PERSONA 2 :: JUN KUROSU

JUN KUROSU (黒須淳)

Jun Kashihara is a senior in Kasugayama High School who Maya meets in the Air Museum in Eternal Punishment. When the building is set on fire, he takes charge of the rescue effort, finding the teachers and determining how many children are still trapped in the building.

However, if you contact the demons for rumors, they're confused. They make the curious suggestion that the "boy in blue" had been their master in the past. And to add to the confusion, the serial killer Tatsuya Sudou seems to know Jun quite well, and keeps calling him "the chosen one." Jun is confused and frightened, but when Sudou threatens to kill Maya and Tatsuya, Jun suddenly loses it and shoves Sudou into a pit. One might also wonder why he's the very last person to be saved at the end of the game, and why Tatsuya reacts so oddly to him.

Jun is the most pivotal character in Innocent Sin, that's why!

PERSONALITY

Jun is a cold, calculating person, who knows how beautiful he is and manipulates people with it. He's idealistic, and wants to help people achieve their dreams, but his means of doing so are questionable at best. (He likes humanity in general, but not people in particular, so, a few people more or less in the world doesn't particularly bother him.) He is generally not a warm, welcoming person; he's introverted and reacts violently when threatened. At the same, he's gentle and kind to his friends, and very protective of his surrogate mother-figure and his doppelganger.

I guess the moral of this story is to make sure that you're on Jun's good side.

Jun has several typically feminine interests that cause people to underestimate him. He cooks, cleans, and is prettier than his female friends if he's forced into makeup. Another big thing is his love of flower language and fortune-telling. In Japan - and in the US, really - horoscopes and astrology are incredibly feminine things to do. Despite this, he's actually kind of a dangerous person to piss off. (He's a bit like Hazama from SMT if... in several ways, not the least of which is the character design. Megaten tends to reuse certain character types, but I'm not complaining!)

RELATIONSHIPS

...with Maya Amano Maya is his surrogate mother-figure, since his biological mother ignored him most of the time. He is, as you can see, psychotically protective of her.

...with Lisa Silverman According to Lisa, Jun used to be the one who would comfort her when she was teased about being a foreigner. Although they now have Tatsuya to catfight over, they probably still get along all right. Although...

...with Tatsuya Suou Maya called Jun and Tatsuya doppelgangers. She explains that although they don't look alike, but their differences draw them together irrevocably, like a person and their shadow. They certainly have some kind of close relationship; Jun can even sense how Tatsuya's persona is feeling, not just his own. (And that's very unusual.)

Actually, if you think about it, Jun and Tatsuya are pretty similar in personality, once you strip away the girly things that Jun does. They're both quiet and introverted and detached and cool towards most people. The difference, I think, is that Jun actually is concerned with what people think of him; he's worried that people will hate him for what he did as the Joker. Tatsuya doesn't seem to care one way or the other. Those two share a kind of wordless understanding of each other; Tatsuya can go "......" and Jun will say, "Of course, I know." The demons seem to find this interesting, especially the beast ones.

"Mysterious, mysterious! The big one says nothing, and the little one understands. Humans are interesting!"

If you want to know the "official word" on the matter of Tatsuya and Jun, here you go. (But remember, Tatsuya is shaped by the will of the player, so take that as you will.)

HISTORY

As a kid, Jun's parents were fighting all the time, so he spent a lot of his free time at the Alaya Shrine, where he met Tatsuya. Later on he met Eikichi and Lisa and Maya, and together they played a game called "Phoenix Ranger Featherman" in which they wore bird masks. Jun was the Black Falcon, and seemed to actually have been the leader of the little group, which he dubbed "the Masquerade." His best friend was Tatsuya, the Red Eagle, and they hung out together a lot outside of the shrine. At one point, they exchange mementos; Tatsuya gave Jun his father's watch, and Jun gave Tatsuya his father's Zippo lighter, which was inscribed with the charming engrish proverb "Being the most important can't be seen in the eyes." (What that means is really "The most important things can't be seen with the eyes." That's a quote from Jun's favorite book, "The Little Prince." Jun got the book from his father.) The two of them have kept those keepsakes to this very day; Tatsuya's always flicking that damn lighter, and if you look at Jun's character design, you can obviously see the watch he's wearing.

