JoJo's Bizarre Adventure deals heavily with themes of heroic courage, family and loyalty. After all, this is a shonen series, and shonen manga/anime tends toward uplifting and instructional themes about standing up for others and protecting them from harm.
Okuyasu Nijimura, one of the major supporting characters in Part 4: Diamond is Unbreakable, demonstrated these themes beautifully and became one of the best JoBros despite his lacking intelligence. He knew his real family when he saw it.
Joining Josuke's Team
In this anime, the Joestar lead will always have one or more companions, affectionately referred to by the fans as "JoBros." Diamond is Unbreakable, set in the small town of Morioh in 1999, is all about family and the ties that bind. Okuyasu grew up with his family right there in Morioh, but in the late 1980s, Okuyasu and Keicho's mother died and their father became desperate. Mr. Nijimura turned to DIO of all people for help and ended up having a flesh bud put in his forehead. There was no Jotaro to extract the flesh bud this time; Mr. Nijimura became mutated and disfigured in agony.
His sons vowed to use the power of the Stand Arrow to become Stand users and thus gain the power to heal their father somehow. They also started shooting the arrow at other people, hoping to create a Stand user who could help them. They chose Koichi Hirose as a target.
Okuyasu faced an angry Josuke, who was ready to risk his life to get Koichi out of harm's way. A Stand battle ensued between Crazy Diamond and The Hand, and Okuyasu gave it his all. He was determined to kick Josuke to the curb, but he lost and suffered injuries. Oddly enough, Josuke chose to heal him via Crazy Diamond rather than finish him off, and Okuyasu watched as Josuke took on Keicho and won.
Tragedy struck when a new stand, Red Hot Chili Pepper, arrived and killed Keicho. Okuyasu's father was still in need of help, and although Josuke couldn't do much to help, Okuyasu decided to call a truce. A few mornings later, Okuyasu was happy and upbeat again, arriving at Josuke's front door to go to school with him. It was as though nothing had ever happened between them, and Okuyasu was ready to start over with a new family.
Facing Danger Together
Okuyasu proved himself a fun-loving and loyal friend. He and Josuke had all kinds of misadventures together across Morioh Town and learned to be an effective team with Koichi when enemy Stand users showed up. Together with Josuke, Okuyasu found his brother's killer, Akira Otoishi, and defeated him. Okuyasu met Shigechi with Josuke, and both boys schemed to use Shigechi's unique Stand (Harvest) to find and collect coupons all over town and use them to get rich.
Okuyasu has shown his extroverted side on many occasions, wearing his heart on his sleeve and taking a keen interest in everyone's love lives. He was astounded that Koichi had landed the beauteous Yukako as his girlfriend, and cried because he didn't have a girlfriend to match. Josuke was quick to comfort him.
Okuyasu proved himself an honorary Joestar when he risked his very life to help Josuke and Koichi challenge and hunt down Yoshikage Kira, the deadly serial killer. In the final battle, Okuyasu suffered grave injuries defending Josuke, and he seemingly died as he collapsed into some bushes. Just as Kira had Josuke cornered, Okuyasu leaped back into action, bravely using The Hand to turn the tables on Kira and give Josuke a chance to finish the fight once and for all.
Okuyasu had proven himself a hero, and he, Josuke and Koichi were the best of friends as the story arc concluded. Over the course of his own story arc, Okuyasu proved that true family is about whom you trust and respect, and a hero will risk their very lives to protect the people precious to them. Okuyasu chose Josuke, Koichi and the rest as his new family, and that kind of loyalty is what defines a Joestar hero.
