Name: Zenkichi Hasegawa, “Wolf”

Game Origin: Persona 5 Strikers

Appearance: A tall, fit man, befitting his occupation as a Public Security Agent, Zenkichi tends to wear the same outfit whenever it is remotely appropriate: a black suit with jarringly out of place white sneakers. He keeps his black hair about shoulder-length, and wears a simple pair of square rimless glasses.

As Wolf, the Phantom Thief, Zenkichi’s appearance changes dramatically. He wears a black ankle-length tailcoat with black tassels at the end of the sleeves with a silverish-gray collar folded up at forehead-length with a large-brimmed fedora-based hat attached on the collar with a long swordfish-like point up at the front of the hat as the tailcoat has large 'V'-fashioned lapels. He also wears a high-collared jacket coat with silver accents with matching double bandolier belts and a matching holster belt where he can keep his firearm on the right side and puts the belt around his waist with another holster belt on the left side, with black pants and silverish-gray accented black winklepicker shoes.

Appearances:

Zenkichi Hasegawa

Wolf

Personality: Zenkichi is, generally, a very straightforward person, even telling the Phantom Thieves outright that they were the prime suspects in the Jail Outbreak case he was investigating, and that he didn’t believe they were actually responsible, offering to work with them to catch the real culprits. He is an intelligent and shrewd individual with a strong sense of justice, risking his life and his career to protect his newfound allies.

His fraught relationship with his daughter and the death of his wife have caused his self-worth to falter, Zenkichi spent a long while keeping his head down, focusing on his job while quietly waiting for the opportunity to strike against those responsible for what he’d lost. His Persona, Valjean, represents the desire to live a moral life and seek justice against the evil that he had once lost sight of in his desperation to protect his daughter from forces beyond his reach. As Wolf, the Phantom Thief, Zenkichi is relentless in the pursuit of justice, tearing through enemies with heavy weapons and Almighty spells. He understands that the Monarchs the Phantom Thieves hunt have traumas which induced their situations, but he does not let that knowledge give him pause in seeking to bring them to justice.

As the bearer of the Apostle Arcana (Sometimes referred to as the Priest or the Hierophant), Zenkichi represents both fairness and compassion, bringing justice to evildoers, but not condemning them as lost causes as others might.

Background: A Public Security Agent from Tokyo, Zenkichi and his daughter Akane moved to Kyoto after the death of his wife, Aoi, at the hands of a drunk driver with political influence who blamed the accident on his secretary. This incident lead to the suicide of that secretary and a tense relationship between Zenkichi and Akane, as the former received threats against his daughter’s life. In a small twist of fate, the politician protecting the killer was Masayoshi Shido, the same man who had Joker, Zenkichi’s eventual ally, arrested for protecting a woman from sexual assault at his hands.

Zenkichi, in return, kept his head down, did his job, and entrusted his superior officer to one day, when she was powerful enough, get justice in his stead. This, however, enraged his daughter, who saw the lack of action as cowardice on his part. She became a fan of the Phantom Thieves for their strong sense of justice and unwillingness to back down in the face of a fight, while Zenkichi was tasked with investigating them after a new rash of heart-stealing incidents appeared to be occurring throughout Japan. Secretly the work of Akira Konoe and Kuon Ichinose to bring true justice to the world and understand the hearts of humanity, respectively, Zenkichi immediately saw the differences between the two cases and struck a deal with the Phantom Thieves. Providing them with police intelligence and assisting them in breaking the Monarchs' chains, Zenkichi eventually Awakened his own Persona, Valjean, when fighting to rescue the Thieves from his own daughter’s Jail, where the truth of his actions was laid bare to him: by refusing to fight for justice for his daughter’s sake, he allowed the family of the deceased secretary to suffer for crimes they did not commit. Re-affirming his belief in justice, Zenkichi and the Phantom Thieves put a stop to the re-emerging Demiurge, arrested those responsible, and used the opportunity to also bring the killer of Zenkichi’s wife to justice.

