- "It's quickly evident Joshua is clever beyond his fifteen years—as sly as they come. Unfortunately, his insufferably snotty attitude only serves to widen the gulf between him and Neku...but his knowledge, especially about the Game, does earn him some points."
- — Game manual description
Yoshiya Kiryu (桐生 義弥 Kiryū Yoshiya), nicknamed Joshua (ヨシュア Yoshua), is Neku's second partner in the Reapers' Game.
Personality
- "But Neku...I thought you couldn't afford to lose? Give up on yourself...And you give up on the world."
- — Joshua
Joshua is an extremely intelligent character with a refined taste and knowledge for the world around him. Unfortunately, these traits are often overshadowed by his constant air of arrogance. He prefers to think and act by himself, always keeping his intentions mysterious, and is difficult to predict. Joshua very rarely gets honestly worked up (and is usually lying when he appears to be), and is always teasing when he is not sharing information. These snobby qualities always make him appear condescending and antagonistic — especially to Neku. Nevertheless, his long history with Hanekoma has ignited a bond of trust between the two. Despite his interpersonal issues, he remains a mature and wise person at heart underneath his attitude.
Deep down, Joshua is simply lonely. Hanekoma stated he had been alone most of his life and did not have that many friends. At the end of the game, Hanekoma pointed out that he looked sad when he was looking down at his friends (Neku, Shiki, Beat, Rhyme), possibly because he was not able to join them in their reunion. It is seen when Hanekoma asked him of his feelings while the two were atop the 104 building, Joshua vanished. This could be seen as an act of sadness.
In Another Day
Joshua's personality is much the same as 'main' Joshua, unlike most characters, who have slight personality changes. He occasionally drops enigmatic hints, such as explaining that Shiki still appears in Eri's form because the player refuses to acknowledge her true form. It is implied that he has a similar position or powers to 'main' Joshua, as evidenced by his hints.
The Joshua from the Another Day is rather very similar from the main dimension. When they reach the Room of Reckoning they meet the Joshua from the main universe. The Joshua from this dimension and the one from the main dimension are not surprised of seeing theirselves, but the others are extremely shocked and vexed.
Biography
Background
Before Joshua became directly involved in the RG, Hanekoma claimed that Joshua had the ability to see the UG, though being in RG. He claimed that Joshua would often visit him and learn about the UG and Reaper's Game. Around the game's time, Joshua is a deity and the Composer of Shibuya's Reaper Game. Over a week before the game began, Joshua announced to Megumi Kitaniji, the Conductor, his plans to erase Shibuya. Megumi offered to save Shibuya and its citizens, and a 30-day timer is placed on him as his time limit.
Later, Joshua, seeking a proxy to use against Kitaniji, goes to the Realground and attempts to kill Neku Sakuraba for use, as he has high Soul energy and vivid Imagination. However, Sho Minamimoto intevenes, stopping Joshua from killing Neku immediately. Joshua then shoots at Minamimoto, barely missing. Minamimoto fires repeatedly at Joshua, but Joshua makes the bullets stop and fall in midair. When Minamimoto flees, Joshua then shoots and kills Neku, placing the Player pin on his body.
Week 1
Joshua confronts Neku during his death.
Joshua spends most of this week hiding from Kitaniji. When Neku is running away from the Noise on the first Day, Neku runs past him. He also observes Neku and Shiki Misaki teaming up and battling the Noise at Hachiko. In addition, it is also stated that he observed the pair for the entire week. He keeps in touch with the Producer, Sanae Hanekoma, and constantly requests items from him, including improved phone functionality for the following week.
Week 2
Joshua becomes Neku's partner for this week for three reasons; to confirm Kitaniji's strategy, to educate Neku, and to protect him. Joshua's behavior annoys Neku greatly, and proves to be a psychological strain for Neku. As stated in the Secret Reports, the only thing keeping Neku in the Game and not falling under the psychological strain is his entry fee. Neku also notices some suspicious behavior from Joshua, such as him calling on his phone, proved impossible in the last week, and his comment that he has watched Neku the week before. Joshua lies to Neku and tells him that he is still alive, and is in the Game because he wanted to be.
