#there is no point to this post i just love p5 strikers

[plushiehamuko]

i love persona 5 strikers every day i miss that game so much and i get the urge to replay it. the natsume jail remains my favorite palace or jail out of both persona 5 games to this day DON'T EVEN fight me on this. and sophia is one of my absolute top 10 persona characters SHE'S SO GOOD. also the mechanic where you can run around as any party member of your choosing is one of the most fun features ever. catch me running around as my katana-wielding foxy gayboy for the whole game up in this bitch. absolutely top tier. more people should play strikers

#squishy talks too much #there is no point to this post i just love p5 strikers #p3p > p5s > p5r YOU CAN HATE ME ALL YOU WANT BUT I WILL DIE WITH THIS OPINION

[saikolikes]

Aki’s P5R  fanfic recs! (part 2)

Hi and welcome to another one of my recs posts! As you can see, this is part two: part one of this post can be found HERE and includes fics I bookmarked between April 2019 and December 2020. This second post will deal with everything I bookmarked during 2021 and 2022 (... so yes, part 3 is bound to happen some times in the future)

Here a brief disclaimer:

Everything in here is spoiler for either P5 vanilla, Royal, or Strikers;

I won’t report the tags, as it would take too long, so if you’re interested in a fic, please open the link;

Fic recs obviously reflect my tastes and preferences. For example, I love suffering and I don’t like fluff or domestic works, so browse this list knowing that;

The stark majority of the works here is shuakeshu

If you want more recs you can find them in my bookmarks, most of them are public!

MY ONGOING RECS Again, I don't read a lot of ongoing works (although, admittedly more than in the past) and these are the ones I'm subscribed to that I'm adoring!

The Lovers, Reversed by salexectria, Terra5 (E) | Royalty a/b/o AU | akeshu | series in three parts, ongoing "A Thief is caught stealing from the Northern King, and is sentenced to death for his crimes. The Alpha Prince intervenes, but at what cost to them both?" What I love about this AU is the amount of politics and worldbuilding put into it, as well as the uniqueness of double povs who constantly switch from Akira to Goro creating one back and forth that acts literally like poking into their minds. Plus the slow burn and the pining are just on point.

never die when I'm dead by threerings (E) | Royal & post-Royal | akeshu | series in 2 parts, ongoing Two one shots featuring one of my absolute flavors of this ship: sad, intense and unhinged

IDC FOR UPDATES I resolved to defeat my abandoned-wip trauma one excellent fic at a time so here's a list of works that haven't been updated in a while or the author straight up confirmed they won't keep writing them, but they are so good you just have to read them and let them remodel you. Do it. Do it now.

the year of the knife by theexistentiallyqueer (M) | No powers AU | shuakeshu | 2 chapters "The plan for Akira's junior year of high school was to keep his head down and his nose clean, but he hadn't counted on his new high school having more trouble than it was worth--and he specifically didn't plan on Akechi Goro, the haughty, machiavellian vice president of Shujin Academy's student council, dragging him face-first into political scandal and a series of encounters that would change his life." Please let teq bring you through a journey of spot-on characterization and stunning prose that will rewire your brain chemistry completely. Their take on machiavellian Akechi is really good, and the snark Akira spits in this fic is really something I cherish.

kiss & cry by MajorGodComplex (T) | Figure skating AU | shuakeshu | 2 chapters "Goro’s first thought when he hits the ground is some combination of the words ‘shit fuck hell fucking bullshit bitch fuck motherfucking hell.’ His next thought is wondering whether Akira Kurusu, senior debut, constant thorn in Goro’s side, and the only person anyone this season seems to talk about, is also trying to land a quad axel at the moment." I don't know what to tell you, the prose of this one is so witty and funny you just have to read what's published of it as of now!

honeybrains by succubused (T) | Time loop | shuakeshu | 4 chapters "a chronicle of the twenty-fourth time akira kurusu lived through the month of january 2017" What can I say, I am really a sucker for time loops and this fic took me by the heart. Tagged as character study and with rights because the characterization here is very interesting!

in the snow globe by aminami (E) | Time travel | shuake | 1 chapter "It’s your heart,” Joker says like it’s the most obvious thing. “Your desires, your hopes, your fears. I’ll carry them with me always. My little snow globe." This fic will hurt you so badly but it will be so worth it, I swear. It's just so melancholic and tender and angsty and it carved a place in my heart.

my love has never lived indoors by rhodophytae (E) | a/b/o | shuake | 1 chapter "Ren Amamiya knows he's an alpha, and he's comfortable with that, but he's pretty sure that being an alpha is, well...different for him than it is for other people. He resigned himself a long time ago to the fact that he'd probably go his whole life without finding anyone else like him. And then he meets Goro Akechi." This fic has such an interesting take on omegaverse! Paired with a stellar characterization and delicious pining, it's no surprise it's a fic I will never forget.

GENERAL RECS The fics I’ve enjoyed the most and that I go back to reading sometimes.

how joker and crow survived the coronavirus pandemic of 2020 by shntlvs (T) | Royal | shuakeshu | series of 2 works "Escaping from Maruki's false reality gets interrupted by the Coronavirus pandemic." Could you have ever imagined reading a fic centered around the pandemic? Me neither, but this one and its sequel work so well and have very compelling bits of characterization for the boys. Unexpected premise, but I utterly loved it.

straw house, straw dog by caelam (T) | 3rd sem | gen | one shot "In the saccharine utopia of Maruki’s reality, Goro Akechi’s mother is still alive." I admittedly don't read too many fics with mamakechi so I won't claim to be an expert, but this one really left me impressed with how clear and tangible the tangle of feelings is.

Knight of Pentacles, King of Spades by Naometry (M) | Medieval AU | shuakeshu | 11 chapters "“Hifumi passed on your greetings,” Akira Kurusu says, fury simmering beneath his conversational tone. “And I’m polite enough to give you my own in person. So greetings, General Goro Akechi. I am the man who will kill you.”" I started reading this fic for the war captive trope but this story has so much more to it than just that. Nao's superb skill with writing violence and viciousness will have you thrust into a cruel world where two boys seem to be bound to kill each other... unless?

Ripples by Riona (T) | gen | canon compliant | one shot "Ten people know exactly who the news is talking about, and now they’re going to have to deal with that." A peek into the heads of 10 of Joker's confidants upon learning about his death. The fic I would never imagined myself reading, but I did because it was recced to me, and now I'm recc'ing it to you, too.

When Your Eyes Meet Mine by seths_dream (E) | no powers AU | shuake | one shot "The way the bellboy lingered on him made his heart jolt, made him think that maybe, maybe the bellboy was looking at Goro the same way Goro was looking at him." I've lost count of how many times I read this fic because the horny is just so juicy, it's unironically one of the fics I come back to when I need to remind myself how to write horny stuff. (the same author also wrote this delicious pegoryu that you have to read)

a study in what not to say by succubused (T) | 3rd sem | shuake | one shot "Akira has finally had enough of Akechi's bullshit; they resolve it the only ways they know how." If you like the boys being really nasty to each other, this fic is a must. It has excellent dialogue, dynamics, and a tad of homoerotic wound tending which can't hurt no one!

MY ALL-TIME FAVOURITES The fics that rewired my brain chemistry, took my heart out, slapped it, put it back, and left me a whole new person.

27 steps to seduce a crow by relationshipcrimes (G) | Royal | shuakeshu | one shot "A handy bullet-pointed list on how to flirt with, seduce, and keep your local Akechi Goro." Still to this day, I think of this fic in terms of Goro's characterization. If I have a thing for post-canon shuake chasing each other, it's probably due to this one.

The Brigverse by TzviaAriella (E but most works are M) | Pirates AU | akeshuake | series, ongoing I admittedly don't care that much about pirates but the og fic from this series (A Brig Too Far) was being passed on so much that I gave it a try and. Oh boy. Not only is the characterization impeccable, the story compelling, and the action thrilling, but at least one scene and/or line from each work in this series has altered my brain permanently. I am a new person after reading Brigverse.

wild and free by bangandawhimper (E) | a/b/o | shuakeshu | one shot "Akira Kurusu hasn’t always been an omega. But now everyone he meets in this city assumes he’s an omega. He’s treated like an omega. He feels like an omega. He knows he feels like an omega because he remembers what it was to be an alpha." This work might have my favourite take ever on shuakeshu omegaverse, it's so fitting for them, so thought out, and the characterization is so on point... my god. Read this fic now.

The Diamond Chest by kinneas (E) | post-Royal | shuakeshu | 3 chapters, complete "Who says you have to see Morgana speak in the Metaverse before you can hear him in the real world? Not the few hundred officers who arrested Ren in Sae’s Palace two years ago, that’s for sure." Honestly everything kinnes writes is gold but I'm shouting this fic out because I reread more than a few scenes from this fic more than once, and it's a 100k-words baby. I am a sucker for heist stories, I am a sucker for dealing with trauma in very tangible ways, and I'm a sucker for kinneas' characterization of the boys.

before midnight by specterthief (Not rated) | 3rd sem, canon compliant | gen | one shot "“I—” Swallowing past the lump in her throat, Sumire sets down her chopsticks and rubs her face with both hands. “Um—who told you I was going to training camp?” (On January 9th, Sumire goes home.)" This is the stellar Sumire characterization fic you're looking for. Read this. Read this right now.

I HOPE THIS DOESN'T AWAKEN SOMETHING IN ME (DELUSIONAL) I clicked on these fics solely due to my trust in the authors/the summary/one rec and now I find myself with a new kink. Thanks.

