The logo of the Phantom Thieves, appearing on calling cards after Yusuke Kitagawa joined the group and started to design the calling cards used by the thieves
"Take Your Heart"
The Phantom Thieves of Hearts (心の怪盗団, Kokoro no kaitō-dan)?, also known simply as the Phantom Thieves, is a group of Persona Users in Persona 5 and Persona 5 Royal. Sick of the deception, hypocrisy and corruption around them, the Phantom Thieves are devoted to "stealing" the corrupt hearts of evil adults in order to change and reform society for the better. After their first heist, the group can be named, which will be shown on calling cards, to others via online features, and in dialogue (although voice acting will always refer to them as the "Phantom Thieves"), with the default name being "The Phantoms" (ザ・ファントム?).
Appearances
- Persona 5 / Royal
- Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight
- Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers
- Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth
- Catherine: Full Body: DLC
Profile
It is subjective whether or not the Phantom Thieves are "right" or "wrong." While some view them as heroes who fight criminals and save the day, Goro Akechi deems them to be criminals who have no right to forcefully change the hearts of people and Kasumi Yoshizawa expresses her belief on how people should not be dependent on the group to change society. This is further compounded by that many whom they changed their hearts of do not actually atone, but instead are reduced to apathetic, weeping husks of their former selves, making their behavior look more like criminal activity than justice. With the increasing numbers of changes of heart, the Phantom Thieves attract the attention of the general public, turning them into an international phenomenon.
However, due to the fame, the Phantom Thieves lose sight of their goal and begin to struggle with the question of whether the end justifies the means, questioning the morality of their "justice," and their determination to reform society often wavers as a result. This is especially true after Kunikazu Okumura's death, as the Phantom Thieves are labeled violent murderers by society and become despised by many, as well as the reason behind targeting them being linked to him being the highest ranked person on the Phantom Aficionado Website in terms of votes. In the end, it was found out that they were sponsored and manipulated by a conductor and are destined for ruin in the end, which explains their morally ambiguous activities and their targets not atoning properly after the Change of Heart. While public reception of them are mixed after the final confrontation against the conductor, they become less morally ambiguous, especially during the extra campaign of Royal and the events on Scramble where they are willing to steal the hearts of anyone who attempts to cause disorder and stagnation within the public, including those doing so with well-intent and actually make them atone as better people. Additionally, several members of the Police began to open up to them.
Persona 5
"The bonds that you have reeled in are quite intriguing... In other words, they all have been unfairly labeled by society and are standing up against such fates. Have you noticed? Your heart seems to inspire theirs. *chuckle* Outcasts of society... In other words, you're picaresque. Deepen your bonds with them. Those will become the strength behind your rehabilitation. ...I look forward to it."
The Phantom Thieves of Hearts
The protagonist, Morgana, Ryuji Sakamoto and Ann Takamaki formed the Phantom Thieves of Hearts in order to confront the "corrupt adults" by stealing their "corrupt hearts," and change the world in order to rebel and fight against the complex, sophisticated and well-ingrained system of slavery they are trapped in. They are willing to perform illegal activities if it means reaching their own freedom and liberation.
The group is formed when the volleyball teacher of Shujin Academy, Suguru Kamoshida, is revealed to have abused his students and molested Ann's friend, Shiho Suzui, which leads to her attempted suicide and leading her in a coma. However, since no proof on his crime is available, and no other student, parent or teacher is willing to speak against Kamoshida, the team decides to make Kamoshida confess his crimes on his own by stealing the arrogance in his heart stored within his Palace in the Metaverse.
They initially intend to end the Phantom Thieves once Kamoshida's case is over, but after encountering an arrogant politician, Masayoshi Shido, they decide to continue their behind-the-scenes activities as an official group. Their name soon becomes known after making a corrupt painter, Ichiryusai Madarame, confess his own sins on live television. In addition to this, they also gain a new member, Madarame's former disciple, Yusuke Kitagawa. The victims of the Phantom Thieves often experience drastic and sudden personality changes that cannot be explained via normal means, usually drowning themselves in excessive self-loathing and apathy. As a result, interrogating the victims for answers will usually have no effect. This makes the Phantom Thieves incredibly difficult to track down or investigate via normal means, which is further burdened by the fact that its members appear as normal and unassuming teenagers to outsiders, and the knowledge of their methods are only handled by a select few. Their activities reach the police's attention, particularly investigator Sae Niijima, leading the team assigned to the Phantom Thieves case to be formed.
Furthermore, their methods are seen as questionable and unorthodox, and the Phantom Thieves have also received opposition and criticism for their actions. A high school detective, Goro Akechi, makes an appearance on TV, where he is asked for his opinion on the Phantom Thieves of Hearts. His response is that, whether or not they truly exist, they are criminals who should be brought to justice; he goes on to denounce their actions, and believes that forcing people to change what's in their hearts is wrong.
