Holy shit... It turns out Bizzle was just Sora all along.

I gotta say I absolutely LOVE Ryoji's dilemma, the "Grim Reaper falling in love with life" trope, so to speak. He was so curious about everything, so forward about commuting with everyone, he was just... experiencing life, just like all of us and he loved every single minute of it. All thanks to developing a sense of self while living inside the MC. And that look as he left the command room? OOF. *He clearly doesn't wanna do this, but he cannot stop it... only delay it. At the cost of his own life.* Why can't I hug this man?!

Ryoji: Nico, do you remember when your bowel problem started? Nico: It was 10 years ago if I remember co- HOLY SHIT

Two notable changes that the Persona 3 movies made to Ryoji I want to point out. The first is that his relationship with the protag is portrayed as much closer. In the original game, Ryoji was just another one of the protag's friends and he was honestly closer to Junpei than the protag. For the movie however, after Shinji and Mitsuru's dad died, the protag ended up seriously depressed and refused to associate with even the other party members. Ryoji instead quickly made himself the protag's best friend, forcing him out of his depression through goofy antics like a "helpers club" or even more shit they got up to in the Kyoto trip. The second change is that the confrontation at the bridge goes a bit differently. While the encounter with Aigis remains mostly the same, after the rest of the party get there, Ryoji actually fights them and its a total curb stop. He manages to defeat all of their personas at the same time and BLOWS UP THE BRIDGE. Instead of revealing his origins and offering the let the protag kill him at the dorm, he instead does this while he fights SEES.

Keisuke: "I'm about to leave on this train" Igor: "You can't leave yet. Bizzle hasn't maxed out your social link" Igor: *Makes those 2 people collapse*

Damn ryoji wanted to get inside Nico when infact he already was

Ryoji: And that child even transferred to your school... Yukari: You don't mean! Ryoji: That's right... Yukari: Bebe! Ryoji: Ye-- Wait, wut. Bizzle: It makes so much sense... Junpei: I can't believe we missed it. Ryoji: Uh, guys, hold up, I think you're missin-- Bizzle: We'll get through this together team!

If I had a nickel for every P3 main character that was trying to deal with some kind of loss, I'd have ten nickels, which... is actually quite a bit and obscenely depressing. Fuck these nickels.

Vivia: "Death... is always awaiting me upon my path." Ryoji: "I'm the Appriser... The Appriser of Death." Aleks Le seems to have quite the interesting typecast 😆.

This episode's Who's Who is Ulala Serizawa from P2. She's of the Star Arcana, her initial persona is Calisto, she fights with her fists and can wreck a punching bag in just a blows, she has a potty mouth, and she's voiced by Amanda Winn-Lee. She has self-confidence issues, mostly about her intelligence. She had to repeat a year in school and is afraid that the rest of the party thinks she's a moron. She got into boxing as an outlet for her neuroses.

I personally don’t have that much of an issue with how little time in the grand scheme of things Ryoji gets. I think not enough people consider Pharos and Ryoji to be the same character when they talk about how short lived Ryoji is. Like yes while the characters are very outwardly different, the first character you meet in persona 3 reload is Pharos, he’s connected to Makotos awakening, Ryoji gets introduced very quickly after Pharos’s disappearance, and then is revealed to be the Appraiser for the end of the game. So while yes Ryoji is only around for a month or so it isn’t like the whole character is rushed in or hastily put together just to have a connection to the evil god of this persona game.

Fun fact, Blaze of Life is actually the strongest magic Theurgy for the allies. Notice how it said massive damage? That's basically this game's equivalent to 5's colossal. It's the highest damage tier, not counting Armageddon's ultimate. The only other Theurgy, besides one Minato gets later on, that has that damage tier is Mitsuru's Blade of Execution, however since it's almighty she has no way to boost it further. Meanwhile, if you give Junpei his Fire Boost weapon and a Fire Amp accessory you will make Blaze of Life stronger. You want to know how powerful this Theurgy really is? With the right setup, it's one of only 2 party member's magic Theurgies that can one shot the Reaper, the other being Aki's Electric Onslaught. How funny is it that the character with the lowest magic just happens to have the strongest magic Theurgy?

