<metadesc>Josuke Higashikata (東方 仗助, Higashikata Jōsuke) is the protagonist of Diamond is Unbreakable and the fourth JoJo of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure series.</metadesc>
Josuke is a high school first-year residing in the town of Morioh. He soon meets Jotaro Kujo, who informs him that he is Joseph's illegitimate son. After his grandfather dies, Josuke takes it upon himself to protect his beloved town from malevolent Stand Users. Josuke wields Crazy Diamond, a powerful Stand with the power to repair almost anything.
Josuke is a tall, handsome young man of average build. His most prominent feature is his well-maintained pompadour, styled after that of an unknown man who saved his life as a child.[5] His pompadour has a tendency to become spiky with his mood, such as when he is irritated or angry.
Josuke wears a dark, modified Japanese school uniform. His jacket conforms to his body, extending to the middle of his thigh, accompanied by a pair of wide-legged pants. He keeps his jacket unbuttoned and pinned aside, revealing a light undershirt with a short zipper on each side of his chest. He wears a small stud in each ear.
Josuke wears a number of metallic/golden emblems. On the left of his collar he wears a modified anchor and on his right, a row of two small hearts. Pinning his open jacket to his chest on his right is a peace sign (☮), and on the left is a heart (occasionally enclosing a palm, like on Jotaro's hat). He wears a gold band at both wrists over his sleeves (under more elaborate pieces in several illustrations).
A man with expensive taste, Josuke wears Mr. Junko original socks, ¥25,000 black Bally shoes[6], and Moschino brand underwear.[7]
Josuke's most common color scheme consists of either a dark blue or purple uniform and a green or yellow undershirt.
Color Schemes
The series is known for alternating colors between media, the information presented below may or may not be canon.
Colored MangaAnimeAll-Star BattleEyes of Heaven
Skin(Fair)
Hair(Black with purple highlights)
Eyes(Purple)
Outfit
(Purple uniform with lime green undershirt and gold accessories. Dark green shoes.)
The anime marks a shift in Josuke's portrayal in promotional materials as most media featuring Josuke post-anime will portray him with his anime colors.
Skin(Fair)
Hair(Black with navy highlights)
Eyes(Blue)
Outfit
(Navy uniform with yellow undershirt and gold accessories. Purple shoes.)
Hair(Black with purple highlights)
Eyes(Purple)
Outfit
(Indigo uniform with yellow undershirt and gold accessories. Green shoes.)
Hair(Black with indigo highlights)
Eyes(Purple)
Outfit
(Navy uniform with yellow undershirt and gold accessories. Olive green shoes.)
Personality
“
I will protect both my mother and this town! No matter what gets in my way, I'll fill in for Grandpa!
Josuke's primary trait is his overall kindness, which is reflected in his Stand, Crazy Diamond, who repairs and heals.[8] When he was a child, a random bystander helped save a feverish Josuke out of kindness,[5] Josuke subconsciously reflected that kindness in him. Even upon the revelation that he was Joseph's bastard son, Josuke had thought first and foremost about the troubles he's caused to the Joestars and disregarded any claim for a heritage, only wanting to reassure his biological father that he was doing fine.[9] Agreeable by nature, Josuke isn't as prone to violence as other JoJos and can even calmly tolerate bullying by upperclassmen[10] or Shigechi's selfishness.[11] Josuke is loyal to his friends and loved ones; risking his life after Koichi is hit by Keicho's Bow,[12] and carrying Okuyasu's body while apparently dead throughout the first part of his battle with Yoshikage Kira.[13] When his grandfather died, Josuke took it upon himself to become the protector of Morioh.[14] Upon meeting someone in not particularly antagonistic circumstances, Josuke will generally be polite and friendly.
Overall, Josuke behaves like a teenager and, aside from his general goal of protecting Morioh from any Stand menace, is concerned by more down to earth matters, such as hanging out with his friends. As a consequence, Josuke is almost never seen alone in the streets of Morioh. Josuke passively protects his town, and only acts when directly asked by the much more proactive Jotaro or when he directly encounters a Stand User. Curious, Josuke is quick to investigate any unusual phenomenon, which often leads him into a Stand User. Josuke is very prone to openly communicate his feelings, expressing amazement, amusement, fear, and anger, thus he appears as a goofy individual.
