Persona 3 has its fair share of usual Atlus editions, with the original protagonist staying (mostly) the same until the addition of “Femc” in Persona 3 Portable. With that said, their name has also changed. Let’s go over the names our fearless protagonist has had and which one is canon.
For the most part, the protagonist’s canon name is Makoto Yuki or Kotone Shiomi. However, there have been other versions where Makoto became Minato or Sakuya. Technically, since you can name them, anything is fair game. Still, calling the protagonist ‘protagonist’ gets a little tiresome after a while. So, I’ve compiled a list of each iteration of Persona 3, and the names Atlus uses for its hero.
List of Canon Names of P3’s Protagonist
- Persona 3: Makoto Yuki
- Persona 3 FES: Makoto Yuki
- Persona 3 Portable: Makoto Yuki OR Kotone Shiomi
- Persona 3: Dancing In Moonlight: Makoto Yuki
- Persona 3 Reload: Makoto Yuki
- Persona 3: The Movie (Anime Films): Makoto Yuki
- Persona 3 (Manga): Minato Arisato
- Persona 3: The Weird Masquerade (Play): Sakuya Shiomi OR Kotone Shiomi
Since the names seem to stick to the same options for the games, we can also assume it’s Makoto Yuki and Kotone Shiomi for Persona Q Shadow of the Labyrinth and Persona Q2 New Cinema Labyrinth.
Changing Seasons (And Names)
For a little history lesson, we started seeing Kotone’s name pop up in things like the P3 stage play, and follow up again in a Puzzles and Dragons crossover. That’s also where we heard the male character’s Sakuya change.
As you can see, a majority of Persona 3 titles call the protagonist Makoto Yuki. While the earlier games don’t specifically call him Makoto, the re-release of Persona 3 Portable canonized the name. If the player changes languages, the system brings up a message saying that, by default, the game will call the male protagonist Makoto Yuki (and the female protagonist Kotone Shiomi). Persona 3 Reload confirmed this in a gameplay video where the default last name, Yuki, shows up in a discussion with Fuuka (at the 30 second mark).
The other project is the manga, where Makoto becomes Minato Arisato. The name was the first one given to the protagonist before later installments called him Makoto. It’s not known why it was changed. Both Persona 4 and Persona 5 ran into the same thing where the manga name and the canon name differ.
