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pq2 thoughts after finishing it!:

i think. it is a g. game. it is a persona game i will admit!

no but srs i think its good if youve never played a persona game which i assume is why its on 3ds only. it really does feel like discount persona with all of the last three cast thrown in? and some of the gameplay improvements (this game's gameplay aged better than fes and p2's LMAOO) i guess its a compromise to reach fans who've never actually played the main games cause they dont own a playstation console or something.

at the same time it makes no sense for "new fans" to play because you need at least some background knowledge of the prev characters and plot to care.

in my case i knew everything abt p3 and p5, only osmosis knowledge of the plot of p4 so i ended up using the p4 cast the least in my playthrough :( so theres that. not worth playing if u dont care abt the other casts imo

...so we agree the characters are the selling point here, its advertised as a mega crossover and whatever but. people complaining that theyre "watered down" to base traits or even traits they didnt have in the first place are Right LOL except for a scant few characters who get a lot of expansion. but for the most part none of them are themselves (like yusuke... 😔.... akihiko.... aki not as bad as yusuke but they have the same writing problem)

no one expects the characters to rly individually shine when theres so many ofc, the game even pokes fun at the "limited screen time" joke but like. what else is there to this? 🤔 well

character interactions! those were good. everyone expected detective princes meetup to be really great but i loved the other pairs like haru and mitsuru (heirs with distant dads...), and the PQ OC girl with futaba :] (introvert friends!!)(theyre like sucrose and collei in this year's windblume if you go there)

speaking of akechi though. yea he's part of the list of characters that surprisingly did not get butchered and in fact expanded upon in this game. aside from akechi it's P3 FeMC.

others i liked were P5 MC (his dialogue choices are SO out there), shinjiro aragaki, ken amada, yukiko amagi maybe yosuke hanamura and P4MC but their personalities just stayed the same instead of getting possible new insight?

i liked velvet room guys too theyre goated frfr! yes including marie. even i was surprised (probably cause akechi gets to poke fun at her and the twins hdjdhdhd)(cute)

i cant put P3 male MC anywhere cause i will always be biased towards him 😔🫰 (he was great btw)

but the crow character expansion in particular intrigued me and leads me to accept this game as canon like some ATLUS USA reps intended. akechi: stripped away of his obligations is a cunning, introspective and overall respectable young man and the game showcased all of his core traits well. he purposefully isolates himself from the main group and gets called out on it, consistently is the one that makes the most sense in discussions, gets various little moe moments... he honestly seems like he doesnt know what to make of all this forced bonding with strangers but he cant help to indulge anyway. 😭 he's vocal in discussions about their plans but a passive :) face in the background during fun moments until he's addressed or curious. the way he furthers the narrative along like they wouldnt get as far as they did without him i feel. but between all of that he was the main character to me.

the end scene where he seems regretful that he has to leave and go back to his revenge plot.... hurts. because for all intents and purposes we just saw akechi if he didnt have all that baggage and was just allowed to exist as himself. a smart guy with a whole life ahead of him. but he didnt choose that.

😔

oh god that emoji is huge but anyway. FeMC!! ^_^ the problems of toxic positivity being addressed in her arc was great. they really tried to give her as much love as possible without being too happy (persona games tend to make their characters suffer anyway to even things out) and it was great! her writing reminds me of kasumire's mental illness but with less romance tease pandering.

ah yes and the obligatory Persona side game OC... hikari and nagi. honestly wished they didnt exist as much as i liked hikari's thing 😔 it got old and outright cringe man im sorry like surely the devs could come up with something better than this?? way to not explain enlil and mess with the in-universe power scaling too LMAO. 2/10 is being generous!

anyway its a fairly short game in persona standards so i cant really say it's time wasted when i got so many character interaction crumbs..... i guess i lucked out by liking the characters that i do instead of ones that kinda got shafted in this. (except for aki but 😔 i just kinda accepted his blown out of proportions awkwardness outside of P3)

it's..... a 6/10 from me overall! music and velvet room attendants + nanako cameo DLC carried

asks which i realized i actually havent answered in a while?

thank you for all the hobbit love!!!!!!!!! I was kind of nervous about posting that design because i didnt know whether tolkien fandom would be chill with ...well furries essentially. happy that you guys dont seem to mind at all ^^ here’s more that I could never figure out a post for LOL

thank you! and lol i was kind of joking about leaving the p5 fandom but uhhh I don’t think i’ll be drawing much more p5 because I think I got it out of my system. also tbh I don’t know if I actually like p5?? or if I just had a lot of shit I wanted to express and say about it via fanart. I had like this whole agenda where I wanted to make p5 art based on a more noir...almost graphic american comics style because I felt like that was the most interesting thing about the game’s art direction and not a lot of fanartists cashed in on it. Also I wanted to depict like a very specific shuake vibe that wasnt too romantic but also not ... completely un-romantic. something that really capitalized on the fact that they’re just terrible teens. idk. anyways I like the work I made for the fandom and I think I managed to say everything I wanted to say w it.

I AM signed up for a shuake zine though so expect an encore before I sign out completely LOL.

thank YOU being very nice to me. ik its been a while but I WILL Draw digimon again sometime. kids with big shoes and monster pals is just the most fun thing to draw ever.

uhhhguhhg not particularly? The tamers kids just seem SO young.

