Rise Kujikawa

Rise Kujikawa, also known by her stage name Risette, is a character from Persona 4. A famous teen idol, Rise is well-known amongst teenagers and adults, but quit her job suddenly, citing health reasons.

Appearance

 * Persona 4: Information/Support Character
 * Persona 4 The Animation: Major Character, Lovers Arcana
 * Persona 4 Golden: Information/Support Character
 * Persona 4 Arena: Information/Support Character
 * Persona x Detective Naoto: Supporting character

Design
Rise is a short teenager with reddish-brown hair tied in two pigtails, brown eyes and tanned skin. Her normal outfit consists of an orange shirt with puffy sleeves above a white turtleneck shirt while she is seen wearing an orange top and white pants in summer. During explorations in the Midnight Channel and at school, she is clothed in her school uniform with a white turtleneck underneath and wears pink glasses only supporting the team/members. At the summer festival, Rise is seen wearing a kimono like the rest of the girls. Before transferring to Yasogami High and while working at her grandmother's shop, Rise wears a white headscarf, a pink turtleneck shirt and a short navy blue skirt.

In Persona 4 Golden, During the winter she wears snow suit with pink sunglasses on top of her head, high collar with pink and white stripe with her matching pink snow jacket that says "Lovers", purple gloves, darker navy snow pants, and light purple shoes. The only time she is has her hair down is the new summer oufit she wore was white see through halter top underneath is pink, light blue, and orange bikini, and tan pants.

Personality
Rise is cheerful, outspoken, rather flirty, is very bubbly, and can be quite boastful about herself. She used to be an idol but she quit to work at her family business (citing health reasons), after Kanji is rescued. She is stressed out, and tired of show business because she doesn't know if the Rise that everyone admires is the 'real' Rise, or the persona of Risette that she presents to the masses.

Profile

 * Age: 15 (At first appearance/16 upon meeting Protagonist)
 * Date of Birth: June 1st, 1995
 * Zodiac: Gemini
 * Height: 155 cm (5'1")
 * Weight: 41kg
 * Blood Type: AB
 * Initial Persona: Himiko
 * Ultimate Persona: Kanzeon or Kouzeon
 * Arcana: Lovers

Persona 4


A cheery-looking female with reddish-brown hair tied in two pigtails, Rise is first seen in a commercial, where she advertises the fictional diet soda "Calorie Magic". Rise, despite her uprising fame, eventually quits her job and decides to settle down in her hometown, Yasoinaba, to live with her grandmother. While being asked upon her decisions of choosing to stay in Yasoinaba despite the murder cases happening recently, Rise insisted to live in Yasoinaba, and explains that her sudden decision of quitting her job is due to stress. Following Rise's return to Yasoinaba, the whole town rustles to Rise's grandmother's tofu store, Marukyu, hoping to see Rise. Since Rise has appeared in the TV news, the Investigation Team becomes worried that Rise might get kidnapped and killed in the Midnight Channel, and goes to warn her.

Rise is portrayed as cheerful, outspoken, naughty, having a cute personality, and is quite boastful about herself. She is referred to as a "dangerous girl" by Chie Satonaka, due to her boldness in flirting with the Protagonist. She appeared to be flirtatious too, as she sometimes teases Yosuke, Kanji , and the Protagonist in flirting manners. Rise is quickly annoyed by even small things, which ends up with her crying dramatically and sometimes producing crocodile tears. She's rather childish and possessive, she pouted when Protagonist asked her if the new idol is cute, telling him that when she's still around, he mustn't call another girl "cute". Rise also shown her competitive side at many occasions, and she likes to teases the others, such as teasing about Yukiko's insecurity and cooking. Rise, along with Yukiko, cried when the Protagonist left and she will confess her love both when the Protagonist maxed her S.Link and when she's running for his train.

Hoping to catch the culprit, the Investigation Team proposes a stake out on the Marukyu Tofu Store, but their actions are found out by Tohru Adachi, the assistant of Detective Ryotaro Dojima. The Investigation Team eventually team up with Adachi. Through their stake out, they eventually caught a stalker, however, the stalker anxiously denies his connection with the murder cases. Not believing his words, Adachi took the stalker away. However, during their way back passing the Marukyu Store, Rise's grandmother claims that Rise has gone away. Panicked, the Investigation Team decides to tune in the Midnight Channel again, and realizes that they were too late: Rise has already been kidnapped.

Eventually after gathering clues, the Investigation Team managed to detect Rise's location in the Midnight Channel, and set out to rescue her. The Investigation Team eventually find Rise, along with the 'Other Rise'. The 'Other Rise' taunts Rise, telling her that in actuality, this is what she desired, and the fact that she knew is because she is Rise, and begins performing a pole-dance in an alluring fashion. Confused and surprised, Rise denies the Shadows' claims, and exclaims that the shadow is not her.



