History Characters / Persona5Joker

* CantDropTheHero: In ''Persona 5'', ''Royal'', ''Q2'', and ''Strikers'', Joker is the only character that must be in the party at all times. In the original game, [[WeCannotGoOnWithoutYou it's also game over if he gets taken out]], though this is not the case in ''Q2'' or ''Strikers''.

* WeCannotGoOnWithoutYou: It's an instant GameOver if he dies in a fight. [[spoiler:As one of the two candidates chosen to represent potential paths for humanity in the "game" between Yaldabaoth and Igor, his death would give Yaldabaoth automatic victory and free reign to dominate the world forever.]] This doesn't happen in ''Strikers'' anymore, as he can be revived via usual means, so long as there's someone ''to'' revive him.

* WeCannotGoOnWithoutYou: It's an instant GameOver if he dies in a fight. This doesn't happen in ''Strikers'' anymore, as he can be revived via usual means, so long as there's someone ''to'' revive him.

*** The ''P3'' protagonist eventually becomes a relatively well-respected student and the majority of his/her friends are from the school, while Joker has a bad reputation up until the end and only three of his Confidants outside of the party are from Shujin Academy (with two of them being teachers and one of them being introduced in ''Royal'').

* CatSmile: His in-game character model occasionally sports a smirking version of this, most easily observed when he obtains a new mask.

* CanonName: While he has no [[HelloInsertNameHere static given name]], he does have an official ''[[CanonIdentifier nom de guerre]]'' in "Joker". It's the code name that Morgana picks for him, and as with most Atlus games, in promotional material the creators enter his name as "Protagonist" even though they would address him often as "The Phantom" instead which doesn't come up often in the game itself. The manga adaptation, which began serialization shortly after the game's Japanese release, goes with "Akira Kurusu", after he just went unnamed throughout the ''Anime/Persona5TheDayBreakers'' OVA, where he's referred only by his heist codename; similarly, ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'' and ''VideoGame/{{Catherine}}'': ''[[UpdatedRerelease Full Body]]'' simply refer to him as "Joker", with no mention of any alter-ego. The odd thing here is that "Akira" is actually spelled with the kanji for "Daybreak", which might make the ''Day Breakers'' OVA a ProtagonistTitle. It's still unknown if Atlus came up with the name and named the OVA as such.
** The anime and the ''Dancing in Starlight'' have both given him the name Ren Amamiya, and ''Royal'' defaults to "Ren Amamiya" instead of whatever the player entered if the language is changed mid-game, which makes "Ren Amamiya" as close to a canon name as Joker is ever going to get.

* HeroicMime: Downplayed. Unlike previous protagonists, he actually has a number of voiced lines, even in some cutscenes, and will often drop several StockPhrases in in-game menus and battles. Likewise, most of the in-game narration is actually his InnerMonologue, instead of the second-person narration used in the previous games. However, he still never voices his DialogueTree lines, and has the fewest spoken lines of any main character in the game, for a total of about seven minutes of voiced dialogue in a 100-plus hour game. Zigzagged in the anime adaptation, where he's still quiet and at first visibly depressed, but in just two episodes, he manages to speak more than he did in the whole game. Despite that, however, he's still treated as a non-character in the anime and he only speaks short sentences in response to other characters, with some notable exceptions. Unlike Yu, he's still silent in ''VideoGame/PersonaQ2NewCinemaLabyrinth'' and in ''Strikers'', his canon name has never been confirmed and he probably will never get a defined personality in spin-offs.[[note]]The creators said they "had given Yu too much of a personality in the spin-offs" and want to reduce it for Joker to be still a player insert.[[/note]]

* RoundhouseKick: Arsène's Physical attack animation is roundhouse kicks, which brings emphasis to his literal stiletto heels.

[[caption-width-right:350:''The Leader of the Phantom Thieves'']]

->''The show's over.''
->'''Arsène:''' ''"I have heeded your resolve. Vow to me. I am thou, thou art I... Thou who art willing to perform all sacrilegious acts for thine own justice! Call upon my name, and release thy rage! Show the strength of thy will to ascertain all on thine own, though thou be chained to Hell itself!"''

*** The ''P3'' protagonist eventually becomes a relatively well-respected student and the majority of his/her friends are from the school, while Joker has a bad reputation up until the end and only two of his Confidants outside of the party are from Shujin Academy (one of whom is a teacher).

