Another small detail, Mitsuru speeding away on her bike might also represent her desire to run away from her responsibilities and family burdens. She says so in her link, that sometimes she wants to just take her bike, ride into the sunset and never return.
I like your interpretation on why Yukari's pink lipstick turned red and her sink being filled with water but here's one on why her eyes disappear. "The Yukari one gets me because make-up symbolism to hide one's emotions behind a mask is like the simplest straightforward one but pairing with the water symbolism. Her eyes are removed in the waters reflection because she won't let anyone look into her soul, even herself!" From Twitter.
That also fits to the fact that the shadows are just reflections of people and they all wear „masks“ to hide the true emotions. It says so too when you sell your stuff at the police station.
Adding on to the Butterfly symbolism, the Butterfly was also a symbol of the human soul in Greek Mythology and was often seen in the depiction of 2 gods, Psyche who was the Goddess of the human spirit (or something along those lines). The other is Thanatos, God of non-violent death, he was often depicted holding a Butterfly in his hands to symbolise the soul moving on after death.
Ironic Thanatos is the God of non-violent death since in the original Persona 3 FES he was a straight feral animal when he kills the Shadow when the MC first awoke their Persona
@@ShadowOfMassDestructionyeah, im very confused on that. Maybe he meant to talk about the original persona 3 opening? Since that one does have some hidden spoilers
@@ShadowOfMassDestructionwell, I dont really consider that Spoilers imo. Since all of the main characters are on the box art. So, I think that persona 3 OG and P3R are the only ones that have hidden Spoilers to my knowledge
I dont - all characters move into „Iwatodai“ which is just a wordplay of „I want to die“. Them all living there and moving out of it when everything is resolved is a metaphor for them all finding a reason to live. Mitsuru also says she lost the will to live after her father dies. This applies to everyone who live at „Iwatodai“ and the evoker therefore represents the character`s wish to commit suicide, with Yukari in the beginning doubting if she should or should not.
And the final scene showing the group SEES, with Shinjiro looking away. (The video already explain the reason). Shows the Protagonist is separated from his teammates, which symbolizes his fate. Then throws his music player, an item he rarely seen without, tosses it away. An allegory to letting go of his attachment to his life and friends. The Persona 3 title appearing in it, is telling us this is what game/story is all about.
I feel like Fuuka's evoker scene supposed to represent how SEES were trying to get her to join, not necessarily pressuring her, but they were awfully ready for her as they had already had gear for her.
0:55 Since this MP3 player and pair of headphones are actual products in real life (ATLUS does a lot of Sony product inserts in Persona most of the time, even up to P5 with the NPCs using a PS Vita in the train), this is just a coincidence. No one really thinks it's meant to be a bullet for years until this OP for some reason. 0:25 It's Tatsumi Port Island. Where you find the movies, some request like feeding the cat, Tanaka's original s.link location and whatnot. 1:01 This one detail applies more to his trailer where this particular version did indeed play and we see the first part of the OP for the first time. 12:34 His arcana never changed, as s.link arcanas only symbolizes what this s.link represents to the protagonist (This does not necessarily mean it will line up to their main arcana). Akihiko being the star for the protagonist's eyes goes into the fact that Akihiko is always looked up on as a senior. And why exactly that is the case. A person reflecting multiple facets of different arcanas isn't uncommon, as the character's stories and personalities are not one note. This even ties to gameplay somewhat in the older titles, a person's compatability in respect of the personas in that arcana depends on their personality and is tied to the aspects of their main arcana. Now I am not saying that the given point is incorrect though, Ken indeed does look up to Akihiko greatly. And the way the game handles the story of Polydeuces and Castor is with Caesar having a figure symbolizing Castor (Shinjiro) sitting inside his body after Akihiko awakens to him. 13:50 Important to note how the contract is changed to have Philemon's message in the beginning of the game here. As that was a message meant to encourage the protagonist to live life as they see fit. And that will tie more in the choice at the end of the game. They seem to make that more clear. 16:40 More than likely this is her awakening scene to Juno, as she and Natsuki were having their goodbyes on this roof when it happened. 17:00 Part of Ikutsuki's plan is to assemble all the 12 arcana shadows to awaken the appriser to bring the Fall (But he calls it a prince that will turn into a king, I think this is a reference to an old prophecy in real life wherein a King of Terror will arise. Aigis mentions this prophecy in the game in the Vanilla version of P3 too. In January though so it's not present in FES and P3P). In a way, this shot symbolizes the protagonist and Pharos' arrival being the start of Ikutsuki's plans. And how Pharos gained benefit from this as he is the 13th arcana shadow gaining his 12 pieces. Destined to be the appriser. Ikutsuki is quite successful but not in the way he thinks. 18:38 The white to red transition here is likely a reference to the fact that Aigis being broken down in the moonlight bridge happened twice. In 1999 and 2009, all with the same purpose of stopping the 13th arcana shadow. The white being the event in 2009 when she fought Ryoji. And the red being the event in 1999, just after Death is awakened and is promptly sealed in the same location. It helps that the background seems to have some sort of smoky haze. As the moonlight bridge was on fire when this happened. Due to the car where the protagonist and his parents are in.
I really appreciate your effort. I was struggling with a major writers block in my story and your analysis actually gave me decent amount of inspirations. Thank you so much.
Was thinking about making a quick video doing funny faces when watching the opening. But here's a 24 minute video on a 2 minute opening 😘 Thank you for waiting!
