Diamond is Unbreakable

Diamond is Unbreakable (ダイヤモンドは砕けない), initially referred to as Dai 4 Bu Higashikata Jōsuke (第4部 東方仗助), is the fourth story arc of the long running manga series JoJo's Bizarre Adventure by Hirohiko Araki. The arc covers chapters 266 to 440 of the series, which spans volumes 29 to 47 of the Jump Comics collected edition. This series focuses on Josuke Higashikata (東方仗助 Higashikata Jōsuke; 助 "suke" can also be read "jo") (Stand: Crazy Diamond), the illegitimate son of Joseph Joestar, with Jotaro Kujo and Joseph Joestar along in a supporting role. Araki retroactively introduces the "Bow and Arrow", an ancient artifact which causes latent Stand ability to develop in people. Apparently Enya used this artifact on Dio, which then caused Stands to develop in the Joestar bloodline as well.

Plot
In the town of Morioh, Josuke is one of the more popular guys in high school, and becomes quick friends with one of his classmates, Koichi Hirose. But when Josuke's "nephew" Jotaro (who happens to be quite a bit older than him) shows up, things get truly crazy. One of Dio's henchmen has brought the Bow and Arrow to Morioh, and someone has been using it on various people in the town—as discovered when one of them, the murderer "Angelo", uses the power of his water-Stand Aqua Necklace to get revenge on Josuke's grandfather for putting him in prison. When Josuke and Koichi go to investigate Koichi is struck by the arrow, unleashing his Stand, Echoes. They discover that the culprits are Okuyasu and Keicho Nijimura, whose father - formerly Dio's lackey, and injected with Dio's cells - has now turned into a monstrous creature with Dio's death. It is then revealed Keicho wants to create Stand users in the hopes that someone will be able to kill his monstrous father. Josuke manages to show the brothers that their father is still at least partially human inside, and dissuades them from their activities. However, they are attacked by the Stand Red Hot Chili Pepper, which kills Keicho and takes the Bow and Arrow. Okuyasu joins with Josuke, Jotaro and Koichi to fight the Stand that killed his brother, and eventually becomes close friends with Josuke as well. The group then continues to encounter other Stand users along the way until they finally come face-to-face with Akira Otoishi, Red Hot Chili Pepper's user. However, he proves to be much for the group to handle by themselves. Only when Joseph Joestar, the father Josuke never knew, arrives in Morioh are they finally able to defeat Akira. The Bow and Arrow are then taken into Speedwagon's custody, and all seems to be over for the moment.

Koichi soon takes center stage when he is kidnapped by his psychotic classmate Yukako Yamagishi (Love Deluxe), who is in love with him and is determined that he will love her back. He escapes from her, and in the process his Stand evolves into a stronger form. Yukako is impressed, and decides to pursue Koichi in a more consensual but no less aggressive manner. Later Koichi meets manga author Rohan Kishibe (possibly a self-insert of Hirohiko Araki's), whose Heaven's Door ability allows him to open up a person's face like a book and both read and write their memories; Rohan finds himself drawn to the plucky Koichi, but does not get along with Josuke. Yukako and Rohan both become part of Josuke's band of Stand users along with other Stand users the group has encountered, such as Tamami Kobayashi, Toshikazu Hazemada, Mikitaka Hazekura, and even Yuuya Fungami.

Soon afterwards, during an ordinary day, Koichi and Rohan discover a hidden alleyway in the town that is not of their world. Once they enter, it is there they meet a young female ghost named Reimi Sugimoto, who was murdered by a serial killer over a decade before. She begs Koichi and Rohan to find her killer, who has stayed in Morioh and is still preying on innocent people. This killer turns out to be Yoshikage Kira, a serial killer who destroys women's bodies using his explosive Killer Queen Stand and keeps the hands as ghoulish romantic objects. When Josuke and Okuyasu's new friend, Shigekiyo "Fatty" Yangu, discovers Kira's secret and is killed for it, they become resolved to put an end to Kira's depredations. Josuke and Koichi eventually fight Kira, but before he can be fully defeated, he is able to force Aya Tsuji, the user of Cinderella and owner of a beauty shop, to alter his features, and kill her before she can tell Josuke what he now looks like. Shortly thereafter, the ghost of Kira's father deploys a second Stand-creating Bow and Arrow to create an army of Stand users to protect his hiding son, and the stage is set for a showdown of epic proportions between Kira and Josuke.

