Purple Haze Feedback and a short revisit of Fugo
First of all: I am incredibly sorry. Originally I meant to write a blog entry along the lines of traveling alone, lucky numbers, field study or a k-pop group I really like and yet here I am writing once again about Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure simply because my brain would not shut the topic out after I started thinking about this so called spin off story „Purple Haze Feedback“. Maybe once I have written it all out about this story surrounding one of my favorite characters in the series I can finally let it go.
So. What is Purple Haze Feedback? In short: It’s a spin off story of the fifth part Golden Wind, regarding the character of Pannacotta Fugo (yes, like dessert but that’s not the point). At this point I’d like to put trigger warning for themes that happen in Golden Wind and Purple Haze Feedback such as sexual assault, death, anger issues, a character blaming themselves for death. I hope this covered it.
In the main story Fugo is a member of the parts main mafia team led by Bruno Bucciarati, which is split at a crucial point in the story and Fugo made the decision to part ways with them for safety reasons.
About him: He is a 16 year old boy but joined the mafia even younger. Throughout his life he’s been incredibly academically gifted, graduating early and starting university. His parents pressuring him further and further, obsessing over success and money. The only person that understands his struggle and just lets him be the child he is is his grandmother. The backstories are quite divided regarding this character, but I personally don’t think they cancel each other out so I will tell a combined version. In both versions Fugo studies at the Universitá di Bologna. According to the anime he gets sexually harassed by a professor which leads him to snap, beating him ready for hospital with a book (luckily in my opinion if I am allowed to write that here) and gets suspended through that and also sent to prison, where Bucciarati pays to bail him out and offers him to join his team. Fugo’s family kicked him out due to the shame he brought them with his actions as they are only focused on status.
In Purple Haze Feedback his grandmother dies before an exam, in reaction to which he asks to get time off to be present at her funeral, but the university prevents that, making him angry and dropping out.
In all versions Fugo battles with anger issues resulting from the pressure his family put on him. His stand is also one of my favorites and might also be one most visibly connected to the standusers trauma.
Fugo’s stand, called Purple Haze, is one of the most uncontrollable and dangerous stands in the series. It’s power is connected to beads that are attached to it’s knuckles. If they break they set a virus free, that kills everything and everyone in a 5 meter radius and also hurts Fugo himself if he is too close. Possibly signifying a self destructive tendency these anger issues can have. To further show his issue with lack of control during his outbursts his stand doesn’t only appear when called compared to other stands. Fugo might also accidentally release it when his anger gets a hold of him. On top of this obvious connection to past trauma Purple Haze itself is a stand that has quite the distinct personality of it’s own. Meanwhile when angry it’s uncontrollable it’s also obsessed with keeping itself clean. Constantly trying to wipe non directly visible dirt off itself likely referencing Fugo’s own past trauma.
Throughout the story of Golden Wind every Bucciarati Gang member gets a number of episodes dedicated to their personal growth. Making them stronger, build trust in themselves or the team as well and preparing them for the following part of the story in which they have no more mafia organization backing them up. All characters get this and successfully complete this except for one, Fugo, who only succeeds through the main character, Giorno, believing in him and helping him in this mission. This means Fugo’s character arc is incomplete and later might be the reason he makes the decision to leave while everyone else stays.
This missing character arc gets closure during the spin off novel Purple Haze Feedback.
At the beginning of this story Mista, an old friend and member of Bucciarati Gang, seeks out Fugo to make sure he will not betray the new order Giorno established as Italy’s new mafia boss. Fugo has only two options: Die or prove his loyalty to Giorno and rejoin the mafia. To prove his loyalty he has to complete a mission together with the new member Sheila E. This mission consists of tracking and taking down the narcotics team, which betrayed Giorno.
Sheila E. And Fugo’s relationship is also very complex. She reveals that she only joined the mafia to take revenge for her sisters death, who was killed by Illuso. This happens during the original Golden Wind story arc in what is meant to be Hugo’s character arc as he killed Illuso. This makes Sheila E. unsure wether she should be thankful to Fugo or angry as her only goal is taken from her.
Mista and Fugo’s relationship is complicated as well. The former friend is incredibly cold to this story’s main character and sees him leaving clearly as betrayal, while Fugo asks him about the fate of their old team mates. Mista clearly blames Fugo partly for the fate of their friends.
Throughout the story Fugo clearly struggles in all aspects, mentally and physically. He fully takes the blame of their friends deaths and is more often than not lost in thought about old, better times, especially when thinking of his dear friend Narancia and Bruno, who saved them all in some type of way.
Fugo also gets the character development he was missing in Golden Wind through cooperating with the new characters and handling situations by himself. The climax is him fighting the enemy and having no other choice than taking his own death into account by biting down on Purple Haze’s last virus bead, making the deadly smoke explode in his mouth, tearing through his skin and throat but also killing the enemy.
The end might be one of my favorite endings if it were an officially canon end. Fugo gets to meet Giorno, who is now the boss of Italy’s mafia and gets to swear his loyalty though he is still incredibly unsure. Giorno’s character is incredibly likable in this scene as he comforts Fugo, who carries the blame and burden of not having been able to say goodbye to his friends, deeply mourning them and their lost friendship. He says:
„Half a step“, he said. „If you can’t take a step forward, then I’ll step halfway to you. Everything hinges on your decision, but if grief anchors your feet, then let me share it.“
I love this quote a lot. It presents Giorno not as the cold and high mighty boss, but as a friend that Fugo definitely needs. He continued to believe in him and support him just like he did when they first met. This proves Giorno as an extremely thoughtful and loyal person even to people he has right to distrust.
This spin off doesn’t only clarify the story end for Fugo but also for Giorno and how he will continue to lead the mafia. Trish, the girl they protected in the main story, also gets her own bit of closure. In a bonus chapter she visits Bucciarati’s grave and talks to his mother. During Giorno’s and Figo’s meeting her song plays in the radio followed by an interview. She became a popular singer. Sadly Mista doesn’t get quite the closure he would deserve but at least we know he is still Giorno’s right hand and I personally hope, that once Fugo swore his loyalty the gun man got his old charming humor back.
This is it for right now. For next time I promise an entry that isn’t about Jojo’s for once. I am not even sure why I wrote in English today I was just feeling like I should write something in English once again before I get rusty. I Hope this entry was still entertaining and interesting for the Jojo Fans out there.












