Futaba Sakura

Futaba Sakura
Futaba's official artwork from Persona 5
Universe	Persona
Debut	Persona 5 (2016)
Smash Bros. appearances	Ultimate
Most recent non-Smash appearance	Persona 5: The Phantom X (2024)
Console/platform of origin	PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4
Species	Human
Gender	Female
Designed by	Shigenori Soejima
English voice actor	Erica Lindbeck
Japanese voice actor	Aoi Yūki

Futaba Sakura (佐倉 双葉, Sakura Futaba) is one of the main characters in Persona 5.

Origin

Futaba is the daughter of Wakaba Isshiki, a scientist specializing in cognitive psience. She is a young but talented computer hacker, previously going by the name "Medjed" who led cases of vigilantism as a hacker of justice. A group was eventually formed under this name, but Futaba, believing the group was becoming too extreme, cut ties with them and changed her handle to "Alibaba". She was frequently bullied by her peers for being a nerdy shut-in, with her only friend by a girl named Kana. However, Futaba discovered that Kana was being physically and sexually abused by her parents, and they were separated soon after.

Later in Futaba's life, her mother would be killed when she mysteriously wandered into oncoming traffic. Her death is eventually revealed to be an assassination coordinated by Masayoshi Shido, who took advantage of her cognitive psience research, but perceived her as a potential threat and needed her eliminated. The deed was carried out by Goro Akechi, who used the Metaverse to kill her Shadow, thus causing what became known as a "mental shutdown". A suicide note was then forged as a red herring, which was read aloud to Futaba for no other reason than as an act of cruelty. Futaba ended up drawing inward emotionally and was passed between foster families. She eventually ends up in the care of Sojiro Sakura, who also happened to be caring for the protagonist. Futaba rarely leaves her room, due to the trauma of her mother's death and the feeling of isolation while in foster care. Futaba also does not attend school and is extremely shy and depressed, and she occasionally has panic attacks which cause hallucinations of her mother. This slowly changes once she gets familiar with the Phantom Thieves, as she becomes more playful and welcoming to them, unintentionally alleviating her condition to an extent.

When "Medjed" suddenly returns and threatens to take down the Phantom Thieves, Futaba (having learned their identities thanks to bugs covertly planted on Café Leblanc) sends a message to the protagonist under the alias Alibaba, asking him to steal her heart in exchange for helping them deal with "Medjed", so with her consent, they enter her Palace to take her heart. While the Phantom Thieves set out to retrieve Futaba's treasure, Futaba involuntary enters her own Palace, where she is greeted by her Shadow Self, who urges her to remember her mother's death and face her own fear. She accepts her Shadow and awakens her Persona Necronomicon in the process. After the Phantom Thieves and Futaba defeat her distorted cognition of Wakaba, presented as a gigantic sphinx who spews nothing but words of hatred towards her daughter, she is able to stop "Medjed" and becomes more outgoing and friendly to others, joining the Phantom Thieves to find the true culprit behind her mother's death. Futaba acts as a navigator, replacing Morgana, providing support buffs, heals and gives advice for the party.

Should the player seek out a confidant with Futaba, both her and the protagonist go outside on many day trips so she can leave her room and see the world. Futaba eventually realizes that she was lonely and depressed even before her mother's death. She also discloses her knowledge of Kana, and how she feels guilty for not being able to do anything for her. She eventually tracks down Kana and finds that she is still being abused. Heading into Mementos, the Phantom Thieves goes to the Shadow versions of Kana's parents and steals their hearts so Kana can live without fear. After reconnecting, the two agree to return to school and live a normal life. If the player choose to have a romance with Futaba, she goes outside on her own as a display of independence. If not, she simply goes to Akihabara on her own because she wants to. Regardless, she thanks the protagonist for supporting her and making her feel normal again. Once her confidant is completed, her Persona switches from Necronomicon to Prometheus.

When Takuto Maruki alters reality in Persona 5 Royal, Wakaba is still alive and Futaba is living happily with her, though Akechi still remembers killing her due to his special circumstances he and the protagonist share. When the protagonist confronts Futaba about this, she realizes this is not her reality and decides to let go of it. The illusion breaks and Wakaba disappears. If the confidant had been maxed out beforehand, Futaba will apologize to the protagonist about being selfish enough to create an alternate reality just to see her mother again, and Necronomicon and Prometheus will combine into her ultimate Persona, Al Azif. By the time of Persona 5 Strikers, Futaba has officially returned to school as a first year high school student. She helps out with the Phantom Thieves once more, now tasked with hacking into barriers while the rest of the group tries to protect her from Shadows.

Her codename as a Phantom Thief is Oracle (Navi in the Japanese version).

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

As a background character

Futaba's appearance in All-Out Attack.

Futaba makes a cameo in All-Out Attack, shouting out attack lines.

During the All-Out Attack, Futaba will say any of the following lines:

Quote
Futaba Sakura	Here comes the pain!
	Time for an all-out attack!
	Beat 'em up!

She, like the other Phantom Thieves, can also be heard randomly on the Results screen when Joker wins a battle.

Spirits

Futaba also appears as a Novice-class support spirit and her Phantom Thief identity, Oracle is featured on the Phantom Thieves of Hearts spirit in the Persona DLC Spirit Board.

Futaba uses an Inkling puppet fighter and is fought on the Mushroomy Kingdom stage's Battlefield form. During the battle, the player's fighter must defeat the Inkling puppet fighter within one minute and thirty seconds. Also, the Boss Galaga item and the Wily Capsule Assist Trophy appear, referencing Futaba's Persona, Necronomicon, which is depicted as a UFO.

No.	Image	Name	Type	Class	Cost	Ability	Series
1,306		Phantom Thieves of Hearts		★★★★	1	Item Autograb	Persona Series
1,314		Futaba Sakura		★	1	Critical-Health Attack ↑	Persona Series

Names in other languages

Language	Name
Japanese	佐倉双葉
English	Futaba Sakura
French	Futaba Sakura
German	Futaba Sakura
Spanish	Futaba Sakura
Italian	Futaba Sakura
Chinese (Simplified)	佐仓双叶
Chinese (Traditional)	佐倉雙葉
Korean	사쿠라 후타바, Sakura Futaba
Dutch	Futaba Sakura
Russian	Футаба Сакура

Trivia

• Excluding temporary member Goro Akechi, Futaba is the only member of the Phantom Thieves (from the original Persona 5) that doesn't make a cameo in Mementos, due to her not following Joker in exploration nor being controllable in battle in the original game.
• Futaba's spirit battle is represented by a female Inkling, likely referencing how both of them have orange hair and are commonly noted as looking similar by fans.
• Futaba makes a reference to the Super Smash Bros. series in Persona 5, specifically the Challenger Approaching! mechanic, to which she compares the Battle Arena in Sae Niijima's palace. Due to the game originally not releasing on a Nintendo console, she refers to the game as "Super Bash Bros." The change of name was kept for the Nintendo Switch release of Persona 5 Royal.

External links

• Article on the Megami Tensei Wiki