#kaneshiro bank

[bubblebrow]

6/20, I know you're blackmailing me but can you please retake the photo

This comic is in Volume 1 of my P5R comic anthology, sold on my online store here! -> https://www.rodi.best/

[ultimatecutenesspeaks]

Ren: Oh, sure. That sounds fun. Do you two want to come as well?

UB: Nah, not this time. Ryuji asked to hang out, so that's what I'm gonna do. Besides, if you bring UC to any arcade, they're undoubtedly gonna get you banned for life.

*UC looks away and pretends to clear their throat.*

UC: I was gonna hang out with Big Sis Mako-chan today, so, uh...

[shintaru]

characters I’ll write for + tags ~ prompt list

Who wants to be tagged for which characters when I post the finished project?

Fic REQUESTS CLOSED

Windbreaker:

Juwan Jang 🦈 TJ

Yumi

Kazuma Takeda

Sung kwon Monster @jesusownsme @cozyunderworld

Mahon Jo

Humming bird

Jo Jay @ankita607 @czyinlive

Junsu Lee / June Lee

Minu yoon

Shelly Scott Dom kang @cozyunderworld @samuelseowife

Sabbath

Hyuk Kwon @inosukehana Wooin yoo @cozyunderworld Vinny hong @ankita607Joker (Hajun) @cozyunderworld @inosukehana

Light Calvary

Owen knight @catsrkool @rossesnd Camilla Nelson

Harry shepherd

Chris D’ Char ~ @rossesnd @cozyunderworld @inosukehana

Noah Austin

League of street

Sangho Choi @cozyunderworld @koiiiiijiii Hwangyeon Choi @koiiiiijiii

Juwon ryu

Kazuma

Kenji ikusaba

Kaneshiro Takeda Ryohei Hachijō Hyōma Nagase

Lookism:

Daniel Park @koiiiiijiii Vasco @koiiiiijiii Jay Hong @koiiiiijiii Zack Lee @koiiiiijiii Jace Park @koiiiiijiii Jiho Park @koiiiiijiii Mary Kim Vin Jin @koiiiiijiii Jaegyeon Na @koiiiiijiii Samuel Seo @vynnyll @samuelseowife @koiiiiijiii @dessmq Eli Jang @koiiiiijiii Johan Seong Jong Gun @vynnyll @koiiiiijiii Joon Goo @koiiiiijiii Jake Kim @vynnyll @koiiiiijiii DG @eugueen @koiiiiijiii Eugene @koiiiiijiii Ryūhei/Nōmen @koiiiiijiii Magami kenta @koiiiiijiii Seonji Yukcho @koiiiiijiii Cho Yisu @koiiiiijiii Cheon taejin @koiiiiijiii gongseob ji @koiiiiijiii gapryong Kim @koiiiiijiii jinyeong park @koiiiiijiii

Jinx:

Jaekyung Kim dan Heesung Yoon gu Baek Junmin

Kuroko’s basketball:

Tetsuya Kuroko Taiga Kagami @cozyunderworld Junpei Hyūga Teppei Kiyoshi Ryōta Kise Yukio Kasamatsu Shintarō Midorima Kazunari Takao Daiki Aomine @cozyunderworld Shōichi Imayoshi Atsushi Murasakibara @cozyunderworld Tatsuya Himuro Seijūrō Akashi @wsknbfanaccnt Reo Mibuchi Makoto Hanamiya Kotarō Hayama Katsunori Harasawa  Chihiro Mayuzumj  momoi satsuki Alex Garcia 

Naruto:

Gaara @aishabbbb kankuro Sasuke @aishabbbb itachi @aishabbbb Kakashi hatake jiraiya Sai Pain sasori orachimaru

blue lock:

Michael Kaiser  shidou Ryusei Meguru Bachira  Rensuke Kunigami Yoichi Isagi  Ryosuke Kira Zantetsu Tsurugi  Reo Mikage  Seishiro Nagi Rin itoshi Sae itoshi Jinpachi Ego pablo cavazos ikki Niko Akira Endoji Jin Kiyora Jingo Raichi Oliver Aiku

one piece:

Luffy @ydkm00 Sanji @hi3431 Zoro Law @nah-idwin Eustass Kid Boa Hancock  Nami  Nico Robin Shanks  Portgas D’Ace  Vivi Nefertari  Crocodile  Smoker Donquixote Doflamingo  Paulie Dracule Mihawk Koby  Pell Hina  Sabo  Katekuri Koala Perona corazon

Bsd:

Osamu Dazai Chuya Nakahara Saigiku Jouno Atsushi Nakajima Doppo Kunikida Ranpo Edogawa Poe Bram Stoker Ryuunosuke Akutagawa

Hell’s paradise:

Gabimaru Aza chobe Aza Toma Yamada Asaemon Shugen Yamada Asaemon Sagiri Yamada Asaemon, Tenza Yamada Asaemon, Shion Yuzuriha

Haikyuu:

Miya atsumu @cozyunderworld Miya osamu Aran ojiro Semi Eita Suna Ushijima wakatoshi Tendou Oikawa toru Tanaka Mad dog kyotani Kentarou Kunimi Akira Bokuto Koutarou Akaashi Keiji daishou suguru Nishinoya Kuroo tetsuro Kenma Kageyama tobio Hinata shoyo Tsukkishima kei Terushima yuji Kita Hoshiumi Yamakoto Lev haiba Haiba Hiroo

jjk:

Gojo Choso Toji Yuta Sukuna Naoya that one hot guy with the mask Nanami

Hsr:

Boothill

Genshin:

Aether Childe ZHONGLI @wsknbfanaccnt scaramouche Kaveh alhaithum

Windbreaker anime:

Burning kabaddi:

@duaajpeg Tatsuya Yoigoshi Kei lura Masato ojo Shinji date Ren takaya Manabu Sakura Yu eikura Yuuki hitomi

Bleach:

Grimmjow Ichigo Renji

Black clover:

Langris vaude Leopald Julius Vangeance Yuno Nozel Asta Luck Magna Klaus Jack Zora

Outer banks:

Rafe JJ Pope

Batman:

Bruce Wayne (bale) Dr. crane (cillian)

Harry Potter:

Draco Voldemort Fred George Harry

Suicide Squad:

Joker (Leto) Harley (Margot)

Jojo’s bizarre adventure:

Dio

Narancia

Anasui

Giorinni

Josuke

[p5x-theories]

Thinking about i also hope we will see Haru and Riko interact too.

Haru who is almost keept hidden by her father and forced to marry a slimy guy because How Dare A Woman take care of the family buisness, so once her dad dies she has 0 idea on what to do; And Riko, whose whole esistence is based on being a heiress and a walking ad for her dad's company to the point she has to calculate every single breath she take

... The arranged marriage was to boost Okumura's political power (since he wanted to go into politics), not because he inherently had anything against a woman running the family business, right? I mean, obviously he was so swept up in his distortion he didn't care about selling off Haru to a slimy guy for the sake of more power, but I don't recall ever getting the indication that it was because he didn't want Haru to inherit the business, even if he hadn't taught her much about running it yet either. He didn't know he was going to be dying anytime soon.

That aside, though, I definitely am looking forward to seeing Haru and Riko interact! They were both shaped by their fathers in different ways- Haru's was originally caring but became worse over time, whereas it seems Riko's was always like this- and faced different pressures because of it. It'll be fun to see how their interactions play out, for sure. Especially since it'll be while they run through a recreation of Haru's dad's Palace!

