Body and Appearance
1. Describe the character's height and build. Is he heavyset, thin, short, rangy?
Kakyoin stands at 178cm (5'8") and weighs in at 65kg (143 lb); just a little above average Japanese height, and rather on the lean side, considering his build. Though not overly muscular, Kakyoin has the doorbuster shoulders signature to all Jojo characters and a rather broad chest, tapering down to a fairly narrow waist and slim legs. More recent renditions paint him as a fair bit slimmer, but still nowhere near diminutive or slight.
2. How old is he?
17. Looks waaaaay older.
3. Describe his posture. Does he carry himself well or does he slouch?
Back straight, head held high, gaze focused straight ahead, very proper. Though not exactly arrogant, he does carry himself with a quiet sort of pride and confidence.
4. How is his health? Is he fit or out of shape? Any illnesses or conditions? Any physical disabilities?
Generally in excellent health.
5. How does he move? Is he clumsy, graceful, tense, fluid?
Fairly graceful and fluid. He walks at a quick, determined pace, and his movements are generally snappy and purposeful.
6. How attractive is this character physically? How does he perceive himself in the mirror?
Handsome, but not overly so. He does have his share of female admirers, but it's nowhere near Jotaro levels. Kakyoin is aware enough of his appearances and is glad that he's on the good-looking side, but he doesn't really flaunt or take advantage of it at all. He does take care of his appearances and likes to look decent (hair neatly combed, clothes clean and pressed, simple accessories i.e. earrings), but he doesn't spend an excessive amount of time primping.
7. Describe his complexion. Dark, light, clear, scarred?
Formerly light, but traveling to Egypt's gotten him a bit of a tan, and he's gathered a fair number of scars from various scuffles with other Stand users.
8. Describe his hair: color, texture, style.
A lurid pinkish-red and very ... distinctly styled. His hair runs roughly down to the nape of his neck, with a bit of a (sigh) mullet straggling a bit further down; most of it's kept combed neatly back, tucked behind his ears out of the way. Most notably, he has a portion of hair just around one temple kept much longer than the rest, slightly curled and fluffy, hanging almost down to his shoulder. (Which side of his head that hairflip resides on seems to flipflop all over the place, but it seems to exist at his right temple a little more than his left.)
9. What color are his eyes?
I swear to god this asshole's gotten a different eyecolor with each rendition: his manga profile lists him with green eyes, the actual colored manga gives him amber, OVA and ASB give him (reddish-)brown and the anime gives him lavender.
I'll be going with green.
10. Does the character have any other noteworthy features?
Kakyoin wears a fairly distinct pair of earrings. Again, they tend to change with every different iteration of his design, but they generally seem to be a pair of small, red spheres on a thin chain threaded through each ear, meant to resemble cherries.
Halfway through canon, he ends up with two deep scars across his face -- one across each eye, crawling down from his brow, bisecting straight through each eye, then halfway down his cheeks. After acquiring those scars, he prefers to wear sunglasses in order to protect his eyes and hide those scars.
11. What are his chief tension centers?
I NEVER KNOW WHAT FUCKING TENSION CENTERS ARE.
12. What is the character's wardrobe like? Casual, dressy, utilitarian? Bright colors, pastels, neutrals? Is it varied, or does he have six of the same suit?
Kakyoin has the special honor of being the only Crusader to have been shown in only one outfit ever: his school uniform. (Excluding his pajamas because come on they don't count.) Given that he wears his full uniform even in the scorching desert heat, fully buttoned up and proper, he probably dresses in a very clean and neat manner even outside of his uniform.
13. Do his clothes fit well? Does he seem comfortable in them?
His gakuran is hilariously fitted: tight all the way across his chest with a fairly cinched waist, with similarly fitted pants. Kakyoin probably likes it a lot, given how stubbornly he sticks to it throughout the fifty-day journey.
14. Does he dress the same on the job as he does in his free time? If not, what are the differences?
We're talking about a high-tier nerd who wears his school uniform while on an international trip to fight a vampire here.
15. You knew it was coming: Boxers, briefs or commando?
Boxer-briefs.
