Through my anime obsession in high school, I discovered Persona 3 and read a synopsis somewhere that grabbed me. Something about a dark protagonist forming bonds in school to boost their supernatural powers. I busted out the old ps2 my cousins had gifted me years prior that I'd never used and researched how to set it up, then begged my mom to buy me a copy of the game. The setting and atmosphere immediately grabbed me. An idyllic high school life. The imagery of wind turbines, a glistening city skyline and ocean, and reflective glass buildings. Running through the halls and going to club activities. Hanging out with friends in the city and deepening my "social links" with them, an actual mechanic of the game. Living out literally every day of the year. All accompanied by majestic tracks like "want to be close" and "when the moon reaches for the stars". It filled my imagination with visions of this idyllic, glistening school life that warmed my heart. I fully projected onto the blank slate protagonist of this anime game. I'd go through my shitty, lonely, crushing, boring real school life and listen to the game ost while walking through the halls and larping as the protagonist, then play the game with all my free time after school. I clocked 130 hours on Persona 3 FES, albeit lots of that was probably the gay ass fusion system that I never got the hang of. The Japanese sure know how to do escapism.
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