Junpei: Wait, so Ryoji was inside Makoto the whole time? Is there anyone else in there you forget to mention Aigis? Aigis: No, I don’t believe so. FeMC: LET ME OUT! DON’T FORGET ABOUT ME LIKE XION!

I'm starting to think Keisuke might be a bad omen to those around him with all sudden health problems that just so happen to occur in his presence.

It’s crazy how I got so genuinely emotional from the scene with Ryoji in the music room. It’s these goddamn non-human characters with tragically fleeting lives discovering what love is right before their deaths.

Nico: I wish I was a social link! Igor: All I have left is The Hanged Man, The Tower, and Death. Take your pick.

43:15 Ah. This is something from P3FES. Junpei would get bummed out about Chidori yelling at him, and you had to convince him each evening to go keep visiting her. Looks like in this game, it's been simplified to "Get Junpei's one linked episode, then give him the flowers."

Nico: ok within the last couple months, Shinji, the chairman, Mitsuru‘s father, and chidori have died, everything we’ve done thus far has been for not, and none of us are really sure where to go from here, but surely things couldn’t possibly get any worse. Ryoji:….so I’ve got bad news and worse news.. Nico: GOD. DAMNIT.

Little did we know, Ikutski was actually incorrect. What really reunited Ryoji back into one piece was Bizzle crapping out bits of Death with every shit. Surely having Death inside you does make you a little constipated...

To complete Quest 73, the weapon can be crafted using a Quality Nihil Blade. The materials required are 3 Emeralds and 2 Silver Quartz.

That part of Keisuke's SL was crazy. Everywhere he goes, someone ends up needing medical attention.

Mitsuru is available everyday, but Sunday, however that changes after Christmas. After the 25th, Mitsuru is no longer available on Monday and Friday, which is why I personally think it best to finish her link before then. Once Aigis unlocks, in January, you'll be down to only having Tuesday and Thursday free to hang out with Mitsuru (and other remaining Social links), as they're the school days Aigis is not available. Also, you only just have enough days left to finish everything (Social Links and Linked Episodes). If you do the Christmas Eve event, instead of a Social Link that day, you WON'T be able to finish every Social Link before the game ends.

Yukari: Hey Junpei, is it alright if I take a look at Chidori’s sketchbook? Junpei: Sure but you’d probably wouldn’t understand her drawings. *Yukari opens the sketchbook* Yukari: Oh…………..That was………. Not what I was expecting. Junpei: What? What is it? Yukari: It’s porn, it’s literally just all porn in here. Junpei: *Sniff* She really knew the way to my heart.

Ironic, how people bash on Neuro Slash, yet they usually lose a character to the attack every time it's used.

Nico: so your saying I’ve had a piece of Death inside of me for 10 Years! Ryoji: That’s right… Nico: Ever since that day… (Grabs Ryoji by the collar) Nico: … is it because of you I take all these massive shits!!? Ryoji: W…What?

I'm sure others have likely mentioned it by now, but in Portable's Female route, Ryoji says he would like you regardless of your gender. So I believe the scene in the piano room probably integrates that detail. Not saying this is a Thing that needs to be done as part of the LP, but for your own enrichment: you may want to consider watching Ryoji's social link from Portable (though maybe wait until you've experienced the events of December 31) to see part of where Reload pulls its material from. ...and I'm definitely not suggesting it because it entails Yuri Lowenthal waxing poetically right into one's earholes, hehe (I absolutely am) (priorities, I have them)

did nico completely forget about the chidori thing in fes he mentioned it back when he played arena

You can't tell me Ryuji ain't tryna get back inside you this episode

So, a little thing I wanted to say about Jumpei's Social link in P3P. While he is the first social link, his social link is actually time gated. You can only find him at school and he is unavailable after summer vacations because he is spending time with Chidori. After the events with Chidori, he will be too depressed to hang out and you will only be able to hang out with him again on the last month of the game.