Containment Breach by salexectria (E) | Space pirates AU | akeshu | one shot Akira gets stranded on an abandoned spaceship seemingly infested by a terrifying creature. He finds the lonely survivor of the crew and they begrudgingly start to work together to contact help and survive. I am just going to say that I clicked for salex's name, I stayed for the stellar characterization, pining and top-tier bantering, and got overwhelmed by the tentacle sex. (/pos)

it takes two by lumensd (E) | 3rd sem | akeshu | two-shots By all means, this series has some things I usually am not interested in (phone sex, degradation) but Jay is so skilled and his akeshus are so fucked in the head that now I've signed up for the masochist Joker agenda. Hurray!

i dream of you draped in wires by rime (E) | 3rd sem | akeshu | one shot "Maruki's Shadows don't want to fight; they just want to collect data. Wait, are those cat ears?" You would think a work with the tag "catboy shibari gunplay fuckordie" can't be too serious. Wrong! Excellent character study attack 🔪🔪🔪 (from the same author there's also this P5 vanilla fic that is excellent)

Darken my doorway by EnlacingLines (E) | 3rd sem-post canon | akeshu | one shot ""I don’t need to test my theory. You should be thanking me, really. Opening this door for you.” “A door to what?” Akira says, exasperated by just how self congratulatory Goro still sounds.“ Submission.” Or: I am a firm switch shuake shipper, I don't vibe with too-extreme dynamics *proceeds to go ballistics over this fic regardless*, *awakens to the wonder of d/s a lil fucked up dynamics*

#persona 5 #persona 5 royal #p5 #p5r #p5 spoilers #p5r spoilers #shuake #akeshu #shuakeshu #akeshuake #fanfiction recommendation #fanfic #p5r fanfiction #p5 fic rec #fic rec #fic reccomendations #p5r fic rec

[frauleinandry]

okay, so this is my promised extremely spoilery tactica review, where I'm going to focus more on the story/characters as opposed to pure gameplay! check my review tag for the spoiler-free gameplay post, and don't click on the read more if you don't want endgame spoilers.

in terms of story, i'd generally urge persona 5 fans who like tactics games to check it out, as it doesn't fall into a lot of the pitfalls people expected it to. maybe wait for a sale though, since uh... i have no idea what atlus was thinking slapping a pricetag like that on it.

as much as i love the artstyle and how much personality it portrays, visually basing tactica's visuals on the Q games meant people went into it with very certain expectations (or didn't go into it at all), which I think really, really hurt the overall reception of the game. it's a pity, since a) the art is fun, and b) like I said in my prior post, tactica is really, really fun, and pretty well written to boot. unfortunately, people assumed by default that p5t would have a cop-out ending where everything was forgotten, the phantom thieves would be reduced to caricatures of themselves, and there'd be no references to canon because atlus is allergic to spoilers in sequel games.

absolutely none of those things are true, however - in fact, unlike the Q games, tactica wouldn't have felt jarring if it used canon-typical visuals. while the Q games go to some dark places, on the whole, they're comedic in tone, while tactica is fairly sombre throughout, with most of the hijinks saved for the optional 'talk' segments.

there were also a lot of people who weren't interested in touching tactica since it wasn't a crossover, and let's be real - if it wasn't for that, the Q games... aren't super appealing. upon playing it, however, it's clear the gameplay wouldn't have worked if it was a 3/4/5 crossover - it's very heavily based on persona 5 exclusive elements such as stealth, cover, and guns.

moving away from the sad but necessary this-isn't-persona-Q-three-and-that's-a-good-thing discussion, and onto tactica itself, I was pleasantly surprised with how the P5 cast and canon in general was treated!

the vibes at the start of the game are surprisingly bleak - everyone's upset that joker is leaving soon, the pts are still shaking off maruki's reality, and the whole reason p5t happens is explicitly due to the fallout caused by shido's confession!! admittedly, i do think there should have been a few more main-game plot points specifically referenced as opposed to just alluded to, such as wakaba's death and haru's situation with sugimura, but on the whole, p5t fits into the general persona 5 narrative.

in terms of the thieves, while I'm a bit sad (if unsurprised) none of them get any real character development, I'm happy with how they were implemented. ryuji isn't reduced solely to being the butt of the joke - in fact, he's instrumental in turning toshiro's mindset around. futaba and morgana get some great moments too - like, morgana compliments ryuji during his stint as the navigator, something I wished happened in the main game!

while I do think ryuji, morgana, and futaba shine the most, haru and yusuke also have some great moments. ironically, this is the only p5 game where makoto is kinda sidelined, but given how much focus she gets in p5/strikers, i'm not too upset by that. i am a bit more upset by the fact that ann's pretty much a non-entity though.

in terms of tactica's specific story and not persona 5 stuff in general, it's good!! admittedly, most of the twists were fairly predictable, but the game is pretty frank from the get-go that the thieves are stuck in toshiro's cognitive world, which is a blessed relief. toshiro in general is just a fantastic character - his character development was so good, and as much as I love zenkichi, toshiro does the whole sad-pathetic-man to genuine-hero thing even better.

the kingdoms are an excellent dive into our favourite politician's psyche, and their use of metaphors to depict his life/relationships/trauma is really well done. i saw someone say p5t is an excellent persona 4 game, and they're right. i thought yoshiki and the second kingdom in particular were handled well - i think most people have unfortunately encountered parents/people like that.

I also think it's super fascinating how the game delves into the theme of how sentient cognitions are/can be. when I was thinking about what else atlus could do with persona 4/5 styled psyche worlds a while back, that was one of the ideas I conjured, and I'm glad to see that angle explored. like... erina doesn't feel like a fully fleshed-out human being ala toshiro, which is very fitting given she's essentially his persona, but her emotions are still treated as full and valid.

in terms of themes, I also like how tactica pretty bluntly states that standing up for the right thing can just absolutely screw you over and achieve nothing in general, but it's still worth doing regardless. it's a particularly resonant point to make given how the world has been over the last few years.

now, while this has primarily been a positive review, I do think tactica's story has some faults. the big thing is the pacing - while the first two kingdoms feel like they're roughly the right length, the third one feels pretty underdeveloped in general. like... the actual kingdom itself has no/little substance and is solely focused on toshiro flashbacks. i think it really could have been split into two kingdoms - one which was a tyrannical school led by nakabachi, and another which combines the station/hell aspects ruled by shadow toshiro.

i know some people have issues with the existence of salmael, but honestly, there needed to be some supernatural element to explain why the heck everyone ended up in toshiro's cognition. compared to some of the gods in the persona franchise, he's not the worst by a longshot.

anyway, i think that's all i've got to say right now - i'll post another one of these once i'm finished with the DLC!

#persona 5 #p5 tactica #p5t #review tag

[shadowtarot]

Persona 5 is officially Six Years Old, and I'd like to do some reflection on my own given its currently the holiday season, the point where the OG game concludes.

My journey through the Persona series was backwards, starting with 5 and heading back from there. Technically I had watched the first 4 episodes of Persona 4 the Animation but never got too attached to the characters at the time.

I knew and followed Persona 5's constant delays because at the time, i loved seeing what was going to be possibly a footnote in gaming history happen. But in 2017, the year it was set to come out...I kinda forgot.

Thankfully SEGA had another game releasing at around that time that was having a cross promotion with Persona 5.

THIS, THIS FUCKING IMAGE WAS WHY I REMEMBERED THAT PERSONA 5 WAS COMING OUT SOON.

I wish I was making this up man, but geez of all things.

So I got the game for my Birthday that year, my first year of college and...I hadn't been hooked on a plot or characters since Xenoblade 1.

So a few months after finishing my initial playthrough and a house move, I made this blog to post my ramblings and writings about not just P5, but SMT as a whole.

I might have only been in the Persona side of things for Six years now, but...it's been a blast so far.

I'm not going anywhere, even if my posts on this blog aren't as active as they used to be.

I want to write more, but I'm afraid of rambling. I have things in the wings in regards to Persona and SMT coverage. Including me possibly going for 100% in Persona 5 Strikers.

Have a Happy holidays and a Happy New Year everyone!

#shad speaks

[biipbop]

Ooooh how about the other P5 cast? Strikers and Royal included. In the Flower child au

Havent played strikers yet (I own it and will get to it soon I swear 😞)

The first time Ann hears about Akira knowing gas chamber is from Ryuji. So its no surprise that she thinks he's full of shit and Akira would 100% commit to the bit and never confirm it. Everyone else will similarly follow suit and also think Ryuji is trying really hard to convince them that not only does Akira totally know gas chambers on a personal level but tatsujun isnt just PR. Theyre married and are Akira's adopted parents. It gets to the point that Ann and Ryuji start arguing about it publically. It becomes a running joke among there classmates.

Most of their classmates are pretty ick about it (they dont really think positively of Ann Ryuji and akira as is so they joke about how the deliquent is really out here trying to convince everyone he's related to celebrities). Mishima on the other hand believed it the instant he was told:

Ryuji: *points to Akira* This guy is the love child of tatsujun from gas chamber

Mishima: *sideeying ryuji* reaaaaally?

Akira: *straight faced knowing he looks like he knows you know hes lying* yep.

It was enough for Mishima.

Futaba already knew. She found out while doing a bg check on Akira before he moved into the cafe. She also doesnt tell anyone bc she also thinks it's fucking hilarious that no one else knows.

Haru initially doesnt believe them but she once met Jun at a charity function when she was younger. He had tatsuya with him and she did get the impression that they actually were romantically together. One day she corners Akira to find out the truth but it very much goes similarly as it did with mishima (Akira confirms but is he *actually* confirming it or just messing around??) Haru is eventually able to get a crack in the facade when she tells him how he met the two before and how she thinks they might actually be together. How encouraging it was to see a queer couple who were so in love that they couldnt really hide it. Akira breaks and ends up sharing family photos with her.

If youve seen my flower child au comics theyre kinda inconsistent with how and when morgana and Akechi find out. Earlier comics had them knowing during the events of the game while my more recent comics have them finding out post game. But i think I prefer them knowing during game cause it just makes better sense for me timeline wise so....ignoreing my own comics I guess

Morgana would technically be told the same time as Ryuji except Morgana would have 0 context as to who tatsuya and jun are or even who gas chambers is. So from Morgana's perspective Ryuji thought Akira's dad (who morgana saw pictures of from when Akira was a kid) was a girl. (He will never let Ryuji forget this). Ryuji would later be talking about gas chambers with Ann and she would be the one to show morgana their music and recordings of interviews and live shows. Because theyre fully dressed like a v-kei band Morgana wont put 2 and 2 together until after he actually meets them.

