#yu narukami & reader | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

manias-wordcount · 4 months ago

Note

Hello, can I ask for the second part of Yu Narukami's story in Persona 4, the part about how their relationship will be after they confess to each other. I think you have a one-shot about Yu Narukami so you should know about it. And the last thing is can you do it as a one-shot?

Mess (Yu Narukami x Reader) PART TWO

𝗔/𝗡: 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗴𝗼!

𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁: 𝗼𝗻𝗲 || 𝘁𝘄𝗼

𝙒𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚? ⇒ 𝙈𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙩

𝙟𝙤𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙙 𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙚𝙧?

𝙗𝙪𝙮 𝙢𝙚 𝙖 𝙘𝙤𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙚?

Things don’t just magically improve overnight.

As much as you both want them to, it just doesn’t happen. It’s just not in the cards for you. No matter how much you both wish otherwise. Because most days, you still wake up in a puddle of your own guilt and anxiety and insecurity. It’s not the same river of negative feelings that used to drown and plague you every moment of the day. But an obstacle is an obstacle. And the chokehold those feelings have on you- it’s not to be taken lightly. When you’re not careful, it can keep you in cold, dark places for long, long times. When you’re not careful, it can consume your every waking thought. Fill every bone in your body. Paralyze you with feelings of self-doubt, self-hatred, and everything in between.

That said, you have many more good days. And they always start and end with him.

Some mornings, you’ll wake up to an email from your boyfriend. Something sweet and simple. A response from something you sent last night. A greeting hello. A reminder about something related to class. Or just a simple ‘I miss you’ when you were least expecting it. And some mornings, when you’re really lucky, you end up waking up with something a little more personal, like the sound of the ringtone you’ve set for him on your phone.

“Good morning, my love,” He would say to you. Maybe you’d still be so sleepy and tired that you could just barely mumble a greeting back to him as you struggled to pull yourself fully from your sleep. Maybe you’d be more awake and ready to receive his call. Maybe you’d be a little something outside or even in between. It doesn’t matter really. Because all you know is that it’s something that you look forward to. Something that cherish and never want to go away. Something that improves your spirit. Something that brightens your day.

Something that makes you feel a little less like the mess of a human being that your boyfriend had to drag out of the shadows and into the light.

Still, it’s all a work in progress. And in the couple weeks the two of you have been dating, things have been getting slightly better. Throughout the day, you may experience an episode or two. A flare-up here. A moment of panic there. It’s truly something that you can’t escape. At least, not so quickly now that it has built itself up in your mind with a foundation meant to stay.

But you’re working on it. And he’s helping you work on it too. Truthfully, you still haven’t found yourself feeling the way you used to be when things were fine and dandy unless you were

hand-in-hand with your boyfriend during lunch or tugged into his side after school while he talked to his friends. But you’re teaching yourself how to stop comparing yourself to all his female friends. And you’re reminding yourself that out of everyone he could have picked in this town- out of all the amazing, talented, beautiful people who he could have asked out in this town, he picked you. He asked out you.

And that’s what makes moments like these absolutely and utterly too sweet.

Moments where you get to spend the afternoons and evenings with each other. Maybe you’ll be at his place. Maybe you’ll be at yours. But either way, you’ll spend those moments together with your arms wrapped around each other. You’ll spend those moments lounging on top of each other’s futons, with your head in his neck and his arms wrapped loosely around you. Sometimes he’ll read out loud a few pages of whatever book he was reading the day prior. Sometimes he’ll urge you into talking about your day and your feelings. All of the good. All of the bad.

But in these moments, you only think about him. In these moments, he’s the only thing that exists to you. Not your teachers. Not your homework. Not the looming threat of making sure you make it home to dinner in time to ensure that your family won’t make any fuss. Not the great, powerful, and pretty Risa Kujikawa and her usual antics of always getting a little too close to comfort with your boyfriend and always toying the line in a way that never failed to get you at least a little bit frustrated. Not the amazing, intelligent, and resourceful Prince Detective Naoto Shirogane. She admires your boyfriend in almost the same way you absolutely envy her. But at the end, of the day, you’re the one who’s lucky. You’re the one with something to be proud of.

Because in these moments, you don’t even think of some of his truly close friends- Chie Satonaka and Yukiko Amagi. The selflessness the two of them show. Their poise, their confidence. Their joy and their bright spirits. All things you struggle with. All things you used to think you couldn’t achieve. But when you’re in Yu’s arms, you don’t think of them. You don’t think of anyone or anything. Except for your boyfriend, of course. Because in your boyfriend's arms, you can and could be anything. Because in your boyfriend's arms, you feel like a better person. One who has no need to compare themselves to others. One who could find their own happiness. Even if it comes shaped like the very person you’re laying on.

And sure, you still struggle sometimes within these moments. And you still come across the occasional negative feeling or thought and apply it to yourself tenfold- whether or not you actually believe that feeling to be true. You’re not perfect, you’re human. But with him? But with Yu, things start to become a little easier. Lighter on your soul. Brighter in the sky. Little by little. Day by day.

So you’ll take these moments, and you’ll cherish them. Because just a couple weeks ago, you couldn’t even bear the thought of being around him or his friends. A couple weeks ago,

A couple weeks ago, you were nothing. An insecure nobody. A big mess. But now?

You’re Yu’s girlfriend. And in the future, you hope to become more than that once again. In the future, you hope to not have to rely on your boyfriend for all your happiness and all your peace. You hope that all the negativity and all the bad feelings will one day go away. Or grow much more quiet. To the point where you can’t be sure they even exist at all.

But until that happens, you’ll take things slow. You’ll take the days one at a time. And you’ll hold dear every phone call and email and cuddle session and kind word your boyfriend sends our way. It’s all you can. It’s all you want to do. It’s all you can handle doing. It’s all you’re capable of doing. Because when cleaning up a big mess, you have to start somewhere. You have to start small. You have to start here. And for you and for him?

That’s more than enough. That’s more than enough.

22 notes · View notes

bayothemayo · 2 years ago

Note

OMFGGG (ﾉ´ з `)ノ HI HI I RQ THAT AKIRA X YOR BASED READER AND UGGHGHGHGH YOU WROTE IT SO WELL !!!!!!! ESP WHEN YOU ADDED AMAGI (」°ロ°)」 !! ♡♡♡♡ I also saw you opening reqs again (or like, recently made a post abt it and putting it in some tags (￣▽￣;)ゞHEHE) and wanted to request AGAIN!!: this time for the Persona Protags (Seperately) with reader who is a persona user just like them, but reader's persona method is completely different to theirs?? (EXAMPLE: Akira x P4!reader, Yu x P3!reader, and Minato x P5!reader) HCs again!! I've seen other Persona blogs get similar req like this, where they write the reactions to the boys seeing reader using a persona different from theirs BUT!! (｡•́︿•̀｡) wouldn't it... lowk be funny if reader and the boys met after encountering each other in the Metaverse and getting into a fight with them?? LIKE in Akira's case where he and the other PTs learnt abt another intruder and they're on edge, imagine they meet reader and think she's the intruder ლ(ಠ_ಠ ლ)!!?? you can branch off whatever ideas you have for this since, tbh, IM NOT TOO SURE ABT IT EITHER!! i thoguht abt it in the spur of the moment ig but this can be optional for whether or not you want to write this in!! (っ˘з(˘⌣˘ ) ♡ hehe this ask is longer than the last one I sent in SO SORRY YOU HAVE TO READ MY INFO DUMP .. BUT WHATEVES!! TY AGAIN FOR ANSWERING MY LAST REQS AND REMEMBER, STAY SLAYING!!!!!!

