Fanfic Recommendation: Per...so...na!

Fantastic!

(Note the colors above is the signature colors of the P4 and P3 respectively)

Now on a previous post, I said that I enjoyed the entirety of the Persona series. My friends and I enjoyed Persona 4: The Animation and I, being a fan of Persona 3, just can't wait for the movie to happen! I hope they nail the final scene of the game rightfully. Not tedious and just straining for violins strings like the end of TS3.

But I digress.

Anyway, want to learn why I am such an ardent shipper of Akihiko Sanada and Minato Arisato/Makoto Yuuki in the first place?

Just to let you know, I am more used to the name Minato so I'm going to use it more. I have no trouble with the new name they gave the protagonist of P3. For god's sake, the protagonist can have any name and he's a blank slate.

Let me repeat this for the sake of my enjoyment and others' of future Persona games, whether it is Ultimax Ultra Suplex Hold or Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth, the protagonists can and will have any name you choose from. Just because Atlus used the anime names for the protagonists (Yu Narukami and Makoto Yuuki for P4 and P3 respectively) doesn't make the names Souji Seta and Minato Arisato any less plausible names for these characters (I myself is used to the manga names before the anime and I don't see myself throw a fit over names. I not yet used to the new names but use your common sense, people! and don't overreact to the smallest of things). As a fan of the series, just play the games first before giving your opinion. Don't judge it based on its design. Even though myself wish there is some P1 or P2 characters in this rather than making a cameo make a full appearance, we have to wait and see if there will be any characters coming in any future games aside from just P4. Just because Minako/Hamuko is not coming doesn't change the fact you can still enjoy the game, no matter how fanservicey it is.

Yes, I went on a huge rant there. Also I never played the Shin Megami Tensei games so I can't really say anything about it because the Persona series surpassed the original games and its spin-offs in popularity. No, I am not going to try and settle that fan debate because I never truly played the games so I have no right to give my opinion yet. However, I have this to say: Give the games more love for those who had play both series.

Persona 5 is coming so shut your yap and just enjoy Atlus is giving us.

He looks so cute unlike his usual blase demeanor. I like to think that if he survives (spoilers!), then he would be a singer or a musician of sort. Unlike Shinji Ikari, at least his music player actually has music!

Now imagine an avid reader of anything that can be read scrolling through searches for good Persona fanfiction. I for one will read anything as long as it's interesting.

Until I found this story whose summary is too good to pass up and entrancing plotline with a romantic subplot: New Game Plus

Summary: Given a chance to start all over again, will Minato be able to make a difference in his future? An exploration of what New Game Plus could really mean.

Review: Very well-written and told like it's an actual open world game instead linear. It's realistic which the author was going for. S/he had yet to rewrite the cheesy ending but it's all good still. It captures the atmosphere of the game while still being an original story.

The romance of Akihiko and Minato is the subplot of the entire story leading to both boys' character development. Both are practically driven by their love for each other (and friendship) so it's safe to say they are a perfect match (attuned to the other's movement, reading each other's mind... they're like a married couple already! ...not as bad as MakoHaru though...). What made this couple special is the lack of social link in canon. Minato wanted to try something new without the guide of divine voices and boy, he's more happier with Akihiko than with any of the other girls he dated in a fling. Akihiko grew differently from his canon self but you could say it is in line with the romance route in the Star Arcana. Due to his love for Minato, his persona leveled up which is just touching like the other thing in canon. The way he reacted to Minato's fate reveals just how devoted and faithful (so, so in love) he really is and visa versa (I have to add this: Akihiko allows himself to be close to someone after all those years since Miki's death and Shinjiro's falling out after Ken's mom's death and when that the love of his life never even told him that he died in the previous cycle and planned to die anyway, it broke him). The reunion in the end is just so sweet with the passionate kiss. The romance is very great written like it was in canon.

I highly doubting the social links would break since the relationships are just too strong. It's a happy ending, not a perfect ending.

Now that Minato lives, can you imagine the impact he would have in Persona 4: Arena or the non-canon Persona ~Trinity Soul~? It's very obvious that the relationship of Akihiko and Minato is so strong I can say they would be living together in an apartment and being lovers for many years by now. Chidori and Junpei, a baseball coach, would be married. Shinjiro would have a happy extended life... I don't know, running a cooking show? Mitsuru, a CEO, and Yukari, an actress and model, would be very happy themselves.

