Yolei Inoue

Yolei Inoue is a member of the DigiDestined, partnered with Hawkmon and holder of the Digi-Eggs of Love andSincerity. Yolei is a technical wizard – she can fix anything from a toaster oven to a computer, and does the sound mixing for Matt’s band, the Teenage Wolves – but also has a tendency to be a bit hyperactive. She lives in the same apartment building as T.K. and Cody, above the Ai-Mart, a convenience store that her family owns and runs. Yolei works in it often, and takes food from it to supply the group and their ever-hungry Digimon with. As the youngest child in a family of four, Yolei apparently tends to feel that she gets passed over a lot – not that it seems to have affected her day-to-day life. And a BIG part of Yolei’s day-to-day life is boys – whenever she sees a guy she thinks is cute, it’s hard for her to keep control of herself!

Yolei’s association with Digimon began in March of 2000, during the Internet battle with Diaboromon – she was one of the children who sent e-mails to bolster WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon. But afterwards, her memories of Digimon – like the memories of non-DigiDestined people all around the world – simply faded away.

Four years later, Yolei and Cody met T.K. on the first day of school, as he was new to the apartment building. They walked to school together, and then, later that day, while on a school computer, Yolei some how wound up intercepting an e-mail meant for Kari Kamiya, from her brother, Tai, who had travelled to the DigiWorld at Agumon’s request, and discovered that the Digimon Emperor was in the process of conquering it. As Yolei brought the e-mail to Kari’s attention, Tai discovered the Digi-Egg of Courage, and when touched it, it released three new D-3 Digivices, which transported themselves to the real world, to be received by Yolei, Cody and Davis! When Davis, Kari and T.K. went to the DigiWorld, Yolei attempted to get information out of Izzy, and upon the others’ return, was quite eager to go to the DigiWorld herself. She had to wait until the following day, however, when she, Cody, Kari, T.K., Davis, Izzy and Sora took a trip there, only to be attacked by the Emperor’s servants. When Davis and Veemon were captured, the others fled into the forest, where they found a temple containing Yolei and Cody’s Digi-Eggs. Sora encouraged Yolei to lift her Digi-Egg – and when Yolei did so, her partner, Hawkmon was released. Yolei was horrified at the notion of having to fight, but Sora reassured her, and she activated her Digi-Egg allowing Hawkmon to Armour Digivolve to Halsemon, and, along with Digmon, save Davis and Veemon from the Emperor’s clutches.

When the kids watched a news broadcast about Ken Ichijouji, the boy genius, and it was suggested jokingly that maybe he could help them fight the Emperor, Yolei angrily shut it off, and commented that she knew more about the DigiWorld than “that stupid kid.”

A short while later, Yolei met Mimi for the first time when she returned to Japan on a vacation, and the two girls got along well. Mimi accompanied the new DigiDestined on a picnic in the DigiWorld, where she and Yolei wound up getting separated from the others and winding up in the Night Forest, an area under the control of the Emperor. Palmon appeared to save them from some Gekomon and Otamamon under the thrall of the Emperor’s Dark Rings, but they were then attacked by the Roachmon Brothers. As the girls fled from them, Yolei had a brief daydream about what it would be like if Mimi were her sister – she thought it would be better than the siblings she had already, and they’d definitely get along better than the Roachmon did! After Hawkmon snapped her out of it, he became Halsemon and lured the Roachmon close to the Control Spire where Mimi and Palmon blinded them with a spotlight, causing them to crash into it. Halsemon andTogemon then attacked together to finish them and the Spire off.

Yolei’s dream is only a couple of seconds long, but for a time was a very hotly debated issue. In the Japanese version of the episode, the word used by Yolei directly translates as “sister,” but can have same-sex-partner connotations. Add that to the fact that the flashback is animated entirely in the style of the anime series “Revolutionary Girl Utena” – a series where lesbian relationships are both official and common – and you get a lot of fans wondering if Yolei may have some other interests besides boys.

When the school soccer team was to play a match against Ken Ichijouji’s school, Yolei certainly changed her tune regarding the boy, doing absolutely everything but drool over him. She was disappointed when it seemed he wouldn’t show up, but when he did, Poromon suffered the squishy wrath of a girl with a crush. However, soon after, Yolei and the others were shocked to learn that Ken, in fact, WAS the Digimon Emperor!

