#“ryoji come back”

[eru-iru]

please don't leave me

[crescentfool]

happy mochizuki monday!!!

[starry-bird]

the ryomina brainrot is so bad i get psychic attacked by "that's why i came back to you as ryoji mochizuki" at least once a day

[vinnigami]

September 4 2023

I haven’t actually finished fes yet (stuck somewhere in december? grinding for unique fusion weapons) and i’m a little scared to go back because i don’t remember where I left off. what if there’s a guy there

[autonomousxselves]

//Hang on you have to see this. That's all, thanks for your consideration.

[greatsealed]

TIME LOOP SENTENCE STARTERS || STILL ACCEPTING! || @velvetlift

velvetlift asked: ❝ You really do have a death wish, don't you? ❞ something something elizabeth knowing about the reload time loop but also sees that minato doesnt intend on changing his Final Decision?

❝ It's better than the alternative. ❞

[Would he rather find a solution that would both save the world and spare his life? Sure. But until he found one, his martyrdom was the only hope anyone had...he couldn't help but wonder if the loop he'd caught himself in was some sort of course-correction from the universe at large. Either he wasn't meant to seal Nyx away, or...maybe he was in a loop because he'd sealed himself ( a far more hopeless scenario ).]

[At least he had Elizabeth. It shouldn't be impossible to talk about this with his team, but he doubted that they'd believe him. Besides, he'd never really opened up to anybody -- he was a shoulder to cry on, an ear lent to his friends, emotional support. Really, the one person who understood him was Death...and that was because he'd lived inside of him for years.]

❝ It doesn't matter as long as they're safe. I don't want to risk changing my decision. ❞ [After all, a cosmic time loop could be for several reasons. Maybe it wanted to prevent him from becoming the Great Seal ( in a "the world was MEANT to end" way ) and was trying to pressure him into making the wrong decision. He'd never really be sure until he somehow closed it.]

[velvetine-moth]

Persona 3 Arcana Swap AU

Junpei - The Fool: After the death of his mother a decade ago, then the death of his abusive father in recent years, Junpei moves to Iwaitodai to attend Gekoukan for reasons he can't exactly describe. Unbeknownst to him, he has brain damage that's spreading and slowly killing him.

Chidori - The Lovers: Goth girl who everyone somehow finds likable despite her not entertaining them, so she's popular - She's part of the art club and the axe-throwing club. She's the first one to welcome Junpei to the dorm- Her and Junpei don't necessarily get along, (she won't admit she likes him, he's openly in love with her) but they work well together.

Yukari - Magician: Softball team star and a general "sporty girl"- She's wildly jealous of how popular Chidori is and how no one takes her seriously. She can be a little mean and hotheaded, or trying too hard to be likable by others. She tends to go down to the station and to the movies when she gets frustrated, and sees a mysterious, sharply dressed woman there.

Takaya - Hierophant: A chronically ill man who used to be part of the original SEES team- He disappeared and stopped going to school, only to be seen rarely at the alleys. Jin constantly keeps trying to bring him back. No one knows why he left in the first place, except for Jin- who won't say anything. ** Jin and Takaya were both part of an experimental drug testing that failed, and caused Takaya's persona to come out and attack a stranger after a trip to tartarus one night, killing them. Takaya gets suppressants from a strange group of friends who he seems to know from something greater than all of them.

Jin - Emperor: One of the top students in school- Takaya's childhood best friend, the two grew up together. Jin won't explain where or how, though. Jin's a part of the computer club and is taking college courses already. Could have been student council president, but he's a little too hotheaded and protective of his friend to listen to teacher properly, but his good grades give him the leeway to do things like skip class every so often or walk out when he gets too frustrated.

Ryoji - Priestess: An upbeat boy who was bullied by the student body and locked in Tartarus for multiple days, and after being saved became the navigator for the SEES team. He's awkward, and doesn't usually understand boundaries. Kenji, one of the boys who locked him in the school, became his friend after the two made up. The two became extremely close after the fact.

Aigis - Emperess: The student council president who is focused on being the top student and getting good grades and getting into a good college. Her people skills are the bare minimum, and she is often blunt and focused on schoolwork more than relationships- But she's still courteous. Her parents used to own several scientific organizations, but after they both died, these places have long since been abandoned- She still has access to them, but they are unkempt.

Fuuka - Aeon: An anti-shadow weapon that was discovered on a trip to an abandoned beach- She's shy and uses her knowledge and scanning to check on Junpei and the SEES team constantly- Without understanding it might not be the most appropriate. She means well, but is often nervous- The programmers tried to make her seem human, and instead made her anxious. Her overly caring nature leads her to often intrude or barge in on Junpei and the other SEES team members.

Minato - Death: A mysterious boy who appeared at school in the middle of the year- He's quiet, self-contained, and rarely speaks. However, he keeps staying close to Junpei and befriending him fairly quickly despite their relatively opposite natures. No one's sure of who he is, or where he came from- But there's a strange aura about him.

Senior Trio - Strega: All were part of an experiment as kids to "fix them"- In reality, they were all orphans, except for Mitsuru- Her dad, unknowing of what the trial actually was, put her into the program. In reality they were artificially given personas, and with that, were unable to use them.

Shinjiro was the eldest- and protected the others. His Persona also attached the smoothest at the time, and that gave him extra attention from the doctors- and a complex. He began to lead the other subjects- and save them, since he was so good with his persona.

Akihiko had the roughest time with his persona attaching, so much so that he tried to end himself from the pain of constantly being shocked by his own persona. Shinjiro saved him from his own persona, and from himself- Causing Akihiko to devote himself to protecting Shinjiro from any other subjects who got angry and tried to lash out, or from any doctors who tried to come at him. Even after they were the only three surviving, Akihiko still protects him and keeps him close, being utterly devoted- After every win, turning back to make sure Shinjiro is watching.

