Somehow, I neglected to mention five months ago that I have been sporadically playing Persona 3. Well, I was playing it sporadically anyway; I put it down for about two and a half months after getting hit with three instant-kill spells in one night, figuring it was a sign that I needed to quit the game for a while. That and, you know, three fucking instant-kill spells in one night goddammit argh. Such is the MegaTen franchise.

So anyway, my thoughts on the game!

• I love the 3rd year trio so much. I want, like, a whole spinoff prequel just about them.



• ...I am seriously so crazy about these three that, having been horribly, horribly spoiled long ago, I have been hesitant to advance the game beyond the point I am at now, which is 10/2. T_T

• Akihiko should have his own Social Link, too. He's probably my favorite character overall, by which I of course mean I am a squealing, giggling Akihiko fangirl. TOTALLY UNEXPECTED, GEE BUT HE'S SO UNPOPULAR, etc., but really, there's a reason he's one of the most popular characters in the game. It's that combination of "cool badass fighter with an angsty past" and "socially oblivious dweeb in a sweater vest". That's not a combination you see very often.

• Speaking of whom, I spent much of the early game convinced that he and Mitsuru were something of an item, or at the very least, that he had a bit of a crush on her. I still think he likes her, but I had gravely underestimated the impact of his ~tragic past~ with Shinjiro. W-Wow. Atlus is making up for dropping the ball on Tatsuya/Jun in Persona 2, y/y?

• Before I even played the game, I read through the art book and was struck by something: Akihiko and the main character bear an extremely strong resemblance to Ryohei and Hibari of Reborn!. Right down to the boxing. I think next time I play, I'm naming the main character Hibari Kyouya so I can giggle stupidly to myself the whole time.

• I figured at first this would be like Persona 2, where I used my party's weapons approximately never and relied solely on the Personae themselves. I was DEAD WRONG. Right now I'm blazing through the fourth block of Tartarus on Rush so I can level Junpei up to something respectable (he and Yukari were relegated to the sidelines after I got Mitsuru and Aigis).

• On that note, I fucking love Junpei. The retarded victory pose, the poorly-concealed "admiration" for Akihiko, the vacation mission, the assholishness and resentment in the first half of the game, the awkwardly sweet relationship with Chidori...all so amazing. Really, he's one of the best-written characters in the game.

• But while Junpei is the "assholish friend you probably shouldn't hang out with but still do for reasons unknown" type on purpose, I don't think Kenji was meant to be seen that way. He's a complete tool for the first eight ranks of his Social Link, and then you get to the big "reveal" (which was totally unsurprising) in rank 9 and suddenly he's all "sob sob thanks for always being there, bro, you're the best ever." If I wasn't laughing so hard at his pain and foolishness, I would've wanted to punch him.

• That said, I liked Kenji a lot and actually felt kind of guilty for laughing at him, heh. I mean, he's just a kid! He can't help but be stupid. Also, after seeing the rank 9 event's conclusion, I fully expected the rank 10 event to involve him inviting the main character (I ended up naming him Minato, using his name from the manga version) to his room, like the girls do. I had just finished Chihiro's Social Link (more on that in a sec), so my thoughts had turned, naturally, to "Social Link Rank 10 = sex, right?" My brother was in the room watching the game when I was playing.

CONVERSATION THAT TOOK PLACE BEFORE MAXING KENJI'S SOCIAL LINK

[In the game, Kenji wants to hang out with Minato after school]
SAM: Kenji's like, "Minato...m-my mom called and said she won't be home for a while."
SAM'S BROTHER: Yeah, but it's Kenji, so it'd be more like, "My mom won't be home for a while...bro."
[pause]
SAM'S BROTHER: [as Kenji] "...buddy, dude...wink, wink."
SAM: [as Minato] "I dunno, I like to do manly things, y'know, 'cause manly guys like to do manly things."
SAM'S BROTHER: [as Kenji] "I was thinking we could go do...something dirtay."
SAM: Okay, this would be infinitely more appropriate for Kazushi.

• On Kazushi: he is amazingly adorable and I just want to pinch his poor little cheek. Stop killing your knee! It's not worth it! He's one of the few "friend" Social Links who I think really is a good friend, without being either kind of an asshole or vaguely creepy and smothering. As such, I 'ship Minato/Kazushi just a little bit. I-I'm so ashamed.



