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This article is about the advisor of the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad. For the entities resembling Ikutsuki in Persona Q2, see Overseer or Mother Computer.

"Would you believe me if I said that a day consists of more than 24 hours?"
—Ikutsuki asking the protagonist a question, Persona 3

Shuji Ikutsuki is a character from Persona 3. He is the chairman of the board for Gekkoukan High School and adviser to the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad.

Appearances[]

Design[]

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.

Personality[]

Ikutsuki, as the adviser of SEES, is a polite and sophisticated man, 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. As seen in the video recordings, he may also sometimes write down some puns on his status reports even if they are unwarranted or unrelated to the subject. Ikutsuki 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.

That being said, in spite of his friendly and welcoming personality, he is unable to properly assimilate into the rest of the group, maintaining an underlying distance that leaves his relations with the others to be civil and nothing more.

After the defeat of the twelve Shadows, he shows a very different side of him to the party at the entrance of Tartarus. He was actually a manipulative, nihilistic and omnicidal maniac with a twisted savior complex, bearing a complete lack of remorse for the sake of complete and utter world annihilation through supernatural means. He is in fact, far from the chairman SEES knew, something Aigis comments on if asked by the protagonist.

Unlike the members of Strega who genuinely believe that they will be saved from their suffering and depression when Nyx kills them alongside the rest of humanity, Ikutsuki only wants Nyx to obliterate them just so he could be one of the few survivors and become a god.

Ikutsuki has absolutely no consideration of human life. He would not even acknowledge Aigis' life in spite of having been artificially created, seeing her as nothing more than the purpose she exists to fulfill: not only would he try to control her into killing the rest of SEES for his plan, only to refer to her as a "defective machine" once she turns against his demands and rescues them of her own free will, displaying the sheer hopelessness and madness that make him incapable of seeing anything more past her physical form.

He then becomes hostile, attempting to kill the ones who relied on him and thought of him as a trustworthy figure and leaving a large psychological dent on Mitsuru by killing her father. Once that fails, he chose to jump off the roof of Tartarus and committed suicide for good, out of lunatic fervor.

Judging from Sho Minazuki's treatment in Persona 4 Arena Ultimax and the fact that he had always been loyal to Kouetsu Kirijo's desire to summon Death, this might be his actual personality and the initial, friendly one was a façade.

Profile[]

Persona 3[]

Ikutsuki was a partner of Mitsuru Kirijo's grandfather Kouetsu Kirijo, and fully supported his desire of creating The Fall and the coming of Nyx to destroy all of humanity. He was one of the scientists involved in the experiments at Gekkoukan ten years ago, including the creation of Artificial Persona Users, forming Strega as well.

In the present, he is now the Chief Director of Gekkoukan 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 Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad, with Mitsuru being his chief commander. He was trained to enter the Dark Hour, although he lacks a Persona so he doesn't directly fight against the Shadows. He claims that the Dark Hour will end when all twelve Arcana Shadows are destroyed.

Ikutsuki was later revealed to be manipulating SEES all this time, especially Mitsuru regarding the elimination of the twelve Arcana Shadows, which actually does the inverse; the destruction of the twelve Arcana Shadows actually melds them together into Death itself who summons Nyx to destroy it, instead of eliminating the Dark Hour as he claims.

"Yes... Yes, I was chosen! I'm going to be the god of the new world! Hahahaha! What a shame... I was so close... Hahaha."
—Ikutsuki's last words, revised in Persona 3 Reload
Persona_3_Movie_16_-_The_Attempted_Fall_English_*Spoilers*

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 Tartarus, Ikutsuki reprograms Aigis to sacrifice the members of SEES as offerings for Nyx. However, Aigis's bond with the protagonist proved too strong and she refuses to shoot SEES as a result. When Takeharu Kirijo, who had taken advantage of Aigis' inner fight, tries to shoot Ikutsuki himself, he dies as well. Aigis manages to break the programming and frees SEES. Ikutsuki, lamenting his failure, falls to his death after being wounded in the stomach by a bullet. His mission to revive Death was already complete by the time Arcana Hanged Man was destroyed, and on November 9th, Death appears in Gekkoukan High School taking the form of Ryoji Mochizuki.

Persona 4 Arena Ultimax[]

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.

