Joe 🍓
the top of your head: notes for characterization? what are the most essential traits of this character to you (personality traits, important connections/dynamics, voice)?
He is brash and looooves his friends. I think he speaks with a downtown Tokyo accent, so he is probably from there even if we don't know for sure.
Here's my fundamental view of Joe: he DOES NOT make a decision or wrestle with the idea of consciously leaving his loved ones behind to burn out. He was worried they'd slip away from him, but he did NOT choose that. He just operated on such an intense level that normal people were terrified of him and distanced themselves from HIM. It was not the other way around.
Here is how I sum it up. "Joe loved these people and he wanted them to stay, but his touch was too strong, and he broke them like clay."
adjacently—do you think fandom does the above traits justice? why or why not?
Stop making him a solitary lone wolf who cares for no one, fandom. I don't know where people get this from but it's certainly not canon.
And that ties into why I don't think fandom does him justice. Many people think Joe either didn't care about these people at all, or that he loved them but not enough to stay. I simply can't get around to that view at all.
throw this character at any other character of your choice to bounce off each other as outsider pov to each other— regardless of timeline or logistics (crossovers allowed if you're interesting about it). why this combination? what insights would they have on each other?
Bouncing Joe off Noriko's mom!
This sounds really off the wall, but I think she would like Joe very much post-canon, assuming he lives. She would be so happy he isn't her son-in-law, and this would soften her up towards him. Lol.
how do you think you would react to this character in real life and vice versa? would you prefer be a million miles out of range, be amicable classmates, or fall desperately in love? (bonus: arrange a hypothetical date between yourself and this character. getting silly with it is encouraged (fakedate them! escape a dinner date through a bathroom window!))
I think we would be friendly!
ideal flavor of rotating for this character? crack them open and dissect them— do you want them tormented, pining, or being loved + comforted? do you have any specific scenarios you like to think about?
I want HIM to love and comfort his loved ones post-canon because I'm sure they were terrified that he would die. In an unusual flip for the fandom, I'm sure.
weave a web of dynamics through the cast for this character: which dynamics are you most interested in? both canonically and through extrapolation/speculation— which dynamics are the richest to you, and why?
I personally find his dynamic with Rikiishi, Carlos, and Yoko the most compelling, as I'm sure the majority of the fandom does too.
Gondo and Inaba are two other 'cool' characters he has a fun dynamic with; I notice they are very SIMILAR somehow.
Joe with the kids is very heartwarming.
do you have particular niche takes on this character? defend those takes. (openly controversial takes are permitted, but also: hyper-specific headcanons which you believe in and no one else has considered enough to disagree with yet. pick a hill to die on.)
He's a good singer, and is musically inclined.
