Yusuke Kitagawa

## Voices

**Yusuke Kitagawa** (喜多川 (きたがわ)  祐介 (ゆうすけ) , *Kitagawa Yūsuke*) is one of the main characters from *Persona 5*. He is an art student from Kosei High School who becomes involved with the Phantom Thieves of Hearts.

## 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 in *Persona 5 Royal*, 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 R 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. The protagonist 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 the protagonist to Theo van Gogh (art dealer), 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.