Yukari Takeba

Yukari Takeba is a playable character from Persona 3.

Appearances

 * Persona 3 / FES / Portable: Playable Character, Lovers Arcana Social Link
 * Persona 3 (Manga)
 * Persona 3 The Movie 
 * Persona 4 Arena Ultimax: Playable Character, DLC Navigator
 * Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth: Playable Character

Design
Yukari has short, light-brown hair and brown eyes. She is slightly shorter than the male and female protagonists in P3 and P3P. She is often seen with both her hands behind her back, except when holding her bow.

At school and in Tartarus, she wears a pink sweater jacket, a loose red ribbon, a black mini skirt, black stockings with white lines, and a heart-shaped choker. On the weekends and days off in the winter, she is seen wearing a long pink jacket and brown boots. On the weekends and days off in summer, and in A Certain Day of Summer, she wears a pink tank top with orange straps and detail, and faded navy blue pants. She is never seen without her heart-shaped choker except when in a bath towel (during the July Operation only male protagonist's storyline and Kyoto at their third day), in her pink and blue two-piece swimsuit (during the beach excursion in Yakushima), or in her kimono (during both the Summer and New Year's Festivals).

In Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, now 19 years old, she reappears and is wearing the uniform of Pink Argus. Her casual outfit consist of pink top with white lace design, light navy collar short jacket, light beige short shorts, and brown high heel boots.

Personality
Yukari is very popular in Gekkoukan High School. and is also known as the girl who rejects a lot of guys. Her hobbies include archery and acting for drama. and her favorite color is pink.

Though she is known for her major mood swings, Yukari is actually friendly and caring towards her peers, especially towards Fuuka, and later, Mitsuru. She is careful not to let anyone get too close to her because of her 'shady' past, and constantly teases Junpei because of this (e.g. Stupei). She opens up to the protagonist because she thinks they can relate in their parental issues. Also, whenever someone makes a perverted remark towards her (usually Junpei or Ryoji), she will respond by either stomping on their foot or slapping them.

Yukari despises the Dark Hour, and feels it takes away innocence. She wants to live a decent life, and feels that her situation chains her back. However, Yukari goes through with it because she realizes how vital her role is as there are limited Persona users.



She tends to make some bad choices, such as entering dangerous territory and calling the people in it "scum". Her attitude in The Answer has also been criticized because of her stubbornness in refusing to accept the protagonist's death and will to endanger humanity in order to save a single life. Yukari wants another chance to defeat Nyx without the Protagonist dying﻿ and becomes hellbent on not passing the opportunity. She becomes more and more angry and distant from the rest of the cast, especially Aigis. However, this is because Yukari is in deep grief and sadness, and has been emotionally suffering alone. Yukari realizes this is selfish, and admits that she does not care about anything else in the world except seeing him again. After expressing her feelings to the party and being comforted by Mitsuru, she slowly begins to accept the protagonist's sacrifice and becomes closer to both Mitsuru and Aigis.

Yukari also has phasmophobia, the fear of ghosts and is easily spooked, which Junpei, Akihiko and Ryoji often take advantage of by intentionally spooking her or telling her ghost stories to agitate her. Yukari's phasmophobia is also symbolic of her fear of death.

Persona 3
Yukari's father, Eiichiro Takeba, worked for the Kirijo Group while they were conducting Shadow research. He was opposed to the idea of bringing about The Fall, a stance that caused him to be killed by Mitsuru's grandfather. These events created most of the problems that SEES is forced to overcome. After discovering this, she feels guilty that her father was involved, and becomes more irritable and distant from the other members of SEES. However, the discovery of these events also helped Yukari come to terms with Mitsuru, since they actually had a lot in common regarding their pasts. Eventually Yukari realizes her faults, and her Persona evolves into Isis.

Yukari's mother dealt with the pain from the loss of her husband by dating numerous shallow boyfriends and essentially abandoned her daughter. Yukari and her mom even had to move multiple times, just to get away from the backlash of blame and vitriol for Eiichiro being held responsible for the deaths of many Kirijo Group researchers, even though the details of Eiichiro's role were not entirely clear. Yukari ends up alone, which, coupled with the distress of losing her father, caused her to become quite introverted, which helps her connect with the protagonist, making him the only character (aside from Fuuka) to which she opens up. Learning about her father's supposed involvement in the creation of the Dark Hour and Tartarus causes her to have an emotional breakdown, and it is implied that she falls in love with the protagonist when he consoles her; this is hinted at several times in The Journey, and is confirmed in The Answer.



