Yusuke Kitagawa

* Normal
* Fox

### Likes

Painting, art, keeping things in place, cleanliness, reading books, people with both inner beauty and outer beauty, The Sayuri, the color black, Ichiryusai Madarame (Formerly), history, chocolate, peace, lobsters, organizing, ratatouille

### Dislikes

Rudeness, betrayals, losing loved ones, Ichiryusai Madarame (Currently), embarrassment

## Professional Status

### Occupation

Student
Phantom Thief

### Affiliation

Phantom Thieves of Hearts
Kosei High School

## Relationships

### Parents

Unnamed Mother †
Ichiryusai Madarame (Adoptive father, disowned)

## Voice Actors

### English

Matthew Mercer

**Yusuke Kitagawa** (喜多川 (きたがわ)  祐介 (ゆうすけ) , *Kitagawa Yūsuke*) is an art student from Kosei High School who becomes involved with the Phantom Thieves of Hearts.

## Description

### Appearance

Yusuke is a handsome young man with dark blue hair with parted bangs slightly covering his left eye and gray eyes. His in-game character model is noticeably taller and thinner than those of other male characters. His fellow Phantom Thieves Ann Takamaki and Ryuji Sakamoto both describe him as a "pretty boy" on two separate occasions.

Yusuke does not wear Kosei High's regulation uniform, unlike his fellow student, Hifumi Togo. His winter-variant uniform consists of a white *gakuran*-style shirt embroidered with a fleur-de-lis, fitted black pants and black loafers. A silver ring that holds multiple keys is attached to his belt loop. His summer-variant uniform replaces the white dress shirt with an ultramarine colored button-down, which Yusuke wears with the sleeves rolled-up to his elbows.

His winter-variant outfit consists of a gray blazer striped with white vertical lines over a white long sleeve shirt with red and pink detail, black pants and black ankle boots. During the summer, he wears an indigo, gray and black long sleeve shirt with black pants, and black casual loafers.

For the mid-winter term, Yusuke wears a long teal coat with white buttons over his regular school uniform. On his days off, he wears a grey-brown coat over a patterned dark blue, electric blue and black tunic shirt. He retains the black pants and ankle boots from his previous outfit.

His Metaverse outfit consists of a traditional *kitsune*-style half mask, a black high-collared puff-sleeved jumpsuit with a striped sash worn across his hips, white motorcycle boots, and bright blue gloves. Attached to the jumpsuit is a white foxtail.

In *Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight*, he retains his summer school uniform, but with the addition of a black spike-studded blazer, bright red fingerless gloves and silvery metallic sneakers.

In *Persona 5 Strikers,* he wears a knee-length indigo hoodie with the sleeves rolled-up to his elbows with a thick ultramarine stripe and white tassels. Underneath it he wears a black T-shirt with a white flower pattern on the left side, with white pants and black loafers. While at the festivals, he wears a white *yukata* with a black ombre at the bottom and a blue sash. For the Okinawa beach trip he wears white and blue striped swim trunks, along with a periwinkle hoodie and straw sun hat when he is out of the water.

### Personality

Yusuke's entire life's passion is comprised of and surrounded by art. He searches for the aesthetic everywhere in his surroundings, from people to places. He sees every opportunity or challenge presented to him as a way to broaden his horizons, and primarily considers how it will benefit him greatly as an artist. He is captivated by the painting of "Sayuri," and seeks to capture the sense of beauty that it portrays. This passion extends to his mentor, Ichiryusai Madarame, who he believed created the painting and who took him in when he was young, completely ignorant that he is being used for Madarame's own profit. As such, Yusuke greatly admired and respected him to the point that he vehemently denied any of the rumors surrounding Madarame.

Even when he knows the rumors are true and finds actual proof supporting it, Yusuke claims that the abuse he faced was consensual as a means of keeping a roof over his head. Even after Madarame's fall, Yusuke still suffers from a serious case of Stockholm syndrome towards his former mentor and still desires for Madarame to revert back into what he thinks he is, even if it is pretty clear that all of Madarame's goodwill was lost right when he was born. In *Royal*, this is shown when Takuto Maruki's cognition-altering powers create his ideal life, wherein Madarame is an honest and sincere teacher who never took credit for creating the Sayuri and worked tirelessly for Yusuke's mother to receive her rightful acclaim, even putting the unaltered painting in a museum.