Bidding a fond farewell (for now) to the Phantom Thieves, Zenkichi and Akane were shortly thereafter brought to the World of Light, their memories of understanding and reconciliation twisted and robbed from them, though the loss of Aoi still remained, Zenkichi has regressed to a semi-awakened fighter for justice, searching to bring down a conspiracy he doesn’t fully understand at the heart of Midgar.

Specialty: Bruiser- Among the Phantom Thieves, Zenkichi stands out as an offensive powerhouse, capable of both dealing out damage and taking hits. He is not quite as tanky as Ryuji, but he makes up for it by being both physically and magically stronger than he is. Combined with his lack of elemental weakness, unresistable Almighty magic, and some minor buffing and debuffing ability, Zenkichi is the best all-around fighter that the Thieves can field, barring Joker with an extremely powerful Persona.

Level: 1
Experience: 0/10

Powers:

• Apostle Persona- Valjean
  
  Valjean
  
  A Persona based off the protagonist of Les Misérables, Valjean represents Zenkichi’s desire to live a good and moral life after being granted a second chance. With no weaknesses and powerful offensive abilities, Valjean is a truly terrifying frontline combatant, as well as providing quality mid-range combat potential with Gun and Almighty skills, and a minor array of buffs and debuffs.
  
  Begins with the spell Megido, an Almighty spell that deals medium unresistable magic damage to enemies in a wide area, and the attack Triple Down, which deals light Gun damage to enemies in a wide area three times. Each “shot” of triple Down can miss or be dodged.

Strengths:

• Combat Prowess: Whether as Wolf or Zenkichi, he is a formidable foe. Boasting excellent strength thanks to his Persona, a robust health pool, and a lack of elemental weaknesses, Zenkichi Hasegawa is a great ally to have in battle, as well as a fearsome enemy.
• Investigator’s Eye: As a public Security Agent, both before and after the World of Light’s creation, Zenkichi is an excellent detective, catching things that others might miss and being able to piece together clues with ease.
• Vampiric Strikes: Zenkichi has the ability to regenerate a small amount of life/health from each successful non-ability attack on an enemy.

Weaknesses:

• Self-Doubt: After the death of his wife and the alienation of his daughter, Zenkichi’s sense of self-worth took a nosedive. Even his codename is representative of this: he chose the moniker of wolf to separate himself from the dog of the state he felt he had become. When it comes to taking care of his daughter or others, he’s quick to be hard on himself, perhaps more than is necessary.
• Ties to Akane: While not strictly a weakness per se, Zenkichi’s relationship with his daughter is…less than ideal, especially given that they will be working back to the state they were at when Galeem destroyed the worlds. She can see right through him, and he strives to be somebody she can be proud of, even if he stumbles along the way. He is willing to do anything to protect her, which is what landed him in his unfortunate situation in the first place- threats against her life caused him to keep his head down, try not to rock the boat, and just deal with the corruption staring him in the face. And, of course, she can be targeted to hurt him, though that comes with the risk of angering the wolf inside and winding up in a world of hurt.
• Sluggish Striker: While Zenkichi is the strongest Phantom Thief, the great size of his weapon also makes his attacks slower and easier to dodge. While his revolvers can mitigate this weakness somewhat, they also have a semi-limited ammo pool (regenerating when Valjean is re-summoned at the start of a fight) and take quite a while to reload during a fight.

Spirits:

Guest List: The Phantom Thieves- Zenkichi’s allies in taking down the Monarchs in the Metaverse, Zenkichi is separated from his young co-conspirators, and in this strange new world, would prefer to at least know what they’re up to, despite them having gone their separate ways after their last adventure.

Akane Hasegawa- Zenkichi’s daughter, and the singular most important person to him in the world after his wife’s death. Zenkichi threw aside his personal beliefs to try and protect her, though for a while he only succeeded in pushing her further away by doing so.

Inventory: Greatsword (manifests with Valjean), Dual Revolvers (manifest fully loaded with Valjean each fight and can be reloaded once per fight, albeit slowly), cell phone, 3,500 Yen (currency)