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#(i believe it. it's just like yosuke to be like that.)

lemon-wedges · 2 years

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Hello I love all the art you're doing for Rise and yosuke!!!!! They're one of my favorite p4 friendships and there is just Not Enough out there. Thank you for all the amazing art of Them 🙏

:DDDDDD THAT MAKES ME SO HAPPY TO HEAR!!!! THANK YOU HEHE 🥰

I do love everyone in the It team but what can I say rise and yosukes are my favs ;u; and they've got so many little things in common I'd like to think they'd get along (And also the fact that out of all the girls she just takes his antics in stride. In the bestie au in my head she uses it later to guilt trip him into doing something. Less threats of bodily harm and more fake tears with a "I wore a swimsuit at a pageant for u and u won't even let me go thru ur phone and send myself the nice pics u have of senpai?" They can both be a little sneaky like that)

ANYWAYS. I have a lot of little scenarios I would love to draw them in but I'm just so busy rn all I can really offer is outfits for now 🤲

#asks #dontrollthedicesideblog #i found out theyre both JUNE BABIES #and i just tgink its sad rise bday is on the 1st #cause that means she cant do the whole 'the entire month until my actual bday is my bday'#but yosukes bday is on the 22nd so its only fair she borrow his #she gets an extra 21 days of pulling shit like #senpai is canceling plans with me? :c i cant believe u would do this to me....on my birthday.....#i cant believe kanji wont share his animal crackers with me today....on my BIRTHDAY #she tries to use it on yosuke but hes like excuse me its MY BIRTHDAY ur using as a lie #and she starts crying that hes so selfish. she will never know what its like having a whole month for Rise.its all baby risette ever wanted #its ok in turn he learns how to use the bday excuse too #but it only really works on yu who was gonna do the favor anyway 🤷#u did not sign up for these tags but i got feelings i gotta put somewhere :c

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sillyfudgemonkeys · 2 years

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Silly, some youtuber is praising the heavens for p5d

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahjkWFn6Kns

Ok! *starts video*

*salt in a way I wasn't expecting incoming*

*person puts a heart over Kanji and Naoto literally seconds into the video* *I take it as them being shippy towards then* You know what, nvm their opinion doesn't matter. I think I can close the video!

*pushes forward regardless* *person puts a clip of PQ2 in the middle of his argument that most of the spinoff games don't understand their characters and mess up the characterization and has most of the heavy lifting is done by the original characters, THUS IMPLYING RIGHT NOW that PQ2's characterization writing is on par with Arena/Ultimax/PQ1 fumble* The one good thing about PQ2 (besides FeMC), really? Yes the boot licking is a problem, but everyone is in char.

*Says that P5S's character writing is SOOOOOO good it should basically be considered P5-2 because it's that good* Did everyone just play P5S with their ass? Cause the first dungeon itself (esp with Anne/Ryu) has me wondering if the writers understood at least ONE of P5's characterization of them.

*Says that-that's not the case for the Dancing games* You're pretty right on that (at least with P4D)... Man.... not even 4 min in and made made a number of points/claims you got possibly one good point in (I'm not going to bash P3/5D's characterizations until I've replayed the story part cause I literally forgot it, so I'm giving them that point). *drops video* (tbf fair I have to go to work so I probs won't be on again until lunch at best or the next day at worst. Maybe it gets better, but my first impressions are left to be desired and I don't want to watch something that might tick me off atm, esp if it means seeing more K*nNao)

Sorry for being bitchy (mostly to the person), the person is probably nice and probably makes good points later and everyone else should def watch it too. I'm just annoyed having to see like 3 things in his vid that I highly disagree with so early in the morning (and ones I didn't expect to see opening a P5D video to boot!), extra not in the headspace to listen to that right now. Maybe later, they deserve a fair chance!

#i really hate shipping kanji with naoto #I will take pretty much any ship for those chars over them together #it is my NoTP #'silly that's a little childish' hush everyone has a ship they HATE this is one of mine and i try VERY hard to avoid it like a real adult #'kanji tends to get ONE really great scene with any game he is in' could not tell you what that scene is in pq2 tbh #it's because he's barely present half the time (hey I said PQ2 had a lot of issues but when it comes to writing IN CHARACTER it's good)#PQ1 is still better than PQ2 because it had a philosophy of MAKING SURE CHARS TALKED (even Kanji/Shinji and others that wouldn't usually #talk) and wow PQ2 has better characterization (minus P5 bootlicking) but at what cost?????#silly answers #silly asks #silly salt #i know i'm probs not going to agree with the goro symbolism on a certain level #on what the games are TRYING to TELL me and force me to think about goro? probs gonna line up #what I see when I play and am like 'wtf is this writing????? you want me to BELIEVE *THAT*...fat chance'#but the way I tear down Goro and his char/role in the story and how it STILL makes no sense is for another day #same with me denouncing Kanji bc the fandom keeps overlooking his creepy tendencies (but only blast teddie/yosuke)#tho most kan's issues are in the base game (but the scenarios he's in P4/G are not in spinoff game so thats a moot point)#at least the character flanderization for PQ1 was ON PURPOSE because it had a goal in mind (make sure EVERYONE feels included)#tbf they could just LIKE kanji and naoto as chars separately but I'm following my gut on this I don't trust it #i'd go into my points more (tho I have on some of these before) but I literally have to go

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rouzuchan · 10 months

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The Crush Culture

𝑷𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈(𝐬): Todoroki Yosuke x Reader(ʏᴏᴜ/ʏᴏᴜʀ) 𝑮𝒆𝒏𝒓𝒆: oneshot, fluff 𝑵𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒔: gender unspecified; todoroki being a S.I.M.P.

“Fuuuck.”

The only word running through Todoroki’s mind. They were either prolonged or short under his breath. His breath was labored, spending prior moments working out in his room, the dumbbell still within his hard grasp.

His forehead coated in thin sheets of sweat as beads fell from his damp hair. He snatched the nearby towel, roughly running the cloth on his sensitive skin while attempting to calm his rising pulse.

“Fuck” He muttered again.

The time read 7:12 PM, already behind his routine. He’d spent the day as normal, but something about recent events had his presence somewhere else.

Throwing the towel somewhere, he grabbed his phone. Inputting his passcode before clicking straight into his messages.

The screen’s light illuminated his sharp features, his lips cracking into a smirk as he scrolled up into the message feed dating back from last week.

Damn. You just had to prance around his mind, huh?

Who knew getting dragged into his gang’s matchmaking rendezvous would lead him to now? He still remembered standing broody whilst everyone else chatted and danced around, light strobing and flashing in his eyes making him want to escape.

In his silent ruminations, he was late to notice another suffering individual at his side, a little too uncomfortable in their skin. You were definitely in the same boat as him.

And the rest was history.

Because you lived on the other side of town (and went to an actual school), you both opted to text for weeks, promising to jump at any free time you guys had.

It was better than nothing, he thought.

Amid his floating, fluffy daydreams, a notification slid down from above the screen with a ding. His chest palpated when he read who the delivered message was from.

Hey, I’m heading downtown. Can’t sleep and I wanted to take a break from home :>

He bit inside his lip. Todoroki clicked on the message, sending him down to the very bottom of your chat room. His fingers hovered and deleted message after message, word after word. The chat bubbles danced for a while until he unintentionally pressed send.

He lurched forward with wide eyes, reading his sent message.

Sure, I’ll go shower rn

“Fuck!-- Nice going, Yosuke.” He breathed out, pinching the bridge of his nose as he dragged it down.

Another ring came from his phone, feeling his dread quickly pushed away as his throat banged as if he could choke his heart at any moment.

He peeked over the screen.

Haha, okay ^^ see u [NAME sent a location]

Seeing your lighthearted message, Todoroki released a breath he didn’t know he held. Crisis averted. Would you even mind? Did you get in the same situation as him some time ago? He kinda hoped so…

Brushing the embarrassment off, he got up and made his way to his shower, hoping to clear his muddled mind.

After dressing up nicely, Todoroki walked down the cool and uncharacteristically quiet streets downtown.

