One of the official books released about P3 has a very meaningful column about the symbolism behind Aigis inheriting Orpheus, and kitaroai did me the big favor of translating the most relevant bits.
In the column, Makoto is referred to as "Protagonist" and "He", so I took the liberty of swapping those for his name for the sake of clarity.
The Gods' descent to the underworld
In the world of mythology, there is a myth of a god's descent to the underworld to retrieve their dead lover.
A common motif in P3FES is the world of the dead—the underworld. Tartarus, the dungeon explored in game, is said to be a hellish abyss even deeper than Hades itself. The labyrinth explored in the final act of the game, the Abyss of Time, features the different depths of the hell present in Dante's 'Divine Comedy'. Makoto and Aigis go on a journey through the lands where the dead wander in search of "The Answer to Life".
What often comes to mind when hearing the word "Yomi" (Underworld) is the famous god, Izanagi, whom descended to hell to retrieve his beloved dead wife, Izanami. In P3, the Persona both Makoto and Aigis summon after awakening to the power of the Wild Card is Orpheus, who, in a similar manner, went to the underworld seeking his lost wife, Eurydice.
This can be compared to the sequel of the main story: Makoto’s shadow is sought, however, the retrieval of the one who was lost ends in failure. The dead cannot be brought back. As such, both stories have the same end.
However, unlike the tragic end of the mythical journey to the underworld, even if Aigis is unable to bring Makoto back, she achieves a 'good end': The possibility of finding a path to a better future. This difference comes from how the protagonists in mythology adhered solely to their bonds with the dead, whilst Aigis comes to emphasize her bonds with the living.
Aigis eventually realized "The Answer to Life" was her “bonds”, but did Makoto think The Answer was “death”? Perhaps, Makoto also reached the conclusion that the answer lies in his bonds, but to protect them, he had to sacrifice himself. Maybe that's the sole difference between their journeys.
— Persona 3 FES Official Fanbook - My Episode -, translation by kitaroai
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Hey I’m Chase, remember when I used to be on here lots?
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Yeah me neither x_x
So hey wow I’m back. Seems likes its been YEARS since I was last on here and that’s pretty accurate in a sense. I know last I was on here I said I’d be revamping the blogg and that wasn’t a lie I just lost motivaton/muse I guess. But I’ve been thinking about Minato lots lately and how I miss him and my threads on here, Well the revamp is FINALLY happening tomorrow. Muse for Minato is alive and kicking and as soon as I can tomorrow . I also should mention I have a job now too. But that wont stop my from reviving the blueberry fool. See you all tomorrow guys.
This list will focus on the remake. To see how it fares in comparison to the original, check this post.
Notes:
Since Makoto isn’t actually in the game, most of the list will focus on Aigis' side of their bond as well as the little things that connect them.
There will also be third party quotes about Aigis’ bond with Makoto.
I bolded the most important moments.
The post is image heavy & contains spoilers for the entire game.
When that person died, there was nothing she could do to bear the pain.
The machine girl found herself thinking that she had no use for a heart that did nothing but let her feel pain.
And thus, the girl's heart became a blue butterfly, which took flight, and the pain in her chest disappeared.
However, in its stead, there was now a large, gaping, empty hole in her chest.
The emptiness in her chest didn't hurt, but it also did not let her feel anything.
She wasn't alive anymore.
Nothing but an empty shell, devoid of emotions, cursed to stand still in time where she was forever with no place to move forward to.
— Episode Aigis Epilogue, Persona 3 Official Fanbook. Translation by Nenilein.
PROMOS
✤ The Key Visual of Episode Aigis features Aikoto. What's more, it reveals that Makoto in the original P3R art was meant to be looking at Aigis all along, like two halves of a whole.
✤ Soejima released an illustration to celebrate Episode Aigis. The illustration features Aikoto & Metis.
✤ The First Edition of the Episode Aigis soundtrack comes with a double-sided Aikoto box featuring the Key Visual and their AOA attacks. This is what Lotus Juice had to say about it:
"In the cover, you see P3HERO and Aigis looking at each other... if you open it, they'll be separated... like they're almost within reach of each other, but aren't. I wonder if that feeling gets across to fans as well? It's very beautifully done."
✤ SEGA Korea welcomed September with an Aikoto Calendar featuring the Episode Aigis Key Art (alternative link).
✤ HINEMOS released two more Aikoto Sake bottles to commemorate the release of Episode Aigis.
