#akechi is everyones foil

[strix-brigade]

ren is akechis foil ofc but the phantom thieves are like mini akechi foils

#akechi is everyones foil #p5 #p5r #persona 5 #persona 5 royal #persona 5 the royal #goro akechi #p5 akechi #persona 5 akechi #the phantom thieves #akira kurusu #ren amamiya #owl.txt

[senblades]

I've had a realisation,

So, we all like to dunk on Akechi for having a stupid plan- which, well, yeah; but I think that a lot of people (whether they like Akechi's character or not) tend to miss the point:

That being, that the holes we all poke in his plan; "Why didn't he just kill Shido at the start?" "There's no way he'd live/be free after that," "His plan to ruin Shido's reputation would never work," are actually far more revealing as to Akechi's priorities, than they are of him just being 'stupid'.

For starters, "there's no way he'd live/be free after that." -as a fandom I think we've all already come to the conclusion that Akechi's regard for his own life is spotty at best. I wouldn't necessarily say that he wants to die by the time of the third semester, which really just adds to the tragedy of the whole situation, but I digress. Point is, the kid needs therapy, moving on.

"His plan to ruin Shido's reputation would never work," Ah, now this is where I think some cultural differences start to come in to play- I won't say much, since I'm relatively uninformed, but by the sounds of it, revealing that Shido has an illegitemate child is actually the kind of thing that would make a lot of people raise their eyebrows. And, more importantly, the kind of thing that would really throw his "easy election win" into some serious jeapordy. (AND, it's never exactly stated that "revealing himself as an illegitemate child" was Akechi's tactic to ruin Shido- more of a "hey, Shido, guess who it was that ruined you, you piece of shit?"- which, well, more on that mindset later)

Next, "Why didn't he just kill Shido from the start?" This is where I think a lot of people get tripped up. To my memory, there is not a single point in the engine room where Akechi says that killing Shido is the cornerstone of his plan (localisation differences notwithstanding. I'm sure someone will come yell at me (/lh) if this is the case). Now, to be fair, Akechi in the engine room is really just him giving a very desperate powerpoint while he sharpens his sword- so I don't doubt that he's skimming over a couple points. But, you'd think that Akechi would remember to mention that if that really was his main goal.

Okay, so Akechi doesn't want to kill Shido. Cool, follow-up question, "Why didn't he just give Shido a pshychotic breakdown from the start?" That's the kind of thing that would have ruined Shido's reputation, too, right? And, it would have been before he would have had the means to try and cover it up. Well, finally, I can get to my point:

Akechi needs Shido's disgrace to be loud, because he needs everyone else to care, too. Akechi's revenge isnt just against the man who left him and his mother for dead, but also against the society that continued to leave him for dead, again and again; the society that only lauded him as something special if he slapped some pretty wallpaper over the past he had absolutely no control over.

Looking at it like this does a lot of things:

First, it really amps up the whole "the PT's justice and Akechi's justice foil each other". Akechi's revenge is also a vehichle for revolution, since it is, in essence: "Look! Look at the man who you lauded as a saviour! Look at me, the man who brought him down. Aren't we both disgusting, in your eyes? Take a look at yourselves. Aren't we all the same?"

That leads pretty nicely into Akechi as a pawn for Yaldabaoth, too. Akechi wants to make sure he and Shido go out with a bang, and leave a shitshow in their wake. That's prime God of Control real estate! It's also prime "metaphor for Ruin" real estate; you get the point.

And, finally, an interesting point comes from all of this. That being, that, well- the only reason that Akechi's plan wasn't going to work, is that he placed too much stock in the idea that Shido has any concept of loyalty or gratitude. Shido, as we all know, is an absolute piece of shit- and still, Akechi had believed that maybe, just maybe, his father would feel bad for being terrible to his son.

(I'm not going to go on too big of a tangent, but that is an interesting insight into Akechi's idea of Justice, and into what his personas might represent. Contradiction, as ever, is the name of the game, and Akechi simultaneously believes that there's no way to get anywhere in life without force and violence, and that there is also a fundemantal truth of what is good and fair within human hearts)

The message of this, I'm pretty sure, is not: "Akechi failed because of that lingering belief in humanity" (wouldn't that be one hell of a heel-turn lmao), but rather: "Akechi, with his distorted (ha) priorities, was never going to be happy in any quest for vengeance, even if his plan succeeded entirely"

tl;dr, Akechi needs therapy. Wait- Maruki, no! Not that kind of therapy!

#persona 5 #goro akechi #I'm sure someone has made a similar analysis of this before #but all my thoughts about p5 have for the most part just been me talking to myself- so I wanted to get this one down in writing lmao

[misrepresentedmorallygrey]

PROPAGANDA

Goro Akechi

have you seen this man. the fandom doesn't seem to grasp that he can have a "good" goal but still go about it absolutely the wrong way. he's not baby but he's not evil incarnate either, he's just 18. being 18 is just like that

People who are like "he's an irredeemable psychopath who became a serial killer just because he has daddy issues" piss me off. People who are like "he's the only person who ACTUALLY cares about the Protagonist and all of the Protagonist's other friends are fakes and users" piss me off even more. He's a foil for the entire main cast. He has faced all of their traumas with none of the support. He believes that he's responsible for his mother's suicide, and that he's unlovable. He was abandoned by everyone. He made some bad decisions when he was like 14, and his abusive father manipulated him into being a hitman. He lies all the damn time, so you can't really tell when he's being genuine or not. He's a double agent who befriends you and then tries to kill you, believes that he's succeeded, and shows absolutely no remorse. He dies to save your life (and then gets sorta resurrected and then dies again to literally save the world). It's complicated! He's complicated!