Fueled by Rise's declaration, the 'Other Rise' transforms into a shadow and attacks the party. However, Shadow Rise's analytical abilities proved to be more than a match, and the party was brought to the edge of defeat. Laughing at their incompetence, the Shadow Rise readies for another strike, but Teddie eventually charges towards the Shadow, performs a suicidal attack and weakens the Shadow. However, Teddie himself suffers a massive backdraft, and becomes a wrinkling, skinny bear. Accepting her true self, the Shadow nods, and transforms into Himiko, becoming Rise's Persona.

After her kidnapping, Rise shows a less-than-subtle crush towards the Protagonist, and eventually creates the Lovers Arcana Social Link with him. Through the Protagonist's interactions with Rise, Rise reveals that during her childhood, she was a shy, lonely child, and that nobody had high expectations of her. Due to her shyness, she was constantly bullied by her classmates, until a relative submitted her application to an idol competition, which she won. Ironically, her original motivation of accepting the prize was so once she becomes popular, she would have more friends. However, she eventually realizes that her 'friends' are only interested in the fabricated personality of teen-idol 'Risette', but not Rise Kujikawa, the young girl from Yasoinaba.

Rise later found out that after she abandons showbiz, her old manager found another rising star, which greatly irritates her. By the end of the Social Link, Rise eventually realize that 'Risette' isn't a fabricated personality, but one of her many traits. Upon her realization, Rise exclaims that she would return to her job as an idol in spring, hoping to show the world her other traits other than 'Risette'. With Rise finally finding her resolution, her persona transfigures into Kanzeon. Rise would also give the Protagonist her signed photo, bestowing the Ultimate Form of Lovers Arcana, Ishtar, the Goddess of Love. If the Protagonist decides to make an intimate relationship with Rise, and accepts Rise's invitation text message on the Christmas Eve to spend time with her, the Protagonist will receive the accessory Silver Bangle, which raises the user's Spirit Points by 50%.

Rise's cooking skills are explored later in the storyline, revealing that she enjoys using large amount of spice in her cooking, making everything she cooks very spicy and making them unable to taste the other ingredients in her food. While she often taunts Yukiko and Chie about their cooking skills, her cooking skills turns out to be just as bad as Yukiko and Chie's.

Rise's Persona is Himiko of The Lovers Arcana, who wears a white gown, has a satellite dish for a face and holds an object similar to the torch wielded by the actual Himiko. She will provide background and enemy information for the front lines during and outside of battles. Her Shadow is a colorful pole dancer with pigtails like hers. Her Midnight Channel dungeon is a strip club. They all represent her desire to strip away her 'idol' self so that other people will know the real Rise.

Persona 4 The Animation
In the anime, Rise is seen in the intro discussing her leave just before her concert. She then meets Yu on June 20 after dropping her cellphone without any notice when she was hiding from fans in her disguise. Before departing, Yu calls her strap "yummy" for being a shape of a food. Rise is seen again by Yu and the others to check up and warn her at the Marukyu Tofu Shop. Later on, she runs into them again after being stalked by a Rise fan. During the incident, she is escorted out by Yu and head to the Samegawa Flood Plain. Rise then discusses about her former life as pop star, and how no one sees her true self, but only as Risette. She then rips a page off a magazine that she finds and makes a paper airplane. Yu then makes an origami crane which causes Rise to copy him, but it turns out terrible. She later tries again and makes a perfect crane.

On June 23, she transfers to Yasogami High earlier before her resolves and awakens her persona. Rise realized that Yu is actually in the 2nd year, and so she calls him Senpai. As she and Yu see the media at the entrance, Yu takes her to a different route to hide and escape. Yu then grabs her hand and takes her to Marukyu Tofu Shop, but stumbled across more media at the front door. Shortly afterwards, her former manager, Inoue, comes to ask her something important and they discuss the matters at Tatsuhime Shrine. As she thought that they wanted her back as an idol, Inoue revealed she is replaced by another idol and that she is no longer needed. After Inoue leaves the shrine, Rise becomes shocked about the news, having Yu to comfort her. Suddenly, after Yu questions about her decisions for taking a hiatus, she gets angry and accuses him for not "seeing the real [her]" and runs away. On the same night, she is seen on the Midnight Channel.



On June 24, when Shadow Rise shows the real Rise many of her different identities and asks her which is her real self; Rise struggles to answer and she doesn't know who is the 'real Rise'. After Shadow Rise transformed, she murmured Yu's name she fell unconscious for almost the rest of the battle until she woke up to see her shadow form. The accepted that all of the 'Other Rises' were a part of her, and that there is no 'true Rise'. This acceptance granted her a persona: Himiko.

As Rise was accepting her true self, Teddie's true feelings were shown and Other Teddie appeared.

When Other Teddie transformed into a shadow and began to absorb in the Investigation Team and Rise, Rise told Yu that she can help to locate Teddie with her persona. As she summoned her persona while Yu holding on to her along with his persona, Izanagi, Himiko began to scan but is unable to find Teddie inside Shadow Teddie due to the heavy fog. Then finally she able to found Teddie in the lower chest and then Yu and Izanagi were able to defeat Shadow Teddie. When Yu took her home, Rise asked him if she can can join them to catch the culprit.

On July 10, Rise said that was happy to help out, and Yu gave her a pair of pink glasses so that she could see past the fog in the TV World, and as a symbol that she was now a part of the Investigation Team.

Then on July 27 she managed with her persona, Himiko to located Mitsuo's location. Then in Shadow Mitsuo's illusion where Yu lost his friends, Rise's grandmother's store had closed down due to lack of buisness, and Rise and her grandmother moved to another city. Rise disconnected her cellphone with Yu and she didn't say goodbye to him and the others.



On August 16, Rise and the others joined Nanako to help her to find Yu. Just as they are about to give up, they find that "Teddie" rode the bus and the group begin to question him. Rise noticed that something wasn't right, and agreed with Chie and Yukiko that "Teddie" doesn't seem natural. After "Teddie" ran away from them, Rise and others are confused and shocked. Then on August 18, after hearing from the guys, Rise couldn't believe that Yu dating another woman until she saw it for herself. She also agreed with Nanako that they should spy on Yu together, and Teddie gave them (Rise, Nanako, Yukiko and Chie) goofy glasses as their disguise so Yu won't notice them. The girls found Yu with another, older woman which they replied that "She's super old!" in deep shock.

During September, when Rise and the other female members see Yu aging into old man, Chie and Yukiko feel disgusted and grossed out, but Rise thinks Yu looks cool as old man.

During the December event, when second the Reaper appears, Rise decided to stay behind for Yu, Yosuke, and Teddie to search the real Adachi, while she helped out Chie and Yukiko's battle. Then during the battle of Ameno-sagiri, this is the first time Rise's persona was set into battle despite being non fighting type, however its was too much and all the Seeker of Truth's persona defeated by Ameno - sagiri. Then when Yu was in danger, Rise's persona evolve into Kanzeon and give him strength to summon the ultimate persona, Lucifer.

Battle Quotes

 * Alright! Level up! (Level Up)
 * This one's strong, watch yourself! (Encountered Powerful Enemy)
 * It's a no-brainer, I'm sure you'll win! (Encountered Weak Enemy)
 * Three enemies on the field! Be careful. (Encountered 3 Enemies)
 * There are five enemies! Don't let 'em get you. (Encountered 5 enemies)
 * Tee-hee! Senpai! That was soo cool! (Protagonist dodges attack)
 * Oh, nice move, Yosuke-senpai! (Yosuke dodges attack)
 * You hit its weakness, Yukiko-Senpai.
 * You struck its weak-point, Chie-Senpai!
 * Enemy Down. Show it what you've got, Kanji-kun!
 * Two enemies down. Do it again, Chie-senpai!
 * Enemy down! That's the spirit, Teddie! (Teddie downs enemy)
 * Enemy defeated. Go for broke, Teddie! (Teddie defeats 1 enemy)
 * Enemy defeated. Keep it up, Yosuke -senpai! (Yosuke defeats 1 enemy)
 * You're on a roll, Senpai! Two defeated. (Protagonist defeats 2 enemies)
 * Wow, Naoto-kun! You defeated two enemies. (Naoto defeats 2 enemies)
 * Three enemies defeated! You're so cool, Senpai.
 * Only one enemy left! you can do it! (One enemy left)
 * One enemy to go! Keep it up! (One enemy left)
 * Only two/three enemies left! (2/3 enemies left)
 * Three enemies left! You can win this! (3 enemies left)
 * Four of them! You need to thin 'em out. (4 enemies left)
 * It got back up, defeat it fast! (Enemy gets up from Down)
 * Gee, it's like an endless stream of 'em! (A ____-King Shadow summoned a ____-Bambino Shadow)
 * Ehh!? ___-senpai, someone heal him/her! (A Party Member Dying)
 * Guys...you're really low on health...! (Party Is Low on Health)
 * ...shouldn't someone heal ___-senpai...? (A Party Member Dying)
 * Puh...you're up! Ok, time for an counter-attack! (Protagonist Recovers From Knocked Down/Dizzy Status)
 * No don't be afraid, I'm here with you! (Protagonist is Frightened)
 * ___-senpai's scared! (A Party Member is Frightened)
 * ___-senpai is useless! (A Party Member is Exhausted)
 * ___-senpai's persona is sealed! (A Party Member is Silenced)
 * Yosuke-senpai lost it! (Yosuke is Enraged)
 * Yukiko-senpai's scary when she's mad. (Enraged Yukiko defeats an enemy)
 * Kanji-kun's pissed off! (Kanji is Enraged)
 * Wh-What is this thing? It feels really bad...(Meeting the Reaper in a New Game +)
 * That one's totally weak! Better not lose. (Analyzing Weak Enemy)
 * Noooooo problem. It'll be over in a flash! (Analyzing Weak Enemy)
 * Wow, it's puny! This'll be cake. (Analyzing Weak Enemy)
 * You can win this, just don't use light on it. (Analyzing Enemy w/ Light Repel)
 * Physical attacks won't work on that runt? (Analyzing Enemy w/ Physical Repel)
 * Ice should work well, you can win this, guys! (Analyzing Enemy w/ Ice Weakness)
 * It's weak to ice! This should be easy! (Analyzing Enemy w/ Ice Weakness)
 * It's weak to fire! Hehe, this'll be easy! (Analyzing Enemy w/ Fire Weakness)
 * It's weak to wind! This'll be a breeze! (Analyzing Enemy w/ Wind Weakness)
 * It's BEARY weak to electricity! *giggle* (Analyzing Enemy w/ Elctricity Weakness)
 * You can win this, just don't use light on it. (Analyzing Enemy w/ Light Repel)
 * Light won't work. Plan B anyone? (Analyzing Enemy w/ Light Repel)
 * Yes! We won! Congrats, guys. (Protagonist defeats final enemy)
 * Hey, it's weak to fire! That's hot! (Using Weakness Scan on Enemy w/ Fire Weakness)
 * It's weak to electricity! Zap em'! (Using Weakness Scan on Enemy w/ Electricity Weakenss)
 * Wind will work. Blow it away guys!. (Using Weaknesss scan on Enemy w/ Wind Weakness)
 * The enemy's weakness is darkness! It's doomed! (Using Weakness Scan on Enemy w/ Dark Weakness)

Trivia

 * Rise's appearance and name closely resemble those of her Japanese voice actress, Rie Kugimiya. Rise even wears thigh-highs like many of the female characters Rie Kugimiya voices. However, while Rie Kugimiya is chiefly known for her roles as the Tsundere archetypical character, Rise exhibits little to no Tsundere traits at all. Some fans has referred her as 'Anti-Tsundere' as a result.
 * During the visit in Port Island's Club Escapade, Rise revealed that she had a secret show two years ago and the power went out in the middle of her performance. It's a clear reference of the events in Persona 3 before the first Full Moon Operation in September 2009 and Shinjiro also mentioned the power incident before the battle with the shadow.
 * Rise's early concept art looks somewhat like Lisa Silverman of the Persona 2 duology. This may have influenced a scene after the exams before the summer in which she says "What do I need to know English for? I can always ask for a translator!" Lisa also had trouble with the English language despite being born to American parents. This line is later given to Chie, who also has multiple similarities to Lisa. Lisa and Rise's names are phonetically simlar in japanese (Risa to Rise) and both have stints as idol singers, in addition to being the most pronounced about their love for the main character, and being of the Lover's arcana.
 * Some of Rise's early concept art resembles the Moon S. Link character Ai Ebihara, or Saki Konishi.
 * Rise is a famous idol, but none of her songs are heard in the game. It can be assumed that she was typically a gravure idol as multiple commercials and ads were heard of her, with no mention to her singing. The anime changed this, and devoted an opening to Rise singing.
 * There is also an anime cutscene with Rise singing, along with the rest of the Investigation Team on instruments and chorus, in Persona 4 Golden.
 * Rise is the only member of the main cast who possesses a Persona not based off a figure of native Japanese descent.
 * In one of the new screenshots for Persona 4 Golden, Rise's jacket for when the Investigation Team goes on the recently announced skiing trip says "Lovers" on the front; The Arcana her Persona Himiko/Kanzeon is catagorized in.
 * Rise is only character who doesn't have close up in the original game, except for Fuuka from Persona 3 in an full moon event, until in Persona 4 The Animation and Persona 4 Golden.
 * Rise is the first information/supported playable character to be involved of remake All-Out Attack in Persona 4: The Golden.