sumire yoshizawa guide

Sumire Yoshizawa Guide: Phantom Thieves’ Violet Explained

Persona 5 Royale is full of beloved characters within the Atlus community. And no girl in the cast is perhaps as loved as Sumire Yoshizawa. In this Sumire Yoshizawa guide, you will find out why this is and just who exactly Sumire is. After all, her identity is a bit of a confusing situation.

The Sumire Yoshizawa guide will clear up some of the mystery surrounding this main character in Persona 5 Royal. Who is she, and how does she connect to Kasumi Yoshizawa, the Phantom Thieves member? There are lots of spoilers on the way, but it will help in understanding just who Sumire is. For her true identity, past, and history in the series, let’s look.

Bottom Line Up Front

Sumire Yoshizawa is one of the main characters of Persona 5 Royal. She does not appear in the original Persona 5, despite the possibility that she was initially planned for that game. Her life and identity are entirely spoilers, down to the fact that she is not who she says she is.

Most players will know her as Kasumi, the final party member in the Phantom Thieves. However, that is not who she is, as she took the identity of her dead older sister for several reasons.

She is a professional gymnast and a valuable member of the Phantom Thieves. Her charismatic and immediately lovable personality has instantly made her a fan favorite in the community. Within the Phantom Thieves, she is known as Violet.

Who Is Sumire Yoshizawa?

Sumire Yoshizawa
Image from Fandom

Sumire Yoshizawa is the younger sister of Kasumi Yoshizawa. She is a professional gymnast who is a prodigy. She is also capable of summoning Personas and entering the Metaverse. Sumire is a character who is unique to Persona 5 Royal, not appearing in the original version of the game.

Players who check out Persona 5 Royal are in for a treat, being able to add Sumire to their party and play as her in the final semester of the game. Her life is complex and tragic, causing severe trauma for her. As such, she deals with mental illnesses that are hindering her from being who she could be.

Sumire is one of the fascinating Persona characters of all time. She is pretty popular within the community, too, and for a good reason. Though she has problems that she is dealing with, she does not stop herself from having a bubbly and lovable character.

Sumire is also a member of the Phantom Thieves and the final party member that joins the group. As part of the team, she goes by the codename Violet and helps out in the last semester of the game. Like her inclusion as a whole, this part is exclusive to Persona 5 Royal.

Sumire Yoshizawa vs Kasumi Yoshizawa Explained

Sumire Yoshizawa vs Kasumi Yoshizawa

One of the most confusing parts about Sumire Yoshizawa is her relation to Kasumi. As many likely know, Kasumi is the new party member that joins the Phantom Thieves in Persona 5 Royal. What is confusing here is how the two characters relate to one another and how they are both parts of the party.

Explaining this will require some significant spoilers for the plot of Persona 5 Royal, so please turn around now if you have not played the game. Otherwise, you will miss out on one of the most incredible and depressing twists that are in the game.

The truth is, Kasumi is not actually the final party member to join the Phantom Thieves. In fact, she never joins the group at all. This is due to the fact that she has already passed away by the time of the game. The twist is that the person that the Thieves know to be Kasumi is not really her at all.

Instead, it is Sumire Yoshizawa, her younger sister. Sumire, not Kasumi, joins the Phantom Thieves. This is due to the trauma that she faced when she was younger, when her older sister, Kasumi, died. Kasumi saved her life, and Sumire took on her identity and lied to everyone around her.

Therefore, Sumire is the actual member of the Phantom Thieves and Violet. However, none of this is revealed until the game’s final section, which comes very far into the story.

Appearance

Given the complicated situation regarding Sumire’s identity, there are a few different appearances that she has. At first in the game, she assumes the appearance of Kasumi, which is what most players know her as. However, her authentic appearance is not revealed until far into the game.

Kasumi Identity

Kasumi Identity
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Initially, the most recognizable version of Sumire is not even her. Instead, Yoshizawa is trying to look like her older sister, Kasumi. As Kasumi, Sumire retains much of her actual appearance but in a more flashy and well-put-together way.

Kasumi has the standard school uniform that she wears. It has a black blazer with a white undershirt and long sleeves. She wears the school skirt on the bottom, which has black, gray, and red mixed together in a checkered pattern.

She also wears black leggings covering her entire legs and red shoes on the bottom. Those red shoes match the stark red hair that she has. She wears her hair in a long ponytail with bangs covering her entire forehead. She has a large red ribbon tying her ponytail together to top it all off.

Kasumi has reddish black eyes as well and a joyous face that is contagious.

Sumire

Sumire Identity
Image from Fandom

On the other hand, when Sumire reveals her actual appearance, it is slightly different from Kasumi. She will wear the same school uniform, though sometimes she also wears gym clothes, the main change has to do with her face and hair.

As her true self, Sumire does not wear her hair in a ponytail like Kasumi. Instead, she has it straight down. In this way, we can see that her hair is actually quite long, going pretty far down her back. In addition, she does have bangs that cover most of her forehead, but she parts them as well.

Perhaps the weirdest part about Sumire’s hair is that she has a more brown colored hair in the 2D character art rather than bright red like her sister’s. Though some of the in-game models still show the red hair.

Sumire actually needs glasses to see and everything, so she wears black-rimmed rectangular glasses. Her eyes are the same, but she has a much more dour and depressing expression most of the time. The joy that is seen in the fake Kasumi’s appearance is completely gone in her true identity.

Violet Phantom Thieves Outfit

Sumire Yoshizawa_Violet Phantom Thieves Outfit
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As a member of the Phantom Thieves, Sumire turns into Violet when she is in the Metaverse. Like the others in the group, she has a special outfit for this moment. In the case of Sumire, she has an outfit that is quite dramatic and unlike anyone else’s in the game.

In this version, her hair is up in a ponytail, much like when she tries to be Sumire. Instead of the red ribbon, she has a black one that matches her all-black attire. She has a black low-cut outfit that shows her legs ultimately.

On top of this, she wears an oversized black coat that is similar to the one that Joker wears when he is in the Metaverse. She wears insanely long boots that go up past her knees on her feet. Finally, she has a sharp black mask that covers most of her face and nose that she takes off when using Persona skills.

Personality

Sumire has the most complex personality out of anyone in Persona 5 Royal. This is due to the fact that she takes on two different personalities over the course of the story. Firstly, there is her Kasumi personality. While acting as her sister, she takes on a nature similar to hers.

This means that she is bubbly, cutesy, and outgoing. She likes talking to people and helping others out. She is the life of the party and is fun to be around. However, this is all fake and not really Sumire’s actual personality. Her authentic self is much more sour and depressing.

Sumire is a more mysterious and troubled character even before her sister’s death. She deals with depression and lack of self-worth, constantly comparing herself to her older sister. This is intensified when she returns to her real identity, dealing with all of her previous issues and grieving over her sister’s death.

Key Relationships

sumire yoshizawa key moments

Sumire has a few key relationships that are integral to her storyline. Overall, I would say that she does not connect too much with the other members of the Phantom Thieves, with only a couple of them standing out to her. That said, the few connections that she does have are vital to her life.

The first of these is her family. She loves her dad and cares about him but always feels like he shuns her over her older sister. She thinks that her father favors Kasumi over her, much like everyone else around her. Her other relationship in her family is with Kasumi.

She loves her older sister and is inseparable, but Sumire holds some bitterness and jealousy towards her sister for being the more talented and loved person. She wants to become her sister, which she does in the game’s story.

Then there is her counselor Maruki. She goes to him to get help for her trauma, and he plays the most crucial role in reshaping her into Kasumi. Their relationship is quite toxic, as Maruki has the best intentions but goes about helping Sumire in a horrible way that only makes everything worse.

Within the Phantom Thieves, one of the few relationships is with Morgana. She appears to like him and his cuteness, but their connection does not go much deeper than that. The second most profound connection she has in the group is with a fellow third-semester party member, Goro Akechi.

Sumire seems to have a rivalry of sorts with Akechi or a love-hate relationship. She does not seem to be a massive fan of him, and the feeling is mutual. She is likely grateful to him for his help in Maruki’s Palace and his love for Joker.

Speaking of Joker, this is by far Sumire’s most important relationship in the group. She is one of his main Confidants and a possible love interest. They have a lot in common one another, and, in my opinion, it appears that she is the closest to a canon romance for the protagonist. He is one of the main reasons that she can come to terms with her issues and overcome them.

Voice Actor

In the Japanese version, the voice actor for Sumire Yoshizawa is the excellent Sora Amamiya. She is a fantastic singer and voice actor, known for roles like Aqua in Konosuba, the best girl Chizuru in Rent a Girlfriend, etc. She does a great job portraying the different sides of Sumire/Kasumi.

On the English side, the dub voice actor is Laura Post, who also does an underrated, varied performance as Sumire. You may know her as Sea Fairy Cookie in Cookie Run Kingdom, Nuwa in Shin Megami Tensei V, and Mai Zenin in Jujutsu Kaisen.

Abilities

sumire yoshizawa abilities

There are a couple of primary abilities that Sumire has, coming down to two different areas. The first has to do with the general athletic skills that she has accumulated during her time as an up-and-coming gymnast alongside her older sister. On the other hand, her other ability is as a Persona user, much like everyone else in the Phantom Thieves.

Athleticism

Unlike most other Phantom Thieves members, Sumire has some physical capabilities that backup and enhance her Phantom Thieves skills. She is a trained gymnast who is pretty much professional at this point, with many years of experience since a young age.

She has high stamina and resilience, allowing her to do a lot of physical activity for an extended period. In addition, she is pretty flexible, and this is something that we can see in some of her Metaverse moves, such as the Showtime that she has with Joker.

Her physical abilities even play into some of her skills in the Metaverse as well. There is the Sword Dance ability, where she flits around the field and raises her critical hit chance in the process. Or Dazzler, which allows her to dazzle her foes and make them dizzy with her movement. Or even Brave Step, where being light on her feet will enable her to boost the crit rate of all party members for three turns.

Persona User

While in the Metaverse, Sumire can summon her Persona to help in battle. As a Persona user, this means that she benefits from the skills and stats to stop the shadows there. In the case of Sumire, she has three different Personas that she can awaken to throughout her story, with some help from the player.

Since her Persona is part of the Faith arcana, it is unsurprising that her most common skills on the battlefield are bless skills. These allow her to take out weak enemies to this otherwise rare elemental type. She is also great about critical hits, both for herself and boosting her teammates.

History

The history of Sumire Yoshizawa is strictly exclusive to Persona 5 Royal. If you play the original JRPG, you will not find her in that game. That said, most of her story does not even happen until the end of the main plot in Persona 5. So, it is actually possible to go the entire game without experiencing most of her story. It is also worth noting that this will undoubtedly have plenty of spoilers.

Following in Her Sister’s Footsteps

sumire yoshizawa sister

The story for Sumire Yoshizawa begins before the main level of Persona 5. Growing up with her older sister, Kasumi, the two aspire to become great gymnasts someday. That is why they train hard together to reach their dreams of winning international awards and fame.

However, the reality is that Kasumi is far more naturally talented than Sumire is. Kasumi is much better at just about everything that she does. While Sumire is not horrible at what she does, she is nowhere near the level of her sister.

Sumire has to hear from everyone around her about how great her older sister is to make matters worse. This leads to her both idolizing and resenting Kasumi in a way. At times, she wants to be just like her sister, while other times, she wants to die.

It is a horrible existence and a reckless one that almost leads to the actual death of Sumire by accident. In the midst of her darkness and depression, one day, Sumire is going home with her sister when she runs off in a fit of rage and crosses the street at the wrong time.

A car is coming and is about to hit her, but Kasumi swoops in to knock her sister out of the way. In the process, though, Kasumi is hit instead by the vehicle and dies. Sumire’s salvation comes at the cost of the loss of her older sister’s life.

Flirting With the Phantom Thieves

sumire yoshizawa flirting

Her sister’s death is understandably devastating and challenging for Sumire to handle. To recover, she goes to see the therapist Maruki in Persona 5. Still, prior to the main game’s events, she interacts with the therapist, and his recommendation is for her to assume the identity of her sister.

Since she was not able to become like her sister when she was alive, Sumire is then able to do so in her death. She then takes off her glasses and walks around, pretending to be Kasumi. It is presumed that some of the people around her know that she is Sumire, including likely her own family.

However, there are those that she fools, including the protagonist, Joker. Joker meets Sumire, and she introduces herself as Kasumi. This is the person that Joker gets to know after transferring to Shujin Academy. Over time, the two come into contact with each other due to various events.

There is the incident on the bus where Joker helps her and another situation where she is being harassed. He comes through to save the day, and Sumire becomes closer to him through this. The player, Joker, even has the ability to get to know her even more if they raise her Confidant levels.

At one point, Joker and Sumire meet one another briefly in one of the Palaces and fight. Another time, they meet up and discover that there is a hidden Palace in Tokyo that they did not know about. However, this Palace does not become important until after the main story.

Freeing Herself

sumire Freeing Herself

After the Phantom Thieves finish their mission, the third semester begins in the game that is exclusive to Persona 5 Royal. During this time, a strange mist begins to appear around Tokyo, and people’s wishes come true. In the process, Joker temporarily loses his friends and has to rely on Akechi and Sumire.

Together with Sumire, whom Joker still believes to be Kasumi, they travel to the previously discovered Palace. They realize that the Palace is that of Maruki, and Sumire’s therapist is encouraging her to continue believing that she is Kasumi.

This causes a break in the girl as she is torn between who she really is and who she wants to be. She ends up leaving Akechi and Joker, and going with Maruki for a time. This eventually leads to a climactic battle in which Joker and Akechi have to face Sumire in a Persona fight.

Thankfully, the duo are able to defeat her and her Persona, and she is finally able to come to her senses. She fully awakens to her true Persona at this point, as she is finally herself again. At this point, she begins to look and act like Sumire once more.

She puts her hair down again and wears glasses, which Joker can even help in picking out. Finally as part of the Phantom Thieves, Sumire is able to confront Maruki and his fake world, and is instrumental in taking him down once and for good.

Sumire in Other Games and Media

Sumire in Other Games and Media_In Another Eden
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Since Sumire is the newest and final member of the Phantom Thieves (excluding anyone from Persona 5 Strikers), she does not have many appearances outside of her game. There is not even a follow-up anime adaptation, like there was with Persona 4 Golden The Animation, that shows her storyline from Royal.

That said, though, there are still some appearances for Sumire Yoshizawa outside of just Persona 5 Royal. There are a few collaborations that Atlus has made between the Persona franchise and other games, resulting in the appearance of Violet elsewhere.

Most of these are gacha-based mobile games, so they may not be the most exciting appearances for the character. For one, there was Another Eden, which is, in my opinion, an amazing mobile RPG where she is a playable character there. It was a free event, which is always a good thing.

There are other games, too, including two Sword Art Online mobile titles where she appeared as a crossover character. Even Square Enix got in on the fun with a couple of appearances in both Star Ocean: Anamnesis and War of the Visions Final Fantasy Brave Exvius.

Fun Facts About Sumire Yoshizawa

Here are some fun facts about Sumire Yoshizawa that you may not have known:

  • It is very possible that Sumire was intended to either appear initially in the original Persona 5 as a party member or even be the female protagonist. Similar to Persona 3 Portable, there is data for a Violet in the backend that suggests that she or an early form of her was going to be in the game, and possibly as the main character.
  • However, the counter-argument is that Sumire’s codename was originally Clown. It is possible that Violet was always going to be a separate female protagonist while Clown, or Sumire, was an additional party member.
  • Part of the reason why this guide is filled with spoiler warnings is because Atlus has never actually revealed Sumire’s identity as Violet. She is still referred to as Kasumi in most birthday celebrations and the like to avoid giving away the twist.
  • In the first Persona awakening scene for Kasumi, err, Sumire, there is no blood like the other Phantom Thieves when she removes her mask. This seems to suggest that it was an incomplete awakening, which it was, since she was still believing that she was Kasumi.
  • Since she has two different identities and many outfits, she has the most character portraits in the main cast.
  • Sumire’s father, Shinichi Yoshizawa, is one of the only parents of a Phantom Thieves member to actually appear in the story. Interestingly enough, he is actually the director of the same talk show that the Thieves first see Akechi appear on, though Shinichi does not show up in this scene himself.
  • If you needed further fuel for the possible canon nature of her romance, Sumire is the only Confidant who reveals her affection for Joker before you even have the chance to reciprocate it.

FAQs

Question: How do you hang out with Sumire?

Answer: If you are talking about hanging out with Sumire, specifically, rather than Kasumi, this can only happen in the third semester of the game. During this time, if you head to the new Kichijoji area anytime after school, you can hang out with her. The only exceptions are Sundays and days when it is snowing. In addition, you need to have a Faith Persona in your group when you do this.

Question: When can I hang out with Yoshizawa?

Answer: You can hang out with Kasumi Yoshizawa (while she still has this identity) after school. She is found in Kichijoji on specific days and it depends on the month. June, September through November, she is there on Wednesdays only. July, August, and December, she is only available on some Thursdays and Sundays. When she returns to being Sumire, she is available Monday-Saturday when it is not snowing in Kichijoji.

Question: Do you need to max out Sumire?

Answer: You do not, technically, need to max out Sumire Yoshizawa in order to experience the third semester. However, you are doing yourself a disservice if you play it this way, in my opinion. It is best to max her out to help you out gameplay and story-wise in the game. Be sure to reach rank five in her Confidant by December 22 so you can access the next five ranks in January. Also, be sure to max out Maruki’s Confidant or else you will not even be able to access the third semester at all.

Conclusion

Sumire Yoshizawa is one of my favorite characters in Persona 5 Royal. The storyline that follows her is dark, depressing, and surprisingly grounded in reality. This element is unique for even the Persona series and I loved seeing the game deal with mental health in a real and transparent way. Sumire alone is reason enough to get Persona 5 Royal and play it.

However, there is still so much more that you can enjoy in Persona 5 Royal besides just her. While Sumire is a wonderful new character, Royal also fixes the issues with the game’s best character (in my opinion) Goro Akechi. Akechi is one of the most complicated and well-written characters Atlus has ever come up with and Persona 5 Royal does justice to his story.

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