Sae Niijima

Also known as Sis (by Makoto Niijima) Woman in a Business Suit Businesswoman Prosecutor Miss Manager (by Morgana) Foolish Woman (by Akechi) Affiliation Tokyo District Special Investigation Department Phantom Thieves of Hearts (later) Occupation Prosecutor (formerly) Defense lawyer Height 167 cm Appearance: Sae is a tall and beautiful woman with upper-back length, ashen-brown hair that is asymmetrically parted on her right side and brown eyes that are sometimes depicted with a hint of mauve red. She wears a black business suit with a black turtleneck. Her blazer's cuffs and the lower front have clamshell-like designs. Accessory-wise, she wears a necklace of a section sign (§) which references her judicial occupation (it also appears in the top right of Shujin Academy's emblem), earrings and a few dark hair clips can be seen above her right ear. She has violet fingernails and wears dark gray pantyhose with black high heels. She is sometimes seen with a smartphone and a black bag slung over her shoulder. Personality: "You don't have to do a single thing, and you're provided with food, clothes, a home... I've had no time to think on such ridiculous thoughts. Would Dad have been happy with them? I don't care. He died upholding some lofty sense of righteousness, leaving all his responsibilities on us. Isn't it about time you grew up and acknowledged our situation!? Right now, you're useless to me. All you do is eat away at my life!" Sae is intelligent, professional and serious, although her actual maturity is debatable. A workaholic, Sae is very strict in both her work as prosecutor and guardian for her younger sister, Makoto, constantly telling her to focus on her studies and such. With many responsibilities, Sae is always working due to Japan's work pressure, and is very stressed and exhausted. She must care for Makoto, almost putting her in a single mother's role. Her father dying in the line of duty and forcing her to raise Makoto acts as her very sore spot. She resents Makoto, as the Niijima sisters' father throwing his life away in the name of justice forced her to raise her sister alone. The resentment is so horrible that when Makoto asks for her opinion on whether she would think the Phantom Thieves of Hearts were just, Sae snaps and says several cruel things that she instantly regrets, up to and including that she views Makoto as a burden, which hurts the latter. Because of her father's death, Sae views the concept of justice as meaningless. This has made her hyper-competitive and obsessed with getting ahead, to the point of telling Makoto that success is all that matters in life. This is to her detriment, as it results in many unjust prosecutions that she blatantly rigs in order to maintain the court's reputation, even if the people indicted by her are innocent. The desire to frame at all costs also clouds her judgement and leads to her trusting all of the wrong people. Throughout the investigation of the Phantom Thieves, she remains completely unaware that her boss is taking her for a complete fool and while she doesn't get along with Goro Akechi, she nevertheless trusts his judgement regarding the Phantom Thieves and unaware that he is actually a double-edged sword. She also gets angry at every single NPC the protagonist makes a Confidant with because she suspects that they helped him commit crimes as a Phantom Thief, with many innocents that happen to befriend the protagonist such as Chihaya Mifune or Shinya Oda, or even people among her circles such as Makoto or Akechi being suspected as accomplices. The reasons for her suspicions are of a petty nature, such as Mifune giving him advice to evade the law or Yoshida teaching him how to make speechcraft for his calling cards. This also results in her more often than not getting into the way of innocents for the sake of getting a conclusion she wanted to present to her superiors, as she's easily willing to believe that Sojiro Sakura, the manager of a café she frequents, is abusing his daughter (though Makoto suspects the same thing for a time) and completely refuses to change her mind about the Phantom Thieves no matter what good deeds they do, to the point that she's willing to believe the worst of them at any time. Envious of her sister and colleagues, Sae feels they have freedom to do whatever they want, while she is stuck in a dead-end attempt to defend the court's tarnished reputation. This envy, combined with her growing disillusionment and frustration with her profession as a concept due to being regularly strung along by political corruption, manifests as a Palace resembling a casino and a hyper-competitive and dishonest Shadow Self hellbent on winning, desiring everyone to feel as helpless as she does while stuck in an unfair and corrupt system, all of which are gross exaggerations of her personal insecurities. Her Shadow Self forces the Phantom Thieves into rigged gambling games that are impossible to win fairly, itself mirroring her real-world counterpart's tendency to force a guilty verdict regardless of the truth to keep the jurisdiction system's reputation afloat. She is shown to have a rather distorted and pitiful worldview, especially during her battle quotes where she claims that a society must have rules and order to operate, and those who do not follow society's rules must be punished and penalized but also