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Moonlight Bridge Trio (Aigis/Ryoji/Protagonist) manifesto

My current favorite polyship is Aigis/Ryoji/Protagonist, AKA Moonlight Bridge Trio from Persona 3. I find them so incredibly fascinating, and I'm surprised that more people don't ship them, given that Aigis/Protagonist and Ryoji/Protagonist are both popular ships, and how important the relationship between the three is to the narrative. I'll be focusing on the Female route of the Portable version of the game in this post, since that's the only one I've experienced so far, but from what I know of the other versions/adaptations most of what I have to say is broadly applicable to them as well.

WARNING: There are major spoilers for Persona 3 here!

Persona 3: A Summary

Since Aigis, Ryoji, and the protagonist are major characters in the game, and how their relationship impacts the plot is one of my favorite things about them, I'll start off with a recap of the game's events. Feel free to skip this if you're already familiar with P3's story.

Our renamable protagonist is a 16-year-old orphan who has just transferred to Gekkouan High School. At midnight on the night they arrive, something strange happens: The sky goes green, electronics stop working, people end up in coffins, and blood pools on the ground instead of water. This, we eventually learn, is called the dark hour, and the protag joins a school club called SEES, whose mission is to protect people from the monstrous Shadows that roam the streets during this time using a Persona - a manifestation of their soul in the form of a mythological/literary/historic figure. Additionally, every full moon, one or two extra-strong shadows themed after a major arcana from the tarot appears. Oh, and sometimes the protag is visited in the night by a creepy kid called Pharos who talks about how THE END IS NEAR and that no one else can see. Don't worry about it. Eventually, SEES learns that the shadows and the dark hour are the result of an experiment involving shadows that went wrong ten years ago, and that if they defeat all twelve Full Moon Shadows the dark hour will end and everyone will be safe.

Time for a beach trip! SEES goes to Yakushima for summer vacation, and they encounter a robot named Aigis. Who is really, really clingy towards the protag, insisting that she most stay by their side. Ikutsuki, SEES' advisor, explains that Aigis is an Anti-Shadow Weapon: a robot that's been specifically designed to fight shadows, and that can use a Persona. She's been dormant for ten years but has apparently been reactivated recently. Aigis joins SEES.

Eventually, at the start of November, SEES defeats all the full moon shadows. Horary, time to party- wait, what? Turns out the Dark Hour didn't end after all. Ikutsuki then shows up, and reveals that he's eeeeeevil, that actually killing the shadows freed a being called Nyx who will be drawn to earth by the Appraiser AKA Death and cause THE END OF THE WORLD, now excuse me can I kill you so that you don't interfere with my Evil Plan - *dies*

Anyways, there's a new kid at school! His name is Ryoji Mochizuki, he likes the protag, and Aigis hates his guts. It takes her until the start of December to figure out why, and when she does, she confronts Ryoji on the Moonlight Bridge. He remembers why Aigis hates his guts: he's the Appraiser AKA Death! He was created at the same time as the other shadows, and Aigis tried to kill him at that time in a fight on the Moonlight Bridge. However, she couldn't, so she sealed it in a continently-placed child whose parents had just died in a related car accident. Said child then grew up to be our beloved protagonist, and Death became Pharos and then Ryoji. Ryoji explains that SEES can't prevent the end of the world but if they kill him they will loose all their memories and live out their last days in peace. He gives them until New Year's Eve to decide and disappears.

On New Year's Eve, Ryoji returns, and asks the protag to kill him. If they agree, you get a bad end where everyone looses their memories and the world ends. If you decline, the game goes on for another month. At the end of that month, Ryoji turns into the Nyx Avatar, the final boss of the game. SEES fight him, but they are unable to stop Nyx until the protag manages to use the power of the Universe Arcana and calls on the bonds they have formed with other people during the game in order to seal Nyx away. On graduation day, March 5, the protag and Aigis end up on the school's roof. The protag lies on Aigis' lap, and Aigis tells them that they have given her a purpose: to protect them. The proag feels tired, so they close their eyes and end up dying in Aigis' arms as the rest of SEES run up the stairs towards them. Roll credits

Okay, why should I ship these three?
Ryoji/Protagonist: They're my favorite P3 ship, and the way they tie into the themes of the game is the biggest reason why. Persona 3 is about death, and as a result, life as well. You shouldn't throw yourself at death, but don't be afraid of it either. Make the most out of the short life you've been given by connecting with others and making yoru mark on the world, don't just wait around to die. And remember those who have died, because they can still live on in your memories. The protagonist accepts Ryoji, accepts death, and because of that they are able to save the world. And because Death lived in the protagonist for so long, he was able to experience life as a human, develop emotions, and eventually live among them for a short time. Their interactions in game are also just really cute and affectionate, with Ryoji being drawn towards the protagonist even before he remembers who he is.

