Characters / Persona 3: Social Links and NPCs

Persona 3 Main Character Index
Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight | Persona 3 Reload
S.E.E.S. (Starting Members [The Protagonists | Yukari Takeba] | Later Members) | Social Links and NPCs | Antagonists

This page is for tropes relating to the Social Links and other NPCs of Persona 3, as well as their appearances in Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth. For tropes relating to these characters in the Arena spinoffs, see Persona 4: Arena.

Due to wiki policy, this page contains numerous unmarked spoilers. You Have Been Warned.

The Velvet Room

Elizabeth and Theodore

Elizabeth and Theodore

Igor's assistants. Elizabeth appears in the original game, FES, and P3P. Meanwhile, P3P's female player character has her choice of either Elizabeth or Theodore. Both serve the same role: they send the main characters on different sidequests and, in FES, Portable, and Reload (Elizabeth only for FES and Reload), visit the human world with the main character, eventually becoming romantically involved with him or her. Theodore is Elizabeth's younger brother, and both are the younger siblings of Persona 4's Margaret and the elder siblings of Persona 5's Caroline and Justine^note (and by extension, Lavenza).

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Tropes that apply to both

• Almighty Janitor: As shown by their Superboss battles. Probably the strongest elevator attendants you'll ever get to face. They can break the damage cap for Pete's sake!
• Apologetic Attacker:
  • Theodore apologizes every time he uses an attack.
  • Elizabeth also apologizes when she attacks occasionally, but not nearly as often when you fight her.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Overlaps with Fish out of Water, as both of them display some very bizarre ideas about modern life during their dates. The main characters mostly don't seem to have the heart to correct their cheerful misconceptions.
• Damage-Sponge Boss: The only enemies aside from the Final Boss that can survive a hit from Armageddon, having 20,000 HP, and even then the latter boss only survives it because it has multiple life bars.
• Death Dealer: Their pierce attack is shown as them throwing Arcana Tarot cards like a dagger at the protagonist, and their slash attack has them swiping their Tarot cards in front of them. Elizabeth's Boss Banter in Reload has some card-based wordplay when she uses her Personas:
  Elizabeth: Draw, Persona card!
  Elizabeth: Shuffling the deck!
• Divergent Character Evolution: In all versions of the base game, Elizabeth and Theodore are both very similar, with only minute differences in dialogue and personality. Come the Arena, Dancing, and Q spinoffs, they have evolved into completely unique and distinct characters from one another. Elizabeth is depicted as much more of a Troll and The Gadfly, with her Large Ham tendencies dialed up, whereas Theodore by contrast is a very polite male version of The Ingenue, who is extremely soft-spoken and innocent.
• Fish out of Water: Elizabeth and Theo during your dates clearly have no idea what's going on in the human world.
• Humans Through Alien Eyes: Theo and Elizabeth have some very odd ideas about how the human world works.
• I Will Find You: A variation on this, after the events of 3. In 4, Margaret reveals that Elizabeth has left the Velvet Room in an attempt to find and save the main character from his fate as the Seal.
  • It is likely similar for Theo, who, after his final date, promises to overcome any obstacle for the sake of the female protagonist, should she ever find herself in trouble.
• Married to the Job: They fear that spending too much time with the protagonist will cause them to perform poorly at their job as a Velvet Room attendant, prompting them to break things off.
• Master of All: They both have the strongest attacks of every element and the best status effect inflicting moves, along with the ability to instantly kill the player instantly using Megidolaon.
• No-Sell: In their boss fights, they null different elements with different Personas. Special mention goes to Masakado, Pixie (for Elizabeth), Metatron and Beelzebub (for Theodore), which are immune to everything but Almighty (which they resist in their original boss fights, no matter what Persona they use). Additionally, like the Final Boss neither of them can be knocked down with critical hits.
• Only One Name: They are only known by their first names. However, given that they are not actually human it is very likely that they may not have a surname at all.
• Puzzle Boss: As a superboss, it's very easy to earn yourself a game over by eating a 9999 damage attack out of the blue for no clear reason or watch helplessly as they use a full heal ability with no way to stop them. However, this only occurs when you break their rules: You can't use Armageddon unless it ends the fight, you can't completely nullify the element of the attack they use, you can't let the fight go over more than a certain number of turns and once they go below a certain amount of health they will instantly use Diarahan to restore their HP to full. Once you figure out these unwritten rules, the boss fight is actually not particularly difficult because it's tuned to be a Duel Boss: Always resist their attack but don't nullify, absorb or reflect it and track their HP until you've dealt just over 10k damage, at which point you can use Armageddon to end the fight. If you don't, they will eventually heal to full again as this is also around the point they are scripted to heal themselves.
• Sherlock Scan: They both have an implied one in Persona Q2 when they see Caroline and Justine for the first time. The implication, of course, being that they've realized the twins are a divided Lavenza just by seeing them.
• Ship Tease: Elizabeth and Theodore get extensive amounts of teasing with the protagonist over the course of their dates. In Persona 4: Arena, Elizabeth goes so far as to leave the Velvet Room in hopes of finding a way to revive the protagonist and relieve them of their duty as the Great Seal, having clearly fallen in love with him.
• Sibling Team: The hardest boss battle of Persona Q involves you facing both of them and Margaret. Similarly, in Q2, you face the three of them along with Caroline and Justine.
• Superboss: They can only be faced very late in the game and are significantly more powerful than the actual final boss. In the original release and FES, Elizabeth can only be fought during a New Game Plus run, while Portable and Reload make it possible to fight them on a fresh playthrough, with Theodore being limited to the female protagonist route. Taking into account their greater resilience, they take WAY more damage before going down, in addition to having the strongest attacks in the game. They also serve as this alongside Margaret, Caroline, and Justine in the Persona Q spin-off games.
• Supernatural Gold Eyes: Theodore and Elizabeth have gold eyes, to signify that they are something similar to shadows, though both being residents of the Velvet Room, they are benevolent and helpful.
• What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?: To their growing confusion, they find themselves increasingly interested in the protagonist until, assuming you've attended all their dates, you 'spend some time alone' in your room together. Love seems to be an emotion that they're not really supposed to be feeling, because after that, they both stop responding with anything more than professionalism to keep from getting distracted from their critical roles.

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Tropes that apply exclusively to Elizabeth

"Welcome to the Velvet Room."

Voiced by: Miyuki Sawashiro (Japanese), Tara Platt (English)
Live actress: Riyu Kosaka

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• Always a Bigger Fish: Elizabeth summons Zeus as a Persona in Persona Q, only to end up possessed and made into his vessel for a battle against all the Persona users.
• The Antagonist: Elizabeth is the closest thing Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight has to one. The Excuse Plot revolves around her getting into an argument with Caroline and Justine about whose guest can dance better, and since the game takes place from the Phantom Thieves' perspective, your goal is to prove her wrong.
• Balance Buff: While Reload eases up on some of Elizabeth's conditions, most of her Personas have some new skills to compensate for them, giving her access to severe damage single-target elemental spells, physical attacks, and buff/debuff skills:
  • In the original games, she would only cast Maragidyne and a random physical attack when using Surt. During her Surt phase in Reload, she can use either Inferno, Brave Blade, Tarukaja, or a normal Slash attack.
  • During her Jack Frost phase in the original, she would only use Mabufudyne and a random physical attack. Reload's Jack Frost phase can have her use either Diamond Dust, Concentrate, Rakukaja, or Rakunda.
  • During her Thor phase in the original, she would only cast Maziodyne or a random physical attack. Her Thor in Reload can use Thunder Reign, God's Hand, or Tarunda. If the player is shocked by Thunder Reign and subsequently knocked down by God's Hand, Elizabeth will get a One More and follow it up with either a normal strike or pierce attack.
  • Her Cu Chulainn gets access to Panta Rhei, Charge, Primal Force, and Sukukaja in Reload, as opposed to her only using either Magarudyne or a random physical attack in the original games.
  • Her Metatron can randomly use Divine Judgment, Kougaon, Sukukaja, or Sukunda, which will either instantly halve the player's HP, deal heavy Light damage, increase her accuracy/evasion or decrease the player's accuracy/evasion for three turns. Previous releases had her Metatron only know the Mahamaon instant kill skill.
  • Her Alice now has Eigaon and Die For Me! as opposed to just Mamudoon in the original releases, providing her a damage dealing Dark skill and greater instant kill option.
  • Unlike the original game's Nebiros, which uses a random physical attack and a random status ailment, she'll always cast Rakunda followed by a random status ailment skill in Reload.
  • Unlike the original game, any counter passive skills will trigger her 9999 damage Megidolaon.
• Big Eater: Elizabeth, who wonders why you stop eating after your seventh meal. She also hoards hot dogs in Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth and devours enough of them to feed the whole party. Although he doesn't exhibit the same eating capacity, Theodore takes a similar liking to hot dogs and has his own stash.
• Big Sister Bully: Elizabeth is almost constantly messing with Theodore whenever they interact. Even her younger sisters are afraid of her.
• Big Sister Instinct: That being said, while Elizabeth isn't above still trolling the twins, there's some capacity for care for them. During the Velvet Sibling battle, when Elizabeth is down to her last fraction of health, should the twins have gone down before her, she will forgo any other actions in order to cast Recarm to bring them both back into the battle.
• Bullying a Dragon: It's clear Elizabeth outright fears Margaret that she doesn't want to piss her off, even if her big sister does wrong on her. In turn, Elizabeth makes Theodore pay instead.
• Casts No Shadow: In the fourth movie, Elizabeth casts no shadow or reflection on the Paulownia Mall fountain. This is likely due to her being a being from the Collective Unconsciousness.
• Conspicuous Consumption: Elizabeth seems to have a near-infinite supply of yen, which she spends 1 million of dumping it into a fountain. Then she notices two more...
• Discount Lesbians: Elizabeth is effectively a humanoid spirit and she displays as much interest in the Female Protagonist as she does in the Male Protagonist. Notably, just like in the case with the Male Protagonist, her final encounter with the Female Protagonist is strongly implied to end with them having sex.
• The Gadfly: While Elizabeth doesn't understand much of human culture, she knows a bit more than she lets on, and sometimes acts inappropriately just to get a rise out of people.
• Hospital Hottie: Elizabeth tries to invoke the image while acting as the nurse in Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth.
• Improbable Weapon User: Like her older sister, Elizabeth wields the Persona Compendium as a weapon.
• Innocent Innuendo: In Dancing in Moonlight, she explains that the rooms she prepared for S.E.E.S., although they appear adjacent, are actually entirely separate pocket dimensions that are completely soundproof. She then assures them that they can bang as much as they want in there, flustering Yukari who insists they wouldn't do any of that. Elizabeth is baffled, wondering if they can practice their dance moves without making any noise.
• Large Ham: Elizabeth tends to speak in a rather hammy fashion whenever she's outside the Velvet Room or whenever she is fighting.
• Laxative Prank: Elizabeth pulls one on Akihiko in Persona Q — her Troll-like nature in that game leaves it unclear how accidental it is.
• Nerf: Reload eases up on Elizabeth's conditions a bit, compared to her original superboss fight:
  • In the original releases, she'll pull out her 9999 damage Megidolaon whenever the player equips a Persona that breaks the rules. In Reload, she'll use it when the attack itself hits the player and it breaks the rules, meaning the player can safely bring in a Persona that nulls or repels her attacks, as long as the Persona they use doesn't proc Megidolaon with her next attack.
  • She loses her resistance to Almighty attacks in Reload.
  • Since Reload re-introduces the damage dealing Eiga skills, her Alice will attempt to use Die For Me! and Eigaon in succession. If the player has a skill or equipment that specifically blocks the former (eg. Shoes of Bane footwear, which nulls a Dark instakill move) this doesn't break Elizabeth's rules, meaning she won't pull out the 9999 damage Megidolaon and gives the player a little breathing room.
  • Elizabeth's Masakado Concentrated Megidolaon deals a normal amount of damage, and the 9999 damage versions are specifically telegraphed for during her second phase, if one of the rules is broken, or when she starts trying to end the fight quickly.
• Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant: While most of what Elizabeth says or does is charming, some of her reactions to certain things can be rather, interesting. Take her response to the medical dummy you bring her from school, which she calls the Shell of Man. She seems morbidly fascinated and intrigued when the eyes pop out. A funnier variant also exists; bring Elizabeth "Machine Oil" (which she confuses for cooking oil) and she comments that she really, really wants to try eating a machine some day.
• Out-of-Character Moment:
  • A minor one, but it is a surprise to see the always composed Elizabeth stutter as she remembers what you two did when you "showed her your room".
  • In Persona Q2 when she sees Justine and Caroline, and promptly tells Theodore they shouldn't meddle more than is necessary, shutting him down when he starts to protest, all in a tone more reminiscent of Margaret than Elizabeth.
  • In Reload, if the player has both romanced a social link and accepts her advances during her final date request, when the player talks to them outside the Velvet Room, Elizabeth will first start congratulating the player on forming a loving bond, before noting with a hint of sadness that she herself will likely never experience the same thing as the protagonist.
• Promoted to Love Interest: While the Elizabeth dates in FES, Portable, and Reload aren't an official social link that ends with you in a relationship with her, they are explicitly romantic. Later games and side materials in the series makes those feelings canon. Reload gives the player the option to turn down Elizabeth, where she simply frowns for a moment before saying she understands. She also is saddened over the fact that she will likely never experience the same thing as the protagonist if they end up in a romantic relationship with a social link.
• Stalker without a Crush: Prior to the events of Dancing in Moonlight, she spent several days committing every aspect of S.E.E.S.'s rooms to memory, from the types of books Junpei likes to Mitsuru's favorite underwear. Yukari is understandably freaked out by this, but Elizabeth insists her lips are sealed... until she spills all the above.
• Sucks at Dancing: Zig-zagged throughout the series, where her enthusiasm for dancing and skill at it tend to vary on the version.
  • In the FES version of the dates with Elizabeth, when she dances in front of Club Escapade, as it is closed at the time. She does some rather limited and stiff-looking dance moves that has the protagonist sweating and possibly looking embarrassed to see her dance, though it's unclear if it's because she's dancing out in public, he's reacting to her stiff moves, or both. She does the same thing in Portable, but due to the Visual Novel-style presentation of the game, the player doesn't get to see her moves.
  • The movie adaptation of the scene has her dancing inside Club Escapade itself, where this is downplayed. While her moves are still rather simple, they look graceful and energetic, fitting for a character unfamiliar with dancing but still enthusiastic about it.
  • Subverted in Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight, where she is able to choreograph and execute a complex dance sequence with grace and style, being able to keep up with the protagonist, Margaret, and other playable dancers.
  • Reload downplays her inability to dance, where much like in FES and Portable, she dances in front of the club during her date with the protagonist. Reload's version has her doing a simple variation on the Para Para dance, a popular dance during the mid-2000s seen in music videos for songs like "Night of Fire" by Hionoi Team.
• The Three Faces of Eve: Elizabeth's The Wife to Aigis's Child and Nyx's Seductress.
• Throw the Book at Them: For Elizabeth's Strike attack, she'll hit you with the Persona Compendium that she carries around.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Elizabeth is particularly fond of takoyaki.
• Vocal Evolution: Tara Platt's Elizabeth has evolved over the years, where in her first appearance, she has a low, soft-spoken, almost detached, but still whimsical tone of voice. Her performance would evolve to become a bit higher-pitched, matching the more energetic and free-spirited character that Elizabeth would become in future games and Reload. The differences between Platt's Elizabeth's in 3 and Reload are very noticeable.

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Tropes that apply exclusively to Theodore

"So the concept of subjugation requests is not unknown here..."

