songreign app;

[whitefeather]

Player: gen
Age: 21+
Contact: plurk: blackjupiter, discord: lunar#2871
Current Characters: N/A

Character: Yoshiya (Joshua) Kiryu
Canon: NEO:TWEWY ending.
Age: Awkward question. While it is implied Joshua is an adult (His true form has an adult's silhouette) he's a transcendent being. His appearance is dictated by the limitations set on him by his surroundings, so for songreign he'll appear as he would in the RG- 15 years old. Regardless of Joshua's form and appearance, he has the mental capacity and psychological development of an adult.


Background Information: There's a pretty comprehensive wiki history out there, but it omits context from Neo's secret reports because the game's still pretty new. So I've done my own.

• Joshua is a human living in Shibuya, Japan. While entirely human, he discovers he has the power of clairvoyance.

• Joshua realizes he can see something called the "Underground" (UG) and the Reaper's Game- a system intended to test the recently dead (Players) and ascertain what happens to them (erasure, reincarnation, or ascension)- as well as supernatural beings who are charged with testing and erasing Players (Reapers).

• Joshua experiences loneliness and isolation from other humans because of his abilities. He meets Sanae Hanekoma, a cafe owner on Cat Street, who discusses what exactly Joshua can see and can't see with him. He then begins to frequent the cafe.

• Joshua learns that Hanekoma is the guardian of the Reaper's Game, and furthermore learns about the Game in far greater detail through him.

• Joshua decides he belongs in the UG. He takes his own life in order to enter the Reaper's Game[1], and eventually takes down the Composer, a being that is behind the Game. As per the rules of the Game (learned from Hanekoma), Joshua becomes the new Composer- ceasing being human, instead becoming a semi-divine being, and develops new rules for the Game. He begins a working relationship with Hanekoma who as guardian of the Game, reveals he's an angel and Joshua's Producer.

• Time passes. While canon never clarifies how much time Joshua spends as Composer, Joshua eventually becomes aware that humanity is on a decline. Shibuya's UG becomes tainted with negative emotions and the mentality of the people of Shibuya is altered accordingly. Joshua decides that the best thing to do is to erase Shibuya's UG (Thereby erasing Shibuya itself) in order to stop other grounds in other districts from becoming affected by Shibuya's failure.

• Joshua's second-in-command, a reaper known as Kitaniji (the Conductor) pleads to show Joshua that Shibuya can change for the better- even though things are bad. Joshua enters into a Game with his Conductor, granting him a month to change the negative mindset of the city. The terms are simple. If the Conductor wins, Shibuya stays. If Joshua wins, it, the people within it, and the UG are wiped from existence via an event collapse.

• As his Conductor understands that challenging a Composer directly is a challenge that cannot be won, Joshua handicaps himself by choosing a human boy as a proxy, and staying in the living world (the RG) for the duration of the Game. As he chooses (shoots dead) his proxy, he is accosted by a reaper officer named Minamimoto. Minamimoto makes an attempt on Joshua's life in the name of taking the Composer role for himself- knowing that Joshua is far weaker in the RG but weakened as he is, Joshua is still stronger than him. Minamimoto is shot and escapes.

• Joshua's proxy (Neku) enters the Game, and Joshua observes him from the RG. Joshua doesn't interfere- but makes a series of requests from his Producer in the timeframe of the week. As his Conductor makes Neku, upon winning the Game, replay it- Joshua waits for him and directly pairs up with him in week 2- in order to a) confirm his Conductor's strategy, b) Educate Neku, and c) protect him from the Conductor, who has already ascertained that Neku is his opponent- though does not recognize Joshua in the form he takes in the RG.

• Neku begins to distrust Joshua. While the reason for this is played off as a dislike for Joshua's attitude and behavior (as well as the fact he scanned Joshua and found a scene relating to his murder in his mind), another factor is that by simply being partnered to Neku, a human, Joshua's vibe (power level) is screwing with Neku's own and causing him severe psychological distress. Joshua encourages Neku's dislike for him with a series of antics, presumably to give Neku reasoning for his aversion to him. The pair do eventually begin to bond over their shared dislike of society and humanity. Joshua confides in Neku that his own death was intentional, by saying he didn't belong in the RG.

• Joshua manipulates Neku into visiting Cat Street and receiving his order from Hanekoma- a tracking device- to his phone. Joshua begins using this device in order to trace his Conductor- leaving Neku in the dark. The Game Master for Week 2 is revealed as Minamimoto- who takes an interest in Joshua. Joshua plays it off as Minamimoto having a Thing for Neku instead.

