Caesar Anthonio Zeppeli

"This is the Zeppelli Family Spirit, from the past to the future! It's the human spirit!"

Caesar Anthonio Zeppeli (シーザー・アントニオ・ツェペリ) is an ally and friend of Joseph Joestar featured in Battle Tendency.

Personality
Caesar Zeppeli is a blond, suave ladies' man, as well as a skilled Ripple user. He is rather cool and collected, especially compared to Joseph, with whom he is grudgingly paired to fight the Pillar Men, but over time Joseph starts to grow on him to the point where he is "even able to understand his strange thought patterns".

History
When Caesar and his two brothers and two sisters were children, their father suddenly left them with no explanation. As a result, Caesar grew up hating his father thinking he was out living a new life. In his youth, Caesar wasn't aware that his hamon energy has fully awakened. However, one day when Caesar spotted him walking, he tails him with the intention of killing him, down to a secret passage leading to the Pillar Men under the Colosseum. Caesar then spots a jewel, not knowing that it was part of Wamuu's trap, but his father pushes him out of the way, sacrificing himself for Caesar, leading Caesar to reconcile his respect toward his father and swear revenge on the Pillar Men.

Some time after Caesar desires revenge against the Pillar Men, and was told by his father to find Lisa Lisa, Caesar train with her to use the art of hamon, but apparently has learned little more than the fundamentals and still needed to go through the final part of the Ripple training in order to master it fully.

Battle Tendency
Caesar meets Joseph in Rome, where they have a poor first impression of each other, with Joseph seeing him as a stuck-up lady-chaser and Caesar considering him uncivilized, which only added to his already existing grudge with the Joestar family. The two fight a duel at a fountain where Caesar displays his superior skills with the Ripple, using his 'Bubble Launcher' technique and using the Ripple to control a woman via kiss. Their fight ends when Joseph is trapped inside one of Caesar's bubbles and a Ripple-infused pigeon flies from said woman's mouth to Caesar. Joseph, Speedwagon and Caesar are taken to where the Pillar Men were found by Caesar's friend, a young Nazi named Mark. When they arrive they are horrified to find that all the soldiers that were there had been killed, and Mark is nonchalantly killed by the Pillar Men. Enraged at his friend's death Caesar attacks the Pillar Men but Wamuu's headgear renders his 'Bubble Launcher' useless and he is injured. In order to protect Caesar and Speedwagon from Wamuu Joseph feigns cowardice to lead him away. Caesar eventually finds Joseph and witnesses him bluffing Wamuu and Esidisi into leaving and having the Wedding Rings implanted inside him. Finding newfound respect for Joseph, Caesar decides to help him get stronger in order to defeat the Pillar Men. Caesar presents Joseph to Lisa Lisa and they begin their training together. For their first challenge Lisa Lisa forces them to tackle 'Hell Climb Pillar', a pillar covered with oil that requires expert control of the Ripple to climb. Caesar is able to climb the tower, but expresses concern for Joseph, who is less experienced than him. When Joseph nearly reaches the peak but slips Caesar grabs his arm, saving him. After weeks of training the two reached the final phase where Caesar had to defeat Messina managing to win after Messina admitting defeat admitting that continuing the fight would result in either one or both of them dying, acknowledging how far Caesar has developed his abilities. When he returns he finds out Esidisi's remains have possessed Suzi Q. They manage to save Suzie Q by using their combined Ripple to neutralize the damage to her body, while still forcing Esidisi out. During the pursuit of Kars Caesar goes ahead of the rest of the group to fight Wamuu, and Messina goes to help him. Caesar almost manages to kill the Pillar Man, however he closed in for his final attack, his shadow then was taken advantage of by Wamuu to hide from the sunlight, and so he is dealt a deathblow. As he is about to die, he rips off Wamuu's lip piercing with an antidote and sends it with his headband in a Ripple bubble made of his blood for Joseph before his body is crushed by a cross-shaped rock.

Physical Ability
As a highly trained individual, Caesar possesses very high physical abilities: along with a large amount of physical strength and proficiency in hand to hand combat, Caesar has demonstrated an amazing sense of balance, and even being able to perform the "seated jump" that his grandfather previously performed.

Caesar also boasts a high level of endurance far surpassing normal humans, being able to survive for a few days without food, and taking high amount of physical punishment and still getting up to continue fighting. His endurance was best demonstrated when even after receiving Wamuu's Holy Sandstorm head on, he still managed to get up and continue fighting for a short amount of time, even managing to produce a Ripple after losing huge amounts of blood.

Caesar also has high precision, managing to catch a Ripple enhanced spaghetti thrown by Joseph using the holes in the tortiglioni he was eating.

