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Kobayakawa is a supporting antagonist in Persona 5. He is the corrupt principal of Shujin Academy, who rules over the school with an iron fist, and blatantly ignores and desperately tries to hides its flaws in order to keep its reputation. It is later revealed that he is doing this as a member of Yaldabaoth's Antisocial Force.
He is voiced by Keiji Hirai in Japanese, and by Richard Epcar in the English dub, and is played by Takuo Yamagishi in the Japanese stage play adaptation Persona 5 the Stage.
Biography[]
Kobayakawa first appears at the start of the game when the protagonist and Sojiro Sakura visit Shujin Academy, appearing alongside another teacher at his school, Sadayo Kawakami. He tells the protagonist that, because of the dangerous rumors regarding him since he was falsely accused of abuse by Masayoshi Shido, he was hesistant to allow him to attend Shujin, and tells him to behave himself.
Kobayakawa is aware of Suguru Kamoshida's repugnants acts, abusing students both physically and sexually in the case of the females, but due to not wanting to gain any more notoriety to his school, he feigns ignorance to Kamoshida's crimes and attempts to silence those who speak up about them, in attempt to maintain the school's image. During the update re-release Persona 5 Royal, Kobayakawa hired Takuto Maruki as a therapist to help the students deal with the trauma. He also arranges for a park clean-up day to boost the school's image.
When the Phantom Thieves of Hearts change the hearts of both Kamoshida and abusive plagiarist Ichiryusai Madarame, Kobayakawa investigations whether or not any of his students are said Phantom Thieves, and thus he tasks the student council president Makoto Niijima to find out more about it. However, Makoto eventually not only goes against his words, ending the investigation as she deems the Phantom Thieves innocent, but, unknown to Kobayakawa, joins the Phantom Thieves herself, and helps them defeat Junya Kaneshiro, a member of the conspiracy that Kobayakawa is part of.
Afterwards, while he is on the phone to a superior of his that he refers to as "sir" (most likely Masayoshi Shido, the leader of the conspiracy Kobayakawa is part of), he tells them that he is having difficulties regarding the Phantom Thieves but he will continue to investigate them, before the other person hangs up on him.
The Antisocial Force, the secretive team that Kobayakawa colluded with, deems him no longer useful after he fails to find information, and becomes wary that he may betray them due to ending their connection them, and because of this, orders Goro Akechi to give him a mental shutdown, and he is subsequently killed due to being run over by a truck.
After Kobayakawa is killed, many believe that the people who murdered him was the Phantom Thieves. However, presumably due to his generally unpleasant nature, some even say that he deserved it and are on the Thieves' side.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- In Persona 5's updated re-release Persona 5 Royal, you can sometimes visit him and several other Shujin teachers in Kichijoji, where you can hear his thoughts about things that are happening to him in the story.
- Kobayakawa was named in the English dubbing of the game, he was only referred to as Principal in the original Japanese version.
External links[]
- Kobayakawa on the Megami Tensei Wiki
[]
 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 | Hi-no Kagutsuchi
Suguru Kamoshida | Sphinx | Sae Niijima | Antisocial Force (Ichiryusai Madarame | Junya Kaneshiro | Kunikazu Okumura | The Traitor | SIU Director | Sugimura | Kobayakawa | Masayoshi Shido | Yaldabaoth) | Shiro Asakura 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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