Throughout the week, Neku reads Joshua's mind with the Player pin, something he previously didn't believe would work on normal Players, and is led to believe that Joshua has shot him. Meanwhile, Joshua regularly takes Neku to Hanekoma's coffee shop to receive items and updates for their phones. One update allows them to detect Kitaniji's Imagination and piece together his strategy, and a later update allows them to track down the Shibuya River. At this point, Joshua realizes that Kitaniji's plan to save Shibuya revolves around the Red Skull Pins. Towards the end of the Week, Joshua is also forced to reveal some of his more powerful abilities in combat.
On the final Day, Joshua and Neku go to Pork City to fight Minamimoto. The two gain the upper hand and defeat Minamimoto, therefore winning the Game. However, Minamimoto lets loose the level i flare, turning himself Taboo, which Joshua shields Neku from the nuke, pretending to sacrifice himself. At this point, Neku reads another thought from Joshua which implies Joshua never killed Neku. In actuality, Joshua had teleported away to another dimension: the dimension of Another Day.
Week 3
During most of the week, Joshua is in an alternate dimension until the final day of the third Week. When he arrives at the Shibuya River, he finds that Neku defeated Kitaniji, and reveals to him that he is the Composer. He is absorbed by Kitaniji along with Shiki and Beat, and Neku is forced to defeat Kitaniji once and for all. Having won the bet with Kitaniji, Joshua is free to destroy Shibuya, but instead wagers a game with Neku: both having a revolver, whoever shot each other first would decide the fate of Shibuya. Neku cannot bring himself to shoot Joshua, and so Joshua wins, but because Neku had changed and showed trust in Joshua, he decides to spare Shibuya.
In a secret epilogue unlocked after collecting all Secret Reports, Joshua in his true form is seen observing Neku and his friends meet up at the Statue of Hachiko with Hanekoma.
Another Day
There are two versions of Joshua in Another Day: one from the main universe that teleported to this one after the battle with Minamimoto, and one born in that universe. Joshua plays Tin Pin Slammer for a while, and hides in his base in the Shibuya River as well. It is implied Hanekoma eventually finds him and brings him back to the Underground, most likely after letting Neku play a "game" with him: Final Time Attack.
Spoiler warning: Spoilers end here.
Non-canon Appearances
Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance
- "Another world, exactly the same and entirely different. To think of just one possible answer, one could say it's almost like..."
- — Joshua to Riku
Prior to the events of Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, Joshua] saved Neku and the others from the brink of obliteration by bringing the remnants of their dreams to Traverse Town when it appeared before him and uses Rhyme's dream to open the portal into it. However, Joshua did not expect the dreams to assume physical form in that world, and he decides to help in their restoration after learning that they have been separated from each other in what he believed to be two Traverse Towns existing in the same space. But through Rhyme's memories, Joshua was able to exist in both versions at the same time.
When Joshua meets Riku in the Third District of Traverse Town, he tells him of the goings-on in town while offering his assistance. While Riku initially rejected his offer, he accepts once Joshua tells him that he knows Sora and that he is in the same world with them. The two are then confronted by Beat soon after, who challenges Joshua in the belief that he can return to his own world with Rhyme if he beats him. Joshua stands aside, watching with amusement as Riku fights and defeats Beat's Dream Eaters, and chuckles after Beat concedes the fight in frustration. Neither of them notice Riku passing out, and neither are there when he comes to. After Sora defeats the Hockomonkey in the Fifth District, Joshua appears before him and explains that he and Riku are in two separate versions of Traverse Town, as Sora sees an illusion of Riku and the unknown figure in the black coat. Riku sees a similar image of Joshua, Sora, and Rhyme after he defeats his side's version of the Hockomonkey.
Later, Joshua speaks to Sora and Riku simultaneously, revealing how he brought the others to Traverse Town and the world being splintered in two. He also tells them about how they are able to see each other is because of the strong bonds between, using Neku, Shiki, Beat, and Rhyme as examples. After answering Sora and Riku's shared question with an ambiguous answer, the version different if "he has close friends" in the Japanese version or "who he really is" in the English version, Joshua sprouted wings and flew off.
