Ken Amada

**Ken Amada** is a playable character from *Persona 3*.

## Design

Ken has styled short brown hair and eyes. Even as an elementary student, he is short for his age. At school and Tartarus, he wears a school uniform of Gekkoukan Elementary, with an orange jacket under his Gekkoukan jacket, and tennis shoes with white socks. On weekends off, he is seen wearing a long orange turtleneck sweater shirt with light orange sleeves and tan shorts. On the summer days off, he wears a black turtleneck shirt underneath his orange and black jersey (with a 8 in the back, referencing his Arcana) and black shorts.

In *Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight*, he wears a completely different outfit that consists of a high collar orange jacket with attached white wings, regular black length shorts, mismatch socks with one is yellow and purple stripes and the other blue and purple stripes, and green and white sneakers. He also wears fingerless green gloves and black headphones over his ears.

In *Persona 4 Arena Ultimax*, Ken is now 13 years old and consequently has grown taller from his last appearance. His hair remains mostly unchanged in style, but is slightly longer. Ken now wears the standard uniform of Gekkoukan Middle School, brown shoes, a wristwatch on right wrist, and an armband with "Student Council" written on it on his left arm. He no longer wears his orange jacket, which now is worn by Koromaru, or the shorts he wore as an elementary student.

His "TV glasses" are a pair of light beige glasses.

## Personality

Despite his young age, Ken is very intelligent and mature. It is shown that this is a coping mechanism due to the death of his mother at a young age, which more-or-less forced him to give up his childhood. His maturity is noted by Yukari, who can't believe he's in elementary school and claims that Junpei, who is a full six years older than him, could learn a thing or two from him. Fuuka also notes his maturity, and finds him cute as a result of it. Besides being mature, Ken also knows several words that boys his age don't usually know, such as "bastard," which he usually uses when referring to Strega. He is very polite to others, and never misses a chance to show respect where respect is due. He is also honest, diligent, and deeply caring towards his peers, particularly the members of SEES. Ken is shown to like and care a great deal for animals, such as Koromaru. In his video recording, there is a hamster in his room. In *Persona 3 The Movie*, he cares for a goldfish and in *Persona 4 Arena Ultimax*, it is shown that he and Koromaru are now living together.

Although Ken is very mature, he still has several qualities that fit with his age and is sometimes too precocious for his own good. He finds a role-model in Akihiko, whom he admires for his boxing and fighting talents, often referring to him as "Sanada-san" as a form of respect to his senpai. He also likes to watch a children's show, Featherman R, but he prefers to keep it a secret. He seems to collect a lot of the Featherman R figurines, as well. He is also shown to be quite naive at times, such as when Junpei tricks him into believing the girls aren't wearing anything under their kimonos, which they wore on New Year's Day. Overall, Ken gives off the impression that he's just trying too hard to be something he's not i.e. an adult. Ken notes that one of the reasons he uses spears in battle is so that he'll be on even ground with an adult.

He has a strong dislike towards milk, but he forces himself to drink it believes he believes it can make him become taller. Unfortunately, it seems he may be lactose-intolerant since it often makes him sick. In the female protagonist's route, he acts shy towards her, due to the crush he develops on her if the right choices are made during his Social Link.

During the October Full Moon Event, his reason for joining SEES is revealed: he confesses to Shinjiro Aragaki that he is lonely and vengeful, desperate to avenge the killer of his mother who turns out to be Shinjiro. In *The Answer*, it is shown that he attempted to tell the truth about his mother's death to a police officer, but the officer dismissed it as some hallucination Ken had as a result of trauma. This convinced Ken that he couldn't rely on adults, and so resolved to track down his mother's killer on his own. Ultimately, he became completely consumed by his desire for revenge, to the point that it has become his one and only goal in life, and he even implies that he plans on killing himself once it's done. In *Midsummer Knight's Dream*, however, he initially thought it was just some random Shadow that killed his mother and only discovers that it was Shinjiro later on, ultimately attempting to kill him out of a feeling of betrayal. Ken is portrayed as being more polite and having more remorse over Shinjiro's death in the Japanese version compared to his portrayal in the English version. In fact, in the Japanese version, it is made very clear that Ken feels remorse by outright saying that he no longer wants to kill Shinjiro anyway. The English version however takes a more subtle approach to the scene where he laments over the fact that he can no longer be the one to take revenge on Shinjiro while crying afterwards, suggesting that he is somewhat dishonest in the English version.

