Characters / Persona: The Heroes

Persona Main Character Index
The Heroes | The Allies | St. Hermelin NPCs | The Antagonists

In General

• Adapted Out: The protagonist, Maki, and Yuka's Ultimate Personas, Amon-Ra, Verdandi, and Frey, respectively, are not used in the manga. Instead, the Protagonist obtains Vishnu from his other self at the Alaya Cavern.
• Adaptational Wimp: Downplayed in the manga version, where the characters are only equipped with their melee weapons and not their firearms. This is inversed for Maki, who has her pistol but not her bow.
• Badass Crew: They're all pretty badass, or at least end up as ones by the end of the story.
• Class Reunion: At the end of Eternal Punishment, the party (sans Masao and Yuka) have a reunion at Parabellum Bar talking about their life since graduating.
• Magic Skirt: All of the girls, despite their clothes blowing around when they summon their Personas.
• The Musketeer: All party members hold one melee weapon and one firearm in combat.
• Put on a Bus: The Protagonist, Masao, and Yuka are absent in the second games.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: The only people in the party the MC knows at the start of the game are Nanjo, Eriko, Maki, Yukino, and Mark. Everyone else just seems to be an acquaintance. Maki has very few friends because of her bedridden condition, and Ayase and Brown only seem to be friends with each other. The pamphlet even describes all of them as a group of "problem students" prior to the events of the game.
• Wacky Homeroom: All of them are members of Class 2-4, and all of them are quite the bunch. Of course, it just so happens that all nine of them (from the loner with a killing drive to a habitual liar to an air-headed kogal) happen to be the only ones that can solve the crisis the town is facing.

The Protagonist

The Protagonist / Naoya Toudou / Yuya Narumi / Jihei Suzakuin

^{Click here to see Seimen Kongou} 
See no evil, Speak no evil, Hear no evil

^{Click here to see his Ultimate Persona} 
King of Persona-users

Primary Arcana: The Emperor

Major Personas: Seimen Kongou, Amon Ra, Vishnu

Weapons: One-handed swords, sub-machine guns

Voiced by: Katashi Ishizuka (JP, Persona 1 PSP remake), Akira Ishida (JP, Drama CD), Grant George (EN, Persona 1 PSP remake)

The main character of Persona and the designated leader of the group. He is most commonly dubbed "Boy with Earring", but with the loss of the earring in the original North American version, it was shortened to simply "Boy". The manga refers to him as "Naoya Toudou," the audio dramas as "Yuya Narumi," and the novelization as "Jihei Suzakuin".

Dragged along to participate in the "Persona" game to settle a bet between Mark and Brown, the protagonist and his other classmates catch a glimpse of a little girl crying. Lightning flashes, and those who haven't played before are knocked out, sent into the border between consciousness and unconsciousness. A Guardian Entity named Philemon meets the protagonist in a dream, asking him to state his name. Upon doing so, Philemon is impressed, for not everyone who comes to his realm knows who they really are. The protagonist gains the ability to summon his Persona, and is then sent back to reality. Upon regaining consciousness, he finds himself in the school infirmary, the last of his classmates to wake up. The school nurse and their homeroom teacher Saeko Takami urge the group to go to the hospital to have themselves checked, opening up an opportunity to visit Maki again.

The group waits for Maki outside the ICU, where she is being treated after complaining of severe pain. Tremors shake the building, and when the door to the ICU is opened, there is nothing behind it but a wall. Demons soon run wild in the hospital, attacking the people inside. Upon encountering a gang of demons, he and his friends all awaken to their Personas. He is then designated as the leader.

He's the main powerhouse of the team and, because of the inability to take him out of the party in both quests, has the highest level growth. He wields one-handed swords for his physical attacks and sub-machineguns for his ranged attacks, and his Initial Persona is Seimen Kongou of the Emperor Arcana.

In the Persona 2 duology, he is often mentioned by his former classmates and they even compare him with Tatsuya, finding how similar the two of them are. According to a flashback, he has to leave his friends for a while after graduating but his whereabouts are only known to Elly and Maki. He finally makes an appearance at the end of Eternal Punishment, reuniting with his friends at a class reunion where he is greeted by Elly and Maki.

