[INSERT WITTY TITLE HERE.]
Character: Yosuke Hanamura
Series: Persona 4
canon powers, skills, pets and equipment: Yosuke’s a persona user. In Persona 4’s canon, this is someone who encountered their Shadow, had their Shadow beaten down, accepted their true feelings post-fight and thus was able to harness its power. His persona is Jiraiya, transforming into Susano-O should the protagonist complete Yosuke’s Social Link, and its skills are primarily wind based. Yosuke learns Garu through Garudyne, skills such as Wind Boost and Wind Amp, and some of his weapons have wind-boosting abilities attached to them.
He also has rudimentary healing skills. They’re sufficient to patch up minor wounds and keep the party healed in the beginning of the game, though they’re not enough for Yosuke to be a good candidate for the main party healer...especially when there’s more qualified people like Teddie and Yukiko hanging around. He’s basically a solid wind-based all-rounder: he can cast a tornado, take hits and give them, buff the party's agility (but nothing else) and debuff foes, and while he’s got an edge in speed for the most part he’s a jack of trades, master of none.
Of course, all of this is reliant upon the Midnight Channel, the only place where he (like the others) is able of summoning his persona. If people find themselves in a fog-shrouded manifestation of humanity’s subconscious, he’s got your back. Everywhere else? He’s a reasonably athletic high school student who spent the bulk of the last year fighting shadows, developing above average knife fighting skills and general dexterity (and likely would be quite good at juggling if he were so inclined) but otherwise he’s quite ordinary. If this was a zombie movie, he’d be able to avoid being the first one eaten by the horde, but ultimately he’d be shoved out of the limelight by a Belmont kicking ass.
canon history: Approximately six months prior to the start of the game, the Inaba branch of Junes opened up and Yosuke’s father was assigned to manage it. Thus, the entire Hanamura family moved out to Inaba...much to Yosuke’s dismay, as it was in the middle of nowhere. Time passed.
Yosuke’s first appearance in the game involved running into a pole on a bike. At this point, simply called ‘pained student,’ he made a justifiably pained noise at the accident. The protagonist decided to leave him be.
Later that day, having changed from a pained student to a bleak-looking student, he attempted to return Chie’s DVD before making a break for freedom. Yosuke failed at the break for freedom: she gave him a critical hit to the nads in retaliation for her broken DVD. The protagonist observed that he appeared to be in pain and decided to leave him be.
The next day, Yosuke ended up crashing on his bike and was stuck in a trashcan (somehow), and the protagonist decided that now was the time for intervention and helped him out. Rescued from said trashcan, Yosuke got a proper name and a proper introduction, and the two hit it off. That afternoon they went to get food, Yosuke’s treat...and Chie tagged along because of Yosuke breaking the DVD and thus owing her.
They went to Junes, specifically the food court (a place which the team would grow quite familiar with). Chie expected steak: she got fast food. She grumbled about it.
It was there that a number of things happened. Yosuke exposited briefly about his background, as seen in paragraph one. The group encountered Saki Konishi, the daughter of the liquor store owners in the shopping district: she was one of the first people in Inaba who had befriended Yosuke (telling him that his parents were his parents, and he was himself) and he had a no-small crush on her. Chie also mentioned a rumor she had heard, that if a person looked into a TV at midnight on a rainy night, they’d see the image of their soulmate. Yosuke laughed it off, went home, and promptly tried it out.
Turns out he saw something. Who would’ve thought? And not only that, it turned out he wasn’t the only one. The next day at school Yosuke, Chie, and the protagonist all reported seeing something, which sounded eerily alike for all three of them: a girl, in Chie’s case with shoulder length brown hair and their school’s uniform. (Yosuke, having seen far less details, had to take her word for it.) The protagonist also mentioned sticking his hand inside of a TV, but as that was clearly crazy talk Chie and Yosuke promptly laughed it off and made plans to go look at Junes’ electronics department later that day.
