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Characters / Persona 5: Confidants

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NPCs in Persona 5 who you can engage in Visual Novel-esque segments with to receive various gameplay bonuses, a la the Social Links from previous games. They consist of a variety of people across Tokyo that the Protagonist can interact with over the game, eventually becoming allies to the Phantom Thieves. Referred to as "Co-operations / Co-ops" in the Japanese version.


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    In General 
  • Arc Villain: Most of the Confidants have someone responsible for their suffering, whose heart you have to change in Mementos.
  • Ascended Extra: In the previous two games, Social Links outside of the party had no in-game benefits other than providing more EXP in Persona Fusion and unlocking more powerful Personas when complete. Here, as Confidants level up, the player will unlock more bonuses like additional EXP or skill gain, bonus gun damage, more items in shops, etc. Also, each Confidant is now fully voiced during story events as well as the first and last rank-up, unlike in Persona 4 where they are only voiced at certain points or during the final battle. In addition, most Confidants will have an Arc Villain at some point whom the Phantom Thieves must deal with in order to proceed with their storylines.
  • Because You Were Nice to Me: As Joker helps them to change their lives for the better, his Confidants repay him by rallying the people of Tokyo to support the Phantom Thieves during the final boss battle. After Joker is arrested, they spend months trying to prove his innocence.
  • Level-Up at Intimacy 5: Each of them provides some kind of benefit for becoming acquainted with them. Some of them provide in-battle bonuses, and some provide main world bonuses, but all of them are beneficial in some way.
  • Named After Someone Famous: Many of the Confidants are named after famous Japanese figures throughout the history. For instance, Tae Takemi's namesake comes from Taro Takemi, a Japanese physician who served as 11th President of the Japan Medical Association for 25 years from 1957 to 1982, and also served as President of the World Medical Association from 1975 to 1976.
  • Reality Ensues: After defeating their respective Arc Villains in Mementos, the non-party Confidants figure out pretty quickly that Joker is one of the Phantom Thieves, even telling him they've figured it out if Joker reaches Rank 10 with them. Since he's the only person who knew about their most personal struggles, the Confidants' antagonists having a sudden change of heart after talking to Joker makes it pretty easy to connect the dots. However, Toranosuke Yoshida is a surprising exception; his is the only one without an Arc Villain, yet he figures it out anyway, while Yuuki Mishima was already in on the secret to an extent.
  • Secret Keeper: Some know Joker's involved with the Phantom Thieves from the start, and others find out as you progress their Confidant, particularly when various people who have been causing them trouble "conveniently" get their hearts changed after the Confidants tell Joker their full names. However, they also all swear to Joker that they won't tell anyone, due to Joker helping turn their lives around in a positive way.
  • Sidequest: Unlike most of the previous games' social links, most of the Confidants will require you to go into Mementos and change someone's heart at a certain point late in the link in order for you to progress further. In Mishima's case, the person in question is Mishima himself.
  • Tarot Motifs: Each of the confidants are linked to a card from the major arcana, with which their character and/or story arcs share themes:
    • Igor is the Fool, a card of freedom, beginnings, and new possibilities. While Igor himself develops little in this regard, he does give Joker the tools he needs to take advantage of the paths before him and earn freedom from his "imprisonment".
    • Sojiro is the Hierophant, a card of tradition, conformity, and education. Sojiro becomes a mentor figure to Joker, passes on his knowledge of coffee and curry, and repeatedly urges him to stay out of trouble and avoid acting out, as he believes disrupting order will get Joker into trouble.
    • Chihaya is the Wheel of Fortune, a card of fate, change, and the ups and downs of luck. Chihaya finds her perception of fate challenged in her confidant, and she grows from accepting fate to be immutable and beyond her control to taking a more active approach towards affecting the future.
    • Caroline and Justine are Strength, a card of power, confidence, and facing obstacles with grace. The twins discuss the meaning of the card themselves over the course of their confidant, addressing their confusion and doubts about their identity with the interpretation of the card referring to hidden power beginning to emerge.
    • Iwai is the Hanged Man, a card of self-sacrifice, liminality, and perspective. Iwai made a series of sacrifices for the sake of his son, which included distancing himself from both the yakuza world, which he avoids to keep Kaoru safe, and the civilian one, which still sees him as a criminal.
    • Takemi is Death, a card of change and leaving the old behind so new opportunities can appear. Tae is a brilliant pharmacist and a skilled practitioner, but she is too hung up on solving an old case to see the value in her position as a back alley doctor.
    • Kawakami is Temperance, a card of moderation, balance, and the synthesis of extremes. Kawakami lives two lives, as a teacher by day and an escort by night, but the energy she pours into both drains her and prevents her from attaining her best self.
    • Ohya is the Devil, a card of obsession, addiction, and freedom from the things that chain us. While Ohya enjoys a good drink more than most, her obsession with the truth is put to good use as a journalist, and she manages to work against those who hold her back while operating within their limits.
    • Shinya Oda is the Tower, a card of upheaval, revelation, or the release of long-building tension. Shinya doesn't know how to handle the emotional toll that his mother puts on him as she falls deeper into cynicism and anger, and his attempt to keep his frustrations bottled away manifest in negative ways.
    • Hifumi is the Star, a card of calmness, openness, and hope in dark times. Despite living with an ill father and an overbearing mother, Hifumi keeps her composure and dedicates herself to her love of shogi, honing her skills so others will be able to see her for who she is and judge her on her own merits.
    • Mishima is the Moon, a card of creativity, but also of the unconscious and its darker urges. Mishima finds a purpose and a way to make a difference in running the Phan-site, but it becomes clear that there are more self-centered and deep-seated issues that motivate him.
    • Toranosuke Yoshida is the Sun, a card of mental and emotional clarity. Yoshida faces opposition in his career by both fellow politicians and the public, but stays confident in his ideals and his path.
    • Sae Niijima is Judgment, a card of great change, revelation, and renewal. As she interrogates Joker, the plot hinges on her literal judgment of his story and actions, and her actions from there signal a turning point as the orchestrator of much of the plot and the extent of the conspiracy is revealed, giving herself and the Thieves new purpose.

    Igor (Fool)
"Trickster... Welcome to my Velvet Room."

Arcana: 0. Le Mat (The Fool)
Arcana Bonus: Third Eye, fusion techniques, increased Persona capacity
Voiced by: Masane Tsukayama (JP), David Lodge (EN)

The proprietor of the Velvet Room and the confidant of the Fool Arcana, giving you the Metaverse Navigator app and the ability to negotiate, along with bonuses to Persona Fusions.

For general tropes and appearances in previous Persona games, see Characters.Persona Recurring.

  • Ascended Extra: From an assistant in Persona 1 and 2, to running the Velvet room in 3 and 4, to becoming a confidant and an active role.
  • Basso Profundo: His voice has dropped about ten octaves since we last saw him. The real Igor sounds more familiar.
  • The Mentor: He gives the protagonist everything he needs, including the Wild Card and Third Eye ability.
  • Took a Level in Jerkass: Downplayed. While he's still very supportive of the Protagonist's rehabilitation, he's taken to calling the Velvet Room "his" room, his Persona fusions are far more brutal than the series' previous standards, and he outright mocks you if you get a Game Over. It's a hint that it really isn't Igor at all.
  • Vocal Dissonance: Averted for the first time. Igor doesn't have the smooth, gentle voice he's known for, now having a deep voice with light echoing and distortion fitting for his unnerving appearance. Justified, since his Japanese voice actor died suddenly. Also justified because the deep-voiced man isn't really Igor.

    Sojiro Sakura (Hierophant)
"What a troublesome kid I've taken in..."

Arcana: V. Le Pape (The Hierophant)
Arcana Bonus: Crafting of SP-recovering coffee and curry.
Voiced by: Joji Nakata (JP), Jamieson Price (EN)

Futaba Sakura's father, who also happens to be a friend of the Protagonist's parents and the owner of Cafe Leblanc, the coffee shop the Protagonist lives in. He warns the protagonist not to get into trouble with the privileged class and drag other people into the mess.

  • Abuse Mistake: While the party is trying to figure out who Futaba is and why she would want her heart stolen, they wonder if Sojiro is abusing her, considering that she never leaves the house and none of the neighbors know about her existence, save for the fact that Sojiro buys food for two. Sae also points out that family services would be unlikely to look favorably on Futaba's situation, and thus revoke Sojiro's custody of her.
  • Alliterative Name: Sojiro Sakura.
  • Anger Born of Worry: When Sojiro finds a Phantom Thieves' calling card in Futaba's room, he grills her over it, even causing her to cry. He does apologize for yelling at her, but he was just moments away from outright panic until he calmed down.
  • The Atoner: Part of the reason why he's looking after Futaba is that he feels guilty over how he didn't take Wakaba seriously when she warned him that her life was in danger.
  • Berserk Button: He gets very angry when people come by asking about Futaba, although he reluctantly decides to cave in and tell the party what he can.
  • Book-Ends: He's the one who drives Joker to school for his first day, and gets stuck in traffic. At the end of the game, when Joker and Sojiro are driving back to Leblanc, he gets stuck in traffic again.
  • Cassandra Truth: He notes that part of the reason why he won't tell anyone about the protagonist and Futaba being part of the Phantom Thieves is that no one would believe him.
  • Character Development: Goes from The Cynic who turns a blind eye to injustice and chides Joker for not doing the same, to an open supporter of the Phantom Thieves who wants to expose Shido's crimes and avenge Wakaba's death, openly defying the police to their faces in pursuit of that.
  • Chick Magnet: Implied, given how he reminisces about his youth with a wistful "Hoo boy" and the lady who constantly tries to hit on him. In Dancing in Starlight, Futaba takes this one step further by claiming he's popular with all the girls who visit Leblanc. Old ladies, children, even the dogs seem to be interested in him.
  • Consummate Liar: He's somehow able to come up with a convincing pack of lies in Joker's favour in the event that he cheats on multiple girls on Valentine’s Day, which becomes increasingly complicated the more girls Joker tried to date at once.
  • Cool Car: Sojiro owns a vintage condor yellow Porsche 356. Seen first when he (reluctantly) drives the protagonist to Shujin for the first time, and then in Full Motion Video by the end of the game he when picks him up from juvie upon his release.
    Sojiro: Sheesh… Men aren't usually allowed in my passenger seat.
  • Cool Old Guy: So cool that his Fan Nickname is even 'Brojiro' ('Sojibro' also works). He's a middle-aged barista who genuinely loves the game's two biggest certified woobies, treating Futaba like his own daughter and becoming something of a second dad to Joker, not to mention that he's also very supportive and understanding to the rest of the party, and even lets them use Leblanc as their hideout.
  • The Cynic: Chastises Joker for getting involved in the affairs of others, even if he was trying to do the right thing, and reminds him on several occasions to keep his head down and not cause trouble, because it's the only way society will tolerate his criminal record. It's later revealed this attitude is born of Sojiro's guilt over ignoring Wakaba's warnings prior to her death, and then running away instead of investigating how and why she died.
  • Defrosting Ice King: Sojiro is openly hostile and distrusting of Joker at first, going as far as to threaten to kick him out and send him back home if he gets into any trouble. Over time, Sojiro warms up to him as well as his friends, even offering Yusuke a room for the night after the whole Madarame business leaves him temporarily homeless, granting Ann's request while knowing full well that she made it on the protagonist's behalf. He does eventually reach the point where he views Joker as legitimate family, especially if you pursue his Confidant.
  • Expy: His appearance — particularly his distinctive beard, haircut and nose — is based on Daisuke Jigen, a picaresque thief from the Japanese Lupin III franchise that Atlus noted as one of their inspirations for Persona 5. He even wears a trilby hat in his casual outfit reminiscent of Jigen's signature fedora.
  • First-Name Basis: Futaba addresses him by his given name, though Sojiro doesn't object to being called that way despite the age gap between the two.
  • Gameplay and Story Integration: He's initially cold and distant toward Joker, and only really starts confiding in him around the time Futaba joins. Similarly, his Confidant is quite slow to rank up at first, and will not progress past a certain point until Futaba joins. After she does, his Confidant rank progresses much faster.
  • Good Parents: To Futaba, whom he dotes on and supports. This support later extends to the protagonist as well to a lesser extent, especially after Joker and Futaba reveal that they're Phantom Thieves.
  • Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: He smokes regularly, even inside his coffee shop, which fits fairly well with him being a Cool Old Guy.
  • Foil: To Ryotaro Dojima, the Hierophant social link from Persona 4, in both his confidant and his role in the main plot.
    • In their social link/confidant, both are single fathers struggling to raise their daughters. However, while Dojima's parenting issues come from his borderline neglect of his daughter Nanako due to his workaholism and dedication to solving his wife's death, Sojiro is sincerely trying his best to raise Futaba but instead struggles because of circumstances outside of his control, namely his adoptive daughter's Dark and Troubled Past and the resulting trauma and fallout.
    • At a certain point during the main plot, both find out about the Protagonists' adventures, and feel Anger Born of Worry, but Sojiro quickly gets over it and becomes a Reasonable Authority Figure who supports Joker until the end, while Dojima takes Yu to the police station for questioning and then makes a series of further rash decisions that nearly have dire consequences.
  • Hidden Depths: He's more than just a simple coffee shop owner. He worked for the government in some capacity alongside Shido back when he knew Wakaba, but "ran away" after her assassination. It's how he pinpoints Shido as the possible brains behind the Conspiracy, which the Thieves and Sae corroborate using their evidence when they meet after Joker fakes his death.
  • Hidden Heart of Gold: Early on puts up a tough front because he believes Joker needs a disciplinary figure in his life. As you get to know him it becomes apparent this is just more of a front that he projects. He's also very warm and friendly to his patrons, gently turning down a woman who repeatedly tries to flirt with him even though he's honestly exasperated with her advances.
  • Hipster: While he's too old to have run with the latest hipster incarnation he definitely nails the vibe down to even his outfit and coffee elitism.
  • Hopeless Suitor: Sojiro recalls how he'd persistently try to win over Wakaba back when he was still a government worker, only for the single mother to turn him down time and time again. Though he eventually resigned himself to the knowledge that she was simply "way out of his league," there's the heavy implication that he has never truly gotten over her, continuing to hold onto her memories not just by raising her daughter, but through making the curry recipe which she loved (and invented). He also outright refuses to consider dating again.
  • Immediate Self-Contradiction: After seeing Morgana show up, he makes it clear to Joker that he's 100% responsible for taking care of him, only to then come back with a plate of food for Morgana.
  • I Need to Go Iron My Dog: If Joker has multiple girlfriends confront him on Valentine's Day, Sojiro excuses himself to do some shopping.
  • In-Series Nickname: He tells the rest of Joker's friends to call him "Boss" soon after meeting the group, which they continue to do for the majority of the game.
  • Ironic Name: "Leblanc" translates to The White. And it's a coffee shop, the kind that probably even actively discourages milk in coffee.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He can be fairly gruff and makes no secret about how he initially isn't happy to have to look after the protagonist. That said, he gradually warms up to the protagonist and becomes quite supportive, and during certain confidant events, the protagonist senses his kindness, resulting in a boost to his own Kindness parameter.
  • Kindhearted Cat Lover: When Sojiro finds out that Joker took Morgana back to the shop, he lets Morgana stay but tells Joker that he's solely responsible for the cat and he won't lend any help whatsoever. That being said, he comes back seconds later with a plate of food for Morgana, claiming that the cute purring is to blame and shows interest in naming him...
  • Like a Son to Me: He eventually comes to regard Joker as his own once the player's bond with him reaches maximum rank, enough to point out that, while he has mixed feelings about it, he's even okay with the prospect of Joker dating Futaba... and becoming his father-in-law. If Joker is single on Christmas Eve, he, Sojiro and Futaba celebrate it together over dinner.
    Sojiro: [to Joker] You know, I really just wanted to have you help out at the store. But you showed me so much more... You showed me I have a family I have to protect. Not just Futaba. But you too. I may not always be reliable, but feel free to come to me if anything happens. I'll be there for you... as family.
  • Manly Tears: Twice, both optional. Once is towards the end of his Confidant where Futaba calls him "Dad," and the other is after Joker leaves for home if Joker gave Sojiro his journal back.
  • Married to the Job: When a woman asks him why he hasn't gotten married during his Confidant, he responds that it's because he's too busy with the shop, but it's all but stated the real reason is he never got over Futaba's mother, Wakaba.
  • The Mourning After: Sojiro puts up a carefully constructed front about being a playboy who's Married to the Job to hide that he's still grieving over the loss of his adoptive daughter's mother, Wakaba Isshiki, who was murdered before they had the chance to become a couple.
  • My Greatest Failure: In hindsight, he knew something was very off about Wakaba right before her death, and she even told him she would die soon. He didn't take her seriously, and he's regretted it ever since.
  • New Parent Nomenclature Problem: Not really new, but it's implied near the end of his confidant ranking that he wishes Futaba would call him "dad" more often. Usually, she just uses his first name.
  • Not So Different: It becomes increasingly clear that one of the big things that draw Sojiro to Joker is that Joker very much reminds Sojiro back when he was a younger man and this in turn, helps Sojiro get back up on his feet and past most of his problems. It's also implied this is the reason why he covers for you if you're caught cheating on your girlfriends. If you had a single relationship, on the 14th, he would comment on the character's seeming lack of plans before recalling what he did at Joker's age with a "hoo, boy..."
  • Overprotective Dad:
  • Parental Substitute: Sojiro is the closest thing Joker has to a parental figure in the game. He tries to ensure that Joker stays out of trouble, constantly gives him love advice and even makes him his apprentice at his coffee shop. He's also this to Futaba as he adopted her after her mother's death.
  • Parents as People: An aversion for the most part, but still faintly present. During the fourth major arc, the Phantom Thieves discover that Futaba's his daughter, and since you know absolutely nothing about her (as Joker has been living with Sojiro for three or four months at this point with not a word about her), they initially assume he's abusing her — which turns out to be completely untrue. When he adopted Futaba, it was not long after her mother was killed, and her trauma had appeared. Despite doing his damnedest to get her the medical care she needed, all of his attempts fell flat, and at the start of the game, he's more or less given up on any chance of her recovering. All he does now is provide her needs (such as food) and protect her, and for all intents and purposes, he's completely in the dark about how utterly suicidal she actually is. That being said, Futaba's anxiety is so severe that she rarely speaks to him unless needed, and the guilt and anguish over her situation affects him far more than he lets on — at this point, the Phantom Thieves stealing her heart would be the only way she could truly recover. Sojiro even wonders whether he's really the best person to raise Futaba at a few points. And as it turns out: yes, he absolutely is.
  • Real Men Wear Pink: He wears a pink dress shirt under a white blazer most of the time and is an excellent coffee brewer and curry maker.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: He takes Joker in after their arrangement, lets him and his friends hang out in his coffee shop, and generally tries to look out for him and Futaba despite their eccentricities. He also supports the Thieves once he learns about them, after a long serious talk with Futaba and Joker. By the time of the final Palace, Leblanc goes from being your hideout in secret to "openly" being so, with your team commandeering the first floor for meetings, with Sojiro's approval.
  • Recurring Element: Once again, the Hierophant Arcana bond character is an older, Reasonable Authority Figure to the protagonist.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here!: If you cheat on your girlfriends, he and Morgana leave you to your beatdown to go do some shopping.
  • Secret Keeper:
    • Two months after Futaba joins the Phantom Thieves, he discovers that Joker and Futaba are members of said group, after finding the calling card in Futaba's room and questioning the two of them about it. He's initially upset, but after a long talk with them, he agrees to keep it to himself.
    • If the player is caught cheating by all his girlfriends on Valentine's Day, Sojiro will tell you that he's been secretly covering for you and had to make up a bunch of alibis. In a move that puts other wingmen to shame, he even convinces them not to break up with you despite everything. He'll even do this if Futaba is one of the girls you've been two-timing. It's implied he does this because Sojiro himself may have done this sort of thing back at Joker's age.
  • Selective Obliviousness: Sojiro starts to suspect that Joker is caught up with the Phantom Thieves as early as August, given Futaba's sudden change of state. While he manages to connect the dots, he chooses to ignore his suspicion. It's not until the media frenzy surrounding them that eventually reignites his suspicions, leading to Sojiro finding the calling card they sent to Futaba in her bedroom.
  • Serious Business: He's uncompromising on his principles for good food service and even threatens to throw Joker out if he brews a bad cup of coffee. He's just as serious about his curry. This is because Wakaba had formulated his famed curry-coffee combo. He wants to keep her memory alive and do her work justice by making sure that every cup of coffee and plate of curry is absolutely perfect.
  • Shipper on Deck: He encourages the MC to find a girlfriend and should the MC succeed, Sojiro'll openly support him in his efforts. It's most noticeable on Valentine's Day, where Sojiro will close the shop early so Joker and his companion of choice can have a romantic date alone (albeit with reservations in Futaba's case).
  • Single Tear: Wipes one away at the end as Joker leaves Cafe LeBlanc for the last time before heading back to his hometown.
  • Stern Teacher: As a barista. He offers to teach Joker the art of brewing a good cup of coffee, but informs him that this is Serious Business to him and should be to Joker as well. He's also quick to criticize Joker's coffee for being too bland. He's also fair, however, in that he always acknowledges how Joker worked hard and followed his instructions. He also lets Joker freely use all the (quality) coffee beans on his shelves, no questions asked, even if it's just for practice.
  • Supreme Chef: He brews excellent coffee and makes delicious curry, which go unusually well together according to the protagonist and the cafe's patrons. He's also something of a One-Note Cook, since he only seems to make curry and coffee (not that it matters because they're all his patrons order). He considers expanding the menu during his confidant, but Futaba (and potentially Joker) insists that they be curry-related (Futaba asks for curry spaghetti, udon, curry croquettes, and curry pizza). As you progress along with his Confidant, you'll learn that this wasn't of his own design. Instead, Wakaba had taken his curry and coffee recipes and used her chemical know-how to make them showstoppers. Because of this, her recipes and his insistence on doing right by his customers are his way of honoring her memory.
  • Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Like Ryotaro Dojima in Persona 4, Sojiro is a Reasonable Authority Figure who lets the protagonist live at his home, has a daughter with a major role in the plot who was greatly affected by her mother's death, and serves as the representative of the Hierophant Arcana.
  • Tears of Joy: Not so subtly sobs in Rank 9 of his confidant link when Futaba finally calls him "Dad".
  • Tough Love: Sojiro's early standoffish attitude towards Joker is rooted more in Sojiro's own cynicism towards society rather than antagonism. Sojiro legitimately believes that Joker's best chance is for him to keep his head down and to stay out of trouble - he's aware of Joker's good intentions in saving a woman from being raped, but points out that his intentions did him little good. Even before his Confidant begins, there are some early hints that Sojiro empathizes with Joker more than he lets on, such as his disgust with how the Shujin Academy faculty treats him during registration. By the end of the game, Sojiro apologizes to Joker for how coldly he initially treated him.
  • Tragic Keepsake: The curry recipe that Wakaba came up with. If Sojiro's Confidant link is maxed, he passes her written notes on to Joker as a memento, saying that he's already memorized its contents by that point anyway.
  • The Watson: He serves as this after Joker fakes his own death. Serving as the person that gets the Exposition Dump on how the Phantom Thieves figured out Akechi was a traitor and how they pulled off faking Joker's death.

