Protagonist (Persona 5)

The protagonist of Persona 5 is a transfer student at Shujin Academy. At the beginning of the game, he has little to no power or influence in the world and is restrained by the rules of the system he was born into.

However, beneath his quiet demeanor is a strong-willed juvenile delinquent known throughout the world as The Phantom, to the residents of the Velvet Room he is known as the Trickster, and to his teammates his code name is Joker. The protagonist is the leader of the rebellious Phantom Thieves of Hearts which aims to change society by touching the hearts of people and performing illegal heists.

Appearances

 * Persona 5 / Royal: Protagonist
 * Persona 5 (Manga): Protagonist as Akira Kurusu
 * Persona 5 Mementos Mission: Protagonist as Ren Amamiya
 * Persona 5 The Animation The Day Breakers: Protagonist
 * Persona 5 The Animation: Protagonist as Ren Amamiya
 * Persona 5 The Stage: Protagonist
 * Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight: Protagonist as Ren Amamiya
 * Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight: DLC Partner as Ren Amamiya.
 * Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers
 * Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth: Protagonist
 * Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth Roundabout Special: Main Character
 * Night of the Phantom: Protagonist as The Phantom

Design
The protagonist has wavy unkempt black hair and dark gray eyes. For most of his civilian outfits, he wears a set of black glasses. While wearing his glasses, he has the appearance of an ordinary boy. However, when his glasses are removed, his eyes give off an intense gaze. As he does not wear his glasses during his first encounter with Masayoshi Shido, the fireworks scene, or the ending it is unlikely that they are necessary for vision correction, and that they are fake glasses which he has adopted as part of his public persona to make himself seem more unassuming during his probation.

His default outfit is his winter school uniform, which consists of a red-buttoned black blazer with Shujin's emblem on the pocket, a white turtleneck shirt with chevron detailing on the collar and red plaid trousers. It is shown on Episode 5 of Persona 5: The Animation that he wears black suspenders under his blazer. During the summer, he wears the school regulation polo shirt, albeit untucked and sans the suspenders.

On his days off during the winter, he wears an unbuttoned black blazer over a black-trimmed cream sweater, blue jeans and brown shoes. After his assumed death, he temporarily swapped his sweater for a light gray hooded sweatshirt as a disguise. During the summer, he wears an open white button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up over a black short-sleeved t-shirt, blue jeans and brown shoes. His loungewear consists of a black long-sleeved shirt and olive sleep pants.

As Joker, his outfit consists of a black ankle-length tailcoat, a high-necked waistcoat with gold accents, black pants, brown-black winklepickers and a pair of red gloves. His mask is a black and white, birdlike domino mask. His expression and demeanor are also markedly different and there's a strong air of confidence to him compared to his usual self.

During visits to the Velvet Room, he wears a black and white prisoner uniform.

In his flashback, he is wearing a black and white baseball tee with the numbers "1797" in front, gray jeans and black shoes.

In Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight, Ren Amamiya wears the Shujin Academy uniform, though he replaces the turtleneck with a black shirt with a zero on the front with "DANCE" written on it. His jacket is left open and he wears red gloves and shoes. A red rag is also found hanging out from his right pants pocket. Around his neck are black and red headphones.

Personality
As per the tradition of the Megami Tensei franchise, he is a silent protagonist, whose personality is based on the player's actions and decisions. However, he appears to have more established traits than any of the previous protagonists. His dialogue options range from somewhat indifferent to outright cheeky. The game allows for quite a number of playful, snarky or audacious answers, including teasing his friends. He also taunts his enemies like the famed Arsène Lupin. In the prologue scene, he remains cocky and confident even when his life is in danger. He also has a flair for showing off and making dramatic decisions, such as exiting by jumping through the stained glass windows of the Casino, much to the amazement of the other Phantom Thieves. This is even reflected in gameplay, as when he is turned into a mouse, he makes a flamboyant hop after escaping a battle.



Munehisa Iwai says if everyone in the world held the same code of honor as the protagonist, guns would be obsolete. Sadayo Kawakami notes that, by opposing Suguru Kamoshida, he has a strong sense of justice despite his bad reputation. Shinya Oda states that he made him realize "To be cool, you have to live life in your own way." and that's the type of person he's striving to become. Hifumi Togo notes, while playing Shogi with him, that she senses he has a "gambler's spirit." Sojiro Sakura says the protagonist has an assertive nature, to which the rest of the thieves agree. During the climax of the Niijima Palace heist, Ryuji Sakamoto states that despite being quiet, once he has made up his mind, he won't take no for an answer. Goro Akechi says although the protagonist is quiet, he possesses the courage and determination to take action, and has a free heart, despite his social standing and how others view him, and that he never stops choosing his own path.

His profile states that he appears quiet and well-mannered, but this behavior is a profound ruse that hides the heart of a rebellious trickster. He is extremely resistant to rigid and dogmatic forms of control-based authority and order. He has received much criticism, insults, opposition and even death threats for his rebellious nature, whether it be his targets, school staff, disapproving comments left on the Phantom Aficionado Website, etc. Suguru Kamoshida calls him a "defiant piece of garbage." However, despite all this, the Phantom Thieves have also received a good deal of support.

In Persona 5 The Animation The Day Breakers, he can easily be perceived as an unassuming student during his daily life. He appears somewhat introverted and absent-minded, perhaps as part of his "profound ruse" or in being mentally preoccupied with the Phantom Thieves' activities, as he was shown not paying attention in class. In truth, he is highly resourceful and plans ahead, such as using Cafe Leblanc as bait to obtain evidence behind Kazuya Makigami's crimes, as well as obtaining the false alarm system from Iwai. He also has a reckless side, as seen when Ryuji and Ann question his audacious decision to use Leblanc as bait despite numerous dangers, including the risk of Sojiro finding out. In response, the protagonist simply says he'll cross that bridge when he comes to it. Like the other Phantom Thieves, he fully believes in their mission to reform their targets, even taking pride in his work as he declares to Kazuya that he has stolen the arrogance in his heart.

In the process of designing characters for Persona 5, Shigenori Soejima imagined the protagonist as the type who plans things but does not talk about them. Jun Fukuyama, his Japanese voice actor, described the protagonist as the type of person you cannot get to know easily. However, he also says the protagonist has the characteristics of a leader and that the other members of the Phantom Thieves trust him deeply.

As noted by Ann, Yusuke and Hifumi, the protagonist has immense kindness as he would do what he can to help people such as his Confidants. Unlike previous Persona protagonists, the catalyst for his Persona awakening is specific (his desire to help people in need). Arsene notes this, and wonders if the resolve the protagonist showed in the past was valid or not. This, in turn, proves instrumental to Awakening, as it is the basis for his rebellious will, allowing him to form a contract with Arsene and summon him.

In the manga adaptation, Akira Kurusu is not silent. He comes off as initially quiet and awkward while showing his obvious discomfort and confusion with the crowded streets of Tokyo. He is also severely disheartened and saddened when none of the students, save for Ryuji who he helped earlier in Kamoshida's Palace, want anything to do with him because of his record. Like in the game, Akira is quick to catch on to certain things, showing himself to be quite observant.

In Persona 5 the Animation, Ren Amamiya comes off as very quiet and polite. After the court's decision, he has visibly become depressed and, initially, becomes hesitant to help Sakamoto in their first encounter with Kamoshida. After awakening to his Persona, however, Ren is more willing to help someone. When he bumped into Shiho, he didn't hesitate to pick up her papers and return them to her. He always seems to look out for his companions. When spying on the new track coach, Ryuji asked why he was doing this and Ren responds that seeing him mope around bothers him. Ryuji also notes that, while in the Metaverse, Ren is different, being very aggressive.

