#P5r spoilers

[harpieisthecarpie]

@buqbite

[Sandbox] A piece I drew for Feb 2nd last year, I post it here now. Happy 2/2.

[harpieisthecarpie]

(content & spoiler warning for goro akechi's backstory)

with how persona 5 depicts the phantom thieves' persona awakenings as physically excrutiating, seen in how they scream and writhe in agony as their persona offers power before they must rip a mask off like its their flesh,

it really is nauseating to think about a goro akechi who's 2 years younger and fundamentally, inescapably alone suffering this psyche-breaking pain with no catharsis or comfort.

especially if you factor in the theory that both his personas awakened simultaneously, I imagine 2 diametrically opposed aspects of yourself tearing their way out of your mind's recesses is... not fun in the slightest. Homie had to suddenly deal with the thesis and antithesis that synthesize into his angry, broken self.

and literally none of the phantom thieves awakened alone (iirc), there was always someone on their side to fight beside them. and they found mona so quickly that they were well-informed about the fatalities certain metaverse actions could cause irl

meanwhile all akechi had was his rage, his pain, and 2 personas with all or nothing emotional disregulation. then he offered his abilities to shido in order to get close enough for revenge, and shido anointed him by submerging his hands in blood

and can you blame a kid for accepting the role of a living weapon when his conception and birth led to his mother's suicide (from a traumatized kid's pov), he could see all the worst parts of humanity in his own father, and had no one to tell him otherwise?

I'd be convinced I was made for destruction, too, if I had Loki and Robin Hood torturing me into accepting their power.

hm i think the result of this pondering is that I'd fucking hate akira too if i had to see everything i'd never been given fall into some annoying (witty rebellious righteous kind) mob character's arms. one bullet isn't enough I'd fuckin bite his throat out

[spoonsonata]

I was possessed when I wrote this

[skyberia]

wish

[therainbowgorilla]

That's all persona 5 royal was missing really. Just needed a minigolf section

Another storytelling rule I think people should remember is the law of diminishing returns. If you keep on ramping up the stakes higher and higher and higher, after a point it gets to where the audience can’t really care anymore.

[sheep-heavenlyy]

i know what's best for you

[moonlit-doodles]

I'll hold on to your glove.

[megaderping]

Something a lot of people mistakenly believe is that Akechi enjoys the work he does for Shido and that he takes the orders to kill without any resentment or regret. These text messages shed some light on the way he thinks and show that this is not actually the case. Unfortunately, these texts are entirely missable if you finish the treasure route to Sae's Palace too early. As a result, this crucial characterization is often overlooked and people take what they know about characters like Persona 4's culprit and Persona 3's traitor and assume that Akechi is playing it straight.

But even without these obscure texts, it's not like the game is subtle about this. Akechi's lack of freedom and agency is a recurring aspect of his character that people will often cast aside because it's much easier to boil him down to "crazy serial killer" than actually look at the complexity of his situation and his own victimhood.

Throughout his Royal confidant, Akechi's perfectly crafted mask cracks several times. Moments like this show him offering an out, even if he's MUCH happier if you don't consider it.

He doesn't WANT Joker to change. As much as he claims to hate Joker, he admires his convictions. Wishes he had what Joker had. Wishes he could have been more like him. See: the Gun About rank up where he mentions how he used to want to be a hero of justice.

The creepy smiles and shit you see on 11/20 and in parts of the engine room are another mask Akechi wears. Akechi ALWAYS swaps out his masks to best serve his situation. Yet he still tells Shido not to kill the thieves, that Morgana is just a cat, and is perfectly content to leave them alone, and after his fight in the engine room, when the mask literally breaks...

We see his regrets on full display. He isn't proud. He's done making excuses. All those little times the mask broke in the Royal confidant were ways to set up this moment. He genuinely cares SO much about Joker, but that caring was dangerous to his objectives, so he HAD to hate him. He HAD to want to kill him to achieve his objective, and yet...

He still cares. He's putting out spikes in third sem, no doubt because he suspects his own fate should they destroy Maruki's world, but...

[justdarklr]

IM . IM GONNA DIE AUUUGH THIS IS SO GOOD

that strange, erratic synchronicity

[softausterity]

[artianwen]

backstabbing.

[smokedhamu]

[Spoilers for P5R 12/24] Super late P5R Christmas comic because I am a goddamn perfectionist, it was supposed to be a AA parody but it became somewhat melancholic as I was drafting it. I hope I am able to convey my feelings through them :>

Thanks for reading, this will be my final post for the time being as I have posted all the twitter art I did for the past few years to this platform. Unfortunately, I am quite busy irl to do art nowadays so I hope you'd stick around for my self indulgent art in the future :>

[crocrubies]

believe in me

[hypogryffin]

SHORT HAIR SUMIIIII

[theenderwalker]

[deetheimposter]

Just Smile! :)