I wonder if the Spaceship Chapter will take place prior to Okumura's mental shutdown, since the Bank chapter took place prior to the PT stealing Kaneshiro's heart...?

[chosen-hero-inari]

Whumptober Day 19: Bloodtrail

A/n: This one got a little away from me, Yusuke and Makoto friendship really gets me going, I love them

Overzealous

Makoto limps into the shadows of the nearest row of bank locks as soon as she hits the ground, ears still ringing.

They’d already secured the route to Kaneshiro’s Palace, but Joker still wanted to train a bit to make sure they were all sharp.

Makoto and Kitagawa swapped out for Takamaki and Sakamoto, and hung back while Joker’s main team fought shadows.

Normally that front team takes the brunt of Shadow fighting, but in this case, Makoto was an idiot and didn’t cover their rear well enough, too busy feeling entranced by how effortlessly the original four Phantom Thieves worked together, and missed a shadow sneaking up on her and Kitagawa.

Before she’d had a chance to react, the Shadow blew itself up, knocking Makoto through the glass floors of the laundering room and into the bank vault below.

Now alarms are squealing, everyone’s on high alert, and she has to get back to the others but she has no way to contact them. Why hadn’t she thought of that? Why hadn’t she been paying attention, isn’t that her role? The smart one? The strategist? What’s the point of getting them into the Palace (completely on accident, putting them all at risk in the process) and figuring out a lock if she still gets them killed.

Makoto’s still dizzy, so has to lean against the row of safes to keep her footing. Even the short dashes across the gaps leave her chest burning. She can’t get caught here, what would Sis think?

She’d be thankful you weren’t a burden anymore.

Makoto bites the inside of her cheek to bury the thought. She has to figure out where the others are, and where how to get by without setting off the shadows, and how to get to the elevator and-

A chill runs down her spine as Makoto realizes someone is behind her. Without thinking, she spins and points her gun at the assailant.

Kitagawa throws one hand up quickly. “It’s just me.”

“Ki- erm Fox!” Makoto breathes. Of course, he was with her, how could she forget that? Of course he’d have been blasted down here too, where is her head at right now? 

Kitagawa is staring at her, and Makoto swallows. “How did you find me?”

Kitagwa points at the wall Makoto’d been leaning against, and there are smears of blood along it in the direction she went. Makoto looks down and sees a giant bleeding gash she’d missed with all the rest of the throbbing pain her body is in.

“Shit,” Makoto mutters. “This is just perfect, if you’d been a shadow I–”

“Can I bandage your arm?” Kitagawa asks.

“Huh?”

“Your arm, it needs to be bandaged.”

Makoto nods. “Right, I–” Joker has their bandages. Actually, Joker has all their supplies. Why does Joker have all their supplies, what if this exact thing happens why didn’t she think of this sooner?

Kitagawa takes part of his belt and rips it off, awkwardly wrapping it around her gash with one hand and pulling the knot with his teeth.

“Ok we have to get back up the elevator to the others before one of the shadows find us because if we die then it’ll be bad and what happens to our bodies if we die in the Metaverse anyway?” Makoto starts, and great now spots are dancing in front of her eyes she cannot let the blood loss get to her right now she’s the smart one figuring out a plan is her job.

“Queen!” Kitagawa says sternly. “Take a deep breath.”

Makoto gulps in air, and Kitagawa’s tail twitches, like an annoyed cat. 

“Slowly, with me,” Kitagawa says, and Makoto follows him as he takes in a deep breath and lets it out in a long exhale.

Her vision has cleared a little bit, and now that she’s looking, Makoto realizes Kitagwa’s left arm is limp.

“Did you dislocate your shoulder?” Makoto asks. 

“I believe so, yes.” 

Makoto’s way too drained to try a healing spell, so that means she has to do it the old-fashioned way.

“Ok, I can set it just—” Makoto’s taken a first aid class, she does know how to set it, she needs Kitagawa distracted. “Uh… tell me about school? What’s Kosei like?”

“The each department is planning their exhibits for the school fair,” Kitagawa says. “It’s not for a few months, but there’s a competition to see who has the best exhibit and each department takes it very seriously.”

“What’s the art department thinking of doing?”

“I’m not sure, it’s a big debate, but I’m excited to be able to take part this year because last year I was busy helping Sen– AHH!”

Makoto pops Kitagawa’s shoulder back into place. “Sorry! Sorry, it’s supposed to hurt,” she says, tearing off part of her scarf to make a makeshift sling for him.

“It’s fine,” Kitagawa says. “We should stay put until we can find the others. I’m sure Morgana can track us with his nose.”

Makoto shakes her head. “There are too many shadows here, and they’re too high alert, we’ll be caught and we’re in no shape for a fight.”

“A distraction then?”

“Yes, I want to at least get out of the vault, it’s the most high security area.” Makoto says. Which leaves her back where she was before, just with Kitagwa here. 

Wait–

“I have an idea,” Makoto says.

-

One of Kaneshiro’s guards is observing the entrance to the Treasure room, extra careful. 

Suddenly there’s a chilly blast, and the guard whips its head around. A large wall of ice is blocking the entrance to the treasure room.

“Stop slacking you idiot! They sealed themselves in the Vault with Ice!” someone snaps. “If you don’t break it down, Kaneshiro will have your heads!” 

The guard tries to find who gave the order, but someone snaps again. “THE ICE, DUMBASS!” The guard hurries and joins the others at hacking away at the ice wall.

-

The guards are completely focused on trying to break down the wall, so Makoto gives Kitagwa a nod and they both make a break for the elevators.

Some guards notice them, but not enough to stop them before Makoto can slam the close doors button and they’re riding up back to where the others were.

“Very impressive,” Kitagawa says.

“I mean, it was risky,” Makoto blinks. “I was banking on the psychology working well, most people if given an order from what they perceive of as a figure of authority will at least start doing it without thinking so I hoped the shadows would be the same.”

“And you conveyed that authority with just your voice. I think they truly feared repercussions.”

“Well I, just made my voice deeper,” Makoto says. She’d actually been trying to imagine how Sae would say it and hoped that would work.

“It’s more than the pitch, it was your tone,” Kitagawa says. “No one would have believed you were panicking just minutes ago.”

The elevator falls into awkward silence.

“I’m sorry,” they both say at the same time.

“I shouldn’t have panicked when you were hurt–”

“I didn’t mean to imply there was anything wrong–”

“I’m still getting used to this–”

“It’s perfectly normal to be stressed, I was worried myself and–”

“I promise I’m going to be a better strategist, so–

“I know sometimes I can say things without thinking about how they come across and–”

“I’m very sorry,” they both finish.

They reach their stop, and with a quick look  both brace themselves for guards on the other side.

Instead, it’s Sakamoto. “Holy shit!” he says. “Panther, get over here! We need healing!”

-

After they’ve returned to reality, Kitagawa is stretching his both his arms, and Makoto keeps feeling where her gash had been.

The others had already left, so it’s just the two of them.

“Thank you,” Makoto says. “If it weren’t for you I probably would have just been freaking out the whole time.”

“No need, you’re the one who came up with the plan,” Kitagawa says.

“How do you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Stay so calm?” Makoto asks. “I-I mean, I’m supposed to be the strategist but I keep panicking and doing stupid things but you’re just–”

“If I’m able to stay calm, it’s only because I’ve had a lot of practice,” Kitagawa says. “I don’t know what’s been reported about the Madarame case, or what he was like towards his pupils, but I learned from a young age to control any outbursts or school my emotions. It’s… not particularly a skill.”

