Shujin Academy



Shujin Academy, known in the Japanese version as Shujin High School, is one of the main settings of Persona 5. It is an elite prep school located in Aoyama-Itchome neighborhood in Tokyo.

Appearances

 * Persona 5 / Royal
 * Persona 5 (Manga)
 * Persona 5 Dengeki Comic Anthology
 * Persona 5 The Animation The Day Breakers
 * Persona 5 The Animation
 * Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight
 * Persona 5 Strikers
 * Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth

Persona 5
Shujin Academy is the school which the protagonist and most other members of the Phantom Thieves attend. It is a prestigious upper to middle class school, with many higher-ups that only care for its public image instead of its students well-being. The students attending Shujin can range from young people of middle class families to relatives of media and corporation moguls. It is also the only school which accepted the protagonist due to his criminal record.

The principal of Shujin is Kobayakawa. He is a greedy and lazy man with connections to Masayoshi Shido. The students do not hold him in a high regard due to his disregard of them, especially when Suguru Kamoshida was coaching the volleyball team, where he allowed him to do anything he wanted to. He was promptly assassinated when his investigation of the Phantom Thieves failed and his crimes were exposed. After Kobayakawa was assassinated, the vice principal took his place.

The three-floored building is split between the main campus and the practical building. A large gymnasium also serves as an assembly hall. The floors indicate years in reverse: first year classes are on the third floor, while third years are on the first. Students are supposedly prohibited from entering the rooftop, although the entrance was left unlocked. The initial Phantom Thieves took advantage of this and used it as their initial hideout. However, it was later locked due to the school realizing students were breaching it though it was unlocked once more due to Haru Okumura getting permission to do so.

The first floor has a co-op selling bread and three vending machines: one near the co-op and two at the practical building. The second floor houses the faculty room, the principal's office and meeting room. The third floor is where the student council room, the library and the stairway to the rooftop are located.

When the protagonist first entered Shujin, Kamoshida was allowed by the principal to do basically anything he wanted to do for the sole reason that he was an Olympic medalist, resulting in the disbanding of the school's prestigious Track Team after Kamoshida fanned up an incident directed against its leader Ryuji Sakamoto just to make sure that only his Volleyball team can remain forefront. He then uses his position to assault his athletes (Sometimes even outright visible to crowds of students,) train them in absolutely brutal ways comparable to torture, sexually harass (or occasionally, molest) his female athletes, and spread unfavorable fabricated rumors against students he doesn't like. His unbridled egotism and sense of untouchability and immunity had resulted in him thinking that the school was his castle, forming Kamoshida's Palace. This forces certain students of the school, namely the protagonist, Ryuji Sakamoto and Ann Takamaki to use the Metaverse so Kamoshida can be exposed and discredited, as nobody else is willing, or dares doing so.

During the school year, the protagonist will regularly attend classes, and on certain occasions, will have to answer questions given by his teacher. Answering correctly will grant the protagonist a Knowledge stat boost. He will also have to partake in week-long exams, which go over previous material. Additionally, working on Sadayo Kawakami's Confidant will grant the protagonist additional free time in class via calling the teacher out of the room.

As Morgana always sticks with the protagonist during his school life, he also enters classes with him, and hides under the protagonist's desk. Nobody notices his presence, in spite of the teachers' early attempts to find and get rid of him from the school grounds.

The protagonist cannot visit Shujin Academy past November 18 (the deadline for sending the calling card to Sae) due to having to fake his death although he can still visit its rooftop to meet with Haru. He is given one last opportunity to visit it on December 22 where he can still freely access Confidants that are found at the school during this time.

Persona 5 Royal
In Persona 5 Royal, after Kamoshida's defeat and subsequent confession, the school hastily performs public relations stunts to restore its reputation, starting by hiring Takuto Maruki as a counselor for 7 months. Ryuji distrusts him at first because he was clearly hired to amend the school's PR, but he opens up to him quickly since Maruki is a truly kind person, establishing his image in Shujin as one of the few employees who actually do care for the students' welfare. Within these 7 months, all student members of the Phantom Thieves meet him to soothe their feelings, and the protagonist assists him in completing his psientific research. The school also organizes a cleaning trip on May 30th to further amend, although this trip was considered by its students to be boring and an obvious attempt at building goodwill.

Rumors about the school planning to ditch any honor students who do not live up to the school's expectations also began to spread, heavily implied to result in Sumire Yoshizawa's consideration for scholarship revocation in October because she didn't achieve first place.

After the events of the original Persona 5 end with Yaldabaoth's defeat, during the third semester events, the protagonist returns to Shujin Academy and may visit it freely during the remaining time before the game ends.

Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth
Shujin Academy makes a minor appearance at the beginning of the game when the protagonist finishes classes and heads to Café Leblanc.

Persona 5 Strikers
Shujin Academy makes a brief appearance, acting as Alice Hiiragi's trauma cell in the Shibuya Jail, containing a Lock Keeper that must be destroyed to remove the barricade preventing the party from approaching Shadow Alice. The Lock Keeper in that area takes the form of one of Alice's school bullies who can be seen trampling her and taking pictures of the humiliation.

