Yosuke Hanamura

Yosuke Hanamura is a playable character from Persona 4. Much like the game's protagonist, Yosuke had also moved from a big city to the small rural town of Inaba.

Appearances

 * Persona 4: Playable Character; Magician Social Link
 * Persona 4 Manga: Major Character; Magician Arcana
 * Persona 4 The Animation: Major Character; Magician Arcana
 * Persona 4 Golden: Playable Character; Magician Social Link
 * Persona 4 Arena: Playable Character
 * Persona 4: The Ultimax Ultra Suplex Hold: Playable Character
 * Persona 4 The Magician: Protagonist
 * BlazBlue Radio Wide: Guest Star
 * Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth: Playable Character
 * Persona 4: Dancing All Night: Playable Character

Design
Yosuke has slightly unkempt fawn colored hair, and brown eyes. At both his school and inside the Midnight Channel, he wears a school uniform of Yasogami High, along with a white V-necked with long sleeves and a pair of red headphones (save for two occasions, he is never seen without them). Yosuke also wears orange glasses during battles. During summer he wears his school summer uniform, along with another V-necked shirt with short sleeves. On weekends, he wears a white leather jacket with an orange V-necked shirt, and dark green pants. During weekends in the summer, he wears a white V-necked shirt with red motifs on the front. During the Crossdressing School Festival, part of his hair is pulled into a loose pigtail, and he wears a school uniform for girls; with a light-yellow sweater vest, a loose red ribbon, a red checkered mini skirt, black stockings, and brown loafers. Interestingly, in the anime, his socks are mysteriously changed from black to white.

In Persona 4 Golden in winter he wears a snow suit with white hoodie, orange goggles around his neck with light blue scarf, white pullover jacket with snow red jacket, black gloves, green camouflage pants, and yellow shoes. Even during colder days in winter at school, he wears sky blue pullovers jacket underneath his school uniform.

In Persona 4: The Animation, his swimming trunks are orange and have a floral pattern on them, and wears Yasogami High basketball uniform when he supported Kou's last game. Then later on cross dressing change to black to white socks.

Personality
Yosuke is a clumsy, somewhat irritable transfer-student who arrived six-months before the protagonist. He is often the target for jokes about his lack of muscles and body strength, and fights with blunt, double-handed objects — such as wrenches, but moreso knives and kunai. The protagonist first sees him crashing his bike into a garbage can — the first of many times — but he doesn't introduce himself to the protagonist until he helps Yosuke by getting him out of a garbage can. He cares deeply about Saki Konishi and fell into depression after her death.

He doesn't usually think before he says something, which results in him sticking his foot in his mouth, and unintentionally insulting someone. He tends to be a bit of a wannabe ladies' man and has a fascination for girls. But beneath most of that (more so in the original game), he shows great insight with decent deducing, and is often on task of the situation on hand, and can be a very serious individual at times. He also tends to keep a good face in order to make sure the team is in their best spirits, he cares a lot about Yu, as well as having a strong sense of justice. A notable gag is that Yosuke seems to be at odds with Chie Satonaka several times. His biggest insecurities are boredom and loneliness. He feels the town has nothing comparing to the city and that his life in the city is the reason for his unpopularity. By the end of the game he has grown to love the town and has made friends with the rest of the Investigation team and feels accomplished in having a notable contribution to the group.

Persona 4


Yosuke Hanamura is a clumsy, awkward student who attends Yasogami High School.

Yosuke makes his first appearance during the protagonist's first day at school, where he comically crashes his bicycle. He is later shown to be apologizing to Chie Satonaka, due to the fact that he broke the DVD "Trial of the Dragon." which he borrowed from Chie. Enraged, Chie kicks Yosuke in the crotch, and demands that he buy her a new one. The protagonist befriends Yosuke the next day, where he helps Yosuke after having his head stuck in a trash can after crashing his bicycle. Later, to express his gratitude, Yosuke invites the protagonist to Yasoinaba's delicacy store. However, Yosuke later scraps his plans after Chie hears his proposal, and takes them to Junes' Food Court instead.