Even though he would also do a background check on Akira, Akechi doesnt know that about who Akira's parents are. (Jun and tatsuya couldnt legally adopt Akira so technically Katsuya and Maya would be Akira's legal parents but everyone in sumaru knows bc Jun and Tatsuya never hid their relationship. Also all the members of Gas Chambers go by a stage name for privacy reasons)

Like Ryuji Akechi also grew up familar with Gas Chamber bc his mom was a fan (side note: I think both Ryuji and Akechi would have young moms who couldve been good friends). Akechi, gun to head, would never admit this to anyone especially not akira but Jun would be his gay awakening. Akira only finds this out after Akechi meets his parents. They dont break up over this but they get close to it. Akira would refuse to talk to his dads for a week when he finds out leaving his parents panicked bc their bby boy is big sad and might have broken up with his first bf but doesnt want their help. They stay together and all is good but lord help Akechi if he ever points out any similarities between Jun and Akira.

Yusuke has no fucking clue who Gas Chambers is. But when he meets Eikichi he will go to stalker level to get a chance to draw him. Luckily for him Eikichi finds out about the little weirdo thinking hes beautiful and is all about it. He keeps every piece Yusuke gives him and even has Yusuke's paintings in the family restaurant as well as his home.

Sorry this is rambly!

Edit: I forgot Sumire!! I'll be honest, I have no clue. I dont believe she would know who Gas Chambers is. Futaba would probably only know bc she's a gremlin and constantly online.

Sumire most likely would think Ryuji is trying to tease her and not believe him either. She would be with the squad when they go visit Akira and find out Ryuji didnt lie. Shed be glad that Futaba and Akira got the pleasure of their long con going through without failure.

Also the p2 squad will realize that the metaverse was a thing when they hear Morgana talk.

#biiptalks #flowerchild au #persona 5 #persona 2 #will this be the push i need to replay royal?

[p5x-theories]

Thoughts on Future Collaborations

Collaborations are a fact of life for mobile gacha games, so I began wondering how P5X would handle them.  My first thought was potential events for the releases of P5T and P3Re, but then I realized that P5X may not be out of development by then.  So here’s my guesses at what may logically come in the future:

Other P5 spin-offs, past and future: If they’re planning any more it would make the most financial sense to use P5X for cross-promotion.  This is also the place they’d most likely go for future party members, given that they’re already part of the brand.  But on the other hand, maybe being part of the brand would mean that any spin-off thieves wouldn’t be reserved for events, they’d just be part of later versions the game?

Non-5 Persona games: The new SEES costumes in Reload would make great stand-ins for metaverse outfits.  And if P5X is still around by the time Persona 6 comes out there will absolutely be a collaboration.

Going outside the Persona brand is where things start to get iffy.

Other ATLUS games: SMT would be the most likely option.  Catherine and Metaphor might happen too, given their shared development teams with Persona.

Other Perfect World games: It’s easy to organize collaborations when you don’t have to negotiate with some other company’s lawyers…

Other gacha games: Persona 5 has had collaborations in the past, so it will probably continue to do so when the P5 gacha game launches.

But what form these collaborations would take is another question.

First off, I don’t expect them to add any party members that can’t remain in the pool.  Party members in this game require enough resources in this game that creating a new unit that you stop making money off of after the event is over.  And they might not want characters from outside the P5 brand in the game at all, depending on what the licensing agreement says.

But you know what could work for limited events?  Stuff like weapons and skins, things that don’t require too many resources to create but still look cool enough that players will want them.

Sorry for sending you my rambling thoughts, but I have speculation on this game and no one to share it with except for your blog.  Also, the reason I always send in submissions instead of asks is because they no longer allow people without accounts to send asks.

No worries, you’re good! That’s what this blog is for- I actually made it both because I wished there was a blog collecting official P5X news (and fanart), and also because I wanted to post theories somewhere and see what other people thought, hehe.

I think you’re right that P5X probably won’t release before P3R, let alone P5T; honestly, I’d be kind of shocked if it did. I can see P5′s various spinoff thieves getting added eventually though, especially given the little traces of Strikers in the P5X data already! Not sure whether events or just added story makes more sense for them- you bring up a good point with that, and I could see them going either way, I think. Honestly, I could even imagine them doing both an event and (possibly later) added story for any future P5 spinoffs that may happen?

I could see at least outfits/alternate skins and weapons based on the other Persona games showing up in P5X, I agree. I’m also kind of expecting there will be some form of those Velvet Room challenge battles involving the P3 and P4 protagonists from Royal here in P5X as well, given that Izanagi’s in the data as both a battle icon and a 3D model... along with Asterius, so Shadow Labrys may be joining that...? Though I suppose they could just be added as extra Personas in the gacha, similar to how they’re DLC in P5R. Adding in the actual teams from other Persona games as playable characters does seem a little more iffy to me, though, just because I don’t know how protective Atlus is over them/how determined Atlus is to keep them separate outside of games specifically indicated as crossovers, like the PQ games and Arena. Obviously I’d love to have them, but I could imagine why Atlus might not let them, so I suppose we’ll have to wait and see on that one.

Similarly, I wouldn’t be surprised by at the very least alternate skins/weapons referencing other SMT games, other Perfect World games, and maybe even other gacha games? That’s not that different from many of the DLC outfits in P5/P5R, so it feels like there’s enough of a precedent. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if P5 keeps having crossovers with other gacha games, too, hah? Not sure whether P5X will, to the extent of something like P5X characters appearing in other gacha games or vice versa, though... I feel like I don’t really know enough about that to speculate on it much.

Either way, though, I look forward to seeing how that all ends up going!

#submission #also I'm flattered you keep up with this blog even without having an account yourself! glad to have you here #theories

[nebulaleaf]

I straigjt up dont know if you’re reblogging the headcanon ask game to do it, or like. For novelty. Archiving a heritage post. Fun fact about me is whenever almost anyone I follow reblogs an ask game I’m like “so did they do that for the game or for some other secret reason” and then i send an ask and go “this is terrible. they definitely reblogged that for some secret non-ask-game reason that they just didn’t say. I should flee to the hills immediately”. And then it’s fine.

Anyway. If you want to do the ask game you should do it for Haru. I briefly forgot what the game itself actually was and almost told you to do it for just “persona 5” which would not have gone well. This is the longest ask ever and at this point I’m tempted to fill it out with nonsense to make it longer

HSJFKDKSKA i dont even have an answer tbh i just rb shit.

anyway,

Sexuality Headcanon: bisexual... i usually only ship her with women but damn it akira has great chemistry i can't help myself.

Gender Headcanon: cis :] i do love transfem haru too though...

A ship I have with said character: shuharu... makoharu... yeah. im a normie. what of it.

A BROTP I have with said character: mona and haru... bestiessss. same with her and ryuji.

A NOTP I have with said character: sugimura is too easy so uh. idk akeharu? I've seen sweet stuff for it but i feel like its a notp on principle

A random headcanon: would absolutely bring someone to a scary movie and ask to hold their hand when she gets spooked. (haru isn't actually that scared, she just wants to feel them get scared)

General Opinion over said character: i love her. she deserves more screentime in p5 but it's not as bad as people think. strikers gives her a lot more at least. i can't talk about her with anyone because p5 fans don't understand the concept of nuance

#ask meme #almost main tagged this cos im sleepy OOPS

[tasogarebridge]

🐥🐇

This is a brand-new pinned post.

Hiya~ I'm Piyo or Pyon, whichever you find cuter. I am in my early 20's and my pronouns are he/him, also she/her with my permission.

@dekupyon is my second account but I've decided to revive my main, which is this, to move here and use it full-time with proper tagging. The last time I've been active on fandom Tumblr was late 2015 as I've spent most of my fandom days on Twitter.

Twitter account is here, feel free to follow me there as well.

My current interests are J.R.R. Tolkien's legendarium and Tomarry + Harrymort from the Harry Potter series.

A wild combination, I know.

Came for Maglor, stayed for Russingon and Kidnap Fam as well as the occasional Maedhros + Elured & Elurin.

I also adore Padfoot & Prongslet, Regulus Black, and Barty Crouch Jr. but do not ask me for more. And if you truly must know, I'm a Slytherclaw.

I dabble in HP crossover fics as well and will read just about anything that is written well.

I call myself a writer but in actuality, I only fantasize about what I want to write in my head. I do have an AO3 account though. My fics are in desperate need to be watered with kudos and comments.

My asks are always open, as well as anon, but please do not abuse it and remember to always be kind. I am a chill person who digress and fail to be funny most of the time.

I'd like to end this post by gently reminding everyone that you have the power to curate your own online space and all you need to do is utilize that power instead of harassing/policing others.

If you want to know more about me, please check under the cut.

My other interests include the Persona game franchise, a cozy nook in the MCU, and MXTX's novels.

Persona

Currently playing Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers.

There is no third semester in Persona 5. Which just means I have yet to finish P5R because I'm too lazy to play the vanilla segment all over again.

I played P3P (both MC and FeMC routes), P4G, and vanilla P5. My favorite and first game is P5 but I will cry over P3 at the drop of a hat. P4 is my least fave and no, I did not forget and will play SMT:P, P2:IS, and P2:EP soon.

My OTPs are Akeshu, Minaryo, and Kannao.

Marvel Cinematic Universe

#Team Iron Man, even though it has been more than 5 years since the movie was released and no one asked.

FrostIron is my OTP. My other favorite pairings are IronStrange and IronWinter.

Does Peter Parker or Harley Keener is Tony Stark's son?

Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

This is NOT a Jiang-clan friendly account.

I do not split HuaLian and WangXian. But I am flexible when it comes to BingQiu. Case in point, BinggeYuan and LiuShen. I ship MoShang and LiuJiu as well, and the occasional BingJiu.