Not sure if 10:18 has a certain feature about the red lights in the train, but I’m sure it’s connected to the past event of the Shadow experiment, especially the boss that we’ll meet on the train. 18:17, you can see Ryogi’s shoes at the top of the screen, to show him looking down at the reflection, behind the background of red, maybe possibly connecting him to that very past event.
You missed the part where they summon their personas where they're in the same or similar poses when first summoned in a way that is almost a shadow or mirror like effect. A reference to the connection between Personas and Shadows and how they're one and the same.
17:00 just remembering that pharos alerted us during the game that there was a traitor on SEES and other 3 enemies (Strega) this may explain why he's uncovering the camera
I'm not really a Persona fan or anything like that. I generally enjoy games, mostly JRPGs, that have great characters and storytelling. But if I like something a lot, I will have a burst of obsession with it, and that's usually how I'm able to do research on the topic without it feeling like a chore. In fact, it's the opposite of a chore; every minute of research and putting the video together is pure joy for me, and I'm glad you're enjoying it.
I really love your color theory which is especially important for P3. I never thought this much detail when replaying this op over and over again. But in this particular MV I will take it with bit grain of salt and not too theorize so much since when I compared it with another persona op they take this opening much more bluntly for the spoiler so that it more visible to the already experienced player. (Below is just some argument really. Text above is more than enough to sum up my thoughts) I hold to this idea because they seemingly just trying to fit the scenes so it fits the song which is so much more upbeat than normal persona opening song. I sense it when the new singer part comes after LJ finish his his rap part; unlike other op song, new singer keep pushing the drop (idk the terms, this is from my newbie perspective 🙏) and also makes it longer until before it start to lower in "... how long it may last, its your life... Burn your dread." which I thought this was new since no other song push this hard. The closest opening that I can think of that match this kind of vibe is persona Q and Q2. Especially Q when we can imagine spliting the opening drop into two parts, first when the S.E.E.S member meets with investigation team and when bloody dolls scene comes up. They do push the song here, but they brake the push as the doll scene comes and start over. And what do you think about koromaru shrine scene and fuuka rooftop? Is it a bit too long for them since they don't hold much of significant in originial game (from lore wise, we don't see much of koromaru past aside of Femc route in p3p) while summoning persona scene do feel slightly rushed? I mean, if they decide to elaborate more on koro story before joining S.E.E.S I'll gladly take it.
The only way to tell if interpretation is correct is by the dev confirming it. So what u said might be correct, while I titled my video some what aggressively. I'm not really set out of be correct or anything. I enjoy interpreting a media that I like and share it with other and it's really fun when the conversation get going. So don't concern too much if ur interpretation is right or wrong I think it's awesome that u are sharing it with everyone. Thank you for writing.
This was an amazing analysis! Truly impressed by all the different imagery and connections you were able to draw from the OP. Thank you for putting together such a thoughtful analysis on this beautiful OP.
14:50 the times Igor brings a wild card into the room himself, and especially for the first time, is always through dreams, though After that first time, the guests always have the key to the velvet room (which unrelated to the thematics, I'm so glad we have a visual design for that confirmed in this OP, and it's in the artbook too), allowing them access when they desire, even if to everyone else it just looks like the wild card zones out randomly
thank you for the analysis! its so detailed and organized. i feel so called out at 2:39 LMAO i just completed the game and i realized how much complex this game is with symbolism compared to P5. The whole game is closely connected to the main theme "Death", and the evoker is literally one of the biggest symbolism. I didn't make sense of it until I complete the game... and you basically summarized it pretty well! i really enjoyed the video and i hope more people get to watch this
The Red spider lily in particular is a really interesting motif because of how many different interpretations you can take from it. It has it's common association with death and the afterlife in Japanese media, but it has like a billion ties to buddism and folklore that they were definitely fully aware of when using it here. There's so much religious context in Chinese, Japanese, and general buddism that you could probably write about for hours. It literally has a 1023 different given names in Japanese. "Higanbana" means "flower of the other shore" and is said to line the Sanzu river, the river spirits cross to reach the afterlife and enlightenment in Japanese buddism. A couple of other ones I think are significant are "Corpse flower", from it being planted around graves as a deterrent for wild animals digging them up. "Hell flower" from the Lotus Sutra, where it's the flower that blooms in the underworld when someone goes to reincarnate. And "Abandoned child flower" from a folk legend of a woman dying during childbirth and having her soul transformed into the aforementioned lily, growing near the graves of abandoned children.
19:00 I think this could also be a nod to the answer and how Aegis becomes the wild card, showing the “birth” of one wild card and the future of another.
Something else pretty cool is that when Aigis collapses on the bridge with the tarot cards around her, that formation is actually a valid configuration for reading tarot! And also foreshadows her status as a wildcard after The Answer
The fact that Pharos is the one that initiates the transition to show Ikutzki is to imply the link between them as Pharos being death and talking about the ruin in most of his dialogue and that being Chairman's ultimate goal.
At 19:50, I don't know if you didn't care to mention or didn't notice but there are 13 tarot cards in the clock around aigis, the 13th one symbolizing the dark hour
Butterfly are a like the maskots of the one who was Igor boss on persona series. It's pretty related to the velvet room and their attendants too, so Lavenza transformed from one on third semester. It was also some as save points on P4. So it's more about spirit guide. Yukari entire paleta, from the original game until now was also based on pink while the protagonist as blue. Since characters were made to complement him. In the art book of the original game she was also the only one who mention her palete and is always along the protagonist in the first images. So you can say it's trying to say there is this bou and at the side there is tis girl, you can figure out the rest by the scenes.
something I'll correct, the version of Burn my Dread heard in the opening is not last battle, if it were we'd hear "I will" and not those opening notes that are so synonymous with the song, meaning this is the opening version of it, which indicates the start of the journey
I like to think that the gang just smiles at the player at the end because we cherish them and we know they'll be able to move on without us in the future. Thus, the protagonist throws away the MP3 player with a smile on his look saying he doesn't regret his final decision and he had a good life.