Sufficiently humble, Josuke confesses to being nervous around famous people, opting not to go with Koichi to first meet Rohan Kishibe due to his great fame as a mangaka.[15] Josuke also has a fear of turtles, and has tried to touch a turtle to get rid of that fear.[10] Josuke isn't shy to admit his limits, and has confessed that he doesn't know much about manga, or isn't good at video games, even though he isn't happy to have someone know these factoids. In the same way, Josuke tries to live up to Jotaro, whom he admires, and has been nervous around him due to a fear of not living up to the task Jotaro entrusted to him.[16] He has also shown a mild fear of ghosts (in the beginning), as shown when Koichi wonders if he saw a ghost in the house next to Josuke's, and Josuke nervously tells him to cut it out.
Josuke calmly aiming at Bug-Eaten in critical moment
However, in a fight, Josuke is much more calm and has unshakeable confidence in Crazy Diamond, but his confidence doesn't extend to himself, as Josuke can still be nervous if things don't go his way. Additionally, Terunosuke Miyamoto is able to reveal that in terms of body language; Josuke's first unconscious reaction when unsure is to bite his lip.[17] In general, his attitude will mix calmness and goofiness and Josuke can switch between taunting one-liners and serene assertion of the situation. Josuke is occasionally distracted in a fight, often reflecting on the silliness of the situation he's currently in or trying to act cool. Even if Josuke is gentle by nature, he has no qualms about violently pummelling an enemy and, in the case that someone has hurt or endangered a loved one, Josuke will be even more vindictive, as he fused Angelo with a rock[18] and Terunosuke with a book.[19]
Josuke has a tangential respect of the law at best, having inherited his father's mischievous side, shown primarily in regards to winning money. After nearly emptying his bank account with frivolous spending, Josuke has been trying to get extra money in a quick fashion. When he and Okuyasu meet Shigechi, he quickly devises a plan to exploit Shigechi's Stand Harvest to find first discarded change[20] and then discarded coupons from all over Morioh, going as far as commit a felony to earn the money in a winning ticket.[21] Similarly, after meeting Mikitaka Hazekura, he takes advantage of his shape-shifting 'Stand' power, convincing Mikitaka to turn into dice in order to cheat money from Rohan, with whom he has a bad relationship.[22] Lastly, characterized as a knowing gesture, he steals Joseph's wallet with his Stand by restoring it to his possession with a piece of a picture planted there.[23] The fact that his Stand can nearly repair or heal anything means that Josuke can get away with destruction of property or endangering someone, thus he isn't really concerned about the legal ramifications of his actions, since they will be without consequences (for him, at least).
When it comes to women, he is moderate between Joseph and Jotaro. He does not flirt relentlessly and is not perverted like Joseph, but when the girls near him express interest in him, he is flattered and has shown to get along quite well with his female classmates and admirers.[9] He does not shoo them away like Jotaro but doesn't relentlessly flirt or pursue any. When Jotaro asks Josuke to go hunting, Josuke initially believes he means hunting for girls and says with a blush and smile that he is more of a 'love kind of guy'.[16] However, he seems to be willing to hit them if they are the enemy as he threatened to kill Yukako if she tried to do anything to Koichi, with whom she was obsessed.[24] While he does express interest in women, it is not his main priority.
As a catchphrase, Josuke often says "Great" in English. He also displays an odd quirk whenever he pronounces the Japanese phrase kakkoii (かっこいい), a masculine compliment essentially meaning "cool", where he will always pronounce it weirdly like "Kappyoii" or "Kacchoii." These mispronunciations are translated as "kewl" in the English Crunchyroll subtitles.
"What did you say about my hair?"
In a quintessential idiosyncrasy, Josuke takes a hyper-sensitive reaction to comments at all disparaging his hairstyle;[9] which Koichi interprets as Josuke reacting to insults towards his savior, although Josuke personally claims he doesn't know the reason for his wrath.[5] After an insult, Josuke automatically enters a blind rage, regardless of the circumstances and interlocutors, and becomes much more rude and violent. Firstly, a swaggering upperclassman to whom Josuke initially defers is punched and stepped on[10] before his nose is restored by Crazy Diamond improperly and indefinitely, all due to Josuke's mood. Later, during his fight with Rohan, in an attempt to manipulate Josuke into gazing upon his Stand by openly taunting him about his hair, Josuke goes berserk; landing Rohan in the hospital for one month of hiatus.[5]
Josuke's Stand, Crazy Diamond, can restore objects (and organisms) to a previous state in their history.
