Reverse Personas (リバース・ペルソナ, Ribaasu Perusona)? are the negative forms of the original Personas, usually depicted with different color schemes and used by the boss characters in battles. The concept exists exclusively in the Persona 2 duology but is implied in Persona 3 FES, Persona 4, and Persona 5 Royal.
The term "reverse" likely refers to the different reading of the tarot card when its position is reversed. In many tarot readings, this merely means that the meanings of the card are diminished or weak, but in the Persona series, this refers to the tarot card's meaning as opposite its usual meaning.
Appearances[]
- Persona 2: Innocent Sin
- Persona 2: Eternal Punishment
- Persona 3 - The Answer
- Persona 4 / Golden
- Persona 4 Arena / Ultimax
- Persona 5 / Persona 5 Royal
- Persona O.A.
- Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth
- Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth
Profile[]
Persona 2[]
Reverse Personas generally possess a unique "dark" version of a specific skill used by the original (their unique skills are denoted in the parentheses in the following sections). Despite being the Personas of the bosses, they are not naturally immune to non-instant-death holy attacks except for Reverse Artemis, who reflects all magic attacks. Reverse Apollo, Reverse Venus and Reverse Hades are even weak against Holy.
Innocent Sin[]
Reverse Personas in this game can be divided into 2 categories, the first being the Personas used by the members of the Masked Circle, they are:
- Reverse Rhadamanthus by Hiroki Sugimoto
- Reverse Shax by Yasuo Inoe
- Reverse Eros by Ginji Sasaki (Dark Mamagna)
- Reverse Pairika by Ixquic
- Reverse Vulcanus by Tatsuya Sudou (Dark Fiery Fury)
- Reverse Aeshma by Anna Yoshizaka (Dark Malaques)
If Youichi Makimura possessed a reverse Persona, it is never shown on-screen. Likewise, Junko Kurosu, has a Persona that is never shown.
The other group of the reverse Personas are used by the Shadow Selves of the party members:
- Reverse Maia by Shadow Maya (Dark Dimension)
- Reverse Durga by Shadow Yukino (Dark Thunder Inferno)
- Reverse Apollo by Shadow Tatsuya (Dark Nova Kaiser)
- Reverse Venus by Shadow Lisa (Dark Foamy Lover)
- Reverse Hades by Shadow Eikichi (Bloody Divorce)
If the player equips the correlated Persona before finishing the battle against Shadow Tatsuya, Shadow Lisa and Shadow Eikichi, their original Persona will merge with their reverse and have their weakness against Darkness removed and replaced with an immunity, and gain other new resistances. Much like the Shadow Self they belong to, the reverse Persona seeks to defeat and merge with their counterpart should they face them.
Eternal Punishment[]
Reverse Personas are used by the Shadow Selves of the party members in the final dungeon:
- Reverse Artemis by Shadow Maya (Eclipse Mirror)
- Reverse Asteria by Shadow Ulala (Dark Nebula)
- Reverse Hyperion by Shadow Katsuya (Vice Shot)
- Reverse Prometheus by Shadow Baofu (Bastard Snap)
Albeit not being used in battle, Reverse Odysseus appears in the shadow confrontation scene in place of Shadow Baofu.
The golden Venus (Lover of Darkness), Hades (Bloody Divorce) and Chronos (Terror of Fortune) that appear in Ameno Torifune are not officially reverse Personas but instead alternate Personas used by the Metal Trio. They possess the same ultimate skills as their reverse counterparts rather than the original due to the fact that the trio is the given form of Tatsuya Suou's guilt.
Persona 3 Em[]
In the mobile spin-off Persona 3 Em, a similar concept to reverse personas called Arche-Personas appear, which are negative counterparts of the personas of S.E.E.S., with opposite affinities and weaknesses. They are said to represent a part of a person that they do not fully understand and that is difficult for them to accept, similar to the function of shadows and shadow selves in Persona 4.
The Arche Personas that appears are:
Which Arche-Personas are faced is dependent on who is in the party at the time, so facing all of them requires multiple playthroughs. Arche-Lucia and Arche-Orpheus are always faced, however.
Persona 3 - The Answer[]
Similar to the golden Personas in Eternal Punishment, the grayish tint-colored Personas used by the shadow protagonist (named "???") in The Answer follows a similar trait in that the shadow entity is in fact the given form of the party members' regret for his death. The following reverse Personas appear based on who is present in the player's party:
- Reverse Isis
- Reverse Trismegistus
- Reverse Caesar
- Reverse Artemisia
- Reverse Kala-Nemi
- Reverse Cerberus
Due to the fact that Aigis is the acting protagonist in The Answer, Reverse Pallas Athena will always appear as the shadow protagonist's first reverse Persona. It cannot, however, summon a Reverse Psyche, being that the shadow entity was not also formed by Metis.
Persona 4 / Golden[]
Magatsu-Izanagi is, to some degree, the reverse counterpart of Izanagi himself, as "Magatsu" denotes negative properties.
Persona 4 Arena[]
Shadow Labrys mentions the concept.
Persona 4 Arena Ultimax[]
Magatsu-Izanagi appears as Tohru Adachi's Persona.
Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth[]
Magatsu-Izanagi appears as a DLC Persona.
Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth[]
Magatsu-Izanagi appears as a DLC Persona.
Persona 5[]
Magatsu-Izanagi appears as a DLC Persona.
Persona 5 Royal[]
Magatsu-Izanagi appears as a DLC Persona.
Cendrillon in her berserk state can essentially be considered the reverse counterpart of her usual self, also marking her the first Persona in the series to degrade into a Reverse Persona, albeit unwillingly.
Gallery[]
See Also[]