#//I mean for the sake of my Goro's personal canon I know that I can do that.

[kingspuppet]

Sometimes I really wanna make a blog for Joker to write my own take on him. But then I remember there’s so many blogs and takes of him that I just hnnnngh So many good takes and I feel like me adding mine is rather unnecessary.

[sleepygaymerdisease]

ok you know what actually i cant shut up so here we go. SPOILER WARNING (for kamen rider ryuki and this stupid special)

ok first of all, im just gonna have to ignore how flawed the rtr premise is. the crossover bits made like no sense to me but i dont know those guys so i wont talk about that. what does bother me is this like, fundamental misunderstanding of the mirror world and how it functions. it's intentionally mysterious in nature and a lot is left unexplained in the original show, sure, but that doesnt mean that there arent any rules to its logic. it's meant to be a tool for the narrative. it has a metaphorical function to talk about the cycles of violence. and like, okay i guess inoue tried to make it about that, but it still doesnt make any sense? the original show is basically like "i think that violence can solve all my problems, because i cant imagine anything else, so i dont care about the casualties that are required to grant my wish, and therefore im fine with making riders fight each other to the death." this one tries to be, like, "sorry, but i think violence might work for some reason, to stop some other guy who's killing but that's wrong because violence is always wrong, so im gonna have you guys kill each other until only one remains so you can then kill the evil killer. sorry." literally what's the point. the person in charge hates the violence and the riders arent even doing this to grant their own wish anymore. like what? shinji as a character tends to value other people's wishes, so it does end up working out for the girl, but what would the plan have been if literally anyone else won? why would they want to keep fighting after all that? why would they go against this other bad guy? why would they care about the wish of someone who just made them kill? why would they keep killing? why would they trust this narrative? makes no sense. it's even worse if you assume that someone like asakura (etc) won, because then theres a chance that they'll just keep killing innocents. the riders don't even get to fight for their own selfish reasons anymore, either. it's all built around fighting for someone they dont know to stop someone they dont know for the sake of the greater good. congrats for missing the entire point of ryuki. "lets just get rid of the whole wish thing" are u serious.

it also makes me mad because i actually really like amnesia plots but this was all done so badly it makes me want to scream. there was seriously no point to it at all for this special. like. god. it was literally done so the characters could he grouped together like dolls and so their brand new drama would have no stakes or real personal attachment to it. and it doesnt even apply to all the characters either?!?!!? goro and asakura knew EXACTLY what was up the entire time and thats unexplained. and guess what. their dynamic was the most compelling part of the entire special. it turns out that characters knowing and hating each other and decieving each other can actually be really interesting but nooo inoue doesnt want to deal with any of the canon events or memories or relationships of characters unless he likes it. it's so obvious that he doesnt value the story itself. it actually would be interesting if the characters' memories were messed with if it was done well. could you imagine? feeling the need to fight but not remembering why? slipping into the familiar groove of violence that you shouldn't have the muscle memory for at all in this lifetime? or, even better, thinking that the fight is still on? as if the ending didnt happen at all? still desperately fighting for your wish again, and slowly having to realize that it's not real? that those are thoughts and feelings that you are borrowing from you that doesnt exist anymore? that you dont need that wish at all? that you already got your happy ending? and what about the anger in discovering that your memory was tampered with? where's their rage at the one who traps them, who continues this cycle of violence that was supposed to be broken? what about the borrowed grief of their past lives, unsure if theyre feeling it all over again or if theyre a bystander of their own misery? and what about the grief at knowing their current lives are being dismantled all over again, that they can truly never quit? what about the hopelessness at realizing that they dont even get to grant a wish at the end of all this senseless violence? instead of using the amnesia as a tool to elaborate on the previous events of the show its used to deliberately shove everything aside to ignore it, and things are only brought up again via flashbacks for brief moments of dramatic flaire.

also yami shinji as a concept is also interesting but done absolutely terribly. it makes me mad that inoue made this concept but keeps dropping the ball. its not even that hard to have an evil version of the main character but he fumbles it 3 separate fucking times. ohh my god. yami shinji might be from the mirror world but you have to explain what that actually MEANS for shinji as a person and why this is a reflection of shinji and not just an entity that wants to escape that also just happens to look like him. it would be interesting if yami shinji was supposed to be a manifestation of shinji's greatest fears. he could be a version of the protagonist who makes the decision to finally and truly give into violence without any remorse. and that's kind of what inoue was going for but it has to be more obvious that this like externalization of an internal conflict is like actually something that shinji has truly considered. WHICH MAKES ZERO SENSE WITH THE AMNESIA PLOT. if your protagonist is a blank slate who doesnt remember anyone and doesnt have any internal conflict and doesnt have any motivations anymore and doesnt have any hesitation about his actions and hasnt gone through even a sliver of the hero's journey, then what the fuck is the narrative foil doing here??!?!?

this post is getting too long sorry. tldr: this was incredibly, spectacularly terrible. fixing this would require starting from the very beginning because the entire premise is at odds with the show itself, but even on top of that nearly every single writing choice and character interaction makes no fucking sense at all.

inoue really does everything in his power to undo the ending of the original show and replace it with the worlds shittiest fanfiction. "what if this time everyone lost their memories so their relationships with each other were completely different and they had to kill each other for completely different reasons so they had different motivations too" congrats! you have made something else.

[qserasera]

Castling Your King: An Akira Kurusu/Goro Akechi Rec List

“I’m glad I found you...to paraphrase Hegel, advancement cannot occur without both thesis and antithesis.”

fics may be based on the canons of either Persona 5 + Persona 5 Royal. Check notes and tags of fics for warnings and ratings, esp for violence, dark topics etc.

One-Shots   (includes canon, canon divergence, future fics, and AUs)

all we inherit by Mertiya Akira visits Akechi’s Palace, and events play out differently.  

warm data by scionblad Goro Akechi was seventeen years old and fond of biking, high-class food, and bouldering. It felt a very mechanical way to get to know a person, like a checklist of the things that made them up. Bullet Caught Between Your Teeth by npcx  Akira's forgiveness is unrelenting. Akechi's heart can hardly keep up.

Start Again At Your Beginnings by joishbishmyoga   The thing about having given your heart, your service, and most of your soul to your country, Soujiro thought, mouthing at an unlit cigarette as he sat uselessly by Akira's bedside for the second night in a row, watching that the kid kept breathing through his concussion... The thing was, you either broke, or you learned to appreciate the simpler things in life. Fine coffee. Fresh curry. Regular customers.

Old friends.

ashes and ruin by SpookyVern An evening conversation that traveled into Kurusu's attic, ruined by one sentence.

"We know you know about the metaverse.”

furball by hamnet Goro finds a kitten. Despite everything his logic tells him, he keeps her.

Spring Cleaning by deplore  Goro’s hair grows longer and his feelings grow deeper as he waits for Akira Kurusu to return. Emotions gain a peculiar, foreign dimension to them, like he's slowly being filled with the things that he previously lacked. Or maybe it's more that he's regaining things that he once tried to throw away: his dreams, his passions, his opportunities, all burned to crisps and used as kindling to keep the hell-fire in him fierce and unyielding. a multitude of deaths, and a world for us alone by deplore  Post-canon AU. Goro and Akira go on a trip together, and Goro has bad dreams. Goro breathes in deeply and interlaces his fingers. “The night sky,’ he begins to say, and then lets the subject trail off with no action behind it, letting that trite, overused line go unfinished: the night sky is beautiful, which really means – I think you're beautiful. I love you.

get lost tracing my steps back by the hyacinth girl (arguendo) Favors exchanged after a juvenile court hearing.

Places, everyone by neonsign Because where Akira Kurusu goes, Goro Akechi follows. Everyone knows the rivalry, even if their knowledge is limited to what’s been in the papers; a game like this draws attention from those content to sit on the sidelines. 

With Mournful Tread by Yustiel   There's Akechi, bandaging his wounds in the dusty summer evenings with gentle hands; Akechi, reading the English aloud for his sake; Akechi, with undue viciousness, tearing at the shadow that had threatened them.

"Don't worry," he said. "I won't let them touch you." But oh, they're not the ones he's afraid of. (New Game+ AU)

and it looks so very much like me by Rethira felix faces him, leans down and murmurs, “i don’t mind if you call me goro, amamiya-kun” (the velvet room has a new attendant)

Felled by izanyas At the dawn of their doomed partnership, in a moment of weakness, Joker gives Akechi a chance.

