#THE SHIT HE ENDURED WITH SAKAMOTO | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

vicsep7250 · 3 years

Note

hello i would like to share your sentiments in that atlus did a piss poor job keeping up anns and ryujis character development as the game went on. It Makes Me So Angry.

I thought I turned Anons off, no offense strangah.

Thank you strangah, also excuse me as I take this as an opportunity to share grievances with P5 and ATLUS.

Also, gunna hafta put this in a long post on pc...

OKAY

So, the problem ATLUS has is keeping up with new and incredible ideas and sticking with them. They also have a problem with sticking to tried and true methods they've used before in other works, so they usual stick with what they've done befor and just go "if it a'in't broke" with everything. Also they're cowards by lampshading it all as "we don't think/feel we have to change/add anything", which is an oxymoron but I digress.

In the case of Ann,

Takamaki is immediately shown to be in a shady/skeevy deal that she doesn't want to be a part of, or at the very least feels bad vibes from a supposed teacher to the school you're headed to. That's literally the first moment you see/have with her. Eventually soon after you're shown moments of her with her bff, Suzui Shiho to the one percent that forgot her, and immediately you're shown that they very much care for one another. The following cutscenes then go into her character and her situation, how she cares so much for Suzui, well being, and her future, to the point that she would sacrifice her own safety and well being for her best friend.

Everything with Kamoshida, the two girls, and the first Palace escalates so rapidly fast ( which is an incredibly bold and honestly well written up to the end ) and it shows Ann's true ideals and beliefs. How she'll march on forward in her life against the scum of the world just like Kamoshida, to the point where her own brutal ideology of "fates worse than death" come up with her near murder of Kamoshida's Shadow and her little speech during said bastard's public confession/demand for death.

Then it just all loses steam over the course of the game, and you can immediately tell that it was never planned for Ann to have her moment or character arc from literally minutes ago. Instead she immediately falls into the same troupe of "eye candy" - again, minutes after the first Palace - and is often focused upon with the sole joke or idea of sex appeal. That is literally her character through most cutscenes and stroybeats in the main story.

In the case with Ryuji,

It was changing from their norm of having the "Best Friend" role be changed from the cliches "pervy punching bag" and "haha blonde jerk dumb and hit hard". The Magicians of the last two games followed this archetype to a near T in their own ways, 3 especially so with Iori and 4 with Hanamura's clear heterosexuality ( I'm not saying that they aren't good characters or can be good characters, ATLUS just did a bad job doing so ), and more often than not it's done in the worse of ways.

Sakamoto was supposed to break the norm in those regards, as you can clearly see with his interactions with Kamoshida and everything with the first Palace of the game. But they character is lost when you have scenes and moments where this decent human being is tossed aside and replaced with "MAn We'd bE SmAShiNG MaD PUSs iF WE sAId wE'RE tHe PT" and the cliche horndog that gets smacked for comedy. HELL, he doesn't even need to be written as a perv for the writers to shit on him, look at the Ark and that horrible ending!

But nah, is fuckin' fine for the pervy jock to be concussed and knocked unconscious by his comrades for surviving an explosion cuz that's all he's ever been the entire game ye??? He's not some actually good kid who would risk his own life to save his friends ( Ann, even it was years apart ) and strangers ( the player ) and even people who've kinda threatened him ( Niijima, ya know, the blackmail!? ). He's not a kid that's survived and endured abusive and toxic relationships from people he's supposed to trust in, and grown to be a better person despite it all!!!

Nah, of course not. Besides, you wouldn't remember or acknowledge it unless you cared about him. Which ya don't, cuz ATLUS dropped the ball on him and fell into what they knew "best".

So yeah, those are my takes on why ATLUS sucks and their entire should stop being cowards nd be replace with better staff because of the potential and characters they threw away.

#I would like you to share...#thanks for the ask!#thanks strangah!#v rants #v has some words to say #v has some words #also ye im changing my tags and brand #i read this as #anyways you have my take and answer

0 notes

taintedkibou · 7 years

Text

Couldn’t Endure - part three

[part one] [part two]

If the situation permitted it, Yusuke would bring up eating sekihan every time their ragtag group got together. After two weeks, everyone just assumed he really wanted the adzuki beans and sticky rice, so they finally decided to prepare some. What’s more, Sojiro agreed to let them have their celebration at his house. “You’ve done so much for Futaba,” he told them, meeting everyone’s eye as they stood around the café. “You’re still the weirdest bunch of kids I’ve ever met, though, so please don’t burn down my house.” “I’ll make sure of it,” Futaba declared, her eyes bright with excitement and a happiness Sojiro had never seen before. “I live there, too, remember?” she giggled.

