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"Don't let your kids watch it!" - Robbie Rotten This article contains potentially sensitive content that may be discomforting or upsetting to certain users. Reader discretion is advised! Reason: TBA |
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Ann Takamaki is one of the Phantom Thieves and a playable character in Persona 5. She is a second-year high school student at Shujin Academy and happens to be a classmate of the protagonist in 2-D as well as a classmate to Ryuji Sakamoto in middle school. Due to her foreign blood and living abroad before the story, she does not have many friends and is seen as an outcast in the academy. Her parents are away from home which leads to Ann living with "servants".
Why She Rocks
- Ann is depicted as a kind and compassionate girl that is enough for it to be noted by both Morgana and Sojiro Sakura.
- While Ann has been in isolation due to her looks thinking that she lost her place in the world, that didn't stop her from opening up to the people close to her and making jokes. Really now, isolated people don't need to necessarily be too alone in life.
- She's a good judge of a character. For example, she was able to look past the rumors of the protagonist and see him for who he really is. Another example was how she used her judgment to forgive Makoto Niijima after learning her side story in the incident with Suguru Kamoshida.
- After Ann joins the Phantom Thieves, she becomes more lively with a solid will to never be abused or let abuses run unchecked. She even agreed with Ryuji's desire to help those in need because if she doesn't, she'll go back to being the same as she was before. That right there is character development.
- Same could be said about her Confidant which revolves around coming to terms with Shiho's incident with Kamoshida as Ann resolves to improve her personal character for Shiho's sake
- She has a point about Kamoshida being at fault for what happened to Shiho, she believes that she should be more responsible for frequently pushing Shiho to keep with the volleyball team despite the effect it was playing at that moment. She even has an improved reaction when she is told that she may be right rather than she can't blame herself as a suggestion that she would rather have people be honest instead of sympathetic.
- Ann is seen as the "moral center" of the thieves like when she is the only one to never lose sight of the bigger picture.
- When Morgana gets distracted by his desire to restore his memories and Ryuji gets worked up over becoming famous, Ann uses her common sense to talk about how helping people is the number one priority.
- Also the one would suggest the "unanimous decision" rule as picking targets at random isn't her cup of tea.
- When sparing Kamoshida's life, she did not do it out of kindness. Instead, she decided to make him end up suffering and beg forgiveness for the rest of his life as she has an intention as to how this fate is worse than death according to her. It even shocked Ryuji.
- She's cute so what else? But don't let looks trick you as she is a fighter. So beware of the nice ones.
- Ann gets along extremely well with her friends in the Phantom Thieves thanks to her nature. Ryuji is a prime case of this as the two are seen hanging out together outside of Phantom Thief activities. However, they frequently bicker and exchange jabs with each other (though it's always in good fun).
- Ann's backstory is impactful as she was an outcast student. Even outcasts can feel for her. Another thing is that she always gets targeted by Suguru Kamoshida. In fact, her only friend at her backstory was non-other than Shiho Suzui who are both seen as outcasts.
- She as a running gag about her bad acting, but it manages to fool her targets as a surprise to her allies. It's pretty funny like the part where she was in the Cruise Ship Palace thus using her poor acting skills.
- Compared to Makoto, Futaba, and Haru, Ann is fashionable due to her outfits that she is often seen wearing.
- She has a magic state that is the highest among the thieves which makes her a glass cannon. Not to worry as she still has weaknesses.
- Because of her partially Caucasian heritage, she's fluent in English which is one of the qualities which attracts guys to her, and is often the first person others go to for help with English including tests and on the Hawaii trip.
Bad Qualities
- Ann can also be rather sarcastic when annoyed or upset (especially when she met Makoto).
- She has a massive sweet tooth for certain foods to the point that she will eat nothing but dessert and neglect normal meals. Though ironically enough she hates carbonated drinks.
- Can be rather book dumb as she sucks in every subject except English. It's not as bad as Ryuji.
- Can be an air-head at times.
- Despite this and being generally confident about her body and physical appearance, Ann becomes flustered and embarrassed when she is forced into a situation that exposes her skin without her prior consent or desire. She even mocks people for ogling (Ryuji gets that most of the time).
- Sucks as acting as mentioned before.
- Has the worst Endurance, second-worst max HP, and second-worst Agility as she's a glass cannon.
Trivia
- The name Ann means "apricot" (杏).
- Both Ann and Anne could be considered correct names for her. The English localization uses Ann, while promotional material for the Japanese version uses Anne. This is similar to Aigis from Persona 3, which is known as Aegis in the Japanese version. It's not that one is correct while the other is not, it is simply an artistic localization choice.
- Anne is a very common Finnish female name.
- Ann's surname Takamaki means "tall, high" (高) (taka) and "roll" (巻) (maki).
- Takamaki could be derived from the Finnish surname Takamäki, further solidifying her connection to Finland. The meanings of said surnames are different, though, Takamaki (高巻) meaning "(mountaineering) detour" and Takamäki meaning "behind (something there is a) hill."
- In the Japanese official site, Panther is given the mocking title of "Phantom Thieves' Method Acting(?) Actress" (怪盗団の演技派(?)女優, Kaitō-dan no Engi-ha(?) Joyū). This possibly refers to her stiff acting skills when she is tasked with deceiving or negotiating with the gang's target.
- Ann's Zodiac sign, Scorpio, which is noted for being a sign representing mysteriousness, may align with the fact that Carmen, her initial Persona, was a gypsy woman who used her charm to win over the hearts of unsuspecting men and then twist them to her will, and her ultimate Persona, Hecate, was the goddess of magic and witchcraft in Greek mythology.
- Additionally, much like all of the Thieves' starting Personas, Carmen is symbolic with Ann's own story; Carmen foresaw her fate in her cards, namely that she would be killed by a former lover of hers, but accepted her fate as she refused to let herself be controlled by anyone. Similarly, Ann was well aware of the consequences of going against Kamoshida but did so anyway as she refused to be his slave, which led to Shiho being sexually abused to the point that she attempted suicide.
- All of Ann's personas have physical attack animations despite having no access to any physical skills. These can still be viewed when Ann learns a new skill
- Ann is Shigenori Soejima's favorite playable character in the game
- The official Twitter account for the Persona series posted a "Happy Birthday" message for Ann on November 12, 2017, JST.
- Lyn Inaizumi along with Game Symphony Japan, played the Happy Birthday song for Ann, as a request from Morgana
- Both her parents are fashion designers who put on extravagant shows as they jump from country to country.
- It is revealed that she used to live in Finland.
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