Mitsuru acts as their navigator, usually dressed sharply as a business woman- She's often out walking about at the station and watching other businesses run- She's known for carrying a small notebook and writing notes about everyone she sees in odd, scrawly handwriting that's difficult to read and disjointed. She is cold, calculating, and often will only talk to people as if they're potential business partners- And it's how the team gets a lot of their information and networks.

Initially inspired by the p4 arcana swap by @/anzukko_art on twitter and instagram!! and this tumblr post for Takaya and Shinjiro!! God I rioted when I saw this art it's SO GOOD. ( hi — shinjiro and takaya swap! Inspired by... (tumblr.com) )

[flyfish1999]

MORE INFO about the Shuji Sogabe ryomina doujinshi !!!

hello ryojihead nation !!!!!!!!!!!!! i hope you're all having a good day ^_^ i'm sure the vast majority of you are aware of the persona 3 manga, it's many ryomina tendencies, and it's author, Shuji Sogabe.

sogabe is also rather well-known for having written a popular ryomina doujin, イチゴちゃん SAY GOOD BYE [pictured], under the penname Kanae Kiryu. SGB was released at Comiket 73 on the 29/12/2007, around 10 months after the persona 3 manga began serialisation in dengeki maoh in february that year.

a few days before comiket, sogabe writes on his blog that he'll be handling books from kanae kiryu's doujin circle, ネコ同然。(like a cat.) on the 28/12/2007, he posts a link to kanae kiryu's blog, http://jlc.jugem.jp/ [pictured]

later, on the 14/5/2008, a post is made to kiryu's blog that he applied to, and then later announced on 22/6/2008 that he was accepted to, the ryomina exclusive event Messiah Recipe ! (webpage being: http://messiah-recipe.com)

alongside his acceptance, he also writes that he's working on a new book for the event. on the 26th, he posts again, saying the book will be called ワルツィング・キャット(Waltzing Cat) [pictured], and it was worked on alongside 蒼麻葵 (i believe their current twitter: @tasotaso_nyoro) !

NOTE: on the kanae kiryu blog it is mentioned that Waltzing Cat's front and back cover join together much like SAY GOOD BYE's does, but since very few scans of the book exist, we only have the front cover (which shows minato's hand, at least ^_^;;)

Waltzing Cat was then released as promised at Messiah Recipe's event on June 28th, 2008. (this exclusivity is probably why it's so much rarer!) SAY GOOD BYE was also reprinted to be sold alongside it. a blog post was made on kiryu's blog two days after, thanking everyone who bought books at the event. he writes:

We would like to express our heartfelt thanks to all the people who picked up our books at the event. It was the first time for me to participate in an exclusive circle, and I was a little nervous, but there was no big confusion on the day of the event, and the proceedings were very relaxed and peaceful. Thank you to all the staff members! I really wanted to talk to more people, but I'm a chicken at heart and it's hard to build a community.......! Once you get to know each other, you can chat as much as you want. I would like to be a little more proactive next time, since this is a place where people who like the same things can get together.

after a few more posts (mostly about p4), and then a few months of silence, kanae kiryu's blog is closed in March 2009, with a thank-you goodbye message written on 22/03/2009. the only other mention of kanae's circle i found was as part of a persona 3 2009 calendar, presumably made in 2008. link to defunct listing here: https://www.suruga-ya.jp/product/detail/988900972

[pictured below: Messiah Recipe's event information from the website]

i hope everyone had lots of fun at messiah recipe !!!!!!! and i'm glad i could help unearth this information !!!!!!!! let's hope sogabe continues to enjoy persona 3 and ryoji mochizuki for years to come ^_^

[sixpossumsinatrenchcoat]

la mort en rose

A study on Ryoji, Minato, and the people they love. P3(R) spoilers abound.

“You guys are a weird combo,” Junpei says. “You know that, right?” “What!!” Ryoji gasps. “No way! Minato and I are made for each other! We’re like rice and curry! Peanut butter and jelly! We even finish each other’s…” “Homework,” Minato mumbles, swapping the papers in front of them.

Minato is… quiet.

Not the kind of quiet that makes you a good listener—the kind that makes you seem like you’re not all there. Like even when he’s standing right next to you, he’s really somewhere else, listening to something else. Buried so deep inside himself that not even sound can reach him. Somewhere that light has never touched.

It should make him bad company, but it doesn’t. Minato is exceptional company. Transfixing, even. And it’s not just Ryoji who thinks so. He’s seen Minato’s phone. It’s an endless stream of inbound texts, a hundred colorful characters vying for his attention. Most of which are left unread.

Which should be rude! Shouldn’t it? But when Minato doesn’t text back, it doesn’t feel like an insult. You just sort of assume he had something more important to do.

Maybe it helps that Ryoji is so different. ‘Opposites attract,’ and all that. Minato’s silence gestures at hidden depths, abyssal-dark and ocean-deep. And Ryoji is all surface.

“Something about him just feels so… free,” Ryoji says dreamily. “Do you know what I mean? Like nothing he says is ever forced. Like he’s achieved, oh, I don’t know, nirvana, or something; only he doesn’t have to tell anyone, because he doesn’t have anything to prove.”

“Uh huh,” Yukari says, stifling a yawn.

She’s sitting across the table from him, twirling her straw in her iced latte and trying to look like she’s not bored out of her mind. In her defense, Ryoji is kind of a broken record. It’s all, ‘blah blah blah, Minato, blah blah blah, mirrored souls, compliments and complements and narrative foils and Minato Minato Minato.’ Like, seriously, get a hobby.

When she looks up, Ryoji’s eyes are shining, his hands clasped earnestly. “Don’t you think so, Takeba-san?”

“For sure. Totally.”

She only agreed to go on this stupid date to annoy Minato into actually doing something, instead of just staring holes in the back of Ryoji’s head and brooding at him. But she hadn’t expected to spend the entire date talking about her housemate. Wasn’t Ryoji supposed to be popular with girls?

“…so mysterious!” Ryoji is gushing now. “You get the sense that he’s always thinking about something important, something real.”

