Application for Destiny Strings
Sep. 3rd, 2012 05:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
disconinjafrogOut Of Character Information
Name: Kat | [nyanface]
Age: 18
Time zone: - 4:00 GMT
Contact: plurk:![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
nyanface | aim: nyanface | email: kristonmac@yahoo.com
Anything we should know?:
It's raining cookies!!
In Character Information
Name: Yosuke Hanamura
Series: Persona 4
Canon Standing: One month after Persona 4 (one month before Persona 4 Arena)
Age: 17 (almost 18)
Birthday & Astrology Sign: June 22nd, Cancer
Arcana: The Magician
Personality: Yosuke is incredibly silly in his demeanor. He is quick to crack jokes or make completely tactless remarks even during serious moments or in the face of danger. (For instance, claiming that he really has to pee and that his bladder will explode at any minute while trapped in a strange alternate dimension.) While he can be obnoxious, Yosuke usually doesn't take it too far and will shut up when the moment calls for it.
When it comes to his friends, Yosuke is both quick to support them as well as poke fun at and tease them. Even when pissing someone off with the jokes he cracks, instead of taking the anger to heart, he'll tease them further, which is usually his way of showing them he means well. He especially enjoys teasing his female friends, whether it's about cooking, dating, what they're wearing, etc. He comes off as a comedical lady's man, one who can't help but hit on the girls yet is always rejected for his completely absurd behavior. In fact, his first thoughts involving girls tends to be about how cute they are and whether or not they'd want to date him, though he usually doesn't pursue them as actively as he thinks he does.
One of the main reasons Yosuke tries to be a funny guy is to gain the attention of others. He tries to bring more excitement and entertainment to his life in any way possible. Others often deem him as annoying for trying way too hard to put himself in the spotlight, and believe that he exploits his position as the son of the manager for Junes, Inaba's equivalent of a mini-mall. The main reason for his behavior is due to his discomfort and unacceptance of his life in the countryside.
Born in the city, Yosuke's life was all about exciting new things. In the city, he could stave off loneliness by surrounding himself with activity and empty friendships to create the illusion of being noticed and well-liked. He wasn't able to get that when in the middle of nowhere, and was annoyed that he'd been forced to live there. He missed his urban life, and yearned to get it back, especially since his position as the son of Junes's manager put in him into a stressful position: people not only put blame on him for putting nearby mom-and-pop shops out of business, but also tried to use him at work to either get days off or earn raises. It was Saki Konishi, the girl he had a huge crush on, who told him that it didn't matter who his parents were or what his position was involving Junes, and that he was his own person. This is what encouraged him to try and get to know her better and treat her well.
Saki's death is what initially triggered his desire to solve the murder cases in Inaba. Yosuke wanted to avenge her, angry that Saki had been taken from him before he could really get close to her. His other underlying motives were to find some excitement, and find some way to be "special", to bring some meaning to his boring life in Inaba. He selfishly thought of himself as the big hero who would save Inaba and gain the affections of everyone in town, especially the protagonist's. When he faced his shadow in the other world, he had to own up to his feelings and that his behavior was due to these feelings. He matured from facing his shadow and gaining his Persona.
Yosuke's best friend is the protagonist Yu/Souji. The protagonist is the one who helped him to face his shadow and gain his Persona, and the only one to have seen the nastier side of him. He's incredibly understanding of Yosuke and Yosuke appreciates his help and determination to solve the murder cases. He helps Yosuke to face his inner demons as Yosuke tells him about his problems. Eventually Yosuke realizes that it's friends and family that's important to him, and that he has that in Inaba. Yosuke is able to accept Inaba as his home, and tells the protagonist that he's special to him.
Despite this, Yosuke was jealous of the protagonist, since he'd expected him to be as bored of Inaba as he was. Instead, the protagonist was quick to make friends, became incredibly popular in school, was able to wield his Persona first, and became the Leader of their investigation team. He'd made himself at home quite quickly, and became the hero that Yosuke had been searching to be, gaining admiration and respect from the rest of the team. Yosuke told the protagonist of his jealousy, and his wish to get on equal grounds with him. The two ended up beating each other up to get "equal" (a friendly scuffle), and formed an incredibly close bond, ridding Yosuke of his jealousy.
When it comes to Yosuke's gender and sexuality, he seems to be insecure about the topic. While he's almost undoubtedly straight and identifies as male, he becomes afraid that people might view him as gay or unmanly. This was mostly caused by his meeting Kanji, a character who himself was insecure with his gender since he didn't fit within the paradigm of gender roles. Many people believed Kanji to be gay for liking girly hobbies, and this insecurity managed to somewhat rub off on Yosuke. He comes off as homophobic, and homosexuality makes him a bit uneasy, though it's probably only due to his own insecurity as a teenage boy growing up in a rather judgmental society. Being forced to crossdress by his female friends in a "crossdressing pageant" has only made the issue even worse, though he seems to be coping with it better now that he's gotten to know Kanji better. (This likely won't come up in-game too often, played off as just an insecurity he has if someone faces him with the issue of being 'unmanly'.)
Backstory: Yosuke lived in the city before he moved to the rural town of Inaba, Japan. He arrived six months before the protagonist came to Inaba. His father received a job to work in Inaba as the manager of the Junes department store, which is what caused the move. Because his father ran the store, Yosuke took up a job there as well, doing odd jobs such as restocking, running stands at the food court, maintaining the other employees, etc. He met Saki Konishi there, a fellow employee whom he instantly took a liking to once she insisted that the store's effects on Inaba's shopping district weren't his fault simply because he was the manager's son. Her attitude, though, was a bit of a mystery. She was depressed since one of those stores going out of business happened to belong to her parents, who were furious with her for working with Junes. The two had a complicated relationship that involved him making genuine passes at her, with her making passive rejections at him.
