Sojiro Sakura is a character from Persona 5. He is the manager of Café Leblanc in Yongen-Jaya. He is Futaba Sakura's adoptive father, and oversees the care of the protagonist during his probation in Tokyo.
Sojiro is a former government official who was in contact with the research center Wakaba Isshiki worked for. After Wakaba died in a traffic incident, which was supposedly a suicide, Sojiro took in Wakaba's daughter Futaba. He became particularly concerned with Futaba's safety and avoid anyone from approaching her because Wakaba sent him an SOS message just before the fatal incident. To hide from Wakaba's potential enemies, Sojiro left his job and became owner of Café Leblanc.
Through a customer who knows of the protagonist's parents, Sojiro promised to look after him during the protagonist's probation period as a favor. He warns the protagonist not to get into trouble in school and avoid getting into further trouble with the wrong people. As his legal guardian during his probation, he gives the protagonist the top floor of Café Leblanc to live in the year and hands him a journal for him to record his daily activities throughout the probation. When being asked privately by Yusuke Kitagawa the actual reason he took the protagonist in, he confesses that he sees his younger self in the protagonist.
Sojiro was initially unaware nor interested in Phantom Thieves of Hearts' heists until Futaba became involved. He is asked by a public prosecutor, Sae Niijima, regarding Futaba as she is trying to investigate about Wakaba. Sojiro refuses to answer any of her questions including letting her meet Futaba until she threatens to remove his custodial rights over Futaba. The protagonist, who received a request from Futaba under an alias, tries to ask Sojiro about her as well, but Sojiro also refuses to tell anything and tells him to concentrate on school. After the protagonist and his friends enter Sojiro's house to give him sushi as a means to talk to Futaba, he is forced to reveal Futaba's existence to them and asks him to keep her out of their business.
After Futaba's heart is healed and her Palace fades, Sojiro is surprised and pleased that Futaba has finally left her room and is socializing with the protagonist and his friends. However, Futaba's sudden change makes Sojiro suspicious that her heart was stolen by the Phantom Thieves. His suspicions are ultimately confirmed when he discovers the Calling Card for Futaba in her room when he was cleaning it. He immediately confronts the protagonist and Futaba about the calling card where he learns that not only is the protagonist a Phantom Thief, but also their leader. He is initially angered by this revelation but Futaba calms Sojiro down and explains that the protagonist saved her and is ultimately the reason why she is outside and no longer haunted by her mother. Sojiro then reveals the truth about his past, and how he had realized that the Thieves' methods have some similarity with details of Wakaba's research. Hearing Futaba's wish of wanting to find her mother's killer, Sojiro immediately rejects the idea. However, after seeing how determined both Futaba and the protagonist are, Sojiro promises to keep their secret and allows them to continue their activities under the condition that if it gets too dangerous, they must stop acting as the Phantom Thieves.
Following the protagonist's arrest, Sae, under Futaba's instruction, helps the protagonist escape after he fakes his death and brings him to Leblanc, telling Sojiro to hide the protagonist for a while. Despite not knowing the full story, Sojiro did as he was told, hiding him for a while. He then brings the protagonist back to Leblanc where Sae and his friends are waiting. After hearing the full story, Sojiro shows his support by allowing the Phantom Thieves to discuss their plan downstairs instead in the protagonist's room upstairs. When the Thieves realize that a man named "Shido" is the leader of the Conspiracy, Sojiro immediately realizes that it is Masayoshi Shido. He also reveals how he had suspected Shido being behind Wakaba's death and how he had kept it as a secret to prevent the Thieves from going after him, fearing for their safety.
When the Thieves hijack the airwaves to announce their plan to steal Shido's heart instead of using a calling card, Shido's subordinates arrest Sojiro, knowing that he knows the identity of the Thieves. However, he is released immediately after Shido's treasure has been stolen, both due to a lack of evidence and their inability to get a confession from him.
On the game's last day, should the protagonist have established a max rank Confidant with Sojiro, Sojiro thanks the protagonist for his time with him and hands him the recipe for both Leblanc's coffee and curry, stating that he has both recipes and methods memorized. The protagonist, in return, gives him the journal he had been writing all year as a keepsake. As the protagonist leaves Leblanc for the last time, Sojiro looks at the protagonist's journal with a smile on his face and tears in his eyes.