They proceeded to do so. The protagonist proceeded to stick his hand inside of a TV. As they freaked out at the sight, he promptly proceeded to take out his hand and stick in his head instead. This didn’t do wonders for Yosuke’s bladder. Customers were coming, the protagonist was idly remarking about how spacious the inside of the TV was, Chie was panicking, Yosuke was panicking, they were running and in the chaos crashed and somehow ended up inside of the TV.
The TV world (henceforth known as the Midnight Channel) was, at first glance, foggy. There was no obvious exit, and searching the Midnight Channel only revealed one thing to them: it was really creepy. Eventually they stumbled across a disgruntled mascot figure and bear who told them that they had to get out, get out fast, and promptly shoved them into TVs. They returned to Junes, noticing that several hours had passed.
The next day, Saki Konishi was reported missing, later dead. Yosuke was upset, for obvious reasons, and was determined to explore that strange TV world. He argued that it had something to do with the murders. The three of them had seen a figure which resembled Saki when they tried the Midnight Channel. Yosuke watched the Midnight Channel the night before they found her body, and had seen Saki on the screen which “…looked like…she was writing in pain…and then…she disappeared from the screen.” He also noted that Chie mentioned a student who was excited because he saw Ms. Yanamo, the first victim found dead in Inaba, on the Midnight Channel. And finally, there was that one bear which had gotten them out of the TV world the first time: if they went through the same TV and entered the same place, they might see that bear again and get some answers about what was going on.
Thus, field trip to Junes’ electronic department and the TV they had fallen into the first time. Yosuke went on ahead, procuring a mighty golf club so that the protagonist could fend off the foes they might encounter. He wore a rope, theorizing that if trouble came to pass Chie could just pull them out with her herculean strength. And the two guys leapt in, leaving Chie behind in Junes.
They encountered the aforementioned bear, who was convinced that they were the ones throwing people into the Midnight Channel. After some argument, some bear-bullying, the discovery that the rope didn’t work like planned, the discovery that Teddie’s empty on the inside of his costume, some exposition, and a lot more argument they came to an agreement. The bear, who introduced himself as Teddie, would provide the guys with what assistance he could in navigating the TV world. The guys, in turn, would find the culprit and bring him to justice.
That being done, Teddie led them to what appeared to be a twisted version of Inaba’s shopping district and more specifically a reflection of the liquor store Saki’s parents ran. They were attacked by a shadow in one of those obligatory tutorial battles, which the protagonist promptly dispatched. The post go team celebration was cut short as they heard what seemed to be the thoughts of…people complaining about Junes and how Saki’s decision to work there was working for the enemy and so forth and so on. They entered the store and heard more along those lines: she’s working for the enemy, doesn’t she have any pride, and a confession in Saki’s own voice that she viewed Yosuke to be a pain in the ass.
She then elaborated on the theme of Yosuke being a pain in the ass for a bit.
This upset Yosuke, and he skipped off into denial, trying to convince himself that everything he was hearing was a lie. A second ‘Yosuke’ appeared and mocks the first, asking him if he’s going to start crying like a baby. Yosuke attempts to retort, but the other ‘Yosuke’ proceeds to taunt Yosuke, pointing out that he’s afraid of being alone and his cheerful façade was an attempt at escapism and he really hates living in the sticks. He doesn’t see anyone as a friend, but only as things to making him feel secure: the real reason why Yosuke wanted to investigate the TV world wasn’t because of Saki, but because it sounded like something cool and new. And the reason ‘Yosuke’ knows this is because he is Yosuke, he is Yosuke’s shadow, the true self.
Yosuke continues wallowing in the previous denial and shouts, “I don’t know you! You can’t be me, you son of a bitch!” (Starting a theme which would continue throughout the game, with various forms of “You’re not me!” or “There’s no way in hell you’re not me!” echoing the entire way to the final boss.)
