S.E.E.S. Starting Members

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The Protagonists

See here for tropes related to the Persona 3 protagonists

Yukari Takeba

See here for tropes related to Yukari Takeba

Junpei Iori

"And that's the game!"

^{Click here to see Junpei in his new battle outfit in Reload.}

^{Click here to see Hermes}

^{Click here to see Trismegistus}

"Now! Let's kick some ass!"

Arcana: The Magician
Social Link: The Magician (female only)
Persona: Hermes, Trismegistus
Theurgy (Reload): Hack n' Blast (Hermes)^note, Blaze of Life (Trismegistus)^note
Weapons: Two-handed swords
Voiced by: Kosuke Toriumi (Japanese), Vic Mignogna (English; original), Zeno Robinson (English; Reload)
Live actor: Genki Okawa

Junpei is the class clown of Gekkoukan High and the protagonist's best friend. He doesn't like to take things seriously, preferring to avoid serious subjects by making jokes; he enjoys the idea of being a hero, but his immaturity and inexperience make him unreliable in comparison to the protagonists. He struggles with jealousy and resentment of the protagonist's greater strength, skill, and leadership ability.

Junpei is recruited to SEES almost immediately after the protagonist after Akihiko finds him awake during the Dark Hour. He fights using a two-handed sword, but wields it like a baseball bat. His Persona is Hermes of the Magician Arcana, which specializes in physical skills, fire magic, and status buffs.

Junpei is the female protagonist's Magician S.Link, replacing Kenji, who only appears during her Chariot link. Unlike the other male SEES members, he is not romanceable, though he notes that a lot of people think they're dating. Contrary to his normally perverted attitude, he takes on a protective role for her after the two grow closer while he confides in her about his poor family situation.

In The Answer, Junpei becomes frustrated with the group conflict and serves as a middle ground between the various SEES members along with Koromaru, believing that they won't succeed at whatever path they choose as long as they're divided.

In Reload, completing his Linked Episode events ends with him giving a Baseball Glove to the male protagonist, allowing him to fuse Surt.

