#shadow weapon ken

[nejishadow]

I guess I never posted Shadow Weapon Ken's reference sheet on its own??

The fics have been on hiatus due to low engagement killing my drive for it, but promise it's not entirely abandoned. Once I'm not writing three fics at once I'll try to get back into it. No promises it'll be anytime soon.

[nejishadow]

Summary:

They were situated on the couch facing the TV — a random drama neither was paying attention to functioning as background noise, weaving in and out of Shinjiro's dinner prep — keeping up a quiet conversation for awhile… then Makoto turned all his focus onto a particularly dense math problem, not realizing his teammate had gone silent until the barest pressure met his arm and Ken's natural sounding breaths met the air.

Good. If he was breathing, acting human, acting like himself, they could relax by a fraction. Not entirely. But a little. After the night Ken had… he'd earned all the rest he wanted.

[ SquidgeWorld Mirror ]

Series: Part 4 of Shadow Weapon Ken AU

Chapters: 2/2

Fandom: Persona 3

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Relationships: Amada Ken & SEES | Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad, Amada Ken & Male Persona 3 Protagonist, Amada Ken & Yuuki Makoto, Amada Ken & Aragaki Shinjiro, Amada Ken & Oohashi Maiko

Characters: Amada Ken, Male Persona 3 Protagonist, Yuuki Makoto (Persona Series), Minor Characters

Additional Tags: Shadow Weapon Ken, Persona 3 AU, Platonic Relationships, Brotherly Bonding, Human Aigis (Persona Series), Self-Worth Issues, Cooking, Anti Shadow Weapon, Gift Giving, Team as Family

[nejishadow]

Shadow Weapon Ken Masterpost

Decided I should make something to centralize all the info I have or may make about my Shadow Weapon Ken AU, so people can peruse if they want.

Since this is a rough guide for an AU, I just drew over official art and models until I can get a proper desk to draw at. I used Ken's DLC costume image for the main ref. The battle icon for... well, the battle icon. And his Q2 image to showcase some outfit differences. I'll make a whole set of outfit refs... eventually.

This may change formatting or anything else at any time. Feel free to ask any questions on this post or in my inbox. I'm forgetful when making posts like this, or can't think of everything people might want to know, so any answers might be added in!

Everything under read more, the way I format this stuff for readability makes it long. Some stuff down there could count as spoilers for his story, but everything's been at least implied in the fics so far!

All fics about this concept will be uploaded to AO3 and SquidgeWorld. As of June 6th 2026, there are 8 (one is a WIP)

[Basic Info] - Swaps places with Aigis. He is still found when they go on vacation to Yakushima. - Immediately bonds to Makoto upon meeting him. Their bond in this AU is something more like a parent and his kid, both finding comfort in each other. Ken's main directive - even if he isn't aware of it - is to keep Makoto safe. - Programmed to view himself as a real boy and only that. If he ever perceives himself as an android / ASW, or someone else refers him as such, he either shuts down or forgets / overwrites the realization. - Ikutsuki will not tell them why he's programmed that way, he generally refuses to tell SEES anything about Ken, beyond him being an Anti Shadow Weapon who will be a great help to the cause. - Ken was a major test to see if the Persona of a machine convinced it was fully human, rather than just human-like, would be stronger. Even more if the openmindedness and potential of a child would further it. Especially one who didn't want to lose anything. - He has some falsely implanted memories, thinking he had parents that were lost in an accident, hence his lack of family. This doubly fuels his attachment to Makoto because he doesn't want to lose anyone again. - Tends to be bullied or picked on by other students because he acts just enough different for them to pick up on it. This leads to him occasionally leaving school early or skipping, so on those days he can typically be found at Gekkoukan High with a member of SEES -usually Akihiko or Makoto - or in the student council room. If he's wandering around town, he's likely to be at the bookstore or hanging out with the stray cats. - Moves very quietly, so people outside of SEES are likely to forget he's around or not notice his approach. This doesn't help the above point, since he can easily listen in on people talking about him without getting caught (not even accounting for his headphones which can help him listen in on quiet sounds), and some kids think he's even weirder for it. - He still is part of the soccer club / soccer team. He sees it as a way to keep his reaction time in top shape and blow off steam. He's the best player, but it makes him no friends, only isolating him farther due to jealousy. - Doesn't like eating food unless he's seen it being made. This doesn't apply to SEES (sans Fuuka for a long long time) after he comes to trust them, as he learns exactly how they all cook. - Has issues with volume control when he gets very excited, headphones or not. Liable to tap his feet or flap his hands when he's happy. Very easily loses track of time when focused. - Has trouble sleeping when it's too quiet, a side effect of his ASW programming constantly scanning for threats. This leads to him often sneaking into Makoto's room to check up on him, if only to reassure himself. He sleeps easier once Koromaru joins them, as Koromaru commonly stays in his room. - Can be snide or petulant when overwhelmed or irritated. He tries his best to be polite and mature but he can't keep up that energy forever. People visiting the dorm tend to be a bit offput by him because he tends to come across as flat, and tends to stare.

