Mitsuru Kirijo

Appearances

 * Persona 3: Playable Character
 * Persona 3: FES: Playable Character

In Persona 3

 * Initial Persona: Penthesilea
 * Ultimate Persona: Artemisia
 * Weapons: Rapiers and sabers

Mitsuru Kirijo (桐条美鶴) is the only child of Takeharu Kirijo, the head of the Kirijo Group. She is Gekkoukan High School's valedictorian and student council president. She is one of the most respected and popular students at the school. Before the protagonist joins, and even to a degree after he joins, Mitsuru serves as the leader of S.E.E.S. due to her natural talent for leadership.

Mitsuru has battled the Shadows longer than any of the other members of S.E.E.S., having been trained since a young age to use her Persona (Concept). Mitsuru was not naturally able to summon a Persona, however, her father forced her to learn how to. From the start of the game, Mitsuru serves to gather information for the party while they explore Tartarus. After Fuuka Yamagishi joins the team, Mitsuru becomes a combatant.

Mitsuru initially hides many details about Tartarus and the Dark Hour from S.E.E.S. due to her guilt over her family's involvement with creating them. Her grandfather's goal of triggering The Fall caused a majority of the problems that S.E.E.S. must overcome, and Mitsuru feels she alone bears the burden of restoring her families honor. Shuji Ikutsuki's betrayal and murder of her father destroys Mitsuru's will to fight. She feels that restoring the Kirijo family honor is pointless if she's the only remaining Kirijo. Yukari manages to connect with Mitsuru, and her persona becomes Artemisia. Mitsuru resolves to become the new head of the Kirijo group and to continue the fight with S.E.E.S..

The protagonist and Mitsuru have a good relationship from the start of the game. She offers rewards to him for high test scores and she pushes him to excel. If he has the highest level of Academics, then Mitsuru will date him. In this event, Mitsuru reveals that she has a fiance from an arranged marriage, and that he doesn't really care about her. She initially intends on marrying him anyway for the good of Kirijo group, however, a relationship with the protagonist will cause her to realize that that's not the best thing for her and she falls in love with him.

In Persona 3: FES
Mitsuru returns to her position as leader after the members of S.E.E.S. are trapped in the dorm. She has Aegis lead the raiding party in the Abyss of Time since Aegis now possesses the Wild Card. Mitsuru decides to research some old documents that she thinks might help answer why the abyss appeared.