Abusive Parents: His father - and that is the only parent that mentioned - used to be a raging alcoholic, but nowadays is so drowned in booze that he can't even get violent. Junpei is downright relieved to be living in the dorm.
Adaptational Badass: His Ultimate Persona Trismegistus. After awakening it, Junpei gets exhausted shortly after attacking Jin, and Akihiko says he's no match for Takaya in his state. In the manga, however, thanks to Unstoppable Rage, he's able to trounce both Strega members. In fact, he came very close to killing Takaya if not for Yukari healing his wounds. Minato had to summon Thanatos just to calm Trismegistus down. The movie gives Trismegistus a similar treatment by having him continuously throwing Agidyne on Hypnos and then cleaving Moros in half.
Adaptational Nice Guy:
- Downplayed, but his envy towards the protagonist which lasts for a major part of the story, being most noticeable after defeating the Arcana Lovers shadow, gets cut down in the movie. Instead, it gets resolved during the battle with the Arcana Priestess shadow, making Junpei become nicer far earlier than in the game.
- In Reload, less focus is placed on his jealousy of the Protagonist, with Junpei making more of an effort to befriend him after they join S.E.E.S. in April. Instead, his insecurities build up after a string of victories for the other second year members of S.E.E.S. which makes it look like Junpei isn't pulling his weight.
Adaptational Superpower Change: The Spring of Life skill he inherits from Chidori is replaced with Regenerate 3 and is instead reworked as a Theurgy skill named Blaze of Life in Reload.
Adaptation Expansion:
- In Portable and Reload, Chidori's Medea is seen fusing with Hermes to become Trismegistus. In all other adaptions (including the manga and movie), Hermes simply evolves into its Ultimate form like the other Personas.
- Reload expands on his time playing baseball in his youth, further laying the foundation of his decision to become a baseball coach by the time of the Arena games.
Adapted Out: In the original version of the game and FES, Junpei explains his history with his alcoholic father after apologising for snapping at Yukari and the Protagonist when S.E.E.S. first discuss if they've made any headway on deciding on what to do about Ryoji's ultimatum in December; in Portable, his confession was cut from the scene and moved to his Social Link with the Female Protagonist, and the change remains in place in Reload.
Always Someone Better: Junpei is frustrated because he's not naturally good at anything but fighting, and then the main character comes along and easily outdoes him at that too.
Balance Buff: In Reload, his skillset has been altered to give him a couple of AOE attacks early in the game, greatly improving his crowd control.
Batter Up!: He wields his weapons like a baseball bat due to his inexperience, and swings for the fences for his critical hit animation, complete with him yelling "Home run!" and he can even wield a spiked bat. He mentions to Chidori that, as a kid, he wanted to be a baseball player when he grew up. Reload places a much greater emphasis on this element of his character.
Beyond the Impossible: After awakening Trismegistus, he knocks Jin down with a fire spell, despite Jin's Persona making him immune to fire attacks. This is less so in Reload, where Theurgy skills allow the user to ignore enemy resistances.
Big Brother Instinct: After flirting with the female protagonist a little early on, he instead moves to being a more protective figure instead.
Big Ego, Hidden Depths: Though he's always full of himself and thinks he's fit for leader material, he has low self-esteem issues due to his father's abuse.
Boisterous Bruiser: Although he's only a bruiser in gameplay.
Book Dumb: If you check the exam scoreboard, he consistently gets low scores until the last one, which he gets a decent score on.
Bromantic Foil: Junpei is the more perverted of the guys and more of an outlet for the player's seedier thoughts, which acts as a great foil for the protagonists.
Butt-Monkey: Junpei ends up as the butt of a lot of jokes, but doesn't really seem to mind so long as he can volley insults with Yukari.
Casanova Wannabe: He unsuccessfully flirts with a lot of girls, though he also appears to recognize that he's not going to score.
Character Development: Goes from a Heroic Wannabe to The Lancer over the course of the game. Apart from shedding much of his deep-rooted resentment for the protagonist, Chidori's sacrifice instills him with a renewed sense of purpose beyond indulging in his own escapism. This comes to a crux in The Answer, where he becomes the Only Sane Man when S.E.E.S. breaks down to fighting amongst themselves.
Chivalrous Pervert: He's pretty lecherous, but he also gets genuinely angry when people take voyeuristic photos of the female MC during gym class. He considers it rather sleazy.
Class Clown: Often takes light of a situation and makes jokes.
Crippling Overspecialization: Junpei focuses on physical attacks of all three flavors, which takes up so much of his skill progression that his better skills don't appear for a while. He also cannot hit multiple targets until level 50 reducing his team play value. His fire skills can hit weaknesses, but he has a low magic stat, and at the beginning of the game the Protagonist will have their own fire-specializing Personas, while by mid-game Koromaru will have appeared and does fire magic much better. He lags behind for quite a while, but after getting Trismegistus his better skills start appearing.
Critical Hit Class: In Reload, his Theurgy meter fills up faster whenever he inflicts critical hits in battle. It starts off fairly tricky to exploit, but equipment that grants skills like Apt Pupil and unlocking his Critical Boost/Amp passive can allow him to exploit this better.
Cutscene Power to the Max: Junpei begs Chidori to leave Strega and come with him, but Takaya shoots him dead. Chidori expends her own life force to save him and dies in the process, and then Takaya has the gall to call her death "meaningless". Junpei proceeds to completely blow his fuse, awaken to Trismegistus, and fire off an Agidyne so powerful it blows Jin, who in normal gameplay repels fire attacks, several feet backwards. If it had hit Takaya like he had intended, what was left of him wouldn't have filled a matchbox. This makes more sense in Reload, where the new Theurgy mechanic allows Junpei to use an attack that can ignore resistances and his emotional state at the time would almost certainly qualify to trigger said Theurgy.
Dating Catwoman: He meets Chidori while she's painting strange pictures by herself, and after a while they start getting along. Eventually, Chidori is captured and hospitalized, after which Junpei begins visiting her. This ends badly when Chidori dies after reviving him and after he takes a bullet from Takaya, though her body was already on the verge of failing. If the player does everything correctly with Junpei visiting Chidori, she'll wake up without any memory of the Dark Hour or her Persona, with her lifespan returned to normal and lives.
Death of a Thousand Cuts: His skills in Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth revolve around hitting the enemies as many times as possible in a round.
Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: A big deal for him, as he believes he's not good at anything, and even the thing that makes him unique is outclassed by the protagonist.
Dogged Nice Guy: Eventually wins over Chidori, both through persistence and by taking an interest in her sketches.
Dude, Not Funny!: During the meeting in which the team discusses whether to kill Ryoji, Yukari tries to needle Junpei by asking if he's scared. In response, Junpei blows up at her for making light of the whole thing before expressing how much the stress is getting to him. Yukari apologizes, realizing she was insensitive.
Embarrassing Nickname: "Stupei", courtesy of Yukari.
The Everyman: He's easily one of the most normal members of SEES alongside Yukari, and reacts to most situations the party encounters like an ordinary teenager would. He is excited to be a hero, he gets jealous of the protagonist for being The Ace, he hates studying, his Dark and Troubled Past is a relatively mundane abusive father, he reacts to the game's Darkest Hour with open hysterics, and most of his personality quirks fall under the umbrella of "teenage dumbass".
Fire-Forged Friends: While their relationship is quite the roller coaster ride, by the end of the game it's clear that he has the protagonist's back.
Foil: He's the tall, bulky Hot-Blooded goofball to contrast the main character's short, slender stoicism. The main character's status as The Ace is further emphasized by his own shortcomings.
Flaming Sword: Junpei's Blaze of Life Theurgy in Reload has Trismegistus set his sword ablaze as he uses it to slice at enemies.
Fusion Dance: Trismegistus is formed through the combination of Hermes and Medea following Chidori's death. This scene however is only shown in Portable and Reload, while in other versions of the scenario, Hermes evolves into Trismegistus like normal.
Gratuitous Spanish: He tends to pepper his sentences with Spanish words in the English dub of Reload. "Are you loco?", "Heh, perfecto!", "No problemo", to name a few. He makes a pun on Chidori's name and the Spanish word "Senorita," making "Chidorita."
Green-Eyed Monster: It's not prominent at first, but he becomes jealous of the protagonist's capability to lead them into battle as well as being an excellent fighter on top of that. He only makes his jealousy known after they defeat the Arcana Lovers and Hierophant Shadows. In the first film, his jealousy toward Makoto is much more pronounced shortly after Junpei joins.
Healing Factor: In the original games and Portable, he inherits Chidori's Spring of Life, which heals a good chunk of HP each turn. In Reload, it is merged into his second Theurgy attack, Blaze of Life, instead, but he does get Regenerate 3 to make up for this.
Heartbroken Badass: After his love interest Chidori dies, he uses his anger and grief to get a power-up in conjunction with her old persona Medea to acquire a new resolve.
Heroic BSoD:
- Slips in and out of them. At first it's caused by his fear of being Overshadowed by Awesome, then it's caused by Chidori's death.
- He has another one when when he realizes the world is going to end and Ryoji was possessing the protagonist the whole time.
Heroic Wannabe: He desperately wants to be the leader of SEES, becoming increasingly jealous and bitter when it becomes apparent that the Protagonist isn't losing that spot. Even after accepting that, he still wants to be seen as the hero, and ends up getting himself kidnapped by Chidori after he brags to her about SEES' exploits and claims that he's the leader in an attempt to impress her.
Hidden Depths: He has plenty. Considering he's implied to come from a broken home, it can be assumed almost everything he does is an act to cover up his own insecurities.
Hot-Blooded: Constantly shouting and prone to jumping into things without thinking.
I Just Want to Be Special: He's upset that anything he can do other people can do better, which leads to him not trying at the things he might be able to do competently but not excel in. At first, joining SEES is his way of escaping his life and playing hero, but character development kicks in and he grows out of it.
Inferiority Superiority Complex: The root of his jealousy towards the Protagonist and his desire to be the leader of the team is the reality that he's constantly worried about being completely worthless. Reload downplays his jealousy of the Protagonist and instead places further emphasis on this element of his character, with his jealousy instead coming after a string of victories for the other second years.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He can be very self-centered and confrontational, as well as jealous of the protagonist, but the game makes it clear that he's a great guy who'll always have your back in a pinch.
