Makoto Yūki/Kotone Shiomi (Persona 3)

"Yukari: Our lives out in danger! Do you want to die!? Makoto: I don't really care... Is dying really that scary to you?" "- Makoto, as he has no interest in dying." Makoto Yūki/Minato Arisato/Minako Arisato is the main protagonist in Persona 3. He/She is a transfer student enrolling in Gekkoukan High School in Iwatodai City. He/She is an orphan whose parents died on the Moonlight Bridge in their car during a fatal incident a decade prior to the game.

Why He/She Rocks

 * 1) Makoto had one of the most badass awakenings the the entire Persona franchise. A sinister smile pointing a gun at oneself and unleashing the demon within him made it all the more terrifying.
 * 2) It's true that Makoto/Kotone is a silent protagonist, can look emotionless, but he/she is very kind hearted and forgiving.
 * 3) The way Makoto/Kotone summons Orpheus/Thanatos/Messiah by shooting himself/herself in the head without dying can look really badass, considering the game's message is about accepting death.
 * 4) While being a silent protagonist, Makoto is very stoic, reserved and calm, sometimes, had no care in the world, not even dying, and gathered by the fact that he remains unmoved even when guns are pointed at him, as well as walking under a green sky and being surrounded by blood pools and coffins everywhere at the beginning of Persona 3.
 * 5) * His female counterpart, Kotone (referred to as Minako "Hamuko Yūki" Arisato by fans, sometimes FeMC or "Phem See"), can act the opposite. she is very bubbly, funny, upbeat and cheerful. Her dialogue choices exhibit a broad spectrum of emotions, ranging from sarcasm, joking tones, utter seriousness in Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth.
 * 6) He/She is very well designed. Especially with the emo hair.
 * 7) In the Persona 3 films, Makoto is known to be much darker, sadder, and edgier compared to his personality from the video game and the manga, traumatized by witnessing the deaths of his parents as a child to the point of indifference, he has extremely neutral viewpoints on both life and death and is uncaring of either.
 * 8) * But even if he cares less of his own safety, Makoto breaks through his stony and blunt attitude whenever his friends are in danger and even worries for their safety when any of them are put in a life-threatening situation, mainly because the thought of them dying reminds him of his parents' fate. And after that, he relies on his friends more, and found the meaning of life.
 * 9) Makoto/Kotone gets along well with the members of S.E.E.S,  Aigis, Shuji Ikutsuki (until he betrayed the group), Ryoji/Pharos, Elizabeth/Theodore.
 * 10) He/She, along with S.E.E.S., saved the world by sealing Nyx, but at the cost of his/her life, making the sacrifice by becoming a door, and preventing the end of all life. And afterwards, Makoto/Kotone spends his/her remaining days until March 5th as a regular highschool student, then lies on Aigis' lap while having their last talk together, and sleeps for eternity.
 * 11) "Personal space, please."
 * 12) *"Who cares?"

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Similar to Ren from Persona 5 and Yu from Persona 4, he/she doesn't speak very often, this is a common thing in RPG games.
 * 2) Although being emo isn't a bad thing, but when Makoto/Kotone first transferred to Gekkoukan High's dormitory, he/she looked uninterested when the civilians turned into coffins or everything around him turned green. He/She just walks in the dorm like it's a normal thing.

