Yasuke Matsuda

Matsuda's behavior suggests he's a loner, but this likely reveals him to be more depressed and anxious than antisocial. He prefers to act behind others' backs, stealthily, so that friends or acquaintances won't bother him with his uncharacteristic kindness. He struggles to remain calm and calculating when faced with an obstacle, no matter how anxious or uncomfortable he actually is. Yasuke is bitter and perhaps emotionally drained, as Junko and his mother were the only close people in his life, and the very fact that the two closest people were in adverse circumstances may have significantly altered his emotional stability, from his mother, whose decline he watched as she became seriously ill, to Enoshima, who was literally consumed by a thirst for despair.

Matsuda is known as Junko's protector, or rather, her fabricated identity, Ryoko. This may stem from memories of his mother, as Otonashi, in Yasuke's eyes, closely resembles her due to her memory issues, and also resembles him in appearance.

He seems to dislike killing and hurting other people, and also hates the sight of gore, however, Matsuda is willing to sacrifice himself and others for Junko, even if it makes him suffer and feel guilty.

According to Yuto Kamishiro, Yasuke's neuroticism is well-known among his classmates in Class 77-A. Furthermore, Matsuda sometimes appears anxious and doesn't particularly care about his appearance. His shirt is constantly referred to as dirty, his hair is left drooping, and he has bags under his eyes.

In Monokuma's profile, Yasuke is referred to as a "smart-mouthed genius," described as handsome and intelligent. However, he is notably sarcastic and apathetic. Although very young, Matsuda is a skilled neurologist and is considered an expert in neurosurgery and neurobiology. He has a fiery temper, so when Yasuke loses his composure, he can become sarcastic and snappy. While expertly maintaining a cool demeanor, Matsuda easily puts others in their place.

Because of his personality, he often gets into confrontations, but more often than not, Matsuda simply brushes off their complaints and arguments almost immediately after the pointless argument begins.

He is rather rude, with a dry sense of humor and an unapproachable, hostile stance. He maintains an aloof demeanor, preferring solitude and reading manga to other pursuits. He sees no point in respecting others without a compelling reason, and as a result, he is notorious for openly disliking authority figures. An example of this is the Steering Committee and how he was able to intimidate them by fearlessly confronting them in a fit of anger. His foul temper and callous behavior are particularly evident in his relationship with Ryoko Otonashi, as Yasuke constantly calls her ugly and finds himself absurdly irritated. However, despite this, he shows some concern for her vulnerability and forgetfulness. Matsuda believes that only he is allowed to make fun of her, and he feels the need to stick up for her. According to Ryoko, he may be cold and rude, but at least he doesn't treat her with feigned sympathy. Yasuke seems to dislike showing his feelings to others and rejects them, overreacting and displaying his bad temper. It's not entirely clear whether loud people irritate him or whether he's simply an introvert and extremely lonely.

Yaska is approximately 17-18 years old.

He has a tall, slender, and slightly gaunt figure, and his face usually has a characteristic apathetic look, an expression further emphasized by his distinct, heavy eyebrows, which are usually furrowed. His face is also described as unhealthy, presumably due to stress, but Monokuma refers to him as "handsome." He has messy, neck-length black hair, which is said to be silky and soft. His eyes are pale blue, and he has long eyelashes. He has a somewhat pale complexion, long fingers, and thin, small lips.

Yasuke's attire consists of a semi-tucked, off-white dress shirt and a casually worn black tie adorned with red stickers. His lower half consists of black trousers, a belt, and slippers.

Matsuda is mentioned to be "popular among the girls in the Reserve Course."

As an extension of his Ultimate Neurologist abilities, Yasuke's research led him to develop an experimental treatment that allowed him to suppress a person's memories for a specific period of time. It was thanks to this research (along with the efforts of Chihiro Fujisaki, Miaya Gekkogahara, and others) that the Neo World Program was brought to fruition.

Yasuke first witnessed this technique being used on Junko, whom he attempted to protect by altering her memories and "hiding" her behind an alternate personality, Ryoko. During her experimental stages, Ryoko had to receive constant "treatment" from Yasuke to prevent the memory erasure from wearing off.

Interestingly, Yasuke is quite skilled with scalpels as throwing weapons, using them as throwing knives, very similar to Sonosuke Izayoi. This is often used as a tactic in the novel to frighten Ryoko several times.

Yasuke's talent as the Ultimate Neurologist stems from an incident in his childhood. When he was very young, his mother fell ill, later revealed to have an unknown neurological disorder—the same one that ultimately caused her death. Before her death, her memory had noticeably deteriorated—Matsuda's mother didn't even recognize her son. It was for this reason that Yasuke dedicated himself to neurology, to learn everything he could. The result is a vast knowledge of the complexities of the brain and, most likely, human psychology. Running his own lab, he has unlimited access to medical and clinical resources and likely trained in other medically related specialties, as many neurologists also have additional training or an interest in a specific area of ​​neurology, such as stroke, epilepsy, neuromuscular, sleep medicine, pain management, or movement disorders.