[Visual Info] - Ken's model is more doll-like than Aigis, more naturally human. He's meant to be very lightweight so he can move quickly and quietly, aiding in his use of his weapon - a sniper rifle, but this also makes him more fragile. - His headphones are removeable as they simply aid in enhancing or blocking his hearing. He always has to keep his hearing aids on, headphones on or not, to hear properly. He panics if they're touched without permission. - He's almost always covered - wearing pants, gloves, and high collars all year round - to hide his body from everyone. - He perceives his body as fully human. This allows him to do things like change clothes and keep up his hygiene without shutting down constantly. He still avoids activities like swimming, assuming he doesn't know how, so it's scary. - Expression defaults to being flat. This leads some people to think he doesn't like them when meeting for the first time. Copies / mimics Makoto without thinking, standing like him or putting his hands in his pockets, and picks up the habit of tilting his head from him. - This AU design is supposed to invoke the smallest bit of P4AU Ken, since the longer/fluffier hair helps hide more his neck / body suit. It also helps differentiate their silhouette.

[Battle Info] - His main weapon is a sniper rifle. Only one shot per turn, but higher crit rate. - His Personas are still Nemesis and Kala Nemi, to avoid any messy or confusing persona swaps. Since he is still Justice, they functions of arbiters of his Arcana. - Skills more lean towards battle/support than healing, but Theurgy is still revival in honor of his false memories. - Lower defense stat but higher attack stat. Not quite a glass canon, but good to keep a healer around. - If heavily damaged in battle he shuts down to protect himself. His programming rationalizes this as passing out or being sick.

[SEES Social Info]

- Defaults to addressing everyone as "[Last Name]-San" out of respect. He slowly switches to "[Last Name]-Senpai", or for Akihiko just senpai at his request, as he grows closer and gets more comfortable with them. He always refers to Shinjiro as Aragaki-San, and affectionately called Koromaru Koro-chan.

- Gets along best with Makoto, looking up to him as a leader and as a parental / brother figure. Makoto treats Ken like he himself wanted and needed after his parent's accident, and doesn't treat him lesser for his status as an Anti Shadow Weapon. - Isn't sure about Junpei, but warms up to him. Junpei's just psyched to have a little brother to joke around with, human or not. Junpei may be the worst at slipping up in his wording, but he's quick to correct or redirect. - Yukari is the best at having conversations and treating him like a normal kid. She fully understands the harm that may come to him otherwise, and is determined to keep him safe, in spite of Ikutsuki's blasé attitude. - Mitsuru is a bit more strict with him. Ken assumes this is because he's a kid and so has to be more careful. Mitsuru worries about Ken and helps Makoto keep everyone in line about him. - Looks up to Akihiko, and respects his strength. Akihiko has a hard time fully addressing him as human, slipping up occasionally, but does his best to keep Ken involved / treat him like a normal child. - Adores Koromaru and will take him on walks whenever he can. He almost feels like he can understand him, unable to realize he can. Koromaru will hang out with Ken on nights everyone else is asleep, and Ken is restless. - Ken is very wary of Shinjiro. If he's in the vicinity of Makoto, Ken won't ever be far off, keeping an eye on things. Ken's programming tells him something is off about him, but unable to pinpoint what. He does still enjoy his cooking, and is cordial for the team's sake. - He respects Fuuka's varied knowledge, and likes hearing about what books she's currently reading or what she's programming. He still refuses to try her food, after the Incident. - Aigis and him are the thinnest connection. Ken doesn't talk to her much, but from what he hears she seems nice. She's never rude to him. He notices that when she's not talking to anyone her expression tends to go blank, eyes focused on something he can't see, but he knows he looks like that too sometimes, so he doesn't think about it much. He knows she also doesn't trust Shinjiro.