    Chihaya Mifune (Fortune)
"I'm just going to have to verify your power. The very power that reversed my tarot card prediction!"

Arcana: X. La Roue de Fortune (The Wheel of Fortune)
Arcana Bonus: Social stat boosts, increased money earned in battle, Confidant ability previews and boosts.
Voiced by: Miyu Matsuki (game) Haruka Terui (anime) (JP), Sarah Williams (EN)

A Tarot fortune-teller with a cheerful demeanor who has a shop in Shinjuku. Her fortunes are rumored to be infallible.

  • Accent Relapse: When trying to get several ADP members to see the truth about the organization and its leader, Chihaya gets so frustrated that she reverts to her country accent.
  • All of the Other Reindeer: Her ability to see the destiny of other people got her discriminated against in her community, forcing her to move to Tokyo.
  • Believing Their Own Lies: In a sense, Chihaya knows all along that the ADP group that she joined is a farce, but finds herself in too deep. She more or less has to convince herself that the Holy Stones actually do work, or else she'd have to live with the realization that she's been scamming desperate people out of their money.
  • Cassandra Did It: Back in her home community, her fortune-telling powers came to light after she predicted a massive earthquake, which led to her being revered as a messenger of God. When she kept doing it, however, they turned on her and began to believe she was cursed. This gradually escalated until an angry mob burned her house down.
  • Country Mouse: She falls back on her rural accent when upset or when letting her guard down around Joker.
  • Dramatic Irony: When Joker asks her what the full name of her boss is, she notices that the cards changed again, this time predicting that her future is in line with the Trickster.
  • Everyone Has Standards: When you first encounter Chihaya, she's in denial about her holy stones being a scam. But then one of her clients reveals she wants one because she's suffering Domestic Abuse, Chihaya freaks out and instead tries to advise her to get the police involved.
  • The Fatalist: She is so taken aback by the Phantom Thieves' ability to Screw Destiny that she initially convinces herself that Joker is forging her readings, somehow. As later revealed, this is because she's convinced herself that selling her employers' Holy Stones is the only possible employment option she has; if fate can be changed, that means she's scammed people out of thousands of yen for no good reason.
  • Fortune Teller: A fortune teller specializing in tarot cards.
  • Hair Decorations: She wears a headband.
  • Knowledge Broker: Can provide information on other Confidants.
  • Mrs. Robinson: Downplayed, but unlike the other romanceable adult Confidants, Chihaya actually doesn't have any reservations over Joker being younger than her, even outright asking him if he Likes Older Women prior to the rank where a Relationship Upgrade can take place. In her defense, her backstory implies that she's the closest in age to Joker out of all the romanceable adults, being in her early 20s at most.
  • Named After Somebody Famous: Chizuko Mifune, a self-proclaimed psychic who became a test subject for an occult-interested psychologist. She was ridiculed as a fraud when the tests were revealed to be heavily doctored in her favor and she committed suicide shortly after.
    • Fukurai, the psychologist who studied Chizuko's abilities in reality, shares a name with the target of the Memento 'Debunking the Psychic!'.
  • Phony Psychic: Subverted. She seems like one at first, but it's quickly revealed that she does have actual divinatory ability. This is the basis of how she is able to help you advance with other Confidants. More notably, she is the only other person outside of the Velvet Room attendants to refer to Joker as "The Trickster," showing surprising awareness about his role in the grand scheme of the plot.
  • Purple Eyes: She has them and is rumored to give fortunes that are always right.
  • Quest Giver: Early into Confidant, Chihaya, skeptical of Joker's ability to "change fate," challenges him to change the fate to one of her clients is suffering Domestic Abuse. This involves him going into Mementos to change the abuser's heart. Later on, you have to change Fukurai's heart in order to put a stop to his organization's scams.
  • Screw Destiny: A central theme in her Confidant as the player tries to convince her that you don't have to follow your destiny in order to be happy.
  • Snake Oil Salesman: Her fortune telling powers are the real deal, but she also sells very expensive "holy stones" that aren't so genuine. It turns out that an organization is coercing her into selling these stones. Going through her Confidant gives her the courage to leave.
  • Symbol Motif Clothing: Her dress is covered in Wheel of Fortune symbols and she happens to be the Wheel of Fortune Confidant.
  • You Can't Fight Fate: She thinks this, and starts getting pissed off when you complete her quests and discover that doing things causes her readings to change. She learns to roll with it.


    Caroline and Justine (Strength)
Caroline (Left) and Justine (Right).
Click here to see true form 
"Don't be so cocky."

Arcana: XI. La Force (Strength)
Arcana Bonus: Advanced fusions, Persona-strengthening techniques, fusion bonuses, removal of fusion restrictions.
All voiced by: Aki Toyosaki (JP), Carrie Keranen (EN)

The new Attendants of the Velvet Room, a pair of young twins dressed as prison guards.

Unlike any other Confidant, which rank up at certain levels of affection or as the story progresses, their Confidant is progressed by bringing them Personas with specific abilities.

