Suguru Kamoshida

Suguru Kamoshida is a character from Persona 5. He is the volleyball coach at Shujin Academy.

Appearances

 * Persona 5: Minor Character (Antagonist)
 * Persona 5 (Manga)

Design
Kamoshida has long black unkempt hair and thick eyebrows. His jawline is broad and square. He wears a white sport T-shirt and black sport trousers with double white stripes. He also seems to be a bit unnaturally tall, as when he is passed in the school, he is a head taller than the rest of the students which makes him seem to be in the 7 foot range, although it is likely this is a stylistic choice to make him look intimidating - it's more likely that he's intended to be in the 6 foot range. His first name Suguru (卓) can also be translated as "tall". He also has a mildly muscular build.

His Shadow Self wears a gold crown, red heart printed cape and a pink underwear, leaving his torso and legs exposed.

When he transforms into Asmodeus, he becomes a large pink demon with many arms and legs a thick purple tongue, who wears his Treasure as a crown. He carries golden eating utensils in his lower arms to eat the Cognitive existences of his female team members to restore his health, and in his upper pair he has a riding crop he cracks to order the creatures chained to his throne to assault a Phantom Thief with volleyballs, and a wine glass he drinks when buffing himself. He also punts explosive volleyballs at the party to attack.

Personality


Kamoshida being described by Ryuji Sakamoto as a monster and by Ann Takamaki as a "piece of shit" and a "son of a bitch." He is a lustful, vain, cruel and utterly selfish bully who abuses his female students emotionally, physically, and sexually, and is willing to sabotage the athletes in rival sports of his own school purely so his own class rises to prominence. His male students do not fare much better, as he treats them to an utterly ruthless training regiment that many of them compare to torture, and in fact, will use it as punishment if his team loses a game. He believes his relative success as a coach and previous success as an athletic champion gives him the privilege to do whatever he wants. His Palace takes the form of a castle where he is the king and the students are his slaves, showing him to be incredibly egotistical. He plays favorites with the students, giving preferential positive treatment to the ones he likes, and makes it harder for those he dislikes.

He is so driven by his darker passions that his Shadow Self is largely indistinguishable from his true self, the only difference being that Shadow Kamoshida is more dramatic and honest about the selfishness and egotism that drives his actions. He is also known to be a vicious gossip, regularly starting rumors to defame and hopefully expel students he dislikes (as seen with the protagonist if you take too many in-game days to take the treasure from his palace). He is aware his sexual desire for his students is aberrant, but ignores the consequences of his lusts and his Shadow Self admits it's more about domination than actual attraction, even claiming that his students "came on to him" because of his fame and talent. He has no respect for women or his students at all, viewing them as his possessions (female students) or as disposable props to his glory (male students), and is more obsessed with Ann because her blonde hair makes her a rarity in Japan, and by having her as his "girlfriend," he could show her off as a trophy. Deep down, he is driven by the sense of inadequacy he feels after he faded into obscurity and the fear of losing his place as one of the best athletes in Japan.

After the Phantom Thieves steal his Treasure, he loses his belief that he is the ruler of the school and realizes his actions have caused irrevocable pain and suffering to his team, and he willingly resigns and submits himself to arrest and therapy for his narcissism.

Persona 5
Kamoshida is a former professional athlete and Olympic volleyball champion who later became the volleyball coach of Shujin Academy. During his time as a teacher, Kamoshida's fame was used as a means to give Shujin Academy and its students more publicity, be it for scholarships or college applications. His ego, inflated by the clear favoritism of Principal Kobayakawa, caused him to sabotage other Shujin Academy sports teams, forcing most to disband so the volleyball team would remain at the forefront. One of which was the track team. During his coaching of the track team, Kamoshida directly goaded them, provoking one of the top team members, Ryuji Sakamoto, into violence and broke Ryuji's leg in a move of "self-defense." Thus causing the disbanding of the team. He also began sexually harassing his female athletes and subjecting his male athletes to brutal "training" that was labeled as abuse. Despite the blatant abuse happening, the students could not speak up against Kamoshida as the principal hushed any attempts of reporting Kamoshida. With no way for anyone to stop him at Shujin Academy, by the students, staff, and even the parents, Kamoshida began to see himself as nothing less than a king on campus and Shujin Academy as his own castle.

The Phantom Thieves of Hearts eventually plan a heist to steal his corrupt heart at Kamoshida's Palace, initially just to prevent the abuse of the volleyball team (as their Cognitive existences are subject to torture in his Palace, hinting at his abusive training techniques). However, once the protagonist discovers that Kamoshida is forcing Ann Takamaki to have relationships with him and it is heavily implied he sexually harassed or molested her friend, Shiho Suzui (resulting in Shiho attempting suicide), another part of the mission is to prevent further abuse. In addition, it is to prevent Kamoshida from manipulating the school board into expelling the protagonist, Ryuji and Yuuki Mishima (whom Kamoshida forced to reveal the protagonist's criminal record for the other students). Due to how his employment is prestigious and the principal gives him enormous leeway because of it.

