Questions regarding the story and characters [Spoilers!]

[𝒮𝑒𝒾𝓀𝒶𝓇𝒶]

After finishing the game a few days ago, I still have some lingering questions that I'm unable to answer. And since I haven't seen anyone asked these questions yet, I feel good about posting them here. I'd immensely appreciate the help. Spoiler alert.

Question 1: How did humanity survive its encounter with Nyx if the event of Persona 3 wasn't the first time Nyx came onto Earth?

During Ryoji's exposition dump, we learned that Nyx is an ancient god that has the power to rip the will to live from every living being turning them into the losts. It's said by Ryoji that this is not the first time Nyx has descended onto Earth. If that's the case, then how are we as humanity still around as a species after that in the game? If this isn't the first time Nyx's power was invoked, then how did humanity survive and rebuilt? This is a logical inconsistency and unless the game is trying to imply the existence of previously highly advance species before humans, and that they were the ones that fell to Nyx, then I have no idea how to make sense of this.

Question 2: What does Shinjiro Aragaki do all day?

Shinji said the reason he can't come back to school is because he's running out of time due to years of taking deadly suppressant drugs, and he wants to spend whatever time he has left to correct the mistake he made in the past. How, exactly? The mistake he's referring to is when he accidentally killed Ken's mother. How is he supposed to correct that? Not to mention, every time the player meets him, all he does is loiter in front of the Mahjong parlor, seemingly doing nothing. I thought maybe his way of "correcting" his mistake is to self isolate as to not put anyone else in danger of him losing control of his persona, but he literally hangs out in one of the busiest hangouts for delinquents.

P.S. Why wasn't Shinjiro arrested and put in prison for what he did? Not hating on the character, I love Shinji, but if he's going to talk about wanting to atone for his sin, then why didn't he get punish for his crime? He could've been judged properly by the justice system, served his sentence, and most importantly, gave Ken proper closure. Due to this, I also don't like how it's implied that Mitsuru and Akihiko turned a blind eye to murder simply because Shinji was their friend, indirectly painting them in a really bad light.

Question 3: How did Koromaru's owner, the priest, died?

We first learned that the priest was a victim of a deadly car accident, but later it was Akihiko (or was it Ken?) who insisted that he died from being attacked by shadows. At first I thought this was a plot hole but soon learned that nearly if not all shadow attacks are never covered correctly by the media, whether intentionally or not. Okay, that makes sense. But this part isn't though -- aren't shadows suppose to only attack their victims mentally draining their will to live? It's only when the losts have no one to care for them that they die of neglect. If this took place in January 2010, when Apathy syndrome was at its peak and spreading at a rapid pace throughout Japan, then I see the hospitals being understaffed and unprepared leading to many unattended patients. But, the priest past away long before January. So, how exactly did Koromaru's owner died?

Question 4: Why wasn't Mr. Ekoda fired for his negligence?

Mr. Ekoda, Fooka's homeroom teacher, decided that it was in his best interest to cover her disappearance rather than reporting it to the police. Mitsuru promised to punish him, accordingly. It was a vague threat, but many people including me, assumed that he would at least get fired for his irresponsibility. But, it won't be long until you see his face around the school again teaching like nothing happened. Huh?

Question 5: Why did Natsuki, Fooka's best friend, forget her memory?

I don't understand why Natsuki couldn't remember what happened during the dark hour on the night we rescued Fooka. Isn't it an established rule that anyone who isn't transmogrified has the ability to be awake during the dark hour and remembers everything that happens during it? Well, Natsuki has that ability, so why did she forget what happened?

Another thing I want to ask about is how did her friends hear the voices of the shadows when it was during the day? I'm talking about the very first scene where we were introduced to Natsuki and her friends where they were talking about bullying poor Fooka. Not long afterward, Natuski's friend heard the voices of the shadow. But, aren't shadows only supposed appear during the dark hour? How is that possible?

Question 6: Why did we never learn anything about Junpei's family?

So, what's up with Junpei and his family? All we know about his history is that he transferred to Gekkoukan High School in the 8th grade and aspired to become a professional baseball player when he was younger. Nothing about his parents or siblings. I thought that was quite odd considering Junpei is the only member of SEES which we don't learn anything about related to his family.

Question 7: How did the protagonist and Fooka learn how to awake their personas?

At least with the MC, I can sort of make sense of it, somewhat. Before she got knocked away, Yukari pointed the Evoker at her head and tried to pull the trigger which must have given him a clue. Pair that with Death inside of him who was probably influencing him to activate his persona so all twelve full moon shadows can come out, and I can sort of see how. But, Fooka? How did she know? The only thing Akihiko did was handed her an evoker with no instruction on how to use it and no explanation on what it does, and apparently, she just knew what to do when the time comes to save Natsuki.

