[Meeting…] Yoshikage Kira

The time has come to talk about another character from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, a manga that despite its longevity remains fresh thanks to the fact that in each plot arc the protagonists, enemies and the part of the world where its story takes place are changed.

I already talked about Dio Brando (coming from the first and third parts of the saga) and now the time has come to talk about Yoshikage Kira, the main antagonist of the fourth part of the saga, known as Diamond Is Unbreakable.

Before entering into her story, I would like to comment on a couple of curiosities, such as that this character's last name is a play on the word Killer and that according to some sources, Kira's appearance is based on the singer and actor David Bowie (which would not be strange considering the enormous amount of musical references that there are in Jojo's Bizarre Adventure).

Kira just wants a quiet life

Yoshikage Kira is one of thousands of office workers in Japan. He sticks to his schedule and heads home after work without being distracted by anything or anyone. He does not attract attention, he does not socialize with his peers and whenever they try to pressure him to do social activities he uses some excuse to avoid dealing with others.

Despite being tremendously intelligent and calculating, Kira likes to be one of the others and stay in the crowd of generic people who don't stand out nor do they leave an important memory. This attitude is linked to the fact that he wants to have a quiet life, without surprises or unnecessary improvisations, something that irritates you and can cause anxiety attacks.

Unfortunately Kira's main hobby is killing, something that can inevitably clash with his peaceful life, so he has to be very careful not to leave evidence of his crimes and to calculate everything in detail, something in which he has become an expert over the years.

Kira's victims are usually women, whom he deceives or seduces to end up eliminating, simply keeping their hands. That part of the body is Kira's ultimate fetish since he was a child, when he saw the painting of the Mona Lisa in a school book. Once he obtains the hand of a victim, he lives with her, gives her gifts, prepares dinners for her, talks to her and is even able to take her with him to work, hidden in her clothes. Kira treats the hand as if it were a person, even letting it make decisions (more or less) and only considers getting rid of it when the rot begins to show, at which point she will start looking for another victim.

Due to his manic and controlling personality, Kira's murders are not usually random. Even though he feels like committing a new crime, he always waits for an ideal moment, which according to him has to do with the speed at which his nails grow, so he cuts his nails and saves them to be able to analyze whether or not it is the appropriate time to commit a new murder.

Despite his colorful and risky habit of carrying his victim's hand on him and even taking it out in public places, Kira is excessively careful with his secret hobby, which he has been practicing since he was young. It is therefore not strange that the list of victims of this character is tremendously extensive, although due to the extreme care of this character and his selection of victims, the idea that there is a hidden serial killer is little more than a rumor in the small town of Morioh, where he resides.

Search and capture

Kira's quiet life is cut short when the protagonists of the series begin to look for him because one of Kira's victims (in his ghost form) tells them about him. Unfortunately the search is difficult because they do not know what this character looks like. The investigation is not fruitful, but luck will cause a friend of the protagonists to discover Kira's secret by confusing her sandwich bag with that of the murderer.

Like other characters in this series (such as the aforementioned Dio Brando) Kira has the ability to summon a "Stand", or in other words, can summon a being with which he is physically and mentally linked, to fight for him and use his unique abilities to his advantage.

Kira's Stand is Killer Queen (Deadly Queen in some versions) who is capable of turning any object into a bomb, which will explode whenever he wants, making the victim's body disappear during the explosion. Killer Queen possesses other abilities such as Sheer Heart Attack (a bomb that chases its victim insatiably) and Bite the Dust (which can rewind time). As a curiosity, I would like to say that the name of Kira's Stand and its attacks come from Queen songs and that because of this some names have been modified to avoid legal problems.

In addition to being able to count on his Stand, Yoshikage Kira has the collaboration of his overbearing father, who despite having died continues to watch over his son in the form of a ghost. Kira's father will try to delay the protagonists of the series as much as possible so that they do not find his son.

Despite the powerful abilities of his Stand and the dedication of Kira's father to protect him, at some point the protagonists of the series end up discovering and reaching this character. However, Kira is full of resources and manages to change his appearance and identity for that of one of his victims, thus starting a false life in which he has a woman who hates him and a son who is suspicious of his father's change of attitude.

Conclusion and Recommendations

Kira does not value anyone's life (except yours). He is manic, calculating and considers himself tremendously lucky because luck has favored him in many adverse situations. Within the stage in which he appears, he is one of the most interesting characters, especially for his particular way of seeing life and his incredibly cruel and cold personality.

Kira is the main antagonist of Diamond is Unbreakable, so I recommend reading the manga or watching the anime from that stage of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. This character also stars in a spin off called Dead Man's Questions and a new version of it appears in Jojolion la octava etapa del manga, que es (de momento) la más reciente.