Yukari Takeba becomes a dorm mate and classmate of the protagonist. She joins SEES prior to the protagonist's arrival. She is first seen in the introduction of the game holding a gun to her forehead, giving the impression that she is going to suicide, but she eventually drops it. When the Protagonist arrives at the dorm, Yukari guides him around the dorm and his school.

Yukari's zeal for investigation brings a lot of trouble, but also brings the group valuable allies and information. She often overestimates her capabilities, getting herself and others into risky situations beyond her control. She has a high aptitude for magic and her Persona excels in wind and healing spells. She is regarded as the heroine of the game, as she possesses several qualities typical to an RPG heroine, such as being a healer, and wielding a bow and arrow.

Yukari is popular at Gekkoukan High School due to her cheery disposition and good looks, but she is careful not to let anyone get too close to her. Yukari's relationship with Junpei Iori was a childhood one, and her teasing of him was frequently returned, although the two seemed to be on a relatively good basis. Yukari hides her true motives from the group, and represses her emotions and her mood swings frequently in the game. From the start, she dislikes Mitsuru Kirijo, likely due to jealousy of Mitsuru's inhuman superiority and the conflict resulting from their fathers. She dislikes the idea of Fuuka Yamagishi joining the team, being concerned overall for her safety, although quickly opens up and befriends Fuuka afterwards, even asking her to aid in the investigation of her father, something Yukari was very uncomfortable with detailing anyone in on. Despite being hard on her teammates initially, she overall expresses a great deal of concern for all of their wellbeing, which likely plays into her role as a healer. At the start of the game, she has the most trouble summoning her Persona because she is distressed that the use of an Evoker requires one to mimic the act of suicide.

Social Link
In The Lovers S.Link, the protagonist helps Yukari mend her relationship with her mother. Since Yukari is very popular, he must maximize his Charm statistic in order to ask her out. If the protagonist makes the correct choices, Yukari will fall in love with him. If the player chooses not to date any of the girls, Yukari will appear for the Summer Festival.

The Answer
After the protagonist's death, Yukari is the only one who seems reluctant to return to the dorm. Upon being invited by Fuuka to return to one last time, she promptly declines, saying that she has cram school to attend. When SEES realizes that strange events are happening in the dorm, she is called to return, which greatly annoys her. Throughout the investigation of the Abyss of Time, Yukari appears irritated that Aigis inherited Orpheus, along with the protagonist's Wild Card ability. Despite her frequent mood-swings, the members of SEES seemingly tolerate her.

Upon defeating the manifestation of SEES' negative wills and collective desire to see the protagonist, she realizes that they have the ability to travel back to the time where the protagonist seals Nyx. Enraged by Aigis' indecisiveness about whether to return to the past, Yukari lashes out, revealing that she's jealous of Aigis for being together with the protagonist and hearing his last words during his final moments. She proclaims that she wants to go back and stop the protagonist, which is opposed by Akihiko and Ken since it would be disrespecting his will, with Junpei adding that by stopping the protagonist's actions, SEES would essentially undo their efforts of stopping the Fall.

As their opinions differ, the SEES members separate to fight each other to determine which one is right. Only Mitsuru supports Yukari's decision. When Aigis and Metis defeat all of the SEES members, Yukari finally admits her grief over the protagonist. She made a promise as well, but unlike Aigis, it was to herself. She promises to try to change the world to make people stop wishing for The Fall, but admits she can't be that person and doesn't care about anything but seeing the protagonist again. The party, feeling her sorrow, comforts her. With her resolution strengthened, she decides to respect Aigis' decision of leaving the past the way it was.



SEES later returns to when the protagonist sealed Nyx to learn the true cause of his death, and it is here they finally learn that he became the Great Seal to prevent the people's wish for The Fall from reaching Nyx. They encounter Erebus, the grand manifestation of humanity's grief and sorrow. Upon defeating it, Yukari apologized to Aigis, admitting that she's jealous because she didn't inherit the Wild Card ability and realized that Aigis obtained his ability not because she was chosen, but because she had felt the strongest to protect him. She, along with the other members of SEES make a promise that they will make the most out of their own lives in order to respect the protagonist's will and ease his burden. Yukari would later offer Aigis the chance to be her roommate, which Aigis gladly accepts.

