Koichi Hirose

Personal background

According to Rohan Kishibe's investigation with Heaven's Door, Koichi was born at Morioh Red Cross Hospital at 6:27 a.m. on March 28, 1984. He was premature, weighed 2,325 grams and spent seven days in an incubator. Besides his parents, his family includes an older sister named Ayana Hirose. His tell when frightened is to blink twice.

Personality

Koichi is honest and easy to like. He is more easily frightened than most people, but can find the courage to overcome his fear at critical moments. Gentle and rarely dominant in social situations, he usually accommodates other people's ideas. Almost anyone can get along with him, and this openness earns him many sincere friendships. He is also emotional, impulsive and not always calm: he expresses his feelings with excitement and makes little effort to hide his thoughts. His straightforward nature often leaves him taking other people's orders or being teased, although he occasionally puts up a little resistance.

Koichi's Stand, Echoes, takes its name from the Pink Floyd song Echoes. It is the first evolving Stand in the series, with each transformation corresponding to a breakthrough in Koichi's personal growth.

• Echoes ACT1: Destructive Power E, Speed E, Range B, Persistence B, Precision C and Development Potential A. It turns sounds into written words embedded in a target, making the target hear their endlessly repeating echoes.
• Echoes ACT2: Destructive Power C, Speed D, Range B, Persistence B, Precision C and Development Potential A. It gives physical form to written sound effects, producing effects that correspond to their meaning.
• Echoes ACT3: Destructive Power B, Speed B, Range C (5 meters), Persistence B, Precision C and Development Potential A. A small humanoid Stand, it increases a target's weight through its attack until the target becomes too heavy to move.

Unlocking a new ACT does not erase the earlier forms: Koichi can return to them when their abilities are more useful. ACT1 is valuable for scouting, while ACT3 trades long range for close control. Its 3 Freeze affects only one target at a time, weakens with distance, and ends if that target moves more than five meters from Koichi.

Many viewers see Koichi's complete and affecting development as giving him a presence that can even outshine the story's actual protagonist. Beginning as an unassuming character, he undergoes important changes and is regarded as one of the series' most fully developed examples of personal growth.