Persona 5: Kuon Ichinose (INTP)

Kuon Ichinose is not an extremely prominent character in the Persona 5 game series, because she’s not a character in the main game. Instead, she plays the role of a villain in Persona 5 Strikers, which was not nearly as popular of a game. However, we enjoyed Ichinose as a character, because she represents the rare INTP villain. Of course, many people posit that she is actually an INTJ, which in our opinion, is incorrect. So, below, we’re going to provide a breakdown of her cognitive function stack, and share what evidence we have that Ichinose is actually an INTP. I hope our analysis makes sense!

Ti:

“But that applies to very few people in the real world. What of all those who’ve lost their way? The outcasts in your schools, the people mocked and slandered on the internet… If any one of them steps out of line, their fate is sealed. The burden forced on them will haunt them the rest of their lives. You’re fine with all those people going through that? All because YOU’RE strong? Because YOU never screwed up?”

“I just couldn’t understand this foreign concept of ‘heart’. But it was my top priority in my studies, so I tackled the problem the only way that I knew how.”

“You nailed it! I’m a heartless doll, exactly!”

Ichinose lives her life detached from her own emotion, and believing something is wrong with her because of that. So, rather than attempt to get in touch with her emotions, she relies on reason and technology to study what she feels that she doesn’t understand. As a result, she ends up creating an AI to answer her question, but that AI only reflects the question back at her. She laments the hopefulness that she had that something she programmed would be able to answer a question she did not know the answer to. Having failed in her search for understanding, Ichinose then decides to view the problem from a different angle. This brings her to the conclusion that she needs to implement a solution for the whole of humanity, which would in the process solve her own problem. The impersonal nature of her search for understanding and the corresponding solution is indicative of Ti.

Ichinose rationalizes people’s treatment of her, and incorporates it into her identity. They call her a heartless, a lifeless doll, and etcetera. Of course, at the time, she had suffered a tragedy, which had exaggerated her natural tendency to detach from her emotions. She ultimately claims the descriptors people assign to her as accurate to who she is, and openly admits to them in front of the Phantom Thieves. This is a very Ti way to approach identity.

Ichinose tries hard to get the Phantom Thieves to understand her reasoning after revealing herself to them in the Metaverse. She debates with them, and points out the logical fallacies in their way of thinking. She rationalizes away their personal experiences, pointing out that other people have far different experiences, advantages, and disadvantages. As the conversation progresses, Ichinose grows frustrated with the Phantom Thieves, ultimately calling them all idiots for failing to understand her reasoning, and failing to recognize the validity of EMMA’s ultimate solution for mankind.

While there is a theory out there that Ichinose is an INTJ, there is no actual evidence of her having Te. In fact, her entire approach is against the very nature of Te. Ichinose doesn’t actually make or implement the plan to solve humanity’s problem; she just designs the AI who’ll do it for her. She doesn’t maintain control and authority over EMMA. Rather, she gives EMMA the necessary directive and programming, and then releases EMMA onto the world to figure out and implement a solution all its own. When meeting the Phantom Thieves in the Metaverse, she openly admits that she’s simply following EMMA’s orders, and prior to that she’d only been monitoring the AI. Essentially, the fact that she outsources the actual planning and doesn’t feel any need to maintain control over it directly contradicts Te.

Ne:

“So EMMA functions as the entry point here, huh? No that’s… If I consider the possibilities…”

“Oh, you have no idea how FASCINATING this is! What an incredible development!”

“A world where people’s Desires are stolen, and their hearts are changed… Hmm… So many questions.”

“Now, as for exactly how EMMA gained her abilities, that’s something I can only hypothesize at this point. At this point, I suspect it’s probably because of how I programmed her cognitive functions.”

“So, if I build off my current hypothesis… I think the Desires EMMA collected somehow strengthened or boosted that possibility.”

“In fact, your reaction now could even by why EMMA used Sophia as the ace up her sleeve.”

