Junpei Iori

**Junpei Iori** is a character from *Persona 3*.

## Design

Junpei has dark buzzcut hair, grayish eyes and a goatee. He is shown to be slightly taller than the male protagonist, yet shorter than Akihiko. He is often seen with both of his hands on his belt, except while wielding a two-handed sword.

While at school and in Tartarus he is in the school uniform of Gekkoukan High, along with a blue collared shirt, a cap, a silver necklace, a chain attached to his pants and black dress shoes.

On weekends off, he wears a black jacket with a white shirt, black pants, his hat and necklace.

On summer days off, he wears a faded black tank top and navy blue jeans.

In *Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight*, Junpei is shown wearing his Gekkoukan High School uniform, except he wears his jacket around his waist and underneath is a lime green galaxy shirt, and lime green and gray sneakers with violet laces. He wears a navy baseball cap backwards and bright blue wristband on his right wrist. He also wears black headphones around his neck.

In *Persona 4 Arena Ultimax* he is now 19 years old. His hair is now slightly grown out, and he wears his hat backwards. He reappears wearing an aqua baseball player uniform with a black tank top and white gloves. In addition, he has a new necklace with a dagger design (which is a gift from Chidori).

He always wears his cap, except for a few rare instances.

In *Persona Q*, his hair is a light brown color instead of the usual dark gray. His eyes are much smaller than usual, similar to that of Shinjiro and Kanji Tatsumi, but unlike them his eyes are simply black dots without an iris.

## Personality

Junpei is usually portrayed as goofy, perverted, immature and upbeat. He fancies himself a ladies' man and frequently tries to hit on girls, with little to no success. Despite this, he is capable of being kind and caring, and he often cracks jokes and calls people "dude" to make them feel better. After school, he is typically seen indulging in his hobbies of reading manga or playing video games. His bedroom in the dorm is a complete mess with stuff scattered everywhere, as shown in a command console recording when Mitsuru suspects that there had been a robbery in his room, when that is actually what his room always looks like. He is also very reckless and hot-headed and rarely thinks things through, such as when he blindly chases after a Shadow when he, Yukari and the protagonist are on the monorail during the May full moon event, leaving the latter two to fend for themselves until they catch up to him. However, Junpei does have his sensible moments as well, such as when he repeatedly warns Yukari that going to the back alley behind Port Island Station is dangerous, when she considers it an "adventure." His Arcana is the Magician, which fits with his immature personality and tendency to act before he thinks.

As well as being reckless, Junpei is frequently shown to be book dumb, as he consistently gets low scores on every exam. However, this is largely due to a lack of willingness to study, which only increases when he joins SEES, as he considers saving the world to be more important than school work. This never ceases to annoy Mitsuru, who has to constantly remind him that school is important as well. He's frequently called 'Stupei' by Yukari due to his lack of intelligence and often poor decisions. Although he usually brushes it off, Junpei is shown to greatly dislike this name, and at one point tells her to stop calling him that. Over time, however, she uses the name less and less, and by the end of the game has stopped using it completely, likely due to him becoming more mature. Junpei also starts to take studying more seriously towards the end, and gets a decent score on the final exam. In *Persona 4 Arena Ultimax*, Junpei pursues his hobby of baseball, becoming a role model and coach for a boy named Gorou.

Of all the members of SEES, Junpei's initial reason for joining is the most selfish; to play hero and earn some recognition. At one point, he laments over the fact that nobody will ever know about the group's heroics, since nobody except them know the Dark Hour even exists. He claims that he should be the leader and becomes jealous of the protagonist's special power (regardless of gender), which often results in outbursts aimed at the protagonist out of frustration (his jealousy over the protagonist's abilities were especially pronounced in *Spring of Birth*). In the female protagonist's case, he even expresses annoyance at having to take orders from a girl and goes so far as to say he should be in charge because he's the only the guy in the group, implying a degree of sexism, which Mitsuru calls him out for, although he insists that he didn't mean it in a sexist or condescending way. His desire to be a hero ultimately results in him bragging about being the leader of SEES to Chidori Yoshino, which leads to her kidnapping him in an attempt to make the group give up their mission to eliminate the Dark Hour.

