Masayoshi Shido

Masayoshi Shido is one of the main antagonists from Persona 5. Appearing to Tokyo as a powerful, highly charismatic and confident politician, Shido is in reality the leader of a grand conspiracy taking the form of an Antisocial Force attempting to overthrow the current government.

Appearances

 * Persona 5 / Royal: Major Character (Antagonist)
 * Persona 5 The Animation: Major Character (Antagonist)

Design
Shido is a tall, bald man with a small black goatee. He wears a business suit and a pair of orange-tinted square glasses.

Shadow Shido initially appears identical to his real world counterpart. Once he boards his golden mount, he dons a black army general uniform with long cape, long white gloves, and knee-high white boots. His spiked helmet resembles the or Principality. He initially does not transform himself after becoming Samael, instead summoning a golden lion, made of humanoid figures, called the "Beast of Human Sacrifices" as a mount. As the Beast is damaged, it reconfigures itself into the "Wings of Human Sacrifices" (the previous form with bird's wings) and then the "Tomb of Human Sacrifices"  (a pyramid which resembles the  with a high-caliber cannon replacing its eye) before it is destroyed and he fights directly.

In his second form, he rips away his upper clothing and headgear, revealing heavily built muscles. Springs that resemble an exercise harness wrap all around his upper body, and he emits a red aura. In his final "true" form, his muscles bulge even further, which shatters the springs and turns his skin red, and he emits a dark-violet aura.

Personality
To the eyes of the public, Shido is a skilled speaker who ultimately entrances them into supporting him using his influential speech-craft. He has a craft for giving passionate speeches that inspire the masses and speaks frankly on his opinions of current matters, making him seem more believable and credible. According to him, Japan is in severe financial and diplomatic weakness, and only by voting him to the seat of prime minister can Japan be saved and the children of the nation live in a happy future.

In reality, everything he says cannot be farther from the truth: to put it bluntly, he is actually a profoundly ungrateful man with a savior complex who only cares about him and his most obedient lapdogs while the rest of its people are irrelevant even if they fall into ruin (in fact, the cognition of his Palace heavily implies that he believes that anyone save for his most loyal associates have no rights to exist.) The public also only voted for him because he was supposedly the only choice for premiership; while some are swayed by his speech-craft, others do it for no apparent or valid reason. Shido's abnormally high popularity is heavily suggested to be artificially engineered by the conductor as a part of his experiments on humanity; details about him and his background are surprisingly scarce, and nobody used to take him seriously as anything other than a minor and corrupt politician. By the end of Strikers, his whole political foundation is easily overturned even by standard law enforcement without the conductor's backing.

Shido is utterly self-assured of his fundamental righteousness, believing that he is favored and chosen by "God" to rule over Japan and steer it into a golden age where people will fear the Japan he envisions. He embraces his dark aspects fully, that his Shadow initially matches his real person in attire. Even after his defeat, he still believes that he is the stronghold of the country and the only person fit to guide it.

He despises anyone who gets in his way or irritates him, no matter how fleeting. The consequences of opposing Shido can range from lawsuits against anyone who irritates him, death threats, and in severe cases, he even outright assassinates them. He is also quite paranoid, taking precautionary measures to eliminate all who are disobedient, even eliminating anyone who threatens his plans, may become a problem down the road or are no longer of use. Anyone who threatens his associates with arrest are also not exempt from being eliminated, as seen in the case when Zenkichi Hasegawa tried to investigate Jyun Owada.

Two of the negative traits that Shido has even way prior to Yaldabaoth's "experiments" is his litigiousness and libido. He threatens to sue anyone who "crosses" him and has no qualms with blackmailing even the police into keeping their mouth shut. Most notably, prior to his abrupt rise to fame, it's implied that he has been known to throw lawsuits and threats against anyone who stood in his way. He is also prone to having impulsive sexual sprees against women, which resulted in the conception of Goro Akechi, leaving him with the life of an illegitimate child, and indirectly, the protagonist's probation. This proves to be integral to his downfall, as both young men quickly form into some of his greatest adversaries, one that is designated to become the main reasons for his demise.

When he gained power through Yaldabaoth, he is willing to use whatever method he can, no matter how underhanded and cruel to complete his goals, but keeps his public image as clean as possible using whatever methods he can to keep those in the know silent. Sometimes, the heights of cruelty he can go to can be rather unnecessary, shown when he manipulated Futaba's family into thinking that she's the reason her mom killed herself, when in actuality he himself had Akechi induce a mental shutdown on her. Further compounded by his most unpleasant and abhorrent aspects (such as sexual harassment and random lawsuits) being committed privately and his connections to media, law enforcement and mafia, Shido is nearly impossible to stop conventionally.

He is a massive hypocrite, believing that Japan's social state is utterly corrupt and weak on the world stage, and the nation he strives for is the ultimate realization of the public's happiness. His Shadow even compares himself with the Phantom Thieves and claims that he was reforming society like them, completely blind to his own hypocrisy in creating a criminal Antisocial Force to win the election for Prime Minister unfairly, his obsession in committing atrocities, and that he cares absolutely nothing for the public's well being contrary to what he says in front of them. Despite Shido speaking frankly of the country's children, he will not hesitate to verbally lash out at or make callous remarks about people less than two-thirds of his age should they ever stand in his way. Based on one of Shido's reasons for killing Kunikazu Okumura was because of Okumura competing for the premiership with him, it can also be assumed that he has absolutely no regard for democratic procedures.

