Design

Yusuke has dark blue hair with parted bangs slightly covering his left eye and gray eyes. His in-game character model is slightly taller and noticeably thinner than other male characters' models.

He wears his school's uniform within regulation. The winter-variant consists of a white long-sleeved dress shirt with a mandarin collar embroidered with his school emblem (a fleur-de-lis), tight-fitting black pants, and black loafers. A silver key ring with multiples keys is attached to his belt loop. The summer-variant replaces the long-sleeved shirt with an ultramarine-colored button-down, which Yusuke wears with the sleeves pushed up to the elbows.

His thief outfit consists of a traditional kitsune-style half mask, a black jumpsuit with a striped sash worn across his hips, white motorcycle boots, blue gloves, and a white fox tail decorated with red ribbon attached slightly off-center to his sash.

Personality

At first glance, Yusuke is a very composed and collected individual, and upon further inspection, this extends to a sense of methodical intelligence and a highly observant nature. Yusuke acts with poise and elegance, displayed by his eloquent, poetic way of speaking. He is able to remain calm even in dire circumstances, but can also act dramatically at times; others have pointed him out as weird, and even Yusuke its that he can be seen as eccentric.

He acts politely in general when dealing with others. However, he tends to be more sincere when dealing with subjects he ires from an aesthetic standpoint. For example, he is very direct and respectful when he approaches Ann out of a desire to paint her. However, this sincerity can make him appear pushy, showing that he has a very stubborn, headstrong side which comes out when he is very inspired. He displays a somewhat cold and haughty behavior towards subjects which are behaving in what he deems as an unseemly manner, or in ways that are against his personal aesthetic. This can be seen especially during his initial encounters with Ryuji and the protagonist, and during an encounter he has with two women who attempt to flirt with him. He does not shy away from pointing out that certain actions are undignified and can seem overtly rude because of this. In addition, his focus on art leads him to isolate himself from others, whether unintentional or purposefully. Still, Yusuke does care for others, as he looks out for his teammates and worries about his classmate Naoya's behavior, suspecting family problems are the cause. His sincerity and willingness to point out what he truly thinks despite what others' reactions may be makes him a very loyal, honest ally. Yusuke also claims he donates blood, calling it a "hobby."

Yusuke’s entire life’s ion is comprised of and surrounded by art. He searches for the aesthetic everywhere in his surroundings, from people to places. He sees every opportunity or challenge presented to him as a way to broaden his horizons and primarily considers how it will benefit him as an artist. He is captivated by the painting “Sayuri,” and seeks to capture the sense of beauty that it portrays. This ion extends to his mentor Madarame, who he believed created the painting and took him in when he was young. As such, Yusuke greatly ired and respected him to the point that he vehemently denied any of the rumors surrounding Madarame. Even when he knows the rumors are true and finds actual proof ing it, Yusuke claims that the abuse he faced was consensual as a means of keeping a roof over his head.

Having been unhealthily sheltered for most of his life, Yusuke acts with pure intentions, but ultimately is unaccustomed to many of society's norms. The naïveté born from it shows more times than not, in particular being unaware when he is coming off as intrusive until directly told. At times, he causes trouble for other team , such as being energetically pushy when asking for Ann to be his art model, when he remodels Futaba's Phoenix Ranger Featherman R figurines without her permission, and his frequent criticisms of Ryuji's brashness. A running gag in the game is how Yusuke spends all his money on things that capture his attention without any foresight, such as on art books or lobsters at the beach because they are aesthetically pleasing. Despite his naïveté when it comes to social situations, Yusuke is highly intelligent and his wisdom is evident during Phantom Thief meetings and heists.

Over time, Yusuke’s disconnection from reality and his blunt introduction to his mentor’s vain and evil nature becomes a source of internal struggle to him. He wishes to paint purely for the sake of ion and capture the essence of the human heart, but detests that it becomes for the sake of gaining money, shelter, and recognition. He realizes that the beauty he began to portray in his paintings became corrupt by society's expectations of him, deeming it as superficial without any meaning. The protagonist eventually helps him understand his calling on a deeper level and convey his feelings on canvas properly.

As an art student, Yusuke is knowledgeable of and ires other artists as well. He suggests that "Da Vinci" be his Phantom Thief code name - a reference to Leonardo da Vinci. In his Confidant, he compares the protagonist to Theo, the brother of Vincent van Gogh, who was his greatest er.

According to the art book, Yusuke is talented at economical dining, using his own self-taught method that thoroughly calculates cost-performance. He likes going for walks (as a bonus, it also saves on travel expenses) and frequently people-watches for artistic inspiration. His knowledge of the aesthetics of food, including information about ingredients, cooking methods, and servings, is vast, and he’s committed to them himself. However, his monetary situation does not allow him to practice as much as he would like to in reality. Additionally, whenever Yusuke can cook, he tends to get creative with the ingredients, which can result in bizarre meals.

