This is a list of characters featured in the Capcom video game series Viewtiful Joe and its respective anime series. The series centers around its namesake and main protagonist Joe, an action cinema fan who is pulled into the world of films, Movieland, where he gains a special V-Watch and the power to transform into the superhero identity dubbed Viewtiful Joe. The plot of the franchise and anime series canon mostly consists of the first two releases. The first game, Viewtiful Joe, is about Joe's attempt to rescue his girlfriend Silvia from the hands of an evil syndicate known as Jadow, while Viewtiful Joe 2 is about Joe and Silvia's mission to save Movieland from the equally threatening organization called Gedow. The remaining titles Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble and Viewtiful Joe: Double Trouble! act as side stories.
Characters in the series were designed and illustrated by Kumiko Suekane. The concept for the character Viewtiful Joe was given to Suekane by series producer Atsushi Inaba, who denotes himself as fan of American comic books. After giving Suekane a "rough mental image" of Joe, Inaba was relayed with concepts for the rest of the cast.[1] The designs are inspired by Japanese tokusatsu television programs about costumed superheroes, which were popularized in 1960s and 1970s.[2][3] Despite a somewhat negative reception from child focus groups regarding the characters' appearances and personalities, Hideki Kamiya, the director of the first game, chose to keep the ideas.[4]
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Voiced by: Christina Puccelli (games), Natsuko Kuwatani (Japanese), Philece Sampler (English anime)
Sexy Silvia (セクシー シルヴィア Sekushi Shiruvia) is Joe's girlfriend and the daughter of Captain Blue. After being kidnapped by her father to be used as a sacrifice in Viewtiful Joe, she is rescued by Joe, and reunites with a reconciled Captain Blue. She convinces Blue to give her a V-Watch of her own, allowing her to fight alongside Joe as Sexy Silvia.[5] She continues to play both supporting and playable roles in subsequent games. She distinguishes herself from Joe by using two guns to fight, and has an overall different moveset. Silvia has the Replay VFX action, which replays an action three times, allowing three times the damage when timed correctly. Silvia's transformation phrase is the same as Joe's. She can't see anything without her glasses. She makes a cameo in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars and Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds in one of Viewtiful Joe's hyper combos. In the TV series, when she was kidnapped and held in the castle tower prison, instead of playing the damsel in distress she took on a more domineering role, usually forcing the minions to get her what ever she wanted.
Goldie is Silvia's twin sister, and they are completely identical in every way except for the fact that Silvia wears glasses. She is only ever mentioned in the first game, and then only in the extra stories as a stand in for Silvia. She appears in Silvia's story and Alastor's story, being kidnapped by Blue in both. In the latter, however, she ends up becoming a romantic interest for Alastor.
Voiced by: Gregg Berger (games), Banjou Ginga (Japanese), Bob Papenbrook from ep. 1-21 George C. Cole in ep. 23 - (English anime)
Captain Blue (キャプテン ブルー Kyaputen Buru) is a superhero featured primarily in movies of the Viewtiful Joe universe. Originally known as Director Blue, the father of Silvia, he was renowned for directing superhero movies, especially those of the action hero Captain Blue. Eventually the fans moved on, and Captain Blue was forgotten, though Director Blue was inexplicably drawn to Movieland to have a chance at being a hero. However, in the process, Blue began to forget all about his family, and, in time, succumbed to the growing darkness in his soul, wanting revenge on the audience that spurned him.[6]
At the start of the series, he founds the evil Jadow organization, leading it in the background as its Almighty Leader, in order to escape Movieland and dominate the real world. In order to do so, he kidnaps Silvia to use as a sacrifice, and posing as a good guy, gives Joe his V-Watch. After being defeated in his giant robot King Blue, he comes to his senses, reunites with Silvia, and returns to being a director and actor in subsequent games.
Ivory is Blue's wife. She has only appeared in Blue's story in the first game as a replacement for Silvia. Ivory has short brown hair and wears a pink outfit. In Blue's story, Ivory is captured by King Blue, leading Captain Blue into battle with his own dark counterpart.
Voiced by: Mikey Kelley (games), Shinichiro Miki (Japanese), Ross Lawrence (English anime)
Blade Master Alastor (電刃魔神 アラストル Den ha Majin Arasutoru) is a lightning demon from Movieland's underworld. He appears as a recurring boss and sometimes as a playable character. He is also known as The Midnight Thunderboy, Stylish Alastor, simply Alastor and occasionally by the nickname Al. Though he is originally allied with Jadow, Alastor doesn't give much thought about his position, but instead longs to seek out the ultimate battle.[7] He sees himself as the arch-rival of Joe, and always appears with the intent to defeat him.
Alastor is the manifested spirit that animated the Alastor sword in Devil May Cry, another video game directed by Hideki Kamiya. Many of his moves are taken from the game, and the sword and lightning he uses look very similar. When Dante fights Alastor in the PlayStation 2 version of Viewtiful Joe, Alastor accuses Dante of treating him badly and forgetting about him. Dante responds by saying Alastor "really knows how to hold a grudge."
In all media, he mainly appears in Blade Master form as a humanoid figure in purple spandex and light body armor. He wears a helmet with a pair of purple ibex horns, and has wings and a pointed tail. In Viewtiful Joe and Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble, he also appears in an un-Henshined form, where he has pointed ears and spiked black hair, and wears a black suit with a white stole embroidered with winged skulls. In Viewtiful Joe 2, he is transformed by the Black Film into a more bestial demon form called Underworld Emperor Alastor who says to Joe and Sylvia "I am Alastor, the weak shall pierce their hearts and swear eternal loyalty to me!" (a minor variation of the words spoken before he impaled Dante in Devil May Cry).