Trivia

 * Makoto (Male) appears as an optional boss in Persona 5: Royal.
 * He is mostly right handed, but in the Persona 3 movies, he also uses his left hand to summon Personas, so therefore, Makoto is ambidextrous, like Goro Akechi.
 * His death at the end of the game is foreshadowed with the "memento mori: remember that you are mortal, remember you will die" message in the intro.
 * Makoto never speaks for the most part, only occasionally mentioning the name of the equipped Persona when gearing up for a powerful attack. Arming him with a bow will have him shouting "Come forth!" or "Persona!" when summoning. Even though this variation does not occur in the JP version, equipping him with other weapon types will make him intone differently.
 * The music played on his MP3 player appears to be a remixed version of Burn My Dread. The same remix is also used again as background music in the very last battle of the game.
 * At the beginning of the scene Awakening (first Persona summon), one can carefully see that Makoto is wearing the SEES armband even though he didn't join SEES yet, of course in later parts of the scene the armband doesn't show. A similar goof occurs on 7/11 - when Mitsuru gathers the group in the dorm and talks about the Kirijo Group, they are wearing their winter uniforms instead of their summer uniforms.
 * He is talented at making fox sounds.
 * Despite joining art class, his art skills are questionable.
 * During the credits roll, for both The Journey and The Answer, Messiah appears behind Makoto silhouette, indicating Messiah is his ultimate Persona. His actions in the game seem to support this, as he sacrifices his life to save humanity from itself. Furthermore, he appears crucified on the Great Seal, alluding to Jesus of Nazareth, the Christian messiah, who died via crucifixion for a similar purpose.
 * He holds a distinct honor of being the only protagonist to be capable of wielding multiple weapons (although his default weapon is a One-Handed Sword). However, this was changed for Persona 3 Portable, in which he is only able to wield One-Handed Swords.
 * He is also the only character in the series able to use Fusion Raids without another character to assist him. In P3P however, Fusion Raids are now expendable items, and do not require that the specific Persona be around when they are used.
 * Ironically, despite the fact that knives are one of the few weapons he can't wield in the game, a knife is the first weapon the protagonist is given to fight within the manga.
 * He is the only character, other than his female counterpart, known to use the "The Universe Arcana."
 * The Shirt of Chivalry, a type of costume for males in FES and P3P, is noted for the Kanji symbols on their backs that symbolizes the character. Makoto's kanji means "honorable man" (漢), being the field leader of SEES and being able to strengthen bonds through Social Links.
 * There are some audio files hidden in the DVD disc of Persona 3 FES that contains voices of Makoto and Aigis shouting the names of the other SEES members Personas.
 * When he hears "Jika Net Tanaka," he describes it as an annoying song unlike Yu Narukami of Persona 4 who describes it as a cheery song. This implies that, despite the player's choices, he and Yu have some semblance of a predetermined personality.
 * The way the shadow version of him was formed by the regret of SEES members alludes to the Metal Trio from Persona 2: Eternal Punishment manifested in Torifune out of Tatsuya Suou's guilt for breaking the promise with his former friends. While The Metal Trio in P2EP uses the golden version of their own ultimate Personas, the shadow protagonist in P3FES uses the golden version of the S.E.E.S. members' ultimate personas.
 * Makoto likely symbolizes the Jesus of Nazareth, as he only has a limited amount of time to live before he becomes crucified on the Great Seal to save all life and humanity from death.
 * In Persona 4 Arena, an additional color for Yu Narukami and his Persona mimics the colors of the protagonist and his Persona.
 * In Persona Q, should the players choose Persona 4 at the start of the game, before he introduces himself he is referred to as "A Boy with Earphones." In addition, in his Japanese gameplay trailer, his name is written as "Minato Arisato" (likely since the manga was out a while before the movie series so it is his more popular name), while in English gameplay trailer his name is still written as "P3 Hero."
 * Makoto is one of only two characters in the Persona series to change ultimate Personas between two separate appearances without it being some sort of upgrade, the other being Eriko Kirishima. In Persona Q, he uses Messiah as his ultimate Persona, while in Persona Q2 he uses Orpheus Telos as his ultimate Persona and Messiah is assigned to his female counterpart.
 * Makoto shares the English voice actor as Sasuke Uchiha from Naruto, Dainsleif from Genshin Impact, Ben Tennyson from Ben 10: Alien Force/Ben 10: Ultimate Alien, Peter Parker/Spider-Man from The Spectacular Spider-Man and the PlayStation 4 game with the same name.
 * Kotone shares the same voices as Armin Arlert from Attack on Titan, Tohka Yatogami from Date A Live, and Yoko Littener from Gurran Lagann in Japanese. She also shares the same voices as Rise Fujiwara from Persona 4, Nadine Ross from the Uncharted series, Chun-Li from Street Fighter, Tohru Honda from Fruits Basket, and Abby from mh:crappygames:The Last of Us Part II.