Before I watched this, I was expecting a MatPat type of theory: one that possibly goes: "Oh yeah, see that gun they hold? Yeah, let me take you back to when the DPRK was founded"
Besides the cinematography the lyrics are a summary for the journey especially "then one might just gain the strength once sought which maybe hearts and souls of life meanings all of us search for" Shows every member of sees finding that strength at the end of the journey before fighting nyx
Water in Freudian Analysis also symbolized the subconscious... hence Hikari being troubled inside, and also her past traumas, connected to the experiment, resurfacing in her conscious mind Another thing: the velvet room is accessed by dreaming, or by entering the blue doors. But when the protagonist enters, he simply stay there and the other ones see him as immobile and kinda absent.... I'd say he is dayDREAMING :D
Love the day dreaming bit! And while I don't know much about Freudian there's many way to interpret the symbolism, I know some ppl going hard with the religious theme as well linking water to bapthism. It really awesome to hear different ppl interpretation of the op. Thank you for sharing!
20:32 Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but is it not interesting that at then end after everyone of the team reunites, they stay together in the background while the protagonist throws the mp3, looks away from the camera, and disappears while the others are still on the background... Man this op hits freaking hard 😢
my favorite scene was that velvet room one. it just hits right at my ass. as a person who... quite interested and do research about the game's lore, this opening is perfect. for people who dont get it, they dont get spoiled, but as the same time its a fan service who finished the original. anyways, appreciate your effort you put in this video. bravo 👏
17:09 I'm surprised that you talked so much about the colors but didn't bring to mention the colors of this scene. Ikutsuki so happened to have color shades inverted to every other character. Whilst the main cast has the light blue, Ikutsuki is in a dark blue and the room surrounding him is dark. The also contrasts the images of the rooms being brighter than everything else within the scene. This is a nod to Ikutsuki being the poisonous flower which grew in our garden that Pharos warns about.
Weird note. But does anyone else weirdly get Persona 1 vibes from around here 4:04? Maybe it's because the Persona 1 opening shows a wide perspective on a school building similar to this? I don't know how I made this connection when I'm barely a Persona 1 enjoyer
Wtf are you talking about. I get you jumbled the letters of the 4 stages of a butterfly's life, but everything else... And you commented this twice, too.
I oddly thought seeing the lone crow/raven to be a callback to Yatagarasu, a persona of the Sun Arcana -- which is Akinari's arcana; of which, from a narrative perspective, encompasses the ENTIRE theme and meaning of Persona 3 more than all other Links in the story.
Nice video! I love your accent! :) I wanne stress how I really enjoyed all your info and interpretations and I find them really great! I wont go into what I agree with - its too much, RUclips should open up a forum or something for these things…I just noticed how in some scenes, you pay attention to completely different details. ;) For example the fool in front of Aigis - that card is upside down, symbolizing she is not yet ready to go on a journey. Her real journey only starts after she resolved her issues and finds meaning in life. Or you didnt mention how Makoto sits on a sofa and shoots himself. He doesnt stand upright, self-confident. He looks like someone who is totally suicidal and has no strength to go on living. Like all the characters are that live in „I want to die“. I totally agree with the mp3-player looking like a bullet. All these characters in the story are suicidal, they all lost hope at some point. And its implied that more and more people in our nowadays-society suffer the same „illness“. People only wear masks like the „shadows“ do to hide their true emotions. Yukari is seen in the beginning trying to shoot herself, and I guess everyone thought the same thing originally. I believe we sorta rewind time - there are people commenting on how they already said the same things before or the op scene, which is like a movie going backwards. Or the velvet room rushing upwards with a clock- representing the floor numbers - fast-forwarding towards the end. When Makoto arrives, he says he should hurry since he is already late. I could even see the rail being connected to this. This could also explain why the scene of the sect is in the very beginning of the op and not at the end. The moment the student wants to kill herself, the Dark Hour sets in. I guess this is like stopping time in order to save her. In order to change the world where she doesnt want to commit suicide. This is where we start - they get a chance to change their fate where everyone „loses against Nyx“. We are then in a dream-like world, where everything is distorted and Makoto arrives. Its also interesting how later in the game, the colors are washed out - hinting that its a dream. And this links back to Aigis being shattered, sitting in front of the cards, moving a clock backwards, not yet ready to go on a journey. She closes her eyes and starts to dream. Her big blue eye is shown, and as you said, this is opposed to the big red eye that hangs in the sky and cries. We see a dream now, about how the protagonist meets everyone, they all form bonds and finally find a reason to live. This is still only a dream, but the protagonist`s journey leads him towards becoming god and therefore creation of the universe itself, a teacher explains this in his lesson. Nyx says in the end, it takes a strong will to make your dream into reality. I guess that`s what is happening. In the end, everyone wakes up, their old memories return - it could even be true, that Mitsuru`s father died originally of an illness. And they all forget what happened in the „Dark Hour“, the distorted year, a the year that never really happened/the dream that they all had. Aigis remembers something in the end as well and comes rushing towards the protagonist and is totally relieved that he is still there. It`s as if she remembered something that told her, Makoto should already be dead. Which fits to Orpheus being brought back from the sea of souls. You show the scene so nicely from the beginning. The shadow with the blue mask comes rushing toward Makoto, the blue mask reflecting Makoto`s