Steel Ball Run - Characters - Main Characters

Main Characters

Gyro Zeppeli (ジャイロ・ツェペリ, Jairo Tseperi?)

Voiced by: Shinichiro Miki

Gyro Zeppeli is Neopolitan participant in the Steel Ball Run, a disgraced assassin for the Vatican, who has participated in the Steel Ball Run to free someone who he believes has been wrongly imprisoned, racing on his horse Valkyrie (ヴァルキリー, Varukirī?). Gyro is a master of a mystical art called the Spin (回転, Kaiten?), which is channeled through Steel Balls (鉄球, Tekkyū?) and is the art of imparting the knowledge of the Golden Rectangle into throwing the Steel Ball, causing the Spin to be transferred from the ball to the target. It has both healing and offensive properties, as the Zeppeli family has used the Spin in both their medical practice and in their work as assassins for the church. Gyro later develops a Stand called Scan (スキャン, Sukyan?) when one of his Steel Balls is imparted with a piece of the Saint's Corpse (聖人の遺体, Seijin no Itai?), the object of desire of Funny Valentine. Scan gives Gyro the ability to look inside people, making his Spin's attacks even more deadly. With the power of the Super Spin, accessed by having Valkyrie run at a fast enough speed to make everything incorporate the Golden Rectangle, he develops the stand Ball Breaker (ボール・ブレイカー, Bōru Bureikā?), which when a Steel Ball hits its mark the vast energies kept by the Spin accelerates the life of cells in the target, so much so that the cells die.

Gyro's real name is Julius Caesar Zeppeli (ユリウス・カエサル・ツェペリ, Yuriusu Kaesaru Tseperi?, pronounced in English as Juriasu Shīzā Tseperi (ジュリアス・シーザー・ツェペリ?)), sharing his name with Caesar Zeppeli of Battle Tendency.

Johnny Joestar (ジョニィ・ジョースター, Jonyi Jōsutā?)

Voiced by: Yuki Kaji

Johnny Joestar was a horse racing prodigy until an accident left him paralyzed from the waist down. He participates in the Steel Ball Run in order to follow Gyro and to learn how to use the Spin, as it is the only thing that has made him able to stand again. Johnny races on Slow Dancer (スロー・ダンサー, Surō Dansā?) and he eventually develops the Stand Tusk (タスク, Tasuku?), at first allowing him to shoot his fingernails at people, but it soon evolves through a series of Acts. With Act 2 he imparts his fingernails with the Spin, allowing him to move the holes his fingernails produce. Act 3 allows Johnny to teleport parts of himself through holes after he shoots himself with an Act 2 fingernail. The final form of Act 4 allows Johnny to impart the Spin onto other people after he has mastered the Spin himself.

Johnny's full name is Jonathan Joestar, the same as the protagonist of Phantom Blood and the original titular JoJo. Also like the original, he has a pet named Danny, although it is a rat.

Lucy Steel (ルーシー・スティール, Rūshī Sutīru?)

Lucy Steel is the 14-year-old wife of Steel Ball Run promoter Stephen Steel. She tries to help Johnny and Gyro win the race by going undercover as the wife of President Valentine. However, her cover is blown one night and she accidentally acquires all of the President's Corpse parts into her, becoming pregnant by their means. This ultimately bestows upon her a powerful Stand that Valentine uses against the others. It granted her the ability to draw powerful blades from her eyes, part water as Moses did to the Red Sea, and protect her from any harm by causing a chain reaction to deflect harm from her. Its ultimate power was when it was combined with the powers of D4C to form D4C Love Train. Although it is not named in the arc, it appears during the chapters titled Ticket to Ride (涙の乗車券（チケット・トゥ・ライド）, Chiketto Tu Raido?), leading people to believe this is the name of the Stand. Her maiden name is Pendolton (ペンドルトン, Pendoruton?), shared with the character Erina Joestar (née Pendolton) of Phantom Blood and Battle Tendency.

Funny Valentine (ファニー・ヴァレンタイン, Fanī Varentain?)

Funny Valentine is the 23rd President of the United States (replacing Benjamin Harrison in the fiction of Steel Ball Run), a disgraced soldier who was discharged from duty after having been tortured. He ultimately finds the heart of the Saint and seeks to obtain all the parts, as a prophecy is foretold that the holder of all of the parts of the Saint will rule the world. In obtaining the heart, he gains the Stand Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (ダーティー・ディーズ・ダン・ダート・チープ, Dātī Dīzu Dan Dāto Chīpu?), often shortened to just D4C (D4C（ディー･フォー･シー）, Dī Fō Shī?), which allows him to travel between alternate dimensions by passing between two objects, and also allowing him to transfer his consciousness with an alternate version of himself to keep himself from dying from his wounds. With Lucy's powers, he acquires the ability D4C: Love Train (D4C-ラブトレイン-, Dī Fō Shī -Rabu Torein-?), which makes a gap in space with Lucy's body to make President Valentine seemingly invincible from harm, as well as making any attack he makes ultimately more dangerous.

Diego Brando (ディエゴ・ブランドー, Diego Burandō?)

Diego Brando, nicknamed Dio (ディオ?), is a British racer in the Steel Ball Run, riding the horse Silver Bullet (シルバーバレット, Shirubā Baretto?). He is initially just a rival to Gyro and Johnny, but he soon grows to hate them enough that he joins forces with the President. After being subject to the Stand of Dr. Ferdinand, Diego acquires the Saint's eye and obtains the Stand Scary Monster (恐竜（スケアリー・モンスター）, Sukearī Monsutā?), allowing him to transform into a dinosaur at will. After he turns on the President and dies, Valentine uses D4C to bring another Diego Brando into this iteration of reality, and this one has the Stand The World (THE WORLD（ザ・ワールド）, Za Wārudo?), the same as his namesake Dio Brando.