#Hamuko and minato are like canon

[yusuke-of-valla]

Yusuke and Sumire in the corner while everyone has an existential crisis about why they're fighting:

[tsururoach]

The thing about Ryomina (mlm or mlf) is that I hesitate to say I "ship" it because I don't really consider them solely in the 'romantic' side of things.

Like, to me their whole deal is more on the conceptual scale of things. They exist on many planes, they can be romantic, they can be platonic, they can be the same person, but there is still emotions there regardless of what you do.

Death delivers all, death is all encompassing, death lived inside of them until one day, it leaves. Something that was in them for 10 years leaves him. It should've felt empty, like something wrong. And yet that thing, that concept, that person was no longer stagnant. It saw the world from you, and it grows. It becomes a person, it becomes human. (You also, learn to become human)

It starts off someone who knew only that single point of view, to someone who was able to change. Change themself- and change you- no longer restricted by that tie to you. And yet, the bond you have was strong enough that he was still led back to you.

I think the 'love' that would hypothetically exist between the two of them would be the 'love' someone could have for a concept. An Abstraction and mixed with simple human affection. The love of the life that lived next to the protag. The protag to me would love Ryoji, the way one would love life.

Funny how that is: Loving death like life.

V ADDING A DISCUSSION ON HAMUGIS AND RYOMINA SECTION HERE V

I consider Hamugis more generally romantic than Ryomina but thats also because they also have less fuckassery. But i still also do consider them in that nebulous relationship status area.

Don't get me wrong. I love love love hamugis. Actually let me add a sidetwt doodle here while I can.

Okay heres the thing about my preferences in Persona 3 ships. I'm actually okay with most of them tbh. Like generally I usually don't get other people's interpretations of certain ships, but i still on some level kind of like. Get it.

The only one is like. Junpei and anyone who isn't Chidori; or at the very least with anyone who redacts chidori entirely. I like jundori okay. I like Junpei. Junpei's #1 defender.

But I do on a level instinctively prefer the mlm ver of ryomina over mlf, and the flf ver of hamugis over mlm. (I do actually overall prefer aigis x protag over ryomina in general in the normal terms of 'ship' but we already talked about that)

Now I'm well aware technically I could make the protaganist's character whatever but we've come far enough that a lot of "insert" protagonists already have a general kind of personality okay. I do sometimes err away from canon portrayals, yeah but hey.

Anyways I feel like... Hamuko and Aigis form a stronger bond together. It's not just the difficulty of the love itself that changes things. It's the approach. Hamuko is generally portrayed as more headstrong and more outwardly optimistic, which, yeah.

I feel like... While Aigis benefits from someone reaching out to her, inversely, Ryoji benefits from reaching out to someone?

And then when Aigis is forced to reach out...

Anyways, what I'm trying to say is I feel like the bond overall has more meaning. Like I did say Aigis' relationship with the protagonist is also still in that conceptual air, I'm kind of rehashing what I said before. Aigis is coming to terms with her own humanity .

I lost the plot of this psot.

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

Guide to Persona MC names

Just a small guide to help newcomers understand all the names and nicknames/fannames for their fav Persona MCs. Keep in mind this is main games/nameless MC's only (so I won't list Aigis in the P3 but I will mention Maya as well as the notes at the bottom, this is due to how I structured P2 vs P3 sections) (Edit: may add to this list later but it's pretty complete for now)(Edit 2: Note that Shunjiko translates as Protagonist/Hero/Main character):

Persona 1:

P1MC: shorthand for Persona 1 Main Character

(P1) Hero/Shunjiko: Japanese generic title

Boy with Earring: In-game moniker

Naoya Toudou: Manga name

Yuuya Narumi: (one of the) DramaCD names (note: other dramaCD is just labeled "protagonist")

Jihei Suzakuin: Novel name

Persona 2:

Tatsuya Suou: MC for P2 Innocent Sin, can be renamed and it'll carry over in EP (and Katsuya's last name will change as well)

Maya Amano: MC for P2 Eternal Punishment. Cannot be changed, just like Aigis

Kazumi Kiba: MC for the manga Persona: Tsumi to Batsu. (not really related to the games but it takes place right before P2EP, Edit: mentioned him because I've seen some people think he's suppose to be an adaptation of Tatsuya or something when he's just a different character all together)

Persona 3 (Male):

P3MC: Short hand for Persona 3 Main Character

(P3) Hero/Shunjiko: Japanese generic title

Kitaro: The Japanese Fanname, due to his resemblance to the main character Kitaro from Gegege no Kitaro.

Minato Arisato: Manga name

Makoto Yuki: Movie name (*gets adopted later into games)

Sakuya Shiomi: Stage Play Name

Leader: Generic Name for MC in Drama CDs and such

Roger: A name used in AtlusUSA marketing (maybe related to this line in the game?)