Later, it is revealed that Junpei's 'class clown' persona is largely a facade to hide his deep insecurities; as far as he's concerned, fighting is the only thing he's ever been good at, and he hates that there's someone better than him at even that (the protagonist). It's because of this that he is initially annoyed that Tartarus and the Dark Hour would soon be gone, as that would mean taking away his purpose in life. Sometimes, he is shown to be upset, depressed or angry as a result of his father's alcoholism, whom he resents and has a poor relationship with. Besides these displays of negativity, however, Junpei's attitude usually remains carefree and lighthearted, and he rarely shows his true feelings in the presence of his friends.

His personality undergoes a great change once he meets Chidori and gets to know her, showing a more caring and romantic side to him than what he usually shows to others (although a friendly side becomes apparent in the female protagonist route, it does not develop as far as Junpei's relationship with Chidori). His love for Chidori is shown by the fact that he is comfortable talking about things to her that he can't even discuss with his teammates, such as his fear of being useless and belief that being a Persona-user is all he has going for him. Junpei becomes touched and happy when his relationship with Chidori advances, and in *Persona 3 The Movie*, he buys a gift for her. It is gradually revealed that Chidori and Junpei developed feelings for each other. At one point, Chidori self-mutilates, which greatly upsets Junpei and he tries to talk her out of it.

After the apparent deaths of Takaya Sakaki and Jin Shirato, Chidori tells Junpei that she wishes not to see him again, being unable to deal with her growing feelings for him. Towards the end of November, Chidori attempts to attack Junpei, throwing him into distress. This same night, Takaya shoots Junpei in the stomach, killing him. His death and subsequent revival by Chidori, an act which caused her own death, sent Junpei back into a depressed state. Only with the discovery of Chidori's sketchbook and the pictures of him that she drew does he find the strength to bounce back, resolving to be a better friend to all those close to him. All in all, Junpei becomes much more intelligent and mature through his relationship with Chidori, and resolves to put the life she gave him to good use.

In *The Answer*, during the debate over what to do with the keys, Junpei ends up as the group's voice of reason; while he admits to wanting to go back to when Chidori died, he nevertheless sees Akihiko's point about keeping the past the way it is. He's also the one to point out exactly *why* going back to the past is such a bad idea i.e. they'd have to fight Nyx again and that would mean risking the end of the world as they know it, and calls out Yukari for not thinking through her desire. Despite this, Yukari snaps at him and accuses him of being a coward. After the group decide to fight each other to settle the dispute, Junpei expresses his frustration at the group letting themselves be divided after everything they've been through together. He says he won't allow anyone to make a decision until they've all agreed what to do and that if anyone refuses to accept defeat, he'll beat them back to their senses, a threat he ultimately doesn't go through with when Yukari attempts (futily) to take the True Key from Aigis.

## Gameplay

#### Playstyle

Junpei is a hard-hitting character with the capability to use Trismegistus to set up for several wall bounce combos. Swapping out his two-handed sword for a bat, Junpei's moves are more baseball-based and have the ability to reflect certain projectiles with a precisely timed swing. He can also summon Trismegistus overhead and use fire moves to control the distance between him and the enemy. However, while he does have multiple tactical options, he can be limited by his average attributes.

Junpei's battle style is greatly influenced by the baseball scorecard right next to his SP Gauge; understanding how to use this is key to Junpei's gameplan. Every time Junpei manages to hit his opponent with his bat, he gets a single, or a runner on a base. In the same way, reflecting projectiles with the bat counts as a single as well. This continues until he gets a runner on all bases, after which hits get a runner back to home base, thus scoring a run and adding another point to his scorecard. Each run scored progressively gives Junpei the capacity to deal more damage per hit. In addition, the number of runs he scores is kept between rounds. Once the scorecard reads 10 runs, he automatically activates his install, Victory Cry, when his current combo ends which, upon activation, will stay with him until the end of the match. Victory Cry, other than giving him an overall boost and slowly regenerating his HP (not unlike Spring of Life), will make bat hits as Clean Hits which will increase untechable time, which gives Junpei more room to perform combos.

While this should mean that after 13 hits have been made with the bat, Junpei is at maximum power, there are other factors to consider. When Junpei gets tagged with an attack or a combo, he receives an out, with three outs clearing the runners from their bases, forcing Junpei to fill the field again to continue scoring points. In addition when Junpei whiffs his bat, he gets a strike, with three strikes resulting an out. But when Junpei's bat gets blocked, Junpei gets a ball with 4 balls giving him a runner on base. When using his Supers, Junpei is able to allow the runners to all score points, after which he himself scores a home run. Thus at the price of his runners at their bases, Junpei can further advance toward his quota.