His passion for art is admired and respected by the group, though they also view him as rather strange. His mindset plays by the beat of his own drum, and his thought process can be erratic. At one point, Ann claims that he is "on a different wavelength than other people" before taking it back and saying he's just weird. However, Yusuke is well-aware that his mind operates differently from that of most people's, to the point of admitting that he's eccentric, and is shown to be downright offended whenever someone makes fun of him for it or even points it out.

Despite his eccentricities, Yusuke is incredibly level-headed. He sees no use in panicking or getting nervous, as it does nothing to help the situation at hand. However, when Madarame's Shadow exposes his true self, Yusuke doesn't hide that he felt betrayed and angered. He tends to be more sincere when dealing with subjects he admires from an aesthetic standpoint. For example, he is very direct and respectful when he approaches Ann out of a desire to paint her. However, this sincerity can make him appear pushy, showing that he has a very stubborn, headstrong side, which comes out when he is very inspired.

He displays a somewhat cold and haughty behavior towards people who are behaving in what he deems as an unseemly manner, or in ways that are against his personal aesthetic. This can be seen especially during his initial encounters with Ryuji and Ren, and during an encounter, he has two women who attempt to flirt with him. Additionally, he can be very sharp with people who make mistakes, such as when he calls out Ryuji for getting caught or when he chastises Makoto Niijima for being reckless. This even briefly extended to the rest of the group at the point when they're framed for murder, where he angrily states they shouldn't have rushed into things.

Despite this, Yusuke tries his hardest to be a gentleman and is overall one of the kinder members of the team. He is very considerate regarding Futaba's slow growth, as he knows that deep-rooted issues like hers are not something that can be fixed in a few days, and despite arguing with her from time to time, he is also one of the first members to have a normal conversation with her. Yusuke also worries about his classmate, Naoya Makigami's, behavior, suspecting family problems are the cause. His sincerity and willingness to point out what he truly thinks, despite what others' reactions may be, makes him a very loyal, honest ally. Yusuke also says he donates blood, calling it a "hobby."

Having been unhealthily sheltered for most of his life, Yusuke acts with pure intentions but ultimately is unaccustomed to many of society's norms. The naïveté born from it shows more times than not, he, in particular, being unaware when he is coming off as intrusive until being directly informed. At times, he can cause trouble for other team members, such as being energetically pushy when asking for Ann to be his art model, when he remodels Futaba Sakura's Phoenix Ranger Featherman figurines without her permission, and his frequent criticisms of Ryuji's brashness. A running gag in the game is how Yusuke spends all his money on things that capture his attention without any foresight, such as on art books or lobsters at the beach because they are aesthetically pleasing. Despite his naïveté when it comes to social situations, Yusuke is highly intelligent and his wisdom is evident during Phantom Thief meetings and heists.

Over time, Yusuke's disconnection from reality and his blunt introduction to his mentor's vain and evil nature becomes a source of internal struggle for him. He wishes to paint purely for the sake of passion and capture the essence of the human heart but detests it if it becomes for the sake of gaining money and recognition. He realizes that the beauty he began to portray in his paintings became corrupted by society's expectations of him, deeming it as superficial without any meaning. Ren eventually helps him understand his calling on a deeper level and also helps him to convey his feelings on canvas properly.

As an art student, Yusuke is knowledgeable of and admires other artists as well, as he suggests that "Da Vinci" by his Phantom Thief code name, a reference to Leonardo da Vinci. In his Confidant, he compares Ren to Theo, the brother of Vincent van Gogh, who was his greatest supporter. Yusuke is talented at economical dining, using his own self-taught method that thoroughly calculates cost-performance. He likes going for walks (as a bonus, it also saves on travel expenses) and frequently watches people for artistic inspiration. His knowledge of the aesthetics of food, including information about ingredients, cooking methods and servings, is vast, and he’s committed himself to it. However, his monetary situation does not allow him to practice as much as he would like to in reality. Additionally, whenever Yusuke cooks, he tends to get creative with the ingredients, which can result in bizarre meals.

