About

Rarepairs Month is an event dedicated to celebrating lesser-known and underrepresented pairings within the Persona series! Our goal is to shine a light on all kinds of different dynamics and ships throughout the franchise.All characters from Persona-related media are welcome! This includes characters from spinoff games (like Kanami from P4D), reading material such as manga/light novels (like Sousei from Detective Naoto), and anime-only characters (like Shin from Trinity Soul). Everyone from Persona 1 up to the most recent character in P5X's Chinese servers (currently Aran Hirano/Anri) will have a place in the event!

Bingo Cards

Social Medias

Mod and Organiser: hypogryffin

Schedule

Rarepair Month will be hosted in September 2026!

Theme Week 1 (Non-party Members): September 6-13
Theme Week 2 (Spinoff Characters): September 19-26

Bingo Cards

Bingo Completion Form: open September 15th

Bingo Cards

For the bingo event, participants will be given 5x5 (containing a free space) cards with a randomised list of character-focused prompts that participants can request and fill out throughout the month. Anyone who completed a bingo according to any accepted pattern can send in their submissions, and we'll compile a list of them (including all associated works) to close out the event!NSFW works for bingo submissions are allowed so long as they follow event guidelines. They will still be listed in the compilation of completed bingo cards, but will be marked as NSFW as necessary.Bingo submissions do not have to be used in tandem with any of the daily prompts in the event calendar! As long as the work created features the ship/character specified and is posted within an appropriate time-frame of the event, it will be accepted as filling out the space.Any form of fanwork will be accepted!

Accepted bingo patterns:

Single line, vertical or horizontal (5 spaces)
Single line, diagonal (5 spaces)
X-Shape (9 spaces)
O-Shape/Square/Outer Ring (16 spaces)
Four Corners (16 spaces)
Polka dots (12 or 13 spaces, alternating)
Black Out (25 spaces)

Fic has a minimum word count of 100 words (with no maximum).
On A03, post your work to PRPM Collection.
For Tumblr, Twitter, and Bluesky, you can tag the account directly or use the hashtag #PRPM2026. This includes art or fic promotion!
Submissions must be posted between August 29th and October 11th (before the submissiom form closes) to be valid.
Submission form will become available September 15th and have a deadline of October 11th! You can submit a completed bingo before the 11th, but you can only submit your card one time, so take your time filling it out if you plan on completing multiple lines/patterns, since it can't be changed after you submit.
Pairings on the bingo card marked with an " / " can be interpreted as either romantic or platonic, but if they are marked with an " & ", they can only be a platonic dynamic (used in the cases of romantically-ineligible ships)
You may combine two single character prompts to create a pairing, so long as the ship still adheres to the event's guidelines. If you combine spaces of pairings to create for a trio, it must be romantic as per our rules on polyships. You may combine two pairings that include one of the same character (“A/B” and “B/C” can combine to become “A/B/C”), or combine a single character with a pairing (“A” and “B/C” can become “A/B/C”).
Please do not combine any more than two spaces for one creation!
To fill out the free space, you can create for any pairing of your choosing, but it cannot be combined with or used to fill any of the other spaces on the card; it must be standalone/a separate fic/piece.
You may share your bingo card freely. Please do not edit or replace any spaces.

Contact [email protected] for questions/concerns.

Rules

Ineligible ships

All romantic pairings between an adult and a minor are strictly off-limits. To that effect, romantic pairings between Ken Amada and any of the other members of SEES are also prohibited.
Incestuous pairings are also disallowed. Yosuke Hanamura & Teddie and Joker & Futaba Sakura will also be considered as this category for the sake of the event at this time, and as such are also off-limits.
No romantic pairings using animal characters like Koromaru, Morgana, or Lufel.

We ask that people refrain from franschise-crossover ships, OCxcan0n pairings, or yumeshipping when participating in the event.

Ships that will not be promoted by the event (regardless of a romantic or platonic nature) include;

P1
     - Protagonist x Maki Sonomura
     - Protagonist x Eriko Kirishima
P2
     - Tatsuya Suou x Jun Kurosu
P3
     - Either protagonist x any members of SEES
     - Either protagonist x Ryoji Mochizuki
     - Yukari Takeba x Mitsuru Kirijo
     - Akihiko Sanada x Shinjiro Aragaki
     - Junpei Iori x Chidori Yoshino
P4
     - Yu Narukami x any Investigation Team member
     - Yukiko Amagi x Chie Satonaka
     - Kanji Tatsumi x Naoto Shirogane
     - Rise Kujikawa x Naoto Shirogane
P5
     - Joker x the Phantom Thieves
     - Joker x Goro Akechi
     - Joker x Sumire Yoshizawa
     - Ryuji Sakamoto x Ann Takamaki
     - Ann Takamaki x Shiho Suzui
     - Ann Takamaki x Makoto Niijima
     - Yusuke Kitagawa x Futaba Sakura
     - Makoto Niijima x Haru Okumura
     - Sumire Yoshizawa x Futaba Sakura

Polyamorous ships will be allowed! For anything containing three or more characters, we will be accepting/promoting only romantic works.

Posting

Fic has a minimum word count of 100 words (with no maximum).
On A03, post your work to PRPM Collection.
For Tumblr, Twitter, and Bluesky, you can tag the account directly or use the hashtag #PRPM2026. This includes art or fic promotion!

Bingo

All of the above posting guidelines must be adhered to in order to be a valid bingo submission.
Submissions must be posted between August 29th and October 11th (before the submissiom form closes) to be valid.
Submission form will become available September 15th and have a deadline of October 11th! You can submit a completed bingo before the 11th, but you can only submit your card one time, so take your time filling it out if you plan on completing multiple lines/patterns, since it can't be changed after you submit.
Pairings on the bingo card marked with an " / " can be interpreted as either romantic or platonic, but if they are marked with an " & ", they can only be a platonic dynamic (used in the cases of romantically-ineligible ships)
You may combine two single character prompts to create a pairing, so long as the ship still adheres to the event's guidelines. If you combine spaces of pairings to create for a trio, it must be romantic as per our rules on polyships. You may combine two pairings that include one of the same character (“A/B” and “B/C” can combine to become “A/B/C”), or combine a single character with a pairing (“A” and “B/C” can become “A/B/C”).
Please do not combine any more than two spaces for one creation!
To fill out the free space, you can create for any pairing of your choosing, but it cannot be combined with or used to fill any of the other spaces on the card; it must be standalone/a separate fic/piece.
You may share your bingo card freely. Please do not edit or replace any spaces.

On NSFW work

NSFW content is fine as long as it is tagged appropriately! However, in the interest in keeping the account (and event) accessible for all ages, no submissions containing adult content or suggestive scenes will be promoted/interacted with the account.
We ask that works remain strictly consensual and that anything explicit be limited to adult characters! Any mention/depictions of sexuality with regards to characters under 18 should generally adhere to PG-13 rating guidelines.

On gore

As with NSFW works, gore will not be promoted on any official accounts. We ask that any creations including blood and injury be tagged appropriately so that it can be filtered by those who do not wish to engage with it.

You can ask us anything you'd like here! All answers will be compiled and accessible here.

Q: I wonder what would be considered a rare pair? I know there are some that are completely obvious but I also feel like it can be a bit confusing in terms of their popularity. Would you go by fanfiction count, or some other thing?
I'm so excited for rarepair month and glad this is happening :D

A: It's hard to put exact numbers on the definition of a rarepair, especially with the varied audience between different entries in the franchise, so for the most part we will be asking each participant to use their own judgement to decide for themselves.There are many pairings that have an established following large enough to make it unclear if it qualifies that will still be new to many other people! If there's a ship you truly feel is underappreciated and lacks representation in the fandom, we encourage you to make something for them in this event.But as a general rule of thumb, if a ship includes a side character or a character from a spinoff material, or has been tagged in less than 100 fics on A03, it's a safe bet :)

Q: Would submissions with background or implied ships that aren't rarepairs be allowed?? (not as the main focus of the work)

A: Other pairings can be included so long as the rarepair is the focal point of the work!

Q: If I post a work on ao3, how do I properly showcase that and record it? Do I need to make a tumblr post just containing the fic? Or if i make one tumblr post that links to the entire series of fics will that count? I'm new to ficwriting and so I haven't actually done something like this before

A: There will be an in-site works collection available you can add your fic to— that's the only rule for a work to be counted on Ao3! If you want to make a promotional post on another site, feel free to, and we'll promote those we see, but it's not a necessary step.If you're participating in bingo, you can create a collection yourself of applicable works, compile them on a masterpost somewhere on your own account, or submit them to us with individual links and have us catalogue them for you. As long as we have a working link to every fic, it's up to you!

Q: Is there any intention of making a group server (such as on Discord) for participants to communicate with each other throughout the creative process? I understand if there isn't due to moderation responsibilities being often difficult and time-consuming, but it's definitely something I'd be interested in joining if it was created!

A: While we don't have plans to do so this year due to mod/time constraits, that's a wonderful idea we'll look forward to trying to implement next year!

Q: Are collabs with others allowed with the bingo card?

A: Collaborative works are fine, so long as every participant is clearly credited!
For written work, they should be labelled as co-authors on Ao3. If it's a multimedia collab, such in the case of writing & spot illustrations, the artist should have at least a direct link to one of their socials if there is no otherwise credit. If both collaborators are drawing, then the piece should be posted on only one account, and with the other artist tagged directly in the original post. (In the case of something like an art trade, it will only be considered each artist filling out their own bingo card, even if it was intended as a collaboration by the artists - this means no "trading" spaces!)
For any of these cases, when filling out the completion form, please make it clear that it was a collaborative work so that your collaborator may also be credited in the bingo collection at the end of the event.
This steps are to ensure that the entry is not mistakenly flagged as a non-original work, which could disqualify your entry.Collaborations between boards (in the case of both collaborators being bingo participants) can mix spaces in the cases of single characters (i.e. Character A from Board 1 and Character B from Board 2 to make ship A/B) or in the case of two spaces that share at least one character (Ship A/B from Board 1 and A/C from Board 2 to make A/B/C). However, please do not combine single characters from one board with a pairing on another. Similarly, collaborative works may not combine multiple spaces on a single board, since only two spaces maximum can be filled out by a single work!

Q: Would ships between Ken Amada and members of the Phantom Thieves be allowed (since they're canonically about the same age), I'm a big fan of Joker/Ken but I don't wanna break the rules by mistake

A: Ships between Ken and the Phantom Thieves are perfectly fine! The reason we aren't allowing Ken/SEES ships is due to the large gap between his and the others' developmental maturity levels. So long as the pairing contains comparable status in that regard, create away!

Q: Hello! I am curious. Regarding P2, is Tatsuya x Maya allowed in the event?

A: While Tatsuya is 18 during the events of P2, since he is still a high school student he's considered a minor for the event! This will be true for any other 3rd year students in the series, even if they do turn 18 in the story.

Q: Would Morgana/Lufel be allowed or are animal characters just off limits for romance entirely?

A: Morgana/Lufel is fine, but it would be the only romantic pairing included either of them accepted!

Q: Why is Teddie fine but Morgana and Lufel aren't? They're all anthro furries (at least in the metaverse and they can still speak elsewhere so)
Not necessarily disputing i'm just confused about why

A: It's based off their appearances in the real world- outside of the Metaverse, Morgana and Lufel act more or less like pets/normal animals, and people unaware of the Metaverse can't hear them speak. Teddie is included because he is able to pass as human in a way they can't.

Q: Will Erina from Tactica be counted as a teenager or an adult for the purposes of this event? There's arguments for seeing her as either (basically she's a factive (yes i'm using plural terms Toshiro is plural coded) Toshiro developed of Eri as he saw her as a teenager specifically, and she still looks and acts like a teenager, but the "real" Eri and Toshiro are both adults)

A: Erina's exact age is unclear, but because the Eri that Erina is based off of was school-aged (as you mentioned) and the dialogue where she's grouped in with the Phantom Thieves as "kids"/young, she'll be counted as the same age range as them at this time. This means romantic ships between her and the Phantom Thieves will be accepted :)

Q: What is the stance on the Velvet Room attendants in terms of shipping/age group status? Genuine question, as I’m kinda new to the games and fandom. Obvs Lavenza is very much a Kid and I assume(?) Margaret is an adult? I’m not 100% sure though, and idk about Elizabeth or Theodore or Marie, so just wanted to check.

A: Since Velvet Room attendants don't have confirmed ages or apppear to age/develop on the same timeline as humans, in the cases of Margaret, Theodore, and Elizabeth, we'll be accepting them with both the age ranges for adults and the main/high-schooler cast.
Since Marie is assumed by characters in-game to be about school age (or otherwise looks to be in the same age range as the Investigation Team), for her we ask she only be shipped with high-schoolers/young adults.

Q: The rules say adult x minor ships are a no-go unless aged-up; does that apply to Wonder x Ayaka/Yaoling/Runa/etc. too?

A: Yes! Our cutoff is generally around the age 18. Since Ayaka, Yaoling, and Runa (as well as Leon, though he wasn't mentioned) are all university students, please refrain from any romantic pairings between them and the high-school cast.

Q: Since it’s not stated in the rules, does that mean that Wonder ships with his party members are considered rare? Like Wonder x Shun for example.

A: There are no specific/individual limits on P5X ships! Any Wonder x party members will be accepted.

Q: Are poly ships allowed?

A: Definitely! Go wild!

Q: Since polyships are allowed, would a polyship between two party members and their respective protagonist be allowed? Like for example Ryuji x Goro x Joker?

A: Since romantic pairings between more than two people are generally a lot less common within the fandom, as long as it doesn't break any other rules (like including adult/minor pairings), we don't plan on restricting any specific polyships for the event.

Q: I've been curious for a while but all the ships I see under the "will not be promoted" section are monogamous ships. Does this mean poly pairs are considered rarepairs by default? How does it work for poly pairings like Royal Trio and Shujin Trio which are more popular, or Polythieves for example? Will they also be promoted? Or are they not consider rare enough? How about poly pairs where all the mono pairs within it are considered popular (ie: p4 protag x Naoto x Kanji) according to the guidelines? I hope I didn't come off as rude

A: We are considering poly ships as rarepairs by default, yes! That includes even the more popular ones, or for ships where each of the separate dynamics are considered unfit for the event (like SoKanNao, from your example, or AkiShinjiHam)— so long as the focus of the work is on the full dynamic of the polyship rather than any given pairing within.For large pairings like Polythieves that span an entire game's party, we would ask for it to remain a background ship with most of the focus being on smaller rarepairs within the full ship dynamic, in order to ensure the work remains consistent with the event theme.

Q: Is polythieves (All Phantom Thieves in a polyamorous relationship, Sophia and Zenkichi excluded) allowed? And, how are we supposed to do the bingo? Like, do a straight line or overall just complete a line, no matter the direction? I'm sorry for the bother, and thank you for the answer.

A: For the first question; polythieves is accepted as a background/establishing ship, but for relationships with more than 4 people we ask for the focus of the piece to still be on a specific pair or trio dynamic.
That is to say, if there is a fic written with a Polythieves setting, it would still have to be concerned mainly with the dynamic between "Haru and Akechi" or "Yusuke and Makoto" within such a relationship to be promoted, and would be considered as an "AkeHaru" or a "YusuMako" fic.For the second question; a line is fine, but so long as you complete any of the accepted patterns, it will still count as a bingo! We have the patterns listed in the Carrd, but we'll include the visual guide with this question's posted answer for clarity :)

Q: Hey, under the rules, it's stated that only romantic poly pairs will be promoted. could I ask how this would work if I, say, view a pair within the poly ship as fwb / queerplatonic? for example, if I ship pegoryugoro but I depict pegoryu as a qpr but see ryugoro and shuake as romantic-leaning, will it be counted? How about pairings where romantic and platonic lines are blurred but it's not explicitly either or (asking for both mono and poly ships)

A: For the sake of simplicity for the event, queerplatonic or "casual" relationships such as FWB or general "situationships" will be counted as close enough to romantic to count - the romantic ships rule for poly ships is just to differentiate between normal friendship dynamics which are much more commonly explored in fanwork already for group pairings, so as long as the relationship being explored "exceeds" or is distinguished from a normal platonic friendship, it will qualify!

Q: This is a question on the NSFW portion, mainly out of personal concern. When you say NSFW is allowed, is it only between adults?
Sorry if this question is a bit dumb, I just got worried since the part of the carrd talking about NSFW didn't specify.
I don't mind NSFW things when it comes to adult characters, but it shouldn't be done with minors no matter the reason.