“Mhmm.” A few tables over, there’s a girl wearing the cutest little cropped halter, hemmed with lace and embroidered with tiny purple roses. If Ryoji were just a little less attentive—if he’d go to the bathroom, at least—Yukari could probably sneak away for long enough to ask where she bought it. But he hasn’t.

The shirt isn’t really in her palette. That girl has the hair for it, long and dark and silky-straight, but Yukari is a summer; jewel tones wash her out. Maybe it comes in pink?

“…do you do, anyway?”

Yukari looks up to find Ryoji smiling at her, clearly waiting for an answer. Oops. She was totally not listening. “Sorry, what?”

“In your club! The Specialized Extracurriculur…” He frowns thoughtfully. “You know, I’m not sure I’ve ever heard the full name! Just the acronym. You have to admit, it’s a little mysterious.”

Oh. Oh. Unfortunately, Mitsuru explained their cover story back when Yukari was busy hating her. And now it’s way too late to ask. “Oh, um… our senpais would be better at explaining…”

“I don’t think Kirijo-san likes me very much,” Ryoji says morosely.

“What,” Yukari snickers. “Did you make a pass at her or something?”

“I only said that, with that hair and those boots, she’d—”

“No, stop, I literally don’t want to know. You didn’t hit on Sanada-senpai too, did you?”

“Well…”

(Hah!!) “You didn’t.”

“If it’s any comfort, I don’t think he noticed.”

She can’t help snorting a laugh. “Ryoji-kun! You are relentless!”

“People like it!” he protests, but he’s grinning, too. “It makes them laugh!!”

“Some people. If you try that stuff on the wrong person, you’re gonna get your butt kicked, you know.”

“Well…”

“Oh my god. Please tell me this story.”

To her relief, Ryoji seems to forget about SEES after his second story makes her laugh so hard that coffee shoots out her nose. And good riddance. Girl talk is way more fun than prying into her supernatural extracurriculars.

You can read the rest of chapter one here: ao3.org/works/58634896/chapters/149399371

[lapinparka]

One thing about Ryoji is that he's physically present in the story for such a short time, yet he's just as much a main character and part of the narrative as the protagonist and Aigis are. Because even when he's not there as a human, he's there inside the protagonist - he's present in the story from the very start, and everything the protagonist experiences and learns, every part of the journey they undertake, Ryoji's undertaking it with them. The Ryoji we see in November is the result of all the development he's gone through alongside Minato/Kotone. The shadow of death, inseparable from life, coming to know and love the world and the people in it just as you do.

When he leaves for good after 12/31, there's the haunting loss of him - his name is constantly mentioned, his presence as Nyx Avatar looms over the final stretch of the story, and in Reload, his music box sits at the top of Minato's bed, a reminder of his existence that you can see every day.

That's why I also like that Reload has those little additions on 3/4 - Minato's memories of the song he played, the text message saying "Thank you." He's still there, back alongside Minato like he always was, seeing this story they began together through to the very end.

[eru-iru]

makoto sketches i miss him so much the new ep aigis trailer gave me depression again

[crescentfool]

the boy with only one month to live

[melliae]

Assorted Pharos/Ryoji Thoughts

So, huh, don’t expect something too meaningful or conclusive for this. It’s quite literally just me rambling about the possible connections and influences Pharos and Ryoji have as they come. Quite messy, and it may not make much sense…

Phallus and Birds

As I said in my post about Nyx, Pharos’ japanese name (“ファルロス”) isn’t a word that exists. It’s a combination of “ファルス” (“Phallus”) and “ファロス” (“Pharos”, as in the lighthouse of Alexandria). The two of them mark him as the masculine aspect of the Star Eater (i.e., its psyche), while its body remains as the feminine or maternal one.

“In this sense, the concept of matter is also only one archetypal representation among many others; indeed the concept of matter derives from the archetype of the Great Mother. [...] The archetype of the Father, that is, of the mind, is the polar opposite.” - Psyche and Matter, by Marie-Louise von Franz.

This divide is important to make clear, since it harks back to one of the fundamental inspirations mentioned by the FES Fan Book: Jung’s childhood dream about “Father Phallos”. I’m not going to explain it since it’s somewhat long, but the gist is that it acted as one of the foundations of Jung’s work, as seen with Seven Sermons to the Dead:

“Spirituality conceiveth and embraceth. It is womanlike and therefore we call it mater coelestis, the celestial mother. Sexuality engendereth and createth. It is manlike, and therefore we call it phallos, the earthly father.” - Sermo V.

I’m not going into detail about what Jung exactly meant by “womanlike” or “manlike” beyond pointing out it is more akin to the Yin and Yang division, but through western or hermetic lens.

While the parts of sexuality and creativity are better represented by Ryoji for obvious reasons, the identification between Pharos and Father Phallos is still important because it points to the former’s future as the “son” or “avatar” of “Dea Luna Satanas”.

I put Systema Munditotius here again because it’s a graphical summary of the cosmology and psychological principles presented in Seven Sermons, showing how the human mind is a whole that encompasses all dualities. But instead of focusing on the vertical axis this time, I’m going to explain the horizontal one, where we can see:

The Emptiness (the black circle named “Inane”) at the leftmost extreme, whose dissolving and destructive capacities are manifested in the figure of “the Devil”, represented by the waxing moon—the so-called “Dea Luna Satanas” or “Goddess Moon Satan”.

The Fullness (the white circle named “Plenum”) at the rightmost extreme, with its creative capacities manifesting in the golden circle called “Deus Sol”, the Godly Sun.

Now, despite the presence of another Devil-like figure in the series (Nyarlathotep, with the japanese version of Eternal Punishment directly calling him “the archetype that destroys humans egos”), it’s undeniable the connection between Nyx as the moon and, well, the lunar Satan described in the Sermo IV:

“The dark gods form the earth-world. They are simple and infinitely diminishing and declining. The devil is the earth-world’s lowest lord, the moon-spirit, satellite of the earth, smaller, colder, and more dead than the earth.” 