Question 8: How did Aigis take on the entire group of SEES and win?

Of course, I'm referring to the night Shuji Ikutsuki revealed his true nature and betrayed the group. That's when he ordered Aigis to defeat all of us and bring our unconscious bodies to a high point atop Tartarus. I'm sorry, but how exactly did Aigis manage to pull off this miraculous act? I get she's supposed to be one of the strongest fighters in the team, but I doubt she could win against every member of SEES at the same time, especially with the MC resisting her. The way the game just cut to the next cutscene showing all the members defeated and crucified is so jarring. Did Atlus seriously expect their players to not question this outlandish turn of event?

Question 9: Why didn't SEES have a contingency plan in case they lost their memories?

This is arguably one of the dumbest moments in the entire plot for me. If SEES were scared that they might lose their memories after defeating Nyx, why not make a journal or recording detailing their past experiences for their future selves to read rather than banking on luck that they might remember everything by graduation day?

Don't get me wrong, I loved graduation day. The way every single member of SEES was able to remember their promise and quickly rushed to the school's rooftop was incredibly heartfelt and tear jerking. But, the fact that they were able to remember so easily and recovered their memories at the drop of a hat simply because Mitsuru spotted an inconsistency in her graduation speech deeply undermined the stake that was set up by story -- which was that by getting rid of the Dark Hour, you'll essentially be erasing your memories. Are you ready to make that trade off?

Question 10: What was Aigis's reasoning for not reminding everyone what happened after SEES lost their memories?

I kept thinking about this but the more I do, the less it makes sense. After defeating Nyx, Aigis was the only member who retained their memories of what happened, and instead of immediately helping everyone recollect their memories, she decided to do nothing until March 5th. The game's official stance and explanation for why she waited so long seems to be because she was scared the protagonist would run away the same way he ran away to defeat Nyx. I'm sorry, BUT WHAT??? What kind of flimsy reasoning is that? Please, please tell me I'm missing something because there's no way that's the official explanation.

These questions have been on my mind ever since finishing the game, and I'd be deeply grateful if anyone can answer even just one of my questions. Thank you.

[XenoEvil]

A lot of your questions can be found in the Answer/Episode Aigis portion of P3.

1. The Answer explains that Nyx acts according to the will of humanity. If the human race desire the end to humanity like strega and Ikutsuki, then that is what Nyx will give to the human race. If people are more hopeful and optimistic, then Nyx has won't bring the Fall since it isn't what humanity wants.

2. Shinji join back with SEES to look out for Ken. There isn't any danger or threat that can happen during the day so he waits out his time near the station. Also Shinji's involvement in the accident can't be proven. Normal people cannot perceive the dark hour or personas. To any normal person, Shinji's powers is impossible to see or comprehend.

3. The priest was very old, probably as old as the old man who you help out in Koromaru's link episode. It isn't too far-fetched that any sudden change in behavior in the elderly can lead to dramatic decline in their health.

4. The punishment he received is enough? Staff shortage? IDK.

5. Natsuki isn't a persona user. The dark hour doesn't exist for normal people so any event may as well not have happened. The empress and emperor are not normal shadows so they can bend some rules to affect natsuki.

6. It's all in the Answer/Episode Aigis.

7. MC picked up on the situation from Yukari and Yamagishi's persona gives her advanced analytical abilities that are present even when it isn't summoned with an evoker.

8. Aigis has orgia mode, which is suppose to disable her limiter and increase her power to overpower any human or persona users.

9. Graduation day was the contingency plan. They expected that the graduation day was an important enough event that they will understand there is something more that they need to do.

10. Because she understood that the MC time was limited and there is nothing that she can do about it. She probably struggle to deal with this situation as well as whether if the rest of SEES should know that the MC's time will come to an end or enjoy their time not worrying about it.

[Evangelion]

Originally posted by 𝒮𝑒𝒾𝓀𝒶𝓇𝒶:

Question 1: How did humanity survive its encounter with Nyx if the event of Persona 3 wasn't the first time Nyx came onto Earth?

Honestly with this one I don't recall Ryoji ever saying it wasn't the first time, so idk. The answer pretty much explains more of what really happened

Originally posted by 𝒮𝑒𝒾𝓀𝒶𝓇𝒶:

Question 2: Question 2: What does Shinjiro Aragaki do all day?

