#and i think actually it does make him the perfect person to talk to naoto about it especially because in this investigation

[daily-hanamura]

[addictedtojmanga]

Best male characters in shoujo & josei manga - in my opinion, ofc

!!! Might contain spoilers about Love so Life, Faster than a Kiss, Last Game, Love Phantom, Special A, ReRe Hello, Kainushi wa Akuma, Sabaku no Harem, Max Lovely and Kimi ni Todoke. 

So, my criteria for this was:

1. is he toxic?

2. can he communicate properly with the female lead?

3. could I stand to talk with him for more than an hour?

That’s basically it. I used to love a bunch of male characters without realizing how douchey they actually were. Do I still love them? Yeah, but mostly because of nostalgia, I don’t actually consider them good men. 

I’m not saying the men in this list are perfect, cause c’mon we all know how manga characters - and people - are, but I think these are pretty great.  

Without further ado, here’s my - non ranked - fave MLs:

1. Matsunaga Seiji, Love so Life. 

This man is adorable, the best thing ever, I want him to myself. We don’t actually see a lot of romance in Love so Life, HOWEVER, Seiji is a responsible, caring, sweet guy. Once he gets his shit together he talks openly with the female lead about how he feels and how - because of their age difference - he’s willing to wait for her and that she doesn’t have to answer him right then and there or feel guilty if she doesn’t want to be with him in the future. 

Honestly, I really love him. He’s not a creepy older guy preying on a young girl, he respects her age and wants her to live her youth before settling down. Does he rely a bit too much on a 16yo? Yes, but I overlook it ‘cause I love him.

2. Ojiro Kazuma, Faster than a Kiss. 

Again, not a teacher/older man preying on a young girl. He’s her teacher and their relationship starts out with him wanting to protect/help his student out. If I’m not mistaken, he doesn’t even kiss her until she graduates, HOWEVER, he does make her wear sexy costumes, which is problematic. 

Overall, he’s sweet, helps her a lot, really loves her and wants to protect her (and her cute litlle brother). 

3. Yanagi Naoto, Last Game.

Yanagi starts out as a douchey rich kid who thinks he’s superior to everyone else until he’s beaten by the female lead and wants to defeat her. Overtime, he realizes he’s actually in love with her. He’s shy when it comes to her, and very patient. 

Did he follow her to middle school, high school and college? Yes. Would I find that creepy in real life? Absolutely. Can I excuse it because it’s a shoujo manga? Yes again. 

I think he’s a solid male lead for a shoujo manga, and I personally like him, but I definitely see issues with his behavior. 

4. Hase Kei, Love Phantom.

I want him. He’s older than the FL, so he often teases her, but I find it pretty adorable, especially when he’s the one feeling shy. Excluding chapter 01, I can’t remember any obvious flaws in his behavior. To sum up, I love him. 

5. Takishima Kei, Special A. 

Here is an OG male lead that I wouldn’t punch or kick.

Kei is handsome, rich, super smart and he doesn’t give a fuck about anything except the FL. She’s extremely competitive and he always goes along with her whims. He’s protective of her and a tad possessive, but it doesn’t really bother me. He’s pretty solid. 

6. Suou Minato, ReRe Hello.

Minato has his flaws as a person, but as a man/boyfriend, I really love him. I feel like he really cherishes the FL and usually respects her independence. If you haven’t read this manga, I definitely recommend you do!

7. Albrecht Ebel, Kainushi wa Akuma.

He’s super hot and sassy, I love it. Does he sort of sexually harass the FL? Yes, frequently. Does it bother me? Not really, to be honest. And I absolutely despise when male characters are forceful or rapey. I don’t know how to explain it, but at the same time that he teases her, he’s extremely sweet. I know this intro sounds bad, but I want to be upfront about it. Major spoilers ahead: in one of the final chapters, he’s feeling possessive and tries to have sex with her (she didn’t contest it), and when he comes to, she’s trembling and he stops, apologizes, says that there’s no meaning to it if she doesn’t want to and stays distant from her until she approaches him after realizing they love each other.

He is super sweet and she does love him, of course (it’s still a shoujo manga after all). I think everyone should give it a read (and you can delve into the wonderful world of flirting that is Kaji Eiri’s mangas). 

(Real quick, part of the reason I love her work so much is that the main couple flirts consistently throughout the manga, and one thing that bothers me a lot in shoujo manga is when the protagonists only get together in the last chapter.)

8. Sahara Taki, Max Lovely. 

Honestly, I just really love their relationship. This is a 20 year old manga but it’s really solid. I’ve re-read this a bunch of times and I absolutely love it. It’s not romance exclusively, there’s a pretty dark background story, but I really enjoy it. And Taki is a pretty baby, super sweet with the FL and usually very honesy with her.

9. Prince Kallum, Sabaku no Harem.

Would I be one of many wifes to a handsome and rich prince? No. Do I treat manga as reality? God, no. 

He’s very amusing, loves to tease the FL and is pretty sweet. I really enjoyed reading this, I think it’s a solid shoujo with a great male lead, and should definitely be on your list if you haven’t read it yet. 

10. Kazehaya Shouta, Kimi ni Todoke.

Is he my favorite male character? No. To be perfectly honest, he’s not even on my top 10. But is he a good man/boyfriend? Yes, and that’s why he’s on this list.

Like I said in the beginning of the post, there are toxic male characters that I still love despite them being shitty. 

Kazehaya is a popular type but he’s super nice and charismatic. He treats the FL which is usually dismissed by everyone with a lot of respect and care. I think he’s a bit too shy and indirect, which can sometimes jeopardize his relationship with her, but other than that, he’s a great guy. 

BONUS 01: not actually a boyfriend but I love him

Tsuruga Ren, Skip Beat. 

Now, is Ren perfect? No, he has a lot of flaws. A LOT. But I absolutely love him and I think he’s maturing. 

BONUS 02: I don’t personally love this type of character for myself, but I really like him 

Suoh Tamaki, Ouran High School Host Club. 

Like I said, he’s not my type, but I think he’s pretty cute and adorable and totally deserves to be on the list, so I made this spot just for him. 

BONUS 03: douchey guys I was blindly in love with as a teenager

1. Usui Takumi, Kaichou wa Maid-Sama. 

Do I hate Usui? No, not at all. I actually really like him. 

But he’s possessive, secretive, dismissive and forceful.

2. Irie Naoki, Itazura na Kiss. 

Naoki has always been - in my opinion - a dick. He pissed me of quite a bit even back then. But, since I always make sure to wear my shoujo anime/manga glasses to ignore problematic behavior when I’m reading manga, I don’t hate him.

! Please don’t get me wrong, even with my shoujo anime/manga glasses there are certain things that I can’t ignore and that really drive me crazy (ex. rape, racism, fat shaming, etc) 

It’s simply that I can understand that there’s a huge gap between manga and reality, and as long as I can recognize the problematic behaviors, I feel like I can enjoy them and respect the poetic license behind it. 

 Ok, that’s it, sorry for the long-ass post. 

[yourfavisirredeemable]

souyo angst - post-true ending

y’all the souyo tag has been more active than I’ve seen it in a long time (I think cause of the PC release) which makes me happier than I can measure. I’ve loved persona 4 ever since 8th grade and souyo really is my favorite ship of all time. in celebration, here’s a bunch of angst headcanons I’ve been holding onto for 5 years, specifically related to the izanami battle/true ending. (they’re actually not necessarily souyo-specific, but since I ship souyo they kinda have that overall vibe)

- do y’all really think yu narukami is just gonna come away from that battle with izanami/being trapped in a time loop illusion for an untold period of time and NOT bring any trauma with him? cause I don’t

- specifically, he can’t get rid of a horrible, nagging thought that follows him even after the IT celebrates their victory - what if this is all still part of izanami’s illusion? izanami could have just nested an illusion inside of an illusion, and that way, she can defeat him without him even knowing it

- which would mean, of course, that his friends are all still dead and he’s just living it up with a bunch of illusions. his friends sacrificed themselves for him, while he gets to live out his summer days in peace surrounded by a perfect simulation.

- that thought is terrifying to him, and it only grows over time. there’s the horror of nothing being real and his friends being dead, compounded with the guilt of having abandoned them and the helplessness of never being able to know the truth. he has the cold realization one night that he’ll never again know for certain that the world he’s living in is the real one.

- but he tries to keep it to himself and act like he normally does. after all, if he can’t ever know for sure, why worry about it? this world is probably the real one - his friends seem normal, time keeps flowing like it usually does, and even the velvet room seems the same as it was before

- as hard as he tries, his doubts and fears are really impacting his mental health, which eventually affects the way he acts. it’s subtle, but the others eventually notice it - yosuke does first, since he knows yu the best.

- he notices that whenever there’s a silence, yu will stare off into space with a strained and even slightly fearful expression. he’s worried, but he just tries to be there for his partner like normal, figuring he’ll talk to him if he needs someone to rely on

- rise notices the dark circles under his eyes and asks about them, to which yu nonchalantly responds that his part time work keeps him a little busy. chie notices that he doesn’t seem to have as much fun when they work out or watch movies, and yukiko notices the way he starts withdrawing from conversations until he’s standing at the edge of the group, even quieter than normal.

- teddie and kanji don’t notice anything on their own, but eventually those who have started to get worried bring it up with the rest of the group. naoto, of course, has noticed everything, but nothing in yu’s behavior has indicated it’s anything worse than blues about leaving inaba or stress from work

- yu, for his part, realizes that his friends probably know something’s up, but every day he feels less and less motivated to tell them what’s actually wrong. after all, what would he even say - I’m afraid all of you are illusions, and my real friends are already dead? 

- plus, there’s the fact that saying his fears out loud would somehow make them feel more real. so instead, he tries to ignore them, and only spirals more

- he starts feeling really scared when he finds himself having the occasional violent thought toward his own friends - if the real yosuke’s dead, why should this illusion get to live? how dare an illusion pretend to be his best friend?

(more specific headcanons/fic ideas under the cut)

- imo, the possibilities for this headcanon are endless. you can take your hurt/comfort as far as you want it to go (personally, I love projecting my mental illness onto fictional characters so full depression/anxiety is definitely on the table), and the timeframe means any fics could be set either before or after he leaves inaba

- personally, I think it could be interesting if he returns to the TV world, perhaps to look for answers or just to blow off some steam, and finds out his shadow’s gotten loose again. which would ofc mean that now he’s trapped in the TV world with no persona, a shadow that for sure wants to kill him, and a dungeon of his own forming around him

- (btw, I know the TV world changes after the fight with izanami, but I think since it still exists and the IT still has personas, they can still have shadows as well)

- this would be an interesting way for the IT to find out what’s really been happening. they would notice yu missing and eventually check the TV world, whereupon they would find an entire dungeon and see yu’s shadow for the first time.

- the dungeon, I think, would have a lot of different elements - recurring rooms from dojima’s house to represent the time loop he was trapped in, an origami version of inaba to represent how everything seems fake, etc.

- as for his shadow, since I love to go full angst, I think it would be absolutely vicious. it represents the nagging belief that everything’s fake, his hatred toward himself for “abandoning” his friends and living a happy lie, and his hatred toward the IT for being illusions meant to replace his dead friends

- as a result, it would try to kill yu almost immediately after manifesting and attack the IT on sight. this would be particularly devastating for yosuke - he only found out that saki hated him (x to doubt, I’m still not convinced she actually didn’t like him but that’s another post) through her shadow, so being immediately attacked by yu’s shadow would be heartbreaking

- yu’s shadow wouldn’t feel any need to explain itself to an illusion, so it would just silently and violently attack him with a look of pure hatred. which would be a confirmation of his worst fear, that yu secretly doesn’t think of him as a partner or an equal, and in fact doesn’t even think of him as a friend.

- but of course he would soldier on, determined to save yu even in light of his “true” feelings. the rest of the IT would also bring up the fact that they don’t know the full story yet, and there could be a reasonable explanation for why yu’s shadow is so violent

- since I love to make my favorite characters suffer, I also like to headcanon that eventually yu would let his shadow kill him. or at least almost kill him, since the IT busts down the door before it’s too late, but at that point he’s unconscious and in no shape to accept or reject his shadow

- (he didn’t accept it before even though he knew he should because he didn’t want to accept his violent urges toward himself and especially toward his friends)

- so basically the IT just has to grab yu and run. I was thinking this headcanon through and my brain was like ‘why not throw in some extra souyo angst,’ so a barely conscious yu might pull a reverse uno card on yosuke and sacrifice himself to protect him, unwilling to let his friend sacrifice himself again

- which would ofc make things even worse for yosuke. aside from the obvious, there’s the confusion arising from the fact that yu’s shadow tried to kill him, but yu himself was willing to sacrifice his life for him

- either way, I think yu would be barely alive by the time they make it out of the TV world. from there it’s just a matter of him recuperating enough to go back in and accept his shadow, which is complicated by the fact that essentially being split in half across two dimensions is definitely not healthy.