It is always Wu Ming loving hours here and if I could put #HuaLian different first meeting content in my mouth, I would.

What do you mean there's no #transmigration reveal in post-canon BingQiu?

Yi City arc, best arc.

teeny tiny Q&A

What does your name mean?

Piyo (ピヨ) is the Japanese onomatopoeia of a chick while Pyon (ぴょん) is the Japanese sfx for hopping.

What does your username mean?

Village Bridge is my favorite location in Pokemon Black & White. The tasogare part is the reason why it’s my fave!

What are your previous usernames?

voidnico, s-assan, k-uroken, nsfwkuroo (which is my most recent).

What application do you use for editing?

Then, Adobe Photoshop CS6. Now, CC 2018.

#piyo's pinned posts #piyo overshared again

[smolstarthief]

Ok, we've all seen the HCs about Joker having PTSD and trauma and it's very valid and I can see that... That is until people go way too far with it and make his trauma more like, "uwu soft delicate baby" to the point of infantizing all of it. So let me propose this: Joker going through Post Traumatic Growth! Especially in Strikers. The basics are this here:

Now he is VERY open to interpretation! I buy that he has trauma, especially cop trauma. But at the same time... I feel like he would have started growing little by little. He does still hide his pain, put up a front/mask for everyone. But I feel like he would slowly start opening up more. It also helps that he has Morgana with him, both during P5/P5R and before Strikers where it was stated that the cat came home with him so he can vent or talk to someone as much as he can manage (ESA Mona for the win!). He also still remains a kind boy despite the hardships, even showing sympathy to people like Akechi and Maruki because he can tell that he could have ended up like them had he not found a caring support system.

Speaking of which... His friends, while a mixed bag and definitely needed to take that unhealthy worship of him down a notch, do care and that's probably what helped his growth as well. He had no one to turn to at the start of his probation, even his guardian gave him the cold shoulder. Then came Ryuji, then Mona, then Ann, everyone. He starts to see things differently afterwards. That it's not bad to try to help (Arsene apparently reassures and doesn't shame him if you choose the other option (that shows regret for helping that woman) during his awakening).

Then come Strikers. Now you could argue that it's still there and you'd probably be right. It doesn't magically disappear, it still lingers (some dialogue options for example) but he also actually seems to be getting better even if it's still gradual. The fact that it was made clear that his loving support system in the form of his friends still care about him (to the point where they took the time to actually gather and surprise him with a welcome back party, especially since two of them are college students) no doubt helped that too. Just that he isn't gonna be overly dependent on them still. He will walk on his own two feet to keep going and grow but he will fall back to them if needed. He falls, they'll catch him. And yes, being framed and possibly facing jail time probably caused a bit of a trigger for him but the fact that he's actually behaves rather neutrally towards Zenkichi when he had every right and reason to understandably join the others in being hostile and distrusting towards him really shows how strong he can actually be without a mask (That and a part of me is now wondering if he's a bit of an empath too along with maybe being aware of the hypocrisy of their bias). And this is before getting to know the guy too. He snarks at him during the trip with the others but he's still neutral. Now you could argue that he still hides his trauma and pain and I agree but I like to think some of his goofy moments are more real. Look at his overly theatrical dialogue options in the 2nd Jail, he's clearly having the time of his life! And him laughing at the Venus prank they pulled on Zenkichi. Those examples are clearly pretty genuine to me. He's starting to feel like an actual kid. Especially since he has more freedom to actually be one. And back to Zenkichi for a second, perhaps he also saw a bit of himself in the guy too and that would also explain his behavior towards him.

But I digress: Joker with PTSD, trauma (cop trauma especially), triggers, etc? Valid, fair!

But Joker going through PTG, especially in Strikers? Also valid and hell yes!!

Give me more of Joker growing and overcoming his pain/moving on. Him standing on his own feet and finding his own happiness and path! Especially with how much his support system grows in each game. He has them and he's happy for it! THAT'S the type of content I wish is discussed and done more often! Why focus more on the bad when there can be good sometime later? Who knows really? All I can say is that you can do and even combine all of that without infantizing him and ignoring canon evidence. That's it.

#persona 5 #p5 #persona 5 strikers #p5s #persona 5 royal #p5r #ren amamiya #akira kurusu #joker p5 #starchild rambles #ramblings #just needed to say it #it's fine to expand on his trauma. really it is! #but I've seen people go way too far with it

[lilac-liliales]

Thoughts on Akechi’s Game

On the leaked news of Akecho’s game, I want to post some personal notions I have about it. 

First of all Akecho's game should center around making confidants with the Phantom Thieves' confidants. Like, through P5 we see a pattern repeat with the PT confidants: the Confidant in question, an Abuser that slighted them, a Friend that might or might not be a victim of said abuse, and a later introduction to a Counterpart/Rival that matches them.

Ryuji was assaulted and defamed by Kamoshida and Yamaguchi, who also tormented his track team friends, Nakaoka, Takeishi, and Ikeda. In Persona 5 Sramble/Strikers we are introduced to Konoe, who I think serves as a counterpart to Ryuji’s background.

Ann was harassed by Kamoshida, and Shiho was caught in the crossfire. We meet Mika and Alice that are both envious of Ann’s accomplishments and share a sort of rivalry-hopeful friendship. 

Yusuke was exploited by Madarame along with the other pupils. Think in Nakanohara. Natsume works as his foil.

Makoto is being used by Kobayakawa and is later extorted by Kaneshiro. She establishes a friendship with Eiko, and in Strikers, she projects her younger self in Akane.

Futaba had her life ruined by Shido and Youji Isshiki. Beside Sojiro, She has a friend called Kana and her growth is the inverse of Ubukata’s.

Haru was a pawn of Okumura and Sugimura, Takakura was her father’s business partner who decides to support her, sort of like an uncle. Mariko herself was some sort of guardian figure to Haru before her jail, and stands as a testaments to Haru’s development. 

This far the whole pattern holds up, but it can mutate into a shorter version:  Confidant / Abuser / Friend.

Sumire was brainwashed by Maruki, and Kasumi functions as both her Friend and her Rival.

Sophia herself was neglected by Ichinose, and later faced EMMA/Demiurge as both a reflection of herself and her counterpart.

Iwai faces against Tsuda, in protection of Kaoru.

Tae butts heads with Shoichi Oyamada for Miwa’s sake.

Kawakami complies with that coercive couples’ requests because she felt responsible for Taiki Takase’s death.

Ohya was being hindered by Shido/her boss from reaching Kayo Murakami.

At last we have the Confidant / Abuser pattern seen with Shinya, Hifumi,  Mishima, Chihaya, Toranosuke and Sae herself. These mostly involve helping out the confidant in question.

I’m also a fan of marigolds by colbub original confidants so like if they could slip them in there it would be great! Ise Saito is best grandma (gives me Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple vibes) and Hinata Osumi is ESSENTIAL, I loved the whole parallels to Akechi’s own mother. Fusazane Atsuzawa and Fusatsune Tsuchihashi are wonderful, though at this point I think Atsuzawa was just Zenkichi’s prelude. Must have extra-confidants from the original game would be Wakaba, Sae, Shido, Jose and Muhen. 

Anyway, Akechi himself is represented in this pattern because of his connection with Ren. Their shared abuser was Shido, and each of them was the other’s rival and friend. So it would be funny from the PT’s p.o.v that Akechi, “the leader’s fucked up friend/rival”, turned out to be close acquaintances with each of the members fucked up friends / rivals.

#persona 5 #persona 5 royal #p5 #p5r #akechi goro #thoughts #akechi's game #i'm not sure it will be real #but i've been thinking about this for so long #it could close every annoying plothole in p5 and set a new way for p6 #maybe I have too many expectations #persona 5 scramble #persona 5 strikers #ren amamiya #akira kurusu #my thoughts

[muzzleroars]

invoking your yaldabaoth knowledge .in the scenario of post p5 (or even p5r) if yal ever comes back or manifests again, who would you think is the very first person that guy should apologize to? lavenza, for spliting her in two? igor, for locking him up and taking his place? ren for posing as igor and rigging the game? akechi, for enabling his his rotten schemes and spiraling downhill by giving him the metanav which he used to murder people? the entirety of the phantom thieves, for talking down on them and the foolishness of the human race during end game confrontation and even trying to end their lives? like, who did he affect the most that he has to make up for it? the most severe thing he's done to someone? ah, im getting wordy again, but I hope you dont mind ! haha (sweats)

aaaaa no worries anon, i totally love ppl coming to ramble especially when it's about yal dkfhjgdfg this is...a very good question tho 🤔 i ALSO got wordy, so the answer's under a read more!!