Similar to Yu Narukami in the anime, Ren has something of a playful side. When meeting Morgana for the first time, he petted him, much to his embarrassment. Also, like in the game, Ren has a mischievous side to himself, as shown when he calls Sakamoto by his last name after he called him by his new nickname, or when he tells Ann that she needs to strip "for justice." He can become socially awkward or uncomfortable when doing mischievous favors for others, as he's seen physically flustered during Operation Maid Watch. In later episodes, Ren has a subtle character development arc which leads to him being more confident and less shy and introverted. Justice and honor are very important to him, and after the Kaneshiro arc, he tends to show his defiant spirit more often and openly tells Akechi that he is a supporter of the Phantom Thieves, refusing his offer to become his assistant. Despite becoming more confident in the real world, he's never seen giving orders to the team, and like in the game, Ryuji often acts as his mouthpiece to give direct orders.

While in the game, Ren is seen as someone who shows off a lot, the anime portrays him as a cold and logical tactician who tends to avoid risky decisions. As shown when he tells Morgana to delay the infiltration to Okumura's Palace as he thinks something isn't right with the sudden rise in fame of the Phantom Thieves. In later episodes, like the fight with Sae and the Dark Sun special, Ren has a subtle character development shown in his dialogue during those fights, despite still keeping his silent persona in the real world (and even that seems to shatter when he finds out Shido's behind everything). Ren actually takes pride in Sae's defeat and in the Dark Sun OVA he becomes much more of a field leader (in the Metaverse, not the real world), ordering the team how to handle opponents like Akechi and confronting the IT president and Goro by himself. After Shido's defeat, Ren mocks him for losing, saying he's "not even in his league," and when he finds out that people still adore Shido after his change of heart, the silent facade Ren puts up in the real world shatters for a second time, with him screaming: "What the hell is happening!?."

While Makoto's character arc was the central theme in Persona 3 The Movie and Yu's personality was openly shown from the very beginning of Persona 4 The Animation, Persona 5 The Animation tends to keep Ren mostly silent and focus more on the development of the other playable characters. A reason for this is the very little time that the anime dedicates to the Metaverse, where Ren's aggressive and defiant personality is openly shown. as opposed to the character interactions in the real world, where Ren is basically forced to silence because of his criminal record.

Persona 5
The protagonist is a second-year high school student who meets Morgana and transfers to Shujin Academy in the spring in Tokyo near Aoyama-Itchome. He lives in a coffee shop called Cafe Leblanc, located in Yongen-Jaya and owned by Sojiro Sakura, an acquaintance of his parents. He becomes classmates with Ryuji Sakamoto and Ann Takamaki, who join him in his endeavors alongside the mysterious Morgana. Additionally, he is the leader of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, a group whose purpose is to steal the hearts of corrupted adults in order to create a reformed society. Later, more members join the Phantom Thieves: Yusuke Kitagawa, Makoto Niijima, Futaba Sakura, Haru Okumura and Goro Akechi.

Prologue
During the game's prologue, the protagonist manages to infiltrate a Casino, successfully stealing a briefcase before beginning to make his escape, all the while attracting the attention of the security force in order to allow his companions to escape. He makes quick work of a demon before he continues his escape, though shortly after jumping out of a window, he is cornered by the police and is subsequently captured, informed that he was "sold out" by someone. Later, he is found in an interrogation room, bound to a chair, having been seemingly drugged by his captors. The apparent leading investigator splashes him with water in order to wake up him and knocks him off of the chair as he reads off his list of crimes: obstruction of business, intimidation, defamation, preparing and carrying weapons, and killing people. Afterward, he asks the protagonist to write down his name, as a confession to the investigation. The protagonist complies, though the investigator tells him that he will put him through so much pain until he has paid for his crimes.



Shortly after signing his name, Sae Niijima, a prosecutor leading his case, enters the room to interrogate him. The two seem to share a history, and she questions him how he came to learn about "that world," and how exactly his "techniques" regarding his crimes work. As the protagonist seems to ponder how to answer, he catches sight of a blue butterfly (possibly Philemon), and hears a voice calling out to him, stating that his fate was already predetermined, but there was hope for him by recalling his memories.

After that, the protagonist awakens on the train bound for Shibuya, as if the events were all a foreboding dream. During the ride, he recalls an incident where he witnessed a woman being sexually harassed by a man and stopped him. In his drunken stupor, the man accidentally fell without the protagonist touching him and injured his head. He blamed it on the protagonist and forced the woman to testify that it was the protagonist's fault. It is later revealed that the man was Masayoshi Shido, a powerful politician with strong connections to the police department. As a result of his intervention, the incident went down on his permanent record, and the protagonist was subsequently expelled from his school. At the court hearing, he was told to transfer schools with Shujin Academy being the only school that would accept the protagonist with his current criminal record. Needing a place to stay, Sojiro Sakura offered to house the protagonist during his probation due to being an acquaintance with the protagonist's parents. However, due to the protagonist's rumored criminal record, he does so begrudgingly.

After he arrives at the Shibuya Crosswalk, a mysterious application starts up, much to the protagonist's confusion. The world around him slows to a halt, and a fiery blue figure manifests before his eyes, followed by a vision of the flames developing a red grin, and himself with yellow eyes. Afterward, as time resumes, the protagonist seemingly deletes the application, and makes his way to the Yongen-Jaya Station, and later to the alleyway, where his new caretaker resides. He arrives to find Sojiro speaking with customers. Sojiro is surprised that the "punk kid" he was asked to look after is the protagonist, implying that he once met the protagonist in the past. Sojiro shows him his new room, though despite it's a rather large size, Sojiro says he has to be the one to clean it up. He also touches upon the details of the incident for a brief moment before leaving him alone to clean up the room, though he also warns the protagonist that if he causes any trouble, he will kick him out.

As the protagonist prepares for bed, he recalls the incident, thinking to himself that he simply couldn't ignore the woman being harassed. He hears his phone ringing, and to his surprise, he finds that the mysterious application from before is still there, despite having deleted it earlier. He shortly falls asleep afterwards. Later, he awakens in the Velvet Room and finds himself in prison garb, even bound in handcuffs with a ball and chain on his leg. Igor greets him to his Velvet Room, and the twins tell him that he is still asleep in the real world. Caroline scolds him to stand up straight as Igor is present. Igor greets him, explaining that the Velvet Room is a place that exists between dream and reality, and is only accessible to those who have, in some form, made a contract. He then explains that he brought the protagonist here in order to discuss an important matter that will affect his life. He also expresses surprise at the state of the Velvet Room, mentioning that it's form represents the state of the guest's heart. Igor also refers to the protagonist as a "Prisoner of Fate," and that destruction awaits him in the future.

Igor informs him that there is a way to avoid that destruction, stating that he must be "rehabilitated into a free man." He also asks the protagonist if he is ready to fight against the world's corruption. After the protagonist gives his answer, Igor expresses his delight, saying that he will observe the miracle of his "rehabilitation." He then introduces his newest attendants: Caroline and Justine, his prison guards. Caroline tells him that fighting is pointless, whereas Justine informs him that, as his guard, it is their duty to protect him, but only if he is obedient. Igor states that he will explain the twins' importance another time, as dawn has already approached in the real world.

First Heist: Suguru Kamoshida


On his way to school the next day, the protagonist once again opens the mysterious app in his phone and then sees a girl, later introduced as Ann, being offered a ride to school by a teacher, Suguru Kamoshida. As he sees them go to school, Ryuji arrives and calls Kamoshida a perverted teacher. The protagonist gets acquainted with Ryuji and inquires as to what he meant, which causes the app to activate, opening the path to another world: Kamoshida's Palace. Inside the Palace, the duo is captured and placed in a cell where they encounter Shadow Kamoshida, the king of the palace. Shadow Kamoshida restrains the protagonist as Ryuji is nearly executed. The protagonist hears a voice that questions if he is just going to keep quiet and reminds him of the incident that led to his probation. The protagonist recalls the incident, coming to the conclusion that he did not make the wrong choice to save the woman. In response to his determination, he then awakens his Persona, summoning Arsene. While escaping, they also encounter a cat-like creature, Morgana, who was captured and asks to be freed in exchange for showing them the way out.

