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Zorzal El Caesar (ゾルザル・エル・カエサル, Zoruzaru Eru Kaesaru) is the crown prince of the Empire and an antagonist during the second half of Gate - Thus the JSDF Fought There!. His main goal is to win the war against the JSDF and Japan, despite being severely outmatched; this is due to the inferior level of technology of the Empire compared to the JSDF and his inability to grasp the concept "Know Your Enemy" in warfare. Since he refuses to learn and adapt advanced technologies/modern tactics from the JSDF to develop an effective plan against them, he is met with multiple failures in the campaign against the JSDF.

Widely considered to be the worst, most naive, delusional and shortsighted tyrant in the history of the Empire, he is ultimately responsible for the downfall of the Empire through the suicidal and futile war against the technologically superior JSDF.

Personality[]

Prince Zorzal showcases all of the typical attributes of a tyrannical leader with delusions of grandeur, displaying cruel and oppressive tendencies driven by an arrogant, selfish, irrational, violently moody, extremely debauched and narcissistic personality. He is incapable of any sense of true honor, but at the same time hypocritically accuses his foes, especially the JSDF, of not being honorable in battle. Friendship, love and altruism are concepts alien to him, believing that other people exist only to obey, honor and please him, without the need to give something in return - making him unable to be sympathetic for anyone. In short, he's a psychopathic man child who thinks to be the center of the universe and that it is his holy right to decide the fate of everyone around him (a foolish flaw that ruined him).

Political Ideology[]

"Naturally, the greatest fantasy he had was that the Empire was the strongest power in this world. Zorzal would not understand that there was a country far more puissant than the Empire on the other side of the Gate, that had already dealt them several crushing defeats and which could not be beaten. In this case, he would turn the truth into his enemy." — Brief description of Zorzal's pointless chauvinism and his denial toward reality, depicted in volume 3 chapter 6 of the light novel.
Zorzal shows his living-in-the-past attitude and lack of sense of reality manga

Zorzal shows his blind and foolish chauvinism towards the absolutely superior enemy, the JSDF when he pledged Molt to resume the suicidal war against Japan, despite the loss of 60% of the Imperial Army.

Zorzal is the embodiment of the Empire's delusional belief in its manifest destiny of universal supremacy. He has always been fascinated by the culture and history of the Empire, probably because he identified himself with the emperors of the past, which were generally authoritarian, totalitarian, ruthless, extremely determined to pursue their agendas and inclined to take anything they wanted through acts of war, territorial expansion or by bullying the vassal kingdoms. From a certain point of view he can be considered a fanatic chauvinist, since he's very proud of his nation's achievements (especially the more brutal and bloody ones) and he's a firm believer in the superiority and invincibility of the Empire. Even in the face of the clear technological superiority of Japan, he would never admit that another nation is better than the Empire and would be willing to do anything to prove that he is right, even making absurd acts such as resuming the bloody war against Japan, despite the extensive losses among all imperial assets engaged in the conflict.

The Japanese are obviously the people he detests most of all; In his eyes, they are nothing but filthy parasites, a bunch of honorless cowards who defy the one true superior nation that should dominate them all (which is untrue). He's filled with a fierce hatred against them all and have always burned with the desire to show them the place they truly deserve (which is death or enslavement, but that's where he's dragging the empire down to). Being a victim of their attacks is an insult in itself.

"You should have thought of your opponents as entities of that level of power" — Tyuule snidely mocks Zorzal for underestimating the JSDF military power after Zorzal lost the majority of his army.
JSDF coup 3

Zorzal El Caesar, declaring himself new ruler of the Saderan Empire at the end of his successful coup.

However, after losing the vast majority of his army during the Imperial Civil War, he somehow begins to despair before the realization that the JSDF is indeed far superior to the Imperial army in every possible way, but, despite being placed in front of the undeniable truth, he realizes that he has gone too far to stop now and stubbornly decides to continue with the war. As a result, he recovers from his despair and encourages himself to continue fighting to win a war now considered to be a lost cause. Ultimately, Zorzal is a victim of his own megalomania and pride, as he forces himself to attempt to accomplish increasingly unachievable goals in order to maintain his own belief in his greatness and in his country’s invincibility.

"Of course there is no such thing as an army which does not know defeat. However, in the past, the Empire has had situations where they were temporarily at a disadvantage. Yet, did the Empire not overcome these difficulties each time? After all, the army of Nihon is only defending the area around Alnus Hill, and they have no way of doing battle in the Empire’s domain. In other words, the enemy feels that invading the Empire is a tricky affair, which is why they are rushing to talk of peace. Has nobody discovered this yet?" — Zorzal shows his "living-in-the-past" attitude and his ignorant shallowness about the true capability of the JSDF and the terrible consequence of provoking the JSDF to take aggressive action, depicted in light novel volume 5 chapter 1.

