History Characters / Persona5Joker

** 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."
* LivingEmotionalCrutch:

* TookALevelInCheerfulness: In ''Strikers'', Joker is shown to have more chances to goof off and smiles more, his portrait art in ''Strikers'' isn't the neutral frown that he used in the original game and ''Royal'' and has him giving a small smile. One cutscene of the thieves trip in Okinawa has him openly holding in his laughter at Zenkichi and in the Sapporo Jail, you have the option to have him [[NotSoAboveItAll start chanting "Hee-ho!"]] after seeing the parade of Jack Frosts. This is because unlike the original game and ''Royal'', [[spoiler:Joker is free from much of the stigma placed on him with his criminal record being uplifted and cleared, giving him some freedom to express himself. It also helps that early in the game, one choice dialogue when Ryuji asked about how he is doing has Joker say that he is back on good terms with his family and several people he knew back in his hometown in ''Strikers''.]]

* TookALevelInCheerfulness: In ''Strikers'', Joker is shown to have more chances to goof off and smiles more, his portrait art in ''Strikers'' isn't the neutral frown that he used in the original game and ''Royal'' and has him giving a small smile. One cutscene of the thieves trip in Okinawa has him openly holding in his laughter at Zenkichi and in the Sapporo Jail, you have the option to have him [[NotSoAboveItAll start chanting "Hee-ho!"]] after seeing the parade of Jack Frosts. This is because unlike the original game and ''Royal'', [[spoiler:Joker is free from much of the stigma placed on him with his criminal record being uplifted and cleared, giving him some freedom to express himself.]]

** Starting from ''Q2'', Arsene has three signature moves: ''Dream Needle'' (a light physical/gun attack with a chance of putting an enemy to sleep), ''Return from Yomi'' (which has a chance to recover HP when if low on health), and ''Rebel Vanguard'' (Arsène's own version of the ''Revolution'' buff). ''VideoGame/Persona3Reload'' also adds Dark Driver (strengthens Curse skills by 75%) as his passive unique skill.

** Starting from ''Q2'', Arsene has three signature moves: ''Dream Needle'' (a light physical/gun attack with a chance of putting an enemy to sleep), ''Return from Yomi'' (which has a chance to recover HP when if low on health), and ''Rebel Vanguard'' (Arsène's own version of the ''Revolution'' buff).

** [[spoiler:Satanael]] had the same signature moves as Arsène in ''Q2'' but he has three more in the original game and ''Royal'': [[spoiler:''Sinful Shell'' (a storyline FinishingMove), ''Tyrant's Mind'' (Satanael's own version of Messiah's ''Magic Skill Up'' except Physical and Gun attacks are also included, though it's only exclusive to ''Royal''), and ''Black Viper'' (colossal almighty damage to one target).]]

* TheThreeFacesOfAdam: The Hunter to [[VideoGame/Persona4 Yu Narukami's]] Lord and [[VideoGame/Persona3 P3 Protagonist's]] Prophet.

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

* 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'' (With the exception of Akechi and Sumire). 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.]].

* DeconstructedCharacterArchetype: He's a {{Deconstruction}} to the MagneticHero, but this is more prevalent in ''Royal'' with the Third Semester. 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 troubling the other thieves 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''. While they fortunately were able to snap out of it, the thieves 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]].

->''"Checkmate."''

* 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.]]

* 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 two final stages alone with no damage.]]

* BrilliantButLazy: As long as the player is maxing stats, he's absolutely this. Rarely does he ever pay attention to lectures, and almost every single time he's shown in class, he's either staring out the window or on his phone. Nevertheless, he's still considered one of the more intelligent members of the Phantom Thieves, and regularly makes anywhere from above-average to top-of-the-class grades. It becomes even more pronounced on a NG+, where he does little to no studying outside of school, unless Makoto is nagging the team to prepare for exams.

** Finally {{subverted}} in the Good Ending. [[spoiler:Getting Masayoshi Shido convicted means he has to admit he violated his probation as part of his testimony against him, and he's consequently arrested and sent to juvenile hall the day after Christmas. However, the woman who falsely accused him of assault later recants her statement, his record is wiped, and he's able to walk out of juvenile after serving only two months. And in ''Royal'', he only experiences two ''weeks'' of that period due to the events of the Third Semester.]]

