Mariko Hyodo

Mariko Hyodo is a character from Persona 5 Strikers. She is a politician and the mayor of Sapporo.

Appearances

 * Persona 5 Strikers: Major Character (Antagonist)

Design
Mariko has brown bouffant hair and hard angled eyebrows. She wears red lipstick, eyeliner, blue to pink eyeshadow and a pair of earrings. She wears a light royal blue scarf tied around her neck and a black business suit with darker colored rose motifs around her shoulders and left side of her skirt.

As the Monarch of the Sapporo Jail, she appears grotesquely obese unlike her real self. Her entire color palette is cold pale, her skin included, aside from her makeup and her Shadow eyes. She has a pair of fangs. She wears a large amount of jewelry around her neck in place of her scarf, has piercings around the left side of her face, and wears a tiara. This tiara acts as her crown; if it's taken off, all Desires trapped within are freed.

During the boss battle, she takes on a giant size, with a large mouth and eyes appearing on her stomach and her lower body appearing bloblike. Her arms become several tentacles holding utensils and her head is seen tilted back past her body's apex.

Personality
Hyodo is a politician with the intent of maintaining a clean public image of her city, and genuinely cares for her people's well being. As she was a client of Kunikazu Okumura, she came to know Haru Okumura quite closely when she was a child and was genuinely disheartened by Okumura's death. Even when being affected by the EMMA application, she still manages to calm down when Haru convinces her to stop berating her civil servants.

While Hyodo genuinely cares about the city and its people, she has become embittered by the time the game begins, after having been framed by a scandal that involved the accidental death of a nine-year-old girl. In retaliation for the damage done to her name, she begins using EMMA to steal the desires of the people of Sapporo to allow her to maintain her position.

Under the effects of EMMA, she becomes much colder towards civil workers in order to ensure that there are no more scandals that occur within the city. She became a highly abusive micromanager towards city workers, regularly working them to exhaustion over petty issues and regularly insulting those she regarded as failing in even minor ways. She also tends to start outrageous cleaning campaigns where not even a speck of dust can remain in the city. Ironically, this makes her ignorant to the fact that using EMMA's salvation to artificially inflate her power and rig the ballot boxes is a scandal as well.

Persona 5 Strikers
Mariko is a charismatic politician from Sapporo and the city's mayor. An incident two years prior caused Hyodo much disdain and resentment against her fellow politicians. During the Sapporo Ice Festival, an ice statue collapsed, killing a nine-year-old girl in the process. A senator took advantage of the scandal in an attempt to tarnish Mariko's reputation so he can become mayor himself. In reality, a sponsor used faulty materials for the sculpture. When Mariko threatened to call the police, he threatened to lie and say she had ordered him to do it, leading to her getting arrested and the other man would become mayor. Hyodo backs down out of fear that if she were to lose her position, someone greedy and corrupt would become mayor instead.

When she came across the EMMA application, she used her Jail to convert masses of people into her supporters as well, she vowed to stay on as mayor to prevent further corruption. Hyodo's keyword is public and announced aloud during election campaigns, ensuring as many people get ensnared as possible. This allowed Hyodo to obtain an 88% approval rating (a 50 point jump in only two months), three politicians confession to corruption after getting a Change of Heart, and winning the support of an opposing political party. There are also rumors of Hyodo going to the national level. As she regains her fame, she forces her civil servants to work to the bone for petty reasons to make sure that the city is clean and devoid of corruption, for the sake of getting her public image back.

She meets the Phantom Thieves of Hearts when they visit Sapporo. When she was first met, she was forcing a civil ward to watch the garden 24 hours a day to prevent them from withering. She recognizes Haru, and reveals to her that she was previously acquainted with Haru Okumura's father, Kunikazu Okumura. According to her, she was his trade partner and would play golf with him and Haru when Haru was still a child. Upon obtaining intel from citizens in Sapporo, it was also revealed that she was starting unrealistic and outrageous cleaning campaigns where not a speck of dust can remain in the city.

It was revealed she's the Monarch of the Sapporo Jail after an election campaign where she requests her supporters to use EMMA so they can "befriend" her. Her keyword is "Snow City." After exploring her Jail once, she then can be seen berating another civil worker because he was being forced to work despite having a flu. According to her, she's organizing a mass cleaning campaign for a month. When Haru berates Hyodo for her excessive behavior, Hyodo is successfully convinced to leave the ward alone for the time being.