Zorzal is confident in his own superiority, despite any failures he might experience, and believes wholeheartedly that the Empire - under his rule - can overcome any foe. According to him this belief finds justification in the foreign policy traditionally adopted by the Empire since the time of the Arctic War, according to which the Empire cannot be defeated or successfully invaded by anyone. In fact he considers the actions undertaken by the imperial senate at the time of the Arctic War as the best way to resolve also the war against Japan: to continue fighting and never surrender in the face of insurmountable odds, even though the JSDF was a completely new enemy he would ever face.

Superiority Complex[]

Zorzal is absolutely convinced that his royal blood makes him in fact superior to the rest of mankind and therefore deserves praise and total devotion from everyone around him. Even though at the end of the Imperial Civil War most of the nation rose in rebellion against him, he continued his suicidal war against the JSDF, despite weakening his country's military and economic might to the point where it was weaker than it ever had been. From a certain point on he even believed to be more powerful than the Emperor himself, seemingly unaware that his father's status as Emperor was the only reason he had any power in the first place. He maintained this belief throughout much of his life, even in his final moments, despite being aware that his death was imminent.

"He ground his teeth on the back of his horse, cursing, “It’s all Helm’s fault” and “if only Pina weren’t there” and so on. Zorzal shows his living-in-the-past attitude and lack of sense of reality manga.pngThen he went on to “It’s because of those damn traitors. They bowed to the enemy and refused to fight fair”, (being hypocritical) and then he went back to “Hm, so it ended up like this. How did things end up like this?” He was going around in circles." — Zorzal refuses to accept his defeat at the Second Battle of Italica.

The prince is not the kind of person who likes any kind of criticism against him, not even constructive ones. Even in the face of his obvious inferiority, Zorzal refused to accept or learn from his mistakes, instead turning to increasingly violent but equally ineffective methods to get by and believing that all the failures his people went through during the Japanese-Empire War are never his fault. Of course, when something goes wrong, this is not always his fault; but when it happens Zorzal believes that the blame always falls on his enemies or his allies. When Gimlet was routed from the Jade Palace due to the inexperience of the Oprichnina, Zorzal had him killed rather than trying to give Gimlet and the Oprichnina additional training and equipment.

Thus, while the failures of Zorzal are due to the weaknesses or the machinations of others, his achievements are nevertheless the result of his own incredible talents. To Zorzal, if an assault group decimates the enemy, it would be thanks to his brilliant planning. If a legion manages to reach unseen the enemy's rear and attack it, it is thanks to his genius that they have discovered the right path. Whether it's the right time or the right place, Zorzal would always believe that he is a master of strategy, logistics and politics beyond anyone else in the entire Empire.

"Yes, her brother thought he lived in a world where “everything goes according to my will”. Everything good was for his benefit in the world which existed solely to satisfy him. He would discard anything which denied this. Even the truth would become his enemy… no. It was precisely because it was the truth that it was his enemy. At the same time, he would even believe lies as long as they pleased him." — Pina describes Zorzal's extremely delusional outlook of life, depicted in volume 3, chapter 6 of the light novel.

According to his sister, Pina Co Lada, Zorzal is the kind of man who likes to live in his own world of delusional vanity, detached from actual reality, where his incompetence to govern or the existence of a civilization superior to the Empire are outright unthinkable concepts. At the same time, according to Tyuule's opinion, Zorzal always thinks the whole world is uniquely bent to his will and that all the goods of the world should be for his benefit only.

Level of Intelligence[]

"The fact was that while pretending to be an idiot and doing foolish things, Zorzal ended up believing that he was a true genius when in reality he was in fact a big idiot!! Listen, Piña. That big idiot is very scary. The worst part of that is his petty intelligence!! There are a lot of idiotic merchants who are penny wise, pound foolish. Who knows, they might just be a hair separated from geniuses. The problem is that big idiots drag down everyone around them." — Diabo scornfully mocks Zorzal's naivety and arrogance as he warns Pina Co Lada of the consequence of letting Zorzal to take the throne, depicted in volume 4 chapter 9.of the light novel.

Zorzal naively thinks to be a master of deception and calculation and a skilled manipulator of court politics, capable to easily outsmart even his far more experienced father and brother - a belief that, in all honesty, is very far from being the truth. His brother, Diabo, describes Zorzal as "an idiot who thinks he is a genius." The people around him, like Molt, Marcus, Casel, Pina, Diabo, Tyuule and the Haryo tribe, tend to have a very poor opinion about his intelligence, considering him a puppet easy to manipulate, the laughing stock of the entire Empire's nobility, except nobles who have petty intelligent like him such as Helm, Calasta, Mudra and the pro-war senators.

According to his sister Pina and internal minister Marcus, Zorzal is incapable to conduct sophisticated and well-thought schemes and tactics, preferring instead to run head-on towards action, without being hold back by doubts or lack of confidence, fully convinced that nothing - even accomplishing an absolutely unachievable feat like defeating the Japanese army - is impossible.

