Yoshikage Kira/History

"Nobody can find me, nobody knows me, nobody knows I am the murderer."

- Yoshikage Kira

Kira was born Janurary 30, 1966, in Morioh Town within Japan's M Prefecture in the city of S. His parents, already old when he was born, died when he was 21; his father from cancer, his mother passing away peacefully. Araki has stated that Kira did not have a good childhood, but Jotaro narrated that the Kira family was very close. He graduated from D University in 1988 with a literature degree, then moved to S city for a job at Kameyu's corporate office. He eventually transferred to the Morioh-cho branch in 1993.

Starting his spree roughly when he was in high school, Kira is a serial killer who originally murdered his victims by stabbing them so viciously that they were left with horrific back wounds (their hideous nature is implied by the fact that the reader is never actually shown Reimi's wound, despite all the instances of blood and gore that Araki had drawn up to that point). His first victims were Reimi Sugimoto and her entire family, including their dog Arnold.

Kira's Stand, Killer Queen, came as a result of his father, Yoshihiro Kira, giving him a Stand arrow that he himself received from Enya and DIO. Killer Queen manifested from his desire to leave no evidence from his killings behind, developing an ability to make its victims disintegrate completely. At an unknown point, Kira dubbed his Stand, but wasn't aware of what it was until far into the future. He now lets Killer Queen annihilate his victims (except for his "girlfriends'" hands), letting everyone else think that the victims have simply gone missing. Though the number of missing people would eventually attract attention, no one would have any reason to suspect that Kira was involved due to his simple demeanor and lifestyle.

Yoshikage Kira is first seen when Josuke stops Koichi from walking into the road as he's driving. He stops, but then continues driving, returning home with the severed hand of a recent victim.

Formally introduced in this arc, Kira is seen shopping for lunch while on break to deliver documents, having the hand of another woman with him. He has lunch in the park after buying from a sandwich shop, marveling the day, but hides the hand of his girlfriend inside the bag he recieved when startled by a dog. After intimidating the dog, Kira continues his peaceful lunch and overhears Shigekiyo "Shigechi" Yangu with a sandwich from the same shop arguing with Josuke Higashikata and Okuyasu Nijimura about money. While writing down the IOU the two high-schoolers promise, the dog makes off with Shigechi's sandwich, causing Shigechi to mistake Kira's for his.

Kira is quick to make the discovery but can't stop Shigechi in time, and out of fear he may be discovered due to the hand wearing a ring he recently bought, he begins to follow Shigechi to yank the bag from him. He eventually follows the group to Shigechi's school, and after nearly being found on three occasions, manages to retrieve his bag.

However, Shigechi catches on and, under the assumption it's his stolen sandwich bag, rips it open with Harvest on accident, revealing the hand. As a result of being found, Kira retaliates, revealing his Stand and successfully killing Shigechi without much of a fight by exploiting Harvest's weakness of bringing money back to Shigechi. However, Harvest manages to grab one of Kira's coat buttons and delivers it before he fully passes on.

Kira brings his suit to the tailor and finds that Jotaro Kujo and Koichi Hirose are investigating him. As a result, he sics Sheer Heart Attack after them in order to buy time to escape, managing to get as far as a cafe without being seen. Koichi awakens Echoes Act 3 and traps Sheer Heart Attack in place, transferring the same effect onto Kira. Kira returns in person and, heavily wounded, surprises Koichi by using Killer Queen and withdrawing Sheer Heart Attack. He attacks Koichi personally as revenge for unintentionally humiliating him in public, but stops after a punch from Killer Queen knocks off one of Koichi's shoes and reveals his socks are inside out.

Kira hesitates and proceeds to fix Koichi's sock, allowing time for Jotaro to get back up. After Star Platinum wounds Kira, Josuke and Okuyasu arrive on the scene. Impatient to escape, Kira asks Josuke to 'fix' him as he fixed Jotaro and Koichi while posing as an innocent bystander, only to unwittingly reveal to Josuke that he can see Stands and thus show he's the enemy. Cornered, Kira cuts his own hand off to release Sheer Heart Attack from Echoes Act 3's ability and flees.

Josuke uses Crazy Diamond's ability to make the severed hand chase after him. Kira escapes by forcing Aya Tsuji and her Stand Cinderella to switch his face and fingerprints with Kosaku Kawajiri's, then killing Aya with his first bomb, successfully stalling the protagonists' chase.