* OpaqueLenses: Tying into the meek personality he adopts in public, the lenses on his glasses sometimes seem to block out his eyes entirely. According to Ryuji in ''Royal'', the glasses are fake; Joker doesn't actually need them for vision correction purposes. [[{{Averted}} It's no longer the case]] in ''Strikers'', where he no longer needs to hide behind a facade in public. Even with his glasses on, his eyes are always visible.

** 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 grabbed 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.
** Persona Q2 has optional dialogue where he suggests that he crossdress and be the bait, and another where Joker expresses an interest in Elizabeth's cinema-themed dress, hinting that Joker enjoys cross-dressing to an extent.

** The official comic anthologies hint that Joker has a good spice tolerance that he potentially developed from making Leblanc Curry often enough throughout the year.

** 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 grabbed the pen to sign his name for the DVD membership, hinting that the false arrest affected Joker more than he lets on.

** Much like ''3'''s Makoto and Yu before him, spinoffs like the anime, ''Strikers'' and ''Dancing in Starlight'' depict him as single (or at least not in a relationship with any of the four female pary members). He's still given a fair amount of ShipTease with his female teammates, but nothing beyond that. For example, in ''Strikers'' he gets the choice to spend time in Sapporo with any of the girls one-on-one in a Ferris wheel ride, while another event in Osaka allows him to accompany all of them for a quick social event, which does end with the girls pressuring him into answering which one of them he'd rather date, although his answer is not definitive.

** Joker is a decent artist. Some of the doodles that show up in the game's calendar at certain days are drawn by him and you have an optional event to draw on the class' board with chalk, with students praising that Joker's skilled if you do so.

* TheCutie: The first male Persona protagonist to hold this trope (preceded by [[VideoGame/Persona2 Maya]]) since his dorky personality makes him both adorable and endearing.

* SecretRelationship: All of his possible relationships are kept secret for varying reasons, such as the stigma associated with a teacher-student relationship (Sadayo), the stigma associated with relationships to minors (Chihaya, Takemi, Ohya, as well as Sadayo), the girl in question having an ArrangedMarriage (Haru), because he lives with his girlfriend's PapaWolf (Futaba), or simple preference (Ann, Makoto, and Hifumi). None of the other Phantom Thieves are even made aware if Joker has begun dating one/some/all of their female members, with the girl(s) in question opting to display her affections for him in private (e.g. Ann and/or Makoto inviting him for an afternoon stroll on the Hawaiian beach once "nobody else is looking").

* BorrowedCatchphrase: "I don't care" when asked by P3 Hero to continue being their leader, [[Characters/Persona3SEES Yukari]] is surprised by how spot-on the impression is while P3 Hero dejectedly wonders if he actually does say it so often.

** Lampshaded in ''Dancing in Starlight'', where Ryuji points out that Joker is never fazed by anything. Ann wonders if Joker has always been like that. Joker can respond that he's always been like that.

** When attacking a Shadow's weakness, Joker will frequently order his persona to "Ravage them!". When using one of the DLC Personas, he will instead use the battle cry of the Persona's past user, such as shouting "[[JustForPun It's Sho-Time!]]" when using [[VideoGame/Persona4ArenaUltimax Tsukiyomi]].

* NotSoStoic: In the manga, he's often rather agitated when inside the Velvet Room, hearing Igor and the twins talking about cryptic but ominous matters relating to the "ruin" he faces.

* TheSocialExpert: A low-key example. While his "school life" is practically non-existent, Joker has the best people skills in the party, and he also maintains a small but effective network of characters who owe him favors in some fashion, including a doctor who keeps him supplied with barely-legal drugs, an alcoholic ex-political reporter who personally delivers him contact info and writes puff pieces about the Thieves, a washed-up politician who teaches him oration, and even the owner of a {{Yakuza}}-affiliated "airsoft shop" who supplies the Phantom Thieves with most of their equipment.

* TheStoic: He's quite unflappable, though this is just how he acts in public as to not draw attention to himself. He becomes NotSoStoic around his teammates and confidants.

* MagicalGirl: A GenderFlipped version, with Joker falling into many of the tropes of the archetype, like having a supernatural [[TalkingAnimal Talking]] MentorMascot cat who lives with him, doing a GorgeousGarmentGeneration into his phantom thief outfit in the Metaverse, gaining an increasing number of TrueCompanions over the story, fighting against an evil conspiracy with SupernaturalAid of their own, and so on.

* AsskickingLeadsToLeadership: His Wild Card ability easily allows him to handle all manner of encounters, granting him a huge advantage in battle compared to his team's specializations.