## Battle Quotes

### *Persona 3*

* *"Hermes!"* (Enemy weak to attack/Critical with Phys skill: Hermes)
* *"Trismegistus!"* (Enemy weak to attack/Critical with Phys skill: Trismegistus)
* *"I can't lose to him/her."* (Summoning Persona for the first time)
* *"Check this out!"* (Using Persona skills: Trismegistus)
* *"Time to shake things up a bit."* (Using Persona skills: Trismegistus)
* *"It's on!"* (Using Persona Skills: Trismegistus)
* *"Home run!"* (Delivering a Critical Hit)
* *"Awesome!"* (Ally exploits weakness/Critical)
* *"Get 'em!"* (Cheering on an ally)
* *"Here's our chance! Let's get 'em!"* (Prompting All-Out Attack)
* *"Get back here, you son of a-!"* (During All-Out Attack)
* *"Huh? Why not?"* (Relenting from All-Out Attack)
* *"Yeah! It's my turn!"* (Requesting Co-Op attack)
* *"Way to go Yuka-tan!"* (Cheering on Yukari)
* *"Way to go, Senpai!"* (Cheering on Akihiko, Mitsuru or Shinjiro)
* *"That one just won't die!"* (Failed to defeat the enemy)
* *"Damn, I couldn't finish it off."* (Failed to defeat the enemy)
* *"Here!"* (Healing an ally)
* *"What the hell?!"* (Attack misses, causing him to stumble)
* *"Damn it!"* (Attack misses, causing him to stumble)
* *"Sorry to keep you waiting."* (Standing up after being knocked Down)
* *"Damn. I blew it."* (Standing up after being knocked Down)
* *"Ngh, you serious?"* (Faint/Unconscious)
* *"I'm back, baby!"* (Revived from Faint/Unconsciousness)
* *"Fear not, Junpei's here!*" (Entering battle)
* *"Gotcha."* (Changing battle tactics)
* *"All right. Fine."* (Changing battle tactics)
* *"Who's the man!?"* (Battle won: Hermes)
* *"Not bad, huh?"* (Battle won: Hermes)
* *"Let's keep going!"* (Battle won: Trismegistus)
* *"When the going gets tough, the tough get going!"* (Battle won: Trismegistus)
* *"Dude, we gotta pull together!"*
* *"Ta da da da! Junpei has leveled up!"* (Level up)
* *"Ta da da da! I'm da man!"* (Level up)
* *"Mano-a-mano! Let's do this!"* (Summoning Persona: Trismegistus)
* *"Crap, Slash attacks are out!"* (Enemy resistant to Slash)
* *"Strikes are no good!"* (Enemy resistant to Strike)
* *"That thing can't be Pierced!"* (Enemy resistant to Pierce)
* *"Forget about using Fire!"* (Enemy resistant to Fire)
* *"Dude, Ice is useless!"* (Enemy resistant to Ice)
* *"Forget about Wind!"* (Enemy resistant to Wind)
* *"Dammit, Electricity's out!"* (Enemy resistant to Electricity)
* *"Light's not doin' a damn thing!"* (Enemy resistant to Light)
* *"Darkness won't work!"* (Enemy resistant to Darkness)
* *"Shit, Almighty won't work?!"* (Enemy resistant to Almighty)
* *"Holy shit. It's Death."* (Encountering Death)
* *"No, he's/she's not alone! I won't let him/her die!"* (Final Nyx battle)
* *"Trismegistus... You damn copycat!"* (Fighting ??? in The Answer)

