surgeworks

15 - October 1 | Table of Contents | 17 - October 3
____________________

Another Alternate Title: The Kevin Tran School of Senseless Death

When we last left off, we’d managed to cover...not even five total days, it was pathetic. But a lot happened, including us fusing a crap ton of Personas and maxing out Shinjiro’s Social Link, as well as becoming his lover and gettin’ some romantic implied copulation in. Now it is time for pain.

10/3, the day before the full moon. Aigis meets us outside the gates to worry about said full moon. Ms. Toriumi reminds us that midterms are ten days away. We stay awake through her lecture. The guide says to go to the shrine to boost the Fuuka Link. I want to ignore that and catch up on our missed rank-up, but for some reason, she’s not standing around in her usual place—no one is. Weird, I thought she was free on Saturdays for some reason. We stop by the antique shop to pick up our Laevateinn, then get to the shrine. After that, we spend our nighttime doing quiz games at the arcade, and our Academics finally levels up from Intelligent to Genius.

10/4. Full moon day! We don’t even go to school today, and get a Dark Hour cut-in, and we cut to the command room where Fuuka is searching for the Shadow with Lucia. Shinjiro and Ken are missing. Fuuka announces that the target is at Iwatodai Station’s front plaza. There’s two of them this time, with nothing to hide like Lovers or Chariot and Justice. Akihiko wonders where Shinji is, and she reports that he’s notified her that he’ll meet up with them later. They both dismiss this as Shinji being Shinji. Hey, at least he’s coming, right? Junpei says this, and we tell him he can shut his mouth. He pleads that he has an excuse—he was tied up! Yeah, literally, by the girl you wanna fuck now. You shut the hell up, Junpei. Ken’s missing too though, so Yukari tells him to go find him, as punishment for last time.

That settled, we head out. Again, the team adopts an out-of-sight, out-of-mind approach despite being well aware that there are people out there who want to hurt us who made their move last full moon. Junpei comes back without having found Ken, and Akihiko frets about Shinji. However, the Shadows are waiting, so we go.

We pick Junpei, Mitsuru, and Koromaru. Our opponents this time are Fortune and Strength, appearing as a mechanical winged dog and a woman atop a caged bouquet and brandishing a flower.

Right off the bat, Strength surrounds Fortune with a protective barrier, preventing us from attacking it or Fuuka from sensing it, and allowing it to attack freely.

Our very first attack is a critical hit, but we get a surprise—despite doing more damage, we can’t knock Strength down. After our turn, Fortune reveals its gimmick: summoning a giant wheel which it spins on. We determine where it stops, and the pin can stop on a variety of status ailments, with the red or blue slot determining whether our party or theirs gets hit with it.

Right off the bat, thanks to my resurfacing experiences with this boss, I abuse this to land Fear on Strength on the first try. Guess what move both these bosses are vulnerable to? Yep! Ghastly Wail, the one that instantly kills any fearing foe. And we just so happen to have it in our arsenal—no, seriously, I completely forgot to plan for this, but had Mot waiting in my Persona list. We kill Strength without her ever getting a chance to fight back. Same with Fortune.

Alright, alright, if you must know, this isn’t a fairly easy or difficult boss either way, and it sort of depends how good you are with the wheel. Strength will only use physical attacks. You can use Attack Mirrors or Tetrakarn to force her to take damage to herself, but rather than use a multi-target one, she’ll target a single party member and then continue to attack that hole in the wall, so her programming is pretty smart.

Defeating Strength opens up Fortune, who will now mix up its Wheel with multi-target spells as well to score criticals and strike weaknesses if it can land them, and its Wheel will get more and more blatantly rigged in its own favor, as well as adding in knockdowns, damage, and heals.

Fortune and Strength both actually have a decent amount of health for this fight, allowing Fortune to survive multiple All-Out Attacks. We still kill them with few issues due to good luck and good abuse of luck. Everyone levels up. Mitsuru gaining Ice Boost reveals a pleasant surprise as her next skill: Mind Charge.