- there’s plenty of angst in the recovery process, but this post is already super long and I wanna get into some of my other thoughts

- just a quick aside, I think as a perhaps less angsty headcanon yu might just be extra averse to yosuke sacrificing himself after they win against izanami, especially in the animated version where I think only yosuke sacrifices himself instead of all of their friends

- so the next time yosuke tries to sacrifice himself for yu he’d get an earful, maybe even accompanied by a breakdown where yosuke realizes how badly he scared his partner during the fight with izanami

- anyway, I also have a fun night in the woods-type idea relating to this - after yu leaves inaba, nothing seems real to him to the point that it actively breaks down his mental health

- it’s only when he returns to inaba or is with someone from inaba that the world doesn’t just look like a grayscale mesh of unsubstantial shapes

- which could lead to something interesting if yosuke (or your yu narukami pairing of choice) comes to visit him at his college dorm and finds it an absolute mess or barely decorated at all with a depressed yu inside, or if yu drops out of college entirely to return to inaba, baffling his friends and family because he was at a really good college and had a great future ahead of him, or if he returns to inaba and is terrified to find that sometimes it’s in grayscale too, or-

- the point is I’ve thought a lot about this and I love both persona 4 and night in the woods so I think it’s fun

- there’s also plenty of potential for yu to just break down and tell his friends what’s wrong in the real world before he leaves inaba, which could make for a great hurt/comfort oneshot

- all in all, I think yu would have definitely been traumatized by living in a time loop for who knows how long and there’s a lot of potential there. (don’t ask me about what I think would happen if margaret hadn’t gotten him out of the time loop cause that’s an even longer even darker post. or maybe do ask me)

anyway, I know the souyo fandom probably still isn’t exactly popping off but I hope anyone who finds this post enjoys it!

[thecottageinthedark]

Sorting Persona 4

Here again with another Sorting Hat Chats post! This one’s for Persona 4. Full disclaimer; this is based just on the game, not the anime. Also it’s behind a cut cause it is LONG. And has spoilers.

The system I’m using is explained here by @wisteria-lodge.

The Persona 4 MC, whose name is either Souji Seta or Yu Narukami depending on which supplemental materials you go by, is a really REALLY loud Badger secondary. His power is based on making Social Links with NPCs and shifting to become whatever they need-and also on patiently grinding to level up his attributes. And because he lives so much in this secondary-plus the fact that on a meta level he’s kind of a stand-in for the player-his Primary is hard to see.

But where it gets revealed in the end is the decisive moment when the ending you’re going to get is decided. The Investigation Team have discovered that Namatame’s been putting people into the TV, and thus are assuming he’s the murderer-and it’s become horribly personal, because one of the people he did that to was Nanako, and even though she’s been rescued, she’s deathly ill thanks to the TV World’s poison.

And now you-and the MC-have a choice. The IT are baying for Namatame’s blood, ready to kill. One Badger Primary method would be to appeal to the fact that he’s a person, you can’t just kill people….but nobody’s listening. Another would be to dehumanise him and say, he’s a murderer, he needs to die for the sake of everyone-going along with all the fury of the group. A Lion would lash out too-less because everyone’s doing it and more from their own gut feeling, but that would still lead to dead Namatame. A Snake might kill Namatame because he hurt Nanako...or, in the Golden remake, if they’ve done Adachi’s social link, they might cover for him. Either way, they’d be prioritising an inner circle member.

And all of those get you bad endings. Especially the Snake choice to cover for Adachi.

What gets the good ending, the happy ending where the MC is fulfilled and at peace, is to ignore all the emotion that’s running so high, and order everyone to step back and take time to think about whether the theory of Namatame being the killer makes sense. Pounce on the niggling little detail that doesn’t fit, and realise that the assumption everyone is labouring under isn’t true. And then prioritise the actual truth over personal loyalties or emotional reactions.

Bird Primary.

Because of course. This is a detective story. Your party are called both the Investigation Team and the Seekers of Truth. Even the title song hints at it; find the truth (Bird) by getting together with others (Badger).

Yosuke Hanamura’s a young, immature Snake Primary at game start, with the selfishness typical to that. His Shadow throws that back in his face, and he realises he doesn’t like being an asshole whose secret gut reaction to murders happening is ‘well at least I’m not bored anymore now something is happening in this dead-end town’.

So he does two things pretty much at the same time; he widens his inner circle to let in first Souji and then the rest of the IT, and he adds a model on top to let him care about things outside that circle. I think it’s a Lion model-a young Lion, just like his Snake, that edges into Glory Hound, but keeps hold of the idea that you should do certain things because they’re just right.

(It’s not based on the MC, though the MC is undoubtedly his most important person, who he even calls his partner. But then, as I said, the MC’s Bird is very quiet, so it’d be hard for Yosuke to perceive it well enough to mimic it. I think it’s actually based on Chie, who is after all the inner circle member he has known longest!)

And his secondary? Yosuke’s a support guy. He lifts his friends up. His family run Junes, and he leverages that connection to create a base location for the IT and secure a portal into the TV world that’s big enough to be usable. When Teddie comes to the human world, it’s Yosuke who gives him a place to stay. He’s a Badger secondary, and again, this makes perfect sense. The Lover sorting. No wonder so much of the fandom ships him with the MC.

Chie Satonaka is LOUD and BRASH and if you are a jerk she will KICK YOU IN THE FACE. She is so goddamn Lion Secondary, and utterly unapologetic about it.

Her primary, I think, is Lion again. The reason she has gotten possessive of Yukiko (as her Shadow calls her out on) isn’t that she wants Yukiko to be just hers-it’s that she wants to be Yukiko’s knight. Saving the princess is actually a textbook Lion cause. It lets her feel heroic and brave.

But that’s not good for either of them. Damsel in distress is a shitty role, one that doesn’t allow Yukiko to be strong and capable herself, and Chie pushing Yukiko into that role is really straining their relationship. It’s also something that Chie herself knows is wrong-that’s why her Shadow accuses her of it. (“I am a Shadow, the true self...”)

So instead Chie changes gears, because oh look a new Cause just popped up! Find the killer and bring them to justice! And on top of that, there’s always sexist prats to kick.

Yukiko Amagi models Badger Primary, because it’s expected of her. Running an inn is a really Badger kind of job. She also models Badger Secondary, for the same reasons. She feels this is who she’s meant to be; sweet, gentle, socially adept, community-focused and hard-working. The traditional Japanese ideal of womanhood.

But it chafes. The weight of societal expectations feels crushing. She doesn’t want to do stuff just because she’s meant to, because people think she should. She’s an Internal Primary, and needs to follow the voice of her own heart.

And where that heart leads her...is back to the Amagi Inn, except now she’s decided that she’s doing this for herself. She needed to feel that she could actually choose to not inherit the inn, before she could realise that she wanted to run it. She’s a Snake Primary, and the inn is important to her because it’s hers.

Her secondary...actually I get the feeling she’s like Toph Beifong of Avatar, a Snake who likes to spend most of her time in neutral. She is delightfully quirky and weird, and owns that, but she doesn’t charge like a Lion and she’s comfy with wearing masks when the situation calls for it.

Kanji Tatsumi panics at the idea that he might be gay, and caretakes like a boss, and that might look at first sight like a Double Badger who’s scared that he might be one of the people he’s used to dehumanising. His Shadow screams that it wants to be accepted...but what calms it is when Kanji himself accepts it, and says that this resolution is about being true to himself. Kanji’s a Double Lion who burnt his primary because being given shit for the feminine, queer-coded parts of himself made him lose faith in his internal compass, worrying that it was leading him somewhere that he viewed as bad. Internalised homophobia’s a bitch of a thing.

Accepting his Shadow is the start of Kanji healing his primary-letting go of shame for being an oddball and telling the world to go fuck itself if it thinks it can make him conform. He does model Badger Secondary-as I said, he caretakes like a boss-but that’s more a thing he does as a gift to others. When it comes to solving problems, he charges in swinging, ready to beat up anyone from biker gangs to otherworldly monsters.

Rise Kujikawa is a cheerful, shameless Snake Primary, loving and ambitious. She became an idol to make friends, and enjoys the fame it gets her. And when she needs to take a break for the sake of her mental health, she has no compunctions about doing so.

But she needed that break because the idol life was stressing her out-unsurprisingly, it’s a really intense life. And the particular problem she had was to do with the conflicting expectations the public has of celebrities. Perfection is demanded...but so is authenticity.

Rise realised that she was face-shifting as an integral part of her career, and this knowledge sent her into a tailspin. The fans don’t like the real Rise Kujikawa-they like Risette. But who is the real Rise Kujikawa? She doesn’t know! It’s frightening! What if she’s just made of smoke and mirrors? How does she find out what’s underneath?

And the answer she comes to is that there is no real Rise Kujikawa...which is the same as saying that there is no false one. Rise is Risette is Rise, it’s all just her, adapting to the context as she needs to. She’s a Badger Secondary, and the act of performance is the true self.

And for her, that’s a good answer-it brings her peace. But now we need to talk about Teddie.

Because just hearing Rise say ‘there’s no real me’ sends Teddie into a Shadow crisis right there.

He completely fucking loses it. He’s a denizen of the TV world-he’s been immune to it all this time, never manifesting a Shadow, but this is what breaks him. And that just screams Bird Lion. It’s his Buzz Lightyear moment-or rather his first Buzz Lightyear moment, because there are two. This is the first, and he survives it by retreating into his Secondary. It allows him to bring Shadow Teddie under control...but this isn’t sustainable. He’s realised something terrible and can’t avoid that knowledge indefinitely.

And soon enough he admits it to himself (and to the MC). He is a Shadow, that somehow became self-aware. His Truth was never true. He can’t handle it, he has no idea how to even exist, and he outright tells the MC that he intends to commit suicide.

He recovers, though-and he does so because the MC tells him Nanako survived. That’s the first thing that gives him a glimmer of hope, because his Truth already had some Snakey elements in there about chosen people and ambitions. He comes back from the brink, reshapes his system to centre those Snake principles, and returns to the side of his friends.

Lastly, Naoto Shirogane, our other queer-coded character. (I’m using she pronouns for the sake of canon here-but I’m a firm believer in nonbinary Naoto, for the record.) I think she’s a Bird secondary-the only one of those here, jeez. She’s just so analytical. She’s a rapid-fire Bird too, Detective Prince working on a case, squarely in the middle of her comfort zone. But push her out of it-into a normal teenager social situation, say-and watch her squirm!

She has a Bird Primary performance, too. But performance is the operative word here. She’s trying to look adult and smart and collected, in order to be taken seriously by the police officers she works with. And she is smart, mind you, but that’s not the why of her though it is the how. It’s not Naoto who goes ‘wait, let’s think about this, we need more information’ at the crucial point, but the MC, who really is a Bird Primary. Naoto was the one to suggest doing a little vigilante justice vis-a-vis murdering Namatame.

Her real Primary is Lion. Being a detective is a Cause for her, not a Truth, and she is blazingly certain of her own sense of what’s right-so much so that she doesn’t stop and check it against other people’s. And she inspires people! She doesn’t even mean to, and certainly doesn’t know why, but she is just so cool that people flock to her and admire her. ‘The Detective Prince’ is, when you think about it, a really Lion Bird kind of title!

Her Shadow has two issues with her. First, it harps on the gender angle. Hey, self, there’s that thing about your identity that you’ve been refusing to think about! You need to go poke at it! And then it breaks down into a scared child. Self, your performance is eating you alive. You need to do it, yes, the Cause demands it, but you also need to be able to stop sometimes and let yourself have emotions!

In short:

MC/Souji/Yu: Bird primary, Badger secondary

Yosuke: Snake primary, Badger secondary, models Lion primary

Chie: Lion primary, Lion secondary

Yukiko: Snake primary, Snake secondary, with Badger primary and secondary models that start out pretty unhealthy for her. 

Kanji: Lion primary that starts out burnt and begins to unburn after his Shadow fight, Lion secondary. Models Badger secondary.

Rise: Snake primary, Badger secondary

Teddie: Bird primary, Lion secondary. Falls dramatically and recovers by shaping his system to be more Snakelike.

Naoto: Lion primary, Bird secondary, performs Bird primary

[cynderofnight]

Just seen your Labby/Teddie headcannons go off bud. You rant and rave we wanna seeeeee! Share your stuff if you want it's all valid and good!

God I had this ask for long mainly cause I’ve been thinking and overthinking on headcannons screw it, I’m too full on ideas so imma go crazy

(i swear to god if i do hit the word limit, I’m gonna YELL)

anyways the whole thing is under read more cause again, I talk too much

Okay to start things off, Labrys really like dogs cause ya know, Snowy. So she likes talking or interacting with any dog she meets. She’s a dog person all the way. But guess who doesn’t like that? Teddie, that’s who. He will get jealous at any dogs that take Labrys attention away from him. “Labby-chan! I’m right here! Why don’t you talk and pet me instead of this mutt! :(” Though he doesn’t stay jealous as long as she just simply pets and chat as they are strays or owned. So he’s fine until Koromaru comes in. Ooooo boy, Koromaru is a member of the Shadow Ops so his pets and chats with Labrys are longer as he has nowhere to be often and the two are pretty close. He’s the one that gets Teddie to be stomping jealous. The two are pretty much rivals on Labrys affection, even if Teddie is already dating her. He’ll fight him on being cute and adorable. Also, Koromaru actually plays along with him in this rivalry as he sees it as fun. That said, he finds it amusing that getting close and cuddling with Labrys sets him off. Kid you not, he will hop on Labrys’s lap being all cute to get all the pets and then turn to Teddie with a happy shiba inu pup face. He looks so innocent but really is purposely making Teddie get jealous cause it’s fun. Teddie and Koromaru actually do get along with each other since they’re both cute, mascots, and persona users. It’s just that when Labrys walks into the room, that friendship turns into rivalry because ya know.