Door-kun: (English) Western fandom joke nickname, spoiler reasons.

Gettaro/Tsukitaro* Yamada: provisional name for P3MC in the movies' script. A play on Kitaro. (thanks @aliliceswonderland for reminding me, as well as the other's! TToTT)

Persona 3 (Female):

P3FeMC or just FeMC (sometimes/old variations FeShe or MShee): Shorthand for (Persona 3) Female Main Character. Since SMT if/Tamaki, Maya, and Aigis have fixed names (in Persona canon), this one is usually who people mean when they hear "FeMC." Though some might use this word as a "what if" for P4/5/6 having a female protagonist. But it's usually for the P3 one.

Leader: Generic Name for FeMC in DramaCDs and such

(P3) Heroine/Josei Shunjiko : Japanese generic title

Hamuko (Arisato): The Japanese fanname, IF Arisato is used, it's derived from the P3MC's manga name.

Minako Arisato: The Western Fanname, derived from Minato Arisato but making it "ko" since a lot of females use that name (note: Minato is actually a unisex name to begin with)

Makoto Yuki: P3MC's movie name. SOME adopted this name after the movie was release due to being a unisex name)

Kotone Shiomi: Stage Play Name (*only official name she's gotten, and unlike P3/4/5MCs whose names were taken from anime adaptions, she's the only one to have her's taken from the stage play).

Door-Chan: (English) Western fandom joke nickname, spoiler reasons.

Canon-chan/Non-canon-chan: (English) Western fandom joke nickname, usually in regards to her canon status. (answer: she is canon)

Lunako Gekko: Name used for Famitsu article

Persona 4:

P4MC: Short hand for Persona 4 Main Character

(P4) Hero/Shunjiko: Japanese generic title

Leader: Generic Name for MC in Drama CDs and such

Bancho(u): Japanese Fan Nickname (he's also called this in Arena's files, short hand for his Arena fighter title)

Souji Seta/Soji Seta: Manga Name

Yu Narukami: Anime Name (*was later used for games)

Various Stage Names: Unlike the P3MCs who have a fixed stage play name, P4's gimmick was to change the name each showing. The ones used in the DVDs are: "Yuuya Seta" for the first one, "Hayato Asakawa" for the second. (complete list, at least for the 2nd stage play coming soon)

Charlie "Chuck" Tunoku: Giant Bomb Endurance run of P4 (I think this is the more famous one)

Kenpachi Ramasama/Ramasama Kenpachi: Two Best friends play P4

Chad: (English) Western fandom joke nickname, something something blame the anime (originated around it's run) esp the scene with the King's game. He got all the chicks or something.

Persona 5:

P5MC: Short hand for Persona 5 Main Character

(P5) Hero/Shunjiko: Japanese generic title

Joker: His in-game code name

Akira Kurusu: Manga name

Ren Amamiya: Anime Name (*was later used for games)

Various Stage Names: Like P4, they adopted the gimmick of doing different names each showing. The ones used on the DVDS are: "Itsuki Onda" for the first one, "Naoki Toudou" for the second one, "Nozomu Akase" for the third one, and "Kaito Shinno" for the forth/last one. (complete list here)

Chair-kun: In reference to the original teaser for P5 (there were a lot of chairs)

Pego: Fan nickname for P5MC, usually english fandom from what I've seen. Stands for Pe(rsona) and Go (aka 5 in japanese). It's a very common one and I...literally forgot TT0TT

Akiren: Alternative fan nickname for P5MC, for fans that like both Akira and Ren's names but don't want to choose I suppose.

Persona 5 X:

P5XMC: Short hand for Persona 5X Main Character

(P5X) Hero/Shunjiko: Japanese generic title

Wonder: His In-game code name

Fun facts/other notes:

FeMC is the only one who breaks the streak of using anime names (due to not having an anime adaptations), it also causes P3 to cross between two different kinds of supplementary canon. (see more on this reblog)

Not all of P4's various stage names are known, namely (haha) the first stage play. If you dig you can find all of the 2nd ones (I should really post that list one day DX)

Despite P1MC not having a consistent chosen name, Atlus seems fond of Naoya, specifically using Naoya/Kazuya together (Devil Survivor 1 manga and P5 Mementos Quest mission) with characters. If you read the P1 manga you'd understand why they put those two names together.

Kitaro and Hamuko were used as place holder text for the P3MC and FeMC chars names for PQ2.

Banchou was used for P4MC's mocking title card in Arena/Ultimax, it was translated as "Kingpin" in english.

Some other chars I didn't listed as having "Leader" could very well be called "Leader" at some point.

