The Hero (Shin Megami Tensei)

The Hero is the main protagonist of the 1992 Super Famicom JRPG Shin Megami Tensei from the Megami Tensei franchise. He is also mentioned in Shin Megami Tensei II and appears in the DLC of Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse "Messiahs in the Diamond Realm" as a playable character. 
He is the reincarnation of Adam and the messiah who was determined by the Great Will to restore the order of chaos and law. The protagonist is accompanied by the Heroine and his two friends the chaos and law heroes, who help him in his journey throughout the wasteland of a demon-invested post-apocalyptic Tokyo which has been destroyed by ICBM bombs. 
He is voiced by Hikaru Midorikawa, who also voiced characters such as Akihiko Sanada from Persona 3 and Rantaro Amami from Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony
==Personality==
Sho is a silent protagonist and all of his decisions and dialogue options are purely player-dependent. In some decisions, he can be seen to be either quite ruthless or compassionate, for example when he decides whether he wants to kill or spare Ozawa. He can either choose to become a lawful messiah who acts in the interests of god, join Lucifer in his mission to defy God's order and create a social Darwinistic society where the strong rule over the weak or he can choose the path of neutrality, restoring the order of law and chaos in Tokyo. 
==Profile===
===Shin Megami Tensei===
At the beginning of the game, the protagonist awakens from a dream featuring the heroine, the alignment heroes, and Yuriko and receives a demon-summoning program from a mysterious person called Stephen. Later his mom sends him to the mall to buy her coffee where he is attacked by a demon, which he defeats with a kitchen knife he found on the floor. The next day he encounters a man in the Inogashira Park who tells him that the powers of law and chaos are off balance. Afterward, he is arrested by the police for killing a demon. He wakes up in a hospital with the law hero, they manage to escape and defeat the demon who runs the hospital. They head to the mall and find the chaos hero who is being beaten up by bullies, then they return home to find out that Sho's mom has been killed by a demon, who drops a key card that leads them to the echo building with his dog, where they find a terminal which can teleport them to different areas of the city. The terminal leads them to a lab that has been taken over by demons.
Later they head to the Kichijoji underground where they find out that the American Military is sent by Thorman to deal with the demon invasion of Tokyo and the military leader Goutou who is summoning a giant number of demons to prevent god from creating his Millennium Kingdom. Afterward, they meet the heroine who is the leader of the resistance, she asks the group for their help in rescuing the girlfriend of the law hero who has been mistaken for the heroine, before being kidnapped by Yuriko. They save and he heads to the bar in Kichijoji with her and the group, where the protagonist is told by her that Law-Heros's girlfriend is held in the Ichigaya area, the protagonist then splits up with the group. The protagonist is given ID cards to the bases of Goutou and Thorman by the heroine to negotiate with the parties. The player can know decide if he wants to side with either one of them or reject both of them entirely. But no matter what the player several I.C.B.M bombs will destroy the entire city of Tokyo and the heroine will teleport him to the Diamon Realm to save him.
In the Diamond Realm the protagonist reunites with his friends and can leave the place to find himself in a post-apocalyptic demon-infested Tokyo.
In Shinjuku, they find Ozawa one of the bullies who beat up the chaos hero, who now rules over the district. He explains to the party that it is a "dog eats dog" and that he offers the people of the district protection from the demons, he summons the demon Take-Minakata, and the party almost gets killed. The party escapes and the chaos hero fuses himself with a demon to get stronger, now the chaos hero is stronger and the group can defeat the demon. Now the player can choose if he wants to kill Ozawa or not, regardless of the player's choice the chaos hero will kill him and leave the party because he feels the group has become a deadweight to him.
Now the protagonist and the law hero move to Shibuya, where they find the heroine who was invested with a demon. The both of them enter her mind, where they can see her memories and free her from the demon Arachne. The heroine thanks them and tells the two heroes that she died during the great cataclysm but was reborn with all her memories lost, except for the protagonist. She joins the group and they head to Roppongi a town that is populated by undead people, where they encounter Alice, she asks the player if he can give her a Heranya and after he gives it to her she orders him to die for her, when the player refuses she gets upset and one of the leaders of the city "The red baron turns into Belial and attacks the group, with the help of an item called gushing jar they can manage to seal him. All of a sudden Yurriko appears and asks the protagonist for the jar, no matter if the player decides to give it to her or not she will steal it from the player. On their way out they get attacked by the other ruler of the city the black baron, he tries to kill the group, but the law hero jumps in and takes the hit, then he dies. The black baron turns into the demon Nebiros and the Hero and Heroine defeat her, the soul of the law appears in front of the hero and tells him that he is going into the afterlife. 
===Shin Megami Tensei II===
In the colosseum his statue can be found, he is referred to as "the first champion".
===Shin Megami Tensei: if... Hazama's Chapter===
===Shin Megami Tensei IMAGINE===
===Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse Messiah in Diamond Realm DLC===
The Heros soul is destroyed by YHVH, however, Stephen can restore it, and together with the other protagonists he can defeat Stephen and prove himself worthy to him. After the fight, the Hero returns to his universe to restore the order of Tokyo. 
==Gallery==
Smt1herooldart.jpg|The Hero (Shin Megami Tensei PC Engine)
Kazuya_render.png|The Hero (Shin Megami Tensei PSX Pre-Cataclysm)
Kazuya_render_2.png|The Hero (Shin Megami Tensei PSX Post-Cataclysm)
Yusuke (Shin Megami Tensei Protagonist).webp|Yusuke from Persona 5 Dancing All Night wearing The Hero outfit
==Trivia==
*In the final dungeon of Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army, one of the hourglass visions says "There's a ruined city with three young warriors fighting for survival". Those three warriors could be the protagonist, Law Hero and Chaos Hero.
*His name in the novel is "Sho", in the Character Database he is referred to as "Kazuya" and in the artworks of Kazuma Kaneko he is referred to as "Futsuo". The Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse DLC simply refers to him by the name "The Hero"
*He is the only Shin Megami Tensei protagonist to have followed a canonical route in a game with multiple paths and endings.
*One of his names, "Futsuo", means both "ordinary man" and "Contact of Buddha".
*His outfit appears in the video game "Persona 5: Dancing All Night" and is worn by Yusuke Kitagawa
*Unlike later protagonists in the series he is incapable of using magic directly and can only fight using weapons and summoning demons
*He is one of two protagonists in the MegaTen franchise who are named Kazuya, the other one being Kazuya Minegishi
* His Dog Pascal is a gift from the original Megami Tensei protagonist Akemi Nakajima
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