[ Player Name ] : Mart
[ Personal LJ ] :
riyuji[ Age ] : 22
[ Timezone ] : GMT +8
[ Other Characters ] : N/A
[ Character's Name ] : Yosuke Hanamura
[ Character's Age ] : 17
[ Series ] : Persona 4
[ Canon Point ] : December 3, 2011
[ History ] :
Yosuke lived in the city six months prior to the beginning of Persona 4. When his father was reassigned to become the manager of a new branch of Junes, his family was forced to leave their home to transfer to Inaba, a small town in the countryside. Their arrival there as well as the opening of the mall caused a commotion within the community. Junes was prospering quite nicely but this led to the end of many long-lived, family businesses in the shopping district. Due to this, Yosuke was often talked about by many of the townsfolk merely for being the manager's son.
Since the move, Yosuke despised his new home. Compared to the city, where there was lots to do, he began to hate the town because there wasn't much to keep him busy. Despite his dislike of Inaba, he put up a facade as a friendly, happy-go-lucky guy just so he could achieve some sense of security from his peers. Things began to change when he met Saki Konishi, the daughter of the owner of the recently closed liquor store in town. She came to Junes looking for a part-time job, and since then, she and Yosuke grew to become friends. Yosuke's feelings for her eventually developed into a crush as he got to get to know her better.
Time-skip to the beginning of the game. Yosuke meets with Souji and befriends him after an escapade with a trashcan. He asks the other boy if he could treat him to steak as thanks. During this time, Chie forces herself into the conversation saying that Yosuke owes her as well for the DVD that he had destroyed earlier in the game. Yosuke then makes a change of plans and brings them all to Junes. As the three talk, Chie suddenly asks the two whether they had heard the rumor of the Midnight Channel. The rumor was that if you watch your TV while it is turned off on during a rainy night, an image of your true love would appear at midnight. She tells them that she hadn't tried it out herself but that they should all a least give it a shot.
Yosuke was skeptical at first but decided to try it out anyway. The next day, he tells Souji and Chie about what he saw and learns that they had seen the same thing. The only difference was that Souji had been able to stick his hand and his head into the TV. Yosuke made a joke that it may have been some kind of dream but was proven wrong when Souji stuck his head into a TV while visiting Junes and in a panic, Yosuke trips and shoves all three of them into the TV.
They find themselves in an odd, foggy world and there they meet with a strange bear-like creature. The bear warns them that they shouldn’t be around and eventually shoves them back into the real world when the “Shadows” began becoming restless. Unsure of what he had seen in the world inside the TV, Yosuke watches the midnight channel once more and confirms that the girl he had seen the previous night was Saki. The next day, Saki Konishi was found dead, dangling inverted from a telephone pole.
The death of Saki was enough to drive Yosuke to explore the TV World and with the help of Chie and Souji, he heads back in. Upon their arrival, they are accused of pushing people into that world, and thus causing chaos among the Shadows. He and Souji clear their name with the bear, who later introduces himself as Teddie, and ask for more information about the TV world.
Teddie then leads them to the spot where the last person was thrown into, which happened to be very similar to the shopping district back in Inaba. The group heads for the Konishi’s liquor store and are confronted by Shadows. Luckily for them, Souji’s Persona awakens and he uses it to rid the entrance of Shadows.
The two enter the liquor store to be greeted by the sound of Saki's voice. At first, Yosuke is somewhat relieved to hear Saki's voice, however he is shocked when she begins to reveal her true feelings about him. To her, he was merely an annoyance that she had to put up with because he was the manager's son.
It was enough of a shock for Yosuke and it only became worse when his Shadow appeared and begin revealing Yosuke's secrets. His shadow first started with how he was actually annoyed and bored with everything around him. The shadow continued by saying that everything seemed fine with Yosuke because he put up a facade as a cheerful and friendly person. Because of that disposition, he was able to gain friends which helped block out the loneliness he actually felt.
Eventually, the shadow began saying that Yosuke hadn't actually gone into the TV world to avenge Saki. He was only doing it because it allowed him to play the hero, to be recognized. It was finally something exciting he could do and it was definitely a break from boring old Inaba.
When the shadow then tells Yosuke that they're the same person, it pushes him to the point that he denies everything. The shadow then evolves into its true form. Sometime during the evolution, Yosuke passes out leaving Souji and Teddie to deal with it. When they defeat the shadow, Yosuke comes to and with some encouragement he admits to everything the shadow had said, claiming that he was simply afraid to say it out loud. His acceptance of his shadow awakens his Persona, Jiraiya.
Before returning back to Junes, the three mull over the incidents and what could've happened to those who had already died in the past couple of days. From this point on, Yosuke and Souji decide to continue exploring the TV world and to find out who was throwing people into that world. After all, they had promised Teddie that they would put an end to it. From this common goal, the two become fast friends.