Speech
1. What does this character's voice sound like? High-pitched, deep, hoarse?
Like a lot of Jojo characters, he's gone through a pretty wide variety of voice actors through the ages, ranging from hilariously macho-serious-deep in the old OVAs to fairly light and youthful in ASB. I'll be going off his voice in the most recent anime series, where he was voiced by Hirakawa Daisuke. He has a fairly deep, level voice, though not particularly intimidating.
2. How does he normally speak? Loud, soft, fast, evenly? Does he talk easily, or does he hesitate?
Fairly even and level, neither particularly fast nor slow; Kakyoin usually speaks pretty easily, though he does sometimes pause to think. He's a little more on the polite side -- especially compared to the rest of the Jotaro and co. gang -- and thus speaks in a bit more of a roundabout way, although only to a reasonable extent. However, he rarely ever sounds meek or subdued; Kakyoin almost always sounds fairly self-assured, with a quiet sort of confidence and pride without actually dipping into arrogance.
(On a semi-related note, Kakyoin's use of honorifics and keigo is actually ridiculously inconsistent. Joseph seems to be the only person that he'll consistently refer to with a polite honorific ("Joestar-san") and use keigo towards. He seems to start off using the polite honorific for Abdul only to drop it halfway through their journey, while Polnareff and Jotaro are always referred to casually. He also seems to go from defaulting to keigo, to speaking more casually towards Jotaro and Polnareff as the series progresses -- but it's still not a hard-and-fast rule.)
3. Does the character have a distinct accent or dialect? Any individual quirks of pronunciation? Any, like, you know, verbal tics?
No real verbal tics on his own.
This is something more particular to Jojo as a whole, but he does tend to draw out his sentence endings out somewhat from time to time, i.e. "____じゃあないか?" as opposed to the more normal "____じゃないか?" It's hard to really integrate that extra vowel sound into English, especially given it's rather sporadic appearance, so I've mostly just interpreted it as the general dramatic flair inherent to all Jojoverse characters, kinda like verbal posing.
4. What language/s does he speak, and with how much fluency?
He's fluent in Japanese for sure.
I'll also be working under the assumption that the Joestar gang communicates in English, as I can't possibly think of a reason why Polnareff would be fluent enough in Japanese to communicate with Jotaro and Kakyoin. Working under that assumption, Kakyoin's also quite functional in English, although he probably has a bit of an accent. (This is pretty accurate to how I imagine language shenanigans within the Joestar gang.)
5. Does he switch languages or dialects in certain situations?
Not really. Presumably he speaks to Jotaro in Japanese, and to the others in English, but no real reason to switch languages otherwise.
6. Is he a good impromptu speaker, or does he have to think about his words?
He's an okay impromptu speaker, though he doesn't particularly like it as he doesn't like to draw too much attention to himself without reason.
7. Is he eloquent or inarticulate? Under what circumstances might this change?
Fairly eloquent. Though not overly chatty or flashy with his vocabulary, Kakyoin isn't particularly terse, either. He likes to make himself clear in a reasonable manner, remaining courteous without wasting too much time. This can sometimes come across as a little arrogant in the wrong circumstances, but is largely unintentional unless he's actually facing off against an enemy Stand user.
Mental and Emotional
1. How intelligent is this character? Is he book-smart or street-smart?
He was recently pretty much confirmed for honor student type AKA nerd so there's that. Given his random knowledge of other cultures and his reading habits, Kakyoin is probably fairly book-smart. It's harder to say how street-smart he is, especially given he's still quite young (seventeen, gosh!!!). He's probably smart enough to keep himself out of trouble, but he won't be living the rough life out on the streets any time soon.
2. Does he think on his feet, or does he need time to deliberate?
Very good at thinking on his feet when necessary. Probably likes to have more time to think things through when possible, but he'll just take what he can get.
3. Describe the character's thought process. Is he more logical, or more intuitive? Idealistic or practical?
Tends to be more on the logical, pragmatic side -- seen mostly during his argument with Polnareff re: the Hanged Man and whether it was a Stand of the "mirror world," where he refuses to acknowledge possible explanations of Hanged Man that sound too fantasy- or fairytale-like. However, he's also capable of thinking outside the box for some creative Stand application.