And that’s where the other half of the left side enters: the Devil-Moon is the root of everything that’s “physical”, the “visible” and “sensual” spirits of earth (the green circle named “Mater Natura”) that manifest through the sexuality of the Phallos, who lies in the “depths of the earth” according to Jung’s dream—in the unconscious, with the Dark Hour being a symbol of it. That’s to say, Father Phallos and thus Pharos are the result of the countless souls that are attached to earth, of people dead in spirit and alive in bodies—of the Lost, and those who transmogrify each night, and those who have lost all hope.

However, unlike Pharos, the Avatar doesn’t show many “sensual” details, despite the entire Fool’s Journey it/he recited being a perfect metaphor of the earthly/gross side of life (i.e., you are born, you grow, you die); on the contrary, it presents a couple of celestial characteristics. The meaning of these properties lie on the other half of the right hemisphere, in the heavenly sphere that the wise kin of the Sun inhabits, communicating with the receptive nature of the human soul (or Celestial Mother) in the form of a white bird—the Holy Spirit.

“The white bird is a half-celestial soul of man. He bideth with the Mother, from time to time descending. The bird hath a nature like unto man, and is effective thought. He is chaste and solitary, a messenger of the Mother. He flieth high above earth. He commandeth singleness. He bringeth knowledge from the distant ones who went before and are perfected. He beareth our word above to the Mother.” - Sermo VI.

Yet, due to Nyx’s body being a shadowy reflection of the Heavenly Mother, it’s to be expected the Bird too becomes twisted, from a pure white dove into a pitch-black crow. There’s no need to go over all the references to black birds during the game, from Tartarus to Nyx Avatar—the messenger or “angel” of Nyx.

So, on one side we have Death as a Shadow, primitive and all-consuming, and on the other we have Ryoji, a conscious being filled to the brim with love and energy. Pharos is, then, the in-between, the liminal state between consciousness and unconsciousness, a baby that’s trying to break free from the grip of the unconscious’ “womb”, yet joins the “divine” with the mortal.

“The "child" is born out of the womb of the unconscious, begotten out of the depths of human nature, or rather out of living Nature herself. It is a personification of vital forces quite outside the limited range of our conscious mind; of ways and possibilities of which our one-sided conscious mind knows nothing; a wholeness which embraces the very depths of Nature.” - Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious.

Be it from Nyx or the protagonist/Makoto himself, Death/Pharos/Ryoji, from the moment his being was fragmented, sought separation and division, to know where his essence began and ended. He was trying to create himself. That’s the most beneficial manifestation of the Phallos: the birth of a “sun” or (primitive) consciousness through the active energy of the unconscious.

“The psychic life-force, the libido, symbolizes itself in the sun or personifies itself in figures of heroes with solar attributes. At the same time it expresses itself through phallic symbols.” - Symbols of Transformation.

An event comparable to the separation of the waters through the spirit (or “dove”) of God himself, or to the eating of the fruit of knowledge upon the serpent’s goading. That’s to say, a manifestation of the beginning of individuation, the development of the—his—Self out of the unconscious’ waters.

Introversion and Extraversion

Makoto is introverted, and Ryoji extraverted.

…

Okay. That isn’t something new, like, at all. But it’s a good start, since I’m not referring to the popular conception that we have of introversion and extraversion, but to the jungian one, explained in Psychological Types:

“The introvert’s attitude is an abstracting one; at bottom, he is always intent on withdrawing libido from the object, as though he had to prevent the object from gaining power over him. The extravert, on the contrary, has a positive relation to the object. He affirms its importance to such an extent that his subjective attitude is constantly related to and oriented by the object.”

I went into a deeper explanation in my post about Philemon’s and Nyarlathotep’s Types, but the above is the main idea: the introverted individual focuses inwards, in the inner realm of the universal “subjective factor” or unconscious, and the extraverted individual focuses their energy into the external world and its objects, relating to the present. As a compensatory method, the differentiated attitude of consciousness will be opposed by the acquisition of the contrary attitude within the unconscious, giving rise to psychic wholeness and certain peculiarities that, for the moment, aren’t important.

Now, with that out of the way, I want to focus on a particular scene described by the book, about an interpretation about Spitteler’s “Prometheus and Epimetheus”, with Jung concluding that the brothers are representations of introversion and extraversion respectively:

“For just as Prometheus makes all his passion, his whole libido flow inwards to the soul, to his innermost depths, dedicating himself entirely to his soul’s service, so God pursues his course round and round the pivot of the world and exhausts himself exactly like Prometheus, who is near to self-extinction. All his libido has gone into the unconscious, where an equivalent must be prepared; for libido is energy, and energy cannot disappear without a trace, but must always produce an equivalent. This equivalent is Pandora and the gift she brings to her father: a precious jewel which she wants to give to mankind to ease their sufferings.”

Prometheus parted ways with the outer world to focus completely on his soul, the realm of the unconscious and his Anima. Understanding that libido can be symbolized by fire, light and heat, then Prometheus’ actions can be interpreted as he trying to “incubate” the treasure that lies deep within, which is compared in other parts of the book with the dharmic tapas or meditation, and the birth of the Buddha, one of the “three jewels”… The underlying meaning of the scene should be obvious at this point.

“The moon with her antithetical nature is, in a sense, a prototype of individuation, a prefiguration of the self: she is the “mother and spouse of the sun, who carries in the wind and the air the spagyric embryo conceived by the sun in her womb and belly.” This image corresponds to the psychologem of the pregnant anima, whose child is the self, or is marked by the attributes of the hero.” - Mysterium Coniunctionis.

A renewal of the “Sun”, who is no other than Pharos/Ryoji himself. Or do you think the sobriquet of Saturn, the Persona unlocked through his Linked Episodes, is for nothing?

Just like the maternal Nyx holds the golden, cosmic egg inside its body, Makoto “incubates” within him the seed of a new life, enveloping it/him just like the ocean does with all sorts of “primitive” life. This is not surprising considering that introversion is the “feminine” (or “ying”) attitude, and that Makoto was, in fact, described as the “mother” of Pharos in the Club Book (Thanks to elle-p for pointing it out!).

