#love that everyone’s joking he looks more like tatsuya than makoto

[arcsin27]

Guys what the sweet fuck is happening

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

Curious, who's your favorite Persona MC?

(sorry for taking so long with this too ;w;) Including spinoffs, manga, and anime (not dramaCDs cause I haven’t listened to all of them tho I should note I do like the P3P one, both male and female side, nor novels cause....they haven’t been translated....tho that’d really only apply to P1MC’s novel form aka “Jihei”). I also don’t know where to put Anime!Ren, probably after P1MC if “Ren is kind of just their” fan’s testament is anything to go by.

Hamuko/P4MC/Souji/Maya>Naoya/Tatsuya/Moive!Makoto>Spinoff!Yu/Spinoff!Makoto>P3MC/Minato/Akira>Raito!Ren/Daybreakers!P5MC>P1MC>>>>Anime Golden!Yu>>>>>>Anime!Yu>>>>>>>>P5MC

Under the cut for explanation

I should note main games (P1-5), I like all MCs except for P5MC. And Hamuko includes P3P and PQ2 tbh. Btw I think Maya and Tatsuya are equally great, at that point it’s just preference I like playing as Maya more, but I still love Tatsuya.

For the first quadrant (P2 I’ll just say Maya/Tatsuya are both well written with clear character as both silent MCs and side characters, but their MC form allows a bit of choice....not a whole lot cause they are pretty solidified characters, but their characters are great regardless): The reason I like Hamuko and P4MC is....because....they have a lot of personality and a lot of choice. Like....you can really form them any which way you want, make them consistent or contradictory, a good person or an asshole. Each dialogue voice is clear, they are also the two MCs that can effect their story the most (at least with their SLs). It’s a joy playing as them. As for Souji, I just really like the manga a lot, like he starts off pretty there but slowly he opens up and we see his past and he uses it to relate to people around him (and what little establishing perspective in the early chapters show something similar to an Adachi mindset and it’s just really nice to see that his character really DOES show how Adachi’s life could’ve turned out if he had a support system, it really does a good job just.....establishing just that parallel). Is the P4 manga perfect? Nah, nothing is, but I think it’s the better of the two Sogabe works.

For the 2nd quadrant (already talked about P2 above):  Naoya? Great, really good character, really gave him a lot of personality! P1 manga feels like it lacks in developing/completing arcs outside of Naoya and Maki, but Naoya and Maki? Great! Makoto Yuki? I really liked his character, while the movies can be a bit shaky in the middle (and I wish he was still a little more stoic in the 2nd one), I really like how he went from emotionless asshole to actually caring about his friends and his own well being!

3rd Quadrant: Spinoff Yu and Makoto, I think they are pretty solid, not super amazing (might put Makoto above Yu tbh but ehhhh I’m pretty even), but they are consistent. And when I mean spinoffs I mean where they talk not their silent forms in PQ1 (cause man they have two gears, nice and asshole....but then again PQ1 everyone is kind of an asshole for some reason 8U at least it’s consistent). Yu’s a bit of an airhead, but he feels like a capable leader and tbh feels very similar to Souji (not 100% Souji, but much closer to Souji than Anime!Yu is to Game!Yu, plus tbh Souji has some silly moments too so I can’t say he got it only from Anime!Yu).

