SweetieGames

If you’re a Persona fan, you’ll know about Kotone. In Persona 3 Portable, a new route was added which allowed players to experience the story from a female perspective, and introduced the female main character Kotone. It was recommended for players to have experienced the original story first with the original lead, Makoto, but many players, myself included, jumped straight in with Kotone.

What I liked about the FeMC (that’s the fandom’s shortening of “Female Main Character) route was that Kotone was a whole separate character, rather than a gender-bend of the existing Persona 3 lead. It would have been easy to just end at slapping a pink UI over the game and changing the pronouns, but there are entirely different character interactions which hinge on Kotone’s gender and her entirely separate, more cheery personality which hides her true feelings within. The devs truly committed to making Kotone Makoto’s polar opposite in every sense, from her warmer colour palette and appearance to her warmer personality. It’s impressive that the story still works with a complete opposite character in the intended lead role.

I ended up having entirely different opinions on characters because I had played Kotone’s route, despite the fact that it is (unfortunately) not canon. I found myself disliking Junpei more than the average Persona 3 player at first as I didn’t like the way he spoke to Kotone and thought she was not suitable to be a leader just because she’s a girl. Having a female protagonist allows for the game to explore entirely different themes and challenge existing sexist ideology, and I felt a lot of the dialogue directed at Kotone was a realistic depiction of what many women go through when they’re in charge. In combination with the existing badass female party members, the FeMC route felt like a real celebration of girl power.

Despite not liking FeMC’s battle music as much as the iconic Mass Destruction, I did like its addition and the lyric changes to drive home the point that Kotone is “not a cutie girlfriend”. I would argue that Mass Destruction would still work; I presume it was removed as its lyrics include “It’s a man’s world”, but that could also emphasise how Kotone is thriving in a world not made for her!

So many people skip over the FeMC route in Portable as it’s non essential, not canon and also has an infamous romance option with a character that definitely should not have a romance option. I think any Persona fan should give it a try, especially as it doesn’t look like we’re getting another female protagonist anytime soon. Kotone was cut from Persona 3 Reload due to budget constraints and an alleged lack of interest, which I think makes it even more important that people check out what her route has to offer. The romance is completely optional!