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| “ | Don't make me laugh. I feed on dumbshits like you. There's not a snowball's chance in hell that a bright future lies ahead for you! | „ |
| ~ Shadow Kaneshiro, Persona 5 |
Junya Kaneshiro is a major antagonist from Persona 5 and the main arc villain of the Third Heist, Bank of Gluttony. He is a mafia boss who has been blackmailing and extorting high school students for money. His indifference toward his victims and overindulgent lifestyle created a Palace inside the collective unconscious, where he transforms into Bael, the demon of Gluttony.
His Palace is a massive floating bank, and in the real world it is imposed across the entirety of Shibuya, as he runs many of his operations out of it. His Treasure, which resembles a massive stack of gold bars in the Palace, is a gold plated suitcase filled with stacks of play-money in the real world.
In Japanese version, he was voiced by the late Kazunari Tanaka in the original game, and later by Takahiro Fujimoto in the animated series. In the English version, he is voiced by Jalen K. Cassell.
Appearance
Kaneshiro is a short and overweight man with long brown hair. He normally wears the typical cheap suit of a higher-up in organized crime and typically wears golden jewelry.
Shadow Kaneshiro has violet skin, wears a silver business suit and has a mustache. When he transforms into Bael, his eyes become large red insect compound eyes and he grows insect wings, developing some fly-like behaviors (constantly twitching and rubbing his hands together). In the second phase of his fight, he converts his Palace's main safe into Piggytron, a mech resembling a piggy bank, to pilot. Piggytron itself has several weapons like machine guns and missiles and can retract its limbs to become a ball that Bael will roll at the Phantom Thieves.
Personality
Kaneshiro is a ruthless, callous, and greedy crime lord, obsessed with wealth. He even dedicates a giant room that filled with a large amount of money which disturbs Ryuji Sakamoto and disgusts Makoto Niijima. Makoto claims he's a "money-grubbing asshole" and a "filthy fly on dirty money." He claims to have a habit of hoarding money to calm himself down, then blackmailing the persons responsible for his stress to recoup the loss.
His Shadow (who, like the other targets, is nearly identical to his real-world identity) later reveals that he believes that selflessness is a weakness with no place in monetary matters, a philosophy he picked up when he was a much poorer man. He has something of a victim complex, viewing society's prejudice towards the overweight and poor as responsible for driving him to a life of crime. It is also possible he may have body image issues because his Shadow calls himself "ugly", although he could be merely referring to his "ugly" heart.
As with other Targets, he is themed after one of the Seven Deadly Sins, in his case Gluttony; Junya is already wealthy beyond any real desire for higher living and spends only as much as he needs to in order to remain at his socioeconomic bracket and run his branch of the Yakuza, but demands more and more money for the sake of squandering it for his own amusement (this differs from the sin of Greed, as he doesn't actually desire to do anything with his finances beyond acquiring more of it, as opposed to Kunikazu Okumura, who has actual ambitions and goals in mind).
Profile
| “ | Now, your next target was this man... Junya Kaneshiro. He doesn't compare to the previous two. Even the police had been struggling to apprehend him. So, exactly how did you take down such a well-guarded criminal? Tell me. | „ |
| ~ Sae Niijima talking about Junya Kaneshiro, Persona 5 |
Background
Kaneshiro is a Yakuza oyabun (the equivalent of a Mafia boss) who rose in the criminal underworld through clever use of blackmail. As he progressed through the criminal world, he came into contact with Shido and then became a source of income and power for him. This is also how Shadow Kaneshiro knows of The Blacked Masked Metaverse User.
Student Blackmail
The Phantom Thieves are approached by multiple students to help solve a problem that relates to Kaneshiro. Many students had been falling victim to men who offered students in Shibuya a part-time job. This job apparently draws students into doing illegal activities, which results in the students being blackmailed by Kaneshiro. The Phantom Thieves of Hearts plan a heist at the Kaneshiro's Palace to steal his heart under Makoto's request to prove their justice, or else she will reveal to everyone the recording that proves them to be the Phantom Thieves.
Bank of Gluttony
The Phantom Thieves had some difficulty locating Kaneshiro, particularly in his "Location." key word that the Metanav requires to route to a palace. Eventually, the Thieves figure out that Kaneshiro's palace key word is "Shibuya" as Kaneshiro's palace is a cognition of all of Shibuya. This Shibuya is a rundown city with a green sky, where the inhabitants are perceived as walking ATMs for Kaneshiro to drain money from. Kaneshiro's actual palace is a form of a flying bank, as Kaneshiro is hidden from the law enforcement. The Bank shows how he thinks himself as a wealthy owner of a private bank to keep all of his money. Not having a way in, The Thieves leave with no way into the palace. Makoto, tired or just waiting instead of doing something herself, asks the thieves if she can help them, however, the thieves call her useless and tell her to leave them be. Makoto, hurt by this, risks herself by asking Kaneshiro's henchmen of his whereabouts, prompting the Thieves to follow her. This leads Kaneshiro to blackmail them by taking their pictures with alcohol and drugs. He threatens to leak it to their school unless they pay him 3 million yen within 3 weeks. Makoto apologizes for her "terrible" mistake, however, the thieves decide to show her the Metaverse since they are all in the same situation. Makoto's action gives the thieves the way in they need, as Makoto, becoming a source of income for Kaneshiro, is let in by a path to the bank. While at the bank, they meet Kaneshiro's Shadow who reflects Kaneshiro's very well, even stating that he'll use Makoto as a way to blackmail her older sister, Sae Nijima. Thankfully, during the encounter, Makoto awakens to her Persona. The Thieves left after that.
Third Heist: Kaneshiro
As the game progresses, the thieves infiltrate Kaneshiro's Palace, nothing notable is really seen aside from hearing Kaneshiro's inner thoughts about wanting to acquire as much money as possible. The Thieves send a calling card to Kaneshiro by posting the message all around Shibuya overnight. This leads to the heist where the thieves confront Shadow Kaneshiro and his cognitions of his men. After a talk of Social Darwinism, Kaneshiro transforms into Bael, which makes the cognitions of his men run away from him. He then fights the thieves but clearly stands no chance, thus he relies on his Robot, Piggytron. After the Thieves defeat Shadow Kaneshiro, he confirms there is another Metaverse user who is using palaces for criminal actions. When the palace is destroyed, Kaneshiro turns himself in and cancels all of the debts with his victims
Kaneshiro's Treasure is a children's bank set, showing his desire to become filthy rich. In the Metaverse, it takes the form of many large gold bars.
Kaneshiro's Shadow, now a copy of him in the real world, is later seen in the Mementos Depths, imprisoned in a mass cell. Like the other targets' Shadows, Kaneshrio's Shadow thanks the Phantom Thieves for stealing his heart so he could return to mementos and abandon all thinking
Trivia
- The kanji of his surname, Kaneishiro (金城), literally means "castle of gold".
- Kaneshiro is the only target who is a known criminal by the public
- Kaneshiro is the only Target whose change of heart isn't seen
- Kaneshiro's boss fight is the only boss fight to play the song "Keeper of Lust." (before transitioning to Piggytron)
 Villains
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SEBEC Route Takahisa Kandori | Nyarlathotep | Pandora Snow Queen Quest Victims of the Snow Queen Mask | Tomomi Fujimori | Night Queen
Innoncent Sin Masked Circle | Master Joker | Tatsuya Sudou | Junko Kurosu | Anna Yoshizaka | Ginji Sasaki | Akari Hoshi | Nyarlathotep Eternal Punishment New World Order | Tatsuzou Sudou | Kiyotada Sumaru | Takahisa Kandori | Chizuru Ishigami | Nyarlathotep
Strega (Takaya Sakaki | Jin Shirato | Chidori Yoshino) | Kouetsu Kirijo | Shuji Ikutsuki | Nyx Avatar Persona 3 FES
The Killer | Mitsuo Kubo | Izanami Persona 4: Arena & Persona 4: Arena Ultimax Sho Minazuki | Shadow Labrys | Malevolent Entity
Suguru Kamoshida | Sphinx | Sae Niijima | Antisocial Force (Ichiryusai Madarame | Junya Kaneshiro | Kunikazu Okumura | The Traitor | SIU Director | Sugimura | Kobayakawa | Masayoshi Shido | Yaldabaoth) Persona 5 Royal Persona 5 Strikers Alice Hiiragi | Ango Natsume | Mariko Hyodo | Shuzo Ubukata | Akira Konoe | Jyun Owada | Kuon Ichinose | EMMA | Lock Keepers
Teru Gojuin | Dark Yashiro | Yatsufusa Hatanaka
Persona Q Clockwork God Persona Q2 Kamoshidaman | Enlil
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