Kotone Shiomi

The female protagonist of Persona 3 Portable, canonically known as Kotone Shiomi (having originated from the stage play and later clarified as the default name in the 2023 re-release of the game), is a transfer student enrolling in Gekkoukan High School on Tatsumi Port Island. She is an orphan whose parents died on the Moonlight Bridge in their car during a fatal incident a decade prior to the game. She is the female counterpart of Makoto Yuki: she is designed to present a fresh perspective for veteran players of the Persona 3 series. Because the rest of the Persona series takes direct reference to the original interpretation of the game involving the male protagonist, her story is effectively non-canonical and takes place in a separate timeline. Kotone Shiomi is the polar opposite of her male counterpart. Her Persona Orpheus is gold, while his is a pale silver, her eyes are red, while his are blue, et cetera. With red accents instead of blue. Her main weapon is a naginata that inflicts slash attacks. Kotone has auburn hair, which she always has in a high ponytail, along with silver barrettes which form the Roman numeral XXII (22), possibly referencing that the Fool Arcana is not only Arcana 0, but also Arcana 22 with the numbers increasing while going back to the first card after The World (Arcana 21). Since she's the polar opposite of the male protagonist, it would make sense for the male protagonist to be Fool 0 while the female is Fool 22. She is seemingly shorter than the default male protagonist. She has a pale complexion and striking red eyes (and longer lashes than the other characters, like Aigis). Her favorite colors seem to be red and orange, as most of her outfits compose of the same color scheme. At school and at Tartarus, she wears Gekkoukan High School's winter uniform, which consists of a Gekkoukan high badge, a red ribbon tie, a neck strap MP3 player (same as the male protagonist but in the color red) and loafers. On weekends and days off, she wears a red scarf, a light orange sweater, a red plaid skirt, black leggings and red boots (along with her earphones). In the summer, at Gekkoukan, she wears a white collared shirt, a red ribbon tie, her red MP3 player and the school skirt. During the days off in the summer, she wears a short-sleeved orange shirt over a red-and-white striped spaghetti strap top, a white skirt and white sandals. She is never seen without her earphones except in several events where such accessories would not be appropriate, such as the following: the beach excursion in Yakushima (where she wears a pink ribbon bikini); the Summer Festival (if the player chooses to wear a yukata); the brief school trip in Kyoto (in which she wears a bathrobe); and the post-New Years celebration in the nearby Shrine (in which she wears an orange kimono and replaces the usual barrettes in her hair with pink and red flower barrettes). Her High-Cut Armor is white in color. It is also said by Yukari that her ears are not pierced. She is also said to be very pretty. When she was a young girl, she had short auburn hair down to her face, wore a red elementary school uniform, a red ribbon, dark red skirt, white socks and gray shoes. When Shigenori Soejima was asked to create a female protagonist, he thought it would be easy to draw her. Soejima had never drawn a female protagonist in his works. It was very difficult to distinguish differences between a heroine and a female protagonist. It wasn't a problem limited to girls or boys, but with a protagonist, especially a juvenile protagonist, there will be a growth to adulthood and their personalities can not yet be solidified, the characterization of the heroine and the other characters will be different. Soejima somehow came up with the design, he felt she was a protagonist people would come to love. Soejima drew this especially to pin facial expressions and atmosphere of the female protagonist. It was an image contrasting the cool male protagonist against the bright and lively female protagonist, the player named P3 protagonist is meant to be the player's alter ego. She is a silent protagonist, as is the case with most Megami Tensei protagonists, although she does technically speak in battle (such as when she uses an item or summons a persona). Unlike the male protagonist or Megami Tensei protagonists in general, she is very bubbly, funny, upbeat and cheerful. Her dialogue choices exhibit a broad spectrum of emotions, ranging from sarcasm, joking tones, utter seriousness and otherwise depending on the player's choice. She is outspoken, blunt and literal when responding and getting her points across. She is a sharp contrast to the male protagonist who is very reserved and concise where she, on the other hand, is not afraid to interject into conversations where her male counterpart would remain silent. In addition, she is more likely to resort to violence when provoked, especially in defense of her friends, as seen in her Hermit Social Link. She is often described by the S.E.E.S members as a very tomboyish leader who takes risks to save her friends. She is also said to be dependable and tough, just like how a leader should be. Although she seems to be always in high spirits, she hides her suffering and burdens, which is why everyone, mostly Junpei Iori and Akihiko Sanada, worries so much about her. Though she might go out of her way to cause herself suffering to be friendly, at the same time she is especially sensitive to negative criticism from others, such as from envious female classmates when she hangs out with Akihiko and Ryoji Mochizuki, describing their glares as "physically painful" or "burning at her skin." Ryoji's Fortune Social link as well as her dialogue choices after his reveal and learning of Nyx show a lot of her personality that's hidden under her bright and cheerful exterior. The tone of her dialogue choices shift, ranging from indifferent to outright depressed, contrasting her usual tone but similar to some of her male counterpart's dialogue choices. People around her as well as herself tend to really appreciate having close friends as seen in Rio Iwasaki, Saori Hasegawa and Yukari Takeba's Social Links as well as people loving her for how protective she is. The lack of her comrades to fight alongside her can prove to be traumatic for her and can put her into a breakdown as seen in Persona Q2 where she is the only Persona user who has to fight alone. In some Social Links events (i.e. Magician, Star and Moon), as well as the Drama CD, she has a tendency to gorge herself on food, similar to the male protagonist in the manga adaptation, with some girls in her Social Links and SEES members saying that sometimes they are jealous on how she eats a lot and yet can stay slim all the time. In addition to this, Akihiko states that she'll get angry if someone, particularly Junpei, takes her food without permission.