Everyone brushes themselves off, and Aigis remarks that Strega haven’t interfered so far. There’s still no sign of Shinjiro and Ken, however. According to Fuuka, the chairman didn’t seem too concerned about it, so he went home. Mitsuru asks where they are, but Fuuka still can’t locate them. Akihiko is very stressed out for some reason, remarking that today is October 4^th. He tells the rest of us to go on without him, he’s gonna look for them for a while, and he runs off.

We cut to the TPI Station back alley. Ken and Shinjiro are there, Ken saying that Shinjiro came and that he’s surprised he abandoned the operation. Ken’s voice is rather dark, asking if Shinji knows why he was asked to meet him here.

The significance of the date is revealed: two years ago today, at this site, is when and where Ken’s mother died. They called it an accident, which it wasn’t, and Ken can confirm that because he saw it with his own eyes, and accuses Shinjiro of murdering her. He doesn’t deny this.

“Since then, it’s been one bad thing after another. And all I get from people is sympathy, no matter where I go.”

….? Why does that line sound more upset that he’s inconvenienced than that his mother was killed?

He then asks what the point in living is. He thought about killing himself, you see, but his mother wouldn’t have wanted that. Great! More suicidal people, this time a little kid!

DEATH IS INEVITABLE: 38

*Dryly* So you can think about what your mother would’ve wanted insofar as it involves not hurting yourself, but not when it comes to others?

Because that’s what this is, as confirmed by Ken a second later: he has determined that he must find his mother’s killer, and kill them—and that’s Shinjiro. Shinjiro once said, Ken claims, that he wanted to forget what happened that day. He knew he had to confront him today, and that today, his mom is watching over him.

...Do I talk about it now, or later? I’ll wait. I’ll take it apart piece by piece when it’s done.

Up until now, Shinjiro has said nothing, but then speaks up: do it, he says.

We cut back to the command room, as we’re returning. Junpei inquires about Akihiko’s odd behavior and the date. Mitsuru finally remembers, having been too caught up in the operation to realize it before: Ken’s mom died today. She orders Fuuka to find Shinjiro and Ken immediately, as they’re probably together and Akihiko has probably already realized that. Yukari’s confused and wants an explanation.

Mitsuru reveals that the death of Ken’s mother was listed as an accident, which it technically was, but she claims, along with Akihiko and Shinjiro, the responsibility for the death. Two years ago, they were pursuing an odd shadow that had escaped into the city, and weren’t thinking about the fact that they were in a residential area while going after it. Shinjiro was still new, and lost control over his Persona, which went homicidal and killed Ken’s mother. Mitsuru thinks about the fact that neither Ken’s volunteering to join SEES nor Shinjiro rejoining was a coincidence. Fuuka finally does her job right, and reveals that they’re back where we left from: TPI station. Another Persona-user is nearby, but it’s not Akihiko, it’s Evil Shirtless Jesus Lookalike. Freaking out, as she should be, Mitsuru runs off, and we follow her.

We pick back up with Shinjiro and Ken. Shinjiro confirms that he wanted to forget, thus his leaving the group and attempting to suppress his power, and won’t stop Ken from killing him. He couldn’t get rid of the memory, and coming back to this place is very unpleasant for him. Ken says nothing, and he continues that it was his fault, and this is what he deserves. However, he wants to give the kid a warning. Ken sneers, and Shinjiro says that if he kills him, he’ll end up just like him. Which is guilt-ridden, miserable, and isolated. Ken asks if this is supposed to change his mind, though his voice cracks a bit.

“Even if all you have now is hatred, one day you’ll regret it.”

Ken gets angry, telling him to shut his face and that that’s crap. A voice though, ESJL’s, comes from the shadows. ESJL walks up, saying “he” is correct, talking about Ken. They’re both alarmed to find him here, and ESJL states that there’s no need for regret: that’s the nature of revenge. Killing killers isn’t something to be ashamed of, right? Ken agrees with this, though he’s getting uncertain.

