JoJolion

JoJolion (ジョジョリオン) is the award-winning eighth part of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, published in Ultra Jump from May 2011.

The story begins in 2011 and follows Josuke Higashikata, a young man afflicted by retrograde amnesia, on his search to uncover his identity in Morioh Town, a coastal Japanese town affected by the Tohoku earthquake.

JoJolion represents the second part of the series set in the "Steel Ball Run Universe".

Welcome to Morioh Town
Yasuho Hirose, hiding from Joshu Higashikata near Morioh Town's Wall Eyes, discovers a naked man in a sailor cap half buried underground.

In narration, Yasuho explains how the Wall Eyes rose concurrent with a version of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake. Massive, rocky protrusions marked with long, vertical holes, they rise between the coastline and the mainland, blocking highways, waterways, gas and power lines.

Yasuho calls an ambulance. She notices a star-shaped birthmark on his shoulder, surrounded by the fresh mark of a human's bite. The man asks Yasuho whether she knows who he is, before beginning to sink into the ground, prompting her to pull him out, revealing a deep hole. She notices that he has four testicles.

Joshu finds Yasuho and the man, jealously launching a lethal attack; inciting him to initiate a power in the form of a bubble emerging from his birthmark that turns Joshu blind. The man faints, before they are all taken to hospital.

Soft & Wet
The man reveals that he is knowledgeable, but that he has no memory whatsoever as to his own history.

Yasuho offers to help him to discover his identity, first by taking him to the manufacturer of his hat, a shop called "SBR". Seeing them leave from his window, Joshu complains of jealousy, as well as a (similarly human) bite mark on his knee, before collapsing from a fever.

The shopkeeper claims that the man bought his hat there three days prior, before revealing a record of the sale to one "Yoshikage Kira", as well as his address. Yasuho opines that "Yoshikage" does not suit him, and nicknames him Josuke, after her childhood dog.

In Kira's apartment, the pair discover a female hostage in the bathroom, and a photo album displaying her in various sordid states of bondage, along with a man that looks like Josuke. Yasuho flees the apartment in disgust, leaving the two in the bathroom.

Josuke demands explanation of the hostage, which she gives as that Josuke was a prisoner in the same apartment before escaping three days prior, and that she assumed he had returned to help her escape. She mentions that their captor is a Stand user residing on the floor above them, whose powers only come when his victim is directly underneath him.

Revealing his Stand, Soft & Wet, Josuke is violently forced to overcome a plot agreed between the Stand user above and the hostage.

Apprehending and interrogating him, the attacker identifies as Ojirou Sasame, a surfer seeking revenge against Yoshikage Kira, whom Josuke closely resembles (in dress as well as in body). Sasame tells of a psychopathic Kira, who in the past by an obscure power and for little reason convinced Sasame to consume his own fingers. Finished, Josuke identifies a Wall Eye in a photo of Kira.

Travelling to the site of Kira's self-portrait, buried deeper, they discover the body of another man. Narrated after the fact, an autopsy reveals that the body belonged to Yoshikage Kira, who had died of cardiac arrest three days prior.

The Higashikata Family
Josuke and Yasuho are taken in by the head of the Higahikata family, Norisuke Higashikata IV; owner of a substantial estate built with a fruit importation business inherited from his grandfather; Norisuke Higashikata (of Part VII).

Lent the Higashikata name, Josuke Higashikata is welcomed into Norisuke's home and provided with Joshu's bedroom, to Joshu's chagrin.

Norisuke tells Josuke to consider his word "law" in his house, and forbids him from exploring his study, before appointing him the duty of guarding his youngest daughter, Daiya.

Yasuho is escorted out of the house by the family's maid Nijimura, and warned not to return.

California King Bed
Daiya engages Josuke with her Stand, California King Bed; beginning a contest for segments of his memory.

Yasuho, meanwhile, having ordered a DNA test, receives the information that Josuke and Kira, "to within 95.8% accuracy", represent "the same person".

Defeating and befriending Daiya, who appears was operating of her own accord, Josuke elicits her assistance in researching her family as they enter Norisuke's study together.

Family Tree
A book in the study contains a family tree, revealing that Yoshikage Kira and the Higashikatas are directly related; referencing the Steel Ball Run race and a link between Johnny Joestar and Norisuke Higashikata.

"Paisley Park" &amp; "Born This Way"
With this, Josuke makes a plan to find Kira's mother, Holy Joestar-Kira, whom Daiya mentions resides in Morioh hospital.

