#joker if he had a palace

[miitokii]

it’s shadow joker but technically it’s arsène if he was a shadow (as you can see from me basically copying his outfit lol)

its a design for an idea i have for joker’s palace, see this post if you’re interested!

it’s important that you know he is wearing pointed high heeled boots

“yet his accent is hypnotic but his shoes are pointy-toed”

“gay or european?”

arsène is french so that means he’s both🇫🇷🏳️‍🌈

here’s the reel i made to please the instagram algorithm as well lol?

and also some meme draws i did hehe

[eggs-can-draw]

Drinks!

[fuqer]

guys. akechi was igor's champion. joker was yaldabaoth's champion. why does every analysis of the game that i see forget this i thought the game made that pretty damn clear

[sketchy--akechi]

So I just now learned about a Shuake take where Joker is the yandere and Akechi is the darling (this takes place in Maruki's reality) and

If this love - Akiren telling Akechi "We're taking the offer"

Won't come true - Akechi looking utterly betrayed and heartbroken as the Justice card shatters into pieces

That means I can never wake up - Joker sleeping in the Cafe LeBlanc attic, surrounded by cobwebs

... I may have listened to Mousou Express one too many times

:'))) yall just wanna see me crying huh

[birthday-of-music]

while november 20th did cause me irreparable damage it was much less than i expected and i think there should be more. look it hurts when canon has a bunch of angst but it hurts more when canon SHOULD have a bunch of angst but DOESNT.

[sandsoftide]

died in p5 and lost like an hour of progress I’m miserable

[megaderping]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[vashtijoy]

Quick snippet from 10/26. In case you ever wondered whether Akechi knows Mona talks all along... watch him here, and listen to him. At first he's on script—entirely in control even when he talks about how he was supposedly nearly murdered by himself. It's the same tone he uses on the news. He's gone over this speech a dozen times.

Then Morgana talks, and while Akechi does react, he's still acting. He's still on script, prepared and practiced. The portrait looks shocked, but the model is just standing there, playing detective....

... until Ann steps in with "our friend who taught us about the Metaverse":

He jumps back so fast I didn't have time to load the textbox, lol. "What do you MEAN you had a MAGIC CAT GUIDE, the FUCK??"

Of course he knew Mona talks. How does he expose himself, right away on 6/9?—he hears Mona talking about pancakes. He had to be close enough to hear Mona, the cat. So it's not Mona talking that shocks him, but the revelation that Joker and the rest had help, had a guide from the very beginning, when he did not.

And you can hear his voice change register at that moment. That careful, controlled, rehearsed tone goes out of the window. He talks faster, he pitches up, he's breathless, without a script. He is, in short, more real. And he immediately asks Mona a question:

He really hasn't solved that mystery; he really wants to know. In fact, he has to know—about the difference in their methods and his own, which he just can't figure out....

There's a little of that high-pitched breathiness when he talks about his awakening, too. I'd say that's pretty much how it happened way back when, and he's adapted the story a little. "I can't die here... I need to determine the truth"—of course he did. The same truth that his "sole interest is uncovering"—the truth about Shido and himself.

What about that image of the killer, standing in the entrance to Okumura's Palace? Well, sometimes people think this is a photo, but it's not—Akechi doesn't produce any more photos, he just continues with his story. So this is presumably what Akechi pictures in his mind at that moment. This is his self-image, God help him:

Lastly, here's an incredulous Akechi with a bonus Futaba glaring at him. Don't neglect the models—they really repay close examination, and the face animation is often incredibly detailed. And as for whether Akechi is lying or not at any given moment—it's often easier to tell than you think.

revision history

Click here for the latest version.

v1.0 (2024/04/18)—first posted.