As Jun's homelife got worse and worse, he started lying to the other kids about his father, since everyone had heard the rumor (from Junko) that Mr. Kashihara was a lazy no-good bum, and Jun didn't want his friends to make fun of him for having a "shitty dad." He was torn between his love for his gentle, weird father and the urge to impress his friends, so he'd tell them that his dad was really cool and smart, but wouldn't let them meet his father. When Mr. Kashihara finally came to pick Jun up one day, Maya asked if that was Jun's father, and Jun lied and said that Mr. Kashihara was his uncle. Jun also hated his mother, and said that he wished Maya was his mother. Jun has one hell of an Oedipal complex *laugh*

At some point, Jun's father dies (suicide? accident? or was he murdered?) by being crushed in the clock gears in the Sevens clock tower. From then on, Nyarlathotep - in the form of Mr. Kashihara - comes to pick up Jun from Alaya. Everyone thought that Jun's papa was so cool now, and he WAS - because Nyarly was taking the form of the ideal father that Jun had wished for. It's sort of a case of rumors/dreams becoming reality, as is the norm in Sumaru City. After Alaya Shrine was burned down, Jun's persona power was awakened (Maya had taught all the kids how to play the game "Persona") and he became tortured with guilt over his "role" in "Big Sis's death." He helped Lisa and Eikichi hide the masks in Mt. Iwato and forced himself to forget about what had happened.

Moving on. Junko basically abandoned him after Kashihara's death and chased after a bunch of younger boyfriends, so Jun became a complete latchkey kid. At school, kids would try to pick on him for being so pretty and feminine, and Jun would retaliate with his Persona, badly injuring the bullies. Because of this, he was sent to Kasugayama High School, which is a school for delinquent boys. But even so, he had such a bad reputation that even the juvenile delinquents were scared when he arrived! But Eikichi checked Jun out, determined he was "harmless," and promised to "protect him." (ha!)

Jun enters Kasugayama High School about three months before the game starts, and became the Joker only a few weeks before. Jun is being manipulated by Nyarlathotep into fulfilling the prophecies laid out in the book In-La'kech . Jun wants to make people's dreams (their "ideals") come true, and according to the book, the way to do that was to lead people to the utopia called "Idealian." To reach Idealian, he had to collect "Ideal Energy" - the energy of people who have hopes or dreams - and use it to raise the alien mothership under Sumaru City. This alien mothership was known as Xibalba, and the ones aboard Sumaru are the "chosen ones." (Yes, this really is the plot. Remember that Jun was insane at the time, so this made sense to him.) The appearance of the Last Battalion and Hitler was also predicted in In-Lak'ech as a sign that the rising of the Xibalba was near.

So Jun spread the rumor that by dialing your own cellphone number, you'd be able to summon the "Joker," who would make your dreams come true. This was a convenient way to target people with Ideal Energy, right? When he was summoned, he stole the caller's Ideal Energy with a crystal skull, turning them into a Shadow Person. When he was summoned by Lisa and Gas Chamber, he recognized Eikichi, Lisa, and Tatsuya as the rest of the Masquerade that he'd played with as a child - and his memories were so twisted that he believed them responsible for Big Sis's death. He got confused about the past, and decided to kill them for killing Big Sis.

Jun was trying to recreate his childhood Masquerade group in the new Masquerade in a couple of different ways:

So Jun was trying to make people's dreams come true by collecting Ideal Energy to raise the Xibalba and take the people to Idealian. To spread the necessary rumors, he himself took In-Lak'ech to Kismet Publishing to get the book published and make it available to more people. Part of the prophecies in In-Lak'ech involved the ressurection of the rumored Lost Battalion and Hitler, and the Nazis also wanted to raise Xibalba and make their dreams come true. So a kind of war erupted between the Masquerade and the Nazis after the raising of Xibalba; in the chaos Queen Aquarius was killed protecting the Joker. Queen Aquarius hadn't realized that her own son was the Joker until he said something along the lines of "Father's prophecies were true!" and I guess she felt a final maternal twinge towards her son. Jun also was unaware that his mother was Queen Aquarius. He loved/hated his mother, and thought his mother hated him.

The Nazis stole the five crystal skulls, and the Joker turned his attention towards battling Tatsuya and his friends, who had come to rescue him. Being the Joker and Nyarlathotep's pawn had erased most of his memories, and twisted the ones that remained, so he drew upon Nyarlathotep for the hatred and anger necessary to defeat his friends. But, of course, Jun finally regained his memories and was reunited with Maya and Tatsuya. ("That lighter...you kept it all this time?" "Of course.") Nyarlathotep appeared in the form of Mr. Kashihara to try to regain control of Jun, but Jun told him to piss off, and Nyarly stripped away Jun's Joker persona and disappeared.