When  Agumon  was captured by the Emperor, Yolei - for some reason that wasn't explained - didn't want to go into the DigiWorld on the rescue mission. She later changed her tune, and brought  Matt  into the DigiWorld with her - but not before the Emperor had turned Agumon into a viral version of  MetalGreymon. After a meal in Digitamamon’s diner, Yolei found that she was unable to pay, as she didn’t have any Digi-Dollars. As she argued with Digitamamon, Mimi appeared with her friend, Michael, a DigiDestined boy from New York, who happily paid the bill. Yolei instantly went head-over-heels for him, hanging on his every word as he talked about how he became a DigiDestined. When Gorillamon attacked the diner, Digitamamon was sent flying off into the distance, and when he returned, he had a Dark Spiral within him. The angry Yolei believed that she had been right about him from the start, and when he head butted Mimi, she lost it and began screaming at him – an outburst which resulted in the manifestation of the Digi-Egg of Sincerity, which Yolei used to Armour Digivolve Hawkmon intoShurimon, who freed Digitamamon from the Spiral. Mimi and Michael returned home, but not before Michael asked Yolei on a date. Obviously enough, this didn’t happen in the original Japanese version of the episode.

When the location of the Digimon Emperor’s base was discovered, the DigiDestined decided that they would have to stay in the DigiWorld until it was destroyed. Yolei covered up the fact that she was nervous with some ridiculously over-the-top eagerness, barking orders and rushing around, even managing to scale a Control Spire. When her over-eagerness led to Hawkmon getting injured by Dokugumon, Yolei returned to her normal self again, and was consoled by Kari. Subsequently, she, Kari and their Digimon were the first to fight Kimeramon, the Emperor’s genetically engineered creation.

After the Emperor was defeated and reverted to his normal personality, Yolei and Hawkmon helped some Woodmon and Gizamon repair the damaged areas along the DigiWorld shore. Davis thought it would be a good idea to ask Ken to join their group, but Yolei didn’t agree, after having seen Stingmon destroy Thundermonat Ken’s command. However, when Mimi called on the new kids to help battle a Golemon, Yolei was forced to confront her feelings about Ken – and when she accepted them, Hawkmon Digivolved into Aquilamon for the first time to helped Stingmon destroy the Golemon, which was actually an unliving Digimon created from a Control Spire.

The repairs to the DigiWorld continued, plagued by more Control Spire Digimon, the creations of a mysterious woman. After the explosion of Ken’s old base’s reactor was prevented by Paildramon, the kids were lured to the Giga House by the woman, where they were attacked by Insect Digimon under the control of her flute’s music. Yolei was able to use the house’s computer to record the sound of the flute, and warp it, playing it back to undo the flute’s effects, freeing the Digimon, including Stingmon and Digmon. In anger, the mystery woman revealed her true form – Arukenimon, a spider-woman Digimon! She was subsequently defeated in battle by the kids and Paildramon, and saved by her partner, Mummymon.

While searching for Gatomon’s lost tail ring, Yolei, Kari and Ken accidentally stumbled through a phase warp into the World of Darkness. Yolei began to break down, but Kari slapped some sense into her – but when the Dark Ocean appeared, Kari began to lose it as well. As a Blossomon created by Arukenimon attacked, Kari feared that she would never escape the darkness – until Yolei returned the favour, slapping her across the face, making the two girls see eye-to-eye and prompting Gatomon and Aquilamon to DNA Digivolve into Silphymon to destroy the Blossomon. The two girls had their Digimon DNA Digivolve repeatedly to battle Arukenimon’s rogue creation, BlackWarGreymon, as he tried to destroy the mysterious Destiny Stones.

At Christmas, Yolei and the other younger kids were invited to Ken’s Christmas party, but the festivities were interrupted when Arukenimon brought a Control Spire and several wild Digimon into the real world, and the kids had to battle and defeat them. The following day, it was discovered that the same thing was happening all over the world, and the DigiDestined were dispatched across the globe to team up with DigiDestined from other countries and round up all the wild Digimon that had appeared.

Yolei and Sora were sent to Russia, but Ilya, Gennai’s Mexican counterpart, failed to appear, meaning they had no translator to help them cross the language barrier with the Russian DigiDestined, Sonya, Anna and Yuri. Yolei’s attempts at charades eventually succeeded when the used the names of Russian foods to co-ordinate their attacks on the Flymon above the city – then, when Ilya appeared, they had to head to Siberia to battle a bunch of Mammothmon. Sora fell offGarudamon, and Aquilamon saved her – but things looked bad as the Mammothmon charged forward. Imperialdramon arrived to deal with them, sending them back to the DigiWorld and saving the girls.

