The protagonist of Persona 5 is a transfer student at Shujin Academy. At the beginning of the game, he has little to no power or influence in the world and is restrained by the rules of the system he was born into.
However, beneath his quiet demeanor is a strong-willed juvenile delinquent known throughout the world as The Phantom, to the residents of the Velvet Room he is known as the Trickster, and to his teammates his code name is Joker. The protagonist is the leader of the rebellious Phantom Thieves of Hearts which aims to change society by touching the hearts of people and performing illegal heists.
The protagonist is a second-year high school student who meets Morgana and transfers to Shujin Academy in the spring in Tokyo near Aoyama-Itchome after a false assault charge issued by a high-profile politican which caused him to end up with a one year probation sentence. Prior to the incident, it is stated that he lived in a rural area. He lives in a coffee shop called Cafe Leblanc, located in Yongen-Jaya and owned by Sojiro Sakura, an acquaintance of his parents. He becomes classmates with Ryuji Sakamoto and Ann Takamaki, who join him in his endeavors alongside the mysterious Morgana. Additionally, he is the leader of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, a group whose purpose is to steal the hearts of corrupted adults in order to create a reformed society. Later, more members join the Phantom Thieves: Yusuke Kitagawa, Makoto Niijima, Futaba Sakura, Haru Okumura and Goro Akechi.
As Joker, his outfit consists of a black ankle-length tailcoat, a high-necked waistcoat with gold accents, black pants, brown-black winklepickers and a pair of red gloves. His mask is a black and white, birdlike domino mask. His expression and demeanor are also markedly different and there's a strong air of confidence to him compared to his usual self.
Morgana is a playable character from Persona 5. He is a member and the second-in-command of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts.
In the Metaverse, Morgana is an anthropomorphic and biped Tuxedo cat with a large spheroidal head. His fur's predominantly black, with the exception of his limbs and tail, which also appear white. The bottom front half of his face is also white. Morgana wears a mask that covers the majority of his face with elliptic eyes which consist of white sclera, blue irises and black pupils. His outer ears are black with white inner ears. In addition, he has a yellow scarf around his neck and an utility belt around his hips, with two golden buttons and two bags attached. In the real world, Morgana retains the anatomy of a normal adult cat. The fur coat on his body remains the same. His head is no longer covered by a mask, and is predominantly black with the exception of his muzzle, which is white. His blue irises now cover his entire eyes, hiding his sclera. He wears a yellow collar in place of his scarf and no longer wears a belt.
While appearing to be a cat, Morgana emphatically insists to be a human, and sticks with the team as he believes they'll be able to help him discover his origins and regain his true form. Morgana becomes irritated when he's called and being thought of as nothing more than a cat, as it lessens his sense of identity; this is likely one of the reasons that instigated his heated relationship with Ryuji Sakamoto. Despite this, sometimes he instinctively meows and self-grooms, being able to get used to his lifestyle as a cat easily. Despite this, he demonstrates a sense of morality, a rich dictionary and even exhibits a sense of style. However, he's shown to be very socially awkward and also unfamiliar with modern technology, as he's shown confusion in the concept of a mobile phone or the act of hacking.
Ryuji Sakamoto is a playable character from Persona 5. He is a student at Shujin Academy who lives a double life as a Phantom Thief.
Ryuji has short spiky dyed blond hair and dark brown eyes. According to Sadayo Kawakami, his hair is naturally black. He has a noticeable widow's peak and his eyebrows are unusual in that he lacks the outer sides. He is shown to be muscular. He wears his winter school uniform a bit modified. It consists of the standard black blazer, unbuttoned to reveal a yellow t-shirt with a comic style star symbol and the word 'ZOMG!' He has plaid trousers rolled up to reveal his ankles. His pants have black suspenders that hang down instead of being worn on his shoulders. He has a white belt. His white sneakers have a rising sun flag motif. His burglar outfit consists of matching black jacket and pants with knee pads, a red ascot, combat boots, a pair of yellow gloves, and a skull mask.
Ryuji is known as a disruptive "problem student" at school whose bad behavior causes all sorts of trouble for the teachers. He is quite proud of his status as a self-proclaimed "troublemaker" and his rebellious, mischievous and disobedient nature are the perfect qualities to be a Phantom Thief. He can sometimes be vulgar and aggressive, as shown in his early interactions with Yusuke Kitagawa and Makoto Niijima. He is also rather short-tempered, easily taking offense from even the slightest of comments. That said, he will never resort to violence, unless he is provoked by Suguru Kamoshida . He is very straightforward when it comes to expressing his feelings, especially in regards to his hatred of selfish adults and authority figures who abuse their power. He is deeply empathetic when it comes to the plight of others; simply listening to the protagonist's story of how he got arrested makes him extremely angry, and hearing about Kamoshida's sexual abuse greatly upsets him.
Ann Takamaki is a playable character from Persona 5. She is a student at Shujin Academy who lives a double life as a Phantom Thief.
Ann has bright blue eyes and wavy platinum blonde hair styled in bushy pigtails, with parted side bangs on the right side of her face. She accessorizes with a single yellow hair clip above her left ear, as well as small circular earrings on both ears. She is of mixed ethnicity; her surname is Japanese, and her profile mentions she is 1/4 American. She is a relatively tall young woman, standing taller than both Haru Okumura and Makoto Niijima, who are both a full year older than her. Her winter school uniform is modified to fit her taste; the standard black blazer over a white varsity-like fullzip hooded sweatshirt, worn long to cover most of her short plaid skirt. Her sweatshirt has a red stripe between two blue stripes at the bottom, an S symbol near the front bottom on one side and a green four-leaf-clover symbol on the back of the hood. She wears red tights and brown boots with yellow laces. Her phantom thief outfit consists of a skin-tight red latex catsuit with a cleavage cutout and zippers, a matching red panther mask, pink gloves, dark red thigh-high boots, a clipped on tail on the back of her catsuit.
Ann is a very kind and compassionate girl, enough for it to be noted by both Morgana and Sojiro Sakura. Years of isolation due to her looks has left her very withdrawn and with a belief she's lost her place in the world, but that doesn't stop her from opening up to the people close to her and making jokes. This is because she's learned not to care what other people think of her, a lesson taught to her by Shiho Suzui, who was her only friend before joining the Phantom Thieves. She is shown to be a good judge of character, as she was the first person able to look past the rumors of the protagonist and see him for who he really is (while Ryuji Sakamoto befriended him before her, it was because he saw him as just another "troublemaker" and didn't learn his full story until later). Her good judgement of others is also shown by her willingness to forgive Makoto after learning her side of the story in the incident with Suguru Kamoshida, namely that she wanted to do something but felt powerless to stop him, having realized it wasn't too different from her own situation. Before this, she also comforts Makoto when she calls herself "scum of the Earth" due to her failure to help Kamoshida's victims, saying that if she really was scum, she wouldn't call herself such.
Yusuke Kitagawa is a playable character from Persona 5. He is an art student from Kosei High School who becomes involved with the Phantom Thieves of Hearts.
Yusuke has dark blue hair with parted bangs slightly covering his left eye and gray eyes. His in-game character model is noticeably taller and thinner than those of other male characters. His fellow Phantom Thieves Ann Takamaki and Ryuji Sakamoto both describe him as a "pretty boy." Yusuke does not wear Kosei High's regulation uniform, unlike his fellow student, Hifumi Togo. His winter-variant uniform consists of a white gakuran-style shirt embroidered with a fleur-de-lis, fitted black pants and black loafers. A silver ring, that holds multiple keys, is attached to his belt loop. His summer-variant uniform replaces the white dress shirt with an ultramarine colored button-down, which Yusuke wears with the sleeves rolled-up to his elbows. His Phantom Thief outfit consists of a traditional kitsune-style half mask, a black high-collared puff-sleeved jumpsuit with a striped sash worn across his hips, white motorcycle boots and bright blue gloves. Attached to the jumpsuit is a white fox tail.
Yusuke's entire life's passion is comprised of and surrounded by art. He searches for the aesthetic everywhere in his surroundings, from people to places. He sees every opportunity or challenge presented to him as a way to broaden his horizons, and primarily considers how it will benefit him greatly as an artist. He is captivated by the painting of "Sayuri," and seeks to capture the sense of beauty that it portrays. This passion extends to his mentor, Madarame, who he believed created the painting and who took him in when he was young. As such, Yusuke greatly admired and respected him to the point that he vehemently denied any of the rumors surrounding Madarame. Even when he knows the rumors are true and finds actual proof supporting it, Yusuke claims that the abuse he faced was consensual as a means of keeping a roof over his head. His passion for art is admired and respected by the group, though they also view him as rather strange. At one point, Ann claims that he is "on a different wavelength than other people." However, Yusuke is well-aware that his mind operates differently from that of most people's, to the point of admitting that he's eccentric, and is shown to be downright offended whenever someone makes fun of him for it, or even points it out.
Makoto Niijima is a playable character in Persona 5.
Makoto has brown hair in a bob cut with blunt bangs and a French-braid styled headband that matches her hair color. Her eyes are abnormal as they have been depicted as red, although her eye color in her portraits can be interpreted as a reddish-brown. She is of average female height, being taller than Futaba Sakura and Haru Okumura, but slightly shorter than Ann Takamaki. Her winter school uniform appears normal but without the standard blazer. Instead, she wears a black halter vest over a long sleeve white shirt with a turtleneck (which is different from normal turtlenecks for female students). She wears the regulation black and red pleated plaid skirt, black pantyhose and black-brown ankle boots.Her Metaverse outfit consists of a two-toned (dark blue and black) skintight suit that is worn with a long black scarf, a dark gray corset-style leather breastplate, shoulder and knee pads with spikes mixed with boots that sport metal heels and toes, white gloves and an iron mask.
Despite being the student council president, Makoto is an extremely unpopular student at Shujin Academy; due to her not doing anything to stop Suguru Kamoshida's abuse, she is considered by all the students to be an arrogant, selfish control freak who knew about the abuse but chose to do nothing about it because she only cared about getting a good letter of recommendation. While she does give off the impression of this during the Phantom Thieves' first few encounters with her, these rumors are ultimately revealed to be just that: rumors. In truth, the abuse outraged Makoto, but she didn't feel like she had the power to do anything about it. In fact, Makoto holds no real authority in the school, with her position merely making her a glorified tool for the principal to use however he sees fit. Feeling overshadowed by her highly successful older sister, Makoto has almost no sense of self-worth, and so has made a habit of keeping her nose down and doing what is expected of her. Her submissive nature is noted by Goro Akechi, who condescendingly refers to her as "the good-girl type of pushover." After getting involved with the Phantom Thieves, however, Makoto realizes her frustration at the authority figures around her not living up to the expectations they've set for themselves, and vows from then on to fight for what she believes in, which triggers the awakening of her Persona. After the group defeat Junya Kaneshiro, Makoto decides to stay with the Phantom Thieves, saying that she's done being the "exemplary honour student" and that she's going to try to be more honest with herself.
Futaba Sakura is a main character from Persona 5. She is different from the main crew of the Phantom Thieves because she is a shut-in who does not attend school and rarely, if ever, leaves her house.
Futaba is a young, bespectacled girl with hip length black hair dyed bright orange with straight-cut bangs and two long strands in the front along with a single small, thin ahoge strand at the top. Her brown eyes also seem to have some faint purple tones in them, appearing mauve. She wears large black circular glasses, and she is always seen wearing a set of AKG K845BT headphones with red earpads. She seems to be very short, even compared to other girls. Her casual winter outfit consists of multiple layers; she wears an off-shoulder white top with a red splatter-like pattern on her chest with five white asterisks (*****) which are reminiscent of a passport input system in the red splatter, a black tank top underneath that, a dark green jacket with a faux fur trimmed hood, black short shorts, a studded black belt in a slanted position, black thigh highs socks and black knee-high boots with buckles and studs at the top. The green jacket has A.F.K. on the back (for "away from keyboard"), although it is difficult to see because of Futaba's long hair. Her Metaverse costume consists of a skintight black bodysuit with fluorescent neon green glowing strips and matching black boots with neon green soles. Her mask is a pair of big black goggles with orange lenses.
With a case of social anxiety bordering on agoraphobia, combined with the trauma of losing her mother Wakaba Isshiki, Futaba is strongly discomfited by going outside. When the protagonist first meets her, she is a hikikomori who does not attend school and almost never leaves her room. She communicates with the world remotely via the Internet, and her adoptive father Sojiro Sakura enables her lifestyle out of guilt that he could not protect her from trauma. Having disconnected herself from humanity and the world beyond her apartment, Futaba is lonely, lives without passion and enthusiasm, suffers from suicidal depression, and questions the point in her living. When first encountered, Futaba is so consumed with self-loathing that she suppresses her desire to live, causing her Shadow Self to develop a much more helpful personality than average, one who only desires Futaba's happiness. When she first leaves her room after her change of heart, she tends to hide behind the protagonist so that she won't be seen in public, or wears masks which make it impossible to identify her. Her room acts as a sanctuary and a refuge from the chaos and noise of the outside world.
Haru Okumura is a playable character from Persona 5. She is a wealthy girl who attends Shujin Academy, and is secretly a Phantom Thief. She is the only daughter of Kunikazu Okumura, the Thieves' fifth major target.
Haru has chin-length curly light auburn hair and brown eyes. She is of average height, being taller than Futaba, but shorter than Ann and Makoto. She wears her winter school's uniform modified to her taste; a pink turtleneck cardigan with short puffed sleeves and a long-sleeved white shirt underneath. The cardigan is zipped open up to her navel and has two large pockets on the front. She wears the standard black and red tartan skirt, white tights with a black flower pattern and black Mary Jane shoes. Her Thief outfit consists of a dark purple cavalier hat with a feather plume tucked into a royal purple hatband, a long-sleeved pale pink blouse with a white neck jabot (held there by a red gem pin), a black corset vest with gold buttons, bloomers that match her hatband, black pantyhose, a holster belt carrying ammo and lace-up pumps. Her mask and gloves are black and violet, respectively.
Haru is generally very shy and reserved. At school, she is viewed as eccentric due to her tendency to keep to herself and avoid contact with others as much as possible. She has serious trust issues, finding it difficult to differentiate between who truly values her as a friend, and who merely wants to use her for her family's status. This is due to her past, where not only friends, but adults and teachers would be kind at her just to please her father and smiled at her for their own personal gain. Despite this, Haru is an incredibly kind-hearted girl; she becomes fast friends with all of the Phantom Thieves, and is the only member of the group Ryuji Sakamoto doesn't argue with on a regular basis. She can also be very awkward, as shown when she first introduces herself to the others as "Beauty Thief," and forgets parts of the script she has rehearsed with Morgana, to the point of saying "We will take the Treasure." twice in a row, much to Futaba Sakura's ire. She later explains that she was trying to be a "heroine of justice," having grown up admiring female superheroes she watched on TV. She loved them for always fighting to protect others and being happy, desiring to be just like them someday.