Joseph Joestar

Hirohiko Araki purposefully designed Joseph to look like the manga's previous protagonist Jonathan, but now regrets it decades later.[1]

Because it was "unprecedented" to kill off the main character in a Weekly Shōnen Jump manga in 1987, author Hirohiko Araki purposely designed Joseph to look the same as JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 1's protagonist Jonathan. Although he did give the new character a different personality, looking back after eight story arcs, Araki said he does wish he had differentiated the two's visual designs a bit more. Referring to Jonathan as rather passive and a bit uninteresting as a main character, the author said that Joseph is more proactive and more of an "adventurer"; explaining that as he wrote Joseph's tale, it was as if the character himself was in control of how the story progressed.[1] Having not been able to show a friendly rivalry between Jonathan and Dio in Part 1, Araki introduced Caesar Zeppeli to present a more positive friendly rivalry between him and Joseph.[2]

Araki called Joseph a swindler in comparison to the gentlemanly Jonathan, because he is constantly looking to win and will engage in reckless behavior without hesitation. This was not only to create contrast between the two, but also because the author wanted to shift from the physical battles in Part 1 to more "cerebral" fights. He wanted Joseph to be a shōnen manga hero who bends the rules as he fights, like the protagonist of his earlier series Cool Shock B.T., winning by cunning and logic, instead of bravery and perseverance. Araki fleshed the character's personality out by having him predict the actions of his opponents ahead of time. He referred to Joseph as "a muscle-bound B.T.", achieved by adding some Sylvester Stallone to B.T., plus some added cheerfulness to make him "jolly." Araki stated that Joseph is the character that connects the Joestar bloodline to Parts 3 and 4, and although he had Jonathan die in Part 1, he never even considered killing off Joseph.[1]

Araki said he had a lot of readers asking him to bring older characters back. Although he is not a fan of bringing them back simply for nostalgia, he did not hesitate having Joseph return 50 years later in Stardust Crusaders to save his daughter because it is completely true to the character. The author thought of having Joseph drop out partway through due to his age, but ended up "playing it by ear" as serialization continued. He gave him the role of "navigator", introducing the readers to the Joestar family, Dio, Hamon and Stands. But because Joseph is a JoJo, Araki made sure to make it clear that Jotaro was the main character of Part 3. He partly achieved this by making drastic changes in his appearance, justified by his age. For the same reasons, Joseph's Stand was made a support ability that allows visual or aural psychic projection, rather than offensive like a protagonist would have. A navigator or guide needs "lines" to gather information from across the world, and Hermit Purple was inspired by telephone lines and network cables; the vines being representative of these physical lines and cables. Stands being a succession of the Hamon and Hamon being life energy that spreads across the body through breathing, Araki thought Joseph's Hermit Purple vines wrapping around his body were a visual representation of that as well.[3]

The TV anime adaptation uses a song titled "Bloody Stream" sung by Japanese artist Coda. Written by Saori Kodama and composed by Toshiyuki O'mori, Jun Yamamoto of Billboard said that he felt that the horns and funky sound of the song complement the story of Joseph and his battle against the Pillar Men Esidisi, Wamuu, and Kars, further mesmerizing him and drawing him into a "bizarre world."[4]

Joseph Joestar inherited a natural capacity for the energy-based Hamon martial arts technique. While unskilled with it until he began training under his mother, he uses its conductive properties on a pair of clackers and other objects in battle. Opposed to brute strength, Joseph is highly skilled at mind games and stage magic techniques which he uses to disarm his opponents, such as slipping objects like live grenades on their person. Joseph's favorite tactic is predicting the next line their opponent will say and announcing it to them before it's said. He frequently uses the tactic to mentally attack his opponent, either making them annoyed or fearful. Joseph also has a "secret technique" that he uses as a last resort. He will run away from his opponent, making himself look cowardly but in actuality using the tactic to stall for a plan while getting his opponent into a more advantageous location.

Joseph returns in Stardust Crusaders with his Hamon abilities and martial arts diminished. In its place he gains his Stand ability Hermit Purple, a vine-like spiritual power that can conduct Hamon and act as a weapon or armor. By using it on cameras or television sets Joseph can record photographs or footage of people or places from far away. He demonstrates this ability by destroying an expensive Polaroid camera in Japan, which then printed a photo of Dio Brando, who was located in Egypt. Despite weakness with age he still possesses quick thinking and intellect over his opponents. Joseph no longer uses Hamon but still possesses Hermit Purple during Diamond is Unbreakable.

Critical response to Joseph has been positive. Silverman felt positively about how strikingly different the protagonist Joseph is from Part 1's Jonathan due to the former's cockier personality.[6] Though the writer felt that Joseph and Ceasar's relationship gradually developed in the manga, the writer felt it was the latter who was a more annoying character.[7] Kotaku described Joseph as a better main character than Jonathan for his display of intelligence when confronting the antagonists.[8] Similarly, Joel Loynds of The Linc enjoyed the distinct personalities of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure the contrast Joseph has with Jonathan and his successor, Jotaro.[9] Hiroshi Matsuyama from CyberConnect2 selected Joseph as his favorite Jojo's Bizarre Adventure hero based on his Battle Tendency portrayal which he felt was the "epitome of shonen manga".[10] The Fandom Post was harsher, stating that while Joseph has charisma, he is still too cocky in the narrative due to how he manages to convince the Pillar Men to let him train so that he fight in a stronger form. The writer felt that sometimes Joseph was more comical to the point it feels he is breaking the fourth wall.[11] Comic Book Resources made an article centered solely on Joseph, pointing out multiple appealing traits from his character that do not make sense when taken seriously such as his ability to predict others' following line or surprising the actual narrator of the series who states he dies in Battle Tendency.[12] The death of Caesar before Part 2's climax was noted to be forced to make Jojo's characterization develop and take a more mature compromise with his mission in contrast to his earlier appearances.[13]

Reviewing Stardust Crusaders for Anime News Network, Rebecca Silverman enjoyed seeing Part 2's Joseph team up with new protagonist Jotaro and was impressed that Araki was able to keep Dio out of Part 2 completely, only to bring him back for Part 3.[14] Anime UK News stated that Joseph and Avdol share one of the most hilarious fights in Stardust Crusaders based on how they accidentally sexually harass each other when being attacked by a Stand User working for Dio.[15] Comic Book Resources still felt that Joseph was a still appealing supporting character for retaining the intelligence despite his age.[16] The Fandom Post also praised Joseph's still intact characterization despite having noticeably aged ever since Battle Tendency.[17] Joseph's middle-aged persona ranked as 18th best coolest character in Japan while his beard ranked sixth in another.[18][19] In the Newtype anime awards for 2013, Joseph was voted as fourth best male character.[20]