RyoMina

RyoMina (or RyoMako) is the slash ship between the male protagonist of Persona 3 and Ryoji Mochizuki from the Persona fandom.

Persona 3
In all versions of Persona 3 (Original, FES and Portable) Ryoji arrives to Gekkoukan High as a transfer student on 11/09, saying his parents are working overseas. His charm and flirtatious personality make him quite popular amongst his classmates, and eventually befriends Makoto and his friends. The only exception being Aigis, who senses danger in Ryoji for unknown reasons at the time.

On 12/02, Ryoji is confronted by Aigis during The Dark Hour, which triggers his memories, revealing who he truly is. His past form, the personification of Death, fought with Aigis 10 years prior to the story, as she served the role of an Anti-Shadow Weapon. Realizing Death cannot be defeated, she sealed him inside of young Makoto's body. As he got older, Ryoji at first manifested into the form of a child called Pharos, which only Makoto could see. Later, having defeated the twelve Shadows SEES was originally tasked with, Ryoji manifested into his current form. He explains how he is the appriser of the goddess Nyx, and is ultimately destined to be the harbinger of Death. However, he feels guilt over it, so he gives the members of SEES the offer of killing him instead of facing Nyx.

He returns after a month to ask for their final decision, and invites himself in Makoto's room in an attempt to further convince him to kill him. Ryoji explains that if he is killed, everyone's memories of The Dark Hour will be gone, and they will live the rest of their days in peace until the day Nyx arrives and destroys everything. If he doesn't do it however, they will be in pain and suffering until the inevitable day. Ryoji goes as far as to show his real form as Death to Makoto, in order to make him choose the painless route.

Should the player choose to accept the offer, it will result in a bad ending. Makoto will get his Evoker, pressumably to summon his Persona and kill Ryoji, with the scene fading to black. However, if the player decides not to, Ryoji will give information about the confrontation with Nyx. Before leaving, he tells them to look forward to next year, implying that he hopes they defeat Nyx.

On 01/31, Ryoji appears on top of the large tower of Tartarus as the Nyx Avatar. During the fight with him, he tells Makoto not to regret anything, since that was his decision. Failing to defeat him, he continues the summoning of Nyx, to which SEES falls into despair. In a last attempt, Makoto rises upon the moon to face Nyx herself. With the cheering of everyone, he performs the Great Seal, thus stopping Nyx and sealing her. Ryoji's voice appears briefly, saying how Makoto has finally found his answer to life.

Persona 3 The Movie
Despite the Persona 3 quadrilogy movie series being based on the game, there have been made alot of changes regarding how the story goes. In the third movie, "Falling Down", Ryoji and Makoto meet before he transfers to Gekkoukan High. Makoto goes out for a walk at night, thinking about the events that have happened in the previous movie, and stops to sit infront of the city train station. Ryoji appears on the roof, and jumps down to greet Makoto. He attempts to talk with him, but Makoto doesn't seem interested. However, he's a bit startled noticing Ryoji finishes all of his sentences, which he does for the entire movie from then on. Days later Ryoji shows up at the school to finally introduce himself to his classmates, which was left unchanged for the most part. A few more days pass, and Ryoji finds Makoto working part-time as a waiter in a cafe, noting that he looks good in the uniform. He joins him, and the two greet customers and do the dishes together.

The two spend alot more time together than in the game, such as Ryoji forming a "Helpers Club", where him and Makoto do tasks for other students for a fee. Ryoji holds Makoto's hand while going around the school, yelling how they'll be helping anyone who needs it, which catches Aigis' attention and starts stalking them. They help one of Makoto's friends, Fuuka, reconcile with her best friend, as well as pose together for the artist's club.

During the school trip event, Ryoji and Junpei are in their room, wondering where Makoto is. Junpei points out how hard Makoto is to figure out, and Ryoji explains how Makoto is hopelessly awkward, because he has a built a wall for himself, preventing others from knowing about him so he doesn't lose them. He also says how he knows Makoto like he knows himself, indicating how he was sealed inside of him for so long. Shortly after Makoto shows up, Aigis appears on the window with the intention of kicking Ryoji out, and tagging Junpei along. She tries to push them out of the window into the water, with them pointing out the wooden balcony is too narrow and dangerous. Makoto grabs Ryoji to save him before falling, to which Aigis grabs Makoto to do the same. The small balcony breaks and they all fall into the water. As everyone leaves in embarrassment, Makoto breaks into a laughter, to everyone's surprise giving he has never done it before. The next day Ryoji and Makoto spend their time hanging out around the city, with Aigis continously following them and preventing Ryoji from getting close to him.

At the beginning of the fourth movie, "Winter of Rebirth", after Ryoji had attacked Aigis in their confrontation, Makoto yells at Ryoji by his name, demanding an explanation as to what happened. Ryoji replies by saying that he isn't who Makoto thinks he is, and that Ryoji is not even his real name. Makoto yells out his full name in desperation, and they both go quiet. After SEES show up, Ryoji shows his real power and destroys the bridge, proposing his offer to Makoto and leaving afterwords.

A month passes, and Ryoji returns in Makoto's room to ask for his decision, with the scene being unchanged for the most part. Before he leaves, after giving information to SEES about Nyx, Makoto thanks him, and the two wish a farewell to each other.

Fanon
RyoMina was a semi-popular ship in the Persona 3 fandom when the game came out, but has been seemingly overshadowed by it's counterpart ship with the female protagonist of Persona 3 Portable. Nevertheless it remains having it's fans and followers to this day, with currently 212 fanfics under the Arisato Minato/Mochizuki Ryoji tag on AO3 and 217 under the Male Persona 3 Protagonist/Mochizuki Ryoji tag, as well as lots of fanwork under the Ryomina tag on Tumblr. Fans have also pointed out how the movies have pushed the ship even more, with the additional scenes between the two, as well as the strong friendship they have formed, unlike in the game.

Fandom
FANFICTION



TUMBLR
 * Ryomina tag on Tumblr