Persona 4 is a stand-out game from Atlus’ repertoire. It seamlessly blends life-sim and visual novel elements with the classic JRPG dungeon crawling that Atlus is known for in their Shin Megami Tensei series. One of my favorite things about the game is that it takes some really heavy inspiration from Shinto mythology for a lot of the characters in the game. We have the big names there, like Susano’o, Izanagi, and Izanami, but you can find a more obscure reference every so often.
And Ameno Sagiri is that obscure reference. If you don’t pay attention, he’ll come out of nowhere and put you through one hell of a boss fight before disappearing again. It was only through repeated playthroughs did I begin to pick up more about Ameno Sagiri, which I’m sharing with you in this Ameno Sagiri guide.
The God of the Fog
Ameno Sagiri, as far as the myths are concerned, has a minimal backstory. We learn most of what we know about Ameno Sagiri from the Kojiki. One of the first gatherings of Japanese historical accounts alongside cultural legends. The book is incredibly significant to Japanese culture, building the foundation of the Shinto religion.
In the book, we learn that Ameno Sagiri was a third-generation god, born as the genderless child of Ōyamatsumi and Kaya-no-hime, who themselves were children of Izanagi and Izanami. We know he was a god of fog, and that’s about it. The book doesn’t have much to say about him as the author had other things to discuss.
Rather than having profound lore or symbolism, Ameno Sagiri was likely chosen because the game had fog, and Ameno Sagiri was the god of fog. I’m not complaining, but I do wish there was a bit more symbolic depth to Ameno Sagiri being in the game.
See also: Comprehensive Persona Enemies Guide.
The Mastermind Behind the Mastermind
Ameno Sagiri doesn’t make an actual appearance until the tail-end of Persona 4, but that doesn’t mean his impact isn’t felt. He’s the one behind Adachi’s motivations. Adachi’s plan to submerge the world in fog is Ameno Sagiri’s ultimate goal, and he’s just using Adachi as a way to interact with the ordinary world since Ameno Sagiri, as a Shadow, can only exist within the TV world. You’ll first meet him at the end of the late-game dungeon Magatsu Inaba where he’ll explain his motivations.
Unlike other Shadows, Ameno Sagiri isn’t based on any one person. Rather, he’s the result of a collective unconscious. Since the Midnight Channel is a result of this collective unconscious, Ameno Sagiri functions as a sort of god of that world. He’s here to grant what he thinks is humanity’s desire, and he thinks humans desire to live in a blissfully ignorant fog. This will rid them of life’s problems, turning them into mindless, emotionless drones.
Later in the game, it’s revealed that he was just one part of Izanami, the mastermind behind the mastermind that was behind the mastermind. Persona 4 can get very confusing with all of its red herrings, can’t it? The entire plan to consume the world with fog and turn people into shadows was her idea.
The relationship between Ameno Sagiri and Izanami gets even more complicated in Persona 4: Golden.
Marie, the new character added to this version of the game, is also known as Kusumi-No-Okami, who was another piece of the final boss Izanami. Marie was sent out into the world to act as the goddess’s eyes and ears to ascertain what humanity wants for the world. Rather than just disappearing, as it does in the original Persona 4, Marie absorbs Ameno Sagiri’s fog into herself.
Check out our complete Marie Persona 4 Guide to learn more about Marie.
I like Ameno Sagiri’s design. It’s this weird and gigantic fog machine with a single disturbing eye. The eye itself is supposed to resemble a voyeuristic camera lens, tying back into Persona 4’s theme about people’s public perception of others. It makes him fight quite well within the story from a visual standpoint.
What Ameno Sagiri Wants
We don’t get to see much from Ameno Sagiri, so it’s pretty hard to look at him as a character, but Ameno Sagiri does talk throughout the fight, giving us some idea.
Like most of the Persona series’ big bad bosses, Ameno Sagiri only wants to do what it deems best for humanity. It’s the idea that blissful ignorance of their problems probably comes from watching humans watch TV as escapism. It also seems to be aware of the voyeuristic nature of humanity as well.
The midnight channel itself is a method of showing more about people of public interest, after all.
Ameno Sagiri doesn’t seem to fight out of hatred or malic, either, but a sense of duty. Mankind’s desires are his desires, so the fight is less to stop him and more to show him that humanity desires a different outcome. Even when beaten, Ameno Sagiri doesn’t curse or shout at the party. He just accepts his defeat. It’s quite the refreshing take on a boss.
How to Reach This Boss
Ameno Sagiri is the final boss of the dungeon, Magatsu Inaba. This dungeon is optional, so you can miss it and beat the game. Beating the game but not finishing Ameno Sagiri will result in one of the bad endings. To unlock it, you have first to beat Namatame’s Dungeon: Heaven and then reach December 3 (12/3).
