Joseph Joestar

Joseph Joestar (ジョセフ・ジョースター, Josefu Jōsutā) is the main protagonist of the second part of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure series, Battle Tendency, and the second JoJo of the series. As the grandson of Jonathan Joestar, Joseph is a natural-born Ripple user and eventual Stand user, wielding the psychic photographic Stand, Hermit Purple. An exuberant troublemaker with an exceptional talent for trickery, Joseph meets the fantastic threats approaching him throughout his life with initiative and impressive ingenuity, battling vampires, the Pillar Men, and malevolent Stand users.

Joseph is 18 years old, tall (195 cm/6'5"), and powerfully and muscularly built, with light eyes. He has short, dark, and unkempt brown hair, parts of his bangs shooting outwards in spikes, apart from which he closely resembles his grandfather Jonathan Joestar. Suzi Q finds his mouth weird looking, and an Esidisi-possessed-Suzi Q bizarrely calls him handsome.

Joseph's primary outfit is relatively minimal and pragmatic. He wears a tank top cut above the navel, gloves studded at the knuckles, fitting pants with a leather belt, and knee-high leather boots.

In Battle Tendency, Joseph is a young, hotheaded, impetuous, and confrontational young man. Quick to violently respond to the slightest provocation, Joseph would often get into brawls growing up; prior to the events of the story, he had been imprisoned seven times and expelled once from school for fighting. Having no respect for authority save of his grandmother's, and later Lisa Lisa's, Joseph has antagonized policemen and mafiosi alike. Furthermore, Joseph is a foul-mouthed individual and regularly taunts his enemies, enjoying aggravating them. He notably taunted Kars when he launched him into space, claiming to have again planned everything from the beginning just to antagonize him one last time.

Joseph is a playful person and prefers fooling around over having any responsibility. By his own admission, his most hated sentences are "hard work" and "work hard", and still had to be pushed to train his Ripple talent despite facing certain death if he didn't meet and fight Wamuu again. Joseph has a fairly goofy side and spends half of his fights enjoying having outsmarted his current enemy with incredibly zany schemes, which take his opponents by surprise by how silly said plans are at first sight. A show-off, Joseph loves being the center of attention and couldn't stand that his rival Caesar had a special technique. With his prestidigitation talent, Joseph's boastful nature coupled with his love of pranks makes him an unpredictable force in battle.

At the beginning of his adventure, Joseph's one redeeming trait is his devotion to his family and friends. Joseph cares deeply for his grandmother Erina Joestar, and is deeply angered when a gangster has the nerve of mentioning Speedwagon's death before her, which upset her. Joseph also cares for his "Uncle Speedwagon", who he considers like a father, and Speedwagon's disappearance pushed Joseph to go look for him in Mexico. Joseph also has a knack for befriending people. Despite having stolen his wallet, Joseph quickly befriended Smokey Brown and couldn't tolerate discrimination against him. In the same way, Joseph befriended Caesar Zeppeli and Lisa Lisa even though they had difficult starts. Joseph even came to respect the Pillar Man Wamuu, and gave him a last salute as he died.

Throughout Battle Tendency, although he never really lost his overall attitude, he did develop into a strong, focused hero. In accord with his dismissal of any kind of discipline, Joseph believes that trickery and cheating are fair game in a fight as long as it isn't needlessly cruel. This results in him being a rulebreaker and once earned him a scolding when he tried to climb the Hell Climb Pillar using a rope instead of with the Ripple as intended. Joseph possesses a peculiar sense of honor, acknowledging Esidisi's underhanded moves as somewhat noble since he did them for his fellow Pillar Men. However, when Kars backstabbed Lisa Lisa, Joseph was furious since he sullied the memory of his companion Wamuu. Thus it could be said that Joseph values kinship dearly.

Joseph, being the outspoken individual that he is, does have a flirtatious side to him. He regularly comments on women's voluptuousness and was less than subtle with his advancements on his future wife Suzi Q. Joseph's antagonistic behavior toward Caesar when they first met may have been out of jealousy that he could seduce girls so easily. His perverted nature is ultimately revealed when Joseph decides to sneak a peek at a bathing Lisa Lisa, completely unaware that they were related, and was his mother, no less. However, when Lisa Lisa practically revealed herself as his mother, Joseph was more concerned by her actual age.[26] It is stated that Joseph is picky about choosing a girlfriend, although her smarts don't matter as long as she is cute.