that it is natural and right to alter the rules to favor one side, then call the rigged victory "justice." After being caught cheating in her supposedly "fair" game, this is her final straw as she goes berserk and attempts to kill everyone, offhandedly revealing that she didn't think it was possible to be fair until she gave up on the game. Sae's most consistent flaw is her hypocrisy. For all her supposed disgust of the Phantom Thieves, she's perfectly willing follow the SIU Director's orders to catch them regardless of how grossly unjust the orders are. Akechi even points out to her that, in doing so, her actions are no different from those of the very people she claims to hate. This trait of hers is especially prominent in her Shadow, who repeatedly states that she wishes to do things "fair and square" despite constantly cheating. Regardless of her many flaws, Sae isn't without standards or moments of compassion, a prominent example being when the protagonist was feeling fatigued over the drug injections making her feel concerned for him despite him being labeled a criminal. There were even times when she would be worried the protagonist would pass out. She is also genuinely disgusted and even disturbed at the cops for inflicting such pain on the protagonist. Despite Sae's hard demeanor and bitter relationship with Makoto, she loves her sister deeply and has even shown consolation for her, as it's indicated that some of her stricter attitude is born out of a desire to keep Makoto out of trouble and ensure that she succeeds. Furthermore, unlike most other Palace rulers, Sae's Shadow Self is open to reason without having to steal her Treasure. After defeat, the Phantom Thieves convince her Shadow to let go of her jealousy and resentment, allowing her to gain an epiphany about how pointless her grudges and overcompensation are without fundamentally changing her personality by using her feelings in a more proactive way, even going as far as forming a confidant herself and helping the protagonist trick Akechi and Shido so he won't get murdered. "Well then, let's move on. At last we arrive at your most recent crime. ...You know what I mean, don't you? This calling card was delivered to your latest target—the one you had decided would prove your innocence. It was addressed to "Sae Niijima." ...Myself. Now, explain everything to me." —Sae Niijima talking about herself, Persona 5 After Sae's father, who was a police officer, died in the line of duty three years ago, she has been obliged to act as her minor sister, Makoto Niijima's legal guardian. However, she does not treat Makoto as anything other than a burden for her to take care of, and the sisters generally do not have a good relationship with each other prior to the second half of the game. The Niijima sisters, Makoto and Sae, were raised alone by their father, since their mother died young. Three years ago, their father died when solving a case. Without a sole caretaker, Sae has to take care of Makoto alone and find a job. She found a job at the prosecutor's office, where she has to maintain an indiction rate of 99% at all costs, regardless of the defendant's innocence. She felt incredibly bitter about this fate where everyone else can have a normal life while she's stuck between rigging cases against her will and raising Makoto because her father died. As a result, she came to resent both her father and Makoto, viewing both of them as a burden. By the events of the game, Sae is a public prosecutor of the Tokyo District Special Investigation Department (independent from the police department) responsible for the Phantom Thieves of Hearts' case. In the prologue of the story, she requests interrogation of the captured protagonist, despite her dismissal from the investigation by her boss. Disgusted that he has been drugged, she asks him to truthfully remember and recollect his side of the story. The majority of the game involves events based on the testimonies that he makes for her, and his goal is to have her stay as long as possible to prevent his assassination and formulate a plan to get around his demise. While mysterious, Sae seems to care for the protagonist's welfare. Over the course of the game she recapitulates the Thieves' activities with him. She is skeptical of his supernatural claims, such as a talking cat, alternate realities, monsters, etc, demanding him to stop fooling around and get serious so she can know the truth, unaware that these childish fantasies actually are the truth. Sae first appears on April 10, having a discussion with her boss, the SIU Director, about the train wreck caused by the most recent mental shutdown. She enlists the help of a young man (later revealed to be Goro Akechi) in investigating the mental shutdown. On April 12, Sae and Akechi are on Central Street, unknowingly passing by the protagonist and Ryuji in the opposite direction. Ryuji had been talking about bringing down Kamoshida, but the protagonist hushed Ryuji before Sae or Akechi could overhear them. Sae first encounters the protagonist while visiting Café Leblanc before the protagonist goes out on May 4th, where she expresses concern about the mental shutdowns and the Kamoshida case, wondering how could a person's mental condition change so quickly. She then can be seen having dinner several time with Makoto. Insistent on her younger sister focusing