About the same time that the protagonist arrived, Inaba's news had been jumping all over a case involving the disappearance of an announcer woman who'd been having an infamous affair. She had been staying in the Amagi Inn, a popular inn in Inaba, when she went missing. Literally one day after the protagonist arrived, her body had been discovered hanging upside down from a tangle of TV antennas with no cause of death determined, marking the first of a string of murders and murder attempts.
Meanwhile, the protagonist became fairly popular as the new transfer student at Yasogami High School. Yosuke was quick to befriend him, being able to relate to him as a fellow transfer student from the city, the two making a formal introduction after Yosuke's unfortunate incident of falling off of his bike and into a trash can. Chie, one of their fellow classmates and Yosuke's friend, jumped in on the bandwagon and the three became a trio soon afterward. Chie, being a girl who hears a lot of gossip, told the group about the Midnight Channel, a secret channel that shows you your soul mate if you watch your TV at midnight while it's raining. Both Yosuke and the protagonist believed it was a stupid myth, but agreed to try it out anyway just for fun. While the protagonist was nearly eaten by his TV, Yosuke saw the silhouette of a teenage girl on his own TV.
The three of them reconvened to discuss what happened, and it turned out Chie and Yosuke saw the same person. When the protagonist tried to explain that his TV almost ate him, the two laughed it off like it was some crazy dream. That is, until they went to Junes's electronic section looking at TVs and further making fun of the protagonist, only to have him prove he was right by sticking his hand inside of the TV. Both Yosuke and Chie started panicking and freaking out while the protagonist stuck half his body inside the large-screen TV, noting that it was very spacious. The two freaking out accidentally smacked into each other and sent all three of them careening through the TV into what was nicknamed the "TV world."
The TV world consisted of thick fog covering what looked to be a set for television broadcasting. As the three wandered, they found one section that contained slashed up pictures of the dead announcer lady and a noose hanging from the ceiling. Beginning to set into a worse panic, the three are suddenly greeted by a walking and talking bear suit named Teddie, a resident of the TV world. Teddie accused the three of throwing people into this world and wanted them to get out immediately, sending them back through a couple of TV sets and into Junes. The trio started to realize that the TV world must have something to do with the murder of the announcer lady, and decided to go home to think on it.
The following day, Yosuke received some incredibly bad news. Another corpse had been discovered hanging upside down from TV antennas in the same way the announcer woman had been found, only this corpse belonged to Saki Konishi. Yosuke was heartbroken and filled with thoughts of vengeance, and was able to convince the protagonist to head back into the TV world to find out more clues as to why or how she died. Yosuke and the protagonist tied ropes around their waists and made Chie hold onto the other end and stay behind while they jumped back through the TV. Predictably, the rope didn't work and was cut off, leaving Chie to worry about their whereabouts.
Inside the TV world the two met back up with the mysterious talking (and empty) beat suit, Teddie, who finally came to the conclusion that they weren't the culprits and decided he needed their help. Teddie gave them pairs of glasses that allowed them to see through the fog in the TV world, and took them to where he had sensed Saki's presence. It looked to be an exact replica of the Konishi liquor store. They soon ran into trouble as monsters known as shadows began to appear and attack them. That was when the protagonist discovered his true power, and was able to summon his first Persona, Izanagi, who quickly took out the attacking shadows. Both impressed and confused, the trio moved further inside the liquor store to investigate. They could hear the voices of Saki's parents berating her, and Saki's own voice badmouthing Yosuke, saying how she never liked him and was constantly annoyed with all the passes he made at her.
Saddened and confused by her words, Yosuke began to deny what she was saying when suddenly another Yosuke appeared, one with yellow eyes, spouting how much he hated Inaba and didn't really care for Saki, that he was only looking for excitement. This shadow Yosuke claimed to be Yosuke's true self, speaking his true feelings, which Yosuke denied once more, not wanting to accept the truth. The shadow transformed into a monster which the protagonist had to defeat, and only stopped attacking when Yosuke finally admitted that the shadow was speaking the truth. After accepting the darker parts of his heart, Yosuke's shadow transformed into another Persona, Jiraiya. Exhausted from their exploration, the pair left the TV world and returned to a very upset and angry Chie. They apologized and headed home to watch the Midnight Channel again for more clues. This time a girl wearing a kimono came on the screen, and Chie immediately recognized her as Yukiko, another of their classmates and Chie's best friend.
This marked the start of a series of kidnappings of people around Inaba, each of which who happened to be thrown into the TV world and each of which were saved by the protagonist and his group. The protagonist became the leader of what they dubbed as the Investigation Team who would take the group inside to fight off shadows and find the kidnapped person before they were killed by their own shadow. Chie got her Persona after the group headed in to find Yukiko, and Yukiko received hers afterward. The same then happened to Kanji, a notorious tough guy, and Rise, a pop idol. Teddie also received a Persona, about the same time as Rise, when learning to face his own existential crises. There was one person who broke the pattern, Mitsuo Kubo, who supposedly murdered the protagonist's homeroom teacher Mr. Mooroka, and had thrown himself into the TV. He was not able to face his shadow, simply dismiss it, and had been arrested as the serial murderer despite not fitting the pattern. However, the next person kidnapped afterward, Naoto the young and ambiguous detective, does face her shadow and get a Persona, becoming the last member of the Investigation Team. She also proved that Mitsuo was not the culprit, and that the killer was still on the loose.
