The Persona series is home to several characters, each with their own mix of flawed and positive traits. This couldn’t be truer of Persona 5’s Ryuji Sakamoto, the first friend you make in the game and a voice you’re bound to hear more than any o🥀ther.
Even though you hang out with him for most of the game, whether you like him or not is probably going is far less certain. When you break down his a꧟ctions through the game it’s clear that he’s got a lot of heroism in him, but it comes at the cost of some serious poor choices. Without further ado, these are the 5 worst and 5 most 🔥heroic things that Ryuji did.
10 MOST HEROIC: Standing Up To Kamoshida 🎃
Ryuji’s heroism isn’t something he needs to gain along t🦄he way. Even before his Persona is awakened, he’s frustrated at all the pain Kamoshida’s causing to the students. Ryuji has personal beef with Kamoshida from breaking his leg and disbanding the track team, but is just as driven to stop Kamoshida over his cruelty to other sport students - especially his indecent sexual pursuits of female students.
He☂ might be hotheaded, but Ryuji is far from selfish. His powers aren’t someth🍰ing he earned so much as deserved, and as the game progresses he proves himself to be the drive of the Phantom Thieves right from the start.
9 WORST🀅: Ordering A Maid For Joker, 🍒Mishima & Himself
Possibly the most uncomfortable thing Ryuji about (that's unrelated to the Phantom Thieves, at least) are his more perverted interests, which comes out in the form of ordering a French maid to ogle at. It’s an entirely uncomfortable scene that Ryuji is almost forcing you and Mishima into. It can also be an anxiety-provoking experience, even before the maid he orders turns out to be 🗹your homeroom teacher.
Is this the kind of thing we expect from a hero or a decent guy for that matter? Absolutely not. Ryuji might be a teenager who's still learning about sexuality, but this instance shows how farꦗ from maturity he is.
8 MOST HER𝔉OIC: Being Driven In His Fight A🌄gainst Cruel Adults
Ryuji’s selflessness goes beyond his school, and it shows when he excitedly pushes you and Ann to start stealing hearts of other threats to society. He doesn’t view his powers as something to save him, but as a true sense of responsibility that only yo💧u and the Phantom Thieves are capab✅le of handling.
This type of maturity about mystical power𒁏s is one of his greatest traits. He’s certainly excited to use them and gets enjoyment out of it but at the end of the day, he’s a hero at heart who's ready to r🤡escue whoever needs his help.
7 WORST: Obsessing Over The Phantom Thieves' Fam🔜e
As the Phantom Thieves become a household name, Ryuji’s bravery is perhaps not the most adamant. Seeing their presence and fame explode through social media gets to Ryuji faster than any other, and leads to a lot of recklessness on his part as he w🃏ants to embrace that popularity.
Things like this can make Ryuji m💛uch harder to love. He does want to be a Phantom Thief out of pure altruism, but that ambition is easy to forget as he constantly gushes about how cool it is to be famous.
6 MOST HEROIC: Befriending 𝕴& Sup🗹porting Mishima
While you experience Yuuki Mishima more one-on-one while pursuing the Moon Arcana, your introduction is entirely thanks to Ryuji, who stands with him, supports him and💮 spends time with him as a good friend after the three of you are nearly expelled.
Taking on a friend seems minor compared to the extraordinary things you and Ryuဣji do in the game but between Mishima’s irritating optimism and enthusiasm as the leader of the Phantom Thieves Fan Club, he can be f💧ar more annoying than endearing at times. Ryuji’s care and inclusion of him is a type of kindness that’s plenty admirable.
5 WORST: Taking Money From Ann In Mid🃏dle School 💝
Few characters are perfect human beings, but Ryuji starts the game on the moral backfoot. While he’s friendly to nearly anyone he meets, his relationship with 𒈔fellow Phantom Thief and childhood classmate Ann Takamaki i🦹s strained back from middle school, where he borrowed money from Ann to buy something for his mom and failed to pay her back.
It’s unfa✤ir to put too much blame on him for what comes down to an awkward mistake he made as a preteen. Still, hearin꧃g that story makes Ryuji seem less like a punk with a heart of gold and more like a childhood bully who’s a little full of himself.
4 🔯 MOST HEROIC: Being Fiercely Loyal To His Friends🎀
Besides saving lives and befriending dorks like Mishima, Ryuji’s care and support is just as strong for his closest friends, particularly Joker and the Phantom Thieves as they try to discover the 🦄trai🔴tor. Within this mystery, the idea of him betraying his friends is out the window.
Bu💫t Ryuji’s sense of loyalty is deepest with his track team, which he works to get back into action after Kamoshida’s defeat. They still consider him a track traitor for starting the fight that resulted in their original disbanding, but he refuses to give up on his teammates and keeps pushing with them despite his poor reputation. Simply put, he always knows to do the right thing, even when people don’t expect him to.
3 💖 WORST: Harshly Bullying Morgana
Morgana has a lot of personal confusion about his identity and takes a lot of nasty words throughout the game, but Ryuji undoubtedly throws more questions and cruelty to Morgana than anyone else. He pushes so hard that eventually, Morgana nearly leaves the Phantom Thieves entirely, f🐠eeling like a bu🎐rden to the team.
Their falling out does get patched up over time, but the amount of insults Ryuji throws at Morgana is just unfair. Without Morgana guiding and teaching them about people’s h🐠earts and Mementos, the Phantom Thieves would just be lost teenagers with powers🌟 they couldn’t understand. Morgana can be annoying at times, but certainly deserves better than how Ryuji treats him.
2 ไ MOST HEROIC: Nearly Sacrificing Himself For Hi꧒s Friends
Ryuji’s biggest heroic moment is undoubtedly right at the end, as he puts his life at serious risk on to ensure his friends safely make i﷽t off safely. His friends are all shocked to see him not return with them, but are rightfully and immediately in awe of his actions.
While he survives (much to everyone’s surprise), there’s no doubt that he wouldn’t have traded his life for all his friends. It’s an inspiring move and proof that Ryuji re༒ally is a hero at heart.
1 WORST: Not Treat🍃ing His Presumed Death S🐼eriously
Unfortunately, Ryuji might not be mature enough to realize how significant it was to save his friends, as he reveals his survival with sar✱casm a🎀nd jokes that understandably infuriates his friends more than it relieves them.
This is a disappoꦅinting note for his greatest move to end on, as it downplays all the other bravery and growth he experiences through the game. He might not have thought he would die from his life-saving actions, but Ryuji’s inability to read the room is an extremely offﷺ-putting way to end what the Phantom Thieves thought to be their darkest moment.