After Shinjiro sacrifices himself to save him, Ken becomes depressed and guilty, losing his reason to live, and runs away from the dorm. His depression is especially shown in *Falling Down*, when he recalls Shinjiro's last words to him and claims that living for what the future has in store is easier said than done, since living is sometimes just as painful as dying. Later, he is confronted by Akihiko, who tells him that he's just going to have to accept his mother's death, and leaves his decision about whether or not to return in his hands. Ken then admits to himself that he had just been running away from the truth the whole time, and was really just looking for someone to blame for the death of his mother. He then decides to live for Shinjiro and his mother, which triggers the evolution of his Persona, and returns to the dorm shortly afterwards, stating he's done running away.

In *The Answer*, Ken seems to have grown even more mature, as he now understands why the Kirijo Group covered up the truth behind his mother's death and made it look it an accident, going so far as to say it's alright when Mitsuru expresses her sympathy. He also appears to be slightly more trusting of Metis than the others, being willing to believe that all she really wants is to protect Aigis. When the origins of the Abyss of Time are revealed, Ken notes the irony of the group trapping themselves, saying that it's "almost funny." During the dispute over what to do with the keys, he takes Akihiko's side, as the two usually agree and have the same viewpoints. He strongly disagrees with Yukari's desire to go back to before the last battle, believing it to be too big of a gamble and refuses to let the time they spent with the protagonist be for nothing, especially since he, much like Akihiko, has learned to accept that the dead are never coming back. After the group defeat Erebus, however, he admits that he can breathe easier now that he knows for sure that the protagonist gave his life for a reason.

## Gameplay

#### Playstyle

In gameplay, Ken works as a two-in-one character with Koromaru, thus, almost similar to Shadow Labrys and a few other characters of avatar-fighter fame (*JoJo's Bizarre Adventure* characters, Guilty Gear's Bridget and *BlazBlue's* Carl and Relius Clover), Koromaru acts as his active "puppet" extention, making it effectively controlling two characters at once, as opposed to some of the other *JoJo* characters (like Shadow Dio) and the rest of the *P4AU* cast, who are all passive with their avatars/Personas.

This is also added along with the fact that Ken's C and D moves only use Koromaru (C makes him attack, and D calls him back), as Ken only uses his Persona in a few select attacks (like his Gigantic Impact). Ken's arsenal is limited, but with his long-range spear, wisely used pokes with slow startup and notable lag can easily deal with opponents from full-screen, and his close range pokes are decent as well with okay combo ability (especially if one manages to "sandwich" the opponent between himself and Koromaru, which is much easier due to Koromaru as an active "avatar puppet" as opposed to being passive).

Koromaru also has his own gauge which acts as his health bar, in that he will be knocked out for a while should he suffer too many hits. Koromaru like Ken, also has very few attacks that use his Persona.

Ken's only SMT series spells are Vile Assault, Mediarama, Thunder Reign and Hamaon (which is only used along with Koromaru's Mudoon during their Instant Kill/Mortal Blow).

Due to Ken not relying on his Persona as much, much less than Akihiko would, especially with his limited move list involving it, he has the lowest amount of Persona Cards/Units in comparison to most characters and tied along with Akihiko, which both have only a measly 2 Cards/Units.

Ken's theme/leitmotif is called "Youthful Spirit."