Loki

hes just like that

He is not the Norse equivalent of the Devil! People keep trying to fit Norse mythology into a Christian mindset and that's NOT RIGHT!! Loki is complex. They're mischievous and some things are bad and some things are good and sometimes they are just a chaotic being that has sex with a horse.

I just think it’s funny that someone submitted this already, and I kind of want to see where that goes

#misrepresented morally grey #round 2 #bracket b #did everything wrong bracket #persona 5 #goro akechi #akechi goro #norse mythology #loki norse mythology

[catrasredemption]

Listen I know there's already a lot of analyses on why Catra hate is biased but I just realized there's an absolutely perfect example of this, right down to the tries to kill the protag but the fandom ships it detail.

Goro Fucking Akechi.

And before I start - please know that I hold no actual ill-will toward this sociopathic murderer. And if you've never played Persona 5, no, I am NOT exaggerating. But we'll get into that.

Akechi is set up pretty early on to be a foil to the game's protagonist, Joker. And the uh... gay undertones are NOT subtle.

They never actually become A Thing in game, but it's a VERY popular ship in the fandom. Now what crimes did this little uWu commit?

Literal Murder. Not like, his actions lead to the death of someone, but he actually pointed a gun and pulled the trigger

His actions do also lead to the death of more people by causing a crash in the Tokyo subway system

Attempted murder against Joker - you know, the guy everyone ships him with

Impersonating a genius teenage boy detective (no that's not quite on the level of murder but it's a crime to me and an insult against Naoto from Persona 4)

Now, don't get me wrong, his backstory is pretty messed up. His birth father, a man named Shido, knocked up his mother, who worked in the Red Light District, and eventually killed herself, leaving Akechi an orphan to be passed around by relatives who didn't really care about him.

Akechi took two things from his upbringing - one, he had to be perfect in order to be acceptable to people. Two, a burning hatred of his birth father and a desire to see him suffer.

He eventually ends up working with his father, Shido, who's manipulating the masses using the Metaverse (don't worry if you don't know what that is, it's complicated) to make everyone love him. Akechi works with him while secretly building up his own plan on the side - to disgrace Shido when he's elected and then kill him.

All the while he's also working with Joker and the rest of the main cast and trying to manipulate them (they do manage to see through him, but that's another thing).

Again, I love Akechi. I do. I think he's a wonderfully complicated character and a little trash boy who just needs love. But he did so many bad things. And he did a lot of them solely to get revenge against Shido, and toward the end out of resentment/envy of Joker. And in the very, very end he makes the right choice and sacrifices himself to save Joker.

Now let's go over Catra's life real quick:

Raised in a horrible environment, often neglected, knew she wasn't wanted or really loved

Stepped into a villain role where she did terrible things, some of which led to the death of another person (Angella)

Fought against Adora

Ultimately sacrificed herself to save Adora

Went on to help save the world

It's almost uncanny how Akechi's story lines up with Catra's. And while I'm sure Akechi has haters, the people who love him and still ship him with Joker are far, far louder. And I get that! I too wish Akechi could have had a happy ending, but I don't think it was ever really in the cards for him. But he's a guy, so he's a little uWu.

Catra, meanwhile, is an angry woman and gets none of the leeway that angry men usually get (see also: Zuko). Even sacrificing herself to save Adora couldn't earn her any redemption in some people's eyes.

And I don't like comparing characters, especially ones from different franchises, don't get me wrong. But it's interesting to me how often men are forgiven for far worse crimes than women in media, and Akechi is a grade-A example of doing the absolutely worst things he could while still being loved by the fandom.

#She Ra #SPOP #Catra #Sam Metas

[nemirutami]

I discovered you recently and was scrolling through your stuff when I fell in love with your Joker redesign. It’s just so Good! Not only is your art style perfect (for all your art, really) but the thought you put into it was just wonderful. My favorite part were the horns, they just fit so well! I’d love to see any other ideas you have, but really I just wanted to gush about how much I loved it. Thank you!

Aw, that makes me so incredibly happy!!!! As much as I rag on P5's story execution, I do adore all the potential there is to the characters and the potential in redesigns that better fit the character's personalities. I'll repost all the ones I've finished for funsies, but I think now is actually a good time to mention that I'm going to be compiling all my p5 redesigns into a little zine (a re-de-zine haha) with more detailed thought process behind what I was thinking when redesigning them (there wasnt enough blank space for all my notes, or my sketches)! I'll add some blurbs from the document I have in [these] brackets! I actually focused heavily on his mask, so I'm super relieved and excited that it's what you liked most about it!