4. What kind of education has the character had?
He's probably a second-year high-schooler, i.e. in 11th grade, so yeah.
(Although Araki's been oddly reluctant about outright saying when his birthday (or a couple other characters' birthdays, for that matter) is, he's listed as a Leo and at age 17 in 1987, making his birthdate sometime between July 23rd and August 22nd in 1970. Due to Jotaro being an Aquarius (January 20th to February 18th) and Japanese school terms starting in spring, fandom seems to have a hard time deciding whether Jotaro and Kakyoin would be in the same year in school, or whether Jotaro would be one year ahead. Either way, Kakyoin is probably a second-year in highschool.)
5. What are his areas of expertise? What, if anything, is he interested in learning more about?
No obvious areas of expertise. He's briefly shown painting, seems to like reading, and knows some random tidbits about other cultures, but it's hard to say if any of those are his true ~*~*~passions~*~*~.
6. Is he an introvert or an extrovert?
More of an introvert than an extrovert, but he doesn't really let it show much.
7. Describe the character's temperament. Is he even-tempered or does he have mood swings? Cheerful or melancholy? Laid-back or driven?
Very even-tempered, not easily agitated. His default mindset seems to be a bit more on the serious, focused side, but he's fairly mellow and polite when dealing with most people, and will lighten up pretty easily around his friends.
8. How does he respond to new people or situations? Is he suspicious, relaxed, timid, enthusiastic?
Calm and thoughtful. He's neither immediately trusting nor suspicious, but will present himself as polite and inconspicuous while assessing the other person.
9. Is he more likely to act, or to react?
React a little more than act.
10. Which is his default: fight or flight?
Fight. But when circumstances are very dire, he isn't too proud to retreat for the moment in order to formulate a plan and then come back to fight.
11. Describe the character's sense of humor. Does he appreciate jokes? Puns? Gallows humor? Bathroom humor? Pranks?
Kakyoin's not exactly the most openly humorous guy. A bit on the dry side, and he can get very snarky with the right people (i.e. Polnareff). However, he will crack up at appropriate moments; it's just that he's not much of a joker himself.
12. Does the character have any diagnosable mental disorders? If yes, how does he deal with them?
Nup.
13. What moments in this character's life have defined him as a person?
Not so much a single moment, but Kakyoin's self-imposed solitude throughout his childhood is a pretty big aspect of his identity. It was most likely a pretty big shock when he realized (at quite a young age) that he wasn't a 'normal person' and would never really be able to integrate perfectly in with others without lying about a crucial aspect of himself (i.e. his Stand).
14. What does he fear?
Being forced to submit to someone.
15. What are his hopes or aspirations?
It's hard to say. Kakyoin never really expresses any real hopes or dreams. Presumably he'd just like to live a normal, happy life with some friends.
16. What is something he doesn't want anyone to find out about him?
Kakyoin's largely a fairly private guy and doesn't divulge a lot of information about himself in general. But specifically, he wouldn't want most people to find out about his Stand ability (unless they were also Stand users and/or able to see his Stand).
Relationships
1. Describe this character's relationship with his parents.
Kakyoin respects his parents and is very grateful to them. Presumably he caused them some trouble when he was younger, before he learned to hide his Stand ability. It's also dubious that he's really close to his parents, given his ability and the importance he places on honesty. Still, he's thankful that they still put up with him, their troublesome son, for so long, and would like to grow up to dependable to them, and be someone they would be proud of.
2. Does the character have any siblings? What is/was their relationship like?
Probably an only child.
3. Are there other blood relatives to whom he is close? Are there ones he can't stand?
No one notable.
4. Are there other, unrelated people whom he considers part of his family? What are his relationships with them?
Nope.
5. Who is/was the character's best friend? How did they meet?
Jotaro and Polnareff are the closest, and some of the only, friends he has. It's kind of hard to say which of them he's closer to, as he's friendly with the both of them in drastically different ways.