Chie later tells the protagonist and Yosuke about the urban legend of the Midnight Channel, and asks them to try it out. Their conversation is interrupted when Yosuke sees his senior, Saki Konishi taking a break. Seeing her looking frustrated and tired, Yosuke becomes worried and talks to Saki. In their conversation it is revealed that Yosuke, like the protagonist, came from a city, and his father is a manager of Junes. Yosuke later tries to tell Saki something, however Saki simply brushes him off and tells him that her break-time was almost over. Chie takes note of Yosuke's disappointment and teases him, asking if he is falling in love with Saki.

Later that night, Yosuke tries to tune in to the Midnight Channel, and sees a blurred image of a female student in his TV. Expressing his bemusement that day, Yosuke, Chie and the protagonist became intrigued due to seeing the same person in the Midnight Channel. Chie later asks Yosuke about the prices of a wide-screen TV, since her family was planning to buy one. The trio later goes to Junes, where the Protagonist tries to enter to the other side of the TV- this time using a wide-screen TV large enough to cover his body. The Protagonist becomes stuck halfway, and upon witnessing the Protagonist's actions, Yosuke and Chie panic and accidentally push themselves along with the Protagonist into the other side of the TV, Midnight Channel.

Inside the Midnight Channel, the trio are shocked to see their surroundings and panic. They anxiously try to return via searching the entrance they fell earlier, but failing to do so, they decide to check around the area. Eventually, they encounter a bear like cartoon character, who urges them to leave this place. The trio confess their inability to do so, and losing his patience, the bear, like cartoon character, summons three TVs and pushes them in, forcefully ejecting the trio out of the Midnight Channel. The next day, Saki Konishi was reported missing, and subsequently dead.



Devastated, Yosuke swears to investigate the Midnight Channel, as the female student they witnessed earlier in the Midnight Channel was in fact Saki Konishi. Yosuke requests the Protagonist to help him, since he is the only one who is able to enter the TV. Eventually the Protagonist and Yosuke enter the Midnight Channel one more time, leaving Chie behind. Inside the Midnight Channel, the Protagonist and Yosuke once again encounter the cartoon-like character, who introduces himself as Teddie. Infuriated by their presence, Teddie angrily asks them whether are they responsible for "throwing people" inside the Midnight Channel. Yosuke angrily stammers back, telling Teddie that he is the suspicious one.

Upon learning that the Protagonist and Yosuke aren't responsible, Teddie promises to help, and gives them a pair of glasses which allow them to see the fog ridden Midnight Channel clearly. Eventually the Protagonist and Yosuke venture to an area resembling Yasoinaba's shopping street. Intrigued, the Protagonist and Yosuke try to enter Saki's family liquor store and begin to hear the voice of Saki Konishi echoing them. In there, Saki's voice reveals that she is tired of her life: her family liquor store's sales are falling because of the opening of Junes, and her part-time job in Junes has caused her father to detest her. Saki also reveals that she hated Yosuke, and never thought of him as a friend, but an annoying, irritating person; she was being friendly to Yosuke only because he is the son of the manager of Junes. Whether these were Saki's true feelings or fears born from Yosuke's feelings is debatable.

Hearing Saki's words, Yosuke is devastated, and tries to convince himself that everything he heard was a lie. Another 'Yosuke' appears, and openly mocks Yosuke, asking if he is going to cry like a baby. Shocked, Yosuke tries to answer back, but the other 'Yosuke' proceeds to taunt Yosuke by saying that in reality, he is just afraid of being alone and his cheerful facade was nothing more than just a sign of escapism. The other 'Yosuke' then mentions that Yosuke never sees anyone as a friend, including Saki, but only as things to help him to feel secure.

Angered, Yosuke tells the other 'Yosuke' to shut up, and denies his claims. The other 'Yosuke' then mocks him, telling him that deep down, he is agreeing at with other Yosuke's claims. The other 'Yosuke' exclaims that he knew it because he is Yosuke. Not wanting to believe, Yosuke angrily exclaims that the other 'Yosuke' is not him.

Laughing at Yosuke's declination of his true feelings, the other 'Yosuke' transforms into a Shadow to attack them. The Protagonist defeats the Shadow, with Yosuke still reluctant to face himself. Under the encouragement of Teddie and the Protagonist, Yosuke painfully admits that he does feel that way, but it is always hard to face one's true feelings. Sensing Yosuke's resolution, the Shadow transform into Jiraiya, and becomes Yosuke's Persona. Later, when the Protagonist and Yosuke return to the real world, they are lectured by a worried and angry Chie, who promptly leaves after scolding them. Yosuke later thanks the Protagonist, telling him that he'll definitely have a good night's sleep tonight.