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• Adaptation Expansion: The manga gives him a brief background. Aside from being childhood friends with Maki, he also had a twin brother named Kazuya who died when they were young. His brother's death greatly shook their mother to the point that she mistook Naoya for Kazuya. For a while, Naoya pretended to be his brother to please his mother to the point he almost believed himself to be Kazuya. After his mother accepted Kazuya's death, Naoya pierced his ear as proof he was himself and to remind him of his brother's death. His guilt eventually manifests into Shadow Naoya, who proclaims that he is Kazuya.
• Adaptational Nationality: Interestingly enough, he is portrayed as half American in the novels.
• Adaptational Villainy: In the Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner TV Series, he's protrayed as a one-shot antagonist towards the devil summoners.
• Angsty Surviving Twin: In the manga due to his brother's untimely death.
• Believing Their Own Lies: After the death of Kazuya, their mother briefly mistakes him for his deceased brother and Naoya plays along to the point that he comes to believe that he IS Kazuya.
• Blood Knight: The manga adaption implies that Naoya feels alive during the heat of a battle.
• Blow You Away: His initial persona Seimen Kongou learns Garu spells.
• The Bus Came Back: He is reunited with his friends in the epilogue of Eternal Punishment after being absent for the entire game.
• But Now I Must Go: After graduation, he leaves Mikage-cho and does not return for a while. Only Maki and Elly know where he leaves for.
• Cain and Abel: In the manga, Naoya (the Abel) finds himself menaced by the ghost of his deceased twin bother Kazuya (the Cain). Eventually subverted, as "Kazuya" was actually an Enemy Without.
• Canon Name: He is the only Persona protagonist to never have either an official name or a name bestowed by Atlus themselves in either an adaptation or a spin-off of their game. He is even unnamed in Persona 2 and is simply known as "Boy with Earring." Despite this, fans prefer to refer to him by "Naoya Toudou", the name he goes by in the manga adaptation.
• Character Tics: In the manga, he has the habit of rubbing his pierced ear.
• Chick Magnet: Maki, Eriko, and Yuka all have feelings for him.
• Closet Geek: His "other self" in Alaya Cavern is seen playing an old arcade console and will tell the player to not bother him after talking to him the first time. Since his "other self" is a part of the protagonist, it implies that the protagonist is an avid fan of videogames. In the manga adaption, Naoya used to play video games with Maki and his brother during their childhood, further supporting this.
• Cool Sword: Single-handed, edge-oriented.
• Everyone Can See It: Eriko can see it. Kei can probably see it. Masao definitely sees it. Hell, even former Green-Eyed Monster Chisato can tell you and Maki are the Official Couple.
• The Gambling Addict: Naoya loves to waste time in arcades, gambling for hours while more pressing issues were taking place, according to Yukino in Innocent Sin.
• The Ghost: He is completely absent in both the Persona 2 duology and only appears in flashbacks and as a demon's disguise to trick Eriko. Despite this, his friends often mention him and even note how similar he is to Tatsuya. A person presumed to be him is heard entering the Parabellum Bar and is greeted by Maki and Eriko.
• Hair Color Dissonance: Is it black, blue or just dyed?
• Half the Man He Used to Be: Kazuya cuts him in half during their final confrontation. Fortunately, the battle takes place within Naoya's subconscious, allowing him to recover.
• Hello, [Insert Name Here]: Not only his first name but his surname and 'nickname', as well. (The "other self" found in the Alaya Cavern will cite all of these to prove he is you).
• Heroes Prefer Swords: He's the main protagonist, and his preferred melee weapon is a one-handed sword.
• Heroic BSoD: In their final confrontation, Kazuya attempts to break Naoya by doubting his identity.
• Heroic Mime: Strangely, his "other self" can speak just fine; this convention carries over to both of Persona 2's silent protagonists.
• Hey, You!: He goes unnamed in Eternal Punishment, only identified as The Boy with Earring and only referred as "him" by his friends.
• Iconic Item: He ain't called the "pierced ear boy" for nothing.
• Identical Twin ID Tag: In the manga, he can be distinguished from his twin brother Kazuya through his earring.
• Jack of All Trades: Because the protagonist's stats are customizable, he can have an even growth to all his stats.
• The Kirk: He's presented with a few moral dilemmas during the course of the game, which will prove what kind of person he is. These options are usually represented by the conniving Kei and the more headstrong Masao. Your choices will significantly affect the outcome of the story.
• Manly Tears: Knowing that he will not be able to meet the Ideal Maki again, Naoya is unable to hold back his tears.
• Mistaken Identity: After the death of his brother in the manga, Naoya's mother briefly mistakes him for Kazuya.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The entire Snow Queen Quest happens because your stupid ass learned about a cursed mask and decided going looking for it was a fun way to kill some time.
• "No More Holding Back" Speech: In the manga, having come to terms with his brother's death, Naoya wants to change himself and tells "Kazuya" to return to him, realizing that he is one of his "other selves". Aki attempts to break him again by doubting his identity and his habit of rubbing his earring but Naoya pulls it off, as he doesn't need it anymore. With Naoya accepting him, "Kazuya" disappears and Naoya finds himself with his "other self" at Alaya Cavern, who rewards him with the strongest Persona of the Emperor Arcana, Vishnu. The scene greatly resembles whenever a character in Persona 4 accepts their Shadow Self.
• One Head Taller: He's slightly taller than his Love Interest Maki, who has to stand on her tiptoes to kiss him.
• Only Sane Man: Compared to the rest of your group, he is, due to being the player himself, the least emotionally defined, and whenever the multiple personalities on the team clash, he is usually picked to make the choices they can't agree on, and it's implied that's why everyone trusts him to be the leader. In the manga adaption, he tends to be the most level-headed among his group, rather than berating his friends like Kei.
• Out-of-Character Alert: If the protagonist visits the Historical Society before going to the hospital, Mark will comment that he's awfully studious all of sudden and hell is about to freeze over. This either means the protagonist doesn't have the best grades or he doesn't have to study that much compared to his classmates.
• Painting the Medium: It's obvious he does speak in-universe, due to the Dialogue Trees. So why did Masao have to participate in the Persona ritual, when he (Masao) didn't want to, as opposed to the protagonist? Because the devs couldn't have him talk outside of a Dialogue Tree.
• Person with the Clothing: When he's referred to by his pierced ear.
• The Power of Friendship: Hieroglyphein works well on Pandora can be interpreted as the bond between the Protagonist and Maki, with said bond overcoming her nihilism.
• Present Absence: Even though he was absent in the Persona 2 duology, he is often mentioned by his former classmates and has some involvement in Elly's subplot.
• Put on a Bus: His whereabouts after graduation is unknown and is left for the player to decide. Elly's flashback in Eternal Punishment has him telling Maki and Elly's his reason for departure but there is no text box.
• The Quiet One: He only talks when needed even in the CD drama and manga adaption.
• The Reliable One: Being the most level-headed and emotionally stable member of the group, his friends fully support him as their leader and let him decide on the choices they have to make.
• Signature Move: Amon-Ra has an attack known as Hieroglyphein but has no proper description to it and is worthless against regular enemies. In truth, Hieroglyphein is the best move against any bosses especially the two final bosses. Hilariously enough, the original American translation had it called "BossDamage" which may have provided a clue as to what and where it's used on best.
• Shonen Hair: Considering the time period the game takes place.
• The Stoic: Part of why he's regarded as the Only Sane Man.
• Supporting Protagonist: He is this in both routes, as the SEBEC route revolves around Maki coming to grips that she created an alternate reality that's trying to overtake the real reality and the Snow Queen route revolves around Yukino's attempts to save Ms. Saeko.
• Suddenly Speaking: He has a few lines of spoken dialogue in Persona 2: Eternal Punishment.
• Take a Third Option: During his final confrontation with Kazuya in the manga, Aki lets him choose Kazuya's fate; to let him be trapped in the darkness forever, or to make him disappear. Instead, Naoya tells Kazuya to return to him, accepting that "Kazuya" is a part of him.
• Tarot Motifs: At upright, the Emperor represents power, leadership and structure. The Protagonist is the leader of his group and in terms of gameplay, the only one whose stats can be increased via the player's input. In addition, his friends can see that he is a Blood Knight and feels alive during the heat of a battle. When Reversed, the Arcana represents weak-willed and poor control. In the manga adaptation, Naoya's habit of rubbing his earring is to confirm his identity due to his mother mistaking him for his deceased twin brother. This self-doubt manifests into his Shadow Self, who pretends to be Kazuya to play tricks with his mind.
• Theme Twin Naming: Manga-only: Naoya and Kazuya.
• Would Hurt a Child: Tried to attack Aki in the manga without thinking twice, though this is because she was already putting his friends through the wringer. Aki herself calls him on it with smug irony.

Maki Sonomura (Mary)

Maki Sonomura (Mary)

Primary Arcana: The Priestess

Major Personas: Matsu, Verdandi

Weapons: Bows, handguns

Voiced by: Jun Mizusawa (JP, Persona 1 PSP remake), Houko Kuwashima (CD Drama), Melissa Fahn (EN, Persona 1 PSP remake)

Maki Sonomura is a frail girl who has been sick all of her life. She had to make frequent trips to the hospital as a result of her illness, and as of the start of the game, she has been confined to a hospital bed for an entire year. When she's not in too much pain, she often paints disturbing still-life pictures, escapes into her "Ideal" world, and waits for her friends to come to visit her.

Despite being the main heroine of the SEBEC route, Maki is unplayable on the Snow Queen route, playing a very minor role: Another version of her, credited as the "Masked Girl", appears as one of the Night Queen's allies, and claims to be responsible for everything that has happened. She and the Masked Boy (actually a masked Kandori) merge with the Night Queen for her battle with the heroes but are defeated. Afterward, Mark reveals that he left the Ideal Maki behind at SEBEC, tying the Snow Queen route back into the main story.

Maki is the party's main mage and support character, able to cast healing magic from the far end of the group's formation. Because of this, she wields exclusively long-range weapons, a crossbow and a handgun. Her starting Persona is Matsu of the Priestess Arcana.

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• A-Cup Angst: She's not exactly happy about her small bust, which Aki pokes fun at.
• Adaptation Expansion: She and Naoya are childhood friends in the manga.
• Admiring the Abomination: Does this a few times (it's even a Contact command), although she doesn't really come close to being a Nightmare Fetishist, and rather seems to be fascinated with the demons.
• And I Must Scream: One of the ways she can die over the course of the game is by being stuck in her virtual reality, eventually coming to hate what she made.
• Anti-Nihilist: Despite all of the insanity happening around her, she does everything she can to try to remedy it.
• Anguished Declaration of Love: At the conclusion of the game, before everyone returns to the real world. The "Ideal Maki" confesses her love to the MC, and kisses him as a parting gift since she's only a fragment of the real Maki and can't go with him.

• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: She never gets visibly tarnished even in the manga adaption.
• Betty and Veronica: The Betty to Eriko's Veronica and the protagonist's Archie. While Eriko is The Beautiful Elite, Maki is more of the girl-next-door. This is especially so in the manga, being Naoya's friend since childhood.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: The alternate Mikage-cho was actually created by the Maki after she was plugged into the DEVA System.
• The Blank: After The Reveal, Ideal Maki loses her face because she's not sure who she is anymore.

• Break the Cutie: Big time, once she learns she's just a figment of the real Maki's imagination.
• Childhood Friend Romance: Maki and the protagonist are childhood friends in the manga series though she only started to have feelings for him during the course of the story.
• The Cynic: Her extended stays at the hospital and the inability to take joy in life's simple pleasures has made her deeply cynical. She gets better by the game's end, however.
• Delicate and Sickly: Maki's spent most of her life fighting with chronic illness, to the point that she's been hospital-bound for about a year by the time the game begins. She eventually turns out to be a rather vicious Deconstruction of this trope: Her illness has largely robbed her of her youth and the chance to enjoy life, leaving her bitter, pessimistic and depressed. Thankfully, her mental health looks to be improving in the good ending, and by Eternal Punishment she's managed to rejoin society.
• Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: She knows that she'll never be physically strong enough to have a life outside of the hospital, and it only contributes further to her nihilistic attitude.
• Deuteragonist: She's the character that the majority of the SEBEC quest centers around and overall has an enormous presence in the story as a whole.
• Dude Magnet: The player character, Mark, Eikichi, many extras or unnamed characters, and several demons all seem to be attracted to her.
• Early-Bird Cameo: All in all, the Ideal Maki is actually the first Cognitive Existence to appear in the franchise, 20 years before the concept is explained in Persona 5.
• Enemy Without: Her positive and negative sides, Aki and Mai, split themselves from her personality. They both cause quite a bit of trouble for the party.
• Heroic BSoD: When Maki is revealed to be 1) only a fragment of the real Maki and 2) the real Maki being responsible for the entire demon invasion by way of being the one who created the altered reality presented by the DEVA System.

• An Ice Person: Uses ice spells in combat.
• Iconic Item: Her compact, which turns out to be a MacGuffin.
• Kill the Cutie: In the bad ending for SEBEC. She is to live out her life in the virtual reality she created.
• Literal Split Personality: The Ideal Maki is healthy and, aside from her earlier existential crisis, lively and optimistic, while the Real Maki is sickly, pessimistic, and nihilistic.
• Magikarp Power: When you first get her, she's a decent healer and not much else. By the end of the game, her Personas and skill with a gun will make her one of your party's primary damage dealers.
• Making a Splash: Matsu uses Water-based spells.
• Man in the Machine: Maki turns out to have been hooked up to a reality-warping machine the whole time.
• The Medic: Most of the Personas whose Arcanas she has high Affinity with have access to healing spells. She serves this role fully in the manga adaption.
• Must Make Amends: Becomes this after recovering from her Heroic BSoD. This carries over to her guest appearance in Persona 2.
• Mutually Exclusive Party Members: She cannot be in the party at the same time as Yukino, as she only joins you after Yukino permanently departs on the SEBEC route.
• Nightmare Fetishist: The manga hints that the demons invading the city didn't come from the Expanse, but rather were created by the DEVA System. Apparently, the real Maki likes myths and stories about monsters which her mind made real. This is shown after the fight with Yog Sothoth Jr., a Lovecraftian creature, when Eriko remarks that he was a fictional creature that shouldn't exist.

• Powered by a Forsaken Child: The DEVA machine works like this, rewriting reality to fit the wishes of a chronically ill teenage girl.
• Reality Warper: The DEVA machine is Powered by a Forsaken Child: namely, Maki. This causes her fantasies and idealisms to start taking priority over reality, eventually causing the end of the world.
• Required Party Member: She must be in the party throughout the SEBEC route.
• Rewatch Bonus: When playing the game a second time, the player will notice that Maki's mugshot in the hospital is different than that when she joins the party.
• Stepford Smiler: Maki's happy exterior hides her deep issues.
• Squishy Wizard: Has HP that isn't too low, but invests almost no points in Vitality, or Dexterity, which means that leaving her with a Persona that can heal is a good idea.
• The Straight and Arrow Path: Even though her bow attacks can hit a single row, and the back one if she's in the second, the arrows she fires never seem to go astray unless an enemy dodges them.
• Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: A little red bow and light red lipstick.
• Tomato in the Mirror: The Maki in the party is horrified to find out that she is just an idealize doppelganger created by the actual Maki and that she plays a role causing all the chaos around her. Feeling guilty, the Ideal Maki leaves the party and escapes to the Lost Forest. When the party finds her, her face is blank, refering the real Maki's feeling of emptiness.
• Took a Level in Badass: Goes from a frail, ill girl to a Badass Adorable and one of the party's biggest damage dealers. Ultimately subverted, because the Maki in your party and the ill girl Maki are two separate people.
• Trauma Conga Line: She just can't catch a break.
• Toy Time: At least one boss takes the form of an oversized windup toy thanks to her thoughts becoming real.
• Walking Spoiler: Not as bad as other examples, but at least half of this section has a spoiler section.
• Will They or Won't They?: Her relationship with the Protagonist is left ambiguous as to whether or not the real Maki shares the same feelings for him as Ideal Maki. The epilogue reveals that Maki has a boyfriend but it's unknown whether or not it's the Protagonist. By the time of Eternal Punishment she also encourages Eriko to confess her feelings for him as well. Both seem to accept they both have feelings for him.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: After being bedridden for her entire life, suffering fits of insanity and amnesia, and getting kidnapped by mad scientists, the DEVA machine ends up destroying the real world based on her wishes and replacing it with her twisted Ideal World.
• Your Mind Makes It Real: Maki is indirectly responsible for Mikage-cho's transformation, as the town is gradually turning into the "Ideal World" which exists in her mind.

Masao "Mark" Inaba

Masao "Mark" Inaba

Primary Arcana: The Chariot

Major Personas: Ogun, Susano-o

Weapons: Axes, shotguns

Voiced by: Katashi Ishizuka (JP, Persona 1 PSP remake), Kosuke Toriumi (JP, Drama CD), Sam Riegel (EN, Persona 1 PSP remake)

Masao "Mark" Inaba is a mischievous, artistic boy who is friends with the protagonist. He harbors an unrequited crush on Maki, and is steadfastly devoted to her, dragging his classmates to visit her in the hospital at every opportunity. Because of his laid-back nature (even in the face of danger), Masao gets into heated arguments with the stiff Kei Nanjo, who constantly belittles him. Masao's first Persona is Ogun of the Chariot Arcana. Masao can be considered the game's tank, as he totes a Franchi SPAS-12 shotgun and an axe in battle, and excels at fighting.

Masao doesn't believe in the demon summoning game "Persona" one bit. He holds a bet with classmate Hidehiko Uesugi to prove that he's right on it being a fake, with the loser having to treat everyone to a meal at Peace Diner. When nothing happens immediately, Masao assumes that he's won. Upon waking up at the clinic, Masao is thrilled that they were being sent to the hospital for a checkup because this means that he gets to visit Maki again in the process. After the event where the ICU disappears and demons run rampant in the building, Masao awakens to his Persona along with the others and urges the Protagonist to find Maki. While he's one of the required party members on the SEBEC route, he is unplayable on the Snow Queen route, making a cameo at the end notifying the party of the Ideal Maki's location when the dust settles.

In the original North American version, Masao's appearance and dialogue is heavily altered, turning him into an African-American boy with stereotypical slang injected to his lines. Additionally, his hat is replaced by a gold baseball cap and he was only known by "Mark".

