| “ | Finding those traces and going! Progressing beyond! That is my Stand "Paisley Park"! | ” |
—Yasuho Hirose, JJL Chapter 40 | ||
Yasuho Hirose (広瀬 康穂 Hirose Yasuho) is a side character and ally featured in JoJolion.
Yasuho is an ordinary college student who discovers Josuke Higashikata on the coast of Morioh. As Josuke seeks his identity, she becomes his primary ally and love interest.
Appearance
Yasuho is a pretty, young woman of slim build, 166 cm (5'5") tall. She has light, shoulder-length hair, tied into several pigtails with spherical hair clips.
Her first outfit featured a wide-necked, cap-sleeved blouse. Her second features a sleeveless top with roses on both shoulder straps. Both blouses are light-colored.
She wears a short skirt half covered with roses, short leg warmers, and footwear that has alternated between walking boots and athletic shoes with socks.
Personality
Yasuho is a mild-mannered yet inquisitive young woman living in Morioh.
She is somewhat innocent, in one instance naively following Josuke's requests to look elsewhere while he beat Ojiro during interrogation. She is more easily upset than Josuke. Despite this she does show a level of intelligence, using Josuke's cap as a lead to discovering his past, which led to their discovery of Yoshikage Kira and also realizing when they went to Kira's home and she found photos of bound women in the room that Josuke was not the type of person to do such a thing, which also means she is good at understanding people. She may have a strange sense of humor, considering she named Josuke after her dog since he resembled him.
She disagrees with her mother's carefree lifestyle, suffering some unhappiness with her domestic life as a result.[2]
She harbors a growing fondness for Josuke, with whom she shares a close and warm alliance. As JoJolion progresses, this fondness develops into a sincere attachment and dependence. Being eager to reunite with him, she expresses tears when they finally do, a sentiment which Josuke shares.
It can be inferred that their feelings have developed into genuine romance, as the two are shown holding hands as they walk when they finally meet back up.
In addition to her growing feelings for Josuke, she seems to get along quite well with Tsurugi Higashikata. While Tsurugi initially kidnapped her on orders of Yotsuyu Yagiyama, Tsurugi developed an attachment to her (along with a possible crush) and revealed the family secret including his real gender to her. She in turn grew fond of him as the two work together to find out Josuke's identity and more about the Rokakaka fruit. They have even fought enemies together, such as Aisho Dainenjiyama, and the two could be seen hanging out together in chapter 47.
Abilities
- Main article: Paisley Park
Yasuho is aided by Paisley Park, a Stand of great scope able to guide individuals significant to Yasuho towards safer or more mutually beneficial goals or destinations, and facilitate Yasuho's own searches.
Synopsis
JoJolion
Welcome to Morioh Town
Yasuho is introduced huddled on the ground near the Wall Eyes, hiding from Joshu Higashikata, a childhood friend. She sees a naked man in a sailor cap half buried in the ground. Wary, she calls an ambulance between simple questions. She is interrupted by Joshu, who misinterprets the scene; becoming jealous and launching a lethal attack on the man. The man subdues Joshu with a mysterious power, and they are all collected by an ambulance.
Soft & Wet
Yasuho visits and brings flowers to both Joshu and the man. She gives them both Morioh-speciality dango balls, while staying in the man's room to converse. She is entertained by his innocence, and moved to sympathy by his attention and predicament. She decides to follow him in his escape and offers to help him discover his identity.
Identifying the brand on the label in his hat, Yasuho takes Josuke to the "SBR" hat shop; finding its sale on the shopkeeper's record under Yoshikage Kira, with an address. Yasuho thinks the name an ill fit, and tells him that he comes off more like "Josuke", like her childhood dog.
Both travel to the apartment, and after a provisional scan, they discover a woman naked in the bathtub. Suspicious, she asks the girl if she is Josuke's girlfriend. The girl doesn't answer, so Yasuho searches for other clues, finding a photo album. Containing sordid images of the girl in various states of bondage, and a man similar to Josuke in the background, after a look, she screams and drops it. Crying, she tells him to stay away, before running out of the apartment onto the street.
Outside, she meets two school friends, and passes on their offer to meet later. She cries, feeling betrayed. Eventually, she returns to the apartment, reflecting that what she had learned previously of Josuke's nature is not consistent the tastes reflected in the album. However, she is attacked upon entering the room by Ojiro Sasame, a Stand user based in the room above. Josuke defeats him, and discovers that neither he or Ojiro are Kira.