Shinjiro asks what Takaya wants, and he says the loss of Chidori is proving to be problematic, and pulls out a gun, threatening Shinjiro for his “meddling”. Shinjiro calls him a bastard, and ESJL tells him not to be afraid of death. He’s pointing the gun, however, at Ken. Shinjiro, alarmed, steps between them, and ESJL raises an eyebrow that he’d protect the person who just said he wants to kill him.

ESJL says there’s no defying fate (keep this in mind, not because it’s important, it’s just a funny detail), and says that one way or another, Shinjiro’s dying tonight, be it at Ken’s hands or not. He doesn’t answer, and Ken asks what he’s talking about, which is kind of an idiotic question considering ESJL just made it very clear he’s going to try to punish Shinjiro for rejoining SEES. However, ESJL remarks that he’s been taking those pills for a while now, and they’re going to kill him soon. Shinjiro denies this, but ESJL just tells him to look at the signs in his body. This catches him off guard, and Ken is trying to keep up, upset that Shinjiro is going to die regardless of what he himself does.

And then he says that that’s not fair. He’s been waiting for this all this time! ESJL just tells him not to put up so much of a fuss, the cause of death isn’t important. Besides, Ken’s going to die soon, too. He guesses, evidently with some accuracy, that Ken was planning on killing himself after killing Shinjiro. Ken doesn’t answer, all but confirming it. Shinjiro starts to tell him not to do that, but ESJL says hey, if you’re both planning on dying, why not let him do the honors? And he points the gun at them again. Shinjiro tells him to go to hell.

….I have a question. All three people here are Persona users, which are clearly quite a bit more powerful than your average human, so am I really expected to believe—

Yep. I am. He pulls the trigger, the gun goes bang, and the bullet hits Shinjiro in his squishy chest parts, and he falls down, with Ken shocked behind him. ESJL insists he talk, with the little time he has left, inquiring about our team’s navigator and her powers. He wants to know who it is.

Again with this not knowing who is who crap. Am I supposed to believe Chidori’s psychic powers are superior to Fuuka’s when Fuuka can tell individual presences and she can’t? Is watching us walk from the SEES dorm to Tartarus really all the ‘watching’ they’ve been doing on us?

ESJL threatens to hurt Shinjiro further if he doesn’t answer, and quickly, kicking him in what I suspect is his bullet wound. He denies there being any navigator, and with ESJL about to kick him again, Ken lies and says it’s him. ESJL asks if that’s true, and Ken insists it is, saying it’s the only reason SEES let him join. Shinjiro yells at him to stop this, only to get kicked again and told to pipe down. Ken says it doesn’t matter anymore, as he’ll never have his revenge, and has no reason to live. ESJL refers to this as “achieving resolution”, even though it sounds more like utter despair, and points the gun at him, about to kill him dead. Ken closes his eyes and thinks about his mom, ready for the bullet.

Shinjiro isn’t about to let that happen, though. He gets up on his feet, just in time to take a second bullet for the kid, and he collapses on the ground. He’s coughing, and ESJL is aggravated, wondering why Shinjiro’s so determined to put Ken’s life before his own. Ken looks down at Shinjiro in horror, right in time for Akihiko to come running up. Sounding irritated and bored, as if he would have this kind of threatening presence outside of a cutscene, ESJL walks off.

We and the rest of SEES arrive, finding Shinjiro covered in blood. Everyone freaks out. Still conscious, he asks Ken why he looks so distressed. This is what he wanted, isn’t it? He tells Ken to give himself time, and to let his anger be his strength, something I don’t really understand in this context. Ken’s still just a kid, he says, and has his whole life ahead of him. Shinjiro wants him not to waste it. Ken can only stammer as Shinjiro turns to Akihiko and asks him to take care of him. Shinjiro then turns to us, telling us not to cry.

Too late, Shinjiro, I’m crying.