Major Students

 * Protagonist: Second year transfer student in class 2-D. Leader of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts.
 * Ryuji Sakamoto: Second year in class 2-E. Initial member of the Phantom Thieves.
 * Ann Takamaki: Second year in class 2-D. Initial member of the Phantom Thieves.
 * Makoto Niijima: Third year, student council president. Later member of the Phantom Thieves. Graduated by the time of Persona 5 Strikers.
 * Haru Okumura: Third year. Later member of the Phantom Thieves. Graduated by the time of Persona 5 Strikers.
 * Sumire Yoshizawa: First year, rhythmic gymnast with a scholarship. She entered school using the name "Kasumi Yoshizawa." Later member of the Phantom Thieves.
 * Yuuki Mishima: Second year in class 2-D. Volleyball athlete, manager of the Phantom Aficionado Website after Kamoshida's exposure.
 * Shiho Suzui: Second year. Volleyball athlete, transferred schools after Kamoshida is exposed to escape the reputation his abuse gave her.
 * Futaba Sakura: Second year by the time of Persona 5 Strikers.* Later member of the Phantom Thieves.
 * Alice Hiiragi: Alumna (former student)

Minor Students

 * Nakaoka: A student in Ryuji's Confidant events.
 * Takeishi: A student in Ryuji's Confidant events.
 * Eiko Takao: A student in Makoto's Confidant events.
 * Nishiyama: Ann questioned him about his involvement with the mafia. Once her poor acting fails, the protagonist takes over and finds that the victim is actually Iida.
 * Iida: A victim of Junya Kaneshiro's scams. He was told to deliver an envelope containing drugs for a hefty paycheck and Kaneshiro's henchmen threatened him with his crime being exposed afterwards.
 * Daisuke Takanashi: A target in Mementos. He is an infamous school bully that Mishima requested the Phantom Thieves to remove.
 * Yoshimori Sakoda: A target in Mementos. It turns out that Daisuke was merely a pawn of Yoshimori who blackmailed him for exposure of his bullying if he stopped it.
 * Yumeko Mogami: A target in Mementos. She is a crazy, love-obsessed girl that can be seen stalking her boyfriend and recording him with a phone in a hallway on the ground floor.
 * Ikesugi: Yumeko's obsession.
 * Kaoru Iwai: Munehisa's adopted son in Munehisa's Confidant events. He is mentioned to be starting at Shujin Academy as a first-year at the end of Persona 5.
 * Newspaper Club student: She updates the protagonist with goings-on at school.
 * School bully: a graduate who bullied Alice when she attended Shujin Academy.

Known Faculty

 * Mr. Kobayakawa: Former Principal, assassinated.
 * Vice Principal: Heir of Kobayakawa's seat after his death. He had a quarrel with Maruki about the revocation of Sumire's scholarship.
 * Sadayo Kawakami: Japanese Language Teacher. Also Class 2-D's homeroom teacher and part-time maid.
 * Suguru Kamoshida: Alumnus, former P.E. Teacher, voluntarily left and turned himself in after his crimes were exposed.
 * Mr. Yamauchi: New track team advisor. Voluntarily left without any confrontation once exposed.
 * Mr. Ushimaru: Social Studies Teacher.
 * Mr. Hiruta: Biology Teacher.
 * Mr. Inui: History Teacher.
 * Ms. Chouno: English Teacher.
 * Ms. Usami: Math Teacher.
 * Takuto Maruki: Student counselor, part-time.

Trivia

 * The school's name is a homophone of the Japanese word for prisoner, shūjin (囚人). However, the school's name is written with completely different characters, making it merely an oral pun. This was confirmed as a deliberate choice by Katsura Hashino in 2015.
 * The logo also ties into the prison themes. It resembles a police badge, as if the students are forced to submit and abide by the law. It contains a (§) which references the legal code and judicial system. The same symbol is also on Sae Niijima's necklace.
 * Unlike Gekkoukan High School and Yasogami High School where the protagonist can create Social Links with many students, the only non-party student Confidant that the protagonist can make in Shujin Academy is Yuuki Mishima, due to most students keeping their distance from him because of his criminal record. To further cement this, the protagonist can only spend time with Mishima in Shibuya (later Shinjuku or Akihabara) and not at the school itself. This means Shujin Academy has zero (non-party members) Confidant activities, excluding Takuto Maruki's new Confidant in Royal.
 * In Persona 5 the students are reproachful towards the protagonist all year round, continually mentioning their fear of him in background dialogue. However in Royal this was changed so that the students' apprehension towards the protagonist largely fades after Kamoshida's Palace is cleared. This also affects studying in the Library, where the player can no longer increase their Guts as well.
 * After school, the protagonist can draw the Phantom Thieves of Hearts logo on the blackboard of his class. If he does, depending on the game's progress, the reception by the students will be different. The responses start out with doubts at early game, then positive at mid-game, and finally end with negative responses at the endgame.
 * In the third semester of Persona 5 Royal, many students will barely recall the significance of the logo, and write it off as a passing fad.
 * If the protagonist talks to Munehisa Iwai on March 19 after maxing out his Confidant, Iwai mentions that Kaoru would be attending Shujin Academy in the new school year.
 * The designs of some of the Picaro Personas are reminiscent of the Shujin Academy uniform.
 * There are sports teams other than the track and volleyball teams around Shujin, including a basketball team who hasn't interacted with Kamoshida before.