The real reason Yusuke pushed so desperately for this particular celebration was because he’d observed his friends’ relationship blossom from something casual to something just shy of being disgustingly intimate. Neither were aware of the changes—if Akira was, he hid it well.

Ryuji now sat closer to the transfer student during meetings in the attic residence, and just about everywhere else. Akira had relinquished driving the bus-transformed Mona to Makoto, which meant he claimed the backseat for himself and Ryuji. Yusuke was an unfortunate third wheel, but had already accepted that as his fate. Futaba would occasionally engage him in conversation which more than often became heated debates that had Mona threatening to toss them out in Mementos.

When it came to battling Shadows, Joker seemed to have acquired some of Skull’s reckless tendencies. Anytime the heavy hitter received damage, he’d fly into a calm rage, tormenting Shadows in ways that couldn’t be considered “negotiating”, until they caved and gave up all their items and money. Yusuke didn’t mind the sudden influx of stipend and casually turned a blind eye to the methods in which he received it. It was for the greater good. Futaba also began reporting to him that there were more trips to the ramen shop in Ogikubo, that ended with the duo walking it off in Inokashira Park. Yusuke was no expert in the ways of human love, but that sounded very much like a “date” to him. No one dared broach the subject with Ryuji, knowing full well he would pull away from them all with accusations and denial.

The meal was almost at completion and, despite Yusuke wishing the task of taste testing had been asked of him, of course Ryuji was the closest to Akira. Not realizing how engrossed Ryuji was in his mobile game, Akira wordlessly tapped the blond on his shoulder, holding out a spoonful of rice. Ryuji looked away for one second, accepted the spoonful, then went back to his game as he chewed it thoughtfully. Akira had expected him to take the spoon, which still dangled from his fingertips. Feeling adventurous, he decided to test his luck. Everyone sat in silence as he scooped up another spoonful; Futaba had her finger hovering over the shutter button of her camera app. Ryuji accepted it again without refusal and a silent picture was taken. After a few chews, the blond realized something was amiss. Everyone froze, trying not to draw attention to themselves. Ryuji glared at Akira, who stared back, the epitome of innocence. “Why are you feeding me? No… You’re the one that needs to be eating more. You almost passed out on the treadmill the other day. It was a good thing I showed up when I did!” It was. Ryuji had dragged him from the treadmill and gave him hands on demonstrations on how to use various other machines. “Dude. Stop it, whatever you’re thinking. You look creepy.” Instead of going back to his game, Ryuji faced the remainder of the group, his eyebrows rising. “Oh. Did you guys eat without me?” He looked back to Akira. “Is that why?” Ann looked on the verge of angry tears, and Makoto was almost ready to throw in the towel. Futaba let her head fall onto the counter with an exaggerated groan, “Inari…” “I agree,” Yusuke sighed, long fingers massaging his temples. The unspoken agreement was that Ryuji had proven himself to be even less aware of the situation than Yusuke, which was saying a lot.

Ryuji shrugged them off and returned to his mobile game. The long-awaited sekihan was finally served after another several minutes of cooking. Ryuji grinned, pocketing his phone, and dove into the hot meal. It was worth the wait.