It only occurred to Todoroki that this would be your first time hanging out in person since the party. Hard to believe, sure, but with your schedules and his intent on never breathing a word about you to his gang, that insignificant time frame of one month suddenly became precious moments he’d never trade.

Todoroki shook his head, sighing as he curved the corner, hands stuffed in his leather pockets. He shouldn’t jump to conclusions. You were technically still acquaintances… Unless sending memes and funny cat videos were a sign of your affection— it was still too soon to call any shots unless this date– hang-out went well.

What were you planning? You mentioned something about cafe dates being a go-to, but would cafes even allow caffeine during this time? What do they sell in cafes other than caffeine? Is there anything you’d like?

“Over here!”

Todoroki raised his head and followed the voice, straight to you. Standing underneath the streetlight, you waved toward him. The fluorescent warmth made your features shine in the treacherous sea of strangers.

You didn’t look tired, or was that just the grin on your face? Todoroki couldn’t tell. He felt like he could drop all his worries now. You were there. Mere feet away.

Fuck… he was in deep. And as his body practically gravitated towards yours, Todoroki knew he wasn’t escaping from your fingers any time soon.

But, he’s honest with himself. He wouldn’t have it any other way.

The midnight grind doesn't stop 🙌 /j but anyways... um, listen I don't know either. Words just... spat out... as always. Ugh, why can't I be this sappy on command!? (〃＞目＜) Being fr right now: That image with Todoroki working out has been eating me up, it's insane <(_ _ )> behold, the crew 😎🥂: @airbendertendou, @star2fishmeg, @straysugzhpe, @simpforchuchu, @strxwberrychocolate, @prodbyblush, @thatpoindexterpixy

#rouzu fics #high&low #high&low the worst #high&low the worst cross #high&low x reader #todoroki yosuke #todoroki yosuke x reader

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simpforchuchu · 7 months

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Good for you | Yosuke Todoroki x Murayama’s sister reader

Summary: Todoroki did not expect that his little hunting adventure would not go well and that his worst rival's sister would change his entire life...

a/n: Hello, you know how much I love enemies to lovers trope…I hope you like it 🌸💕

Sorry for the grammer or spelling mistakes.English is not my main language so...

Thank you and love you 🥰

Warnings: mostly angst but fluff at the end, fights, injuries, swearing, blood, hatred, usual hnl warnings

When Todoroki stepped into Oya high school, he thought that everything would be the same as before. Little did he know that his fun little hunt would continue after defeating Tsuji and Shibaman, or even that challenging the king would change everything.

He was quite confident when the duo, who would be the first friends he will have made in a long time - even though he didn't want to admit it - told him that nothing was over and that he had to defeat Murayama, the real king of Oya. He hadn't felt the feeling of defeat in a long time.

When he entered the large room where the partime students were and tried to persuade Murayama to join the game, he saw how the tigress became angry who he had not noticed even though she had been in the room for a while but was not afraid to show her sharp teeth when the king was threatened.

Y/n Murayama couldn't stand the arrogant young man threatening her brother any longer. When she stood up and faced the taller boy, she saw eyes as dark as her own.

Even though Yoshiki Murayama knew how calm his little sister was, he also knew that she was overprotective when it came to her older brother. That's why the two young people's constant looks full of hatred and arrogance was interrupted by his warning to y/n.

Todoroki knew that this girl with cold eyes like him would become his new hunt if things went bad. But he never thought that he would be the hunt while going hunting.

Tsuji and Shibaman did not think that there was anyone in the school they had been ruling over for a while who did not know the young girl. And the fact that she was acting outside her usual calm, warm personality seemed more frightening to them than older Murayama.

Even though Y/n listened to her brother and stepped aside, she couldn't ignore the darkness she felt. She could feel that this boy would be a big trouble, and this made her uneasy.

The young girl had a calm personality, but she hated being quiet around her. This eerie feeling she felt when her brother was not at school was strengthened by the sounds she heard from outside.

Y/n couldn't believe what she saw that day. She knew the new boy was different, but she didn't expect him to beat up her brother's friends just so they could fight.

Todoroki wanted to find the young girl before finding Furuya and Seki. And he could guess that she would not stand just there and watch whatsoever happening.

Tsuji and Shibaman were sure it wasn't a good idea when Todoroki asked them to find the young girl. They knew that Murayama would burn this school down if they touched her. And they didn't want to fight an innocent girl.

But Todoroki was curious. He wondered if the young girl could fight. He wanted to see if her cold and threatening gaze was in vain.

When the two of them came face to face, there was no expression of fear on y/n's face. Even though she wanted to fight Todoroki, she knew that the young boy was stronger than her and looked down on her.

Todoroki, on the other hand, understood that the kick that he received to his arm was quite strong and that the young girl was not just being over confident.

When Murayama returned, Todoroki sent one of the students to get y/n out of the room where they had locked her. He didn't want her to miss the fight. He was sure he would win.

Murayama had put aside his pensive mood for a while. He saw his old self in front of him and he wasn't going to lose to him. Not again.

When Y/n returned, she watched the fight silently for a while. When she saw that the new boy was almost as strong as her older brother, she couldn't help but worry. She hated him and was afraid of him, even though she wouldn't admit it to anyone.

Murayama wasn't going to lose. He knew that this fight was not with a kid, but with himself. And when he threw the last punch, he knew he had won as the boy fell to the ground.

When Murayama got off Seki's back, Y/n ran to him and hugged, praying that he wouldn't understand that she was scared. If she got scared, Yoshiki would destroy his mental strength and self-confidence again.

Tsuji and Shibaman didn't think it was important to win or lose. What they were watching was a spectacular fight and they didn't believe there was a loser. They admired Todoroki and were going to follow him no matter what happens.

While Todoroki was being lifted off the ground by his new friends, his eyes fell on the girl who ran to her brother and hugged him. He was the one who would being look down on now, wasn't he?

The effects of the fight were still ongoing. Todoroki was criticized and sometimes made fun of by many people. He didn't care, he had admitted defeat and was going to try again. But when he thought about what happened, he realized that he only cared about what one person thought.

As he was walking down the stairs with Tsuji and Shibaman, he stopped when he saw the girl coming towards him in the hallway. He didn't even know if he should say anything to her, or why he was stopping now.

Y/n looked at the boy she hadn't seen face to face in a while and gave a wry smile. The eyes that looked at her with arrogance that day had not changed even after all that had happened. But when she smiled at him, he could see the darkness in his eyes grow darker.

Todoroki wasn't going to show her that he was bothered by the young girl teasing him. She was going to say something like everyone else and leave. Or maybe she was right to look at him with hatred like everyone else. But he couldn't help her last words affecting him.

“You know what, Todoroki? You will never be the leader. Even if you can defeat my brother, nobody will follow you. And you guys..” She turned to the duo. “You are better than this.”

Although Tsuji and Shibaman often thought about it, it was their own decision to follow Todoroki. That's why they didn't care about what was said, but Todoroki was afraid that even the only people around him - his friends - would think that about him.

Todoroki could sense that after the conflicts within the factions and what was going on in Sword, after Murayama banned full-time students from getting involved in Sword matters many things had changed in the school. He noticed that even Junior Murayama had become quieter, and that the already calm young girl was staying away from everyone.

Y/n spent most of her time playing games on her phone or reading manga. She was not interested in the stupid competition among boys. Some days, she would hang out at the roof with Tsukasa, who was also staying away from all these shits.

Even though Tsukasa wanted to live in his own world, he knew that it was not possible. When the attacks started to increase after a while, he could not prevent himself from finding himself in the middle of the events.

This was Oya high school, no one could retreat into their shell and watch the things silently. Trouble always finds a way to find you.

Todoroki was injured after his second loss to Murayama. While the rumors were increasing day by day, he didn't even care what anyone thought about him. He would try again, he wouldn't stop trying. He didn't care about anyone. Nobody but one person.

When he stood up holding his eyes, there was only one other person in the hall looking at him, apart from Tsuji and Shibaman.

