Characters: Persona 3 |
The Characters of Persona 3. Spoilers Abound
The Silent Protagonist of Persona 3. His parents died ten years prior to the events of the game, and he has moved around a lot as a result; he spends much of his time listening to music. He has an affinity with the Fool Arcana, which allows him to store multiple personas, beginning with Orpheus. He can also wield various weapons, but defaults to a one-handed sword. The manga gives him the name "Minato Arisato" and describes his personality to be very calm and rather reclusive. Despite his introverted behavior he has significant leadership skills and can think and plan in the midst of battle.
He is transferred into the Gekkoukan High School in his second year of high school. Upon arriving at his new dorm during the Dark Hour, he is asked by a young boy to sign a contract which states "I chooseth this fate of my own free will." Within the next few weeks, he has his first encounter with the Shadows and is recruited into SEES, appointed as field leader by Mitsuru and Akihiko due to the ease with which he is able to summon his Persona. He also visits the Velvet Room, and has periodic chats with Pharos, the mysterious young boy who initially presented him with the Velvet Room contract.
Late in the game it is revealed that the "accident" which killed his parents was probably the battle between Aigis and Death. Unable to destroy Death completely, Aigis sealed it inside of the protagonist, where it remained dormant until it was awakened by proximity to Tartarus and the Full Moon Shadows and began appearing to the protagonist as Pharos.
In the final battle against Nyx, the protagonist attains the power of the Universe Arcana and uses it to become the Great Seal between Nyx and humanity in order to prevent the Fall. In doing so, he sacrifices his life, but manages to hold on long enough to keep the promise SEES made to meet at the school roof on Graduation Day, after which he falls asleep and does not awaken.
Persona 3 Portable provides the option of playing as a female main character. She has the same history and storyline as the male protagonist, but is not a Gender Flip of him; she has a different appearance, a slightly modified version of Orpheus, and a more energetic and upbeat personality as indicated by her dialogue prompts. She also has a number of different Social Links, including S.Links with all members of SEES rather than just the female members, providing additional character development for Akihiko, Shinjiro, and Ken which is not seen in the original version of the game. The S.Links with the female team members are mostly unaltered except for the removal of specifically romantic content.
Many of the tropes which apply to the male protagonist apply to the female as well, except as noted:
Yukari - affectionately called "Yuka-tan" by Junpei - is one of the most popular second-year girls at Gekkoukan High thanks to her cheery personality and good looks. However, she proves to have hidden insecurities and can be abrasive and confrontational. She is a member of the archery club and uses bow and arrow in battle. Her Persona is Io of the Lovers Arcanum and later evolves into Isis; its focus is on Wind and Healing magic.
Yukari is the newest member of SEES prior to the protagonist's arrival. She reveals early on that her father, a scientist, died ten years ago under mysterious circumstances involving a project run by the Kirijo Group, and that she transferred to Gekkoukan and joined SEES in hopes of discovering the truth. She is estranged from her mother, who coped by taking up relationships with various men, to Yukari's disgust.
Yukari is badly shaken when she learns that her father was involved in releasing the Shadows upon Port Island, and goes through a period of guilt and self-doubt. When it's later revealed that he died trying to prevent the Fall, she's able to embrace her love and pride in him again, prompting the evolution of her Persona into Isis. The protagonist is also able to help her make peace with her mother.
Yukari is the Lovers Social Link for both protagonists, and a potential love interest for the male protagonist. The male protagonist requires substantial Charm in order to begin the S.Link; in contrast, Yukari opens up much more readily to the female protagonist, finding it easier to relate to a girl her own age, particularly in contrast to Mitsuru's aloofness. The link is essentially the same in both versions save for the romantic content.
In the PSP remake, if Yukari's S.Link is completed in a New Game Plus, the player has the option for the main character to spend his last moments with her, and she tearfully tells him that she loves him and she'll stay with him forever.
In The Answer, Yukari is jealous and resentful of Aigis after the latter inherits the protagonist's "wild card" ability and his Persona Orpheus. With Mitsuru supporting her, she clashes with the other members of SEES over her desire to go back in time to see the protagonist again and save him from his fate, even if it means unsealing Nyx and causing the Fall to happen again. She's defeated by Aigis and Metis and ultimately comes to terms with the protagonist's sacrifice, resolving to live for the future and reconciling with Aigis in the process.
Junpei is the class clown of Gekkoukan High, and Minato's best friend. He's 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 protagonist, and 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 Arcanum, and later evolves into Trismegistus; it specializes in Physical skills, Fire magic, and Buffs.
Midway through the game, Junpei encounters and gets to know Chidori of Strega, and falls in love with her. His well-meaning concern causes her to open up to him as well, giving her a reason to value her own life again. Her renewed fear of death causes her to betray Junpei to Strega, but ultimately she sacrifices her own life to save him, merging her Persona with his and endowing him with herHealing Factor. In FES, it's possible for her to revive following her sacrifice, to Junpei's delight.
Junpei is the female main character's Magician S.Link, replacing Kenji (who appears during the female's Chariot link instead). Due to his plot-important relationship with Chidori, he is the only male SEES member that the female protagonist has no romantic interaction with - a romance was scripted, but was Dummied Out, and video of the New Game Plus end scene can be found online. Instead, Junpei's relationship with the female protagonist is almost brotherly; he becomes protective of her and wants for her to be able to depend on him, and confides in her some of the details of his strained relationship with his alcoholic father.
In The Answer, Junpei serves as a middle ground between the various SEES members when they fight over what to do with the keys. Along with Koromaru, he sides neither with Yukari and Mitsuru's desire to go back and save the protagonist, nor with Akihiko and Ken's desire to simply leave the door and move on. Frustrated with the intra-party fighting, he fights Aigis to prevent her from obtaining the key without a clear goal as he does not believe she is strong enough to face off Yukari and Mitsuru, and is defeated by her and Metis.
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, later evolving to Caesar, which focuses on Lightning and Debuffing magic, but 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. However, he can never get over Miki's death and his feelings of pain and guilt, and tries to avoid getting too attached to anything so as to avoid any more such feelings. The death of his best friend Shinjiro, who faces his own mortality bravely and gives his life to protect Ken, inspires Akihiko to face up to his own fears, prompting the evolution of his Persona.
In the female protagonist's story, Akihiko is her Star S.Link, replacing Mamoru (who never appears). She'll need level 4 Charm in order to stand out in his eyes from all of his annoying fangirls (and ward off their anger, for that matter). 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 Miki's death and what happens to Shinjiro. Depending on dialogue choices, he can become the female protagonist's love interest.
During the New Game Plus, if she has a romantic relationship with Akihiko, on the final day he'll meet her on the roof and stay with her in her last moments before becoming the seal for Nyx, apologizing for having forgotten and promising that they'll never be apart.
In The Answer, Akihiko chooses to respect the protagonist's reasons for sacrificing himself and, along with Ken, fights the other members of SEES for the key, believing it should be used to leave the dorm so that they can all go on with their lives.
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, having awakened to her Persona at a very young age due to her family's experiments with the Shadows and Tartarus. Her Persona is Penthesilea of the Empress Arcanum, later evolving into Artemisia, and is focused on Ice and Healing magic. Mitsuru is also a member of the fencing club and wields a rapier in battle.
After her Persona awakened, Mitsuru resolved to fight the Shadows in order to protect her father Takeharu, and to atone for her family's role in bringing about Tartarus and the Dark Hour. She is shattered when Chairman Ikutsuki reveals his true intentions and murders her father, and with her purpose gone, she falls into depression which lasts until Yukari helps to snap her out of it during the school trip to Kyoto. After this, she recovers her resolve to lead the Kirijo group and prevent the Fall, prompting the evolution of her Persona.
Mitsuru is the Empress Social Link, and a possible love interest for the male protagonist. 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 reveals that Mitsuru is engaged to one of the Kirijo Group's business associates, a marriage arranged for her by her family. Following her father's death, she finds herself doubting her role and her ability to lead the Kirijo Group effectively, and feels that she should accept the marriage in order to secure the Kirijo Group's future; however, her relationship with the protagonist helps her to realize her fiance's arrogant and controlling nature, causing her to break off the engagement and drive him away.
In the PSP remake the player can choose to have Minato spend his last moments with Mitsuru, during which she admits in her own roundabout way that she loves him and that he is the most important person to her.
In The Answer, Mitsuru sides with Yukari in her decision to try to save the protagonist. She states that this is because she promised herself that she would support Yukari if Yukari ever needed her, the way that Yukari supported her following her father's death.
Fuuka is a timid girl who is often bullied and put under pressure by her strict parents. She is supposedly sickly, and initially comes to the attention of SEES through Akihiko and Shinjiro's visits to the hospital, where they become aware of her potential. However, before they can approach her about it she goes missing, having been locked in the school gymnasium by bullies and becoming trapped in Tartarus when the school transformed during the Dark Hour. SEES must therefore stage a rescue attempt during the third full moon event.
Fuuka does not actively participate in combat. Instead, her persona, Lucia of the Priestess Arcana, encases Fuuka in an indestructible globe and gives her the power to know the features of a given area, the location of any people and Shadows there, and the strengths and weaknesses of enemies. As Lucia's sensory powers greatly exceed those of Mitsuru's Persona Penthesilea, Fuuka takes over the support role and enables Mitsuru to join the field team. Through the events of the game she develops from a shy, timid girl to an emotionally strong and compassionate young woman.
A little after the incident on October 4th, Fuuka is still feeling uneasy about it, feeling her negligence led to it. Natsuki, who is now her close friend, then reveals she is transferring, and Fuuka is shocked. However, after talking to her, Fuuka understands how her concern comes from her desires to say close with her friends, and Lucia gives rise to Juno.
In her Social Link on Minato's route, Fuuka tries to become more feminine by learning how to cook, and having you (the protagonist) test her cooking. She comes to accept that her true passion lies in her love for technology, and a valuable asset to SEES. In Minako's route, the protagonist helps her learn how to cook, and it isn't long until she's able to make something not only edible, but good.
During New Game Plus, if you choose Fuuka (if her Social Link is maxed) to be at Minato's side on the final day, she promises to always be with him from now on.
During SEES's summer vacation, they're alerted to a dangerous Anti-Shadow weapon that's escaped the Kirijo lab and asked to retrieve it. When asked if they have permission to destroy it if it can't be contained, Ikutsuki laughs nervously and replies that he seriously doubts that'd be possible. Thankfully for the heroes, the weapon in question turns out to be Aigis, a Ridiculously Human Robot with a human mind and persona, as well as a harmless and seemingly inexplicable attachment to the main character that Ikutsuki attributes to a minor glitch in her software. The last survivor of a series of battle androids created to help contain the Shadows gathered by the Kirijo Group ten years ago, she's now allowed to live in the SEES dorms (where she also proves to have some telepathic ability, as she can understand Koromaru perfectly) and to even enroll in the main characters' class by posing as a new transfer student, all while gradually exploring her own interests and latent humanity.
It turns out that Aigis was pivotal in averting the apocalypse ten years ago when she faced Death's weakened form on the Moonlight Bridge, immediately after the destruction of the Ergo Research lab. Unable to defeat Death directly, she instead forced it into the 6 year-old main character, who happened to also be on the bridge that night, and used him as a living seal. Her memories were severely damaged after the battle, and her desire to stay close to the main character and protect him had stemmed from her unconscious awareness that he's the only thing standing in the way of Death's return. Once Death does return in the form of Ryoji Mochizuki, she tries to redeem herself by defeating him head-on, and fails, nearly destroying herself again in the process. Left shaken by her defeat, she's encouraged by the others to see herself as a person instead of a weapon, and she finds her affection for the main character growing beyond the mere necessity of preserving his life.
Ken's a precocious, serious 11 year-old orphan the heroes first meet around town. He's soon invited by Ikutsuki to live in the SEES dorms once he's discovered to have the potential and, once his persona awakens, he volunteers to join SEES's fights against the Shadows.
In reality, he joined because he wanted a chance to get revenge on Shinjiro. Several years ago, Shinjiro briefly lost control of his persona during a fight with the Shadows, and Ken's mother died in the crossfire. Ken patiently awaits his chance to avenge his mother and finally seizes it on the anniversary of her death. But when he finds that Shinjiro's willing to die and won't fight back, and that he's lived with a crushing amount of guilt ever since that night, Ken backs down, realizing that it truly was an accident and forgiving Shinjiro's role in it. Unfortunately, they make peace just as Takaya of Strega shows up to kill them both, and Shinjiro dies taking a bullet that was meant for Ken.
In the female main character's path in the PSP remake, Ken is the Justice Social Link, replacing Chihiro. The interactions deal with him overcoming his buried resentment over his mother's passing, his childish tendencies versus his desire to be seen as an adult, and as a romantic option, the realization that he can't be the ideal man for the female protagonist while he is still a child, and only time can change that. Still, he deeply cares for her.
In a New Game Plus, if he's chosen to be the person she spends her last moments with, he'll apologize for forgetting everything, but thanks her for causing a miracle. However, he seems to realize she paid a price for such, and worries about her "disappearing", then vows to always take care of her.