I thought the scene where takato confesses to juri was incredibly lovely but it’s well done because it’s not particularly romantic or ship-indulgent its like... all about the way kids attach to each other when they feel out of place or scared. and how simply someone can become special to you at that age. 

if i mentally age them up a little I could see kazu and kenta being a fun ship. they had that one episode where they were like. kind of a parallel for those married digimon?? which is deeply amusing. 

also I think ruki is a baby lesbian. just the way she dismisses every boy but is obsessed with even the most random girl they encounter...! but i think her rivalry with ryo is so so funny because its like a like... little league tcg rivalry. I want to believe that when theyre in middle school ruki and ryo date for like 2 weeks and the plain existence of that relationship wreaks havoc on kazu and kenta who are in weird idol love with ryo and hate ruki but also are friends with ruki. and then they break up because they realize theyre both gay or whatever but kazu and kenta take approx a month to recover from the psychological& emotional damage.

I like ruki/juri too but i have no solid concept of how that would work out...

I actually totally meant to draw all this in like a convoluted fanart post at one point but I never got around to it so thanks for asking about tamers shipping LOL

How it ends up looking painterly.... idk. Because I’m a messy painter and I use big strokes? I don’t really blend but I do use mid-opacity textured brushes when I paint a lot so thats probably part of what makes it look soft/painterly/integrated. I use the lasso for hard edges and then brushes to create soft shapes within them... if that makes sense? SORRY THIS IS HARD TO EXPLAIN, anyways, I have a handful of videos of me drawing on youtube. Theyre really boring because they dont have music and I didn’t bother to edit them in interesting ways but.. theyre there. Maybe itll help?

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxOLP2dN4f5kJKT6p3Inq4A

Thank u!!! steve and tony are positioned to be slightly holding hands lol

My pull list currently is:

X-Men

Marauders

Excalibur

S.W.O.R.D.

Hellions

X-Factor

Wolverine

Cable

X-Force

New Mutants

Guardians of the Galaxy

Daredevil

Miles Morales: Spider-Man

Champions

Far Sector

True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys: National Anthem

Home Sick Pilots

So like all of the x-books, the occasional teen hero and the occasional indie. I was thinking of dropping Wolverine and Cable but idk... Cable sort of won me over during x of swords and if wolverine brings adam kubert back I think I’ll start digging it again LOL. I jumped onto Guardians on a whim but its suddenly become one of my favorite books along with S.W.O.R.D... so I guess I have to go back and read Immortal Hulk at some point, become a true Al Ewing stan.

Far Sector is my only DC pull atm but also I loved a lot of the GN releases this past year and Wonder Woman Dead Earth is like my favorite 2020 comic actually. So dc imprints are KICKING ALL KINDS OF ASS. main dc tho.... idk. I’m kind of eyeing the new robin book but I think thats where my interest ends.

<3

I'm a brand new goroboy and have questions if you don't mind answering any of them 1. Was everything that Akechi said about the PTs being unjust a part of his detective act or did he really believe that changing hearts was bad prior to the engine room? 2. When did he first suspect the PTs? Did he figure them out immediately at the TV station or did he just become interested in Joker cuz he's gay and figured it out afterwards lol. Basically who sussed who out first? (1/2)

hello welcome!!!!!! we are happy to have u!!!!!!!! 

unfortunately we dont have concrete answers to a lot of these, but i will do my best!!!! these are some really excellent questions so i want to do them justice. and by do them justice, i mean theyre under a cut because it got really long lmfao.

thanks for the ask–this was really fun to write, instead of doing literally any of the work that i was supposed to.

1. Was everything that Akechi said about the PTs being unjust a part of his detective act or did he really believe that changing hearts was bad prior to the engine room?

SHORT ANSWER: we don’t know.

SLIGHTLY LONGER ANSWER: we can’t say for sure but there’s strong evidence that he was probably telling the truth, actually.

VERY LONG ANSWER: there’s strong evidence he both is and isn’t telling the truth in the TV studio scene, but with the qualifiers that (1) he never necessarily says theyre unjust, he says they’re dangerous. (2) he probably thinks the phantom thieves change hearts in the same way that he makes people go psychotic. (3) his sense of justice is basically entirely based on righting wrongs that have been committed against individuals, not what the law says. (also, when i say “individuals,” i mean himself.)

to the extent that he’s lying–he does say that they’re operating outside the law, and that they have unknown and apparently very effective power that cannot be stopped by traditional law enforcement. traditional justice says that if you operate outside the law, that makes you automatically bad. akechi is playing the part of someone who’s lawful good, so when he says, “they’re dangerous and operating outside the law,” he has to say, “that makes them unjust.”

to the extent that he’s telling the truth, that’s basically everything else he says. i do think those viewpoints are his own for a lot of reasons.

when he talks about the changes of heart, he makes it sound like it’s a thing that could just happen to anyone–even people who’ve done no wrong. when akira voices support for the PT, akechi argues back against akira to say “If [Ryuji’s] heart suddenly changed, wouldn’t you think it was the work of the Phantom Thieves?” like it could just happen to any random joe schmoe. he’s acting like someone could just one day change their entire attitude–possibly for the worse–resulting in terror amongst the population.

we have to keep in mind that at this point in time, akechi has no idea that you can steal treasure to change a person’s heart. he doesn’t even know treasure is a thing, let alone that you have to send a calling card to make it manifest. morgana is the person who knew all that stuff, and akechi definitely didnt have access to morgana when he started his hitman career.