Gallery[]

Persona 3
Persona 3 The Movie
Persona 3: the Weird Masquerade

In Other Languages[]

Language Title
Flag of the United States English Shuji Ikutsuki
Flag of Japan Japanese 幾月 修司 (Ikutsuki Shūji)
Flag of South Korea Korean 이쿠츠키 슈지 (Ikucheuki Syuji)

Etymology[]

  • The name Shuji means "discipline, study, conduct oneself well, master" (修) (shu) and "officer, boss" (司) (chi/ji).
  • Shuji's surname Ikutsuki means "how many, how much, how far, how long, some, several" (幾) (iku) and "moon" (月) (tsuki).

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 and the Japanese chief lunar deity. His full name (Shuji) is a homophone of "Master Director" (主事) and (Ikutsuki) means "how many months."

Trivia[]

  • Shigenori 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, SEES also does not realize his true nature, causing confusion among them when they first saw the lookalikes in the movie world.

References[]

  1. Atlus (2006, 2014). Persona 3: Official Design Works. Kadokawa Enterbrain - UDON Entertainment. pg. 53.


Characters
Playable Male protagonist - Female protagonist - Yukari Takeba - Junpei Iori - Akihiko Sanada - Mitsuru Kirijo - Fuuka Yamagishi - Aigis - Koromaru - Ken Amada - Shinjiro Aragaki - Metis
Social Link Kenji Tomochika - Hidetoshi Odagiri - Bunkichi and Mitsuko - Kazushi Miyamoto - Chihiro Fushimi - Isako Toriumi - Keisuke Hiraga - Yuko Nishiwaki - Maiko Oohashi - Pharos - Bebe - President Tanaka - Mutatsu - Mamoru Hayase - Nozomi Suemitsu - Akinari Kamiki - Rio Iwasaki - Saori Hasegawa - Ryoji Mochizuki
Major Igor - Elizabeth - Theodore - Shuji Ikutsuki - Officer Kurosawa - Takaya Sakaki - Jin Shirato - Chidori Yoshino - Takeharu Kirijo - Kouetsu Kirijo - Eiichiro Takeba - Natsuki Moriyama - Nyx - Erebus - Margaret
Minor Kiyoshi Sakuma - Mr. Edogawa - Mr. Ekoda - Ms. Miyahara - Ms. Ounishi - Mrs. Terauchi - Kikuno Saikawa - Yuu Kimijima - Souta Aizawa - Kyouka Sayama
Cameo Yukiko Amagi - Noriko Kashiwagi - Man Drinking Alone
Location
Port Island Gekkoukan High School - Paulownia Mall - Iwatodai Station - Port Island Station - Naganaki Shrine - Dorm - Moonlight Bridge - Velvet Room
Tartarus Blocks: Thebel - Arqa - Yabbashah - Tziah - Harabah - Adamah - Monad Depths
Abyss of Time Malebolge - Cocytus - Caina - Antenora - Ptolomea - Judecca - Empyrean
Other Kyoto - Great Seal
Music
Albums Original Soundtrack (JP / US / FES / Portable) - Bonus CD - Burn My Dread -Reincarnation- - Spring of Birth OST - Midsummer Knight's Dream OST - Falling Down OST - Winter Of Rebirth OST - Persona 20th Anniversary All Time Best Album
Songs "Burn My Dread" - "Aria of the Soul" - "Want To Be Close" - "When the Moon Reaches for the Stars" - "Iwatodai Dorm" - "Mass Destruction" - "Color Your Night" - "Deep Breath Deep Breath" - "The Meaning of Armbands" - "Deep Mentality" - "It's Going Down Now" - "Changing Seasons" - "Current Net Price Tanaka" - "Battle Hymn of the Soul" - "Kimi no Kioku" - "P3 FES" - "Mass Destruction -P3fes version-" - "Heartful Cry" - "Brand New Days" - "Soul Phrase" - "A Way of Life" - "Time" - "Wiping All Out" - "More Than One Heart" - "Fate is In Our Hands" - "One Single Word" - "One Hand, One Heartbeat" - "One Determination" - "Sound of the Beast" - "Storm for a Butterfly" - "Light in Starless Sky" - "My Testimony" - "Self Redemption"
Archives
Terminology Persona (Initial / Prime / Ultimate) - Persona user - Shadow - Wild Card - Evoker - Attack Properties - Tactics - All-out Attack - Shuffle Time - Dark Hour - Moon Phase System - Full Moon Operations - SEES - Kirijo Group - Nanjo Group - Strega - Artificial Persona user - Suppressants - Apathy Syndrome - The Fall - Death - Who's Who - Phoenix Ranger Featherman R - Plume of Dusk
