Rise Kujikawa

Rise Kujikawa, also known by her stage name Risette, is a character from Persona 4. A famous teen idol, Rise is well-known amongst teenagers and adults, but quits her job suddenly, citing health reasons.

Appearances

 * Persona 4: Information/Support Character
 * Persona 4 The Animation

Biography

 * Age: 15 (Game start, 16 upon first appearance)
 * Date of Birth: June 1st, 1995
 * Zodiac: Gemini
 * Height: 155 cm (5'2")
 * Weight: 41kg
 * Blood Type: AB
 * Initial Persona: Himiko
 * Ultimate Persona: Kanzeon
 * Arcana: Lovers

Persona 4
A cheery-looking female with reddish brown hair tied in two pigtails, Rise is first seen in a commercial, where she advertises the fictional diet soda "Calorie Magic." Rise, despite her uprising fame, eventually quits her job and decides to settle down in her hometown, Yasoinaba, to live with her grandmother. While being asked upon her decisions of choosing to stay in Yasoinaba despite the murder cases happening recently, Rise insisted to live in Yasoinaba, and explains that her sudden decision of quitting her job is due to stress. Following Rise's return to Yasoinaba, the whole town rustles to Rise's grandmother's tofu store, Marukyu, hoping to see Rise. Since Rise has appeared in the TV news, the Investigation Team becomes worried that Rise might get kidnapped and killed in the Midnight Channel, and goes to warn her.

Rise is portrayed as cheerful, outspoken, naughty, having a cute personality, and is quite boastful about herself. She is referred to as a "dangerous girl" by Chie, due to her boldness in flirting with the Protagonist. She appeared to be flirtatious too, as she sometimes teases Yosuke, Kanji, and the Protagonist in flirting manners. Rise is quickly annoyed by even small things, which ends up with her crying dramatically and sometimes producing crocodile tears. She's rather childish and possesive, she pouted when Protagonist asked her if the new idol is cute, telling him that when she's still around, he musn't call another girl "cute". Rise also shown her competitive side at many occasions, and she likes to teases the others, such as teasing about Yukiko's insecurity and cooking. Rise is the only one who cried when the Protagonist left, and she will confess her love both when the Protagonist maxed her S.Link and when she's running for his train.

Hoping to catch the culprit, the Investigation Team proposes a stake out on the Marukyu Tofu Store, but their actions are found out by Tohru Adachi, the assistant of Detective Ryotaro Dojima.The Investigation Team eventually teams up with Adachi, the assistant of Ryotaro Dojima. Through their stake out, they eventually caught a stalker, however, the stalker anxiously denies his connection with the murder cases. Not believing his words, Adachi took the stalker away. However, during their way back passing the Marukyu Store, Rise's grandmother claims that Rise has gone away. Panicked, the Investigation Team decides to tune in the Midnight Channel again, and realizes that they were too late: Rise has already been kidnapped.

Eventually after gathering clues, the Investigation Team managed to detect Rise's location in the Midnight Channel, and sets out to rescue her. The Investigation Team eventually finds Rise, along with the other 'Rise'. The other 'Rise' taunts Rise, telling her that in actuality, this is what she desired, and the fact that she knew is because she is Rise, and begins performing a pole-dance in an alluring fashion. Confused and surprised, Rise denies the Shadows' claims, and exclaims that the shadow is not her.



Fueled by Rise's declaration, the other 'Rise' transforms into a shadow and attacks the party. However, Shadow Rise's analytical abilities proved to be more than a match, and the party was brought to the edge of defeat. Laughing at their incompetence, the Shadow Rise readies for another strike, but Teddie eventually charges towards the Shadow, performs a suicidal attack and weakens the Shadow. However, Teddie himself suffers a massive backdraft, and becomes a wrinkling, skinny bear. Accepting her true self, the Shadow nods, and transforms into Himiko, becoming Rise's Persona.

After her kidnapping, Rise shows a less-than-subtle crush towards the Protagonist, and eventually creates the Lovers Arcana Social Link with him. Through the Protagonist's interactions with Rise, Rise reveals that during her childhood, she was a shy, lonely child, and that nobody had high expectations of her. Due to her shyness, she was constantly bullied by her classmates, until a relative submitted her application to an idol competition, which she won. Ironically, her original motivation of accepting the prize was so once she becomes popular, she would have more friends. However, she eventually realizes that her 'friends' are only interested in the fabricated personality of teen-idol 'Risette', but not Rise Kujikawa, the young girl from Yasoinaba.

Rise later found out that after she abandons showbiz, her old manager found another rising star, which greatly irritates her. By the end of the Social Link, Rise eventually realize that 'Risette' isn't a fabricated personality, but one of her many traits. Upon her realization, Rise exclaims that she would return to her job as an idol in spring, hoping to show the world her other traits other than 'Risette'. With Rise finally finding her resolution, her persona transfigures into Kanzeon. Rise would also give the Protagonist her signed photo, bestowing the Ultimate Form of Lovers Arcana, Ishtar, the Goddess of Love. If the Protagonist decides to make an intimate relationship with Rise, and accepts Rise's invitation text message on the Christmas Eve to spend time with her, the Protagonist will receive the accessory Silver Bangle, which raises the user's SP by 50%.

