Yusuke Kitagawa is a playable character from Persona 5. He is an art student from Kosei High School who becomes involved with the Phantom Thieves of Hearts.
Yusuke is an honor student who takes an art course at Kosei High School. He was raised by Madarame as his mother died when he was three. Therefore, he does not remember her and Madarame took great care of him. As he grew up, he was tutored in art by Madarame, with his masterpiece "Sayuri" being one of his greatest inspirations for his artistic career. In reality, Madarame only raised Yusuke for the sole purpose of exhibiting his artwork using his name, and he would often give him meager rations during his tutelage. By the time the game begins, most other pupils in Madarame's shack are cast away, died because of direct or indirect abuse by him, left due to losing interest in art, and Yusuke is the last pupil living in his atelier. While he appears to be aggressively defensive to Madarame, before the events of the game, Natsuhiko Nakanohara asked him about how Madarame treated him, and he admitted that he would leave his shack if he could.
While not directly stated by him, it was heavily implied that Madarame barely treated him as a person as he grew up. He did not bother giving him proper rations, fees or a proper bed, and was always looking to sabotage his artistic career while possible. Despite this, Madarame's great care towards Yusuke had caused him to develop a severe case of Stockholm syndrome that persisted after Madarame's fall, where he still believed that his mentor and adoptive father was a good person by the time he was conceived and wished for him to apologize and reconcile together.
Yusuke one day develops an interest in Ann Takamaki, finding inspiration in her beauty, and develops a desire to hire her as his art model. He tails her one day, only to be stopped by Akira Kurusu and Ryuji Sakamoto. After explaining his intentions, he invites her to go to his master's art exhibition to consider his offer. Hearing Madarame is a fraud, the Phantom Thieves decide to accept Yusuke's offer so they can investigate him. They directly ask Yusuke about this, which angers Yusuke, who continuously defends his master.
After hearing about Madarame's doings from his former disciple, Natsuhiko Nakanohara, and locating his Palace, Ann and Morgana try to find the proof of Madarame's deception by once again accepting Yusuke's offer to become his model, while Akira and Ryuji enter Madarame's Palace. Ann does everything in her power to delay actually becoming a nude model, dressing in so many layers that Yusuke briefly believes she has gained weight. Ann attempts to sweet-talk Yusuke into letting her enter Madarame's studio. Though her acting skills are questionable, her pushy determination and Yusuke's unwillingness to be rude to her allow them to find the evidence of Madarame's deception.
When Madarame threatens to call the police, Morgana and Ann have no choice but to escape into Madarame's Palace. Ann also drags Yusuke along for this escape, resulting in him entering the Metaverse for the first time. Even after seeing the proof earlier, Yusuke remains in shock and wants to believe in his master, so he decides to follow the Thieves to find out the truth. Despite Yusuke appearing to be protective of Madarame, according to Natsuhiko Nakanohara, if he could leave from his "care" he would, indicating that he might know that Madarame was suspicious before that happened.
When a barricade in Madarame's Palace prevents the party from proceeding further, Ann attempts to trick Yusuke to open a door in Madarame's house that matches the peacock pattern on the barricade, but to no avail due to her poor acting. Despite this, with all of his hard effort, Morgana managed to open the door, which was revealed to contain numerous copies of "Sayuri," with the original one being covered in purple cloth. Yusuke sees this in denial of the truth while Madarame barges in to investigate. He threatens Yusuke and Ann with a lawsuit using his counter-paparazzi squad, only for Ann to drag him and Morgana into the Metaverse.
As Ryuji and Akira reunite with Ann, Morgana and Yusuke, Yusuke was in disbelief that the golden museum in front of him is how his mentor sees his shack. Even when he hears about how the cognitive copy of him in Madarame's Palace (taking the form of painting to symbolize that Madarame treated him as a tool), he still refuses to admit that Madarame was a despicable person, up until he personally meets Shadow Madarame, who reveals to him that he is nothing other than a slave to him, and he admits and flaunts that he has indeed been stealing his students' artwork and declaring it as his own. He also tells Yusuke that he didn't take him in out of goodwill, but merely treated him and his other disciples as livestock to be disposed of after they were of no use. Furthermore, he threatens to destroy his artistic career if he ever stands against him.
Once Yusuke learns this truth, his desperation to find any decent goodness in his mentor turns into that of complete and utter desire for Madarame's retribution. Yusuke awakens his Persona, Goemon, and after dispatching Shadow Madarame's guards, Yusuke desires to confront his master's Shadow to get answers, but his awakening exhausts him, forcing the party to put the plan on hold for another day. Retreating to the real world, Yusuke asks to join the Phantom Thieves, which is permitted by Morgana. Madarame also decided to hold the lawsuit until his exhibit ends so he won't attract unnecessary attention. From this point on, he is also responsible for creating calling cards for the Phantom Thieves.