• Joshua eventually tells Neku his plans regarding the tracker and lies to him- stating that he's planning on defeating the Composer and taking Shibuya for himself. Even though it is a lie, Neku buys it and enters a brief conflict with Joshua with the aim of resisting his efforts- fearing it would invalidate his own Game. As result, Joshua's endeavor doesn't get very far.

• Taboo variants of Noise are unleashed upon Shibuya, attacking both Players and Reapers. Joshua is forced to use a greater version of his power in order to save Neku, which earns him the interest of Kariya, a Reaper officer. Kariya astutely tells Joshua and Neku that Players simply don't have that kind of power- but misidentifies the reason for it as Joshua being alive and playing the Game through the RG- boosting his abilities. This rattles Neku further, but he decides to push through it in order to get through the final day of the week.

• On the final day, Joshua manipulates Neku's scans from him to imply Minamimoto was the one who killed him. Neku receives a message from an unknown person (The Conductor) tipping him off as to where Minamimoto is. Neku and Joshua ambush Minamimoto and defeat him- but Minamimoto unleashes his final attempt to kill Joshua- an imaginary number flare which hypothetically should erase him. Joshua shields Neku from the iflare, and pretends to sacrifice himself to do so.

• Neku's Game, due to Joshua's participation (and his misidentification as a living Player) is invalidated and he must survive one more week. Joshua spends this week trapped on an alternate world having teleported out of the way of the iflare. Hilariously, he spends this time playing Tin Pin, a TWEWY minigame, and even bullies his alternate world's version of Neku a little bit while awaiting collection.

• When Joshua arrives back in Shibuya, he finds an assassination attempt in the form of a revived and altered Minamimoto. He destroys him easily and then walks in on Neku having defeated his Conductor. In a last-ditch effort to save Shibuya, his Conductor assimilates Joshua and Neku's previous partners, becoming Draco Cantus. Neku, along with Joshua and his other partners eventually destroy the Conductor. Joshua fondly says goodbye to his Conductor and seems genuinely saddened by the fact it didn't work out.

• Joshua explains everything to a (horrified) Neku. While he could just destroy Shibuya, Joshua challenges Neku to one more Game. If Neku shoots him, he can become Composer and he can save Shibuya. If Joshua shoots Neku, Shibuya will be destroyed. At this point, Neku can't do it. He's changed along the way, and can't bring himself to actually kill someone in cold blood- whatever the reason. Sensing this, Joshua spares Shibuya- commenting that if Neku, someone explicitly chosen because they're the worst person in Shibuya, can change- then so can the city. But he does shoot Neku down. Again. Because it's funny.

• Joshua uses his power of reincarnation to resurrect Neku, his partners, and those important to his partners, placing them all back in the RG. Neku calls Joshua a friend and reaffirms his trust in him, even if it was broken. He invites Joshua to meet up at Hachiko as friends alongside everyone else, but Joshua does not turn up. Hanekoma later questions Joshua on his decision to not show; but Joshua declines to answer.

• Neku and Beat's return to the RG is tampered with. They are informed that they are in the "expert mode" of the Reaper's Game, which is a construction formed by Coco Atarashi, a Reaper, for the purpose of using Neku to "save" Shinjuku- a UG which is undergoing a Purification. (Essentially, Shibuya's fate.) Joshua realizes what Coco's plan is far too late, and attempts to save Neku. However, he fails and Neku is killed and transported to what was once Shinjuku's UG.

• Joshua and Hanekoma reflect on what has happened, and Joshua states that it's not his problem of what happens to Shibuya any longer and that Neku, having fulfilled his purpose, is no longer of concern to him. Later actions show these comments to be untrue.

• Three years later, Joshua chooses a new proxy for his Game against Kubo- (an Executor-class Angel who Joshua formed a Game with prior. Kubo lost- and was tasked to Erase Shinjuku instead of Shibuya. Kubo wishes to destroy Shibuya anyway.) named Rindo Kanade. Like Neku, he's a human boy from the RG. As he and Hanekoma are on a much shorter leash by the Higher Plane for their actions and interference in Shibuya's Game, and therefore do not involve themselves. Joshua, again, flees the UG to the RG, and this time does not reveal himself- even when a Shinjuku Reaper named Shiba claims he is Shibuya's Composer.

• Joshua (being Joshua) is watching, and does give Rindo back his pin when he drops it. Furthermore, he observes Rindo closely.

• On the final day of Rindo's Game, Joshua reveals himself to Beat and Neku, and assists Neku in forming a psychic link to every inhabitant within Shibuya's RG.