so with the way that he’s talking about the changes of heart, i dont think he assumes that changes of heart always change the person for the better. he has no idea that it’s literally removing a person’s distorted desires. i’m like NINETY-FIVE PERCENT SURE that he thinks changes of heart operate in the same way that his psychotic abilities work: you cast a persona spell, and a person goes apeshit.

from his point of view, that’s kind of what’s happening. when akechi casts call of chaos, a person starts behaving in a way they never would under ordinary circumstances in the real world. the changes of heart really look exactly the same way to an outsider’s POV. and to akechi’s understanding, call of chaos can be cast on even good people. from the phantom thieves’ POV, only people who’re mega-dicks can have their hearts changed in the first place, because the requisite to have a palace is a certain level of distortion. (futaba, of course, proving that you don’t have to be a mega-dick to have a distortion, but the TV studio scene happens before futaba.)

akechi’s argument is that leaving that sort of power in just anyone’s hands is dangerous. because that’s a LOT of power for one person to have. akechi would know, considering that he’s in the same position. he’s wary of the fact that there’s no guarantee that that person will use it for good.

that, of course, brings us to the question of “well, what does akechi think ‘using power for good’ is in the first place?” does he think that the phantom thieves are using their powers for good? does he think he’s using his powers for good?

when asked why he seeks justice, akechi says: “Because of sickening human beings… Yes, my contempt for such people drives my sense of justice. It isn’t some grand reason like society’s sake or some lofty ideal. It’s simply an absurd grudge… and extremely personal.” 

the traditional, lawful-good way of thinking about justice is that if you operate outside the law, you’re automatically bad. but akechi’s sense of justice seems to be driven primarily from the hurts he’s suffered, the grudges he still bears, and his conviction that wrongs personally done against individuals should be righted. it’s an end-goal oriented sense of justice.

if wrong-doers are punished and the grudges are appeased, then justice is delivered. how that happens does not necessarily constitute justice. my best guess at this time is that he’d qualify a lot as “the ends justify the means,” since his concept of justice is end-goal oriented. 

of course, i think akechi definitely shows throughout the game that he knows that how you achieve those ends is… not irrelevant. i think his black mask outfit (and a bunch of other things he says) implies that he feels like he is a “villain” of sorts. he demonstrates feeling a type of way about killing okumura. he definitely knows that his actions are morally wrong under particular lenses. take a look at this section:

Akechi: Who cares? My targets were all doing the same damn thing in this eat or be eaten world. [referencing that all his victims were dicks who kind of deserved to get glocked]

Akechi: How is that any different from the Phantom Thieves?

Ann: We’re not murderers!

Akechi: (now looking kind of pissed) So what?! [launches into speil about how it’ll all be worth it when he exacts revenge on Shido]

obviously he knows that murder is morally indefensible. but i think he’s justified it to himself as either not so bad because he killed primarily corrupt people, and/or that it’d be worth it if he achieves revenge on shido. he’s doing some kind of weird karma cosmic-scale balancing of “how much can i get away with and still be able to call it justifiable and justice,” and it looks like his answer is “quite a fucking lot.”

ironically, this makes his views on justice fairly practical. rather than idealistically committed to some platonic edition of justice, he’s more of a “what do i need to do to get the goals i want achieved? what needs to happen to make sure that asshole abusers get what’s coming to them? what needs to happen to make sure that i get emotional closure?” the biggest issue with that is the danger of a Pyrrhic victory–the moment where the means so go far that the ends no longer justify them.

all of this is to say: when akechi is talking about the phantom thieves as potentially unjust, i dont think he has a problem with their methods. “methods” are like a knife–it’s about how you use it, and for what.

i think he knows that changing hearts, and turning people psychotic, is morally skeevy if your sense of justice is very puritanical, but his sense of justice isn’t puritanical. i think he’s wary of what they might be using their methods for. again: his big argument in the studio scene isnt necessarily that theyre unjust, only that they’re dangerous.

seriously, though–changing hearts is potentially a recipe for societal collapse if used the wrong way. imagine if the PT were more self-centered and they went the light yagami route with their new supernatural powers, maintaining peace and order through authoritarian fear. that is, actually, the entire premise of the P5 Vanilla Bad End, in which the PT enforce peace through relentlessly changing hearts and making people too terrified to keep committing crime. 

since his views on justice seem to be defined by what the end goal is, he’d have to know what those goals are before understanding if they’re “just” or “unjust”–which is probably why he keeps hounding akira for akira’s viewpoints on justice, tbh. the phantom thieves are only unjust if their end goal is unjust, not necessarily because of their methods. (see answer to question 2 for related/continued discussion.)

2. When did he first suspect the PTs? Did he figure them out immediately at the TV station or did he just become interested in Joker cuz he’s gay and figured it out afterwards lol. Basically who sussed who out first?

SHORT ANSWER: i pretty sure atlus expects us to believe that he figured it from even before the TV showing–he figured it out when he overheard ryuji saying “It’s not easy being phantom thieves” when they were in the hallway. it’s the same time and place where akechi did his famous pancake fuck-up.

SLIGHTLY LONGER ANSWER: the idea that akechi was just super horny for the guy who gave him shit on live TV and then realized that akira was a phantom thief later as a neat bonus is fuckign SENDING me.