A Shiba Inu whose owner, a monk at the Naganaki Shrine, died two years ago, he originally continued to live at the shrine as a stray. He's amazingly loyal, walking on the same routes through town that his master took him on when he was alive and keeping vigil at the shrine. However there's more to this dog aside from being an adorable pooch: he gained the potential after seeing his master get killed by a Shadow on one of their late-night walks. When SEES discover that a Shadow has strayed out of Tartarus and is heading towards Naganaki shrine, they arrive to see an injured Koromaru, and the Shadow nowhere in sight. Commending the dog's bravery for defending the shrine, and amazement that a dog can summon a persona at all, they give him the best veterinary care and, once he's recovered, a home in the dorms. His persona is the Strength Arcana's Cerberus, who uses fire and darkness spells. Koromaru himself uses a dagger to fight, which he wields in his mouth, and wears cloth and leather dogsuits as armor. Once Aigis joins the team, she often translates Koromaru's wishes for the rest of SEES.
Koromaru replaces Yuko as the Strength Social Link in the female main character's path.
A former member of SEES, he left the group several years before, following a tragic accident. Despite looking like a delinquent, he has his soft side. After Ken Amada rejoins the group, Akihiko talks Shinjiro back into SEES. The two grew up in the same orphanage. Shinjiro's Persona is the physically-oriented Castor of the Hierophant Arcana.
Two years before the game, Shinjiro lost control of his Persona during an Operation and accidentally killed a woman. His guilt drove him out of SEES, and he began to take Persona-suppressing drugs, provided to him by Strega. The woman, it so happens, was Ken Amada's mother.
During the October 4th full moon operation, Ken and Shinjiro meet at the spot where Ken's mother died. There, Ken attempts to get revenge, which Shinjiro accepts as justified. However, because Shinjiro is so willing to die, Ken can't bring himself to do it, particularly not once he learns that Shinjiro is already dying. When Strega intrudes and Takaya attempts to kill Ken, Shinjiro takes the bullet for him.
In the female protagonist's story, Shinjiro is her Moon S.Link, replacing Nozomi and allowing the player character to see much more of his softer side, unlike the male protagonist who does not have much opportunity to interact with him and receives a somewhat more standoffish attitude from him. In his S.Link, Shinjiro prods the protagonist about concerns over her health and their teammates eating habits, assists Fuuka with her cooking, and at one point makes a grand dinner for the rest of SEES. He also voices concerns over Akihiko's well-being and talks about their childhoods and Akihiko's sister Miki. Towards the end of the link, the female can retrieve a pocket watch he'd lost from the police station and return it to him. If she does, the watch will prevent fatal damage from Takaya's shot and Shinjiro will survive, although he'll spend the rest of the game comatose in the hospital and will not rejoin the party.
After maxing his S.Link the female can start a romantic relationship with him by talking to him again - although she will have to bevery persistent with her feelings to overcome his reluctance. During the New Game Plus, establishing a romance with Shinjiro will make it possible for him to break out of the hospital on the game's final day and meet the protagonist on the roof of the school as she's fading away from sealing Nyx. He tells her that he saw everything while she was unconsious and that he's proud of her, is glad that she loved him, and he's grateful to have met her. Whether or not his survival is canon or not is not currently known.
Referred to as "the Chairman", Shuji is the school chairman and the head of SEES. He worked with Mitsuru and Yukari's fathers on the project ten years ago, and was one of the designers of Aigis. Despite not having a Persona, he remains conscious during the Dark Hour and provides briefings and support to the members of SEES during their major missions.
Unfortunately, he's also a complete lunatic. During the experiments ten years ago, Shuji came across a prophecy referring to a Prince who would bring about the Fall. He became convinced that he was the Prince, and rigged the experiments so that they would release the twelve Full Moon Shadows. He also altered Yukari's father's last message, so that it would guide SEES to destroy the twelve Shadows (which would summon Nyx) instead of warning them not to, as it originally said.
When the final Full Moon Shadow, the Hanged Man, was destroyed, Shuji reprogrammed Aigis to render the rest of SEES unconscious, then brought them to Gekkoukan High's observatory. Tying them to crosses, he ordered Aigis to sacrifice them to Nyx. However, Aigis's affection for the group compromised her programming, leaving her unable to do so. Before Shuji could shoot the group himself, Mitsuru's father interrupted him. The two men shot each other, suffering mutually fatal wounds, Koromaru stole the remote device he was using to control Aigis, and Aigis freed the rest of SEES. Shuji's last act as he watched his plan fall apart was to laugh bitterly, lamenting that "I was so close", before falling from the observatory roof. Despite the implications of his falling body vanishing into the darkness, we're later told that yes, they did find the body.
Metis's appearance heralds the beginning of SEES's next adventure in "The Answer", when she emerges from the Abyss of Time that's appeared beneath the dorm and immediately launches an attack on every human present, announcing that she has to kill them to protect her "sister" Aigis. Aigis rushes to their aid and, in the battle that follows, loses her Orgia mode while gaining the main character's persona Orpheus, as well as his "wild card" ability. The subdued Metis later explains that she'd only tried to kill the rest of SEES because she saw them as a hindrance to protecting Aigis, and agrees to cooperate with them after they threaten to leave her in the Abyss of Time, revealing her intense fear of being alone and abandoned. She seems to have amnesia: while she knows that Aigis is her sister and she's familiar with the Abyss of Time, she can't explain how she knows any of it or where she actually came from.
Metis is actually Aigis's discarded humanity, a being born in the spiritual realm from the emotions that Aigis had disconnected herself from. Her neediness and fear of being alone represent Aigis's repressed grief, and once Aigis accepts Metis as part of herself, they merge together again.
A group of Persona-users opposing SEES who host an online assassination service. Consisting of Takaya, a revolver-wielding Nietzsche Wannabe, Psycho Supporter Jin and Dark Magical Girl Chidori, the group arethe survivors of experiments performed by the Kirijo Group and must take life-shortening drugs in order to control their powers. While not the main antagonists, they do their part to cause the heroes all sorts of trouble since they see their efforts to stop the Dark Hour as wasting their "gifts". Chidori later on becomes Junpei's romantic interest, even sacrificing herself for him.
Later on, with the revelation of The Fall, Takaya proclaims himself a Dark Messiah of an Internet Cult set up by Jin in order to embrace Nyx since his only dream is for the world to die. During the team's final climb of the tower, Jin attempts to stop them and fails, blowing himself up with a grenade after they leave him to die. Takaya fares no better, but at least gets to see Nyx descend upon the world.
While his exact fate isn't made clear, it's assumed that if he didn't die back at Tartarus, Takaya's probably dead by the time of Persona 4.
Igor is the mysterious proprietor of The Velvet Room, an equally mysterious place "between dreams and reality", and introduces himself as the being who creates personas. His most distinctive physical attribute is definitely his Tengu/Pinocchio-like long nose. In Megami Ibunroku Persona, Igor calls himself "a servant of Philemon", though he seems to be in charge of the Velvet Room himself during Persona 3 (Philemon is in the game, but Word Of God says he's taken a more passive role in the world's affairs now). Igor is always found in The Velvet Room: although in previous games he used a phone made of bone to call up Personae from the depths of the soul, now he does so by arranging tarot cards into mystical arrangements on his table. Although he's helpful, friendly and later proves instrumental in saving the world, he still gives off a very sinister aura.
Igor's assistants. Elizabeth appears in the original, FES, P3P in the male character's path and as a choice in the female character's path. Theodore is only available in P3P in the female's story. Both serve the same role in the game. They send the main character on different sidequests and, in the FES and P3P editions, can visit the human world with the main character and become romantically involved with him or her. Theodore is Elizabeth's younger brother, and both are the younger siblings of Persona 4's Margaret.
A New Transfer Student who first makes his appearance in November. He is a flirty Bishonen who asks out any girl he meets, and quickly befriends the members of SEES. In reality, he is the Appriser of Nyx, doomed to bring about The Fall. He was sealed within the protagonist for the past ten years, and manifested as Pharos in earlier parts of the game. As Ryoji, however, he is ignorant of his true nature until the beginning of December—at which point he suffers from Amnesiac Dissonance, having become fond of humanity and life in general.
In the PSP remake with the female's story, Ryoji is oddly still based on the male main character despite having gotten his human form from her. Ryoji is her version of the Fortune S.Link and is able to get to know her better. Unlike other Links, his is only available on specific days during the month of November and will always rank up if you see him, so it requires no points; however, if you miss a single day, you cannot complete the link. In it he bonds with her and ponders his strange familiar connection to her, hinting at hisTomato In The Mirror plot. If you choose to pursue a romantic relationship with him, he'll find that she's the only girl he's truly ever loved. After the reveal (if you've completed the link to that point) on New Years Eve, the link will complete and Ryoji will declare his love for her and state that he'd give anything to be with her forever, except of course that he must fufill his duty as Nyx's herald. He leaves with a ring, proof of his existance as a human and his love for her.
A fellow classmate of the MC, Kenji is the very first social link (of the Magician Arcana) the male MC can get, being established automatically soon after he starts attending Gekkoukan High. Already friends with Junpei and Kazushi, he's also somewhat attracted to Yukari, though the player soon discovers that he has a thing for older women. In fact, pursuing his social link reveals that he has a crush on one of his teachers, and the MC helps him in his quest to win her over. Unfortunately, it doesn't work out, as he only succeeds in freaking out his teacher and discovering that she's already engaged and about the leave the city. After a bit of heartbroken sulking, he finally manages to get over it.
Though he loses his S. Link status in P3P to Junpei if the player chooses the female MC, he still makes appearances as part of Rio Iwasaki's S. Link.
Kenji is also surprisingly fashion conscious, commenting on the MC's wardrobe at certain points (in fact, the item he gives the MC at the end of his S. Link is a choker he made for him
A member of Gekkoukan High's student council, Hidetoshi heads the student disciplinary committee. As expected, he's strict and unyielding, and can come off as quite the hardass. He's also a very unpopular with the rest of his class because of his no-nonsense attitude. After Mitsuru has the MC join the student council, Hidetoshi becomes the Emperor S. Link, and pursuing his S. Link has him/her helping out with finding a student who left a cigarette butt in one of the school male bathrooms. As the S. Link goes on, he ends up accusing half the school (even the student council Vice President...who's female) and alienating himself from his fellow students even further. Eventually, he reveals that the MC is the only person that he can trust, and that he believes that everyone should be treated equally and fairly, and be held to the same standards. When the culprit is finally discovered, he realizes that he needs to lighten up if he's going to keep his fellow peers' trust.
In P3P, Hidetoshi falls in love with the female protagonist during his S.Link, but wants to wait until he's worthy of her love before he tries to make it official.
Kaz is a member of whatever sport team the MC joins. Stubborn and fanatical, Kaz quickly declares himself the MC's rival, and aims to win the championship. Kaz represents the Chariot S. Link, pursuing it has the MC discover that he's suffering from a bad knee, which is only getting worse due to his constant and overzealous training, to the point that he could very well never walk again if he keeps it up. Then it is discovered that the reason that he's pushing himself so hard is that he's trying to convince his nephew, who was crippled in an accident, to undergo rehab by winning the championship. Eventually, he admits his knee problem to the rest of his team, and is convinced to drop out of the championship and get surgery for his knee instead, deciding to go through rehab with his nephew.
In P3P, Kaz loses his S. Link status to Rio Iwasaki if the player chooses the female MC, though he still makes the occasional appearance, usually alongside Yuko or Kenji.
The student council treasurer, Chihiro is pretty much a textbook example of the painfully shy, bookish, yet surprisingly attractive nerd girl. She represents the Justice arcana in her S. Link and is one of the many potential love interests for the male MC. Pursuing her S. Link gets her to open up a bit more, and eventually deal with accusations that she stole money from the school.
In P3P, Chihiro loses her S. Link status to Ken if the player chooses the female MC, but she still makes her token appearances in Hidetoshi's S. Link scenes.
Chihiro also makes an appearance in Persona 4, having gotten over her shy tendencies, and looking even more attractive.
Keisuke is the leader of whatever Culture Club the MC joins. The son of a doctor, Keisuke is under pressure to quit his club and join the family business. He represents the Fortune arcana in his S. Link, and pursuing it has him refusing to quit the club, claiming that he doesn't want to become a doctor. This is proven to be untrue, however, as he's shown to be quick to help people who are sick or injured. Eventually, he gets over his denial and quits, throwing himself into studying for his entry exams.
In P3P, Keisuke loses his S. Link status to Ryoji if the player chooses the female MC, and his role in the game is greatly diminished, only making a few small appearances.
The team manager for whatever Athletic Club the MC joins, Yuko represents the Strength arcana in her S. Link, and is one of the male MC's potential love interests. If the player pursues her S. Link, the MC discovers Yuko's lack of motivation, not really sure what to do with her life. As the S. Link goes on, she ends up coaching a group of neighborhood children on how to run faster, so they could beat a group of sixth graders in a race and win back their playground. While coaching them, she finds her motivation, and eventually decides to become an athletic trainer.
In P3P, Yuko loses her S. Link status to Koromaru, though she still makes the occasional appearance as part of Rio Iwasaki's S. Link.
Sole member of Gekkoukan High's fashion club (at least until the MC joins), Bebe is the token foreigner and a raging Japanophile. He managed to be able to study abroad in Japan thanks to the efforts of his aunt. He represents the Temperance arcana in his S. Link, and pursuing it has Bebe making his first friend in Japan with the male MC. Eventually, he discovers that his aunt died, and his uncle wants him to come back home. Not wanting to leave Japan, he decides to make a kimono to take with him to help convince him to let him come back. The S. Link ends with Bebe leaving to go back home, swearing to come back someday.