Voiced by: Jun'ichi Suwabe (Japanese), Travis Willingham (English; Persona 3 Portable, Persona 4: Arena Ultimax), Bryce Papenbrook (English; Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth, Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight, Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight)
Live actor: Ire Shiozaki

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• Badass in a Nice Suit: Theodore wears quite the nice-looking suit, and as a Velvet attendant, is one of the strongest characters in the franchise, next to his sisters.
• Baritone of Strength: Although much nicer than his siblings, Theodore has Travis Willingham's deep voice in Persona 3 Portable and is quick to remind you that he too is an embodiment of power as the most difficult boss fight in the game next to Elizabeth.
• Big Brother Instinct: He seems to be quite protective of his younger sisters. In Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth he seems to be concerned upon seeing Caroline and Justine, and protests when Elizabeth tells him that they shouldn't meddle more than necessary. In Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight, the Twins mention how Theodore shields them from Margaret and Elizabeth's bullying. The game further establishes him as a good older brother during Lavenza's dance. While both Margaret and Elizabeth essentially try to steal the show from Lavenza, Theodore sticks to the routine and actively shifts the spotlight onto her, making her happy .
  • Even shows during the battle with the Velvet Siblings in Q2. Theodore has a Persona with Mediarama during his phase of fighting alongside the twins, and he only ever uses it to support the twins.
• Big Little Brother: Despite being younger than all of his siblings (except for Caroline and Justine), Theodore is noticeably taller than all of them. This is especially noticeable when his full portrait is placed next to Elizabeth's.
• Butt-Monkey: Big time. Of the Velvet attendants, the guy is usually being pushed around by his older sisters or by other characters.
  • Elizabeth utterly trolls him in summer festival Drama CD, and during his fetch-quests he makes references to his sisters feeding him things like dog food and soybean powder.
  • In Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth, Theodore is constantly being tricked and bossed around by Elizabeth and living in fear of Margaret. Marie is also constantly bossing him around. It's so bad that not even pretending Kanji as a younger brother to Theodore doesn't sway him to be convinced to overthrow the tyranny of his sisters, but rather as dividing the punishment equally.
• Canon Immigrant: Though the Female Protagonist's route is non-canon, Theodore has made appearances in canonical entries of the franchise, and gets mentioned by Elizabeth in Reload when idling at the quest menu.
• Covert Pervert: Elizabeth says a classic Hospital Hottie line in Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth, and claims she learned about it from a book on Theodore's shelf. Of course, this being Elizabeth it may have been a joke.
• Extremity Extremist: Unlike his sisters who use the Persona Compendium as an actual (if improbable) weapon, Theodore uses kicks for his Strike attack.
• He Was Right There All Along: In Q, Theodore reveals that he was in a backroom of the Velvet Room for the entire duration of P3. This is expanded on Q2, where it's revealed he was assisting the female protagonist all along, albeit she was from a different timeline.
• I Never Said It Was Poison: In Persona Q, Theodore, when confronted over supposedly stealing Chie's meat gum, says he feels sorry for her but maintains his innocence. Unfortunately for Theo, Naoto had never said who the victim was, and by saying something he shouldn't have known, Theo ends up incriminating himself.
• The Ingenue: A male version. Compared to Elizabeth, Theodore is much more child-like in demeanor during the dates. While Elizabeth shows a sort of morbid fascination with the human world, Theo's is much more innocent, and he can react with fear or amazement at things Elizabeth just finds mildly amusing.
• Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Theodore. He'll claim that he was just trying to be funny whenever he does or says something ignorant.
• Nice Guy: One of Theodore's distinct characteristics is his politeness towards everyone. He is also the only one of the Velvet siblings who lacks a cruel sense of humor.
• The One Guy: Theodore is currently the only male Velvet Room attendant in the series. This gets Played for Laughs in Q, where he is regularly picked on by Elizabeth, Margaret and, to a lesser extent, Marie throughout the game as a result.

Igor

See Persona: Recurring.

Kirijo Group

General

The Kirijo Group is an international corporation with a major presence in Iwatodai City, having among other things founded Gekkoukan High School. The company was once part of the Nanjo Group, and the two still maintain close ties after their separation, in line with the Kirijo Group's official motto of "Two in Harmony Surpasses One in Perfection". Though the company is well-known for being involved with every aspect of Japanese society, the Kirijo Group has a particularly dark set of secrets that are not so well-known; under the leadership of its previous head Kouetsu Kirijo, the company conducted a myriad of illegal and unethical experiments involving Shadows and Personas. Ten years ago, one of these experiments went wrong, leading to the creation of Tartarus and the Dark Hour. The current head, Kouetsu's son Takeharu Kirijo, seeks to atone for his father's crimes, founding the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad to end the Dark Hour.

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• Adults Are Useless: Downplayed. While Takeharu, Ikutsuki, and a few other Kirijo employees are able to move during the Dark Hour, none of them are Persona users, leaving the task of ending the Dark Hour to a group of high-schoolers. They do give the Squad a place to live, as well as their Evokers and equipment (and a lot of background information), but they can't really do much more.
• Company Town: Downplayed. While the city itself is not in their control, most of Iwatodai's industries belong to them.
• Continuity Nod: They were once part of the Nanjo Group of the first two Persona games, whose heir is a Persona user himself.
• Create Your Own Villain: They are responsible for the creation of the 12 Arcana Shadows, Strega, and Sho Minazuki. Granted, the villains in question were all created by the efforts of Kouetsu Kirijo and everyone working under him — by the time Persona 3 has begun, Takeharu has taken the Kirijo Group in a far more moral direction.
• Evil Is Not a Toy: Ten years ago, the Kirijo Group experimented on Shadows as a means to harness them as a source of energy as well as time manipulation. The experiments eventually went wrong, causing an explosion that led to the creation of Tartarus and the Dark Hour.
• Fiction 500: The company is rich enough to be involved in many industries, including robotics, automobiles, and even the military.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Almost everything in the game (the Dark Hour, Tartarus, and almost every antagonist) can be traced back to them.
• Heel–Face Turn: Kouetsu Kirijo, Mitsuru's grandfather and the last head of the Kirijo Group, was an extremely amoral individual by the end of his life. Some of the aftereffects of the experiments and research he led include everything to do with Labrys and her sisters, Sho Minazuki, the Dark Hour itself and the twelve Arcana Shadows, Strega... and those are just the ones we know about. Under Takeharu, his son, however, and later Mitsuru, his granddaughter, the company has taken a far more benevolent turn.
• MegaCorp: They are Iwatodai City's main sponsor and practically own everything in the city.
• Research, Inc.: Among the things they invented include Evokers, motorcycles that work during the Dark Hour, Anti-Shadow Weapons, and flying cars (as revealed by Naoto in Persona Q).
• Straw Nihilist: As they researched more about Death, many of the Kirijo scientists became fixated with the Fall and worshipping Nyx.
• Would Hurt a Child: They kidnapped and conducted experiments on orphans in order to artificially awaken their Personas. Out of the hundred children involved with the experiments, only four survived, three of them being members of Strega.

Takeharu Kirijo

Takeharu Kirijo

"My father was wrong. Death as deliverance... That is not an ideology anyone should ever embrace!"

Voiced by: Kōji Totani (Japanese; original), Yasunori Masutani (Japanese; FES onwards), Derek Stephen Prince (English; original), Grant George (English; Reload)

The father of Mitsuru Kirijo and the son of Kouetsu Kirijo, Takeharu is the current head of the Kirijo group. Unlike his father, Takeharu doesn't see Death as a form of deliverance and rejects his father's ideology. To this end, Takeharu forms S.E.E.S., being their silent benefactor. The group first meets him during their summer vacation at Yakushima, where he reveals the origins of the Dark Hour and the fates of scientists behind the research. He shows them a video made by Eiichiro Takeba and his parting words about the experiment that took place a decade before the game's events.

In The Answer, a flashback revealed that Takeharu was present during his daughter's Awakening.

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• Arranged Marriage: In Mitsuru's Social Link, she mentions that her parents got together in an arranged marriage, but adds that their marriage was nonetheless a happy one.
• The Atoner: His main motivation is to make amends for the mistakes and tragedies caused by his father, in particular the creation of the Dark Hour and the death of Yukari's father.
• Badass Normal: Not having a Persona doesn't stop him from rescuing S.E.E.S. from Ikutsuki.
• Big Good: He's S.E.E.S.' financial backer and the head of the Kirijo Group.
• Died in Your Arms Tonight: He's shot by Ikutsuki when he tries to stop Ikutsuki's plan to bring about the Fall, and dies cradled in Mitsuru's arms.
• Eyepatch of Power: Sports a cool-looking eyepatch over his right eye.
• Face of a Thug: Looks downright sinister, but is a noble and kindhearted man.
• Good Parents: Of a sort. The only, admittedly massive, conflict he has with his daughter is that she keeps trying to take responsibility for something her grandfather did, while he's more willing to try to find ways to ensure she doesn't have to risk her life for him in the process.
• Heroic Sacrifice: He ends up Taking the Bullet to prevent Ikutsuki from murdering the members of SEES during the ritual to bring about the Fall.
• Honest Corporate Executive: As honest as he can be with all the Kirijo Group's dark secrets, Takeharu takes it upon himself to right all the wrongs his family has done. He even expresses his gratitude towards Yukari for staying to fight with S.E.E.S. even after the heartbreak she and her family had to endure at the hands of the Kirijo Group.
• Like Father, Unlike Son:
  • Takeharu is a Honest Corporate Executive, and was disgusted by the ideals of "death as deliverance" that his father preached at the end of his life.
  • Also, he is not as secretive or cold as his daughter and even lectures her to trust her comrades more.
• Mutual Kill: After Ikutsuki's treachery is revealed, the two kill each other in a brief gunfight.
• Oh, Crap!: When the Dark Hour doesn't end as S.E.E.S. had initially believed, he realises that Ikutsuki's absence from the celebrations was no coincidence and that he had duped them all.
• Parents as People: He loves his daughter but being the head of the Kirijo Group, handling its front and taking care of its darker secrets leaves him with little time to spare for Mitsuru. This distance also means that he and his daughter have trouble communicating properly with one another when they do talk, and fail to understand one another's feelings.
• Red Herring: His abrupt appearance after the player has defeated all of the midnight shadows, intimidating looks and status as the head of the impossibly powerful organization that controls nearly the entire country from behind the scenes might lead you to think that he will be revealed to be the game's true Big Bad. He isn't, and is actually a perfectly nice and heroic guy.
• Small Role, Big Impact: We only see him twice in the game, at Yakushima and the day after the Hanged Man Arcana Shadow boss battle. In his first appearance, he reveals a wealth of information about the origins of the Dark Hour and the Full Moon Shadows as well as confirming the involvement of Yukari's father in the project. In his second appearance, he sacrifices himself trying to stop Ikutsuki, and his death has a profound impact on Mitsuru, which ultimately leads to the evolution of her Persona.
• Straw Nihilist: Subverted. Played completely straight with his father and Ikutsuki, which made him detest the idea of ever bringing about the "Fall" as some type of deliverance.
• Unwitting Pawn: To Ikutsuki. While he was well aware of the reprehensible experiments his father ordered, he never suspected Ikutsuki of planning to finish what his father started, and by appointing him S.E.E.S chairman he gives him free reign to manipulate everyone into bringing about the Fall. In fact, Takeharu himself gets manipulated, as he's the one who shows Eichiro Takeba's confession to S.E.E.S, unaware that Ikutsuki had doctored it. He eventually dies stopping Ikutsuki, and while he takes the latter down with him, the surviving members of the S.E.E.S have to pick up the pieces and stop the Fall on their own.
• What the Hell, Hero?: He expresses his frustration to Mitsuru about her keeping the origins of Tartarus and the Dark Hour secret to the rest of S.E.E.S. at Yakushima, and lectures her to trust her teammates more and stop trying to carry all the burden on her own.
• When You Coming Home, Dad?: Mitsuru doesn't get many chances to see her father, as he is the head of the group and is constantly busy, causing a rather strained relationship between the two.

Shuji Ikutsuki

Shuji Ikutsuki

"I should investigate whether this means it's finally begun..."

Voiced by: Hideyuki Hori (Japanese), Dan Woren (English; original), JB Blanc (English; Persona 4: Arena Ultimax), Jake Green (English; Reload)
Live actor: Shoichi Honda (The Blue Awakening and Persona 4 Arena), Mitsuru Karahashi (The Ultramarine Labyrinth and The Bismuth Crystals)

Referred to as "the Chairman", Ikutsuki is the school chairman and the head of SEES. He worked with Mitsuru and Yukari's fathers on the project ten years ago, and was one of the designers of Aigis. Despite not having a Persona, as a result of being involved in the project, he knows how to enter the Dark Hour and provides briefings and support to the members of S.E.E.S. during their major missions. He also has a terrible sense of humor, finding amusement in inserting puns into the conversation.

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• Absentminded Professor: He's fairly spacey and spends most of his free time making terrible puns. He included an entire folder of puns for Aigis to use on "any occasion" according to Persona Q.
• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: The command room video recording of him shows Ikutsuki attempting to write a report about the Arcana Priestess and the damage it caused, but quickly gets distracted when he starts coming up with some of his bad puns.
• As You Know: He reminds Mitsuru that she's aware that he can't summon a Persona, although this fact is news to Yukari, Junpei, the main character and first-time players.
• Big Good: The founder of S.E.E.S, but he's not able to summon a Persona.
• Dreadful Musician: Judging by the characters' reaction when Ikutsuki volunteers to sing, it appears that he is as bad a singer as he is a comedian.
• Hidden Depths: In Portable he is interested in the film festival in August, specifically about modernism, and after watching it, he will talk about it without any input from the female protagonist. Interestingly, he is the only non social-link NPC the player can take to the film festival.
• Hurricane of Puns: He loves to make puns, even when he's supposed to be writing a report.
• Inconsistent Spelling: His name is written as "Syuji" in the credits of the bad ending of the original game.
• Laughing at Your Own Jokes: Whenever he comes up with a pun, he typically laughs to himself about it, telling himself to write it down so that he doesn't forget. The command room video has him giggling and coming up with puns that he gets completely distracted from writing the report.
• Meaningful Name: "Ikutsuki" is written with the character for "moon", fitting his goal of stopping the Dark Hour by destroying the Full Moon Shadows.
• Mr. Exposition: He's responsible for a lot of info dumps early on for how things in the story work.
• Non-Action Guy: He has the ability to remain active during the Dark Hour, but since he has no Persona, he can't fight Shadows and has to assist S.E.E.S. from the Iwatodai Dorm.
• Pungeon Master: He constantly spews truly terrible puns that no one finds funny. Players can find a video recording of him in FES, P3P, and Reload that is dedicated to him getting derailed from writing his report regarding Priestess Shadow train fight by making puns.
• Scary Shiny Glasses: His "serious" face has his glasses obscure his eyes. Played for Laughs in FES, where Shuji Ikutsuki's glasses do this whenever he thinks up one of his terrifyingly bad puns. This happens a lot.
• The Team Normal: He is the only member of SEES who cannot summon a Persona. He mentions that he was taught how to enter the Dark Hour without one; an ability shared with Takeharu Kirijo.
• Vague Age: Ikutsuki's age is not clear. He has been working for the Kirijo Group for at least 10 years, and a lot of characters treat him as an old man. His ambiguous appearance means he could be anywhere from his late 30s to early 60s.

Kikuno Saikawa

See Persona 4: Arena - Allied NPCs.

Kouetsu Kirijo

Kouetsu Kirijo

Kouetsu Kirijo's Concept Artwork

Kouetsu Kirijo is the father of Takeharu Kirijo and the grandfather of Mitsuru Kirijo. He was once the head of the Kirijo Group before his death. Fourteen years ago Kouetsu Kirijo began the experimentation of Shadows in order to learn and harness their powers to create a time manipulation device. He assembled a team of top scientists and for several years he was able to obtain a significant amount of Shadows. Over the years he became a Nihilist and began preparing for The Fall. Ten years ago during the final stages of the experiment they lost control of the Shadow's power. He and the rest of the scientists lost their lives during the accident.

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• Apocalyptic Log: In Reload, the Memoirs found in the Monad Passages are all penned by him, giving further context and background information found in the documents present in Tartarus.
• Arch-Enemy: To both Yukari and Mitsuru's fathers, the former of whom outright died as a result of his actions. He's already been dead for ten years before the story of Persona 3 takes place, however, so he's not the main villain of the game proper.
• Archnemesis Dad: He was this to his son Takeharu.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: Zig-zagged. According to the Persona 3 Club Book, Kouetsu Kirijo originally came across a Plume of Dusk, and started his research into it for benevolent purposes. As more was learned from it about Nyx and more Plumes of Dusk were collected, however, Kouetsu was eventually driven mad, becoming a straight example.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: While it's never seen ingame, since he's long dead and Takeharu himself isn't eager to discuss his father, Ikutsuki implies after all of the Arcana Shadows are destroyed that Koutetsu did genuinely love his son Takeharu, even after his fall to insanity.
• Even Evil Has Standards: As revealed in one of his memoirs in Reload, he scoffed at Ikutsuki's delusions of becoming the ruler of the new world, calling his theories "arbitrary and biased, as expected from another lowly human".
• Face–Heel Turn: He apparently wasn't always a bad man, but too much time studying Shadows apparently did a major number on his brain and morality.
• Fat Bastard: Overweight and villainous.
• The Ghost: We only see a slight glimpse of him in a flashback when Mitsuru was finally forced to divulge some information about the origins of Tartarus and the "Dark Hour" along with her grandfather's involvement in it to the rest of the group, after Yukari with the help of Fuuka started digging for information themselves, which pointed them to Tatsumi Port Island. Yukari is left less than pleased when it seemed like S.E.E.S. was just formed to clean the Kirijo Group's mess.
• Go Mad from the Revelation: Searching for the origins of the Plume of Dusk, learning more about Nyx and discovering the "Fall" eventually drove him mad with obsession and the idea of death as a deliverance. This ideology also transferred to the rest of his subordinates except for a select few, namely his son Takeharu, Eiichiro Takeba, and the antique shop owner in Paulownia Mall.
• Gonk: Based on his concept art from the original game and the flashback cutscene of Reload, Kouetsu was not an attractive man, which further emphasizes his differences from his son and granddaughter.
• Greater-Scope Villain: He was the person who originally came up with the idea of experimenting on Shadows in the first place, and influenced most of his subordinates into believing in his nihilistic views, but by the time Persona 3 starts he's been dead for a decade, even though the events of the game can all be traced back to him.
• Hate Sink: He's been dead for years, but the negative repercussions of his actions affect the plot to this day, and he is described as a reprehensible individual.
• Hidden Depths: His memoirs in Reload show that he actually had doubts about the Fall and contemplated calling off the project, but felt that it's too late to turn back.
• Honest Corporate Executive: He apparently used to be this. Sadly, by the time he died, any good intentions he had were long since swallowed up by his insanity.
• Posthumous Character: He died in an explosion on the site that would become Gekkoukan ten years before the story started and is only referenced in dialogue in the game proper. The section image comes from a concept art of him that is left unused in the game, and the flashback cutscenes in Reload barely show him in view, where he's obscured by light or red static.
• Predecessor Villain: He's directly responsible for everything that goes wrong in Persona 3, but he's long dead. By the time of the present day, Shuji Ikutsuki is carrying his torch. It's somewhat downplayed in that his Heel–Face Turn only took place after he spent too long studying Shadows, but he's responsible for authorizing far too many morally reprehensible acts to be considered even remotely a good man at the time he died.
• Small Role, Big Impact: We see just a glimpse of him but he spearheaded the project that eventually created the Dark Hour and Tartarus; if not for Eiichiro sacrificing himself to ensure the safety of his family the world would have ended in 1999.
• Straw Nihilist: Eventually became one when his curiosity turned into obsession and consumed his mind entirely.
• Villainous Legacy: The Shadow experiments he funded are what made the events of Persona 3 happen at all, and later on, more of his experiments popped up and led to Persona 4: Arena and Persona 4: Arena Ultimax. He's also the father of Takeharu Kirijo, the Big Good of Persona 3, and grandfather of Mitsuru, one of your teammates in Persona 3 and the leader of the Shadow Operatives in later games.