How to Build a Temple by sakuraba Falling in love -- not the how, but the where. Or: Akechi Goro finally gets something he's desperately been lacking.

i can put on a show by SpineAndSpite “Were you this hard when you killed me?” the vicious mouth asks.

skeptic by chashmish Maybe it’s just a born characteristic of Kurusu’s, Goro thinks idly. To be so cynical.

playing with ghosts by dcuros Late at night, Akira brews a particular blend, sets up the chessboard and chases the ghost of Akechi Goro.

the devil’s details by relationshipcrimes When Akechi is sentenced to six years in prison after Shido's change of heart, Akira makes sure to stay in touch.

the love exchange by relationshipcrimes After a late-night accidental kiss at Leblanc, Akira and Akechi wind up in something that could be a casual, low-stress relationship, except that Akechi is incapable of doing anything casually and without stress. As always, Akira has to do everything around here.

when your eyes say it by lesbianedgeworth Akechi exhales sharply. Annoyed. Better then soft any day, if he matched this with pity Joker would throw himself off a roof and be done with it— he meets Joker’s eyes as abruptly as he decides to do anything. “You like me. Is that right?” in the aftermath of february second, akechi and joker have some things to say.

it’s not the waking  by theexistentiallyqueer  There’s something hot and thick sitting in his throat almost choking him, something heavy and full of furious grief.You should know the moment when you first fall in love. (Persona 5 Royal spoilers) 

the second hand of fate ticks closer to home by theexistentiallyqueer   “Hey,” Akira says, catching Akechi by the sleeve of his jacket before he can leave. “Stay for a bit.”

He doesn’t look to see if Akechi stays; he can hear that Akechi stays, because the door doesn’t open and the bell doesn’t ring. Akira goes behind the bar to grab a canister off the shelves on the wall and make them both coffee. (Persona 5 Royal spoilers)

To err is human by Katraa  to forgive, divine. It’s a matter of perspective. At least that’s what he tells himself so he can sleep at night. His sleep isn’t sound, instead riddled with nightmares and roaming hands. Hot whiskey eyes and bony fingers make themselves at home in his mind and he can’t escape. There’s a bomb, ticking away, set to explode – or perhaps implode? – in less than a month and yet he can’t help himself from wanting to play with the wires.

life expectancy by futuresoon It's remarkably dull, knowing you aren't real.

ambiguity aversion by lady_peony *disclaimer that this fic was written by me, but i think it’s good so /shrug "Give him back," Crow hisses, taking a single step forward. The venom in his voice cracks through the air like a bullet. or: Goro Akechi puts his negotiation skills to the test.

irregular resolution by lady_peony Akira has dreams sometimes; Akira tips back his head, sets it more deeply into the chair behind him. "Stars can move." He brings up a finger, rotates it slowly in the air, one full circle, and another. "Binary star systems. Because there's more than one...their paths change, because the other exists."

Fold In by SomewhereFlying  As long as Goro was still around, the Thieves would be in danger - if not from him, then from Shido - and that was something he could no longer bear. Sometimes the bravest thing you can do is run away.  What You Don’t Know by SomewhereFlying  Akira was supposed to be keeping his nose down during his probation at Shujin, but sometimes things don’t work out the way you expect. Sometimes you befriend the other misfits in school and start working to expose an abusive teacher for the scum that he is. Hey, it couldn’t be helped - these things happen.

Sometimes you have to distract the student council vice president by making out with him. These things happen.

leave me something to remember you by by gesugao  Akira tries to save Goro from the world, other people, and himself. 

cognitive by D_Maradine (Warnings for major character death) In the Engine Room, Akira orders a forceful Palace exit in attempt to save Goro. However, the one who comes back to the reality is not him, but detective's cognitive version, thrown into real Goro's body. And he doesn't really get how this "real world" works.

uncertainty principle by akc In the silence, Akira asks his ceiling why things turned out this way. His ceiling does not answer. (goro and akira are childhood friends au)

Between Scylla and Charybdis by KivaEmber Akira has a near-fatal encounter in Maruki's Palace. Akechi... barely takes it well.

It’s a Date by KivaEmber Goro stared at his reflection in dismay. It didn’t compare to Akira, but at least he looked like he put some effort in. Fine, his rival can have the win in presentation, but this competition was just getting started. Goro will sweep him off his feet and turn him into a blushing, stammering mess by the end of the night. He will not lose.

Cover Your Tracks by prosodiical   On the day Goro Akechi first entered the Metaverse, a stranger followed him in. A little more than two years later, Akira Kurusu returns to Shibuya, accidentally stumbles into another Palace, and meets a talking cat.

Place All You’re Given in Infinite Trust by chashmish Inexplicably, Ren dropped to one knee. Goro's mouth fell open. "What the hell are you doing? You don't know who's been walking on that floor. Or where their feet have been." Ren paid no mind to Goro's words or to the other shoppers, who were starting to gape at the two of them. He looked solemnly at Goro. Then he said, "Will you marry me?"

Epic Fics

Crooked Hands by coolkidroland In which Akira absolutely does not learn to leave well enough alone. (alternate title: A Fork in Want of a Light Socket). Part of a series. Followed by Goblin Men and The Reed Which Grows Nevermore Again.  

an all encompassing guide on how to stop the snow from falling by akc After living quietly by himself for nearly two years, dead in the eyes of the Phantom Thieves, Akechi Goro makes the decision to step into Leblanc unprompted to face them all, unaware of the tumultuous unfolding and unfurling that will come along with it.

long goes into the night by confidantes Ren & Goro find each other again after ten long years.

take me to church by cruellae  “I’m going to give you the one thing you want most in the entire world. The one thing your heart yearns for, even if you don’t realize it.” Goro draws in a sharp breath at the sight of the familiar silhouette in his kitchen, long and lanky with tousled black hair. It’s been more than a year, but he still hasn’t forgotten the way Akira moves. Akira turns and smiles, his messy dark hair falling over his forehead, his eyes a brilliant sunflower yellow.

marigolds by colbulb Akechi meets a mysterious being chained to a door after death and gains a second chance.

Interobject by howitleft It is June when Akira is ambushed by someone wearing the face of Goro Akechi claiming to be from next year, sent back to the past by Igor to help undo a bad decision.

Dreaming of Butterflies by heavymoons Akira wakes up, his mind bursting with visions of the future and his heart burning with resolve … only to discover that he hadn't needed to worry about it at all. (I.e. NG+ maxstats!Akira might be an anxious, mildly depressed wreck but he has never looked this good.)

people like you, people like me by cybersquatt I know about the Metaverse and what you are, he sometimes thinks about dumping the hard truth onto Kurusu, just to see that notorious poker face off guard at least once. You better stop this hero act before you ruin us both. As if he's not the one driving them off the road. (Persona 5 Royal setting)

killed with kindness by veterization Goro can't quite figure out why so many people keep acting like they're his friend. (Or: the one where the Phantom Thieves decide to know thy enemy, befriend thy enemy, love thy enemy, crush on thy enemy). 

it takes a village by shouldbeworking Each passing day brings new challenges, and each passing day brings his plan closer to fruition.

So, who cares if he keeps remembering things that never happened? So what if there are eight Phantom Thieves, rather than the three he expected? And so what if their leader has proven surprisingly adept at avoiding him? None of it matters. A new game is starting, and Akechi Goro is going to win it.

a shrike to your sharp and glorious thorn by theexistentiallyqueer Goro spent three years in juvenile hall, unmoored and deserted on a metaphorical island with no ship in sight. He never planned for a future beyond ruining the man who ruined him. (The funny thing about futures is that they have their own way of finding you.)

you will not take my heart alive  by myotinae Kurusu leans forward and says, “Look. You do deserve to feel this bad. I’m sorry, but you do. But you don’t deserve to be alone while you deal with it. So I’ll leave now if you want me to, but I’m coming back tomorrow. All right?” Goro wipes his face with his sleeve and glowers at him: Great Akira the Moralizer, who knows exactly what everyone else deserves. Perfect, beloved Akira. Once More With Feeling by beesandtoes Akira's determined not to let Akechi die this time. Akira's determined not to let Akechi die this time. Akira's determined not to let Akechi die this time. Akira— well, he'll get it next time for sure.

the cognition by relationshipcrimes You are the captain’s cognition of Goro Akechi, who you have just murdered. Next on the list is Joker.