Despite being absolutely confident of his intellectual abilities, Zorzal is pragmatic enough to realize that he is not omniscient and therefore needs supporters who advise him and help him realize his plans. His most trusted adviser in the whole world is Tyuule, former-Warrior-Bunny-Queen-turned-sex-slave who earned his utmost respect and his secret love. Besides her, his circle of trusted advisers includes the moronically man-child military strategist Viscount Herm Fule Maio, the faithful and misguided Marquis Calasta, the ruthless and brutal Sir Mudra and the twisted spymaster Bouro.

Fighting Prowess[]

JSDF liberation 2

Zorzal El Caesar cowering before the superior might of JSDF weaponry.

He's obsessed with the self-conception that he is a great warrior like the great imperial warlords of old, but displays no true martial skill worthy of note as he was stunned by a single punch from Itami and helpless against Shino's brutalization. Like corrupt officials, Zorzal preys on those too weak to fight him - such as Noriko Mochizuki and Tyuule. He boasts that he could easily best any JSDF soldier in hand-to-hand combat, though he easily underestimated Shino and was ruthlessly beaten up by her.

Honor[]

Despite being educated as a knight and forced to learn all the tenets of chivalric code, Zorzal has only a very vague and twisted perception of what honor is. He completely discards chivalric virtues such as courtesy, honesty, compassion and wisdom, preferring instead fame, glory, commitment, physical prowess and fair play in combat (but only when it is in his favor). As a result, he aspires to perform great feats of valor, strength and blood-drenched warrior skill and to be admired by everyone as a proud warrior who fights against the odds and always emerges triumphant with strength and skill. He has a straightforward philosophy on warfare and battle tactics, preferring to charge directly at his foes in order to defeat them in close, melee combat where he can make the blood really flow. As such, he pays little heed to tactics or defense and frowns upon the use of dishonorable methods like sorcery. For him an honorable war is not a clash of wits but a clash of wills, in which only the strongest and most determined warriors emerge victorious, not those with the most advanced weapons, the smartest tactics and the least significant losses.

He deeply despises all enemies whose behavior does not mirror his personal conception of honor. According to him, the use of magic is an unfair way of achieving a genuine victory in battle, for this reason he never used a single magician in battle during his many military campaigns. As the technology of the JSDF is thousands of years more advanced than that of his people, Zorzal is unable to understand the real nature of the machines used by the Japanese, considering them indistinguishable from magic. It is precisely because of his erroneous assumption about the nature of his enemy that he considers the Japanese to be a nation of dishonest wizards and dishonorable cowards, unwilling to fight the enemy in "honorable" hand-to-hand combat, preferring instead to fight safely from afar with the help of their magical weapons.

Zorzal absolutely abhors all the weapons and machines used by the Japanese army, calling them "cowardly" since they bring no honor in a fight. He believes that these weapons have been specially designed by the Japanese to be used only by coward and dishonorable soldiers, since the wielder can safely kill the enemy from the distance, without risking his own life; consequently, according to his reasoning, weapons such as rifles and pistols are inherently inferior to the good old sword and shield which are the true inferior weapons. Trying to study and reverse-engineer these advanced weapons, as well as devise new tactics to counter them, are for Zorzal the wrong methods to effectively fight the destructive power of the JSDF, as that would bring his beloved Empire down to the same level of his "cowardly" enemies. He prefers to rely on new, but irremediably primitive and ineffective, combat tactics devised by his equally inept military adviser Herm Fule Maio, such as throwing chains at the rotor of the helicopters to make them crash, digging trenches to trap tanks and humvees or use giant armored ogres to frighten the enemy and redirect part of the enemy fire away from the legionaries.

Ultimately, Zorzal is a man who puts his own conception of honor before reason and common sense; a victim of his naivety, of his inexperience and, above all, of his upbringing as a privileged, spoiled and over-flattered prince and knight. He cannot understand that in a "real" fight his conception of honor and sporting combat are completely useless, unsustainable and unpragmatic; only the historical documents of the Empire, which were often modified and fictionalized by the imperial propaganda to depict war as an epic and romantic clash between legendary heroes and honorable warlords, consider the behavioral code of Zorzal as a valid way of waging war.

However, it should not be underestimated that Zorzal, despite considering himself an honorable man, is well known throughout the Empire to be an absolute hypocrite, always ready to accuse his adversaries, especially the Japanese, of not being honorable in battle, despite having been on more than one occasion the perpetrator of objectively disgraceful and morally reprehensible actions of pure savagery, such as burning villages, poisoning water wells and killing innocent peasants.

Hedonism[]

As a hedonist, he loves opulence, extravagant displays and pleasures of all kinds. For him, every experience is a new opportunity to experience new pleasures that push him more and more towards new heights of sensation and depravity. Such is the level of his excesses and sadism that he experiences great pleasure in committing rape, murder and genocide, as well as the possession of many sex slaves. It was he who led the bloody military campaign against the Warrior-bunnies and it was he who ordered the almost complete extermination or enslavement of the enemy population, all because their women were of good looks and therefore potential sex slaves for him. He loves to deceive and humiliate those who are too weak and powerless to be able to oppose him, like Tyuule and Noriko Mochizuki, and he's so accustomed to performing similar acts that he doesn't even bother to hide them to the people who visit his palace or the throne room only for to get serious injuries for his actions.