1:28:00 since shadows are born from the human psyche, i think it's safe to assume that all anti-shadow weapons (not just Aigis) are built with the capability to seal shadows inside of humans again as a last resort

Soooo a few little known details that I'd like to share: A.) It's implied by several side materials that the male and female protagonists of Persona 3 Portable (that is, Makoto and Hamuko) are SIBLINGS, and choosing your player character at the start isn't just picking a gender- you're deciding which one survived the car crash. (IDK if these still apply since P5Q since I haven't played it) IIRC this is actually made explicit in the Persona 3 stage play, with the rolls of Makoto and Hamuko (Male and Female Protag respectively) regularly switching between performances depending on who they have survive the accident. This is also likely big reason why they cut costs and didn't allow you to play a female protag- Hamuko, is outright a different character, with a VERY different personality, and VERY different mannerisms- they'd probably have to give her different animations too to match on top of typical dialogue changes. While Makoto is implied to have become very withdrawn, depressive, and quiet since the accident, Hamuko is implied to have become a stepford smiler that puts up a brave face and bubbly front in order to reassure others. This is heavily reflected in how different their dialogue options are too. B.) There was actually a bit of a funnier bit of additional foreshadowing of Ryuji's connection to the protagonist in the manga during, of all times, the Hot Springs Kyoto Trip! During the escape from the girls in the Hot Spring, at one point Ryuji puts his hair down and he, I kid you not, almost COMPLETELY identical to the male protagonist with the exception of his mole.

Fun fact: Ryoji is highly based off of the character Kaworu Nagisa from Neon Genesis Evangelion. Spoilers for Eva follow: Kaworu Nagisa is a character that shows up near the end of the show who is mysterious and enigmatic. He immediately integrates himself into the main cast and has a particular fascination with the main character Shinji. Shinji reciprocates which is surprising as Shinji is a rather "withdrawn" character. The two form a close bond with much romantic and sexual subtext between the two that honestly by the end pretty much becomes text. This is fueled largely by Nagisa's curiosity of the world and interest in human affairs. However, it turns out that Nagisa is actually a member of the monsters that the main characters have been fighting called "Angels" and due to complicated stuff, he turns out to be both the first angel "Adam" and the last angel "Tabris". Though he personally doesn't want to, he is compelled to fulfill his purpose and attacks. However, after realizing that his actions will hurt Shinji he begs for Shinji to kill him. The parallels with Ryoji I think are obvious, both are character that suddenly appear near the end of the story and integrate themselves into the main party, forming an especially close bond with the main protagonist with romantic undertones that by the end cease to be just undertones. Ryoji is very curious about the world and especially about how humans live. However Ryoji turns out to be a shadow which SEES has been fighting the whole time, moreover being both Nyx's avatar, the origin of shadows as well as the last shadow Death. However, he doesn't actually enjoy his role and actually wishes to go against but can because he is compelled to fulfill it. To stop his friends pain, he begs the protag to kill him. As we can see Ryoji and Kaworu Nagisa's characters pretty much parallel each other one to one. This is not terribly surprising as a large part of Persona 3's plot can be seen as a sort of reference to Eva. Common comparisons are with the protagonist and Shinji (though he is also compared to Rei), Aigis with Rei, Yukari with Asuka, the Personas with the Evas and the Shadows with the Angels. Even some more esoteric connections can be made like Ikutski with Gendo. Ryoji however is the most obvious as for the others you have to kinda stretch to make connections while for Ryoji, his connection is readily apparent.

Who's Who character was Ulala Serizawa from Eternal Punishment. She's Maya's best friend and roommate. Her Arcana is Star, her weapon is her fists, and her initial Persona is Callisto. When negotiating with demons, there's a group contact (basically, a few team members get together to do something to impress the demon) involving her and Maya dancing flamenco together while Katsuya plays the guitar.

