Yep, they hate each other.
Because of the threat of the other Pillar Men, Speedwagon and Joseph head to Rome to meet a certain Zeppeli. Because of Joseph's fight with some guy in a restaurant, we finally meet this Zeppeli, his name is Caesar Zeppeli, the grandson of Will A. Zeppeli, Jonathan Joestar's mentor and friend!
Before Speedwagon and Joseph meet Caesar in Rome, we learned that Speedwagon made a lot of money in the oil industry and used it for philanthropy. Aside from Speedwagon's works of philanthropy, the organization also has a second function, to understand the mysteries behind the Stone Mask and things related to it... like Santana. To sum up what transpired, Santana is still alive and that his stone state is just a result of self-defense. Keeping him in that state are the UV lights surrounding him. So yeah, he is basically immortal and there are three other guys stronger than him if you will base the order on how they are positioned in the carvings found in Santana's ruins! This is when Speedwagon mentioned that they should meet with Caesar Zeppeli.
I really like Joseph and Caesar's first meeting because it established one thing, they hate each other. Their fight in the restaurant is really fun to watch because I am seeing Joseph being immature while Caesar retains his cool as he tries to kiss a chick that he is flirting with. Aside from establishing that they hate each other at first sight, we also learned one thing; Caesar knows how to use the Ripple.
Just like his grandpa, Caesar is quite a badass in his own right. Aside from donning a hat similar to what his grandfather used to wear, he is a womanizer and he likes to show it on public much to Joseph's annoyance. This then leads to their second fight outside the restaurant. As for Speedwagon, he just let them fight for one simple reason, for Joseph to taste defeat from Caesar. Well his intentions are really admirable and all we need to do is watch how this will end.
Their second fight is as fun as the first one. One thing that I like about this fight is that we saw the difference of skill between Joseph and Caesar. Caesar knows how to use the Ripple quite well that he can use it to control the movements of the girl he just kissed! As for Joseph, he is basically owned by girl controlled by Caesar and that alone is embarrassing especially if a lot of people are watching this! To put more emphasis on the difference between their skills, Caesar showed us his special move, the Bubble... Launcher? Wow.
When I first saw this move while reading the manga, I have this impression that this is probably, one of the weirdest moves in the series. But after seeing this move in action after this introduction in the manga and in this series, I am starting to have second thoughts that this move is not weird after all. Thanks to the Ripple, the bubbles that Caesar creates are stronger than your average bubble. If I will base it on Joseph's face when he got hit with Caesar's bubbles, I guess the power of each bubble is equivalent to one small steel ball. The move is quite impressive but one thing that bothered me with this move is how Caesar stores the bubbles in his gloves. I mean seriously, how did he do that?
Because the bubbles explode, they wrap Joseph's body, causing him to lose his breath. Thinking that he won the fight, Caesar is about to undo the Ripple he casted on to the girl only to receive one heck of surprise coming from Joseph. Joseph's move involving stuffing a live (!) pigeon on a girl's mouth is weirder and crazier compared to Caesar's Bubble Launcher. Until now, I still can't believe how swift Joseph's hands are considering that we barely see him stuff the pigeon on screen.
To sum up the fight, it ended in a draw and showed us the difference between their skills. Caesar's skill has something to do with his mastery with the Ripple while Joseph's skill has something to do with tricks that he can pull off. This fight continued in the hotel that Joseph and Speedwagon are staying. Seriously, when will this two stop bickering? But hey, it's enjoyable watching these two bicker! From Joseph complaining why Caesar does a pose before sitting (look who is talking) from playing a game of cards as they try to cheat to outwit each other, it is fun seeing these two bicker.
The reason why they stayed in the hotel is then explained as they are waiting a German soldier who will serve as their guide to the Pillar Men found in Europe. Mark is basically a guy who has a bright future ahead. He is about to get married with some cute German chick after a week and that he is good friends with Caesar. The scene also reminded us that this show is still set in World War II because Italy and Germany are allies during the war. To put it simply, the reason why two Brits are in enemy soil is because of the history between these Brits with the Germans that we saw in the previous episodes.
Also, Caesar reminded us the reason why they can see the Pillar Men is because of Caesar's connection with the German military as the Germans want to study the Ripple for scientific purposes. Oh Germans and your love for the strange just to beat the Allied forces led by America! Speaking of strange, one of the Pillar Men is finally awake. To those who haven't read the manga, the awakening of the Pillar Men is actually planned from the very beginning thanks to the words written in the ruins that they will wake up in the year 1938. So yeah, they cut one important detail that secured the fate of the Pillar Men's awakening.
Based on the first awakened Pillar Man is seriously awesome. I mean, he just used a single horn that looks like it acted on instinct to kill most members of the German military for crying out loud! What made it more impressive is that even though he is not aware about the UV lights, his warrior instincts caused him to cover these lights with the human blood that splattered around! After he makes his full awakening and introduced himself as Wham* (or Wamu), he starts killing more German soldiers by "tying" up their hands and absorb their bodies, leaving their skins and clothes behind. It's so disturbing that I like it, especially how they did the effects on that scene.
Now that all the German soldiers are dead, all that is left to awaken his masters. Before writing this review, I checked the manga volume where the Pillar Men made their debut and I noticed that the animators finally gave them proper underwear! To those who are not aware, their loin cloth only covers the front side and not their back side. So yeah, this is to comply with the new censorship laws Japan made for their animation.
After the rather rough ride, they finally arrived to the place where the Pillar Men are found. Joseph discovered the skins of the dead German soldiers and as for Mark; he made the wrong move by running on the wrong direction. That direction is where the Pillar Men are standing. Seeing how merciless ACDC killed Mark summed up the Pillar Men's personality quite well. These guys are merciless and they don't mind killing someone who is not armed if he is blocking their way. It's horrifying seeing Mark, only half of his body still alive. Hearing that his last request is to finally rest in peace is quite tragic, he wants to end the pain that he is experiencing at the moment.
Meanwhile, we meet the other two Pillar Men, and they are Cars* (or Kars) and ACDC* (or Esidisi) who are basically, Wham's masters. This is then we learned their mission is to retrieve the Red Stone of Asia** (or Aja). Much to my disappointment, we don't know the reason why they want the stone. But hey, at least we know that Wham's warrior instincts are so sharp that he can accidentally hit his ally without him knowing it. We also learned that Cars has regeneration abilities better than the Stone Mask vampires. All I can say is, these guys are really deadly and I can't wait to see them fight Joseph and Caesar.
Back to Caesar, he fulfilled Mark's last request and promised to avenge him. For the first time, Joseph and Caesar agreed on one thing, they will avenge Mark from the Pillar Man who killed him. But the first one who will try to avenge him is Caesar whose blood is now boiling to kill a Pillar Man.
* Wham, ACDC and Cars are names based on famous bands/groups. Araki later gave them their proper romanized names but because I love these rock references, I will retain them in my reviews.
** According to some sources, it's Aja not Asia. Aja is a name of an album, which is pronounced like Asia. Will use Asia in my reviews since I am used to it while reading the manga months ago.