Nine Lives by KivaEmber After dying for the second time as Maruki's Ideal Reality crumbled, the last thing Akechi expected was to wake up as a cat, in the past, and get saddled with the impossible job of trying to rehabilitate his past self.

or; Joker gets Morgana. Akechi gets... his future self in cat form.

the first step to find your way is to mark where you have been by futuresoon (Akechi’s got a Palace, sort of, and Akira’s the only one who can enter it. Now he just has to figure out what he’s supposed to do in a Palace with no Treasure and no Shadow--and if his tag-along even wants him to see what’s in there.) So Close Your Eyes Close With My Dreams by LovelyLotus Ren arrives a few days early to Tokyo and is promptly run over (via bicycle) by a certain detective. This accidental meeting sparks an intense friendship that neither boy is willing to let go of, even as forces begin conspiring to set them against one another. Whether it’s Masayoshi Shido or the God of Control, nothing in hell is going to divide Joker and Crow. Trickster’s Maze by TwilightKnight17 In the aftermath of a year from hell, Akira is fine. Yes, he's been separated from his friends, is home with his distant parents, and hasn't heard from the boy who promised to come back to him, but he's fine. Sure, he's sleeping more, and his friends don't text back much, but he's fine. He always knows what to do.

Everything is fine.

[lokiarsene]

Hey, I wanted to ask if you'd be willing to say more about Akiren's grey morality with darker shades! I love it and your analysis of the game is always amazing!

Hello! Wow, thank you very much… And I can try, I suppose. I’m not sure what you’re interested in hearing specifically!

His Awakening is pretty dire in tone. All the PT have very grim, violent Awakenings, but Akiren’s is specifically about brutal rage, heresy, defiance, even if it means blasphemy itself. This is foreshadowing of his future destruction of a god (and him fusing Satanael, the rebel angel of heaven), and I think it also sets him apart as a Trickster Wild Card, and as a rebel among the other PT.

Yaldigor is constantly reminding Akiren that he has to use his Confidants and the deals he makes to (1) stop oncoming ruin, and (2) redeem himself through rehabilitation. This frames Akiren as an anti-hero, which is an interestingly judgmental take for a Velvet Room master and attendant(s) to have. We already know that VR’s take a form based on the Wild Card’s heart, so Akiren already feels bound to the idea of imprisonment (both literally and figuratively). Adding in the threat of avoiding ruin and serving time in some interstitial reality that grants him power is… a lot to put on a teenage boy’s conscience.

Basically, Yaldigor does not grant Akiren any reprieve from his anger at being wrongfully accused and convicted; if anything, he feeds into the prejudice and this fuels Akiren’s spite. He isn’t the hero to be praised and welcomed. He’s the Trickster. (Trickster gods and figures are heroic in their own way, but that’s another post for another time.)

Akiren’s behavior as Joker versus his behavior in reality is starkly different. Joker is cocky, confident, suave. He fights and moves with ease. He’s commanding and fearless with the taunts and shouts he directs at his enemies. He takes risks, delights in the risks, and can’t help but showing off a little bit. This is all a boy reveling in his status as a trouble-making thief and supernatural vigilante. Vigilantes seek justice, sure, but Akiren never struck me as purely justice-focused. What little personality we can glean from his dialogue choices (and his in canon choices that we can’t control) frame him less as a goody two-shoes, hardline black and white thinker the way some of the PT can be, and more someone who is not afraid to take risks, play a long con, and even go behind his friends’ backs to indulge in some questionable behavior (see also: his Confidant with Goro).

Akiren’s Confidants are all framed as beneficial to his work as a Phantom Thief, no matter how they begin (except for Goro; that one is all personal). That’s not to say that Akiren isn’t emotionally connected to these people–he is, clearly; he can gain significant social skill increases from bonding with them–but they all also have a root, core benefit of being useful to Akiren. The impact he has on their lives are personal, yes, but the fact that they all start with the concept of making a deal with each other is an indication of how Akiren views his current goal as a Trickster and how he sees himself. He’s viewed and treated as a criminal. He is on probation, an outcast in society. Therefore, any bond he makes with someone has to have a reason to be made besides the sheer pleasure of it.

That isn’t necessarily gray morality, of course. But it does paint him in a darker light than some of the other Persona protagonists have been (at least, not since Tatsuya).

I spoke in the other post about how eagerly he agrees to Mona’s deal, and how he left it up to Ann whether or not Kamoshida was going to die (something he didn’t really bat an eye about, unlike Ryuji). It’s his word that usually pushes the PT into their Awakening, words of rebellion, words coming from righteous anger. This is a kinder way of ripping the mask off the PT’s hearts, the same way he does to the Shadows (”Show me your true form!”).

Now why do I call Akiren an antihero? Because he doesn’t really have standard hero traits. He’s brave, yes. He has a moral code, sure. But he’s not out to be the savior of humanity, or saving the country for the saving’s sake. He’s doing it to punish, to snatch back society and tear it free. He’s also the Trickster, the one who stands out, defies, condemns, and ultimately controls the group of outcasts of which he’s a part.

Other antiheroes in fiction are: Hamlet, Geralt, Lucifer, Macbeth, Jaime and Tyrion Lannister, Maleficent, The Punisher, Han Solo, and John Wick. What all these characters have in common are convictions that center around personal moral codes and personal goals no matter how it sets them apart from society, no matter if it defies common law or codes of justice, no matter what consequences it brings down on them. They are scheming, clever, and occasionally violent people who also have a code of honor and loyalty. They are all darker shades of the idea of a heroic character, complex and commendable.

Perhaps no better example of Akiren’s gray morality is seen than in the third semester when you can take Maruki’s deal and damn your friends to the false reality all because he doesn’t want to give up Goro. He doesn’t hesitate to drag his friends from their dreams to bring them along to the Palace infiltration, and while he does reflect on whether or not it was the right/kind thing to do, he never has the option of not doing it (presumably because the devs didn’t want you not to have your whole cast–so I’m not sure I’d put much weight on this idea I pitched).

Regardless, even after he went through the trouble of waking them all up, he can put them all back in that lie when given the chance. This is his most antihero trait of all: when asked and given a chance, he will choose what he thinks is the right thing to do (keep Goro close, taking the short road to fulfilling their promise) over what is the fair thing to do (upholding his principles of rejecting manipulation and control). Incidentally, he’s still acting as a Trickster here. Tricksters can and do act in their own self-interests (see: Loki going to a dinner party with the other gods and telling them all how much they suck just to start some shit; Loki killing Baldr for a lark). So this isn’t even out of character for Akiren. It’s merely one of the darker ways he can turn.

The final glimpse of his Joker form in the train window makes me think that there’s always going to be a part of Akiren that is the Trickster, that will always be able to tap into this awakened “darkness” (or rather, gray complexity) that wasn’t present when he first arrived in Tokyo. All the other PT went their ways to a brighter future, taking control of their lives and reclaiming the goals and happiness that were taken from them, and what does Akiren do? Besides go home with his new cat (yay!), he catches an inkling hint of his rival’s presence, and sees his alternate self: the cocky, debonair, ruthlessly charming Trickster that lurks in his heart. That is his “future.” That is what he’s “claimed” during his probationary period in Tokyo: the will and spirit of a god-defying Trickster, an essential element of society that exists to shake it up, tear it down, challenge it, and refuse to bow to it.

Akiren wasn’t rehabilitated to be a good boy, redeemed and now on his best behavior. He is a law-defying young man who was exonerated of his wrongful conviction and revealed that Japan’s “justice” system was more of a legal system, both of them corrupt, both of them bested by him.

Not sure I talked much about gray morality here. I’ll have to pay closer attention to stuff when I do my NG+ run.

[goldenkamuyhunting]

I know you have talked about Ogata's and Sugimoto's relationship before. But I have been wondering if Ogata actually likes Sugimoto. Since I don't ship these characters, this is not for shipping sake. But there are quite a few small things that were pointed out to me in a post, this post being 'Sugimoto and Ogatas rivalmance'. I would like to know your take on this complicated, and possible love-hate relationship.

It’s a difficult question...

...because, as of now, as I said many times, only one thing is clear: they currently want each other dead.

I’ve kind of digged in their relation many time so many know already my point of view but I’ll try to sum it up again, if that’s okay with you.

The story starts with their first meeting in which, as soon as they make clear to each other they aren’t going to let go of the skin, they’ll have to kill each other to have it because neither is going to give up and their goals are mutually exclusive.

At the start is just that.

The irony is that they starte it likely each of them assuming the other was/could be a convict.

We see Sugimoto thinks the one shooting at them was someone with the convict they captured.

Ogata, might not have assumed this at first, as otherwise the smartest thing to do was to kill Sugimoto, however he realizes Sugimoto is shooting with a type 26 (an army officier gun pretty expensive) and thinks he’d got it by stealing from a dead soldier (actually the gun belonged to the prisoner and he’s likely the one who stole it from one of the soldiers who were killed when they escaped).

When they faced each other they realize they’re both from the army.

