Giovanni Battista Caproni is a important supporting character in Hayao Miyazaki's animated feature film, The Wind Rises.

Facial Features & Grooming

• The Mustache: His most defining feature is a massive, perfectly manicured black handlebar mustache that curls dramatically upward past his cheeks.

• Eyes & Expression: He has large, expressive dark eyes, thick eyebrows, and an energetic, confident smile.

• Color and Texture: He has wavy, thick, light brown or brownish-gray hair with visible lighter highlights that give it a slightly textured, salt-and-pepper look.

• Style: His hair is neatly groomed but voluminous, styled back away from his forehead and curling slightly at the sides and back, framing his face.

• The Mustache Connection: His hair perfectly complements his most famous feature—his massive, elegantly curled, flamboyant handlebar mustache, which matches his hair color and swoops out dramatically past his cheeks.

Attire

• Headwear: He frequently wears a classic black bowler hat featuring a distinct plum or deep purple ribbon band.

• Suit: Caproni is elegantly dressed in an Edwardian-era three-piece suit, consisting of a dark charcoal or navy lounge jacket, a warm tan or brown vest, and a crisp white high-collared shirt.

• Accessories: He ties his look together with a wide teal-blue necktie and occasionally sports a pink pocket square or boutonnière on his left lapel.

Count Giovanni Battista Caproni is animated with large, expressive eyes that are a distinctive shade of deep purple, violet, or dark indigo rather than a traditional sky blue.

He is a famous Italian airplane designer who inspires Jiro Horikoshi in his dreams to become also an airplane designer. He always called Jiro not by name but the "Japanese boy".

He is based on the real Italian aircraft designer of the same name, Giovanni Battista Caproni.

He is first mentioned in the magazine Aviation. Jiro borrowed it from an older classamte. Since that day, he dreams about being as great as Caproni.

He first appears in Jiro's dream when Jiro dreams of becoming a pilot. Caproni ends up taking Jiro up upon the wings of his first Italian plane and when Jiro asks if he can still design airplanes because he is nearsighted, Caproni answers that he has never flown a single plane, but that planes are like beautiful dreams.

After that, he appears in Jiro's dream when Jiro is returning from Germany asking Jiro if he would rather pyramids or without pyramids, meaning would he rather design planes even for war or not at all? Jiro answers Caproni by answering that even though his planes are used for war and destruction, he would still rather achieve his dream.

Finally, Caproni is last seen in a dream by Jiro and telling him that even though his planes have been used for destruction Jiro's dreams were nonetheless realized. Caproni also tells Jiro that Naoko has been waiting for him and that she was also a beautiful dream like his first successful airplane ending the film with inviting Jiro for a glass of wine.