However, in spite of all the heinous things he does privately, he does make a good attempt in giving himself a public image. In front of the public, he appears as a charismatic and noble politician giving out promising speeches. Compounded by obvious manipulation of the public's cognition from the conductor, most people are completely oblivious to his true personality, as they only see him as the revolutionary politician that he pretends to be.

Shido is quite observant and insightful towards recruiting the most loyal lackeys to him, considering that the cognitions of his fellow nobles and guests from his Palace indicate that he knows most of them well enough to ensure that they won't betray his trust, no matter what. He is not deceived by outward appearances and will only take people who display genuine, top-down obedience towards him, a trait that made him suspect Akechi was actually going after him because he resembled his mother too much. The nationalistic theme of his Palace, in addition to him only recruiting lackeys that he knew will display absolute obedience to him, indicates that his political ideology is those of a radical nationalist and a Social Darwinist, where only he and the most wealthy, influential and loyal people can exist within the Japan that he would govern.

Despite Goro Akechi, his right hand man and bastard son was a more perceptive and intelligent person than he could ever be and Ann even tells his Shadow to the fact that he cannot make it this far without Akechi's help, he treats him no better than a source of profit and a disposable tool. He was only able to cause bloodshed because of Akechi, but he both praises and threatens Akechi to manipulate him, and their conversations are always mission-based with no signs of affection. Akechi's resentment for Shido is so powerful to the point that he still wishes to be acknowledged by him for the sake of catching him off guard and ruining him at his apex once he goes complacent. In reality, Akechi's relationship with Shido is heavily implied to be much worse than he lets out to be; he confides to the protagonist (another one of Shido's victims) about his disgraceful family background knowing that he was one of the very few people who can be trusted with that information, and that Shido was a "worthless, degenerate excuse of a man." Shido and Akechi are dishonest and two-faced in their relationship, and both wanted to dispose of each other once the elections are done and the Phantom Thieves and their confidants are all disposed of. Before being confronted in his Palace, Shadow Shido claims that once he becomes Prime Minister, he will give Akechi anything he desires, despite the fact that he was merely manipulating him and he plans to kill Akechi after the election.

Similar to Akechi, Shido speaks in a polite, confident tone and uses formal pronouns in front of the public, but will immediately drop it and reveal his true colors when it comes to enemies or associates. Shido refers to himself with the formal gender-neutral "watashi," but it can also indicate his pride and superiority over everyone else, which his Shadow retains when he fights the Phantom Thieves, and refers to the public as "kimi-tachi." However, when he interacts with his associates or enemies, he rarely switches his self-referential pronouns to the less formal "ore" (only doing so if he is dealing with people whom he victimizes privately) and refers to them as "omae." When his Shadow fights the Phantom Thieves, he refers to them as "kisama" (which is very impolite), much like most other Palace rulers when they confront them personally.

Shido's biggest flaw is his pride, manifesting as sheer ignorance, stupidity and irresponsibility. Despite he believes that he is above everyone for having knowledge of the Metaverse unlike most Palace rulers and thus is aware that he had a Palace which he fully embraces, it is only limited to enable Akechi to smoothly dispose of his opposition and render him unaccountable, and he can't actually exploit it. He had a contingency plan in case of his heart being changed, yet because of his sheer ignorance to how the Metaverse works, said plan amounts to nothing more than swallowing a pill to induce a vegetative state to collapse his Palace and taking the Phantom Thieves with him, ignorant to the fact that they had in fact, escaped from numerous similar situations easily.

One of his most glaring flaws is that when he commits an atrocity, he usually forgets about it after a relatively short time. For example, when the party meets him in the Shibuya hotel, he does not bother remembering that he filed a lawsuit against the protagonist. He also regards other's lives as utterly worthless, even if someone is highly important or beloved; when the Thieves confront him, he does not even directly gloat about killing Wakaba or Kunikazu Okumura, instead responding with callous remarks about how irrelevant their deaths were to him and his road to power and comparing them to ants that needed to be crushed. His sheer ignorance and recklessness however, can make him very dangerous as he can do nearly anything without concerning the well-being of others or even himself.

Despite his general ignorance, recklessness and short-term memory, however, because of his aforementioned trait of determining connections worthy of keeping alive, he still knows Akechi was his bastard child who would become a potential thorn on his side as soon as he personally met him, and he knew perfectly that Akechi had to be disposed later on despite the boy being the crux of his plan to global domination.

While Shido at first seems like a skilled tactician, he is actually a relatively poor one on his own, as he orchestrates elaborate framing schemes and murders that would seemingly benefit him in the long run, but in reality, inevitably results in his downfall. This, when combined with his sheer ignorance, brutality and recklessness proved to be his Achilles heel, as his scheme to frame the Phantom Thieves for fabricated crimes resulted in the protagonist unifying all of his indirect and direct victims under the Phantom Thieves' wings to enter his palace and dispose of him. The protagonist also only made his Shadow remember the lawsuit in the middle of the confrontation. Due to Shido lacking a tie with his Shadow, it was implied that the real one does not know that the very people that he got their life ruined had caused his downfall at all.

Persona 5
Shido is a politician who was a former metropolitan assemblyman who has became a representative in the of Japan. He is now a cabinet minister who split from the ruling party to form the United Future Party and is running for election of the next Prime Minister of Japan. However, he is also the founder of a treasonous and revolutionary Antisocial Force for him to obtain power by any means necessary, and his sponsors consist largely of corrupt politicians, con-men, Yakuza, corporations and nobility.

Masayoshi Shido abruptly rose to virtually control Japan a time ago prior to Persona 5, as a part of the conductor's experiments for rationalizing his absolute rule over humanity as their sole "salvation." The conductor manipulates the General Public into revering Shido as a god-like figure and the only person who can steer Japan to a golden age despite his sheer maliciousness, ignorance and cruelty in order to display that they do not deserve freedom because they will abuse it to their very own ruin.