Eiichiro Takeba

Eiichiro Takeba

"I know I promised I'd be home soon... and I'm sorry to break that promise... But, I want you to know... Daddy was the happiest man on earth when he was with you. I love you, Yukari. Please take care of yourself."

Voiced by: Masashi Hamano (Japanese; original), Kanehira Yamamoto (Japanese; movies and Reload), Liam O'Brien (English; original), Yuri Lowenthal (English; Reload)

Eiichiro Takeba was a gifted scientist and the father of Yukari Takeba. Prior to the events of Persona 3, Eiichiro was a brilliant scientist whose talents immediately gained recognition, leading an invitation to join the Kirijo Group's research on Shadows. Before leaving his daughter and his wife behind, Eiichiro Takeba wrote a letter to his daughter, which he intended her to receive ten years later.

While researching the Shadows, the scientists learned about the prophecy of the Fall. Many of the scientists willingly embraced the belief and shifted their research towards bringing about the Fall themselves. However, Eiichiro objected to the belief of Death as a deliverance and during the final stages of the experiment to create Death, he interrupted the process and forcefully separated the harbinger of the Fall, Death, into thirteen parts. Before Death was separated, however, he left a video recorded warning that would not be seen for another ten years.

Death's separation, however, caused the Shadows to go berserk and created a massive explosion, destroying the facility and the original Gekkoukan High School completely. The results of the explosion led to the existence of the Dark Hour and the summoning of Tartarus, where Nyx was to descend to bring about the Fall. Unfortunately, Eiichiro, like most of the scientists in the facility, died in the aftermath of the explosion and he was used as a scapegoat by the public in order to cover up the truth of the experiment. The hostility towards the Takeba family caused them to move several times, though Yukari never stopped believing that her father was innocent.

Eiichiro's undying love and loyalty towards his family is the catalyst that strengthens Yukari's inner resolve causing her Persona to be reborn.

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• Broken Pedestal: Yukari's father became her main source of hope and believed his innocence after a lab explosion left her father dead as well as hundreds of other scientist, said event not only ostracized her family courtesy of the public but also subsequently strained her relationship with her mother after she abandoned Yukari for other men, being unable to cope with her husbands death. Growing up lonely but willful Yukari's belief in her father being falsely accused for the accident that claimed his life was the reason she transferred to Gekkoukan High school, two years prior before joining S.E.E.S. couple that with her receiving a letter from her father address for her to receive ten years later, was the catalyst for her Persona Io's awakening. Yukari's belief gets severely tested in "The Journey" and for a time after the Yakushima event, was forced to admit that her father was guilty of mass murder, she stays with S.E.E.S. to atone for her father's mistakes. Eventually it's revealed that he only did what he had to do, being one of the few scientist left with their sanity intact he delayed the coming of the end the world, with that revelation combined with his message of immense love for Yukari, the scene becomes Rebuilt Pedestal, being the moment Yukari awakens her ultimate Persona Isis with a renewed will to fight.
• Dying Declaration of Love: His final words in his video message is to tell Yukari that he loves her.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Before the Kirijo Group's scientists could finish summoning Nyx, he deliberately triggered an explosion to kill them and himself to interrupt the ritual and weaken Death. While it didn't stop Death from emerging and inadvertently created the Dark Hour, his act was enough to delay the Fall indefinitely by keeping Death fractured and eliminating all who would know how to restore it.
• Last Request: His last request for Yukari was to take care of herself.
• My Greatest Failure:
  • His spent his last moments regretting helping the Kirijo Group with their research on Shadows and the creation of "Death", the harbinger of the Fall.
  • It's implied that Eiichiro's death is this to his widow, whose self-destructive behavior and neglect of Yukari after his passing can be tracked down to the fact she was the one who introduced him to the Kirijo Group in the first place.
• Only Sane Man: He was one of the few members of the Kirijo Group's scientists who hadn't been driven mad in the process of their research.
• Parents as People: A very loving husband and father who ends up being incredibly busy due to his newfound success. It's mentioned in his letter to Yukari that he hasn't seen his family in a while, but regularly keeps in contact with them through letters.
• Remake Cameo: In Reload, he's voiced by Yuri Lowenthal, the original voice of the Protagonist, Pharos and Ryoji.
• Small Role, Big Impact: While we get to hear his voice when Yukari reads his letter for her and she does mention him several times throughout the story, the first time we see him is in a video explaining how the Dark Hour and Tartarus came about in Yakushima. However, the letter he wrote for Yukari combined with her desire for answers, was the catalyst that caused her to awaken Io, and the video revealing his innocence and unconditional love for Yukari was what caused Io to transform into Isis.
  • While his sacrifice to protect his family unknowingly gave existence to the Dark Hour and Tartarus it also caused "Death" the forbidden Arcana to separate, delaying the existence of the "Fall" putting it into a standstill.
  • His video shown by Takeharu, while completely shattering Yukari's belief in him, solidified S.E.E.S.' desire to eliminate the Dark Hour. Unfortunately, this turned out to be a very bad idea, as Ikutsuki had doctored the video for his own ends, as S.E.E.S.' actions in stopping the Dark Hour do nothing, and actually makes things much worse.
  • The backlash of his death took its toll on his wife, who ends up all but abandoning Yukari in favor of a long series of short-lived affairs. This had another big impact on Yukari and her childhood, making her incredibly willful but also extremely shielded. The mysterious circumstances of his passing was what sparked Yukari's desire to transfer to Gekkoukan High, two years before joining S.E.E.S. in hopes that she can find information about his time working under the Kirijo Group.
  • He's also indirectly responsible for the existence of Shinshoudo/Mayoido Antiques, i.e. the Weapon Fusion service located in Paulownia Mall. If you collect all Old Documents, it's revealed that the Antique Shop Owner was headhunted by the "team leader" himself as a researcher for Ergo Division. She accepted the offer despite her misgivings on the project because she was in love with him and wanted to be by his side, but eventually quit after deeming the research as just evil, which spared her life and knowledge on Personas and Shadows from being lost in Tatsumi Port Island's "industrial disaster" of 1999.
• Sorry That I'm Dying: He feels absolutely remorseful about the fact that he had to put his family behind for work and about breaking his promise to Yukari that they'd spend more time together when he gets back.
• Tragic Keepsake: The letter he left for Yukari which solidified her belief in his innocence and the cellphone strap commemorating the opening of the Moonlight Bridge, which he gave as a gift to his daughter and became somewhat of an emotional rock for Yukari growing up. Yukari gives the cellphone strap to the protagonist if you max out her Social Link, as a thank you for being her support.
• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: While not ugly per se, he looks more overworked and homely. It's noted in one of the Drama CDs that his wife, Isako, is so attractive that people could barely believe she was the mother of a then 9-year-old girl.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: His actions caused the birth of the Dark Hour and Tartarus and as a result created most of S.E.E.S.'s problems, but this also delayed the coming of the Fall, which in itself was also inadvertently caused by Eiichiro. According to Ikutsuki, most of Kirijo's scientists were primarily focused on harnessing the Shadows' power, but it was Eiichiro's research that enabled the Kirijo to discover the existence of the Fall.
• Unwitting Pawn: To the Kirijo Group, it's heavily implied that he was pressured to keep working on the Shadow research project even though he was opposed to the idea and the blame for the deaths of hundreds of scientists when the lab exploded was solely placed on him and by extension on to his family. Eventually confirmed by Takeharu Kirijo in Yakushima. He's also one to Ikutsuki by proxy, who doctored his video to say lies so that he could manipulate S.E.E.S. into destroying all the Arcana Shadows, which also caused Yukari's breakdown in Yakushima.
• Video Will: Leaves an impromptu one before he dies trying to stop the Shadow Experiment that creates the Dark Hour. In it, he apologizes to Yukari for not being able to make it home, and gives a warning about the Shadows.
• When You Coming Home, Dad?: Was the subject of this by Yukari, as stated above he had to leave his family behind for work, an act that he deeply regrets. His untimely death meant the promise he made to Yukari about spending more time with her once he got back, ends up being broken.

Hanae Kirijo

Mitsuru's mother and Takeharu's wife, who is rather sickly and spends most of her time overseas.

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• Ill Girl: A downplayed and grown-up version.
• Parents as People: While she's not home that often, it's clear that she does care for her daughter.
• Perfectly Arranged Marriage: While her marriage to Takeharu was just an Arranged Marriage at first, by all appearances they were Happily Married by the time of Persona 3.
• When You Coming Home, Dad?: A female example. Hanae's apparently quite ill, and spends a lot of time out of Japan as a result, meaning Mitsuru doesn't get to see her that often.

Social Links

Shared between both protagonists

Pharos (Death)

Pharos

"No one can escape time; it delivers us all to the same end."

Voiced by: Akira Ishida (Japanese), Yuri Lowenthal (English; original), Aleks Le (English; Reload)
Live actor: Keisuke Ueda

Pharos is a mysterious boy whom the Protagonist met on their first day at Iwatodai, and represents the Death Social Link. For reasons unknown, only the Protagonist can see him. It is through a contract that Pharos made him/her sign that allows the Protagonist to enter the Velvet Room. After their first meeting, Pharos appears every now and then in the Protagonist's room during the Dark Hour, usually to alert him/her about the upcoming full moon. Though the Protagonist doesn't receive a memento upon maxing his S. Link, he/she does become able to fuse Thanatos.

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• 13 Is Unlucky: He is the Shadow representing the Death Arcana and the previously unknown thirteenth Shadow that escaped the Kirijo Lab ten years ago. His first encounter with Aigis and the protagonist led to the deaths of the latter's family, and Aigis had to seal him away inside the protagonist. He's also the one destined to bring about the Fall.
• Ambiguously Human: He looks like an ordinary child, but he only ever appears during the Dark Hour and there's no indication that he's a Persona-user. There's also the fact that he's aware of the Arcana Shadows' existence well before the others realize what they are. He's later revealed to be one of the Arcana Shadows himself—specifically the Shadow who represents the Death Arcana.
• But Now I Must Go: After S.E.E.S. destroys the Arcana Hanged Man Shadow, Pharos appears before the protagonist for the first time in broad daylight, stating he has to leave someplace. He reappears not long afterwards as Ryoji Mochizuki.
• Creepy Child: His appearance and monotone speech tone makes him look like a ghost. Not helping matters is that he almost always appears during the Dark Hour. He only makes one appearance during the day when his Social Link is maxed out and takes his leave before turning into Ryoji. Reload slightly emphasises the creepy part by having him disappear into black smoke as opposed to just vanishing entirely.
• Children Are Innocent: He's remarkably naive and driven by instinct, as while he is the one to first give the protagonist a warning about the coming end of everything, he genuinely doesn't seem to know what that entails or what his role in it is. He also warns the protagonist about the Full Moon Shadows out of a concern for their safety rather than any deliberate planning on his part to become whole. Even when Pharos is freed by the end of his Social Link, he simply thanks the protagonist for being his friend and gives no indication that he plans to initiate the Fall soon. By contrast, once Ryoji remembers who he is, he figures out exactly what Nyx's coming and the Fall entails, and is suitably horrified and heartbroken once he spells things out for the party.
• Dark Is Not Evil: His looks as a Creepy Child and appearance in the Dark Hour aside, Pharos has a genuine friendship with the protagonist.
• The Dog Was the Mastermind: Played with. While he is not the mastermind who orchestrated the events leading to Nyx's arrival, no one would have expected Pharos to be a key player in The Fall.
• Humanoid Abomination: He's the incomplete version of the Death Arcana Shadow and one of the Shadows that escaped the lab alongside the other twelve. He also appears as a human child, and as Ryoji, a teenager.
• Invisible to Normals: Implied. Yukari never saw him when she happened upon the protagonist in the dorm lobby. It may have something to do with the fact that Pharos lives inside the protagonist's psyche.
• Magically-Binding Contract: The contract that he made the Protagonist sign allows them to enter the Velvet Room.
• Meaningful Name: "Pharos" in both Greek and Egypt refers to a lighthouse. Pharos himself acts as a sort of guide for the protagonist, being the first to inform him about the upcoming battles with the Arcana Shadows and the impending end of the world, albeit while vague on the details.
• Occult Blue Eyes: His unnaturally blue eyes are the most obvious sign that he's more than he seems, as he turns out to be a Shadow connected to Nyx.
• Precocious Crush: He seems to develop a crush on the Female Protagonist which is carried forward when he becomes Ryoji.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: A Sealed Inside a Person-Shaped Can at that. Pharos is an extremely powerful Shadow who is meant to bring about the Fall. Aigis attempted to destroy him, but failed and had to seal him within a child nearby. That child was the protagonist.
• Seers: He tends to reference events that have yet to happen in cryptic fashion that won't make sense at first. In one instance, he mentions poisonous flowers (i.e. Strega and Ken) well before the latter becomes more prominent in S.E.E.S.' affairs.
• Spirit Advisor: In each of his appearances, he cryptically gives the Protagonist hints on events that are about to happen.
• Vagueness Is Coming: He tends to give out cryptic advice and warnings. One of his meetings with the protagonist has him mention "poisonous flowers blooming", one in the protagonist's "garden" and three in the one opposite to theirs. He's referring to Ken and Strega respectively, with the former joining S.E.E.S. for the chance to kill Shinjiro.
• You Lose at Zero Trust: Averted. Pharos' Social Link is one of the game that ranks up automatically throughout the story and cannot be reversed or broken.

Hidetoshi Odagiri (Emperor)

Hidetoshi Odagiri

Voiced by: Hiroaki Miura (Japanese; Drama CDs and movies), Masaya Matsukaze (Japanese; Reload), Austin Lee Matthews (English; Reload)

As a member of Gekkoukan High's student council, Hidetoshi heads the student disciplinary committee. As expected, he's strict and unyielding and can come off as quite the hardass. He's also a very unpopular with the rest of the student body because of his no-nonsense attitude. After Mitsuru has the Protagonist join the student council, Hidetoshi becomes the Emperor Social Link, and pursuing it has him/her helping out with finding a student who left a cigarette butt in one of the school male bathrooms while exploring his need for order and ideals. The Protagonist's influence ultimately helps him learn the value of trust and friendship, and he changes his ways, dropping the incident and asking for other's opinions instead of forcing his own values onto others. Due to this change of behavior, the culprit confesses to Hidetoshi and gives him his Cheap Lighter, and Hidetoshi shows and gives it to the Protagonist as proof of the incident being solved, letting him/her fuse Odin.

In P3P, Hidetoshi falls in love with the female Protagonist during his S. Link, but wants to wait until he's worthy of her love before he tries to make it official.