OPENING
Someone at Atlus decided to gift us an opening dedicated to Aikoto and it's filled with gorgeous symbolism and foreshadowing, so I'm here to
✤ Episode Aigis features an exclusive opening & song focused on Aigis' feelings after Makoto's loss. Full lyrics here and Analysis in the post linked above!
(Lost without you)
But little things like the scent of his cologne
Is a painful remindеr that he’s gone
It feels like my heart is suffocating
How do you make amends when you’re gone from me?
Even though with a win, how come I feel so lost?
Nothing makes sense to me
I’m so numb, so lost without you
BATTLE SONG
✤ The new Battle Song, Don't, is also from Aigis' POV. While it focuses on Aigis' feelings through her conflict with SEES, it also has references to her feelings towards Makoto. Full lyrics here!
Already lost my keys to the door wide shut
Only had one wish now it’s never gonna come true
Trapped in time
Forever in remorse
How could I ever be in peace when nothing else matters to me?
MENU & UI
✤ In the menu, Aigis is shown holding a blue butterfly who flies away from her. According to the old devs, blue butterflies are used to symbolize Aigis' heart, which is the perfect imagery for Episode Aigis. Curiously, blue butterflies also often used in relation to Makoto, which carries very meaningful implications they're soulmates your honor.
✤ P3R's UI is meant to represent "the Protagonist's Sea of Souls", and it reflects their psychological state. True to form, Aigis is shown looking sad and lonely in hers, which is how she has felt since she lost Makoto. In the Equipment menu, we can even see her reach out before sadly retreating into herself, as if she were trying to catch someone who is now long gone.
PROLOGUE
✤ During the anime cutscene, we see a new rendition of Makoto's and Aigis' last moments together.
MARCH 31ST
✤ Aigis is the one who kept Makoto's Evoker after his passing.
✤ Aigis says that the one thing she feels certain of is that Makoto wouldn't have blame any of them for what happened, showing how well she understands him.
✤ Junpei comments that he’s glad Aigis has been “hanging in there” (spoiler: she isn't) because "It really seemed like you cared about him more than anything in the world."
✤ Aigis reveals that she remembers her last moment with Makoto whenever she closes her eyes. Depressed, she kept having the same dream over and over again: running after him, calling his name but never being able to catch up.
✤ She also recalls the promise she made him during the rooftop scene: "I promised to protect him, and I made that my reason for living. But now... that promise can never be fulfilled."
✤ Aigis says that one day, her sadness "mysteriously" left her. She stopped dreaming and requiring sleep. Unbeknownst to her, this is the event that draws The Abyss of Time to the dorms.
✤ When Aigis is scared of losing more precious people, she sees Makoto walking away from her and desperately tries to reach out to him. Then, Athena metamorphoses into Orpheus. It's interesting to notice that the effect used when Makoto disappears is the same effect used when Orpheus appears.
✤ Aigis and Makoto have the exact same Velvet Room and Aigis can even access his entire Compendium. In other words, they must share the same space “between dream and reality, mind and matter.”
✤ Elizabeth also explains that a Persona "represents one's heart and soul." Aigis can use Makoto's as if they were her own. Let that sink in!
✤ When Aigis thinks that reaching the Answer to Life may lead to her death, she is surprised to "discover how little the possibility bothered me." With Makoto gone, Aigis has lost her reason to live. It's to the point that when Aigis believes that she may die if she loses her key, she says: "If I did, then that would be fine..."
✤ During one of the activities with Metis, she comments on how fulfilled she feels whenever Aigis trusts her with something. If the player lets Aigis say "I think I understand", Metis will say: "Then you must have someone in your life who's just as important to you as you are to me." Which is quite big, because Aigis is literally Metis' everything lol
✤ Aigis getting Makoto’s power means she "inherited" something from him.”
✤ Aigis says early in the game that normally, people have a reason to awaken to their Persona, but that for her it was backwards. She had a persona and then she gained a reason (protecting Makoto). Later, we discover that the reason for her awakening to the Wild Card was that with Makoto gone, she has lost her purpose and her reason to live.
✤ The door that lies in the deepest part of The Abyss of Time leads to Aigis’ past and the moment she awoke to the "Persona abilities" Makoto had. In here we see Aigis' dream, the one where she runs after Makoto, trying to reach him in vain. We also find out that she was in so much pain and so lost after his passing that she wished she could go back to being just a machine again.