He hated her. He hated her every time she stared at him from the sidelines, every time she belittled him.

Moreover, as if these were not enough, he was not happy with the new boy coming to school and impressing everyone. But what he didn't want to admit was he hated him having her around.

He knew that the young girl got along well with Tsukasa. He thought he didn't like her because he only saw her as a threat. But when he saw the new boy making her smile, he remembered what y/n had said to him with hatred all those months ago.

“You will never be the leader.”

So, was it not being a leader that bothered him so much? Or was it because Fujio was seen as the leader even in y/n's eyes?

Oya students were not even aware of the approaching danger. The first spark was lit when a few students and Yasushi were attacked after the drug issue. Even though Y/n wanted to stay out of all these things, she was a student of this high school.

Murayama knew that they were stupid. They were not even aware of the trap set for them. That's why when he learned about the fight from his sister, he couldn't help but intervene.

A fight worse than the one with Housen was waiting for them. None of them were aware of the risk they were taking and how dangerous it was. And they certainly didn't care.

Everyone was surprised when Y/n said she would join them as a student of Oya. When Fujio asked if she was sure, Todoroki responded harshly.

Oya students could not understand what was going on. Even Tsuji and Shibaman had seen him react like this for the first time. Although Y/n looked at him in surprise at first, she became angry at this boy who underestimated her.

Todoroki was worried. But he would never say he was worried. Worse, he would tell the young girl that a girl would be a burden to them.

Everyone was surprised. They knew the young girl could fight. And that she is strong. Y/n was angry. They shouted at each other for a while.

When Todoroki finally said he was worried about her, it didn't mean anything.

“I don't need you to worry about me. We are not fucking friends!”

“Who said I wanted to be friends?!”

It was Fujio who stopped them. When they both left in anger and went in opposite directions, no one could understand what had just happened.

Y/n couldn't understand Todoroki. But what was worse was that even Todoroki couldn't understand himself. Why was he worried about her? Weren't they rivals ? Did he really hate her?

Y/n didn't know. She didn't know why the boy who was yelling at her yesterday was now covering herself with his body and protecting her. Or why he was looking at her like that. But there was something she knew. Todoroki was a strange person. He was so strange that he walked away without even giving her a chance to thank him.

Months later, when she left the house to walk in the park, y/n was thinking about the things she thought she shouldn't be thinking about. Just before the summer break, her brother graduated and she was not sure about whether to continue Oya or not.

As the light wind touched her face, she speeded up her steps. Her thoughts were making the young girl dizzy. Does she want to return? Was there a reason for her to return?

She was so distracted that even when she tripped and fell to the ground, she couldn't understand what was happening for a few seconds. She sighed and hissed in pain.

She looked at her injured hands because she had fallen on them and cursed.

As she was about to get up, she tilted her head to see the shadow standing in front of her. She was in front of the face of someone she never expected to see and she didn't know how to react.

Todoroki, like her, went for a walk with thousands of thoughts in his mind. He didn't expect to see the young girl. However, he was quite close to her street, hadn't he come to see her?

They hadn't spoken since he helped the young girl up from the ground and they arrived at the park. Maybe they didn't know how to communicate other than yelling at each other and making sarcastic comments for two years.

When they sat under a tree, y/n looked at the boy who was looking everywhere but at her and she smiled.

This was the first time Todoroki had seen her smile when he was around her. He would never forgive himself for missing such a beautiful feeling until now.

“Thank you,” y/n said. There was no sarcasm in her voice, she was sincere.

Todoroki nodded slightly. He apologized later, he apologized for the things he said before the fight that day, and there was no sarcasm in his voice, he was sincere too.

Y/n looked at him confused for a moment and smiled. "You've changed," she said with a smile. “My brother changed you.” Todoroki nodded silently. “Many things made this happen. I think I've matured." he smiled.

Y/n wasn't sure if she'd ever seen him smile other than making fun of her, but she loved it.

They both watched around silently for a while. Todoroki got scared and asked the question he had been wanting to ask for a long time.

"Will you come back?"

Y/n didn't know what to say when she faced with a question she didn't know the answer to. She shook her head.

"I don't know. I don't think I can find a good reason."

Todoroki nodded. He didn't know how long he clenched his fist, but when it started to hurt, he relaxed.

Should he? How would she react? Was this something wrong? Hadn't he been thinking about this for weeks? “Fuck it,” he said and turned to the young girl.

“You want a good reason, right?”

Y/n looked at him in surprise. She couldn't react to the lips that touched her right after she nodded.

When Todoroki pulled back a few seconds later, the young girl was frozen.

Her heart was beating so fast she thought she was going to die. She was now thinking about everything she didn't want to think about for months. She should have hated him. So why didn't she feel that way?

Y/n approached the young boy and kissed him this time. It was a slightly longer kiss than the one before. When they both pulled back, they looked away in embarrassment.

Todoroki leaned his forehead against the young girl's and closed his eyes again.

“You changed me, not your brother.”

HnL taglist : @straysugzhpe @tiddly-winx @ninamarie1994 @thatpoindexterpixy @koala-yuna @star2fishmeg

#high and low #high&low #high and low fic #hnl #high and low the worst #high and low the worst x #oya high #oyakoh #oya high school #todoroki yosuke x reader #todoroki yosuke #yosuke todoroki #yosuke todoroki x reader #todoroki x reader #todoroki yosuke fic #tsuji & shibaman #murayama y/n

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emeyuko · 11 months

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Okay, already posted on Twitter in a long ass thread but lemme talk about Yosuke's confession again, the "i never knew i had such a heat inside" or this depending of the traslation

It's SO important cuz It really empathizes their relathionship pretty fucking well. Yosuke loved Saki bc she was the first person that saw him as something outside of the Junes kid who's parents are gonna ruin the shopping distritc (even if the way she feels about him was more complicated than that), she accepted who she was, talked to him, was nice to him

we know Yosuke is a person who gets interested in people easily considering his flirty behaviour, but i am pretty sure his feelings for Saki were genuine and that there's a pattern, Yosuke is a lonely kid that is used to be treated like trash most of the time, seeing someone saying this stuff to him, makes him embarrased and...happy, and it makes believe that he's into people who are genuinely caring and kind to others, including a random loser like him. if Yosuke loved Saki for that empathic and kind nature, who's the person that fits perfectly those two terms? Is basically the whole point of their character considering that he's a protagonists and how it mix with the message of the game? That's right, Yu.

There are some parallels with Saki and Yu, in lots of ways, Saki and Yu both has this kind behaviour, can be teaseful around Yosuke and they both are big siblings that really love their little siblings more than anything, but despite their cool easygoing and kind behaviour, they are implied to be really deppresed individuals, for Yu/Souji more specificed in the manga about his parents("i wish all could dissapear" is a very suicidal thought, that Saki's shadow herself mentioned, like if she has thought about killing herself before)

Saki made Yosuke feel slighty better with himself, how he shouldn't worry about what the others are saying around the town, because he knows that isn't true

Yu made him realize how nothing would change for him if he doesn't do something about himself, how he isn't alone and has everyone else and i would say he did more than Saki did.

Yosuke wasn't ready for a relathionship yes, but he slowly realized how much Yu mattered to him, how much he is "special" to him, Yosuke finds himself comfortable in Yu's presence, smth he didn't felt until Saki came in, so i think that's what "i never knew i had such a heat inside" means

he's a perceptive person that knew that his relathionship with Saki wasn't mutual ("i knew all they said was right, i was just too embarassed to admit it...") and afterwards he saw how much he had going on in her head "i wish everything could just dissapear", Yu actually reasurred him, his kidness was more in a "i do like you as a person" instead of "i am kind to you bc i would be a ass if i weren't", Yosuke probably fell even harder than he fell for Saki, he finally found a genuine connection, the most genuine one he could ever have, that changed his life for better.

And i think It really fits his character, he is really someone who desires a genuine connection due to loneliness, people who genuinely liked him, instead of treating him as someone they need from time to time, thanks to Yu he's closer to the team.