When he talked about correcting his mistakes, he doesn't mean hanging out with the group and becoming all friends again. The only reason he willingly came back, is when he found out Ken joined SEES. To him, it was pretty obvious why. His way of correcting the mistakes he made is exactly how his story ended, which is why he said that this is how it was meant to be. He never fully forgave himself, and felt that he deserved to die for what he did, but saving kens life at the end was an opportunity for him to get his redemption, at the cost of his own. His last words pretty much summed up what he wanted.

As to why he wasn't arrested? It's pretty simple really, no one knows of the dark hour as rarely anyone functions during it. The murder was just seen as an accident, simply because there was no logical way of explaining it. And why mitsuru and aki were OK with "murder," is because they never thought of it as murder to begin with. He lost control and unwillingly caused someones death, they didn't think it was his fault. They were also all kinds who had no idea what they were really doing, like they mentioned in the flashback.

Originally posted by 𝒮𝑒𝒾𝓀𝒶𝓇𝒶:

Question 3: How did Koromaru's owner, the priest, died??

We don't know exactly, because like you said, it rarely gets correctly covered by media. It could've been a shadow attack, or it could've been a genuine accident. In the end, it's really not that important. All we know is that Koromaru actively protects the shrine for a reason, and that his master is gone. No one was there to witness what really happened.

Originally posted by 𝒮𝑒𝒾𝓀𝒶𝓇𝒶:

Question 5: Why did Natsuki, Fooka's best friend, forget her memory?

I don't know where that was established. For alll I know, any ordinary person that didn't awaken their persona, forgets what happens during the Dark Hour.

Originally posted by 𝒮𝑒𝒾𝓀𝒶𝓇𝒶:

Question 6: Why did we never learn anything about Junpei's family?

He never mentions them, it's that simply really lol. Apparently tho his father is a drunk abuser, which is why he never mentions his home situation. If I recall correctly tho they show you some of his backstory in The Answer.

Originally posted by 𝒮𝑒𝒾𝓀𝒶𝓇𝒶:

Question 7: How did the protagonist and Fooka learn how to awake their personas?

Like you said, Makoto saw from Yukari while having a general idea of what's happening. The FES cutscene shows it a little better of what's going on through his mind.

As for Fooka, Aki gave her the evoker and told her it's not an ordinary weapon, afterwards she visibly sees them summoning their persona using those evokers. She is smart enough to figure out how it works, combined with her desire to protect Natsuki. In the movies she actually first points it at the shadows, before the others telling her it's not a gun.

Originally posted by 𝒮𝑒𝒾𝓀𝒶𝓇𝒶:

Question 8: How did Aigis take on the entire group of SEES and win?

Aigis is just like that ig. No but seriously, she is incredibly strong physically, and I don't think SEES had much desire to fight her + they were more so in shock of what was going on.

Originally posted by 𝒮𝑒𝒾𝓀𝒶𝓇𝒶:

Question 9: Why didn't SEES have a contingency plan in case they lost their memories?

I think this is just reaching a bit hard for some sens of realism in a game where you just fought the actual embodiment of death... Would it really have been nearly as satisfying if you see Yukari or one of the others read a journal and say: "Hey, yeah I guess we just did that". It seems a bit unlikely, and it makes more sense for their memories to return naturally. I also think they just had a lot of faith that they would remember, to them, graduation day had enough significance, and clearly it did. Aigis also mentiones wanting to see spring with Makoto. And who knows, maybe someone did write it down in a journal, but either forgot or assumed it was a silly dream

Originally posted by 𝒮𝑒𝒾𝓀𝒶𝓇𝒶:

Question 10: What was Aigis's reasoning for not reminding everyone what happened after SEES lost their memories?

Because literally no one remembers her. How would you react when a stranger came up to you and explained all of the events that happend during the dark hour? You'd think they've completely lost it. Aigis remembered everything, but all she could really do is hope that they keep their promise of meeting up on graduation day. Forcing them to remember would more than likely have an opposite effect, certainly when she is entirely alone to try and convince them, and that on top of already being scared they wont. Mind you, she no longer functions as a machine, rather she acts solely on emotions now.

Also, Makoto actually remembers prior to graduation day. He knew when he returned from tartarus that he was going to die, but clung to his last bit of life to fulfill their promise. In the movies he fully regains his memory the moment he sees Aigis the day before graduation. I assume it's the same here but they don't literally tell you, because the morning after both dialogue options hint that you were already aware of what happened on the 31st. There is also a clear reason why he chose to visit every bond he created the day before the promised day. At that point he was fully aware of everything that happened, including his soon to come death. He let go the moment the promise was fulfilled, knowing his friends would be reunited.