  • Always Identical Twins: They're twins with the exact same facial features and heights. The only differences between them are their hairstyles, eyepatches, and voices. Though in a subversion, we later learn that the real reason they look identical is because they're two halves of the same being.
  • Ambiguously Human: They look human, but as residents of the Velvet Room are actually beings born of the collective unconscious. This is reflected in their terrible understanding of how the human world works, as Caroline mistakes a bicycle for an instrument.
  • Animal Motifs: Like Philemon, they have a butterfly association, as you hear their voice come from the one that appears to the protagonist early on, though which sister is speaking at the time is initially unclear. Turns out that's because it's less them than it is Lavenza, since that's the form she takes after she was split into the twins and is seen to have butterfly wings on the flowers of her headband once both fuse back together.
  • The Antagonist: They're the closest thing Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight has to one. The Excuse Plot revolves around them getting into an argument with Elizabeth about whose guest can dance better, and since the game takes place from S.E.E.S.' perspective, your goal is to prove them wrong.
  • Badass Adorable:
    • Futaba immediately points out how cute they look:
      "Huh? Who're these kids...? Awww... Those little costumes look perfect! They're so cute! Can I take them home with-Wait... What!? Whoa... for real!? These power levels...! Watch out! Those two are... monsters!"
    • Futaba's response when meeting them is consistent in Q2. It appears as if Futaba really thinks that they are adorable.
    • They are also two of the most powerful beings in the game, surpassed only by Igor and the Big Bad.
  • Big Sister Bully: They're apparently scared of their older sisters (Elizabeth and Margaret) for this very reason. Inverted in regards to Theodore, as they bully him just as much as their older sisters do although this is more the case when they were forcibly split and lost their memories. Their dialogue about him in Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight (when they have their memories) implies they do have respect for him under normal circumstances, though they certainly don't mind messing with him at times during the choreography.
  • Bodyguard Crush: At the end of their boss fight, Justine not so subtlety hints that she's fallen in love with the Protagonist, and states that since she feels this way, Caroline probably does too, something that she fiercely denies.
  • Bonus Boss: You can fight them in New Game+. Defeating them earns the player the Omnipotent Orb and the Double Bookmark.
  • Bribing Your Way to Victory: An In-Universe Example, reaching rank 10 of their confidant allows the player to create any persona they please without a level restriction... for a modest fee of course.
  • Chainsaw Good: During a Fusion Error, the guillotines responsible for decapitating the Personas break down. Caroline fixes the issue by taking a chainsaw to the Personas with the biggest grin on her face.
  • Conflicting Loyalty: They have conflicting feelings about serving their master, and giving their guest a legitimate rehabilitation. When ordered to kill Joker, they picked the latter over the former. It helps that their master reveals himself to be Yaldabaoth in disguise shortly afterwards.
  • Creepy Good: Despite their low opinion of the protagonist, they are dedicated to rehabilitation, even if Caroline repeatedly voices her opinion of it being impossible.
  • Creepy Twins: They're young girls who act as prison guards, and further seem to perfectly mirror each other's movements.
  • Dance Battler: They dance a lot during their boss fight. After performing an All-Out Attack, they perform a tango before their victory screen.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Justine often snarks at her sister with little emotion.
  • Dual Boss: As to be expected, when you fight them, you fight them together.
  • Elemental Powers: Like Margaret in the previous game, the twins use abilities from all elements against you.
  • Eyepatch of Power: They each have a black eyepatch on opposing sides of their faces. If previous games are any indication, they're among the most powerful characters in the setting. Their eyes are perfectly fine under there.
  • Foreshadowing:
    • Their Confidant has them trying to figure out which one of them made the list of Persona fusions that the protagonist is working on, and why, with each of them suspecting that the other wrote it at various points. Technically, both of them did, since Lavenza made the list.
    • Although they follow the standard Velvet Room attendant color scheme of blue, black, white and yellow, compared to the previous attendants, their blue hues are noticeably lighter. As Lavenza, her blue hue is closer to the standard.
  • The Gadfly: Justine, despite having a calm demeanor, enjoys needling Caroline, such as commenting on her handwriting when wondering who could have written the mysterious list of Personas for the protagonist to fuse.
  • Good Cop/Bad Cop: In keeping with the Velvet Room's new form as a prison. Justine's kind demeanor while still reminding you that she thinks of you as a prisoner makes her the "good cop", while Caroline's blunt manner of speech, abrasive personality and outright insults to Joker makes her the "bad cop".
  • Good Is Not Nice: The twins are wholeheartedly devoted to Joker's rehabilitation and supporting his efforts as a Phantom Thief, but they will repeatedly mock him throughout his stay in the Velvet Room. Caroline is particularly nasty and demeaning towards him.
  • Heel Realization: Both of them are horrified and beg for forgiveness upon realizing they've been helping the Big Bad all along.
  • Hopeless Boss Fight: You can't defeat them when Yaldabaoth orders them to fight you. On the other hand, neither can they defeat you.
  • Identical Twin ID Tag: Caroline wears her hair in buns and has an eye patch over her right eye. Justine wears her hair in a braided ponytail and has an eye patch over her left eye. Also, their hats spell out every other letter of the word "oxymoron." Justine's hat reads "O-Y-O-O" and Caroline's wears "X-M-R-N".
  • I'm Taking Her Home with Me!: Futaba's first reaction to them, should you fight them. She quickly changes her tune when she figures out how strong they are.
  • It Is Pronounced "Tro-PAY": Because they are using the French version of the name Caroline rhymes with Justine.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Caroline isn't nice, but it's quite clear she comes to respect the protagonist over the course of their social link, and eventually starts voicing her own uncertainties about whether or not Joker should even be punished. When she realizes what Yaldabaoth really is, she's just as horrified as her sister.
  • Killer Rabbit: They seem to be children, and all of their Personas are either weak monsters, Adorable Evil Minions or both. But all of them will wreck you just like their three siblings did! In fact, when Futaba first saw them, she went from gushing over how cute they are to panicking over how strong they are, very much mirroring this trope.
  • Lawman Baton: Caroline carries a baton that she uses to beat the bars of Joker's cell.
  • Literal Split Personality: The twins are two parts of one single and distinct personality named Lavenza, having been split apart by the Big Bad.
  • Love Confession: If the protagonist speaks to Lavenza with the reward item from the Bonus Boss fight in his inventory, she tells Joker that she loves him and that he is the greatest man in the world.
  • Magic Dance: They dance together to summon their Personas.
  • Master of All: Their stats are all maxed out during their Bonus Boss fight. Even the Final Boss can't compare in terms of raw stats. They also possess the strongest versions of every elemental attack in the game and 999 SP to abuse them with reckless abandon.
  • Meaningful Name: The Latin root of Justine is "Justice", and the German root of Caroline is "Freedom".
  • Mirror Boss: They're able to summon multiple Personas like the protagonist and can perform an All-Out Attack together, just like your party. They will also go out of their way to exploit the weaknesses of your party for bonus turns and will even Baton Pass to each other.
  • Mythology Gag: After you defeat them in New Game+, Caroline complains about getting yelled at by her older sisters, and mentions ruling over power. Justine is confused about this, due to the memory issues they both have from being split.
  • Non-Lethal K.O.: If the party loses their Bonus Boss fight, it doesn't result in a game over. Joker is rewarded with an item depending on how much progress was made during the battle, and is sent back to Mementos.
  • Not So Stoic: Let's just say that Justine gets pretty intense during your battle, surprising even Caroline.
  • Odango Hair: Caroline wears her hair in two buns.
  • Off with His Head!: They conduct Persona fusion through the use of guillotines, or a chainsaw in the event of an accident. Recreating Lavenza requires doing this to both of them.
  • Oh, Crap!: Caroline panics when she sends Justine spinning into Margaret during a fusion accident in Q2.
  • Order vs. Chaos: Justine and Caroline, with their at odds personalities and approaches to the protagonist's "rehabilitation", are associated with the concepts of justice and freedom respectively.
  • Polar Opposite Twins: Justine is calm and kind but a bit of a Gentleman Snarker, while Caroline is comparatively rude, stubborn and bratty. This represents the duality of Joker's lifestyle.
  • Polyamory: In the aforementioned love confession detailed in Bodyguard Crush above, if Joker says he can't choose between them, Caroline confusedly wonders aloud why would he do that when choosing one obviously would make the other feel bad. For her part, Justine ponders her words for a moment, finally settling on that "[she] would not resist [Joker] choosing the both of [them]", and then she asks if that is a strange thing to say. It's unclear whether their social skills are THAT bad or that being two halves of the same entity makes them effectively incapable of feeling jealous of the other. In any case, their matter-of-factly acceptance of the idea of this trope is eyebrow-raising for both the protagonist and the player, to say the least.
  • Post-Mortem One-Liner: After they've wrecked the party with their All-Out Attack: DON'T BE SO COCKY.
  • Precocious Crush: The twins develop a crush on the much older-looking Joker over the course of the game. However, since they're beings born from the Collective Unconsciousness, their apparent age could be just that. On the other hand, their Identity Amnesia resulting from being unwitting Literal Split Personalities from the same being means that they haven't experienced much of life beyond their duties in the Velvet Room, thus making their mental age even harder to gauge.
  • Promoted to Playable: Both of them (as well as Lavenza) are playable in Persona 5: Dancing Star Night.
  • Rule of Symbolism:
    • Their uncanny mirrored features were chosen to represent the Protagonist's own dual-faced nature.
    • Justine's hat reads "O-Y-O-O" and Caroline's wears "X-M-R-N". "Oxymoron" is a figure of speech that juxtaposes elements that appear to be contradictory, creating a paradoxical concept.
    • When initiating their All-Out Attack, they summon Ardha together to knock everyone off their feet. In Hindu Mythology, Ardha is a being created by the god Shiva performing a Fusion Dance with his lover, Parvati.
  • Shout-Out:
    • Like all of the Velvet Room attendants thus far, they are named after characters from Frankenstein; Caroline after Victor Frankenstein's mother and Justine after a servant framed for murder.
    • Lavenza is the maiden name of Frankenstein's adopted sister and eventual bride, Elizabeth.
  • Sigil Spam: Their eyepatches have the Velvet Room's emblem on them.
  • Skilled, but Naïve: Like previous attendants of the Velvet Room, Caroline and Justine's vast knowledge of Personas is only matched by their cluelessness about the real world. Caroline thinks a bicycle is an instrument and immediately assumes an old sandbag is filled with ammunition and gunpowder. They quickly find themselves enamored with hot dogs and hoard them to pig out on in Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth.
  • The Stoic: Compared to her more hot-headed sister, Justine is quiet, soft spoken and shows little emotion.
  • Strong Family Resemblance: Heavily implied as they have the trademark golden eyes and white hair the previous Velvet Room attendants (Elizabeth, Theodore, and Margaret) all have and those three had been confirmed to be "siblings" in earlier installments. It's later confirmed to be the case when Caroline mentions that "their sisters are gonna get mad [at them] " after you defeat the twins in their Bonus Boss battle like their siblings before them, much like what Theodore (the youngest of the set of three and said to be the only boy in the family) has made references to in the past.
  • Sugar-and-Ice Personality: While Justine seems cold and detached at times, she often shows a caring side around Caroline and the protagonist.
  • Supernatural Gold Eyes: Like the past few attendants, the twins also have yellow eyes, and are also of an otherworldly nature.
  • Time-Limit Boss: A variation. Unlike Margaret, who used a version of Megidolaon that does 9999 damage every time every 50 turns, you have a certain amount of time to clear each of the twins' phases by reducing them to a certain amount of their HP, or they'll get bored with you and perform an All-Out Attack.
  • Tsundere: Both twins develop crushes on the protagonist, however Caroline tends to be this. This side of her gets more apparent as the protagonist advances the twins' confidant level. She tends to smile more and act nicer towards the protagonist after he completes a task, until Justine points it out or she realizes it herself. This causes her to slip back into her regular harsh personality and lash out at the protagonist. Futuba in Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight outright calls Caroline a tsundere and both she and Justine take fun in poking her about it.
  • Voluntary Shapeshifting: Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight reveals that Lavenza can freely divide herself into Caroline and Justine at any time, retaining all of her memories whether she is one person or two.
  • Walking Spoiler: Lavenza. The fact that the two attendants used to be a single individual is difficult to talk about without spoiling the plot twist involved.
  • Weak, but Skilled: When fighting against them in New Game+, they use a bunch of Personas that are considered weak.note  The keyword here being considered, as they have a bunch of powerful, endgame skills that can make them hand your ass to you if you're not careful.

    Munehisa Iwai (Hanged Man)
"You help me out with my 'business' — smugglin' goods, destroyin' evidence — and as a reward, I'll introduce you to the 'special menu,' with good prices for a punk like you."

Arcana: XII. Le Pendu (The Hanged Man)
Arcana Bonus: Gun customization and equipment discounts.
Voiced by: Hisao Egawa (JP), Kaiji Tang (EN)

The shady owner of "Untouchable", an airsoft and military surplus shop in Shibuya's back alleys. He provides the Protagonist, and by extension the Phantom Thieves, with the majority of their weapons and armor. He also offers access to his under-the-table stock in exchange for the Protagonist's help, both around the store and with his unscrupulous side-job.

  • Abusive Parents: He grew up with a single mother who lived a very self-destructive lifestyle, and his lack of familial love drove him to join the Yakuza at a young age. Iwai himself averts this through and through, as he went back to civilian life and opened the airsoft shop in order to provide for his adopted son, Kaoru.
  • Animal Motifs: Geckos, which are present both on his menus and as a tattoo on his neck. You learn the significance of it near the end of his link; see Tattooed Crook below. The headphones he wears over his cap also bear some resemblance to the eyes of a lizard.
  • Arms Dealer: He supplies the Thieves with their weapons from his surplus store. When Iwai puts two and two together, he decides to put extra effort on what he sells to Joker, though Iwai has no idea what they could be doing with fake guns and rubber knives.
  • Badass Baritone: Thanks to the efforts of Mr. Kaiji Tang. He's also a former yakuza member and a no-nonsense arms dealer.
  • Badass Longcoat: Wears a spiffy grey longcoat.
  • Brutal Honesty: He favors responses of this nature; voicing your disapproval of his formerly criminal life tend to get the most approval points out of Iwai.
  • Color Motif: His shop screen is predominantly green, tying into the military theme of his store.
  • Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: He looks a lot like Jason Statham, and at one point in development was even wearing one of Statham's costumes from the 2013 film Hummingbird.
  • Defector from Decadence: Used to be a Yakuza thug, but the unexpected custody of Kaoru was enough to convince him to leave that life behind.
  • Face of a Thug: He looks intimidating and being a former Yakuza doesn't help.
  • First-Name Basis: Late in his confidant, he starts calling the protagonist by his first name instead of "kid," having come to respect him.
  • Give Him a Normal Life: He doesn't give Kaoru up, but Iwai DOES go to great lengths to hide his past in the yakuza and the actual circumstances of his adoption (Kaoru believes his biological parents died in a car crash), because he fears that the resulting stigma would keep Kaoru from being accepted by society, much like he was as a child. Of course, when he learns the truth during the Rank 9 Confidant scene, Kaoru declares that it doesn't matter, saying he cares more about the fact that Iwai always worked so hard to support him.
  • Good Parents: As a single dad he's one to his adopted son, Kaoru.
  • Guttural Growler: His voice is raspy and deep, and he speaks with an intimidating, rough speech pattern in the Japanese version. Fitting, given his past.
  • Honor Before Reason: He still holds onto the Yakuza's old codes, offering his blackmailer and former friend a trade in exchange for being left alone. It doesn't work so well.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Gruff, no-nonsense demeanor aside, he's surprisingly quick to warm up to Joker, and tries his damnedest to be a good parent to his adopted son Kaoru.
  • Leitmotif: Layer Cake, which plays whenever you're purchasing or selling stuff to him.
  • Like a Son to Me: By the end of his Confidant, Iwai comes to see Joker in this light, calling him Kaoru's "bro" and thanking Joker for being such a good role model. He then goes on to hand Joker an Iwai family gecko pin and asks him to come eat with them when he visits next.
  • Loser Son of Loser Dad: Nobody except the Yakuza would take him in because he had a wastrel for a mother, and he's scared something similar will happen to Kaoru if word got out he used to be in the Yakuza.
  • Named After Somebody Famous: Like most of the confidants, though his case is pretty obscure. Sokyu Imai (not Iwai) was a merchant and magistrate for the Sengoku warlord Nobunaga Oda and his successor Toyotomi. He earned a special commission to produce firearms and fireworks for the Oda army, which is quite appropriate for the proprietor of an airsoft shop who supplies the Phantom Thieves with their weapons. The allusion is subtly hinted at through the names of his son Kaoru and sworn brother Tsuda, who share names with the historical Imai's son and friend, respectively.
  • Nice Hat: He wears a shifty-looking cap that casts a shadow over his eyes, emphasizing him as an ex-criminal.
  • Oh, Crap!: His (very understandable) reaction when Tsuda pulls a gun on him in the eighth rank of his Confidant. It's not only the obvious threat of the gun; it shows that Tsuda has changed significantly for the worst, to the point of disregarding the code—something Iwai never expected from him.
  • Oral Fixation: He always has what appears to be a cigarette or toothpick in his mouth. It's actually a lollipop.
  • Parental Substitute: He's the adoptive father of an abandoned boy named Kaoru. To elaborate: during Iwai's Yakuza days, a random woman wanted to sell Kaoru to him to get more drug money; when Iwai refused, she left him behind anyway. Not wanting to let the boy suffer the way he did growing up, he took him in and left the Yakuza for good.
  • Perma-Stubble: To emphasize his rough, unscrupulous nature.
  • Precision F-Strike: In his Rank 9 event, he calls Masa a motherfucker after he kidnaps Kaoru.
  • Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: After Joker hands himself in to testify against Shido, if Iwai's Confidant is maxed-out, he uses his connections leading to prison to make sure no one hurts Joker while he's serving time.
  • He's Got Legs: One of the rare gender-flipped versions of the trope. Like Takemi, there's a silhouette in his shop menus that has his legs up to flaunt.
  • Tarot Motifs: Hanged Man, part of his story is coming with terms with cutting ties with his old family and trying to accept his new one.
  • Tattooed Crook: Has a purple gecko tattoo on the side of his neck, and is a former Yakuza. Ironically, the tattoo actually has nothing to do with his yakuza days; he got it to match Kaoru's scar, and because it symbolized their link as a family.
    • Given the nature of the yakuza with how severing your ties using means cutting oath cups and fingers, it ironically makes sense as a lizard's tail can grow back. So in spite of Iwai cutting ties with his yakuza family and his friend, he ultimately gets a new family in the form of Kaoru, and even gets to go back to his past ways by helping Joker do illegal modification for his airguns.
  • Troubled, but Cute: Given his old life and past ways, the combination of his tough personality and soothingly deep voice easily make him this.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: Iwai likes you better if you go with more aggressive, demanding, and cynical responses.
  • We Buy Anything: He's the only person willing to buy any of the treasures from heists.
  • Yakuza: He was one in the past. He left that life to care for his son, but his Confidant drags him back into it.

    Tae Takemi (Death)
"Oh, well. All that matter is that thanks to you I was able to get some good data."

Arcana: XIII. L'Arcane sans nom (The Nameless Arcana, a.k.a. La Mort [Death])
Arcana Bonus: New medicines, accessories, and item discounts.
Voiced By: Yuka Saito (JP), Kirsten Potter (EN)

The proprietor of Takemi Medical Clinic, a back-alley practice near Leblanc. Hoping to find a source of medical assistance for their ventures, the protagonist and Morgana investigate a rumor about her prescribing "special medicine". After some negotiating, she agrees to sell him medicine under the table in return for his cooperation in a series of clinical trials for a new drug.