on her studies, she demands that she doesn't engage in unnecessary things such as the Phantom Thieves. Eventually, Makoto asks her if her dad would support the Phantom Thieves if he were still alive. This question greatly frustrated Sae, and she proceeded to put her down for being ungrateful for her family situation, up until she called Makoto a burden. This greatly distressed Makoto and Sae quickly apologized to her, no longer planning on eating dinner at their home from tomorrow on, causing the two sisters to have a fall out. It was implied that Sae snapped because her father's death was what caused her to face extreme pressure to both uphold the court's reputation at all costs by rigging cases and having to become a foster parent for Makoto. Later, after Kaneshiro's case was over, Makoto would question Sae back home about what the point of studying is in terms of what is expecting her at the end. Additionally, Sae lets out that she was only investigating Kaneshiro's case for the promotion, since the Phantom Thieves have basically prevented anyone from the police force from getting any credit. Makoto would then realize her sister has changed. On July 18th, in order to investigate the mental shutdowns, Sae turns to Sojiro Sakura, an old friend of Wakaba Isshiki for help, as Wakaba researched cognitive psience. Sae attempts to get information about Wakaba's research from Sojiro. When he refuses to cooperate, Sae threatens to bring him to family court, where he would almost certainly lose custody of his adoptive daughter, Futaba Sakura, resulting in the two separating for good. She goes as far as to back herself up with the courts' 99.9% conviction rates and the mere suspicion of domestic abuse from Sojiro. This forces him to give in and speak about cognitive psience in the future. After investigation is over, Sae promises to him that she will return to him as a regular customer. "How can I stay calm about this!? Thanks to the incident with those hackers, people are calling us incompetent. And on top of that, the Phantom Thieves are claiming justice is on their side. Don't make me laugh." —Sae Niijima, Persona 5 With the Phantom Thieves taking down Medjed, Sae would lose her temper further as the police is losing the general public's trust, and support for the Phantom Thieves skyrocketed further. Sae's investigation of the thieves would come at a halt, as not only was she tasked to do a simple job that Sae described to be "a chore that any part-timer could do," their case is complicated enough that she doesn't have time to pursue it otherwise, and the police would have to be tactful as the media can make a commotion if they're not careful. Without her knowledge, Makoto would use a USB device prepared by Futaba to steal data from Sae's laptop. Sae later notices the intrusion and accuses Akechi of stealing the data, offending him. In truth, Sae realized Makoto was responsible, but was unwilling to admit it. Furthermore, Shujin Academy's Principal's death only confirmed Sae's suspicions that the mental shutdown and psychotic breakdown incidents are the work of the Phantom Thieves, fueling her desire to take them down. However, she's been misguided, as the Phantom Thieves are in fact not responsible for his death. She's also willing to go as far as ignore police protocol to catch the Phantom Thieves, with Akechi warning her that her actions would be "no better" than those of the thieves. After having found ties between Kunikazu Okumura and the psychotic breakdown incidents, she would irrationally use the latter as means to tie Okumura to the Phantom Thieves. After his death, she'd conclude that the Phantom Thieves disposed of their accomplice. "As an adult, there will be times when you will accept an assignment for which failure is not tolerated. It's all over for me if I can't win this. This is my one chance to get a promotion! I heard detectives have been coming to your school. That must make it hard to focus on your studies. Don't worry though, it will all be over soon. I'm going to catch the Phantom Thieves myself." —Sae Niijima talking with Makoto Niijima, Persona 5 After the Phantom Thieves' public disapproval and ties between the Phantom Thieves and the Shujin's principal's death were proven, Sae's position changes entirely, as now she has full authority over the police, implied to be a trap by the conspiracy and especially the SIU Director, who would butter her up with the illusion of being close to getting promoted, by praising her for her progress and tempting her further by telling her success is just beyond her grasp. Sae hesitated at first, but wholeheartedly accepted the offer. During the investigation, Sae would stop contacting her sister Makoto, and the SIU Director would pressure her by not only establishing a deadline before the next prime minister's election in a few months out of obligation, but threatens to dismiss her from the police entirely. When Akechi forces himself into the Phantom Thieves, he suggests that the gang should steal Sae's heart to stop her investigation, as they were already suspected for the deaths of Kunikazu Okumura and Principal Kobayakawa. Her sin is Envy, which turns her Palace in the courthouse into a massive, rigged casino where everything is going in the favor of the house due to rigging mechanisms, representing her view of every prosecution case as