The basic pattern of who got kidnapped went as follows: Someone appears or is mentioned on TV in the news, later appearing on the Midnight Channel. After a few nights on the Midnight Channel, the person then goes missing, kidnapped by someone, and has little recollection of what happened. If the kidnapped person is not rescued by the time a foggy day rolls by, then they die.
In between kidnappings, the team put together clues as to what was happening, and the protagonist became close friends with many of them, especially Yosuke. After Naoto was saved and the team was closer than ever to discovering what happened, things seemed to quiet down. All they could do was wait for the culprit to act again, and in the meantime try to sort out their busy high school lives. The only concern they received during their waiting period was a letter addressed to the protagonist that said "don't rescue anymore", which concerned them but was soon forgotten as the craziness of the culture festival arrived.
The culture festival their school held during the last week of October can be considered a "calm before the storm" period, a period of comedic relief before the really heavy part of the game settles in. Immediately following the incredibly silly events of this culture festival, the protagonist receives a second threatening letter warning him that someone he cares about will be thrown into the TV next. The protagonist's uncle Ryotaro Dojima, a police officer in Inaba who'd been suspicious of his nephew's activities involving the murder cases, finds this note and takes him into custody, leaving the protagonist's little cousin Nanako at home all alone. While being furiously questioned by his uncle and his uncle's crime partner Tohru Adachi, the protagonist worries about Nanako's safety. Sure enough, when the Midnight Channel appears that night while the protagonist is left alone in the questioning room, it's Nanako's face that appears on the television.
The rest of the Investigation Team is unaware of the danger before the Midnight Channel appears, and the fact that the protagonist has been taken into holding. Yosuke and Teddie find out through Nanako when they call the house phone that the protagonist had been taken to the police department, and the Investigation Team is sent into panic when they discover Nanako's face on the Midnight Channel. Soon after the Midnight Channel, the Investigation Team is unable to get a hold of Nanako, and a worried Naoto checks out the scene, finding the front door left wide open and Nanako missing.
Dojima panics and is off to hunt down the culprit by any means necessary. The whole Investigation Team arrives at the police station and is able to threateningly convince Adachi to let the protagonist go once they deduce facts and find out that the only person who could've kidnapped Nanako would be someone in a delivery truck carrying a TV in the cargo space-- the delivery man Taro Namatame. Sure enough, Dojima ends up in a high chase pursuit of Namatame who's trying to skip town, and gets into a terrible car wreck with him. Namatame flees through the TV in his truck before help can arrive, and Dojima must be sent to the hospital.
The team is left to rescue Nanako before the next foggy day, and defeat Namatame's shadow, bringing the both of them back from the TV world. Nanako, unfortunately, sustained major physical exhaustion from the TV world, her small body unable to handle the effects of the other world on a human's body and mind. She, Dojima, and Namatame are all hospitalized in the same hospital. Unfortunately, frustration befalls the Investigation Team as Namatame seems to be able to avoid conviction due to his weak state of mind, and everything turns for the worse when Nanako's condition worsens considerably. In fact, during late November, Nanako's condition becomes critical and she is pronounced dead while holding onto the protagonist's hand.
Fury setting in to Dojima, he attempts to find Namatame, murderous intent set into him. The police must forcibly drag Dojima away from Namatame's room, leaving the Investigation Team an opening to talk to him. When they confront him, Yosuke himself is filled with so much pain and fury for what Namatame did not only to Saki, but now to Nanako, that he tries to convince the team to help him murder Namatame by pushing him into the TV. The protagonist outright refuses, telling his team that he thinks they're missing some vital piece of information about the case, and is able to get them to calm down and think rationally about it. With rationality restored to the team, they come back to a miracle to find that Nanako had come back to life, and was now in stable condition.
The team is set into an even deeper investigation, eventually finding an opening to talk to Namatame when they're all in a calmer state of mind, and hear from him that Namatame isn't actually the murderer. He believed that by pushing people (starting with Yukiko) into the TV, he was saving them from the murderer, since he would always find them to be all right in the end (thanks to the Investigation Team's efforts, not that he knew that.) With this new information in tow, and panic of not only murders but thick and deadly fog setting into the town, the team must look back over their facts and pinpoint the only one left who remains prime suspect of the entire series of murders.
The murderer of the announcer woman and Saki Konishi, and the one responsible for Mitsuo's near death, turns out to be none other than Tohru Adachi, Dojima's crime partner. Upon his accusation, it's immediately apparent that he's the culprit when he flees into the TV world to escape from them. The team hunts him down, and finds that the dark part of his heart had been amplified and manipulated by a god of fog called Ameno-Sagiri who sought to fill the world with fog and turn everyone into Shadows, to blind them of the truth as he believed was humanity's wish. The team defies humanity's supposed wish, though, seeking only to face the truth rather than blot it out with fog, and defeats Ameno-Sagiri, ridding their world of the fog and restoring peace to Inaba. Adachi is then taken back to their world and arrested as the murderer.
Months peacefully pass before it's almost time for the protagonist to return home to his parents who came back from overseas. The day before he's supposed to leave, however, he still finds that he's still being bothered by something. He and his team still have no idea how all of this started, or where these powers to enter the TV came from. With some major investigation and critical thinking, the protagonist can trace all of the weird occurrences and his strange power back to the very first person he met in Inaba outside of his family: a seemingly harmless yet completely deceitful gas station attendant who greeted him with a handshake.
