KiraNobu

### Canon?

Semi-canon, one-sided feelings on Shinobu's side, slightly implied on Kira's end.

### Tropes

Beast and Beauty, Dating Catwoman, Please Don't Leave Me, Hair Contrast Duo, Opposites Attract

### Level of Popularity

Medium

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## Ship

**KiraNobu** is the pairing between Yoshikage Kira (吉良 吉影 *Kira Yoshikage*) and Shinobu Kawajiri (川尻 しのぶ *Kawajiri Shinobu*).

Both characters are from the 4th installment of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Diamond is Unbreakable.

## Popularity Level

KiraNobu is relatively popular in the fandom, only having 132 works on Archive of Our Own and 259 works on pixiv. It is most commonly known as KiraShino (吉良しの) in the Japanese fandom, and, of course, KiraNobu in the English fandom.

## First Seen In

Manga: *Diamond is Unbreakable* - Chapter 104, "Atom Heart Father, Part 5" (アトム・ハート・ファーザー その⑤ *Atomu Hāto Fāzā Sono 5*)

Anime: *Diamond is Unbreakable* - Episode 25, "Atom Heart Father" (アトム・ハート・ファーザー *Atomu Hāto Fāzā*)

## Notable Moments

### Atom Heart Father

Shinobu is introduced as an apathetic housewife who is unhappy with her marriage. Her husband, Kosaku Kawajiri, was apparently a very dull man who lived life by a very basic routine. When Kosaku returns home one day, he begins cooking dinner for the first time in their marriage.

Throughout the day, Shinobu continues to notice her husband's sudden change in demeanor and lifestyle, slowly growing suspicious of his behaviour. Her suspicion only grows when their landlord shows up, demanding money that Kosaku has apparently been failing to pay for months. Despite Shinobu urging him to take the cash from their safe, Kosaku instead approaches the landlord directly and summons Killer Queen, removing the lock on the landlord's bag and stealing his money, then pretending to pay the man with enough money to cover their current debt and in the following months. When Shinobu realises he most likely stole the money, she starts to fall in love with him again, thinking of his new behaviour as romantic.

Unbeknownst to her, this Kosaku isn't who she thinks he is — in fact, it was Kira all along, masquerading as her dead husband.

### I'm an Alien

Now that summer has arrived, more tourists are coming to town as the team's investigations turn to be fruitless. One night, as Kira practises Kosaku's handwriting, he looks out the window to see a small group of female tourists passing by, causing his nails to grow at an uncontrollable rate as he tries to resist his murderous impulses. Shinobu almost catches his strange behaviour when she enters their room to serve him tea, but he luckily manages to cover up his handwriting practices with a book.

As she starts to undress, Kira quietly approaches from behind her, nearly strangling Shinobu before she recoils in surprise at his sudden touch. Shinobu mistakes it as a gesture for sexual advances. Meanwhile, Hayato Kawajiri unsuspectingly watches them from a camera hidden at the top corner of the room's ceiling.

### Cats Love Yoshikage Kira

One rainy evening, Shinobu finds a mysterious stray cat in their basement and it accidentally dies. She returns to Kira and begs him for help, explaining the whole situation, also taking the opportunity to hug him and nuzzle her head against his chest. After she does so, Kira goes down to the basement, followed by Shinobu, only to find the cat dead with glass shards fatally pierced into its body during a previous fight with her. Shinobu is immediately stricken with grief, and cries in Kira's arms, while the latter attempts to comfort her. Kira then buries the cat in their backyard.

The next day, the cat is revived as Stray Cat, and upon seeing Shinobu, blames her for its death and fires an air bubble at her foot, tearing off her toenail, causing her to run back inside to call Kira for help again. After a bit of investigation, Kira summons Killer Queen, squaring off with Stray Cat. During their fight, Stray Cat uses an air bubble to explode a nearby cactus, covering Kira and Shinobu in cactus spines. Kira quickly covers Shinobu and panics that she got hit, but is immediately stunned when he realises he just expressed worry over some woman. He dismisses it as not wanting Jotaro and the team to find out about them easily, but whether romantic feelings actually sparked within his heart in this moment is not confirmed.

The next day, Shinobu ponders upon the events surrounding the stray cat. Kira manages to convince her that the cat's curse was but a figment of her imagination, while she simultaneously expresses infatuated embarrassment that she fainted in front of her husband.

### Another One Bites the Dust, Part 1

After getting struck with the Stand Arrow a second time, Killer Queen gains a new ability, causing Kira to be more confident about his victory. While Shinobu prepares breakfast, Kira appears with a new haircut and demeanor, Hayato growing more worried and suspicious of his sudden change of his behaviour. Getting lost in his thoughts, he unintentionally ignores Shinobu, causing her to accidentally break her teapot after tripping over a mat, getting angry at her son for not answering the phone.

Kira calms them down and plays the part of a good father, giving Shinobu a goodbye kiss before leaving, frustrating Hayato even further.

### Another One Bites the Dust, Part 2

After one of Kira's enemies dies, time rewinds to the breakfast at the Kawajiri's. When Kira tries to kiss Shinobu on the cheek again, Hayato ruins the moment by making his teapot fall on the ground. Kira is seemingly unfazed by this incident.

### Goodbye, Morioh - The Golden Heart

Hayato is left distraught after the battle with Kira, as Shinobu obliviously waits for her husband to return. Unbeknownst to her, both the man she fell in love with and the man she regretfully married has died.

## Reasons for Popularity

Most of their fans ship them because they find it endearing that Kira eventually warmed up to Shinobu in the end, treating her better than Kosaku ever could, but at the same time, others find it creepy that a serial killer is playing as her dead husband and she's none the wiser.

## Links

Kawajiri Shinobu/Kira Yoshikage (JoJo: Diamond is Unbreakable) on AO3

Posts tagged kiranobu on Tumblr / Posts tagged kirashino on Tumblr

#kiranobu on Twitter / 吉良しの on Twitter

吉良しの on pixiv