Ryuji Sakamoto

Ryuji Sakamoto
Also known as	Skull (Code Name) Vulgar Boy Blondie (Morgana)
Japanese Name	坂本 竜司 スカル
Romaji	Sakamoto Ryūji Sukaru
First Appearance	Persona 5
Affiliation	Phantom Thieves of Hearts
Date of Birth	July 3
Age	16
Zodiac	Cancer
Height	175 cm (5'9")
Weight	61 kg (135 lbs)
Blood Type	B
Melee Weapon	Bludgeons
Ranged Weapon	Shotguns
Arcana	The Chariot
Persona	Captain Kidd, Seiten Taisei
Japanese VA	Mamoru Miyano
English VA	Max Mittelman

"Man, it's weird... All this ain't feelin' real to me just yet... Like, "Am I in a dream," y'know? Heh... I guess so. If you wanna change the world, all you have to do is just look at it differently... am I right? And THAT is what "aesthetics" are."

—Ryuji Sakamoto, Persona 5

Ryuji Sakamoto is a playable character from Persona 5. He is a student at Shujin Academy who lives a double life as a Phantom Thief.

Appearances

• Persona 5: Playable Character; Chariot Confidant
  • Persona 5 (Manga): Major Character
  • Persona 5 The Animation The Day Breakers: Major Character
  • Persona 5 The Animation: Major Character
• Persona 5: Dancing Star Night: Playable Character

Design

Ryuji has short spiky dyed blond hair and dark brown eyes. According to Sadayo Kawakami, his hair is naturally black. He has a noticeable widow's peak and his eyebrows are unusual in that he lacks the outer sides. He is shown to be muscular.

He wears his winter school uniform a bit modified. It consists of the standard black blazer, unbuttoned to reveal a yellow t-shirt with a comic style star symbol and the word 'ZOMG!' He has plaid trousers rolled up to reveal his ankles. His pants have black suspenders that hang down instead of being worn on his shoulders. He has a white belt. His white sneakers have a rising sun flag motif.

His summer school uniform is the same as his winter's, except his yellow t-shirt is replaced with a red one reading 'NO MO RULES' and he no longer wears his blazer.

His burglar outfit consists of matching black jacket and pants with knee pads, a red ascot, combat boots, a pair of yellow gloves, and a skull mask.

Due to his injury, he walks and runs with a slight limp, and occasionally trips if he overexerts himself.

Personality

"We're going to catch all these shitty adults by surprise and make ourselves known to the world!"

—Ryuji Sakamoto, Persona 5

Persona 5 Introducing Ryuji Sakamoto

Ryuji English trailer.

Ryuji is known as a disruptive "problem student" at school whose bad behavior causes all sorts of trouble for the teachers.[1] His rebellious, mischievous and disobedient nature are the perfect qualities to be a Phantom Thief.

He is a bit short-tempered, easily taking offense from even the slightest of comments from others and can sometimes even resort to violence. In the opposite way, Ryuji can make harsh comments of his own without thinking of the consequences, which is the very thing that causes the hostility between him and Morgana. He tends to be very blunt about his feelings without showing any hesitation, especially in regards to his hatred of selfish adults. He can be clumsy and overly energetic sometimes, which usually results in loud outbursts that most times include accidentally revealing himself and his friends as the Phantom Thieves. This consequently helped Makoto Niijima to identify him and the others when she was tailing them.

Beneath his seemingly delinquent-like behavior, Ryuji is actually a kind and altruistic person who is still trying to cope with his inability to continue becoming an athlete after the injury he suffered at Kamoshida's hand. He deeply cares for his mother and takes fervent effort as an athlete to relieve her worries; he reveals his father was an alcoholic who beat him and his mother and then left, so he only has his mother left. Ryuji also cares for the afflictions of others around him, such as when he attempts to help end the abuse of the volleyball team. Around his close friends, he is upbeat, friendly, and straightforward.

Hobby-wise, apart from being on the track team, he also does muscle training. He can drink a 500mL bottle of carbonated water in one go which he did as training during his track and field club days. When he was active, he could also do 1000mL bottles. He is often impatient and has a habit of tapping the ground with his toes when he's bored, and prefers to get "straight to the point" during conversations. He claims he never reads, and his artbook profile claims he only reads manga.[2] He plays video games.[3] He likes ramen especially, and is fussy about the flavor and texture of the noodles.

Profile

Persona 5

"Right on... Wassup, Persona... This effin' rocks! Now that I got this power, it's time for payback... Yo, I'm ready... Bring it! Blast him away... Captain Kidd!"

—Ryuji Sakamoto after awakening his Persona, Persona 5

Ryuji Sakamoto is a student of Shujin Academy and knows about Ann Takamaki since middle school even though they are not too acquainted. Ryuji borrowed money from Ann in middle school so he could buy a stuffed dolphin for his mom from a school trip, but never paid her back, which Ann holds against him.

He originally came from a household with an abusive father, which caused him and his mom to move away. Later on, Ryuji got a great opportunity for his future and to ease his mother's burden by becoming a star athlete on the school's track team. However, this earned disdain from the volleyball coach, Suguru Kamoshida, who then abused Ryuji and the entire track team. To put more salt in the wound, Kamoshida began telling everyone at Shujin about Ryuji's parents. This caused Ryuji to try and attack Kamoshida but in a manner of "self-defense" broke Ryuji's leg and caused the track team to disband.

The protagonist first meets Ryuji after Kamoshida picks up Ann by car, and Ryuji, who is nearby, calls him "pervert" before greeting the protagonist who inquires about Kamoshida. Realizing the protagonist really knows nothing about Kamoshida, Ryuji quickly assumes he is a transfer student and the two get along. The two accidentally enter Kamoshida's Palace, the embodiment of Kamoshida's Shadow erected at where the school should be. Ryuji wants to help the students trapped in the palace, but fails. They are blocked by Kamoshida at the entrance when they try to escape and are nearly killed but was saved when the protagonist awakened his Persona ability. With the help of shape-shifting cat called Morgana, they manage to escape from the Palace. When the two confronts the real Kamoshida, however, the teacher has no idea what they are talking about. To make sure whether they were dreaming or not, Ryuji suggests they once again go to the Palace using the app installed in the protagonist's smartphone, at which they succeed.

Persona 5 Ryuji Awakening

Ryuji's Persona awakening.

Meeting Shadow Kamoshida again, the Shadow reveals that he intentionally injured Ryuji's leg while acting as his advisor to ruin Ryuji's ability to participate in athletics again. His scheme is for the principal to invest in his volleyball team only and to gain admiration and submission from all the students of his school, but Ryuji was a great threat to him for drawing that attention. Kamoshida's true intention angers Ryuji deeply and Captain Kidd calls out Ryuji to awaken to his Persona ability for vengeance. Returning to the real world, Ryuji vows to expose Kamoshida's true self and becomes friends with the protagonist after both confide their backgrounds to each other.

Together with the protagonist, they try to get information about Kamoshida from other students, but everyone is too afraid to talk. Morgana, in cat form, then approaches Ryuji and the protagonist, suggesting they steal the source of Kamoshida's corrupt heart to make him confess his own crimes. However, when Morgana mentions that Kamoshida will die if they by chance killed his Shadow, Ryuji and the protagonist ask for time to think. Not long afterward, Ann's friend, Shiho Suzui, attempts suicide and when Ryuji and the protagonist heard from Yuuki Mishima that Kamoshida called Shiho a day before, Ryuji and the protagonist realizes that Kamoshida has sexually assaulted her. Ryuji angrily confronts Kamoshida about this, resulting in Kamoshida's intending to expel him, the protagonist and Yuuki.

Finally having enough with Kamoshida, Ryuji and the protagonist agrees with Morgana's suggestion to steal Kamoshida's treasure and make him confess his crimes. They later are joined by Ann who also wants to expose Kamoshida after hearing everything from Shiho. To agitate Shadow Kamoshida once they almost reach the treasure, Ryuji makes and attaches a calling card on the school board under the name "Phantom Thieves of Hearts" that is addressed to Kamoshida, stating he will confess his crime soon. After Kamoshida confesses his crime in front of the whole student body, Ryuji and the protagonist's expulsion is cancelled, much to their relief.

With the case over, Ryuji and the others decides to celebrate at an expensive restaurant by using the money they got after selling Kamoshida's treasure. At the restaurant, Ryuji and the protagonist meet an arrogant man named Masayoshi Shido who quickly gets on Ryuji's nerves after rudely shoving them when they were waiting for the elevator. This encounter makes Ryuji decide to continue working as Phantom Thieves to cleanse the corruption from corrupt adults' hearts. The protagonist and Ann also agree with him, so they decide to continue being the Phantom Thieves.

Confidant

"Acting as a Phantom Thief would've been more efficient alone. You could've gone about it that way... However, you did not. There are merits to having associates... That's what you decided. Am I wrong?"

—Sae Niijima talking about Ryuji Sakamoto, Persona 5

Ryuji's Confidant relationship is unlocked automatically on April 12th but his first Confidant ability is only obtained at rank 2. Maxing this Confidant makes Captain Kidd evolve into Seiten Taisei and unlocks the fusion of Chi You.