Characters

 * Josuke Higashikata
 * The protagonist of this story arc. A freshman in the town of Morioh, Josuke is the illegitimate son of Joseph Joestar. He is a caring, popular, and slightly naive teenager, who's inspired by his police officer grandfather's (on his mother's side) sense of justice. He is confronted by his "half-nephew" Jotaro with the need to eradicate evil Stand users from his hometown, and refuses at first, believing that it is not any of his business to worry about the threat posed by other Stand users. However, he quickly changes his mind when his grandfather is killed by the murderer Angelo, and then develops a vow to deliver justice to Stand users in his grandfather's place. Josuke's Stand is called Crazy Diamond, a Stand similar to The World in both appearance and attacks; it has the ability to restore objects to their original form and can also heal others.


 * Koichi Hirose
 * An ally and classmate who meets Josuke when Jotaro is searching for him, resulting in the two becoming quick friends. Koichi is a young freshman in high school, and despite his age, he is very short and is about one third the size of Josuke. At first, he seemed to take the place of best friend for Josuke but he was quickly replaced by Okuyasu Nijimura. Throughout the series, he makes a friendship with Jotaro Kujo, similar to a student-teacher relationship. His Stand is Echoes, which has three distinct forms, or Acts (Koichi can only call upon one at any given time). Echoes Acts 1 and 2 can replicate sound effects and attach them to objects, they activate on contact. Echoes Act 3 loses the former abilities and gains the ability "Freeze" which causes a target to become heavy. Act 3 also has the odd ability to communicate with its user.


 * Okuyasu Nijimura
 * One of the two Nijimura brothers who are responsible for creating the majority of Stand users in Morioh via the Bow and Arrow. Okuyasu is overly dependent on his elder brother Keicho to make hard decisions. After his brother died, he sought revenge against the user of Red Hot Chili Pepper, Akira Otoishi. During this time and the following events surrounding Yoshikage Kira, he became fast friends with Josuke and Koichi. Okuyasu tends to be jealous of Koichi's relationship with Yukako, and enjoys Tonio's cooking. He also befriends Fatty, after doing battle with his Harvest alongside Josuke. This friendship is why he became further enraged when Fatty was killed by Yoshikage Kira. Okuyasu's father is a bizarre creature, mutated by Dio's spores when Okuyasu was only seven. At first, Okuyasu and Keicho plotted to kill their father to relieve him of such a twisted fate, creating Stand users via the Bow and Arrow for this very purpose. It wasn't until Josuke confronted the brothers that they saw the error of their ways and ceased their activities. Okuyasu rather dislikes Rohan because of what Rohan tried to do to him when they first met. Eventually Okuyasu seemingly "dies" after suffering mortal wounds during a battle with Yoshikage Kira, only to return after meeting his brother in a dream who asks him where he wants to go, and Okuyasu says "I want to go back to Morioh" which results in Okuyasu waking up. His Stand is The Hand, in which uses the right hand is used to erase the space temporarily where the hand moves, seemingly able to warp or summon objects closer to Okuyasu. While this ability is quite dangerous, Okuyasu has a hard time using it effectively. He also can be simple-minded, always remarking "My brain is not that good!" whenever faced with a challenge or tough decision.


 * Rohan Kishibe
 * A famous manga artist who recently moved into Morioh. Rohan has the philosophy that he must experience life in order to be inspired. His Stand is Heaven's Door, which allows him to read the memories of its target as well as write down commands that they must follow, most commonly "Can not attack Rohan Kishibe.". The restriction of his power is that the target must see his artwork but can be supplimented by drawing an "image" in the air with his finger.


