Makoto Yuki

*For the original character of the **Persona 3** video game, see Makoto Yuki*

***Makoto Yuki*** is the protagonist of Persona 3/FES/Portable/Reloaded. He is the male equivalent of Kotone Shiomi. He is also known as Minato Arisato in the Persona 3 Manga and Sakuya Shiomi in the Persona 3 (The masquerade play)

## Appearance

Makoto Yuki appears as a typical teenage boy with dark blue swept to his left eye (it could be possible that his design is based off the emo subculture popular with some teens in the mid 2000s) he has light grey eyes and wears the Gekkoukan High school uniform properly compared to the other main characters in Persona 3) He has a thin build and slightly short stature, but appears taller compared to Kotone. He is frequently shown with his hands in his pockets with a leaned-back posture.

He is always seen wearing his earphones and mp3-player, he also wears a watch on his right wrist. He wears blue combat boots with velcro straps on them.

## Background

Makoto was a transfer student in Gekkoukan high school. He is an orphan whose parents died in a vehicle accident on the Moonlight Bridge a decade before the game's events.

Makoto is the oldest son of Tatsuya and Mikala Yuki, his parents held ordinary office jobs and neither had a criminal record. Makoto was always very polite to his neighbors.

Prior moving to Tatsumi Port Island, Makoto had a girlfriend named Maria whom he loved dearly. Maria and Makoto met when they were both students at the same school, and they were together until her sudden death. Makoto says that if he ever has a child in the future, he will name it after Maria so that he and Maria's name will live on .

## Personality

Makoto's very stoic, quiet, and tranquil, as seen by his ability to stay unmoved even when firearms are leveled at him. He appears to be quite introverted, remote, and aloof because he mainly observes his party members' chats and only speaks when someone asks him for his opinion on a subject.

## Gameplay

The protagonist, unlike the other Persona users, is the only one in the cast that possesses the "Wild Card" trait, which allows him to summon and control numerous Personas. He can also fuse personas to create new and more powerful ones in the Velvet Room, which is only accessible to a select few.

The protagonist's default weapons are one-handed swords, however he can equip every weapon type except guns and knives, which are available only to Aigis and Koromaru. In the manga version, he wields one-handed swords. He is the only character in the party who is directly controlled by the player in both the original Persona 3 and Persona 3 FES. Only general directives in the form of tactical commands for the AI, such as "Conserve SP" and "Act Freely," can be issued to the other party members.

## The Journey

The protagonist transfers to Gekkoukan High School and meets Pharos, a weird young boy who offers him a contract to sign. He is forced to spend the night in the co-ed dormitory alongside future team members Yukari Takeba and Mitsuru Kirijo due to an assignment mix-up. However, while being attacked by Shadows one night, he wakes his first Persona, Orpheus, who temporarily transmogrifies into Thanatos, foreshadowing future events.

He realizes that his friends have similar abilities and is recruited for the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad. (SEES). He also discovers the Dark Hour, a mysterious hour that occurs between midnight. During the Dark Hour, Gekkoukan High School transforms into Tartarus, a gigantic dungeon tower. They study the structure and attempt to discover the mystery surrounding the Shadows, the Dark Hour, and its relation to Apathy Syndrome, an illness that renders its patients immobile and entirely detached from the outside world. The protagonist spends his days in school as well. He makes new friends, go on dates, and joins clubs, establishing and deepening social connections.

Later in the game, the player encounters additional fellow Persona-users, each with their own story about why they joined SEES. Junpei Iori joins SEES after meeting senior member Akihiko Sanada, followed by Fuuka Yamagishi, Koromaru, and Ken Amada. Shinjiro Aragaki, a former member, has returned after a two-year absence. Because of his particular talents, the protagonist is appointed as team leader, with the responsibility of determining when to enter Tartarus and making battle decisions.

### After defeating the 12 shadows

On full-moon nights, the crew discovers that powerful "boss" shadows arise, each symbolizing one of the twelve main arcana. Ryoji Mochizuki, a new student, arrives at Gekkoukan High after the destruction of the twelve "Arcana Shadows." Aigis considers him "dangerous," but cannot explain why. Suspicious, she confronts Ryoji during the Dark Hour at Moonlight Bridge, where they both recover their memories, exposing the protagonist's backstory.

Ten years before, the Arcana Shadow representing Death had escaped the Kirijo group's labs, with Aigis in persuasion When she realized she couldn't vanquish the tremendous darkness, Aigis was forced to seal a portion of Death within the psyche of a nearby youngster with the ability to summon Personas. That boy was *Makoto Yuki*

As it turned out, Pharos was only a partial representation of the part of Death that was locked within the protagonist. Death had been reconstructed with the defeat of the twelve primary shadows, emerging as Ryoji who, while confined within the protagonist, had been able to "copy" his human qualities. Ryoji's restoration allowed for the summoning of Nyx, an epic creature destined to cause The Fall, the end of the world.

During his final encounter with Nyx, the protagonist is boosted by the strength of the relationships he has formed with those around him, and Igor assists him in forming the Universe Arcana, which allows him to accomplish even the impossible. With it, he sacrifices his soul to build the Great Seal, thus isolating Nyx from the rest of the world.

Holding on until graduation day, the protagonist traveled with Aigis to the location where they and the other SEES members had agreed to meet in case their memories were erased after the last fight. With a smile on his face, he falls asleep in Aigis' lap as their friends arrive.

### Death and The Answer

The protagonist never awoke from his sleep, going into a coma and finally dying, according to "The Answer," an epilogue included with the FES expansion. One month after the events of "The Journey," the members of SEES gather for one last time before their dormitory is closed. Aigis realizes that she has inherited the protagonist's Wild Card power, as well as the ability to enter the Velvet Room and fuse persona, when they become imprisoned in an unending time loop and are unable to escape the hostel.

Exploring The Abyss of Time, a dungeon beneath the dorm, Aigis and the members of SEES, together with Metis, an android claiming to be Aigis' sister, come into a shadow that bears an uncanny likeness to the protagonist. The gang eventually confronts the shadow, which is shown to be a representation of the group's sadness and anger at witnessing their friend die, as well as their secret wish to see him one last time to find out what "really" occurred.

### His Sacrifice: The Answer

Traveling back to the point of the final battle against Nyx, the team witnesses the event firsthand. The truth was that the protagonist had not intended to seal away Nyx per se. Nyx herself was never malevolent or evil, but simply obligated to end the world upon the call of her herald (at the time Ryoji), which itself responds to the collective malice, sorrow, grief and apathy of humanity, its secret wish to simply "end it all". The waves of negative emotion had manifested as Erebus, a massive entity which strove to break the Great Seal and contact Nyx directly, once again bringing about The Fall.

The protagonist had sacrificed his soul to block the way, and had transmogrified into a statue, crucified and chained to the door holding Nyx. The party temporarily defeats Erebus, but knows so long as humanity wished for an ultimate end, Erebus would keep pounding on the door. They decide to help the protagonist bear the burden by making the most of their own lives in the hope that the rest of the world would eventually follow.

## Trivia

* Makoto's earphones are the Audio Technica ATH-EM700 and his MP3 player is based off the Sony's NW-S20x series.

## References

1. ↑ Persona 3 The Movie:
2. ↑ https://www.giantbomb.com/makoto-yuki/3005-1425/