At the same time, the number of people who support their actions has also increased after the change of heart of crime lord Junya Kaneshiro, who the police had difficulty catching due to lack of evidence. Shujin Academy's student council president, Makoto Niijima, joins them as well after confirming that their justice is not wrong. From Kaneshiro, however, they learn of the existence of a third party, who is manipulating the Palaces for their own needs, including mental shutdowns. The increasing support they gain earns interest from a group of hackers, Medjed, who demand them to cease their false justice and give them a chance to right their wrong by joining them. As Medjed declares an all out war against them, the Phantom Thieves change the heart of a prodigy programmer Futaba Sakura, after she requested them to steal her suicidal tendencies in exchange for dealing with Medjed for them. Futaba joins the Phantom Thieves soon after.
The cleanse of Medjed has attracted significant attention towards the mysterious group, making them famous. During the Shujin Academy's trip to Hawaii, they learn the Phantom Thieves have become internationally known, being mentioned by several locals. Due to these circumstances, they start a poll on the Phantom Aficionado Website, allowing people to vote for their next target.
However, upon their return to Japan, the Phantom Thieves are shocked to learn that the principal of Shujin Academy apparently committed suicide. The Thieves consider their next target according to the votes of the public: a president of food manufacturer, Kunikazu Okumura. However, they begin to question whether it's right for them to act solely on the general public's vote, and due to the influx of their fame, have lost sight of why they're Phantom Thieves in the first place.
They are joined by Kunikazu's daughter, Haru Okumura, who also wants to change her father's heart. However, things turns to worse when a mysterious masked Persona user kills Kunikazu's Shadow, causing the real Kunikazu to suffer a mental shutdown during a press conference, after confessing his crimes but before he can reveal the mastermind behind the Conspiracy. The Phantom Thieves are slowly blamed for his death, rendering them detested among the general public, and causing them to doubt themselves for a while for pursing him based on just fame, but were all quickly corrected by the protagonist, giving them all newfound resolve. It was also revealed that Medjed was not actually involved with the Phantom Thieves, but a third party used the name in order to further increase the popularity of the group, and also were able to artificially inflate the view counters on the PhanSite. The Phantom Thieves conclude that those moves were predicted, and were set-up to target Kunikazu, and fell into a trap.
While trying to find a way to prove their innocence, Akechi reveals that he knows the protagonist and his friends' identities as the Phantom Thieves and the existence of Metaverse, as well as taking photo evidence of them entering the Metaverse, specifically Okumura's Palace. Believing they are not the ones who killed Kunikazu, he offers to help them clear their name. In order to do this, he suggests they steal Sae's heart to stop her from investigating the Thieves and to prevent the high chance of a false accusation.
After fulfilling their mission in Sae's Palace, information about their whereabouts has been leaked, so the protagonist uses himself as a bait, leading to his capture. While being interrogated by Sae, telling her the group's history besides some key moments blocked out due to a drug, the protagonist reveals that Akechi is a traitor, and makes a deal with her to save himself and deceive Akechi, who comes to kill the protagonist. Having successfully deceived him using the reality-altering ability of the Metaverse and with Sae's help, the protagonist safely escapes his confinement and goes into hiding after his apparent death is broadcasted, alerting the rest of the group that they successfully fooled them.
After the protagonist returns home safely, the various Phantom Thieves explain to a confused Sae that they knew that Goro Akechi was hiding something since his reveal as a Persona user, as he was lured by a comment made by Morgana during their visit in the TV station, and being able to understand him can only mean that he has been in the Metaverse before. Therefore, the group formulated a plan to work against him. It was also revealed that the various holes in the protagonist's memory (revealed thanks to Igor removing the "cloud" caused by the truth drug) were all part of a plan to save the protagonist: Futaba's investigation into Sae Niijima also included her programming an app to tap into Goro Akechi's phone conversations, which confirmed the plot to kill the protagonist.
In advance, they checked to confirm if the police building's interrogation room was identical to the one in the real world, allowing a modified Metaverse app to seamlessly transport Goro Akechi into the Metaverse to kill Sae's cognitive copy of the protagonist, which was in the interrogation room due to being caught on purpose. For this purpose, they did not actually steal the treasure or have Sae go through a change of heart, but pretended to do so in order to hide their plan. However, due to his presumption of being dead by the public, and by the police force due to Shido's conspiracy bypassing the need for a death certificate, the protagonist is no longer able to attend school.
