MinaYuka

MinaYuka is the het ship between Makoto Yuki and Yukari Takeba from the Persona fandom.

Canon
Yukari is the first character Makoto meets at the start of the game. After their introductions, Yukari takes Makoto to Gekkoukan High School on his first day of school. This leads to rumors being started that the two are romantically involved.

Yukari later expresses sympathy for Makoto while he is being spied on by SEES. During the Magician Shadow's attack, Yukari gives Makoto a weapon and tries to lead him to safety while Mitsuru and Akihiko fight off the Shadow. However, the Shadow catches up to Makoto and Yukari. After Yukari’s failed attempt to summon her Persona, Makoto uses Yukari’s Evoker to summon his Persona for the first time. He then defeats the Magician Shadow. Makoto wakes up in the hospital, where Yukari is visiting him. Yukari tells Makoto that they're alike, since Makoto is an orphan while Yukari has lost her father and is on bad terms with her mother.

The two partner in the second and third full moon operation. During the third, the Lover's Shadow attempts to force the two into physical intimacy. Yukari is shown showering, while the Shadow attempts to brainwash Makoto. The two both struggle and successfully regain their senses. Yukari is wearing only a towel, and she slaps Makoto out of embarrassment when she realizes this. Once the two are reunited with the other party members, it is implied the others went through a similar experience.

During the Yakushima event, Yukari runs off after discovering her father released the Shadows. Mitsuru sends Makoto after her, and Yukari opens up about her feelings towards her father and their powers. A hug between the two is optional afterwards. Yukari's Social Link opens after this, provided the charm stat is high enough. Her Social Link focuses on her struggles with romance and her relationship with her mother.

In the film adaptation, Makoto’s relationship with Aigis is more pronounced while his feelings towards Yukari are explicitly platonic. Despite this, Yukari can be a supportive friend to Makoto as she deeply cares for him.

Moments
The Journey The Answer Persona Q
 * On the first day of the Yakushima event, Junpei asks Makoto which of the girls is his type. Yukari is one of the options.
 * There is an optional hug during the Yakushima event, after Makoto comforts Yukari.
 * Yukari is an option for the Summer Festival date.
 * In the New Plus Game of the PSP version of the game, a non-canon alternative ending sees Makoto die with the player chosen love interest. Yukari is one of the options for this ending, where she promises to stay by his side.
 * Yukari grieves Makoto's death as she never gave him a proper goodbye, thanked him, or made peace with him before his death. She tries to forget about him by attending cram school.
 * After she learns that Aigis has awakened the ability of the Wild Card like Makoto, she becomes very jealous and hostile towards her.
 * When SEES tries to decide what they should use their keys for, Yukari wants to use the key to go to the past to their last battle against Nyx and prevent Makoto’s sacrifice.
 * After Yukari and Mitsuru are defeated by Aigis and Mitsuru, Yukari finally admits she wanted to stay by Makoto and made the promise holding his lifeless hand. She didn’t care about anything else, she just wanted to see him again.
 * After Yukari finds out to real truth about Makoto’s heroic sacrifice, she is finally able to move on from Makoto’s death and accept his decisions.
 * In the first dungeon, "You In Wonderland Labyrinth", if Makoto calls her cute, Yukari will blush at his response.
 * Regards the choices, Yukari will always choose to drink the last two shrink potions with him since she doesn't want Makoto or Junpei to look at her skirt.
 * If the player chooses the correct answers to Yukari's preferences in the second dungeon, Group Date Cafe dungeon, Yukari will be Makoto's destined partner.
 * During the Big Day floor, Yukari states she will never marry anyone. However, Yukari begins to change her mind as getting married won’t be so bad if she meets the right person like Makoto since he fits her preferences.

Dancing in Moonlight
 * In the opening intro, the person Makoto takes someone's hand implies to be Yukari.
 * In Yukari’s Social Events, Yukari is the only member of the SEES who has flirtation choices that Makoto can choose from.
 * In one of Yukari’s Social Link, if the player chose to describe Makoto’s relationship with Yukari to Elizabeth, choosing “we hit it off”, which results in Yukari blushing and happily smiling.

Quotes
"I'll be by your side, I promise."

- Yukari, Persona 3 Portable

"I... I made a promise to him too... I promised that I'd try my best to change this world, so that people would stop wishing for the Fall... It wasn't like yours... It was something I promised myself while holding his cold hand... That's why I decided to put the past behind me, and look forward... But I can't... I can't be that person... I wanna see him.. I don't care about anything else! I just wanna see him again!"

- Yukari, Persona 3 FES The Answer

Fanon
The name of the ship came from mixing Yukari Takaba with Minato Arisato (Makoto's manga name before his canon name was changed to Makoto Yuki which was used in the movie adaption). Makoto Yuki, is the name for the Protagonist that was used across most adaptations (Persona 3 The Movie, Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight, and Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight).

The MinaYuka ship has a mixed reaction in the fan base. Some fans consider the pairing canon due to the plot focus the two are given. However, these moments drop off as the story progresses, relegated to Yukari's optional social link. Meanwhile, the main storyline instead focuses on Yukari's relationship with Mitsuru and Makoto's relationship with Aigis. The love triangle between Aigis, Makoto, and Yukari is a major theme of The Answer, with Yukari being jealous that Aigis spent Makoto's last moments with him. By the end, Yukari admits that Aigis felt more strongly towards Makoto than she did. Many fans criticize Yukari for her jealousy and anger during The Answer, but others consider the reaction sympathetic and understandable.

On AO3, MinaYuka is divided based on how one calls Makoto. Between Makoto Yuki (144), Persona 3 Protagonist (288), and his manga name Minato Arisato (198), there are 630 works.

Fandom
FAN FICTION
 * Yukari/Makoto on FanFiction.Net
 * Yukari/Makoto on FanFiction.Net
 * Yukari/Makoto on FanFiction.Net
 * Yukari/Makoto on FanFiction.Net


 * TUMBLR

Trivia

 * Makoto and Yukari appear on the Volume 2 cover of Persona 3 manga.