Taro Yamada

**Taro Yamada is the obsession of Ayano Aishi and one of the main characters of *Yandere Simulator*. He is one of the male students that currently attends Akademi High School.**

## Name

Though it has been used for a long time, Taro Yamada is currently a placeholder name. It is the Japanese equivalent of "*John Doe*". John Doe refers to a person whose true identity is unknown, or wants to remain hidden. If the player chooses to have a female Senpai, her name will be Taeko Yamada, which is the Japanese equivalent of "*Jane Doe*".

No matter what, Senpai's name will never be spoken aloud. However, it will appear in the Student Info screen and on the in-game social media page. In the future, the player might be able to choose Senpai's name. In the final game, the player will be able to pick Senpai's gender. However, Senpai's original gender is male; therefore, the article will refer to him as such.

## Intros

### First Intro

During the first intro, he was first seen in Yandere-chan's dream. This is the part where the player can customize his appearance. In the morning, Yandere-chan, who was late to school, bumps into him and nearly immediately becomes obsessed with him. Senpai is completely oblivious to this fact, and he will accept the love confession of nearly any girl. After meeting Yandere-chan, he is scolded by Osana Najimi who walks with him the rest of the way to school, with a lamenting Yandere-chan watching the two of them from afar. Info-chan is watching the entire scene from behind them.

### Second Intro

Senpai is not seen outside of the customization part of the second intro. However, Info-chan calls Yandere-chan out for stalking him, and informs her that the girl he was with is named Osana Najimi.

## Appearance

Senpai's default appearance has short, messy dark hair, grey eyes, light skin, and the default male school uniform. The reason why this is his default appearance is because he is meant to look like a generic male anime protagonist.

When starting the game, the player has the ablility to customize his gender, skin tone, hairstyle, hair color, eye color, eyewear and facial hair. If no changes are made or the process is skipped, Senpai will stay with his default appearance. He is the same height as every other male student who is currently in the game so that all animations link up properly. YandereDev would want Senpai to be slightly taller if it was possible. YandereDev may also release Senpai's textures and put them in the Streaming Assets folder for players to make custom skins.

He is the only character highlighted pink in Yandere Vision.

## Description

"The Japanese word "*senpai*" refers to someone who has seniority over someone else. For example, if you are a first-year student, all second-year and third-year students are your "*senpai*". If you start working at a new job, any co-worker who has been employed at the workplace longer than you is your "*senpai*".

In Yandere Simulator, the title of "*Senpai*" is given to the young man (or young woman) that the protagonist is infatuated with. The player is given the option of choosing Senpai's gender at the beginning of the game; they might be "*Senpai-kun*", or they might be "*Senpai-chan*". If Senpai is a male, his name is Taro Yamada, and if she is a female, her name is Taeko Yamada.

Over the course of the school year, ten different girls will fall in love with Senpai. There is a myth at school that if a girl confesses her love to a boy under the cherry tree behind the school on a Friday, the two of them will love each other forever. Every girl who falls in love with Senpai plans to confess at 6:00 PM on Friday. If there is anyone who wants to keep Senpai all to herself, she has until 6:00 PM on Friday to eliminate the competition."

## Personality

### First Intro

The first intro of the game portrays Senpai as a kind and considerate person. He helps Yandere-chan up off of the ground after bumping into her and is seemingly a friendly person. He doesn't resent Osana for her hostility towards him and simply just follows her orders.

He may also be somewhat of a pushover; as he doesn't protest Osana's rude behavior towards him and will accept any love confession that he recieves. This is the reason why Yandere-chan must eliminate her rivals before they confess to Senpai.

### Second Intro

Senpai in the second intro isn't characterized nearly as much as in the first. His personality is never really described by either Yandere-chan or Info-chan. He still accepts the love confession of any rival who has a good reputation, which may imply that he is still rather meek. However, this could also be because he is on good terms with all of the rivals.

### Both Intros

His personality will be shaped and molded by the player's actions and the way that people around him are disappearing.

* If the majority of rivals are paired off with suitors, Senpai will assume that girls do not find him as appealing as other boys.
* If girls continuously mysteriously stop coming to school, then he will assume that all girls who skip school are delinquents.
* If girls show up dead not long after talking to him, he will begin to wonder if he is cursed.
* If Senpai has to reject most rivals because he cannot get along with them, he will worry that he will never find a partner.

Depending on the player's actions, Senpai may develop PTSD, a personality complex, a nervous disorder, or social anxieties.

Senpai seems to be oblivious to Kokona's affections, judging by how she laments that ne never notices her feelings. Senpai never seems to realize why Yandere-chan is following him around either, or never shouts at her to leave him alone.

He is a loner who enjoys nature more than the company of other people. Though he is an introvert, he does not appear to be shy. Senpai is not a popular student in the beginning, however more girls will begin to fall in love with him over the course of the game. Some popular people may even notice him. He is normally a gentle person and prefers solitude, but would feel enraged upon witnessing a masked murderer, and would unmask them without any regard for his own safety.