The next day, Yosuke tells the Protagonist that they must stop the murder incidents and investigate the culprit behind the Midnight Channel, allowing the Protagonist to forge the Magician Arcana with Yosuke.

Should the Protagonist manage to level up the Magician Arcana Social Link to Lv.8, Yosuke reveals that when he first moved to Yasoinaba, he was resentful towards the town because he feared that the opening of Junes would make the people in the Shop District hate him. Despite this, however, Yosuke began to open up when Saki Konishi told him that "parents are parents, you (Yosuke) are you".

Yosuke later exclaims that even after he knew the friendly Saki was a facade, he still loves her, and is sad to see her die. He goes as far as to say he really did not mind whether Saki liked him or not—he just wanted to make her smile. Yosuke also expresses his resentment of living in a small country town with little to do, as well as his wish to do something interesting like play hero. By the end of the Magician Arcana Social Link, Yosuke expresses that deep down inside, he didn't trust the Protagonist fully, and is jealous of his talents in combat and being a leader of the Investigation Team. Confessing his inner thoughts, Yosuke then requests the Protagonist to punch him, so they could get even for Yosuke's jealousy. The Protagonist eventually brawls with Yosuke, with their fight ending with a tie. Yosuke then exclaims that he'll live with his true self from now onwards, and hold precious the days he spends with others. Eventually having a change in his psyche and resolution, Yosuke's Persona Jiraiya transfigures into Susano-O. Noticing his newfound powers, Yosuke exclaims that he will use the power to protect the others, and thanks the Protagonist.

Yosuke's Persona, Jiraiya of The Magician Arcana, takes the form of a humanoid ninja whose head vaguely resembles a cartoon toad's, and wears a white disco suit and a red scarf. It also has a distinctive 'V' on its chest that is meant to be the toad's mouth.

Susano-O of the Magician Arcana, takes the form of a humanoid ninja wearing a light blue disco outfit with a towering red hair, he also has a mask that looks like a circular saw and sunglasses. Around its body is a circular saw that floats around like Saturn's ring.

Jiraiya and Susano-O use wind skills, single healing and physical skills along with supportive buffs. Should the Protagonist reach Lv 3 of the Magician Arcana Social Link, Yosuke will learn his distinctive follow-up attack, Yosuke Strike, where he performs a powerful combo with 100% critical rate on another enemy, downed or otherwise, provided the Protagonist has struck down a target.

Persona 4 Manga
Yosuke's role in the manga is similar to his role in the original game with a few differences. For example, Yosuke fights his own shadow with his persona, Jiraiya, even though this creates a paradox.

Persona 4: The Animation
Yosuke's role remains the similar to his role in the games. At Kou's basketball game, it is revealed that he isn't very good at the sport.

When Yu is trapped by Shadow Mitsuo, it is Yosuke that brings him out of his near stupor by calling his name and pulling him out of the shadow. The event helps bring the two closer together, as they afterwards refer to each other by their first names rather than their last, something that doesn't go unnoticed by the other characters.

During Nanako's hospitalization, Yu eventually makes the decision to move on and find the truth, for everyone's sake. The group leaves for home, while Yu simply stares at the sky, wondering about whether he did the right thing. He hears footsteps and is surprised to see Yosuke. The latter walks up to his side and merely offers him a shoulder as Yu Narukami finally breaks down in tears, crying Nanako's name and wondering if he did the right thing by not pushing Namatame into the Midnight Channel.

Later on, upon discovering Tohru Adachi's true involvement in the murders of Mayumi Yamano and Saki Konishi, he follows the Investigation Team into the Midnight Channel, where they eventually stumble onto a twisted version of Yasoinaba, Magatsu Inaba. The team finds an image of Adachi in the first room that Yu, Chie and Yosuke landed in when they first entered the Midnight Channel. Adachi confesses to his role in the murders. Yosuke's emotions fluctuate between absolute hatred and horror, calling him out on his treatment of women and his views in life. When they chase after Adachi, they eventually stumble upon The Reaper, and Yosuke teams up with Teddie to buy Yu some time in finding the real Adachi in the area. During the battle, Narukami and Izanagi take major damage, thanks to Adachi and his Persona, Magatsu Izanagi. Going in to rescue Yu, Jiraiya evolves into Susano-o. The evolution then grants Yu the power to create Lucifer and they defeat Adachi together for good.