From the recording of Akechi's phone conversation, they find out that the mastermind behind the Conspiracy is Masayoshi Shido, who is running for election to become prime minister, and has been the one responsible for the protagonist's probation. Entering his Palace, they once again encounter Akechi, who is revealed to be Shido's illegitimate son and that he's the "Black Mask" by summoning his true Persona, Loki. After defeating him, Akechi, learning Shido already knew who he is and planned to betray his own son after his election, begins to feel remorseful for betraying the Phantom Thieves, and sacrifices himself in an ambiguous fate to allow them to proceed stopping his father. Reaching the end, the group hijacks the entire television to show their video that reveals Shido as the culprit behind the recent incidents in Shibuya, and declare war against him. Confronting Shadow Shido in his Palace, the Phantom Thieves succeed in stealing his heart and make him confess his crimes at the live press conference when he is elected Prime Minister.
The Phantom Thieves celebrate their success, assuming it's all over for good. However, the general public still believes Shido is innocent, and are planning on getting him elected. Shido's henchmen and personal doctor also use the excuse that Shido currently has an unstable mental disorder and won't allow anyone to meet him, which means he cannot be judged despite having already confessed. In order to change people's opinion of Shido, Morgana suggests they go to the Mementos' core. Since Mementos is the Palace of the people, destroying it will cause the entire Metaverse to cease to exist. However, doing so will make them unable to steal the hearts of criminals and expose their crimes, forcing the Phantom Thieves to retire. To reform society for good, the Phantom Thieves agree to make this their one last heist.
When they reach the depths of Mementos, they confront a being called the Holy Grail, a manifestation of humanity's desire to be ruled, and the conductor of the Conspiracy. He disguised himself as Igor to watch the battle between the protagonist and Akechi, using that to determine whose will is stronger. Despite being the conductor of the Conspiracy, he has no regard for any of its members, and merely sets them up for the Phantom Thieves to dismantle so he can prove that no corruption or chaos will exist as long as he reigns over humanity. The Phantom Thieves have never actually made their targets better people, they were merely made unambitious and submissive to the Grail's control.
Once the extermination of the conspiracy is successfully carried out, regardless of outcome, he would erase anyone who won his game from reality, in this case the Phantom Thieves, by manipulating the masses' cognition to make them think that they never existed, although the protagonist is offered a way out by himself, where he gains fame, but becomes the Grail's enforcer, while the other members of the Thieves are still erased from cognition. As the real world is merged with Mementos, the Phantom Thieves confront the Holy Grail who transforms into his true form: Yaldabaoth. With the help of people who believe in them, the Phantom Thieves receive enough power to defeat Yaldabaoth, resulting in the Metaverse to disappear for good.
On Christmas Eve, Sae asks the protagonist to turn himself in so he can testify against Shido since there's a lack of witnesses or solid evidence. However, this means the protagonist may have to be imprisoned in a facility, due to his history with Shido and because the police and prosecutors are desperate to restore their own reputation and prevent anyone from viewing the Phantom Thieves as heroes. To change the world and protect his friends, the protagonist agrees to Sae's request.
In response to his arrest, his friends try their best to prove his innocence and eventually succeed in doing so two months afterwards when they find the woman he saved, who retracts the testimony Shido forced her to make and resulting in the initial charges of assault being expunged, allowing the protagonist to be freed earlier. However, since the protagonist's probation has been dropped, this means the protagonist has to go back to his hometown next month. With the leader leaving Tokyo, the protagonist and his friends officially disband the Phantom Thieves of Hearts and go their separate ways.
Persona 5 Royal
As the Phantom Thieves were dealing with the increased popularity, the protagonist and Morgana attempt to return a charm to Kasumi Yoshizawa, but the three are accidentally transported into an unknown Palace due to an offhand mention of a laboratory. There, Kasumi awakens to her Persona, Cendrillon. After they escape, Morgana offers Kasumi the choice to join the Phantom Thieves; she declines, citing her need to focus on gymnastics. Back at Leblanc, the protagonist and Morgana conclude that they shouldn't burden the rest of the Phantom Thieves with the additional stress of knowing there's a new Persona user, and decide to not tell anyone.
If the protagonist maxed out Takuto Maruki's Confidant before November 18th, an alternate sequence of events will occur.
After defeating Yaldabaoth, the Phantom Thieves find themselves trapped within a cognitive reality where everyone's deepest desires have come true. Every one of them, save for the protagonist, Goro Akechi and Kasumi, are satisfied with the results and unable to rebel, forcing the trio to explore the mysterious Palace. Inside, more and more evidence of Kasumi's true self is presented, up until they encounter the Palace ruler, Maruki.
He reveals himself as the creator of the cognitive reality, and that he made it to end all of humanity's suffering. As a warning, he shows the group Kasumi's memories, which reveals that she is in fact Kasumi's younger twin sister, Sumire. After blaming herself for the death of her sister, she came to Maruki for therapy. During a session, he used his cognitive warping abilities to make her believe she was Kasumi. The revelation lifts Sumire's cognitive overlay and sends her right into despair and denial.
As the protagonist denies Maruki's ideal world, he captures Sumire and summons a Hastur to attack the boys, only for them to unleash a Showtime and defeat it. Maruki then tells them to reconsider, giving them a week. The protagonist uses this week to snap out the rest of the Phantom Thieves trapped in Maruki's reality. Once the protagonist and Akechi return at the end of the week, he gives them a mercy offer to accept his reality as the only one. They refuse, so he manipulates Sumire into attacking them. When that falls through, Maruki then removes Cendrillon from Sumire and causes the Persona to go berserk. Cendrillon absorbs all of the Byakhee that Maruki summons and is virtually invincible, up until Ryuji appears to block off its finishing shot, before the arrival of the other Thieves. Once they defeat Cendrillon, Maruki gives Sumire back and tells them to come back on February 3rd for the final battle.
It turns out that Maruki is being partially controlled by his Persona, who is said to be able to manipulate cognition itself. However, he is also channeling power from Mementos, and if not stopped after a month, Mementos would merge with the real world with Maruki as its master. Due to the lack of any rebellion, strife or progress, not even the Velvet Room is able to save a world like this.
The Thieves now step into Maruki's Palace, with Sumire joining the party as "Violet." When attacked and surrounded by several Shadows, Sumire tears off her mask only to have nothing happen, as the old Cendrillon has been destroyed. She receives a new mask and as she tears it off, the real Kasumi's soul reaches out to her and replaces the old Cendrillon, officially marking Sumire as a rebel against her old, cowardly self.
Upon awakening their third tier Personas, the initial seven Phantom Thieves regret and feel ashamed for being so easily manipulated by Maruki, and resolve to change for the better, no matter how painful reality, admitting that facing these traumatizing events head on are a part of their growth. They also lament being caught off guard by their subconscious desires, being rendered unable to protect the protagonist as a result, despite that being their utmost priority, having drowned in their blissful ignorance all the while when he was in danger.
It is also heavily implied that the events surrounding Maruki and his cognitive reality are all unintended aftermaths of Yaldabaoth's plan.
After locating the Treasure on top of the Garden of Eden, the Thieves propose that the protagonist invites Maruki to Leblanc to directly give him the Calling Card. On February 2nd, Maruki comes to Leblanc of his own volition, followed by Akechi. He then explains that, due to the protagonist regretting Akechi's death and wishing to keep his promise to him, Maruki made it so that Akechi is alive in this alternate reality. However, if this reality were to be destroyed, Akechi would go with it. Akechi was aware of this from the start, having no memories after his encounter with his cognitive self in Shido's Palace.
After receiving the Calling Card, Maruki leaves to prepare for the final battle. Akechi has resolved to fix reality no matter what happens to him, and asks the protagonist if he can do the same. If he admits he would stay and has confirmed to do so, he indirectly accepts Maruki's offer. Akechi's fate in the true reality remains unknown.
Once the protagonist refuses the second and indirect offer, the Thieves will reach the top of the Garden of Eden to fight Maruki, in which the Persona's true form is revealed; the blind idiot god Azathoth, a golden cross laced with tentacles. Once Maruki is defeated, the party steals his Treasure, only for him to steal it back it and restore Azathoth into Adam Kadmon, the almighty being who is the giver of human wisdom, appearing as a massive and brilliant humanoid robot.
While Adam Kadmon is virtually invincible and threatens to decimate the Thieves, the group gathers to block the attack. Futaba orders the protagonist to shoot it in the head head while it's distracted, knocking off Maruki's crown and destroying Adam Kadmon.
The Palace quickly collapses. Morgana, unable to move with his vehicle form, transforms into a helicopter to transport the Thieves away. However, Maruki now pulls the protagonist off the Monacopter and challenges him to a fist fight. Once both lie on the ground, he attempts to commit suicide by falling off one of the glass panels only for the protagonist to save him and the Monacopter transports the two out of Odaiba.
Once the party returns to the original reality, the protagonist has been sent to Juvie, with Akechi no longer there to take his place. His maxed Confidants, including ones he maxed in the third semester, will support his release under Sumire's suggestion. Akechi remains missing. On the 19th of March, the protagonist is tailed by men in black as he attempts to leave Tokyo. The other Thieves distract them and Maruki, now a cab driver, escorts him to the train station. At the station, the protagonist says goodbye to Sumire and boards the train. He briefly sees himself as Joker reflected back at him in the window. If Akechi's Confidant is maxed out, a glimpse of what appears to be him walks past the train.
These events mark Maruki as the first adult target of the Thieves to be genuinely made a better person, as this is the first heist they made after being freed from Yaldabaoth's control.
Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers
Despite the Phantom Thieves's disbandment, the group still maintains close bonds with each other; Ryuji, Ann and Yusuke are now in their last year of high school, Futaba enrolled as a high school student, and Makoto and Haru are now in college. They arranged plans to travel all over Japan during their summer vacation. The protagonist also comes across a popular digital assistant known as EMMA, known for its highly accurate decisions in improvising daily life.
However, this was momentarily cut short when Ryuji, the protagonist and Morgana went to buy camping utensils, in which they encounter Alice Hiiragi, an uncannily popular idol hosting an event near the 705 building. She grants the protagonist a card with her EMMA keyword "Wonderland" written on it. When Ryuji inserts the keyword however, he accidentally triggers a Metaverse Navigator secretly mounted within the application, sending them to a distorted version of Shibuya where a malicious form of Alice with scant clothing tells the crowd to give up their desires and the trio in their Phantom Thief outfit once again. This is followed by hordes of Shadows encroaching the crowd, extracting a diamond-like object from them. The trio attempt to escape only to be surrounded by a massive Shadow horde and sent to interrogation by Shadow Alice.
She stomps the protagonist into the ground and aggressively flirts with him, only to get nothing, so she decided to just dump the trio into the underground sewers where they encounter Sophia, an AI of unknown origin who claims to be humanity's friend. Displaying the ability to combat Shadows, she escorts the party in escaping the Jail. Once they go out, Sophia manifests in the real world as an application, and the crowd within the Jail before received a Change of Heart, becoming mesmerized and obsessive with Alice. They explain everything to the rest of the Phantom Thieves, prompting them to investigate Alice before starting their trip.
After some investigation, they found out fans of Alice were causing property loss and violent incidents all over Shibuya, namely people buying Alice merchandise until they go bankrupt or buying them with loaned money, people who dislike Alice being fired, and street fights against anyone disliking Alice. In order to investigate her personally, Ann, Morgana and the protagonist go to attend "Good Morning Japan" talk show on the next day. While Alice's behavior is seemingly normal at first, as soon as the host starts talking about her boyfriend he was abruptly silenced, before breaking into a fervent confession of love in front of her despite he's supposedly married.
The broadcast ends with Ann, Morgana and the protagonist within the hallway, in which they encounter Alice's manager following and questioning her, only for her to physically attack and verbally humiliate him, even stating that the previous manager refused to leave his room because of this and it isn't the first time that she did this to the current manager. Ann and the protagonist temporarily convinced her to stop, in which she tries to hand the protagonist her keyword again only to recognize him in the 705 building, which alerted her because he wasn't mesmerized.
The trio reports the incident to the rest of the party members, officially reforming the Phantom Thieves with 9 members. Back home after their first investigation, they also encounter a police inspector known as Zenkichi Hasegawa who frames them as suspects for the Change of Heart incident against the TV Manager a day ago. Apparently, the police are still attempting to capture the Phantom Thieves to save their image as a public failure, with the opportunity arising when Change of Heart cases, similar to began to appear nation-wide. This investigation is spearheaded by officer Miyako Kaburagi and Zenkichi, who lists the protagonist as a lead suspect of the cases.
After an intense fight against a massive horde of Shadows, the Phantom Thieves storm Alice's castle and locate the topmost area, in which there is no treasure. Instead, all of the desires Alice stole manifest as a pink fog cluster, and a blockade prevents access to the King's Throne. When Ryuji investigates the blockade, a flashback of what seems to be Alice being bullied at school starts playing. When they exit the Metaverse, Zenkichi gives them a clue to Alice's school; she graduated from Shujin, prompting the Thieves to infiltrate an isolated area of the Jail in Shujin Academy, where they realized that Alice is not intentionally malicious, but was driven by a desire of retribution against bullies who humiliated her, walked all over her and took away her boyfriend out of jealousy. They then combat a powerful Lock Keeper shadow and defeat it, which results in the blockade within Shibuya's Jail vanishing and send a calling card to Alice using a grandiose broadcast hijack to signify their triumphant return.
Once they go to the Jail, they encounter Shadow Alice while thinking how to take the desires to the real world despite its massive size. Alice, despite initially maintaining her usual composure, snaps quickly after being confronted by Ann about her trauma and attacks the Thieves by transforming into a monstrous rabbit-like creature. Once defeated, Alice gives up after some banter from Ann and the protagonist, takes off her crown and vanishes, releasing all of the people she mesmerized. The real Alice can be seen confessing on the next day.
However, the broadcast hijack on the previous day had resulted in the police being alerted and believing that the Phantom Thieves were behind the nationwide Change of Heart cases, with a part of the justification being trying to save their faces from their previous defeat, which is heavily implied to trigger the failed pursuit against the protagonist during the end of both Persona 5 and Royal. Zenkichi takes advantage to use the Phantom Thieves' summer vacation to help him investigate the suspicious Change of Hearts all over Japan. When he reports back to his superior Miyako Kaburagi, she warns that if Zenkichi found any proof of the Phantom Thieves responsible, he must arrest them at all costs.
When stopping to Sendai and Sapporo, the Phantom Thieves encounter several nearly identical cases as the Change of Heart case instigated by Alice in Shibuya, people who felt disdain against being wronged or taken advantage of using the application to artificially inflate their popularity so they take back what they had lost. During their first dinner in Sendai, a mysterious woman known as Kuon Ichinose also approaches them, and hearing that the teens are the rumored Phantom Thieves, also exposes herself as the creator of EMMA and accomplice of Akira Konoe, the maintainer of EMMA, then makes a deal with them to assist their investigation. Due to a lack of a Prison of Regression, all targets that the Phantom Thieves changed hearts of reform as intended and provide valuable info against the case.
During their midway stop to Kyoto, they meet Zenkichi's daughter, Akane Hasegawa, who do not hold him on a high regard because her mother was killed in a planned murder, and the crime was blamed on a patsy who quickly committed suicide. To top it all off, Zenkichi gave up on the case and considered her a burden, forcing her to live at home alone most of the time. She developed an obsession about the Phantom Thieves and even broadcasts the hijack directed against Masayoshi Shido. However, this was done in hopes that they will crush the police.
In Okinawa, they also found that the locals went berserk due to having their heart changed by an experiment to grant EMMA psientific knowledge, in which the King, Shuzo Ubukata committed suicide due to the insanity inflicted by the application, and a voice resembling Sophia's telling that she's worthless.
The Phantom Thieves make a brief stop again to Fukuoka only for Zenkichi to warn them something important so they can go back to Kyoto. Due to Makoto being sick, Haru drives them from Fukuoka to Kyoto within a single day, where Zenkichi informs that he found the culprits of the case, namely Jun Owada, a former lobbyist for Shido and Akira Konoe, who deliberately induced Change of Hearts against Owada's political opponents. Konoe apparently has also framed the Phantom Thieves for hacking into EMMA and killing Ubukata, which are all blatant fabrications. Owada then bribes Kaburagi into raiding the hot springs hotel that the Phantom Thieves are in, and she quickly commands a horde of police in riot gear only for Zenkichi to take her place instead.
Once this is done, the police investigate the Zenkichi household and his daughter, Akane Hasegawa was shocked that her idols, the Phantom Thieves are working with the father that she absolutely hates. She then tells EMMA to save her and drops into a coma. Konoe consults EMMA on a way to capture the Phantom Thieves, in which the AI suggests using a Jail formed by an associate of the Thieves, pointing him to use a resentful Shadow Akane to capture them. EMMA fabricates a distress call from Akane, luring them into the newly formed Kyoto's Jail where all combat members were trapped by a resentful Shadow Akane who was furious about them assisting Zenkichi. Futaba escaped thanks to her low physical strength and Zenkichi was freed by Sae Niijima.
Zenkichi and Futaba infiltrate the Jail and Zenkichi confronts Akane about the incident, in which Akane says that Owada murdered her mother and Zenkichi admits being thrown a death threat. Due to Owada being associated with Shido which is a god-like figure with full control over the jurisdictional system, it is impossible for Zenkichi to investigate. Angered about the truth, Zenkichi gives himself in to the Phantom Thieves and awakens Valjean, who dispatches the Shadows that Shadow Akane sent against him. Shadow Akane flees to the farthest area of the Jail and Zenkichi frees the other combatants with Futaba, and he is given the codename "Wolf." The Phantom Thieves, once again with 10 members, confront Akane, in which she summons a group of the original 8 Phantoms against them, with the protagonist fighting a copy of himself known as My Dear Joker. Once it's gone, Shadow Akane reforms and once Zenkichi goes back to his home and meet Akane, she genuinely recognizes Zenkichi as a good parent while stating that she never left her room since she contacted EMMA.
The Phantom Thieves, with assistance from Zenkichi, arrive in Osaka so they can apprehend Konoe. During the end of this Jail, they were shocked to find out that Konoe was not a malicious target, but all of his actions are genuinely motivated by altruism. Having been abused by his father and forced to accidentally murder him or face death in his hands, once he got EMMA in his hands he wished to modify it with psientific functions so nobody would end up like him, although by full fledged mind control instead of more practical methods, and his plan to set Owada as the next prime minister is a plan to trick him; once the Thieves are done for, he will induce a change of heart on him immediately. After sending the calling card to Konoe, they confront him for the incident. Enraged, he transformed his attire to match his childhood hero Zephyrman to confront them, first on a robot, then on foot, but was defeated and the real Konoe confesses and willingly turns himself to Zenkichi and Kaburagi, with the latter whom Zenkichi requested to reform.
the Phantom Thieves, believing that they had won, makes their way back to LeBlanc while going to a fireworks festival. However, at the end of the festival, Sophia discovers that a massive Jail spanned all over Tokyo with Tokyo Tower being its core, and EMMA fires back up without any human interference. Once the party and Zenkichi rush to Tokyo Tower, they encounter an abnormal crowd of people yearning EMMA to guide them to the destined land, and the EMMA application now resembles an autonomous entity. Once they reach the Jails' Depths, the party found that the EMMA application has evolved into a Physical God known as the Holy Torah which briefly greets them and vanishes, followed by Kuon Ichinose arriving to confront the Thieves herself.
She claims that she is a heartless doll who shut off her emotions and she deliberately created EMMA for this very purpose; to decide the one and only answer to humanity's happiness. The Change of Heart events instigated by Konoe are largely unrelated to EMMA's current state, and it was daily usage of the application that resulted in it trying to remove all desires, because it decided that the answer to humanity's happiness is when all desires and removed and people are purged out from the burden of the wrongdoing of others. She then claims that Sophia is a failure and proves it by forcing her to attack the Phantom Thieves, only for her to snap out very quickly and drop off the cliff. Ichinose blasts the Phantom Thieves off a cliff herself as well.
Once the Phantom Thieves return to her, she sends a massive amount of Shadows against them to buy time, only for her shot to be blocked single-handedly by Sophia. Once she partially goes back to her senses, Sophia attempts to convince Ichinose to stop obsessing over her misguided creation, then awakens Pithos into its true form, Pandora. Now further pushed in denial, Ichinose confronts the party one last time with a Hecatoncheir before officially declaring her reform, assisting them in stopping her misguided creation once and for all.
Once the party and Ichinose returns to the surface world, all of Tokyo goes into a blackout and the Tree of Life and Wisdom physically manifests over Tokyo. The public standing in front of the Tokyo Tower willingly goes in and gives in their desires to the EMMA application, similar to an incident that happened half a year ago as remarked by Morgana.
With Ichinose unable to directly interfere, the party storms to the top of the tower where they encounter the Holy Torah, who traps them in a forest of fog that only permits escape once the protagonist repeatedly moves sideways into the corner. The Torah leaves a Desire fog and the only way to summon it back to action is to hack into the EMMA application and use it to send a calling card. Despite facing major difficulties, Ichinose comes in and cooperates with Futaba, successfully hacking into the system, allowing the Torah to be summoned into action. Once she's summoned into action, the Torah manifests as the False God Demiurge but was defeated in a grueling battle and a 10-man All-Out Attack.
After the evolved EMMA application is destroyed, the destruction near Tokyo Tower lifts as if it never happened, and the crowd near it vanishes. Back to LeBlanc, the Thieves use the day to open a celebration meal in LeBlanc.
At the next day when they are going to leave, Ichinose offers to meet the protagonist, with the television broadcasting Owada's arrest. It turns out that she turned herself to the police because she was the true culprit, although due to the supernatural circumstances of this case, the police set her free because they do not believe her testimonies. She then requests the protagonist to transfer Sophia so they can travel to parts unknown and investigate humanity. During the post credits scene, Zenkichi and Kaburagi, with valuable testimony from Konoe, arrests Owada and the party parts with each other, stating that they shall meet again at this year's winter.
Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth
The Phantom Thieves are the main focus in the game with Joker being their leader. At the beginning, they are sent into the Cinema Goro Akechi a member of the team, but his stuttering near the end of the game and his absence from the post-credit events implies that he is still the traitor.
The group goes into a regular exploration session in Mementos and suddenly the Morgana van loses control, dropping them into a TV screen on a wall which leads into a movie. They escape from the movie and into a theater, but a chicken-like F.O.E kidnaps Makoto Niijima and Haru Okumura when they escape. They are later freed by the remaining Phantom Thieves and the P3P heroine.
Later, after going through all four labyrinths and defeating Enlil, the Phantom Thieves, alongside S.E.E.S. and the Investigation Team, were able to change Hikari's heart, allowing her to be free from the Theater District, as well as many others like her. However, because the Theater District was destroyed, each of the three teams, including Hikari, had to lose their memories.
After losing their memories and arriving back in their original times, the Phantom Thieves sans Akechi are back at the hideout in Leblanc, with Ann bringing up a movie festival, and Ryuji and the others feeling compelled to go to it. After watching the movie, titled "New Cinema Labyrinth", the director Hikari appears, and the protagonist smiles upon seeing her. Whether he remembers her or not is left ambiguous.
