My highest priority is to be next to you

Been thinking about how Rise spent every spare moment at school absolutely WRESTLING with the intrusive thoughts telling her to crank that fire alarm

So hamuko is just this @ shinji then?

YES THAT IS EXACTLY IT she's biting and kicking and biting and kicking and he doesn't even flinch. bc he's a massive dude who's capable of winning actual street fights and she's just a tiny little guy

I haven't gotten my own grubby hands on it yet

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and I'm debating on whether I'm going to pick it up or hold off for a switch port/femc edition, I'm WATCHING YOU ATLUS you and your scummy dlc practices (seems like Episode Aegis/The Answer will be remade too but as DLC which is a lil scummy sigh)

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but one thing I'm really impressed with so far having watched playthroughs of it here and there is the translation and smaller changes to the writing! The script seems a lot more character-nuanced (Junpei and Yukari), generally the flow and timing is a lot nicer and Japanese terminology is properly handled and not given that weird "weeb-ish" effect that the original version + p4 kinda had a bit of a problem with, like changing around honorifics + name usage to "dumb it down" for western audiences.

I still wanna make at least one more femc round before going to reload so I'll still keep to Portable for Femc superiority but the remake looks gorgeous and like a grest remake of the original! I hope everyone enjoys their brain chemistry changing experience in Persona 3~~ (it's not like it's my favorite or anything pff noo where did you get that idea?? HHAHAHAHA)

Just saw Joker described as a '2nd year' in the P5 Tactica information, which is gaaaaaaaaaaaaaah--

I swear, for a series with a message of moving forward, Persona (see: Atlus) sure loves to avoid moving forward. Never mind complaints about more P5 content -- I'm here for side games and returning character storylines -- they are keeping the Phantom Thieves stuck in a Peter Pan state.

Where is that willingness to move forward that came with the P4 Arena games? For the P3 and P4 kids? Man, just the P4G epilogue alone took us as far as Strikers did timeline-wise.

And speaking of Strikers, the sole actual sequel to P5? Evading or hiding half of the characters we'd be love to revisit, and generally dodging Royal's entire existence? Woof.

Speaking of persona 3, idk if this was a thing in the original (i only played femc's route in portable sorry), but innocent sin online is PACKED with references in reload. there's the obvious persona 2 duology references, maya mentions lunarvale at some point (which is the name atlus used for mikage-cho in revelations), the innocent sin online logo is stylised like the soul hackers logo and maya is dressed like yuka/the heroine from smt 1. Holy shit. And all of these are just from the first 3 ranks of her social link.

the t4t girlies btw. if you even care.

if i see another half assed makoto is a bootlicker take im gonna fucking s c r e a m (not directed at u just agreeing with ur post)

Oh yeah no you're absolutely right like it's true that Atlus are very tone deaf when it comes to Makoto and her whole wanting to join a police but that's on ATLUS not Makoto herself as a character because like it doesn't even make sense for her??? Like she's seen her father get killed on duty and her sister be corrupted so to speak by this line of work so why the fuck would she want to go into it and change? Especially considering P5 SHOWS US how corrupt the cops are so it's just really weird writing... On ATLUS' part... Idk it low-key makes me annoyed that people are able to forgive bad writing with certain characters but not extend that same curtsy to Makoto.

I had a random thought this morning... (SPOILERS for Persona 3, Persona 4 Golden, Persona 5 Royal Below) But is it really so hard to believe that a blood oath with Akechi would save him from his fate when there's a shit ton of precedent in the Persona series for miracles like this? o.o Persona 3 Portable: Shinjiro lives if you maximize his Social Link. Persona 3 FES and onward, Chidori's life can be saved if you do the right tasks. Persona 4 Golden: Maximize your bond with Marie, she gets to continue living in the human world. I don't think it's a coincidence that only if you maximize your bond with Akechi does he appear in the postcredits. And I hate all the excuses like "we don't know that it's him" because, guys. There is no other character in Persona 5 who wears that outfit. He only appears if you max his link. Why would Atlus tease Akechi's survival, which only happens if you go out of your way to bond with him, just for it to be a rando? They've stated Akechi's survival is up to the player in interviews and that the ending where he walks by is the kind of ending a player who wants him alive would see. And in the Persona world, a strong bond or wish can make miracles happen. You see it with Morgana, too, as his bonds to the Thieves are what allows him to stay in the real world as a cat. If anything, it's a testament to the strength in Akechi and Joker's bond if you have seen it to its conclusion.

