Characters / Crimson AU

This is a list of Persona 5 characters as they appear in the AU fic, Crimson. In-development.

---

The Phantom Thieves

In General

Akira Kurusu / "Joker"

• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Compared to the canon counterparts, this version of Joker is far more troubled and traumatized by the events of the story. His pre-arrest life gets hit with this too: his father abandoned him at birth and his mother is more emotionally distant as a result (after the arrest, she's implied to have effectively disowned him).
• Antagonistic Offspring: Downplayed. Though he hasn't made a appearance, apart from a few dreams, Akira does not like his father, which is understandable considering he abandoned Akira's mother on the day Akira was born.
• Byronic Hero: While he remains well-meaning and kind, he's paranoid, somewhat manipulative and borderline self-destructive. Throughout the story, he finds himself making pragmatic choices that he's not proud of.
• The Casanova: Averted since he makes it clear he has no experience in relationships or otherwise, however, in one chapter while he's babysitting Kaoru, they meet up with Takemi who jokes that Akira has a experienced love life, calling him a "lady killer", much to Akira's annoyance, which ends up making Kaoru believe Akira is very much this trope, prompting Kaoru to take notes.
• The Glasses Gotta Go: Downplayed. Doesn't actually need his glasses and only wears them to look less intimidating, though when he takes them off in front of Makoto for the first time her first thought is that he looks cuter without them on.
• I Did What I Had to Do: The most likely among the Phantom Thieves to push for a morally gray approach. The greatest example surrounds Sugimura's Palace which, being connected to the target's car, poses unique practical challenges. Akira's solution is to lure Sugimura to a warehouse and chloroform him. While the Phantom Thieves admit it was the only real option, they agree that it's a line not to cross.
• Like Father, Like Son: After he ends up becoming the leader of the Phantom Thieves he starts freaking out about becoming like his father, a con artist.
• Shoo the Dog: Starts to have a budding romance with Makoto early on in the story, but when she starts to get to close to figuring out he's a Phantom Thief, he's forced to try to cut ties with her.
• Trauma Conga Line: After canon events (getting falsely convicted of assault, put on probation and then his criminal record leaked at Shujin) he ends up witnessing a subway crash that a mental shutdown caused, gets beaten up by Kamoshida, then after celebrating Kamoshida's arrest with Ryuji, Ann and Morgana, he witnesses someone die from a mental shutdown in the hotel bathroom. All of which happens within a month of each other. It doesn't stop there of course, several chapters later when Iwai gives him to Kaneshiro in exchange for Kaoru, he ends up witnessing Kaneshiro smoother someone (non fatally) with a plastic bag and KILL A GUY WITH A DRILL TO THE HEAD.
• Will They or Won't They?: With Makoto.

Makoto Niijima

• Awesomeness by Analysis: Her main contribution to the team so far, since she hasn't awakened her persona yet. She identifies the Phantom Thieves by repeatedly Spotting the Thread, and deduces the nature of Sugimura's distortion on the fly.
• Spotting the Thread: She is VERY good at this, being able to deduce the Phantom Thieves' identities by noticing very small cracks in their alibis.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: Makoto tends to have this attitude with authority and law enforcement, in part because her dad was a good cop. This is one source of tension between her and Akira, as the latter has learned the hard way how broken the system can be.

Ryuji Sakamoto / "Skull"

• Adaptational Intelligence: Downplayed but compared to the game where Ryuji had the tendency to hold the Conflict Ball, here he actually acts as the buffer to Akira's paranoia and Ann being the Commander Contrarian.
• The Heart: In Crimson he's played up as being this role in the Phantom Thieves, being the most forgiving of them as well. Ann even tells him in one chapter that his positive energy is what has kept the group together.

Morgana / "Mona"

• Adaptational Nice Guy: Morgana is shown to be a bit less self-centered than his canon self.

Ann Takamaki / "Panther"

• Adaptation Dye-Job: Has green eyes unlike her canon self having bright blue eyes.
• Adaptational Jerkass: Downplayed, but also downplayed the Nice Girl trait unlike in canon. She has prominent conflicts with Akira and Makoto, especially after the fiasco with Makoto triggering Shiho's trauma. She dresses down Akira for not breaking ties with Makoto earlier and forces a Friend Versus Lover situation. Ann then confronts Makoto about Shiho where she slaps her and lies about being in a relationship with Akira. She fully admits that the latter portion was done intentionally to hurt Makoto.
  • The rewrite gives this first impression when both her and Akira first meet, that unlike in canon when she smiled at the protagonist (alongside being curious in the anime while removing out a flower pedal from Ren's hair), Ann (Crimson) is outright hostile when Akira stares at her.
• Adaptational Skill: Ann's acting skills are notably better than in canon.
• Berserk Button: Triggering Shiho's PTSD; Makoto doing this provokes Ann going from mere suspicion and dislike to actively blackmailing Akira into cutting her out of his life.
• Commander Contrarian: This version of her is more prone to having conflicts with the team and relating to Akira's secrets.
• Fille Fatale: When she and Akira are trying to sell loot from Kamoshida's palace to Iwai at Untouchable he offers them less than they would like, so she invokes this a little bit to try and get him to raise his offer. This has no effect on him whatsoever and he makes it pretty clear he likes older women when he says:
  Iwai: Missy, I add sweet girls like you to my coffee in the morning when I'm getting ready for a night with the real women. You can't handle me and I ain't got the patience to acquaint you.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Ann's relationship with Akira is...rocky, to say the least. The biggest sources of tension are Akira's lack of openness and relationship with Makoto.