Profile

Yusuke is an honor student in an art course at the Kosei High School. He never knew his father and he was told his mother raised him by herself until she died in an accident when Yusuke was three, so he does not her. Orphaned at a young age, he was found to have artistic talents and he is currently a live-in disciple of a famous Japanese painter by the name of Ichiryusai Madarame. He heard Madarame helped his mother when she was alive. Both of them live in a house resembling a large shack near the residential area of Shibuya, and Madarame is Yusuke's "master" and legal guardian.

Yusuke approaches Ann Takamaki before being misunderstood as a stalker by the protagonist and Ryuji Sakamoto. He asks Ann to become a model for his next art, inviting her to go to his master's art exhibition to consider his offer. Hearing Madarame is a fraud, the Phantom Thieves decides to accept Yusuke's offer so they can investigate Madarame. They directly ask Yusuke about this, which angers Yusuke who continuously defends his master. After hearing about Madarame's doings from his former disciple, Natsuhiko Nakanohara, and locating his Palace, Ann and Morgana try to find the proof of Madarame's deception by once again accepting Yusuke's offer to become his model, while the protagonist and Ryuji enters Madarame's Palace. Ann does everything in her power to delay actually becoming a nude model, dressing in so many layers that Yusuke briefly believes she has gained weight. Ann attempts to sweet-talk Yusuke into letting her enter Madarame's studio. Though her acting skills are questionable, her determined pushiness and Yusuke's unwillingness to be rude to her allow them to find the evidence of Madarame's deception. When Madarame threatened to call the police, Morgana and Ann have no choice to escape into Madarame's Palace. Ann also drags Yusuke along for this escape, resulting in him entering the Metaverse for the first time. Even after seeing the proof earlier, Yusuke remains in shock and wants to believe in his master. He decides to follow the Thieves to find out the truth.

Meeting Shadow Madarame, his master's Shadow reveals that Yusuke is an art slave. He its that he has indeed been stealing his students' artwork and declares it as his own. Once Yusuke learns of this truth, his desperation to find any decent goodness in his mentor turns into that of complete and utter desire for Madarame's retribution. Yusuke awakens his Persona, Goemon. Retreating to the real world, Yusuke asks to be allowed to the Phantom Thieves, which is permitted by Morgana.

Confronting Shadow Madarame along with the Phantom Thieves for the last time, Shadow Madarame reveals his real treasure, the original Sayuri that Yusuke's mother had painted. From this, Yusuke deduces that his mother's death is not a simple accident. Shadow Madarame confirms this, revealing that he offered tutelage to Yusuke's mother when Yusuke was a baby. Always very sickly, Yusuke's mother created an art piece of herself happily holding her newborn son in her arms so that she could immortalize the love she had for her son. When Madarame came across this beautifully constructed work of art, he made a deal with her in which he'd agreed to let Yusuke become a new member of the family in exchange of holding on to the artwork. One tragic day, Madarame witnessed her having a seizure in front of him, and instead of easily offering medical , he let her die in vain and made duplicates of her last piece dedicated to her son to sell to the public, which granted him the fame and credit he has today. In order to give it "mystery," Madarame altered the art by removing the baby from the picture completely. Since he was just 3 years old, Yusuke could not the original Sayuri and believed that the defaced Sayuri was its true form. As Yusuke grew up, he developed artistic talent, which Madarame also took advantage of. Inspired by his control over Yusuke, Madarame decided to start targeting other youths in Tokyo, using them for their artistic ideas and throwing them out of the house, uned, if they did not comply to his wishes. None of Madarame's students receive credit or recognition for their works; Yusuke is no exception to this. Madarame uses them to take the credit for his own, just like he did to Yusuke's mother, Natsuhiko, and his other disciples many years ago.

Now knowing the whole truth, Yusuke thanks his former mentor because now he no longer has any reason to forgive him. Eventually defeating him and stealing his heart, Yusuke retrieves the original Sayuri painting that his mother had painted for him. Yusuke deduces that "Sayuri" is just a made up title by Madarame for the painting and unlikely to be his mother's true name because of fear of exposing the scam. After the exhibition, Madarame confesses to his crimes and is swiftly punished and discredited for it. Yusuke sadly recalls the "happy family" he lived in when Madarame's other disciples were around and how as he grew older, he never lost the hope that they would come back and they all could be happy once again. Now that he is part of the Phantom Thieves, he feels like he has another "happy family" again. Wanting to let go of the past, Yusuke gives the Sayuri painting to the protagonist who then displays it at Cafe Leblanc.

If the protagonist does not complete the dungeon in time, on the day Madarame completes his exhibition, he will report Ann and the Phantom Thieves to the police for tresing into Madarame's home. He will also keep Yusuke as an apprentice against his will. This scenario is a false recollection made by the protagonist during Sae's interrogation, due to his mind being addled by drugs he was forcefully istered by the police. Sae proceeds to leave the room to give the protagonist time to recover, at which point Akechi takes the opportunity to assassinate him.