19 | Akihiko Sanada

Also known as Confident Student Aki The Two-Fisted Protein Junkie (P4A) Half-Naked Cape Guy (P4A) Master (by Chie) Akky (by Teddie) Protein (PQ2) Hikohiko (by Futaba) Affiliation SEES (P3) Shadow Operatives (P4A) Ayanagi Investigation Squad (P -ts-) School Gekkoukan High School Team Boxing Date of Birth September 22nd, 1991 Age 20 Zodiac Virgo Height 175 cm (5'9") Weight 64 kg (141 lbs P4AU) Blood Type A Weapon Gloves & Knuckles (Boxing) Arcana Emperor Star (P3P) Appearances: Akihiko has short silver hair, gray eyes (hazel-brown in Persona 3 The Movie), and wears a small white bandage above his left eye. He wears a slightly modified version of the usual Gekkoukan High School school uniform, where he replaces its standard jacket with a red sweater vest, opting to carry the jacket over his shoulder instead. Similar to other students, his dress shirt underneath alternates between long-sleeved for winter, and short-sleeved for summer. Additionally, he wears the usual black necktie and black gloves. He is only seen without his gloves in his standard summer outfit, but is also without them while wearing his bathing suit in Yakushima and briefly during the school field trip to Kyoto. Personality:Heh, I won... I talked to her longer than you did. A cool and well-respected upperclassman, Akihiko is serious and determined, while also cracking small jokes on occasion. Of all the members of the group, he is the most prone to sarcasm; one instance being if the protagonist talks to him while he and Junpei are taking a break from studying for first semester midterms, where he will state that Junpei isn't studying for his exams as Mitsuru told everyone to go back to their routines. He tends to show excitement for a big challenge, something that eventually rubs off on Junpei. He is eager to train and fight, often to a fault. Early on in the game, while injured due to the Magician full moon Shadow, he will repeatedly express interest in fighting despite being unable to.

A cool and well-respected upperclassman, Akihiko is serious and determined, while also cracking small jokes on occasion. Of all the members of the group, he is the most prone to sarcasm; one instance being if the protagonist talks to him while he and Junpei are taking a break from studying for first semester midterms, where he will state that Junpei isn't studying for his exams as Mitsuru told everyone to go back to their routines. He tends to show excitement for a big challenge, something that eventually rubs off on Junpei. He is eager to train and fight, often to a fault. Early on in the game, while injured due to the Magician full moon Shadow, he will repeatedly express interest in fighting despite being unable to. This draws criticism from Mitsuru, who views Akihiko's eagerness to fight as if he treats their work as a game. At one point, Yukari even accuses him of caring more about having a good fight than doing the right thing. Akihiko is shown to have noble intentions though, not caring about being acknowledged for S.E.E.S.' efforts and chastising Junpei for expecting praise for fighting to save the world. It is later mentioned in a dorm dialogue that he and Shinjiro's goal when they first joined S.E.E.S. had always been to eliminate the Dark Hour. Akihiko is a kind and principled young man who will go out of his way to help someone, being willing to take on additional risk to save Fuuka from Tartarus despite having never met her before, even after Junpei and Yukari pointed out that she had been there for ten days and had most likely not survived.

Akihiko also has an aggressive side, which he usually demonstrates when dealing with Shadows. He never gives up and always tries to get stronger in order to protect what is dear to him. Akihiko's guilt as his driving motivator is alluded to early on, telling his juniors that he knows what it's like to feel powerless and that he never wants to feel that way again. It is later clarified that Akihiko blames himself for not being able to save his younger sister, Miki, from the fire that claimed her life. Seeing himself as too weak, his feelings of ineptitude and fear of loss culminated in an obsession with attaining strength, though this often results in him overworking himself. Akihiko is also shown to be very smart, if not quite on Mitsuru's level, as he is consistently shown to score good grades and often picks up on things that Mitsuru misses, like giant Shadows appearing during the full moon and how Fuuka disappeared. He even tells the protagonist that a strong mind is just as important as a strong body. He is also very competitive; despite not being particularly interested in picking up girls, he willingly goes along with Operation: Babe Hunt once challenged, treating it like a match and even getting disappointed when they have no luck. Afterwards, it takes six months for Junpei to get him to admit defeat, after which he takes most of the group out for ramen. He acts like a protective older brother for the younger S.E.E.S. members, especially in Persona 3 Portable if the player chooses to play as the female protagonist, where Akihiko is shown to care a lot about her. As elaborated on in Persona 3: Official Design Works, Akihiko cares greatly about his image and wishes to present himself as a reliable role model. Akihiko is on good terms with his childhood best friend Shinjiro and keeps in touch with him even after the latter quit S.E.E.S.

