#<- started thinking about twewy again and how wow it's been almost 2 years since i last played i think?

[goldensunset]

the more time goes on the more i relate to nagi's 'but i have so much to live for! so many games to play...'

[cry-stars]

For that ask meme (character), how about Joshua from TWEWY?~

YES!! Thank you so much for asking; I’ve never really talked much about TWEWY on here before, but it’s one of my favourite games ever, so I’m happy to talk about it! Sorry, this is super long.

How I feel about this character: 

I absolutely LOVE Joshua. I’ve loved him for years, ever since I played TWEWY for the first time when I was fifteen. He’s hilarious, and mysterious, and such a complex character that I’ve been thinking about him for years, trying to figure out why he did what he did, and what his motivations are… I always have a soft spot for that kind of jerkish character, and Joshua is right at the top of the list. He always makes me laugh, and makes me think a lot, too.

All the people I ship romantically with this character: 

I don’t really ship him with anyone. I’d probably be okay with reading a ship fic for him if it had a good story, but I prefer friendship for him.

My non-romantic OTP for this character: 

Josh and Neku is my favorite, bar none. Their relationship is such a ride… Their relationship got off to such a rocky start, but throughout week 2, they had so many good bonding moments where it seemed like they were developing a friendship, like the Tin Pin tournament, and helping solve the ramen shop problem. Then Joshua would drop another bombshell, some new horrible revelation to hold over Neku’s head, and Neku’s resentment would grow. And then Joshua sacrificed himself for Neku, and Neku felt so horribly guilty; he’d been wrong! Joshua was a hero, and he’d failed him. 

And then the ending, when everything fell apart, and Joshua was the mastermind all along… and yet, somehow, Neku can’t kill him, and somehow, Joshua breaks all of the rules to bring Neku and all of Shibuya back from the brink of destruction. And somehow, they still want to meet again. It’s just… wow. It’s such a ride, and it has so much potential to develop even more, if Joshua is just willing to reach out and accept the second chance that Neku is giving him. Their banter is so funny too, and I love the way that they actually seem to work together really well when Joshua isn’t mercilessly teasing Neku.

My unpopular opinion about this character: 

I’m not really involved enough in the fandom to know what would be an unpopular opinion, but I do often see fics that start with Neku being horribly angry with Joshua (as he has a right to be!), and when Joshua decides to try talking to Neku again, Neku pushes him away. I don’t see that happening though; the whole ending to TWEWY made it really clear to me that Neku, despite all that Joshua did to him and all that he went through, truly does want to see him again. I think that the barrier to them ever meeting again would be Joshua himself, feeling that he can’t ask for forgiveness, or that he’s somehow done nothing wrong and doesn’t need to beg for forgiveness (even though he knows in his heart that he needs to).

 I think that Neku would be the reason that the relationship begins again and grows. Sure, there would be some arguing and some explaining to do, but it’s obvious that they want to see each other again; Joshua just feels like such an outsider, and doesn’t know how to approach this group of friends that he wants to be a part of.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: 

Honestly, I wouldn’t change much about TWEWY at all; it’s one of the closest things to a perfect story for me. I really wish that we’d get to see the story of how Joshua became the composer, though; I want to know more about his history with Mr. H. Did he really used to be like the “Yoshiya” we saw in A New Day? I really want to know more about his past. (Now that we’ve got a sequel, I’m begging for a prequel, haha).

 my OTP:

Joshua/making friends and being happy, haha

my cross over ship:

Not romantic, but I really liked his interactions with Riku and Sora in DDD. I never finished playing the game (I only really played it for the twewy moments… I’m sorry… I really need to finish it)  and I don’t know a lot about Kingdom Hearts, but I really liked seeing that softer side of Joshua, and seeing his concern for his friends, and I feel like he was able to show a side to Riku and Sora that he doesn’t feel able to show to his Shibuya friends.

a headcanon fact:

I’m almost convinced that Joshua, Minamimoto, and Coco are all siblings, or at least, they were as humans before they died and became Reapers. I think Coco and Sho being siblings isn’t a big stretch, since Coco decided to go all “zetta” and resurrect Sho. Coco seems to know a lot about Joshua as well, though; she had the very different “Yoshiya” in her false world, and knew that the Composer was named Joshua. 

Joshua and Sho seem to have an interesting relationship too; Joshua understands all of Sho’s math quips, and the two banter as if they knew each other before Sho wanted to become composer. Also, Joshua seems to be really fond of Ken Doi the ramen guy, and seems to be a ramen connoisseur, haha. Since Ken seemed to be Sho’s dad in Another Day, I wonder if Joshua is connected to him too? Also, Ken is really connected to the Reaper’s Game despite being a human, which you might expect if three of his kids are involved in it.

My idea is that all three of them died at the same time, but Sho and Coco were partners, while Joshua was partnered with someone else. This started the big rivalry of them vs. him, and explains why they know who the Composer is when it’s not something just any Reaper should know. I’m still thinking more about this, but it’s one of my favourite theories/AUs that I really want to write someday when I get over my fear of writing for a new fandom.