Gyro Zeppeli

Gyro Zeppeli, born Julius Caesar Zeppeli is the deuteragonist of Steel Ball Run of the Jojo's Bizarre Adventure anime and manga.

Gyro is a master of the Spin, applied with his Steel Balls, developed in the service of the King of Naples. He joins the Steel Ball Run race to win amnesty for a child he is assigned to execute. His mastery of the Spin later allows him access to Ball Breaker.

Appearance
Gyro is a man of average to above-average height and medium to athletic build. He has hair that reaches mid-back, light eyes, square patches of facial hair lining his jaw, and (in illustrations) often painted lips. He either wears grills or has chiseled into prosthetic teeth the phrase "GO! GO! ZEPPELI".

Gyro's basic outfit consists of a short-sleeved studded black leather coat, leather pants, and cowboy boots. He wears a belt, the buckle of which bears a pair of hands pointing to his crotch, and at his hips a pair of special holsters for his Steel Balls. He wears a wide-brimmed hat, with slits on the the crown and the brim that let light and air filter through. Situated around the crown of his hat are a pair of slit goggles. Depending on the weather he may wear his goggles, in addition to a scarf.

Personality
Gyro is a cocky and flamboyant executioner marked by the harshness of life, who participates in the Steel Ball Run for the sake of a young boy.

Gyro initially appears as a cocky and aggressive contestant in the Steel Ball Run. Unlike other competitors, Gyro looks to seize the first place aggressively, rushing ahead of everyone then fending off anyone who challenges him. Gyro is a rude man, deriding the vast majority of those he meets with insults and mocking commentaries. Even with his closest friend Johnny Joestar, Gyro doesn't mince his words and sometimes argues with him. The only person for which Gyro had any degree of respect is his stern father Gregorio Zeppeli. Gyro's cockyness and rudeness extend to his fights, during which Gyro is prone to mock his enemies in some way or say something cocky. However Gyro doesn't have the same ruthlessness as Johnny and initially doesn't seek to kill his enemies. Gyro is particularly proud of his mastery of the Spin, a family technique involving the rotation and throwing of steel balls to various effects and hails the Spin as the acme of human skill, this pride is latter justified when the Spin proves to be able to defeat even the Stand Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap - Love Train,(D4C - Love Train).

Gyro nonetheless possesses an altruistic side, and likes to help anyone who needs his assistance, most notably the paraplegic Johnny to whom he taught the Spin technique and helped acquire the Holy Corpse Parts, or Marco, the helpless child whose death sentence Gyro seeks to appeal by winning the Steel Ball Run. Gyro would often clash this side with the authority of Gregorio Zeppeli, who disapproved any display of sentimentality in life and ultimately defied him by going to America.

Early in the Steel Ball Run, Johnny has said that Gyro didn't have the drive and determination necessary to get things done. The jockey argued that because Gyro inherited everything he had as an upperclassman and heir of the family Spin technique, he didn't have the kind of selfish hunger born from suffering which was crucial in the race. True to that, Gyro Zeppeli initially raced out of altruistic concern for Marco, and primarily relied on tricks to prevail in the race. During his battle with Ringo Roadagain he bent his original motivations into a more personal goal, the path to see for himself whether Marco deserved to be executed and and who exactly the Corpse was. After that, Gyro switched to a slightly less cocky behavior, and focused seriously on his battles. In his horse riding, Gyro switched to a more personal style, instinctively choosing his own route instead of the "shortest path", enabling him to even outmatch Diego in the race.

Out of combat, Gyro also possesses an eccentric personality, and is particularly flamboyant. Gyro has a penchant for gags involving puns or an inexplicable brand of humor, frequently telling such jokes to Johnny in the spur of the moment and created a song about cheese, singing it to Johnny and being happy that he appreciated it. He has a fondness for dramatic gestures and quotes, saying that the Goddess of Victory was riding with him and that she would retract her favor if he ever let another woman ride with him. Gyro is a womanizer, one flashback narrating an affair with a patient, and has tried to flirt with other women. However, mimicking his own father, Gyro can be stern and dignified when he talks about the Zeppeli Spin technique. The first time Gyro and Johnny meet Lucy, he refuses to let her ride with him and states that "no woman (will) ride my horse". He later explains that "Lady Luck" would be jealous if he let "another woman" ride with him. Humorously, Gyro also keeps a teddy bear with him, being fond of it enough to keep it even during the Steel Ball Run, although he leaves it at one point.

