just for fun!

[silencesfate]

Honorifics, canon hobbies/club and such have their own post!

DESIGN / PHYSICAL

• Name(s) Meanings: Don't quote me personally on this, but poking around, "Minato Arisato" (what I'm using!) means the harbor of the beginning and end, so perhaps the course of life itself. He's named "Makoto Yuki" in the movie. And he's "Sakuya Shiomi" in the stage plays; Sakuya as his kanji is used means preparation and was named after a blossom princess and symbol of the delicacy of life, while Shiomi most commonly means "to see the tide", but there is something else interesting... If canon ever happens beyond its usage in the Japanese Persona Q trailers I'm still rooting for Minato though. Shhhh.

• His nickname in the Drama CD, to forego use of an actual name for him is "Leader", for obvious enough reasons! And the Japanese fandom sometimes calls him Kitaro, after a classic manga's demon boy hero that features him alongside fellow youkai.

• He is voiced by Ishida Akira, and in the musical live is played by Aoi Shouta. Both voices are great for him, so I like and accept both! In general, his voice is airy, quiet, soft, doesn't show a lot of emotion, and his manner of speaking is always brief. But once in a blue moon, if caught off-guard he might yelp. Adopting Aoi's voice for his singing, it also gives him an impressive range to reach high notes.

• Standing around 5'6" (167cm tops in my headcanon), Minato isn't particularly short in the standards for a Japanese person, but is still the smallest and scrawniest of the males in S.E.E.S., discounting Ken who is still a kid. He slouches, which would probably make him appear even smaller. The PQ manga seems to also shrink him sometimes, so who even knows, really??? We have a small (ha) semblance of a canon height via the PQ visual guide!

• His frame is thin, and people have often commented it looks unhealthy sometimes (this despite, he can eat like a champion if allowed to indulge). He has very fair skin, sickly pale on his worse days. Doesn't seem like eating helps his skin get more color...

• Minato's immune system is kinda terrible, and he gets sick several times over the course of the game. It's been this way since he was younger, and back then he used it as an excuse to get out of doing things a lot of the time sometimes. He only starts considering it a genuine hassle once he's more actively doing things; and he never wants to be ill enough to go to the hospital, due to its reminding him of not so pleasant memories.

• He has been described as pretty, and androgynous, contributed by his lithe frame, eyelashes being very long, and that his hands look somewhat thin and delicate. He doesn't seem to mind it very much (seeing as he gets no reaction prompts regarding his appearance, positive or negative). Many characters consider him good-looking in-universe, with several mentions of it even by NPC's that don't speak to him, and a Social Link Tanaka tells him he'd make an attractive model.

• The long bangs of his blue hair covers the right side of his face; often obscuring his right eye. While unclear in how official it is due to its absence in latter games, some say he has a beauty mark below it, most commonly done in the Japanese fandom. But it's cute and mirrors a certain spoiler character, so why not. (And placement there usually means "destined to cry", and given P3...) His eyes are big and bluish-gray; I tend to interpret/write it as gray more, it's super inconsistent in even official art alas. Usually they are half-opened when he's feeling sleepy.

• In Persona Q, there's a short gag about how Yosuke and Souji think his right eye contains special powers and it's why he keeps it hidden--if you're controlling Minato, even he can joke about it!

• Seen here: Soejima in his book Persona 3: Official Design Works described trying to make him as neutral as possible so players could better project themselves onto him, in the end, he calls Minato "not particularly tall, and giving an impression of an ordinary person, but with a hidden coolness". The ordinary part is likely lost, as you build up his personality traits more...

• According to Elizabeth, he was able to keep up consistent eating with her for seven meals before feeling sick by the eighth. The Gourmet King also mentions he's able to maintain pace with him. It seems like he can usually control his appetite, but if he's allowed to let loose he's kind of a monster!

• Minato's fondness for sleeping and eating is kept in Persona Q; they're common answer options when asked about what he wants to do or what he's thinking about. Both of these habits were probably caused by a certain unhealthy thing that was with him for a long time...

• His hands are soft, though also deathly cold--so they aren't the nicest to hold.

• While most his casual attire gives the impression of not needing a lot of effort, he's fashion-conscious enough to be orderly and tie or button things perfectly. He would, for example, fix his ribbon immediately if it became asymmetrical.

BACKGROUND

• His family was fairly well-off. You can tell from how in the flashback scene, his clothes were still fancy. At some point a couple of the relatives he had cheated him out of his inheritance, and his most recent former guardians don't even send him allowance, but he doesn't really care. He's happy enough with his mp3 player and earphones, from one that he actually got along with.

• Appearance and personality-wise, he takes after his mother, though he doesn't remember being very close to either parent. What he remembers most was wanting to make them proud, back then. Over the years of suffocating pity that he didn't care for from strangers, he warped his perception ultimately not caring they're gone, or wonder about pointless daydreams of "if only" they survived--even if he knows it's not fair of him to think that; and that he's probably not recalling their relationship correctly anymore. He pays his respects again in quiet remembrance, following reflection on what the rest of SEES has gone through.

