#while ryuji is the one constantly urging the others to strive for bigger heights

[arrtemisia]

Oh you right about that Makoto stuff oml. I generally didn't really like her much cause I never felt I could really grab onto her character and be like 'yes this is who she is' I've just never been able to put it into words like that. That last ask was one of the most interesting TEDTalks I've read in a while /j but seriously someone pointing out the issues with her like that is not something you see everyday so imma go look at her arc in P5R Labby a bit and see if I can't make her a bit more interesting to me too outside of the stuff I have her doing. Any chance you wanna go off about Ann too? Jk unless? Nah you guud ^-^

Ah I missed this ask! And yeah, Makoto is one of those charaters that rubbed me the wrong way the moment I met her, but couldn't really put my finger on why until my third or fourth playthrough. Since she seemed like the sort of character that checked all my boxes, I tried to force her to be one of my favorites, but the more I thought about her and played through the game the less and less I liked her. Pinning down the reasons why was just the nail in the coffin.

Ann is the exact opposite for me; I actually really like her! However, it didn't start out that way. On my first playthrough, I found her to be really boring. I didn't dislike her, she was perfectly fine and did nothing wrong, but she never really stuck out either.

I have a lot less to say about Ann because I'm not actually 100% sure of the reason I found her so dull or why she later became one of my favs, but I do have a couple hunches.

Persona 5 (and persona as a whole, but it's much more pronounced in 5) is full of very striking characters who are each easily recognized by a handful of key character traits and all have bombastic story elements and character arcs that you'd never really find in everyday life. That's not a bad thing! It's a really good thing, actually! Simple characters who hold a lot of depth are very appealing because they're easy to understand and therefore relate to, and you get to watch their eccentric character traits bounce off each other in interesting ways.

Persona 5 wears its comic book inspiration on its sleeve, which is half of what I love so much about it, and therefore each of its main characters would feel right at home in an outlandish superhero comic of their own. But Ann is kind of the odd one out here.

She's not very easy to define in a handful of character traits - you can point out some things that she is (be it cheerful, optimistic, determined), but you'll always feel like you're missing the core to her character. Her story arc about wanting to become an emotionally stronger person is much more grounded that what you normally get from every other confidant in the game. Her biggest strengths and best qualities aren't glaringly obvious when you look at her, and neither are her flaws.

For all intents and purposes, Ann feels like a normal human teenager you could meet in any high school. This means in a game full of quirky hackers and heiresses, shady back-alley doctors and weapons dealers, a best friend like a walking firecracker and a starving artist who'd climb a telephone tower in the dead of winter to get a better look at some birds - she tends to get a little outshined.

She also doesn't get a whole lot of screentime post-Kamoshida (*cough* because every important line is given to Makoto *cough*), which doesn't do her very many favors in winning people over.

However! I do think that there's a lot of benefit to her more subtle character! She serves as a grounding presence for most of the game - in a story as wild as this one, it's nice to have someone calmer who feels a lot more chill and real.

Her quiet optimism and easy friendships with the rest of the thieves is one of the things that really made her grow on me the closer I dug into group dynamics. To one extent or another, she's friends with everyone in the group, so even the characters that fight a lot or don't feel very close in the first place share a connection through Ann, who cares about each of her friends unconditionally and accepts each new member without question. When the going gets tough she's always the one gently pushing the others to the option that leads them to be better people.

All in all, while she's definitely a lot less striking and instantly appealing compared to the others, I really do feel like she adds a lot to the story and the thieves wouldn't feel nearly as close and natural a group without Ann there.