Utilizing his phone's GPS on the way, which seems to communicate contradictory instructions, Josuke is trailed and attacked by a dark motorcycle rider. Josuke manages to kick off the rider's helmet, revealing a Stand composed of both bike and rider.

Josuke deduces that mysteriously, his GPS is actually directing him in escape of his pursuer. Reaching the hospital, almost defeated, Josuke finds and defeats Kyo Nijimura, the Higashikata family's maid.

Josuke asks Nijimura whether she attacked him under Norisuke's orders. She reacts with distaste and insists on killing him if he approaches Holy, who she reveals to be both her and Yoshikage Kira's mother. Thus, Josuke resolves to find another way to conduct his research.

The Lemon and the Tangerine
As Josuke leaves, she asks him to show her his tongue. She confirms and explains to Josuke that he has two tongues (fused as one) and four eyes (as two), before revealing that he must be a fusion of Kira and another person, having emerged from the ground near the Wall Eyes, which is known to fuse together objects that are buried there.

At the hospital, after being kicked out, Yasuho's Stand, Paisley Park, activates subconsciously, leading her to Holy Joestar-Kira. She watches as doctors perform several tests, noting a compromise in Holy's ability to discern people from objects, and that she is missing several vital organs without negative repercussions, as well as several perfectly spherical portions of her brain, all without any evidence of surgical removal.

"Shakedown Road"
Josuke asks Norisuke for a cell phone, as well as the chance to go to school. Norisuke agrees, but orders Joshu to escort him. Joshu asks Josuke to walk with him to a different high school as a favor. They travel to Shakedown Road, known for its kleptomaniacal community, where Joshu hopes to record himself being robbed in order to complain with evidence to the police for an earlier crime.

Arriving, Joshu unknowingly breaks a child's "compact" toy before her mother demands compensation; as does Josuke a turtle tank in a nearby store window, apparently killing the turtles inside; upon which the owner exorts Josuke for ¥20,000 and a plan to pay off ¥330,000. Joshu captures the event with his phone; discovering that Josuke had stepped on leaves, rushed almost instantly to the tank, and then back, unawares.

Continuing, Josuke is confronted by three men; again drawn into an accidental slight, before coerced into delivering illegal goods to a girl nearby; for which the pair are arrested by two police officers observing.

Joshu infers a power belonging to the ginkgo leaves spread on the ground of the whole Road; fleeing after intercepting an exchange of money between the men and the girl. While Josuke is pinned, the gangsters chase Joshu, easily catching up using the leaves. During their confrontation, Joshu's Stand, Nut King Call, is revealed.

Josuke reveals he had also deduced the power of the gingko leaves, and during its exchange had taken the money for himself with his Stand, which with he repays the pet shop owner in full.

Josuke makes a call to Yasuho while she is in class. Seeing Joshu's caller ID, she doesn't answer; but noticing the origin of the call on her phone's map, Yasuho takes interest in a nearby landmark named Joestar Jizō. Searching the term, she is reminded of Holy and the Higashikata/Joestar family tree. Subconsciously employing Paisley Park, she continues on her phone to research the subject.

Morioh Town: Year 1901
Yasuho learns that the Jizo was built as a memorial to Johnny Joestar, half a year after his ominous death at that location around 110 years prior.

A famous American jockey, Johnny had come to Japan on invitation by their government to assist in a horsemanship program, as well as in importing foreign fruits. On the evening of the 11th of November 1901, while passing through the main road near Mutsukabe Shrine in S City, Morioh Town, Johnny was bludgeoned and died; his body discovered the following morning with his head under a boulder. Ruled a homicide, his wife Rina Higashikata was a prime suspect, before the cause of death was changed to an accident, the boulder falling from the hill of the Mutsukabe Shrine.

Spurred by this new knowledge, Yasuho leaves her class in search of Josuke.

Meanwhile, Josuke also comes across the Jizo, before the pet shop owner approaches for conversation. They agree that Josuke and the Jizo wear the same hat, which the pet shop owner explains was donated by the SBR shop salesman; and he mentions that the American who died there wore a similar hat; before explaining about the legend of Johnny Joestar.