They discover that this supposedly insignificant gas station attendant is, in actuality, the goddess of death and chaos, Izanami. Ameno-Sagiri served Izanami as an aspect of herself, and she wished only to fulfill humanity's wishes of hiding the truth behind a layer of fog. The TV world, as it turns out, is a reflection of humanity's souls, the fog representing their wish to hide the truth and Shadows representing the darkest parts of their hearts. If left alone, all of the events that transpired and the seeping of fog into their world would repeat. The only way to make sure it never happens again is to defeat Izanami. In one final rush, the Investigation Team is able to wind their way through the labyrinth of Izanami's lair and find her, defeating her in a terrifying battle of life or death. They stopped her pursuits and, in fact, cleared the TV world of all of its fog and dangers, restoring it to the image of humanity's true heart, a peaceful place full of clarity.
The protagonist returns home the following day, promising to see his friends again soon.
Canon Powers:
Yosuke has the ability to summon a Persona in his home world. His Persona started out as Jiraiya, but morphed into Susano-o once he became best friends with the protagonist and grew up from the weakness in his heart that held him back. (More about this below, obviously.)
Canon Weapons|Items:
Yosuke uses two kunai, one in each hand, which he uses usually by bashing enemies over the head with them. Physical damage.
Canon Allies:
N/A
Canon Baggage:
-a few changes of clothes (both of his school uniform and his casual outfits)
-his headphones and CD player
-a collection of CDs from home
-his yellow Atlus bicycle
-his (non-functioning) cell phone
-some questionable magazines involving nurses
-the trash can. sitting in his bed. staring him down.
Persona
[SUSANO-O]
LVL (2) | THE MAGICIAN
WEAK: Electricity | REFLECTS: N/A | ABSORBS: N/A | BLOCKS: Wind | RESISTS: Fire
COMBAT SKILLS
▶ Mediarama: recovers a medium amount of health to all allies; can be used in the field
▶ Magarula: inflicts a medium amount of wind damage on all enemies
▶ Tentarafoo: 30% chance of confusing all enemies
▶ Garudyne: inflicts a huge amount of wind damage on one enemy
▷ Cruel Attack: inflicts a medium amount of damage on one enemy with even greater power on downed enemies
▷ Dekaja: cancels all -kaja effects, all enemies
▷ Wind Break: nullifies enemy's wind resistance for 2 turns
▷ Mirage Slash: inflicts a large amount of physical damage on all enemies with double the power on downed enemies
★ The Junes Hero: increases Yosuke's agility and his evasion of all attacks, 50% chance of gaining a critical attack on all enemies
PASSIVE SKILLS
▶ Dodge Lightning: doubles evasion against Lightning attacks
▷ Wind Amp: raises wind damage output by 50%
▷ Apt Pupil: doubles the chance of delivering a Critical Hit
1st Person | Action Example
[When the feed starts up, it's aimed at Yosuke's face, the feed coming from the watch on his wrist. He's sitting sideways in a metro train car, the city behind him illuminated in orange and pink hues as it passes by the window. Yosuke's wearing a work uniform of some kind, and his whole appearance looks a little disheveled. Despite his exhausted look, he's smiling, running one hand through his hair.]
Geeze, the work here is a hell of a lot tougher than I thought it'd be. It almost makes me miss my old job back at Junes. [Almost. At least here this job didn't come with the pressures of being the manager's son. No getting blamed for putting the shopping district out of business, no getting used by his co-workers for more time off or unfair hours, no more getting scolded by his dad any time he screwed up his job...]
Seriously, they work you to the bone but the pay is pretty decent. Maybe I can afford a better apartment at this rate. The city's pretty cool too, there's so much to do. [He isn't used to this anymore. It was nostalgic of his old life in the city, but he'd grown so accustomed to little rural Inaba that it was almost overwhelming.]
Hey, what do all of you guys do with your free time? I've got evenings and weekends off, if anyone wants to hang out. Just can't be out too late-- I don't really wanna deal with the stuff that comes out after dark, if you know what I mean.
3rd Person | Prose Example
The Taurus District. Coming down this way on his bike, this place was just screaming bad news. People were roaming the streets with a sway in their step, there were rather creepy looking men with a lost, dazed look in there face... even a few not-so-modest looking women on street corners making passes at him. Yosuke hadn't meant to stay out this late, but work had kept him and now he had to make his way back to his apartment on his bike at night.
It was either chancing thugs down the Taurus District or chancing demons through the Gemini District, and with the 13th Hour approaching, this seemed like a better idea. That is, until he ended up making a wrong turn down an alleyway and reaching a dead end.
"Damnit, I thought this would go through..." The nervous teen gripped the handle bars of his bike tightly before turning it around to go back the way he came. Unfortunately, he didn't appear to be alone.
Blocking the entrance of the alleyway was a pack of tough looking goons, Personas looming behind them. A few taunts and a mention of 'their turf' was all it took for Yosuke to realize that they meant trouble, and they weren't backing down. Gritting his teeth, Yosuke tossed up the kick stand on his bike and got off, turning out his pockets. "Look guys, I don't have anything on me, seriously. I don't wanna start any fights." The goons just laughed at him.
All right, fine. If they wanted to play that way, here comes Susano-o to give you all a taste of your own medicine.
...
So you know how those cool movie scenes go with the guy cornered in the alleyway, hopelessly outnumbered and seemingly outmatched? You know, where in the end the good guy pulls some cool moves and beats the everliving daylights out of all the thugs with almost no effort, and walks away as if nothing had happened to him at all? Yosuke was pretty sure that this was what was going to happen.
And yeah, the exact opposite of that scene was pretty much what took place. Yosuke was lucky to get out of the fight with only a black eye and some bruised ribs. His bike was in worse shape: a bent wheel, slashed tires, broken handle bars, and a stolen bike chain. He was glad the thing was still in tact at all, and that they let him off with just a warning rather than a broken nose.