i think the amount of damage he's done on an individual basis is hard to scale and compare because all of these characters were impacted immensely yet in totally different ways. i lean toward the thieves being the least affected (by comparison of course) - the people that abused them directly were not influenced by yaldabaoth and their trauma is much more rooted in the adults that harmed them in the real world. with that, i think they along with igor are at the bottom of the list - igor's pain is admittedly hard to gauge and it's likely he's more affected by yal taking over the velvet room than his own imprisonment (unless it causes his departure in the next mainline game...BUT that's speculative atm), but with how impossible he is to figure out and how different he is from humanity, i don't think he would personally want an apology. NOW...that leaves akira, goro, and lavenza and this is where it gets difficult. my first instinct is actually lavenza as all her memories and entire being were stripped of her violently, to the point were she seems to have trauma over the event. she was forced to work unknowingly for the being that stole her master and tore her in two for nearly a whole year, she could have helped bring about the downfall of humanity and she may never have returned to normal...she could have killed her guest under his orders. he's got a LOT to answer for with lavenza, and i imagine that is a bit of a contentious issue in my strikers au. however, i think he also owes quite the apology to goro for the role he was forced into and that goes all the way back to shido. shido, unlike the other palace rulers, seemed to have been hand-picked by yaldabaoth as his pawn to force the masses to choose security, and shido claiming to be "chosen by god" is pretty suspect imo it is difficult to say if this is direct influence though as it seems shido had a history of being overly grandiose and self-important, but it seems yal had more of a hand in his life than any of the others. but setting that aside, goro still had to play the part of the villain in his game, which forced him to become a murderer and endure years of psychological torment and physical pain. not to mention that yal seemed to make sure goro was kept isolated so he couldn't form friendships - he had his power of mental shutdowns, akira had the power of bonds, and so neither could have what the other did or the experiment would be moot. that's. incredibly harsh and grossly cruel, especially when the person in question is a teenager. finally there's akira, who i think made it out the best of these three. yal clearly knocked over the first domino to get him arrested in order to begin the game, however that really turned out for the best lol otherwise, it's largely how messed up his velvet room environment was and, of course, the betrayal. akira had to face that the entire year he lived was under someone else's control, that even what he thought was freedom and rebellion was just on rails according to a god's plan (tbh ymmv on this one, as i view akira as incredibly autonomous and rather devastated by this revelation) his situation is also further complicated by all the difficulties he faced in leadership and the more challenging confidants that put him in danger (AGAIN...lookin at you, tae and iwai!!) were also directly a result of yal choosing him for the position of phantom thief. and since i've talked about it AT LENGTH, i won't go on and on about how the betrayal hurt him, how he formed a bond with yal like any other confidant only to be stabbed in the back after a near execution BUT just know i think that really affected him deeply (esp since he had to kill yal not long after that). BUT IN CONCLUSION....i think either lavenza or goro are entitled to that first apology. and in my strikers au, it's definitely a big problem ahaha (bc of course goro is there too!!!)

#lavenza is MAD mad when akira shows up after letting yal on the team #and goro has a lot to learn since he missed all this #at first yal is pretty flippant with both of them i think #but as he grows throughout the game he does apologize #akira likely still has to moderate tho lol #p5 #p5s #yaldabaoth #cake answers

[zodiackiaran]

Happy 5th Anniversary Persona 5.

I don’t know what it is about this game that really grabbed me so much this year. I started playing it in February, around when Persona 5 Vanilla was free for PS5 users, and I had been putting the game off for years, despite my best friend begging me to play it so many times. I had said “sure I’ll check it out some time” ever since 2018, and in February of this year I finally downloaded it from the PS store for free and played it for the first time. I was hooked

I still can’t really fathom what about Persona 5 just hooked me in instantly. Normally when I get into a new game, franchise, show or whatever, I will obsess about it for a couple weeks or maybe a month, and then I’ll kind of just move on from it; not forget it entirely, but I will have moved on to another topic. Persona 5 grabbed me and I had entered my usual obsession. Of course, Persona 5 is a long ass game so naturally it took me about a month to complete, but not once had I dropped it. I spent that entire month of February/March blasting my way through the story. Most games I would drop for a while and come back later to complete, because I have other things in the way. Nah I became fully invested once I had completed the first palace. I even purchased Persona 5 Royal because my friend told me it was the superior version, which meant I had to do the first palace all over again and pick up where I left off, but I didn’t mind, that first plot arc was one of the most enjoyable experiences I’ve had with any media. I bopped to the soundtrack of course, which is genuinely one of the best OSTs I’ve ever heard, and only inspired me to play through more of the game to hear more of the music. One I heard Blooming Villain and Rivers of The Desert for the first time, I just vibed so hard. My best friend told me it would probably take me 2 months to beat Royal but I actually beat it in about a month and a week. After that I wasn’t done, fuck no; I bought Persona 5 Strikers because it had just come out around the time I started playing vanilla, and I beat that in about a week, amazing fucking game again, I can’t even come up with the words to explain. At this point I was fully into watching videos about Persona, retweeting stuff on Twitter, following blogs, accounts, channels, anything Persona related. I then looked into the older games, and decided to play Persona 4 Golden. I bought it on steam and blasted my way though that, and I think I had just amount of fun as I did with P5, and I really didn’t think I would because of the older mechanics and stuff but fuck was I wrong. That games soundtrack and characters I would argue even tops some of the ones from P5 but at this stage I think I love them equally. At this point my room had already been decorated in Persona 5 posters, merch, artwork, and I had already purchased merchandise and t-shirts. Then I found out I could buy Persona 3 FES on the PS3. I still haven’t gotten that far in Persona 3 yet thought because unlike the time I downloaded Persona 5, I am no longer unemployed in a lockdown so I don’t have as much time anymore to fully invest myself but man I have not forgotten. I am still in on this obsession, after 7 months I am still in love with this series. I can’t even remember what my life was like before I played Persona 5, it’s heard to even think about my life before then. But anyway this is just a big long ramble about Persona as we’ve reached the 5 year anniversary in Japan, and I just want to make a big post sharing my love and experience with the series.

Here’s my Persona collection so far. Just this week I managed to find Persona 4 Arena Ultimax and Persona 4 and I didn’t even mind spending an extra buck for them. I will be looking forward to expanding my collection. I am so excited to see what’s to come for the 25th anniversary announcements and I will be ready for Persona 6.

#persona 5 royal #persona 5 #persona #persona 4 #persona 5 strikers #persona 5 fanart #tohru adachi #goro akechi #P5 #SMT #Atlus #Persona 5 Anniversary #P5 Anniversary #getting personal again #rant #persona rant #persona post #I love persona 5 #P5R #Persona 4 Golden #Persona 3 #Persona 3 FES #Persona 2 Innocent Sin #Persona 2 #persona 2 eternal punishment #revelations persona #shin megami tensai persona #shin megami tensei #persona 3 portable #persona 4 arena

[chibigaia-art]

The games we could buy instead of World's End Club, hand them over please 🥺🤲 I'm interested, and you love Portal so I trust you in your games taste

Ty, but you’ll soon find out I also have bad taste🥺🙏 ok so, gonna try to categorize these, and also under the cut because they're a lot - also, they’re all single player and story driven for the most part (the ones marked with * are usually the ones I’m inclined to recommend the most, regardless of the genre)

>Games that are either on pc, switch, or on every known console (I don’t wanna check each one sorry)

-*Undertale: you know it was gonna be on the list, it's good, if you haven't played it yet, play it (also delta rune)

-*Portal: YOU KNOW IT WAS GONNA BE ON THE LIST, you can get both games for less than 3€ during steam sales, if you don't have motion sickness it's a must play, LOOK INTO MY EYES AND TELL ME YOU’RE GOING TO PLAY PORTAL. IT’S SO GOOD. THE SECOND ONE IS ONE OF THE BEST GAMES EVER MADE.

-*Fallout New Vegas: closest thing to dnd I've ever played in terms of videogames, I absolutely love it, I can't even begin to describe how invested I got in it - you can buy it for nothing and get 90+ hours of gameplay on a single playthrough in exchange; it has fantastic humor, the story is *chef kiss*, there’s cowboy robots!!!!!, there’s moments where it feels like an horror game, finding out the story of the various vaults is great and half of them are pretty scary too - also if you’re a wee baby like me and are really empathetic, some stuff makes you cry. Chandler from Friends shoots you in the first two minutes of the game. You can be an unstoppable bisexual.

-*Ace Attorney: attorneys go brrr they’re also ace; you can get the trilogy basically on every console at this point - also buy The Great Ace Attorney when it comes out because TRUST ME it’s so good!! if you still have a 3DS you can get all the other games for cheap too when there’s sales, otherwise uh,,, e m u l a t e

-*Hades: I think pretty much everyone has seen at least the trailer for it, so I won't say much except it's a 10/10 game, it makes you go 😳😳😳😳everytime a character is introduced; another game where you play as an unstoppable bisexual

- Oxenfree: adventure game with multiple endings, ghosts, makes you sad but also happy! There’s some small jumpscares, but it’s not a horror game and more of a puzzle one

- The World Ends With You: played it the first time last summer, absolutely loved it - playing it on switch lite is a bit of an hassle tho, and the only reason I haven't played it again :') really loved the story and characters!!

- Grim Fandango: will gaia ever stop recommending old games she just randomly finds out about: no it’s basically a noir movie set IN THE LAND OF THE DEAD ok so gameplay wise i used a guide a lot, some stuff wasn’t very intuitive, but GOD THE ARTSTYLE IS SO GOOD, also it has a really fantastic humor!! I played it twice already, probably going to play it a third time too!! The main character is a manlet skeleton, this is extremely important

- Life is Strange: your actions have consequences, lesbians, crying

- Night in the Woods: ahaha nice jokes and artstyle > I don’t understand > I’m crying

- Dark Souls: ok so. it fucks but also I hate it. but also, itsbfbddfb man it’s cool. I only played the third one tho :°]

- Monster Prom: the only dating sim I care about

- Hatoful Boyfriend: I lied, this is the other dating sim I care about

- Da...dangan... hnnnnggh

- Abe’s New n’ Tasty: this is actually the platform game i was talking about in the other post! idk if the opening is creepy because I first watched it as a child or if it’s because it’s uh actually really dark, but anyway!! platform game that makes you bang your head against a wall, excellent character design, dedicated fart button

>Games that are only on Playstation section (sad)

- Persona 5 Royal: ryuji is in this game. P5 Strikers is also super fun, tho it has a different gameplay but I enjoyed it a lot! Ryuji is also in this game

- The Last of Us: I havent played the sequel so I can't speak about it, but the first one is still super good in terms of story and super fun to play imo

- Uncharted: ok so it may not be one of those games that make you sit and think abt the story, but it sure as hell is fun and the scenery is really pretty!!! Also the main menu theme is a banger, and the banter between the main characters is usually p funny (also found family trope my beloved)

>Free RPG horror games that I played ages ago and are still engraved in my brain: Ao Oni, Ib (personal fave), Mad Father, Misao (heavy content warning for this one, it’s really fucked up) you can find all of these here, except ao oni

#chibiblabbing

[patchesthegothictramp]

Feather Seeker and the Okinawa Jail

So anyone who’s been talking to me knows Feather Seeker is a game that’s perked my interest from the get-go, and I’ve been thinking of talking about it for a while. Now that I’ve been able to replay Royal and play Strikers, some other things have come out in the meantime and I’ve been paying more attention to additional media, I want to make a meta post about Feather Seeker, the Okinawa jail from Strikers and it’s connection to Akechi specifically. Be warned, this ended up being a very long post.