4th Quadrant: So like I like Minato’s name more, but his manga is a bit all over the place. His personality is....hmmmm kinda just their? I mean I still believe him to be a capable leader, but he feels more just their (possibly commentary that...like....plot’s happening all around the P3MC off screen? which I’ll give some points for). That being said he does have some funny moments, and I do get a sense of “not really caring to caring about friends and his surroundings” journey from him (it’s not as apparent or drastic or interesting as Makoto Yuki but it’s there). As for Akira.....at least for the first two dungeons, I actually really like him? Like it took a bit to look past the.....expression....struggle art (it’s not great with facial expressions ok? I dunno what to call it), but after looking past it I saw something. He’s really a 100% just a giant freaking n00b. They all are! And.....I LOVE IT! I hate how P5 it feels like “oh yeah we’re so freaking cool! look at how freaking cool they are! gawd we just instantly get cool!” And like, P5 manga has it’s cool moments of course, but after the initial summoning it’s like “oh shit they actually are just winging it and they are owning the fact they don’t know what they are doing and aren’t really trying to act like they are hot shit” (cause PT aren’t hot shit but act like they are in every interpretation except for this one, and it’s endearing because of it). I mean I don’t like his name, I prefer Ren’s name, but I prefer Akira’s interpretation the most. As for P3MC, I do like him, and in all honesty I dunno if I should be putting Minato/Akira on the same level, nor P3MC/Minato on the same level. While I value P3MC, he is a bit boring to play as, mostly in part due to his SLs. He does have some funny moments, and I think while he might not be a total jokester, he def is a lot more fluid in interpretation than I feel a lot of people will allow him to be. I think he can be fairly open, maybe not as bombastic as FeMC might take it, or as extroverted as P4MC, but I don’t think he’s 100% grim dark emo boi everyone makes him out to be. But compared to FeMC/P4MC, he doesn’t have as much variety as them, on top of his lines being pretty generic (I mean he has a voice tho, but the dialogue isn’t all that crazy a lot of the times......well unless you went 100% asshole route, but you don’t want to go that route, you will screw yourself if you go that route cause of how his SLs work 8U)

5th Quadrant: Raito does a good job with Ren in both Mementos Missions and his anthology chapter in the first anthology book (tho he wasn’t called Ren or anything in that chapter I don’t think). Raito  gives him character, gives us some background regarding his issues with adults (not canon, and mostly in the anthology comic, but it’s something), and tbh it’s just all around better than the game. That being said.....he’s.....I like Raito, and I’m having fun, and I like their art, but I still just don’t.....really care about Raito!Ren.....I’m just not super into him. As for Daybreakers!P5MC, he has a bit of a different personality, a bit more of a “I don’t really care” personality....which I’d probably wouldn’t like considering how I feel about P5MC proper, but his “I don’t care” is more of a “Rip to me, cross that burning bridge when I get to it I guess. XP” than “I’m confessing to you but I’m like super checked out and don’t really look like I care” feel the P5MC game gives me. We don’t really spend a whole lot of time with him sadly, but what we do see is fun (in a similar vein to Mementos’ Missions). Him and his team are.....weird in personality tho, I mean I can’t say I hate it, but it’s not like the game or any other adaptation, and I wish we could see more of it expanded on. It’s just a weird dynamic and personality that I can’t just outright say I dislike cause it’s not really developed enough.....

6th/7th Quadrant: P1MC.....nothing really bad about him tbh, but from what I’ve played and remember from P1.....he is the most true and 100% blank slate MC out there. I think that’s the point of him tho (cause even the ending is “you come up with what happens to him”). And I can’t/don’t hate on it, but it’s not exactly super duper fun to play as him cause he doesn’t have a variety of options like FeMC/P4MC (or even P3/5MC), but he also doesn’t have a super duper defined personality like Maya/Tatsuya. I don’t hate him tho! Just.....eh I’ll stick to the manga or any other adaptation. Golden Anime!Yu.....From what I remember and seen of the anime, he was generally a good guy, uber goofy but nice. That’s....all..... I mean I can’t hate on him too much, his anime doesn’t allow him to do a lot of things cause it’s just a string of OVAs tbh.

8th/9th Quadrant: Sigh......oh.......Geez.....I really hate first anime!Yu....a lot, I mean the anime and Anime!Yu have....their good moments, they have some REALLY GOOD moments.....but they also have some REALLY BAD “this wasn’t in the game, this is totally conflicting with the game what are you doing????” Moments. The biggest is his personality, he’s an asshole. They have him choose a lot of asshole comments but instead of.....being treated as an asshole for saying it, everyone is like “Oh ok :P Lol you da best dude!” and moves on (and this is reflected in how they mishandle A LOT of the what should be serious moments in the anime, and I say should because they were serious in the game, sure characters might’ve been uncomfortable but they didn’t risk the lives of people to make jokes and such). I think he’s an asshole, I do not like him, I really hate this adaptation a lot. As for P5MC? I ranked him lower but tbh they could just be tied for all I care, the issue is I have to spend more time with this jerk than Anime!Yu (and at least Anime!Yu has a freaking voice and has some good moments). But I’ve already gone over my issues with P5MC.