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• Agent Scully: He is the most openly skeptical party member regarding the Persona game at the beginning. This being an Urban Fantasy, he swiftly eats crow and then magic lightning.
• All Love Is Unrequited: While he has a huge crush on Maki, Mark knows that she has feelings for the protagonist instead. The manga emphasizes this during the party's visit to the Lost Forest.
• The Big Guy: While he is one of the shortest members of the party, he is one of the best fighters in the party.
• Can't Catch Up: Mark has a serious case of this, due to the game's leveling system. At the end game, most of your party will be at least level 70. Mark will be around 10-20 levels lower than that, and at that point in the game, it can be very hard to catch him up. Depending on who you pick as your 5th member, they may also be victims of this.
• Dance Battler: Can use the Dance command as part of his negotiation skillset.
  "Mark danced crazy!"
• Delinquents: He is apparently in trouble with the local police because of the graffiti he puts around town.
• Disc-One Nuke: Technically nearly everyone in the party can use Gozu Tennoh, the level 18 Persona that trivializes the game with Megidola, but Mark's Chariot arcana gives him the best affinity with it, letting him trivialize random encounters until just a little over the halfway point.
• Flipping the Bird: Does this in the back cover of the first volume of the manga.
• Guest-Star Party Member: In the Snow Queen quest, he leaves the party just before the school freezes over and is not seen again.
• Jive Turkey: In the NA version he speaks in AAVE.
• Likes Older Women: Admits to being attracted to older women.
• The McCoy: Masao leans toward the idealistic side of things, in contrast with Kei, the pragmatist.
• Mutually Exclusive Party Members: After the prologue at the hospital, either he (Snow Queen route) or Yukino (SEBEC route) permanently leaves the party.
• Never Bareheaded: He's always seen wearing a beanie cap.
• Put on a Bus: He does not return in the sequel. The artbook states that he went to college overseas to study art during 2's timeframe, explaining his absence.
• Race Lift: In Revelations: Persona, Masao's race is changed from Japanese to African-American, seemingly in an attempt by the localisation team to make the party more ethnically diverse.
• Required Party Member: He must be in the party throughout the SEBEC route.
• Snobs Vs Slobs: The Slob to Nanjo's Snob.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Does not like Kei, and the feeling's mutual, but they still work together.
• Token Minority: Intended to be this in the original American PSX release. This may have something to do with the fact that his starter Persona, Ogun, is an African war god.

Kei Nanjo (Nate Trinity)

Kei Nanjo (Nate Trinity)

Primary Arcana: The Hierophant

Major Personas: Aizen Myouou, Yamaoka

Weapons: Two-handed swords, rifles

Voiced by: Jin Yamanoi (JP, Persona 1 PSP remake), Toshiyuki Morikawa (JP, Drama CD/Persona 2: Eternal Punishment), Troy Baker (EN, Persona 1 PSP remake), Skip Stellrecht (EN, Persona 2: Eternal Punishment)

Kei "Nate" Nanjo is a rich boy from Persona who stands to inherit a wealthy group of companies. As heir of a wealthy family, Kei already met with Takahisa Kandori at some point in the past, taking an instant dislike to him from the beginning. While his parents are often away on business, Kei is looked after by Yamaoka ("Alfred" in the NA version), the Nanjo family butler. Since he seems to have grown up under Yamaoka's watch, he considers him as more of a father figure than a servant. A distinctive trademark incorporated into Kei's uniform is a scarf with the number 1 printed on it. This symbolizes his desire to become the "#1 man in Japan".

Kei was dragged along to join the demon summoning game "Persona", which was started by a feud between Masao and Brown. For his part, Kei chooses to just watch, as he feels that everyone was just feeding Masao and Brown's stupid squabbles. He also witnessed the spirit of a sobbing little girl and was incapacitated by bolts of lightning which sent him to Philemon's realm.

When Yamaoka is killed by zombies in the hospital, Kei flies into a rage, awakening to his Persona along with his friends and destroys the demons that killed his faithful guardian. He resolves to fulfill Yamaoka's wish, find out what caused the sudden influx of demons in Mikage-cho, and bring the person responsible to justice. Because of this resolve, he is one of the required party members on the SEBEC route, whereas he's optional on the Snow Queen route.

Kei fights with a longsword and is a crack shot with a sniper rifle. His starting Persona is Aizen Myouou of the Hierophant Arcana. Kei uses his status, wealth, and knowledge a lot to negotiate with demons. In the NA version, Kei is the only playable character given an actual last name to substitute the Japanese one, making him the heir to the Trinity Family trust instead of the Nanjo Group. His full name became Nate Trinity (though Eternal Punishment later pretends his last name never changed and restores it to Nanjo), and was given blond hair and fairer skin to match the localization.

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• Badass Bookworm: He's the brains of the group, yet carries a BFS.
• Character Development: As the story progresses, he gradually begins to open up to his teammates and realizes that human beings are more complicated than just mere beings of pure logic.
• Cultured Badass: Thanks to being a rich kid and acting like it.
• Everyone Has Standards: He mentions that even he was unnerved by Kandori's misanthropy when they first met at a black-tie event.
• Death Glare: In the manga adaptation, when Mark compares him to Kandori, he does this.
• Evil Laugh: Has a small one when using his gun.
• Fiction 500: Is the heir to the Nanjo Group, one of the richest conglomerates in the world.
• Freudian Excuse: His snobbish demeanor was a result of being neglected by his parents and not having many friends. The only close bond that he had before the events of the game was his butler Yamaoka, who served as his Parental Substitute.
• Friendly Sniper: Zizagged, he's not exactly friendly, but not quite a Cold Sniper either.
• Good Is Not Nice: The cold pragmatist of the group. He's nicely balanced out by Masao, who is ruled by his emotions.
• Foil: To Kandori. Both of them suffer of a superiority complex and look down on others. While Nanjo eventually gets better, Kandori actually got worse and his superiority complex turned into a God complex.
• Guest-Star Party Member: Potentially on the Snow Queen route. He accompanies you throughout the prologue, then leaves you once you return to St. Hermelin. His recruitment on that route is optional.
• Iconic Item: His #1 scarf. In the epilogue, people are said to see him sleeping on the subway with a #1 tie.
• It's Personal: Kei's vendetta against the demons in general (and Kandori in particular) after the death of Yamaoka, who was killed by zombies awakened when Kandori activated the DEVA machine.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He starts out acting like a total Jerkass, especially to Masao, but eventually gets better.
• Leader Wannabe: He sees himself as the leader of the group and grows frustrated when others don't listen to him, especially Masao. By the end of the game, he accepts that his poor judgment and relations with others as well as his Sadistic Choices make him ill-suited to be a leader and the more level-headed and emotionally supportive protagonist fits the bill better than him.
• Lonely Rich Kid: Yamaoka was pretty much his only emotional support growing up.
• Mighty Glacier: His growths tend to favor vitality above everything else, but he also has a sizable chunk of attack to work with.

• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: A remorseful Kandori is prepared to lay down his sword and surrender until Nanjo goes ahead and insults him.
• Not So Above It All: The Satomi Tadashi Drugstore Song is so catchy, Nanjo is unable to stop playing it in his mind.
• Optional Party Member: You are made to draft two extra characters into your party for the Snow Queen route, and can choose from him, Hidehiko, and Eriko.
• Parental Neglect: His parents are rarely at home and he was raised by his butler instead. In the manga, Nanjo mentions that he doesn't even know his mother's birthday.
• Princely Young Man: Ice King with a little bit of the Spoiled Brat archetype.
• Required Party Member: He must be in the party throughout the SEBEC route.
• The Runt at the End: The other party members' Ultimate Personas are deities, with the exception of Eriko's, who is a biblical archangel. Indeed, almost all of the party members in the Persona series have a god or mythological hero as their Ultimate Persona, with the least impressive being an extremely influential magician. Kei, on the other hand, has his deceased butler...but Yamaoka is no less powerful than the aforementioned gods and heroes, which speaks to the level of respect Kei has for his fallen servant, especially considering he can be very cold otherwise.
• Sadistic Choice: Kei normally is the one to suggests that the Protagonist takes the more extreme choices such as refusing to help a nurse trapped underneath some rubble.
• Sheltered Aristocrat: A true elitist, he only starts to reform after witnessing Kandori's corruption.
• Sickbed Slaying: Kei suggests that the party unplug Maki from Kandori's machine in order to send them back to the real world. Doing so will lead to Maki's death and the Bad Ending.
• The Smart Guy:
  Kei: Stupid people can be happy when ruled by smart people!
• Snobs Vs Slobs: The Snob to Masao's Slob.
• The Spock: Kei is the most logical member of the group, which is both a good and a bad thing. At two points in the game, Kei suggests to let innocent people die. This mentality leads to frequent conflicts with the more passionate Masao.
• Stoic Spectacles: Wears glasses and happens to be the most logic-minded and serious party member.
• Tarot Motifs: The Hierophant, befitting his intellectual nature. Interestingly, he better fits a reversed Hierophant, one who teaches, yet doesn't trust his friends to see things his way, or vice versa such as when he allowed everybody to fall for Kandori's trap at Mana Castle. It's not until Masao decks him that Kei begins to try to understand people, which in turn, refines his advice in ways that people will generally listen to him.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Does not like Masao, and the feeling's mutual, but they still work together.
• To Be a Master: His eventual resolve after Yamaoka's death, to become number 1.
• Tsundere: He's a snotty jerk and belittles Masao without mercy, but he shows a rather tender side in the good ending.
• Tritagonist: In the manga, while not as important as Maki or Naoya, his backstory and motivations gets way more focus than say, Hidehiko or Eriko. Even Mark, who is another prominent character in the SEBEC storyline, never gets his character beyond being a Dogged Nice Guy for Maki. The boss fight with Kandori turns into a one-on-one confrontation between him and Nanjo.
• Unstoppable Rage: He goes nuclear when Yamaoka is killed by demons.
• Weaksauce Weakness: The proverbial crack in Kei's armor is the Satomi Tadashi theme that is played. Kei ends up singing along to the song, even though he hates it!
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: If there's anyone who favors the crueler option of the Sadistic Choice, it's him.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Mark punches him after Nanjo planned to pull the plug on the real Maki. For a more comical example, he'll frequently chide you every time you talk to him in a Casino, wondering how you can just play the days away.
• You Don't Look Like You: In the manga, the girls briefly mistake him for someone else when his hair is down and he's not wearing his glasses.

Reiji Kido (Chris)

Reiji Kido (Chris)

Primary Arcana: The Devil, Death

Major Personas: Bres, Mot

Weapons: Fists, rifles

Voiced by: Jin Yamanoi (JP, Persona 1 PSP remake), Kazuya Nakai (JP, Drama CD) Christopher Sabat (EN, Persona 1 PSP remake)

Reiji Kido is an antisocial transfer student of St. Hermelin who rarely shows up for class. He blames his Half-brother Takahisa Kandori for how his life has turned out and believes that the latter must die. To this end, Reiji skulks around the SEBEC facility, waiting for a chance to confront Kandori. Despite his brusque tendencies, many girls of St. Hermelin take quite a shine to him. Reiji's Persona awakening was also triggered during the SEBEC incident, but he is less than willing to join the party unless certain conditions have been met early in the game. Reiji is adept at boxing, and an assault rifle. His Persona, Bres (Guni in the NA version), belongs to the Devil Arcana.

Though rumored to be a gang leader, Reiji has no actual subordinates to speak of. The fevered pursuit of his half-brother Takahisa Kandori is the only thing on his mind. Reiji was the product of an affair between Takahisa's father and a mistress, and wants revenge for his mother being abandoned as a result of his birth. It's for this reason alone that Reiji believes Takahisa should pay with his life. It's a little-known fact that Reiji dabbles in magic tricks on the side, specifically with playing cards. He uses this skill in demon contacts.

In the original NA version, Reiji's name was changed to Chris.

Reiji is an optional character and is available on the SEBEC Route only. He is the hardest to get out of all of them, needing several events and NPC conversations to be able to get him to join.

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• Adaptational Jerkass: He's far more abrasive towards the party in the manga, in contrast to the stoic no-nonsense guy in the game.
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: He has a major female following at school because of his bad-boy image. He doesn't give two shits.
• Awesome, but Impractical: You'd think being so hard to recruit would make him extremely useful. Not quite. He's compatible with so few Personas that his flexibility is minimal, at best.
• Bastard Angst: His sour and cold attitude can be attributed to the misery that befell him as a result of his status as an illegitimate child.
• Bare-Fisted Monk: He doesn't bother with a melee weapon; he just beats the demons down with his bare hands.
• The Big Guy: Even more so than Masao and Brown. Unlike them, he only needs to rely on his fists.

• Cain and Abel: The Abel to his half-brother, Kandori's Cain. He wants revenge on his brother for their father abandoning him and his mother, though it helps that Kandori is trying to become a god.
• Cleans Up Nicely: As he becomes an adult and sheds his angsty teenage ways, he considered to be quite attractive, despite the intimidating Persona accompanying him or the scar on his forehead he tries to hide by growing bangs.
• Clueless Chick-Magnet: Reiji really doesn't care about all the attention he gets from the St.Hermelin Girls.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Most of the Personas from the Death and Devil Arcanas have access to Dark spells. Despite his, as well as the intimidating aura he lets out, Reiji is one of the good guys.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Well, King. He really begins to lighten up when his Heroic Bastard status is revealed. He even gives a heartwarming speech to an unconscious Maki, when her ideal self escapes to her world and cuts them off.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: He has two primary Arcana unlike other Persona users from the first two games, a trait only the Wild Cards have. This is part of Reiji's development as it symbolizes his change in motivation.
• Family Man: On the path to becoming this after the end of Eternal Punishment.
• Good Old Fisticuffs: He's got the least range depending in the formation, but that is remedied with very high damage and one of the best physical attack elements to have.
• Guide Dang It!: By far the most difficult party member to obtain.
• Heroic Bastard: Reiji, who turns out to be Kandori's bastard brother.
• Hidden Depths: Shown to be skilled at magic tricks and cards.
• I Owe You My Life: Since Mai saved him from the realm in between dimensions, Reiji owes her and decides to find a way to repay her back.
• Irrational Hatred: Reiji's past is awful but the blame lies solely on his father. However, by the time Reiji's ready to take the fight back to him, the old man is long dead and thus Takahisa becomes the new target.
• Jack of All Trades: When looked at individually at first, he fits the bill. Breas is strong to everything but spears (rare) and holy magic. He's got items for healing, a gun for far-reaching enemies, and his fists to deal damage to the undead and any magic-resistant enemies. He's got a sound spell for groups and dark magic for light magic-based foes. Fitting for a man who was going to go after Kandori alone.
• Jaded Washout: To a degree. By the time Persona 2 rolls around, the very same traits that made him "badass" as a teenager, combined with the intimidating aura exuded by his Persona, make him into an awkward and ineffectual young adult.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He doesn't really like the party much but eventually opens up to them as his friends.
• Kung-Fu Wizard: Can take down demons with either his Persona or just his bare fists.
• The Lancer: Has no stake in your group or its mission. Reiji is focused only on taking down Kandori. Which is befitting a man of the Devil Arcana. This bites him heavily when he's found again (if you didn't recruit him) in dire status at the Castle. It's also here if you have him when he realizes he can't do it all alone, nor should he have to.
• Mutually Exclusive Party Members: He can never be in the party at the same time as Yukino (who is primarily exclusive to the Snow Queen route), Hidehiko, Eriko, or Yuka (who all take up the same party slot he does on the SEBEC route).
• New Transfer Student: According to his intro blurb, he transferred into St. Hermelin six months ago.
• Optional Party Member: He is the last of four potential characters you can recruit to fill the last party slot on the SEBEC route, along with Hidehiko, Eriko, and Yuka. Unlike the others, recruiting him requires several steps that bounce between obscure and flat-out suicidally counter-intuitive.
• Required Party Member: If you successfully complete all of the steps to recruit him and turn down the other potential party members, he is automatically recruited into the party when his time comes.
• Revenge by Proxy: Reiji wants revenge on his father for the misery inflicted on him and his mother. But with the death of his father, Reiji instead decides to go after his half-brother Kandori, who was the favoured child.
• Secret Character: Can be recruited as your fifth party member only if you follow a series of 12 steps no one in their right mind would figure out without a strategy guide.

