#i was playing through p4 while watching my friend play p5 but i was still obsessing over shuake even though i played it a year ago

[sashi-ya]

{+18} – Cherry Blossom & Tangerines – Trafalgar Law x Y/n – Part 3

Modern AU. Living in Seoul, SK. Everybody is alive. No spoilers.

Female reader. No physical descriptions. Everybody is +18, canon ages. Chopper is human.

Tw: Mostly SFW. ZoSan. Fluff. A/N: I haven’t had the chance to visit South Korea due to Covid, so everything included is pure research. Excuse me in advance if there is something that’s not 100% accurate! Keep in mind is purely inspired ♥

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/31059467

» List of parts: {P1} {P2} {P3} {P4} {P5} {P6}«

Word Count: 4.9K

Law’s slender, soft, skilled fingers played over the silky material of my pyjama shorts. I wrapped my arms around his neck, softly brushing my fingers through his black hair. Our lips still pressed, our senses getting lost on the burning sexual tension that was finally being released.

The soon to be surgeon, slid a hand inside my satin blouse, and grabbed one of my breasts. Caressing it softly at first, but then searching for my nipple to press it firmly in between two fingers.  I moaned his name, almost whispering, after all we were in the kitchen of a house living with ten more people.

Law began to trace a path from my mouth to my neck with sweet wet smooches, mixed with little bites, and I was slowly being taken to heaven, until I heard “Saaaaanjiii, foood!”. I whipped my head to the side and saw Luffy entering the kitchen.

Law and I remained still for a moment, until we realized that this was one of Luffy’s sleepwalks for food. He was technically asleep so he wasn’t aware of us, but the minimum sound could wake him up. So, we gently detached our bodies in silence, until Law had to shout to Luffy to stop. My somnambulist friend was about to hit his face with the fridge door, and Law had to catch him in order to avoid him getting hurt.

I was arranging my clothes quickly when I saw Sanji coming downstairs running and screaming, “Damn Luffy, I heard you shouting my name, what happened?”. The blond cook was covered in sweat and had a little red spot on his neck. I giggled a little looking how annoyed he seemed, but hey, at least Law and I weren’t the only ones who were interrupted.

Luffy finally returned to reality after a few slaps from Sanji and apologized laughing. I couldn’t get mad at him; he is just too sweet. Sanji agreed on cooking something fast for him and began with his work.

“So, guys, what were you doing here?”, asked Luffy pointing at Law and I with his mouth full. I widened my eyes, while thinking for an excuse, but Law spoke first, “I couldn’t sleep, so I came to the kitchen to have some water. Y/n-ya was here having tea, and she offered to prepare some for me, that’s it”.  “Uhum, I couldn’t sleep either”, I said.

Luffy looked at us for a moment, but he quickly believed in our words.

Suddenly, we heard from the stairs Zoro’s sleepy voice, “Oi, nosebleed-kun I’m waiting…”. Law, Luffy and I turned our faces to Sanji, who instantly turned red. I bit my lips trying to stop myself from laughing, but when my eyes met Law’s face, we began to laugh out loud. This was the first time I saw Law laughing, my heart skipped a beat on how gorgeous he looked.

Luffy didn’t catch it at first, but after Zoro entered the kitchen with nothing more than his boxers on, the bell rang on his brain, “oh… hahahaha”.

“Marimo…”, said Sanji mumbling, “Go back to sleep…”. The one-eyed man was now standing still in front of us, probably unable to move, and blushed in his entirety. He simply said “We… we were playing with the Nintendo… uhm it was this idiot cook turn, so…. Uhm, whatever, I’m going back to sleep”. He turned around and almost ran upstairs.

We remained silent and the only sound we could hear was the sizzling sound of the eggs Sanji was cooking.

He turned his back at us and focused on the pan, he was clearly embarrassed, maybe a little sad because of us laughing.

Law stood up, told Luffy to go back to sleep and placed his hand over my shoulder, “Thanks for the tea, Y/n. We can continue our conversation tomorrow”. He said and smirked.

Those words made my body react instantly, a strike of pleasure stung my insides, and the idea of continuing what we’ve started that night installed on me, almost as a necessity.

“Sanji, go back to sleep, I’m sleeping with Luffy and the guys tonight, don’t worry”, said Law and left the room. Luffy followed him.

I waited for them to be upstairs and approached Sanji. “Oi, babe, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to laugh. I’m happy for you two, go back to him. Don’t worry, I’m not saying anything, nor Law, or even Luffy. I’m sure Law is now addressing Luffy at this point. If Zoro or you want to tell us, we will let you do it. Ok?”. I said to my favourite chef, placing my head over his shoulder.

Sanji caressed my hair and finally smiled back at me. “Thanks, Y/n-chan…”. He went upstairs and I put the dirty dishes on the dishwasher. Eventually I went back to bed, and the exhaustion won the fight between my insomnia.

The smell of breakfast made my stomach growl as I was waking up. “Mmm Sanji’s french toasts…”, I mumbled while opening my eyes and stretching my arms. “Good morning, Robin-chan”, I told my friend who had already woken up and was reading a book on her bed. “Good morning, sweetie, did you sleep well?”, she asked, and I nodded back.

Some sun rays were filtering through the big window of our room, we could see the beach and some sailboats on the distance. The sky showed no clouds, it was warm, some sakura petals danced with the breeze and fell to the ground. It was the perfect spring day.

We quickly got dressed and I didn’t even care much about my face. After breakfast I was taking a shower so, I didn’t put too much effort on my image. Robin and I went downstairs and met with the other ones in the kitchen.

Luffy was fighting with Usopp and Chopper for the food, as always. Law was drinking coffee and smiled at me when he saw me enter. Zoro was almost falling asleep over his plate, I guess he had a sleepless night after all… fufufu. Franky and Brook were outside having cola and milk, respectively.

Nami and Vivi come downstairs a few minutes after. Vivi hugged me from behind and scared me, and as she did, my hair uncovered my neck. “Oi, Y/n… what is that on your neck?”, she asked. “What? what do I have?” I started touching my neck in order to feel maybe something. “Is that a hickey?” inquired Nami, almost whispering. Luckily, no one else heard due to the guys fighting. “Nami, shut the hell up…” I sentenced my friend, with my index over my mouth.

“Damn Law, he must have bit me so hard yesterday that now I have a mark…” I thought while covering back my neck with my hair. Suddenly I received a message on my phone. @DrHeartStealer > I’m sorry ;). I looked up to Law and he was looking at me with puppy eyes, that by the way, were fake as hell. He was enjoying this… And I… well… I was kind of too.

“I think last night was a little bit turbulent, right Sanji? Law? Zoro?” Nami, who didn’t want to stop, and that obviously knew everything that happened the night before without even being told, mocked the guys.

“Shut up, baka”, Zoro told her, grabbing his forehead with no energy at all and perhaps affected by the lack of sleep and the hangover. Sanji was more blushed than last night, and Law didn’t show a single emotion, he seemed as if he didn’t give a single fuck about it.

Usopp who had now stopped fighting with Luffy, said “Oi… wait a minute, Sanji, what’s that on your neck?”. I realized Zoro was about to throw a plate at the big nose nosy guy, so I told Usopp to stop only using my expressions.

We finished eating breakfast and decided that today was the perfect day to visit Shinhwa Theme Park. I loved roller coasters and theme parks, so I was super excited to visit the place.

We went to our rooms to get ready when suddenly Nami and Vivi entered mine like a hurricane pouncing on me and demanding me to tell them why I had a hickey on my neck. I couldn’t refuse, so I accepted my destiny and told them of my encounter with Law last night.

Even Robin seemed excited, the girls were jumping and giggling. They were really happy for me, not only because Law seemed like a good catch, but also because it’d been so long since I dated someone.

My girlfriends decided to help me get ready for the park, so they brushed my hair, chose my outfit and even my makeup. I knew I didn’t need all of that, but frankly I enjoyed it, so I didn’t complain at all.

When we arrived at the park, the employees gave us little plastic bracelets and we headed to the first attractions.

I ran to the biggest roller coaster and insisted everyone to come with me, but almost all of my friends refused my invitation right away. “Are you kidding me, Y/n? there is no way I’m riding that huge thing, forget it”, said Usopp.

Luckily, Luffy, who loves new experiences and doesn’t know about fear, agreed on coming with me, as well as Franky. We headed to the short queue and waited for our turn. A few minutes after, Law, who was buying some water bottles when I asked the guys to join the ride with me, approached us saying, “Oi, can I join?”. “Of course, Torao!!” said Luffy, jumping with excitement.

When it was finally our turn, Franky sat with Luffy smirking at Law. “May I sit with you, Y/n-ya?", asked the sexy doctor. "Of course, if you are afraid, you can hug me …", I said, with a defiance expression. "Tsk.. we'll see who gets frightened first…".

“Welcome to the Dancing Oscar! Are you ready to experience extreme fun?! But first, let’s watch the safety rules!”, the safety video began to play on the little screens in front of us. Law and I were sitting behind Luffy and Franky, and as the video finished, he turned to me. “Well, let’s keep you safe…”, he said, coming even closer to my face. Law grabbed the safety restraints that were in between my legs first, caressing the inside of my thighs -that the girls insisted on me showing by using a cute short-, then the ones that were over my hips. He ably fastened them together in the buckle and pulled the belts in order to tighten them real hard. Finally, he tightened the ones over my breasts. I gasped, the pressure, the soft touch of his hands over my skin, the feeling of being taken care of, maybe… even being dominated by him… He was teasing me, and my body was reacting to it. “There, now you are safe”, he said patting my left thigh and smirking.

I closed my legs, pressing my core against the tight straps, mumbling something similar to a thank you.  I was desperate to feel some type of release, and the pressure over my pleasure point was the fastest way. Even though it wasn’t enough.

He secured himself and soon after the ride started.

When the cart slowly approached the highest point took about a minute to finally be released gaining speed faster that I was expecting. Not only me, but also Law, got so scared that we grabbed each other's arms and started shouting. Something flashed my eyes, but I was so scared that I didn’t even think of what it was.

After experiencing the adrenaline of the loops and the ups and downs of the track, it finally came to an end. When the cart finally stopped on the starting point, my heart was pumping harder than ever, my blood pressure was a mess, and my head was spinning. I began to laugh really hard, grabbing my stomach. “Oh, dear Lord, it was amazing!!!” I screamed, Luffy and Franky followed me, while Law looked at me regretting the moment he decided on hopping on. He was pale and seemed as if he were about to throw up.

“Law, are you ok?” I said chuckling. “I am…”. He answered and began to untie the belts.

When we were getting off the ride our friends came to us laughing. “Oi, Y/n, Torao, what is it with your faces? “said Usopp, showing us a photo with the theme park frame of Law and I looking at each other in fear, almost hugging, seconds after the cart began the falling action. “Oh… so that was the flash I saw”, I said while my cheeks turned to fire. Law snickered, grabbing the photo, and said “I’m keeping this one, your face is just too funny”. I looked at him frowning, but I couldn’t deny he was right, after all. Plus, him wanting to keep a photo of us made me feel all bubbly inside.

The day went by with us having fun, riding attractions, buying souvenirs, taking photos. Our cheeks were really sunkissed, as well as our shoulders. The night came, and we were ready to enjoy the firework show the park offered every night.

Everybody gathered in the centre of the park and the brilliant lights drew pretty images over the sky, the soft sea breeze refreshed my cheeks. My friends were smiling, having fun. I could see Zoro and Sanji looking at each other with a love expression on their eyes, Vivi and Nami holding hands, Robin placing her head over Franky’s shoulder. Love was in the air, and it felt wonderful.

I kept enjoying the light show, when suddenly Law approached me from in between the crowd and subtly grabbed my pinkie finger with his. Softly, without taking our sight from the fireworks, I grabbed his whole hand. And we remained like this, holding hands, with a smile on our faces. My heart beating quickly, and soon the feeling of butterflies in my stomach followed. “Is this… more than sexual attraction?” I thought, but quickly decided to stop thinking and simply indulge on the moment. 

The show ended and we let go of our hands. Our friends and we walked to the parking lot and headed back home.

We were so exhausted that we went right to our bedrooms and threw our bodies into our beds. Soon I had the idea of texting Law, and so I did. I grabbed my phone and sent him, “@SunflowerDr > have a good night, sleep well. Remember we got a “conversation” pending…xoxo.” A few minutes after he answered, “@DrHeartStealer > have a good night, doll. I got an idea for tomorrow, we could continue our conversation there…, sleep well”.

“Did he just call me “doll”?” I bit my lower lip wondering about his idea and my body burned in anticipation for the next day.

I passed out soon after until next morning.

The day seemed a little cloudier than the day before, and Nami, who was about to get her degree in meteorologic science, told us that probably a storm was coming to the island at night. So, we thought about a good plan for the day, and Robin suggested visiting “Manjanggul Lava Cave”. Jeju is a volcanic island and the lava flow from the volcanoes had created caves or “lava tubes” on certain places of the island that now are solidified. Who else could suggest visiting a cave more than our archaeologist friend?. We agreed on visiting the place and after breakfast, we quickly drove there.

We all submerged on the underground cold dark caverns. A little train inside the cave took us to the deepest point. Blue, purple, pink lights illuminated the stone pillars and stalactites that were widely spread through the tunnels.

“God, I’m kinda cold, aren’t you?” I said to Chopper who was walking next to me. “Yeah, that’s why I told you to bring a jacket, dummy”, he said to me and was about to give me his jacket when Law appeared from behind saying “Don’t worry Tony-ya, I’m a little hot. Here, take my jacket Y/n-ya”. He took off his black coat and put it on over my shoulders.

Chopper giggled a little and told us that he would be going ahead to take some pictures of a specific rock called the “Stone Turtle”.

We were left alone once again. The ambrosial scent of his coat invaded my senses, a sweet perfume with notes of tangerine, ginger and perhaps a little amber mixed with some marine breeze was the perfume Law probably used every day. I revelled on the smell and kept walking in silence next to him.

Suddenly a few bats appeared flying from a dark spot and I got scared as hell, so I jumped over Law. He held me tight to avoid us falling.  “Don’t worry, they won't hurt you, I read at the entrance that some rare animals live in the tunnel, such as these bats”, he said to me with a calming voice while grabbing me tight in between his arms.

I looked up to him with a pouty face and he smiled at me with cuteness. I wished we could have stayed like that a long, long time, but sadly Usopp, Brook and Chopper came running, escaping from more bats chasing them. “Ahhh get away!!!”, “Ruuuuuun for your liiiiveeees”, “Robin where the hell did you bring us?, yohohoho”. (The bats were obviously being chased by Luffy…).

We separated as my terrorized friends passed in between us. And began to laugh as they kept running to where Nami was. That only meant one thing… a few bumps on their head.

A few minutes after, Sanji started asking us if we had seen Zoro. Of course, we haven’t, he was lost once again. On a big cave, full of tunnels that were almost a kilometre long each.

We spent almost half an hour searching for Zoro, until Robin found him. “Marimo, you have no sense of direction!! I told you not to separate from us!!”, shouted Sanji to the green hair boy, trying to cover how worried he was for him. “Oi, idiot cook, I didn’t get lost, you did!”.

We finally left the cave and returned to the surface. Outside it was warmer enough for us to head to our next destiny, the Sanbangsan mountain hot springs. We only had to drive a few kilometres to get there.

The girls and I were pretty much excited because we could show off our new bikinis, so we got changed into them and headed to the natural pools of thermal water. The boys were already inside, enjoying the warm bubbly water.

“Look at these sexy ladies!, wanna be our friends?” said Franky joking around while helping Robin to enter the pool.

A few beads of sweat ran through my back, but I didn’t know if I was feeling hot due to the steamy water or because of the image of Law half naked, exposing his whole tattooed chest, with his head thrown back, eyes closed and his hair wet.

I fixed my eyes on his anatomy, the well-defined abs, the tattoos on his arms, how his fingers played with the water around him.  I dreamt with open eyes of how I wanted to travel with my tongue all over his tanned skin, every little mark he had, any spot.

Law opened his eyes, and still with his head thrown back, gave me the sexiest look accompanied with a little laugh, “heh”.

If we were alone I might have jumped over his lap and fucked him right there.  “Oi, Y/n!!”. A voice pulled me out of my dreaminess. “What is it Nami?” I asked my friend who was flailing me by my arm. “You two should go and fuck right now, we are getting a little bit uncomfortable with all of that sexual tension you both have”, reprimanded me my redhaired friend. “Shut up…”.

We stayed there chatting and relaxing more than two hours, the sun was setting, and the cloudy sky showed precious colours.

I decided that I should go take a shower to rinse the sodium out of my skin on the community showers of the complex. I had planned the way I was going to stand up, trying to show my “sexy ass” to Law, for the last half hour.  So, I executed my plan almost perfectly… and said almost because when I decided to walk looking at Law over my shoulder I slipped with some sort of slippery substance on the rocks. I almost felt but while trying to keep balance I got a sprained ankle.

Law and Chopper ran to save me, as the good future doctors they were, but I wished I had killed myself. The embarrassment invaded my body… damn.

“You only have a sprained ankle, Y/n-ya, don’t worry with some ice and ibuprofen you’ll be good in no time”, said Law softly examining my ankle.  My eyes were teary, my cheeks red and everyone was trying to hold their laughter. Vivi approached us and told Torao to bring me home first, so I could put some ice there, and as she said so she winked an eye at me. Damn Vivi, she knew me more than anyone there. I realized that   I have created unintentionally the perfect excuse to be alone at last with Law, and she was helping me.

Robin brought me a towel and I tried to stand up, but my foot hurt more than I thought, “Auch, auch, auch…”. Law didn’t hesitate and carried me in his arms bridal style to his car.

“Be careful, don’t hit your head”, Law said while helping me sit on the front seat of the yellow car. I wasn’t speaking, I was too embarrassed to even say thank you.

He started the car and began to drive down the mountains through the winding road. Ahead, a breath-taking landscape was shown. The sun slowly disappeared in between the mountains, and the lights of the city defined the coast. The sky was now fully covered in stormy clouds, and a few lightings began to show in between the menacing cumulonimbus above us.

“Finally, alone”, said Law breaking the silence. I looked how focused on the road he was, worshiping his profile, the piercings on her ear, the muscles on his neck. I plucked up courage and asked, “do you still have the idea you told me yesterday over text?”. “I do, plans might have changed a little, but I think we could still make it, do you trust me?”, he said.

I wanted to know about what was going to happen, but the thrill of it being a surprise, letting him lead the way made me accept right away, “I do, lead the way doctor”.

We finally arrived at the city and the surgeon parked the car without turning the engine off. He grabbed his phone and searched something. The GPS immediately began to give directions to a specific address, so he got back to driving. “Wait a second, do you want something special?, I’m buying you some anti-inflammatories for your ankle”. “Oh thanks, uhm nothing else” I told him while he unfastened his seat belt and got out of the car.

Some minutes later, he handed me the analgesics and a bottle of water. While drinking from the bottle I could see from the corner of my eye how he quickly put away something on the glove box.

I was still using my bikini and a towel to cover me, so I asked Law if he could help me reach my bag from the back seat to put on a dress. He agreed and passed me the backpack, and then helped me put the dress. He also put on a clean shirt over his swim shorts.

“Are you hungry? What about a spontaneous dinner date?”, he said rubbing his thumb over my cheek. I smiled, satisfied, because after all his plans weren’t simply fucking. “Do you prefer something fancy or something more private?, I’m not trying to be cheap, it’s just that if we decide to go somewhere fancy we should come back home to get dressed properly”. Even if I were dressed like a princess I wouldn’t have chosen the “fancy” restaurant.  Truth was that I didn’t want to waste any time, I didn’t want more interruptions, I wanted to be alone with him.

“I prefer something more private. We can go to this place on the beach, it isn’t luxurious, but I saw some photos on my phone”, I said to him while searching for the place web page on my phone. He smiled while looking at the screen of my cell phone. He seemed happy with my choice, and I could see why. He was a quiet and reserved man, so this place was perfect for our “first date”.

We drove to the location and left the car on the parking lot next to the pretty little restó. The intensity of the pain in my ankle was now pretty low so I was able to walk normally. Law, though, told me he would help me and grabbed my arm, so we walked together at the entrance.  I don’t know if it was because of my sprained ankle or simply just an excuse for physical contact. In any case I was happy about it.

A maître that reminded me of Sanji welcomed us inside and took us to a little table next to the sand over a wooden deck with warm yellow lights strips, garnishing the also wooden roof.  In the distance, over the horizon, the moon was vaguely peeping through the stormy clouds. Nami’s predictions for tonight seemed to be a few hours away to come true.

A tall, slim waitress came to us and asked if we had already chosen our food, without taking her eyes off Law. She was clearly trying to flirt with him, and I was burning inside… I got jealous, really jealous. Yet I couldn’t say anything, after all this was our first date. Law calmly gazed at me and told the maiden “My beautiful girlfriend and I will have two bowls of bulgogi”. Wait, what?... beautiful girlfriend?...

