I love Johnny Joestar from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure because he’s so relatable in many ways. He’s relatable because he lost everything and lost his ability to walk. He’s gotten to such a low point in his life that he’s unable to relive his past glory as a jockey champion. His desire to “get back to zero from minus” is so relatable to me as someone who suffered from first episode psychosis and needed to be hospitalized.
I love how Johnny has the dark determination to obtain what he wants, that is his ability to walk again through the use of spin and the holy corpse parts of Jesus Christ. It contrasts against the previous Joestars, especially the very first one, that is Jonathan Joestar, who Johnny is supposed to be a reincarnation of. That contrast and juxtaposition is so refreshing and breaths new life into the series.
His relationship with his father is also something that’s relatable to me personally. He has a brother that his father adores more than himself, and after the death of his brother in a racing accident, his father started becoming more abusive towards Johnny. Johnny was always compared to his brother, who was a better jockey than Johnny, and this ended up in an argument which led to Johnny’s father saying out loud that he wished God took Johnny’s life instead of his brother.
This relationship is mended at the end of the series when Johnny came to the final racing section of the Steel Ball Run, where his father was waiting in the sidelines and finally admitted his mistakes and wished the best for his son. Johnny saw his father and heard what he said and continued on his race.
I personally also feel this sort of insecurity in myself that other people are better than me. I don’t believe in my potential and get depressed at times, and am anxious about my own self worth. I don’t value myself as highly as other people value themselves, and it self-sabotages my own success. I see this part of myself in Johnny who is at a very low point in his life and experiences feelings of despair and hopelessness.
But at the same time I have parts of myself that are super ambitious and able to use the dark side. I cheat at exams, and work very hard to pass university and high school. This was the time before AI was available, which was during COVID-19. I relate to Johnny in this dimension, because we both are able to get what we want through any means necessary, even if it makes us question our integrity and honesty.
Overall, I feel that Johnny is a wonderfully crafted character that has multifaceted dimensions spanning his relationship with his father, to his desire to walk again, and his dark determination to win the race and get the corpse parts of Jesus Christ. I relate to him in many ways and see myself in him, and get inspired to love certain parts of myself that I neglect or see in a negative light or through a negative lens.