Members
| Member | Code name | Role | Comical title |
|---|---|---|---|
| Protagonist | Joker | Leader, Attacker | - |
| Morgana | Mona | Attacker, Navigator* | Acting Guide |
| Ryuji Sakamoto | Skull | Attacker | Charge Commander |
| Ann Takamaki | Panther | Attacker | Actress |
| Yusuke Kitagawa | Fox | Attacker | Artist |
| Makoto Niijima | Queen | Attacker, Navigator | Advisor |
| Futaba Sakura | Oracle | Navigator | Hacker Prodigy |
| Haru Okumura | Noir | Attacker | Noble Daughter |
| Goro Akechi | Crow | Attacker, Navigator* | Charismatic Detective |
| Sumire Yoshizawa | Violet | Attacker | - |
| Sophia | Sophie | Attacker, Vendor | - |
| Zenkichi Hasegawa | Wolf | Attacker | - |
Confidants
On the official Japanese site of Persona 5, those who the protagonist can form Confidant bonds with, besides the core members, are also considered part of the Phantom Thieves, or collaborators, as most of them are mentioned during the protagonist's interrogation by Sae Niijima.
| Confidant | Involvement | Comical title |
|---|---|---|
| Sojiro Sakura | Takes the protagonist in | Guardian of Spongers |
| Chihaya Mifune | Provides accurate divination | Prophetess Who Sees Fate |
| Munehisa Iwai | Supplies equipment | Defective Weapon Provisioner |
| Tae Takemi | Supplies barely legal drugs | Dark Physician |
| Sadayo Kawakami | Provides domestic services and allows the protagonist to skip classes |
Double-faced Teacher |
| Ichiko Ohya | Reports in favor of the gang | Paparazza |
| Shinya Oda | Teaches gun skills | Young Marksman Never Misses |
| Hifumi Togo | Teaches battle strategies | Crafty Female Shogi Player |
| Yuuki Mishima | Creates and manages the Phantom Aficionado Website |
Self-appointed Public Relations Officer |
| Toranosuke Yoshida | Teaches speechcraft | Unyielding Politician |
| Takuto Maruki* | Conducts therapies with the protagonist and the rest of the Phantom Thieves | - |
| Sae Niijima | Interrogates the protagonist | - |
- * In Persona 5 Royal only.
Gallery
| Persona 5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Wanted poster promotional artwork
Illustration of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts by Shigenori Soejima
Illustration by Shigenori Soejima
PERSONA5 20th Anniversary package visual of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts by Shigenori Soejima
The Phantom Thieves of Hearts
Illustration of the main members of Phantom Thieves of Hearts
Persona 5 Maniax User Handbook Cover Illustration of Phantom Thieves of Hearts by Shigenori Soejima
The Phantom Thieves of Hearts
Calling card
The Phantom Thieves in the splash screen
The Phantom Thieves in the main menu
The Phantom Thieves in the main menu
The Phantom Thieves in Niijima's Palace
The Phantom Thieves on Shido's Palace
|
| Persona 5 Royal | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Promotional art
Splash Screen
Credits
|
| Persona 5 (Manga) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Persona 5 Character Anthology
Illustration by Persona Q: Side P4 manga author Mizunomoto
The Phantom Thieves of Hearts in the manga adaption
|
| Persona 5 The Animation / The Day Breakers | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
The Phantom Thieves of Hearts on the cover of Persona 5 The Animation The Day Breakers
From The Animation
|
| Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight | ||
|---|---|---|
Promotional artwork
|
| Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Promotional Artwork
Main menu
|
| Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth | ||
|---|---|---|
The Phantom Thieves in Persona Q2
|
| Tribute Art | ||
|---|---|---|
Illustration of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts by Akaume (PQ Roundabout author)
|
Trivia
- The gloves worn by the Phantom Thieves (except for Morgana who does not wear any) correspond to the elements or roles their Personas (or Initial Persona in the case of Joker's Arsène) primarily represent:
- The Phantom Thieves of Hearts share the unique distinction of not bearing a bond associated with the Fool Arcana, in contrast to S.E.E.S or the Investigation Team. Rather, the Fool Arcana bond is with Igor.
- The logo for the Phantom Thieves of Hearts serves as the symbol for the Persona series in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
| Characters | |
| Playable | Ren Amamiya - Ryuji Sakamoto - Morgana - Ann Takamaki - Yusuke Kitagawa - Makoto Niijima - Futaba Sakura - Haru Okumura - Caroline & Justine |
| DLC | Shinjiro Aragaki - Goro Akechi - Theodore - Lavenza - Sho Minazuki - Labrys |
| Locations | |
| Tokyo | Café Leblanc - Shibuya - Shujin Academy |
| Palace | Kamoshida's Palace - Madarame's Palace - Kaneshiro's Palace - Futaba's Palace - Okumura's Palace - Niijima's Palace - Shido's Palace - Mementos |
| Other | Velvet Room - Hawaii |
| Music | |
| Songs | GROOVY - One Nightbreak |
| Albums | Persona Dancing P3D & P5D Soundtrack Advanced CD |
| Archive | |
| Lists | Social - Trophies - Patches and Updates |
| Development | |
| Corporate | Atlus Co., Ltd. |
| Personnel | Kazuhisa Wada - Shigenori Soejima - Ryota Kozuka - Shoji Meguro Toshiki Konishi - Atsushi Kitajoh - Jazztronik - tofubeats - Mito - Yukihiro Fukutomi - KAIEN - Shacho - Taku Takahashi |