Sugimoto knows he can’t get to an agreement that he’ll allow him to keep the skin because, even if he were to win and let him go, Ogata would call his companions and they would kill him. If he were to keep him trapped Ogata’s companions would come to search for him (which they did) and Sugimoto’s position would be even more complicate. His best option is to kill him and hope no one will connect him to Ogata’s disappearance.

Ogata at first have no idea the one facing is Sugimoto the immortal but likely grasped he’s good at fighting, which he isn’t. As Sugimoto makes clear he won’t give up on the skin (he’s not doing it for money so it’s not like they can bribe him) his only option to get out of there alive and keep the skin is to kill Sugimoto so he attacks immediately trying to catch the other on surprise.

We know how it ends.

Sugimoto tries to kill Ogata, Asirpa stops him, Ogata escapes and in an attempt to stop this Sugimoto causes him to fall in the river and then persuade Asirpa it’s better this way.

Did they apprecciate each other in this exchange in which they had no better option that to kill each other?

No idea.

Ogata, apart from thinking Sugimoto got the gun from a dead soldier, keep for himself his thoughts.

Sugimoto thinks he’s from the dregs of the unit so he doesn’t really have a flattering opinion either.

You can still speculate because since nothing is said, everything can be assumed.

The next time they meet Ogata decides they’ve to ally due to Tsurumi potentially having gotten his hands on the tattooed skins. The key problem was probably that Ogata and Kiro were already in an alliance so he had to find a discreet way to inform Kiro of this. Same as he’ll do with Ariko, Hijikata was probably keeping an eye on him and Sugimoto was probably keeping an eye on Kiro (remember at the start Sugi didn’t trust Kiro much).

Sugimoto, seated at a table with Hijikata, who in his younth, in the night went and assassinated his fellow Shinsengumi member Serizawa, his mistress Oume, and one of his followers Hirayama Goro (Sugi should know about this but he surely doesn’t know Hijikata also killed allies in Barato) and a cannibal doctor who tried to eat Asirpa’s eyes, feels the need to accuse Ogata of being an untrustworthy traitor because he left a bunch of soldiers who were betraying his own country.

Sugimoto is sympathetic to Tsurumi’s cause so, of course, he excuses them for being traitors... but I think there’s something deeper in this because Tanigaki too dumped them but he never complained against him.

Anyway Sugimoto and Ogata are in an alliance together and, searching for Hijikata, Sugimoto ends up on saving Ogata, a favour that Ogata will return in the fake Ainu village, although Sugimoto makes clear he didn’t do it because he trusts Ogata.

We’ve then a long list of Sugimoto doing some minor, petty things in Ogata’s direction.

Some theorized Sugimoto realized Ogata would later shoot him.

With the long list of people who betrayed or tried to kill Sugimoto without him ever suspecting about them I’ll call it at best a lucky guess.

In a very old post of mine, among other things, I theorized such behavior might be not about Ogata but about the circumstances in which their first meeting took place.

In a more recent meta I wondered it could be due to something that happened with Toraji, the other feline in the story (Toraji is called by Umeko Tora-chan where “tora” means tiger) and Sugimoto is merely projecting on Ogata what had happened with his best friend.

The truth is we don’t know. Again each interpretation is a valid guess until GK provides us with a canon answer.

As for Ogata at first he’s just occasionally annoyed with Sugimoto’s taunts but doesn’t answer to them.

Then something interesting happens.

Ogata learns it wasn’t Tanigaki who was responsible of the death of Tamai and Co.

Why is this even relevant?

Now we know that, when Ogata met up with Tanigaki the first time, he was already aware Tsurumi knew he had betrayed them. He and Nikaidou are basically two wanted man. They end up believing Tanigaki killed Tamai and Co... and decide to waste their time hunting him down in retaliation.

The action is useless, Tanigaki can’t reveal to Tsurumi anything Tsurumi doesn’t already know, Tsurumi could track them down, which he’ll do, yet they decide to hunt Tanigaki. Or better, Ogata decides. Nikaido by then was already obsessed with killing Sugimoto and didn’t really care much.

So apparently Ogata was really interest in avenging them.

But, as I said, Sugimoto said they weren’t killed by Tanigaki but by a bear and he was there and was watching. And it’s more likely Ogata connected the dots and figured that if they were killed by that bear Sugimoto might have had a hand in this. And this might have caused the relation to shift.

In chap 99 is implied Ogata and Sugimoto exchanged rifles, as it was Sugimoto who stole the type 38, but Ogata has it before the end of the chapter and Sugimoto might not have missed the fact as he should be capable to recognize the differences between a type 30 and a type 38.

The exchange makes sense as Ogata is much better at shooting while Sugimoto prefers to use the rifle as some sort of wand.

But then in chap 112 Sugimoto broke his rifle... and, for the first time, in chap 114, we’ve Ogata making a remark against him.

At this point, after he has broken Ogata’s rifle and Ogata remarked he did a stupid thing, Sugimoto wants the type 38 back. Ogata refuses and further hammer Sugimoto’s inability to shoot.

So, if previously Ogata merely kept quiet when Sugimoto would nag him, now he doesn’t do it anymore. Actually he starts it and finish it and from that moment on, Sugimoto won’t nag him anymore, actually he’s afraid Asirpa will say, in front of him, how Sugimoto mistakenly shoot the owl’s eye.

Do they like each other?

Whoever knows?

They sure as hell make an awesome team when they work together as Noda wrote them perfectly complementar, giving to each what the other lacks... but Sugimoto is fast to doubt of Ogata when Hijikata vents he might have joined them for personal ambitions... failing to spot how Hijikata, Toni and Kadokura planned to betray him, part him from Asirpa and use him as diversion, possibly sacrificing him.

And so we get to chap 14 and to Ogata shooting Wilk and Sugimoto.

I’m not sure why Wilk had to die, beyond revenge for, according to Kiro, having betrayed them. Ogata says shooting Sugimoto was due tot he latter talking with Wilk and, potentially, learning something he shouldn’t. It’s a good reason and Ogata definitely did his best to kill Sugimoto. He shot him in the head and then attempted to hit him again, even though he had poor vision of the spot in which Sugi was.

Ogata wanted Sugimoto dead, it’s failure on his part Sugimoto survived.

If this was because Wilk might have said him something, because Kiro was partial to Sugimoto and Ogata feared Kiro would discharge him in Sugimoto’s favour, or because he wanted revenge for Tamai and Co it’s up to speculation.

In the past I’ve also wondered if Ogata is merely projecting on Sugimoto. He knows Asirpa has a crush on Sugimoto and he knows Sugimoto has another woman and will leave her... same as Hanazawa did with his mother. He even went and tattled him out in this regard. Killing Sugimoto might be his own attempt to take it out against his father in an indirect way.

Ogata wanted Sugimoto dead and when he discovers he’s still alive while are on the ice drift his first thought is to happily try to shoot him again.

Sugimoto had made clear he’d gone to Karafuto to get Asirpa back and kill Ogata and Kiro. The whole scene in chap 171 in which Sugimoto tries to kill that man is Sugimoto projecting Ogata on the kidnapper and Asirpa on Enonoka in fact we see he calls Enonoka “Asirpa” and his fight with the guy not only strongly parallels the one he had with Ogata but it took 2 men to stop him from killing that guy and later Sugimoto even remarked how they should have let him kill the guy.

Again irony is at play because when Sugimoto finally find Ogata he inadvertitely causes Asirpa to shoot Ogata.

As he cares more about Asirpa not becoming a murderer than about killing Ogata (Sugimoto CARES A LOT ABOUT HER), Sugimoto does everything in his power to keep Ogata alive... and when he believes this won’t be possible with an excuse he goes to see him grabbing his bayonet clearly planning to kill him so that Ogata’s murder will be on his hands and not Asirpa’s.

When it turns out Ogata is fine and dandy Sugimoto makes clear his intention is to kill him. We see it when he escapes and we see it when he thinks that Vasily is Ogata.

We don’t know if Ogata plans to save him so as to return the favour and then kill him, or if he realized if he’s alive is just due to Sugimoto protecting Asirpa and therefore she’s the one to whom he owns something... but I think Ogata got a good grasp of how Sugimoto saved him for Asirpa and personally wanted him death so for him too would be more convenient to kill Sugimoto, who will clearly get in the way, than wait for Sugimoto to kill him.

Do they liked each other in all this mess?

I’ll say by the Karafuto arc the both of them were just obsessed with killing each other. At this point if friendship ever had a chance of blossoming between them, it clearly buried under the idea they’ve to kill each other.

Besides the two of them never really knew each other, likely misjudged them, possibly saw them through the eyes of other relations they had and were struggling with a lot of personal problems.