Upon returning to Tokyo, there was no rest for the kids as the Daemon Corps appeared, in search of Ken and the Dark Spore within him. Yolei and Kari confronted LadyDevimon, who fled when reinforcements arrived. After Ken was spirited away by Arukenimon, Yolei and Kari watched as Silphymon battled with LadyDevimon. When Silphymon was weakened, LadyDevimon seized a nearby boy, threatening his life – forcing Yolei to take action, striking LadyDevimon with a skateboard, making her drop the boy. As LadyDevimon lunged for her, Silphymon blasted her from behind, destroying her, much to Yolei’s horror, but eventual acceptance. The girls and their Digimon subsequently joined in the battle with Daemon himself, and Yolei leant her strength to Ken as he opened a portal to the World of Darkness, through which Daemon was sent.

When attempting to find Oikawa – Arukenimon and Mummymon’s creators – and the kids he had implanted with copies of Ken’s Dark Spore, Yolei was the one who triangulated everyone’s efforts. She, Kari and T.K. pursued the fleeing villain as BlackWarGreymon battled with WarGreymon and Imperialdramon, but they managed to escape.

When keeping watch over Highton View Terrace, Yolei and the younger kids followed Oikawa, Arukenimon, Mummymon and the Spore children through a portal Oikawa had opened, which he thought led to the DigiWorld – when in reality, it lead to a bizarre dream dimension, where the truth finally came out. Oikawa was possessed by the spirit of Myotismon, who had been inside him, manipulating his actions for four years. Myotismon existed Oikawa’s body and absorbed the power of the Dark Spores, becoming MaloMyotismon. After destroying Arukenimon and Mummymon, he subjected the DigiDestined to illusions of their greatest desires – for Yolei, it was being an only child, not being passed over in favour of her siblings... and... uh... getting to eat lots of cake. Hawkmon and ExVeemon broke her free of the illusion, and she then joined with the other kids in using the power of the dimension to their own ends, making their Digimon Digivolve to all their forms at once. Hawkmon, Halsemon, Shurimon and Silphymon fought together with all the other Digimon against MaloMyotismon, until the villain fled into the DigiWorld, where he absorbed the darkness there and increased his powers, beginning his plan to shroud both worlds in darkness forever. Through the combined strength of the hopes and dreams of the Dark Spore children and all the world’s DigiDestined, MaloMyotismon’s body was destroyed, and Imperialdramon used his Giga Crusher attack to destroy the villain’s spirit, hopefully for good.

Three months later, it was discovered that Diaboromon had survived his battle with  Omnimon  four years beforehand, and had spent the time inbetween reproducing as millions of  Kuramon. Yolei was trying on uniforms for high school when she was called by Izzy and informed on the situation. While Tai, Matt and Omnimon went into the 'net to battle Diaboromon, the newer kids set about rounding up the Kuramon that were appearing in the real world. Yolei, Kari, Poromon and Gatomon were the first to locate one and sent it back to Izzy for him to deal with. Later, Kari, T.K. and their Digimon decided to join the battle on the Internet, but when Davis discovered this, he demanded that Yolei open the gate for him so he could go to Kari. Unfortunately, Yolei opened the gate too wide, playing right into Diaboromon's hands - for even though Omnimon was able to destroy him, all the remaining Kuramon escaped through the gate into the real world. They gathered in Tokyo Harbour, where they then merged into the monstrous  Armageddemon, who quickly defeated Omnimon, who then gave his energy to Imperialdramon, transforming him into his Paladin Mode. Imperialdramon then destroyed Armageddemon, causing him to discorporate back into the Kuramon. Using her laptop, Yolei activated the cell phones of the crowd watching the battle, who then used them to capture the Kuramon, while the DigiDestined did the same with the Digivices, to send them all back to Izzy to take care of them.

Twenty-five years into the future, Yolei and Ken have got married, and have three children – a girl, a boy, and a baby of unknown gender, partnered with a Poromon, a Minomon and a Leafmon, respectively. Yolei is apparently content to be a housewife, helped in her duties by Hawkmon.

Chronologically speaking, Yolei first appears in “Digimon: The Movie.” She first appears in the series in “Enter Flamedramon.” Her voice is supplied by Tifanie Christun, except in “Invasion of the Daemon Corps,” where Laura Summer fills in as a replacement voice.

''Name: “Yolei” was a name that caused much consternation among fans when it was first revealed, as it bears little relation to her Japanese name, “Miyako.” There is a connection, however. A alternate – or possibly just incorrect – romanisation for her name is “Miakyo,” and an article in Fox Kids magazine which ran before the series aired listed the dub name for the character as “Kyo,” obviously having been derived from this spelling. At some point this name was abandoned, and instead it would appear that they took the “Yo” from “Kyo,” then combined it with “Lei.” It is strongly believed that the “Lei” comes from Terri-LEI O’Malley, the producer of the American version of the show.''