  • 10-Minute Retirement: When her former superior tells her that the patient she was developing her medicine for has died, she believes that her work has lost its purpose and gives up on further clinical trials, preventing you from progressing her Confidant any further. It takes changing her superior's heart in Mementos—causing him to confess to having framed Tae and lied about the patient's death—to bring her out of her depression.
  • Affectionate Nickname: Acting more aloof in the beginning, it's shown she takes a liking to Joker when he starts partaking in her clinical trials. She never calls him by his name, however, routinely addressing him "my little guinea pig" instead.
  • Alliterative Name: "Tae Takemi".
  • Artistic License – Medicine: A lone general practitioner in the inner city with a reputation like hers is highly unlikely to have the funding or facilities to develop new drugs... and from what we can tell, she's only testing those drugs on Joker. This is somewhat tempered by the revelation late in her Confidant that she still has some connections to lean on that Oyamada didn't ruin.
  • Back-Alley Doctor: Tae straddles the line because she has a reputation as one. She formed her own private practice on a rather sleazy side of town, where she treats her patients with her own brewed medication. Due to this, she's frequently under suspicion by the police. Despite this, Tae actually follows a code of ethics. For instance, she initially planned to turn Joker away the first time they met, assuming he was some junkie looking for his next fix. When that turned out not to be the case, the medicine she has him test out for her is medicine that is already at the stage where it's safe to be tested on humans.
  • Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Her unusual fashion sense, creepy demeanor, and morbid sense of humor aside... Dr. Takemi is a brilliantly talented physician.
  • Casting Gag: This isn't the first time Kirsten Potter has played a disgraced Japanese doctor with an awful nickname (Devil Doctor for Naomi, Plague Doctor for Tae) in an ATLUS game.
  • Casual Kink: Getting her in the mood during a romantic Confidant sees her go from actual doctor to parody seeking to perform a "full body examination". Completing her Confidant and finishing the game has her reward you with dog tags, likely the medical variant. But taking into account how insistent she has been that you are her guinea pig, and, well...
  • Clear Their Name: Subverted. While she was framed by her boss and was blacklisted for it, she is not the least bit concerned with proving her innocence, instead focusing on perfecting the medicine to save her old patient. The player has the option of playing it straight by stealing her boss's heart and making him confess, clearing her of guilt.
  • Color Motif: Her shop screen is predominantly blue and white, tying into her career as a doctor.
  • Did They or Didn't They?: If the player pursues a romance with her, their final scene heavily implies they did, with her asking if he'd like a "thorough examination" since Sojiro isn't around and that she'll "take [her] time." She even leans in and gives him a kiss as the screen fades to black. Before said final scene, her text message to Joker has her mention that coffee is a stimulant and thus won't be able to get sleep, a line that becomes much more suggestive with this context.
    • In '"A Magical Valentine's Day'' OVA, her Valentine's with Ren is more suggestive than the others, with her removing her coat as she has Ren lie down, before proceeding to join on top of him.
  • First Girl Wins: In a sense, if she is romanced. She and Ann are the first romance-capable Confidants, as their links both start on the same day. However, Kawakami is the first potential romantic partner met in the story.
  • The Gadfly: She enjoys teasing people, particularly by saying that she's going to charge outrageous sums of money for her services and letting them sweat a little before informing them that she'll actually help for free.
  • Heroic BSoD: Has this, along with a Twisted-Knee Collapse, when her former boss tells her that the patient she's been developing the medicine for has died. He's lying, but you only find out after you defeat him and steal his heart.
  • Hidden Depths: Taking Ann to the Meiji Shrine will result in an event where they meet Takemi. Surprisingly, she turns out to be very well-versed in traditional Shinto prayer rituals.
  • Hospital Hottie: Her figure gets a lot of emphasis in her shop screens.
  • I Choose to Stay: Zigzagged. After her name is cleared she is offered a position at her old hospital, suggesting that she must choose between it and her clinic. She ends up taking the job but continues running the clinic on the side.
  • I Didn't Mean to Turn You On: For all her teasing towards Joker, she's actually shocked, somewhat unsettled, if he actually confesses to her.
  • Ill Girl:
    • She mentions being one as a child. Because medicine was basically the only thing keeping her alive, she decided to become a doctor.
    • Two of these girls play a big role in her confidant. One of them outright gets better in the end. The other one's recovery is implied, as Takemi has been able to perfect the experimental drug at that point.
  • Labcoat of Science and Medicine: But of course. She only wears it in the clinic though.
  • Leitmotif: Butterfly Kiss, which plays when you're buying medicine from her.
  • Love Epiphany: If Joker confesses to her at Rank 9 and then refuses to play it off as a joke, Takemi will try to turn him down gently as par for the course. However, she soon discovers that she just can't say the words, only then realizing she wants a relationship with him despite admitting she has no idea how to go about it because she's well aware Joker is still a minor.
  • Mad Doctor: In early game footage, her public medical clinic had a prominently-displayed X-ray of a tuna fish, a warning sign depicting a teddy bear stabbed full of syringes, and a pressurized tank with a bio-hazard label. In the final game, her examination room is a whole lot more mundane (but still has the syringe-riddled teddy bear poster). Subverted when it comes to her ethics, though—her trials are completely within cautionary guidelines, and the only reason she's working out of an alley is that she actually had more morals than her former boss.
  • Misfit Lab Rat: An older, subdued example, but the outfit she wears in her clinic is basically a 80's-era punk dress with a labcoat over it and platform gladiator sandals. Her casual outfit is no different: a blue dress with a white spiderweb pattern on it, a black jacket, torn black leggings, and heeled ankle boots.
  • Misunderstood Loner with a Heart of Gold: Starts out as the eccentric doctor in the creepy, back-alley clinic who doesn't get a lot of patients and likes it that way. Her reputation as "the Plague" doesn't help either. This changes about halfway through, when she cures a young girl (who the hospitals couldn't or wouldn't help), to her initial chagrin. At the end of her confidant, she has built up a decent, loyal patient base, and she gladly passes up a job at the hospital to keep her clinic open.
  • Named After Somebody Famous: Taro Takemi, an internationally acclaimed Japanese physician who invented the vectorcardiograph and headed both the Japan Medical Association and the World Medical Association.
  • Nice Girl: For all of her weirdness, she is a genuinely caring and concerned doctor.
  • Odd Name Out: Applies less to her and more her Arcana. All the other arcana seen in the game are labeled on their card image with their names in French, but hers isn't called "La Mort", even though the number and imagery indicate that it is Death like the game tells you. This is because in some versions of Tarot (like the Marseille deck that Persona 5's is based on), it was seen as unlucky to have it explicitly identified as Death, with the card literally being nameless instead.
  • Perky Goth: Well, perky punk. Aside from her outfits, there's nothing punk about her. Her demeanor is friendly and professional in her coldest moments.
  • Playing with Syringes: Flavor text in her shop menu encourages the player to "Take an Injection!" Combine that with her clinic's rather strange decorations...
  • The Red Baron: Due to an incident in the past, she is labeled in the medical community as "the Plague". As it turns out, it wasn't her fault. See The Scapegoat below.
  • The Scapegoat: During her Confidant, it's revealed that she once worked at a University Hospital that was researching a new drug to treat a type of illness. The director of the research group wanted to move on to human testing despite Takemi telling him that it was not ready. The human trials still went through, and one of the patients got severely ill. The director panicked and pinned all the blame on Takemi, who was the lead researcher at the time, resulting in her being fired and blacklisted, and forced to work from her now iconic small alley clinic. It's revealed that the testing she does on the Protagonist is the same drug from the incident, and that she has been refining it, despite her limited funds.
  • Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: While she may seem seedy and untrustworthy at a glance, she's only working out of a back alley clinic because her old boss rushed an experimental drug for fame and fortune and pinned it on her when it all went south. She's been spending all of her time and resources trying to perfect the drug and undo the damage he did. While she's blunt about how expensive her new medicines are, once threatening to charge a million yennote  for a single dose, she doesn't exactly expect her patients to actually pay for them and completely waives the fee when she learns that her old boss had failed to treat a girl Tae was helping.
  • Secret Keeper: Not that she bought Joker's excuse from the start, but at the end of their Confidant she outright tells him that she put two-and-two together after her old boss had a conveniently sudden change of heart after threatening to shut down her clinic and revoke her medical license.
    Tae: By the way... how have I been doing? Have I been helpful? For your escapades with the Phantom Thieves, I mean?
  • She's Got Legs: When browsing through her shop menu, her legs are quite prominent.
  • Shorter Means Smarter: Without her heels, Tae is only a bit taller than Futaba, and obviously she's a brilliant physician.
  • Snake Oil Salesman: Subverted. Rumors were spread by her boss to make others believe she's a quack, but her house-made medicines are actually extremely effective and her treatments work wonders when the big hospitals are stumped.
  • Soft-Spoken Sadist: Played with. She's friendly and would never actually want to harm a patient, but she does enjoy watching Joker squirm while trying a new medicine.
  • Tarot Motifs: Not as on the nose as Chihaya's, but she is a punk who represents the Death arcana.
  • The Tease: She makes very suggestive statements from time to time to test Joker's reaction.
    Tae: Go on home before it gets dark... Or... I could give you a very special examination if you'd like.
    Tae: I'll give you a special discount on my medicine. What if you get a nosebleed from all the excitement?
  • Tsundere: While calm, aloof and confident normally, she tends to get a bit flustered when complimented, praised, or when her Nice Girl side shows.
  • The Wonka: Her weird choice in decoration and her punk medical outfit belies the fact that she singlehandedly perfected an experimental drug.
  • You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Her hair is a dark cyan color. Given her particular fashion choices, it's unknown as to whether it's natural or dyed. And while her cut-in portrait reveals her eyebrows to be the same color and likely natural, there's also the chance that if she does dye her hair, she actually goes out of her way to dye her eyebrows as well.

    Sadayo Kawakami (Temperance)

Arcana: XIV. Tempérance (Temperance)
Arcana Bonus: Additional activity time slots, free crafting items, massages to allow night activity after Metaverse exploration.
Voiced by: Mai Fuchigami (JP), Michelle Ruff (EN)

The protagonist's homeroom teacher at Shujin Academy. While initially somewhat strict towards Joker, things change once he discovers her part-time job at a sketchy maid service. Fearing what would happen if her co-workers found out, she strikes a deal with him, allowing him to slack off in class in exchange for his silence.

  • Adaptational Curves: The Animation gives her a more prominent cleavage while in her maid outfit.
  • Almighty Janitor: A fairly mundane version- she can cook and make coffee as well as Sojiro,note  she can clean the bizarre garments recovered from the Metaverse, and she can even make Joker's infiltration tools (although she doesn't seem to question why the protagonist would need lockpicks and smoke bombs). The fact that someone so multi-talented is working as a simple high school teacher is mind-boggling, to say the least.
  • Apathetic Teacher: Upon first introduction, Kawakami gives this vibe. She's initially reluctant to take on Joker as a student because she considers having a delinquent student to be too big of a hassle. Even beyond that, she comes off as disinterested in her role as a teacher and reluctant to get invested in her students. Kawakami's Confidant reveals that the last student she took a personal investment in ended up dying in an accident after being overworked by his guardians, and Kawakami was blamed by both the school and the student's guardians for his death. Completion of her Confidant sees Kawakami develop into becoming a Cool Teacher once more.
  • The Atoner: She feels guilty about canceling her tutoring for her old student, Takase, once people started criticizing her for playing favorites, as well as buying into the labels people placed on him. For this reason, she pays money to his guardians until she decides that the best way to make up for it is to be as good of a teacher as possible. Unfortunately, the Takases have a different idea of what she needs to do to make amends, since they're incredibly greedy individuals which prevent her from being able to be a teacher.
  • Bad Liar: Her claim that she's using her side job as a maid to pay her sister's hospital bills seems decent enough when you first hear it. But if you mention it again, she'll be surprised you remembered, and after receiving another call from her blackmailers, she'll make up a vague excuse about her sister's condition without even naming the disease.
  • Big Sister Instinct: Moonlights as a Meido for a escort agency posing as a cleaning service after school in order to support her hospitalized younger sister. She later reveals that this is a lie. In reality, she is being financially exploited by guardians of a former deceased student.
  • Blackmail: At the former school that Sadayo used to teach at, she ended up tutoring one of her students who was struggling to stay caught up in class. The student was struggling because he also had a part-time job to support the debts his guardians were creating. The student ended up dying in a car accident and the guardians decided to push the blame onto Sadayo for "overworking" him, and have been exploiting her for money ever since.
  • Born Unlucky: When responding to a housekeeping request as part of her job as a Meido, she ends up meeting Joker. Thankfully, he doesn't take any malicious advantage of this and she's happy to serve him. However, she is also being blackmailed by the former guardians of a deceased student who extort her for money otherwise they'll pass her second job off as a sex worker. Thankfully, things look up for her if the Phantom Thieves reform the guardians and she resolves to be a great teacher.
  • Christmas Cake: Not in the stereotypical sense. Sadayo's second job in the maid service requires her to put on an sweet and naive act for her clients. Because she's older, this makes it harder for her to pull off, and as result, she doesn't get many customers. It's ultimately why she's okay with Joker using her service.
  • Contrived Coincidence: Out of all the maids as part of Victoria's Housekeeping that could've been observed in "Operation Maidwatch", her client was Joker, who even asked for a random maid. She even lampshades it:
    Kawakami: Did you request me specifically?
  • Cool Teacher:
    • At the start, stress from working two jobs left Kawakami relatively unmotivated as a teacher. Her backstory then reveals there's more to this than meets the eye. The last time she got personally invested in a student's success, he took on too heavy of a load and died in a car accident after she was forced to stop offering him tutoring. Her Confidant ultimately allows her to overcome this and reignites her passion for teaching.
    • Gameplay-wise, progressing in her Confidant will sometimes let Joker "slack off" in her class, allowing him to craft materials, read a book, get some sleep (which improves Joker's relationship with Kawakami), or quietly study on his own (which boosts his Knowledge). A later ability will randomly have her call other teachers out of their classrooms over the PA system, letting Joker potentially do the same in any class.
  • First Girl Wins: In a sense, if she is romanced. While her Confidant starts a bit later, namely midway through the Madarame arc, she is the first potential love interest that the player meets in the story.
  • Good Counterpart: Arguably to Kamoshida as both a teacher and a potential love interest, staying far away from anything that could be considered abuse towards her students, wether she's romantically involved with them or not, the relationship she could have with Joker is shown to be much normal than with Kamoshida and Ann or Shiho, being far more willing to let him do what he needs to do without her getting in the way.
  • Hidden Depths:
    • An optional hangout event with Ryuji at the fishing pond reveals she's into fishing, and very skilled at it.
    • Just about everything she does as a Meido indicates that she's pretty competent at anything she puts her mind to. Her problem is that she's spreading herself so thin, she never gets to show it off.
    • Not long after Kamoshida's confession after his change of heart, Kawakami actually tells her class that she feels guilty for turning a blind eye to Kamoshida's actions. Kawakami is explicitly the only faculty member who doesn't try to downplay it and express guilt over their own shortcomings.
  • Hot for Student: In the anime, she seductively offers Ren a message very early in her S.Link, unlike in the game where she must be maxed out to do this. She gets upset when he makes her do his laundry instead.
    Kawakami: ...What the hell?
  • Hot Teacher:
    • She's quite pretty, given her age. It's how she's able to keep working as a maid, even if she doesn't get as many calls as the younger maids do.
    • In episode 19 of the anime, she shows off her figure while taking selfies of herself in various swimsuits.
  • Implausible Deniability: When she goes into a coughing fit as a result of overworking herself, she tries to cover herself by complaining about the dust in the room. While the attic Joker uses as his bedroom is fairly dusty, it's easy to see that it's not what's causing her to cough.
  • The Ingenue: Invoked with her Becky persona; Sadayo is required to put on a peppy, cutesy personality. Her attempts at forcing it leads to a rather unsettling expression. She even admits with the right dialogue choice that she feels dumber whenever she does this. Averted with her actual personality otherwise, which is world-weary, perceptive, and professional.
  • In-Series Nickname: She uses the alias "Becky" when working her second job.
  • Luminescent Blush: If the protagonist accepts Ryuji's invitation to hang out at the fishing pond on July 3rd, they will run into Kawakami who's taken up fishing as stress relief. After she gives them some grief for spending time like old men and encroaching on her relaxing spot, the protagonist gets the chance to return the favor and stun the moonlighting Meido into blushing silence with one well-chosen word:
    Ryuji: Holy crap... Kawakami could be our master fisher, [Joker]. She's hookin' fish like crazy...! (...) She keeps gettin' fish even as she nags... I'm impressed!
    Joker: Call her "Master" Kawakami.
    Kawakami: [blushes] ... Once again, it's MS. Kawakami.
  • Meido: Dresses as one while moonlighting as a "health delivery" girl. After she quits the job, she still dresses that way to avoid being recognized as seeing a student outside of work, even lampshading the fact that they let her keep the costume after she quit. In gameplay terms, her Confidant abilities allow Joker to call for her services. Kawakami can make coffee, cook curry, do Joker's laundry, or make one infiltration tool without causing time to pass. If you Max out her Confidant, she'll also offer a special massage that re-invigorates you after an excursion into the Metaverse, allowing you to pursue nighttime activities that evening.
  • Mellow Fellow: Subverted Trope. She's fairly easy going and never loses her cool... in public. As soon as she feels free to do so, she collapses into an exhausted, miserable heap.
  • Messy Hair: Outside of her second job, her hair seems about as frizzy as Joker's.
  • Ms. Fanservice: In episode 19 of The Animation, she tries on various swimsuits while making rather provocative poses to herself.
  • My Beloved Smother: Played for Laughs in her platonic Rank 10 Confidant. Kawakami will start grilling Joker on needing to pick up a better diet and the state of his room. The player even has the option to respond with "you're not my mom", which she takes in stride.
  • Named After Somebody Famous: Sadayakko Kawakami was a famous Geisha who made it big in the States as an actress around the 1900 and founded the first school for actresses upon her return to Japan.
  • Nice Girl: Once you get past her weariness and cynicism (which are, for the greatest part, a consequence of stress and fatigue), Kawakami is a kind, noble woman who genuinely wants to do a good job as a teacher.
  • No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: The reason why she's taken a side job started when she decided to help tutor a struggling student instead of simply convincing him to transfer schools, after discovering the reason for his poor academic performance was because of covering for his guardians' debts. Kawakami was then accused of playing favorites and was threatened with firing, pressuring her into cancelling her tutoring sessions with him. Said student then died in an accident on the same day due to being exhausted from the tutoring sessions and his part-time jobs, and since then, his guardians have been blackmailing her for indirectly causing his death ever since. All this for just genuinely wanting to help a student.
  • Oh, Crap!: She has this reaction when the last people she wants to see, the guardians of her dead former student, show up in her hospital room to shake her down.
  • Parental Substitute: Less pronounced that Sojiro, but if you take the platonic route of Kawakami's confidant, she begins to dote on Joker, showing concern for his living condition and his diet. She also makes it known that she wants Joker to feel that he can rely on her as an authority figure and come to her if he ever needs help.
  • Permanently Missable Content: Her level 8 Confidant event takes place at school during the day, so if it hasn't been completed before Joker leaves school due to faking his death her Confidant link can't be completed.
  • Platonic Prostitution: She moonlights as a Meido-style "health delivery" girl, which is considered part of Japan's sex industry, but in a role closer to a stripper or hostess—officially, they don't have sex with clients, which would cross a red line. In her Confidant link proper, Joker can certainly ask for these "other services", but she refuses to do so. Of course, that all gets thrown out the window if the player chooses to romance her and she quits said job. The potential job transfer she considers taking toward the end of her Confidant link thoroughly averts this, however — they're not even trying to pretend it's not a call girl job. It also reveals that the company she works for is smart enough to have at least one division dedicated to being a legit maid service, with the actual call girl service being deemed a "sister" company. The Takases outright accuse her of being a sex worker after she tells them she won't pay them anymore, while threatening to sue her and the school.
  • Secret Keeper: Along with the usual Confidants knowing that Joker is a Phantom Thief case of this, Sadayo also plays a part during the Shido's Palace heist. After Joker fakes his death, Sadayo informs the other staff and students at Shujin that he's going back to his hometown for a month due to "family reasons" via info obtained from Sojiro, assisted by the fact that the Conspiracy did not release his name, allowing Joker to hide himself from the public before he reveals himself to Shido that he's still alive on their last Calling Card act.
  • Self-Deprecation: Kawakami has a habit of falling into this due to feeling ashamed about her second job and considers herself a "rotten" teacher. As you learn more about her backstory, it becomes apparent that ordeal of one of her students dying, the subsequent blackmail by the student's guardians, and the stress it's causing her over money are doing a number to her self-esteem.
  • Something Only They Would Say: Her recognising Mishima and Ryuji’s panicking in the anime is what confirms Ren’s suspicions about "Becky".
  • Stepford Smiler: Between her teaching and Maid career, Sadayo puts up the front of being carefree and upbeat despite the two jobs being a physical strain on her. And then it's revealed that she is being blackmailed by the guardians of one of her former students who passed away, which is the root of all her troubles and guilt.
  • Sure, Let's Go with That: The day after Joker finds out about her maid job during "Operation Maidwatch", she's being grilled by Ms. Chouno, who finds her sporadic timing of work hours suspicious. If Joker intervenes, Ms. Chouno thinks that it's because Kawakami gives him private lessons as support. She goes along with this, permanently getting Ms. Chouno off her back.
  • Teacher/Student Romance: Yes, you can actually romance her. That said, the idea of going out with her is deconstructed somewhat, in that she's legitimately concerned about the stigma, and she repeatedly urges Joker to put it on hold until he graduates - outright telling him I Will Wait for You at the end of the game. It's also played with during her penultimate rank up event: if you choose to pursue her, you have to respond affirmatively two more times to romance her; answer with a platonic choice even once, and this gets averted.
  • The Tease: In The Animation, Kawakami actually propositions Ren several times, offering her some of her extended services like massages and actually gets disappointed when he doesn't take her up on her offer. This is a far cry from the game where, even after coming to an agreement she's still conflicted over Joker requesting her services.
  • They Call Me Mister Tibbs: During an optional hangout event with Ryuji at the fishing pond, she repeatedly reminds Ryuji to refer to her as Ms. Kawakami.
  • Took a Level in Kindness: Early on, Sadayo actually doesn't want Joker to be one of her students because of the all the rumors surrounding him. After he stands up to Kamoshida, she starts to warm up to him.
  • Unkempt Beauty: She usually looks like she has a serious bedhead going on, and her clothes aren't the nicest or most well-kept, but she's still quite pretty.
  • Verbal Backspace: If you call her over to do your laundry, she'll be annoyed that you called her just for that, but quickly transitions into cheerily charging you the standard 5,000 yen. She also does this when she's about to complain about Joker's filthy attic room.