His shadow transforms: Yosuke passes out. In the meantime, the protagonist flogs his shadow and zaps him with spells until Yosuke’s shadow was beaten and the normal Yosuke comes to. He attempts to skip off into denial again, but Teddie bludgeons Yosuke with the truth 2x4 and notes that he needs to accept himself otherwise they’ll have another boss fight on their hands. Yosuke does so, admitting that deep down he knew that what his shadow was saying was true, but he was just ashamed to admit it: it transfigured and became his Persona, Jiraiya. Later, when the two of them return to the real world, they get yelled at by an upset Chie, who runs off, and Yosuke makes a note that they’ll…need to apologize to her later. Well damn.
The following day he declares his resolve to go through with solving the murder mystery and catching the culprit: if the TV is really the murder weapon, only they could catch the murderer. (If they went to the police they’d think that they were crazy and/or watched too much anime.) A social link forms between the protagonist and Yosuke.
And so starts a pattern which would hold up throughout most of the year: the Investigation Team (the social link starting with Yosuke, the lead, and Chie; later would grow to eight members) would see a figure on the Midnight Channel. They’d confer at Junes’ food court, figure out who the person is, and attempt to prevent them being thrown into the TV…and fail. This ends with them going through the given person’s dungeon, battling shadows along the way, climaxing in them battling the person’s shadow (usually as they scream some form of, “You’re not me!”) That’s how Yosuke’s social circle expands with the additions of Teddie, Yukiko in April (although they knew each other before, it wasn’t until the Investigation Team that they all became friends and Yosuke dropped the -san), Kanji in May, Rise in June, and later Naoto in September to their odd group. They also flog Mitsuo Kubo’s shadow in late July/early August: the supposed mass murderer, though it later turned out that he was simply just a one-off copycat killer.
Of course, the year isn’t completely serious. In June, they go on a school camping trip which Yosuke tries very hard to not think about, as things like Mystery Food X and swimming downstream from King Moron happen during this time. After they capture Mitsuo in late July/early August, the team is under the impression that everything is over and so enjoy the remainder of their vacation guilt-free until Naoto enters the TV in September. It isn’t all dramatic doom and gloom, and unlike most Shin Megami Tensei games the Persona 4 cast knows how to enjoy life.
...at least up until the point that things take a turn for the dramatic and the suspense ramps up, as the Investigation Team Social Link maxes, and the group ultimately reforms (like a band) under the new name Seekers of Justice...Judgement Arcana. Strike a pose, shit just got real. The lead receives two threatening letters from the killer: the latter is intercepted by his uncle and he’s detained at the police station, leaving Nanako alone to get kidnapped. In the chaos which follows, Dojima gets hurt and Namatame, the murderer, jumps into the TV with Nanako. The group ascends Nanako’s dungeon, the ominously named Heaven, and manage to capture Namatame while Nanako struggles for life: the TV world was taxing on the Investigation Team and moreso on Nanako.
She dies. The group grimly contemplates throwing Namatame into the TV in the name of justice and vengeance, but decide not to as there are too many questions left unanswered, and killing him now wouldn’t bring them the truth. As it turned out, Nanako had an extra life and isn’t dead after all, and Nanatame isn’t the true murderer. What he did: kidnap people, though he did so trying to prevent them from being killed like the TV announcer at the start of it all had been, incorrectly thinking that the Midnight Channel was a place of salvation instead of a place of grave peril. Turns out it was Thoru Adachi, a goofy comedic relief detective figure who had been shadowing the team the entire time, who was the real murderer and had orchestrated the entire affair. He admits it all, and does so very gleefully.
But by now, they’re pros. They enter the Midnight Channel for the final battle and defeat Adachi. They then proceed to defeat the figure which emerged, one which had apparently been pulling his strings the entire time: Ameno-Sagiri. Victorious, having saved the day, they leave the TV world and enjoy Christmas and the rest of the school year in peace although...Yosuke would have this nagging feeling. Is it really over? Did they defeat the last boss and save the world? Or is there something else going on behind the scenes? (And how the hell did the protagonist bypass having to deal with his shadow anyway?)