Heavily influenced by Gregorio's teachings about the uncertainties in life - using a " tennis ball over the net" metaphor - and the Steel Ball's power being nothing short of miraculous, Gyro has a somewhat optimistic outlook on life and is convinced that he can overcome setbacks, even if they'd need a miracle to overcome, as long as he follows a virtuous path. Nonetheless, following the "tennis ball over the net" belief, Gyro is aware that failure is just as likely. This ideology is repeatedly somehow confirmed with numerous coincidences and miracles helping him throughout his journey and alternatively working against him, culminating in Marco being freed without his intervention but dying of a cold later.

THE SPIN

 * Main article: Spin and Steel Ball

The Zeppeli family's Spin technique, usually applied with special Steel Balls, is a versatile skill Gyro has trained in since his youth. Gyro equips himself with two Steel Balls as a means of self-defense, attack, and general strategic advantage.

Throwing his Steel Balls with the Spin, Gyro may create a variety of impressive trajectories, able even to have them return directly to him, mainly after successful contact with his target.

On impact with flesh, spiral ripples often appear. Gyro may apply a wide range of effects to human or animal targets, including muscular, nerve, and bone manipulation, and the forceful wringing of flesh to drain water.

Gyro explains that although used by his family for execution, the Spin was not developed for destructive ends, and is in many ways equally suitable in medical treatment.

The Spin may be viewed as the Steel Ball Run counterpart to the Ripple featured primarily in Phantom Blood and Battle Tendency.

SCAN
After the Corpse's right eyebinds with Gyro's, the word "TURBO" is inscribed on Gyro's iris, behind it a diagonally oriented cross; with a cross pattée emerging from the bottom-outside of his eye, on his cheek, to begin with. A single eye appears within each of Gyro's active Steel Balls, staring outwards, also marked on the iris.

When Scan (Sukyan) is active, the ability places eyes representing those of the Corpse in each of Gyro's active Steel Balls. These enhance Gyro's aptitude for the Spin, and his vision as surrogate eyes (enabling him to see remotely when Hot Pantsblinds him with Cream Starter); as well as allowing him to see through people's bodies as though by X-ray, permitting him to calculate for better targeting.

Gyro relinquishes this ability when he gives his eye to Lucy Steel.

SAINT CORPSE PARTS
The complete guardian of the Corpse's eyes appears as a largely insentient, robotic humanoid figure. When Gyro departs this figure, it is divided, missing its left arm, leg, upper "eye" and the left plate of the two originally framing its head. A similar figure is seen once more when Gyro uses Scan, growing from his Steel Ball, in his battle against Ringo Roadagain.

BALL BREAKER

 * Main article: Ball Breaker

Ball Breaker manifests when Gyro finally achieves the "Super Spin". The stand is a visualization of Spin energy unleashed from Gyro's steel balls, the technique behind them ultimately becoming a Stand ability. Ball Breaker embodies a vast force capable of bypassing dimensional barriers.

Horseriding
Gyro is an experienced and capable equestrian, competent enough to ride across many types of terrain and be a serious competitor in the Steel Ball Run. His riding style can be summed up as aggressive, Gyro seeks to remain at the first place constantly, and takes dangerous shortcuts when he deems it necessary. When another rider challenges him, Gyro will actively try to get rid of him. His beloved horse is named Valkyrie. Related to that Gyro is knowledgeable about horses, particularly Valkyrie whose abilities and limits he can gauge at any moment.

Medicine, Surgery and Anatomy
Being trained as a surgeon, Gyro is an accomplished surgeon, being able to make surgical operations on his own. This training also includes intimate knowledge of the human body Gyro uses in conjunction with the Spin in combat.

Intelligence
Gyro is an adept tactician, being able to hold his own against several Stand users, and outsmarting them in several occasions. Gyro has been shown to be able to use his surrounding, or even the enemy's own power to his advantage.

Knowledge
Gyro is worldly, possessing a range of knowledge, including in tracking, opera, paleontology, and mathematics.

Trivia

 * Araki personally liked the Jonathan-Zeppeli relationship from Phantom Blood and wanted to retell it again for a longer coming-of-age story. He chose to make Johnny and Gyro around the same age so they could be less formal and more friendly than their original counterparts. Gyro's random jokes and Johnny's trivial use of his spinning nails were included to reflect this concept.
 * Gyro was able to see Stands before he achieved one of his own. He is the first and so far only Zeppeli to have a Stand.
 * In the Italian edition of SBR, Gyro's name is written as "J.Lo", in a reference to American-Latino singer Jennifer Lopez. This is also a slight pun on the fact that the pronunciations of "Gyro" and "J.Lo" in Japanese are almost identical.
 * In the French edition of SBR, Gyro's name is written as "Jayro".
 * Giro means "Rotation/Spin" in Spanish.
 * Gyro is currently the only Zeppeli killed by the main villain
 * Gyro sometimes use the word "Ora" similar to Jonathan Joestar as well as Joseph Joestar.