    Ichiko Ohya (Devil)
"Hey, how 'bout we do this... You supply me with info on the Phantom Thieves and I'll write articles based on what you tell me about them."

Arcana: XV. Le Diable (The Devil)
Arcana Bonus: Decreased alert levels, increased alert level reduction from successful ambushes.
Voiced by: Yumi Uchiyama (JP), Amanda Winn-Lee (EN)

A gossipy reporter for a tabloid newspaper, Ichiko Ohya first encounters the Thieves while they're staking out the home of Ichiryuusai Madarame. Once they decide to target Junya Kaneshiro, they decide to seek her out in the hopes that she has dirt on the mob boss, finding her at the Crossroads Bar in Shinjuku. After some negotiating, she agrees to help the protagonist in exchange for an inside scoop on the Thieves.

  • Ambiguously Bi: Joker can enter a relationship with her, but she also spends a lot of time at a drag bar, and the way she talks about her old partner bears some romantic undertones.
  • Christmas Cake: Part of the reason Ohya's editor is skeptical of her Undercover as Lovers ruse with Joker is he believes that Ohya is too over the hill to attract a younger guy.
  • Clear Their Name: Ohya used to work with a photographer named Kayo in exposing political corruption. One night, their latest target — whom Kayo had been tailing — turned up dead in a love hotel, and Kayo disappeared, leading the police to believe she'd been involved. Ohya was moved to the entertainment section ostensibly for the sake of protecting her reputation, but as her boss continually interferes with her personal investigation of the case, it becomes clear that Kayo was set up to take the fall for the real killer, a member of Shido's conspiracy. At the end of her Confidant, she's putting together a case to prove Kayo's innocence. At the end of the game, she also does this for Joker to try and get him out of juvenile hall if the player finishes her Confidant, going so far as to visit his hometown and staying up all night questioning people about his character and circumstances around his initial arrest.
  • Fun T-Shirt: Ichiko's reads "Low Life Fight the Power" in a graffiti-styled font.
  • Generic Cuteness: In her Undercover as Lovers ruse to her boss, he expresses skepticism because she's allegedly not pretty enough to attract a guy like Joker. She'll say something similar if romanced. Her animation model doesn't depict her as being anything but an attractive skinny girl in a t-shirt and jeans.
  • Going for the Big Scoop: She did this in the past, but it got a friend of hers fired after she was arrested for murder. It was actually a set-up by the Conspiracy when Ohya's reporter friend got too close. Completing Ohya's Confidant will have her continue her friend's work, even though what she might uncover won't be pretty.
  • Hard-Drinking Party Girl: She leaves the strongest impression on Joker and Morgana when they meet up in a bar to trade intel on Junya Kaneshiro (who is, at this point, an unnamed mafia boss) and The Phantom Thieves of Hearts. Several times when the player addresses her, especially early on in her Confidant, she's visibly drunk.
  • Hidden Depths: She used to be a political reporter, but stopped for some reason. It's because her old partner started digging for the truth and got in trouble.
  • I Can't Believe a Guy Like You Would Notice Me: Ichiko's well aware that she's not exactly the prettiest girl in town and has some unflattering habits to match, so she reacts with skepticism when a young, charismatic stud like Joker shows genuine interest in someone like her — even stating how she's already resigned to the all-likelihood that he'll end up dumping her sooner or later. Nonetheless, she's very happy and hopes to make the most of their time together while it lasts.
  • Intrepid Reporter: A somewhat less-than moral example than most.
  • It's All My Fault: Her former partner, Kayo, actually started out working on children's books and nature magazines before Ohya convinced her to start covering political scandals. As a result, she feels responsible for Kayo's disappearance and the fact that she's wanted by the police, as well as her suffering a mental shutdown and needing to be institutionalized.
  • Knowledge Broker: Her role for the Phantom Thieves. Notably, she provided them with the name of the criminal responsible of the blackmailing schemes going around Shibuya, allowing the Phantom Thieves to target Kaneshiro.
  • Named After Somebody Famous: Sōichi Ōya, an acclaimed Japanese journalist and essayist best known for documenting the popular culture of early-to-mid-20th-century Japan.
  • Not-So-Small Role: In a sense, her Confidant is a little more plot-relevant than most of the other optional ones, as the culprit in the murder that her partner was framed for was a member of Shido's conspiracy, and her partner became a mental shutdown victim. Depending on how early the player does her Confidant, this could be their first hint that Shido is going to be a major antagonist.
  • Obfuscating Stupidity: It's implied by the end of her Confidant that Ohya had always known that Joker was a Phantom Thief because he was so obvious.
  • Precision F-Strike: During her Rank 5 event, when recounting how her partner was falsely accused of murder without any evidence, she claims that "it's pretty damn fucked up to make allegations like that without any evidence!"
  • Twisting the Words: How she gets more sales.
  • Undercover as Lovers: During her Confidant, to convince her Chief that she's not trying to continue a case left by her missing partner, Ichiko instead tells him that the thing she is trying to keep discreet is the fact that she's dating the under-aged Protagonist.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: With Lala Escargot. Ohya often teases Lala, and in return, gets criticized for being The Alcoholic, but Lala is one of the few people besides Joker that Ohya trusts.
  • What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: Her Confidant abilities are typically considered the least useful, since the game's stealth elements aren't particularly difficult.


    Shinya Oda (Tower)
"Are you taking this seriously!? You gotta focus on your second shot!"

Arcana: XVI. La Maison Dieu (The Tower)
Arcana Bonus: Instant knockdown ability, increased gun ammo, pre-battle damage to enemies, reduced enemy gun resistance.
Voiced by: Aki Kanada (JP), Barbara Goodson (EN)

After receiving a request to change the heart of a trolling cheater in the popular online shooter "Gun About," the thieves discover that the cheater's belief that he's invincible in the game makes him impossible to harm in the cognitive world. To defeat him, the protagonist is directed to the one person who has beaten him in the game — Shinya Oda, Akihabara's infamous "Gamer King" and a huge Phanboy.

  • Abusive Parents: His mother is a somewhat emotional one. Due to the lack of her husband, she is very hostile and aggressive in everything she perceives as a threat and encourages her son to do the same to be strong, which has caused him to become obsessed with winning. She's the target whose heart you must change in Mementos before you can complete Shinya's Confidant.
  • The Bully: Purposefully subverted. While he is on the route of being one due to his hostility, he's actually a good kid who's following harmful advice from his mother and one of the things you do is to permanently steer him off this path.
  • Child Prodigy: He is regarded as one due to his proficiency in an online shooter game.
  • Cool Big Bro: The essence of the relationship the protagonist develops with him, he slowly treats the protagonist like an older sibling he can confide in. He actually lampshades it within the middle of your route.
  • Curb-Stomp Battle: On the receiving end of one against Takekuma in his fourth rank (though that was due to him cheating), which is a big impetus of his later Character Development. Then reversed when Takekuma is effortlessly beaten by Shinya in the final rank.
  • Drill Sergeant Nasty: His preview trailer has him relentlessly criticize the protagonist's performance, and the narration even suggests that he treats this like a boot camp.
  • Four Is Death: Shinya loses his first Gun About game during - you guessed it - the fourth rank of his social link, befitting of his role as The Tower confidant.
  • Guns Akimbo: In his first gaming session, he's shown wielding two Gun About controllers simultaneously, thereby essentially playing as two players at once.
  • Hero-Worshipper: He's a big fan of the Phantom Thieves and only begins teaching you after you convince him you know the Phantom Thieves personally by having Futaba hack the logo onto the top of the Gun About website.
  • I Just Want to Be Badass: He wants to be strong like the Phantom Thieves. Interestingly enough, changing this is part of his Character Development as he still admires them, but for their morality and doing the right thing instead of their ability to kick ass and take names.
  • I Know Mortal Kombat: His skill with light gun games means that he can teach the protagonist how to be better with guns. This includes a technique that knocks opponents down at the cost of all your bullets (and the cost becomes lower through your Confidant arc with him) or a surprise shooting attack with your comrades. At Rank 10 of his Confidant, he'll be such a good teacher that he teaches Joker how to ignore enemy gun resistance.
  • Jerkass Realization: He undergoes this when one of the kids he bullied tells him that he deserves to be judged by the Phantom Thieves.
  • Mouthy Kid: While he can get harsh when he's teaching the protagonist how to shoot, he does give praise where it's due.
  • Named After Somebody Famous: Oda Nobunaga was an infamous warlord at the end of the Sengoku period. He was known for a fondness for and skillful application of firearms, like Shinya's knack for shooting games. Nobunaga was said to be a precocious brat in his youth, and many recorded him to be somewhat rude or insulting in person, though he respected competent people. Sound familiar?
  • Nice Hat: He wears a red cap that says "Get Smoked".
  • No Fair Cheating: Joker initiates his Confidant when he needs help reforming a target in Mementos who is known for his cheating; this bled into his Shadow, who dodges all of the party's attacks when they first respond to him.
  • Red Baron: People call him "The King" because of his incredible skill at Gun About.
  • Sore Loser: When a popular E-Sports player by the name of Takekuma beats him at Gun About, Shinya flips and ends up challenging him to 10 rematches in a row, all of which he loses. While it late turns out that Takekuma was cheating, Shinya losing his composure causes no one to believe him when he accuses Takekuma of cheating.
  • Sugar-and-Ice Personality: He's actually a pretty decent kid, but his personality does a 180 when he's playing a game.
  • Trademark Favorite Food: His favorite food is hamburger steak. His mom makes it for him after the Phantom Thieves reform her as part of her way of apologizing to him for her bad parenting as of late.
  • "Well Done, Son!" Guy: His harshness is because he is trying to follow his mother's footsteps in what she defines as being strong. He overcomes this when he realizes his mother is in the wrong and is quite happy when his mom is reformed.

    Hifumi Togo (Star)
"It's checkmate no matter how you look at it."

Arcana: XVII. L'Étoile (The Star)
Arcana Bonus: Mid-battle party swap, increased follow-up attacks, easier escapes, extra money on ambushes.
Voiced by: Tomomi Isomura (JP), Eden Riegel (EN)

A professional Shōgi player who attends Kosei High School, renowned for both her skill and beauty. She teaches Joker a number of skills in battle, such as switching party members mid-battle.