• Tarot Motifs: His arcana changes from Devil to Death in-game. It's symbolic of how a man who was once possessed by a single drive (Devil) is now able to finally begin to put the past behind him and move on with his life (Death).
• Unknown Rival: Despite Reiji's grudge against Kandori, it's completely one-sided. Kandori on his part doesn't seem to look down on Reiji for being a bastard child, and more disdainful of how he's wasting his life for such an act of pointless revenge.

• "X" Marks the Hero: Has an "X" mark on his forehead and is one of the heroes.

Hidehiko "Brown" Uesugi (Brad)

Hidehiko "Brown" Uesugi (Brad)

Primary Arcana: Justice

Major Personas: Nemhain, Tyr

Weapons: Spears, sub-machine guns

Voiced by: Toranari Yoshikawa (JP, Persona 1 PSP remake), Ryōtarō Okiayu (JP, Drama CD) Keith Silverstein (EN, Persona 1 PS remake)

Hidehiko "Brown" Uesugi is the resident class clown of St. Hermelin, relying on puns and outdated jokes to get attention (this is also used in his negotiation skills). Hidehiko pesters his classmates to perform the "Persona" ritual in order to impress them, but Masao Inaba doesn't believe that it will actually work. They both hold a bet, with the loser having to treat everyone who was dragged into it at the Peace Diner. Masao thinks that he won at first, because nothing happened after the ritual. Hidehiko complains, saying that Masao didn't try hard enough when it was his turn to perform. But then a crying young girl appears, and they are all hit by flashes of lightning that send them to the border of consciousness and unconsciousness.

When Mikage-cho changes, the main protagonist finds Brown imprisoned inside the Police Station along with Masao; both were captured after going out through the hole in the school wall to procure guns there with Kei Nanjo (Nanjo barely managed to escape with the equipment). After freeing them both and fighting off some demons (causing Hidehiko's "forced" awakening from being attacked). Brown fights using spears, quarterstaves, and a TMP machine gun as his sidearm. His Persona is Nemhain (Talon in the NA version) of the Justice Arcana, which has the ability to cast Wind spells as well as absorb them. Like Reiji and Eriko, Hidehiko is an optional party member that can be used in both quests.

Like Yukino, Hidehiko's features weren't changed much for the original North American release. His kanji puns were altered, fitted with easy-to-digest local jokes. His name was also changed to Brad.

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• All Love Is Unrequited: He seemed to be attracted to Tamaki. Then her dream world with Tadashi comes up...
• Big Ego, Hidden Depths: Beneath his massive ego is a guy wrought with insecurities.

• Bluff Worked Too Well: In the manga, he survives the first act through extensive use of demon negotiations, causing his friends to think he's more competent than he really is. In reality, Brown hadn't even awakened his Persona until during the first encounter with Kandori, whose first attack nearly kills Brown.
• Bring My Brown Pants: How he got his nickname in the first place.
• Cowardly Lion: He can get scared easily but the moment he awakens his Persona, he is willing to fight back.
• Embarrassing Nickname: Played with. His nickname "Brown" originated from a potty incident in his childhood.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • Brown is an unabashed troublemaker, but in the Snow Queen Quest, when he sees the Ironic Hell inflicted on Toro and Devil Boy, he's utterly disgusted and claims he draws the line on pranks, one of the few moments that he's really serious in his words, and not just bragging.
  • Well, he is of the Justice Arcana. Also note that the Tower guardian, Nemesis, is frequently associated with this arcana, as anyone playing two games later will remember.

• Goggles Do Nothing: He never wears his goggles at any point in the game or manga.
• Hurricane of Puns: Brown is well known for his love of puns.
• Inferiority Superiority Complex: His use of puns and making jokes is simply a cry for attention.
• I Just Want to Be Special: All in all, what Brown desires is to become someone popular so that he would not have to be the Butt-Monkey.
• Miles Gloriosus: Good lord, Brown. He claims to be the leader even if he's the last person to join, but as soon as a boss fight starts coming up or things get bad, he's the first one to suggest getting the hell out of there, and he's got no shame about being a total chicken. ...Until it's all over. Then he's the hero who killed it and things repeat from there. He does however explicitly say later on that he's tired of lying and running away all the time.
• Mutually Exclusive Party Members: He can never be in the party at the same time as Reiji, who takes up the same party slot he does on the SEBEC route and is completely unavailable on the Snow Queen route.
• Optional Party Member:
  • He is the first of four potential characters you can recruit to fill the last party slot on the SEBEC route, along with Eriko, Yuka, and Reiji.
  • You are made to draft two extra characters into your party for the Snow Queen route and can choose from him, Kei, and Eriko.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: Snaps at Michiko like this in the Snow Queen Quest after beating her.
  Brown: AAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHH! SHUT! THE HELL! UP!
• Small Name, Big Ego: Subverted-boasting is one of his defining traits, but so is believing absolutely none of his own spiel. He eventually reveals that he does it to get people to like him more.
• Spam Attack: How he fights. His weapons hit multiple times but with low power to back them up. The spears can be strengthened if he's wielding an Emperor Persona.
• Those Two Guys: With Yuka Ayase.
• Weapon Specialization: Specializes in spears.

Eriko "Elly" Kirishima (Ellen)

Eriko "Elly" Kirishima (Ellen)

Primary Arcana: Judgement

Major Personas: Nike, Michael

Weapons: One-handed swords, rifles

Voiced by: Tomoe Hanba (JP, Persona 1 PSP remake), Yukana (JP, Drama CD), Junko Asami (JP, Persona 2: Eternal Punishment), Stephanie Sheh (EN, Persona 1 PSP remake)

Eriko "Elly" Kirishima belongs to a wealthy family and has been studying overseas for most of her life. She later decides to finish her schooling in Japan to later pursue a career in modeling and fashion design. She is among the popular girls in St. Hermelin High School because of her beauty and amiable personality. She is smart; however, she tends to fail to realize serious life and death situations. She wields a rapier, and (like Kei) is armed with a rifle for long-range fighting. Her starting Persona is Nike of the Judgement Arcana.