Later on, Yosuke is seen saying goodbye to Yu, who has to return to his hometown. This was initially the true ending of Persona 4, as well as The Animation, but this changed with Persona 4: The Golden, which added a new ending sequence taking place months after the True Ending of the original game. He also appears in the True Ending of Persona 4: The Animation, released in August.

Yosuke and Yu's bond is represented by the Persona Pyro Jack.

Persona 4 Golden
In Persona 4 Golden, the addition of bikes for the Investigation Team introduced a unique new way of obtaining skills for party members. By going on special forms of dates with each party member, involving the use of the bikes, the player is given the option of either having the party member in question learn a brand-new skill, or relearn any old skill that they have forgotten. The bike skills available to Yosuke are listed below.

Yosuke can also perform a fusion spell with Teddie called "Junes Bomber" when the following requirements are achieved: When performing "Junes Bomber", Yosuke and Teddie will run up to each other and perform minor stunts. Shortly after, they will both disappear, leaving behind a giant Teddie-looking bomb and several ninja tools. The bomb will explode shortly after, creating a gust of wind that clears away the ninja tools and damages the enemy.
 * Yosuke and Teddie are both in the active party
 * An "All-Out Attack" is performed, but the enemy still remains.

Additionally, like with Rise Kujikawa in Persona 4, each party member is able to learn new skills upon the player's progression of their Social Link. The social link skills that Yosuke learns upon development of his Social Link are also listed below.

Persona 4 Arena
During the events of Persona 4 Arena, Yosuke is now a third-year student at Yasogami High School and he begins to hear rumors that the Midnight Channel is back. When he decides to investigate, he meets a mysterious girl. As he keeps defeating his friends each round, Yosuke hears them say that the reason the Grand Prix was set up because of him and his feelings of despair and uselessness about going back to a normal life. After discovering that General Teddie from the monitor is a fake, he thought that might be his shadow dressing up like Teddie. Before heading to the announcement room, Yosuke manages to impress Labrys and even agrees to go on a date with him (much to Teddie's surprise). As Yosuke and Labrys arrive at the announcement room, he sees his shadow and just as he is about to deny it once more, his friends help him resolve his problems. But soon it becomes clear that it was not Yosuke's shadow as he used his Persona in the fight, soon General Teddie goes after Labrys and it's revealed that General Teddie was actually Shadow Labrys. She reveals Labrys' true nature as an android as another android, Aigis, appears.

Yosuke, clearly shocked by these events, chases after everyone as he gets trapped with Aigis on the roof because of the Grand Prix rules. After hearing about the true nature of Labrys and about the incident at Port Island, he resolves to go to Labrys' side and defeats Aigis. Using Aigis' words, he defeats Shadow Labrys as he helps Labrys accept herself allowing her to gain a Persona. When they are about to leave, Labrys is hijacked though Yosuke is able to hold her off. After the new enemy reveals himself, Mitsuru Kirijo suggests that they leave it to them. Yu relents as Yosuke catches on and helps to lead everyone back to the real world. After saying their goodbyes to Labrys, Yosuke and the others finally get a chance to celebrate Yu's return and announces that the Investigation Team is back in action.

Play Style
In battle, Yosuke is the fastest character in the game and performs incredibly acrobatic attacks. He has several ways he can execute his block strings and has several mix up options (from tick throwing to feints) but both his health and damage output are typically low although in initial builds of the game, he had high health. His Awakening super, Sukukaja, greatly boosts his movement to being able to dash cancel many of his attacks, allows him to move very quickly to the point of teleporting, and being able to use his Moonsault during auto combo.