The party sends the calling card by having Zenkichi cover Mariko's election posters with them. Once confronted, the lower body of Shadow Mariko transforms into a large bullfrog-like creature towering over most of her upper body, with a massive face consisting of a pair of eyes and a massive mouth. Once she is defeated, Haru chides Hyodo for straying from her beliefs, and urges her to stop feeling sorry for herself and stand up to face her problems. She realizes the meaning of her words and agrees to reform, stating that she was proud of her growth and her father would be too.

The next day, Hyodo admits her involvement for the oversight that resulted in the snow statue accident, as well as her involvement in the conspiracy to hide the truth, thus disqualifying herself from the elections. Once the confession is over, Zenkichi Hasegawa allows the Phantom Thieves to meet Mariko in private, and she admits to making an illusion that tarnished the deceased child's legacy. As Hyodo leaves, she encounters the mother of the deceased child who tells her that even if Hyodo were to leave politics behind and disappear into obscurity as recompense, her child would still not come back, and that Hyodo should deal with the grief and keep trying to get re-elected as mayor, which she accepts.

Preparation
Snow Empress Mariko is weak against Psy and Curse skills, resistant to Electric and Nuclear skills, and can nullify Ice skills. For team composition, it is advisable to bring Haru to the battlefield. Other members can include Morgana and Sophia. Never bring Yusuke as his Ice skills will be nullified, nor Ann as she's vulnerable to her Ice attacks. The protagonist is recommended to have Personas with Psy and Curse attacks. Also, bring a large amount of medical supplies and healing skills as she is a deadly enemy due to her speed and attacking power; she can kill most party members within a few hits.

During Battle
Mariko is extremely fast and most of her attacks can take down party members in a few hits, and like Mad Rabbit Alice, her attacks have very little telegraphing between them. During this, keep a distance to not get affected. She also uses Ice skills and Physical skills to sweep her surroundings, some of which will be telegraphed by a red ring appearing on the floor, which makes up the area of the attack.

Mariko will turn red regularly, essentially inflicting herself with Rage; during half HP or below, she will always retain this state. It will put her into rage mode and she will always eat one teammate, preventing them from returning until she is stunned. Luring the enemy underneath one of the four chandeliers and dropping it will both free the teammate and snap her out of rage mode, in addition to giving the party a window to attack. If there are no chandeliers left, taking out her down gauge or using Showtime will result in the same outcome. This attack can also be countered by leading her into a table, which she will pause to eat, allowing the party a short amount of time to attack freely. She will also take Technical damage from Psy attacks during rage mode, so capitalize on it to deal big damage. At 50% HP, she might also summon a blizzard, which can slow any party member to a crawl, while Mariko remains unaffected. Due to her high moving speed, this is lethal if left unchecked. If this happens, head to the exclamation mark that appears on the map and turn on the heater.

During rematches, Forneus is an excellent Persona to use, as he naturally learns the powerful Psycho Blast and Psy Amp, uses Mapsiodyne as a combo finisher, and naturally nullifies Ice attacks. By contrast, Kali should not be used unless her Ice weakness can be covered by at least Null Ice.

Stats

 * Notes:
 * HP is from the Normal difficulty.
 * If Snow Empress Mariko turns red with "Rage," she will be vulnerable to Psy technical damage.
 * At 50% or below, Snow Empress Mariko will constantly be in Rage unless an All-out Attack is triggered and in the duration where she is staggered.
 * In Painful Past+ battles, Mariko's Mabufula is upgraded to Mabufudyne, and she gains Debilitate to debuff party members. Tentacle Swipe now has a finisher where she jumps into the air and crashes down, creating a shockwave of icicles.

Etymology
Mariko (鞠子) means "ball, child." Her last name, Hyodo (氷堂) means "ice institute," referencing to her Jail and her merciless attitude towards her civil wards for their incompetence.

Trivia

 * Hyodo is a reference to the fairy tale "," which features a mirror that can only view things as distorted and negative. This reflects on how bitter she has became, and that her "mirror self" is ugly and obese as opposed to her appearance in the real world as a stern, slender middle-aged woman.
 * Her Japanese boss name is a reference to "," as in the fairy tale. The character has no direct resemblance to Snow White herself, however.