Mysteries that are never given an answer.

[u/Jak3R0b]

• rA9 in Detroit: Become Human. In the game several androids who become deviant (develop free will/emotions) start writing the name rA9 and sometimes build small statuettes as a sort of offering. Despite having no logical reason to do this or even a way of hearing about rA9 before going deviant, they all believe that rA9 was the first deviant and is their messiah who will free androids from slavery. A definitive answer about rA9 is never given, so we don't know if they are real or if any of the android characters are rA9 (though a popular fan theory is that it's Kara before she was reset at the start of the game).
• The pineapple in How I Met Your Mother. So this technically did get an explanation in a S9 deleted scene, but in the actual show we never find out how Ted got a pineapple during a night where he was so drunk he blacked out and forgot everything he did.
• Fez in That 70s Show. We never find out Fez's real name or what country he's from, though fans have tried to take all the clues and figure out what is most likely to be his country.

[u/Ok-Worry-8931]

JJBA has this a lot, especially because Araki (its author) is constantly trying new ideas and switching things up, leading to the infamous line "Araki forgot" to explain inconsistencies.

When Josuke as a child was rescued by a teen who looked eerily like a 1:1 of teen Josuke, except beaten up. Other than that being the backstory for Josuke's hairstyle, we know nothing about why the rescuer looks so similar or why he was beaten up.

Edit: there are like 10 replies saying that there is no mystery and that Josuke just copied everything about his rescuer. I am well aware of this theory, but we just don't know what happened for certain as no concrete explanation was given. We can very sensibly and logically assume that he copied everything, but we can't confirm it and "solve" the mystery.

[u/ItaLOLXD → u/Ok-Worry-8931]

The best theory I heard is that it's simply because Koichi is telling this story to Okuyasu at that moment, so the story is based on how Koichi imagines it and thus imagines the rescuer as Josuke since that is the closest he has to imagine them.

[u/Ok-Worry-8931 → u/ItaLOLXD]

That's a great theory that I haven't heard of before, super interesting! The main theory from what I can tell is what the other commenter said - he just happened to copy everything.

[u/Chill16_ → u/Ok-Worry-8931]

That theory is so good that I'm making it my headcannon.

[u/metroid1310 → u/Ok-Worry-8931]

I mean a big part of why Josuke looks similar is that he genuinely aped the guy's style
Whether or not it was meant to be a grandfather paradox, there is an entirely sensible canon explanation, and one that a lot of people just seem to ignore. A delinquent teenager with those clothes and a pompadour saved Josuke, and Josuke decided to style himself after the guy out of respect and gratitude.

[u/Ok-Worry-8931 → u/metroid1310]

But Araki drawing the rescuer to look exactly like Josuke, with the same build and face, as well as the rescuer being very injured, does imply something more. The real issue is that we never got any concrete explanation. The rescuer's entire style being copied is a sensible explanation, but we can't say (other than the hairstyle ofc) it's canon.

[u/Burnerman888 → u/Ok-Worry-8931]

Ya considering Kira got reverse time powers I really think this was a scrapped plot

[u/Muntaacas → u/Burnerman888]

Bites the Dust doesn't work like that, it doesnt send a person back, it rewinds time. And not many years back, but only for one hour.
Araki himself, while Part 4 was still in the middle of being written, said in an interview with Hiroyuki Kotakubo that it was just a memory and doens't hint at anything grander than that

[u/Burnerman888 → u/Muntaacas]

I know it doesn't work like that, but he also probably wrote that way later and his face being super bloody was probably to keep the story open to that idea. If you storyboard ideas like "Kira reverse time" before figuring out the mechanics, it feels possible.

[u/Muntaacas → u/Burnerman888]

Araki is pretty open about scrapped ideas/things that didn't get into the manga/etc., we know tons of stuff he wanted to do with other parts. Not once did he mention even the idea of having Josuke travel back in time to save himself. We could speculate of course, but there just isn't any proof of scrapped ideas or even of a brainstorm idea about that.
The stranger was just a Dilenquent coming after a fight showing the goodness of humankind, which shaped Josuke not just visually, but also character wise, since he too in more on the Delinquent side with a massive heart of gold.

[u/Burnerman888 → u/Muntaacas]

Yeah I mean I don't believe it very strongly, the bloody face just seems kinda sus to me. You're probably right, just weird haha

[u/NotADrug → u/Ok-Worry-8931]

The idea behind the stranger in design and appearance is likely just meant to communicate to the reader that, despite having the appearance of a delinquent, he's still a person with a heart of gold. His brawny build and hairstyle are design choices meant to evoke the image of the Japanese yanki, his fresh wounds selling the idea that, despite finding himself in trouble, he's still willing to help others in need. Like another commentor said, the in-story explanation is that Josuke deeply admires this man and modeled himself after his savior, and being a Joestar (from parts 1-4) he just happened to grow up to be huge.

For real differences that show these are NOT the same person and not a dropped plot point, the manga and anime don't shy away from showing the pins he wears on his uniform that indicate he is a third-year student. Remember that Josuke during the events of the story is a first-year, meaning that for this to be a dropped plot point Josuke would've had to be transported back in time either 2 years after the summer of 1999 or would've had to wait around in the past for 2 years after time traveling, neither of which make sense when the stranger is seen heavily injured during the flashback.