Shin Kanzato is the MC to the anime Persona: Trinity Soul, a series that takes place 10 years after P3. It's in it's own separate canon from the P3 we know, Edit: but I'm mentioning him because of it being the original sequel of P3 for a brief period.

Aigis' name obvie can't be changed just like Maya, but she is the MC of both The Answer, as well as the Aigis: The First Mission cellphone game. (sometimes fans refer to her as a "toaster"...bc she's a robot)

Edit: Anna is the MC of P2's novel adaptations iirc, and Naoto and Yosuke are protagonists of their own books/novels/manga. There are most likely others but I will probs end it there (as I just wanna stick with games/original MCs and having Aigis/Kiba/Shin was a bit dicey)

Similar to Pego, P3MC may also be referred to as Pesan, and P4MC as Peyon. I haven't personally seen it (considering the other more prominent names they've had) but I wanted to list it just in case.

To update: Since I mentioned Roger, it's only fair I dig for all the other ones used for other characters (it's just Roger is the most popular, and it's not used often even at that).

[daily-rayless]

15 Years of Minako

It's time for another character appreciation post – the last of 2024 – and we've come down almost fifteen years to the day for a very, very special character. I first played Persona 3 in 2008, and I enjoyed it, but it was in 2009 when Persona 3: Portable was announced that my interest in the game rocketed up through the roof and into the stratosphere. Because, guys -- we were going to get a female protagonist.

September 2009

I don't know what my earliest art for Minako/Hamuko/Kotone was, but this is the earliest I could find. She had no canonical name yet. Her game hadn't been released in the States. As you can see, I wasn't even quite sure what her hair was supposed to be doing back there. But I was still excited.

December 2009

I've talked before about why having a female protagonist matters so much to me. The short version is that in an ideal world, where male protagonists weren't such a continuous majority, maybe it wouldn't; but that world doesn't exist, so it does matter, it matters to me. Minato has always been a fairly take-him-or-leave-him character for me. Minako? I was into her before the game was even released.

March 2010

I was intrigued by her design, her bright red eyes, her fluffy curls, the way her vibe was so different from Minato's. And, actually, her vibe is somewhat at odds with the game itself. P3 is a game of sad blues and sickly greens and grungy reds. Minako is all bright reds and pinks, tropical orange, soft yellow, warm brown. They could have taken the easy route and just done a gender-flipped Minato, a blue-haired girl, quiet, rather closed-off and antisocial. They didn't. They gave us someone new, somehow who visually contradicts the status quo.

September 2010

And, once I played the game, I saw that not only was her design very different, she had a different personality – different dialogue choices from Minato, a different mood. As far as the major plot points went, she did the same things as Minato, but she felt like her own person, not a gender-flip. She does change the status quo. You can diverge from Minato's narrative in some small but significant ways, but even if you choose not to, playing as Minako still feels different from the original version.

December 2010

And, miraculously, playing the game lived up to my own dangerously hyped expectations. Getting new insights into the female members of SEES without the tropey baggage of being a male hero romancing them; Social Linking the male members while getting the option to romance them or not. The original Persona 3, with Minato, is a great game, but Minato had to romance all of the girls and he couldn't even Social Link the guys. Minako's route gives you a deeper, broader experience when it comes to the core cast.

February 2011

Her being female adds nuanced conflict to her rivalry/friendship with Junpei, brings introspective weight to Akihiko's protectiveness, complements rather than undercuts Yukari's attempts to assert herself and not be dependent like her mother. Mitsuru doesn't have to step down as SEES' chagrined leader and cede her authority to this new boy – she cedes it to another girl. Tropes can be done badly or well, and these aren't inherently better than Minato's route, but Minako's tropes are often less typical, thus they feel more original – thus, to me, they're more interesting.

May 2011

I want to make clear that while I prefer Minako over Minato, I'm not arguing she's the better character or should be the default. And I'm pausing to say this because, unfortunately, ever since Minako first arrived on the scene, she's brought her own tension to an often already combative fandom.

December 2012

“She's not canon!” You used to hear that. As if the protagonist of a game that had been made and published and could be played wasn't canon. “Yeah, but she's not really canon!” It felt like there was a push within parts of the fandom to devalue Minako as a character, delegitimize her.

February 2013

Unfortunately, it feels as if this attitude is somewhat shared by Atlus itself. While Minako got a game route, a stage play, and is featured in promotional art, her absence in the Persona 3 remake is glaring. I'm not sure what I think Atlus is trying to say by omitting her, if anything. I'm just so disappointed that Minako's route, the route that gives you the most variety in plot points and character exploration for the main cast, wasn't deemed worthy of remaking.

January 2014

Minako, that brave, funny, smart, defiant protagonist, wasn't deemed worthy.