Considering that neurologists are physicians who undergo approximately 10-13 years of training (college, a four-year bachelor's degree, a medical degree that includes another four years of schooling, a one-year residency, and a three-year residency), it is safe to assume that Yasuke's position as the Ultimate Neurologist and his accomplishments at such a young age define his medical knowledge not only in the field of neurology, but in a variety of other fields as well.

After the Tragedy of Hope's Peak Academy, Yasuke was the only student entrusted with the secret of their concealment, as they needed his neurological skills to extract and capture information from people. In exchange for his cooperation, he was awarded a large research grant and equipment for his lab.

Due to his incredible expertise in neurology, the school asked Yasuke to interrogate Junko about the incident. However, in reality, he was on Junko's side and reluctantly aided her. Junko had erased her memories to test a memory-wiping procedure designed for the Class 78th Mutual Killing Game, as well as to hide from suspicion. She assumed the false identity of Ryoko Otonashi and became Yasuke's research subject. Benevolently, to protect her from himself and to protect others from her, Yasuke attempted to thwart Junko's plans by preventing her from regaining her memories. He regularly administered "treatment" to her, though in reality, he ensured that her condition remained unchanged.

During Yasuke's childhood, his mother was his only family. She was diagnosed with an unnamed illness that appeared to have symptoms similar to Alzheimer's, causing her to forget who her own son was. His mother's doctors also forbade Yasuke from addressing her as "Mom" or "Mother," and he was subjected to neglect, abuse, and being treated as a stranger by his parents due to her constant memory loss. It is implied that all of this made him ambivalent, distant, and largely depressed, which is likely the reason he had no friends.

His mother's condition ultimately led to her tragic death. Although Yasuke claimed her death lifted a weight from his shoulders and made him "free," it is strongly implied that he continued to experience considerable guilt and grief over her passing. Her death may also have been the reason he chose neurology as his profession, due to the bitterness he felt toward her doctors, who, in his eyes, could have done better.

In elementary school, Yasuke befriended Junko. They both had no other friends, and she was the closest person to him besides his mother. One day, Junko began working on a sand sculpture based on the Sagrada Familia. However, a month later, it was destroyed by an unknown culprit. Seeing her crying and crying for almost an entire day, Yasuke decided to go looking for the culprit. Yasuke's investigation ultimately reached a dead end, as he never found any witnesses. His inability to find anything useful discouraged him. While he was sitting on a bench in front of the remains of the sand sculpture, Junko ran up to him with a wide smile and whispered in his ear that she was the culprit who kept destroying the sculpture, asking him to keep it a secret. When asked about the reason, she replied that she did it by accident. In truth, she did it to get Yasuke out of his house, upset that his mother's condition had led him to

Ryoko is an alternate version of Junko's amnesiac identity. Although she suffers from persistent memory loss, she still loves Yasuke.

From the very beginning, Yasuke has treated her condescendingly, scolding her and often ridiculing her whenever he has the opportunity. On the other hand, Ryoko is infatuated with him and loves him dearly, despite his sharp tongue. She acts clingy when around him and constantly whines when he's present. It's stated that she loves Yasuke because he doesn't treat her with false sympathy. There are times when Yasuke is shown to warm up to Ryoko, even appearing tender towards her when she cries about her painful situation. At one point, he eventually apologized for getting angry.

Regarding her amnesia and Yasuke's treatment, if not overly protective of Ryoko, he's also protective of her. This is demonstrated when one of the older members of the Steering Committee insults Ryoko for being a "dummy with no hope of recovery" and considering her a failure. This prompts Yasuke to respond disrespectfully, yelling at one of the committee members to "shut up" and that his "filthy mouth talks too much." He declares that he is the only one allowed to laugh at Ryoko.

At the time of his untimely end, Yasuke was revealed to have been protecting Junko's alternate personality, Ryoko, from himself by planting false information in his notebook. He even attempted to kill Ryoko before she regained her memories. However, this failed miserably when she fell into despair and killed him after realizing her true identity. Her motive for killing him was simply a desire to further her despair by killing one of the two people she loved most: Yasuke. Mukuro Ikusaba, whom Junko later kills during the killing game in Class 78th.

It has been stated that Ryoko is particularly similar to Yasuke's mother in regards to her appearance and memory issues, which may be one of the reasons why he likes her.

Yasuke's mother is said to be the closest person to him, other than Junko. His relationship with his mother was presumably peaceful before her illness, but after she was diagnosed with a terminal illness, believed to be Alzheimer's, it became severely strained. Symptoms included prolonged memory loss, which resulted in her being unable to recognize her own son and plunged her into hysteria, leading to possible abuse and neglect of her own son. After her death, Yasuke was plunged into a pit of depression and grief.

He frequently displays traits that suggest grief and bitterness toward the doctors he believed could have done a better job of saving her life. It's likely this traumatic childhood event led him to study neurology, in which he excelled.