Ken Amada

Ken Amada is a playable character from Persona 3. He is the youngest member of SEES, and one of the two who doesn't attend Gekkoukan High School until he attends its middle school branch in Persona 4 Arena Ultimax two years later.

Appearances

 * Persona 3 / FES / Portable: Playable Character
 * Persona 3 Portable (F ): Justice Arcana Social Link
 * Persona 3 (Manga): Major Character
 * Persona 3 The Movie
 * Persona 3: the Weird Masquerade -Gunjou no Meikyuu- / -Souen no Kesshou-/Chapter 4: Pledge of Indigo/Final Chapter: Beyond the Blue Sky
 * Persona 4 Arena Ultimax: Playable Character (paired with Koromaru)
 * Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth: Playable Character
 * Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth - Side:P3: Major Character
 * Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth - Side:P4: Supporting Character

Design
Ken has styled short brown hair and eyes. An elementary student, he is short for his age. At school and Tartarus, he wears a school uniform of Gekkoukan Elementary, with an orange jacket under his Gekkoukan jacket, and tennis shoes with white socks. On weekends off, he is seen wearing a long orange turtleneck sweater shirt with light orange sleeves and tan shorts. On the summer days off, he wears a black turtleneck shirt underneath his orange and black jersey and black shorts.

In Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, Ken is now 13 years old and consequently has grown taller from his last appearance. His hair remains mostly unchanged in style, but is slightly longer. Ken now wears the standard uniform of Gekkoukan Middle School, brown shoes, a wristwatch on right wrist, and an armband with "Student Council" written on it on his left arm. He no longer wears his orange jacket, which now is worn by Koromaru, or the shorts he wore as an elementary student.

His "TV glasses" are a pair of light beige glasses.

Personality
"Live for what the future's got in store for you, huh? Easier said than done, Aragaki. Sometimes, living is just as hard as dying..."

- Ken Amada, Persona 3 The Movie

Despite his young age, Ken is very intelligent and mature. He is honest, diligent, and deeply caring towards his peers, particularly the members of SEES. He is very polite to others, and never misses a chance to show respect where respect is due. Ken is shown to cares for animals, such as Koromaru. In his video recording, there is a hamster in his room. In Persona 3 The Movie, he cares for a goldfish.

Although Ken is very mature, he still has several qualities that fit with his age. He finds a role-model in Akihiko Sanada, whom he admires for his boxing and fighting talents, often referring to him as "Sanada-san" as a form of respect to his senpai. He also likes to watch a children's show, Featherman R, but he prefers to keep it a secret. He seems to collect a lot of the Featherman R figurines, as well. Ken notes that one of the reasons he uses spears in battle is so that he'll be on even ground with an adult. He has a strong dislike towards milk, but he forces himself to drink it believes he believes it can make him become taller. Unfortunately, it seems he may be lactose-intolerant and it makes him sick. In the Female Protagonist's route, he acts shy towards her, due to the crush he develops on her if the right choices are made during his Social Link.

During the October Full Moon Event, his reason for joining SEES is revealed: he confesses to Shinjiro Aragaki that he is lonely and vengeful, desperate to avenge the killer of his mother-- who turns out to be Shinjiro. After Shinjiro sacrifices himself to save him, Ken becomes depressed and guilty, losing his reason to live. However, Akihiko confronts Ken, allowing him to overcome his past and forgive Shinjiro. This event changes Ken dramatically, allowing him to obtain his ultimate Persona.

Ken is portrayed as being more polite and having more remorse over Shinjiro's death in the Japanese version compared to his portrayal in the English version. In fact, in the Japanese version of Persona 3, it is made very clear that Ken feels remorse by outright saying that he no longer wants to kill Shinjiro anyway. The English version however takes a more subtle approach to the scene where he laments over the fact that he can no longer be the one to take revenge on Shinjiro while crying afterwards, suggesting that he is somewhat dishonest in the English version.

Persona 3
He is mature, but sometimes he is too precocious for his own good. He uses long spears to make up for his short stature. His Personas are equally as large (being the largest of the Personas) to contrast his short stature, and can be used for healing, or to cast Light-based spells that occasionally instantly kill the enemy. He can also use single target Zio spells and physical skills.

Ikutsuki invites Ken to live in the SEES dorm because he is an orphan with no home to return to. He is revealed to have the potential to wield a Persona and is asked to join the team. Initially, the Protagonist and his friends believe that Ken joined SEES out of altruism, but his true intentions are far darker and revealed in October.