The waitress gave me a dirty look and walked away. “Ha, suck it, he is mine!”. I thought and giggled. I preferred not to ask about him calling me “his girlfriend”, but instead I changed the topic. We chatted a little bit about our careers, specialities and about surgery. Despite the unfriendly appearance he radiates, talking to him was easy, I felt as if I have known him for years.

We finished our plates and decided to leave the place. He opened the car door for me and helped me to get inside. To be honest I had forgotten about my injured ankle at that point, but he was still taking care of me in a chivalrous way. Mr. Donquixote raised him well…

“Let’s go to the beach”, he said in an adventurous tone. The storm was then over us and at any moment the rain could start, so I told him, a little confused, “It’s about to rain, are you sure?”. “I am, trust me. You won’t get wet… at least not for the rain”, he said smirking. I squirmed a little with those words, he sounded so sexy…

He drove along the boulevard next to the beach. Suddenly, he parked the car. “We are here, let’s go”, he said. He held my hand and softly pulled me leading the way through a little path over the sand made out of wood.

The path led to the entrance of an old lighthouse. A few raindrops began to wet my cheeks when we got to the entrance of the beacon. “What is this place, Law?” I asked him, curious. “My grandfather was in charge of this lighthouse some years ago, then the government built a more modern beacon on the port of Jeju, so my grandfather retired. Yet the commune decided to maintain it as part of the city, and also because I guess my grandad was appreciated by the people of Jeju.” I saw a copper commemorative plaque with the name “In loving memory of Mr. Trafalgar Law”. “You have the same name, how cute…” I told him as he opened the door, and we entered the place to take shelter from the cold rain that started pouring over us.

He asked me to wait at the entrance and headed to the back part of the place. He turned on the lights and I could see how the place had been decorated with string lights, pillows on the floor, some blankets, and a few candles that he began to light one by one. He did this just for me?...

“I… I hope you like it. I don’t know if you are really into romantic stuff. The guys helped me yesterday, while you went to sleep”.  My eyes got somehow a little bit watery, no one has ever made anything remotely similar to this for me, it was just perfect.  “I love it, Law. This is so perfect…”, I said and ran to him -my ankle did hurt a little, but I didn’t really care -. “Careful…” he said, receiving me with open arms.

I softly planted a kiss on his lips, and slowly we sat over the pillows. He grabbed my face with his hands and stopped kissing me just to look into my eyes. My back slowly approached the pillows and now I was laying there with Law settled over me...

Part 4

[icipersona5-pricefamily]

Who are your Top 5 fave Phantom Thieves of Hearts?

It could be just one or two, but sometimes you can't help it, but to love all of them. But there's always a fave or two and sadly a dislike. But let's focus on the top faves. Honestly for me... it's hard to chose. I mean I have my two faves, but do I have my top 5 faves? 🤔 Hmm... well, most do share the same spots... And please don't be mad at choices! 🙏 We all can't like the same the thing or person after all. Anyway! I will expose my top 5 and be warn, there are spoilers, so I advise you not to look at the list until you played the games or seen the walk through. If you like to spoil yourself, go ahead....

5. Sophia/Sophie. Why her? Well, she's adorable and an AI who has a Persona. She's not the first technology thing to have one, of course. But I like her plot and how she's trying to learn what a heart is. She has YoYo as her weapon which is cool and despite many let downs, she had learn from her teammates and understand what it means to be a Phantom Thief of Hearts. As the story goes, she was slowly losing her robot like voice and to find out how she was created! I like it! I'm gonna miss her...

4. Futaba Sakura/Oracle (Navi in Japan). Why? I just like her personalities and how she's a great hacker while trying to be outgoing. (You can do it, Futaba!). She's funny and I love her siblings relationship with Ren/MC and Yusuke. Her past was so sad and I just wanna hug her. I am glad she has an adopted dad like Sojiro and how she was willing to change her heart to save him. I'm really glad in Royal she has her victory pose after the all out attack. I just wish she'd had one in Strikers when things are looking bad, she actives her showtime to fully heal the HP and SP. PS, I love her UFO like Persona!!

3. Yusuke Kitagawa/Fox. I love this dork! He is beautiful, such a soul of an artist and kinda gullible in most things. He's a sweetie and never miss an opportunity to art. What happened to him in the past and in P5, I wanna protect him. I'm glad the Phantom Thieves came in to help and he becomes one. His relationship with Futaba is funny. They're like siblings to each other (Sorry to those who shipped them!). And he's sort of the first for Futaba to interact with. I do worry about his money situation, but he seems to be doing okay. I really wish Atlus added that you could date guys, I mean they made you date older women, but not a guy at close age to? O.o Anyway, Yusuke is a funny and sweet guy, kinda naive but a good guy. Kudos to the voice actors, both English and Japanese.

2. Morgana/Mona & Ryuji Sakamoto/Skull. Eh? Two?! Hey, it's hard to chose, okay? =3= Now why? Let's start with Morgana... He's a talking cat and he's adorable! (Morgana: I'm NOT a cat) Hehe... Anyway! He's like a mascot yet he's strong and wise in most situations. Despite being a cat in the real world, he still hangouts with the team to join in the fun. I love how he's smitten over Ann yet acts like a gentleman (sometimes) towards her and the fact he can become a bus (and helicopter in Royal) is awesome! I feel bad about when Morgana started to feel useless to the team and no one notice it until Haru appears as a thief. But I am glad he'd came back and to learn his past, wow! I nearly cried at the end of P5. I kinda wish he a human form like Teddie, but at least he kinda did in Royal. And I really wish his cat sprite has more reactions and stuff. The fact his Persona is Zorro... pfft X3c It's like Puss in Boots in Shrek! Now, Ryuji... He's such a good boy with a temper, but he has reasons why. Despite that, he's a good friend and never abandons his friends. Thanks to the MC, he slowly becomes who he should be and I'd a funny guy. I feel bad that his track team treated badly because of what happened and I kinda get it, but still... Anyway! He's like the loyal friend who got your back and is willing to stand up for his friends, even his life to save them. He even didn't judge the MC and becomes his first friend of Shujin Academy. Now, why both on the top fave 2? Well, they always bicker at each other yet they kinda get along sometimes. They both are close to the MC and they're funny like Yosuke and Teddie in P4. Glad their relationship had grew in Strikers and the fact that they are not afraid to blunt insults to each other. At least they're good friends.

Now, the top most fave(s), drum roll please........................

1. Ren Amamiya/Akira Kurusu/Joker & Zenkichi Hasegawa/Wolf. Again another spot is share! And before Strikers, Joker is still my top fave then Zenkichi came in, it's a tied. Let's start with Ren. Ren is handsome! He's cool and mysterious! The plot for him is perfect and how his Persona is Arsene is even more perfect. The background of his shows how hard life is, despite doing something good, he get punish in the end? That's bull crap and everyone treated him like he's a bad boy when he's not. Thankfully, he made friends and people around soon learns he's not a bad boy at all. Ren is charmer and he's still the guy who is willing to help those in need, of course that's up to the player. I do wish in Strikers that it kinda shown his distrust and trauma of the police. I would protect him and make any cops stay a safe distance from him. (Sorry Zenkichi) At least he kinda got his life back thanks to his friends and allies. Did I mention I like him? Seriously I do! 🥰 He's handsome and his smile... Sorry! Now, Zenkichi... This guy is a goof ball, the only adult of Phantom Thieves of Hearts and is a cop! Well, PubSec. He's like Dojima and Sojiro in one, sort of. At first, I did distrust due to he's a cop and all, plus you know in P4 and with Goro. I wasn't sure about him until I had watch the walk through and when first seeing him and when he'd laughed, I thought 'I might like this guy, but let's wait and see'. Now, I thought he would be a comic relief which he sort of is while still not trusting him until we learn he's a dad and how he'd lost his wife which 'Wait! He's a dad and had a wife who was killed in hit and run? Dojima 2?!' OwO I was surprised. Of course, not exactly the same, but similar plot. We get to learn about his past, his relationship with his daughter and why he was using the Phantom Thieves for such case. I start to feel bad for him and his daughter, heck even the Phantom Thieves felt bad. At some point, I did started to like him and Zenkichi was starting to bond with them and they even started to think as him part of the team. Once Zenkichi reveals why he'd hadn't caught the killer, I truly feel bad and understand why he let the killer go. Then boom! He has a Persona that fits him perfectly and such a cool Phantom Thief attire! 😳 That's when I fallen for him 'Dang it! First Joker now him!' He became like a dad of the team, always reminded them that despite what happened to the Monarch, it's still wrong what they're doing now. Despite how old he is (He's in his 40s) he can still fight and is cool! Still a goof ball good looking guy. Now, why both on the same spot? .....I love both them equally! 😍 They're both cool, good looking and those smirks... How dare Atlus did this to me?! I love their Personas. I wish we could see them having bonding moments though. *clears throat* Anyway. Because how I like them, as always I had created OCs to be with them. Hehe 😅

Now, for the rest of Phantom Thieves of Hearts. I do love them all, truly. Makoto is cool and she's the mom of the group. Ann is good friend to hangout, plus she's caring about others who had suffered. Haru is a sweetie who has scary side to her (Do not let her drive). Goro is someone that you wish he had saved sooner and yes I did hate him but I feel bad for what happened to him. Sumire, I wasn't sure about we had learn her background and wow! What a twist. I did call her a hypocrite while I can see why she thought that the people don't help themselves when reality the thieves gives courage and they done something to move on with some help, unlike what she did but I get it and I do like her persona.

Who would I want to be part of the team? Hmm... Hifumi since she was gonna be part of the team, but sadly that was cut off. She would've been better as a thief. Maybe Mishima, maybe! Sojiro... What?! It would've been cool, although he isn't young as he use to be, still. Lastly Maruki. I am surprised he doesn't count to be part of the team, but I guess it's because his Persona was kinda controlling him (I can't remember 😅) and didn't join the team. He would've been a neat addition to team, being a dad/uncle of the group. I feel bad for the guy and I get why did all that yet what about him? Doesn't he deserve to be happy to? Also... what happened to his girlfriend after the Metaverse vanishes in Royal? Anyway, he still like a sweet guy to me and I kinda wish Royal was mentioned in Strikers, but Strikers is technically a sequel/spin off to P5 since Strikers was part of P5, but it was too long and got cut. Hence of no mentioning of Royal.

Whew! Anyway! No hate on this, not everyone agrees with my choices and it's different from everyone opinions. But what about you guys? Got top faves and wish who would've been part of the team??

[tumbling-odyssey]

Games I played in 2020

Just felt like getting my thoughts out on all the games I played this year. I’ve been wanting to do something like this for years but I always let it pass me by. Well not this year! Fuck you laziness! 

I played the first half in 2019 but finished it in 2020 so I guess I'll count it. DQ11 was my intro to Dragon Quest and what a good starting point. I'm not exaggerating when I say this is one of the best traditional JRPGs on the market. Characters, story, combat, it all clicks in just the right way to make a flawless game... until the end credits roll that is. 

I have no idea what happened with the post game but by god does it dive off a cliff. It undermines everything you worked to do in the main plot. The characters act brain dead and it shamelessly reuses events from the main game. Please pick up and play DQ11 but for the love of god just stop when the credits roll.

Doom is a game I knew I'd like. The heavy metal ascetic and soundtrack were right up my alley, but I just never found the time. With Eternal on the way though and having found it on the cheap at a pawn shop I figured there was no time like the present. Needless to say but I was right. I loved everything about this game. The thrill of combat, the screech of the guitars, and the silent take no shit attitude of Doomguy. Make no mistake though, I SUCK at this game. I played on easy but still got my ass handed to me on the regular. But I don't care, I was having way to much fun.

I flipped my shit when this game got leaked at the tail end of 2019. Zero 3 is my all time favourite game. To celebrate this getting announced I went and 100% Zero 3 as I hadn't done it on my current cart, and Zero 3 was still the first thing I played when I got this collection! I love that game to death and I’m glad to have it on modern consoles again. As I was under a bit of time crunch with other games releasing soon I only played 2 other games in the collection Zero 4 and ZX Advent. Until the DS collection those and 3 were the only Zero/ZX games I had so I have a lot of nostalgia for them. 

Zero 4 hold ups better then I remember. Not as good as 3 but a damn solid game with tweaks I honestly wish hit the series before its end. I remember having issues with the stage design and ya it’s not perfect, but it’s far from as bad as I thought. For ZXA this was the first time I beat the game on normal difficulty. For some reason the ZX games have always given me more trouble than the Zero games, so finally beating one on normal was very exciting. Maybe I can now finally go and beat ZX for the first time...

The Mystery Dungeon series rising from the depth to punch all those unexpecting in the face was a very welcome surprise. I had a lot of hype going into this one as I have very fond memories of my time with Red Rescue Team and even more with Explorers of Darkness. And the game lived up to it! The remastered music is great and crazy nostalgic, the 3D models are well used and don't feel as stiff as they do in the core series, and the QOL changes are near perfect... So why did I drop this game like a rock once I finished the main quest? 

Anyone familiar with Mystery Dungeon will know that the post game is the real meat of it. The story is short and all the really cool shit comes in after it's done. But I just couldn't bring myself to put more time in after I finished said story mode. I'm definitely chocking that up to me just not being in the mood then an issue with the game. Here's hoping we get an Explorers DX sometime soon. That will fucking hook me for all it's got.

Second verse same as the first. I loved this game and sucked at it horribly. Out of all the games I've played this year Doom Eternal is the one I want to go back to the most. I was not the hugest fan of some of the changes made and retained a stance that I liked 2016 better. First person platforming has never been a fun experience in my opinion and Eternal did little to change that. And I know this a lukewarm take at best but fuck Marauders!. They are so unfun to fight and ruin the pace. The Marauder in the last mook wave took me so long I was worried I wouldn’t be able to finish the game. But the more I've seen of Eternal after my playthrough makes me think I was being far to harsh. I haven't played the DLC yet either. Mostly cuss I haven't heard great things about it. Gonna wait for the rest of it to come out to see if it's worth getting. Might just replay to whole game at that point to see if it clicks with me better.

This was my second favourite game of the year, and was going to take the top slot until a certain other game came out. Addressing the elephant in room right away, I hated the ending. But I was expecting something like that, I think we all were. I won't let the ending ruin the rest of the game though. Not gonna let 1 segment colour everything that came before it. We have to see how the later parts play out to truly see if this ending was trash or not anyway. 

It took Square over a decade but they finally got an action RPG battle system that works and feels good to play. This may be my favourite battle system in an RPG period honestly. All four characters are a blast and it only gets better the more time you spend with it. Figuring out the nuances of each character’s skills and how to combine them not only with the skills of the others but how to enhance them with the right Materia set. This makes fights thrilling and satisfying when you finally best whatever was giving you trouble. Tis was the best way to bring 7′s mechanics into the modern landscape while also fixing the BIGGEST issue the OG had. The fact every character feels the same aside from Limit Breaks. 

All this on top of graphics that just look fucking stunning, a few glitched out doors aside. Fuck I still feel blown away looking at the characters models (mostly Tifa) and see how god damn pretty everyone is. Also Tifa’s Chinese dress is gift from the Gods and I still haven’t picked my jaw up from the floor after I first saw it.

In my circle of the internet there was a lot of hype for this game. So much so that I ended up buying it to see what all the hubbub was about. I had never played a Streets of Rage game before and my only experience with beat'em ups was playing a LOT of Scott Pilgrim and last year's River City Girls. Turns out Streets of Rage plays quite a bit different and it kicked my ass! So sadly I had to switch to easy to make it through but I still had a fun time with it. 

I started playing mostly as Blaze but once Adam hit the scene oooooh fucking boy. I didn’t play anyone else. There's a deceptive amount of content in this game. You can unlock almost every character from the previous games and all of them rocking their original sprites and moves. If I had more of a connection with this series I'm sure I would have gone nuts on unlocking everything. I stopped after my one playthrough and I was happy with that. Always glad to support a long overdue franchise revival.

To properly talk about P5R I think I need to air a lot of my feelings on the original game and the importance it has to me. You see, prior to 2017 I barely played games, only sticking to specific franchises. AKA Pokemon and Mega Man/Mega Man like games. Until 2016 though I still bought a lot of games. Eating up Steam sales and deals I found at pawn shops. This lead to a Steam library and shelf filled with games I've never touched outside of maybe an hour or 2. So in 2016 when I took interest in the newly released Kirby Planet Robobot I made a deal with myself. I could get the game but I HAD to beat it.  And I did just that, gaining not just a new fav Kirby game but a new rule for game purchases. If I knew I wouldn't beat a game I was not aloud to buy it. Now what does ANY of this have to do with P5 you may ask? Well... almost everything.

 I was immediately interested in P5 when it hit the west in 2017. I loved the 20 or so hours I but into P3 years ago and really liked the P4 anime I had watched around the same time. So of course with all the hype around it I wanted to dive into the series full force with P5. But I knew myself. Putting over 100 hours into a game was beyond me and I had a weird relationship with home console games as I was predominately a handheld gamer. Add in the fact I didn't even have a PS4 and I was convinced P5 would be something I always wanted to play, but never would. So when I went to the mall with a few friends and they showed me that P5 had a PS3 version, I had a dilemma on my hands. I knew I wanted to play it and I now had a way to do so. But doing that would require me to change 2 HUGE hang ups I had with games. Would I being willing to waste 60 bucks with so much working against me? Apparently I was. I immediately started going to town on this game. Making sure I spent no less then 2 hours a day playing NO MATTER WHAT. Which may not seem like a lot but it was to me... at the time.. I also had just moved to my current house, so coming home from my still relatively new job and going straight into P5 was the first real routine I formed during this heavily transitional part of my life. 

I of course ended up loving P5 and put 200 hours into it. As such my outlook on gaming was forever changed. Console games were no longer out of reach and I knew I could handle playing monster length game. I started playing way more games then I ever did before and trying out generas I never thought I would play. P5 is the main reason for this and why I'm able to make a post like this. To actually touch on Royal though? It's unarguably the better version of the game and Atlus learned all the right lessons from P4G. The new characters are great and the added section at the end is possibly the best shit Atlus has ever written. I only wish Yoshizawa joined the party sooner so I could play as her more. 

The release of this really came out of nowhere huh? Wayforward announced it was being made mid way through 2019, then there was its weird half release on the Apple store... and then suddenly it was out! Very little fanfare for this one. Is that indicative of the games quality? Luckily no. Seven Sirens is a solid addition to the series and follows up Half Genies Hero nicely. The game goes back to Shantae's Metroidvania roots and makes a TON of improvements. 

Transformations are now instant instead of having to dance for them (don't worry dancing is still in the game) making the game feel more like Pirates Curse in its fast flow. They also added the Monster Cards which take heavy inspiration from Aria of Sorrow's Soul system. A feature I'm happy to see in any Metroidvania since Aria is one of my all time favourite games. Sadly though the game does not take the best advantage of these improvements. 

Over all the game feels kinda empty. The dungeons aren't super exciting to explore nor are they challenging in any way. And the plot is very repetitive, with each dungeon repeating the same beats. Really this game feels more like set up for a better game down the line. The mechanics are all here and Wayforward has a solid art style with the sprites from Half Genie Hero. Hopefully they capitalizes on this for Shantae 6 and we get the best game in the series.

While it may not have been the most thrilling game, Seven Sirens really put me into a Shantae mood. So much so that I went back to play the 2 games in the series I had never touched. This being the first game and Risky's Revenge. Shantae 1 really is a hidden gem in my opinion. Don't get me wrong, it's the definition of jank, but there's a lot of heart to this game. The sprites are great, the soundtrack is good, and the characters are funny... but it's still on the OG Gameboy and that's a massive hindrance for any game. I'm hard pressed to recommend this with how poorly its aged but I think it's better then it looks. 

Risky's Revenge on the other hand was a game that shocked me by how little it had to offer. I know this game went through a hellish development and what we got was far from what Wayforward planned to make, but it's hard to imagine a world where this was the technical BEST Shantae game. It's not a bad game by any stretch... just a boring one.

For the record my ranking of the games goes Pirates Curse>Half Genie Hero>Seven Sirens>Original>Risky’s Revenge

Sword and Shield are mediocre games at best. I know, real steaming hot take there. I managed to make my Sword playthrough a lot more fun by not spoiling myself on the new Pokemon designs for the first time since Gen 3. Either way, I enjoyed myself enough that I didn't mind playing more of it with these DLC campaigns. Plus I love the idea of Game Freak switching over to this method as apposed to making a third version, so I wanted to support it. 

Klara is a fucking top tier Poke Girl both in design and personality and is probably the highlight of Isle of Armour. GF actually went out of their way to give her multiple expressions to sell her toxic bitch personality and I love every minute of it. She sadly drifts into the background for the second half of the DLC’s story which hurts an already rough section even more. Not more then having to grind Kubfuu all the way to fucking level 70 though! That put a serious hamper on my motivation to finish the story but I pushed through anyway. Having to solo the tower with Kubfuu was at least a fun challenge though, as was the final fight with Mustard. Fuck the Diglett hunt though. Ain’t no one got time for that.