According to Sojiro, he was supposed to be a minor politician with a big ego who kept insisting that he will become prime minister and nobody took him seriously. He was also known to ruin and crush people for very petty reasons and will not rest until whoever annoys him was thoroughly crushed. Information about him is also surprisingly scarce for such a high profile politician, suggesting that whatever popularity he has was merely a distortion manifested by the conductor.

A long time ago, he bore Goro Akechi by molesting a prostitute and refused to make any apologies for her. Eventually, Akechi's mother committed suicide. Two years prior to the events of Persona 5, as an attempt to ruin Shido, Akechi enrolled to become his hitman. In return, Shido taught him how to induce mental shutdowns by killing Shadow Selves in Mementos or Palaces. Shido would later use Akechi to create scandals or atrocities to undermine or ruin his political opponents so he can go into power uncontested. Akechi quickly became Shido's most fearsome right-hand man and a backbone of income for him. However, both Akechi and Shido planned on disposing one or the other once Shido successfully inaugurates, and Akechi's opinion of Shido was overwhelmingly negative, made apparent during his Royal confidant hangouts where he confides to the protagonist about his real opinion about him.

One of the first people he murdered via Akechi is a cognitive psience researcher called Wakaba Isshiki, who he murdered for the sole reason of extracting her cognitive psience research. He also forged a derogatory suicide note to cover his tracks and, in an act of unnecessary cruelty, had it read aloud to her daughter Futaba Sakura, breaking her spirit and causing her to become a suicidal shut-in. By the events of the game, much like most other atrocities he committed, Shido has no recollection of this incident. Later on, money from Ichiryusai Madarame's forgeries and Junya Kaneshiro's drug trafficking scams would be used to fund his political campaign.

As a prime minister candidate, he is abnormally popular regardless of how despicable or incompetent he actually is, and his popularity only becomes progressively stronger throughout the game no matter how many setbacks he gets, to the point that his downfall inversely puts his popularity to an apex. His supporter base are mostly people from the younger generation, although people who are older do support him because there's supposedly no other viable candidate for Prime Minister other than him. Shinjuku was especially notable for having a massive support base for Shido's campaign. During his time of fame, Shido also tends to waste money on pleasantries (such as cruise trips), although rumors indicate that he didn't spend his own money on them, heavily implying that he was also involved in misuse of taxpayer money or national treasury reserves.



The protagonist met Shido one night while walking home late. Shido, heavily intoxicated, harassed his female subordinate who attempted to flee from his car after an argument about money laundering. When Shido noticed the protagonist, he threatened the latter not to get in trouble with him because of his status as a powerful politician and his connection to the police. He lost his balance when the protagonist attempted to pull him away from the woman and fell, sustaining a minor injury. Shido angrily accused the protagonist for the nonexistent violence and forced his subordinate to testify against the protagonist. This caused the protagonist to be arrested and then later put on probation for assault. Shido also specifically ordered the arriving policemen who recognized him to conceal his involvement, which makes it nearly impossible for the protagonist to identify Shido by name and change his heart in order to clear his criminal record. This results in the protagonist being thrown into a rehabilitation game by "Igor,” which is actually Yaldabaoth in disguise. While the protagonist recognizes Shido's appearance, he does not recognize his name. However, Shido quickly forgot about the lawsuit and his deal with the protagonist within a few weeks even if the protagonist's life was ruined because of the false assault charge.

Shido and the protagonist cross paths again when the protagonist, Ryuji Sakamoto, Ann Takamaki, and Morgana eat at the Wilton Hotel buffet to celebrate Kamoshida's downfall. A, a politician Mr. Ooe, a TV Station President, and an IT Company President that were associated with him were also present, presumably in a meeting with him. He encounters the protagonist and Ryuji while waiting for the elevator on a higher floor. The protagonist and Ryuji are pushed aside by one of his bodyguards, and when Ryuji protests the treatment, Shido merely dismisses them as children who have no place there. However, he does not recognize the protagonist. This, plus the general contempt of the other adults in the hotel, convinces them to continue their work as the Phantom Thieves.

The Phantom Thieves quickly become national news when Ichiryusai Madarame and Junya Kaneshiro confess to their own wrongdoings. Fearing that they are a threat to his plans, Shido plays a role behind the events of the story behind the scenes, employing the members of his group into building up the Phantom Thieves' notoriety by launching a fake Medjed threat of performing a national hacking attack and manipulating the Phan-site into making Kunikazu Okumura their target. The plan is successful and the Phantom Thieves's popularity explodes only for it to immediately crash after the brutal death of Kunikazu on national TV when Akechi assassinates his Shadow Self per Shido's instructions. As a final step, Shido tasks Akechi to join the Phantom Thieves as a mole and use Sae Niijima's Palace as a means to lead to the protagonist's arrest.

The plan appears to be successful and the protagonist is arrested. He is heavily drugged and is allowed to meet with Sae Niijima to discuss the events of the year thus far. After she completes her interrogation, Akechi enters the interrogation room of the protagonist and proceeds to shoot him, thereby eliminating the leader of the Phantom Thieves. With the main threat seemingly out of the way, he tells his group to perform surveillance on the remaining Phantom Thieves and wait until after the election is over to eliminate them. He also betrays the SIU Director by having Akechi inflict a mental shutdown on him.