[Other Social Info] - Does not like being around Ikutsuki and will keep as far away as possible, usually standing behind Makoto or another member of SEES. He only feels danger from him, but assumes he's just being paranoid so doesn't bring it up unless prompted, and is quick to dismiss it. - Knows Maiko and Akinari from the shrine, but wouldn't consider them close friends. Occasionally hangs out with Maiko after the Summer Festival, but generally thinks he's too mature to do stuff like play on a playground. Likes to listen to Akinari talk about his book, finding the ideas very interesting. - Thinks Kenji is kind of a loser, but is nice to him for Makoto's sake when he's over. They have a small bond over Featherman, if nothing else. - Sees Mamoru out eating sometimes, and will join him for a break since Makoto thinks highly of him, and since Mamoru is very nice to him since he's used to interacting with kids due to his siblings. - Occasionally interacts with other social links, though the majority are rarely out and about so only sees those if he meets Makoto at his school. You can read about some of his outings and hangout with the SLs in The Arcana are The Means By Which Bonds are Forged

[Aigis] - Aigis is a foreign exchange student, half French and half Japanese. Her and her father were leaving for France when the incident with Shinjiro occured, resulting in the death of her father. - She's returned to Tatsumi Port Island after being in France for two years and immediately gets scouted by Ikutsuki, and she takes it knowing this is her chance for revenge. - Her demeanor is still seen as "robotic", a combination of her Japanese being somewhat flat/formal after so many years of uncommon usage, and her somewhat cold nature. She's been so focused on revenge she's seen no need to act nice and make friends - Instead of her guns, her weapon is a naginata to reflect FeMC, and to contrast Shinjiro. More level damage, but lower crit rate. Her moveset is still mostly physical, with the other half focusing on boosting or shielding - Personas are still Athena and Palladion. She sees herself as protecting the memory of her father and being her own warrior, eventually evolving to protect the whole team after October's events.

[nejishadow]

The edit / redraw of Ken's PQ2 artwork I did for the Shadow Weapon Ken rough guide thing!

This was... shockingly fun to draw over and edit?? I'm awful at the Q style on my own (as I've yet to teach myself it), and typically edits and redraws make me feel blehehjgg but this went ok!

I wanted to do the Q art specifically as an easy way to show the small differences in his school uniform outfit, since it (probably) changes least. I'll save all the other outfits for when I eventually do a proper reference sheet. Those just take... so so so much energy (like I do 2 a year if I'm lucky energy) so I won't be doing that for a long time.

[nejishadow]

hi! i was wondering if you had any hc about kenji and mishima if they were playable characters

kenji: weapon/persona

mishima: pt codename/outfit/persona

Not in great detail, as my Arcana Swap AU has been on the backburner for a long time, and a PT Mishima isn't something I've put a ton of thought into beyond grand dreams.

For Kenji, I've considered a dagger, as ithinkrobotsarecool used that in one of his AUs, or maybe something more dramatic like a flamethrower to bring the visual of the Magician Arcana to mind. Never fully decided. That AU's one of my less worked on since it requires so many gameplay details and Shadow Weapon Ken already has me doing that.

Mishima, I decided his Persona would be Paniel, an angel who holds up god's throne and passes Judgement, probably based around buffs and debuffs over direct combat. I refer to him as "Akira's rabbit in the hat," as in Akira is some type of magician, but the only design detail I was thinking of / maybe wanted was his mask to have a wing motif, to lean into the angel imagery to contrast Akira's and Arsene's kinda devil / demon imagery.

Sorry I don't have more ideas, full-game AUs are less priority since they're huge scale projects and require tons of research, and need me to do character design. I'm not a fast artist... SWK alone took too many hours and I wasn't even drawing him from scratch, rip

[nejishadow]

Redraw / Drawover / Edit whatever it is it took forever!! Mimicking lineless stuff makes me AAAAGH

I wanted Shadow Weapon Ken to have a battle icon. I couldn't find the battle icons in real high quality (watch me find it days after I finish this I swear) so I took a sheet I have saved, made Ken Real Big, and drew over it.

