What did you think of shameless purplehaze do you think its good and do you think giorno was a bit out of character?
I think it’s good actually, the writing’s engaging and the characterizations are pretty close to how Araki wrote them. It’s not at all like Over Heaven or Jorge Joestar - Kohei Kadono’s actually written something that fits with Araki’s universe - and because of that, it’s definitely worth reading.
Re: Giorno, in the final restaurant scene (the only Giorno scene that’s not told in flashback), Giorno’s voice reads wrong to me. It’s almost like he’s narrating instead of just talking and because of that, he doesn’t feel present in that scene, it’s like watching a movie where a character’s miscast and the actor’s just sort of doing their own thing.
But for most of the novel and up until then, Giorno’s incredibly in character imo. And I love how he’s written. You can tell Kadono’s real familiar with the original manga, and not just Part 5. There’s this one intense scene between Murolo and Vittorio where Murolo talks about meeting Giorno:
“For the first time, I genuinely thought, ‘Here is a man I don’t want to disappoint.’ The first time I met him, you know what he said to me? ‘You haven’t betrayed anyone. Nobody ever let you. You don’t trust anyone, so nobody ever trusted you. Your invincibility is useless. You may be strong, but there’s no future in which you find yourself a purpose. Useless. Useless.’ I was mortified. He’d seen right through my shallowness, and left me deeply embarrassed. I’d never felt like that before. Never known shame. That was the first ‘heat’ that ever entered my life. Until that emotion hit me, I’d merely been biding time in a life without meaning.”
That might as well be N'Doul talking about meeting Giorno’s dad.
Stuff like this is where PHF’s version of Giorno shines: Kadono casts Giorno in a similar light as Dio - something Araki did a lot in Vento Aureo, where Giorno’s got a quieter form of his father’s Charisma. But now it’s on full display, because unlike in Pt.5 where Giorno’s the new guy, in PHF he’s a Don.
Kodono does this in a real subtle way though so it maintains Giorno’s quiet, measured tone. For most of the novel Giorno’s written from a distance, if that makes sense, Giorno appears mostly from Fugo’s perspective - and Fugo doesn’t know him well - and the perspective of the other characters (Murolo, Shiela E, etc). Those ‘glimpses’ of Giorno during what’s really *Fugo’s story* remind me of how we see DIO for most of Pt.3: from a distance and the perspective of followers.
The Giorno that emerges from these glimpses is an almost messianic-type figure who gives meaning and inspires devotion while maintaining what’s almost a mythical aura. PHF Giorno is described as insightful, he’s able to see the value in people who society’s written off and it’s almost as if he’s seeing into their souls and choosing the exact right language to move them. That coupled with his ruthlessness (again in line with his Pt.5 self) makes him neither hero nor villain … but ultimately PHF’s Giorno still reads as Good the way he does in Pt.5.
ofc the book’s about Fugo, not Giorno, and I maybe don’t feel like Fugo deserves the redemption that PHF gives him. fwiw I kind of liked that there was one guy in the gang who chose not to go, that felt real to me. But I can definitely accept PHF as a side novel about a character who was left open enough for exploration. It’s very good IMO, I wish the other light novels were written even half this well.
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