VERY LONG ANSWER: because of the scene with ryuji, i’m pretty sure he knew that akira was a phantom thief, and also i’m half-convinced that he somehow got the TV host to specifically choose akira during the “ask the audience” portion of the show. it’s really too much of a coincidence. 

because of that, i think the other implication of the scene is that he wanted to see what akira was made of when he invited akira for a debate on live television, and was pleasantly surprised when akira had something very interesting to say on the topic of grey morality and achieving justice outside the law.

what’s interesting about that scene is that akechi becomes interested in akira regardless of what akira says about the phantom thieves. akira’s options are “They’re justice itself,” “They’re necessary,” and “They do more than the cops”–so it’s not like akira ever says that he dislikes the phantom thieves, but the level of support ranges and two of these imply a justification/reasoning for it. and then akechi fucking argues back on live television like this is some kind of debate, instead of a daytime talk show meant to distract bored housewives. 

like. akechi gets INTO it. justice is his THING. and here’s akira, who seems to be not only a metaverse user operating outside the law like akechi himself, but also has some pretty grey morality thoughts on what justice is and could be, also like akechi himself.

taking it as a given that he knows for a fact that akira is a phantom thief from the get-go, from even before the TV scene ever even happened, then akechi probably keeps hounding him because akechi’s interested in hearing akira’s reasons. he’s not fishing for evidence, since he already knows. this is very speculative, now, but my best guess is that he keeps hounding akira ever after this scene because he wants to compare notes, one vigilante to another, to hear how akira rationalizes his vigilante work as a type of justice. very possibly, he’s seeking reassurance to himself that his own actions are justifiable. (he certainly seems that way in P5R, especially when he wonders about if a “justice nobody wants” is really a true justice at all, or just someone being self-centered.)

so re: “did akechi figure him out or was he just gay,” the answer is. yes. akechi did figure him out, and also akira made him so intellectually horny on live television that he hounded the man down in public for follow-up dates. 

what a king.

3. Does Akechi have a Velvet Room? Does he experience rank ups with Joker and the game over stuff too? 

SHORT ANSWER: we don’t know. no, seriously, we have no idea.

SLIGHTLY LONGER ANSWER: i’ve seen compelling takes on him having his own velvet room, and i think it’s thematically very fascinating if akechi is quite literally akira’s counterpart in terms of cosmic chess pieces, but i would be surprised if he did. but again, seriously, since there’s no confirmation on the matter, i say akechi’s potential velvet room is fair game.

VERY LONG ANSWER: lore-wise, i’m betting no. akechi was yaldabaoth’s piece, while akira was philemon’s (if i’m remembering my lore correctly). philemon provides the velvet room to aid the people he chooses–yaldabaoth has no such deal. the only reason why yaldo was in the velvet room in the first place was because he wanted to fuck over philemon’s chosen trickster.

it’s the same logic for why someone like adachi wouldn’t have a velvet room: while souji/yu, namatame, and adachi were all given the power to go into the tv world by izanami, only souji/yu was selected by philemon to save the world from ruin, and was accordingly given the resources and aid to do so.

secondary bonus: the psychotic ability/call of chaos just removes a person’s bonds in their heart, which makes them behave as if they were crazy. it’s the exact opposite of joker’s ability to create bonds. yaldabaoth’s one gift to his chosen chess piece was to essentially undo the very social links that make akira strong. so again, i’d be shocked if akechi experiences things like ranking up, or any sort of velvet room/persona fusing mechanic.

personally i think the loki/robin hood divide just happened because he awoke to a persona twice. awakening to your persona just happens at moments of rebellion and strong resolve, and canonically even other persona-users “awaken” (sorta) twice when you max their social link. i’m betting that he just had two moments of resolve: one in which he wanted to be a hero of justice, and one in which he decided he was going to tear shido to the ground no matter how far into villainy he had to go.

but as always, it’s not like there’s a hard consensus on the matter. 

4. How did he kill the shadows of people who don’t have a palace? Does *everyone* have a shadow in mementos?

SHORT ANSWER: he probably kills them in mementos, and also i think we’re expected to believe that literally everyone has a shadow in mementos.

SLIGHTLY LONGER ANSWER: i’m almost certain that the mementos depths section of the game confirms that basically everyone’s shadows are in there somewhere, even if they’re just your average joe with no significant distortions. the palace ruler for that section is “the public,” and also we do see the shadows of palace rulers who’ve had their hearts changed in the mementos depths. so even if you’ve had your heart changed and are supposedly a perfectly good human being now, this evidently doesnt disqualify you for having a shadow in mementos.

VERY LONG ANSWER: morgana says that mementos is the collective distortion of everyone in the area, but not a lot more concretely than that. morgana also says that reality is fairly plastic and that reality is somewhat determined by how we perceive the world, so i think that we’re expected to believe that everyone has, to some degree, some level of distortion.

i could say that jungian theory, which is the theory that the persona series is based off of, says that everyone without exception has a shadow. but this seems a little bit of a doylist explanation. instead i’ll point to persona 3, in which people without shadows literally become comatose and apathetic husks of themselves. this is because having a shadow is actually a fairly important part of a person’s psyche, and not having one doesnt make you a good and perfect person, it makes you a nonfunctional vegetable incapable of cognitive thought.

so yeah, i’m pretty sure EVERYONE is in mementos. with the exception of the phantom thieves, because… i think we’re expected to believe that their personas are in some ways their shadows? but also their personas are like, real-life kinning mythological/fictional characters so hard that you bind them to your soul? frankly i’ve been confused about how shadows work ever since persona 5 had people’s eyes turn yellow when they go through their awakenings, since perosna 4 used to use that as a sign that the person was a shadow, so… maybe i have no idea what the fuck im talking about. LMFAO.

persona 5 royal: my thoughts after finishing it five minutes ago

disclaimer: the only reason im writing this is because 1) i have a lot of thoughts and feelings that i need to write down and if i dont ill explode and 2) i want to be able to find this when p5s eventually drops so i can compare my thought processes. if you do not agree with what i’m going to say, that’s cool! just block me or ignore this post. 

now for the sake of sanity, i’m going to try and narrow down this entire list into chunks because this’ll probably be very very long and very much about me just screaming about stuff that i liked, loved, and don’t like. i will be spoiling both the original persona 5 and persona 5 royal, obviously, so i hope you finished both!