JOKER

[[Aside from Akechi’s prince outfit (which I think was flawlessly executed), I knew that I couldn’t allow myself to butcher Joker’s design- especially since I intended to remake his mask, despite his mask being perfect as it is (and was also my base for the Black Mask design before I decided to remake everyone else). // My main concern was to make the outfit represent all of PT’s, not just Joker, but I also wanted to highlight Akechi’s part in playing as his foil. As such, where Akira has a heart shape connecting all phantom thieves together by a silver string of fate, Akechi has a distorted red glow that extends chains to weigh him down as well as wings to show his ability to choose his own path.]]

AKECHI [[I wanted to keep his face obscured, but add an option to show himself if he wished. So, a hood helped cover him up for me. It helped me make it feel as though it’s a “lost” part of Robin Hood that still clings on to his Black Mask design- a desire (though weak and decaying) to be a good person underneath it all for someone he once cared about. //

Akechi's chains (from his heart) symbolize his outlook on bonds, and how they tie you down, whereas Jokers symbolize the strength he has with his teammates. I felt like this was a little too sad to write on the concept page. Reading “Goro Akechi has no friends and it manifests in his Black Mask outfit” isn’t the most uplifting sentence you want to stumble across.]] ANN [[Ann was often forced to hold her tongue around Kamoshida in order to protect Shiho, and Shiho in turn tried to do the same to protect Ann. The whip I created for her is a play on the phrase “hold your tongue” showing a lion with it’s mouth open and its tongue hanging out- filled with thorns and ready to be used as a weapon to protect those that she values. One of her biggest weaknesses now becomes her force for change and success, and she ultimately uses her power as a thief to open the maw of the man that told her to be quiet- revealing all his ugly secrets with his own words.]]

FUTABA [[This one doesn't have any notes I can share yet, but she took ages to design, so that's why, lmfao!]]

MORGANA

[[ I wanted to make him blend in more with a classic SMT demon such as Jack Frost, but still distinct enough to stand out as “more than a demon”.

//

Since Morgana is the collective human hope, I think he can take any shape or form. I only retained his cat persona because I wanted to stay true to the original design concept of it being an animal. If I was allowed complete creative form over a “guiding light” however, I think I would base Morgana’s design on Anubis or psychopomps- guides of souls (souls of human hope). The interesting thing about psychopomps is that while Anubis is also an example of one, commonly, so are crows. Meaning, I would have to design Morgana to fit a canine in order to imply Akechi himself could have perhaps had a guide similar to Mona if he was not used to bring about ruin. However, Morgana’s cat aesthetic is tied into Joker’s own traits (sometimes down to mannerisms), so getting rid of the cat persona was not something I really wanted. That, and the fact the last protagonist was based on a loyal dog made it hard for me to choose canine. I would have liked to pull something out of zoroastrianism if possible, but I was not sure how far I could take it before his design became entirely unrecognisable. And the point of a redesign was not to entirely change them to become different characters, but just to play around with different themes to better fit the character and their backstory/feelings/traits.

]]

I really hope this content was fun to read!!!! The next design I have in my WIPS is Yusuke. Honestly, I find Ryuji and Yusuke are going to be super challenging, since I ADORE their designs and I genuinely do not want to just touch them up randomly without purpose and happen to downgrade them. Morgana and Ann were my easiest targets haha.

#tnt answers asks #justanotherwanderingone #persona 5 #p5

[frokkie21]

Hi hi! Just wanna say I think your pokemon au looks super cool! Ren's team looks so cool, is there any particular reason you chose those pokemon for him specifically? (Also he's based as hell for the mimikyu lol)

Omg hi!!! And yes i will most of the pokemon i chose for a reason

Meowscarada- this one is his starter bc it reminds me of morgana (mona is human tho trust) and the 2nd and 3rd evo has that thief vibe going on and its signature move always crits which makes me think its calculating and cunning

Ceruledge- This ones actually just arsene. He calls him arsene and everything im not gonna lie thats just arsene if he was a pokemon with no wings

Excadrill- i dont actually have a reason other than colors and looks for this one and because this ones my fav from gen 5 and i have extreme bias

Mimikyu- your right he is based. This ones because hes not immune to taking in wet sopping stray cats and i think he deserves to have a pokemon that is lonley and seen as scary

Oricorio- So everyone who goes to hawaii in p5 gets to go to alola and catch a silly pokemon and because pegoryu are the definition of gay they both get oricorios. Ren gets baile style because im not immune to color and also persona 5 dancing SWEEP

Eevee- eevee has infinite potential or smthn and that has wildcard vibes. It never evolves and because im very unwell akechi gets at least one eeveelution because hes a terrible wildcard and i like rotating foil chars in my head like a microwave

#my silly aus #persona 5 #ren amamiya #akira kurusu #my silly aus: pokemon

[maziodynee]

i think my favorite thing about akechi as a character is that he's not only joker's "dark reflection"/foil/etc., he's also an interesting inversion of the phantom thieves' founding motives--to protect those suffering in the abuse of those more powerful than them. akechi's existence asks: what do you do if the victim, the person you were meant to protect, hurts others themselves? what do you do if they abuse their own power? what do you do if they inflict that pain because of what they've suffered?

it asks: what do you do if you can't save everyone? what do you do if sometimes, you're just too late?

