Aya Tsuji
Aya Tsuji (辻 彩, Tsuji Aya) is a tertiary ally featured in the fourth part of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Diamond is Unbreakable, introduced in the "Yukako Yamagishi Dreams of Cinderella" story arc and in a key role at the finale of the "Sheer Heart Attack" arc.
She's an esthetician who runs a beauty salon called Cinderella in Morioh. When Yukako Yamagishi enters her clinic, Aya modifies her face to be more attractive. Aya is a Stand User, and works through her Cinderella.
Appearance
Aya is a mature-looking woman of average to above-average height and slim build. She wears her light hair in an arrangement between a slight beehive and a ponytail; her bangs divided apart in a clean arch reaching cheek level. Her dark eyebrows rest high on her forehead.
She wears a light dress with a thick corset belt at her waist, two smaller belts buckled around it, and a pair of sandals.
Color Schemes
Personality
Aya owns and runs a beauty salon in Morioh, with many qualifications in her profession. At heart, she is a romantic, expressing her aspiration to be like the fairy godmother in Cinderella. Although some of her modifications are designed to force clients to come back so that she earns money, Aya truly wants to help people to find love.
However, she is strict on her beliefs and duties as a "fairy godmother" and feels that people who wish to change must show dedication, as shown when she was disappointed Yukako broke her promise to wear lipstick every 30 minutes to improve her luck of love, saying Yukako wasn't dedicated enough to find her love and shouldn't have underestimated her luck, even willing to have Yukako lose her fingerprints and eyes forever as punishment. However, she is just as capable of recognizing someone's worth, as shown when she recognizes Koichi's love for Yukako and agrees to give her back her face because she didn't want to involve or harm Koichi, who was an innocent person who got caught up in the fray.
Aya rarely loses her cool even during life-threatening situations, as shown when Yukako attacked and threatened to kill her after her face began falling off. It is shown that she dislikes those who force her to use her Stand's abilities for selfish purposes, in her last words to Koichi Hirose. On a side note, she seems to like beautiful people as she seemed to enjoy looking at Yukako's face and examining her body.
She ends many of her sentences sighing because she has low blood pressure.
Abilities
Stand
Aya's Stand is Cinderella, able to either partially or fully change a person's appearance (normally in a beautifying way). The effect can either last temporarily and conditionally, or permanently.
History
Background
Ever since she was a little girl, Aya Tsuji wished to bring happiness to others just like the fairy godmother in Cinderella. And so she went to train as an esthetician in England, winning various awards from esthetician competitions around the world, including Paris, London, New York, Los Angeles, and Milan. Aya eventually opened her own beauty salon named "Cinderella" in Morioh, where she uses her Stand to perform beauty treatments on young women so that they can "find their true love."
Diamond is Unbreakable
Yukako Yamagishi Dreams of Cinderella
Aya is introduced as an esthetician that helps women find their true love. She meets Yukako Yamagishi just after being thanked by another customer, who's found the love of her life. Yukako, depressed that Koichi Hirose isn't interested in her, seeks the help of Aya to get a new face so that she will be able to charm Koichi. However, Yukako is also skeptical about Aya's method. The beautician invites Yukako inside and presents herself. Examining Yukako, Aya shows her the little imperfections that make her unable to find love. Aya offers Yukako a refundable "to find love" operation and the young girl accepts. Thus, Aya asks her to close her eyes as she summons Cinderella and begin her operation. Yukako ends up seeing how well the treatment works, but the effects end after half an hour.
Yukako returns to Aya, demanding the "capturing love" treatment. Aya claims that she will need to change Yukako's whole body to catch love, and to maintain the change she will need to use a lipstick every 30 minutes. Yukako discovers that Aya's ability comes from a Stand, but agrees nonetheless. Yukako, however, doesn't use the lipstick and has her face deformed as a result. Furious, Yukako returns to the salon to attack her, but Aya states that Yukako didn't take Fate seriously and must now pay the price: her features will disappear forever. However, when Koichi comes in and explains that he loves Yukako for her personality, Aya gives her the chance to restore her face if she can correctly identify her face among dozens of faces Cinderella has copied. Secretly, none of the faces are actually Yukako's. Surprisingly, Yukako asks him to choose which face is hers, not caring which one he chooses in the end. Impressed by Koichi's genuine care for Yukako and willingness to go blind in exchange for picking the wrong face, Aya restores Yukako's appearance and smiles, knowing that she found love and found a man who would give her true love.
Sheer Heart Attack
Aya appears again after Josuke Higashikata's attempts to find Yoshikage Kira. Kira attacks Kosaku Kawajiri and drags him toward her store. He kills the man and forces her to switch their faces and fingerprints. The group finds a wounded Aya, turned into a bomb by Killer Queen, and she explodes after telling them that she switched his face, but before she can reveal what Kira now looks like.