According to the pet shop owner, Johnny came to Japan primarily to marry Rina, having met on a passenger ship departing New York for Europe after the Steel Ball Run Race. The two lived together in America on a ranch, but after several years, Rina was struck by a mysterious disease. She would intermittently lose memories, and later, as the disease threatened her life, her skin began to crease into rigid, origami-like folds. Johnny decided to take his wife to Japan, better that she spend her final days in her hometown. However, in his anguish, Johnny decided to retrieve the holy Corpse from New York City, hoping to use it to cure Rina. Chased by U.S. government agents, Johnny brought Rina and the corpse to Morioh Town, by the meditation pine. He cures her of her disease, hoping it would be sent to a stranger. When it rests on their young son George, Johnny takes him away, and (in pictures rather than narration) uses Tusk along with the Corpse to take the disease onto himself. He falls off his horse onto several gingko leaves, which transport a boulder atop his head. The pet shop owner states that his is only one of many versions of the story, but Josuke believes it, and that it may have something to do with Holy's memory loss.

Yasuho has navigated to the Meditation Pine at the rear of the Higashikata estate by photos in the news stories she has researched. She reads there of a baby washed up nearby on November 13, 1901, wearing a necklace of gemstones. She notes that she can see the Higashikata house, when she is grabbed by a hand from inside the tree and momentarily groped in the darkness.

Paper Moon Deception
Yasuho finds herself with Tsurugi Higashikata, playing with some origami in what Tsurugi describes as an earthquake shelter.

Yasuho realizes that Tsurugi is male; when he reveals that like his father Jobin, his grandfather Norisuke, and others several generations back, as the first-born son of his generation, he will live as a female until he is 12 years old; in a traditional method to ward off certain "evil spirits".

Paisley Park inspires Josuke to send Yasuho a coded message on Joshu's cellphone. Yasuho, unnerved and preparing to leave, realizes her phone is missing when it sounds off. When she finds it, it has been folded into an origami frog that leaps at her eyes, causing her face to split and contort. This effect subsides, and Tsurugi notes that she must have seen his Stand, which she does not quite comprehend.

Leaving the room, phone in hand, she spots another room. Looking in the window, it is small and austere, containing a set of clothes similar to that worn by Kira, and a collection of objects including an Enter the Dragon poster and Ultraman figurine, among others.

Yasuho heads back into town, trailed by Tsurugi. She speaks with a woman with a particular, angular face, who asks for directions. Another woman passes with the same face, as well as a window cleaner, the mannequins in the window, and everyone around her, except for Tsurugi.

Yasuho embarks on an unhappy adventure through a commercial center of Morioh Town, during which she is antagonized by the distorted visages of her mother, Joshu, and a criminal group attempting to kidnap her who she mistakes for police; as she tries unsuccessfully to meet again with Josuke.

When Tsurugi lasts reveals himself, Yasuho concedes, following him back to his playroom. Elsewhere, Josuke deduces that he is no longer afflicted by Tsurugi's Stand because he has fallen out of its range, and that Yasuho was its main target.

Through the slot in the door of the second underground room, somebody spies on Tsurugi and Yasuho's return.

Tsurugi's Goal & the Architect
Yasuho calms in Tsurugi's playroom. He apologizes, admitting that he targeted her with his Stand, Paper Moon King. He states that anyone who comes near the Wall Eyes will awaken a Stand, and that the Higashikatas do not appear to discuss the subject among themselves.

Asking again the purpose of the underground complex, Tsurugi explains that it is a space dedicated to treating the mysterious illness that turns the skin hard like stone befalling all Higashikata firstborns. Yasuho is reminded of Holy's condition, whose brain is becoming hard and smooth, memories fragmenting, and that Kira tried to save her.

Falling asleep, a figure emerges from behind a jacket hanging on the wall. Uttering obscurities, mentioning Soft & Wet and an opinion that Josuke need not exist, the man pulls a sheet of clear material from his eyes, pinning it around Yasuho's wrists and face. Taking a pitcher of water, he appears to begin to waterboard Yasuho, waking her to a gasping panic. Emptying it, he tells her that he has been observing her for a long time, and explicitly to reveal her Stand. Breaking a glass and failing to cut the material, Yasuho reveals her Stand, shooting from her feet across the floor, before the man pins its leg with his foot, catching its head as it rises from the ground, shocking Yasuho. The man is able to accurately deduce aspects of the Stand's limitation, before it escapes his grasp through the hatch in the ceiling. Touching Josuke, Paisley Park reminds him of Tsurugi's implication in the earlier Stand attack, inspiring him to return to the Higashikata estate.

Telling Yasuho that he has been watching "all of them" up to now, the man introduces himself as Yotsuyu Yagiyama, a 28 year old architect, who most of all desires social status, for which purpose he intends to ensure that Josuke's memories do not return, when Josuke "dies again".