Portable
Just like the previous games, Yukari is an available Social Link. However, if the player chose the female protagonist, there are no requirements to start her Social Link. The Social Link starts when the player talks to her in the classroom on or after April 28th. Her social link is similar to the male protagonist but slightly altered. Instead of falling in love like in the original, Yukari first talks to the female protagonist about the time she summoned her Persona and other events. Through the Social Link, she talks about friendship, boyfriends, and the female protagonist will give her advice, and Yukari looks forward to having a friend who understands her. But in Social Link 7, she protects Yukari from being run over by a car and gets injured. Yukari becomes extremely worried about the female protagonist getting hurt because of her. It is then revealed that she doesn't want to lose someone she cares about. When the player maximizes her social link, she decides to hold off getting a boyfriend for a while and decides to hang out with the female protagonist to enjoy the company of her best friend. Fuuka was also involved in events with Yukari and the two seemed to get along quite well on the female route, giving a sense of unity amongst the new members of SEES, and if the protagonist does not have a boyfriend, they will spend Christmas together.

Additionally, maxing out her social link on a New Game+ as the male character will allow the player to spend time with her during the final cutscene rather than Aigis.

There are several un-changed lines from the male protagonist's Social-Link. For example, Yukari will say that since she and the female protagonist started "going-out" and that she's changed a lot—both things that Yukari said in the male protagonist's Social-Link.

This also happens outside of the Link: During the hospital scene after the Magician Full-Moon boss fight, although Yukari's text says, "I've been hiding so many things from her. As soon as she wakes up, I'll tell her the truth", the voice-acting instead says "he" and "him". However, that error only occurs if you picked "I was scared, too." Choosing "It's not your fault" makes her correctly say "she" and "her".

Persona 4 Arena Ultimax
Yukari is a playable character in the sequel to Persona 4 Arena. She is now a college student working as a model, but was scouted to be the actress playing the role of Pink Argus in Phoenix Ranger Featherman Victory due to her skill with a bow. While Yukari is shooting a scene for her role, Labrys suddenly arrives on the set via helicopter. The latter requests for the former's assistance before she returns to Inaba to assist Aigis, Mitsuru, Fuuka and Akihiko after they are captured. Fearing for her friends' safety, Yukari immediately joins Labrys and boards the helicopter, not even bothering to change out of her Pink Argus costume. Much to the two's shock, they witness Inaba shrouded by a red fog as they arrive in a helicopter. As soon General Teddie greets them with a missile (That turns out to be a practical joke), they realize that they could use their own Personas without the need of the Evoker. As they land at Inaba, they split up where Yukari looks for Junpei who she assumes he's at the station before his phone batteries dies.

Playstyle
Yukari, as an archer, plays much like other ranged characters like Yukiko and Naoto. Unlike those two, who can use delayed or trap based attacks, Yukari brute forces her way in through fast and wide ranged attacks, often making it hard to approach her. She is also very agile as her Furious Action has her slide through opponents knocking them in the air if she hits for a few quick shots. She has a flip command which is similar to Hawkeye's flip from Marvel Vs. Capcom 3, and much like with his flip, she can follow it up with an angled shot which can inflict Charm, Silence or both. She can also throw a bomb that can be used to keep her opponent on the ground which can be shot to cause an air unblockable explosion. Isis, her Persona, supports her through her Magaru spell which can be used in front of Yukari or closer to her opponent. Her Magarula super creates an expansive tornado wall, which can potentially be deployed to either give her either a defensive wall to keep her opponent from closing in, or to force the opponent to hold their attacks and play more defensively while it is on the field. Meanwhile, Yukari has the chance to damage her opponent with wind-based attacks; to make it even more difficult to block, she can throw and shoot her bomb for a unblockable aerial attack, even if they are trying to guard in midair.

Like any ranged character though, problems arise when the enemy manages to close the distance between them. Her choices are limited to either a risky wind attack which could end up in a Persona Break, or a slide attack which may not cover too much ground away from the attacker. The player's ranged attacks ideally should not miss, regardless of whether or not it is blocked by the opponent. Most of her ranged attacks have a long recovery time, thus allowing the opponent to exploit this by rushing in and attacking while Yukari is unable to counterattack; combined with her low HP count, these moments could prove fatal.