He cares a lot for him, something made especially clear when Akihiko finds out about the dangerous drugs Shinjiro takes in order to prevent his Persona from going berserk. However, their conversations are not always civil, as the majority of Akihiko's interactions with Shinjiro throughout the game are in an attempt to try and convince him to come back to S.E.E.S.. Akihiko shows himself to be occasionally hypocritical, telling Shinjiro in one instance that he can't keep dwelling on the past, of which prompts Shinjiro to remind him that he isn't any different as he can't let go of his guilt over not being able to save his sister's life - the inciting incident that spawned Akihiko's entire reason for fighting. Indeed, much like Junpei, Akihiko views S.E.E.S.'s activities as a form of escapism from his normal life, and he occasionally questions whether he really wants the Dark Hour gone. While generally caring and straightforward, Akihiko can be quite abrasive at times, such as when he pretty much forces Shinjiro to come back to S.E.E.S. by leveraging Ken's status as a newly-joined member. He also expresses deep distrust and hostility towards Metis in the early parts of The Answer, even more so than the rest of the party, as he fully expects her to turn on them again at any time and even suspects her of having an ulterior motive for protecting Aigis. He can be blunt and isn't above making a harsh comment to someone, even to a friend, a trait he shares with the similarly-aloof Mitsuru. However, Akihiko is also shown to be scared of Mitsuru, and greatly dreads being on the receiving end of one of her "executions."

Akihiko is generally more socially awkward and oblivious than the other SEES members, failing to recognize the uneasy tension between Yukari and Mitsuru preceding the Emperor and Empress full moon battle and not understanding the reactions to his choice of a speedo for his swimsuit during the group's trip to Yakushima. Though things often fly over his head, Akihiko is also easily flustered by petty insults, teasing, as well as compliments, with Yukari later remarking that he is "awkward in social situations." According to one Tartarus dialogue between he, Mitsuru, and Shinjiro, Akihiko has always been easily worked up, and would often get excited and run off alone during the early days of S.E.E.S. Akihiko is sometimes depicted as stiff and unapproachable, displaying a complete disregard for his fanbase of female students who follow him around. He finds this irritating and will sometimes complain to the protagonist about it, saying they talk so much that they give him a headache. Akihiko is revealed during Operation: Babe Hunt to be extremely shy and awkward when approaching girls. His romantic illiteracy is especially prevalent in his Social Link in the female protagonist route, with one instance stating that "he seems to be completely incapable of recognizing female emotions." Upset at Junpei's victory over him during Operation: Babe Hunt, his console recording later in the game depicts him in his bedroom reading about how to talk to girls, trying (and failing) to rehearse a conversation without getting irritated at his own awkward delivery. Despite being shy and awkward around girls, he does grow to love the female protagonist, and becomes more comfortable around her.

According to Shinjiro, Akihiko is actually quite the crybaby. Whenever Shinjiro did something wrong when they were kids, even with good intentions (such as stealing a doll so that Miki could have a toy of her own), Akihiko would attack him while crying the entire time. He hides how sensitive he is by responding logically to everything, which leads to his severe bluntness at times. Around Shinjiro, Akihiko also shows a childish side to him, such as getting more excited than Junpei at the prospect of eating Shinjiro's cooking for the first time. Despite repeatedly verbalizing an admiration for Shinjiro's strength, Akihiko also fights with Shinjiro (sometimes physically) over trivial things, which Mitsuru often has to break up. After Shinjiro's death, Akihiko is reminded of the pain of loss and the feeling of powerlessness, just like he had experienced with the death of his sister. At Shinjiro's memorial, he admits that he was a fool to believe that he could protect anyone if he was strong enough and laments how power became that all he cared about after Miki's death. Contrasting with the way he viewed fighting Shadows as a game early on in the story, Akihiko recognizes that he knew the risks of battle but was blinded by his own guilt and obsession, resulting in watching yet another of his loved ones dying. While recovering from an emotional breakdown, Akihiko realizes that he can't keep blaming himself and decides to move towards the future, a renewed determination that triggers the evolution of his Persona. This resolution allows him to help lift Ken from his own state of despair after Shinjiro's passing. Both become closer as a result of this event, and learn to accept the loss of the people they loved, though Akihiko occasionally remarks about his deceased friend, contemplating what Shinjiro would do in the face of the challenges Akihiko finds himself facing. While initially conflicted when Akihiko learns about The Fall, he ultimately decides to try and defeat Nyx.

In The Answer, during the debate over what to do with the keys, Akihiko is in favor of the most logical choice; having long accepted that the dead are never coming back, he claims that the group have to live with the protagonist's death and accept the present. He believes that the protagonist died because he used all his power to protect everyone, and by tampering with the past, it would be disrespectful to his sacrifice. When Yukari expresses interest in going back to the past, Akihiko criticizes her for not having the strength to face reality, going so far as to say that even if there was a way to undo Shinjiro and Miki's death, he'd flat-out refuse. He believes firmly that nothing in the past was a waste, since all of it made the group who they are now. However, he admits to understanding Yukari's grief, saying it's a natural feeling for anyone, but nevertheless believes that if they saved the protagonist, they would be benefiting themselves rather than him. Above all, he knows what drastic consequences messing with the past can have, and believes it's simply too big of a risk to take. After the group defeats Erebus, however, he admits that he feels better now that he knows for certain what happened, saying it's like the "blinders have been removed." Akihiko Sanada is the captain of the Gekkoukan High School boxing team and, along with Mitsuru Kirijo and Shinjiro Aragaki, one of the original members of S.E.E.S. He and Shinjiro grew up in an orphanage together with Akihiko's little sister, Miki, who died in a fire that destroyed the orphanage. Devastated by her death and feeling powerless that he could not save her, Akihiko vowed to become stronger. He took up boxing so he could learn how to fight, becoming a champion student boxer in the process.

