One thing that JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure nails is its bad guys. Everybody loves Dio Brando, the main villain for a good chunk of the series. He’s a crazy vampire with a big personality and cool powers, what’s not to like? Then there’s President Valentine with his fascinating ideology, Father Pucci with his devotion to the concept of Heaven, and so on. As great as they all are, none can quite match the terrifying Yoshikage Kira – one of anime’s best villains.
Though he’s considered the primary antagonist of Diamond is Unbreakable, the fourth part of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Kira doesn’t show up for a good third or so of the arc. He’s only mentioned in the sixty-sixth chapter, where a mysterious serial killer is described by the ghost of one of the killer’s victims. Soon after, in a brilliantly-crafted scene, we see Kira for the first time.
He drives home while talking casually to his girlfriend, then parks in his driveway and escorts her out of the vehicle. It all seems fine, until his “girlfriend” is revealed to be a severed hand. This freaky introduction perfectly sets the more intense tone that the rest of Diamond is Unbreakable will have, as Kira, who hasn’t had any powers established yet, intimidates and strangely captivates the audience. As soon as his Stand power, Killer Queen, is introduced as an explosive-wielding ghost that can erase all evidence of someone’s existence, he becomes unforgettable.
Soon after his introduction, Kira murders a child who stumbles onto his secret hobby with his own Stand power, cementing Kira as a ruthless threat to our core group of heroes. From here, he weaves in and out of their lives, trying to stay hidden as part of his ultimate goal: to live a quiet life. Yoshikage Kira has no lofty ambitions or yearnings for power. He simply wants to continue killing women, taking their hands, and going to his day job without being bothered. It’s a chilling and straightforward motive that sets him apart from Dio and company, as people like that are out there in the real world. Sure, they don’t have magic ghosts that can blow up all traces of evidence (thankfully), but the point still stands.
At the same time, Kira’s very presence makes it so others cannot have their own quiet lives. His appearance shifts Diamond is Unbreakable from a light slice-of-life shonen with some tension here and there to a darker, more focused adventure. We’re enthralled as Josuke Higashikata and his friends get closer and closer to the truth, yet there’s also a twinge of worry that this fascinating character will get caught.
But Kira does escape, again and again, defeating Stardust Crusaders protagonist and certified chad Jotaro Kujo, and even stealing a man’s face and identity, that of a Kosaku Kawajiri, to stay just one step ahead of our main characters. No matter how close they get to catching him, Kira always finds a way to maintain his quiet life.
After assimilating this new identity, Kira begins to manipulate Kawajiri’s family for this purpose. As Kawajiri’s son begins to realize something is wrong, Kira uses his newly upgraded Killer Queen/Bites the Dust to plunge him into a time-loop that will kill anyone who discovers his identity, and reset time to before they discovered it. It’s such a hopeless situation that you can’t help but admire how vile and slippery Kira is, as he once again intensifies the tone of the series, all while simultaneously endearing himself to the audience with his strange quips and habits. The tense final fight with Kira best exemplifies his character, as he battles fiercely and manipulates those around him in an attempt to get away, then monologues about how the Mona Lisa arouses him.
Kira’s not a planet-level threat, or even an especially powerful villain for the most part, but his reserved and bizarre personality combined with his ruthless sociopathy makes for a truly memorable villain. There are truly no other villains quite like Yoshikage Kira, as JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure creator Hirohiko Araki crafted one of the funniest, scariest, and most fascinating antagonists in the medium.
