Toranosuke Yoshida

Toranosuke Yoshida is a character from Persona 5. He is attempting to seriously enter Japan's political system in order to start changing the country, but is having difficulties doing so.

Appearances

 * Persona 5 / Royal: Supporting Character; Sun Confidant
 * Persona 5 The Animation: ''Supporting Character
 * Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight: Mentioned

Design
Yoshida has slicked-back black hair, dark brown eyes and thick eyebrows. Yoshida wears his black business suit, white dotted red tie, white gloves and a green sash that reads "friendly society, bright future".

Personality
Yoshida is extremely devoted to politics and became one through the help of his mentor Kuramoto. However, when he took the position, he believed himself to be in the clear and lost sight of why he wanted to become one, eventually being shunned by most people due to his blunders and reputation. In the twenty years since he lost his position, Yoshida has considerably mellowed and realized his own mistakes, intending to return to the Diet through his own merit. Due to his devotion to politics, Yoshida is a skilled speaker and able to connect to the audience should they listen to them, something which gets the protagonist's attention. While he is occasionally dismayed at people calling him "No-Good Tora" or people intentionally trying to reveal his flaws, he remains calm and level-headed against such slanders.

As his Confidant progresses, Yoshida becomes more charismatic, eventually developing a sizable fanbase with the protagonist's aid who gets him over his self-esteem issues. He also holds no hostility towards his mentor Kuramoto, who was responsible for him being framed for embezzling funds, which surprises his old friends.

Yoshida also holds a high opinion of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, showcasing an open mind and incredible insight: he correctly deduced that the Phantom Thieves were individuals who felt wronged by society in some way and seek to change it, even implying that they could be children.

Persona 5
Yoshida is an unpopular man who gives soapbox speeches outside of Shibuya Station. He was mentored by Kuramoto and was friends with Matsushita and was elected as a Diet member. However, when he took the position, he believed it to be one of luxury with little responsibility needed, which resulted in a series of unfortunate events that became known as "No-Good Tora's three strikes": missing a legislative meeting to take a personal vacation, being accused of embezzling party funds, and finally calling a voter an idiot in an open forum. This caused him to lose his position a term later and he has spent 20 years trying to regain his position, but due to his notorious reputation, he had lost the past seven consecutive elections, even though his speeches are actually worth listening to as he confronts the country's future with seriousness.

Confidant
The protagonist can find Yoshida on May 6th in the Shibuya Station square, but he won't spend time with an inexperienced teenager. The protagonist will then have to prove his worth by working at the Beef Bowl shop, which requires the protagonist's Proficiency stat to be Rank 2 (Decent) to apply. After the second night spent working at the shop, Yoshida is sufficiently impressed with the protagonist, and his Confidant becomes unlocked after the second time the protagonist spends time with him.

Yoshida's Confidant is one of the easiest to complete, as it always ranks up each time the protagonist goes to see him, even if the protagonist doesn't have a Sun Arcana Persona in his possession. Unlike other non-party Confidants, Yoshida also doesn't have a Mementos Request associated with him, reducing the time required to max it out. In addition to this, certain ranks of his Confidant also increase the protagonist's Charm by 3 notes. However, there is a deadline to the Confidant: on November 17, election campaigning commences, and Yoshida will no longer be able to spend time with the protagonist afterwards. He does, however, warn him about this via text well over a week before the deadline.

Yoshida's story revolves around him trying to convince others to take Japan's affairs seriously but he is unable to garner much interest due to his reputation as an inept politician, after having made several irresponsible mistakes during his role as Prime Minister in the past and having been falsely charged. While dismayed, he does not give up and continues giving speeches with the protagonist's help. This eventually gets the attention of Councilman Matsushita, one of his friends involved in politics. The two briefly argue over their approach to public speaking, but at the end, Matsushita states that he was not the one who accused him of embezzlement. With the protagonist defending him from hecklers, Yoshida begins to grow a sizable base and Matsushita reveals that Kuramoto had caused the scandal and offers him a position as his right-hand man as he would not win the upcoming election, while Kuramoto tries to reconcile with him over the incident. Yoshida refuses both, intending to become a member again through his own merit.

At the end of his Confidant, Yoshida reveals that he knows that the protagonist is a Phantom Thief himself, having discovered that they were not interested in politics through their speech and mannerisms. He keeps it a secret, knowing of their good deeds. Following the protagonist's imprisonment in Juvenile Hall, if the protagonist completes his confidant, Yoshida holds a speech outside the Diet building, telling people to support the protagonist's release from jail as he shows promise for the country's future and that such injustice should not be tolerated.

Yoshida's farewell gift to the protagonist on the last day for maxing his Confidant is a Fountain Pen, which he apparently had used at the beginning of his political career. This item allows the protagonist access to all Negotiation skills once Yoshida's Confidant has been established in New Game+.

Etymology

 * The name Toranosuke means "tiger" (寅) (tora), "this" (之) (no) and "help, rescue, assist/assistant/assistance" (助) (suke).
 * Toranosuke's surname Yoshida means "lucky, good" (吉) (yoshi) and "field, rice paddy" (田) (ta/da).

Trivia

 * Like all Confidants, Toranosuke's name is an homage to a Japanese historical figure. In his case, he is named after (吉田 寅次郎), a short-lived but influential intellectual and careerist who nurtured many major activists of the.
 * Another possible reference is . Like Toranosuke, Shigeru was a member of the Liberal Democratic Party but forced to dissolute the congress and subsequently resign his post of prime minister for yelling "moron" at a Dietman of the opposite party during the conference of national budget.
 * Yoshida is the only non-plot related Confidant to learn that the protagonist is a member of the Phantom Thieves without having to be helped via a Mementos Request. Rather, he discovers this through the protagonist's mannerisms.
 * From the looks of his beta design, he was possibly originally supposed to be an NPC, known as Daiyamada Taro.
 * Files in the game indicate that it was possible to Reverse (Doubt) or Break a Confidant. If his Confidant were to be Reversed or Broken, the protagonist would not get the extra benefits when negotiating with Shadows.