His original moves are the Moonsault (leaps forward in a spiraling jump), Crescent Slash (Mikazuki Giri/Three-Day Moon Slash in JPN where he slashes upward during Moonsault), Flying Kunai (Tobi Kunai in JPN, Yosuke throws a storm kunai downward in midair), and Mirage Slash (Hengenjisou Giri/Transforming Phase Slash in JPN, here Yosuke in midair has Jiraiya appear in front of his place, covering his instant teleporting low-hitting slide slash to the ground; the Skill Boost version only teleports to the ground). He retains his Tentarafoo as a special, his Garudyne and the aforementioned Sukukaja as his SP Skills, and with his Brave Blade (Brave Zapper in JPN) being his Mortal Blow/Instant Kill. His Reversal Action involves him provoking the foe in a reversal/counter stance, and making them pratfall should they hit him allowing him to reset the situation.

Score Attack
Yosuke is the first opponent you fight in Score Attack. His buffs include permanent Sukukaja at the start of the round and the ability to Moonsault as many times as he wants.

Persona 4

 * "Let's do this, Jiraiya!" (Hitting weak point/critical with physical skill)
 * "Go! Susano-o!" (Hitting weak point/critical with physical skill)
 * "Throwdown!" (Summoning Persona)
 * "Kanonia!" (Summoning Persona)
 * "Persona!" (Summoning Persona)
 * "Countin' on you!" (Summoning Persona)
 * "Two left!"
 * "Two enemies left!"
 * "Two to go! We can do this!"
 * "Four left!"
 * "All right, four to go!"
 * "Not a chance!" (Protects Protagonist from a mortal blow)
 * "Here..." (Helping Protagonist up)
 * "Up we go!" (Helping Chie up)
 * "Damn, it's not going down!" (Fails to eliminate an enemy)
 * "That's some thick skin!" (Fails to eliminate an enemy)
 * "Someone else's turn!" (Fails to eliminate an enemy)
 * "What the hell? It's not working?" (Enemy blocks attack)
 * "It's not working — what is this?" (Enemy blocks attack)
 * "Too slow!" (Dodging an enemy's attack)
 * "You're gonna pay, dammit!" (Recover from Down/Dizzy)
 * "Dammit ... who do they think they are?" (Recover from Down/Dizzy)
 * "I'm pissed now!" (Recover from Down/Dizzy)
 * "Nice moves, partner!" (Cheering on Protagonist)
 * "Attagirl!" (Cheering on Chie)
 * "Go, go!" (Cheering on Chie)
 * "Great move, Chie!" (Cheering on Chie)
 * "Sweet, Yukiko!" (Cheering on Yukiko)
 * "Awesome, Yukiko!" (Cheering on Yukiko)
 * "That's the Kanji I know!" (Cheering on Kanji)
 * "Dude, you're a beast!" (Cheering on Teddie)
 * "Let's go, partner!" (Prompting All-Out Attack)
 * "Now's our chance! You ready?" (Prompting All-Out Attack)
 * "Should we show 'em who's boss?!" (Prompting All-Out Attack)
 * "All right, one for all and all for one!" (Prompting All-Out Attack)
 * "We're not gonna? What a waste..." (Declining All-Out Attack)
 * "Uh ... If you say so..." (Declining All-Out Attack)
 * "Okay!" (Performing All-Out Attack)
 * "All right!" (Performing All-Out Attack)
 * "Good answer!" (Performing All-Out Attack)
 * "Out of our way!" (During All-Out Attack)
 * "Ready or not, here we come!" (During All-Out Attack)
 * "That should do it!" (Battle won)
 * "Whoo! That went well!" (Battle won)
 * "All right! Let's keep going!" (Battle won)
 * "Ugh ... that took forever!" (Battle won)
 * "That's my true strength!" (Battle won)
 * "Another level for me!" (Level up)
 * "Ha ha, level up!" (Level up)
 * "Alright, I leveled up!" (Level up)
 * "Not bad, partner!" (MC levels up)

Full Battle Quotes: http://youtu.be/YyOaqTcvSZ0

Persona 4 Golden

 * "Let the winds blow!" (When performing the skill Youthful Wind)
 * "Feel that mighty wind!" (When performing the skill Youthful Wind)
 * "Blow through!" (When performing the skill Youthful Wind)
 * "Not bad, eh?" (Battle won in Gekkou Uniform)
 * "Who's da man!?" (Battle won in Gekkou Uniform)