On Sora and Riku's return trips to Traverse Town, Joshua coordinates between them in order to help Neku and the others defeat the Spellican. He leads Riku into the Third District to trap Spellican in the Trasverse Town where Sora attempts to take it out. It was by that time, after Neku and Beat are reunited with their respective partners, that Joshua confided to Riku that his previous theory, of the two Traverse towns being parallel worlds was incorrect but more like the dreams of two different people. This leads Joshua to warn Riku to be on his guard as either version could be a trap.
Gallery
Relationships
At first, he shows no true relationships to anyone other then an eerie fondness towards Neku and a shared past with Mr. Hanekoma. As the game progresses, the two grow a bond seemingly based on their mutual hate of humanity, which slowly turns into true friendship.
This is especially evident as Joshua "sacrifices" himself for Neku. It is also established throughout several of the Secretr Reports that Joshua may only have direct contact with Mr. Hanekoma and Megumi, both of whom share similar ideals and mutual respect, yet ultimatly clash in the end. Although Megumi's relationship could be seen as a form of worship, his love of Shibuya outranks that for Joshua, and Mr. Hanekoma's relationship could be seen as a mentor, or a guardian, but once again his love of Shibuya outranks Joshua.
In the very end, it seems as though Neku proved to be the only one who refused to do whatever it took to save Shibuya by defeating Joshua. This may be the reason why Joshua seems to care for him the most, and, despite Neku losing the final game, lets Shibuya survive.
Abilities
- Joshua attacks by typing in digits on a phone to summon random objects to bombard enemies from above. He has two ways of fighting: ground and levitation. When Neku first forms a pact with him, Joshua will only attack on the ground; after a specific plot point, Joshua will be able to levitate in combat. When Joshua is in the air, every input to his combo tree inflicts damage and is generally stronger, especially against groups of enemies.
While on the ground, as you progress through his combos he will target enemies. When he finishes the combo, things will fall on each enemy that was targeted, larger things fall that are targeted multiple times. Later on, he gets a camera on his phone that has a chance of bringing targeted enemies to the opposite side and immobilizes them.
- Left/Y while attacking Right/A or vice versa (During a combo): Phone Camera- stuns/switches the position of Noise
- Down/B (When idle): Sidestep- momentary invulnerability
- Up/X (When idle): Levitate
- Any button (When knocked in the air): Safe Landing- prevents knockdown damage
During Joshua's Levitation, he is immune to almost all ground attacks. However, if he is hit while levitating, he will be knocked down, then returned to the ground (if an attack does no damage, unless it has a knockback effect, it will not knock Joshua back down). When progressing through his combos, each button press causes a beam to attack an enemy. At the end of the combo, a larger beam comes down on one side and hit all enemies on that side twice. However, if you go through enough steps in Joshua's Combo Map (specifically, enough so that a single enemy is hit at least six times), then the finisher will change from his basic air finisher to a massively more powerful one, in which two colossal beams will fire down on either side of Joshua. This advanced finisher damages enemies on both the top and bottom screens ten times each. It is recommended that a Combo Map Upgrade II effect be used, such as Pi-Face's Jeans, to help guarantee the effect.
- Down/B (When idle): Return to ground
As the Composer, Joshua also has several abilities that are not seen or available but implied, such as the ability to move between dimensions and the ability to erase the whole of Shibuya. He is also shown to be able to stop bullets in mid-air, when Minamimoto tries to shoot him.
Fusion Stars
The way Joshua gains Fusion Stars is through Highs and Lows. At the end of Joshua's combos, there is a number. That number goes up to the number at the top that the arrow is pointing to. The goal is to get the combo numbers less than, greater than or equal to the number at the top, depending on the symbol in the corner of the top numbers.
- Red arrow pointing up - greater than that number
- White equal sign - equal to that number, i.e, get that number
- Blue arrow pointing down - less than that number
Fusions
Level 1: Neku and Joshua drop various objects on enemies.
- Joshua: "Follow my lead!"
- Neku: "Screw that!"
- Level 2: Joshua attacks the field with ice and Neku attacks the field with fire.
- Joshua: "Work for you?"
- Neku: "What do you think?"