Limping out of the Taurus District with his desecrated bike, Yosuke was pretty sure the only thing hurting worse than his sides was his fragile ego. The bike could be repaired easy enough; his pride, not so much.
Name: Kat | [
nyanface]Age: 18
Time zone: - 4:00 GMT
Contact: plurk:
Anything we should know?:
It's raining cookies!!
In Character Information
Name: Yosuke Hanamura
Series: Persona 4
Canon Standing: One month after Persona 4 (one month before Persona 4 Arena)
Age: 17 (almost 18)
Birthday & Astrology Sign: June 22nd, Cancer
Arcana: The Magician
Personality: Yosuke is incredibly silly in his demeanor. He is quick to crack jokes or make completely tactless remarks even during serious moments or in the face of danger. (For instance, claiming that he really has to pee and that his bladder will explode at any minute while trapped in a strange alternate dimension.) While he can be obnoxious, Yosuke usually doesn't take it too far and will shut up when the moment calls for it.
When it comes to his friends, Yosuke is both quick to support them as well as poke fun at and tease them. Even when pissing someone off with the jokes he cracks, instead of taking the anger to heart, he'll tease them further, which is usually his way of showing them he means well. He especially enjoys teasing his female friends, whether it's about cooking, dating, what they're wearing, etc. He comes off as a comedical lady's man, one who can't help but hit on the girls yet is always rejected for his completely absurd behavior. In fact, his first thoughts involving girls tends to be about how cute they are and whether or not they'd want to date him, though he usually doesn't pursue them as actively as he thinks he does.
One of the main reasons Yosuke tries to be a funny guy is to gain the attention of others. He tries to bring more excitement and entertainment to his life in any way possible. Others often deem him as annoying for trying way too hard to put himself in the spotlight, and believe that he exploits his position as the son of the manager for Junes, Inaba's equivalent of a mini-mall. The main reason for his behavior is due to his discomfort and unacceptance of his life in the countryside.
Born in the city, Yosuke's life was all about exciting new things. In the city, he could stave off loneliness by surrounding himself with activity and empty friendships to create the illusion of being noticed and well-liked. He wasn't able to get that when in the middle of nowhere, and was annoyed that he'd been forced to live there. He missed his urban life, and yearned to get it back, especially since his position as the son of Junes's manager put in him into a stressful position: people not only put blame on him for putting nearby mom-and-pop shops out of business, but also tried to use him at work to either get days off or earn raises. It was Saki Konishi, the girl he had a huge crush on, who told him that it didn't matter who his parents were or what his position was involving Junes, and that he was his own person. This is what encouraged him to try and get to know her better and treat her well.
Saki's death is what initially triggered his desire to solve the murder cases in Inaba. Yosuke wanted to avenge her, angry that Saki had been taken from him before he could really get close to her. His other underlying motives were to find some excitement, and find some way to be "special", to bring some meaning to his boring life in Inaba. He selfishly thought of himself as the big hero who would save Inaba and gain the affections of everyone in town, especially the protagonist's. When he faced his shadow in the other world, he had to own up to his feelings and that his behavior was due to these feelings. He matured from facing his shadow and gaining his Persona.
Yosuke's best friend is the protagonist Yu/Souji. The protagonist is the one who helped him to face his shadow and gain his Persona, and the only one to have seen the nastier side of him. He's incredibly understanding of Yosuke and Yosuke appreciates his help and determination to solve the murder cases. He helps Yosuke to face his inner demons as Yosuke tells him about his problems. Eventually Yosuke realizes that it's friends and family that's important to him, and that he has that in Inaba. Yosuke is able to accept Inaba as his home, and tells the protagonist that he's special to him.
Despite this, Yosuke was jealous of the protagonist, since he'd expected him to be as bored of Inaba as he was. Instead, the protagonist was quick to make friends, became incredibly popular in school, was able to wield his Persona first, and became the Leader of their investigation team. He'd made himself at home quite quickly, and became the hero that Yosuke had been searching to be, gaining admiration and respect from the rest of the team. Yosuke told the protagonist of his jealousy, and his wish to get on equal grounds with him. The two ended up beating each other up to get "equal" (a friendly scuffle), and formed an incredibly close bond, ridding Yosuke of his jealousy.
When it comes to Yosuke's gender and sexuality, he seems to be insecure about the topic. While he's almost undoubtedly straight and identifies as male, he becomes afraid that people might view him as gay or unmanly. This was mostly caused by his meeting Kanji, a character who himself was insecure with his gender since he didn't fit within the paradigm of gender roles. Many people believed Kanji to be gay for liking girly hobbies, and this insecurity managed to somewhat rub off on Yosuke. He comes off as homophobic, and homosexuality makes him a bit uneasy, though it's probably only due to his own insecurity as a teenage boy growing up in a rather judgmental society. Being forced to crossdress by his female friends in a "crossdressing pageant" has only made the issue even worse, though he seems to be coping with it better now that he's gotten to know Kanji better. (This likely won't come up in-game too often, played off as just an insecurity he has if someone faces him with the issue of being 'unmanly'.)
Backstory: Yosuke lived in the city before he moved to the rural town of Inaba, Japan. He arrived six months before the protagonist came to Inaba. His father received a job to work in Inaba as the manager of the Junes department store, which is what caused the move. Because his father ran the store, Yosuke took up a job there as well, doing odd jobs such as restocking, running stands at the food court, maintaining the other employees, etc. He met Saki Konishi there, a fellow employee whom he instantly took a liking to once she insisted that the store's effects on Inaba's shopping district weren't his fault simply because he was the manager's son. Her attitude, though, was a bit of a mystery. She was depressed since one of those stores going out of business happened to belong to her parents, who were furious with her for working with Junes. The two had a complicated relationship that involved him making genuine passes at her, with her making passive rejections at him.