Akira Kurusu, Yu Narukami, and Minato Arisato Mets Reader Who Summons Their Persona Differently

Note: This is a little bit of swearing and very long.

Akira Kurusu

After hearing about another person running around in the Metaverse, the group was on edge.

One time they were at the Mementos and Oracle detects a presence, a human presence.

Naturally, they thought the person were the Black Mask.

When they met you, they accused you of being the Black Mask

Obviously you were confused, “Black Mask? Causing mental shutdowns? Are you good?”

Then you got into the fight with them

If you used an Evoker, they would freak out. They literally thought you were going to…make yourself sleep forever. The entire team’s heart basically skipped a beat. Akira just stared at you with wide eyes and mouth open.

If you used a Tarot card, the team will be confused. Akira will notice what kind of card will be floating in your hand. The Fool, Emperor, Lovers, etc. You destroyed your Tarot card with your weapon

He got to hand it out to you, you are pretty good. You even got some critical hits, and able to get the correct weakness of Joker's Personas.

You were defeated

However, you convinced them that you were not the Black Mask. Oracle also agrees with you as she analyzes your Persona and their levels and concludes that you would be at a higher level.

The group apologizes, but you forgave them.

You join their group to take down the Black Mask.

You seem to get along with Akira the most. Most likely due to your other friend is almost like them.

You chat to him a how you summon your Persona. Accepting death or accepting yourself.

You help out the group if they are struggling on fighting shadows.

Akira, in turn, helps you out with all the Phantom Thieve stuff.

Being sneaky wasn't the main factor in your last adventure, so you often get caught by a shadow.

Yu Narukami

The Investigate Team was training inside the Midnight Channel when Kujikawa sense a presence.

Believing that this could be the person who keeps throwing people into the Midnight Channel, they immediately went to the area where the presence is at.

The team met you, who was wandering around because you can't see anything.

They accuse you of being the person who caused the killings. You objected to the accusation, saying that you would never attempt to kill someone.

Though they didn't seem to be convinced as they decide to start a fight with you.

If you summon your Persona with a Mask, which is most likely the reason why they thought you were a killer, they flinch at the sight of blood going down your face and the blood dripping down the floor. You seem unfazed by this, which make them a little concerned.

If you summon using an Evoker, expect the same reaction as the Phantom Thieves. When they saw you took out the Evoker. They thought it was a real gun and start to freak out. Pretty sure Yosuke will pee himself. The group will run to what ever object nearby in hopes that the bullet won't go through the object. Instead, you put the Evoker towards your head. Rise let out a shout, which in turn made the team look at you as you just pulled the trigger. Instead of seeing a corpse, they instead saw your Persona. Narukami was wide-eyed the entire event

During the battle, Rise senses another presence. However, the presence was weak and surrounded by shadows.

They stopped the fight after Rise told them that they believed that another victim was just thrown into the Midnight Channel.

Since you were with them while the person was thrown into here, they are now convinced you are not the killer.

You joined the Investigate Team!

Narukami asks you about your previous adventures when he hangs out with you. You always recount the good memories of your old teammates, and how Narukami reminds them of their old leaders.

If you are able to get your old teammates to help you with the investigation, you give Narukmai a nudge, "Don't mess with Kirijo-san/Niijima-san, they WILL whoop your ass."

Minato Arisato

While they were approaching the boss, Yamagishi sense a different presence.

The group got concern considering that ordinary people get stranded in the Dark Hour.

They quickly went to the location, and then they met you.

However, Yamagishi notices that you were quite strong. S.E.E.S immediately thought you were a member of Strega. You objected the claim.

"What the hell is Strega?"

You got into the fight, sadly.

If you summon through a Mask, he will be shock about the amount of blood on your face. It will take a little time for him to get used to it.

If you summon through a Tarot Card, they would be confused as how you summoned the card above your hand. Minato knows the card is, since they appear in his head time from time. Because of the Social Links, he can tell what card you had in your hand.

Kirijo stopped the battle when she notices that you didn't summon your Persona with an Evoker. She tells the group that summoning through a Mask/Card will be near impossible, because it will be difficult to make them function to summon a Persona just from Crushing/Ripping them.

The revelation was short-lived when the boss interrupted the conversation.

You fight alongside the S.E.E.S after that.

You talked about your old members to Arisato. Sometimes talked about your struggles in your adventures, either personal or the fighting.

All of Them

The year got closer to end. You were alone with Akira/Yu/Minato having small talk. You tap their shoulder, and you got close to their ear, "Someone might die in this journey...and a god might be behind all this. Be careful." They looked at you, to see a serious look in your eyes. A look of someone who seen a tragedy... Before they ask about what you are talking about, someone calls you over. You give them a pat on the back before walking over to the person that called you over. They are left to ponder on what you said.

#akira kurusu x reader #yu narukami x reader #minato arisato x reader #ren amamiya x reader #persona 5 x reader #persona 4 x reader #Persona 3 x reader #headcanon #persona headcanons #requested

548 notes · View notes

general--winter · 5 months ago

Note

May I please request headcanons for Naoto, Yu, and Kanji reacting to their S/O having anger issues and snapping when a bully goes too far?

author's note: So, hi y'all! i've had quite a year, i'll make a post later. I wanted to clear out the one or two things I had already finished in my WIP folder, though, so this is my return for now.

rating: teen

fandom: persona 4

pairing: shirogane naoto x gn!reader, narukami yu x gn!reader, tatsumi kanji x gn!reader

word count: 1336

summary: you stand up to your bullies! wish i was this brave when i was in high school and college LOL

Naoto Shirogane

For months, Naoto has heard story upon story about how you have been putting up with crap from a group of people in your club. It’s all endless, from how they give you backhanded compliments about your skills to them “accidentally” giving you the broken equipment and watching you fail over and over again for their amusement.

Honestly, you weren’t even aware of half of the incidents being their fault, Naoto had to be the one to sneak into your club room to investigate and find that your stuff was being tampered with in the first place. She absolutely hated breaking the news to you, but she knew she had to tell you the truth. What wasn’t expected, however, was the pure rage that shot through your eyes. Naoto thought there might be sadness, maybe even tears if you were particularly emotionally vulnerable at that moment, but this was so unlike you. “Let me handle it,” is what you told her. She kept her eyes on you from then on.

Which is exactly why she caught the beginning of the incident the next day over lunch. A leader of your club struck up a conversation with you at your desk, and Naoto immediately noticed you were snippy with them. It wasn’t until they dealt a snide comment, however, that you slammed your hands on your desk, sending your empty bento flying to the floor and catching the attention of every student in the room.

