Hifumi Togo

Hifumi Togo is a character from Persona 5. She is a Shogi champion who was known for never losing a match.

Appearances

 * Persona 5 / Royal: Supporting Character; Star Confidant
 * Persona 5 The Animation: Supporting Character

Design
Hifumi has long dark brown hair with bangs, dark green eyes, and wears a red hair accessory resembling a rope with a three-leaf clover. Those knots are often used for, which are used for offerings and prayers (and may symbolize the Star Arcana's meaning of faith).

She wears her Kosei High School's uniform, which is a blue blazer with a star emblem (reminiscent of her Confidant's Arcana). Under this, a long-sleeved white dress shirt can barely be seen, along with a black-and-white bow. She has a black skirt, knee-high white socks and black dress shoes.

On non-school days, she is seen wearing a white dress with a checkered pattern consisting of white, orange and blue squares.

If she's the protagonist's date for the Hawaii trip, she wears a three-piece swimsuit that consists of a blue and white striped top and dark blue swim skirt with matching bikini bottoms underneath and white flip flop sandals. In the OVA A Magical Valentine's Day "In the Case of Hifumi", she forgoes the skirt portion when taking a dip in the swimming pool.

Persona 5
Hifumi is a young lady who attends Kosei High School. She holds the championship title in the Female League. Her appearance has gained her attention as the "too beautiful shogi player." She practices hard and gives interviews every day for the sake of her mother and for the world of shogi. She is widely disliked for suspicions of fixing her matches-rumors that turn out to be mostly true, as while she is innocent, her mother bribes her competitors. The protagonist meets Hifumi in a church located in Kanda.

Confidant

 * To check her Confidant dialogue options and skills, see Confidant/Hifumi Togo

In order for Hifumi's Confidant relationship to begin, the Emperor (Yusuke Kitagawa) must be Rank 2 in addition to Charm status being at least rank 3 (Suave). On 6/25, the protagonist needs to hear about a female shogi player and then go to Kanda Church and talk to her. She requires maximum Knowledge (Erudite) to complete her Rank 8 and above Confidant. While the required charm for further ranking up her Confidant may seem slightly steep, this is compensated by the bonus 1 knowledge point earned each time the protagonist has ranked up her Confidant.

Hifumi's Confidant relationship revolves around her desire to become a professional Shogi player like her father. However, Hifumi learns that her mother, Mitsuyo Togo, has been fixing matches in order to make her daughter gain idol status, believing that she can live through Hifumi to gain the fame she never could. Though upset, Hifumi cannot stand up against her mother and the protagonist takes matters into his own hands to target her mother's Shadow Self. After successfully doing so, her mother has a change of heart and stops fixing matches, causing Hifumi to lose her first professional match in a completely one-sided fashion.

However, Hifumi is finally happy to be battling against opponents challenging her at full strength. She surmises that her mother's sudden change of heart could have only been done by a Phantom Thief and that the protagonist is the only person she ever talked to about her mother. After the protagonist confirms that he is a Phantom Thief, she thanks him for changing her mother's heart and affirms her dreams of becoming a professional.

Hifumi's farewell gift after maxing out her Confidant is the Kosha Piece, allowing the protagonist to use Touryou from the start in New Game+. If the protagonist pursues a romantic relationship with Hifumi, she will give the protagonist Gloves on Christmas, allowing the protagonist to earn more points when using a Star Persona during their Confidant in NG+, and Hifumi's Chocolate on Valentines Day, which fully restores SP to one ally when consumed. She'll also give a Honu Charm, an accessory which grants +5 endurance and luck, if the protagonist spends the school trip with her.

Persona 5: The Animation
Hifumi makes her debut as a cameo in episode 10. She appears with her mother at the TV Station, with Goro Akechi also being there. She is shown to be annoyed with her mother for bragging about her reputation.

Her second cameo appearance is in episode 13, where she is practicing in the church while it is empty, she notices Yusuke and Ren entering the church. She chooses to leave the church since she knows they are going to see her. Yusuke seems to be aware of this.

Hifumi later has a main role in episode 19, when the Phantom Thieves of Hearts take a trip to Hawaii; Yusuke then introduces her to his friend. Ren and his friends offer to help her. Initially she rejects the offer, but changes her mind when Yusuke tells them about her problem.

Etymology

 * The name Hifumi means "one" (一) (hi), "two" (二) (fu) and "three" (三) (mi).
 * Her name is inspired by, an actual male Shogi champion and Catholic.
 * Hifumi's surname Togo means "east" (東) (to) and "township, home town, village, native place, district" (郷) (go).

Trivia

 * Although Hifumi's voice actress, Tomomi Isomura (Isotchi), is doubled as one of the hosts of Persona Stalker Club since February 2014, she has been absolutely quiet about her voice performance in the actual game until official revelation in July 2016, few months before the Japanese release of the game.
 * Hifumi's design originated from the design of a character that was to complement Makoto as a more radical strategist. When it was decided that Makoto would incorporate both traits, that design was then used as the basis for the current Hifumi.
 * Hifumi's nickname in the English version, the Venus of Shogi, is an indirect reference to the named after the Roman goddess. This is due to the planet Venus also being known as the "morning star," fitting her Arcana.
 * Furthermore, the ultimate Persona of the Star Arcana is Lucifer, who as stated/implied, is also associated with the planet Venus. Lucifer is also known as "bringer of dawn," the Ancient Greek name for the "morning star."