one that she must win at all costs. There is also a member's floor which contains a pitch black maze which has no easily accessible exit and an arena that claims to only offer one-on-one battles which only the protagonist could enter but repeatedly pits him against multiple enemies. As she does not see anyone in a distorted manner, the Cognitive existences of the Palace only appear as regular people. However, her Shadow appears as incredibly bitter, cynical and spiteful, which shocks her sister Makoto upon meeting her. Upon receiving her calling card from Makoto, who claims to have found it in their mailbox, Sae is infuriated that the Phantom Thieves would brand her a criminal, but reassures Makoto that the case will be over soon and they can spend time together as sisters again, suggesting a hot springs trip and comforting Makoto when she tearfully promises to protect Sae. Sae takes a phone call, and is shocked to realize that the investigation has ordered that she be placed on standby. Shadow Sae's boss fight takes place on a giant roulette wheel which she occasionally spins to influence the battle depending on whether the Phantom Thieves win a bet (healing the winner, damaging the loser, and so on). Initially, her wheel is just as rigged as her other games, with her placing a glass shield over the cups that prevents the ball from landing and ensuring she always wins. Eventually, a member of the Thieves is sent to use their gun to knock the ball into the cup. This surprises and angers Shadow Sae, who transforms into Leviathan and attacks out of rage, declaring that the Thieves won't be able to take the only power she has away from her, and removes the glass to prove that she can defeat them in a fair fight, transforming into a gray plated, heavily armed monstrosity. However, she was still no match for the Phantom Thieves and Akechi. Makoto then manages to convince Sae to repent and make her an ally of the Phantom Thieves. This is where the game finally catches up to the present. A massive fleet of heavily armed policemen are found to be stationed in the Metaverse's casino, and catch the protagonist on his way to escape and send him to interrogation. During the interrogation if the protagonist does not sell out his friends, it will be revealed that the Thieves already set up a plan to trick Akechi from the get-go, since they all knew he was a traitor when he heard Morgana talk about pancakes in the TV station as only those who encountered him in the Metaverse could understand him. As the nearby police station that would be used to interrogate the protagonist is uninfluenced by her cognition (and thus the police station would appear exactly like its real world counterpart) and she still has subconscious control over the surroundings as her Treasure is not stolen, the party thought of stealing an empty briefcase and escaping, while the protagonist deliberately lets himself get arrested using himself as a decoy. The only thing that might make the plan fail is the police drugging him before he was sent to Sae, but in this course of events, he is able to remember and enact his part of the plan. Using this, they were capable of making Sae trick Akechi into killing the cognitive versions of the protagonist and the guard of the interrogation room after the apprehension, both born from a part of her Palace where she has little influence. Upon realizing the real reason for being appointed to the case and the true colors of her boss and Akechi, Sae cooperates with the Thieves and transports the protagonist safely to Café Leblanc. Sae apologizes to Futaba for putting pressure on Sojiro and reconciles with Makoto. Alternatively, after the protagonist finishes telling his story, Sae will offer to cut a deal with him for a lighter sentence, provided he confirms the identities of his teammates or confidants. Should he accept the deal, Sae will end her interrogation and leave without being given the phone with the Meta Nav, noting that the protagonist isn't as brave as she thought he was but nonetheless promising to uphold her end of the deal. Akechi will pass Sae in the hallway and assassinate the real Joker after killing the real police guard since the protagonist never got a chance to have him sent to the Metaverse. He will then plant the gun in the protagonist's hand to imply a suicide and frame him for the murder of the police officer. The protagonist then finds himself in the Velvet Room, where its residents lament him for his failure and Igor imprisons him within it for the rest of his life. The credits then roll with "Freedom and Security" playing in the background. Additionally, failure to meet a Palace deadline up to hers will result in the protagonist giving the wrong testimonies, and Sae leaves the interrogation room for him to recover, unknowingly giving Akechi an opportunity to assassinate him. When the gang reveals that the mastermind behind Akechi is Masayoshi Shido, Sae admits that she had her suspicions of Shido because he gains the most from all the victims whose deaths are connected to the Palace. When the Thieves publicize their video of the upcoming heist of Shido's heart, revealing that the protagonist is still alive, the police confront Sae, as she was officially the last person to have seen him prior to the "suicide." Sae feigns ignorance and mentions how she received a calling card