About the same time that the protagonist arrived, Inaba's news had been jumping all over a case involving the disappearance of an announcer woman who'd been having an infamous affair. She had been staying in the Amagi Inn, a popular inn in Inaba, when she went missing. Literally one day after the protagonist arrived, her body had been discovered hanging upside down from a tangle of TV antennas with no cause of death determined, marking the first of a string of murders and murder attempts.
Meanwhile, the protagonist became fairly popular as the new transfer student at Yasogami High School. Yosuke was quick to befriend him, being able to relate to him as a fellow transfer student from the city, the two making a formal introduction after Yosuke's unfortunate incident of falling off of his bike and into a trash can. Chie, one of their fellow classmates and Yosuke's friend, jumped in on the bandwagon and the three became a trio soon afterward. Chie, being a girl who hears a lot of gossip, told the group about the Midnight Channel, a secret channel that shows you your soul mate if you watch your TV at midnight while it's raining. Both Yosuke and the protagonist believed it was a stupid myth, but agreed to try it out anyway just for fun. While the protagonist was nearly eaten by his TV, Yosuke saw the silhouette of a teenage girl on his own TV.
The three of them reconvened to discuss what happened, and it turned out Chie and Yosuke saw the same person. When the protagonist tried to explain that his TV almost ate him, the two laughed it off like it was some crazy dream. That is, until they went to Junes's electronic section looking at TVs and further making fun of the protagonist, only to have him prove he was right by sticking his hand inside of the TV. Both Yosuke and Chie started panicking and freaking out while the protagonist stuck half his body inside the large-screen TV, noting that it was very spacious. The two freaking out accidentally smacked into each other and sent all three of them careening through the TV into what was nicknamed the "TV world."
The TV world consisted of thick fog covering what looked to be a set for television broadcasting. As the three wandered, they found one section that contained slashed up pictures of the dead announcer lady and a noose hanging from the ceiling. Beginning to set into a worse panic, the three are suddenly greeted by a walking and talking bear suit named Teddie, a resident of the TV world. Teddie accused the three of throwing people into this world and wanted them to get out immediately, sending them back through a couple of TV sets and into Junes. The trio started to realize that the TV world must have something to do with the murder of the announcer lady, and decided to go home to think on it.
The following day, Yosuke received some incredibly bad news. Another corpse had been discovered hanging upside down from TV antennas in the same way the announcer woman had been found, only this corpse belonged to Saki Konishi. Yosuke was heartbroken and filled with thoughts of vengeance, and was able to convince the protagonist to head back into the TV world to find out more clues as to why or how she died. Yosuke and the protagonist tied ropes around their waists and made Chie hold onto the other end and stay behind while they jumped back through the TV. Predictably, the rope didn't work and was cut off, leaving Chie to worry about their whereabouts.
Inside the TV world the two met back up with the mysterious talking (and empty) beat suit, Teddie, who finally came to the conclusion that they weren't the culprits and decided he needed their help. Teddie gave them pairs of glasses that allowed them to see through the fog in the TV world, and took them to where he had sensed Saki's presence. It looked to be an exact replica of the Konishi liquor store. They soon ran into trouble as monsters known as shadows began to appear and attack them. That was when the protagonist discovered his true power, and was able to summon his first Persona, Izanagi, who quickly took out the attacking shadows. Both impressed and confused, the trio moved further inside the liquor store to investigate. They could hear the voices of Saki's parents berating her, and Saki's own voice badmouthing Yosuke, saying how she never liked him and was constantly annoyed with all the passes he made at her.
Saddened and confused by her words, Yosuke began to deny what she was saying when suddenly another Yosuke appeared, one with yellow eyes, spouting how much he hated Inaba and didn't really care for Saki, that he was only looking for excitement. This shadow Yosuke claimed to be Yosuke's true self, speaking his true feelings, which Yosuke denied once more, not wanting to accept the truth. The shadow transformed into a monster which the protagonist had to defeat, and only stopped attacking when Yosuke finally admitted that the shadow was speaking the truth. After accepting the darker parts of his heart, Yosuke's shadow transformed into another Persona, Jiraiya. Exhausted from their exploration, the pair left the TV world and returned to a very upset and angry Chie. They apologized and headed home to watch the Midnight Channel again for more clues. This time a girl wearing a kimono came on the screen, and Chie immediately recognized her as Yukiko, another of their classmates and Chie's best friend.
This marked the start of a series of kidnappings of people around Inaba, each of which who happened to be thrown into the TV world and each of which were saved by the protagonist and his group. The protagonist became the leader of what they dubbed as the Investigation Team who would take the group inside to fight off shadows and find the kidnapped person before they were killed by their own shadow. Chie got her Persona after the group headed in to find Yukiko, and Yukiko received hers afterward. The same then happened to Kanji, a notorious tough guy, and Rise, a pop idol. Teddie also received a Persona, about the same time as Rise, when learning to face his own existential crises. There was one person who broke the pattern, Mitsuo Kubo, who supposedly murdered the protagonist's homeroom teacher Mr. Mooroka, and had thrown himself into the TV. He was not able to face his shadow, simply dismiss it, and had been arrested as the serial murderer despite not fitting the pattern. However, the next person kidnapped afterward, Naoto the young and ambiguous detective, does face her shadow and get a Persona, becoming the last member of the Investigation Team. She also proved that Mitsuo was not the culprit, and that the killer was still on the loose.
The basic pattern of who got kidnapped went as follows: Someone appears or is mentioned on TV in the news, later appearing on the Midnight Channel. After a few nights on the Midnight Channel, the person then goes missing, kidnapped by someone, and has little recollection of what happened. If the kidnapped person is not rescued by the time a foggy day rolls by, then they die.