Since she desperately wants to please others, Saori lets her classmates take advantage of her kindness and refuses to raise a fuss over their cruelty. This becomes a major problem when she becomes the victim of Malicious Slander. Ultimately, with the heroine's support, she is able to stand up for herself and attempt to clear her name.
An obese, unpopular senior who sits alone in Paulownia Mall, Nozomi is nicknamed the "Gourmet King" and represents the Moon arcana. At first he seems to be an arrogant and unlikable boy who's bizarrely obsessed with food, but as the main character continues to spend time with him, the Gourmet King's true background begins to gradually emerge, a complicated story involving sibling rivalry, a secret cult and a childhood tragedy.
A mysterious conflict with another boy's father brings the situation to a head, and helps Nozomi to realize his own self-worth and devote himself to living up to his potential and making his brother proud.
Isako is both a composition teacher at Gekkoukan High and the MC's homeroom teacher, where she comes across as strict but cheerful and understanding, as well as oddly fixated on cakes and sweets. She represents the Hermit arcana for her S. Link, which is started when she and the male MC meet on the dying MMORPG Innocent Sin Online. Pursuing the S. Link has the two repeatedly meeting online, with Isako complaining about her job and the other faculty members, while slowly revealing who she really is, and then finally revealing that she's in love with MC (not knowing that it's actually him on the other side.) At the end of the S. Link, the MMORPG is finally closed down due to inactivity, and the MC is able to meet up with Isako in real life and have her find out that she was talking to him the whole time, whereupon she freaks out, but still comes to terms with the fact that she's in love with him.
In P3P, Isako loses her S. Link status to Saori Hasegawa if the player chooses the female MC.
Owners of the Bookworms bookstore at Iwatodai Station, Bunkichi is an occasionally wisecracking and sometimes senile, but ultimate well-meaning old man (who frequently gives the MC food,) and Mitsuko is his more quiet wife. The two of them represent the Hierophant S. Link, and pursuing their S. Link has the MC frequently visiting their bookstore, ultimately learning that they had a son, who was a teacher at Gekkoukan High until he was killed in a car accident, when a persimmon tree was planted at the school in memorium of him. Eventually, the two of them catch wind that the tree is going to be cut down, and start a petition to try and stop it, but when they learn that the tree is going to be cut down in order to build an extension on the school, they finally decide to let them cut it down, deciding that education is important than their son's memories, and that he would've wanted it that way (though eventually it's revealed that the tree was simply relocated instead of cut down.)
A precocious grade school girl, Maiko frequently hangs out at the playground at Naganaki Shrine. She represents the Hanged Man arcana in her S. Link, and pursuing said S. Link reveals that Maiko's parents are going through a very messy divorce, which the MC helps her get through. Wondering if it's her fault that they're splitting up, Maiko eventually decides to run away from home, thinking that they'll have to work together to find her, and that it will help them get back together. It only proves to be a partial success, as though they really do work together to find her, they still plan to get divorced, though now they work more on helping Maiko understand why they're splitting up. At the end of the S. Link, Maiko decides to live with her mother as she leaves Port Island, but declares that she wants to marry the male MC when she grows up.
Though she stays as the Hanged Man S. Link in P3P, if the player chooses the female MC, then Maiko will see her as more of an older sister figure. Near the end of the game, Maiko's father will receive a letter, which mentions how Maiko wishes that she and the MC could "become a family for real" and ask her out on a date, misunderstanding the message.
Company president and TV salesman, Tanaka is the owner of a home shopping network (which the player can buy products from every Sunday. Later on, the MC can find him standing around Port Island Station (Paulownia Mall at night in FES.) He represents the Devil arcana in his S. Link, and pursuing it has Tanaka swindling the MC out of 40,000 yen before deciding to start giving him/her some of his rather...unscrupulous business advice, and even considering making him/her a model for his company. Eventually, he reveals that even though he's filthy rich, he's always so busy that he never has the time to really use any of his money. The S. Link ends with Tanaka finally deciding to give some of his money to charity. Later in FES, it's implied that he may have given up on his dubious business techniques.
In FES and P 3 P, Tanaka is one of the easiest S. Links to level up at the male MC, due to him being of the two only S. Links available at night, as well as the fact that every time the player talks to him, the S. Link is guaranteed to level up.
Found sitting by himself, drinking and smoking, at Club Escapade, Mutatsu is a rough, rude Buddhist monk. He represents the Tower arcana in his S. Link, and pursuing it reveals that he comes to the often often to get drunk, due to his wife and son leaving him because of his obsession with his work. For a while, he dispenses some rather depressing advice to the MC, and starts treating him/her as his own son/daughter. Eventually, he decides to hire a private detective to track down his wife and son, deciding he wants to apologize and them to take him back.
Mutatsu is one of the easiest S. Links to max out as the male MC, as he's one of the only two ones available at night.
The top athlete of his school, with potential for even competing on a professional level, Mamoru the MC by soundly beating him in the summer tournament, after which the two of them establish a friendly rivalry. He represents the Star arcana in his S. Link. Pursuing his S. Link reveals that he's trying to get into college on a scholarship and be a professional athlete, but he has to work to support his siblings with his mother after his father died in a car accident. After a while, his mother collapses from exhaustion, and the responsibility falls solely on him, to the point where he even has to give up both his sport and college. After the MC helps him through it, he eventually decides to give up for the time being and go to work at the factory his father worked at.
In P3P, Mamoru loses his S. Link status to Akihiko and disappears from the story entirely if the player chooses the female MC.
A frail young man who represents the Sun arcana, Akinari likes to spend his Sunday afternoons sitting by the playground at Naganaki Shrine. He was born with a terminal illness and doesn't have much longer to live. At first bitter about his fate and reluctant to talk to people, he gradually opens up to the main character and develops not only a powerful friendship, but the inspiration to write a children's book as his parting message to the world: a tragic but ultimately hopeful story about the friendship between an outcast pink alligator and a bird who can't fly.
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S.E.E.S.
Main Character (AKA Minato Arisato)
Voiced by Akira Ishida (Japanese) and Yuri Lowenthal (English)
The Silent Protagonist of Persona 3. His parents died ten years prior to the events of the game, and he has moved around a lot as a result; he spends much of his time listening to music. He has an affinity with the Fool Arcana, which allows him to store multiple personas, beginning with Orpheus. He can also wield various weapons, but defaults to a one-handed sword. The manga gives him the name "Minato Arisato" and describes his personality to be very calm and rather reclusive. Despite his introverted behavior he has significant leadership skills and can think and plan in the midst of battle.
He is transferred into the Gekkoukan High School in his second year of high school. Upon arriving at his new dorm during the Dark Hour, he is asked by a young boy to sign a contract which states "I chooseth this fate of my own free will." Within the next few weeks, he has his first encounter with the Shadows and is recruited into SEES, appointed as field leader by Mitsuru and Akihiko due to the ease with which he is able to summon his Persona. He also visits the Velvet Room, and has periodic chats with Pharos, the mysterious young boy who initially presented him with the Velvet Room contract.
Late in the game it is revealed that the "accident" which killed his parents was probably the battle between Aigis and Death. Unable to destroy Death completely, Aigis sealed it inside of the protagonist, where it remained dormant until it was awakened by proximity to Tartarus and the Full Moon Shadows and began appearing to the protagonist as Pharos.
In the final battle against Nyx, the protagonist attains the power of the Universe Arcana and uses it to become the Great Seal between Nyx and humanity in order to prevent the Fall. In doing so, he sacrifices his life, but manages to hold on long enough to keep the promise SEES made to meet at the school roof on Graduation Day, after which he falls asleep and does not awaken.
- Always Someone Better: Towards Junpei.
- Barrier Maiden
- Bishonen
- Chick Magnet: Every girl he meets seems to fall for him. This includes grade schoolers, teachers, and, er, robots.
- Cosmic Plaything: His parents died when he was six, leaving him as an orphan. The embodiment of death is sealed inside his body, biding its time until it can return to full strength. He later gives his life to become a Barrier Maiden to prevent the world's death wish from reaching Nyx.
- Epileptic Trees: Countless amount of theories.
- Eleventh Hour Super Power
- Fan Nickname: Minato Arisato, taken from the manga adaptation, which some fans have interpreted as follows: Minato = Harbor, Ari = Existence (as in "existing at the present moment"), Sato = "one's origin" or "one's past". Thus, Minato Arisato = The Harbor of One's Existing Origin.
- Fanon:
- The Ace
- Bad Ass Bookworm
- Emo Teen: A fanon depiction (strongly supported by his official art, where he is sulking or blank-faced) so prevelant it might as well be canon.
- At one point, this is lampshaded in one of the side stories where the other characters are concerned about how he never says anything and seems to be rather introverted. Turns out he just doesn't have anything to say, and is pretty nice when he does find something to respond to.
- Iron Woobie / Stoic Woobie
- Kuudere
- Not So Stoic
- He's Just Sleeping: The Fanbase's belief until the release of FES which revealed that he did in fact die, at least physically.
- The Hero
- Heroic Sacrifice
- I Am Who?
- Lighter And Softer: Despite being silent, his dialog options sound kinder and more optimistic as the plot and S.Links progress
- The Messiah + Messianic Archetype + The Paragon"Not like you, Minato-san... You're such a great person, and you make those around you happy too..."
- And as if that wasn't enough, his last Persona is named "Messiah", and its description implies it's Jesus himself. Also his ultimate Persona if you look at the end credits.
- New Transfer Student
- The Quiet One: Fits this trope to a T, even thought the player picks all the dialog choices. Lampshaded on a few times.
- Parental Abandonment: His parents died in an accident. An accident that was very, very likely caused by Aigis's first fight with Ryoji.
- Peek A Bangs: even Lampshaded during the Tower Social Link.
- Pink Girl Blue Boy: The color themes for the menus of the Male Protagonist or the Female one go exactly with these colors.
- Red Oni Blue Oni: Blue Oni to both the female protagonist and Junpei.
- Silent Protagonist
- Sleepyhead: Has the option to doze off in his classes. You can choose to keep him awake, but the option’s mere existence has to imply something.
- Canon in the manga, though he can switch to Hyper Awareness if it’s really important, like debates and Tartarus battles. Or he just wants to win that ping-pong match against Akihiko-senpai.
- The Stoic: Lampshaded by both Yukari and Junpei.
- Talking To Himself: Pharos shares a VA with good reason.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: With Junpei
- You Gotta Have Blue Hair
Female Main Character
Voiced by Marina Inoue (Japanese) and Laura Bailey (English)
Persona 3 Portable provides the option of playing as a female main character. She has the same history and storyline as the male protagonist, but is not a Gender Flip of him; she has a different appearance, a slightly modified version of Orpheus, and a more energetic and upbeat personality as indicated by her dialogue prompts. She also has a number of different Social Links, including S.Links with all members of SEES rather than just the female members, providing additional character development for Akihiko, Shinjiro, and Ken which is not seen in the original version of the game. The S.Links with the female team members are mostly unaltered except for the removal of specifically romantic content.
Many of the tropes which apply to the male protagonist apply to the female as well, except as noted:
- Action Girl: As the protagonist, she is the most powerful member of SEES, just like in the male route.
- Blade On A Stick: She uses naginatas. One such naginata is a human-sized version of the MS-14 Gelgoog's
double-ended beam naginata.
- Cool Big Sis: Has the opportunity to be this for Maiko.
- Even The Girls Want Her: Aigis's interactions with her are exactly the same as they are with the male protagonist.
- Every Girl Is Cuter With Hair Decs: They're also symbolic, representing the alternate placement of the fool arcana (XXII).
- Darker And Edgier: Contrasting to the male protagonist, after the events of October 4, she sounds more serious in her options, especially since a few of her S.links resume or start afterwards.
- Dude Magnet: By the end of the game it's possible for Akihiko, Shinjiro, Ken, Ryoji, Hidetoshi, Bebe, and Theodore to all be in love with her - plus Maiko's father awkwardly asking her out.
- Expy: She looks a bit like Yuzu from Devil Survivor. Funny, since the main character of that game was an expy of the male protagonist in this one.
- Fan Nickname: "MShe" and "FeMC," both puns on MC ("main character") which is usually used in reference to the male protagonist. Minako (derived from the Male Protagonist's name from the manga adaptation, Minato) and Hamuko (loosely interpreting of the first kanji of "Protagonist" as katakana and adding "ko", a common ending for girls' names in Japanese).
- Also dubbed Runako Gekkou by Famitsu. Runako is generally taken to mean "moon child," while "Gekkou" means "moonlight." Many consider this to be Extremely Punny.
- Fanon:
- Badass Adorable
- Genius Ditz: She may be the field leader for Tartarus exploration, but many of her dialogue choices can be quite lighthearted, including frequent opportunities to apparently have no idea what people are talking about.
- Genki Girl
- Iron Woobie
- Stepford Smiler
- Feminine Women Can Cook
- Gender Flip: She isn't one, as she has her own unique appearance and distinct personality, but her version of Orpheus is.
- Also only her version of Orpheus. Orpheus Telos is the same between both genders.
- Hidden Depths: Able to bring this out of Akihiko, Ken, and Shinjiro due to S. Link interaction with them not available to the male protagonist.
- How To Become A Love Interest: Unlike in the male protagonist's route, whether or not her S.Links become romantic usually depends on making certain dialogue choices.
- Kind Red Eyes: Her eyes are brown in her 3D character model, but vivid red in all of her 2D artwork.