[frickingnerd]

throw away your mask

pairing: ren amamiya / akira kurusu / joker x gn!reader

summary: after finding out about the deal your boyfriend made with the god of control, you confront him! but ren has since changed...

tags: evil joker, kinda yandere joker too, established relationship, angst, spoilers for persona 5's bad ending, implied corruption

a/n: i replayed persona 5 and went for a bad ending this time! after seeing evil joker, i had to write this immediately! <3

“w-who are you…?”

the man in front of you wore your boyfriend's face, but there wasn't a single trace of the boy you once loved. ren amamiya was a good guy, who wanted to help people! never would he have made a deal with a god, that only brought suffering upon people!

“you know me.”

ren's eyes were covered by his glasses, making his expression impossible to read. only the hint of a smile on the corner of his lips was there to show any sort of emotion.

“you're not the boy i fell in love with! the ren amamiya that i know would've never sided with a god, much less the god of control! how could you betray everything the phantom thieves stood against!?”

ren took a step towards you, his lips parting, as he was ready to talk back at you. but you quickly stepped back and cried out:

“don't come any closer!”

ren adjusted his glasses, finally allowing you to get a glimpse of his eyes. they were staring at you uncomfortably from behind those glasses, almost as if they were piercing right through you. could this really be the same boy you once fell in love with? could those same kind eyes that made you feel all warm and fuzzy now scare you like this?

“i didn't betray the phantom thieves. i saved us! we can continue our work and finally get the recognition we deserve! the public loves us, just like they should! isn't that what we all wanted? we are heroes!”

he sounded insane! with each word that left his lips, you felt more disgusted with him. is this truly how he viewed the world? how he viewed the phantom thieves?

“heroes? don't make me laugh!” you yelled at ren. “you are not a hero! you are the villain of this story! you enslaved the whole world for your selfish wants! you are no better than those we took down! you are… just like them…”

for a split second, ren's face distorted. your words seemed to wound him, but the anger quickly faded from his face again. slowly, he stepped forward. even as you took steps backwards, it was impossible for you to escape him. soon, he had you cornered, his hand resting on your cheek.

“i am not like the palace rulers we disposed of. they were weak fools, but me? i am on the same level as a god now! the people worship and adore me! all of us, all phantom thieves, can be as gods! we can forever continue this way of life! we never have to change! we can simply live as heroes, worshiped like gods, for eternity!”

a twisted smile had spread over ren's face.

“why should we waste our time worrying about humans? humanity is enslaved by the god of control? well, this isn't our problem! you and i, we stand above them! so, join me! you and i, we can become as gods! you only have to join me and give up your foolish rebellion against me…”

ren took a step back, yet reached out his hand towards you. he didn't force you to take it, but whether you'd accept his hand or reject him would change your life forever. there were only two options; either you were with him or against him!

“what do you say, darling? will you choose humanity over me? or will you come to your senses and realize you belong by my side?”

[cosmichorrorsarestillnicerthanme]

contributing to the curse (ask number) and your request for anything persona x reader (whims)

any game goes, but how about the characters with a reader that doesn't seem to mash with the rest of group too well? i'm talking someone who is quiet, the complete opposite of a team player, doesn't get the inside jokes, and doesn't hang out much with the others outside of persona ass-kicking pursuits...

this errs on the platonic side of things :3c just for fun

I had fun putting this together, though I feel it is a tad sloppy in the middle section but I am pretty sure that's just me.

Now! Your Wish Is My Command!

Ren drank his can of soda through a silly straw as he watched you, the hat he received from The Boss for his birthday which matched Sojiro’s own save for Ren’s being black with a red band as opposed to white with a black band sitting snugly upon his head.

Ren had to go through hell to get you out here, he was going to make sure you didn’t slip away when no one was looking.

The sound of billiards cracking against one another rang out.

“ARRRRGH!!! C’mon man!Cut me some slack here!” Ryuji cried as Akechi laughed.

“Hmph, and why should I do that? You’re the one who carries around a blunt instrument all the time, perhaps you should learn a bit of delicacy!” Akechi said as he moved to the sidelines and next to Yusuke who seemed to be pondering something.

“Crow, tell me, have you noticed?” Yusuke asked vaguely.