My personal HUGE hope is that for some reason they’ll overcome their murdering impulses and manage to join forces and to get to know each other and the fact they aren’t the people they think they are. I don’t think they can easily put aside all that went wrong between them but I’d like them to join forces for a common cause and... find an agreement somehow that doesn’t include murdering each other.

I think if they were to see each other for who they really are, they might get along... and even apprecciate the reciprocous strong points.

I would like it if GK were to show us than 10 years after the end of the story they managed to get friends.

For now though they’re too clouded by their idea they’ve to kill each other.

Of course though, there are a lot of blanks in their relationship, we hardly know what they thought about each other beyond the ���I’ll kill him’ and so it’s all a matter of interpretation.

I think there are two key points in the puzzle that we’re still missing, why Sugimoto was so antagonisting with Ogata at the beginning and why Ogata ultimately decided to kill Sugimoto as I’m not fully sure it was because Sugimoto talked with Wilk... even if, in itself, is a reason good enough because, if that were true, it would jeopardize their plan.

Well, to be honest we also really need to know how the Ogata/Kiro allegiance formed as so far it’s a huge dark hole and it’s really relevant in the character dynamics instead.

If Noda will give us answers, depending on them even my view might shift radically... and I’m sure others could interpret the story very differently from how I’ve done. It’s vague enough it allows to more interpretations and I sadly don’t own the truth.

For now I’ll set on this.

Sorry, I’m not sure if it was what you were asking but the whole thing is VERY complicate and I tried for once to keep it short because I’m a tad overwhelmed by work at the moment...

Sorry again about it and thank you for your ask!

[tricksheart]

( META )

Where Akira/Chair-kun actually came from:

Now, when I was curious about cities in the Persona universe, I naturally wanted to know more about a certain city since Akira’s code-name for himself is JOKER. And the term JOKER was used heavily in IS/EP. But for this META’s sake, I’m going to use EP because I’ve actually played that one. So when browsing through the Sumaru city page, which contained the events of EP, I noticed one little line in the bottom of the page and it basically had the lines of, ‘it’s rumored that this was the home town of the persona 5 protagonist’. And the more I thought about it, the seven sisters school after the events of EP would crack down on almost anything criminal so they would never have something happen to them like it did in the past. So much that even minor charges would expel anyone almost immediately. In the past, I could see a slap on the wrist but after the incidents, I doubt they would let anything slide past them. So I do accept that little tidbit of SUMARU city being his original home and him getting expelled for something so minor. This also explains why Akira isn’t too affected by rumors because he was already exposed to some nasty ones due to the incidents at the school years ago.

The issue of his parents:

I’ve seen a lot of people tumblr plus a few Akira/Chair-kun rpers themselves that like the idea of Tatsuya and Jun being his adoptive parents. While I can see why they like the idea, I really don’t see it that way. Why? Because throughout the whole Persona 5 game, the demiurge keeps telling the velvet twins that Akira is evil and he must die. But why is that? Akira isn’t evil yet the demiurge keeps telling the velvet twins to dispose of Akira/Chair-kun. In EP, there’s another character in the game that keeps getting told to die and that person is Maya Amano and that her death ushers in ‘the end of the world’ ( which it did end in IS except for SUMARU city but we won’t go into that too much ). Now, we can’t really see what happens when Akira/Chair-kun gets executed by Goro in those bad endings but since the screen goes black, I interpret it to be ‘the end’ in a sense. But I do see a connection with Akira and Maya being told to die and from that I can easily say that Maya did indeed go on with her life, got married and probably had a child. I mean, she’s good with kids in the games from what I’ve seen. And I could see her telling her child to stay positive even through the rumors and the bad times because everything will work out. I really think that shapes Akira/Chair-kun’s free heart in a way. Even when arrested, he doesn’t show any negative traits, even holds a cocky attitude and believes everything will turn out okay in the end. Even the masks tie in to the ( the original, not evil ) mask circle subplot of IS/EP too since Maya and her younger friends were part of that when they were little.

Who the demiurge really is:

Now the big question is, how does this tie all together? About Akira/Chair-kun being told to die by the demiurge. The demiurge confesses during that game that he chose both Akira/Chair-kun and Goro to both have the power to summon personas in order to change the world and to fight over it, a contest of power. And while most of it is left unsaid, there’s another evil deity that ALSO gives out personas ( as seen in IS) and that being is Nyarlathotep. After his defeat in EP it states that he went somewhere. But where was that somewhere? Personally, something that evil can’t be really defeat in a physical way. Maybe he got turned into something else entirely. In another meta post, they pointed out that yellow eyes usually means ties with Nyarlathotep so there’s a good chunk to prove that he could be the demiurge. He also has knowledge about Igor, the velvet room and his boss, so it’s very likely he could had easily took Igor’s place and pretended to help Akira/Chair-kun just like the demiurge did in the game. Also, both beings can make a warped alternate reality. Once again pure speculation but the signs really can’t be ignored.

Last thoughts: This has been swimming around in my head for awhile now. I know some things in here can be myth-busted but I really love this little meta I wrote and have it as my head-canon for MY version of Akira/Chair-kun’s roots/parentage and why he was told to the velvet twins by the demiurge that he should die while it didn’t really make sense.

[badlydrawndrawnings]

I feel the flames on my fire...burning with rage with what they done to ***.

But at least the episode is out!

https://mobile.twitter.com/Any193/status/1144000492894326784

Brought to you by the person who subbed Proof of Justice, we have the Magical Valentine Day Special! I admit that they found a solution by extending the length to thirty minutes, so that’s good. Still doesn’t make up that it’s feels rush All I brought up before the cut is valid, but to get into the greater detail and opinions (and in no particular order)...

Ann(e): Her pigtails almost look...strange in the 1st person POV

Futaba: I can’t skate either, so we have something in common. 

Chihaya:...the POV makes me realize all the forehead memes shouldn’t have target Haru (I mean, they shouldn’t even target Chihaya, but my goodness! I never realize it until now!)

Hifumi: I remember this one time on a certain image board, and they were talking Kamen Rider Fourze (the latest episode aired). Now, the characters were at a pool, and someone commented it was recognizable. It was a pool used in...adult films, and like, everyone had a field day over it. So I ask, jokingly, was it that pool (not likely).

Kawakami: I bet she regretted doing the cutesy voice again.

Haru: Her section is very cute and wholesome, and compare that to her picture...lol

Tae: Damn she really went after Joker! I feel a bit disturb.

Makoto: It’s going to be awkward if they do break up in the future because that lock is going to be there forever (probably not, the lock I mean).

Ohya: Joker can make the excuse she’s drunk enough to not realize who she’s kissing (look, even Ohya had to do a second glance before making her move).

Ryuji: Does this ending means Ryuji is worthy of Joker’s grace sorry I had to get the meme in. Now, it’s interesting that Ryuji’s section isn’t in 1st person POV. It starts off at it, but switches to the regular 3rd person POV as soon as possible. I assumed, based off the ending of Ryuji’s section, Joker most likely decided to hang out with Ryuji to avoid get caught cheating by one of his many girlfriends (urg!). Unless...Hm, it is possible that, maybe...Joker thought he is worthy of Ryuji’s grace sorry I had to it one more time  I just saw it with my own eyes last night I can’t believe it’s a real thing.

Harem/Getting Caught: To think that all the girls saw through the window instead and realize the truth. This ending makes it seems Joker panic with his dialogue choices and pick the worse option (Morgana was already side eyeing at the sight, and Joker saying that was just ‘dude you just agreed to have a second death experience’). Needless to say, you kind of deserve it, Joker.

SAE: ...I know people like her, and yes, in that sense, but no way would Sae do this with someone...what, at least ~10 years younger than her! Heck, I don’t like that all the adults are options (Chihaya is a strange case since I think she’s the youngest of all the adults), but Sae showing up in this really bothers me! 

Sae treated Goro as a regular kid and took him to conveyor belt sushi for goodness sake! Now, as Sae makes the same offer to Joker, I thought she was just lonely and wanted a new friend since Goro is MIA (don’t tell me Goro would that guy and agree to go to the opera with her to sprout some fun opera facts). However, while Sae’s section doesn’t end with cut off kiss, they were holding hands, but the implication is clear: they’re dating. Going with her behavior with what we know with Goro, and putting her canon Co-Op/Confidant into consideration, this is really, really, out of character. Unless they make her romance-able in Royal, it makes me wonder if they’re rework it include such option and make it believable (I know game files had voice clips hitting to this by making her optional, so...) because I sure as hell can’t see Sae doing this the way their canon relationship is and what I seen. 