I basically prioritize either freedom of a silent MC, or the quality of their personality if their personality is more solidified (both points are more aimed at the games, specifically silent MCs). And then how I like the character as a character in adaptations (aka if I think they are an asshole, and the context of that universe allows them to get away with it or they’re just really unlikeable.....then yeah I won’t like them....I bring up the extra explanation on this cause I DO like some asshole characters, but that’s usually cause they are 1) acknowledged as an asshole, and 2) there’s some other world building factor at play, maybe everyone in that world is an asshole ala MPGIS/Panty and thus equal and Stocking, or they get their just deserts for being an asshole ala Victoria in Life is Strange, still can’t explain why I’m fascinated with this jerk but I am, but Yu and P5MC don’t fit under those two exceptions and thus I do not like them), there can be other reasons I don’t like a character, it’s a case by case basis tbh. 8U

So there’s my essay, maybe it’ll change when I re-read the mangas or re-watch the animes.

Oh wait...I forgot Shin and Kazumi (PTS and P2 manga MCs)....uhhhh put them with Spinoff!Yu/Makoto, they’re solid from what I remember. Might move them later.

[sambart93]

2018.11.28 BACK COAT〜裏裁判 UraSaiban / Backdoor Trial [Review]

Official Site here Official Twitter here Press Coverage 1, 2

Synopsis: After investigation, witnesses to a murder decide that the perpetrator is Innocent. Because of this, the witnesses are left once again to go back and recount their version of what happened and what of the victim. There are only 3 rules in this scenario: The real perpetrator is within their group; you must choose Guilty or Innocent; you must decide there and then even if it’s not the real perp. What happens next?

CAST and CHARACTERS 

Kuranuki Masahiro as Utsunomiya Saku Domoto Shouhei as Tominaga Tatsuya Terumi as Nakano Shouta Arima Ayaka as Hanamura Kasumi Kuramichi Sena as Utsunomiya Ruin Yashima Yakuma as Nikaido Kouki Haneshima Shouta as Ketsushiro Toshiya  Hatsuki Nozomi as Endo Kiriko Okabe Naoya as Ichijyo Hikari Nakajima Kazuhiro as Kisu Makoto Chatani Yuho as Terajima Kae Nakagawa Emi as Enjyouji Aya Saikatsu as Koinuma Shun

* Non-Spoiler Overall: This was great! It’s the style and theme of story and stage that I love. I absolutely love; people forced in a room that they can’t escape and they suspect each other and there’s no trust and there’s underlying secrets and motives and people turn on each other and people die - everything I love in my dark, messy stories! And they executed it so well! I enjoyed it so much! I loved the story, the mystery, the twist parts, the punch ending. It was all so good! And at the peak / climax of the play, the acting from all of them was phenomenal. It was so well done. The only thing that stopped me from being so invested and so emotionally into it was the fact that the guy next to me was snorting and sniffing up his snot every 10 seconds throughout the entire play and drove me absolutely mental. Rating: 7/10.  If that dick hadn’t been there to ruin my experience, this could’ve easily been a 8 - 9 rating I think.

*

Spoiler Review

Main Plot - 12 people (9 witnesses, 1 accused and 2 court staff) have been gathered to decide whether the accused, Enjyouji Aya, should be found guilty or innocent of killing Saku’s sister Ruin. However, when the final judgement is made, only 7 people find her guilty, while the actual brother and his childhood friend Tatsuya rule her innocent. Saku pleads for them all to go back to the beginning and to recount everything they witnessed. Because there is non consensus the court staff lock them inside the room and have to start all over again. No one can leave until everyone agrees on one judgement. And there are three guidelines to the lock down which are:

1. The perpetrator IS within their group. 2. You must choose (one) Guilty or Innocent. 3. You must decide there and then even if it’s not the real perp.

