i love ryomina
no but seriously. even when i’m thinking about other things that captivate my interest, i find myself coming back to them and feeling like i fell down three whole flights of staircases every time i do. they are one of my favorite pairs in media and are very special to me.
it’s the way that ryoji and minato’s lives are inevitably intertwined with each other due to the circumstances 10 years ago on the moonlight bridge. without no minato, there is no ryoji. minato as he is today is because of ryoji. they have irreparably affected each other’s lives that you cannot discuss one without bringing up the other one.
ryoji mochizuki, who is death, pharos, thanatos, nyx avatar, the man of many names and identities, is the perfect summation of p3′s messages and themes.
minato arisato, the wildcard and protagonist, who has boundless kindness in his actions despite the unfortunate cards handed to him.
the two of them complement each other and tell a beautiful story from start to finish.
minato’s personas capture this perfectly. he awakens to orpheus, who’s flames burns bright, is snuffed out by thanatos during the encounter against the arcana magician. a visual precursor of the idea that ryoji stole from the life that minato could have had.
it’s the way that over the course of the game as minato interacts with pharos, talking throughout the dark hour, forging a bond that cannot be broken, that allows ryoji to exist. minato humanizes death.
november. the bells toll, calling the appriser. and yet, it’s peaceful... quiet, and full of life. ryoji, who breaks free from death’s chains, refusing his role, is given the chance to live for a month. to make the most of the humanity that minato has given him over those ten years. and what a life he lived. ryoji’s life is a reflection of what minato’s life could have been like in another universe.
it is the way the two of them are reflections of each other. ryoji with his hair down is just like minato. they are both stubbornly committed to choosing to be kind, to love life, yet are chained down by the cards the narrative dealt them with. they finish each other’s sentences, knowing each other intimately in a way no one else does.
how is that, a boy who lived for only one month, profoundly changes the course of the narrative? he is simultaneously relevant and irrelevant. blink, and you miss it, the beautiful life that he led.
ryoji is horrified at the revelations of being the appriser. he who so desperately wished to forget that his existence was meant to bring the end to all life, was unable to escape the inevitability of death. in a non-human way, of course. he becomes remorseful. a shadow of his brief time as a human who was enamored by the small beautiful things that life had to offer.
he is swallowed by grief. grief knowing that his very existence will take away not only minato’s life, but everyone else’s. the very thing that ryoji loved- life, fundamentally went against the role he was born for- to be the harbinger of death. and unable to grapple with this sadness he believes that the best thing for minato to do is to kill him, so that SEES can live in bliss not knowing about their inevitable end.
SEES is left rattled, calling into question what the meaning of life is and what they do when faced against the inevitability of death.
and!!! minato chooses!! for ryoji to live!! even in spite of what ryoji is MEANT to embody, minato still stubbornly chooses to defy death itself! and if that’s not cool i don’t know what is!! minato wants everyone to have the chance to live!!
so he climbs. he ascends tartarus, to meet ryoji, again, who is now the nyx avatar. and i just think there’s something so so beautiful about being able to use messiah, minato’s ultimate persona, against nyx avatar.
messiah, being the fusion of orpheus and thanatos is peak ryomina to me. because ryoji and minato have established an unbreakable bond from having been entwined for 10 years, minato still has a piece of death with him, and by proxy!! ryoji is able to defy and rebel against nyx trying to bring the fall! and i think that’s fucking cool shit if you ask me!
even when all of the arcanas have been gone through, it’s still not enough to stop the fall. and yet. minato knows. in the way that ryoji was sealed in minato 10 years ago by aigis... minato becomes the great seal so that everyone can live. it comes full circle.
march rolls around. he fulfills his promise to SEES on graduation day. minato dies from exhaustion. but goddamn does his sacrifice make me weep- he’s had such, such a tiring journey. he’s been through so many things because he was at the wrong place at the wrong time. but at the end of it all, he’s reunited with ryoji in death.
and i think this is why ryomina continues to evoke so much emotions for me, to this day. the relationship that they have embodies so much of persona 3′s messages and themes that it makes me feel like a microwave with nothing running in it.
p3′s message is very hopeful, for me. my favorite takeaway from it is that even if death is inevitable, appreciating the life that we were given and choosing to live as best as we can with kindness (even if we can’t feasibly do everything), is just? really nice? and you see this manifest in both ryoji and minato’s personalities and what they do for the other characters.
ryomina just feels so distinct to me, the flavor that their relationship ties back to my favorite takeaways from this game and im just!! god!! i love you minato arisato! i love you ryoji mochizuki! im so glad that i could meet them! i’m happy that they changed my life! they made me want to appreciate the connections in life even if they were fleeting! they made me!! want to pay attention to the good moments in life and cherish them!
i love ryomina so much!!! i’m so glad that these two could bring so much joy into my life! and i hope that others can have this joy too! 💛💙
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One sided (maybe) Torisai hanahaki fic idea that i may or may not use depending on my motivation:
Toritsuka has feelings for Saiki and since saiki sort of finds out instantly Toritsuka doesn't confess (this version is where the person has to confess to get rid of the flowers) and saiki sort of half turns him down but not really so Toritsuka continues having feelings for saiki.
Time goes on and he starts feeling pain in his lungs and he doesn't know why. It starts getting harder to breathe. He starts to cough up Petals and leaves and he has no idea what's going on, saiki finds out instantly again but he doesn't really know either so they do research and find out its hanahaki!!!
They find out that it might end up killing Toritsuka but even if Toritsuka confesses it won't really work and Toritsuka can't really get rid of his feelings, we get fun saiki angst of "everythings always my fault it's it's fault I don't like him and now he's gonna DIE"
They find out that Toritsuka can get surgery to remove the flowers!!! But he'll lose all feelings of romance and memories of the person he was in love with :((( And there's still a chance of the flowers growing back.
Toritsuka doesn't want to lose his memories of Saiki but Saiki wants Toritsuka to live, ensue sad but cute at the same time "Why do you care for someone like me???" Sort of stuff anyways toritsuka gets surgery and forgets about saiki and by extension the psychickers (sort of)
Toritsuka back at school, no memories of saiki, lost all attraction for girls, people are confused because "Holy shit the perv is being a perv???" And saikis sort of like "I'm the worst, Toritsukas not even Toritsuka anymore" and now that Toritsuka doesn't remember saiki he has no friends and is sort of lonely :( Toritsuka also knows he got the surgery for Hanahaki, he just has no idea who the person he fell for was
Anyways from here the plot goes two way option 1 is where Toritsuka slowly ends up becoming friends with the psychickers again, he bonds with everyone and they all get close again, saiki ends up being his best friend and he's happy, even if he's not in love anymore option 2 is slow burn where Toritsuka starts to get feelings for saiki again and the flowers start growing back. Over the period of time seperated with toritsuka saiki falls in love with him and is now kind of sad that he didn't find out earlier, he blocks out his feelings of Toritsuka as sort of self-punishment for what he did, thinking it's all his fault (it's not obviously) and ignores Toritsukas slowly growing feelings for him until Toritsuka starts coughing up flowers again, Toritsuka takes this as meaning saiki not loving him back and he's starting on planning to get the surgery again but then saiki confesses to him in fear of Toritsuka getting hurt again yadayadayada Torisai happy ending:)
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