But I think there’s something much more interesting in how Makoto “incubated” Ryoji, because just like the moon, as a symbol of the Anima, carries “the child of the sun”, Prometheus makes his libido flow towards his soul… or Anima. That’s to say, both Makoto and Ryoji, at some level, represent each other’s Anima, the sexual counterimage to consciousness that mediates the collective unconscious.

(While technically a non-canon portrayal of things, I still think it fits here :) After all, we know butterflies represent the souls of individuals in the series)

It’s not a perfect correlation naturally; the soul-image is that of the opposite gender of consciousness, to balance the psyche. But the mirror idea is the basis of their relationship, with Ryoji and the protagonist playing each other’s attitudes. The movies are more explicit with this, and there’s a particular quote I really hold close to my heart:

“綾時は理の対極にいるようなキャラクターです。物静かな理と社交的な綾時は"静と動"の関係であり，彼らの対比第3章の物語に欠かせない視点をもたらしています” - Keitaro Motonaga, Persona 3: Falling Down Pamphlet.

“Ryoji is a character that feels like the opposite of Makoto. The quiet Makoto and the sociable Ryoji have a relationship of ‘stillness and motion’, and their contrast brings about an indispensable perspective in the third chapter of this story.”

The connections are clear: Makoto is an introverted sensor (ISxx), and Ryoji is an extroverted intuitive (ENxx). And if we really break down their character, Makoto is an ISFJ (overall ISFx, with the J/P depending on the particular media) and Ryoji an ENFP, which is pretty damn close to a mirror match! You can compare them with Elizabeth, who is likely an ENTP.

Anyway, what’s more interesting in Ryoji’s Type is how it’s described on Psychological Types, under the “Extraverted Intuitive” section:

Going from “object” to “object” and situation to situation, never satisfied with the current circumstances staying the same.

That applies to people too, how they can go from “adventure” to “adventure” in search of romance.

Thanks to the enthusiasm they hold for what is next, they are able to inspire others as well.

Their unconsciousness is mainly governed by an archaic Sensation directed towards introversion, which means their blind spot corresponds to the endosomatic part of the senses, manifesting as strange and absurd sensations (which yes, it can include perceiving the world as dream-like).

And since Ryoji is a feeler as well, all those characteristics acquire a romantic tinge, seeing things by what they emotionally mean instead of what they (sensually) are. Does it sound familiar? Metaphors about “flowing water” maybe? You can quite literally do one of those school homeworks of joining columns with those points and Ryoji’s characterization.

Another interesting thing to consider is the contrastive relation between Ryoji’s and Makoto’s Types, which returns to my previous point of Ryoji being “incubated” through Makoto’s introversion, because he’s the personification of Makoto’s unconscious functions. The only exception is Ryoji being an extraverted feeler (ExFx) instead of an extraverted thinker (like with Elizabeth again, or Metis), but I still think it fits with Edogawa’s explanations in P4G:

“However, it's not impossible that you might have picked it. The other path was certainly a logical choice. Your Shadow is the path that you didn't take. In other words...It is another you. The Shadow is the ‘you that wasn't picked.’”

Through his fear and trauma, Makoto withheld all the “heat” he could have vested life with inside his soul, warming and breathing life into the “seed” that was sealed within. But whereas the Shadow merely personifies that repressed libido and possibilities, Ryoji became human only through living them—he didn’t only embody Makoto’s repressed yearnings and sufferings, but made them his own. This returns once more to the “jewel” of Pandora that doesn’t solely belong to Prometheus (i.e., Makoto), but to the whole world.

“hell: a name for the *prima materia, the *black colour which appears during the *putrefaction of the matter of the Stone at the *nigredo, the torture through which the ‘body’ of the Stone passes while being dissolved by the secret fire. [...] The nigredo stage is also known as ‘Tartarus’. During the process of the nigredo the colour of the putrefaction is said to be as black as pitch, and the shades of hell appear. A profound blackness reigns both over the matter in the alembic and over the alchemist who may experience the torments of hell while witnessing the shadow or underworld of the psyche.” - A Dictionary of Alchemical Imagery, by Lyndy Abraham.

There’s no need to explain why Tartarus and the Dark Hour are the unconscious, but I’ve to in regards to how they represent Makoto’s “stagnant hell” and their relationship with alchemy.

Fire and Motion

According to the same book I quoted before, “A Dictionary of Alchemical Imagery”, towers in general can be interpreted to be symbols of the alchemical alembic, the main instrument through which the alchemists try to create the philosophers’ stone. However, alchemy is both an outer and inner discipline, so the tower isn’t merely a symbol for the external instrument, but also for the inner one: the human soul, which is put through “hellish” heat to purify it. Thus, towers, hell, and the individual become synonyms for the same alchemical instrument of transformation, fueled by the “secret” or “inner fire” that, in this case, corresponds to Makoto’s libido.

If we follow the normal alchemical process, then Death/Ryoji should be equal to the prima materia or the “first matter” used to create the Stone. But since the Stone is a symbol of the Self, the presence of Ryoji is iffy unless we, instead of thinking of him as the actual goal of alchemy, interpret him as the “secondary” goal, as gold itself, the mineralized/gross essence of the sun.

“But when the alchemists speak of gold they mean more than material gold. In the microcosmic-macrocosmic law of correspondences, gold is the metallic equivalent of the sun, the image of the sun buried in the earth. The sun in turn is the physical equivalent of the eternal spirit which lodges in the heart (the ‘sun’ of the human microcosm).” - A Dictionary of Alchemical Imagery.

This is a topic I already explained previously, since “sun = life = libido = phallus”, corresponding to the masculine/yang/extraverted side of things. As I previously noted on Nyx's post, one can see all of these correspondences with Ryoji’s infamous yellow scarf that represents the golden color—Nyx's core—of the final battle according to the Design Works (again, thanks to elle-p for pointing out that indecipherable text!), decidedly marking him as a product of Makoto’s inner work—as his “mineralized” life-energy.