Chapters / Episodes
Manga Appearances- Chapter 348: Yukako Yamagishi Dreams of Cinderella, Part 1
- Chapter 349: Yukako Yamagishi Dreams of Cinderella, Part 2
- Chapter 350: Yukako Yamagishi Dreams of Cinderella, Part 3
- Chapter 351: Yukako Yamagishi Dreams of Cinderella, Part 4
- Chapter 352: Yukako Yamagishi Dreams of Cinderella, Part 5
- Chapter 353: Yukako Yamagishi Dreams of Cinderella, Part 6
- Chapter 364: Sheer Heart Attack, Part 11 (Death)
- Chapter 412: Cheap Trick, Part 1 (Mentioned only)
- Chapter 420: Another One Bites the Dust, Part 3 (Flashback)
Anime Appearances- Diamond is Unbreakable Episode 20: Yukako Yamagishi Dreams of Cinderella
- Diamond is Unbreakable Episode 22: Yoshikage Kira Just Wants to Live Quietly, Part 2
- Diamond is Unbreakable Episode 24: Sheer Heart Attack, Part 2 (Death)
Novel Appearances- JORGE JOESTAR Chapter 6: Island (37th universe) (Mentioned only)
Quotes
Quotes- “It's better to be a cheerful pig than a depressed beauty.”—Aya Tsuji, Chapter 348: Yukako Yamagishi Dreams of Cinderella, Part 1
- “The moral of the story is that miracles take dedication. Is that something you are willing to accept?”—Aya Tsuji, Chapter 350: Yukako Yamagishi Dreams of Cinderella, Part 3
- “Miss Yukako, you are now a heroine who can't fail at love. But remember, you have to reapply the lipstick every 30 minutes. If you do, your Stand makeover will last forever but if you forget, your fate will unravel...”—Aya Tsuji, Chapter 351: Yukako Yamagishi Dreams of Cinderella, Part 4
- “You know, I didn't open this salon for the money. It's because I wanted to make people happy like the fairy godmother in Cinderella.”—Aya Tsuji, Chapter 352: Yukako Yamagishi Dreams of Cinderella, Part 5
Creation and Development
Araki revealed that he hadn't thought about using Aya's ability in the Sheer Heart Attack story arc until the last moment, where he suddenly recalled her existence and how useful her ability would be in Kira's dire situation.[2]
Games
Eyes of Heaven (PS3/PS4)
Similar to Daniel J. D'Arby in the previous game, Aya will guide the player through the Customize Mode menu.
JORGE JOESTAR
In the light novel JORGE JOESTAR, an iteration of Aya appears in the 37th universe with the same name and appearance. Instead of Cinderella, her Stand is named Face/Off. However, it has the same abilities as Cinderella.
Like her original universe counterpart, Aya Tsuji37 runs a beauty parlor named Cinderella. Rohan Kishibe37 describes her line of work as hardly legal as she swaps body parts, and although she isn't a bad girl, she walks a very thin line.
Although beauty parlors rarely have male employees, Aya has one to help her with her secret work. Rohan says that the man is more of a gigolo, although Rohan has never met him. According to Yamagishi37, the man is middle-aged and not bad looking.
Aya37 suffers the same fate as her original universe counterpart. Yoshikage Kira manages to escape after he is caught by Koji Hirose37, Muryotaisu Nijimura37, and Fukashigi Nijimura37. He heads to Cinderella and grabs a random passerby, forcing Aya to swap their faces and fingerprints. By the time Aya's friends arrive at the beauty parlor, they witness her and the other man exploding.[3]
Gallery
Aya's first appearance
Aya Tsuji's fashion boutique
Aya explains her high-tech esthetician equipment
Explaining the duration of her work
Using her Stand
Aya explains her favorite story, Cinderella
On phone
Being attacked by Yukako
Reminding Yukako she forgot her promise
Explaining the consequences of her ability
Aya setting a trap to Yukako
Touched by Koichi's decision
Proud of her accomplishment in helping Yukako and Koichi fall in love
Aya Tsuji's death, exploding from Killer Queen's bomb
Chapter 349 Cover
Chapter 351 Cover A
Aya's initial appearance
Aya Tsuji's fashion boutique
Aya inspects Yukako's face
Aya explains her high-tech esthetician equipment
Aya prepares to enhance Yukako's beauty
Aya explains her favorite story, Cinderella
Being attacked by Yukako
Aya comparing herself to the fairy godmother in Cinderella
Proud of her accomplishment in helping Yukako and Koichi fall in love
Aya and the other warriors of Morioh
Aya lies dying in a pool of blood after Yoshikage Kira's attack
Aya Tsuji's death, exploding from Killer Queen's bomb
Aya Tsuji's silhouette in Crazy Noisy Bizarre Town
Aya featured in the second opening, chase
Aya (with other deceased Morioh citizens) featured in the third opening, Great Days
Key Art
JOJO A-GO!GO! (Inside Illustration)
Trivia
- In Episode 20 of the Anime after Aya has been attacked by an angered Yukako, her shadow forms the shape of the Pumpkin Carriage from Cinderella.
References
- ↑
- Chapter 342, pg. 15. Shigechi dies on June 24
- Chapter 377, pg. 1. Kira is impersonating Kosaku on July 1. Aya Tsuji dies sometime in between those events.
- ↑ Interview:Jump Remix Part 4 (January 2004).
- ↑ JORGE JOESTAR Chapter 6: Island