Apart from her outwardly feminine hobbies, Eriko is also interested in the occult. Because of this, she is the only participant of the "Persona" ritual who is actually excited to be there. She somehow sensed that her friends were in grave danger after demons begin to appear in Mikage-cho. Eriko arrives just in time to help the group escape the hospital, awakening to Nike in the process. Off-hand, she expresses overly ecstatic enthusiasm over the fact that her Persona is the "Goddess of Victory".

Having done some investigating of her own, Eriko tells the group to head for the shrine, where they meet Maki's mother, a former employee of SEBEC. The latter reveals that the advent of demons was brought about by Takahisa Kandori, who tricked her into perfecting the DVA system, a device that wrought havoc with the dimensional divide between the real world and the demon world. After getting Maki's mother to be treated in the school infirmary, Eriko will leave the group to find a way out of the town, which is now wrapped in an ominous barrier. She can be later recruited as one of the optional fifth characters in the game upon finding her in the subway tunnel, and she can also be optionally used on the Snow Queen route.

In the original NA version, like Kei, Eriko was given blond hair and fairer skin to match the localization. Her name was also changed to Ellen.

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• All Love Is Unrequited: She's in love with the protagonist, but realizes he belongs with Maki, a realization which continues to haunt Eriko in Persona 2.
• Badass Adorable: As deadly as she is beautiful.
• Badass Bookworm: Probably the second smartest member in the party with her knowledge of the occult. Gameplay-wise, she has well-balanced stats with high magic and speed combined with average strength.
• Betty and Veronica: The Veronica to Maki's Betty and the protagonist's Archie, with Eriko coming from an upper-middle-class family that gives off the vibe of The Beautiful Elite.
• Brainless Beauty: Not "brainless" by any means of the word, but very subject to Cloudcuckoolander tendencies, and is sometimes a Genius Ditz, not unlike Yukiko after her.
• But Not Too Foreign: The manual to the game reveals that she is quarter American.

• Cloudcuckoolander: Has moments of ditziness that drag her into this trope at times.
• Ditzy Genius: Intelligent, skilled with a rapier, and speaks fluent English. However, her knowledge of the occult and overconfidence in her skills make her miss the severity of the situation at times.
• Dream-Crushing Handicap: Tadashi Satomi, one of the main scenario writers for the game, stated in an interview that she will not achieve success in her modelling career due to her short height.
• Dude Magnet: Is very popular amongst the boys in school.
• Friendly Rivalry: While close friends with Maki, both girls also have feelings for the same boy, though Elly doesn't seem to harbor any signs of jealousy.
• Guardian Angel: Her Ultimate Persona is Archangel Michael.
• Guest-Star Party Member: Downplayed. She joins you just as you escape from the hospital in the prologue, then leaves you once you return to St. Hermelin. She can be re-recruited on either route, though.
• I Just Want to Be Normal: The expectations set on Eriko really get on her nerves.
• The Knights Who Say "Squee!": As a fan of the occult, she's very ecstatic surfing in the world of Persona. This badass Lady of War has a fangasm when finding out her Persona is Nike, and try denying that you're in very deep shit when she's almost ready to get the hell out of there as she identifies Kandori's Persona as Nyarlathotep.
• Lady of War: She is as elegant and graceful during battles as she is with her friends.
• Light 'em Up: Her Personas tend to focus on Light/Expel skills.
• Lightning Bruiser: An odd example, she focuses on Dex and Agl as her primary stats, but those are the ones that give her the most defensive benefits in addition to ramping up her magic attack. By the end of the game, she tends to be your most powerful party member statistically. She's only balanced out because enemies will tend to hit you with dark magic moreso than holy magic, but that can easily be worked around.
• Mundane Utility: Tadashi Satomi, one of the main scenario writers for the game, stated in an interview that she sometimes summons her Persona simply to have someone to vent to about her problems.
• Mutually Exclusive Party Members: She can never be in the party at the same time as Reiji, who takes up the same party slot she does on the SEBEC route and is completely unavailable on the Snow Queen route.

• Nightmare Fetishist: Given her reaction after recovering from Taken for Granite in the manga...
  Elly: What a shame, it was over too soon. I wanted to experience the feeling for a while longer.
• The Ojou:
  • We're never told how wealthy her family is, but if she could afford overseas study, that must've spoken a lot for her status.
  • For Persona 2, interviews with the character designer and story director have revealed that she's at least upper-middle class. They've given more details on her family life, too.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Elly is fascinated with demons and the occult but even she trembles when she finds out the identity of Kandori's Persona.
• Optional Party Member:
  • She is the second of four potential characters you can recruit to fill the last party slot on the SEBEC route, along with Hidehiko, Yuka, and Reiji.
  • You are made to draft two extra characters into your party for the Snow Queen route and can choose from her, Kei, and Hidehiko.
• Royal Rapier: Eriko starting weapon is a rapier.
• Stepford Smiler: It's heavily implied that her cheerful exterior is a facade to conceal her sadness. She begins to show cracks of this after the party first encounters Reiji in the alternate dimension.
• The Smart Guy: She's interested in the occult and is well-read on mythology of all kinds, and considering how Persona is about a group of kids with superpowers directly related to mythologies and legends from different cultures, this comes in handy.

Yuka Ayase (Alana)

Yuka Ayase (Alana)

Primary Arcana: The Magician

Major Personas: Houri, Frey

Weapons: Whips, handguns

Voiced by: Masayo Kurata (JP, Persona 1 PSP remake) Sandy Fox (EN, Persona 1 PSP remake)

Yuka is a kogal whose outward cheerfulness makes her popular with the boys. However, her penchant for lying and being glaringly frank at times gets her into a lot of trouble. Yuka's initial Persona is Houri of the Magician Arcana, which exclusively deals fire damage. She employs a whip and .45 handgun in battle. However, the keyword should be "Magician", as Yuka ends up being more of a mage-like character.

Hidehiko Uesugi introduced the game "Persona" to the rest of their classmates. Yuka has played it before and was counting on Hidehiko to win the bet against Masao Inaba to get a free meal at Peace Diner. Since she wasn't hit by lightning, Yuka does not follow the group to the hospital and instead opts to hang around in school. However, she does not follow the group to the hospital, opting to go on a shopping trip instead since she doesn't feel sick in the least. As a result, her awakening isn't triggered immediately.

She isn't seen again until the group brings Maki's injured mother from the Araya Shrine to the school infirmary, tasked to cover the hole in the wall in the room leading to the gym. However, she will be the mandatory fifth member if you have not recruited either Eriko Kirishima or Hidehiko Uesugi. You can let her join upon running into her later in the factory located at the south-eastern section of Mikage-cho, but she will force her way into the party if the steps to acquire Reiji Kido aren't fulfilled. In the Snow Queen Quest, Yuka will automatically join you instead.

During the good ending path, Yuka reveals that she has a reputation of a heartbreaker, a girl who dates many boys and dumps almost all of them. The reputation stuck so hard that even though she did have her own standards, people still believe her as a heartbreaker, which distresses her. However, she uses these skills a lot when she negotiates with the demons.

Because her hair is already dyed blonde, Yuka's only feature alteration in the original NA localization was her skin color, and her dialogue was given valley girl overtones as an equivalent to her oddball kogal speech. Her name was also changed to Alana.

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• Awesome, but Impractical: Whips are a common weakness, but her low strength means she can't take advantage of it. At least, not directly.
• Brutal Honesty: She can be extremely blunt with people, which causes problems with Toro.