As the year progresses, they are joined by Chie and Yukiko, and later on by Kanji, Rise and Teddie. They continue on investigating the TV world depending on who had appeared next on the Midnight Channel. They even believe that they have actually caught the killer sometime after a teacher from their school was killed. A student from a different school, owns up to the crimes of killing the teacher after he himself is confronted by his shadow in the TV.
The group finally think that all the deaths and kidnappings are over, only to be proven wrong when Naoto Shirogane, the well-known Detective Prince, goes missing. From this, they learn that Mitsuo's crime was simply a copycat murder and that he had nothing to do with the deaths of Mayumi Yamano and Saki Konishi. They save Naoto from the TV world as well and continue their search for the real culprit.
Things only take a turn for the worst when Dojima begins suspecting Souji for the murders. His opinion changes however when Nanako is suddenly kidnapped during the interrogation. The group onces again returns into the TV World to stop Namatame, the man who kidnapped and placed Nanako into the TV world, as well as save the young girl. The Investigation team is able to accomplish this but considering that Nanako was exposed to the other world for too long, she is admitted to the hospital to recuperate. Taro Namatame was also admitted to the hospital while the police began trying to build a case against him.
The team finally think that it's all over until Nanako's condition suddenly worsens. Her condition did not seem to get any better until eventually, she passes away. They confront Namatame, only to find him trying to escape his hospital room. This affects each of the members differently, and the appearance of the man's shadow on the midnight channel only causes even more mixed feelings among the group.
Yosuke's stand on this was that he couldn't forgive Namatame, especially because it was his fault that Saki had died. He, as well as Naoto and Kanji, all believed that if they pushed Namatame into the TV, they would be rid of the man forever. Souji however, steps in and tries to calm everyone down. Thankfully because of this, no one pushes Namatame into the TV World, especially when they all realize that they would be no different than him had they actually done it.
They leave Namatame's room and learn that the doctors were able to resuscitate Nanako. They are glad to hear the news but realize that Teddie is nowhere to be found. They decide that it was best to split up for the night to clear their heads, and that they would meet up at the special headquarters the next day to figure things out. Yosuke's however does not get to go to that meeting, only to find himself in Vatheon upon waking up.
[ Personality ] :
Yosuke is considered the comic relief among the group, whether it be through physical humor such as the times he crashes into garbage cans when he loses control of his bike or when he simply says something that is out of place at the time. Despite that, he's approachable (though he doesn't always seem that way at first glance) and friendly and will stick to his friends through thick or thin once he trusts them well enough.
He has a tendency of saying things without exactly thinking it through which usually get him into trouble and sometimes makes him sound like a jerk. Most of the time this backfires on him. A good example was when he suggested the group date café for the cultural festival and ended up posing as either a girl or being paired up with Souji (who took the part of the girl) depending on the player's choice. Both of which however, ends up with Yosuke in a very uncomfortable position (figuratively, of course).
Despite being friends with Kanji, Yosuke is homophobic and he doesn't try to hide it. When he, Souji and Kanji had to sleep in the same tent during the camping trip, he worried whether the two of them would be "safe" sleeping so close to the underclassman and actually asked him before going to sleep. It doesn't exactly help Yosuke's case that Kanji reacted violently to the question only making Yosuke push ever further for a straight answer from the younger boy. So yeah, Yosuke's gaydar is pretty strong.
He's laidback and bit awkward. He seems to be pretty smart but would rather go with what he feels is right in most cases. Although this shows during the meetings at the special headquarters in Junes and the TV world, this doesn't ring true when it comes to school. When it's something school-related, he becomes lazy and unmotivated but he still manages to get by fine.
He has decent deductive skills considering that he was the one who first noticed the pattern in the murders and kidnappings, saying that it was mostly women who was being targeted and later on people who were shown on TV prior to their kidnapping.
He seems to be the type who holds grudges and remind people that they owe him, but more often than not it's because he would only do so because recalling the situation could work to his advantage. Because of this it would seem that he liked to guilt-trip people like when whatever predicament they're in could turn out better for him. He even went as far as reminding the girls that he and Souji allowed them to stay in their tent the night prior despite the chance of expulsion for all of them had they gotten caught. Because of that, he was able to get them into the swimsuits he had brought along with him just for that occasion.
Yosuke comes of as a bit of a flirt when it comes to interacting with girls. He would always try to get on their good side but would usually be turned down in one way or another. Despite that, it doesn't stop him from trying again with other girls.