And no, some people may believe Yu was like a """remplacement""" of Saki but i do believe this is just a natural course, you cannot control who you get feelings for, and slowly, you get to know them and fall for them, i do know people who broke up/lost their ex before and some weeks later, they fell for someone else, and there's nothing wrong about it, time passes, feelings changes, some people faster or slower than others but it's natural, and Yosuke should allow himself to love someone else when the other already passed away

So yeah, i do believe he got to experience, even an stronger feeling than before and it makes sense, (Yosuke also realized how life slowly changes in his SL, fitting EVEN MORE with his character arc)

Saki is special, Yu is special, and that wouldn't change in any way, not even how he sees himself, bc thanks to this experiencie, he could finally say he's special in his own way.

#yosuke hanamura #souyo #otp: my heat inside #ANYWAYS here's me going bonkers with his confession again enjoy

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adachimoe · 7 months

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Random stuff from the Persona Club P4 book

I leafed through the Club book and more of the meta and setting stuff stood out to me than the character stuff. 🤓

The origins of Yasoinaba: The meta developer corner notes that Yasoinaba gets its name from the Hare of Inaba legend. Yaso comes from Okuninushi's brethren who are collectively called the yasogami. Samegawa is also a reference to the Hare of Inaba. In the myth, the hare went on the backs of sharks to reach the territory that would eventually be called Inaba. "Same" is shark, and "kawa/gawa" is river. The animal mascot in Inaba is the rabbit. Not because of the myth, though, but because there's a bunch of rabbits somewhere if you follow the Samegawa lol. The town plant is broadleaf cattail.

Tatsuhime Shrine: It's noted that Toyotamahime is the enshrined deity at Tatsuhime shrine. This is a kinda indirect reference to the Hare of Inaba. Toyotamahime was a sea creature who could transform into a human. Her sea creature form was said to be similar to that of a crocodile or a shark (see the above about the Hare of Inaba). Actually, my first blog post on here was about Toyotamahime and the woman at the shrine.

The staging area of the TV world: The design of the people on the ground on the floor of the staging area when you enter the TV world from Junes is the result of the main characters having murder on the brain when they first enter the TV.

The location of Junes: The Yasoinaba branch of Junes is located near the highway so it brings incidental business to town because people who are driving through will also stop there, not just Inaba locals.

Junes wages: Start at 690 yen per hour for high school students, and 900 yen per hour for others. (Per Google, this was like $6.67 / $8.70 per hour in 2008 when the game came out.)

Yosuke's dad's name: Yoichi Hanamura (花村陽一).

The origins of Konishi Liquor: A member of Atlus's battle team is named Konishi and their family actually owns a liquor store. Early on in development, the team just called the place "Konishi Liquor" as a placeholder after the developer and the name stuck. (The text specifically says this is about a Konishi on the battle team, so it's not referring to the composer who is also named Konishi.)

The in-universe history of Inaba: Yasoinaba developed as a mountain castle town with ties to Takeda Shingen. (This is a reference to the actual area in Yamanashi where Atlus drove to and used as a model for the shopping district.) Later, it became a coal mining town. But the coal mine has since closed. (I believe the coal mine part is fictional and isn't supposed to correlate to Yamanashi.)

Mayumi's Room and Saki's Shopping District: Originally, Mayumi's room and the shopping district with Konishi Liquor were a lot bigger and more similar to the size of the other dungeons in the time period after they were pushed into the TV. Once inside, they became lost in the maze and had to confront their shadows. But once the person who created these spaces/images died, these two places shrunk in size, hence the smaller areas you see in-game. The smaller parts are like "cores" of these once larger areas that remain behind. The book likens the small spaces / "cores" to ghosts that haunt the spots where they died.

Magatsu Inaba and Magatsu Mandala: Unlike the other dungeons, which sprung from repressed thoughts, Adachi's Magatsu Inaba was intentionally created to lure in the Investigation Team and confuse them. From the yellow caution tape, you can sense that a part of him still knows he's a detective.

The bit about the caution tape, I think you can read it also as an explanation to why he sends you the letter about the true ending - there is still detective'ing to be done. But like, I'm just gonna pretend I didn't read that. The tape says CAUTION KEEP OUT WARNING because babygirl has a hard time with feelings and people. Fuck you Atlus. Also, I guess his place being "intentionally" created is related to why he got to pick the entrance being in Mayumi's room.

Shadows: The shadows in Persona 4 aren't really the same as Persona 3. The book tells you to think of them separately as the ones in Persona 4 don't really directly harm people - they remain in the unconscious rather than appear in reality and shank people. Shadows in the TV world attack Persona users because they sense danger from Persona users and just instinctively know to attack them. Compared to Persona 3, there are more silly shadows because the Midnight Channel is influenced by the people who watch it.

Mitsuo Kubo's backstory: Mitsuo was a student at Yasogami High until Morooka caught him messing around in a downtown area, after which he was suspended from school for a week. This wrecked his ego / pride so badly that he dropped out of Yasogami High and held a grudge against Morooka. Btw, Hashino also mentions in this long interview that Mitsuo was originally not going to kill Morooka.

References to the Kirijo Zaibatsu: When Dojima tries to reach Nanako in November, he gets a pre-recorded message about the KJ phone service and Nanako's phone being off. "KJ" stands for "Kirijo". Additionally, when Naoto mentions that she did research and found info about shadows becoming Personas, this info was leaked from a Kirijo research lab.

Did Kashiwagi seriously book the kids at a love hotel?: The love hotel on Shirakawa from Persona 3 was renovated (kind of) into a regular hotel by the time of Persona 4.

Yomenai Bookstore: Yomenai means "unreadable". The owner's last name is actually Yomenai, and they didn't realize their last name wasn't a good match for running a bookstore until after they opened up business. School kids started making fun of the store, which bothered Yomenai at first, but they left the store open and now stock mostly books related to their own hobbies. In other words, the majority of the books at the store are "unreadable" to regular people.

#persona club p4 #japanese mythology #yosuke hanamura #mayumi yamano #saki konishi #tohru adachi #mitsuo kubo #persona 4 #persona 3

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detective-prince-enthusiast · 22 days

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okay would you believe me. if i told you. that in a real persona game. the boys all shrink themselves down with a bottle of liquid that teddie just. Decides to drink. And they go through a miniature door. To get a key. And they all stack on top of each other. And when they fall down kanji and yosuke perfectly land so that they’re kissing. and they can’t remember it when they get big again. but kanji remembers having a ‘bloody nose’ and yosuke says he must’ve had a ‘pervy dream.’ which indicates kanji liked it. and rise saw all of it.

okay now imagine that all again but they have chipmunk voices.

#ari persona rambles #persona 4 #persona q #p4 #pQ #THIS GAME IS INSANE #RIDICULOUS #yosuke hanamura #kanji tatsumi

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sankatsuka · 7 months

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Joker (and Akechi) Character Discussion - Emptiness, Desire for Love and A Choice to Live Imprisoned

Warnings:

This is only based on P5R canon.

My evidence can be interpreted in many ways - this is just my own interpretation based on my own experiences.

This is from a Joker fan so I may be biased.

My knowledge of Makoto Yuki and Yu Narukami mostly comes from the animation (I intend to start P4G soon).

I don't fully recall information. If it helps the reader's understanding, I'll search for the the actual text and insert it later on.

Very heavy on Akeshu, their dynamic is very important to their characterization. I am a romantic shipper, but it can be interpreted as platonic too.

The core of this discussion is the theme of depression and emptiness that I believe both Joker and Akechi struggle with. Another theme that I believe is an important foil between the two is Joker's struggle with self-expression and Akechi's over-expression—

Joker’s Way of Living - Playfully Going with the Flow

To me, Joker's character in P5R was shaped the most by his social link with Akechi. It's the only social link where Joker expresses strong emotions without the player making the active choice to or being pressured by outside forces. Joker has always been portrayed as someone who is quiet and keeps his distance, but does still participate in fun and festivities with his friends. Point being, only when people ask him out to do something fun/he feels inclined to as a social gesture, he will participate. In Akechi's social link though was my favourite moment of the entire game - Joker unapologetically disguising Akechi. This was a really small moment but it was the only time he did something just for fun, unprompted, which I really appreciate.

