She Sings, She Dances, But Can She Fight?

Teen idol Rise Kujikawa proved to be a valuable asset in Persona 4, but not for the image she showed to the public. Thanks to her special abilities that emerge when using her Persona, she managed to allow Teddie to focus on his battles, whilst she provided information on weaknesses and tactics. She was later kidnapped in Persona 4 Arena to allow the shadows to use her ‘Risette’ façade to their advantage.

ATLUS have today revealed that Rise will be taking centre stage as a playable character for the first time in P4 Arena Ultimax, but what have they done to make her a unique choice?

It is hard to imagine Himiko, Rise’s Persona, performing any kind of offensive move, because it has never been shown that she is able to perform such an act. The satellite dish on her head allows Rise to communicate with other Persona users, in the same way that Fuuka Yamagishi did in the Persona 3 titles. The same attachment allows her to scan enemies to show their weaknesses, what attacks they can use, and their strength compared to that of the playable characters.

It was previously confirmed that Shadow versions of the main characters will be included in the game, so that means that Rise’s multi-coloured pole dancing dark side will make an encore appearance. The only slight worry I have with this inclusion is that Shadow Rise’s ultimate attack was to completely negate all attacks that are performed on her, so if this included as a special move in Ultimax, it is possible that she could be majorly overpowered compared with the other characters,.

On the plus side, it is a smart move to allow a fan favourite character a chance to shine. It is more than likely that Rise will do the majority of the manual labour, as shown in preview trailer below. As well as the usual punches and kicks that are standard in any fighting game, Rise will come equipped with a microphone, so she can use music based attacks to weaken her opponents. It is an interesting mechanic to use musical notes as a form of attack, seeing as no other character can use this kind of move. I am very excited to see in action, because if it proves to be successful, ATLUS may integrate sound based attacks in their future projects.

If the player is able to activate her final special move, she will perform “True Story”, but whether this will be the English translation or the original Japanese version is at this moment unknown. At the current time, neither of her original voice actors have been confirmed to return, but unless we hear the cheerful tones of Laura Bailey or Rie Kugimiya, I can imagine that many of the series’fans will be majorly disappointed, with myself included.

Based on what has been shown so far, I have no objections to Rise being a playable character. The developers have given her a balanced set of moves, with a few extras present for the players that do not rely heavily on her Persona abilites. She will not be alone in her debut either, as fellow arena newcomers include Junpei Iori and Yukari Takeba, as well as former police officer Tohru Adachi and the red-haired mystery that is Sho Minazuki. It is also rumoured that former SEES member Ken Amada will join the fray, but as we have only just heard the news about Rise, it is unlikely for the moment that this will be confirmed or denied.