Labrys doesn’t need to sleep since she’s a robot and all but Teddie does. Labrys used to just walk around or do something but that changed when she saw Teddie gets nightmares. Like his nightmares consist of him being no longer liked and being left in the tv world or having all his friends killed by shadows and he couldn’t do anything about it cause he was so scared like how the IT first found him in the tv world. Though now that he’s super close to Labrys, sometimes he’ll have a nightmare of her being destroyed in battle and can’t be fixed. He’ll wake up with tears and will crawl into his suit and stay in it till he feels better since his suit gives him comfort. Labrys walked in when she heard a noise and found Teddie crying in the corner in his suit. Teddie doesn’t tell her anything at first as to not bother her but after some talk and comforting words, he lets it out. Labrys gets how he feels as she has similar nightmares as well just a little different. Like how she’s the one who kills all her friends and gets locked away and has her memories wiped. Nonetheless, she coaxes him outta of the suit and makes him go to bed. But when she tries to leave, he freaks out and grabs her hand. He asks if she can be nearby and watch him as he’s afraid of dealing with the nightmares alone again. Though after he asks he gets a nervous feeling he’s bothering her so he adds if she only wants to and if she can’t then it’s okay. (Ted, your sad face and fear is making Labrys feel sad and concerned. Not in a bad way either, she just cares about you so much.) She agrees to watch him as it’ll make him more comfortable and she’s not really doing much in the late nights. So when Teddie sleeps, Labrys will be nearby watching over him to see if he's okay and help him out if any nightmare gets him. Of course with her staying in one place, Aigis wonders where she is and looks for her. Once she sees Labrys watching over Teddie in his sleep, she instantly gets it and leaves them be. Of course not without her reminiscing about herself and Minato cause ya know.

Moving on a different headcannon, the shadow ops are pretty happy with how happy the two are, meanwhile the IT are confused that Teddie is dating. It’s mainly Yosuke though cause he’s like “That damn bear is dating? and it’s Labrys? Huh???” Though after he’s done being confused he’s very supportive but not without him teasing the heck of Teddie. That’s what he gets for teasing Yosuke about him and Yu together. Everyone is supportive of them in different ways. Yu helps Teddie with dating advice. From now they perfect date spot to what to give on valentines since Labrys doesn’t do chocolate. He helps give good tips. Chie, Yukiko, and Rise take them out shopping for fun cause Labrys doesn’t really have much outfits and Teddie likes to have more. Yukari and Mitsuru might join in the shopping but it’s rare by how busy the two are. Kanji finds the two adorable with each other and he helps Teddie make a Teddie plush (like the one Nanako receives) as a gift for Labrys for an event. “With this, you’ll never be alone! Either I would be with you or mini me will! Us bears will be by your side no matter what! :)” With Naoto I think he often gives books for Labrys to read and for Teddie he makes little gadgets to keep him busy. I think that weird cube thingy with all the little clicks and what not would be a favorite of his. As for the shadow ops, Yukari tolerates Teddie cause how he is but finds him better than Junpei and she takes Labrys and Teddie shopping when she can. Sad Junpei noises here. Junpei and Teddie pick on each other but in a fun way. Junpei knows how to handle kids so he knows what to do in dealing with Teddie from distraction and getting along with him. Ken likes Teddie but he’s on Koromaru side of the two’s rivalry. Ken and Labrys get along as they watch Koromaru and Teddie have their cute contest. Mitsuru supports the relationship with Teddie and Labrys but every now and then, Teddie gets a mom glare from her. Aigis and Teddie get along very well which makes Labrys pretty happy. While Aigis doesn’t have “a pun for every occasion” anymore because of PQ, she is learning “bear puns for every occasion” from Teddie. Yukari keeps telling her to delete it but she relearns it from Teddie every time. Akihiko is always up to train the two and Labrys is always down but Teddie isn’t. “I don’t wanna fight the half naked man! :(” Fuuka really likes Teddie but Teddie gets confused by her from how she talks about technology and big words. He still likes her though since she’s really cute! 

I’ve run out of ideas or I hit a burn out. Surprised I didn't hit the limit but I talk about this too much. I might have more ideas later but as of now this is what I mainly got plus the previous one. So yeah, have these long head cannons. I spent too long on this so enjoy it.

[shapeshifting-wildcard]

While the kids were busy hanging out in Akane's room, Kanji decided now was the perfect time to call up Naoto and fill him in on what they'd been up to. Sure, he had been keeping Naoto updated via text, but he felt a phone call was a better way to keep him updated. (Also, he just kind of wanted to hear Naoto's voice. Totally not in a sappy way or anything.)

Naoto was quick to pick up, not that Kanji expected anything else. "Hello, Kanji."

"Hey, Naoto!" he replied, sitting up a little straighter. "Just wanted to give you a rundown of what all of us have been up to."

"Wishing to expand on the cryptic texts you've been sending me?" Naoto said with a note of amusement.

"Listen, I'm not gonna type a full novel every time I gotta text you," Kanji said, rubbing the back of his head self-consciously even though Naoto couldn't see.

"I know, I know," Naoto said. "I'm teasing. How have things been on your end?"

"Well, we're crashing at that one cop's place, the dude I keep mentioning," Kanji said. "That's been a whole mess of its own. It kinda reminds me of Dojima and Nanako."

"A single father trying to raise a child on his own, huh?"

"Yep. Even the part where the mom was killed in a hit-and-run is kinda similar." "What are the odds?"

"Right?" Kanji chuckled a bit, draping his free arm over the back of the couch. "Anyway. Where should I start? Want me to tell ya about the less important social stuff or get right to business?"

"Let's get the business out of the way first. Though I would be interested to hear how Jou-kun has been holding up."

"Alright, business first then." Kanji launched into a rundown of the Phantom Thieves' activities, explaining how changing hearts works, what the Jails were and how they worked, and how the Monarchs' method of changing hearts differed from the Phantom Thieves'.

"Hm," Naoto said after a moment's pause. "The way the Phantom Thieves operate sounds... incredibly familiar."

"Yeah," Kanji said. "The way we've been handlin' Jails is a lot like how we used to deal with our Shadows, just without the kidnapping or the actual person facing 'em."

"But that's not how they used to operate?"

"According to them, they usually changed people's hearts by just stealing their 'Treasure.'"

"In a method similar to the way these Monarchs steal Desires?"

"Not exactly?" Kanji scratched his head. "I mean, the way they described it sounded less like they were reaching into people's chests and stealing 'em. From the sound of it, the only differences are that they didn't really try to talk down the Shadows, they'd just beat 'em up if they got in the way and make off with the Treasure."

"Ah, I see," Naoto said. "That being said, are you investigating another Jail at the moment?"

"Not right now, no," Kanji said. "We're actually on our way to Okinawa to investigate a lead about EMMA."

"EMMA?" Naoto said.

"Yeah, it's this new app—"

"With an artificial intelligence that adapts to your needs," Naoto interrupted. "Yes, I'm familiar with it. What does that app have to do with the Jails?"

"Oh, I thought I mentioned this? EMMA is how we're able to access 'em."

Naoto fell silent for a moment, making Kanji worry that the call had dropped.

"You still there?"

"Yes," Naoto replied. "I'm just... how can you tell if a place is a Jail?"

"Uh... EMMA should say something about it, I think?" Kanji scratched his head. "Like, you enter the friend keyword and EMMA will be like 'navigating to the Jail' or whatever."

"Could you go over the process of entering a Jail for me?"

"Well, if someone has a Jail then it's as simple as enterin' their name and keyword into EMMA, like you would if you were trying to friend 'em. Then EMMA will take you to their Jail instead of completing the friend request."

"And would I be correct in assuming that not every attempted friend request will result in appearing in a Jail?"

"Yeah..." Kanji frowned slightly, suspecting that Naoto was getting at something. "Something up, Naoto? ...Have you found a Jail already without recognizing it?"

"I think we have," Naoto said. "Kirijo-san came across it by chance a few weeks ago, and has been attempting to explore it since."

"No shit," Kanji remarked. "How much progress have you made?"

"Not much, unfortunately." Naoto let out a heavy sigh. "The place is too heavily defended for us to navigate. Yamagishi-san has mapped a good portion of it, but Kirijo-san has been hesitant about going too far in without a larger team."

"Who do you have so far?"

"Her, Aigis-san, Yamagishi-san, and myself."

"Oh."

"Everyone else we've contacted has been too busy with their own lives."

Kanji leaned back, gaze drifting towards the ceiling as he considered. Should he volunteer the Phantom Thieves, or...

"Something on your mind, Kanji?"

"I was just thinking."

"Yes?"

"Would Kirijo-san be willing to go in with a team of teenagers?"

"Are you volunteering the services of the Phantom Thieves?"

"I mean, I'd ask 'em first—" Kanji paused, blinking at the ceiling, and frowned. "Wait. I never said they were the Phantom Thieves."

"I already suspected as much due to the police reports I've seen," Naoto explained. "Admittedly, the only one I knew for sure was Jou, since that's who most of those reports revolved around."

"Of course," Kanji grumbled, running a hand down his face. "Izzat why you sent me to look after him, then? 'Cause you knew he was a Phantom Thief?"

"Yes. And..." Naoto hesitated. "And because I wanted someone to make sure he was alright."

"Because the police are on his ass, and he's already been falsely accused once."

"...Yes."

Kanji sighed and shut his eyes. "Yeah, I getcha. It's been kinda lucky that the one cop who's openly approached 'em has actually been sorta on their side. Well... I guess more than sorta, since he's letting us stay the night."

"You've mentioned there being about eleven people sharing the RV, including you, right?" Naoto remarked. "I imagine that must be rather cramped at night. I'm guessing you'll all appreciate having some space to spread out for once."

"Oh man, actually, funny you should say that." Kanji sat up and glanced around. He couldn't see Zenkichi around, and the kids sounded like they were still in Akane's room. "Can we move on to the trip stuff? I got some weird stories to share."

"Before we do, I want to make one request."

"Yeah?"

"Call me if you find anything in Okinawa. I'd like to be kept in the loop."

"Got it." Kanji nodded firmly, even though Naoto couldn't see the motion. "Okay, so apparently Jou keeps getting these magic items dropped on him..."

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

An Explanation of Why Louis and Violet are Both Terrific Love Interests [2/5]

+Why both romantic routes are not only amazing but better than other games I’ve personally played in the past.

+Why some people are idiots and get off on picking stupid fights.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

Romantic Option #2: Warren Graham

Uhm.... Warren’s a person in this story, too.

He, uh, he’s really nerdy. He does some science shit. He has a huge crush on Max which is made very obvious by the everything about him. Uh..... he took a fist to the face and got a black eye because he was helping Max, uhm.... he took a picture that was pretty important to the plot... um....

I literally can’t remember anything else about him.

I couldn’t even remember his last name. I had to look up his wiki to remember anything about him.

That’s how forgettable he is.

Hell, fans of the game took his character and made him more interesting in fanart and fanfics than he ever was in the game! I remember more about THAT version of him than I do about the him in the canon of the game!

I gave you that whole bit about Chloe from memory. That’s how much more fleshed out and important she is within the game than Warren is. Everything I’m about to talk about here if from reading his wiki and remembering things that way.

We meet Warren and find out that he’s into nerdy shit like Max. He’s also obviously into her and does a shit job at hiding that fact, but then Nathan comes over and beats the shit out of him because plot.

When I first played, it was pretty obvious that Warren would be romanceable, and truth be told, I liked Warren. He was fine! He’s dorky and weird, but I thought he and Max could potentially be a cute couple, and so does the rest of the school since you can’t talk to any of the girls without them implying that Warren likes Max.

I kept waiting for Warren to be important, but it never really came! I mean, you could talk to him and help him with a science experiment [in which he fucking blows up] and you text him a lot. Oh, and you can go to a Planet of the Apes marathon with him which you never actually get to go to, but the game constantly reminds you that you’re going because Warren won’t shut up about it.

Let’s see, he also sends you instructions on how to build a bomb so that you can break into the principal’s office, and then he beats Nathan up, and then he shows up and takes a picture of him and Max that ends up being important in the final episode and then.... he doesn’t do much else.

Well, okay, he does talk about Max’s powers a little bit in ep5 and you can give him a smooch or hug him or disregard him completely.

And that’s about it.

........Wait a minute.

A boy with boyband hair who has extensive chemistry knowledge, knows how to make bombs, uses said bombs for pranks, gets fucked up by one of the antagonists AND was a throwaway character that the writers threw in there to further the plot along but doesn’t really do much so the fandom took him and made him better than the game ever gave him credit for...?

.....Welp, that’s a whole thing that I’m not gonna get into. One post at a time, folks.

ANYWAY

Back on topic, Warren’s a romanceable character, apparently. You can agree to go on a date with him and smooch him. You can tell people you think he’s cute. It’s fine.  

