Mitsuru Kirijo

Mitsuru Kirijo is a playable character originating from Persona 3. She is heir to the Kirijo Group and a student at Gekkoukan High School during Persona 3. Mitsuru has waist-length red hair (the hue of her hair can sometimes appear vivid red or dark red) that has bangs covering the left side of her face with a wavy mid-back length hair strand resting on her left shoulder and her eyes are brown, although they have sometimes been portrayed with hints of red. At school and in Tartarus, she wears the Gekkoukan High uniform with personal effects: no jacket, a white blouse (long sleeve in winter and short puffy-sleeve in summer), a black skirt that goes above her knees, and black knee-high high-heeled boots. On the weekends and days off, she wears a short black peacoat, a white scarf, and white pants, along with her black boots. In the summer, however, she wears a white sleeveless turtleneck shirt and black pants with a belt. As with the rest of SEES, Mitsuru wears a swimsuit during the excursion at Yakushima. She is seen wearing a kimono at numerous appropriate occasions. A younger Mitsuru, seen briefly in The Answer, had curly pigtails. She previously wore a red ribbon with a green gem, a white puffy blouse, a red skirt, white stockings, and brown shoes. In her middle school years, she is seen wearing the standard summer school uniform and a black sweater vest. Mitsuru's summer attire has her sleeveless turtleneck shirt with vertical pattern. When she is seen cooking, she wears her hair into a bun and wore a white turtleneck elbow length sleeves with dark brown apron with light brown flower pattern designs. After the third full moon operation, she is given new battle gear which consist of a modified black vest with a cape attach, a shoulder guard labeled “0”, and elbow length gloves. In Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight, she retains some parts of her school uniform, although her blouse is left open, showing her strappy black sports bra beneath, and this is matched with a maroon short jacket, leggings and black thigh high boots. In addition, she also wears a black choker, magenta gloves, and a pair of black headphones. In Persona 4 Arena, now 20 years old, Mitsuru reappears and is wearing a fur coat over a black catsuit. She still fights with a rapier and carries an Evoker in a holster on her thigh. Mitsuru is calm, confident, mature, responsible, wise and very intelligent despite being a high school student. However, she may be interpreted as slightly arrogant, conceited, cold-hearted or overconfident. As events unfold, this may be a front of maturity, due to her assumed role as the leader of SEES. Her Persona Arcana is the Empress, which fits with the "motherly/older sisterly" role she plays in the group. Mitsuru has a streak of strict conduct. Per formal Japanese culture, Mitsuru is the only member of SEES who formally addresses her fellow club mates by their last names (e.g. Yamagishi). Akihiko Sanada is an exception to this, as the two are good friends and have known each other since junior high. Eventually, she becomes more familiar with the other SEES members and refers to Yukari Takeba on a first-name basis, and the others' on occasion. Mitsuru is also very insistent with the team keeping their grades up, going so far as to sign them up for summer classes behind their backs. Mitsuru is also outspoken and has little to no tolerance for prejudice. For example, when the female protagonist is elected leader and Junpei Iori is annoyed because "he's the only guy in the group," Mitsuru sternly tells him that "Whether one is a man or woman doesn't factor into it. The responsibility falls to those who have the gift. And let me add, if you ever say or do anything to condescend to her because she's a woman..." Despite her often getting annoyed at Akihiko's eagerness to fight, Shinjiro Aragaki claims in Persona Q that she "enjoys fighting just as much as he does, if not more." With Junpei noted that she get easily riled up then Akihiko and occasionally shown excitement in trying new things that she is not familiar with such develop a interest learning what a group date is. Mitsuru also appears to be afraid of ghosts and horror while in the Evil Spirit Club. Her sheltered upbringing and wild imagination often cause misunderstandings. One example occurs during a video recording, in which she believes Junpei's room has been ransacked due to how messy it is. After calling over Officer Kurosawa to investigate, she is surprised and embarrassed when Junpei arrives and explains that his room "always looks like this." Another example is when the team needs to break into Gekkoukan High at night in order to find Fuuka Yamagishi in Tartarus. When discussing how they'll get in, Junpei claims he has it "all set to go" and Mitsuru misinterprets this as him setting an explosive, though he merely unlocked a door earlier. Mitsuru is shown to be quite awkward when dealing with normal social situations and can be rather shy at times, as she blushes when complimented by Yukari and Fuuka or when Yukari exclaimed they can take a bath together at the Hot Spring as they have nothing to hide now, likely due to her upbringing. It is implied that she has never eaten various common foodstuffs due to her family status, such as burgers, ramen and takoyaki as shown in her Social Link events with the protagonists. It is noted by her father that she has difficulty trusting others, and at one point he tells her that she can only do so much on her own and reminds her of the Kirijo Group's guiding principle, "Two in harmony surpasses one in perfection," which Mitsuru takes to heart. She also secretly likes to read teenage fashion and is interested in it as seen in the video recordings in FES and Portable. However, she doesn't know much about it unless she hears Yukari talk about it. In the same video recordings, she tends to break habits that she wouldn't normally do at her home like walk around with just a towel in her room. In her Social Link, it is revealed that she desires to run away from the Kirijo Group but stays because she loves her father and wants to continue living a normal life like the rest of the SEES members. Although she asks the protagonist to run away with her, her heart's not in it, as she claims it would be very selfish of her. She dislikes her fiancé but is aware that their marriage would benefit the Kirijo Group. As her Social Link progresses, she begins to understand what truly matters to her: her friends, not her company. In The Answer, during the dispute over what to do with the keys, Mitsuru sides with Yukari, much to Akihiko's confusion. Her reason for doing this is not revealed until after the conflict is resolved. After the protagonist's death, she swore an oath that if anything made Yukari suffer, she would put aside her own feelings and stand with her no matter what, as payment for her being there for her the year before. It's then that Mitsuru returns the favor; she tells Yukari that while losing someone close to you is agony, there's no need to suffer alone and that she and the others can be there for her when she needs it the most, and that that's the reason one forms such bonds in the first place.