Persona 4 Arena

 * "Ressentiment? Aw, come on!" (in response to his title)
 * "Whoa! Wait a sec! What's up with this?" (Starting Arcade Mode)
 * "Everything that bores me has got to go!" (on E3 trailer)
 * "Alright!" (While performing Dash Spring)
 * "Get some!" (While performing Flying Kunai)
 * "Move aside!" (While performing Crescent Slash)
 * "Down here!" (While performing Mirage Slash)
 * "Dodge this!" (While performing Tentarafoo)
 * "Garudyne! Blow away!" (While performing super move, Garudyne)
 * "Sukukaja! It's showtime!" ( While performing Awakening super move, Sukukaja)
 * "Brave Blade!" (Instant Kill)
 * "Time to bring this out!" (Instant Kill)
 * "Let's do this!" (Yosuke attacking the opponent in the air while performing Brave Blade.)
 * "Ultimate attack!" (Yosuke attacking the opponent in the air while performing Brave Blade.)
 * "You're finished!" (Jiraiya delivers the final strike during the Instant Kill)
 * "This is the end!" (Jiraiya delivers the final strike during the Instant Kill)
 * "He's a powerhouse, that's for sure." (vs. Kanji)
 * "I'm still no match for you...!" (Defeated by Yu)
 * "I ain't holding back Teddie!" (Doing an All-Out-Attack on Teddie)

Trivia

 * Like Junpei Iori and Kenji Tomochika, being of the Magician Arcana, Yosuke's relationship with his crush ends tragically.
 * Yosuke Hanamura's headphones resemble the Audio Technica ATH-FC700A or the Audio Technica ATH-ES10. On the Volume 2 cover of Persona 4: The Animation, his headphones on the artwork are called the Music Technica ATH-EF11.
 * The word, "Atlus", is printed on Yosuke's bike.
 * In the game when Yosuke went inside Saki's Twisted Shopping District, he usually sees cut up photos of him and Saki working at Junes, but in the anime he sees cut up movie tickets he gave to her.
 * As part of Persona 4 Arena and Persona 4 Golden promotions, Yosuke is used as his seiyuu's avatar for the radio show "Bururaji" chatting along with the seiyuus of BlazBlue characters Ragna the Bloodedge (Tomokazu Sugita), Noel Vermillion (Kanako Kondou) and Tsubaki Yayoi (Asami Imai). His "opening act" is similar to his first appearance in the original Persona 4 where he crashes into a trash can while riding his bicycle although this time, instead of trash can he crashes into Ragna.
 * The way Yosuke performs Garudyne in Persona 4 Arena resembles his follow up attack (Yosuke Strike in ENG or Yousuke no Kougeki/Yousuke's Attack in JPN).
 * His new Shunten Hisougiri (Blink Turning Soaring Cutter) move in Persona 4 The Ultimax resembles the V-Slasher of Leona Heidern from the King of Fighters.
 * When Yosuke equips the Yellow Featherman outfit in Persona 4 Golden he says "Hey, I'm in yellow!? I'm not the fat one! Am I...?". The line alludes to the Persona 2 duology where Eikichi Mishina used the Yellow Featherman mask when he was an overweight kid. It also alludes to the character Raita Oishi, Yellow Owl from Chojin Sentai Jetman, the Super Sentai series Featherman is a parody of.
 * In the Gekkoukan High school uniform, he imitates Junpei Iori's victory pose, which is fitting due to them bearing the same Arcana, the Magician.
 * Prior to entering "Marukyu Tofu", Yosuke reveals that he can't eat Tofu (His reasons are not mentioned).
 * Yosuke mentions several times throughout the game that he is disgusted by fish - not only the idea of eating fish, but the idea of fish in general.
 * In the weeks that Nanako appears on the Midnight Channel, if the player decides to go to the Void Quest dungeon and talk to Yosuke at the entrance, he will say after his primary lines: "Our princess is in another castle, dude", referring to the Mario Bros. games by Nintendo.
 * In Persona 4 Arena, Yosuke has a poster that parodies AKB48. He also has CD albums resembling Linkin Park's Minutes to Midnight, Nickelback's All the Right Reasons, and the Grammy Nominees 2008 album.