• Finally introducing himself to Rindo, Joshua observes that his friend Shoka is an Ex-Reaper on a time limit until erasure. Without warning, he erases Shoka. This seems like a dick move (and is treated as one by an oblivious Rindo) but Joshua's reasoning is that by winning the Reaper's Game as a Player, Shoka can choose to return to the RG as a human. She does, and Joshua considers that his reward for Rindo.

• Joshua admits to Neku in Udagawa (privately) that he was watching and protecting him all along in Shinjuku. He further explains that he intended to intervene and get destroyed by the higher plane if Rindo was unable to save Shibuya, but Haz's interference made it unneeded. He offers Neku, one last time, the chance of becoming Composer, but Neku refuses. In response, Joshua sorts through parallel worlds to find one where Neku was not killed by Coco and applies it to Shibuya- therefore granting Neku life again.

• Joshua meets with Haz, and concurs with him that humans are irrational creatures. He empathizes with Haz's concern that by interfering, he had fallen victim to a human's irrationality by responding with his own- and states that he's done the same thing himself.

[1] This is a pretty bold thing to say. Because of the seriousness of the subject matter I've got receipts. In Week 2, Day 5, an exchange goes down between Neku and Joshua which points out, as well as it can be pointed out in a nintendo game, that Joshua's death was something self-administered. There's more to this- Joshua reiterates the statement later on when Neku asks how he died- he simply states "I'm in the UG because I want to be. End of story."


Personality: MACHIAVELLIAN: Joshua is the epitome of morally grey. He has no problem abusing rules, items, conventions, or even people to get an objective done. This is something that stays with him throughout character development- IE: Early on in TWEWY he shoots Neku Sakuraba, a 15-year-old boy, dead in Udagawa because he needed a Proxy for his Game with Kitaniji. The fact Neku had never done anything to him, didn't know him, and hadn't even interacted with him hardly matters.

Mid-TWEWY, he fakes his death in order to a) save Neku, and b) regroup, given Kitaniji is onto him. At this point, Joshua knows Neku has pre-existing trauma associated with the death of a close friend. He knows Neku believes he (Joshua) is alive, and the same trauma would be repeated. But it's something that needs to be done.

In NEO, Joshua places Shoka in the UG to run her own Game without even explaining his intent and allowing Rindo to think Shoka is destroyed. The niceties of explaining aren't observed- he simply does it. The end certainly justifies the means with Joshua, and he is often called devious and sly.


MANIPULATOR: Joshua understands people, social convention, and humanity inside and out. He's a manipulator and adapts himself accordingly to a wide range of people to get what he wants. To illustrate this better than just providing a blanket statement, I'll use three different examples of his manipulations of different characters.

In Neku's case, he plays into his smarmy and smug side- knowing perfectly well what winds people the wrong way, which buttons to push to change the subject into something more immediate, and how to ensure any subject he doesn't want to explain is not pursued later. As a 15-year-old, Neku's teased relentlessly. His insecurities are highlighted and exploited in ways ranging from ridicule to flirtation- and Neku frequently finds himself blindsided with Joshua controlling the conversation.

Joshua's interactions with Kitaniji are different. He's respectful, polite and even kind- and while one might think Joshua has affection for him, it's more he's playing into the God complex Kitaniji has invented with regard to him in order to best use him. Like Neku, Joshua tends to control conversations with Kitaniji but in a completely different way.

In the case of Hanekoma, another side of Joshua is shown. Working as closely with Hanekoma as Joshua does, Joshua's machiavellian side indicates there's no reason to manipulate him. He tends to be short and brisk with Mr. H, acting more as a co-worker would than anything else.


ISOLATED: Joshua is very isolated. When Hanekoma tells Neku that Joshua could see the UG when he was alive, he states that "Not many people care to hear about that kind of thing" which indicates that Joshua was a social pariah. Even as Composer, Joshua only has contact with Hanekoma and Kitaniji, and does not normally contact Players or Reapers. He simply judges their collective worth at the end of every Game and takes action accordingly. As result, Joshua receives little to no contact with anyone and is distanced from social interaction and friendships.


JADED: In TWEWY, Joshua's knowledge of humanity and society is marked by a deep dislike of it. When he starts bonding with Neku, Neku insinuates that it’s impossible to understand others. Neku then voices his wish of being left alone, adding that people need to stop forcing their values on him. Joshua responds with the fact he'd sooner "get rid of them entirely."

