- Hair: Brown
- Eyes: Brown
- Outfits:
- Childhood: Generally blue clothes over a white shirt.
- Combat outfit: Blue and turquoise clothes, black trousers, red bowtie.
Jonathan Joestar (ジョナサン・ジョースター, Jonasan Jōsutā) is the main protagonist of the first part of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure series, Phantom Blood, and the first JoJo of the series. His legacy extends throughout almost the entirety of the first six parts of the series, with major characters such as Joseph Joestar and Jotaro Kujo being his descendants.
Jonathan is the son of the wealthy businessman George Joestar I and Mary Joestar. He is an honest, kind, and positive man whose life is fraught with tragedy after meeting his adopted older brother Dio Brando. In his battle against Dio, Jonathan becomes a Ripple user under the tutelage of his master Will Anthonio Zeppeli.
Adhering to the norms of the Victorian era, Jonathan's childhood attire at age twelve consisted of a collared shirt, breeches, and a pair of long socks with dress shoes. This was either accompanied by a blazer, vest, and tie, or a pair of suspenders. As a nobleman, he sometimes replaces the tie with a ribbon-like his father's.[9] When boxing, he wears a casual boxing outfit consisting of a tank top, shorts, and boxing gloves. During his time with Erina, Jonathan also dons a Newsboy cap and a pair of knee-high boots.
As a twenty-year-old adult, Jonathan is a tall (195 cm/6'5"), extremely muscular individual with a gentlemen's poise. His typical attire tends to reflect his noble background, characterized by stylized tunics over long-sleeve shirts. Reoccurring articles of clothing include a cravat, a bow tie, thick boots, and a vest.
At home, Jonathan wears semi-formal attire consisting of a collared shirt, tie, and jacket with rolled-up sleeves.[10] When he sets out to Ogre Street to find a cure for his father's illness, Jonathan dons an entirely new outfit made up of a padded jacket and pants, complete with a deerstalker cap and a long cloak.[10] During his training with Zeppeli, he strips down to a stylized tank top with wristbands, and gains a circlet at some point.[11] On his quest to Windknight's Lot, Jonathan dons a double-layered tunic with a bow tie and deerstalker cap.[12] Following his fight with Tarkus, he wears a close-fitted tank top with capped sleeves for the rest of the journey.[13] During his honeymoon and final encounter with Dio, he wears an ornate suit with a long tail over a collared shirt with straps on the shoulders and a cravat.[13]
Modern depictions of Jonathan show him wearing a headband patterned with triangles much similar to the one both Caesar and Joseph don. Though he isn't depicted with the Star Birthmark in the manga, modern illustrations by Araki and adaptations such as the OVA and 2012 anime depict him with it.
During his childhood, Jonathan was proud and mischievous, yet gentle. Despite already aspiring to be a "true gentleman",[5] Jonathan lacked manners and mostly behaved like a normal child. His mother, having died before he could remember her, and his fellow boys ostracizing him because of his status left Jonathan somewhat lonely.[14] While at first, Jonathan didn't have his future strength of will, Dio unwittingly became the catalyst of his growth by pushing him to the edge and humiliating his girlfriend Erina Pendleton.[15] However, he did have the kindness and courage to immediately jump to Erina's rescue against two bullies bigger than him despite not knowing her.[5]
Regarding Jonathan as a character, Araki has stated that Jonathan was difficult for him to design.[16] He wanted to create a "first Joestar" that could function as a symbol of purity and dignity rather than a unique, fresh character. This is reflected in his goals and character, Jonathan strives to become a "true gentleman." He carries his Joestar name with pride, never betraying the code of conduct he has set for himself, and will treat any fellow human with respect unless they prove evil.