Time passes. The school year draws to a close and it’s the day before the lead heads back home to his parents. The team meets one last time in the food court and start musing about the case, idle speculation leading them to a conclusion: it’s...still...not over. There was a puppetmaster pulling Ameno-Sagiri’s strings, manipulating Adachi, Namatame, and even giving the protagonist his powers. Through mainly the actions of the lead, the party learns of the goddess Izanami, who’d been disguised as a gas station attendant the entire time, and enter the TV for the actual true real bonafide final battle (we hope, guys) against the goddess who’d been manipulating all of this from the start.
It’s a desperate battle, but all of the completed social links unite, the lead wields truth and his persona Izanagi-no-Okami, attacks with ‘Myriad Truths’ and defeats Izanami. Through the efforts of the party, they lift the fog which had been shrouding the hearts of humanity and reveal the bright, beautiful true world inside of the TV. The next day, the protagonist has a heartfelt farewell and leaves town, Yosuke and the others staying behind, certain that nothing (especially mysterious fog) will ever bother Inaba again.
personality:
Yosuke’s intelligent, prone to bouts of serious bad luck, and is plagued by a terminal case of foot-in-mouth. This is, to say the least, not a great combination...but at least it keeps things interesting.
In part due to Persona 4’s silent protagonist, it’s usually Yosuke who spearheads discussions and initiates things...especially before Naoto joins the party, though afterwards they share expository duties. He’s the one who initially pushed to revisit the TV world despite Chie’s protests, he’s the first one to propose seeking out the murderer, and he was the person the protagonist had to specifically talk down from triggering the bad end. Every single time the protagonist watches the Midnight Channel, it’s Yosuke who’s first to call. “Did you see that?...yeah, let’s get together tomorrow.” He might not always reach the right destination, but his mental train of thought’s always chugging along...as much as he might try to act otherwise, he can sit down, shut up, and calmly and rationally reason through things.
Yosuke is capable of being very mature and responsible...though he avoids it often, as his position as the son of the local Junes manager generally puts him in a difficult position. The people of the shopping district look at him warily, as Junes took away customers, and internally his peers working at Junes ask him for favors: if he can get them a day off, if he can adjust their hours, that sort of thing. Things which aren’t exactly all that easy to handle. But his persona is of the Magician Arcana, and like the rest of the cast his Arcana reflects (in part) on who he is. The Magician symbolizes action, initiative, creation through willpower and desire, and the power to harness one’s talents.
He gets a kick out of teasing people and seeing their reactions, especially when it comes to his friends...you could argue that it’s his way of showing affection. If there’s a button, he’s gotta try pushing it at least once. Though he’s a bit of an ass, he’s an aware bit of ass, ready to apologize when things go too far...which they often do. (It’s hard to not realize you crossed a line when you have someone aiming for your delicates.) He can act overly dramatic and whine a great deal, usually as an overblown reaction to circumstances. (Occasionally for the stuff mentioned in the beginning of this paragraph, with the button pushing and all that.) Yosuke can hold petty grudges over petty things, though he tends to use said petty things as leverage to get minor, mostly harmless stuff (though still a pain in the ass for the parties in question being targeted by said leverage) in turn.
Yosuke’s by nature a city kid, one that’s sent off to the countryside due to his father’s job. While he loves Inaba in the end (though Inaba doesn’t seem to love him back) it’s undeniable that the smallness of the place chaffs at him. It’s as his shadow put it, “Screw the shopping district, and Junes too! You're sick of everything, especially living out in the sticks! ....You just came because you thought it sounded like a good time! What else is there to do out in this shithole? A world inside the TV-now that's exciting.” (His shadow’s an ugly part of him, but it is part of him.) He’s the sort of guy who needs things to do, space to lose himself in, things to get involved with. He’s the first to join the Investigation Team, and he does so for many reasons...one of them is the fact that he’s bored in Inaba.
