Here are some Shadow Protagonists/antithesis characters paralells I have noticed.
Maki and Ryoji both are kinda heavily based on Freudian theories:
Maki being split into three fragments: Ideal Maki, Mai and Aki.
Ego (das Ich), Superego (das Über-Ich) and Id (das Es).
Ego - reality, tries to mediate beween Id and reality
Superego - morality (often the part influenced by parents/or cultural rules).
Id - instincts/drives
It’s no wonder why Ideal Maki is supposed to be the middle. Even the High Priestess arcana has the white and black pillar and the Priestess in the middle. And Maki’s uniform is grey while Mai wears white and Aki black.
The reason why Thanatos is so important in P3 is due to Freud’s Eros-Thanatos (life and death urge theory).
Thanatos like Eros is often depicted with butterflies (Eros due to his wife Psyche, Thanatos since butterflies were also called psykhe/soul. In Japan there is also the belief of butterflies being connected to souls).
Thanatos was also depicted like Eros sometimes (as a child or winged youth) as a statue. Which is why these statues are called Eros-Thanatos.
It was also easy with the Thanatos theme in P3 to get back Nyx due to Nyx being Thanatos’ mother in myth. Funnily in older sources Aphrodite/Venus wasn’t Eros mother either but Eros emerged from an egg of Nyx.
Ryoji and Maki both have multiple forms (including kid forms), both have moles, and both have to be fought in the end phase (Nyx Avatar and Pandora).
Jun and Maki do have plenty of similarities as well:
Both have ties to Nyarlathotep. Maki indirectly via Kandori and Jun during his Joker phase. Also Time Count (Nyarly’s Avatar) lampshades this by giving Maki the Ultimate Flower to pass it to Jun.
Both Maki and Jun do share the father figure aspect: Maki lacks a father figure which is why part of her (Aki) sympathizes with Kandori in hope that he could fill it which is why she can’t be completly angry with Kandori even in EP
and slightly hoped that he could change as well.
Jun did get along with Kashihara fine and admired him. However when his homelife was strained due to his mother fearing for her career his ideal family life crashed down which is why Nyarly was able to pose as the cooler version of
Kashihara and the real Kashihara ended up dead in IS.
Both Jun and Maki do have complicated relationships with their mothers since they feel neglected. Maki’s mother Setsuko appears to find her though and Maki does seem to want to mend their bond (Mommy’s treasure). Jun thinks Junko hates him but it turns out that Junko sacrificed herself once she found out that Joker is her child when he was attacked in Caracol.
Jun is referred to as Marionette in Aquarius temple. Maki was confirmed in a interview with Kaneko and Tadashi to be depicted as looking doll-like on purpose.
Also both Jun and Maki feel incredibly guilty about their roles. Both try to repair the damage and try to help others (Maki as therapist and Jun wants to become a teacher).
Both Jun and Maki are also rather scholar like reagarding their mind set.
If you want to include Ryoji: He feels incredibly guilty as well. If you do his Fortune s-link he virtually drowns in guilt and it is pointed out that he seems like he is about to cry several times.
Ryoji may seem goofy sometimes but his s-link actually points out that he is pretty mature actually and has way more substance than you probably thought originally.
Regarding arcana Jun and Ryoji share the Fortune arcana (Maki has Priestess but has many references to ‘fate’ as well).
I noticed a parallel regarding Zodiacs as well.
Jun and Adachi both are an Aquarius.
Yusuke whose design is heavily influenced by Jun is an Aquarius as well (however he is a regular party member not a Shadow aligned character).
Goro and Maki both are a Gemini.
So far the only Zodiacs characters used for Shadow protagonists/antithesis characters are Aquarius and Gemini.
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