What came out of your mouth next could be described by Naoto as… needlessly vulgar. You tore into the leader, listing off bullying incident after incident in cruel detail, as well as what it said about the leader and their deepest insecurities that they actually did those things. It wasn’t for a few moments until Naoto realized that she had helped you put that list together (...sans emotional damage, of course) herself if you ever decided you wanted to go to the principal with the information. Oh, dear, she would think. I really should put a stop to this.

While you were in the process of tearing the club member down with a snide smirk, talking about how “their efforts will only set their own club performance and university admissions back” and “if they wanted attention so badly, well now they’ve got it undivided from the entire room”, Naoto took a hold of your wrist and dragged you out of the room, gently sliding the door shut.

Your breathing haggard from anxiety, she would drag you to a barren corner and tentatively hug you for a long time before pulling back and placing her hands on your shoulders, suggesting with a sigh: “I’m proud of you for sticking up for yourself, but next time do not use my data for your vigilante justice? Please?”

Yu Narukami

The last week of school was rough for everyone, but particularly you. On top of winter semester finals, you had to deal with a… let’s say, cast of characters that leeched on to whatever insecurity you radiated and made it as much of their problem as it was yours. Underhanded compliments, disguising random rude gifts as acts of kindness… Yu especially hated it when they played you into thinking they were your close friends. Couldn’t you see that the Investigation Team was more supportive of you than they could ever be? Couldn’t you see that he was trying his best to lift you up when all they wanted to do was bring you down?

But Yu isn’t about forcing people into their decisions. As much as he has a soft spot for you, he’s going to let you figure this one out yourself, of course with his own support. More times than he could count, Yu listened to your suspicions with an open ear and a sympathetic face, always reminding you of your positive traits. It was the only thing he could think of that would help, but your sorrow turned to anger slowly. Almost too slow for him to notice.

He’ll be clued in real quickly, though, when he sees you flinging a tray of “food” at a group of people crowded around you on the school roof. He’ll be shocked - Yu’s never seen you get violent with anything but Shadows. He seriously thought you didn’t have a mean bone in your body. However, he couldn’t help but feel a little bit of pride for his partner standing up for themselves. Maybe, you could hold back on the string of curses that flow from your mouth, though!

After this event, when the bullies run off covered in whatever mystery substance they had placed in your lunch box, Yu is there to sit beside you as the weight of your actions hit you.

“I… I just threw that shit at them,” you murmured to yourself, barely registering Yu’s presence beside you.

“You stood up for yourself, he clarified, just sitting down to wrap an arm around your shoulders. “I’m proud of you.”

Kanji Tatsumi

Kanji has always wanted to handle the problem himself. Every time he finds you upset or you have yet another problem with a bully, he’s ready to throw his weight around to close their mouths for you. You always refuse though, with a level of grace that sends Kanji into a fit that he has to tamper down. He wished he could take away every single problem in your life, but he trusted you to do it in the way that was best for you. However, that smile on your face was always there when everyone shit on you. Gleaming, wide, mistakenly joyous. But it never reached your eyes. It wasn’t even like Kanji’s own situation. He chose to look and dress and act the way he does. But you were being bullied for something you couldn’t control. It drove him, for lack of a better term, damn crazy. Which is why he was giddy when he caught the scene in front of Yasogami after school that day.

A circle of students were gasping and egging on some sort of event happening in the middle. With his shoulder, Kanji easily wedged into the inner ring, though he seriously couldn’t believe what he was looking at when he got there. You were hammering your knee into the stomach of the ringleader of the group of bullies, propping up their body with a fist in their uniform collar to take more blows. In between the crowd's noises, you cried out, "This is what you get for every. Single. Terrible. Hurtful. Word!" Before he could think anything, he was pulling you off of the bully, arms hooked under your shoulders, feet dragging against the concrete and asphalt as Kanji once again split the crowd. This time, it was his mere presence that had people parting easier than Yaso-Inaba's fields of wild grass in a storm's wind.

You didn't struggle against him at all, your limbs just went limp while Kanji carry-dragged you down the pathway to the Samegawa Floodplain. Kanji was proud of you for standing up for yourself. That was the first thing he told you after he sat you on top of his jacket on one of the walkway's benches, misted from the afternoon rain sputter.

Despite his words, your thoughts swirled. What had you just done? You never thought of yourself as the type of person to just… snap in public like that, but it happened. The lid on your ugly thoughts and feelings came undone, and you'd let them loose. Kanji settled next to you, placing an incredibly stiff arm across your shoulders as you shoved your face into your hands. "I know I'm not—shit… the best person to be lecturin' on this, but," he started, his voice gruff and unsteady, "you stood up for yourself, right? Maybe starting a walloping like that in the school yard might not have been your best moment, but, what I'm trying to say is, y-you did good. In my book, at least."

#persona #persona 4 #persona 4 fanfiction #naoto shirogane #naoto shirogane x reader #yu narukami #yu narukami x reader #kanji tatsumu #kanji tatsumi x reader #gender neutral reader #request #headcanon #i had a huge crush on yu when i was a senior in high school and i think this shows here

23 notes · View notes

frickingnerd · 1 year ago

Text

dating yu narukami

pairing: yu narukami x gn!reader

tags: wholesome fluff, protective boyfriend!yu, established romantic relationship, yu loves to see reader smile

yu always manages to make you laugh and lift your mood!

he likes to act all cool and unbothered, pretending like he's just naturally funny, but does try quite hard to make you laugh

he loves to see your face light up when you smile at him, so he always wants to give you a reason to smile and laugh!

yu tends to keep his feelings to himself a lot, not being super good at communicating through words

he often lets actions speak for him instead and while he rarely tells you how much he loves you, you can tell by the way he behaves towards you

yu isn't very affectionate at first either, only ever daring to hold your hand when you're walking to school together

usually you are the one initiating kisses or hugs, but whenever yu does make the first step, it feels even more special, because it happens so rarely

yu is a pretty protective boyfriend and he always stands up to guys that hit on you or tease you

he also keeps you safe during your visits into the tv world

though truthfully, yu would prefer if you didn't accompany him to the tv world, since it's too dangerous and you might end up hurt

but he knows that he can't just forbid you to come along, so instead he always stays close to you and shields you from any shadows you come across!

134 notes · View notes

akiology · 1 year ago

Note

May I please request headcanons for Yu, Kanji, Naoto, and Rise finding out about their female S/O running a popular food truck that sells tacos made with soul food classics?

Yu, Kanji, Rise, Naoto with an F!S/O running a popular food truck

Note: I hope this is accurate! If you are unhappy feel free to tell me what I did wrong and I will do my best! Sorry this took a long time </3

Yu has just recently returned to Inaba, and was already keeping himself busy. After learning that Dojima was probably working late again, he asked Nanako for dinner suggestions and then proceeded to pick up the ingredients for tonight. He decided he was going to pay you a visit as well, and maybe invite you over for dinner. As he was going down the Central Shopping District, he saw an unfamiliar food truck with a few people lined up. He, however, saw a familiar faces: yours.

You were serving the customers inside the food truck. You gave him a small wave, but quickly went back to serving. Yu sat down, and decided to wait for you. You handed him a serving of quesadillas, mouthing 'I'm sorry'. Yu waved you off and winked, 'It's okay'.