You can get the "Did you see that, Shinji?" line when you win a fight during Akihiko's turn (not with an AOA).

As a growing mathematician, I can confirm that is exactly what we do.

Nico, Mr. Ono still had his helmet on because what he worn is not Kanetsugu's helmet. Naoe Kanetsugi's helmet is famous for having the Kanji Ai/Love (愛). In case you're wondering who he is. He's a general who served the Uesugi Clan. Both he and Masamune fought on opposite sides during the Siege of Hasedo Castle in the advent of the Battle of Sekigahara. Meanwhile, The helm that Mr. ono worn in his classes is probably inspired by Date Masamune's, his Sengoku Period figure. I'd say inspired because even though Ono's helmet also had a Crescent on it, Masamune's is much larger, as you can see when you spot his Statue at Sendai in Persona 5 Strikers.

40:17: That's probably Ulala from the Persona 2 duology, if memory serves correctly.

Man No Wonder Minato is so depressed and why he has bathroom problems.....Man had Literal Death in him.

Kairi's inside me? The movie, the game, the hit new TV series!

Bizzle: RYOJI! WHY DID YOU ATTACK AIGIS?!" Ryoji: "I know she's your friend, but please understand that I am death-" Bizzle: "NO YOU IDIOT I DIDN'T EVEN GET TO FORM A SOCIAL LINK WITH AIGIS YET!" Ryoji: "...I-Is that why you're upset?" Bizzle: "YES!" Ryoji: "..." Ryoji: "...god I love you." Bizzle: "what" Ryoji: "what"

So you know how at the very beginning of the game, it looked like the MC didnt give a shit about the Dark Hour despite the sky turning green, people turning into coffins, and puddles of blood being everywhere? There was actually a reason for that. The MC has been aware of the Dark Hour ever since the night where Aigis sealed the Death Shadow inside him. You can even see in the flashback that it's clearly during the Dark Hour when Aigis fought the Death Shadow, yet the young MC shown in that scene hadn't been transmogrified. So the reason why he gave no reaction to the Dark Hour when he arrived in Iwatodai is actually pretty simple. He was already used to it

Bizzle after Ryoji's confession: "oh. so thats why we're both Aleks Le."

monokuma and junko: despair greater you can possibly imagine? hell yeah!

Junpei, pre trauma: wow all my friends keep going through a lot of death what a bummer Ryoji aka Death: don’t worry I’m sure death will hang around you too soon Junpei: haha what the fuck

4:50 I would say my biggest gripe with Va-11 Hall-A is the game ships Jill super hard with her boss, even during the time she is getting over the death of her girlfriend. Comes off as super tacky to me, but apparently, some people do like that.

40:15 This time the lady with the beauty mark is Ulala Serisawa. A main character in Persona 2 Eternal Punishment and is actually the first playable boxer in Persona before Akihiko.

Can I just find it funny that of all games for NicoB to make massive amount of toilet jokes in, its this one the game about Death and trauma bonding? :'D

(SPOILERS FOR THE EPISODE, NO CLICKING IF YOURE NOT FAMILIAR WITH THE GAME) Crack headcannon: all the shits Bizzle took was him slowly shitting out death, and all the shits slowly fused into Ryoji, aka the appraiser for death. Thats why Bizzle’s shits were always so violent. (Yes, I’ve been waiting to make this comment for about a month now.)

I think Keisuke is cursed to have everyone collapse near him like they are in Persona 4. XD

I LOVE JUNPEI'S SECOND THEURGY SO MUCH! Like it's already an amazing attack mechanically by doing massive fire damage and full healing Junpei, which is good since you typically are using physical skills with him, it's also amazing thematically after his Persona fused with Chidori's. Seeing Chidori behind him at the end of the attack and his comments at the end of it are just UGH hits me right in the feels every time I use it.