and the death`s face. It`s almost as if death tells him to accept him - to accept what has happened. I think it`s also interesting how in the end, Makoto fights against Nyx which repeatedly uses „Death“ on him to destroy him, but he stands up again. First he is hit and should be dead by the damage he takes, then he evades this and finally is immune to the attack. The protagonist is probably dead already, like the one social link (forgot his name), who also wears a shirt with stripes like a prisoner until he can let go. It fits since…“I am you, you are me“. But it doesnt matter, the attack cant kill him anymore. He has a nice dream and is able to save everyone through this dream, which he turns into a reality. Therefore it makes sense that it is him that throws the „bullet“ away in the ending of the op. There is no longer anyone who wants to commit suicide. The scene on the roof shows his right eye for once, closed and when the dream reaches the end, he sinks back into the sea of souls. After you made it through the game, the title screen turns from night to daylight. Which imo fits since all the characters „woke up“. It`s all thanks to Igor and I think it fits that the flower is turned into a key by Elizabeth - like a key you are given in order to escape your fate. The butterfly is also often representing the „butterfly effect“ - a decision/an event that changes fate. And I guess that this is what they are doing. So yeah, sorry for not commenting only on the OP, but I didnt know how to explain my thoughts for Aigis eye and the bullet in the end otherwise. And yeah, I know FES but I completely forgot everything so I may come back again to delete this comment XD
Thank for the long comment. The title of the video is just to get u interested. I mentioned this before but all interpretation are valid and if it not valid then it still valueble. It allow us to appriciate the art more. So thank you again for sharing all that.
@@Sky_Gaming_Academy And thank you too for your kind reply :) I forgot to mention that your raven-explanation also fits perfectly to that one photograph from Kyoto, where Ryuji seems to fly away and is held back by Makoto holding his scarf. So once again, thanks for sharing!
I still find it weird that there are cameras in the dorm rooms. i don't know if that is normal in Japan. I actually can't think of a good reason why one is needed unless you want to ease drop on someone
to answer that question at the end, androids do indeed dream of electric sheep
Awesome 😎
Another small detail, Mitsuru speeding away on her bike might also represent her desire to run away from her responsibilities and family burdens. She says so in her link, that sometimes she wants to just take her bike, ride into the sunset and never return.
Don't start new Isekai genres, Madam Kirijo!
XD
How does this man articulate this well.
I like your interpretation on why Yukari's pink lipstick turned red and her sink being filled with water but here's one on why her eyes disappear. "The Yukari one gets me because make-up symbolism to hide one's emotions behind a mask is like the simplest straightforward one but pairing with the water symbolism. Her eyes are removed in the waters reflection because she won't let anyone look into her soul, even herself!" From Twitter.
I like your interpretation, thank you for sharing!
That also fits to the fact that the shadows are just reflections of people and they all wear „masks“ to hide the true emotions. It says so too when you sell your stuff at the police station.
Adding on to the Butterfly symbolism, the Butterfly was also a symbol of the human soul in Greek Mythology and was often seen in the depiction of 2 gods, Psyche who was the Goddess of the human spirit (or something along those lines). The other is Thanatos, God of non-violent death, he was often depicted holding a Butterfly in his hands to symbolise the soul moving on after death.
This is a cool detail
Ironic Thanatos is the God of non-violent death since in the original Persona 3 FES he was a straight feral animal when he kills the Shadow when the MC first awoke their Persona
@@FireRogueWolf25 ig they changed it to "least violent" death /j
I think this OP surpassed Shadow World in terms of spoilers hidden in the opening. Crazy to see how much there is.
Shadow world had spoilers? I thought they just danced in that op
@@ShadowOfMassDestructionyeah, im very confused on that. Maybe he meant to talk about the original persona 3 opening? Since that one does have some hidden spoilers
@@Hyp3rSonic I think they mean Pursuing My True Self which is a banger and that one showed all of the characters on TV.
@@ShadowOfMassDestructionohhhhhhhh
@@ShadowOfMassDestructionwell, I dont really consider that Spoilers imo. Since all of the main characters are on the box art. So, I think that persona 3 OG and P3R are the only ones that have hidden Spoilers to my knowledge
I've always veiwed the Evoker itself as a metaphor: "To face your true self is to face death fearlessly"
I dont - all characters move into „Iwatodai“ which is just a wordplay of „I want to die“. Them all living there and moving out of it when everything is resolved is a metaphor for them all finding a reason to live. Mitsuru also says she lost the will to live after her father dies. This applies to everyone who live at „Iwatodai“ and the evoker therefore represents the character`s wish to commit suicide, with Yukari in the beginning doubting if she should or should not.
And the final scene showing the group SEES, with Shinjiro looking away. (The video already explain the reason). Shows the Protagonist is separated from his teammates, which symbolizes his fate. Then throws his music player, an item he rarely seen without, tosses it away. An allegory to letting go of his attachment to his life and friends.
The Persona 3 title appearing in it, is telling us this is what game/story is all about.
At the very end the protagonist also turns around and fades away
I feel like Fuuka's evoker scene supposed to represent how SEES were trying to get her to join, not necessarily pressuring her, but they were awfully ready for her as they had already had gear for her.
Probably one of the deeper OPs in the series together with P3P, it almost summarizes the entire game with just the opening.
0:55
Since this MP3 player and pair of headphones are actual products in real life (ATLUS does a lot of Sony product inserts in Persona most of the time, even up to P5 with the NPCs using a PS Vita in the train), this is just a coincidence. No one really thinks it's meant to be a bullet for years until this OP for some reason.
