Mitsuru Kirijo Guide

Mitsuru Kirijo Guide: Persona’s Ice Queen Explained

Persona 3 is one of the greatest JRPGs of all time, with an all-star cast of characters, including the subject of this Mitsuru Kirijo guide. Mitsuru is one of the main characters in Persona 3, leading the team for most of the game as the Ice Queen and heir to The Kirijo Group. She is also a romanceable character for the protagonist, too.

There is a lot to love about Mitsuru, as you will see in our Mitsuru Kirijo guide. If you have always wanted to know more about this character, you’re in the right place.

Even if you have not played Persona 3 before, this is a great place to learn about one of the prominent party members. And if you have played one of Persona 3’s many versions, we have some fun tidbits and details that you may not have known about before. Let’s get started.

Bottom Line Up Front

Mitsuru Kirijo is one of the prominent party members in Persona 3 and its various versions. She is a third-year student at the start of the game at Gekkoukan High School. In addition, she is the current leader of SEES, the leading group that the protagonist joins.

At the same time, she is also the heir to The Kirijo Group, a powerful and wealthy conglomerate that runs the SEES organization and much more. As the student council president and number one student in her class, Mitsuru is no joke. She is beautiful, cunning, and thinks ahead of everyone around her.

She has a straightforward but troubled personality as there is only so much she can withstand on her own. Mitsuru plays a significant role in Persona 3 and some later games, too, even being a possible romanceable character for the male protagonist.

Who is Mitsuru Kirijo?

Mitsuru Kirijo

Mitsuru Kirijo is a senior at Gekkoukan High School, the school that the protagonist in Persona 3 transfers to. She is pretty much the best at everything she does, which is pretty much everything. For starters, she is the current student council president and valedictorian for her class.

If that was not enough, her intelligence is equally matched with her fighting strength. This is seen in Tartarus and the Dark Hour and the real world. She is part of the Fencing Club, where she shows off her brute force in combat.

And if that was still not enough, she is the current heir to The Kirijo Group that her grandfather and father ran before her. She has all of the knowledge, wealth, and reach that the company has at her disposal, even though she is simply a high school student.

Trained from a very young age to use her Persona, she is also an excellent Persona user and strategist. Because of this, she is part of the SEES team’s original and current forms that are investigating the Dark Hour. At the beginning of Persona 3, and for most of it, she is the team leader alongside the protagonist.

Appearance

For the most part, Mitsuru has the same general appearance as most Persona 3. The characters in this game do not have the flashy outfits of some of the later titles in the series, so they mostly use their school uniforms. That said, Kirijo does appear in some later Persona games where she has a more battle-ready design.

School Uniform

Mitsuru Kirijo

For most of Persona 3, we see Mitsuru just using her standard school uniform. This is the outfit that she uses both at school and when the team is battling in Tartarus. That said, she brings some nice touches to her outfit that helps to make it stand out from the other students at Gekkoukan High School.

Mitsuru wears a long-sleeve white button-up shirt on top. It has vertical stripes going down the entirety of the shirt, which she has tucked into her skirt on the bottom. The skirt is the standard school one, being all-black with distinct pleats on it and going just above her knees.

For her shoes, she wears insanely long black boots that go all the way up almost to her knees and have a deadly heel on the bottom. To add a nice little touch, she has a giant red ribbon that she wears around her neck that matches her stark red hair nicely.

In most shots, her hair is very long and bright red, with long bangs that part to the side. Most of the time, the parted bangs to the left cover her left eye. Her facial expression is typically pretty serious and does not deviate from her sometimes cold as ice look.

Persona 4 Arena and Ultimax

In Persona 4 Arena and its sequel, Ultimax, the Ice Queen returns and gets a brand new design. Since a couple of years have passed, she finally has her battle armor. As the leader of The Kirijo Group formally now, she has an all-black battle armor that covers her body from neck to toe.

There are belts, guns, and pouches throughout the skin-tight armor that allow her to be ready for any situation. She keeps the high heels on the bottom, though, from her school days. She wears gloves that match the rest of the armor on her hands.

Her hair appears a bit darker in Persona 4 Arena, looking more brown than red, but still has a tinge of redness. Last but not least, she wears a substantial flowing white fur coat that goes over her battle armor.

It is a stark contrast to the militaristic armor she wears underneath, adding an exotic flair to let you know that she is both fashionable and wealthy while beating you up.

Personality

Mitsuru Kirijo unsurprisingly has a very serious and driven personality. She keeps to her goals and does not stray from them. Because of this, she has little time for play. Some might consider her cold, but she is not as harsh of a personality as you might expect.

Mitsuru has a lighter side and a more emotional part to her. She occasionally makes jokes and makes light of situations, though this is relatively rare and only with people with whom she is comfortable. The more that the player gets to know her, though, the more that you can see this lighthearted side of her.

At the same time, while Mitsuru is serious and quite mature for her age, she is not at all heartless. In fact, her emotions drive her, and, at times, they will even hinder her from moving forward. That said, most of the time, she will keep her true feelings about a situation to herself.

Key Relationships

Mitsuru Kirijo

Mitsuru Kirijo might be one of the most important people in the entire region that Persona 3 takes place in, but she does not have close relationships with most people. She closes herself off from most of society and only connects with a handful of people.

But of the few relationships that she has, some of the central ones are with her family. The Kirijo Group, including her father and grandfather before him, are very near to her heart.

Much of what has happened with them is a massive part of the motivation that she has for the company’s future. Though she does not mention her mother really at all in the game, she cares about her, too.

As the leader of SEES, one of the most critical business relationships for Mitsuru is with Shuji Itsusuki. As the advisor of the SEES team, Mitsuru has to work alongside him often in planning out the missions for the squad and what they are going to do next.

Of course, there are the other members of SEES that Mitsuru is close to as well. Akihiko Sanada is a particularly close friend of hers, a fellow third-year and one of only two other people who started the SEES team with Mitsuru. He is one of the few people that she has fun with and is frank about her feelings and words.

The other starting member of SEES, Shinjiro Aragaki, is someone who is a third-year and possibly a former friend of Mitsuru. They seem to have a possibly strained relationship due to the fact that he left the team. On the current team in Persona 3, though, she is close to nearly everyone.

The protagonist is essential to her as a key assistant in leading the group. Without them, Mitsuru would not be able to do the missions to save the world from the Dark Hour. And if the protagonist is male, there is even the chance for romantic feelings to blossom between Mitsuru and him.

Voice Actor

The voice actor for Mitsuru Kirijo in the Japanese version of Persona 3, including some of its adaptations like the anime films, is Rie Tanaka. She is the same voice for Kirijo throughout the different versions of the game and its movies.

You may know Tanaka from other iconic game roles like Lisa in Genshin Impact and Neptune in Hyperdimension Neptunia. She was also the voice of Lacus Clyne in Mobile Suit Gundam Seed.

Of course, one of the significant parts of the Persona series is its excellent English voice acting cast. The same can be said for Persona 3, and her English voice actor is the extraordinary Tara Platt.

In addition to Kirijo, she also voices Elizabeth in Persona 3’s English dub. You may also know her from other games like Edelgard in Fire Emblem Three Houses and Alice in Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward.

Abilities

Mitsuru Kirijo Persona 3

As a combat master on the battlefield and a downright genius off of it, there are a lot of abilities and general talents that Mitsuru Kirijo has. She is pretty intelligent and a brilliant strategist and leader. At the same time, she is a Persona user like the rest of the party members and one of the most talented fighters.

Strategist

Mitsuru exhibits her excellent strategy skills on the battlefield at the start of Persona 3 as the team’s leader and analyzer. She has a natural gift for knowledge, being a near-genius. She is the number one student in her class at school by a long shot while juggling other activities like being president of the student council.

She also inherited the knowledge of science and technology from her father and grandfather and how to run a business. These all play a significant role in leading the SEES team in the Dark Hour missions.

Persona User

But the skill that Mitsuru has does not stop there. She is also a Persona user and has been one for years. As such, she has immense control over overusing her Persona, especially when it comes to ice spells.

She is a Bufu master while also being able to use a rapier and ranged weaponry. This is ultimately why she fairs even better as a fighter in the party rather than support.

History

Mitsuru is part of the SEES team from the very beginning and is an essential part of the Persona 3 storyline. As such, there are some major spoilers ahead for parts of the main story. If you do not want to know any spoilers at all about the game’s story, be sure to skip this part.

Bearing Her Family’s Legacy

The story for Mitsuru begins prior to the game itself as her father and grandfather begin exploring the control of Personas. In the process, they create the SEES team and help Mitsuru to awaken to her Persona. Eventually, she is joined by Akihiko Sanada and Shinjiro Aragaki.

Unfortunately, events happen and Shinjiro departs the team before the start of the game. In turn, other members join, including Yukari and Junpei Iori. The protagonist moves into the dorms, becoming a neighbor to Mitsuru. She learns that he or she is able to wield a Persona and invites them to join the team.

At the start of the game, she acts as support for the team, analyzing the enemies and giving them tips on how to win fights.

Leading SEES

Mitsuru Kirijo Persona 3

Eventually, there comes a turning point for Mitsuru where she realizes that she is better off leading the team as a fighter alongside them. After Fuuka’s arrival, this allows her to do so. She is a better-fit fighting as a party member alongside the team rather than just being support.

She helps the team to complete the monthly main missions in the Dark Hour. It all leads to a twist when she finds out the truth about The Kirijo Group and their enemies. She plays an instrumental role in defeating Nyx and ending the Dark Hour.

As time goes on, she graduates from high school and becomes the leader of The Kirijo Group. She forms a shadow operative team to replace SEES, which plays a vital role in the events of Persona 4 Arena and Ultimax. As part of the team, she investigates the return of the Midnight Channel and the P-1 Grand Prix.

While she succeeds in helping Aigis, Yu, and the others in Persona 4 Arena, she is absent for much of Ultimax’s story. This is due to her being taken prisoner by the game’s villain. Once she is rescued, though, she plays a minor role in saving the day and finishing off this new Persona villain once and for all.

Kirijo in Other Games and Media

Given the immense popularity of Mitsuru Kirijo, it is no surprise at all that she has appeared in many other games and media besides the original Persona 3.

For one, there is the fact that Persona 3 has multiple versions to it, including the base one, the FES PS2 game, and Persona 3 Portable. She is a central character in each of these, though she is not romanceable when playing as the female hero in Portable.

There is also the anime films adaptation of Persona 3 with several stunning movies that tell the story of the game with Mitsuru involved in a major way. You can even see Mitsuru in live action with the stage play adaptation. She is played here by a different Japanese actor, with Asami Tano playing the live action version of Mitsuru.

If you prefer more interactive versions of Mitsuru, she is also playable in a few other games. There is Persona 4 Arena and Ultimax, the fighting game spin-offs that act as canon sequels to the Persona 3 story as well. She is also playable in Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight where you can see her get down on the dance floor.

Lastly, there is Persona Q and its sequel where Mitsuru joins together once more with the Persona 4 cast and, later, the Persona 5 team to save the world again. There is a manga version and more that she appears in, being one of the most prolific characters from Persona 3.

Fun Facts about Mitsuru Kirijo

Mitsuru

 

Here are some fun facts about Mitsuru Kirijo that you might not have known about:

  • The English voice of Mitsuru in Persona 3, Tara Platt, also voiced Velvet Room assistant Elizabeth in the same game. To add further fuel to the fan flame, in real life, Platt is married to fellow voice actor, Yuri Lowenthal. Lowenthal is the English voice actor for fellow Persona character, Yosuke Hanamura, in Persona 4.
  • When Persona 3 was developed, the Atlus members who worked on the game liked Mitsuru the most, being the overall favorite of the team.
  • The protagonist in Persona 3 Portable is free to go to Tartarus whenever they like, however, they need to go at least once in the first month of April. If they do not go by April 30, Mitsuru will take them to Tartarus and force them to do the objective there while reprimanding the player.
  • In Persona Q, Mitsuru uses a sword that the player is unable to find in the actual Persona 3 games. This sword is chosen because of the one that she wields in the Persona 3 films.
  • Yukiko in Persona 4 Golden has the option of wearing the Gekkoukan school uniform DLC outfit. When she does, her victory pose in battles will be similar to Mitsuru’s, including the victory lines that she says. This is likely due to their similar personalities to one another. However, they differ in certain ways like how Yukiko uses fire skills, which is the opposite of Mitsuru’s, and how she is never the team’s supporter, even temporarily.

FAQs

Question: How do You Date Mitsuru?

Answer: You can date Mitsuru Kirijo if you max out her social link ranks. However, getting to that point, though, is a tough challenge. First, players must make sure that they are at the top of their class with the best Academics skill that they can have, which is Genius. Once they do that, she will become available on November 21. Max her out in time to romance her.

Question: What Days is Mitsuru Available?

Answer: Once you unlock Mitsuru on November 21, you will find her on the first floor of Gekkoukan High School after school on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays only.

Question: How Old is Mitsuru in Persona 3?

Answer: At the beginning of the Persona 3 storyline, she is around 17 years old and about 18 years old when the game concludes and she graduates from school. However, then two more years pass before the events of Persona 4 Arena and Ultimax. In those games, she is 20 years old.

Conclusion

Mitsuru Kirijo is The Imperious Queen of Executions and one of the best characters that you will find in the entire Persona series, let alone Persona 3. She is a beloved and popular crush for many fans in the series, with her ice-cold personality and beautiful looks. However, in the end, she is but one single part of the overall excellent Persona 3 cast.

There are so many more characters that are in Persona 3 and you can find out more about them in the Persona 3 overview guide. In that post, we detail the other characters, including Mitsuru and the others, as well as what the JRPG is all about.

The guide is a great place to start if you are getting ready to check this wonderful game out for the first time or simply want a refresher.

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