Yusuke and the Phantom Thieves successfully pull off the heist, leading to a chase. However, Shadow Madarame reveals that the stolen painting they took was a decoy. Trapping them, Shadow Madarame gloats at the Phantom Thieves, revealing his Palace's Treasure, the painting of Sayuri in its true form, showing a woman holding a baby. From this, Yusuke deduces that his mother's death is not a simple accident. Shadow Madarame confirms this, revealing that he offered tutelage to Yusuke's mother when Yusuke was a baby. Always very sickly, Yusuke's mother created an art piece of herself happily holding her newborn son in her arms so that she could immortalize the love she had for her son. When Madarame came across this beautifully constructed work of art, he planned to take the opportunity to claim the art for himself.
One tragic day, Madarame witnessed her having a seizure in front of him, and instead of easily offering medical support, he let her die in vain and made duplicates of her last piece dedicated to her son to sell to the public, which granted him the fame and credit he has today. In order to give it "mystery," Madarame altered the art by removing the baby from the painting completely, and that baby is none other than Yusuke himself. Since he was just three years old, Yusuke could not remember the original Sayuri and believed that the defaced Sayuri was its true form.
As Yusuke grew up, he developed artistic talent, which Madarame also took advantage of. Inspired by his control over Yusuke, Madarame decided to start targeting other youths in Tokyo, using them for their artistic ideas and throwing them out of the house, unsupported, if they did not comply with his wishes. None of Madarame's students receive credit or recognition for their works. Yusuke is no exception to this. Madarame uses them to take their credit for his own, just like he did to Yusuke's mother and his disciples, like Natsuhiko, many years ago.
Now knowing the whole truth, Yusuke sarcastically thanks his former mentor for now giving him no reason to forgive him. Eventually defeating him and stealing his heart, Yusuke retrieves the original Sayuri painting that his mother had painted for him. Yusuke deduces that "Sayuri" is just a made-up title by Madarame for the painting, and unlikely to be his mother's true name for the fear of exposing his scam.
After the exhibition, Madarame confesses to his crimes and is swiftly punished and discredited for it. Yusuke sadly recalls the "happy family" he lived in when Madarame's other disciples were around and how as he grew older, he never lost the hope that they would come back and they all could be happy once again. Now that he is part of the Phantom Thieves, he feels like he has another "happy family" again. Wanting to let go of the past, Yusuke gives the recovered and restored Sayuri painting to Akira, who then displays it at Café Leblanc.
Because Yusuke no longer wishes to live with Madarame, Yusuke does not have housing. He wonders where he should go, once staying over at Café Leblanc for a night. However, he eventually decides to find residence at the dormitories of Kosei High School.
If the party does not complete the dungeon in time, on the day Madarame completes his exhibition, he will report the Phantom Thieves to the police for trespassing into his home, and he will also keep Yusuke as an apprentice against his will. This scenario is a false recollection made by Akira during Sae Niijima's interrogation, due to his mind being addled by the drugs he was forcefully administered to take by the police. Sae proceeds to leave the room to give Akira time to recover, at which point Akechi takes the opportunity to assassinate him.
After he's moved on towards a life of his own, aside from the Phantom Thieves' agenda with the public, Yusuke would eventually be dissatisfied with the state of his school's dormitories as they intervened in his pursuit of art. On finding a place to stay, he planned on staying at Ann Takamaki's place, only to get rejected. Since he's ran out of money he spent on Japanese sweets he'd give as a thank-you gift to her parents, and Ryuji's mother not letting him bring in guests, Morgana offers that he moves in with them at Leblanc, albeit at Akira's expense.
Ryuji and Ann decide that while they're at it, they'll visit and make the day a celebratory party for Yusuke joining the team and for Madarame's change of heart. There, Yusuke talks with the boys, curious about their pasts in hand, such as with Ryuji's guilt over causing his mother trouble after snapping back at Suguru Kamoshida, Akira's shock the night he's been arrested after trying to stop a man from harassing a woman, and Morgana himself having no past at all and believing he doesn't fit in to begin with.
While the Phantom Thieves have been collecting all five letters of introductions for Shido's Palace, Yusuke's role was focal for the last one against the cleaner, a member of the yakuza. On Ann's idea, she convinced the cleaner to have Yusuke draw a design for him. Although he wasn't interested in drawing for others, he was provoked to fulfill his request once his pride as an artist was put into question.
Yusuke designed a phoenix design for him, which the cleaner liked. He offered Yusuke a letter of introduction only if he's recruited for his abilities, which Yusuke refuses, as he wishes to find his own path as an artist: instead, Yusuke taunts the Shadow, insisting they'll take it from him by force.