After a while, the customers started scattering. It was just the two of you now. The both of you started catching up, with Yu complimenting your skills and telling you how much he misses you.

"I didn't know you handled a food truck," Yu says, pouting.

"I just started, and when you said you were coming this week, I decided to just wait until you arrived." You poked his cheek to get him to stop pouting. He let up after a while.

"This is really good."

"You can have more if you want? Maybe Nanako would like to try some?"

Yu is really supportive towards the business, and would offer to help around from time to time. He finds it to be a win-win situation, he could spend time with you while learning more about you. When he returns to the city, he is surely going to miss you and your cooking.

Kanji

You can never keep a secret from Kanji, mainly because the both of you are together most of the time. So when you said you wanted to start a food truck, he was very excited! In fact after you said that, the moment he got home, he also told his mom you were starting a food truck. Mrs. Tatsumi is very excited as well! Also, he might've also told his

Kanji is a decent cook, so if you need extra help, he would be happy to! He just asks that you do not make him in charge of the customers, mainly because he is afraid it might make people turn away. He does not want that for you.

"They might not buy food if I was in charge."

"Then don't buy! It's probably better that way."

"Are you sure? I-"

"Yes Kanji. I want you to be a part of this, and if they don't like that, then they can go $%&*#~!" Remind Kanji to not make you that mad.

On days that Kanji cannot be with you, he convinces the Investigation Team, and some of his customers and/or students to visit your food truck. At the end of the day he would gladly help you clean up and go home with you.

He is really happy and loves you and your food a lot. He tries to recreate your dishes, but find that yours is still the best. He is very lucky to be able to know and love you!

Rise

You told Rise about it, and she hasn't been in town to check it herself. Which made her very sad, but all the more eager to see you and the truck! The moment she stepped foot in Inaba, she went straight for you, not even dropping off her things first.

She is very supportive and excited! She offers to help, and you ask her to just spread the word around about the truck. Although, granted, the truck was already pretty famous since it was a small town. Her efforts are still very much appreciated though! She loves hanging out, and watching you serve the customers. She would gladly chat with some of them, and gives you lots of praises. Even passersby started getting curious and decided to give it a try.

If you decide to share some tips, she is listening with full attention. She also likes asking questions, out of curiosity. It makes her feel closer to you.

"The thing with most soul foods is the quality of ingenuity, there is no strict way to make one dish," you stated, while you were showing Rise how to make mac and cheese.

"Oh! I love doing that!"

You remember the omelet incident at the Dojima residence. "Yes, sweetheart, I know. But we should start with the simpler dishes, yes?"

Rise giggled. "Okay!"

She loves eating the food you make, and misses it a lot when she has to go to the city for her job. Though she finds restaurants that sells soul foods, her favorite is still yours.

Naoto

Naoto was out of town, because of a few cases in the city that needs their attention. The both of you have been texting a lot, and sometimes they feel bad because they are very busy. You assure them that it's fine, and that you are excited for them to come by and see the food truck you're running!

When Naoto finally got some free time, they decided to visit. They stayed with their grandfather, while informing the Investigation Team that they might be available to hangout. Of course, the first person that they went to was you. They wanted to surprise you at your food truck, but then saw the line that was forming.

Naoto is very happy for you, and offers help should you need it. They are a quick learner, so if you need extra hands, then you are talking to the right person. Before this, they already had a great respect for you, so imagine their surprise when you started your own food truck and made it successful; they are very proud!

"I have to say, these are really delicious. Do you have a secret ingredient you use?"

"Hmm... I guess there is." You placed a finger under your chin, as if in thought.

"And what is that?"

"Love." You say with the biggest grin, and Naoto rolled their eyes playfully.

Naoto likes learning about you, and this includes everything. So if you decided to explain the significance and history of soul foods, then they are all ears.

#persona #fluff #yu narukami #souji seta #kanji tatsumi #rise kujikawa #naoto shirogane #yu x reader #souji x reader #kanji x reader #rise x reader #naoto x reader #persona 4 #persona 4 golden

39 notes · View notes

vexieeeee · 4 months ago

Text

Persona 4 Masterlist

(f) - fluff, (a) - angst, (af) - angst + fluff, (s) - smut

Yu Narukami:

Nothing yet...

Yosuke Hanamura:

Nothing yet...

Chie Satonaka:

Nothing yet...

Yukiko Amagi:

Nothing yet...

Kanji Tatsumi:

Nothing yet...

Rise Kujikawa:

Nothing yet...

Naoto Shirogane:

Nothing yet...

Ryotaro Dojima:

Nothing yet...

#persona x reader #yu narukami x reader #yosuke hanamura x reader #chie satonaka x reader #yukiko amagi x reader #kanji tatsumi x reader #rise kujikawa x reader #naoto shirogane x reader #ryotaro dojima x reader

4 notes · View notes

readerxlit · 2 years ago

Note

Can I request a scenario where YU Narukami dates yosuke's younger sibling (gn reader pls)

You didn't specify so it's a bit all encompassing. Also I assumed the reader was not an IT member. Sorry it's short

Yu hesitated. It's a rare thing for him to do, but it was difficult not to when faced with the reality. He has feelings for his best friend's- his "partner"s- younger sibling. And when he was faced with the knowledge you returned said feelings, he hesitated.

Because wouldn't that be strange? Wouldn't that cause issues? Wouldn’t-

And yet he'd asked you out anyway. Yu had gently taken your hand, laid all his feelings- worries included- and asked you to date him. And, of course, you said yes. Thus you and Yu Narukami become a couple.

It's created a number of problems, but it's also given you many joys. Yu is a very caring, very attentive partner. Every problem you've had, he has been willing to try and solve.

"Hanamura-san-"

"Yu."

"Yes?"

"We're dating you can call me by my given name." And- you don't say- it feels a little weird that he calls your brother by his, but not you, his significant other.

Yu starts calling you by your name. Yosuke cringes whenever he sees you together in general, but especially once that starts. Were Yosuke not annoyingly overdramatic it would probably be funny.

Sometimes you think Yu is keeping things from you. Sometimes you worry that he trusts Yosuke with things he doesn't tell you. And, yet, when you ask, Yu's response is simple.

"I trust you completely." Then, when he realizes that doesn't fully satiate your doubts, "the only things I don't share with you are secrets others have." He doesn't say who, but based on how he and Yosuke's group of friends whisper together sometimes, you can guess.

Overall though, when all is said and done, Yu treats you the same he would any other significant other. Or at least any that's younger than him. Yu enjoys doing things for you- taking cre of you- and while at first it may have felt like he was treating you that way because you were his friend's younger sibling, you soon realized it was not. That's just the kind of person Yu is.

The only real distinctions come from your disaster of a brother. His complaints you've stolen his friend- his partner, which was an unfortunate choice of term on his end. You can make fun of him for that on occasion. Or that you hang around his friends too much now. Or, or. Yosuke's annoyance is funny, at least.

And worth suffering through for the warmth of Yu's smile, or his hand in yours.