On October 4th, 2009, Shinjiro meets Ken at the site where Ken's mother was killed, during the October full moon mission. Exactly two years ago in 2007, Shinjiro accidentally caused the death of Ken's mother when his Persona went berserk while on a SEES mission. For this reason, Shinjiro distanced himself from SEES and began taking Persona Suppressors, consumed by guilt. Ken only saw him as a murderer, though, and had only ever joined SEES for the sole reason of getting revenge and killing him in return. Shinjiro had no intention of resisting Ken's attempt to enact vengeance, but he warns Ken that if he continues, he could end up just like him.



During Ken's confrontation with Shinjiro, Takaya Sakaki intervenes and reveals that Ken has been planning suicide after slaying his nemesis. He also reveals that Strega has been supplying Shinjiro with special drugs to control his Persona, and that the drugs will soon kill him. This completely shatters Ken’s hopes of revenge. After a brief fight between Shinjiro and Takaya, the Strega leader takes a shot at Ken. Shinjiro jumps in front of the bullet. Dying, he reminds Ken that he is still a child with a whole life ahead of him and a future that can be about more than vengeance. Shinjiro's last words inspire Ken to fight for the future his mother would have wanted for him.

After Shinjiro sacrifices himself to save him, Ken becomes depressed and guilty, losing his reason to live. However, Akihiko confronts Ken, allowing him to overcome his past and forgive Shinjiro. This event changes Ken dramatically, allowing him to obtain his ultimate Persona. Ken fights with SEES until the end against Nyx Avatar.

Portable
"From now on, I'll look after you."

Ken is a Social Link of the Justice Arcana for the female protagonist - his equivalent for the male protagonist is Chihiro Fushimi.

His events are available starting from September 1 and take place on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. However, Ken is overtly shy about the idea of spending time with a girl, especially one who is older than him, and his Social Link events will not start unless the protagonist has the maximum courage level of 6. Her courage will rub off on Ken and allow him to overcome his initial shyness. Depending on the player's choices, Ken will fall in love with the protagonist over the course of the Social Link.

A thing to note is that through the month of September, outside of the very first week, the Protagonist will be unable to take Ken out on Tuesdays, which can be viewed two-fold. The in-universe reason is most likely that Ken is withdrawing himself from the Female Protagonist as he prepares for the events of October 4th. One is the outside reason of not advancing the social link too quickly for if this wasn't the case, it could have been possible to get near to or completely finish his social link, with his behavior at the end of the social link not mixing with his behavior at that time.

After October 4th, if his social link has been started, an extra scene will be shown where Ken and the Female Protagonist will revisit the spot behind the station.

The Answer


At the start of The Answer, Ken is one of the few SEES members still staying in the dorm. Early on, he is attacked by Metis due to a misunderstanding. He is seen being slammed against a wall and bleeding from his mouth. Aigis rescues Ken and oddly enough, no one mentions Ken's health to Aigis after she wakes up as he appears to be fine.

In the flashback during The Answer regarding his past, he's seen in a police station telling the officer about the happenings of the night when he lost his mother. He tells him about a "shining horse monster" (Castor), but the officer doesn't believe him at all, and then tells him that his mother's killer was a driver; everything was an accident. Ken responds angrily but he's brushed off by the policeman. This, most likely, as is revealed in the next scene, was the result of the standard procedure the Kirijo Group took when regarding to Shadow-related deaths in using recent or nearby incidents as cover. Mitsuru Kirijo apologizes to Ken for that.



During the debate to determine what to do with the keys, Ken sides with Akihiko, feeling the past shouldn't be tampered with. He believes that the Protagonist died because he used all his powers to protect everyone, and by tampering with the past, it would be disrespectful to his sacrifice.

Persona 4 Arena Ultimax
Ken is a playable character fighting with Koromaru as a pair. He is shown to be in middle school by now and is also much taller. He is an honor student and is part of the student council. He has also been shown to now play soccer. Like Yukari, he was called in to rescue Mitsuru, Akihiko, and Aigis.

In P3 Mode Epilogue, Ken alongside Koromaru decide to leave Shadow Operatives to spend more time living out the childhood and normalcy he missed out on by joining SEES and taking vengeance. Ken decides that when he graduates, he will return to the Shadow Operatives.

Play Style
In gameplay, Ken works as a two-in-one character with Koromaru, thus, almost similar to Shadow Labrys and a few other characters of avatar-fighter fame (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure characters and BlazBlue's Carl and Relius Clover), Koromaru acts as his active "puppet" extention, making it effectively controlling two characters at once, as opposed to some of the other JoJo characters (like Shadow Dio) and the rest of the P4AU cast, who are all passive with their avatars/Personas.

