Joe Kido

Joe Kido (城戸 丈) is a character in the anime and manga series Digimon Adventure and Digimon Adventure 02. He is in the 7th grade. He is partnered to Gomamon. In the Japanese anime, Joe has two older brothers, named Shin and Shuu. The two brothers were treated as if they were one person, named "Jim" in the English version of the anime due to choices that were made in the dubbing process. Joe's father planned on the boys to each become a doctor, a tradition which had existed since the Edo period. Joe is the bearer of the Crest of Reliability (Honesty in Japan).

Prelude to Digimon Adventure
He witnessed the Greymon/Parrotmon fight. As a result he became a Digidestined.

Digimon Adventure
In spite of his constant worrying (to the point of him being a nervous wreck) and his tendency to feel "allergic" to everything around him (dub only), Joe has a strong sense of responsibility. In many instances, he takes it upon himself to be the voice of reason within the group and tries, often without success, to steer the other DigiDestined away from reckless action. He is often perceived as being a "stick in the mud" and his "safety first" attitude is often the source of teasing from other characters, especially Gomamon, his Digimon partner who feels he should lighten up and look on the bright side of things. Joe is certainly extremely intelligent and although Izzy is deemed as the smartest of the group Joe does appear to have a much more practical knowledge base than Izzy demonstrated by his abilities to administer basic medical treatment and in the third episode of the series use his knowledge of astronomy to try and determine where the group is.

However, his sense of responsibility sometimes leads him into selfless and brave actions. His Crest of Reliability first activated during a battle with MegaSeadramon whom he and T. K. Takaishi encountered en route to Odaiba. Joe was able to save T.K. from drowning at his own expense. Because he was able to put T.K.’s safety before his own, Ikkakumon was able to Digivolve into his Ultimate form Zudomon for the first time. Also, shortly after the DigiDestined returned to the Digital World and Mimi Tachikawa lost the will to fight due to the untimely death of a few close Digimon allies, Joe decided to be the one to stay with her so she wouldn’t be alone. Whilst escaping from Piedmon across a chasm with rope swings that required the digidestined to go one at a time, Joe remained until last to ensure the others safety ahead of his own. Additionally when Piedmon caught up with them, Joe effectively sacrificed himself by using the last seconds before he was captured to try and get Izzy to safety instead.

Between Digimon Adventure and Digimon 02
In May 2000, Joe arrived in the Digital World and gave up his Crest power to free the Digimon Sovereigns. As a result, Gomamon lost the power to become Zudomon.

Digimon Adventure 02
All his studying pays off as he is now a senior in a private middle school (junior in a private high school in the English dub). He later is busy studying for the high school entrance exams (college entrance exams in dub) while helping the others out with the spare time that he has. One of his older brothers, Shuu, is revealed to be studying folklore under Professor Takenouchi, Sora's father. He attends Wada Cram School (和田進学塾) every day after school to prepare for exams.

The Road to Armor Evolution
Much of Joe's family history was revealed as well as how his father now accepts his son's choice to carry on their tradition or not. It was because of Joe that the D-Terminals were all mixed up & new Armor forms were introduced to fight Pukumon. Interestingly, Joe was seen dating Yolei's sister Momoe.

Revenge of Diaboromon
At the beginning of the movie, Joe was busy trying to register himself in a university of his choice (high school in the Japanese verison). Later on, he helped secure some bikes for Davis and Ken so they could get to the harbor, which was where their partners were.

Digimon Adventure 02 Series Finale Epilogue


By the year 2027, Joe has become the first Doctor for Digimon, and taking along with the job, all the complications that occur because of it (like his patients eating the tongue depressors). In a way his family's tradition continues and his son (who very closely resembles him, and has a Bukamon) may carry it out as well. His second eldest brother, Shuu, appears to be working with Izzy and Sora's father to study the Digital World.

Other appearances
In Digimon Xros Wars: The Young Hunters Who Leapt Through Time, a young man that looks like Joe is seen at the arcade.

Trivia

 * Joe has two Japanese image songs, "Chigau Boku ga Iru" ("There's Another Me") and "Kaze ni Mukatte" ("Face the Wind") as well as a third one sung with Gomamon (Takeuchi Junko) called "Sora wo Crawl" ("Crawl Across the Sky").


 * In the Malay dub, Jou's family name is mistakenly introduced as Shiroto (episode 5, Digimon 02) and mistakenly identified as Shirobi (episode 34, Digimon 02)