Once the protagonist and Ryuji escape the palace and return to reality, they confront Kamoshida about his palace, unknown to the fact that his real self is unaware of events that occur in his palace. Regardless, Kamoshida forces the protagonist's classmate, Yuuki Mishima, to spread rumors about him regarding his probation to the whole school. After visiting the world a second time and witnessing firsthand the physical abuse that Kamoshida inflicts on students as well as encountering a cognitive copy of Ann which reveals that he didn't treat her as anything other than a sex slave, the protagonist and Ryuji decide to expose Kamoshida's true nature. The protagonist asks Ann, who is rumored to be sleeping with Kamoshida, about this and she confirms that Kamoshida is trying to force himself on her. Since no other students are willing to speak up against Kamoshida, Morgana proposes to make Kamoshida admit his wrongdoings by stealing his Treasure in his Palace, which represents his arrogance. However, Morgana warns that if they kill Shadow Kamoshida, the real Kamoshida will suffer a mental shutdown, prompting him and Ryuji to think things over.

The protagonist and Ryuji confront Kamoshida after witnessing Ann's friend, Shiho Suzui, attempts a suicide due to no longer being able to put up with the abuse. Kamoshida retaliates by threatening the protagonist and Ryuji with expulsion, forcing them to carry through with Morgana's plan. The three of them are then joined by Ann who wants to avenge Shiho. To make Shadow Kamoshida's treasure materialize, Ryuji pins a calling card on the school board to Kamoshida under the name "Phantom Thieves of Hearts," enraging Shadow Kamoshida in the Palace. They succeed in stealing Kamoshida's treasure, causing him to have a change of heart and confess all of his crimes in front of the whole school. Afterward, the bad rumors about the protagonist and Ann are no longer spread and the expulsions are dropped.

They decide to celebrate their success at an expensive restaurant by using the money from selling Kamoshida's treasure. At the restaurant, the protagonist and Ryuji meet a man named Masayoshi Shido who rudely looks down on them. The protagonist notices that Shido's voice reminds him of the man who falsely accused him, but quickly dismisses this thought. Their encounter with Shido convinces the protagonist, Ryuji, and Ann to continue their work as Phantom Thieves to steal corrupt hearts of adults and reform society so there will be no more victims like them.

Second Heist: Ichiryusai Madarame
Mishima, who knows of the protagonist's identity as one of the Phantom Thieves, created a website that also serves as a request board for the Phantom Thieves to take on missions. However, since not many people believe their existence, the Phantom Thieves decide to change another corrupt famous adult to make the group known. An opportunity arises when they explore Mementos by the request of Morgana and discover the Shadow of a former apprentice of Madarame, Natsuhiko Nakanohara, a municipal ward who was once a pupil of the great artist Ichiryusai Madarame who stalked his ex-girlfriend to relieve his stress of being scammed by him. After they defeat his Shadow that takes the form of Obariyon, he tells them that Madarame actually steals his students' paintings, resulting in one of his students committing suicide after his work was stolen. Natsuhiko asks them to stop Madarame before he can steal the credit of Yusuke, his latest disciple. Yusuke stalks Ann all the way from the Shibuya station to the ground floor and asks her to nude model for him. In order to learn more about Madarame, the Phantom Thieves accept his offer.

When the group directly asks Yusuke about Madarame's plagiarism, Yusuke fiercely defends his teacher and dismisses the group. After receiving more information from Natsuhiko and locating Madarame's Palace, Ann and Morgana attempt to find proof of Madarame's crimes while under the guise of modeling for Yusuke. Ann finds proof of Madarame's plagiarism in his studio, which is accidentally revealed to Yusuke. They both confront Madarame about it, which forces him to threaten them by calling the police. They escape from Madarame and enter the Palace and Yusuke gets dragged in as well and despite he still does not believe his master's crimes even after seeing evidence in his Palace, his teacher's shadow flaunts his crimes and how little he has in regard for his disciples, angering him and he awakens his Persona. After defeating the Shadows and leaving from the Palace, Yusuke decides to join the Phantom Thieves, wanting to reform his teacher.

The Phantom Thieves send a calling card to Madarame in his exhibit, angering him. As a precaution he replaces the treasure with a hehenonomoheji and shows the Thieves his real treasure, the real "Sayuri" painting and flaunts his atrocity against Yusuke and his mother to them. This angers Yusuke to the point that he no longer felt remorse opposing him, and Madarame transforms into Azazel and attacks the Thieves, which takes the form of four floating paintings forming a face. Despite this, he was soundly defeated by them. After defeating Shadow Madarame and stealing his treasure, he reveals that there's a third party besides them inside the Palace, but Madarame only reveals the person to be a black mask. Yusuke recovers Madarame's treasure, the real "Sayuri" painting that his mother painted before her death and the Thieves escape the collapsing museum in one piece. No longer having a home due to not wishing to live with Madarame anymore, Yusuke stays with the Protagonist at Cafe Leblanc for a few days, but eventually moves into a dormitory at Kosei High School. As thanks to Sojiro for allowing him to stay temporarily, he gifts "Sayuri" to him, which is then hung on display at the entrance of the Cafe.

Third Heist: Junya Kaneshiro
Following Madarame's confession at live television, the Phantom Thieves' activities become known and attract many people, particularly high school detective Goro Akechi and student council president Makoto Niijima. During a study trip, the protagonist meets Goro who reveals his disdain towards the Phantom Thieves' actions. Despite this, the protagonist gets well acquainted with Akechi. The principal of Shujin Academy also got worried so he asks Makoto to investigate the possibilities the Phantom Thieves are among the students of their school. Makoto quickly gets suspicious of the protagonist and his friends, secretly following them and finally gets the proof in a form of recording of Ryuji who declares themselves as Phantom Thieves. She blackmails the protagonist to take her to their meeting place and demands the Phantom Thieves to show her their justice, promising to delete the recording if they can prove her wrong. Left with no options, they take on her request to investigate an unknown man with yakuza connections who is extorting money from several Shujin students. Despite this, the group fails to track this person, as his henchmen refused to reveal anything about him.

Their investigation leads them to Ichiko Ohya leaking his name as Junya Kaneshiro to the protagonist and the Phantom Thieves enter his Palace, but cannot find his treasure since the bank that acts as its main body is too high up in the air. Makoto brazenly manages to bring them to Kaneshiro himself, but in her hubris, the situation allows Kaneshiro to take a picture of them in his club surrounded by beer and alcohol. Threatening to spread the photo across social media, Kaneshiro forces them to bring him a hefty sum of 3 million yen in three weeks. As an apology, Makoto requests to join them in their heist to make up for her mistake, allowing access to the Palace itself due to a person that Kaneshiro extorted being in its outskirts. Shadow Kaneshiro lures the Thieves into a trap and attempts to kill them, then corners them and gloats about how is he going to prostitute Sae and Makoto, but this caused Makoto to break and she awakens her own Persona in the process. The Thieves defeat his shadow guards and escape the Palace due to the increasing security. After the Phantom Thieves locate Kaneshiro's treasure and sent a series of calling cards to Shibuya and angered him, a final confrontation between the Thieves and Shadow Kaneshiro commences, and they successfully defeat him and destroy his "Piggytron" robot. However, he leaves them with a warning of a third party that manipulates Palaces and Mementos for their own ends without caring for the consequences. A day later, the real Kaneshiro promises to delete the photos and turns himself to the police, causing Sae to worry if her younger sister has became a Phantom Thief herself.