Seventh Heist: Masayoshi Shido
In reality, the protagonist was not killed and Akechi merely killed his Cognition. The secrecy of his detainment, lack of confirmation of his death, and the conspiracy overconfident enough to not check the interrogation room of bodies allowed the protagonist to escape with the help of Sae. All of this was merely a plan by the protagonist to use himself as a decoy to trick Akechi so the Phantom Thieves can dismantle Shido without any obstruction. He was initially only unable to recollect it because he was drugged. To the world, the Phantom Thieves' leader was declared dead, having committed suicide, and the Thieves were merely brushed off as another news piece despite the jarring way their leader "died." The protagonist uses his "death" as a means to investigate unopposed, but in secrecy.

Despite obviously not deserving it, Shido's popularity reaches a peak during the period around this heist, with nearly everyone in Tokyo (bar anyone that the protagonist has a maxed Confidant with) supporting him to become prime minister, often for no apparent or rational reason. Even people who do not trust any politician wanted him to become prime minister because he was the only viable candidate. Television programs before election day were almost exclusively about Shido, and the party describes his popularity as similar to a cult on a party instead of a proper election campaign.

When it becomes clear to the Phantom Thieves that Shido is the one behind all the deaths as a result of the bizarre mental breakdowns, initially they have trouble pinpointing the form of his Palace, until he begins his election campaign in Yongen-Jaya. Ryuji personally encounters him after he makes a speech and tries to talk to him about the Wilton Hotel incident, only to be rudely shoved off by a bodyguard who does not even remember encountering Ryuji. Once the protagonist and Haru try to calm down Ryuji, Shido turns to the protagonist without even recognizing him, Haru, Ryuji or their encounter in the Wilton Hotel, cynically threatening "the kids" not to get in his way and left afterwards, completely unaware that the "kids" confronting him are the very people that he is supposed to arrest and take care of and one of them was the one he thought that he disposed of during the interrogation. After listening to Shido's voice once again in the election campaign, the protagonist finally realizes that Shido is the man who accused him of assault. He has a vague memory of that night, and remembers Shido's drunk rambling mentioned "steering this country." He deduces that it referred to a ship's steering wheel, opening the way to Shido's Palace.

He now acts as the final heist target of the Phantom Thieves, and his Palace takes the shape of a luxurious cruise ship sailing across a sunken Tokyo. He embodies the deadly sin of "Pride," which is represented by the cruiser's extremely luxurious appearance, his political speeches repeated ad infinitum and his propaganda posters slapped around the lobby on his ship, the traps that turns the party into rats as he considers opposition to him as rats and the existence of a rigged legislative chamber where the voting results are always perfectly in his favor, all of them symbolizing Shido's belief where he is all that matters. The cruiser is also sailing in a sunken Tokyo and regularly crushes buildings on its way, indicating Shido has no regard for Japan's future and only cares for himself and his trusted associates. For such a distortedly arrogant target, the cognitions in Shido's Palace are surprisingly normal people just like the ones in Niijima's Palace before, and much unlike many similar cognitions, many of the cognitive passengers are lively and can be interacted with, courtesy of how well Shido knows about them. Despite this, only wealthy nobles that he rigorously handpicked and screened can be seen aboard the cruiser, indicating that he simply views anyone who doesn't revere him, as well as the middle and lower class as not worthy of existence.

The Thieves require five letters of introduction from VIPs in order to access the Representative Chamber where Shido's Treasure is located. These letters are held by the same people Shido met with in the Wilton Hotel as well as a "." Unlike the other cognitive passengers aboard the ship, the VIPs are direct manifestations of their corresponding Shadow Selves, able to appear due to their strong bonds with Shido. Unlike other hostile cognitions, either, they are seemingly friendly folk who can be easily interacted with, although most will defend the letters at all costs, and those who unconditionally grant the letter inevitably anger the Phantom Thieves to the point that they are forced to fight. Many of them had requested Mental Shutdowns from Shido to threaten or dispose of basically anyone they dislike or deem incompetent in exchange for money or connections for him.

Shido turns out to be at the center of a conspiracy to rig the election for Prime Minister in his favor, having control over Madarame, Kaneshiro and the IT company president faking Medjed, as well as assassinating Okumura in fear of him threatening his campaign and Kobayakawa in fear of his exposure as well as his incompetence. The vast number of his accomplices from the law enforcement, corporations, jurisdiction system, mass media, National Diet and even the Yakuza paves a way to him putting his highly draconian and ultra-nationalistic political beliefs into effect unopposed, uncaring of the misery this would bring to Japan in general. However, the Yakuza Cleaner Shadow whom the party encountered admits that he's only working for Shido because he had the highest pay.

Akechi, having figured out that the protagonist lives, confronts the Phantom Thieves just after they obtained their fifth letter, revealing that he is Shido's illegitimate son and despite both of them are going after Shido, it would not matter by then and Akechi claims that he will take the protagonist and all of the Thieves down on his own. Shido used Akechi's fame as the prince detective and Akechi's desire to be acknowledged by Shido to manipulate him into being his hitman, eliminating any and all opponents who would oppose him on his journey to become Prime Minister, although Akechi is actually disloyal and planned on taking him down after he inaugurates. After Akechi is defeated, Shido's Cognition of Akechi appears, stating that though he promised Akechi anything in return for his services, he planned on killing him after the election. Akechi saves the Phantom Thieves by seemingly sacrificing himself to deal with his cognition, allowing the Phantom Thieves to reach the treasure room.