1) Akechi

so yes. Goro Akechi. Everyone’s favorite murderer. I’m going to by spewing a lot of hot takes, and this is probably going to be the spiciest: i am in the most intense love-hate relationship with this brown haired antagonist because jesus christ is he a complicated son of a bitch. I know i’ve complained in the past about how much Atlus often struggles with utilizing a character well, but that does not at all relate to Akechi in any way, shape, or form. 

I’ll say this now: He is a character I genuinely, truly hate, yet he is the one I want to hear from the most. He is someone who is a bad person (yes, he is a bad person) but whenever he comes on screen he makes me sit up, he makes me pay attention to him because that’s just the aura he exudes. He is a character who i would never, ever waste my time defending or justifying his actions, but every minute joker spends with him is a minute i want to stretch out as long as possible because he is just that good of a character. He is interesting, he is well defined, he is smart, he is clever, he is sassy, he’s a motherfucking asshole who’s never had a vibe check in my life and i still hate him. Goro Akechi is what Star Wars wanted Kylo Ren to be, and that allegory may not make sense to many people but it works for me so i’m saying it. It’s to the point where writing akechi in a fanfic makes me sweat because in my opinon capturing the essence of akechi is near impossible unless you know what you are talking about (i do not mean that in anyway to discourage people from writing him, im just saying that I am a coward because i will never be able to write a good akechi). Anyway, bottom line is: i despise him but my eyes are always glued to him at all times.

back to the main point-- Atlus absolutely nailed this character and every single addition they put in for Akechi. I’m so damn thrilled that you actually have confidant hangouts with him because every single time you talk to him, it services not only the plot, but it perfectly does what it is supposed to do: it makes you like him, but also leaves the player slightly unnerved. they do it so casually that I might have trouble explaining it, but bear with me: everytime you hangout with him, he always does or say something that unhinges you just a little bit, it leaves you asking ‘wait why?’ or ‘but how did you know that’ or ‘why are you saying that?’. akechi is constantly playing mind games with you. and not only that, adding backstory to akechi (moreso than in the original) is just fucking fantastic. he’s always been a fully fleshed out character but after playing royal, goro akechi actually exists in my mind, and i still hate him (but also i dont. but also i do. anyway)

2) the ending

just finished the game and this is the point where i am at odds with p5r for the first time. the ending to p5, in my opinion, was flawless; everything was perfect and had meaning. from the shot of akira being shown to not wearing glasses anymore because he no longer feels the need to wear a mask (character development: he was very unhappy at the beginning of the game and now he’s happy with his friends--i love it), to his friends being the one to drive him home (amazing, he left his home town and came to shibuya alone via transit, and one year later he’s now leaving with all of his best friends in a van they rented just so they could stay with him as long as they can--it’s perfect, i love it), and also all of them seeing how large and infinite the ocean is (because now there’s unlimited options for them because they all have a new perspective on life). 

But....none of that is there in p5r. it feels impersonal. no one drops him off at his hometown, he was still wearing glasses, and there’s no grand metaphor about what they all achieved. 

Now, i am not a (complete) moron. I know why they had to change it: it’s because of persona 5 scramble (i think). they wanted to set up a plot for the next game and i feel like thats the reason why persona 5 royal’s ending suffered for it: they were too focused on the next plot that they forgot to focus on the sentimental ending for p5r. don’t get me wrong, seeing akechi in the train station absolutely made me lose my shit and made me scream at one in the morning, but i think they lost the core meaning in doing the other stuff. i did not like the focus on maruki and kasumi (will be talking about them later), cause i feel like it took away from the ending, and i also didn’t like the fact that the whole joker outfit in the reflection thing (but i will be letting it slide since it was during the after credits anyway). So while i do love one (1) new aspect of the final cut scene, i still adore and stan the one from persona 5. 

3) the entire last semester 

i’ll be quick: the final palace? the best palace. fight me. it’s fantastic, it’s innovative, it’s interesting, and most of all, the palace ruler is actually the best one in the entire game and i know i wont be the only one to say this. maruki is not a villain: i know for a godamn fact that im not the only one to say that i almost agreed with his deal of allowing the reality (damn i almost agreed twice) because why wouldnt you?? it’s literally a perfect reality! the only reason i didnt agree is because i knew the game wouldnt want me to agree and would force me to have the bad ending! anyway, i love the last section so much. the palace design is interesting, the antagonist is brilliant (who doesn’t love a morally gray antagonist?), and finally, the payoff of kasumi happened and it made me silent for ten minutes. the entire reveal of her being sumire and kasumi being dead is just so genuinely shocking to me that it nearly broke my neck.