With all that about these two choices in mind, compare Warren to Chloe.

There is no comparison because Warren’s “romance route” is... is nothing! It’s a whole lot of little things that don’t amount to much! With Chloe, Max has all this chemistry and you spend 90% of the game with her! You forget that Warren exists until you get another text from him or another character brings him up!

You know what Warren feels like? He feels like a character that the writers threw in because they were worried that players wouldn’t want a tragic wlw love story between two best friends, who reconnect and fall in love over the course of five episodes.

Which, fair, because people are idiots.

Could they have made Warren more important? Sure, but like with Skybound and Telltale, they didn’t have an unlimited budget to pack everything they wanted into the game to make it better, and that’s not just limited to the relationships, that’s clear in the endings we got. And I’m sure that some Warren stans will read this and retaliate and tell me that he’s just as important than Chloe, I just don’t understand because I’m a shithead.

And maybe that’s true, but look me in the eye and tell me that if you took Warren out of the game, it would have drastically changed the story beyond repair.

Now, what does all this mean?

Compare Chloe and Warren to Louis and Violet as far as love interests go and how they were handled.

In TWDG, Louis and Violet are fairly even.

In LIS, Chloe and Warren aren’t even in the same universe. It doesn’t matter if you like Warren more, or if you like Chloe more, Chloe got more time and effort put into her story and romance than Warren did.

Think of it like this: Chloe is at a 90% and Warren 10%.  Louis is at 48% and Violet’s at 52%, and that’s depending on how you look at it.

If TWDG did the routes like this, then Violet would’ve been way more important, would’ve have ten times as many scenes with Clementine, and if you took her out of the story, the whole thing falls apart because she’d be 90% of the plot, while Louis over here would’ve been used as background noise and plot convenience once or twice. Sure, we would’ve gotten to know him a little bit, but not nearly anything substantial and not nearly as much in comparison.

That’s what we could’ve had, okay? The writers could’ve given us a single love interest and said: “We want you to pick this person... but we’ll also throw in this other person just in case y’all are homophobic/racist/fucking stupid/whatever.”

In conclusion: We were blessed with Louis and Violet who each got an arc and love story, both of which are fairly even. 

Have I made my point yet? No? You need more examples? Fine. I’ll give you another alternative to what we could’ve had, or rather, what we could’ve missed out on.

[Note: I want to add that I haven’t played Life is Strange 2, but I know that its playable character is also bisexual and can choose between a boy and a girl to romance, but I can’t comment on how well it did because I’ve yet to play it.]

[persona 4 and the relationships you can’t have]

This one time I tried to romance my partner but he was too busy trying to convince everyone that he’s straight to even notice.

Persona 4 is a game that came out in 2008, then re-released with new content in 2012 under the name Persona 4: Golden. The game follows your nameable protagonist who has just moved in with their uncle and cousin. During his year-long stay, he becomes involved in investigating mysterious murders while harnessing the power of summoning Persona. 

Great game, one that took over my life for about a year. Great characters, great voice acting, great story, great antagonists, and great romance and romanceable characters. 

While the romance is more of a side thing depending on if you decide to take that route with one of your social links, it’s still nice to have special moments with them to break away from all the TV murder and whatnot. 

And you have several great options to choose from! You’ve got Chie, Yukiko, Rise, Naoto, and then you’ve got several other girls around the school that you can start a thing with, but they’re not as important as those core four. 

Each of the girls has an incredibly well-written story and share a deep bond with you, the protagonist. So, the reason I’m putting this example here is that the choice between all these great girls is super hard, right? 

Wrong. 

Because when I played the damn game, I didn’t romance any of them. Not because I didn’t like them or because I didn’t want my character to have a romance, but because the asshole I WANTED to romance wasn’t an option. 

Because I’m not allowed to romance the dudes. 

And that includes this dude. 

Yosuke Hanamura

Remember that pin I mentioned about how great it is that Clementine’s bi because not only does it give us well-deserved representation but also allows the player to romance both girls and boys? 

The Protagonist of Persona 4 is not bisexual. 

I can only romance the girls because he is straight. 

But not really, because MY Protagonist pursued and sought after Yosuke despite the fact that the game would not let me romance him. Which is bullshit, because he clearly feels the same way, and no, that’s not my crazy brain making shit up. 

My entire playthrough was pretty much 

I won’t get into it because Persona is a long game and a complicated one to even try and explain to someone who hasn’t played it so that’s another rant for another day, but know this: 

Yosuke was the perfect opportunity to tell the story of a boy dealing with internal homophobia, falling in love with his best friend [PARTNER] after the girl he cared about died horrifically and faced his shadow learned to accept himself and his insecurities. The potential here was wasted. 

There are a shit ton more layers to that, but on the barest of bare-bones, that’s what I wanted. 

Hell, according to a bunch of people, Yosuke was going to be a romantic option, but they scrapped it! Insult to injury, I’ll say!

Comparing this to TWDG, you could argue that Clementine only gets to romance Louis and Violet, but some wanted to romance Mitch, Aasim, Brody, ect. 

Fair enough, but what I’m saying is this:

It sucked that I couldn’t romance the person I wanted to when I played Persona, and it still sucks every time I play a game and my person of desire is unattainable. This isn’t just Persona, that’s just the first game that comes to mind when I think about characters I always wanted a romance, but that includes all the other missed opportunities from other games, as well.

The Final Season is different. 

The writers of TFS could’ve said, “Oh you want to romance Louis/Violet? Oh no, sorry, we were gonna do it but we changed our minds! But, don’t worry, we’ll leave hint after hint that they have feelings for you but you can’t actively pursue them. Allow us to tease you with the wonderful romance that could’ve been! Midnight piano lessons! Conversations under the stars! Lots of smooches! You’ll never see it in canon!”

Or, they could’ve only given us one of them, but that’s the topic of the next game. 

In conclusion: They didn’t have to give us Louis and Violet or make them romanceable. If you want Clementine to have a relationship with them, you have the option to do that, which is something you can’t say with other games.

Continued in Part 3

[doktorpeace]

coffee emoji + Persona

I’m a big fan of Persona as an overall series, I actually just started Innocent Sin the other day so I can finally get P2 under my belt. As a whole the mainline franchise does a great job writing meaningful stories full of great character interactions which all serve to accent each entry’s core themes. Persona 3 has some of the strongest and most consistent writing of any RPG I've ever played with regards to quality and execution on its themes, which is a big part of why it's my favorite one. All of the members of SEES change meaningfully as characters by the end of just the base game, not to mention additional content like The Answer, or the Persona 4 Arena Duology (which, funnily, are way better through the lenses of the P3 cast than the P4 cast), and especially more niche but still canon content like the Drama CDs which do a great job of filling the listener in on what the other members do while Minato is away or sick or asleep. Spoilers: They're really gay and not in a queerbaiting way either. Did you ever think it's out of nowhere that Yukari and Mitsuru are dating at the end of Persona 4 Arena Ultimax? These explain how they started dating and also talk about Akihiko and Shinjiro's relationship in romantic terms, comparing it directly to Junpei and Chidori's. Basically, Junpei is canonically the Token Straight of SEES and I think that's wonderful.That said the franchise really botches it at times. Persona 4 especially fucks up by directly undermining its own core theme of ‘Be true to yourself’ with its treatment of almost every playable character. Like, seriously: Yukiko decides to abandon her dreams to do what she's told when that's what her whole social link is about not doing. Kanji is openly bisexual now but his sexuality still treated as a joke by Yosuke and Teddie. Rise decides to abandon her beliefs and just keep working in the idol industry because other people want her to. Yosuke was written as a closeted gay teenager but had all of his gay content locked away from access despite being finished and on the disc. And most especially Naoto, who they build up as a very good representation of a trans man with a strong personal narrative arc but the INSTANT he joins your party everyone's like "But you're really a girl, right?" and then in order to get him to date you you have to CONSTANTLY undermine his gender identity and what he's comfortable with. It's shitty content and really inexcusable regardless of what game it were to be in but ESPECIALLY because of this game's core themes.And that all is genuinely really sad and infuriating because 4′s plot and all of its NPC social links are REALLY good! There’s still a lot to enjoy there but like, damn if it isn’t disheartening how they got so scared to letting characters meaningfully change and/or be gay that they were actively willing to ruin the main theme of the game. The franchise after 3 really kind of has an issue with letting playable characters meaningfully grow and change and also with LGBT content in general, with some minor examples being good like Lala Escargot, but otherwise just removing it altogether unless it's for Jokes™ which aren't funny and are based on annoying stereotypes. Not even 3 is perfect about this but at least almost every adult member of SEES is canonically LGBT and good representation so I can kind of excuse how bad that one scene is. I've heard 2 is actually quite progressive even by today's standards and from what I know about it it is, so I'm excited to see how it handles this kind of content.Honestly, Atlus used to be really cutting edge and daring with the kinds of themes and content they were willing to put into Persona but ever since 4 hit it big and the franchise got mainstream attention they've been kind of cowardly about it. P5 is a big step up from P4 in terms of overall writing quality, the party members are more interesting and are allowed to change at least a little bit by the game's end but it still fucks up more than I'd like. Its representation of mental illness and people on the spectrum are quite nice in my opinion but it still won't let you be gay even though Yusuke has the most unique dates of any character in the game! Come on, AT LEAST let us date Yusuke who already reads VERY MUCH as more than friends. Also make Ryuji a romance option and don't make Akechi a romance option because I don't want that shit. I want good characters to be romanceable.The spinoffs are all kinda just there to me. Like, they're a decent enough distraction but they absolutely do not have the love and quality put into the writing for me to really have much fun with them. Characters who were already kind of flat like Chie become really annoying and characters who WERE really well developed and three dimensional like Akihiko still get reduced to just 'Musclehead Protein Man' which is fucking stupid. Only P4A and P4AU really do any of the characters justice in terms of writing quality but even then only really the P3 Cast and Naoto get good and interesting story content. Everyone else just get schlock. So whatever. P4A and P4AU are super fun to play though, mechanically they did an excellent job realizing each character in a way that feels authentic to their personality, if not their gameplay niche, in their home games. I can only hope P5A doesn't have some bullshit timeline thing to get the P4 characters out of aging and advancing as people. They NEED the treatment P4A gave SEES. Show me out of shape middle manager at Junes 24 year old Yosuke, Atlus you fucking cowards. There's so much room for advancement and growth with these characters but at the same time I know they either won't do it by introducing some dumb timeline bullshit OR they'll fuck it up and like, make Naoto a big tiddie ultra femme looking person to REALLY try and tell us "NO REALLY NAOTO IS CIS IGNORE HIS ENTIRE CHARACTER ARC AND ALL OF HIS WRITING IN PERSONA 4 AND ALSO HOW IN PERSONA 4 GOLDEN WE LEANED EVEN HARDER INTO THE TRANS NARRATIVE WITH HIS ADDITIONAL CONTENT"You can always count on the gameplay to advance and get better at least, so that's nice. I'm not really gonna discuss that though other than to say P3 not letting you directly control party members serves its themes and writing well and isn't even hard to play around if you just use the Command Wheel to issue orders to your party members, the AI is pretty smart. Not Xenoblade Chronicles 1 smart, but still pretty fuckin' smart.Anyway, basically, I like Persona a lot as a franchise. It's a flawed franchise that I want and expect better out of than what it delivers in some aspects but on the whole it's hard to deny the quality of the overall products. I just hope that Atlus listens to the kind of feedback they've been getting in the last few years and really start becoming more daring again with the kind of content they put into the games again. Go harder on those themes and really challenge people's mindsets, this franchise has so much potential for that and it just scratches the surface really.Oh, also, Persona fans on the whole are some of the absolute dumbest motherfuckers I've ever seen on the internet. They'll really ignore blatant shit that's extremely clear just because it wasn't said in such plain wording a child would understand it while jumping through 70 mental rings to try and explain how Kanji isn't REALLY gay or how Naoto is ACTUALLY cis or how Akechi is actually the deepest most amazing character in the franchise, or whatever. That and/or they're just straight men who use the term 'waifu' and just reduce all of the female characters to 'which one do I want to fuck most' while ignoring everything else about the games because all they value these for are as dating simulators to try and fill the sad, gaping hole that is their social life. Some of them will actually get mad at people for discussing the psychological or political aspects of the series as if that's not what this IP is founded on because they're too stupid to think of anything other than which fictional underaged girl they want to fuck. Persona fans are fucking stupid and really make it embarrassing to like this franchise at times.This basically turned into me yelling about LGBT content in Persona but honestly that’s like, the aspect that needs the most constructive criticism. The psychological, theological, and political themes are generally really well handled. Worth discussion for sure but not what I want to talk about right now.