January 2015

Like many silent protagonists, Minako's a character open to a lot of interpretations. Broadly speaking, the game allows you to pick dialogue options for a reserved Minako or a more forceful Minako. But whichever way you go, if you've played the game, you know she's a character with pain buried deep inside her.

November 2016

Her fandom, her specific fandom, often sees her as a girl who smiles and sparkles and fights to cover that pain. Looking at Minato, you wouldn't be surprised to learn he's troubled. But Minako will make you believe she's confident and happy for a very long time until something breaks that illusion and you realize there are secrets in that smile.

August 2018

Minako is passionate, enduring, stubbornly brave.

October 2022

But she's not canon, right?

June 2023

She's not really a character. She's just a theoretical scenario Persona played with briefly, then discarded.

September 2024

Too bad for us.

[hellohimawarihana]

I know that I post many protagonists tags for Persona series (mainly the 25th anniversary ones), but for those who didn't know I will explain the origins of their name and what names I refer to the most in this Tumblr. Sure, you can use the other names as well, and for different names than those mentioned below you can search on the internet if you want.

Persona 1 Protagonist: While he's mostly unnamed in official media, most fans refer him as 'Naoya Toudou' from the manga, which had more personalities than in other adaptations.

Persona 2 Protagonists: The two heroes, called 'Tatsuya Suou' and 'Maya Amano' are already canon at the beginning, so no need to add more. You can rename Tatsuya if you want to in his game, though.

Persona 3 Male Protagonist: There are two canon names that I usually add when posting/reblogging, which are 'Minato Arisato' from the manga and 'Makoto Yuki' from The Movie. But I usually use the movie name though because it was used for Dancing in Moonlight and Portable remaster (if you change the language of the game) too, just like his female counterpart below for the latter. Though I use Makoto often for anything about him, sometimes I'll refer him by his surname Yuki to prevent confusion to Persona 5 character with the same first name.

Persona 3 Female Protagonist: In general I don't use stage play name for the protagonists, but 'Kotone Shiomi' is the only official name she had (names like 'Minako Arisato' and 'Hamuko Arisato' are fanmade names), so sure, I'm including her name here. This was even used in Portable remaster too.

Persona 4 Protagonist: Same as P3 Hero, with manga 'Souji Seta' and anime 'Yu Narukami' as one of his famous names. Since the latter is used the most for spinoff games and Golden remaster, I'm gonna call him Yu too.

Persona 5 Protagonist: Same as the two male protagonists before him, with 'Akira Kurusu' for the manga and 'Ren Amamiya' for The Animation, Dancing in Starlight and Royal remaster. I usually refer him as Ren in most occasions.

[littleshysheep-at-da]

All my Persona Series Ships!

(Felt like Posting this here, keep y’all Updated. I made this as Google Doc to send to people when I know they also like Persona so I don’t have to say it everytime)

I actually am a crazy Shipper, strongly dislike when people don’t Ship or break my Pairings, and am OTP/OT3 for life. I just also have Self Restraint and Common Sense, so I understand Shipping's all about fun (and doesn't have to be Canon Compliant or make sense) and to not be an asshole to other people having their own fun.

Also adding Sexuality/LGBTA+ Headcanons for ones I have them for (but I don't have them for every Ship or Specific Character). Also yes I am caring about Name Order here.

-Persona 5 (and it’s many Spin-Offs):

Akira (Gay) x Goro (Demi)

Ann (Lesbain) x Shiho

Haru (Bi) x Ryuji (Bi)

Futaba (Ace) x Yusuke (Ace Pan)

Makoto (Lesbain) x Kasumi (Bi)

Toshiro x Eri

Sojiro x Wakaba

Sae x Kawakami

Tae x Chihaya

-Persona 3:

Hamuko (Bi) x Minato (Bi)

Aigis x Hamuko or Minato

Ryoji x Hamuko or Minato

Fuuka x Natsuki

Mitsuru (Lesbain) x Yukari (Bi)

Junpei (Straight) x Chidori

Shinjiro (Bi) x Akihiko (Bi)

-Persona 4:

Yosuke (Bi) x Souji (Pan)

Yukiko (Bi) x Chie (Lesbain)

Naoto (Nonbinary) x Kanji (Pan)

-Persona 2:

Tatsuya (Bi) x Jun (Gay)

Eikichi x Miyabi

Ship Numbers (because Autism)

P5 = 9 | P3 = 7 | P4 = 3 | P2 = 2 | Total 21

Gender Breakdown 18/21 Ships

(not counting Kannao or Aigis and Ryoji)

M/F = 7| M/M = 4 | F/F = 7

Other Ship Notes:

I personally DO NOT see the Protags as self inserts. I think they all have their own personalities. So I don’t really have any self insert ships were I ship them just because I want to date a character, but I do understand some people have those.