It is revealed in flashbacks that Joseph collects comics and was a fan of Superman when he was young. He becomes a fan of Rohan Kishibe's works when he is much older.

The Ripple (波紋, Hamon), is an energy used in an ancient form of martial arts known as Sendo (仙道, Sendō, lit. "Way of The Hermit").

Through self-controlled respiration, a person trained in the Ripple technique can produce an energy identical to the energy of the sun, which manifests as ripples throughout their body. This energy can be used in a wide range of techniques, and is fatal to Vampires, Zombies and the Pillar Men. The Ripple is an energy identical to the Sun's rays. The human body can create this energy through controlled breathing, producing ripples of energy propagating from the bloodstream to the rest of the body and to other objects in contact with it. The Ripple manifests itself as electricity-like sparks, and it can be seen by ordinary humans.

An object charged with Ripple energy will have one or several attributes enhanced by the energy, making it a more effective tool or weapon. Liquids such as water or oil conduct the Ripple especially well, with the ripples becoming visible in the liquid. However, while all materials can conduct the Ripple to some degree, only living organisms such as roses can retain Ripple energy. Joseph Joestar is shown to be able to channel the Ripple through his Stand, Hermit Purple; it is unknown if other types of Stands can do the same.

Joseph inherited the Ripple and its capabilities from his grandfather, Jonathan Joestar, as well as his mother, Lisa Lisa. In addition, he uses techniques commonly present in stage magic to confuse his foes. After his Ripple training, Joseph frequently combines his Ripple with other objects to perform complex and creative attacks. Later in Stardust Crusaders, he shows that he is able use the Ripple in conjunction with his Stand, Hermit Purple.

Jonathan Joestar: Joseph had no real knowledge of his grandfather prior to his battle with Straizo because of Speedwagon keeping the events of the past secret. However, Joseph holds great respect towards Jonathan due to his relationship with Erina and friendship with Speedwagon. When Caesar insults Jonathan, it enrages Joseph that he brought up the past. Joseph's respect for his grandfather is even more apparent in his later years, as he's shown to be angry that DIO is now using Jonathan's body as his own. Erina Joestar: Joseph and Erina are very close due to Erina having raised Joseph all his youth in the absence of his parents. Erina loves Joseph dearly but is quite severe with him because of his indiscipline. Prior to meeting Lisa Lisa, Joseph only respects her authority and is very attached to her, being angry and becoming physically violent that one would ruin a coat she gave him or that someone would even make her distraught. Lisa Lisa: Joseph never knew his mother and thought she died in an accident. He meets Lisa Lisa thinking she is an unrelated Ripple user and her severity and prowess in the Ripple quickly shut Joseph's arrogance and belligerence. Joseph respects Lisa Lisa's authority and becomes close to her, getting angry when Kars humiliates Lisa Lisa to get at him. Joseph also finds Lisa Lisa attractive and has opportunistically peeped on her, (unaware of their relation); he is notably dismayed to find that she is 50 years old and makes fun of her for it. Suzi Q: Joseph expresses some attraction towards Suzi Q upon meeting her early on in Battle Tendency, though does show some degree of exasperation at her airheadedness, notably when he realizes that she had not sent a telegram bearing news that he was alive to his family and friends.

Robert E. O. Speedwagon: Despite his cheeky attitude, Joseph cared for Speedwagon, and viewed him as an uncle. When Joseph received news of Speedwagon's supposed death, he becomes enraged and attacks Straizo without a second thought. Similarly, when he receives news that Speedwagon was still alive, he is seen happily tearing up before rushing to the Nazi base in order to break him out. Speedwagon is family in Joseph's eyes. Smokey Brown: Despite having his wallet stolen by Smokey, Joseph bears him no ill will and actually helps bail him from the discriminating actions of the policemen who accost him, in the same manner, that his great-grandfather George Joestar did with Dario Brando. In a time when African Americans faced racial prejudice, Joseph backs up Smokey's rights to sit in a restaurant and beats up the man who insulted him. Smokey becomes grateful to Joseph for saving him and accompanies him throughout New York, and later with Speedwagon at Joseph's showdown with Kars. Caesar Anthonio Zeppeli: Due to their conflicting personalities, the two did not get along at all during their first encounter. It wasn't until their climb to the top of the pillar where Joseph began to respect Caesar's skills and gradually saw him as a fairly proficient partner during their 26-day training session. Their trust in each other grew to a point where Joseph expected Caesar to finish the missing link to the icicle chain after having fallen off the cliff during their first encounter with Kars.