Sanako Fukumoto

**Sanako Fukumoto** (福元 小那子 *Fukumoto Sanako*) is a playable character from Persona: Story. She is the most popular girl at Akira and Gentaro's school and has a part-time job as a librarian.

## General Information

School: Avalon High

Zodiac Sign: Gemini

Weapon: Bow and Arrows

Arcana: The Lovers

Persona: Laka, Guinevere

Japanese VA: Saki Fujita

English VA: Cristina Vee

Theme: To Be Announced

## Design

Sanako is a girl with orange hair and green eyes. She is of medium height.

## Personality

Sanako starts off as a pompous and self-entitled mean girl who treats no one with respect. In truth, this behavior is all an act to please her parents. She is actually an adorably optimistic and cheerful person who isn't afraid to crack jokes when she sees an opportunity. Many of these jokes come in the form of bad puns, with her sometimes noting that she was funnier when she was younger and that her lack of humor has dampened her abilities. This is shown to be the case as her humor does improve during the game, even managing to get the normally stone-faced Yuri to laugh until she cries at one point.

Sanako is naturally born beautiful, with Gentaro saying that basically any boy she encounters will ask her out after getting one good look at her. Sanako is fully aware of how people view her, but wants to be liked for her personality instead of her looks. She nevertheless proves herself to be flirtatious, especially if the protagonist dates her.

## Profile

Sanako was born to a family that is very rich and well-off. Sanako grew up with a very happy and cheerful disposition. Her parents often manipulated places she went to, making every part of her life a fabricated one. All of her friends are people that her parents approve of. She began to lose herself and became self-centered and more than a little mean.

At some point in the past, she met a boy named Shingo while at a party her parents hosted. The two initually dated, but eventually Sanako politely broke up with him due to feeling no deeper feelings for him. What she didn't know is that Shingo hated her for dumping him, and his harboring of feelings towards her gave birth to an Enigma. Overtime, this Enigma grew into a Land designed to resemble a castle like that in a fairy tale.

**Shingo's Land**

Sanako first meets the boy Akira while at a pep rally. Gentaro asks her out, but Sanako turns him down. She does agree to allow them to join her during her night shift at the school library, appreciating Gentaro's guts for being so upfront.

The two go missing, so Sanako goes looking for them. When she finds them, she asks them where they have been. They tell her how they met a owl named Hooter and saw Akira summon a giant knight to fight demons. Sanako has no idea what they are talking about, unaware that they are discussing the World of Fiction.

One day after school, Sanako gets in trouble due to the library being broken into. In actuality, the break-in was Akira and Gentaro visiting the World of Fiction. Angry at the two boys for their hotheadedness, she is confronted by Shingo. Unaware at first that she was talking to Shingo's Shadow Self, she tries to let out her frustrations at being mistreated by everyone around her. But she quickly realizes that Shingo is not acting normal, but can't prevent him from attempting to force himself onto her. Fleeing in terror, she runs across Akira and Gentaro and joins them in a chase that takes them around the school. She is especially surprised when Akira and Gentaro decide that the best place to hide from him would be inside the World of Fiction. She reluctantly agrees to the plan out of desperation, entering the collective unconscious for the first time.

Her surprise at first meeting Hooter and learning that Akira and Gentaro's story was actually true takes her back, to the point that she is wide-eyed and speechless until Hooter breaks her out of her dazed state by saying that she looks creepy. She also learns of Shingo's Shadow Swap, which she volunteers to help undo. Joining the Grimoire Court for their third assault on Shingo's Land, she stays on the sidelines because she has no Persona. The group then meets her Shadow Self, which embarrasses Sanako to the point that she refuses to believe that the "twirling airhead" is a part of her. As the group journeys deeper into the castle, Shadow Sanako truly begins to get on Sanako's nerves.

During an encounter with one of Shingo's Elites where the Grimoire Court gets wiped out, Shadow Sanako's cheering and encouragement finally makes Sanako snap and yell at her other self to shut up. Her Shadow then explains more thoroughly what it is to calm her down and encourages her to stop hiding her Enigma. This leads Sanako to explain her frustration over her life and her past with Shingo. Exposing her Enigma makes Sanako determined to fight as she fuses with her Shadow Self and summons Laka to defeat the Elite, who takes the form of ???.

Joining the Grimoire Court officially after this point, she agrees to use her job at the library to make sure that the entrance to the World of Fiction is available when they need it. During the final confrontation with Shadow Shingo, she admits her personal guilt with not noticing how much the breakup hurt their friendship.