## Etymology

Yusuke's name and the design of his Persona Goemon are references to Utamaro Kitagawa (喜多川 歌麿), one of the most highly regarded practitioners of the ukiyo-e genre of woodblock prints, especially for his portraits of beautiful women, or bijin-ga. Born "Ichitarō" (市太郎), he later changed his given name to "Yūsuke" (勇助 or 勇記). Interestingly, the real name of his former mentor and oppressor, Madarame was "Ichitaro" in a scrapped cutscene that never made it in the game.

## Trivia

* Yusuke is the designer of the official Phantom Thieves logo and the creator of most Calling Cards.
* Futaba often refers to Yusuke as "Inari." Although the name itself comes from Oinari, the Japanese god of foxes, Futaba herself cites *inarizushi*, a fried sushi dish that foxes had a fondness for according to Japanese folklore, as the origin of the nickname.
* Yusuke often glitches when using the "Harisen Recovery" skill. This leads to him hitting his teammates with his hand rather than a paper fan.
* Being an artist, Yusuke's Confidant ability to "paint" a Skill Card on a Blank Card is reminiscent of the Tarot Card replication service provided by Demon Painter, who is Kazuma Kaneko's in-game cameo. There is also the Skill Card replication service but that requires sacrificing one for registration to make that card purchasable infinitely for a relatively high price depending on the rank of each card. Additionally, there is a Skill Card replication service at Naganaki Shrine, more specifically an Inari shrine.
* Yusuke is the tallest member of the Phantom Thieves, standing at 5'11" (181 cm) tall.
* It is implied that Yusuke brings bad weather wherever he goes. After Yusuke has joined them in Hawaii after storms prevented Kosei High from landing in Los Angeles, they blame him for causing the rain during the fireworks festival months prior. This can be seen as almost every time Yusuke decides to hang out with the protagonist in Leblanc there is rain or heavy rain. His ultimate Persona, Kamu Susano-o, is the god of storms.
* When Yusuke fiddled with Futaba's Phoenix Rangers Neo Featherman figures, the poses of the figures are reminiscent of the Ginyu Force from the *Dragon Ball* series.
* Only preserved in the Japanese version, Yusuke prefers tanukis over foxes, referring to his outfit.
	+ In the English localization, this was changed to him stating his preference on European food: he likes ratatouille over caprese salad.
		- Additionally, Futaba would make a joke code name for him in response: in the English version, it's "Tanuki," while in the Japanese, it's "Ponpoko," the Japanese onomatopoeia for the sound of a tanuki's belly drum.
* When opening a chest, Yusuke can wag his tail.
* Yusuke gets carsick, and is brought up many times when roaming Mementos.
* Yusuke doesn't see the point of purchasing water, and instead drinks tap water.
* Yusuke purchases a weekly magazine called "Weekly Brush." 週刊筆 ({{{2}}}, ***週刊筆***)
* Yusuke's face is never completely captured on the camera photographs. He's usually turned away, and the only time he's not is when his face is completely concealed in his photo in Hawaii, when Ryuji puts a tribal mask on him.
* Yusuke's "harmed" portrait is slightly different between his civilian and Phantom Thief appearances. In his civilian outfit, his left eye is closed, but in his Phantom Thief outfit, his right eye is closed.
* According to a conversation between him and Ryuji, Yusuke doesn't have a type of woman and believes all women are beautiful in their own way.
* He might sometimes say "I've cut a stupid object." くだらぬ物を斬ってしまった。 (kudaranu mono o kitte shimatta., ***くだらぬ物を斬ってしまった。***), directly referencing Ishikawa Goemon XIII from *Lupin the Third*, whom would say "Once again I have cut a worthless object." またつまらぬ物を斬ってしまった。 (mata tsumaranu mono o kitte shimatta., ***またつまらぬ物を斬ってしまった。***)