Not F 2 U! I spent literal hours on this edit, don't question how, I didn't do it efficiently whatsoever, so it's just for me to use.

Doing a proper reference sheet thing for Ken will take extra extra long because I want to be confidently happy with my art before devoting a ton of time to something like that, so hopefully you'll see it sooner rather than later? Crossing fingers!

[nejishadow]

Summary:

“Ah, thank you for picking up so quickly. Sorry for bothering you, I know you’ve all been busy with the extra schooling, but I need you to go to Gekkoukan Elementary. Amada-kun’s in some sort of predicament and I can’t get out of work to check up on him anytime soon. Nothing horrible I’m sure! But he’s not allowed to leave until we go and fetch him.”

Makoto headed for the door before the explanation was even finished, acknowledging Ikutsuki before hanging up.

Junpei and Akihiko were left to exchange baffled glances, confused at the sudden change in atmosphere.

Series: Part 3 of Shadow Weapon Ken AU

[ SquidgeWorld Mirror ]

Chapters: 5/5

Fandom: Persona 3

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Relationships: Amada Ken & Arisato Minato, Amada Ken & Persona 3 Protagonist, Amada Ken & Koromaru, Aragaki Shinjiro & Sanada Akihiko, Amada Ken & Sanada Akihiko, Amada Ken & SEES | Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad

Characters: Male Persona 3 Protagonist, Yuuki Makoto (Persona Series), Amada Ken, Koromaru (Persona Series), Ikutsuki Shuji, Iori Junpei, Sanada Akihiko, Yamagishi Fuuka, Takeba Yukari, Kirijo Mitsuru, Oohashi Maiko, Aragaki Shinjiro, Aigis (Persona Series), Tomochika Kenji, SEES | Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad

Additional Tags: Shadow Weapon Ken, Persona 3 AU, Persona AU, Veterinary Clinic, Summer School, Bullying, Family Dynamics, Protective Older Brothers, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Festivals, Hanging Out, Coffee, Dreams, Childhood Trauma, Childhood Memories, Confrontations, Cameos, Arguing, First Meetings, Self-Worth Issues, Staring, Brief Disassociation, Human Aigis (Persona Series), POV Multiple, Dreams and Nightmares, Sobbing, False Memories

[nejishadow]

Summary:

“Excuse me…” He kept his voice neutral, trying to avoid coming across as rude, “Are you ok…?”

The stranger flinched briefly at his voice, before their demeanor changed completely. Head poking around the sign to finally gaze at him, Makoto could see it was a younger boy, though dressed very weirdly for the weather. Big headphones, a large black jacket, and gloves. Wasn’t he uncomfortable? But… if a kid was here, they must be lost, right?

Makoto very slowly inched his way closer, leaning down to be closer to their level.

“Are you lost? I know the path back… My friends could help you find someone…”

The kid finally came out to fully face him, fearful stance melting away, to instead just stare at Makoto, seemingly shocked he was there at all.

Did he say something wrong? He admittedly wasn’t the best with kids, Maiko was an outlier.

Before he could ask another question, the kid dashed into his space and hugged him, tightly.

“It’s you, it’s really you! You’re ok… I’m so glad.” His voice was thin with tension, grip so tight Makoto knew he wasn’t getting out anytime soon, shaking with uneven breaths. What was he expected to do in a situation like this?

[ SquidgeWorld Mirror ]

Series: Part 1 of Shadow Weapon Ken AU

Chapters: 1/1

Fandom: Persona 3

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Relationships: Amada Ken & Arisato Minato, Amada Ken & Persona 3 Protagonist

Characters: Amada Ken, Male Persona 3 Protagonist, Yuuki Makoto (Persona Series), Iori Junpei, Sanada Akihiko, Takeba Yukari, Kirijo Mitsuru, Yamagishi Fuuka, Ikutsuki Shuji, SEES | Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad

Additional Tags: Shadow Weapon Ken, Persona 3 AU, Persona AU, First Meetings, Platonic Relationships, Late Night Conversations, Brotherly Bonding, Team Bonding, Anti Shadow Weapon, Mistaken Identity, (but not really), Beaches, Day At The Beach, Anxiety, Autistic Ken Amada, Past Child Abuse (Implied), this is so much harder to tag compared to all the other entries for some reason, Yakushima