#persona 5 #p5 #goro akechi #i'll throw this one out into the void i think

[1eos]

my thing about yosuke is because of his various transgressions I barely like him but I just find him weirdly compelling? Idk I think he's kinda realistic, he's always reminded me of those guys in high school who could be pretty likeable sometimes but sucked soooo bad. He's very teenage boy in that way. Also feel free to bitch about the atlus ake/shu propaganda I love hearing your takes you're always so correct and wise 🤭

THAT'S REALLY ITTTTT. he's so fascinating and ive built such a rich character study of him in my head and my ideas are amazing so i think i like him then i go back to the source material and every time im like 'goddamn yosuke SUCKSSSS' but i can't really hate him lol the magician characters are always annoying but charming boys who are early in their de-bastardification process 😭😭😭 as for akesh* I HOPE EVERYONE THAT LIKES THEM GOES TO HELLLLLLLLLLL. i have written so many dissertations on how persona 5 having the silent hill 2 problem and trying to copy details from the best entry in the series (persona 4) is the source of all their problems but i'll say it again! atlus wanted to have another adachi/souji moment so bad but make them the same age so they could have ethical yaoi but it just did not work. if they wanted that they SHOULDVE made makoto a boy and ooooooooooooooooooo the yaoi wouldve written itself. like its so crazy the wrote a worthy rival in makoto who was actively out to get u in the beginning where u could see her but the narrative wanted to suddenly swap it up and be like 'look at akechi' BITCH ITS TOO LATE. especially bc it was already done better with adachi like you cannot do that twist again it was too good! there was build up! i havent talked abt it much but the way persona 5 is set up with it being an interrogation that purposefully hides a bunch of stuff from the audience was really good to get you into the game but made other things less impactful SUCH AS AKECHI. which is a shame bc the set piece of the casino was amazing but as a character and as a narrative foil akechi fell short hes truly just an ugly low rent version of naoto and adachi mixed together w a predictable sob story back story like boooooooo booooooooooooooooo you'll never be the persona 3 betrayal!

#asks #which is why im worried abt persona 6.........like.........................

[minipisi-is-dumb]

real long saiki rant guys sorry not sorry i love this show and i can talk about it all i want

ughh i forgot why i wanted to leave the saiki k fandom spaces and then i reopen Instagram for 5 seconds to find tons of ships with saiki with captions like "you see he wasn't a total asshole to kokomi that one time which means they're destined to be in love"

uavvs i wanna fight someone so bad the show is not about romance is about saiki letting himself have meaningful friendships and accepting his condition and realizing people care about him that's why the aroace interpretation adds to it because he alienates himself to on top of everything Not be involved in romances with anyone else.

"oh but he admits to be a tsundere in the chapter with the grandfather" my brother in christ the grandfather being a tsundere with his family because he didn't wanted to admit he cares about his family just like kusuo doesn't want to admit he cares for his friends THAT'S THE JOKE!!! the entire point of that chapter and in general jokes with the grandfather is characterize kusuo caring for the people around him in his Own Way. the whole tsundere thing is weird af to associate it with exclusively romance because he acts like that with everyone in his life

"oh but he softens to kokomi" THAT'S THE POINT the entire point is that they GROW TOGETHER and form a solid friendship

i remember ranting about this month ago but!!!! like there's a thing called need vs want in a story n all that narrative jazz

need: what a character has to learn in order to finish their development

want: what a character desires to have/become/do/etc by the end of the story AND the reason why there's a story in the first place

not every story has this obviously but most do and saiki is no exception, different relationships he has during the show and manga are made so that we can explore his biggest want:

being normal, irrelevant and alone

so with every character he learns to interact with others, see kindness and all that

now kokomi, her biggest want is to be the perfect girl, part of being the perfect girl in her book is getting all the boys, and since saiki does not like her she (wether you interpret it as a genuine crush or not idc) pursues him, making it a secondary want that still impacts most of their interactions

now the thing is that these two goals in these two characters (saiki being alone and kokomi wanting to date him) is that in order for both of them to mature none of those goals must be fully met

you see what saiki Needs is to learn to trust and accept ppl in his life and accept his own differences to himself, while kokomi needs to learn to let herself not be perfect absolutely all the time AND that not everything and everyone will bend to her whims

so in order for their mutual relationship to help them grow, they can't end up together or Kokomo doesn't learn, but they can't end up never talking again or saiki doesn't learn anything

what is the best way to show that? making a solid developing friendship over the manga and anime. kokomi is extremely important for saiki's development to even be more open to other people like aiura or akechi which also become important in their own but let's go back for a sec

↓do you know why I like this scene so much?