Slipping on an origami banana skin Yasuho had been folding, and falling, she is freed, just as he disappears. Afraid, Yasuho concludes that the Higashikatas must not be aware of Yotsuyu.

Norisuke, Tsurugi & Yotsuyu
In the morning, Josuke awakens in his bedroom, seeing from his window Tsurugi leaving from the back of the house, carrying bags full of food. Asking Daiya what there is on the far side of the yard, she mentions the Wall Eyes, some woods, and the debris of a ruined shed.

Norisuke asks Josuke about his experience at school, when Joshu interjects with a nonsensical, fictional account of the day, implied to be a result of damage inflicted by Yasuho by a large lump on his head.

From the balcony at the house's rear, Josuke identifies the shed, by the pine, and the spring where he emerged; all lined up with the Wall Eyes. Spotting Tsurugi, he gives chase, resolving to interrogate each member of the family.

Norisuke confronts Josuke; prompting Josuke to say outright that he is following Tsurugi, and that he finds the Higashikatas highly suspicious, wishing to ask them all certain things directly; embarking on an interrogation.

He settles to ask Norisuke whether he killed Yoshikage Kira, which he says he did not, and in three parts: First, that he knows of the power of the Wall Eyes to combine two objects, and argues that if he wished Kira dead, he should wish the same of Josuke. Second, that he is sympathetic to Kira's family, including Holy, being that theirs shares its fate with his, with respect to the curse of their disease; and third, that he actually needed Kira, believing that he had a clue as to their cure.

Norisuke says that he adopted Josuke in the hope that he has retained these memories; reaffirms his wish for his family's happiness, and that he does not know the identity of the other person composing Josuke, suggesting that he consider himself the individual currently searching for his identity.

Asking Norisuke, a firstborn, how he himself was cured, Norisuke limits his answer to that his parents traded their lives to cure him. Josuke asks Norisuke's permission to question Tsurugi, and the request encourages Norisuke to accompany him as a form of compromise.

On the way Josuke decides to inquire about the nature of Norisuke's stand - even going as far as to ask if he can observe it after having deduced everyone in his family should possess one, and his awareness of Tsurugi's ability. Although he admits to being aware that Tsurugi possesses a stand he informs Josuke that he had no idea his grandson had attacked him and opts to momentarily reveal his Stand's hand in order to satisfy Josuke while keeping it's full nature private.

Distracted, Norisuke notices the hatch to the basement open, describing the destroyed shed above it being designed a rest stop; and in the past, the basement below to store and research their fruit trees.

Moments later Josuke feels something touch his shoe and theorizes it to have been Tsurugi's accomplice Yotsuyu although he cannot determine how he managed to sneak up on them without him noticing. These strange occurances prompt him to warn Norisuke that something strange appears to be happening on the Higashikata property even it's patriarch is unaware of, given the bizarre nature of Kira's death.

It is at that moment that an odd sound alerts them to the approach of heavy, rolling pots which appear to be converging on their location from all directions. They are in such great numbers that the duo assume them to be from all over Morioh and wonder if this is the affect of their enemy's Stand.

Breaking the pots with Soft & Wet proves ineffective when the shards begin to dig into Josuke's flesh, ever gravitating towards his 'core'. It is only through the combined effort of a now free Norisuke dragging him out of the Pot's reach and Josuke utilizing soap bubbles to steal the weight of the shards attached to him does he escape death.

The two take this brief moment to plan their next movie; either progress towards the hatch and risk a trap or flee and abandon the unconscious Yasuho which Josuke refuses to do. While analyzing the enemy's Stand Josuke and Norisuke both feel the sensation of being touched again, and just as before cannot pinpoint the location of the culprit. This time thousands of chestnuts advance on the pair and threaten to pierce their skin with sharp pines until Josuke robs them of their moisture and cause them to collapse, giving Norisuke enough time to force the hatch open and break the chained inner handle with a rock. Once the two enter and seal the bunker they find themselves out of their opponent's effective radius and indulge in a temporary calm.

Chapters
JoJolion currently consists of 50 chapters, compiled into Volume 1 to 11 of the Jump Comics collected editions. The left column consists of the titles from the volumes. The right column consists of the titles from the Ultra Jump release of Part VIII.

Trivia

 * According to a note by Araki in Vol. 2, the -lion in the title is derived from the Ancient Greek εὐαγγέλιον (evangelion), in reference to the Gospel/s. "By combining this word with "JoJo", I've meant for the title to signify the existence of the protagonist "Josuke" in this world".
 * It won the Grand Prize for manga at the 2013 Japan Media Arts Festival