*** Yu's school life is extremely important, and the fun times he has at Yasogami High are a major part of the good times he has during his time in Inaba, as is his predecessor from ''P3'' for whom after-school clubs were integral to keeping up Social Links. Joker's school life, in contrast, is almost non-existent (albeit not to [[VideoGame/Persona2 Tatsuya's]] level), and all of his Confidants are with people around town who are similarly shunned by society. Some of the most ''unpleasant'' parts of the game take place at Shujin, [[spoiler:and he even ''stops attending school altogether'' for a month after Sae frees him from his interrogation, although that's justified due to having to fake his own death]]. However, school does remain an integral for a few stat-boosting reasons (along with one of his confidants being his homeroom teacher) and often provides hints and foreshadowing in the game.

[[Characters/Persona5Confidants Confidants]] ([[Characters/Persona5SaeNiijima Sae Niijima]]) | [[Characters/Persona5Targets Targets]] - [[Characters/Persona5PalaceRulers Palace Rulers]] / [[Characters/Persona5EndgameAntagonists Endgame Antagonists]] ([[Characters/Persona5TakutoMaruki The Dreamer]]) / [[Characters/Persona5MinorTargets Minor]] | [[Characters/Persona5OtherCharacters Other Characters]]]]-]]]

* OneNoteCook: A downplayed example; he can learn to make a mean curry and coffee from Sojiro, but he's not going to be cooking the same variety of dishes as his immediate predecessor. ''Strikers'' later averts this with the "Joker's Kitchen" feature where he can cook more than just curry and coffee.

* OneNoteCook: A downplayed example; he can learn to make a mean curry and coffee from Sojiro, but he's not going to be cooking the same variety of dishes as his immediate predecessor.

* SupremeChef:
** Joker gets upgraded to full-blown TeamChef status by ''Strikers''; while investigating the Jails spread across the prefectures of Japan, Joker learns how to further perfect his cooking craft and make more than just curry & coffee. The dishes he makes include Miso Ramen, Okinawa Soba, and Gyutan Stew. Joker is able to replicate these recipes and get inspiration for his own take on them just by tasting them.
** Much later on Futaba will concede that she considers that original curry Joker creates during their brief stay in Kyoto to be superior to Sojiro's. [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration The healing effects of Joker's curry are even better than Sojiro's original recipe.]]

[[Characters/Persona5Confidants Confidants]] ([[Sandbox/Persona5SaeNiijima Sae Niijima]]) | [[Characters/Persona5Targets Targets]] - [[Characters/Persona5PalaceRulers Palace Rulers]] / [[Characters/Persona5EndgameAntagonists Endgame Antagonists]] ([[Characters/Persona5TakutoMaruki The Dreamer]]) / [[Characters/Persona5MinorTargets Minor]] | [[Characters/Persona5OtherCharacters Other Characters]]]]-]]]

!!The Protagonist / Joker / [[CanonName Ren Amamiya]] / [[ComicBookAdaptation Akira Kurusu]] / [[ScreenToStageAdaptation Various]][[note]]Mao Tomokawa (12/13), Hinato Ashida (12/14), Izumi Urata (12/14), Sumito Futami (12/15), Shousuke Tsuji (12/15), Kousuke Kiryuu (12/19), Ritsu Minatogawa (12/19), Rui Asou (12/20), Tsukasa Kujou (12/21), Takio Sumida (12/21), Shinya Konno (12/22), Tohru Matsuda (12/22), Akinari Doumiya (12/23), Rei Udagawa (12/25), Yuuki Kiryu (12/25), Kouichi Miyama (12/26), Koyomi Igarashi (12/27), Ranma Toujou (12/28), Satoru Kurachi (12/28), Jou Yakumo (12/29), Itsuki Onda (12/29) [[/note]]

[[Characters/Persona5Confidants Confidants]] | [[Characters/Persona5Targets Targets]] - [[Characters/Persona5PalaceRulers Palace Rulers]] / [[Characters/Persona5EndgameAntagonists Endgame Antagonists]] ([[Characters/Persona5TakutoMaruki The Dreamer]]) / [[Characters/Persona5MinorTargets Minor]] | [[Characters/Persona5OtherCharacters Other Characters]]]]-]]]

[[folder:Tropes A-C]]

[[folder:Tropes D-H]]

[[folder:Tropes I-O]]

[[folder:Tropes P-Z]]

[[Characters/Persona5Confidants Confidants]] | [[Characters/Persona5Targets Targets]] - [[Characters/Persona5PalaceRulers Palace Rulers]] ([[Characters/Persona5SuguruKamoshida Asmodeus]]) / [[Characters/Persona5EndgameAntagonists Endgame Antagonists]] ([[Characters/Persona5MasayoshiShido Samael]] | [[Characters/Persona5Yaldabaoth The Treasure of Mementos]] | [[Characters/Persona5TakutoMaruki The Dreamer]]) / [[Characters/Persona5MinorTargets Minor]] | [[Characters/Persona5OtherCharacters Other Characters]]]]-]]]