Akira and Goro are a massive call back to Tatsuya and Jun from Persona 2, and Tatsuya and Jun are written with the intent to be romantic. Though I think after the third semester I usually don’t have to explain why I feel like Akira and Goro is an obvious Ship, it’s one of those you can totally have a different preference but you understand what I'm getting at right?

I reeeally hope I don’t have to explain that Futaba and Akira are in sibling dynamic so Shipping them would be gross.

Kasumi’s infatuation with Akira makes ZERO SENSE. The only people who see through your delinquent deguise is Goro (because soulmates narrative foil) and Ryuji (who doesn’t see through he’s just a good boy who trusts everyone), so Kasumi seeing through it makes NO SENSE. If she were to follow anyone around saying “Senpei” I think it would be Makoto.

Rise’s feral one sided thirsty crush on Souji is very funny to me (and I love playing it for comedy) but I don’t think he would ever reciprocate it. Her love just feels a bit too superficial, and Souji has too many issues of not being seen for himself for me to like it as a Ship.

I do think Yukari had a crush on Minato and I think Minato would be willing to try dating her, but I feel their love languages would be too different and it would end in disaster. Minato seems like the little actions and subtle comfort where Yukari seems like she would want big romantic gestures (something Mitsuru would do for her).

I will say with all Persona Romance Routes I am very much not a Fan of the Pandering that is “Girl likes you for no real reason” (it’s honestly just a boring Romance to me) and would’ve liked if more of the Girls just weren’t Romanceable so we could just have more Male/Female Friendships. I feel (aside from the stand out VERY BAD ones) a lot of the Romance Routes aren’t that bad, just don’t mesh well with the Tone and Tension of the rest of the Game (they’re kind Mundane and Boring in comparison to the Relationships I ACTUALLY Ship). But my Opinion on Persona Romance Routes as a whole would be a completely different discussion than Ships.

Update cause I forgot:

It’s necessary to say this so I don’t get Canceled; Hamuko and Minato are Canonically Two Halves of the Same Soul, some people choose to see that as Siblings and some people choose to see that as Soulmates. I used to prefer Siblings but now I prefer Soulmates. Either is fine but don’t mix em is all.

When I say Kasumi I usually actually mean Sumire. Sorry it’s partly cause it’s a Spoiler and partly cause I never got in the Habit of calling her by her Real Name. So unless Specific Context assume when I say Kasumi I mean Sumire. I just don’t feel like going back and changing it everywhere I’ve said it.

[sleepy-bunbun-ace]

i'm still disappointed by no femc in the p3 remake so i'm gonna do what i do with all of my blorbos, isekai her.

this time i'm not gonna use pla but twst instead mostly because there's more opportunities to use personas in twst than in pla where the only way i see her getting access to her persona is during the red sky thing. i'm also gonna rotate between names since i don't feel like choosing a name.

prologue + chapter 1 only

so since the femc's route isn't canon, she doesn't become the great seal because makoto/minato is already the great seal.

whatever brings yuu to the twst wonderland world sees her up for grabs and brings her to the before prologue area where she's then isekai'd to twst.

not without erasing her memories, of course.

minako wakes up in a coffin, grim opens it with his fire, yadda yadda, the whole beginning of the prologue is the same.

the dark mirror takes an interest in her because while she doesn't belong in any of the dorms, she has incredible potential and takes notice of the contract she's not aware she has.

grim escapes and causes arson and hamuko goes off to help kalim who's butt is on fire.

she feels a connection trying to be made with him but something is preventing it from happening (sorry kotone, no social links yet).

again, things go the same for the most part in all honesty throughout the prologue just with hamuko having more dialogue inputs.

a key difference is no ghost fight when she first gets to ramshackle dorm because she somehow manages to befriend the ghosts (which causes questions as to how she's not afraid of them because she's most definitely never seen ghosts before).

another key difference is during the mine battle where kotone actually helps fighting the monster using a stick she found near the cabin while also giving out orders.

there's social links desperately wanting to be made with grim, ace and deuce but the time hasn't come for that yet.

on the night of the last day of the prologue, at exactly the point where 11:59 changes to midnight, the sky turns green and people turn into coffins for an hour, but nobody is awake to notice.

chapter 1

first day of classes for hamuko and grim. also ace got collared for eating a slice of a tart and decided he's a ramshackle kid now.

things mostly go the same for the most part but there are a few changes.

kotone runs into ortho when chasing after grim and immediately feels melancholic and sad. he reminds her of... of... who does he remind her of?

the whole lunch thing is a bit different too with minako immediately noticing how there's something off with jamil and how kalim seems to be hiding emotions (like her. but she isn't hiding her emotions, is she?). this does not affect chapter 1 but does affect chapter 4.

when kotone first meets riddle, it's like all her attention is immediately on him and not in the 'tyrant housewarden' way but in a 'he's somehow like me' way. a blue butterfly only she seems to notice flutters between them.

before i forget, the dreams!! they still do show the particular scenes from alice in wonderland but alice acts strange. she looks the same as in the movie but with yellow eyes instead. she tells minako to "save the queen, he has yet to awaken" or something along those lines.