“I have, our dear Joker has been glaring at them for quite a while. Then again, it quite is rare for them to come out for a “Team Bonding” exercise.” Akechi stated as he briefly turned his gaze onto you from the corner of his eyes.

“I… was talking about the scene we are currently in being perfect to paint…” Yusuke meekly muttered, causing Akechi to sigh.

Was Joker the only one with a brain cell in this group?

He was promptly reminded that his favorite and most powerful Persona was a Jack Frost that can nuke anything and anyone. He chose Jack Frost purely because it was cute.

Joker most definitely did not own any brain cells.

“I am well and truly surrounded by idiots…” Akechi hissed to himself.

How could Joker believe such sacrilege?

Jack-O-Lantern was clearly the cutest.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Haru kept her eyes on you as the Mona-Mobile rattled down the halls of Mementos.

This was the first time she had ever been sent out with you on the same team.

It was proving to be… enlightening.

Especially with your Persona, Robin Goodfellow.

Trickery, illusions, and misdirection to position an enemy in the perfect spot to ensure defeat.

That is what your Persona specializes in.

And when Haru took your weapon into account… It made her think of the tricksters in the old stories she used to read as a child.

A wiley trickster causing mischief and chaos as they pleased to both friend and foe alike.

And to a certain point, that fit.

Except… you were always a bit off to the side.

Watching everything, working with the others for only as long as was needed.

The jokes the thieves made were lost on you and the moment they were done with Mementos or a Palace you were gone on the wind.

Now that she thought about it, that is probably why you were only able to do a Showtime with Joker who seemed to be the only one you listened to.

And it was certainly a mindblowing sight.

A “Midsummer Night's Dream” if she had ever seen one.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

“It's Showtime!” Joker shouted with a grin as you walked forward, spear in hand.

“Do you Shadows dream?” you asked as you reached for the mask on your face.

Joker rushed past you, knife in hand and carved through the enemies before them.

You tore the mask from your face and your Persona appeared behind you with a manic laugh and an impish grin upon its face.

“I know that I do.” you declared evenly as you stabbed the tip of your weapon into the ground and the world changed.

A forest at night in the dead of summer with a hundred fireflies flying through the sky and a clearing filled with flowers stunning the thieves and the shadows.

“Unfortunately, dreams are but illusions without the will to make them real.” You stated as you appeared behind the shadows, speartip stained with their black Ichor.

Then, as quickly as it came the illusion shattered and an explosion rained down from above, courtesy of Joker.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Haru continued to be vexed by you.

She was not alone in that if the way the others talked about you was any indication.

“So then Joker, is ya pal gonna be joining us tonight?”

“I am desperate to paint their Persona, its whimsical beauty has truly enraptured me!”

“I got these sweets earlier today! I want to share them with everyone! Wait! They’re not here!? You better not eat their share, Ryuji!”

“C’mon! We can’t have a party discussion about what we’ll do in the next Dungeon if we’re missing our Illusion caster!”

“Joker, shouldn’t we try to get them to show up to at least a few of these to ensure everything runs smoothly?”

“If they bring me pancake mix again I am going to break their fingers.”

Haru was happy to see that everyone was treating you as part of the team despite how distant you were.

But… she just hoped you knew they had your back if they needed it.

They all knew what it felt like to be the odd one out as well as anyone could ever hope to know it.

They were outcasts, misfits, social pariahs, delinquents, and weirdos.

They were the Phantom Thieves Of Hearts, and you were one of them.

