“My life was stolen from me... And in its place, I was given a power I never asked for... And so, I learned that the future is only a delusion. Only by striving to live every moment to its fullest can the soul truly be satisfied. That is why we welcome this glorious revelation, to shine a light upon this darkened world!”
Takaya Sakaki is the leader of Strega and the main antagonist of Persona 3. He is the fourth antagonist of the series.
Takaya is the confident and charismatic young leader of Strega who was once experimented on by the Kirijo Group. He functions as the protagonist's foil, leading the rival group of Persona users and setting himself up as a false messiah. In battle, Takaya uses a five-shot revolver to strike down his opponents. Aside from Elizabeth and Fuuka, he is the only Persona user in the game who does not use an Evoker to manifest his Persona, instead summoning it "manually" by clutching his head and falling to his knees.
He is a Persona User who wields the Persona Hypnos in battle.
Physical Appearance[]
Takaya has long gray or platinum blond wavy hair and yellow eyes. It is unknown why he has yellow eyes, but yellow eyes are often depicted to be the mark of a Persona user or Shadow Self.
He wears a wire like headband, faded and torn light blue jeans with a red, ragged scarf tucked in the back pocket, a studded white belt and brown boots. He has full tattoo sleeves on both arms and a small tattoo on his lower back. He is never seen wearing a shirt, jacket, vest or anything of the sorts. He also looks rather emaciated, commented on in-universe; one NPC thinks he lives on nothing but air, and Junpei calls him a "freaking ghost." His age, like the other Strega members, is never revealed, but he appears older than both Jin and Chidori and SEES, perhaps in his early twenties.
Design Variants[]
In flashbacks in the Persona 3 manga Takaya appears as a child alongside the other members of Strega.
When he summons his Persona he glows red and appears to be in pain.
In-Game Appearances[]
| In-Game Appearances | |
|---|---|
 Takaya's model in Persona 3  Takaya's portrait  Takaya in P3RE |
History[]
Takaya is the confident and charismatic young leader of Strega who was once experimented on by the Kirijo Group. He functions as the protagonist's foil, leading the rival group of Persona users and setting himself up as a false messiah. In battle, Takaya uses a five-shot revolver to strike down his opponents. Aside from Elizabeth and Fuuka, he is the only Persona user in the game who does not use an Evoker to manifest his Persona, instead summoning it "manually" by clutching his head and falling to his knees.
Since Takaya doesn't have long to live, he lives fully for the moment, heedless of the harm he causes others. His dearest wish is to see the world end along with his own life. Though he does have some care for Jin Shirato and Chidori Yoshino, he has no qualms about using either of them as tools. At first, he tries to prevent SEES from killing the twelve Arcana Shadows, since it'll end his Revenge Request website business and his "powers," and as if he is trying to save the world in his own way. But he embraces death once he realizes their true purpose.
Takaya is seen in-game spying on some of the party's first Full Moon Operations, but it is not until Arcana Chariot and Justice are fought that he encounters them, revealing his hostile intent. During the Full Moon of October, he comes across an indecisive Ken Amada about to kill Shinjiro Aragaki. Takaya motioned to execute Ken, but Shinjiro took the bullet for him; Takaya fled as the rest of SEES converged immediately after, and Shinjiro passing shortly after.
Following this, he and Jin had their first direct battle with SEES during the operation on November 3rd. Takaya primarily uses a random Dyne-tier skill to try and fish for weaknesses, occasionally using Megido instead for modest damage. The two leapt off the Moonlight Bridge, refusing to surrender, following their defeats.
A couple weeks later, they revealed themselves alive when Chidori led SEES to Tartarus; displeased with Chidori being emotionally attached to his enemy, Takaya shot Junpei, who only survived once Chidori sacrificed her life to save him. Takaya and Jin fled the scene.