A: For NSFW work, we ask that participants stick to adult characters and pairings! In cases like a future fic or an AU where characters that are minors in canon are at an adult age (for example an AU where they're in university), explicit work will also be allowed.For pairings set in canon timeframe where the characters are minors, we ask that works remain generally within the realm of PG13— suggestive scenes/mentions of sexual activity are fine but depictions should be kept brief, and we ask that you please avoid anything explicit or detailed!The general rules for the carrd will also be updated to avoid any more confusion.

Q: Are headcanons allowed to be implemented in whatever art we make of characters? E.g. Giving a character outgrown roots if you think their hair is dyed, giving them freckles, gender headcanons that differ from the character’s canon gender, etc. And if they are allowed, what’s the limit to them? Also, can we genderbend the ships we draw?

A: Headcanons are completely fair game! This includes gender headcanons or genderbending!

Q: For the Non-Party Member week, does at least one person in the ship need to be a non-party member, or everyone in said ship needs to be a non-party member?

A: Just one at minimum!

Q: A clarifying question for non-party members week, would characters from Persona 5 X like Tomoko, Leo, Miyu, Minami, etc. count for that? Since they're not story party members, but they're technically playable members?

A: For P5X, we'll only consider the Phantom Thieves of Desire as "party members". Any Phantom Idol/Kaidol would be applicable for non-party member week!

Q: I have a couple questions about your rarepair event regarding what ships are or aren’t allowed.1. Banning Shutaba and Yosuteddie is a little weird and I say that as someone who always writes them as siblings in every fic that involves them. Regardless of what we personally headcanon them as, it’s still just a headcanon, and thus I don’t think it being a popular or personal headcanon should ban them from being used in the event. That would be like running a Persona queer event and insisting that Naoto must always be written as transmasc and no other interpretations of their gender are allowed. It’s a Persona fandom event, you’re gonna get some weird interpretations.2. Some protagonist X party ships are popular, don’t get me wrong, but ALL protagonist X Party ships are banned? Yeah like Yu X Teddie or Yu X Kanji have any prominence in the fandom whatsoever. Minato X Junpei and Minato X Shinjiro, classic ships. Couldn’t imagine the fandom without them. Joker… okay you got me there all of his party member ships are decently popular other than like, Morgana, but that’s different for reason I would not like to explain.Overall the NSFW rules being strictly the adult characters, gore ban, and Ken clause all make a relative amount of sense, but those two rules in particular I think need to be looked at more carefully when defining which rarepairs are actually rare and which ones are problematic.

A: Both rules causing confusion were made for the sake of simplicity considering the size and scope of the event, and will be followed through with for this first year, but will be open to be changed if this event is hosted again! As of right now, the "mod team" is just one person with extremely limited experience of hosting events, especially to the scale of something both a month long and intended to span the entire series. This is the primary reason why we're not including modern protag x party ships this year.Joker x Futaba is specifically being disallowed from the event at current in response to some comments we received in the interest check that referred to them as incestuous in a way that celebrated such a dynamic. While we agree that the interpretation is simply a headcanon and shouldn't be completely disallowed in the future of this event, for the sake of the first year it's being hosted we'd rather detach ourselves completely from that kind of interaction while it's so small. Yosuke & Teddie was something we included in the addendum to the rule as a precautionary measure due to both popular headcanon and the canonical "caretaker" role Yosuke is shown at points to perform for Teddie within the game.As much as we'd prefer not to completely ban these dynamics forever if there's an audience/interest in them by their own merit, for this year at minimum we ask participants to hold off until we feel more comfortable with the necessary aspects of moderating their inclusion. Apologies for any frustration or disappointment this rule may cause in the interim.

Q: I know P3 Protag x SEES member isn't allowed, but will fem protag x male protag be allowed?

A: We'll be accepting any protag x protag ships, including Kitahamu!

Q: Is there a minimum/maximum of words for fics?

A: Minimum word count is 100, with no upper limit!

Q: Why do some spaces in the bingo card only [have] a single character instead of a pairing? How do we fill out spaces that only has a single character?

A: Single character spaces are filled by choosing your own rarepair including the character provided. For example, a space reading "Haru Okumura" could be filled out by creating something for the ship Haru x Akechi, or Haru x Ann, or Haru x Yusuke, and so on and so forth.