“Oh,” Makoto says. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up anything unpleasant, I–” Makoto swallows. If there’s one thing she’s observed about the Phantom Thieves, it’s that taking Kitagawa out for food is the best apology. “Want to grab ramen?”

Kitagwa doesn’t say no, so they get a corner booth at a ramen place, and Makoto orders extra toppings for both of them after Kitagawa picks the cheapest option.

“Can I ask you something?” Makoto asks.

“Anything.”

“Do you think I’m still useless to you?”

Kitagwa pauses, food halfway to his mouth. “... I shouldn’t have called you that.”

“You were right,” Makoto says. “I’ve been nothing but a nuisance to you, and even as strategist I came short today.”

“Someone’s worth isn’t determined by their usefulness to others,” Kitagawa says. “The others taught me that, and it was wrong of me to turn that around on you. You’ve been nothing but helpful, certainly more helpful than I was on my first palace.”

“I threatened to turn you in to the police.”

“So did I.”

“Huh?” Makoto asks.

Kitagawa takes a long slurp of his ramen. “When the others were asking too many questions about Sensei, I wanted them to leave before someone got hurt, either them or myself. So I threatened to call the police on them for trespassing if they didn’t leave.”

“Oh,” Makoto says. “But, you were under a lot of pressure,”

“I also added that Ann could come back if she promised to model nude.”

“What.”

“I didn’t think she’d actually do it, even when she texted me about it, not until she was wearing strange clothes in my studio and I was rapidly realizing I still didn’t know what to draw, I just wanted something I’d never drawn before, and we don’t have a nude modeling workshop until we’re third years at Kosei.”

“N-nude modeling?” Makoto repeats.

Kitagawa looks askance. “At the time, I was annoyed that anyone would take it in a sexual way, nude art has a long history and having the full extent of the human form on display can have more meanings than simple base desires. Then after I joined Ryuji took me aside and explained to me Ann’s history with Kamoshida, and I apologized profusely. I spent most of money that month on a proper gift to try and make it up to her.”

Makoto does not know what to say to that.

“So combine that with my not being necessary to enter Madarame’s Palace and you being necessary for Kaneshiro’s, and the new strategies you and Joker have come up with, your joining has overall been much smoother than mine. There’s nothing for you to apologize for, and you’ve more than proven yourself.”

“Thank you,” Makoto says. “And for what it’s worth, I’ve never gotten a sense that Takamaki’s mad at you still.”

“Thank you, I appreciate that,” Kitagawa says. “It’s simply another in my long list of social faux pas.”

“H-hey, Kitagawa?”

“You can use my given name,” he says.

“Oh, well, Yusuke? Do you ever feel… separate from the others? Like you’re not really part of the group?”

“All the time,” Yusuke says. “I don’t think I ever will. They swooped in out of nowhere and saved my life, simply based on a comment on a forum. I can’t see myself as one of them, not really. They’re my saviors, I owe them.”

“Ah,” Makoto says. “I get it, I owe them too. I feel like I need to make up to being blind to Kamoshida, to letting the principal and teachers bully me into teaching them like a bunch criminal delinquents.”

“It’s quite the dilemma, isn’t it?”

Makoto nods. “Maybe, you want to try and repay our debts together?”

“I’d be happy to, Makoto."

[absurdly-overpowered-astronaut]

@lemonpocalypse here is the Ryuji ramble :D

No pressure to read everything I ended up writing a lot (｡ó﹏ò｡)\

Okay so I’m going to start off with the bank scene because my interpretation and ensuing head canons are pretty self contained and touches on/establishes some key points of my reading. The specific scene I’m talking about is when in Kaneshiro’s palace Ryuji attempts to solve the puzzle and spells huge as H-E-W-J and I’m pretty sure he miss reads huge as hugs but its been awhile since I’ve played the game so I can’t fully remember what it is he miss-reads. 

I want to play through the game in Japanese to see how this scene works in the original text but at least in the English version this scene is meant to be funny a “haha Ryuji’s so stupid he can’t even spell or read. Ryuji’s so stupid :)” but if taken seriously this actually has a some interesting and concerning implications.

Firstly this scene implies Ryuji can’t spell or write which means so many things like for example as far as we know Ryuji takes the same tests as the ones we see Ren and Ann take which are tests where you *read* the question and *write* an answer / *read* the multi choice options. If Ryuji can’t read then of course he’s failing the tests?! It doesn’t matter if you know the answers if you don’t know the question and of course he’s failing school if can’t read or write he doesn't even have the tools to participate in the system even if wanted to. 

This is really fascinating to me because of how it affects the implications of his attitude towards school. Before the implication is that he’s lazy/doesn’t care about the exam’s but if he can’t do them then him not studying for them/his general recklessness attitude towards his education becomes more then laziness and more then not wanting to participate in a system it becomes that even if he tried he can’t even read the questions or physical study materials so what's the point?

Ryuji has a complicated relationship with school all the PT do to differing extents and this just layers it even more. Not only was he let down by it with the whole Kamashida situation but with this in mind he’s probably been left behind by it entirely.

we see with the PT and with track that in a different environment and when it’s something he’s passionate about he puts his whole heart into it but it seems like with school if he’s can’t read or write he’s probably had difficulties with school since he was very young and before he and his mum moved.

It also strengthens this cool parallel between Makoto and Ryuji that I really like where Makoto doesn’t see how the system has let Ryuji down and is still hurting him just sees him as not trying hard enough and Ryuji doesn’t see how the system has let Makoto down and is still hurting her because of her school president good student reputation.

In the bank scebe Ryuji seems so genuinely excited to contribute to the team so I think this shows how he trusts the PT and feels comfortable to try and spell/read but then Morgana calls him stupid…..again which is always frustrating but especially so because prior Ann tried to solve the puzzle and wasn’t treated as poorly. Ann doesn’t get berated or called stupid and this definitely isn’t to say she should be and it's still pretty mean of Morgana to say what he does but this difference in how their struggles are treated is something that's going to come up later so put a pin in that.

Though it makes Ryuji finally studying with the PT even more cute because they can/do read the questions and he can see how they write the answers. It also works really well with the themes of the game about how finding support networks can help people remove themselves from/stand up to/work with in/take down toxic systems.

Because of this line that implies he can’t read and write I headcanon that Ryuji has some equivalent to text to speech and voice type on his phone to make up for not being able to spell and read himself and that provides an in-universe explanation for why his accent shows up in his texts.

I think whenever we see him write something in the base game (idk about Strikers and P5T I have even worse a memory of them as I do of P5R) The posters during the kaneshiro arc / the calling cards. He always has access to his phone and we don’t see him do it so this head canon is surprisingly canon complaint ^^;

—————————————————————————————————

Another thing that I find super interesting with Ryuji's character is his relationship to and narrative surrounding violence. There is ofcourse what happened with kamoshida/his dad but also what he does with the PT/ex-track mates and how he gets treated by them. When Ryuji stands up to Komashida he gets his legs broken as “punishment” , when he comes back after the explosion at shidos palace he gets beaten up as a “punishment” and its possible that when he and his mum where living with his dad he might have framed his physical abuse as a “punishment.” So it telling that during his confidant he offers himself up to get beat up as a punishment for what happened to the team even though it wasn’t his fault. 

