veemonjosh
Stone free, do what I please
Characters
Josuke Higashikata
Voiced by: Billy Kametz
Stand: Shining Diamond (JP: Crazy Diamond)
Ability: Strength, Speed, Precision, and Restoration
Stats: Destructive Power - A / Speed - A / Range - D / Durability - B / Precision - B / Developmental Potential - C
Namesake: “Shine on You Crazy Diamond” (Pink Floyd song)
Josuke is a high school student in the small Japanese town of Morioh, a kind teenager towards those he cares about and a badass toward those who get him angry (especially when insulting his hair). The son of Joseph Joestar from an affair, Josuke was tracked down by Jotaro to inform him of being included in Joseph’s will, but is now caught up in the family business of dealing with bizarre threats. More recently, he is now on the hunt for a serial killer lurking in Morioh who murdered his friend Shigechi. Josuke’s Stand, Crazy Diamond, fits his personality to a T, being a destructive force similar to Star Platinum, but also capable of compassion by healing as well. However, it cannot heal Josuke, cannot revive the dead or heal illness. Also, if Josuke tries to “fix” something while upset, it may come out looking a bit weird.
Koichi Hirose
Voiced by: Zach Aguilar
Stand: Reverb (JP: Echoes)
Ability: Sound Generation and Sound Effect
Stats: Destructive Power - E (ACT 1) C (ACT 2) / Speed - E (ACT 1) D (ACT 2) / Range - B / Durability - B / Precision - C / Developmental Potential - A
Namesake: The Hirose River (a river in Sendai, Hirohiko Araki’s hometown and the real life basis for Morioh) / “Echoes” (song by Pink Floyd)
A classmate of Josuke, Koichi is friendly and courageous, polite towards others, and possesses a gentle heart. This allows him to see the good side of people, even his girlfriend Yukako, who thought kidnapping and holding him hostage was a romantic gesture. His Stand, Reverb, has the ability to physically generate words and sound effects that it can attach to people and objects, either creating an effect related to the sound effect or, in the case of words, being able to influence the thoughts of others. Unique among Stands, Reverb has two different “Acts”, a weaker form and a stronger one.
Okuyasu Nijimura
Voiced by: Jalen K. Cassell
Stand: The Hand
Ability: Elimination
Stats: Destructive Power - B / Speed - B / Range - D / Durability - C / Precision - C / Developmental Potential - C
Namesake: The Band (band)
Okuyasu Nijimura met Josuke under rocky circumstances involving his brother Keicho, but they’ve become fast friends. He’s not too smart, but has a strong heart. His Stand, The Hand, is an extremely dangerous one capable of erasing space with its hand and closing the gap between, with its user having no knowledge where the erased material goes. While this Stand seems overpowered, it’s balanced out by the fact that Okuyasu is an idiot.
Rohan Kishibe
Voiced by: Vic Mignogna
Stand: Heaven’s Door
Abilities: Book Transmutation, Memory Removal, Written-In Commands
Stats: Destructive Power - D / Speed - B / Range - B / Durability - B / Precision - C / Developmental Potential - A
Namesakes: “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” (Bob Dylan song)
Rohan Kishibe is a manga artist, passionate and dedicated to his craft, with his wish being to have as many people as possible experience his work. As a teenager, he became the author of the popular Shonen Jump series, “Pink Dark Boy”, which Koichi is a fan of. For those who do manage to meet the man himself, they’ll find he is generally unpleasant to be around, being rather arrogant and impolite towards others. He actively seeks new experiences and information, in an effort to gain inspiration for his manga. His Stand, “Heaven’s Door”, helps him do this by turning a person into a living book of sorts, with their skin peeling away like pages to reveal written information detailing their life, including their darkest secrets. Rohan can also write information on the inside to make someone do what he wants, or to erase their memory of an event.
