Zenkichi Hasegawa

Zenkichi Hasegawa
Also known as	Wolf (Code Name)
Japanese Name	長谷川 善吉 はせがわ ぜんきち ウルフ
Romaji	Hasegawa Zenkichi Urufu
First Appearance	Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers
Affiliation	Kyoto Prefectural Police (Formerly) Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Public Security Bureau Phantom Thieves of Hearts
Melee Weapon	Two-Handed Swords
Ranged Weapon	Dual Pistols
Arcana	Priest
Persona	Valjean
Japanese VA	Shin-ichiro Miki

Zenkichi Hasegawa is a playable character from Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers.

Appearances

• Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers: Playable Character

Design

Zenkichi has black shoulder-length hair and a goatee. He wears a set of rimless glasses with a square narrow frame and a black suit with a tie. Underneath he has a light turquoise long-sleeves shirt with golden buttons in each end of it and black buttons in each side of the collar. He wears white sneakers.

As a Phantom Thief, Zenkichi wears a pinpoint blindfold as a mask.

Personality

While Zenkichi's appearance and demeanor suggests him as untrustworthy, he is actually deceptively intelligent and easygoing, which surprisingly, isn't an act unlike Goro Akechi, another detective who joined under the Phantom Thieves. Unlike a majority of police officers, he also believes that the Phantom Thieves are just.

He seemingly has some self worth issues, connecting to the death of his wife and his daughter's disdain towards him. Upon encountering Akane's shadow within the Jail and realizing her suppressed self and truths, he became devastated of being a failure unable to protect his loved ones. However, upon hearing his Shadow's voice, compiled by Futaba's encouragement to stand up for his family, he finally made a stand to fight by his own code of justice, which triggers his awakening as Wolf.

As Wolf, akin to his codename, he fights against the shadows mercilessly. Even the Phantom Thieves were surprised by his personality change in his first battle. True to his assigned Arcana Priest, being the oldest member of the Phantom Thieves despite being the latest, he takes his role as the adviser of the team seriously. He displays some wisdom and logic during discussions and strategies, even towards the targets' shadows in convincing them to change their ways.

Profile

Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers

Zenkichi is a member of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Public Security Bureau. He's in charge of investigating the mysterious conversion cases that appear to be separate from the previous ones involving mental shutdowns. He tracks down the Phantom Thieves of Hearts and instead of arresting them, he settles a "deal" with them to help him look into it.

He lives in Kyoto and has a daughter named Akane. He's been dispatched from the Kyoto Prefectural Police. Two years ago, his wife, Aoi Hasegawa, passed away after being hit by a car. In reality, the incident is orchestrated by Jun Owada, a former lobbyist of Masayoshi Shido, and he intended to kill Akane and not Aoi. Since he doesn't hold Akane in a high regard and the police didn't investigate the case, presumably because Owada is involved with Shido. Akane came to resent the Police and law enforcement in general, even going as far as supporting the Phantom Thieves of Hearts in fervor because she believes that they go against law enforcement. She also resented him to an unhealthy degree since she's more often alone at home, and Zenkichi wished that she was never born.

Throughout the investigation, Zenkichi proves to be a surprisingly trustworthy ally for the Phantom Thieves and the investigation on EMMA's mysteries and the data of its clients, even if he's assigned to arrest them when anything goes wrong. When Miyako Kaburagi orders a fully armed arrest, Zenkichi even took the place for them to be arrested, only to be quickly released from interrogation by Sae Niijima.

He awakens to his Persona, Valjean, in Kyoto's Jail when Shadow Akane captures the Phantom Thieves, leaving Futaba Sakura alone because she's too weak to run. Futaba transports him to Akane via the Metaverse Navigator on EMMA and he sneaks to Akane, in which he becomes devastated for not being able to protect his family. This causes him to awaken Valjean, defeat Akane's Shadow horde and free the rest of the party.

Once the party reaches the end of Kyoto's Jail, Shadow Akane snaps and attacks the party as they deny her using copies of the Phantom Thieves. Wolf and Sophia fight against My Dear Futaba, while the rest take care of their own. After the protagonist defeats My Dear Joker, Shadow Akane collapses and thanks Zenkichi for saving her, then vanishes into light. Despite Zenkichi seems grief ridden over her daughter's "death," he gets over it when Morgana reveals that to be a Shadow Self, and the real person is perfectly fine.

Once the party returns to the real world, the real Akane is actually rendered unconscious after she told EMMA to save her, and she comes into terms with Zenkichi.

Zenkichi would later personally arrive alongside Miyako Kaburagi to arrest Akira Konoe and Jun Owada for ruining his family, giving back society and his daughter the justice they deserve.

Gallery

Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers

Zenkichi's Close Up Zenkichi's status screen art Zenkichi with the protagonist and Sophia on the Weekly Famitsu Magazine Issue #1629 cover Artwork of Sophia and Zenkichi for P5S's release by Shigenori Soejima Zenkichi Pre-Release Wallpaper (576x1024) Wolf Pre-Release Wallpaper (576x1024) Zenkichi & Valjean Pre-Release Wallpaper (576x1024) Zenkichi's Showtime Zenkichi Hasegawa Zenkichi in Shibuya Zenkichi at a Tokyo Public Security Bureau meeting revolving the Phantom Thieves Zenkichi awakening to his Persona Zenkichi at a Madicce building Zenkichi's Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers Trailer

Etymology

Zenkichi (善吉) means "good luck," and Hasegawa (長谷川) means "long valley river."

Trivia

• Zenkichi is the first adult Persona user to be a full playable/party member since Persona 2: Eternal Punishment.
• Unlike the other Phantom Thieves awakening, instead of tearing the mask off whole, Zenkichi tears off the mask breaking it into two. 
• Zenkichi's overall Phantom Thief character is derived from French origins.
  • His Phantom Thief design is based on Le Pacte des loups (Brotherhood of the Wolf).
  • His Persona Valjean originates from the name of the protagonist of Victor Hugo’s 1862 novel Les Misérables, Jean Valjean.
  • His codename (Wolf) is derived from what criminals were called/labeled as in the Les Misérables novel.
    • This alludes to his character during the Kyoto Jail events, instead of following the law like a dog, he seeks his own justice as a rampaging wolf.
• Alongside Shinjiro Aragaki and Koromaru, Zenkichi (currently) does not possess an Ultimate Persona.