Ichinose loves to speculate and hypothesize, which is clear right from the beginning. Of course, initially, she is putting up a front, pretending not to know anything about Jails, and what EMMA is doing. Regardless, after getting it all explained to her by the Phantom Thieves, she acts fascinated by the concept of the Metaverse, EMMA acting as the entry point, and all the resulting possibilities. She also claims to have so many questions. Granted, this is a front, but it’s exactly the reaction an INTP would have. However, with that all being said, her front is consistent with her final reveal.

After revealing herself as a villain, Ichinose continues to display an inquisitive and speculative nature. She constantly questions what EMMA might be doing, and why she might be doing it. She does all of this openly and verbally, with other people present. For instance, when meeting the Phantom Thieves in the Metaverse, she not only explains everything EMMA had done thus far, but also tries to speculate as to how EMMA gained her abilities, and what her reasoning might be for the various actions she’d taken.

Ichinose’s detached, hands-off approach is common for intuitives. She monitors EMMA, and asks for reports from the Phantom Thieves, but never feels compelled to get physically involved on her own. She doesn’t actually experience the Metaverse until EMMA compels her to do so. She’s content to keep her distance, and just observe, virtually.

Si:

“This overwhelming onslaught of pointless info… We got ourselves a nerd, ladies and gentlemen.” – Futaba

“Did you know oxtail soup is packed with collagen? A lot of people seem to think it’s good for your skin. They say it’s not as effective when ingested, but there’s a fair number of reports that suggest otherwise. Human cognition can be quite misleading. You may think you feel a change when none has occurred. This is the placebo effect and…”

“I feel like I could study the metaverse forever. I’d love to learn more, so how about helping me with an experiment? Could you tell me what you see in there?”

Upon initially meeting Ichinose, the Phantom Thieves quickly observe that she’s a wealth of random information. She shares a detail about oxtail soup, and it’s health benefits. She then goes on a tangent about human cognition and the placebo effect. Futaba describes it as an “overwhelming onslaught of pointless info.” This tendency is common for low Si users specifically. Ne finds strange ways to connect information together (because everything is connected), and then low Si shares an unnecessary amount of detail in the process. Higher Si is usually better at keeping the detailed information strictly on point, in service to the goal or subject.

Ichinose’s desire for detailed information is demonstrated all throughout the game in the form of information collection tasks she gives you through side missions. She sends you on various different missions to collect information about the metaverse in order to gain a better understanding of it and the creatures inside. This is done mainly to satiate her own curiosity and to aide in her ‘research’.

Fe:

“I’m incapable of comprehending that sort of emotion anyway.”

“I’m the textbook definition of ‘heartless’. I’ve been told I didn’t have one ever since I was little. I act all friendly and easygoing and stuff, but it’s just for appearances.”

“Nobody suffers any more thanks to EMMA! Everyone gets saved! It’s what we need! What humanity desires!”

“You believed you could figure out the human heart so you could make your own stop feeling lonely!” – Sophia

“You attempted to rationalize this treatment by viewing yourself as truly heartless, because studying the human heart is easier than admitting how your own really feels.” – Sophia

Detachment from emotions is a common inferior Fe struggle. Ichinose doesn’t understand how she feels, which leads to her lifelong study. This is in stark contrast to tertiary Fi users, who often know how they feel and just prefer not to dwell on it. Sophia actually points out to Ichinose, something that Ichinose never fully realized about herself. Everything that Ichinose had done was out of a desire to solve her own loneliness. However, Ichinose had never fully been aware of that fact, because she didn’t know how to recognize her own feelings.

Ultimately, Ichinose reframes her actions as being best for everyone, because she’s unaware of her own personal motivations. She defines her goal as being focused on others rather than being self-motivated, which is a common Fe approach.

In spite of her detachment from emotions, Ichinose feels compelled to appear friendly and easygoing. She doesn’t stay true to her own feelings (or lack of feelings), which is typically the Fi approach. Instead, she aligns her external emotions response with what she believes is expected or appropriate. Although, she’s not always great at identifying what is or is not appropriate. For instance, she initially laughs when finding out that the Phantom Thieves are wanted by the police and in hiding. Ryuji rebukes, saying that it’s nothing to laugh at, and she immediately apologizes, by saying “Oops, I guess that wasn’t right of me…”