Appearance[]

Zorzal el caesar anime

Anime version of Zorzal

In all three media, Zorzal is described as tall and muscular, with a "bodybuilder-like" physique. Itami states that he is even taller than Kurokawa, so he is assumed to be over 6'3" in height.

Manga: Zorzal has short blonde hair in his manga appearance, which lays relatively flat. His outfit consists of heavy armor made of bronze, including a muscle cuirass (breastplate), pauldrons, tassets (groin-guards), and a long red cape. He looks like a typical Roman officer of the Imperial Period.

Anime: The anime version of Zorzal has short blonde hair, similarly to the manga version, though his hair does not lie flat but has a rather spiky appearance, as well as a rat tail. Zorzal wears plate armor, but instead of gold plated, the armor is painted burgundy with yellow highlights and a white cape. He also wears a circlet.

Light Novel: In the light novel, Zorzal retains his great height, though he has shoulder-length straight white hair rather than spiky blonde hair with a rat tail. He is not shown wearing armor and opts for black and blue clothing with a white cape.

History[]

Zorzal is the first born from the child of Emperor Molt Sol Augustus fighting for the crown. Zorzal is the most muscular member of the family, but is the least intelligent as well.

Three years before the appearance of the Gate, Zorzal lead the conquest of the Head Hunter Rabbits. He took Tyuule as his personal sex slave after she offered herself to him in exchange for sparing her people; it was not an agreement he honored.

Plot[]

Zorzal El Caesar is introduced raping Tyuule, the queen of the Warrior Bunnies, who gave herself up to him in exchange for saving her people, which, unbeknownst to her, was destroyed years before. After being told by Marcus that there was strange activity on the senates, he went to the party held by Piña, but left quickly just after tasting some food.

After exposing that the Empire had captured Japanese citizens as slaves before the Ginza Incident, Zorzal was thoroughly beaten by Shino Kuribayashi in front of the King to expose the fate of the other captured citizens.

Zorzal is later seen again at a triumphal procession with his father, and is angered by the fact that he is being ignored by the people, in place of his father and sister Pina Co Lada. During the procession, the emperor drinks from a poisoned cup of wine, and becomes severely ill. Following Molt's poisoning, he begins his coup and overthrows the current government, jailing all who would oppose him, including his sister and the pro-peace senators.

When the JSDF arrive at the capital city to rescue Pina, Zorzal watches in shock as the paratroopers descend into the city. When Itami arrives to extract Pina, Zorzal lets loose a giant ogre under his service, only for it to be killed by Lelei and Rory. Zorzal tries to fight Itami, but Itami signals a sniper to fire a warning shot, telling him that the JSDF are always watching and he can take his life anytime, so he quickly backs down. After these events, Zorzal takes the pro-war senators with him to Telta, the second largest city of the Empire.

During this time, he begins to rally support and build his force to fight the Loyalist and the JSDF, creating the Imperial Civil War. Although he comes up with counter-measures to deal with JSDF's superior technology, his foolish thinking causes his forces to suffer more losses than victories since all his counter-measures, such as guerrilla warfare and human wave ambushes, cause heavy casualties that cannot be replaced.

After losing the war because of his failed tactics and lack of wise thinking, he is abandoned by all his generals and pro-war senators since he refuses to listen to them to surrender along with his disregard to their lives. In the end, he is assassinated by Tyuule before the Loyalist and the JSDF can bring him to justice.

And more his crime against humanity in Italica and Ginza are over.

Legacy[]

''The only good thing he had ever done for the Empire was to make us realize how much our own pride and needs for glory are destroying us'' - Pina Co Lada sarcastically ''honors'' Zorzal after his death, volume 1 chapter 1 of the Gaiden Light Novel.

Zorzal dies in disgrace and total damnation with everyone even his own generals and supporters brands him as an idiotic warmonger due to his disregard for their life and well-being as well as starting the war that was completely suicidal to begin with. His corpse is simply cremated with Upson and Bouro, rather than a decorated funeral which should have been fitting for his nobility. Pina, Diabo and Molt were glad of his death, with the latter having regretted making him the next-in-line for the throne years ago if he knew he would be so incompetent.

Zorzal's suicidal war against the JSDF caused the Empire to fall into a period of decline, as he held a majority of the Empire's military might following the start of the civil war. Most of his men were killed in suicidal attacks that did little to no damage against the JSDF, and he orchestrated numerous atrocities under the pretense that it would help him against the JSDF, though it did not do anything at all. With the Empire's military and economical might ruined, the former vassal states of the Empire easily declared independence and could have easily destroyed and absorbed what was left of the Empire were it not for the JSDF. Piña also had to slowly rebuild the trust of the Empire's civilians, who greatly despised Zorzal for the crimes he committed against them.