Yosuke’s really not one for small town living, in short.
Series: Persona 4
canon powers, skills, pets and equipment: Yosuke’s a persona user. In Persona 4’s canon, this is someone who encountered their Shadow, had their Shadow beaten down, accepted their true feelings post-fight and thus was able to harness its power. His persona is Jiraiya, transforming into Susano-O should the protagonist complete Yosuke’s Social Link, and its skills are primarily wind based. Yosuke learns Garu through Garudyne, skills such as Wind Boost and Wind Amp, and some of his weapons have wind-boosting abilities attached to them.
He also has rudimentary healing skills. They’re sufficient to patch up minor wounds and keep the party healed in the beginning of the game, though they’re not enough for Yosuke to be a good candidate for the main party healer...especially when there’s more qualified people like Teddie and Yukiko hanging around. He’s basically a solid wind-based all-rounder: he can cast a tornado, take hits and give them, buff the party's agility (but nothing else) and debuff foes, and while he’s got an edge in speed for the most part he’s a jack of trades, master of none.
Of course, all of this is reliant upon the Midnight Channel, the only place where he (like the others) is able of summoning his persona. If people find themselves in a fog-shrouded manifestation of humanity’s subconscious, he’s got your back. Everywhere else? He’s a reasonably athletic high school student who spent the bulk of the last year fighting shadows, developing above average knife fighting skills and general dexterity (and likely would be quite good at juggling if he were so inclined) but otherwise he’s quite ordinary. If this was a zombie movie, he’d be able to avoid being the first one eaten by the horde, but ultimately he’d be shoved out of the limelight by a Belmont kicking ass.
canon history: Approximately six months prior to the start of the game, the Inaba branch of Junes opened up and Yosuke’s father was assigned to manage it. Thus, the entire Hanamura family moved out to Inaba...much to Yosuke’s dismay, as it was in the middle of nowhere. Time passed.
Yosuke’s first appearance in the game involved running into a pole on a bike. At this point, simply called ‘pained student,’ he made a justifiably pained noise at the accident. The protagonist decided to leave him be.
Later that day, having changed from a pained student to a bleak-looking student, he attempted to return Chie’s DVD before making a break for freedom. Yosuke failed at the break for freedom: she gave him a critical hit to the nads in retaliation for her broken DVD. The protagonist observed that he appeared to be in pain and decided to leave him be.
The next day, Yosuke ended up crashing on his bike and was stuck in a trashcan (somehow), and the protagonist decided that now was the time for intervention and helped him out. Rescued from said trashcan, Yosuke got a proper name and a proper introduction, and the two hit it off. That afternoon they went to get food, Yosuke’s treat...and Chie tagged along because of Yosuke breaking the DVD and thus owing her.
They went to Junes, specifically the food court (a place which the team would grow quite familiar with). Chie expected steak: she got fast food. She grumbled about it.
It was there that a number of things happened. Yosuke exposited briefly about his background, as seen in paragraph one. The group encountered Saki Konishi, the daughter of the liquor store owners in the shopping district: she was one of the first people in Inaba who had befriended Yosuke (telling him that his parents were his parents, and he was himself) and he had a no-small crush on her. Chie also mentioned a rumor she had heard, that if a person looked into a TV at midnight on a rainy night, they’d see the image of their soulmate. Yosuke laughed it off, went home, and promptly tried it out.
Turns out he saw something. Who would’ve thought? And not only that, it turned out he wasn’t the only one. The next day at school Yosuke, Chie, and the protagonist all reported seeing something, which sounded eerily alike for all three of them: a girl, in Chie’s case with shoulder length brown hair and their school’s uniform. (Yosuke, having seen far less details, had to take her word for it.) The protagonist also mentioned sticking his hand inside of a TV, but as that was clearly crazy talk Chie and Yosuke promptly laughed it off and made plans to go look at Junes’ electronics department later that day.
