Jonathan Joestar: The most human hero in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure

In the world of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, the creator pulled off a bold move that ended up working in their favor. Instead of building a story, he used one character as a foundation of the story and built a legacy around him. And at the very center of this bold beginning stood Jonathan Joestar, the very first JoJo.

When fans first watch JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood, they expect an honest protagonist who would fight for justice and would be an exact blueprint of a good-hearted character. And interestingly, Jonathan Joestar is exactly like that.

While his character fits the generic character trope, it is his journey that sets him apart. Compared to his successors, Jonathan is often overlooked. He might not be over-confident, nor the usual eccentric flair. But what Jonathan does have is something no other Joestar has in equal measure: Deep humanity.

In just nine episodes, we see him grow from a naive aristocrat to a self-sacrificing hero. Most shonen characters get hundreds of episodes to develop. His death is sudden, tragic, and deeply meaningful.

Jonathan’s rivalry with Dio Brando wasn’t built on typical anime rival tropes. Dio wasn’t his childhood friend or sparring partner. He was an outsider who manipulated Jonathan’s family, emotionally isolated him, and turned the people he loved against him.

Despite all this, Jonathan kept extending kindness. He was heartbroken, not just by Dio’s cruelty, but by the betrayal of someone he had tried to welcome into his life. It is a very human hurt, not something which can be solved with a fight, but something that lingers emotionally.

Even when Dio tried to kill him off and take over his body, Jonathan held his decapitated head in his arms and embraced him for one last time before he lost his life. This proved that even during his last breath, he did not completely hate his adopted brother.

What makes Jonathan’s story in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure even more tragic and human is that he inadvertently creates the very evil he dies fighting. Dio wasn’t always a monster. He became one partially because of the resentment he felt toward Jonathan’s privilege and kindness.

One of the most surprising things about Jonathan’s character is how definitively his story ends. In anime, death is rarely permanent. But Araki makes a point not to bring Jonathan back, not through time travel, not through reincarnation, not even as a Stand ghost. He dies once, and that’s it.

And that permanence matters. It makes his sacrifice real. His humanity in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure isn’t just in how he lived, but in how he died, quietly, selflessly, and without expectation of reward.

Jonathan as Araki’s Tribute to Life and Loss in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure

Hirohiko Araki didn’t stumble upon Jonathan by accident. In fact, he created Dio first. He wanted a villain so evil, so unstoppable, that only someone entirely good could stand against him. That became Jonathan Joestar.

But there is a deeper layer: After Araki’s grandfather passed away, he began thinking more about stories of inheritance, death, and legacy. Jonathan in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure was born from that grief. His story isn’t just a battle with Dio. It is a meditation on what we leave behind.

Final thoughts

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Jonathan Joestar isn’t the JoJo with the most memes or the most iconic fights. He is not the coolest, the strongest, or the funniest. But he is the most relatable, and he is the Joestar we could be.

Even at the end, Jonathan in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure didn’t let vengeance consume him. Holding Dio’s decapitated head in his arms, he offered a final act of compassion, not hatred. In that moment, he was more than a hero. He was human. And in the grand, bizarre world Araki created, that’s what makes him unforgettable.

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