He is an average male student who receives average grades.

## Background

YandereDev has never fully written a backstory for Senpai. He is meant to be plain and average.

In the first intro, Osana Najimi was his childhood friend. They have apparently known each other for an entire decade.

The reason why Senpai has suddenly become so popular is because he sat in the "Main Character Chair". From that moment on, his fate and destiny were set in stone.

Senpai has a younger sister whose gender will stay the same even if Senpai is female as well. She will look like a genderswapped version of Senpai, however she will have a hairstyle that no other character possesses. Senpai's parents look very ordinary. His father looks like an older version of him, and his mother looks just as plain as he does.

Info-chan is unable to dig up any dark secrets about Senpai because he apparently does not have any.

## Routine

At 7:05 AM, Senpai enters the school grounds. He walks to his locker at 7:10 AM and changes into his indoor shoes. At 7:15 AM, he walks to the fountain and sits ont he edge, reading a book the entire time. He does not socialize with any of the other students.

At 8:00 AM, Senpai walks to Classroom 3-2 and sits in his desk. He begins his morning classes at 8:30 AM, and leaves to go to the rooftop at 1:00 PM.

Senpai walks to class once again at 1:22 PM and finishes his afternoon classes at 3:30 PM. He will then go to the fountain and read until the end of the day, when he goes home. Regardless of what time the player decides to leave school at, Yandere-chan will always stalk him as he is walking home, ensuring that he arrives there safely.

## Gameplay

Senpai isn't a regular interactive student, but rather a "moving obstacle". If a small town is implemented into the game, there is a possibility that there will be a "date gameplay" mechanic.

Staying too close to Senpai will cause Yandere-chan's heart to beat loudly and the screen will turn pink. Yandere-chan will drop any item that she is currently holding, keeping her hands close to her chest. She cannot do anything besides walk while she is near him. Entering this zone will help to recover lost sanity. In a future version of the game, Yandere-chan's animations while she is standing near Senpai will look much weirder and she will appear as if she is extremely anxious. If Yandere-chan stands in front of Senpai for too long, he will yell at her to go away, which will trigger a "Heartbroken" Game Over. If the player chooses to join the Occult Club or plays the "Stealth" game in the computer lab, then they will be able to stand in front of Senpai for longer without being noticed.

If he notices Yandere-chan performing suspicious behavior such as holding a weapon, dragging a corpse, having low sanity, being covered in blood, killing a person or taking a panty shot, it will result in an immediate Game Over as well.

Since Senpai is a Loner, he will run away at the sight of a corpse on school grounds, but only if Yandere-chan is not there to alert him in any way.

Clubs will not factor into his life much. He may visit some on a "trial" basis, but he will remain clubless for the entire game.

Senpai will also have a hidden sanity variable that will influence his daily behavior and some of the game's endings.

Due to his aura, he is unable to be killed like a normal student. Certain Easter Eggs will allow the player to kill him, but he will simply respawn the following day.

## Relationships

### All Rivals

In the full version of the game, Senpai will be on good term with every rival, so he will not suspect them of any crimes even if he seems them covered in blood. If there is "evidence" against a rival, however, he will be unable to prevent them from being arrested.

### Osana Najimi

Osana is Senpai's childhood friend, who is also a tsundere. When Osana, Senpai, and Hanako were all younger, they all used to hang out together.

YandereDev has not yet revealed why Senpai continues to choose to spend time with Osana, despite her treatment of him. Once she is eliminated, there may be a cutscene that shows how Senpai is handling the situation.

### Yandere-chan

Before she met Senpai, Yandere-chan went through life with no purpose whatsoever. Yandere-chan only noticed Senpai a few days before the game begins, but her sense of right and wrong became immediately "entirely guided by the goal of obtaining Senpai for herself".

Yandere-chan might act perverted towards Senpai, as she will be able to go into the Boys' Shower Room to admire him, but her feelings are not that of lust, they are more like seeing color in a grey world. It isn't necessarily romantic or sexual attraction, either; Senpai's presence simply allows Yandere-chan to feel the sensations that she otherwise is unable to feel.

If Yandere-chan accidentally hurt Senpai, she would feel a mixture of depressed emotions. However, she is completely okay with mentally traumatizing Senpai in order to eliminate one of her rivals.

Yandere-chan is unable to object to anything that would make Senpai happy, as long as it isn't another girl. It would therefore be entirely possible for Senpai to manipulate Yandere-chan if he wanted to. However, if he was to insult her, she would punish him for it and possibly even break him to ensure that he would never do it again.

Senpai is not close with Yandere-chan and barely knows anything about her. He typically never notices her, as she is able to follow him home after school, depending on how the day went. However, if she stands in front of him for too long during the day, he will notice her and will be creeped out by her behavior.