Ladykiller in Love: An unsuccessful one, yes, but Junpei genuinely falls in love with Chidori as they keep talking with one another, and the feelings go both ways. While Chidori's memories of the Dark Hour are erased if she's saved, Junpei is just happy that she's alive, even if she doesn't remember him.
The Lancer: One of your first-party members, the main character's biggest foil and the team member most prone to acting out of order.
Leader Wannabe: He's jealous of the Protagonist for being the field commander of the group, and brags to Chidori that he's the leader of SEES in order to impress her. Part of his Character Development is to move past his jealousy and acknowledge that he isn't suited to being the leader.
Leeroy Jenkins: Early on, he tends to charge in as an attempt to prove himself.
Limit Break: His Theurgy attack is Hack n' Blast, a Slash attack that bypasses resistances. He later gains Blaze of Life, a similar attack that deals Fire damage instead, along with recovering all of his HP.
The Load: His Leeroy Jenkins tendencies tend to result in him becoming this towards the team early on, but he grows out of it.
Lovable Jock: He's a huge baseball fan but is a pretty friendly doofus of a guy who quickly makes friends with almost everyone.
Magically Inept Fighter: Has the worst Magic stat of the party members and his only offensive magic are single-target fire spells with no boosting passives. He's more of a physical fighter, though his Agi skills are still good for hitting weaknesses.
Magikarp Power: He starts off as a decent tank, but the player quickly runs into a string of bosses early on that can exploit his weakness or are resistant to physical attacks, reducing his opportunities to be a viable combatant and reap experience from those fights. He also doesn't get a Herd-Hitting Attack until level 50, which restricts his ability to tear through random encounters for over half the game. If the player keeps leveling him up, though, he turns out to be a powerful endgame character, and is one of the best characters in The Answer. This reflects his Character Development as he grows out of his Inferiority Superiority Complex.
Manly Tears: He cries when he discovers Chidori is alive if you saved her.
Mighty Glacier: He has an insane number of hit points, good Strength and Endurance, and multiple physical attacks, making him one of the game's best offensive specialists, provided you keep his HP up. Even with Spring Of Life, he will eventually learn a lot of late-game abilities that will eat through his massive HP in no time.
Missing Mom: His mom is never mentioned. In fact, Junpei almost never talks about his home life, though his reason is obvious.
Multi-Melee Master: Besides the protagonist, he's the only member of the party who can use all three forms of Physical damage (Strike, Pierce, and Slash), in addition to his Fire spells. While he only has a two-handed katana at first, in the Arena games he starts using a baseball bat in battle.
The Nicknamer: He calls Yukari "Yuka-tan" (Yukaricchi in the Japanese version), Ken "Amada-boy" (in the Japanese version of the game), Chidori "Chidorita," and Naoto "Nao-cakes" in Q.
No Sense of Personal Space: To Makoto in the movie and the musicals.
The Not-Love Interest: His Social Link's developments are rather similar to the romantic ones, even switching the music that plays to the one commonly played in them during the last few events. The second to last event has him pause for a bit in trying to describe the relationship between the two, settling on "very important friend".
Only Sane Man: He becomes this in The Answer. When everyone else in SEES is fighting over how to use the keys to either return to the past to try to undo the main character's death or move forward to the present, Junpei is the only one who thinks that everyone is being stupid over how they're handling the whole situation and says that if they all don't get their acts together, then he'll take them on himself just to smack some sense into them.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Usually an upbeat guy who likes to joke around when faced with scenarios most would consider serious matters; after Ryoji informs the group of the upcoming Fall, Junpei's behavior changes as he starts acting more aggressively, at one point taking out his anger on the MC for his indirect role in bringing the Fall. In the movie adaptation, Junpei angrily snaps in response when Yukari teasingly asks Junpei if he's simply afraid of the Fall, then starts yelling at the others before nearly beating up Makoto. He even takes out his anger on a group of street punks he feared earlier, showing how far the dilemma has affected him. He gets better.
Opposites Attract: The happy-go-lucky Lovable Jock Junpei falls for the sullen Elegant Gothic Lolita Chidori. And in the endings where she survives, it's implied that they stay together.
Overshadowed by Awesome: The stated reason he develops into the resenter, he realizes it's not that he envies the Protagonist, but that he's afraid of losing his powers and his place in SEES. Reload expands on this by having his jealousy come after a string of victories for the other second years.
Parental Abandonment: His dad couldn't care less about him leaving.
Platonic Life-Partners: With the female protagonist in that, while he knows her the longest out of the SEES male members, he's the only one you can't be romantic with. Though you can joke that in Rank 10 when he's trying to tell her something, that he's going for a Love Confession. His reaction is "Wha— NO!" In Akihiko's Rank 4, you find out that there's a rumor going around that you and Junpei are dating. When Akihiko asks if it's true, all three options deny it.
Playing with Fire: His Persona's only offensive magic skills are of the fire element. However, as already mentioned, Junpei's stats are not geared for spellcasting - though they can still prove useful for hitting weaknesses. Persona Q and Q2 introduce elemental physical skills to allow Junpei's fire damage to calculate off his higher Strength stat.
Plucky Comic Relief: Easily the most comedic party member, to the point where most of the game's humor can be linked to him in some way. However, his jokes actually mask his insecurities.
Politically Incorrect Hero: In the FeMC route, Junpei's jealousy of the Protagonist being named the team's field leader instead shows itself as him protesting that a girl has been named leader when he's the only guy on the team - the second time around, Mitsuru makes it abundantly clear that she won't tolerate any sexist behaviour towards the FeMC over her leadership role. Following that confrontation, the narrative drops this element of Junpei’s resentment and he returns to his original characterisation, where he resents the Protagonist for being The Ace.
Powerful, but Inaccurate: Junpei's high Strength and choice of weapon make him hit incredibly hard, but he's offset with low accuracy and low Agility, and becomes prone to stumbling if he whiffs with his normal attacks.
Razor Wings: Hermes/Trismegistus' metallic wings are its main melee weapon and it can learn moves like Blade of Fury and Vorpal Blade. In the third movie, its sharpness is demonstrate when Trismegistus cuts Moros in half.
The Resenter: He initially resents the Protagonist for being better than him at everything, especially fighting.
Ret-Canon: Prior to Portable's release, Hermes evolving into Trismegistus was through Junepi's own will and resolution after Chidori's death. Portable would state the evolution was the result of Hermes fusing with Medea, but the third movie would rescind on this interpretation by having him evolve normally. Reload doubles down on Portable's interpretation of Trismegistus' evolution being a Fusion Dance, even showing a brief scene where Hermes and Medea merge together.
Running Gag:
- One of Junpei's gigs is to proclaim that the situation that the team is currently in is a "tough case even for Junpei Iori, Ace Detective". In Q2, the female protagonist uses this gig in order for S.E.E.S. to recognize her and how much she knows them.
  Yukari: Ace Detective? More like Stupei, Ace Defective.
- "Junpei's Believe It, or Don't".
Sad Clown: Compensates for his insecurities and inner darkness by acting like an idiot.
Scary Flashlight Face: His "Junpei's Believe It, or Don't" gag has him telling ghost stories in order to frighten the others.
Secret Art:
- His Persona's evolution to Trismegistus is accompanied with it inheriting Medea's Spring of Life.
- His unique skill in Persona Q is Golden Gemini which gives him a good chance of repeating an attack skill for free.
- His unique skill in Q2 is Called Homerun, which lets him deliver a Counter-Attack when his row is attacked. This upgrades to Called Shot, which makes his retaliations hit harder.
Shipper on Deck:
- A mild example, but in the female protagonist's route, he thinks it would be funny if she and Akihiko got together and tells her he'll be happy to be her wingman if she decides to go for it. You get relationship points for saying you'll consider it.
- He seems to think that there's a red string connecting both Persona 3 protagonists in Q2 when both of them sense that they are connected in a way.
Small Name, Big Ego: Subverted. He acts like he thinks he's really great, but he actually has pretty poor self-esteem.
Star-Crossed Lovers: He and Chidori fall in love, just for her to die (unless, in the more recent versions of the game, certain steps are taken to keep her alive).
Stay in the Kitchen: In the FeMC path, when Mitsuru is about to assign a team leader, he jumps at the chance just like before, but the protagonist gets the position instead. His response is a pretty blunt "But she's a girl!" which he repeats later. In response, Mitsuru coldly just tells him that if he ever displays that kind of attitude towards the protagonist or disrespects her simply because of her gender... well, it was terrifying enough that Junpei immediately shut up before he could hear the actual threat. Eventually he admits that the protagonist is better and that his resentment is completely unjustified.
The Teetotaler: Because of his father being an alcoholic, Junpei seems to refuse to drink alcohol. A flashback in "The Answer" shows two friends invite him to sneak into Club Escapade, Junpei declines and raises his voice when one of them continues to be persistent.
Took a Level in Badass: Steadily across the game, but especially after Chidori dies, where he nearly kills Jin with a massive fire blast despite Jin's immunity to fire. In Reload, this is demonstrated with his two Theurgy skills - the first features Junpei tripping and falling on his face as he charges the enemy, whilst the second shows him in a much more competent light
Trash of the Titans: He never bothers to clean his room. The second recording in FES and Portable involves Mitsuru thinking his room was broken into and ransacked.
Unskilled, but Strong: Unlike almost everyone else, who handle their weapons with some manner of finesse, Junpei accomplishes Shadow kills by swinging a BFS as hard as he can like it's a baseball bat.
Unstoppable Rage: In Vol.6 of the manga, he nearly kills Takaya with his reawakened Persona, and needs to be restrained by Minato. In the game, he gets a brief burst of power that manages to knock back Jin and then nearly passes out.
Vitriolic Best Buds: With Yukari, the two share sassy albeit mutual joking banter throughout the game.

