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based on interactions between me and my fiance

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every so often I remember that Ren not only went to prison once, but three times. each time it was either outright shown, or implied that he suffered extreme physical, mental, and emotional abuse at the hands of the authorities. in fact, in the vanilla ending of p5 they outright say "hey did you lose weight?" and then Ryuji jokingly says "well prison food is bland". it's meant to make light of the situation but we know from the opening that they will do anything to fabricate a confession and close a case.

and Ren himself will gloss over all of this and he'll never outright mention the shit he went through each time. and he no doubt has lasting physical and mental scars from what he went through. I can imagine him flinching slightly at touch, or literally having actual flash backs to those hellish times. because remember he went to prison/juvie for the false conviction, again after infiltrating Sae's palace, then he turns himself in one final time to save his friends, making a deal with Sae and was placed in solitary confinement.

post p5 Ren has a lot of mental, emotional and physical scars. he's been abandoned by his parents, faced the worst of the justice system, and he still is selfless enough to sacrifice himself for his friends and help people expecting nothing in return. he can't look away from a person in need. Ren feels a lot, deeply. he's quiet, calm, collected even. but it's all a mask. he feels a lot. he just controls it well.

tbh I have no doubt that the day he "maxed" his bond with Sojiro and Sojiro told him that he'd protect him until march, Ren definitely went to his room late at night and probably cried into Morgana's fur and his pillow because Sojiro would've been the first adult in his life who was actually looking out for him. I have a lot of thoughts about Ren and how fucked up his life is. because his parents were like "aight guess our son's someone else's problem".

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the tiniest of crumbs of postcanon (?) / college au for you (i still don’t know what it is)

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what makes it special

…. rogo acheki finally embraces the gay panic ….

… and here are the fav frames as always

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akechi: :)

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...!

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this happens like five times in game

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🚃 🚃 🚃

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Been a while, but more P5 x Omori battle screens‼️ This time with Goro Akechi fights 💔

● Extra P5 x Omori battle screens

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working hard hardly working etc

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no not the cops!

#this is a joke but fr p5 is the darkest persona game imo because of how much of a social commentary it squeezes in

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There's something just so fascinating at how Persona 5 finds ways to explain the complex personality of the protagonist. Besides the typical cheeky answer options that we get when we're asked a question, the game is oozing with his personality in every turn.

We know from the cutscenes that he's a confident son of a bitch that doesn't give a rat's ass about how people see him. We also know from these cutscenes that he just can't help himself from getting nosy into people's business when he perceives an injustice even if it has nothing to do with him. Even with just the first few ones, we could see it. Just from the infamous "damn brat!" scene, to how he shows genuine anger when hearing his classmate talk about his new abusive teacher even before he becomes a phantom thief.

Despite his confident demeanor, the games songs meanwhile paint an entirely different picture of him. "Wake up, Get up, Get out There!" tells us that this confidence is new and that he himself has just found his edge. He came from a background of uncertainty and only now after recognizing how powerless he is that he could finally rebel.

Even with this rebellion, we know for a fact that he's still ever so lost as ever from "Beneath the Mask", being the calm song that plays on his downtimes that completely recontextualizes his actions. The song explains how our protagonist not only doesn't want to be perceived by people, but also how he doesn't even know who he is. He doesn't want people to "take off his mask" which is his "place to hide" and see that he's nothing but a "shapeshifter" who's so nothing of a person that anyone is "free to draw" him.

This then leads to some interesting take aways from his other actions like his relationships. None of his relationships are unconditional. All of them are transactional one way or another. Even with his teammates, there are stakes to improving them. Morgana starts their friendship by teaching him the ways of infiltration in exchange for helping Mona get his form back, Ryuji and him have shared stakes of being a phantom thief thus training together, Ann starts their main friendship by trying to get her persona stronger so she becomes a better fighter and phantom thief, etc. - all of them start with transactions. This is even more poignant with his non phantom thief relationships as all of them he wants something out of, and even most of them he doesn't initiate. Morgana does.

From what we know of his history and how he doesn't even know who he is, it could be assumed that he doesn't trust people easily and relationships must always have a catch to them. Coming from a background where he has been beaten, ostracized, and neglected, it's really not surprising that he acts this way either. Even the least of those events happening to anyone could make them distrust others to make them view the world that way.

This is why it's so fitting that Joker is often compared to a cat - a mischievous creature that often causes problems, seemingly so full of itself, but so prone to being abused and distrusting others. He's a stray cat that came from a lot of abuse and isn't willing to let anyone in for fear of its safety. That's why the small little character details and even major aspects of the game really paint an interesting picture of the protagonist that just fascinates the heck out of me

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PERSONA FANS, what was the general message/lesson of the Persona series? (Wrong answers only)

#grooming minors is good when women do it actually

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This son of a bich istg Akira

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Had a sudden urge to play persona 5 again, and this shit. never not thinking about it.

#ah yes of course they’re just platonic rivals #what day does this come up

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THATS WHAT IM SAYING

Man. Goro being in strikers wouldve been soooo fucking good. Especially w the surprisingly good writing and plot??? You have to live w the consequences of your mistakes? You dont get to just Die and leave the mess you made behind? You have to confront the people youve hurt and accept that they may never forgive you? That people who care about you and love you will support you even when youre at rock bottom as long as u show a willingness to change and do better? This wouldve been a perfect way to tie up Goros whole story in neat little bow 😔😔😔

#also it would be a nice addition to see sumire in her element bc so much of her plot was a setup for the twist cognition victim