Ripple
Being a natural born Ripple user through his grandfather's bloodline, Caesar was able to project it's power from an early age, though it was only under Lisa Lisa's guidance had he learned how to use it. Caesar is able to use more advanced techniques such as focusing the Ripple on the fingertips, and much like Joseph, can channel the Ripple through objects, such as a weapon, food, or even living beings. The base for most of his attacks relies on his gloves, which are loaded with a special soap-like substance. Because of this, he is able to release bubbles from his hands at anytime and fuse them with the Ripple to create deadly projectiles.
 * Repel: Caesar is able to use the Ripple as a repellent of sorts, as well as a shield. During his the Pillar Test, he was able to deflect a high pressured oil jet and then use the same technique to force Esidisi out of Suzi Q's body.

Attacks

 * Bubble Launcher (シャボンランチャー): Signature Attack. Caesar fires out a barrage of bubbles from his gloves, each coated in the Ripple. This increases the density of the bubbles and are able to hit objects with a greater impact. When hit by the barrage, Joseph was completely blown away.
 * Bubble Barrier (シャボバリア): Sometimes used in conjunction with Bubble Launcher, the difference is that instead of multiple being used in a barrage, Caesar conjures a single gigantic bubble capable of absorbing and trapping its target.
 * Bubble Cutter (シャボンカッター): Based off his grandfather, Will Zeppeli's technique, Caesar further reinforces his bubble launcher, and creates bubbles with the ability to slice. Unlike his original attack, the bubbles spin at high speed and use centrifugal force, but are able to stay intact due to the Ripple. This causes them to form shapes much like saucers with a small blade-like ring surrounding each bubble. These bubbles move at a higher velocity and have a higher tractability, allowing Caesar to fire them at any direction with ease.
 * Bubble Cutter Gliding (シャボンカッターグライディン): A more versatile version of Bubble Cutter, Caesar sacrifices the quantity of the attack, and focuses on effectiveness. By launching a few bubbles, Caesar is able to aim them much like homing projectiles. They are able to go around objects and have a higher chance of hitting the opponent.
 * Bubble Lenses (シャボンレンズ): The bubbles have the ability to refract light and focus them into beams, much like a magnifying glass. After launching them, the bubbles become stationary and any light source passing through will cause a domino effect, connecting the bubbles together and eventually shooting multiple beams at their target.

Family

 * William Anthonio Zeppeli: Caesar believes the bonds between an Italian family such as the Zeppelis are stronger than most people. According to him, because of their pride, Zeppeli's can handle their problems on their own and have the will to pull through. When he first meets Joseph, he says that it was because Jonathan needed so much help to fight his own battle, that Will ended up dying because of it.
 * Mario Zeppeli: Having left him as a child, Caesar had hated his father. Later, Mario saves Caesar from Wamuu's Trap, which cost him his life. Since then Caesar's hatred for his father disappeared and was replaced with a desire for revenge against the Pillar Men.

Friends

 * Joseph Joestar: Due to the rough history behind William Anthonio Zeppeli's death and Joseph's lack of skill and overall personality, the two did not get along at all at first. Caesar found Joseph as a delinquent, who would usually fool around at all the wrong times. However, after the events involving the Pillar Men, his respect for Joseph grew, and having completed the Ripple Training together, Caesar found Joseph as a reliable ally and friend.
 * Lisa Lisa: Presumably having met after the death of Mario Zeppeli,  she is introduced as Caesar's mentor in the Ripple. As such, Caesar respects her, having asked for her help to train Joseph in the proper usage of the ripple.
 * Robert E. O. Speedwagon: After beginning his training of the Ripple, Caesar devoted his life to revenge against the ones who killed his father. Having been friends with his grandfather, Speedwagon informed Caesar of the events that led to Will Zeppeli's death. Other then this, their relationship is unknown aside from being acquaintances in the fight against the Pillar Men. However, it is possible that the hat Caesar is seen wearing during his first appearance was the same hat Speedwagon inherited from Will after he died.
 * Mark: Mark was Caesar's Nazi friend during the war, driving Caesar to the Roman Colosseum to the excavation site of the Pillar Men's location. When half of Mark is promptly eaten by the Pillar Men, Caesar uses the Ripple on his heart in order to ease his pain and his last moments. Caesar is also shown to be very much enraged when he sees that Mark wanted to return home to see his fiance, but was robbed of that chance with his death.

Heritage for the Future (PS1/DC/Arcade)
Caesar is not playable in Heritage for the Future, however when Young Joseph ("JOJO") does one of his special attacks, instead of whispering Lisa Lisa's name (who appears on Part III Joseph's special move), he screams out Caesar's name and pictures of Caesar appear in the background, among with several manga moments from Part II, as Young Joseph blasts the opponent with a Hamon Overdrive.