Akihiko Sanada

"On to the next bout."

^{Click here to see Akihiko in his new battle outfit in Reload.}

^{Click here to see Polydeuces}

^{Click here to see Caesar}

"I've been waiting for this! Let's get in there!"

Arcana: The Emperor
Social Link: The Star (female only)
Persona: Polydeuces, Caesar
Theurgy (Reload): Lightning Spike (Polydeuces)^note, Electric Onslaught (Caesar)^note
Weapons: Fists
Voiced by: Hikaru Midorikawa (Japanese), Liam O'Brien (English; original), Alejandro Saab (English; Reload)
Live actor: Yuuki Fujiwara

Akihiko is a third-year student at Gekkoukan High and the captain of the school's boxing team. He's very popular and is usually surrounded by fangirls when seen at school, but mostly ignores them. He is one of the three founding members of SEES and can summon the Persona Polydeuces of the Emperor Arcana, which focuses on Lightning and Debuffing magic. As a boxer, he's strongest with his fists and uses various gloves, metal knuckles, and fist spurs as his weapons.

Akihiko is an orphan; he had a younger sister, Miki, who died in a building fire when Akihiko was still a child. Powerless to help her, Akihiko resolved to become strong enough to protect the things he cared about, and took up boxing and got involved in SEES as ways of growing stronger. As Shinjiro notes early on, his method of coping is largely ineffective.

In the female protagonist's story, Akihiko is her Star S.Link, replacing the absent Mamoru. For some reason, the female protagonist will need a high charm stat in order to cope with his fangirls enough to start it. During the S.Link, the protagonist has the chance to get to know and appreciate Akihiko for who he is as opposed to the "cool upperclassman" image that the other Gekkoukan students admire, and helps him come to terms with the losses in his life. Depending on dialogue choices, he can become the female protagonist's love interest.

In The Answer, Akihiko, believing that everyone should return to the present and move on with their lives, opposes going back to the past, and Ken joins him.

In Reload, completing his Linked Episode events ends with him giving his Hand Wraps to the male protagonist, allowing him to fuse Horus.