[miitokii]

ok so imagine if joker killed someone and the guilt stained his hands with blood forever

so he understands why akechi wears gloves all the time lol

btw i traced the hands from an anime called Beyond the Boundary (just search anime bloody hands and it’s like the first result), i wanted to focus more on the effect and the expression

also have some drawings of akechi i did with a different fit. imagine if joker had a dream with akechi in it with phantom thief outfit before akechi revealed his persona to the thieves lol

ALSO if you want more context for the joker killing someone idea, and an edit i did with these drawings to please the instagram algorithm, please see under the cut

ok so i was thinking about the PT’s plan against Akechi, and a common gripe i see is how the cognitions don’t die like that in other palaces, they just dissipate into black smoke. BUT ALSO other palace rulers don’t really see people as actual people unlike Sae.

so Kamoshida sees people as nothing more dolls/slaves he can use how he wants, hence cognitive Ann just dissipates when sliced. Okumura sees people as robots so cognitive Haru explodes because she’s a robot. Kaneshiro sees people as ATMs so they just malfunction and break down.

i imagine the cognitions in Madarame’s palace are kinda just like… 3D living statues, just there to admire Madarame’s work, so if they were killed they’d probably dissipate or crumble like Kamoshida’s. and obviously there are no cognitions in Futaba’s palace (apart from Wakaba, who has a whole boss) because she’s a shut in.

anyway, the PT would notice that cognitions have different behaviour even in death depending on the palace ruler, so to confirm the plan would work, they would have to kill a cognition to see what happens in Sae’s palace. Makoto is probably sure her sister still sees people as people so it would work, but she also knows it’s vital they check this. in a way it would ease her too, since it would be confirmation.

and of course Joker being the leader he is would volunteer to do the ‘deed’. so he kills an innocent, harmless, cognitive person, watches them beg for their life as he holds a gun to their head and fires. he knows it’s just a cognition so it’s irrational, but the guilt he feels is all the same, especially as he watches the cognition slump to the floor just like a real corpse and bleed out onto the floor. Unlike other cognitions in other palaces it doesn’t dissipate after a while, it stays there, because Sae, how distorted she may be, still sees people as people, in life or death.

TECHNICALLY this is retconned because at the end of the cutscene cognitive ren and the guard dissipate BUT I CHOOSE TO IGNORE THAT

lol yeah i wrote that in a fic and wanted to draw it in a sort of quick sketch lol

anyway here’s the edit lol

[mayadoesfandomstuff]

Honestly a shame that most Persona fans don't know that the whole modus operandi of the Phantom Thieves (specifically calling cards) has roots in a very specific Arsène Lupin story and not just like a general Arsène Lupin thing, specifically based on the story "Arsène Lupin in Prison" where Lupin sends a note to a baron that he was going to rob him all the while Lupin was in prison to send him into a paranoia, all the while his band of thieves infiltrate the castle and trick the baron into letting them through the front door through taking advantage of the baron's paranoia of the thieves. This is pretty close to the calling card mechanic in the games complete with the thieves basically stealing everything after waltzing into the front door after some prep work before. Some of the other usual Arsène Lupin staples that are found in the game that doesn't get talked about enough is the fact that most stories start of with the resolution/end point and for the most part, Arsène actually tells another character how things had gone down, so even the in media res set up that Persona 5 has where the entire plot is told entirely through flashbacks via Joker telling Sae everything before we reach the interrogation room is also very Arsène Lupin. The strange and elaborate plot like them pulling the switcheroo with Akechi to help Joker escape is also an Arsène Lupin staple with most of the plots resolving in such strange twists that it seems impossible to figure out what Arsène was planning until he actually reveals it.

A lot of Persona 5 Vanilla's main Palace plot is heavily based on how an Arsène Lupin story usually goes and honestly people should just read more Maurice LeBlanc's Arsène Lupin.

[corviiids]

   Joker shouldn’t make a habit of knifing without looking, but he can’t help it. Akechi’s dispassionate expression as he watches himself dissolve into sludge under Ren’s blade is much more interesting than said sludge. Joker wipes off his dagger, sheathes it, and says, “Is it weird watching me kill you?”

   “It’s a novelty,” says Akechi.

   Another novelty: Ren’s never seen Crow dressed as Akechi before. It’s incredibly odd to watch him hop and flicker between hiding spots looking for all intents and purposes like he’s about to head to school. It’s odder still because the polite smart-casualwear doesn’t at all match the antipathy Akechi’s wearing on his face. Whenever they’d spent time together, Akechi had always worn a pleasantly interested smile; but that pretty face, too, was not what Ren had been pining after.

--

chapter 9 of "as you like it" aka akechi palace au. 11.8k, the long trek to the treasure, the philosophy of taking a heart.

happy fourth birthday to this fic!!! 🥹

[mixedupmelody]

tough guy.

notes: someone needs to seriously make an effort to bruise these guys' ego a little. the t-birds in GENERAL need to come with a warning sign saying "Will Not Show Affection in Public".

contains: danny zuko x gender neutral reader , kenickie murdoch x female reader

characters: danny zuko, kenickie murdoch, t-birds and pink ladies (briefly mentioned)

warnings: swearing, suggestive themes and dialouge

. ☁️ .

꒰ danny. ꒱

“ 'S cool with me, baby. ” Danny holds a hand around your waist, taking care not to look into your eyes. God, he could stare at them for hours. He'd live a happy life if all he ever saw was those eyes. But he can't look at you. Not now. The T-Birds stare at him, almost as if they were waiting on their leader to slip up and say something cheesy. “ I'll see you after school, beautiful. ”

You press a quick kiss to his lips, before walking off to your next class. You knew his status meant something to him, and weren't trying to put him in an annoying spot with his friends. Danny's shoulders relax as you walk off, eyes trailing after you as if he could keep you next to him with his mind.

Danny is the leader of the T-Birds, so he's held to a somewhat higher standard than the rest of the guys. Out of all of them, he's suppossed to be the most macho, the most hard-headed, and the most gutsy member all into one. In between all the turf wars and fights at school, he's the face of their gang that let's everyone know he means business.

And then you came along. You managed to break through his tough exterior and unlock a sweeter, more sensitive side of him. He couldn't help but feel like a total melvin each time he dressed up nice to bring you flowers, or when he put his best efforts into not getting fresh with you when you invited him to your place to study after school.

To him, it's all worth it. Just seeing that smile on your face is enough to keep him going through the exhaustion he feels trying to keep his pure, romantic advancements under wraps.

꒰ kenickie. ꒱

Kenickie's hand reaches dangerously close to your ass as you sit with him at The Frosty Palace. As the T-Birds and Pink Ladies chat at their shared booth, Kenickie made sure to show off that he was a certified ladies man. And what better way to show that than messing around with his girl while they ate?

“ If these jokers keep this shitty conversation up, i'll just have to take ya' home for some real fun. ” You could tell he was practically working overtime tonight. With all those notes you left in his lunch, you were more than sure he was trying to make up the jokes he was subjected to. It's not that he really cared what the guys would think, they knew he would knock them out before they had the chance to flap their gums for too long, but it was a matter of dignity!

Kenickie Murdouch would rather die than let the guys think he's gone soft. He's a rockin', smooth talkin' rebel who's all bark. At least, until he started going steady with you. He feels all mixed up, wanting to treat you nice while also having to be on the look out for the other T-Birds.

God forbid you ever give him a tender kiss in front of his friends at school, or make him quiet a quick "i love you too" when you part ways in the halls. The guys will rip on him for as long as Kenickie will take it, making obnoxious kissing noises and jokingly threaten to take his second-in-command spot.

If they push him too far, he'll switch right back into greaser mode, and threaten to knock the living daylights out of them. They shut up quickly after that.

There's been at least one instance where you and Kenickie were on a date at The Frosty Palace, sharing a milkshake. As you two are talking, he laughs, slamming his hand on the table, and the milkshake splashes on the tip of his nose. When you go to clean his face for him, the other T-Birds barge in through those glass doors. It almost feels unreal how accurate their timing is. You hear a chorus of "oooo!"s as you clean his face, trying your best to calm your boyfriend down before he loses his cool.

You don't see his walls go down often, even when you're by yourselves. Give him time.

[maespri]

assigning one word to every persona 5 character

hiii local girl (me) got bored and decided to make this character analysis post of sorts for fun!! so here's one word i think each persona 5 character embodies, as well as my explanation... <3

ryuji: acceptance

ryuji is the first character we formally meet and befriend in persona 5. to others, he's rowdy, unpredictable, and not very pleasant to be around. we're warned multiple times about him and about what he's done. we also get to witness for ourselves how easy it is for him to form a grudge and hold to it for dear life, whether it be toward a corrupt adult, other students, morgana, some of the other phantom thieves, etc.

one of my favorite things about ryuji's character arc and growth is actually how subtle it is, especially for a game that (bless it's heart, i love it, but-) has very little subtlety at times. it kind of just occurs in the background and you slowly watch him change.

he goes from openly despising, attacking, and badmouthing kamoshida to simply saying "it's all in the past" when asked about it in one of his future confidant events. he goes from desperately wanting to be viewed as a hero to accepting that some things have to happen in secrecy. he even becomes kinder to morgana and the other phantom thieves when previously, he wouldn't hesitate to verbally jump them. my point is, he comes to accept a lot of things and leave them all behind in the pursuit of just being happy with what he's got now.

the antithesis of this is also true, where ryuji doesn't accept any of the corruption that happens around him, another aspect that is a huge part of his character. he's usually one of the firsts to suggest infiltrating a palace or heading into mementos.

overall, ryuji's character arc really just involves a whole lot of moving on and letting the past be the past in order to facilitate his own change and his own path toward having peace. and i love it!!!

ann: connection

i felt as though a lot of ann's character was centered around the idea of connection. when we first meet her, she has only one friend, and she puts herself into a terrible situation with kamoshida just to make sure that friend doesn't lose her spot on the volleyball team. she's established as somebody who clearly values her connections very deeply.

but there's also a flipside to this, in that. y'know. ann only has one friend at the start of the game. in one of her confidant events, she also talks about how she had no friends for a while when she first came to japan due to her appearance, ethnicity, and nationality, and how she often faced adversity due to this.

when she does befriend joker and ryuji, it is a rocky beginning- but she comes to value her friends so much. when she meets yusuke, she gives him a chance. when she meets makoto, she's the first to reassure makoto that she doesn't hate her for stalking them, and that she actually wants to be friends. when she meets futaba, haru, you name it- she is always trying to be kind to them. to immediately become their friend and connect with them.

during akechi's battle in shido's palace, she's the one who suggests he join them in taking down shido. she's the one who wants him to be a part of them, even after everything.

she also has a passion for connecting with the world around her, most notably, i would say, through modeling.

it's clear ann values connection a lot. she goes to great lengths for the people she loves, she encourages befriending people, and she enjoys involving herself in the things that go on around her. i think it's really great to get to watch as her trust in everyone, and her relationships with them, grow stronger.

yusuke: passion

yusuke's arc is very much centered around passion, from the moment you meet him to the end of his confidant events. he's on an endless search for the perfect muse, to make the perfect painting, to become the perfect artist.

so much so that when he finds out that the person he looked up to the most lied to him, and when he finds out that the person who came before him (his mother), who had the exact same passion as him, was killed by the person he looked up to the most- his world crumbles.

he loses that passion some, or at least struggles to figure out how he's going to ever paint something worthy again now that he knows the one thing he loves to do was built off of something so heinous.

but you see over time how he finds that passion again, through his friends, through trial and error, through just going at it over and over again. to the final realization that maybe that passion has dissipated some, but it's still within him. he can never paint the way he used to, but that isn't the bad thing he thought it was- it's good.

his passion is also just a central part of his character. he can come across as melodramatic or "a bit much," as he even says himself at one point during a confidant event in mementos-

but the people he's surrounded himself with don't think so, and love him anyway. so... safe to say his passion and his love for the beauty in the world is what carries him throughout all of persona 5.

makoto: practical

definitions of "practical":

(of an idea, plan, or method) likely to succeed or be effective in real circumstances; feasible

suitable for a particular purpose

sensible and realistic in their approach to a situation or problem

makoto is my favorite character in persona 5 right next to yusuke, and i think the word "practical" describes her in many great ways.

the first reason being that both the word itself as well as its antithesis apply to makoto very well. she is rather deceptively practical in some ways, in the sense that she comes across as well put-together, intelligent, and sensible when you first meet her-

until you find out she's actually the same as any other reckless teenager out there, running to kaneshiro and getting herself and all the other phantom thieves into a blackmailing scandal.

she also does this because a big part of makoto's character during this arc is the idea of being useful to somebody- being, as the second definition says up there, "suitable for a particular purpose." she just wants to help somebody. she feels like a deadweight to sae, she's doing everything she can to be a top student in school and it still isn't enough, and she's getting nowhere in the one task her principal assigned to her.

being useful to someone is very important to her.

then she actually joins the phantom thieves and the meaning of this word flips a little bit, because makoto is practical, in the sense of being sensible and intelligent. she's the "brains" of the phantom thieves-

but she no longer has to be "worth something" or "useful." i think ann is the one who explains this concept to her, of how they just want makoto to be their friend. not to be some sort of tool.

so makoto instead turns her attention to just being helpful where she can rather than ruining her life over it. she asks for help when she needs it, such as when she's trying to help one of her friends with his weird boyfriend and asks joker to help her out. and she does try to help her friend with her weird boyfriend, another example of trying to contribute. and she's a part of the phantom thieves, an organization that literally devotes itself to ridding the world of corruption and evil figures.

for her, i think what is really important is how 'practical' goes from her constantly trying to be presentable, constantly bending over backwards to help other people, and constantly hating herself for being 'useful'... to allowing herself to be honest with her friends, and be silly and confused and ask for help, and do what she can to help other people without killing herself over it.

so, yeah. i think she has a really lovely arc in this sense as well.

futaba: freedom

this one i feel like is a given... futaba's arc, in many ways, is centered around the idea of freedom.

freedom from blaming herself for her mom, freedom from her bedroom, freedom from being afraid of being around or talking to people. leaving behind all the things in her past that brought her so much pain, and moving forward in her life.

i'm surprised i don't have much more to say, but honestly, i feel like it's kind of the obvious word for futaba. her entire arc is surrounded with the idea of escaping her self-blame and the tomb she trapped herself in. and she gets that through hanging out with the phantom thieves, and through doing her promise list with ren, and through just. freeing herself from all of her blame.

i also think the word embodies her carefree nature and openness to trying things, even when they scare her. she isn't bound by social norms or what she thinks she's supposed to act like. i also think these traits really help the people around her let loose as well. she also strays from the norm in the sense of her being her own little NPC in battle. you don't know what she's going to do for you. she's free as a bird!

anyway. i love her!

haru: action

haru was difficult for me to pick a word for because there were so many i could've gone with, but i settled on 'action' for a few reasons.

the first being that, for quite a while in her life, it would appear as though haru doesn't take action. doesn't try to change the things she dislikes, just meekly goes along with whatever life throws her way. she's trapped in her engagement and just does whatever her father wants her to do.

but there's definitely something bubbling up in her, a desire to lash back out and actually change her situation.

which is why when she does enter the metaverse for the first time, meets this talking cat, and is told to just go along with whatever morgana says... it's no wonder she instantly jumps on board. this is her finally doing something for herself, not for anyone else. this is her straying from the norm.

when everything with the phantom thieves and the metaverse is explained to haru, she's quick to grow, and transform, and work with them to take down her father.

finally, haru gets to actually do something about her situation, and she isn't hesitating at all. she's jumping headfirst to acting on what she's always wanted to do. taking action.

this is just a side note, but i also think haru empathizes with akechi on a more personal level. she knows what it's like to abhor what somebody in your family has done, and to want to end it- they're two sides of the same coin, they just went about their situations in completely different ways.

it floored me when i saw how forgiving she was toward him even after knowing he killed her father. but none of that kindness is coming from a place of forgiving him, or absolving his guilt, or from complacency- it's from understanding his desperation. he wants to be free just as badly as she wanted to. on some level, haru understands this.

anyway. i know i say this about all of them, but man... i truly love haru. <3

akechi: worth

akechi's character is arguably one of the most fun to study in this game. he's difficult to get a grasp on at first outside of what he shows the player, a facade of pleasantries and friendliness. but at his core, akechi's character and ideals revolve a lot around the concept of worth.

it starts with himself. obviously, he views himself as worthless, says as much, and has spent his entire life trying to shake off that self-imposed title. he's worked so hard to become somebody people want to be around, somebody they support, somebody they revere.

so much so that when he abandons ship (no pun intended) and shows the phantom thieves who he really is, he's disgusted by the fact that they aren't disgusted. he's someone who wholeheartedly believes that being worth something to someone is the only important thing, is the only way to be appreciated, is the only thing worth fighting for.

its why he despises the weak and wants to take down those who have made him feel worthless (namely shido). and he'll do those things, he'll kill tens of people with little regard, because it's worth it. it is worth it if it means he'll be able to kill the root of his worthlessness.

he talks all about how he wasn't wanted as a child, he's just some bastard child, everything he's done has been a lie in an attempt to make people love him. he says he thinks the phantom thieves are terrible, "licking each other's wounds," that they'e idiots for showing him mercy, and yet, he accepts it.

he accepts it, because for once, he's worth something to people who don't want anything from him in return. he's worth something to people who have witnessed the absolute worst parts of him. he's worth something to people who are worth nothing to world because of him. the person he killed outstretches his hand toward him and tells him he wants him to be a part of this. to be a part of his life.

unlike makoto, worth to akechi is internal. he doesn't just want to be useful, he wants to be liked. he wants to be appreciated. he wants someone to see him for who he is and love him anyway, but he buries those desires under a hundred layers of "i don't need this, i just need to get revenge, i just need to make my father pay."

his obsession with being perfect is also the reason he holds so much anger toward joker. joker didn't have to try at all to be liked, to make friends, to have an entire group of people at his side, willing to do anything he asked. i think the line drawn between akechi and joker is born from a simple fundamental misunderstanding of how relationships work. akechi thinks they're built on mutual gain, on being admired, on having power over them. joker knows they're built on simply loving someone despite all the things you don't like about them.

anyway, overall, worthiness obviously means a lot to akechi. man he's a tough nut to crack... but i hope i did him some justice...

that's it!

thank you for reading <3

[taldigi]

jailbreak palace but it's ren's palace and it's meant to test how well you've leveled your allies rather than having to rely on joker. All the enemies are personas currently in Ren's roster. Cognative Lavenza helps as a nav for the dungeon, looking more like a hybrid of caroline and justine rather than as herself.

Final boss is vs a solitary confinement cell. I imagine monster hands coming from the dark cell w/ chains being used as physical attacks and grabbing party members to disable them. If you don't do enough damage to the grabby hand, the party member is locked in a cell and is removed from play (replaced by an auxiliary member.) Confidants with higher ranks get pulled in slower.

phase 2 reveals that Shadow Ren is both warden and prisoner, looking similar to Raoul. Shit, give him Raoul's cigar too. Play up the warden part of it. I don't have game mechanics brainrotted but idk.

Turns out the big thing about it is that even tho Ren did the right thing and would do it again in a heartbeat, he's not about genuinely hurting people and the shame had manifested the night all the consequences settled in.

The prize for completing it is unlocking raoul, and the treasure turns out to be all the friends he made along the way .

"How does he have a palace if he has a persona-" well, it formed the night he arrived to leblanc. "he's not a bad guy" nither was Futaba. "but what a-" shhh, let me have fun.

loose sketch, while the idea is fresh