It is able to repair damage and heal injuries. It can also revert an item to its components (e.g. a wooden table into lumber).
With this, Crazy Diamond may perform a range of interesting feats; including trapping (parts of) an enemy by restoring pieces of a broken object around it; and tracking, accomplished by restoring something such as a torn piece of clothing, which seeks to reattach itself to the original article.
However, this Stand is not without limits: Crazy Diamond can only restore state, not life, hence a lifeless body would still remain dead even after being "fixed" by Crazy Diamond's power. Also, the healing power cannot be used on Josuke himself, or strictly speaking, anything that can be considered a part of his current self, body, or even his own clothes.
Mastery
Josuke shows great proficiency with using Crazy Diamond in combat. Thanks to its great physical prowess, Josuke can use Crazy Diamond's fists to perform outside-of-the-box tactics such as breaking through a wall to escape an attack. Moreover, he has been shown to throw projectiles with great efficiency thanks to his Stand's sheer strength and precision.
Additionally, Josuke has been shown to use his seemingly restricted power for a wide array of tactical goals. Crazy Diamond's power of repairing anything makes Josuke a great healer, as long as he can reach his allies before they die, and he works exceptionally well with a partner as a result. Because he can break objects and repair them, Josuke is liberal in breaking anything to get something he wants such as a more favorable position or a key item like fuel for a motorcycle, use a precious item as leverage, or even destroy his motorcycle to avoid a baby carriage; he then repairs anything he's broken, cancelling any consequence his antics would have. Josuke can easily exploit the environment to his advantage thanks to Crazy Diamond. His ability to repair makes it so he can manipulate the environment to a certain point, like creating a shield out of concrete or laying down a trap with an object's broken pieces only to repair it around an enemy. The deadliness of his projectile is also increased as he can create a boomerang effect by forcing a piece to come back to him, hitting an enemy from behind.
Personal
Josuke is shrewd, confident, and courageous, possessing considerable fluid intelligence and a will to win; like his father.
Intelligence: Josuke is extremely quick to get on his feet under almost any circumstance as he is very aware of his immediate surroundings as well as his own capabilities. He is proficient in utilizing anything he has within reach for dealing with problems at hand and is also shown to be capable of planning several steps ahead by reading opponents' behavior and habits. Josuke is very confident of his abilities to the point of claiming that there is nothing Crazy Diamond (indirectly referring to himself) can't fix and expresses mild disappointment after figuring out what he thought would have been one such problem. As a result of his intellect, Josuke can be quite cunning; manipulating, lying, and cheating others occasionally to achieve certain selfish goals.
Physical fineness: Josuke possesses substantial athletic ability. He has been shown once to have successfully chased down a moving bus over long distances completely on foot, and can handle a heavy motorbike effortlessly for the first and only time riding it while achieving many otherwise professional feats during a high-speed chase in attempts to avoid direct contacts with the enemy chasing after him. The most well known demonstration of Josuke's physical toughness is shown when he withstands exposure to several explosions generated by Yoshikage Kira's Killer Queen, sustaining heavy injuries and blood loss but remaining conscious enough to think of countermeasures and tactics.
I don't give a rat's ass if you are a senior... If you trash my hair, I'll kill you... What was that again? Think my hair looks stupid? Too cartoon-like for you?
Welcome to purgatory, Angelo! You'll be atoning for your crimes for a long time... for those whom you killed and my grandpa...you'll be living in this town forever... as a rock!
No can do... we don't need garbage stinking up out town, you know? From what I just saw... there's garbage here that can use some cheap-ass Stand... gotta bag that shit and toss it out.
Enigma...you win. Crazy Diamond is not powerful enough to get me out. But I got one last word of advice for you. Once you turn me into paper, you better rip that shit to shred 'cause if I get back out, I'll fucking kill you!
Misconceptions are the most terrifying things in the world... and the consequences are even worse if you're overly confident that your abilities and talents are superior.
Manga Appearances
Anime Appearances
Quotes