Let’s start with just getting a few questions out of the way:

Isn’t it just a mini game made to raise your stats?

Yes, absolutely, it’s optional and honestly if you don’t care for playing the video games it’s easy to miss. I don’t think it was honestly intended to be some massive breakthrough on a character’s backstory but rather an Easter egg that gets you to think about it.

It’s just about Neo-Featherman, there’s references to it in all persona games, so why is this one different?

It’s not different. There’s been plenty of times when Easter eggs have led to something bigger in this game, even specifically featherman ones. There’s an episode of Featherman that describes exactly what happens in the 3rd semester, where a character loves another so strongly it brings them back to life. Now whether you want to apply that to Futaba and her mum, Ren and Akechi or whoever it still fits- there’s an entire semester where at least one character loves another one and wishes them back to life through Maruki’s power. So having another piece of media, like the Feather Seeker game, be another allusion to something else isn’t entirely unjustified.

Feather Seeker is just detailed cos it’s about Featherman, why are you comparing it to other games?

See, here’s the thing and why I needed a second playthrough to make sure I was right about it. Feather Seeker is the odd one out. All of the games have some kind of plot or something going on (except for Golf sim but y’know... it’s a golf sim), but they’re all very, very basic things. Train of Life is just board game with very simple characters, the Goemon game has you just walking through hell but doesn’t really go more in depth with characterisation. Whereas you find out so much about what’s going on with Gray Pigeon and Osagiri in Feather Seeker that it feels a little… weird to simply ignore it. Do I think that the simplest answer, that they just wanted some plot in there for fun, is the right answer? Honestly I think that’s highly likely. But it’s the boring explanation too, it’s easy enough to just write any kind of intrigue like that, so whether what I’m writing about was intentional or not, I still want to discuss Feather Seeker and see people’s own thoughts on the possibility that it could be more than just a basic game.

So with that out of the way… let’s get into it.

First, there’s establishing who’s who. I can pretty confidently say that Gray Pigeon is Akechi in this entire metaphor. This one is the most obvious for multiple reasons, first of which being that it’s the exact same costume Akechi gets in the featherman outfits DLC so there’s the direct correlation there. Beyond that, Gray Pigeon is a character who awakens to a new power and wants to become a hero of justice, just like the feathermen, the hero’s he’s heard about before. Ring any bells?

Also the final revelation of Feather Seeker is that actually the Feathermen see Gray Pigeon as their enemy, who ends up sacrificing himself so they can keep fighting.

Which brings me to discussing who Osagiri and the Feathermen are. Given the timeline presented, I don’t think it’s possible for them to be one specific character or even group of characters. I think these aren’t supposed to be characters, but rather the major influences in Akechi’s life. Osagiri is a scientist (possibly Wakaba, I’ll get into that later), but also the one who pushes him to do bad things. Osagiri starts by training Gray Pigeon to become one of the Feathermen, the good guys, but eventually ends up manipulating Gray Pigeon into trying to kill them. Osaigir at the bare minimum has to be two people- the cognitive scientists who were able to uncover more thanks to Akechi’s escapades in the metaverse and the people who pushed him to commit crimes- the conspiracy.

The Feathermen, at the end of the game, have to be the Phantom Thieves- they’re the ones Gray Pigeon/Akechi ends up sacrificing himself to save but… that can’t be possible. Gray Pigeon’s journey starts with him gaining a new power and wanting to use it for good like the Feathermen do and of course the Phantom Thieves weren’t an inspiration for Akechi to do what he did. I think then the Feathermen are what Akechi aspired to be- the heroes of justice who fought the bad guys.

I can’t lead myself to believe that at 15, Akechi thought of this overly convoluted plan where he would help Shido to become prime minister only to then ruin him, there’s way too many factors in this that could change. I think originally Akechi wanted to avenge what happened to him and his mother, make sure that the man who wronged him would face justice. That’s what the Feathermen would do, right? They fight bad guys. Translating it from Feather Seeker, Akechi was angry, furious even and that rebellion woke hm up to Robin Hood, the embodiment of justice for him.

There’s plenty things that point to Robin Hood being first, his placement when Akechi awakens to Hereward on 2/2 being in the same spot as everyone else’s, the fact that for all of the other Thieves their third tier personas are different versions of their initials personas and that applies to Hereward/Robin Hood and that the trend of initial/second awakening personas is that the first is a fictional who was considered a criminal (Robin Hood) and the second is described in game as a ‘mythological trickster’ (Loki).

Here is where I want to get to the Okinawa jail and why I didn’t post this theory/metapost sooner.

I mentioned earlier that Osagiri could have been in some part Wakaba, Futaba’s mother, and when I initially wrote this I didn’t have all that much to go off of. There’s concept art in the original p5 artbook of Wakaba experimenting on someone. There’s no context given and it’s sort of the odd-one-out. Of course, human subjects would have been necessary to study the cognitive world but this research is so under wraps it seems it’s almost impossible to get. There’s no military connotations anywhere so why is it such a secret? Well, illegal human experimentation would certainly be a good reason to keep this away from the public. They must have figured out somehow that killing a shadow can cause a lot of damage, even death, to a person, we know that from the research notes, but Wakaba was a scientist, working in a lab, she must’ve done experiments that weren’t entirely legal.

Here I wasn’t sure because accusing Wakaba or anyone of illegal human experimentation was a pretty big reach but the Okinawa jail in Strikers shows us that illegal human experimentation is something that was used for cognitive research. I don’t think that Akechi was experimented on there or that was where Wakaba worked, there’s no indication of it but… Konoe and Owada seemed to build on the work that Shido and his scientists began. That being said, I think the Okinawa lab is a continuation of that human experimentation, with whatever lab Wakaba worked in being its predecessor before Shido probably shut it down to prevent it from ever being discovered. Which is also why he had Wakaba killed- the research was only meant for him and no one else.

Beyond what we see in Feather Seeker of Osagiri/sometimes Wakaba experimenting on Gray Pigeon/Akechi, we’re also told (albeit this is of course biased information), that he only targeted people he deemed deserved it but… Wakaba is the odd one out here for the most part. Okumura was hardly a good person and the principal decided covered for a sexual abuser, most of the others were survivors except for accidents which are mostly uncontrollable and unpredictable. Wakaba however, like Kobayakawa and Okumura, were targets that were supposed to die, Akechi intended to kill them. How then was Wakaba a bad person? Illegal human experimentation would explain that, especially if it was done on Akechi himself.

So then, Akechi was experimented on by Wakaba. I don’t think he was fully informed about what he was doing either. Gray Pigeon certainly wasn’t. Akechi was still trying to be a good person, using his power for his own vengeance yeah but I don’t think murdering random people was part of his initial plan at all. I think that Feather Seeker also emphasises just how little he knew about what his actions were doing. How would he know what his effects of shadows are on the real world? He could only know that from the scientists, from Shido. Of course he did find out, eventually, and that rage he must have felt about being used and lied to gave him the power to awaken to Loki, as Futaba puts it, the representation of his anger. It’s only then that he forms his plan, to get back at Shido for all of this, not just him abandoning him and his mother but for using him for his own means as well.

And we know how the rest of the story goes.

The overall story presented in Feather Seeker, as I see it, is this: Akechi awakens to Robin Hood, and realises that his anger is no longer a hopeless endeavour, he can use it, show that he’s useful and get acknowledged by his father. Shido sees this, sees that he can use this power and subjects him to experimentation, as someone who can actually survive the cognitive world and even have an impact on it. Wakaba sees what he can do, tests him but he’s never told what he’s done. He’s manipulated through praise and lack of information. One day he does find out, he realises this wasn’t getting him any closer to vengeance or getting acknowledged by Shido, he’s just another test subject being used by them. He’s angry, he awakens to Loki and now with the unique power of psychotic breakdowns, Shido recognises him and hires him as his assassin.

Granted this is all just my own theory, I think there is a lot pointing us to at least something similar but of course I also think this is wishful thinking as well. At this moment, my biggest wish is that Atlus makes a game that actually delves into what happened to Akechi. All the explicit information we have is given to us from biased sources, ie. Akechi himself, and it’s really the only question I have left for persona 5’s continuity.

#p5r spoilers #p5s spoilers #p5r #p5s #akechi goro #goro akechi #metapost #theory #p5a #proof of justice #persona 5 #persona 5 strikers #persona 5 royal

[kareofbears]

persona 5 strikers thoughts and feelings

This is going to be a long post. Like, the type of post you’d only really have time to read when you’re trying to sleep but you’re not ready to be unconscious yet so you’re just looking for something to do to spend your time with minimal effort. 

So in 2018, a masterpiece was born into the world: Into the Spider-verse was released and it was amazing—it’s honestly the best spiderman movie we have without a doubt, and it’ll be very far into the future before Spider-verse is beaten as the best spiderman movie. Them’s the facts. Then in 2019, Spider-man: Far From Home was dropped. It’s a great movie! Great characters, great continuation of who these characters are and works fantastic as a continuation of a story. It’s really hard trying to take the torch of a previous movie (or in Marvel’s case, juggling twenty something movies) and come up with a new movie that both works on its own, as well as being the next step in this series of films. Thus, with that idea in mind, I think it’s kind of unfair to judge into the spiderverse and far from home, because these are two movies with two completely different objectives in mind. 

Okay, so this is still a persona 5 strikers post, I promise, but the idea is the same: Persona 5 could basically do whatever it wanted—new story, new characters, new everything, and it’s just plain old awesome. However, Persona 5 strikers did not have that sort of freedom. It was bound to the original game, and it had its own rules and stuff it had to keep intact, characters they had to work with, and on top of that, it had to justify its existence as a sequel (lets pretend money doesnt exist lmfao). 

