Ann Takamaki

Ann Takamaki (Anne Takamaki in the Japanese version) is a playable character from Persona 5. She is a student at Shujin Academy who lives a double life as a Phantom Thief.

Appearances

 * Persona 5: Playable Character; Lovers Confidant
 * Persona 5 (Manga): Major Character
 * Persona 5 The Animation The Day Breakers: Major Character

Design
Ann has bright sea-blue eyes and ash blonde wavy hair styled in bushy pigtails, with parted side bangs on the right side of her face. She accessorizes with a single yellow hair clip above her left ear, as well as small circular earrings on both ears.

She wears her school's uniform modified to her taste; the standard black blazer over a white varsity-like hoodie worn long to cover most of her short plaid skirt. Her hoodie has a zipper, a red stripe between two blue stripes at the bottom, and S symbol near the front bottom on one side, and a green four-leaf-clover symbol on the back of the hood. She wears red tights and brown boots with yellow laces.

Her thief outfit consists of a skin tight red leather catsuit worn with a matching red panther mask, cleavage cutout, zippers, pink gloves, dark red thigh-high boots, and has a clipped on tail in the back.

Personality
Restrained in her daily life, Ann feels she has lost her place in the world. Although she is respectful and polite towards her peers and elders, Ann is a bit more withdrawn and isolated from the rest of the kids at school due to becoming the subject of rumors regarding her and Kamoshida. She feels nearly everyone (except Kamoshida and Shiho) pretends and acts like she is invisible.

In the beginning of the game, Ann is an unpopular student with very few friends. The only one she opens up to is her only best friend, Shiho. She cares so much for her only friend that she is willing to do what Kamoshida told her to for Shiho's sake. Thus, she shows how headstrong and fierce she can be if someone hurt her friends. Ann also uses profanity such as "piece of shit", "bullshit", "hell", "son of a bitch", "dumbass", "bastard", "goddamn", etc.



After becoming a Phantom Thief, she becomes more lively and energetic with a stronger will to never be used or abused again like a subservient slave. She has also been described by her voice actress as "snarky" and "confident", but deep down, is good when others get to know her and has a sense of justice, wanting to do what she feels is right.

While generally confident about her body and physical appearance, Ann becomes flustered and embarrassed when she is forced into a situation that exposes her skin without her prior consent or desire. She has a tendency to mock or prank people who are ogling her, in particular Ryuji Sakamoto. Ann can't stand it when people value her for her body and nothing else, as if she is a thin-shelled hollow doll with nothing on the inside or no other redeeming qualities.

Persona 5
Ann is a second year high schooler at Shujin Academy. Ann is the classmate of the protagonist in 2-D and she and Ryuji Sakamoto were classmates in middle school. Ann is blonde due to being one-quarter American. Due to her foreign blood and living abroad before the story she does not have many friends at school. Her only friend is Shiho Suzui. Ann is being targeted by the volleyball coach Suguru Kamoshida, as she reluctantly makes appearances with him (in order to protect her friend) as vicious rumors spread around the school that she is sleeping with him. The protagonist first meets Ann when both were waiting until the rain stopped. She is then picked up by Kamoshida, and reluctantly goes with him.

The protagonist and Ryuji then talk to her to ask about Kamoshida in attempt to expose his wrongdoings, but like other students, Ann is reluctant to talk out of fear that Kamoshida will kick Shiho out from being a regular in the volleyball team and also after hearing bad rumors about the protagonist. She later meets the protagonist again by coincidence, the protagonist overhears her talking with Kamoshida on the phone, Ann claims that she's not feeling well so she can't meet up with him, which angered Kamoshida. After much persuasion, Ann finally reveals to the protagonist how Kamoshida is trying to force himself on her as she finally expresses her frustration and disgust towards the teacher, refusing to do as he says. Feeling better, Ann's view of the protagonist changes as she realized how horrible rumors are when in reality it's not true, being the subject of them herself.

The next day, Shiho attempts suicide by jumping off the school roof but fails when she survives the fall. Upon learning of it, Ann is shocked and saddened. Before she passed out, Shiho reveals Kamoshida has something to do with it. After an injured and comatose Shiho is hospitalized, Ann vows to seek the answers behind the reasons and get revenge for her friend. Overhearing that the protagonist and Ryuji wants to expose Kamoshida's crime, Ann asks to join them, but Ryuji harshly tells her not to get involved.



Not giving up, she secretly follows the protagonist, Ryuji, and Morgana who are going to the Palace. As a result, she accidentally enters Kamoshida's Palace. To keep Ann from danger, Ryuji sends her back to the real world. Unfortunately, the navigation app appears on her cellphone and since she overheard Ryuji saying the requirements to enter the palace she ends up returning soon after he sent her away. Kamoshida's knights find her, calling her "the princess" and keeping her in captivity inside the castle. Later, the protagonist and Ryuji find her on a torture device surrounded by Kamoshida adorned by a scantily clad projection of a false Ann, and his knights. The real Ann is almost thrown into despair when Kamoshida tells her that not only did he sexually assault Shiho, but that Ann is to blame for repeatedly rejecting his advances, "forcing" him to take out his frustrations on her only friend.

With the help of the protagonist and Ryuji's motivating words, she finds the inner strength and determination to avenge her friend and all other victims, and utterly destroy Kamoshida for his heinous crimes. In doing so, she breaks free from the device and awakens to her Persona, Carmen. Since then, she joins the protagonist, Ryuji, and Morgana to expose Kamoshida. As part of the Phantom Thieves, Ann manages to "steal" the arrogance in Kamoshida's heart, and in reality he tearfully condemns his own self and confesses to his crimes, being subsequently arrested and charged shortly thereafter, much to Ann's satisfaction and relief. Following his confession, her classmate Yuuki Mishima apologizes for not saying anything despite knowing what happened. Two girls who spread rumors about Ann also apologize to her for their actions.

Ann is relieved to see Shiho recovering in the hospital and decides to stay a Phantom Thief so that she can save others from cruel fates that she and Shiho once suffered. While thinking of their next target, she is approached by Yusuke Kitagawa, an art student whom she initially thought to be a stalker until he clears the misunderstanding, telling her he wants her to be his next model for his art. After receiving request to steal Yusuke's teacher, Ichiryusai Madarame's heart for plagiarizing his students' artworks, Ann uses this opportunity to find out more about Madarame so they can enter his Palace and reveals to Yusuke that Madarame is not an honorable man he seems to be. She manages to do so by entering Madarame's studio where Madarame makes and keeps copies of "Sayuri" paintings to gain money, exposing him as a fraud. Before Madarame can call the police, Ann escapes with Yusuke and Morgana, accidentally taking the former with her into Madarame's Palace.

After their success stealing Madarame's corrupt heart, Ann and her friends are approached by Makoto Niijima, the school's student council president. Having heard rumors that Makoto knows Kamoshida's true nature but, like everyone else, opts to stay out since she doesn't truly care about the students at the school, Ann begins to deeply resent her because of this and is openly hostile towards her. Makoto then blackmails the Phantom Thieves to change the heart of corrupt banker Junya Kaneshiro, demanding them to prove their justice, or else she will reveal their identities as the Phantom Thieves to the police. After several days go by, Ann complains about Makoto not doing anything to help, prompting Makoto to impulsively act in an attempt to expose Kaneshiro, resulting in a series of events that leads to Makoto's Persona awakening.

Ann later has a heart-to-heart talk with Makoto where she learns Makoto not only was deeply concerned about Kamoshida's actions and wanted to take action, she lacked the means to do so and thus felt very saddened and powerless all the while. The girls exchange apologies and also start to call each other by their first names, becoming friends in the process.

If the protagonist and Ryuji fail to complete the dungeon in time, it is never explained what happens afterwards, leaving Ann's fate unknown.

Confidant
The item received by maxing Ann's Confidant is a magazine with Ann on the cover, which can use conversation follow ups during negotiation. Maxing this Confidant makes Carmen evolve into Hecate and unlocks the fusion of Ishtar.

Persona 5 The Animation The Day Breakers
Ann is first seen at the subway with the protagonist, Ryuji and Yusuke. They transform into their Phantom Thief outfits and enter the Mementos.

After discussing with the group, Ann and Ryuji talk loudly at a restaurant and lure one of the members of the criminal gang to Cafe Le Blanc.

Later, she engages battle with Kazuya Makigami directly and changes his heart.

Battle Quotes

 * "I won't hold back!" (Using Submachine Gun)
 * "Persona!" (Summoning Persona)
 * "Get Ready!" (Summoning Persona)
 * "Dance! Carmen!" (Carmen casting skill)
 * "Okay!" (Receiving Baton Pass)
 * "Don't move!" (Hold Up enemies)
 * "This is the chance!" (Initiating All-out Attack)
 * "A beautiful rose has thorns!" (All-out Attack finishing touch)

Trivia

 * Both "Ann" and "Anne" could be considered correct names for her. The English localization uses Ann, while promotional material for the Japanese version uses Anne. This is similar to Aigis who is known as Aegis in the Japanese version. It's not that one is correct while the other is not - it is simply an artistic localization choice.
 * The change from "Anne" to "Ann" may also partly be a technical choice, since text boxes in video games can only have so much writing in them before they overflow as they have limited space. Japanese tends to be a more compact language compared to English.
 * Apparently, the reason why Ann wears red tights is because she doesn't care about standing out, and, at this point, couldn't care less about what society/humanity thinks of her. This also explains her unique "uniform", and how Ann has given up trying to appease to Japanese society.
 * Ann is similar to Lisa Silverman from Persona 2. Both are blonde-haired blue-eyed girls who were born in Japan, face discrimination because of their appearance, and represent the Lovers Arcana. While Lisa participated in compensated dating with older men, Ann becomes a sexual target of Suguru Kamoshida.
 * Unlike Lisa, Ann is fluent in English because she lived abroad before returning to Japan for middle school. Ann also treats Shiho Suzui as her real friend. On the other hand, Lisa initially only sees her friends Miho Ogishima and Mami Shibata as assets for boosting self-esteem.
 * When Ann imposes as an heir of the, she lies that her father forced her to practice Japanese traditional tea ceremony, a possible allusion to Lisa's father, who is a Japanophile, forces Lisa to act like a.
 * Ann also resembles Yuka Ayase from the first Persona game, as both are girls with blonde hair in pigtails whose primary weapons are whips.
 * Ann can dress as Catherine from Catherine.
 * Her battle outfit also bears a striking resemblance to the DC Comics antiheroine Catwoman, who is also clad in a leather suit with cat mask and wields whips.
 * Unlike Persona 3 and 4 where at least three members of the protagonist's respective teams were in the same classroom, only Ann is shown to be in the protagonist's classroom, 2-D.
 * In the Japanese official site, Panther is given the mocking title of "Phantom Thieves' Method Acting(?) Actress" . Possibly refers to her stiff acting skills when she is tasked with deceiving or negotiating with the gang's target.
 * Ann's Zodiac sign, Scorpio, which is noted for being a sign representing mysteriousness, may align with the fact that Carmen, her Initial Persona, was a gypsy woman who used her charm to win over the hearts of unsuspecting men and then twist them to her will, and her Ultimate Persona, Hecate, was the goddess of magic and witchcraft in Greek mythology.