• Cloudcuckoolander: Yuka's thought processes can be best described as... strange.
• The Cuckoolander Was Right: Despite her strangeness, she gives what is probably the only hint on how to get the best ending.
• Demoted to Extra: With Yukino in the manga, but she gets the worst of it. She only uses her Persona once.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Her ultimate Persona, Frey, specializes in earth magic.
• Dude Magnet: She's popular with the boys at school and is even referred to as a heartbreaker.
• Even the Girls Want Her: It's possible for Yuka to seduce female demons and end with positive results.
• Feminine Women Can Cook: An implied baking example. In the Snow Queen Quest, Yuka makes a comment wondering where the Home Economy room is and she could have a bigger role with the Ambrosia she made being a key item in the route, found within the game's files.
• Femme Fatale: Ayase gained a bad reputation as a heartbreaker. She also ruthlessly squashes Toro's heart, causing him to be possessed by a Mara.
• Girlish Pigtails: As seen in her design.
• Gold Digger: After the events of the game she marries a salaryman and only has to complain about how big his check was.
• Gyaru Girl: A typical kogal. She wears a school uniform with a very short skirt, loose socks, and high heels and she has dyed-blonde hair.
• Hidden Depths: The reason why she's a Hard-Drinking Party Girl is because she's constantly worrying about her future and thinking about it depresses her.
• Hypocrite: In the Thanatos Tower, Ayase mocks Yuriko's cutesy act despite acting much of the same way herself.
• Innocently Insensitive: Never seems to get that her harsh words towards Kenta are what made his Persona go berserk.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Yuka can be rude and blunt, especially in the Snow Queen Quest, where she ruthlessly breaks Toro's heart, causing him to violently awaken to his Persona. Despite that, she was incredibly grateful towards Maki when the latter let her borrow her handkerchief after the group returned to their world, feeling nauseous from the trip from the ideal world and the former expressed concern for her when dealing with Kandori for the first time. According to The Persona World guide book, she drops her jerkass attitude when interacting with the protagonist due to her growing feelings for him.
• Lack of Empathy: In the Snow Queen Quest, Ayase comments that Toro and Devil Boy deserved their torture because they "needed some kind of wake-up call" and recommends abandoning them.
• Mutually Exclusive Party Members: She can never be in the party at the same time as Reiji, who takes up the same party slot she does on the SEBEC route and is completely unavailable on the Snow Queen route.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Her lack of a brain-to-mouth filter causes Toro's Persona to go berserk.
• Optional Party Member: She is the third of four potential characters you can recruit to fill the last party slot on the SEBEC route, along with Hidehiko, Eriko, and Reiji.
• Playing with Fire: Her first Persona, Houri, starts out with fire magic.
• Put on a Bus: She's a no-show in Persona 2. Supplementary materials indicate she became a housewife shortly after high school.
• Required Party Member:
  • She must be in the party throughout the Snow Queen route.
  • If you do not complete all of the required steps to recruit Reiji on the SEBEC route and hadn’t already recruited Brown or Elly, she forces herself into the party.
• Sexophone: During her 'Tempt' command. Removed in the PSP version.
• Shout-Out: Her outfit is an optical illusion referencing the girls' uniforms from Shin Megami Tensei if....
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: She does fall for the protagonist, the only person she has legitimate feelings for.
• Status Effects: Almost every whip she obtains in the game has a chance of inflicting some status effect on the enemies. Her best weapon obtained from returning the Succubus persona inflicts Petrify, one of the least resisted ailments.
• Third-Person Person: In the Japanese version she speaks in the third person.
• Those Two Guys: With Hidehiko Uesugi.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: The Girly Girl to Yukino's Tomboy.
• Valley Girl: Even more exaggerated in the PSP remake, with lines such as "Like" in between her sentences.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Both she and Masao are absent in Persona 2. Word of God via artbook states that she married shortly after high school and became a Housewife. However, it does not explain her whereabouts.
• Weapon Specialization: Fights monsters using a whip.

Yukino "Yuki" Mayuzumi

Yukino "Yuki" Mayuzumi

Primary Arcana: The Empress

Major Personas: Vesta, Durga

Weapons: Razor blades, shotguns

Voiced by: Tomoe Hanba (JP, Persona 1 PSP remake/Persona 2: Innocent Sin PSP remake), Kirsten Potter (EN, Persona 1 PSP remake/Persona 2: Innocent Sin PSP remake)

Yukino was an ex-yanki who has reformed thanks to the efforts of her teacher Saeko Takami. Though she hasn't shed her yanki looks just yet, Yukino is well-recognized and trusted by the student body, acting as a mother figure of sorts to her friends. Despite her change of heart, Yukino still retains some of her punk ways, employing throwing blades and a double-barreled shotgun in battle. Her Persona, Vesta, is of the Empress Arcana and has both Fire and Nuclear magic at its disposal.

Yukino was among those invited to help settle the bet between Brown and Masao but doesn't actively participate in the "Persona" ritual, opting instead to watch and keep her classmates out of trouble. Even so, she is still affected by the result, sent to the border of consciousness and unconsciousness after being struck by lightning. Yukino awakens to her Persona in the hospital following a checkup and an unplanned visit to Maki Sonomura (who was also admitted there) that turns sour with demons suddenly wreaking havoc all over the place.

She leaves the party after they return to the school and is unusable for the rest of the SEBEC quest, but on the Snow Queen quest, she is a required party member, serving as something of a Deuteragonist. In this scenario, if the player opts not to continue investigating SEBEC, they would find a mysterious mask in the school. Saeko Takami gets possessed by the mask after telling them the legend of the Snow Queen. Yukino joins the party, wanting to save the teacher she owes her new life to.

In the original NA version, Yukino is the only character whose name and features were relatively untouched during the transition, but also has the shortest role in the main story arc due to the removal of the Snow Queen Quest.

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• Crutch Character: At the start of the game. Her starting Persona, Vesta, is the only one that comes with the Frei and Zio spells, and the first one to learn the healing spell Dia. She splits from your party permanently in the SEBEC plotline (which, unfortunately, was the only one available in the original North American release).
• Demoted to Extra:
  • With Ayase in the manga. She does get her time to shine during the brief Snow Queen arc, but that's it.
  • The original NA release removing the Snow Queen Quest had the side-effect of causing this.
• Guest-Star Party Member: She is one of the first party members you recruit, but she leaves when you return to St. Hermelin after escaping the hospital and does not return on the SEBEC route.
• Heroic Vow: To rescue Saeko-sensei from the Snow Queen, no matter what.
• Improbable Weapon User: She throws razors — and other bladed weapons — Gangsta Style.
• Japanese Delinquents: Former one. She has the skirts and can still throw a good razor.
• The Lancer: In the Snow Queen plotline.
• Meaningful Name: Yuki normally means snow. Now, which quest does she feature in the most?
• Mutually Exclusive Party Members:
  • After the prologue at the hospital, either she (SEBEC route) or Masao (Snow Queen route) permanently leaves the party.
  • She can never be in the party at the same time as Maki or Reiji, who both join after her departure and are exclusive to the SEBEC route.
• Number Two: To Saeko Takami, her teacher. She enforces the school's rules and keeps her fellow students in line.
• Reformed Criminal: She was involved with the wrong crowd until she was reformed by Saeko Takami.
• Required Party Member: She must be in the party throughout the Snow Queen route.
• Strong as They Need to Be: In the manga, Yukino summons Durga out of nowhere and kills the Night Queen in one blow.
• Team Mom: She's the one who keeps most of the party members in check, especially Mark and Nanjo.
• Token Minority: Considering how her appearance wasn't changed in the original American release and her name was only shortened to "Yuki" instead of outright changed, she was probably meant to be the Token Asian of the team.

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