I don't think it's a coincidence that when you speak to Muhen on the final day, with a max bond, Joker remembers the glove, remembers their promise, and is adamant that they'll meet again.

This is just a pattern in Persona. A really interesting one. You really don't need a deep, intricate reason for Akechi to live post-Royal (though that can be fun to explore). Sometimes it's just as simple as "a bond can make miracles happen." He gets the endure skill at Rank 10, which lets you survive a fatal attack, and this was only added in Royal. ;)

Just realized that Crow and Violet enter the Phantom thieves group with the same condition, though not the same circumstances.

They both first Joined as a fake of themselves, fooling everyone. Then they were a 2-phase boss fight, where the true self gets revealed. Then they join the team, for good and for real.

Hmmmmmmmmm

ANON YOU'RE SO RIGHT I'M

I'll always be a little sad that Atlus never went all-in on the SumiGoro friendship/parallels potential... o7 another fallen dynamic for the pit

in all seriousness, though: many people have talked about the Akechi and Sumire parallels far better than I ever could, but I'll talk some more anyway!

I think the most obvious parallel is in who they admire/resent. Sumire, obviously, admires Kasumi in every way- undercut with resentment that she's scared to ackowledge. Akechi, meanwhile, resents Joker to hell and back, undercut with layers of admiration that he refuses to admit to (+ uh. shauke angst HAHA)

Both are lying to themselves about their other halves, but even more interestingly: Both Kasumi and Joker see Sumire and Akechi respectively as their equals/rivals, despite everything, and even though it may seem that one half is clearly better than the other at first glance.

Sumire's coach, during the Faith confidant, tells Sumire how Kasumi had worked so hard because she knew if she didn't, Sumire would catch up to her- that Kasumi was jealous of Sumire's grace (Ironic, as meanwhile Sumire was desperate to emulate Kasumi's boldness)

Joker's a bit different -silent protag, and all- but, even still: "I'll hold onto you're glove", "I won't lose"- so much of Joker's dialogue about Akechi makes it clear that he takes the other seriously. Plus, the consistent reminders that the promise for a rematch hasn't been fulfilled: clearly, Joker doesn't consider the interrogation room nor the engine room 'fair fights', or true indicators of either's skill (stop me before I go on a tangent)

It's not just Joker=Kasumi and Sumire=Akechi, though. The fact that both sides of each equation are equals means that some lines get crossed. I'm thinking Kasumi's "Because that's my right, as the elder sister!" vs. Akechi's "Going all out against a junior seems a bit gauche, don't you think?"- both Kasumi and Akechi seem to have this idea that they have to be better (a bit of speculation on my part, for Kasumi)- they have no excuse to lose; it's only natural if they win, and incredibly dissapointing otherwise.

back to crow/violet parallels, they also act as excellent foils for each other in the royal trio dynamic: Sumire, when faced with low self-esteem and terrible circumstances, latches onto people that she considers "better"- imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, after all! And Sumire has imitation in spades.

Akechi, meanwhile, distances himself from pretty much everyone. He seems to value shallow praise of people that don't really see, rather than experience the mortifying ordeal of being known, and whatnot.

but even then, Akechi does have some similar tendencies to Sumire- he just hides it under layers of deflection and lying to himself. He claims to absolutely hate Shido and Joker, and while I don't doubt that, necessarily, it's clearly far more complicated than that. Akechi, no matter how he feels about them, lives and dies by the will of his obsessions- and by the time of the third semster, he's had enough. (while, conversely, Sumire hasn't quite learned to stand on her own)

Actually, speaking of the third semester; Maruki's reality also highlights some similarities between the two, as the two people most egregiously edited by the false reality: Sumire, back to believing she's Kasumi, and Akechi as "I've never had a violent thought in my life!" pleasant boy. Those two are the only members of the PT where Maruki goes straight for the personality.

whoops. long post HAHA

Eyes of the SEES members ~

I’ve always admired artstyles where every character has super unique and recognizable vibes, so decided to try it with the gang. Super fun, highly recommend!

In the process of designing these I developed headcanons for each of their eyes, kind weird but if you want to read me ranting about why I drew Yukaris pupils a certain way or whatever, feel free to click read more lol.