Shinjiro and Akihiko remained friends after Miki's death, with Shinjiro and him both joining S.E.E.S. in their early teenage years. However, an incident occurred during an early S.E.E.S. mission which put a strain on Akihiko and Shinjiro's relationship. Shinjiro's Persona went berserk while combating a Shadow, killing an innocent bystander (Ken Amada's mother) in the process. Feeling guilty, Shinjiro immediately left SEES. Akihiko used the incident as a springboard to focus even more on his strength and fighting the Shadows. He began to criticize his friend for retreating when others needed his help. Throughout the game, Akihiko repeatedly tries to talk Shinjiro into joining S.E.E.S. again. When Ken Amada joins the party, Akihiko, with the aid of the protagonist, forces Shinjiro to join. During the events of the Strength and Fortune full moon battles, Akihiko is unsettled and distracted by the absence of Ken and Shinjiro. He later realizes the date: October 4th, the day Shinjiro's Persona killed Ken's mother. He leaves the others in search of Ken and Shinjiro, finding them both behind Port Island Station along with Strega member Takaya Sakaki, who has interrupted Shinjiro and Ken's conversation and intends to kill them both. He has already shot Shinjiro and was aiming to shoot Ken, but Shinjiro stops Takaya from killing Ken by taking another bullet despite knowing that Ken has made a vow to kill him to avenge his mother's death. Shinjiro's last words are a request that Akihiko take care of Ken, and he states that his death is how things should be. Akihiko, still in denial, hasn't attended Shinjiro's funeral: instead, he would visit him later alone, trying to escape the changes in his life, and even go so far as to converse with him as though he were alive: the Shinjiro in his mind would point out his stubbornness, getting Akihiko to realize his obsession with power.

Akihiko remains loyal to the protagonist and S.E.E.S. until the end of Nyx's defeat. When the protagonist confronts Nyx's true form Death, Ken's voice is the first heard, worrying that there's nothing they can do. Akihiko's voice is then heard consoling Ken and SEES, saying that they can't give up and they must believe in him. On Graduation Day, Akihiko remembers the promise SEES made and runs to him on the roof. You mean a lot to me... I love you. Main article: Social Link/Akihiko Sanada Akihiko is a new Social Link if the player pursues the female protagonist's route, representing the Star Arcana. The Social Link is initiated by talking to him starting on May 25 with level 4 Charm or higher. In this Social Link, Akihiko will express his desire to gain strength in order to protect others and concern for the well-being of the protagonist, who at earlier parts of the game he treats as a little sister. As time passes, the player sees Akihiko as not just a "cool upperclassman" that many of the girls in school fawn over, but as a man who cannot cope with the darkness of his past and cannot socialize well with others because of it. He later on grows more anxious towards the female protagonist, to the point of asking her if there was any way for her to stop fighting. The Social Link then freezes until after the events on October 4th, where Akihiko admits that his treatment of the female protagonist, that is similar to the treatment of his deceased sister Miki, would be considered as opening up and sharing the burden with her. Thus his resolution to stop the Dark Hour now serves a different purpose: to protect the people he loves and cherishes, including the female protagonist.

It is possible for the player to have a romantic relationship with him, though the player has to choose special dialogue choices that are scattered throughout certain ranks of his Social Link. If the player chooses all of the correct dialogue and has accepted the offer to be Akihiko's "girl" at Rank 9, the Lovers Route for this Arcana will be triggered. Maxing out his social link on a New Game+ as the female character will allow him to spend time with the female protagonist during the final cutscene on the roof, mentioning how he remembers falling in love with her. For a long time, all I cared about was having the power to protect others. And I thought being hard on myself and competing with others was the only way I was gonna do that… But now, there are others who fight alongside me. So I have people who I want to protect, but at the same time, I want them to be there fighting with me… In the end, it's because I have all of you that I feel like I can become even stronger. Main article: Linked Episode Akihiko represents one of the Linked Episodes to compensate his absence as a Social Link representative from the previous games for the male protagonist. He is found at Iwatodai Station at night starting on May 29th after receiving a text invitation from him. His new Linked Episodes mainly consist on him learning how to appreciate his friends around him. A recurring arc for his Linked Episodes are him trying to invite the protagonist to get some food only to be bothered by a bunch of tough guys who would often chase him around after helping a group of female students. The protagonist also would come to help Akihiko learn what he could be doing in the future after he eventually graduates from school, with Akihiko possibly becoming a police officer and to travel around the world. Completing his Linked Episode will make him give the protagonist his Hand Wraps which would unlock the fusion of Horus.