GyJo

## Ship Name

The ship **GyJo** consists of Gyro Zeppeli, a foreigner contestant in the Steel Ball Run and Johnny Joestar, a former American jockey that has his career abruptly ended by an accident that crippled him but also becomes a racer in the competition.

Both characters are from Steel Ball Run, the 7th part of Jojos Bizarre Adventure.

## Appealing

It is a deep friendship born of **mentoring and camaraderie built over an exhausting journey** that literally translates into more than 6,000 kilometers of distance traveled on the **Steel Ball Run**, as well as figuratively on the **double journey of self-discovery** of the duo while face several dangers to find Corpse Parts and eventually win the dispute. The fact that both characters share the day-to-day life throughout the race, as well as secrets and values in common, making it **very humanized and gradually empathic**, also contributes to many fans of the seventh part of the series to like this ship.

## Two Halves of a Byronic Hero

*Warning: major spoilers for Steel Ball Run are uncensored ahead.*

When introduced to the two main characters in the manga, we have a **shocking difference between Gyro and Johnny**, both in design, personality and in motivation to join the race. Many readers have the impression that Gyro would be the major protagonist of the story, given the focus on his skills and determination to win in the first stage of the dispute. Still, we have Johnny's past and motivation to enter the competition in the first chapters.

What both have in common, apparently, are the **selfish motivations to be in the race** and both have, from the beginning, **behaviors that are not aligned with white morality** but relatable choices.

### **Gyro Zeppeli**

**"**Lesson number 1 is: don't have any weird hopes in me.**"**

( *-Gyro Zeppeli*)

**Gyro Zeppeli** is a racer from Naples that comes to America to compete for the 50 million dollar prize. It is noteworthy how, in the mentor role he assumes with Johnny, **he is not a perfect master**, demonstrating several flaws and recalling his failures in relation to his training in Spin and in his life as a whole. Interestingly, Gyro is more successful using the Steel Ball as a combat weapon than in his medical work or as an executioner in his homeland. **In common with Johnny, Gyro fails to meet his father's expectations**, but, unlike the boy Joestar who internalizes the failure in his father's speech, **Gyro actively rebels against the fate of the Zeppeli lineage**. Instead of being the austere and restrained man he was raised to be, like every Zeppeli master and like his own father, Gregorio, **Gyro is extremely expressive and flamboyant, full of jokes and funny faces. In addition, of course, to constantly follow his emotions more than he would like.**

We get to know parts of Gyro's past and we learn that **his initial motivation for joining the Steel Ball Run is to offer the prize money for the amnesty of Marco, a child sentenced to execution for crimes of treason against the monarchy** (and above all, that the executioner it would be Gyro, since the Zeppeli are the executioners of the kingdom). At the end of the manga, we have the information that, even though Marco received an amnesty, the boy soon died of a cold. Before thinking that all of Gyro's effort was in vain, consider the reason why Araki would have brought this information after the resolution: to show that this was not Gyro's real motivation when entering the race. Whether it was a child sentenced to death or anything else: **Gyro would use the fact to justify a rebellion that is a constant in his life - the family inheritance and how he does not see himself fit into this role of Zeppeli executioner.** Similar to what Johnny is looking for, Gyro wants to find himself. Gyro wants to understand who he is, and for that, he needed a long physical distance from his homeland and his family and function to find that answer. The moment of his death alludes to the answer he found for himself.

However, the Zeppeli inheritance becomes something that he cannot just abandon when it is part of what Gyro is, but he also cannot just live for it. Such karma is commented on by Johnny, who considers this question the reason why Gyro could not beat Diego Brando in the race.

He has an urge to help people, as he tried many times with several patients, such as Wekapipo's sister, about the situation of the boy Marco and when Johnny was injured by Mrs. Robinson at the beginning of the second stage of the race. While he has compassion for people, **Gyro berates himself for the sentimentality that his father often warned him to avoid**. More than the optimism and compassion he carries with him, what prevents Gyro from growing as a person is his stage of indecision in the face of fatal choices, even though he is an excellent fighter under pressure. This fact is pointed out by Ringo Roadagain, an arc in which Gyro has an important development as a character - interestingly, many fans point to A Man's World Arc as the **end of Gyro's character development on its own, starting to continue to grow as a mentor rather than a person.** Another form of character development that happens after this milestone is the humanization of Gyro, who stops being just an anti-hero asshole with a mission and becomes a highly empathetic character with his dilemmas as an adult and willingness to allow him to become himself.

