Yosuke Hanamura

Lore & Background

Yosuke Hanamura is a playable character and member of the investigation team in charge of finding and solving the case of murders and kidnappings happening in Inaba. He moved to Inaba a year before the protagonist. In order to emphasize his origins from the city, Shigenori Soejima gave him accessories such as headphones and a bicycle as well as a stylish haircut. Little changes were made to his design in the making of the game.

Yosuke's Shadow becomes the Persona Jiraiya, a red-scarved humanoid whose head vaguely resembles that of a cartoon ninja frog decked with shuriken on his hands, as well as bell-bottoms. As the first Shadow, Soejima designed it to make it similar to Jiraiya to convey the fact that Shadows and Personas are the same thing. Yosuke dual wields blades ranging from blunt wrenches to knives to kunai in battle. Throughout the player's interaction with Yosuke, he overcomes Saki's death and confronts his feelings about Inaba accepting it as an enjoyable town despite his initial feelings.

After this, Jiraiya evolves into Susano-o, a humanoid wearing a blue jumpsuit surrounded by a large sawblade with a flame rising from his head. In the re-release Persona 4 Golden, Yosuke's Persona can evolve once more into Takehaya Susano-o, gaining a fireman's outfit, a large afro-like fireball spouting from his head, and sawblades beneath his feet. Yosuke serves as the player's Social Link to The Magician. 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.

He goes to investigate alongside Yu, Yukiko and Chie, and fights using Jiraiya. He also serves as the main character of the manga Persona 4 The Magician that focuses on his life in Inaba before the game's start.

Reader's Guide

Yosuke Hanamura is a playable character in Persona 4. He is voiced in English by Yuri Lowenthal (2008-2018) and Paul Castro Jr. (Revival), and in Japanese by Showtaro Morikubo. Noticing clues between the victims and the Midnight Channel, Yosuke and the protagonist go to the TV world to investigate her death. With help from the protagonist and Teddie, Yosuke accepts his other self and forms the Investigation Team alongside him to figure out who Saki's killer is. Yuri Lowenthal enjoyed playing Yosuke owing to the large number of events the character goes through despite being initially a comic relief. Takahisa Maeyama portrays Yosuke in the stage play.