The Ace: He's an excellent fighter, a great student and a pretty perceptive guy. His persona is second only to the main character's in versatility and so he's a great choice for any party. It's verging on Broken Ace though, as he clearly overworks himself due to personal feelings of weakness.
Adaptational Superpower Change: In Reload, Polydeuces/Caesar doesn't have (Ma)Rakunda and (Ma)Sukunda but in return, he gains more Strike skills such as Gigantic Fist and God's Hand.
Affectionate Nickname: "Aki", courtesy of Shinjiro (and the female protagonist should you pursue his romance route in Portable)
All Girls Want Bad Boys: His aloof nature in school causes his classmates to peg him as a Bad Boy, which is the reason why he has a legion of fangirls.
Amazon Chaser: Implied when playing as the female protagonist. He clearly admires her taking charge, which he mentions early in his Social Link and to Shinjiro when he's forcibly bought back to SEES. Later games take note of it, with some dialogue trees in Persona Q having him express joy that muscular girls exist.
Annoying Patient: Mostly because he hates being out of the action. It takes constant effort on Mitsuru's part to keep him from heading back into battle before he's fully recovered.
Big Brother Instinct: One of his most prominent character traits. Losing his younger sister has made him very protective of everyone around him. The third full moon mission, in which the team rescues Fuuka, and his later interactions with Ken and Junpei solidly establishes him as the resident big brother. In December, it's revealed that he's watching over Junpei to make sure he passes his exams, despite the arrival of The End of the World as We Know It. If the protagonists states that he hasn't been studying, Akihiko will threaten to watch over you as well.
Big Brother Mentor: He encourages the protagonist to study hard and join as many clubs as they can, and his final words to them on the day of graduation are "I'll always be your senpai!".
Big Man on Campus: Captain of the boxing team, an excellent student, incredibly good-looking and a really nice guy. Akihiko, along with Mitsuru, is one of the most popular people at school.
Blood Knight:
- His early characterization has a bit of this going on — he's focused entirely on training and getting stronger, and enthusiastic about the Shadows and Tartarus as a means to that end. Mitsuru gets on his case repeatedly about his eagerness to fight even while injured, and only after Yukari directly accuses him of not caring what secrets are being kept from SEES as long as he gets to fight does he begin to rethink his motivations. It takes Shinjiro's death for him to finally get past it for good.
- Unfortunately for his friends' sanity, he relapses into this in the Arena games.
Boxing Battler: Was already a boxer before being recruited by SEES, and is the captain of the boxing club by the time the game begins. His combat style naturally makes use of his boxing skills.
Call-Forward: In Persona Q, he mentions that he likes the outfit Phantom Mage Shadows wear, a long cape with a hood. This is exactly what he wears by the time of Persona 4 Arena.
Cannot Talk to Women: He's completely incapable of talking to women other than his teammates. His special video added in FES shows him reading pick-up lines by himself out of a book and doubting their efficiency. In the female protagonist's route in the PSP version, he gets pretty tongue-tied around her at times.
Chaste Hero: A variation. He ignores his hordes of female fans, and as seen at the beach vacation, he's either not interested in approaching ladies or suffers crippling awkwardness around them. The female S.Link proves that he is just too much of The Stoic to understand romance very well. She literally needs to explain to him that he's in love with her when he can't quite figure out why it feels different hanging out around her.
Chick Magnet: At school, he's usually surrounded by fangirls, although he dislikes the attention and claims they talk so much they give him a headache.
Coat Over the Shoulder: As you can see in his picture above. He's also the page image.
The Comically Serious: When Junpei, Yukari, and the protagonist go to visit Akihiko in the hospital early in the game, this trope is on full display. He becomes more relaxed around SEES members other than Mitsuru as the game goes on. In Q, his obsession with protein is greatly exaggerated and he often gets into childish arguments with Shinjiro over the most minute things.
Competition Freak: Due to his strive to get stronger, Akihiko has a tendency to get competitive for the most trivial of things. This is exploited by Junpei in order to rope him into Operation Babe Hunt, despite Akihiko's lack of interest, by claiming that he could get more girls than him. This trait is especially prominent in Persona Q and its sequel whenever he's butting heads with Shinjiro.
Conveniently an Orphan: Along with the protagonists, Shinjiro (who he grew up with), and Ken.
Covert Pervert: Only if the player has maxed out his Social Link and he becomes the female protagonist's love interest. For a guy who does not know anything about women, Akihiko does get the FeMC to go to his room somehow and let their bodies do the talking. In the second movie he ogles Mitsuru's swimsuit, but otherwise never shows interest in her. Not even her tight catsuit from Arena/Ultimax.
Crazy Jealous Guy: He can get pretty jealous when he's lovers with the female protagonist. Mostly played for laughs, though, as the brunt of it is directed only against Ken, who is surprisingly capable of holding his own against it.
Deadpan Snarker: Of everyone in the cast, Akihiko is most prone to this kind of humor. The first instance hits if the protagonist talks to him while he and Junpei are taking a break from studying for first semester midterms. By December exams, it's become a Brick Joke.
Mitsuru told us to try to go back to normal, so Junpei isn't studying for his exams.
Death Wail: During the scene with him after Shinjiro's funeral, he lets out one of these. Averted in Portable if Shinjiro survives thanks to maxing out his Social Link, but the replacement scene isn't much different.
Disc-One Nuke: When he rejoins the party, he's several levels ahead of the rest of the team, and his abilities and skillset make him one of the most versatile party members in the cast. Naturally, he's the first to Take a Level in Badass mid-way through the game, making him even more valuable. For most players, Akihiko becomes a default member when forming a party, causing diminishing returns when it comes to experience points. Without unlocking the Monad Depths, it can be difficult to impossible to level Akihiko out of the 70s, as by then, he and the protagonists have outstripped the rest of the cast.
Dub Name Change: Pronunciation, rather than name. In the Japanese version, Caesar is spoken with the classical Latin pronunciation, with a hard "k" sound ("kae-sar"), emphasizing the diphthong "Æ". In the English version, it is spoken instead with its softer, Anglicized equivalent ("see-zer").
Dumb Muscle: Flanderization in spin-off media has Akihiko exhibit this trait, as opposed to the main game where he's shown to get good grades. In Q, for example, he gets perplexed as to what a GPS is or even stands for.
Expy: Silver hair? Check. Captain of the boxing team? Check. Something going on with his left temple? Check. He's basically an intelligent Ryohei Sasagawa.
Extremity Extremist: He's a boxer. He boxes.
Flanderization:
- His personality gets some of the worst of it out of the entire cast. In the original game, he is emotionally dense in certain ways but is nevertheless depicted as a mature and very intelligent young man who acts as a Big Brother Mentor to most of his teammates. His fixation on physical training is specifically because he wants the strength to protect those he cares about and comes around once he realises that he's lost sight of his original goal. He also mentions protein exactly twice: once when asked for it by the player, and once in a cutscene when another character brings it up. Later games up his obsessions with training for the sake of training and protein to ridiculous levels, turning him into the cast's Dumb Muscle Cloudcuckoolander.
- This is incorporated into his Persona abilities. In the original games, he was a Jack of All Stats, but befitting his personality shift into Dumb Muscle, he becomes an increasingly Magically Inept Fighter, with a rushdown playstyle in the Arena games and the second-worst magic stat in Q2 (only beating Kanji Tatsumi).
Freudian Trio: With Mitsuru and Shinjiro; He's the id.
Gameplay and Story Integration: Akihiko suffers a hard case of Oblivious to Love, so it's very fitting that he's one of the hardest characters to romance in the game. It's nearly impossible to hit the right flags in his route without a guide.
Genius Bruiser:
- He's a boxer whose physical attacks are second only to Aigis, and in the original Persona 3 not only does he get consistently good grades, but he's also the first to put two and two together on things like giant Shadows appearing during the full moon and why Fuuka disappeared. He even tells the protagonist that a strong mind is just as important as a strong body. It's reflected in his stats as well. He has an even split between Strength and Magic.
- Unfortunately, in Persona 4: Arena and Persona 4: Arena Ultimax, it's revealed that he starts slacking in his studies after graduation and loses this trait, much to Mitsuru and Aigis' frustration.
Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!: Punches Junpei hard enough in the last movie to send him a few feet after The Reveal. Unfortunately, Akihiko was understandably not in a good state of mind either.
Going Through the Motions: It happens to everyone, but Akihiko's is the most blatant example: when he wears a swimsuit at the beach trip in the original game, he carries around a towel in the exact same manner as his coat. In Reload, technology has evolved to the point he doesn't need to carry a towel or jacket with him everywhere.
Good Is Not Soft: Despite being a good guy, Akihiko quickly ditches sentimentality in dangerous situations and does not easily sympathize with his enemies.
- One time it comes up is when Jin and Takaya appear to commit suicide by jumping off the Moonlight Bridge after being defeated in November.
  Junpei: What the hell were they thinking?
  Akihiko: They chose their own fate. Don't let it faze you.
- Another time after they defeat Jin and Shadows are coming.
  Female Protagonist: We can't just leave him.
  Akihiko: Then are you just going to stay here and die with him?
Got the Whole World in My Hand: Akihiko's Ultimate Persona, Caesar (was known as the "ruler of the world") holds a globe in its left hand. Part of Akihiko's Instant Kill in Arena involves Caesar trapping the opponent in said globe.
Hammerspace: You could make a drinking game out of his jacket's disappearance and sudden reappearance in the original games due to the limited hardware of the PS2.
Happily Adopted:
- Only mentioned in a design book, and in a CD Drama, prior to the release of Reload. He seems to at least have an adoptive mother, according to both, but both sources mention that he rarely interacts with her, so the "happily" part of the equation is debatable.
- During his second Linked Episode in Reload, Akihiko receives a care package of foods and nuts from his adoptive parents, but it's so large that he decides to share the goods with the rest of the dorm rather than let anything go to waste.
Heartbroken Badass: Ever since he lost his little sister, his sole mission in life has been to Take a Level in Badass so no one would ever have to suffer her fate again. He gets a little less ridiculous about this after Shinjiro dies, but he's still a badass.
Heterosexual Life-Partners: He and Shinjiro have known each other for years and still remain close after he left SEES.
Hopeless with Tech: In Q, he apparently doesn't know what a GPS is.
Innocent Fanservice Girl: Well, guy, but aside from his extreme aloofness toward his fangirls at school, he doesn't see why Yukari's so embarrassed at his tiny swimsuit during the Yakushima trip. In his usual dorky fashion, he tells her he's wearing it because of how easy it is to swim in it. He's also pretty apathetic whenever the girls wear provocative outfits, and a scene in Persona Q implies that he doesn't know what constitutes as sexual harassment. On the other hand, at least when playing as the heroine, he can get flustered when she's wearing a provocative outfit in Tartarus. They can also have a conversation between Social Links where one of her responses (to a rooftop pool re-opening and him wanting to use it, in this case) is to wear a cute swimsuit. Needless to say, his embarrassment nearly gets turned up a notch.
Insane Troll Logic: He has several weird theories about the nutrients protein bars give and sometimes makes odd quotes that only Chie in Q is capable of understanding.
Irony: Despite being a boxer, his Persona uses few physical moves and his Strength stats are lower than Junpei's and Shinjiro's.
Jack of All Trades: His Strength and Magic stats are both high, making him more or less equally effective with physical attacks and his Zio spells, plus a single-target heal and a full complement of debuffs, which are probably his most valuable assets. His only lackluster stat is his mediocre Luck. This means though that, outside of Zio skills, Akihiko only learns a few healing, buffing, debuffing, and physical attacks, meaning he is outperformed in those roles by the rest of the party. He keeps his versatility in Persona Q and Q2, though he condenses his debuff selection to the (still useful) Tarunda set in exchange for a counterattack skill in Q and a good selection of physical skills in Q2.
Kung-Fu Wizard: Equally adept at beating down foes with his Persona and his fists.
Like an Old Married Couple: With Mitsuru, to the point where when they start bickering, the Chairman simply waits for them to finish before asking the protagonist to join SEES. When Mitsuru is away in November, Akihiko is as devastated as she is.
Like Brother and Sister:
- The latter stages of his Social Link with the female protagonist bring to light that he views her this way, and it'll stay as such if you don't become lovers with him.
- He's like this with Mitsuru and it continues even into his adult life, though his ridiculous "hobbies" and slacker attitude with his career has driven her to her wit's end.
Love Epiphany: If you select the right flags for his lovers route in his Social Link in Portable, he'll have one. An interesting take on the trope has you, the player, coaching him into confessing because of how utterly oblivious of his feelings he is.
Meaningful Name: "Akihiko" is written with characters meaning "bright boy."
Metaphorically True: It’s heavily implied that he becomes a legendary gumshoe by the time of Persona 5, who claims to have "punched a bear". This is true, except it was a bear mascot with Persona powers.
Motive Decay: He initially wanted to become stronger to protect others after his sister's death. However, he eventually became a Blood Knight who became obsessed with fighting shadows for the thrill of it. It was when Yukari calls him out on this that Akihiko starts to question what he's fighting for, something that he eventually comes to terms with after Shinjiro's death.
Mr. Fanservice: His swimsuit notably consists of a tiny speedo and his toned physique. Yukari can't help but stare at it when you play as the female protagonist. In the female route, he ends up replacing Yukari's infamous Shower Scene should you select him as your teammate at Shirakawa Boulevard.
Nice Guy: Out of all of the guys in S.E.E.S. who aren't the male protagonist, he's easily one of the friendliest (if a bit socially awkward), often going out of his way to check up on them and help them out. This allows Akihiko to serve as a grounding member to the rest of the team, especially after Shinji's death makes him re-evaluate his reasons for fighting.
Noodle Incident: It's heavily implied that Akihiko has previously been "Executed" by Mitsuru. It'll happen again in the Hot Spring mini-game if you fail (as a guy) or succeed (as a girl).
No Social Skills: He's initially described as "Confident-looking student," but later scenes make it clear that he's neglected to train his social skills. In both the game and the movie adaptations, despite being a Chick Magnet in school, he is unable to get a girl in Junpei's Operation Babe Hunt because of this.
Not So Above It All:
- In the main games, he is shown to be pretty mature and level-headed for the most part, but he also exhibits moments of immaturity, especially if his competitive nature gets the better of him.
- In Reload, while infiltrating Gekkoukan in order to rescue Fuuka, he volunteers to accompany Junpei in searching into the faculty office after the latter suggested that they can take a peek at the test questions kept there. A threat of "execution" by Mitsuru quickly shuts down that notion.
Not So Stoic: Comes off as cold and distant at first, but once you get to know him, he's pretty affable, if somewhat awkward and reserved.
Number Two: He's this for Mitsuru in S.E.E.S., issuing commands in her stead in the event she's not available, and she outright states that he has near-equal authority to her concerning matters of the Dark Hour.
Oblivious to Love: P3P states outright that he doesn't seem to understand girls' feelings at all. He's also pretty bad at recognizing his own feelings. Even if you choose not to become lovers with him, his MAX rank dialogue still has some oddly romantic vibes to it, which is odd, given that he sees his dead younger sister in you...
Odd Friendship: With Shinjiro. You wouldn't expect a guy like him to hang out with a guy like Shinjiro.
One-Note Cook: Reload reveals that while he's quite good at making healthy meals rich in nutrients that line up with his athleticism (such as a pork liver stir-fry for its iron content), that's pretty much all he's got; the protagonist has to take control of the kitchen when he tries anything else.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: He is really scared of Mitsuru's execution. Serves as a Brick Joke since Akihiko is weak to ice attacks.
Platonic Life-Partners: With Mitsuru. They clearly trust each other with their lives, but nothing implies that they're more than friends. The Answer emphasizes this when Mitsuru takes Yukari's side when deciding on going back to the past or not - Akihiko's shocked, but doesn't bother arguing with her. He and Mitsuru remain this way even after graduation, though Mitsuru obviously isn't pleased with the effort it takes to keep track of him as he wanders the planet picking fights with the strongest people he can find. Mitsuru's social link also makes it clear that she sees Akihiko as someone very important to her, but in a way that is like siblings.
Pointless Band-Aid: On the left side of his forehead. It's still there three years later in Persona 4: Arena, despite the fact he's now Covered in Scars.
Power Fist: One of the only characters who will attack with an equipped weapon, often dealing major damage.
Pretty Boy: A lean, muscular build and a soft, handsome face complete with silver hair. Akihiko's an instant hit with the ladies. As he gets older, he becomes more of a Hunk.
Real Men Hate Sugar: Touched upon during his Social Link with the heroine. He doesn't hate sweets per se, but he's unused to sugary flavors, which is demonstrated when he invites her to the sweets shop at the Iwatodai Strip Mall. His opinion can easily be justified with the fact that he mainly eats a lot of beef and ramen.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: Red Oni to Mitsuru's Blue.
Required Party Member: Of a sort. Once Fuuka joins the team and Mitsuru returns to the front line, she allows SEES to go to Tartarus without her. However, either Akihiko or Mitsuru (the two upperclassmen of SEES) must be present, or Fuuka will not allow you to go to Tartarus on Mitsuru's instruction.
Secret Art:
- His unique skill in Persona Q is Conqueror Title, which raises his critical hit rate.
- His unique skill in Q2 is Rush Stance, a buff that has a chance of letting him repeat his attack skills for three turns. This upgrades to Sonic Rush, which guarantees his second strike.
Sharp-Dressed Man: His casual clothes are quite stylish and crisp, which is what makes his outfit in Persona 4: Arena and some dialogue in Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth^noteoutright baffling.
Shock and Awe: His Persona uses electric attacks, and unlike Junpei, Akihiko's more balanced stat spread allows his spells to hit with a bit more force without sacrificing his already strong physical abilities.
Spirited Competitor: Losing his sister made Akihiko want to be as strong and smart as possible to protect what he cares about to an extremely unhealthy degree. His ridiculous constant competing to be the best at everything finally kicks the bucket after all of that effort amounted to nothing because he couldn't stop Shinjiro from getting killed anyway. It becomes a problem the other way around later in his life. Because Akihiko becomes more relaxed and ditches his struggle to become perfect this trait takes him over. Since he would rather be testing himself in fistfights than studying and has no motivation anymore to go to school or work on his career, this results in him becoming a slacker when it comes to academics and jobs after graduation. It's telling that Junpei, the person he always harassed about studying, has a much better work ethic than him as an adult.
Status Buff: Akihiko's Theurgy gauge fills up faster whenever he has a status buff like Tarukaja affecting him on his turn. He can later gain the Buff Boost and Buff Amp traits, which improve the effectiveness of said buffs by 50% and 100% respectively, meaning he can deal massive damage, receive minimal damage, and dodge more attacks than the rest of the party under the effects of a buff.
Stealth Pun: Considering his enemies, what's he doing in every fight? He's Shadowboxing!
Trademark Favorite Food: He enjoys big, hearty meals with a healthy dose of protein on them. Also overlaps with Real Men Eat Meat, as beef bowl is one of said favorite meals. His first Social Link event with the Female Protagonist involves ordering a large order of ramen that leaves her reeling. A gag panel in the P3P fanbook also has him cover the FeMC's homemade pancakes with protein, to Shinjiro's chagrin.
Tragic Bromance: Castor and Pollux? That one was destined to end badly with Personas like that.
Would Hit a Girl: Implied in some dialogue, and mentioned outright in other games. In the female protagonist's route, his very first Social Link event has him mention that he won't go easy on her. In Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth, when fighting either female-looking Shadows or Elizabeth, he'll explicitly state that he won't hold back, even though they're female.
You Are in Command Now: After Ikutsuki's betrayal and Mitsuru temporarily leaving to grieve her father who died at his hands, Akihiko becomes the temporary command leader of S.E.E.S. until she returns, as he has the most seniority and experience.