Historians in the Empire later brand him as the worst, most evil, mad and sadistic tyrant in the entire history of the Empire and uses him as an example to teach future generations of nobles about the detrimental effect of delusional hubris and how much it can ruin the nation.

How he remained in history after his death[]

In the Special Region[]

In the history of the Empire and in the histories of all the other nations of the Falmart continent, he is remembered by everyone as the most evil and sadistic monster who ever lived in the history of the Empire or even in the entire history of the Falmart continent.

He is also remembered as a selfish idiot, through starting the suicidal and useless war against Japan, in which he had almost destroyed all the nations and powers of the Falmart continent.

In the modern world of the Earth dimension (in Japan more)[]

In Japanese documents and files, which refer to the war between Japan and the Empire, he is probably classified as a war criminal, responsible for the deaths of several imperial and japanese citizens and for the deaths of several JSDF soldiers, through the suicidal war he continued and which led to his own death.

Relationships[]

  • Yōji Itami: After how Itami had first punched Zorzal, when seeing the enslaved Noriko, the prince began to bluster in how he will find and destroy Japan along with how he tells Itami that he should blame himself for his actions; though this overweening mood died shortly as Itami’s men were able to kill Zorzal’s men, and scare off the remaining survivors, along with how Itami ordered Kuribayashi to interrogate Zorzal about the other enslaved Japanese. Since then, Zorzal greatly hates Itami, yet is very fearful of the JSDF soldier where he would be intimated just by seeing Itami. In their next encounter, after being shown a short death-dealing display of modern sniping, that could have taken his life where Itami states to Zorzal that Japan can kill the tyrant anytime, Zorzal developed a deep trauma from the tribulation that causes the erstwhile prince to hear a fear-induced phantom sound of a gunshot, which forces Zorzal to cover his ears and cower in fear.
  • Shino Kuribayashi: Despite the fact that there weren't that many interactions between the two, the feeling that seems to be the most mutual between Zorzal and Shino is that of absolute hatred. Zorzal detesting Shino for the humiliation he had to endure when they first met, and Shino despising Zorzal for the cruelty he showed to Noriko. However, despite all this mutual hatred, Zorzal is actually horrified by the simplest thought he might have about Shino. The deadly disfigurement he suffered because of her, causing him permanent mental traumas, which make him lose his cool every time he feels threatened or in danger. And Shino, in response to her first encounter with him, only developing a sadistic interest in beating him up to death.
"It’s not impossible, but Ani-sama would not use a recon by fire or whatever. He and his men are hot-headed and a clever ruse like a recon by fire is beyond him." — Pina sarcastically mocks Zorzal's low intelligence and impulsiveness, depicted in volume 3, chapter 6.
  • Piña Co Lada: Zorzal looks down on Pina due to the fact she is a daughter of concubine and often underestimates her even when she outsmarts him in battle during the Imperial Civil War. In return, Pina has low opinion on Zorzal and like the rest of her family considers Zorzal as a delusional meathead and a puppet to be manipulated. Before her alliance with the JSDF, she showed some degree of care and concern toward him like normal sibling to each other whilst Diabo expressed apathy toward his idiotic older brother. At first, she didn't take Zorzal as Molt's successor seriously due to Zorzal's brainless nature, which made him an easy puppet and ignored Diabo's warning about the consequence of letting a moron in charge of the Empire. After Zorzal's coup, she realized Diabo was right all along and had enough of Zorzal and willing to see him die or be captured as his actions would drive the Empire to ruin with his suicidal war. It is revealed that Zorzal secretly feels inferior to her due to her strong personality and intelligence.
  • Tyuule: one of Zorzal's sex slaves, who he frequently sexually maltreats heavily in various ways, such as choking while raping her. Tyuule had endured Zorzal's abuse, initially believing her kingdom would be spared, only to discover later that Zorzal had long broken the deal where the prince destroyed her kingdom, spread false information to Tyuule’s people where they believed their queen had abandoned her people to save herself, and either killed or enslaved the Warrior Bunnies. Thus, Tyuule wanted to get revenge against Zorzal, as well as the Empire, and saw Japan as the perfect nation capable of obliterating the Empire. After the liberation of Noriko Mochizuki, where Tyuule showed her “loyalty” to Zorzal, the prince stopped abusing her and started to treat Tyuule in a more mild fashion. While Tyuule pretends to be Zorzal’s trustworthy confidant, in reality she only pretends to help Zorzal so that warmongering potentate can recklessly challenge Japan only to bring down the entire Empire down with him to complete extirpation. She, to a degree, manipulates