#side note it literally wont post if i embed the videos which makes me SAD

[give-me-hohen]

ryomina canon -- a thread

hi this is my transferring the ryomina post I originally made on my twitter to tumblr, as my twitter has been archived. this was originally made like a couple weeks after reload came out haha. ignore the bad formating :^)

also apparently tumblr hates when you post multiple videos, so theyll just be links mb haha.

DISCLAIMER!!

since theres been a lot of persona ship discourse going around.. no im not trying to say ryomina is the only canon ship, nor that any other ship is bad. i just find the little dialogue changes that atlus purposely included to be interesting. you dont have to ship.

thats fine. just ignore this thread and go on LOL. now thats outs of the way, some of this will be.. a stretch, and definitely ranty. my apologizes !! and also, all p3p and p3fes screenshots and recordings r taken from online playthroughs.

and b4 someone says 'oh you havent played p3fes and p3p?!?!' i played p3fes on my ps3, as for portable. i havent, so sorry if i get info relating to that wrong ;; 

*Moonlight Bridge Scene*

firstly, i don't want to start off with the obvious love confession ryoji has on 12/1, but instead i want to focus on some dialogue changes that stood out to me. during the moonlight bridge scene, instead of fuuka being the to run up to ryoji, it's makoto. this stood out to me with the context of what happened on 12/1. there was no need for atlus to change something so minor, except if they wanted show the concern makoto has for ryoji. also! only the manga has makoto catching ryoji, in both routes for p3p, he just passes out.

they ended up changing the scene to resemble the one in the manga. purposefully choice atlus!

*12/3 Dialogue*

then followed by giving makoto dialogue choices exclusive to femcs route, where you can romance him. again it's such a minor change that struck me as interesting, did they want to showcase the bond between makoto and ryoji further?

imo its to push this idea that it personally effects makoto, that having to kill ryoji is a difficult choice for makoto, just like it is with kotone. he doesn't want to kill ryoji, he hates both choices, because of ryoji, because of what it involves to erase their memories 

*12/31 Dialogue*

since i'm talking about makoto killing ryoji-- let's go onto the changes during 12/31 !! the changes made here are some of the (imo) most major ones, as they ended up giving ryoji dialogue that ONLY happens when you romance him in kotones route

this dialogue ONLY happens if you romance ryoji in femc route, if you don't, the dialogue is exactly the same as in fes. i think its obvious on what the implications of ryoji saying this are. i don't think i need to spell it out to you dear reader on WHY atlus purposely added romance-exclusive route dialogue..

oh! and speaking of that, the additional dialogue after you choose not to kill him! again, theres no extra dialogue in his fes and no romance route, make of this as you will!

also, unlike pretty much all the slinks and additonal episodes added into the game, makoto actually puts ryojis music box on his bed board thing. a way to remember ryoji and the bond they had, even if they're separated.

in general, i think these slight dialogue changes help showcase that ryoji does, infact, have feelings for makoto, even if you choose to ignore the piano scene. from adding dialogue that's specifically from a romance route, to the literal music box. ryomina canon!!

anyways i think a lot of what i said above isn’t too far of a stretch, but im like totally aware everything past here might be me coping, but hey! its fun.

but let's continue looking at 12/31, except this time.. the bad ending! while the bad ending is mostly the same, ive noticed some changes when it comes to pacing and the animation. atlus clearly shows that makoto is visibly upset, they have him turn to show his face not just once (him turning his face towards the camera while on the bed) , but twice, when he gets up and gets ready to shoot ryoji. they make the change of his expression VISIBLE. his faces changes to visibly being distraught. then theres makoto summoning his persona itself is delayed in reload, there's cleary hesitant when it comes to him summoning it in reload. it takes a couple of seconds for the fade to black, vs fes where it fades to black as soon as he pulls out his evoker.

also seriously this additional dialogue when nyxs true arcana is revealed? i'd say it was somewhat taken from the movie, but come on. Come on, do i need to explain

anyways! i just. theres nothing i can say much other then they deliberately allowed for this dialogue to happen. they didn't need to, atlus didn't need to say that ryojis song (and by extension, ryoji himself) left an impression on makoto.

alright i think this is the end.. friendly reminder that this is all for fun, if you don't ship them, thats fine. i just think with atlus stealing dialogue from kotones romance route for ryoji, there's heavy, and id say canonically evidence of ryomina. 

and some afterthoughts as almost a year has past since ive written this thread. i still find the purposefully inclusion of kotone's romance dialogue pretty damning for ryoji lmfao. the more i've thought about it, the more i do genuinely believe that ryomina at the very least is semi-canon, with ryoji canonically having feelings for makoto.

sadly this is persona, the i know the persona fandom well to call the few examples we have of actual queer relationships 'queerbait', or just ignore it. it's a shame because i do think ryoji's love for makoto in reload is so well written, and such a tragedy. but hey, its atlus lmfao

..also ryoji saying 'next time i flirt with girls ill make sure they dont have bfs ^-^' then straight up asking makoto if he has someone like god ik what you are.