He seems to conflate violence/physical consequences with punishment/repentance for lack of a better words. Which makes his tendency to self sacrifice (put a pin here too) even more interesting because if he has internalised this idea that he needs to compensate for failing by being hurt then his self sacrificing tendencies and even his status has a physical party member one who drains their health points (HP) to attack becomes more complex considering this.

As well as conflating physical punishment and making up for past actions it seems he has at least in my reading internalised that things are more often than not his fault. When his legs are broken it’s his fault for not taking the abuse again when the team gets disbanded it’s his fault for not taking the abuse. The PT just assumes he’s wrong and stupid like in Kaneshiro's palace and the school just assumes he’s stupid/trouble/not worth the time which just feeds this toxic mindset. 

And I think it's this dichotomy that's at the core of my reading of his character. This feeling of injustice but also like he deserves it and being hurt by the people who are and are supposed to protect you ie parents , teachers friends and the resulting lack of self worth and feeling like he has to make up for existing/mistakes that aren’t his fault.—————————————————————————————————Digging more into the self sacrificing I’m pretty sure I remember something about Ryuji and him having a higher chance or a skill or something that means he’s more likely to take hits for other party members but even if my brain just made that up we still see him do lots of self sacrifice to the detriment of his life/health. He jumps in front of a car in the Kaneshiro arc , he does the boat sacrifice in Shido’s palace , jumps in in the 3rd semester , I think theres a moment at the start of P5T and is the one to touch almost all the trauma doors in Strikers.

This all ties into what I said earlier about his relationship with violence but also with how the PT treats him. Ryuji is belittled , insulted , devalued , seen as lesser in comparison to other characters especially Makoto and Ann.

Morgana and sometimes other party members call him stupid and even when other thieves don’t join in they are still complicit. Because of this I believe he has internalise this idea he has to compensate for existing essentially and just like how he feels he has to compensate for his mum having to take care of him alone by getting into a good university with track just like how he feels he has to compensate by being part of the PT.

Conversely I also think he is self sacrifices because he cares about the PT so much! That's his community! The people he feels a kinship with , those are his guys, his friends! :D The people who he feels like he understands and who can understand him on a deeper level.

 (To get side tracked quickly I think that's why he hates Akechi so much. He see’s Akechi as a threat to that family, that community , that acceptance and validation he sees him as an insider as just like one of those rotten adults criticizing them but then after he learns about him he’s not longer an insider he’s a victim of the system like them and that's why his opinion flips so quickly. Akechi much like the phantom thieves to the world was a symbol to Ryuji and once he became a person and no longer a symbol / saw how he was just like the PT he cared about him.)

Ryuji can be inconsiderate and rude but he cares much about the PT and I’m glad that this is an aspect of him that receives a lot of fandom focus from what I’ve seen. It's also one of the big reasons I love him so much as a character is because he cares! —————————————————————————————————I feel like Ryuji’s character is driven by yes a sense of belonging / anger at the world but also a deep sense of guilt: over what happened with the track team , overburdening his mum or even just expressing himself/his ideas sometimes. Ryuji wants validation that's why he gets so caught up in the PT’s fame he wants to know he’s doing the right thing he wants to help people like him and his friends. 

When you grow up in an abusive environment to over simplify you tend to fall into thinking either 

You must be doing something wrong because why would a parent , someone who is supposed to care about you hurt you  if there wasn’t something wrong with you.

You must be right and your parent is in wrong because why would a parent someone who is supposed to care about you hurt you if there wasn’t something wrong with them

You either cling to the certainty that your parents must be right or the certainty you must be wrong. (again oversimplification due to the scope of the post) and I think Ryuji has internalized both these ideas and applies them to school and the PT.

—————————————————————————————————

I’ve talked about it a bit in the prior paragraphs but now I really want to dig into the narrative implications of the jokes constantly made at Ryuji’s expense. Ryuji is a bit of a punching bag for the narrative…quite literally. As much as I despise these scenes and feel like they go against the game's narrative , tone and themes with the PT just repeating the same toxic mentalities of the systems that oppressed them, the implications of the jokes do actually play off some other stuff in interesting ways.

There is this idea throughout the game (and throughout the post I did not expect to harp on about this so much :’] sorry if it's becoming tiresome...) that Ryuji is the “dumb one”

With in the narrative we see him called call stupid constantly , put in embarrassing situations at his own expense , almost get the PT exposed and such but even beyond the dialogue these ideas are even somewhat reinfected by game play. If you have Ryuji in your party up until Futaba’s palace your going to hear a lot of Morgana complaining about Ryuji just from the fact he’ll inevitability he is going to miss hits. The player is often given the choice to gang up on Ryuji/throw him under the bus the first example that comes to mind is when you can tell Akechi Ryuji and only Ryuji is a phantom thief (though there are times where you can stand up for him they are less often) so even the game play reinforces this tired joke.

(Another aside I think Morgana calls Ryuji pathetic and such to compensate for his own self worth issues. He need to re-affirm that he is important and needed and if he’s better then Ryuji then he can feel good about himself/important and he doesn’t actually stop to think how his words could effect Ryuji because to him its not about Ryuji being dumb its about him being important. So when Ryuji calls Morgana useless (I think as abit of a jab back at morgana) it really gets to morgana because of the reversal of power dynamics now ryuji is the one calling him useless so he can’t use Ryuji to re-affirm himself)

Ryuji’s experience is devalued in comparison with others, specifically Ann. Ann’s sexual assault plot is treated with more dignity , seriousness and weight as it should be. When Ann gets harassed it's an issue the other PT and the narrative care about and treat with the seriousness and respect be fitting the situation (uh mostly….Ann’s outfit and the jokes at the expensive of her due to it do contradict the more seriousness the issue otherwise has) but when ryuji is at the very least kidnapped and harassed during the Kanoshiro arc it is just a joke and the PT get made at him for being late when was literally kidnapped and Ren/Morgana did nothing?!

Another example is when he sacrifices himself on in shido’s places his experience of almost dying is devalued in comparison to the other PT’s pain over thinking they lost him.

The Shinjuku scene specifically makes me really angry that anyone ever thought it was a good idea but also that the PT’s just don’t care that their friend was kidnapped by two older men they don’t know?!

A problem I have with both p5 and p4 in general is how they want to have their cake and eat it too tonally.

They want to have the grounded narrative of physical abuse with Ryuji but want to turn around and do physical slapstick. They want to have a grounded narrative about predatory behaviour and turn around have a joke about sexual assault (and that’s not even getting into the homophobic and sexist undertones of the Shinjuku scene)

I also mentioned Mikoto earlier and how establishing her as smart kinda came at the expense of Ryuji. With lines like when morgana says Mikoto is so smart! not like Ryuji but the thing is I really don’t think Ryuji is dumb? He’s just behind in school/internalised the fact that he is. He shows he is actually pretty introspective/emotionally intelligent when he calls up Ren towards the end of the game , during the whole Akechi situation and he contributes to the planning of the PT operations more then people give him credit for. To bring back a prior example we see with the bank puzzle mentioned earlier he was on the right track not quite there but close.

—————————————————————————————————Talking more about personal headcanons I like to headcanon that Ryuji’s mum saw being in a relationship as necessary and that's part of the reason she stayed she stayed in an abusive relationship for so long on top of social pressure the difficulty and shame associated with divorce ect and I like to think that Ryuji picked up this idea that he needs a partner/warped perception of relationships from her as well as society at large because to me at least it would make sense and I think provides more nuance to their relationship. Though I don’t have any specific scene or evidence to support this.