As the son of the manager of Junes, a lot of the employees tend to go to him when they have suggestions or complaints. He doesn't exactly like it when they do that but he figures that those employees may quit if they had given them the cold shoulder. Eventually this causes him to snap at two girls who had always complained to him because of their shifts and schedules. Despite that, he has pretty decent managerial skills when it comes to handling most of the other employees
Even if he's already a teenager, Yosuke is a picky eater. He doesn't like tofu but he decided to order some from Rise's shop just because it was from Rise. He also ate some of the girls' Mystery Food X, despite his better judgment. But after the first time, he was hesitant to repeat the experience.
Besides all that, Yosuke is pretty much like any other teenage boy who wants to hang out with his friends, make jokes and just have a good time. This also means that he's a little perverted, especially when he bought the girls swimsuits just so they could take a dip in the river before they headed back into Inaba from their field trip.
In Yosuke's social link, Souji learns more about Yosuke's true feelings with regards to his outlook on Inaba, being the son of Junes' manager and how he really felt about Saki. He trusts Souji so much, especially because Souji had seen the worst of him during the time he confronted his shadow. Towards the end of the social link, he tells Souji that he was jealous all along and that he wanted to be acknowledged by their leader. At the same time, he wanted to be the leader, he wanted to be the one everyone depended on. Despite all these desires, he asks Souji to punch him so he could rid himself of these thoughts and so the two of them could be considered equal. This ends up with the two of them going all out in a brawl. Yosuke only wants Souji's approval because he considers him as his first real friend.
[ Strengths/Weaknesses ] :
When it comes to fighting, Yosuke could wield kunai, knives and wrenches decently. It is never said how he knows to use them but the knowledge he has in using those weapons is enough to show that he could fend for himself in battle.
Besides the earlier stated weapons, he also has the ability to summon his Persona, Jiraiya (and later on Susano-o). His Persona allows him to cast a variety of support spells that either up the stats of a party member (or the entire party) or lower the stats of opponents for a few turns. He could also cast Garu, or wind, spells and a few healing spells. However, he is weak to Zio (or lightning) spells and could be knocked down by them.
As mentioned earlier, Yosuke is a homophobe and he doesn't put any effort in trying to hide that. He openly teases Kanji about being gender confused to the point that it sounds insulting. Because of this he may become jittery when in the presence of someone who isn't straight, especially if you were a guy... and if you were hitting on him. Or if you seem to be hitting on him.
It may help that he is actually decent in putting things together when he has enough clues to go on. The only problem with this is that he has a tendency to get a little emotional at times and thus this could cloud his judgement. This was especially present when the team confronts Namatame after Nanako's death. He had blamed the man for both Nanako and Saki's deaths and didn't care if they killed him then and there and would've probably pushed through with it if Souji hadn't intervened.
[ Other Important Facts ] :
Social link with Souji is maxed.
Also, he can play the guitar. And he is extremely frightened of cockroaches. Feel free to abuse this knowledge as you please.
[ Sample ] :
This sample is recycled from the last time I app'd him. If you guys want a new sample, just say so. o/
Yosuke groaned as he tossed himself face-down on his bed. It had definitely been a long day.
Just when they had all thought that everything was finally over, reality decided to kick everyone in the ass. Yosuke almost believed that it was telling them that things weren't over yet, that they were still missing something. After all, Souji did make a point that there was probably something that they overlooked. If it wasn't for him, Yosuke probably wouldn't have had any qualms in pushing that bastard Namatame in.
He pushed himself against his mattress to turn himself over and stared at his ceiling. He grimaced at it, his emotions still a muddle of feelings after what had transpired. He was glad that Nanako was actually alive, that they were able to bring her back but he was still worried about Teddie's disappearance. He had called the bear repeatedly only to get the same recorded message saying that his phone could not be reached. It didn't help that he hadn't seen him anywhere on the way home or in the house either. It crossed his mind to check the TV world if Teddie had gone back, but even that idea seemed absurd. Hadn't he just asked if he could still stay around earlier? If Souji hadn't spoken up, Yosuke would've been open to still having the bear around. Probably.
It didn't help that he was still frustrated about how things played out in the hospital room that night either. He had let his feelings get the best of him and thus didn't allow him to assess the situation better. Even if it was for Saki-senpai, he still could've handled things differently. All that was left for now was to wait for tomorrow to come so they could hear Namatame's story. Maybe then he'd be able to keep his head straight.
Closing his eyes, he brought a hand to his face and sighed. "Dammit, I'm thinking about this way too much."
He brought his other hand to his chest pocket in search of his MP3 player, switching the device off. Slowly, he pulled his headphones over his head and placed them on his bedside table figuring that it was probably best that he got some sleep for now. Things were probably going to make a lot more sense in the morning.
He reached for his pillow and tucked it under his head. It may have been from exhaustion or the heavy feelings he carried from today, but whatever it was, it didn't take long until the boy was finally fast asleep.
[ Questions? Comments? Concerns? ] : Nope