- Lady Of War: She's quite graceful in battle.
- Les Yay: With Aigis, who acts exactly the same around her as she would with Minato, and a little bit with the other female SEES members.
- Platonic Life Partners: With Junpei. He's the only male SEES member to not have a romance option with her, despite knowing her the longest.
- Although this apparently wasn't always going to be the case according to this
- Although this apparently wasn't always going to be the case according to this
- Red Oni Blue Oni: To the male protagonist's blue.
- Shotacon: In the original Japanese version, ten-year-old Ken is a potential love interest. This was toned down for the English-Language release due to Values Dissonance, recasting their interaction so that the protagonist mostly seems unaware of or chooses to overlook his feelings for her.
- Single Woman Seeks Good Man: All of her possible love interests are genuinely nice guys - even Shinjiro.
- Star Crossed Lovers: With Ryoji. Before he accepts his fate as part of Nyx, he tells her that he'd have given anything to be with her forever and gives her a ring so she'll always remember that he loved her.
Yukari Takeba
Voiced by Megumi Toyoguchi (Japanese) and Michelle Ruff (English)
Yukari - affectionately called "Yuka-tan" by Junpei - is one of the most popular second-year girls at Gekkoukan High thanks to her cheery personality and good looks. However, she proves to have hidden insecurities and can be abrasive and confrontational. She is a member of the archery club and uses bow and arrow in battle. Her Persona is Io of the Lovers Arcanum and later evolves into Isis; its focus is on Wind and Healing magic.
Yukari is the newest member of SEES prior to the protagonist's arrival. She reveals early on that her father, a scientist, died ten years ago under mysterious circumstances involving a project run by the Kirijo Group, and that she transferred to Gekkoukan and joined SEES in hopes of discovering the truth. She is estranged from her mother, who coped by taking up relationships with various men, to Yukari's disgust.
Yukari is badly shaken when she learns that her father was involved in releasing the Shadows upon Port Island, and goes through a period of guilt and self-doubt. When it's later revealed that he died trying to prevent the Fall, she's able to embrace her love and pride in him again, prompting the evolution of her Persona into Isis. The protagonist is also able to help her make peace with her mother.
Yukari is the Lovers Social Link for both protagonists, and a potential love interest for the male protagonist. The male protagonist requires substantial Charm in order to begin the S.Link; in contrast, Yukari opens up much more readily to the female protagonist, finding it easier to relate to a girl her own age, particularly in contrast to Mitsuru's aloofness. The link is essentially the same in both versions save for the romantic content.
In the PSP remake, if Yukari's S.Link is completed in a New Game Plus, the player has the option for the main character to spend his last moments with her, and she tearfully tells him that she loves him and she'll stay with him forever.
In The Answer, Yukari is jealous and resentful of Aigis after the latter inherits the protagonist's "wild card" ability and his Persona Orpheus. With Mitsuru supporting her, she clashes with the other members of SEES over her desire to go back in time to see the protagonist again and save him from his fate, even if it means unsealing Nyx and causing the Fall to happen again. She's defeated by Aigis and Metis and ultimately comes to terms with the protagonist's sacrifice, resolving to live for the future and reconciling with Aigis in the process.
- Action Girl
- Always Save The Girl: Gender-reversed when a grief-stricken Yukari decides in "The Answer" to go back in time and save the Main Character, even if it means triggering the Fall all over again.
- The Atoner
- The Archer
- Base Breaker: Her characterization in "The Answer" divided the fandom's feelings towards her.
- Break The Cutie: Hey, Yukari? Your beloved father is one of the people responsible for the whole Dark Hour mess. Hope that makes you feel better!
- The Chick
- Clingy Jealous Girl: She becomes this when you date any girl that's not her.
- Plays this straight in The Answer.
- Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: To Mitsuru.
- Girls Are Really Scared Of Horror Movies: She's noticeably jumpy during the events up to and including the 2nd Full Moon operation (which involved the supposed vengeful ghost of Fuuka after she disappeared).
- First Girl Wins: In the PSP remake's New Game Plus in the male MC's story, she can spend his last moments with him in Aigis' place, finally telling him she loves him.
- Les Yay: Again, with Mitsuru.
- Lethal Chef: Implied in dialogue.
- Love Makes You Crazy: Attempts to go back in time in The Answer to prevent the Protagonist's death, even if it means having to face Nyx all over again.
- Mood Swinger
- Parental Abandonment: Her father died ten years ago and mother essentially whored herself out to other men.
- The Resenter: Towards Mitsuru in the Journey, and towards Aigis in "The Answer". She gets over it in both cases.
- Ron The Death Eater: Takes a lot of flack for being overemotional, her harsh treatment of Junpei, and her supposedly self-centered attitude. "The Answer" didn't do much to improve her image, either.
- Sweater Girl
- Took A Level In Jerkass: During "The Answer".
- Tsundere: She has shades of this.
- The Woobie: With shades of Jerkass Woobie for some; nobody can argue that the poor girl hasn't had it rough.
Junpei Iori
Voiced by Kosuke Toriumi (Japanese) and Vic Mignogna (English)
Junpei is the class clown of Gekkoukan High, and Minato's best friend. He's 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 protagonist, and 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 Arcanum, and later evolves into Trismegistus; it specializes in Physical skills, Fire magic, and Buffs.
Midway through the game, Junpei encounters and gets to know Chidori of Strega, and falls in love with her. His well-meaning concern causes her to open up to him as well, giving her a reason to value her own life again. Her renewed fear of death causes her to betray Junpei to Strega, but ultimately she sacrifices her own life to save him, merging her Persona with his and endowing him with herHealing Factor. In FES, it's possible for her to revive following her sacrifice, to Junpei's delight.
Junpei is the female main character's Magician S.Link, replacing Kenji (who appears during the female's Chariot link instead). Due to his plot-important relationship with Chidori, he is the only male SEES member that the female protagonist has no romantic interaction with - a romance was scripted, but was Dummied Out, and video of the New Game Plus end scene can be found online. Instead, Junpei's relationship with the female protagonist is almost brotherly; he becomes protective of her and wants for her to be able to depend on him, and confides in her some of the details of his strained relationship with his alcoholic father.
In The Answer, Junpei serves as a middle ground between the various SEES members when they fight over what to do with the keys. Along with Koromaru, he sides neither with Yukari and Mitsuru's desire to go back and save the protagonist, nor with Akihiko and Ken's desire to simply leave the door and move on. Frustrated with the intra-party fighting, he fights Aigis to prevent her from obtaining the key without a clear goal as he does not believe she is strong enough to face off Yukari and Mitsuru, and is defeated by her and Metis.
- Book Dumb: If you check the exam scoreboard, he consistently gets low scores until the last one.
- Boisterous Bruiser: Although he's only a bruiser in gameplay.
- Butt Monkey
- Dating Catwoman
- Disney Death
- Heroic BSOD
- Heroic Wannabe: He likes to think of himself as the leader of SEES, which causes Chidori to kidnap him.
- Hot Blooded
- Idiot Hero
- I Just Want To Be Special
- The Lancer
- Leeroy Jenkins
- The Leisure Suit Larry
- The Load: His Leeroy Jenkins tendencies tend to result in him becoming this towards the team.
- Manly Tears/Tears Of Joy: When he discovers Chidori is alive.
- Overshadowed By Awesome: The primary reason he develops into the resenter.
- Parental Abandonment
- Playing With Fire: Though he isn't geared towards magic. Useful for exploiting weaknesses, though.
- The Resenter
- Ted Baxter
- Vitriolic Best Buds: With Minato. He gets along better with the Female Protagonist due to him being a Social Link.
Akihiko Sanada
Voiced by Hikaru Midorikawa (Japanese) and Liam O'Brien (English)
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, later evolving to Caesar, which focuses on Lightning and Debuffing magic, but 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. However, he can never get over Miki's death and his feelings of pain and guilt, and tries to avoid getting too attached to anything so as to avoid any more such feelings. The death of his best friend Shinjiro, who faces his own mortality bravely and gives his life to protect Ken, inspires Akihiko to face up to his own fears, prompting the evolution of his Persona.
In the female protagonist's story, Akihiko is her Star S.Link, replacing Mamoru (who never appears). She'll need level 4 Charm in order to stand out in his eyes from all of his annoying fangirls (and ward off their anger, for that matter). 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 Miki's death and what happens to Shinjiro. Depending on dialogue choices, he can become the female protagonist's love interest.
During the New Game Plus, if she has a romantic relationship with Akihiko, on the final day he'll meet her on the roof and stay with her in her last moments before becoming the seal for Nyx, apologizing for having forgotten and promising that they'll never be apart.
In The Answer, Akihiko chooses to respect the protagonist's reasons for sacrificing himself and, along with Ken, fights the other members of SEES for the key, believing it should be used to leave the dorm so that they can all go on with their lives.
- Adorkable: As proven in his S.Link in P3P.
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: His aloof nature in school causes his classmates to peg him as a Badboy, which is the reason why he has a legion of fangirls.
- Ambiguously Gay
- Ignores his hordes of female fans.
- As seen at the beach vacation, he's either not interested in approaching ladies, or suffers crippling awkwardness around them.
- As the female link proves he's most definitely (or at least mostly) straight, but 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.
- 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.
- The Big Guy
- Big Brother Instinct: Most noticeable on the "rescue Fuuka" mission. The female protagonist in P3P also comes in for some of this from him. In both cases it's unquestionably because of his issues regarding his Dead Little Sister.
- 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 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.
- 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 here
- Crazy Jealous Guy: He shows shades of this 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.
- Dead Little Sister: Miki.
- Determinator
- Estrogen Brigade Bait
- 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.
- Genius Bruiser: He's a boxer whose physical attacks are second only to Aigis, and not only does he get consistently good grades, 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.
- Good Old Fisticuffs
- Heroic BSOD: His sister, Shinjiro... take your pick.
- Ho Yay: With Shinjiro.
- And Minato. "Where have you been?"
- The Mario
- Memetic Sex God: Akihiko would like to let our bodies do the talking.
- Not So Stoic
- Oblivious To Love: P3P states outright that he doesn't seem to understand girls' feelings at all.
- Pointless Band Aid
- Power Fist
- Red Oni Blue Oni: Red Oni to Mitsuru's Blue.
- Shock And Awe
- Spirited Competitor
- Stupid Sexy Senpai
- Trademark Favorite Food: Beef bowl.
- The Woobie
Mitsuru Kirijo
Voiced by Rie Tanaka (Japanese) and Tara Platt (English)
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, having awakened to her Persona at a very young age due to her family's experiments with the Shadows and Tartarus. Her Persona is Penthesilea of the Empress Arcanum, later evolving into Artemisia, and is focused on Ice and Healing magic. Mitsuru is also a member of the fencing club and wields a rapier in battle.
After her Persona awakened, Mitsuru resolved to fight the Shadows in order to protect her father Takeharu, and to atone for her family's role in bringing about Tartarus and the Dark Hour. She is shattered when Chairman Ikutsuki reveals his true intentions and murders her father, and with her purpose gone, she falls into depression which lasts until Yukari helps to snap her out of it during the school trip to Kyoto. After this, she recovers her resolve to lead the Kirijo group and prevent the Fall, prompting the evolution of her Persona.
Mitsuru is the Empress Social Link, and a possible love interest for the male protagonist. 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 reveals that Mitsuru is engaged to one of the Kirijo Group's business associates, a marriage arranged for her by her family. Following her father's death, she finds herself doubting her role and her ability to lead the Kirijo Group effectively, and feels that she should accept the marriage in order to secure the Kirijo Group's future; however, her relationship with the protagonist helps her to realize her fiance's arrogant and controlling nature, causing her to break off the engagement and drive him away.
In the PSP remake the player can choose to have Minato spend his last moments with Mitsuru, during which she admits in her own roundabout way that she loves him and that he is the most important person to her.
In The Answer, Mitsuru sides with Yukari in her decision to try to save the protagonist. She states that this is because she promised herself that she would support Yukari if Yukari ever needed her, the way that Yukari supported her following her father's death.
- Action Girl
- An Ice Person
- Arranged Marriage
- The Atoner
- Badass Bookworm
- Break The Cutie: She dedicated her life to protecting her father. Said father is later killed right in front of her. She does not take this well.
- Combat Stilettos: her critical animation ends with kicking the enemy.
- Defrosting Ice Queen
- Enemy Scan
- Even The Girls Want Her
- Fate Worse Than Death: Her executions, according to Akihiko.
- Gratuitous French: In English dub.
- Gratuitous English: In Japanese dub.
- Fetish Fuel Station Attendant
- Hello Nurse
- Heroes Want Redheads
- Heroic BSOD: After the death of her father.
- Hot Chick With A Sword
- Kuudere
- Lady Of War
- Last Name Basis
- Les Yay: With Yukari.
- Lonely Rich Kid
- Mission Control: She's this early on. She's later replaced by Fuuka.
- Ojou
- Parental Abandonment
- Peek A Bangs
- Platonic Life Partners: With Akihiko.
- Red Oni Blue Oni: Blue Oni to Akihiko's Red.
- Royal Rapier: It's C'est Magnifique.
- Sensor Character
- The Smart Guy
- Student Council President
- Tall Dark And Bishoujo
- Team Mom: Actually expects everyone to maintain good grades.