All of them living with more hope and cheer unlike their canon selves. I could say Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep is the counterpart to Persona 3; both series are dark and filled with enough Christian symbolism and ended in tragedy but still have the hope that all of the original friends would be reunited. I'm mushy like that.

Those two really do need to meet together. 

For a good P3/P4 crossover fic, I would recommend Reversing Arcana.

Summary: P3,P4. Six months after Souji leaves Inaba, he wakes up to his house on fire. The Investigation Team are the only ones who know he survived. But that's the beginning of their troubles.

Review: Now this story takes a more darker and angstier route. Like how the P3 cast mourns their leader's death, the P4 cast mourns Souji's 'death'.

Now, some of the really, really moronic fans think that the Investigation Team could have some tragedy in their lives with Yu/Souji dying (Even without the rampart Christian Symbolism in P3, a tarot card reading of the Fool speaks of the inevitability of death). There are already tragedy in their lives with Saki's death and their own personal tragedy, confronting their true selves. For all P4 is a light game about murder, it is still a Shin Megami Tensei game...the lightest of all I had ever seen out of the series.

If Souji indeed died (and become part of the Midnight Channel as a result of taking Izanami's place or just died), all his Social Links will reverse itself since like in P3 all the promises you made with them would be broken...You have no idea how many times I wept and cringe seeing the promises being made, knowing the protagonist is going to die anyway...Atlus, you bastards, way to rub in the inevitability! Given how many years had gone by, I would believe they are living their lives for Minato while still believing he could've been a somebody, not an emo boy who passed away of an unnamed illness.

For P4, it may take just as long for the P3 Social Links to get over the death of a beloved friend.

I just love Minato and Souji's confrontation. It's just brilliant.

It provides a good psychological analysis of Souji leading to a really broken shell of a fearless boy with a heart of gold. I loves the theme that he's not perfect like how everyone else sees him as. It blatantly dropped by Adachi who also see him as perfect. However, it soon later become clear that Souji has some problems. I should've known that some of the things his Shadow said had been subtle the entire time with his rocking sanity.

The way how the Investigation team reacts to Souji's true feelings and Souji in general is sweet and brilliant. Of course, they seen him as perfect so to have their pedestal broken is just so good drama.

The P3 cast is a nice touch. All they wanted is to see their precious leader again but was horrified at the extent Elizabeth is going to make sure Minato comes back at the cost of an innocent that everyone even those who don't know Minato, Minato would be horrified.

There are lots of character development on many parts but you have to read it for yourselves. Sure it's more darker and angstier, but wow is it subtle and well-done.

Favorite Video Game: Persona 3

Look how happy they all are... when their life is practically predetermined with tragedy...

Look, I love this game more than any other Persona I ever played. I still cried at the ending though.

All the characters are likable and genuine. The story is complex and well-written. The darker elements of Persona is still there even though I always thought the Evoker is just pushing it though (the many themes is death so suicide is the way to summon). The comedy actually sets up plot points later on. P4 just decided to make comedy more blatant for the sake of comedy. I don't mind it as much, seeing it's more of a Scooby-Doo story with Persona elements in it.

I admit the game is very long and repetitive in terms of gameplay but a lot of people said I have a patience of a saint.

The music is just amazing. I can see why Pawdugan continued to praise it like no tomorrow.

I just can't wait for the movie to come out and subbed or even better dubbed. Basically after the success of Persona 4: The Animation and its movie, Persona 3 finally got a set of movies! (in a vein of the reconstructive/deconstructive Mind Screw The Rebuild of Evangelion)

Now I would consider Persona 3 Portable the definitive P3 since it made the improvements that Persona 3 FES and the original not really bad but mostly hard to play. If only it had anime cutscenes, then it would make it on top. The Minato's awakening anime cutscene is disturbing and haunting as opposed to the fairly quick P3P.

I knocked on The Answer a lot. I felt like Mitsuru and Yukari are drastically out of character from their character development. Mitsuru has an excuse because she's repaying Yukari for what she managed to pull her out of her depression. Yukari on the other hand.... You can argue she lost someone (platonically/romantically) but she already lost someone already (her dad) and she should already have the strength to deal with a death; heck she even has the key to find the truth of Minato's death. The battles for the keys are unfortunately ridiculous; even with opposing views, they should at least cooperate to try to find out what's going on aside from the fact they're stuck on a Groundhog Loop. The grinding didn't help. (For Memento Mori...you just read what I am just going to skip over and try to make something else out of it).

