Persona 3 Portable: Velvet Blue - Afterword

Afterword; or, "Ladies Prefer Cucumber!"

I love (insert your preferred name for the female protagonist here)!!! I love her a lot. Like, a lot a lot.

Ah, I got a bit ahead of myself. I'm Kenichi Fujiwara. I've been excited for this project since the very beginning. Although, I expect fans of the female protagonist are even more excited than me. I love the male protagonist as well (not in a BL way. I think.), but the female protagonist… She’s just so cute, seriously! Like I said, I love her a lot, for real.

I considered for a long time whether or not she should speak. I asked my protein-addicted senpai about it. He told me, “When you make a decision, you gotta fall in love with it!” and that I should go with my gut. Don't worry, I'm completely satisfied with my decision.

First with Persona 3, then FES, and now Portable, every time SEES goes on their adventure, I think of the end of their story, and I can’t help but cry. The original makes me cry the most. With that aside, the leading star in this piece is Elizabeth. The female protagonist is also featured, but a skilled reader could easily replace her with the male protagonist if they so wished. I also reread the manuscript while thinking of (or rather, fantasizing about) the male protagonist.

Next, about the subtitle, "Velvet Blue." It's a play on words, on the color blue as well as the melancholic sort of blue. The subtitle in that way refers to Elizabeth's sorrow. My wish came true!!! I really wanted to write Elizabeth's story once I started working on Owari no Kakera. It might be obvious at this point, but Elizabeth is one of my favorite characters from Persona 3. I have a whole altar of figures; I hope to get some figures of Aigis, too.

Although I've always loved Elizabeth, I found writing a story about her difficult when Persona 3 first came out. I could’ve written a book about her conversations with Igor in the Velvet Room, but would anyone actually read that? Come to think of it, probably.

I originally made the whole story more like a manzai comedy routine, with the two sisters being the comedians while the others serving as the reactionary ‘straight man.’ Readers seemed to get confused by it, and since it wasn't that original of an idea, I decided to scrap it. I guess I could have done something like it with the sibling trio's conversations— Theodore in the middle, with his sisters cracking jokes at him left and right. It might put Theodore's life in danger, though.

Elizabeth's treatment of Theodore is only shown a little bit in the game, in a conversation between the protagonist and Theodore (that small story being an embarrassing show of affection.) I wondered how Theodore would reciprocate this, which the game doesn't make clear.

In one scene, Elizabeth served her brother her own home cooking. It was very fun to write, but the reality of it is likely much, much worse.

The rulers of power aren't strong just because of their Personas. They surely have a lot of innate power, too. At least, that's what I think.

Thank you for reading my novel. I hope you enjoyed seeing the daily life of the rulers of power and their master. I hope that we meet again.

— Kenichi Fujiwara, Winter 2010