Yusuke's role is largely the same as he is in Persona 5, aside from that he and Ryuji also hang out with Akira in a summer fair during the 17th of July.
During the New Year, Madarame was released from jail and reconciled with Yusuke. He apologizes for all of his past crimes and lets him exhibit "Sayuri" in an art museum using his mother's name. This, however, is revealed to be an alternate reality created by Maruki and his Persona, for Yusuke truly wishes that Madarame could be the mentor he always thought he was and not a corrupt, greedy villain. Once Akira talks to him, he gets a seed of doubt, and everything returns to normal at the end of the week when Yusuke and the other thieves deny Maruki's reality, with "Sayuri" returning to Leblanc on-screen.
If Akira maxed his confidant, Yusuke will offer Akira to have a talk in his atelier, which appears identical to his room in Persona 5 Dancing. He loathes himself that he averted his eyes from reality and betrayed Akira's trust with him, even going as far as denouncing himself as an "utterly hopeless fool" because Akira gave him the strength to expose Madarame's deception, only for him to accept Maruki's reality without a second thought. After denouncing his worth in a long and self-derogatory rant, he apologizes for falling into the same mistakes and tells Akira how great his mother was, and Akira is his greatest teacher, even going as far as holding Akira's shoulders in joy. Realizing this transmogrifies Kamu Susano-o and Goemon into Gorokichi.
Should Akira accept any of Maruki's offers to completely overwrite the current reality with his own reality, he will consider transferring to Shujin. During the credits, he is seen being tutored by Madarame.
A few weeks later in Leblanc, after Maruki's defeat and restoring their original reality, each of the Phantom Thieves members revealed their own plans for moving away and pursuing their futures by themselves based on their experiences in January. Yusuke expressed his surprise and mild sadness as the only one who had no plans of moving anywhere but then acknowledges they will need to go their separate ways in life, though resolving to still carry their bonds and emotions together as the Phantom Thieves throughout his painting career.
Sometime after the group aided Akira in evading government officials from tracking him as he leaves Tokyo (with the help of the reformed Maruki who now works as a taxi driver), Yusuke continues to sit in front of a blank canvas inside his school's art room. As he notices a cherry blossom petal landing on top of his phone's screen that displays the Phantom Thieves logo, Yusuke finds his inspiration and begins painting his next piece.
Six months after Akira and Morgana's departure, the former Phantom Thieves planned to reunite together and go on a camping trip together during their summer vacation. Yusuke and the others plan a surprise party in Café Leblanc for their reunion back home. While discussing their upcoming trip, they decide to use a recently popular mobile app called EMMA to look for their camping equipment and everything else that is necessary for their trip. After regrouping back at Leblanc after buying the preparations, he and the others learned of the existence of a new Metaverse-related incident involving a fashion designer and idol known as Alice Hiiragi using a Jail, a prison serving as an overlay in the real world, to mesmerize the public of Shibuya towards her. Knowing the threat, they all decide to investigate, reestablishing the Phantom Thieves of Hearts.
During their investigation on Alice, they are approached by a police officer named Zenkichi Hasegawa, who reveals that the Phantom Thieves are the prime suspects of the recent change of heart throughout Japan. He offers them a deal to clear their names in exchange that they work together with him. Not wanting to accept the offer, the Phantom Thieves are determined to change Alice's heart. Unfortunately, their plan backfires as Alice's change of heart has made the police convinced that the Phantom Thieves are involved, leaving them no choice but to accept Zenkichi's offer.
Yusuke and his friends decide to continue their plan to go on a camping trip while also investigating the Jails. At Sendai, they meet an apparently popular novelist named Ango Natsume. However, when Yusuke tries to read Natsume's novel, Yusuke couldn't feel any passion nor feelings of the author himself. Learning that Natsume has plagiarized other people's work and the popularity of the novel only occurs at Sendai, the Phantom Thieves identified him as the Monarch of Sendai's Jail. With Zenkichi's help, they're able to attend Natsume's party in the hope of gaining his EMMA keyword. When Natsume starts insulting the Sayuri, Yusuke confronts Natsume and reveals that Sayuri was painted by his late mother, filled with her love, and tells him not to compare it to Natsume's work that only ripped off from others.
After defeating Shadow Natsume, Yusuke reminds him that the real reason that he wrote is to follow the footsteps of his real talented grandfather, Natsume Shougo. He also assures Natsume that he will accept all of the efforts he put into his work. Back to reality, Yusuke attends Natsume's press conference as he confessed to the plagiarism, convincing Natsume to write his own story once he's back to the literary world.
In the Legacy of Chris Thorndyke,
And he is reprised by Matthew Mercer in the English dub and Tomokazu Sugita in the Japanese dub.