"So, have you finally remembered everything, Toshiro? Do you recall the crime you committed?"
Shadow Toshiro is Toshiro Kasukabe's Shadow Self, the true ruler of Nakabachi Kingdom and the true leader of the Rebel Club Legionnaires.
Appearances[]
Design[]
Being the Shadow Self of Toshiro, he shares the same appearance and is initially seen with golden eyes. His eyes are inverted of Toshiro's, with white pupils and black sclera. He also wears the same outfit as Torshiro. He is often shown with dirty bandages flying around him. His sprite has a black stain after the cutscene where Toshiro throws the knife into his right hand.
In his second form, he takes the form of a massive, bloodied corpse of Eri Natsuhara. Her right eye is also missing and is replaced by an empty eye socket. This form represents his guilt of ruining her life through his attempt to do good.
Personality[]
As a Shadow Self, Shadow Toshiro's personality is based on Toshiro's own worst fears, that his attempts to do the right thing will only bring suffering upon others, and that having ideals and goals is meaningless. It's also heavily implied that Toshiro, at least to some degree, regrets meeting Natsuhara, believing her to be the reason why he suffers, which is reflected in his shadow's attempt to kill Erina.
Profile[]
Persona 5 Tactica[]
Shadow Toshiro is the true ruler of Nakabachi Kingdom and a manifestation of Toshiro's personal guilt. It's implied that Salmael evicted Toshiro's Shadow Self away from the collective unconsciousness and turned it into a tyrant attempting to kill him. Because most of Toshiro's suppressed positive qualities are represented by Erina, Shadow Toshiro is completely consisted of Toshiro's more malignant thoughts, such as the belief that he ruined Natsuhara's life by agreeing to investigate Nakabachi with her.
He first makes his presence known after the party defeats cognitive Nakabachi, collapsing and transforming the school that makes Nakabachi Kingdom into a different appearance, abducting Erina and showing Toshiro a flashback of his worst "crime"; the fallout with Nakabachi at the train station that resulted in Eri Natsuhara being crippled for life. He then drives Toshiro into despair by taunting him about how everyone will hate him for his "unwarranted" crusade for justice, and that he did not believe he did the right thing to begin with, and taunts the Phantom Thieves when they retaliate against him. The party then finds themselves getting attacked by agitated rebels that are manifestations of Toshiro's inner insecurities -- students who turned their backs on Toshiro and use him as a scapegoat.
The party makes their ascent to the student council room where the true tyrant resides. Once the party enters the room, they find Erina tied to a chair unconscious, before Shadow Toshiro shows up and confronts Toshiro, telling him that Natsuhara is the person who destroyed his life and he will grant his wish of being freed from her ideals by killing Erina, "the lingering husk of Natsuhara's dream" as he calls. He then teleports the group to the school balcony, which looks like the one where Nakabachi was outed. He then unleashes bandages from his arms strangling Erina and announces to Toshiro that Natsuhara is a curse and he will purge her from his soul entirely by killing Erina. The Phantom Thieves try to save Erina, only for the malevolent Shadow to set up a trap that immobilizes all of them too. The protagonist throws a knife to Toshiro telling him to cut his bandages to no avail, but after realizing the truth behind Natsuhara's final words with him in the hospital, Toshiro rushes in, uses the protagonist's knife to impale the Shadow's right hand, freeing Erina. As she was about to fall off a balcony, Toshiro drags her back up, as he was reminded with the fallout at the train station.
The Shadow became desperate after Toshiro saves Erina, and as a last-ditch attempt to persuade him, he claims that Natsuhara is a deranged lunatic with no solid resolve other than fighting and struggling on a whim who will only pull Toshiro to the dregs of hell, only for Toshiro to undergo an awakening where Erina transforms into his persona, Ernesto. Having no choice, Shadow Toshiro tries killing the party to no avail.
However, after the party defeats him the first time, he vanishes, and emerges from the edge of the school balcony taking the form of a massive, bloodied corpse of Natsuhara, guilt-tripping him into beliveing that it's his fault that her life is ruined. Toshiro is disgusted by the psychological attack and the party confront the giant Eri Natsuhara and defeat it, causing it to fall off the school roof. Shadow Toshiro is presumably denied and is never seen again.
During the ascent to Salmael's Kingdom, a monochrome clone of Shadow Toshiro was erected upon by Salmael to deal with the party. Unlike his base fight, he directly takes the form of Natsuhara to fight. After this clone is defeated, it turns into feathers and vanishes into white light.
Gallery[]
Cutscenes[]
.png "Shadow Toshiro (Cutscene).png (282 KB)")
Portraits[]
Trivia[]
- Its suggested heavily that Salmael may have influenced Shadow Toshiro, with the key detail being Shadow Toshiro having silver eyes, not bright yellow eyes like all Shadow Selves since Persona 4 have. If this is the case, that makes Shadow Toshiro the third Shadow Self of a playable character to be affected by a stronger influence, the others being Shadow Teddie and, to a lesser extent, Shadow Labrys. Shadow Toshiro's transformed appearance also has a similar stance as Shadow Teddie's true form (only the upper body is visible and using both arms as support) and uses a charged slamming attack similar to Shadow Teddie's Nihil Hand.
- Shadow Toshiro is the second Shadow Self confronted by their real-life counterparts that does not become a Persona, the first being Shadow Mitsuo. Unlike Mitsuo (whose Shadow is denied as a display of his severely corrupt ego) however, it is likely because Erina carried a significant portion of Toshiro's suppressed and later accepted positive qualities (courage, willpower, and hope), and as such she encompassed enough parts of Toshiro's Shadow Self so that she can became Ernesto in the first place, which is supported by Lavenza calling Erina a hybrid of Cognition, Persona, and Shadow.
- The OST used when fighting Shadow Toshiro's Second form, "Abyss of Despair," is a remix of Reiji Kido's theme.