It was so painful losing him... I couldn't bring myself to do anything, so... I just hid in my room. For a while, I did nothing but chase after him in my dreams...
✤ Aigis' trophy is called "The one who dreamt", after her dream of Makoto.
✤ After the fight with Shadow!Makoto, he disintegrates into blue butterflies as Aigis desperately reaches out for him.
✤ Aigis can't decide whether she wants to go back to the past, or respect Makoto's sacrifice and remain in the present. Irritated by Aigis' predicament, Yukari accuses her of running away from her own feelings for Makoto.
✤ Metis explains that she would do anything to protect Aigis, because she is "all she has". This prompts Aigis to say that she, too, once felt the same way about someone.
✤ Aigis being willing to lay down her life to not have to fight her friends makes Metis break down. She echoes all of Aigis' buried feelings at Makoto's sacrifice. "Why do you have to die? Why does it have to be you...? Why can't it... be me instead? Please don't leave me behind... I'll give my life for the key, too! And if that doesn't work... then I'm coming with you! So we can always be together... Please, don't leave me all alone!" 😭
✤ Aigis realizes that she has been running away from her own feelings. Before going back to the past, she needs to know why Makoto did what he did—because she won't give up on what's important to her.
✤ After that fight, Aigis finally acknowledges that she wants Makoto back, too, and explains that she needs to know exactly what he did before she can make a choice. Despite her own feelings, Makoto's come first to her 😭
✤ Aigis screams "No!" as Erebus aims for Makoto. We also get two new shots of Aikoto's last moments together, showing Makoto smiling peacefully on Aigis' lap.
✤ After the final fight, Yukari acknowledges her jealousy over Aigis inhering Makoto's power and says that just like Makoto, Aigis is the one who knows how to move forward.
✤ Aigis reaches the very same Answer to Life that Makoto did: Friendship and Bonds are what give people life.
✤ Metis tells Aigis that there's still a way for Aigis to keep her promise to protect Makoto, and that is by fostering connections with others, so that they may one day reach the same answer they did.
✤ Metis is revealed to be Aigis' Shadow: the manifestation of the heart Aigis wished away after losing Makoto.
✤ Once Aigis regains her heart, she breaks down crying at last, finally processing her grief at losing Makoto.
✤ Before she fully fades away, we hear Metis' voice talking to Aigis and telling her how she can reach Makoto so he won't have to carry on alone anymore.
ENDING
✤ Aigis goes back to the rooftop for the final cut-scene. Just like that last day she spent with him, there are cherry blossom petals blowing in the wind.
✤ The credit song, Brand New Days, is once again from Aigis' POV. It focuses on her feelings towards SEES and Makoto as she walks forward into a new tomorrow.
There are days when I tire of calling out the meaning of my life,
and my head droops
But still, in my heart (So look up to you)
Is your smile
✤ During the credits, we see Aigis looking back over her shoulder as she walks through the Moonlight Bridge (the place that started it all for her and Makoto). Lastly, cherry blossoms once again welcome her when she reaches the school. Considering their meaning (Don't forget about me), I'd like to think they're yet another reference to the fact that Aigis will go on living—forever carrying her memories of him.
✤ The Clear Data Save features Aigis' portrait over a cherry blossom background. If you beat the game on Heartless, a cherry-blossom-colored butterfly is added and placed over Aigis' heart.
EXTRAS
✤ In Orpheus' myth, he descends to the underworld in search of his dead wife, Eurydice, but ultimately fails and finds his own death. Knowing this makes Aigis having Orpheus as her main Persona even more meaningful. Not only is Orpheus' Makoto's Persona—so it's like he's left a piece of himself with her, his own version of I'll Never Leave You—it also represents Aigis' plight during Episode Aigis: either moving forward or going back to the past in search of Makoto. Unlike Orpheus, Aigis is eventually able to move forward carrying her memories of her beloved with her.
✤ Aigis' Compendium is signaled by a bookmark with a red butterfly, while Makoto's is the same bookmark but with a blue butterfly.
✤ Two dictionary entries evoke Aikoto. The first is That Day, which mentions it's "the last day Aigis ever spoke to him." The second is Aigis' Past.
✤ One of Elizabeth dialogues is "Do you posses the power to overcome any adversity as well? Just as he did...?" Another of her dialogues foreshadows Elizabeth wanting to ask Aigis to help her free Makoto's soul from the seal ("When the time comes, I may ask you to..."), just like in Persona 4 Arena.