But to describe Ryoji as purely gold would be incorrect; he’s far from being a pure manifestation of the incorruptible essence of the sun. His true nature is pointed by, again, the final Persona of his Linked Episodes, Saturn, the black sun .

“This power is called ‘sulphur.’ It is a hot, daemonic principle of life, having the closest affinities with the sun in the earth, the “central fire” or ‘ignis gehennalis’ (fire of hell). Hence there is also a Sol niger, a black sun, which coincides with the nigredo and putrefactio, the state of death.” - Mysterium Coniunctionis.

It’s darkness itself, the stagnation of life and its energy that leads to the state we see in the Dark Hour: putrid and rotten to the core, stagnated and filled to the brim with the dead and lost in life. It’s the collective “dark night of the soul”, the nigredo stage of alchemy of all humanity that can only be overcome by setting the world in “fire”, the element of motion and change that makes the clock advance with each full moon and each cleared floor in Tartarus, for better or worse. The transformation of Death into Ryoji is just the repetition of such a process at the individual level.

And if all of that sounds familiar, it should be! That’s the fundamental meaning of both the Fortune and Death arcanas, representing the nature of life as endlessly changing to represent its wholeness. Thus, life stagnating and “becoming a void” is a paradox that must be solved by reigniting its motion/change, lest it collapses into itself.

“This card is attributed to the letter Nun, which means a fish; the symbol of life beneath the waters; life travelling through the waters. [...] In alchemy, this card explains the idea of putrefaction, the technical name given by its adepts to the series of chemical changes which develops the final form of life from the original latent seed in the Orphic egg.” - Book of Thoth, by Aleister Crowley.

The Death arcana is that hellish fire that puts people under the most unbearable pain to put things in the correct path once more. Due to that, it has three “manifestations”: the scorpion that kills itself when finding itself surrounded by “fire”; the serpent that renews itself through its shedding, crawling and thus still attached to earth; and the eagle, the spirit of life that soars the sky, unbounded by and embracing change at the same time. Yet, Death as a Shadow represents the contrary, the stagnated core of the Dark Hour that leads all to its destruction and that must be burned—killed and resurrected

Alchemy is necessarily a violent process, because it requires the constant death and union of the elements so they can be “perfected”. In Death’s case, its alchemical work began from the moment it was separated/“killed” and sealed in Makoto, who is a stand-in for the maternal womb, the alchemical vessel, and the mercurial waters that dissolve the murdered element. Yet, as the alchemist himself, Makoto also pours his own life and heat into the dissolved Shadow to unify and resurrect it in a new, “purer” shape: Pharos, the “creativity” of a nascent sun, the seed of a new life.

(By that matter, Nyx crashing against earth follows a similar pattern: the original being is mutilated and “dissolved” through the alambique—the primordial hadean life. The broken egg or core is an image that has the same meaning as the separation of Death; both fall under the dismemberment motif of alchemy)

But then, how does all of this relate with Saturn? Well, it’s because Saturn has a really long history in hermeticism, alchemy, and astrology: he represents the outermost and heaviest planet of all, embodying the limitations and structure of the universe such as time and death, devouring nature to rebirth it once again. Furthermore, the planet is associated with none other than lead, the heaviest metal that’s commonly used as a metaphor for the first matter, the moribund nature that… well, it should be obvious what one must do.

And funnily enough, just as fire is the element of transformation and renewal, Intuition in general corresponds to the function that oversees the dynamic elements of reality. It perceives the relations and motion between external/internal objects. So in more than one sense, Ryoji is the “inner fire”/“spirit” of Makoto. However, since alchemy deals with opposites and due to his nature as the black sun/saturn, there must be a limiting element in nature to restrain his ever-expanding/intuitive nature…

The Bonds of Death

Why a scarf? Why not another piece of cloth or even jewelry? Well, the image above answers why: a scarf is no different from a noose, one of the most common elements of death deities and grim reaper figures around the world, for what’s death but a hunter of humans? Thus, Ryoji’s scarf is a symbol of how even himself is bound to death, to his underlying nature.

“The difference seems to be due to the repression of real sensations. These make themselves felt when, for instance, the intuitive suddenly finds himself entangled with a highly unsuitable woman—or, in the case of a woman, with an unsuitable man—because these persons have stirred up the archaic sensations.” - Psychological Types.

I can hardly argue in favor of the “unsuitable” part, but there’s no need to really explain the other one, right? “Déjà vu” and all. That’s the “magical” part of Introverted Sensation, which transforms the sensed objects into symbols of the collective psyche through impressing it onto them. And in case of inferior Sensation, as presented above, those filtered sensations become “effective entities” on their own right since the archetypal forces of the unconscious control them, possessing them even. This strengthens the idea of Ryoji’s attraction being rooted not only in the forgotten or unconscious memories of when he was Pharos, existing in a liminal state between consciousness and unconsciousness, but also points to how those memories are themselves mixed with archaic, mythological imagery, and that only has one source.

The protagonist is Ryoji’s “alchemist” and thus an equal to his “mother”, a reflection of Nyx as Death’s “mother”, the “black ocean” from which the transmuted golden egg (or seed) was extracted. This relationship is also pointed out by the fortune teller in club Escapade during January, explaining how “nothingness is the other face of the infinite world/universe”, ultimately hinting at the same thing I explained through the inferior Sensation: the oneness between the figure of Nyx and Makoto (understanding him as a symbol for all humanity).

In particular, I think the image above is perfect for this, since not only Nyx’s core and Makoto are (close to be) superimposed with each other, but also due to the black spiral in the background. The spiral also appears on the Great Seal’s surface, and within this context I have to quote Jung once more:

“We can hardly escape the feeling that the unconscious process moves spiral-wise round a centre, gradually getting closer, while the characteristics of the centre grow more and more distinct. Or perhaps we could put it the other way round and say that the centre—itself virtually unknowable—acts like a magnet on the disparate materials and processes of the unconscious and gradually captures them as in a crystal lattice. For this reason the centre is (in other cases) often pictured as a spider in its web (fig. 108), especially when the conscious attitude is still dominated by fear of unconscious processes.” - Psychology and Alchemy.

