25 Days of Jojo’s - #12: Yasuho Hirose

(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.)

#12 - Yasuho Hirose: While Jojolion has proven one of the more polarizing arcs in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, I’ve personally found it to be quite an enjoyable read. I do find protagonist ‘Gappy’ a solid and compelling lead, though the most recent chapters have only just begun to unravel the mysteries of his identity and his past. As such, ‘Gappy’ did not make the cut for this list, and truth be told, were Jojolion closer to completion, his friend/ally/romantic interest Yasuho Hirose would likely have earned a much higher ranking in this ‘top 25’ series.

Yasuho is a quick-witted girl, both in tense and potentially dangerous scenarios, such as when she and the youngest member of the Higashikata family are tracing the origins of a strange fruit, or when she first encounters ‘Gappy’, naked and amnesiac at the landmark Wall Eyes. She often relies on her instincts when faced with a situation that demands immediacy, but is arguably more capable with long-term plans than ‘Gappy’, and certainly more so than Joshuu Higashikata and most of his siblings, who seem to simply waltz through life on a day-to-day basis. In a pinch, Yasuho is more than capable of taking care of herself, and her involvement in the events of Jojolion make her more apparent as a modern girl written for a modern audience than some of the major female characters of previous Jojo’s arcs.

With Gappy slowly regaining his understanding of the world around him, he constantly turns to Yasuho for advice, and she displays genuine concern for his health and safety. Yasuho does not appear to have the best relationship with her mother, and largely ignores the handful of times Joshuu attempts lustful and creepy advances toward her. Despite the incredibly awkard series of events that led to her finding and befriending ‘Gappy’, the two characters hit it off quickly, and within a few volumes of the story, forge a strong trust, behaving as if they’ve known each other for years.

While perhaps not a ‘head-over-heels in love’ sort of romance, there is a pretty clear indication that Yasuho and ‘Gappy’ harbor a mutual attraction towards one another, as in the most recent chapter they reunite after having spent quite some time apart from one another, and both start shedding tears of happiness, before walking hand-in-hand, sharing a simple but cute moment together. It’s a nice break from the Stand battles that Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure has been popularized by, and the natural pacing of the blossoming of ‘Gappy’ and Yasuho’s relationship coupled with Yasuho’s overall more intricate character traits makes their story more compelling than most of the major couples that Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure has delivered over the decades.