The Phantom Thieves send their Calling Card by hacking the broadcasting system of Japan, vocalizing their plans and also revealing that the protagonist is very much alive. Shido publicly denounces the Calling Card, declaring it a terrorist act intending to obstruct the election. While the public are still completely unfazed by the calling card, the authorities attempt to arrest Sojiro and storm LeBlanc in hopes of finding the Phantom Thieves, only for Sojiro to actively resist and get arrested. By this point, the Phantom Thieves are already preparing to encroach his Palace. Most of the protagonist's maxed Confidants notice the abnormalities and display full support to the Phantom Thieves defeating Shido right before they enter his Palace as opposed to the public, who unerringly yearn for Shido to guide them towards ruin.

Once inside Shido's Treasure Chamber; a replica of the Diet Building assembly, the Phantom Thieves confront his Shadow Self and explore his motives for committing atrocities. Shadow Shido reveals that he was fully aware of Akechi's intents of betraying him, but he already had planned on disposing of him after the election anyways. Though the Phantom Thieves express their disgust for his statements, he brushes them off. Haru and Futaba also express anger against him murdering their parents for his own profit, but he refuses to even acknowledge them and merely regards them as "inevitable sacrifices," indicating that for him the people he killed and ruined are of no relevance compared to his grand reform of the country. After this, seeing the Phantom Thieves' power and worth, he offers them the chance to work for him in his grand reform, but they vehemently refuse. Additionally, if the protagonist asks him if the offer is legit, he will admit that it is not and declares that they will be disposed of immediately.

This starts a lengthy battle between Shido and the Phantom Thieves with his clothing changing into military garb and riding on a mount formed by the cognition of the public, implying that he sees them as nothing more than his disposable supporters. After the Phantom Thieves defeat the chariot of the masses, the protagonist unmasks himself causing Shido to remember the incident where he sued him. Haru also asked if he ever considered the people he killed to be deserving to die, only for him to evade the question and make a callous remark about them being ants crushed on the road, again implying that he bears no responsibility for their deaths because they were simply insignificant people to him. When Ann remarks that he is insane, Shido gloats on their "ignorance" (that the people he killed are simply of no importance compared to his grand plan of reform) and transforms into Samael, proceeding to fight the Phantom Thieves on his own, but is eventually subdued. In his defeat, Shadow Shido is goaded by the Phantom Thieves into confessing his crimes.

When Shido in reality senses the change of his heart, he orders a physician to feed him medicine to enter, hoping to collapse his Palace, protect his Treasure, and kill the Thieves in the process. This fails, as the Thieves all escape from the Palace alive. Shido begins to repent, which shocks his aides. They send him to the hospital to avoid media coverage of his mental state. He seemingly recovers on December 18th, just in time for the announcement of his landslide election victory. However, Shido begins to confess his crimes on air before they can cut him off, leaving the public in disbelief. In the upcoming three days, the remnants of the Conspiracy are left finding a backup plan due to the loss of their leader, while some of the public began to doubt that Shido even genuinely meant it for his promises. Sojiro was also unconditionally released from custody right after Shido's confession, although the authorities still manage to leave a ruckus in the Cafe during their failed arrest attempt.

His Treasure is his legislator's pin which takes the form of a golden wheel of his cruiser-shaped Palace, symbolizing his ambition as a leader to 'steer' his country. While the party celebrates in Café Leblanc after his confession, Sojiro states that the pin itself is not valuable at all so it cannot be pawned.

If the party fails to clear his Palace before Election Day, Akechi will find out that the protagonist is alive, and he leads the police to Leblanc to arrest him for deceiving the police by faking his death and for murdering a guard. He then declares that "this game is over" and presumably executes the protagonist or trials him for death row. The protagonist ends up in the Velvet Room, with Igor declaring the protagonist met a foolish end and that "The Game is Over" just like any other deadline based game over.

Final Heist: Mementos
While initially the Phantom Thieves managed to invoke doubt on the general public and send his remnants scurrying for a backup plan with Shido's Change of Heart which they still admit during that time, things suddenly take a turn for the absolute worst during the 23rd of December.

Not only does the general public suddenly deny the Phantom Thieves' existence and are rather more worried about the future of Japan without Shido leading the country, support for Shido inversely reaches an apex even if this supposedly should not happen. His confession is also only covered up as "mental instability" with all proof that the Phantom Thieves tampered with his heart denied completely, despite even his lackeys admitted that it was a Change of Heart unanimously a week ago. Within the government, the proxy SIU Director also initiates a cover up on Shido's crimes, starting by firing Sae who was coming close to indicting him. In order to snap the public back to their senses, the Thieves infiltrate the Depths of Mementos.

There, they find the now unambitious Shadow Shido locked in the massive cell on the Prison of Regression's second floor, like the other major target's Shadow Selves reformed by the Thieves. It turns out that just like the others, they did not properly reform Shido, but merely made him a member of the distorted masses who praise the Grail for guiding humanity to eternal imprisonment. He praises the prison by saying that it gives them the ultimate freedom to be liberated from struggling, and is a far better country than what he had planned. He also explains that he escaped from the Prison of Regression due to his desire to sow chaos and destroy order, and his duty, like the other Palace rulers, is to keep people behind the Prison before he was reformed and his Shadow Self returned back to it.

It was implied that Yaldabaoth had deliberately set up Shido for power only to also have the Phantom Thieves carry out his dismantling alongside his entire conspiracy right before he is able to take over Japan in an attempt to prove that humanity does not deserve freedom for desiring Shido as their leader regardless of his sheer maliciousness, and his totalitarian rule is the only way to make sure that corrupt conspiracies like Shido's antisocial force will no longer happen. Furthermore, it's also heavily implied that the distortions at December 23rd are initial signs of Yaldabaoth stepping in and exerting the farthest extent of his manipulation against the general public to prove his point.

After the Phantom Thieves unite the masses into rebelling against the true mastermind of the story, all is restored to normal and the public begin to openly discuss Shido's corruption in the political race and discuss looking for alternative candidates for Prime Minister, ultimately cementing the Phantom Thieves' victory.

Two months later, the protagonist's probation is revoked when his fellow thieves and Confidants help locate the woman involved in his incident and she testifies for the protagonist's innocence. Meanwhile, while the protagonist was incarcerated after turning himself in as a Phantom Thief, he gives valuable testimony that helps build the case against Shido for Sae Niijima.

Persona 5 Royal
If the protagonist maxed the Councillor confidant, Akechi will appear on Christmas Eve and agree to turn himself in to the police, taking the protagonist's place to testify against Shido. At the end of the year, thanks to Akechi's testimonies, the woman whom Shido harassed is found and Shido is promptly arrested for treason.

During the final heist, it was revealed that Shido had stolen Takuto Maruki's cognitive psience research for his own nefarious use alongside Wakaba Isshiki's, and he also cut the funds for Maruki's cognitive psience research lab in Odaiba by claiming that his research lacked concrete evidence. Unlike his other victims like the protagonist, Wakaba, and Okumura, he left Maruki alone without any further action, presumably confident he had crushed the young researcher's spirit. Later on, Maruki's desire to prove that his original research was true became his very motivation for opening a clinic and, later, becoming a part-time counselor in Shujin. During Maruki's attempt to create an ideal reality he changes history so that instead of Shido confessing for his crimes, he was the only one arrested for trying to overthrow the government and suing the protagonist.

After the protagonist defeats Maruki and removes the reality he created, Shido's case remains as if it were unsolved and the protagonist is testifying for him in a juvenile hall. Thanks to all of his Confidants and allies, which might include the newly recruited Sumire Yoshizawa if he maxed her confidant, Shido is successfully tried a week later.

Persona 5 The Animation
Shido appears throughout the series, and like his game counterpart, is responsible for Ren's probation. Shido primarily appears in flashbacks and occasionally on TV interviews.

In the special OVA Dark Sun..., the party directly confronts him after sending the nation-wide broadcast. His chariot is shown to be able to withstand multiple attacks without flinching and his true form can knock Ryuji flying with his incredible strength. However, he is still no match for Ren's combination of Yoshitsune, Alice and Beelzebub.

Persona 5 Strikers
While not appearing physically, it was revealed that Jyun Owada, the current Chief Cabinet Secretary of Japan and Shido's former supporter killed the mother of Akane Hasegawa and the wife of Zenkichi Hasegawa, Aoi Hasegawa and blamed it on a patsy secretary who quickly committed suicide afterwards. When Zenkichi investigated the incident, he was met with a death threat, threatening his and Akane's life, which forced him to put down the case, since if he doesn't, he will be risking crossing Shido's path which would most obviously put him and Akane in heavy danger.

Strategy
The battle with Shido will be a long one, consisting of a total of five forms, with Shido switching around each form as his health drops. The first round consists of the Beast, Wings, and Tomb of Human Sacrifice, while the second round is where he takes on his Samael form.

The Beast of Human Sacrifice is impervious to physical and gun attacks while having several physical and almighty attacks of its own, in addition to Makarakarn to make it temporarily invincible. It has a tendency to inflict the party with Rage using Wage War, causing them to auto-attack the Beast and damage themselves. If it is shown to "charge its energy," it's telegraphing its Arm of Destruction attack - guard to avoid its harmful effects.

The Wings of Human Sacrifice resists all magic and has a vast variety of single-target magic to hit weaknesses. During certain turns, it prefers to use certain elements over others - it will prioritize Fire/Ice/Elec/Wind attacks first, then Psychokinesis/Nuclear, then Curse/Bless, before using Royal Wing Blast and resetting the pattern. Have the right team members be on the defense to avoid taking too much damage at once.

The Tomb of Human Sacrifice has no weaknesses or resistances, but packs several strong Almighty attacks, including Pyramid Blast which is telegraphed by Unholy Convergence for two turns. Although the Tomb's Unholy Convergence looks intimidating, the fact that Shido assumes this form when low on health also indicates an opportunity for the party to go all-out on him to finish the first fight. He also only has one action per turn in this form as opposed to two in the previous forms, so his offensive pressure drops significantly here.

If the Star Confidant is ranked high enough, be sure to switch around party members to suit the situation. Field magic users for the Beast, and physical attackers to beat the Wings.

As for the second fight, Samael has no resistances or weaknesses. His first form focuses on buffs, debuffs, and physical attacks. Bear in mind that his Tyrant's Fist can hit hard enough to nearly one-shot any party member without buffs. Once this form is defeated, he takes on his final form, where his move repertoire greatly expands, gaining Ma-dyne skills and severe-tier single target magic on top of an additional action. When this form hits half health, he begins using Tyrant's Glare to chain a series of buffs and debuffs before unleashing Tyrant's Wave.

There are very few gimmicks to the second phase as it turns into a straight-up brawl, but the sheer length of the battle can be draining on the party's collective SP.

Royal
Remember to equip Personas without any weaknesses especially Personas that null or repel Bless and Physical. Personas that are immune to multiple elements are strongly recommended. SP recovery as well as healing skills on the protagonist are necessary as True Samael will force the protagonist to fight him alone when his HP is at a quarter.

Shido's Chariot remains identical to his Persona 5 counterpart. All strategies there should apply here.