This is how it should be, he coughs out. No, it damn well isn’t, and I have a bulleted list of reasons why. Coughing on his own blood, Shinjiro falls unconscious.

Everyone is shocked, and Fuuka is the first to speak. What does she say? To get Shinjiro to the hospital. Mitsuru agrees, but realizes that it’s the Dark Hour and no doctors are able to see him and no electrical equipment is working, and Yukari asks if he’s not going to make it. Ken starts hiccuping, and lets out a distressed wail.

First of all, I realize it’s the Dark Hour, but all of this is happening after we had time to leave the dorm, get to the strip mall, beat two of the strongest Full Moon Shadows, get back, and then get here. How much of the damn Dark Hour can be left? Get moving!

> ...By the time Shinjiro was taken to a hospital after the Dark Hour, he could no longer breathe on his own…
> The doctor’s prognosis was that there was no chance of him regaining consciousness….
> That night, no one spoke a word.
> The following day...

*Sighs*

*Rubs hands down face*

*Opens mouth, tries to speak, closes it.*

I...well, this seems like a good place to address this scene, before the true fallout happens. This is indeed one of the most iconic, and base-breaking, moments of Persona 3. Shinjiro is in a coma, this much due to us giving him the pocket watch, which absorbed one of the bullets and allowed less damage to be incurred. If we were to fail doing that, or play any other route or version, he’d be dead. As it is, Shinjiro is functionally dead because he’s not an active character anymore and has been removed from the story except for how he impacts other people.

……

First, before I say anything else, I want it stated that I do not hate Ken Amada for this. I mean, I don’t like him for how he acts here, but I don’t hate him. While yeah, he acts like a supreme dick here, it’s understandable. He’s traumatized from losing his mother and obsessed with revenge, which is made surprisingly palpable as the death was only two years ago, rather than the ten or fifteen most anime or games would give you that would ordinarily soften a grudge over time. I do not hate Ken Amada for his very excusable desire to kill his mother’s killer, but I most definitely hate Atlus for it. I hate Atlus for killing off Shinjiro, and leaving us with Ken—both from a character standpoint, and a gameplay standpoint, we’ve effectively traded one for the other, and it’s not a fun trade. I was heavily invested in Shinjiro’s character, and not that much in Ken’s, and although I realize that will differ from person to person, as party members they’re very much not equal. I hate Atlus for even letting me have a party member and a Social Link only to take them away after one month, yet forcing us to keep the robot and the dog. I do not appreciate that Shinjiro died for Ken—no, I’m not saying I hate Shinjiro’s personal choice to take not one, but two bullets for Ken. I’m talking about Shinjiro being offed to progress Ken’s arc and story, as well as Akihiko’s. And none of this means there aren’t points to award.

Let’s just...take this apart piece by piece, why don’t we?

The complaint about Ken being upset about inconveniences isn’t worth a point, it was just an awkward choice of line to put in. The first is that Ken claims that he rejected suicide as an option due to his mother not wanting that, yet finds it a perfectly rational option to kill Shinjiro. His anger is still understandable, but the idea that he would come to this conclusion based on what his mother, a presumably stable and well-adjusted individual, would’ve wanted is a little confusing at best and disturbing at worst.

Ill Logic: 56

Second, despite Ken saying he had rejected suicide, he later confirms that he was planning on killing himself after killing Shinjiro.

Ill Logic: 57

Third, Ken’s memory is good enough that he apparently recognizes Shinjiro by face, yet cannot understand that what happened might’ve been an accident—it isn’t a case of him deciding that accident or not doesn’t matter, Shinjiro has to pay—he labels Shinjiro a murderer. He saw it with his own eyes, didn’t he? I’m going to presume that seventeen-year-old Shinjiro didn’t somehow just look menacing and evil and was probably very distressed about Castor going berserk.