There's also Hifumi who’s his age and has the same celebrity aura and aloof personality as Akechi. You can choose to mess with her, but it isn't as huge an effort as what Joker does to Akechi. Joker's character to me is someone who CAN poke fun at others, but taking the initiative to do something fun just because it’s fun? Never. Except for around Akechi, which I found incredibly cute: when he says it was fun, Akechi seems slightly amused too, as if he was pleased to see Joker having fun when he normally just goes with the flow. This is something the P3 and P4 protagonists share as well, that they always structure their days to be productive, have no hobbies and only respond wittily to people as a personality. It's silent protagonist stuff, but I like to think it's a good portrayal of depression. A Wild Card is a person who can summon multiple persona - which means they have many masks they use to face hardship, and so these masks are a manifestation of their many personalities. For me, the protagonists are Wild Cards because they are so used to 'acting' to seem normal around other people, to hide away their emptiness and lack of real self desires.

One of P4TA's episodes really stood out to me for building Yu's character in that he resonated with Mitsuo who felt emptiness in his daily life. Yu struggled with being accused of being 'empty' because he has no bonds once you took away his supernatural powers from him. I was really surprised by this episode, because what? Actual characterization for a protagonist with no personality? DEPRESSION?!?!?! He was able to shout that he wasn't empty when Yosuke reached out for him, and this makes me believe that Wild Cards are Wild Cards because their bonds define them - what fills their hearts is this love. These supernatural events give something for Wild Cards to identify with for people to love them, that if you take it away from them then there’s nothing left of them for their friends to stay around for - but Yosuke and the P4 cast prove that they would never leave Yu alone. That's why Wild Cards are not malicious in their 'acting', rather they just have no personality, nothing they care for or like etc, so they can only adapt to the people who want to reach out and care about them. At first, the act is superficial, but with time it becomes a real part of them (MAX Social Link). It’s not unhealthy but just… a way of life you have to embrace and acknowledge if you were dealt the depression card, unfortunately, or else you would be running from yourself.

(Also, on a side note, I love how the topic of depression isn’t understood by the cast because they aren’t aware they have felt it/just don’t experience it - and they’re all just ‘what-the-hell’ about Mitsuo’s motivations. But Yu knows, keeps it a secret and just plays along - there’s no need for anyone to know, he wants to protect this happiness. How Rise asks him about how he gained his Persona in the same episode as if to point attention to how Yu is similar to Mitsuo, needing something badly to fill the void, but had already acknowledged his emptiness from the start. God, thank you Persona for portraying high-functioning depression so well)

And if P4TA wasn’t enough a portrayal of high-functioning depression and the importance of love, then Behind the Mask’s lyrics are all about that too.

Love for Oneself and Others: What Makes Akechi Wrong and Joker Right

To emphasize on the importance of love to the protagonists, if I’m not mistaken Akechi states clearly how he wanted to be loved and Shido points that out too about Akechi. The fact he's able to summon multiple Persona goes to show how he's empty as a person, and that he has the potential like the protagonists to create new personas. Akechi's lack of trust however is what makes it impossible for him to manifest more than two Persona, as Futaba points out. However, unlike the protagonists, his other Persona Robin Hood wasn't born from a bond, but rather from the love of himself and his past ideals. OK, hear me out, although Akechi suffering from being unwanted does very much affect his ability to truly love and accept himself, the ability to acknowledge his suffering is still self-love in itself, proof that he cares about meeting his own needs. This isn't like the protagonists who go on with life accepting the cards that are dealt to them. Akechi however fears opening his heart to people because of his circumstances growing up, so it was natural for him to only trust and care about himself and nobody else to survive - this is his love, making Robin Hood’s existence possible.

But being selfish like this makes you lose sight of your morals, of what it truly means to love and be loved - because you will do whatever it takes to survive and be happy in what you believe to be just a shitty strong-eats-weak world, which is how Akechi wound up as Shido's accomplice - now he can use his new powers to tip that cursed power balance. But it’s obvious to Shido that Akechi’s actions screamed wanting to be loved, because he could have used his powers for anything else, yet his first instinct was to reach out to someone who should have loved him and use that power to be relevant to him. And then he decides to build a reputation as a celebrity with what he enjoyed doing best (solving cases) when such a thing was just an unnecessary effort. In fact, wanting to be a celebrity could be said to be the cause of Akechi’s downfall in the first place, because he doesn’t even care about sweets but had to pay attention to fads as a celebrity - then pancakes. Someone who grew up unwanted and unloved would naturally end up being driven by a desire to be loved, even if they believe they’re being ‘strong’. Akechi probably always knew, because after running away from the label of ‘unwanted child’, what else could he do when he was an empty husk of a shell? The only things he could remember is what he wanted as a child - a father, to be a hero and friends. Friends were outside the question now though, because he learned he can’t trust anyone. And his father was a scumbag, so he would never love him normally - but with this power, Akechi had the power to beat adults in power into submission, too. So it made sense that was his first instinct, a revenge to fill his emptiness - and then, so as to not feel alone again, Akechi became a celebrity - because friends were out of the question.

But this corrupted Akechi meets Joker who's living the ideal life he wanted as a child, being surrounded by friends and playing hero despite having shitty circumstances. And not giving a damn about his real family who threw him out here. This infuriates Akechi, because he believed it was impossible and so he worked hard for a less ideal future of being a celebrity with an unknown past. He never believed he could live a normal life overcoming the label of an unwanted child put on him, and here Joker was so effortlessly surrounded by friends while still being labeled a criminal. The label on Akechi is also interesting because it isn't something that everyone knows yet he still feels haunted by it - I love how this portrays that your past will always follow you everywhere, UNTIL you decide to accept it. Akechi probably realizes that Joker is happier because he accepted that label of a criminal and lived with it, and Akechi made a mistake. And this creates the foundation on which he hates and envies Joker, why did Akechi have to be in the wrong when he worked this hard? Akechi already feels incapable of doing anything right from the circumstances of his birth alone, and making more mistakes reinforces this idea that he will never do anything right, makes him more spiteful at his own birth and this frenzy of self-hatred makes it hard to grasp what’s right and wrong to him again. Akechi HATES Joker because of how Joker was able to make the right choices - in a way, this means that Joker's justice beat his.

Joker’s Desire for Perfection (Power) to Love

But that's on Akechi's side. I love that you have the option to make Joker say, 'I'm jealous of you too', to Akechi in his social link. Joker expresses a desire not to lose to Akechi, in billiards or in battle, despite not having any real reason to honor the rivalry. Joker clearly just plays along with Mishima because he has no reason to see Mishima the way he wants to be seen, nor does it benefit the two of them. Here, being rivals could easily be interpreted as a nonsense talk, especially since Akechi was a celebrity, so there was no room for pleasing people either. Even how Akechi gets surprised that Joker remembers the whole rival thing shows Akechi didn’t expect to come off so seriously from the start. Joker wanted to beat him for his own personal reasons. I took this as an implication that Joker admires and envies the perfection and capability Akechi demonstrates. Metaverse Joker’s pompousness and show-off nature does reflect how it’s Joker ideal to be that way, too. This further builds on Joker's feelings towards people, that there's a desire to be perfect and capable for them, and it's reflected in his interactions with them - how he tries to be their best supporter.

But Joker's way of supporting people isn't consistent. It depends on what he believes is in their best interest, even if it's not what the other wants, like with Mishima - it goes to show he doesn't have an actual personality, but rather his conversations with people are adapted to their needs like his masks that they create in him. This personality of caring about people's best interests and getting involved is why he acted in the harassment incident. But I do think he never initiates friendships of his own accord, and rather has people as confidants, because the trauma of the incident still lingers - that staying indifferent is far better than getting close to people (because he'll just let them down like he has his family and friends). It doesn't stop him from speaking up when things are clearly wrong though (every social link), so it's only that that trauma has hampered his ability to form new relationships.