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• Berserk Button: He hates students who don't follow the rules, especially the cigarette smokers in their school.
• Defrosting Ice King: He's cold and severe, but mellows out over the course of his link when he comes to understand that his methods are selfish and flawed and the people supporting him are jerks. His defrosting is a little more emphasized with the female protagonist as he develops a crush on her.
• Determinator: Break the rules, and Hidetoshi will hunt you down, and he will never stop until he finds you.
• Disappeared Dad: His dad was arrested and Hidetoshi isn't really sure if he's guilty or not, which has helped shaped his attitude in the present.
• Everyone Has Standards: Despite being a stickler for the rules, he doesn't like the idea of the smoker being expelled, since he'd rather give that person a lecture to correct their behavior. He also defends the protagonist when he/she comes under suspicion, resulting in him losing his chance at a recommendation.
• Freudian Excuse: He believes that his father's trusting attitude was what got him made into a scapegoat and jailed, which is why Hidetoshi himself is hesitant to trust others.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Apart from the protagonist, the rest of the student council either dislikes him for his zealous enforcement of the rules (the unnamed members) or has a civil but strictly professional relationship with him (Mitsuru, Chihiro).
• Honest Corporate Executive: He once ponders becoming head of a corporation that is run fairly.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's quite abrasive and he's not exactly loved by his peers for his insistence on the rules, but he definitely falls into the "tough, but fair" category. He's going a little overboard trying to track down the cigarette smoker, but doesn't actually intend to do anything further than lecture them, and ultimately mellows out by the end of his social link.
• Knight Templar: Subverted. It looks like he's going way overboard with the cigarette thing, but in truth his idea of a harsh punishment for the person who left it in the bathroom was no more than a "stern lecture." He doesn't think that it warrants expulsion, and doesn't see how "getting rid of the bad students" helps, despite the school's suggestion. This hints early on at the sort of person he really is.
• Not So Above It All: During the Kyoto trip, a conversation between him and Keisuke reveals that he got into a stone-skipping competition at the river, and ended up dirtying his pants as a result. Keisuke mentions that they've been doing this ever since they were in elementary school.
• Odd Friendship: With Keisuke, as they were childhood friends. In the Drama CD, the two accompany the protagonist to the rooftop to find the flowerbed that Elizabeth asked him to water, and they room together during the Kyoto trip in Reload.
• Smug Smiler: Every time Hidetoshi smiles, it looks like this — even when he isn't being smug at all, just happy.
• Stern Teacher: If the player completes his social link and talks to him during the epilogue, he decides he might try to enter into education.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Hidetoshi eventually realizes that he needs to be a little nicer if he wants to gain people's trust.

Bunkichi and Mitsuko Kitamura (Hierophant)

Bunkichi and Mitsuko Kitamura

Bunkichi voiced by: Koji Yada (Japanese; Drama CDs), Naoki Tatsuta (Japanese, Reload), André Sogliuzzo (English, Reload)
Mitsuko voiced by: Fumi Oda (Japanese; Drama CDs), Sanae Takagi (Japanese, Reload), Susanne Blakeslee (English, Reload)

Owners of the Bookworms bookstore at Iwatodai Station, Bunkichi is an occasionally wisecracking and sometimes senile, but ultimate well-meaning old man and Mitsuko is his quieter wife. The two of them represent the Hierophant Social Link, and pursuing it has the Protagonist frequently visiting their bookstore, ultimately learning that they had a son. He was a teacher at Gekkoukan High until he was killed in a car accident and a persimmon tree was planted at the school in memorium of him. Eventually, the two of them catch wind that the tree is going to be cut down and learn of a petition from former students to keep the tree alive. Ultimately, they decide to let the tree be cut down so that a new teaching wing at Gekkoukan can be built, and the couple gives the Protagonist a Persimmon Fruit from the tree in thanks for his/her efforts, letting him/her fuse Kohryu.

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• Dark and Troubled Past: The story of their son's accident. The protagonist inadvertently brings back a number of memories.
• Intergenerational Friendship: The oldest of the Social Links. Extends to the other SEES members in the Drama CDs.
• Miniature Senior Citizens: Mitsuko is pretty tiny.
• Named In The Adaptation: Their family name Kitamura was originally only seen in Portable, which then carries over to Reload.
• Outliving One's Offspring: Their son died in a car accident some years ago and is the source of their conflict in their Social Link when they hear the persimmon tree planted at Gekkoukan High in his memory is going to be destroyed with the building of a new wing.
• Permanently Missable Content: In Portable and Reload, Bunkichi will end up getting lost in Tartarus. If he is not rescued in time, his Social Link will be locked forever.
• Soulful Plant Story: The persimmon tree serves as the center of one such tale. At the end of the Social Link, they allow it to be cut down so that a new teaching wing can be built at Gekkoukan, both to allow them to move on, and because since their son was a teacher, it would've been what he wanted.
• Think Nothing of It: The protagonist claims to have no idea what Mitsuko and Bunkichi are talking about upon hearing of the petition and the player never has the option of organizing such a thing. On the other hand, no one else has any information on the tree, so the protagonist is the most likely organizer. Maybe. All three dialogue options are some form of this trope when he's thanked.

Maiko Oohashi (Hanged Man)

Maiko Oohashi

Voiced by: Fumiko Orikasa (Japanese; Drama CDs and movies), Hiyori Kouno (Japanese; Reload), Grace Lu (English; Reload)

A precocious grade school girl, Maiko frequently hangs out at the playground at Naganaki Shrine. She represents the Hanged Man Social Link, and pursuing it reveals that Maiko's parents are going through a very messy divorce, which the Protagonist helps her get through. Wondering if it's her fault that they're splitting up, Maiko eventually decides to run away from home, thinking that they'll have to work together to find her, and that it will help them get back together. It only proves to be a partial success, as though they really do work together to find her, they still plan to get divorced, though now they work more on helping Maiko understand why they're splitting up. At the end of the S. Link, Maiko decides to live with her mother as she leaves Port Island, giving the Protagonist a Bead Ring as a parting gift, letting him/her fuse Attis, and declares that she wants to marry the male Protagonist when she grows up.

Though she stays as the Hanged Man S. Link in P3P, if the player chooses the female Protagonist, then Maiko will see her as more of an older sister figure. Near the end of the game, Maiko's father will receive a letter, which mentions how Maiko wishes that she and the Protagonist could "become a family for real" and asks her out on a date, misunderstanding the message.

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• Abusive Parents: Maiko's parents come off as extremely overbearing, frequently sending her off to cram school and private piano lessons, and during one fight, her father even hits her. They seem to see the error of their ways near the end of her S. Link, however.
• Batman Gambit: Her plan is to pretend to be lost so that her parents will unite in order to find her. As it could be expected of a Kids Play Matchmaker plan by a 9-year-old, it doesn't work quite as well as she hoped, but it does help her parents realize how badly they have been affecting their daughter with their fights.
• Cool Big Sis: If befriended as the female MC, she eventually sees the MC as this.
• Crying Wolf: This one depends on the player progressing her Social Link fast enough, but Maiko can go missing for real (into Tartarus) after pretending to in an ill-conceived Batman Gambit to bring her parents together. Unlike in the fable, though, her parents seem to take it seriously anyway, since she's reported having gone missing from her home.
• Death of a Child: She's a nine year old girl who is drawn into Tartarus and will die if you don't rescue her in time.
• Extreme Omnivore: Maiko's Social Link is first started by feeding her Mad Bull and Weird Takoyaki (octopus balls without octopus and some other unknown mystery ingredient...). She also frequently asks the protagonist to take her to Wild Duck Burger, a restaurant that prides itself on bizarre mystery ingredients that raise your courage for trying, and once offhandedly said she was looking forwards to the "frog burger". When she tries her Kids Play Matchmaker to run away, you can find her at the Weird Takoyaki stand as well.
• Intergenerational Friendship: She's 9, making her two years younger than Ken, but befriends the teenage protagonist, and she was already an acquaintance of "Striped Shirt" (Akinari).
• Meaningful Name: Maiko in Japanese means "lost child." Doubly meaningful when she goes literally missing in Portable and Reload.
• Only One Name: She's only known as Maiko in the PS2 versions of the game. Subverted in Portable onwards, where her full name and age^note "Maiko Oohashi (9), daughter of office worker Takahiro Oohashi (36)" are stated in the TV news on 10/21 and on the notice board at the police station when she ends up going missing in Tartarus.
• Parents as People: While Maiko's parents don't always treat her well, they do love her, and start treating her somewhat better after getting their Jerkass Realization by the end of the Link.
• Permanently Missable Content: In Portable and Reload, Maiko will end up getting lost in Tartarus. If she is not rescued in time, her Social Link will be locked forever.
• Precocious Crush: She proposes to the male MC at the end of her S. Link, saying that she wants a family of her own someday and that the protagonist has to be the father. The game's narration lampshades it: "Apparently, Maiko has just proposed to you." During the epilogue, after she's moved away with her mother, her father will confront the male protagonist over this, believing he proposed to Maiko instead of the other way around.
• Put on a Bus: At the end of her S. Link, as she moves away with her mother. If you finish her link before her rescue mission in Tartarus, the rationale for her being in Port Island is that she's visiting her father.

Andre Laurent Jean Geraux (Temperance)

Andre Laurent Jean Geraux ("Bebe")

Voiced by: Hisayoshi Suganuma (Japanese; Drama CDs), Mitsuhiro Ichiki (Japanese; Reload), Jeff Berg (English; Reload)

Bebe is the sole member of Gekkoukan High's fashion club until the Protagonist joins, the token foreigner and a raging Japanophile. He managed to be able to study abroad in Japan thanks to the efforts of his aunt. He represents the Temperance Social Link, and pursuing it has Bebe making his first friend in Japan with the Protagonist. Eventually, he discovers that his aunt died, and his uncle wants him to come back home. Not wanting to leave Japan, he decides to make a kimono to take with him to help convince him to let him come back, and leaves the Protagonist with a Money Pouch, letting him/her fuse Yurlungur.

In P3P, Bebe falls in love with the female Protagonist during his S. Link, and at the end of the Social Link, he confesses his feelings to her before he leaves.

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• Breather Episode: His Social Link. There's no real "conflict" or complicated neuroses to help him overcome. He's just a nice dude from France, and he teaches you how to knit stuff.
• Camp Straight: He falls in love with the female protagonist in his Social Link. Other than that, his mannerisms, hobbies and looks are rather effeminate. Of course, him being a walking French stereotype probably has something to do with it.
• Cloudcuckoolander: For some reason he thought that it was a good idea to write the advertisement for the Fashion Club at a predominantely Japanese school in French.
• Continuity Cameo: He appears briefly in the third movie of the film adaptations.
• Developer's Foresight: If you max out Bebe's S. Link before the school trip, you won't see him in Kyoto. If you don't max it out, he will be there.
• Fantasy-Forbidding Father: Averted by his aunt, who supported his dream of studying in Japan, and played straight by his uncle, who appears to be skeptical of Bebe's goal of staying in Japan for good.
• Foreign Culture Fetish: His obsession with Japan and its culture is what drove him to study at Gekkoukan High School.
• Foreign Exchange Student: Bebe is originally from France and ended up in Gekkoukan through a student exchange program.
• Funetik Aksent: Everything stereotypical about a French accent, with added Gratuitous Japanese.
• Gratuitous Japanese: In the English localization, Bebe has a habit of peppering his lines with Japanese words. This is to emphasize that Japanese isn't his first language while staying within Translation Convention. In the Japanese version, his Japanese is excessively formal and at times outdated (as though he learned Japanese from watching samurai movies).
• Handwriting as Characterization: The letter he sends to the protagonist in the epilogue is noted to be written with an unsteady hand, which is explained as him not being used to writing in Japanese characters.
• Naïve Newcomer: He hasn't been in Japan for very long and doesn't know that much about Japanese customs yet, so he will take the Protagonist's claim that the Japanese custom for saying "Goodbye" to a friend is "Hasta La Vista/I'll Be Back" at face value.
• Nice Guy: His entire Social Link just shows him as a genuinely pleasant person, whose biggest "crime" is being a little green to the country. Even if you ignore him and he leaves the country, he's still polite and apologetic in his note about it.
• Occidental Otaku: A French exchange student utterly obsessed with Japanese culture, to the point that it's the reason he's in Japan at all.
• Only Smart People May Pass: You need an Academics of at least 3 to start the Social Link. This is because Bebe put up the sign advertising when the Fashion Club meets in French, requiring you to know at least a little of it in order to join.
• Overly Long Name: His real name. How he got the nickname Bebe out of it is not stated.
• Permanently Missable Content: If you don't start his Social Link before the third full moon (aka. the one where you recruit Fuuka), he will disappear, leaving a note saying that you never showed up so he left.
• Phenotype Stereotype: Blond, blue eyed French transfer student.
• Put on a Bus: At the end of his S. Link, as he returns to his home country.
• Token White: He is the only White European character in the game and one of the four White characters in the entire franchise (the others being Lisa Silverman, Lisa's father and Teddie). Justified, since the game takes place in Japan and he is an exchange student from France.

Tanaka (Devil)

Tanaka

"If you go back on your word, I'll find out where you live and ring the doorbell every night!"

^{Click here to see Tanaka in Persona 5.}

"Hello, everyone! Welcome to the home shopping show, 'Tanaka's Amazing Commodities'!"

Voiced by: Bin Shimada (Japanese), Christopher Corey Smith (English; Persona 4: The Animation), Patrick Seitz (English; Persona 4: Dancing All Night and Reload)

Company president and TV salesman, Tanaka is the owner of a home shopping network which the Protagonist can buy products from every Sunday. Later on, the Protagonist can find him standing around Port Island Station or the mall depending on the game version. He represents the Devil Social Link, and pursuing it has Tanaka swindling the Protagonist out of 40,000¥ before deciding to start giving him/her some of his rather unscrupulous business advice, and even considering making him/her a model for his company. Eventually, he reveals that even though he's filthy rich, he's always so busy that he never has the time to really use any of his money. The S. Link ends with Tanaka finally deciding to give some of his money to charity, and gives the Protagonist a Thank-you Letter he received from the charity, allowing him/her to fuse Beelzebub. Later in FES, it's implied that he may have given up on his dubious business techniques.

In FES and P3P, Tanaka is one of the easiest S. Links to level up as the male Protagonist, due to him being one of the two only S. Links available at night, as well as the fact that every time the player talks to him, the S. Link is guaranteed to level up.

He returns in Persona 4, once again hosting "Tanaka's Amazing Commodities" every Sunday morning. Like in P3, Yu can purchase his products by watching his show every Sunday. However, he doesn't serve as the Devil S. Link for Yu this time.

In Persona 5, Tanaka now hosts an online shopping website. To visit his website, Joker must buy a broken laptop and a PC toolset and fix the laptop in his room.

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• Anti-Role Model: In the 8th Social Link, he tells the protagonist that someone recently called him a negative role model and said that they'd decided to become a public prosecutor in order to go after companies that sold fraudulent goods like his. He's obviously more bothered by the thought of this than he says.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: The bizarre threats he makes to keep you from revealing his secrets (see below) decrease in severity with each Social Link rank. Justified in that it signifies his growing trust in you.
• At Least I Admit It: Tanaka states that one of the secrets to his success is the fact that he doesn't try to sugarcoat any of his sketchy business practices, which paradoxically makes him seem more honest.
• The Barnum: As a businessman who's not above making a yen off people's gullibility with a smile, he fits the trope to a tee.
• Continuity Cameo:
  • In Persona 4 he continues to run his Sunday afternoon TV sales program, offering a choice between two sets of two items per week, and selling gas masks and first aid kits when Inaba is covered by fog (which the player is unable to buy due to extreme demand).
  • In Persona 4: Dancing All Night he appears as the host of the in-game store.
  • In Persona 5, Tanaka has moved on to running a "Shady Commodities Store" that sells rare and potentially illegal goods. Also, he's wearing shades.
• Cash Gate: Like Chihaya's Confidant in P5, you must pay 40,000¥ to unlock his Social Link — one installment of 20,000¥ and two more installments of 10,000¥. Unlike Chihaya, you don't get the money back — Tanaka mocks you for falling for it, then starts his Social Link by offering to teach you how to deal with the real world.
• Cool Shades: He wears a pair in P5.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: The reason he's the Devil Social Link.
• Cut His Heart Out with a Spoon: He throws all kinds of bizarre threats at you at the beginning of his S. Link to keep you from telling people about him swindling you out of the 40,000¥. These threats range from making you swallow a thousand needles to putting your picture on a dating site for former convicts^note the "former convicts" bit is dropped in Reload, to ringing your doorbell every night at midnight.
• Driven by Envy: He got his start based on envy of those who were richer than he was as a child, meaning basically everyone he knew. During the later parts of the social link he slowly comes to realize that since he's long since surpassed such people the act of simply making money for its own sake has started to become unsatisfying.
• Ear Worm: The TV Tanaka theme. It's even described as "obnoxiously catchy" in-game.
• Informed Attribute: Maya says he "talks like a woman", but this doesn't really come across much in the English dialogue, and Patrick Seitz's delivery for his lines in Reload's English dub uses his naturally bassy voice. He does have a pretty high-pitched voice during his cameo in the Japanese dub of Persona 4: The Animation and Persona 3: The Movie.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He starts off as a self-interested scummy businessman. He also develops into a rough-around-the-edges yet lovable friend by the end of his Social Link. The heart of gold part is slightly more emphasized in the female route, where he is more open about the fact that the protagonist is probably better off without his assistance.
• Leitmotif: "Jika Net Tanaka".
• My Card: How he introduces himself to you in the first social link. At which point he becomes horrified that you know who he is after he's taken your 40,000¥.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Tanaka, his "Jika Net Tanaka" infomercial theme song, and his shows are all references to a real-life famous telemarketer in Japan called Japanet Takata. Takata is sort of a Japanese version of Billy Mays. A definite case of a reference that went over non-Japanese players due to how obscure it is, but nearly everyone in Japan recognizes Takata and his style of telemarketing speech.
• Recurring Extra: The only character besides Igor and Philemon's butterfly form to show up in 3, 4, and 5, and he never takes a plot-important role.
• Self-Made Man: He talks about how poor he was in his youth a fair amount.
• Stupidity Is the Only Option: In order to initiate his S. Link, the player has to go along with Tanaka scamming them out of some money. He even points out that it's obviously silly for you to keep coming back to him after he's obviously ripped you off.
• You Lose at Zero Trust: Averted. Unlike most other Social Links, his cannot break or reverse, and every meeting with him is a guaranteed rank up.

