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Preface: Joshua is by far the most complex character in The World Ends With You, who goes through more drastic change in his character than any other character in the game, including Neku Sakuraba. However, there are many who have played the game all the way through and would disagree, favoring one of two characterizations of him.
The first and most common are the people who find Joshua to be a completely hatable character with an irritating personality and, in the end, nothing but a total asshole of a villain. These people tend to sympathize with Neku's perspective the most, the people who really step into Neku's character, which is fine, because that's the point. Joshua was made to seem like a total asshole, from Neku's eyes, but one has to keep in mind that Neku was not seeing the entire picture.
The second also very common characterization is the one that characterizes Joshua as being overly flamboyant, incredibly prissy, enjoying women's clothing, and always hitting on Neku to tease him. Most people who come to this conclusion likely paid most of their attention to the funny or suggestive things Joshua said throughout Week Joshua, and then played Another Day, where he does indeed act this way. These people tend to make the mistake of assuming that Another Day!Joshua is the same character as the main story-line's Joshua, mixed with wearing their shipping goggles a little too tight.
Both of these misinterpretations are entirely understandable, since the game isn't about Joshua's characterization, it's about Neku's; Joshua is merely his foil. I know several people who were guilty of one interpretation or the other, including myself who was very guilty of the second one for a while. This discussion is meant to both organize my own analyses and characterization as well as offer a detailed look into his character for anyone else who might not be able to see past the surface of his character.
( Read more... )
The first and most common are the people who find Joshua to be a completely hatable character with an irritating personality and, in the end, nothing but a total asshole of a villain. These people tend to sympathize with Neku's perspective the most, the people who really step into Neku's character, which is fine, because that's the point. Joshua was made to seem like a total asshole, from Neku's eyes, but one has to keep in mind that Neku was not seeing the entire picture.
The second also very common characterization is the one that characterizes Joshua as being overly flamboyant, incredibly prissy, enjoying women's clothing, and always hitting on Neku to tease him. Most people who come to this conclusion likely paid most of their attention to the funny or suggestive things Joshua said throughout Week Joshua, and then played Another Day, where he does indeed act this way. These people tend to make the mistake of assuming that Another Day!Joshua is the same character as the main story-line's Joshua, mixed with wearing their shipping goggles a little too tight.
Both of these misinterpretations are entirely understandable, since the game isn't about Joshua's characterization, it's about Neku's; Joshua is merely his foil. I know several people who were guilty of one interpretation or the other, including myself who was very guilty of the second one for a while. This discussion is meant to both organize my own analyses and characterization as well as offer a detailed look into his character for anyone else who might not be able to see past the surface of his character.
( Read more... )