  • Adorkable: Downplayed, but it's there. Hifumi tends to have a narrow comfort zone outside of shogi - where she's almost hot-blooded when playing - and while she usually remains composed, she can quickly become surprised. Even when being romanced, she can only stammer that she hopes she'll become worthy of Joker before wondering what she's saying, along with discovering that while she's not a Lethal Chef, she's not gifted at cooking either.
  • All the Other Reindeer: Hifumi reveals that the reason she plays Shogi by herself in church is because she's been ostracized by other shogi players her age. Hifumi is the source of resentment because she's been be propped on a pedestal as "the face of shogi" and her contemporaries can't stand her for it. This later takes a darker turn when it's revealed that Hifumi's mother has been fixing her matches, leaving the implication that the others resented Hifumi because they believed she was actively taking advantage of the fixes and buying her own hype.
  • Ambiguously Christian: She hangs out at a church, is named after a Catholic Shogi player, and her hair ornament could easily be seen as a type of trinity knot. However, none of her dialogue reflects any sort of faith or religion in particular.
  • Brainless Beauty: Invoked, discussed at length, and deconstructed. Hifumi is very bitter at people assuming she's become famous more due to her good looks than shogi skills, and is resentful of her mom's attempts to slowly transition her from a professional player to a model. She struggles to prove that she's a great player on her own right, planning to win in the big competition so that people finally realize she's got brains, too, which is why she is so shocked to find out that her mom has been rigging her games in her favor. In other words, Hifumi's assurance that her detractors are just jealous or wrong and that she really is smart, rather than just beautiful, was founded on victories she didn't really earn. When she enters the big competition and refuses to play by her mom's rules, Reality Ensues and the opponent wipes the floor with her... Leading to her resolving to become a truly great shogi player this time around.
  • Chuunibyou: When playing Shogi, Hifumi likes to envision the board as a battlefield with herself serving as the Queen to her pieces, which results in imperious dialogue and naming her moves. It was the way her father taught her how to play, though she's actually still a bit self-conscious about it.
  • Clap Your Hands If You Believe: Her talent may be fake, but the strategic abilities her bond grants Joker in battle are very real. (Well, it is Mementos.)
  • Contractual Purity: Invoked Trope, Hifumi's mother shoots down the idea of Hifumi and Joker dating because it would ruin the Shogi Idol image that she is trying to cultivate.
  • Daddy's Girl: Implied early on, Hifumi states that it was her dad who taught her how to play shogi and even encourage her theatrics. The reason why Hifumi puts up with her mother's Stage Mom decisions is because she wants to support her sick father.
  • Demoted to Extra: Was originally conceived as one of the Phantom Thieves (specifically as a more radical strategist compared to Makoto), but deadlines were quickly approaching and the game's development was taking too long note , as well as the fact that a subplot for Hifumi would have made the game's story too long (a typical first playthrough for the final game is over 100 hours). Not wanting to throw away the character design, she was reworked into a Confidant.
  • Dude Magnet: She has tons of male fans, and often gets approached by them.
  • Fanservice Model: In addition to being a shogi player, she's also a gravure model, which she absolutely loathes being.
  • Gameplay and Story Integration: A very downplayed example but this is how her Arcana bonuses work. During her Confidant scenes, the Phantom first plays Shogi puzzle games with her so she can study obscure moves; this raises the Phantom's strategic knowledge. Fittingly enough, you learn how to escape battles immediately in the same event in which Hifumi forfeits a match for the first time.
  • Graceful Loser: She believes in accepting defeat with grace and dignity. This is why she forfeits the important match against a professional shogi player when it turns out he's way too strong for her.
    Hifumi: One must lose with grace... With dignity until the very end, as a queen should...
  • Hair Decorations: She wears a red ornament styled like a three-leaf clover in her hair.
  • Hime Cut: Has long black hair in this style.
  • Humble Hero: Despite her fame, Hifumi is very down-to-earth and is actually embarrassed by all the media attention that she has received.
  • Large Ham: She gets intense while playing Shogi. Apparently, she learned these mannerisms from her dad, who also plays shogi.
  • Locked Out of the Loop: Hifumi is left in the dark that her mother has been fixing all of her Shogi matches.
  • Mentor Ship: Downplayed example; at the protagonist's request, Hifumi takes him on as her Shogi protege, teaching him how to play and tutoring him in battle strategies. She can also potentially be romanced. Despite that, she actually gets embarrassed anytime the protagonist refers to her as master.
  • Money Multiplier: After reaching Rank 7 in her Confidant, the Narikin ability, referring to the promotion of a naru piece into a major or gold piece, doubles the amount of money the Thieves earn from a fight if they successfully ambush a Shadow and finish it in one turn.
  • Ms. Fanservice: In A Magical Valentine's Day OVA, she spends her Valentine's with Joker in her swimwear, complete with a few instances of Male Gaze from Joker's point of view.
  • Named After Somebody Famous: Her name is derived from Hifumi Kato, who's a well-known 9-dan shogi player in Japan.
  • No Celebrities Were Harmed: Her appearance and reputation as a gorgeous and skilled female shogi player is likely based off of Manao Kagawa, who is renowned for her beauty (remarkable mostly because she was very plain-looking and a rather boyish in her teenage years) and is one of a handful of female shogi players to hold professional status.
  • Propaganda Hero: Due to her winning streak in Shogi, Hifumi has become something as an idol and is essentially The Face of Female Shogi players. As it turns out, unbeknownst to Hifumi, her mother has been fixing her shogi matches to quicken her rise to fame. Hifumi, noticing in retrospect that her opponents had made careless mistakes at convenient times, comes to realize that she's not as good of a shogi player as she initially believed.
  • Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: Is black-haired and very pale skinned.
  • Red Baron: Hifumi's publicly known as "Beautiful Shogi Player" for her beauty while being a skilled shogi player. At the end of her Confidant, it's instead inverted, she's instead known as the "Phony Princess". She's fine with her reputation crashing down, though, and sees it as a chance to start fresh on her own terms.
  • Reluctant Fanservice Girl: An off-screen, yet still prominent Deconstruction. At one point in her Confidant, she will angrily tell Joker that she didn't start playing shogi to become an idol.
  • Stage Mom: She has one, but not for her shogi. Instead, Hifumi's mother wants her to be a gravure idol and get the most out of her youth when she could not. It's also because Hifumi's father played shogi to the point that he became extremely ill, and her mother doesn't want her to suffer the same fate, in spite of Hifumi's wishes. Her Mementos mission name references this trope by name.
  • The Strategist: She teaches the player how to perform strategic maneuvers like swapping party members in and out of a fight, escaping while surrounded by enemies, and giving party members a chance to follow-up on attacks if Joker downs an enemy.
  • Symbol Motif Clothing: Her uniform's blazer has a star as part of the school crest.
  • Theme Naming: Her given name translates to "one two three" while her mother Mitsuyo's translates to "three four".
  • Trying Not to Cry: Of the potential romances, Hifumi definitely takes it the hardest when she learns that Joker will be moving back home in a month during their Valentine's date. Hifumi's voice cracks quite a few times as she tries to recompose herself.
  • Zettai Ryouiki: Grade C.

    Yuuki Mishima (Moon)
"It's not just Japan anymore. The whole world's waiting to see the Phantom Thieves' next move."

Arcana: XVIII. La Lune (The Moon)
Arcana Bonus: EXP bonuses, increased EXP earned by party members not participating in battle.
Voiced by: Daisuke Sakaguchi (JP), Sean Chiplock (EN)

One of the protagonist's homeroom classmates and a member of the volleyball team. At Kamoshida's behest, he was forced to spread nasty rumors about the protagonist to speed along his expulsion, but eventually turned on the abusive coach when things went too far. After Kamoshida's sudden change of heart, he deduces Ryuji and Joker's identities, and does his best to support them as the owner and admin of their official fansite.

  • Accidental Misnaming: Futaba keeps calling him "Nishima".
  • Acquired Situational Narcissism: Though he admits he was always motivated on some level by boosting his own status just as much as the Phantom Thieves', the growing popularity of the Phan-site exacerbates this across his Confidant line, peaking with him brazenly suggesting that the Phantom Thieves purge the nonbelievers. It gets to the point where they literally go into Mementos to talk sense into his Shadow, though he manages to avoid requiring a fight or a formal change of heart, realizing the error of his ways of his own volition.
  • Adorkable: Played With. While he's awkward and shy, it makes him come off as being needy and oblivious to the wants of other people. Even Joker doesn't seem to have a lot of patience for the guy. He gets better after you have a heart-to-heart chat with his Shadow in Mementos.
  • Apologizes a Lot: Due to his passive and submissive nature, he tends to apologize whenever he feels like he's being an inconvenience to others.
  • The Atoner: He works to make up for doing Kamoshida's bidding, such as spreading rumors about Joker. And again after his little power trip from managing the Phansite, after which he vows to continue using the Phansite to help people as it was originally intended to.
  • Because You Were Nice to Me: Becomes the Phantom Thieves' Knowledge Broker because Joker and Ryuji defended him against Kamoshida.
  • Best Friend: He definitely sees Joker this way. It's up to you whether Joker reciprocates.
  • Big Damn Heroes: As the Phantom Thieves are on the verge of losing to the Demiurge, Mishima rallies the people of Tokyo (including the other Confidants) to cheer for the Thieves, giving them the strength to continue fighting and allowing Joker to summon his Ultimate Persona, Satanael.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: A downplayed example. While Mishima still remains meek and passive throughout Joker's confidant, as the confidant progresses, he begins showing a more nastier and arrogant side to him to the point he wants Joker to change the hearts of the Phantom Thieves' critics. He eventually grows out of it on his own after Joker confronts his shadow.
  • Boring, but Practical: His Confidant skills are all based around increasing the amount of experience the party gains, as well as making it possible the entire party to get experience even when not fighting. Its the least interactive Confidant skill set in the game, but it is also the most consistently useful one thanks ensuring the party stays together in terms of levels. Plus the fact that Mishima is, excluding automatically leveling up Confidants like Sae, one of the easiest Confidants to level up in the game, means that you can miss almost all the other Confidants and still be able to beat the game without much trouble.
  • Born Unlucky: He is defined by his terrible luck.
  • Butt-Monkey: The poor guy really can't catch a break. In fact, he outright states to Joker that he's always been the butt of jokes and just kind of came to accept it until the Phantom Thieves came into the picture.
  • Covert Pervert: It's implied that when he's not working on the Phansite, he hangs out on some rather family-unfriendly websites. Notably, when he hears that Futaba spends a lot of time on the internet, his immediate reaction is to wonder aloud if she's a camgirl.
  • Early-Bird Cameo: He appeared and talked in cutscenes shown in the trailers before being formally introduced. Considering his fairly integral role in providing sidequests, this isn't terribly surprising in retrospect.
  • Experience Booster/Leaked Experience: His bonuses are increasing experience gained by the party and allowing backup party members to gain experience.
  • Extreme Doormat: He was essentially Kamoshida's whipping boy, but his Confidant reveals that he had pretty much always been this in his previous school and was receptive of the bullying he received because he believed it was simply his lot in life. His Shadow actually blames the Phantom Thieves for his sudden power trip, since it wasn't until they showed up that he finally realized he had more to offer than just being everyone's punching bag.
  • Failed a Spot Check: Like Ryuji, he had plain sight of "Becky's" face during "Operation Maidwatch", failing to recognise her as Kawakami.
  • The Friend Nobody Likes: Some of your party members don't have a lot of patience for Mishima. Morgana pretty much rolls his eyes whenever you receive a text from him not related to a new Target, Ann would rather he not know she's a Phantom Thief, and Futaba pretty bluntly calls him an NPC. On the other hand, Ryuji genuinely likes him and while Joker seems to be exasperated by him, he does care for him. He hasn't been seen interacting with Makoto nor Haru though he does interact with Yusuke at one point.Downplayed however in that his role in the Phantom Thieves plays a pivotal role in the end, and the group genuinely appreciates his research into Targets for them to go after in Mementos. Furthermore, he becomes one of Joker's earliest friends and helps create the Phantom Thieves. The group does value him enough to be concerned for him when it begins going to his head. Also deconstructed since it's likely that his Shadow began forming as a result of feeling resentful of not really feeling part of them.
  • Gameplay and Story Integration: Mishima sees himself as the unofficial PR person for the Phantom Thieves, being the admin of their Phan-site. Naturally, the bonuses his Confidant offers allows them to work better as unit and grow: increasing the amount of EXP active and passive members gain from Battle.
  • The Generic Guy: "Overwhelmingly forgettable appearance, generic speech style, and total lack of sex appeal," as Futaba eloquently describes him. Poor lad desperately just wants a little bit of love, but with a presence like his, it's an uphill battle.
  • Hartman Hips: A rare male example; his sweater bunches at the waist, creating the impression of wide hips. His design even caused a bit of Viewer Gender Confusion when he was first shown in Famitsu scans.
  • Heel Realization: Even after he starts treading a bad path, he seems to be aware of it and even asks the protagonist if the Phantom Thieves are going to come after his heart too. It's thanks to this that they're able to avoid a fight with his Shadow, since he already knew what he was doing was wrong.
  • Hero-Worshipper: Towards the main character. Chihaya even notes, after running into the two while shopping for electronics, that Mishima seems less like a friend and more like a fanboy. Something Mishima doesn't even try to deny.
  • Honorary True Companion: Somewhat subverted. Mishima angles for this role by becoming the administrator of the Phantom Phansite, but despite his efforts, never actually becomes part of the Thieves' inner-circle and only manages to befriend two of them (Joker and Ryuji).
  • I Just Want to Be Special: He was a nobody in middle school, so his sudden rise in self-confidence is a fairly recent development. This desire influences his running the website more than he'd like to admit. This is also presumably why, despite his lack of athletic potential and status as Kamoshida's whipping boy, he stuck with the volleyball team and its abuse.
  • I Read It for the Articles: He claims that his involvement in "Operation Maidwatch" is purely for the investigation of Victoria's Housekeeping Service to see if they're a legit business and not a scam.
  • I Should Write a Book About This: By the end of his Confidant and the end of the game, Mishima expresses interest in making a documentary or writing a biography about the Phantom Thieves.
  • Keet: After Kamoshida's defeat, he's a much more upbeat person, especially when the Phantom Thieves are the subject of discussion.
  • Knowledge Broker: His primary role is to provide sidequests for the party to take on.
  • Last-Name Basis: He's referred to by his last name, and generally does the same for others.
  • Meaningful Name: He's named after Yukio Mishima, one of the preeminent Japanese authors of the 20th century noted for writing a number of Picaresque stories. In fact, his first novel was titled Thieves. His given name means "courage," a concept that's central to his character arc.
  • Must Not Die a Virgin: He's pretty desperate. When he overhears Joker and Ryuji planning to call a sketchy "maid" service, he outright demands that he be let in on it, and he also gets really excited when Joker arranges for him to meet up with Ohya, thinking that it's a blind date when in reality Ohya is just a reporter who wants to interview him. He also seems disappointed when Futaba says she's just gonna head home after having dinner with him and Joker, as if he was expecting to bring her home with him.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: After Shiho attempts suicide, Mishima immediately realizes what happened when he called her in to see Kamoshida the previous day, and runs from the scene.
  • My Greatest Failure: At the coercion of Kamoshida, Yuuki is actually the one responsible for spreading the nasty rumors about the Protagonist. Feeling guilty over this, Yuuki makes up for it by supporting the Phantom Thieves.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero!: His idea to add a "target poll" to the Phansite so users can suggest potential targets to the Phantom Thieves ends up playing a part in the plans of The Conspiracy upon finding out, so they spam it with requests to target Okumura so they can frame them for his mental shutdown later.
  • Nice Guy: He's an overall an easy-going, decent, and earnest guy, even though his insecurities and newfound influence start influencing him negatively.
  • The Reliable One: He may have his faults, but Yuuki Mishima is steadfast, loyal and dependable when it comes to supporting the Phantom Thieves. In fact, according to [[Word of God the anthology'', he was designed to be the "grounded" member of the Phantom Thieves.
  • The Scapegoat: For Kamoshida, who has him spread rumors about the protagonist. When confronted, Kamoshida has the temerity to try to have Mishima expelled for revealing confidential information.
  • Secret Keeper: He is at least partially aware of who the Phantom Thieves really are, near-immediately pointing as much out to Joker's face. During the Medjed/Futaba arc, it's shown that he also knows that Ryuji is one of the thieves.
  • Secretly Selfish: His intentions in creating the Phansite aren't entirely noble, as they're rooted in his own insecurities. His Confidant is about dealing with his issues.
  • Small Name, Big Ego: Played With. His self-confidence was non-existent prior to creating the Phansite, but the power of managing the site quickly goes to his head. Furthermore, he tries to influence the Thieves to start going after their critics. Joker is able to get him back down to Earth and the fact his Shadow was already somewhat admitting this shows Mishima was already pretty aware of his issues.
  • Spanner in the Works: During the final battle against Yaldabaoth, Yuuki begins cheering on the Phantom Thieves despite all hope being lost and nobody else believing in the Thieves. This inspires everyone else to begin cheering the Thieves on, restoring belief in them, which encourages the Thieves to stand up and empowers the Protagonist with his Ultimate Persona, Satanael. This doesn't work out if Joker doesn't progress much in his Confidant.
  • Throw the Dog a Bone: If you spend Valentine's day alone with Ryuji, the latter notes that he expected Mishima to join them, leading him and the protagonist to the realization that the poor guy finally got a date. Naturally, they declare him a traitor for this.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Over the course of his confidant, he develops from someone who lacked the courage to stand up to Kamoshida to someone who'd risk his life on a bluff to save someone who bullied him.
  • Took a Level in Jerkass: Initially a very meek and awkward teenager who has dealt with bullying throughout most of his school life, he becomes increasingly self-centered and big-headed as you progress through his Confidant, outright threatening users who badmouth the Phantom Thieves in his forum. Ultimately, the Phantom Thieves decide to track down his Shadow in Mementos and give him a dressing down.
  • Undying Loyalty: Even if you don't complete his Confidant Mishima is apologetically a Phantom Thieves fanboy through and through, even after the public turns against them when they get framed for President Okumura's death.
  • The Unfought: You don't actually fight his Shadow, as he's able to realize how wrongful his actions were all on his own, with just a little encouragement from Joker.
  • Video Game Cruelty Potential:
    • While there's plenty of opportunities to be rude to the other Confidants, most players will avoid them because those answers tend to yield fewer affinity points. Mishima's Confidant is solely leveled up through Mementos missions however, so you're basically being incentivized to be as Brutally Honest as possible. Heck, Brutal Honesty is quite often the nicest way you can respond to him.
    • Shortly after the start of Ohya's confidant, Joker gives her Mishima's contact information to learn more about the Phantom Thieves. When following up with Mishima about it afterwards, Joker can then lie and tell him he's setting him up on a date with an older woman.
  • Walking Spoiler: Most Confidants require you to change the heart of someone in Mementos in order to progress their links. Who's the one you have to change for Yuuki's? Yuuki himself, although he has his change of heart all on his own and you never have to fight him. It doesn't even count as an actual Mementos trip!