P3RE: Shift - Theurgy - Combat Characteristics
Lists Arcana - Personas (P3 - FES - P - R) - Shadows - Bosses (P3 - FES) - Skills - Items (Heart Items / Vending Machines) - Status Effects - Elizabeth's Requests - Activities - Calendar - Trophies (Portable / Reload) - Steam Profile Items - Patches and Updates
School Life Daily Life - Seasons - Social Link - Social Stats - Yen - Class - Studying - Movie Theater - Bed - Part-time Jobs - Shrine - Tanaka's Amazing Commodities - Crane Machine - Chagall Café - School Club - Linked Episode - Computer - Refrigerator - Gardening / Books / DVDs / Cooking - Studying - Fortune Telling
Other Media
Games FES - Portable - Reload - Dancing in Moonlight
Productions The Movie - The Movie: Escape from the Dark Hour - the Weird Masquerade: -Ao no Kakusei- / -Gunjou no Meikyuu- / -Souen no Kesshou- / -Ai no Seiyaku- / -Hekikuu no Kanata e- - Persona Stalker Club - 「PERSORA AWARDS」 - PERSORA AWARDS 2 - PERSORA AWARDS 3 - Persora -The Golden Best-
Drama CDs A Certain Day of Summer - Daylight / Moonlight - Character Drama CD Vol. 1 / Vol. 2 / Vol. 3 / Vol. 4 / Vol. 5 - New Moon / Full Moon - Portable Vol. 1 / Vol. 2
Publications Manga - Shadow Cry - Memento Mori - Owari no Kakera - Alternative Heart - Velvet Blue - Persona Magazine - Dear Girls Comic Anthology - Dengeki Comic Anthology - Tartarus Theater - Persona VS
Mobile Games The Night Before - Persona Ain Soph - Social - Escape - Illust Puzzle - Broken Shadow - Aegis: The First Mission - Qix - Chaining Soul - Em
Events Music Live 2008 - Music Live 2009 - Music Tour 2010 - Music Live 2012 - Music Fes 2013 - Music Box 2014 - Super Live 2015 - Livehouse Tour 2015 - Super Live 2017 - Super Live 2019- 25th Anniversary Symphonic Concert
20th Anniversary Festival - 25th Anniversary - 25th FES
Miscellaneous Merchandise
Ultimax - Manga (Arena) - Manga (Ultimax) - Stageplay (Arena) - Stageplay (Ultimax)
Characters
Playable Arena Yu Narukami (Izanagi - Regular / Izanagi-no-Okami - Instant Kill) - Yosuke Hanamura (Jiraiya) - Chie Satonaka (Tomoe) - Yukiko Amagi (Konohana Sakuya) - Kanji Tatsumi (Take-Mikazuchi) - Naoto Shirogane (Sukuna-Hikona) - Teddie (Kintoki-Douji) - Aigis (Pallas Athena - Regular / Palladion - Instant Kill) - Mitsuru Kirijo (Artemisia) - Akihiko Sanada (Caesar) - Elizabeth (Thanatos) - Labrys (Ariadne) - Shadow Labrys (Asterius)
Playable Ultimax Yukari Takeba (Isis) - Junpei Iori (Trismegistus) - Sho Minazuki (Tsukiyomi) - Rise Kujikawa (Himiko) - Ken Amada & Koromaru (Kala-Nemi & Cerberus) - Tohru Adachi (Magatsu-Izanagi) - Marie (Kaguya-Hime) - Margaret (Yoshitsune - Cu Chulain - Ardha - Regular / Helel - Instant Kill)
Non-Playable Unit #024 - Igor - Theodore - Nanako Dojima - Ryotaro Dojima - Detective Kurosawa - Fuuka Yamagishi - Eri Minami - Yuuta Minami - Malevolent Entity - Erebus - Kikuno Saikawa - Shuji Ikutsuki - Minoru Inoue
Locations
Inaba Midnight Channel - Velvet Room - Yasogami High School - Tartarus
Music
Albums Original Soundtrack (Arena / Ultimax) - Original Arrange Soundtrack
Songs "Best Friends" - "Now I Know" - "Aria of the Soul" - "Reach Out To The Truth" - "Mass Destruction" - "Break Out Of..." - "Today"
Archives
Terminology Dark Hour - Evoker - Midnight Channel - P-1 Grand Prix - Persona - Persona user - Plume of Dusk - Shadow - Shadow Self - Shadow Operatives - Investigation Team - Wild Card - Persona Fragments - Red Fog
Lists Status Changes - Skills - Trophies (Arena / Ultimax) - Steam Profile Items
Productions The Ultimate in Mayonaka Arena Stageplay - Persona 4: The Ultimax Ultra Suplex Hold Stageplay
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