However, his Samael form will have a new moveset, this time consisting of Heat Riser, Tyrant's Purge, a Physical attack that might kill a party member at random, in addition to Bloodbath. All of his attacks are Physical, so make sure the protagonist equips a Persona that blocks or repels Physical to reduce the chances of instant death. Remember to remove Heat Riser with Dekaja. He may also retaliate with Dekaja if the party has any buffs on them.

True Samael will retain similar strategies as his Samael form, although he also has a powerful Bless skill known as "Tyrant's Cleanse," and will rotate between other -dyne tier spells. If his HP goes half or below, he will use Charge + Heat Riser. Remove Heat Riser after this and have all other party members, especially the protagonist, guard because he will use Tyrant's Fist, Tyrant's Cleanse and Tyrant's Wave in a row, something that is most definitely lethal for the party, especially the protagonist. He will then stop moving for a turn before using Heat Riser and Charge again, so be prepared to heal after the attack chain and mount an offense during the turn he would do nothing.

If his HP goes to a quarter or below, he will forcefully isolate all of the protagonist's party members and force him to fight him alone. Once this happens, he will only attack once per turn in a specific order, namely begin with a random elemental severe tier attack before cycling in this order: Inferno > Diamond Dust > Thunder Reign > Panta Rhei while altering between Heat Riser and Tyrant's Cleanse.


 * For example: If he starts with Panta Rhei, the upcoming attacks will be: Tyrant's Cleanse > Inferno > Heat Riser > Diamond Dust > Tyrant's Judgment > Thunder Reign > Heat Riser, etc.

In order to get around this, prepare a few Personas that can be used for healing and offense is not weak to, preferably nullify or repel Fire, Wind, Ice, Elec and Bless, predict the order that the moves come by and switch them accordingly, because those will be the only moves he will use in this phase. If one has enough Magic Ointments, simply spamming them every turn will ensure Shido gets defeated automatically (this might trigger him to use Megidolaon instead during newer versions of the game, however). If he gets One Mores, he will respond with Debilitate or Heat Riser, which can greatly cripple the protagonist, so do not let him get them.

Stats
Beast=

Wings=

Tomb=

Samael=

True Samael=

Royal

 * True Masayoshi Samael Shido's default attack order is Deathbound / Tyrant's Purge > Ma-dyne tier skills.
 * The ma-dyne spells cast are in this order: Fire > Ice > Wind > Elec > Psi > Nuke > Makougaon > Maeigaon > Fire, etc.
 * If True Masayoshi Samael Shido's HP goes below 75%, he will always attack with the following pattern:
 * Charge + Heat Riser > Tyrant's Purge + Tyrant's Cleanse + Tyrant's Wave > Squander a turn > Charge + Heat Riser, etc.
 * All Showtimes activate during this phase if possible.
 * If True Masayoshi Samael Shido's HP reaches a quarter left, he will forcefully isolate the protagonist for a final battle. After then, he will only use these attacks once per turn in this exact order:
 * Inferno > Tyrant's Cleanse > Diamond Dust > Heat Riser > Thunder Regin > Tyrant's Cleanse > Panta Rhei > Heat Riser, etc.
 * The first attack will be random between Inferno / Diamond Dust / Thunder Regin / Panta Rhei, in which the rotation will start from that point.
 * If he gets any one mores, he might cast Debilitate or Heat Riser.
 * In newer versions of the game, if the protagonist uses Magic Ointments, Samael may retaliate with Megidolaon.

Beast=

Wings=

Tomb=

Samael=

True Samael=

Battle Quotes

 * "I'll erase any who stand in my way." (Beginning of both Beast of Human Sacrifice and Samael battle)
 * "There is no need for thieves in my mighty country... Only myself and the ones who revere me are needed."
 * "Resistance is futile."
 * "Go!"
 * "I won't go easy."
 * "And stay down!"
 * "Can you endure this?"
 * "Too slow." (Shido dodges)
 * "No..." (Misses a foe)
 * "(laughs) You lowlifes! I hope you understand what it means to turn your back on me!"
 * (Futaba: "I don't wanna understand!") "...Then you shall perish!"
 * "You shall regret this foolish actions against me... in the afterlife!" (transformation into the Wings of Human Sacrifice)
 * (Futaba: "It changed!?") "I will destroy you!"
 * "To think you'd manage this much...! Why won't you stop resisting...?! The nation I strive for... is the ultimate realization of the public's happiness!"
 * "The weak must be sacrificed for the sake of grand ideals! This is the natural order of this world!" (transformation into the Tomb of Human Sacrifice)
 * "Useless, ignorant masses!" (fall of the Tomb of Human Sacrifice)
 * "I wouldn't expect the ignorant masses of this country to understand. Thus, I'll offer the proof... By forcefully crushing The Phantom Thieves!" (reveals Samael form)
 * "I...shall win this game!"
 * "Such impertinence...!"
 * "Not bad..."
 * "Are you scared?"
 * "Not bad. But there is no reason for me to lose to thieves!" (50% HP)
 * "Come at me!"
 * "I am Masayoshi Shido...!" (Randomly, at low health)
 * "Nnnngh...! How are those lowlife brats beating me...?" (1% HP)
 * "Aaaaaaaahahahaha! Don't think you've won. The power held by the most elite is what rules over our society... It's vexing that I have to use this on some foolish brats... But I will educate you through and through!" (reveals True Samael form)
 * "Hmph... Die." (After revealing True Samael form)
 * "Hmph...! You will regret your actions. ...You've angered me for the last time." (50% HP, using Tyrant's Wave first time)
 * "It seems you still don't understand what happens when you defy me. ...I will destroy you... with my two hands." (25% HP, using Tyrant's Wave second time)

