Josuke higashikata (JoJolion)
Josuke Higashikata is the main protagonist of Part VIII: Jojolion.
Appearance/Personality
He is a tall muscular man who resembles Jotaro, but his wardrobe consists of what seems to be a sailor suit. He also has a star-shaped birthmark in his shoulder and (to the astonishment of Yasuho) four testicles. He also presents diastema. Oddly enough, Yasuho mentions that he bears a resemblance to her dog Josuke.
He is an amnesiac and as such doesn't remember his life and personal traits before meeting Yasuho, and sometimes gets nostalgic about this. He is very serious and a detailed observer, capable of describing the physical characteristics of any object (color, length, measure).
The protagonist also has a childish ignorance of common things, likely a result of his advanced amnesia. For instance, he favors sleeping underneath a whole mattress rather than bedsheets (for its "increased compression"). Yasuho is able to use his naivety for comic relief.
Synopsis
The protagonist was found buried underground and naked by Yasuho Hirose, near the Wall Eyes in Morioh. He shows symptoms of amnesia, as he is unable to idenity himself or his residence. After a short fight with Joushuu Higashikata, he was sent to a hospital and later escaped using his stand, Soft & Wet. Following the brand of his hat, he and Yasuho visit the shop that the hat was purchased from and from there, they were able to find the name Yoshikage Kira and his address. When they enter the apartment they found a nice and tidy place.
However, they also found a naked girl in the bathroom whom Yasuho assumed was Kira's girlfriend. The girl didn't answer at first, glaring at them before Yasuho found a photo album with pictures of tied women. Assuming that this was the protagonist's doing, she gets mad at him and leaves.
Trying to find an answer about that room, they question the naked woman only to be responded with hostility and questions of a speedy rescue, mentioning that he was once in the apartment but he escaped. Soon he learns of a stand user in the upper room who wants to kill both of them before plotting, finding and pummeling the stand user (who assumed that the protagonist was none other than a man named Yoshikage Kira) before finding out the real Yoshikage Kira had died with his apparent body hidden in a body of water near the Wall Eyes.
After the fiasco, he is taken to live with the Higashikata family, under the name Josuke Higashikata. As a new member of the Higashikata's (much to Joushuu dismay), Josuke is hired to take care of Daiya Higashikata, who suffers from blindness. After helping her make tea, she tells him to "act natural" before having her leg cut, much to Josuke's confusion.
After Yasuho's excavation, he finds himself in the midst of Daiya's stand (which causes memory loss...in his case, more memory loss) before feigning being seduced by Daiya (who tries to have sex with him despite their age difference) and getting her to get on his shadow in order to get most of his memories back.
With Daiya and Yasuho's help, he soon finds out what's in the room that he wasn't allowed in and learns that he's related to the Yoshikage Kira of that time frame because their bodies are a 98% match.
Real identity
The real name of this character is unknown. The second chapter stated that his name could be Yoshikage Kira, but he later doubts about it, thinking that the enemy in the upper room is the real Kira. It is later revealed that neither he nor the man attacking him is Yoshikage Kira; he has no known name at this time and is given the name "Josuke Higashikata" by Norisuke Higashikata IV.
Trivia
- The first name he is referred to is a throwback reference to Part IV Main Antagonist,Yoshikage Kira. In Chapter 3, when his apartment is visited, other references to the villain can be found, such as a collection of nail clippings.
- The protagonist's amnesia and initial identification with "Yoshikage Kira" draws a parallel to Under Execution Under Jailbreak, in which Kira is shown to be a wandering ghost with no knowledge of his identity or his whereabouts. The shared name with the Part IV protagonist becomes another throwback reference to Part IV.
- The brand of his hat is SBR, a clear reference to the Steel Ball Run.
- If his name truly were Yoshikage Kira, then he would be the first main protagonist with the name of a past antagonist. The first main protagonist in the series without the JoJo reference is Gyro Zeppeli.
- His amnesia with regards to his own identity seems to reference Rohan Kishibe's Heaven's Door, which is capable of reading memories of a target that do not also belong to Rohan himself.
