#something about villains realizing 'ah fuck the greatest roadblock to my evil plan's success is my desire for human companionship'

[aceredshirt13]

bless u for the adachi analysis

it's perfect and i agree wholeheartedly, i was thinking in a very similar sense about all of this - and the fact that someone else put it into words, is great. I also think that it was unintentional from the writers themselves, but it makes so much sense lol. He never struck me as a straight up in incel/misogynist as everyone else puts him as, he didn't hyper focus on it at all outside of the killing. Also additionally, in the animation ( the flashback scene, also - standing at night, in rain outside of Dojima's house wtf lol ) it was shown he grown very attached to Dojima, and felt extremely distraught and jealous when Yu came into the view (it was shown that during the murders he was thinking about this, he was afraid he would not be appreciated/needed anymore +/ "replaced" - also he straight up hated Yu's guts, and when he was shown kindness from him he thought he was pitying him and laughing at his face) - and while of course, it was probably just because of his loneliness and craving for any kind of warmth/attention and attachment issues, i kind of like to pin this to your theory of his sexuality just a tiny bit..

First of all, thank you so much! It was sitting in my drafts for MONTHS and I finally decided, screw it, I'm gonna post it tonight. I'm glad other people like you agree, because I was honestly pretty shocked that few others seemed to have come to the same conclusion, to the point where I was worried I was second-guessing him not actually being that misogynist as denial of bigotry - since let's be real, while I'm well aware he's awful, I wouldn't have put this much time into analyzing and writing about him if I wasn't both interested in his character and also have a soft spot for the sort of tragic villain where it's totally their fault but they've accidentally learned to feel. (And I also fell into the Tumblr sexyman trap and ended up thinking he's attractive and has endearing qualities despite it all. Rip my friends' beliefs in me ever having good taste in men.) So ultimately, I'm glad I'm not completely insane. Persona writers have a real knack for unintentional queer representation.

I've never seen the anime, but I've heard bits and pieces about the Adachi-centric episodes from friends and have REALLY been wanting to watch those as a result - maybe once I get a break from school, I'll be able to (and also watch the Nanako detective episode, of course). And while I'd been told about his jealousy of Yu coming into the Dojima household, I did not know that Adachi was standing outside Dojima's house in the rain. Man. That's rough, buddy.

And, er, well... let's just say should you spot my other Persona reblogs, I certainly don't disagree that his attachment to Dojima also factors into his sexuality, haha. It's something I find particularly interesting, because you'd think that if Adachi viewed everyone he had feelings for the same way he did Namatame, he would have taken the same opportunity to wipe out everyone close to Dojima. It's certainly not as if he didn't have the chance - after all, should the player establish social links with Adachi at night, it's literally just you two with no one else around. If he'd wanted to, he probably could have coaxed Yu somewhere and thrown him in the TV, which depending on whether or not he knows that Yu is after the killer, is something he might be aware would most likely increase the chances of him getting away with his murders. And despite Dojima's grouchy attitude toward Adachi, he clearly cares for him greatly (the tie! inviting him over to eat! the real betrayal in his eyes...), so I wouldn't be surprised if he'd now and then entrusted him with taking care of Nanako - thus opening an opportunity to get rid of her if he so chose. But even though he has these chances, he doesn't take them - doesn't choose to take objects of jealousy away from Dojima. Is it because he knows how much Dojima cares about Nanako and Yu? Is it because he ends up growing to care about the kiddos despite it? Or some combination of both, perhaps? Who knows.

I'd definitely never heard about the bit in the anime you mentioned with Yu trying to be nice and Adachi in his paranoia taking it as mocking and personal slights. This strikes me as especially interesting, because one of my favorite things about Persona is that the fact that the protagonist's friendships and other relationships manifest in literal usable power more or less serves as proof of their existence - proof that that relationship and its closeness isn't false. If it were, how would Yu be able to get power from it? So now I'm really curious how to parse that contradiction - Adachi's hidden bitterness toward Yu and his perceived cruelty, and the fact that should you max out Adachi's social link, you have physical proof that even as he's hiding his crimes and true feelings from you, something in your friendship was real.