Later, Yasuho, alongside the protagonist, discovers the real Kira's corpse in a body of water near the Wall Eyes. Without any leads, she decides to lodge the protagonist with the Higashikata family until they can find his real identity (they independently give him the name "Josuke").
The Higashikata Family
After a quick introduction to the family, Yasuho is eventually escorted out of the Higashikata household by the maid and is threatened to never return, meet with Josuke, or "tempt" Joshu.
California King Bed
She returns to her house, finding her mother inebriated beside the couch with the mark of a kiss on her breast. Crying, she denounces her mother's lifestyle. Before leaving, she opens a letter of reply from an agency that she sent a sample of Kira and Josuke's DNA, learning that "to within 95.8% accuracy", the two represent "the same person".
Family Tree
The two eventually discover that Yoshikage's mother Holy Kira was a world-renowned ophthalmologist and was currently being kept in Morioh's hospital as a patient.
"Paisley Park" and "Born This Way"
She makes a call to Josuke and agrees to meet with him at the hospital. Yasuho manages to get into the hospital and speak with Holy, but not before noticing a strange bite mark on her ankle. After being taken away by hospital security for talking to Holy without permission, Holy notices that Yasuho has also developed Stand powers of her own, but she can only use them at a subconscious level. Using the pain from the bite mark before, Yasuho is repermited into the hospital, and discovers more of Holy's condition.
Morioh Town: Year 1901
The next day, Josuke calls Yasuho at school, but she doesn't answer as he was using Josuhu's cell phone. She does however notice that he was, at the time, located on Shakedown Road and near a landmark statue called the Joestar Jizō. She discovers, with Paisley Park's help, that the jizō was built as a memorial to Johnny Joestar, who died in Morioh from what was ultimately determined to be a freak accident in 1901.
Paper Moon Deception
Later that day, Yasuho travels to the Meditation Pine Tree near the Wall Eyes and realizes she can see both the Higashikata mansion and the spring where she previously found Josuke. She finds another article in the newspaper of a small infant that was discovered beneath the pine tree around the same time of Johnny's death. Upon further inspection, Yasuho spots a hole at the base of the pine tree and goes in for a closer look, but is suddenly grabbed by a hand reaching out of it causing her to lose her shoe. She is pulled under where an obscure figure gropes her.
A moment later, Yasuho finds herself in the Higashikata Family's cellar directly below the Meditation Pine. The room is filled with several memorabilia dating to the Showa Era (~1937) and there she encounters Tsurugi Higashikata, who attempts to play a game with her using a mildly profane Paper fortune teller.
Yasuho eventually realizes her phone is missing and grabs Tsurugi demanding to know where it is, when she discovers that Tsurugi is actually male. He explains that eldest son of each generation in the Higashikata family is raised as a girl until his 12th birthday to ward off "a curse".
To aid Yasuho, Paisley Park summons itself and travels to Josuke's location, where it inspires Josuke to send her a text message. Yasuho's phone goes off and she traces the source of the noise from underneath the carpet. Tsurugi tries to stop her by grabbing her hand, but after breaking free, Yasuho finds the phone folded like a frog and it attacks her.[3]
Leaving the room, phone in hand, she spots another room. Looking in the window, it is small and austere, containing a set of clothes similar to that worn by Kira, and a collection of objects including an Enter the Dragon poster and Ultraman figurine, among others.
Yasuho heads back into town, trailed by Tsurugi. She speaks with a woman with a particular, angular face, who asks for directions. Another woman passes with the same face, as well as a window cleaner, the mannequins in the window, and everyone around her, except for Tsurugi.
Yasuho embarks on an unhappy adventure through a commercial center of Morioh, during which she is antagonized by the distorted visages of her mother, Joshu, and a criminal group attempting to kidnap her who she mistakes for police; as she tries unsuccessfully to meet again with Josuke.
When Tsurugi lasts reveals himself, Yasuho concedes, following him back to his playroom. Elsewhere, Josuke deduces that he is no longer afflicted by Tsurugi's Stand because he has fallen out of its range, and that Yasuho was its main target.
Through the slot in the door of the second underground room, somebody spies on Tsurugi and Yasuho's return.
Tsurugi's Goal and the Architect
Yasuho goes to Tsurugi's playroom. He apologizes, admitting that he targeted her with his Stand, Paper Moon King.
Asking again the purpose of the underground complex, Tsurugi explains that it is a space dedicated to treating the mysterious illness that turns the skin hard like stone befalling all Higashikata firstborns. Yasuho is reminded of Holy's condition, whose brain is becoming hard and smooth, memories fragmenting, and that Kira tried to save her.