Crown Tundra may be my fav of the 2 though even if there isn't a character as good as Klara in it. The hunt for the legendaries was just pure adventure and I had a fucking blast doing it. The joy I felt when I figured out Registeel’s puzzle put a smile on my face unlike any Pokemon game since I was a kid. The whole Regi stuff was honestly a nice Nostalgia trip to my times with Emerald. The story around Calyrex was enjoyable, even if I still hate its design. Not revealing the horses before release was a good call to as it gave an honest surprise. Having to chase down the Galar forme Birds in the overworld is a great way to evolve the roaming legendaries idea and I hope GF sticks to this. Plus the Galar forme birds are some of the best legendary designs since Gen 5 and I love Chocodos way to fucking much. 

Here we are folks, my GotY. I love Panzer Paladin so fucking much. A combination of mechanics from Mega Man, Castlevania, and Blaster Master? Sign me the fuck up! This game is tailored made for me and I knew I had to play it once it started making the rounds on social media. I'll admit though, I was a bit worried when the the first full trailer dropped and showed the weapon mechanics. Breakable weapons that you have to sacrifice for checkpoints and power ups? I'm not sure about that.... Luckily I was being a complete moron and those mechanics are near perfect. 

I love the set up of each boss being a mythological creature from different cultures. They didn’t just pull the easy ones either. A lot of these things I learned of for the first time here. I love how Grit controls. Using the upward stab as a double jump and being able to pogo off enemies Shovel Knight style just felt great and satisfying. Flame was limited but it made her sections feel tense. She does more damage then you think she could at first glance. Also the only way to heal Grit being to use pods that only Flame could access was a cool idea. 

I am begging you Tribute Games, you have to make more Panzer Paladin games. Slap some new upgrades on Grit and expand what Flame can do and you have an even better sequel  on your hands. Also maybe not have so many 'gotcha' moments with enemy placement. That's really my only complaint about the game. Great music, great sprites, giant robots, unique premise, and a reference to Canadian legends. The ultimate self indulgent game for me.

It felt super out of left field for Curse of the Moon to be getting a sequel. The games fucking amazing but it was really just a tie in for the main Bloodstained product. Not something I expect to get a continuation. Either way I was pumped. If this was even half as good as the original then I was in for a great time. Which held true... cuss this legitimately is only half as good as Curse of the Moon. I still like the game, quite a lot actually. I mean how could I not with a fucking Corgi piloting a Death Train Mech. 

Something was just missing here that never made this click like the first game. Maybe it was the stage design, maybe the bosses, maybe the fact that it's a bit to long. I'm not sure. All I know is I couldn't bring myself to play all the modes like I did in the original. . Stopping part way in to the one where you can get the first games characters. I want to go back some day... I just don’t know when someday is.

This was an announcement I never saw coming. A Gundam Verses game coming to the west? That hasn't happened in the entire time I've been a Gundam fan. I had played a bit of Full Boost on my old roommates PS3 thanks to him having a Japanese account and I played Force on the Vita a few years ago. But to have the latest version fully translated with open servers? Holy hell that's a dream come true. 

Having the open betas every weekend leading up to launch was some much needed fun during this shit hole year. I had a lot of fun just fucking around with different suits and seeing what I could do with 'em. Absolutely trashing two Bael players as the Kapool is a memory I'll keep with me for a long time. Fucking danced on their graves. This gave me some new appreciation for suits like the Baund Doc and Hambrabi, the later becoming a lowkey fav as it was my main.

I've fallen off with the game in the last few months but I definitely want to go back. I hope to start learning the game and take parts in tourneys when cons aren’t death sentences anymore.

It felt like everything in my life was SCREAMING at me to start the Yakuza series. From 2 of my friends playing 0 recently, a youtuber I following live tweeting as he played through the WHOLE series back-to-back, and Yakuza 2 having a run at AGDQ 2020. Plus the constant pleas to play this series you get from following Little Kuriboh on Twitter. I finally broke and picked up 0 in the middle of August. Boooooooooy howdy did I not know what I was getting in to. And no I don't mean the content. I knew Yakuza was a series of wildly conflicting tones between the main story and side quests. What I mean is the length. I legit thought this was gonna be a 20-30 hour game. When i reached hour 30 of my playthrough and realized I wasn't even close to a conclusion, I think I knew I had bitten off more then I was planning. That misstep aside I ended up loving this game and want to play the rest of the series.... I just need to rest up first before I dive into Kiwami 1.

 Let's actually talk about the game for a moment here. Kiryu and Majima quickly clicked as likeable characters to me and I cared about their stories. Combat is fun and the multiple styles are all great.... though both the default styles take a while to get there. The mad rush I felt at the end was fantastic and the last bosses are a joy to fight. Only real complaint is the pacing of the side stories. I loved being able to just stumble into various different events while on route to the next plot objective. But this became less common as the game went on and side stories started getting more tucked away. Also hot take here, the host club mingame is more tedious then fun and I like Kiryu’s business stuff as I could do that in the background. I’m excited to dive into Kiwami and probably Kiwami 2 this year... Though I’m not sure when just yet.

Just gonna say it flat out, I think this is better the the 2018 game. The smaller scale helps in this style of game and Miles just naturally has a better move set then Peter. I'm not sure if they actually tightened up the combat system or if they just threw less bullshit enemies at you but fighting feels so much better in this one. Traversal is better too,  simply because they changed the button for tricks. In the original you have to hold down 2 face buttons to enter trick mode??? In hindsight that was such a bad call. 

Having both the heal and venom powers run off the same meter was a good idea. Making the choice between keeping yourself alive guaranteed or potentially ending a fight quicker/disposing of a problem enemy is super fun. The player having to make small choices like this during combat is what helps it not be brainless. I love all the different venom skills you get. While they all achieve the same thing in stunning opponents, how you achieve that goal is up to you. Do you want to just slug the bastard, throw 'em up in the air, tackle the shit out of them? The choice is yours. 

Only real big complaint is certain upgrades being NG+ locked. I know you want to encourage replays, but this is a shitty way to do it I feel. Also can we retire Rhino for the next game. Man has had 2 shitty boss fights now and I need a break. Between this and Spider-Verse, I'm honestly starting to like Miles as Spider-Man more then Peter.

I got this game more on a whim then anything. I was definitely interested when it was first announced for the west. Vanillaware's beautiful art style in a story about giant robots beating the shit out of Kaijus? Sign me the fuck uuuuuu-oh wait it's an RTS? I had never played an RTS's before, mainly due to the sheer concept stressing me out. So I let it fall to the wayside. The game started coming up again though towards the end of the year with GotY on everyone's minds.  This revived my interest, especially as what I HAD planned to be playing around that time was... well. Cyberpunk. Don't think I need to say much more. Also I had worried for nothing as the Real Time Strategy was not that Real Time. 

This game really lays on the analysis paralysis once you're out of the tutorial. Do you want to fight, do you want to do story, who's story do you want to do, what branch should you follow, how much should you play with this one character? It's very overwhelming at first. I decided to not go ham on just one character and swap around all the time. The twists in this game are equal parts exciting and infuriating. Learning something new always came with the caveat of more questions, or something you knew 'for sure' being disproven. Like when I learned 1 characters was actually 4 separate ones! Anyone that's played knows exactly what I'm talking about. 

Natsuno ended up being my fav and not just because of.... obvious reasons. BJ was cute if unfortunately named and her relationship with Mirua was my favourite in the game. Not that there was much competition except for maybe Ogata and Tomi. I ended up really liking the combat but I can see why RTS fans say it's the weakest part. It's far from complex and I had a winning strat by the third or so real fight. Aka spam turrets and have the Gen 1′s gank all the bosses.

One quick thing I want to share was how I beat the boss at the end of Area 2. The one where Inaba is singing. I had Hijiyama use the limit break skill to bum rush the boss right off the hop. I took out half its health in one hit but Hijiyama’s Sentinel was on death’s door. Only thing that saved him was sending in Amaguchi to blow up a bunch of missiles. Hijiyama took it out on his next attack but lost his Sentinel at the same time. It was a real clutch victory and crazy fucking anime. 

The best way to really describe Carrion is that it's a fantastic proof of concept. Can you make a game where you play as The Thing? Why yes, yes you can. Carrion just needed a bit more tweaking to really bring this concept home and be the A+ game I know it can be. As it is now the game is a bit empty. The level design is super samey and the lack of a map is fucking brutal at points. I know it would make no sense for a blob monster to have a map but somethings you just have to gameify for convenience. The level design must have done something right as even though I was completely lost I still moved from area to area properly. Hell by the time I actually looked up a map I had 1 more item to get and I learned I was one door away from beating the game. 

I love the idea of losing mass as you take damage and gaining more by eating people, but having abilities tied to size was a terrible idea. It just leads to tedium as I have to go and shed myself to the right size, do the puzzle, then of course I'm going to go back and rebuild myself to see if I can do the next segment at full power. Just make it so you can swap between abilities using the d-pad or something. I hope this game gets a sequel just so this sick ass concept can be fully realized.

[alternis-dim]

If someone wanted to get into persona, what is the best game to start with?

to be honest, Persona is kind of nice in that it doesn’t matter a whole lot where you start, since each game is a relatively self-contained story which only has brief mentions or cameos of previous entries! some elements of the lore make more sense if you play certain games before others, but it isn’t anything drastic enough to impact your enjoyment. Hell, I started with Persona 5 and was just fine. So I guess I can just sorta talk about the pros and cons of each game as an entry point to the series! I can also briefly describe their premises in case a particular one seems more interesting, which could help someone with deciding where to start.

this is gonna be long, so I’ll put it under a read more.

Persona 1/Revelations: Persona is the only game I wouldn’t recommend playing first. Its mechanics are pretty outdated and not reflective of the rest of the series, and it’s relatively short compared to the others as well. Not to say that it’s not worth ever playing! In fact, from my understanding it has wonderful characterization, an engaging plot, and lays important groundwork for the franchise’s worldbuilding. I just wouldn’t recommend it for getting a taste of what the series is like.

Persona 2: Innocent Sin is the first of the dual entries for the Persona 2 duology. It has some of the same cons I mentioned for the first game; it’s relatively old, so its mechanics are a little outdated, and it plays more similarly to an SMT game than the future Persona entries do (for example, the story is fairly linear and occurs over the course of a few days, whereas later entries are strung out over a year). It is a little more refined, though, and the formula is starting to get there. It also has, in my opinion, some of the best character writing in the series.

P2IS is a story about how strange occurrences are brewing in the city of Sumaru because of a phenomenon where rumors actually influence and/or become reality. A group of high schoolers get tangled up with a mysterious man named Joker, who can supposedly grant wishes and, for some reason, seems to hold a very personal grudge against them. They discover their ability to call upon Personas to defend themselves from the demons at his command, and soon end up teaming up with journalist Maya Amano to get to the bottom of Joker’s identity and the source of the rumors which are warping the city. Over the course of their journey, they slowly start to piece together their past in order to figure out why Joker seems so invested in them.

Pros: - Stellar character writing- An intriguing, interconnected plot which is a bit of a rollercoaster but a lot of fun- Lays the groundwork for lore in the Persona series (most importantly the existence of Philemon and Nyarlathotep, as well as the origin of the Velvet Room)- Incredibly mature takes on the impact of trauma and familial abuse (TW for both of those things though)- Canonically bisexual protagonist with a potential same sex dating optionCons:- Unavoidable random encounters and really grind-heavy, as most 90′s jrpgs go- Outdated mechanics that aren’t really reflective of future Persona entries- One of those wiki-heavy games: it’s damn near impossible to unlock certain character interactions or personas without use of a guide- The second game in the Duology, Eternal Punishment, isn’t nearly as accessible to English audiences

Persona 3 is where a lot of the series formula originates from! It’s also my personal favorite, but I’ll try my best to be unbiased describing it. Small note: I recommend playing Persona 3 FES specifically, since it refines a lot of the things that were clunky in the vanilla version, adds more character content, and features a post-game which answers a lot of questions.

P3 takes place in a coastal city called Iwatodai at the beginning of the school year, where the protagonist moves in as a transfer student after being bounced around in foster care for ten years following an accident which killed his parents. Upon arrival, he experiences the strange phenomenon of the Dark Hour: an extra 25th hour in the day where people are transformed into coffins and monsters roam free. Technology doesn’t work during this hour, and anyone not protected by a coffin is violently attacked and seems soulless the next day, a condition local news dubs Apathy Syndrome. A select few people have the potential to stay conscious during the Dark Hour and protect themselves by use of a Persona, and these people make up a unit called the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad (S.E.E.S.). The protagonist joins, and the game follows their investigation of the phenomenon. It’s considered the darkest entry in the series, and for good reason: “memento mori” is right in its introduction. The game focuses heavily on themes of death, what it means to be mortal, how people deal with being confronted with their mortality, what the point of life is, and much more. 

Pros:- Introduction of the Persona formula: school life and dungeon exploration which requires time management on a linear calendar, the knockdown/1-more feature in combat, all-out-attacks, social links. Starting with this game may actually be the best way to go gameplay-wise, since coming back to this game after playing later entries makes it seem clunky.- Dungeon-crawl style of gameplay, which is a lot nicer than random encounters. You explore randomly generated floors and choose when and where to ambush enemies.- Excellent character arcs which enrich the game’s narrative- A dark, mature, and interesting story which explores human natureCons:- Still an older game, so some controls are clunky. One game mechanic in particular that many are frustrated with is the inability to directly choose what moves your teammates will use, instead requiring you to use Tactics to direct how the AI should behave.- Probably has the worst pacing issues out of any game in the series. There’s an entire calendar month where you do basically nothing.- The post-game is grind-heavy and long for the amount of story it offers. Some people just recommend watching a playthrough.- Features an uncomfortable transphobic skit towards the middle of the game.

Persona 4 is a refinement of many of the features of Persona 3. The best version to play is Persona 4 Golden, since it has a lot of extra content, but it’s vita exclusive and I’m stuck with vanilla :( Vanilla’s still fine in my experience, at least!

P4 takes place in the small town of Inaba, where the protagonist has transferred for a year to live with his uncle and cousin due to his parents leaving the country for work. Shortly after his arrival, a bizarre series of serial murderers start to occur where the bodies are found strung up on telephone lines. There’s also a rumor that looking into a turned off television screen on a rainy midnight will reveal your soulmate; this rumor is referred to as the Midnight Channel. The protagonists and friends inadvertently discover a parallel world which exists alongside Inaba, which can be entered through televisions but which can’t be exited without the help of a mysterious denizen named Teddie. They discover that these worlds are linked; people who show up on the Midnight Channel turn up dead in the real world shortly after, and the weather is inverse to Inaba’s. They discover that this is because someone is throwing people into this world, who are then unable to escape, and that the Shadows living in it become violent when the fog lifts (inverse to when the fog settles in the real world). This world also has an interesting quirk: people who enter it end up confronting their own shadow, which is a manifestation of the parts of themselves they repress or deny. Denying your shadow leads to it attempting to kill you, and this is likely what caused the deaths of the first victims. The protagonist and team discover that confronting and accepting your own Shadow, however, turns it into a Persona which you can then use to combat the monsters in the world. Equipped with their unique knowledge, the team sets out to save victims, solve the murder mystery, and learn how to accept themselves.

Pros:- A powerful message about the importance of seeking the truth and accepting all facets of yourself- An absolutely incredible murder mystery with clever plot twists and high stakes: getting the true ending is actually difficult if you don’t know who the murderer is, and you’re expected to understand the themes of the game and the characters in order to get it.- A nice in-between for the mechanics of P3 and P5: it’s pretty easy to transfer to either one after playing this one. (also introduces the ability to control party members directly, thank god)- A TON of spinoff content if you find you enjoy the characters and setting- Probably one of the best games in terms of understanding the overarching lore of the series, since it explains how Personas and Shadows work in much more depth than other entriesCons:- Has sort of a wonky difficulty curve. The first couple dungeons are honestly kind of a pain in the ass because of how level scaling works, and it takes a little while to level out.- The character arcs aren’t quite as well-written as previous games, due to the ultimate personas being associated with social link completion rather than events in the plot.- Oh god, such clumsy handling of LGBT topics. Plays around the idea of a gay narrative for one character (Kanji) and a trans narrative for another (Naoto) but ultimately just ends up playing up stereotypes and then backing out before doing anything “risky.” Another character in the party is pretty homophobic to Kanji for a while too, which sucks.

Persona 5 is the most popular in the series for sure, and for good reason. It’s the complete culmination of the Persona formula, and it adds all sorts of stuff to the gameplay and lore. It has a pretty lovable cast, to boot. Not that it doesn’t also have its problems, imo.

P5 features a protagonist who was falsely convicted of assault after attempting to defend a woman from a drunk man harassing her. His criminal record and probation result in his expulsion from his home school, so he moves in with a family friend in Tokyo where a school will accept him until his time’s up. Tokyo’s been strange for a little while now. Mysterious incidents have been causing disruptions for a while. There’s been a surge of “psychotic breakdown incidents” in which people act out unpredictably for seemingly no reason, and on rarer occasions “mental shutdowns” where people seem to completely break and die shortly after. The protagonist and friends get tied up in nonsense pretty quickly when a mysterious app on his phone transports him to a parallel world in which real locations of Tokyo are warped beyond recognition. The protagonist discovers the power of persona pretty early on, which he uses to fight the enemies there. With the help of a strange creature named Morgana, they learn that this is the “Metaverse”, a space in which the twisted desires and perceptions of people are made manifest. It’s a space where a person’s Shadow lords over a “Palace”, an altered version of real-world locations which reflects how that person views the world around them. They also learn that personas are the result of having a strong, rebellious will, allowing you to control your Shadow in combat. By breaking into a Palace, defeating the Shadow, and stealing the “Treasure” at its core, the Palace will crumble and the person in real life will come to grips with the morality of their actions, effectively outing themselves. This is referred to as stealing hearts, and the Phantom Thieves are born; they quickly become infamous in Tokyo, though their reputation attracts unwanted attention, as well as blame… could those breakdown incidents be related to the Metaverse, too? This game focuses heavily on the corruption of society, the abuse and manipulation of people in power, the ways in which our circumstances force us to hide parts of ourselves, ideas of justice, and all sorts of fun ideas of “rebellion”.

Pros:- ABSOLUTELY the best gameplay in the series. The controls are smooth, the battles and UI are streamlined, the visuals are absolutely stunning. This is the one that’s most fun to actually PLAY, bar none.- More of a stealth/heist game than a dungeon crawler, which is a fun spin on the series.- Excellent social commentary on the injustices young people face in a system stacked against them.- A really lovable cast of characters, and social links which actually grant you access to helpful gameplay features as incentive. Cons:- Sort of a small thing, but one of the game’s twists is a lot more fun to figure out if you’ve already played at least one other entry in the series.- Has some serious writing issues. The game has a very strong first half, but then starts to feel rushed the further along you get after a certain point. You can tell that the developers wanted to fit in a lot, but didn’t quite have the time to refine the ideas they implemented.- On that note, some of the character writing starts to regress or even becomes contradictory.- Has a couple instances of homophobia surrounding the Red Light District.

This got long, sorry, but I hope it’s helpful! like I said, you really can start anywhere, and you don’t have to play them in a particular order. Just pick the ones that seem the most interesting and have fun!

[forkanna]

NOTICE: Characters and locations ©Atlus. This fic and story ©2019-2020 me! All rights to their respective owners. Mature rating for sensual situations and dialogue. Canon (slight) divergence. Based on vanilla P4 since that's what I played (Sorry, Marie fans). Names are in Western order. Title adapted from the boss battle music. Cover art by 7aho.

[AO3 LINK] [WATTPAD] [QUOTEV]

NOTES: This one isn't going to be quite as in-depth or long as my P5 fic (and also a lot lighter in the plot department haha). Apologies for all the exposition within the first couple of pages. I always attempt to make the fic accessible for readers who don't know anything about the fandom if I can, but try to keep it short.

And for those of you waiting... don't get mad at me for not putting out very much Elsanna lately. I promise you, it IS coming. LOTS of it. I just have to have proper motivation or it will turn out not so great. Thank you for your patience!

                                                     CHAPTER ONE

None of this was right.

The spooky old castle seemed to press in on Chie Satonaka from all sides as she tore down hallway after hallway, the sound of her loafers echoing off the flagstones. Nevermind how bizarre it was that she was in another world — which she was never going to get used to, even if she came and went a thousand times — but her childhood companion and best friend in the whole world being in danger was more important. She didn't have the luxury of being thunderstruck.