### *Persona 4 Arena Ultimax*

Quotes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGgtnYrE3Fw

* Dun-dun-dun-DAH!!! (Character select)
* 2 outs and the bases loaded...I'm up to bat! (Character select)
* Looks like it's my turn! (Character select)
* Alright, here goes! (Character select)
* Uh. It's hard to take you seriously, looking like that. (vs. Shadow Teddie in Arcade mode)
* I swear I just felt a huge chill go up my spine... (vs. Shadow Kanji in Arcade mode)
* This guy's got the bearings of someone capable of getting things done. (vs. Shadow Yu in Arcade mode)
* Uh, Wait a sec here. I think I brought a bat to an axe fight...! (vs. Shadow Labrys in Arcade mode)
* Um, that topless cape look is pretty um... old. (intro vs. Akihiko)
* Whoa, that looks so evil... (intro vs. Shadow Junpei)
* N-N-N-No! I don't wanna be an ice sculpture!! (intro vs. Mitsuru)
* Let's get the ball rolling! (Intro)
* Let's play fair and square! (Intro)
* The hero is here! (Intro)
* Watch me make history! (Idle in battle)
* So obvious! (Activating Super Flamingo Swing)
* There's more to come! (During Super Flamingo Swing)
* Combo Attack! (During Super Spin Swing)
* I'm on a roll! (During Super Spin Swing)
* I'm going to do this! (During Full Speed Slide)
* Easy Now! (While Getting Hit)
* Goodbye! (Activating Inferno Homer)
* I'll Smash you! (During Inferno Homer)
* Junpei Iori Style!! (During Super Vorpal Bat)
* Time for a beatdown! (Activating Super Vorpal Bat)
* I'm done playing! (During Super Vorpal Bat)
* Well, time to do this! (Activating Victory Cry)
* My trump card! (Activating Victory Cry)
* I'm not playing around here! (Awakened)
* I'll show you what a hero can do! (Awakened)
* I've got stuff to protect too! (Awakened)
* Can't let it end like this! (Awakened)
* Playtime's over! (Awakened)
* Here goes my special attack! (Activating his Instant Kill)
* The perfect swing! (During instant kill)
* Big Bang! (During Instant Kill)
* Look at all this macho glory! (During Instant kill)
* Come on, you're making me walk? (Round Victory)
* Hey, pitcher, you scared or something? (Round Victory)
* Ta-da-da-da! Junpei has leveled up! (Match Victory)
* I've smacked something unworthy again! (Match Victory)
* My battle has just begun! (Match Victory)
* Justice Wins! (Match Victory)
* Thank you! (Match Victory)
* I never lose! (Match Victory)
* Has my time come at last!? (After defeating Akihiko)

#### Victory Quotes

##### Normal Type

Generic
* An amazing grand slam! Hehe! Today's MVP is once again Junpei Iori!
* Tadaaaaah! A total victory for me!
* Heheheh! No one can beat me when it comes to how fast you can swing a bat!
* If you want a rematch, I'll accept whenever! We can even make it a baseball match if you want!
* Well then, I've gotten pretty hyped up here, so it's time for a nostalgic session of "Junpei's Believe It, or Don't"!
* Hehe, you were good. Though no one can win out over my love for Chidori!

Character Specific
* Akihiko Sanada: Hehe, I scored a win off him! Who's da man!?
* Ken Amada: You've grown into a fine man! Though you still have a ways to go until you reach my level of manliness, hahaha!
* Kanji Tatsumi: Wow, he's got some muscles on him. Maybe it's because you walk a lot in the boonies...?
* Naoto Shirogane: There's nothing I can't hit! Bullets, baseballs, it doesn't matter-I'll knock 'em out of the park!
* Rise Kujikawa: I can't believe I ended up fighting the real Risette...! \*gasp\* Is this a behind-closed-doors thing? Are the paparazzi gonna come after me!?
* Yosuke Hanamura: I get this odd sense of familiarity off him... Let's sit down and have a nice chat someday, kid!
* Yukiko Amagi: Now that I get a closer look, she's an ideal Japanese woman! That's something you don't see much anymore! Man, the girls in the country are something else...!
* Elizabeth: That was close...! It's been a while since my life flashed before my eyes like that... They say every rose has its thorns, but she was like, all thorns...
* Labrys: You're... Aigis' older sister, right? I mean, seriously!? Beautiful robot sisters!?
* Shadow Labrys: Aw man, I lost my shit for a minute there... But! Mere Shadows are no match for me!
* Minazuki: Are you the mastermind behind this case? Sheesh, is this really how you get your kicks?
* **Shadow Junpei**: If you're gonna imitate me, then make me look more manly! Am I really that evil-looking!?

##### Shadow Type

Generic
* Time's up! It's game over! The world could not be saved... Too bad!
* Hahaha! Even I can do something like this! Stop lecturing me like you're better than me!
* Enough of you pushing your luck all the time. You're a worthless scumbag who can't live without depending on someone else!
* Ahahaha! All weaklings can do is hang their heads and run home with their tails between their legs!
* Someone of your skills was at least good as a warmup! So, who wants to be destroyed next?
* Destroying the others to rise to the top. There's nothing easier to understand than that! Haha!
* A certain baseball player said once: You can win a game of ball all by yourself!
* It's been a while since I've been back, but you're still doing the same stupid stuff! It's so dumb that it's pissing me off!