In between kidnappings, the team put together clues as to what was happening, and the protagonist became close friends with many of them, especially Yosuke. After Naoto was saved and the team was closer than ever to discovering what happened, things seemed to quiet down. All they could do was wait for the culprit to act again, and in the meantime try to sort out their busy high school lives. The only concern they received during their waiting period was a letter addressed to the protagonist that said "don't rescue anymore", which concerned them but was soon forgotten as the craziness of the culture festival arrived.
The culture festival their school held during the last week of October can be considered a "calm before the storm" period, a period of comedic relief before the really heavy part of the game settles in. Immediately following the incredibly silly events of this culture festival, the protagonist receives a second threatening letter warning him that someone he cares about will be thrown into the TV next. The protagonist's uncle Ryotaro Dojima, a police officer in Inaba who'd been suspicious of his nephew's activities involving the murder cases, finds this note and takes him into custody, leaving the protagonist's little cousin Nanako at home all alone. While being furiously questioned by his uncle and his uncle's crime partner Tohru Adachi, the protagonist worries about Nanako's safety. Sure enough, when the Midnight Channel appears that night while the protagonist is left alone in the questioning room, it's Nanako's face that appears on the television.
The rest of the Investigation Team is unaware of the danger before the Midnight Channel appears, and the fact that the protagonist has been taken into holding. Yosuke and Teddie find out through Nanako when they call the house phone that the protagonist had been taken to the police department, and the Investigation Team is sent into panic when they discover Nanako's face on the Midnight Channel. Soon after the Midnight Channel, the Investigation Team is unable to get a hold of Nanako, and a worried Naoto checks out the scene, finding the front door left wide open and Nanako missing.
Dojima panics and is off to hunt down the culprit by any means necessary. The whole Investigation Team arrives at the police station and is able to threateningly convince Adachi to let the protagonist go once they deduce facts and find out that the only person who could've kidnapped Nanako would be someone in a delivery truck carrying a TV in the cargo space-- the delivery man Taro Namatame. Sure enough, Dojima ends up in a high chase pursuit of Namatame who's trying to skip town, and gets into a terrible car wreck with him. Namatame flees through the TV in his truck before help can arrive, and Dojima must be sent to the hospital.
The team is left to rescue Nanako before the next foggy day, and defeat Namatame's shadow, bringing the both of them back from the TV world. Nanako, unfortunately, sustained major physical exhaustion from the TV world, her small body unable to handle the effects of the other world on a human's body and mind. She, Dojima, and Namatame are all hospitalized in the same hospital. Unfortunately, frustration befalls the Investigation Team as Namatame seems to be able to avoid conviction due to his weak state of mind, and everything turns for the worse when Nanako's condition worsens considerably. In fact, during late November, Nanako's condition becomes critical and she is pronounced dead while holding onto the protagonist's hand.
Fury setting in to Dojima, he attempts to find Namatame, murderous intent set into him. The police must forcibly drag Dojima away from Namatame's room, leaving the Investigation Team an opening to talk to him. When they confront him, Yosuke himself is filled with so much pain and fury for what Namatame did not only to Saki, but now to Nanako, that he tries to convince the team to help him murder Namatame by pushing him into the TV. The protagonist outright refuses, telling his team that he thinks they're missing some vital piece of information about the case, and is able to get them to calm down and think rationally about it. With rationality restored to the team, they come back to a miracle to find that Nanako had come back to life, and was now in stable condition.
The team is set into an even deeper investigation, eventually finding an opening to talk to Namatame when they're all in a calmer state of mind, and hear from him that Namatame isn't actually the murderer. He believed that by pushing people (starting with Yukiko) into the TV, he was saving them from the murderer, since he would always find them to be all right in the end (thanks to the Investigation Team's efforts, not that he knew that.) With this new information in tow, and panic of not only murders but thick and deadly fog setting into the town, the team must look back over their facts and pinpoint the only one left who remains prime suspect of the entire series of murders.
The murderer of the announcer woman and Saki Konishi, and the one responsible for Mitsuo's near death, turns out to be none other than Tohru Adachi, Dojima's crime partner. Upon his accusation, it's immediately apparent that he's the culprit when he flees into the TV world to escape from them. The team hunts him down, and finds that the dark part of his heart had been amplified and manipulated by a god of fog called Ameno-Sagiri who sought to fill the world with fog and turn everyone into Shadows, to blind them of the truth as he believed was humanity's wish. The team defies humanity's supposed wish, though, seeking only to face the truth rather than blot it out with fog, and defeats Ameno-Sagiri, ridding their world of the fog and restoring peace to Inaba. Adachi is then taken back to their world and arrested as the murderer.
Months peacefully pass before it's almost time for the protagonist to return home to his parents who came back from overseas. The day before he's supposed to leave, however, he still finds that he's still being bothered by something. He and his team still have no idea how all of this started, or where these powers to enter the TV came from. With some major investigation and critical thinking, the protagonist can trace all of the weird occurrences and his strange power back to the very first person he met in Inaba outside of his family: a seemingly harmless yet completely deceitful gas station attendant who greeted him with a handshake.
They discover that this supposedly insignificant gas station attendant is, in actuality, the goddess of death and chaos, Izanami. Ameno-Sagiri served Izanami as an aspect of herself, and she wished only to fulfill humanity's wishes of hiding the truth behind a layer of fog. The TV world, as it turns out, is a reflection of humanity's souls, the fog representing their wish to hide the truth and Shadows representing the darkest parts of their hearts. If left alone, all of the events that transpired and the seeping of fog into their world would repeat. The only way to make sure it never happens again is to defeat Izanami. In one final rush, the Investigation Team is able to wind their way through the labyrinth of Izanami's lair and find her, defeating her in a terrifying battle of life or death. They stopped her pursuits and, in fact, cleared the TV world of all of its fog and dangers, restoring it to the image of humanity's true heart, a peaceful place full of clarity.
