is a fictional character in the Japanese manga series JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, written and illustrated by Hirohiko Araki. The main protagonist of the series' third story arc, Stardust Crusaders, Jotaro is depicted as a rough delinquent with a noble heart who journeys from Japan to Egypt with his grandfather, Joseph Joestar, and their allies to defeat his great-great-grandfather's killer, Dio Brando, and save his mother's life. He has a Stand (a physical manifestation of his fighting spirit) named , whose power is incredible strength, speed, and precision. Later, Star Platinum gains the ability , enabling Jotaro to stop time for a few seconds. Jotaro returns in subsequent story arcs of the manga as a supporting character. In Diamond Is Unbreakable, he meets his 16-year old biological uncle Josuke Higashikata. Jotaro also appears briefly in Golden Wind when he sends Koichi Hirose to Italy to spy on Dio's son, Giorno Giovanna, and in Stone Ocean to aid his daughter Jolyne Cujoh against the forces of Enrico Pucci. The siblings Yoshikage and Kei Kira take his place in the Joestar family tree in the alternate universe of JoJolion.
Araki wanted the protagonist of Stardust Crusaders to be Japanese when Phantom Blood was serializing and intended for Jotaro to be stoic to differentiate him from Jonathan and Joseph. The character was also inspired by American actor Clint Eastwood. In order to make the story more appealing, Araki created characters who would not overlap with Jotaro's characterization. Jotaro was voiced by Jūrōta Kosugi in the original video animation adaptation of Stardust Crusaders and by Abie Hadjitarkhani in its English dub. In the later television anime adaptation and in the rest of his occurrences in future parts, he was voiced by Daisuke Ono in Japanese and Matthew Mercer in English.
Critic and fan reception to Jotaro's character has been positive, with Araki himself stating that Jotaro has become so well known that he could act as a "synonym" for JoJo's Bizarre Adventure as a whole. Critics have praised his stoic personality and heroic actions, and although some reviewers noted Jotaro to be overpowered, others found his fights appealing and unique, such as the gambling battle with Daniel J. D'Arby.
Creation and development
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure creator Hirohiko Araki decided to have a Japanese main character for Part 3 around the ending of the manga's first part. When Araki started working on Stardust Crusaders, his primary goal was to create characters with different personalities compared to those from Phantom Blood and Battle Tendency, the previous parts of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure; for instance, whereas Jonathan from Phantom Blood is a traditional portrayal of a man of justice, and Joseph from Battle Tendency is a "cheerful and flashy" character, Jotaro keeps his emotions hidden, with art of him depicting him as expressionless as possible. He was also designed to be taller and have more of a sense of weight to his body compared to Jonathan and Joseph, to make him seem fantastical, while his clothing—a school uniform—was meant to represent normalcy, as well as symbolize the part's story and setting. Araki modeled Jotaro after American actor Clint Eastwood, including his poses and catchphrases; Jotaro's signature finger-pointing pose came from one of Eastwood's poses with a .44 Magnum. His catchphrase was also an imitation of the type of lines Eastwood would say in his movies. Araki intended for Jotaro to be economical in his movements, and have "a presence that could be felt just by him standing". This is why the character might seem "rough" compared to other Weekly Shonen Jump protagonists; however, Jotaro fits Araki's own image of a hero perfectly as a "loner" who does not do the right thing for attention. The author said the character wearing his school uniform in the desert has its roots in Mitsuteru Yokoyama's Babel II. He also revealed that he has based the visual designs of subsequent JoJos on Jotaro's and then worked to differentiate them from there.
Other characters in Part 3 were written to contrast with Jotaro. Because Joseph was also the "JoJo" of his own story arc, Araki made sure to make it clear that Jotaro was the main character of Stardust Crusaders. Araki stated that he had Kakyoin act as a foil to Jotaro. Although they both wear school uniforms, Kakyoin's well-tailored one gives him the feel of an honor student, while Jotaro's loose-fitting uniform and accessories convey that he is a delinquent. He made Kakyoin Jotaro's first real Stand opponent to visually convey the concepts between short-range and long-range Stand abilities. In order to have him not overlap with Jotaro and Joseph, Polnareff was given a distinctive look and personality, which in turn made him stand out in the group.
Casting
In Japanese, Jotaro was voiced by Jūrōta Kosugi in the OVAs, but has been voiced by Daisuke Ono since JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle. Ono first learned of the series when he was studying in college during his free time and came to enjoy the manga. He felt pressure when doing Jotaro's voice, stating that "Jotaro's a representative character of the series." The audition process for the Stardust Crusaders television series was separate from that of the game he previously worked on. Ono had to re-audition for Jotaro's character. He further said "Jotaro is a character who's cool and collected and on the verge of boiling over all at the same time. He takes those two contradictory elements and makes them work together at a high level."
In English, Jotaro was voiced by Abie Hadjitarkhani in the OVAs, and Matthew Mercer in the television anime. Mercer first learned of the series at an anime convention in 1996, where he was impressed by an episode of Jotaro facing Dio. As a result, Mercer becoming Jotaro's English actor was, according to him, "a huge nerd full circle." In the recording of the early episodes, Mercer was excited with the lines he was given. In the pilot episodes of the dub, while Jotaro was still voiced by Mercer, his Stand, Star Platinum, was voiced by Dio's voice actor, Patrick Seitz. Mercer became the official voice for Star Platinum after the pilot episodes.