Both Ryuji and his mum want to help each other. So she works and worked really hard at her job and he wants to help her so he worked really hard at track. They both want to protect the other so I think they lie about things. Ryuij’s mum about the toll of the abuse / working and Ryuji about the phantom thieves and some other struggles. 

Ryuji says alot of not so great things about women and this and the aforementioned head canon isn’t to justify and say its okay but his interest in girls comes off to me as performative? YEs SincE ITs JuST Us DuDE bRo GuYs LeTS TaLk ABoUT girls! thats what GUYS take about right?

I think he thinks whether that be because of his mum , someone else or just society in general that this is how he is supposed to act/this is how masculinity works and maybe this is just me but this feels like such a com-het response.

————————————————————————————————— aghghghg I haven’t really managed to articulate my thoughts well but hopefully it’s at least somewhat coherent ^^; theres a couple things I didn’t get to just because I don’t remember enough of the games to provide adequate evidence for my points but to sum what I did write up my thoughts I think Ryuji wears a mask in his own way this isn’t to say he isn’t a extremely honest , outspoken and genuine person just that I think he’s learnt to internalised he’s stupid/wrong and to perform masculinity/that things do bother him as much as they do ect and that the PT both provide him with the environment and support he needs but re-enforce some toxic mentalities. He was done a dirty by the narrative by constantly being made into just comic relief but somehow it all loops back around to being interesting.

[thebigpapilio]

so everyone knows my ASAU of Persona 5 Royal, A Righteous Rebellion. right? And we're all also aware of @scruffyturtles' Adult Confidant AU?

well I sorta fused them? tldr: i made a (mostly) Adult Confidant AU for ARR! Details below, if you're interested - and if you have any questions about it, please ask @rollthedice-playthecards or this blog here!

WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS FOR ARR! CANON-STANDARD TRIGGER WARNINGS!

The Fool and Strength (i.e. Igor & Caroline/Justine/Lavenza) are the same. Otherwise, everyone's changed.

The World (i.e. Protagonist) is Tae Takemi!

Her parents were abusive shitheads to her, and she got into a program that helped her escape for Tokyo.

Her first Persona is Merit-Ptah, a fictitious woman purported to be a chief physician of an Ancient Egyptian pharaoh and thus one of the oldest known women in medicine and science.

The Magician is Sadamu Niijima (transmasc!Sae)!

The home invasion that killed Mr. Niijima also led to his death, but Igor came upon his soul and reincarnated him into a hound (because of Shadow Sae's tattoos) for The Yaldabaoth Game™.

His first Persona is Turiddu, a Sicilian bandit whose gang was "legally held responsible" for a massacre, although the entirely of their role in it is disputed.

The Priestess is Sadayo Kawakami!

She was a member of Student Council, but when she brought up Kamoshida's abuse to Principal Omon "Bael" Kobayakawa, she lost her seat. Kobayakawa actually replaces Kaneshiro as the third major target.

Her first Persona is Elissa, legendary founder and queen of Carthage... oh, and I will be shipping her with Tae for my Kawakemi agenda. :)

The Empress is Chihaya Fukurai (Mifune)!

Yuichi "Mammon" Fukurai, her adoptive father, runs Fukurai Foods (Big Bang Burger's owner and more). Chihaya was setting up to inherit the business when Yuichi "changed his mind" and prepared to sell her off in an arranged marriage to Rikio Sugimura.

Her first Persona is Lakshmibai, an Indian rani who rebelled against the Bri'ish.

The Emperor is Sojiro Sakura!

He's a culinary prodigy studying under his adoptive parent (I haven't decided who yet, but they're Azazel) - a TV chef who runs a kids' competition a la Chopped Junior. They definitely abuse some of those kids.

His Initial Persona is Hamlet, the famous Shakespearean Prince of Denmark.

The Hierophant is Makoto Niijima, owner of Cafe Bianca.

She's been looking for her estranged younger "sister" for years now.

The Lovers is Munehisa Iwai!

Munehisa is Shujin’s star athlete. Excels in every sport in Shujin except volleyball, from which he was banned after standing up to Suguru "Asmodeus" Kamoshida.

Kaoru, his younger brother here, takes the role of Shiho, and Akimitsu Tsuda and Masa replace Nakaoka and Takeishi.

His Initial Persona is Barrow, a Great Depression-era criminal who robbed small stores, funeral homes and banks with his partner Ms. Parker.

The Chariot is Ichiko Ohya!

Leader of the photography club. She caught photos of Kamoshida’s dirty deeds in the past and is trying to find a way to expose them anonymously. Oh, and she has a long-distance girlfriend named Kayo.

Her Initial Persona is O'Malley, an Irish pirate queen so violent Elizabeth I considered sending the Royal Fleet after.

Justice is Toranosuke Yoshida!

I sort of split Goro's two roles in this AU. Toranosuke plays the Detective Prince trying to solve the case of mental shutdowns (+ the Phantom Thief case), but his brother-by-choice Benzo Kuramoto plays assassin and mental-shutdown-inducer for Masao Kuramoto, his grandfather. Tora joins the team in Oda's Palace, and they fight Benzo in Kuramoto's Palace - that's where Toranosuke achieves his Second Persona.

Speaking of Personas, his Initial one is Greenlefe, Robin Hood's second-in-command and the only one present at his death.

The Hermit is Takuto Niijima (Maruki)!

Makoto had a brief stint as a police officer, but after a influential asshole (Kuramoto) drove drunk and killed one Tomoyo Rumi, she attempted to dig into the situation and was dishonorably discharged. Soon after, she met Rumi's boyfriend, Takuto (an orphan with one shitty relative), and took him in.

He would be a third-year if he was still in school. He’s wasting away as he grieves Rumi's death. He can’t bring himself to kill himself, but he also doesn't want to be alive anymore.

His Initial Persona is Popol Vuh, a religious text of the mythology and history of the Kʼicheʼ Guatemalans.

The Fortune is Hifumi Hibino (Togo)!

After Mitsuyo disowned Hifumi for coming out as lesbian, Hifumi moved in with her wife Haru (they both end up with Makoto later). Hifumi took up busking/street shogi, not wanting to be reliant on Haru.

The Hanged Man is Akira Kurusu!

Not much for this guy right now - like Canon!Munehisa, he's an ex-yakuza who runs Indomptable, an airsoft store. Ren is his adoptive son.

Death is Sumire Yoshizawa!

A medical misdiagnosis (by her biological mother Yui, not that she knows it) left Sumire's sister in a coma. Ever since, Sumire can't see anyone unconscious without thinking of Kasumi.

Temperance is Ryuji Sakamoto!

An orphaned man who teaches PE at Shujin and moonlights in an escort service to take care of himself and his son Morgana.

Just after his college years, his mom's ex-husband killed her and then killed himself to escape the police, so he has no support system. Thus, he got himself into trouble with a duo of loan sharks so he could look presentable enough to replace Kamoshida.

He, Ann and Shiho were friends in high-school, but he never saw them again after graduating.

The Devil is Ann Takamaki!

An up-and-coming actress working hard to make it big. She's keeping her sexuality (and her girlfriends Shiho Suzui and Mika Abe) under wraps from everyone, including her manager.

At the end of the Confidant, she moves in with her old friend (and future boyfriend) Ryuji after Tae mentions him.

The Tower is Goro Shido (Akechi)!

Goro is a very temperamental young man with no methods of healthily and safely letting out his anger at the world and his shitty, abusive father.