0:25
It's Tatsumi Port Island. Where you find the movies, some request like feeding the cat, Tanaka's original s.link location and whatnot.
1:01
This one detail applies more to his trailer where this particular version did indeed play and we see the first part of the OP for the first time.
12:34
His arcana never changed, as s.link arcanas only symbolizes what this s.link represents to the protagonist (This does not necessarily mean it will line up to their main arcana). Akihiko being the star for the protagonist's eyes goes into the fact that Akihiko is always looked up on as a senior. And why exactly that is the case. A person reflecting multiple facets of different arcanas isn't uncommon, as the character's stories and personalities are not one note. This even ties to gameplay somewhat in the older titles, a person's compatability in respect of the personas in that arcana depends on their personality and is tied to the aspects of their main arcana. Now I am not saying that the given point is incorrect though, Ken indeed does look up to Akihiko greatly. And the way the game handles the story of Polydeuces and Castor is with Caesar having a figure symbolizing Castor (Shinjiro) sitting inside his body after Akihiko awakens to him.
13:50
Important to note how the contract is changed to have Philemon's message in the beginning of the game here. As that was a message meant to encourage the protagonist to live life as they see fit. And that will tie more in the choice at the end of the game. They seem to make that more clear.
16:40
More than likely this is her awakening scene to Juno, as she and Natsuki were having their goodbyes on this roof when it happened.
17:00
Part of Ikutsuki's plan is to assemble all the 12 arcana shadows to awaken the appriser to bring the Fall (But he calls it a prince that will turn into a king, I think this is a reference to an old prophecy in real life wherein a King of Terror will arise. Aigis mentions this prophecy in the game in the Vanilla version of P3 too. In January though so it's not present in FES and P3P). In a way, this shot symbolizes the protagonist and Pharos' arrival being the start of Ikutsuki's plans. And how Pharos gained benefit from this as he is the 13th arcana shadow gaining his 12 pieces. Destined to be the appriser. Ikutsuki is quite successful but not in the way he thinks.
18:38
The white to red transition here is likely a reference to the fact that Aigis being broken down in the moonlight bridge happened twice. In 1999 and 2009, all with the same purpose of stopping the 13th arcana shadow. The white being the event in 2009 when she fought Ryoji. And the red being the event in 1999, just after Death is awakened and is promptly sealed in the same location. It helps that the background seems to have some sort of smoky haze. As the moonlight bridge was on fire when this happened. Due to the car where the protagonist and his parents are in.
I really appreciate your effort. I was struggling with a major writers block in my story and your analysis actually gave me decent amount of inspirations. Thank you so much.
You're very welcome! Good luck with your stuff!
ALSO IN THE PART WHERE MAKOTO THROWS HIS MP3 HE DISSAPEARS
yukari lipstick scene also shown her holding the lipstick to her head like she would an evoker
Ah yes "Burn my Bread" My favorite P3 song
Been waiting for Sky’s analysis. Love the discussion around this legendary intro 🔥
Was thinking about making a quick video doing funny faces when watching the opening. But here's a 24 minute video on a 2 minute opening 😘 Thank you for waiting!
Not sure if 10:18 has a certain feature about the red lights in the train, but I’m sure it’s connected to the past event of the Shadow experiment, especially the boss that we’ll meet on the train. 18:17, you can see Ryogi’s shoes at the top of the screen, to show him looking down at the reflection, behind the background of red, maybe possibly connecting him to that very past event.
The girl who lept off the building at the start is also pretty similar to the female protagonist, having a similar haircut and the same style outfit
Could atlus be teasing us for a femc dlc
With the episode aigis I'm sure it's gonna be around 50$
You missed the part where they summon their personas where they're in the same or similar poses when first summoned in a way that is almost a shadow or mirror like effect. A reference to the connection between Personas and Shadows and how they're one and the same.
The evoker-death connection is also seen when cast use evokers they “die” for a moment, especially noticeable with Junpei
17:00
just remembering that pharos alerted us during the game that there was a traitor on SEES and other 3 enemies (Strega)
this may explain why he's uncovering the camera
Amazing video, glad there are people like you to point out so many details making the amazing opening even better
I appreciate that!
Great analysis. The best. I’m amazed how you find this stuff out.
I'm not really a Persona fan or anything like that. I generally enjoy games, mostly JRPGs, that have great characters and storytelling. But if I like something a lot, I will have a burst of obsession with it, and that's usually how I'm able to do research on the topic without it feeling like a chore. In fact, it's the opposite of a chore; every minute of research and putting the video together is pure joy for me, and I'm glad you're enjoying it.
2:36 Damn, you didn't have to do em like that 😂
Yes, I do have to do em like that ❤️
@@Sky_Gaming_Academyhate all you want but Persona 5 still has the best soundtrack.
I really love your color theory which is especially important for P3. I never thought this much detail when replaying this op over and over again. But in this particular MV I will take it with bit grain of salt and not too theorize so much since when I compared it with another persona op they take this opening much more bluntly for the spoiler so that it more visible to the already experienced player.
(Below is just some argument really. Text above is more than enough to sum up my thoughts)
I hold to this idea because they seemingly just trying to fit the scenes so it fits the song which is so much more upbeat than normal persona opening song. I sense it when the new singer part comes after LJ finish his his rap part; unlike other op song, new singer keep pushing the drop (idk the terms, this is from my newbie perspective 🙏) and also makes it longer until before it start to lower in "... how long it may last, its your life... Burn your dread." which I thought this was new since no other song push this hard.