Fourth Heist: Futaba Sakura
The Phantom Thieves' success in changing Kaneshiro's heart further begins to attract attention to them, leading them to be confronted by the hacking group Medjed who warns the Phantom Thieves to stop their heists or else they will purge all of their supporters through a huge hacking attack. The protagonist then receives an unknown chat from a mysterious hacker called Alibaba who requests him to steal a certain someone's heart and in exchange, they will take care of Medjed. Should he refuse, they will leak his identity to the media. The protagonist and the others think that the chat is a mere prank, but Alibaba proves themselves that they do know about the protagonist by leaving a calling card in Leblanc. Alibaba requests him to steal the heart of a girl named Futaba Sakura, who is revealed to be related to Sojiro. Since information about Futaba is too lacking, the protagonist tries to ask Sojiro, but he refuses to tell him anything and threatens to kick him out if he asks more. The protagonist tries to ask Alibaba for more detail and asks to meet them, but his request leads Alibaba to abruptly cancel their request.

The Phantom Thieves thinks that the problem has been solved with Alibaba not bothering them again until they returned from the Kaneshiro heist celebrations and Akechi tells them that Medjed has declared an all-out war against them, so they have no choice but to once again track down Alibaba. Makoto correctly deduces that Alibaba is actually Futaba herself, which is confirmed when Sojiro finally explains about Futaba after the protagonist and the others caught a glimpse of her when visiting Sojiro's house. They confront Futaba and asks to make a deal with her again, which she agrees.

After obtaining the key words necessary to enter her Palace, the Phantom Thieves enter her Palace, which is a giant pyramid. Unlike other Palaces so far, it is not born from corruption, but from Futaba's severe depression, her delusional belief that her mother hated her and her home would be her "tomb" where she dies. At first, they are not seen as threats since they have not adopted their Metaverse attire, but after meeting with Shadow Futaba, their clothes appear and are forced to run from a boulder summoned by her Shadow that threatens to crush them.

As they progress through the Palace, the party finds several murals, each depicting Futaba in some situation or another. The first is men in black reading her a note, later revealed to be a suicide note. The second is her watching her mother, Wakaba Isshiki, being struck by a car, claimed to have been her suicide, and the third is Futaba trying to get her mother's attention. Their path to the treasure, however, is blocked by a blockade, signifying Futaba's unwillingness to allow anyone in her room. The group returns to reality, hoping to find a way to let Futaba allow them in so they can remove the blockade. They succeed in doing so, and through their first face-to-face encounter with her, they learn that Wakaba was a researcher of "cognitive psience," a study on one's perception of reality.

After leaving behind a calling card for Futaba, in order to have her treasure manifest, they reach the Pharaoh's Tomb, where the Treasure is supposed to lie, but are attacked by a cognition of what Futaba perceives as her mother; a Sphinx who hates and loathes her for killing her, and tries to murder her. Its incredible agility and stamina easily overpowers the Phantom Thieves, but it changed after Futaba enters her own Palace with the Metaverse Navigator. Meeting her own Shadow, she manages to overcome her own feelings of self-loathing and realizes that she has been manipulated into believing a lie that ruined her life, and her Shadow transforms into her Persona Necronomicon, allowing the tides to turn as Necronomicon creates a ballista that allows the Thieves to effectively damage the cognition. They successfully manage to defeat the cognition with Futaba's help, though, to their confusion, the Treasure is not inside the coffin. As the Palace begins to crumble after Futaba leaves, Morgana explains that Futaba herself was the Treasure, and with her being inside her own Palace for so long, it has become unstable.

The group successfully escapes the collapsing pyramid, albeit landing in front of Sojiro's store. As the others distract Sojiro, Makoto and the protagonist look after Futaba, who is unconscious. Fearing the worst, the protagonist calls Tae Takemi, a doctor in Yongen-Jaya. After a brief examination, Tae states that Futaba has unnaturally low stamina and strength, most likely due to her shut-in nature. Though the group is worried for her well-being, Sojiro explains that this is normal for Futaba, and can sleep for days on end due to how much she exerts herself. On the day Medjed is supposed to destroy Japan's economy and begin a 'cleansing' of Phantom Thief supporters, Futaba hacks into their website in just a few hours, leaving behind the signature logo of the Phantom Thieves. Afterward, Futaba, in accordance with her hacking skills, is asked to join, who agrees, if only to find the one responsible for murdering her mother and stealing her research. Futaba permanently joins the party as combat support, resulting in Morgana's navigator role being obsolete.

Fifth Heist: Kunikazu Okumura
Their victory against Medjed causes a boom in popularity, resulting in massive support and even merchandise to capitalize on their success. Meanwhile, the protagonist helps Futaba overcome her social shyness over a few days, eventually bringing her to a beach. School resumes shortly after and Shujin Academy and Kosei High take a trip to Hawaii where they discover that their exploits have reached overseas. Unfortunately, back in Japan, Principal Kobayakawa dies when he is hit by a car in the middle of a crosswalk, leading some to believe that the Phantom Thieves murdered him for covering up Kamoshida's crimes. They have little time to dwell on the matter, however, as the Phan-Site has made numerous requests for targets, the one with the largest result in the poll is Kunikazu Okumura, the wealthy CEO of Okumura Foods, which sponsors the famous Big Bang Burger restaurant. Suspiciously, much of Big Bang's competition has fallen out, either due to mental breakdowns or psychotic breakdowns, leading the group to believe that Okumura may be behind the incidents.

After an argument with Ryuji (spurred by Ryuji's thoughtless comments and his own growing insecurities), Morgana leaves the group and tries to take Okumura's heart by himself. He was easily defeated and overwhelmed, only left alive because the Shadow security drones do not consider him.a threat. The group becomes heavily worried, and believing that they might find him in Okumura's Palace, heads to their headquarters. Thanks to Futaba, who discovered the "distortion" of the Palace they enter it, which resembles a giant space station. Shortly after infiltrating the Palace, though, they are blocked by a door with a biometric scanner, leaving them unable to proceed. Then, to their surprise, Morgana appears alongside another thief, who proclaims herself as "Beauty Thief." At first, the group believes that she is the Black Mask that Madarame spoke of, though they later learn that her intense silence was because of her forgetting her lines. To the thieves shock, Morgana's partner is able to bypass the biometric scanner due to having connections with the Palace owner, though the numerous Shadows behind the gates forces them to leave.

Deciding to investigate who this new thief is, and under the idea of her being a Shujin student, the group investigates the student roster of the female student body. They eventually find a match - Haru Okumura, the only daughter of Kunikazu Okumura. Makoto and the protagonist encounter her and try to ask her to join them, though Haru refuses, the reason being that she cannot side with people who do not understand their friend's feelings. The thieves later learn that many people on the Phan-Site are thanking them for their help, despite not handling their requests, leading them to believe that Haru and Morgana are the ones resolving them. To this end, they enter Mementos in order to try and convince Morgana to come back. It nearly goes well, until Ryuji makes a thoughtless comment, hurting Morgana's feelings once again and causing him to leave.

When they return to reality, the group discovers Haru being harassed by a man, and Morgana was also injured by him in an attempt to stop him from harassing Haru. The man introduces himself as her fiance, and at first, tries to calmly pass the whole thing off as a little quarrel, but becomes angered by their continued interference, claiming that he will not forget their faces and leaves. Afterward, the group takes Morgana and Haru to Leblanc, where the latter can rest. The thieves learn that Haru, while having made a contract with her Persona, doesn't have enough power yet to make it manifest, and her reason for agreeing to become a phantom thief was simply to get out of her marriage, and Morgana's reason for leaving is because he is worried about them and cannot bear the thought of staying due to his own weaknesses. It is also heavily implied that he left also due to fears that his navigator role was being obsolete by Futaba. The group, however, accepts him back nonetheless, thus mending their relationship.