**Social Link**

Sanako's Social Link is established after she joins the Grimoire Court. Sanako can usually be found after school working at the school library. Her later ranks require Kindness. Spending time with Sanako involves helping her to shed her parental training and become more like she used to be. Completing this Social Link causes Sanako's Persona to evolve into Guinevere and allows the player to unlock the ultimate Lovers Persona, the Greek god Pan.

**Shadow Sanako**

Shadow Sanako is the embodiment of Sanako's Enigma of her losing her true self. She dresses like a stereotypical court jester in the colors of red and yellow. Sanako reveals that her Shadow Self is based on what she acted like in the past, carefree and cheerful without a care in the world. The court jester outfit is based on Sanako's belief that her old personality made her look like a fool. The colors for the outfit also hold a deeper meaning: red is the color of passion and yellow is the color of joy.

### Dancing Past Midnight

Default Outfit

Sanako wears a pink dress that has had the skirt torn open to expose her legs. She has styled her hair into a ponytail. She wears long white gloves and a diamond bracelet.

* School Winter Outfit
* School Summer Outfit
* Winter Outfit

Sanako wears a bright pink leather jacket with a yellow undershirt. She also wears dress shoes.

* Summer Outfit

Sanako wears a white shirt with no sleeves, a pair of sky blue shorts, and a short necklace with a purple gemstone on the end.

* Swimsuit Outfit
* Velvet Room Outfit
* Halloween Outfit

Sanako wears a zombie cheerleader outfit.

* Christmas Outfit

Sanako dresses like a Christmas elf.

* Featherman Outfit

Sanako dresses up as **Pink Hummingbird**, a member of Phoenix Featherman Legacy.

## Battle Quotes

* *There! (Hitting Weak Point)*
* *Laka! We need you! (Summoning Persona!)*
* *Oh, that's not good. (Fails to Eliminate Enemy)*
* *Now that's just mean! (Enemy Blocks attack)*
* *No you don't! (Dodge enemy attack)*
* *Don't worry! I'm OK! (Recover from Down/Dizzy)*
* *I believe in you! (Cheering on Gentaro)*
* *Let's Go Team! (Prompting All-Out Attack)*
* *I hope you're right! (Declining All-Out Attack)*
* *Go! Go! Go! (Performing All-Out Attack)*
* *Eat this! (During All-out Attack)*
* *Not surprising! (Battle won)*
* *Cool! Level Up! (Level Up)*

**Victory Quotes**

## Symbolism

**Fantasy character trope #1: The fair princess**

* Similar to a damsel in distress motivating a hero's efforts, Sanako gives the team morale.
* Sanako being the most popular girl in school makes her similar to a princess having high royal status in a kingdom.

**Fantasy character trope #2: The zany court jester**

* Sanako is very goofy and wild because she enjoys making other people happy.
* Sanako's overenthusiastic actions sometimes makes her look a little bit silly.

**The Lovers Arcana**

*The Lovers Arcana is associated with people that hold relationships in high regard. While previously limited to romantic implications, modern interpretations allow the Lovers to represent any kind of love like familial or between friends. The positive aspects of Lovers include commitment, falling in love, attraction, beauty, and overcoming trials. The negative aspects of Lovers include broken relationships, infidelity, relationship issues, and separation.*

Sanako is a social butterfly with many tight friendships. She is often noted in the game as being very beautiful and being very faithful to her acquaintances. Her faithfulness is explained as her learning from her bad handling regarding Shingo, which shows her ability to improve herself. If the protagonist chooses to romance her, the player learns that part of the reason she allowed him to work at the library is because she found him handsome. Other interactions hint that Sanako has a crush on the protagonist. One of her struggles is that many of the friends she has are of her parents choosing, making her feel no sympathy towards them. She also makes flirtatious remarks towards many male characters, even if the protagonist becomes her boyfriend.

## Etymology

The name Sanako means different things based on the kanji used. The kanji used here translate to "small, beautiful child". Sanako has many different possible kanji combinations including "helpful beautiful child", "vivid seventh rainbow", "beautiful sand child", and "smart calm child".

The last name Fukumoto means different things based on the kanji used. The kanji used here translate to "blessed origin".

## Trivia

* Sanako's zodiac sign of Gemini is fitting, as the astrological sign is one of the largest symbols of the Lovers.
* Sanako's social status, usage of a longbow in combat, and heavy pink color scheme draw comparisons to Yukari Takeba from Persona 3. The major difference is Sanako's childish personality against Yukari's serious demeanor.