Suguru Kamoshida

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

Appearances

 * Persona 5: Major Character (Antagonist)
 * Persona 5 (Manga)
 * Persona 5 The Animation
 * Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight Cameo

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 unnaturally tall when compared in passing to other staff members and students; he is at least a full head taller than the rest of the students which makes him appear a good 7 feet tall, although it is likely this is a stylistic choice to make him seem physically intimidating (it may be assumed that he's actually intended to be in the upper 6 foot range). His first name, Suguru (卓), can also be translated as "tall." He appears generally athletic, with a mildly muscular build.

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

When he transforms into Asmodeus, he becomes a large pink demon with multiple arms and legs as well as a thick purple tongue, who wears his Treasure as a crown. He carries golden eating utensils in his lower arms to consume the Cognitive existences of his female team members to restore his health, while his upper pair carry a riding crop, which 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 spikes explosive volleyballs at the party as an attack.

Personality


Kamoshida is 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 fare little better, as he subjects them to an utterly ruthless training regimen that many of them compare to torture, and will even use it as punishment if his team loses a game. He believes his relative success as a coach and previous successes as an athletic champion gives him the privilege to do whatever he wants. His Palace takes the form of a castle over which he rules as king while the students are his slaves, showing him to be incredibly egotistical. He plays favorites with the students, giving preferential treatment to the ones he likes, yet making life much harder for those he dislikes. His crimes are extremely obvious and blatant and he often abuses his students in the open due to his sense of untouchability, which proves to be his downfall against the Phantom Thieves.

He is so driven by his darker passions that his Shadow Self is barely distinguishable from his true self, the only difference being that Shadow Kamoshida is more open and honest about the selfishness and egotism behind 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 that his sexual desire for his female students is aberrant, but ignores the consequences of his lust, yet his Shadow Self admits it's more about domination than sexual 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 female students as possessions and male students as disposable props to enable his own continued success and glory; he appears more obsessed with Ann because her blonde hair makes her a rarity in Japan so by having her as his "girlfriend" she would become another of his trophies. Deep down, he is driven by a deep sense of inadequacy after fading into obscurity, fearing the loss of 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 all his victims including his own team, at first offering to commit suicide before willingly resigning and submitting 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 the casualties of this campaign was the track team; during his coaching Kamoshida purposefully goaded them, eventually intentionally provoking one of the top team members, Ryuji Sakamoto, into violence, allowing him to break Ryuji's leg in an apparent case of "self-defense" resulting in the subsequent disbanding of the team. He also began sexually harassing his female athletes while subjecting male athletes to brutal physical abuse which he justified by labeling it as "training." Despite his blatancy, the students could not speak up against Kamoshida as the principal silenced any attempt to speak up against or otherwise report Kamoshida's actions. With no way to stop his systemic abuse at Shujin Academy, known by the students, staff and even the parents, Kamoshida began to see himself as nothing less than an untouchable ruler - a king who had the entire Shujin Academy as his own castle.

Kamoshida is first shown in a cutscene where Sadayo Kawakami complains to him about the protagonist being transferred to the school, due to fears based on his criminal record. He assures Kawakami that if anything were to happen, he would kick a student like that out right away. On the first day of school, he offers to give Ann a ride, which she accepts reluctantly. After the accidental entry of his Palace by the protagonist and Ryuji, he is completely unaware of its existence, but regardless acts against the protagonist in a hostile manner, with one of his aggressive acts against him being spreading rumors about his record around the school using Yuuki Mishima, whom he also regularly abuses and uses to spread rumors about other students he dislikes. He is later seen spiking a volleyball aimed directly at Yuuki's face in front of numerous students in the volleyball tournament, further showing the blatancy of his abuse.

The Phantom Thieves of Hearts eventually plan a heist to steal his corrupt heart at Kamoshida's Palace, initially to prevent the abuse of the volleyball team (as their Cognitive existences are subject to torture in his Palace, inferring the severity of his abusive training techniques in reality). However, once the protagonist discovers that Kamoshida is trying to blackmail Ann Takamaki into sexual relations with him, it is confirmed that he sexually harassed (and heavily implied that he sexually abused) her friend, Shiho Suzui resulting her attempted suicide, adding a further incentive to their original mission. They must also fight to prevent Kamoshida from manipulating the school board into expelling the protagonist, Ryuji and Yuuki Mishima.

After reaching the depths of his Palace the Phantom Thieves discover his treasure, which cannot be stolen until it is given form by the Palace's owner. After Morgana explains that treasures gain form once the owner is aware it is in jeopardy, Ryuji creates several calling cards and posts them all over the school. Kamoshida sees the calling cards and realizes he is under threat, causing his treasure to take on a physical form; in this case a gaudy royal crown.



The cause of his corruption is his lust and desire both for success and power, resulting in his callous treatment of his athletes and his ephebophilia towards his female students. When Shadow Kamoshida is cornered, he transforms into his boss form, Asmodeus, a mutated demon of lust. After he is defeated, the team allows Ann to decide how to deal with him. Despite a clear desire to inflict pain on him or even kill his now cowering Shadow, Ann holds back, indicting him to return to his body and atone. The formerly haughty and lustful Shadow can do nothing except weep and comply with her instructions, finally realizing the impact of his actions.



On May 2nd, during a school assembly to address the concerns brought up by Shiho's attempted suicide, Kamoshida dramatically enters the gymnasium while declaring in a subdued tone that he has been "reborn." 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 openly confess to his crimes, so distraught that he offers his own life as payment to atone for his actions. Ann calls him a coward, telling him to face his guilt head-on rather than end his life. Kamoshida agrees and begs for the police to be called so that 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.

In the real world, Kamoshida's Treasure is his Olympic medal, which the Thieves sold to Munehisa Iwai for 30,000 Yen and used it to celebrate at a buffet in Shibuya's Wilton Hotel and gave 6000 from among them to the protagonist.

At the end of the game, the Phantom Thieves encounter Kamoshida's Shadow in the depths of Mementos, locked in a cell alongside their other previous targets. He, alongside the other Palace owners whose hearts have been stolen, praises the cell from which he originally escaped, declaring that he is content now that he is able to live without having to think for himself anymore. Despite this, he still jokingly tries to seduce Ann when he is first encountered in the cell.

​Persona 5 Manga
Kamoshida appears in the manga adaptaion of the game. Here he is shown having better control over his emotions and keeps a straight face more often.

While in the palace, his shadow self is a great deal more cunning, having captured Ann, who in the manga adaptaion hasn't awakened her persona yet, as a bargining tool for when Joker, Skull, and Mona take his treasure.

Persona 5 The Animation
Kamoshida's role in the anime adaptation is near identical to his game counterpart. However it also goes more in-depth to the abuse Kamoshida dealt to various students, showing him physically harassing Shiho, and deliberately using his Olympian skills on Ren to knock his glasses off during class.

Strategy


Shadow Kamoshida is fairly straightforward as his primary means of attack are physical skills only. It's best to take him on when the party is around level 11, where Ann gains access to Tarunda to suppress his damage output and where Morgana gains Media to keep the party in good shape. It's also beneficial to equip a Persona that resists physical attacks like Obariyon or Slime to further minimize the damage the protagonist will be taking, since all of his damaging skills are physical.

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 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 will select one member of the party to try and steal it. (Though choosing Ann will automatically result as a failed attempt since Kamoshida keeps staring at her.) 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.

Stats
Suguru "Asmodeus" Kamoshida=

Trophy of Obsession=

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.