The group returns to Okumura's Palace, and after bypassing the scanner, encounter Okumura's Shadow, as well as his cognition of Haru's fiance, Sugimura. To their shock and disgust, Okumura was more than aware of his future son-in-law's nature and even stated that he would no doubt only accept Haru as a mere lover, not as his wife, and have many other mistresses. This angers Haru greatly, enough so that her Persona, Milady, finally takes form, and with the help of the party, destroys Cognitive Sugimura. Afterward, they dive deeper into the Palace, and learn what Okumura truly thinks of his workers - robots who will work under any condition and will be disposed of and turned into fuel if they break down. This horrifies Haru and resolves her to truly change her father's heart.

After discovering the Treasure, the group sends the calling card, which Haru leaves in her father's study. The next day, when he finds it, he becomes angered and calls the police, claiming that this "band of ruffians have threatened a law-abiding citizen." The group enters Okumura's Palace, but are forced to chase after the Treasure when the facility threatens to explode when a project of Okumura's Shadow is finally completed, allowing him to leave unharmed. When they encounter Okumura, he, at first, seems remorseful and claims that he is happy to see Haru finally standing on her own two feet, though this is later a ruse to trick the thieves and capture them. He then tries to persuade Morgana to try and abandon them, having watched their spat earlier. Morgana, however, refuses and frees the group. He then sits back and attacks the Thieves with an army of his robots, even sending out his right-hand Execurobo, but all of the robots were defeated along with him.

After they defeat Okumura, he is now left unsure of what to do, with Haru telling him to atone for what he has done. The group also interrogates him about the recent mental shutdowns and breakdowns, which Shadow Okumura reveals that he is partially responsible; he had requested that they are targeted, but he does not state who is directly responsible for them. Afterward, they take the Treasure and leave, unaware that a figure wearing a black mask shoots Shadow Okumura afterward. On the day Haru was supposed to be sent off to Sugimura, the group celebrates at Tokyo Destinyland using the money they got for pawning Okumura's treasure, which was reserved for them thanks to Haru. They then watch a video of Okumura holding a press conference, where he reveals all of his sins to the media, though before he can reveal who is truly behind the mental shutdowns, Okumura suddenly collapses, with black liquid pouring out of his orifices.

Sixth Heist: Sae Niijima
In the aftermath of Kunikazu Okumura's death, support for the Phantom Thieves plummets, with many believing that they publicly executed Okumura, even believing that their past actions were 'nothing but a warm-up.' This horrifies the group, especially with Makoto's revelation that the ones behind the mental shutdowns might have been orchestrating their sudden popularity, only to have them become public enemy number one. Left unable to do anything for now, the group goes about their daily life, though to their surprise, Goro Akechi, who up until recently was under heavy fire for criticizing the Phantom Thieves by many, states that the Phantom Thieves may, in truth, be innocent behind the mental shutdown cases, and even Okumura's death.

This leads Makoto to suggest getting into contact with Akechi, as he would be a viable source of intel about police movements. She then invites him to an open panel at the school festival, where he reveals that he has an idea as to who the Phantom Thieves may be. Before he can reveal them, his phone goes off, though was, in actuality, a ruse to give him time so that he could speak with the group. Akechi reveals that he took photographs of the group entering Okumura's Palace, and even says that he met the true culprit. To clean their name, they must change Sae Niijima's heart. Akechi is offering his assistance in the matter, though he says, in exchange, the Phantom Thieves must disband.

The Phantom Thieves commit a heist on the Casino known as Niijima's Palace, which is a Palace born from Sae's discontent of the jurisdiction system. As Sae views all of her court cases as games to be rigged at all costs, the Casino that forms the Palace is rigged with complex mechanisms in favor of the house. They successfully clear the rigging mechanisms with help from Akechi to gain access to the members floor, but it still requires the allowance of Sae's cognition. As a result, Akechi permits them to attend a court case for access to the member's floor. They manage to get to the manager's floor in spite of Shadow Sae increasing its entry fee by tenfold and after sending a calling card to Sae a battle with Shadow Sae commences. Despite challenging the Thieves into a rigged roulette, that was quickly exposed by the protagonist and she transforms into Leviathan as a last ditch attempt to kill them "fair and square," but was ultimately defeated. The Thieves successfully reason with Shadow Sae and she assists the party.

However at the climax of the heist, hordes of real policemen appear in the Palace attempting to arrest the Thieves, so the protagonist uses himself as a bait to lure the Shadows and distract the police horde so the party can escape. When he exits the Palace, however, he is quickly apprehended by the police. While in custody, he is interrogated by Sae, bringing the events back to the beginning of the game. If the protagonist refused to sell out anyone, he reveals that he knows that Akechi is the traitor so he already hatched a plan with his friends to expose him. He tells Sae to show his smartphone to Akechi, which has been programmed by Futaba using the Palace's reality-warping ability, saving himself when Akechi attempts to kill him and make it look like a suicide. His plan was revised and reviewed by Igor and the twins shortly after he was "assassinated" by Akechi. Afterward, Sae helps the protagonist escape and escorts him back to Cafe Leblanc.

Otherwise, if he sold out either the Phantom Thieves or his other Confidants, Sae promises to reduce his sentence and leaves the room, but Akechi enters and successfully kills him. The protagonist finds himself in the Velvet Room afterward, the residents quite disappointed in him for failing to complete his rehabilitation. Igor tells him that the game is over, and imprisons him in the Velvet Room for the rest of his life.

Seventh Heist: Masayoshi Shido
Once his apparent death is broadcast, the protagonist gets smuggled out of the Police building with help from Sae and is brought back to Leblanc. Unfortunately, with his supposed "death," he is forced to lay low until the Phantom Thieves can identify the person Akechi works for. Finding out that a politician named Masayoshi Shido is the one Akechi is working for, he and the party tries to find the keyword to enter his Palace but got nothing until the protagonist remembers his voice, which is the same as the man who falsely accused him before. From his reminiscence when Shido assaulted the woman, the protagonist finds out the keyword to enter Shido's Palace.

Shido's palace takes on the appearance of a grand cruiser sailing among the sunken ruins of Tokyo, with the Diet Building itself set atop the grand liner, symbolizing that he cares nothing for the country and only for the wealthy patrons he cares about. During the heist, the Phantom Thieves learn more about the Conspiracy and their involvement in the series of events starting from Futaba's palace. They were financed by Madarame and Kaneshiro's schemes and killed Wakaba to protect Shido's reputation, then ruined Futaba's life with a fabricated suicide note. Once they realize that they are at threat, they impersonated Medjed as a means to start a sharp rise in the Phantom Thieves' popularity. Once this succeeds, they forcefully manipulated the Phantom Thieves website to spur them into taking on Okumura's palace. Finally, they were the ones who ultimately killed Kunikazu, with the news station that broadcasting the conference in full knowledge of the assassination.

After collecting all the Letters of Recommendation to finally enter Shido's treasure room, they are ambushed by Akechi who discovers that the protagonist is alive. Akechi reveals his past, especially his relation to Shido and how he was going to use Shido's election to exact revenge when he stands at the pinnacle after winning the prime minister role, revealing him as not only as a traitor for the Phantom Thieves but also for Shido, with his only reason for serving Shido and carrying out the killings being to gain recognition and fame.

Knowing that the Phantom Thieves are the only ones who can truly stop him, he attacks the party, revealing that he is another Wild Card user and has the ability to make Cognition and Shadows go berserk. After defeating a Cu Chulainn and a Cerberus he summoned and made berserk, the protagonist puts up a valiant fight against Akechi himself and backs him into a corner. He reveals that he envies the protagonist for his ability to defy expectations put onto him and chart his own path. Driven mad from his anger at the protagonist for having everything he never could, Akechi reveals that he is the mysterious Black Mask assailant and also reveals another Persona, Loki and as a last ditch attempt to dispose of the protagonist, makes himself berserk with it.