✤ When Fuuka learns that Aigis may die if her key is taken, Aigis explains that she didn't want SEES to worry over her, too, when they're all "doing what they feel is best... for him..."
✤ Just like in The Answer, Yukari spends the game jealous of Aigis because she heard Makoto's last words and inherited his power—although this time she luckily handles it a lot better. This leads Mitsuru to explain that Yukari doesn't mean Aigis any malice; as she does so, she acknowledges Aigis' feelings and says that Makoto did no mean any less to Aigis than he did to Yukari. Later, Yukari herself ends up acknowledging Aigis' feelings and suffering over Makoto, strengthening their friendship.
✤ It's revealed that both Mitsuru and Yukari made promises to Makoto, or rather, to themselves after Makoto's passing. This bears mentioning because Aigis' promise to Makoto is never described in such terms in the game. At the contrary, in the original game, Yukari even goes as far as comparing them to say that unlike Aigis' promise to Makoto (あなたと違う), hers was one-sided (一方的に), highlighting that Makoto was there to acknowledge Aigis'.
✤ Metis tells Aigis that "The souls of all living things are connected through a plane similar to a sea." The Seal of Souls is likely where Makoto & Aigis are shown together in the opening, and the storyboards even describe it as an "unexpected reunion" 😭
✤ Mitsuru decides to give everyone their Evokers back, so it’s fair to assume Aigis still has Makoto’s.
✤ The Persona 3 Official Fanbook holds a short story about Aigis and Metis (I included an excerpt of it at the top of this post) and a column on the symbolism behind Aigis getting Orpheus (Orpheus, just like Aigis, went to the underworld in search of his lost beloved). While it's not material that came out with this version of Episode Aigis, it's still as relevant (and touching) as ever, so I really recommend reading it.
Spoilers for P3R below! Skip this if you haven't finished the game!
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I just realized that these two scenes parallel each other:
During the first, Makoto was about to go meet an uncertain fate, and he turned to look at Aigis one last time. During the second, Makoto is about to meet his fate, and he... closes his eyes while looking at Aigis. She is the last thing he sees.
But that's not all. The first scene is quite obviously inspired by the movies' "Live" scene, except we don't see that happen in P3R. As a matter of fact, if it weren't for Aigis' flashback, we wouldn't know that Makoto turned to look at her, because we don't see this scene at all during the fight against Nyx.
This scene we see in Aigis' flashback is brand new. Which begs the question, why didn't they simply use a shot we actually saw? Like Makoto levitating to go towards Nyx?
If we follow the parallel I mentioned at the beginning of the post, then the reason may very well be that the visuals are meant to echo Aigis' words.
We see this brand new scene of Makoto turning towards Aigis, to look at Aigis, right as she says: "When I thought I may never see you again..."
So the visuals suggest that Aigis' words may not only apply to her. The way this scene is set up, it's like they both feared they may never see the other again.
What's more, this shot of Makoto looking at Aigis was deliberately constructed so it parallels the shot of Aigis turning to look at "the camera" in Yakushima. I say "deliberately" because Atlus themselves keep using this parallel in their own trailers, so it's obviously something they want people to notice:
And what was Aigis doing during that very moment?
"You hoped that your successors would make the same wish to see someone precious to them, and that meeting would take place at the pier. When I was searching for someone, I found myself naturally drawn there for some reason..."
She was hoping to see someone precious to her.
She was hoping to see Makoto.
So the fact that they went out of their way so that Makoto turns to look at Aigis in the exact same fashion is extremely meaningful. Even more so when you realize Aigis' scene took place during their reunion, while Makoto's took place during their possible separation.
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Lotus Juice: "In the cover, you see P3HERO and Aigis looking at each other... if you open it, they'll be separated... like they're almost within reach of each other, but aren't. I wonder if that feeling gets across to fans as well? It's very beautifully done."
Translation by: kitaroai
Lotus Juice is talking about the Aikoto Box that holds the P3R & Episode Aigis soundtracks together:
Funnily enough, Kajita-san from the Persona Stalker Club made a similar comment a couple of weeks ago:
Persona 3 Reload recently had a collab with Seven Knights Idle Adventure, and the trailer they released for it has Aigis featured with Memories of You as BMG.
Despite being part of two different pull banners, Aikoto were kept together on most of the promotional banners featuring the collab:
Aigis was also included in Astro Bot and her description is one huge reference to the rooftop scene:
