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 circling his pupils 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 scar glows in the arcade ending. He wears the coat of the Yasogami High uniform around his waist, with a dark green collared shirt and a yellow armband with a black star on his left arm and yellow sneakers.

His "TV world glasses" are shown to be a pair of shades.

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 dismisses 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 reach the top of Tartarus before the other characters are able to do so, even throwing a tantrum when they do so. Junpei Iori even calls him a brat due to his tantrums. Sho is described as a misanthrope, loathing humanity and feels it needs to "change" or face destruction. He questions Teddie on why he would ever desire to be human. Sho also has a habit of making puns, which are so terrible that not even Teddie nor Yukiko Amagi find them funny. His terrible puns are similar to Shuji Ikutsuki's habit.

However, the two Shos appearing in the game possess radically different temperaments. Sho without his Persona awakened is: puerile, flippant, hot-headed, and is described as "bratty". On top of this, Sho also harbors an intense jealousy towards Persona users. Yu and Aigis are the objects of his chagrin more so due to their unique ability that sets them apart from the rest of the cast. Sho, the other personality suffused through the Plume of Dusk, on the other hand, is composed, methodical, callous, and manipulative. And unlike the former, is capable of summoning a Persona.

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. In Labrys' arcade mode, Sho's dual personality generated from the Plume of Dusk announces himself as Sho Minazuki (ミナヅキ ショウ), calling her a "puppet" and confessing he is the one responsible for hijacking her and allowing her to "run amok" during the events of the P-1 Grand Prix. Furthermore, Sho claims he is the same as Labrys, which was why he chose her to be his puppet.

Solo Form
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 (which functions as a charge-motion command special); 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 shotoclone 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 much-needed zoning. In addition to his lack of a Persona, he has low health. 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 if both hits connect.

Instead of a Persona Attack and Rush, for his D, he does a stance almost similar to a counter/reversal which can completely dodge incoming attacks (and can also be done in midair to pause his momentum). Also unlike the other characters, Sho uses three attack buttons instead of two (A, B and C instead of A and B). 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).

Persona Form
In his second form he uses a Persona named Tsukiyomi, 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) being able to absorb his opponents' HP and SP respectively, along with his new Supers Rengoku no Tsubasa (Wings of Purgatory, which replaces his original Engetsu Bousou/Blazing Moon Rampage) and Mugen no Kiri (Fog of Fantasy; a counter/reversal Awakening Super); this super even enables him to blind the screen in darkness should it connect normally outside a killing blow before the darkness shatters, instilling mindgames and fear into his opponents.

Though he loses his teleport in trade for a slower one named after his Persona's namesake, altering his mobility game. Overall, along with alterated activation frames for his Surivival Knife move, now a traditional-circle motion projectile, as well as having the commands of his Houzukizan moves changed, Sho in this form plays more traditionally compared to his other form.

He also gains a new Mortal Blow/Instant Kill in the aforementioned second form, named the Shinma Messatsu (God Devil 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 reference to his attacks that have a moon theme or are related to the moon. This is similar to Ikutsuki in terms of a moon-based surname, and their habit of puns; who Sho is said to be the "insurance" of.

Trivia

 * Ironically, despite the heavy moon theme in his attacks, name and Persona, Sho's Arcana is the Sun.
 * Sho's Solo version, Kanji Tatsumi, and Mitsuru Kirijo are the only three 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 Slash, in which both don't have an Instant Kill in their default move list (though Order-Sol via a low health requirement can perform an Instant Kill from one of his Overdrives).
 * His playstyle input is similar to that of a BlazBlue character, in that he relies on his own strength and despite not having a Persona, he is able to burst regardless. He also has a special ability to dodge attacks, similar to that of a Drive move from BlazBlue as well, but his main touch is that he uses a three-basic attack button system instead of two.
 * Regarding developer Daisuke Ishiwatari's past affiliation with company SNK, Sho's dodging commands are similar to the King of Fighters series sidestep commands (with the Persona fighters having a universal dodging mechanic similar to the rolling mechanic commonly seen in SNK games).
 * Sho with Persona's Instant Kill is a mixed up between these Blazblue characters' move traits:
 * Hazama's Hungry Darkness of 1000 Souls (Senkon Meiraku/Thousand Souls Dark Branding): first hit.
 * Yuuki Terumi's Unholy Wrath of the Basilisk (Kamigaeri: Orochizantou Reppuuga/Return of the Gods: Great Serpent Beheading Violent Sealing Hunger) barrages with Ragna's Black Beast-like color effects in parabolic way.
 * Hakumen's Kokuujin (Empty Air Form) Astral Heat silhouette on last hit.