Masao Inaba

Masao Inaba is a character from Megami Ibunroku Persona.

Appearances

 * Megami Ibunroku Persona / Persona: Playable Character
 * Megami Ibunroku Persona (Manga): Major Character
 * Megami Ibunroku Persona: Shadow Maze: Major Character
 * Megami Ibunroku Persona Digital Collection: Minigame Host
 * Persona 3: Who's Who guest

Design
Masao has gray sideburns, orange eyes, and has six black marks on both cheeks. At school he wears the school uniform of St. Hermelin High with white long sleeves, a turtleneck shirt, wears a yellow beanie, colorful beaded bracelets and carries a yellow backpack.

In Revelations: Persona, Masao was changed to an African American to make the cast more ethnically diverse.

In Persona 3, Trish describes him as a "Man in his 20's with a yellow cap."

Personality
Masao is a troublemaker and class clown, but also a friendly student who doesn't get along with Kei. He seems to have a crush on Maki Sonomura and frequently visits her in the hospital while being the most protective of her. Being a troublemaker by choice, he takes pride in his graffiti artwork that can be found throughout the city. His hobby puts him at odds with the local police, but he knows they are only looking out for him as he is the only one fazed by the police becoming zombies.

Megami Ibunroku Persona
Masao Inaba is a rebellious troublemaker who is friends with Kei Nanjo and the protagonist in Persona. He makes a bet against Hidehiko Uesugi claiming the "Persona" game is only superstition when Hidehiko convinces all their friends to play the game with the bet's loser treating everyone at Peace Diner. Like his classmates, he loses consciousness after seeing the ghostly image of a sobbing little girl and is present when the Protagonist awakens in the infirmary.

In the good ending of the game, Masao eventually graduates and moves to New York City to become a successful artist. His mother still calls him from time to time.

During the events of the Snow Queen Quest, Masao manages to flee the Police Station instead of being imprisoned there and returns to the school with Nanjo, who is hurt. Masao then leaves the school with the Ideal Maki before the school is frozen and is unheard of until the epilogue. After the defeat of Queen Asura, Masao arrives at school and explains that the demons of the SEBEC Building are too strong for him and Maki to defeat alone and that she is trapped in there. The party then decides to help him and rescue Maki.

In Revelations: Persona, to reflect being changed to an African American, he went by his nickname of "Mark" and spoke in the  dialect.

Persona 3
Masao appears on the TV program Who's Who which is hosted by Trish. He is introduced as a "Man in his 20's with a yellow cap" and the program goes on to say that Masao is studying art overseas.

Revelations: Persona

 * "Heheheh..." (Summoning Persona)
 * "Persona!" (Summoning Persona)
 * "You wish!" (Summoning Persona)
 * "Urg!" (Attacking without Axe equipped)
 * "Die!" (Using axe)
 * "Want some?" (Using gun)
 * "Duh.." (when hit)
 * "This sucks.." (Dying)

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona

 * Woo! (Attacking)
 * Let's get funky! (Summoning Persona)
 * Persona! (Summoning Persona)
 * Do it to it! (Summoning Persona)
 * Seriously?! (Death)
 * BOOM! (Using gun)

Etymology

 * The name Masao means "right, proper" (正) (masa) and "male, man" (男) (o).
 * Masao's surname Inaba means "rice plant" (稲) (ina) and "leaf, plane, lobe, needle, blade, spear, counter for flat things, fragment, piece" (葉) (ha/ba).

Trivia

 * When Mark uses the 'Dance' contact option, it is often accompanied with the text, "Mark danced crazy!" This phrase, originating from Revelations: Persona, was so well-liked that it was kept word-for-word in the PSP remake.
 * Mark's shirt is actually an inverse-colored picture of the Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner protagonist.
 * Masao is one of two characters from Persona who don't appear in the Persona 2 duology, the other being Yuka Ayase. This can be explained by the fact that he is studying overseas.
 * Masao got the nickname "Mark" from the nickname his mother addresses him, Mākun (まーくん), which was shortened to Mark.
 * In an interview with character designer, Kazuma Kaneko, it's revealed that Mark's design and personality are based off of game director and fellow Atlus founder, Cozy Okada.
 * In the same interview, it's stated that Mark is intended to serve as the main character's voice at times, since the protagonist is mostly silent.