    Toranosuke Yoshida (Sun)
"The next generation will lead us into the future, and yet they have no plan for how to arrive there!"

Arcana: XIX. Le Soleil (The Sun)
Arcana Bonus: Chance to skip negotiation, chance for better negotiation rewards.
Voiced by: Keiichi Noda (JP), William Salyers (EN)

A former member of the Diet who was forced to resign after a series of political scandals twenty years ago. Since then, he's been reduced to giving speeches on a soapbox in Shibuya Square, having lost seven straight elections. Despite all of this hardship, he remains determined to make a difference and give the people of Japan a voice.

  • The Atoner: Yoshida originally entered politics for personal gain, but years of self-reflection and loss of reputation has made him strive to become a Diet member again for the sake of helping others, and admits he's ashamed of the person he used to be.
  • Awesomeness by Analysis: In the final stages of his link, he reveals that he deduced Joker's Secret Identity on his own simply through observing his mannerisms and seeing him as someone who has experienced injustice, which coincide with the ideas of the Phantom Thieves.
  • Break the Haughty: He initially entered politics for his own self-gain, but his decades of failure taught him to empathize with the struggles of the weak, transforming him into someone who genuinely cares about reforming the world.
  • Brutal Honesty: He tells Joker that he was ousted from his position for three reasons, one of which was calling the voters "idiots" during a public appearance, in which he was supposed to apologize for his misbehavior.
  • Cool Old Guy: He's one of the oldest Confidants (probably late 40s/early 50s), and runs on a sincere and progressive political platform aimed at helping the younger generation succeed in life. Also an example of a honest good politician amongst the seas of evil or corrupt politicians Joker encounters in his adventures. Indeed, most of Yoshida's followers are young folks.
  • Earn Your Happy Ending: If you max out his Confidant, he gets elected, and will message Joker with the good news on the same night as Shido's confession. He returns the favor by rallying the National Diet to help get Joker out of juvie in the epilogue.
  • Embarrassing Nickname: He's known as "No-Good Tora"note  to the few people that even remember his time as a Dietman. In the early stages of his Confidant, it causes him to lose his composure. By the end, he's able to overcome it.
  • The Final Temptation: Towards the end of his Confidant, a powerful incumbent Dietman offers Yoshida the chance to expose his corrupt former mentor, the true culprit behind the scandal that destroyed his career, in exchange for Yoshida becoming that Dietman's personal assistant. Yoshida turns him down because he will accept nothing less than getting into the Diet himself and on his own merits, and you get maximum Confidant points for agreeing with him that this is the right decision.
  • Heroic Self-Deprecation: Over two decades of consecutive losses in elections from people not forgiving him for his actions as "No-Good Tora" have greatly diminished his self-esteem, to the point at which he isn't even confident in his public speaking skills. As his Confidant progresses, his confidence is gradually restored and thanks Joker for helping him recapture his lost conviction.
  • His Own Worst Enemy: Though the embezzlement scandal has a big part in his inability to be elected, it's clear that Yoshida's real trouble is his lack of self-esteem making him hesitate. Fittingly, once Yoshida is able to believe in himself again thanks to Joker's moral support, he's able to resolve his troubles on his own with his words alone.
  • Intergenerational Friendship: With Joker. It's also implied that his few supporters are mostly local youths.
  • The Mentor: Towards Joker; his Confidant sees Tora taking Joker under his wing and training him on being a politician. Plays even straighter if you have Joker show a legitimate interest in becoming a politician.
  • Named After Somebody Famous: Torajiro Yoshida, an intellectual in late Edo Japan who mentored and inspired many of the activists of the Meiji Restoration.
  • Never Live It Down: Invoked. The biggest reason for his lack of political success — nobody is willing to forgive him for his gaffes twenty years ago despite having changed. Despite the fact that the embezzlement wasn't his fault. However, his mentor is exposed in the final stage of his Confidant, which clears Yoshida's name. If rank 10 is reached, the same night Shido is elected Prime Minister, Yoshida is finally re-elected to the Diet.
  • Nice Guy: By the time Joker meets him, he's become a kind and honest man who sincerely wants the best for his city. He will also thank Joker at every opportunity for sticking by him.
  • No Party Given: It's not indicated which political party of Japan he belongs to, but it's mentioned that he's running as an independent candidate.
  • Permanently Missable Content: His Confidant can't be progressed further after the Thieves send their calling card to the penultimate Palace because it requires that Joker make public appearances which he can't after faking his death.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: If his Confidant is maxed out, he becomes the Phantom Thieves’s link to the Diet Building as he gets elected. Should this happen, this comes into play when Tora rallies everyone at the Diet to help get Joker out of juvie.
  • Rousing Speech: His Confidant link improves the player's ability to negotiate with Shadows, allowing them to ask for more money, increase the chances of getting rare items, and outright mind controlling them to increase their chances of becoming your Persona. He also gives a rather touching one after he deduces the Joker is one of the Phantom Thieves. By the end of his Confidant, he's drawing huge crowds to his speeches to nearly universal acclaim.
    Yoshida: Does anyone out there have something they aspire to do? I met a certain young man. Through a method that differs from mine, he was trying to reform the world. As you know, that is a very large mountain to cross. Unfortunately, I am unable to travel the same path as him. However, I will not say goodbye, because we will surely meet at the peak. He is desperately doing what he aspires to do. So I encourage you all, please find what it is that you aspire to do. And I will support you. Because that is what I aspire to do.
  • Stealing from the Till: He admits to taking public funds for his own use, although surprisingly enough, this was only his second strike. Except it wasn't. He was merely Taking the Heat for his mentor, who did commit the crime. Completing his Confidant will have his mentor's role in the crime be revealed, ultimately clearing Yoshida's name.
  • Theme Naming: "Tora" means tiger, which means both he and Shido are named after big cats. It may have been unintentional, but Toranosuke is quite the contrast to the lion-themed Shido.
  • Took a Level in Kindness: He used to be an aspiring politician in his younger days, but got fired from his job due to him missing an important meeting for a personal vacation, using political funds for personal use, although he turned out to be framed for this, and calling the voters "idiots" in a public appearance meant to address the previous issues. By the time Joker meets him, however, Yoshida has become a very Nice Guy following years of self-reflection and Character Development.

    Sae Niijima (Judgment)
"When and where did you hear about that world? How is it even possible to steal another's heart? Now, tell me your account of everything. ...Start from the very beginning."

Arcana: XX. Le Jugement (Judgment)
Arcana Bonus: True Justice. Explanation (Major Spoilers!) 
Voiced by: Yuko Kaida (JP), Elizabeth Maxwell (EN)

Makoto Niijima's older sister and the public prosecutor in charge of the Phantom Thieves case. She became Makoto's sole guardian after the death of their parents and while she does care for her, she secretly resents her as Makoto has the freedom to choose what to do with her life while she is stuck in a dead-end job where she's constantly overshadowed by her male colleagues; as a result, Sae has lost her sense of "Justice", and will do absolutely anything to win a case, all as a twisted form of getting back at society.