If Yandere-chan were to ever lose Senpai's love or if she were to be rejected by Senpai, YandereDev could see her crying over it. If Senpai was ever killed and Yandere-chan knew who was responsible for his death, she would more than likely kill them, and she would feel a cross between deep hatred and total, hollow emptiness. If Senpai were to ever commit suicide because of something Yandere-chan did, she would feel the same way.

### Info-chan

Info-chan doesn't really care about Senpai's love life. The two never seem to have interacted and Info-chan is perfectly fine with ruining his life, whether it is to boost her newspaper and have him for herself (first intro) or to get rid of one of her enemies (second intro). Info-chan may not care for the other rivals either, because she will still help Yandere-chan eliminate them, even if Senpai has a chance of having a happy life with them.

Info-chan does not accept any photos of Senpai.

### Kokona Haruka

Senpai is entirely oblivious to Kokona's feelings. They are in the same class, however she still refers to him as Senpai.

### Hanako Yamada

Senpai's younger sister, Hanako, is the ninth planned rival, not because she lusts after her brother, but because she loves him to the point that she does not want him to have a girlfriend. She wants to have all of his attention on her. She is extremely clingy, possessive of him, and never wants to leave his side.

If she dies, Senpai's sanity variable will have a great decrease.

Instead of confessing her love like most rivals, at the end of her week she will force Senpai to agree that he will never get a girlfriend.

### Muja Kina

In the full game, Senpai will become ill for the only week that the school nurse is not present. Instead, he will visit Muja Kina, the substitute nurse, every day. Senpai will become attracted to her, and their relationship may grow overtime.

### Gardening Club President

If none of the rivals end up affecting Senpai's love life, he will likely enter a relationship with the president of the Gardening Club, since it is the only club that he ever seriously considered joining.

## Trivia

* Senpai's favorite food is still completely undecided.
* Senpai has written a book titled *How to Hentai without Hentaing*, seen in the May 7th, 2015 Build in the faculty room. It was later removed; YandereDev has since declared it non-canon.
	+ The book was later reintroduced with a new cover. It can be found inside of the safe, which can be opened with a key in Mission Mode.
* As of the September 20th, 2015 Build, when Senpai sees Yandere-chan performing suspicious actions, all students will freeze in place and look at Yandere-chan in horror.
* In old builds, Senpai was usually the first to naturally witness Kokona Haruka's corpse if the player poisoned her at lunchtime, as he stood closest to where her corpse would be and would spot it as he headed back to class at the end of his lunch break. However, as of the November 15th, 2015 Build, Kokona's corpse is no longer in Senpai's path as he returns to class, and he will not discover it.
* Senpai's voice lines for the poisoning event, as shown in "How to poison a girl in Yandere Simulator", were not in the actual game.
* The character model that was used to make Senpai is available in the Unity Assets store.
* In the future, it will be possible to steal Senpai's clothes and shoes from the gym. YandereDev has said that the game mechanic of stealing items from Senpai for the Senpai Shrine has been planned since its implementation.
* In Japanese, *senpai* (先輩) means upperclassman.
* The only way to kill Senpai is to use unconventional methods, such as Easter Egg modes. However, it will have no effect on the end of the day, and the ending words still say that Yandere-chan sees Senpai walk back home (unharmed). Senpai will respawn the next day.
* If Senpai was in a Hogwarts house, he would be a Hufflepuff.
* There are 25,000 different combinations of customization options for Senpai - 150,000 different combinations if Senpai is in a customized uniform.
* Senpai has never bought a panty shot from Info-chan.
* Senpai has an unnamed career path that has not been revealed yet.
* Senpai can probably cook a few simple meals.
* On Akademi High School's Facebook page, there is a post made by Senpai asking how old the sakura trees are.
* Senpai's birthday might be the same as Yandere-chan's birthday, April 1st.
* On December 23rd, 2015, YandereDev posted a comic created by Achromatic, which joked about what would happen if Senpai was allergic to cats. If Senpai was ever allergic to cats, Yandere-chan would kill her own beloved cat for him. However, Senpai being allergic to cats is not necessarily canon yet. The comic can be viewed on YandereDev's website
* There was an old idea of breaking into Senpai's house, but it depends on whether or not there will be a small town in the game.
* YandereDev states that Yandere-chan could possibly go on a date with Senpai, if a small town was added.
* In the February 17th, 2016 Build, Senpai was shown in his student profile as darker skinned, blond with spiky hair, and wearing shades. He was made to look that way because YandereDev was testing out new customization features and forgot to reset him.
* Senpai did not have a voiced line for reacting to Yandere-chan taking panty shots until the March 31st, 2016 Build.
* Senpai doesn't appear in Mission Mode.
* If too many girls die or go missing immediately after meeting Senpai, rumors may spread that he is a serial killer.