All-Star Battle (PS3)
Caesar makes his first playable appearance in the PS3 title. He is one of the 6 characters who uses the Hamon as his style and was confirmed for the game alongside Esidisi.

Most of Caesar's special attacks utilizes his special techniques using bubble-based Hamon attacks with some variations, such as the Bubble Gliding where he sends Hamon-infused Bubble Cutters toward the opponent, the Hamon Bubble Launcher where Caesar launches a series of bubbles as projectiles (also works in the air) and his Hamon Bubble Lenses, which works as a projectile as the bubbles will act as a magnifying glass and shoot rays of light at the opponent.

During his HHA, Caesar will trap the enemy in a large Hamon Bubble to immobilize them which then explodes and deals damage (similar to what he did to Joseph when they first meet in Part II). His GHA involves his Bubble Lenses, where the enemy gets surrounded by a multitude of lenses that refract the light from the sun and fire with multiple beams of light, causing opponent to burn (Recreating his attacking of Wamuu during his final battle). If Caesar is defeated by a regular attack (any move that does not result in a hard knock-down), he will remove his headband and encase it in a bloody bubble as he slowly keels over (a reference to his final moments).

If Caesar fights Will Zeppeli, before the match start they will have special dialogue, where Caesar says he will make Zeppeli pay for what he did to his family's namesake.

Caesar also managed to win first place in his League Group in the All-Star Battle League, beating Polnareff, Esidisi, and even Jotaro. He also made his way to the semi-finals matches, but ultimately lost to DIO.

Caesar possesses two alternate costumes, the first being his debut attire (wearing William Zeppeli's hat) and the second one being his outfit during his first battle against Wamuu (jacket-less and wearing a top).

Stardust Shooters (ANDROID/IOS)
Caesar's appears as one of the several characters who possesses a Metal Striker in the game. During his FINISH move, Caesar shoots several Hamon Bubble Cutter into the defeated opponent.

Also, Caesar's Level 2 ability allows his Metal Striker to drop a single Bubble each time he hits an enemy. During the opponent's turn, if an enemy hits the bubble, it's Metal Striker looses a certain amount of Health Points.

Eyes of Heaven (PS3/PS4)
Caesar was one of the first characters confirmed for the game, alongside Joseph, Jotaro, Kakyoin, Diego, and Stroheim. Since the game recycles several animations and copies a large portion of the moveset from All-Star Battle, his gameplay remains mostly the same: Utilizing his bubbles and Bubble Cutter in an almost exclusively-ranged playstyle. His Hamon Bubble Barrier is also part of his regular moveset and can now trap opponents, leaving them open for either Caesar or his partner to attack.

Players can further exploit Caesar when paired with Joseph. Their Dual Heat Attack starts off with them attacking from both sides with an array of Hamon-infused bubbles from Caesar and a series of Hamon-charged punches and kicks from Joseph, before the latter invites Caesar to initiate the Positive/Negative Overdrive they used on Suzi Q to save her from from Esidisi's control as a finisher. If Caesar falls in battle before Joseph, a special animation will play where they recreate the scene involving Caesar's final words and creation of the blood bubble (which pops in an anti-climactic fashion shortly after conception), along with Joseph's iconic "CAESAAAR!!!" scream before gaining an attack and defense boost, as well as unflinching; A mechanic used in compensation for the loss of a partner in the game.

Unlike the previous game, his main color scheme is now based on his anime appearance.

Tournament
He is paired with Shigekiyo Yangu in the Eyes of Heaven tournament, but was eliminated in the preliminaries by Joseph and Dio Brando.

Trivia

 * Like his grandfather before him, Caesar's choice of weapon is unique: soap and soap bubbles, but as shown by his last act, he was not limited to soap and could construct bubbles from other liquid materials (i.e. his blood).
 * Also similar to his grandfather, Caesar passes on his headgear to one of his friends after his death: His headband worn by Joseph during the latter's battle with Wamuu.
 * Caesar's Steel Ball Run counterpart is most likely Gyro Zeppeli, who mentions that his real name was, in fact 'Yulius Kaiser Zeppeli', upon which Johnny Joestar, in surprise, asks him if it is actually pronounced 'Julius Caesar'.
 * According to JoJo 6251, Caesar dislikes unsophisticated people, irresponsible people, and bugs.
 * Caesar is the first protagonist in the franchise to use bubbles as his main attack theme, the second being Josuke from Part VIII.

Gallery
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