[our--beginning]

So now Chairy Potter is sorta canon-ish...

let me tell you all about my HP AU opinions. [x-posted from my twitter]

first of all im gonna serve up some quick HOT TAKES on which pt member goes in which hogwarts house because it’s very important to me, as a person, that you all hear.

after that, i spent like 2 hours of my evening reading about wand lore to figure out what type of wand each of their personas is, so i’d like it if you could also read that

so yes please also read both of those things thank you and then if you like them then you can also reblog this post so i can get a hit of that sweet, sweet dopamine. peer recognition, peer approval. peer recognition, peer approval

AKIRA/REN/PEGO - gryffindor. really really gryffindor. it hurts how painfully gryffinfor he is he DOES NOT know how to back down from a fight, he DOES NOT know when to stop, he's impulsive and reckless but also BRAVE and would Literally Die for his friends so there's that i guess

MORGANA - ravenclaw. clever but not wise, has a bit of the standard issue nerd inferiority complex that means that whenever someone else has the same gimmick as him he feels insecure and acts out. lacks drive when devoid of external influence. also: blue

RYUJI - classic gryffindor. young, dumb, with a heart that'll make you cry with how PAINFULLY earnest it is, painful because the fact he's dumb means he acts in misguided ways SO much. so much. big ole temper. basically everyone with a fast-acting temper ends up in gryffindor.

ANN - slytherin. 100%, poster child slytherin. shes meticulous, determined, thoughtful. and she would 100% stone cold murder a motherfucker for ruining her [best/girl]friend's life if she didn't think making him live was worse punishment

YUSUKE - i know other houses are tempting picks for this boy but i think he'd be a hufflepuff. he's willing to see the best in everyone to a fault. he's willing to put others before himself TO A FAULT. and even after he acknowledges it's a fault, he struggles to shake the habit. (side note: you can't tell me yusuke wouldn't be overjoyed to find his house common room next to the kitchens)

MAKOTO - you expect me to say ravenclaw but i'm saying slytherin. her and her sister both. forget demure good girl makoto. she’s a farce. look at makoto who coolly interrogates the pt, GET THE HELL OUT OF MY FACE makoto, makoto who has the will and nerve to steal intel from her cop sister.

FUTABA - could go ravenclaw or slytherin but, unpopular opinion, i'm actually saying ravenclaw. she'd get to pick, because she has the potential for either, but i think she values knowledge and wisdom for their own sake, rather than as means to an end necessarily.

HARU - actually hufflepuff. slytherin is a VERY tempting pick for her but i feel like her slytherin traits are more learned traits that she adopts to protect herself and less the things about herself that she likes or values. also, as with yusuke, consider: kitchens house dorms

GORO - slytherin 10000x. this boy knew what he wanted (masayoshi shido grovelling on the ground kissing his shoes only to get kicked in the face one more time before being shot) and he bided his time for YEARS. only a slytherin is capable of that level of spite and determination.

OKAY NEXT UP

DEATHSTICKS

Arsene

blackthorn

13.5 inches

phoenix feather core

surprisingly swishy

Zorro

ebony

12 inches

dragon heartstring core

rigid 

Captain Kidd

spruce

12 inches

unicorn hair core

pliant 

Carmen

cedar

10 inches

dragon heartstring core

slightly yielding 

Goemon

hornbeam

14 inches

unicorn hair core

brittle 

Johanna

poplar

9 inches

phoenix feather core

slightly springy 

Necronomicon

larch

10.5 inches

unicorn hair core

solid 

Milady

black walnut

8.5 inches

unicorn hair core

very flexible 

Robin Hood

aspen

13 inches

dragon heartstring core

unbending 

Loki

elder

11.5 inches

phoenix feather core (brother to Arsene)

unyielding 

BONUS FOR READING ALL THE WAY TO THE END:

[kareofbears]

ok ok 

its just, from what ive seen in the p5 fandom (specifically in the akeshu corner of things) is how much the fans have to change the nature of both akechi and akira in order to create fanworks for that pair

now hold on there pardner, what the hell am i on about? lets break this down 

in the original context of the game, there’s a lot lot lot of friction and tension between akira and akechi. lots of hate and violence and shared trauma and secrets between one another. thats excellent for fandom because there’s a lot to explore here. i mean for goodness sake, akechi fucking shot akira in the head with the intent to kill--there ain’t stepping back from that one. and this tension (this violence, this envy and hate) is something that a lot of people want to talk and write and make art about. it’s understandable, expected even, to make art out of it because you want to express the internal energy that this piece of media has given you.

so to reflect that, there’s a lot of art and fics out there that shows that exactly--blood and gore and tears and pain and, in most of that art is...romance? now, i have no problem with the romance aspect of it, but what’s making me pause is the mixture of the aforementioned violence with romance. the love in the act of pain and hurting the person you love. the glorification of inflicting pain in the name of affection and longing. the intentional act of trying to kill someone, or cause pain to someone that you’re supposed to adore. it...it doesn’t sit right with me, basically. 

so that’s one half of the akeshu fanworks that i’ve seen. the other half is something completely different. it’s so happy, so fluffy, so cute. and hey, i am all for fluff. i love fluff. i’ll suffocate in fluff. but fluff, from the way i’ve seen used for akechi goro in akeshu (the pairing) is so strange. 

look, i know. how someone interprets a character is their own business and it is never wrong (because how can you interpret something incorrectly in fandom?? you dont, not really). but in my opinion, these interpretations always come from somewhere--somewhere in the canon piece, there is something in there that have led you to think something of someone in a specific way. your interpretation of a character originates and stems from canon. i’ve talked about this before, but all characters have a core value that you can’t really remove from that character; because if you do, i believe that that character is no longer that character--they are basically just an OC. 

akechi goro (for argument’s sake, lets talk about “real” goro and not the detective persona he created) is a cynic. that is what i believe is his core value. he is cynical to the world around him. he is reluctant to have fun because of this. he is overall distrustful because of this. he is smart because of this. you can use another word, but cynic is a pretty decent one. 

when it comes to the fanworks of “not violent” akechi, there comes another type: the “overly happy” akechi. an akechi who is overly helpful, who is polite and bubbly. for a normal character, this would be acceptable. however, the reason this rubs me the wrong way is because the “overly happy” akechi i just described is the exact akechi that appeared in the bad end of the third semester. 

the idea of “overly happy” akechi bothers me because of two reasons: 

1. because the game showed you that this is akechi’s worst nightmare--to be someone he isn’t. to be controlled by someone else again. to have to be “mr. perfect” for everyone else, because that’s who he should be. to me, it’s almost disrespectful to akechi to be interpreted this way. 

2. by making akechi super happy and fluffy with akira, you are removing the complexity of his character. you are taking away the part that makes akechi, akechi. what makes him so interesting and so deep and profound. you’re diluting him by making him into something that he isnt. 

and that’s the strange part to me--once you reach the overly happy part of akeshu, is it even still a fanwork for akeshu? are these characters even recognizable anymore? but on the opposite side to that, if you want to stay true to these characters and their dynamics, you tread the path of glorifying pain and hurt and violence in a romantic relationship. obviously, there’s works out there that are brilliant at treading this line of sticking true to the original material as well as adding their own interpretations, but more often than not, it’s one or the other.

“whoa there alex!” i hear you say, your foot tapping against the floor of the auditorium where i’m presenting my two hour long TED talk. “you make okay points, but you’re missing the biggest part: it’s literally not up to you how people interpret/create works. just let people have fun, you absolute depressed killjoy.” 

and i get it. i know what the actual problem is--it’s my problem. i dont like it, so i should avoid it. and i try (lord do i try). but i still see it a lot, and i just wanted to throw my thoughts out there. its totally fine if you disagree, i mean i kind of disagree with myself. fanworks are not meant for the audience--they’re meant for the creator. we’re lucky to be able to see the creator’s art for free at all. but it’s not the fanworks itself that im critiquing. i guess it’s really the interpretation of this pair that grinds my gears because i personally can’t stand the idea of a romantic interpretation between these two characters. 

interpret characters how you will, create as much art as you want, do what the heck you want, i encourage it. i just wanted to say my piece about this ship.

tldr i dont like how violence is an inherent part of akeshu but i dont like the overly happy stuff either, but really that’s my own damn problem

I have o p i n i o n s but I am afraid of being guillotined so I won't say them

[survivaltrickcd]

Sere’s huge META head-canon

🗡 Where Akira was originally from, his parentage, plus a real reason why the demiurge (the deity who is the game’s final boss) chose him during the events of the game. Heavy spoilers.