This is also added along with the fact that Ken's C and D moves only use Koromaru (C makes him attack, and D calls him back), as Ken only uses his Persona in a few select attacks (like his Gigantic Impact). Ken's arsenal is limited, but with his long-range spear, wisely used pokes with slow startup and notable lag can easily deal with opponents from full-screen, and his close range pokes are decent as well with okay combo ability (especially if one manages to "sandwich" the opponent between himself and Koromaru, which is much easier due to Koromaru as an active "avatar puppet" as opposed to being passive).

Koromaru also has his own gauge which acts as his health bar, in that he will be knocked out for a while should he suffer too many hits. Koromaru like Ken, also has very few attacks that use his Persona.

Ken's only SMT series spells are Vile Assault, Mediarama, Thunder Reign, and Hamaon (which is only used along with Koromaru's Mudoon during their Instant Kill/Mortal Blow).

Due to Ken not relying on his Persona as much, much less than Akihiko would, especially with his limited move list involving it, he has the lowest amount of Persona Cards/Units in comparison to most characters and tied along with Akihiko, which both have only a measly 2 Cards/Units.

Ken's theme/leitmotif is called "Youthful Spirit".

Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth
Ken's co-op attack is a piercing attack, hitting the target and piercing through it to hit one of the enemies in the back row as well.

Persona 3

 * "Nemesis!" (Summoning Persona)
 * "This is what my power is meant to be used for!" (Summoning Nemesis)
 * "Don't underestimate me because of my age!" (Summoning Persona for the first time)
 * "Kala-Nemi!" (Summoning Persona)
 * "Watch this." (Summoning Persona)
 * "Appear!" (Summoning Persona)
 * "Here's our chance! Let's do it!" (Requesting All-Out Attack)
 * "Understood!" (After confirming All-Out Attack)
 * "I'm going, too!" (Requesting Co-Op attack)
 * "That wasn't good." (Using a Support Ability)
 * "Please, help me!" (After attacking, enemy survives)
 * "Oh, crap!" (After attacking, enemy survives)
 * "Check this out." (Summoning Nemesis)
 * "Here goes!" (Summoning Nemesis)
 * "It's time to get serious!" (Summoning Kala-Nemi)
 * "Don't worry, I'm fine." (Battle won with low HP)
 * "Did you see that!? Not bad, huh?" (Battle won with low HP)
 * "Not bad." (Cheering on MC)
 * "Alright, Next!"
 * "Another, another!" (Any party member gets "1 more")
 * "That was amazing, Mitsuru-san!" (Mitsuru gets "1 more")
 * "Yes yes yes, my skill level has increased!" (Level Up)
 * "Slash attacks won't work!" (Enemy resistant to Slash)
 * "Hey! Physical attacks aren't working!" (Enemy resistant to Strike)
 * "Pierce attacks won't work!" (Enemy resistant to Pierce)
 * "Fire attacks are useless!" (Enemy resistant to Fire)
 * "Ice doesn't seem to work." (Enemy resistant to Ice)
 * "Wind attacks are a waste of time." (Enemy resistant to Wind)
 * "Electricity won't do much damage." (Enemy resistant to Electricity)
 * "Light attacks are useless!" (Enemy resistant to Light)
 * "Darkness isn't working?!" (Enemy resistant to Darkness)
 * "Almighty skills won't work?! No fair!" (Enemy resistant to Almighty)
 * "There's nothing we can do!?" (Final Nyx Battle)
 * "How can he use Kala-Nemi...?" (Battle against ???)