Chie and her friends had gone back and forth so often about the Midnight Channel. Was it real? Was it a scam, a mere urban legend? Mass hallucination? Nobody outside of the sleepy little town of Inaba had ever heard of it, or seen it happen; purely a local paranormal phenomenon. As the story went, if you watched your television with its power turned off at midnight, during a rainstorm, you could see something. Some versions even claimed the person you saw on the screen was your soulmate.

However, that was where fantasy ended and grisly reality took over. The two previous instances had shown women that later turned up dead — and not just on TV. Their corpses hung upside down from power lines and rooftops. In this most recent case, they had all seen Yukiko Amagi in the TV — first as a blurry shadow, and now in vivid high definition.

If it really was Yukiko. That woman in the screen looked and sounded nothing like her best friend, even if it was her face and voice. The garish pink princess dress was so unlike her! Not to mention the obscene thirst for boys from such a timid, polite girl… Chie could remember each word with crystal clarity:

"Goooood evening! Tonight, Princess Yukiko has a big surprise! I'm gonna go score myself a hot stud! Welcome to 'Not A Dream, Not A Hoax; Princess Yukiko's Hunt For Her Prince Charming!' And I came prepared — I've got my lacy unmentionables on, stacked from top to bottom! I'm out to catch a whole harem, and the best of the lot is gonna be all mine! Well, here I gooooo!"

Every deranged syllable had come from someone else's mind. It had to be a sick joke! Still, there was no other explanation for where her best friend had gone. Unreachable by phone or email, and her parents didn't know where she was, either.

The other world was their only lead. And since Yu had previously shown her and Yosuke that they could actually go inside, as long as the screen was large enough to step through… that was that. Insane as it was, they had all jumped through a big screen TV into a parallel dimension to rescue their friend.

But staircase after staircase flashed past, rich red curtains and glittering chandeliers, with no sign of Yukiko. The shadows pulled at Chie from all sides exactly as the boys had described. Maybe it was her bright green-and-yellow windbreaker that caught their attention, or maybe it was that someone was invading their realm. She didn't belong in Yukiko's palace. Or at the very least, the shadows of the Midnight Channel thought she didn't, and probably were equally distrustful of the boys.

Speaking of which, where were they? She could have sworn both Yu and Yosuke were right behind her… and that weird red-and-blue bear thing, whatever his name was. They had tried to insist she stay behind because she was a girl, not strong enough to fight in spite of her kung fu training, and now they were the ones who couldn't keep up?! She almost wanted to turn back and give them a good kick in the-

"Chie told me that red looks good on me…"

The words nearly made Chie trip over her own feet and go down hard. "Yukiko?!" Where was it coming from? She turned this way and that, trying to find the source, but saw no one. The voice kept going, talking about how much she didn't like her name. How she thought she was worthless. She tried to tune out the harsh words themselves, merely focusing on the direction they were coming from and attempting to follow.

But as she barrelled through an ornate set of double doors, looking for the next flight up… the subject matter changed. And she couldn't ignore the words anymore.

"Chie was the only one who gave my life meaning. She's bright and strong, and she can do anything! She has everything that I don't. Compared to Chie, I'm… I'm…"

"HEY!" she shouted. "I'm coming, Yukiko! Hang on!"

However, the disembodied voice only continued, without any obvious source now. How could it come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time?! "Chie protects me; she looks after my worthless life. And I… I don't deserve any of it… Chie is so kind."

The words burned almost as badly as the tears burned her eyes. This was wrong. Something about it sounded right, sounded satisfying to her, but she didn't want to examine it too deeply. All she wanted was to save her best friend and get her out of this nightmare palace.

"I know, right?"

That was not Yukiko.

"What the-" Her eyes swivelled to the side and saw a girl running backwards. She was about her minimal height, a little over five feet… had the same chestnut-brown bowl cut. The same green jacket. The same…

The same. "Oh no."

"Oh yes," the doppelganger laughed as she easily jogged backwards and kept pace with her, no worry for running into anything. She never did. It was as if this other Chie, this fake, had eyes in the back of her head or rearview mirrors that only she could see. "I bet you knew you'd be seeing me sooner or later."

"What are you?!" Chie demanded of the impostor.

"Don't ask stupid questions," she laughed, voice distorted. "Let's cut the bullshit. And I mean Yukiko's bullshit."

"What… do you… what are you saying?"

Waving a hand up toward the roof, she went on, "Yukiko thinks you're 'so kind'. That you protect her, right? We know that's not what you want from her at all." When she didn't respond, the clone smirked. "You're thrilled to death she depends on you. The most beautiful girl in school, and she needs you — some grubby little bitch who couldn't tell eyeshadow from lipstick. Man, do you get a charge out of that!"

"I… I do not!" she shouted, trying to put her head down and run faster — to ignore this pretender. She had been warned that there were frightening shadows all around them, and this was further proof; it was a trick. One she refused to fall for.

"Where ya goin'?" the clone pouted as she sped up to match pace. "Gotta go save your princess? Of course you do. She can't do anything while you're not around. Helpless like a lost puppy, right?"

Teeth gnashing, she snarled out, "Yukiko is not a puppy!"

"But you wish she was. If she was a helpless dog, yipping around your heels… then you would be set, wouldn't you? What else would you need with a devoted, needy little bitch to boss around?"

"I… excuse me?! What did you call her?" Chie finally stopped, turning to snarl at the girl who stopped as easily as if they had planned this weeks ago. "She's not a bitch! A-and she's not helpless! So you can shut up and go back to wherever you came from, because I have a friend to save!"

And then she left her in the dust.

Determination radiated off her entire body as she leapt over one of the shadows, landed on the face of another and demolished it. They seemed to sap her endurance a little at a time, but she also felt stronger somehow with each one she defeated. Just like training in her secret hideout when she was little; she might be getting tired now, but she would be able to handle more next time.

"You're right."

Her jaw tightened. "Thought I told you to leave me alone."

"You said to go back to where I came from," Other-Chie corrected with a Cheshire cat grin. "And I did! Right here with you!"

"Yukiko needs me! So unless you're going to help me save her-"

"Are you kidding? Like I said, you're right; she's not really that weak. Yukiko doesn't need you. It's the other way around, isn't it?" That shut her up, so the shadow went on, "You don't know the first thing about being a girl. So terrible at it. And she's kind, and sweet, and trusting. What are you?"

"I… I'm her friend."

"No, you're really not," she laughed loudly, harshly. The beginnings of fresh tears stung the back of her throat as she took the next steps two at a time, wishing desperately that she could ditch this unkind spectre. "Because that girl cares about you, and all you care about is that she does. You don't actually like her at all; you find her too quiet, too meek. Too pretty."

"That's not-"

"But she does depend on you. And hey, why should you ditch her when she's so devoted to you? Keep her on the end of your leash like the bitch she is."

"STOP!" Chie begged — and went down hard when her shoe tripped over the top stair, rolling a couple of times onto her side. Her knee had borne the brunt of the fall and now it throbbed in pain, and she automatically tried to massage it. "Just… just leave me alone, I… I do like her, she is my friend! My BEST friend!"

"Awwwwww, is she though?" More false pouting as she crouched over the real Chie. "Can she really be your friend if you want to keep her under your thumb? Totally codependent?"

Growling, she began to crawl forward, wishing she had a good pair of earplugs.

"Can't escape the truuuuth," she sing-songed.

"Go away."

"Just let yourself enjoy it. Give in. In fact… Yukiko is right on the other side of that door."

That made Chie sit up a little straighter. Was she really? Somehow, she knew it was true; she could sense a presence on the other side of the floor-to-ceiling double-doors now that they were so close.

"Yukiko?"

"That's right. So go in there and grind her under the heel of your boot. Show her that you're-"

Completely ignoring the rest of her shadow's words, Chie burst from the ground with renewed adrenaline and kicked open the doors.

"Yukiko!" But the princess didn't move. "Yukiko, what's wrong?!"

As she laughed, madly and maniacally, Yukiko did finally turn around. And she was just as otherworldly and demented as the Chie-clone that had been hounding her heels. Mostly, they looked the same, outfit notwithstanding; it was the eyes… they were almost golden, they blazed with such a yellow intensity. Something about them was most certainly wrong.

"Oh my! A prince has arrived! Things are really heating up!"

Gritting her teeth, Chie pointed at her and said, "No… you're not Yukiko. You're not her at all!"

"What are you talking about?" she gasped, full of false innocence. "I am she, and she is me! We are we."

"Oui oui," Chie's clone added with a light chuckle. A sick lurch shot through her stomach when she realised the clone had followed her inside. Now she had to deal with two of them.

"Oooh la laaaa," the false Yukiko giggled as she pressed an open palm to the center of her chest, just above her ample cleavage. "But I'm afraid if you really want to woo your princess, you'll have to wait! Deeper in, deeper in!"

The shadow of Chie approached her opposite number. Were they in league with each other? Rivals? Maybe they were part of the same being, a monster that wanted to manipulate the people that fell through the TV into this hellscape… but all she did was reach up and grasp at Yukiko's hair, snapping her head backward.

"AH!"

"I'll go deeper in," she promised with a little smirk. "And I don't want to wait."

"Mmhh! Yes, my Prince!" That obscenely lovesick look on her face made Chie turn away from them, throat tight with disgust. "But you can only have me here! I think she wants the other me!"

"Does she? Yes… yes, of course she does." She looked up in time to see the other Chie glowering down at her, despite the sinister smile. "Owning just one of you isn't enough; we need both of you in our cage."

Chie wanted to smack both of their heads together. But then something Yukiko had said pushed through to her: 'deeper in'. She knew where the real Yukiko was.

"Take me to her."

"Huh?" She tilted her head, silky black hair falling to the side. "Take you what where?"

"Don't play dumb. Just… take me to my best friend! You can do whatever you want to me, but I need to see her… I need to know she's okay!"

Against all her expectations, Fake Yukiko pouted instead of looking interested or pleased. "But that's not how this is supposed to work. You do whatever you want to me. Right? I don't wanna be the prince, I wanna be the princess!" And she actually began to sniffle a little.

"Hey, don't cry," the other Chie said with a slight chuckle, tightening her grip on the back of her hair. "I'll make you feel good if you don't cry."

"Y-you will?"

"Hey, HEY!" she shouted over the two of them. "Focus! How about this: I'll help her do that to you, whatever she wants — or I want, or whatever… if you take me to Yukiko first!"

"Oh!" The false Yukiko's face lit up with joy, cheeks turning as pink as her vile princess dress. "You promise? It's not worth it if you don't promise, I wanna hear you say it!"

"I promise. Now, can we get a move on?"

While Yukiko was giggling and literally bouncing up and down for joy, the other Chie started clapping, nodding in approval. "Daaaamn, I'm a little shocked, Satonaka. You're playing her like a fiddle. Thought you were going to insist you're nothing like me, but you're doing exactly what I would do. Bravo!"

"Just cut that out already and let's go," she groaned, burying her face in her hands. Then she felt herself being hoisted into the air. "Wha- WHOA! What are you doing?!"

"Just what you said," she sighed as false Yukiko hitched up her skirts and dashed through the other door toward the stairs. The other Chie fell in step behind her, toting the real one in a princess carry as easily as if she were a bag of flour. "Taking you to see both halves of your whole. Or should I say 'your hole'? Eh? Great pun, right?"

"Disgusting. I can't believe you can talk about her that way — and you call yourself another part of me!"

Her smirk should have been illegal. "Ohhh, but I am. And I see right through all of your bullshit. She's a trophy to you; an ornamental piece. A refrigerator magnet. No… more like, one of those cute little buttons you have pinned to the front of your jacket there." Her head nodded down at said buttons. The sleepy smiley face had always been her favourite, but now she just wanted to rip them off and throw them away. "Something you can wear around and show everyone. Maybe that's what the red one is, right? Is that your Yukiko button?"

"It's… my 'I love exercise' button. And if you're really me, you would know that."

"But it is red, like her favourite colour," she kept teasing.

"Sh-shut up. And do you have to carry me like this?! I can walk, y'know — like my button says!"

"It says you can walk?"

"No, it says I love- just shut up! GOD!"

Laughing openly at her, Other-Chie scoffed, "I'm faster than you. And I won't be a panting, sweaty mess when we get to the top floor… well, maybe once we're there…"

"Does everything you say have to be a double entendre?!"

However, she seemed to be dead on the money. In no time, they were at the top floor, and entering an ornate throne room. Somehow, the shadow Yukiko had gotten there ahead of them with enough time to spare that she could seat herself, and look as prim and proper as if she had been waiting for them for an hour. And there, at the bottom of the red carpet-lined steps leading up to the dais, was…

"YUKIKO!" Springing out of her double's arms, she ran forward and knelt by her side, curling an arm around her shoulders. This Yukiko was wearing a light pink kimono, as she typically did when working at her parents' very traditional Japanese inn.

"My, my, it's getting crowded in here," the shadow on the throne chuckled as she rose from her seat, stepping to the edge of the dais. "Why don't you and I go somewhere else? A land far, far away, where no one knows me. If you're my prince, you'll take me there, won't you? C'mon, pretty please?"

"Do you… mean me?" Chie asked hesitantly. She was a little worried about how the real Yukiko hadn't said anything yet, but curiosity would not let her ignore the shadow entirely.

"Of course, Chie! She's my prince. She always leads the way; Chie is a strong prince." Then she sighed and added, "Or at least, she was."

"Was?" the Other-Chie demanded, eyebrows shooting up.

"When it comes down to it, Chie's just not good enough. She can't take me away from here — can't save me! Historic inn? Manager training? I'm sick of all these things chaining me down — sick of everything being decided for me!"

"The hell I can't save you!" It was a disbelieving scoff, and the other shadow began to stride up the stairs as she continued, "I'm your prince, aren't I? I can do whatever I want with you. And you'll be grateful, because you know I won't let anything bad happen to you ever again. Well… nothing that I'm not doing to you myself."

Even while Chie herself was reeling in fresh disgust, the other Yukiko's eyes were widening. "You will? I m-mean… I really thought you couldn't help me escape my prison."

"I'll destroy your prison and make you a new one," Other-Chie said… and as she reached the top of the stairs, something about her changed. One blink, and she was identical to the real Chie; the next, a large crown appeared on her head to match the thin, delicate tiara on Other-Yukiko's head. The jacket stayed the same colour but turned into something more royal, with gold braids hanging down in loops over the shoulders. Medals replaced the buttons. And her school skirt became grey tights.

"A new one just for me?" Other-Yukiko gasped in wonder.

"Thick bars made of diamonds. The floor will be polished marble, your cot in the corner will be velvet…" Her hands smoothed up Yukiko's neck, gripping in the hair and tilting her head up. "And your collar will be made of the finest leather money can buy."

"Chie…?"

Her attention instantly diverted from the shadows to the real Yukiko Amagi. She was still huddled in her arms, dazed eyes finally focusing on the stairs, up at the two figures. Then turning to the one holding her.

"Yes?" she breathed. "Are you okay?"

"Chie, what… what is… going on? How did I get here?" Already, her eyes were watering as she whispered, "A-are we going to die?"

It wasn't that Yukiko was a coward, or a weakling. She was stronger than she knew. But she saw herself as weak and helpless. Chie had always tried to encourage her to train with her, thinking the kung fu might help offset that meekness, but she had shied away from it — insisting it would be seen as 'unladylike' by her extremely conservative mother. Frowned upon as something ill-suited for a girl who would one day help run the Amagi Inn to be caught doing.

"No," she whispered, a smile finally pulling at her mouth for the first time since she had entered the TV. "No way. I got your back."

"I've been s-so scared," she whispered fearfully as she trembled in her arms. "I don't know wh- don't know what's going on, but I kept thinking, if… if only you came… but how did you know where I was?"

"Boo hoo," Other-Chie jeered at them. And when she turned to look…

This was a very different scene now. Her princely green coat was now draped over her back like a cape, yakuza-style. The rest of her clothing was… something else. Was it some kind of metal bikini? Maybe it was gold; that would explain the yellow sheen. And between the thigh-high boots and opera gloves, and the smug look on her plain face… the outfit was definitely giving it a very specific connotation.

"Isn't it sickening?" Other-Yukiko sighed, shaking her head as her arms folded in front of her chest — in just the right way to push her breasts up. "They cling to each other like they're going to fall apart. And how can that other me just blubber and cry all the time?"

Other-Chie grinned and started sliding her hand up and down the small of her Yukiko's back. "Mmm, forget about them. The real Chie and Yukiko have business to attend."

"Ooooh," she giggled. "What kind of business?"

"Let's get out of here," the real Yuki whispered. "Just… j-just let them do whatever that is, and… and you and I can go back to Marukyu Tofu and… and have something for dinner, and w-we'll just… forget all about this. Okay? If… if you know the way out?"

Her eyes were so hopeful when she looked up at Chie. As always. That was the look that got to her more than she had ever wanted to admit. Which, unfortunately, contributed to how badly the shadow version of herself was getting to her with each and every word…

"Look at her face," said shadow snorted instantly, grinning wolfishly down at the original Chie. "She finally gets it. She sees the ugly black mold under the tatami that she had been pretending didn't stink for years. Yukiko Amagi is nothing but a tool to her."

"And she loves being a tool," her Yukiko breathed as she sat her Chie in the throne, then crawled into her lap, petting up and down her arms. "I know I do."

"Come on!" the real Yukiko whispered. "Can't we go away? Do you know the way home?"

"Y-yeah," Chie whispered. Then she cleared her throat and stood up. "We're going. Back the way we came; if we can get out of the castle, I think I can take us to where we can go back through the TV."

"Through the what?! I'm- WHOA! Chie-chan!"

Not wanting to mince words, she started dragging Yukiko away from the steps. The other girl couldn't move very fast, but it was as much about the restrictive kimono as it was her inferior athletic ability. But she would never give voice to it, never have complained about-

"Why is she SOOOO slow?!" Of course, Other-Chie said it for her. "Doesn't she ever even go outside? Pathetic!"

"Actually… there's something wrong, my Prince."

"What?"

"They haven't paid us back yet."

"Ohhhh. I believe you're — right!"

A loud din of jangling metal filled the air as Chie suddenly found herself stopped short, just a few more strides from the doors. When she looked down, she saw her arms were pinned to her sides by thick chains, and they were already trying to drag her back toward the throne.

"Hey!" she shouted, struggling. "What the hell is this?!"

"You promised!" Other-Yukiko wailed, pouting as the toothily-grinning Other-Chie dragged her back toward them, up the steps and onto the dais. It hurt, but her pride was wounded far more than her body.

"Promised wh… oh. OH! B-but you already have the other me, isn't that enough?"

"You're my prince! Why should I only want one of you when two princes who adore me is twice the fun?"

Her shadow chuckled. "She's got you there, Satonaka."

Now Chie had a dilemma. She could see Yukiko approaching the steps, expression panicked and worried for her best friend. And all she wanted was for her to escape, to save herself. Her entire goal in entering the TV was to get Yukiko out of there!

Then she thought about something else. There were more shadows than their two clones roaming those stone hallways; all manner of beasts and ghouls and assorted horrors. Yukiko was not a fighter; never had been. She still needed her. Even if she hated that she liked it, that didn't make it untrue.

"Alright!" she gasped out. "Okay, let me out of these chains, and… and I'll do it. I'm sorry, I forgot."

"You forgot?!" Yukiko asked incredulously.

"No, no, she did," her own shadow mused, eyes narrowed down at her. "So obsessed with Amagi that we stopped mattering, didn't we? You're as codependent as she is."

"Sure, yeah, whatever. Let's get on with it. What am I supposed to be doing?"

The eyes remained narrowed, but her smirk came into full bloom. "You know already."

"What? No, I really don't. Should I pull her hair like you did?"

"Chie?" asked the real Yukiko as the fake one smiled wider. "What are you doing?"

"I'm sorry, Yuki-chan. Really, it's… I promised them…" She didn't want to continue, but her shadow had other plans, and nudged her hard with her elbow. "I promised I would d-do whatever they wanted if they took me to you. And I mean… they did, so…"

As her friend looked stricken and confused, the false Yukiko nuzzled up against her side. "Do whatever you want to me. It's going to make me feel so safe, so loved! Like my prince cares about me!"

"But she's your prince!" she protested, nodding at the other Chie.

"We're both her prince. How are you still not getting this? No wonder our grades are in the toilet; we're just dumb as a fencepost, huh?" Then she picked up Chie's hands and guided them to the princess's neck. "Do what comes natural. Go on."

"What comes… natural…" Well, putting her hands on Yukiko's neck sure didn't feel that way. Even if this monster was a fake, it had her noble features, her little bow mouth… which was slightly parted in anticipation.

They wanted her to choke her. It hit her like a ton of bricks, and her hands shot away as if burned. Yukiko pouted, and Other-Chie rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"Please, stop this," asked the real Yukiko, bowing politely. Just as she had been trained to do. "W-we just want to leave. Is that so wrong? We want to go home!"