[wanna1studio]

REQUEST: the marshmallow & chocolate of the s’more // reverse idol!au // park woojin

genre: fluff

fic style: bulletpoints

summary: a surprise scenario for an Woojin-loving anon / where you are an idol of a 3 member coed group where you are the only girl. you go onto the show with Wanna One and you are the only girl. why is it that Woojin is captivating you??

warning: Woojin overload 

you and your hyungs played around in the waiting room, there was 3 minutes until you all go onto mini program with Mnet, where the princess (you) must find a prince (you don’t know which group) with your hyungs as your knights (more like the king and queen)

why did you call them hyungs? 

it was more comfortable to see them as actual brothers than a loving oppa 

plus you were the one taking care of them; paying for their food etc

your company, BigHit, trusted you guys enough to not have an affair with one another

not that you would anyways, you saw them as your real brothers

gross

you guys were in a 3 member group called “The Outsiders”

you all were born out of korea

your hyungs were twins of Korean and Japanese descent, they were both born in Japan, Naoto hyung and Naoki hyung

you were the leader of the group because the company didn’t want the twins to fight over the leader spot while being the same age

you were from America; you actually came to BigHit to be a makeup artist/stylist but you were caught by a representative practicing with other trainees and saw massage talent from you

so here you all are

“The Outsiders!! you’re up!!”

you all were casually talking to the MC when you all got startled by the airhorns

the song Nayana started to play

one by one, Wanna One members were walking to the center of the cameras 

“ALL I WANNA DO, WANNA ONE!! HELLO WE ARE WANNA ONE!!’

you guys were in awe, all of you guys looked like your jaws were gonna fall off

everyone was laughing at your guys’ reactions

“ya y/n is really funny” you heard Daehwi say

you played along

“isn’t that a given for idols on variety shows-cho”

OOHHHHHH

you jokingly shrugged as your hyungs pretended to wipe imaginary dust from your shoulders

“So before we begin, I’d like to point out y/n’s accent, since it’s so adorable. does anyone else have a cute accent?”

Wanna One was a yelling mess

“WOOJINNIE WOOJINNIE”

“Hyung what are you talking about? I am a Seoul person.”

you thought he was so cute, you just wanted to pinch his cheeks

“Ya y/n, stop gawking at Woojin” Naoto hyung was jeering at you

Naoki played along “I guess everyone else can leave since y/n has made up her mind”

“wae wae wae”

the Wanna One members were upset that they didn’t have a chance to showcase their charms 

the MC played along

“so y/n what do you like about Woojin?”

you didn’t get shy easily so you didn’t mind the attention, I guess you were the opposite of Woojin

everyone was looking at you, except Woojin 

he was such a blushing mess who could barely keep eye contact with you

“Woojinnie is so cute... he’s like a marshmallow-cho..”

“ALL HAIL WOOJIN THE MARSHMALLOW PRINCE!!”

leave it up to your hyungs to hype it up

“Woojin what do you have to say about that??”

all the attention was now on Woojin

“I-I th-think that y-y/n has pre-pretty choco-chocolate eyes..”

poor boy was a stuttering machine gun; you didn’t know it was possible to stutter that fast

“let’s support them as the S’MORES COUPLE”

i want s’mores rn

during the break, you got a chance to talk to Woojin

he was awkwardly funny but that was his charm

you thought that even though you guys were the opposite.. that opposite attract right?

he was so different that I guess you could say, it was love at first sight

“y/n.. what is your ideal date?” he finally took up the courage to look you in the face

you wanted to reply October 15 since it was when the leaves would change colors but you didn’t have to wear a thick coat

but you said

“having s’mores by the campfire while looking at stars-cho”

you smiled

TIME SKIP 

today was the last day of “dating” Woojin

it had been an incredible 6 months

 it was finally the end of June 

you both had one last day together

Woojin told you that today was going to be a surprised

he took out his favorite bandanna and wrapped it over your eyes

you felt a soft peck on your forehead 

then you felt him lead you into a car

since you were good at directions, he had to take a lot of detours to confuse you

he played your favorite radio station the whole time

it felt like such a long time before he came to a halt

he princess-carried you out of the car and sat you down on some chair

it felt like those chairs you would bring out to camping

Woojin lifted the bandanna

the sun was setting

you were seated at a small campsite with the lake just beyond the sliver of trees

Woojin scratched the back of his neck

“I don’t know if this is what you wanted... but I didn’t want to ask you for details or else I would ruin the surprise”

you felt like tearing up knowing that this would be your guys’ last day as a public/virtual couple

“no.. it’s perfect-cho”

you sniffled as he came up to hug you

he rested his chin on top of your head

“why are you crying we still have the rest of the night?”

he pecks you on the lips 

poor boy still gets super blushy every time he kisses you

you guys struggled to get the fire started; in the end the staff had to do it for you guys

the whole time you guys were making s’mores; you guys were recollecting your memories with each other

how one time you caught Woojin sleeping at the dining room table, just waiting for you to come back home from practicing and you didn’t want to wake him up so you both just slept at the table that night; caught a cold the next day

or how one time you wanted to surprise him from his tour back in Japan so you hid in the back of his van with balloons and marshmallows

you were so content with how things were going with him, you wish you could turn back time so that this relationship would go on forever

you both finished your s’mores and took a stroll to the lake to look at the stars

the lake was so still, you were able to see the reflection of the stars above

Woojin pulled you from behind into a back hug and nuzzled into your neck

“I wish that, for every star you see in sky you see.. they could never amount to how much more you shine..”

you could feel his tears falling down your collarbone

does this really have to end like this??

that night was the last time you guys were a public couple

BUT THAT WASN’T GONNA END LIKE THAT

you guys kept your relationship under the belt after the program ended

the only people who knew that you guys were still together were your hyungs and Wanna One

bless their soul

having a private relationship was hard

you guys would try so hard to hide your identities when you guys were on dates

but like hell you guys were gonna give up this beautiful relationship

you guys were the perfect combination~ 

I want s’more loving 

[neni-has-ascended]

So you said the less we talk about Fuuka and Naoto's romance the better. And while I'll agree to disagree with Naoto (not that it's perfect, butat least they bothered to make it semi-plausible for her to fall for the MC, or at least explain her crush on him), I do want to hear your thoughts on Fuuka...tbh it doesn't matter how many times I play P3 I can never remember her SL let alone her romance. ^^; ;w; So yeah if you're comfortable I'd like to know what you think is bad about Fuuka's romance.

The problem I have with Fuuka’s romance route is that, while she does end up making all the decisions that eventually lead her to studying IT and programming and becoming the tech wiz she is, this decision has very little to do with the protag’s influence on her, other than him just not being a jerk to her. All he does is periodically petting her on the back, and somehow that takes away all the self-doubt she had before, all at once. While I appreciate Fuuka becoming more self-confident, this also gives the impression (especially in her romance route) that she couldn’t be a self-confident person without having that guy in her life, which A) is disproven in Arena, when she’s a known genius despite protag being long dead and B) just makes her progress feel cheaper.

Too much of that social link is spent on Fuuka feeling bad about how she sucks at cooking and getting pat on the back for it, and not enough is spent on her actually sharing her interest in  technology with the protag and actively working on it with him. It really just feels like an excuse for her to do “waifu-thing” with him.

Then again, it’s been a while since I’ve played her male route SL, so I’m probably forgetting some things... 

[shttrdstars]

My Random Ramblings of Goro Akechi in Persona Q2 so Far

Goro being surrounded by so many people in Persona Q2 and yet still feeling incredibly alone hurts me, man. He knows he’s not really a Phantom Thief, given how things end up playing out in P5, but he still ends up getting a taste of having teammates while he’s with them. Of having someone watching his back for once despite the line of betrayals that end up happening in P5 after Sae’s Palace.

But then we have the small pocket dimension that is Persona Q2 where he ends up meeting the P3 and P4 cast, watching how everyone gets along so well. How they’re so accepting of each other for who they are and Goro can’t fully connect with anyone, if at all.

He can’t connect because he fully believes that if they all knew his true self that he would be rejected. I’m pretty sure that he felt incredible relief when he realized that he was stuck using Robin Hood and not his original Persona, Loki, because Loki really does represent his true self. Goro just ends up not talking through most of the game unless he has something to contribute, to be useful because that’s really...what he sees himself as. He’s only good to have around so long as he’s useful. -side eyes some shit in P5-

Koromaru picking up that something’s wrong with Goro is so him, that dog is the best. Hands down. Koro-chan was able to make him feel at ease, at least for a little while, during the Special Screening they did together ( AND ATLUS MISSED AN OPPORTUNITY THERE WITH A UNISON ATTACK WITH KEN, GORO AND KORO-CHAN ) and it allowed Ken to pick up that he and Goro were the same. Aside from both representing the Justice Arcana in their respective games, both of them seek revenge and want to kill the person that has brought them great grief/suffering/tragedy. Shinjiro for the death of Ken’s mom and Shido for a lot of things to Goro.

Throwing this boy in this large group of people who so easily accept each other, having to spend so much time with them for however long they’re in there for is tiring for him because he has to constantly keep up the act he has. Can’t let any cracks show, can’t be less than perfect, can’t be useless to them, can’t be his true self.

I was so surprised that he and Naoto got along, but incredibly happy because at least he could somewhat connect with her and she’s one of the incredibly few people in the group of 25+ that is the cast of this game that actually talks to Goro.

And then Ken trying to reach to Goro, trying to connect and attempting to tell him that they’re the same. I wish that instead of Koro-chan barking an interruption to that chat that they could’ve talked it out with Koromaru being there with them both because I’m sure that dog felt like ‘I need to help this boy, I can feel a lot of anger and sadness and loneliness in him. Ken, he’s like you. Let’s keep him.’ Because lord only knows that Goro, though he’ll furiously deny it, wants friends and is jealous that everyone around him can be friends with each other so damn easily. He wants someone he can actually fucking lean on, someone there so he’s not alone, someone who’ll accept him. Ken ending up cutting his chat short just ended up making Goro believe that they’re not really the same.

I know at some point, I don’t know how much later in the game, Shinjiro talks to Goro because he’s doing the exact same shit that Shinjiro used to do. He sees through the lie of ‘I’m not good with crowds, so I prefer to keep my distance.’ Isolating himself, keeping a distance from the rest of the group with a ready excuse that’s acceptable to anyone else and Shinjiro just knows Goro doesn’t fit in and that it’s because of something dark in his past. Sadly he gets called by Akihiko and can’t talk to Goro more, which I wish people would stop interrupting, let someone talk to Goro, dammit.

With both Ken and Shinjiro, they both manage to tell (sorta tell in Ken’s case) Goro that they’re the same but end up getting called away by their friends. It just makes Goro feel like they’re not the same because they’ve got friends who’ve accepted them for who they are while he’s been going it alone for 2+ years in P5. I like that this shows that he’s got regrets though he keeps going because this is the path he chose and it’s too late to show regrets with how much blood covers his hands. To Goro, he can’t turn back especially when he’s so close but the whole experience in Q2 is making him waver.

I really wish Ken and Shinjiro could’ve talked to him more but sadly all that would’ve been for nothing given the nature of the game and how, when they’re sent back to their respective timeless, none of them will remember their experiences and new comrades they’ve made. Damn you, rules of PQ.

God, I’m still in A.I.G.I.S’ labyrinth but I realize that the only time Goro’s genuinely laughed and smiled was with Koro-chan during their Special Screening so far. Also, oddly enough Ken and Goro make me think of their Arcana they represent in-game but while Ken ends upright, Goro is stuck in Reverse. If that makes sense in the Tarot Card way. Okay, I’m done, didn’t mean to ramble so much about my Pancake Boy.

[ask-the-phan-site]

Phan Cam: Music of Water

>In a concert hall in Ikebukuro, Tokyo, a KUROFUNE concert was beginning.

It seems like a lot of you are really hyped tonight. Am I right?

>The crowd begins cheering loudly.

MC: Excellent! Just hope KUROFUNE’s music will be this lively.

>In the stands.

Lively might be an understatement.

I know Ryuji’s been in the idol scene for three months now, but this is really a lot of excitement.

Now Ann chan, I’m sure Ryu kun is just as nervous about this as you are.

Yeah, just look at the crowd. Almost everyone showed up. Even some members of Kanamin Kitchen are here.

Wow! Ms. Ochimizu, there sure are a lot of people here. Could KUROFUNE really have gotten this popular just because they got a third member?

That remains to be seen. It’s not like the whole world is here.

You know they might just be live streaming this.

Ms. Ochimizu: You didn’t have to mention that.

>Back with us.

????: Hey, we’re here to, y’know!

Oh no, we didn’t forget about you, Rise san.

(mood changed) Glad to hear it.

Either way, I’m so glad we could all be here tonight to watch your friend perform with all his heart. I’m just sad Sensei, Yosuke, and the others couldn’t make it. It’s just us three.

I’m sure if they had time on their hands, they would come.

I can’t wait to see the look on Ryuji’s face when he sees I’ve come in human form... Though, I was a little upset they told me I needed a ticket to get in. It’s not like the time when I was a cat, I could get in free.

Teddie: Trust me, it’s worth it. You get to meet all kinds of people and pretty girls that you couldn’t as an animal.

Morgana: That’s something I guess.

Which reminds me, have you thought of a new name for your human form? Seeing you in a man’s body, I don’t think being called Morgana would be such a wise move.

Morgana: Well, until ATLUS says otherwise, I’ll be going by Diego Vega.

You mean like Don Diego de la Vega?

I’m not familiar with that name.

Makoto: It was Zorro’s real name. And since Zorro is his Persona, I guess it would be the obvious choice.

Rise: If you want tips on that role, you should totally ask Senpai. I got him to play that role for a show once.

