25 Days of Jojo’s - #5: Okuyasu Nijimura

(Fair warning: there will be spoilers abound in this series of posts, as I find there are major moments that define some of these characters late in their respective story arcs. So in the event that you have not yet read/watched a particular part of the Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure storyline, you may wish to skip over certain entries.)

#5 - Okuyasu Nijimura: Playing host to one of the most powerful Stands in all of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure and being a loyal friend through thick and thin to Josuke Higashikata and Koichi Hirose, one might expect Okuyasu Nijimura to be a huge hindrance to Yoshikage Kira’s killing streak and the machinations of the other lesser antagonists of Diamond is Unbreakable. In truth, though, Okuyasu is more of a hindrance to himself than anyone else. While his Stand, The Hand, can effectively displace anything that it touches from the current plane of reality to somewhere else (meaning that any hit he lands is as good as an instant kill), Okuyasu is, unfortunately, a rather dim-witted individual. He is initially introduced as a trouble-making punk, fighting Josuke alongside his brother, but soon after befriends Josuke and becomes a primary friend and ally. His preference of brawns over brains does grant him a certain charm, and when he does find the occasional stroke of genius, Josuke and Hirose are almost always more impressed with his discoveries than he himself is. Okuyasu proves instrumental in besting a number of Morioh’s local baddies, and offers both plenty of action-packed showdowns and comedic relief to the fourth act of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure.