Persona 3 Portable: Shinjiro (Moon) social link choices & unlock guide

The Persona 3 Portable Shinjiro social link is a strange one, and it’s quite unique in Persona 3. Most S-Link storylines require you to be proactive to rank them up, hanging out with the character in question. Others are automatic. The Shinjiro S-Link is sort of between the two, setting it apart - it’s partially automatic, but you do need to be careful.

The reason for that required care is because it’s actually remarkably easy to lock yourself out of Shinjiro’s maximum rank if you don’t follow a handful of steps. This guide explains how to do that if you have this social link as the female protagonist. If you’re playing as the male MC, this storyline and link is instead replaced with the Nozomi social link.

Shinjiro Aragaki S-Link Guide - Moon

Persona 3 Portable provides players with a better chance to get to know the mysterious Shinjiro via a new S-Link that’s exclusive to the female protagonist. Given Shinjiro’s mysterious nature, it’s also perhaps fittingly a more straightforward social link to advance… until it isn’t. 

One key way in which this link is easier and more simplistic is that dialogue options don’t matter for the Shinjiro social link. While technically there are different answers you can give to Shinjiro which will grant additional social EXP, in reality his Social Link is semi-automatic. Regardless of the choices you pick, his link will level up every time you speak to him. 

So outside of unlocking his link in the first place and the final requirement to max it out, all you’ll need to know about his half of the Arcana is where to find him, and when he’s available. There is one small exception once you reach Rank 9, but we’ll explain how to deal with it below.

Shinjiro Aragaki can be found in the lounge for the Iwatodai Dormitory during nighttime on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

Don't forget we have help for every S-Link in the game on our Persona 3 Portable Social Link guide.

Rank 1 & Unlock:

You’ll be able to kick off the Shinjiro social link after the first week of September in-game. 

Shinjiro is found hanging out on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday nights in the Iwatodai Dormitory you call home; all you need to do is talk to him and initiate the social link.

Rank 1 > 9:

As previously mentioned, there are no choices at any stage of the Shinjiro Social Link that have a direct effect on its ability to level up.

Rank 1 through 9 will rank up one at a time, each time you hang out and spend time with Shinjiro. While some dialogue responses will prompt the same visual and audio cues that tell you that you’ve earned extra social EXP, it doesn’t matter: this S-Link always consists of a set number of hang-outs, with a rank up every time.

It is worth noting that you can pursue a romance with Shinjiro, but it won’t actually go anywhere. He will rebuff your advances regardless of what you continue to say to him.

However, there is a catch for the final rank:

Rank 9 > 10 & the Pocketwatch:

Once you hit Rank 9, you’ll be stuck until you retrieve Shinjiro’s Pocketwatch for him. Once you have the watch, you’ll be able to proceed to rank 10 and finish the social link. 

To get the Pocketwatch, go to Paulownia Police Station, which is in the Mall area. Here, talk to Kurosawa to retrieve the watch.

You must do this before October 4 or it’ll be locked out. Advancing to Rank 10 will slightly adjust the fate of Shinjiro in the overarching Persona 3 story, but not in any material way.