seeking-shonen

[seeking-shonen]

Caesar Zeppeli v. Joseph Joestar: Fight Scene Analysis (Pt2)

In an earlier text post I analyzed the face-off between Joseph and Caesar from the Battle Tendency arc of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. The first part of the analysis focused primarily on the actual flow of events, and how its clever set-up and execution holds many gems of wisdom for other writers out there. I wanted this part of the analysis to focus more on the actual participants of the fight, and how their personalities are developed, played off of, and established throughout. 

Perhaps it would be best to start off with Joseph Joestar, not only because he’s the protagonist of the part, but because he’s more or less the instigator of the fight as a whole.  

There’s a fantastic character profile page in the Battle Tendency manga dedicated just to Jojo. I couldn’t find any high-res versions of it online, and since MangaDex is down at the time of writing this, I’ll just transcribe the most important parts of it here. 

The profile discusses how Joseph Joestar, a high-born Brit with an affinity for American comics and junk food, had been arrested seven times for street brawling and even expelled from school for the same reason. He has a reputation for hot-headedness and an impulsive tendency for battle (r/im12andthisisfunny). Essentially, he’s an eighteen year old delinquent with dreams of becoming a pilot and an affinity for talking with his fists as much as his mouth.  

Before I accidentally turn this fight scene analysis into a character study, let me discuss how Araki uses the Caesar v. Joseph fight to expand on and establish more about Jojo’s personality. Joseph’s irritability and quick wit is not only highlighted in his snippy dialogue, but his fighting style as well.  

Right after Caesar goes on a whole spiel about how important family is to him and how tragically his grandfather died, Jojo decides to one-up him by saying “tell me, is your whole family as dumb as you are?”

Is it a stupid thing to say in this situation? Absolutely, and I’d wager that Joseph is just as aware of this as we are. Keep in mind that his primary area of expertise is street brawling, mostly with people his age or street thugs with an IQ equivalent to it. Jojo is well aware of the importance of emotional manipulation during a fight; by riling Caesar up, he can instigate a fight without having to be the first to throw a punch and thus be the first to disappoint Speedwagon. 

Or perhaps he’s just lost his temper again. 

Regardless if his earlier comments were attempts to goad Caesar on, protect his own pride, or a mixture of both, Joseph ends up throwing the first punch. His eagerness to fight contrasts sharply with Caesar’s disinterest in doing so, and he charges forward with his fists and trademark insults. 

Unfortunately, he doesn’t get very far. 

Joseph realizes in a few moments that Caesar’s pulled a sneaky one in him, and he only really starts to put the pieces together when he finds himself face-down in a fountain. It seems like 

Joseph’s trademark ingenuity only comes into play once he’s been embarrassed at least once (which, in all seriousness, is a clever choice; having a character who can predict his opponent’s every move without having to even engage would make for very droll fight scenes) 

Back to Jojo being embarrassed though, we see Joseph have a change of heart and motive as Caesar drags the Joestar family name through the dirt. 

Joseph, in a fit of what’s becoming an increasingly common habit of his, finds his motives switching mid-battle from protecting his pride to defending his family. This creation and crystallization of resolve does a lot to make Jojo seem slightly less petty and slightly more heroic, and, as I discussed in the first part of this analysis, makes him a protagonist slightly more worth being the center of the story. 

I would be remiss in discussing Joseph in this fight without also bringing up the pigeon gag -- at the beginning of the brawl, Jojo insisted that Caesar couldn’t even beat a pigeon with his Hamon. A few quick tricks later, Jojo ends up using a Hamon-charged pigeon to knock Caesar off his feet. All of this plays a critical role in helping the fight close on a more light-heated end, as well as give Caesar and Joseph something akin to a fresh start. 

Even though they have a lot more spats to work through before they truly see each 

The fight ends on a more light-hearted note thanks to the pigeon gag -- Joseph casually insisted that Caesar couldn’t beat a pigeon at the beginning of the story, and Joseph ended up using a pigeon to knock Caesar off his feet. 

Jojo is an incredibly perceptive person, and he uses his talent for reading people to pull a fast one on Caesar when he leans in to kiss his new lady friend. He even acknowledges this after the fight, explaining that he knew Caesar would eventually kiss her, “either to withdraw [his] Hamon or because [he] wanted to show off”. 

He ends it all with a smile and a wink and the triumphant declaration that, yes, Caesar “couldn’t even beat a pigeon,” yet another example of his light-hearted nature and, perhaps, his desire to vindicate himself in light of his earlier embarrassment. 

Speaking of Caesar, this is one of the first scenes where the audience really gets to know him. The Zeppeli has his own profile page -- whether it precedes or proceeds the fight scene, I can’t remember -- and it gives the audience both critical and trivial insight into who our new JoBro is.  

Aside from the fact that the first portion of the “personality” entry was clearly written by Joseph (perhaps Speedwagon took the liberty of writing the second half), this profile serves to reestablish what Araki shows us in the fight scene. 

At this point in the story, specifically in the animated adaptation, the audience knows little more about Caesar aside from the fact that he’s Baron Zeppeli’s grandson and that he has a flirtatious streak. This fight scene establishes Caesar’s mindset, values, and mannerisms, and also places markers on what aspects of his personality are still open for development. 

To take it from the top, Caesar’s contempt for Joseph is highlighted in his fighting style. His speech about having a grudge towards the Joestars on account of what happened to his grandfather, along with the fact that he initially fights with Joseph by proxy, only further highlights just how low his opinion of Joseph is. He even contrasts his bubble launcher with Joseph’s dirty fighting tactics, and the first (and only actual) hit he lands on Joseph is a long-distance slap. 

However, despite all the sharp words tossed around earlier, Joseph finds a way to smooth out the denouement of the fight. His ability to actually one-up Caesar and establish himself as a somewhat worthy opponent instills some modicum of tolerance for the Joestar in Caesar’s heart, primarily displayed in the way that Caesar does not promptly walk away after the fight and actually listens to what Joseph has to say. 

Their friendship has by no means begun; the two obviously don’t care too much for the other at this point, and only continue to work together out of plain necessity (and perhaps for Speedwagon + humanity’s sake as well). However, it’s the genesis of a truly touching friendship. 

Part 3 of the analysis will be coming out...whenever I have the time to finish writing it up. I’ll mostly be going over pieces of writing advice fic and original story writers could use if they want to try and piece together a Jojo-esque fight for themselves. Frankly, the main reason I started these was so I could get a better handle of writing fight scenes, so hopefully the last part might help someone do the same as well! 

[seeking-shonen]

Caesar Zeppeli v. Joseph Joestar: Fight Scene Analysis (Pt1)

The initial Caesar v. Joseph fight is a short one, but great nonetheless. It’s Caesar Zeppeli’s first true moment in the spotlight, Joseph’s first encounter with another Hamon user, and the progenitor of the traditional Jojo v. JoBro brawls (if you ignore the one time Speedwagon tossed some hat knives at Jonathan). Not only that, but it’s a really fun fight to watch, so I thought I’d kick off my analyses of Jojo fights with this one!

Even though this fight is the shortest of all Jojo v. JoBro encounters, it has quite a lot of content to get through, so I’ll be splitting the analysis up into three posts. This first one will be an outline of the fight itself, the second is an analysis of the insight the fight scene has given to the characters of Joseph and Caesar, and the last will be a collection of writing advice takeaways derived from all the strongest points of this little encounter.

That’s enough rambling. To the analysis!

We begin with Caesar flirting with a passing lady as Joseph chats with some pigeons. Even though almost nothing has happened yet, numerous important factors of the fight have already been established: the fountain, the pigeons, and Caesar’s flirtatious tendencies. An overhead shot even gives the audience a perfect scene of what and where all the most important participators in the fight are (except for the woman Caesar was romancing)  

Unique settings, unique set pieces and unique utilization of both make for unique fights. Araki adheres to this maxim to the, well, maximum. Each of the things pointed to in the photo above will eventually play a part in the fight to come; even Speedwagon occasionally chips in with his famous Phantom Blood flavored commentary later on.

