JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is a long-running franchise with a very diverse cast of characters that have unique personalities. Whether it’s the heroes or the villains, there are fans of almost every character thanks to how special they are and a good part of that focus goes towards the Joestar family.
While some protagonists only show up once in their respective story arcs and never return even if they are still alive – there are a few Joestar protagonists who have showed up multiple times. Joseph Joestar is the second most recurring protagonist in the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure series and is known to have one of the funniest personalities out of everyone else. He’s serious and competent when necessary, but most of the time he’s a goofball and we love him for it!
With such a unique and fun personality, it’s only natural that the character came back so many times and has such a big fan following in the JoJo fandom. And of course, when someone is liked to this degree, people want to know more about them. Whether it’s facts or details that you’ve missed, it’s never a bad idea to learn a bit more about your favorite protagonists. So, let’s talk about the top 15 facts that make Joseph Joestar stand out!
In this article, you will learn these important facts in complete detail:
Joseph Joestar only showed up in the plot of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 4: Diamond is Unbreakable for a short time. But his relevance in the plot extends far beyond, which can be seen in the fact that Jotaro Kujo mentions him a few times saying that if he wasn’t so old by now, he could have solved the issues in Morioh on his own. At one point, Jotaro Kujo is even mistaken for Joseph Joestar because they seem extremely similar in appearance.
However, there is something even more significant about him that makes him responsible for most of the events that play out in Diamond is Unbreakable and that’s because of the fact he’s the father of Josuke Higashikata. While he had Holly Kujo (Jotaro Kujo’s mother) in his official marriage, a little-known fact is that he also had a son called Josuke Higashikata in an affair with a woman who lives in the town of Morioh.
The name of the illegitimate child sounding familiar? That’s because he’s the main protagonist of the Diamond is Unbreakable storyline. Josuke lived without ever meeting his father until the story was close to the end, and that’s when they finally acknowledge each other’s existence.
Even though the JoJo protagonists are usually born with a gap of one child (grandfathers and grandsons) – Joseph Joestar is related to more protagonists in the franchise than anyone else. He’s the father of Josuke Higashikata as previously mentioned and he’s the grandfather of Jotaro Kujo as well. This of course makes him the great grandfather of Jolyne Cujoh as well.
His daughter Holly Kujo conceived Jotaro Kujo after getting married and was unfortunately abandoned after her husband found a different woman. That’s why when things take the wrong turn with Jotaro, she calls her father Joseph to help her out. And that’s what sets us off with the storyline of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 3: Stardust Crusaders and we see the iconic Journey towards Egypt.
If you want to read 16 more facts about Jotaro Kujo, click ‘here’ to learn more about the badass Joestar!
The third direct link Joseph Joestar has to the JoJo protagonists is the fact he is the grandson of Jonathan Joestar. Jonathan had a short life but managed to have a son called George Joestar II, who went on to become a father. Unfortunately for Joseph Joestar, his father died quite early in his life and his mother had to leave him after avenging the death of George in order to avoid being arrested by the police. He was mainly raised by his grandmother Erina Joestar throughout his life while Robert E. O. Speedwagon also visited and took care of him from time to time.
So, Joseph never got to meet his grandfather nor got to know much about his father at the end of everything, which is not surprising due to how tragic the lives of the Joestars are.
If you want to learn more about the Joestar family tree which includes information about all of the protagonists, click ‘here’ to go to the article dedicated to it!
While Jotaro Kujo wins the title of the most recurring protagonist, the number two spot goes to Joseph Joestar. He has shown up in parts 2, 3, and 4 – being an important character in the first two and having a strong influence in the last one. And as you can see in the first three facts, he’s also directly related to many protagonists in the show and is mentioned often as a result.
This also extends towards external media as well, since he’s been included in almost every video game that exists for the franchise and has been in a lot of OVAs too. The fact that he has two different versions of his character (normal and old) and that he was around sooner than Jotaro has certainly helped him with this achievement.
Last but not least, he’s also one of the most popular characters in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure franchise because of how funny his personality is and how influential he is to the entire series. So, with no other Joestar being similar to him outside of the raw strength, he’s a fan favorite for many.
The Joestars are cursed with short/tragic lives and it’s also said that they only love one woman in their entire life. Joseph Joestar is an odd exception as he is the longest surviving Joestar protagonist that we have seen so far in any part of the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure franchise. He survived parts 2, 3, 4, 5, and surprisingly, even 6.