So in the story we go through every person’s account and experience that they had with Rui. At first everyone is very positive saying how much they enjoyed her company and how much of a joy she was to be around. But then they get to Aya and she breaks it down. She turns around to Saku in a half-evil-cackle and says ‘do you really think they’re telling the truth? Do you really think this is what they think of your sister? She was evil. She was horrid!’ and she cracks through the rest of the characters’ true personalities. It soon comes to light that she was physically and mentally abusive to everyone around her, and they say the only way she was acting such a way was because Saku himself was being to harsh on her. Apparently he was strict in that: she must go to school, she must eat properly, she mustn’t go and stay out late, she mustn’t have a boyfriend, and she felt that all her freedom had been taken away, and in turn that led her to take her anger out on the neighbours and everyone who cared for her. ‘And that’s why,’ Aya begins, ‘when she asked me to help her fake her suicide so she could shock and knock some sense into you (Saku), I just.... let her die.’ Saku begins to break down; he knows he was strict on her but that was because he didn’t want her to get hurt again, he wanted her to be safe so she didn’t end dying like their parents did. But obviously he was too strict and it made her go strange and mentally unwell. But towards the end of the stage, Ichijo Hikari speaks up ‘it was you that drove her to her death. She was being manipulated. I saw her... I saw her and Tatsuya talking,’ which brings Saku’s childhood friend underfire. Here, Tatsuya goes into manic laughter and completely cracks, he says he wanted to ruin what was left of Saku’s family because he was sick of seeing them (Saku & Rui) making fun of him (Tatsuya) and his situation (his family abandoned him and when he finally refound them, they acted like they didn’t know who he was). He said ‘I know you were laughing at me. Pitying me. There’s no way you were really being kind.’ When Tatsuya was left alone, Saku became his friend and he brought him home and let them have dinner together and everything. But Tatsuya, being hurt too much and too deeply, always thought Saku was just being malicious (which is completely wrong), so he wanted to get revenge: that was manipulating Rui and giving her the idea of ‘pretend to kill yourself. It’ll be the biggest surprise to Saku and it’ll make him stop being so strict on you’ so silly Rui goes through with it and that’s what led to her death. By this point, everyone is crying and emotionally ruined, and the staff of the court ask them to decide who should be held accountable for the death of Rui. Saku puts his hand up. Everyone protests that he’s innocent but he says ‘I found a letter from her. It came through the mail a year after her death. I did her wrong. I just want to go and see my sister.’ so he begs everyone to judge him ‘guilty’ so he can get the death penalty and join his sister. Of course, everyone doesn’t want to do this but it’s either this or they have to choose another among them to be found Guilty. And the stage ends with them judging him ‘guilty’, he gets on a wooden crate, puts the noose rope around his neck and lights out.

*

I am not giving the story justice. The intricacies and seeing them break down one by one, and seeing the scenes with Rui and the others. It was just phenomenal acting and the way things came to light and revealed were so well done and so great! I really wish I had been able to see this one or two more times. Because I was so invested and I found everyone’s acting to be top notch! There are some specific scenes and things I would like to talk about though:

☆ Domoto Shohei’s acting when he goes from ‘normal childhood friend’ to ‘batshit crazy’ to ‘realising what he’s done and just breaking down completely’ was so amazing to witness. He flowed so effortlessly between these stages and emotions! I was SO impressed! This was definitely his best acting I’ve seen of him so far! I cannot give enough praise to how well he did. I felt so sorry for him too! You should HATE HIM. You should HATE how he manipulated Saku’s sister, but then you learn that he just wasn’t loved and he was abandoned and his parents are more to blame for his messed-up-ness than him. And you pity him for assuming Saku’s actions were through malice rather than Saku genuinely wanted to look after him. And this huge misunderstanding led to him doing something so unforgivable. Yes you should hate him but the character’s story and Domoto’s acting just... you can’t hate him at all!