Although he's friends with Jotaro, he knows better than to expect anything genial or communicative from Jotaro, and so he keeps a comfortable amount of distance between them. At the same time, he acknowledges Jotaro as someone immensely strong and dependable, and can definitely respect Jotaro's blunt honesty, his straightforward mannerisms, and his self-assured pride. Conversely, Kakyoin doesn't impose himself on Jotaro and isn't the type to thirst for validation of their friendship, but he does tend to read Jotaro's unspoken moods and intentions quite well, and does his best to make himself a reliable friend.
On the other hand, there's his ... relationship with Polnareff. By first appearances, Kakyoin is quite frosty and snippy towards Polnareff, but then they also have some pretty intensely buddy-buddy moments. In general, it seems to be a case of Polnareff's goofy, thoughtless tendencies being at odds with Kakyoin's more stern, serious personality, which results in a lot of Kakyoin being mercilessly snarky at Polnareff most of the time. However, he does know that Polnareff is a highly dependable and loyal person (when he's not being a tremendous dumbass), and thus does ultimately trust him a lot. ... basically, Kakyoin is a huge tsundere towards Polnareff.
6. Does he have other close friends?
The other Crusaders are really the only other friends he has. :')
Kakyoin respects both Joseph and Abdul a lot, as they're the first people he's ever met who know more about Stands than he does (who didn't want to stick a needle through his skull). Abdul is definitely someone more level-headed and knowledgable that he considers very dependable. Joseph's enthusiasm and geniality, he finds a little more confusing (especially given the utter lack of similarities between grandfather and grandson), but Kakyoin can still appreciate it.
It's questionable how friendly Kakyoin is with Iggy, but mostly just because Iggy is such a cantakerous mutt.
7. Does he make friends easily, or does he have trouble getting along with people?
HA HA HA OH BOY. Kakyoin gets along with people just fine as acquaintances, as he's quite polite and mild-mannered under normal circumstances. However, it's very, very rare for him to elevate anyone from 'acquaintance' to 'friend' because he hates being dishonest, and in order to be friends with anyone who can't see Stands, he'd have to be dishonest about himself (i.e. hide his ability, which he considers a very integral part of himself); in his mind, a 'friendship' where he can't be fully honest isn't actually a 'friendship.' As a result, Kakyoin was never really ostracized or bullied, but he was also friendless by choice right up until the events of Stardust Crusaders.
8. Which does he consider more important: family or friends?
They're both incredibly important to him.
9. Is the character single, married, divorced, widowed? Has he been married more than once?
Single.
10. Is he currently in a romantic relationship with someone other than a spouse?
HAHAHAHAhahaha.
11. Who was his first crush? Who is his latest?
Given how reluctant he was to even make friends, it's hard to imagine Kakyoin would have ever genuinely crushed on anyone. He does briefly mention that, "if [he] were to ever fall in love with someone, [he'd] want it to be with someone like Holly" (Jotaro's mother), so there's that.
12. What does he look for in a romantic partner?
Working off his above-mentioned admiration (roundabout crush?) on Jotaro's mom: he'd like to fall in love with someone that he could protect, who has a very warm and energetic smile. Presumably, the importance he places in self-respect and dignity also still hold strong.
13. Does the character have children? Grandchildren? If yes, how does he relate to them? If no, does he want any?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHahaha.
14. Does he have any rivals or enemies?
No real rivals. Kakyoin does hate DIO very intensely for having compromised his integrity and forced him to submit in the past. The fact that he succumbed to DIO's influence in the past and was openly afraid of him is a big cause for self-loathing for him, and Kakyoin is very much determined to overcome his past fear of DIO by the end of the fifty-day trip to kill him.
15. What is the character's sexual orientation? Where does he fall on the Kinsey scale?
Probably something like a 1.
16. How does he feel about sex? How important is it to him?
God, he seems like a big, fat prude. Although he has something of a libido, given he's still a teenager and all, Kakyoin never really shows any interest in girls other than his above-mentioned incredibly hypothetical crush on Holly. That, coupled with his aloof attitude towards most other people in general makes it likely that Kakyoin's never considered pursuing a relationship with anyone. Presumably he isn't too hungry for affection and doesn't place it as a very high priority.