The book and even the own paragraph goes on to say that the “centre” is the Self (along with a noteworthy mention of the orphic egg again). But more importantly is the mention of the web here, representing consciousness’ “fear” of joining into the endless spiral that moves around without end, and its connection to the first kanji of Ryoji’s name: “綾”, which means “twill weave” or a “pattern of diagonal stripes”, a textile element that shouldn’t be so different from a web. Needless to say, all of that is connected to the figure of the alchemist/crafter and that of a mother.

The scarf in the first image, due to the fetal position of Ryoji, can be read as an umbilical (normally red) cord connecting him to Makoto/the “mother”, while the second is a little more explicit with the association to the red thread of fate—and what other fate there’s but death? Ryoji’s inherent connection to Death and Nyx is expressed through the “golden cord” that his scarf is, which can also be read as a noose, and as a manifestation of the inferior Sensation, the static element that eternally joins him to his source.

(Scan uploaded by Vesk)

Even the final resolution of Ryoji and Makoto, the white stone and pure dove incarnated, can’t abandon the chain that binds them to death and its hellish fire. However, this time is a willing acceptance of its existence, holding it with one’s hand instead of letting it strangle the individual unconsciously. Even the hands at the waist are holding each other gently, representing the final union of the “lovers” at the top of the alembic—at the top of Tartarus—in the form of a winged spirit.

“The united bodies of sulphur and argent vive, usually symbolized by a pair of lovers, are killed, dissolved and laid in a grave to putrefy during the stage known as the *nigredo. Their souls fly to the top of the alembic while the blackened *hermaphroditic body is sublimed, distilled and purified. When the body is cleansed to perfect whiteness it is then reunited with the soul (or united soul and spirit).” - A Dictionary of Alchemical Imagery.

Death is fate indeed, and in that fire, change and life. It’s the ultimate “fetter” that no one can go against, let alone the immortals that do not fear it.

[yuseirra]

*persona 3 reload spoilers*

Good news to ryomina & ryoji fans(maybe!!),

I'd been listening to Color Your Night a LOT lately and it occurred to me, doesn't that song make a lot more sense if the part Azumi-san(the female vocal)sings's taken as the Moon's perspective?

I'd used to think the song was sung from the protagonist&aigis(or his lover)'s perspective but a lot of the lyrics just click when you take lotus juice's part as the protag's perspective AND azumi's part as the moon's.

And the "moon" in this game is actually ryoji....

I look up at the sky, ask a lotta of why<the protag looks up at the moon and thinks why has it all came to be this way

Good and bad but nothing unties us<aligns with what ryoji/pharos said: they will still always be friends

Color the town with my light<the moon literally "shines", it brings light to the town

Another wander in the night

Let me paint the view

Colour the town with my light

For every moment shared with you

Not out in the day

But never fully gone

Going to be back again

Until the coming of a dawn < this entire part makes perfect sense if you take the speaker as the moon, since it's something that only appears at night(but is not really gone during the day, either, just unseen)

When two hands meet at zenith

Nothing comes between us < I think the hand here means the hands of the clock, which would imply 12'o clock midnight

As I drift across the sky

The hour hand turns high<seeing this, that interpretation only makes more sense.

And the MOON is something that drifts across the sky

Around the world I slowly dance<this part too, it matches how the moon revolves around the earth

Looking down below

The one I seek to find

No matter where you might go

Remember you'll be on my mind< and isn't this similar to what ryoji says?? That he'll be watching over everyone, even if he wouldn't be in that same form anymore? It also feels similar to how the moon watches the earth/protagonist from above. He's the one that's developed a special relationship with it.

I'm at ease with things that used to bother me

'Cause your existence just lights me up, yup<the protagonist responds to the other person and the situation he's in like this, I don't think it's too much of a stretch to say he would feel this way towards ryoji the way he does for all his precious friends and bonds..

You always got my back, and of course I got your back

Don't you worry about that now

(Hey)

It's been a good day, good night

It's gonna be a good day, good night< this too

Within the inner heart I plead

For you to talk to me

I want to hear all the good and bad

The new stories you have < a lot of people'd feel this way towards the protag, and definitely ryoji too from what I've seen from his links. He wanted to spend more time with the protag and remember the text message he sent to the protag for his third link ep? He wanted the protag to come and talk to him really bad..

The song ends with it saying:

I'll be seeing you, baby<

Well, considering what happens to the protagonist later on, he WILL be seeing ryoji.

This song can be interpreted in many ways, but the moon's significance is really enhanced if you take it this way and it's really interesting considering how deeply tied it is to the entire p3's plot. I could be late on this but I thought this could be some interesting food for thought!

[writers-reach]

Hello! Could i request headcanons for Junpei, Ryoji & Minato (seperate or togethers fine) with another member of sees (the reader) that's like a 'chickbro' to them? The idea came to my head so I thought why not :P

Have a nice day!

persona 3: one of da boys (junpei iori, ryoji mochizuki, & minato arisato)

notes: gn!reader, ryoji and minato can be read as romantic, no spoilers, platonic junpei

junpei iori

we already know how he is with his sl. loves to goof off, ropes you into doing dumb shit, but will fiercely defend you and your reputation like his life depends on it.

junpei comes from a shitty home, but after joining sees, he found people that he connects with and who accept him, and he wants you to be just the same. he wants to not only be the reason you smile, but to be a shoulder to cry on if need be

you two absolutely scheme to prank the other members of sees (though with junpei, your target is typically yukari)

bff dates to the arcade. you two get... scary competitive.