He wasn’t as dense as everyone believed. Ryuji knew what Akira was doing and indulged him. It was the only way they could have this thing without giving it a name. His grin widened, almost manic as he realized, in his own way, he was getting back at everyone for literally throwing him at Akira that night. So caught up in his glee, Ryuji shoveled one too many spoonfuls into his mouth and was soon pounding at his chest as all the food became lodged in his throat. Different cups were thrust at him from different directions and he grabbed the nearest, hoping to wash away the obstruction. Two cups later, he could feel it diminishing and breathing was starting to come easier. Over the sounds of his wheezing, Akira calmly asked, “Do you need CPR?” “Stop joking around!” Ryuji threw the empty plastic cup at his head. It bounced off the dark curls harmlessly. Yusuke brushed his bangs aside as he voiced his thoughts on the situation, “Considering that he was choking and hadn’t stopped breathing yet, I’d say the Heimlich would’ve been the better solution.” “Stop helping!” Another cup bounced off Yusuke’s head, the taller teen emitting a soft and surprised “oh”. “Stop trying to find ways to die when we’re supposed to be celebrating!” Ann cut in, tossing her own cup into the fray. Ryuji batted it away. The look in his eyes spoke of a war, but Makoto clearing her throat made everyone remain seated. “Ryuji, I’m glad you’re okay now, but I believe it’s time for us to finish eating,” the Student Council President calmly stated. “After that, we should clean up our mess and give our thanks to Sojiro by delivering him a plate.” Everyone else returned to their meal while Akira collected the plastic cups and headed back into the kitchen to refill them. Futaba joined him “It’s my house,” she sighed, hands tucked behind her back, eyes focused on the juice being poured from the bottle. “I should be the host.” Akira’s response was to lightly tousle her hair. Futaba shook her head to straighten the strands. “Why are you hiding it?” she asked without hesitation. “There’s nothing to hide. I’m just respecting his unspoken wishes.” Akira smiled as he handed her a cup. “I like what we have.” Futaba grinned as she accepted the cup. Akira picked up another and they had a small toast.

Akira, Futaba, and Yusuke became a little closer after the celebratory meal. They shared their thoughts on what would be the best way for Akira to continue winning Ryuji over, devising more elaborate dates. Only for Ryuji to demolish all their effort by taking the first step.

The next time they had a few days off from school, Ryuji extended an invitation to watch a movie, which Akira gladly accepted. Halfway through the film, Ryuji changed his position, dropping his crossed leg and setting his left hand down on his seat. Morgana glanced away from the screen and up at Akira’s chin when the teen uncrossed his arms. Shaking his head, he returned his attention to the big screen. In the darkened auditorium, Akira’s fingers covered Ryuji’s. The blond sat upright, his other arm no longer propped on the arm rest, but didn’t pull away. Instead, Ryuji flipped his hand so Akira’s fingers could easily slot together with his. The brunet smiled and gave a playful squeeze. Ryuji squeezed back in warning. Pay attention. Akira did.

They were in no way trying to keep secrets from the other two members of their small group. Futaba, of course, pointed out that Makoto probably already knew and was just keeping silent because she understood delicacy was a necessity.

Ann knew.

Ryuji stared at the keychain in his hands, caught after it was thrown at and ricocheted off his head. His eyes widened after taking in the mascot design. He looked from Ann, to the keychain, then back again, just in time to see her roll her eyes.

Ann took a seat beside Ryuji on the low, wooden fence of Inokashira Park. She stretched her legs out, crossing them at the ankles. "You're my friend. You know that, right?"

"I would hope so," Ryuji muttered, staring into the painted eyes of the acrylic dolphin from the aquarium. “Who’d you force to go with you?”

"I went with Yusuke."

Ryuji hooked his finger through the metal loop, flicking the souvenir up into the palm of his hand. He could only imagine the stir they caused; they were both gorgeous. He was plain and vulgar.

"Even though you weren't there, we ended up talking about you," Ann continued, idly tossing one pigtail over her shoulder. "I made a joke about something I knew you’d like and, in his eccentric way, he basically told me to lay off. It was then that I realized I'd been left out. Ryuji. I've known you the longest. We weren't best friends back then, but I'd like to think we're good friends now. How did Yusuke get in where I couldn't?"

"Because I don't need your bullshit right now," Ryuji mumbled, fingers clenching around the plastic charm as he looked away from Ann.

Ann drew her legs in so she could lean forward and glare at the other blond. "Ryuji," she snapped. " I knew your circumstances and you knew mine. We suffered under the same man. Unfortunately for us, we were both probably too scared and stubborn to help the other out, so things just spiraled out of control. I'll admit that I do get a little carried away, but that's no reason to exclude me."

"Not everything is about you, Takamaki."

Ann nodded slowly, her surname echoing inside her head, and pushed herself up from the fence. "See you later, Sakamoto."

"Saka..." Ryuji blinked several times, finally registering the words he'd spit out without thought. "Shit. Ann. Ann, wait!" He grabbed her arm and could feel her trembling beneath his hand. "Ann, I'm sorry. I'm just... I don't know what I'm doing and my head's real messed up. Yusuke's been helping me sort things out."

"...that you like our leader?" Ann questioned softly. The fingers around her arm tightened almost painfully before once again relaxing into a firm grip, but it was all the answer she needed. "Everyone knows, Ryuji. Everyone wants you two to be happy. I like teasing you, but all you had to do was tell me to step off like you normally do and I would have. Instead, you pushed me aside without even considering if I’d be able to help. I would’ve supported you 110%, maybe even more."

