JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Season 1, Episode 20: Caesar: His Lonely Youth
God, back before I watched this episode, I so wanted to make fun of it. I've always thought that the death of Caesar Zeppeli was always overhyped by the fandom, and when the shoehorned flashback portions of the episode began to air on my screen, I was dead-set in mocking Caesar's death and the insane narmy reaction Joseph has over his death.
And, in my own defense, it was a pretty inelegant introdump, and one that I'd argue isn't something that we needed this long to tell, nor is it necessary to spend that much time on him. We learn about Caesar initially being a punk-ass shit who doesn't respect his family, seeing his father as bailing out on him, before meeting his father briefly before his death as Mario Zeppeli saves him from being consumed by the Pillar Men's wall. It's a bit weird that Waamu and the other Pillar Men did not wake up from getting nourishment, but eh. It does explain why Caesar is so offended when Joseph makes fun about how only their family had problems with this whole destiny bullcrap and he doesn't care. Caesar's story might be a bit too stereotypical, but it does explain what drives this serious character and why he's so intent on destroying the Pillar Men.
The bulk of the episode has Caesar's fight against Waamu, and boy, it's one of my favourite fights in all of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. From the moment that Caesar and Messina arrive in front of the snowy-covered mansion, to the doors opening and the wraith-like Waamu entering the battlefield and showing that he can actually circumvent the sun problem by making air armour, to his quick, savage attacks on Caesar and Messina and dragging Messina into the house screaming (unlike the manga, we don't actually see Messina being saved by JoJo and Lisa-Lisa, making it seem like the dude's dead.
Caesar and Waamu's battle is significantly expanded than it was in the manga, I'm sure, but it doesn't feel like it drags on at all. Both Waamu and Caesar's powers of wind and bubbles are visually distinctive and interesting to look at, and I really love how Waamu makes it clear in his own internal monologue that all the skills that Caesar has been developing is actually pretty damn great and could injure Kars a lot, lot more than it did him. All the moves and overpowering attacks are pretty great, with neither Waamu nor Caesar displaying anything beyond the established powers they had. In many other parts of JJBA so much of fight scenes hinge on both sides (and the audience) trying to figure out what the other's powers are, but not here. It's just a brutal beatdown with holy sandstorms and hamon bubbles, with Waamu's wind armour giving him an advantage, and Caesar's spinning bubbles refracting the light to direct them immediately into Waamu inside the mansion making relative sense and looking pretty damn awesome.
Waamu acknowledging that Caesar Zeppeli's death is pretty much down to luck and they're equally matched is pretty damn manly, and Caesar's last act being to punch Waamu futilely on the chest in a rather pathetic attempt... to rip the antidote piercing off of Waamu, because with his last dying breath he makes a hamon bubble with his own blood to protect his bandana and the piercing. His desperation and loyalty moves even Waamu, who respects Caesar's fighting spirit enough to leave the blood bubble alone.
Yeah, it's a pretty standard heroic sacrifice when it boils down to it, but at the same time damn if it isn't manly! Caesar gets turned into a pancake by the falling rubble in no uncertain means, after a grueling fight, and Joseph and Lisa Lisa's weeping over Caesar's death is portrayed pretty amazingly by their voice actors. So yeah, one of the actual main characters finally dies, as we rush headlong into the final stretch of episodes, where it's just Waamu, Kars, Joseph and Lisa Lisa against each other. Great episode, one that elevated an good-but-not-super-impressive moment in the manga into one of my all-time favourite anime sacrifices.
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