i like it because it's the peak of their development, here is saiki helping her and supporting her while the text doesn't frame it as a romantic action in nature. is about giving support to someone you've grown to appreciate no matter what

that scene allows teruhashi to be in the finale↓

they might not remember it, but this is saiki confessing that he has grown to care about the people around him and the friends he's made over time, is saiki accepting change so that he can finally end the time loop and keep living

every character is made to foil for saiki in some way, in order to all grow together and since it's a character driven show, everyone who was in that scene deserved to be there since they are.now part of the people saiki cares about

listen i could go on and all but this is long even for me

so yeah, this alongside the powers not counting as an argument to separate him from being aroace (it's literally missing the point of the show) make me tired of ppl just. thinking the whole aroace saiki is just for two or three lines in the dub y'know

saiki being aspec adds to the narrative for the way alienation is shown with his peers, besides the ND coding of course

ugahbssh whatever man i just learn at this point to enjoy the show, but i wanna still talk about why it means so much for me this funny comedy series :) ty for reading

#saiki k #the disastrous life of saiki k #aroace #aromantic #asexual #minipisi.txt

[intertexts]

SHAKING U BY THE SHOULDERS. TELL ME ABOUT UR P5 HEART PLAYERS YOU KNOW I LOVE THOSE !!!!!!

HHHSDFHBGHDFG HDFHGDHBBBBJFGJ <- BEING SHAKEN NOISES.

OK. ok. my p5r heart players... god. so there r three of them & they all are character foiling each other & all mirroring each other in like, notably similar ways. (a LOT of the character work in p5 IS based around like,,, characters mirroring each other, their trauma echoing or having common roots, similar issues, etc. but these three + another guy r all specifically parallel 2 me.) heart as an aspect is all about... identity, right? who you are + who you pretend to be + the tension btwn those, & also yr relationships + how u interact with others... (which is SUPER fucking p5 coded in general-- like... the entire crux of the game is 50% identity shit + 50% the way u form bonds with others changes ur life)

anyway the one i'm thinking about most rn is called kasumi yoshizawa! she is a very nice cute pleasant high school freshman who's very good at gymnastics & wants to pursue it professionally, and she's dedicated her art to her dead younger sister, sumire, who unfortunately passed in an accident about a year ago and who she really misses...

... except it turns out that she's actually her dead sister :) she's sumire, and she was... brainwashed? by the antagonist of the arc into believing that she's kasumi-- because the antagonist really just wants the world to be a kinder, better place; he wants everyone's wishes to come true :) and sumire's wish is that she (inadvertently responsible for her sister's death)'s more like her sister, because her sister was perfect and amazing and better than her in every way. which is fucking horrifying-- everyone else just,,, knew she was sumire, but she just. Went around the world dressing in her dead sister's clothes and fixing her hair like her dead sister and using her same mannerisms and believing she was her!!! for a year! genuinely a nightmare scenario. do you think she slept in her dead sister's bedroom. do u think it made her parents sick. anyway her conflict between "i literally NEED to be anyone else i CANNOT be myself i cannot live in my own fucking skin i can't do it vs. what. should i just live out a lie? keep living in her dead skin?? drag her corpse around after me because i'm too selfish to let her rest?" insane to me. good lord.

the next guy, goro akechi (MY LITTLE GUY!!!!!!!!!! THE ONE IM BONKERS ABOUT!!!) is ALSO a nice pleasant boy hes also very charming and such :) he's a famous cute celebrity also!! hes super popular as a genius cute boy detective >:3c he. ummm. god. where do i even begin. well. he's also clinging to ghosts & dead bodies & such. he spent his formative years entirely alone and being bounced around the system. he literally fucking genuinely like no shit has a god out there making his life as fucking miserable as possible. like im being dead serious here theres a whole ass god up there making his life the worst it could be. so. well. he's so fucking desperate (like, sickeningly desperate. the kind that's really kind of offputting like you know that's not gonna get you anywhere man.) to be loved or even appreciated he becomes a mass murderer about it. his seven year plan is

-kill my dad

-fake my whole personality so im lovable because theres no way thats happening otherwise

-fuck it we ball.

guy with the most fragile and convincing veneer of pleasant charm possible and under it is this seething morass of hatred and shame and jealousy and anger. anyway he's a heart player because 1. he's a 1 for 1 foil of akira (the next heart player) & 2. because his whole. Deal is being insanely fucking conflicted about himself. he genuinely believes in justice and like. Morality and such, he always keeps his deals and repays his debts. and he's often just a vicious bitch & also a hitman working for one of the worst people on the planet! i'm not explaining it very well but he mirrors sumire so heavily in like... conflict btwn his self + who he wants to be + how he's perceived + what he Wants + what he thinks he wants + the way he interacts with the world... aughghghhhh. their partitioning off of Different Selves for different things is very. well. & they both also heavily parallel each other re: being VERY different than they appear to be initially & being so hard 2 Know. etc.

speaking of partitioning off different selves-- the third guy!!! akira kurusu!! the protag of the game!!!!!! his whole DEAL is that he has a hundred different masks he sifts through & wears for every different occasion, he's a different guy to his friends & his mentor figures & his enemies & the world in general!!!! not that any of them are Fake, just that they are... not the whole thing, you know. absolutely key to his character also is that he's Very sharp and observent when it comes to dynamics btwn people & very good at making connections btwn people (he could Also be a blood player. but like... he Literally Steals Hearts. it feels too on the nose to pass up.) anyway. auugjfjfjfgghkbgh they r all SO DEAR 2 me they r all such good characters.... all of them have such an interesting dynamic together!! three massive liars with insane relationships to selfhood. etc.