SO, the big question is: did it do that? Did it justify its existence? 

And my answer: holy fuck did it ever do that

I came into this game knowing the extreme bare minimum. I knew there was someone named Sophia, and i knew there was roadtrip, and i knew there were Personas. That’s my knowledge of it before i played it on the Switch.  I should also clarify like, early on, that i was not expecting anything from this game. At all. I was the world’s biggest cynic of this game—if you scroll down my p5s tag far enough, youll just see me complaining about a game that hasn’t even come out yet. I was fully expecting to have this be a Waifu show, and any male character that isn’t Akira to just be shoved aside like some kind of nerd in a high school hallway, and i have never been more pleased to be wrong. In fact, i actually owe it an apology, because of how fucking rude i was for no reason!!! Because this game deserves everything to be honest. 

Persona 5 strikers is, frankly, insane. Insane in the sense that it got to pull shit off that just would never have existed in the original game, because the original game is scared. It had to be as impressive as possible and garner as much attention as possible. Strikers does not have that problem—every single person who bought that game does not need to be convinced that persona 5 is a good game. They already played it. That means Atlus can just fuck around and have a good time, and man did they have a good time. There’s still scenes that still shock me if i think about it too hard, because i’m used to atlus having to follow this sort of rule set when it comes to persona 5 (or any of the main games im assuming, but i havent played them.) And on top of that, there’s still shit that’s Atlus Trademarked Branded in a good way. The style of story of story telling, and revealing the mystery that is so integral to what p5 is, is still there. 

So, to make this even a little bit comprehensible, i will make a list! 

First of all, What is this game?

In short, this game is an OVA of an anime. It’s bonus side content that has one thing in mind: to showcase these lovable characters more by putting them in fun situations. That’s it, and it is just phenomenal. That was the main point of, i’d say, like forty hours of the game. It’s just fun times with fun characters. 

But to get deeper of what i think is happening, or what they were thinking during the development, is that this is a second opportunity. Persona 5 (as we all know) had a lot of problems, and we were not quiet about those problems. We yelled it all out, made posts, made complaints on every social media platform ever. And Atlus heard all of them, and Strikers is a way to mitigate those mistakes. Aside from being a fun OVA, Strikers also works to be a deeper exploration of these characters—more specifically, the characters that did not receive much in the original game. Creating this sequel is having the ability to redo what they felt (or to be more specific, we felt) in the original game while adding new ones. I will get to that in a second.  

The format of the game 

Absolutely brilliant to throw them on a road trip. P5V already forced us to experience Shibuya for 200+ hours, and im so glad that they didn’t do that again. Going from town to town, making us experience these new places alongside our favorite characters is so good, and it just makes sense. It’s fun, it’s lighthearted, and it’s actually shockingly good. But one thing i do want to talk about early on is the way the story unfolds and the villains that they use, and what they do with it because it’s very interesting. 

So as we explore japan and stuff, we encounter jails, and with those jails comes an antagonist. This antagonist works to be a parallel to one of our characters. That character will find it in their hearts to feel bad for the antagonist, because the antagonist could have been them had the original game not happen. At first I thought all of the thieves were gonna get an antagonist, and i was really hyped for the ryuji one. And then came to hour forty of the game where i realized “yeah that’s not gonna happen. There’s just not enough time.” And i was right, and the game ended. But i am not salty at all, honestly, because the people who got a direct antagonist were: Ann, Yusuke, and Haru. (we wont count zen and sophie). 

Is there a trend??? Yes. these are all characters in the original game that have received the worst treatment by atlus. The three of them are basically cast aside the minute they finished their original arc, and its horrible! BUT that’s why this is the path that atlus chose for them—to give them more depth, and screentime, and a way to show their inner self. That isn’t to say that the ones who aren’t those three (makoto, futaba, mona, akira, ryuji) didn’t get anything. Futaba still has her thing at the end with ichinose, and she was very prevalent and animated during the rest of the game. Mona and Akira have to be a focal points, that’s just the nature of the game. The other two though, I will talk about in depth in a second.  

Makoto

Y’all i poke fun at shumako fans sometimes cause its kind of easy and fun, but i honestly love makoto. In my very first playthrough of p5 (my first ever jrpg game, first persona game, i had no idea what i was doing), i had only maxed out two characters: ryuji and makoto. And i know she had a lot of screentime and love in the original game which is great, but i truly felt like she was dissed in this game. Her only roles were

A driver

Someone to tell them “we don’t have a choice. Let’s keep going and see where this takes us.” (seriously, if you replay this game, you will see how much she does this)

Idk, i just wish she had more to do, especially compared to how much love they gave the other characters. 

But let’s talk about some of the new characters! 

Zenkichi

Damn you atlus. Damn you and your insistence at bringing in cop characters. I was fully on board with hating zenkichi, i was fucking ready for it. I was convinced that there was nothing they could do convince to like zenkichi. I was immune to their copaganda. 

And then i ended up loving him, which makes me sad a little bit. I didn’t realize how desperate i was to have an adult who has a persona. Someone who wants the world to change just as much as they do, while still having that aspect of them that makes them adult. Like??? As someone who is technically an adult, its a breath of fresh air. An adult. Who fights. For justice. Using a persona. And god i love akane so much, and her obsession with the thieves (that scene is probably in my top ten fave scenes of the game). Also what i loved about zenkichi is that he fucking hates the cops!! He hates the system of the cops!! And thats why i actually really started to love him!! Because i thought it was atlus saying that the systematic problem of the police cannot be solved by one person, and zenkichi threw away his badge. I actually cried at that part!! 

But then he became a cop again, and i was just :/ but as a character, i really love him to bits and would love to do a study on him, or at least use him as an outside pov. But! i absolutely love his persona, since im a les miserables fan hehe

Sophia 

she’s probably my favorite new aspect of the game. I was ready to not like her—again, i just suck like that, lmfao—and when i saw her, i was scared that she was just another waifu. I mean, she was very cute after all. But then as the game went on, i thought she was a little too cute. And even further into the game, i finally slapped myself in the face and realized oh my god shes not a waifu. Shes a sister. 

That blew my mind, im ngl to you. A female character that isn’t supposed to be romanced? By jove, what a miracle! 

And she…is an amazing character. Im sorry, i just love her so much. I love her so much that she  probably ranks as my fifth or sixth favorite character which is surprising even to me. Everything about her is delightful and invigorating. She’s funny??? Her comedic timing is amazing, and she has such chemistry with the rest of the team. She’s actually useful to the plot, and while her character design is a little too on the nose for me in terms of cuteness (i mean, good god she’s wearing oversized sweater to show how cute and tiny she is, and her hair has literal hearts in it), she is absolutely lovable. 

But what i actually really wanna gush about for a second is sophia at the last stage of the game. You get the idea, i dont really like to get excited over things, so at this point i figured that there was nothing this game could do to shock me. 

And then sophia had a persona awakening. 

Like. holy fuck did i yell. I didnt realize what was happening until the music had already kicked in. and its just so fucking smart!!! Sophia??? The ai?? With no heart?? gOT A PERSONA???? AWAKENING??? BECAUSE SHE LEARNED WHAT THE HEART IS AND THE PASSION THAT YOU NEED IN ORDER TO GET A PERSONA??? I started crying honestly, because it was just so smart. And looking back on it now, its obvious!! Of course it would lead to this, it only made sense that the culmination of her character arc leads to her getting a persona, nothing else would have been as good. Also, her voice actor is just amazing?? When she was talking to ichinose at the end, i actually got incredibly emotional because of the line reads. Its just so spot on and it really captures the essence of sophia.

Muah. five stars Atlus. You got me. 

Ryuji <3!!!!

Oh man. Oh boy. Okay. so where do i start. 

Yall know i love him. Hes probably my favorite fictional male character of all time, and he is the one i was the absolute most cynical about in this game. I was expecting literally nothing. Nothing. Like. nothing. I thought he was just gonna keep being used as a joke, or a gag, and he’s gonna be super horny all the time for the other girls and it was gonna make me mad and there was gonna be some insane homophobic/queerphobic jokes in every other scene and i know i was being unfair, but i cant help it. 

And then i played the first two hours of the game, and i cried the entire time. Because ryuji has never been better than he is in this game. Its crazy. 

The ryuji in persona 5 strikers is who ryuji should have been/how he should have been treated this entire time. From the actual funny jokes (for example, the gold bar joke + his reaction to it in the beginning of the game), defending his female friends instead of being the one people need to defend from (natsume arc), and the fact that he was the one to be there with morgana and akira in the very beginning of the game. Its such a small thing that they didnt even need to do, but it was such an integral part of the original game for me, that i just was convinced that nothing like this was going to happen. But then it happened. Its just small stuff like that that could have been overlooked but it wasn’t because this game? Persona 5 strikers? Fucking loves ryuji. 

The actual respect they gave this boy is insane and i wasn't ready for it. Like, they gave the shujin trio lunch, they gave the little charm of the katana when they were in natsume’s jail, and, in my opinion this is the second-best thing that they could have given ryuji is sophia. Ryuji and sophia are the pinnacle of a brother & sister bonding relationship in the game that isn’t akira & futaba. And its really prevalent too?? Small stuff from the beginning of the game (pulling her out of a jail, calling her shorty), but then you have the iconic “shut the fuck up” scene, and that scene was so well characterized and written and voice acted, that somehow him saying “fuck” was the least exciting part of that scene to me. Ryuji is an older brother to her, like its undoubtable, and its only further cemented at the end of the game where Ryuji helps out ichinose because he knows how much sophia cares about her. This game. Love ryuji. And i love. This game. 

You know what else i love? Akiryu. 