Zorzal’s actions behind the scenes, going as far as to make a speech for Zorzal to use once he began his coup. Zorzal is usually reliant on Tyuule for advice and is unsuspecting in how her advice is what perniciously contributes to the end of his regnant sovereignty. Tyuule later had gotten her revenge on Zorzal as the Empire had branded him a traitor. However, she shows to have a mixed feeling on how she accomplished her goal. After his force is defeated by JSDF in the civil war, Zorzal is manipulated by Tyuule to kill Upson and Bouro by blaming them for his failure in his foolish war against the JSDF as Zorzal unable to accept his own stupidity, causing his remaining soldiers to abandon him after seeing what a moron he truly is. His effort is success but at the cost of his life when she stabs him in the stomach and he dies of blood loss.
  • Molt Sol Augustus: Zorzal loathes his father, Molt, especially after the latter backs off from a suicidal pro-war stance against Japan, if for no other reason than to buy time to gather intel and form counter-measures to Japan's overwhelming martial superiority. The hatred is so great that it prompts him to specifically order Tyuule and her "contacts" to poison Emperor Molt, not only so he can take the throne, but that he can claim the Hypothetical glory he thinks he deserves by warring against and conquering Japan, or die trying at any rate.
  • Diabo El Caesar: Zorzal's brother, who is second line in succession and wants the throne where Diabo usually tries to scheme of a way to make himself emperor. Diabo greatly despises and reviles Zorzal because his utter stupidity and delusion in which he often refers to Zorzal as a big idiot who thinks himself as genius. After the liberation of Noriko Mochizuki, where Diabo had made a visit to his heavily marred brother, Zorzal had told Diabo to choose to side with him, their father, or Piña who now had allied herself with the Japanese. Ultimately, after Zorzal El Caesar's Coup, Diabo chose to not side with Zorzal, or Piña, as he fled to find help from other countries. Zorzal admits that Diabo is far more intelligent than him.
  • Hitoshi Furuta: Zorzal’s latest personal chef, who was hired because of how Zorzal took a great liking to Furuta’s cooking after tasting how he prepared a Ma Nuga meat during the banquet prepared by Piña, where Zorzal comments in how Furuta is like a god of cooking. Zorzal is apparently ignorant in how Furuta is a Japanese undercover agent that is providing intelligence to the JSDF.
  • Kati: Zorzal and Diabo's brother-in-law. Not much is known about him other than the fact that Molt had him killed; Diabo described Molt to be young at the time. This later made Zorzal upset and also angered the orphaned sons of the previous emperor. 
  • Herm Fule Maio: Herm is Zorzal's friend and military adviser during the Imperial Civil War. Despite admiring Zorzal, he has limit for how much he can handle Zorzal's idiotic and shallow thinking. After Zorzal loses the Civil War, he has enough of Zorzal's stupidity and opens with the rest of the pro-war senators and generals to surrender the JSDF and the Loyalist. In the end, unlike Zorzal, he regrets starting the war with the JSDF and realizes that he, Zorzal and the rest of the pro-war faction were responsible for bringing down the Empire because of their blind and idiotic thinking.
  • Imperial senate: Zorzal has an infamous reputation in the governing body, especially for the pro-peace senators and Maquis Casel due to his brutish, idiotic and cruel nature. Most of the senate have a high doubt of his capability to lead the Empire. Furthermore, it is revealed that some pro-war senators who suppose to support him the suicide war against the JSDF seemly cannot stand him due to his lack of wise strategy in fighting the JSFD, incapable of listening to reasonable excuse as well as disregard for their well-being since he treats them like meat shields for suicide ambush against the JSDF. After the conclusion of the Imperial Civil War, all surviving pro-war senators and generals finally have enough of Zorzal and surrendered to the Loyalists as well as the JSDF. Finally, they also admit that they were fools to support his ill-fated war out of blind price and lack of far-thinking.
  • Imperial Army: Zorzal has extremely unpopular and despicable reputation among soldiers and generals of the Imperial Army due to his tendency to send them into their pointless doom against the JSDF as well as disregarding rational thinking. He tends to command his troops through fear and terror as he often uses the Oprichnina to kill soldiers that are not mad enough to fight a futile battle or become meat shields. After Zorzal lost the Imperial Civil War, the remaining of the Imperial Army abandoned him after he delusionally commanded them to kill Upson and Bouro under Tyuule's influence.
  • Rory Mercury and Giselle: Much like the JSDF, Zorzal doesn't think highly of them in term of power, despite their obviously superhuman power to overwhelm the vast Imperial army without breaking a sweat due to his delusional mind. Even Giselle states that Zorzal seemly and stupidly thinks himself as above the gods and divinity and Rory also mockingly states that he is an idiot who don't know his place in the world.