They proceeded to do so. The protagonist proceeded to stick his hand inside of a TV. As they freaked out at the sight, he promptly proceeded to take out his hand and stick in his head instead. This didn’t do wonders for Yosuke’s bladder. Customers were coming, the protagonist was idly remarking about how spacious the inside of the TV was, Chie was panicking, Yosuke was panicking, they were running and in the chaos crashed and somehow ended up inside of the TV.
The TV world (henceforth known as the Midnight Channel) was, at first glance, foggy. There was no obvious exit, and searching the Midnight Channel only revealed one thing to them: it was really creepy. Eventually they stumbled across a disgruntled mascot figure and bear who told them that they had to get out, get out fast, and promptly shoved them into TVs. They returned to Junes, noticing that several hours had passed.
The next day, Saki Konishi was reported missing, later dead. Yosuke was upset, for obvious reasons, and was determined to explore that strange TV world. He argued that it had something to do with the murders. The three of them had seen a figure which resembled Saki when they tried the Midnight Channel. Yosuke watched the Midnight Channel the night before they found her body, and had seen Saki on the screen which “…looked like…she was writing in pain…and then…she disappeared from the screen.” He also noted that Chie mentioned a student who was excited because he saw Ms. Yanamo, the first victim found dead in Inaba, on the Midnight Channel. And finally, there was that one bear which had gotten them out of the TV world the first time: if they went through the same TV and entered the same place, they might see that bear again and get some answers about what was going on.
Thus, field trip to Junes’ electronic department and the TV they had fallen into the first time. Yosuke went on ahead, procuring a mighty golf club so that the protagonist could fend off the foes they might encounter. He wore a rope, theorizing that if trouble came to pass Chie could just pull them out with her herculean strength. And the two guys leapt in, leaving Chie behind in Junes.
They encountered the aforementioned bear, who was convinced that they were the ones throwing people into the Midnight Channel. After some argument, some bear-bullying, the discovery that the rope didn’t work like planned, the discovery that Teddie’s empty on the inside of his costume, some exposition, and a lot more argument they came to an agreement. The bear, who introduced himself as Teddie, would provide the guys with what assistance he could in navigating the TV world. The guys, in turn, would find the culprit and bring him to justice.
That being done, Teddie led them to what appeared to be a twisted version of Inaba’s shopping district and more specifically a reflection of the liquor store Saki’s parents ran. They were attacked by a shadow in one of those obligatory tutorial battles, which the protagonist promptly dispatched. The post go team celebration was cut short as they heard what seemed to be the thoughts of…people complaining about Junes and how Saki’s decision to work there was working for the enemy and so forth and so on. They entered the store and heard more along those lines: she’s working for the enemy, doesn’t she have any pride, and a confession in Saki’s own voice that she viewed Yosuke to be a pain in the ass.
She then elaborated on the theme of Yosuke being a pain in the ass for a bit.
This upset Yosuke, and he skipped off into denial, trying to convince himself that everything he was hearing was a lie. A second ‘Yosuke’ appeared and mocks the first, asking him if he’s going to start crying like a baby. Yosuke attempts to retort, but the other ‘Yosuke’ proceeds to taunt Yosuke, pointing out that he’s afraid of being alone and his cheerful façade was an attempt at escapism and he really hates living in the sticks. He doesn’t see anyone as a friend, but only as things to making him feel secure: the real reason why Yosuke wanted to investigate the TV world wasn’t because of Saki, but because it sounded like something cool and new. And the reason ‘Yosuke’ knows this is because he is Yosuke, he is Yosuke’s shadow, the true self.
Yosuke continues wallowing in the previous denial and shouts, “I don’t know you! You can’t be me, you son of a bitch!” (Starting a theme which would continue throughout the game, with various forms of “You’re not me!” or “There’s no way in hell you’re not me!” echoing the entire way to the final boss.)