Mutatsu (Tower)

Mutatsu

Voiced by: Masaharu Sato (Japanese; Drama CDs), Shin Aomori (Japanese; Reload), Aaron LaPlante (English; Reload)

Found sitting by himself, drinking and smoking, at Club Escapade, Mutatsu is a rough, rude Buddhist monk. He represents the Tower arcana in his S. Link, and pursuing it reveals that he comes to the club often to get drunk, due to his wife and son leaving him because of his obsession with his work. For a while, he dispenses some rather depressing advice to the Protagonist, and starts treating him/her as his own son/daughter. Eventually, he decides to hire a private detective to track down his wife and son, wanting to apologize and ask them to take him back, and gives the Protagonist a Reserve Tag, allowing him/her to fuse Chi You.

Mutatsu is one of the easiest S. Links to max out as the male Protagonist, as he's one of the only two ones available at night.

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• Aloof Big Brother: He has a younger brother who runs the Chagall Cafe at Okina City in Persona 4 Golden. The two aren't especially close, and it's implied that Mutatsu's younger brother caused him some trouble at some point.
• Face of a Thug: He's described in his S. Link info as looking like a yakuza. And it shows.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He comes off as rather abrasive and sometimes condescending, but he gives the protagonist a lot of surprisingly useful advice, and eventually seeks to reconcile with his family.
• Nun Too Holy: He's Buddhist monk, but is also rude and temperamental and spends his evenings getting drunk and smoking cigars in a nightclub, which he does to escape from the fact that his wife and son walked out on him in the past.
• Only One Name: He states that Mutatsu is his Buddhist name, and doesn't provide another name.
• Replacement Goldfish: He treats the MC as if he/she was his own son/daughter for a while, until he decides he wants the real thing back.
• Scare 'Em Straight: At one point when the MC visits Mutatsu, he is so drunk that he mistakenly believes the MC (who he had been treating like a son/daughter up to this point) is his actual child. When he's later sober, Mutatsu is so embarrassed by this that he starts cleaning himself up then and there.
• They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!: He insists that the protagonist use the "-san" honorific after his name.

Akinari Kamiki (Sun)

Akinari Kamiki

Voiced by: Hiroshi Kamiya (Japanese; Drama CDs), Hirofumi Nojima (Japanese; Reload), Lucien Dodge (English; Reload)

A frail young man who represents the Sun Social Link, Akinari likes to spend his Sunday afternoons sitting by the playground at Naganaki Shrine. He was born with a terminal illness and doesn't have much longer to live. At first bitter about his fate and reluctant to talk to people, he gradually opens up to the Protagonist and develops not only a powerful friendship with him/her, but the inspiration to write a children's book as his parting message to the world: a tragic but ultimately hopeful story about the friendship between an outcast pink alligator and a bird who can't fly. Once it's finished, he thanks the Protagonist and gives him/her his Worn Notebook containing the story before fading into sunlight before his/her eyes, letting him/her fuse Asura.

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• Dead All Along: At the end of his Rank 10, he Disappears into Light, indicating that he has already died by that point and you're talking to his ghost.
• Delicate and Sickly: He has a terminal congenital condition (implied to be something akin to cystic fibrosis based on his symptoms), and eventually stops taking his medication to suppress it, claiming they were only speeding up the process. His Social Link is actually described as "The Dying Young Man".
• Disappears into Light: How his last meeting with the protagonist ends. Reload shows the protagonist's surprise as he suddenly disappears in a sudden flash.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: The only way to make him even a little mad is to say that you understand his pain, which he is quick to call out.
• Downer Ending: He originally plans to end the story he's writing with the alligator accidentally swallowing the bird and regretting it for the rest of his life. Meeting with you leads him to turn it into a Bittersweet Ending.
• Incurable Cough of Death: It only gets worse with each conversation.
• Leitmotif: While "Living With Determination" is a prominent part of the soundtrack, this song plays during each rank of his Social Link in the original games. In Reload, it's an unnamed track that is a somber piano version of "Memories of You", until the final rank, where Reload's version of "Living With Determination" actually plays.
• Nice Guy: The "meanest" he ever gets is when he says that the protagonist is selfish and can't ever understand how he feels about dying young. Beyond that, he's nothing but a sweet guy who doesn't deserve his fate.
• Not Too Dead to Save the Day: It's possible that when you meet Akinari for the last time and he gives you his book, he's already died off-screen. Maxing his S. Link also means that he cheers you on along with your other maxed S. Links right before you take on Nyx. When visiting social links in the epilogue, you meet his mother, stating that he died the day you maxed out his Social Link.
• Short-Lived, Big Impact: In-Universe. During Kanji's S. Link in Persona 4, there's a mention of a children's book with a pink alligator character. In Golden it's not only revealed that his book was published, but that it's taught in schools, where Nanako reads the story during Adachi's S. Link.
• Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Akinari is a gentle, thoughtful soul who barely reaches 19 due to nothing more than a genetic lung disease.
• Tragic Keepsake: The children's book he leaves behind.
• You Lose at Zero Trust: Averted, as he will always rank up when you visit him and he cannot break or reverse on you.
• Your Days Are Numbered: From the day he was born, no less.

Exclusive to the male protagonist

Kenji Tomochika (Magician)

Kenji Tomochika

Voiced by: Kenji Nojima (Japanese; Drama CDs and movies), Wataru Hatano (Japanese; Reload), Joe Zieja (English; Reload)

A fellow classmate of the Protagonist, Kenji is the male Protagonist's first Social Link, the Magician, which is established automatically soon after he starts attending Gekkoukan High. Already friends with Junpei and Kazushi, he's also somewhat attracted to Yukari, though the Protagonist soon discovers that he mostly has a thing for older women. In fact, pursuing his Social Link reveals that he has a crush on one of his teachers, and the Protagonist helps him in his quest to win her over. Though ultimately unsuccessful, the experience allows Kenji to move on, and he gives the Protagonist a Handmade Choker in thanks for his help, letting him fuse Surt (before Reload) or Futsunushi (in Reload).

He loses his S. Link status in P3P to Junpei if the player chooses the female Protagonist, though he still makes appearances as part of Rio Iwasaki's S. Link.

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• Boke and Tsukkomi Routine: In FES onwards, after the school festival is canceled, Kenji and the MC can act out an impromptu Manzai routine for the rest of the class, with Kenji acting as the boke and MC the tsukkomi.
• Bookends: His Social Link ends exactly how it began, with him inviting the MC for ramen and talking about getting a girlfriend.
• Demoted to Extra: In the Female Protagonist route in Persona 3 Portable. He's replaced as the Magician Social Link by Junpei, but still makes a number of appearances across the game, most notably as part of Rio's Social Link.
• Hidden Depths:
  • Kenji is surprisingly fashion-conscious, commenting on the MC's wardrobe at certain points. In fact, the item he gives the MC at the end of his S. Link is a choker he made for him because he "doesn't look fashionable enough."
  • He's also the in-game tutorial for the game's dating mechanic. Sleazy as he is, he's not wrong at understanding the much-maligned jealousy mechanic in game.
• Hopeless Suitor: There was never anything going on between him and Emiri, it was all in his head, but it takes seeing her with a fiancé for him to realize.
• Hope Spot: During Rank 7 of his Social Link he thinks he's making progress with Emiri, but she actually just has her own fiancee.
• Innocently Insensitive: A lot of his comments about preferring older women come off as this, especially around Rio whom he doesn't realize has feelings for him. In the first P3P Drama CD, his statements offend the other girls to the point even the Heroine gets angry.
• Likes Older Women: His attraction to his teacher, and possibly his obliviousness toward Rio's attraction towards him, is based on this trope.
• Love Hurts: His perception that his love for his teacher was reciprocated turns out to be a mistake and she's actually kind of creeped out.
• Meaningful Name: His family name is spelled with the kanji for friend (友) and near or close (近), indicating how he's the first Social Link the male Protagonist makes during his journey.
• Oblivious to Love: Is completely unaware of Rio's feelings towards him.
• Shipper on Deck: Encourages the Male Protagonist to date Yukari at numerous points over the course of his Social Link.
• Teacher/Student Romance: He has a crush on his teacher, and they actually start dating. Or at least that's how he perceives it.

Kazushi Miyamoto (Chariot)

Kazushi "Kaz" Miyamoto

Voiced by: Atsushi Kisaichi (Japanese; Drama CDs and movies), Eiji Miyashita (Japanese; Reload), Mark Whitten (English; Reload)

Kaz is a member of whatever sport team the male Protagonist joins and represents the Chariot Social Link. Stubborn and fanatical, Kaz quickly declares himself the Protagonist's rival, and aims to win the championship. By pursuing the Social Link, the Protagonist discovers that Kaz is secretly suffering from an injured knee, which is only getting worse due to his constant and overzealous training in an attempt to keep up with his teammates. The reason that he's pushing himself so hard is that he's trying to convince his nephew, who was crippled in an accident, to undergo rehab by winning the championship. Finally, at the point of never being able to walk again if he continues and the Protagonist's urging, Kaz decides to tell the team about his injury, give up the championship, and go to the hospital to get surgery, and gives the Protagonist his Sports Tape, letting him fuse Thor.

In P3P, Kaz loses his S. Link status to Rio Iwasaki if the player chooses the female Protagonist, though he still makes the occasional appearance, usually alongside Yuko or Kenji.

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• Ambiguous Situation: Kaz appears in the Female Protagonist route of Persona 3 Portable, but it's unclear which sports team he's part of.
• Bittersweet Ending: His Social Link ends with him choosing to get surgery for his busted knee over winning the championship, even though winning said championship has been his lifelong dream. He's not too broken up about it, though.
• Cool Uncle: It is revealed that he wanted to win a trophy for the sake of his nephew.
• Continuity Cameo: Due to the movies mostly excising all social links in favor of focusing on S.E.E.S., he gets little screentime, but makes small appearances throughout the films, including watching Nyx's arrival.
• Cutting Off the Branches: In previous releases of P3, he was a part of whatever sports team the male protagonist joined, including Kendo, Track, and Swimming, but the adaptations vary with which one he's on:
  • In the movies, he is a part of the Kendo club, complaining about how his team was losing motivation.
  • In Reload, the other two clubs aren't options and the Protagonist only meets Kaz after joining the track team.
• Determinator: Kaz isn't about to let potentially never being able to walk again stop him from winning the championship. Eventually subverted, as he decides to give up the championship and get surgery for his knee instead. To reflect this, a lot of the proper responses to his S. Link scenes are basically "Suck it up."
• Handicapped Badass: He doesn't let his injured knee hold him back in accomplishing his dreams. He eventually gets the surgery for his knee at the end of his Social Link. In the epilogue, if he gets surgery for his knee after the protagonist completes his Social Link, it was a complete success and his knee is fully healed.
• In Spite of a Nail: Still suffers his knee injury in the Female Protagonist route of Persona 3 Portable. However, without the Male Protagonist there to help Kaz hide his injury from the rest of the team, this time around Kaz isn't able to keep it a secret. Subsequently he and Yuko skip the summer tournament and join the Female Protagonist's sports club on their trip to Inaba with the intent of visiting the Amagi Inn's hot spring to help him in his physical therapy.
• Limited Wardrobe: He wears his PE uniform wherever he goes, even during the trip to Kyoto, not wanting to waste a chance to train. The only time he didn't wear them is during sports practice.
• Meaningful Name: His given name is spelled with the characters for one (一) and will/purpose (志), indicating his single-minded pursuit of his sports dream.
• Non-Uniform Uniform: Wears his PE uniform to school all year long. Yuko chews him out on the first day of school when she sees him in it.
• The Rival: He starts off as this for the MC, but that role is eventually taken over by Mamoru.
• Unknown Rival: He thinks of himself as Mamoru's rival, but Mamoru doesn't seem to know who he is.

Chihiro Fushimi (Justice)

Chihiro Fushimi

Voiced by: Ai Maeda (Japanese; Persona 4, Persona 4: The Animation, Persona 3 movies), Aya Endo (Japanese; Reload), Wendee Lee (English; Persona 4), Cassandra Lee Morris (English; Persona 4: The Animation), Kelly Baskin (English; Reload)

Chihiro is the student council treasurer, and the male Protagonist's Justice Social Link. She is pretty much a textbook example of the painfully shy, bookish, yet surprisingly attractive nerd girl. Pursuing her Social Link gets her to open up a bit more and eventually deal with accusations that she stole money from the school, building her confidence to confront the teacher that accused her. Thankfully, it turns out to have been an error on his part, and she gives the Protagonist a volume of her favorite Manga in gratitude for his help, letting him fuse Melchizedek.

In P3P, Chihiro loses her S. Link status to Ken if the player chooses the female Protagonist, but she still makes her token appearances in Hidetoshi's S. Link scenes.

In Persona 4, Chihiro, now a third-year student, appears during the Investigation Team's trip to Tatsumi Port Island as a much more confident young lady and Gekkoukan's Student Council President.

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• Abusive Parents: Reload all but states that her father was one. Just being around men reminds her of him, as well as the fact that he no longer lives with her anymore, indicates that her home life hadn't been a very pleasant experience when he was still around.
• Adaptational Expansion: Reload reveals that nervousness around men was the result of a troubled upbringing by her father.
• Bespectacled Cutie: She's a cute, shy bespectacled girl who spends much of her free time reading.
• Beware the Quiet Ones: After (understandably... or not) misinterpreting Mitsuru's intentions towards the Male Protagonist, it gives her enough guts to run up to the teacher that she knows is responsible for the missing funds and chew him out.
• Bookworm: Due to her shyness, she prefers books to people. Expect to see the bookstore and school library quite a bit in her Social Link.
• Chekhov's Gunman: She's mentioned in Q as a gauging point between the events of 3 and 4 after both teams realize they met her at different points in time.
• Clear My Name: Has to do this later in her link, when people suspect her of stealing money from school.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Late into her Social Link, Chihiro blows her top when Mitsuru says a poor choice of words that create a brief misunderstanding (she specifically asks the male protagonist to meet her in her room, alone, at night. Yeeeaaah...) in regards to the missing funds for the school. In terms of gameplay for the vanilla game, FES, and Portable, Chihiro has the unique distinction of entering into a romantic relationship with the male protagonist at an earlier rank than the other girls. Specifically Rank 5. For reference, all other girls are romanced at Rank 7 or 8. This persists in Reload, up until Rank 8, where Chihiro formally gives him a confession, though whether the player engages in a romantic relationship with her at this point is entirely up to them since Reload makes romancing certain female Social Links optional.
• Continuity Cameo: She appears in Persona 4 when the Yasogami High School students have a class trip to Tatsumi Port Island, and in Persona 4: The Animation, is the one to show them around the campus.
• Disappeared Dad: One of the students mentions that she has no father, which matches the fact she only mentions her mother during her Social Link subplot. Reload reveals that he no longer lives with her anymore, due to what is implied to be an abusive relationship.
• Does Not Like Men: She's very nervous around guys at the start of her Social Link. You have to talk to her no less than three times before you actually form a bond with her. She eventually gets over this with the male protagonist's help.
• Extreme Doormat: She is socially awkward, not helped by her general nervousness around men. Unfortunately, when she gets accused by her classmates of embezzling the class funds, she only digs herself deeper because she lacks the spine to assert that she is innocent.
• Good with Numbers: Subverted. Chihiro is bad at math even though she's the treasurer. She just wasn't assertive enough to refuse the position.
• Grew a Spine: Her S. Link revolves around her overcoming her fear of men, which culminates in her confronting her homeroom teacher about the missing funds which she was accused of stealing.
• Nerds Are Sexy: As a third-year student, she's much more mature and elegant in P4 now that she's the president of the student council, with Yosuke and Kanji showing some slight attraction towards her. In the anime, Yu comments on how the glasses help compliment her look.
• She Is All Grown Up: Downplayed in that it's just a 2-year gap between the events of Persona 3 and Persona 4, but she's significantly more attractive and confident as a 17-18 year old high-school third year than how she was as a 15-16 year old first year, which is reflected in her character portrait changing between games. In 3, her default portrait looks more homely and shy, but in 4, her portrait looks more confident and happy.
• Shrinking Violet: She starts off being utterly terrified of talking to men, and it takes some coaxing to get her to come out of her shell enough to even start her S. Link. Years later, she shows some improvement by giving a wonderful speech to the students of Yasogami High, but still fumbles every now and then.
• Student Council President: While she was a treasurer in P3, she takes on this role in P4, succeeding Mitsuru.

Maya (Hermit)

Maya

^{Click here to see her true identity}

Isako Toriumi

Voiced by: Yuka Komatsu (Japanese), Valerie Arem (English; original), Katelyn Gault (English; Reload)

Maya represents the male Protagonist's Hermit Social Link, which begins when Junpei gives the Protagonist a copy of the old MMORPG Innocent Sin Online. The Social Link consists mainly of Maya not really understanding why she's so unmotivated regarding her career and social life and instead choosing to waste time on an MMO. In addition, her interactions with the Protagonist consist largely of complaining about her coworkers, all the while dropping small hints regarding her identity and occupation. When Innocent Sin Online administration announces that the servers will all be shut down, she plans on sending her and the Protagonist's chat logs to them in order to prevent this, but ultimately decides against it as she realized when reading over them that she didn't want to have the game keep running just so she could vent, and tells the Protagonist that she's quitting the game. Before she logs off for the last time, she leaves a message in the sand for him saying "i luv u". The Protagonist takes a screenshot of this and sends the Screenshot Data to his phone, making it his cellphone's background picture and letting him fuse Arahabaki. Her true identity is not revealed until the very last days of the game.

In P3P, Maya loses her S. Link status to Saori Hasegawa if the player chooses the female Protagonist.

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• Acquainted in Real Life: In the epilogue, while talking to Toriumi, she sees your phone background and realizes you, one of her students, are Tatsuya.
• Amazonian Beauty: She often hits the gym to work off stress and even says in one of their dates "I am so buff".
• Beneath the Mask: Maya's link is dedicated to showing someone who doesn't really have to act in front of others. After all, it doesn't matter what Tatsuya think of her, right? Her public face is the strict but generally understanding teacher Isako Toriumi, who is completely different from Maya.
• Company Cross References: In the Japanese script of her Social Link, it contain references to the greater Megami Tensei franchise. The MMORPG was Devil Busters and the screen names were Y-Ko and N-Jima.
• Cool Teacher: She lets slip early on that she's a teacher. In fact, she's Toriumi, who is generally understanding and protective of her students, and constantly argues with Mr. Ekoda (who's something of an Obstructive Bureaucrat).
• Foreshadowing: She drops various hints on her true identity before it's confirmed in the epilogue, such as living near Paulownia Mall, being a teacher and complaining about some of her co-workers with names and descriptions that sound like some of the teachers at Gekkoukan. Most overtly, she talks about a certain transfer student that has the same name as the protagonist... In FES and the male route of Portable, her portrait when she voices her support during the final battle is a static-obscured silhouette of her real identity^note To maintain the secret a little better in Reload, regardless if the player having figured it out or not by this point, her portrait is of her online avatar, which didn't exist in the original releases.
• Freak Out: The moment Isako realizes that the Protagonist is her online boyfriend, she almost loses her mind.
• Gamer Chick: She plays a lot of video games, especially MMOs, and is quite knowledgeable about them.
• Hard-Drinking Party Girl: She once got drunk and passed out at the Paulownia Mall. Later, an older man (Tanaka) calls her a "drunk slut". She also occasionally appears and types drunk while playing online.
• Hypocrite: Defied. She mentions that she has no right to complain about men preferring younger women because she herself prefers younger men.
• Leet Lingo: She muses that while she's perfectly capable of writing correctly, she's just too lazy to do it during her free time. She even teaches composition. On October 3rd, she'll even mention in class how she has mastered leetspeak.
• Mrs. Robinson: Ruefully admits that she can't complain about people overlooking her due to age considering she has a preference for younger guys herself.
• Mythology Gag: In the English script of the P3's releases, her social Link are references to Persona 2: Innocent Sin, and Persona 2: Eternal Punishment. The title of the MMORPG is "Innocent Sin Online", her avatar is Maya, and she convinces the MC to change his avatar's name to Tatsuya, reflecting the names of the two main characters of the P2 duology.
• Old Maid: Her age isn't explicitly stated, but she's at least in her twenties and gets a great deal of grief from her mother, and Tanaka, about becoming too old to marry. She doesn't really consider it unfair that men prefer younger women since she likes younger guys herself.
• Only Sane Employee: She complains about being this compared to the rest of the teachers, accusing them of stuffing their bust, being huge jerks or just bizarre. That's a little debatable, but her idiosyncrasies are at least less overt than the rest.
• Red Herring: If you watch the news with the dorm's television, a report will mention a 92-year-old woman who likes playing online games to interact with young people. That's not her.
• Sitcom Archnemesis: She dislikes Mr. Ekoda, which may be why she enjoys standing up to him near the end of Saori's Social Link.
• Stern Teacher: Isako has a habit of assigning new transfer students empty seats that belong to other students, with the logic that if they aren't there, they aren't part of the class.
• Suddenly Voiced: In Reload, most of her dialogue is unvoiced due to her communicating with you via internet chat. However, her line of support during the final battle is voiced.
• Sweet Tooth: Isako loves cake, to the point that she sometimes assigns bringing a slice of cake along with homework. The other teachers have learned to bring cake when they're delivering bad news.
• Teacher/Student Romance: She admits to crushing on one of her students, but appears too professional to do anything about it. She does ask the protagonist out when she finds out who he is, but runs away before he answers.
• Tsundere: Judging by Isako's reaction to finding out who Tatsuya was all this time, including asking him out to dinner and then throwing her dictionary down and declaring "Oh, to hell with this!" before running off, she's probably this.
• Wham Line: From the protagonist, in the epilogue. "Hello, Maya-san."
• Wham Shot: Again, from the protagonist, in the epilogue. When he goes to find Toriumi, he accidentally drops his cellphone. She picks it up and sees his cellphone's background image... the Love Confession in the sand she left for Tatsuya, which immediately flusters her.

Keisuke Hiraga (Fortune)

Keisuke Hiraga

Voiced by: Shinnosuke Tachibana (Japanese; Drama CDs), Yūichi Iguchi (Japanese; Reload), Griffin Burns (English; Reload)

Keisuke is the leader of whatever Culture Club the male Protagonist joins. The son of a doctor, Keisuke is under pressure to quit his club and join the family business. He represents the Fortune Social Link, and pursuing it has him refusing to quit the club, claiming that he doesn't want to become a doctor. This is proven to be untrue, however, as he's shown to be quick to help people who are sick or injured. Eventually, he gets over his denial and quits, throwing himself into studying for his entry exams and giving the Protagonist his Offer Letter, letting him fuse Norn (before Reload) or Lakshmi (in Reload).

In P3P, Keisuke loses his S. Link status to Ryoji if the player chooses the Female Protagonist, and his role in the game is greatly diminished, only making a few small appearances.

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• Born Lucky: In one time-off event, he and the protagonist win lots of tickets at the arcade, prompting him to mention how he's always had good luck.
• The Call Knows Where You Live: During his Rank 9 social link, Keisuke tries to to leave Port Island so he can study abroad, only to be stopped when an elderly woman collapses in front of him and he feels obligated to help; once she's received proper medical attention, Keisuke tries to leave again only for a second person to collapse in front of him, this time from a heart attack. Once the ambulance leaves, Keisuke abandons his plans and returns home.
• Cutting Off the Branches: In the Male Protagonist route, Keisuke is president of the Art, Music or Photography club, depending on which club the player decides to join; in the Drama CDs of Portable and in the Female Protagonist route of the same game, he makes a cameo in Junpei's social link as the president of the Photography club. Reload cuts the branches off again by making him the president of the Art Club.
• Hard Work Fallacy: Through his social link, Keisuke displays a higher degree of medical knowledge than would be expected from a high school student. If the player completes his social link and speaks to him in early March during the epilogue, Keisuke admits he failed his college entrance exams because he spent too much time struggling with his decision instead of actually studying, but intends to put the work in and try again the following year.
• Jumped at the Call: Despite his protests to the contrary, Keisuke repeatedly jumps to help people with medical issues over his social link, despite never being asked to.
• Odd Friendship: With Hidetoshi, of all people. Apparently, they're friends from childhood.
• Refusal of the Call: His social link revolves around how he doesn't want to become a doctor just because everyone (particularly his dad) says to, despite him having the aptitude for it. He eventually accepts it, after realizing how much he wants to help people.

Yuko Nishiwaki (Strength)

Yuko Nishiwaki

Voiced by: Satomi Sato (Japanese; Drama CDs and movies), Emiri Katou (Japanese; Reload), Shelby Young (English; Reload)

The team manager for whatever Athletic Club the male Protagonist joins, Yuko represents the Strength Social Link, and is one of the male Protagonist's potential love interests. Pursuing her Social Link has the Protagonist discover Yuko's lack of motivation, as she's not really sure what to do with her life. As the Social Link goes on, she ends up coaching a group of neighborhood children on how to run faster, so they could beat a group of sixth graders in a race and win back their playground. While coaching them, she finds her motivation and eventually decides to become an athletic trainer, giving the Protagonist the Kids' Letter and letting him fuse Siegfried (before Reload) or Atavaka (in Reload).

In the female Protagonist's story in P3P, Yuko loses her S. Link status to Koromaru, though she still makes the occasional appearance as part of Rio Iwasaki's S. Link.

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• Ambiguous Situation: Yuko appears in the Female Protagonist route of Persona 3 Portable, but it's unclear which sports team she manages.
• Ambiguously Brown: Her dark skin and prominent lips imply that she is part-african.
• Book Dumb: She comes off as this in the beginning, though it's more that she lacks motivation.
• Childhood Friend: She and Kaz have known each other since elementary school. They're so familiar with each other, Kaz is often Yuko's guinea pig for sports remedies and the like.
• Cute Sports Club Manager: Yuko is the club manager of whichever team you join.
• Cutting Off the Branches: Yuko is the manager of whatever sports team the protagonist joins in the original releases of P3, but the adaptations vary with whichever one she's the manager of:
  • In the movies, she is manager of the Kendo club, with Kaz complaining about how she's leaving early.
  • In Reload, the other two clubs aren't options and the protagonist only meets Yuko after joining the track team.
• Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: Subverted. Yuko is in no hurry to set a goal for herself, believing that she has plenty of time to decide what to do in the future until graduation, though she takes great joy in being a sports team manager since all she wants is for the team to live up to their potential. This carries over to training a group of kids on how to become faster runners.
• Does This Make Me Look Fat?: Yuko tries to pull a "Do you think I eat too much" variation on you at one point and then plans to buff up her arms.
• Friend to All Children: She even ends up coaching a bunch of them so that they can run faster.
• He's Not My Boyfriend: Downplayed, but still present with the male protagonist. She tries correcting the kids she's coaching but they all ignore her and keep calling him her boyfriend, though she doesn't get flustered or annoyed about it. In the original releases, the male protagonist will automatically date her at Rank 7 of her Social Link, while Reload changes it to an optional romance that can happen at Rank 9. In its place, at Rank 7, Yuko notes the kids kept calling the protagonist her boyfriend, which gives an optional dialogue prompt of "wanna make that true?" Picking this option makes her do a flustered Double Take, making the protagonist laugh.
• Insane Troll Logic: In the Female Protagonist route of Persona 3 Portable she is worried that if she ends up together with Kaz he will no longer have anyone to take care of him.
• Nurse with Good Intentions: In the Female Protagonist route of Persona 3 Portable, Yuko and Kaz join the Female Protagonist's sports club on their trip to Inaba with the intent of visiting the Amagi Inn's hot spring to help Kaz with his physical therapy.
• Ship Tease: P3P really ladles on the Yuko/Kaz. Lampshaded by Yuko worrying about winding up together because who else would take care of him?
• Team Mom: Acts as one for the Athletic Club, as well as for the children she coaches. And Kaz. Very much towards Kaz.
• Tomboy with a Girly Streak: Downplayed. She's quite feminine and is also an avid athlete.

Mamoru Hayase (Star)

Mamoru Hayase

Voiced by: Yuichiro Umehara (Japanese; Reload), Yong Yea (English; Reload)

The top athlete of his school, with the potential for even competing on a professional level, Mamoru befriends the male Protagonist after soundly beating him in the summer tournament, after which the two of them establish a friendly rivalry. He represents the Star Social Link for the male Protagonist, and pursuing it reveals that he's trying to get into college on a scholarship and be a professional athlete, but he has to work to support his siblings with his mother after his father died in a car accident. After a while, his mother collapses from exhaustion, and the responsibility falls solely on him, to the point where he even has to give up both his sport and college. After the Protagonist helps him through it, he eventually decides to give up for the time being and go to work at the factory his father worked at, and gives the Protagonist his father's Car Key, allowing him to fuse Lucifer (or Helel in FES onward).

In P3P, Mamoru loses his S. Link status to Akihiko and disappears from the story entirely if the player chooses the female Protagonist.

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• Broken Ace: He's better than everyone else in the game at whatever sport he's participating in, but he's burdened by the fact that he has to support his family and may not be admitted to college or be able to keep participating in his sport for financial reasons.
• Continuity Cameo: Makes a brief appearance in the film adaptations, where he wins against Makoto during the athletic meet.
• Cutting Off the Branches: Like Kazushi and Yuko, Mamoru will be the male protagonist's rival in whatever sports team he joined, with the adaptations tending varying on the one he's competing in:
  • In the movies, it's kendo, beating Makoto to win August's championship.
  • In Reload, he is a part of the rival track team, as that is the only team the protagonist can join in the game.
• Lonely at the Top: Mamoru isn't close to fellow teammates, saying he's the only one who takes the club seriously and that there's nothing driving the club to stay together. As the link progresses, this is subverted with the entire team rallying to help Mamoru.
• Meaningful Name: His given name means to protect or safeguard, indicating his role as the new breadwinner of the family, while his family name is spelled with the characters for fast (早) and rapids/current (瀬), indicating his status as a star athlete. This is even more meaningful if the protagonist selects the track or swimming teams.
• Nice Guy: He congratulates the Protagonist for how well he did in the athletics tournament and is a nice guy who cares about his family and gives up his dreams to support them.
• Put on a Bus: At the end of his S. Link he moves away to get a job. During the game's epilogue, the protagonist receives a letter from him if you've finished the link, with the implication of Commuting on a Bus being the next step. Since the protagonist is already on borrowed time when he sees this message, the reunion between the two never happens.
• The Rival: He sees you as one, though whether or not the protagonist views him as such is unclear and up to the player. You first meet him at the summer athletic event, which may be your last involvement in athletics if you've completed the Chariot Arcana social link.
• Tragic Keepsake: He carries the key to the car his father was driving when he died. He hands it to you as a sign of his moving on from his past when you finish the Social Link.

Nozomi Suemitsu (Moon)

Nozomi Suemitsu

Voiced by: Fukushi Ochiai (Japanese; Reload), Paul Castro Jr. (English; Reload)

An obese, unpopular senior who sits alone in Paulownia Mall, Nozomi is nicknamed the "Gourmet King" and serves as the Moon Social Link for the male Protagonist. At first he seems to be an arrogant and unlikable boy who's bizarrely obsessed with food, but as the Social Link advances, he pressures someone into joining a secret cult, which is quite expensive, and the Gourmet King's true background begins to gradually emerge afterwards, revealing a complicated story involving his cult, a sibling rivalry, and a childhood tragedy. Through his interaction with the protagonist, Nozomi decides to be his own person and passes his title onto the Protagonist, dubbing him "Gourmet King The 2nd" and giving him a Gourmet License, letting him fuse Sandalphon.

In P3P, he loses his S. Link status to Shinjiro, and doesn't appear in the female Protagonist's storyline.

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• Adaptational Nice Guy: It's subtle, but Reload has him written to be a touch less abrasive than his characterization in the original and FES. He's still got a ridiculously unwarranted ego and demands respect from the protagonist, but he does make it clear early on in his Social Link that he ultimately considers you a friend who he genuinely enjoys spending time with, rather than just a follower of his self-styled Gourmet King title.
• Always Second Best: He struggles with being unfavorably compared to his brother, who's described as something of The Ace.
• Big Eater: Possibly enough to rival even Elizabeth. His body can't really take the abuse he shovels at it, though, causing him to get sick, indicating he's clearly eating far past his appetite.
• Church of Happyology: The cult he belongs to charges money for membership. Lots of money.
• Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: What Nozomi truly desires is to find his special talent after living in the shadow of his talented brother. By the end of his Social Link, he decides to become a food critic.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: It takes a while to get there, but Nozomi finds his calling in being a food critic and even is planning to release a food book in the epilogue.
• Fat Bastard: He is overweight and not exactly the most pleasant person to be around.
• Fission Mailed: In his rank 9 event, the link will reverse for a short while, before ranking up.
• Gonk: Rather obese and constantly sweaty, and his personality doesn't help matters.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Around the middle point of his route he quite clearly starts to show some envy for how much more people like the protagonist than him. It's quite similar to the relationship he had with his younger brother before he died.
• Hidden Depths: He comes across as a pompous, gluttonous slob, but it gradually becomes clear that Suemitsu's health and personality issues are due to a mess of destructive coping mechanisms he's taken up in the wake of his brother's death.
• Meaningful Name: His given name Nozomi is spelled with the characters for wish/desire (望) and beautiful (美), indicating his jealousy towards his more attractive brother.
• Passing the Torch: At the end of his social link, he passes his title to the protagonist and deems him the second "Gourmet King" and tells him that he'll reclaim it once he's able to become someone his brother will be proud of.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Nozomi takes his Gourmet King title very seriously, to the point where he at one point thinks that there are assassins out to kill him for it. There's a tragic reason behind it.
• The Un-Favourite: Everyone always loved his brother, but Nozomi is nothing special and got overlooked.

Exclusive to the female protagonist

Rio Iwasaki (Chariot)

Rio Iwasaki

Voiced by: Saori Hayami (Drama CDs)

Rio is Kaz's replacement for the Chariot Social Link in the female Protagonist's scenario, whether she chooses to join Tennis or Volleyball, where Rio acts as the leader of the junior-level teammates. To her dismay, her teammates don't share the same single-minded devotion to the club. She is also friends with Kenji, who likes to visit practice both to see her and to catch up with Ms. Kanou, who oversees the club.

Her Social Link sees her strict coaching backfiring, as the team's growing ire leads them to quit. As her friend Yuko tries to get the team to return, the Protagonist helps Rio with her doubts regarding her enjoyment of the sport, as well as her growing romantic feelings for Kenji. After Ms. Kanou gets the team to reconcile, they encourage Rio to confess her feelings to Kenji, and she manages to gather the courage to ask him how much he likes her. After getting a satisfactory answer from him that lets her move forward, she thanks the Protagonist for helping her to see things differently and come to actually enjoy her sport, and gives the Protagonist her favorite Annotated Guide, letting her fuse Thor.

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• Childhood Friend Romance: She eventually realizes she's in love with Kenji and doubts it will go well considering his preference for older women. Still intends to give it a shot.
• Distaff Counterpart: To Kaz, and to a lesser extent to Akihiko, as she shares certain personality traits with the latter.
• First-Name Basis: In the original Japanese, she starts out calling the female protagonist by her last name and "-san," then at the end of her Rank 4 event, asks if she can call the protagonist by her first name without honorifics. The English version simply has her drop the "-san."
• Love Epiphany: Much of her S. Link involves her coming to understand her feelings for Kenji. Late in the S. Link, she concludes that the only way to move forward is to confess her feelings to him; this plays out with the protagonist, Yuko, and the rest of the sports club shamelessly eavesdropping, only to be completely derailed when she asks Kenji how much he likes her, and he replies that he likes her as much as he likes ramen.
• Odd Friendship: With Kenji, who she's known since they were kids.
• Tomboy: She may look like Yukiko, but in terms of temperament and Arcana, she's more like Chie.
• Tomboyish Ponytail: As an athletic girl who initially doesn't share her teammates' interest in romance, the ponytail helps enhance her tomboyish image.

Saori Hasegawa (Hermit)

Saori Hasegawa

The student who helps the female Protagonist with her student committee activities and serves as her Hermit Social Link. While currently a junior, she's actually two years older than the Protagonist, having traveled abroad and taken a couple years off from school. As a result, other students aren't certain how to treat her, as she's even older than those who are considered upperclassmen. Since she desperately wants to please others, Saori lets her classmates take advantage of her kindness and refuses to stand up for herself.

This ultimately comes to a head when she is suspended by Mr. Ekoda, after a reporter takes a picture of her and spreads rumors that she partied excessively. When she returns, she tells the Protagonist that her parents are transferring her to a private school, thinking her a disgrace. At the Protagonist's suggestion, she gathers the courage to make a PA announcement proclaiming her innocence, and though Mr. Ekoda attempts to scold her, Ms. Toriumi and Ms. Ounishi come to her defense, and she is let off the hook. On her last day, she reveals to the Protagonist that she recorded her speech to her phone, and transfers the PA Recording to the Protagonist's cellphone, letting her fuse Arahabaki. Telling her that the Protagonist will always be on her mind and that she'll listen to her own speech for strength, she leaves Gekkoukan with her head held high.

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• Beauty Equals Goodness: She's a very nice and gentle girl and also very easy on the eyes.
• Clear My Name: She gets slandered early in her link and has to be prodded into taking action against the rumors.
• Continuity Cameo: Since the movies follow the male protagonist route, she doesn't get a lot of focus, but does make a very brief appearance in the third movie.
• Extreme Doormat: She lets people walk all over her and won't speak up for herself when Malicious Slander about her begins getting passed around. In a case of self-induced Lampshade Hanging, you can even call her out on it, using exactly this term.
• May–December Romance: Reveals at the end of her link she had a crush on her uncle. It did not end well, as her parents ended up sending her overseas over it and the uncle ended up committing suicide.
• Nice Girl: To a fault, as her kind and helpful nature often gets taken advantage of.
• Parental Neglect: Her parents don't support her at all. They're also the ones who sent Saori overseas in the first place, because they blamed her for a serious family incident. The exact nature of that incident isn't completely spelled out, but given her statement that her first love was her uncle, and that she spent a great deal of time praying for her first love's soul and apologizing for not killing herself...
• Precision F-Strike: Drops one just to see what it feels like, then asks if she said it correctly.
  Saori: My personal experiences aren't worth shit anyway.
• Put on a Bus: At the end of her S. Link, she transfers away to a private school.
• Stepford Smiler: She's outwardly cheerful and friendly, but is deeply troubled by what has happened to her recently and in the past.

Ryoji Mochizuki (Fortune) — (UNMARKED SPOILERS)

Ryoji Mochizuki

"You're... the only one there is for me. The only one I want... So please, stay with me."

Voiced by: Akira Ishida (Japanese), Yuri Lowenthal (English; original), Aleks Le (English; Reload),
Live actor: Keisuke Ueda (as Pharos)

A New Transfer Student who first makes his appearance in November, shortly after Ikutsuki's betrayal and death. He is a flirty Bishōnen who asks out any girl he meets, and quickly befriends the members of SEES. In actuality, he is the being Ikutsuki tricked SEES into summoning.

He has an odd attachment to the Protagonist, which is most evident in the female Protagonist's route in P3P, where he takes over the Fortune Social Link from Keisuke. Though the S. Link is short-lived and his time with her is brief, he leaves her with a Faint Glow Ring as a reminder of him, letting her fuse Norn.

Completing his Linked Episodes in Reload will make him leave behind his Music Box, allowing the male protagonist to fuse Saturnus after he makes the pivotal choice on 12/31.

For tropes pertaining his true identity, see Death/Nyx's folder here.

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• Adaptational Attractiveness:
  • Downplayed since his appearance is mostly the same, but he is noticeably taller in the movies than in the games. In the games he's already taller than the protagonists, Junpei and Akihiko, but in the movie he towers over almost all other characters.
  • A minor case in the movies and the manga, in regards to his true form as Death Arcana Shadow. In the game, Ryoji's Shadow form, whether it be his incomplete state when lacking the other 12 Arcana Shadows or after regaining them, looks the same◊. However in the movie and manga, once he regains his 12 fragments his Shadow form looks considerably beefed up, with wider shoulders and more noticeable bulk.
• Adaptational Personality Change: Which borders on Adaptational Jerkass. In Winter of Rebirth, Ryoji takes the fact he is Nyx Avatar differently from the games. In the game, he could barely come to terms with remembering who he really is, and while he cripples Aigis, it is only in self defense after she attacked him first. He then collapses out of mental stress shortly after the rest of the team arrives, and the next day he patiently explains his omen about the Fall and the choice they will have to make at their dorm. In the movies, after remembering his true nature he very quickly calms himself down, and after he defeats Aigis, he attacks S.E.E.S. without provocation, capturing and defeating all their Personas, and subsequently destroying the Moonlight Bridge. After beating them to submission, he explains things in a curt, very blunt manner before he disappears. Still, while it seems to be a case of Adaptational Villainy at first, attacking S.E.E.S. in the movie is meant to dissuade them from resisting the Fall by showing how outmatched they are, rather than being a true villainous act, but it does emphasize how differently he is affected by recalling his true nature.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: In the original version of the game, Ryoji was just another friend which the Male Protagonist spent some time with at school and during the Kyoto trip — however, the Male Protagonist never spends any time with Ryoji independent of other characters, and it's actually fair to say that Ryoji is more Junpei's friend than the Protagonist's. The Portable version makes him a Social Link and romance option for the Female Protagonist, and in the movie, manga, and Reload, Ryoji quickly becomes the Male Protagonist's best friend. This makes their final battle much more personal.
• Ambiguously Bi: He is quite flirty with the girls and he can be romanced by the Female Protagonist but he also tells the Female Protagonist that he would like her even if she was a man during Rank 4 of his Social Link. Reload also has him joke about flirting with the Male Protagonist in their new scenes together.
• Amnesiac Dissonance: Before, he was just another Shadow trying to evoke the Fall. After forgetting his original purpose and being stuck in the protagonist for a while, he becomes the fun-loving Ryoji we know and love.
• Amnesiac God: Ryoji is the Nyx Avatar and in a way Nyx itself. He doesn't remember this, though and just goes to school, where he becomes Junpei and the protagonist's friend.
• Anti-Anti-Christ: A tragic example — he doesn't want the world to end, but Ryoji merely being there is a symptom of the Fall being inevitable. In short, the Fall is going to happen, no matter what, and blaming Ryoji for it would be like blaming an object moved into the sun for getting warmer.
• Anti-Villain: He's the closest thing the game has to a real central antagonist, as Ikutsuki and Strega never truly take center stage or be anything more than occasional threats, but Ryoji isn't evil. He's simply unable to do anything to stop the Fall. It's clear that if he had a choice, the Fall wouldn't happen.
• Ascended Extra: While he's still an important character in the main game, the third film takes this further by highlighting his budding friendship with Makoto. The Portable and Reload re-releases also greatly expand his role, as he's a Social Link and romance option for the female protagonist in the former, and has numerous additional scenes and Linked Episodes with the male protagonist in the latter.
• Barrier Warrior: In both The Movie and Reload, he seemingly has a barrier while he's Ryoji, protecting him that he apparently can't turn off, which protects him from everyone except the Player Character, and is why only they can decide whether to kill him or not:
  • In the movie, Aigis fires roughly fifty shots at him in an attempt to kill him after Makoto decides not to, and the bullets not only don't make contact, they don't even make Ryoji blink or lose his smile as he calmly tells Aigis that only Makoto can kill him.
  • In Reload, she sends Palladion right at him, and the barrier not only holds, trying to break it makes Aigis overload while Ryoji doesn't even lift a finger to defend himself.
• The Battle Didn't Count: Nyx Avatar is very upfront that the battle with him is irrelevant: no matter who wins or loses the fight, he cannot be destroyed as he's part of Nyx and the Fall will come. He's only bothering to indulge SEES to allow them some sort of closure before the end. True enough, after he "dies", his body rises up to meet the rest of Nyx and the Fall begins.
• Benevolent Abomination: Before becoming the Nyx Avatar, he's this, as despite being the herald of armageddon, he's also a genuine friend to the members of SEES and at worst an Ambiguously Bi flirt who's entirely willing to let you kill him to Let Them Die Happy.
• Big Bad: He, or rather what he is, is the main threat of the last act of the game, though technically he is a mere extension of Nyx herself as he claims.
• Big Bad Friend: He's one of the protagonist's friends despite being a world-destroying Eldritch Abomination. The female protagonist can even romance him. Even more so in the third film, where he essentially becomes Makoto's best friend, and is the very person to snap him out of his depression.
• Casanova Wannabe: He starts flirting with almost every girl in school on his first day and is mildly successful.
• Chick Magnet: To the point of Sexy Man, Instant Harem, apparently.
• Complete Immortality: A variant of. As a part of Nyx, Ryoji can still be killed and his body may be destroyed, but he will still annihilate mankind no matter what.
• Cruel to Be Kind: It's implied this is why he had an Adaptational Personality Change in the movies — he's fully aware that Nyx is an Invincible Villain and that SEES has no hope of stopping the Fall by fighting, so he tried to terrify them enough that they would choose to kill him and forget about the imminent end of the world, letting them live their last days in peace.
• Déjà Vu: This is why he is attracted to the female protagonist in his S. Link.
• Determinator: Admits to being stubborn and continues to pursue a friendship with Makoto in the third film no matter how many times the latter rejects him.
• Didn't Think This Through: In the game, Ryoji believes by taking the form of Thanatos, his inhumanity would make the protagonist have less qualms in killing him. He doesn't take into account that by this time, Thanatos is a fuseable Persona the protagonist can use in battle; meaning if anything, he is making the protagonist hesitate more.
• Did You Just Romance Cthulhu?: He can be romanced by the female protagonist, and those feelings remain even after he remembers that he is the Nyx Avatar.
• Divine Date: With the female protagonist, what with being Nyx's Avatar.
• Don't Fear the Reaper: He's the herald of the end of the world, the Final Boss of the game, and the representative of the Death Arcana in your Social Links (with the Female protagonist getting the additional Fortune Social Link as well). Despite this, he's polite to everybody, even Aigis (who hates him), and would really prefer to be an Anti-Anti-Christ — sadly, he never had any say in the matter.
• The Dragon:To Nyx technically, since he's Nyx's Avatar. He's just a mere extension though.
• Enemy Without: It's implied in The Movie that Thanatos is the remaining fragments of Ryoji/Pharos's personality, formed out of their bond with the protagonist, seeking to prevent the Fall and protect humanity.
  Nyx Avatar: (referring to Thanatos) This is... my hesitation?
• Expy: Of Kaworu Nagisa. He shows up mysteriously at the end of the story, and turns out to be one of the monsters that the heroes have been fighting having taken human form. He realizes this, and offers to allow the main character to kill him.
• Fake Memories: When he arrives at Gekkoukan, he has a whole backstory about having lived abroad with his parents. While his general backstory itself checks out, and he himself believes it to have happened, he can't remember specifics about his life prior to Gekkoukan, such as class trips and other things that should stick out. All of this is a hint that Nyx didn't bother to give him those memories and only went with an overall plausible reason why he's transferring in mid-year.
• Finishing Each Other's Sentences: A Running Gag in the third film. Whenever Makoto says something, Ryoji tends to finish his thought for him.
• Forced into Evil: Ryoji never wanted to start the Fall, but as a fragment of Nyx, he has no choice in the matter. When the day comes, he will shed his human identity entirely and to do his duty as Nyx Avatar no matter what he may feel about it.
• Foreshadowing: If written with specific kanji, his surname Mochizuki can mean "full moon". The moon is associated with the Dark Hour and Death in this game.
• A Form You Are Comfortable With: Ryoji is a Greater Shadow formed out of 13 Arcana Shadows. Normally, he can only appear in his natural Shadow form as Arcana Death, but his experiences as Pharos within the protagonist allow him to incarnate into a human form as Ryoji. After recalling his true nature, Ryoji shows he can shift between his human and Shadow forms at will. Later on, he shows he can also take the form of Thanatos, identical with the protagonist's Persona.
• Guide Dang It!: His S. link can only advance on specific days- some rank-ups will happen during story events, while in others, you must spend your Free Time periods with him. If you miss even one meeting with him, you can't advance it further. Reload does the same thing with his Linked Episodes.
• He Is All Grown Up: It turns out he is actually an older form of Pharos after he leaves the Protagonist's psyche.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Becomes this with Makoto in the third film.
• Hidden Depths: The Female protagonist realizes that he is very smart and actually very gentle and brooding/thoughtful. This also extends to the male protagonist in Reload.
• Humanoid Abomination: He's a sentient fragment of Nyx in human form, but is a Nice Guy otherwise.
• Identical Stranger: Never gets talked about in the game, but Ryoji looks like the protagonist with his hair slicked back and a beauty mark. It becomes more obvious in the manga when during their infamous trip to the hot springs Ryoji wears his hair down in an attempt to confuse the girls and looks identical to Minato. This isn't a coincidence.
• If It's You, It's Okay: States to the Female Protagonist that he would like her, even if she were a boy.
• I Just Want to Be Normal: Basically his problem in his S. Link with the female protagonist. It's also why their relationship is star-crossed.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: His Linked Episodes in Reload imply that his Casanova Wannabe personality is a result of a desire to have friends.
• I Let You Win: The battle with Nyx Avatar wasn't necessary to enact the Fall nor would the Avatar's "death" have any real impact on Nyx as a whole, but the part of Nyx Avatar that was still Ryoji allowed S.E.E.S. to face it on their terms anyway as a sort of courtesy to them.
• It's Personal with the Dragon: By default since Nyx does not speak. But the emotions from the last battle with the Nyx Avatar come from Ryoji as the Avatar and not Nyx, especially in the movies.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: He says in rank 8 that the female protagonist's life matters to him more than his own.
• Ladykiller in Love: A serial flirt, he can fall in love with the female protagonist.
• Love at First Sight: Played with in the first rank of his S. Link with the Female Protagonist. Kinda subverted since his attraction comes from his time as Pharos.
• Love Hurts: With the female protagonist. His feelings for her are raw and painful.
• Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Becomes a gender-flipped platonic version for Makoto in the third film. And a possibly romantic version for the female protagonist's Fortune S. Link.
• Meaningful Name: "Mochizuki" is written with characters meaning "aspire to/expect/desire" and "moon", which fits his fate to be the harbinger of Nyx, the goddess who lives in the moon. In addition, "Mochizuki" as a phrase can also mean "full moon", which is fitting given that as the holder of Death Arcana, he is essentially also an Arcana Shadow, which are also known as Full Moon Shadow.
• Mercy Kill: He offers one to S.E.E.S., albeit with the targets of the kill and mercy being separate parties. He doesn't want S.E.E.S to suffer since he believes Nyx can't be defeated. So he offers a means to make their deaths less painful: if they kill him in his human form before the Fall, they would lose all their memories of the Dark Hour, and with it, their knowledge about the Fall and Nyx. This would let the team live their remaining time in blissful ignorance until the Fall comes instead of having to spend their final days in fear and despair.
• Morphic Resonance: The Nyx Avatar still has the same hairstyle Ryoji had as a human.
• Mouth of Sauron: His job in regards to Nyx, speaking for her and acting as her Herald for The Fall. It is reinforced in The Answer which showed that Nyx was not truly evil and was only giving humanity what she thought they wanted.
• New Transfer Student: The third transfer student to the protagonist's class within a year.
• Nice Guy: His flirting aside, he's pretty genuinely nice to everyone. Especially after he finds out who he is: despite essentially being the avatar of the Big Bad, his one concern is that the members of SEES don't suffer, and he still considers them friends right until the end.
• Noble Top Enforcer: He is The Dragon to Nyx and the Mouth of Sauron as her spokesman, but he doesn't want to see anyone suffer and is broken up about being the one to end everything.
• Not So Stoic: The Nyx Avatar is very soft-spoken, but in Portable, right before he uses his ultimate spell, Night Queen, he will release a more emotional battle cry and shows Ryoji becoming more emotionally invested in his battle with his friends.
  Nyx Avatar: Let us finish this! It is the path of your choosing!
• Person of Mass Destruction: In The Movie, he casually blows up a bridge as a display of power after remembering what he is, after SEES confronts him.
• Reality Warper: It's implied that when he came into being, Ryoji had unconsciously altered reality to create a false background of him living abroad with his parents. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for him to enroll into Gekkoukan High without any past records.
• Significant Double Casting: He shares a voice with the (male) protagonist, and for good reason. He is able to be Pharos and Ryoji because he lived inside the protagonist.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: A relationship with Ryoji is impossible, as he's the Nyx Avatar.
• That Man Is Dead: When he descends as the Nyx Avatar, he quite calmly states that he was once known as Ryoji. His human personality has clearly vanished by this point, and he claims to essentially be Nyx, making the choice of pronoun for this entry questionable.
• Tragic Monster: He's clearly broken up about his role in bringing the Fall, but has no choice but to fulfill his role.
• Walking Spoiler: It goes without saying that him being Nyx Avatar made manifest makes him definitely of this trope.
• We Hardly Knew Ye:
  • In the original game Ryoji exists for all of a month before becoming Nyx Avatar.
  • Downplayed heavily in the manga and anime adaptations, as well as all the game's remakes beyond FES, as he gets varying degrees of additional characterization in all of them.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Tries to invoke this when attempting to convince the protagonist to kill him. After they refuse the first time, he takes a form resembling Thanatos, complete with Voice of the Legion, hoping that reminding the protagonist he isn't human will make his/her decision easier.
• Worf Had the Flu: Aigis defeated him single-handedly when he first emerged as Death, but he was operating at barely a fraction of his true power after being shattered to pieces thanks to an interrupted summoning ritual. Once he becomes complete again, he's so powerful that Aigis pushes herself to her breaking point trying to attack him, despite Ryoji deliberately not even fighting back.
• Younger Than They Look: Played With. While the human side of him is ten years old at most, as Nyx's herald, he's almost ageless.

Other NPCs

Natsuki Moriyama

Natsuki Moriyama

Voiced by: Yuka Komatsu (Japanese; Original), Atsumi Tanezaki (Japanese; movies and Reload), Karen Strassman (English; original), Kayli Mills (English; Reload)

Natsuki is a second year Gekkoukan High who leads a group of girls to bully Fuuka. Despite their bullying, Fuuka genuinely wants to be Natsuki's friend. After one of their pranks on Fuuka went wrong, Natsuki's friends are found unconscious in front of the school until Natsuki is the only one remaining. She sought help from S.E.E.S. who offer her sanctuary at the dorm. However, a mysterious voice calls out for her to Tartarus where she almost falls victim to the Emperor and Empress Shadow.

Fortunately for her, S.E.E.S. manage to defeat the Shadows with the help of Fuuka. Following this ordeal, Natsuki becomes good friends with Fuuka, helping her to become more open and confident. Near the end of the game, Natsuki is being transferred to another school after her father falls ill, but states she'll never forget her friendship with Fuuka.

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• Adaptational Heroism: In the film and Reload, Natsuki's initial relationship with Fuuka is expanded upon, with Natsuki being visibly conflicted in regards to her bullying Fuuka, and displaying signs of confusion and eventual regret upon learning that Fuuka genuinely cares for her in spite of the bullying. She also attempts to find Fuuka during the night SEES goes to rescue her, whereas in the original game she stayed put in the dorm.
• Asshole Victim: Averted. While it is hard to pity them after what they did to Fuuka, none of the bullies are killed. At worst, Natsuki's friends suffer from the Apathy Syndrome while she herself is almost killed by the Shadows.
• The Atoner: Following the incident, Natsuki ceases bullying Fuuka and begins caring for her as an actual friend.
• Best Friend: She's Fuuka's main friend and confidant after her Heel–Face Turn.
• Break His Heart to Save Him: Or her in this case. Upon learning that her family's going to be moving, Natsuki avoids telling Fuuka to spare her the pain of such a departure. In the film adaptation, she ceases contact altogether, only to realize the error in her ways upon being reconciled with Fuuka by Makoto and Ryoji.
• The Bully: She used to take pleasure in making fun of Fuuka.
• Bully Turned Buddy: To Fuuka. She starts off as a jerk who mocks Fuuka, but after nearly getting Fuuka killed with a prank gone horribly wrong and then nearly getting herself killed trying to make up for it, the two become best friends.
• Continuity Cameo: Either she or one of her posse is indirectly mentioned by Yosuke in Persona 4 during the Investigation Team's trip to the ski resort as the sister of one of his friends.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: She is unable to understand why Fuuka still wants to make friends with her after all the things she had done to her.
• Gone Horribly Wrong: After trapping Fuuka inside the gym overnight, Natsuki finds out that she had disappeared the next morning and fears the worst might happen to her.
• Gyaru Girl: She has tanned skin and in the movie adaptation her hair appears to be strawberry blonde which is in line with the Gyaru aesthetic (of the Ganguro variety).
• Hate Sink: Before her Character Development, Natsuki is an unpleasant person with little to no redeeming qualities. When Makoto asks her why she bullies Fuuka, Natsuki explains that it is fun to poke at someone as fragile as Fuuka and even laughs while explaining. Her seeming only redeeming traits include her being uncertain about her bullying and is visibly shocked when Makoto tells her how Fuuka still genuinely cares for her and values their friendship.
• Hearing Voices: On the night of June 8, the Emperor and Empress Shadow call for Natsuki to Tartarus. It is through this that prevents Natsuki from being contain inside a coffin during the Dark Hour.
• Heel–Face Turn: She turns from Fuuka's bully into her close friend.
• Jerkass Realization: She undergoes one over time. When Natsuki leaves, she remarks that Fuuka feels sad that "the biggest bitch in the school is leaving."
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Even after becoming friends with her, Natsuki still teases her on occasion but this time her words are less hurtful.
• My God, What Have I Done?: She becomes terrified that Fuuka might have committed suicide after her last prank went horribly wrong. In the film and Reload, this guilt weighs on her until she eventually wanders into Tartarus in order to apologize.
• Satellite Character: Her characterization and role in the plot are defined by her interactions with Fuuka.
• Small Role, Big Impact: She has little relevance to the plot after June 8 but her friendship with Fuuka allows the latter to awaken her Persona and also evolve it to its Ultimate Form.
• Took a Level in Kindness: After saving her, Natsuki genuinely become friends with Fuuka, often hanging out with her and giving her some words of encouragement.
• Tsundere: Acts like this towards Fuuka even after they become friends.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Her friends are not mentioned again after the Full Moon Operation on June 8.

Mr. Edogawa

Mr. Edogawa

Voiced by: Michio Nakao (Japanese; Persona 4: The Animation), Shunzo Miyasaka (Japanese; Reload), Dan Woren (English; Persona 4: The Animation), Xander Mobus (English; Reload)

Edogawa is an eccentric teacher working at Gekkoukan High School. His main job is serving as the school's nurse, but he also occasionally fills in for the other teachers, during which he turns whatever class he's subbing into a course on the history of magic and the occult. He's also the club advisor for the Student Health Committee.

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• Adapted Out: He is absent in the movie adaptions.
• Ascended Extra: In Persona 3 Portable, he has a recurring role in the Hermit Arcana should the Female Protagonist joins the Health Committee.
• Chekhov's Classroom: He teaches the class about Arcanas in 3 and gives a lecture about the legend of Izanagi and Izanami in 4. Both lessons become very plot-relevant towards the end of their respective games.
• Comically Inept Healing: Downplayed; if the Protagonist is Sick or Tired, they can get a bizarre concoction from Edogawa that will raise Courage, but do absolutely nothing for their health. In Reload, the protagonist can drink his strange concoction the following morning after going to Tartarus.
• Continuity Cameo: He makes an appearance in Persona 4 during your school trip to Gekkoukan High. Golden extends his cameo slightly by having him host lectures about Jungian philosophy in optional TV programs.
• Creator Cameo: He is modeled after Atlus veteran writer, Shogo Isogai, who also wrote Edogawa's dialogue.
• Foreshadowing: His lecture in 4 foreshadows the final antagonist of the game, Izanami.
• Hippie Teacher: He has a scruffy appearance and a casual style of dress, messes around with various "concoctions" that have weird effects, and offers lessons on esoteric subjects that are probably outside of the standard curriculum.
• No Name Given: Unusually for the franchise, his given name has never been revealed.

Mr. Ekoda

Mr. Ekoda

Voiced by: Ryohei Nakao (Japanese; original), Takumu Miyazono (Japanese; Reload) Dan Woren (English; original), Edward Bosco (English; Reload)

Mr. Ekoda is the Classic Literature teacher for Gekkoukan High School, and the homeroom teacher of Fuuka Yamagishi and Natsuki Moriyama. He's not popular with the student body or his fellow teachers due to his unpleasant and overbearing personality. When Natsuki's clique of bullies accidentally gets Fuuka trapped in Tartarus, he panics about the effect Fuuka's disappearance will have on his career and covers it up by attributing her absence to illness.

Unfortunately for him, SEES is interested in recruiting Fuuka and Natsuki is so guilt-ridden that she blabs after being approached by Mitsuru, who is appalled to learn that a teacher not only failed to report a missing student but chose to cover the disappearance up. Despite this horrendous dereliction of duty, he continues to teach at Gekkoukan, though judging by Mitsuru's remarks about what she did to him for his selfish actions, he probably would rather have been fired.

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• Adults Are Useless: He failed to intervene when Natsuki's clique was bullying Fuuka, and when they lock her in the gym and she ends up trapped in Tartarus, he covers the disappearance up because it might harm his career.
• Asshole Victim: In reaction to learning of Ekoda's selfishness and dishonesty in covering up what happened to Fuuka, Mitsuru punishes Mr. Ekoda in a particularly horrible manner, to which when asked, she implies his punishment was so harsh that it is one of things you are better off not knowing about. Later, students start gossiping about his punishment, even speculating that he was punished due to sexual harassment, further tarnishing Mr. Ekoda's reputation. Given later events of the game, it is implied that Mitsuru "executed" Mr. Ekoda, though he's still alive and teaching after said incident.
• Dirty Coward: When Fuuka goes missing for ten days, Mr. Ekoda claims that she's sick. The truth is that because she disappeared as a result of Natsuki and her friends bullying her, he kept that under wraps out of fear that he'd be blamed for what one of his students did. Mitsuru is furious with him for his dishonesty and selfishness, which end up endangering Fuuka.
  Mitsuru: So to protect your career, you ignored your responsibility as a teacher. [Death Glare] Despicable...
• Grammar Nazi: He complains about Ms. Toriumi's bad grammar, among other things.
• It's All About Me: Even as he babbles about the cover-up being for the sake of the students, Mitsuru recognizes that his reaction to Fuuka's disappearance was entirely motivated by self-preservation.
• Jerkass: He's a rather crotchety and unpleasant individual who covers up Fuuka's disappearance to protect his own reputation. He also gives Saori a suspension for her appearance in a magazine, and is unwilling to hear anything she has to say in her own defense.
• Jerkass Has a Point:
  • While he was rather harsh to Saori about her appearance in a magazine, he was right about how she shouldn't have let herself be photographed. Saori herself admits that it was a bad idea.
  • He also rejects Fuuka's proposal for a technology club because it doesn't have enough members (Bebe's Fashion Club that consists of just two members contests this, however). Regardless, Fuuka decides to go out and recruit some more herself.
• Patriotic Fervor: Because of his strong love of his country, he insists that the school trip be in Japan.
• Sitcom Archnemesis: To Ms. Toriumi. He can be heard complaining about her in the faculty lounge, and she doesn't hesitate to help stand up to him near the end of Saori's Social Link. Ms. Toriumi also badmouths Mr. Ekoda as Maya in the male protagonist's Hermit Social Link.
• Stern Teacher: He's serious and no-nonsense, but apart from a few morally questionable moments, he isn't mean enough to be a Sadist Teacher.

Kurosawa

Officer Kurosawa

Voiced by: Hirofumi Tanaka (Japanese), Grant George (English; original), Liam O'Brien (English; Reload)

Officer Kurosawa is a policeman stationed at Paulownia Mall. Though he doesn't know about the Dark Hour, he does know that S.E.E.S. is doing something to help protect Tatsumi Port Island, and has decided to help their cause by selling them weapons and armor (as well as accessories in Persona 3 Portable).

At the end of Persona 4: Arena Ultimax, he's seen helping out Akihiko after he hears he wants to apply to the police academy.

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• Adapted Out: He's absent in the movie adaptations.
• Cowboy Cop:
  • Selling weapons to a group of high school students is against the law (not to mention how he gets these weapons in the first place), but Kurosawa isn't doing this for profit and he knows that these students are using his gear for the sake of the city.
  • In Reload he correctly suspects Akihiko and the Protagonist of beating up a bunch of gang members during one of Akihiko's Linked Episodes, but decides to look the other way.
• Deadpan Snarker: When Mitsuru calls him to Junpei's room, assuming that it was vandalized and stolen from, he has a very sarcastic response when Junpei has to explain that his room always looks like this, joking that Junpei has a death sentence.
• Face of a Thug: Has a face that looks like it belongs to a Yakuza thug, but he's on the side of the good guys.
• Locked Out of the Loop: While he knows that something is wrong with Iwatodai City and is dedicated to helping S.E.E.S. solve the problem, he doesn't know the full story, since like everyone else he turns into a coffin during the Dark Hour. For his part, he recognizes that something weird is going on and looks the other way because of his limited knowledge. In Reload, he prays for the members of S.E.E.S. to be successful while he and the other Social Links witness Nyx bringing about The Fall, completely unaware of what's going on but recognizing the danger.
• No Name Given: Unusually for the franchise, his given name has never been revealed.
• Police Are Useless: Zig-zagged. He's no more equipped to handle Shadows than any other ordinary policemen, but he does his part to make sure that S.E.E.S. can do so. And he is the one who Mitsuru calls for help when she thinks Junpei's room was vandalized...even if it turned out the room looked like that because he was messy.
• Quest Giver: Sort of. In Portable and Reload, the Police Station's public notice board will list missing people who have inadvertently wandered into Tartarus, and Kurosawa will grant the party a reward for each person you rescue; the victims gave the reward to the police, but since the police can't accept it, he passes it on to the people who really saved them.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: He allows a group of school children to run around holding dangerous weapons, knowing that only they can stop whatever is going on around the city. However, he still has to do his job as an officer if he catches them outside of school during school hours.
• We Buy Anything: A police station is the least likely place one would think you can sell items, ranging from swords to maid costumes.
• We Sell Everything: You can buy whatever necessary RPG equipment from him.
• Where Does He Get All Those Wonderful Toys?: It is unknown where he gets those weapons from.

Man Drinking Alone

Vincent Brooks

In Persona 3 Portable, the Protagonist can converse with an unnamed man drinking alone at Club Escapade. The man will tell the Protagonist about the recent dreams he had and how he is unfaithful to his girlfriend. This man is actually Vincent Brooks, the protagonist of Catherine.

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• Adapted Out: Does not show in Reload.
• The Alcoholic: Vincent's an active drunk and spends every night drinking at the local bar before going home to drink some more.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Subverted. A savvy player might think that the strange man rambling about nightmares is going to become important down the line, but nothing ever comes directly of it. If you talk to him in the epilogue, the game highlights in big bold letters that he has "nothing to do with your problems."
• Company Cross References: Aside from his cameo in Portable, Vincent also makes an appearance in Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth as a figurine shot by Aigis.
• Deadly Deferred Conversation: He tells the Protagonist that if they ever meet again, he will tell them more about his story. Sadly, the Protagonist will not live to see him again after March 2010.
• Drowning My Sorrows: Feeling guilty over his unfaithfulness, Vincent heavily drinks everyday to the point almost everytime the protagonists meet him, he puts his face on the table.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Catherine wouldn't be released until two years after Persona 3 Portable.
• Foreshadowing: He gives hints about the events of his game.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: He is ashamed of what he has done and treats himself like dirt.
• Hero of Another Story: He is the main protagonist of Catherine.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: He explains that his story has nothing to do with the Protagonist's.
• Production Foreshadowing: He is the protagonist of the then-upcoming game Catherine, and he makes a cameo in Portable, which was released two years before it.
• Wham Shot: His character portrait is only shown in your final conversation with him, confirming his identity.

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