sal's art dump

Backstories

Giorno and Narancia share a few similarities in their backstories.

Both had at least one abusive and neglectful parent, were outcasts in their social groups, and were eventually saved by a stranger—precisely, a gangster: Man X for Giorno and Bucciarati for Narancia. And in both cases, said gangsters tried everything they could to keep them away from the criminal life, eventually failing.

They were both failed and abused by the systems they lived in before either of them ever became a criminal, and they chose to associate with the only people who ever protected them and treated them like human beings.

For some reason, their hair color is a pretty important part of their histories, and even more interestingly, they literally switch their hair colors. Giorno started with black hair and later became blond when he unlocked Gold Experience, while Narancia dyed his hair blond and later reverted to black hair.

Here, Giorno and Narancia follow opposite paths that lead towards the same outcome: forming their own identity. Giorno's blond hair externalizes his hidden identity, while Narancia's black hair restores what he discarded to appeal to his 'friend'.

They're the only members of Bucciarati's squad that haven't killed anyone in the past (keep this in mind; it will come in handy later). Despite everyone in the squad having a reason for doing what they did, both Narancia and Giorno never killed anyone. Ironically, they're the ones with the highest kill count later in the story.

I think this point wants to show that violence isn't only innate, and that environment and the circumstances create or increase the chance of violence. It plays a lot with Giorno's ideal of protecting the innocents.

When it comes to psychological development, both innate and environmental causes are at play: this means that the same trauma could elicit different responses from two different people based on their innate traits. Giorno and Narancia start from the same wounds in their past, but later develop totally different personalities and ways of coping with said trauma. It's almost as though they're two possible outcomes of the same—or close—childhood.

You could even argue that Giorno and Narancia represent two versions of the same ideal: both were neglected children whose lives were changed by one act of kindness from a gangster, and both spend the rest of their lives trying to preserve the kind of world where that kindness can exist, though in different ways.

Canon interactions

During the first half of Vento Aureo, Giorno and Narancia don't interact that much. The most important moments I can think of right now are these (please do tell me if I missed some; I tried my best by recalling what I remembered from my last rewatch and re-read of the manga):

During their first meeting, Narancia jokes about their age gap.

After the Formaggio fight, everyone criticizes Narancia for recklessness because his actions endangered the mission. Giorno is the one who immediately points out the other side: Narancia defeated an enemy Stand user alone, protected Trish, and acted in the only way possible at the moment.

They have a small talk about Trish on the train.

When Narancia boards the boat in Venezia, Giorno tells him he respects his resolve. (anime only scene!)

Most of their interactions are either jokes or pretty one-sided (Giorno expressing his respect for Narancia and him not doing much about it, lol), but I do think they're laying the groundwork for what comes later between these two. Even then, there is some meaning behind these interactions, at least in my opinion.

One thing worth noticing is that Giorno consistently evaluates Narancia by his actions rather than by his reputation. Narancia tried to establish a subtle hierarchy between them on their first meeting: "I am older, so you must respect me", and Giorno did, but not because of their ages. While everyone else is being pretty paternalistic towards Narancia, Giorno admits and recognizes Narancia's competence and resolve, so Giorno considers him worthy of respect. In turn, Narancia is often impressed by Giorno's quick thinking and slowly starts to trust him.

The Clash and Talking Head fight is a gold mine for this analysis; I love those chapters to death, and it's one of the main appeals of naragio for me. (the tracheotomy scene has been stuck in my head for years for COMPLETELY different reasons though, lol)

First, when Narancia is attacked by Clash and Talking Head, Giorno doesn't dismiss Narancia's bizarre behavior as stupidity or panic. Everyone is confused because Narancia literally can't communicate what's happening, but Giorno is the first to seriously consider that something external is interfering. That says a lot about the level of trust Giorno has already developed in him.

(and also, Giorno being so insistent about seeing and healing Narancia's wounds)

On Narancia's side, the trust is even more obvious. Throughout the battle, he's forced into situations where he has to rely on Giorno's judgment because he literally can't explain what's happening. Narancia explicitly says he knew Giorno could figure out what was going on. He just needed Giorno to, well, do it.

I also think this arc reinforces the point we made earlier about Giorno recognizing Narancia's abilities. Talking Head is designed to make the victim appear irrational: the whole gimmick is that your allies stop trusting you because your words become lies. If Giorno had viewed Narancia as "the dumb kid," this would've been the perfect opportunity for that prejudice to surface, but he does the complete opposite.

