Persona 3 and death

Persona 3 is really damn mature, for a game about a bunch of high schoolers. The entire game is bathed in this serious tone that slowly reveals itself as you peel away the happy-go-lucky cover the first part of the game shows. It's a slow burn, right until the game punches you in the gut and rips the entire facade apart.

Let's talk about death and Persona 3.

SPOILERS BELOW

So death is a really really hard thing to do in media. I don't care if you're writing a book, a movie, a T.V. show, whatever, I will not blame the writers behind it if they mess up a death scene and aftermath. It's reallllly hard to balance story pacing and realistic and appropriate reactions to death. Death in real life is complicated, messy, follows absolutely no script, and hits often randomly. And the way people react to and deal with death is often at odds with good story writing practices. How are you supposed to translate something so random into the neat, tight pacing of a good story?

I'm not here to diss other writers, however. I just wanna focus on what Persona 3 does right. It's already got a fantastic idea for a plot, but what really propels the game story forwards is how it does death. There are 3 major deaths that get explored: Shinjiro, Mitsuru's father, and Chidori. They each fundamentally alter the plot and the characters in them, and more importantly, they make an impact on the player as well.

A lot of that comes down to how unexpected they are. The game format is perfectly suited to this, and the writers took full advantage of it. Daily life in Persona is predictable for the first few months. Wake up, go to school, hang out with friends, Tartarus. You fall into a routine, only broken up by full moon operations and the occasional event. It's comfortable, working as a team and being a student.

So it makes it all the more shocking when things suddenly take a turn for the tragic on October 4th. When Ken and Shinji are missing for the operation, you know something's up.And that something ends with Shinj dead. It's a shocking swerve for the plot, and it hits suddenly and hard. Every single event and operation has ended in success thus far, and to suddenly take a hit this hard is really stunning.

The same can be said of the other deaths. Mitsuru's father's death comes on the day you celebrate your supposed victory. All of a sudden, you've been betrayed by Ikutski, and he and Mitsuru's father lie dead. As for chidori, her death suddenly comes between full moons. Most major events have either been well telegraphed or come around a full moon, so to suddenly have a major death partway through the month is throwing a curveball.

The most interesting part about Persona 3 and death, however, is that the deaths are not the focus. Surprisingly, the game sees fit to examine how death impacts the characters, and not the world around them. Shinji's a thug. Chidori's an unknown person with no home. Mitsuru's father's impact is only felt in far off business areas. So we're left to examine how the characters understand, see, react to, and deal with the deaths of people they know and care about.

Each reaction is real and varied. Ken blames himself, and feels like with Shinji gone, he doesn't have anything left to live for. In many ways, Ken is actually responsible for the death, and from that he tries to take full responsibility, eating him up inside. Hell, in the immediate aftermath, everyone worries about Ken committing suicide, because it has become quite clear by this point that all that was motivating him in life was his mother's killer.

By the same token, Mitsuru is shaken up completely and utterly by her father's death. His death is so much more than the loss of a loved one to her. It's symbolic of her mission the past few months being a lie. It tears a hole in her plans for the future and rips away her clear goals and motivations.

And poor, poor Junpei. His entire life he'd been searching for a concrete thing to do, something to wholly enjoy and be good at. Forming a relationship with Chidori gave him a spark and brought some light to his doubts.And when she is torn away from him, he is completely and utterly crushed. This is a loss hitting so hard that Junpei almost shuts down and just hides in his room.

And there's something to how each character moves past or comes to terms with deaths. Sometimes, it's a gut wrenching process that a character doesn't even fully recover from. Junpei is broken in a big way after Chidori, and while ultimately he does pull through, his personality has become more determined, more angry, and less happy. Mitsuru becomes resolute and focused. Ken perhaps doesn't change, but uses Shinji's death and the circumstances around it to find a new purpose in life.

Notably, we also get to see how death can simply strengthen. I haven't mentioned Akihiko much, and that's because Shinji's death strengthens his resolve that was already there. He's sad, yes, you can visibly hear anguish in his voice the day after. But he knows what he needs to do, and one day of crying is all he truly needs to come to terms with it.

This is all a lot of varied stuff, and that is absolutely what makes Persona 3 fantastic at dealing with death. Everyone reacts in and understandable and realistic way. Some people never move past it. Some people move past it right away. Everyone mourns differently. Mitsuru throws herself into work. Junpei locks himself away. Ken seeks isolation and contemplation. It's not enough for the game to just say "oh they're sad" and try to carry the shock value of a death. There are real character repercussions to each and every death in this game.

Because in the end, that's what Persona 3 is about. Loss. The sadness of loss, how we deal with loss, and perhaps what we gain from it. It gives real weight to what death means. And in doing so, in pushing past the idea of death simply being sad, it gives shape to a beautifully written series of tragic events. Persona 3 does death right.