Takeharu Kirijo

Takeharu Kirijo is a character from Persona 3.
==Appearances==
*Aegis: The First Mission: Mentioned
*Persona 3 / FES / Portable / Reload: Supporting Character
**Persona 3 (Manga): Supporting Character
**Persona 3 The Movie: Supporting Character
**Persona 3: the Weird Masquerade -Gunjou no Meikyuu- / -Souen no Kesshou-: Minor Character
==Design==
Takeharu's appearance is that of middle-age man in his forties, having black hair and gray eyes. He wears an eyepatch over his right eye and wears a gray suit, red tie and black vest. He assumes the look of a bold, resolute and grizzled businessman and his appearance often makes others tremble upon first glance.
==Personality==
Takeharu is firm and bold in everything he does, which frightens people that he first meets. He is particularly strict with his daughter but it is shown multiple times that he means the best for her.
He feels especially guilty that his daughter inherited his mistake. Mitsuru later reveals that he had feelings of shame and guilt and this burdened him, and she fought to ease this burden.
==Profile==
===Aegis: The First Mission===
Takeharu is mentioned in Aegis: The First Mission. At that time, he is the head of the Kirijo Group, and he gives the team training Aigis on Yakushima orders to refocus their efforts into destroying the Shadows after they become out of control in order to protect civilians.
===Persona 3===
Takeharu is the father of Mitsuru Kirijo and the son of Kouetsu Kirijo. He is the current head of the Kirijo Group.
SEES first meets Takeharu on summer vacation when Mitsuru offers to take them a location owned by her family to relax. Although they initially see him as frightening, he is gradually revealed to have a gentle side. After some time, he explains the nature of how the Dark Hour came to be as well as the fates of the researchers who caused it, including Eiichiro Takeba when he shows the party a tape of Eiichiro's parting words. As a result of his explanation, Takeharu was assumed to be the only real adult survivor of this ten year old incident.
Later, it is revealed that he knew that the recording was doctored all along by Ikutsuki. Takeharu confronts him after Aigis has already restrained the party but is ultimately murdered at the hands of Ikutsuki, although not without landing a shot on his foe himself. He dies in his daughter's arms at Tartarus, and the resolve Mitsuru acquired after her father's death evolved her Persona.
===Persona 3 FES===
Takeharu makes a brief appearance during the flashback into Mitsuru's past on the 25th floor of Ptolomea. He is shown to be the leader of the Kirijo Group squad that ventured into Tartarus and witnesses firsthand his then-young daughter's Persona taking out a Shadow. While his fellow employees were delighted at the prospect, Takeharu was expressly unhappy with Mitsuru becoming a Persona user, as this meant she would now have to bear the burdens of the family, when she should be forging her own path and becoming her own person. 
==Gallery==
File:P3 Takeharu Render.png|Concept art
File:Persona 3 SEES 2.png|Takeharu in a photo with SEES
File:P3P Takeharu dying portrait2.png|Portrait of Takeharu dying, seen in Persona 3 Portable
File:P3P Takeharu dying portrait.png|Unused portrait of Takeharu dying in Persona 3 Portable
File:P3M Mitsuru holds her dead father.PNG|Mitsuru holding her father's lifeless body
File:Mitsuru father.png|A photo of Takeharu and young Mitsuru
==In Other Languages==
Language	Title
Japanese	桐条 武治 (Kirijou Takeharu)
Korean 	키리조 타케하루 (Kirijo Takeharu)
==Etymology==
*The name Takaharu means "military, martial" (武) (taka) and "cure" (治) (haru).
*Takaharu's surname Kirijo means "paulownia" (桐) (kiri) and "article" (条) (jo).
**Paulownia is called "Empress Tree" or "Princess Tree" in Japan. It was once customary to plant a Paulownia tree when a baby girl was born. There is a Paulownia Mall in the game which the Kirijo Group apparently built.
==Trivia==
*In a response to fan questions during a Persona Stalker Club segment, the Persona team explained that during an investigation on Tartarus, Takeharu was attacked by Shadows. His eye was injured during the attack, thus why he wears an eyepatch.
*In the Japanese P3P fanbook released in 2009, it is said that Takeharu is 46 years old.
Category:Persona 3 FES Characters
Category:Persona 3 Portable Characters
Category:Persona 3 The Movie Characters
Category:Persona 3 Allies