## Battle Quotes

### *Persona 3*

 File:Persona 3 - Ken Battle Quotes
* *"Don't underestimate me because of my age!"* (Summoning Persona for the first time)
* *"Nemesis!"* (Summoning Nemesis)
* *"Kala-Nemi!"* (Summoning Kala-Nemi)
* *"Check this out."* (Summoning Persona)
* *"Here goes!"* (Summoning Persona)
* *"Watch this."* (Summoning Persona)
* *"Appear!"* (Summoning Persona)
* *"Here's our chance! Let's do it!"* (Requesting All-Out Attack)
* *"Understood!"* (After confirming All-Out Attack)
* *"I'm going, too!"* (Requesting Co-Op attack)
* *"That wasn't good."* (Using a Support Ability)
* *"Please, help me!"* (After attacking, enemy survives)
* *"Oh, crap!"* (After attacking, enemy survives)
* *"This is what my power is meant to be used for!"* (Enemy weak to attack/Critical hit)
* *"It's time to get serious!"* (Enemy weak to attack/Critical hit)
* *"Alright. Next!"* (Battle won)
* *"We can't afford to lose!"* (Battle won)
* *"Alright!"* (Battle won)
* "*Don't worry, I'm fine.*" (Battle won with low HP)
* "*Did you see that!? Not bad, huh?*" (Battle won with low HP)
* *"Not bad."* (Party member gets "1 more")
* *"Another, another!"* (Party member gets "1 more")
* *"You're on a roll!"* (Party member gets "1 more")
* *"Go on. Execute 'em!"* (Party member gets "1 more")
* "*That was amazing, Mitsuru-san!*" (Mitsuru gets "1 more")
* *"Yes yes yes, my skill level has increased!"* (Level Up)
* *"Slash attacks won't work!"* (Enemy resistant to Slash)
* *"Hey! Physical attacks aren't working!"* (Enemy resistant to Strike)
* *"Pierce attacks won't work!"* (Enemy resistant to Pierce)
* *"Fire attacks are useless!"* (Enemy resistant to Fire)
* *"Ice doesn't seem to work."* (Enemy resistant to Ice)
* *"Wind attacks are a waste of time."* (Enemy resistant to Wind)
* *"Electricity won't do much damage."* (Enemy resistant to Electricity)
* *"Light attacks are useless!"* (Enemy resistant to Light)
* *"Darkness isn't working?!"* (Enemy resistant to Darkness)
* *"Almighty skills won't work?! No fair!"* (Enemy resistant to Almighty)
* *"There's nothing we can do!?"* (Final Nyx Battle)
* *"How can he use Kala-Nemi...?"* (Battle against ???)

### *Persona 4 Arena Ultimax*

* "*I'm sure I can do this.*" (When chosen on the character select screen)
* "*I'm Ken! It's nice to meet you! (When chosen on the character select screen)*
* "*We're up, Koromaru!" (When chosen on the character select screen)*
* "*Koromaru!*" (Starting the round)
* "*Found you! Now lets go!" (Starting the round)*
* "*I won't be holding anything back.*" (Starting the round)
* "*No hard feelings, but I'm going to defeat you.*" (Starting the round)
* "*Don't underestimate me just because I'm in middle school!*" (Starting the round)
* "*You really haven't changed, Junpei-san.*" (Starting the round vs Junpei Iori)
* "*Go, Koromaru!*"
* "*Do it, Koromaru!*"
* "*Not happening!*"
* "*Too bad...*"
* "*Dodging!*"
* "*Be ready for the worst!*"
* "*That's nothing.*" (When dismissing Koromaru)
* "*Here goes!*" (While performing Vile Assault)
* "*Here I come!*" (While performing Vile Assault)
* "*Strike!*" (While performing Charge Thrust)
* "*Summoning!*" (While performing Gigantic Impact)
* "*Persona!*" (While performing Gigantic Impact)
* "*Attack, Koromaru!*" (While performing Zetsu - Hakurou Battouga)
* "*With this attack... you're history!*" (While performing Fire Breath)
* "*I'll give this my all!*" (While performing Thunder Reign)
* "*Now you see my power!*" (While performing Thunder Reign)
* "*Let's get real.*" (While performing Mediarama)
* "*I'll get them!*" (While performing Super Gattai! Ultimate Cross)
* "*Are you ready?*" (While performing Super Gattai! Ultimate Cross)
* "*It's over!*" (While performing Super Gattai! Ultimate Cross)
* "*Concentrate!*" (While performing Baptism of Light and Darkness)
* "*Now's not the time... for me to give up!*" (While performing Baptism of Light and Darkness)
* "*I'm using full power... all for this!" (While performing Baptism of Light and Darkness)*
* "*There will be no mercy." (While performing Baptism of Light and Darkness)*
* "*Yes, this one's ours!*" (Non-final round victory)
* "*I got it!*" (Non-final round victory)
* "*I see your pattern.*" (Non-final round victory)
* "*I'll prove to you that I know how to fight!*" (Non-final round victory)
* "*Good job, Koromaru!*" (Final round victory)
* "*Sorry! Looks like I win.*" (Final round victory)
* "*I cannot let you defeat me.*" (Final round victory)
* "*Excellent! Mission complete.*" (Final round victory)
* "*I guess Koromaru got some good exercise.*" (Final round victory)
* "*There is a reason I need to get stronger.*" (Final round victory)
* "*That's what you get for thinking I'm a kid!*" (Final round victory)
* "*Have I really caught up with Sanada-san?*" (Final round victory vs Akihiko Sanada)
* "*Why don't we play baseball together next time?*" (Final round victory vs Junpei Iori)
* "*I-I've failed...*" (Non-final round defeat)
* "*Uh.. huh.. but I still could've won...*" (Final round defeat)