"You would have...?"

Ann lifted her head and turned to glare at him. "You'll get 93% at best right now!"

Ryuji relaxed, a grin working its way onto his face. "I'll take it."

"You have to work for it," Ann scoffed, wrenching her arm free of the now loose hold. "Take me out for something to eat. I spent most of my money escorting Yusuke to the aquarium."

Ryuji glowered, but relented. "Fine, but we’re going to the gym after.”

Ann blinked at him before his words caught on. She took a threatening step towards him, fists clenched at her sides "Ryuji!"

Ryuji twirled the keychain around his finger with a grin. He never expected new demons would arise to sabotage his hard-earned happiness, all because of a simple misunderstanding.

Despite the brilliant sun spun color of his hair, Ryuji was the still one of the most invisible people at Shujin Academy. Even Akira received more attention than he did, but most of it was still based off the rumors Mishima had been forced to spread. Ryuji's invisibility came in handy at the end of school, but he desperately wished it hadn't. He was climbing the stairs that led from the first floor to the 2nd Year hallway—he’d gone downstairs to buy some yakisoba bread to share with Akira—when he heard approaching voices excitedly talking.

"...Council President and the transfer student?"

Ryuji stopped walking after “transfer student”, moving closer to the wall in the split landing. The girls didn’t spare him a second glance as they continued by.

"Somehow Eiko managed to make friends with the Student Council President and I overheard them talking about a double date they went on. Eiko went with a host and Niijima-senpai went with Kurusu-kun! Privileged girls sure have a thing for bad boys!"

The giggling girls disappeared onto the 2nd Year hallway ahead of him and Ryuji felt as if something disgusting grew in the pit of his stomach, making him nauseous. He turned away from his original destination and stormed back downstairs and to the school entrance. His anger faded into a heavy tiredness with each step. Ryuji had no conscious recollection of his journey to the train station, but he made it one piece, so that was a plus. Luck remained on his side when he managed to secure a seat near the back of the train car.

You're the useless one in the group. That shitty leg of yours holds everyone back. You're just a punching bag. Akira never liked you. You can't get with girls or guys! It was Kamoshida’s voice that taunted him now, laughing at him even after all this time.

There was a rational part of his brain that told him Akira would never string him or Makoto along like that; there had to be a reason. But Ryuji’s twisted psyche crushed that thought before it could grow.

Ryuji bowed forward, burying his head in his hands, and tangled his fingers in his short hair. “I thought I was over this!” he hissed at the floor of the train. “Damnit…” He was startled back to the present when his phone started chiming. The noise didn't last too long, which meant he'd received a new message. Akira. Akira was the only one that messaged him. No. That wasn’t true. Futaba, Yusuke, and Ann texted him as well, and not in their Phantom Thieves group chat.

Ignore them all. That was the only course of action his mind could come up with. The happiness he’d been so hesitant to find was finally being ripped away.

It hurt more than any Shadow they’ve ever fought.

Ryuji grinned wide for his mother, hoping she wouldn’t see through his lies when he told her he’d be in his room studying. He played video games until the fun pastime became a tedious chore.

After dragging himself from his room, Ryuji realized spending time with his mother was the best distraction he could’ve ever hoped for. She never once asked what was wrong, even though she knew, and he loved her even more for that.

Ryuji whined after the exaggerated kiss to his forehead and ducked away from his mom. “Good nights” were exchanged and he disappeared into his room under her watchful eye. Ryuji’s grin faded as his gaze immediately came to rest on the phone he’d left sitting in the center of his bed. The notification light still blinked slowly, reminding him of the unopened message he’d received from Akira. Ryuji picked up the phone and thumbed the volume button to silent before setting it on his desk. All without looking at his messages. He truly was a coward. [part four] [part five] [part six]

Notes: Ryuji, stop pushing everyone away. Seriously... Um, it gets worse before it gets better? *flees* I lurv Ryujiiiii~

#persona 5 #p5 #p5 protagonist #akira kusuru #kurusu akira #ryuji sakamoto #sakamoto ryuji #akira x ryuji #akiryu #pegoryu #ryuji fights some personal demons #fanfiction #my fiction #fic: couldn't endure

65 notes · View notes

luucarii · 7 years

Text

Persona 5 Ramblings

this shit is long. like really long.

and I sound like a crazed fangirl so....