☆ I really enjoyed Arima Ayaka’s acting too. I love how Kasumi went from ‘oh yeah she was a darling and I loved spending time with her’ to (when everything gets revealed) ‘she was abusive! She found out that me and Toshiya were dating and she threatened to leak the information. She also hit my all the time! She fucking sucked!’ which was great acting. The scene where Rui is hitting Kasumi had some really good acting. The actors themselves would push each other and a lot of parts were physically real so I was impressed with the trust between the actors and such for those moments. 

☆ Sena did a great job as the sister. She had very few scenes because she was only really in the flashbacks but she did a great job! She could switch her feelings and emotions very well which was great! I love how her outfit is a white dress which could mean so many things: innocent, death, ghost, haunting etc. Good choice in clothing!

☆ I was super surprised to see Yashima Yakuma in this! I didn’t know he was in the cast! I am bias. I really like his face and his acting and this role of ‘serious’ and part of the court team was great!

☆ I really liked Hikari as a character. At first he just seems like a hungover, irresponsible guy, but then we learn that he’s got the key information to unlocking the mystery of ‘what happened to Rui’.  He’s a sweet guy the entire time. He tries to calm people down and tries to stay level-headed and he really is the only character out of them who’s guilty of NOTHING. Also I loved his hair, but that’s irrelevant to the story.

☆ Kudos to Emi who did this dramatic reveal right at the beginning. She’s the one that’s like ‘oh quit the act everyone! We all hated her! Admit it!!’ and her craziness lasts the entire performance. She really does not give a shit and she just lets all the secrets out! I really love how when she’s telling her stories of Rui, she did things like get on the table and prance around and such.

Like I said, I am not doing this story justice and I wish I’d seen it a few more times so I could get more information and find more scenes to love. And as mentioned above, I had the biggest sniffler and snorter next to me the entire time which that took me out of the story SO much. I literally had to watch the stage with one finger in my right ear so I could somewhat block out the idiot’s noises. But alas, I hope this short, short review will suffice.

*

And that’s all! I have a SHIT TON (I’m not joking) of reviews and reports I am behind on, dating back to like June I think which is BAD. I need to get this shit done asap seriously. I must! xD

[recentanimenews]

Bookshelf Briefs 7/3/17

The Demon Prince of Momochi House, Vol. 9 | Aya Shouoto | VIZ Media – The “delving into Aoi’s past” arc resolves here, after a neat reveal about the true nature of his ayakashi sister. With Himari’s help, Aoi was able to both remember and accept his past, and returns to normal. Yukari then reveals that, long ago, Aoi found a diary from Himari’s parents that mentioned their daughter eventually coming to Momochi House, and that he’s been waiting for her and performing omamori duties all that time so that the house wouldn’t consume her. This feels a little like a retcon, but I’ll allow it. Another thing I’ll oh-so-graciously allow is the final scene—it’s rather silly that Himari and Aoi are riding around on a dragon firework, but I sniffled when she was able to show him the lights of the town he’s protecting. And I was sure we’d end on a cruel cliffhanger ’til I turned the final page. A very strong volume! – Michelle Smith

Fate/Zero, Vol. 5 | By Gen Urobuchi, Type-Moon, and Shinjiro | Dark Horse – Fate/Zero continues to do what it does best: show off some excellent fights and magics while being about ten times as dark as Fate/Stay Night. The battle between Kayneth and Kirutsugu is fairly one-sided, though the real horror there is Sola-Ui’s fervent desire to cut off his arm and become Lancer’s new Master (it’s impled so she can sex him up). Iris and Maiya take on Kirei, meanwhile, and Kirei gets to show us that he’s good for a lot more than merely verbally abusing Shirou—he’s a major badass. Throw in a funnier omake than usual (the shirt ripping, I should note, not the tasteless Sakura rape joke), and you have a strong volume of Fate/Zero, a series that remains only for the strong of stomach. – Sean Gaffney