#CATKISS.GIF MAC ILLYYYYYY oh my gd im literally always thinking ab them... they're so good. i could talk ab them forever!!!! this #is the truncated version bc im also half watching kenneth branagh hamlet w my ma hsjfhgjgkfg #mac tag! #p5 lb

[akechi-stole-my-heart]

Akechi for the character ask thing. If already done Sumire pls

this ask is from *checks date* july 6 2022 and I never did this for either character but honestly i love goro so much that the format barely even works for him and everyone already knows how i feel abt him so i'm just gonna do sumire 1 year late

What I like about them

Her conflict with her sister is sooo compelling and just fucks as a character concept it's so good. The way she erases herself from existence because she wants to be her sister so bad...the way she doesn't want her sister back, she just wants to become her...it's so tasty and angsty and hrghh. And as a foil to Akechi she works soooo well it makes me a 100k+ word fic kind of mentally ill.

What I dislike about them

Her idolization of Akira is never called out by the narrative and it really bothers me because it is literally the exact same problem she had with overly identifying herself with Kasumi but we're supposed to find it cute because it's romantic. There is a version of their relationship that is healthy, and the game wants you to think that's what they have, but that's a little hard to believe when her Metaverse outfit is literally identical to his. I like shusumi and I do think it's cute...but only in theory. Sumire needs to be his equal, and as it stands she just isn't.

Favorite moment

When she goes absolutely apeshit berserk on Akira and Akechi and nearly succeeds in killing them because she wants so desperately to become her sister.

Least favorite moment

Her true awakening to Cendrillion has never and will never sit with me quite right. I don't like that Kasumi is still her Persona. Symbolically, Kasumi is still her mask, and that just doesn't work when her arc is all about finding her own identity? And eventually Sumire realizes that she can be herself while also honoring her sister, but she's just not there in her arc yet. Sumire needs a Persona that is herself before she can have a Persona that is symbolic of the memory of Kasumi living on inside her. I really wish Sumire had gotten her own Persona that wasn't symbolically her sister. She deserves to represent herself and have an identity all her own.

A situation with this character that I want to see explored more

Just...everything with Sumire and Akechi, honestly. God. There is so much potential in the way the two of them contrast each other that goes completely unexplored and it's such a shame. They could be besties (or more) in another life. And...I do get why we don't get sumigoro friendship in canon, because Akechi is barely in a place to talk to Akira during third sem, let alone this girl who reminds him of all his own worst problems, but god. Imagine it. They could be so good.

An interesting AU for this character

I have an AU concept that involves Kasumi more than it does Sumire, but it lives rent free in my mind and I've been looking for a chance to post about it, so. here.

Kasumi fails to save Sumire. She blames herself for her sister's death--it's her job as the eldest to protect her little sister; she ran into that road because of how Kasumi made her feel. She has a mental breakdown over it, becoming suicidal. Kasumi is sent to therapy under Maruki and admits that she's always envied her younger sister. Kasumi loves gymnastics, but lately it's become nothing but pressure and stress, and she can't even enjoy it anymore. Kasumi may be the champion, but that also put so much pressure on her that she never knew quite how to handle. If she doesn't win every meet she doesn't think she'd be able to live with the shame. All she is are the trophies--no one truly values her for herself, and they shouldn't, since she's a failure and a fraud. But unlike Kasumi, as the younger sister, Sumire never had that same pressure to be the very best. Sumire doesn't have the pressure of being the perfect older sister who has it all together.

Kasumi put up a strong front as a defense mechanism, but inwardly struggled to connect and understand Sumire like she should have. And now her sister is dead, because of her. Because she was too stupid to realize how she was hurting her.

She wishes she could be Sumire. Maybe then she could relax and be happy. Maybe then people wouldn't put so much pressure on her to always succeed. Maybe then her sister's death wouldn't be her fault.

And so Maruki actualizes Kasumi to become Sumire.

A crossover

I don't really have a crossover involving Sumire, honestly. I don't do crossovers very often anyhow, I'm more of an AU type person.

OTP (or OT3+ etc…. just… favorite ship)

I adore akeshusumi so much you guys. One year ago I wouldn't have shipped them but writing a Royal Trio fic changed me in unalterable ways. They are so good. They are so beautiful. I am obsessed with them. I cannot wait for Repaint Your Heart.

Other ships?

Sumitaba is a very close second to Royal Trio, they're such lesbians. And gamer x athlete is extremely cute.

BROTP

Sumire and Ryuji! Actually, Sumire and literally any of the Phantom Thieves, honestly! There's so much untapped friendship potential between her and all of the Thieves I'm so sad she didn't get to spend more time with them during third semester.

NOTP

I don't really have one. At one point this would have been shusumi but I've changed my mind on that ship. Its execution in game is meh but the concept itself could be so great.

An assortment of headcanons!