After Shido's heart is changed, Ryuji (and Ann and Shiho) take Goro in.

The Star is Zenkichi Hasegawa!

Even if Zen doesn't know it, he's the best player in the shogi club at Kosei. It's discovered their "team" has been fixing matches, and Zenkichi is determined to find out who's cheating.

Jyun Owada, his senpai and club president, is jealous, and is trying to cause strife between him and his girlfriend Aoi to weaken him.

The Moon is Sophia Ichinose!

Sophia is a Greek immigrant who moved to Japan for work opportunities. She's Tae's science teacher, so Tae really likes her. Her daughter Kuon, however, has fallen in with a HORRIBLY nasty crowd - a bigoted group who hates (among other groups of people) Kuon's adoptive mother. Kuon, naturally, is conflicted, and this leads to conflict between her and Sophia.

The Sun is Haru Hibino!

A young politician whose bold eat-the-wealthy mentality does not sit well with older generations - for example, her father Kunikazu, who disowned her and silently smeared her campaigns so she'd waste her inheritance and never expose his criminality.

In the end of the whole story, Haru legalizes polyamorous marriage!

Judgement is Shinya Oda!

Uses they/them pronouns here.

After Shinya's mother Hanae was killed in cold blood, they joined the SIU to find the killer. She did something to piss off Kuramoto, though, so he and the director do everything they can to keep Shinya away from that.

The Faith is Wakaba Isshiki!

Daughter of Shujin's new counselor. A science prodigy.

I don't have much ideas for her yet, never mind her Personas.

The Councillor is Futaba Isshiki!

Shujin's aforementioned new counselor in the wake of Kamoshida's arrest. Believing the world to be "without life" without her deceased fiancee Kana, her Palace becomes a Graveyard, where she "raises the dead" by fixing their problems.

She only has one Persona - Chac Chel, an important Maya goddess of many things, most prominently both creation and destruction.

The Hope is Yuuki (Mishima)!

His ranged weapon is eye lasers. They use both he/him and they/them.

An A.I. made by Katsuo Akiyama, a regretful high-school bully who caused one of his victims to commit suicide.

Their first Persona is Thyrsus - a giant fennel staff that Yuuki uses like a weapon alongside the Persona aspect of it.

The Apostle is Yusuke Kitagawa!

The only original Phantom Thief to keep the power of Persona.

Ordered by Madarame Ichitaro (the killer of his mother and Police Commissioner) to investigate the Phantom Thieves after a series of mass heart-changings occur again.

Akane has a brother, Natsuhiko, and they share the Jail. Their mother, Takayo (Yusuke's beard) is still dead.

His Persona is Enjolras, and he later gets with Akira.

Lastly, a unique Arcana - The Actor, Morgana Sakamoto!

A theater prodigy at his school (not Shujin or Kosei) and Ryuji's son. He has no clues to his past before Ryuji, and he wants to know, but he also wants his dad to be happy. At the end of the Strikers arc, Lavenza becomes human, and he and Goro get the Sakamotos to adopt her as well.

Reminder once again to post any questions about this AU to @rollthedice-playthecards!

[thewishmaker2000]

Hello There! It’s come to my attention that I forgot to post links to the two most recent chapters of my Akechi Roleswap fic, Twisted Fates, here. I’m going to rectify that now!

Chapter 43: “In Pursuit of the Truth.”

Summary: “Akechi tries to piece together the strange puzzle of circumstances that surround Dr. Maruki. Makoto gets dinner with Akira. The route to Kaneshiro's treasure is secured.”

Chapter 44: “Grand Larceny at the Bank of Gluttony.”

Summary: “The Phantom Thieves discuss what their general plan concerning Kaneshiro's shadow's fate will be. The calling card is delivered to him. Kaneshiro makes a final stand to avoid having his heart changed.”

Additionally, here’s a link to chapter 1:

I’ll also just say that I’m really excited that Twisted Fates has now passed 300 kudos! Due to that, and because I have a little time off from work, I’ll probably be posting another chapter either on Sunday or Monday!

[edlynnrose]

Persona 5 Royal ▴ [4/∞] ↳ Bank of Gluttony

"Bein' young is such a crime! They're naive, they're reckless, and on top of that, they don't even realize how stupid they are. Now I couldn't just sit back and not cash in on those idiots, right?" — Junya Kaneshiro

[personaaceinthehole]

So my beta and I have been going over the Kaneshiro arc for the past week and the Kaneshiro arc (from the prologue to Chapter 6, The Downfall of Kaneshiro) is now fully edited!

We will be slowly going through the Futaba arc and editing that, so everything is more consistent. I'm also about halfway with the next chapter so I hope to get that out to you as soon as I can. I'll be dropping the links for the edits under the cut!

Prologue

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15503640/chapters/35990784 FFN: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13019266/1/Ace-In-The-Hole

Chapter 1: Mission Start

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15503640/chapters/36406950 FFN: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13019266/2/Ace-In-The-Hole

Chapter 2: The Mafia

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15503640/chapters/36539847 FFN: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13019266/3/Ace-In-The-Hole

Chapter 3: The Metaverse

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15503640/chapters/37063914 FFN: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13019266/4/Ace-In-The-Hole

Chapter 4: Awakening

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15503640/chapters/37478327 FFN: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13019266/5/Ace-In-The-Hole

Chapter 5: The Bank of Gluttony

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15503640/chapters/37726781 FFN: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13019266/5/Ace-In-The-Hole

Chapter 6: The Downfall of Kaneshiro

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15503640/chapters/37998584 FFN: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13019266/7/Ace-In-The-Hole

[ultimatecutenesspeaks]

Ren: I'm not sure. We have no idea who their leader is, so right now, there's no way of contacting them. I suppose we can only wait.

[burningartwork]

🪙 The Knight of Pentacles

All the Coins suits will be themed to Kaneshiro''s Palace

Like the other Knights, action is important with this card. Unlike the other Knights, the suit of Pentacles is calculated & patient but productive & determined. Our Security guard walks steadily next to our horse, who lifts its legs & trots calmly, moving at a steady pace. Even the money above his head is floating in an organized & uniform way but pushes onward, passing through the pentacle & dipping to the ground ahead of the guard & horse. As our Bank security guard trudges onward, there will be money laid down at his feet when he gets there, like he planned it.

🃏UPRIGHT: Practical, efficient, productive, committed, patient

🃏REVERSED: boredom, feeling ‘stuck’, perfectionism, gambler

🌟 Major Arcana here

🃏 Pentacles:

Ace of Pentacles

2 of Pentacles  

3 of Pentacles  

4 of Pentacles  

5 of Pentacles  

6 of Pentacles  

7 of Pentacles  

8 of Pentacles  

9 of Pentacles  

10 of Pentacles  

Page of Pentacles  

Knight of Pentacles  

Queen of Pentacles  

King of Pentacles 

🃏 Other Suits:  

Cups (Ace)

Wands (Ace)

Swords (Ace)

🃏 Bonus cards:

04 - Constellation (Jose)

00R - Faith Reversed

01R - Councillor Reversed

09R - Hermit Reversed

20R - Judgement Reversed

? - Shido - Hunger

[palmviewfm]

hi! looking to join soon :) could i have a little list of most wanted faces??

hello  hello  !  we'd  love  to  have  you  join  us  around  here  !  there's  a  ton  of  opened  faceclaims  that  we'd  love  to  see,  so  i'll  put  it  under  a  read  more  for  you !

