Mitsuru Kirijo

Mitsuru Kirijo
Persona character
Mitsuru Kirijo, as she appears in Persona 3.
First game	Persona 3 (2006)
Voiced by	English Tara Platt Allegra Clark (Reload)[1] Japanese Rie Tanaka
Portrayed by	Asami Tano (musical)
In-universe information
Nationality	Japanese

Mitsuru Kirijo (Japanese: 桐条 美鶴, Hepburn: Kirijō Mitsuru) is a fictional character in the Persona series, appearing as a main character in Persona 3. She is the unofficial leader of an organization called SEES (Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad), which the main characters of the game participate in to fight creatures called Shadows.

Concept and creation

Mitsuru Kirijo is the only child of the head of the Kirijo Group, Takeharu Kirijo and a top-ranking valedictorian and student council president. In battle, she wields one-handed swords such as rapiers and sabers and Ice-based magic. Her Personas are Penthesilea (ペンテシレア, Penteshirea) and Artemisia (アルテミシア, Arutemishia) of The Empress Arcana.

She is voiced by Rie Tanaka in Japanese and Tara Platt in English.^[2][3] Shigenori Soejima created Mitsuru to be a tough-looking woman on the exterior, but with a weak side in the interior.^[4] She is portrayed by Asami Tano in Persona 3: The Weird Masquerade,^[5] the Persona 4 Arena stage play,^[6] and the Persona 4 Arena Ultimax Song Project stage play.^[7]

Appearances

Mitsuru appears in Persona 3. She has been battling Shadows since she was a little girl, as the unofficial leader of SEES (Special Extracurricular Execution Squad). At the beginning of the game she avoids battle and acts as a support character, offering analysis and advice. She joins the party in combat only after the discovery of Fuuka Yamagishi, whose Persona's analysis power is much stronger. Throughout the story, Mitsuru hides many details about Tartarus and the Dark Hour from the group, due to feelings of guilt over her family's involvement in the accident that created them. Since her grandfather was responsible for everything, she believes that she alone bears the burden of setting the world right. Her Persona was artificially induced to allow her to participate in the battle against the Shadows. Mitsuru is the only SEES member that had her ability to summon a Persona forced on her. Mitsuru loses all will to fight after Ikutsuki kills her father, since restoring the family honor is meaningless without a family. She regains her resolve thanks to some intervention from Yukari. She decides to take over leadership of the Kirijo Group after the conflict with Nyx is finished and she graduates high school.

Mitsuru appears as a playable character in Persona 4 Arena, which takes place over two years after the events of "The Answer". Now 20 years old, Mitsuru is a university student and the leader of the Shadow Operatives, a group composed of Persona users that fights Shadows. She joins Aigis and Akihiko to search for the Anti-Shadow weapon Labrys that disappeared from her plane. Her Persona is Artemisia.^[8]

Reception

Mitsuru has received generally positive reception. She was named one of the 10 best Persona characters by Kimberley Wallace of Game Informer. She praised Mitsuru for being a self-actualizing person and for how caring she is.^[9] Wallace also regarded her as the best female character in role-playing games and noted the relationship between the Persona 3 protagonist and her as "thoroughly enjoy[able]."^[10][11] Sam Marchello of RPGamer called her a "babe," while Chris Moyse of Destructoid called her "the coolest character" in Persona, praising her for her fashion sense.^[12][13] Meghan Sullivan of IGN also ranked her among the best Persona characters, similarly praising her for being a caring and strong character.^[14] Ben Lee of Digital Spy called her the "standout" member of the cast due to her being "intelligent, tough-minded" and knowing "what she wants."^[15] Mike Fahey of Kotaku called her the series "greatest heroine," identifying her "power" and "confidence" as two of her strong qualities.^[16] Destructoid Steven Hansen, who was reluctant about the chibi art style of Persona Q, felt less so after seeing Mitsuru, who he felt was cute and was convincing.^[17]

When playing as a male character in Persona 3, Cassandra Khaw of USGamer found her "accomplished and elegant"; however, when she played as a female character, she found her "too distant."^[18] Kotaku writer Leigh Alexander discussed how her perspective changed between playing Persona 3 as a male character and as a female character regarding Mitsuru; where she found Mitsuru admirable when playing as a male character, she found her "irritatingly perfect."^[19]

In "Comparative Analysis of Storytelling Technique in Kingdom Hearts II (2005) and Persona 3 Portable (2009)" Shazwin Bt. Sahmir and Norlela Ismail from University Teknologi Mara noted that the character's relationship with the protagonist tends to depend in Persona 3 Portable depending on the gender chosen. The male's bad choice will say she is unreliable while the female ones will ask in worry about her wellbeing.^[20] In "Rules, Rhetoric, and Genre: Procedural Rhetoric in Persona 3" T. Harper from Games and Culture noted Mitsuru's character arc goes along Yukari Takeba's as both evolve their Personas when they discover more knowledge about their parents.^[21] The Journal of Intercultural Mediation and Communication commented the localization emphasises her background as well as her social status, the original Japanese version of the game made the Japanese Mitsuru say English lines. In contrast, the English localization changed it by letting Mitsuru use French words occasionally. When the game enters its battle phase, players can often unleash a palette of magic powers, each with a name specifically designed for the fictional storyworld of the game. The only localisation here was to provide English transliterations for the original.^[22]