  • 11th-Hour Ranger: While Sae never actually becomes a Thief herself, she ultimately ends up becoming the Spanner in the Works for the Conspiracy. Upon achieving the good route, it's Sae who is responsible for faking the Protagonist's death and later is the one responsible for deducing Shido's identity as the head of the Conspiracy.
  • Accomplice by Inaction: She doesn't like that her coworkers tortured Joker, but she goes forward with the interrogation anyway.
  • Adults Are Useless: Acknowledges this when the Thieves go on One Last Job, admitting that a lot of adults (herself included) have failed their duties and how she plans to avert this trope moving forward.
  • Affectionate Gesture to the Head: She once does this to Makoto on November 19 to reassure her.
  • Aloof Big Sister: To Makoto. While Sae cares about her, she also keeps her at an arm's length. Relations between the sisters are often tense for much of the game because of their disagreements about the Phantom Thieves, which thus forces Makoto to keep secrets from Sae, but once Sae starts supporting the Thieves, the distance between her and Makoto lessens, turning her into a Cool Big Sis.
  • Amoral Attorney: By the time of the game, Sae is a cynical, bitter shell who no longer wishes to pursue justice and simply wants to do whatever it takes to win a case, even if she has to twist the truth and manipulate evidence to make the innocent appear guilty. By the time of the Casino heist, Akechi suspects that if they don't change Sae's heart, either the Phantom Thieves will be arrested, or someone else might be set up to take the fall for their crimes. While the Thieves don't steal her heart, she does change for the better as a result of an emotional plea by Makoto toward her Shadow. It's ultimately averted in the ending, in which Sae, having Took a Level in Idealism, decides to quit her job at the Public Prosecutors Office and become a criminal defense attorney, believing it's a better way to pursue justice.
  • Arbitrary Skepticism: Averted. She's skeptical of the Metaverse at first, but by the time of her interrogation, she's long realized that the supernatural is pretty much the only logical explanation — when Joker reveals that the cognitions of people can be altered within, she decides to humor him without question.
  • Badass Biker: Per Word of God, she's a skilled motorcyclist. Must run in the family.
  • Berserk Button: Her father and his ideals. Makoto's innocent comment about how she thinks their father would have supported the Phantom Thieves is enough to make Sae descend into a full-on rant at the dinner table and say some very cruel things to Makoto that she immediately regrets.
  • Big Sister Instinct: When Joker suggests that Makoto was involved with the Phantom Thieves, Sae is initially in denial. Then, when Joker goes further by suggesting Makoto deceived Sae on purpose, Sae slams the table and screams in Joker's face.
  • Blackmail: She uses a variant of this to get Sojiro to talk about Wakaba's research, warning him that if he continues to resist, social services might get on his case about Futaba (who hasn't gone to school or left the house in a long time), thereby causing him to lose his custody of her.
  • Broken Bird: The pressures of her job, along with the death of her father in the line of duty and the struggles of raising Makoto by herself have left Sae cynical, bitter, and pessimistic, focusing only on getting ahead.
  • Broken Pedestal: Does not think highly of her late father, blaming him for getting himself killed in the line of duty and leaving her to struggle raising Makoto alone. Makoto points out that Sae once dearly loved their father, just like Makoto still does.
  • Christmas Cake: At 24, she's nearing this status, as the interim proxy SIU Director, while informing her that she's been taken off the case and can't interrogate Shido, casually and condescendingly informs her that she hasn't gotten married yet and to spend her time off looking for someone to settle down with.
  • The Commissioner Gordon: After the interrogation concludes, she becomes your main ally within the Public Prosecutor's office.
  • Create Your Own Villain: In a manner of speaking. Sae calling Makoto useless one night at dinner is the final straw that leads to Makoto charging into Kaneshiro's hideout, subsequently getting brought into his Palace by the Thieves, and awakening her Persona, becoming one of them herself. Joker has the option to rub a little salt in the wound by taunting Sae about how Makoto kept it under her nose the whole time.
  • Crusading Lawyer: At the end of the game, Sae tells the protagonist that she's planning on becoming a defense attorney in order to pursue justice.
  • Cynicism Catalyst: Her father's death in the line of duty left her to care for both herself and Makoto alone. The pressures of this, plus the pressure from her line of work, both from her male co-workers and the corruption in the system, have left her despising her father and the ideals of "justice" that he used to talk about.
  • Defrosting Ice Queen: As her interrogation with Joker continues, she gets to know him and the Phantom Thieves' goals, ranking up her Confidant in the process. Eventually, she becomes an ally to the Thieves and speaks to her sister with a nicer tone.
  • Education Mama: Fulfills this role to her younger sister. Sae's fairly strict with Makoto regarding her studies, constantly telling her to focus on them even with everything else going on.
  • Everyone Has Standards: While Sae initially only cares about winning, she's disturbed by the Police Brutality that was visited upon Joker, and seems legitimately concerned about him when he nearly blacks out. It's also implied that for all Sae's cynicism, she hasn't yet crossed the line into actually forging evidence (though Akechi suggests that without a change of heart, she might forge evidence anyway just to catch the Phantom Thieves and look good to her boss).
  • Friend or Idol Decision: The crux of the true ending revolves around whether the Protagonist can convince Sae to stop trying to pursue promotions and court victories and instead pursue true justice by helping him catch the true culprit behind the Palace deaths.
  • Green-Eyed Monster: As it turns out, she's jealous of Makoto, feeling her younger sister has the freedom to do as she chooses while she's stuck in a dead-end job. This envy is the foundation of her Palace.
  • Guile Hero: When the Conspiracy approaches her for helping Joker fake his death, Sae pretends that she had been manipulated by the Phantom Thieves into helping them, since she had received a calling card from them. This succeeds in deflecting suspicion from her.
  • Heel–Face Turn: She starts out antagonizing the Phantom Thieves before becoming their ally.
  • Hello, Attorney!: Just because she's an overworked and overstressed prosecutor doesn't take away from how stunning she is. In Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight, Makoto reveals that the media instantly sought an interview with Sae when she became a prosecutor and speculated that she had an equally stunning celebrity paramour. Makoto denies the latter, but even Ann admits that Sae is beautiful enough to make that seem plausible.
  • Hero Antagonist: She's one of the few public prosecutors who isn't obviously corrupt, and her main issue doesn't actually compromise her morals. She's also this as a Target; she's the only non-Futaba Palace Keeper whose desires don't drive her to evil action, only to ignore just how corrupt her boss is.
  • Hidden Depths:
    • Quite hidden, as the game doesn't ever truly address it directly, but there's a definite implication through the combination of Makoto's Confidant and the main plot that part of the reason Sae is so harsh on Makoto when their father comes up and is really cynical about idealistic justice is because Sae is terrified of the idea of either she or especially Makoto meeting the same fate as Mr. Niijima — dying alone in an ultimately fruitless pursuit of justice, leaving the bereaved in their wake. She comes around to the Thieves' side partly because, with an aspiring tyrant like Shido and an assassin like Akechi running around, all of their lives are in danger anyway, and equivocating about justice has become a moot point. At the very least, it's clear that her father's death had a much deeper impact on Sae than she ever tries to let on.
    • An artbook released after the game was reveals that her hobbies are motorcycling and kickboxing.
  • How We Got Here: The story of the game unfolds as Sae is interrogating Joker about the botched Casino heist. The game's story hops between the formation of the Phantom Thieves and Sae's interrogation, and her Judgment Confidant ranks up as the plot continues to unfold until Joker's story reaches the interrogation itself.
  • Hypocrite: For all her disgust at the Phantom Thieves and their methods, Sae is perfectly willing to resort similar methods in order to catch them, claiming that they "can't be caught by following the rules." Akechi even calls her out on it, telling Sae point-blank that her actions make her no different from the people she claims to despise. She eventually comes to agree.
  • Implausible Hair Color: Although she's only 24 at most, she already has silvery-gray hair.
  • Inspector Javert: At first, she's perfectly willing to believe the worst in the Phantom Thieves and refuses to change her mind about them no matter how much good they're doing, to the extent that Makoto wondering if her father would have supported their actions leads Sae to lose her temper and give her a brutal "The Reason You Suck" Speech. This changes after the Thieves infiltrate her Palace and during her interrogation of Joker, where she eventually comes around and helps them out.
  • It's All About Me: Sae actually isn't appreciative of the Phantom Thieves' changing Kaneshiro's heart despite all the good it did because the prosecutor was on his case and hoping to use his successful arrest and conviction as the basis for a promotion. Due to Kaneshiro's change of heart, he confessed his crimes of his own volition and only the Phantom Thieves got any credit for it.
  • Jaded Washout: While she initially possessed a strong sense of justice, Sae has been worn down by being Promoted to Parent in the wake of her father's death and being overshadowed by her male colleagues; by the time of the game's beginning, she's nothing but a cynical, bitter, borderline Amoral Attorney who only cares about winning cases no matter what, and resents Makoto, viewing her as a burden and being jealous that has her younger sister has the freedom to choose what to do with her life while Sae herself is stuck in a dead-end job where she's constantly overshadowed by her male colleagues. She grows out of it thanks to Character Development, rediscovering said sense of justice and deciding to become a defense attorney.
  • Jerkass Has a Point: When Sae threatens to bring legal action against Sojiro and potentially cause him to lose custody of Futaba, she points out that from an outsider's point of view, Futaba's circumstances — never leaving the house, much less going to school, to say nothing of suffering from suicidal depression — don't paint a very good picture of her home life. The Phantom Thieves even briefly wonder whether Sojiro's abusing Futaba until they finally get him to talk about her.
  • Jerkass Realization:
    • During her discussion with Makoto about the Phantom Thieves, Makoto innocently comments that she believes their late father would have supported them. Sae has a rather low opinion of their father's ideals, especially since said ideals led to him being killed in action. Hearing Makoto say that causes Sae to lose her temper and verbally attack her younger sister, going so far as to flat-out tell Makoto to her face that she's useless and does nothing but eat away at her life. Makoto is visibly distraught, and Sae immediately regrets it and apologizes, but it's too late to take it back.
    • Gets hit by this again during the interrogation after Makoto gets implicated. The protagonist will pick up on this, and can opt to twist the knife a little further.
      Joker: You never noticed?
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She's cynical and bitter over the pressures of her job, and considers raising her younger sister a burden and admits as such despite the fact that Makoto works her butt off to please her and lessen said burden. Despite it all, she does care for her sister, as it's indicated that some of her stricter attitude is born out of a desire to keep Makoto out of trouble and ensure that she succeeds.
  • Kick Chick: An unseen example. The same artbook that reveals she's into motorcycling also reveals that one of her hobbies is kickboxing.
  • Kick the Morality Pet: During dinner, when Makoto innocently comments that she believes their father would have supported the Phantom Thieves, Sae snaps and verbally tears her a new one, going so far as to tell Makoto to her face that she considers her a useless burden. She instantly regrets it, but by that point, the damage is done.
  • Knight In Sour Armor: While she works as a public prosecutor and tries to pursue justice, Sae has become openly cynical and bitter due to the corruption in the system and the pressures of her line of work and being Promoted to Parent after her father's death in the line of duty, and openly looks down on Makoto's belief that Justice Will Prevail. When the Thieves enter Sae's Palace, Makoto is able to get through to her by reminding her of the sense of justice she once had, and Sae eventually sheds the "sour armor."
  • Lawful Stupid: She wishes for the Phantom Thieves to be arrested despite the fact that they're making criminals confess their crimes because they're using a morally questionable method of Heel–Face Brainwashing. She eventually gets past it and throws in her lot with the Thieves, becoming their Commissioner Gordon.
  • Married to the Job: She's so obsessed with her work that Makoto pities her and fears ending up like her. She mentions that some days, Sae doesn't even come home. When the Thieves are planning to steal Sae's heart, Makoto admits that she knew Sae had a Palace for some time, but had hoped to change her sister's heart without having to steal her Treasure.
  • Master of Illusion: Only in the police building, because it's part of her Palace, but it allows her to create an illusion of a guard and the Protagonist for the Traitor to "kill", making them think they've stopped the Thieves.
  • My Card: She gives you this as her Friendship Trinket, and as a sign of changing her career and becoming a defense attorney.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: After she verbally attacks Makoto, she immediately realizes how thoughtless she was being and tries to apologize, but by that point her sister has been reduced to tears.
    • Joker can twist the knife in further when he reveals that Makoto is a Phantom Thief during the interrogation; Sae appears to be visually distressed if he smugly asks if she ever noticed it to begin with.
  • Named After Someone Famous: Yaeko Yamamoto, A.K.A Yae Niijima, was a fierce woman of samurai birth from the late Edo period who personally fought in the defense of Aizu-Wakamatsu Castle (with a repeating rifle, no less) and later worked as an army nurse during the First Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese Wars. For a long time Yae was criticized for both treating her second husband like an equal (as he himself was a strong believer in women's rights) and her westernized wardrobe, which led to Yae gradually drifting apart from her husband's allies after his death.
  • Not So Stoic: She's stern and serious most of the time, but not only does she have various things that set her off, she's also noticeably disturbed when the protagonist's interrogation mentions the possibility of Makoto being a Phantom Thief, thus meaning that she might end up having to arrest her own sister.
  • Oh, Crap!: When her boss tells her that he's losing his patience with her, Sae's normally calm demeanor is shattered, and she desperately pleads for more time.
  • Perpetual Frowner: She usually has a stern frown on her face, as you can see in her picture. It makes the moments When She Smiles all the better.
  • Pet the Dog:
    • While she's portrayed as somewhat emotionally distant toward Makoto, once Sae gets her own notice from the thieves, she tells Makoto that she'll be able to relax once this is done, and they can enjoy some time in the baths as sisters. This is even capped off with a literal head pat. This is before she has her heart changed, showing that she's nowhere near as malicious as the previous targets.
    • Even though she knows Joker will have to turn himself in, she's clearly less than happy about having to resort to it, given that it will mean he'll have to go to juvenile hall. Once he agrees, she's quite grateful, and allows him to spend Christmas Eve with his girlfriend (if he has one) or Futaba and Sojiro (if he doesn't) before turning himself in.
    • Upon meeting Futaba for the first time, Sae immediately apologizes for putting pressure on Sojiro.
  • Promoted to Love Interest: In The Stinger Persona 5: The Animation OVA "A Magical Valentine's Day", she takes the protagonist out to the opera on a Valentine's Day date (although hers is the only scene that doesn't end with a kiss).
  • Promoted to Parent: Due to their father dying three years prior to the start of the story, Sae was left to provide for Makoto alone.
  • Purple Is Powerful: Downplayed, as she only wears purple nail polish, but in Persona 5: The Animation she takes a minor step further and adds purple eyeshadow to her maquillage, which subtly enhances her intimidating presence as much as her beauty.
  • Rant-Inducing Slight: When talking about the morality of the Phantom Thieves with her sister, Makoto innocently mentions that their father probably would've thought they were doing the right thing. Sae doesn't take that well.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: When Makoto admits she believes their father would have been on the Phantom Thieves' side, Sae snaps and gives her a brutal one of these, which she immediately regrets:
    Sae: You don't have to do a single thing, and you're provided with food, clothes, a home... I've had no time to think on such ridiculous thoughts. Would Dad have been happy with them? I don't care. He died upholding some lofty sense of righteousness, leaving all his responsibilities on us. Isn't it about time you grew up and acknowledged our situation!? Right now, you're useless to me. All you do is eat away at my life!
  • Reasonable Authority Figure:
    • She's a by the book, well-meaning public prosecutor, at least compared to the other investigators.
    • She lets Akechi get away with utilizing police resources, despite admonishing him for doing so.
    • She's rather annoyed to find that the other investigators drugged the protagonist in the opening interrogation.
      Sae: [seeing an empty syringe on the floor] Those bastards...
    • Despite the blatantly supernatural elements of Joker's story making it hard to believe it, Sae decides to trust that he's telling the truth (realizing that it's unlikely that he's lying to protect himself) and lets him tell about everything from beginning to end. The Judgment Confidant ranks up as Sae decides to trust in the Protagonist's story more.
    • After exposing Akechi as part of The Conspiracy, the Thieves let her in on the loop and she fully joins their side.
  • Relative Button: Sae gets unnerved when Joker tells her that Makoto was investigating the Phantom Thieves of Hearts by herself. She hesitates and then assumes that he is lying to provoke her.
  • Resentful Guardian: While she does care for Makoto, she also sees her as a burden, and admits as much in a fit of anger.
  • Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: As she gets to know Joker's side of the story, she also comes to know about the Conspiracy and the true colors of her superiors and Akechi. Knowing this, she helps to fake Joker's death and aids him in taking down the Conspiracy, putting her career at risk at the same time.
  • Sharp Dressed Woman: Usually seen in a dark business suit.
  • Sibling Yin-Yang: Sae's cynical and bitter while Makoto's idealistic and determined to fight for justice.
  • Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids!: Has a disdain for the idealistic justice her father used to espouse and dislikes that Makoto is trying to emulate him, claiming that Makoto can only think about such things because she doesn't have to work for a living. Her Palace is a representation of her own self-loathing over this.
  • Spanner in the Works: The single most important factor in unlocking the good and true endings lies in her decision following her interrogation of the protagonist. Whether he lives or dies is dependent entirely upon her actions.
  • Start of Darkness: The backdrop of the story actually has Sae well on her way to becoming one of the corrupt adults in society. Despite claiming to be for justice, Sae finds herself making more and more unethical decisions in order to climb the ranks of her job. Joker convincing her during the interrogation is what makes her finally have a Heel Realization.
  • Statuesque Stunner: Maybe. Her exact height is unknown, but her heels appear to put her at around the average height of a Japanese man (5ft 7in). She still stands shorter than Joker (5ft 9in) and Akechi (5ft 10in), though.
  • Stay in the Kitchen: Part of the reason why she's so obsessed with proving herself is because women have a much harder time achieving success than men do in Japanese society.
  • Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Outwardly serious and no-nonsense, but occasionally shows a kinder side, especially later in the game.
  • Suspiciously Similar Substitute:
  • Take Up My Sword: A non-lethal variation; the Phantom Thieves task her with taking up the crusade to reform society after they level Mementos for good.
  • Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: She doesn't exactly get along with Akechi, often disagreeing with him on the job and suspecting that he was the one who stole the data from her laptop (when it was actually Makoto's doing, something Sae likely didn't want to believe). It turns out that Akechi sees Sae as little more than a pawn to be manipulated.
  • Took a Level in Idealism: She gradually rediscovers her desire to pursue justice, and in the ending, decides to become an attorney instead of a prosecutor. Especially notable because Japan's judicial system is infamous in legal circles for having a more than 99% conviction rate, meaning that she's willing to take on a ludicrously difficult profession for the sake of that ideal.
  • Took a Level in Kindness: Despite not having her heart stolen, she becomes a warmer and kinder individual later in the game.
  • Tough Love: She does love Makoto, but her desire to see Makoto grow strong enough to stand on her own (and to overcome any obstacles that come with being a woman in Japanese society) lead her to be pretty harsh at times.
  • Uncertain Doom: During her interrogation of Joker, Sae realizes that she is likely to be the next target of the Conspiracy after Joker is executed. Considering Akechi does succeed in killing Joker in the first bad ending, it's likely that Sae would then go on to become a victim of a mental shutdown.
  • The Un-Reveal: It's never revealed what her Treasure was since it never left her Palace. All that's known is that it was a briefcase in the Metaverse which the Phantom Thieves switched with a fake one in their plan to fake Joker's death. She decides that her most prized "Treasure" is her sense of justice to protect those important to her.
  • Unwitting Pawn:
    • The Conspiracy uses her to lure out the Thieves, placing her in charge of the investigation and then dismissing her once the Thieves send the calling card.
    • The Phantom Thieves, in turn, use her in their plan to fake Joker's death by having Joker tell her to show his phone to Akechi which Futaba remotely triggered the Nav app to send Akechi to Sae's Palace, or rather, the identical police station next to it so he would carry out his plan to kill Joker, but it only resulted in the "deaths" of cognition versions of a corrupt guard on his side and Joker, who in reality was sitting in the interrogation room doing nothing since Sae left.
  • When She Smiles: Her default facial expression is always an ice-cold stare or scowl. But once she takes a level in kindness, it complements her beautiful appearance.
  • You Are Better Than You Think You Are: During the Casino heist, Makoto is able to get through to Sae's Shadow, and Sae herself by extension, by reminding her sister of the sense of justice she once possessed. After this, Sae Takes a Level in Idealism.

    Takuto Maruki (Consultant)
"Thanks for taking my counseling into consideration."

Arcana: 1. Le Consultant (Consultant)
Arcana Bonus: Chance of beneficial status effects/boosts, chance of removal of negative status effects
Voiced by: Satoshi Hino (JP), Billy Kametz (EN)

A new confidant added in Persona 5 Royal. A part-time counselor who is hired to work at Shujin Academy after Kamoshida's change of heart, he helps students that were affected by Kamoshida's actions.

  • Adorkable: When he introduces himself to the students of Shujin, the microphone malfunctions. When he goes to bow, he accidentally smacks his head against it.
  • Curtains Match the Window: He has light brown hair and eyes.
  • Establishing Character Moment: At an assembly, Kobayakawa introduces Takuto to the students, who are naturally wary of him since it hasn't been long since the Kamoshida incident. He tries to introduce himself to the students, but the microphone malfunctions just as he's about to give them his name. When he fixes it and properly introduces himself, he goes in to bow... and promptly smacks his head against the microphone, much to their amusement. As far as first impressions go, he might be a bumbling idiot, but he's already leagues better than Kamoshida.
  • One Of These Is Not Like The Others: Previous Social Links/Confidants have their arcana originate from either the Rider-Waite-Smith tarot deck or the Thoth tarot deck (Hunger, Aeon, Universe). The Consultant is the first arcana originating from the El Gran Tarot Esoterico tarot deck as an alternative to the Magician, a first for any Persona game thus far.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: Word of God states that Takuto's creation for Royal was meant so that there could finally be a sympathetic adult character towards the protagonists at the start of the game.
  • The Shrink: His job description. He's brought on to help Kamoshida's victims.
  • There Are No Therapists: Averted. He seems to be included to narratively address this issue after Kamoshida's abuses come to light since the students had no one to turn to in the original game.

Alternative Title(s): Persona 5 Conspirators


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