Skills & Abilities[]

  • Speech Gestures: In the anime, during his coup speech, Zorzal is seen to be quite adept at speech gestures.
  • Royal Authority: As one of the Emperor's sons, Zorzal held unlimited authority within the Empire, surpassed only by his father. As such, he could do and say whatever he pleased as long as it didn't anger his father. With such great power, Zorzal developed a God Complex and believed himself to be completely free from any mortal law or morality.
  • Limited Military Knowledge: Despite being nothing more than a sadistic spoiled brat, Zorzal is still surprisingly adept when it comes to military tactics. Being somewhat capable, to a very limited extent, of developing plans clever enough to cause problems even for the JSDF forces. By using the members of the Haryo Tribe as spies, saboteurs and assassins, he was able to gather enough information regarding the next movements of the enemy forces. Being thus able to design much more effective ambushes, which led to the death of many JSDF soldiers, and to the destruction of several of their military vehicles and equipment. However, compared to the entire military strength of the JSDF, the losses caused by Zorzal's tactics were relatively minor and insignificant. His tactics being also quickly destroyed by the much more advanced technology of his enemies, and becoming completely useless at some point.
  • Vast Wealth (in the Special Region): As a member of the royal family that reigns over the entire Empire, Zorzal has access to all the economic resources of the Empire. Such as Suwani, diamonds, and oil, which he could use as he pleased and satisfy all his sadistic desires. However, as it was also highlighted during Piña's party, the vast resources of wealth to which he would have had access, would without a doubt have been completely insignificant next to the economy of a modern country like Japan.
  • Swordsmanship: As a prince, Zorzal likely underwent sword fighting training at a young age and could skillfully wield a sword in battle. However, modern soldiers with advanced hand-to-hand combat training like Itami and Shino had no problem taking him down in an instant. Showing that, despite his alleged military training, he is still a weakling.
  • Limited Hand-to-Hand Combat: In the anime, during his foolish attempt to defend himself against Shino, Zorzal is shown to be able to properly execute a boxing jab. Despite being immediately dodged by Shino, this type of fighting move is still something that is difficult for normal ancient citizens to perform. With this, Zorzal is also assumed to have undergone ancient combat training, which could also be an explanation for his muscular physique and brute strength. However, compared to a Japanese soldier like Shino, his expertise in hand-to-hand combat is relatively mediocre.
  • Military Horseback Riding: In both the anime and the manga, Zorzal is shown traveling long distances with his bodyguards, on horseback. In the anime, it is also shown that when Zorzal attacked the Warrior Bunnies tribes, he was leading the army while riding on an Imperial horse. By this, it is assumed that he was also trained in military riding so that he could use it in battle.
  • Inhuman Sexual Appetite: As an owner of a harem of sex slaves it takes substantial effort to quell his more base urges.
  • Cannibalistic Nature: During each of Zorzal's attempts to satisfy his sexual needs, he abuses his sex slaves in such a brutal way, that he even bites their bodies so hard that he manages to rip pieces of their flesh off their bodies. This being proved by the fact that, in the light novel, it is mentioned that Zorzal had managed to bite Noriko's face, during one of his sexual abuses, so hard that he tore a piece of flesh off her cheek, doing this with great enthusiasm. By that, it is quite confirmed that Zorzal has also a very animalistic and cannibalistic behavoir and a big appetite for humanoid and human flesh by ripping flesh pieces off other bodies and doing it with such a lot of pleasure.
  • Huge Appetite & Eating Skills: While not comparable to the apostle Giselle's levels of immense voracity, Zorzal's hunger is generally considered to be far greater than that of an ordinary man. Two "hamburgers" large enough to require two hands to hold are not enough to sate his appetite. Furuta, being well aware of this, always prepares several more in reserve, to warm up while he's eating the first two, so Zorzal would eat them fresh. Zorzal does not spare any compliments for Furuta's foresight.
  • Brute Strength: Though he hasn't shown any real expertise in either swordsmanship or hand-to-hand combat. In nearly all three medias, Zorzal displayed numerous examples of his immense physical strength, due to both his well-developed musculature and massive stature. Being able to make Furuta almost pass out with a simple shoulder pad, push Tomita with one hand, and break Tyuule's neck with his bare hands. However, despite his superhuman strength, he still proved unable to match Japanese soldiers like Shino and Itami. Showing that his brute strength is nowhere near enough to truly be on top of someone.
  • Endurance: Zorzal has been shown in all three medias to have a relatively high resistance to physical trauma. Being able to remain conscious even after being brutally disfigured by Shino, and to endure a punch from Itami that was strong enough to knock him to the ground. However, his physical endurance is not unlimited, and he will eventually succumb to the wounds inflicted on him.
  • Cunning: On rare occasions, Zorzal has shown himself to be quite cunning, and capable of deceiving those around him. Regardless of whether we are talking about the JSDF forces or his own family, Zorzal was able to convince them to be on the side of peace talks between Japan and the Empire, by revealing the locations of other Japanese people who had been thrown into slavery. By doing so, he was able to ensure that his right as the next heir to the throne would not be taken away from him, and convinced the JSDF forces to stop harassing him regarding other slaves obtained from Japan.
  • Manipulation: Rather due to his position as a member of the Empire's royal class. Zorzal, after poisoning his father, was able to launch a coup. Which made all the senators who were still against the peace between Japan and the Empire, as well as a good part of the army, to obey only him. Fact that made him capable of continuing his delusional and suicidal war against Japan.
  • Intimidation: Zorzal's sadistic mindset, as well as his immense stature and position as a member of the Empire's royalty, made him an extremely frightening individual at first glance. Being able to inspire fear and shock of terror by simply revealing his sadistic plans, as was the case with Piña, or simply by his proximity to someone, as was the case with Marcus. However, once he is pitted against a force greater than his own, his intimidation no longer seems to have any meaningful effect on those around him. Making him show his true color, of a coward.
  • Psychological Abuse Expertise: Best shown in the case of Noriko, who almost committed suicide, Zorzal is fully able to "destroy" the sanity of his victims. Being well known for the abuse he can exert on those in the classes that are inferior to his royalty. However, best shown in his case with Shino, his abusive methods are still quite mediocre compared to those of a modern soldier.
  • Alcohol Resistance: In all three medias, Zorzal is shown as being able to consume ridiculous amounts of wine, without being affected by the effects of the alcohol it contains. Being at the same time depicted as a heavy drinker, who can have a drink whenever and wherever he wants.