Near the end of the game, he creates a cult centered around the coming of Nyx as a salvation, with himself as the high priest and Jin spreading rumors around the network. Around the middle of January, Junpei Iori will invite the protagonist out to Hagakure, saying that it's Akihiko's treat due to a little bet they had at Yakushima. When they arrive, Aigis will pull out a newspaper with the flap opened to the section on the new cult, which also contains a picture of the cult's high priest, who is quickly identified as Strega leader Takaya Sakaki.
In the interview, Takaya claims that the world is in a state of turmoil, and that there is little chance for hope. He then claims that a magnificent being is the only salvation for humanity, which is identified as Nyx. Takaya then states that he has received a blessing from Nyx and has learned of her divine power. He further manipulates the public by stating that there are also "those who have been blessed by Nyx" that use this "blessing" for their own selfish goals. The group deduces that Takaya is attempting to make the public hate SEES by stating that they are, in fact, the ones responsible for everything.
On the 262nd floor of Tartarus, Takaya confronts SEES. He tells them his life was stolen from him and was given a power he never asked for, and talks about how humanity wishes for Nyx's salvation, not just him alone. In Persona 3, Takaya and SEES are at a standstill, as unlike him and Strega, they believe in themselves and have hope for the future, grounding their stance to fight death; the unshakable conflict annoys Takaya. In Persona 3 Portable, however, Mitsuru explicitly explains that they're only capable of believing in themselves because they're working together, and calls out Takaya's limits due to choosing solitude over bonds which shaped his delusions of grandeur, which shakes Takaya but ignores their argument with denial.
His final defeat occurs when he tries to forcibly stop SEES from climbing Tartarus and facing Nyx. During this fight, Takaya's moveset is effectively the same as it was before, only now he has Megidola and Megidolaon in addition to the skills he already had. After his defeat, Takaya asks for SEES to kill him, but Mitsuru claims there's no honor in taking the life of someone who can't even move, and tells him he will live to see if what he wishes for comes true or not. He closes his eyes, and SEES moves on.
Afterwards he crawls to the top of the tower to witness the final battle. Lying on the floor, Takaya comments that death is imminent and trying to avoid it is futile. Before he passes out or dies, he says he would have wished to see the end with his own eyes, and wishes Jin could have witnessed it with him. It is unknown whether he survived after the protagonist sealed Nyx away. If Takaya survived, his potential for future evil would've been heavily mitigated by the end of the Dark Hour.
Personality[]
Having been forced to face death from a young age. without first having found meaning in life, Takaya would grow to become a nihilistic and solitary man, with the only qualm to his suffering being that the end is "salvation." He's also "learned" that there's no such thing as hope for the future, and the person can only be sated by living in the present. Takaya would romanticise his bloodlust; not only would he have no remorse for his actions, he would see no abnormality in it to begin with, viewing it as part of his daily life.
Powers & Abilities[]
Hypnos[]
Hypnos is Takaya Sakaki's artificially summoned Persona, born from the experiments performed by the Kirijo Group. Surprisingly enough, Takaya is able to summon Hypnos without the aid of an Evoker. Hypnos appears as a disfigured body held in the air by wings seemingly grafted into his spine.
Appearances[]
Trivia[]
- Takaya's appearance may be intended to resemble popular depictions of Jesus Christ. His headband may be a reference to the crown of thorns, and when defeated in battle, he spreads his arms very wide apart, probably a reference to his crucifixion.
- Because of the apocalyptic themes of Persona 3 and the fact that Takaya begins a religious cult, it is possible that Takaya may symbolize the Antichrist as a false messiah.
- His style in summoning his Persona is clutching his head in pain instead of using an Evoker. This trait is shared by Tohru Adachi from Persona 4.
- In Persona 3 The Movie, it is revealed his experiment number was Subject no. 01A056.
- Takaya shares the same English voice actor, Derek Stephen Prince, with Naoki Konishi, Takeharu Kirijo and the Moel Gas Station Attendant (anime only).