what actually broke my neck was the initial incident for the third semester. seeing everyone in this wild alternate reality made me so unsettled that i literally got a stomach ache. i saw morgana as a human and nearly passed out. shiho in the underground? wig. ryuji saying he’s on the national pedastal for running? literally my eyebrows just popped off my head. fucking WAKABA? FLATLINED. brilliantly executed and i love the initial akechi and akira buddy cop movie vibes in the beginning it was just so fun. 

one huge part of the third semester for me though, was of course, akechi. seeing him completely throw away his ‘charming ace detective’ speil was the most refreshing and interesting and not to mention, hilarious part of the game. he does not give a fuck about anyone and he is not afraid to let you know. he is the biggest savage and the most insane person on the phantom thieves group. he’ll roast you, he’ll roast your boyfriend, he’ll roast fuckin anyone and it’s fantastic. not to mention his dialogue is killer: he says the most bat shit insults ever and my favorite example is when you go up to him near the end of the game, you know, to hangout with him and be a nice guy, he just does not hesitate to say ‘what, you came just to see me? just the sort of brainless sentimentality i’d expect from you.’ i LOVE IT because why the hell would he try to be nice? the jig is up, he’s got nothing to hide. and he owns it. atlus seriously nailed akechi in this last semester and it’s brilliant and i love it.

4) everything else 

- one small thing that pissed me off in both games (but especially this one) is how many godamn fake out deaths there are. Morgana has one, Akira has one, Ryuji has one, Sojiro has one, Maruki has one, motherfucking Akechi has two. it just hurts me!

- sumire is an amazing character who has depth and she is lovely and my biggest complaint is that it feels like atlus shoved her in. like, she feels like a new addition to the game, you know what  i mean? maybe its because ive played the original p5 first, but you know, it’s not a big deal. but i love her so much

- on the topic of sumire, i cant say that im completely super duper happy with how different she felt from the other thieves? im sure that’ll be explained in p5s but she just got so much screen time that it just truly made me confused?? maybe im just a horrible person, or that’s just a really hot take. but anyway, yeah maybe im bitter because i really wanted to see extra hangouts/school trips during royal, but didn’t really.

-baton pass? literally orgasmic. it made turn base battles so damn fun and the addition of darts and billiards made me foam at the mouth it was SO SMART AND INNOVATIVE AND I LOVE IT ATLUS I LOVE YOU ATLUS YOURE SO SMART SWEETIE

-small thing, but making spells like ‘dormina’ actually useful just made the game so much more fun and dungeon crawling became something i truly, genuinely looked forward to

-being able to give gifts to my bros? absolutely incredible. thank you. side note: seeing akechi happy from giving him a multi vitamin cracked me up. side side note: giving ryuji a fuck ton of weights and him just smiling made my heart so happy i love that boy so much

- ah this game just looked so GOOD! i thought the original looked good but they really went all out. im not kidding, the smallest details in everyday life or even just normal cut scenes were out of this world. especially stuff from the third semester its just OOF good JOB atlus i love you buddy

-ahhh thieves den! how can i forget? i love it. at first i was a bit iffy with it since it really felt like persona 5 (undoubtedly the biggest game atlus has created) was just jacking itself off. but as time goes on, it became a huge addition to the game and seeing characters’ insights and extra lines of dialogue became super duper interesting and a highlight of the game for me. and don’t even get me started on how much i love love love the photos they added of them hanging out! so lovely, a bunch of them made me tear up

- i know it’s literally impossible, but i feel like the game just forgot that akechi is a person who can wield multiple persona and i just wish that could’ve been messed around with during Palaces

- showtimes are so, so crazy and i get so embarassed whenever they play on my tv because they are just outlandish and unashamed but i love them so so much it just defines persona’s personality 

-because i love ryuji: i prefer the final conversation you have with him aka ‘whaddya mean? you’re there’ but there’s still a lot of really tender and sweet moments like akira genuinely telling him that he’ll miss him, and also the fact that ryuji wants you both to send each other your times through the exercise watch so you can still race ahhhh i love him so much yall

so, overall, this game is better than the original p5 because of the extra content we get. if persona 5 was the perfect dinner, persona 5 royal is that same dinner and you get to enter the dessert buffet. it’s brilliant, it’s smart, it’s hilarious, it’s heartwarming, and it’s undoubtedly my favorite game of all time without exaggeration. while i do prefer the final cut scene (and final dialogues with some characters) in the original persona 5, in the overall experience, persona 5 royal is superior in my mind. i would willingly get amnesia to play this game again. 

I didn’t get to cover everything, but this is definitely most of what i wanted to say. if you actually get to reading all the way to the end, thanks! it means a lot. i hope we can all enjoy persona and look forward to persona 5 scramble together :-)

P5 Cast: Adult Life

With contributions by @canonpaul; Here are some headcanons regarding the future of the Phantom Thieves. Warning: Long Post

I imagine Haru and Makoto living together. They own like a small apartment above Haru’s own café with a small garage to the side. To store Makoto’s motorcycle and parts for it. And Haru gets up really early to ready the shop, and Makoto, the policewomen, gets up even earlier to get ready and go to the headquarters. So Haru wakes up around the time Makoto leaves and they exchange a short kiss and start their day, and it’s all super adorable. There is also a small flower shop owned by a young couple down the street from their apartment. Haru supplies them with flowers from her roof garden for some gardening supplies or a small sum of money.

