Joesara

Joesara is the het ship between Joe Tazuna and Sara Chidouin from the Your Turn To Die fandom.

Canon
Before the events of the game, Sara gives Joe a dog keychain that Ryoko won at the arcade. Joe keeps the dog in his breast pocket during the events of the game.

Chapter 1
At the start of the game, Joe comes back to their school to see Sara as she is leaving. He claims his intention was to brag about his date earlier, and walks home with Sara. When walking together, Joe asks if she wants to hold hands, and expresses his concern for Sara's well-being due to her "stalker".

When questioned as to whether that's why he walks home with Sara, he is caught off guard and states "D...Dummy... I just wanted to brag..." When Sara enters the house and finds her mother collapsed, Joe appears again, telling Sara to stay calm and asks if she's called for any help.

When exploring, Joe playfully teases Sara about her height, saying a painting on the wall is "just barely out of [her] reach." Sara states that she grew a centimeter, and jokes that she'll grow taller than him. He then tells Shin Tsukimi to keep watch of Sara for him. After some of the participants are locked in the Blue Room, Joe comes up to Sara to ask if she is hurt. When told the rules of the Russian Roulette game, he asks if the challenger will be safe, and after being told yes, he asks if Sara will be the challenger and seems happy to be a target as long as it is definite that she survives. He also encourages her to show that she's worth trusting, telling her to ask him if she's not sure, and that they can "stress about it together."

After Russian Roulette, Joe offers to search with Sara as Shin had disappeared. He also offers for Sara his shoulder for her to rest on and relax, when she tells him that she was feeling drained from Russian Roulette. It is evident that Joe cares a lot about Sara's mental and physical wellbeing.

In the second part of Chapter 1, Joe shares his doubts about Keiji Shinogi and asks Sara her opinion on him, the conversation ending with her agreeing to look into it and Joe telling her not to push herself too much. For most of the investigation they take separate paths, though they see each other again before the main game and talk about Ryoko Hirose and Joe's date. He says they got on to talking about Sara a lot on the date.

Joe isn't a major force at the start of the main game, but still mostly attempts to support and encourage Sara, as well as making observations to back up her points ("The blackboard in the bar..."). In the final round, under the impression that he's the sage, Sara wrestles with herself as to whether she should confess this or not. Pressured by everyone else, Joe claims that Sara is the Keymaster. When his true card is revealed, he apologizes to the group, then directly to Sara for tricking her. Some of his last words are "I love ya, Sara! You're my best friend!"

Sara is shocked and in disbelief, begging to die in Joe's place.

Chapter 2
Upon reaching the third floor, Sara begins experiencing hallucinations of Joe, formed by her heavy guilt, believing that she is the reason Joe died.

While investigating the passageway in the rubble room, Keiji asks Sara if she liked Joe, which she can give a number of responses to. It is evident that she really cares for Joe and misses him.

At the end of the second Main Game, Sara's vote determines who dies.

If Kanna is voted for, Shin activates a malicious AI of Joe for Sara to see in the Room of Rubble. While Sara knows that it can't be real, because there shouldn't be an AI of Joe, she ignores that and is ecstatic to see Joe again. At first he seems harmless, but he quickly turns cruel. The Joe AI psychologically torments her, and images of Joe's death flash rapidly on the monitor. Sara passes out, and upon waking up, does not remember who Joe is.

If Shin is voted for, Shin realizes Sara isn't a bad person after all and uses his final moments to activate the real Joe AI. Sara is so happy to see him again, and breaks out crying. Joe is surprised and asks her what's wrong, and Sara laments that she couldn't do anything in the end and killed him. Joe comforts her, and tells her those tears don't suit her. He reminds her of many memories they had together, and asserts that she always make choices he can trust. He assures Sara that he'll never hate her. He puts his hand to the screen, and mirroring his last words before he died, says "I love ya Sara. You're my best friend!" Sara matches her hand to Joe's, and reciprocates the words. Finally, the Joe AI switches off. Having gotten closure, Sara's hallucinations of Joe cease.

Chapter 3
On the fourth floor, Sara finds a replica of Joe's dog charm in the classroom that looks like hers and Joe's from school.

Later on, Midori reveals to Sara that the only reason Joe got involved in the Death Game was to balance out Sara's high win rate. Sara gets extremely angered by this, and tries to assault Midori, begging him to bring back Joe and everyone else. In the Shin route, she only refers to Joe as "her best friend", and not by name, as she had forgotten about him.

Manga
In the official manga, it is implied that Sara holds a small crush or secret admiration for Joe, as she silently states her jealousy towards Ryoko when Joe walks her home, and when she states what she believed would be her last words in the First Trial ("Joe, you know I..."). In chapter four, Shin mistakes the two as lovers, much to Sara's embarrassment.

Smaller Notes

 * From Joe's perspective in the First Trial, he thinks of Sara as his best friend.
 * In the introduction phase, Joe states that he ran upstairs to help Sara when he heard her screaming.
 * If Sara asks Joe to search with her, he refuses, opting to search with Keiji instead.
 * When looking around the central hall, Shin notes that "Joe came carrying [Sara] into the hall here."
 * Joe is generally supportive of Sara in discussions and in general.

Quotes
"...You know... We were hanging out all the time before we even knew it, huh? Having stupid talks on summer break, buying junk food after school, getting Ryoko laughing at us... And when my grades tanked, you were the one freaking out, Sara! Never asked to go studying. Oh, and I remember all those dumb requests you made me sing at karaoke! I sang with all I had, so you were cracking up! ... Every day was super fun, man. And when bad stuff happened and it wasn't fun, you were there talking to me. Sara. I feel nothin' but gratitude for ya."

- Joe AI to Sara (Kanna Lives route)

"...Sara. Believe in yourself. I'll always follow ya. Y'know... like a dog!"

- Joe AI to Sara (Kanna Lives route)

Fanon
Joesara has a lot of popularity among fans, likely due to the two already being close as well as the fact that as the protagonist, Sara's thoughts and feelings towards Joe are shown to the player.

The ship mainly sailed due to the two being so close and because of some popular/cute tropes that they fit into- ex. a more serious character x a wild, fun character.

Some people in the fandom see this as more of a close friendship or an unrequited love on Sara's side, considering that Joe canonically is dating as he states multiple times in media such as the 4komas and Twitter sketches, and as the two of them went on their first date together before the start of the game.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

TUMBLR

WIKI
 * on
 * on

Variations

 * Joesaramaru refers to the ship between the two and Ranmaru Kageyama
 * Ryojoesara refers to the ship between the two and Ryoko Hirose