- The Woman Wearing The Queenly Mask
- The Woobie
Fuuka Yamagishi
Voiced by Mamiko Noto (Japanese) and Mela Lee (English)
Fuuka is a timid girl who is often bullied and put under pressure by her strict parents. She is supposedly sickly, and initially comes to the attention of SEES through Akihiko and Shinjiro's visits to the hospital, where they become aware of her potential. However, before they can approach her about it she goes missing, having been locked in the school gymnasium by bullies and becoming trapped in Tartarus when the school transformed during the Dark Hour. SEES must therefore stage a rescue attempt during the third full moon event.
Fuuka does not actively participate in combat. Instead, her persona, Lucia of the Priestess Arcana, encases Fuuka in an indestructible globe and gives her the power to know the features of a given area, the location of any people and Shadows there, and the strengths and weaknesses of enemies. As Lucia's sensory powers greatly exceed those of Mitsuru's Persona Penthesilea, Fuuka takes over the support role and enables Mitsuru to join the field team. Through the events of the game she develops from a shy, timid girl to an emotionally strong and compassionate young woman.
A little after the incident on October 4th, Fuuka is still feeling uneasy about it, feeling her negligence led to it. Natsuki, who is now her close friend, then reveals she is transferring, and Fuuka is shocked. However, after talking to her, Fuuka understands how her concern comes from her desires to say close with her friends, and Lucia gives rise to Juno.
In her Social Link on Minato's route, Fuuka tries to become more feminine by learning how to cook, and having you (the protagonist) test her cooking. She comes to accept that her true passion lies in her love for technology, and a valuable asset to SEES. In Minako's route, the protagonist helps her learn how to cook, and it isn't long until she's able to make something not only edible, but good.
During New Game Plus, if you choose Fuuka (if her Social Link is maxed) to be at Minato's side on the final day, she promises to always be with him from now on.
- Angst What Angst: Fuuka is the only member of the group who does not go through a Heroic BSOD.
- Captain Obvious: She tends to state very obvious details regarding the enemy, like how many there are, at all times even if you've done something that wouldn't have affected the number like healing.
- Crowning Moment Of Funny: "You defended the dough from Fuuka's attempts to alter the recipe. All the cookies survived."
- Distressed Damsel
- Dull Surprise: Her English VA's performance as her tends to border on this. She gets a little better in The Answer when voicing new content, but her incredibly flat battle talk remains. Your Mileage May Vary, though.
- Enemy Scan
- Hollywood Hacking: We never do see her do it, but she hacked into top-level Kirijo Group archives in order to find out the truth about SEES and Tartarus. At home, she's almost always sitting with a laptop, and she can piece back together video files purposefully deleted by third parties. This proficiency with computers is undoubtedly related to her being a...
- Gadgeteer Genius: Max out her Social Link and you'll see.
- Hollywood Nerd: Type 2; her physical beauty is commented on by both Junpei and even female classmates.
- Ill Girl: Causes some concern when she first comes to the group's attention; despite having the potential, they fear she'll prove too fragile to participate.
- Informed Attribute: Junpei says that Fuuka has an angelic voice. Riiiight. Again, Your Mileage May Vary.
- Doesn't apply as much in the Japanese dub.
- Les Yay: With Natsuki
- Lethal Chef: The female route's social link is devoted to making her stop being this and improving.
- Mission Control
- Mystical Waif
- Nerds Are Sexy
- Non Action Girl
- Only Sane Man: Literally
- Parental Abandonment
- Sensor Character
- She Cleans Up Nicely
- Shrinking Violet
Aigis
Voiced by Maaya Sakamoto (Japanese) and Karen Strassman (English)
During SEES's summer vacation, they're alerted to a dangerous Anti-Shadow weapon that's escaped the Kirijo lab and asked to retrieve it. When asked if they have permission to destroy it if it can't be contained, Ikutsuki laughs nervously and replies that he seriously doubts that'd be possible. Thankfully for the heroes, the weapon in question turns out to be Aigis, a Ridiculously Human Robot with a human mind and persona, as well as a harmless and seemingly inexplicable attachment to the main character that Ikutsuki attributes to a minor glitch in her software. The last survivor of a series of battle androids created to help contain the Shadows gathered by the Kirijo Group ten years ago, she's now allowed to live in the SEES dorms (where she also proves to have some telepathic ability, as she can understand Koromaru perfectly) and to even enroll in the main characters' class by posing as a new transfer student, all while gradually exploring her own interests and latent humanity.
It turns out that Aigis was pivotal in averting the apocalypse ten years ago when she faced Death's weakened form on the Moonlight Bridge, immediately after the destruction of the Ergo Research lab. Unable to defeat Death directly, she instead forced it into the 6 year-old main character, who happened to also be on the bridge that night, and used him as a living seal. Her memories were severely damaged after the battle, and her desire to stay close to the main character and protect him had stemmed from her unconscious awareness that he's the only thing standing in the way of Death's return. Once Death does return in the form of Ryoji Mochizuki, she tries to redeem herself by defeating him head-on, and fails, nearly destroying herself again in the process. Left shaken by her defeat, she's encouraged by the others to see herself as a person instead of a weapon, and she finds her affection for the main character growing beyond the mere necessity of preserving his life.
- The Atoner
- Body Guard Crush
- Clingy Jealous Girl: In the female story
- Finger Gun
- First Girl Wins: Well, technically she's the first girl to meet Minato. When she, uh, seals Death inside of him. It's complicated.
- I Want My Beloved Tobe Happy: In the male story
- Last Girl Wins: Except in the PSP remake, which removes the Answer and allows any of the SEES girls to be the last one with the male MC in the New Game Plus.
- Les Yay: With female main.
- My Greatest Failure: Her story in The Answer is mostly her coming to terms with Aegis not being able to prevent the Protagonist's death.
- Ridiculously Human Robot: A justified case. If she didn't look like a human, her mind wouldn't self-identify as human, and she wouldn't be able to use a persona.
- Shoot The Dog: Her sealing the final Shadow in the Protagonist ten years before the story started.
- Robot Girl
- Shout Out: whenever Aigis performs a Critical Hit, she says "Hasta la vista".
- Stalker With A Crush: She had a motive, by the way.
- The Gunslinger
- What Is This Thing You Call Love
- What The Hell Hero: She calls herself out for her choice to seal Death inside the protagonist.
- The Woobie
Ken Amada
Voiced by Megumi Ogata (Japanese) and Mona Marshall (English)
Ken's a precocious, serious 11 year-old orphan the heroes first meet around town. He's soon invited by Ikutsuki to live in the SEES dorms once he's discovered to have the potential and, once his persona awakens, he volunteers to join SEES's fights against the Shadows.
In reality, he joined because he wanted a chance to get revenge on Shinjiro. Several years ago, Shinjiro briefly lost control of his persona during a fight with the Shadows, and Ken's mother died in the crossfire. Ken patiently awaits his chance to avenge his mother and finally seizes it on the anniversary of her death. But when he finds that Shinjiro's willing to die and won't fight back, and that he's lived with a crushing amount of guilt ever since that night, Ken backs down, realizing that it truly was an accident and forgiving Shinjiro's role in it. Unfortunately, they make peace just as Takaya of Strega shows up to kill them both, and Shinjiro dies taking a bullet that was meant for Ken.
In the female main character's path in the PSP remake, Ken is the Justice Social Link, replacing Chihiro. The interactions deal with him overcoming his buried resentment over his mother's passing, his childish tendencies versus his desire to be seen as an adult, and as a romantic option, the realization that he can't be the ideal man for the female protagonist while he is still a child, and only time can change that. Still, he deeply cares for her.
In a New Game Plus, if he's chosen to be the person she spends her last moments with, he'll apologize for forgetting everything, but thanks her for causing a miracle. However, he seems to realize she paid a price for such, and worries about her "disappearing", then vows to always take care of her.
- Blade On A Stick: Spears.
- Body Guard Crush: With Female Protagonist
- The Bumblebee
- Combat Medic
- Cute Shotaro Boy
- Dont You Dare Pity Me: to the point of wanting to kill himself to run away from it.
- Kid Hero
- Light Is Not Good: Subverted; he has Hama skills but is a generally good kid. However, his physical attacks specialize with a bonus against downed enemies.
- Meaningful Name: Both the kanji of his given name and family name are synonymous, meaning 'heaven' as a reference to his arcana. More depressingly, his first name can also mean 'drought' or 'to desiccate'. One could interpret that as his life being a drought to him without his mother and the cover up of her death, or his revenge dried up due to Shinjiro's health and Takaya's intervention
- Please Dont Leave Me: His New Game Plus Ending plays this quite tragically
- Precocious Crush: Played straight in the localized version, but in the original Japanese it makes it a point arguably that those feelings are more serious than what you'd expect, albeit the game handles it tastefully. However, she probably wasn't the greatest girl to get such a crush on.
- Revenge: His motivation.
- Ron The Death Eater: Fans were not happy that Shinjiro died protecting him.
- You Killed My Mother: Subverted, because he understands it was an accident and forgives Shinjiro... just to see Shinji dying protecting him
- The Woobie: He's a suicidal orphan who lost his mom to an incident that was covered up by the Kirijou Group, had his plans of revenge fail because his target would die anyway and wanted Ken to kill him, then dies for him by Takaya. And it's made worse in the Girl Protagonist's route, he gets a crush on an older girl who may be just humoring that crush, yet he's so devoted to being there for her and SEES, because they gave him a reason for him to live. Said girl becomes the Great Seal, and if his ending hints anything, he knows that she's dying.
Koromaru
A Shiba Inu whose owner, a monk at the Naganaki Shrine, died two years ago, he originally continued to live at the shrine as a stray. He's amazingly loyal, walking on the same routes through town that his master took him on when he was alive and keeping vigil at the shrine. However there's more to this dog aside from being an adorable pooch: he gained the potential after seeing his master get killed by a Shadow on one of their late-night walks. When SEES discover that a Shadow has strayed out of Tartarus and is heading towards Naganaki shrine, they arrive to see an injured Koromaru, and the Shadow nowhere in sight. Commending the dog's bravery for defending the shrine, and amazement that a dog can summon a persona at all, they give him the best veterinary care and, once he's recovered, a home in the dorms. His persona is the Strength Arcana's Cerberus, who uses fire and darkness spells. Koromaru himself uses a dagger to fight, which he wields in his mouth, and wears cloth and leather dogsuits as armor. Once Aigis joins the team, she often translates Koromaru's wishes for the rest of SEES.
Koromaru replaces Yuko as the Strength Social Link in the female main character's path.
- A Boy And His X - A Girl And Her Dog in Persona 3 Portable, since Koromaru is a social link for the female protagonist.
- Berserk Button: Don't try to damage the shrine in any way...
- Badass Adorable
- Cool Pet
- Cutlass Between The Teeth
- Dark Is Not Evil: His persona specializes in Mudo {dark element spells}, and is very resistant to it as well.
- Dogs Are Dumb: Strongly averted.
- Good Scars Evil Scars: He has a scar on his abdomen from the shadow attack, which is the reason why he doesn't like getting his belly rubbed.
- Ensemble Darkhorse: Generally considered one of the more useful party members... and coolest.
- Everythings Better With Spinning: He doesn't just charge into shadows with that knife, he somersaults into them.
- Evil Detecting Dog
- Expy: Of Hachiko and Pascal, the dog from Shin Megami Tensei I that would later be fused with a demon to become Cerberus (who serves as his Persona).
- Hellhound: His Persona, Cerberus, not Koromaru himself.
- Heroic Dog
- Red Eyes Take Warning: He's got red eyes because he's albino, but in an aversion he's actually really nice, unless you're a monster.
- Spanner In The Works: And Ikutsuki's evil plans were going so well...
- Team Pet
Shinjiro Aragaki
Voiced by Kazuya Nakai (Japanese) and Grant George (English)
A former member of SEES, he left the group several years before, following a tragic accident. Despite looking like a delinquent, he has his soft side. After Ken Amada rejoins the group, Akihiko talks Shinjiro back into SEES. The two grew up in the same orphanage. Shinjiro's Persona is the physically-oriented Castor of the Hierophant Arcana.
Two years before the game, Shinjiro lost control of his Persona during an Operation and accidentally killed a woman. His guilt drove him out of SEES, and he began to take Persona-suppressing drugs, provided to him by Strega. The woman, it so happens, was Ken Amada's mother.
During the October 4th full moon operation, Ken and Shinjiro meet at the spot where Ken's mother died. There, Ken attempts to get revenge, which Shinjiro accepts as justified. However, because Shinjiro is so willing to die, Ken can't bring himself to do it, particularly not once he learns that Shinjiro is already dying. When Strega intrudes and Takaya attempts to kill Ken, Shinjiro takes the bullet for him.
In the female protagonist's story, Shinjiro is her Moon S.Link, replacing Nozomi and allowing the player character to see much more of his softer side, unlike the male protagonist who does not have much opportunity to interact with him and receives a somewhat more standoffish attitude from him. In his S.Link, Shinjiro prods the protagonist about concerns over her health and their teammates eating habits, assists Fuuka with her cooking, and at one point makes a grand dinner for the rest of SEES. He also voices concerns over Akihiko's well-being and talks about their childhoods and Akihiko's sister Miki. Towards the end of the link, the female can retrieve a pocket watch he'd lost from the police station and return it to him. If she does, the watch will prevent fatal damage from Takaya's shot and Shinjiro will survive, although he'll spend the rest of the game comatose in the hospital and will not rejoin the party.