To overcome a stand like that, you have to have an insane amount of trust in the other, and by the end of the fight Narancia finally states his trust in Giorno out loud.

Body Swap

I always found it funny how Narancia and Giorno reacted so calmly to the body swap compared to Trish and Mista, probably because Giorno is a calm person overall and Narancia only felt the need to point out that even if he's in a younger body, he's still older. That's probably just a gag, but…

Narancia is often treated as the “kid” of the group, and even when people care about him, that care can slide into condescension. So when he sees Giorno in his body behaving like a seventeen-year-old is supposed to, it is almost like being confronted with an unflattering ideal of how he thinks he is supposed to carry himself.

He may be reminding himself that he is not “supposed” to be this childish, impulsive, or underestimated. The fact that Giorno does not baby him makes that sting less and could also be a reason why Narancia likes being around him. Giorno treats him as capable, so Narancia can be more at ease around him; but that also means Giorno’s maturity in Narancia’s body becomes a more direct mirror.

Narancia's Death

Narancia's death was painful for everyone, but God, it must have been horrifying for Giorno. Narancia's body is carrying Giorno's identity in that moment, meaning that the first image Giorno has of Narancia's death is the sight of what appears to be his own body mutilated and abandoned on a gate. And yet, Giorno knows that Narancia is the one who died.

Giorno literally runs toward Narancia's body and immediately tries to heal him, only to realize that he is too late, and there is a very interesting difference between how he reacts to Narancia's death compared to Abbacchio's.

When Giorno finds Abbacchio's corpse, his reaction is: "We were too late." With Narancia, however, Giorno internalizes the loss, and he blames himself for not being able to save him when technically, the burden of losing Narancia doesn't only rest on his shoulders. Everyone else could have realized he was missing in time, yet no one did.

And then, there is the fact that Giorno even cries: the story explicitly tells us that Giorno learned, as a child, that crying was useless. Throughout Part 5, we rarely see him openly express fear, sadness, or desperation and at most, we see him tremble or show small cracks in his composure.

So the fact that Narancia's death makes him cry is extremely significant. Why does this death affect him so deeply?

This connects directly to one of the biggest parallels between Giorno and Narancia that we established at the start: Narancia represents the kind of person Giorno wants to protect.

Narancia is, in many ways, the "innocent" that Giorno fights for. He was neglected, abused, and abandoned by the people who were supposed to care for him. He was framed for a crime he did not commit, and before joining Passione, he had never taken a life.

Giorno's goal is to change an organization that destroys innocent lives into something that protects them instead. Narancia is the exact kind of person he wants that new world to save. Giorno probably felt like he failed to protect someone who embodied everything he was fighting for.

And then there is the speech Giorno gives to Narancia's body, which might be one of the clearest demonstrations of how much respect and affection he had for him.

After Abbacchio's death, Narancia was devastated by the idea of abandoning his corpse, and the whole reason he joined the gang in betraying Diavolo was that he understood the grief Trish went through. He could not bear the thought that someone else he cared about was simply being left behind because he himself knows how it feels to be abandoned.

And when Narancia dies, Giorno makes sure that he is not abandoned even in death. He leaves flowers around his body and promises that no one will hurt him anymore, and that he will bring him home. (The softness in Giorno's voice in the anime makes me go insane every time, especially in the Italian dub.)

(There is also an interesting translation detail here. In Japanese, Giorno's line is generally rendered in the first person: "I won't let anyone hurt you anymore." Some translations adapt it into "we," (like the anime's Italian dub, whereas in the manga it's the same as the english version) likely because Giorno is speaking as part of Bucciarati's group and because the entire team is honoring Narancia's memory. However, the Japanese phrasing itself is commonly understood as Giorno personally making this promise.)

Miscellaneous observations

Although Gold Experience and Aerosmith are mechanically very different, both are unusually life-oriented compared to the other Stands in Bucciarati's team. Gold Experience generates and restores life, while Aerosmith specializes in locating and protecting it.

Narancia's torture dance is a remix of Pussy Control by Prince, first track in the album The Gold Experience (sounds familiar?)

Narancia saved Giorno once, but Giorno was never able to save Narancia.

Giorno is, quite literally, Narancia's coffin.

---