I'm bad at thinking of headcanons off the top of my head so Imma be an asshole and link you to my Royal Trio fic code violet instead. It has a ton of Sumire headcanons in it. It's an AU where Sumire saves Akechi's life in the engine room that continues through the whole third semester. I'm getting pretty close to finishing it!

#sumire yoshizawa #p5 #sera answers #anon

[bunnikida]

shuake and atsulucy for the ship game!

Atsulucy:

Ship it!

What made you ship it?

Their canon interactions for sure! Especially in season 3 and 4 it was very cute

What are your favorite things about the ship?

That they have a mutual understanding and a common ground regarding their past. I also love that Atsushi's the first person to show Lucy compassion and understanding, not because he wants to use her for her ability but because of who she is.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

Uhhh I don't think so? Other than also shipping Atsushi with Akutagawa too, if that counts.

Shuake (Nyusa you're a p5 fan too????)

Ship it!

What made you ship it?

Pfff they are the narrative foils of all time. P5R is basically akechi goro dating simulator to me

What are your favorite things about the ship?

They are so deeply unwell and their relationship is even worse... If that makes sense

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

I don't think they are really toxic? At least in the way people claim they are?? I mean yeah akechi tried to kill akira but I think they have a ver deep understanding of each other and while they're absolutely horrible for each other I basically think everyone else (other than my mutuals) are wrong about their dynamic

#i think 90% of my shuake opinions are unpopular in the general fandom spaces #thank you for the ask!!!

[senblades]

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

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

Hmmmmmmmmm

ANON YOU'RE SO RIGHT I'M

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

whoops. long post HAHA

#asks #persona 5 #goro akechi #sumire yoshizawa #kasumi yoshizawa #ren amamiya #akira kurusu #I'm on a roll with these word vomit posts

[misrepresentedmorallygrey]

PROPAGANDA

Goro Akechi

have you seen this man. the fandom doesn't seem to grasp that he can have a "good" goal but still go about it absolutely the wrong way. he's not baby but he's not evil incarnate either, he's just 18. being 18 is just like that

People who are like "he's an irredeemable psychopath who became a serial killer just because he has daddy issues" piss me off. People who are like "he's the only person who ACTUALLY cares about the Protagonist and all of the Protagonist's other friends are fakes and users" piss me off even more. He's a foil for the entire main cast. He has faced all of their traumas with none of the support. He believes that he's responsible for his mother's suicide, and that he's unlovable. He was abandoned by everyone. He made some bad decisions when he was like 14, and his abusive father manipulated him into being a hitman. He lies all the damn time, so you can't really tell when he's being genuine or not. He's a double agent who befriends you and then tries to kill you, believes that he's succeeded, and shows absolutely no remorse. He dies to save your life (and then gets sorta resurrected and then dies again to literally save the world). It's complicated! He's complicated!

Gwen Cooper

God forbid women do anything. Gwen Cooper is a classic victim of fandom misogyny, a complicated kinda fucked up female character who is ultimately a hero, and people act like she’s the antichrist because she’s about as fucked up as every other man in the cast. Gwen’s main crimes are cheating on her then-boyfriend (with another male lead character who weirdly does NOT get any hate for participating in this affair) and having a very emotionally intimate and sexually tense (but never actually sexual) relationship with Jack Harkness, who also has a boyfriend in Torchwood (this is the classic “she’s getting in the way of our ship!!!! Situation, despite the fact that Gwen and Jack literally never do anything together and Gwen is never anything but supportive of Jack’s relationship); perhaps Gwen’s most morally grey action is confessing adultery to her boyfriend and then erasing his memory when he reacts poorly, but I must stress that this is about on the par of the shitty things other men in the show have done (hide dangerous aliens in the secret base, sacrifice children to dangerous aliens, use alien cologne that makes people want to fuck you in a way that is at best DUBIOUSLY consensual, etc). Meanwhile, Gwen also gets hate for things that are NOT morally grey, namely, being an outspoken woman with a strong moral center. She is the HEART of her secret organization, she is the MORAL CORE, and because that means she has the AUDACITY to criticize her male coworkers, she’s a bitch. There are over 100 works on ao3 tagged “gwen cooper bashing,” and even more untagged that bash, demean, belittle, or simply ignore the existence of THE MAIN CHARACTER OF THE SHOW!! Gwen bestie you’re so fucked up and I love you and I need more people to appreciate that.

Gwen is a paranormal investigator who accidentally joined the worst polycule on Earth. The Torchwood fanbase (especially the one at the time) really hates/hated her, despite the fact that her coworkers were equally as bad if not much worse than her. Maybe she did a bit of cheating and maybe she’s kind of mean but have you considered: she’s the most beautiful girl in the world, she’s a bad bitch, and I love her? God forbid women do anything

#misrepresented morally grey #round 1 #bracket b #did everything wrong bracket #persona 5 #goro akechi #akechi goro #torchwood #gwen cooper #fun new drinking game: take a shot everytime 'God Forbid women do anything' is used in propaganda!/j

[lilac-liliales]

Interrogation Room

Playing P5R and bear with me, but I think Akechi knew he didn’t kill Ren at the interrogation room. Let me parse my doubts into something coherent because I can’t make sense of them otherwise.

