is honestly gauged by his mental fortitude and how much
he believes his resolve can push himself to keep up with his opponent.
That’s why he’s screaming about how losing his arm is nothing, it’s could be even considered
reassurance for himself.
I really liked that.
I got the whole, “Anything you can do I can do better, I can do anything better than
you” feeling when reading this.
Which is pretty funny because that type of mentality usually doesn’t work for the person
copying.
There was a quote on this, but I can’t remember as to how it goes, but basically it’s summed
up to be, “Since you don’t know how or why I did this thing, you won’t be able
to do it yourself.
” After re-watching the episode, I also thought about this other quote that goes "He
who only speaks in quotes often forgets to think for himself".
Which if I’m translating this into what Illuso did, it runs side by side because while
focusing on his one problem at hand and using his mind to reassure himself and mirror what
Abbacchio had done, he wasn’t thinking in the same way that he was earlier in the fight.
Also, for those that know where that last quote is from, yo keep it low-key.
Now on Prosciutto.
In a group of assassins, I feel like he’s one of the ones that acts the most like an
assassin.
His goal is the mission, and his composure shows that.
It’s a job and he’s treating it as such.
While I wanted to say that he doesn’t have that behavior that defines him like how Formaggio
has his sadism, and Ghiaccio has being Ghiaccio, Prosciutto does have something and his large
to his character.
Which is his caring side, which I believe to be apart of his big brother position.
How he supports Pesci shows it and I love that in his character.
I imagine that he would be one to try to get a handle on how a lot of the members act when
it comes to fights.
Pesci’s lack of confidence affects how the mission is handled, and since Prosciutto already
cares about him directly, he gives him the reassurance and support he needs to move forward.
I imagine that if he was present in a lot of the other fights, he would’ve been the
strongest ally there is because of how great of a coach he is.
For example, I think if he was present during the fight with Formaggio and Narancia, he’d
be on Formaggio’s ass about not keeping an eye on Narancia, underestimating his opponent,
and all-around being cocky.
Though the other members aren’t like Pesci, so I’d think they’d get annoyed with Prosciutto
constantly having to check them.
Grateful Dead would’ve also been strong in that fight coming to think of it, but I’ve
digressed.
I have massive respect for Prosciutto.
I
also love that he had seen Pesci as a win condition in this fight because of how well
he’s able to recognize the situation and how he understands the abilities and potential
of everyone at hand.
I’d like to think that he’d be a great fit for a leader in general, but I think of
that because of how he was after fighting Bruno.
Prosciutto’s resolve to carry out the mission couldn’t match Bruno when it came to earlier
in the fight, but I love who Prosciutto could’ve been if he didn’t meet the fate he did.
Or well, he became that person before he had died.
So, I can remember him for who he was and not for what he couldn’t have been.
Last thing, god I love his design.
I’d rock that if I was able to.
Onto Pesci.
The strongest thing a person can have is mental fortitude, Pesci shows that point extremely
well.
I thought having a timid assassin was pretty funny, but the relationship between Prosciutto
and Pesci made me think a bit more about it in general.
Because in this it’s like, hey, this is my little brother or friend that calls me
big brother, he’s shy but I believe that he’d be a strong asset to the team.
So now I’m getting this idea of “Hey, this guy wants to prove himself to the world,
and he has a great friend pushing him to get that done!”
And I believe that’s what sets Pesci apart from the Pinky and the Brain type of trope.
When the time comes for Pesci to move forward, he does it at full speed.
Granted, it took Prosciutto basically dying, but people take advice in different ways and
different times.
Onto Melone.
Random thought, I think
his death was supposed to be ironic because of how he uses his tongue a lot to be weird,
but I was wondering if there was anything that connected Melone to snakes at all.
Probably not, most likely the tongue thing is just Melone’s thing that was made from
his stand connection because Babyface made a lot of sensual music so Melone doing that
would make sense.
I like the fact his stand starts off with using a computer first.
That’s different, and I like his design.
Not really much to say on Melone, personally.
