Kou Ichijo: Strength

Kou Ichijo is one of two possible representatives of the Strength arcana in Persona 4, with the other one being Daisuke Nagase.

Kou is the star player and captain of Yasogami High’s basketball team. He is best friends with Daisuke, and he is hiding a crush on your friend Chie. Although Kou is lighthearted and easygoing, he was adopted by a very traditional family. His strict grandmother, the family matriarch, disapproves of his favorite sport.

Although Kou’s sister is considered the heir of the family, Kou feels conflicted. Should he enjoy doing what he loves, or pursue a hobby that his family supports? And what happened to his biological parents? What would they have expected of him? In his social link, you’ll help Kou find the answers to all of his questions.

Tips

• To get Kou as your Strength social link partner, choose to join the basketball team when you join a sports club on April 19th. The basketball club is in the gym on the first floor of the Classroom building.
• Kou is available to hang out on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, but he won’t be there on rainy days. Also, there’s no practice the week before exams.
• Bring a Strength persona with you to level up Kou’s social link faster.

Missable Books in the Strength Social Link

There are a few books that can be earned if you have your Strength social link at a specific level at certain times:

• On 5/29, you’ll want Kou’s social link to be rank 3 or lower. Accept his request to meet up on this day to get The Witch Detective.
• On 7/15, go to your room during the evening. You’ll get a call from Kou about hanging out on the 17th. For this event, your social link cannot be rank 5 or 6. Any other rank is fine. When you hang out with Kou, say you’re allergic to math, and he’ll give you Poly-land.
• On 8/10, you’ll get another hangout call to accept. For this, your social link rank cannot be 5, 6, or 10. Go with Kou to get The O-Cha Way.

Rank 2

• Kou will say, “Hey, Aiya or Junes? You decide.” Picking either Aiya or Junes will give you +3 friendship points.
• When Kou says, “Well, I do like me some sweets…”, say “I’m jealous.” for +2 friendship.
• When Kou asks, “You like sweets? Want me to get you some, too?”, reply “Sure.” for +2 friendship points.

Rank 3

• When Daisuke says, “…I want you to help him out.”, answer with “Just tell me how.” for +3 friendship.
• Daisuke will say, “She calls it “barbaric”.” Respond with “But it’s just a sport…” for +2 friendship.
• When he says, “So… I want you to help him out.”, say “Leave it to me.” to get +3 friendship.

Rank 4

• When Kou says, “Just the other day I was greeting people at one of those high society gatherings. Can you imagine? Me at one of those things?”, say “It’s hard to imagine.” or “I can see that.” for +2 friendship.
• When it says, “Kou tries to sound cheerful…”, pick “That’s good for you.” or “Cheer up, man.” to get +2 friendship.

Rank 5

• When Kou asks, “Hey. Practice over already?”, reply with “You’ve got some nerve…” for +3 friendship.
• When he says, “But me, I’m feeling like I’ve sunk to the bottom of the ocean.”, tell him “Let’s go do something fun.” to get +3 friendship.

Rank 6

• When Daisuke asks, “Hey, what’s his problem? Is he sick or something?”, choose any answer.
• When he asks, “Right?”, say “You’re right.” for +3 friendship.
• Daisuke will say, “I got some dirt on a bunch of other guys too, so we should have no problem getting together a full team.” Respond with any answer for +2 friendship.

Rank 7

• All choices for this rank give the same number of points, choose whatever answers you’d like.

Rank 8

• When Daisuke says, “I’m kinda worried.”, reply “Let’s catch up to him.” for +3 friendship.
• When Kou asks, “What are you two doing here?”, say either “You alright?” or “Find anything out?” for +3 friendship.

Rank 9

• Kou will say, “And now that I don’t have to wear that mask any more… I guess it’s time to step off the stage.” Tell him “Don’t jump to conclusions?” for +3 friendship.
• When Kou asks, “…what do you think?”, ask “It was written recently?” to get +3 friendship.
• When he asks, “How ‘bout you? Wanna go for a dip?”, pick either answer.

Rank 10

• All choices for this rank give the same amount of points.
• Maxing out Kou’s social link will give you the Letter to Kou key item. This lets you fuse the ultimate Strength persona, Zanou-Gongen.