I like to HC that he keeps his distance because of how his decision to rescue the woman ruined his relationships with his family and friends. And he doesn't want this to happen again, but he still wants to act when he believes it's right. He needs people so he can fill his emptiness. If he was perfect and capable like Akechi, maybe he could have both saved the woman and somehow not end up with a criminal record. The fact they never talk about his past relationships in canon and Sojiro brings up how he’s troubled his parents does make me HC that it's something he strongly suppressed. His inclination to care about others and get involved goes to show he has always been a kind-hearted person, and his emptiness has likely always been there since before the incident as he accepted the outcome of it without much spite. In fact, it’s the PTs who get angry for him about Shido. He lets people shape his personality, with how after the incident he chose to lay low as people told him to, but he couldn't because he could never change his love and concern for other people. There is also how Joker started wearing spectacles without actually needing them (not confirmed though) and changed his fashion to appear more ‘presentable’. One could deduce it was motivated by the anxiety from disappointing his loved ones with the person he had been and moving to a huge city all on his own where he knew nobody.

Joker: A Willing Prisoner of His Own Heart

If Akechi closed his heart out of fear, then Joker opened his heart to people. Far too much, that he allows them to dictate who he is - and the only emotion he lets slip is his concern for their best interest, even if they push him away. Other than that, there’s nothing else. This is what I like to think makes Joker a prisoner, because unlike the P3 and P4 protagonists, his heart is never free to truly develop as himself and reach his true answer. Makoto’s answer was growing from apathetic to believing in himself and humanity, Yu’s answer was embracing the happiness that friends bring him… and Joker still hasn’t defined what happiness is for him. Playing hero for the whole of Tokyo twice is still just acting in humanity’s best interests. In fact, playing hero itself can be considered escapism that blinds you from your true desires even more (Ryuji), unless you’re aware of why you want to play hero. Joker never had this epiphany like Ryuji had, nor does he have strong motivations to do what he’s doing like the rest of the PTs, so it can’t be said he’s actually following his heart.

This is reflective of P5's themes too, of the final boss being the manifestation of people's desires to stay prisoners to society. And humanity's worst, most dangerous inmate is Joker himself, which can be interpreted as him being the one who wants to free prisoners but wants to stay imprisoned (LOL). His desire to be that someone who frees other prisoners may be a result of his own projection, that he can’t save himself so he’ll save others. Yaldabaoth comments how Joker's psyche manifested as a prison, and Lavenza talks about how the Velvet Room was originally planned to help Joker develop as a person in the very same prison rather than rehabilitate him. If the Velvet Room is a representation of the guest's journey in P3 and P4, then Joker's journey is as a prisoner to society. He is only trapped behind the bars in prisoner garments when he remains unaware of Yaldabaoth's influence, but even in his Phantom Thief costume the form of the prison doesn’t change even once he’s free from the bars. To me, I interpret this as Joker's ideal that he believes he will forever be trapped in the prison of never expressing himself, but he is at least free to live for the sake of others. At the start, he’s behind bars because he struggles to accept that it is right for him to live for others, but confronting Yaldabaoth is a pivotal moment where he unapologetically makes the decision to save humanity. And the moment he truly feels ‘free’ to live that way.

I'm inclined to believe that his upbringing is what shaped him to be the way he is today - my theory is that he was loved, but not for being himself but for being "someone else". It is something common: Hifumi, Makoto and Haru were seen in this way by people they loved. But the difference is that they recognized these expectations were wrong, so they were unhappy. Makoto, though, agreed with some of her sisters' expectations, until she met PTs and suddenly she wasn’t meeting anyone’s expectations, and this led her to realize she never needed to. The way she was content staying ignorant goes to show how that prison is bearable and comfortable to live in if you're capable of meeting most if not all expectations. I like to think Joker was this kind of person, until the incident with Shido happened. Both Makoto and Joker's reactions when they're suddenly not living up to the expectations of people around them are to try harder - Makoto rushing recklessly for Kaneshiro, Joker changing himself after moving to Tokyo. Or else people will leave them and not care about them anymore, except Makoto has decided that that's a false belief now.

However, unlike Makoto, Joker loves people too much to even think that they were wrong for placing expectations on him. When he awakens his Persona, he’s judging whether he was right or wrong in his choice to act, whereas Makoto’s awakening represents her letting go of the weight of people’s expectations on her. You can even pick the option of ‘I may have been wrong’ when Joker awakens, but he still awakens - going to show his ‘true mask when facing hardships’ is one who wants to keep supporting and protecting people, even if he’s wrong and it hurts him. I like to think Makoto was able to criticize other people and her sister because her father taught her her self-worth by loving her unconditionally in the past and showing her she didn’t have to live to satisfy anyone. The same goes for Hifumi and Haru. But Joker likely never had this unconditional love to realize this, so his only choice is to push forward to keep meeting people's expectations while wanting to protect them, even if it means becoming a villain and outcast. He has to meet people's expectations, or else he has no reason to live - the only Joker who exists is the Joker someone needs.

But it's because of this, that the desire to be perfect to meet people's expectations is strong in both Makoto and Joker, and hence they view Akechi as their rival. Akechi is very clearly the pinnacle of perfection on the outside. But Joker's feelings for Akechi are stronger, because Makoto no longer needs acknowledgement - her rivalry with him just continues because of the past. For Joker, if he had Akechi's perfection, it would be far easier to live the life he's chosen for himself. What Makoto and Joker don't realize is that Akechi is only able to achieve this state of perfection because he does it selfishly for himself, not to meet the expectations of the people, so it's impossible for them. They will never have his confidence and pride because they are never living entirely for themselves. In fact, Akechi's way of living for him and only himself is a total foil to Joker himself, who entirely lives for other people. It's because of how different they are, that after meeting Joker, Akechi was able to realize what he truly wanted and where he had gone wrong - the 'requited love' Joker has for the people around him who celebrate him as a hero. But it's only because Joker is on such an extreme Akechi is able to see it - being on extreme clearly means there's something wrong with it, though.

Joker’s Numbness to His Own Emotions, and Akechi Awakening Them

I absolutely love the ship for how they complete each other. The game focuses a lot on what Joker means to Akechi, but their relationship vice versa is way more important and personal to me. BE WARNED IT'S JUST MY DELUSION THOUGH. Let’s first talk about Joker's reaction to Akechi's death, that was either to forget or to hold onto the glove. I'm inclined to think forgetting is even an option because Akechi hadn't fully wormed his way into Joker's heart like the latter did. It’s as if deciding to forget something painful so you can keep functioning as normal, even if you want justice/closure for it (like with Shido). Because Akechi’s influence wasn’t strong enough for Joker to grow out of his society-conforming attitude, it’s still an option (and more about how Akechi may have reinforced and justified this attitude later on in the Boiler Room discussion).

Honoring their promise, to Joker, is still something he does out of caring about the other's best interest. As shown in how opting to talk about the glove when Akechi tells you to leave at his last moments makes Akechi happy. It did show Akechi that he still mattered to someone in his last moments, after all. But not expressing his grief about Akechi's death goes to show nothing has changed with Joker. Maybe he wasn’t that sad, but Third Semester proves that wrong. It seems more that he doesn’t realize how much he cares about Akechi, as he never expresses what Akechi means to him even when Maruki clarifies that his decision to revert reality would mean Akechi would be gone.

He did react with apprehension in making the decision, probably because 1) he was deciding whether to kill someone off right in front of them 2) Maruki's words were implying how important Akechi is to him, that he's been ignoring his emotions and he should carefully make a choice. For himself. Even if he knows the right answer, the reality is that Akechi is dead and that he has to go back to that. The way he doesn't seem to care about Akechi's words on 'finding a way back' goes to show he never trusted Akechi to survive in the first place, and only talked about the glove to appease him. That moment of hesitation was important to his characterization for me, as it was like a moment when a numb character has finally been told to feel for himself and be selfish. People pleasing does reign, but it doesn’t change that Joker was told to think more about it for himself.

I would like to think that although Joker’s reaction to Maruki dangling Akechi’s life in front of him could be considered his people-pleasing, the tidbits from their social link shows Joker just isn’t aware of how much Akechi matters to him and that moment makes him just, realize. From the start, he was surprisingly perceptive about Akechi - I interpret this as the surprise of being acknowledged by someone so popular, perfect, in an entirely different league from him and/or initial attraction. Then there’s how Akechi had single-handedly showered Joker in love in the way he makes it a point to talk about every small thing he notices about Joker - being so highly scrutinized like that if you grew up being unseen/seen as someone else is so goddamn satisfying. Especially by someone you perceive as superior and/or have an attraction to. How Joker then felt safe to be pushy and playful around Akechi, because he felt Akechi would accept it and find it to be yet another amusing side to Joker. Joker was able to show glimpses of his real self to Akechi, even if small. To me, it’s why Joker cares so much for someone who lied to him all this time: it doesn’t change that Akechi paid such close attention to understand the real him when everyone else chose to see him the way they want to.

Then there's how he’s also nothing like the real Akechi, someone who can survive alone and be so unapologetic about his emotions no matter how deviant they are. It’s a form of freedom Joker has never had nor considered, that seeing it at first makes him feel nothing because he’s content where he is. If he were to ever run into a wall because he couldn’t express himself, Akechi would be the first one he would remember. Like how Akechi approached Joker and had an interest in him, sharing more about himself - as if because he wanted Joker to save him. It's the same for Joker, too, that Akechi serves to remind him of his absence of emotional freedom that he doesn’t realize because he’s numbed himself far too much. 'We love other people because they have something we don't have', something along the lines of a quote in my favourite romance manga (Skip and Loafer, pls go watch). Akechi's selfishness and ability to act alone for his own sake, even if misguided, is something Joker can never bear to do if faced with his own happiness and the happiness of many more.

Joker’s Justice VS Akechi’s Justice - The BOILER ROOOOOM

If not for his friends, if not for Akechi’s small mistake, Akechi would have won and killed him. Akechi might have been able to achieve his goals that way, without having to let go and compromise on what he wants, or he may have failed entirely. It's only because Akechi was human and Joker was surrounded by people that Joker was saved from his demise, and Akechi's happiness was robbed from him - showing how Joker's way of living, his justice, is superior.

Does that mean Akechi’s way of living has always been wrong?

It's still hard for me to interpret how Joker felt in the Boiler Room, but these kinds of thoughts that start from how Akechi could have gotten his way are likely the strongest as it involves Joker's own wellbeing and Akechi's grand goals that were the focus of the situation. Of course, the exchange in the Boiler Room can be interpreted as just Akechi's one-sided spite for Joker, but it's better if it's mutual. Joker never reaches out to save Akechi as desperately as the other PTs do, and I like to think it's because it’s another numb moment for Joker. This was their promised battle to the death, and Akechi lost. Joker’s justice won - a justice where you should live in society doing your best to support other people without bothering anyone, even if you’re suffering and suffocating. This reinforces the justice that dictates Joker's true self has to stay trapped forever. Even if you can meet expectations and accept suffering, no matter how much people love you… it'll still be a difficult and empty life if you can't freely be yourself. Yu is able to break out of this because he knows he has a safe place with his friends to express himself, that his emotions are ‘normal’, but Joker still doesn’t feel entirely safe - not when the PTs describe their group as a place where misfits can feel at home. It isn’t a place where you can feel ‘normal’ - the PTs just reinforce that your true feelings are deviant in society. Seeing an opposing justice lose so badly… a justice that dictates you to be yourself and free, when Joker knows he isn't happy deep down, would stir some feelings of nihilism in him. There is just no place in the world for deviants like them.

But it doesn’t bother Joker so much because he’s already taken ownership of the fact that he’s a deviant, as with his awakening. He can’t be saved, and he’ll just keep plowing through if so.

Both ends of Akechi and Joker's justices are flawed. Akechi's justice disregards the wellbeing of the people around you, Joker's justice disregards your own wellbeing. Akechi is able to give himself a second chance because of the kindness that Joker's justice displays– Even if you stepped out of bounds of society from the pressure, you should still live and take responsibility for the good of both yourself and other people. The gentleness and open arms of this justice, or at least the people practicing it, allows Akechi to integrate it into his own and properly complete him as a person with the ‘love’ and ‘selflessness’ he was missing. In the end, it was the PTs who saved Akechi, but it was Joker who opened his eyes to it - to living with an open heart to people, as happiness cannot come without trust. That's why Akechi knows what's right for him now, because the two justices have come together.

However, Joker continues on his justice, disregarding his own wellbeing. It's fine as long as he's around people who acknowledge his presence, as long as it takes a shape Joker agrees with. Because his way of living has always been centered around playing a role and meeting expectations. But at home where these expectations have become increasingly unrealistic, especially because of the incident with Shido, it's a different story. Joker is likely aware of his fear, but pushes himself to face it like the PTs have decided with their own dreams - I interpret the message of Joker's Metaverse self in the mirror in the True Ending of P5R as representing his determination to tread reality with that same, self-sacrificing justice, no matter how difficult - the same way he dealt with Maruki’s reality. I find it exciting to explore how the story would continue after Joker returns home because of that.

He doesn't grow like any of the PTs or Akechi in the canon events because his way of living isn’t wrong nor does it bring him any pain (because he’s not blind, he’s aware of his choices from the awakening of Persona). But his way of living only brings him happiness when he’s with people who have reasonable expectations/unconditional love for whoever he is. As long as he can meet their expectations. But the people who shaped him to live being someone else - his family - won’t have reasonable expectations for him, especially after the incident with Shido. They say the people who can hurt you the most are the people who love you, because they have a vested interest in your happiness, but have ideals of what happiness is and can grow unreasonable in controlling you for you to be happy. It’s normal and parents get over it after their kids have their rebellious phase, but it’s another story of worse if you can’t express yourself properly - and that’s why as you grow up it’s necessary to better understand yourself and have boundaries. I do HC Joker has a hard time expressing himself properly out of anxiety/autism, which is why he speaks so little. And he accepted whatever the people around him wanted without much resistance because it was more difficult to express yourself for him. I feel like this is where Akechi’s justice serves to complete Joker, to break him free from the silly bonds that trap and define him and give him a good wake-up call to not give up on expressing and understanding himself.

Akechi and Joker represent selfishness and selflessness deviants of society to me, two emotions that have to coexist in perfect balance to be happy. What more, they also go to show that choosing to grow up selfish or selfless happens when you aren’t loved for being yourself - you know that you have to co-exist with people who don’t love you, so you survive by either beating them down or pleasing them. I find there’s a lot more to talk about Akechi-Joker foils over Adachi-Yu, that it discusses the whole concept of living in a society which rejects you. Exploring Joker’s character does add a lot more to the discussion, but that’s just me.

Dynamics of two people that complete each other are always, always my OTPs… P5 has its problematic writing but thank you very much for Akeshu Atlus (This is beyond delusional but how Justine (J=Joker) and Caroline (C=Crow) complete each other to create Lavenza (L=Love)??? How Justine has Joker’s composed sassy demeanor and Caroline has Crow’s aggressive behaviour????? Justine seeming to be in charge of the Compendium containing all the Persona born from Joker’s bonds???)

#persona 5 #p5r #ren amamiya #akira kurusu #goro akechi #akeshu #p5 joker #p5 akechi #shuake

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ashley-amelie · 1 month

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hello……. may i prompt souyo + swap (the swapped thing is up to you heheh 🫶

hello!! and thank you for leaving me a prompt :3c

the swapped thing I chose was *drumroll* selfies!

I hope you like this! (and that the formatting is okay, oof)

Yosuke customizes every entry in his phone's contacts list. It's just what he does. He's been doing it since his first one years ago, when he figured out that he could pair a yellow-orange background with his mom's photo and a green one with his dad's.

So when Yosuke remembers he doesn't have a contact photo for Yu, two weeks after initially exchanging numbers, he fires off a quick text –

> hey prtnr snd me a pic 4 my contacts k??