Mitsuru Kirijo

"Kneel before me."

^{Click here to see Mitsuru in her new battle outfit in Reload.}

^{Click here to see Penthesilea}

^{Click here to see Artemisia}

"C’est magnifique!"

Arcana: The Empress
Social Link: The Empress
Persona: Penthesilea, Artemisia

Theurgy (Reload): Blizzard Edge (Penthesilea)^note, Blade of Execution (Artemisia)^note
Weapons: Rapiers ^note
Voiced by: Rie Tanaka (Japanese), Tara Platt (English; original), Allegra Clark (English; Reload)
Live actress: Asami Tano

Mitsuru is a third-year student of Gekkoukan High, the school's Student Council President, and the daughter of the head of the influential Kirijo Group, which built the school. Her family's status gives her a great deal of influence within the school, enabling her to even issue orders to teachers if necessary. She is the first member of SEES, with the Persona Penthesilea of the Empress Arcana. Mitsuru is also a member of the fencing club and wields a rapier in battle. In the original releases, her Persona learns a variety of Ice skills, Healing magic, and status ailment inflicting moves. In Reload, she's rebalanced to be an offensive magic caster with a greater focus on inflicting status ailments or dealing damage, losing access to healing.

Mitsuru is mature, intelligent, confident and kind. She often acts as the mother of SEES, by advising the group on matters both related and unrelated to battling Shadows, and has high expectations for all of them. As the student council president and leader of SEES, she takes on an enormous amount of responsibility on her own. Her penchant for tackling problems on her own often causes her to keep everyone at an arm's length. Coupled with her family's connection to everything going on, Yukari is quite suspicious of her.

Mitsuru is the Empress Arcana S. Link. An excellent student herself, she has very high standards and the protagonist must have maximum Academics and good exam scores in order to begin her link, which becomes available in November. Her S. Link starts out with her acknowledgment that she has led a very sheltered life as well as one with little freedom. Completing her Social Link has her give her motorcycle key to the protagonist, allowing them to fuse Alilat.

In The Answer, Mitsuru sides with Yukari. She states that this is because she promised herself that she would support her if Yukari ever needed her.