Yusuke Kitagawa / "Fox"

• Delicate and Sickly: When the Phantom Thieves confront him over Madamare, he suddenly passes out and they take him to Takemi, who discovers he's malnourished and not being fed properly by Madamare. Several chapters later he has another check up with Takemi, who says he has low triglycerides and some vitamin deficiencies, but is doing much better,
• Mistaken for Gay: Happens twice due to his phrasing and manner.

Futaba Sakura

• Aloof Ally: Downplayed. As Ali Baba she contact the phantom thieves and tells them that she'll help them with getting information to take down Kaneshiro, providing they change her heart.
• The Snack Is More Interesting: When she introduced to the story, when she is having a conversation with the members of Tatterdemalion over the phone as Alibaba, the first thing they hear is her snacking.

Haru Okumura / "Rose" / "Noir"

• Adaptational Early Appearance: This iteration of Haru becomes a main character far earlier than in canon, making her first appearance as early as late April.
• Damsel out of Distress: When kidnapped by her fiancée Sugimura and locked in his car, she uses the metaverse app to escape (knowing already that Sugimura has a palace and that palace is his car), and after several attempts to find the right keyword, she finally succeeds and escapes to the metaverse.
• Shipper on Deck: She's all for Akira and Makoto getting together.

Confidants

Igor

Justine & Caroline

• Adaptational Abomination: Caroline and Justine keep away from Joker's view to avoid driving him insane with their forms, and even their speaking causes him intense nausea.

Sojiro Sakura

Sae Niijima

Sadayo Kawakami

Yuuki Mishima

• The Friend Nobody Likes: Downplayed and justified, Akira is the only one of the Phantom Thieves who doesn't really like Mishima since he was the one who leaked his criminal record to everyone in the school, even if he was ordered to by Kamoshida. Over time he still doesn't endear himself to Akira, due being overly devoted to helping the Phantom Thieves, which causes Akira to see Mishima as just a fanboy attaching himself to a trend, and unbeknownst to Mishima, he plans to eventually take control of the phansite and lock Mishima out of it (never mind that Mishima had already made the requested changes to stop the phansite from becoming another form of cyberbullying, as it was in the game). Notably, the original version of the story was discontinued just before Akira got to that point, while the ongoing rewrite seems to be treating Mishima more charitably, removing the first scene where Akira mentions his plan to Morgana, and adding a scene where Akira starts to empathise more with him as one of Kamoshida's victims.

Tae Takemi

• Everyone Has Standards: Outright refuses to give Akira chloroform for the Sugimura Heist.
• Good Is Not Nice: Is way more confrontational than she ever was in canon, especially when she catches on to what Akira really needs her medicine for. She even tries to call the police and report Kamoshida after he beats up Akira (though he manages to stop her since the police won't do anything because Kamoshida has way more leverage), and then later Madarame when she discovers he's been depriving Yusuke of food (in that case she actually does call the police but because of the same reasons the police don't do anything). She even confronts Iwai when he leaves Akira to babysit Kaoru to go off somewhere without telling his son. Despite her attitude to the PT situation, she generally worries about Akira and who becomes acquainted with (such as Iwai and Ohya), and like in canon she cares a lot about her patients and their well being, and still goes along with helping the Phantom Thieves despite her disapproval.

Munehisa Iwai

• Papa Wolf: Much like in canon is very protective of his son Kaoru and doesn't want him knowing of his former life as a Yakuza, OR becoming part of the Yakuza. However, Canon!Iwai never "gave" Akira to the Yakuza in exchange for his son not becoming one.
• Tattooed Crook: Well, former since he left the Yakuza years ago, but he still has a tattoo of a dragon on his forearm, which he shows Akira in one chapter.

Ichiko Ohya

• Adaptational Badass: Is way more than badass she was in canon. Here she a lot sneakier, scanning phones for information when she's researching a story (which is very useful in gaining information on Madarame's criminal activates), and in one chapter, while drunk, she successfully knocks out Iwai with a jar of coffee beans. In the latter example she was actually mistaken in thinking he was attacking Akira, Iwai was actually only holding onto him because Akira was having a panic attack, but still, it's pretty gutsy of Ohya to attack someone she knows is a former Yakuza.
• Outdated Outfit: Its noted by a few characters (such as Ann) that she dresses as if it's still the 90s.
• The Alcoholic: Unlike in the canon where she was a Hard-Drinking Party Girl, here it becomes very apparent to people such as Akira, Lala and Takemi that she has a drinking problem, the latter outright giving her a card for an substance abuse centre. As time goes on her drinking seems to get worse and eventually she has a heart to heart with Lala about it.