[[Characters/Persona5ThePhantomThievesOfHearts The Phantom Thieves of Hearts]]\\
'''Joker''' | [[Characters/Persona5RyujiSakamoto Ryuji Sakamoto]] | [[Characters/Persona5Morgana Morgana]] | [[Characters/Persona5AnnTakamaki Ann Takamaki]] | [[Characters/Persona5YusukeKitagawa Yusuke Kitagawa]] | [[Characters/Persona5MakotoNiijima Makoto Niijima]] | [[Characters/Persona5FutabaSakura Futaba Sakura]] | [[Characters/Persona5HaruOkumura Haru Okumura]] | [[Characters/Persona5GoroAkechi Goro Akechi]] | [[Characters/Persona5SumireYoshizawa Kasumi Yoshizawa]]\\

* BigBrotherMentor: To Shinya Oda from the Tower Confidant. Shinya himself notes halfway through the confidant that he sees Joker as an older brother. Amusingly, the Confidant starts with Shinya acting as a sort of mentor to Joker on how to handle gun fights. This dynamic reverses when Shinya's personal problems come to light, with Joker being there for him to listen and/or offer advice, guiding him through his problems. Unlike all of the other Confidants, [[spoiler:who manage to figure out Joker's identity as a Phantom Thief, Joker actually explicitly tells Oda by the end of his Confidant, [[SoProudOfYou particularly because of how much Oda had grown]].]]

[[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant No relation to]] [[Characters/BatmanTheJoker the Clown Prince of Crime]] or the [[VideoGame/Persona2 characters featured in the]] ''VideoGame/Persona2'' [[VideoGame/Persona2 duology]].

* AdaptationalBadass: In the anime, [[spoiler:Ren takes on Akechi with no help from the rest of the Thieves and ''won''. He also beats Shido's final two stages alone with no damage.]]

** In the anime adaptation, Ryuji occasionally calls him "Renren". His reaction to it makes it cross over into EmbarrassingNickname.

** Especially prominent in ''Royal'', as he shares especially special strong bonds with the new characters along with his rival Akechi, [[spoiler: whom, despite the terrible things he's done, Joker still sees as another victim of society that he wishes he could save. He's really the only one Akechi gets along with while Joker does everything to save Maruki from himself.]]

* AllYourPowersCombined: Like previous protagonists following ''VideoGame/Persona3'', Joker has access to the "Wild Card" ability, which allows him to control hundreds of different Personas and increase their power through the bonds he forms with his friends and accomplices.

* AttractiveBentGender: Ignoring all the Rule63 fanart there is, [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/megamitensei/images/7/7b/Persona_5_Mementos_Mission_Promo_art_act_13.png/revision/latest?cb=20200719084720 a piece of official art]] for the ''Mementos Mission'' manga depicting him as a genderbent police officer makes him look [[FairCop startlingly attractive]], he also spent around 1-2 chapters in said outfit in the Memento's Mission manga where he is disguised as a female police officer helping Akechi to interrogate a victim. One of the DLC clothing you can obtain for the male characters in ''VideoGame/Persona5DancingInStarlight'' has Joker cross-dressing as a female police officer.

** In ''Strikers'' he ends his All-out Attack with a finger snap.

** At his choice, he can display this dynamic with Morgana, Ryuji, Yusuke, Akechi or any combination of the four. [[spoiler:Subverted with Akechi with [[TheReveal the reveal]] that he's [[SixthRangerTraitor the traitor]] all along. Reconstructed when he [[WelcomeBackTraitor rejoins the team]] during the third semester, especially since he is the only male party member Joker can pull off a [[CombinationAttack Showtime]] with. Even better when it was improvised rather than prepared and/or planned.]]
** In [[VideoGame/PersonaQ2NewCinemaLabyrinth Persona Q2]], he shares this dynamic with both of his predecessors the P4 Protagonist and the P3 Male Protagonist with their [[CombinationAttack Unison Skills.]]
* BattleCouple: At his choice, he can become one with Ann, Makoto, Haru, Kasumi[[spoiler: /Sumire]] or any combination of the four. Futaba doesn't count since her dynamic with Joker strictly falls under CombatAndSupport.