After maxing his S.Link the female can start a romantic relationship with him by talking to him again - although she will have to bevery persistent with her feelings to overcome his reluctance. During the New Game Plus, establishing a romance with Shinjiro will make it possible for him to break out of the hospital on the game's final day and meet the protagonist on the roof of the school as she's fading away from sealing Nyx. He tells her that he saw everything while she was unconsious and that he's proud of her, is glad that she loved him, and he's grateful to have met her. Whether or not his survival is canon or not is not currently known.
- An Axe To Grind
- Backup From Otherworld
- Badass Longcoat
- Becoming The Mask: Subverted as he sold information to Strega, but rejoins SEES for redemption. As the Moon Social Link reveals however, he is a genuinely kind guy and cares for SEES.
- But I Would Really Enjoy It: A rare male example after his S.Link in Persona 3 Portable is maxed. To put it simply, he's not just afraid of their relationship changing, he knows that he's going to die by any of three ways, and that romance will not end well.
- Convenient Coma - Of the Put On A Bus variety. If you play as a girl and retrieve his pocket watch, he survives the October 4th moon (see Pocket Protector below), but since he dies under any other circumstances, in order to keep the plot on the same path, he spends the rest of the game hospitalized and in a coma.
- If you're playing a New Game Plus, it's possible for him to wake up just in time to spend your last moments with you, making it a different type of Convenient Coma.
- Dark And Troubled Past
- Dead Ex Machina: The protagonist doesn't pull together enough HP to cast the Great Seal until Shinjiro's voice provides the last bit of encouragement.
- Death Seeker
- Doomed By Canon: Yeah, all that work you put into saving him in the Female MC game? Sorry. "The Answer" is canon, and he's dead in "The Answer".
- Ensemble Darkhorse
- Fan Preferred Couple: With the female protagonist in her route, thanks in part to the fact that, unlike other S.Links, the protagonist doesn't have to do anything specific to make his romantic. The fact that maxing out his S.Link could prevent him from dying pretty much sealed the deal with the fandom concerning this pairing.
- Guest Star Party Member
- Hidden Heart Of Gold: He deliberately fosters and enjoys an aura of intimidation and aloofness, and is very embarrassed when others discover his kindness.
- Ho Yay: With Akihiko.
- I Want My Beloved To Be Happy: When you Max out his S.Link as the female protagonist in the portable remake, he hints that his feelings for her are like this. Under the circumstances he's in, it's perfectly reasonable.
- Jerkass Facade: Played almost humorously when he's unsuccessful, then becomes quite tragic when you realize how far he'll go for those he cares about.
- Killed Off For Real
- Can be averted in the Female Protagonist route, but only if his S.Link is Maxed.
- Kuudere
- Memetic Sex God: "I'm gonna make myself clear. I ain't holding back anymore."
- Moe: Social Awkwardness? Check. Quirkiness? Check. Hard on the outside but squishy inside? Check. His gruff appearance makes this shockingly more effective.
- Parental Abandonment
- Pet The Dog: His friendship with Koromaru is almost literal. It makes it clear he is still a good guy despite his attitude.
- Plotline Death
- Pocket Protector: Getting the last rank of his S.Link in the female protagonist's route requires her to find a pocketwatch he mentions he has lost, and return it to him. Having it in his pocket on October 4th is what makes it possible for him to survive being shot, although he's still seriously injured.
- Precision F Strike: Adios, asshole.
- Put On A Bus - If you're playing as a girl and you max out his S. Link and retrieve his watch, he survives. But since he dies under all other circumstances, in order to keep the plot on the right track, he spends the rest of the game in a coma.
- Real Men Wear Pink: he's very fond of cooking and is a regular viewer of the family cooking show. In his S. Link, he, the protagonist and Fuuka cook a restaurant-quality meal big enough for everyone in SEES.
- Redemption Equals Death
- Sacrificial Lion
- The Stoic
- Not So Stoic: Just add cooking, dogs, or the female protagonist
- Supreme Chef
- Taking The Bullet
- Team Mom: Think about it. He's a good cook, worries about whether or not everyone's eating properly, tells you to take care not to get sick... Face it, he's your ideal househusband.
- Too Cool To Live
- Tsundere: Equip him with the tuxedo in Tartarus and talk to him for his reaction. You'll either laugh or squee.
- When He Smiles: In P3P, he only smiles during the Social Link, which makes a pleasant surprise for those unaware.
- The Woobie: Think about his life for a second. Just think about it.
- Think Happy Thoughts: Surprisingly his mantra, which keeps him from being too depressed over his condition, and tries to pass this belief to the protagonist. It's also what makes him so distant from Akihiko who broods quite often about Miki, much to Shinjiro's discomfort.
- Unfortunate Meaningful Name: The fact that his persona is Castor tells you all you need to know about his ultimate fate.
- Yank The Dogs Chain
Shuji Ikutsuki
Voiced by Hideyuki Hori (Japanese) and Dan Woren (English)
Referred to as "the Chairman", Shuji is the school chairman and the head of SEES. He worked with Mitsuru and Yukari's fathers on the project ten years ago, and was one of the designers of Aigis. Despite not having a Persona, he remains conscious during the Dark Hour and provides briefings and support to the members of SEES during their major missions.
Unfortunately, he's also a complete lunatic. During the experiments ten years ago, Shuji came across a prophecy referring to a Prince who would bring about the Fall. He became convinced that he was the Prince, and rigged the experiments so that they would release the twelve Full Moon Shadows. He also altered Yukari's father's last message, so that it would guide SEES to destroy the twelve Shadows (which would summon Nyx) instead of warning them not to, as it originally said.
When the final Full Moon Shadow, the Hanged Man, was destroyed, Shuji reprogrammed Aigis to render the rest of SEES unconscious, then brought them to Gekkoukan High's observatory. Tying them to crosses, he ordered Aigis to sacrifice them to Nyx. However, Aigis's affection for the group compromised her programming, leaving her unable to do so. Before Shuji could shoot the group himself, Mitsuru's father interrupted him. The two men shot each other, suffering mutually fatal wounds, Koromaru stole the remote device he was using to control Aigis, and Aigis freed the rest of SEES. Shuji's last act as he watched his plan fall apart was to laugh bitterly, lamenting that "I was so close", before falling from the observatory roof. Despite the implications of his falling body vanishing into the darkness, we're later told that yes, they did find the body.
- Absent Minded Professor
- Axe Crazy
- Disney Villain Death
- Hoist By His Own Petard: Ikutsuki is the one who suggested Koromaru join SEES. Guess who ruined his attempt at having Aigis kill SEES to bring about the Fall.
- Kansas City Shuffle: His plan to use SEES to reunite the Shadows and cause the Fall.
- Mentor
- Mr Exposition
- Non Action Guy: He has no Persona, so he can't fight Shadows.
- Nietzsche Wannabe
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Subverted, in the fact that he actually does find his jokes funny.
- Pungeon Master: Hoo boy.
- Scary Shiny Glasses: His "serious" face.
- Smug Snake
- Treacherous Advisor
Metis
Voiced by Chiwa Saito (Japanese) and Stephanie Sheh (English)
Metis's appearance heralds the beginning of SEES's next adventure in "The Answer", when she emerges from the Abyss of Time that's appeared beneath the dorm and immediately launches an attack on every human present, announcing that she has to kill them to protect her "sister" Aigis. Aigis rushes to their aid and, in the battle that follows, loses her Orgia mode while gaining the main character's persona Orpheus, as well as his "wild card" ability. The subdued Metis later explains that she'd only tried to kill the rest of SEES because she saw them as a hindrance to protecting Aigis, and agrees to cooperate with them after they threaten to leave her in the Abyss of Time, revealing her intense fear of being alone and abandoned. She seems to have amnesia: while she knows that Aigis is her sister and she's familiar with the Abyss of Time, she can't explain how she knows any of it or where she actually came from.
Metis is actually Aigis's discarded humanity, a being born in the spiritual realm from the emotions that Aigis had disconnected herself from. Her neediness and fear of being alone represent Aigis's repressed grief, and once Aigis accepts Metis as part of herself, they merge together again.
- Animal Motifs: Red swallowtail butterflies. She has mostly black color scheme like the body of one with red accents that stylistically resemble wings, and her persona Psyche has one for a head. A wreath of them be seen when she activates her Orgia Mode for the first time.
- Anatomy Of The Soul: Metis is the embodiment of Aigis's rejected emotions.
- Dark Magical Girl: Fits personality-wise, since magic is ubiquitous.
- Miss Exposition
- Pale Skinned Brunette: Extremely so, with dark hair and white skin. While seemingly a way to contrast from her more human-like sister, in the Drama CDs, Metis's appearance is revealed to be based off a hospitalized girl Aigis had met in the past.
- Kuudere: While cold and calculating, she can't bear to be alone. Figures, as she is Aigis's emotional side personified, loneliness and cynicism included
- Red Eyes Take Warning
- Ridiculously Human Robot: Subverted, she she has a near albino face with bright red eyes, and her body resembles that of a ball jointed doll.
- The Mario: She has no resistances or weaknesses, along with physical, ice and wind skills.
Strega
Strega
A group of Persona-users opposing SEES who host an online assassination service. Consisting of Takaya, a revolver-wielding Nietzsche Wannabe, Psycho Supporter Jin and Dark Magical Girl Chidori, the group arethe survivors of experiments performed by the Kirijo Group and must take life-shortening drugs in order to control their powers. While not the main antagonists, they do their part to cause the heroes all sorts of trouble since they see their efforts to stop the Dark Hour as wasting their "gifts". Chidori later on becomes Junpei's romantic interest, even sacrificing herself for him.
Later on, with the revelation of The Fall, Takaya proclaims himself a Dark Messiah of an Internet Cult set up by Jin in order to embrace Nyx since his only dream is for the world to die. During the team's final climb of the tower, Jin attempts to stop them and fails, blowing himself up with a grenade after they leave him to die. Takaya fares no better, but at least gets to see Nyx descend upon the world.
While his exact fate isn't made clear, it's assumed that if he didn't die back at Tartarus, Takaya's probably dead by the time of Persona 4.
- Aborted Arc: The trio's online hit site is relevant for all of one schoolyard rumor scene and one actual assassination, and is never mentioned again. Unless you can read Japanese and have aNovelization call Persona 3: Shadow Cry.
- Anticlimax Boss: Gameplay-wise, they're actually pretty unimpressive in battle compared to SEES. Then again, it's four of you against either one or two of them.
- Blessed With Suck: The group requires the same life-shortening drugs that Shinjiro takes. In fact they're his dealers.
- Chaotic Evil: Takaya
- Cult: They start one after the truth of the Fall is revealed, with Takaya appointing himself leader. It's shockingly successful, too.
- Dark Magical Girl: Chidori, who has inborn healing powers.
- Dark Messiah: Takaya near the end.
- Disney Death: Chidori, but only in FES. And it's a Guide Dang It to do it.
- Draco In Leather Pants: Takaya has some fans, despite killing one of the most loved characters of the game.
- The Dragon: Jin
- Elegant Gothic Lolita: Chidori.
- Evil Counterpart: Specifically, Takaya towards the Protagonist, though not much is made out of it. His Persona, Hypnos, is even the twin brother of Thanatos, the protagonist's second Persona.
- Flawed Prototype
- Goldfish Poop Gang: Aside from killing Shinjiro, Strega don't end up troubling the heroes that much.
- Hannibal Lecture: Takaya gives this to SEES when he and Jin confronts them on the bridge. The Protagonist's response is a Shut Up.
- Hidden Depths: surprisingly enough for Jin, thanks to the official novel Shadow Cry.
- Ho Yay: Tons of it with Jin and Takaya.
- High Heel Face Turn
- Large Ham: Takaya's voice pretty much dominates any scene he appears in.
- Laughing Mad: Takaya lets out some amazing maniacal laughter in his final showdown against SEES.
- Memetic Mutation: Hippie Jesus
- Redemption Equals Death: Chidori.
- Psycho Supporter: Jin.
- Superpower Meltdown: They need their life-shortening, Persona-suppressing drugs —otherwise, their own Personas would turn around and kill them.
- Taking You With Me: Upon being defeated near the top of Tartarus, a wounded Jin stays behind to blow up the Shadows climbing up from lower floors.
- Pin Pulling Teeth: Jin does this in the previously mentioned trope.
- Ubermensch: Takaya, with the Main Character acting as his Last Man (or Woman in the case of the PSP release).
- Walking Shirtless Scene: It would be a waste of your "gifts" to
get rid of the Dark Hourget Takaya into a shirt. - Weapon Of Choice:
- Revolver: Takaya. Not just any revolver either, but a Smith and Wesson Model .500. Naturally, since his arcana is the Wheel of Fortune.
- Grenades and a Suitcase: Jin
- An Axe on a Chain: Chidori
- What Happened To The Mouse: Takaya's final fate is never shown.
The Velvet Room
Igor
Voiced by Isamu Tanonaka (Japanese) and Dan Woren (English)
Igor is the mysterious proprietor of The Velvet Room, an equally mysterious place "between dreams and reality", and introduces himself as the being who creates personas. His most distinctive physical attribute is definitely his Tengu/Pinocchio-like long nose. In Megami Ibunroku Persona, Igor calls himself "a servant of Philemon", though he seems to be in charge of the Velvet Room himself during Persona 3 (Philemon is in the game, but Word Of God says he's taken a more passive role in the world's affairs now). Igor is always found in The Velvet Room: although in previous games he used a phone made of bone to call up Personae from the depths of the soul, now he does so by arranging tarot cards into mystical arrangements on his table. Although he's helpful, friendly and later proves instrumental in saving the world, he still gives off a very sinister aura.