- Level 3: Crashes the moon into the Earth, inflicting massive damage to all enemies.
- Neku: "Another world awaits."
- Joshua: "And you're going."
Etymology
Joshua may be a reference to the biblical figure Joshua, who created the laws and rules that the people of Israel live by, and liased with God on their behalf. This parallels Composer's place as the creator of rules of the UG and the Reapers' Game.
Similarly, Joshua may be an indirect reference to Jesus (the name Joshua comes from Jewish "Yeshua", which in Greek translates to Jesus). Also supporting this theory is the story of Sodom and Gomorrah; when God considered Sodom and Gomorrah for destruction, Abraham tried to find at least ten righteous persons. This is identical to Joshua, being the "God" of The World Ends With You universe, considering Shibuya for destruction as Megumi Kitaniji tries to "fix" the people of Shibuya.
The kanji of Joshua's Japanese name (桐生 義弥, Kiryū Yoshiya) literally translate from left to right as paulownia, birth, justice. This may also refer to his role as creator of the Game and suggests impartiality within it (although this is not absolutely established by the plot). He also makes a cameo in the beginning when Neku goes to the statue of Hachiko. At the beginning of his week as well, he calls Neku by his name twice, just before asking what it is, but Neku doesn't catch on to this. However, it should be noted that this is only present in the North American/European localization of the game; in the Japanese version, he never uses Neku's name until they are properly introduced.
"Yeshua" in Hebrew means "Yahweh saves" or "Yahweh is salvation".
Quotes
- "But Neku, I thought you couldn't afford to lose. Give up on yourself, and you give up on the world."
- "Did you think you were special? Every Player had to give up something. Everybody makes sacrifices."
- "Only by allowing strangers in, we can find new ways to BE ourselves."
- "Life's little crossroads are often as simple as the pull of a trigger."
Trivia
- Joshua is the only partner character that Neku cannot fight directly in a battle. However, Neku does fight him indirectly.
- Joshua's name in Hebrew translates roughly to "God is salvation".
- Joshua shares his English voice actor with the Onion Knight in Dissidia and Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy, a video game also published by Square-Enix.
- In Week 1, Day 1, right before Shiki forms a pact with Neku, the player may look at the crowd in front of the Statue of Hachiko and Joshua will be standing right next to Neku. He is no longer present there after the pact is formed.
- Oddly enough, Joshua is the only Player among the main Players to not be wearing a wrist, neck, or head accessory, such as necklaces, bracelets, hats, and headphones. Rhyme may be an exception to the wrist accessory exemption, as her sleeves cover her arms.
Gallery
This article only shows additional images. To see the rest, go here.
| Characters in The World Ends with You |
|---|
| Neku Sakuraba • Shiki Misaki • Beat • Joshua • Rhyme • Sota Honjo • Nao
777 • BJ • Coco Atarashi • Koki Kariya • Megumi Kitaniji • Mitsuki Konishi • Sho Minamimoto • Tenho • Uzuki Yashiro • Yodai Higashizawa
Shopkeepers Aily Ueno • Akira Yoshii • Anna Aoi • Ayu Hamaguchi • Banzai Ayanokoji • Fumi Gotoda • Fumiko Nishimura • Hideki Kikuchi • Hikaru Koike • HT Masuoka • Jun Odajima • Keiichi Okada • Ken Doi • Kyo • Makoto Miki • Masanori Ito • May Kurokawa • Mie Suzuki • Miki Kosaka • Nana Majima • Princess K • Rayca Hoshi • Rikako Toda • Sanae Hanekoma • Shigemi Konno • Shigemori Iwata • Shinta Iwata • Tadafumi Sato • Tak Kimura • Tatsuya Omura • Tsubasa • Yoji Iwata • Yosh Ishino • Yumi Sheena • Yuu Narumi
Other Characters Ai • CAT • Eiji Oji • Eri • Futoshi • Itaru Yokoyamada • Ken Doi • Makoto Miki • Mina • Mr. Mew • Neku's best friend • Pin Prof • Sanae Hanekoma • Shrimp • Shuto Dan • Tsugumi Matsunae • Wizard of Slam • Vice Wizard of Slam
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