While it has a satisfying ending...sort of, I felt they dealt the grief quite well. Aigis' character development was the best part of The Answer as well... the answer. Spoilers if you click the link. I felt they kept Akihiko, Ken, and Junpei's character development fine.

Personally, I dislike jealous!Yukari or anyone who really bashes a character. You can hate the character but you can't destroy a character in your fan work just because you hate them; that's immature. Spoony made it clear that he hates some of the characters in P3 but he's respectful of it (although I always dislike Spoony as a critic. He's not that great and more often and not I'm bored and disinterested based on how he presented his videos though I do like Doctor Insano and the other characters than the title character. Yes, I learned about his mental condition and all and I respect his opinion, it's just that Spoony isn't for me. Hey, at least he's better than AniMat and Confused Matthew.) Heck, even when he had a demo on Persona 4 Arena, he didn't even bash or call out on any of the P3 characters. Anyways, I know she would have something like "I want my beloved to be happy" and not jealous someone else got someone she likes. She might have questions why Minato chose that person but as long as Minato is happy, then she'll be happy and wishes just how much the person is so lucky to have him.

Look, I do not want to harp on anyone who dislike a certain character and blasting someone about it. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. If something sucks for me and someone else likes it, more power to you. Pawdugan loves Persona 3 while Spoony dislikes it even though I heard him mentioning Hamuko when talking about P4G and P4A, implying he played P3P but that's left in the air.

An interpretation of a character and their characterization is up to the person. It doesn't have to be definitive where everyone loves a certain character or any kind of work for that matter. I felt the interpretation of Sherlock S3 was horrendous because it treads away from the character development and everyone acts out of character for one thing. There's just too many original characters with the exception of two and it's not Sherlock Holmes no matter how much I tried my best to find something I like about it.

A review tends to be subjective, based more on emotional responses than more objective (that is up on the air). I tried to give everything a fair view and pushed any emotion that might respond to the side. I do not rage-quit; I just tend to lose interest until it somehow catches my attention again. I'm fickle just like every other people in this world (even if it's just fan's indecision to stick to one work) but it's human nature. However, I tend to be objective and rational no matter what I do.

Spoony is between those two since sometimes I'm not really sure he honestly felt that way until I see the commentaries or even the vlogs. I mentioned Spoony multiple times now because I just saw his Final Fantasy XIII review and commentaries and whoo boy does he doesn't like it even though he said it quite clear in various videos he hasn't lost faith on Square Enix. After playing a FFXIII-2 demo, he stated that SE must rebuild from top to bottom to their old roots because they aren't even trying anymore as if the gameplay is any indication. He's a caustic critic as opposed to the pure niceness that is Pawdugan but he made it clear he doesn't mean to be rude; it's just an acting role he plays whenever he reviews something even though sometimes it's hard to see which is his real personality.

SE doesn't have the guts to kill off a character anymore even though some character arcs like Sahz's in FFXIII is so powerful and would have been so shocking and unpredictable... okay, so it wouldn't save the rest of the game but really his death might as well propel Sahz to the likes of Aerith.

Now I'm rambling but please take that into consideration. It's a new update and I felt I need to make something clear.

Status Update: So Sick...

I haven't been feeling well for the past few days with nausea so much so I want to vomit, headache more like migraine, stomachache, feeling like fainting not sleeping, irritated nose to the point I wanted to sneeze but I couldn't until it come out of nowhere, feverish so much I couldn't do my homework. I don't have any romantic partner so I'm not pregnant... Single here.

I never thought I'll like Free! Iwatobi Swim Club anime ever. I can totally see the homosexual subtext, subtle and ambiguous. It has a good plot and characterization (sure there are some stereotypes but it's so obvious it is taken care of with love, really I just about fell in love with every character who had been treated realistically even the Ho Yay is realistic) that I can see why JesuOtaku give it a green for now. I so, so deeply love depth in any kind of medium. Silver Spoon may be Arakawa's take on realism even though FMA is realistic in a human sense but I still love it. I consider Arakawa one of the distinctive and talented mangaka of recent years. I'm think of watching the recent Fate installment.

I did end up shipping MakoHaru, ReiGisa, and RinTori after all... and all because of how well they told them.

I'm unfortunately have more Opinion posts but I'm very busy with the need to complete math homework and review in order to pass a test.