Finished my second playthrough of the game, no NG+ though. I played the localized version this time. But this is the first time I've maxed out all SL in a Persona game, and did it with plenty of time: less than a week after I cleared Shido's Palace.
The last section of the game... originally I thought all those battles against the archangels were pretty tough, but not this time. I destroyed most of those minibosses with Ryuji. Took me 169 hours compared to the 174 hours of the Japanese version. So, almost 350 hours of Persona 5 for me. I'll relax a little before playing another big game.
To commemorate this I'm just going to rank the social links of P3, P4 and P5, because why the fuck not:
Magician:
Morgana>Yosuke>Kenji>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Junpei
All the "bros" of the series. Morgana is the most competent of them, and I liked that Yosuke basically is a hero because he's bored because he moved from the city to a fucking boring town where there's nothing to do. Kenji is not bad for a first attempt; the one I dislike a lot is fucking Junpei Yori and his constant bitching.
High Priestess
"the Priestess Arcana is a symbol of hidden knowledge or other untapped power, wisdom, female mystery and patience when it appears in tarot readings."
Makoto>Fuka>>>>>Yukiko
The quiet and intelligent girl. They all seem a little bit disconnected from their pears. Makoto is probably the most competent one despite having the tendency to go crazy at times. She became the brain behind the PT too and in my opinion took the spotlight in P5. Fuka is okay, but they added that bit about having horrible cooking skills that ruined her, and the worst of all is that they decided to transfer that trait to Yukiko, which is just one of the reasons why I dislike Yukiko as a character, the other things that made Yukiko very unlikable is that she's basically a walking cliche.
Empress
A symbol of motherhood, supposedly.
Mitsuru>>>>Haru>Margaret
Mitsuru is the most fleshed out of these characters, so much that the comparison seems almost unfair. Haru is okay, but she was introduced so late in the game that her story feels so rushed. Margaret clearly feels like an strict mom, but being a Velvet Room attendant makes her kind of awkward (like all VR inhabitants)
Emperor
A symbol of fatherhood. Although I'd say that these characters feel more like a representation of certain traits of a parent.
Yusuke>Hidetoshi>Kanji
These three are difficult to rank. I feel all of them are very close to each other in terms of awkwardness. I disliked Yusuke a lot when the story started but it's incredible how likable they made him to be. The more the story progresses, the better he gets; I guess his jokes are supposed to be dad jokes? For turning an unlikable character into one of the best characters in the series I'll rank him first. I really like what they did with Hidetoshi in P3: he refusing to consider Yuki a "delinquent" because he knows him well is like the most parent-like thing one of these Emperor characters have ever done in the series. And Kanji is okay too, I guess. But I dislike a lot what they did with the characters of Persona 4 so it's difficult for them to rank higher in this list.
Hierophant
"The Hierophant is a symbol of education, authority, conservatism, obedience to rules and relationship with the divine."
Sojiro>Dojima>Bunkichi and Mitsuko
At first I thought Dojima would be the Emperor, but he is the Hierophant... perhaps because he's a police officer and represents the authority. It was pretty interesting what they did with Dojima as a social link and since he's pretty important in the story I liked him more than the old couple in the bookstore. Sojiro seemed like an asshole at first, but in one of the first scenes when he wonders if you forgot your umbrella it became obvious he had a big heart, he even shed a tear for you many times during the story. This guy is great.
Lovers
The official love interest:
Yukari> Rise = Ann
There's no contest here. Yukari is the most "realistic" of them. She complains a lot, she suspects everybody and she worries about you since in her mind they are using you like they are using her. The other two games go for characters that live not so common lives: an idol and a model. Later entries of the Persona games do the same to Yukari: she became an actress, but in P3 she's a more realistic character, and in The Answer it becomes clear she's the official love interest for Yuki.
Chariot
Very impulsive characters, they are supposed to represent victory and self confidence.
Ryuji>Chie>Kazushi>Rio
Ryuji is the winner here, he is the most Phantom Thief of your group in P5. The American version of Ryuji is kind of bad from what I've seen, but he's great in the Japanese version (thanks localization team). In P5 he is the first character that becomes friendly to you, to the point that he prefers to sacrifice himself for your well being despite not having any powers at the time; he left a very strong impression with me. Then you have Chie, and she's fun. Kazushi is okay too, Rio would be better but the problem with Rio is that they introduced the P3 characters that were left out of your social links in her story, and that hurts your interaction with her.
Justice
They supposedly represent justice, objectivity and analysis
Ken>Nanako>Goro>Chihiro
Everybody loves Nanako, including me, but the -at the time- edginess of Ken resonated with me more. His social link in Portable shows another face of the character, which was immediately made him one of my favourite SLs. Goro is okay until right before the end. Chihiro is pretty jealous and well, I had to re-reverse her SL several times. So tha's why I don't like her as much as the others.
Hermit
All of them are kind of shut ins.