Shadow Ken
* "*Heh, this will be fun, Koromaru.*" (When chosen on the character select screen)
* "*If you underestimate, you'll get hurt.*" (When chosen on the character select screen)
* "*Hehehehe... can you win against me?*" (Starting the round)
* "*Are you the idiot with a death wish?*" (Starting the round)
* "*I'll crush you until there's nothing left.*" (Starting the round)
* "*Go Koromaru!*"
* "*Do it, Koromaru!*"
* "*Too bad...*"
* "*You're joking.*"
* "*Dodging!*"
* "*Up yours!*"
* *"Get lost!"* (Activating Shadow Frenzy)
* "*Bastard!*" (When hit)
* "*Useless!*" (When dismissing Koromaru)
* "*Get real.*" (While performing Mediarama)
* "*I have it.*" (While performing Mediarama)
* "*Don't let them go!*" (While performing Zan - Hakurou Battouga)
* "*It's time!*" (While performing Thunder Reign)
* "*Behold... you're dead!*" (While performing Fire Breath)
* "*Behold... it's time! Your death... you're dead!*" (While performing Super Gattai! Ultimate Cross)
* "*So annoying...*" (Non-final round victory)
* "*Moron...*" (Non-final round victory)
* "*I'll shut you up!*" (Non-final round victory)
* "*Hehe... freaking out over a little kid?*" (Non-final round victory)
* "*You're weak... too weak to live.*" (Final round victory)
* "*This can't be!?*" (Non-final round defeat)
* "*Dammit... Next time...*" (Final round defeat)

#### Victory Quotes

General
* "*Arf arf arf!*"
* "*Looks like my skills haven't gotten rusty...*"
* "*I expect a better battle from you next time.*"
* "*Did you get stronger, Koromaru? You did great!*"
* "*With Koromaru and I fighting as a team, we don't have any weaknesses!*"
* "*You thought we were just a boy and his dog, didn't you? That's why you lost.*"

Character Specific
* Yu Narukami: "*You're their leader, right? Whew, it would've been scary to think that someone like you has a boss!*"
* Yosuke Hanamura: "*You're older than me, right? I don't know how to put this, but... There's someone in our group who reminds me of you.*"
* Chie Satonaka: "*You're very strong, but if you're going to go up against me, you should work on your strategy more.*"
* Teddie: "*That's... supposed to be a bear, right? I was just thinking that Koromaru could take you down in an instant.*"
* Yukari Takeba: "*I beat Featherman Victory! ...I-I mean, uh, yeah. I don't care. I don't even watch that show!*"
* Labrys: "*You were made before Aigis-san, right...? Sometimes I wonder, because you seem so perfect already.*"
* Mitsuru Kirijo: "*Whew... You're so strong, Senpai. There's no way I would have won without Koromaru.*"
* Tohru Adachi: "*You're the culprit behind last year's case, aren't you? What are you doing here? Are you connected with this?*"
* Akihiko Sanada: "*That was close...! But not even Sanada-san can beat Koromaru and me!*"
* Junpei Iori: "*You're really going after your dreams. I admire how you can do that...*"
* Minazuki: "*I used to think I was best on my own, too... But I'm not like that anymore.*"
* **Shadow Ken**: "*You're an impressive copy. But if you thought all it took to beat us was our appearances... Well, you're wrong.*"

Shadow Ken
* "*Koromaru says that he'd tear your throat out, but you're not worth the effort.*"
* "*Age doesn't mean anything in a fight. I mean, it's so easy to destroy people, after all!*"
* "*Even Koromaru's appalled by how weak you are. How does it feel to have a dog pity you?*"
* "*You can't do anything but hang out with others, even at your age... why don't you grow up already?*"
* "*You thought we were just a kid and a dog, didn't you? And now you lost. How does that feel? Hahahaha!*"
* "*Even those who act superior over people they're older than get honest when they're about to die. Pitiful..!*"
* "*We could go again, but it'll only turn out to the same way. Oh, sorry, are you too stupid to understand that?*"

Character Specific
* Junpei Iori: "*Hm? I guess you haven't grown at all. Isn't that right, Junpei-san...?*"
* Mitsuru Kirijo: "*Ahaha, I was waiting for this day! "Normal life" is nothing but weakness! Do you understand now, Mitsuru-san?*"
* Tohru Adachi: "*I don't really know you, but you sound like the cynical type. Did you think you were smarter than everyone? How wrong you were.*"

