Higashikata Josuke

Overview

Higashikata Josuke is the main protagonist of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 4: Diamond is Unbreakable. Residing in Morioh Town within S City, M Prefecture, he is a first-year high school student attending Budogaoka High School. Josuke is the illegitimate son of Joseph Joestar and a Japanese woman named Higashikata Tomoko, which makes him the uncle of Kujo Jotaro despite being twelve years younger. While he usually presents himself as an easygoing, trendy, and lighthearted teenager, he possesses a strong sense of justice and deep devotion to protecting his hometown and friends from local threats.

Appearance

Standing over 180 centimeters tall with a muscular build, Josuke features pale skin and the signature Joestar star birthmark on his back in the animated adaptation. His most defining physical feature is his meticulously styled pompadour hairstyle. He wears a customized high school uniform featuring an elongated gakuran jacket worn open over a tank top paired with loose, baggy pants. His jacket is held open by metallic accessories, including an anchor motif and a heart on the collar, as well as a peace sign and a heart pin on his chest. He also wears Bally shoes and Mr. Junko socks.

Personality

Josuke is naturally friendly, warm, and respectful toward adults, speaking in a polite yet casual tone. However, any slight or mock directed at his pompadour hairstyle triggers an instantaneous, terrifying rage, causing him to attack the perpetrator regardless of who they are. He exhibits typical teenage vulnerabilities, including an aversion to reptiles and ghosts, poor performance in ball sports, and modest skill at video games despite loving them. Although he enjoys high-end fashion and can be sneaky when attempting to gain allowance money, he refuses outright charity. In battle, he avoids killing human enemies and willingly risks his life to protect others.

Abilities

Josuke commands the powerful close-range Stand known as Crazy Diamond, which possesses physical strength, speed, and precision on par with Star Platinum. During rapid strikes, it lets out the battle cry "Dorara!" Its core power is restoration, allowing Josuke to instantly repair broken objects or heal injured living beings back to their previous state, including items produced by Stands. However, Crazy Diamond cannot heal Josuke's own injuries, revive the dead, or recreate materials that were entirely consumed or erased. Through creative application, Josuke uses restoration tactically for long-range attacks, tracking, and environmental manipulation.

Background

Born in Morioh Town in 1983, Josuke was raised by his mother, Higashikata Tomoko, and his grandfather, Higashikata Ryohei. At age four, he survived a 50-day life-threatening fever caused by DIO's awakening, which awakened his Stand abilities. As a first-year student at Budogaoka High School, his life changed when Kujo Jotaro arrived to inform him of his lineage as Joseph Joestar's illegitimate child. After his grandfather was killed by a villainous Stand user, Josuke vowed to protect Morioh Town, joining forces with Jotaro and his classmates to battle malicious Stand users and eventually hunt down the serial killer Yoshikage Kira.

Relationships

Kujo Jotaro is Josuke's nephew despite being twelve years older, and Josuke holds immense respect for him as a mentor. Although initially distant from his father Joseph Joestar, Josuke eventually formed a warm bond with him. After an early conflict, Nijimura Okuyasu became his closest friend and constant companion alongside Hirose Koichi. In contrast, Josuke shares an intense mutual dislike with the manga artist Kishibe Rohan, though the two can cooperate when facing dangerous enemies. Following the tragic murder of his friend Yangu Shigechi, Josuke actively led the effort to track down and defeat the serial killer Yoshikage Kira.

Trivia

The kanji character for "suke" in his given name can be read as "Jo," which forms the basis of his "JoJo" nickname alongside his family name. His signature catchphrase "Great" is used versatilely to express excitement, alarm, or sarcasm. His personal hobbies include listening to CDs by the music artist Prince. Author notes reveal that his character's undergarments are conceived as being from the fashion brand Moschino. Notably, Josuke is unique among main protagonists in the series for never directly taking the life of any human antagonist throughout his story.