17. What are his turn-ons? Turn-offs? Weird bedroom habits?
I don't knowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.
Beliefs
1. Do you know your character's astrological (zodiac of choice) sign? How well does he fit type?
He's a Leo and a Dog. Everything about being a Leo (loves attention, ambitious, outgoing) is pretty ill-fitting to his personality, but the characteristics for a Dog (straightforward, faithful, stubborn, a little sharp-tongued) seem to fit pretty decently.
2. Is this character religious, spiritual, both, or neither? How important are these elements in his life?
Neither. Doesn't think about it much.
3. Does this character have a personal code of morals or ethics? If so, how did that begin? What would it take to compromise it?
Kakyoin seems to place a lot of value in integrity. He hates people who brown-nose or submit to others, and finds it hard to respect anyone who doesn't have a healthy amount of self-respect and pride. He also dislike dishonesty and trickery.
It's hard to say how and when that mindset would have started, but it probably has its roots in self-loathing due to his childhood growing up with a Stand. He probably came to realize at a fairly young age that, because almost everyone would consider his ability abnormal and disconcerting, he would have to spend a good portion of his life being rather dishonest about himself in order to integrate into society to any extent. With that in mind, he probably dislikes people who are dishonest or compromise their integrity because they're abusing a privilege that they don't know they have, and are probably hurting other people through it.
He would never compromise his moral code on his own, which is why DIO forcing the flesh bud on him and making him submit is such a big deal to him.
4. How does he regard beliefs that differ from his? Is he tolerant, intolerant, curious, indifferent?
In most cases, Kakyoin will simply distance himself from anyone who he disagrees with on a fundamental level; he wouldn't see the point in arguing with them or trying to change their mind.
5. What prejudices does he hold? Are they irrational or does he have a good reason for them?
No real overt prejudices.
Daily Life
1. What is the character's financial situation? Is he rich, poor, comfortable, in debt?
No canonical indications of his financial status. I'll be working off the assumption that his family was comfortably off, but not rich.
2. What is his social status? Has this changed over time, and if so, how has the change affected him?
Assuming he had no special social status. His father was a regular salaryman and his mother was a stay-at-home-mom. Kakyoin was a good student, but not of any real note right up until he left for Egypt with the Joestar gang.
3. Where does he live? House, apartment, trailer? Is his home his castle or just a place to crash? What condition is it in? Does he share it with others?
Probably an apartment.
4. Besides the basic necessities, what does he spend his money on?
He presumably gets an allowance that he spends on books and videogames.
5. What does he do for a living? Is he good at it? Does he enjoy it, or would he rather be doing something else?
Student!
6. What are his interests or hobbies? How does he spend his free time?
Given he's a loner by choice, Kakyoin's hobbies skew pretty indoors-y and nerdy. He's played a fair number of videogames, and he's seen reading when there's any time to rest during the trip to Egypt. It's also easy to imagine that he has some level of interest in art and painting.
7. What are his eating habits? Does he skip meals, eat out, drink alcohol, avoid certain foods?
No real canon indications of his general eating habits, other than his love of cherries and his strange way of eating them. I want to say he probably has a pretty healthy appetite given his age and his stature, but he also seems like a fairly tidy eater. Not too picky about his food. Doesn't drink, since he's still underage.
Associations
Which of the following do you associate with the character, or which is his favorite:
1. Color? GEE I WONDER.
2. Smell? Forgoing the obvious cherry jokes, he seems the type to wear subtly-scented aftershave.
3. Time of day? Evening, right before sunset.
4. Season? Summer?
5. Book? Uhhhhh.
6. Music? I'm not very creative so here are his themes from the Capcom fighter and ASB.
7. Place? Somewhere grassy and quiet.
8. Substance? Uhhhhhhhhh.
9. Plant? Ivy vines.
10. Animal? Due to his wide mouth and Hierophant's range, he kind of reminds me of a snake. Maybe an emerald rat snake?
END
{{ Get the HTML here so you can do it yourself. }}
|
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