madison  bailey,  chase  stokes,  rudy  pankow,  carlacia  grant,  abigail  cowen,  danny  griffin,  sadie  soverall,  kat  mcnamara,  zoe  colletti,  zhao  lusi,  leo  woodall,  noah  lalonde,  chris  briney,  cierra  ramirez,  maia  mitchell,  herman  tommeraas,  simone  baldasseroni,  kathryn  bernardo,  kathryn  newton,  camila  mendes,  madelaine  petsch,  charles  melton,  lili  reinhart,  meg  donnelly,  tanner  buchanan,  mary  mouser,  peyton  list,  antonia  gentry,  katie  douglas,  chelsea  clark,  sara  waisglass,  felix  mellard,  froy  guiterrez,  josh  o'connor,  olivia  holt,  corey  fogelmanis,  savannah  lee  smith,  chandler  kinney,  jack  mulhern,  whitney  peak,  keiynan  lonsdale,  nick  robinson,  ross  lynch,  jane  de  leon,  samantha  logan,  daniel  ezra,  cody  christian,  danielle  rose  rusell,  kaylee  kaneshiro,  oliver  jackson-cohen,  kenny  boyd,  danielle  campbell,  evan  mock,  emilio  sakraya,  gabrielle  wilde,  humberly  gonzalez,  lucien  laviscount,  indiana  evans,  odeya  rush,  kaia  gerber,  jessie  mei  lei,  jordan  fisher,  courtney  eaton,  auli'i  cravalho,  lana  condor,  alisha  boe,  ashley  moore,  zendaya  coleman,  tom  holland,  gabriel  guevara,  maxence  danet-fauvel,  zion  moreno,  bailee  madison,  zaria  simone,  malia  pyles,  jordan  gonzalez,  damian  hardung,  liz  gillies,  avan  jogia,  algee  smith,  aria  shahghasemi,  chay  suede,  diego  boneta,  sarah  catherine  cook,  diego  tinoco,  berk  atan,  brandon  perea,  matthew  noszka,  lucy  hale,  hannah  kepple,  daisy  edgar  jones,  hero  tiennes  tiffin,  josephine  langford,  nikki  rodriguez,  imani  lewis,  olivia  rodrigo,  sofia  carson,  ella  purnell,  tom  blyth,  rachel  zegler,  hunter  schafer,  maia  reficco,  natalie  alyn  lind,  carson  boatman,  melis  sezen,  raven  bowens,  victoria  konefal,  olivia  rose  keegan,  elizabeth  lail,  camryn  grimes,  phoebe  dyvenor,  rege  jean-page,  renee  rapp,  laura  harrier,  bebe  wood,  angourie  rice,  mackenzie  foy,  anna  lambe,  harris  dickinson,  blu  hunt,  aj  saudin,  brianne  tju,  nicole  wallace,  carlson  young,  alycia  debnam  carey,  brenna  d'amico,  brec  bassinger,  bianca  santos,  skyler  samuels,  david  corenswet,  logan  lerman,  aubrey  joseph,  jabari  banks,  brittany  o'grady,  halle  bailey,  bailey  bass,  freya  allan,  josie  totah,  luca  hollestelle,  andre  lamoglia,  maitreyi  ramakrishnan,  minnie  mills,  milly  alcock,  annalisa  cochrane,  adeline  rudolph,  tati  gabrielle,  alva  bratt,  aisha  dee,  charlotte  jordan,  adria  arjona,  sophie  turner,  suki  waterhouse,  amanda  arcuri,  joe  keery,  eli  brown,  sasha  pieterse,  josh  hutcherson,  sam  claflin,  josha  stradowski,  logan  shroyer,  leo  howard,  anya  taylor  joy,  florence  pugh,  alexxis  lemire,  skyler  gisondo,   alia  bhatt,  amber  midthunder,  devery  jacobs,  anya  chalotra,  ayo  edibiri,  becky  gomez,  jaz  sinclair,  simone  ashley,  and  charithra  chandran.

[eternalfarnham]

vague complaining about p5 that takes the shape of rewriting some in-setting metaphysics:

an individual's mind isn't powerful enough to rewrite cognition on its own no matter how strange their perceptions or desires. however, certain people have enough temporal power (social, economic etc.) that they can shape the mindshare of larger groups, influencing the way people think en masse; the collective will of many minds indoctrinated, abused or persuaded into sharing a single view, that of a single powerful figure, creates a Palace. each Palace is built around a particular worldview on the part of its ruler, something they're trying to "teach" others or that lies implicit in their actions. treasures are proof of their right-to-rule or instruments by which they demonstrate their power over the consensus; taking one means stealing the hearts of the people!

becoming a phantom thief is about reclaiming the right to decide what you believe, how you see the world, often from a palace ruler. a phantom thief's costume is a kind of miniaturized personal Palace of one: Palace rulers can't use their authority to rewrite your body and mind, because you rule yourself, and don't let your decisions get overruled by the consensus.

further blow-by-blow beneath the cut:

Kamoshida thinks that becoming an adult is about figuring out what you can get away with. In this there's a certain amount of arrested development. let's say he was a teen athletic star who peaked early on, desperately trying to relive his glory days by sticking around in high school and relitigating high school power games from a position of power and prestige as a teacher. he abuses students because he figures, if no one's stopping him, then it can't really be wrong, because on some level he still conceives of himself as a student whose teachers like him and bend rules for him; this must be what he deserves. ryuji could've lived respectably, too, but he childishly acted beyond his means, and ruined his future. (ryuji and ann rejecting this — rejecting the idea that they have to quietly live with what they're permitted to have, and be grateful for that much — is how they awaken their personas.) treasure probably still an olympic medal, proof that he has enough value to not be punished.

madarame's thing is adjusted to point at the art-over-all mindset Yusuke wound up with: ms. kitagawa was a no-name artist who managed to produce a masterpiece, but the Sayuri would languish in obscurity if it were hitched to her star. madarame had to take it for himself, and use his fame to give it the recognition it deserves! bring in something about "which would you save if the Louvre burned: an ordinary person, or the Mona Lisa?" with the clear implication (and twist in logic) that madarame has to curtail the futures of children who might dedicate themselves to other paths or stray or live on their own, because otherwise they might stop making art. better death than that! treasure is the sayuri, still, whose worth is what really made his name and in whose name he continues to torment children into becoming art factories.

fuck kaneshiro, absolutely the most boring palace owner, let's replace him with Jounodaira Tsukasa, "peace-castle instructor," a police sergeant or captain known for his love of teaching rookie officers, thoroughly in bed with the yakuza, to whom the precinct is a bank from which he can confiscate all the money he could ever need. plays directly into makoto's issues — he's already got his hooks in her because his ideology is that it's fine, they're criminals — human rights are for humans. it's how he teaches all his newbies; he would've tried to bring makoto in line with that thinking. it's fine to enrich yourself at the hands of criminals — and the yaks, why, they police themselves, and all they want is a little freedom to operate! isn't peace the point? didn't you stoop to blackmail to locate the Phantom Thieves, because you needed opportunities to live a decent life — such a respectable thing, and it's only lowly thieves who'll suffer! if you're conducting justice, why not enrich yourself — is that such a terrible thing? probably a badge for his treasure, or a gold-plated gun: symbol of his authority to project force.

also futaba gets to be a bastard like everyone else: having seen her family fold like a house of cards and the investigation conclude at "suicide" despite her mother's obviously aberrant behavior, complete with cops who berated her into claiming responsibility for her mom killing herself, futaba has concluded in her despair and frustration that justice is meaningless. it's all a game, a distraction, having fun with exercising power over others because real change is impossible — and if nothing can ever really change, well, she who dies with the most toys wins. hence the tomb: pharaohs were buried with their treasures, after all. futaba turned her hacker collective loose to fuck with people because she doesn't care any more, because every real change she tried to make as a hacktivist was undone by Anonymous going "lol" and amusing themselves. that's Medjed's ideology, the one she spreads. she's just idly looking for distractions from her neurosis, frustration and despair, and she'll die still distracting herself. (until she decides, no, even if it kills me i won't stop thinking — no, i can only die if i stop thinking — and pulls her own ideology, the foundational brick, out of her palace. she gives up power over Medjed and everything collapses.) her treasure is a top-of-the-line computer, one of those aforementioned toys, and a perfect distraction; she gives it up as unnecessary to the Thieves after her Palace is cleared. note the voluntary surrender of power to decide how others think! This Will Be On The Test!