#narukami yu #yu narukami #persona #persona 4 #persona scenarios #p4 #gn reader #completed #scenarios #ml writes #requests #Yosuke #THIS HAS BEEN SITTING IN MY DRAFTS FINISHED #I FORGOT TO POST IT OTL

2 notes · View notes

weeb-polls-with-pip · 1 year ago

Text

Autistic Anime Boys Round 1 Matchups!

Side A

L Lawliet (Death Note) VS Muichirou Tokito (Demon Slayer)

Gohan (Dragon Ball Z) VS Kiibo/K1-B0 Idabashi (Danganronpa)

Haruka Sakurai (Milgram) VS Seishirou Nagi (Blue Lock)

Satoru Gojou (Jujutsu Kaisen) VS Seto Kaiba (Yu-Gi-Oh!)

Umetarou Nozaki (Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun) VS Tamaki Suoh (Ouran High School Host Club)

Gin Gagamaru (Blue Lock) VS Taisei Yoshida (Assassination Classroom)

Itona Horibe (Assassination Classroom) VS Souichi Tanuma (Those Snow White Notes)

Light Yagami (Death Note) VS Tenma Matsukaze (Inazuma Eleven)

Shouto Todoroki (My Hero Academia) VS Sunny (Omori)

Broly (Dragon Ball Super) VS Kaworu Nagisa (Neon Genesis Evangelion)

Yu Narukami/Souji Seta (Persona 4) VS Sechs (XBlaze)

Kiyotaka Ishimaru (Danganronpa) VS Kento Nanami (Jujutsu Kaisen)

Nate River/Near (Death Note) VS Kyouya Ootori (Ouran High School Host Club)

Mash Burnedead (Mashle: Magic and Muscles) VS Noiz (DRAMAtical Murder)

Edward Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist) VS Kabuto Yakushi (Naruto)

Lan Wangji (Mo Dao Zu Shi) VS Rui Kamishiro (Project Sekai)

James (Pokémon) VS Monkey D. Luffy (One Piece)

Yuusuke Kitagawa (Persona 5) VS Tsubasa Yuunagi (Hirogaru Sky! Pretty Cure)

Hitoshi-san (Nyan~ Neko Sugar Girls) VS Illumi Zoldyck (Hunter x Hunter)

Mikazuki Augus (Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans) VS Wakatoshi Ushijima (Haikyuu!!)

Homare Arisugawa (A3!) VS Kamille Bidan (Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam)

Subaru Mikazuki (My Roommate is a Cat) VS Atsushi Murasakibara (Kuroko no Basket)

Tanaka (Tanaka-kun is Always Listless) VS Natural Harmonia Gropius (Pokémon)

Haru (Tsuritama) VS Giorno Giovanna (Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure)

Floyd Leech (Twisted Wonderland) VS Laios Touden (Dungeon Meshi)

Touma Akechi (The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.) VS Trafalgar D. Water Law (One Piece)

Lotte “Roy” Carmine (BlazBlue) VS Gon Freecss (Hunter x Hunter)

Nahoya “Smiley” Kawata (Tokyo Revengers) VS Senkuu Ishigami (Dr. Stone)

Ash Ketchum (Pokémon) VS Mafuyu Satou (Given)

Alhaitham (Genshin Impact) VS Shichirou Balam (Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun)

Shintarou Kisaragi (Kagerou Project) VS Izuku Midoriya (My Hero Academia)

Toshinari Seki (Tonari no Seki-kun) VS Takashi Natsume (Natsume’s Book of Friends)

Side B

Haruka Nanase (Free!) VS Tsukasa Tenma (Project Sekai)

Takeo Gouda (My Love Story!!) VS Karna (Fate)

Shintarou Midorima (Kuroko no Basket) VS Kim Dokja (Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint)

Roronoa Zoro (One Piece) VS Junpei Tenmyouji (Zero Escape)

Sig (Puyo Puyo) VS Kanata Shinkai (Ensemble Stars)

Kyoujurou Rengoku (Demon Slayer) VS Yugi Mutou (Yu-Gi-Oh!)

Legoshi (Beastars) VS Gaien "Enkidu" Enkidou (Under Night In-birth)

Doppo Kunikida (Bungou Stray Dogs) VS Hiroshi Odokawa (Odd Taxi)

Kusuo Saiki (The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.) VS Katsuya Serizawa (Mob Psycho 100)

Nagito Komaeda (Danganronpa) VS Haruhito Yano (Odd Taxi)

Yotasuke Takahashi (Blue Period) VS Manjirou "Mikey" Sano (Tokyo Revengers)

Kyouya Onodera (Talentless Nana) VS Misumi Ikaruga (A3!)

Miles Edgeworth (Ace Attorney) VS Shu Itsuki (Ensemble Stars)

Meguru Bachira (Blue Lock) VS Ren Mihashi (Big Windup!)

Ranpo Edogawa (Bungou Stray Dogs) VS Kaito (Vocaloid)

Zero (Puyo Puyo) VS Masayoshi Hazama (Samurai Flamenco)

Genos (One Punch Man) VS Jotaro Kujo (Jojo's Bizarre Adventure)

Vivia Twilight (Master Detective Archives: Raincode) VS Sora Harukawa (Ensemble Stars)

Satori Tendou (Haikyuu!!) VS Miles "Tails" Prower (Sonic X)

Houtarou Oreki (Hyouka) VS Kabane Kusaka (Kemono Jihen)

Ghiaccio (Jojo's Bizarre Adventure) VS Tenya Iida (My Hero Academia)

Malleus Draconia (Twisted Wonderland) VS Tetsuya Kuroko (Kuroko no Basket)

Kensuke Aida (Neon Genesis Evangelion) VS Goku (Dragon Ball)

Shinichi Kudou/Conan Edogawa (Detective Conan) VS Toya Aoyagi (Project Sekai)

Rei Suwa (Buddy Daddies) VS Gin Ibushi (Your Turn to Die)

Jade Leech (Twisted Wonderland) VS Akihiko Sanada (Persona 3)

Xiao (Genshin Impact) VS Loid Forger (Spy x Family)

Souya "Angry" Kawata (Tokyo Revengers) VS Sabro Sabnock (Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun)

Apollo Justice (Ace Attorney) VS Tobio Kageyama (Haikyuu!!)

Kurapika (Hunter x Hunter) VS Saitama (One Punch Man)

Sol Badguy (Guilty Gear) VS Langa Hasegawa (Sk8 the Infinity)

Subaru Natsuki (Re: Zero) VS Yusei Fudo (Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds)

#tumblr polls #autistic anime boys poll #fyi #poll info #information #to be updated #bracket #tumblr tournament #tumblr competition #poll bracket #tumblr tourney

191 notes · View notes

nenilein · 9 months ago

Note

Hello! Apologies for sending an ask out of the blue but considering your familiarity with localisation differences in persona 4/golden, I was wondering if anything comes to your mind regarding this aspect and how the game depicts queerness and queer themes? Thank you!

Heya! Don't worry, I was thinking people would probably ask stuff like this. After all, I already replied to somebody's tags asking this same thing previously, but I know not many people saw that, so let me use the chance to go into more detail:

Unfortunately, Persona 4's treatment of queer themes is not a result of the translation. The only things that were down to translation choices were small things, such as which pronouns are used in which situation (because Japanese does not at all have the same concept of third person pronouns as English, and the way first person classifiers that mean "I" work is very complex and a lot more vibes-based than actually tied to gender.)