While we’ve not seen him in parts 5 and 6, in his interview for the Shoukan Shounen Kagikakko magazine on April 5, 2003 – the creator of the franchise Hirohiko Araki said that Joseph Joestar is still alive by the time of Part 6: Stone Ocean, “just dumber”. This would make him around 91 years old, which is the longest recorded lifestyle for any JoJo protagonist.
In Enrico Pucci’s reset of the universe, only people that he directly killed are replaced with counterparts (such as Irene), and everyone else, even if a Joestar, remains untouched. So, if Joseph Joestar did not die as a result of time being accelerated as part of the reset, he should be alive even after the events of Stone Ocean are over.
Joseph Joestar is known for his hilarious personality, which is goofy in even the most serious situations. While many characters care about their reputation and honor, he simply prioritizes survival and winning above everything else. The prime example of this is the fact he considers running an actual tactic and runs away in front of hundreds of people if he has to in the middle of a fact.
While you might assume that he’s more mature by the time he’s an old person, the truth is far from that. Even at the age of 69 when he is revived by Jotaro Kujo after his near-death experience, he pranks his grandson by pretending that he is possessed by the spirit of their nemesis Dio Brando. He keeps it up until Jotaro is about to beat him up with his Stand and finally reveals that it was all but a joke. So, not only does he have a dark sense of humor – it follows him through his entire life even when he’s old.
Characters in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure either use Ripple (Hamon) or a Stand, but never both of them together. Joseph Joestar originally practiced the art of the ripple and used it in battle whenever he was up against a major threat. Not only that, but it is also the reason behind his prolonged life and youthful body even at the age of 69, as it is said that people who practice ripple have a boost to their respective lifespans.
Later on, he also unlocks his Stand which we know as Hermit Purple and used it in battles against his strongest foes. This makes him the only character to simultaneously use both of these things at the same time because, besides him, we only see characters either use the art of the ripple or just their stand.
If you want to know more about why Ripple (Hamon) stopped being common later on in the series, click ‘here’ for the article containing information for it!
One of the most prominent things about Joseph Joestar at the age of over 79 is that he is increasingly becoming senile and barely seems to be of a sound mind. It’s completely natural for someone as old as him but many fans were surprised to see this happen, especially since he is a practitioner of the ripple (Hamon). Although admittedly, he stopped practicing it due to a lack of motivation after a certain point, it’s still a shame for someone who was so youthful even at the age of 69.
What’s odd, though, is that he seems to regain his intelligence as soon as he adopts the Invisible Baby and seems to be of a sound mind immediately after that, at least to some extent. While the idea behind this is that he found the further motivation, he needed to focus on life and live longer (perhaps with a recontinuation of the ripple practicing) – many fans seemed to call out a potential bluff.
It is believed within the fandom that Joseph Joestar simply pretended to be dumb in all those years because he did not want to answer for the revelations of his adultery and abandonment of the illegitimate son. By acting senile, no one would confront him over his actions and he can live his remaining days in peace.
While this theory was never confirmed by the author, it does sound plausible and is exactly the kind of thing that Joseph would do given his personality.
While many of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure protagonists have fought against extremely powerful threats throughout their lives – the list mostly just makes up for simple human beings and Stand users. However, Joseph Joestar is an exception as he has fought many different types of enemies within the JoJo universe.
He fought Straizo the vampire at the beginning of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 2: Battle Tendency and also vampire Dio Brando in Part 3: Stardust Crusaders. He also fought the Pillar Men who are a unique type of enemy, and many Stand users throughout his entire life in parts 2 and 3.
Jotaro Kujo and Jonathan Joestar also got to fight a vampire in the form of Dio Brando, they never got to fight the Pillar Men and that lowers their experience down by a notch.
Everyone knows the many hobbies of Jotaro Kujo and several of the other JoJo protagonists, but not many people know that Joseph Joestar has an entertainment-related hobby as well. And that is collecting and reading comic books and manga.
We even see this directly in one of the Battle Tendency chapters as he is reading a Superman comic in his teenage years, so his interests extend beyond his own culture as well. It truly makes you wonder if he ended up reading something written by Rohan Kishibe too at some point!
That’s it for our top 10 Joseph Joestar facts that you may have not seen before, and most certainly make him stand out. We hope that you learned a few new things today about the character, and if you know everything already – then you’re one of the most hardcore fans of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure out there! If you want to know more about the world of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure and its unique characters, then go ahead and check out our Blog section for more JoJo goodness!
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