 * Jotaro Kujo
 * Protagonist of the previous arc and half-nephew to Josuke. Jotaro helps Josuke along with Joseph as a supporting role in this part.


 * Joseph Joestar
 * Josuke's father and Jotaro's grandfather. He comes to Morioh to help Josuke and the others with the Bow and Arrow situation, and eventually assisting in the investigation involving Yoshikage Kira. He later adopts Shizuka, an abandoned infant who happens to be a Stand user.


 * Reimi Sugimoto and Arnold


 * Tamami Kobayashi


 * Toshikazu Hazamada


 * Yukako Yamagishi
 * Koichi's almost-psycho 'girlfriend'. She loves Koichi with a passion and won't let anything get in the way of her love. Her Stand is Love Deluxe, which is bound to her hair, and can lengthen it to almost any distance.


 * Tonio Trussardi
 * A chef who runs the Italian Restaurant in Morioh, which is actually his own house. Unlike most other Stand users that Jōsuke meets, Tonio's was not awakened by an Arrow, but by his zeal to perfect his culinary arts. He has a tendency to get furious when someone enters his kitchen without permission out of the fear that the person will defile it, and therefore will punish them by making them clean the entire kitchen.


 * Shizuka Joestar
 * An abandoned infant on the streets of Morioh, who is eventually found by Josuke and Joseph and later adopted by Joseph into the Joestar family. She is rarely seen in the series, and whenever she does make an appearance, she is usually in the care of Joseph. However, she did play a part in Rohan's confrontation with Ken Oyanagi, as Rohan used her Stand powers to help him. In the ending of Part 4, Suzi Q - Joseph's wife and Jotaro's grandmother - discovers Joseph has brought home a child, she mistook Shizuka to be another one of her husband's illegitimate children, which threwn the family into chaos. Her Stand is Achtung Baby, which has the ability to make her body transparent, as well as anything else surrounding her within a one meter radius.

An outcast who feels welcome once he becomes acquainted with Josuke and Okuyasu. His stand is Harvest, which is divided into multiple individuals and used to collect stray objects.
 * Shigekiyo "Fatty" Yangu


 * Aya Tsuji


 * Mikitaka Hazekura (Nu Mikitakazo Nshi)
 * A teenager who was shot by the Arrow by Yoshihiro Kira while walking in the farmlands of Morioh. He claims to be an alien, although this was never revealed whether this was a delusion caused by the Arrow or is the actual truth. He is found by Josuke and Okuyasu when they happened to be passing by. At first, the boys believe Mikitaka's claim as an alien to be a hoax, until later interactions with him cause them to believe otherwise. Mikitaka is a gentle and caring person who doesn't hesitate to put his life on the line for his friends, as seen when Toyohiro traps Josuke in his Stand, Superfly. He also has a strange ability to shape-shift into any physical form he chooses at almost any size, although this could possibly just be Stand power (Earth, Wind & Fire). However, this is contradicted by the strange fact that whenever exposed to a siren or a similar sound, Mikitaka will suffer from a painful rash until the sound stops. He gives his full name as Nu Mikitakazo Nshi, which is supposedly his alien name.


 * Yuuya Fungami


 * Tomoko Higashikata
 * Josuke's mother, who is single and somewhat strict. She does not like to be hit on by other men because she is still madly in love with Joseph Joestar.


 * Hayato Kawajiri


 * Keicho Nijimura


 * Bug Eye and a brown rat
 * Two large field rats that were shot by the Arrow during the time it was in Akira Otoishi's possession. Together this duo raised mayhem in the farmlands of Morioh, killing the inhabitants and ravaging through their crops. This drew the attention of the Speedwagon Foundation, and had Jotaro and Josuke go on a hunting mission to track down these Stand-wielding rodents. The rats appear to have strange skull symbols on their forehead, however, this could mean that the two are actually twins. They both possess the same Stand, Ratt, which takes the form of a small airship that transforms into a tank and shoots poison darts that melts the human skin. Bug Eye and its twin have unusual levels of intelligence, as evidenced when one of them ensnares both Josuke and Jotaro into a clever trap. After the duo are hunted down by Josuke and Jotaro, they are later placed in the custody of the Speedwagon Foundation, and never seen again.