The closest opening that I can think of that match this kind of vibe is persona Q and Q2. Especially Q when we can imagine spliting the opening drop into two parts, first when the S.E.E.S member meets with investigation team and when bloody dolls scene comes up. They do push the song here, but they brake the push as the doll scene comes and start over.
And what do you think about koromaru shrine scene and fuuka rooftop? Is it a bit too long for them since they don't hold much of significant in originial game (from lore wise, we don't see much of koromaru past aside of Femc route in p3p) while summoning persona scene do feel slightly rushed? I mean, if they decide to elaborate more on koro story before joining S.E.E.S I'll gladly take it.
The only way to tell if interpretation is correct is by the dev confirming it. So what u said might be correct, while I titled my video some what aggressively. I'm not really set out of be correct or anything. I enjoy interpreting a media that I like and share it with other and it's really fun when the conversation get going. So don't concern too much if ur interpretation is right or wrong I think it's awesome that u are sharing it with everyone. Thank you for writing.
@@Sky_Gaming_Academy yeah, better wait for the game to actually release first 😁
I'm glad I stumbled upon this video. I've seen this opening like a dozen times, but there was so much you pointed out that I never noticed. Thank you.
I've seen it a few "dozen" times too. Glad you are getting value from it.
One thing I was surprised you didn't mention is how at the very end once he throws his mp3 player, he disappears while the rest of sees is still there
Yesssss this is exactly the type of video I’ve been waiting for. This opening is ridiculously amazing and I am just so excited for this game
This was an amazing analysis! Truly impressed by all the different imagery and connections you were able to draw from the OP. Thank you for putting together such a thoughtful analysis on this beautiful OP.
Your welcome, it was a delightful journey from the first minute to the released!
nice analysis! i liked it very much!
Thank you very much!
Man thanks so much for the video.
It was awesome and very clearly explained 🤩
My pleasure 😊
14:50 the times Igor brings a wild card into the room himself, and especially for the first time, is always through dreams, though
After that first time, the guests always have the key to the velvet room (which unrelated to the thematics, I'm so glad we have a visual design for that confirmed in this OP, and it's in the artbook too), allowing them access when they desire, even if to everyone else it just looks like the wild card zones out randomly
The fact that it's Elizabeth who grabs and throws the Red Higanbana flower also foreshadows Elizabeth's mission to rescue the Protagonist.
6:01 its also a callback to the og FeMC, Kotone Shiomi, inside Persona 3 Portable
K
19:04 I think that part maybe is also a foreshadow of Aigis becoming the Fool Arcana in The Answer / Episode Aigis.
thank you for the analysis! its so detailed and organized.
i feel so called out at 2:39 LMAO i just completed the game and i realized how much complex this game is with symbolism compared to P5. The whole game is closely connected to the main theme "Death", and the evoker is literally one of the biggest symbolism. I didn't make sense of it until I complete the game... and you basically summarized it pretty well!
i really enjoyed the video and i hope more people get to watch this
The Red spider lily in particular is a really interesting motif because of how many different interpretations you can take from it. It has it's common association with death and the afterlife in Japanese media, but it has like a billion ties to buddism and folklore that they were definitely fully aware of when using it here.
There's so much religious context in Chinese, Japanese, and general buddism that you could probably write about for hours.
It literally has a 1023 different given names in Japanese. "Higanbana" means "flower of the other shore" and is said to line the Sanzu river, the river spirits cross to reach the afterlife and enlightenment in Japanese buddism.
A couple of other ones I think are significant are "Corpse flower", from it being planted around graves as a deterrent for wild animals digging them up. "Hell flower" from the Lotus Sutra, where it's the flower that blooms in the underworld when someone goes to reincarnate.
And "Abandoned child flower" from a folk legend of a woman dying during childbirth and having her soul transformed into the aforementioned lily, growing near the graves of abandoned children.
You explain this way better how I tell someone, thank you for this video!
16:37 that's Aigis...
K
I think that it’s amazing that they were able to capture the musical aesthetic from the original persona 3
I noticed in 3:30 the little beat in the song kind of sounds like burn my dread “ticking clock” but I could just be hearing things
19:00 I think this could also be a nod to the answer and how Aegis becomes the wild card, showing the “birth” of one wild card and the future of another.
Birth, life, death, then rebirth: The one theme that many playing this game don't truly realize.
U forgot to mention that the protagonist dissapears at the end representing his transformwtion in door kun
18:55 i genuenly don't know what you yapping abt, this is just a call and reference to The Answer, Aigis Chapter if you will
K
Something else pretty cool is that when Aigis collapses on the bridge with the tarot cards around her, that formation is actually a valid configuration for reading tarot! And also foreshadows her status as a wildcard after The Answer
The fact that Pharos is the one that initiates the transition to show Ikutzki is to imply the link between them as Pharos being death and talking about the ruin in most of his dialogue and that being Chairman's ultimate goal.
I know a anyone played persona 1 and 2, but the butterfly is Philemon, the master of Igor and the guy who give the persona power to the people...
At 19:50, I don't know if you didn't care to mention or didn't notice but there are 13 tarot cards in the clock around aigis, the 13th one symbolizing the dark hour
Butterfly are a like the maskots of the one who was Igor boss on persona series. It's pretty related to the velvet room and their attendants too, so Lavenza transformed from one on third semester. It was also some as save points on P4. So it's more about spirit guide.
