Sho Minazuki

Sho Minazuki is a character appearing in Persona 4: The Ultimax Ultra Suplex Hold.

Appearances

 * Persona 4: The Ultimax Ultra Suplex Hold: Playable Character

Design
Sho appears to be a young man with short bright red hair, grey eyes with rings in the middle similar to Aigis and Labrys, and a very pale complexion. He has an x-shaped scar across his face, which is close in design to Master Daidara or Takahisa Kandori. Strangely, the scars glow in the arcade ending. He wears the coat of the Yasogami High uniform around his waist, with a dark green collared shirt and yellow sneakers.

Personality
Not much is known about Sho, except that he has a vicious streak and appears to be very interested in fighting. A loner who dimisses companionship as he mocks Yu Narukami for his "useless" friendship with others, viewing people as weak to rely on such things. He also seems to want to rescue the captured members of the Shadow Operatives before Yu is able to do so, especially Aigis. He also has a habit of making puns, which are so terrible that even Teddie doesn't find them funny. His terrible puns are similar to Shuji Ikutsuki's habit.

However, the two Shos appearing in the game have different mannerism and personality, the Sho without a Persona is wild and cocky and is quite bratty, while the Sho with a Persona is more calm and sophisicated and is more manipulative.

The Sho that doesn't have a persona, is also quite jealous to those who possess a Persona, especially towards Yu and Aigis due to their unique ability that sets them apart from the rest of the cast.

It is later revealed the Sho with the Persona is actually the Malevolent Entity controlling the latter through the Plume of Dusk.

Persona 4 Ultimax Ultra Suplex Hold
Not much is known at this point, other than that he claims to be the "culprit" behind the Red Mist surrounding Inaba. In his default form he either doesn't have a Persona or refuses to use it, instead relying on his furious twin blade techniques, which are said to be capable of matching, and potentially exceeding, the strength of a Persona user. However, it is revealed that he has a Plume of Dusk inside him, the same material implanted in Labrys and Aigis that gives them life. Furthermore, the Sho with a Persona claims he is the same as Labrys, which was why he chose her to be his puppet.

Play Style
In his default form, Sho is an easy-to-learn solo attacker type, relying on his own physical strength to get in his opponent's face instead of using a Persona, making him a typical rushdown character. Because of this, he has no worries with having his Burst locked out because of a Persona Break. Much of his fighting style is quick and aggressive, with powerful wide-reaching attacks, and even a high-speed teleport known as Kousoku Idou (High Speed Movement). He also throws survival knives for long-range attacks; along with his Reversal/Furious Action, Izayoi (Sixteen Nights) as an anti-air move, and his Houzukizan (Crumbling Moon Slash) series moves being chain expansions, Sho is indeed a typical shoutouclone character. He is also one of the few characters who can chain two R/F-Actions in a row in one combo, as his Ura Izayoi (Reverse Sixteen Nights) can be chained off its grounded variation.

Understandably, his main weakness is his lack of a Persona, or rather the potential he could have with a Persona. He loses out on important setups that the other characters gain from having Personas, mainly a wake up pressure tool and something to lock his opponents down while he's advancing, as well as some needed zoning. His Getsumen Kudaki (Moon Surface Smasher) is one of the strongest Awakening Supers in the game, which can take off almost half of a health bar.

Instead of a Persona Attack and Rush, for his C and D, he does a stance almost similar to a counter/reversal which can completely dodge incoming attacks (and can also be done in midair). However, like most rushdown characters, Sho can easily be punished during some moves, so a good defense is strong against him if one can predict his moves, unless one masters him enough to mitigate his opponents' sense of yomi (reading).

In his second form he uses a Persona named Tsukuyomi, and now gains more range and zoning on par with the fellow Persona users, with new Persona based moves that amp his range up a bit; Sho even gains a new variety of moves, such as the Life Drain and Spirit Drain (Kyuuketsu/Sucking Blood and Kyuuma/Sucking Devil respectively in Japanese), along with his new Supers Rengoku no Tsubasa (Wings of Purgatory, which replaces his original Engetsu Bousou/Flaming Moon Rampage) and Mugen no Kiri (Fog of Fantasy; a counter/reversal Awakening Super). Though he loses his teleport, making his mobility game a bit weaker.

He also gains a new Mortal Blow/Instant Kill in the aftorementioned second form, named the Shinma Messatsu (God Demon Annihilation).

His attack names tend to have motifs towards moons, fangs and mist.

Etymology
'Minazuki' refers to the month of June and also to a kind of sweet with red beans (which fits his red theme) normally eaten around that same month.

It could also mean "all moons", a refrence to his attacks that have a moon theme or are related to the moon. Coincidentally, this is similar to Shuji Ikutsuki in terms of a moon-based surname, and their habit of puns.

Trivia

 * Ironically, despite the heavy moon theme in his attacks, name and Persona, Sho's Arcana is the Sun.
 * Both Sho's Solo version and Mitsuru Kirijo are the only two characters in the game to have charge-motion special moves.
 * The Solo version of Sho has a similar traits from the original Arc System Works games:
 * He has Order Sol's move traits in Guilty Gear XX Accent Core R, which both doesn't have an Instant Kill in their move list.
 * His playstyle input is similar in Blazblue series.