Persona 4 Arena Ultimax

 * "I'm sure I can do this." (When chosen on the character select screen)
 * "I'm Ken! It's nice to meet you! (When chosen on the character select screen) 
 * "We're up, Koromaru!" (When chosen on the character select screen) 
 * "Koromaru!" (Starting the round)
 * "Found you! Now lets go!" (Starting the round)
 * "I won't be holding anything back." (Starting the round)
 * "No hard feelings, but I'm going to defeat you." (Starting the round)
 * "Don't underestimate me just because I'm in middle school!" (Starting the round)
 * "You really haven't change, Junpei-san." (Starting the round vs Junpei Iori)
 * "Go, Koromaru!"
 * "Do it, Koromaru!"
 * "Not happening!"
 * "Too bad..."
 * "Dodging!"
 * "Be ready for the worst!"
 * "That's nothing." (When dismissing Koromaru)
 * "Here goes!" (While performing Vile Assault)
 * "Here I come!" (While performing Vile Assault)
 * "Strike!" (While performing Charge Thrust)
 * "Summoning!" (While performing Gigantic Impact)
 * "Persona!" (While performing Gigantic Impact)
 * "Attack, Koromaru!" (While performing Zetsu - Hakurou Battouga)
 * "With this attack... you're history!" (While performing Fire Breath)
 * "I'll give this my all!" (While performing Thunder Reign)
 * "Now you see my power!" (While performing Thunder Reign)
 * "Let's get real." (While performing Mediarama)
 * "I'll get them!" (While performing Super Gattai! Ultimate Cross)
 * "Are you ready?" (While performing Super Gattai! Ultimate Cross)
 * "It's over!" (While performing Super Gattai! Ultimate Cross)
 * "Concentrate!" (While performing Baptism of Light and Darkness)
 * "Now's not the time... for me to give up!" (While performing Baptism of Light and Darkness)
 * "I'm using full power... all for this!" (While performing Baptism of Light and Darkness)
 * "There will be no mercy." (While performing Baptism of Light and Darkness)
 * "Yes, this one's ours!" (Non-final round victory)
 * "I got it!" (Non-final round victory)
 * "I see your pattern." (Non-final round victory)
 * "I'll prove to you that I know how to fight!" (Non-final round victory)
 * "Good job, Koromaru!" (Final round victory)
 * "Sorry! Looks like I win." (Final round victory)
 * "I cannot let you defeat me." (Final round victory)
 * "Excellent! Mission complete." (Final round victory)
 * "I guess Koromaru got some good exercise." (Final round victory)
 * "There is a reason I need to get stronger." (Final round victory)
 * "That's what you get for thinking I'm a kid!" (Final round victory)
 * "Have I really caught up with Sanada-san?" (Final round victory vs Akihiko Sanada)
 * "Why don't we play baseball together next time?" (Final round victory vs Junpei Iori)
 * "I-I've failed..." (Non-final round defeat)
 * "Uh.. huh.. but I still could've won..." (Final round defeat)


 * Shadow Ken
 * "Heh, this will be fun, Koromaru." (When chosen on the character select screen)
 * "If you underestimate, you'll get hurt." (When chosen on the character select screen)
 * "Hehehehe... can you win against me?" (Starting the round)
 * "Are you the idiot with a death wish?" (Starting the round)
 * "I'll crush you until there's nothing left." (Starting the round)
 * "Go Koromaru!"
 * "Do it, Koromaru!"
 * "Too bad..."
 * "You're joking."
 * "Dodging!"
 * "Up yours!"
 * "Bastard!" (When hit)
 * "Useless!" (When dismissing Koromaru)
 * "Get real." (While performing Mediarama)
 * "I have it." (While performing Mediarama)
 * "Don't let them go!" (While performing Zan - Hakurou Battouga)
 * "It's time!" (While performing Thunder Reign)
 * "Behold... you're dead!" (While performing Fire Breath)
 * "Behold... it's time! Your death... you're dead!" (While performing Super Gattai! Ultimate Cross)
 * "So annoying..." (Non-final round victory)
 * "Moron..." (Non-final round victory)
 * "I'll shut you up!" (Non-final round victory)
 * "Hehe... freaking out over a little kid?" (Non-final round victory)
 * "You're weak... too weak to live." (Final round victory)
 * "This can't be!?" (Non-final round defeat)
 * "Dammit... Next time..." (Final round defeat)

Victory Quotes

 * General
 * "Arf arf arf!"
 * "Looks like my skills haven't gotten rusty..."
 * "I expect a better battle from you next time."
 * "Did you get stronger, Koromaru? You did great!"
 * "With Koromaru and I fighting as a team, we don't have any weaknesses!"
 * "You thought we were just a boy and his dog, didn't you? That's why you lost."


 * Character Specific
 * Yu Narukami: "You're their leader, right? Whew, it would've been scary to think that someone like you has a boss!"
 * Yosuke Hanamura: "You're older than me, right? I don't know how to put this, but... There's someone in our group who reminds me of you."
 * Chie Satonaka: "You're very strong, but if you're going to go up against me, you should work on your strategy more."
 * Teddie: "That's... supposed to be a bear, right? I was just thinking that Koromaru could take you down in an instant."
 * Yukari Takeba: "I beat Featherman Victory! ...I-I mean, uh, yeah. I don't care. I don't even watch that show!"
 * Labrys: "You were made before Aigis-san, right...? Sometimes I wonder, because you seem so perfect already."
 * Mitsuru Kirijo: "Whew... You're so strong, Senpai. There's no way I would have won without Koromaru."
 * Tohru Adachi: "You're the culprit behind last year's case, aren't you? What are you doing here? Are you connected with this?"
 * Akihiko Sanada: "That was close...! But not even Sanada-san can beat Koromaru and me!"
 * Junpei Iori: "You're really going after your dreams. I admire how you can do that..."
 * Minazuki: "I used to think I was best on my own, too... But I'm not like that anymore."
 * Shadow Ken: "You're an impressive copy. But if you thought all it took to beat us was our appearances... Well, you're wrong."