Her portrayal in the Persona 4 Arena musical received praise from Richard Eisenbeis of Kotaku, calling her portrayal "perfect" and praising the chemistry between her and Akihiko.^[23] VentureBeat expressed similar comments calling her "like a sword-wielding Emma Peel".^[24]

References

1. Lada, Jenni (2023-06-11). "New Persona 3 Reload Voice Actors Announced for Remake". Siliconera. Archived from the original on 2023-07-07. Retrieved 2023-06-11.
2. Ashcraft, Brian (April 13, 2011). "The Voice Actress Capturing The Hearts Of Otaku Everywhere". Kotaku. Archived from the original on October 8, 2019. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
3. Shea, Brian (September 23, 2015). "A Look At The Voices Behind Gaming's Iconic Characters". Game Informer. Archived from the original on August 28, 2019. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
4. Soejima, Shigenori (2007). Art of Persona 3. Atlus. p. 27.
5. Nelkin, Sarah (March 1, 2015). "Persona 3 Game Gets 3rd Stage Play in June". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on April 2, 2024. Retrieved April 1, 2024.
6. "Mitsuru and Akihiko Actors Return for Persona 4 Arena Stage Play". 18 August 2014. Archived from the original on 21 November 2023. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
7. "舞台「ペルソナ4 ジ・アルティマックス ウルトラスープレックスホールド」の追加キャストが発表". Archived from the original on 2023-11-21. Retrieved 2024-05-07.
8. Spencer (November 20, 2011). "Mitsuru and Akihiko have an edge in In Persona 4: The Ultimate In Mayonaka Arena". Siliconera. Archived from the original on January 24, 2012. Retrieved January 10, 2012.
9. Wallace, Kimberley (May 4, 2017). "The 10 Best Persona Characters". Game Informer. Archived from the original on August 23, 2019. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
10. Wallace, Kimberley. "Best Female RPG Characters". RPGFan. Archived from the original on October 8, 2019. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
11. Wallace, Kimberley (June 5, 2016). "Can Romance Be Portrayed Well In Games?". Game Informer. Archived from the original on October 8, 2019. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
12. Marchello, Sam. "Sam Marchello's Top Ten Quirky-ZOMG-Must Play Games That Will Make You Smile (Shut up! Titles Are Hard!)". RPGamer. Archived from the original on October 8, 2019. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
13. Moyse, Chris (October 18, 2018). "Persona Q2 finally heralds the coolest character in the series, Mitsuru Kirijo". Destructoid. Retrieved September 17, 2019.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
14. Sullivan, Meghan (July 22, 2015). "Top 10 Persona Characters". IGN. Archived from the original on May 24, 2019. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
15. Lee, Ben (February 15, 2014). "Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 retrospective - Atlus's JRPG masterpiece". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on October 9, 2019. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
16. Fahey, Mike (October 23, 2013). "Persona's Greatest Heroine Is Also One Of Persona's Coolest Models". Kotaku. Archived from the original on October 9, 2019. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
17. Hansen, Steven (January 10, 2014). "Tres bien! Mitsuru leads this new Persona Q trailer". Destructoid. Archived from the original on April 3, 2016. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
18. Khaw, Cassandra (January 8, 2014). "2014 in Preview: Want Emancipation? No, We Want Persona 5". USGamer. Archived from the original on October 8, 2019. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
19. Alexander, Leigh (July 28, 2010). "What I Discovered From Gaming Like A Girl". Kotaku. Archived from the original on April 7, 2020. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
20. Sahmir, Shazwin Bt.; Ismail, Norlela (December 2020). "Comparative Analysis of Storytelling Technique in Kingdom Hearts II (2005) and Persona 3 Portable (2009)". University Teknologi Mara. Retrieved May 13, 2023.
21. Harper, T. (2011). "Rules, Rhetoric, and Genre: Procedural Rhetoric in Persona 3". Games and Culture. 6 (5): 395–413. doi:10.1177/1555412011402675. Archived from the original on November 21, 2023. Retrieved May 13, 2023.
22. "Narrativity in Translation" (PDF). Cultus. ISSN 2035-3111. Archived (PDF) from the original on November 21, 2023. Retrieved October 16, 2023.
23. Eisenbeis, Richard (December 26, 2014). "The Persona 4 Arena Musical is an Uneven Mess". Kotaku. Archived from the original on October 8, 2019. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
24. "Persona 4 Arena proves that role-playing games and arcade fighters can mix (review)". Venture Beat. 17 August 2012. Archived from the original on 5 August 2020. Retrieved August 20, 2020.