I FORGOT TO MENTION THIS IN THE PROLOGUE SECTIONS BUT SHE GOES BY YUU BECAUSE SHE DOESN'T REMEMBER HER NAME.

okay, back to chapter 1. for the most part, it goes rather the same seeing as hamuko is trying to make sure her friends stay alive.

the day before the unbirthday party, the boys find out she's a girl and freak out as if they've never interacted with a girl in their lives. minako can understand why they thought she was a boy with how she looks but is just kinda done with them as they freak out.

crewel figures out she's a girl because it's crewel. you don't question him.

now, the whole battle for housewarden aftermath is different with kotone having more impact. she essentially rewords what ace is conveying towards riddle with her own observations. she's trying to make sure the situation doesn't get worse while also making riddle realize that maybe how he's been handling punishments isn't really good housewarden behavior.

it doesn't work, riddle still overblots.

now, just because minako doesn't remember the events of p3, that doesn't mean the skills she learned doesn't exactly go away. it only takes a few minutes for her to realize that they had to target the phantom and not riddle. she tells ace and deuce to focus on the phantom while she finds a way to separate it from the overblotted boy.

turns out jumping out a tree that started to float while you were climbing onto strings made of ink hurts a lot. feels like death.

so the memory thing goes quite different (i'm basing the concept off of on the eight wishes of a resident therapist by adaven on ao3). both riddle and kotone wake up in a void where the only other things there are a desk with two papers on it and a very familiar looking boy.

he tells them the only way to keep going is to sign the contract that will bind them to all responsibility of their actions.

"i will chooseth this fate of mine own free will."

they sign the contracts and the boy disappears with a smile. impromptu therapy time as they go through riddle's memories.

he starts with denial in the beginning but nearing the end he just spills because he's so drained from everything that's been going on. he's tired and doesn't know what to do anymore.

hamuko promises to help him become better because "that's what friends are for" and riddle is so confused. "he wants to be my friend??? after everything i've done??"

they wake up after the promise (the social link isn't established yet) with riddle still looking like his overblot self but now in control of himself. the phantom is still alive, desperately trying to reconnect to riddle.

minako's pocket feels heavy and she pulls out something very similar to a gun. there's no time to think, she puts it up to her head while shielding riddle from the phantom.

orpheus makes her return from the sea of souls.

the battle is soon finished with riddle and kotone being the most injured (i think that attacks that use hp cause injuries on the users body). with only a few questions about orpheus before crowley shows back up, the chapter finishes as normal with only riddle and kotone being taken to the infirmary.

at the end of the chapter, hamuko tells riddle she remembers her name.

at the exact point where 11:59 changes to midnight, the sky turns green and people turn to coffins, only this time the two in the infirmary are awake to experience the hour.

[mousewife-stash]

OUGUHHH were!yukari is so pretttyyy .. you absolutley do not have to respond to this i just wanted to let you know i think the design is GORGEOUS!!!!!!!!!! ALSO HRLEPPPP lustful snake fans unite :3 <- thats the one lovers snake enemy its my favourite shadow ever ever ever ... also i lorve the were!SEES sort of thing like during the dark hour ??? oiugh thats so YUMMY . do they ALL turn into beastie guys at the same time though ? or is there a specific parameter ? like otherwise theyre just having the funny guy hour andstuff yoiu know

AWWW thank you so much!! (and please by all means do NOT let me disrespect your shadow wife)

right now it's JUST yukari (though I have some tasty ideas regarding shinjiro BUT...put a pin in that for now), the were!shadow mechanism i'm imagining is still kind of a hand-wavey vaguery to get me get to the good stuff LOL but. generally, we know there are sort of three basic outcomes to people during the Dark Hour: transmogrify into a coffin, stay awake and risk being devoured by/becoming a Shadow, and stay awake and eventually transcend into a Persona-user. but, I'm imagining; what if there's a sort of fusion of those second and third states, where an existing Persona-user survives an attempted Shadow devouring and their Persona regresses to Shadow state/they fuse with it as a result...

unlike my p4 au which I have taking place entirely *after* the canon events of the game, I actually want this to be an alternate timeline that transpires *INSTEAD* of the p3 canon and this happens to Yukari VERY early in the events of the game--possibly even during/as a result of the very first Full Moon shadow operation against the Priestess on the train? not totally settled yet, but...something to think on