First: when Futaba steals Akechi's phone on the first day infiltrating Sae’s Palace, everyone is surprised, and it shows in the exclamation signs above their heads. Everyone except Futaba, who plotted this interaction, and Akechi, who acted surprised, but wasn’t really surprised. Similar to when he met Morgana after his panel: he acted surprised to keep up the charade, but really wasn’t.

On 8/28, Akechi connected Medjed to Futaba on sight, and implied so in front of Ren. On 10/11, he knew Sae’s laptop had been tampered with. I can’t wholeheartedly say he didn’t connect the dots. He allowed Futaba to spy him.

Second: The Phantom Thieves knew that stealing the treasure caused the palace to collapse. It's safe to assume Akechi knew this too, because he witnessed Okumura’s fight from the shadows. After defeating Sae’s Shadow and fake-stealing her treasure, he must have been aware something was going on. Why isn't Akechi wary of things not going according to plan? Or rather; did Akechi expect the Phantom Thieves to foil Shido’s plan from the beginning? When Joker was successfully subdued by the police troops, Akechi must have been the only one actually surprised at the turn of events.

Third: While on his way to the interrogation room, how could Akechi, a known veteran lurker from the metaverse, not sense the reality shifting? During the Third Semester, Akechi is confirmed to have amateur navigator perception, which means he should be more aware of his surroundings than the average Persona Users. Also, as evidenced by the Phantom Thieves’ first access to Okumura’s Palace, he can feel the shift into the metaverse even before the surroundings are warped.

At a considerable distance from the area of effect, even before material changes occur, Akechi senses the shift. So did he really miss it during the interrogation room... or was he aware they shifted into the palace all along?

Fourth: Akechi was a full fledged hitman in both the metaverse and the real world, and we can see as much from his deft handling of the guard’s gun and appliance of the silencer. In P5S there’s an unsolved assassination case that’s directly tied to the Antisocial Force, and the modus operandi is Shido’s blueprint. Thus, If Akechi was experienced in killing both shadows & people, why couldn’t he tell the difference between them? Or more likely; was he aware it was a cognition the whole time?

Fifth: The Conspiracy planned to escape-goat the Phantom Thieves as the perpetrators of the mental shutdowns & psychotic breakdowns. However, Akechi repeatedly states he's going to bring the true culprit to justice, and this is reiterated throughout the game. It aligns with his ultimate plot to betray Shido at the peak of his power, and with his confession during Christmas’ Eve. It begs the question: was Akechi ever really willing to let Joker take the fall in the first place? 

Sixth: The "deal” between Akechi and the protagonist consists of Akechi protecting the Phantom Thieves from the authorities, as Sae herself phrased - ["I can't believe you evaded the police's network until today… The only logical explanation is that someone in the police has ties to the Phantom Thieves.”] His "smooth talk" ability is more than just a perk; it’s employed several times as his go-to persuasion tactic to steer Shido away from damaging others. 

Akechi calling Shido after the interrogation room and straight up lying to him so as to postpone the Phantom Thieves’ assassinations is a perfect example of Akechi covertly covering for the team’s asses. Akechi’s billiards allegory in Rank 7 - for which you need maximum intelligence - explains his situation as a pawn of the conspiracy while hinting to grander forces at play, along with his proposal for an unlikely alliance. There are several messages in the thieves’ chat that also cover this. He was hinting at this development all along, and he was either confident -or faithful- that the Phantom Thieves would be prepared for it.

When observing Sae’s Palace Memoirs inside the Thieves’ Den, Akechi mentions he's impressed with the plan the Phantom Thieves pulled, and in the mementos dialogue (3.00), Akechi is even embarrassed about the Phantom Thieves discovering him so early in the year due to the "pancakes" line.  While we must be skeptical of Ren’s unreliable cognition, it's safe to assume Akechi was completely in the dark about the Phantom Thieves' Contingency Plan during Sae's palace.

If all these are true, it means that Akechi trusted the Phantom Thieves to save Joker from capture, willingly cooperated into their plot whenever opportunity arose, and then kept his end of the deal by ensuring their livelihood. All while unaware of what the Phantom Thieves were actually thinking.

#persona 5 #p5 #p5r #akechi goro #the conspiracy #antisocial force #my thoughts #my doubts #sae's palace #Interrogation Room #phantom thieves #what a headache #persona 5 royal

[dishsaop]

i get why u ppl ship Akechi and Akira, i do, rivals to lovers blah blah but its just so much funnier if they dont get together. like these two guys have homoerotic glove slaps and traumadumping while naked in baths and are each others foils and shit and everyones like 'whoag these guys are totally fucking on the down-low they cant be more obvious" but actually akechi just literally fucking despises akira while being so jealous of him he regularly punches mirrors and stabs people and literally hasnt once stopped obsessing over akira in months. and meanwhile akira is just like o_o with his blank little glasses while eating a fifteen pound hamburger and dissociating, totally forgetting akechi exists.

#persona 5 royal #akira kurusu #Akechi goro #p5r #p5 #m text