I have a lot on the Babyface fight and the stand specifically, but that’s not on his
character.
So, I guess I’ll be leaving it here.
On Ghiaccio.
Oh my god, I love this character.
The fact he takes moments where he just picks at something he’s thinking about is amazing.
To me it feels like Ghiaccio is everyone’s compulsive feeling to correct something they
know is wrong, at least in the case of languages thing.
Taking metaphors literally seems like it’s just an aspect of Ghiaccio being ‘that’
one logic analysis guy.
To add onto that he starts breaking stuff in anger at these things, he reminds me of
a mad scientist and I love it.
Then the irony of the character because his name is Ice, yet he’s known for being extremely
heated.
But everything I’m mentioning right now is really all the general stuff you get when
looking at Ghiaccio.
We see how vocal Ghiaccio is to himself and the people he’s fighting against, but I
also love that we see Ghiaccio being vocal about the problems directly affecting him
like when he was talking about how La Squadra as a whole is not getting the recognition
or the pay-out for the work that they do.
He’s the one being vocal for the group, even though it’s a thought that everyone
is having, Ghiaccio is the one guy addressing it out-loud.
And that’s great, every group needs that one person not afraid to speak their mind.
It helps a lot for La Squadra too because Ghiaccio is reasonably smart too so him being
vocal isn’t just ignored for being irrational or anything down that line.
He’s also a great fighter, like the White Album fight has to be one of my favorite fights
in JoJo, hell probably even the arc itself.
I wish we were able to see a lot more of him, it’s getting to a point where I’m about
to start commissioning people to make my own fan manga because man I need something and
if it’s not going to be made then I’m going to Mario Maker this.
And finally, Risotto Nero.
The story of Risotto is a painful one, we didn’t get to see that incorporated into
the anime, which was unfortunate so I’ll be putting it here on the screen.
Looking back at his character, it was a genuinely sad one when getting down into the end of
it all.
I can’t imagine living the life Risotto did and losing all the members of your team.
I can’t imagine the circumstances that had brought the other members of La Squadra into
Passione, but it probably wasn’t anything light.
So now you have a group joined by fate, and their newest goal is to grow in strength and
power.
They’re like Bruno’s group, but just on the other side of things and it’s sad.
I look to how Bruno and Giorno love their fellow members, and I can imagine that La
Squadra went along something like that.
So, losing members is extremely painful, to lose everyone and stand alone to be the only
one carrying out a group goal is just unimaginably sad.
Which I’m not sure how to feel about because I marvel at the fact it’s so painful rather
than feeling said pain.
Is that weird?
I don’t know, I feel like that’s a thing that just happens when looking at stuff from
a in-quotes “analytical” perspective to where I’m not letting my empathy or sympathy
connect with it.
Granted he is an assassin so that’s probably what’s getting to me.
On Risotto in the fight with Doppio, I love his mindset on the situation because it’s
one that’s only works in an ideal world where humans don’t make human mistakes.
He told himself not to get cocky or overstep, but his feelings overwrote that, and he lost.
That’s humanity.
I love this happening because when it comes down to my interest in fighting games or just
games where you have to play against someone else or something else, people have the idea
of perfection over practicality.
Like this character can do all of these things if all the conditions are perfect, but that’s
impossible because the human condition can never be perfect!
You can be beating something without losing health in one moment, and get hit with a reversal
and then snowball right after that.
Risotto in his head believed that he needed to have a grasp on every condition to the
T, but that’s not what happened.
Self-acceptance was majorily required for Risotto, but it’s something he went without.
It makes sense why he doesn’t believe in room for error because of how many lives he
has riding on him and how many members had died so that they could carry out their goal.
In the end he failed anyways, but I don’t think that’s something that the team would
hold against him, especially since they all lost too.
I don’t where they end up after dying in the JoJo universe, but hopefully they’re
together in some state of being where instead of worrying about getting undercut and being
unappreciated, they just enjoy themselves and appreciate each other and what they did
for each other.
Though that’s just
an ideal situation.