I think Yukari is a really juicy candidate for this (aside from the idea first randomly coming to me in a dream LOL who knows what my subconscious was cooking) because she already IS the SEES member we see struggling the most to adapt to this world in sort of the "everyman" position--vs. Minato/Hamuko the natural-born leader, Junpei the gung-ho (even if that's a bluff), the experienced senpai, etc. She has the most trouble summoning her Persona to begin with, she's got the Ick about the whole situation and suspicion about her comrades, and I think it'd be deliciously intriguing if that hesitation resulted in her getting attacked + transformed and fomenting even MORE resentment about her situation like, "of course this had to happen to ME, WHY did this happen to ME", and the tension there that escalates between her and various SEES members, etc., who she blames, who blames themselves...but also, crucially, how it becomes a bonding point once that hurt dies down

and yes for MOST of the month she only transforms during the Dark Hour, except for the three waxing-full moon-waning days when my headcanon is Nyx's influence is the strongest. then she's stuck like that for a full 72 hours babey >:)

[p5x-theories]

Idea for if the Player Characters of P3 and P4 become Phantom Idols

It’s not gonna happen, but it would be a real treat if the manga names Minato and Souji were used as codenames for them.  And FeMC only has one official name, but they could use Sakuya for her because it comes from the same stage musicals that her official name comes from.  Or if they don’t object to using fan names they could use Hamuko in the east and Minako in the west.

My reasoning for this?  The codenames that Merope comes up with for Phantom Idols are based on their real names, but changed around (except for Seiji.)  So if there was ever a place to acknowledge these official but non-canon names it feels like here would be good?  Especially if they’re explicitly codenames, so they won’t interfere with the canon names.

Like I said, I don’t expect this to actually happen.  We don’t even know if these characters will even show up.  But if they did those are my proposed codenames.

Oh my god, this is genius! I agree I don’t know if they’d actually go for it (if they even put the previous games’ protagonists into P5X as Phantom Idols in the first place), but wow I suddenly wish this is what they’d do, because that is so fun. I’m sort of obsessed with the idea, honestly.

[hishima]

when it comes to the p3 protags i'm a minato and hamuko truther sorry. i know kotone shiomi is femc's canon name and i like that for her a lot too. but i love arisato siblings.....

[ff14hermes]

not too surprised by these votes! the makoto + kotone combo held its lead (though mina twins Almost took over at some points), but the individual results are different

for the male MC, Minato Arisato swept with over half the votes, totaling at 56%. Most of these votes went alongside Minako, but he has the most even split among FeMC names. Makoto Yuki takes second place with 34.2% of the vote, being paired up with the other "canon" name of Kotone more than 4/5ths of the time. Poor Sakuya got only 1.8% of the votes... most of which are with his fellow Shiomi.

for the female MC, Kotone won with a solid 44.5%. given how her name is often paired up with both Makoto and Sakuya, it's not a surprise—though her name gets used alongside Minato a lot, too. Minako took second place with 28.5%, almost exclusively used with Minato (makes sense, given her name was made up to match his). Hamuko, the other Arisato, took last place with 19%, again having nearly all her votes shared with Minato.

There are some more nuanced answers in the tags, too! Now that this poll is finished, I'd like to do one for the P4 protagonist (and eventually the P5 one!) Please look forward to it ^_^

[yusuke-of-valla]

Trying to decide if Chidori not being a boss fight in September means I should move Yusuke's awakening to not that or change it into a boss fight because like. Child kidnapping.

I mean I guess I could redo the entire thing because idk if Chidori would expect Yusuke to have a way to contact SEES during the Dark Hour like she would with Junpei so maybe she like. Calls them before the dark hour and tells them to call off the operation and Hamuko. Is. Sooo chill about this yeah.

So the gang splits up with Minato taking one group to find the full moon shadow and Hamuko and the rest splitting up to find Yusuke.

Junpei guessed the dorms because it's the last place they'd check but doesn't tell anyone because he wants to talk to Chidori on his own because a) he wants to hear the truth from her, b) it's kinda his fault that Yusuke brought up that Hamuko was the leader to Chidori, and c) if there's somehow a good reason Chidori kidnapped Yusuke he wants to give her a chance to explain herself before Hamuko tries to kill her.

So they go and hash out a version of what happens in canon but uhhh hm. Oops. Yusuke actually got away from Chidori earlier (and maybe stole her evoker or something idk I haven't decided and he's just.) Sprinting to Pawlonia Mall because he figures that's where the others are because apathy syndrome victims have been showing up around there more than usual and they'd never ACTUALLY call off the operation and then uh.

