Kenta Yokouchi
Kenta Yokouchi, better known by his nickname Toro, is a recurring character in the Persona series.
Profile
Kenta Yokouchi is a student at St. Hermelin High School, nicknamed Toro (fatty tuna) by the students due to his obesity. He's in love with Yuka Ayase and confessed his feelings to her in the past, but was rejected due to his physical appearance.
After graduating from high school, Toro has become a successful door-to-door salesman. His official profile speculates that this success is due to his Persona.[2]
Gameplay
Persona 2: Innocent Sin
Toro acts as one of the game's Rumormongers and can be found at the Gatten Sushi restaurant.
| Rumor | Details | Availability |
|---|---|---|
| You can buy weapons at Time Castle | Quality is good, but it's expensive. | After clearing Seven Sisters High |
| Rosa Candida in Rengedai sells armor? | They're cheap, but low quality. | After clearing Seven Sisters High |
| You can win weapons in the sweepstakes | Very hard to win, but prizes as great. | After clearing Seven Sisters High |
| There's a casino at Mu | It's easy to win the slots. | After clearing Seven Sisters High |
| You can buy weapons at Tony's Shop | They're cheap, but low quality. | After clearing Kasugayama High |
| You can buy armor at Anima Mundi | They're cheap, but low quality. | After clearing Kasugayama High |
| Clair de Lune sells weapons? | They're cheap, but low quality. | After clearing Giga Macho |
| Rosa Candida in Aoba sells armor? | Quality and price are normal. | After clearing Giga Macho |
| You can buy weapons at Jolly Roger | They're cheap, but low quality. | After clearing Aoba Park |
| You can buy armor at London Clothier | They're cheap, but low quality. | After clearing Aoba Park |
| Does Time Castle have a legendary weapon? | It was stolen by demons. | After obtaining Legendary Case and Legendary Gun |
Persona 2: Eternal Punishment
Toro reprises his role from Innocent Sin as one of the game's Rumormongers.
| Rumor | Availability |
|---|---|
| Time Castle sells cards | After clearing Seven Sisters High |
| Time Castle duplicates cards | After clearing Seven Sisters High |
| Battle Master gives away weapons | After clearing Sanitarium |
| Fantasy World gives away weapons | After clearing Aoba Park |
Game Appearances
Megami Ibunroku Persona
Sometime prior to the start of the game, Toro played the Persona Game and was granted a Persona by Philemon. However, Toro has no understanding of what a Persona is, and assumes his is a demon.[3] Being a Persona-user, he's also been having dreams of Mai.[4]
During the events of the Snow Queen Quest, the stress of the situation causes Toro to snap and try to eat all of the food stocked in the cafeteria. He's confronted by the protagonist and his friends, and things escalate to a battle as Toro summons his Persona. The confrontation is scripted, and serves to awaken Ayase's Persona as well as Hidehiko Uesugi's if he's present. After coming to his senses, Toro has no memory of what happened.
Toro is later found inside Nemesis Tower, being tortured alongside Tsutomu Kurouri. Toro's torture consists of being force-fed an endless supply of milk despite being lactose intolerant. The tower's guardian, Michiko Matsudaira, appears before the protagonist and tells him that there are two doors leading outside of the torture chamber. The first door leads directly to Michiko's personal chamber while the other door leads to a chest containing a shard of the Chaos Mirror. The protagonist then has to choose between quickly defeating Michiko and ending Toro and Tsutomu's suffering as soon as possible, or taking a detour for the mirror shard and leaving his schoolmates to suffer for longer. In truth this is a trap by Michiko, who is feeding on the negative feelings of Toro and Tsutomu to make herself stronger and wants the protagonist to take the bait so those feelings are intensified and she grows even stronger.[5] Should the protagonist decide to head straight to Michiko, he can talk to Toro in the cafeteria afterwards to gain two mirror shards. According to Toro, once he and Tsutomu found themselves out of Nemesis Tower, they each had a mirror shard in their pockets and Tsutomu gave Toro his shard as he didn't see any use for it.
Megami Ibunroku Persona Digital Collection
Toro can be found in the school's cafeteria, where he'll challenge the player to a game of air hockey using a pet turtle as the puck. By beating Toro, the player can acquire one of the five tickets necessary to access the hidden attractions at the school festival.
Persona 2: Innocent Sin
Due to his career Toro is privy to the many rumors going around Sumaru City, which makes him known as a Rumormonger. Toro can be found inside Gatten Sushi in the Hirasaka district. Later in the game, he can be found giving business advice to Reiji Kido, who works for the same company as Toro but is not as successful.
Persona 2: Eternal Punishment
Toro reprises his role from Innocent Sin, but can now be found in the Rengedai district, as Gatten Sushi has moved there.
Trivia
- Toro's Persona goes unnamed in the game, however Persona Magazine's 20th Anniversary issue, when detailing Mara's history in the Persona series on page 49, claims that Mara has appeared in the original Persona as an enemy and as a sub-character's Persona in Persona 2.[6] While not explicitly named, Toro's Persona is the only one that fits the description.
- According to Lucifer Itō, Kenta is one of the members of Ozawa's gang Turtle-Head in Shin Megami Tensei, and his Persona looks as it does because Kenta once had a turtle as a pet.[7] Furthermore, according to him the official name of the Persona is "Toro's Persona."[1]
- While Toro cannot be analyzed during his boss fight in Megami Ibunroku Persona (as it is scripted), in Japanese, this boss is called よこうちくん Yokouchi-kun, while in the English PSP version, he is called Kenta. He has a unique race which does not have a proper name assigned; in the English PSP version, its name displays as "Yes".
- Toro's association with turtles and the phallic appearance of his Persona is due to the Japanese word for the glans of the penis 亀頭 kitō being composed of the kanji 亀 (turtle) and 頭 (head).
Nomenclature
| Language | Name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
 Japanese
|
横内健太 Yokouchi kenta | Kenta Yokouchi |
| トロ Toro | ||
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lucifer Itō, ルシファー伊藤&誠司 on X. Published May 23, 2024. Retrieved December 17, 2024. X.
- ↑ "A graduate of St. Hermelin High. He's a top-ranked door-to-door salesman whose impressive record is rumored to be due to his Persona." Persona 2: Innocent Sin.
- ↑ "Toro: Hahahahahahaha... No way! Not gonna happen! Wanna know why? 'Cause the butterfly gave me a demon!" Megami Ibunroku Persona.
- ↑ "Toro: I-I had a weird dream! There was this girl, and she was saying, "Help me..."" Megami Ibunroku Persona.
- ↑ "Michiko: I-Impossible! You're here so soon!? W-What about the Mirror Shard? Didn't... Didn't you go get it? Oh... Oh...! How can this be!? The source of my strength... the power of negative emotion...! The hatred and anger is too weak! This won't be enough at all! Not only that, but... What are these disgusting feelings that flow into me? Gratitude...? Friendship...!? THIS is what those two are thinking as they're being tortured?" Megami Ibunroku Persona.
- ↑ "歴代のマーラ様：初代では敵、『２罪／罰』ではサブキャラクターのペルソナとして登場。" Translation: "Mara in Previous Entries: Mara was originally an enemy in the first entry to the series, and was a sub-character's Persona in Innocent Sin and Eternal Punishment." Persona Magazine 20th Anniversary. p. 49. Translation by Gabriulio.
- ↑ Lucifer Itō, ルシファー伊藤&誠司 on X. Published May 23, 2024. Retrieved October 29, 2024. X.