Ill Logic: 58

Fourth, say that Ken actually did get to kill Shinjiro without ESJL coming along. How does he plan on doing it? Let’s ignore for now how they’re only one level apart on arrival due to game balancing—Ken has been using his Persona for about two or three months, and Shinjiro has been using his (or at least has had his) for over two years. That’s a skill gap that is rather large for a ten-year-old facing down a bulky, muscular nineteen-year-old to bridge.

Ill Logic: 59

And despite him putting thought into this for some time and having the chance to see Shinjiro in battle, he fails to take this in, or perhaps at least come up with a battle strategy. Shinjiro has no weaknesses and is a tank—he’s an endurance fighter. Which begs the question...what exactly was Ken planning to do if Shinjiro fought back?!

Ill Logic: 60

He says he’s surprised he came to the meeting place, so it’s doubtful Ken just straight-up said ‘yo I’m gonna kill you meet me here’ and Shinjiro was all ‘Cool! Dying sound great! Let’s do it!” however funny and/or plausible that might seem.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Considering how this thing goes down...did neither of these two bring Evokers?

I seriously have to wonder that, because the only gun that ever gets brought out is ESJL’s very real one. I can understand Shinjiro and Ken abandoning the mission, because it’s not like Fortune and Strength would’ve stood a chance against eight Persona-users anyway. I can understand Shinjiro and Ken going off without the team despite Strega being on the loose, because Strega being able to threaten anyone is laughable. And I can understand not bringing an Evoker to a meeting where one intends to die—but I cannot fathom all of these things happening in the same instance! Especially on Ken’s part!

Ill Logic: 61

And if they did bring Evokers, why didn’t they fucking defend themselves?!

Ill Logic: 62

Could it be because Shinjiro’s Persona, at least, has passive abilities that he can use without summoning it, thus rendering him at least more protected than others? Makes sense to me—but no, apparently having a Persona doesn’t fucking matter if you’re in a cutscene and there’s a gun pointed at you.

Yeah, these guys can take fireballs, lightning strikes, gale-force winds, and being frozen alive without a sound, but a bullet or two is apparently enough to kill them.

Ill Logic: 63

Which also happens to be cutscene abuse. You can literally hack the game and transplant Shinjiro into the ESJL fight that happens later, and he will aim a gun at Shinjiro whose bullet will do average, barely-noticeable damage. Or be reflected by High Counter, just saying. Same goes for anyone else.

Bad Game Design: 42

I feel no guilt about awarding that five points. We lose a party member with a valuable skillset for this.

You know what else is cutscene abuse? The fact that no one thinks to fucking heal Shinjiro with their damn Persona powers.

Ill Logic: 69

Bad Game Design: 48

Let’s see… Us, Yukari, Mitsuru, Akihiko, Aigis (she doesn’t get Diarahan until level 59, but still), and Ken. Yukari and Ken are especially guilty, because they have the Recarm skills that revive unconscious allies.

But let’s say for patience’s sake that they can’t heal a bullet wound. Mitsuru bemoans the fact that it’s the Dark Hour, and so they can’t take him to a hospital.

Ill Logic: 70

As stated earlier, there can’t seriously be that much of the Dark Hour left. Shinjiro dying doesn’t happen while the Strength and Fortune boss fight is going on, so it’s not like we were preoccupied and he laid there bleeding for too long. We had time to leave the SEES dorm (which is where we start out), get to Tatsumi Port Island Station, defeat Strength and Fortune, which is presumably supposed to take some time, get all the way back to the SEES dorm, then get all the way back to Tatsumi Port Island Station again just in time to arrive right after Shinjiro gets shot.

Ill Logic: 71

Get him to the damn hospital! Get him in the ER! What’s left of the Dark Hour, five minutes maximum?

You know what, on that note, why do you need to? I believe I asked people to keep in mind the night when Koromaru was introduced as being able to fight shadows: the dog sustained a wound that slashed open his gut and it happened during the Dark Hour. Yet, Mitsuru just waved her hand and told us not to worry when we brought up these exact same reasons as to why saving his life might not be possible.

