#p5 Robin Hood

[fibsyy]

Commission 😎

[strix-brigade]

robins are known to take care of and feed abandoned nestlings :) something something crow persona 5

[nightlilly0110]

We are the man-made monsters,

We are the ones who conquer,

You are a threat no longer,

I won't take more suffering from you

[arseneandhismalefriends]

There should be fusions similar to those in Vividred operations between male Personas to aid during battle. except now it’s yaoi bait instead of yuri bait.

Specifically a Arsene x Robin Hood Fusion a Captain Kidd x Loki fusion and a Goemon x Zorro fusion.

[extinct-fish]

Reaper's Bride drabble: Nekomata hunts a pen (AKA Arsene being a masochist)

“Nekotama, c’mere kitty-kitty!” Kidd called, patting Arsene’s chest with his cannon hand. “Oww- William, you know it hurts!” Arsene scolded. “Oh- sorry, Lupin.” Nekotama simply scoffed before walking over to Makoto, then placed her folded arms atop his lap, looking up at him. “What?” Makoto asked, tilting his head. “Hi,” Nekotama greeted, “Nekotama, and you are?” “Makoto Yuki.” “Hand.” “What?” “Gimme your hand. I just need to know your scent.” “Uhh, okayyyy?” Makoto placed his hand in front of Nekotama’s face, to which she sniffed and then rubbed it with her face. She then gave off a light smile and laid her head atop her folded arms. “Minty, like catnip,” she noted, appeased. “That’s the second person to say that I smell like mint.” “Who was the first?” “Ryoji.” “He’s Death, I’m cat. Big difference.” “Yeah, but if I had a nickel for every time I was told I smelled like mint, I’d have two, which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice.” “Yeah, but your mintiness is good.” Nekotama ended up falling asleep with her head on Makoto’s lap. The other personas snickered at the situation. “Would this count?” Makoto asked, “Does the Law of Cats apply to her?” “Yes. You’re stuck with us,” Jiraiya laughed.  “Goddammit.”

Makoto simply sighed as he just watched the other personas play cards. He eventually just gave some ear scritches to Nekotama, earning loud purring from her. Arsene let out a chuckle at the audible purring.

“Well, he didn’t make Loki purr, but he still made her purr,” he joked.

“Arsene Lupin, I will stab you with your own heels,” Loki growled.

“Please do, I love seeing you in my clothes.”

“I swear to god, you are the most demanding masochist I have ever known,” Robin Hood chuckled.

“Well, I cannot die, so why not take advantage of my immortality?”

“I swear to Nyx, if you guys don’t behave yourselves, I will claw out your eyes,” Nekotama hissed.

“Aye, g’luck with that, Lupin’s nothin’ but fire with his eyes,” Kidd laughed.

“Nekotama, you’re like a kitten going up against a whole-ass bear and thinking you’d win,” Makoto chuckled.

“Oh, I’ve clawed them hard enough to bleed, don’t push it, minty emo boy.”

“I stand by my point. Cats like to think they can face up to god and win.”

“That’s implying we aren’t gods ourselves,” Nekotama said smugly.

“You are not helping the ‘Nah I’d win’ allegations.”

Nekotama bites Makoto’s hand. Instead of being offended at the action, Makoto immediately places his other hand on the couch and moves it back and forth, catching Nekotama’s attention.

“Here, you’ll wanna save your hand from being scratched up,” Jiraiya handed Makoto a pen.

Makoto patted the pen on the couch, diverting her attention to the pen. He then moved it back and forth, chuckling at Nekotama’s observation of the pen, her head moving side to side to follow the pen. Her pupils dilated, focused on hunting the pen.

“Ready?” Makoto then threw the pen, “Get it!”

Nekotama immediately chased after the pen, then proceeded to play with said pen like it was a mouse. The personas and Makoto laughed as they watched Nekotama having her fun with a pen.

[deetheimposter]

Crow

[nightlilly0110]

Thank you OP - you’ve given me a chance to rant about my boy.

Robin Hood is not fake! I can’t stand people that call Loki “the real Akechi” because they’re both Akechi. Even the thieves say it in the engine room and they’re wrong. By the very nature of what a Persona is, if Robin Hood was fake, Akechi wouldn’t have been able to summon him.

People took Futaba’s “one for your lies and one for your hate” way too seriously. Of course that’s how she would see them - he killed her mom and then pretended to be their friend so he could kill her brother-figure. He was still trying to kill them when she said this!

Robin Hood is his sense of justice, and it is a childish sort of sense of justice, but that’s the point. Akechi’s sense of justice is very black and white. Steal from the rich, give to the poor. The wicked will be punished, lawbreakers will be punished - that includes him, considering it’s implied he didn’t have a plan after he dealt with Shido. He won’t get the happy ending because he is not the righteous hero, but his sense of justice is narrowed down to that simple thinking like a child playing hero. There are good guys and there are bad guys.

Robin embodies that mission statement of punishing evil. Loki embodies the anger and hate it took him to become the person who punishes evil.

Robin is his justice. Loki is his vengeance. Two sides of the same coin, yin and yang, only reinforced once they form Hereward, which was the basis of what we know as Robin Hood, but used violence to accomplish his goals.

Yes, the righteous hero that Robin represents is a lie. Akechi isn’t righteous. He’s selfish. But that doesn’t make Robin a lie.

Yes, Loki is a manifestation of all the hate and anger that Akechi felt. But that doesn’t mean that hate is the only thing he has.

Don’t forget, Akechi learns Protect before Endure.

im always thinking about the fact that despite it being his "fake" side , personas are reflections of ur true self and Robin Hood is a part of akechi whether he likes it or not. it fuses in his third awakening, its as real as Loki is. I am also always thinking about how he mentions running around as a kid "playing hero"

[afterthelambs]

It’s funny that Sumire is the one with the Cinderella persona and Akechi is the one with the prince outfit and yet the most Prince Charming-coded thing in the game is Joker holding onto a single glove, waiting for its owner to return after the magic that let them spend a brief time together was over. The glove is functionally the same as a glass slipper. So in conclusion detective prince? more like disney princess--

[mafuwara]

Art for my fic Put away your mask!

[persona-game-info]

Akechi's P5X Character renders

[poisned]

I've been reading Faith for the Second Run by @senblades/senblades on AO3 and absolutely loving it. I had to sketch a few of the scenes I found funny.

[skippyin]

Had an idea where if a Persona User dies in the Metaverse then their Persona will try to save them from death via fusion. Decided to do a quick Akechi and Ryuji just to get the idea out of my head. (In a timeline where Ryuji might have died during the escape from Shido's Palace) They would gain their Persona's abilities, strengths, and weaknesses, but also gain a weakness depending on how they died.

So like Captain Kidd, Ryuji would be weak to Wind, but have an additional weakness to Fire due to dying in an explosion.

While Robin Hood's and Loki's weaknesses would cancel each other out, but due to his death in the engine room, Akechi would have a weakness to bullets.

I just thought it was a neat idea :>

Idk if i'll do more.

[moniericreative]

Goro Akechi: A Mask of Heroism

Part 3 of my multi-post series: "The Universally Hated Futaba Line: Biased Opinion to Throw Out, or a Valid Point Taken Too Literally?"

The posts will be in the following order:

Part 1: Clarifying the meaning of the line (link) Part 2: A Mask of Lies (link) Part 3: A Mask of Heroism (this post)

Please check out the first two posts of the series for more context, as it'll help explain the direction I'm going in when discussing this subject.

Without further ado, enjoy the final part!

So you guys might be asking why I started with the "Mask of Lies" first, and not this one. Especially since Akechi's childhood dreams of being a hero are stated very explicitly in his Royal confidant.

Well, it's because when you ignore the lies aspect (i.e. Futaba's words), and focus exclusively on this single portion of Akechi's character... A lot of people tend to think that's all Robin Hood represents. That he's the "Good Shoulder Angel™️" to Loki's "Bad Shoulder Devil™️" and nothing more. Sound vaguely familar?

It's the other unfortunate extreme that's full-tilt in the opposite direction.

By fervently ignoring Futaba's observation, you accidentally horsehoe right around from pigeon-holing Akechi's persona(s) with a convenient, singular label to... pigeon-holing Akechi's persona(s) with a convenient, singular label. This time it just sounds cuter because it's childhood nostalgia flavored.

But both Robin Hood and Loki are far more nuanced than that, and nothing's a bigger example of this than how Akechi's ideals of a "hero of justice" grew up with him (even if he himself can't see it).

How his methods of helping others gradually evolved from playing pretend with a toy gun and saving imaginary people...

To expertly utilizizing his crafted image and its connections, as well as his own resourcefulness and cunning, to help real people even if it doesn't his benefit his revenge against Shido in any way.

Much like the actual hero of legend that Robin Hood is based on (or at least, it's more modern interpretation).

Let us go back to the previous examples in a different light, shall we?

Let's Discuss: The Game

So we've already covered Akechi's absolute masterclass of subterfuge and cheating a rigged system to benefit the Phantom Thieves.

Is he only doing this to win their trust in order to pull the rug out from under them?

Perhaps, but that ignores the elephant in the room: His relationship with Sae.

While he does have a single line of "foolish woman" before the interrogation room, there's one small detail that often gets overlooked.

Why didn't he remind Shido that Sae was a loose end in their plans?

While he didn't know about the Phantom Thieves' actual plans to keep Joker alive, that still doesn't change the fact that the Sae now has direct ties to the Conspiracy's actions because they used her palace as a trap, and she presumably has a Change of Heart.

With how close Sae was to uncovering The Conspiracy already, and with a determination to keep digging until she found the truth, it would make sense for Shido to order her death. After all, he did so for Kayo (Ohya's friend), Kobayakawa, and the SIU Director and they arguably knew just as much.

So why didn't he?

Because Akechi kept his focus on the Phantom Thieves, and not once did he ever remind Shido about Sae.

"Well, maybe Akechi was riding the high of victory and simply forgot? He seems pretty egotistical during that timeframe."

True, but then you have multiple scenes following the Interrogation Room.

The first is his phone call with Shido on 11/20 (while he's in the elevator), where he tells him he'll take care of the Phantom Thieves:

And then the second scene is during Shido's arc, after Shido becomes paranoid due to the Thieves destroying his cognitions of people in his palace, and he and Akechi are in another call:

Notice something specific about both of these interactions? Not once does Akechi give any specifc info about when or how he eliminate these people. He instead keeps giving vague half-answers wrapped in a villianous bow, downplays the threat of the remaining thieves (especially Morgana), or tells Shido "why not wait until after the election?"

The election that he's already planning to ruin Shido on.

Both moments are such a blatant attempt at damage control to ensure less blood is spilled in the long-run, and recontextualizes everything beforehand with Sae.

Throughout the game he says he respects her, and that's no more evident than this. Despite tricking her, he's not interested in killing her or inducing a breakdown/shutdown in her.

In fact he went along with the plan to Change Her Heart and left it at that, only knowing that by stealing her treasure, she'd hopefully re-evaluate her actions leading up to this and go back to normal.

He didn't know that the Thieves never planned to actually steal her treasure. He just trusted their methods, knowing it helps more people in the end than his own. He even asks Makoto herself this:

Which, while it could be seen as him just pretending to be comforting her, gains a more genuine layer with the above context behind his question. The guy loves his double-entendres after all. He put his faith in them, and lied on their behalf to Shido to keep the remaining thieves and Sae safe, regardless of whether he was aware he was doing such or not. On another note, there's also some cut Mementos lines as well (implying that it's not just Joker he opens up to, but everyone else as well):

And finally, we can talk about that Cut Mementos Request as well.

In a way, I understand why this was cut despite being nearly finished. It doesn't leave the players feeling accomplished, but rather like they just made the situation worse and can't take it all back.

But that's the point, and it's a very important lesson they sorely need.

Akechi intentionally chooses targets similar to his situation with Shido, and any information he gives to the Thieves is superficial. Past work history, past connections, etc. As far as investigating goes, he even says he'll do it himself, which the other thieves agree to. Then when they all discuss a game plan, he hangs back while the other thieves come up with their own narrative for what's happening, and doesn't correct them.

The entire point behind this long charade though?

He doesn't want the Thieves to get hurt any further by people like him.

One very important thing to note about this request is that it only occurs during Third Semester. Maruki's Reality. The same reality where, once they defeat him to restore the true reality, everything that occurs during it will be reverted.

Including the events of this request.

Which is probably the actual reason why it got cut other than time-constraints. What's the point in learning it if your mistake can be undone in the end, right?

But again, that's the point. It's a means of giving the Thieves a reality check to be more careful in the future, without them carrying a permanent weight on their shoulders like he has. To let them actually feel first-hand the consquences of their powers when used recklessly, or blindly putting their faith in anybody, and hopefully learn from it to save others more effectively.

He's giving them the lesson and out that he never got before he started working with Shido, and was in too deep to quit.

Let us discuss: P5: The Animation

This time, we've actually got two instances instead of just one.

The first is Yusuke's situation with Kawanabe: (Episode 13 · Dreams and Desires) The second is Futaba's situation with her uncle: (Episode 24 · A Challenge That Must Be Won)

In Yusuke's case, Akechi's main argument to convince Joker into helping him with the investigation into Kawanabe is this:

Of all the people he could've gone to for assistance on the case, he went directly to Joker because he knows Yusuke is his friend, and if they don't do this, Yusuke, a child with honest aspirations, will become yet another casualty of a corrupt individual in power.

He's solved plenty of cases without needing Joker's presence, case in point his entire years-long Detective Prince career (which the anime shows isn't just the cases involving the shutdowns). But he's still willing to ask for his help anyways because he knows Joker will also do anything to protect people in need, even if it means bending or outright breaking the law.

In Futaba's case meanwhile, the dynamic is flipped around completely: Joker asks Akechi for help. The whole situation starts with Akechi being the one to initiate the topic on Futaba acting off due to her uncle:

And Joker responds to him with this sometime later:

The day after, they both have this exchange while discussing the matter:

The entire time, Joker's very open about not wanting to share much information about Futaba's situation to Akechi, who at this point the thieves are well aware he's the Black Mask. It's only after Akechi shares his own experiences with his mother and the foster care system that Joker finally gives him the info he needs to look into Futaba's uncle. Akechi never asks for more context, he trusts Joker's judgement that this is another awful person who needs to be stopped and goes along with it without question.

And all to help a girl that he's aware is in this whole situation because of his actions, too. You could probably argue this is way of atoning for what happened to Wakaba.

Let us discuss: Mementos Mission

Here we can actually talk a bit of the grander plot in the manga, rather than focusing on an iconic yet minor part of it. To give a brief summary, Mika is accused of a murder, and Ann and Joker (followed by the rest of the thieves) want to clear her name and find the true culprit. To this end, Joker decides, against the judgement of the other thieves, to ask Akechi for help in looking into this whole mess.

One key thing to note about this is that Akechi goes out of his way to look into this in between his own cases, including that of the "Double Fanged Murder Demon" that they find out later on is connected to it. And the kicker? It's not even remotely connected to The Conspiracy at all, either. Nor Akechi's revenge plan against Shido (which does get hinted at in this story). There's no subtle clues indicating that some parties might be tied to the conspiracy, or need to be taken out like Okumura was. It's just an entire cast of people in their own smaller spider-web of coincidences, that Joker and co. happen to stumble into. Akechi has absolutely nothing to gain from indulging in Joker's request to look into police files or clues, but he still chooses to do so anyways, even if he's technically not supposed to share details due to confidential information.

The only thing he asks for in return? More coffee and curry. That's it. Surprisingly simple pleasures for a very complex guy.

Akechi's honestly one those characters that's fascinating to see others react to. When people hear the "lie" comment, they tend to jump straight into two categories afterwards:

The people who take it too literally, and proceed to loathe him with every fibre of their being and doubt every word he says (and end up falling for his black mask "being his true, more likeable self" by Third Semester when it's yet another distancing tactic).

The people who write it off completely, and proceed to victimize him to the point that it takes away any agency he has over his crimes (in spite of how frequently Akechi accepts the blame for his own involvement, or says that it wasn't solely Shido's manipulation driving him forward).

Even Akechi himself says it: It's not that simple.

He's a liar, but he lies for a damn good reason.

It's just such a shame that there isn't much room to have nuanced discussions about this, because of the two sides and the admittedly knee-jerk reactions to anything opposing them.

Because everything involving the Robin Hood side of Akechi is honestly fantastic. It's a middle-ground on justice between blind righteousness (like the Phantom Thieves) and tunnel-visioned "might makes right" (like Shido, Yaldy, Maruki, and to an extent Sae).

It's the stance of someone who's crawled his way up through a living hell with pleasant smiles and a gun behind his back, but still has enough faith in humanity to put his trust in Joker: The closest person to his idealistic image of a hero, moreso than himself.

The Detective Prince and Black Mask may have been public images, but underneath both is a kid who just cares deeply and painfully about others.

[arseneandhismalefriends]

During the dark hour shadows can suddenly move around and can create interrogation rooms at will, in these Interrogation rooms the shadow can choose to fuck the person they trapped inside the room, also it’s worth mentioning that once trapped in a interrogation room the shadow will proceed to interrogate you you have to do as the shadow says, which involves taking your clothes off and letting the shadow attack fuck or rape you. Of course SEES has to deal with this new version of the dark hour, the underwear system in this game is provided through by Ikutsuki to protect the genitalia area of SEES from shadows, once the shadows hit you hard enough your clothes get torn up, if they hit

you hard enough after that your clothes rip off and your only in your underwear.

Also Arsene isn’t the leader here because Arsene got cocky and got attacked raped and eventually had a mental shutdown because of the experience causing Orpheus to take the other P5 phantom thief males under his wing.

Main cast underwear types: Orpheus: boxers with a harp themed design on them Hermes: greyish briefs with a wing symbol on the top of it Polydeuces and Castor: bricky speedos ( same as in canon design.) Nemesis: it’s saw acts as it’s underwear when it breaks Cerberus: no underwear

Thanatos: BDSM Themed jockstrap Zorro: Cyan blue briefs with a black colored rose symbol on them Kidd: a greyish yellow speedo with a pirate skullflag on it Goemon: a fundoshi with a diamond pattern on it Robin Hood: dark brown boxers with a golden brim around it. Loki: Red and grey Hipster type underwear with a face print on it that looks like a grin Valijean: a dark indigo blue jockstrap with a chain print on it. 

[samasmith23]

How Goro Akechi effectively serves as a dark foil to the Phantom Thieves' brand of rehabilitative justice

So... I understand that Goro Akechi is a pretty divisive character within the Persona 5 fanbase (especially his pre-Royal incarnation), but I have to admit that I honestly found his backstory and role as a sinister foil to the Phantom Thieves to be legitimately intriguing. Elements which are revealed during his boss fight in the game’s “Cruiser of Pride” arc!

When the Phantom Thieves infiltrate the Meta-Verse to confront the Shadow of the corrupt ultra-nationalist politician, Masayoshi Shido, who’s palace takes the form of a gigantic yacht sailing through the ruins of a sunken Japan, they are suddenly confronted by Akechi in the ship’s engine room. Having just betrayed the team during the previous arc, Akechi is revealed to not only be the true culprit behind the mysterious wave of mental shutdowns & psychotic breakdowns (which included the deaths of two Phantom Thieves’ member’s parents, Futaba Sakura’s mother Wakaba Isshiki & Haru Okumura’s father Kunikazu Okumura respectively…) that have occurred throughout the game’s narrative as part of Shido’s conspiracy to get elected as Prime Minister, but that he is also Shido’s illegitimate child. Essentially, Akechi was the product of a dubious affair between Shido and a sex worker whom the former later discarded when he discovered that she was pregnant, driving her to depression and suicide shortly after Akechi's birth. Akechi spent his entire childhood being passed around as a “problem child” between various foster homes (highlighting Japan’s problems with how the country treats its orphaned children) before later being granted the power of a "wildcard" persona-user, as well as knowledge about the existence of the Meta-Verse by the false god of control, Yaldabaoth.

While Akechi was a societal outcast similar to the members of the Phantom Thieves, he took the wrong message from his experiences. Akechi misguidedly believes that the only way to truly oppose the status quo that looked down upon him is to not only become a part of it (i.e. caring only about his good grades & celebrity status) but to destroy everything that he hates by reducing himself to Shido's right-hand assassin in the Meta-Verse, perpetuating mental shutdowns & psychotic breakdowns on Shido’s political enemies simply to get some semblance of recognition & validation from his abusive father before exacting revenge on him (whilst exploiting his "ace-detective" celebrity status to "solve" the crimes that he himself committed).

Essentially, once Shido finally became prime minister Akechi planned to whisper the truth about being the former’s illegitimate child, telling Shido that he was only able to get where he was due to the son he abandoned and labeled as a potential “political scandal” before murdering him.

Despite Akechi and the Phantom Thieves' mutual dislike of Shido, the former is so fixated on vengeance that he does not care about the innocent lives he ruins and destroys in the crossfire to satisfy his own personal bloodlust. Instead of legitimately trying to reform society like the Phantom Thieves do, Akechi becomes a pawn of the very same systemic corruption that was responsible for his initial suffering. Akechi cares only about his own hatred & jealousy instead of empathizing with others who were also victimized by society’s ills. This contrast is visually reflected through the juxtaposition between Akechi and the Phantom Thieves’ leader, Joker, when they confront each other in the engine room of Shido’s yacht. While Joker is portrayed as standing strong alongside his teammates & friends, Akechi stands alone in the opposite end of the room, confused & angry. While there is a part of Akechi that regrets his horrible actions and even recognizes the potential for him & Joker to be friends due to their similar backgrounds, he's too far gone into his obsessive vendetta against Shido that he refuses to turn back and now desires to kill the Phantom Thieves in a misguided attempt to ease his internal conflict.

During the boss fight with Akechi in Shido's Palace, the detective prince repeatedly dismisses the Phantom Thieves' efforts to appeal to his common senses, believing that concepts like friendship and teamwork are foolish "cliched bullish*t... in this eat or be eaten world."

While this attitude of Akechi's might seem unrealistically cartoonish on the surface, it actually makes sense when considering his background of being unfairly labeled as a "throw-away child" by Japan's foster care institutions. YouTuber LadyVirgilia goes into far greater detail about this in her excellent The Truth About Goro Akechi analysis video. There, she states that an overwhelming number of Japanese orphans are incapable of being legally adopted due to impoverished parents voluntarily relinquishing them from their care while still maintaining legal guardianship over them. Additionally, LadyVirgilia discusses how violent hierarchical power structures often form among the children within these foster homes, with younger orphans sadly being subject to bullying & abuse by their older peers.

While these facts are not explicitly stated about Akechi's backstory within P5 Royal itself, they can easily be heavily inferred due to the game's heavy emphasis on exploring themes related to Japanese sociocultural issues. It’s implied that the institutional failings of Japan's foster care system (combined with Shido's abandonment of his son while he was still in the womb), ultimately contributed to the development of Akechi's warped perception of the rest of the world. Due to being dismissed as a "throw-away child" and being forced to grow up in an institution that is unfortunately subject to high rates of systemic abuse & neglect, Akechi spent his entire life feeling unwanted & loved. Ideals such as friendship & companionship became foreign and unrealistic concepts to him due to having experienced nothing but society's cold & uncaring apathy.

Essentially, Akechi became deeply jealous & hateful toward the rest of the world, misguidedly compelling him to want to prove his superiority over the rest of society by manufacturing his status as "the celebrity ace-detective and honors student who ultimately brought down Shido." But when Akechi encounters the Phantom Thieves and befriends their leader Joker, he begins to experience his first genuine bond of companionship. Despite developing a legitimate appreciation towards Joker, Akechi is simultaneously confused & unable to fully process these newfound feelings. Akechi becomes envious of Joker's ability to rise above his similar status as a societal outcast by befriending & protecting others like himself. Consequently, Akechi projects his own failings & inability to legitimately rise above his tragic upbringing beyond his false celebrity status onto Joker & the Phantom Thieves, cruely dismissing them as "the trash of society" and blaming them for interfering with his revenge plot against Shido. This empty & hollow existence that Akechi chooses to live is further reflected by the sole two personas that he utilizes during his boss fight: Robin Hood, who represents Akechi's false celebrity & justice-abiding gentleman facade, and Loki, who embodies Akechi’s true personality as a deceitful trickster & psychotic murderer.

I personally couldn’t help but find all of these elements to be rather interesting & insightful about Akechi’s role as an antagonist/rival to the Phantom Thieves. It honestly highlights the tragic nature of Akechi's situation, since while he had the potential to utilize his deductive knowledge & skills as a "wildcard" Persona-user similar to Joker, he instead allowed himself to be consumed by his own hatred & madness.