Flying Witch, Vol. 2 | By Chihiro Ishizuka | Vertical Comics – Flying Witch is shaping up to be one of those series where not much happens, but it’s enjoyable to spend time in the company of its characters. In this volume, Makoto and her cousins pick and eat some wild plants, meet a fortune teller who believes she’s been the victim of Akane’s (Makoto’s sister) magical experimentation, and make some uncanny candy that plays with snackers’ emotions. Although there wasn’t enough of Chito the kitty for my taste, there were still some funny non-verbal panels, and Chinatsu deciding that she wants to be a witch too will probably result in more hijinks and witchy worldbuilding. I look forward to it! – Michelle Smith

Giant Killing, Vol. 2 | By Masaya Tsunamoto and Tsujitomo | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – We’ve waited three months for the second volume of Giant Killing and happily, it does not disappoint! The seinen slant to this series feels surprisingly fresh, dealing as it does with adults, their career trajectories, fan loyalty, etc. In this volume, we’re introduced to a showy East Tokyo United player named Prince who might be irresponsible but has the ability to think ahead that prompts Tatsumi to name him captain. Not everyone is pleased with that decision, but Tatsumi’s strategy is proven valid when ETU scores the first goal in their match against much-favored Tokyo Victory, league champions two years running, thanks to Prince and inconsistent newcomer Tsubaki. Manga soccer matches are so much more interesting than real-life soccer matches! Only a month to wait for volume three! – Michelle Smith

The High School Life of a Fudanshi, Vol. 1 | By Atami Michinoku | Seven Seas – Seventeen-year-old Ryo is a closet fudanshi. He has shared his secret with his friend, Nakamura, and throughout a series of 4-koma strips, proceeds to explain his hobby, fanboy over a couple of guys he thinks are gay, make friends with a fujoshi, attend a doujinshi event, recoil when a couple of attendees think he is gay, etc. Exceedingly few punchlines are even slightly amusing, and most are downright lame. Too, the treatment of a flamboyant gay character is problematic. I did smile at Ryo’s reaction to the squishy sound effects on a BL drama CD, and completely sympathize with the geeky logic of refusing to pay $40 for a shirt while eagerly dropping the same amount on fandom items, but I shan’t be continuing this series. – Michelle Smith

The Honor Student at Magic High School, Vol. 7 | By Tsutomu Sato and Yu Mori | Yen Press – Most of this volume is devoted to manga-only characters and battles, with Amy getting a taste of the spotlight and showing that she can be a funny gag character while still having dramatic scenes. More to the point, her victory here reinforces what we know from the novels—people who have Tatsuya help them win, people who don’t do not. As such, what we really need is a battle between two competitors who Tatsuki can help equally, and that’s Shizuku and Miyuki. The confrontation isn’t going to be seen till next time, and thanks to the books we know how it turns out, but there are some nice scenes with Shizuku and Tatsuya to show off her determination and will. A very good side manga. – Sean Gaffney

Of the Red, the Light, and the Ayakashi, Vol. 7 | By nanao and HaccaWorks* | Yen Press – There’s certainly a lot more forward movement than we’d had in the past couple of volumes, though I still spend some time needing to remind myself which pretty boy is which when we start a new book. I was happy to see Hina come to the rescue of her brother, even if it meant the realization that she too is not what she seems and not really his sister, though she cherished their time together. As for Yue, he’s still—for some reason—having trouble connecting the dots between ‘eating’ someone and ‘killing’ them, which unfortunately makes his naivete a bit aggravating right now. Still, his basic decency is all that’s standing between this title and a bloodbath, so I’ll give it to him. – Sean Gaffney

The Water Dragon’s Bride, Vol. 2 | By Rei Toma | VIZ Media – I had hoped for something more substantial from this volume, and I think Toma-sensei delivers. By far, the standout character for me in this series is the water god, so I loved seeing him begin to feel compassion, not only healing Asahi, but spending a lot of time watching over her. (These nonverbal panels are my favorites.) In his annoyance with the humans, he lets loose a flood that shows them that Asahi is under his protection, and it seems she is thereafter left alone, for years swiftly pass and we conclude the volume with she and Subaru looking like teenagers. I’m definitely intrigued to see where the story goes from here, and hope I’m able to get a stronger sense of Asahi herself. (I did like the part where she buried a fish, though.) – Michelle Smith

By: Michelle Smith

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

Which arcana do you think fits FeMC besides fool?