Yukari entire paleta, from the original game until now was also based on pink while the protagonist as blue. Since characters were made to complement him. In the art book of the original game she was also the only one who mention her palete and is always along the protagonist in the first images. So you can say it's trying to say there is this bou and at the side there is tis girl, you can figure out the rest by the scenes.
Out of context: the poster for the pre order literally says seal your fate
FUCK I LOVE THIS GAME!!! Really gets you thinking about all manner of things
something I'll correct, the version of Burn my Dread heard in the opening is not last battle, if it were we'd hear "I will" and not those opening notes that are so synonymous with the song, meaning this is the opening version of it, which indicates the start of the journey
I like to think that the gang just smiles at the player at the end because we cherish them and we know they'll be able to move on without us in the future. Thus, the protagonist throws away the MP3 player with a smile on his look saying he doesn't regret his final decision and he had a good life.
Great video, thanks for making it
My pleasure!
Before I watched this, I was expecting a MatPat type of theory: one that possibly goes: "Oh yeah, see that gun they hold? Yeah, let me take you back to when the DPRK was founded"
Besides the cinematography the lyrics are a summary for the journey especially "then one might just gain the strength once sought which maybe hearts and souls of life meanings all of us search for"
Shows every member of sees finding that strength at the end of the journey before fighting nyx
Yes there is so much to appreciate from the lyric as well.
The butterfly it also ties with Philemon. Ken idolizes Akihiko.
idk why but the room where the protagonist pull the trigger reminds me a therapy room
Water in Freudian Analysis also symbolized the subconscious... hence Hikari being troubled inside, and also her past traumas, connected to the experiment, resurfacing in her conscious mind
Another thing: the velvet room is accessed by dreaming, or by entering the blue doors. But when the protagonist enters, he simply stay there and the other ones see him as immobile and kinda absent.... I'd say he is dayDREAMING :D
Love the day dreaming bit! And while I don't know much about Freudian there's many way to interpret the symbolism, I know some ppl going hard with the religious theme as well linking water to bapthism. It really awesome to hear different ppl interpretation of the op. Thank you for sharing!
If you check right at the end when the MC threw his mp3 player, notice that of all the cast, only he dissapears.......
The butterfly is also reference to the Greek goddess Psyche. The goddess of the soul.
She was depicted as a woman with butterfly wings.
18:52 there’s no way they’re not alluding to the answer. The fool being in the middle with her is to much of a coincidence right?
17:15 probably because of how dumb jumpei can be that he need to be monitored 24/7 to avoid hurting himself or do something much dumber.
I want to point this out, but it's not only the images but also the lyrics of the song that makes reference as well thought i should let everyone know
20:32
Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but is it not interesting that at then end after everyone of the team reunites, they stay together in the background while the protagonist throws the mp3, looks away from the camera, and disappears while the others are still on the background...
Man this op hits freaking hard 😢
yeah frame by frame i saw that the protag suddenly vanish lol
When your english teacher asks you why the ball was described as blue
my favorite scene was that velvet room one. it just hits right at my ass.
as a person who... quite interested and do research about the game's lore, this opening is perfect. for people who dont get it, they dont get spoiled, but as the same time its a fan service who finished the original.
anyways, appreciate your effort you put in this video. bravo 👏
At 3:47 I think those two people are Lotus Juice and Azumi Takahashi (The new singer)
that would be a wonderful tribute to them.
A life that they are not familiar to them which gives the reason to forget it
17:09 I'm surprised that you talked so much about the colors but didn't bring to mention the colors of this scene.
Ikutsuki so happened to have color shades inverted to every other character. Whilst the main cast has the light blue, Ikutsuki is in a dark blue and the room surrounding him is dark. The also contrasts the images of the rooms being brighter than everything else within the scene. This is a nod to Ikutsuki being the poisonous flower which grew in our garden that Pharos warns about.
I really do think this is the best Persona opening. I have no issues with it, whereas some of the other best ones can be nitpicked
pines!!! (/o_o)/
Very Profound
16:00 I think is on purpose 😅.
I saw a lot of comments talking about how this looks like the meme.
Weird note. But does anyone else weirdly get Persona 1 vibes from around here 4:04? Maybe it's because the Persona 1 opening shows a wide perspective on a school building similar to this? I don't know how I made this connection when I'm barely a Persona 1 enjoyer
Amazing analysis 👏 😮
Glad you think so!
man said it looks like a bullet, its clearly a tampon
Great analysis
the protag only has the opening movie versions of the songs lol
person on the roof more resembles Aigis because of white legs and metal high heels
I theorize that the reload on the tittle might symbolize this being a remake or something, idk im pretty exited though
It's possible
Now. This is epic.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? idk, but bladerunner is a masterpiece
Great movie
Honestly if this is the game that leads to protag’s return I’ll lose it 😂
It’s just a remake doubt they’re letting P3 protag come back alive, also idk if the remake is even gonna include the “answer” story from FES.
as someone who just finished reload, im here to inform you that we lost the protag again
@@alice-dv5rk yep got to the end too but was still a beautiful scene
the op is so good
Yukari at the beginning might be a reference to her in the first cutscene of the game.
To the beat of this clip 21:45
22:35
...Gge
...Avral
...Apup
Nollipap
Wtf are you talking about. I get you jumbled the letters of the 4 stages of a butterfly's life, but everything else... And you commented this twice, too.
@@osterbuuny3083 Reversed, actually.
Followed the OST rhythm
Wait, TWICE??