### *Persona Q*

* *"Leave it to me, I take this."* (Battle start)
* *"This is my job."* (Battle start)
* *"It feels like we are fighting in Tartarus."* (Battle start)
* *"Let's go, Koromaru."* (Battle start, with Koromaru)
* *"Y-you don't have to worry about me."* (Battle start, with Kanji Tatsumi)
* *"This one will be a peace of cake!"* (Battle start, with Kanji Tatsumi)
* *"Huh!? A surprise attack!?"* (Battle start with Enemy Advanced)
* *"It's more like a lick-monster than a Shadow."* (Battle start, fighting Hablerie-type Shadow)
* *"I don't have time to play house."* (Battle start, fighting a Table-type Shadow)
* *"That bird... It's so big."* (Battle start, fighting a Jupiter Eagle)
* *"That's a scale Shadow, right?"* (Battle start, fighting a Heat Balance)
* *"I like beetles but not this big!"* (Battle start, fighting a Burning Beetle)
* *"It looks like an angel, and it's a bad guy, huh."* (Battle start, fighting Angel-type Shadow)
* *"Oh! That's a Magus. Right ?"* (Battle start, fighting a Wondrous Magus)
* *"Fighting while dancing, someone is confident."* (Battle start, fighting Dancer-type Shadow)
* *"B-Being big doesn't mean anything."* (Battle start, fighting a Gorgeous King)
* *"Oh! A crow, a crow Shadow!"* (Battle start, fighting Raven-type Shadow)
* *"Oh! It's that Shadow with the ring!"* (Battle start, fighting Dice-type Shadow)
* *"It's a spinning-like Shadow."* (Battle start, fighting Drive-type Shadow)
* *"I think we can beat it."* (Battle aqainst a low level FOE)
* *"Let's try to predict there next move."* (During battle)
* *"Hum, what should I do next?"* (During battle)
* *"Koromaru, are you okay?"* (When Koromaru is low on HP)
* *"You look hurt. Are you okay?"* (When Kanji Tatsumi is low on HP)
* *"You won't get away with this animal abuse!"* (When Koromaru is unconscious)
* *"Kanji-san, please get up!"* (When Kanji Tatsumi is unconscious)
* *"We won!"* (Victory)
* *"That's that"* (Victory)
* *"That was cool!"* (When leader is victorious)
* *"Okay, let's keep this up."* (Result)
* *"Oh, that ended too soon."* (Result)
* *"That was easy."* (Result)
* *"I wish I'd get taller if I leveled up too."* (Level up)

## Trivia

* The Shirt of Chivalry, a type of costume for males in *FES* and *P3P*, is noted for the kanji symbols on their back that symbolizes the character. Ken's Kanji means "grudge" (怨), representing his dark past and his ambitions of revenge.
* In Ken's initial design, Ken's weapon of choice was darts instead of spears.
* Ken's recording in The Journey hints that Ken is lactose-intolerant, as his stomach hurts after he drinks cow's milk out of a carton.
* In the *Persona 3 Portable Club Book*, it is revealed that Ken frequents Baofu's rumor website. However, Baofu claimed that he closed the website after the final battle in *Persona 2: Eternal Punishment*, so the website that Ken accesses is unlikely the same, at least not maintained by Baofu.
* In *Persona 4 Arena Ultimax*, Ken is described by the announcer as a severe patient of "Chūnibyō" (Template:W, lit. "Junior High Second Year/Middle School Syndrome"), which is a phrase that picked up in usage as derogatory Japanese net slang for adolescents going through puberty, in particular referring to the hyper-self conscious and melodramatic phase that is common among junior high students as they attempt to define themselves as adults. This also tends to be rumored as an increase in hyperactive imagination from some circles of info and portrayals.
* In the English version of *Persona 3 Portable*, The dialogue at the end of Ken's Social Link with the female protagonist becomes "You spent a long time talking with Ken..." instead of "You spent some time alone with..." in the Japanese version. This is in order to prevent pedophillia-related controversies as the latter is often considered to be an implied sex scene.
* Ken's pairing with Koromaru in *Persona 4 Arena Ultimax* may be a reference to the connection between their arcanas (Justice and Strength respectively), in how in some interpretations of the major arcana, Justice is the 8th card and Strength is the 11th card, while in others it is the other way around, Strength being 8th and Justice being 11th. By fighting as one character, it could be interpreted as "sharing" their slot on the roster, the same way their arcanas share their places with each other.

1. ↑ http://www.atlusnet.jp/topic/detail/191