Junpei: So what really happened to bizzle after aigis just sealed you inside him? Seems kinda hard to explain this to the police or anybody. Ryoji: I don't know Ken: And if he's a transfer student then where did he use to live? Ryoji: I don't know Yukari: And if she couldn't defeat you, how did aigis seal you inside bizzle? Ryoji: Details. Akihiko: The details are what ANSWERS the QUESTIONS!

It is crazy how Nico was able to guess about the old man falling over in the social link.

So, here's a detail that wasn't quite clarified until the P3 movies came out after FES. While we knew from FES that the MC's parents died ten years ago thanks to Ms. Toriumi mentioning it at the beginning of the game, it was never exactly specified _how_ they died. In the Persona 3 movies, Makoto actually has blocked out the memory of their death mostly, save for one image of his mother yelling something to him. In both FES and Reload, there is a burning car in the background behind the MC, and the movies confirm that that was indeed his parents' car. His parents died ten years ago, burning to death in their own car in an accident caused by the fight between Aigis and Death. It wasn't until the moment Aigis confronted Ryoji that Makoto remembered exactly what his mother was yelling to him. She was telling him to "live!" After that, she was engulfed in the flames of their burning car and died.

[SPOILERS FOR PERSONA 4 AND PERSONA 5] An important distinction to make here is that, unlike the false gods of P4 and P5, Nyx is an _actual_ Eldritch being. She is, in every sense of the word, a god. An immortal, undefeatable, god. Yakdebaoth and Izanami do not hold a candle to her in terms of power.

46:40 Don’t mind me, I just like the Ryoji piano part

Man, my comment 3-4 videos ago seemed to have been spot on. That is nuts. Even Nico brought up the features (although I went into greater detail about how he acts and such). Kinda blows my mind a little. This time, I am the auger. Fear My Powah!

23:30 Wait till Nico sees a Maine Coon cat, those cats are HUGE!!! Even more fun would be an F1 or F2 Savannah cat.

I wanna echo some other comments and say that Mitsuru becomes much less available during the period where Aigis is available. Her schedule reduces after a time, so don't put her off too much! But anyway, what a revelation! In the original game, this was the start of, by and large, the ""most boring month of the game"" mechanically speaking. It's much better now, though, due to the changing of some social link availability.

I can only think of two major characters who'd be in their thirties who aren't teachers: Maya and Ulala. I'm pretty sure they're talking about Ulala, but I'm not positive.

Is trauma bonding between people that are traumatised or between the person that caused the trauma and the person being traumatised?

1:18:36 Keisuke is literally Conan. People are literally collapsing/dying around them, I cannot

It is absolutely ridiculous how much the universe just starts SCREAMING at Keisuke “YOU NEED TO BE A DOCTOR” in his last event.

Nico, I suggest you simply reload after seeing the Christmas event so you have time to finish everything.

SUMMON THE REAPER AND RUN! But don't leave tartarus

Keisuke keeps attracting business! He'll always have work if he decides to be a doctor!

Oh I think the Chidori thing started in P3P not sure. I'll look it up at get back to you later. EDIT: No it started in FES.

There are great mysteries and revelations here and it is all connected together. The past is a tragic one and the end is near. Ryoji reminds me a lot of Kaworu Nagisa (from Neon Genesis Evangelion) and also of Ventus (from Kingdom Hearts) for the way he was sealed inside the protagonist body/heart/mind/soul. It is thrilling how this turn out and there will be some more hidden secrets to be solved soon (like the phone call from Mitsuru). I am looking forward to it. ;-)

I relate a lot to Keisuke, with all the opportunities in the world in front of him and still just scared to take any path. To feel so young and naive and still knowing you have to start on your path… he must be a Libra too

So fun fact about Fuuka’s rank 7 event for her SL: if you answer “That’s probably it” instead of “Is that the only reason?” you’ll completely lock yourself out of romancing her down the line. There won’t be an option later on. The subsequent SL events are also pretty different from what they would be otherwise with different dialogue and stuff as well. Most max SL guides (at least when I played Reload. Idk about now) don’t even have the dialogue choices for that route recorded. Learned that one the hard way on my own playthrough. Curse you Reverse Social Links in FES for making me too nervous to pick the romantic sounding options too early!!! *Shakes fist at the sky*

