So many Social Links get bogged down with romance (especially the female Social Links) because it feels tacked on and pandering. I think Atlus made the right decision for Junpei not to be a love interest in P3P. I like that they really lean into the 'best friends' angle with him and the Female Protagonist; it's refreshing. Plus I think that having him be a romance option would fuck up his character arc and his relationship with Chidori. Junpei hits on you, sure, but as he matures, he begins to treat the women in his life better, especially after getting a kick to his pride when he throws a hissy fit about the Protagonist leading SEES missions and has to deal with his feelings of inadequacy and lack of purpose. He hits on you because out of habit, I think, not because he's actually interested in a relationship. It feels performative, an indication that he's still this punk kid who hits on girls because it's fun. Once he finds a girl he forges an actual romantic connection with, they drop that angle entirely, and as his social link progresses, he cares more and more about the Protagonist as a friend instead of a face, trying to protect her from guys like he used to be and forming a bond with her by opening up and trying to empathize with her past and present. It's nice when characters in a video game react and think about the player character's point of view, ask them questions instead of the other way around.
Speaking of P3P, I think you could easily tweak Ken's Social Link. A lot of people bring it up to hate on the Female Protagonist's story. You'd just have to make it a one-sided crush. There's nothing wrong with a kid having a crush on a teenager, and I think it fits really well into his arc about wanting to become an adult. He knows that his feelings won't be reciprocated, and that's really frustrating. I think he even comments in game on how their age gap is huge at this time in their lives. If he'd met the protagonist twenty years later, it wouldn't be an issue but he's stuck being a kid who's just starting to develop romantic attachments and can't express them or be taken seriously. A lot of people can relate to that, having a person they like who just won't ever see them that way. Ken's struggle to improve himself, to become an adult, could be partially fueled by that, though this altered narrative would have him either give up on that angle (instead replacing it with a generalized love for his teammates and new found family) or quietly ac
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