Joseph and Caesar go on to trade a few insults. Uncle Speedwagon is there to try and diffuse the situation, reestablishing how important it is that Joseph and Caesar get along if they want to try and take down the Pillar Men. Caesar dismisses Speedwagon’s plea and goes on to, in Joseph’s own words, insult the entirety of the Joestar bloodline.

Caesar’s deep seated contempt for Jonathan Joestar is the first instance of such a thing from someone without the last name Brando or otherwise associated with said surname. Speedwagon is obviously irked by this, but more so because he wants the two to get along. This scene is quickly followed by two seemingly unimportant events.

First, Joseph insists that Caesar can’t “even beat one of those pigeons” 

Second, Caesar indulges in a passionate kiss with a woman that he’s traded, at most, half a dozen words with 

(We also get this hilarious scene with Joseph looking around for someone to kiss in retaliation and briefly considering Speedwagon. It also needs to be said that Speedwagon very well might be wearing the most endearing looking 20th century bucket hat in existence. Adorable.)   

But don’t be fooled; none of the above scenes (except for maybe the Speedwagon one) are as irrelevant as they may initially seem. In fight scenes, every line of dialogue or passing interaction that isn’t actual combat needs to be valuable to the narrative in some way. Araki knows this, and in the above two instances, both the pigeon and the woman are going to come into play in just a few moments.

Joseph runs forward to land a punch on the smug Italian. No punches land, however, because the woman Caesar was gussying up to earlier restrains him from doing anything. Our protagonist is tossed into the fountain -- the same one that was given a cinematic focus earlier! Man, just look at that set-piece utilization! -- just as he realizes Caesar gave the woman a Hamon kiss.

That’s not the end of Araki’s brilliant employment of setting and surrounding influences, though. The inarguably best surrounding influence quickly chips in and demands that Caesar calm down and stop, while in the fountain Joseph is having a bit of an internal conflict. 

Here we see Joseph’s motives change from simply beating up someone he doesn’t like that much to defending a lineage that he admittedly knows very little about. Not only does this reveal a good deal about Joseph’s naturally heroic and protective nature, but it exemplifies something that all writers should keep in mind:

Motivations can change and evolve during a fight; someone who is originally fighting for themselves can be goaded into fighting for something or someone else, provided that the antagonistic dialogue or other external/internal pressures prompt such a response.

Back to the fight scene, though. Caesar then proceeds to pull off his classic fifty-foot seated jump and shoots a clean stream of bubbles down at Joseph, who is once again tossed off balance and slammed into the nearest flat surface. A Hamon bubble forms around him and traps him inside, and as Caesar pulls the woman from earlier flush to his chest, he comments on how awry Joseph’s breathing has gotten. For all intents and purposes, Caesar clearly has the upper hand so far. His breathing is even, he’s on his feet, and he’s even got a girl on his hip: three things that Joseph doesn’t have.

However, Joseph pulls off a classic “next thing you’ll say,” and turn the tables then do. The audience, having experienced the glory that is the series of events that always proceed a “tsugi ni omae wa to iu!” already know the balance of the battle has shifted. And shifted it has, as a pigeon pops right out of Caesar’s mouth and tosses him backwards into the very same fountain Joseph was just in.

The fight ends on a fluffy, light-hearted note, with Joseph remarking how his earlier comment about Caesar not being able to beat a pigeon was technically correct. Caesar resigns without much more fuss, and Speedwagon closes the scene with a fond “yare yare.”

Have I criminally overanalyzed this small and rather insignificant scene from a nearly ten year old anime? Absolutely, and I have every intention of doing it again. Parts 3 of this analysis should be coming out soon. In the meantime, get yourself a hat like Speedwagon.