Ill Logic: 73

One for Koromaru (I recall that no one present tried to use their Persona healing powers on him then, but I failed to award a point…) and one for Shinjiro. Oh, by the way—Koromaru is a dog, and much less durable than a human.

Ill Logic: 74

And his Persona has shit endurance, while endurance is Shinjiro’s shining talent.

Ill Logic: 75

Not to mention...know what else Shinjiro’s Persona has? Regenerative powers. Regenerative powers that don’t need him to summon Castor to take effect! Chidori can heal bleeding wounds quite easily with hers, even outside the Dark Hour and without summoning her Persona, and spoiler alert, that includes bullet wounds.

Ill Logic: 76

And regarding whether or not it’s possible to save Shinjiro during the Dark Hour, may I ask why it (and electrical equipment malfunctioning) should be a factor? Mitsuru clearly has the resources to defy this with a fully-functioning motorbike and whatever she used to get Koromaru healed up. You’re telling me that those same resources couldn’t be used to create an infirmary? I’d like to think there would be effort put into one before there’d be resources spent on fancy motorcycles.

Ill Logic: 77

One more thing: why the hell does ESJL even care about preserving his Persona powers? Clearly, he likes killing, and he can do that just damn fine with a handgun.

Ill Logic: 78

And you know why all of this was done, don’t you? Why we had to lose a valuable party member like this?

DEATH IS INEVITABLE: 40

Because hey, someone important had to die in the game about death and doom and grief and death and edgy death. The extra point is for the symbolism—Castor, the mortal twin brother of Pollux, was killed by a spear to the heart.

Of course, it was also to give us a reason to hate the eeeevil flat paper tiger villain.

Villainous Cancer: 12

A point each for Takaya’s killing Shinjiro, beating Shinjiro while he’s injured on the ground, attempting to kill Ken, and demanding to know who the navigator was so he could kill her, too. It’s odd to see numbers that low in the midst of all this Ill Logic.

And speaking of dickheads we’re not fond of, hey Ken? What the hell was up with that it’s not fair remark? It’s not fair that somebody else gets to kill Shinjiro and not you?! What the hell, kid, he just took a bullet for you.

WISTLH: 52

If I’m not wrong, this is a change from the Japanese version, where he didn’t sound quite so much like a dick. Regardless, it gets a point.

Lastly, I should point out that yes, Shinjiro is fucking gone. We do not get to talk to him at night anymore. We do not get to take him to Tartarus and watch him slay shadows anymore. He was in this game to die, and he died. In fact, I have to wonder if he was in this game solely to die.

Bad Game Design: 43

Sure, kill off the person we’ve known for a month. Yeah, I cried, but it’s not like there weren’t other options out there to make us emotional. We’ve been close with everyone in the party longer than Shinjiro, and he doesn’t even get a Social Link in the male route, so I can only wonder how empty this scene felt in that route. Not helping the case in this “created to die” look.

Bad Game Design: 44

Look at that, everyone. Look how much fucking bullshit had to be written in so that this guy could die. Twenty-three fucking Ill Logic points for one scene. Shinjiro my man, you got done so dirty. And, in the spirit of giving justice to good characters who got done dirty by their shitty canons, I’m going to take out my phone and press a little app called Surge, and send our boi an invitation, across universes.

[Some time passes; the phone then lights up with a brilliant blue light and a hospital bed materializes, a beanie-clad man laying within it.]

Everyone, let me introduce Shinjiro Aragaki, guest sporker. He’ll be joining us for the rest of the game spork and future sporks as well.

Welcome aboard, Shinji. Can I call you Shinji?

Shinjiro: Sure. But uh, do you mind if I sit out the next post, or as much of it as I can? I really don’t wanna see how it went immediately after I….ya know…

Chris: Understandable.

10/5.

> Yesterday was a terrible tragedy. However, you must still go to school today.

OH, BULLSHIT!

Counts: