Hironobu "Hiro" Kageyama

[silentprotagonist]

Name: Hironobu "Hiro" Kageyama (The Protagonist)

Age: 18

Canon: Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2

Since he's a silent protagonist, his personality is mainly molded by the player's choices in the game. Depending on the route that he's in will also affect his personal views. However, just because he's a silent protagonist, it doesn't mean that he doesn't have a personality to show. It's very apparent from the various dialog choices that he has something to build off from. First of all, Hiro seems to be reserved and laid back when it comes to almost anything from first glance. After taking the final exams from school, he can reply with a slacker response or a cool and confident response. One of his friends, Daichi says that he seems to take everything in stride. Even though he seems to be laid back and easy going, there are some things that can disturb him. Like whenever Daichi had first revealed the "Death Clip" website, there a good amount of unease when Hiro learns about it. And also, he can seem to be condescending sometimes. Whenever Daichi says that he feels like he has his head in the clouds, Hiro can respond by saying "How very childish." Sometimes, it seems like he spends his times being a straightman to Daichi’s (or anyone else’s) funny guy. However, there's still some quiet confidence to appear from him every now and then.

But as the game continues on, we starts to see new sides of his personality that develop as he meets more people. Now while he seems to be serious, he's actually capable of being a tease and joking around sometimes. He'll even take the time to say a girl is cute before she sicks her demons on him. It might be hard to tell if he's joking around or completely serious. Sometimes, Hiro will give off the impression that he actually has his head in the clouds and it’s hard to tell what he’s thinking at times. For example, one of the choices was him to go "Raiiiiinbow!" whenever Joe refers to something as a bridge of hope. This shows while he seems to be serious for the most part, he knows how to lighten a situation with a funny joke or say something idiotic in the middle of battle. (Ex: "Awwwwwww yeaaaaaah!") In fact, it sounds like he shares a similar oddball sense of humor like Joe himself. But Hiro's sense of humor can also be much more on the cynical side. For example, whenever Daichi was mourning over the possible death of his parents, you can choose to have him say "Well, someone's finally lost it." Daichi will simply laugh it off and find relief that he has a friend like Hiro. This could be implied that since Hiro and Daichi are so close, they have a bizarre friendship where they can insult each other without getting angry.

Now one of the biggest keys of his character is that Hiro has a very strong will to live. He isn't the type of guy who enjoys losing to fate or anything else that easily. After getting caught up in the subway crash, he was bordering on the boundaries of life and death. Whenever he was given the chance to lie down and die or keep on trucking, he decided to keep move forward. Even though he seems to be horribly accepting of situations involving the demons, it can be implied through some of his conversations with Io that he has to brave and not show any weaknesses in front of his party members. Even though he has a strong resolve in the harshest of situations, Hiro is still a normal guy who is wrapped up in some world-shaking problems. And another key to his personality is that he carries a strong leadership aura. Most of the time, Hiro will be the one shooting off ideas on what they should do next or become the Voice of Reason in the group whenever everyone is freaking out or arguing. He'll tell others to calm down and get themselves together. It's that reason why everyone ends up relying on him when the situation is darkest. Despite his aloof and strange impressions, he actually can be friendly and accepting of people. Between saving the world, Hiro is usually seen chatting up with the people he’s met and ends up helping them resolve their problems. A lot of people claim that Hiro happens to be a good listener. In a way, it makes him look like a coach or an adviser.

Now while Hiro might seem an awesome silent protagonist, he's far from being perfect. Some of his conversations with Io and Joe can show that he can get scared and worried about what's going on around them. While he usually does look calm, it can be just a poker face at times. Deep down, there's plenty of conflict going on in his head, but he tends to keep it all to himself. There are some dialogue choices where Hiro can sound hesitant into jumping in dangerous situations or even deciding on running away from a problem. Also he seems to be hasty with jumping to conclusions sometimes. Some more of his darker sides can show that he can be forceful on making others decide on what they should do or he makes the call for them right on the spot regardless of their own opinions on the matter. Depending on the person, they could be crying your heart out and he'll tell them to suck it up and to go to fight. Overall, his bluntness can make him seem to be pretty insensitive toward others. Hiro is even capable of being selfish and manipulative at times. And this is one reason why Hiro and Yamato (the leader of JPs) get along so well. Yamato is not the nicest person in the world, but he still makes for a great leader and tactician. Hiro listens out for his decisions and follows them more or less. And the same can be said for Hiro at times, but he's capable of being relatively nicer towards people. And on another note, Hiro tries to stay neutral with others whenever there is a problem that arises. Usually, he's the only one who can cool down an arguement between friends and he realizes that he can't play "All around Nice Guy" for everyone anymore. He'll have to choose a side that determinates the fate of the world and whatever side he picks will mean that he has to fight against his former friends. And one of the most important things to Hiro is friendship. They're his greatest strengthand his greatest weakness. With friends, he's strong enough to overcome anything. But without them, he can't overcome fate or whatever the universe has to throw at him. Overall... Hiro is one of your 'social chameleon' types who ends up learning something new about himself along with others. He does have his ups and his downs, but he's That One Guy that you can rely on when the situation is truly rough.

"Man, you gotta cut me some slack here." Which are the first words to come out from Hiro Kageyama's mouth. This was the boy who had stared death in the face, commanded an army of demons and fought against strange beings from outer space. You would think that he would say a very cool one liner in this situation, but... These words didn't sound very heroic at all. In fact, it almost sounded like he was exasperated. After spending enough time here, he had to get down to business and look for something very important. Hiro was certain that he would find it around here. As he walked through the shopping mall, he had looked into each of the windows. He was actually suprised to see that there were some imported Featherman model kits... But...

That wasn't what he was looking for. If Joe and Daichi were here, he would've assembled a search party out to find the Holy Grails of Holy Grails, the Treasures amonst Tresures... The Sweetest of Icings on the Sweetest of Cakes. Hiro was determined to see his goal through to the end and nothing was going to stop him. Whenever he had entered a new store, he look a quick glance around the area. The clerk had looked weirded out from Hiro's super serious expression. It was almost as if Hiro was going to turn the store upside down if he didn't find THAT key thing he was looking.

Then for a split second, Hiro heard the ballad of angels and turned around.

Something was shining.

Almost as if his entire life had built up for this single moment, Hiro had marched over to the magazine rack as if he was in slow motion and removed the precious Bible with his delicate hands.

"I've finally found it." There was a slight smile to curve on his lips as he opened up the Bible of his contents. He was certain to pass on the stories of this book to generations amongst generations... Or to any friends of his that were curious about this week's issue.

"I didn't think they would have Shoji Leap magazine here, but it looks like I've finally lucked out."