After reaching the depths of his Palace, the Phantom Thieves discover his treasure, though Morgana reveals that it has no form until someone reveals to the person that they are attempting to steal it. Ryuji creates several calling cards and posts them all over the school. Kamoshida sees the calling cards and accepts that they are real, causing the treasure to take on a physical form; a gaudy royal crown.



The cause of his corruption is his callous treatment of his athletes and his ephebophilia towards his female students. When Shadow Kamoshida is cornered, he transforms into Asmodeus, and his mutated form is a boss. When Shadow Kamoshida is defeated, the protagonist allows Ann to decide how to deal with him. Despite a clear desire to inflict pain on him or even kill his Shadow, Ann holds back and tells him to return to his body and repent. Shadow Kamoshida can do nothing except weep and comply with her conditions.



On May 2nd, during a school assembly to address the concerns brought up by Shiho's attempted suicide, Kamoshida enters the gymnasium in a slump. As he walks onto the stage, Kamoshida prostrates in front of the entire school and admits his guilt for his sexual harassment and abuse. Though the principal attempts to hush him, Kamoshida continues to profess his crime, (including to sexually harassing Shiho) and even considers suicide to atone for his actions. Ann verbally calls him out, telling him to face his guilt head-on rather than end his life as a coward. Kamoshida agrees and turns himself in to the police so he can properly atone. Over the next few days, Kamoshida's confession is broadcast across Japan, leaving a legacy of shame for the former Olympic athlete. However, this also likely gives Kamoshida his own sense of catharsis from the newfound guilt.

At the end of the game, the Phantom Thieves encounter Kamoshida's Shadow in the depths of Mementos, locked in a cell alongside the other targets whose hearts were stolen. He, alongside the other targets, praises the cell, declaring that he is finally able to live without having to think for himself anymore.

Strategy


Shadow Kamoshida is fairly straightforward as his primary means of attack are physical skills only. One of his attacks, Lick, targets Ann specifically and deals heavy physical damage to her. Luckily, Shadow Kamoshida telegraphs this attack by Staring at Ann for a turn, so she can guard the attack beforehand. Once the player has reduced his health to 3/4th, he will automatically spend his next turn fully recovering his health thanks to the trophy in front of him. Once he has performed this action, the trophy becomes targetable and needs to be destroyed in order to continue to weaken him. Once the Trophy is destroyed, he is automatically put into a Hold Up for a Rush attack.

At this point, Kamoshida continues as normal, but he now gains a new attack, Gold Medal Spike, which deals heavy physical damage to all allies. However, like Lick, this move is telegraphed to the player, thus can guard themselves from taking heavy damage. Morgana will eventually notify the player that if they can take the crown off of his head, he can be severely weakened. Should the player choose this option, they select one member of the party to try and steal it. Doing so removes them from the party for three turns. Kamoshida must be attacked at least once per turn during this time in order to distract him. The exception being during turns he is charging up for Gold Medal Spike, when the party can guard or heal freely. After he performs three actions, the character sent will knock off the crown, significantly weakening Kamoshida's Attack and Defense. Additionally, he will occasionally skip an entire turn.

Battle Quotes

 * "You goddamn, no-good, shitty brats! Haven't you been taught not to point at people!? Huh!?"
 * "Don't underestimate me!"
 * "Nnnnngh! I need healin'! Come at me, you pieces of shit! I ain't lettin' you sleep tonight!"
 * "*gasp* Hey! You don't know what this is worth, so stop touching it! Don't do it anymore, got it? I've warned you!"
 * "No way... This was from when I won the national... You think you can get away with doing such a thing? Do you realize who I am!? ...I am Kamoshida! Don't you get it!?
 * Bullshit! I am above everything in this castle! I am Kamoshida! I'm the king here!"
 * "Silence! I won't let the likes of you have this!"
 * "I'm the king...! If I'm not, then who is!?"
 * "How dare you keep defying me... Looks like I gotta being out the big guns! Slaves! Bring over you-know-what! Time for my killshot from when I was active and rockin' it! Killshot... as in I'll make the kill!"
 * "Now listen up. This school exists because I'm around. You're the only ones who don't respect me, you know!"
 * "You're misunderstanding it all! I haven't sexually harassed anyone! They came on to me because they wanted to get on my good side!"
 * "Is there one less of you? I knew it! They're missing! Where'd they go!?"
 * "Nooo! My... my precious...!"
 * "Damn you!" (defeated)

Etymology
Suguru (卓) can mean "table" or "tall" or compose phrases like "excellence" (卓越/卓抜). Kamoshida (鴨志田) is a rather common Japanese surname and literally means "duck-aspiration-field."

Trivia

 * While female athletes being harassed by their male coaches and the matters usually being covered are quite common worldwide, Japanese players suspect Kamoshida is based on the former Judo gold medalist (内柴 正人) who was sentenced to prison for sexual harassment and had his awards and honors revoked.