After Sojiro retired, freshly married Akira and Ryuji take over LeBlanc. Now, Akira has learnt to perfectly cook the house curry and can blend any coffee and Sojiro is kinda a proud dad. Ryuji probably works some part-time job and otherwise helps Akira out in the café. Not with cooking or anything, that would end in disaster, but he serves as waiter and cleans stuff up afterwards. I also think that after the first years they move LeBlanc to a bigger and more open, more accessible spot? Like they continue the LeBlanc legacy, but with more space. Once they have more space they add a nightlife upgrade to the café, aka a bar,  and stay open during the night as well. Ryuji works as a bartender then and he’s surprisingly good at it? He’s no genius, but it could be a lot worse and he’s still learning. Morgana usually just hangs around, annoying them, but also acting like a stray cat, getting people to chase him, and eventually leading them to LeBlanc in his own way to help the business. Ryuji also let his hair grow out, back to its original color. Akira loves it either way, but Ryuji feels a little stupid to dye his hair when he’s not really a delinquent anymore. Like he told Akira, he makes him feel free. Ryuji was also getting exceedingly tired of maintaining the bright blonde.

Ann lives together with her loving tall girlfriend Shiho in a loft. Ann becomes an actor and is really busy at weird times, due to all the filming and PR stuff. Shiho went on to become a PE teacher and all her students adore her? She probably teaches at another school in Shibuya or something, but Ann strongly supports her. One time Shiho planned a charity event for abuse victims, a volleyball game, and Ann helped gather publicity for it. It was a roaring success and Ann had to assure Shiho that “No, you are not taking advantage of me, I love you and it is for a great cause, don’t ever doubt that.”

Yusuke is still an artist and got a little more popular in the local art circles. His paintings can be seen more frequently in local museums. He and Futaba share a small flat, small flat. They are both broke af. Yusuke’s room consists of a bed and art supplies. Futaba’s is like a cave. They are both not really into cleaning, so it always takes the threat of their friends visiting to actually get them to clean up. Yusuke gains a bit money every now and then though. He always spends it in the most irresponsible manner however. Futaba studied Computer Science/Programming and works to create websites. She mostly works through e-mails. She got a lot better with social contact, but still prefers indirect interactions. Akechi hangs out all over. Every now and then he is seen in Haru’s café trying her new blend, other times he’s in LeBlanc eating the curry exchanging quips with Akira and Ryuji. He drifts everywhere. He shows up in art museums, praising Yusuke as an artist. Directs people to Futaba for their needs, buys random movies that Ann starred in. But no one really knows where to find him?

Akechi has a lot of mystery money, he’s probably the richest of the group but nobody knows how He can aqcuire just about anything and Makoto isn’t sure if she should investigate as a dutiful officer or… Ann and Ryuji start a betting pool. Ryuji says “prostitution”, Ann says “drugs”. After about two years of not figuring it out, everyone has joined in, except for Akira. Akechi’s secret is that his dad had a huggggeee grip on the stock market and Akechi kinda. Inherited all of Shido’s properties once Shido was arrested. Akechi actually told Akira when he first got the properties, shocked at how much money he has now. Akira just laughed a bit. Akira was probably like "good" Because we all know what Shido thought of Akechi. And this is just the perfect opportunity to spite Shido. On the other hand, Akechi didnt want the others to know. He knew the others would just concentrate on the fact that it was Shido’s money. And they’d want Akechi to buy super stupid expensive stuff Ryuji: "Get a golden toilet seat with his name on it." Futaba: "A yacht. Then sink it like we did to his dreams in the metaverse." But Akechi didn’t want them to think about Shido, when they thought about Akechi. Over the years, he genuinely tries to become everyone’s friend by apologizing  and working for forgiveness with everything he could. It takes a long time before everyone, especially Haru, forgives him, but she eventually does and Akechi feels truly free, truly light for the first time in his life. They are all very happy with where they are and they meet bi-weekly, more if possible. The only real problems are Ann and Makoto, because their schedules are unpredictable and who the fuck knows where or when Akechi will appear next, but generally they hang out as much as possible. Makoto always arrived with her motorcycle Johanna and Haru clinging onto her. Haru grips Makoto’s waist like a lifeline with her left. She pulls her head really close, while holding a small bouquet in her right hand. Yusuke and Futaba have to take the bus. Ann would pick them up, but they live in the opposite direction from LeBlanc 2.0 and the two of them would bicker the whole way. Shiho comes when possible, but she does a lot of late night training. No one knows how Akechi really arrives. Either he’s the first one there or doesn’t show up at all. Other friends join them sometimes, too. Hifumi has a lot of busy days, but shows up for some tea occasionally. Mishima is a guest more often, but lives a bit further away now. Either way, they have a fantastic time everytime.