Jotaro Kujo
Voiced by: Matthew Mercer
Stand: Star Platinum The World
Abilities: Strength, Speed, Precision, and Time Stop
Stats: Destructive Power - A / Speed - A / Range - C / Durability - A / Precision - A / Developmental Potential - A
Namesakes: The Star and The World (tarot cards)
The previous JoJo, Jotaro Kujo was a high school student when his grandfather Joseph took him on a global trek from Japan to Egypt in order to take down the vampire DIO, who had been a plague on his family’s bloodline for over a century. On the journey, he came to learn and master his Stand, Star Platinum, eventually gaining the same time-stopping abilities as DIO’s own Stand, The World, which he used to put an end to the demon once and for all. Now, a decade later, Jotaro is a marine biologist, and was helping his grandfather put together his will, when the discovery of his illegitimate son Josuke brought Jotaro to the small town of Morioh. Currently, he is helping to deal with an elusive killer with an extremely dangerous Stand. Jotaro’s Stand, Star Platinum, has amazing strength, speed, and precision, which on its own makes it one of the most powerful Stands around. On top of this, with its added ability The World, which Jotaro learned during his fight with DIO, he can stop time for a second.
Shigekiyo "Shigechi" Yangu
Voiced by: Brian Beacock
Stand: Harvest
Abilities: Harvesting, Hypodermic Needle
Stats: Destructive Power - E / Speed - B / Range - A / Durability - A / Precision - E / Developmental Potential - C
Namesakes: Neil Young (musician) / “Harvest” (Neil Young album/song)
Shigekiyo, or “Shigechi” as his mother called him, was a middle schooler who had a loving and supportive family, and was gradually starting to make friends. He gained a colony type Stand called Harvest, made up of dozens of bee-like Stands who he uses to pick up spare change around Morioh, which led to him meeting Josuke and Okuyasu. Unfortunately, through bad luck, he crossed paths with Yoshikage Kira and learned of his dangerous secret habits, which ultimately led Kira to kill him. But not before Harvest snagged a button off of Kira’s suit, a surprisingly valuable clue to tracking the killer down.
Yoshikage Kira
Voiced by: D.C. Douglas
Stand: Deadly Queen (JP: Killer Queen)
Ability: Bomb Transmutation, Heart Attack
Stats: Destructive Power - A / Speed - B / Range - D / Durability - B / Precision - B / Developmental Potential - A
Namesakes: “Killer Queen” (song by Queen) / “Sheer Heart Attack” (song/album by Queen)
Yoshikage Kira is an office worker who leads the most ordinary life possible, something he intentionally strives for in order to maintain a quiet peaceful lifestyle. This facade he has created masks his true nature, a serial killer with a sexual fixation on women’s hands. In order to keep his secret, he will go to any lengths to hide it and eliminate those who discover it. His Stand, Deadly Queen, has the power to turn any surface into a bomb which detonates when someone touches it, vaporizing the victim to the atomic level with an explosion completely silent to those around them. Deadly Queen also possesses a second ability, Heart Attack, which takes the form of a toy-sized tank that is virtually indestructible and can likewise explode.
Episode 23 (97)
“Heart Attack, Part 1”
Chapters adapted: 355-359
Previously on JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure:
Having been discovered by Shigechi, Kira sent out his Stand, Deadly Queen, to eliminate him before word got out. However, Shigechi summoned his own Stand, Harvest, to try and incapacitate him. Kira deduced from his incident in the school that Josuke and Okuyasu are also Stand users while he revealed a 100 yen coin. Shigechi ordered Harvest to take the coin, right before Kira revealed Deadly Queen's ability to turn anything it touches into a bomb. The coin exploded, maiming Shigechi but not killing him. After revealing his knowledge of Reimi, Shigechi used Harvest to distract Kira and hide. He then hobbled to the high school section of the school, aiming to warn Josuke and Okuyasu, but the moment he touched Josuke's classroom's doorknob, Kira detonated the bomb he planted on it, causing Shigechi to explode from the inside-out without leaving a trace.