** His canon battle cry is "It's Showtime!", according to various sources (when he initiates an All-Out Attack that wins the battle, his quote is "The Show's Over", referring back to it), but he doesn't say it much in the actual game itself. ''Strikers'' implements this as his PreAsskickingOneLiner when performing a Showtime Attack.

** During Sae's interrogation, he repeatedly refuses to give information on his fellow Phantom Thieves, even though Sae's deduced the identities of all the human Phantom Thieves. Near the start of the interrogation, all three of his responses to Sae talking about mental shutdowns are either evasive or claiming that he hadn't even heard of them before (though this could be justified by the effect that the TruthSerum is having on him.

** "I don't care" when asked by P3 Hero to continue being their leader, [[Characters/Persona3YukariTakeba Yukari]] is surprised by how spot-on the impression is while P3 Hero dejectedly wonders if he actually does say it so often.

* BreakingTheBonds: After spending the game being imprisoned in the Vevlet Room in the past or in Sae's interrogation room, [[spoiler:Joker finishes off the final boss by breaking the chains holding back Arsène's true power.]]

** In February 2015, Atlus put out a CutAndPasteNote newspaper ad where Joker declared he would crash an upcoming ''Persona'' concert. Sure enough, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxLpadvQOPE near the end of the event,]] the lights were "shot out", and he proceeded to [[StealthPun steal the show]] with ''P5''[='=]s first gameplay trailer.

* CanonName: While he has no [[HelloInsertNameHere static given name]], he does have an official ''[[CanonIdentifier nom de guerre]]'' in "Joker". It's the code name that Morgana picks for him, and as with most Atlus games, in promotional material the creators enter his name as "Protagonist" even though they would address him often as "The Phantom" instead which doesn't come up often in the game itself. The manga adaptation, which began serialization shortly after the game's Japanese release, goes with "Akira Kurusu", after he just went unnamed throughout the ''Anime/Persona5TheDayBreakers'' OVA, where he's referred only by his heist codename; similarly, ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'' and ''VideoGame/{{Catherine}}'': ''[[UpdatedRerelease Full Body]]'' simply refer to him as "Joker", with no mention of any alter-ego. The odd thing here is that "Akira" is actually spelled with the kanji for "Daybreak". [[ProtagonistTitle Huh]]. Though it's still unknown if Atlus came up with the name and named the OVA as such.

** Joker's cameo stage in ''VideoGame/{{Catherine}} Full Body'' also lampshades the fact that he can be played as a womanizer.

** ''Strikers'' refrains from giving him a canon love interest, but it does highlight his status further with one optional interaction he can get with his female teammates in Osaka. If Joker chooses to go with the girls to Tenboto instead of Ryuji and Yusuke, Sophia asks him about who he would be most likely to date between all 4 of them. Even with Joker's responses being very non-committal and even outright denying he's interested in anyone, the girls all pressure him into choosing all while Morgana and Sophia awkwardly witness everything from the sidelines.

* CluelessChickMagnet: The manga has him unknowingly charming girls.

* CombatPragmatist: Fighting fairly is usually discouraged in SMT-related combat, but Joker makes it a point to dupe opponents with flair. From flashbangs, to ambushes, to using the environment, to calling in backup to stun opponents, he'll use just about any trick he can come up with to tip the battle in his favor as long as it can be done stylishly.

* DeconReconSwitch: Joker is both a {{Deconstruction}} and {{Reconstruction}} to the MagneticHero, but this is more prevalent in ''Royal'' with the Third Semester than it is in the vanilla game scenario. Throughout the game, Joker can start a transactional like relationship that turns into a strong bond that inspires loyalty and friendship from the other, especially with the playable thieves. However, [[spoiler:because Maruki makes it so that none of the issues that caused the thieves own troubles happened in his actualized reality, Joker is left a footnote to the thieves newly idealized lives since the events that catalyze the start of their meeting and friendships were erased until the thieves snap out of Maruki's actualization. If Joker accepts Maruki's reality or missed the deadline for the third semester Palace, Joker's "erasure" from the lives of his confidants and fellow Phantom Thieves can potentially be ''permanent'']]. The {{Reconstruction}} comes by reaching the good ending, where, [[spoiler:the thieves thankfully were able to snap out of Maruki's actualization, but they were left guilty for a good portion of time for nearly falling to Maruki's reality and forgetting what their friendship with Joker has taught them, and how important meeting Joker had been to their lives. This incident becomes the catalyst to their third awakenings in ''Royal'' and after reality is restored, they rallied Joker's other confidants to free Joker from prison and clear his name]].