The parallels between Akechi & Joker are further evident through the latter also being a victim of Shido’s abuse. Specifically, the corrupt politician wrongfully sued Joker for “assault” when he tried to stop Shido from drunkenly forcing himself upon a woman. In contrast to Akechi however, Joker is motivated by his negative experiences to fight against the unjust status quo that figures like Shido represent to prevent similar abuses of power from ever occurring again to others. Additionally, we also see dualistic parallels between Akechi and other members of the Phantom Thieves, such as Makoto Nijima who similarly previously upheld the misconception that “good grades and following orders are all that truly matters to be a worthwhile member of society.” Whereas Makoto outgrows this mentality by instead choosing to utilize her status as student council president to help her suffering peers rather than for her own academic career, Akechi conversely exploits his intellect as an “ace-detective” to perpetuate societal injustices for his self-centered vendetta against Shido.

In essence, if the Phantom Thieves embody the potential benefits of rehabilitative justice then Goro Akechi embodies the dangers of retributive justice (aka, revenge). To reference two of my favorite movies, Batman Begins and Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, not only is there a strong difference between justice and revenge (one is about altruistic harmony whereas the other is about personal satisfaction), but the most surefire way to victory is by fighting to protect what you love rather than fighting to destroy what you hate...

The distinction between justice & revenge is made abundantly clear at the end of Akechi's storyline in the baseline game (i.e. before the Royal exclusive Third Semester new content), where following his defeat at the hands of the Phantom Thieves Akechi is suddenly approached by a cognitive duplicate of himself that dwells within Shido's palace. In addition to the Cognitive Akechi emphasizing the futility of Akechi's quest for acknowledgment & vengeance against Shido by revealing that the latter always intended to dispose of his right-hand assassin once he was elected prime minister, the cognitive duplicate also reveals the true depths of Shido's depravity when he states that he only ever viewed Akechi as a puppet to fulfill his own ambitions. While it is true that Akechi was so obsessed with revenge that he allowed himself to become a pawn of the corrupt status quo, it is exceptionally cruel to learn that this is how Shido has always viewed his own son (which is further punctuated by Shido later revealing to the Phantom Thieves that he secretly always suspected that Akechi was his illegitimate child due to how much he reminded him of his mother). It is this revelation in particular that allows the Phantom Thieves to better empathize with Akechi's tragic upbringing & circumstances. Even though they still seek to hold Akechi accountable for the murders that he committed at Shido's behest, the Phantom Thieves simultaneously recognize that in a sense, Akechi was also a victim of both Shido's cruelty and the systemic injustices of larger Japanese society.

This effectively culminates in the bittersweet resolution to Akechi's storyline in the base Persona 5 game. When the Cognitive Akechi duplicate offers his real-world counterpart one last chance to "redeem" himself in Shido's eyes by killing the Phantom Thieves in his stead, Akechi for the first time in his life decides to be his own person instead of being defined by the labels Shido and society had imposed upon him since birth. Choosing to no longer be a puppet of Shido's corrupt machinations, Akechi rejects his cognitive duplicate's hollow offer by instead turning his gun on the duplicate and his Shadow minions before sealing the engine room's watertight doors between himself and the Phantom Thieves. At the very end, Akechi was finally able to acknowledge that his desire for false appreciation from both his abusive father and larger society was ultimately worthless. Akechi ultimately sacrifices himself to allow the Phantom Thieves to escape, recognizing their true justice while entrusting them to do what he was incapable of by holding Shido accountable for his crimes & reforming society.

From a certain point of view, one could argue that the Phantom Thieves indirectly inspired a change of heart in Akechi by proving to him the validity of their sense of justice.

Overall, while I was initially indifferent towards Goro Akechi at the start of my playthrough of Persona 5 (and even outright skeptical & suspicious of his motives given his vocal opposition to the Phantom Thieves), by the time I got to his boss battle in Shido's palace I ended gained a deeper understanding and appreciation for what the developers at Atlus were attempting to convey with his character. Akechi effectively functions as both a cautionary tale about the dangers of allowing oneself to be consumed with thoughts of revenge, as well as a dark parallel to the Phantom Thieves who seek to legitimately reform society for altruistic rather than self-centered reasons. It was these elements that ultimately elevated Akechi into becoming one of my personal favorite members of P5's cast (right behind Makoto, Futaba & Ann...) from both a narrative and character writing perspective (especially with the Royal edition's overhauled confidant line for Akechi, which better fleshes out the latter's rivalry with Joker, and the player now has to progress manually instead of it being automatic)! And I am definitely curious to see how Royal's exclusive "Third Semester" content further fleshes out Akechi's character since I'm aware that he plays a major role in the new story content.

[deetheimposter]