Makoto: I wanted him to look tired, so a lot of his eyelashes go downward instead of upwards, also eye bags because he has insomnia and you can’t convince me otherwise. I didn’t want his eyes to look hollow/empty, but I didn’t want to put super obvious highlights and I think it works? Idk. Also drew his eyes in a way that reminds me of the ocean at night (Atlus gave me a ocean/water motif and I run with it ok?). His eyebrows are kinda “messy” in comparison to the others but I think it makes his eyes prettier so it is in character to me.

Yukari: I wanted her eyes to look a little more intense and turned them a little to give them a slightly “angry look”. Yukari should have a light case of rbf imo. I feel like Yukari puts a lot of effort into her appearance, and she probably wears more makeup but I cannot draw that to save my life lmao. Her eyebrows are probably the least messy other than Mitsurus, for the same reason as the previous one. Also hard to tell, but I put hearts in her pupils because it’s cute. Really proud of these ones, they read like hers so well to me.

Junpei: Junpeis eyes were so fun to draw! I feel like he’d have pretty short lashes and slightly smaller eyes, but still very vibrant! I really wanted his eyes to look full of life but still pretty simple, and I think I did pretty well! They feel very expressive to me. Also I feel like he’d have naturally very thin eyebrows, so gave him that lol.

Akihiko: idk how I feel about these, but I guess they’re alright? Gave him a kinda intense stare ig. I gave him really long natural eyelashes because I feel like he’d have them (canonical pretty boy that he is) and I’m somewhat proud of them because I stuggle with making longer eyelashes look masculine so guess this is a win. Gave him an eyebrow slit because I was so sure he had one in p4arena only to find out he didn’t even have eyebrows in it. What.

Fuuka: I feel like Fuukas neutral expression would still look slightly confused/concerns so her eyes are a little droopy. Gave her short but thick eyebrows because I thought it would be cute. Her eyes kinda remind me of rain and I like that! Also sidenote love the fact that official art draws fuuka with teal eyebrows. The implication that she was either born with teal hair or is so dedicated to the dye job she even dyed her eyebrows is hilarious to me. I know blue is treated as a normal hair color in persona-universe but Fuuka is literally the only one with teal hair how is it not dyed but yosuke and chies is??

Mitsuru: I wanted Mitsuru to be pretty. I gave her thinner but crisp eyebrows and eyeliner. I was a little worried because before I started shading her eyes looked kinda evil?? Lol but they turned out better in the end. Didn’t do a lot of details in her eyes because it felt like it worked better that way, but gave her bright highlights in her eyes to make up for it.

Aigis: These are my least favorite, and the first ones I did. Not sure if thats awful, because I wanted them to be very different from the rest. I feel like Aigis doesn’t actually have this wide eyes but willingly widens them so you can see the whole iris. I feel like her eyes would look more normal at a distance, and most of her classmates just assume she’s got weird eyes because they’re an uncommon eye color (major “give her brown contacts please” energy). Made her eyes look like does target-thingys and slightly plastic-y.

Ken: I didn’t want his eyes to be to bright, but still lively and childish. I gave him round wide eyes + smaller and thicker eyebrows to give a more childish feel. His eyelashes are pretty short but made them point more downwards since they looked too cheerful when turned upwards.

Shinjiro: dunno how readable these are as shinji, but theyre fine. Made his eyes very dark and put bright highlights cause I thought it looked better than the grey he actually has. Also gave him major eyebags because man has not had a good nights rest since like. Last October (sorry)

Round 4: Chara Dreemurr (Undertale) vs. Ken Amada (Persona 3)

Propaganda below the cut

Chara Dreemurr (?):

They were constantly blamed for killing all of monster kind in the no mercy route, despite players choosing to go that route. People ignored that they sacrificed themselves to attempt to free the monsters from the underground.

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everyone wants to blame their own actions (genocide route) on chara, who is a literal child. i don’t know how to tell you this but you are the one playing the game. it’s about YOUR CHOICES. chara is there is punish you for that, you killed the only family that ever loved them! how could they not be upset at that! also if you don’t mind, here’s a good video essay on the subject 

Ken Amada (11):

y'all are all for "murder and revenge plots" until is a 10 y/o boy who watched his mother die and started to become conflicted after realizing his moms killer is a secretly kind traumatized teenager to the point where the 10 y/o boy attempts to kill himself by giving himself up to assassins.

bro he's 10.