- All There In The Manual: He really doesn't make very much sense if you haven't played the previous Persona games, especially with Philemon taking a backseat now.
- The Boo Radley: He certainly looks evil, but he's really a nice guy (though he could be a bit forthcoming with information).
- Catchphrase: "Welcome to the Velvet Room."
- Cheshire Cat Grin: Permanently etched on his face.
- Dark Is Not Evil: He's one of the good guys. Really.
- Gag Nose: Take a look above, at everyone else's nose. Then look at this guy.
- The Igor: In Name Only. He is more of a Spirit Advisor who helps with one function.
- Memetic Molester: Has a very creepy expression that looks like he's going to molest you. Doesn't help that he summons you from your dreams.
- The Mentor: In his own, purposefully obtuse way.
- Omniscient Morality License: Igor makes it clear early on that he knows far more than he's saying, but feels compelled to hold back and let the hero learn what's going on for himself. In the end, it all works out.
- Powers That Be: Whatever Igor is exactly, he's almost certainly one of these.
- Spirit Advisor: The main character is (usually) the only one who can see or enter Velvet Room.
Elizabeth and Theodore
Voiced by Miyuki Sawashiro (Japanese) and Tara Platt (English), and Junichi Suwabe (Japanese)and Patrick Seitz (English), respectively
Igor's assistants. Elizabeth appears in the original, FES, P3P in the male character's path and as a choice in the female character's path. Theodore is only available in P3P in the female's story. Both serve the same role in the game. They send the main character on different sidequests and, in the FES and P3P editions, can visit the human world with the main character and become romantically involved with him or her. Theodore is Elizabeth's younger brother, and both are the younger siblings of Persona 4's Margaret.
- Audio Erotica: Elizabeth's voice...
- Bonus Boss
- Big Eater: Elizabeth, who wonders why you stopped eating after your seventh meal.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Overlaps with Fish Out Of Water, as both of them display some very bizarre ideas about modern life during their dates. The main character mostly doesn't seem to have the heart to correct their cheerful misconceptions.
- Ensemble Dark Horse: Elizabeth, the world's coolest elevator attendant.
- Eyes Of Gold: In light of what this trope signifies in Persona 4, Elizabeth and Theodore's eye color has inspired the creation of wiggling willows.
- Fan Nickname: Before the male Velvet Room assistant's name was released, fans referred to Theodore as Malelizabeth, Manlizabeth, and Flight Attendant Kanji.
- Fan Preferred Couple: Protagonist/Elizabeth is a popular one. Kind of helps that, if you choose "Boldly accept" on the last date, she's the only female character he unambiguously sleeps with.
- Fish Out Of Water: Elizabeth and Theo during your dates.
- Memetic Sex God: More Elizabeth than Theo, but he seems to be catching up.
- Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant: While most of what Elizabeth says or does is charming, some of her reactions to certain things can be rather, interesting. Take her response to the medical dummy you bring her from school, which she calls the Shell of Man. She seems morbidly fascinated and intrigued when the eyes pop out...
- No Social Skills: Hoo, boy. Where does Igor find these people?
- Sidequest: Many of them, with rewards ranging from the mildly useful to the potentially gamebreaking.
Classmates
Ryoji Mochizuki
Voiced by Akira Ishida (Japanese) and Yuri Lowenthal (English)
A New Transfer Student who first makes his appearance in November. He is a flirty Bishonen who asks out any girl he meets, and quickly befriends the members of SEES. In reality, he is the Appriser of Nyx, doomed to bring about The Fall. He was sealed within the protagonist for the past ten years, and manifested as Pharos in earlier parts of the game. As Ryoji, however, he is ignorant of his true nature until the beginning of December—at which point he suffers from Amnesiac Dissonance, having become fond of humanity and life in general.
In the PSP remake with the female's story, Ryoji is oddly still based on the male main character despite having gotten his human form from her. Ryoji is her version of the Fortune S.Link and is able to get to know her better. Unlike other Links, his is only available on specific days during the month of November and will always rank up if you see him, so it requires no points; however, if you miss a single day, you cannot complete the link. In it he bonds with her and ponders his strange familiar connection to her, hinting at hisTomato In The Mirror plot. If you choose to pursue a romantic relationship with him, he'll find that she's the only girl he's truly ever loved. After the reveal (if you've completed the link to that point) on New Years Eve, the link will complete and Ryoji will declare his love for her and state that he'd give anything to be with her forever, except of course that he must fufill his duty as Nyx's herald. He leaves with a ring, proof of his existance as a human and his love for her.
- Amnesiac Dissonance
- Amnesiac God
- Anti Anti Christ
- Bi The Way / If Its You Its Okay: He explicitly tells the female love interest he'd be into her whether she was a guy or a girl.
- Chick Magnet: He had an Instant Fanclub spring around him as soon as he stepped into his brand new classroom.
- Creepy Child: As Pharos, anyway. As Ryoji, he's all grown up.
- Guide Dang It: His S link is very specific and if you mess up even once you can't complete it.
- Hair Antennae
- Handsome Lech
- Heroic Sacrifice In one of the endings.
- Kid A Nova: He will hit on anything female, sometimes within seconds of being rebuked by someone else —in the same room.
- Ladykiller In Love: With the female protagonist.
- Going To School With The Villain
- New Transfer Student
- Spirit Advisor: In his Pharos form during the first half of the game.
- Star Crossed Lovers: With the female protagonist after The Reveal.
- The Grim Reaper
- Tomato In The Mirror
- Tragic Monster
- The Woobie: Just take a look at some of his other tropes.
- Younger Than They Look: He's only about ten years old.
Kenji Tomochika
A fellow classmate of the MC, Kenji is the very first social link (of the Magician Arcana) the male MC can get, being established automatically soon after he starts attending Gekkoukan High. Already friends with Junpei and Kazushi, he's also somewhat attracted to Yukari, though the player soon discovers that he has a thing for older women. In fact, pursuing his social link reveals that he has a crush on one of his teachers, and the MC helps him in his quest to win her over. Unfortunately, it doesn't work out, as he only succeeds in freaking out his teacher and discovering that she's already engaged and about the leave the city. After a bit of heartbroken sulking, he finally manages to get over it.
Though he loses his S. Link status in P3P to Junpei if the player chooses the female MC, he still makes appearances as part of Rio Iwasaki's S. Link.
Kenji is also surprisingly fashion conscious, commenting on the MC's wardrobe at certain points (in fact, the item he gives the MC at the end of his S. Link is a choker he made for him
- Boke And Tsukkomi Routine: In FES, after the school festival is canceled, Kenji and the MC can act out an impromptu Manzai routine for the rest of the class, with Kenji acting as the boke and MC the tsukkomi.
- Cake Eater
- Hidden Depths: Kenji is surprisingly fashion conscious, commenting on the MC's wardrobe at certain points. In fact, the item he gives the MC at the end of his S. Link is a choker he made for him because he "doesn't look fashionable enough."
- Hot For Teacher
Hidetoshi Odagiri
A member of Gekkoukan High's student council, Hidetoshi heads the student disciplinary committee. As expected, he's strict and unyielding, and can come off as quite the hardass. He's also a very unpopular with the rest of his class because of his no-nonsense attitude. After Mitsuru has the MC join the student council, Hidetoshi becomes the Emperor S. Link, and pursuing his S. Link has him/her helping out with finding a student who left a cigarette butt in one of the school male bathrooms. As the S. Link goes on, he ends up accusing half the school (even the student council Vice President...who's female) and alienating himself from his fellow students even further. Eventually, he reveals that the MC is the only person that he can trust, and that he believes that everyone should be treated equally and fairly, and be held to the same standards. When the culprit is finally discovered, he realizes that he needs to lighten up if he's going to keep his fellow peers' trust.
In P3P, Hidetoshi falls in love with the female protagonist during his S.Link, but wants to wait until he's worthy of her love before he tries to make it official.
- Determinator: Break the rules, and Hidetoshi will hunt you down, and he will never stop until he finds you.
- Freudian Excuse
- Jerk With A Heart Of Gold
- Lighter And Softer: Hidetoshi eventually realizes that he needs to be a little more like this if he wants to gain people's trust.
- Memetic Sex God
- Red Armband Of Leadership: Hidetoshi of course wears one, being the head of the student disciplinary committee (though it's actually yellow, possibly so as not to get confused with the red armbands worn by SEES members.)
- Smug Smiler: Everytime Hidetoshi smiles it looks like this.
- Stern Teacher: He's not a teacher, and he's not exactly loved by his peers, but he definitely falls into the "tough, but fair" category. If you talk to him on one of the last days after maxing his link out, it's implied he's going to become one in the future.
- Tsundere: A rare, mild male example. He acts very dere to the main character: everyone else receives his tsun.
Kazushi "Kaz" Miyamoto
Kaz is a member of whatever sport team the MC joins. Stubborn and fanatical, Kaz quickly declares himself the MC's rival, and aims to win the championship. Kaz represents the Chariot S. Link, pursuing it has the MC discover that he's suffering from a bad knee, which is only getting worse due to his constant and overzealous training, to the point that he could very well never walk again if he keeps it up. Then it is discovered that the reason that he's pushing himself so hard is that he's trying to convince his nephew, who was crippled in an accident, to undergo rehab by winning the championship. Eventually, he admits his knee problem to the rest of his team, and is convinced to drop out of the championship and get surgery for his knee instead, deciding to go through rehab with his nephew.
In P3P, Kaz loses his S. Link status to Rio Iwasaki if the player chooses the female MC, though he still makes the occasional appearance, usually alongside Yuko or Kenji.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Kaz has various moments throughout the game, due to his competitiveness and obsession with his sport. Probably the biggest example being the school trip to Kyoto, where Kaz doesn't show any interest in spying on the girls in the hot spring until Kenji calls it a "challenge," and then later going to one of the shrines in Kyoto with his group, and then proceeding to simply run laps around it, eventually dragging the entire group into it.
- There's also the fact that he never wears anything other than his tracksuit, so he can be ready to exercise at a moment's notice.
- Determinator: Kaz isn't about to let potentially never being able to walk again stop him from winning the championship. Eventually subverted, as he decides to give up the championship and get surgery for his knee instead.
- To reflect this, a lot of the proper responses to his S. Link scenes are basically "Suck it up."
- The Rival: He starts off as this for the MC, but that role is eventually taken over by Mamoru.
- Unknown Rival: Towards Mamoru.
Rio Iwasaki
Rio is Kaz's Distaff Counterpart; whether the female MC chooses to join Tennis or Volleyball, she'll find Rio acting as the leader of the junior-level teammates. To her dismay, her teammates don't share the same single-minded devotion to the club. Also friends with Kenji, who likes to visit practice both to see her and to catch up with Ms. Kanou, who oversees the club.- Distaff Counterpart: To Kaz, and to a lesser extent to Akihiko, as she shares certain personality traits with the latter.
- Oblivious To Love: Much like Akihiko, she has trouble understanding why other girls are so In Love With Love, and also has difficulty understanding her own feelings on the subject.
- Odd Friendship: With Kenji, who she's known since they were kids.
- Unlucky Childhood Friend: Eventually realizes she has feelings for Kenji, but is already fully aware of his Cake Eater leanings.
Chihiro Fushimi
The student council treasurer, Chihiro is pretty much a textbook example of the painfully shy, bookish, yet surprisingly attractive nerd girl. She represents the Justice arcana in her S. Link and is one of the many potential love interests for the male MC. Pursuing her S. Link gets her to open up a bit more, and eventually deal with accusations that she stole money from the school.
In P3P, Chihiro loses her S. Link status to Ken if the player chooses the female MC, but she still makes her token appearances in Hidetoshi's S. Link scenes.
Chihiro also makes an appearance in Persona 4, having gotten over her shy tendencies, and looking even more attractive.
- The Cameo: In Persona 4
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Revealed to be this late in the S. Link, starting when she flips out when Mitsuru tells the MC to meet her alone to discuss the situation with the stolen money.
- Ensemble Darkhorse: She's apparently popular enough to make an appearance in Persona 4.
- Does Not Like Men: At least at first.
- Hotter And Sexier: Again, in Persona 4.
- Meganekko
- Nerds Are Sexy
- Shes All Grown Up
- Shrinking Violet: She starts off being utterly terrified of talking to men, and it takes some coaxing to get her to come out of her shell enough to even start her S. Link.
Keisuke Hiraga
Keisuke is the leader of whatever Culture Club the MC joins. The son of a doctor, Keisuke is under pressure to quit his club and join the family business. He represents the Fortune arcana in his S. Link, and pursuing it has him refusing to quit the club, claiming that he doesn't want to become a doctor. This is proven to be untrue, however, as he's shown to be quick to help people who are sick or injured. Eventually, he gets over his denial and quits, throwing himself into studying for his entry exams.
In P3P, Keisuke loses his S. Link status to Ryoji if the player chooses the female MC, and his role in the game is greatly diminished, only making a few small appearances.
- The Dutiful Son: Keisuke is expected to be one by his father, and after some fighting he eventually agrees.