The Ace: She's a skilled fencer, a Persona user, the class president, the valedictorian of her year, and is already at a point where she has rank in the Kirijo Group's inner circle, all at the age of 17. How the woman hasn't combusted from the amount of pressure is anyone's guess. A few conversations imply she actively invokes this, commenting that it'd be hypocritical of her to order everyone else in SEES around if she didn't put in the work to justify it.
Adaptation Dye-Job: Eye variation. She is usually shown with red eyes but the movie gives her brown eyes.
Adaptational Intelligence: In the original, she has a minor Idiot Ball moment where she openly talks about the Dark Hour while Mr Ekoda and Natsuki are in the same room. Reload mitigates this by having her dismiss Ekoda from the office, while Natsuki is too wracked with guilt to really register anything.
Adaptational Superpower Change: Penthesilea/Artemisia doesn't have the Dia line in Reload and instead utilizes Diamond Dust and ailment-inflicting skills like Fatal End, Neuron Slash, and Eerie Sound.
Adaptational Wimp: Heavily downplayed in Reload. As a side effect of being able to learn Diamond Dust and a couple of ailment-inflicting skills, Mitsuru's Personas don't have Ice Amp as part of their skillset, though they can still gain that skill if she's equipped with the Varna Bracers or Snow Queen's Whip.
Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: She has an air of elegance and authority, making her popular at school. She even has a stalker waiting for her outside the student council room. However, she is arguably a Deconstruction of the archetype, as her demeanour can make her come off as insensitive to others, most notably Yukari.
Arranged Marriage: Her social link starts to focus on this later in the link, leaving her feeling that because she's a woman, she's expected to marry off to strengthen the company and resenting it, but not quite having the nerve to do anything about it until her fiancé insults the main character, at which point she blows up and shoots down the marriage.
Artificial Stupidity: Mitsuru is most prone to this trope if left to Act Freely, due to the AI causing her to use ailment skills in vain. Instruct her for Full Assault, though, and her ice damage really shines.
The Atoner: She feels she bears responsibility for the Shadows and the Dark Hour, even though it was something her grandfather was responsible for and that she was a young child at the time. Deconstructed in that her drive to atone for her grandfather's actions results in her keeping her teammates in the dark about the truth behind Tartarus and the Shadows, which causes some friction between her and Yukari who thought Mitsuru was merely using them to clean up the Kirijo Group's dirty laundry. Her father chastises her for this, pointing out that she should not try to bear the weight of her grandfather's sins alone and put more faith in her teammates.
Badass Adorable: She is a very beautiful yet dorky young woman who started as the official leader of S.E.E.S. at the age of 13 and summoned her first persona when she was a painfully cute girl.
Badass Bookworm: She's quiet, analytical, intelligent, and aloof, but also rather capable of combat.
Badass Fingersnap: Mitsuru's Blizzard Edge Theurgy attack ends with her snapping her fingers, shattering the enemy after they've been encased in ice.
The Beautiful Elite: While most of the game's female characters are depicted as attractive, Mitsuru - with her defined lips, voluminous hair, and refined way of going about everything - stands out from the rest.
Berserk Button:
- When Junpei starts implying that he's really not okay with taking orders from a girl, Mitsuru shuts him down hard and immediately. Her fiancé hits it even harder — Mitsuru has little tolerance for sexism and none for disrespect towards her friends.
- Putting others in danger to cover your own ass is a good way to really piss Mitsuru off. She tears Mr. Ekoda a new one when she learns that he covered up Fuuka's disappearance.
- Do not try to peek on her when she's bathing or changing clothes, accidental or otherwise. She will execute the offender, no questions asked.
Black Mage: Reload changes her skill loadout to focus almost exclusively on offensive magic and ditching access to healing, either through damaging abilities, inflicting status effects, or damaging abilities that also inflict status effects. Her Theurgy meter also fills up faster whenever she inflicts a status effect on an enemy or the enemy has a debuff active at the start of her turn. The only active ability she has that doesn't target enemies is Concentrate, which powers up her magic attacks.
But Thou Must!:
- She'll force the player to go to Tartarus on May 30th if they only went there during the first trip, accusing the protagonist of slacking off, and once on Tartarus she won't let you leave as soon as you got there (Though you can just walk around on a few floors, teleport back and leave).
- In August she applies everyone to Summer Classes, from the 10th to 15th, and you can't back out of it, even if you have max Academics and aced every test. This uses up night time until the 15th too, so you can't grind other stats.
The Captain: Mitsuru is the official leader of S.E.E.S, but because she initially acts as Mission Control, she appoints the MC as the Field Leader. Since (s)he is so good at the job, Mitsuru leaves the current status quo as is even after returning to the field.
Character Catchphrase:
- "C'est magnifique" ("Brilliant" in the Japanese version) — Mainly used to highlight her being a high-class character by peppering a foreign language into her speech patterns.
- "Time for your execution!" — Used right before executing someone, usually for their misdeeds.
Child Marriage Veto: At the end of her social link, she decides her fiancé is scum and threatens to bring the wrath of the Kirijo Group down on him. This is either a result of either her love for the main character or to defend her friend's honor.
Combat Stilettos: She wears heels as part of her combat attire and her critical animation ends with her kicking the enemy. One of her random dialog bits while exploring Tartarus in Reload has her mention how comfortable her boots are.
The Comically Serious: As demonstrated in many of the command room recordings, especially Junpei's. She also demonstrates it during Chihiro's social link.
Curtains Match the Window:
- Mitsuru is regularly depicted with red hair and eyes.
- Averted in the movies, which give her brown eyes.
Daddy's Girl: How did she gain her Persona? To protect her father from the Shadows. She falls into a Heroic BSoD when he's killed.
Defrosting Ice Queen: She starts off aloof and distant from SEES apart from Akihiko, causing friction with Yukari. She loosens up later in the story and her social link indicates that the Ice Queen attitude is in part fueled simply by awkwardness.
Depending on the Artist: In the original Persona 3, Mitsuru's hair colour varies between her character model, portraits, key art and the animated cutscenes — her character model features a dark red that leans towards brown, her portraits give her dark red hair, whilst the animated cutscenes render her hair as being dark brown without any hints of red. Her appearances in the Persona 4: Arena games are in-line with her P3 character model, whilst the anime adaptations, Dancing In Moonlight, Persona Q, Q2 and Reload all opt for a more vibrant red.
The Dreaded:
- There's no one that doesn't fear Mitsuru and the word "EXECUTION!" because it is that horrific (Akihiko, whose Persona is weak to ice, is especially terrified). In fact, in one Drama CD track about the Protagonist double-timing to create Broken Social Links, the first thing Mitsuru said was short, simple, and made the Protagonist completely wince in fear even further:
  Mitsuru: It's me. EXECUTION! That's all.
- It goes even further than just her peers and friends: she can make teachers cower in fear of her, as evidenced by her brutally calling out Mr. Ekoda for his cartoonish irresponsibility during Fuuka's disappearance. Her family more or less owning the school might have something to do with that, but Ekoda isn't exactly one to cow to other teachers, let alone students, so the fact that Mitsuru can make him wither says a lot.
Enemy Scan: As the first Navigator, she can scan enemies in battle to reveal their resistances and weaknesses. It's not as strong as Fuuka's, though.
Even the Girls Want Her: She seems to have more female fans than male ones, including a very vocal stalker in the hallways.
Everything Sounds Sexier in French: In the English dub, even while acting as tactical support. Mon analyse resulted in failure.
Failed a Spot Check: She gets so preoccupied with the October 4th operation that she fails to realise that Ken and Shinjiro going AWOL and the date being the anniversary of Ken's mother's death were connected until it's too late. She also laments after Shinjiro's death that she should've further questioned Ken's motives for joining S.E.E.S.
Fate Worse than Death: Her executions, according to Akihiko.
Fiction 500: She's the heir to the Kirijo Group and shows off their wealth quite well: a video recording notes that her room in the party's dorm is more luxurious and has a private bathroom, her family has a fashion consultant, they own a vacation home at a nearby beach area, and that certainly doesn't cover all of the technology they've made in regards to hunting Shadows, including Anti-Shadow weapons Aigis and Persona 4: Arena's Labrys. Her wealth also crosses with Arbitrarily Large Bank Account, as it's implied that she covers a lot of expenses for SEES, and it's implied that the only reason Akihiko, an orphan, could go around the world on a journey and possibly re-enroll into college after Persona 4: Arena (in Real Life, college applications in Japan revolve around exams and there's very little flexibility for those who choose it or opt to go straight to work instead) is because he has Mitsuru and Aigis backing him up both financially and reputation-wise.
Fiery Redhead: Inverted. She's actually one of the calmer ones. And wields Ice.
Fire-Forged Friends: She practically develops depression after her father was killed, and was very close to totally losing it if it wasn't for Yukari. Since then, they've practically become best friends.
Fish out of Water: Her S. Link demonstrates that her life has been very sheltered in some ways; she is out of her depth and uncomfortable when she goes with the protagonist to places like fast-food restaurants, the culture of which she has no experience with.
Flanderization: Her infamous "execution" in the original game was a one-off gag during the Hot Springs Episode, but spin-offs and even Reload make it one of her most notable characteristics. In the Q spin-offs, she will often threaten to "execute" Akihiko and Shinjiro whenever they're up to their antics. Her costume in the Arena duology and Cross Tag evokes dominatrix vibes, which is stemmed from the frequency of her executions.
Freudian Trio: With Akihiko and Shinjiro. The superego.
The Friends Who Never Hang:
- Despite being part of the original trio, she and Shinjiro have few on-screen interactions, with the latter's relationship with Akihiko being the main focus. Even Persona Q doesn't rectify this as much of her time interacting with him is to quell his and Akihiko's arguments.
- This trope is averted in Reload, as she is a major character in Shinjiro's Linked Episodes where she tries to get him to return to Gekkoukan so he can fulfil his promise to graduate alongside her and Akihiko.
Go-Getter Girl: Originally takes on this role due to her family responsibilities, but then grows into it.
Gratuitous English: In the original Japanese, she uses a lot of English on occasions. In the English release, this is switched to Gratuitous French. In the French release, she switches to Gratuitous Italian.
Guinea Pig Family: It's easy to miss, but optional dialogue with Ikutsuki reveals she wasn't born with the ability to summon a Persona. Instead "she was forced to learn how" by being "subjected to the experiment for many years [...] under the pretense that she was assisting the [Kirijo Group]." This is likely a translation error, as in Reload, Ikutsuki will instead say that the Kirijo Group scientists experimented on her Persona which she awakened naturally rather than being forced to. This is best seen in Persona Q when Mitsuru completely freaks out at the sight of the Deadly Doctor-themed Guardian of the third Labyrinth.
Heroic BSoD: She dedicated her life to protecting her father. Said father is later killed right in front of her. She does not take this well. She's absent for a while, and then when she returns, she's clearly depressed and dwelling on it unhealthily until Yukari snaps her out of it.
Heterosexual Life-Partners: After the scene at the river when Yukari comforts her over her father's death, the two become very close, which carries over to The Answer and Arena. She also becomes very close with the Female Protagonist over the course of her Social Link to the point of offering to move in with her.
Hidden Depths: In Persona Q, Shinjiro notes that she's almost as much of a Blood Knight as Akihiko is, and chides the protagonist for being naïve if he thinks otherwise. In the last labyrinth, Mitsuru also is eager to push a seemingly suspicious button (although doing so is necessary to advance) because she's tired of always being the "prize pupil."
An Ice Person: Penthesilea (and later, Artemisia) utilizes ice spells for offensive use.
Incompatible Orientation: She's on the receiving end of this, unknowingly. She has at least one fangirl at school. That said, Mitsuru herself is presumably straight given that she is a romance option for the Male Protagonist but not the Female Protagonist.
Innocently Insensitive: Being brought up in a rich family as well as a Fish out of Water, Mitsuru fails to understand that a small-town school like Yasogami High has no financial back up from a huge corporation like the Kirijo Group and thus could not afford to renovate the building or keep up with today's technology in Q and accidentally makes a poor remark about the school's condition in front of the Investigation Team.
Irony: In Reload, the most studious member of the main cast is also the only school-based Social Link to be available in the week before a test. This is to balance out her Social Link unlocking late and having extremely stringent Academics requirements.