Josuke heard his cries for help and was greeted by the last member of Harvest, who delivered a button taken from Kira's jacket before disintegrating. Josuke and Okuyasu noted that the way Harvest disappeared was atypical of a Stand and investigated Shigechi's whereabouts, only finding his possessions on his classroom desk. Meanwhile, Reimi witnessed Shigechi's ghost disintegrating in agony while ascending to Heaven, immediately realizing that this was Kira's doing.
Josuke organized a meeting consisting of himself, Okuyasu & his dad, Koichi, Jotaro, Joseph and Shizuka, Yukako, Hazamada, Tonio, Aya, and Rohan and brought them to meet Reimi. They were all informed about the killer and deduced that he must be a Stand user. The deduction prompted Jotaro to decide on tracking down the culprit using his button. While Josuke left, he briefly, unknowingly, passed by Kira at a crosswalk.
Four days passed with no results before Koichi ran into Jotaro and accompanied him on his search for someone who may have repaired a jacket with similar buttons. The two found a shoe store that also specializes in tailoring. Jotaro admitted that while he did check every tailor in Morioh, he did not consider a place like this, and went in to try and find some leads. There, they learned that the store owner recognized the button, pointing out the recently-repaired purple jacket that the button came from. However, the store owner decided to check the tag on the jacket to ensure that he remembered the owner's name right, only to have his right hand suddenly blown off. As it turned out, Kira had been hiding in the back room and had deployed another bomb in the event that someone would use his lost button to track him down. Killer Queen's second bomb, a miniature tank-like object, rushed into the unconscious store owner's mouth before Kira grabbed and shook his jacket to bait Jotaro and Koichi within the bomb's range. Koichi ran up to try and take the coat back, but was pulled away by Jotaro as the bomb went off.
Josuke heard his cries for help and was greeted by the last member of Harvest, who delivered a button taken from Kira's jacket before disintegrating. Josuke and Okuyasu noted that the way Harvest disappeared was atypical of a Stand and investigated Shigechi's whereabouts, only finding his possessions on his classroom desk. Meanwhile, Reimi witnessed Shigechi's ghost disintegrating in agony while ascending to Heaven, immediately realizing that this was Kira's doing.
Josuke organized a meeting consisting of himself, Okuyasu & his dad, Koichi, Jotaro, Joseph and Shizuka, Yukako, Hazamada, Tonio, Aya, and Rohan and brought them to meet Reimi. They were all informed about the killer and deduced that he must be a Stand user. The deduction prompted Jotaro to decide on tracking down the culprit using his button. While Josuke left, he briefly, unknowingly, passed by Kira at a crosswalk.
Four days passed with no results before Koichi ran into Jotaro and accompanied him on his search for someone who may have repaired a jacket with similar buttons. The two found a shoe store that also specializes in tailoring. Jotaro admitted that while he did check every tailor in Morioh, he did not consider a place like this, and went in to try and find some leads. There, they learned that the store owner recognized the button, pointing out the recently-repaired purple jacket that the button came from. However, the store owner decided to check the tag on the jacket to ensure that he remembered the owner's name right, only to have his right hand suddenly blown off. As it turned out, Kira had been hiding in the back room and had deployed another bomb in the event that someone would use his lost button to track him down. Killer Queen's second bomb, a miniature tank-like object, rushed into the unconscious store owner's mouth before Kira grabbed and shook his jacket to bait Jotaro and Koichi within the bomb's range. Koichi ran up to try and take the coat back, but was pulled away by Jotaro as the bomb went off.
Now:
Jotaro and Koichi must try to survive and figure out exactly how Deadly Queen’s secondary bomb works, in a battle which will bring about a surprising metamorphosis.
JOJO'S JUKEBOX
This week’s Jukebox song is “Sheer Heart Attack” by Queen. Fun fact, their early album of the same name (which had “Killer Queen”) didn’t actually contain this song, though it was originally written for it.
Notes:
- The chapters which this episode covers can be found in volume 38 of the Japanese manga release.
- Parts 1-3 are all now available on Bluray and DVD from Viz Media.
- Please, no spoilers about upcoming events and future arcs. If you’d like to discuss Part 5, Golden Wind, there’s a discussion thread on the Anime board.