Here’s a fun fact i learned a while ago but it’s a theory that the protagonist of p3 was actually a talented musician from a young age hence why he always wears his headphones and music playing and why he can offer to play the piano, but after the accident that killed his parents he haven’t played music since, i thought it was fun to hear that

Will Nico be able to romance Fuuka on time to get the few decent dates left? Yes Nico, we all know is Fuuka, don't pretend your gonna throw a curve ball to us

I think the only future character that could make sense to show up on Who's Who would be Rise Kujikawa from P4, since we know she was doing idol stuff during this time. We know this because she references getting access to the VIP room at Escapade because she was supposed to perform there some time before the events of P4 but couldn't because of a power outage, which was because of the Shadow we fought around there in this game. Every other later Persona party member/MC would be nobodies or way too young at this point, except maybe Naoto? I can't recall how well known she would have been as a kid detective this far back in time compared to P4.

"A machine is made for a purpose, mine is to defeat YOU!" (Summons Pladadon as Unavoidable Battle starts playing) Anyone else get chills from that scene?

Aigis: You took everything from me. Ryoji: **is holding Nico's hand** I don't even know who you are

Sooner or later the door to the bathroom will fly off from the explosion due to Nico's bowel problems.

yeah I have seen cats that big

An interesting change Reload made to this scene: In FES, it's Fuuka that kneels next to Aigis. In Reload, it's the MC who kneeks next to her instead.

Never understood the logistics of "sealing a shadow inside a person" Like, Aigis just went Hokage the 4th on him like that ? They replicated the Hidden Leaf Village's jutsu on a tech ?

... I don't think he pulled out a watering can to water those flowers

The new Tartarus area looks like an acid trip and a half

Bizzle just casually unzips and water the plants

40:29 Ulala Serizawa, a minor character in P2 Innocent SIn & playable character in P2 Eternal Punishment.

Nico, please do the Samurai Teacher back to back and not forget about it.

So it this is why Bizzle has IBS this whole time? He was just trying to shit out Ryoji!?

Please let the Reaper spawn and then go up a floor

Wait, so if makoto was that kid, did they just kill his parents in the cross fire of that fight??

Harabah is a funky club or laser tag place.

so.... is pharos supposed to be a younger looking ryoji?

"it might be a good idea to focus on the one i want to hook up with" I get it nico, kenji

Someone managed to mess with the game’s camera and take a peek at Chidori’s sketchbook during the scene where she first meets Junpei… She’s drawing Junpei. It was love at first sight 😂 In all seriousness it was probably just convenient for the game devs but it’s much more fun to imagine Chidori had a crush on Junpei from the start.

Fuuka: “The bookstore owner recommended me this one when I said I was interested in cooking. ‘Shokugami no Soma”… Oh! Oh my!” Later Bizzle: *answering phone* “Fuuka? You made another meal for me to try? It’s the fifth one today, and it’s still only 3:00.” Fuuka: “I NEED TO GET THIS RIGHT!!!”

That last social event with Ryoji….I wonder if it differs depending on which romance option you picked or if it is always Fuuka?

It's kind of funny. I recently finished Let's Playing a game where the final boss was also a sudden appearance by the personification of Death.

Since you're getting more leveled up, I recommend you prioritize getting Mithras and Siegfried next. Why those ones? Trust me, you'll thank me later ;)

In P3P, Yukiko makes a cameo appearance as a middle school-er.

Don't worry, Nico. Keisuke's Rank 9 is every bit as ridiculous here as it was in FES.

1:08:27 Blaze of Life

WHO THAT CAMEO NicoB “ ITS PIKACHU” It’s Maya NicoB “SHHHHHIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTT

1:20:12 goddammit nicob you jinxed it

Nico, I appreciate that you’re trying to keep who you’re going to romance a mystery, but it’s pretty obvious to all of us who it is. It’s Kenji