Appearances In JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Stardust Crusaders A Japanese high school delinquent, Jotaro Kujo, appears as the protagonist of Stardust Crusaders. Jotaro has been arrested, and refuses to leave his cell, believing he is possessed by an evil spirit. After being called by Holly, Joseph's daughter and Jotaro's mother, Joseph arrives with an associate, Muhammad Avdol. They explain that Jotaro's "evil spirit" is actually a manifestation of his fighting spirit, called a Stand, and reveal that they possess Stands as well. Joseph explains that the sudden appearance of their Stands is caused by the nemesis of his grandfather, Jonathan Joestar: Dio. Soon after, Jotaro defeats the first of these assassins, Noriaki Kakyoin, managing to rescue him from the influence of Dio's parasitic flesh bud. Holly soon becomes gravely ill due to a Stand manifesting in her, which is slowly killing her due to her reserved personality. With little hesitation, Jotaro, Joseph, Avdol, and Kakyoin begin a journey to Egypt to kill Dio and save Holly's life. On the way, they are joined by another reformed assassin named Jean Pierre Polnareff, who seeks to avenge his sister, whose murderer is among Dio's forces and Iggy, a troublesome dog who developed a Stand and was captured by Avdol offscreen.
After Avdol and Iggy are murdered by Dio's right-hand Vanilla Ice, the remainders of the group ultimately find Dio and unnerved by his unknown power, escape his mansion as the sun sets. A chase across Cairo follows, leading to Kakyoin confronting Dio and his Stand, The World. Though fatally wounded by The World, Kakyoin deduces the Stand's ability to stop time for a few seconds and relays it to Joseph by using his Stand to damage a nearby clock tower before dying. Joseph is able to pass that information on to Jotaro, but is also fatally wounded by Dio, who uses his blood to increase the duration of his ability. Jotaro then fights Dio alone, slowly discovering that he shares Dio's time-stopping ability, due to Star Platinum having similar abilities to The World. The battle ends with Jotaro defeating Dio using the time-stop ability and subsequently killing him, before transfusing Dio's blood back into Joseph, and destroying the vampire for good by exposing his remains to the sun. Jotaro and Joseph then bid Polnareff farewell before returning to Japan, as Holly has made a full recovery.
Diamond is Unbreakable In the fourth story arc, Diamond Is Unbreakable, Jotaro arrives in the Japanese town of Morioh to meet Josuke Higashikata after finding out the latter is Joseph's illegitimate son, intending to inform him of this fact and work out his inheritance. Soon after, along with Josuke, Koichi Hirose and Okuyasu Nijimura, they investigate to find the identity of Red Hot Chili Pepper's Stand user, Akira Otoishi, who stole the Stand-granting Bow and Arrow after killing Keicho Nijimura, Okuyasu's brother. Afterwards, manga artist Rohan Kishibe finds out about a serial killer loose in Morioh from the ghost of one of his victims, Remi Sugimoto.Araki, Hirohiko (February 4, 2020). "Rohan Kishibe's Adventure, Part 3". Diamond is Unbreakable. Vol. 4. Viz Media. . The killer, Yoshikage Kira, goes on to kill Shigekiyo Yangu, a student at Josuke's school, causing Jotaro and the rest of the group to grow suspicious.Araki, Hirohiko (May 5, 2020). "The People of Morioh". Diamond is Unbreakable. Vol. 5. Viz Media. . After almost managing to catch him by following a clue he left behind after Shigekiyo's murder, he barely escapes after a violent battle and assumes the new identity of local businessman Kosaku Kawajiri by using Aya Tsuji's Stand ability. After his identity is eventually discovered by Josuke, Kira attempts to use a paramedic to activate his Stand Killer Queen's new ability, Bites the Dust, and rewind time, but is stopped by Koichi and Jotaro. Kira is then accidentally run over by an arriving ambulance and dies. Following the battle, Jotaro leaves Morioh with an older Joseph Joestar who joined him in his adventure earlier and an invisible baby (due to Stand powers) taken in by Joseph and named Shizuka Joestar .
Golden Wind In Golden Wind, Jotaro asks Koichi to go on a mission to Italy. His objective was to get a skin sample of a boy named Haruno Shiobana, which would then be given to the Speedwagon Foundation for analysis. Sometime later, Koichi reported back to Jotaro that Haruno Shiobana, who now goes by Giorno Giovanna, was a Stand user. Jotaro then revealed to Koichi that Giorno was the son of Dio and wanted to get the skin sample to confirm this. However, now knowing that he was a Stand user, Jotaro called off the mission.
Stone Ocean In Stone Ocean, Jotaro comes to visit his imprisoned daughter, Jolyne Cujoh, and informs her that a disciple of Dio's framed her so that he could kill her in prison, and urges her to escape. This plan goes awry when a Stand named Whitesnake uses its power to remove Jotaro's Stand and memories, in the form of discs. Jotaro sinks into a deathlike state, and Jolyne vows to find a way to recover the discs from Whitesnake's user, the mysterious prison chaplain Enrico Pucci.