Akihiko Sanada Husbando

Akihiko Sanada is one of the playable characters in Persona 3. He is a student at Gekkoukan High School and a member of the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad. Akihiko has short silver hair, gray eyes (hazel-brown in Persona 3 The Movie), and wears a small white bandage above his left eye. He wears a slightly modified version of the usual Gekkoukan High School school uniform, where he replaces its standard jacket with a red sweater vest, opting to carry the jacket over his shoulder instead. Similar to other students, his dress shirt underneath alternates between long-sleeved for winter, and short-sleeved for summer. Additionally, he wears the usual black necktie and black gloves. He is only seen without his gloves in his standard summer outfit, but is also without them while wearing his bathing suit in Yakushima and briefly during the school field trip to Kyoto. In Persona 3 The Movie, he wears gloves that expose the back of his hands. This new design of gloves is kept onward, being seen in both Dancing in Moonlight and Reload. His standard summer outfit consists of a red V-neck T-shirt and white pants. His winter outfit is a white jacket and a red scarf and white pants. During his flashback scene in The Answer, which occurs sometime before the beginning of Persona 3, a much younger Akihiko is depicted having softer facial features and a bandage around his nose. He wears a red shirt under his white button up shirt and black pants. After the third full moon operation, he is given new battle gear. Alongside the standard SEES shoulder guard, numbered "1" in Akihiko's case, his equipment consists of fingerless gloves, a white belt-bag on his back, and a black harness that loops over his shoulders. His Evoker holster has moved from his belt to underneath his right arm. He also rolls up his sleeves to elbow length. While cooking, his attire consists of a white v-neck shirt with dark red apron, and brown pants. In Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight, he wears his standard black slacks and a slightly different white dress shirt with red buttons. He wears a red zip-up hoodie in place of his usual sweater vest over top. He additionally wears red-and-black sneakers, and black headphones around his neck. In the parallel universe anime spin-off Persona -trinity soul-, an older and more mature Akihiko is seen with slightly tanned skin and doesn't wear the band-aid above his left eye. He is seen wearing a black suit with a light brown collar shirt, red tie and black gloves. In Persona 4 Arena, a 20 year-old Akihiko is seen. He has another band-aid on his right cheek, a cross-shaped scar in his hair on the left side of his head, and chin stubble. He wears brown pants, and the left thigh of his pants is bandaged, while the right has several tears on it. He wears reddish brown mixed-martial arts gloves and a matching cape. He does not wear a shirt, and he seems to have been injured by a huge animal, as he has three scars on his chest, and a few scars on his arms as well. In addition, he carries a machete, a bottle of water, large knife and an Evoker with him. In Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, his casual attire is a light gray suit with a black collar shirt. A cool and well-respected upperclassman, Akihiko is serious and determined, while also cracking small jokes on occasion. Of all the members of the group, he is the most prone to sarcasm; one instance being if the protagonist talks to him while he and Junpei are taking a break from studying for first semester midterms, where he will state that Junpei isn't studying for his exams as Mitsuru told everyone to go back to their routines. He tends to show excitement for a big challenge, something that eventually rubs off on Junpei. He is eager to train and fight, often to a fault. Early on in the game, while injured due to the Magician full moon Shadow, he will repeatedly express interest in fighting despite being unable to. This draws criticism from Mitsuru, who views Akihiko's eagerness to fight as if he treats their work as a game. At one point, Yukari even accuses him of caring more about having a good fight than doing the right thing. Akihiko is shown to have noble intentions though, not caring about being acknowledged for S.E.E.S.' efforts and chastising Junpei for expecting praise for fighting to save the world. It is later mentioned in a dorm dialogue that he and Shinjiro's goal when they first joined S.E.E.S. had always been to eliminate the Dark Hour. Akihiko is a kind and principled young man who will go out of his way to help someone, being willing to take on additional risk to save Fuuka from Tartarus despite having never met her before, even after Junpei and Yukari pointed out that she had been there for ten days and had most likely not survived. Akihiko also has an aggressive side, which he usually demonstrates when dealing with Shadows. He never gives up and always tries to get stronger in order to protect what is dear to him. Akihiko's guilt as his driving motivator is alluded to early on, telling his juniors that he knows what it's like to feel powerless and that he never wants to feel that way again. It is later clarified that Akihiko blames himself for not being able to save his younger sister, Miki, from the fire that claimed her life. Seeing himself as too weak, his feelings of ineptitude and fear of loss culminated in an obsession with attaining strength, though this often results in him overworking himself. Akihiko is also shown to be very smart, if not quite on Mitsuru's level, as he is consistently shown to score good grades and often picks up on things that Mitsuru misses, like giant Shadows appearing during the full moon and how Fuuka disappeared. He even tells the protagonist that a strong mind is just as important as a strong body. He is also very competitive; despite not being particularly interested in picking up girls, he willingly goes along with Operation: Babe Hunt once challenged, treating it like a match and even getting disappointed when they have no luck. Afterwards, it takes six months for Junpei to get him to admit defeat, after which he takes most of the group out for ramen. He acts like a protective older brother for the younger S.E.E.S. members, especially in Persona 3 Portable if the player chooses to play as the female protagonist, where Akihiko is shown to care a lot about her. As elaborated on in Persona 3: Official Design Works, Akihiko cares greatly about his image and wishes to present himself as a reliable role model. Akihiko is on good terms with his childhood best friend Shinjiro and keeps in touch with him even after