Howdy, good friends! Welcome back, welcome back! How’s your week been? I hope you’re ready for some comparisons, because we got ‘em! Today we’ll take a look at Episode #21 of Vento Aureo, “The Mystery of King Crimson”!

Let’s begin!

• In this scene of Abbacchio giving Giorno a loving shoulder massage, some details on Giorno’s face and chest have been retouched:

• This Zipper Man™ punch barrage animation is now much brighter and sharper:

• In the BD version of this scene, the mysterious boss is now sporting a very dashing aura (very in fashion this autumn-winter season):

• Here, the Trish in the background has been redrawn, and some details on Buccellati are also looking different:

• And here, our precious capo’s suit is now sporting its trademark pattern:

• Here, the background is a little darker, King Crimson’s moccasin feet are now laying on top of the steps instead of behind them; on top of that, its aura is also different (in the TV version it looks like Diavolo himself is also standing there…):

• KC’s aura has been retouched here as well, and the zipper has been moved from Trish’s right wrist to her left:

• In this dramatic scene the fly is much smaller, and it flies in a much more fly-like manner:

• Giorno and Trish are looking much better in the background of this scene:

• And here, that small white bit near KC’s right eye has been corrected in the BDs, and the background is also darker:

• Let’s take a look at the eyecatch, shall we?:

• This scene is brighter and veeeery slightly sharper:

• Here, a bunch of details on both Giorno and Buccellati have been retouched…:

• …and Giorno bows his head a little later (I’m not sure what the significance of that is, though):

• In this scene of Narancia swimming back to the boat, a bunch of frames have been retouched:

• In this rather cool shot of our beloved gang, four new names have been added under デジタル動画 (“Digital video”): 高橋俊 (“Takahashi Shun”), 青木一哉 (“Aoki Kazuya”), 渡邊はるか (“Watanabe Haruka”) and 玉栄翔 (“Tamae Kakeru”). I’m only guessing the pronunciation of these names, as they have no ANN page and Japanese names can get a little tricky sometimes. Anyhow, take a look:

• For some reason, the BDs introduce an error here: the boat moves a bunch of frames earlier, and as a result, Narancia’s poor fingers become cut off:

• But, to make up for that, they also introduced water effects here:

• Moving on… Here, Narancia’s looking much better, Buccellati’s actually sitting on the boat instead of floating in it, and his face and suit have also been retouched (although in the first comparison, the suit pattern has remained even though his suit is now torn apart. Oh well!):

• Here, Venice is less hazy, the boat has been moved and its trail is different, and there are two more names under 制作進行補 (“Assistant production advance”; no, I still don’t know what that means): 市川正晶 (“Ichikawa Masaaki”) and 岡崎直人 (“Okazaki Naoto”) - the pronunciations are, once again, guesses on my part:

• In addition, the boat now moves differently, heading more diagonally towards Venice and as a result, towards the end of the scene, different parts of the lagoon waters are distorted:

• It’s time for… another title change, of course! Say goodbye to the recap episode and welcome to Episode #22:

And that concludes today’s comparison! Not bad, considering that this was such a good-looking episode in the first place, huh? Well… You know what’s next, don’tcha? It’s Episode #22 next week, amigos! One of the episodes that I’ve been looking forward to the most! I can’t wait to take a look at what they’ve done to that ugly baby…

See you next time, friends!