Jonathan also possesses a fierce inner strength and the drive to face and overcome conflict, which Dio calls an "explosive power". That drive, fueled by his affection for his friends and loved ones, enabled him to overcome the direst situations, notably managing to save his wife Erina when their boat was overcome with zombies and he was fatally wounded.[17] Jonathan fights for what he believes in, and once he is committed to something, he won't back down until the deed is done. During his journey to find a cure for his father's illness, he was ambushed by a band of misfit hoodlums. He did not so much as flinch as he grasped an assailant's knife within his hand, saying he had much more riding on the fight than merely four fingers.[18]
As a gentleman, Jonathan is also kind and positive. Jonathan has a mindset where he tries to imagine the consequences his actions would have on other people, even if they appear to be enemies.[19] He is gentle and sympathetic, feeling pain even as he vanquishes a zombified policeman. Despite his skill in fighting, he will never seriously harm a person without a valid reason. Even after everything Dio has done, Jonathan still considers him his brother, and sheds tears for him.[8] His courteous nature as well as his mental fortitude and ability to withstand fear and pain is the main reason Speedwagon decides to aid him on his journey. During his life, Jonathan has always had an impulse to save others, beginning with Erina, and ending with his thought of a nearby baby just as he was agonizing over Dio's attack.[4]
Yet Jonathan can feel righteous fury at the evilness of his foes and will conduct justice by vanquishing them. He admitted that his reason for fighting Dio wasn't out of duty for saving the world, but to avenge his loved ones that Dio had killed.[20] Moreover, he does not pity truly despicable individuals he is not familiar with such as Doobie.[21]
With his courage and spirit, Jonathan sets a legacy as the first JoJo of the series.
Jonathan had lived a rough past as the son of an aristocrat and was known in his childhood to have been at least a competent boxer. In his college life, he played Rugby alongside Dio Brando and was revered as one of the two stars of Hugh Hudson Academy.
Even prior to learning Ripple, Jonathan was able to hold his own against three thugs, Speedwagon among them, with sheer might and willpower. He was capable of wielding various weaponry held by the suits of armor in the Joestar Mansion. He had also performed incredible feats of strength, such as jumping from the hilt of a sword and hoisting himself up to the second floor while doing a flip over the guardrails, despite his arm being inhibited by a spear pierced into his pectorals. Perhaps his greatest display of strength was after being revitalized and empowered by Zeppeli's Ultimate Deep Pass Overdrive, where he ripped through 3 steel bars clutching his neck, a feat that even the mighty zombie Tarkus outright admitted he was incapable of.
Jonathan is shown to be an intelligent person and a very competent thinker during battles, constantly coming up with new strategies mid-combat to defeat foes such as Bruford and Dio.
Academically, Jonathan graduated from university after having written a celebrated thesis in archaeology.[7] He has meticulously studied the Stone Mask, going as far as identifying the spots in the brain it would pierce,[18] but didn't discover its true purpose himself.
In a fight, Jonathan is adept at thinking of moves on the spot and using the environment to his advantage. On several occasions, Jonathan was quick to formulate plans even in a moment of crisis. Still agonizing over the death of his father, Jonathan had to fight a vampirized Dio and quickly thought about burning down the Joestar Mansion in order to cancel out Dio's regenerative abilities. Likewise, agonizing from a wound in the throat which also led to a lack of oxygen going to his brain, Jonathan managed to use his last Ripple on Wang Chan to dispose of a horde of zombies and Dio at the same time by controlling Wang Chan's body to make the boat explode. Jonathan even notably used his belt as a supplementary whip before ever acquiring the Ripple, as well as exploited the fact that Windknight's Lot was a coal mining town to deduce that a lake would have air pockets at its bottom to surprise Bruford with an unexpected production of Ripple.
Jonathan has an arsenal of ancient martial art techniques, most inherited from Will Anthonio Zeppeli and involving Ripple, at his disposal. Some are his original creation, most ending with "Overdrive".
Jonathan launches his fist forward and strikes his opponent. First used by Zeppeli, the attack involves a Ripple breathing technique that dislocates and stretches the joints to extend the arm and give it greater reach while also using the same Ripple to dull the pain caused by the move. Due to the increased length, the strike immediately reaches the opponent's face first, which from that perspective seems "zoomed in."
Jonathan charges a Ripple wave through his arm and releases it into a solid object, such as a wall or partition. The Ripple can travel through and reach anything on the other side, and anything hit by the Ripple is sent flying in a spiral. If the enemy is an Undead, the Ripple will enter their bloodstream and destroy them from the inside.
Jonathan and Zeppeli have the ability to release devastating Ripple-infused strikes with power comparable to the sun itself. The energy produced by this technique can flow straight through victims to obliterate multiple Undead at once; when delivered through a barrage of punches, it can even revive a Zombie's human soul as their body is obliterated.
Human bodies have a faint magnetic field, allowing them to act as a living magnet when the power of the magnetic field is increased by this Overdrive. That magnetic field is then transferred into the leaves, creating a massive magnetic sheet. With the aid of Zeppeli, Jonathan uses this technique to draw all the leaves in the immediate area and magnetize them together to form one giant leaf, using it as an impromptu hang glider.