Voiced by: Keith Szarabajka (games), Juurouta Kosugi (anime)
Jet Black (ジェットブラック Jietto Burakku) is Joe's father and a movie theater owner. It is conjectured that his last name (and thus also the last name of his wife and children) is Black, based on the name of one of his henshin forms, Dark Emperor Jet Black. It is also possible that it could simply be part of the title.
Jet originally helped Blue achieve his initial level of fame by allowing Blue's movies to be shown in his theater. During his work, he met the actress Junko, and the two were soon wed and had their first child, Joe. He wanted to show his son a true hero, and after finding the Black Film, a cursed piece of celluloid, his wife soon died in a car accident after giving birth to Jasmine. Jet's ideals were twisted into something else entirely. Jet found himself obsessed with finding the seven Rainbow Oscars, which would allow him to control the fate of Movie World, but more importantly, would make him the ultimate hero for his son. In Viewtiful Joe 2, he obtains a Black V-Watch, and forms Gedow as the Black Emperor to attack Movie World after King Blue's defeat. Joe and Silvia eventually beat him, and Jet reverts back to normal.
Jet's henshin costume is a modified Samurai-style armor, with a crescent on the helmet and all black, he changes into this form by saying "Tenshin" (Roughly Translated as "Divine Will"). In the final battle, he changes his costume to all-white instead (due to using the Rainbow Oscars). The colors associated with Jet seem to be black and white.
In the anime, Jet assists Joe, Silvia, and Junior as in the game, but the Rainbow Oscars are not present. Instead, the Black Emperor simply attempts to take over Movieland by spreading darkness and turning movies into "Black Films".
Voiced by: Tara Strong (games), Makoto Tsumura (Japanese), Katie Leigh (English anime)
Captain Blue Jr. (キャプテン ブルー ジュニア Kyaputen Buru Junia) is a character who originated in the Viewtiful Joe anime. He was Captain Blue's successor until Joe comes along, and because Joe is the one who receives Blue's V-Watch, he is very jealous of Joe. Despite his jealousy, Junior decides to be Joe's sidekick. Later, Junior is offered a V-Watch but refuses, so Blue just gave Junior a small case that contains two V-Yoyos that allow him to transform. Blue Jr.'s transformation line is "Henshin-a-Yo-Yo, Baby!!" Captain Blue Jr. appeared in a game for the very first time in Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble. He uses many yo-yo based attacks. Appropriately, his transformation phrase is "Henshin a Yo-Yo Ball Baby!".
Voiced by: Vanessa Marshall (games), Mayumi Asano (Japanese), Wendee Lee (English anime)
Sprocket (スプロケット Supuroketto) was made specifically for the anime, and has only appeared in one game, Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble. In the anime, she is a voluptous villain who is actually from the real world, antagonizing the main cast up until the end of the series. In Red Hot Rumble, Sprocket joins the ranks among the games' heroes as Captain Blue's assistant.
Jadow is the sinister organization that Joe initially fights in the first game, and in the anime series. The members also appear as playable characters and bosses in Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble. Their forces are many and their influence is wide. They are secretly led by Blue, but their members are made up of:
Gedow is the invasion force controlled by the Black Emperor in Viewtiful Joe 2. Their units are surprisingly similar to the Jadow's. Besides the Black Emperor, Gedow consists of:
Voiced by: Hynden Walch
Jasmine is Joe's younger sister and an aspiring actress. In Viewtiful Joe: Double Trouble!, she finally lands her big break when she is cast as the leading lady in Captain Blue's newest movie.[9] However, when the movie's footage is stolen by the evil Madow henchmen, she teams up with Joe and Silvia to retrieve it and defeat the Madow. After learning the true value of justice at the end of the game, she is able to transform into a superheroine.[10]
Voiced by: Hynden Walch
Junko was Jet's wife and an award winning actress. She received great acclaim while alive through her roles as the heroine in Blue's movies. However, her career eventually hit rock bottom, and she found it difficult to get back into the limelight. One night on the way to an audition, she was caught in a car crash and was severely injured.[11] Despite the hospital's best efforts, Junko died from her injuries. In Viewtiful Joe: Double Trouble!, she comes back to life for a single day and takes on the guise of Queen Heinderella to act as a villain, so she can see how strong her children have grown up to be. After being defeated, she reveals herself, and says goodbye for one last time.
Madow is a group created by Queen Heinderella as a sort of test for Joe and Jasmine in Viewtiful Joe: Double Trouble!.[12] Their main soldiers are the Clownies, while their top subordinates are fellow movie heroes, corrupted to serve Madow after being drained of their "hero-ness", the very essence of one's heroic personality. It's later revealed that they join Madow willingly as part of Junko's test for her kids. The members include:
Tsukumo is a ghost-like creature who only appears in Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble, haunting the movie set where Blue is filming his new movie. At first, his presence goes unnoticed, but, over the course of the game's Story Mode, he silently arranges to sabotage the picture by stealing and replacing props and putting the crew in increasingly dangerous situations. He is enraged that all the mechanical cameras, microphones, and other movie-making devices are never given an actual role in the very movies they help to make. After being defeated, Joe explains that they play an integral part in the process, so he leaves happily. Blue, meanwhile, decides to make Tsukumo the star of his picture, much to everyone's surprise.
Voiced by: Drew Coombs
Dante is the primary protagonist of Devil May Cry who appears as an unlockable character in the PlayStation 2 version of Viewtiful Joe and the PSP version of Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble. In Viewtiful Joe, he goes to rescue Trish from Captain Blue, and during the story almost all the dialogue is spoken in reverse, with the exception of Dante's catchphrase, "Devil May Cry's a rockin' baby, yeah!", a possible reference to Austin Powers. While his 'Viewtiful' form shows him wearing his signature red jacket, in his regular form he just wears a pair of black boxers.
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