Equipment (Weapons)[]

  • Imperial Spatha long Sword (in anime and manga): In both anime and manga, Zorzal is seen carrying with him an Imperial Spatha long Sword tied to his belt.
  • Imperial Pugio Dagger (in anime): Zorzal is seen, in anime, wearing with him on the other side of his belt, an Imperial Pugio Dagger
  • Lorica Musculata (in manga): In manga, Zorzal is seen wearing an ornate Lorica Musculata armor, similar to that of an Roman emperor
  • Plate armor (in anime): In anime, Zorzal is seen wearing instead of an Lorica Musculata armor, an Plate armor painted burgundy with yellow highlights and a white cape.
  • Muscular Body (in anime, manga and light novel): Zorzal in all three media, manga, anime and light novel, is described possessing a very bulky and muscular body, similar to the one of a professional bodybuilder.

Trivia[]

  • Zorzal's middle name, El, symbolizes that Zorzal worships Elran who is one of the gods of education, which is a fact that is considered strange by a number of people. Grey Co Aldo notes that Zorzal doesn't necessarily worship any god but rather it would be odd for the mad prince to not have a middle name.
  • Caesar was the name of the famous Roman general and dictator Julius Caesar. However, his corrupt personality that involves raping multiple women of all races or attempting to kill or imprison family members like Pina or Molt, irrational behavior, shallow thinking as well as his delusion and vanity makes him look more like the Roman tyrant Caligula, since Julius Caesar possessed qualities as a good and famous historical leader.
  • His fate is also quite similar to Caligula, since Caligula was killed by one of his bodyguard in the conspiracy that involved a large amount of senators and generals in the Roman Senate. In the case of Zorzal, he was killed by one of his advisers, Tyuule, and all his supporters abandon him after his suicidal war is lost.
  • In the Late Roman Empire, Caesar was the title for the Emperors successor (the ruling emperor was called Augustus)
  • In the anime, Zorzal is shown to have more common sense than in the manga since he knows when to stop when facing overwhelming power. whereas in the manga version, Zorzal is stupid enough to threaten Itami and the JSDF even after all his soldiers are killed and he himself is helpless against their firepower. Furthermore, he is also shown to be braver in the anime since he actually tries to defend himself against Shino's brutal beating by trying to punch her unlike the manga, when he only shouts hopelessly at the guard to restrain her.
  • In the anime, after the warning shot from a sniper during the Raid on the South Palace, the sound of the gunshot begins ringing in Zorzal's head and causing him to tremble in fear each time, showing that he gained hoplophobia, the fear of guns.
  • Despite being the main antagonist, he only encounters Itami twice, Rory and Lelei only one during the operation to rescue Piña, and he never sees Yao and Tuka. Furthermore, he never actually meets face-to-face with the majority of the JSDF members, save for Shino Kuribayashi and Akira Tomita, as well as Sugawara of Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This fact also shows his deep shallowness as he never tries to understand his enemy as he doesn't take his time and effort to know them.
  • Joffrey Season 4 Episode 2 TLATR

    Joffrey Baratheon, a vicious idiot from Game of Thrones that Zorzal embodies of.

    One JSDF officer states that ''an idiot will surely do idiotic things'' when talking about Zorzal, showing that the JSDF has an extremely low opinion of him and sees him more than an annoyance.
  • Although the JSDF has a rather low opinion of Zorzal as a real serious threat to their advanced modern world, they still see him as a threat that could became quite serious and dangerous if it's not stopped in time, considering that Zorzal is more the equivalent of an sadistic street criminal in their modern world than as a real global threat.
  • Zorzal has many similarities and parallels to the Game of Thrones character Joffrey Baratheon. However, Joffrey is shown to be somewhat more pragmatic and intelligent than Zorzal, as he at least listens to those who try to keep some amount of control over his behavior while Zorzal does not.
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