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ken amada is such an interesting character with the unfortunate circumstances of having little screentime and atlus deciding to ruin his reputation forever by giving him a romance choice in the fem protag route. ken is a child who lost his mother at NINE. nobody ever believed him when he said that she was murdered, and that he saw who killed her. hes miserable, and all everyone around him does is give him sympathy while hes suffering and was forced to grow up before even going into middle school. hes angry and determined to get revenge on the person who killed his mother, and he doesnt even see the own value in living anymore beyond getting that revenge. hes more mature than most of his peers, and is desperate to be seen as an adult.but at the same time, he is still a child who likes superhero shows.

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OH GOD WHERE DO I START

First there's the normal "The fandom hates kids" complaints of "He's so whiny" "he's so annoying" "oh my god kid just SHUT UP" y'know, the typical fandom stuff that makes you wonder if these people have ever talked to a child in their life

Second, there's (spoilers)...

October 4th, and the ENTIRE FANDOM is calling this kid a murderer.

For context, the moment in question doesn't necessarily paint him in the best light but its still understandable. Your team is going on a mission while Ken and another character named Shinjiro are away. In an alleyway, they have a talk where it is revealed that on that night a year priar to the game, Kens mom was killed in that allleyway by Shinjiro's Persona (Which, by the Rules of the Game Lore, basically means By Shinjiro). Ken tried to tell the authorities, the authorities didn't believe him because Magic Reasons and the death was ruled an accident.

Of course Ken is Fucking Pissed and wants revenge

However, because of Talk, he ACTIVELY CALMS DOWN, and realises "Hey, I probably shouldn't kill someone. Despite them, y'know, killing my mom"

HOWEVER REVOLVER JESUS COMES IN AND RUINS EVERYTHING BY SHOOTING SHINJIRO. AND LIKE, IF YOU PLAY P3P YOU CAN /AVOID THE DEATH THING/

AND EVERYONE BLAMES /KEN/. AND ONLY KEN.

And third (yes, there's a THIRD) IS THE FUCKING FEMC ROMANCE THING. WHICH JUST...SHOULDN'T HAVE EXISTED IN THE FIRST PLACE. BUT NOW HE'S "SHOTA BAIT" BECAUSE WE HAVE TO BLAME THE CHILD FOR THE AUTHORITY FIGURE COMING ONTO THEM 😒

Been doing some thinking about the characterization implications of Makoto's aikido black belt, and the interesting contrast between aikido and her Metaverse weapon.

Like, to start with, the fact that Makoto knows aikido specifically says a lot. Aikido is extremely not an aggressive martial art. It's a little difficult to translate something like a martial art name from Japanese into English, but the one I always heard was "way of the harmonious spirit". I'm not going to do a deep dive on it, just summarize a couple of the most relevant points, but it was created by a war veteran who was inspired by a spiritual experience. His guiding concept was like... self-defense without hurting the aggressor.

(Disclaimer: I obviously only studied in one school! Although all of aikido shares the same overall principles, there may be some schools out there that are extra-aggressive. However, given that we lack any indication of what style of aikido Makoto studies, I would guess that it's not anything wild or unusual.)

Aikido focuses on using an attacker's energy and momentum against them. You learn throwing and pinning techniques to defend against various attacks, but specifically techniques where you can pull back before you cause serious damage. You don't learn barehanded strikes at all, except as much as you need to know to initiate fake attacks to help your partners practice. And you don't need to know how to throw a really good, dangerous punch for that. I had years of aikido training and I still sure as fuck can't. At more advanced levels, you start to learn other things such as weapons forms, but even those aren't really attacks. You just perform a ritualized series of movements against imaginary enemies.

It's not the world's most practical martial art, to be honest, although someone who's really skilled can get good use out of it. If Makoto claims she can use it to ensure her safety, she must be that good, because I expect she's too practical to delude herself with false confidence. More importantly! It takes years to get a black belt, like it does in any martial art. So little middle-schooler Makoto looked at all the martial arts on offer in Tokyo, which I imagine is pretty much every martial art on earth, and decided aikido was the one for her.

