"The system only works if you have people's trust, and trust is not something you force them to feel."
Hidetoshi Odagiri is a non-playable character from Persona 3. He is a student supervising the Disciplinary Committee of Gekkoukan High School, and one of the Social Link characters.
Appearances[]
- Persona 3 / FES / Portable / Reload: Supporting Character; Emperor Arcana Social Link
- Persona 3 (Manga): Supporting Character; Emperor Arcana
- Persona 3 The Movie: Supporting Character; Emperor Social Link
- Persona 3 Character Drama CD Vol.4: Supporting Character
- Persona 3 Drama CD: Full Moon: Supporting Character
- Persona 3 Portable Drama CD Volume 2: Supporting Character
- Persona 3: the Weird Masquerade -Souen no Kesshou-: Cameo
Design[]
Hidetoshi is a young man with swept back grayish black hair and black eyes. He wears a standard uniform of Gekkoukan High School with a yellow armband with "Disciplinary Committee" on his left arm.
In the movie, his hair is grayish brown and matching eyes.
In Persona 3 Reload, his hair is jet black hair.
Personality[]
Hidetoshi Odagiri is a strict, serious and harsh member of the Disciplinary Committee. He is initially cold but learns the values of friendship and trust via the male protagonist. On the female protagonist's route however, he will realize love is an important value and will defend her when asked to put her in the list of suspects.
As leader, Hidetoshi is stiff and conceited, refusing to listen to other people's opinions and taking authority into his own hands. He would be aggressive and unreasonable in his investigations, digging up irrelevant dirt as well as people's disagreement with him as his basis for accusation. Though Mitsuru Kirijo reluctantly vouches for his good intentions, his attempts spiral out of control, and he would give himself a bad reputation as a selfish person, only causing refusal for people to cooperate with him.
Though Hidetoshi decides that he will be willing to get himself hurt for his justice, and the necessity that it serves in society to preserve order. He even decided to accept people's negative opinions of him, understanding that attempting to justify yourself will only lead to more animosity. Hidetoshi's obsession with power turns out to be driven by fear of being turned into a scapegoat under a powerless position, thanks to his father's experiences.
Hidetoshi begins to question himself and change, once his own views are challenged as he's put in a powerless position under higher authority, demanding that the culprit sought in their investigation is expelled, while Hidetoshi disagrees, believing that exclusion won't lead to change.
This reaches an apex once the teacher that leads him threatens to rip Hidetoshi of his position on Student Council should he not let him list the protagonist as a suspect. Hidetoshi, having preserved his aforementioned sense of righteousness, while having felt bullied to the point it'd lead to him losing a friend, decided to defend the protagonist, telling him that he won't sell him out "even if the whole school turned on him."
Through these experiences, Hidetoshi would learn the meaning of trust and how important it is to establish naturally within a system, and become more open to listening to other people's opinions, striving to earn back their trust after recklessly giving himself a bad reputation. Also, by showing concern for others, the culprit confessed to him and promised he'd change his ways.
Profile[]
Persona 3[]
- Main article: Social Link/Hidetoshi Odagiri
When Mitsuru Kirijo invites the protagonist to a student council meeting, she introduces them to Hidetoshi Odagiri, in which the Emperor Arcana Social Link is unlocked.
Hidetoshi has enlisted the protagonist's help in catching the culprit in a case where a Gekkoukan student has left a cigarette butt in one of the school's male bathrooms, a task assigned to him by a teacher. Hidetoshi accepts with the condition of receiving a recommendation to become next year's student council president, while the teacher would gain a better reputation.
During the course of the story, Hidetoshi shows some rather aggressive efforts toward catching the culprit, which involves some amount of verbal abuse toward many random boys he has accused on no basis, more or less. His search would spiral out of control, as he'd begin to accuse even female members of Student Council, based only on the fact there's no proof a girl didn't go into the boys' bathroom. This would cause Hidetoshi to get himself isolated from the other members of Student Council, at one point even taking a punch from a punk he accused, but confident he's in the right he endures it, believing the others will eventually "see the light" and respect him.
Over time, Hidetoshi tells the protagonist a story of a script writer that was made into a scapegoat and sent to jail for perjury, and claims that he will do whatever is needed to rise to the top to prevent incidents like those from happening. He thinks that trusting people too much will lead to them backstabbing you, like what happened with said script writer. That man also taught him the value of sincerity, but due to his incident, Hidetoshi was convinced he also needed power to make the world a better place.
As the Social Link progresses, Hidetoshi is tasked with making a list of suspects for the cigarette incident. As the authority is passed on the teachers, they have decided that the culprit responsible for the cigarette incident should be expelled. This would leave Hidetoshi torn, as he isn't in a position of power and thinks the punishment is too severe. But due to some rumors of the protagonist being out late at night (because of SEES exploring Tartarus, which Hidetoshi doesn't know of course), the teacher that gave Hidetoshi the task to solve the incident tries to force him to put the protagonist's name on the list. Hidetoshi, worrying the truth will be bent and he'll be forced to part with a friend, refuses immediately, defending and trusting the protagonist. Discussing this with the protagonist, he says, "Even if the whole school turns on me, I won't sell you out."
This situation helped him realize the value of trust: as it is an emotion that people cannot be forced to feel, it needs to be build on little by little. Realizing that bonds, trust and friendship are more important than power, Hidetoshi changes his ways and drops the cigarette incident. People are amazed because he now asks for people's opinions instead of forcing his way of thinking onto the others.
Because of Hidetoshi's change of behavior, the culprit ends up confessing and gives his lighter to him, who shows it to the protagonist as proof of the incident being solved, and gives it to the protagonist. He then reveals that the script writer in jail is actually his father, and that he now understands the true meaning of trust.
If Hidetoshi's Social Link is at level 10 by the end of the game, on one of the last two days, the protagonist can meet him at Gekkoukan. He tells the protagonist that he has decided to become a teacher in order to give better education to people and avoid incidents like the Nyx cult, and that even while most of people forgot about that cigarette butt incident, it meant a lot to himself and won't forget about it.
Portable[]
If the player chooses the female route, Hidetoshi will realize his love for the female protagonist when defending her while being asked to put her on the list of suspects. He ends up confessing to her, but says that he doesn't want an answer and only wanted to tell her: he'll wait to tell her again until the time is right.
Persona 3 The Movie[]
Spring of Birth[]
In the movie, he makes his appearance and he is seen talking to a female student, he thinks the reason the victims who were unconscious at the front gate was drugs and thinks they were partying all night at Port Island Station.
Winter of Rebirth[]
He is briefly seen with Chihiro, witnessing Nyx's arrival.
Etymology[]
- The name Hidetoshi means "excellent, outstanding" (秀) (hide) and "benefit, advantage" (利) (toshi).
- Hidetoshi's surname Odagiri means "small" (小) (o), "field, rice paddy" (田) (ta/da) and "paulownia" (桐) (kiri/giri).
Gallery[]
.png "Hidetoshi Odagiri (Summer School Uniform).png (621 KB)")
In Other Languages[]
| Language | Title |
|---|---|
 Japanese
|
小田桐 秀利 (Odagiri Hidetoshi) |
 Korean
|
오다기리 히데토시 (Odagiri Hidetosi) |
Trivia[]
- Hidetoshi and Keisuke Hiraga were friends in elementary school and can be seen interacting during the school trip to Kyoto.