The blue butterflies are also Philemon who had a larger role in Persona 1&2
The girl jumping off the building looks a lot like Kotone
I oddly thought seeing the lone crow/raven to be a callback to Yatagarasu, a persona of the Sun Arcana -- which is Akinari's arcana; of which, from a narrative perspective, encompasses the ENTIRE theme and meaning of Persona 3 more than all other Links in the story.
I never realized akihiko’s persona looked exactly like shinjiro’s 😢😢😢😢😢😢😢
18:08 this music from the Epic Stupid videos... Was from Persona all along?!
Nice video! I love your accent! :)
I wanne stress how I really enjoyed all your info and interpretations and I find them really great! I wont go into what I agree with - its too much, RUclips should open up a forum or something for these things…I just noticed how in some scenes, you pay attention to completely different details. ;)
For example the fool in front of Aigis - that card is upside down, symbolizing she is not yet ready to go on a journey. Her real journey only starts after she resolved her issues and finds meaning in life.
Or you didnt mention how Makoto sits on a sofa and shoots himself. He doesnt stand upright, self-confident. He looks like someone who is totally suicidal and has no strength to go on living. Like all the characters are that live in „I want to die“.
I totally agree with the mp3-player looking like a bullet. All these characters in the story are suicidal, they all lost hope at some point. And its implied that more and more people in our nowadays-society suffer the same „illness“. People only wear masks like the „shadows“ do to hide their true emotions. Yukari is seen in the beginning trying to shoot herself, and I guess everyone thought the same thing originally. I believe we sorta rewind time - there are people commenting on how they already said the same things before or the op scene, which is like a movie going backwards. Or the velvet room rushing upwards with a clock- representing the floor numbers - fast-forwarding towards the end. When Makoto arrives, he says he should hurry since he is already late. I could even see the rail being connected to this.
This could also explain why the scene of the sect is in the very beginning of the op and not at the end. The moment the student wants to kill herself, the Dark Hour sets in. I guess this is like stopping time in order to save her. In order to change the world where she doesnt want to commit suicide. This is where we start - they get a chance to change their fate where everyone „loses against Nyx“. We are then in a dream-like world, where everything is distorted and Makoto arrives. Its also interesting how later in the game, the colors are washed out - hinting that its a dream. And this links back to Aigis being shattered, sitting in front of the cards, moving a clock backwards, not yet ready to go on a journey. She closes her eyes and starts to dream. Her big blue eye is shown, and as you said, this is opposed to the big red eye that hangs in the sky and cries. We see a dream now, about how the protagonist meets everyone, they all form bonds and finally find a reason to live.
This is still only a dream, but the protagonist`s journey leads him towards becoming god and therefore creation of the universe itself, a teacher explains this in his lesson. Nyx says in the end, it takes a strong will to make your dream into reality. I guess that`s what is happening. In the end, everyone wakes up, their old memories return - it could even be true, that Mitsuru`s father died originally of an illness. And they all forget what happened in the „Dark Hour“, the distorted year, a the year that never really happened/the dream that they all had. Aigis remembers something in the end as well and comes rushing towards the protagonist and is totally relieved that he is still there. It`s as if she remembered something that told her, Makoto should already be dead. Which fits to Orpheus being brought back from the sea of souls.
You show the scene so nicely from the beginning. The shadow with the blue mask comes rushing toward Makoto, the blue mask reflecting Makoto`s and the death`s face. It`s almost as if death tells him to accept him - to accept what has happened. I think it`s also interesting how in the end, Makoto fights against Nyx which repeatedly uses „Death“ on him to destroy him, but he stands up again. First he is hit and should be dead by the damage he takes, then he evades this and finally is immune to the attack.
The protagonist is probably dead already, like the one social link (forgot his name), who also wears a shirt with stripes like a prisoner until he can let go. It fits since…“I am you, you are me“. But it doesnt matter, the attack cant kill him anymore. He has a nice dream and is able to save everyone through this dream, which he turns into a reality. Therefore it makes sense that it is him that throws the „bullet“ away in the ending of the op. There is no longer anyone who wants to commit suicide. The scene on the roof shows his right eye for once, closed and when the dream reaches the end, he sinks back into the sea of souls.
After you made it through the game, the title screen turns from night to daylight. Which imo fits since all the characters „woke up“.
It`s all thanks to Igor and I think it fits that the flower is turned into a key by Elizabeth - like a key you are given in order to escape your fate. The butterfly is also often representing the „butterfly effect“ - a decision/an event that changes fate. And I guess that this is what they are doing.
So yeah, sorry for not commenting only on the OP, but I didnt know how to explain my thoughts for Aigis eye and the bullet in the end otherwise. And yeah, I know FES but I completely forgot everything so I may come back again to delete this comment XD
Thank for the long comment. The title of the video is just to get u interested. I mentioned this before but all interpretation are valid and if it not valid then it still valueble. It allow us to appriciate the art more. So thank you again for sharing all that.
@@Sky_Gaming_Academy And thank you too for your kind reply :) I forgot to mention that your raven-explanation also fits perfectly to that one photograph from Kyoto, where Ryuji seems to fly away and is held back by Makoto holding his scarf. So once again, thanks for sharing!
There will be spoilers
Me: aghte am head out
It's just 3 mins op
The lore behind it takes 30 mins (or more)
16:38 Or is it Aigis...
I still find it weird that there are cameras in the dorm rooms. i don't know if that is normal in Japan. I actually can't think of a good reason why one is needed unless you want to ease drop on someone
7:00 the way you said “mudderrrr” was funny 😂 sorry
19:50 IT'S A *DOOR!*
16:00 I commented that on the IGN one!
14:05 ...so, being an adult, got it.
XD