Straizo


 * The character featured in this article is commonly referred to as "Straights" or "Straits".

Straizo (ストレイツォ) is a minor character featured as an ally of the protagonist in Phantom Blood and an antagonist in Battle Tendency.

Appearance
Straizo is a man of average height and athletic build, who is plain-looking and has long, straight dark hair.

Personality
"I regret nothing, I want to go to hell feeling full and young rather than withering away."

- Straizo to Joseph

When Straizo appears alongside Tonpetty and Dire, he initially has the impression of being a noble Hamon user who wants to put an end to Dio's ambitions of world domination in order to protect humanity. He also has the habit of uttering the phrase "I, Staizo will show no mercy". Straizo then becomes an acquaintance of Speedwagon during the 50 years leading up to Battle Tendency, with the latter trusting him to destroy Santana before he had reawakened.

Straizo was, however, revealed to be a villainous person with gerontophobia. It's possible that his fear of aging was the motive that led him to study the art of Ripple; this way, he would still maintain some of his young looks. Unfortunately, Ripple doesn't stop the aging process entirely. In his search for a way to stop his aging process, Straizo killed friends and followers. He was ready to die for it, which was demonstrated when he killed the expedition group, along with his disciples, and nearly ended Speedwagon's life. He died satisfied, knowing he would go to Hell as a young man rather than die of old age.

He claimed that, unlike Dio, he would not toy with his enemies to explore the limits of his powers and would eliminate any potential threat as soon as possible, going after Erina and Joseph because they knew of the Stone Mask. He was also aware that Joseph could become a potential threat to him in the future. Straizo's carefulness in his actions is further proved when he is revealed to have brought a scarf made of beetles from Tibet in order to negate Joseph's Hamon. He also repeatedly shot the same pressurized eye liquid Dio used to mortally wound Jonathan. He further showcased his ruthlessness in order to test Joseph's spirit by taking a woman hostage and tearing out one of her teeth to show how serious he was about the threat.

However, Straizo did maintain some good within him, as he didn't want to bring a bigger danger to Earth just to maintain his youth and warned Joseph about Santana's awakening in order to prepare him for the upcoming threat. In spite of his faults, he managed to be a good enough adoptive parent to Lisa Lisa to have her become conflicted when she learned Joseph had killed him.

Phantom Blood (1888-9)
Straizo is, along with Dire and William Anthonio Zeppeli, one of Tonpetty's followers. Straizo decided to accompany Tonpetty after they received a letter from Will asking for help in destroying the Stone Mask, but they arrived too late to prevent his death. He aided Jonathan in the fight against Dio Brando and his minions, defeating Page, Jones, Plant and Bornnam to protect Poco and his sister. He later appeared to wish Jonathan and Erina a good honeymoon.

Post-Phantom Blood
Soon after the end of Part I, he was asked to raise the baby Jonathan Joestar saved from the exploding boat by Erina. He accepted the child and raised her into the Ripple master primarily known as Lisa Lisa. He had also at some point entrusted her with the Red Stone of Aja.

Battle Tendency (1938-9)
Straizo is reintroduced as part of the team that discovered Santana and a set of stone masks. Almost immediately after this discovery, he betrayed Robert E. O. Speedwagon and the rest of the team, incapacitating them easily and donning one of the newly discovered Stone Masks, turning him into a vampire. He explained that he had always envied Dio's strength and beauty and, as a result, desired to stop his aging process. He died after battling Joseph Joestar in New York City, overloading his own vampire body with Ripple and stating that he wanted "to taste youth and go to Hell rather than age pathetically like an old man and go to Heaven", but not before confessing to seeing the pillar man Santana almost awaken from absorbing the blood of this former teammates, faking Speedwagon's death, and dumping their bodies into the river in order to prevent Santana's awakening.

Abilities
Straizo was a skilled human trained in the art of the Ripple on his own, capable of channeling ripples through solid objects to destroy multiple zombies.

After becoming a vampire, Straizo shares with them their basic characteristics of regeneration and increased strength, with the advantage of also knowing how to use the Ripple, being the only vampire to do so. However, it is rumored that this actually made him weaker, as the two sources of power are opposites of each other. His regeneration is notably much quicker and more efficient than Dio's as he was able to pull himself together from being exploded to several pieces by Joseph's hand grenades at a quick pace without the need of having to drain the blood of a person first.

Space Ripper Stingy Eyes: After turning into a vampire Straizo is capable of using the Space Ripper Stingy Eyes, a pressurized liquid shot from his eyeballs powerful enough to penetrate human skin.

Phantom Blood (PS2 Game)
Straizo appears as playable character during one of the final chapters (against Pages, Jones, Plant and Bornnam) and "Extra Battle Mode". If the player manages to use his Special Ripple Move during the fight, a cutscene will appear and automatically end the chapter. Straizo, Jonathan, Zeppeli, Dire and Tonpetty are the only Ripple-user characters in the game.

As Straizo's role in PART I was fairly miminal, his game appearance and moveset is based on his only fight scene, with his special Ripple move being a continuous series of kicks beginning with "I, Straizo...". As the attack ends with a more powerful kick, he finishes his sentence with "..will not have pity!".

Stardust Shooters
Straizo's PART II incarnation possesses a Metal Striker in the game. His FINISH move is based off of the action he performed on the young journalist, removing one of her teeth with his strength. Also, Stardust Shooters marks the debut of PART II Straizo in a game.

Trivia

 * Straizo is the only vampire who could also use Ripple, as he was a Ripple user before his transformation.
 * Straizo is the only ally character whose status was changed to villain in the next arc story after his debut.
 * He is the first parent of a major protagonist to be a villain in the series, as he was Lisa Lisa's adoptive father.