Alongside the attacks, the Ripple has various other uses in combat. A skilled Ripple user such as Jonathan has the ability to walk on water, strengthen objects and increase their potency, increase jumping height, and much more.
A Ripple user is able to use the Ripple as a repellent and to adhere either themselves or objects to other objects and liquids. Jonathan uses this to walk on water and later to expel the venom from Doobie's snakes out of his body.
By using the Ripple on people or animals, Jonathan can reorganize their cells, indirectly controlling their bodies. Jonathan uses this technique when sending Ripple energy into the blood of Doobie's snakes, causing them to devour their own master; he ultimately uses this technique on Wang Chan to force him to stop a cruise ship's screw shaft.
When DIO awakened The World, Jonathan's body also awakened a Hermit Purple-like Stand power with semi-precognitive abilities.[23] Similar to Hermit Purple, it can produce psychic photographs by striking a camera or a crystal ball, which DIO used to track the Joestars and their friends' current location to send Stand users after them. DIO was even able to tell when Joseph used Hermit Purple to take a psychic photograph of him, and instinctively knew that his acquisition of a Stand also awoke Stand abilities in Jonathan's descendants.
In the light novel JOJO'S BIZARRE ADVENTURE OVER HEAVEN, this Stand shares the same name as Hermit Purple and is called "Hermit Purple #2". In JORGE JOESTAR, this Stand is instead named "The Passion" and takes the form of a crown of thorns, along with also being able to watch the futures of anyone that is blood-related to Jonathan.
In addition to the appearances listed below, any appearance of Dio Brando's body in his Stardust Crusaders design (and, by extension, DIO's Bone) can be considered an appearance of Jonathan's corpse.
Jonathan's name was derived at a Denny's where Araki and his first editor, Ryosuke Kabashima, had their first meeting pertaining to the JoJo series.[25] The two had decided on "Jonathan" as the series's protagonist, however, Araki also wanted the initials to match in a way similar to the American filmmaker, Steven Spielberg (S.S). They eventually landed on the name, "Jonathan Joestar" (J.J) and thus the nickname "JoJo" was born.[26] Araki mentions he was not referencing anything in particular when he chose the first name.[27] Jonathan was rumored to be named after "Jonathan's Family Restaurant"; however, both Araki and Kabashima confirm this is an urban myth. Araki had brought up the name during a 2006 interview, but he states the interviewer had mentioned it and he just echoed it by accident.[25]
Araki wanted Jonathan to exude an aura of strength like in the manga Karate Baka Ichidai after the protagonist did martial arts training alone in the mountains.[16] Additionally, his appearance and physique are similar to Hokuto no Ken's Kenshiro. Although this specific similarity has not been directly confirmed by Araki, the Hokuto no Ken manga was at the very least used as visual reference for some panels of Jonathan.
In the 2000 Stardust Crusaders OVA, Jonathan's voice actor, Jurota Kosugi, voiced Jotaro Kujo in the 1993/2000 OVA adaption. He later voiced Norisuke Higashikata IV in Eyes of Heaven.
Jonathan's voice actor in the 2007 Phantom Blood film, Katsuyuki Konishi, also voices Diavolo in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind.
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Jonathan Joestar (ジョナサン・ジョースター, Jonasan Jōsutā) is the protagonist of Phantom Blood and the first JoJo of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure series.
Born the unique son of the wealthy businessman George Joestar I, Jonathan is an honest, kind and positive man whose life is fraught with tragedy after meeting his adopted older brother - and series antagonist - Dio Brando. In his battle against Dio, Jonathan becomes a Ripple user under the tutelage of the master William Anthonio Zeppeli.
Adhering to the norms of the Victorian era, Jonathan's childhood attire consisted of a collared shirt, breeches, and a pair of long socks with dress shoes. This was either accompanied by a blazer, vest and tie, or a pair of suspenders. As a nobleman, he'd sometimes replace the tie with a ribbon like his father's.[1]
As an adult, Jonathan is a tall (195 cm/6'5"), extremely muscular individual with a gentlemen's poise. His typical attire tends to reflect his noble background, characterized by stylized tunics over long sleeve shirts. Reoccurring articles of clothing include a cravat, bowtie, thick boots and a vest.
This section requires expansion.
The anime marks a shift in Jonathan's portrayal in promotional materials as most media featuring Jonathan post-anime will portray him with his anime colors.
Ripple Users | |
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Phantom Blood Characters | |
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Main Characters | |
Minor Characters | |
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