Yahari, Masashi

矢張政志

Larry has been Phoenix's friend since grade school, and despite his issues with women (and his tendency to slack off), he remains a loyal friend who sticks by Phoenix. Larry is generally easygoing and laid-back, though he displays his emotions readily. He is very trusting and somewhat flaky, which results in him frequently moving between girlfriends and part-time jobs.
In PW:AA, it is often joked that "When something smells, it's usually the Butz." In the Japanese version, the joke was instead, "When something happens, it's yappari Yahari" ("You know it's Yahari"). In French, it reads: "Quand Paul defès arrive, tout part à la dérive" ("When Paul Defès shows up, everything's going downhill").
Larry is good friends with Phoenix, a friendship that has lasted since they were young children. Larry's family is not mentioned throughout the games, but he has had several different girlfriends along the way (one of whom is Cindy Stone).
Name Origin
English: "Butz" was likely chosen to facilitate the aforementioned joke regarding his name. Larry is close to Harry, which would yield the name "Harry Butz" (a name he is sometimes mistaken for).
Japanese: "Yahari" in Japanese means "I knew it" or "of course," and Masashi derives from "Masashiku," meaning "with certainty." Similar to the English version, these names were probably selected specifically for the joke mentioned above.