Mitsuru Kirijo

**Mitsuru Kirijo** is the master of ??? in the ??? Holy Grail war.

"No longer will I run from the future! I will face it head on, carrying out my father's will! I am resolved and without reservation. I owe it all to my invaluable friends... And we have promised to never lose hope, no matter what tomorrow may bring." - Mitsuru Kirijo

## Profile

### Background

The scion of the affluent and influential Kirijo Group who, in 2009, was one of the leading figures of S.E.E.S. (Special Extracurricular Execution Squad), a group of students who explored the causes behind the hidden 25th hour of the day known as the Dark Hour. Her father, Takeharu Kirijo sacrifice his life saving her and her friends, and reprogram Aegis’s mind back from Shuji Ikutsuki, who happens to be the mastermind behind the Dark Hour, and the creation of the super soldiers group of evil Persona users known as Strega, in order to bring destroy the world by reviving the god of death known as Nyx.

Many years after the sacrifice of the blue-haired boy, she, along with Akihiko Sanada and Aegis, would go on to found the Shadow Operatives, a clandestine organization dedicated to investigating incidents related to Shadows and Personas, as well as anything related to what left behind the old Kirijo. Other surviving S.E.E.S. are welcomed to return, should anything happen to her and two other main operatives. During a P-1 tournament incident, she meets a young female detective known as Naoto Shirogane, who is also a Persona user and one of the members of Metaverse exploration just like S.E.E.S. known as Inaba’s Investigation Team.

### Personality

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. 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 zero 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."

Mitsuru is shown to be quite awkward when dealing with normal social situations, likely due to her upbringing. In fact, it is implied that she has never eaten various common foodstuff due to her family conditions, such as burgers, ramen and takoyaki. 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.

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 happened to make 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 truly 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.

## Abilities

Like every party member in the Persona series, Mitsuru has access to a Persona, which is basically a physical manifestation of the owner’s self. Mitsuru had started out with w:c:megamitenshi:PenthesileaPenthesilea, but as the story progressed and her resolve grew, she had awakened her ultimate Persona, Artemisia, the evolution of her original Persona. In order to summon her Persona, she has to use an Evoker, Though she later learn it's possible to summon her Persona without it in P4A. Artemisia is an ice-based Persona with several abilities geared towards combat, She also Cryokinetic abilities to freeze enemies.
One would assume that Mitsuru would have to rely solely on her Persona, however she’s no slouch on her own. As shown in the arena games (which are canon), she can fight well and have been shown to do physical attacks without the use of her Persona. In Persona 3, Mitsuru specialises in one-handed swords while in FES she specializes in rapiers. These weapons are specifically designed by the Kirijo Group to fight Shadows, but they can also fight other Persona Users as well.

# References

https://megamitensei.fandom.com/wiki/Mitsuru\_Kirijo

https://blazbluextag.fandom.com/wiki/Mitsuru\_Kirijo

https://hero.fandom.com/wiki/Mitsuru\_Kirijo

https://characterprofile.fandom.com/wiki/Mitsuru\_Kirijo