His shadow transforms: Yosuke passes out. In the meantime, the protagonist flogs his shadow and zaps him with spells until Yosuke’s shadow was beaten and the normal Yosuke comes to. He attempts to skip off into denial again, but Teddie bludgeons Yosuke with the truth 2x4 and notes that he needs to accept himself otherwise they’ll have another boss fight on their hands. Yosuke does so, admitting that deep down he knew that what his shadow was saying was true, but he was just ashamed to admit it: it transfigured and became his Persona, Jiraiya. Later, when the two of them return to the real world, they get yelled at by an upset Chie, who runs off, and Yosuke makes a note that they’ll…need to apologize to her later. Well damn.
The following day he declares his resolve to go through with solving the murder mystery and catching the culprit: if the TV is really the murder weapon, only they could catch the murderer. (If they went to the police they’d think that they were crazy and/or watched too much anime.) A social link forms between the protagonist and Yosuke.
And so starts a pattern which would hold up throughout most of the year: the Investigation Team (the social link starting with Yosuke, the lead, and Chie; later would grow to eight members) would see a figure on the Midnight Channel. They’d confer at Junes’ food court, figure out who the person is, and attempt to prevent them being thrown into the TV…and fail. This ends with them going through the given person’s dungeon, battling shadows along the way, climaxing in them battling the person’s shadow (usually as they scream some form of, “You’re not me!”) That’s how Yosuke’s social circle expands with the additions of Teddie, Yukiko in April (although they knew each other before, it wasn’t until the Investigation Team that they all became friends and Yosuke dropped the -san), Kanji in May, Rise in June, and later Naoto in September to their odd group. They also flog Mitsuo Kubo’s shadow in late July/early August: the supposed mass murderer, though it later turned out that he was simply just a one-off copycat killer.
Of course, the year isn’t completely serious. In June, they go on a school camping trip which Yosuke tries very hard to not think about, as things like Mystery Food X and swimming downstream from King Moron happen during this time. After they capture Mitsuo in late July/early August, the team is under the impression that everything is over and so enjoy the remainder of their vacation guilt-free until Naoto enters the TV in September. It isn’t all dramatic doom and gloom, and unlike most Shin Megami Tensei games the Persona 4 cast knows how to enjoy life.
...at least up until the point that things take a turn for the dramatic and the suspense ramps up, as the Investigation Team Social Link maxes, and the group ultimately reforms (like a band) under the new name Seekers of Justice...Judgement Arcana. Strike a pose, shit just got real. The lead receives two threatening letters from the killer: the latter is intercepted by his uncle and he’s detained at the police station, leaving Nanako alone to get kidnapped. In the chaos which follows, Dojima gets hurt and Namatame, the murderer, jumps into the TV with Nanako. The group ascends Nanako’s dungeon, the ominously named Heaven, and manage to capture Namatame while Nanako struggles for life: the TV world was taxing on the Investigation Team and moreso on Nanako.
She dies. The group grimly contemplates throwing Namatame into the TV in the name of justice and vengeance, but decide not to as there are too many questions left unanswered, and killing him now wouldn’t bring them the truth. As it turned out, Nanako had an extra life and isn’t dead after all, and Nanatame isn’t the true murderer. What he did: kidnap people, though he did so trying to prevent them from being killed like the TV announcer at the start of it all had been, incorrectly thinking that the Midnight Channel was a place of salvation instead of a place of grave peril. Turns out it was Thoru Adachi, a goofy comedic relief detective figure who had been shadowing the team the entire time, who was the real murderer and had orchestrated the entire affair. He admits it all, and does so very gleefully.
But by now, they’re pros. They enter the Midnight Channel for the final battle and defeat Adachi. They then proceed to defeat the figure which emerged, one which had apparently been pulling his strings the entire time: Ameno-Sagiri. Victorious, having saved the day, they leave the TV world and enjoy Christmas and the rest of the school year in peace although...Yosuke would have this nagging feeling. Is it really over? Did they defeat the last boss and save the world? Or is there something else going on behind the scenes? (And how the hell did the protagonist bypass having to deal with his shadow anyway?)