Where Akira/Chair-kun actually came from:

Now, when I was curious about cities in the Persona universe, I naturally wanted to know more about a certain city since Akira’s code-name for himself is JOKER. And the termJOKER was used heavily in IS/EP. But for this META’s sake, I’m going to use EP because I’ve actually played that one. So when browsing through the Sumaru city page, which contained the events of EP, I noticed one little line in the bottom of the page and it basically had the lines of, ‘it’s rumored that this was the home town of the persona 5 protagonist’. And the more I thought about it, the seven sisters school after the events of EP would crack down on almost anything criminal so they would never have something happen to them like it did in the past. So much that even minor charges would expel anyone almost immediately. In the past, i could see a slap on the wrist but after the incidents, I doubt they would let anything slide past them. So I do accept that little tidbit of SUMARU city being his original home and him getting expelled for something so minor. This also explains why Akira isn’t too affected by rumors because he was already exposed to some nasty ones due to the incidents at the school years ago.

The issue of his parents:

I’ve seen a lot of people tumblr plus a few Akira/Chair-kun rpers themselves that like the idea of Tatsuya and Jun being his adoptive parents. While I can see why they like the idea, I really don’t see it that way. Why? Because throughout the whole Persona 5 game, the demiurge keeps telling the velvet twins that Akira is evil and he must die. But why is that? Akira isn’t evil, hell even Goro is more eviller than he is in the game, yet the demiurge keeps telling the velvet twins to dispose of Akira/Chair-kun. In EP, there’s another character in the game that keeps getting told to die and that person is Maya Amano and that her death ushers in ‘the end of the world’ ( which it did end in IS except for SUMARU city but we won’t go into that too much ). Now, we can’t really see what happens when Akira/Chair-kun gets executed by Goro in those bad endings but since the screen goes black, I interpret it to be ‘the end’ in a sense. But I do see a connection with Akira and Maya being told to die and from that I can easily say that Maya did indeed go on with her life, got married and probably had a child. I mean, she good with kids in the games from what I’ve seen. And I could see her telling her child to stay positive even through the rumors and the bad times because everything will work out. I really think that shapes Akira/Chair-kun’s free heart in a way. Even when arrested, he doesn’t show any negative traits, even holds a cocky attitude and believes everything will turn out okay in the end. Even the masks tie in to the ( the original, not evil )mask circle subplot of IS/EP too since Maya and her younger friends were part of that when they were little.

Who the demiurge really is:

Now the big question is, how does this tie all together? About Akira/Chair-kun being told to die by the demiurge. The demiurge confesses during that game that he chose both Akira/Chair-kun and Goro to both have the power to summon personas in order to change the world and to fight over it, a contest of power. And while most of it is left unsaid, there’s another evil deity that ALSO gives out personas ( as seen in IS) and that being is Nyarlathotep. After his defeat in EP it states that he went somewhere. But where was that somewhere? Personally, something that evil can’t be really defeat in a physical way. Maybe he got turned into something else entirely. In another meta post, they pointed out that yellow eyes usually means ties with Nyarlathotep so there’s a good chunk to prove that he could be the demiurge. He also has knowledge about Igor, the velvet room and his boss, so it’s very likely he could had easily took Igor’s place and pretended to help Akira/Chair-kun just like the demiurge did in the game. Also, both beings can make a warped alternate reality. Once again pure speculation but the signs really can’t be ignored.

Last thoughts: This has been swimming around in my head for awhile now. I know some things in here can be myth-busted but I really love this little meta I wrote and have it as my head-canon for MY version of Akira/Chair-kun’s roots/parentage and why he was told to the velvet twins by the demiurge that he should die while it didn’t really make sense. Thanks for reading.  🗡

[maskueradc-a-blog]

Sere’s huge META head-canon

Where Akira was originally from, his parentage, plus a real reason why the demiurge (the deity who is the game’s final boss) chose him during the events of the game. Heavy spoilers.

Where Akira/Chair-kun actually came from:

Now, when I was curious about cities in the Persona universe, I naturally wanted to know more about a certain city since Akira’s code-name for himself is JOKER. And the term JOKER was used heavily in IS/EP. But for this META’s sake, I’m going to use EP because I’ve actually played that one. So when browsing through the Sumaru city page, which contained the events of EP, I noticed one little line in the bottom of the page and it basically had the lines of, ‘it’s rumored that this was the home town of the persona 5 protagonist’. And the more I thought about it, the seven sisters school after the events of EP would crack down on almost anything criminal so they would never have something happen to them like it did in the past. So much that even minor charges would expel anyone almost immediately. In the past, i could see a slap on the wrist but after the incidents, I doubt they would let anything slide past them. So I do accept that little tidbit of SUMARU city being his original home and him getting expelled for something so minor. This also explains why Akira isn’t too affected by rumors because he was already exposed to some nasty ones due to the incidents at the school years ago.

The issue of his parents:

I’ve seen a lot of people tumblr plus a few Akira/Chair-kun rpers themselves that like the idea of Tatsuya and Jun being his adoptive parents. While I can see why they like the idea, I really don’t see it that way. Why? Because throughout the whole Persona 5 game, the demiurge keeps telling the velvet twins that Akira is evil and he must die. But why is that? Akira isn’t evil, hell even Goro is more eviller than he is in the game, yet the demiurge keeps telling the velvet twins to dispose of Akira/Chair-kun. In EP, there’s another character in the game that keeps getting told to die and that person is Maya Amano and that her death ushers in ‘the end of the world’ ( which it did end in IS except for SUMARU city but we won’t go into that too much ). Now, we can’t really see what happens when Akira/Chair-kun gets executed by Goro in those bad endings but since the screen goes black, I interpret it to be ‘the end’ in a sense. But I do see a connection with Akira and Maya being told to die and from that I can easily say that Maya did indeed go on with her life, got married and probably had a child. I mean, she good with kids in the games from what I’ve seen. And I could see her telling her child to stay positive even through the rumors and the bad times because everything will work out. I really think that shapes Akira/Chair-kun’s free heart in a way. Even when arrested, he doesn’t show any negative traits, even holds a cocky attitude and believes everything will turn out okay in the end. Even the masks tie in to the ( the original, not evil )mask circle subplot of IS/EP too since Maya and her younger friends were part of that when they were little.

Who the demiurge really is:

Now the big question is, how does this tie all together? About Akira/Chair-kun being told to die by the demiurge. The demiurge confesses during that game that he chose both Akira/Chair-kun and Goro to both have the power to summon personas in order to change the world and to fight over it, a contest of power. And while most of it is left unsaid, there’s another evil deity that ALSO gives out personas ( as seen in IS) and that being is Nyarlathotep. After his defeat in EP it states that he went somewhere. But where was that somewhere? Personally, something that evil can’t be really defeat in a physical way. Maybe he got turned into something else entirely. In another meta post, they pointed out that yellow eyes usually means ties with Nyarlathotep so there’s a good chunk to prove that he could be the demiurge. He also has knowledge about Igor, the velvet room and his boss, so it’s very likely he could had easily took Igor’s place and pretended to help Akira/Chair-kun just like the demiurge did in the game. Also, both beings can make a warped alternate reality. Once again pure speculation but the signs really can’t be ignored.

Last thoughts: This has been swimming around in my head for awhile now. I know some things in here can be myth-busted but I really love this little meta I wrote and have it as my head-canon for MY version of Akira/Chair-kun’s roots/parentage and why he was told to the velvet twins by the demiurge that he should die while it didn’t really make sense. Thanks for reading.

[lokiarsene]

While researching Japanese orphanages, I came up with a few thoughts regarding Goro Akecho's past that are probable, and a headcanon or two here and there. If anyone has more knowledge with the subject, please feel free to correct me if any of this information is off the mark.

All my sources are listed at the end of the post. If you check any of them, please make it source #8, as that is a video where children in orphanages/foster institutions and the institution workers speak for themselves about their experiences, as well as what it’s like to be a part of Hinatabokko, a support group.

ETA: For clarity’s sake, the age of majority in Japan is 20. Not 18. Not 16. Goro and the PT are not considered legal adults until they are 20.

Also, Goro turns 18 in the game. He’s in his third and final year of high school, which would place him in this age bracket as per how Japanese students are assigned to school year. It is unlikely that he would have skipped grades, as that system doesn’t even exist in Japan:

“In Japan, there is no system for skipping grades during the compulsory education period. A student advances from one grade to the next. After completing their compulsory education, in order to get into a [senior] high school, students are usually required to pass an entrance examination.” (Source)

The “senior high school” bit here just means a high school that runs from first to third year. This is why Futaba has to take an entrance exam if she wants to continue her education past junior high.

We know that Goro approached Shido when he was 15/16--which is around the age some children are forced from their orphanages/foster homes (it ranges from 15~18). I'd go so far as to say that Goro approaching Shido was one of the most bitter pills he probably had to swallow. If he wanted to survive, he had to reach out to the father who had used his mother and abandoned the both of them. His other options would be extremely limited, if not non-existent. Most Japanese orphans and foster children end up unemployed or outright homeless once they're forced out of their homes, or they cycle through low-paying jobs with little hope of stability.