"Maya">Futaba>Saori>>>>Fox
The best teacher in the modern Persona games, online she's just a disenchanted teacher that likes to complain about her job. I wonder if I have some kind of bias because of that. I don't like Futaba and Saori that much, tbh, and the fox is just a glorified sidequests giver.
Fortune
The idea of this characters is that they try to oppose their destiny or their imposed role
Ryoji>Naoto>Keisuke>Chihaya
Naoto and Keisuke are the ones that are fighting for the right to become what they want, given her status as a party member, Naoto is more fleshed out than Keisuke. Ryoji, in the other hand is trying to fit in despite being... well, you know what. I liked Ryoji a lot when he's introduced as a support character. Chihaya is very useful...
Strength
This arcana represents self control and creativity
Yuko=Kou>Koromaru>Caroline and Justine
I like Koromaru a lot, but not as a social link. Kou and Yuko in the other hand are pretty interesting. I've never tried the other Strength SL route in P4. Caroline and Justine aren't my favorite Velvet Room attendants.
Hanged Man
Supposedly, the Hanged Man represents self sacrifice. In Persona these characters are often trapped between two extreme life paths.
Mako>Iwai (Sorry, never talked to the P4 dude)
I think Mako's story is more realistic and more relatable, I guess. Iwai's story, while good in it's own merit has a situation at the end that supposedly solve his story but I feel the writing there was not as strong to make it more compelling.
Death
Death represents change.
Pharos>Tae>Hisano Kuroda
Pharos is one of the most important characters in the story of P3, naturally that made his social link more interesting to me. He's kind of creepy. Tae is okay too but at first sight she's kind of creepy as well. I suppose creepiness is a necessary characteristic of this arcana.
Temperance
Temperance represents the merging of two opposites and harmony.
Becky>Eri>Bebe
Another disenchanted teacher gets the first place here. Ironically, she gets into her vulnerable state when someone else uses her passion for teaching to blackmail her. Her "merging of two opposites" thing makes her the target of criticism in the real world too so I guess she represents Temperance too in some sort of meta thingy. Eri and her relationship with his stepson was very refreshing as well... and then we have Bebe... let's not talk about Bebe.
Devil
Supposedly this arcana is kind of fucked up. Its best trait though is commitment (to their work).
Ohya>>>>>>>>>>Sayoko>Tanaka
The only character that has the "fucked up" part toned down is Ohya, she only drinks a lot, while the other two are kind of vicious. Ohya is also one of the most resourceful characters in P5. I always imagine she's the one who found Shido's assistant and helped the group to contact her. I like the evolution of her SL because it talks about "Power Harrasement" (don't look at me like that, the Japanese came out with that term).
Tower
These characters are a little bit self destructive. Their SL is about helping them to get out of their problems.
Mutatsu=Shu=Shinya
This is the only case where I don't have a favorite. All of them are in dangerous positions when you meet them and they fall from grace. Mutatsu was some sort of experiment I guess, since the other two are two kids who'd be able to recover because they are young, while Mutatsu is old and made a lot of mistakes. I really like their stories.
Star
"It's a strong card, one that gives hope to those on the ground below. It shines in times of need. But, eventually, it is destined to fall to the earth and disappear... Even I can feel the sadness of this inescapable destiny..."
Akihiko>Mamoru=Hifumi>Teddie
That was a quote from Margareth. I really like the SL associated to this arcana. They excel in many things and through the interactions with us they show us they are also human and fragile. I don't have a strong preference for one of them. I still can't decide if Teddie should be up there with Mamoru and Hifumi. Akihiko is one of my favourite characters of modern persona games, his SL in P3P showed another face we didn't see in the original game, that's why I rank him over the others.
Moon
The moon represents a lot of good traits: creativity, fantasy, inspiration, but it also associates with madness, illusions and fears. In Persona, the moon SLs are very insecure, they have been taken over by their own fears.
Shinjiro>Yuki>Ai>Nozomi
With the exception of Shinjiro, all these characters are very obsessive. I must have something for self destructive characters because I like this SL a lot. Perhaps it's just the sense of accomplishment that I helped them to overcome their insecurities. Still, the one that stands out the most here is Shinjiro, he's one of the best characters of P3, but he's kind of troubled too.
Sun
The sun is optimism, joy, hope and all those good traits. But these characters are usually trapped in troublesome positions.
Akinari>Ayane>Yoshida (Didn't talk to the other girl in P4)
I really don't have empathy towards politicians so Yoshida is the last here. Akinari is the one that I cared more about and Ayane was pretty interesting. In the end, this social link feels all over the place since all those characters are so different from each other.
Judgement/Aeon (?)
I'm kind of cheating here because Judgement in the other games is represented by the interaction between the whole group, while P3 and P4 have the Aeon arcana in their re-releases (and I don't have a Vita so...).
Sae>Aegis
I don't have much to say here so...
There you have it, my personal rank. It's not a deep analysis either but I just had fun while writing it.