### **Johnny Joestar**

We know Johnny as the disgraceful and tragic paraplegic former multi-champion jockey who, incidentally, touches one of Gyro's Steel Balls that was still spinning and had a physical effect on Johnny, translated as a reflex in his legs that moved for a brief moment. **Johnny, narrating his story, says he had no clear reason to be at the start of the Steel Ball Run** - perhaps it was the racing nostalgia or the beach. The fact is that, as soon as he is surprised by the brief "miracle" of the Steel Balls, Johnny insists with Gyro on understanding how the mysterious technique works. **To have a chance to learn more about this technique, Johnny even tames a horse** - who would be his companion Slow Dancer - **and enters the competition**. With all the experience and skill of an entire life as a horse rider, Johnny manages to finish the first phase of the race among one of the best placed, **showing Gyro the strength of his determination**.

As we learn about Johnny's past, we first know about his life of hedonism as a young genius in his sport. His celebrity life was bustling with money, prizes, and tasteless romances. As a celebrity, Johnny is arrogant and unapologetic and sees the world as a place that is sufficient as long as there are money and fame. **His view is cynical, and he does not appear to have any meaningful relationships with friends, girlfriends, or his own family. Johnny looks like the pinnacle of selfishness, showing no respect for others around him.** This behavior leads to the incident in which he is shot, making him paraplegic. In the infirmary, he learns that his own father never visits him, and is verbally abused, then abandoned by all social circles he used to go to.

It is possible to consider that this attitude before the incident originated in an earlier tragedy of the past: the death of his dear older brother, Nicholas. **Not only does Johnny believe he is responsible for the fatality that killed his brother, but a youth of expectations never met in relation to his father's demanding levels and the constant psychological abuse and blame for Nicholas's death made Johnny extremely depressed, internalizing all the guilt.** Without being able to open up to people, Johnny left his father's house and began to display a cynical and self-centered attitude as defense mechanisms, dating girls who clearly would not be interested in him were it not for fame and money and **driving away from him all the most significant relationships with assholery so no one would abandon or be hurt as a result of his actions**. Ultimately, with the incident, the bad reputation in the media, and the end of a promising career, Johnny was completely alone.

It's interesting to noticing that this guilty would accompany Johnny for all his youth, until the race. Some fans argue that Johnny's paraplegia, although related to the incidental shot, would have remained for two years as a psychosomatic condition in deference to the great burden of guilt over Nicholas's death, meaning that Johnny does not deserve to run, to compete, after all, having friends, having a father's love, not even putting on his brother's old boots. For those who follow this theory, it would not have been a "miracle" neither of the Stell Balls, nor of the Corpse Pars that Johnny would walk again, but the acceptance of himself as not to blame for the fatality. Theories aside, the burden of guilt at seeing himself responsible for the fatal accident of his beloved brother and model, would chase Johnny throughout his life until then, both in good times and in bad times. The past reveals that, by failing to obey the father's order to drown his pet rat Danny, and release him in the woods around the family estate, karma would turn into the form of a white rat (implicitly, Danny) scaring the horse Nicholas was riding and causing the fall that would lead to his death. **Danny's symbolism haunts Johnny throughout much of the manga's history, representing internalized guilt.** In Civil War Arc, after listening to the Saint's words while battling Axl RO, Johnny partially forgave himself for his sins, developing his Tusk Act 3.

However, the understanding that his father was right about his uselessness as a human being would still be in his mind until the moment when he would confront Funny Valentine.

Contrary to what many believe that his main character development is "to become someone better", **Johnny does not become a worthy hero, nor more honorable or altruistic**. Until the final conflicts of the manga, Johnny doubts that he is "a good person". In fact, morality is not the main concern or meaning of Johnny's journey. Among many other characters who sought to surrender their sins in possession of Corpse Parts, Johnny just wanted to understand the meaning of Holy Corpse and prevent the President of the United States from obtaining it. **The absolution of his guilt did not come through the sanctification proposed by the supernatural artifact, but through his own acceptance of who he is, the mistakes made, and the new desire for life that he discovered along the journey with Gyro Zeppeli.**

**"**I don't care about 'living' or 'dying' or who's 'just' and who's 'evil'!! I don't even give a shit about the 'Corpse' being a Saint or whatever!! I'm still 'negative'! I want to get up to 'zero'! If I can get the 'Corpse' I can get my 'negative' back to 'zero'!**"**

( *-Johnny Joestar)*

**Gyro and Johnny are interesting counterparts** who, aware of their distinct goals in the competition, end up changing their motivations in the middle of the race and eventually come to share partially the same goal. From

half the story on, Gyro leaves his goals of winning the race to buy Marco's amnesty in the background to find the Corpse Parts for Johnny, being the only character in the Steel Ball Run competition who actively collects the artifacts with no intention of using them selfishly - just to help Johnny. **At times, however, protecting each other becomes more important than winning stages, podiums, or even to posses the Corpse Parts.**

In this sense, **Johnny and Gyro** had different initial motivations to join the Steel Ball Run, adopted a new resolution to collect the Corpse Parts while trying to understand what this holy body meant, and **reached the end of a long and concrete journey wishing "to return to home", finding a home within themselves** - in short, becoming the adults they did not know existed within themselves.

**"**This is a semi-difficult topic, but I'm starting to wonder if this is okay the way things are going. Am I walking the 'right path'? There is a need for 'satisfaction' and both Gyro and Johnny are seeking 'satisfaction' in this race. This is, in fact, the theme of this series.**"**

( *-Hirohiko Araki, Author Notes, Steel Ball Run vol 7)*

## 5 Lessons in Gyro x Johnny

It is a fact that **Araki wanted to bring the concept of a mentor that existed in the relationship between Zeppeli and Joestar from the first part of the manga series in a new guise.** Despite references that even serve as a metanarrative, Zeppeli and Joestar in Steel Ball Run are not merely replicas of their counterparts in a parallel universe. Therefore, we have two different people who carry similar karma from another universe, but who have lived different experiences and cross paths in completely different conditions. These factors contribute to **a much less vertical, functional, and expository mentoring relationship**, in which we also have time to see the more human side of that relationship.

The narrative Araki constructed in Part 7 contributed a lot to this humanization of their relationship. A bit similar to how the dialogues could expose the day-to-day dynamics of the Buccellati gang in Part 5, Araki brought many facets of the Master and Apprentice journey, to the point that we see them more as partners than as a teacher and student. In addition, Johnny also teaches Gyro a lot of things, partly because Gyro is also looking for himself on this journey, partly because of the intimacy that is established between the two. **This gradual humanization of the protagonists**, in addition to making the audience feel empathetic towards the different goals throughout the manga, also **made the friendship between the two something believable**.

In addition to the battles, in which the genre of shounen (and seinen, after a certain period) commonly applies the concept of friendship as a fundamental element, **there is a constant interlocution with daily scenes of interactions between Gyro and Johnny**. Besides running and facing enemies, we see them camping, taking care of their quadruped partners, carrying (and subsequently abandoning) objects of affective value, exchanging countless jokes and sarcastic comments about the world around them, discussing random topics, drawing each other's attention about their flaws and potential. The power that this humanization of Gyro and Johnny holds is so impressive that we recognize the value that one attributes to the other's company. At a certain point in history, we could recognize in the intimate relationship of companionship any and all human relationships that we value in our lives. **It is because Gyro and Johnny seem so real to each other, in their moments of anger and laughter, of fear and euphoria, of loyalty and doubt, that we totally believe in the absolute love they have for each other.**

*The evolution of this relationship can be clearly observed over the 5 Lessons in Spin:*

* **First Lesson: If You Have The Will, Then Do It**

Technically, Gyro told Johnny that he should use basic spin on objects. This lesson is perfect because Gyro's mere statement doesn’t explain anything - the moment he said that to Johnny, still sort of trying to get out of the nosy kid, he’s totally busy putting himself in the starting grid of the race, the which he intends to win at any cost. **The message is clear: Johnny wouldn't get a ready answer without first trying to get a feel for what Spin is basically.** It partially mirrors the first lesson that Gyro, as a child, had from his father Gregorio. Despite the hurry they are in, Johnny uses his strength, skill, and determination to ride Slow Dancer by spinning the Spin. This basic technique is the daily tool for Johnny to accompany Gyro on the long journey - and it occurs right at the start of the race.

* **Second Lesson: Work Those Muscles**

The circumstances of the second lesson are very different from the first - it is the second moment of the race, after a disputed and short first phase in which Johnny proved to Gyro that he has the full capacity to guarantee himself as a competitor in the Steel Ball Run. Due to the arbitrariness of the judges, Gyro got a lower position at the start, so forming a team with one of the best places on the first leg was not a bad idea.

In general, 'working those muscles' would mean using the spin with an inward force, in a more defensive way than merely a locomotion tool or access to something. It is a lesson given in a more didactic way, without pressure or haste, in a friendly way. **Right now, Gyro is accepting Johnny to be his apprentice for such a secret family technique. The softer expression and the tone of opening make that first vow of confidence that Gyro deposes on Johnny as something that makes sense.** In addition, it indicates that Johnny would need more practice time than the first lesson, and this implies the need for some proximity between the two riders. Gyro is also telling Johnny that to be partners in the race, Johnny has to be able to use rotation to defend against rivals - Gyro is not going to be anyone's bodyguard.

* **Third Lesson: Believe In The Spin**

In short, the technique consists of using Spin on inanimate objects making them exert its own force, which in turn are manipulated by rotation to rotate by the force generated by Spin as well.

This lesson emerged in the face of imminent danger, at a time when Johnny did not feel able to protect himself or protect Gyro. **Before, Gyro had placed his trust that Johnny would be worthy to learn the Zeppeli technique, and at this moment, Gyro is demanding that Johnny trust him back, trusting Spin and, by extension, trusting Gyro's knowledge. From that moment on, they live in constant mutual trust.** Also, from this point on, Gyro is more interested in his role as Mentor, concerned with ensuring that the pair is strengthened to face enemies. Johnny acquires a more offensive ability when the enemies start to be even more dangerous than the opponents until then. **More and more, Johnny reaffirms himself as independent, and Gyro is a central part of the phenomenon that makes this growth possible.**

* **Fourth Lesson: Pay Your Respects**

Apparently, the technique of this lesson does not vary much from the previous lesson, except for the catalytic aspect that allows an attack on a larger scale. Despite the moment of high tension in which the pair finds themselves, Gyro decides this is the time for complete exposure of the secret technique of his lineage. Following the Golden Ratio's spiral logic, which would follow the rotation infinitely, it allows the creation of a Spin with infinite rotation power.

What would be the reason for Gyro to expose this secret about the Golden Ratio in a moment of battle, not even one of the final battles, giving himself the luxury of drawing on the ground while Sandman is lurking with his Stand? Consider that Gyro has already gone through the stages of developing his own sense of purpose in the race. He wanted to win. He wanted an amnesty for Marco. He wanted it to be possible to change something in his homeland. He wanted to be able to defeat Diego Brando. What did he really want? After all, after round and round, Gyro decided in his heart that he wanted to fulfill this function of passing on knowledge, as he himself knew of other ways to use Spin besides the execution of prisoners. **Although he himself was not a Master and brooded over his failures with the technique, Gyro accepted his inheritance as a valid part of his life, which would have its full social function with teaching. And from that, he could break free from his own burden.**

After this moment, **mentoring is no longer the focus of the relationship, but constituted companionship**. Eventually, Gyro and Johnny still win one of the stages of the race, but seeking the answers they need - about Corpse Parts, about possible terrorists, about the US government, about themselves and their identities - becomes the compass of the pair.

* **Fifth Lesson: The Shortest Route Is A Detour**

Oh, boy. Detour makes the journey longer and the journey richer. Whenever Gyro and Johnny took longer routes, taking full turns before returning to the main road, they were not only closer to their goals, but also closer to victory in the race itself. Whenever they left the race in the background, they grew more as people. **Whenever they focused on facing enemies, even giving up Corpse Parts, they made their trip richer and more meaningful.** In terms of technique, this lesson talks about how to achieve infinite rotation by taking a detour - instead of using the Golden Ratio provided by the ride, simply manipulating the horse's muscles to propel its own body and generate the perfect infinite rotation

.