But for the most part, everything is pretty much the same. Kanji's reaction to Chie mumbling about something being "off" about how he interacted with Naoto that first time, the tent scene, Yosuke's extreme insecurity in his own sexuality in addition to everyone else's... I think maybe the only thing that's a biiit better in Japanese is that Teddie is kiiinda genderfluid in Japanese, with the artbook outright stating that he doesn't necessarily consider himself "male" when he's in his bear form, unless it's necessary for a joke.

A lot of this can be traced to the really odd relationship the game's director, Katsura Hashino, has to queer themes. In interviews about Catherine Fullbody (a game which infamously has a rather weirdly handled gay romance route which, however, is notably also the only romance route in the game that cannot possibly result in a bad ending), he talks about how he's always admired queer people for being "strong" and wanted to write queer stories, but couldn't really do it until Fullbody because Atlus higher ups were afraid of backlash from the fans.

Traces of this are actually seen in Persona 4 Vanilla's data, where remnants of a surprisingly well done romance route for YOSUKE, of all people, are still present. That route made it far enough into development to have voiced lines in both, English and Japanese. However, it was dummied out in the final game and its script content was removed. Yosuke STILL has the "girlfriend flag" in the code that all the female romance options also have, but in the finished game it only checks whether you can hug him during his social link or not. Everything else was dummied out. You can still find the voice files on the cutting room floor if you want:

And yes, the "I like you" line is unambiguously romantic in Japanese. His wording is very hard to misinterpret.

However, in the finished game and the rest of the franchise Yosuke's bisexuality was reduced to an in-joke of the developers. It's most poignant in Persona Q (the first one), where if you get the "marriage" scene with Yosuke in the second dungeon, his reactions differ WILDLY depending on which Protagonist you are playing as, far more than other male characters. With Makoto Yuki he acts nonchallant and deadpan about it. With Yu Narukami he acts like a blushy Tsundere and panics constantly. So, yeah.

Okay, so, if the director had interest in writing queer stories since before Persona 4, why is Persona 4 the way it is then?

Well, because - and there's no way around it - he sucks at it.

Katsura Hashino has to be one of the clumsiest "gay activists" I've ever seen in my whole darn life. He finds queer people "cool", but seemingly never had any queer writers or sensitivity readers on his teams and it's caused enormous blunders in how these themes have been handled. For example, when after Persona 3 it was pointed out to him that the writing of the female characters in interaction with the male characters was bad, he immediately hired more female writers and gave them free reign for how to handle the female characters from then on out. But apparently the same thing never happened with his mishandling of queer themes. He wants Catherine's Erica and Rin to be empowering figures for trans women and gay men, but makes a lot of blunders in how he has other characters interact with them to the point it buries his good intentions. Erica's boyfriend having gay panic upon realizing she's trans is treated as "funny and cute", even by Erica herself. Rin technically being a monogender alien really undermines his story of becoming more secure in his sexuality. It goes on and on like that.

The intention with Naoto's story was to point out the extreme sexism in Japanese society and how it forces female nerds to find alternate modes of self-expression, but the clumsy choice of including surgery themes in Naoto's dungeon completely buried that for especially western queer audiences. Most people don't even remember Naoto's dungeon was outright modeled after a Kamen Rider villain hideout. They completely shot themselves in the foot with this one. Additionally, the way Naoto is handled AFTER the dungeon makes her (I'm using that pronoun because she calls herself a "woman" in Japanese in the game) seem more like someone who's on the verge of discovering they are X-gender (the japanese word for "nonbinary") than a repressed girl. Like, right down to how she has Rise help her experiment with clothes in the canonical drama CDs only to realize she really is uncomfortable with skirts and go for an androgynous but less restrictive look going forward. The way she dresses in the Golden epilogue and P4D is pretty X-gender core if you ask me. If they had leaned into that they could have genuinely have had something AMAZING, while also presenting the themes of sexism they wanted to explore, but the lack of queer sensitivity readers kind of ruined it.

Same for Kanji. The way they write him makes it seem like he's bisexual or pansexual, rather than straight, but they kinda shove that part of him aside after his dungeon is done, leaving his actual orientation up in the air and wasting a really good chance for representation. NOW, given what happened to Yosuke's social link, it's quite possible the original intent WAS to explore this more and it got cut, but as it stands, we'll never know. The huge problem of the internalized toxic stereotypes his Shadow presented never being reflected on and put into their right context in the rest of the game, when his social link could've given a great opportunity for that is also a huge shame.

All of this happened because of Atlus being unwilling to let their writers go all out with queer themes in fears of alienating a cishet audience AND because Hashino never sat his writing team down with any actual queer writers to sort this shit out and learn how to get across what the team was ACTUALLY trying to say. Now, given, Persona 4 was far from the only Japanese media property with that exact issue at the time, but it hurts especially much in its case because of the game's themes of exploring the truth to its logical conclusion, as well as psychology. These are issues that a remake REALLY would do well to address and correct. I feel like they actually will HAVE to do that, because sensitivity readers have become the NORM in handling these themes now in Japanese media, rather than the exception. You can thank trail blazing mainstream works like Zombie Land Saga for that.

All in all, Persona 4's handling of queer themes is an exercise in frustration that I hope is corrected soon.

#Persona 4 #Neni Replies #Naoto Shirogane #Kanji Tatsumi

92 notes · View notes

writers-reach · 9 months ago

Note

Slow dancing headcanons with Makoto,Ren and Yu?

persona 3/4/5: slow dancing headcanons (makoto yuki, yu narukami, ren amamiya)

notes: gn!reader, fluff, pretty short

makoto yuki

asks you to take the lead! he's seen those dancing lovers shadows in tartarus, but otherwise has no clue what he's doing.

mumbles to himself as he learns; he's a pretty quick learner, so in no time, the two of you are dancing about your room

ends up loving dancing with you! likes slow, more waltzy styles than anything else

yu narukami

he's got some dance experience under his belt, what with helping with that festival for rise. he takes the lead, but making sure you're keeping up!

every time you look up from your feet and into his eyes, he smiles, and you feel yourself trip slightly. damn him and his charming looks!

definitely tries to dance with you at the summer festival or something like that, to some dumb, cheesy ballad or another

ren amamiya

kind of like a mix between makoto and yu, i feel. like, has no idea what he's doing but pretends he does to appear confident. fake it til you make it, right?

despite not quite knowing what to do, he's trying his best and it actually turns out pretty well! he's got good body coordination, so you're never too worried about being stepped on

can't stop cracking jokes about being your "dashing prince charming" or "roguish lover". it's okay, though, since seeing you smile and roll your eyes makes it all worth it!

a/n: tysm for your request! hope you enjoy!

