"Would you believe me if I said that a day consists of more than 24 hours?"
Shuji Ikutsuki is a character from Persona 3. He is Director of Gekkoukan High School as well as adviser to the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad.
Appearances
Edit
- Persona 3 / FES / Portable: Non-playable character
- Persona 4 Arena Ultimax
DesignEdit
Ikutsuki is a bespectacled, middle-aged man with dark brown eyes, long wavy brown hair and a goatee. He wears a tan jacket over his brown turtleneck.
PersonalityEdit
"Hahaha... you don't get it, do you? This useless pathetic world will gradually fester over time. Only its destruction can bring about its salvation. And then at long last, I will rule over the new world! I was so close!"
Ikutsuki's true personality is somewhat difficult to pinpoint if one solely views him by the Persona 3 perspective, as he lacks a detailed backstory and he exhibits a sharp shift in his final hours. It can be argued that either one of his personalities were the real one, while the other was a manifestation simply to further his goals or a distortion based on the circumstances.
While he is acting as the adviser of SEES, he is quite polite and sophisticated, never needing to change his tone or manner. He is friendly, always accompanied with a gentle smile and a set of bad puns and unfunny jokes to provide comedy relief when it is needed, and perhaps not needed. He also sometimes write down his puns on his status reports even if they are unwarranted or unrelated to the subject. It is implied the chairman knows more than he lets on but nonetheless he is the main source of knowledge for the group regarding all things related to the Dark Hour and thus acts as guidance for SEES.
After the defeat of the twelve Shadows, Ikutsuki shows a very different side of him to the party at the entrance of Tartarus. Manipulative, his dialogue speckled with evidence of his twisted savior complex, and his lack of remorse for what he's done; he is far from the chairman SEES knew, something Aigis comments on if asked by the player a little after the event. He then becomes hostile, attempting to kill the ones who relied on him and thought of him as a trustworthy figure. Judging from Sho Minazuki's treatment in Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, this might be his actual personality and the initial, friendly one was a facade.
ProfileEdit
Persona 3Edit
Ikutsuki is the Chief Director of the High School and both chairman and adviser of the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad, SEES. His proper demeanor and bad puns lead to him being considered lame by most of the students there. He is also the adviser for the special group formed by the game's heroes. He was trained to enter the Dark Hour, although he lacks a Persona so he doesn't directly fight against the Shadows.
In truth, Ikutsuki is working toward a completely opposite end, sharing Mitsuru Kirijo's grandfather Kouetsu Kirijo's dream of The Fall and the coming of Nyx. He was one of the scientists involved in the experiments at Gekkoukan ten years ago, including the creation of Artificial Persona Users.
Ikutsuki manipulates SEES, especially Mitsuru and Akihiko Sanada, as well as Strega to destroy the twelve Arcana Shadows, promising them that once they do so they will eliminate the Dark Hour. But killing the twelve Arcana Shadows actually melds them together, allowing for the re-emergence of the thirteenth Arcana, Death. It is Death's function to summon Nyx and destroy the world.
Persona 3 Movie 16 - The Attempted Fall English *Spoilers*
Ikutsuki betrays SEES, killing Takeharu Kirijo.
On November 4th, 2009, after his lies are discovered, on the top of a tower, Ikutsuki reprograms Aigis to sacrifice the members of SEES as offerings for Nyx, and then kills Takeharu Kirijo who had taken advantage of Aigis' inner fight and tried to shoot Ikutsuki himself. When Aigis breaks the programming and frees SEES, Ikutsuki falls to his death from the top of Gekkoukan High School's observational roof (Lower Tartarus) after being wounded in the stomach by a bullet (it is ambiguous if it was an intentional suicide or him forgetting that there's no footing behind him). His mission to revive Death was already complete by the time of his death.
Persona 4 Arena UltimaxEdit
He first shows up in the beginning of P3 Story Mode, where he parrots his words about the Fall before Sho cuts him down and laughs at him and his goals. Ikutsuki has been confirmed dead by SEES as they found his body. Though they are confused thanks to the copies of him that Sho Minazuki made and the similar mannerisms of the Eerie Voice.
Ikutsuki adopted Sho as a child and was his favored test subject, eventually putting a Plume of Dusk inside him in the hopes it would give him a Persona, but that resulted in Minazuki and his own Persona instead. Minazuki wouldn't obey and attempted to kill Ikutsuki for putting Sho in danger. He eventually sought to erase Minazuki, which resulted in Sho falling into a coma. Now that he was no longer useful Ikutsuki placed Sho in a hospital, where he paid the medical bills to keep him alive in this state indefinitely.
GalleryEdit
| Persona 3 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Concept artwork of Ikutsuki's full body appearance
Finalized art
Concept artwork of Ikutsuki (cinematics)
Ikutsuki's various expressions
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| Persona 3 The Movie | ||||
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Ikutsuki in Persona 3 The Movie
Ikutsuki falling to his death
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| Persona 3: the Weird Masquerade | ||||||
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Ikutsuki as he appears in Persona 3: the Weird Masquerade -Ao no Kakusei-
Ikutsuki as he appears in Persona 3: the Weird Masquerade -Gunjou no Meikyuu-
Ikutsuki as he appears in Persona 3: the Weird Masquerade -Souen no Kesshou-
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| Persona 4 Arena Ultimax (Manga) | ||
|---|---|---|
Ikutsuki appears in Sho's nightmare seen in the manga adaption
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| Persona 4 Ultimax Stageplay | ||
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Ikutsuki as he appears in Ultimax stageplay
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EtymologyEdit
His Japanese name contains 月, which is the symbol for "Moon," something which plays an important role in the game. This could serve as foreshadowing because the Greater Shadows only appear on Full Moons, hinting that he is involved with their creation. Ryoji Mochizuki is another character with "Moon" in his name, and was the incarnation of Death released by Ikutsuki's plans into the real world. It also appears to tie into Sho Minazuki's Japanese name containing the same character, and Sho's Persona, Tsukiyomi, being of the Moon Arcana. His full name (Shuji) is a homophone of “Master Director” (主事) and (Ikutsuki) means “how many months."
TriviaEdit
- Soejima designed Ikutsuki as an adult who "your instincts tell you not to trust."[1]
- Ikutsuki has a lookalike in Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth, the Mother Computer and its right-hand Overseer. The lookalikes share his deluded savior personality and tendency to make bad puns, but are cold and mechanical. At that time, S.E.E.S also does not realize his true nature, causing confusion among them when they first saw the lookalikes in the movie world.
ReferencesEdit
- ↑ Atlus (2006, 2014). Persona 3: Official Design Works. Kadokawa Enterbrain - UDON Entertainment. pg. 53.