Falling asleep, a figure emerges from behind a jacket hanging on the wall. Uttering obscurities, mentioning Soft & Wet and an opinion that Josuke need not exist, the man pulls a sheet of clear material from his eyes, pinning it around Yasuho's wrists and face. Taking a pitcher of water, he begins to waterboard Yasuho, waking her to a gasping panic. Emptying it, he tells her that he has been observing her for a long time, and explicitly to reveal her Stand.
Breaking a glass and failing to cut the material, Yasuho reveals her Stand, shooting from her feet across the floor, before the man pins its leg with his foot, catching its head as it rises from the ground, shocking Yasuho. The man is able to accurately deduce aspects of the Stand's limitation, before it escapes his grasp through the hatch in the ceiling. Touching Josuke, Paisley Park reminds him of Tsurugi's implication in the earlier Stand attack, inspiring him to return to the Higashikata estate.
Telling Yasuho that he has been watching "all of them" up to now, the man introduces himself as Yotsuyu Yagiyama, an architect who most of all desires social status, for which purpose he intends to ensure that Josuke's memories do not return, when Josuke "dies again".
Slipping on an origami banana skin Yasuho had been folding, and falling, she is freed, just as he disappears. Afraid, Yasuho concludes that the Higashikatas must not be aware of Yotsuyu.
Every Day Is a Summer Vacation
Yasuho begins to master her Stand Paisley Park when Tsurugi knocks at her door and asks her to help. After Josuke gives them the key of Jobin Higashikata's Lamborghini, Yasuho investigates the GPS of the car and manages to discover that Jobin exchanged the fruit Tsurugi is after with another man: Aisho Dainenjiyama.
When Jobin and Joshu barge in the car where the Lamborghini is, Yasuho manages to hide herself and Tsurugi from them using Paisley Park's ability to foresee obstacles.
Doobie Wah
Yasuho proceeds to investigate Aisho, and watches over him near the Morioh Stadium. There, she and Tsurugi discover that the fruit is being sold but Aisho realizes he's being observed.
Aisho then release his Stand Doobie Wah! after her and Tsurugi, and have to flee. Aisho eventually corners them but Tsurugi kills him by having him unwittingly walk into a bus.
Love Love Deluxe
The next day, Yasuho meets with Josuke again and spends some sweet time with him. However Josuke then cancels his date, having to follow yet another trail to his identity.
Blue Hawaii
Josuke calls Yasuho for help with tracking down Blue Hawaii's user. Josuke left a soap bubble with Dolomite's tooth in it, so Yasuho can use Paisley Park to search medical records and find out whose tooth it is. After finding the tooth, Paisley Park finds a classified document recording an incident where Dorokoma Masaji had eaten 15 of a school's rabbits, and another where he had eaten 25 chickens on a farm. She notices some dirt on the tooth, and prepares to use Paisley Park to track down the source of the dirt, but is ambushed by Jobin Higashikata and passes out from heatstroke. Jobin then stomps on her phone, breaking it.
This section requires expansion.
Video Games
All-Star Battle (PS3)
Wall Eyes stage
Yasuho appears as part of the stage hazard and Situation Finish in the Wall Eyes stage, she is seen wearing in her first clothes.
If one of the fighters is knocked down on the "hazard" indication area, Yasuho backs away in fright, causing Joshu to appear and run through the stage, hitting anyone who gets in his way with a rock until he reaches her. Before Joshu starts his action, her Stand Paisley Park will appear, and track Joshu's way.
As a Situation Finish, the losing side is knocked out near Yasuho, causing Joshu to become angry and finish the character off with a large stone (after the way he attacks Josuke at their first encounter) as Yasuho appears surprised.
Campaign Mode
Yasuho also appears as one of the characters who can be used on Campaign Mode's profile.
Trivia
Josuke The Dog
- Yasuho mentions that she once had a dog named Josuke. The resemblance between them is what inspired her to bestow that name upon the protagonist.
- Yasuho shares her surname with Koichi Hirose, and could represent his SBR counterpart. Both Yasuho and Koichi were the first characters introduced in their respective stories. Their names even share the same initial kanji, 康, meaning "peaceful" or "quiet".
- Yasuho is shown to need contact lenses and is visually impaired.
Gallery
(On the right)
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 JJL Chapter 2: Soft & Wet (1)
- ↑ JJL Chapter 8: California King Bed (1)
- ↑ JJL Chapter 23: Paper Moon Deception (1)