headcanons for togami that took yusukes place in p5, with other dangan ronpa phantom thieves

heres ur headcanons togami! as for how far ill go spoiler wise, i will probably include spoilers for the entire second palace, since i asked mod ouma if i should do so, and he said it should be fine. anyway, i hope u like ur headcanons, togami! if u want any changes just let me know! - mod kiibo - togami couldnt remember much about his life before his mother was gone. he knew that his father wasnt there, but he was starting to forget about his mother. while it was a bit upsetting for him to think about, though, he would do his best not to dwell on it. after all, he was taken in by someone he felt cared for him, so he was okay - he was so grateful to be taken in by someone who would take care of him and teach him how to become an artist that togami found himself not caring if he lived in a raggedy place and had very little money to live off of. as long as he could continue painting and drawing to his hearts desire, he considered himself pretty content - because togami felt that he was being treated well by the man that took him in, he chose to turn a blind eye to all the sketchy things he realized were going on. sure, he was fully aware that strange people would come into his home, and he knew something was happening, but he decided not to believe anything was wrong for his own sake - this mindset of togamis began to change when junko, ruruka, nanami, and komaeda all waltzed into his life. togami didnt want to doubt the man who kept him from living on the streets for ten years, but the more he spent any time with the four of them, the more he just couldnt deny all the facts hitting him in the face - togami found himself feeling incredibly pain when he made his contract and got his persona. after all, taking off those masks for the first time was really painful, almost like ripping off a part of ur body! still, once his contract was made, togami felt empowered. he was ready to change, and he would start by tearing down this palace - despite the fact that his teacher, who encouraged his art, only seemed to care about making money off of the pieces he made, togami was still willing to forgive him. after all, despite all of the terrible, greedy things he had done, this was still the person that took him in after the death of his mother. there had to be some good left in him - once togami discovered that his teacher simply stood there and watched as his mother died, and stole the portrait that she had made, painting over the child in it, togami lost all sense of respect for his teacher, though. how could he forgive someone who let his mother die without saying a word? togami was glad to fight him - after they left his teachers palace, togami was more than happy to join the phantom thieves! he really didnt know how to repay them for all the kindness they were showing him. he promised to stick with the phantom thieves as they recruited kaede, saionji, amami, and kirigiri one by one, helping to change the hearts of those who had become distorted - unlike yusuke, once togami leaves the palace, he does his best to become more responsible with his money. he definitely doesnt want to be like his teacher, but he still thinks its important to be able to eat. plus, if he becomes responsible, he wont have to rely on cheap tactics like art theft to keep him going on the financial aspect of life - togami is really thankful to have been able to meet the phantom thieves. they changed his life, and he was able to make lots of new friends thanks to their adventures together. not only did they help him become much less lonely, but they also gave him a much deeper appreciation for art created by people who loved art and not money

just past the fourth dungeon in p5 and i am. hmmm. ive got some things to say about ryuji sakamoto, mostly about how im not super feelin the way he’s being handled by the writing in this part. spoilers under the cut. and also it got like, super long i am sorry

first of all: dont get me wrong i love the boy. ive always been a sucker for the Starter Best Friend and honestly, ryuji is the best one yet hes a sweetheart!! 

but. BUT. his dialogue goes to shit after makoto’s dungeon. 

one of my fav qualities about ryuji is that he’s got a huge heart, yeah? like, he cares about people, and he doesnt like injustice and he loves his mom. dude deadass tackled a guy in armor to help some rando in glasses out, is all im sayin.

after a point it just. 

stops.

you don’t see ryuji helping out old ladies at the train station (a real thing i cant with this boy, i swear) hes just talking about picking up chicks and being famous and being the butt of jokes and im like. nah. that aint why im here dude.

and the BIGGEST EXAMPLE of how ryuji doesnt sound the same is the thing with morgana. i mean ok, i guess he and mona snipe at each other all the time? but this kind of focus on how morgana is useless now just feels a little ooc. ryuji cares about people a lot! to zero in on one of his friends insecurities and start stabbing at it, over and over... it doesnt feel like hes even doing it on accident. it feels almost deliberate.

...you know what would have been better? if it was ryuji who carelessly tossed out a joke about how futaba could just replace morgana so he wouldnt have someone on his ass all the time, which, you know. im p sure thats how morgana and ryuji express affection for each other, they get shouty. and its not as if morgana hasnt been doing the same, considering his nav dialogue.

but the thing is, ann and makoto are on the side going "i feel much more at ease with you here, futaba" because, you know. theyre trying to make futaba feel welcome! but this kinda implies that they didnt feel at ease before, when morgana was the only one who could support them. also, this would hurt more because mona has a crush on ann and she's sort of saying that he's unreliable.

and it could lead to the same conclusion, but it doesnt end with me being ???? at my boy’s behavior!

and his whole thing about fame, and girls....gosh, i dont even. they’re doubling down on all the negative sides of ryuji’s personality and none of the positives, while that doesn’t seem to be happening with the rest of the cast like

i guess thats what im getting at here, huh? this stuff about fame is a very real problem, and i can see it coming into focus for real later on in the game. so they do need to establish it now, i get that. but why couldnt they spread it out amongst the rest of the team? dont just point at ryuji  and be all “LOOK. LOOK AT THAT ARE YOU UNCOMFORTABLE WITH HOW THE FAME’S GONE TO HIS HEAD YET? NO?? THEN LETS DIAL IT UP EVEN M ORE” and it would be fascinating to see how the idea of fame would affect the rest of the cast in different ways, and then watching them snap out of it with the introduction of a new character, maybe realizing just how easy it is to let your heart be corrupted. that would be cool!!! but nah, i guess. :/

idk, i just wanted to vent. my boy’s getting so frustrating in game right now, and i dont know what to do.

(also? his confidant is cute n all but... i kinda wanted something dealing with him coming to terms with the fact that he probably won’t ever be a track star anymore, and that he can’t stagnate and keep dwelling on what could have been, but instead move on and do what he can with what he’s got -- hell, that would even fit with the meaning of the chariot arcana in reverse. this has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that i sort of want him to be a physical therapist or something to help kids in the future, hush)