MAJOR SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT. IM TALKING ABOUT LIKE ALMOST EVERYTHING BUD!!!

also, i curse way too much in this... apologies in advance

also, happy father’s day even though this has nothing to do with it :)

THIS IS ALL BACKGROUND ON ME BEFORE I GOT THE GAME SKIP TO THE NEXT BOLD PART IF YOU WANT TO HEAR MY OPINION ON THE GAME ITSELF.

Okay, so I’ve mentioned vaguely how Persona 5 is my first encounter with the Persona series. I’d heard bits and pieces about the series but I never really understood the concept of Persona until maybe mid April of this year. I was on spring break from school and I don’t remember how exactly how I stumbled across it but i found this playthrough of Persona 5 on youtube and I was mildly interested. So I clicked on it, and into the emotional rollercoaster that is this game i went.

At the time, there was only about 11 episodes of the play through (each around an hour long) so I binged watched each episode ending up with me staying up past 2 am. I was just so invested. The opening drew me in the minute the camera showed off that smug little bastard Joker’s smirk over the casino (I’ll get into why I love this kid and the rest of the cast later). I was confused since I was going into Persona 5 with no knowledge of the whole concept of Personas at all. I was kinda just like “wow this looks badass. What is he doing? Oh my god, this game is so pretty.”

I ended up skipping around once I got tired of waiting for a new episode and watched this long ass livestream. I got to about Okumura’s Palace before there was nothing left for me to watch but the boss battles uploaded, which did spoil me a little bit and got me a bit confused but I was so interested that I honestly didn’t care. I was so surprised at Niijima’s Palace and her boss battle as a whole and was like “SHIT THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF THE GAME!!!! OH MY GOD EVERYTHINGS BACK”

From there, I skipped straight to the traitor - aka Akechi’s battle - and can I just say, I was not surprised that he had a Persona but I was surprised that he betrayed the group considering all the story shit I skipped. Shido’s fight was fairly interesting to me but again, I skipped a bunch of story shit so I was really just rooting for the Phantom Thieves because this was THE ASSHOLE WHO GAVE MY POOR LITTLE AKIRA A CRIMINAL RECORD.

Skipped a bunch of shit again and onto the fight with Yaldobaoth. At this point I was drawing a lot of similarities to Xenoblade Chronicles, fighting a God for freedom and then THEY PULLED THE WHOLE BELIEF THINGY (which they did at the end of Okami as well) AT THE END WITH MISHIMA AND THE REST OF TOKYO BELIEVING IN THE THIEVES AND I WAS SOBBING LIKE A LITTLE BITCH AT 2 AM.

And after that, I made it a point that one day I’d play this game for myself. And it was maybe a few days after that I finally got the game.

Now at the time (and still now) I didn’t own a PS4 and was forced to use my brother’s when he was at work. Adding to the fact that school was beginning to start up again, I had at most maybe 6 hours to play a day if homework didn’t take up all my time. So what might’ve taken me a few weeks to beat took me almost 2 months to beat because of timing.

BUT OH WELL, I HAD THE GAME, I PLAYED THE GAME, I LOVED THE GAME AND NOW IM GOING TO SQUEAL LIKE A FANGIRL OVER EVERY ASPECT OF THIS GAME THAT I ADORED.

GAMEPLAY

Okay, so I’ve played my fair share of JRPGs and Persona 5 was a nice familiarity. All the dungeon crawling, the fighting, turn-base combat, ya’ll get it.

BUT UM THESE DUNGEONS (Palaces if you would) ARE FREAKING GORGEOUS, HELL THE GAME ITSELF IS GORGEOUS.

Each Palace and their respective Shadow ruler has their own design, personality and each are based on the seven deadly sins which (after finishing FullMetal Alchemist a few months earlier) I thought was clever and interesting.

Kamoshida’s castle was a nice balance of a first dungeon and “hey we’re not gonna hold your hand, this is fairly simply kill some Shadows, find the infiltration route and don’t get kicked out.” ALSO RYUJI AND ANN’S AWAKENINGS. JUST THAT. INCREDIBLE.

Madarame’s museum had a little bit more difficulty but was still fairly easy. The security bars kinda gave me a little anxiety considering I was still getting used to all the controls (I had just finished an Xbox One game before playing this so my buttons were mixed up) and the little painting guessing game was a bit dumb considering each Sayuri looked EXACTLY THE SAME TO ME (except the color swapped ones) ESPECIALLY CONSIDERING YUSUKE WAS THERE AND COULD HAVE EASILY TOLD US BUT NO HE WANTED TO TEST AKIRA’S ART SKILL. ARE YOU APART OF THE PHANTOM THIEVES OR NOT YUSUKE??????????

but i digress…

Kaneshiro’s bank was fun but GOD SEND THOSE FREAKING SECURITY CAMERAS AND THOSE SHADOW DOGS TO HELL OH MY GOD I HATED THOSE. See my thing is, I’m not exactly a stealthy person. Which is why I love hiding because you can sneak up on Shadows and ambush them easily. I hate raising security level and those damn dogs were so annoying and just ugh. Those dogs are honestly one of the few grips I have with the game. Also, MAKOTO IS THE ACTUAL QUEEN.

Futaba’s temple was by far the longest one for me in terms of gameplay hours (in game time took me about 2-3 days) but it was still fun nonetheless and I’m glad Futaba (who is one of my favorite female characters) got some closure on her story with her mother and was able to rise above that. I’m a sucker for tragic backstories when their well executed. (i still to this day do not know how to pronounce her Persona…)

Okumura’s spaceship was my favorite aesthetically because I’ve always been interested in space and the stars and the little puzzle at the end with the space pockets was a nice bit of challenging and flying through Metaverse space. ALSO HARU HAS FLUFFY FLUFF HAIR AND HAS MY SECOND FAVORITE PHANTOM THIEF OUTFIT

hmm, i wonder who has my favorite Phantom Thief outfit... Joker... It’s Joker... god damn those red gloves

Niijima’s casino, which OH MY GOD WERE BACK TO THE BEGINNING AND AKECHI’S WITH US AHH, and WHIMS OF FATE IS BEST PALACE THEME.

It was my favorite palace, no questions asked.

Shido’s ship was another long one but finally getting revenge on this dick was incredible. Also, AKECHI AND RYUJI PLAYING WITH MY FEELINGS.

Mementos was a good idea as a whole but the way it was executed everything just sort of blended together for me and there were only a few requests that stood out to me. The music was bland (one of the blandest on the soundtrack, especially compared to the other Palace themes casually mentions Whims of Fates again) and during the late floors of Mementos, everything got so dark and it was really hard to see.

CHARACTERS

expect this to be me screaming a lot.

Akira Kurusu (Protagonist)

okay, um, i love this boy. like a lot. LIKE I WOULD DIE FOR HIM.

For a silent protagonist this guy sure has a lot of character. The rare times he speaks in cutscenes, specifically the ones where he’s Joker, he has this sort of cocky arrogance yet when he’s little Akira in his Shujin uniform he’s a quiet little curious boy. He’s incredible under pressure, like there’s only a few things that make him crack and his dialogue options are priceless.

I especially love Joker because I’m an honest to god mess when it comes to smug bastards and I have an unhealthy love for those crimson gloves of his.

But honestly he doesn’t deserve half the shit he gets in game. Besides the whole “game” set up by Yaldobaoth, he was sent away from his family and presumedly the friends he had back in his hometown all because of his probation, literally no one treats him with any sort of respect when he gets to Shibuya. Sojiro reminds him countless times the first what 3-4 months that he’ll be kicked out if he breaks his probation which (besides doing all that illegal shit as Phantom Thieves) he honestly just goes to school (a place where he gets even more shit from teachers and students), hangs out a little after and comes straight home. I know Akira’s been established to have a bad reputation because of his record but don’t these people have eyes??? Can’t they see that he’s obviously not a bad guy based on what he’s doing in school and not getting involved with the police??? Sojiro's exempt from this because he at least grows to like having Akira around and trusts him enough to go out at night, work in the store alone and lock up from him when he leaves.

AKIRA IS A GOOD BOY WHO DIDN’T DESERVE ALL THE SHIT GIVEN TO HIM

Also, Xander Mobus did a good ass job with his voice

Ryuji Sakamoto

see this post that basically sums up my feelings on this boy.

Also, Max Mittelman.

Ann Takamaki

CAN I JUST SAY ANN IS ONE OF THE BESTEST FRIENDS IVE EVER SEEN???????

Like she went through all that shit with Kamoshida, the harassment, possibly rape, all for freaking Shiho’s sake. Just… wow. That’s some freaking loyalty there. Shiho's the closest friend she has at Shujin (at least before the events of the game) and God knows how long she went along with Kamoshida’s bullshit all for Shiho. I mean I may sound a bit repetitive but holy shit that just amazes me. SHE. ENDURED. SEXUAL. HARASSMENT. ALL. FOR. HER. BEST. FRIEND. And the minute she watched Shiho’s suicide attempt that was it. Any last bit of restraint she had left broke and she went full on at Kamoshida all for revenge for her best friend. My god.

Onto her confidant ranks, Ann is just a charismatic bundle of joy who just wants to make people happy. Yeah she butted heads with that girl (forgot her name…) and did fall down a little in terms of confidence but Akira and Shiho helped her through it and brought her back on her path of what she wants to do… Just ugh, I love Ann so much.

Yusuke Kitagawa

Yusuke’s a fan favorite and for good reason.

His backstory about how Madarame took him in after his mom died and overlooked his painting which led to the later plagiarism is an interesting one and I love how the Sayuri, the only thing left to connect him to his mother, is an important factor that leads to his realization of “oh shit this guy’s a dick who watched my mom die without helping her and he used me for money and fame.”

As a character though, Yusuke’s freaking weird. But i love him because of it. He has his formal tongue but that formal tongue casually overlooks any weird shit that comes out of his mouth. He doesn’t give any flying fucks about what people think of him and he speaks his mind like there’s no tomorrow. I still crack up at the nude painting scene with him and Ann because his mix of awkwardness and passion to paint a nice ass picture is just incredible. Also, another thing. He’s. So. Damn. Passionate. Like he ties art into everything, even fighting Shadows and he’s always looking for new ideas for paintings.

Also, Matt Mercer

Makoto Niijima

MAKOTO IS QUEEN.

She’s not my favorite female, that role goes to Futaba but she’s definitely number 2.

I genuinely have a love for the Niijima sisters because they complement each other so well. Sae’s the head of the house who also works tirelessly just to support her younger sister and it’s clear to see why Makoto would feel useless. She’s a high school student and as a student you really can’t do much that’ll pay the bills and keep food on the table unless you have a job which Makoto’s student council president and (i’m assuming) is in everything so it’d probably be hard as is to get a job and be of some sort of use to her sister. Then Kaneshiro comes around threatening her and Thieves and her sister and she just doesn’t want to feel useless anymore. She wants to do something after being forced to sit back and watch other people be counted on. And just, ugh, her awakening is by far my favorite out of all of them just because of everything behind it and just MAKOTO IS AMAZING, CASE CLOSED.

Also, Cherami Leigh.

Futaba Sakura

By far my favorite female as I feel our personalities are pretty damn similar. Besides her being a hacker and me not knowing anything about possibly illegal things like that, I relate to Futaba as she’s an introvert. She and I value our alone time and (although for different reasons) like being shut in. Now I’m not going to say Futaba and I share the same backstory because my God I’m honestly baffled how this girl went through years in solitude after her mother’s death thinking it was her fault. For one, she WATCHED HER MOTHER DIE IN FRONT OF HER. HOLY SHIT HOW DID THIS GIRL MANAGE TO FUNCTION WITH THAT MENTAL IMAGE IMPRINTED IN HER BRAIN???? AND THEN FOR YEARS ON END SHE LOCKED HERSELF UP AWAY FROM THE WORLD AND BEGAN HAVING ACTUAL PHYSICAL AND VERBAL HALLUCINATIONS AND IF IT WASNT FOR THE PHANTOM THIEVES SHE PROBABLY WOULD HAVE ENDED UP KILLING HERSELF AND I DONT WANT TO THINK OF A WORLD WITHOUT THIS ADORABLE LITTLE OTAKU.

also, i really ship her and Yusuke Inari

Haru Okumura

For one, Haru is freaking adorable, I mean look at her. She has the short little fluffy fluff hair and her voice is so light and feathery and polite and WHY DOES SHE COME SO LATE IN THE DAMN GAME????

I was lucky enough to manage to finish her confidant before the end of the game but when her confidant first opened up to me (getting rank 5 Proficiency was a bitch) at that point I was planning on not doing her confidant at all, I was just planning on getting Baton Pass and ditching her because I didn’t think I’d finish it. I did (at the cost of not finishing Makoto’s, still extremely disappointed on that) and I have to say Haru’s confidant was by far my favorite one out of the ones I maxed out.