We know that Goro had planned a big elaborate revenge set up on Shido after gaining his trust and working with him, and I think many people, mostly critics of Goro, completely overlook just how many obstacles he had to clear just to get to Shido in the first place. Goro would have had no contacts, no social connections, and no political clout whatsoever that would allow him easy access to his father. I wouldn't be surprised if the only reason why Shido first gave him the time of day was a cruel whim.

Personally? My headcanon is that Wakaba Isshiki's research on Palaces, the Metaverse, and Treasures involved orphans and other such people that would easily be overlooked by society. While it sounds really crass to assume that orphans would be experiment victims, please note that I don't make that statement or offer it as a headcanon lightly. It's something I pieced together based on @jacks-plays-persona5​'s already existing argument for Wakaba’s research to be shady, as well as information gleaned from my research into Japanese orphans and foster children--that being they have little to no rights, and no one actively or even legally interested in their well-being or protection. What's more, children in these care facilities are often still beholden to their parents or relatives' control, even if they are not caring for the children.

From source #6: A care worker at an institution in Tsukuba said, “In Japan, the interest of the parents is seen as more important than the interests of the child.”

This refers to how children in these systems are often placed there by parents who can no longer care for them, but also refuse to actually legally give them up. Because of this, these children can never be formally adopted as they are still legally within their birth parents' custody.

To bring this back to the Wakaba headcanon: for parents who give up their children due to financial hardship, who's to say that they wouldn't thus be paid to give their children over to this research? There's even an instance of birth parents using their daughter to help mitigate their own financial troubles, such as the case of Kana-chan during Futaba's confidant link. Kana is not an orphan, nor was she placed in foster care, but the abuse and mistreatment she suffered was born from her parents' financial desperation and their callous insistence that Kana's life was theirs to do with as they pleased.

With the above information in mind, and with an in-game example of birth parents mistreating their own daughter for financial gain, I think my headcanon that "thrown away children" were sold for research to help their struggling parents is well within the realm of possibility. I also find it extremely difficult to believe that Wakaba would find willing, voluntary participants in such risky research, especially since it sounds like batshit crazy science on par with the Kirijo group's experiments in Persona 3.

Regardless--us not knowing exactly why Shido gave Goro the time of day is a frustrating oversight on the part of the plot, because by all rights Shido shouldn't have given an absolute shit about Goro unless something about him stood out from the get go. I highly doubt it could have just been Goro saying, “hey I have special powers for you to use.” Goro would have needed something else as a foot in the door before that revelation, or Shido would have already had to assume Goro capable of such a thing. Thus my headcanon that it was Goro's surname that caught Shido’s attention--perhaps Shido recognized it from Wakaba's research data? Or his own memories about Goro's mother?

It’s possible I’m totally overlooking something in canon that Shido says about this, as I haven’t yet gotten up to Shido’s fight in my replay and I have a totally abysmal memory. I’ll come back to this and edit in any information that either refutes or backs up this headcanon.

Now, back to the fruits of my research: Many children in these orphanages receive little to no education on top of spotty care from overworked and underfunded foster caretakers and the qualities of the homes themselves. For Goro to be as intelligent as he is--articulate, quick-witted, talented, and educated enough to work with the police while he's still a teenager--is downright miraculous. It strongly indicates that he desperately dedicated himself to his studies, most likely out of fear of where he'd end up if he wasn't smart enough to succeed. He himself admits he worked so hard so someone would accept and need him, but this doesn't answer how he had the resources to do so--it's very likely he did it all himself, which is another miracle considering that most children in orphanages don't continue past junior high, and they’re raised to do exactly as they are told, with little emphasis on individual decision-making. And even with all this, Goro is in a prestigious private high school in Tokyo. I know this is likely due to Shido's influence, but for Goro to have the knowledge to succeed in that school is still downright staggering.

Also gained from this research is the information that the hierarchy of bullying within Japanese orphanages is a tyranny of its own. Older children often antagonize and bully the younger ones, forcing them to 'stay in line' and listen to what the older children say. There is also very little privacy guaranteed to the children in these care homes--most have to live in very small spaces close together, and have to share bathrooms.

This information provides yet another necessary detail we can safely assign to Goro's background, one that leads nicely (re: heartbreakingly) into his reaction to hearing Ryuji talk about abuse in episode 3 of the anime. As an orphan, Goro would very likely have been a victim of bullying at some point, if not for the majority of, his stay in the facility.

From source #6: Japan’s alternative child care system suffers from overly large institutions where physical space is limited and chances for bonding are scarce; poor physical conditions of facilities; physical and sexual abuse by both caregivers and other children; and insufficient mechanisms for children to report problems.

With this in mind, abuse would very likely be no new thing for Goro at all, nor would it have been something he could easily or even reasonably do anything about. This could and very likely does explain how fervently he clings to his ideal of justice, as he was denied any hope of it for a long time. It also makes his Personas of Robin Hood and Loki all the more fascinating and hurtful: Robin Hood was a champion for the downtrodden and abused. Loki is responsible for the doom of the gods that imprisoned him and massacred his children.

I also don’t want to dismiss the very real damage that Goro would have endured from knowing that his mother committed suicide from the shame of giving birth to him.

To quote from source #8: Takao Inui, Deputy Head at Izumigaoka Gakuin Institution: “Of the 82 children [in the facility], 88% were previously abused. The term “abuse” cannot fully describe the scar they carry in their hearts when they come here.”

My research has also led me to the discovery of an organization called NPO "3keys," which is a fairly recent foundation that strives to help educate and support children in orphanages. When I say recent, I mean it was founded in 2009. If we choose to assume that the developers had this information in mind when writing Goro’s background, he would be in his early tweens at the time of 3keys’ founding, and thus still in an orphanage. It's possible that he was helped by an organization like/inspired by NPO 3keys, and perhaps this is why he's so intelligent and highly educated. But even this is a stretch, because it would assume that 3keys would have (1) had access to whatever orphanage he was living in, and (2) that his orphanage was within Tokyo or Yokohama (where 3keys operates)--as well as (3) that the writers even had this in mind in the first place. I’d like to give them the benefit of the doubt here and assume yes.

Even if that's what happened, that still doesn't change the likelihood of Goro having been abused and mistreated on top of the already existing neglect and trauma of his mother's suicide, and Shido's obvious disinterest in taking any responsibility. What's more, Goro's knowledge of even how to live in society or function in the world likely would have come at a great mentally and emotionally exhaustive cost.

To quote Kiyomi Moriyama, from source #8: “I have friends now, but when I’m by myself I feel lonely. I can’t get used to being alone. Even now, I still don’t know how to spend time on my own. So I get quite lonely.”

Goro’s public personality of a charming, eloquent young man is thus both more impressive and heartbreaking when you realize he had no one actually caring for him, raising him, or helping him grow up at all. This is knowledge he would have had to learn by careful study and observation, or by imitating someone he idolized (very likely Naoto Shirogane and other idol personalities).

I'm basing this assumption off of this excerpt from source #5:

Masashi cared about his appearance – he wore fashionable, albeit worn, clothes and had styled his hair – but a sense of isolation clung to him.

“A day feels like it never ends,” he said, sighing.

It gradually became clear that, growing up in an institution, Masashi hadn’t acquired the knowledge and life-skills necessary to live independently. Nor had he received the continuing support he needed to re-enter Japanese society.

This is a lot of information to take in, and none of it’s easy or light. I’m honestly crying as I go through these sources, seeing what happens to these children and how painful and lonely it must be. To know that this was the basis of Goro’s backstory only makes what happens in Persona 5 all the more infuriating and hurtful.

If I can try to end on a somewhat positive note here, I would like to put forth the slightly desperate plea that the anime does not fail Goro like the game did, and that the anime gives him some sort of hopeful ending, or at least a path to rehabilitation for a young man treated like a throw away child, a young man who was never given a chance for love or support or happiness until the final months of his life.

... I don’t know how else to end this post, besides to ask those who read it to consider Goro’s character from the context of all this difficulty and loneliness, and to perhaps do what they can with this knowledge and put it forward into some kind of real world effort. And to pass along the link once again to 3keys, as donations are always helpful.

Source: Economist.

Source: Quora

Source: JapanToday

Source: Time

Source: HRW

Source: HRW, 2

Source: HRW, 3 (This is 119-paged report, by the by)

Source: HRW, 4 (This infant care institution is called Futaba, by the by)

Source: JPNinfo

Source: JapanTimes