It suits her, and continues to suit her up through the end of canon. She's not Ryuji; outside the Metaverse, she's not going to start a physical fight. But she's perfectly willing to finish one. Given her family history and personal values, it makes sense that she'd be drawn to the idea of defending herself, but not in a way that causes unnecessary pain. It's also considered a good martial art for women, due to the lack of emphasis on size and strength.

But pre-canon Makoto is also very repressed, very focused on being composed and perfect. Aikido promises self-defense and an outlet, but nothing too aggressive. Nothing that looks too loud or rebellious. Martial arts are male-dominated practices; by studying one at all, she's already being a little bit out of the ordinary. Best not to stand out too much.

And then she gets into the Metaverse.

It's easy to think that the brass knuckles and the punching make use of her martial arts background, but they don't. At all. Makoto has absolutely not learned how to strike with her fists to cause damage during her training, at least not like people envision. If Atlus wanted to go that route, they'd have given her a karate backstory or something similar.

And if they wanted her to know aikido and wanted to carry her training into the Metaverse, they could've given her a staff, which she will have learned forms for during aikido training. The other classic aikido weapons are already taken, or at least the non-wooden versions are lol. But no one else among the Thieves uses a staff. Makoto the warrior monk with her jo staff and her Pope persona would be a coherent design.

But Atlus didn't do that either. Instead, they gave her brass knuckles (among other fist weapons, I know, I know) and let her punch the shit out of her enemies. That's not merely unlike her training; it's in total opposition to the core tenets of aikido. No "way of the harmonious spirit", no self-reflection, no pacifism. She's going to beat up Shadows for justice.

In short, the brass knuckles are an emblem of her rebellion within the Metaverse. They come from the same place as her spiky leather outfit and motorcycle Persona. In the real world, student council president Makoto isn't afraid of anyone hitting her or grabbing her because she can put them on the ground before they can blink. Like I said, I think aikido suits her really well, even without her pre-canon baggage. But in the Metaverse, Queen doesn't bother to wait for an attack. She hits first. <3

the thing about me is i have never played p4 and it’s probable that i never will but i do consider rise to be my blorbo and i will act like i am right about her

No, Atlus did not say that the culprit was originally Dojima

I've tried to find the source on this before and I could never find it. So until I see a Japanese source, I'm going with the assumption that the idea of "Dojima originally being the culprit" is some made up bullshit internet rumor.

Where it comes from might be what Soejima said in the Perfect Works about Dojima's design:

The highlighted part says that this prototype design of Dojima was rejected because he looked more like a guy who just got released from prison than a cop.

I can absolutely see "he looked like a criminal" turning into "he was the culprit" over time on the internet. And this made up rumor has really Gone Places. People made up justifications for it, like, "Oh Atlus said they changed it because then the story would be too dark". And then there are people who go, "It must have been changed because of the part where Nanako gets kidnapped". (Adachi didn't even kidnap Nanako, tho?)

It reminds me of how the remarks about Persona 5's Hifumi Togo's character design got misread to be "Hifumi was originally a Phantom Thief but got cut for time". Maybe she was cut as a Phantom Thief because Then The Story Would be Too Dark. I've also seen "Yukiko was originally the culprit" but uhh that feels like a joke someone started about her cooking and people took it super seriously. (Her description in the Perfect Works doesn't say anything about her being the culprit either.)

Notably, the Perfect Works does say that Adachi was originally a misdirect and his design changed to its current iteration when he became the culprit. But it doesn't say who the culprit originally was before Adachi.

Edit: Turns out that yes, actually, Atlus did say that they were considering Yukiko and then Yosuke for the role of the true culprit before Adachi.

persona 5 au where its good <3

- someone's confidant rank would affect their dialogue outside the confidan, so people's character development can't magically evaporate

- they would be normal about women and teenage girls.

- actually examine the implications of anything it brings up especially about policing and the justice system no really atlus you're telling me someone who thinks about this shit as much as makoto niijima does would still want to be a cop after everything that happens, including that she's saying this to a literal victim of police brutality. you really think this makes sense for the character you've created, atlus? or did you just make a game that claims to talk about Big Ideas without even thinking about that yourself listen to me --

- would actually consider if a game event adds anything of value to the experience before putting it in the story. it still kind of amazes me that the hawaii trip is that useless and unimportant when it's in a part of the story that's already dragging. who thought this was a good idea

- let me be gay you cowards