Her leitmotif is called "Pink Sniper", nodding to her title given by the announcer.

Battle Quotes

 * "Io!" (Summoning Persona: Io)
 * "Isis!" (Summoning Persona: Isis)
 * "I swear on my life!" (Exploiting weakness: Isis)
 * "I can do it." (Summoning Persona)
 * "Gotta be brave." (Summoning Persona for the first time)
 * "How do you like the new me?" (Exploiting weakness: Io)
 * "Help me!" (Using Persona skills)
 * "I'll show you my true power!" (Using Persona Skills)
 * "I won't lose!" (Using Persona skills)
 * "Please hit!" (Attacking an enemy)
 * "I won't miss!" (Attack an enemy. Persona: Isis)
 * "Ugh ... lame!" (Attack misses)
 * "Too obvious!" (Dodges an attack. Persona: Isis)
 * "Here's our chance for an All-Out Attack!" (Prompting All-Out Attack)
 * "Lemme at 'em!" (During All-Out Attack)
 * "If you say so..." (Relenting from All-Out Attack)
 * "All right! Let's do it!" (Requesting Co-Op Attack)
 * "Good boy, Koro-chan!" (Cheering on Koromaru)
 * "Not bad, Junpei." (Cheering on Junpei)
 * "You're better than I thought." (Cheering on Junpei)
 * "Nice!" (Cheering on ally)
 * "One more!" (Cheering on MC)
 * "This one won't give up!" (Enemy survives an attack)
 * "I couldn't defeat it..." (Failed to defeat the enemy)
 * "Why you little!" (Recovering from Down)
 * "I can't lose!" (Recovering from Down)
 * "Hang in there!" (Healing an ally)
 * "Thanks!" (Being healed by an ally)
 * "Alright." (Changing battle tactics)
 * "Leave it to me!" (Changing battle tactics)
 * "I'm gonna try something else." (Attacks would not connect)
 * "That was a close one!" (Battle Won: Io)
 * "That was easy!" (Battle Won: Io)
 * "I've made up my mind. I won't lose!" (Battle Won: Isis)
 * "I'm not who I used to be." (Battle Won: Isis)
 * "Yes! My skill level has increased!" (Level up)
 * "Slash attacks won't work!" (Enemy resistant to Slash)
 * "Strike attacks are out!" (Enemy resistant to Strike)
 * "Pierce attacks aren't working!" (Enemy resistant to Pierce)
 * "Fire is useless!" (Enemy resistant to Fire)
 * "There's no point using ice attacks!" (Enemy resistant to Ice)
 * "Wind attacks aren't working!" (Enemy resistant to Wind)
 * "Electricity attacks are a waste of time!" (Enemy resistant to Electricity)
 * "Light has no effect?!" (Enemy resistant to Light)
 * "Darkness attacks don't seem to be working!" (Enemy resistant to Darkness)
 * "What?! Almighty attacks won't work?!" (Enemy resistant to Almighty)
 * "That was close!" (Dodging an attack)
 * "N-No! It's ... It's Death!" (Encountering The Reaper)
 * *shrieks* "It's Death!" (Encountering The Reaper)
 * "I'm sorry, I can't take anymore. Can I pull out?" (Severely injured, prompting to leave)
 * "Yeah, I'm willing to risk mine, too!" (Final Nyx battle)

Etymology
Yukari in Japanese can mean "affinity," which means a natural attraction to someone or something. This could symbolize how she is the first to open up to the protagonist, and feel a connection with him; it could also symbolize the fact that her Arcana of her Persona is the Lovers, which represents the social interaction and the establishment of relationships.

It can also mean "beautiful pear tree", likely due of her past home of Kyoto where Asian pear trees are common. During autumn, the leaves of the pear trees turn brown, thus she could be named for them because her hair is brown as well.

Trivia

 * Yukari appears as a palette swap for Chie Satonaka in Persona 4 Arena.
 * In Persona 4 Golden, if Chie Satonaka has the Gekkou Uniform equipped, she will mimic Yukari's victory pose after battles as well as say Yukari's lines.
 * Yukari as the Pink Argus' actress coincides with Lisa Silverman who played the same role when she was being around with her childhood playmates. Both characters share the same Lovers Arcana. Yukari and Isis also have palette swaps referencing Lisa and Venus.