Even after making himself go berserk, Akechi is no match for the protagonist and his friends and is defeated. Suddenly, Shido's Cognition of Akechi appears, revealing that he was fully aware of Akechi's impending betrayal and their relationship. Shido planned on killing Akechi after he was sworn into office, leaving Akechi in disbelief of his actions. When Cognition Akechi tells Akechi to shoot the protagonist, Akechi instead decides to shoot a water lock, causing a large steel wall to separate them from the Phantom Thieves. Despite their pleas from them to help him, Akechi tells the protagonist to stop his father. Two gunshots are fired and Futaba states that she can no longer sense Akechi, leaving his fate unknown. The Phantom thieves eventually make it to Shido's treasure room and prepare to steal his heart.



Rather than send Shido a card which might be intercepted by one of his staff, Futaba suggests hacking the media and announcing to all of Japan of their intent to steal Shido's heart. The protagonist agrees, formally announcing their intentions to steal his heart as well as expose the lies by the Police of his death. In the broadcast, the protagonist and his comrades notify all of Japan that he and everyone is alive and well and Shido is behind everything, angering him and causing his treasure to take form. With the conditions set, the Phantom Thieves infiltrate Shido's Palace and meets his Shadow who speaks to them about his grand plan to be the next leader of Japan. Fueled by his ego he even offers to let the Phantom Thieves join him in his cause in exchange for whatever they desire. Every one of the Phantom Thieves unanimously refuses and a fight ensues, and Shadow Shido summons a chariot of the masses to attack them.

After the chariot is defeated, the protagonist reveals his face to Shadow Shido, causing him to faintly remembers the incident that caused the protagonist's probation. This angers Shido and he transforms into a grossly muscular version of himself to fight the Thieves alone. Despite being the toughest Shadow faced, he eventually is brought down. The Phantom Thieves force him to return to his normal self and repent.

In the real world, Shido is suddenly overcome with remorse due to his Shadow returning. Having a contingency plan in case the Phantom thieves take his heart, he takes a special coma-inducing pill, causing his Palace to collapse violently. Despite some complications during their escape and the seeming death of Ryuji, the Phantom Thieves make it out in one piece. However, even though Shido's crimes are exposed and he formally admits to them, the general public seems unfazed by the news with many still wanting Shido to be prime minister and a cover up operation taking place.

Final Heist: Mementos
The party deduces that Mementos is manipulating the masses into denying their recognition. On the 24th of December, they dive deep into the lowest depths of Mementos, the last Palace containing nearly the entire Tokyo population's Shadow Selves held in cells. Among the prisoners are all of the Phantom Thieves former adversaries excluding Kunikazu. All of the jailed Shadow Selves are blissfully content with their imprisonment, alarming the Phantom Thieves greatly.

Reaching the very bottom of Mementos, the party encounters the Holy Grail who claims to be feeding on humanity's desires to be enslaved to order and authority. The Phantom Thieves attempt to fight it, but the chalice uses the distorted desires of the masses to heal itself and eventually kicks the Phantom Thieves out of Mementos, forcing them back into Shibuya. Back in reality, the Phantom Thieves watch as Mementos begins to merge with the real world as the citizens of Tokyo, save the those who made a confidant with the protagonist, are blissfully unaware of the changes. The Holy Grail manipulates the masses' cognition into believing that the Phantom Thieves do not exist and one by one, starting from Futaba and ending with the protagonist, they were exiled from reality in pain. At the same time, the Phantom Website's poll rapidly declines from an already minimal support rate to a firm 0%.

The protagonist reawakens back in the Velvet Room where Igor informs him that the game is over and he has lost. Due to his loss, Igor orders that Caroline and Justine execute the protagonist. The two engage the protagonist in combat but become conflicted as their duties as a Velvet Room attendants towards its guest contradict their order to fight him. The floating butterfly tells the protagonist that he needs to fuse Caroline and Justine and the twin wardens agree as well. After performing fusion with the twins, they combine into a singular being, a young girl named Lavenza, the true attendant for the protagonist. "Igor" reveals that he is actually Yaldabaoth, an almighty being who granted the power of Persona to the protagonist and Akechi as a trial to see if humanity was worthy of being free from his influence, but he blatantly rigs the outcomes in his favor to show that humanity wants enslavement. He then offers the protagonist to become his enforcer in exchange for returning the world to its former state. If he refuses, "Igor" deems humanity to be incapable of living on their own accord and promptly leaves, and the real Igor appears and formally introduces himself to the protagonist.

Despite Yaldabaoth's belief that the protagonist has lost, Igor gives him enough power to rescue his friends from their respective cells in the Velvet Room and releases them back into reality, tasking the Phantom Thieves to steal Yaldabaoth's heart. He also reveals that Morgana was created by him as a last-ditch effort to guide the protagonist through their journey. Additionally, he can also accept Yaldabaoth's offer. If he does, the world returns to its original self, and the Phantom Thieves were recognized as national heroes and gain fame. However, the people in the world are incapable of thinking for themselves, and the protagonist becomes a force of terror in Tokyo working for Yaldabaoth. As an additional consequence, his teammates were presumably trapped eternally inside the Velvet Room and forever exiled from reality.

As the Phantom Thieves begin ascending to face Yaldabaoth, they are confronted by the four archangels who have also deemed humans unworthy to live without the god's influence, but the Phantom Thieves manage to defeat all of them. Despite these Archangels are mere Shadows, they retain their personalities of their original Shin Megami Tensei counterparts, such as Gabriel sounding merciful before confronting the party. As they defeated the Archangels, more people started to become aware of the merged reality, much to their horror. At the top of the tower, the party faces the Holy Grail once more, where it briefly appears as "Igor" until it transforms back to the Grail. The protagonist devises a special operation that successfully removes its supply lines from the masses, severing his connection to them. Despite the fact that the Grail seemingly stood motionless, it merges with the temple and transforms into its true form, Yaldabaoth, the god of control, who appears as a large mechanical god. He claims that humanity are just lemmings for him and rehabilitation is useless, as society will regress to the level of apes. To bring back the future of humanity, the Phantom Thieves enthusiastically make him the final heist target with and confront him into one final battle.

Despite the Phantom Thieves seemingly defeating Yaldabaoth, he unleashes his rays of control that instantly renders them helpless. However, the tables quickly turn when they hear the voices of the masses, inspired by the cheering of Yuuki Mishima. Eventually, everyone believes in their existence and the Phantom Thieves popularity poll instantly makes a comeback, springing from 0% to 100%. The protagonist is able to break the seal around Arsene and unlocks his true form as Satanael, a persona of a colossal size that rivals Yaldabaoth. Despite Yaldabaoth displays disbelief on the cognition of the masses being reversed against his favor, The protagonist harnesses the will of the people to not be controlled and orders Satanael to fire one last Sinful Shell, shooting Yaldabaoth point-blank through the head. In his defeat, Yaldabaoth bitterly concedes that humanity is truly worthy of living on their own accord and that Igor's beliefs were the superior ones before reverting back into the lifeless grail and vanishing, removing Mementos from existence and undoing the destruction as if it did not happen. Before the Phantom Thieves can celebrate, Morgana begins to disappear with Mementos as his existence is tied to it, much to the Phantom Thieves' sadness.

With reality restored, the masses seem to have forgotten about the events that had just occurred, however, many of the citizens have begun to openly talk about Shido's shady rumors. As snow begins to fall, the Phantom Thieves realize that it is Christmas Eve and go their separate ways for the day, promising to go to Cafe Leblanc to celebrate the next day. Sae informs the protagonist that, even though Shido confessed his crimes, it is difficult to prove his guilt since there is little solid evidence and the other world no longer exists. Because Akechi has disappeared, the only ones who can offer proof are the Phantom Thieves. To properly prosecute Shido, the protagonist's testimony is necessary. Reluctantly, Sae asks the protagonist to turn himself in as the Phantom Thief in order to protect his allies as well. Doing this also means he will be sent to a youth detention center and will be closely observed. The protagonist agrees to her suggestion to protect his comrades, however, he asks to turn himself in the next day due to plans he has. If he is in a romantic relationship, he can choose to spend his Christmas Eve with his girlfriend. If he is single, he will spend it with Futaba and Sojiro. During his Christmas Eve, he worries his girlfriend/Sojiro and Futaba as he cannot tell them that he is turning himself in.