According to Gyro's understanding of the journey with Johnny, "detour brings you closer to the goal". Exactly what objective was he referring to? Many. Victory is not a sequence of a linear path, it exists when there is meaning. **The moment of the fifth and final lesson could only be when Gyro said goodbye, giving Johnny the teaching that Joestar himself presented to him. Gyro does not feel an ounce of regret, or fear of not achieving his goals (as he once had throughout the race), as his goal is fulfilled in the legacy left to Johnny.** The first lesson didn't even seem like a lesson, plus advice given to any stranger; the second lesson was the basic defense technique, showing confidence; the third lesson was a demonstration of faith in Johnny; the fourth lesson had been the definitive teaching and solidification of mutual trust. **The fifth lesson, however, is a declaration of love, for everything they shared and for having lived and learned everything they could learn from each other. And Gyro speaks of this lesson with tremendous serenity and tenderness because he says goodbye to life satisfied with what he has lived.**

Death is also symbolic. By the time Johnny understands the fifth lesson, he takes on part of Gyro's legacy, and Tusk Act 4 emerges. **Carrying Gyro's teachings, memory and secrets with him, Johnny feels prepared for the confrontation with Valentine.** He immediately remembers so many shared moments and the weight of the meaning of losing such an important and significant person, but even now, all Johnny wants to do is protect that memory. **The story so far is about merging two parts into a single entity, a story of two characters that only make sense and make sense of each other.**

## The Road So Far...

Thinking about the fact that neither Johnny nor Gyro won the Steel Ball Run and, apparently (Part 8 will say), they also didn’t have possession of the Corpse Parts, hell, Gyro didn’t even survive the journey, the question remains whether the two reached what Araki called "satisfaction". **If we think that the Steel Ball Run is an obvious metaphor for the two protagonists' journey of self-discovery, the answer is whether they found themselves on this long road with long detours as well.**

Setting in the United States of America, Steel Ball Run takes the opposite path to the American Dream saying: "go west!". **From San Diego to New York, participants are challenged to cross the continent from west to east, and few of them understand the real purpose of such a competition.** Among the competitors that we could follow in the long run, besides Johnny and Gyro, we saw what happened with Sandman, Pocoloco, Avdol, FV Stroheim, Mountain Tim, Mrs. Robinson, Boom Boom Family, Norisuke Higashikata, Hot Pants, Diego Brando, Gaucho, Baba Yaga, Dot Han, Baron Roocaguto, Oyecomova and many others that we didn't even know the names of. **Among them, many wanted something from the race** - the prize for winning something unlikely like an amnesty or an indigenous land; Holy Corpse to redeem the sins of the past or to acquire a stable power in society...

**And who won?** Pocoloco, who was runner-up until Diego Brando didn't show up to claim his podium. And what did Pocoloco win? The race, the first and only in the history of this magnitude, and incredible prize money, guaranteed fame, and success. **Unlike many of the competitors that we later saw left the race in the background to fight his personal battles (pun intended), going against Destiny, Pocoloco surfed the wave of good fortune.** He is the victor in a world ignorant of the opposing forces of the constant battle for power and life - so much so that even the masses were unable to say what was done to their President. **Meanwhile, Johnny achieved his acquittal through his personal growth, managed to get close to a person since the death of Nicholas - Gyro -, got his father's recognition, met incredible and dangerous people, left his comfortable place of victim and fear to become master of his own destiny.** This is a victory. **And as for Gyro, he acknowledged that his home was within him, that he could be the Spin Master capable of laying the foundations for the perfect Zeppeli technique that his predecessors sought, that he could be someone other than an heir to a century-old obligation.**

Less than changing Destiny itself, victory is being able to take the reins of Destiny in hand. Decide about yourself, about who, how, and when, to be able to choose and be chosen. **To be able to see this world without blessed ignorance as a lens, to be independent and authentic, to achieve freedom by recognizing one's own limits and boundaries with the other human being.** As Mr. Steel said at the press conference on the Steel Ball Run:

**"**Listen closely! True failure is forgetting the pioneer spirit! And staying away from challenging hardships! There is no such thing as failure in this race! There are only adventurers!**"**

( -*Steven Steel, Chapter 1*)

In short, we have a Johnny who was absolved and became an adult fully capable of directing his own life, certain of who he wants for himself, and a Gyro who found meaning within himself for his knowledge, becoming a Master of Spin that exceeds all expectations of its Zeppeli lineage. **And, as the battle against Valentine indicates, the two goals of a Byronic hero have merged into a single reason and sense, in the form of Tusk Act 4.**

The fact that materialized as an inherent part of his Stand, **Gyro's soul will always be with Johnny for the rest of his life**, completes the long journey of the duo, who, in the final chapter, are **ready to go home**.

## Links

GyJo AO3 Fanfiction

GyJo Tumblr

#GyJo on Twitter