• He wasn't necessarily assertive before either, but Minato was more eager to get into things after encouragement, and to encourage others in return. He was shy, and unsure of himself a lot. After the tragedy, he was no longer afraid of things, but also everything seemed without meaning, and without direction. This outlook develops that living in itself was troublesome, and he wouldn't care what happened to him, at that point. It seemed he also lost his kindness, though he later finds it again. It becomes apparent he can't ignore suffering if it's happening right in front of him.

• Nobody thought to really further teach him manners or push him to try harder again (even in his slouch, or sleeping), be they his caretakers or teachers, out of consideration of his background, or frustration with his difficult-to-deal-with personality, etc. Despite this, he's actually fairly good at listening to orders when not being actively stubborn, as he'd rather not cause trouble.

• Fully aware of how hard social interactions are for him, he kept up shutting everyone out without minding it until P3's events occur, and he begins to go as far as even seeking people out when he felt they needed the company. He had no people he would necessarily call friends, before then.

PERSONALITY / ACTIVITY

• In the manga evaluation, early canon Minato can be considered "zombie-like", but later canon Minato has a distant, but admirable and undoubtedly kind aura. Either way, it's still hard to see what's in his inner world, but he relates to people easier.

• Minato probably tries to blend in the background more than anything despite working hard, but that he ends up pretty popular is an unfortunate side-effect in the end. Junpei is pretty upset both his best friends are like this, with one being enthusiastic and succeeding at flirting around and Minato is neither trying nor cares.

• Persona Q assumes he hasn't been dating anyone, on top of his love obliviousness in pretty much all P3 adaptations (manga, movie, stageplay, drama CD), and so that's what I'm doing.

• He can love someone regardless of their gender, but actually getting him to the level of genuine romance is already an obstacle on its own--because personally, I never really felt more than he wanted to make the other party happy in his in-game dating, and that he was incapable of loving them in return as much as they loved him. More like, he got caught into these situations, and found himself unable to reject their advances, he only hoped he would come to feel the same way. At the very least... he tried, though that might have hurt them more later on. Maybe he'll have better luck with his love life in an RP game someday, where he won't be trapped without friendship options smh.

• He is versatile and a fast learner, it seems his truest flaw early on preventing him from accomplishing a lot was his laziness and inability to care. It leads to this somewhat funny situation, that Minato's later developed flaw is the polar opposite: overexertion to the point of not telling anybody else, even after he's burnt out.

• Confirmed in the drama CD's, he's very observant of people's conditions, and it helps him be effective in knowing when SEES should stop their Tartarus climbs for the night, even when they haven't outright admitted they were already feeling unwell. Hidetoshi also notes his attention to detail, though Minato doesn't really think of it as a big deal. This also means photography club with Keisuke rather suits him, and he could do it well enough as a hobby. (Photography club, incidentally, is likely Keisuke's canonical one due to his continuing to be its president in Hamuko's route.)

• You can alternatively have him join art club and promptly learn he is a terrible artist...

• As for music club, he knows at least the basics to play violin; it's noted that none in their orchestra are particularly skilled, though they have fun. Related to his family background headcanon, I imagine it was muscle memory from violin lessons way back, rather than starting anew, but he hasn't played in a long time since his parents' passing.

• Someone had taught him some dessert recipes in the past, and he has great cooking instincts, even if not on Shinji's level. Most of the time however he can't be bothered and would just eat out, so he only really does does cooking on whims.

• For some reason, he likes imitating animals. The other instance people most remember is him imitating a cat while trying to serve as a distraction. The question is: is it only cats...??

ENDGAME / POST-GAME (heavy spoilers and thus all whited out, highlight to read)

• Messiah is regarded as his canonical ultimate Persona, and is fused from Orpheus and Thanatos. In its own way, it's as if Ryoji is still able to fight the End with him, alongside his other friends.
  
• The Universe arcana that he holds the power of doesn't take an actual card's design, it is only portrayed as a shining light. For one, I believe his subsequent power to become The Great Seal is not based on only his own soul, but by the strength of the bonds that he had with others.
  
• On technicality, The Answer says he passes away in the dorms the next day March 6th, and not on March 5th, 2010; though he never woke up from falling asleep on the rooftop. They couldn't find anything wrong with him at the hospital, leading to the emptiness of the team by the time of The Answer, not knowing why he died. It is essentially an epilogue plot for them come to terms with what happened and understanding his sacrifice.
  
• They left his room alone, and his evoker was kept with Aigis for safekeeping. As time cracked, it would serve as a gateway to the past, should they want to reverse time to before Nyx and try change his fate.
  
• A form that takes his shape appears as the manifestation of the team's regrets, that they couldn't save him. It has no voice, except for the cry when felled--before ironically, smiling before it comes undone layer by layer.
• Elizabeth is searching for a way to save his soul, although her journey as of yet has no leads. (Personally, I am okay if she never does find a way--Persona 3 being about death, and for Minato to have been satisfied with how he lived his life... he loved it, by the end; after spending most of his life not caring, he learned to. That is enough. He was happy.)

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Ratings, provided with HTML, can be found here. Adapted from here.