- Stepford Smiler: Keisuke has only three expressions: smiling, grinning and angry. Guess which one you see the most, even when he's treating someone who just collapsed, or when you turn him down for hanging out on a Sunday.
Yuko Nishiwaki
The team manager for whatever Athletic Club the MC joins, Yuko represents the Strength arcana in her S. Link, and is one of the male MC's potential love interests. If the player pursues her S. Link, the MC discovers Yuko's lack of motivation, not really sure what to do with her life. As the S. Link goes on, she ends up coaching a group of neighborhood children on how to run faster, so they could beat a group of sixth graders in a race and win back their playground. While coaching them, she finds her motivation, and eventually decides to become an athletic trainer.
In P3P, Yuko loses her S. Link status to Koromaru, though she still makes the occasional appearance as part of Rio Iwasaki's S. Link.
- Book Dumb: She comes off as this in the beginning, though it's more that she lacks motivation.
- Cute Sports Club Manager
- Desperately Looking For A Purpose In Life
- Does This Make Me Look Fat: Yuko tries to pull a "Do you think I eat too much" variation on you at one point. In the words of My Life Is A Goddamn Mess:Minato: What I like about Yuko is that she always makes her loaded questions very, very obvious.
- Friend To All Children: She even ends up coaching a bunch of them so that they can run faster.
- Girls Are Really Scared Of Ghost Stories: During the girls' sports retreat in P3P, she gets very scared by the ghost story session.
- Ship Tease: P3P really ladles on the Yuko/Kaz. Lampshaded by Yuko worrying about winding up together because who else would take care of him?
- Team Mom: Acts as one for the Athletic Club, as well as for the children she coaches. And Kaz. Very much towards Kaz.
Andre Laurent Jean Geraux (a.k.a. Bebe)
Sole member of Gekkoukan High's fashion club (at least until the MC joins), Bebe is the token foreigner and a raging Japanophile. He managed to be able to study abroad in Japan thanks to the efforts of his aunt. He represents the Temperance arcana in his S. Link, and pursuing it has Bebe making his first friend in Japan with the male MC. Eventually, he discovers that his aunt died, and his uncle wants him to come back home. Not wanting to leave Japan, he decides to make a kimono to take with him to help convince him to let him come back. The S. Link ends with Bebe leaving to go back home, swearing to come back someday.
- Ambiguously Gay
- Funetik Aksent
- Gratuitous Japanese: In the english localization, Bebe has a habit of peppering his lines with Japanese words.
- Ho Yay: Oh so much between him and the male MC. The male MC even has a man-crush on him that he's in serious denial about in schildkrote's LP.
- Phenotype Stereotype: While the name of Bebe's home country is never explicitly stated, it is made very obvious that he's from France.
- Put On A Bus: At the end of his S. Link, as he returns to his home country.
Saori Hasegawa
When a female MC is asked to join a student committee, Saori turns out to be in whichever one she selects, and serves as the Hermit Social Link. While currently a junior, she's actually two years older than the heroine, having traveled abroad and taken a couple years off from school. As a result, other students aren't certain how to treat her; after all, she's even older than the upperclassmen!Since she desperately wants to please others, Saori lets her classmates take advantage of her kindness and refuses to raise a fuss over their cruelty. This becomes a major problem when she becomes the victim of Malicious Slander. Ultimately, with the heroine's support, she is able to stand up for herself and attempt to clear her name.
- Clear My Name
- Extreme Doormat
- Malicious Slander
- Precision S Bomb: Drops one just to see what it feels like, then asks if she said it correctly.
- Put On A Bus: At the end of her S-Link, she transfers away.
- Sempai Kohai: Other students aren't quite sure how to approach and apply this to Saori, due to her unique circumstances.
- Stepford Smiler
- It Got Worse
Nozomi Suemitsu
A mysterious conflict with another boy's father brings the situation to a head, and helps Nozomi to realize his own self-worth and devote himself to living up to his potential and making his brother proud.
- Always Second Best: He struggles with being unfavorably compared to his brother, who's described as something of The Ace.
- Big Eater: Possibly enough to rival even Elizabeth.
- Church Of Happyology: The cult he belongs to charges money for membership. Lots of money.
- Gonk
- Hidden Depths: There is far more to the Gourmet King that his first impression suggests.
- The Un Favorite
- Ted Baxter: Nozomu takes his Gourmet King title very seriously, to the point where he at one point thinks that there areassassins out to kill him for it. Eventually someone IS hired to beat him up, but for completely different reasons.
Other Social Links
Isako Toriumi
Isako is both a composition teacher at Gekkoukan High and the MC's homeroom teacher, where she comes across as strict but cheerful and understanding, as well as oddly fixated on cakes and sweets. She represents the Hermit arcana for her S. Link, which is started when she and the male MC meet on the dying MMORPG Innocent Sin Online. Pursuing the S. Link has the two repeatedly meeting online, with Isako complaining about her job and the other faculty members, while slowly revealing who she really is, and then finally revealing that she's in love with MC (not knowing that it's actually him on the other side.) At the end of the S. Link, the MMORPG is finally closed down due to inactivity, and the MC is able to meet up with Isako in real life and have her find out that she was talking to him the whole time, whereupon she freaks out, but still comes to terms with the fact that she's in love with him.
In P3P, Isako loses her S. Link status to Saori Hasegawa if the player chooses the female MC.
- Bottle Fairy: You'd never know it at school, but her social link reveals that she often tumbles headlong into this trope during her off-hours.
- Christmas Cake: Her age isn't explicitly stated, but she's at least in her twenties and gets a great deal of grief from her mother, andTanaka, about becoming too old to marry.
- Cool Teacher: She's generally understanding and protective of her students, and constantly argues with Mr. Ekoda (who's something of an Obstructive Bureaucrat).
- Digital Avatar: Maya.
- Leet Lingo: She talks like this in her Maya persona, which is ironic considering she's a composition teacher.
- Only Sane Employee: Isako sometimes complains about being this compared to the rest of the teachers. That's a little debatable, but her idiosyncracies are at least less overt than the rest.
- Shout Out: Along with the title of the MMORPG, Isako's avatar is Maya, and she convinces the MC to change his avatar's name to Tatsuya, reflecting the names of the two main characters of Persona 2: Innocent Sin.
- Stern Teacher: Isako has a habit of assigning new transfer students empty seats that belong to other students, with the logic that if they aren't there, they aren't part of the class.
- Teacher Student Romance: Never actually initiated, but her S. Link reveals that she has a crush on the MC.
- Sweet Tooth: Isako loves cake, to the point that she sometimes assigns bringing a slice of cake along with homework. The other teachers have learned to bring cake when they're delivering bad news.
- Tsundere: Judging by Isako's reaction to finding out who Tatsuya was all this time, including asking him out to dinner and then throwing a dictionary at him, she's probably this.
Bunkichi and Mitsuko
Owners of the Bookworms bookstore at Iwatodai Station, Bunkichi is an occasionally wisecracking and sometimes senile, but ultimate well-meaning old man (who frequently gives the MC food,) and Mitsuko is his more quiet wife. The two of them represent the Hierophant S. Link, and pursuing their S. Link has the MC frequently visiting their bookstore, ultimately learning that they had a son, who was a teacher at Gekkoukan High until he was killed in a car accident, when a persimmon tree was planted at the school in memorium of him. Eventually, the two of them catch wind that the tree is going to be cut down, and start a petition to try and stop it, but when they learn that the tree is going to be cut down in order to build an extension on the school, they finally decide to let them cut it down, deciding that education is important than their son's memories, and that he would've wanted it that way (though eventually it's revealed that the tree was simply relocated instead of cut down.)
- Miniature Senior Citizens: Mitsuko is pretty tiny.
Maiko
A precocious grade school girl, Maiko frequently hangs out at the playground at Naganaki Shrine. She represents the Hanged Man arcana in her S. Link, and pursuing said S. Link reveals that Maiko's parents are going through a very messy divorce, which the MC helps her get through. Wondering if it's her fault that they're splitting up, Maiko eventually decides to run away from home, thinking that they'll have to work together to find her, and that it will help them get back together. It only proves to be a partial success, as though they really do work together to find her, they still plan to get divorced, though now they work more on helping Maiko understand why they're splitting up. At the end of the S. Link, Maiko decides to live with her mother as she leaves Port Island, but declares that she wants to marry the male MC when she grows up.
Though she stays as the Hanged Man S. Link in P3P, if the player chooses the female MC, then Maiko will see her as more of an older sister figure. Near the end of the game, Maiko's father will receive a letter, which mentions how Maiko wishes that she and the MC could "become a family for real" and ask her out on a date, misunderstanding the message.
- Abusive Parents: Maiko's parents come off as extremely overbearing, frequently sending her off to cram school and private piano lessons, and during one fight her father even hits her. They seem to see the error of their ways near the end of her S. Link, however.
- Put On A Bus: At the end of her S. Link, as she moves away with her mother.
- Precocious Crush: She even proposes to the male MC at the end of her S. Link.
- The Woobie
Tanaka
Company president and TV salesman, Tanaka is the owner of a home shopping network (which the player can buy products from every Sunday. Later on, the MC can find him standing around Port Island Station (Paulownia Mall at night in FES.) He represents the Devil arcana in his S. Link, and pursuing it has Tanaka swindling the MC out of 40,000 yen before deciding to start giving him/her some of his rather...unscrupulous business advice, and even considering making him/her a model for his company. Eventually, he reveals that even though he's filthy rich, he's always so busy that he never has the time to really use any of his money. The S. Link ends with Tanaka finally deciding to give some of his money to charity. Later in FES, it's implied that he may have given up on his dubious business techniques.
In FES and P 3 P, Tanaka is one of the easiest S. Links to level up at the male MC, due to him being of the two only S. Links available at night, as well as the fact that every time the player talks to him, the S. Link is guaranteed to level up.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive
- Cut His Heart Out With A Spoon: He throws all kinds of bizarre threats at you at the beginning of his S. Link to keep you from telling people about him swindling you out of the 40,000 yen. These threats range from making you swallow a thousand needles to putting your picture on a dating site for former convicts, to ringing your doorbell every night at midnight.
- Ear Worm: The TV Tanaka theme. It's even described as "obnoxiously catchy" in-game.
- Jerkass: Though he seems to turn into a Jerk With A Heart Of Gold at the end of his S. Link.
- My Card: how he introduces himself to you in the first social link.
Mutatsu
Found sitting by himself, drinking and smoking, at Club Escapade, Mutatsu is a rough, rude Buddhist monk. He represents the Tower arcana in his S. Link, and pursuing it reveals that he comes to the often often to get drunk, due to his wife and son leaving him because of his obsession with his work. For a while, he dispenses some rather depressing advice to the MC, and starts treating him/her as his own son/daughter. Eventually, he decides to hire a private detective to track down his wife and son, deciding he wants to apologize and them to take him back.
Mutatsu is one of the easiest S. Links to max out as the male MC, as he's one of the only two ones available at night.
- Badass Preacher: He's a smoking, drinking, fighting Buddhist monk.
- Face Of A Thug: He's described in his S. Link info as looking like a yakuza. And it shows.
- Fetch Quest: You have to go on one to even start his S. Link.
- Jerk With A Heart Of Gold
- Replacement Goldfish: He treats the MC as if he/she was his own son/daughter for a while, until he decides he wants the real thing back.
Mamoru Hayase
The top athlete of his school, with potential for even competing on a professional level, Mamoru the MC by soundly beating him in the summer tournament, after which the two of them establish a friendly rivalry. He represents the Star arcana in his S. Link. Pursuing his S. Link reveals that he's trying to get into college on a scholarship and be a professional athlete, but he has to work to support his siblings with his mother after his father died in a car accident. After a while, his mother collapses from exhaustion, and the responsibility falls solely on him, to the point where he even has to give up both his sport and college. After the MC helps him through it, he eventually decides to give up for the time being and go to work at the factory his father worked at.
In P3P, Mamoru loses his S. Link status to Akihiko and disappears from the story entirely if the player chooses the female MC.
- Broken Ace: He's better than everyone else in the game at whatever sport he's participating in, but he's burdened by the fact that he has to support his family, and might not even get into college or keep participating in his sport.
- Lonely At The Top: Mamoru doesn't get along very well with his fellow teammates because of his fame.
- Put On A Bus: At the end of his S. Link, when he moves away to get a job.
- The Rival: He replaces Kaz after the summer tournament.
Akinari Kamiki
A frail young man who represents the Sun arcana, Akinari likes to spend his Sunday afternoons sitting by the playground at Naganaki Shrine. He was born with a terminal illness and doesn't have much longer to live. At first bitter about his fate and reluctant to talk to people, he gradually opens up to the main character and develops not only a powerful friendship, but the inspiration to write a children's book as his parting message to the world: a tragic but ultimately hopeful story about the friendship between an outcast pink alligator and a bird who can't fly.
- Dead Ex Machina: It's possible that when you meet Akinari for the last time and he gives you his book, he's already died off-screen. Maxing his S. Link also means that he cheers you on along with your other maxed S. Links right before you take on Nyx.
- Disappears Into Light: How his last meeting with the MC ends.
- Ill Boy
- Incurable Cough Of Death: It only gets worse with each conversation.
- Tragic Keepsake: The children's book he leaves behind.
- True Art Is Angsty: The story he's writing is a pretty bleak affair, as he's using it as a way of coming to terms with his own impending death.
- The Woobie: And how!
- Your Days Are Numbered: From the day he was born, no less.
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