The protagonist follows through with his promise to Sae and is promptly placed into a youth detention center for interrogation. He is charged for various crimes as the Phantom Thief for numerous crimes including illegal entry into Madarame's estate and Okumura Foods' office, destroying their property, and violating the Radio Law when the Phantom Thieves hijacked the airwaves to announce their plan to steal Shido's heart. While imprisoned, he is summoned to the Velvet Room one final time, where Igor and Lavenza bestow upon him the World Arcana; a symbol that he is no longer an existence that wanders alone. After the Velvet Room and its two attendants disappear, the protagonist sees a blue butterfly fly past him before he awakens to the real world.

While incarcerated, the rest of the Phantom Thieves and the protagonist's other Confidants all go out and do whatever they can to help the protagonist appeal for his probation to be revoked. The people of Tokyo are willing to support the protagonist for him to get out of his detention. Due to their efforts, the woman who originally testified against the protagonist is found and she openly testifies to the protagonist's innocence in the original sentence, absolving him of his probation. Sae, who spearheaded the case against Shido, informs him of her efforts in clearing his name alongside his Confidants and thanks him for exposing the corruption of government and finalizes his release on February 13th. He is then picked up by Sojiro and taken to the cafe where everyone, with the exception of Morgana, welcomes him back. While talking about Morgana, Ryuji asks the protagonist if he is going back to his hometown since the probation charges have been dropped, which the protagonist confirms. The party then decides that if their leader goes back, the Phantom Thieves will officially be disbanded. Morgana appears shortly after as a mere house cat, revealing that the one that disappeared is his other world self while his real-world self still exists due to him being forever in the hearts of the Thieves. Morgana then decides he will stick with the protagonist to look for a way to become a human.

The next day, on Valentines Day, the protagonist can spend it with his girlfriend at Cafe Leblanc if he is in a relationship and will receive gourmet chocolate as a present. If he is single, Ryuji visits Cafe Leblanc and the two spend it together in pity with Ryuji giving him a cheap chocolate he received at a store. Humorously, if the protagonist is in a relationship with more than one woman, after his date, he will be confronted by all of his other girlfriends the next day, where they promptly beat him up and take their chocolate gifts with them, although he gets to keep his original date's chocolate if she was the only person asked to meet him, as she isn't present during the beat down. Sojiro does damage control for him and convinces the other women to take him back, and gives him cheap chocolate out of pity.



A month later, the protagonist's probation period ends and he prepares to go home. The day before his departure, he says his final goodbyes to his fellow Phantom Thieves and Confidants with each one giving the protagonist a farewell gift if their confidant relationship is at its strongest. On the final day, the protagonist hands Sojiro his probation journal as a final farewell gift to him for housing him over the year. At Shibuya crossing, he meets up with the Phantom Thieves who have acquired a van and plan on taking the protagonist home themselves. Despite being free of his probation, two men in suits attempt to trail the now disbanded Phantom Thieves only to find their car stalled out due to Morgana swiping their car's spark plugs. As they near the protagonist's hometown, the protagonist pops his head through the sunroof and smiles in satisfaction.

Persona 5 The Animation The Day Breakers
The protagonist is shown spacing off during class before he is hit with a piece of chalk by the teacher. Afterward, he receives a message from Ryuji, who asks him if they want to meet up at the usual place. Later, Ryuji complains about the recent activity regarding the group of burglars who break into restaurants with lax security. Yusuke arrives, parting with Naoya Makigami, and informs the group they have a new request on the "Ask-a-Thief" Channel, in which the client of the requests is fearing for his life. The group agrees to take the request, and the protagonist tails Naoya's older brother, Kazuya Makigami. When Kazuya arrives at the park, he asks Morgana to eavesdrop on their conversation, learning that Kazuya is a part of the group of burglars.

The next day, the protagonist and his friends begin their task of stealing the target's heart. To completely reform them, they need evidence, thus Ann and Ryuji give two of the crooks false information, saying that a shop in Yongen-Jaya is severely lacking in security, and the owner keeps all of his money in the shop. When the burglars arrive, the protagonist sets off a fake alarm system that causes the crooks to flee, though Kazuya takes with him a warning card, supposedly written by the Phantom Thieves.

Later on, the Phantom Thieves of Hearts begin their task to steal the target's heart, entering the Palace. There, they encounter their target; Kazuya Makigami. The client was actually his younger brother Naoya, who stated in the request that Kazuya physically abused him regularly in order to relieve stress from being with his group of burglars. In order to prove this, the protagonist set up the botched attempt to rob the cafe in order to gather evidence that Kazuya was in league with them. However, Kazuya corrects them by stating that he wasn't "with them," but rather the one leading them. Later, Kazuya transforms into Mithras, and attacks the group, summoning Oni and Onmoraki.

The protagonist manages to repel and pin down Kazuya by summoning his Persona, Arsene, and then seems to perform a Baton Pass with Yusuke, who proceeds to summon Goemon, followed by Ryuji and Ann. Kazuya seems to relish the fight, saying that he feels de-stressed, and notes how thrilling stealing is. Morgana follows up Ann and destroys the remainder of the minions Kazuya summoned, and the protagonist proceeds to finish Kazuya off, stating that he has "stolen the arrogance in his heart." Afterward, he takes the Treasure; a key that opens up a drawer in his room. Kazuya requests that he give it to his brother, and tell him to take what's inside and burn it and throw it away. As he disappears, the protagonist and his friends then leave the Palace.

The protagonist is present as Kazuya and his gang is being arrested, after he openly confessed to a large group of people with an officer present, due to being reformed by the Phantom Thieves. Kazuya notices him as he walks away, and asks who he is. Later, the protagonist reunites with his friends back in the Palace, as they note that their next prey is much larger.

Afterward, the protagonist is then shown to be in the Velvet Room. Igor tells him that what he experienced was a possible future, and refers to him as the "prisoner," asking him what his name is.

Night of The Phantom
The Phantom appears during the final event of Night of the Phantom, where he announces his plan to steal the hearts of the audience with the first gameplay trailer for Persona 5. He is portrayed by voice actor Jun Fukuyama. He is said to have stolen secret material from the event, but that it would be revealed by Famitsu in the near future.

Persona 5 The Animation
The protagonist, given the name Ren Amamiya appears in the anime adaptation of the game. His role is near identical to his game counterpart. In addition, Ren occasionally blacks out, where unlike past protagonists, is summoned directly to the Velvet Room, should Igor wish to speak. Among the differences is during the battle with Shadow Kamoshida, Ren fuses Arsene with Pixie to create Agathion. His interactions with Akechi are also more heavily emphasized than he does in the game.

Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth
The P5 hero acts as the main protagonist of the game and leads the rest of the persona users to adventure in the cinema world. Unlike the other heroes from the P3(P) and P4 realities, he is a silent protagonist and his actions are based on the player's decisions, and they navigate around the Cinema and Labyrinths in his perspective regardless of the contents of their active party. In Risky difficulty, he permanently occupies a team slot and his fall during a battle will automatically result in a Game Over.

In the Junessic Land labyrinth, the P4 hero mistakes him as an enemy and attacks him, but he was capable of standing on equals with his counterpart. The other teammates were shocked but the P4 hero's attack was merely declared by mistake so the P5 and P4 cast settled with each other, allowing the P4 cast to join the P5 cast.

After defeating Doe and changing Hikari's heart, when she offers to apologize for her cognition dragging the Persona users into the Cinema and trapping them, the P5 hero has the option to pardon her because she was cute. If he does, Haru, Ann and Makoto will sarcastically call him out for dating multiple woman with the P3 hero and P4 hero calling him to watch out.