Character Specific
* Yu Narukami: Whoa, whoa, whoaaaa! Stop acting like a leader when you've got no skills. I'll trade spots with you anytime!
* **Junpei Iori**: There's no way you'll pull off a grand slam. If you finally understand, then suck your thumb and watch me from the sidelines!

## Trivia

* Junpei shares the same Japanese voice actor, Kōsuke Toriumi, with Eikichi Mishina from the *Persona 2* duology. Both characters share some similar personality traits, such as a rivalry with a female character who has feelings for the main character and a clear love interest.
* Junpei's level up quote, "*ta da da da!*" is originally "*teretettē*" (テレッテッテー) in the Japanese version. The sound and rhyme likely allude to the viral jingle of the *Template:W* series, otherwise commonly translated to onomatopoeia as "tērettē" (テーレッテー).
	+ This eventually becomes an ascended reference, especially in Japanese by the announcer in *The Ultimax Ultra Suplex Hold*.
* Junpei's original victory pose alludes to Template:W's disco pose of *Template:W*.
	+ The pose could also be a reference to when the New York Yankees player, Wade Boggs jumped onto a horse after a World Series Baseball game.
* The Shirt of Chivalry, a type of costume for males in *FES* and *P3P*, is noted for the kanji symbols on their backs that symbolizes the character themselves. Junpei's kanji means "Color" (色), as in his colorful personality. The kanji also means "dirty minded," "sexual desire" or "variety," a trait of Junpei used for humorous purposes.
* After watching American movies at the theater with Junpei, he expresses regret about not being born in America: *"Dude... Why couldn't I have been born in the U.S.A? By now, I'd have been all... Saving the babes! Fighting for my country! And everyone would be like— "Ohhhh, Junpei!" Man... Why'd I have to be born in Japan...?"*[1]
* Originally in *Persona 3 Portable* there is a "good" ending of female protagonist with Junpei confessing his love for her like the other male teammates. This was scrapped from the finalized version (likely due to interfering with Junpei and Chidori's relationship), but the data remains in the game and Junpei's Japanese voice casting for this ending can be heard. In the final version of the game, Junpei friendzones the female protagonist.
* If one hacks *Persona 4*, Junpei's character model can be found. This is almost certainly because *Persona 4* was built on the *Persona 3* engine, resulting in many leftovers including Japanese voice clips, music tracks and portraits.
* During his Persona summoning Junpei may say "I can't lose to him," referring to the male protagonist. He still says "him" in the female protagonist's route.
* In the anime *Persona -trinity soul-*, someone resembling Junpei appears as a brief cameo in episode 13 when Ryou Kanzato is looking around as he is leaving the police department. Whether or not this is him has never officially been proven.
* In *Persona 4 Golden*, if Yosuke Hanamura has the Gekkou Uniform equipped, he will mimic Junpei's victory pose after battles, as well as say Junpei's lines. Befitting since they are both of the Magician Arcana.
* Junpei is the only *Persona 3* character to summon Persona without using Evoker in other moves in *Persona 4 Arena Ultimax*. Akihiko can be sometimes counted while not using his Awakening Super and Instant Kill.
* Junpei is unique among Persona-users of the Magician Arcana, in that his two Personas are heavily physical based in an arcana known more for magical ability.
* *Ultimax* reveals that Junpei is a fan of Rise Kujikawa. He's excited to fight her in his intro pose, and he has a special win quote if he wins against her.
* In *Ultimax*, Junpei's Clean Hit mechanic is actually pre-dated by *Guilty Gear* character Sol Badguy (as the introduction of the mechanic was introduced in *Guilty Gear XX Slash*-onwards).
	+ The theme of the clean hit also befits Junpei's baseball theme as well, as a clean hit is a term used for baseball, and in other fighting games that share this rare mechanic, it is described mainly as a type of hit landed directly at the central point of the target at the right positioning.
* Answering a fan question for the *Persona Stalker Club* show, Atlus said that the necklace Junpei wears during *Persona 4 Arena Ultimax* is from Chidori's favorite apparel brand, which she gave to him as a gift.
* Junpei is the first and only non-Wild Card user that had a Persona fusion done, where his Persona Hermes fused with Chidori's Medea to become Trismegistus.