Ryuji's Confidant revolves around his resolve to help reestablish the track club after Kamoshida disbanded it. While Ryuji is barred from rejoining the track team, he faces Nakaoka who was still angry at Ryuji for getting into a fight with Kamoshida. During the training sessions he learns that Yamaguchi, one of Kamoshida's supporters is the new coach and plans to do the same thing with the new Track Team to gain prestige and gives false promises of a scholarship. Confronting his whole team and taking a beating from them he convinces them to call out Yamaguchi and have him removed as the acting coach for someone more reasonable after showing the recordings of Yamaguchi's true plan. Despite the offer to rejoin the team Ryuji declines and chooses his own path with the Phantom Thieves.

Ryuji's farewell gift after maxing his Confidant is a Sports Watch, allowing Ryuji the ability to use Harisen Recovery from the beginning in New Game+ once the Confidant has been established.

Rank	Ability	Description
2	Baton Pass	Allows you to pass your turn over to other Baton Pass users after a 1 More.
3	Follow Up	Chance to perform a follow-up attack if Joker's attack does not down the enemy.
4	Punk Talk	Chance to step in after Shadow negotiation fails, allowing a retry.
6	Harisen Recovery	Chance to cure status ailments inflicted upon party members.
7	Insta-kill	Chance to instantly win a battle after a successful ambush.
8	Endure	Chance to withstand an otherwise fatal attack with 1 HP remaining.
9	Protect	Chance to shield Joker from an otherwise fatal attack.
10	Second Awakening	Transforms his Persona into a mythological trickster.

Persona 5 The Animation The Day Breakers

"Right! We're Phantom Thieves on the side of Justice. Why don't we show this gang of low-level crooks how overmatched they are?"

—Ryuji Sakamoto, Persona 5 The Animation The Day Breakers

Ryuji is first seen at the subway with the protagonist, Ann and Yusuke Kitagawa. They transform into their Phantom Thief outfits and enter the Mementos.

After discussing with the group, Ann and Ryuji talk loudly at a restaurant and lure one of the members of the criminal gang to Cafe Leblanc.

Later, he engages battle with Kazuya Makigami directly and changes his heart.

Battle Quotes

『ペルソナ５』ショートムービー【リュウジ総攻撃編】

Ryuji battle trailer.

Quotes video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FPXrR_8qoo

• "I'm all fired up!" (Using Shotguns)
• "Perrrrsonaaaa!" (Summoning Persona)
• "Wipe em, Persona!" (Summoning Persona)
• "Captain Kidd / Seiten Taisei!" (Exploiting enemy's weakness with Persona skill)
• "Hah/ Eat this/ Get wrecked!" (Attacking with offensive skill)
• "Up to you, man!" (Using Baton Pass)
• "Leave it to me./ Taggin in!" (Receiving Baton Touch)
• "Hang in there!" (Using Harisen Recovery)
• "Don't just stand there!" (Shielding Protagonist)
• "Now or never, man?" (Follow-Up)
• "Need a hand?" (Follow-Up)
• "Gonna knock you out!" (Initiating Follow-Up attack)
• "I'm on it!" (Initiating Follow-Up attack)
• "Just stay there!" (Hold-Up enemies)
• "For real?! / No way!" (When an enemy dodges his attack)
• "Try to keep up!" (When Ryuji dodges an enemy's attack)
• "I-I a-ain't a-afraid..." (Ryuji is inflicted with Fear)
• "Sorry / Whew!" (When someone heals him)
• "This is the it!" (Initating All-Out Attack)
• "All right! Time for some pain!" (Initiating All-Out Attack)
• "Let's tear em apart!" (Initiating All-Out Attack)
• "And don't come back!" (All-Out Attack finishing touch)
• "Slam!" (All-Out Attack finishing touch)
• "That's all she wrote!" (All-Out Attack finishing touch)
• "Time to go wild!" (Tactics changed to Act Freely)
• "Beat 'em down!" (Tactics changed to Full Assault)
• "Hold back huh?" (Tactics changed to Conserve SP)
• "Playin' it safe." (Tactics changed to Heal/Support)
• "You're the boss." (Tactics changed to Direct Command)
• "Who's next!?" (Battle results)
• "Yeah! Nice!" (Battle results)
• "Ha! Losers!" (Battle results)

Gallery

Persona 5

Ryuji's Close Up. Ryuji's text icon. Ryuji's Confidant icon. Ryuji in the crowd. Concept art. Concept art. Skull concept art. Cinematic expressions concept artwork. Ryuji's "NO MO' RULES" and "ZOMG!" shirts. Key art of Ryuji Sakamoto from the Persona 5 website. Ryuji along with other playable character appear on Visual Wanted Poster. Illustration of Ryuji Sakamoto and the others by Shigenori Soejima. Illustration by by Shigenori Soejima. Illustration of the main members of Phantom Thieves of Hearts. Illustration of the main members of Phantom Thieves of Hearts. Illustration of the main members of Phantom Thieves of Hearts. Illustration of the main members of Phantom Thieves of Hearts. Illustration of Ryuji, the Protagonist, Ann, Morgana and Yusuke by Rokuro. Illustration of Ryuji, the Protagonist and Ann by Shigenori Soejima. Illustration of the Protagonist, Ryuji, Ann and Morgana. Illustration of Ryuji and the others by Shigenori Soejima. Persona 5 Maniax User Handbook Cover Illustration of Phantom Thieves of Hearts Theme. Theme. Ryuji in the opening movie. Ryuji in the opening movie. Ryuji screaming in pain while unmasking his Persona. Ryuji in his thief uniform. All-Out Attack portrait.   File:P5 Ryuji's All-Out Attack finishing touch.png All-Out Attack finishing touch. All-Out Attack finishing touch. Ryuji and the protagonist in their athletic attire. Ryuji in the credits. Ryuji Japanese trailer.

Persona 5 Portraits

Ryuji Sakamoto's portrait Ryuji smiling Ryuji's Skull outfit Ryuji's Skull outfit without mask Ryuji's summer school uniform Ryuji's gym uniform Ryuji's summer attire Ryuji's winter attire Ryuji's casual attire Ryuji's swimsuit/nude Ryuji with bear ears Ryuji happy cut-in Ryuji angry cut-in Ryuji confused cut-in Ryuji surprised cut-in Ryuji determined cut-in Ryuji serious cut-in Ryuji harmed cut-in Ryuji sad cut-in

Persona 5 Costumes

Shujin Winter School Uniform Winter Casual Wear Summer Casual Wear Shujin Summer School Uniform St. Hermelin High School Uniform (DLC) Seven Sisters High School Uniform (DLC) Gekkoukan High School Uniform (DLC) Yasogami High School Uniform (DLC) Persona 4: Dancing All Night Costume (DLC) Persona 4 Arena Shadow Operation Outfit (DLC) Karukozaka High School Uniform (DLC) Shin Megami Tensei IV Costume (Jonathan) (DLC) Swimsuit (DLC) Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha Costume (DLC) Catherine Costume (Orlando) (DLC) Butler Uniform (DLC) Christmas Costume (DLC)

Persona 5 (Manga)
Ryuji in the manga Ryuji in his Skull outfit Ryuji and Captain Kidd Ryuji on the cover Persona 5 Character Anthology Illustration by Persona Q: Side P4 manga author Mizunomoto

Persona 5 The Animation The Day Breakers
Ryuji Sakamoto and his allies on the cover of Persona 5 The Animation The Day Breakers Ryuji Sakamoto in Persona 5 The Animation The Day Breakers

Persona 5: Dancing Star Night
Ryuji dancing

Tribute Artworks
Illustration of Ryuji and his team by Akaume (PQ Roundabout author) Illustration of Ryuji, the Protagonist, Ann, Morgana and Yusuke by Rokuro Saito Illustration of Ryuji by Yoko Nihonbashi (Cartoonist of G Senjou Heaven’s Door and Shoujo Fight)

PERSONA 20th Anniversary Festival

Trivia

• Ryuji's backstory shares similarities with Anna Yoshizaka from Persona 2: Both are former star athletes but become juvenile delinquents after their ability to run has been ruined.
• In the Japanese version, Skull self-proclaims "Phantom Thieves' Captain Kirikomi" (怪盗団の切り込み隊長, Kaitō-dan no kirikomi taichō)^? which loosely means "Assault Captain" or "Captain Foodie" (which could be an intentional double entendre.) "Captain Kirikomi" is a reference to the Marauding Captain card from the Yu-Gi-Oh! series. "Kirikomi" precisely refers to curing fish slices from Hokkaido regional cuisine.
  • The official translation in-game is "charge commander."
• Ryuji's phantom thief attire is heavily similar to the appearance of Hell Biker.
• Ryuji's shoes are censored in the Chinese and Korean versions of the game, due to containing the Rising Sun Flag.[4] The symbol is offensive in many other Asian countries when they suffered from Japan's invasion during World War II; Atlus removed it out of courtesy when the issue was brought up.
• Just like with Makoto Niijima and Goro Akechi before, the official twitter account for the Persona series posted a "Happy Birthday" message for Ryuji on July 3, 2017 JST.