the latter quit S.E.E.S.. He cares a lot for him, something made especially clear when Akihiko finds out about the dangerous drugs Shinjiro takes in order to prevent his Persona from going berserk. However, their conversations are not always civil, as the majority of Akihiko's interactions with Shinjiro throughout the game are in an attempt to try and convince him to come back to S.E.E.S.. Akihiko shows himself to be occasionally hypocritical, telling Shinjiro in one instance that he can't keep dwelling on the past, of which prompts Shinjiro to remind him that he isn't any different as he can't let go of his guilt over not being able to save his sister's life - the inciting incident that spawned Akihiko's entire reason for fighting. Indeed, much like Junpei, Akihiko views S.E.E.S.'s activities as a form of escapism from his normal life, and he occasionally questions whether he really wants the Dark Hour gone. While generally caring and straightforward, Akihiko can be quite abrasive at times, such as when he pretty much forces Shinjiro to come back to S.E.E.S. by leveraging Ken's status as a newly-joined member. He also expresses deep distrust and hostility towards Metis in the early parts of The Answer, even more so than the rest of the party, as he fully expects her to turn on them again at any time and even suspects her of having an ulterior motive for protecting Aigis. He can be blunt and isn't above making a harsh comment to someone, even to a friend, a trait he shares with the similarly-aloof Mitsuru. However, Akihiko is also shown to be scared of Mitsuru, and greatly dreads being on the receiving end of one of her "executions." Akihiko is generally more socially awkward and oblivious than the other SEES members, failing to recognize the uneasy tension between Yukari and Mitsuru preceding the Emperor and Empress full moon battle and not understanding the reactions to his choice of a speedo for his swimsuit during the group's trip to Yakushima. Though things often fly over his head, Akihiko is also easily flustered by petty insults, teasing, as well as compliments, with Yukari later remarking that he is "awkward in social situations." According to one Tartarus dialogue between he, Mitsuru, and Shinjiro, Akihiko has always been easily worked up, and would often get excited and run off alone during the early days of S.E.E.S. Akihiko is sometimes depicted as stiff and unapproachable, displaying a complete disregard for his fanbase of female students who follow him around. He finds this irritating and will sometimes complain to the protagonist about it, saying they talk so much that they give him a headache. Akihiko is revealed during Operation: Babe Hunt to be extremely shy and awkward when approaching girls. His romantic illiteracy is especially prevalent in his Social Link in the female protagonist route, with one instance stating that "he seems to be completely incapable of recognizing female emotions." Upset at Junpei's victory over him during Operation: Babe Hunt, his console recording later in the game depicts him in his bedroom reading about how to talk to girls, trying (and failing) to rehearse a conversation without getting irritated at his own awkward delivery. Despite being shy and awkward around girls, he does grow to love the female protagonist, and becomes more comfortable around her. According to Shinjiro, Akihiko is actually quite the crybaby. Whenever Shinjiro did something wrong when they were kids, even with good intentions (such as stealing a doll so that Miki could have a toy of her own), Akihiko would attack him while crying the entire time. He hides how sensitive he is by responding logically to everything, which leads to his severe bluntness at times. Around Shinjiro, Akihiko also shows a childish side to him, such as getting more excited than Junpei at the prospect of eating Shinjiro's cooking for the first time. Despite repeatedly verbalizing an admiration for Shinjiro's strength, Akihiko also fights with Shinjiro (sometimes physically) over trivial things, which Mitsuru often has to break up. After Shinjiro's death, Akihiko is reminded of the pain of loss and the feeling of powerlessness, just like he had experienced with the death of his sister. At Shinjiro's memorial, he admits that he was a fool to believe that he could protect anyone if he was strong enough and laments how power became that all he cared about after Miki's death. Contrasting with the way he viewed fighting Shadows as a game early on in the story, Akihiko recognizes that he knew the risks of battle but was blinded by his own guilt and obsession, resulting in watching yet another of his loved ones dying. While recovering from an emotional breakdown, Akihiko realizes that he can't keep blaming himself and decides to move towards the future, a renewed determination that triggers the evolution of his Persona. This resolution allows him to help lift Ken from his own state of despair after Shinjiro's passing. Both become closer as a result of this event, and learn to accept the loss of the people they loved, though Akihiko occasionally remarks about his deceased friend, contemplating what Shinjiro would do in the face of the challenges Akihiko finds himself facing. While initially conflicted when Akihiko learns about The Fall, he ultimately decides to try and defeat Nyx, even admitting to Ryoji Mochizuki that he doesn't care if it's impossible. In The Answer, during the debate over what to do with the keys, Akihiko is in favor of the most logical choice; having long accepted that the dead are never coming back, he claims that the group have to live with the protagonist's death and accept the present. He believes that the protagonist died because he used all his power to protect everyone, and by tampering with the past, it would be disrespectful to his sacrifice. When Yukari expresses interest in going back to the past, Akihiko criticizes her for not having the strength to face reality, going so far as to say that even if there was a way to undo Shinjiro and Miki's death, he'd flat-out refuse. He believes firmly that nothing in the past was a waste, since all of it made the group who they are now. However, he admits to understanding Yukari's grief, saying it's a natural feeling for anyone, but nevertheless believes that if they saved the protagonist, they would be benefiting themselves rather than him. Above all, he knows what drastic consequences messing with the past can have, and believes it's simply too big of a risk to take. After the group defeats Erebus, however, he admits that he feels better now that he knows for certain what happened, saying it's like the "blinders have been removed."