Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3

Persona 3 is a turn-based RPG developed by Atlus for the PlayStation 2. It is the forth game in the Persona series. 
It was re-released as Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES in 2007, with additional features such as a new canon epilogue entitled The Answer. 
In 2009, a PSP version of the game entitled Persona 3 Portable was released. This version makes numerous changes to the original Persona 3; notably, the inclusion of a female protagonist (often dubbed FeMC by fans), with story changes designed to accomodate the new MC option.
In 2024, Persona 3 Reload, a ground-up remake of Persona 3 was released. This version includes all of the changes from the 2007 re-release as well as many of the quality-of-life changes from Portable; however, it does not include the female protagonist.
==Canon==
Persona 3 follows a group of high school students trying to cope with, understand and accept death in a world surrounded by it, as well as find their own reasons for living. They form a group called SEES in order to investigate the Dark Hour, a mysterious time period between one day and the next that few people are aware of. During the Dark Hour, SEES explores Tartarus, a large tower containing Shadows, creatures that feed on the minds of humans. To fight the Shadows, each member of SEES is able to summon a Persona, a manifestation of their inner self.
==Characters==
===Playable===
* Makoto Yuki - Also known as Minato Arisato (manga adaptation), he is the male protagonist of the story.
* Kotone Shiomi - Also known as Minako Arisato and FeMC, she is the female protagonist exclusive to Persona 3 Portable.
* Yukari Takeba
* Mitsuru Kirijo
* Akihiko Sanada
* Junpei Iori
* Ken Amada
* Fuuka Yamagishi
* Aigis
* Koromaru
* Shinjiro Aragaki
* Metis (Persona 3 FES epilogue exclusive)
===Non-Playable===
* Shuji Ikutsuki
* Ms Toriumi
* Ryoji Mochizuki
* Kenji Tomochika
* Hidetoshi Odagiri
* Nozomi Suemitsu
* Chihiro Fushimi
* Andre ‘Bebe’ Laurent Jean Geraux
* Keisuke Hiraga
* Kazushi Miyamoto
* Yuko Nishiwaki
* Rio Iwasaki (P3P exclusive)
* Saori Hasegawa (P3P exclusive)
* Natsuki Moriyama
* Takaya Sakaki
* Jin Shirato
* Chidori Yoshino
* Igor
* Nyx
* Elizabeth
* Theodore (P3P exclusive)
* Pharos
* Maiko Oohashi
* Bunkichi and Mitsuko
* Akinari Kamiki
* President Tanaka
* Mamoru Hayase
* Mutatsu
* Kiyoshi Sakuma (P3P exclusive)
* Man Drinking Alone (P3P exclusive; cameo of Vincent, the protagonist from Catherine)
==Fandom==
===Female Protagonist===
When Persona 3 Portable was released it allowed players to play as a female protagonist. Fans sometimes debate which who has the most canon storyline between the male and female protagonist, causing some wank over if the female protagonist is as important as the male one. Regardless, she is a popular character and is often portrayed alongside the male protagonist. She is dubbed as MShe/FeMC/Minako Arisato by Western fans and Hamuko (ハム子 / 公子) by Japanese fans, loosely interpreting the last Kanji character for shujinkou (主人公) as Katakana. This refers to the early official P3P screen shot in which her name was written as "主人 公子" or shujin kouko (which means main character girl) (with "ko" as a suffix for female names).
Due to her popularity, her lack of inclusion in the 2024 remake, Persona 3 Reload, was highly controversial, especially since many other changes from Portable were present. Because of these reasons, a fan-made mod for Reload entitled FeMC Reloaded was announced shortly after release, a community effort which aims to recreate the FeMC route and unique UI in its entirety within Reloadhttps://github.com/MadMax1960/Femc-Reloaded-Project. 
===Shipping===
Due to the games Social Link mechanic, which acts similar to that of a dating sim, shipping the protagonist (commonly referred to as Minato Arisato or Makoto Yuki) with the rest of the cast is very common. Persona 3 only allows for romantic Social Links to be formed with female characters, however in Persona 3 Portable, player could play as a female protagonist (commonly referred to as Arisato Minako) who had romantic social links with male characters.
Mitsuru/Akihiko and are popular Shinjiro/Minako het pairings.
Shinjiro/Akihiko is one of the more popular slash pairings, and Mitsuru/Yukari are a relatively popular femslash pair.
==Notable Fanworks==
===Fan Game===
* Persona 4: Racing All Afternoon is a kart racing game similar to Mario Kart that has characters from both Persona 3 and 4. Its’ name is a parody of another Persona spin-off - Persona 4: Dancing All Night.
=== Zines ===
* Trendsetter
==Archives & Fannish Links==
* Persona 3 fanworks at AO3
* Persona Series fanworks at FF.net
==Reources==
* Persona 3 on the Megami Tensei Wikia
==References==
Category:Persona