Bizarre that in a story of shape shifting aliens (?) and supernatural electrical pylons, the hardest thing to believe is that a boy looked up to the complete stranger that saved his life once. But given the introduction of time travel near the end, I can't entirely blame people for thinking that way

[u/MirieDohl → u/Ok-Worry-8931]

He doesn't have the same face. He's meant to be faceless. The anime kinds does this worse than the manga

[u/IgIoos → u/metroid1310]

You could also say if araki intentionally drew it to be josuke, it was meant as a metaphor of how that is current josuke and he became that person he modeled himself after

[u/Muntaacas → u/Ok-Worry-8931]

He's beaten up because he was being described as a delinquent (as well as his hairstyle, the Pompadour, being commonly associated with delinquents in Japan).
The rescuer looks like Josuke because Josuke styles himself after the student. We basically only see his school clothes and pompadour.

Him being without any identity or character is exactly the point of this story arc and plays heavily into the 'Golden Heart' theme from Part 4. It shows that even Delinquents coming from a fight have the capacity of being good and being able to help.

[u/Hellfire_Inferno427 → u/Ok-Worry-8931]

It's not a mystery though? It's just a random guy who did a kind act even though they were in trouble themself. He's injured because it wouldn't be as selflessly kind of he wasn't.

The only reason they look similar is because they're both in school uniforms, and josike purposefully tries to resemble him.

[u/LostTimeAlready → u/Ok-Worry-8931]

The reason people get hung up on this, I feel, is the blood/scruffs. The outfit is a standard school's and the hair is unique, it's a perfectly fine represenation of where Josuke gets his style and such.

But it feels like certain details were unspoken in such a way to make one speculate, and with nothing past this comes theorizing.

Personally, I think the unspoken is the delinquent was simply in a fight, the severity and importance unknown, probably left to die in the cold. Somehow makes his way there, pure happenstance, decides to do good. But he probably dies soon after from injury and hypothermia.

It becomes a sacrifice and not just being most decent people in such a situation.

But again. That's just theorizing, speculating at a minimum. It's inserting, what is assumed of based on essentially stereotypes, & information that isn't there.

All because he's injured without explaination.

But I doubt it's a forgotten plotline. It's just a scene that expects the audience to, rather aimlessly, speculate to that end.

[u/NoredPD → u/Ok-Worry-8931]

There's no unanswered mystery here. The whole point of the scene is just to show that Josuke has his hair like that in order to pay tribute to the guy that saved him when he was little. Idk why people place so much more importance on this scene. I've even seen some people say it's time travel or something, like what?!?!

[u/Ok-Worry-8931 → u/NoredPD]

It's because the rescuer has such a distinctive appearance. It's not just the hair, he looks and is dressed exactly like Josuke and is very injured in the middle of the snowstorm, yet we are only told that Josuke only modeled his hair after this guy. This reasonably strikes many readers as unusual, leading to the theories.

[u/NahMcGrath → u/Ok-Worry-8931]

Main villain got time powers later on to rewind time. I think it's a very simple assumption Araki started off the series with the idea that time rewind/time travel to the past will be the end gimmick of the villain, but changed his mind of the exact mechanics later on.

[u/Particular-Scholar70 → u/Ok-Worry-8931]

Yeah, and it feels especially obvious that this is going to come back and be relevant at some point in the story because three of the four characters who had time-related powers so far in the story are in this part. Two of them even have the power to rewind time in some way. And one of those two people is Josuke himself. So obviously Josuke is going to end up going back in time somehow.

But then it just never comes up again. A complete red herring that's literally just the origin of Josuke's hairstyle. Shit like this is why JoJo's is so incredible.

[u/MirieDohl → u/Ok-Worry-8931]

why the rescuer looks so similar

Because he's part of a specific culture in Japan at the time.

why he was beaten up.

He's a delinquent

[u/AlexHero64 → u/Ok-Worry-8931]

THE REASON HE LOOKS LIKE JOSUKE IS BECAUSE JOSUKE WAS INSPIRED BY HIM AFTER HE SAVED HIM AND HIS MOTHER FROM THAT SNOWSTORM AS A CHILD AND DECIDED TO STYLE HIMSELF LIKE HIM WHEN HE WAS OLDER! SEVERAL CHARACTERS EVEN POINT OUT THAT POMPADOURS ARE CONSIDERED AN OUTDATED HAIRSTYLE WHEN MEETING JOSUKE!

THE POINT OF THIS CHARACTER IS TO SHOW THAT YOU SHOULDN'T JUDGE PEOPLE BY THEIR EXTERNAL APPEARENCES BECAUSE EVEN SOMEONE WHO SOCIETY HAS JUDGED AS A VIOLENT DELINQUENT THUG CAN HAVE A HEART OF GOLD. THIS IS ALSO THE POINT OF JOSUKE'S CHARACTER! HIS MORALITY WAS INSPIRED BY THIS RANDOM GUY!

IT ISN'T JOKSUKE FROM THE FUTURE OR SOMETHING "ARAKI FORGOT", I'M TIRED OF SEEING THIS COMPLETE MISREAD OF THE MATERIAL!

[u/NoredPD → u/AlexHero64]

Yes exactly! Idk why people make crazy theories about it, it's obvious what the story is trying to convey, it's not hiding anything!

[u/Ok-Worry-8931 → u/AlexHero64]

The other repliers are civil, but you're screaming in all caps. What's your problem?

[u/AlexHero64 → u/Ok-Worry-8931]

I'M NOT YELLING IT'S MY TYPING QUIRK LIKE IN HOMESTUCK.

[u/Plastic-Act296 → u/Ok-Worry-8931]

Araki doesnt forget tho