Goro Akechi

Antagonists

Suguru Kamoshida

Principal Kobayakawa

Ichiryusai Madarame

• Abusive Parents: His abuse of Yusuke and his other apprentices gets much more focus here than canon. Suffice to say, it isn't pretty.
• Death by Adaptation: Is killed in the Wham Episode by Akechi controlling one of his former apprentices to stab him to death to cover up any loose ends.

Rin Sugimura

• Adaptational Expansion: In canon, Sugimura is a Flat Character who exists mainly to provide the deadline factor for the Okumura heist. Here, he plays a far more active role, serving as the third Palace master and a far more direct threat to Haru.
• Death by Adaptation: After the Phantom Thieves steal his treasure, he's killed shortly after when his driver suffers a mental shutdown and drives them both into the Tokyo Bay.
• Didn't Think This Through: He kidnaps Haru and brings her to Kaneshiro so he can have her personality changed. This proves to be a fatal mistake, as Kaneshiro has Sugimura killed to protect himself.
• Groin Attack: [[As his palace is mobile in nature, Yusuke and Makoto are forced to keep him distracted to give Haru and the others time to escape to the real world. Yusuke's attempt only bewilders and angers him, so he improvises...by kicking him in the balls and running away.]]

• Named by the Adaptation: Unlike in canon (where he is addressed only by his surname), he is given the first name Rin, to distinguish him from his father.

Masayoshi Shido

• Adaptational Nice Guy: The original Shido was a pure Jerkass through and through who couldn't go five seconds without insulting or condescending to someone. This Shido displays the ability to at least convincingly fake being the kind of man who should run the country, even acknowledging and praising Akechi as his son.

Junya Kaneshiro

• Adaptational Badass: In pretty much every aspect.

Tatterdemalion

Junichiro 'Juni' Maki

• The Casanova: Downplayed. When Juni is first introduced he's casually chatting up a woman at a bar.
• Foil: To Akira. Both are leaders of a group of thieves who seek to expose the truth, but unlike Akira, Juni has more experience being a leader, starting Tatterdemalion after graduating college, and way more level headed.
• The Leader: Of the organization.

Akio 'Aki'

• Number Two: Plays this role in Tatterdemalion, having been friends with Juni since college.

Kaneko

• The Bartender: Of the Tatterdemalion's headquarters, The Quercus.

Dunk

• Genius Bruiser.

Mori

• Master of Disguise: Is introduced as a seemingly harmless homeless woman, which even fools Juni at first.
• The Mole: Was this for Tatterdemalion in their plan to take down Madarame, having gotten a job at the gallery and even becoming friends with Madarame's girlfriend. Needless to say, she's pretty pissed over all her hard work going to waste thanks to the Phantom Thieves.

Ai & Niko

• Creepy Twins: An Adult version, though it's implied they play this up.
• Finishing Each Other's Sentences: Naturally, shown when Juni calls them out on their creepy twin act as mentioned above. Which they respond to rather (non)childishly.
  Ai pouts. "Jack-"
  "Ass," Niko finishes."

Other Characters

Shiho Suzui

Natsuhiko Nakanohara

• Ascended Extra: Downplayed. In canon he only appease near the beginning of the Madarame arc, but in Crimson he makes a few more appearances after the Phantom Thieves steal Madarame's treasure, including being the only other person, beside Yusuke, who showed up for Madarame's funeral.

Mitsuyo Togo

Kaoru

• Cannot Talk to Women: Judging by his conversation with Takemi.
• Distracted by the Sexy: When he is being looked after by Akira and the two of them visit Takemi, all he can do is stare at her legs until she starts speaking to him.
• The Klutz: Iwai describes him as this.

Shiori Toko

Eiko

Hideotoshi Kagawa

• Friend on the Force: Was a friend and partner to Makoto and Sae's deceased dad and when Makoto is trying to help out Haru in her situation with Sugimura she goes to him for help.
• Original Character:
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Is supportive of helping out when Makoto calls him to help Haru and when Haru is kidnapped by Sugimura, he helps in looking for her. He then later helps Sae, along with Goro, in a investigation into seeing if there is a connection to the Phantom Thieves and the mental shutdowns, despite how crazy he finds the situation.
• Take Care of the Kids: Tells Sae that her and Makoto's father asked him to look out for them if something was to happen to him, which Sae points out to him that he hasn't done much in that regard since their father's death.

Fumihiro

,

Rokuro

• Small Role, Big Impact: Is apparently someone who Akira shared a room with during his brief stint in Juvie (though its jossed by Word of God that he maybe something else) and has rarely appeared but his words to Akira that there's always a way out seems to stay with Akira throughout Crimson.

Akira Kurusu's Father

• The Ghost: Is never seen outside of a few nightmares that Akira has, and only mentioned by Akira to not have been part of his life before his false conviction and move to Tokyo, apart from a few visits every few years to try and connect.
• Con Man: Akira eventually revels to Ryuji and Ann that his father is a con artist who got his mum pregnant and then on the day he was born abandoned her, only leaving a note saying he couldn't deal with becoming a father.