[Honey's Crush Wednesday] 5 Makoto Niijima Highlights - Persona 5

Makoto-Niijima-Persona-5-wallpaper-700x494 [Honey's Crush Wednesday] 5 Makoto Niijima Highlights - Persona 5

No time to waste!

  • Game Developers: Atlus
  • Publisher: Atlus, Atlus USA, Deep Silver (PAL)
  • Release Date: Sept 15, 2016


Persona 5 Preview (No Spoilers)

Persona 5 has players taking the role of a protagonist who has recently been convicted of a crime. Being sent to a new school to live with a guardian, the protagonist will find his life going in an odd direction when he learns of a hidden world that exists within people’s hearts. Becoming a persona user, the protagonist will become known as Joker a Phantom Thief whose job will be to save the hearts of those who are corrupt by battling inside their hearts. Alongside others, Joker will face off against corrupt teachers and politicians alike all to show the world that he and his team have the power to change the world. However, the Phantom Thieves goal won’t be an easy one as the human heart doesn’t wish for change too easily…

Makoto Niijima Bio

Seiyuu Name: Rina Sato, Cherami Leigh

Makoto Niijima, codename Queen, is a tough young teenager with plenty of smarts and an unshakable resolve. Makoto sees a challenge and heads straight into it without second thoughts to show she won’t lose or fail. Makoto’s biggest weakness is that she feels inferior to her sister Sae, who is a prosecutor working on the Phantom Thieves case. Like her sister Sae, Makoto wants to be seen as a strong independent woman and is willing to do anything to garner that respect. However, once she becomes a Phantom Thief, Makoto’s outlook becomes slightly different as she wishes to help Joker stop the evils that plague Japan using her Persona Johanna. Slowly, Makoto begins to lighten up and realize that for her dreams and ideals to become real, she will have to make them a reality one step at a time.

Makoto Niijima Highlights

1. Tough but Kind

One of the most appealing concepts about Makoto is that while she may act rough and sometimes very cold, that doesn’t mean she doesn’t care. Makoto is all about calculations and that keeps the rest of the team safe from rushing too fast into trouble. The downside of this caring personality is she tends to endanger herself for the group to avoid them having to get into danger. An example of this can be seen in several occasions such as when she acts as bait for the mafia so the team can follow her trail, as well as when she probes her own sister’s laptop for information thanks to Futaba’s hacking flash drive. Makoto isn’t a tough girl to just be tough, she does it to help others and for that we love that aspect of her.

All in all, to be tough and kind isn’t an easy juggling act. Makoto suffers at times with her own realization that it could be from her inferiority complex but that doesn’t stop her from beating enemies alongside the gang. We really appreciate that Makoto is one of those girls that knows how to balance the two elements very well and we’re sure that is why fans love her in equal measure. Seriously though, one of her quotes shows just how scary she can be when agitated and that is the line “Feel my Rage!”.

2. Very Witty

Makoto’s calculations don’t just come out of thin air. Thanks to her impressive knowledge and smart way of thinking, Makoto plans out most of the team’s next moves weighing possible consequences and issues that could present themselves. When she began to suspect Akechi as being a possible threat, Makoto began to gain information from him to see how much he truly knew. This may seem risky but Makoto knew full well the risk and was smart about how much she interacted with him. Makoto isn’t a third year honor student for nothing after all, and at the same time, that intelligence really makes her a true asset for the Phantom Thieves.

3. Her Persona is a motorcycle!

Okay while Futaba may have a flying saucer as her Persona, Makoto’s Persona is a literal motorcycle. Johana, Makoto’s Persona, is actually based off the legend that there was a woman who reigned as Pope for a short while in the medieval times. The tradition of Pope is usually reserved for men, but in Joan’s case, she went against the tide and showed that she could do the work men could in the same. What’s beautiful about this is that it’s akin to Makoto’s personality that shows a girl who can go with the punches just as much as say Joker or Ryuji. It just goes to show that Makoto may be super cute and very attractive but if you mess with her she’ll show you that she can fight back. Seriously though, a persona that’s a motorcycle…so dang cool.