I don’t know. Removing “Don” and “de la” sounds a little overdone. I think the name should be a little more creative than that.

Diego: Fine. But I’m keeping the Diego part.

Yusuke: Ren, have you any idea what “Diego’s” last name should be?

>Kurusu >Amamiya >Sakura >Takamaki >Mercurius >>Mercury >Hermese

Diego: Mercury? You mean like Mercurius?

Naoto: That would sound right. The planet Mercury was named for Mercurius. Since Mercurius is Diego’s Ultimate Persona...

It’s perfect.

Naoto: I’m glad you agree with that.

Akechi: Thank you.

Diego: Then it’s decided. My human form’s name will be Diego Mercury. But only until ATLUS says otherwise.

Mrs. Sakamoto: I’m not sure what you’re all talking about. But if that’s this young man’s name, very well. It’s nice to meet you, Diego kun.

Diego: The pleasure is all mine.

>He takes Mrs. Sakamoto’s hand and kisses it.

>Meanwhile, backstage, Ryuji saw what just happened.

Damn it, Mona! Did you really have to go there?

Is something wrong, Ryuji san?

Huh!? It’s nothing. Are we set?

We’re all ready to go.

Alright! Then let’s get goin’!

>Meanwhile, back with us.

Ann: Hey look, there’s a new card here.

>I check the Dorika Deck.

Ren: Oh, I know this one.

Futaba: We all do. It looks like it’s just for Ryuji.

Mrs. Sakamoto: It does look like it would suit him well. I think I’ll choose it.

>We all agree to do so as well.

???: It’s all going according to plan.

Huh?

>I turned to the person who spoke.

Forgive me, I was just talking to myself. Enjoy the show.

>The young man quickly leaves... What was that about?

Diego: Ren, it’s starting.

>I turn to the stage.

MC: And here they are, the ones you’ve been waiting for! KUROFUNE!

>The crowd cheered as KUROFUNE comes on stage.

Yuto: We sail now into a new land. A land of light and love!

Keigo: The people there need that light and love to live their lives!

Ryuji: But a great darkness now blossoms in that land. But we’ll use our music to give you hope.

KUROFUNE: Cheer for us as we tackle the... Blooming Villain!

Dorika Time!

Catch Your Cheers!

Yuto: Your cheers will help me move forward.

Catch Your Cheers!

Keigo: I’ll enjoy the happiness you’ve given me.

Catch Your Cheers!

Ryuji: A new one, huh?

Okay, I’ll make it work for me!

(Reminder: The following images are not in violation of the Tumblr policy as they do not actually contain sensitive or adult contain. They only show the upper half. Please do not flag.)

Poison Fang Series! Complete!

>Keigo changes clothes.

Military Rock Series! Complete!

Golden Playhouse Series! Complete!

>And so, KUROFUNE performed Blooming Villain.

>Later at our favorite (and incredibly expensive) sushi restaurant, we decided to celebrate another successful concert.

Yuto: To another successful concert!

Everyone: Here! Here!

I never thought sushi would taste so good!

Diego: And I never thought I would be eating sushi with my own hands instead of... Well, you know.

Futaba: Whoa! Ryuji, Diego, control yourselves. I know it’s been awhile since we had sushi, but still where are your manners?

(laughing) Must be because of his costume tonight. Orlando will have that effect on people.

Ann: No kidding.

Makoto: Either way, I’m glad Ryuji’s idol career is really taking off.

Just don’t forget your studies, okay?

R- Right?

Rise: Don’t worry, I’ve been there before. But I’ve always had my friends to help and some good tutors.

Teddie: I don’t think you need to worry, Mako chan.

Naoto: Same for you, Mrs. Sakamoto.

Mrs. Sakamoto: I’m glad to hear that.

>Suddenly, Mrs. Sakamoto’s phone rings. She answers it.

Mrs. Sakamoto: Moshi Moshi? Yes? I see. Alright, I’ll be there.

>She hangs up.

Mrs. Sakamoto: Sorry, Ryu kun, but something’s come up at work and I need to work the night shift.

Ryuji: I know. You have yer responsibilities. I’m already used to being alone in the apartment.

Mrs. Sakamoto: I know. But what with your father still in town.

Akechi: Actually, Mrs. Sakamoto, we wouldn’t mind letting Ryuji stay with one of us though.

Mrs. Sakamoto: You would? Thank you. Ryu kun?

Ryuji: I guess it’s cool. It’s just for one night.

Mrs. Sakamoto: That’s my boy. I’ll see you tomorrow.

>With a hug to her son, Mrs. Sakamoto leaves for work.

Ren: I suppose I could set up the couch for you. Hope you don’t mind, but Yusuke’s moving some of his stuff in for the Summer.

Diego: Where will I sleep? My cat house is nice and I know I can’t sleep on the bed with you and Yusuke and the cat house is nice, but I really like the company... (gasp) Does this mean I can sleep over a Lady Ann’s place?

Hell no! Besides, my parents are home and I have no idea how to explain to them why a cat or a boy are staying over.

Diego: (looking down) It was worth a try.

Makoto: He can’t stay with me or Haru either. We have to study for our mock exam.

Mishima: And I still remember from what happened that last time Sakamoto kun stay over at my place.

Futaba: Mine would be the same with Ann.

Ryuji: Yuto? Keigo?

Yuto: Sorry, Ryuji san, but my apartment is too small. I don’t think I can even set up a futon.

Keigo: And I have a lot of relatives staying over at my place. My grandmother’s birthday is coming up.

Ren: You’re the only one left, Akechi.

Akechi: I guess I don’t mind. So, what do you say, Ryuji?

Ryuji: Thanks, Akechi. Besides, we still haven’t seen your new apartment yet...

Guess I’ll be the first.

I’m glad to hear that.

>We finished our sushi and called it a night. We went our separate ways for the night.

Ren: See you tomorrow.

>Me, Yusuke, Futaba, and Diego, who changed back to Morgana the cat and got into my bag, were on our way to the station.

Futaba: You know, there’s one person I’m sad didn’t come tonight.

You mean Kasumi chan? I tried inviting her, but she said she was busy tonight.

Well, she’s still new to the group. So I guess she’s a little shy with us right now.

Futaba: Maybe next time.

Yusuke: How about the movies? I hear Hikari Gazo just finished her latest film.

Futaba: I guess that would be good.

>Suddenly, my phone rings.

Morgana: Who could that be at this hour?

>I answer it.

Ren, there’s something I have to tell you.

What’s wrong, Chihaya san?

Well, you know that friend of yours? The one with the bottle blonde hair?

What is it?

Well... I think he’s in trouble.

>Akechi’s apartment building.

This is where you live!? I always thought this place was abandoned and maybe even... Haunted.

Akechi: It has a rustic charm, but it’s certainly not abandoned. Haunted?

Well, it definitely has some spirited tenants.

Ryuji: How spirited are they?

Akechi: You’ll see.

>With that they head inside.

??????: Welcome home, Akechi kun.

Akechi: Good evening, Hanako san.

Ryuji: Hanako san? Wait, who said that?

Akech: See what I mean?

Ryuji: (worried) Wait. When you said the residence here are spirited, do you mean this place really is...

>Suddenly, the sound of something shuffling was heard. Ryuji saw that a door was open. Although it was dark in there, he could definitely make out some large people in there smoking and playing mahjong. In fact, they were so large, they almost look like... Oni.

???????: Hello.

AHH!

Sorry. Didn’t mean to startle you.

No, it’s my bad. I shouldn't have been spacin’ out like that.

Well, I guess it’s because this is your first visit here.

Akechi: Isshiki kun, Akine chan, this is Ryuji Sakamoto. Ryuji, this is Reimei Isshiki and Kuga Akine. They live here, too.

Akine: It’s nice to meet you.

Ryuji: Same here.

Isshiki: We’ve heard so much about you from Akechi kun. How’s idol life treating you?

Ryuji: Pretty good, actually. It’s what I love to do and I’m really helpin’ my mom out.

Akine: That’s good to hear. You must love your mother.

You bet.

Akechi: I take it you two are off to the baths downstairs.

Isshiki: That’s right. Do you care to join us?

Akechi: Not tonight, it’s been a long day. We’re just going to go right to bed.

Ryuji: Same here, I’m really tired. (yawn) I know performing takes a lot of energy, but I’m really drained tonight.

Akine: Alright. But the baths are always open in case you change your mind. Goodnight.

>With that, Akechi and Ryuji go upstairs... Suddenly...

Akine: !?

Isshiki: What’s wrong, Akine chan?

Akine: I thought I sensed... Never mind. It’s probably just some wondering spirit passing by.

Isshiki: Maybe Ryu came back.

Akine: If he did come back... We would know... Although, he did say he would be back soon.

Isshiki: Yeah... Usually he takes longer.

>Outside...

Jin: That girl almost sensed us. No matter. Nothing can stop what is to happen next now.

Dude, are you sure you really want to do this?

He’s right. We know we’re not that smart, but don’t you think this plan of yours is a little... Crazy?

Jin: (making an intimidating stare) Care to run that by me again?

>The Deucey Twins just back away.

Jin: I figured.

>Jin returns his gaze to the apartment building. Jared and Jesse took this as an opportunity to slip away a bit to talk amongst themselves.

Jesse: This is getting outta hand even for us.

Jared: Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to start ditching school for this stuff. How did we even ended up here?

Jesse: I’d like to know that myself. And all because-

Jin: Quiet, both of you! ... They getting ready for sleep.

>Jin was looking at the window of Akechi’s room through a pair of binoculars.

Jin: No amount of magic in there will save him now. Because this kind of magic... Has science, too.

>Inside Akechi’s room, Akechi noticed that Ryuji’s been scratching his chest a lot.

Is something wrong, Ryuji? You’ve been scratching your the whole time.

It’s... It’s nothing. Just an itch. Guess I’ve worked so much of a sweat tonight. And I think I’m a little thirsty. Got anythin’ fizzy?

Akechi: No. But I do have some water.

Ryuji: Fine. I guess it’ll do.

>Akechi gives Ryuji a bottle of water and drinks up the whole thing.

Wow! If that’s a little thirsty, I’d hate to see what real thirsty looks like.

Ryuji: Sorry. I just don’t know what’s goin' on.

Akechi: Well, just in case, I think we should see Takemi sensei in the morning.

Ryuji: Yeah, I guess.

>They both then got into their futons.

Ryuji: This place really is nice once you get to know it.

Akechi: I know. I can’t wait to invite everyone else as well.

Ryuji: Me, too... I wonder if they would come, too.

Akechi: You mean Peter and Harry? I guess they can come, too. I might even invite Miles and the others.

Ryuji: Yeah. By the way, did you hear? Harry’s finally decided that he’s ready.

Akechi: Yeah, Peter told me. Starting this September, Harry will be accepting the role of CEO of Oscorp. He said he’ll finally be raising from his father’s shadow and lead the company his own way.

Ryuji: But for now, they want to enjoy their comin' Summer Vacation. They even emailed me what they’re gonna do in case we decide to join them.

Akechi: Me, as well. First, they’re going to hit Coney Island Beach with Miles, Flash, Randy, and Aleksei. Harry also invited John and Ollie to come as well and Peter invited a new friend, Grady Scraps, I think. Next, they’ll go to a baseball game with Aunt May to celebrate her reopening F.E.A.S.T.

Ryuji: Attend a Ross Cailban concert with Gwen, Anya, Liz, and Mary Jane. And to top it all off, a camping trip upstate with Miles, Gwen and Anya.

Akechi: And that’s just for July and August. They’re still trying to decide what to do for June.

Ryuji: If anythin’ they could always try comin’ here.

Akechi: I guess that would work. I’ll let them know in the morning... Which is evening for them. And I should also ask them about...

>Akechi seems a bit hesitant.

Ryuji: I’m sure things with Otto Octavius are still fine. If anything happens, Harry and Pete would let us know.

You’re right. I’m probably just overthinking this. Thanks, Ryuji.

Anytime, bro. Anytime.

>Ryuji lets out a big yawn.

Ryuji: Well, g’night.

Akechi: Goodnight.

>With that, Akechi turns out the light and the two young men quickly fall asleep... Not knowing the fate that now approaches... Ryuji.

>Ryuji was sound asleep when he suddenly heard something. Like the sound of wind howling and water roaring. Ryuji opened his eyes...

Wh- Where...

>Ryuji was standing over the ocean on a sotrmy night. He saw ahead of him was an island.

>He looked back to see Tokyo. What was going on? He turned to see the island again. For some reason, he felt drawn to it. He found himself leaning closer and closer. And then... He fell into the water. Ryuji tried swimming back to the city, but the wave were kept on pushing him towards the small island... No. It was pulling him towards the island. The water was somehow holding him until it started to drag him down Ryuji was scared. Was he going to drown? Then, his chest started aching with pain. He looked down to see he was now nude and something was on his chest.

>Ryuji tries to break free of the water’s grasp, but it was no use. It was starting to cover his body like a snake. Then, it started forming around him like a suit. Ryuji couldn’t take it anymore. He screamed... As his eyes turn green.

>Back in reality, something woke Akechi up. He could hear Ryuji tossing, turning, and groaning.

