The Shadows were formed from NPCs that underwent some kind of "reset" when love manifested in the Afterlife, although the program name to cause this change is unknown. Angel Player 's preview image includes fully destroying the "host NPC".

Purpose

Their job is to absorb humans and change them into NPCs, in which they envelop the target and slowly drag them into the ground. The first appearance was manifesting itself from Naoi's shadow, but the first victim to be changed was Takamatsu. The next moment the target is seen, he or she will act as an NPC, attending classes.

Humans that were absorbed or changed can return to their normal form once the controlling influence of the reset program is removed, if they have a strong enough will which both Yuri and Takamatsu showed.

Appearance

They were dubbed by Yuri by their physical form. The Shadows look like large slightly humanoid clouds of dark colored matter with small white orbs as eyes, where arms appear on either side. They have reflexes that surpass humans. They appear to be connected to the ground, but are revealed to have leg-like structures when they leapt onto Otonashi, Hinata, and Naoi. They can be disintegrated by being repeatedly attacked, such as with normal caliber bullets (>.30), but are shown to be weaker by weapons with an edge or higher caliber bullets (<.30).

Trivia

• When Otonashi and Hinata first encountered the Shadow, it took several bullets to take one down, but during the main invasion (after the disappearance of most of the SSS) it took only one bullet to effectively "kill" one.
• In the Persona Universe, they have the same name as the main enemies.