Aigis/Protagonist: While I don't think it's quiiiite as good a fit for P3's themes as Ryoji/Protagonist, I still find them to be really interesting thematically. Initially Aigis is "just" a machine, but (as mentioned above) she feels drawn towards the protagonist and is very clingy with them. As she spends time with SEES, she tries to understand humanity and starts to develop her own emotions and feelings. Her story focuses heavily on her own feelings and the meaning and purpose of life. The protagonist is a very important part of this process for Aigis, and she eventually realizes/decides that her relationship with the protagonist is the most important thing in her life to her. Direct quote: "If to live means to spend time with people you've forged relationships with...Then... I want my relationship with you to be the strongest of all. My connection to you is my reason for living..."

Aigis/Ryoji: Are a super underrated pair both platonically and romantically, and they don't get nearly as much attention as they deserve in both the game and the fandom. Their initial meeting/dynamic, where Aigis claims that he is dangerous for seemingly no reason, and Ryoji joking about/fliriting with her in response ("I haven't even asked you out on a date yet") is super iconic and fun to me. And the scene where they finally learn/realize who they are and what their connection is... aughhh so good. Ryoji tells Aigis that he's changed, but Aigis still tries to attack him. She can't defeat him, which causes her to start questioning her purpose and realizing that she needs to live, eventually leading into her arc as described above. As for Ryoji, well, he wouldn't have had the chance to become his own person if Aigis hadn't put Death into the Protagonist. They also serve as narrative parallels, both being nonhuman beings who developed emotions and generally became more human due to the protagonist's influence. It's such a real shame that we don't really get to see them actually make up and become friends in the game, with Ryoji mostly disappearing after he remembering being Death.

All three of them together: The three of them meeting on the Moonlight Bridge is the reason why the game is able to happen. If one of them hadn't been there, then the world likely would have ended right then and there. This relationships also leads to Aigis and Ryoji finding themselves to be strangely drawn towards the protagonist, and Aigis to have a rather visceral and instinctive reaction to Ryoji, even before they remember that night on the bridge. All three of them are trying to find their way in life and connect with other people, and in Aigis and Ryoji's case this is explicitly due to the protagonist's influence. And this is a really small thing, but one person in each of the pairs calls the other precious at one point (Ryoji o protag: "You're the most precious thing in the world to me... More precious than my own life" plus a few other lines; Aigis to protagonist: "After all, I am able to be near you, the one most precious to me..." plus a few other lines; Ryoji to Aigis: "You, too, are a precious living thing..."), it's a small thing taht isn't even exclusive to those three but it just... my heart.

A few other things that I couldn't fit into the main post:
- as vaguely alluded to above, the Portable version of Persona 3 has the option to play as either a male or female protagonist. The Female protagonist route contains significant changes to a lot of her relationships and stuff, however, Aigis is basically the exact same in both routes and is more or less explicitly in love with both of them. This doesn't apply to Ryoji - he gets a lot more interaction with the female protagonist than the male one - buuut he does say that he would love the protagonist even if she was a boy, and when the remake Persona 3 Reload came out it didn't include the female protagonist but it did include Ryoji having a crush on the male protagonist and then generally having a closer relationship than in previous versions of the game
- also I do ship the male and female protagonists together as part of this polycule but I didn't really talk about them because my main motivation for shipping them is just "yay selfcest"
- in between starting this post and finishing it I wrote up a whole rec post for pluralstories about the game in general so check that out if this post made you interested in the game in general

Fanworks recs: I... actually haven't really read any fics where the relationship between these three (poly or otherwise) is the main focus. Part of it is because there are very few fics with it, but also because I just haven't gotten around to reading what is there.

I do have art recs, though! Some shippy, some more platonic, all great. (All links are to my Tumblr where I've written image descriptions for them)

Really cool trypich of the individual couples with Relevant Quotes (might be eyestrain?)
Aigis being annoyed at Ryoji, with Protagonist caught in the middle
Official art (yes really)
Obligatory redraw of that one Twelfth Night promo pic
Sweet piece of Aigis and Ryoji with both protagonists (this is my current phone wallpaper)
Angsty post-canon piece
Everything I've reblogged that involves the three of them
This other user has Even More (no image descriptions though)