 * Shadow Ken
 * "Koromaru says that he'd tear your throat out, but you're not worth the effort."
 * "Age doesn't mean anything in a fight. I mean, it's so easy to destroy people, after all!"
 * "Even Koromaru's appalled by how weak you are. How does it feel to have a dog pity you?"
 * "You can't do anything but hang out with others, even at your age... why don't you grow up already?"
 * "You thought we were just a kid and a dog, didn't you? And now you lost. How does that feel? Hahahaha!"
 * "Even those who act superior over people they're older than get honest when they're about to die. Pitiful..!"
 * "We could go again, but it'll only turn out to the same way. Oh, sorry, are you too stupid to understand that?"


 * Character Specific
 * Junpei Iori: "Hm? I guess you haven't grown at all. Isn't that right, Junpei-san...?"
 * Mitsuru Kirijo: "Ahaha, I was waiting for this day! "Normal life" is nothing but weakness! Do you understand now, Mitsuru-san?"
 * Tohru Adachi: "I don't really know you, but you sound like the cynical type. Did you think you were smarter than everyone? How wrong you were."

Persona Q

 * "Leave it to me, I take this." (Battle start)
 * "This is my job." (Battle start)
 * "It feels like we are fighting in Tartarus." (Battle start)
 * "Let's go, Koromaru." (Battle start, with Koromaru)
 * "Y-you don't have to worry about me." (Battle start, with Kanji Tatsumi)
 * "This one will be a peace of cake!" (Battle start, with Kanji Tatsumi)
 * "Huh!? A surprise attack!?" (Battle start with Enemy Advanced)
 * "It's more like a lick-monster than a Shadow." (Battle start, fighting Hablerie-type Shadow)
 * "I don't have time to play house." (Battle start, fighting a Table-type Shadow)
 * "That bird... It's so big." (Battle start, fighting a Jupiter Eagle)
 * "That's a scale Shadow, right?" (Battle start, fighting a Heat Balance)
 * "I like beetles but not this big!" (Battle start, fighting a Burning Beetle)
 * "It looks like an angel, and it's a bad guy, huh." (Battle start, fighting Angel-type Shadow)
 * "Oh! A crow, a crow Shadow!" (Battle start, fighting Raven-type Shadow)
 * "Oh! It's that Shadow with the ring!" (Battle start, fihnting Dice-type Shadow)
 * "It's a spinning-like Shadow." (Battle start, fighting Drive-type Shadow)
 * "I think we can beat it." (Battle aqainst a low level FOE)
 * "Let's try to predict there next move." (During battle)
 * "Hum, what should I do next?" (During battle)
 * "Koromaru, are you okay?" (When Koromaru is low on HP)
 * "You look hurt. Are you okay?" (When Kanji Tatsumi is low on HP)
 * "You won't get away with this animal abuse!" (When Koromaru is unconscious)
 * "Kanji-san, please get up!" (When Kanji Tatsumi is unconscious)
 * "We won!" (Victory)
 * "That's that" (Victory)
 * "That was cool!" (When leader is victorious)
 * "Okay, let's keep this up." (Result)
 * "Oh, that ended too soon." (Result)
 * "That was easy." (Result)

Trivia

 * The Shirt of Chivalry, a type of costume for males in FES and P3P, is noted for the kanji symbols on their back that symbolizes the character. Ken's Kanji means "grudge" (怨), representing his dark past and his ambitions of revenge.
 * In Ken's initial design, Ken's weapon of choice was darts instead of spears.
 * Ken's recording in The Journey hints that Ken is lactose-intolerant, as his stomach hurts after he drinks cow's milk out of a carton.
 * In the Persona 3 Portable Club Book, it is revealed that Ken frequents Baofu's rumor website. However, Baofu claimed that he closed the website after the final battle in Persona 2: Eternal Punishment, so the website that Ken accesses is unlikely the same, at least not maintained by Baofu.
 * In Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, Ken is described by the announcer as a severe patient of "Chūnibyō" (, lit. "Junior High Second Year/Middle School Syndrome"), which is a phrase that picked up in usage as derogatory Japanese net slang for adolescents going through puberty, in particular referring to the hyper-self conscious and melodramatic phase that is common among junior high students as they attempt to define themselves as adults. This also tends to be rumored as an increase in hyperactive imagination from some circles of info and portrayals.