One might assume Joshua to have misanthropic tendencies, but it's more Joshua is a being that is attuned to Shibuya. He's wrapped in the fabric of the city and exists to judge the worth of humankind. As we all know, humankind isn't wonderful. Shibuya especially at that point in time. Joshua does develop from this mindset. TWEWY forces his viewpoint to change as he starts to see the good, and during NEO's secret ending with Haz, he admits that his own actions with humans have been irrational. Furthermore, he states that he can't help but wish for humankind's success, even if it's ridiculous to do so.


FAIR: While Joshua is TWEWY's villain, he's not just that. He’s jaded and he’s got his hangups- but it needs to be mentioned that as Composer, Joshua designed, implemented, and oversees the Game's rules, and the point behind them is extremely well thought out. Joshua's Game actually gives Players a chance to succeed.

When you compare Joshua's Game to Shiba's in NEO, Shiba's Game is where you 1) don't have to be dead to enter, you're just taken, 2) Don't have any capacity to grow and develop, 3) Don't have a viable way to win, 4) are there for Shiba's entertainment, Joshua's Game has a greater purpose and a greater point, and is essential to the Higher Plane's greater plan.

In TWEWY's secret reports it's shown that the Game exists as a way of making sure humans with something to offer the world get to overcome death and get a second chance, with lessons learned and the capacity to make the world better. Such is reflected in Entry Fees. A Player must lose the most important thing to them to play Shibuya's Game. While cruel, Entry Fees are a device to help Players get over their hangups and grow as people. Humans which can't get over themselves wind up permanently erased. Either way, humanity wins. The secret reports also state that Joshua has "overflowing love" for humankind.


TOUGH: To hold a Composer position in Shibuya's UG (the most chaotic of them all) means that you're not weak. Every Reaper (except Kariya) would think nothing of sniping him in hopes of controlling the UG, but Joshua always keeps them in check easily. Joshua never gets worked up and takes everything in his stride. This attitude is often mistaken for arrogance (partially helped by his constantly cheerful disposition), something he has no problem with whatsoever.


WEAKNESSES: Joshua's main weakness is that he abides willingly by the outcome of his games. If challenged to a Game where the penalty of him losing is his existence, he'll willingly abide by the conclusion.
Even though Joshua can (and does) lie, he follows through when something's formalized.

Further weaknesses include his attachments, Hanekoma and Neku specifically. While knowing that Hanekoma was out to disrupt Shibuya’s deciding Game, he doesn't call him out on it. It is implied that after TWEWY, Hanekoma and he only still work together because of Joshua's insistence. Joshua also goes above and beyond in making sure Neku survives Shinjuku and that his actions in NEO's ending don't fry his brain, even if according to Joshua himself (he's lying), Neku has already fulfilled his purpose and doesn't mean anything to him.


MISC: The kanji of Joshua's Japanese name (Kiryu Yoshiya) literally translates from left to right as flower, birth, justice, increasing. This may also refer to his role as the creator of the Game and suggests impartiality within it, which is reflected in his character- as well as his character development at large.
Abilities & Inventory:
INVENTORY: an angel feather and a 2021 smartphone.

ABILITIES (active): telekinesis, (Nerfed: inanimate objects only) telepathy (subject to player consent) clairvoyance, precognition. (Nerfed: Joshua may pick up snippets but he won't get anything substantial.)

ABILITIES (inactive/omitted/not happening, ever): Event collapse, human memory manipulation, human form manipulation, teleportation between dimensions/parallels, apportation of items from parallels, resurrection of the dead.

ABILITIES (future dreamotion-based abilities): Apportation of items from songreign, physical levitation, jesusbeams.


Suitability & Plans: Joshua connected with quite a few people from canon and non-canon from the TDM, and I'd like to take things further!

With regard to him as a character, I'd be so happy if Joshua got the opportunity to exist in a society (of sorts) again, given the development he's gone through in TWEWY. As you've probably observed from his personality section, Joshua's a character that is very isolated- and the implication is that he's actually kind of sad about that. He'll never be interested in the RG. He's burned that bridge in TWEWY's secret ending- but something like a dreamscape that's full of nonhumans / humans from very different environments is right up his alley. He'll view it as an adventure! (And the knowledge that he's just dreaming prevents him from worrying about his UG and seeking a way out- something I've struggled with in other games.)

Otherwise, as a player I'm pretty into the idea of the landscape changing over time, and I'm more than happy with the idea of forming plot arcs for myself and CR as well as having the odd mod-posted event as general guidance rather than a case of 'this is all that you're doing'.


Test Drive Sample: Joshua's toplevel and reaching out. Here's a new one just in case these have expired.

Questions: No questions but I hereby promise that I will stop being stupid in future and not miss AC again.