Ok so I’ve been meaning to write an analysis for like……4 ormore years on this. But to summarize my basic idea, besides Fool (and Death obvs), Ithink FeMC ties pretty well with the Sun arcana…which in turn means MaleMC tieswith the Moon arcana (tbh it’s kind of ironic considering I may or may not have writtenlengthy analysis about Hamuko from The Fools’ Tournament as the Moon cause theauthor said so and it fits her more for that fanfic 8U). Ngl I think they canboth switch if they want (from what I can tell those two arcanas work prettyfluidly with each other, esp when discussion positive readings vs negativereadings), but I think the FeMC would best be described as a Sun arcana person ina Moon arcana world.

(under the cut cause kinda lengthy, but it’s also kinda thecliffnotes version of a more in depth essay I wanna write later)

Considering how day and night play a big role in this game Idon’t think it’s too far fetched. Especially with how both Sun and Moon arcanasplay in both routes and feel important in different ways (Sun being a dying manwhom both MCs will essentially join later in the afterlife as well as both his design resembling Messiah later; and then with theMoon on the male side whom is basically foreshadowing the end month of P3 alongwith the fact he looks like a chubbier maleMC and the MC is apparently the doppelganger of Nozumi’s fraternal twin bro; and then with Shinjiro on theFeMC where she can actually change history by saving him).

I personally like to joke to myself that both P3MCs arekinda weird love children of Tatsuya and Maya (just switch the genders andpersonality traits a bit). No really there’s a lot of similarities betweenthese 4 (and it might be because of how one came after the other and the FeMCwas originally part of P3 before they ran outta money and time andaofdns;aflka; my poor baby ;w;). Like, ok let’s play a game, tell me who this is: A brown haired,red-eyed (which are sometimes portrayed as brown for some reason in someofficial works I dunno Atlus can’t seem to decide), possibly (by which I meantotally) bisexual MC whom apparently has a lot of admirers at school, kind ofhas a crap love life, esp with one of their love interests being associatedwith the Moon arcana dying, luckily they have a blonde hair girl who is totallyin love with them, they have a motorcycle key in their possession, have aninitial persona who’s primary magic is fire, has signature personas who’srelated to music, has a prime/modified version of their initial persona, whoare kind of maybe the reason the world might be ending, and they sacrificesomething important so that their friends can have normal lives. So who came tomind? Tatsuya or FeMC? The answer should be both. 8U 

(also side note, I figuredP5MC wouldn’t be able to date guys cause I cracked the code long ago guys, onlyway you can date both genders in Persona is if you have an MC with at leastbrown hair and red eyes, so like atlus should’ve just scrapped P5MC and justmade Goro or Makoto the main character if you wanted to date both genders 8U)

Ok ok, enough goofing around, let’s talk about the actual arcana. I do feel like the FeMC experiences both the positive andreversed arcana (actually depending on your choices it feels like itfluctuates).

Positives meaning:(Youthful) Optimism, energy, clarity of thought, creativity/new ideas,enlightenment, and reality

Positives in game:All of these are shown throughout the game. FeMC has been said to be “optimistic”on countless occasions (to the point she feels similar to Maya even having ashout-out to Maya’s signature catchphrase). In P3P the unstable Tartarus dayswere introduced, bringing certain floors and a new line “you’ve come up withnew combat ideas you should be able to gain more exp on this floor.” She isshown to have a lot of energy (even commented on it by people, exampledepending on your choice when you first meet Ms. Toriumi). LastlyEnlightenment, tbh this fits the MaleMC as this is what they basically achievewhile fighting Nyx. Also same with MaleMC, “reality” can be read choosing to letRyoji live and facing the reality of death or whatever. 8U

Negatives meaning:Vanity, Fantasy, everything is clouded, cynicism (also one or two placesmentioned the feeling of being “left out”)

