Josuke Higashikata/Personality and Relationships
Personality
Josuke is savvy, confident, courageous, and generally admired by his peers. Friendly and dependable, he is willing to assist or protect those in need; helping him make friends with many enemies emerging in Morioh.
Josuke was raised by his mother and maternal grandfather in support. When his father, Joseph Joestar, is finally introduced to him, he is distant and mildly resentful; but they are able to bond while protecting a baby they find lost, and when Joseph proves willing to sacrifice his life in favor of that of the baby, Josuke's attitude changes; choosing to call him "dad" instead of "Mr. Joestar".
Josuke goes to every necessary length in defence of his friends; risking his life after Koichi is hit by Keicho's Bow, and carrying Okuyasu's body while apparently dead throughout the first part of his battle with Yoshikage Kira and Killer Queen.
Josuke has a devious streak, shown primarily in regards to winning money. When he and Okuyasu meet Shigechi, he quickly devises a plan to exploit Shigechi's Stand Harvest to find first discarded change, and then discarded coupons from all over Morioh. Similarly, after meeting Mikitaka Hazekura, he takes advantage of his shape-shifting Stand power, convincing him to turn into dice in order to cheat money from Rohan. 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.
Sufficiently humble, Josuke is capable of becoming nervous when faced with something very novel, such as meeting popular figures or superiors; and he is aware of this, opting not to go with Koichi to first meet Rohan Kishibe due to his great fame as a mangaka. 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.
As a catchphrase, in approval, Josuke often says "Great", in English.
In a quintessential idiosyncrasy, Josuke takes a hyper-sensitive reaction to comments at all disparaging of his hairstyle; which Josuke explains as due to the honor of a man with the same hairstyle who saved his life as child. After an insult, Josuke enters a blind rage. Firstly, a swaggering upperclassman to whom Josuke initially defers is punched and stepped on, before his nose is restored by Crazy Diamond improperly, indefinitely, 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 hospital for one month.
Relationships
Friends and Classmates
- Koichi Hirose: Josuke is close friends with Koichi and frequently looks out for his well-being, such as when Koichi finds himself victim to Yukako's affections, Josuke takes measures to make Koichi seem less attractive.
- Okuyasu Nijimura: Initially, Josuke and Okuyasu met as enemies, but after hearing out Okuyasu's story and motives, Josuke becomes fast friends with him, and frequently hangs out with him in his day-to-day misadventures.
- Rohan Kishibe: Josuke and Rohan initially meet as enemies, and though their views of each other cool down after that, do not view each other any more amicably. Rohan becomes suspicious of Josuke's attempts to cheat money from him and Josuke becomes suspicious of Rohan's attempts at revenge.
- Mikitaka Hazekura: Josuke and Mikitaka see each other as close friends. Mikitaka is especially thankful of Josuke for "saving his life" by finding him in a crop circle. Josuke does not hesitate to have Mikitaka use his ability to attempt to scam money from Rohan, but becomes worried when Mikitaka displays signs of sickness and attempts to look out for his friend's well-being.
- Unnamed man with a pompadour: In a past incident in which Josuke had a fever and the car his mom drove was stuck in a snowstorm, the unnamed student took off his coat and placed it underneath the car, allowing the car to start up and drive over it safely. This caused Josuke to look up to the student as a role model, and hence style his own hair in a similar manner and to live his life based on how he believed his hero would act. This admiration is so strong that when someone insults Josuke's pompadour, Josuke takes it as an insult to his hero and beats up whoever insulted his hair.
Family
- Tomoko Higashikata: Josuke is very close to his mother, as her emotions towards Joseph are much of the reason for his animosity towards his father.
- Ryohei Higashikata: Josuke respects his maternal grandfather and looks up to him due to his profession as a police officer.
- Jotaro Kujo: Despite reacting angrily to Jotaro when they first met, Josuke has quickly grown to trust Jotaro, especially after their battle with Angelo and after Jotaro tells him the details behind stand users in Morioh. Later, when Jotaro takes him out hunting, Josuke is quick to accept, and trusts his strategy especially in their battle against Ratt.
- Joseph Joestar: Josuke is at first very resentful of his father after having to grow up hearing his mother's sadness of his absence early in his life, wanting him to just go away and leave her in peace. It's only strained further upon Joseph's reliance on him to keep him from getting lost in town further agitating him, upsetting Joseph. Upon seeing Joseph's strong desire to help people, when he endangered his life to save Shizuka, he starts to warm up to him and by the end of the manga, he's happily accepting of his father.