With his new identity and his hand reattached, Kira tries to assume Kosaku Kawajiri's life and blend into his household. Fortunately, Kawajiri wasn't the kindest man, something Kira wasn't aware of - as a result, he accidentally provokes romantic emotions in the formerly estranged Shinobu Kawajiri by doing simple things like apologizing and making dinner.

However, Kosaku's son, Hayato, sees there's something not right about his father, as he normally spies on his parents, and wonders why his father has two pairs of shoes that are different sizes as well as why his father would practice writing his own name over and over again.

After Shinobu Kawajiri kills the cat Tama, Kira finds it resurrected as the Stand Stray Cat, and after a fight, he gives it a home in the household attic. Unbenknownst to Kira however, Hayato Kawajiri finds the cat in the attic and grows even more suspicious of him.

After fending off the urge to kill for some time, Kira finally kills two people who annoy him on the train, and prepares to take the hand of his female victim back with him. As he does so, he notices Hayato Kawajiri fleeing the scene with a video camera, and realizes he has been seen. He vaporizes the hand for his own safety.

Kira corners Hayato in the bath, hoping to get his hands on the video tape. Hayato reveals that he has backups hidden in a number of places, and warns Kira not to harm him or his mother. Kira loses his temper and kills the boy, then realizes he has made a mistake. He bites his nails to the point that they started to bleed, which his father says Kira has done since he was a little boy. In his desperation, the Arrow in his father's portrait pierces him on its own, granting Kira a new ability called Bites the Dust, an ability that manifested from his desire not to be caught. Kira revives Hayato by planting Bites the Dust in him and begins the next day with a new confidence.

Josuke and company attempt to pursue their new lead, only to be trapped in the time loop created by Bites the Dust. However, Hayato manages to take advantage of the time loop and cause Kira to expose himself by gloating about his victory despite Hayato's efforts. Josuke and Okuyasu, arriving on time thanks to a call from Hayato, hear Kira gloating and immediately attack him, forcing him to call back Bites the Dust and cancel the time loop.

Kira combines Stray Cat's aerokinesis with Killer Queen's explosive charges to produce invisible air bombs. After defeating Okuyasu, he charges Okuyasu's body to explode on contact, forcing Josuke into a dilemma, but is again foiled by Hayato, who allows himself to be blown up by touching Okuyasu, only to have Josuke heal him.

When Josuke and Hayato escape into a nearby house, Kira continues to attack them from a distance with the help of his father, who is hidden in Hayato's pocket and relaying their location to him. He is eventually tricked into blowing up the photograph containing Yoshihiro. Josuke then uses Crazy Diamond's restoration ability to pull glass shards covered with his own dried blood towards the house, intercepting Kira on the way.

Kira, unwilling to accept defeat, is pummeled out into the neighborhood sidewalk, exposed to a crowd of people. Unwilling to accept this irony, Kira attempts to use Bites the Dust on a nearby woman to escape. As he gloats over his victory, he is confused to discover himself in a strange alley, and finds that his watch has not been restored when the time loop reset.

He encounters Reimi, who reveals that Bites the Dust has actually been foiled by Echoes Act 3's "freeze" technique. Jotaro, finally close enough, stops time and beats him with Star Platinum's barrage. Still alive, but unable to activate Bites the Dust with broken fingers, Kira was accidentally run over by a nearby ambulance, which was called in to save him and take him to the hospital.

Upon recognizing Reimi and wondering why she would show him her back wound, Kira recalls that his father told him about a place he could not turn his back to when he died, and tries to force Reimi to look back instead. However, his plan fails when Arnold bites off his hand.

Kira falls to the ground, ends up turning around in surprise, and is torn to pieces and dragged off to another world by a swarm of hands.

Kira is shown some time between the End of Part 4 and the End of Part 6 as a vagabond spirit who is unaware of his identity. Now a ghost trapped in the living world after his death, Kira can't remember anything but his name, but is sure he cannot get to heaven. However, he still shows traits of his personality, as he wants a normal life and doesn't wish to attract the attention of living people. Not sure what to do with his eternal existence, he now works for a monk, doing the "dirty work" of killing targets she gives him in exchange for money. He believes that, by making this job his purpose to live, he might find happiness.

He is sent to a mansion belonging to a soldier that turned into a spirit to find out the reason behind the deaths of people around the area. There, he discovers that he can interact with objects in the mansion, and is excited by the possibility of living there. As he investigates further, he is attacked by Cleansers, and in the process of destroying them, is forced to cut his own arm off. After escaping the mansion, he goes to investigate the information the monk gave him, swearing to kill her if he finds any errors. He wonders if her arm would stick in place of his lost one.