Either he gets jumped by a shadow or runs into the Hermit and oh boy it's Pygmalion time this boy can fit SO much repressed rage.

And then they beat the hermit and take Chidori into custody and everything happens the same as canon because Yusuke is not allowed to visit Chidori in the hospital and his sad baby fox eyes are strong but not as strong as Hamuko's determination to like not leave her brother alone with the person that kidnapped him

(They can talk later I just don't want the Jundori scenes getting interrupted, they're important to me)

There's also a secret rank 11 to Junpei's social link that's just him and Hamuko slugging it out on a riverbed because "ARE YOU FUCKING DATING THE PERSON WHO KIDNAPPED MY BABY BROTHER WHAT THE HELL?"

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

My freaking life with naming schemes for the FeMC.

Me pre-movie: Oh! Minako like a fem version of Minato (narrator: little did she know, Minato was unisex). But Hamuko is a fun one too! Such fun fan names. I’ll use Minako if I’m doing a Twin AU tho. Me, post-movie pre-stage play and P5: Oh I could do Makoto Yuki. I mean it’s the male’s name, and they are probs one and the same person. And Makoto Yuki is unisex so it works out (narrator: dipshit over here still doesn’t realize Minato is unisex). Regardless, they seem to go for the anime names so I should get attached to this instead. Don’t want a repeat of Souji. :’) Maybe I’ll give her a nickname of “Ko/Kou-chan” just for fun. Me, post-movie and stage play, pre-P5: Oh she has a new semi official name! Kotone! And so does the MC! Sadly I don’t think they’ll use/get attached to them. I mean, Atlus has only been using the anime names, I don’t want a repeat of Souji. :’) Me, post movie/stage play/P5, pre- Puzzle dragon/P3P rerelease (aka when Makoto N was announced): ............GDI! This is worst than saying Yu’s name out loud in english. Yu sounds like you, and Narukami is too much of a mouthful. But now Makoto is taken by another big char??? And Yuki is already another 3-4 chars (including nicknames). TT0TT Ahhhh and the chick looks like FeMC too???? Wtf, FeMC hasn’t been acknowledged in so long, plus Yusuke looks like P3MC, are they trying to hurt me more. ;w; Screw it, we’ll go with my Ko-chan nickname (with Minako/Hamuko variants) until she gets a new name. TT0TT Back to calling P3MC Minato again.....or maybe I should just fully adopt P#MC? Yeah let’s go with that. orz Me: post movie/play/P5/puzzle dragon/P3P release but pre-P5X: Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh no. I’m not getting attached still. I hate this mixing of canons. Give Sakuya justice! At least PQ’s personality matches Makoto Yuki....... Kotone doesn’t match her PQ2 counterpart imo.... I can’t. I won’t. Me post-everthing but esp P5X: So Mont’s name is probably “Kotone?” ....haha....AHFJDSAFJSAJFLA Oh it’s Makoto N all over again. Oh and there’s another Yuki? FanTASTIC!

[hellohimawarihana]

I can understand a bit, 'Sakuya' is supposed to be one of the names intended for P3 Male Protagonist when producing the movie, but they decided to go with 'Makoto' instead. Though I get why some refer him as 'Minato' as well, as there is another 'Makoto' two series later, but in any case I usually refer them by surnames ('Yuki' and 'Niijima') when P3 and P5 characters are together. And remember the case where the first P4 anime is so popular that spinoff titles canonized 'Yu' as his default name and therefore P3 and P5 have to follow suit as well for their protagonists appearing in their anime.

As for 'Kotone'... it's the only official name given by P3 Female Protagonist and she didn't make any anime appearance so it makes sense why that one is canonized. (names like 'Minako Arisato' or 'Hamuko Arisato' are fanmade names)

sakuya/kotone shiomi are such good names for the p3 protags because sakuya (咲也) means "to bloom" in reference to cherry blossoms, which symbolize the fleeting nature of life due to how brief the flowers themselves appear for. kotone (琴音) means "the sound of a string instrument", the most relevant example being a lyre; a neck-breaking nod to orpheus.

shio (汐) refers to a tide in the ocean, both in the literal sense and the figurative sense. it represents a brief moment of something grand, and references p3's seaside setting. mi (見) is the prefix of the word "miru", which basically means looking at something. shiomi—taking in something beautiful, something irreplacable, something greater than you; something brief, something you must take in before it's gone. it leaves quickly and it never comes back.

i love the name kotone shiomi and i'm happy that's the canon one and i don't get why sakuya isn't. it's so good bro.... it. urgh. urgh

[riwrite-a]

sucks that i dont like the name ren for joker bc renren is the cutest goddamn shit ive ever heard

[sirenspells]

Me drawing any of the moonlight bridge quartet: those eye colors in canon? Never heard of them