After the final confrontation, the P5 hero and his comrades return back to Cafe Leblanc with Akechi missing. They receive a pamphlet about a high school movie festival, in which they attend. When inside the auditorium, Hikari emerges from one of the seats into its dais and announces her new movie, New Cinema Labyrinth. The P5 hero makes a curious look, and it is unknown if this made him remember anything about his journey as his memories are supposedly wiped out.

Battle Quotes
Quotes video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbTt0iz-Wvc
 * "Arsene!" or any other Persona names (Hitting weak point/critical with physical skill)
 * "Go! Persona!" (Using Persona skill)
 * "You're mine!" (Using Persona skill)
 * "Go down!" (Using Persona skill)
 * "Ravage them!" (Hitting weak point/landing killing blow)
 * "Show me your true form!" (Tearing off a Shadow's Mask)
 * "I'll reveal your true form!" (Tearing off a Shadow's Mask)
 * "Do it!" (Using Baton Pass)
 * "Leave it to you!" (Using Baton Pass)
 * "Go ahead!" (Using Baton Pass)
 * "Roger!" (Accepting a Baton Pass)
 * "Persona!" (Accessing Persona skill menu)
 * "Let's go." (Accessing Persona skill menu)
 * "Come!" (Accessing Persona skill menu)
 * "That's not right!" (Backing out of the Persona skill menu)
 * "Hold on!" (Backing out of the Persona skill menu)
 * "No..." (Backing out of the Persona skill menu)
 * "This isn't it!" (Backing out of the Persona skill menu)
 * "Some other way." (Backing out of the Persona skill menu)
 * "There's something else." (Backing out of the Persona skill menu)
 * "Not that." (Backing out of the Persona skill menu)
 * "Not this." (Backing out of the Persona skill menu)
 * "Calm down." (Idle in Persona skill menu)
 * "I'm not done!" (Idle in Persona skill menu)
 * "Let's see..." (Idle in Persona skill menu)
 * "No changes!" (Backing out of Party menu)
 * "Stay in formation!" (Backing out of Party menu)
 * "This group works." (Backing out of Party menu)
 * "Let's keep going!" (Backing out of Party menu)
 * "Stick to the plan." (Backing out of Party menu)
 * "What's the plan?" (Checking next turn)
 * "Next up" (Checking next turn)
 * "Improvise!" (Changing tactics to Act Freely)
 * "Do what you want." (Changing tactics to Act Freely)
 * "Don't hold back!" (Changing tactics to Full Assault)
 * "Full power!" (Changing tactics to Full Assault)
 * "Save your strength." (Changing tactics to Conserve SP)
 * "Be mindful." (Changing tactics to Conserve SP)
 * "We have to survive!" (Changing tactics to Heal/Support)
 * "Focus on your health." (Changing tactics to Heal/Support)
 * "I'll command you!" (Changing tactics to Direct Commands)
 * "Listen to me." (Changing tactics to Direct Commands)
 * "*sigh*" (Idle in battle)
 * "It's time." (Idle in battle)
 * "There!" (Using items)
 * "I'm using this!" (Using items)
 * "Too slow!" (Dodging an attack)
 * "Saw that." (Dodging an attack)
 * "What!?" (Downed by an enemy)
 * "Gah!" (Downed by an enemy)
 * "Damn it!" (Debuffed by an enemy)
 * "It can't be..." (Incapacitated)
 * "Pillage him, Satanael!" (Before firing the Sinful Shell with Satanael)
 * "Begone!" (Firing the Sinful Shell with Satanael)
 * "Cross Slash!/Slash!" (Using Izanagi/Izanagi Picaro's Cross Slash skill)
 * "Cadenza!/Leave it to me!" (Using Orpheus/Orpheus Picaro's Cadenza skill)
 * "Doors of Hades!/Let us end it!" (Using Thanatos/Thanatos Picaro's Door of Hades skill)
 * "How about this?/You need proper punishment." (Using Magatsu Izanagi/Magatsu Izanagi Picaro's Magatsu Mandala skill)
 * "Behold forth, sacred tempest!/Violent wind!"(Using Kaguya/Kaguya Picaro's Shining Arrows skill)
 * "Blastoff!/It's educational guidance!" (Using Ariadne/Ariadne Picaro's Beast Weaver skill)
 * "This fight will be your death!/Die, die, die!" (Using Asterius/Asterius Picaro's Titanomachia skill)
 * "Taste my fury!"/"Iiit's Sho-Time!" (Using Tsukiyomi/Tsukiyomi Picaro's Abyssal Wings skill)
 * "Reverberate, Orotario!/I can't fall!" (Using Messiah/Messiah Picaro's Orotario skill)

Trivia

 * He is designed to be reminiscent of a cat with a hidden side while the protagonist of Persona 4 was designed to be reminiscent of a loyal and sincere dog.
 * He is the first protagonist in the Persona series to be a criminal.
 * If one includes the rest of the playable characters, Baofu is the first criminal for conducting.
 * The protagonist's mugshot reads "P508954TS."
 * His code name,, in card games can act as either the ultimate trump card, the beneficial Wild Card, or harmful unmatched card such as in the Old Maid game.
 * Unlike other protagonists in the franchise he is the first protagonist shown speaking in several in-game cutscenes. Likewise, most of the in-game narration is his internal monologue, instead of the second person narrator used in the previous games.
 * In Episode 5 of Persona Stalker Club V, it is revealed that originally the protagonist's initial Persona was going to be Mephistopheles, but was later changed to Arsene since it fits better with the overall theme of the game.
 * Additionally, the protagonist was meant to live with Sae Niijima, though the reasons behind this were not stated.
 * Also revealed in Persona Stalker Club V, the protagonist's design was meant for him wearing his uniform similarly to the styles of the protagonist of Persona 3 and Yu Narukami, in where the jacket was left open.
 * At the Sega Festival 2016, the protagonist won second place in a fan poll of "favorite party member," only beaten by Goro Akechi.
 * When using a DLC Persona, the protagonist's battle quotes change, and occasionally reference the original owners of those Personas.
 * He is the third character to be named 'Joker;' the first two being Jun Kurosu and Tatsuya Sudou from the Persona 2 duology.
 * His attire in Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight is similar to the design of Yu Narukami in Persona 4: Dancing All Night: both wear their school uniforms, only modified. Additionally, both are wearing headphones around their necks.
 * Excluding the cast of Persona and the Persona 2 duology, if the protagonist does not max out the Strength Confidant, he is the first guest of the Velvet Room to not receive the key that opens its door.
 * Amamiya Ren 雨宮 蓮: 雨 means rain, 宮 means palace and 蓮 means lotus. The double meaning here is that not only is he the leader of the Phantom Thieves come to rain on the palace, but the lotus in Buddhist teachings is symbolic of purity and cleansing.
 * He is the only protagonist in the series to not be able to gain access to the World Arcana or an equivalent of it despite reaching the end of his journey and his ultimate Persona, Satanael, being of the Fool Arcana.
 * In the Dark Sun... OVA, Joker is seen using a Persona that would otherwise be impossible to obtain for him in-game during the Shido's Palace exploration rounds, namely Yoshitsune.

Appearances in Other Media

 * Lord of Vermilion Re:3: Joker. Campaign collaboration.
 * Chain Chronicle: Joker, Warrior class. (Article in Chain Chronicle Wiki)
 * Puzzle and Dragons: Joker. Collaboration event.
 * Sonic Forces: Joker's outfit as pre-order bonus.
 * Granblue Fantasy: Joker, SSR Dark characters. Collaboration event.
 * BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle: Color swap for Yu Narukami.
 * BanG Dream! Girls Band Party: Outfit for Mitake Ran
 * Super Smash Bros Ultimate: Playable Character (Joker, DLC)
 * Catherine: Full Body: Playable Character (Joker, DLC)
 * Identity V: Joker, Collaboration event.