from the Phantom Thieves, falling to her knees and feigning shock and horror that she had her heart changed. The detectives inform her that she will be interrogated as a key witness, but that all responsibility for the protagonist's escape will be placed on her regardless if she remembers anything, telling her to resent the recently deceased SIU Director for now having to clean up his mess. In response, Sae angrily asks the detectives if they truely believe that the director died of illness as publicly declared; the detectives brush off her question and lead her away, while she quietly remarks to herself that it is now all up to the Phantom Thieves to stop Shido. After the conductor's fall, she is tasked with charging Shido after the latter's confession to his crimes, but because the Public Prosecutor needs a witness and Akechi has been reported missing, she turns to the protagonist which results in his confinement in the youth detention center for two months. After his allies try every way to prove his innocence in the street assault against Shido, Sae brings the good news of Shido's case and the release of the protagonist because Shido's victim who testified against the protagonist has changed her testimony. Sae also reveals that after Shido's case has been completely settled, she will quit her current job and become a defense attorney. She believes that this is the better way to fight for justice than in the Public Prosecutors Office. On the protagonist's last day, Sae can be found outside the café. She gives him her business card which states that she is now a defense attorney. She also encourages him not to become influenced by terrible adults, as the corrupt adults the Phantom Thieves despise are everywhere. Sae says he should call her if anything happens, although she is not worried about him, saying he will never lose sight of himself. Sae retains most of her roles from the original version of the game. While she still cannot be romanced, the protagonist will receive a friendship-based Giri-Choco from her during Valentine's Day. The item cannot be missed, as the protagonist always maxes her confidant. Should certain conditions have been met to unlock the third semester, Sae would approach the protagonist and ask him to turn himself to the police as a witness like in the original game. However, Goro Akechi would reappear after his last appearance in Shido's palace seemingly unharmed and offer to testify against Shido as the culprit behind the mental shutdowns. Surprised by the turn of events, Sae asks the protagonist to forget what she said before as she walks away with Akechi to the police station. Sae later reappears to celebrate on New Year's Eve by having a traditional meal of toshikoshi ("year-crossing noodles") with the Phantom Thieves, Kasumi Yoshizawa and Sojiro at Leblanc. While everyone is socializing and enjoying their meal, Sae offers good news of how the protagonist's verdict will be turned around thanks to the woman who acted as Shido's witness over the assault willing to change her testimony. She added that this is still not official as of yet, but it will eventually happen as soon as the case against Shido begins. During the third semester, she is shown in Takuto Maruki's reality, living happily with her father and sharing a close sisterly bond with Makoto, as she wished that her father had never died so that Sae would not have to bear the burden as her only family and guardian. As a result, history was rewritten so that the Niijima sisters' father has never died, just like Wakaba Isshiki and Kunikazu Okumura. Once Makoto chooses to deny Maruki's reality, Sae will be removed from it as well. However, the altered reality still maintained Shido's incarceration as the result of trying to overthrow the government rather than his ties to the mental shutdown incidents, and Akechi being allowed to walk free due to his crimes being completely erased. These changes in history suggest that Sae never denied Maruki's reality herself, nor did she have the chance to build her case against Shido as planned at the start of the New Year. Soon after the Phantom Thieves defeated Maruki and restored reality to its original state, it was explained to the protagonist by Lavenza that he would be in jail in the present due to the time that transpired being restored to what it once was, including Sae's request for himself to turn to the police like in the original game. Since Akechi's appearance on that day was only thanks to the altered reality, the protagonist must go through with his imprisonment to testify against Shido (just as the original storyline followed). Once the Phantom Thieves and his confidants rallied support and helped to find the woman who testified against the protagonist, Sae returns to meet with him about the news. Having seen the protagonist in the altered reality for a while, Sae questioned if she had actually not seen him since Christmas Day before proceeding with the news. Later in the epilogue, Sae is seen outside a real estate shop with Makoto. Helping her sister find accommodations to move out to for her time in college, Sae had a disagreement with Makoto's choice from the selection. The two got into a brief argument but seeing how her sister defended her choice and stood up to her for the first time only made Sae laugh together with Makoto over how much she has grown.