#persona 3 x reader #persona 4 x reader #persona 5 x reader #makoto yuki x reader #minato arisato x reader #persona 3 protagonist x reader #yu narukami x reader #souji seta x reader #persona 4 protagonist x reader #ren amamiya x reader #akira kurusu x reader #persona 5 protagonist x reader

260 notes · View notes

randoimago · 7 months ago

Note

Hi hello!! Hope you're having a good day 💕 May I kindly request All Persona protags (Minato/Makoto, FeMC/Kotone, Yu and Akiren) with a Velvet Room attendant S/O?

S/o would be another one of the velvet room siblings and their social skills suck so their sibling (corresponding to the protag so to FeMC it would be Theo etc etc) decided to ask protag for help or something along those lines (and eventually the sibling would probably try to set S/O and protag up if you're fine with that)

Hope I explained it well, English isn't my first language so sorry if it's not written well:(

Fandom: Persona 3, Persona 4, Persona 5

Character(s): Kotone, Makoto, Yu, Joker

Note(s): So I kind of did one for Joker a while ago but I'm happy to write some new stuff! Also I had this done like a month ago but idk what happened to it so I did my best to redo it

Kotone

She's eager to meet you when she hears that Theo has a sibling. She's very open and bubbly and it's probably a bit much for you. But she's nice, at least.

And of course, she knows that Theo is trying to push you two together more. She smiles when he asks her to take you somewhere instead of him. Kotone is happy to accept, eager to see what kind of reactions you have

Won't be one to push you for a relationship either. Even though she knows what Theo is doing, she's happy to get to know you better and have you gradually become more comfortable.

Makoto

Elizabeth tells him that she wants him to take you out. And she usually gives him some item that is useful so he goes along with it. He's not the most open when it comes to new people, they just automatically adopt him as a friend.

It's rather awkward with the two of you. You're not great at being social and he doesn't care for being social. So, since neither of you is that great with talking, he's offering to let you listen to his music with him. Music makes him feel more comfortable and maybe it'll help you too.

And sure, maybe feelings will develop naturally with it. Makoto likes spending time with you. Elizabeth is a bit pouty that you and he are just listening to music instead of talking, but he is still hanging out with you so she's not too upset.

Yu is rather surprised that Margaret asked him to spend time with her sibling. He's only really hung out with Marie so it'll be interesting to see what other attendants there are to talk to.

With all the loud-mouthed friends he has (said in love), finding out that you're not the best at being sociable is a nice change. He still does his best to make sure you're comfortable.

Since Inaba is such a small town, there are plenty of places that he's glad to take you, but probably has to do most of the talking since everyone knows everyone and you're not the best at being social. Yu still enjoys the opportunity to spend time with you.

Joker

With the random shenanigans that the twins put him through and the verbal (and sometimes physical) abuse, he can't help but dread the idea of spending time with their sibling. But then he meets you.

And you're just awkward? You're not the best at being social. Which is fine with him since he only really pipes up when he has a witty comeback. Honestly, he's mostly amused when he hangs out with you, letting you dig a bit of a hole as you talk before giving a thumbs up because you tried your best.

Doesn't realize that he is being set up in hopes that something romantic happens with you. But Joker is enjoying interacting with you. Wouldn't be opposed to taking you on a date either.

Taglist:

@abellaheart-blog

#Anonymous #persona 3 x reader #persona 4 x reader #persona 5 x reader #yu narukami x reader #akira kurusu x reader #ren amamiya x reader #kotone shiomi x reader #makoto yuki x reader

116 notes · View notes

sankatsuka · 1 year ago

Text

Joker (and Akechi) Character Discussion - Emptiness, Desire for Love and A Choice to Live Imprisoned

Warnings:

This is only based on P5R canon.

My evidence can be interpreted in many ways - this is just my own interpretation based on my own experiences.

This is from a Joker fan so I may be biased.

My knowledge of Makoto Yuki and Yu Narukami mostly comes from the animation (I intend to start P4G soon).

I don't fully recall information. If it helps the reader's understanding, I'll search for the the actual text and insert it later on.

Very heavy on Akeshu, their dynamic is very important to their characterization. I am a romantic shipper, but it can be interpreted as platonic too.

The core of this discussion is the theme of depression and emptiness that I believe both Joker and Akechi struggle with. Another theme that I believe is an important foil between the two is Joker's struggle with self-expression and Akechi's over-expression—

Joker’s Way of Living - Playfully Going with the Flow

To me, Joker's character in P5R was shaped the most by his social link with Akechi. It's the only social link where Joker expresses strong emotions without the player making the active choice to or being pressured by outside forces. Joker has always been portrayed as someone who is quiet and keeps his distance, but does still participate in fun and festivities with his friends. Point being, only when people ask him out to do something fun/he feels inclined to as a social gesture, he will participate. In Akechi's social link though was my favourite moment of the entire game - Joker unapologetically disguising Akechi. This was a really small moment but it was the only time he did something just for fun, unprompted, which I really appreciate.

There's also Hifumi who’s his age and has the same celebrity aura and aloof personality as Akechi. You can choose to mess with her, but it isn't as huge an effort as what Joker does to Akechi. Joker's character to me is someone who CAN poke fun at others, but taking the initiative to do something fun just because it’s fun? Never. Except for around Akechi, which I found incredibly cute: when he says it was fun, Akechi seems slightly amused too, as if he was pleased to see Joker having fun when he normally just goes with the flow. This is something the P3 and P4 protagonists share as well, that they always structure their days to be productive, have no hobbies and only respond wittily to people as a personality. It's silent protagonist stuff, but I like to think it's a good portrayal of depression. A Wild Card is a person who can summon multiple persona - which means they have many masks they use to face hardship, and so these masks are a manifestation of their many personalities. For me, the protagonists are Wild Cards because they are so used to 'acting' to seem normal around other people, to hide away their emptiness and lack of real self desires.

One of P4TA's episodes really stood out to me for building Yu's character in that he resonated with Mitsuo who felt emptiness in his daily life. Yu struggled with being accused of being 'empty' because he has no bonds once you took away his supernatural powers from him. I was really surprised by this episode, because what? Actual characterization for a protagonist with no personality? DEPRESSION?!?!?! He was able to shout that he wasn't empty when Yosuke reached out for him, and this makes me believe that Wild Cards are Wild Cards because their bonds define them - what fills their hearts is this love. These supernatural events give something for Wild Cards to identify with for people to love them, that if you take it away from them then there’s nothing left of them for their friends to stay around for - but Yosuke and the P4 cast prove that they would never leave Yu alone. That's why Wild Cards are not malicious in their 'acting', rather they just have no personality, nothing they care for or like etc, so they can only adapt to the people who want to reach out and care about them. At first, the act is superficial, but with time it becomes a real part of them (MAX Social Link). It’s not unhealthy but just… a way of life you have to embrace and acknowledge if you were dealt the depression card, unfortunately, or else you would be running from yourself.

(Also, on a side note, I love how the topic of depression isn’t understood by the cast because they aren’t aware they have felt it/just don’t experience it - and they’re all just ‘what-the-hell’ about Mitsuo’s motivations. But Yu knows, keeps it a secret and just plays along - there’s no need for anyone to know, he wants to protect this happiness. How Rise asks him about how he gained his Persona in the same episode as if to point attention to how Yu is similar to Mitsuo, needing something badly to fill the void, but had already acknowledged his emptiness from the start. God, thank you Persona for portraying high-functioning depression so well)

And if P4TA wasn’t enough a portrayal of high-functioning depression and the importance of love, then Behind the Mask’s lyrics are all about that too.

