Protagonist (Persona 3)

The Persona 3 protagonist was the first character Shigenori Soejima designed for the game. Early designs of the character made him look mature and collected since the artist viewed him as a "cliche[d] cool guy."[7] Soejima took longer to design the protagonist than any other character as the game's other characters would be made to complement his design. In Art of Persona 3, Soejima remarked that "Initially, he looked more honest, like an ordinary, handsome young man. But, I worked to achieve greater ambiguity in his expression."[8] He further noted that the character managed to have a "hidden coolness."[9] In retrospect, he found that the character was not ambiguous enough and thus when creating the Persona 4 protagonist, Soejima made Yu Narukami with the idea that his entire personality be decided and portrayed by the player's in-game actions and decisions.[10]

Director Noriaki Akitaya had faced a similar dilemma for his animated film version. He explained that one of his biggest challenges was, "...getting the protagonist, who is the player in the game, and making him into a character named Makoto Yuki for the film, then figuring out how to integrate him [the protagonist] into the story." This led Akitaya to be extremely careful about how he went about constructing the character in terms of his speech, gestures and behavior all the while staying true to what was already established in the game.[11] Akitaya admitted that he would not have been able to meet the expectations of the individual fans of the game since they were able to choose their own unique name and personality for the protagonist.[12] Instead Akitaya took the route of incorporating the most general traits of fan reactions to the protagonist to form Yuki's character.[12]

The protagonist's maniacal laugh during the character's first Persona summoning was a point of interest for director Noriaki Akitaya.[12]

Akitaya stated that his favorite scene in the film occurred when the protagonist summoned his Persona for the first time.[12] He elaborated that the protagonist's maniacal laugh and heavy breathing helped bring depth to the scene and establish animation director Keisuke Watabe's character designs as being one of the main attractions of the film.[12] Akitaya had joked that during initial pre-production the protagonist's name was still not determined and instead proposed the placeholder "Tsukitarō Yamada" (山田 月太郎, Yamada Tsukitarō) until the first draft was developed. However even as Jun Kumagai began working on the screenplay, the placeholder went unchanged for the next four to five months and Akitaya found himself growing attached to it despite eventually changing it.[12]

Akira Ishida voiced the protagonist in this Japanese adaptation. He noted that since he was presented with the roles of both Pharos and the protagonist, recording the scene of the protagonist's initial meeting with Pharos was something he enjoyed.[13] In the English version of Persona 3 the role of both the protagonist and Ryoji is taken by Yuri Lowenthal. As with his previous role as protagonist of the Digital Devil Saga games, Lowenthal did not have extensive dialogue lines. His main task was shouting out the names of Personas: localization editor Yu Namba was initially worried about his performance, but Lowenthal managed to pronounce the names correctly. He attributed this to his love for Dungeons & Dragons.[14]

Persona 3 Portable has the option to play as a female character. This selection alters some aspects of the story: the first Persona gained by the Protagonist, Orpheus, has a different appearance; Igor's assistant in the Velvet Room, Elizabeth, can be replaced with a male equivalent named Theodore.[5][15] In making of this version of the protagonist, the staff aimed for a character whose new traits in comparison to the male would be new features for returning gamers as well as attract the female demographic. Designing her was challenging due to similarities with Rise Kujikawa and Mitsuru Kirijo. As result, the final design employs a less beautiful appearance. As they aimed for a beautiful design, Atlus asked the development team what kind of weapon a girl should wield. There were responses saying that girls look cute when they are brandishing about a massive weapon, or that so long as it looked cool it was good, so we went with the naginata. Additionally, the naginata was meant to contrast the male protagonist's Japanese sword.[16]

Critical reception to the protagonist's character has been positive. GameSpy's Patrick Joynt praised the character's social life in Persona 3 as it allowed the player to interact with several other characters and learn about their interesting stories.[40] GamesRadar commented that while Makoto is a "Japanese RPG stereotype" it was refreshing to see him dealing with his social life.[41] Damian Thomas from RPGFan saw the interactions between the main character and his dorm mates as one of the game's best parts due to the character growth in each social link.[42] He was also listed as the 10th best Persona character by Kimberley Wallace from Game Informer who found his role in Persona 3 admirable.[43]

Reaction to the character's portrayal in the animated film Persona 3 The Movie: #1 Spring of Birth was also met with praise. Richard Eisenbeis of Kotaku described the protagonist as being an initially "ambivalent, broken character..." whose growth takes center stage and gave the film "a suitable sense of completion."[36] Elliot Gay from Japanator saw Makoto's growth from an "empty, aloof, and distant young man" who "lacks any kind of real determination to do anything" to his growth as a person as one of the film's main focus.[44] His relationship with Aigis and his comical actions have also been praised by Gay during a review for the second film.[45]

The addition of the female protagonist to Persona 3 Portable was praised for how different her interactions with other characters is according to IGN while also bring up potential replay value.[46] Destructoid agreed, commenting especially on how the new alternate version of the protagonist can form romantical relationships with character the original game could not show.[47] RPGFan agreed with IGN due to the time the player can spend with the female lead's relationships.[48] GamesRadar stated that while at first the differences might be only cosmetic, the character's interactions with the cast, most notably Social Links characters are highly different.[49] GameInformer claimed that returning players from the original Persona 3 might have new content with the new lead thanks to her original Personas.[50]