Joshua Christopher

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Joshua Christopher is a fictional character from the Chrono Crusade anime and manga series. He hold allegiance to Aion's Sinners, and is also the Apostle of Hope and Rosette Christopher's younger brother.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Life with the Sinners 3 Manga Differences 4 Trivia 5 References

[edit] Early life

Joshua, with his sister Rosette, were brought to the Seventh Bell orphanage at the age of eleven and cared for by Miss Gene. Shortly after, he had discovered that he had the ability to heal and started to use his new found power. However at one time he had overused his power causing him to develop flu-like symptoms. Though he was sick and the rest of the children (especially Rosette) showed signs of great concern, he kept an optimistic perception and encouraged the others to be happy despite his condition.

Although Joshua ‘looked on the bright side’ in most situations, his condition caused him to be confined to a bed. During this time, he became bitter on the inside and questioned why he could heal other people and not use his power for himself.

These feelings are mostly towards Rosette’s courageous and cheerful attitude. This created for Joshua a sense of jealousy towards her. As he spent the days in bed, he had always envied her and the other children and their happiness. He wanted to be stronger so he could go outside and play with the other children. He wanted to be like them. All of these negative emotions would prove to cost him in the end.

Because of Joshua’s status of being an Apostle, the Order had decided to put him into protective custody. They felt that he was vulnerable to the demons, especially the Sinners. Father Remington was set on the Order’s behalf. Although he spoke good things and most trusted him, Rosette didn’t trust him. She felt that he was going to take Joshua away (which was true). Led by this feeling, Rosette and Joshua entered the forest.

Rosette and Joshua soon met Chrono. As Chrono introduced himself as a devil, Joshua’s interests shot up. He asked all sorts of questions about Chrono. Soon after, they had all become best of friends. Joshua revealed his dream to Chrono once he had gotten to know him better. Denounced to Joshua, however, Rosette had other plans.

Because of his feelings towards the other children and Rosette, Joshua was at a point when he couldn’t take his own feelings. As Remington offered him the chance for the Order to come and take him, he thought about his sister and reasons for his actions. He felt that Rosette could do so much more if he wasn’t there to worry her. He then posed the question to Remington whether he would get stronger if he went with him. Remington replied that remained to be seen.

That night, he thought about his feelings and how his life treated him unfairly. He then heard a voice to come to the window. It was the sinner Aion in the form of a bird. Aion offered Joshua power through horns that belonged to Chrono. He said it would give him the power that he wanted for so long. With his morale and beliefs weakened by his feelings and emotions, Joshua accepted the power of the horns. Joshua agonized and let out a scream as the horns took form.

The orphans and Miss Gene came to investigate the scream. Joshua exited the room with blood on his face and horns on his head, which caused the others to move back in horror. Joshua asked why everyone was moving away from him, and then the horns infused him with power. Billy, one of the orphans, tried to run away in fear, but Joshua's new found power to read minds translated Billy's emotion into a noise that Joshua couldn’t handle. Screaming, Joshua engulfed Billy in a purple blast that turned him to stone. Joshua came to the conclusion that the noise would stop if he petrified everyone.

Rosette and Chrono arrived at the scene, where they witnessed Joshua's terrible powers. After seeing his sister, Joshua was relieved and calmed down temporarily. Joshua told Rosette about the power he received; and that Rosette didn't need to become a doctor now that he was "cured." When Rosette told Joshua that she wanted him to be himself again, he temporarily regained his sanity and warned her and Chrono to get away before he petrified them too. Moments later he turned everything around him into stone.

[edit] Life with the Sinners

Years later at 16 Joshua became a member of the Sinners. While cared for by Fiore, Satella’s older sister, he repeatedly states his utmost loyalty and adherence to Aion's plans. Later on, Joshua began to see Fiore as Rosette and forgot about his real sister completely. Although he was in good graces with Aion himself, the other Sinners despised him because he was human.

Later into the story, Joshua again meets Rosette but shows no recognition of her, having already replaced her in his mind with Fiore. As Rosette attempts to kill Aion, Joshua intercepts her and tries to kill Rosette unsuccessfully. While partaking in the Ritual of Atonement, the noise he had heard at the orphanage returned again he targeted Rosette, believing her to be the cause of it. However, Chrono interferes and the noise vanished. Moments later, Joshua and Chrono engage in a battle after Rosette awakens as the 8th virtue. Chrono was successful in removing the horns that Joshua had worn, causing Joshua to lose consciousness.

Later Fiore took Joshua out of the order in which he appeared to have lost his memory. Chrono and Azmaria quickly retrieve him as Satella and Fiore duel to the death.

In the last episode, Joshua is reverted back to his old self: a 11-year old trapped in a 16-year old body. He spends his time drawing pictures and telling Remington about a boy, a girl and their friend and their adventures, and how he plans on making it into a good book.

[edit] Manga Differences

The main differences between the anime and manga Joshua lie in how he recovered after the horns are ripped off, also to detail why he needed by Aion. In the anime, Joshua's horns are ripped off by Chrono and his mental state diminishes to believing he's an 11 year old and having no memories of his past. In the manga, however, Rosette shoots one of Joshua's horns off, and after remembering the Seventh Bell incident and the promise he made with Rosette ("to grow up and being adult together"), he rips off the other, realizing that he should not depends on other's power to be an adult he hoped. Remembering everything, he and Rosette hug and he clutches her, appologizing for his actions. They both leave to fight the remainder of the battle in Eden; against Aion and the remaining sinners. In the epilogue, he is seen in his early 20's working for the Magdalene order. It is later implied that he's married to Azmaria Hendric.

In anime, the Apostles is needed to perform the ritual to call forth the miasma, while in the manga, Aion need Apostles as "Astral Guide Liner" to guide massive Astral Line power to Pandemominium, poisoning her and stripping her control toward all demon, causing all horned demon to go frenzy and had their body growing unproportionally, to the point of self-destruct, that can harm all living things on Earth. However, someone with powerful mind control could control the growth process, like Chrono after retaking his own horn. When he reattached his horn, his body start to grow uncontrollable, but using all his willpower, he finally could control the growth process.

[edit] Trivia

• In an interview with ADV Manga, when asked which character he related to the most, author Daisuke Moriyama replied that he relates to Joshua the most. This is because Joshua feels a gap between the person he wanted to be and the person he actually is, which are the same feelings Moriyama felt as a child.^[1]

[edit] References