Baofu

Baofu is a character from the Persona 2 duology.

Appearances

 * Persona 2: Innocent Sin: Rumormonger
 * Persona 2: Eternal Punishment: Playable character
 * Persona 3: Who's Who guest
 * DemiKids: Dark Version
 * DemiKids: Light Version

Persona 2: Innocent Sin
Kaoru Saga appears on the street as a drunkard in one of Tatsuya Suou's flashbacks. He lectures Tatsuya and Jun Kurosu about their goals in life, and refers to himself by his actual name. In the modern day, Baofu is one of the Rumormongers of the game, spreading information online through his website. The party can chat with him through the red computer in Double Slash.

In the PSP re-release, during the Void Quest for St Hermelin High School, Maya contacts Baofu to investigate the mysterious social website 'Ambrosia'. Baofu then reveals it does not actually exist as a website on any network.

Persona 2: Eternal Punishment
Baofu is an extortionist and a so-called Tap Buster. He claims that he's a native of Taiwan, but is amazingly fluent in Japanese. His weapon of choice is rather unorthodox, ranging from simple coins to special chakrams, as well as any other round object that he can flick with his thumbs, the impact of which deals about the same damage as a gunshot, if not stronger. He initially specializes in wind magic, but his Ultimate Persona Prometheus will grant him earth powers later on.

Maya Amano meets him through Daisuke Todoroki, head of the Kuzunoha Detective Agency, who arranges a meet-up at 2X Slash. They later convene at Parabellum, taking it upon himself to test the newfound property of rumors, where they come true after being spread. After assessing the situation, he joins the party under the pretense of finding out the truth about JOKER and his connection to Tatsuya Sudou, who was confined at the Morimoto Sanitarium in Mt. Mifune.

His actual purpose however, is to find Yung Pao, a Taiwanese Mafia boss who has connections with Tatsuzou Sudou, the foreign minister and Tatsuya Sudou's estranged father.

Baofu's true identity is that of Kaoru Saga, a Japanese public prosecutor who was originally presumed dead. He was marked for death along with his assistant Miki Asai for their running investigation of the Taiwanese Mafia Tien Tao Len. Kaoru survives, awakening to Odysseus in the process, but Miki does not. Kaoru has since lived with regret in his heart and promises to avenge her, even if it means going from legal means to illegal ones.

Upon Nyarlathotep's defeat, Kaoru visits Miki's grave to tell her that he has stopped living in the past and has taken down his rumor website, as well as ceasing his wiretapping trade. He is now a man-searcher, and has partnered up with Ulala Serizawa.

Persona 3
Baofu appears on the television program Who's Who, which is hosted by Trish. He is introduced as "A man in his 30's with hair that reaches his back". Trish mentions that Baofu becomes upset if you mention his former job.

DemiKids: Light & Dark
Baofu is a C-Rank BattleNet opponent. He is Level 22 and is described as a young Japanese boy who takes advantage of weaknesses. After beating him several times he gives his own unique Thumurai named Isunbo.

Battle Quotes

 * "I feel sorry for you." (when entering a battle)
 * "You wanna go?" (when entering a battle)
 * "Heh...heh...This is great..." (when entering battle on low HP)
 * "Dodge this!" (when attacking)
 * "Heads or Tails!" (when attacking)
 * "Persona!" (when summoning a Persona)
 * "Hurry up!" (when summoning a Persona)
 * "Let's end this!" (when using Fusion spells)
 * "Let's get this over with!" (when using Fusion spells)
 * "Hey, give me a hand!" (when using Fusion spells)
 * "Weak!" (after winning a battle)
 * "They call this the logical results!" (after winning a battle)
 * "Jeez..." (rare victory quote)
 * "You were right to die... in a world like this!" (rare victory quote)
 * "You're the ones to blame!" (rare victory quote)
 * "I'll take you on anytime!" (rare victory quote)
 * "I don't have time for you!" (when retreating)
 * "Let's beat it!" (when retreating)
 * "Dammit!" (when KO'ed)
 * "I'm getting too old for this..." (game over)
 * "Sorry, Miki..." (game over)

Trivia

 * In the Japanese version, Baofu's name is pronounced "Paofu" (パオフゥ) because of using different Mandarin transliteration system. "Bao" belongs to the more modern system to differentiate from "pao".
 * Similar to Maia, despite the Greek origin of the Persona. Odysseus' design is heavily inspired by Japanese samurai. This is a hint that Baofu is very traditional and proud of his Japanese identity, even though he is pretending to be a Taiwanese when carrying out his revenge.
 * Unlike Ulala and Katsuya, Baofu's shadow does not show up directly during the shadow confrontation scene but Reverse Odysseus takes the place because Baofu has been blaming his Persona ability for not awakening in time to save Miki from their assassination. Baofu eventually realizes that he just cannot forgive himself for Miki's death.
 * There is an explanation why Baofu's coin attacks are damaging and even lethal: as a proficient Qi Gong practitioner and skilled martial artist, he focuses combined physical and spiritual energy onto the projectiles he uses, resulting in the bullet-like force. Naturally, the potency and effect also varies depending on the kind of weapon equipped and his current Strength statistic.
 * There is a misconception that Kaoru Saga got drunk in front of the young Tatsuya and Jun due to Miki's death. While that reminiscence in Innocent Sin happened 10 years ago, Miki actually died 5 years ago. He got drunk in that time because he achieved success so easily due to his innate talent but lacking direction in the same time.
 * In Persona 4 Arena Baofu is referenced as an alternate color palette of Kanji Tatsumi.
 * At 32 years old, Baofu is currently the oldest playable character in the Persona series.