Guys. i was fully prepared to starve in terms of akiryu. But theres just. So much of it. I wont get too deep into it, because i think this aspect of the game for me still needs marinate a little bit. Like, what was that last shot when EMMA died and Ryuji walked to approach Akira so they could relish in their victory together?? And the smile from both of them??? What the fuck. That was amazing. Also Joker being saved by Ryuji when he was about to fall from the cliff to save sophia??? WHAT. The LEADER AND HIS RIGHT HAND MAN? WHAT. anyway. If theres anything i want to keep for myself in my own brain, its the akiryu aspect of this game, so i wont talk too much about that part of things (instead, itll probably manifest in fic lmfaooo). 

Sure, there’s tidbits of stuff i dont like that they gave ryuji: sexualizing ann in that one cut scene and making him touch the jails even though it hurts, and i recognize those and frown at them, but for the most part, i am blown away with how they treated him.

Basically, Ryuji has never been better. From the opening of the game with him being the first text message and the one to sling his arm around akira, to the very last cut scene where it was ryuji wordlessly leaving because he’s so confident that they would never be separated for long, this game adores Ryuji and i am so so happy to say that.

The Royal aspect of things

Yeah, i had to talk about this, but itll be a short thing i just wanted to point out. Because the last part of this game...is persona 5 royal. Which is curious. Like taking reality and giving that power to someone else so you dont have to experience suffering anymore? And even like, the final section just looked a lot like the top half of maruki’s palace?? And whats even crazier is that we had a boss fight with sophia, just like how we had a boss fight with sumire? Royal and Strikers have like, the same thesis statement. It’s kind of uncanny.It’s interesting, it’s like atlus came up with these two ideas, and then just decided they liked both of them so much that they just did it twice. I don’t mind though—actually, in terms of how the last Palace/Jails go, i probably like them both about equally. 

Though i did love the final battle in this one more than i did in royal. Splitting into teams?? Thats cool as fuck, and really innovative and i didnt see it coming. It also kicked my ass. A lot. 

Now for the last stretch: the small stuff!

The music — bomb as fuck. In my heart, Daredevil is ranked the same as Rivers. Axe to grind is also amazing, but Daredevil owns me

Akechi — i really debated whether or not to talk about him, but i figured a bullet point should be enough. Im really shocked that he wasnt in this at all. Like not even a name drop. If this is an OVA, and the point of the game is to please the fans, and akechi is arguably the fan favorite character, i was really ready for something. But there was nothing, except for the pancake hallway if that even counts as a reference. Thats it. Thats all i wanted to say about him.

The humour — FUCKING HILARIOUS im convinced that in my fifty hour playtime, five of that is dedicated to me laughing and unable to continue the game 

Akira — so much personality! His lines of dialogue are crazy sometimes (like. Whats up with him saying Ryuji has ‘nice abs’ when they were in bath? Im crazy and even i dont know what the fuck that could mean) 

Battle system — oh my god i almost forgot to talk about this. I love it! I kind of miss the turn based aspect just because i found it very comforting for some reason, but this hack and slash style of gameplay is so invigorating because i do feel like it justifies shit like the baton pass and huge attacks.  This battle system fully encompases how the Phantom Thieves are supposed to fight, you know what i mean?

Anyway, thats my thoughts on strikers. Loved it. Amazing. 9.3/10, wouldve been higher but Konoe’s Jail almost bored me to death. Also im a monster and i didnt do any requests that isn’t a fun one, teehee. As if i play persona 5 for the persona aspect of things.

#cant believe im done #but you know what? #i was actually at peace when i finished it #so i consider that a good healty thing #p5s #alex plays p5s #mine #p5 #my moon and stars #the leader and his right hand man

[c-is-for-circinate]

Okay, so I’ve got way more reactions to P5 Strikers for a longer post later, but I want to keep playing, so I’m recording some thoughts and predictions after the first boss (and all the cutscenes thereafter) before they get derailed or confirmed by later events.

This is going to be a story about cycles of violence, I suspect.  On the whole, I really liked how the game handled that with Alice: what happened to her was terrible and traumatic, and in no way excuses what she did in return.  And Ann was still desperate to save her.  I’m hoping we see more of that: understanding and also condemning, all folded in together.

Oh!!!  And as I’m writing this, I’m thinking about how that ties in thematically with what I suspect may be the deal with jails and monarchs.  See, palaces, we know from Yaldabaoth, were jails in their own sense--prisoners kept in isolation from the general population of Mementos and the Prison of Regression, shunted over into their own private little pocket dimensions where they could rule whatever they wanted.  (And I have some more complex thoughts thoughts about the specific ways that system enables further violence by rewarding bad behavior, in terms of Yaldie’s motives and also reflections of the real world, but that’s another post for another day.)  This, on the other hand, feels far more like the entire jail system is just big sprawling pocket remnants of that universal prison complex with all the wardens gone.  Now individual shadows have clawed their way up to becoming monarchs over their own pockets, but being queen of your own jail still makes you in jail.  The monarchs of these places, I suspect, will all be prisoners of their own pasts and the violence that taught them to turn to violence, which is a thematically cool way to do this and I like it.

Actually, framing it that way is making the whole concept of a cycle-of-violence P5 game grow on me.  One of the things I honestly liked about the original P5 was that, with one notable exception, we never once gave a shit about the tragic backstories of the villains we took down.  Sure, we’d learn a bit about them when we stole the Treasures, sometimes, but it didn’t really matter--because the important thing about each antagonist was the harm they are doing now, not forgiving them because of the harm done to them in the past.  So I had a little bit of concern that this seeming reversal of that trend might veer off into too much sympathy for the aggressors, bur I’m thinking (I’m hoping) that what we’re actually getting is a look at how systematic violence can turn victims into further oppressors.  And given that P5 was always a game about systematic violence, this ends up feeling like a natural progression rather than undercutting the original concept.  Heck yes.

Speaking of systems of violence: yep, I am using social justice lingo when talking about this game, and no I do not think I am projecting or reading too far into it, because damn is P5S not remotely fucking around with how it feels about cops.  Like, Zenkichi Hasegawa aside (and oh boy do I have thoughts on him), dear god do I love Haru sweet smile ‘Sorry, we just despise the police, is all!’ Okumura.  Meanwhile, our hordes of faceless trash mob enemies are literally vaguely police-shaped Shadows in riot gear.  We spent a major battle blowing up cop cars. Like.  Persona 5 said prison abolition, to the tune of spending our entire game trying to break out of our metaphorical Velvet Room prison and boss-battling our final endgame through the cognitive prison of all society.  P5 Strikers apparently said, ‘you know, we were too subtle last time, and also Fuck The Police.’

Okay and actually let’s talk about ol’ Zenkichi there (hell yes, team, you go right ahead calling this adult authority figure by his given name with no honorifics even in the original Japanese, I support you).  My hope at this point is that we get his development as a parallel to the same things we’re seeing in these jail monarchs: as part of a cycle of violence.  He’s clearly got some backstory if we’re meant to care about him this much, and it led him to this place of becoming a cop out of a desire to help or to hurt or whatever, but the road he followed brought him to this role of an authority figure with no issue manipulating, using, threatening, and borderline abusing his power over teenagers.  (I say ‘borderline’ because he hasn’t moved beyond threats yet, but it’s pretty clear he wouldn’t mind doing so if necessary--we saw him beat up a drunk, so yep.) Which, can we talk about the parallels between that scene and Akira’s original confrontation with Shido?  Drunk man harassing a woman, drunk man ends up on the ground.  Except: Akira was alone on a dark street with only the three of them there, and Hasegawa’s surrounded by people who could intervene, help, or even side against him in court if anyone cared what they had to say.  Except the drunk office-worker is clearly unimportant and unthreatening, while Shido was forceful in pride and anger even while drunk.  Except Shido’s victim was terrified, while Ann is mostly just disgusted, surrounded by friends, in very little actual danger. And Akira never touched him, never pushed him, just took one step up to try and help.  Zenkichi Hasegawa provoked a mostly-harmless drunk into attacking him for the excuse to punch him unconscious on purpose. Akira’s Shido flashback was framed in every way to show us the ways our protagonist was powerless.  Zenkichi’s scene parallels it to show us a dozen different ways this man is powerful and unafraid to use it--not just against those he deems unworthy, but also, if he so chooses, over those he saves. I am really enjoying this guy as a character.  Every single time the PTs have no use for his shit, I cheer.  Him being unbalanced by the metaverse is glorious, and please let Morgana continue to freak him out by existing and Haru continue to freak him out with sweet, pleasant smiles while talking about how she’s very sorry, it’s simply that all cops are bastards, for the rest of the game. (Additional note: @errant-light and I have been watching and talking about a whole bunch of Fullmetal Alchemist lately, and apparently Hasegawa’s Japanese VA is also Roy Mustang.  Which has just been a delightful detail re: this guy’s manipulative bastardry, because in some ways I am pretty sure the mass-murdering war criminal version of this character is the better person.)

Alice as a really obvious parallel to Kamoshida is interesting, I think.  Even to the point of being a king and queen ruling a castle--and don’t think I didn’t see that “Birdcage of Lust” label!  I don’t love having a pretty young social media influencer as our sin of lust (but even that’s complicated, because Alice was pretty clearly caged and abused for daring to feel lust in the first place, NOT for preying on people, except that then she did get predatory and it’s all a little thorny and not especially kink-positive).  I do have a lot of feelings about Shujin as this place where Kamoshida abused and preyed on people with total abandon, while Alice was demonized for daring to even look at boys in the wrong way.  I really wonder if they ever met.  It’s a cool counterpoint, and a really cool counterpoint to Ann, who was likewise a victim of that school and refused to let it turn her into an abuser herself.  (I have a LOT of feelings about Ann right now.) I’m really hoping future jail monarchs continue to mirror palace rulers in interesting ways.  In theory, next up is vanity, and gosh knows there’s plenty to fuck around with in playing against Yusuke’s lonely artistic yearning to be understood.  I’m very excited.

Apparently, the internet says this game takes 35 hours to play.  Me and my 21-hour playtime so far have some Opinions About That.

#C plays persona #persona 5 strikers #what if I just became a persona blog #persona 5 #NO SPOILERS IN THE NOTES PLEASE