Negatives in game:Choosing to kill Ryoji could mean the MCs indulding in the fantasy of notknowing Nyx is coming. The one I really want to focus on is the cynicism….Now you can play her as kind/optimistic pretty much to the end, or you can playher as harsh/cynical….but there’s something interesting looking at the male vsthe female routes, in the male route he starts kind of cold/neutral and as thegame goes on he gets more…”positive” dialogue options. FeMC, however, has alarge range of emotions from the start, but as the game goes on she gets morenegative options (tbh I’m not surprised, her love life is a mess, one boyeither dies or is in a coma, one leaves her to go home to France after sayinghe loves her, one states he can’t be with her until he becomes a “better man,” oneis a guy who has sister issues and is a pain to romance, one is a kid and evenif she claims she’ll wait for him she’ll just end up hurting him even more, oneof your friends turns you down cause he already had/has girl issues, one isdeath itself and leaves you after saying he’s basically gonna kill you, yourrobot almost died on you and is now coming out of the closet just in time forthe FeMC to die on her….god I’m not surprised she’d want to personally shootall of Strega in the head herself. Like “the world’s ending, no one loves me,come at me bro”). In terms of feeling left out, I feel like this applies alot  more to the FeMC than the MaleMC,while other characters will do stuff off screen to forward the plot, theimplications of their actions to the P3MCs are different. MaleMC probably hasn’tor can’t SL with them, so while he may feel out of the loop it’s not like it’sreally negative. FeMC, however, has the ability to SL her team as soon as theyjoin or come back from injury *cough Akihiko* (barring Mitsuru and Aigis causereasons), so when a teammate does something off screen, I dunno like confidingin another character instead of their supposed “best friend” the FeMC, it mayimpact the FeMC more. It makes her feel even more left out considering she ismuch closer.

Other Associations:Fire and Masculinity

Other Associations ingame: Fire obvs points to Orpheus. But Masculinity, oh I bet you thoughtyou got me here, but nope. If  the FeMCequips Mara Theo comments how “unlady-like” it is, Liz says the same thing asshe says to  the MaleMC “Tee-hee howmanly” (at least if you romance her that is she’ll say that 8U). On top of thefact….she has a choice to have Liz as her VR attendant…. Cause VR Attendantsare supposed to represent the anima/animus of their guest: Theo is the FeMC’sanimus (aka  in the unconscious of a woman it is expressed as a masculine innerpersonality) while Liz, Margaret, and Twins are the P3MaleMC, P4MC, andP5MC’s anima (aka in the unconscious of a man thisarchetype finds expression as a feminine inner personality). So if FeMC is female, she should just have anAnimus right? Yet she can have Liz….which means she represents the Anima….whichmeans….she’s there to basically balance out the FeMC’s (hidden) masculinity? 8UMight be why she gets along with the guys so well (even actually having friend…orshould I say “bro” routes in her SLs 8U), and maybe why she kinda has similar “flirty dialogue” that the MaleMC has with the girls (cause it’s pretty much copy and pasted over 8U). (as for if MaleMC matches with theMoon’s more “feminine” reading, I dunno he seems more interested in the ladiesthan the men in his SLs so he’s pretty women focused…in a way).

I would be inclined to think that Star arcana would fit her too (cause optimism theme as well, and cause a star persona is used to create her ultimate weapon….and cause cause the star arcana seems to be a theme with Hashino’s Persona era tho it mostly applies to P4/5), but that fits more with naive optimism while Sun kinda has to face the harshness of the world yet still find a positive outlook. Considering the running “gag” (not really a gag in most cases) since P2, Sun arcana characters tend to find themselves in bad situations and have to struggle to find a positive outlook. I feel the FeMC’s situation becomes very…dire like the other Sun arcana characters (like I said above “the world’s ending, no one loves me, everyone leaves me out, come at me bro”). You could interpret that she could start off as Star and then switch to Sun (naive then maturing basically) as the game goes on, I mean Star does come before Sun (with Moon in the middle) so….yeah….FeMC’s side could just be 3 arc Star->Moon->Sun story (but, again, I think Sun fits her the best 8U)