"Not until she fulfils her promise," Other-Yukiko pouted. "And it's such an easy one! All she has to do is put me in my place like she already wants to do — everybody wins! I get to belong to my Prince, and she gets to enjoy owning me!"

Yukiko was revolted. "What are you saying?! You're a person, I- no, I'm a person, and so are you, and… who would want to be owned like they're some kind of thing?!"

"Why, we do, obviously. We want a hot stud to sweep us off our feet, so we don't have to think about anything at all! Not managing an inn, not grades, not responsibilities. Living the life of a pet sounds so inviting, doesn't it?"

As she went on, the real Yukiko was beginning to look despondent. And Chie knew why; because she was right — at least partially. It didn't mean she really wanted a life like that, but as she was now beginning to understand, it meant there was a part of Yukiko that found the idea of running away from everything that was expected of her to be an extremely appealing notion. And that it distorted the bonds of their friendship. All the things she had heard Yukiko saying before, echoing off the walls… those were probably her honest feelings and wishes. Everything the shadow spouted was the worst possible version of said feelings.

"Well, I'm not going to do this forever," Chie warned them with a sigh as she reached into the shadow Yukiko's hair and scratched behind her ear. "But I will for a little while. I did promise, I guess."

"Mmm," she hummed, and the false Chie also watched with satisfaction. "My prince… it feels so good, I'm so yours…"

"Doesn't she have any self-respect?" the real Yuki muttered. But it was loud enough they could hear her.

"She doesn't. You know that she doesn't and you don't." Other-Chie began to stride down the steps toward her, a red whip appearing in her hands, already pulled taut. "But while they're busy… would you like to find out how they're feeling up there? So boring, sitting around on the sidelines."

Instantly, the real Chie stepped away from the pet, letting her fall onto her elbows from the unexpected absence of her master. "You leave her alone. That's not part of the promise."

"It's a bonus," her opposite chuckled with a smirk. "All she has to do is say 'yes'."

"But…" She had to think fast. As usual, Yukiko looked too terrified of the imposing shadow, of the whip in her hands, to protest; she might even give in. "But I… but your Yukiko wants us both!"

One eyebrow raised as she turned to smirk back over her shoulder. "But they are both ours. Every Yukiko belongs to us for all eternity. Doesn't that make you feel so good? Makes them feel good."

"So good," Other-Yukiko echoed, rubbing up and down her upper arms as her eyes closed in bliss at the mere fantasy.

"You lay one finger on her and the deal is off," Chie pushed stubbornly. "I said I would… d-do things to the other Yukiko, but you getting to torture my best friend isn't part of that!"

A little "Chie…" slipped out of Yukiko's lips. Then she swallowed hard and said to the other one, "Y-yes, please don't touch me. I… I don't want…"

"Liar," she insisted.

"I am not lying! I'm scared, I d-don't want to be here! And I don't want you to hurt m-"

She cut off with a yelp as the whip came whistling down, hitting the ground right next to her fingers. She clutched both hands to her chest and shrank in on herself, eyes slammed shut as she tried to blot out everything and everyone.

"She wants it," Other-Chie said with certainty. "Look at how pathetic she is. Not trying to fight me off, can't even move now."

Other-Yukiko laughed and began to paw at Chie's leg, which made her a lot more uncomfortable than she could have imagined. "Poor little bitch thinks she's too good for our collars. Speaking of which…"

Suddenly, the other Chie was standing over her and holding a black spiked dog collar, dangling off the end of her index finger. She began to twirl it around and around. "Happy birthday to us."

"What's… what are you doing with that?" Now it was in real Chie's own hands. The leather was warm and heavy, and the shadow Yukiko's neck was slender, calling out for its companion. "Oh."

"Please?" she breathed needily. "Just… put it on, and we'll both be so happy…"

So she put it on. She couldn't bear to face the real Yukiko, but she managed to slide the leather around her doppelganger's throat and fit it snugly without being too tight. A sigh of gratitude fell from her as soon as it was complete, and she smiled up at Chie with what seemed like genuine affection.

"I thought you had seen how worthless I am," she whispered. "But you want me all to yourself? Really?"

"S-stop it," she muttered as she cleared her throat. "I did it because it's… what you wanted. A trade for Yukiko."

"But I'm-"

"What else do you want me to do? Huh? So we can get it done, and… and I can go home."

Now the false Yukiko looked as if she might cry. Her real life counterpart crept forward to kneel on the second step, getting a better look. Other-Chie clicked her tongue, though her expression remained as smug as ever. "So mean. Give her what she wants, and then make her feel like doggie doo. What a power move; really keep her on your leash this way."

"Cut that OUT!" Chie snapped.

"Whoa, touchy! I can't help it if the truth is too weird for you."

"You don't want to be here with me," Other-Yuki finally breathed, and Chie found herself actually feeling a pinprick of remorse. "Can't you play with me a little more before you go? I… I'm gonna miss you…"

"Oh… fine, fine. Tell me what it is you want me to do."

Her expression full of sappy affection — and the real Yukiko's full of disbelief and outrage — she began to hitch up her skirts. "Well, I did pick out something very special to wear today — so I can catch a stud, like you! But it looks like I got defeated, and these are going to waste, so… I thought-"

"Wait, wait, I'm not- you want me to see your underwear?!"

"Not just see it…"

Cold flooded the pit of her stomach. She turned wide eyes on the real Yukiko, who still seemed dazed but was now frowning a lot deeper than before, then back to the legs that were appearing beneath the hem of the clone's dress.

"No."

"Don't you want to go home?" she purred as her thighs came into view. "Play with me. Make me feel really, really good… and you might get that wish. Pretty please?"

"NO! You're a shadow, a- a demon! Why would I do something for you I've barely ever done to myself — much less anybody else?!"

The shadow Yukiko got a little more insistent, pout more pronounced. "Because I'm your princess! Touch me — make my body come alive for you! Turn me into your willing servant!"

"Come on, stop it!"

"Why? Give me one good reason you shouldn't be ripping off my clothes and having your way with m-"

"Because I wanna do this with the REAL Yukiko, not YOU!"

                                                     To Be Continued…

[lullabiesandgoodbyes]

Okay, you’d probably expect a dump of feelings regarding La Casa de Papel P4:

( here be spoilers, obviously )

It’s a fact that the writing of LCDP has never been brilliant. The heist was clever, but some scenes were far-fetched and the dialogue faltered many times. Still, I was mainly here for the characters: criminals, flawed people whose human side was revealed through the episodes, that was the reason why I got attached to the show.

I can’t help but to feel disappointed that they seemed to have lost perspective of them: the characters were turned into puppets for the sake of dRAmA!!1, became caricatures of what they used to be - this is already our 4th year with them, we know them, and please don’t call it character development when it’s so obviously just bad writing. They deserved better than this.

That being said:

- It’s not even the fact that Nairobi was killed; it’s the fact they’ve created and developed a strong female character, shot her for a cliffhanger at the end of P3, saved her at the beginning of P4, had both her body and mind tortured multiple times while still not fully recovered, and then simply put a bullet in her head by betrayal, with no honor nor glory. And for what, shock value?! Fuck you!!

- Since we’re talking about Nairobi: it’s not that she shouldn’t want to be a mother ( people claiming but she’s a feminist!! can shut the fuck up ), but she already was a mother, despite having no son for years, one that once got offended after being told that she should just have another baby to replace the one she had lost. Now, not only they gave me no closure regarding Axel and the way the Police used him to bring her down, but they also forced me to witness this marvellous woman emotionally manipulating a man that she knew to be in a committed relationship to have a baby with her and then partying with his partner ( her supposed friend ) without telling her the truth;

- The same can be pointed at Tokio, going ( again! ) after Denver, “ let’s fuck and pretend it never happened “ - they actually tried to tell us female friendships, yay!! and then have her sexually pining after her supposed friend’s husband, twice. Like, what are even women to each other if not rude bitches, right?

- Look, I don’t know what kind of wet dream these writers have about Tokio, but it’s time for them to actually acknowledge her faults, no? Nairobi would never consider her a good leader; the team would never accept her as a good leader; Tokio is simply not a good leader. Also, so much disgust at all the sexual innuendos between her and Gandía and the general idea that he only kept her alive because she turned him on...

- I was honestly laughing at the whole surgery scene; I gave it a pass when they helped Mónica with that infected wound back in P1 because..., but this was so ridiculous it was too much for me to bear. Tokio is becoming the Rachel Berry of LCDP and you have no idea how much it bothers me to write these actual words;

- She still had her moments, though. Not enough for me to love her, but I will always defend Tokio from a fandom who hates on her at the same time that idolatrizes Berlín, for fuck’s sake... -.-

- Raquel was one of the best characters this show had on P1-2. If Lisboa doesn’t grow a personality detached from El Profesor, I’ll be punching a wall, seriously, what did you reduce her to?

- But not everything was bad: Estocolmo is still MY GIRL!!!1 I’m still pissed they had to break up her marriage to give her some attention ( women are allowed to have partners and a life beyond them, in case you didn’t know ), but I generally liked her in P4 and how she’s slowly gaining her own place within the team. The whole discussion about seeing Denver in a new light was interesting ( I could write a whole essay about it ), but should have been better worded and developed, especially because this fandom is overall dumb and is already blaming it on her - but what else is new?

- I’m also only supporting this because I believe she’s dealing with her previous choices, and basically coming together after the initial Stockholm Syndrome, and will eventually get back together with Denver. If not, I’ll burn Netflix down;

- Also, being sad that Nairobi died, yes; coming after Estocolmo because she should have died instead, no, fuck you!! >:(

- Now, the major disappointment: thanks for throwing THREE years of development out of the window so Denver could chase Tokio’s ass, as if he ever felt for her half of the things he apparently did on P4, and thanks for nearly ruining my favorite character on this fuckery, starting with his rude commentaries about women ( he was in love with Mónica and still pushed her away because she wasn’t able to fully consent their relationship, but sure, let’s all agree that he sees women like cars because so funny!! Also, implying that he only ended up with Mónica because he couldn’t get Tokio, yes, that’s totally what happened, who the fuck wrote this shit...?? ) and ending on the toxic jealousy over his best friend being traumatized and finding his only comfort with his wife ( like, WTF was that even?! );

- Managing to regress Denver into someone he even wasn’t at the beginning of the show was probably worse than watching him die somewhere along the way, and, trust me, I hate to write this :’(((

- But thank you ( and this goes to Jaime Lorente, not the stupid writers ) for bringing him back on the last episodes. I guess this is what you get when writers don’t know how to properly do their jobs, but the writing has been a general mess since P3 so I’m choosing to still love him and want all good things for him. Including his wife back, because admitting his shit and trying to be better is still Denver’s redeeming quality, and I think she’s ready to accept that;

- I still think Ricardo is a better fit than Daniel :(((

- I admit that Manila was cool, but she still felt like a way for the show to gain some diversity points with a trans character that is not even played by a trans actress... Her conversation with Denver, although sweet, was vague and only complemented the initial feeling, since it could have lead him to reorganize his thoughts over male/female friendships ( as if P1-3!Denver ever needed that... ) and eventually served for nothing;

- That is, I’m choosing to believe they won’t make Denver/Manila happen on P5 because fuck them if they do...

- Also fuck everyone who’s coming after Río for being weak, and fuck whoever let the boy stay at the Bank after months of torture. The writing of his arc was just as bad as nearly everyone else’s ( perfectly able to shoot a missile in one day, incapable of holding a gun against Gandía on the other, wants everyone to kill him next... ) but his friendship with Estocolmo was worth it, loved them;

- He’s also a baby and he’s now Estocolmo and Denver’s new baby <333

- Last, but not least: I really didn’t like the way they turned Arturito into a major creep and confirmed rapist. This was a character we hated on principle, for being a headache and playing hero when he wasn’t more than an idiot, but this... What was even the point of this?

Some other random thoughts I have left:

- Helsinki: honestly, stop hurting him, please;

 - El Profesor: I can’t get myself to like his character, sorry I’m not sorry;

- Marsella: a good boy;

- Palermo: please die;

- Bogotá: not convinced, still don’t like him, can still die;

- Sierra: the best antagonist;

- Antoñanzas: the best sidekick;

- Moscú: I missed you, papa </3/3/3

- Berlín: * you’re not allowed in Heaven with the rest of them, go back to Hell, motherfucker *

- The Bank’s governor was cool, helping to save Nairobi, protecting Amanda and telling Arturito off :)))

- Hope Amanda gets her well-deserved revenge, let her cut Arturito’s dick when he’s asleep ( or awake, it doesn’t really matter );

- I missed Cincinnati and Miguel x_x

Also, the cast and crew saying P4 was a satisfying ending when it so obviously was a non-ending felt dishonest and I don’t like being played like that. Just assume you’re trying to milk the most out of it - and apparently losing grip of it all together.

So, yeah, I’ll be back for P5 because they left me hanging on, but the disappointment is real. I wish they had left it where it was supposed to end. :(((

[lxversarcana]

i got into persona v recently and finished p5 for the first time a week ago, and ive been thinkin 24/7 abt the found family and tarot symbolism ever since. please go off abt it! (also if its ok to ask. been thinkin of tryin p3 or p4 next which would u recommend?)

Sorry for the late response Anon!! Hoo boy I have some Thoughts about Persona 5 and while not all of them are positive First things first, so it isn’t buried under my ramblings, Persona 3. Definitely play that first. Specifically Portable cause as Hamuko you get all the party Social Links and also you don’t have to deal with a babe hunt scene or a transphobic joke. And, P4 is a real slog to get through because of the homophobia and transphobia that is so present through the main game, on top of what I personally think is a shakily written plot. While I’d say you can skip it entirely, it is necessary if you ever want to get into Arena which I highly recommend just for Labrys alone. She’s a wonderful character. ONTO PERSONA 5 TALK First off the Positives. It was my first Persona game I’ve played but also the first where I finished the like, plot. Like I had originally gotten into Persona 4 when I was fourteen but I never finished watching the playthrough of the game I had been binge watching. It will always hold a special place in my heart despite its flaws. I think the Shujin Trio is the best of the Protag-Best Friend-Girl trios of the modern games simply because Ryuji and Ann are Just So Personable and also. While I love Yukari SO much, I am not that fond of Junpei. Like I love him, but like. I have some complaints. NOT going to get myself off track though, this is Persona 5 time. I also really love some of the aesthetic of the game so much? I was originally drawn to it BECAUSE of the heist movie aesthetic that opening gives us and while the rest of the game doesn’t quite deliver, it is still just SO FUN to go through some of the palaces. The catharsis of Kamoshida’s palace will honestly never be topped because while I kinda hate the opening palace now after playing the game five times(four for vanilla, once for Royal), I’ll never get over the feeling I got back in 2017 when I first watched Ann nearly torch Kamoshida even if I hate her thief outfit SO MUCH. I think it has some strong beats and an interesting statement it wanted to make even if it doesn’t follow through with it. Also, Rivers in the Desert is the best fight song out of all the modern games. It just fucks so hard. Now onto the negative. There’s so much missed potential first off. Second off there’s a lot of really tone deaf moments that make it really hard to like. Respect the game as much as I do Persona 3. The first being how sexualized Ann is, like. Really. Cmon. And on that same topic, Ryuji’s Atlus Horny Boy syndrome he develops after the first palace. Also Makoto’s whole cop thing, like in Persona 3 or 4, while I still say ACAB, it wouldn’t come off as such a spit in the face like it does in Persona 5- A game that has stated over and over that cops and other people in positions of power are corrupt and shouldn’t be trusted. Also, Sae’s palace while it is my favorite of all of the Palaces, it doesn’t hit as hard as it could because so much of it is centered around Akechi and the Betrayal. If it seemed personal for Akechi or if it at all focused on how hard this is for Makoto, it would have hit harder. SPEAKING OF MAKOTO AGAIN- and also Akechi- I think the traitor twist with Akechi was Too Obvious and I think Makoto could have made for SUCH a good red herring for a traitor ESPECIALLY because of how the Casino was her sister’s palace you know? That’s kind of all my thoughts for the moment, I might talk more on this later.

[characteroulette]

Hey PQ was pretty good!

so I’m having trouble getting into PQ2 because of several factors, so I thought I’d write a half-think piece, half-essay on why I think the first PQ gets more flak than it deserves. So here’s that.

------

I genuinely don't understand why, when talking about Persona Q, people are always saying things along the lines of, "The gameplay was good, but the characters were trite and the story wasn't that great." Like, as a fan of the Persona series, I genuinely don't understand that assessment.

Not saying PQ is flawless, oh no. There are PLENTY of things in PQ that I have an axe to grind with (the small door scene with the P4 gang, for one), but the overall story? The characters? They're both fine. Good, even, dare I say. And here's my argument as to why:

The returning Persona series characters (from 3 and 4) in PQ do a good job of representing their games and their own personalities, even if a little more light-hearted than their source material,

AND

The story is genuinely in-line with the rest of the Persona/SMT series, even if it ultimately doesn't matter due to time shenanigans (and I'm okay with that).

These are my two points. Just those two. Because these are the two most contested parts of PQ, as far as I can hear, since we all agree that the gameplay is the real breadwinner here hahaha

Anyway.

First, let's talk about the returning characters, since they seem to be the ones who matter most. The P4 cast are generally less griped about (save Chie and Teddie) and I believe this is largely due to the brighter, more hopeful tone of P4 as a whole. (Aaand, in my opinion, they're done a MUCH BIGGER disservice in the Arena games, but no one ever talks about that so let's not bother with those right now.)

P4 was a game about making friends, the hijinx that come from that, and finding the truth about a string of murders and confronting the worst parts of yourself in a harsher world in the process! And it executes this with the appropriate amount of balance between serious moments and comedic relief. The theme colour for the whole game is bright yellow/gold, a happier and more friendly colour which helps remind you that this game is all in good fun.

(Side note here: I honestly think that P5 really failed in this respect, despite my liking its tone slightly more. I just personally like darker-themed games, but P5 was a little too dark and oppressive right out the gate, with hardly a friendly face, which helps make your gradually growing group of friends much more appreciated but also a harder atmosphere for jokes to really land well. Most of the 'funny' sequences felt very undeserved and really dragged because uh guys we literally just fought a rapist, an abusive father figure, and some other fucked-up shit. Can we please acknowledge that a bit more instead of pretending it never happened by laughing at the expense of Ann's autonomy of her body? Especially when she was a target of said rapist??) But that's its own discussion for later.

Really, the fact that most of the P4 gang get out of this with little criticism shows how accepted their caricatures have become. I guess? At least, except for Teddie and Chie.

Teddie being a wannabe Casanova must've been a huge hit with the Japanese audience, because it's just the hill he's going to die on for the writers. There was more to Teddie than his hitting on the girls in P4, believe it or not! (And there's a whole thing about it being brought on by him mimicking the type of behaviour he saw Yukiko's shadow exhibiting, which has a lot of really interesting undertones, but it makes him more swappable with Junpei, so whatever, I guess.) Meanwhile, Chie's not as meat-crazy, either, but I guess it's a better trait for them to roll with than her (cut in the translation) glossed-over sexism.

Both work fine, however, and aren't really too annoying enough to be that egregious. (Though they both go right up to the line sometimes. Teddie more so, but none of the girls playing along really helps show how gross his actions are. Most of the time.)

No, the real complaints I see directed at the characters being 'too cartoonish' are usually reserved for the P3 gang.

P3 is, really, such a bizarre game to go back to now when compared to its two successors. It's dark and hopeless, like P5, but formulaic and mystery, like P4. It's actually a natural progression when looking at its two/three older siblings (both P2s are bleak. As. Hell!), but, at least to me, it's the odd duck of the bunch, being the first to implement this winning formula of being caught in a time limit of a school year and managing spending time exploring this other world. It adds Social Links and social stats with this new time limit and this idea that the Persona and Shadows you fight don't just happen out on the streets in 'normal' circumstances for everyone to see. It pretty much went from an RPG to a management game with RPG elements.

And its emotional, impactful story, like P5, had a lot of tonal whiplash due to the attempts at comedy!

I feel like a lot of people forget this about P3 (and maybe I think more about it because I haven't actually beaten the whole game yet myself), but the story is actually a goddamn mess of tonal confusion. You got kids shooting themselves in the heads and a Social Link dealing with a classmate's crush on his teacher. You got wacky foreign exchange student and kids taking experimental drugs to suppress their Persona and slowly poisoning themselves to death as a side effect. The protagonist is an orphan who lost his parents in a huge, plot-relevant accident... But he's able to date every single girl at the same time and be the most wish fulfillment charming guy if the player so desires.

P3 being messy isn't a bad thing. P4, P5, and even P2 and PQ are all a little messy in their own rights, too. But because P3 was a lot of fans' first in the series, and PQ is just a spin-off, it gets way more flak for this than I feel it deserves.

(I mean, hey. Both P3 and P4 have those classic anime scenes of the boys walking in on the girls while at a hot springs. All PQ's got is an awkward group date scene and the implication that Yosuke and Kanji kissed each other while getting knocked out.) (They all. Have. Problems.)

And I know a lot of this comes down to personal preference. I'm not saying you're wrong for liking P3 or P4 more than PQ. I'm just saying I feel like PQ is often wrongly accused of being worse and less well-written when, really, they're all pretty much on par with each other. (And someone on the team really doesn't understand how to handle large casts of characters sharing the same space...)

But, personally, from everything I've seen from P3, I don't like the way most of the characters get presented to me in the source material. Junpei is way more insufferable in P3 than in PQ and Yukari is way more uninteresting in P3 than in PQ. Really, PQ helped me appreciate these characters more than P3 itself did. And, yes, they're more funny when they're trying to be, too. Because PQ is set up better for comedy than the 'remember you are mortal' tone of P3.

(Which makes dramatic moments hit all the harder when they happen) HEY check that segue! It's time to talk about the story and the two original characters of the game!

So, second point: people say the story isn't very good. To which I wanna ask... "Did you stop playing before defeating the fourth Boss?" Because it really sounds like, to me, everyone who says that didn't actually finish the game and reach all that juicy character development that happens for both sides around the fourth dungeon, where all the issues they've been building up (like Yukari's issue with Mitsuru for the P3 side and Kanji and Ken's awkwardness in the P4 side) start getting resolved in a satisfying way. And it comes with a reveal for the two characters we've been getting to know, Zen and Rei, as well.

(And, from here on in, there be spoilers. You've been warned.)

The two new characters to this game are Zen and Rei, who were in this place before the P3 or P4 gangs were called to the scene. Zen is quiet and a bit unsettlingly dense, but devoted to Rei, who is bubbly and full of life, but terrified of the dungeons you have to traverse. The two have been in this place for (what's implied to be) a very long time and enlist the help of the P3 and P4 teams in order to find a way out through defeating the bosses of each Labyrinth/dungeon. Simple enough, as it also helps the P3 and P4 team's goal of getting out. With each new dungeon, it feels more and more like something about Zen and Rei aren't quite right, but the length of the dungeon and all the team chats help you put it out of your mind each time. Rei can even get kinda annoying with her loudness and big appetite if you don't find her cute (which: how dare you. But yeah, I get it).

And then, at the end of a fiery festival fourth dungeon, you find yourself in a dark tomb at the bottom level. The boss awaiting you is Rei's shadow (a nice callback to the way P4 works) whom she still doesn't accept after you defeat it.

All the locks are gone and the P3 and P4 teams can return to their worlds if they wanted. Except Rei gets kidnapped after Zen reveals that Rei has been dead all along and it was him who trapped them here. It was he who created this place and even he who called both teams here.

And this was a plot twist that I friggin' loved.

It definitely had more impact on me because Zen and Rei easily became my favourites out of the whole cast, to the point of having them on my team for the whole game, but to find out such a fucked up twist is wild! (Seriously! Go watch the cutscene and tell me it isn't super fucked up!) You can say the P3 and P4 twists were shocking (or P5s I guess), but for my money, this is the best reversal of expectations I'd ever seen in a Persona game. In any game, really!

Zen was, in effect, the villain the whole time. His true identity as Chronos, God of time, makes sense with displacing the teams from their own times and the time here being erased once you reach the end. His own power that he sealed away growing impatient and taking matters into its own hands by drawing the teams to this haven displaced from time also makes perfect sense! And the entire climb through the last dungeon is his redemption arc and it makes for a super emotionally investing final dungeon all the way. (Which is great, because I hate every single one of the enemies that appear in this god-forsaken place.) (Even P4 and P5 can't really boast that, I felt very little investment through Izanami's dungeon and Baldabaoth's distortion.)

Of course, if you found Zen and Rei to be annoying and pointless, I can see how this would fall flat for you. The fact that they hinged such an emotional climax on these new characters, characters that don't even matter outside of this game!, was such a risky move. Especially when you consider this is just a fanservice game made basically under the promise of seeing the P3 team interact with the P4 team. But, for me, it really paid off.

And whatever complaints you had with the P3 or P4 characters, I feel like the resolutions to those character moments I mentioned earlier get explored even further during the climb through the final dungeon. From the P3 gang coming together to finally communicate with one another to the P4 gang reconfirming their bonds with one another, it's a really investing and emotional journey. I do wish the writing had been this tight and impactful through more of the game, but I believe it's worth it in the end.

Perhaps this moment comes too late in the game, though. I can definitely see others giving up before reaching this point due to the repetitive nature of the dungeons and the tidbits of character development that are meant to build up to this moment that can be too sparsely placed. (But, really, it's the same from P3 to P5, Social Links don't really add much variety when they can be just as repetitive and boring, just saying. Especially when you get caught in waiting to rank up hell, ugh.) For me, however, this really sealed the deal on this game being an incredible experience that I adored from start to finish. 7/10. Final score.

....

....

(7 outta 10?? Not perfect??) Well, it's not perfect. Japan's blatant homophobia and sexism really ruins a lot of scenes for me. I'm super salty especially about how the fake marriage scenes are handled so differently from the girl choices to the boy choices. (But you just argued in its favour for 2000 words!) Listen. ALL the Persona games wouldn't receive perfect scores for me for this aspect alone. There are a lot of other factors as well, but they vary from title to title and PQ in particular is guilty of spending too much time focusing on Teddie and Junpei being girl-crazy. And Marie is in this game more than she really should be. UGH.

But I digress.

In conclusion, this game's story and characters are better than most give it credit for. Hopefully, my argument helped you see why I believe this and why I think claiming that both aspects are just 'bad' is lazy.

[shimpo-islay-blog]

Honest opinion.

I've been a gamer for years, and it's been a part of my life in one way or another. And recently I was watching a video by overlord gaming about the "Epic Storm" of last man standing games. And through all my years and platforms I've not seen a more one sided argument that started out and finished so well while having an awful middle plug. The first point he hits are moba games breaking out in 2012 which isn't true unless you were a pure console gamer since 07. Then he moves onto the loot box fiasco that is still on going. He then moves onto Fortnite a game that is reminiscent, by the way he explains it, of tribes or gunz. A fast paced twitch shooter. Which I disagree with strongly. His last point is that people are playing it because it's a "good game" that respects players. If that's all it was then overwatch and many games with cosmetic only loot (something that existed long before overwatch) would still be at large in their community. The thing that grinds my gears like many like minded gamers I've met. Is that the trend isnt going to change, because you're throwing all your money into it and they see it as a safe bet. Eventually you're favorite game or series is going to get ruined. And there's not alot an individual can do. Which is why the rise of Indie titles and user feedback games are so important. Just a name wont keep a good game alive (megaman legends 3 as example as it was axed during the moba craze) its us the people in the community that drive the trends. If we focus on one game genre or specific title we kill the industry. We kill the creators freedom and a company's drive to make good interesting new titles. And we are slowly entering another age of failure for the gaming industry with oversaturation. Just because these trends show up and the companies see them as safe. So just get out of your comfort zone and buy that game you feel is interesting and crazy, but you never get super into. Have less than 100% completion for trophies and achievements. As a person that's played a game from any genre you can think of I don't regret a single one. Cause we have to all be outliers. We can't let them think "Oh they'll buy it, cause it's the hot genre now." I mean that's what caused the fps genre to fall to a lawless waste, the mmo market to be oversaturated, and the battle royale games to dominate. I like to call myself a hardcore rpg gamer, but honestly I'm more often called an obscure gamer. Which is awful when many of the games I talk to others about are big titles. So please step out buy that game your weird friend mentions and just try it. I mean look at P5 it came from this cult following series to a super anticipated release and we all know its cause P4 and P4G had such an amazing story that fans told everyone and bought the fuck out of it. Make a change in the industry it takes one person to start something. But many people behind them to start a revolution.

[asian-hero]

Is It Just Me Or Are We Soulmates? -7

this chapter is long and i don’t know why

p1 - p2 - p3 - p4 - p5 - p6

wanna read on ao3? here’s the link -> link

Lance woke up with a groan, holding his head while sitting up. Slowly, he looked around at his surroundings. He noticed that he was back in his bedroom, and Hunk was sitting in the bed next to him, watching the news.

“What happened?”

Hunk looked over at him, grinning a little. “Hey buddy, how are you feeling?”

Lance rubbed his temples, trying to relieve some of the pain. “I want to die. I feel like shit,”

Hunk laughed, walking over to him to hand him a water bottle. Lance snatched the bottle out of his hands, chugging it down quickly. Once he finished, he threw it across the room, missing the trash can. He heard Hunk sighing next to him, going over to throw away the bottle properly.

“Do you remember anything from last night?”

Lance furrowed his eyebrows together, deep in thought, before shaking his head. “No, all I remember is drinking with you and Allura,”

Hunk blinked a few times before a confused look appeared on his face. “You don’t remember anything?”

“Should I?”

Hunk sighed, debating on whether or not he should tell him what happened last night. Deciding that he wanted Lance to get over his embarrassment before they left the hotel room he told him what happened:

“You were practically smothering Shiro with compliments and clinging onto him,”

Lance stared at his friend, slightly shocked about what happened. But he shrugged it off. He knew he was a flirty drunk, so flirting a little with his soulmate didn’t matter that much to him. Before he could say anything Hunk held up a hand.

“You also told him that you love him, then kissed him.”

Lance felt himself heat up, embarrassed with his actions. He put his face in his hands, trying his best to hide from his friend. Peeking through his hands, he saw Hunk struggling to contain his laughter.

“Is that all I did?” He asked hopefully.

Hunk shook his head, letting his laughter fall from his lips. “You also threw up right after you kissed him.”

Lance looked up from his hands, his face completely blanched of all color. He felt himself sink further into the bed, wanting to smash his head into a wall. It didn’t help that Hunk was just standing there, laughing at Lance’s misery. He looked up at the laughing boy, groaning.

“It’s not funny Hunk!” Lance whined, throwing a pillow at him.

Hunk dodged the assault, giggles still trickling out of him. “I mean, it kinda is.”

Lance glared at him, crossing his arms while huffing. Not only did he embarrass himself in front of his soulmate by throwing up, but he confessed his love for him after he’d been ignoring Shiro all day. He looked at Hunk cautiously.

“Do you know what he said after I told him I love him?”

Hunk smiled at his friend, sitting on the edge of his bed. “He said to talk to him when you’re sober,”

“How am I supposed to? I don’t even have his number!”

Hunk pointed to his wrist. “You could always write to him,”

Lance lit up at the suggestion. He moved to get a pen when his head started pounding again. Groaning, he slowly made his way to the bathroom instead.

“Maybe I should do it after I take a shower,”

------

Hey

Shiro looked down at the neat penmanship on his arm. He traced over it with his finger, contemplating on what he should say.

“Just say ‘hi’ it’s not that fucking hard,” Keith said, as if sensing his thoughts.

Shiro pouted, crossing his arms as he did so. “It’s not that easy,”

Keith tore his eyes away from the game he was currently playing to look at Shiro. When he saw the dejected look on his friend’s face he sighed, patting his shoulder.

“Just see what he wants, then you’ll have a right to be all freaked out,”

Shiro nodded his head, his pen slightly shaking as he wrote down his reply:

Hello

It was a simple message, nothing more than a greeting. Somehow it made Shiro’s heart race. After yesterday Shiro was confused about where they were in this relationship. Was it a relationship? Or is he just overthinking things? Before he could think anymore about the situation at hand he noticed a new sentence had appeared on his arm.

We need to talk

Shiro felt his breath catch in his throat. He thrusted his arm in front of Keith’s face, making the other man protest.

“What the fu—”

He paused mid sentence, less focused on the fact that his character just died and more on the neat words written on Shiro’s arm. After examining it for a couple of seconds he looked at Shiro.

“Well, are you gonna respond?”

“What am I supposed to say?” Shiro asked, clearly freaking out.

Keith rolled his eyes, picking up his controller. “Say ‘okay, sounds cool’,”

Shiro hit his shoulder, drawing out a small hiss from Keith. “You’re not helpful,”

“Helpful wasn’t apart of the deal when you made this friendship.”

Shiro spared one last glare at Keith before writing a response:

Okay, about what?

He waited for a couple of minutes before slumping down next to Keith, who paid no attention to his friend. Only when Shiro fell face first into the side of the couch did he decide to look over.

“Everything okay there?”

A muffled “no” came from the couch, making Keith huff. He turned off the TV and got up from the couch, pulling Shiro along with him, despite the other’s protests.

“C’mon, let’s go. I’m not letting you mope around all day,” Keith said, pulling on his hoodie.

Shiro sighed, reluctantly putting on his shoes and grabbing his keys. He raised an eyebrow at the look Keith was giving him.

“What?”

“Takashi Shirogane it’s winter. What would your mom think if I let you go out without a damn jacket?”

Shiro grumbled something about Keith being overbearing, but put on a jacket nonetheless. Once they were out of the apartment Shiro looked over at Keith, who seemed to be determined.

“Where are we going anyway?”

“The cat cafe in Akihabara. It usually seems to cheer you up,”

Shiro smiled, partially due to how determined his friend was to cheer him up, but mainly because he got to see the adorable cats. The plan seemed to be working, as he suddenly felt much happier then he’d been waiting for a reply. Feeling more playful, he started jogging.

“Last one to the train station has to pay for the tickets,”

------

Lance looked down at his arm, sloppy cursive letters printed on his arm. He had no idea of what he wanted to say. On one hand he just wanted to pour his heart out and create a large speech that would probably cover both arms. On the other hand he just wanted to avoid the whole thing and just pretend that nothing happened. He sighed, pushing his food around, not wanting to eat anything.

“Hey, if you’re not gonna eat then at least put it in a plastic bag,” Hunk said, wiping his hands, “It’s free breakfast, why waste it?”

Lance shoved a bite into his mouth, his eyes never leaving his arm. He wondered if even talking to Shiro was a bad idea. They only had a week left before they had to pack up and leave, so why was he so hesitant about this? Hunk looked at his friend, a sympathetic look on his face. After eating in silence for a couple of minutes, Hunk got up, pulling Lance up with him. Lance looked up from his arm, a confused look on his face.

“Where are we going?”

Hunk didn’t look at him, instead walking over to the elevators, pushing the button to go up. “Well first off, you’re going to change into something other than your pajamas and then we’re going to Akihabara so you can cheer up and be your weeb self.”

Lance lit up a bit, feeling slightly better. Once they were at their room Lance went to pick out a white t-shirt, a slightly baggy jean jacket, and some black jeans. He topped it off with a white cap that had a tiny rainbow on the front. As he waited for Hunk to grab his wallet from the safe he quickly wrote down something for Shiro:

Can we meet tomorrow?

“Hey Lance, are you ready?”

Lance looked up from his arm, shoving the pen in his pocket, standing up. He smiled at his friend, linking his arm in his.

“Let’s go!”

------

It had only been an hour and Lance had pretty much exhausted his bank account. He’d bought many figures and won some plushies from the irritating claw machines. After writing to Shiro he’d gotten a response immediately. Shiro agreed to meet up with Lance tomorrow to talk about their relationship and where it stood. Lance would send him his hotel address tomorrow and then they would talk. He tried his best to not think about it, because the more he thought about it then the more he just wanted to chicken out and leave.

After a couple of minutes of watching Lance fail at every claw machine, Hunk decided that they go to a cafe to eat some lunch. Much to Lance’s excitement, Hunk had taken them to a cat cafe. When they sat down at their table Lance couldn’t contain his happiness anymore. He picked up one of the kittens and set them down in his lap, petting them softly. Hunk rolled his eyes at the sight, looking at the menu.

“So what do you feel like eating? They have okonomiyaki, udon, gyo—”

“Oh my god!”

Hunk didn’t look up from his menu. “I know, gyoza seems pretty good,”

Lance his his shoulder. “No, not that! Look over there!”

Hunk looked up from his menu, his eyes following where Lance’s were. His eyebrows raised slightly when he noticed Shiro sitting across the room with another man. They seemed to be enjoying each others company, laughing a little while petting the cats. He looked back at Lance, who was currently freaking out.

“Are you gonna talk to him?”

“No! Who is that guy with him?” Lance hissed, moving the kitten off of his lap.

Hunk shrugged his shoulders, going back to looking at his menu. “It’s probably his friend,”

“You can’t be ‘just friends’ with someone that hot!” Lance said, crossing his arms while huffing, “I don’t talk to him for one day and then he goes and finds another man? What kind of soulmate does that?”

Hunk looked at Lance, an unamused look resting on his face. “You think so low of him. Just go over there and say hi,”

Lance felt a fire pool in his stomach, causing him to stand up and march right over to Shiro’s table. When he reached it, he put a hand on Shiro’s shoulder, plastering a fake smile on his face.

“Hey Shiro, nice seeing you here,”

Shiro looked up from the man sitting across from him, a surprised look on his face. He smiled back up at him. “Hey Lance, what are you doing here?”

“So this is Lance?” The man said, grinning, “I’m Keith, it’s nice to meet you.”

Lance looked down at his hand before looking back at his face. He was pretty, to say the least. His eyes were dark gray with a hint of violet mixed in them. He had a slim face with a nice jawline. His hair was black and messy, and was pulled into a ponytail. Lance couldn’t help but admit that the man was pretty, which only made the fire in his stomach burn even hotter.

He shook Keith’s hand, gripping it a bit harder than he had to. They all stayed there in complete silence until Keith coughed, standing up.

“Well, I’m gonna go to the bathroom. I’ll be right back,”

He quickly walked away from the pair, clearly wanting to step away from that situation. Lance looked down at Shiro, who was smiling up at him. Shiro motioned for him to sit down. He did so, huffing as he sat.

“So, who’s Keith?”

Shiro laughed, taking a sip of his drink. “He’s my friend. I’ve known him since elementary school,”

Lance nodded his head, his jealousy still not quelled. Shiro seemed to notice, as he laughed lightly at Lance. He looked at him, glaring.

“What’s so funny?” Lance asked.

Shiro shook his head, a bigger smile on his face. “Lance, Keith has a boyfriend.”

Lance blinked, confused. “A boyfriend?”

Shiro nodded. “Yeah, his soulmate,”

Lance looked at Shiro for a few seconds before groaning, burying his head in his hands. Shiro laughed, no longer able to hold it in. They stayed that way for a few seconds, before Shiro patted Lance on the head. He looked up at Shiro, who was still smiling.

“Were you jealous?”

Lance wildly gestured at himself. “What do you think? I wouldn’t have just marched over here for nothing!”

Shiro giggled, pushing back Lance’s hair. “You don’t need to be jealous,”

Lance groaned, looking at the table. “I know I shouldn’t be so jealous after what’s happened but—”

“I’m only interested in you.”

Lance looked at him, his eyes wide. Just as he was about to say something Shiro smiled, patting his hand.

“Keith’s waiting for me, I’ll see you tomorrow?”

Lance nodded his head, waving goodbye as he watched Shiro leave with Keith. When they left Lance looked down at the table, his cheeks warm. He bit back a smile.

Tomorrow was the day he was going to tell Shiro how he felt.

[missredtie]

So, you all know by now how much I love talking about Adachi and since I don’t have much on my hands right now, I think I’m going to do it again.

Yesterday night I stumbled upon this video while looking for ... Adachi things (yes, I do watch periodically his final battle against the IT, don’t judge me ok) and I wholeheartedly recommend it to those who still have doubts about Adachi as a villain or as a character in general. 

Summing up, this video answers two questions which have gone around the fandom for a while (how old is this fandom anyway? it feels like I’ve been here forever, someone give me a veteran discount), namely:

Is Adachi realistic? 

Does Adachi fit P4′s story as its villain?

I’m not going to make a summary of what the guy says in the video (I mean, watch it), but I’m going to simply add or stress some of the things he mentions. 

Question 1.

"It doesn’t take an horrific childhood trauma to make a person into a monster”: I particularly loved this sentence because, well, this is kind of what Adachi’s character is all about. I think I will have to add just a little bit more of a context (because remember kids, when analyzing a character, never forget about the time and the place), by directing you to this post on the so called “Lost Decade”. Either way, what is important to understand is: Adachi is not your common villain who had childhood traumas or underwent abuses of some sort. For all we know, he lived in a well-off family who wanted him to study and become someone important and gain lots of money. Lots of pressure, of course, no time to have fun, high expectations and all that jazz, but no one would compare such things to what, for example, Goro went through. No. Poor kid had it much worse. However.  As the video correctly mentions, other factors like isolation, arrogance, lack of human contact twisted his view of the world to the point of him hating his current life to death. It doesn’t take much to turn a person into a monster. Which means, that your neighbour, your childhood friend, even you, under the right conditions, can become Adachi. And this is exactly what is fascinating (and terrifying) about him. I think that many people don’t like the way he’s written because he’s too real, and deny him for what he represents: how easy it is to step on the wrong path. 

However. There is something I didn’t like about that part of the video; or, let’s say, it was not clear enough. Adachi is compared to a mass-shooter who, I am very sorry, I don’t know much about. The comparison works, when the roots of their hatred towards the world are analyzed. Still, let us take a step back and try to be as objective as possible.

Adachi many and many times mentions that: “It was the TV that killed them”, “Throwing them him was never the plan”, “Everyone is the killer, including you”, “All I did was to give a little push” (quoting from memory here). Let’s leave these sentences here. Now, let’s recall the scene in the TV World where Yu confronts Adachi on his own: as we know, he shoots the boy to scare him away, but remember what Yu (or Souji, whatever floats your boat) thinks? “This didn’t seem like a threat” (again, quoting from memory). Then again, we have the infamous scene of him puking at the sight of a corpse (I have no objective proof here, but I honestly think it was a sincere....uh, puking-moment, if it makes sense). What I am trying to say is: he is not capable of killing anyone with his own hands. He did that - I mean, if Yamano was an accident, Saki surely was not- however he keeps on trying to distance himself from such things, “It was the TV that killed them”. He’s a disgusting manipulative bastard, but getting his hands dirty? I can’t see him having it. Even when stating that “We don’t need our world anymore”, Adachi can do that because he’s not actively doing it. Let the TV World engulf reality, see what I care. But firing a bullet through every people’s head and killing them? Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh, nah. So, honestly? I don’t think he’d have the guts to go, I don’t know, at Junes, gun in his hand, and kill everyone. 

After all. What he wants is slightly different from what a mass-shooting is. “Better for mankind to turn into shadows.” He hates this world, Adachi hates this world’s guts. But what he can’t stand is, and now I’m accurately quoting: “Once everyone turns into Shadows, they’ll still keep on living, oblivious to all the things around them...[...] No need to hold back to anything...No more pretending we don’t see things.” People see things going wrong in this society, they see injustices, they struggle to obtain nothing: and this causes pain and suffering. At the end of the day, he doesn’t want to kill people, he wants to free them from society’s chains and turn everyone into creatures of pure instinct. In his very own weird and twisted way, he thinks he’s making a change for good. And I’m going to get a bit deeper about this in just a second.

Question 2.  

I don’t think I need to add much more to this part of the video. Adachi is clearly the other side of the coin of Yu. I actually want to continue talking about Adachi’s speech during his last fight. 

The whole point of P4 is understanding the power behind bonds and friendships, how they make you grow and change, and help dealing with the world around you. Listening to what the others have to say, understanding and trying to put yourself in people’s shoes. And this is where the IT utterly failed.

I am not saying there was any other way to behave in such a situation: in no way I am implying they should have gone like “Owww poor little ‘dachi, it’s ok, we forgive you”. No, that asshole needed a good spanking (no innuendos intended, please, no). However. 

What Adachi missed all his life was someone, anyone, to stand by his side, to vent to, I imagine, someone to share his troubles with. During his speech, he many times mentions things like “You are young and you still don’t know anything about life”, “I’m telling you this ‘cause I already went through this shit and I’m warning you kids”. He’s warning them. He’s explaining that life is not all merry and happy and friends and adventures and fun. He’s saying, you might have hopes and dreams, but life will crush them, so be prepared. And the best response the IT can give to him is “Wow this is bullshit u suck shut up”. And again, yes, they had ALL the reasons to be mad at Adachi, BUT there was no point in straightforwardly denying anything he was saying. I think that in this regard, the P5 gang did a much better job while dealing with Akechi, and I’m infinitely grateful to them for this. So, basically, what the IT did was nothing but to corroborate Adachi’s twisted view: “No one listens, no one understands”. 

This pretty much covers all the topics dealt with in the video. But there is something more I want to say. Of course, the video tries to explain Adachi as a villain. And when we think about a “villain”, as the guy mentions, we think about someone who can be described by negative adjectives or emotions or words only. So, yes, the video does a good job telling you why Adachi is a well written bad guy, but despite it being the first question addressed, it does not fully explain why he is a well written human being.

When I say human being, I mean that he is capable of experiencing not only negative feelings, but also positive ones. Him caring about Dojima, or about Nanako, him showing interest in Yu’s life is not in contrast with him being the P4 (mid) villain. 

Given the very poor contribution the IT gave to Adachi’s final speech (”guyz this world sucks and ill tell u why. in this essay i will” “sHUT UP ADACHI WHO CARES” >magydyne), he understands he has to abide by the rule of the world on his own. As shown in P4U, he wants nothing but serve his time in prison peacefully, he steps up only to help the guys preserve the world he still hates (’cause he still hates it ok), he understands that Minazuki is full of hatred like he once was, and hopes that he will change and open his eyes. Adachi understands the importance of the bond he shared with Dojima and realizes how blind he was. All on his own. Yeah, let’s say that Yu did like 50% of the job, but that’s because you are the main character and whatnot. 

He is capable of growing, of understanding and being stubborn (’cause lets admit it this world suckz am i rite fellow kids), because he is a well written human being. He can care for Dojima, while wanting to obliterate the world. He can tuck Nanako in, and still throw Saki in the TV. People are not completely black or white; they are made of many colors and shades.  

And this is it. I could talk about this piece of shit for hours, but maybe it’s better if I cut it here. Thanks for reading the whole thing, I know it’s long, so you deserve a round of applause, Adachi-style.  

Wow, I’m surprised you made it this far --quote. 

PS. I didn’t throw in the Ameno-Sagiri possession thing, because I wanted to be as objective and mumbojumbo-free as possible; I do believe it played a role as well, but probably only for a 20%. In any way or capacity I endorse what this piece of trash did; you can appreciate a character for what it is without calling it a poor and misunderstood babu uwu. Adachi needed prison, like, all of it. I hope he’s there staring at a wall.

[morethanaprincess-a]

@obeysword​ asked:  1 & 12 💞

Canon Questionnaire meme (Accepting!)

1. What made you pick up this character?

I knew I wanted to join the indie RPC on tumblr and at the time, right around May 2019, I was really into a few fandoms. I didn’t really feel compelled to join more of the live action fandoms that interested me (Riverdale, Downton Abbey mostly) and so I was left with two characters I was really feeling at the time: Sonia Nevermind and Haru Okumura, both of whom I’d just finished costumes for a recent convention. My offline friends tended (well, they still do!) to associate me with both of them, to the point that when my now-fiancé played P5, our friends basically forbade him from romancing anyone besides Haru during his first playthrough because they jokingly said it would be infidelity.

We both happened to agree.

But I chose Sonia over Haru for several reasons: there were more active Haru blogs at the time, I really liked the idea of writing a royal who loved the occult, horror, and serial killers, and I can muddle through playing Danganronpa games myself (or watch the LPs). I cannot, for the life of me, figure out a video game controller enough to play anything from Persona and watching the LPs were draining for me. I’ve seen the P5 anime though, and the P4 one ages ago (we’re talking at least 6 years or so ago).

So while I love Haru and like P5, you’ll never catch me actually playing the games because I’m that bad at video games. They were mostly banned in my house growing up so I don’t have the nostalgia or the muscle memory.

12. What would you say is the most unique trait about your character?

Besides Sonia’s unique interests/hobbies, I love the fact she is a beautiful princess who happens to be strong (willed, with weapons, etc) but isn’t necessarily a ‘strong female character.’ She doesn’t have to be brash, or become a superhero, or be rude/mouthy/tearing others down in order to prove she isn’t weak and in need of saving. She is kind, gentle, friendly, and intent on lifting others up while admiring the most mundane aspects of life, because she herself is truly fascinated. She’s not a snob and she’s not a bitch: she’s someone you really want to befriend not because she’s a princess who can drive a tank and wield a bazooka, but because she’s sincerely kind.

She’s not a warrior princess and she’s not a Disney princess: she’s Sonia Nevermind, the Ultimate Princess. And I wouldn’t want to change that, ever.

[taesbetch]

To Own A Hybrid P.2

Pairing: Jungkook x Reader

Genre: Angst, Fluff (eventual smut) Hybrid!AU Cat!AU

Summary: The hybrid world was one y/n never really involved herself in; however, after certain events, she is tossed into a world of uncertainty in the company of a particularly rude hybrid.

Word Count: 3.5k +

A/N: I should be doing my assignments right now...opps 

WARNING: Mentions of abuse, emotional torment, and prostitution 

P1 P2 P3 P4 P5

“here it is!” you chirped as you opened the door to your apartment.

“here, keeps this key” you added as you passed him the spare key happily. His movements were extremely hesitant so you made sure all your actions were big and obvious so you wouldn’t cause him any suspicious.

“I don’t need it, I’m not staying for long” he huffed as his ears flattened against his head. You tried your best not to make him uncomfortable and stare at his dark chocolate ears, but the curiosity was getting to you and you just wanted to know what they felt like.

You still weren’t a master at reading hybrid body language but by the way his head tilted upwards as he sniffed the place and his tail wagged side to side you could tell he was happy enough to have a place to sleep.

“it’s not a huge place so you should be able to find your way around, feel free to take a shower and relax while I make dinner. Your room is just through that door there” you said as you pointed to the door.

“you mean my temporary room” he corrected with an attitude.

You let out a chuckle before nodding your head and raising your hands in defeat.

“right, my bad” you stated.

It was getting closer towards 7pm which meant your stomachs growls were getting more intense. You were almost positive the hybrid currently roaming your apartment wouldn’t mind what you made as long as it was editable so you decided to go with some basic pasta.

As you chopped mince you started thinking about this being a long-term arrangement.

He was already insured, he has nowhere else to go and you were sure Namjoon would help you with anything you didn’t understand. Sure, the hybrid was mildly rude but you could get used to that…

You excitedly finished cooking your spaghetti with a small happy dance before grabbing two plates and dishing out the meal.

“JUNG-“ you started to yell but as soon as you whipped around you saw him staring at what would have been your back with his arms crossed over his chest.

You let out a small shriek of surprise before clinging your chest and breathing out in relief.

“Jesus Christ” you whispered to yourself as you grabbed the two plates and made your way over to the dinner table, not hearing any form of apology from your new roommate.

“I hope you like spaghetti” you smiled as you sat down and dug into your much-awaited meal.

Jungkook slowly sat down as he sniffed out the meal, probably looking for poison. His eyes narrowed as the swapped between the plate of food in front of him and you.

As you tried to slurp the strands of spaghetti into your mouth you rolled your eyes at his caution.

When he concluded that it was safe to consume, you watched in awe as he shoved the spaghetti into his mouth, letting out small groans of delight every now and then.

“Careful, you’ll get indigestion if you eat too fast” you commented as he continued to stuff his mouth.

He didn’t stop his feast or snap back like he usually did, his eyes just clicked to yours portraying one simple message…

‘shut up, I’m hungry’

You laughed wholeheartedly before continuing to eat your meal.

“did you shower?” you asked as you noticed he was wearing the same clothes as before.

He shook his head before briefly stopping his eating.

“I don’t have other clothes” he said bluntly before getting up and going to get some more food.

You sat there like an idiot. Of course, he doesn’t, he literally walked through your door with nothing but himself.

“oh! I think I have something for you!” you said remembering your friend had sent you some clothes because his washing machine had broken down, not your fault he had never returned to collect them.

You quickly ran into your room and shuffled through your draws before finally pulling out some underwear, a shirt and a pair of sweatpants.

“here! This will have to do for now if that’s okay” you said as you folded the clothes and placed them next to him.

He looked at the clothes before looking back down at his dish of spaghetti.

“this isn’t permanent” he whispered softly as his ears slowly flattened against his head and his lip quivered a little bit.

You sat in silence as you watched him continue to shove food in his mouth, however, the atmosphere had changed. A coat of despair and loneliness placed itself over the pair of you.

You were uncertain if it was a statement or a question; you thought carefully about if you should reply or change the subject completely.

As you brain buzzed with a thousand different options and routes you didn’t notice Jungkook giving your apartment a thorough scan.

“what do you do? This seems like a place a rich person would live in?” he asked in disbelief as he scanned you up and down, a look almost resubliming the statement ‘how the hell do you live here?’ covering his features.

You were about to argue with him and defend yourself against what he had just implied, but the curiosity in his eyes told you to just answer the question.

“I work at a creation company, basically all the employees there are all-rounders and are tasked to design different products concerning whatever is trendy that month” you shrugged.

It was a pretty cool job. You had good pay and a diverse range of hours, it was nice.

“so why are you alone?” he asked bluntly.

You gaped at him in confusion. The question could mean a whole range of different things, you just didn’t know which one.  

“as in where is your significant other? Your bae? Your boo? Your one and-“he started with an antagonizing voice.

“I don’t have one” you cut in as you rolled your eyes and walked your dirty plate over to the sink.

The hybrid silenced as you ran your plate under the Luke warm water. It wasn’t like you didn’t want to have a boyfriend, or that you couldn’t get one. It just wasn’t the right time…

“then who’s that?” Jungkook asked as he pointed towards a picture frame, carefully seated on your draw.

Your heartbeat increased as you recognized the devilish smile that had once captured your heart.

You gulped before trying to hide your now watering eyes. “someone I used to know” you spoke softly as memories of your previous relationship flooded your mind.

You had met him in what you thought was a café; never judge a book by its cover because what had looked like a café turned out to be a strip club…this should have been your first warning sign when he had approached you.

He had told you he owned a café, a real one and that you should go sometime. What eventually turned into a date was a set up for many more to come; soon turning into a relationship.

It had been a year and a half when you found out what you did. When you found out who he really was…Mark…someone who had stolen your heart and crushed it like the dick of a human being he was.

You shook off the feeling of heartbreak and turned your attention to the hybrid still stuffing food in his mouth.

“I think you’ve eaten the whole pot” you chuckled as you cleaned up the area around you.

Jungkook hummed in confirmation before dragging his body up off of the chair and cradling his belly in his hand. As he rubbed it comfortingly he released a small whine of pain yet relief.

“I feel so bloated” he whined as he passed you his plate.

“go shower and then you can sleep for as long as you want to” you smiled before resuming with the dishes.

Jungkook stood there in silence for a minute before swerving on his heels and shuffling his way to the bathroom.

“Goodnight!” you yelled out before hearing the door to the bathroom close.

Quickly finishing up the dishes you decided to finish your superhero marathon that you started a couple nights ago. You had the day off tomorrow so you had allllll nightttttt.

The iron man movie played as you dug your hand into a bag of Doritos.

as you listened to the sound of shower water pouring to the floor you took the chance to quickly wipe out your phone and search up more information about hybrids.

‘how to read hybrid body language’

You stared at your phone intensely as multiple sources popped up on our screen.

One article caught your eye.

‘when a cat hybrid has been abandoned and or abused the said hybrid will shy away from touches of strangers or people they don’t trust yet-‘

“what are you doing?”

You let out what would be the second shriek today as you chucked your phone down to the floor in panic.

You quickly turned around to Jungkook who was looking towards the T.v paying you no attention.

“err..just watching iron man” you stated as you tried to calm your beating heart “weren’t you going to bed?” you asked as you picked up your phone, checking it for cracks.

“I can’t sleep when I can hear you obnoxious crunching from miles away” he spoke as his eyes stayed glued to the flashing light of the T.v

“do you wanna watch with me?” you asked ignoring his blatantly rude comment.

Instead of answering your question he simply moved around the couch and sat across from you, his eyes still glued to the big screen.

The movie continued to entertain the two of you, Jungkook seemingly more interested in the movie than you; You swore you saw a small smile sneak its way onto his lips as tony stark dropped some mad jokes.

This was the fifth time you had watched this movie so sleep was easily taking over your body. Before you completely passed out you watched as Jungkook quietly removed the bag of chips from your failing limbs.

He’ll be excited to know there’s are two other iron man movies, but you’ll save this information for later.

-------

The sounds of intense alarms had your body flying off the couch.

The sudden brightness of the room had you groaning in confusion but the slight pain in your leg had you wide awake.

“ugh get off me”

You look beneath your bottom half to see jungkook’s legs entangled with yours. You had no time to question the situation as the alarm continued to blare.

The both of you quickly stumbled to your feet, drool chilling on your chin as you quickly tried to fix your bird nest hair.

Jungkook’s tired groans of annoyance could be heard evidently behind you as the two of you exited your apartment to find other residents living on your level in the hallway.

“y/n! darling!”

Fuck…fuck fuck fuckity fuck.

“oh! krystal! How nice to see you” you smiled fakely as you tried your hardest to be nice.

“sorry! That alarm was my fault everybody!” she chirped before turning around to all the other guests.

While she proceeded with her sickeningly sweet apologies you took the time to look her up and down. She wore bright pink workout clothes with a white headband that screamed ‘I’m too good for you’.

“I was just baking my daily goods too send down to the children’s center” she said before flicking her perfectly straightened locks from her shoulders.

“you all know how I just love to help others!” she exclaimed as circled back around to you. Thankfully, the maintenance guy had fixed the continuous ear deafening sound.

You tried your hardest to sneakily turn around but the bitch was too quick.

“y/n! are you not going to introduce me to your new hybrid?! Oh my gosh! We can have hybrid play dates!! I already know my little BamBam would love too meet him!” she ‘epped’ excitedly as she grabbed your shoulders enthusiastically.

It was way too fucking early and you were not in the mood but at the mention of BamBam your ears perked up. You loved BamBam, he was such a little bundle of joy who also loved to bitch about his owner.

You exchanged a quick look with Jungkook before she continued to blab on.

“you’re quite the looker aren’t you! It’s a pleasure to meet you! I would love to get to know you more! Maybe I should come over later!” she said before grabbing his hand forcefully.

You watched in slow motion as Jungkook hissed lowly at her before harshly tearing his hand away from hers.

She jumped back in shock as she looked at him in disgust.

“how dare you! Y/n! control your hybrid!” she shouted as she placed her hands on her hips. Jungkook’s fists balled up before you rolled your eyes at her.

“maybe you should have asked to touch him first” you said calmly, shocking both Krystal and Jungkook.

Usually, you would avoid confrontation with Krystal but as mentioned before…it was too fucking early and you weren’t here for anything that was taking place.

“wh.. what did you just say?” she asked in confusion.

“I said. Maybe you should have had the decency to ask if you could touch him first. You don’t know him, you can’t just go around grabbing strangers. Look, it’s too early for this shit and I hope everything goes well at the children’s center but please don’t disturb my friend” you said before smiling at her softly.

You proceeded to enter your humble home, Jungkook following close behind you.

“does she come around a lot?” Jungkook asked annoyed as he ruffled his hair.

“it’s just a matter of knowing when it’s safe to leave” you replied as you plonked yourself back on the couch.

“don’t you have work today?” he asked as he sat on the couch facing you nervously.

“nope not today. Why do you wanna do something?” you stated as you stared at him.

There was a Hugh elephant in the room that you knew the two of you would have to address soon enough. Is he gonna stay? Or is he leaving?

The apartment was silent as the two of you stared at each intensely, neither of you knowing what to do or say.

Before you could speak your pleasant ringtone was entering your ears.

“Y/n! Quick! I need you to go to the headquarters and just disable my robot for me! Please! I know you live really close so would you do this for me?” namjoon pleaded on the other side.

You could hear the stress and struggle in his voice. Along with the begging cries for attention you could only assume were from his hybrids.

“of course, I can!” you answered as you shot up from your seat.

“I owe you one!” he said before hanging up on you.

“Alright Jungkook! We’ve got places to go and things to do!” you said enthusiastically as you bolted for the door.

“were still in our pajamas!!!”

----

The two of you ran into headquarters in sweatpants and slippers but you didn’t care, this was urgent.

As you ran through the marble opening towards the elevators people stared the two of you down. Some judging, some in confusion.

“so, what do we have to do?” Jungkook asked as he admired the clear black marble. It was a beautiful office. Only the higher-ups and important people were allowed access.

You, Namjoon, Jimin and other people that worked on your floor were allowed to store your creations here and gather equipment.

“Namjoon must have been in a rush to get home and didn’t properly deactivatethis robot that he’s been working on. Who knows what it’ll do if it wakes up” you said as you tapped your foot against the ground anxiously.

“and when will it wake up?” Jungkook asked as the elevator doors opened.

As you took a step into the holding department, you were met with a pair of shining silver lights and a strong metal build.

“I’d say now” you said as fear too over your being.

“run!” you shouted as you pushed Jungkook in one direction and ran in the other.

You could feel something…you didn’t know if it was adrenaline or pure fear but you could feel the vibrations of how hard your feet were hitting the floor through your body.

The robot had long legs so you knew you wouldn’t really be able ot out run it, but the lack of sound had you praying for the best.

You hair swished in front of you face as you tried to listen out for the robotic sounds of running behind you, however, nothing could be heard.

You slowed down as you hid behind a stack of boxes and tried to catch your breath. Your heart was pounding against your chest but it was the only thing you could hear. You slowly made your way to the end of the boxes to try and see what was going on.

Slowly…

Slowly…..

Before you could peer past the boxes you felt hard mental smack against your back.

You cried out in pain as your body skid against the ground. You hissed at the feeling of your skin grazing against the solid floor before lifting your head up, your eyes meeting with the silver ones.

You quickly tried to crawl away from it as you started to walk towards you. Its movements sharp and predator like.

Giving up on your escape you simple closed your eyes and got ready for impact.

…but it never came.

At the sound out colliding metal you slowly opened your eyes too see Jungkook plunging a large plank of metal through namjoons creation.

As the robot’s eyes started to flicker off Jungkook pushed it right through with a grunt of struggle.

You sat in previous position in utter shock. It had only been a couple minutes and you had been attacked by robot and saved by your hybrid friend who you thought had run for his life as well.

Jungkook watched the robot fall to the floor before turning to you and helping you up.

“are you okay?” he asked with a hint of worry as he freed your hair from your sweaty forehead.

“yer…t-thanks for saving me” you stuttered as you tried to collect your thoughts and emotions. Fucking Namjoon, how do you forgot to tell someone that your robot is a warrior and will not hesitate to try to annihilate you.

“what do we do with it?” Jungkook asked as the two of you stared at the now pile of wrecked metal.

“let’s just leave it here…someone else will get it” you said as you started shuffling towards the door keeping close to Jungkook as you pasted the beast.

You took a mental note to personally tell namjoon that his creation was a death machine and he owed you three thousand favours just for it attacking you, not counting the emotional trauma that came with it.

The elevator ride was silent because now you had no distraction. It was time to discuss what needed to be talked about.

----

You sat silently on the couch as Jungkook grabbed his belongings.

You fiddled with your pyjama shirt as he placed the clothes he borrowed from you on the counter.

“er…I’ll just be going now” he stated as his eyes locked with yours.

You stood up awkwardly before nodding your head and walking forward so you could be closer to him. You didn’t know how your next sentence would come across but you knew they were your true feelings

“I…don’t want you to go..you know you don’t have to leave, right?” you asked strongly as his hand grasped the door.

“I can’t stay” he whispered softly and you could almost hear his voice cracking.

You shifted your weight onto your other foot as you pondered what to say next.

“look, I’ll admit I have no idea about hybrids or the hybrid world. And im not going to tell you that ill be this amazing companion because I already know im going to make mistakes. But ill never hurt or belittle you. Were equals here okay? So it’s completely your decision if you want to stay or leave but just know that I’m an option. Even if you leave now and are hungry or need a bed…or maybe even if your just lonely. This will always be your home as much as it is mine” you declared nervously as you played with your hands.

Jungkook slowly dropped his hand from the door before turning back around to you, his eyes glistening with an emotion you couldn’t quite read.

“Having a hybrid is a lot of work”

“yes, I am aware”

“if you have a future partner, they probably won’t like it”

“the right one wouldn’t care”

Jungkook continued to bore into your eyes, neither of you backing down. You could tell by the way that his eyes were welling up that he wanted this.

“I can see that you want to stay” you said smiling at him teasingly, immediately brightening up the mood.

“I never said that” he replied as he crossed his arms in annoyance. You let out a chuckle of endearment before passing him the pizza hut brochure.

“pick what you want and ill order it for lunch, I think I’m just gonna stay in pajama’s”, you said before yawning and stretching out your arms.

“I’m not your hybrid…alright, I’m just living with you” he said shyly as he looked down at the different options of pizza.

You gave him a warm smile before nodding your head in agreement

“I wouldn’t have it any other way”

[ccc-sarahjaneseddon]

Week 5

Important information in reading:

“Imagined community”

As he explains, all communities, including nations, are built from a series of ideas and imaginings (Anderson 1991), For example, if I consider myself a “New Zealander.” I am constituting this identity for myself without having necessarily met every other New Zealander,”

“New Zealand Imagined (i.e. by the state, in the mainstream media, etc), and who benefits from these particular imaginings (both culturally and financially)? Nations are commonly thought of as being defined by physical boundaries.

Identity that is based on patriarchal colonosation and inequality, and which precipitate racism and war.

Nationalism is commonly associated with fringe minorities and commonly thought of as representative of “dangerous and powerful passions” and “extraordinary emotions” it is equally common in mainstream western democracy(billing, p5)

As billing goes on to discuss, the idea of the nation-state history is historically recent and difficult to define.

The modern concept of the nation is employed not just to define specific nations, but to support and justify the very idea of nations. 

To justify ‘ultimate sacrifices’ as the cause of nationhood is greater than itself (billing pt11)

“The moral aura of nationalism, is invoked: heads will be nodded, flags will be waved and tanks will roll.” (billing p4) 

Nationalism as something that “occurs there” on the periphery, not “here” in the centre,” for as he argues, it is certainly the constantly “here”(billing p6)

Nationalism applies to an extreme demonstration of loyalty to the nation, it depends upon a banal framework of recognisable symbols and signs that constitute that national identity.

‘banal nationalism’, which he delineates from the common usage of world nationalism by using analogy of a flag: during war, when nationalism is invoked, the flag flies proudly at the forefront of the army. During peacetime it may hang innocuously on the front of a post office(Billing p6) This post office flag is representative of banal nationalism 

Flag flies proudly,

To show the country flag off, this whole flag flying gives me that image of America flags in the sky and also brings me a vision of the BNZ ad we watched in class. The America flag I feel is always shown flying in the sky.

The flag always means the same thing. It means “this nation.” Given this framework of banal nationalism, it is possible

“Kiwi-ness”

Watties brand tomato sauce, the other for Tip Top brand ‘supersoft’ white bread, both refer specifically to New Zealand and New Zealanders through the use of terms like ‘kiwi’ and ‘this country’.  

I have thought about adds in New Zealand who show off ‘the kiwi-ness’ in there ads, and I was thinking Mcdonalds kiwi burger ad does this. Yes it is a kiwi burger but the jingle is all to do with kiwis and what we do best and what we love.

Original lyrics:

"Kiwis love hot pools, rugby balls, McDonald's, snapper schools, world peace, woolly fleece, Ronald and raising beasts.

"Chilly bins, cricket wins, fast skis, golf tees, Silver Ferns, Kauri trees, Kiwiburger love one please... McDonald's Kiwiburger. The classic New Zealand burger.

"Cause we love All Blacks, thermal daks, egg and cheese, walking tracks, beef pattie, marching girls, tomato, lettuce and paua shells.

"Gumboots, ponga shoots, floppy hats, kiwifruits, beetroot, Buzzy Bees, moggy cats, cabbage trees, onions, kakapos, kia oras, cheerios, Jandals, sandals, ketchup, Coromandel's, Swanndris, butterflies, mustard, fishing flies, Hokey Pokey, Māori haka. Kiwiburger, that's our tucker!"

NZ Herald: McDonald's releases diverse new Kiwiburger anthemhttps://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/anika-moa-and-troy-kingi-team-up-for-new-diverse-mcdonaldss-kiwiburger-anthem/ Mon, 20 Jul 2020,

Both use techniques to hail the viewer into regarding themselves in the context of their nation identity. Through direct address of actor to camera (in case of Supersoft) and use the term “You”(as in “watties sauce”)

The word you catches your attention as you imagine yourself as being you, I have never noticed this but now I can understand how ads are trying to catch your attention to be ‘kiwi’

The viewer into the subject positioned of either being a “kiwi” or not being a “kiwi” By attempting to associate the products with what is assumed to be the national character of Aoteroa/New Zealand, the advertisements in fact reproduce, and in so doing constitute, this of the post office.

Banal nationalism can be visually observed in both advertisements as they both have more or less identical settings.

Robin Law (1997), who writes that the popular representation of the New Zealand national character is often strongly linked to the outdoors.

Both Supersoft and Watties sauce reinforce traits by contrasting an essential “kiwi” with an essential representation of another culture.

Ads often show the kiwi-ness through using kiwi stereotypes. For example the whole idea that we play rugby, that all you see is farm land filled with cows and sheep,  we wear gumboots, we have a good summer with bbqs and beaches. The stereotype of farmers in New Zealand was shown in Week 5 lecture, we watched Hilux ads and it was the whole idea that we drive across ruff farmland in gumboots. Also that whole idea of being a “white male.” A example of this mentioned in this reading is “Wattie Sauce” that shows images of children at barbecues with bare feet, the beach and other outdoor settings. Being a kiwi I feel like stereotypes bring that kiwi-ness in ads. 

White, middle aged and casually/rurally dress - Kiwi male is shown applying the aforementioned sauce to a sushi roll while the jingle exclaims that “you’ll never be a kiwi ‘till you love our Watties”

This kind of annoyed me because as mentioned above its “you” focus, that whole representation that makes you buy products just because you live in New Zealand and want you to feel that you have to be “kiwi.” I never noticed this slogan mentioned in their ads untill this was pointed out. And for some reason when reading this I felt annoyed and angry.

Experience of another culture. He is a “kiwi” which means he cannot eat Japanese food as Japanese people might intend him too. Rather, he must “kiwify” it lest in breach his national character.

Contrasted with the assumed national character of the Japanese, which is shown in the commercial to be up-market and highly ritualistic. The Japanese waitress appears in full nation costume’.

This made me question, is this really appropriate? is it appropriate to say that you ain’t kiwi unless you put tomato sauce on another cultural food? In my opinion I feel that it shouldn’t be pushing out the ideal kiwi and making you feel that you have to eat food a certain way to be kiwi. 

According to Tiptop, New Zealanders have been spending all together too much time calling a spade a racist epithet, for playing “cowboys and indigenous Native Americans” (rather than “Indians”), wishing to eat free range eggs(instead of batter) wearing a helmet while riding a bicycle are all regarded as “soft”

Tip Top white bread should be the only soft thing in a New Zealander’s life. ‘Enough is enough, New Zealand,” she tells the camera, as the viewer is called upon to examine whether or not they have strayed far enough from the national character to be considered “soft” or otherwise “not kiwi”

Side-stepped the association of masculinity and “kiwi” by placing a woman in the role of speaking to New Zealand.

New Zealand identity typically excludes woman, meaning woman are either required to place themselves in opposition or assume a masculine role when participating in the framework of national identity. (Law, 1997, pg 6)

Tip Top considered it in their interest to represent a “kiwi” in the form of woman.”

We use that stereotype of a “white male” in ads to focus to the whole idea of being“kiwi.” Tip top has considered to represent a “kiwi” in form of a woman. This shows how they have gone out of the whole idea that New Zealand is represented by males.

The ‘flagging’ of both “is” and “isn’t” part of ‘our’ national identity occurs on a daily basis.

Declare both what “kiwis” should and shouldn’t be, and to sort them from the “not kiwis”

Billig’s supposition is that, regardless if the challenge to the traditional nation posed by postmodernism, there is still plenty of power and there are still plenty of guns.

“Kiwi jobs for kiwi workers”

Where nationalists flaggings are concerned and regarding that advice, readers of this essay and I, I might add, this author, might be inclined to agree. Banal, as billig tells us does not equal benign. 

Reflection

Overall this reading of “A Kiwi At My Table Banal Nationalism and Food Advertising in Aotearoa/New Zealand” by Robyn Kenealy. Has made me aware that food ads are using the whole idea of being “kiwi” and suggests to “you” that you should be kiwi as well. By using the sterotypical ideal kiwi white male, and stereotypical of being kiwi, for example “you’ll never be a kiwi ‘till you love our Watties.” I have felt annoyed that New Zealanders as a nation are sharing the ideal way to be a kiwi for there own company or business. People identify New Zealand as a summer, bbq with friends, farming and other sterotypes of New Zealand that shows the audience of the ads that it is our nation.

Anderson, Benedict. “The origins of nationalism”. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism. Verso Books, 2006, 48-59.

Billig, Michael. “Introduction”. Banal Nationalism. Sage Publications, 1995, 1-12.

Kenealy, Robyn. “A “kiwi” at my table”. Unpublished (student essay), n.d.

https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/anika-moa-and-troy-kingi-team-up-for-new-diverse-mcdonaldss-kiwiburger-anthem/

NZ Herald: McDonald's releases diverse new Kiwiburger anthemhttps://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle/anika-moa-and-troy-kingi-team-up-for-new-diverse-mcdonaldss-kiwiburger-anthem/ Mon, 20 Jul 2020,

[thepersonaimaginecompendium-blog]

hello!! i love this blog very much that i always have it on notifs! keep up the awesome work! may i ask for a scenario with p3, p4, and p5 protags experiencing a "too close for comfort" moment with their crush/would be s/o?

-Akihiko Voice- IVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS…!!! And thank you so much for having this blog on your notifs! It means so much to me! I will do my best for this blog so please continue to support me!))

Lol the more i wrote the more inspired i got I’m sorry they only got longer and longer pfft))

Minato Arisato:

>Your Knowledge increased

With finals coming up and your overwhelming desire to be in at least the top 10, you begged Minato to help you study. He had softened up a bit thanks to his friends and he had no problem accepting your desperate calls for help. You look between the address he had written down and the tall building in front of you. So he lived here, huh?

You go in and are met by quite a few pairs of eyes. You gulp nervously and ask for Minato who immediately comes out thanks to Junpei’s yelling.

“WHAT?! LUCKY BASTARD! I WANNA STUDY WITH HER TOO!” Junpei loudly complains as he looks between you and his blue haired bestie.

“…You don’t even study, Junpei…” Minato responds, walking up to you and taking you by the hand. “Cmon, I’m in dining room.”

The two of you sit down and begin studying quietly. Some time passes and you were having trouble with a complicated math problem. Your hand gripped at your hair, your foot bounced rapidly, and your pencil tapped away at the page with the same impatience.

“What’s wrong?” He asks suddenly, taking you out of your frustrated trance.

“Oh! Uh…This stupid problem has me stumped.”

“Lemme see…” Instead of bringing your notebook closer to him, he leans in closer to you.

He smells nice, was your first thought. Once you realized what just went through your head, you could feel the heat rise on your cheeks and your chest felt tighter than usual. Minato didn’t seem to notice your embarrassment as he narrowed his eyes down at your problem. He adjusts himself, only resulting in getting closer. This time you’re able to vocalize some kind of sound to catch his attention. “M-Minato…?”

“Hm…?” The hard blue stare of his softens when he looks up, his face closer than expected.

“C-c-close…!” You manage to squeak. God, his eyes are so intoxicating…

It takes a few moments until the color on his cheeks deepen as he registers the situation. “Oh, uh, sorry…” He straightens up and looks away bashfully, scratching at his cheek a bit.

There is a slight tension in the air before he clears his throat and gives you a small smile. “I know what you did wrong… I can show you…” He gestures to your notebook.

You respond with a smile and scoot a little closer to him, moving your notebook where it was in the middle. The rest of the time was peaceful but it seemed the two of you never stopped blushing over that one moment when it came back into your mind.

Yu Narukami:

>Your Charm increased

After everything that happened at the Love Meets Bond Festival, you became interested in the art of dance. You hadn’t realized how easy it was to pick it up and how fun it was to express yourself in such an artistic way. One dance that had interested you was Tango. One problem though: It takes two to tango.

So you called up Narukami in a desperate attempt to get someone you were familiar with to be your partner. And thankfully he agreed to take the classes with you. One more problem: Tango involves close contact and passionate gazes between the two parties.

“I hadn’t realized how close we’d have to be…” Narukami confesses, chuckling a little.

Your heart sank a bit. Did you force him into this? Did you make him uncomfortable?

Narukami chuckles again, being able to read your worried expression. “Don’t worry about it, [Name], I’m having fun! Justbeingclosetoyoumakesithardtocontrolmyself.”

“What was that last part?” You tilted your head in confusion.

“Nothing! Don’t worry about it.” He smiles so sweetly that you went ahead and forgot about it.

The weeks fly by and it becomes a blur to you until the final day where you have to perform the dance, not only in front of your class but also in front of a live audience of guests, you had been practicing since day one. You were nervous to say the least. A lot of the time you blanked out during the dance but you knew today wouldn’t be the case. Narukami asked if the two of you could go last so he could watch the other performances. At the time you had no problem with it but now your heart and soul were trying their best to escape your body.

You felt a strong and warm hand grip yours. Reassurance flooded your body and once again you felt calm. As the dance for the team before you was coming to a close, you take a peek at the audience. Full house. And the Investigation Team was there to show their support, even Teddie took it seriously by showing up in his human form.

The next thing you know, you and Narukami are getting into place. The audience claps and cheers once your names are introduced and then it’s quiet. The music plays.

Why you hadn’t noticed Narukami’s strength at this point was a shocker to you. The way you two moved together was breathtaking. Just as breathtaking as being to intimately close to Narukami’s face was. Your face becomes flushed but you somehow manage to keep your composure. His strong hands holding you firmly but gently, the passionate look in his eyes, the strength and skill that is portrayed to the audience at the climax of the dance where you do a complicated move in which you are lifted up and trust your body to move along his until he catches you.

Your performance ends and you feel breathless, more so than when you first started practicing. The audience goes wild and the team is the loudest out of everyone. Narukami takes you backstage and sits you down in a chair.

“You alright? I could tell you were ready to faint.” His face seemed just as flushed as yours.

You nod quietly, refusing to look at him.

He laughs softly and leans in close, “Don’t worry about it…. I know exactly/ how you feel…”

[Mini Bonus, the video that inspired this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3vsiiRK5GU ]

Akira Kurusu:

>Your Guts increased

You weren’t really the courageous type but there were times you were able to pull through for the greater good. Saving a stray dog from being beaten by a bunch of idiot bullies was no different. You recognized their faces from your school, Shujin High. Before they could touch the dog, your voiced boomed an authoritative “Quit it!”

“What are you gonna do about it, bitch?” One of the guys scoffed.

You lifted your phone, “I know how to contact the police and inform them of idiot bullies like you for terrible behavior. I’m also willing to throw in a white lie of harassment, if I have to.”

“Tch. Let’s bale man. She’s killin my fun.”

“We’ll remember this, [Name]! Don’t think I don’t know who you are and what class you go to!” You forgot one of them was in your class. Shit…!

They run off and the dog scratches at your shoe until you look down at it. Its eyes thank you silently before it runs off. Now the anxiety begins to seep in. What’s going to happen to you? What are you gonna do? What are they/ gonna do??

While you were lost in thought thinking of the worst possibilities, you almost missed a gentle voice. “Uh, excuse me?”

“Ah! Please don’t kill me…!!” You jolt and look at who was speaking to you. You relax when you see it was your desk neighbor, Akira Kurusu. “Oh…! Akira! You scared me…”

“Are they bothering you?” He sounded concerned.

“No…but they might try something tomorrow… You don’t have to worry about me. My life will be over by tomorrow anyway…” You groan, conflicting emotions causing a massive headache. “Sorry, but I’m going home…” You push past him and make your way home.

You could have sworn you felt someone’s eyes on you…

The next day you were on edge and barely made it to class on time. You struggled to focus in class and you didn’t dare leave the classroom for lunch like you normally would. You wished so desperately to turn back time. Each second was shaving off five years of your life. Finally it was time to go home. You noticed Akira hurriedly gathered his things and left the room and decided to follow his example.

The boy in your class reacted a little slower to make it seem like he wasn’t still interested in making your life a living hell, which was his first mistake. You make it out of the classroom and try to make a run for it for the school entrance until a hand snapped closed around your wrist. You gasp and turn to see it was Akira, quietly shushing you with his finger. “Come with me…”

He pulls you along and runs down the halls, a lot of eyes staring and wondering just what had gotten into him. Was the delinquent going to hurt you? Eh, it wasn’t any of their business…. Akira eventually makes it to the janitor’s closet and opens the door before rushing you inside. He quickly follows and starts to slow down his breathing as he shuts the door.

You were really out of breath. This guy was more athletic than he looked. “Wh-what are you doing…?”

Without answering you, Akira gives you a serious look and closes the distance between you. Naturally you stepped back, scared and vulnerable. Oh, you thought, I get it. He’s the one that’s going to dish out my punishment for messing with those guys… Your back hits the wall and you flinch, closing your eyes. When you feel no pain, you peek up. Akira has his arms on both sides of your head, trapping you. But you notice his focus was elsewhere.

“Akira…?” Your voice was breathy.

“Quiet…” He shushes you gently, pressing a little closer.

You gasp and wait it out. Then you hear familiar voices. It was those boys from before, calling out to each other and swearing a storm. They stopped in front of the closet and you held your breath. Akira noticed your discomfort and pulled you into a protective hug.

He smelled like all kinds of delicious blends of coffee. Your ear was pressed against his chest. Why was his heart pounding? He looks so calm and collected, so serious. So why…? Once they leave, he lets you go. He chuckles seeing your disappointed face.

“Heh… you’re pretty cute when you pout…” He smirks down at you.

“Wh-what?” Your face flushes with many shades of red.

“Ah, nothing… Who were they?”

You explained the situation to him from yesterday. When you finish by thanking him, he pats your head and gives you a gentle smile.

“You’ve got a good heart… One more thing: Do you know their names…?”

[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.