* {{Determinator}}: Massively so. Whether it be an [[spoiler:unfair and unjust probation, two supernatural twins beating down on him, or the living embodiment of man's desire for social order erasing him from existence, he doesn't quit.]]

* DidTheyOrDidntThey: Like the last two games, romancing a female party member or Confidant and then reaching the 10th rank of their Confidant link will heavily imply that Joker and his lady companion of choice were physically intimate, but this time, the game lays the suggestion [[EverybodyHasLotsOfSex every single time he brings a girlfriend to his room]].

** In ''VideoGame/{{Catherine}} Full Body'', he is a DLC character for the Babel and Coliseum modes, and the other Phantom Thieves provide running commentary.

** Arsène is unique as he's the only Persona who isn't visibly frightened when being fused or turned into a item, which in this game, involves [[OffWithHisHead getting his head chopped off]], getting hanged, or facing the [[HighVoltageDeath electric chair]]. In fact, if and when he gets chosen to fuse, he tells Joker "WeWillMeetAgain" when the time comes, [[spoiler: which he keeps his promise in [[OnceMoreWithClarity the reprise of the opening scene]]]].

** Joker is DLC for ''VideoGame/{{Catherine}}: Full Body'', which has him replace Vincent with the other Phantom Thieves, except Akechi, providing running commentary.

* ATasteOfPower: In the prologue, Arsène starts out with both Eigaon and Brave Blade - two massively powered skills that primarily show up in the mid to endgame, and are attacks he does not naturally learn. With careful planning, it is entirely possible to recreate this version of him.

* CrutchCharacter: Arsène will likely be the Persona you rely on for a good part of the first dungeon, in part due to his decent stats at the time and him being the first Persona Joker gets. However, he stops learning new skills very early on and his stat growth drops like a rock, ensuring you'll eventually get rid of him for stronger Personas.

** If Arsène is not one of Joker's Persona during the Casino heist, he will appear before and after the battle with Moloch. Arsène warns Joker that his destiny is approaching, and promises to meet Joker again if he survives it.

** If he has no relationship during the Cultural Festival, Haru acts as the game's default choice to have both get to know each other, although Ryuji can tag instead if his Confidant (much like Joker's potential girlfriends) has been maxed out.[[note]]Unlike the above example, choosing Makoto here now requires that Joker date her, and the dialogue between the two reflects said choice.[[/note]]

** In ''Royal'', if you decide to take up and register for the DVD shop's membership, Morgana notes that Joker's hands are trembling as he grabs the pen to sign his name for the DVD membership, hinting that the false arrest affected Joker more than he lets on. It's also noted that Joker doesn't eat much at certain points of the story [[labelnote:Explanation]]Notable occassions where this is mentioned is on May 5 in-game where Morgana notes that Joker doesn't eat much, the platonic variant of Kawakami's Rank 10 confidant event where she tells Joker to take his meals seriously, and on February 13 if you chose the good ending[[/labelnote]], suggesting that Joker has eating disorders from the stress of the false arrest and everything that happened in the story.

** In ''Royal'', if you decide to take up and register for the DVD shop's membership, Morgana notes that Joker's hands are trembling as he grabs the pen to sign his name for the DVD membership, hinting that the false arrest affected Joker more than he lets on. It's also noted that Joker doesn't eat much at certain points of the story (Such as on May 5 where Morgana notes that Joker doesn't eat much and the non-romance variant of Kawakami's Rank 10 confidant event where she tells Joker to take his meals seriously), suggesting that Joker has eating disorders from the stress of the false arrest.

** In ''Royal'', if you decide to take up and register for the DVD shop's membership, Morgana notes that Joker's hands are trembling as he grabs the pen to sign his name for the DVD membership, hinting that the false arrest affected Joker more than he lets on. It's also noted that Joker doesn't eat much at certain points of the story, suggesting that Joker has eating disorders from the stress of the false arrest.

[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/protag.png]]

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1abtxxr.png[[/labelnote]]]]

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/arsene_p5.png[softreturn]The Pillager of Twilight[[/labelnote]]]]

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/p5r_raoul.png[softreturn]The Great Thief[[/labelnote]]]]

[[caption-width-right:349:[[labelnote:Click here to see Joker]]\\

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/arsene_p5.png The Pillager of Twilight[[/labelnote]]]]

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/satanael.png Satanael, The Rebel Archangel[[/labelnote]]]]

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/p5r_raoul.png The Great Thief[[/labelnote]]]]

** Lampshaded during Chihaya's Confidant, where she straight up asks him if he is into older women, with one of his responses -- which opens up the option to start her romance - being an enthusiastic, "Hell yeah I am."