The protagonist returns home the following day, promising to see his friends again soon.
Canon Powers:
Yosuke has the ability to summon a Persona in his home world. His Persona started out as Jiraiya, but morphed into Susano-o once he became best friends with the protagonist and grew up from the weakness in his heart that held him back. (More about this below, obviously.)
Canon Weapons|Items:
Yosuke uses two kunai, one in each hand, which he uses usually by bashing enemies over the head with them. Physical damage.
Canon Allies:
N/A
Canon Baggage:
-a few changes of clothes (both of his school uniform and his casual outfits)
-his headphones and CD player
-a collection of CDs from home
-his yellow Atlus bicycle
-his (non-functioning) cell phone
-some questionable magazines involving nurses
-the trash can. sitting in his bed. staring him down.
Persona
[SUSANO-O]
LVL (2) | THE MAGICIAN
WEAK: Electricity | REFLECTS: N/A | ABSORBS: N/A | BLOCKS: Wind | RESISTS: Fire
COMBAT SKILLS
▶ Mediarama: recovers a medium amount of health to all allies; can be used in the field
▶ Magarula: inflicts a medium amount of wind damage on all enemies
▶ Tentarafoo: 30% chance of confusing all enemies
▶ Garudyne: inflicts a huge amount of wind damage on one enemy
▷ Cruel Attack: inflicts a medium amount of damage on one enemy with even greater power on downed enemies
▷ Dekaja: cancels all -kaja effects, all enemies
▷ Wind Break: nullifies enemy's wind resistance for 2 turns
▷ Mirage Slash: inflicts a large amount of physical damage on all enemies with double the power on downed enemies
★ The Junes Hero: increases Yosuke's agility and his evasion of all attacks, 50% chance of gaining a critical attack on all enemies
PASSIVE SKILLS
▶ Dodge Lightning: doubles evasion against Lightning attacks
▷ Wind Amp: raises wind damage output by 50%
▷ Apt Pupil: doubles the chance of delivering a Critical Hit
1st Person | Action Example
[When the feed starts up, it's aimed at Yosuke's face, the feed coming from the watch on his wrist. He's sitting sideways in a metro train car, the city behind him illuminated in orange and pink hues as it passes by the window. Yosuke's wearing a work uniform of some kind, and his whole appearance looks a little disheveled. Despite his exhausted look, he's smiling, running one hand through his hair.]
Geeze, the work here is a hell of a lot tougher than I thought it'd be. It almost makes me miss my old job back at Junes. [Almost. At least here this job didn't come with the pressures of being the manager's son. No getting blamed for putting the shopping district out of business, no getting used by his co-workers for more time off or unfair hours, no more getting scolded by his dad any time he screwed up his job...]
Seriously, they work you to the bone but the pay is pretty decent. Maybe I can afford a better apartment at this rate. The city's pretty cool too, there's so much to do. [He isn't used to this anymore. It was nostalgic of his old life in the city, but he'd grown so accustomed to little rural Inaba that it was almost overwhelming.]
Hey, what do all of you guys do with your free time? I've got evenings and weekends off, if anyone wants to hang out. Just can't be out too late-- I don't really wanna deal with the stuff that comes out after dark, if you know what I mean.
3rd Person | Prose Example
The Taurus District. Coming down this way on his bike, this place was just screaming bad news. People were roaming the streets with a sway in their step, there were rather creepy looking men with a lost, dazed look in there face... even a few not-so-modest looking women on street corners making passes at him. Yosuke hadn't meant to stay out this late, but work had kept him and now he had to make his way back to his apartment on his bike at night.
It was either chancing thugs down the Taurus District or chancing demons through the Gemini District, and with the 13th Hour approaching, this seemed like a better idea. That is, until he ended up making a wrong turn down an alleyway and reaching a dead end.
"Damnit, I thought this would go through..." The nervous teen gripped the handle bars of his bike tightly before turning it around to go back the way he came. Unfortunately, he didn't appear to be alone.
Blocking the entrance of the alleyway was a pack of tough looking goons, Personas looming behind them. A few taunts and a mention of 'their turf' was all it took for Yosuke to realize that they meant trouble, and they weren't backing down. Gritting his teeth, Yosuke tossed up the kick stand on his bike and got off, turning out his pockets. "Look guys, I don't have anything on me, seriously. I don't wanna start any fights." The goons just laughed at him.
All right, fine. If they wanted to play that way, here comes Susano-o to give you all a taste of your own medicine.
...
So you know how those cool movie scenes go with the guy cornered in the alleyway, hopelessly outnumbered and seemingly outmatched? You know, where in the end the good guy pulls some cool moves and beats the everliving daylights out of all the thugs with almost no effort, and walks away as if nothing had happened to him at all? Yosuke was pretty sure that this was what was going to happen.
And yeah, the exact opposite of that scene was pretty much what took place. Yosuke was lucky to get out of the fight with only a black eye and some bruised ribs. His bike was in worse shape: a bent wheel, slashed tires, broken handle bars, and a stolen bike chain. He was glad the thing was still in tact at all, and that they let him off with just a warning rather than a broken nose.
Limping out of the Taurus District with his desecrated bike, Yosuke was pretty sure the only thing hurting worse than his sides was his fragile ego. The bike could be repaired easy enough; his pride, not so much.