Time passes. The school year draws to a close and it’s the day before the lead heads back home to his parents. The team meets one last time in the food court and start musing about the case, idle speculation leading them to a conclusion: it’s...still...not over. There was a puppetmaster pulling Ameno-Sagiri’s strings, manipulating Adachi, Namatame, and even giving the protagonist his powers. Through mainly the actions of the lead, the party learns of the goddess Izanami, who’d been disguised as a gas station attendant the entire time, and enter the TV for the actual true real bonafide final battle (we hope, guys) against the goddess who’d been manipulating all of this from the start.
It’s a desperate battle, but all of the completed social links unite, the lead wields truth and his persona Izanagi-no-Okami, attacks with ‘Myriad Truths’ and defeats Izanami. Through the efforts of the party, they lift the fog which had been shrouding the hearts of humanity and reveal the bright, beautiful true world inside of the TV. The next day, the protagonist has a heartfelt farewell and leaves town, Yosuke and the others staying behind, certain that nothing (especially mysterious fog) will ever bother Inaba again.
personality:
Yosuke’s intelligent, prone to bouts of serious bad luck, and is plagued by a terminal case of foot-in-mouth. This is, to say the least, not a great combination...but at least it keeps things interesting.
In part due to Persona 4’s silent protagonist, it’s usually Yosuke who spearheads discussions and initiates things...especially before Naoto joins the party, though afterwards they share expository duties. He’s the one who initially pushed to revisit the TV world despite Chie’s protests, he’s the first one to propose seeking out the murderer, and he was the person the protagonist had to specifically talk down from triggering the bad end. Every single time the protagonist watches the Midnight Channel, it’s Yosuke who’s first to call. “Did you see that?...yeah, let’s get together tomorrow.” He might not always reach the right destination, but his mental train of thought’s always chugging along...as much as he might try to act otherwise, he can sit down, shut up, and calmly and rationally reason through things.
Yosuke is capable of being very mature and responsible...though he avoids it often, as his position as the son of the local Junes manager generally puts him in a difficult position. The people of the shopping district look at him warily, as Junes took away customers, and internally his peers working at Junes ask him for favors: if he can get them a day off, if he can adjust their hours, that sort of thing. Things which aren’t exactly all that easy to handle. But his persona is of the Magician Arcana, and like the rest of the cast his Arcana reflects (in part) on who he is. The Magician symbolizes action, initiative, creation through willpower and desire, and the power to harness one’s talents.
He gets a kick out of teasing people and seeing their reactions, especially when it comes to his friends...you could argue that it’s his way of showing affection. If there’s a button, he’s gotta try pushing it at least once. Though he’s a bit of an ass, he’s an aware bit of ass, ready to apologize when things go too far...which they often do. (It’s hard to not realize you crossed a line when you have someone aiming for your delicates.) He can act overly dramatic and whine a great deal, usually as an overblown reaction to circumstances. (Occasionally for the stuff mentioned in the beginning of this paragraph, with the button pushing and all that.) Yosuke can hold petty grudges over petty things, though he tends to use said petty things as leverage to get minor, mostly harmless stuff (though still a pain in the ass for the parties in question being targeted by said leverage) in turn.
Yosuke’s by nature a city kid, one that’s sent off to the countryside due to his father’s job. While he loves Inaba in the end (though Inaba doesn’t seem to love him back) it’s undeniable that the smallness of the place chaffs at him. It’s as his shadow put it, “Screw the shopping district, and Junes too! You're sick of everything, especially living out in the sticks! ....You just came because you thought it sounded like a good time! What else is there to do out in this shithole? A world inside the TV-now that's exciting.” (His shadow’s an ugly part of him, but it is part of him.) He’s the sort of guy who needs things to do, space to lose himself in, things to get involved with. He’s the first to join the Investigation Team, and he does so for many reasons...one of them is the fact that he’s bored in Inaba.
Yosuke’s really not one for small town living, in short.