Hisano Kuroda

Hisano Kuroda is a character from Persona 4. She is an old widowed woman who calls herself "Death."

Appearances

 * Persona 4 / Golden: Death Arcana Social Link
 * Persona 4 The Animation: Death Arcana
 * Persona 4 The Golden Animation: Cameo

Design
Hisano is an old woman with gray eyes, and light purple hair, tied up in a neat bun. She wears mourning clothes, and a black birdcage hat.

In her younger years, as shown in the animation, she had long brown hair tied into a ponytail.

Personality
Hisano is somewhat self-loathing, probably due to her survivor's guilt. Hisano is a quiet, depressed old woman who is in mourning of her husband's death. Hisano would often talk about her nostalgic times when she was still young, and would talk about her husband. She always loved him, even when he started to forget about her, and the history between them. Through his death, her resolve, and the protagonist, she is able to forgive herself and move on.

Persona 4
Hisano Kuroda represents the Death Arcana Social Link, which the protagonist can create with her after the Devil Arcana Social Link (Sayoko Uehara) has reached at least Lv. 4.

Hisano is first seen in the hospital at night, wearing a mourning dress. When the protagonist talks to her, she becomes intrigued by the protagonist's willingness to speak with her, and remarks that they will meet again. As a side note, this Social Link will level up through every meeting.

Social Link
After creating the Death Arcana Social Link, Hisano can be found on the Riverbank of the Samegawa Flood Plain every Sunday or during holidays if the weather is sunny or cloudy. During the protagonist's interactions with Hisano, she refers to herself as "Death," and upon the protagonist's attempt to ask her of her reason for doing so, she calmly brushes it off, giving vague hints of her husband's death.

Hisano would often talk about her nostalgic times when she was still young, and would talk about her husband. Hisano's husband was originally an actor, and during his visit to Yasoinaba, Hisano took interest in him, and eventually confessed her love to him. Hisano's husband, still young, would later reciprocate her feelings, and the couple eventually fell in love with each other. However, as Hisano's husband needed to travel to perform his acts, Hisano would write letters to her husband, and the two eventually wrote quite a number of letters to each other.

During her store clearance however, Hisano accidentally sold her letters, along with her husband's letters to the shop owner of Daidara Metal Works. Upon the protagonist's retrieval of the letters, Hisano reveals that her husband would eventually give up his job as an actor, and willingly work as a simple worker in Yasoinaba to wed her and live with Hisano, which overjoyed her.

Unfortunately, after their marriage, Hisano's husband caught a severe disease (apparently ), and eventually suffers from amnesia, losing his memories of Hisano and his love for her. Despite this, Hisano, convinced it was her responsibility as a wife, continued to take care of her husband. As time passed, however, Hisano's pain was further fueled as her husband's amnesia worsened. Every day her husband would ask who Hisano was, which pained her.

Hisano comments that her husband believes that in the end, he dies beside a stranger that he never met who took care of him, but Hisano confessed that she was actually happy to know about her husband's death, thinking that the day he lost his memories, the man Hisano loved was dead. Upon her husband's death, Hisano came to a realization that she slowly became Death because her wish for her husband's death was actually fulfilled.

By the end of the Social Link, Hisano tells the protagonist that she should continue living for the sake of her husband, and eventually accepts her children's invitation to live with them. Before leaving, Hisano thanks the protagonist from the bottom of her heart, telling the protagonist that he gave her a new meaning in life, and gives him her old fountain pen as a remembrance. Hisano also tells the protagonist to live his life to the fullest, as it is what the ones he cared for and who cared for him would want too.

Completing the Death Arcana Social Link with Hisano also bestows the ultimate form of the Death Arcana, Mahakala, the King of Darkness.

Persona 4 The Animation
In the anime, she was first seen with Yu by Chie Satonaka, Yukiko Amagi, Rise Kujikawa, and Nanako Dojima. The girls were shocked as they thought that Yu was dating an older lady. During the Summer Festival, she thanked Yu for helping her to regain and cherish her memories of her love for her husband and bid him and Nanako goodbye.

Previously, on August 17, she was found by Yu in front of the shrine's entrance. A thief had robbed her and she was already unconscious when Yu discovered her. Yu brought her to the hospital, the former then found out from Sayoko Uehara that the old lady could have hit her head when the thief pushed her. The next day, she saw Yu who was actually going to visit her at the hospital waiting for a bus and they then went to the Samegawa Flood Plain, where she told him about her late husband's passing.

She also told Yu that she will be moving soon, as Inaba holds many memories of her and her husband together. Hisano produced a beautiful comb, which was given to her by her late husband a long time ago, but she claimed that she didn't need it anymore; she threw the comb into the river saying that she saw no need to cling on to old memories of her love for her late husband. Before leaving, she told Yu that she was glad to see him again and that he is a spitting image of her late husband during his younger years.

At the Summer Festival, she was surprised that Yu returned the comb to her and it was returned the same way her husband had given it to her many years before. She cried happily in reminiscence and said that she will never throw away something so precious to her again. At the entrance of Tatsuhime Shrine, she thanked him again for everything he had done for her. During the credits, she is seen donning a blue kimono with the comb in her hair, smiling happily.

Persona 4 The Golden Animation
In the opening intro, she, along with Ayane, is seen sitting near the riverbank. During episode 4, Yu and Marie ask her about the comb.

Etymology

 * The name Hisano is written in hiragana (ひさ), which has no special meaning except the kanji "乃" means "from." However, when part of the name Hisa is written in kanji (久 or 寿), it could possibly mean:
 * 久 - "long time."
 * 寿 - "longevity, congratulations, one's natural life."
 * Hisano's surname Kuroda means "black" (黒) (kuro) and "field, rice paddy" (田) (ta/da).