 * Ken Oyanagi
 * The first of the Stand users Yoshihiro creates with the Bow & Arrow to protect his hiding son. Ken is a young boy who loves to play games, especially when it comes to deciding who has the right to what, therefore making it as some sort of gamble. After being shot by the Arrow and having his Stand awakened, Ken later goes on to confront Rohan Kishibe, continuously following him all over Morioh and getting into altercations with him in a comical fashion. These include trying to check out the same book in a library and even fighting over a table at an outdoor restaurant. During the course of these events, Ken slowly gains control of Rohan's Stand as he uses his own Stand, Boy II Man, which has the ability to partially take control of his opponent's Stand power by winning a game of "Rock, Paper Scissors," with three consecutive wins needed to gain full control. However, Rohan manages to outsmart the boy and defeats him, gaining full control of his Stand, Heaven's Door, back. Afterwards, Ken never bothers Rohan again.


 * Tama


 * Stray Cat


 * Masazo Kinoto


 * Anjuro "Angelo" Katagiri
 * Despite having an IQ of 160, Katagiri Anjuuro (Angelo to the newspapers) chose to embark on a life as a depraved career criminal. He was caught after attempting to ransom a kidnapped heir, and sentenced to death for slaughtering him (long before he tried to collect the ransom). However, while awaiting execution, he was visited by Keicho Nijimura, who had been guided to him by the Arrow his father had received from Enya Geil. After being cut by the Arrow, resulting in the awakening of Aqua Necklace, Angelo somehow survived his hanging, then escaped prison and returned to his old hunting grounds of Morioh, where he would ultimately confront Josuke Higashikata. He acted as a milkman to Tomoko, hiding his Stand underneath one of the bottles and waited until he was carried inside. When Josuke returns home, she inadvertently drinks Aqua Necklace. Josuke saves her by punching her stomach with Crazy Diamond and trapped the perpetrator within a spare whiskey bottle. While he was asking directions on the phone with Jotaro, Angelo escapes and kills Josuke's grandfather. He later lead Jotaro and Josuke into a fight thought to be in his favor, but was sorely defeated from both JoJo's teamwork. Josuke, declaring that he doesn't want to be like Angelo, spared his life. However, he pummeled the criminal into a wall, fused both entities together, and made him the newest tourist attraction of the town: "The Living Monument". Antonio stayed alive and is imprisoned there for the rest of the manga. His Stand, Aqua Necklace, can possess anything liquid, even if the liquid becomes a mist. He is named after R&B artist D'Angelo.


 * Yoshikage Kira
 * The main antagonist of the story, longs for a simple life, and doesn't wish to be bothered. Kira is a criminal who has been murdering women and getting away with it for over 15 years. Although he reveals many talents, this yearning shows in his dislike of coming in first, as the cast eventually realizes. He becomes quite bothered when someone disrupts his "simplicity", and goes to extreme lengths to get it back. He keeps a collection of his own fingernail clippings (sorted in jars by year, with the length of each recorded in a notebook), and believes when they grow quickly he has trouble. Kira also has a bizarre fetish for the female hand, stemming from an erotic fascination with the hands of the Mona Lisa. Unfortunately, his desire has never extended to the rest of the female person. This results in his murdering women in order to acquire their (severed) hands as "girlfriends"--when one "girlfriend" begins to decay, he goes off in search of a replacement. Originally, Kira murdered his victims by stabbing them so viciously they were left with horrific back wounds (their hideous nature is implied by the fact that the reader is never actually shown Reimi's wound). However, his Stand, Killer Queen, eventually awoke from his desire to leave no evidence behind of his killings--hence its ability to make its victims completely disintegrate. He now lets Killer Queen annihilate his victims (except for his "girlfriend"-hands), letting everyone else think that the victims have simply gone missing.