– and wanders away for a glass of water. He has three messages from Yu when he comes back to his desk and, by proxy, his phone a few minutes later.

> Sure.

> Is this good?

The third message, only an image file, takes another minute to download. Yosuke smiles a little when he sees it; it's a slim white cat, curled into a tight ball, with only one ear visible.

It's cute, but it's not Yu.

Yosuke sends his response.

> i meant liek a selfie lol

Yu's back-to-back reply –

> Oh.

> I don't have any.

– rouses surprise, suspicion, and then understanding. In that order.

While Yosuke has only known Yu for all of a month, he's already cottoned on to some of the other boy’s ways and attitudes. And considering how airheaded he seems about his own appearance – how does he not notice all the looks he gets? it's insane! – Yosuke can believe it.

He fully understands how Narukami Yu might not have a single selfie.

Nevertheless, Yosuke presses on.

> take 1??

And finds himself baffled at Yu's response.

> I'll try.

Try? As if it's hard?

The next image Yu sends downloads as slowly as the first, and Yosuke twirls in his desk chair while waiting on it.

As soon as it's done, Yosuke snorts again in amusement.

> dude thats jus ur eye wtf

Not even both eyes; just one, taken so closely that Yosuke can see his fine, silvery lower lashes and the edges where his pupil meets the pale gray of his iris. He'd been meaning to ask if Yu is wearing coloured contacts; from the picture Yosuke still can't tell.

The notification for Yu's next message –

> No good then? Let me try again.

– reorients his thoughts. Was he really analyzing a picture of someone's eye? Yosuke scrubs a hand over his face; the countryside must be turning him into a weirdo.

But, after looking over the subsequent photo that downloads, Yosuke takes it back. He can't be a weirdo when Yu has the entire concept of weird on lock. It's an upside-down, blurry close-up of the bridge of his nose and, honestly, what kind of message is Yosuke supposed to take away from that?

Other than –

> plz dnt tell me u dnt kno how 2 take a selfie

> here liek this

Yosuke tabs through his image gallery until he finds his favorite selfie. Although it's the same pose as most of his other photos – a peace sign and a flirty wink – he'd felt better than usual that day and the camera noticed.

He ends up spinning in his chair again as he waits; right now, even this is more entertaining than trying to read through his Literature homework.

Yu's messages ping one after another again.

> Thanks.

> You look really happy.

> How is this?

What comes through last is a perfectly clear photo of Yu, smiling slightly, with his cheek resting on his fist. It's a new photo, unlike Yosuke's – the collar of his Yasogami uniform is unmistakable.

He attaches the photo to Yu's contact profile, completing it, and puts his phone aside.

Ugh, homework.

#of the textual variety #my fic #souyo #THE p4 tag #this could've been longer probably #but I'm sleepy #womp #catnatch

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pestopastaenjoyer · 11 months

Text

Persona headcanons that in no way can be canon at all but i believe them to be true so they are canon because i am atlus (very long title i know)

- tatsuya and mitsuru had braces

- all wildcards have horrible eyesight

- morgana sleeps on akiren’s face sometimes

- yukino is good at crochet

- chie and yosuke use the same hair dye and one day they run into each other at junes and there’s only one box left so they stand there and argue about which one of them should get it for twenty minutes until chie just. grabs it and runs away (yosuke is stuck with grown out roots for like a month :/)

- haru is very good at ddr

- nanako either wants to be a detective or a jazz pianist

- makoto y. can cartwheel (actually might be canon but i just felt like reminiscing abt it) and kotone can burp on command

- yu ends up becoming a nurse practitioner

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kizashige · 6 months

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I have recently gotten into Persona 4, and I luckily remembered you also really liked souyo back in 2019. However I cannot find any of your souyo fanarts, so I wanted to ask if you have any of those works achieved somewhere?

When I was very into Corpse Party I was utterly enchanted by your kizashige fanart, and I believe we have had hours long conversations about those two a while ago. I was wondering if you had similar complex and well developed thoughts about Yu and Yosuke’s relationship as well?

Thank you! :)

ah most of my old p4 art is on another blog but whatever I posted was maybe just 1% of what I actually ever drew. persona 4 was my last big interest, I got into it in 2016 so I was really obsessed with it for a long time, but I didn't post my art much back then (and it's so old, I wouldn't feel comfortable doing that now).

however last year, I was part of a souyo zine but I never posted my piece. this would be the first time I'm showing this off

I still love persona 4. it remains one of my favorite games of all time and was definitely a major influence towards my current taste.

I think about this often, but one thing that p4 really influenced me now with corpse party is that I've always focused on the metaphorical aspect of the darkening first, that it twists a character's desires rather than it being a completely literal corruption. it's a similar mechanic as the shadows throughout the persona series. shadows in persona are uncomfortable, contorted representations of a person's psyche, that aren't entirely true. the darkening is just as ugly and awful and confusing. it's all about symbolism.

another thing is that I focus a lot on the societal aspects in kizami and morishige's characters, how being neurodivergent and just * being different * affects them in their everyday social life, which is also a very present theme throughout persona. like, yeah, they're fun characters because they're gorehounds, but that's not The Thing that got me attached to them in the first place. I often wonder if I hadn't been into p4 before, if I would have read their characters very, very differently.

ANYWAYS, when it comes to yu and yosuke's relationship, I also had very particular ideas of their characters and dynamic to where I was quite miserable being in the fandom. you've given me the opportunity to rant about this, so as someone who was obsessed with souyo for almost four years straight, I basically hated yu and yosuke's characterization in fandom.

people who hate yosuke, whatever, but people who thought yosuke was just a happy-go-lucky, bubbly idiot who always needed yu to scold him for being homophobic pissed me off so much. souyo fans are basically incapable of addressing yosuke's internalized homophobia in any meaningful way because all they do is make yu their mouthpiece for times where they themselves wanted to scold yosuke while playing the game, thus so much fanwork comes across more as just self inserting rather than writing yu as an actual character with his own personality where he can be just as immature and dumb, even in his own dialogue options. I guess this is just the nature of working with a silent protagonist, but I hated it so much. clearly, I still do.

I related to yosuke a lot as many other people did, but I was a BIG fan of shadow yosuke and cared a lot on what that guy meant for yosuke's overall character. yosuke is so often reduced to his homophobia, that many people miss out on his general issues with wanting to be special and to stand out, and how this makes him a very clear parallel to adachi. I think yu is a parallel to adachi mostly through their narrative roles as protagonist and antagonist and through such symbolism, but the parallels between yosuke and adachi go beyond just that and to the core of their personalities and backgrounds and that always made me crazy.

adachi and yosuke both suffer from constant boredom, masking, resenting everything around them, and feeling so unfulfilled in life. the difference is that yosuke was able to make real friends, instead of becoming obsessed with his own ineptitude and pessimism like adachi did.

and that really, really got to me about yosuke's character. I loved how much he hated everyone and everything around him, I loved that he was basically living his life aimlessly, that he was trying so hard to find some purpose, that he always made mistakes and fucked up and would act out by being an asshole either intentionally or unintentionally. his homophobia was only * one * part of that.

I don't have as much to say about yu individually, but my interpretation of him was always that loneliness was a major part of his character. his implied backstory of always moving around and having neglectful parents leading him to being very apathetic to most people as a result, only to then be terrified of letting go once he finally found people he belongs with. I was obsessed with how the anime ran with his abandonment issues, how he kept everyone in a timeloop because he didn't want to be alone again.

basically, I always saw yosuke as someone who was pissed off deep down and wanted an escape through the tv world, and that yu was someone who wanted to belong somewhere so much, that it scared him. that they were two lonely, socially inept, fumbling teenagers who wanted to mean something to someone. I thought they were obsessed with each other.

I've said a lot and I could probably say more, but this was definitely an interesting ask as yu and yosuke have sort of just been in the background for me these past few years. I think whatever I wanted out of souyo I saw in kizashige a lot as well, which is funny because to an outsider, they're incredibly different ships. this tweet says it all though.

#long post #as always

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