Rise's cooking skills are explored later in the storyline, revealing that she enjoys using large amount of spice in her cooking, making everything she cooks very spicy and making them unable to taste the other ingredients in her food. While she often taunts Yukiko and Chie about their cooking skills, her cooking skills turns out to be just as bad as Yukiko and Chie's.

Rise's Persona is Himiko of The Lovers Arcana, who wears a white gown, has a satellite dish for a face and holds an object similar to the torch wielded by the actual Himiko. She will provide background and enemy information for the front lines during and outside of battles. Her Shadow is a colorful pole dancer with pigtails like hers. Her Midnight Channel dungeon is a strip club. They all represent her desire to strip away her 'idol' self so that other people will know the real Rise.

Battle Quotes

 * Alright! Level up! (Level Up)
 * This one's strong, watch yourself! (Encountered Powerful Enemy)
 * Haah it's a no-brainer, I'm sure you'll win! (Encountered Weak Enemy)
 * Three enemies on the field! Be careful (Encountered 3 Enemies)
 * There are five enemies! Don't let 'em get you. (Encountered 5 enemies)


 * Tee-hee! Senpai! That was soo cool! (Protagonist dodges attack)
 * Oh, nice move, Yosuke-senpai! (Yosuke dodges attack)
 * You hit its weakness, Yukiko-Senpai.
 * You struck its weak-point, Chie-Senpai!
 * Enemy Down. Show it what you've got, Kanji-kun!
 * Two enemies down. Do it again, Chie-senpai!
 * Enemy down! That's the spirit, Teddie! (Teddie downs enemy)
 * Enemy defeated. Go for broke, Teddie! (Teddie defeats 1 enemy)
 * Enemy defeated. Keep it up, Yosuke -senpai! (Yosuke defeats 1 enemy)
 * You're on a roll, Sempai! Two defeated. (Protagonist defeats 2 enemies)
 * Wow, Naoto-kun! You defeated two enemies. (Naoto defeats 2 enemies)
 * Three enemies defeated! You're so cool, Senpai.
 * Only one enemy left! you can do it! (One enemy left)
 * One enemy to go! Keep it up! (One enemy left)
 * Only two/three enemies left! (2/3 enemies left)
 * Three enemies left! You can win this! (3 enemies left)
 * Four of them! You need to thin 'em out. (4 enemies left)
 * It got back up, defeat it fast! (Enemy gets up from Down)
 * Gee, it's like an endless stream of 'em! (A ____-King Shadow summoned a ____-Bambino Shadow)


 * Ehh!? ___-senpai, someone heal him/her! (A Party Member Dying)


 * Guys...you're really low on health...! (Party Is Low on Health)


 * ...shouldn't someone heal ___-senpai...? (A Party Member Dying)


 * Puh...you're up! Ok, time for an counter-attack! (Protagonist Recovers From Knocked Down/Dizzy Status)
 * No don't be afraid, I'm here with you! (Protagonist is Frightened)
 * ___-senpai's scared! (A Party Member is Frightened)
 * ___-senpai is useless! (A Party Member is Exhausted)


 * ___-senpai's persona is sealed! (A Party Member is Silenced)
 * That one's totally weak! Better not lose. (Analyzing Weak Enemy)
 * Noooooo problem. It'll be over in a flash! (Analyzing Weak Enemy)
 * Wow, it's puny! This'll be cake. (Analyzing Weak Enemy)
 * You can win this, just don't use light on it. (Analyzing Enemy w/ Light Repel)
 * Physical attacks won't work on that runt? (Analyzing Enemy w/ Physical Repel)
 * Ice should work well, you can win this, guys! (Analyzing Enemy w/ Ice Weakness)
 * It's weak to ice! This should be easy! (Analyzing Enemy w/ Ice Weakness)
 * It's weak to fire! Hehe, this'll be easy! (Analyzing Enemy w/ Fire Weakness)
 * You can win this, just don't use light on it. (Analyzing Enemy w/ Light Repel)
 * Light won't work. Plan B anyone? (Analyzing Enemy w/ Light Repel)
 * Yes! We won! Congrats, guys. (Protagonist defeats final enemy)

Trivia

 * Rise's story gives a glance on what the entertainment scene is like in Japan - native teen and adolescent idols are followed with at least as much (if not more) zeal that Americans display while following their Stateside contemporaries, such as Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers (to use a duo of up-to-date examples.) Some may argue that the top idols over there have status in Japan comparable to that of the Beatles in Britain at the height of Beatlemania.
 * Rise's appearance and name closely resemble those of her Japanese voice actress, Rie Kugimiya. Rise even wears thigh-highs like many of the female characters Rie Kugimiya voices.
 * During the visit in Port Island's Club Escapade, Rise revealed that she had a secret show two years ago and the power went out in the middle of her performance. It's a clear reference of the events in Persona 3 before the first Full Moon Operation in September 2009 and Shinjiro also mentioned the power incident before the battle with the shadow.
 * Rise's early concept art looks somewhat like Lisa Silverman of the Persona 2 duology. This may have influenced a scene after the exams before the summer in which she says "What do I need to know English for? I can always ask for a translator!" Lisa also had trouble with the English language despite being born to American parents.
 * Some of Rise's early concept art resembles the Moon S. Link character Ai Ebihara, or Saki Konishi.