Takeharu Kirijo

Takeharu Kirijo is a character from Persona 3.

Appearances

 * Aegis: The First Mission: Mentioned
 * Persona 3 / FES / Portable: Supporting Character
 * Persona 3 (Manga): Supporting Character
 * Persona 3 The Movie: Supporting Character
 * Persona 3: the Weird Masquerade -Gunjou no Meikyuu- / -Souen no Kesshou-: Minor Character

Design
Takeharu's appearance of middle-age man in his forties with black hair and gray eyes. He wears an eyepatch over his right eye and wears a gray suit, red tie and black vest. He assumes the look of a bold, resolute and grizzled businessman which makes others tremble upon first glance.

Personality
"One time, my father made a promise. He swore that he would atone for endangering our generation, even if it cost him his life... But, I... I wanted him to live... I... I became a Persona-user to protect him..."

- Mitsuru Kirijo crying when her father dies Takeharu is firm and bold in everything he does which frightens people that he first meets. He is particularly strict with his daughter but it is shown multiple times that he means the best for her.

He feels especially guilty that his daughter inherited his mistake. Mitsuru reveals he had feelings of shame and guilt and this burdened him, and she fought to ease this burden.

Aegis: The First Mission
Takeharu is mentioned in Aegis: The First Mission. At that time, he is the head of the Kirijo Group, and he gives the team training Aigis on Yakushima orders to refocus their efforts into destroying the shadows after they become out of control in order to protect civilians.

Persona 3
The father of Mitsuru Kirijo and the son of Kouetsu Kirijo. He is the current head of the Kirijo Group.

SEES first meets Takeharu on summer vacation when Mitsuru offers to take them a location owned by her family to relax. Although they initially see him as frightening, he is gradually revealed to have a gentle side. After some time, he explains the nature of how the Dark Hour came to be as well as the fates of the researchers who caused it, most notably of Eiichiro Takeba when he shows the party a tape of Eiichiro's parting words. As a result of his explanation, Takeharu was assumed to be the only real adult survivor of this ten year old incident.



Later, it is revealed that he knew that the recording was doctored all along by Ikutsuki. Takeharu confronts him after Aigis has already restrained the party but is ultimately murdered at the hands of Ikutsuki, although not without landing a shot on his foe himself. He dies in his daughter's arms at Tartarus, and the resolve Mitsuru acquired after her father's death evolved her Persona.

Persona 3 FES
Takeharu makes a brief appearance in The Answer during the flashback into Mitsuru's past on the 25th floor of Ptolomea. He is the leader of the Kirijo Group squad that ventured into Tartarus. In this flashback, he witnesses firsthand his then-young daughter's Persona taking out a Shadow.

Etymology

 * The name Takaharu means "military, martial" (武) (taka) and "cure" (治) (haru).
 * Takaharu's surname Kirijo means "paulownia" (桐) (kiri) and "article" (条) (jo).
 * Paulownia is called Empress Tree or Princess Tree in Japan. It was once customary to plant a Paulownia tree when a baby girl was born. There is a Paulownia Mall in the game which the Kirijo Group apparently built.

Trivia

 * In a response to fan questions during a Persona Stalker Club segment, the Persona team explained that during an investigation on Tartarus, Takeharu was attacked by Shadows. His eye was injured during the attack, thus why he wears an eyepatch.
 * In the Japanese P3P fanbook released in 2009, it is said Takeharu is 46 years old.