No but in all seriousness, Makoto’s motorcycle persona shows that she isn’t just your typical Brainiac. Makoto shows it several times in the game’s story and side missions that she doesn’t take crap about a trait that most likely runs in the family because Sae captures that ideal very well also. The motorcycle idea Atlus had was such a clever concept and we give them a round of applause from here at Honey’s Anime. We do kind of dislike the fact that her Persona does alter once max into a non-motorcycle but even when it’s Anat, the final Persona form, it’s still pretty dang cool.

4. Makoto Niijima is a Caring Little Sister

Let’s be honest: Sae, Makoto’s sister, isn’t the nicest woman around. At one point of the story, Sae lashes out at Makoto because of her own failures at work. Does Makoto lash back at her big sister? No, instead Makoto realizes that her sister is dealing with a lot of pressure to find the Phantom Thieves, which at this point, includes her. Makoto still consoles her and gives Sae a confidence boost. To make matters worse, Makoto knows full well she’s causing issues for Sae by being a Phantom Thief, but she must continue her work saving hearts, and that is a priority. However, luckily the two find some common place when, at the end, they begin to work together in order to stop Tokyo’s fall.

So to conclude, Makoto is the sister that cares and that is a nice element of her character. When the team has to invade Sae’s heart to stop her from being corrupt, Makoto doesn’t rely on stealing her sister’s treasure to change her. Instead Makoto has a discussion that only a sister can have with a fellow sister and it makes Sae’s inner self realize the folly of her nature. This move mystifies the group but at the same time, they realize that only Makoto was able to accomplish such a feat given her bond with Sae being so strong. If you gain anything from Makoto’s nature towards Sae it’s that maybe you should treat your siblings well; You never know when they may need to enter your heart to stop your own demise.

5. Can love the Protagonist

Thankfully, if players want, they can romance Makoto and make her a possible girlfriend—which is our dream come true here at Honey’s Anime. Makoto really shows genuine compassion for the main character; This is shown even before their possible relationship. Makoto tells the protagonist of her feelings of inferiority in comparison to Sae and it’s up to the player to convince her through actions that show she is just as good if not better than her sister. We recommend this route because it allows the players to see a whole new side of Makoto not seen in the main story. Plus the fact that you can go on dates with Makoto is awesome, since we consider her one of the best girls of Persona 5—heck maybe the whole Persona franchise.


Final Thoughts

Makoto Niijima is one of those girls in any game that you’d honestly want to really date in real life. Not only does she have the brains and brawn but she’s cute, literally the trifecta of perfection in a video game girl. We honestly couldn’t imagine Persona 5 being the same without her in the mix and we’re glad Atlus made such a great character that will definitely be missed in future installments of the Persona franchise. Now we’ve gone into great detail about why Makoto is such an amazing female Phantom Thief but we’re sure we’ve missed some great details that could have been included. If you want to have your voice heard, you need to comment down below letting us know what you think. Do you agree with us or do you have some other opinions? We will make sure to read any comment and respond as soon as we can, but for now make sure to stick around for greater Honey Crush Wednesdays just like this one.

Makoto-Niijima-Persona-5-wallpaper-700x494 [Honey's Crush Wednesday] 5 Makoto Niijima Highlights - Persona 5

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Author: Aaron

Hey everyone I’m Aaron Curbelo or Blade as I’m called by my YouTube Subscribers. I’ve been an anime/manga fan since I was a young kid. In terms of anime I have watched nearly a thousand shows and have read hundreds of manga series. I love writing and honestly was so happy to join Honey’s Anime to get a shot to write articles for such a wonderful site. I’m a firm believer in respect in the anime community being the most important embodiment we should all have. We all love anime and we have varying opinions of series but we should respect one another for those differences! Life is too precious to spend it making needless arguments in a community that should be the shining example of loving an amazing medium. I hope as a writer for Honey’s Anime I can bring you folks some amazing articles to read and enjoy!

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