My 'memories'... my very first 'memories'... they 'begin' when I opened my eyes under the soil of the 'Wall Eyes'. No matter what I do, no memories of what I did before then will come back. No one I met, nowhere I went, nothing. I'm not Josefumi Kujo or Kira Yoshikage. I'm the one that came from the soil, "Josuke".
„
~ Josuke
“
Soft & Wet...when my soap bubble touches something and breaks, I take something from there.
„
~ Josuke
“
Go Beyond! That soap bubble doesn't exist anywhere!
Josuke Higashikata (東方 定助 Higashikata Jōsuke) is the main protagonist of the eighth part of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure series, JoJolion, and is the eighth JoJo of the series.
Josuke is a young man afflicted with retrograde amnesia, lacking any memories prior to being discovered by Yasuho Hirose near the Wall Eyes in Morioh Town. He dedicates himself to discovering his former identity and those originally associated with him.
Josuke's original identity was that of Josefumi Kujo, and became his current self after fusing with part of Yoshikage Kira's body. Josuke is a Stand User and retains an upgraded version of his original identity's Soft & Wet.
Name: Josuke Higashikata (Adoptive Name), Jousuke (By the end of the manga), Originally Yoshikage Kira and Josefumi Kujo (As he is a fusion of the two)
Alignment:Neutral Good (Josuke is a kind and polite man who has strong familial values due to wanting to learn his own path, as shown for his care and protectiveness of his adoptive family, the Higashikatas, and how he strongly desires to cure Holy of her illness despite not having any memories of her. He is also highly protective of Yasuho and goes to great lengths to save her whenever she's in danger. While altruistic, Josuke doesn't hesitate to kill his enemies, especially those who intend to hurt his loved ones, although he does hold a degree of restraint toward enemies he doesn't need to kill and has even asked members of the Higashikata family for permission before pursuing an enemy that relates to them on multiple occasions)
Intelligence:Genius (Josuke is an extremely proficient tactician in a fight. He is able to use his Stand to various effects and predict his opponents next moves easily. Josuke is a methodical individual, having quickly deduced Born This Way's powers via simple experimentation, as well as taking advantage of Les Feuilles's characteristics despite seeing them in action only recently. Out of combat, Josuke is thorough in his investigation, being careful about covering his tracks. He has also displayed proficient skill in mathematics, having easily solved a trigonometry problem given to him by Joshu, along with acute analytical and spatial skills, capable of deducing the measurements, lengths, and distances of various things at just a glance)
Soft & Wet: Josuke’s stand, Soft & Wet, primarily belonged to Josefumi, but retained some properties from Yoshikage Kira’s stand. It is a humanoid Stand with a mechanical and sailing theme to its appearance. It’s primary ability is to produce bubbles which can steal (or plunder) an aspect of whatever they touch. As the series progresses, the stand evolves and gains new uses for these bubbles, such as lifting up objects, transferring properties, and creating large shields, along with new offensive uses.
Bubble: Soft & Wet generates star-embedded floating bubbles, which must make contact with its target to work effectively. However, Josuke can control where the bubbles can fly, allowing him to send them where they are needed. The bubbles are actually comprised of tiny cords vibrating at super-high speeds, giving them the appearance of spheres. Josuke often takes direct advantage of his bubbles and their properties. The bubbles have lifting power, allowing Josuke to envelop others like Yotsuyu Yagiyama in a giant bubble and lift them in the air, as well as help him reach vantage points. Josuke has also enveloped himself and allies with giant bubbles to take advantage of their situational protection. In addition to this, Soft & Wet is able to create bubbles utilizing existing substances, as demonstrated when it creates a shield from a bottle of water during Josuke's pursuit by Blue Hawaii. As the story has progressed, Josuke has developed this ability. Early in the story, he would often use one bubble, but later on, is shown conjuring dozens upon dozens with a quick flurry of strikes.
Plundering: Soft & Wet's signature ability is to temporarily take away physical things such as one's sense of sound or sight by using its bubbles. Josuke can thus steal aspects or properties of inanimate and living things. Said properties seem to also be smaller objects that come from a bigger object. Soft and Wet can also transfer stolen properties to other objects. Properties Josuke has plundered include:
A human's sight: After bursting near Joshu's eyes, Josuke's bubble completely blinds Joshu for a few seconds, making it appear that Joshu's eyes have popped.
The water contained in a human's body: With one bubble, Josuke covertly punctures several ~5mm holes in a woman's body in order to quickly drain her of water and provoke thirst.
Sound: Josuke steals the sound from a wall or a light switch, preventing any noise that would have been caused upon breaking it or turning it off.
His own facial hair: Josuke uses Soft & Wet while shaving his face when Hato and Joshu are in the bathroom as well. Soft & Wet's bubbles in the shaving foam pop onto Hato and Joshu's faces, planting Josuke's hair onto their faces instead.
A cat's fur: Seemingly without pain, Josuke removes the majority of a live cat's fur and relocates it, in the shape of a cat, in order to obscure the view of a security camera.
Friction: Josuke removes the friction from a floor, creating an ice-like slippery surface.
Smell: Josuke traps an odor and various into a bubble and has it attached to his foe Born This Way. When the bubble bursts, he can track down the Stand's user by smell and sound.
Small objects: Josuke when fighting the A. Phex Brothers filled his bubbles with screws and nuts to fire out upon bursting.
The stolen objects can stay in the bubble and are still able to bust later (as shown with the bubble with the sound of the light switch). The exact quantity and type of object Josuke may steal, how long he may keep them, and how it is redistributed is currently undefined. According to Josuke, Soft & Wet's ability cannot be applied to himself. While Josefumi Kujo was in control of Soft & Wet, this ability was described as "absorption". As a Stand user, Josefumi was experienced enough to utilize his ability with extreme levels of precision. For example, Josefumi was able to use Soft & Wet at precisely enough to seamlessly graft a loose branch onto a different plant, an ability which he and Yoshikage Kira attempted to use for the cultivation of Locacaca. Josefumi was also shown using his soap bubbles to remove excess amounts of black pepper from his bowl of ramen.
Kira's Bubbles: As a result of their hybrid nature, Soft & Wet's bubbles retain some aspects of Killer Queen's bubble-generation ability. These bubbles are able to pop with enough force to cause damage at close range, as seen when Josuke uses one to shatter Tamaki Damo's sunglasses. Josuke can also use this force to propel any small objects stored inside of his bubbles, seemingly with a degree of control over the direction they fly in. In addition to this, Josuke is able to injure opponents by popping bubbles which have been embedded under their skin, an ability that one of the A. Phex Brothers remarked bears a striking resemblance to the late Kira's own technique.
Spin Bubble: Josuke's bubbles, due to their nature as being spinning cords, can manifest and utilize the Spin, heightening the damage potential greatly, being able to carve and pass through things with next to no issue, likened to outright erasing the touched objects, Josuke is able to fill a room with these bubbles and can fire these bubbles from his fingertips like his predecessor Johnny Joestar, making them a viable and deadly long-range attack option.
Go Beyond: In reality, Soft & Wet's soap bubbles are infinitesimally thin lines that spin rapidly. Rai Mamezuku describes this as part of the Spin. Upon learning of the actual mechanic behind his Stand's ability, Josuke gains a new power, which he dubs "Soft & Wet: Go Beyond". The rapidly spinning bubbles created using this technique extend from Josuke's birthmark, and are described as being uncontrollable and impossible to aim without assistance. As summarized by Mamezuku, the fusion of Josefumi's Soft & Wet's soap bubbles with the explosive bubbles of Kira's Killer Queen has given Josuke the ability to generate invisible bubbles which utilize an "Explosive Spin" (爆発的な回転 Bakuhatsu-tekina Kaiten, lit. "Explosive Rotation") to move at extremely high speeds. This speed combined with the near-infinite thinness of Soft & Wet's lines (which Mamezuku describes as being "infinitely close to zero") gives Go Beyond properties that transcend the limits of ordinary physics. According to Mamezuku, these bubbles "don't exist in this world." Go Beyond's bubbles can phase into and cross through any barrier. This is first noted by Mamezuku when an invisible bubble manages to clip into a wall without damaging it. It is later shown to greater effect when a bubble created using Go Beyond bridges the distance between T.G. University Hospital and the Higashikata Estate by entering Paisley Park's domain, albeit with the help of Yasuho Hirose. Upon hitting Tooru, one of Go Beyond's bubbles even appears to phase through his skin, similar to an application of Killer Queen's ability which had been a core element of Kira's fighting style. In addition to this, Go Beyond is not subject to the laws of calamity. These bubbles are theoretically nonexistent, so directing them toward Wonder of U or its user is not seen as an act of pursuit and doesn't trigger Wonder of U's ability. At one point, Mamezuku also states that these bubbles can overcome the Higashikata family curse and Holy Joestar-Kira's curse, though the exact mechanics behind this are not shown. Due to the extreme speed at which Go Beyond's bubbles can spin, they can be used as projectiles to devastating effect. Upon making contact with a target, Go Beyond can instantly erode whatever part of their body it touches. In addition to this, Go Beyond's bubbles can burst with an extreme amount of force; a direct hit on Tooru was able to launch him a great distance into the air. Go Beyond was originally used subconsciously by Josuke. He managed to unknowingly produce an invisible bubble from his birthmark while charging up a high-velocity soap bubble to launch at Wonder of U. Upon learning of the invisible bubble's presence, Josuke demonstrated the ability to create one at will. However, he is incapable of controlling or aiming them after they are created. Thus far, the only workaround to this limit has come in the form of a combined attack with Yasuho Hirose, where she aims Go Beyond by using Paisley Park to guide the invisible bubble through the cellphone that Josuke is holding and out of one in her hand, which she points at the attack's target.
Other
Standard Tactics: Josuke will utilize Soft & Wet's abilities both offensively and defensively, either to steal properties or ignite explosions with his bubbles or simply killing his opponent with his Go Beyond bubbles.
Weaknesses: Any damage taken by Soft & Wet will reflect back onto Josuke. Soft & Wet's absorption ability can't be used on Josuke himself. Soft & Wet's bubbles must make contact with an object in order to "steal" something from it. While initially unaware of Go Beyond and unable to control its trajectory, Josuke has since learned how to aim it slightly, albeit only at point-blank range. Josuke won't bring himself to harm the likes of children, even if it puts himself in danger.