Royal

 * "You can't match my ambition!" (Using Tyrant's Purge)
 * "Nngh! To think you'd put up this much of a fight... You bastard! I won't let you have this!" (25% HP)
 * "I never would've imagined... that impertinent brat from so long ago, managing to get in my way this much... Honestly unbelievable, I should have finished you off before this could've happened... Hahaha, it seems I too was naïve. However - my dream has been attained! My desire to steer this country has finally come to fruition! But, my ambition has only yet begun! I WILL NOT stumble over mere minutia like yourself! This time, I'll be dead certain to seal your fate. I will reduce you to nothing!" (Initiating one-on-one battle)

Overworld quotes

 * Will Seed chambers:
 * "The only thing you have to do is follow my every order."
 * "I don't need a whole range of troops as long as the ones I have are useful."
 * "I trust no one, but myself."
 * "Who would've guessed the incompetence of others is all it takes to surge in the polls?"
 * "The end is coming... in more ways than one."
 * "There are still numerous additional ways we can capitalize on cognitive psience."
 * "Only those who support my efforts deserve my guidance."
 * "First I will conquer this nation, then I will conquer the world."
 * "Now, who to erase next?"
 * "That researcher woman's death was painfully unfortunate timing..."

Gallery

 * Persona 5

Etymology
Masayoshi (正義) means "justice." Shi (獅) means "lion" and Dō (童) can compose the phrases related to "child." On a side note, a "lion cub" would be more commonly written as "子ライオン" or "ライオンの子" instead. Shidō, if written as "指導," can also mean "leader."

Trivia

 * In the animated cutscene when the Phantom Thieves are announcing their heist for Shido's heart where Shido's full name in kanji is shown on the broadcast, one kanji is written differently, namely "堂" instead of "童" in-game. The typo does not change the pronunciation of his name, but the meaning of his surname is now "lion-institute" instead of "lion-child." This typo is corrected in Royal however.
 * While the prime minister of Japan was never shown in-game, unused scenes indicate that he planned to give his seat to Shido out of despair.
 * Shadow Shido's first form in battle bears a striking resemblance to from the  franchise, also voiced by Shuichi Ikeda and Keith Silverstein in Japanese and English respectively. According to the Official Design Works artbook, however, the resemblance to "that person with three times the speed" is unintentional.
 * His spiked helmet which resembles the one on the Statue of Liberty is a symbol of the morning star, in other words Lucifer who represents "pride" of the Seven Deadly Sins, which coincides with Shido's sin.
 * Shido won a contest for who people would most want to be their boss. This is ironic, considering how he casually disposes of anyone who do not display unerring loyalty to him.
 * In battle, Shadow Shido is very similar to Steven Armstrong from : Both are highly nationalistic politicians who lead the primary antagonistic faction for the sake of being elected leader of their respective countries (President of the United States, for Armstrong), and both fight the main protagonists, first on a vehicle (Shido's lion, Armstrong's Metal Gear EXCELSUS), then become much more muscular for a direct fight in melee in a way that discolors their skin (Armstrong's nanomachines cause his skin to turn a metallic grey whenever faced with physical trauma). However, their goals and personality are an exact reverse from each other; Armstrong is a noble extremist who desires to create a world ruled by primitive anarchy, while Shido is a self-serving sociopath who desires to create a Japan where only he stands out at the top.
 * While Shido doesn't seem to be based on a particular real life personality unlike Kamoshida, Madarame, Kaneshiro and Kunikazu, he shares the traits of many real life politicians, especially radical ones that hand out high but empty promises to rally the public into supporting them while being highly corrupt behind the scenes. Law enforcement and the media often protects these corrupt politicians from being exposed just like how said groups had gone all the way to prevent Shido from being exposed and remove his opposition in the game.
 * Shadow Shido is the only Palace ruler in Persona 5 that the thieves don't encounter before they actually fight him. Therefore, his security meter portrait always uses his normal outfit instead of his Shadow's.
 * If the protagonist is defeated by Shido's Samael form and one chooses to restart the boss fight, it will pit them right against his Samael form.
 * After his change of heart, a chalk drawing of him confessing can be seen on the blackboard of the protagonist's class.
 * According to its Thieves Den description, Shido's Chariot is made from the bodies of people he sacrificed on his road to fame.
 * If the protagonist has Akechi in the Thieves Den, he will describe it as "disgusting."
 * The Chariot of Human Sacrifices cannot be killed in a single turn. Should the party attempt to do this, it will transform into the Wing of Human Sacrifices at 1 HP. Once attacked in this form, it transforms into the Tomb of Human Sacrifices. Attacking it once again in its Tomb form defeats it instantly.
 * Shido is the second target of the Phantom Thieves who is aware of their own Palace's existence. The first is Futaba Sakura, and, in Royal, Takuto Maruki is the third.
 * In Royal, if the protagonist goes fighting Shadow Shido alone, Ryuji, Ann and Morgana will automatically fill in after defeating his Chariot form.
 * In Royal, True Samael cannot be killed in a single turn. Should the party attempt to do this, he will block all attacks until he can activate the event where the protagonist is forced to fight him alone.
 * In Royal, after Samael's HP is reduced to 25% and he forces the protagonist to duel him one-on-one, Persona Traits from party members will still activate even though the party members are not physically present.
 * In Persona 5, Shido is one of the two characters to have multiple angles for their dialogue portraits (excluding his and the other antagonists' Shadow Selves), the other being Akechi. However, in Royal, all of the Phantom Thieves got this distinction, instead making Shido one of two non-playable characters to have multiple dialogue portrait angles, the other being Takuto Maruki.