Akechi: Ryuji? Is something wrong? Did you have a night-

>But before he can finish, Akechi was blown away... By a jet of water.

RYUJI!? Wh- What’s happened to you!?

>Ryuji just stares at Akechi.

I... I don’t know. What’s happenin'? Wh- WHAT’S HAPPENING TO ME!?

I... I wish I knew.

>While this was going on, neither of them noticed Ryuji’s phone ringing.

>In Shinjuku, I’ve been calling Ryuji’s phone for the umpteenth time.

Ren: Pick it up, brother. Pick it up.

Ryuji’s voicemail: Yo, you reached my phone. I can’t answer right now, but if you leave your name and phone number, I’ll get right back at ya.

It’s not use. It keeps going to voicemail.

What about your other friend? Maybe he’ll answer.

Futaba: Right. Akechi’s our last hope.

>Futaba takes out her pone and dials Akechi. After three rings, he answers.

Futaba: Akechi?

Akechi’s voice: (dumbfounded) Futaba chan?

Futaba: What is it?

Akechi’s voice: ... What do you know about... Alien technology?

Ren: Does this have something to do with Ryuji?

Akechi’s voice: Well...

>A picture arrives on the phone from Akechi.

N- No...

Oh, god.

How could this be?

Poor Ryuji.

Chihaya: I’m sorry, everyone. But maybe there’s something in the cards that can help.

Ren: Thanks, Chihaya, but maybe another time. See you later.

>With that, we leave.

Chihaya: But I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt to call in a favor.

>Chihaya takes our her phone.

Chihaya: Call Bruce Sato.

>Oh god, Ryuji. What’s going to happen to us?

[oliviafrostnuamasters]

an article i found online which talks about how persona uses  psychology to define its character within the game as well as using as a theme for gameplay, it particularly mentions the use of the Jungian theory and ‘masks’ i decided to note down some key points to the article which are useful to my research report

Persona & Shadows

The entire namesake of the franchise is a nod to Carl Jung’s theory of persona and shadows. The latin word personae means ‘mask’, as it was used to describe the masks worn in ancient Greek plays.

A persona is exactly that – a mental mask that someone wears depending on what situation they are placed in and how they feel they need to act to deal with it.

Although it’s described as a mask, by no means is donning a persona considered to be hiding from the truth.

A persona takes an important aspect of that person’s true identity and then blends it with a social identity to fit in.

People tend to naturally become slightly different people based on their surroundings.

Persona 4 goes the extra step to make things a little more clear, picturing demons instead of different personalities. Not only that, if you think of the persona in the way Jung does, you can see the demons as visual representations of the coping strategies of all the characters.

They only have one persona. For example, Naoto has a cool, suave persona to go with the persona she uses when dealing with the police. She identifies as more of a controlled person than a moody schoolgirl. Likewise, Chie’s persona is incredibly strong and masculine to show her protective side without the jealous, controlling nature that was so evident in her shadow

Basically – you can do a lot of character analysis by just looking at their persona.

Yu ( the character you play as within the game) is a very special case. He has a huge number of persona at his disposal, and he can switch between them at will. What does this say about his character? With each person he helps and gets closer to, he understands both their persona and their shadow. Looking at it from the video game side of things, it’s a perfect move to have the main character be so malleable.

Shadows

The opposite of the persona – the shadow – represents every thought or feeling in our heads that we simply do not want to accept. All of this directly opposes the persona, which is more like our ideal self. We reject the shadow because these thoughts take us farther away from this ideal self. Yosuke wants to be a morally just person, so he tries to deny his thoughts about enjoying the change of pace despite having innocent people die.

Carl Jung called it shadow purposely to represent the duality of the shadow and persona, to hint at the darkness it brings, and to show that the shadow will always exist. You can’t have light with shadows.

Carl Jung says you just have to accept your shadow…therefore, accept your darkest thoughts. This is exactly what everyone in Persona 4 does – and they become better people as a result of it. They’re happier, they live fuller lives, and their personality is more balanced.

The Collective Unconscious & Complex

The collective unconscious is most likely the TV World within the game. 

The personal unconscious is said to be made up of one’s perceptions, thoughts and feelings. Every experience you’ve had is stored here, and usually stays in a dormant state unless the memory is specifically retrieved.

 The key point about the personal unconscious that is related to persona is the idea of complexes, which reside in the personal unconscious, a sort of trauma or misconstrue concept about something.

It’s specifically stated in the game with ‘complex’ in bold text that Kanji has a complex about trying to be masculine. This complex represents the dungeon that is created when each person is thrown into the TV. Continuing to use Kanji as an example, because he has a complex about being called ‘gay’ for showing his feminine interests, his dungeon is a flamboyant sauna. His complex is so powerful that it has overtaken his personal unconscious and changes the way he thinks about everything, without him realizing it. His dungeon is a direct manifestation of whatever complex he has- the same can be said for the other characters. 

Jung states that the complex “appears to be an autonomous development intruding upon consciousness.” meaning that this irrational way of seeing the world can actually act as if it were a totally different person. 

[voiceactinguk]

Cardfight!! Vanguard: NEW WORLD (Cardfight Vanguard Fan Series) [NEW ROLES ADDED!]

Hey everyone! This is my first time posting here, but I'll do my Rubesty! *Ahem ahem ahem* Introduction Cardfight!! Vanguard: NEW WORLD is a fan project I've been mulling over for quite some time, and I'd like to find some voice actors to make this project a reality! Featuring three new characters, new mechanics, and new cards, Vanguard's never had an adventure like this before! Set in everyday modern America, Vanguard's going to be crossing borders into a an all new world! Part of me wants to immediately leap into episode production, but even I know I'm not at that skill level. So I was thinking I'd gather people for a fun few things here and there. A few Bushiroad-style advertisements, comic dubs, maybe even radio plays if we have the time? I want to keep things short, sweet, and casual for now. And if things work out, we can get to actually turning New World into a real series! For now, I'd just like to find some voice talent to help me out. I'm not going to need anything huge at first, don't worry! Just a few vocal barks and ultimately short scripts. This is a low-commitment project at the moment, so if you're short on time but want to do something, this is perfect for that! I will be requiring a few things, though! * A decent quality microphone. I know this is a standard, but it's just nice to have good quality audio! You don't need to drop 500+ bucks on a Blue Yeti (god knows I only paid like what, thirty bucks for my headset?), but clear audio is very important. * Speaking of clear audio, please speak clearly, and make sure you're free of background noise when you submit your lines! I've noticed a lot of people have a tendency to whisper, especially during more "embarrassing" moments. Just remember to have fun and really throw yourself into the lines! * This one isn't required, but it's nice to know. Being able to sing is a definite plus! You don't need to be able to, not at all, but if you think you've got a good voice, feel free to drop a link to your soundcloud/youtube channel/etc! We might do a few musical things, depends how everything goes. * Lastly, you don't necessarily NEED a Discord or Skype, but that would definitely be easier to contact you through. Sure, e-mail is fine, but it'd just be easier for everyone if we could all just connect through Discord or something like that! Otherwise, that's pretty much it! Remember to be nice and respectful to everyone. I can be pretty flexible with deadlines, and I'll be keeping projects short and sweet for now. So like I said, even if you don't think you have enough time, try out anyway! I promise, I'm a good director! --- Characters Emma Drake [MAIN] Emma Drake is a passionate, firey, hot-headed character! Her passion for both Vanguard, life, and living come through in her dialogue, and there's rarely a "calm" moment with her. As such, her voice reflects that! Her hotheadedness should come through every line, especially when speaking passionately about something. (Er, you know, moreso than usual.) The clan she uses is Nova Grappler, her subclan of choice is Warlords, and her avatar is Ultimate Warlord, Eddy. For a voice example, I was thinking of something along the lines of Noboru Kodo (Future Card Buddyfight) and/or Tokoha Anjou (Cardfight!! Vanguard G). But I'm willing to listen to anyone's lines! So feel free to audition, you might just be the perfect pick! Lines --- [Introducing herself, firey as usual] I'm Emma Drake! I'm the president of the Vanguard Club, and I'm gonna beat down everyone in my way! I use Nova Grappler, and my avatar, Ultimate Warlord, Eddy and I will be the last ones standing at the Vanguard US Tour! [Passionately] Our allies will become our strength! Our sacrifices will not be in vain! Again and again, we'll keep standing up! Stride Generation! Incredible Warlord, Unbreakable Eddy the First! [Confused, Shocked] I...the ability to change our futures? That's what these Alter units can do? Anything we want, we get? --- Beck Fjord [MAIN] Beck is big, bulky, and brash. He's a laughable, kind of idiotic, gruff, and loveable father-type, but with that flashy, rebellious youth still inside of him. He can tend to be a little childish sometimes, in addition to being rather petty. He's also a media-savvy geek with a love for all things idol, and has a hidden wish to become one himself. His voice, fittingly, is gruff and almost raspy, and significantly deeper than the rest of the cast. His clan is Bermuda Triangle, his subclan is the Sharkz, and his avatar unit is Leader of the Sharkz, Deliah. As an example for his voice, I imagine something kind of like a youthful Ryotaro Dojima (Persona 4) or Ryutaro Oyama (Cardfight!! Vanguard G) (....Lotta Ryu/otaros, ain't there...) but I'm always open to other interpretations! Audition, and maybe you have the perfect voice for Beck! Lines --- [Introducing Himself, cheerful and proud] I'm Beck Fjord! My lovely idols n' I are here to take ya down! I use Bermuda Triangle, the clan that's almost as Sexy as I am! Me n' my avatar, Deliah, Leader of the Sharkz are gonna win it all on the Vanguard US Tour! [Passionately] Shine, spotlight! On this glittering stage, I will rise to the top! From now and forevermore, into the brightest future! Stride Generation! Sharkz Above the Seafoam, Deliah Star! [Confused, then Convicted] Ehhh, I dunno. I jus' don' think it's that weird. Peanut butter, mayonnaise, and whipped cream is a true man's meal! And as the biggest, strongest, sexiest man in this room, I've earned my right! --- Luke Baldur [MAIN] Luke is the smartie pants of the group, and a total smartass. He can come off as cold, aloof, and even cruel at times. He just states things matter-of-factly, and seems to think everyone has common knowledge that in reality, only he has. He's your typical nerd otherwise, both in personality and in voice. He's pretty sickly too, and a total sloucher. Every word out of his mouth is usually flat or subdued, but he CAN feel strong emotion! It just doesn't usually come across. He can really be loyal and caring if you're someone who's wormed their way into his heart. The issue is getting there. (Did I really write that much about him? Yeesh.) His clan is Oracle Think Tank, his subclan is Beast Knights, and his avatar is Solar Beast Knight, Aslan. For a voice, think like a less-energetic Silver The Hedgehog (Sonic The Hedgehog) meets Naoto Shirogane (Persona 4) ...Does that even make sense? Or just do whatever a sickly nerd teenager sounds like. You might totally surprise me, so go for it! Everyone's got a shot! Lines --- [Introducing Himself, trying to sound tough, but is nervous] I-I'm Luke Baldur! I use Oracle Think Tank! I may not look strong, but you better watch your back! My avatar, Solar Beast Knight, Aslan are going to come out on top in the Vanguard US Tour! [Passionately] Divinate the future, and open the gates! Knowledge is power, and it is a weapon! Shine, like the sun, and reveal to me everything! Break Ride! Beast Knight of Solaris, Aslan Rising! [Flatly and Frustratedly] No, and [sigh] I-I really don't know how this thought got into your mind. But please, and I can't stress enough how exasperating this is that I have to repeat this, but please. Do not, under any circumstances, lick anything that I own. --- [ART COMING SOON] Mikhail Copper [SUPPORTING] Ohhhh my God. Oh my God, what can I say about Mikhail Copper? He's a snarky, fake-British lover of steampunk, crushing you, and romancing anyone who steps in his path. Sometimes, all at once. But his skill is...well, let's just say he's very much not the best player. He talks a big game, and his Gear Chronicle can be rather scary, but his overconfidence has lead to more than a few Triple Criticals to the face. He's also pitifully short, almost as much as Luke. It's very funny. Mikhail uses Gear Chronicle, and his avatar is Steam Butler, Zappi. As for a voice...no, I have no idea what he'd sound like. Just imagine the most pretentious, snobby person you can imagine, throw on a fake British accent, and you've probably got it. Lines --- [Introducing himself] 'Ello loves! Sorry for the delay! My name's Mikhail Copper, and I'm the leader of Team Breakerz! My avatar, Steam Butler, Zappi and I are here to take home the gold! Leap through time with me, and I'll show you a glorious future! [Passionately]  The future, it calls us! Beckoning us through time and space, I'll rip apart dimensions if it means that I can be with you for one single moment! Stride Generation! Metapulsar, Chronolight Peacock! [With much snark] Sorry to say, Emma, but you and your little...group have no chance of beating us! When the school tournament comes around, I'm afraid Team Breakerz will be the ones going on the Vanguard US Tour! --- [ART COMING SOON] "Key" [SUPPORTING] Key is...an interesting man. He's pretentious, has quite the god complex, and can be very, very, very vindictive sometimes. He speaks so eloquently, and is always surrounded with this sense of pretension. He's also one of those people who wears a scarf and a trench coat on 80 degree days. Prick. He's rarely seen without a book in his hand, and he takes pride in being everything a hipster should be. But unlike Mikhail, Key is able to hold his own at Vanguard quite well. He's one of the few people in school who can consistently beat Emma, and she (even though she'd rather die than say it to him) has to admit that he's quite the skilled player. He also keeps acting like he's going to be the sole bringer of the Rapture, and, no thank u Key uses Link Joker, and his avatar is Absolute Messiah. Key's voice, again, I don't have a character to compare it to. But he's got a very soft, soothing voice that's a little on the high side. It'd be calming if the things he talked about weren't either both so grim or so infuriating. He talks slowly, and of course, with a snarky and pretentious edge that drips from his vocabulary. Go for it, my dudes. Lines --- [Introducing himself] Hmmm? Ah, you must forgive me. I was lost in one of my many books. Do you love reading? I do too. It truly is such a magnanimous-eh? Introduce myself? [ahem] Well, if I must. You may call me "Key", and my avatar, Absolute Messiah, are sort of the trump card of Team Breakerz. I hope we can fight, and maybe I can enlighten you in the process. [Passionately, if he can even do that] Oh, sweet light shining from the heavens. Sometimes, the best medicine for sin, is a good and just punishment. Judgement day has come my friends, and I've set my sights on you! Stride Generation! Unforgiving Messiah! [Also full of snark] Ohhh, Beck. Beck, Beck, Beck. I assure you, your crude ways will not get you far in life. Especially at the school tournament. I'm afraid your..."waifus", was it? They and you both shall fall to your knees before the heavenly light of my Link Joker. --- [ART COMING SOON] Shellie Fjord [SUPPORTING] Shellie is Beck's little sister, but for someone four years his junior, she sure doesn't act like it. Around others she's annoying, rather petty, and loves to talk down to people. She's got an almost older sister-type vibe, always making sure everyone eats, gets their homework done, and doesn't make any stupid decisions. Not that she's above those stupid decisions herself, but "do as she says, not as she does". She's grown up learning Vanguard with Beck, and she's more than willing to let you know about it. Beneath her surface is a caring young girl who just wants her friends and family to succeed and be happy. Too bad there's eight layers of barnacles and superiority complexes to dig through first. Shellie uses Granblue, and her avatar is Seven Seas Executioner, Dallas. Her voice is high-pitched, kind of whiney, and is very much that archetypical "little sister" voice. Even when she enters her "big sis" mode, the only thing that changes is the tone of murder in her voice. She's quick to anger, yells a lot, and talks pretty damn fast. Good luck! Lines --- [Introducing herself] I'm Shellie Fjord! Don't mess with me, I'm the best Cardfighter at Saint Nociel's! You better watch yourself, I'm not afraid to throw down! And neither is my avatar, Seven Seas Executioner, Dallas! Get ready, 'cause I'm coming for your booty! [Passionately] We rise, we fall, and we get back up again! That's the pirate's life, and the pirate's life's for me! Victory is the greatest treasure, and that's what we'll always seek! Stride Generation! Seven Seas Captain, Ghostie Marmalade! [So much snark going on right now] Ooh! So some small fry with an outdated clan is supposed to scare me? Sorry sweetie, but living with Beck has taught me a lot. You and your "Tsukiyomi" or whatever don't scare me one bit! --- [ART COMING SOON] Honey Lumiere [SUPPORTING] Honey Lumiere has only been a teacher at St. Nociel's for a few years, but she's seemingly wise beyond her years. She's very soothing, motherly, and seems to have unending love in her heart for both her students and for learning. She's beloved by the faculty, and not just because she's the only person who can get certain rabblerousers under control (Emma). She supervises the Vanguard club, and while she's definitely far from the best, she's pulled more than enough out-of-left-field plays to make her a force to be reckoned with when the need arises. She's also very into "yoga" and "energies" and "going with the flow" and " Ms. Lumiere uses Dark Irregulars, and her avatar is Sera, Born of Darkness. Her voice is soft and sweet. She's got this very motherly tone to her that naturally draws people to her, but it can grow grating after awhile. She speaks with this loving, cheerful levity that's very pleasant, very bouncy, and very fun. Lines --- [Introducing herself] Hmm? Oh, is it my turn! Goody! Hello, I'm Ms. Lumiere. I'm the supervisor of the Vanguard club at St. Nociel's, and technically, the fourth member of Emma's team. Such a spunky little thing, isn't she? I'm not very skilled yet, but running the club has helped me learn! Don't underestimate me! My avatar, Sera, Born of Darkness and I can give you quite the surprise! [Passionately] If there was no darkness, there would be no light. Please, come forth from that harrowing future, and grant us your strength. For the darkness isn't evil, it is the truth! Stride Generation! Born of Darkness, Sinful Lumina! [Cheerfully] Good morning, students! My, my, I'm sensing quite a lot of tension in the room! What do you say we start today's meeting with some deep breathing exercises? I even brought my yoga tapes! --- So, yes, those are the three main characters (and then some!) of New World! If you do choose to audition-and thank you so much if you do, please send your lines to sodacat16@yahoo.com! Send them as a .mp3 or a .wav file, please! Or, if you prefer something a little more direct, I also have a Casting Call Club project page for this very same project, which is a bit more organized and is an easier way to keep things together. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask! Thank you so much again, and I hope you have a wonderful day! http://dlvr.it/P8fVLy www.voiceacting.space

[aurimeanswind]

Late Night Chats: I Finished Persona 5

Tonight I finished Persona 5, the sequel to my favorite game of all time, Persona 4, and the game I’ve anticipated in some way or another for almost nine years. The experience is important, and not simple to explain, so go on, grab a cup of coffee, take a seat, settle in. We’ve got a lot to talk about.

The Expectation

Persona 5 is one of few games, especially given recent years, that lives up and surpasses expectations, especially my expectations. But that doesn’t mean the dreaded societal anticipation doesn’t harm it, doesn’t leave it’s mark. Persona 4 Golden came out in 2012, and from the moment I finished it in 2013 I heralded it as my favorite video game. Full stop. It was even above my up-to-that-point favorite game, The Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past. 

But a statement even like that is just full of fallacies. Favorite games, rankings, and comparisons are so weird in games, which are informed both by the experience of you playing it, the following, and the previous. The PR cycle for a game can absolutely and directly determine where it falls in your boogieman-esque grand list “of all time and impermanence,” as I like to think of it in my head.

My play through of Persona 4 is altered, of course. For so many reasons. And that’s what contributed to a big cloud over Persona 5′s head, I think.

Playing Persona 5, and no worries, this post isn't about details or spoilers, it’s more about ideology and my thoughts and feelings while playing the game, I was clouded by a concern that maybe it wasn’t clicking with me. 

It started with the beginning taking a while for me to get really invested. I attributed this to me coming off of Zelda and not necessarily being in the mood for one of these games, but maybe it was just that the game truly does have a slow start. I mean hell, I’ve written about the JRPG hump time and time again, how the game wishes to really invest you in the world, and so the concession you must take in conjunction with this is a lengthy exposition so as to make sure you understand its concepts. This start was long, and maybe I hoped I would hit the ground running and be in love.

Again, expectation.

Plus there was all that pressure. It’s a funny thing to say, but watching my cohost and best friend Nabeshin play Persona 5, ravenously consuming every aspect of it, tweeting about it, dreaming about it, and seeing him, in some way, enjoy it more than me, was confusing in only selfish ways to me. This is just straight from the heart, genuine emotion: I didn’t know why it hit him in a way it didn’t hit me, and if I was just not going to end up liking this game as much as I did.

These all represent aspects of the expectation, and ones that clouded my play through as I finally pushed through the game. But things evolve.

The Play Through

Playing the game, it’s clear as day that everything is better, more refined, and more improved upon than Persona 4 Golden. There is loving care to every aspect of Persona 5, on a mechanical level. The voiceover, the delivery, the tone of the story; everything sees an improvement. It’s easily one of if not definitively the greatest sequel I’ve played in games. I finished it, I can say that shit for sure now.

But all those feelings of concern muddy things up. Why aren’t these characters clicking as well as the Persona 4 characters? Why am I worried about when this will end? Why this twisting sensation in my stomach? What if this doesn’t end up being better than Persona 4 Golden in my heart? This is that game’s sequel, so if it isn’t better, than is all hope lost for the "new best” of video games?

Genuinely, when I look into my heart, these are the feelings I probably hid from my own view playing this game. I think at the end of the day, the cast of Persona 4 really does resonate with me more than the cast of Persona 5. But a lot of that is because I related to those characters more. Rise Kujikawa really is my favorite video game character, and I think I may have taken that a little for granted. But her story, and her personal growth, resonates with me more and more every day. Someday you’ll finally see this Alex Talks episode I wrote where I talk about just that.

But let’s take a goddamn step back. You can see that these *somewhat* reasonable thoughts clouded my head and that could ruin any experience for anyone. But it’s because of the goddamn flow of video games.

I tweeted last night that Persona 5 may be the best game ever, because I hit some really cool stuff in it. Someone eventually responded “I think I prefer 4, but I’m glad you’re liking it” or something along those lines. And that bothered me. For stupid, juvenile reasons, of course. Why would you prefer 4? Have you even finished 5? It’s the sequel, it’s supposed to be better, what’s wrong with you? This is the kind of shit everyone thinks but you don’t tell anyone you’re thinking it, but HEY IT’S LATE NIGHT CHATS TIME SO HONESTY IS HAPPENING.

People lash out almost always because of their own insecurities. 

We don’t really, strictly have to compare Persona 4 and Persona 5, you know? Surely they merit comparisons, they were made by the same studio. They iterate on the same formula. But just as I realized at some point that Persona 3 and Persona 4 don’t necessarily have to boil down to “who wore it better”, the same is true of all the things we love.

I said earlier that my Persona 4 experience is “altered”. There is a reason for that. I played the original Persona 4, in 2009, when I was still sick with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and right after I finished Persona 3 FES. I burned out on the game, and would try and play it again in 2010, and then again in 2012. I would eventually finish it as Persona 4 Golden in 2013. But much of the material wasn’t a surprise at that point. And I was so familiar with the original content that I got to see, clear as day, all the new content. Plus, I got the whole thing at the end, the epilogue included.

Which brings me to my final point that really took a lot of the wind out of my sails playing Persona 5, especially toward the end, and you’ll probably notice I am a pretty big, insecure worrier with all of this...

Is this really the definitive version of Persona 5? It’s a weird thing to think, because I’ve never really been in a world where a Persona game is strictly new. But when I came to Persona 3, it was actually the re-release that would come out after the initial release, Persona 3 FES. I’m so accustomed to that version that I’m still not even entirely sure what they added. I mean, I know they added a second campaign with a sort of epilogue story, and they made Aigis, one of the major characters, a social link where she wasn’t before, but past that... I don’t even really know.

Persona 4 to Persona 4 Golden is... well, substantial, to say the least. There are a ton of scenes with just hanging out with your party members, being friends, dicking around. Getting your motorcycle license with Yosuke. Putting on a concert for the school festival. Going to the Ski Lodge after most of your adventure is over. Plus the extra month of being able to develop your social links!

So sitting here at the end of my play through with Persona 5, I start to worry and wonder if I can see the gaps later-to-be-filled by additional characters, more time, new setpiece-like moments with your Phantom Thief team.

The End and After

And then I finished it. And I cried. I cried a lot.

A lot of goddamn baby-tears. A lot of them. Like a lot. Like when I went and saw Beauty and the Beast (the live action one) in theaters, and cried five separate times in the last 30 minutes like a four year old child who lost their Halloween candy.

Because at the end of it all, sitting alone in my studio, in the townhouse I’ve been living in for over a year and a half, that I just renewed my lease for, living and paying my own rent, with my best friend, his girlfriend and my brother... for just a moment... I got taken back to laying in my bed, in the townhouse I lived in with just my mom, sick and unable to leave my room for longer than an hour or two a day to see my tutors, playing a game that made me feel things no video game had ever let me feel before. That this team truly changed what video games are for me. That I am one of few people lucky enough to say they’ve found the perfect game, built around the exact ideas, emotions, concepts, and mechanics they love in games for them.

And lucky enough to say I got another one, after getting two really fucking good ones.

Persona 5 may not end up being my favorite game of all time. It may not be better than Persona 4, its characters may not be as much a family to me as Teddie, Yukiko, Yosuke, Kanji, Rise, Chie and Naoto are to me. It may even get an eventual re-release with additional content that sours me a tad on the whole thing, or maybe makes it better.

But.

The Phantom Thieves are another family to me. The journey was incredible, with twists and turns I could have never expected. With loving attention to detail that only a creative team that fucking loved and adored the amazing fans that stood behind them with Persona 4 Golden could have made. 

Persona 5 is proudly something completely different and new, and doesn’t need to lean on the very well established history of the franchise to be a trendsetter, it just is. It’s an example of incredible game design, and an absolute love letter to all fans of Persona. No matter how I feel, this game is a home run.

So to the person who says they prefer Persona 4, I understand. For me? I think it’s too soon to tell. But I can say this:

It’s been one hell of a ride. One I won’t soon forget.

And to you reading, I’ll tell you this:

take your time.