Sojiro's role in Royal is largely identical to the base game, although he was seen being harassed by debt collectors on the 9th of April. During the traffic jam the next day, he also talks about a 15-year old girl who died because of a car accident. It is also shown that Sojiro texts the protagonist, which never happened in the base game. He would also happen to have Takuto Maruki visiting his shop while the protagonist and his friends are on their school trip to Hawaii. Asking about the book Maruki brought with him, the councilor revealed that he is studying a book about cognitive psience. Disturbed by the topic he recognized, Sojiro attempted to make Maruki leave until Futaba intervened and entered into a discussion with the doctor about their thoughts on the subject as well as Futaba's feelings in coping with the loss of her mother.
Should certain conditions be met to unlock the third semester, the protagonist has the option to hang out with Sojiro and Futaba at Leblanc on Christmas Eve. In that event, Sojiro would continuously deny Futaba's demands for turkey due to expenses needed to cover the damages to the shop caused by Shido's men. As a joke, he gives Futaba a small amount of money that would not be enough to buy a turkey, but was surprised that she returned with both the turkey and a cake for them to eat, having apparently won them in for free.
On Christmas Day, Sojiro would go shopping for food for the protagonist's friends' party at Leblanc. He found Morgana who returned in his cat form after the battle with Yaldabaoth, and carried him back to Leblanc as a surprise for the group. Later on New Year's Eve, he serves toshikoshi soba to the group, Sae Niijima and Kasumi Yoshizawa to celebrate the coming of the New Year.
As soon as the New Year started, the protagonist notices signs of how something is not right with Sojiro and Futaba. This includes them eating breakfast together with Wakaba Isshiki, who was supposed to be dead, and their recognition of Morgana in 'human form'. After Goro Akechi arrives at Leblanc, Sojiro treats him like another customer, seemingly not recognizing his face.
It is soon revealed that Sojiro, like the entire general public, is under the influence of Takuto Maruki's ideal reality. He is seen being happy with Futaba and Wakaba while shopping in Akihabara.
Eventually, Futaba would deny Maruki's reality on her own. This made the Wakaba of the altered reality disappear and restored Sojiro's memories to adhere to the original reality, without remembering what happened in the past few days, aside from a strange sense of deja vu.
Should the protagonist accept Maruki's reality instead, Sojiro is seen at Leblanc while the protagonist's group are enjoying themselves in their party. Afterward, he offers the protagonist to stay in the café until he graduates Shujin, as the protagonist's parents had allowed him to do so, offering to live with him like a father and son. In the altered reality ending credits, he is seen with Wakaba and Futaba, now attending Shujin as a first-year student, seeming to be content with the family he has.
After the Phantom Thieves succeeded in defeating Maruki and restoring their original reality, they sought Sojiro at Leblanc to ask for the protagonist' whereabouts. Sojiro wondered about why he felt he saw him recently but soon explained to them that their leader is in jail in order to testify against Shido as a witness. He would later defend the protagonist) and arrive to pick him up from prison just the same as in the base game.
Sojiro would later participate in a meeting with the Phantom Thieves as per Ryuji's request, where he listened to them talk about needing to split up for their future. Praising everyone for their growing maturity, Sojiro is willing to make them a big meal to celebrate, though became reluctant to go through with it when Futaba declared his offer as an 'all-you-can-eat'.
Should the protagonist be in a relationship with anyone, Sojiro would assist him with a 'recipe' for the ultimate date for White Day that includes flowers, a visit to the Aquarium, and a last-minute reservation at the restaurant where the owner owes favors to him.
If the protagonist is not in a relationship with anyone however, Sojiro would remark about thinking of Valentine's and White Day as days to show appreciation to people they care about. The next day, the protagonist would get him flowers as thanks for his support and care over the year. Despite being baffled at being given flowers by a teenage boy on White Day, Sojiro appreciated the gesture nonetheless and advised him to find his soul mate to give flowers to next time.
In the epilogue credits, Sojiro is seen at Futaba's door and smiling while watching her write a letter to the protagonist.
In the Legacy of Chris Thorndyke,
And he is reprised by Jamieson Price in the English dub and Jouji Nataka in the Japanese dub.
THEMES[]
- Beneath the Mask (Persona 5) - Cafe LeBlanc/Sojiro's Theme
- Kai vs. Oogway (Kung Fu Panda 3) - Sojiro's Story of a Phantom Thief
- Duel of the Fates (Star Wars: The Phantom Menace) - Flashback - Sojiro vs. Shido
- Rivers in the Desert (Persona 5: The Phantom Strikers) - Vs. Shido (Akira w/Futaba and Sojiro vs. Shido) - Phase 3