Now Jun rejoined the rest of the childhood Masquerade, gaining Yukino's ability to summon Persona. Of course, now he's feeling really guilty, and most of the rest of the game is reassuring him that he's not a horrible person, just, er, misguided. He still carries around his own bucketful of Issues, which become extremely apparent in Xibalba, where your nightmares come true. Maya has to basically provide spot therapy, usually by appealing to his feelings for Tatsuya:

MAYA: If you disappeared, you'd leave Tatsuya all alone!
JUN: ....okay....
TATSUYA: ...*flicks lighter*
JUN: Tatsuya...

Finally he confronts his past, admits that Akinari Kashihara was his father, and tries to convince Maya Okamura not to carry out the full prophecy in In-Lak'ech. She doesn't listen to him, of course, and Maya Amano is killed in the final battle as a human sacrifice.

Afterwards...well, who knows? On the Other Side, Jun has no family left, and the world outside of Sumaru City is destroyed...

FUTURE

FLOWER LANGUAGE (ACCORDING TO JUN)

Iris: revenge
Scarlet Sage: I'm always thinking of you
Baby Blue Eyes: I forgive you
Thoroughwort: Remember that day
Michaelmas Daisy: Remembrance
Yarrow: War
Raspberry: Deep regret
Sweetpea: Departure
Primrose: Hope

Jun uses a crapload of "hanakotoba" - flower language. If you look up Japanese flower language, you'll notice that Jun's meanings don't match up! As far as I can tell, he's using some weird bastard variant of French flower language, because in most flower languages, for example, "iris" does NOT mean "revenge," it means "deep affection." So when he throws an iris at Tatsuya...

TRIVIA

His blood type is AB. There's a track on the drama CD when he compares the astrological compatability between himself and Tatsuya, and when he doesn't get the answer he wants, gets angry and switches to blood type (love) compatibilities. Again, AN EXTREMELY GIRLY THING TO DO. Jun also starts cackling when he finds out that he and Tatsuya have extremely good (love) compatibility according to this and starts humming insanely to himself, disturbing Lisa. "Fortune-telling AGAIN?"

I really wish everyone could listen to (and understand) the Tsumi drama CD, "The Errors of their Youth." It's hilarious, bizarre, and occasionally somewhat dirty. Translations of some of the tracks are on the music page. The characterization of Jun in this drama CD is totally yandere. It's funny - although kind of disturbing. RUN, TATSUYA

Jun is always skipping school to run his own little cult, so in the game, you hear about the "mysterious new student" from the Kasugayama students. He also runs away from home (where does he live? Caracol? Maybe...) and starts sending postcards to radio shows to spread rumors (in advice programs, the DJs read the postcards out loud).

The Joker is like a Persona; he can summon his costume, instead of having to duck into a bathroom and change or something.

OFFICIAL PROFILE

Birthdate: February 14, 1982
Zodiac Sign: Aquarius / Water Dog
Guardian Dragon: Blue
Height/Weight: 169 cm (5'6") / 51 kg (112 lbs)
Bloodtype: AB
Occupation: Senior at Kasugayama Boys' High School
Tarot Arcana: Wheel of Fortune
Elemental Affinity: Air
Starting PERSONA: Hermes
Ultimate PERSONA: Cronus [totally different from Chronos according to the Orphics, although the two are often conflated, including in this game]
Weapons: Flowers
Appearance: Slim, pale, rather androgynous (but not weak or delicate)
Idle Animation: Smelling the flower in his breast pocket
Likes: Astronomy, Astrology (both taught by his father), reading (his favorite book is Le Petit Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupery), cooking (he's rather domestic)
Favorite Sports: Walking (doesn't like group sports, because he's kind of antisocial)
Favorite Subjects: Math, Physics
Family: Father (Former SSHS history teacher Akinari Kashihara, crushed to death in the gears of the clock tower at Sevens), Mother (famous actress Junko Kurosu)
Talents: Playing the piano (His mother taught him how to play a long time ago, when she still cared for him, and he still practices it to please her), invention (often gets inspired, has patents for a "diet sandal" - which is a kind of orthopedic shoe), cross-dressing (he can look better than most girls!)
Favorite Foods: Omelets (his mother used to make them for him), chocolate
Hated Foods: Cup Ramen (he was a latch-key kid and ate it a lot due to his mother's schedule)
Phobias: Sports (not a big team player), his mother, noisy places
Dream: Inspired by Maya to help people make their dreams come true
Games: Main party character in Innocent Sin; NPC in Eternal Punishment
Voice Actor: Shigeru Shibuya

[ WIND TIME BACKWARDS ]