To go light on the spoilers, the Investigation Team will burst into Nmatame’s room and begin arguing about what to do next. The dialogue options you want to choose are:
- The first choice doesn’t matter, but you have to get the rest right or it will send you to the bad ending
- Wait for a second here…
- We’re missing something.
- Their true feelings.
- Something’s been bothering me.
- We’re missing something…
- Calm the hell down!
After that, the cutscene will move on to Resutrant Aiya, where the Investigation Team will discuss the killer’s real identity. Sus out the mastermind as Adachi, and you’ll be on your way to Magatsu Inaba and Ameno Sagiri.
Fight In The Fog
After beating Adachi, Ameno Sagiri’s boss fight will start. It’s significantly more of a challenge than one that came before it, so I do hope you saved your somas. I’m being serious. He’s got 8,000 HP. Bring a soma, or at least bring some SP recovery. He’s level 75, but you could get away with killing him if you’re at level 70. He’s got no weaknesses and he does block light and dark, but which boss isn’t immune to the instant kills? His skill list is pretty long, and it goes as follows:
- Agneyastra – Deals 1-3 hits of heavy physical damage to all enemies.
- Agidyne – Deals heavy fire damage to 1 enemy.
- Maragidyne – Deals heavy fire damage to all enemies.
- Bufudyne – Deals heavy ice damage to 1 enemy.
- Mabufudyne – Deals heavy ice damage to all enemies.
- Garudyne – Deals heavy force damage to 1 enemy.
- Magarudyne – Deals heavy wind damage to all enemies.
- Ziodyne – Deals heavy electric damage to 1 enemy.
- Maziodyne – Deals heavy electric damage to all enemies.
- God’s Judgement – Light-based attack that halves the hit enemies HP.
- Megidola – Deals heavy almighty damage to all enemies.
- Quake – Deals heavy almighty damage to all enemies, with the chance to knock down.
- Nebula Occulus – Deals severe almighty damage to all enemies.
- Mind Charge – Buffs the next magic attack by nearly 3x.
- Tarukaja – Increases attack to 1 ally for three turns.
- Sukukaja – Increases one ally’s hit/evasion rate for three turns.
- Matarunda – Decreases all enemies’ attacks for three turns.
- Marakunda – Decreases all enemies’ defense for three turns.
- Masukunda – Decreases all hit/evasion rates for three turns.
- Debilitate – Decreases hit/evasion, attack, and defense rate for one enemy for three turns.
- Dekaja – Nullifies stat bonuses on all foes.
- Dekunda – Nullifies stat penalties.
- Foolish Whisper – 30% chance to silence all foes.
- Bewildering Fog – Nullifies all attacks until the fog dissipates. Ameno Sagiri will only start to use this attack at half health, followed by Mind Charge, Tarukaja, Sukukaja, and then Nebula Occulus for massive damage.
- Galgalim Eyes – Reduces 1 enemy’s HP to 1 and inflicts reservation.
Strategies for Ameno Sagiri
Whenever you do battle Ameno Sagiri, you have to fight Adachi. Adachi shouldn’t be that hard of a boss to fight, and if you’re struggling with him, I’d recommend you leave and get some levels. The real problem comes with Adachi being a drain on your resources because any SP spent on him doesn’t come back. It was like this on the PS2, and it’s like in Golden because Atlus can’t let us catch a break.
The fact that you will never start in ideal condition and Ameno Sagiri’s fat HP bar means that you will almost certainly begin to run dry during your fight with the giant fog machine. You’ll want to bring some SP items to lessen the strain. You’ll know an item replenishes SP by the “Soul” title given to them. Things like Soul Drops, Snuff Soul, and Soul Food can only be found in dungeons.
If you don’t have any Soul Foods but desperately need SP fixes, you can go to Yukiko’s Dungeon by talking to Rise at the backside of the TV. It would be best if you were over-leveled so the enemies won’t be a problem. Just run through the entire palace a few times, and you should net a decent amount of Soul Drops, and if you’re lucky and have a few keys to spare, maybe a Soul Food or two.
Ideally, you’d have a Soma, which fully heals HP and SP, but those are rare. You can find them in the golden chest throughout dungeons, but you’ll have to open a lot before you find one. You can beat the boss without using one if you’re feeling frugal.
Another strategy to get past Adachi without being too costly is to overwhelm him with damage completely. To save on SP, I use a physical persona whose moves cost HP rather than SP. The best personas to bring for this are either Sarosha or Yoshitsune. They both have Brave Blade, which is the single-target attack with the greatest damage, and power charge, which will boost the damage of your next physical attack by nearly 3x.
This should tear through Adachi in no time. The build is also pretty good for molly-whopping Ameno Sagiri, but the strategy is costly on the protagonist SP. You’ll want to assign Yukiko or Teddie to healing duties so you don’t die and have your other two party members filling in for whatever holes you find.
I like to bring Yosukue for his Sukukaja abilities to help ensure Brave Blade doesn’t miss, and Chie. Through her Social Link, she can learn Revolution at Rank 6, which buffs the critical rate for your entire party. This has the added effect of giving your party All-Out Attack opportunities when you land a critical and knock them down.
Here’s our guide with everything you need to know about Chie in Persona 4.
Ameno Sagiri’s pretty big move list is another hurdle to overcome. Its variety in attacks makes it fairly hard to deal with. The biggest problem at first glance is its access to all four elements. Somewhere during the fight, Ameno Sagari is going to hit your party member with one and get a Once More.
There isn’t a “best way” to counter his variety unless you come equipped with Omnipotent Orbs, which null everything. However, to get Omnipotent Orbs, you have to beat The Reaper extra boss, and if you can do that, you shouldn’t have any problem with Ameno Sagiri.
The best counter-strategy I had for its huge elemental variety was to always make sure my party’s HP was topped off. That way, even if Ameno Sagiri does hit you with something you’re weak to, he likely won’t kill your party member or completely ruin your team. It’s not the best strategy because it falls apart if he hits the same party member with their weakness twice or hits the entire party with a Ma-dyne skill twice, but it’s honestly the best I could manage.
On your end, don’t forget to apply liberal amounts of status buffs to yourself. It’ll do wonders in keeping Ameno Sagiri from murdering your faces off. However, do be sure to stop applying buffs and debuffs after about two levels. If his stats ever hit rock bottom, he’ll just cast Dekunda and rest all your hard work. The same applies if your stats ever hit the third tier, so watch out.
The best stat buff to bring to this fight is either Marakukaja or Masukukaja. Ameno Sagiri has a large health pool, so a long, protracted fight is inevitable. Those two buffs will help increase survivability. If you want to play it risky, Masukukaja has the most payoff, but for something slow and steady, go with Marakukaja. It mostly depends on your playstyle.
Whenever Ameno Sagiri goes for Bewildering Fog, Ameno Sagiri gets three actions which he’ll usually spend by buffing himself with Mind Charge, Sukukaja, and Tarukaja. Once the fog lifts, he’ll hit your entire party with a Nebula Oculus for some ginormous damage. You’ll want to set your entire party to guard that. Otherwise, you’ll be sent to a quick Game Over.
His two moves that can utterly destroy your strategy are Galgalim Eyes, which reduces the targets HP to 1 and applies enervation for good measure. The combo is a guaranteed death sentence for that party member if Ameno Sagiri follows it with a party-wide attack. You’ll want to either carry a good amount of revival beads or have another party member with Recarm or Samarecarm just in case Ameno Sagiri hits your healer.
God’s Judgment is another problem that you should hopefully be prepared for. It halves the targets HP, but it is strictly light-based, so bringing Naoto will at least ensure if Ameno Sagiri hits her, she will resist the move. You might want to equip a persona that nulls light to avoid it, but the odds of Ameno Sagiri targeting the player with it are 1/4.
There’s a sorta funny, mostly infuriating glitch that can happen with God’s Judgement. If one of your party members is left with one HP, likely due to the endure effect they get from their Social Link and then has God’s Judgment used on them, they’ll be left with 0 HP. If they get hit again, they will die, but their icon won’t be crossed out with the skull and crossbones. This means you’ll be utterly incapable of reviving them.
I’m not sure if it applies to the Persona 4: Golden version of the game, but it happened to me on the original PS2 version. The glitch happened to me when he hit Yukiko. It sent me right back to the title screen, and I promptly turned off my PS2 for the night.
Equipment Worth Having
Aside from the strongest armor and weapon you can buy from the shop in the Central Shopping District, you’ll want to bring some stuff that’ll help you in the long run.
There are the items you shouldn’t ever be playing without, like Ointments and Life Beads for healing and revival, but you’ll also want to bring Royal Jelly to counteract Galgalim Eyes. You can also get the Kid’s Hachimaki, which reduces the chances of enervation, from the golden chest in Rise’s Dungeon, Mitsuo Kubo’s Dungeon, and Naoto’s Dungeon.
Mouthwash, which cures silence, is also pretty useful for when Foolish Whisper manages to hit your healer. Such a thing can very quickly send you scrambling right back to your last save, something my unlucky self knows very well. I recommend you have multiple saves so you can quickly return to the shop to purchase consumables.
Otherwise, you’re just going to have to pray Foolish Whisper doesn’t hit someone vital as I did.
The Disguise Mask is the accessory that reduces the chance of silence. You might have already found it since it can appear in every dungeon until Magatsu Inaba, but you can also buy it from Daidara Metalworks as an accessory. You only unlock those in the shop after you give him ten life collars which you can find in Kanji’s Dungeon. It does cost ¥25,000, which is kind of expensive.
Don’t be afraid to use one of the Bead Chains you should have acquired on this boss, either. It has some frighteningly potent attacks that hit everyone at the same time. You should have Mediarahn, which can do the same thing, but it’s also expensive, and I guarantee you’re healer’s going to get messed up.
Ameno Sagiri’s Other Appearances
Persona 4 got an anime, two in fact, and Ameno Sagiri is privileged enough to be shown in both, although the fight takes a notably different route than the games.
In the original, Persona 4: The Animation, the Ameno Sagiri battle starts in much of the same way as the game after the Investigation Team beats Adachi. However, instead of the surroundings fading away as Ameno Sagiri comes rising out of the water to do battle, in Persona 4: The Animation, Ameno Sagiri descends from the sky.
Ameno Sagiri even has a different voice than the game. The anime gives him the usual distorted shadow voice but has Adachi’s voice be the underlying tone. To be honest, I kind of prefer this version to the one we got in the game. I also appreciate the idea of having it descend from the sky. It really sells that Ameno Sagiri is supposed to be this god-like being.
The fight begins as usual, with the Investigation Team nearly dying, especially the protagonist, named Yu Narukami, in the show, getting absorbed into Ameno Sagiri’s body. The shadow substance begins to eat away at him until Yusuke awakens his persona. Jiraiya, now Susano’o, pulls him out, and the rest of the Investigation Team promptly awakens their personas and fights Ameno Sagari back.
After performing a fusion (mid-battle, mind you), Yu uses his new persona, Lucifer, to finally beat Ameno Sagiri. Who bids his “children of the new potential” farewell before fading away.
Ameno Sagiri even shows up in Persona 4: The Golden Animation, an anime that covers the material unique to the Persona 4: Golden version of the game.
The anime dedicates a vast majority of this portion of the show to Adachi’s Social Link, which was unique to this Persona 4: Golden. The show is so focused on just going through the content unique to Persona 4: Golden that Yu faces Ameno Sagiri alone. The Investigation Team isn’t even there to help. Instead, Yu beats Ameno Sagiri with Magatsu Izanagi, the ultimate persona of Adachi’s Social Link.
Yu just beats Ameno Sagiri in one shot. Ameno Sagiri doesn’t even have any lines. He just shows up for less than a minute to get murdered. You probably spent longer reading this paragraph than Ameno Sagiri had screentime in the anime.
Honestly, I think that it’s kind of funny for one of Persona 4’s potential final bosses to be reduced to barely more than a cameo.
Ameno Sagiri has been reduced to a mere cameo twice because he does show up in Persona 4: Arena Ultimax. He’s relegated to an easter egg that sometimes appears during Marie’s idle animation.
Conclusion
Ameno Sagiri is a pretty exciting boss.
Just from the first impression, when you see it suddenly take over Adachi, and he comes swelling up from the water, the boss stands out for being something bizarre and otherworldly. Its voice is distorted and heavy, echoing over the entire land of nothing you find yourself in.
The boss fight is pretty good, too, considering it is one of the final bosses depending on the ending you pick. It’s got good damage that can put you on the edge of your seat and get you thinking about ways to overcome it. The music for the fight is sensual to the ears, making it a pleasurable experience all the way through.
Unless you’re intentionally going for the bad ending, it’d be a waste not to throw down with Ameno Sagiri.
Frequently Asked Questions
Question: Where can I find Ameno Sagiri?
Answer: You’ll discover Ameno Sagiri at the end of Magatsu Inaba, one of the last dungeons in the game. You’ll have to fight Adachi to get to him first, though.
Question: What level should I be for Ameno Sagiri?
Answer: You should be around level 70 and upwards to have a fair fight. You risk some of his moves any lower, leaving you on the brink of death or outright killing your party members in one shot.
Question: What do I do when he uses Bewildering Fog?
Answer: The move only last around three turns, so you have the freedom to act for 2 of them as Ameno Sagiri buffs himself. Since you won’t be able to hit him, you can take the opportunity to use buffs yourself. Marakukaja for extra defense is probably the best option.
Question: What does the writing on Ameno Sagiri’s eye say?
Answer: It’s hard to look at in the game, but in Persona 4: The Animation, you can see that it reads ‘AMNOSG LEN.’ ‘AMNOSOG’ is an abbreviated version of Ameno Sagiri. It also says ‘F = 12800 – 76800m 1:098 ALL’, which is a needlessly complicated camera reference to say that it sees a lot in immense detail.
Question: Why does the song randomly cut out during the battle?
Answer: In the PS2 version of Persona 4, there’s a glitch that prevents the song from looping properly. It was fixed in Persona 4: Golden.
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