A new pop-culture feature has turned one of anime and manga's most theatrical cowboys into a musical case study, using seven songs to sketch the personality of Gyro Zeppeli, the aristocratic executioner-turned-outlaw at the center of Steel Ball Run, the seventh part of Hirohiko Araki's JoJo's Bizarre Adventure saga.
The piece, published under the Now Playing banner, begins from a simple premise: every fictional character has a soundtrack, whether the audience hears it or not. In Gyro's case, the imagined playlist is built to reflect a man defined by contradiction — a disciplined heir to the Zeppeli family's mysterious Spin technique, and a showman who cannot resist undercutting his own solemnity with a pose, an insult or a joke. That tension, the feature argues, is exactly what makes him one of Araki's most memorable creations.
Set in 1890, Steel Ball Run follows a roughly 4,000-mile horse race across North America with a staggering $50 million prize. Gyro enters the contest riding Valkyrie, carrying the titular steel balls that channel the Spin, and immediately stands out as both a formidable competitor and a spectacle in motion. He is introduced as an Italian executioner travelling under the guise of an outlaw, but the feature emphasizes that his real power lies in the way he embodies the series' signature blend of seriousness and absurdity. He is, as the article puts it, a "strange custodian" of the Zeppeli name — someone who takes the family's training and tradition seriously, yet repeatedly sabotages his own dignity with theatrical flair.
That duality shapes the song choices. Led Zeppelin's "Ramble On" is presented as the most obvious fit, a roaming anthem for a man who voluntarily signs up to cross an entire continent on horseback. The song's folk-rock sweep and adventurous lyrics, drawn from The Lord of the Rings, mirror Gyro's appetite for the open road and his habit of treating every stretch of it as a stage for self-display.
The list then shifts into softer territory with Shuggie Otis' "Sweet Thang," which the feature uses to capture the gentler current beneath Gyro's combative exterior. The song's supple guitar and bluesy soulfulness are linked to the evolving partnership between Gyro and Johnny Joestar, the former jockey left paralysed after a shooting who becomes fascinated by Gyro after seeing the Spin briefly restore movement to his legs. Their relationship, the article suggests, is built on bickering, mutual dependence and an affection neither man would ever admit directly.
Deep Purple's "Highway Star" is the most kinetic selection, and perhaps the easiest to imagine blasting through the dust of the Steel Ball Run course. The track's relentless pace, racing guitar and pounding organ are matched to Gyro's competitive streak and his obsession with speed, precision and first place. It is a song about motion for motion's sake, which makes it a natural companion for a horse race that is as much about endurance and ego as it is about prize money.
The feature's broader appeal lies in how it treats music as a form of character criticism. Rather than simply assigning songs that sound cool, it uses the playlist to illuminate the contradictions that define Gyro: aristocratic but reckless, disciplined but ridiculous, intimidating but oddly warm. That balance has long been central to JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, a series famous for turning style into narrative language and for making even the most outlandish characters feel emotionally legible.
For fans of Steel Ball Run, the playlist offers a fresh way to think about Gyro Zeppeli not just as a combatant or comic presence, but as a figure whose swagger is inseparable from his vulnerability. In that sense, the songs do more than entertain. They help explain why Gyro remains such a durable fan favorite: he is a man who can carry a legacy, ride into a continent-spanning race and still end up singing a cheese song with total conviction.