you are his number 1 hypeman when it comes to chidori. he'll go to you for romantic advice like "is this too cringey?" and you're all "nahh she'll love it!" even if it is a little cringey, they're just too cute <3

ryoji mochizuki

still flirts because dude can't keep it in his pants (regardless of gender i hc him as pansexual), but depending on if he susses out any romantic interest from you, he jokes around a bit more.

tries out pickup lines on you for feedback. some of them are good, some of them are so bad they're good, some are just... god awful. he's lucky he's pretty.

walks with you to and from school, sits next to you on the monorail, just hangs out in your presence a lot.

wants to try new things with you so bad!! new restaurants! that new bookshop that opened up! going to see that new movie that came out!!!!

probably is pretty touchy, but will back off if you tell him to. he's a gentleman, after all.

minato arisato

gamer bestie. will spend hours upon HOURS gaming with you, whether it be an mmorpg or something like mario party

you two have like, some kind of secret unspoken code (or, hell, telepathy) that allows you to communicate without speaking.

probably has a really complex secret handshake with you and you only because junpei got too confused to learn and ryoji just... bless his heart, he can't get it right

i hc that he does tarot readings for fun and will totally read your fortune, but will sometimes be a bit silly and completely misinterpret the results for a laugh.

i.e. "what does that mean for my future?" "oh you're gonna die a horrible death after eating spoiled food" "minato >:("

he brings out a more deadpan side of you, i bet

a/n: hope you like it!! since junpei/ryoji/minato are like, a bestie squad in canon, it's 100% implied that if you're friends with one, you're friends with the other two.

[mymp3]

wave ^_^)/ !!!! i hate to be predictable, but for the ask game - poor ryoji mochizuki ? :]c

VITY! waves back o/

Anyways here's Ryoji Mochizuki world’s most perfect boy ^_^

favorite thing about them

Where do I start. Nyx being the primordial being, God in the persona universe. All life comes from her. She’s the beginning and the end, she is death itself. Having death be put inside a small boy and his kindness and love making death want to be human itself. Wanting to repay that kindness and love, feeling guilt at the way it treated the small boy, ruining his life.

The fact that Ryoji is Death, is Thanatos, is Pharos, is Nyx. They’re all the same being. The concept and execution of that, who had no feelings either way before, being treated so kindly to the point where it takes forms this bond with P3 Hero. Protecting him from the first arcana shadow as Thanatos on the first full moon of the game. The culmination of these forms is of course Mochizuki Ryoji. Who’s become soft and sweet. He copies P3 Hero’s appearance and gender and is everything that he never knew he wanted to be.

He loves the world so much, loves humanity so much. He’s so endlessly kind and having that kindness be a direct reflection of P3 Hero makes it that much sweeter. The fact he created this form because of his desire to have it and desire to separate himself from Nyx is the sweetest thing in the world. Especially when they’re all still the same being. Ryoji just has a hard time putting that in perspective again, he doesn’t want to be that, (Evident by his dumb Ryoji phase) doesn’t want to go back to that. It’s so sweet. He’s the cutest in the world.

least favorite thing about them

I honestly don’t think I have one.

favorite line

“I know you better than anyone after all… That’s why I came back to you as Ryoji Mochizuki.” (I know this is kind of cheating. sry.)

brOTP

Him and Junpei are so good it’s unreal. Just bros being bros. They hang out, are the most frat of guys and its hilarious. But when Junpei is going through a rough time Ryoji always knows exactly what to say. I find it so sweet.

OTP

Ryomina

They are literal soulmates. They are one another. Mirror images. Love birds. Codependent cats. Made for each other in the most literal of senses. Ryoji made his form from Minato so they could spend time together. Minato taught Death kindness.

Sometimes I feel so like I’m making them up they’re so perfect.

NOTP

This is a bit odd to type out but pretty much anyone who isn’t P3 Hero with Ryoji? I see Ryoji as only being made for one person in particular, so the others just don’t appeal to me in the same way.

random headcanon

Can I cheat and put more than one. I’m gonna. These are all Ryoji post P3 unless stated otherwise.

- Ryoji going a step further and taking Minato’s hair and eye color. Draining a blue Minato used to have til his are bright and shining. The same way he absorbed his kindness.

- He is crazy codependent. Like crazy codependent. If he was able to touch Minato for a split second in November they would never be able to let go of one another. That’s why Minato had to avoid him in FES.

-He's really warm! Got that from Minato too so he's left with all the cold. Ryoji's fun to hug though :)

- Him and Minato watch over the world together in the great seal! Ryoji shares the knowledge while Minato catches up on rest and helps explain new concepts to him when he wakes up. He’s his doorman ^_^ (ha)

- He would really enjoy working retail if he ever got the shot. He loves people in general. Getting to meet them, talk to them, the whole shebang.

- He’s embarrassed of being Pharos. Like people get of old baby photos.

- Ryoji is metaphorically trans baby. Wanting to copy Minato and preferring being called Ryoji, a boy. It makes talking about Gods a bit difficult. Dysphoria and all. Poor thing experiences it in the weirdest of ways. But as Minato and Ryoji continue to be the seal, it’ll get easier.

- He likes sunrises and cheesy rom coms and fairy tales. Classic knight and princess stories. Kind of has the most normal taste ever, but a romantic at heart.

- Speaking of normal, I think “Dumb Ryoji” is a representation on what Minato would have been like if Death was never sealed inside of him. Perfect friends with all of the right people, charming, a bit of a playboy, and best friends with Junpei.

unpopular opinion

I personally don’t imagine Ryoji with a sexuality. His human form was made as a mirror to Minato, and so interacting with him throws him off course. He acts different around him, it confuses him. I don’t see anything Dumb Ryoji does as being a real representation of who Ryoji is.

song i associate with them

My Ryoji playlist is just the most cheesy songs you’ve ever heard in your life.

Anyways I guess my pick is “Rhythm Of Love" by the Plain White T's. (yeah ik. please go easy on me he's so owl city 2010's pop to me.)

favorite picture of them

i like how pouty he gets when he's upset ^_^