• The first of the girlfriends I chose for Minato was, of course, Chihiro the nerd. (I suspect she's a fujoshi as well. I'm just sayin'.) She's super-cute and the Justice arcana is one of my favorites, so I had to see it through to the end. Her rank 9 event was pretty unexpected; after that sudden display of near-psychotic jealousy and rage followed by girlish giggling, I figured rank 10 would end in tears and bloodshed (followed by girlish giggling). I was slightly disappointed, but she was still way more aggressive than her earlier characterization would lead you to believe. I liked Chihiro.



• I will endeavor to use "maxing [his/her] Social Link" as my new favorite euphemism. Also acceptable: "getting [him/her] to Rank 10", "sharing a tender moment".

• "Maya" is the best of the best Social Links. Nothing tops Maya. Does anyone else in the game talk about their coworker's "fake tits" or say stuff like "lmaonade"? Does anyone else in the game cheerfully tell you about the time some effeminate douchebag at the train station called her a drunk slut? Is there anything in the world that could possibly be funnier than giving the MMO addict the Hermit arcana? No, I didn't think so.

• I didn't think I'd like Yuko all that much, since she's ditzy and into sports and shit--it's like looking at the exact opposite of myself at that age--so it took me quite by surprise that I found her really cute and fun. She's spunky. I love her general "lol whatev :D" attitude.

• BEBE. This is Atlus not even bothering to be coy. "You're having a delectable time with Bebe." Besides being the flamiest character they've had since Jun, Bebe's Social Link is kinda depressing. I mean, it's depressing enough that he's such a sad weeaboo, but immediately after his lifelong dream comes true, his closest relative dies and everything gets ruined? Jesus, Atlus, you all are heartless.



• Fuuka annoys the shit out of me. She has one of the worst VAs in the game (the only one worse is Chidori's), her character design looks like she's wearing a piece of shag carpeting for a wig, and she's aggressively, violently boring. BUT YOU CAN'T AVOID HER. GOD, SHUT UP.

• I don't really like Yukari either--maybe because the game is designed to push you toward her, and I want to be contrary--but at least she's sort of interesting. In a way. I guess. I'm probably only pursuing her because I like the Lovers arcana. If there weren't so many good Lovers Personae (I spent a large part of the game relying on Narcissus, and I managed to get a Charm-immunity item out of him), I'd probably just ignore her in favor of Mitsuru and the two non-SEES girls.

• Speaking of Yukari, HOLY HELL THE JULY FULL MOON EVENT. That was amazing. Not the Yukari part so much (though if it was meant to be both darkly funny and unsettling and creepy, it was remarkably well-written), but if you take Mitsuru and Akihiko? AHAHAHAHA. "N-Nothing happened!" Then Mitsuru thanks you for "withstanding the enemy's mental assault", like Akihiko didn't or something. SUSPICIOUS.



• I've noticed in the fandom that Yukari/Mitsuru is a weirdly popular pairing, even with people who otherwise aren't into yuri. I don't get it. Is there some shockingly subtext-laden event coming up? Is it just that Mitsuru's hotness transcends the barriers of sexual orientation? Or is this a way of getting the two girls out of the way to free up the boys to be paired off with each other? Oh, fandom.



• p.s. I secretly like Junpei/Yukari

• Regarding the fandom, I've been browsing fanart while writing this entry and I just saw Koromaru/Ikutsuki non-con. I DEFY YOU TO FIND SOMETHING WORSE. GO ON AND TRY.

• Strega is lame. After the awesome villains of the first three games, I expected better than Heroin Jesus, a bitchy GothLoli who cuts herself, and someone's leftover generic cyberpunk character design. I realize this makes them sound kind of awesome, but they really aren't. And their VAs are, like, Iron Chef bad. I don't know how they managed to suck so much when the main cast is pretty decent overall.

• Anyway, THIS GAME IS AMAZING AND YOU ALL NEED TO GO FIND COPIES OF IT RIGHT NOW SO WE CAN SQUEE TOGETHER. I DEMAND IT.