The Reaper

The Reaper (刈り取る者, Karitoru-mono) is a special boss in Persona 3 and Persona 4. It is the personification of the infamous "grim reaper", but with unique features.

Appearances

 * Persona 3: Death Arcana/Optional Boss
 * Persona 3: FES: Death Arcana/Optional Boss
 * Persona 3 Portable: Death Arcana/Optional Boss
 * Persona 4: Death Arcana/Optional Boss
 * Persona 4 The Animation: Death Arcana/ Boss

Profile
The Reaper of the Persona series has its own unique feature that distinguish it from other "grim reapers" in popular culture. The Reaper, instead of carrying a gigantic scythe, wields two long-barrel revolvers. Its face is shrouded in bandages, with only one ominous yellow eye to see its surroundings. It wears two long steel chains each across its left and right shoulders, forming a cross.

Persona 3
The Reaper lurks in Tartarus, and will appear to the player when certain conditions are met. This involves staying in one floor of Tartarus too long, or choosing a card from Shuffle Time that is appended with an ominous black crossbone. When he approaches the party, the player can hear a loud rattling of chains, and he also appears on the mini-map. The Reaper's appearance is hastened when choosing a skulled ("cursed") card in Shuffle Time or when on a regular floor with no Shadows. He also appears on a floor where there is NO regular shadows, only a floor filled with rare golden shadows or rare chests, as the risks of the large rewards are all affected by "cursed" cards.

The Reaper cannot follow you to the stairs that lead to the next floor, which makes the stairs a safe haven from the reaper. Unless the party is Lv.70 or higher, The Reaper will be an almost impossible opponent.

Persona 4
The Reaper is an exclusive boss that can only be fought in the second playthrough of the game. In the second cycle,The Reaper can be found in ordinary chests, and upon examining it, the Protagonist is forewarned that a powerful force dwells within the chest and repeatedly asked whether he is ready to open it. Should the Protagonist choose to open it, The Reaper will attack the Protagonist, engaging the party to a battle. Similar to its predecessor, The Reaper can be challenged multiple times as long as the Protagonist manages to locate the treasure chest he dwells within.

Defeating The Reaper grants the respective characters their strongest weapons per defeat; however, should all of the in-battle characters have received their strongest weapons, The Reaper instead drops the strongest armor. If all of those have already been received as well, The Reaper drops the Omnipotence Orb, an accessory which voids all attacks excluding Almighty.

He will only drop a character's weapon if they are in the team that fights him. One must re-organise their team if they want to gain every weapon. Also, he is most frequently encountered in Magatsu Inaba/Mandala, most likely because he suits that dungeon the most.

Trivia

 * In Persona 3 the Reaper's total HP, 4444, refers to one of the pronunciations of the Japanese word for "four", shi, which is the same as "death" (kanji: 死). The number four is also known in Japan and China as the number of misfortune.
 * The Reaper's garments bear some resemblance to Tatsuya Sudou's clothes, from the Persona 2 duology.