The ‘Good to Know’ Prologue Blog

“(*Quote from random Discord conversation*)

Despair, everyone will get an accommodated slice eventually. Needless to say, my slice certainly needs some work.”

-Karim Abbadi”

Greetings Readers! I hope you are well. Welcome to ‘Trying to make Sense,’ where I take a somewhat spiritual journey through memory lane, nostalgia and some internet research as to why I and many others like a thing...for some reason. Since you came by, I might as well reward you with some food for thought on Persona 3, suspecting you may have some initial knowledge. If not, I'll certainly (and briefly) bring you up to speed. I'll be doing a deep-dive and research on Persona 3 story and how it left a perceptive impression with me on notions of existentialism and despair after initial viewings. As usual with my other blogs, I'll link my sources embedded in bold as we read along if you would like to learn more.

Introductions are in Order…

Persona 3 is an ATLUS property authored and branded as the Shin Megami Tensei series. Persona 3 (similar to other Persona titles) is a role-playing game (RPG) entailing the aspects of the human condition as its core narrative, from societal philosophies to slice of life scenarios. This particular edition tackles our relationship with death and suicide, followed by such decisions, our personality and our interactions in life with others. Each entry of the Persona series has an abundant story; by abundant, I mean it has enough filler to plot ratio to feed the world's Covid apocalypse twinkly supply for about a year.

With a bit of research into ATLUS business history with some prior knowledge of Persona content over some time, you may begin to notice that the Persona brand is one of their prized properties over their struggling history with SEGA. It is safe to assume that the writing staff at ATLUS know what they're doing but are certainly fans of the morbid strange in literature & humour, philosophy, with a dab of the usual Japanese-style fan services from time to time. Not to mention the standard literary references within their games and storytelling for the fans to find.

Image Courtesy of Shin Megami Tensei and ATlus

Persona 3 has our adolescent characters within your classical high school setting. You, the protagonist (blue-haired boy or red-haired girl), are balancing a daily life of going to school and building relationships as you fight with an unknown enemy of the night called Shadow, who only appears during the Dark Hour. As the player progresses, you'll begin to notice Persona's roots in psychological horror as you witness the toll it has on your allies while reminding us of gripping thoughts of the evitable.

I don’t wanna wait, for this blog to be over! (Deep-Dive Analysis Time)

I want to think that Persona 3 holds a special adolescent place in my heart because, as awkwardly as I worded it, it's certainly nostalgic. You could say, I've masked out Persona 3 Social Link (*wiggly wink*...*embarrassed sigh*). Anyway, in initially playing through Persona 3, we, the player, start to realize that these high school students’ symptoms of anxiety, are a familiar feeling (maybe) during our time in high school. For example, Mitsuru Kijiro is an ace student in Geokkoukan high school, with top grades, stellar charm and a valorous conviction to boot any that falter her. As the player chooses to establish their social link with her, she reveals a heartfelt concern of feeling cornered by her surroundings' social expectations. Mitsuru's sense of self-worth withers, but with a maximized social link with the player, her confidence evolves to enhance her well-being and others.

As to why I have a soft spot for Persona 3, I came across a copy during a youthful period of naïve lonesome despair. It's not like this despair showed during social gatherings like school; it was the complete opposite, like a quiet meme-filled optimism so as not to bring others' mood down. I presume you may be familiar with that sort of shtick. While playing Persona, its RPG elements stuck with me as among my favorites, allowing interpersonal relationships with your allies that fight and support alongside the protagonist. Now, I know what you might be thinking, am I a Weeb? Not yet...However, I enjoy the humorous debates on topics of "best character" or “best waifu" within various fan forums, doing character and story deep-dives.

Mituru Kijiro is among the best characters, hand down! Debate me!Image courtesy of Atlas and Shin Megami Tensei — Mituru Kijiro is among the best characters, hand down! Debate me!
Image courtesy of Atlas and Shin Megami Tensei

All in all, I want to bring home the point that fans of a similar palette for art and storytelling may likely have this lonesome feeling of self-worth. Some feel that our physical presence acts as a repellent for human interactions, thus thinking less of themselves as human beings without internet persona-ifications (terrible, I know). It's likely from our various individual experiences we've met people who are overly outspoken or reticent about their sense of worth as a cry for help. Trying to help a friend or family member of a similar quarry may involve complicated loops of logic to wrap our heads around to solve. All of these variables of introversion are not a sign of weakness but a way to overcome them. My moments of despair, anxiety and loneliness enabled me to desire to learn from a more comprehensive perception.

Persona 3, being my gateway game into the series, was storytelling from writers with like-minded thoughts and experiences shared their outlook through fiction. A consistent lesson with Persona games has eventually taught me that I have to feel at home in my head to feel right with others. This feel at home headspace does different things for different people (of course); at least for me, it's seeking a wealth of perceptive knowledge while staying self-sufficient. Solving our headspace and self-esteem dilemma is a difficult and challenging thing, as Persona 3 was the light that started the journey to find a way out. We owe it to ourselves to find our morning at the end of the abyss; you just have to go through the darkness to meet the light.

Thank you for Reading! I hope you enjoyed your time with us todayImage courtesy of The Simpson staff and Disney — Thank you for Reading! I hope you enjoyed your time with us today
Image courtesy of The Simpson staff and Disney

We wish you well through rouph of times and the best. Image courtesy of the fanart community, Atlus — We wish you well through rouph of times and the best.
Image courtesy of the fanart community, Atlus

Continue with us next time, in another compact deep-dive.