Her whole thing is now that her father’s dead, she’s basically the one inheriting everything from Okumura Foods and she never really understood anything to begin with and she thinks everyone who’s trying to help her is just doing it for their own self-gain. Okumura Foods, at this point, is attempting to rise back up after all the shit her father put the company through and all the current bad reputation it has. Haru’s never had a chance in her life to make things for herself. She’s always been told what to do and has been very obedient (even agreeing to marry a literal dickhead all for her father’s company) and suddenly she’s given all control and doesn’t know what to do with it. All these happy smiling faces offering their help just seem like people attempting to take advantage of her incompetence. Akira helps her through it like the amazing boy that he is and Haru ends up finally being able to speak her mind about the company and what SHE wants to do. She gives the company up to someone who she believes is trustworthy and decides that she’ll one day open a small little cafe like Leblanc in the future after college. And honestly, just her overcoming her distrust and her previous shell of being obedient to rising up and making her own decisions it makes me so happy and proud to see her grow and change and just UGGH I LOVE EVERYONE IN THIS DAMN CAST.

Morgana

This cat, literally this cat. HE BELONGS WITH AKIRA AND THE REST OF THE THIEVES NO ONE CAN CONVINCE ME OTHERWISE.

Loud-mouthed, a little bit arrogant, Morgana is just an amazing character in general for me. I know Ryuji’s technically supposed to be the comic relief (and he does fulfill this role, don’t get me wrong) but I feel Morgana takes this spot too, especially the two bickering like an old married couple. I know some people hate on Morgana because of how he treats Ryuji and the amount of “go to bed” memes on Tumblr but all around Morgana is just a cat who was just looking for a place to call home. He was just looking for people to accept him.

And a part of me honestly hopes if there’s an add on for this game in the future, Morgana gets a human form because I’d love to see that.

Also, please tell me I’m not the only one who still mixes up Morgana’s gender. I still sometimes call him a her just out of habit because I can’t hear Cassandra Lee Morris as anything but a girl.

Also, Cassandra Lee Morris.

Goro Akechi

OKAY SO CONTROVERSY??? MAYBE??

I LIKE AKECHI

NO FUCK THAT

I LOVE AKECHI

LIKE HONEST TO GOD THIS BOY DESERVED BETTER.

Don’t misunderstand, I know he killed people. I know he caused all those shutdowns and was planning on killing the Thieves and eventually Shido himself (which now begs the question, say he did kill Shido, what next?)

I’m not denying anything he did. And yes, his backstory (although extremely saddening) does not justify his actions. He knew what he was doing and he still did it.

Akechi took the wrong path in his life. If anything you can sort of compare his story to Futaba’s in the sense that they both lost family members and were left with nothing. In Futaba’s case however, she still had people trying to help her. She had Sojiro who took her in after her uncle was abusing her or something and she had the Thieves who literally changed her heart and made her see the truth.

Akechi had absolutely nobody.

His mom died (suicide if I remember correctly), he was thrown into foster care, his own father (seriously, fuck Shido. Not just because of how he was with Akechi but everything in this damn game) didn’t even knew he existed. He had no acknowledgement, no affection, nothing. He was forced to make do with what little scraps he could find and make a life for himself.

Again, don’t misunderstand me. I know he killed people and his backstory does not justify his actions because he knew what he was doing was wrong. I’m just saying maybe if he had someone, anyone who was there to help him out, to pull him out of his misery he most likely would have been a different person. He wouldn’t have had his revenge for Shido be his only reason for living and he wouldn’t have gone out the way he did. It’s hard not to feel bad for him. He’s been alone all his damn life and all this guy really wanted was a friend, some teammates, people who wanted him around. I just wish Akechi had gotten a way to repent. I hate the fact that he died. One because we lost a good character and two because I genuinely believe that he wanted to change at the end. Akira changed him. The Thieves changed him. I wish he had gotten an ending where he could own up to his mistakes and be able to make up for lost time.

Just… ugh.

I’m apart of the “Akechi deserved better” group.

And I also ship Akeshu really really really hard.

Also, Robbie Daymond was freaking fantastic.

VERDICT

THIS IS LONG ENOUGH SO LET ME SUM IT UP IN A SENTENCE.

PERSONA 5 IS AMAZING, I LOVED IT.

#ari speaks?#long post #persona 5 #tw #p5 spoilers #I honestly could write about this game all day #sorry for the long post #i needed to get this out #just i absolutely loved this game

3 notes · View notes