Lady of Black Magic: Mitsuru is composed, graceful, and her Persona's skillset makes her specialized in elegantly defeating enemies with ice magic. Reload leans into this trait by getting rid of some of her healing support skills, rebalancing her set to exclusively focus on offensive magic or inflicting status effects, and her Theurgy gauge charges faster when she inflicts a status ailment or starts her turn while an enemy has an active debuff. Reload also gives her a characteristic that increases the party's likelihood of inflicting a critical hit on enemies with ailments while she's in the party.
Lady of War: Mitsuru fits the personality to a tee, as she's elegant, reserved, formal, and uses a nice, classy rapier.
Large Ham: Theatrical with a capital T.
"You'll fall by my hand!!"
"This ends NOW!!"
Last-Name Basis: How she addresses everyone except for Akihiko and eventually Yukari. Mitsuru will also refer to the MC this way after progressing far enough in her social link, although she tends to do so only in private. She also refers to Ken and Shinjiro by first name during and after the events of October 4th.
Late Character Syndrome: Not as a party member, as she joins fairly early, but she's this as a Social Link. She only becomes available on November 21st, and the final battle happens in January 31st, which seems reasonable enough, but she's only available on school days, so her Social Link can't advance a week before tests and when tests happen, and days off as well. She's also only available on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, when there aren't Student Council activities, so that makes her schedule more limited. To make it even worse, a week after she becomes available there's also mandatory internships, and the game gives you 11 days off at the end of December to January as part of winter vacation, all of this makes her Social Link impossible to complete before January, and you have to prioritize her over the rest. January is also when Aigis becomes available as a Social Link, meaning there is significant overlap between spending time on their Social Links. The player will have to prioritize her too if they want all Social Links, and both Aigis and Mitsuru have Saturday available on their schedule, so you have to plan ahead which one to prioritize at the moment... Because of all of this, it's not uncommon for her Social Link to be one players fail to complete. Reload averts this, as Mitsuru is available on every school day, and is available a week before tests too, making her far more manageable.
Like an Old Married Couple: Not surprisingly, with Akihiko, as the two are the resident adults in SEES. When Akihiko contemplates reentering combat before he's finished healing, he notes Mitsuru's unstoppable rage as his reason for holding off.
Lonely Rich Kid: Until Yukari comforts her after her father's death, Akihiko is the only person she's close to, and it's more due to their spending time-fighting Shadows as opposed to an actual friendship. Come The Answer, she and Yukari become full-blown best friends, as shown in Pillars of Moral Character below. She can also befriend/romance the MCs when her Social Link opens up. The Arena games reveal that she's remained friends with the entirety of what was once S.E.E.S.
Love Hurts: In Reload, she falls in love with the Protagonist by Rank 8, but can be rejected at Rank 9. She takes it well though if he does, only asking for him to buy some takoyaki for her as compensation.
Magic Knight: She's a very skilled fencer, has access to the highest level Ice, healing, and status-change spells, and has the second-highest Magic stat in the game, which actually exceeds Yukari's by the end of the game courtesy of Ice Amp and Mind Charge. She's also noticeably more durable than Yukari when she joins you. Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth reduces the "knight" half of the equation somewhat, but she's still not the weakest physically. While she loses the healing abilities in Reload she still counts due to retaining her fencing prowess and gaining a few ailment-inducing Slash skills to compensate.
Missing Mom: Her father is a secondary character, but her mother goes unmentioned. An audio drama mentions that she's alive, but estranged from the family; Reload seemingly retcons this by implying that she had passed sometime before the events of the game with another Gekkoukan student commenting on how hard it must be to lose both parents after the death of her father.
Mission Control: She's this early on, being the only member whose Persona has sensory abilities. She's later replaced by Fuuka.
Ms. Fanservice: A downplayed example compared to Yukari. While her outfits are generally quite conservative (High-Cut Armor aside), she's considered to be one of the most attractive characters in the series in-universe, and attention is drawn to this fact fairly regularly. In one of the security camera recordings, she's comfortably walking around in only her Modesty Towel before throwing it onto her couch away from the camera.
Must Make Amends: She feels guilty for her grandfather creating the Dark Hour and is out to stop it.
My Hero, Zero: Her SEES Uniform Armband in Reload has her assigned as #0, indicating her as the first member of SEES to awaken to her Persona.
No Social Skills: Spending her life being trained to fight shadows have left Mitsuru a bit awkward when it comes to normal social situations. She goes to a fast-food restaurant for the first time with the protagonists during her social link and doesn't know that she was supposed to eat the food with her hands.
Not Helping Your Case: She tries to fix the damages that her family had made but her coldness and lack of trust towards her teammates make some of them, especially Yukari, suspicious that she's just using them for self-serving reasons. Even her father calls her out on this.
Nothing Is Scarier: We never see what her dreaded "executions" are (apart from the manga where she actually freezes her victims solid), but judging from the boys' traumatized reactions after getting caught by the girls in the hot springs, it's clear that it is anything but pleasant.
Ojou: Wealthy and somewhat sheltered, but she's definitely not pampered.
Ojou Ringlets: An interesting development happens with this. When she was a child, she had Girlish Pigtails drill hair. As she grew, she started having multiple strands of ringlets. In the events of 3, she only has only one loose ringlet on the left side of her head, though Persona 4: Arena has the ringlet be more noticeable.
Old Man Marrying a Child: She's about to graduate, and her fiancé is at least in his thirties.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: In Persona Q, the usually unflappable Mitsuru absolutely freaks out and screams her head off when the group faces the Deadly Doctor Shadows at the end of the Evil Spirit Club labyrinth, referencing Mitsuru being experimented on by scientists under her grandfather in her backstory:
Mitsuru: S-Stay awaaaayy!!
Perfectly Arranged Marriage: She says that her parents married for political reasons but grew to love each other.
Personality Powers: She has the demeanor of an aloof ice-queen, which fits how she has ice elemental skills.
Pillars of Moral Character: She herself had nothing to do with the creation of the Dark Hour, but she is determined to stop it anyway out of obligation for what her grandfather set in motion. This also extends to the people and families (like Yukari) that were hurt by it. But this really shines in The Answer, where she stands with Yukari, even though she knows Yukari is wrong and could undo everything they fought for, simply because Yukari helped her get through her father's death in The Journey. Because she owed Yukari that debt, Mitsuru was loyal to her no matter what.
Platonic Life-Partners: With Akihiko. The two have been close friends for years, with Akihiko being one of the very few people she refers to by their given name. However, despite their opposite genders, neither of them show any romantic interest in the other.
The Red Mage: In the original P3 releases, her Personas learned a healthy mix of offensive ice magic, healing magic, and status ailment skills. However, she only learns the strongest variants of Dia, which are single-target healing spells (in comparison, Yukari learns all sorts of party-wide and curative healing magic, along with Garu spells). Mitsuru also has the second-highest Magic stat in the original P3 releases, where combined with Mind Charge and Ice Amp, makes her good offensive option. In Reload, she transitions from her role as a red mage and is rebalanced as the game's black mage, no longer having access to Dia line of skills, but getting more offensive options to compensate.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: Despite the red hair, she has an ice theme and is always the cautious and calm one compared to the more adventurous Akihiko.
Required Party Member: For the early months of the game, Mitsuru is your point of contact if you want to go to Tartarus; it's inaccessible if she's unavailable. After Fuuka takes over as Navigator, the player can access Tartarus in her absence but only if Akihiko is around; Mitsuru has instructed Fuuka to not permit the player access if both Mitsuru and Akihiko are unavailable.
Rich in Dollars, Poor in Sense: Because of her sheltered life, Mitsuru lacks common sense and how life outside a wealthy family works to the point she tries to buy food at a vendor using a credit card. She also unknowingly makes crude comments in front of other people which further made Yukari detest her initially.
Royal Rapier: A classy lady who wields rapiers as her primary weapon in most appearances. In the original game and FES, her weapons were one-handed swords, which the protagonist could also wield. In Portable, spin-offs, and Reload, she uses rapiers, with Portable and Reload making rapier-like weapons their own class for Mitsuru, separating them from the male protagonist's one-handed swords.
Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: A benevolent example. Being the heiress of the group that owns Gekkoukan High, on top of being the Student Council President, means that she can essentially do whatever she damn well pleases, rules be damned, including register Aigis as a student mid-year. This gives her a lot of power fueled by her family name, in contrast to Kei Nanjo's going to St. Hermelin High. However, she only ever does this with the benefit of the school in mind, as best seen when she rakes Mr. Ekoda through the coals for covering up his students' disappearance.
Secret Art:
- Her unique skill in Persona Q is Execution, a stabbing attack that dispels binds but also hits harder for each bind dispelled.
- Her unique skill in Q2 is Queen's Pierce, which increases her damage output when striking weaknesses. This upgrades into Empress Pierce with a greater damage bonus.
Sensor Character: She functions as your first navigator until Fuuka joins. Her Persona isn't really suited for it, though, requiring specialized equipment in order for her to function as one and even then only having limited range. Once Fuuka joins the team, Misturu relinquishes the role of navigator to her and expresses relief that she's finally able to return to fighting on the front lines.
Shipping Bed Death: In-Universe, this becomes a mild point in her S. Link, with her musing about how all the books in the library are about romance and there's almost nothing about married life or family. She's very anxious about her upcoming arranged marriage because she knows enough to realize it's probably going to be a pretty unhappy affair altogether.
Sins of Our Fathers: Self-inflicted. She feels it's her personal responsibility to clean up the mess her grandfather left behind.
Sleeping with the Boss: One of the girls you can date as the male protagonist, despite the fact that she's all but his boss in the S.E.E.S. hierarchy.
Spell Blade: A non-status effect example, where her Theurgy attacks combine her magical capabilities with her fencing prowess, imbuing her sword with either Ice or Almighty magic.
Spoiled Sweet: She could have anything with the amount of money within her family's coffers, but she's a hardworking, kind, and heroic young woman despite that. Having a good father probably has a lot to do with it.
Stealth Pun: Mitsuru's an Ice Queen who specializes in Bufu spells and is weak to fire.
Student Council President: She was elected in a landslide, but a lot of students admit that she just sounds really smart and that they don't really understand what she's talking about.
Sugar-and-Ice Personality: She seems cold, professional and has a bad habit of hiding information, but she actually cares a lot about her friends and the group as a whole. She simply has difficulty trusting others and her large sense of responsibility tends to mask her better nature. It makes for quite the spectacle at the end of her social link.
Supporting Leader: While the protagonist is effectively the field commander of S.E.E.S. due to their Wild Card ability, Mitsuru is the formal leader of the group and tends to set up most of the plans. Although not a major focus of the game, this trope comes into effect given that her family is responsible for the creation of Tartarus and the Dark Hour, and the fact that she is openly recruiting more people into SEES.
Team Mom: Actually expects everyone to maintain good grades. Expects being the keyword. She will give your character rewards if you place highly on exams, and to start her Social Link, you must have maxed out Academics and have placed first on at least one exam.
Tough Leader Façade: A significant amount of her aloof attitude is based on her not being that great at socializing, while the rest is based on her attempts to be professional and in control. This causes much friction between her and Yukari, who misinterpreted her facade as a lack of empathy for her teammates.
Undying Loyalty: Played straight and Deconstructed. In The Answer Mitsuru sides with Yukari when she decides to go back in time to stop the Protagonist from becoming the Great Seal even though Mitsuru does not agree with Yukari's plan and is well aware that it can end in disaster for humanity. However, Mitsuru still assists Yukari because she feels indebted towards Yukari for being there when she needed her the most.
Uptown Girl: In the male character's Social Link. She doesn't really care and even defends him when her fiancé tries to snub him to the point of instantly breaking off the engagement.
Young and in Charge: She's the leader of S.E.E.S. while she was still a teenager. Following her father's death, she succeeds him as head of the Kirijo Group.

Characters / Persona 3: Starting Members

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