Okumura's Palace is kind of thematically incoherent despite being cool, and also needs to be handwaved really hard with "futaba did research and figured out his keywords," so instead let's say that he's got a Lupin classic: the Okumura Foods corporate headquarters are a cult survivalist bunker in Kunikazu's head, sci-fi-inflected because that's still cool but still fundamentally about surviving what he thinks of as a coming economic apocalypse. you should be grateful for your spot (your job), even if maintaining the bunker means risking your life and you're constantly fighting and squabbling not to be booted out — out there, in the blasted, recessed jobless wasteland beyond the compound's walls, death is certain! only our supreme overseer Okumura can save us! for the sake of survival and safety, any price is justified! (this is how Okumura squares the circle on loving Haru and selling her off to her fiance: she should be grateful to be hitched to a safe bet, stored in a special well-appointed safety chamber even if it's agonizing to appease Sugimura, instead of risking it all for freedom in the world outside. and she reverses it on him: for the sake of her survival, her happiness, she can justify sacrificing him, too. if his betrayal of her is worthwhile, then so is hers of him. does he want to live in a world like that? or does he want to consider the possibility of another way?) His treasure... is probably some physical key to the okumura foods building, or a way of locking it down, or even a scale model of the building with plans to turn it into a sci-fi wonderland of safety come the end of times.

and of course Shido's thesis statement is obvious, and even vaguely pointed to in his Palace in canon: sacrifices don't matter. He can build a better society — he can save Japan from decay, economic degeneration, crime, whatever moral crisis he perceives, but only if he spends people, steps on their backs, rides his ship through a sea of frothing, half-liquidated bodies in pursuit of the Promised Land. include some elements of Arthuriana in his self-image here: Arthur chasing Avalon and, yes, the Grail. and the conceptual similarity here between his Palace's thesis and Okumura's, and to a lesser extent Madarame's and Jounodaira's, is because Shido's conspiracy is so powerful that he has a Palace of Palace-rulers: Shido moves the hearts of the powerful (who owe their power to him) and shapes how they think, such that everyone they rule over in their own Palaces ends up thinking like Shido, and winds up contributing another drop to his ocean and a little more power to his engine. Akechi himself has been taken in for some time as part of that Palace's walls, and even if he fights his father he replicates his methods and ideology unthinkingly: the sacrifices don't matter, as long as I can humiliate and kill Shido.

Also, if you're going to have an "await the change of heart" gun on the mantelpiece you had better damn well fire it eventually! So: Shido's change of heart doesn't take, exactly like everyone thought might happen every time. his Palace doesn't dissolve. he reaches Avalon, grounds his ark on the shores of the promised land — or, really, he sinks it and leaves its twisted, wrecked hull on the rocks, complete with a pile of Shadow corpses he literally steps on to get to the shore — and moves to claim the Grail. split up his boss fight: the Beast of Human Sacrifice happens on the Ark, but Senator Armstrong Shido fights you on the Isle of the Blest, instead, the grail a scant few feet away, granting him power. here Shido wears a robe and crown and carries an Excalibur which is thrown to him from a bloody Vivian residing in the sea of human sacrifices, and fancies himself True King, because all that matters is that this dissolute world have a ruler — someone to unite the countless, scattered, sinful hearts within it, instead of becoming satisfied with the lesser power and prestige of a Palace. the thing is that Shido's ark is the Titanic and he knows it — he's not just a grubby power-monger, he's a true idealist, passing himself off as corruptible, garnering information and getting the rich aboard his filthy party boat, so he can sink it with everybody onboard, wipe the slate clean of corruption, and rule over a reformed and united Japan with no crime and no disobedience. He's not going to rest on his laurels — he's planning a mass purge! Hence his retaining Akechi, not just his assassin and agent but his eventual kingslayer and executioner, the so-called Prince to Shido's own King.

the Trophy Room, incidentally, is diegetic rather than abstract and DLC-flavored here. the phantom thieves don't sell their treasures, they keep them — and the reality-distorting power of a Treasure, as wielded and directed by a proper Metaverse-user, expands Meta-Leblanc over time, forming a proper lair with individualized rooms for each Thief. (almost as if it were... a palace...) because as the Thieves decide how Palace rulers should think, changing their hearts, so too do they claim greater authority over how the Japanese public should think — until the Phantom Thieves' Trophy Room becomes Japan's single, unopposed ruling Palace, and its master, Joker, a single qualified candidate for the True King of all Humanity. hence the Grail's interest in him: out of all the possible kings it raised and discarded, of course it would eventually hit on one of humble origins. relying on pedigree, like it did with that Akechi kid, was always going to go wrong, in retrospect. the True King need only claim the Grail and be anointed, and the Thieves will be able to emerge from hiding to rule the world... and of course that's not a tolerable outcome, there are no virtuous kings who can rule unopposed, the Grail is only that desire to be ruled and freed from the agonies of making moral judgments for oneself, no single vision can unite everyone and if you meet the True King on the road, kill him.

and it all plays into the themes of control over public perception as an instrument of control more generally, of how the powerful curtail what possibilities seem available to the marginalized so that reclaiming power must happen on their terms, how power in the absence of accountability becomes monstrous even when wielded by virtuous people (not sure how I'd spin Maruki considering he's just objectively correct — the accountability thing is important but maybe we could stand to resurrect the dead sometimes instead of sticking to the status quo), how the phantom thieves' power is necessarily ambiguous and temporal and cannot become a governing principle, how believing in the phantom thieves isn't enough when what you need to do is believe in your own capacity to decide...

[belfrysol]

so picture this

I'm on my fucking bullshit playing Persona 5 Royal. Kaneshiro (bank mafia guy) finally confesses and I make plans to go into mementos sometime soon to see the new area.

Jose wants some flowers and I want some stamps, money, and items. The plan is perfect. It's gonna take like.. oh I dunno... maybe 30-40 minutes and then I'm done right?

Right?

7 agonizing hours later I finally get all the stamps the little egg boy wants.

and what do I have to show for it?

this little guy (I'm level 34 by this point btw)

Through a combination of needing to stick around in mementos and being roped into the velvet room due to the fusion alarms going off and needing to go through the same areas multiple times to get all of Jose's stamps, I have completely destroyed the balance of this game.

This guy is just my crown jewel (for now) but I assure you there are like 6 other demons who can solo the next couple palaces in my stock right now.

game is a little goofy