Akano Kurusu

"I just… need to find out who I am… then I can think about 'love' and 'my future'..."

-Akano Kurusu, Persona 5

Also known as:

Aka~Tan (by Ryuji)

Lady Akano (by Morgana)

Joker (Codename)

Onee~Chan (by Akari)

My Lady (by Yusuke)

My Princess (by Akechi)

Aka (by Makoto)

Kano (by Akiro)

Darling (by Mother)

Inmate (by Caroline & Justine)

Prisoner

Red Head

My little guinea pig (by Tae Takemi)

Trickster

Leader

Reina Amamiya (Prototype name before Akano Kurusu was selected)

Japanese Name:

くるす あかの

來栖 赤野

(Please correct me if I'm wrong, I'm not an expert)

Romaji:

Shujinkō

Jōkā

Shujin

Rīdā

Torikkusutā

Kurusu Akano

Amamiya Reina (Prototype name before Akano Kurusu was selected)

Affiliation: Phantom Thieves of Hearts

Date of Birth: 6/11/1999

Age: 16-17

Zodiac: Gemini

Height: 155cm (5'0")

Blood Type: O

Melee Weapon: Knives

Ranged Weapon: Pistols

Arcana: The Fool

Persona:

Jeanne

Jeanne (Upgrade)

Satanael

Comtesse de la Motte (P5R)

Theme:

Invitation to Freedom (Taku Takahashi Remix)

Cinematic Tale (tofubeats Remix)

Japanese VA: Asami Sanada

English VA: Michelle Rojas

Appearances:

.Persona 5/Royal-Playable Character; Protagonist

.Persona 5 (Manga); Protagonist

.Persona 5 Mementos Mission; Protagonist

.Persona 5 The Animation The Day Breakers; Protagonist

.Persona 5 The Animation; Protagonist

.Persona 5 The Stage

.Persona 5 Dancing in Starlight; Protagonist

.Persona 3 Dancing in Moonlight; DLC Partner

.Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers

.Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth; Protagonist

.Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth Roundabout Special; Main Character

.Night of the Phantom; Protagonist as The Phantom

Design:

Akano has dark grey eyes with long, dyed red hair tied into a half ponytail by a black ribbon that, by the words of Ann, is very soft and silky (After a certain date, she wears the ribbon around her neck). Ever since 4/16, Akano's hair go from waist-length to shoulder length because of story reasons but it is shown to grow fast, as by the time of the beach scene, her hair is up to above her elbows. Before the events of Persona 5, her hair was black that she braids and ties with an elastic band. After Sae's Palace, she dyes her hair back to black since it's much easier to maintain during this time. However, she bleaches her hair yet again after Shido's Palace then dyes it to red afterwards. Something that's a constant is her glasses. Unlike the male protagonist, Akano's eye sight is slightly worse. She uses them for reading but would wear them everywhere for the same reason as her male counterpart. Of course, she doesn't need them to walk around. Another constant is her wearing a necklace with a magatama with a pearl on each side. She wears it with her winter school uniform but it's underneath the turtleneck. She starts wearing it after her birthday.

Her winter school uniform is worn normally but with the blazer, the top bottom isn't buttoned up because of it blazer being a little too small while also wearing black pantyhose underneath her skirt. For shoes, she wears black ankle boots.

Her summer uniform however, Akano wears a light hoodie on top of the summer shirt as it is too small for her chest and would show too much cleavage. This is shown from the ride to Futaba's Palace. She also doesn't wear the black pantyhose and instead wears red ankle socks while wearing brown loafers.

On days of during winter, Akano wears an oversized dark blue sweater dress that exposes her left shoulder and left bra strap. On her neck is a white scarf. As for pants, she wears white high-waisted ripped jeans and on her feet are a pair of brown ankle boots with heels.

On days off during summer, Akano wears a white off-shoulder crop top with 'STFU' on it. Under it is a black singlet and a pair of light brown high-waisted skorts. She also wears a pair of dark blue jelly sandals that can be tied up.

She has two sleepwears depending on the season. In winter, she wears a long sleeved pink and blue ombre nightie with a white Peter Pan collar and it ends at her knees that has lace on the cuts. In the summer she wears a light blue lace spaghetti strap singlet with pastel pink accents and a matching pair of light blue lace shorts with pastel pink accents.

Her phantom thief outfit is a feminine version of her male counterpart. She wears a red off-shoulder, sweetheart cut-out blouse with long sleeves and a black corset with yellow buttons around her waist to replace the male protagonist's high-necked waistcoat. Replacing Akira's/Ren's tailcoat is a high-necked clip cape with three cuts in it. The pants are replaced by a black pleated skirt with a knife and gun pouch on her right leg. Her shoes are thigh-high blueish gray boots with leather patches on her knees and 5-inch heels. To touch it up, her ribbon is still there. After a certain date, the ribbon in her hair moves from her hair to around her neck, tied into a bow. Her blouse also changes to have a side view of a lotus flower design.

Akano's swimsuit is a dark blue monokini with star designs and black sandals. Over her swimsuit is a white lace cover up. Her hair is also tied back into a small ponytail. On her head is a pair of gold-framed glasses with purple lenses.

The cognitive being in Kamoshida's Palace is her in a Playboy Bunny suit with a collar and tie around her neck with bunny ears on her head and a cotton ball on her ass to resemble a bunny's tail. Her legs are covered with black translucent pantyhose and black 7-inch heels.

In Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight, Akano's hair is changed to black hair with red tips with a thick red ribbon tied in a bow as a headband. She has a red crop top with black straps that tie at the back while having the Shujin Academy blazer unbuttoned and cuffed sleeves at her elbows. The Shujin Academy skirt is worn high-waisted as she has a pair of shorts underneath. For shoes, she has knee-high black boot wedges with pink and white striped thigh-high socks. Lastly, around her neck is the ribbon and her necklace.

Personality:

"Ann, you really need to let it all out. If not, you will be stressed and... might take it out on someone innocent. I know I may be a stranger to you but, I'm asking this as a concerned classmate. If you need a person to vent to, I don't mind being that person. I also vow to keep things between the two of us unless the situation changes. You know what I mean."

-Akano Kurusu to Ann Takamako

Akano is very sarcastic and cold most of the time but this is just a facade. In reality, she is very shy but wants to be more confident while being a kind and caring person. (However, there are some scenes before her facade fades where she will drop it and take it seriously) This comes from her past when she lost her close friend, whom she was dependant on for most of her life. Not only that, she had to go to Japan and leave her aunt and uncle who were more of a parental figures than her actual parents. She didn't have much friends ever since moving to Japan and the culture shock of it all lead her into a deep depression and lead to her having a suicide attempt. Afterwards, her whole personality changed. This was when her facade began. Especially since she changed schools She also made a new friend, Akiro Saito, who saw right through her. He and her little sister, Akari Kurusu, are the only ones who noticed which lead to him being an older brother figure to the two girls. During this time, Akano tries to rebuild herself and ended up becoming the Treasurer of her Student Council. Everything was going well until a certain event that began Persona 5.

During Persona 5, we can see times where Akano's facade breaks down, showing the true her. However after a certain date, her facade begins to fade away. By the end of Okumura's Palace, her facade is completely gone as she tries to build up confidence with the help of Ann and Akiro. Her reaction to Shiho's attempt was horror as she knows what Shiho sees and know how broken someone should be to go that far. Because of this, Akano used to be disgusted by Makoto when she meets her because of Makoto saying that Shiho's suicide attempt to the point that she slaps her. However after hearing Makoto's story, Akano starts to open up to her. She starts calling her Mako and Makoto calls her Aka. When it comes to male party members, Morgana has the typical pet relationship with Akano and it shows at times that they are close by having Morgana being on her head in his MetaVerse form and on her shoulders in the real world.

With Ryuji when things aren't serious, the two poke fun at each other, being best buds. But when things do get serious, the two show how deeply they care for each other. Further down the line, it begins more evident that Ryuji has intimate feelings for Akano. Are the feelings mutual? You will have to find out for yourself…

With Yusuke, at first he finds her enticing because of her bright red hair contrasting with Ann's hair and eye color. After his awakening and seeing Akano's phantom thief outfit, he begins to want to paint her. Mainly a nude painting but Akano would always refuse. After fighting Shadow Madarame, he begins to see her differently and start calling her, 'My Lady'.

Lastly, Akechi. At first, Akano didn't like him because of him saying that the phantom thieves aren't just. At the same time however, she also blushes around him especially if he does a certain action towards her. After a certain date, Akano gets to see the real Akechi and starts warming up to him. At the same time, Akechi begins to call her 'My Princess' with her blushing too.

Profile:

*SPOILERS*

Etymology:

Akano Kurusu (來栖 赤野) 來 means 'future' and 栖 means 'nest'. 赤 means 'scarlet' or 'red'. 野 is just apart of the alphabet. (Please correct me, I want to learn Japanese properly)

The last name is for the same reason why they called Joker that in the manga while Akano is for another reason. With 赤 (aka) meaning 'scarlet' or 'red' is a call back to the color of the game being red. It also comes into play that I based her design off the red joker in a playing card deck with the red hair she has and her phantom thief outfit being more red than male Joker. I just thought it was fitting.

Trivia:

.Akano's design is based on the red joker from the playing card deck.

.This comes to play with her code name being Joker. Her design is based off of a joker along with jokers being Wild Cards and Trump Cards in certain card games and jokers being tied to the Fool Arcana

.The black ribbon found in Akano's hair has symbolism. Not only is from Nicole, but the color also means something. Black is associated with fear, strength, mystery, grief and much more which are things that can be associated with both Akano and Nicole. Them both having it in their hair, has symbolism in itself. Hair is symbolized as a link to the spiritual world. The longer the hair, the stronger the connection is. This is connected to Nicole's family bloodline and Akano being connected to her. Now the reason why Akano has the ribbon on her neck is because of chakras. Akano's talent is her voice which comes from the throat chakra. The voice box is located in the neck too, reassuring this. This shows that Akano is having her own sense of identity by having the ribbon tied around. This makes the meaning solely being strength, making the whole meaning her throat chakra/voice is the strongest.

.The magatama on the necklace Akano wears was a gift from Nicole's family, hinting what her family is

.The pearls on the necklace symbolize purity, generosity and loyalty to the wearer

.Akano's Japanese voice actress, Asami Sanada, is known for her roles as Kurumi Tokisaki from Date a Live, Reisuke Houjou from Mirai Nikki, Rain VIII from the Fate series and many more.

.Akano's English voice actress, Michelle Rojas, is known for her roles as Tohka Yatogami from Date a Live, Mini from Fairy Tale, Shima Nishina from Kiss Him, Not Me and many more

.The way Akano summons her Persona is a call back to Metis from Persona 3 FES: The Answer