Love for Oneself and Others: What Makes Akechi Wrong and Joker Right

To emphasize on the importance of love to the protagonists, if I’m not mistaken Akechi states clearly how he wanted to be loved and Shido points that out too about Akechi. The fact he's able to summon multiple Persona goes to show how he's empty as a person, and that he has the potential like the protagonists to create new personas. Akechi's lack of trust however is what makes it impossible for him to manifest more than two Persona, as Futaba points out. However, unlike the protagonists, his other Persona Robin Hood wasn't born from a bond, but rather from the love of himself and his past ideals. OK, hear me out, although Akechi suffering from being unwanted does very much affect his ability to truly love and accept himself, the ability to acknowledge his suffering is still self-love in itself, proof that he cares about meeting his own needs. This isn't like the protagonists who go on with life accepting the cards that are dealt to them. Akechi however fears opening his heart to people because of his circumstances growing up, so it was natural for him to only trust and care about himself and nobody else to survive - this is his love, making Robin Hood’s existence possible.

But being selfish like this makes you lose sight of your morals, of what it truly means to love and be loved - because you will do whatever it takes to survive and be happy in what you believe to be just a shitty strong-eats-weak world, which is how Akechi wound up as Shido's accomplice - now he can use his new powers to tip that cursed power balance. But it’s obvious to Shido that Akechi’s actions screamed wanting to be loved, because he could have used his powers for anything else, yet his first instinct was to reach out to someone who should have loved him and use that power to be relevant to him. And then he decides to build a reputation as a celebrity with what he enjoyed doing best (solving cases) when such a thing was just an unnecessary effort. In fact, wanting to be a celebrity could be said to be the cause of Akechi’s downfall in the first place, because he doesn’t even care about sweets but had to pay attention to fads as a celebrity - then pancakes. Someone who grew up unwanted and unloved would naturally end up being driven by a desire to be loved, even if they believe they’re being ‘strong’. Akechi probably always knew, because after running away from the label of ‘unwanted child’, what else could he do when he was an empty husk of a shell? The only things he could remember is what he wanted as a child - a father, to be a hero and friends. Friends were outside the question now though, because he learned he can’t trust anyone. And his father was a scumbag, so he would never love him normally - but with this power, Akechi had the power to beat adults in power into submission, too. So it made sense that was his first instinct, a revenge to fill his emptiness - and then, so as to not feel alone again, Akechi became a celebrity - because friends were out of the question.

But this corrupted Akechi meets Joker who's living the ideal life he wanted as a child, being surrounded by friends and playing hero despite having shitty circumstances. And not giving a damn about his real family who threw him out here. This infuriates Akechi, because he believed it was impossible and so he worked hard for a less ideal future of being a celebrity with an unknown past. He never believed he could live a normal life overcoming the label of an unwanted child put on him, and here Joker was so effortlessly surrounded by friends while still being labeled a criminal. The label on Akechi is also interesting because it isn't something that everyone knows yet he still feels haunted by it - I love how this portrays that your past will always follow you everywhere, UNTIL you decide to accept it. Akechi probably realizes that Joker is happier because he accepted that label of a criminal and lived with it, and Akechi made a mistake. And this creates the foundation on which he hates and envies Joker, why did Akechi have to be in the wrong when he worked this hard? Akechi already feels incapable of doing anything right from the circumstances of his birth alone, and making more mistakes reinforces this idea that he will never do anything right, makes him more spiteful at his own birth and this frenzy of self-hatred makes it hard to grasp what’s right and wrong to him again. Akechi HATES Joker because of how Joker was able to make the right choices - in a way, this means that Joker's justice beat his.

Joker’s Desire for Perfection (Power) to Love

But that's on Akechi's side. I love that you have the option to make Joker say, 'I'm jealous of you too', to Akechi in his social link. Joker expresses a desire not to lose to Akechi, in billiards or in battle, despite not having any real reason to honor the rivalry. Joker clearly just plays along with Mishima because he has no reason to see Mishima the way he wants to be seen, nor does it benefit the two of them. Here, being rivals could easily be interpreted as a nonsense talk, especially since Akechi was a celebrity, so there was no room for pleasing people either. Even how Akechi gets surprised that Joker remembers the whole rival thing shows Akechi didn’t expect to come off so seriously from the start. Joker wanted to beat him for his own personal reasons. I took this as an implication that Joker admires and envies the perfection and capability Akechi demonstrates. Metaverse Joker’s pompousness and show-off nature does reflect how it’s Joker ideal to be that way, too. This further builds on Joker's feelings towards people, that there's a desire to be perfect and capable for them, and it's reflected in his interactions with them - how he tries to be their best supporter.

But Joker's way of supporting people isn't consistent. It depends on what he believes is in their best interest, even if it's not what the other wants, like with Mishima - it goes to show he doesn't have an actual personality, but rather his conversations with people are adapted to their needs like his masks that they create in him. This personality of caring about people's best interests and getting involved is why he acted in the harassment incident. But I do think he never initiates friendships of his own accord, and rather has people as confidants, because the trauma of the incident still lingers - that staying indifferent is far better than getting close to people (because he'll just let them down like he has his family and friends). It doesn't stop him from speaking up when things are clearly wrong though (every social link), so it's only that that trauma has hampered his ability to form new relationships.

I like to HC that he keeps his distance because of how his decision to rescue the woman ruined his relationships with his family and friends. And he doesn't want this to happen again, but he still wants to act when he believes it's right. He needs people so he can fill his emptiness. If he was perfect and capable like Akechi, maybe he could have both saved the woman and somehow not end up with a criminal record. The fact they never talk about his past relationships in canon and Sojiro brings up how he’s troubled his parents does make me HC that it's something he strongly suppressed. His inclination to care about others and get involved goes to show he has always been a kind-hearted person, and his emptiness has likely always been there since before the incident as he accepted the outcome of it without much spite. In fact, it’s the PTs who get angry for him about Shido. He lets people shape his personality, with how after the incident he chose to lay low as people told him to, but he couldn't because he could never change his love and concern for other people. There is also how Joker started wearing spectacles without actually needing them (not confirmed though) and changed his fashion to appear more ‘presentable’. One could deduce it was motivated by the anxiety from disappointing his loved ones with the person he had been and moving to a huge city all on his own where he knew nobody.

Joker: A Willing Prisoner of His Own Heart

If Akechi closed his heart out of fear, then Joker opened his heart to people. Far too much, that he allows them to dictate who he is - and the only emotion he lets slip is his concern for their best interest, even if they push him away. Other than that, there’s nothing else. This is what I like to think makes Joker a prisoner, because unlike the P3 and P4 protagonists, his heart is never free to truly develop as himself and reach his true answer. Makoto’s answer was growing from apathetic to believing in himself and humanity, Yu’s answer was embracing the happiness that friends bring him… and Joker still hasn’t defined what happiness is for him. Playing hero for the whole of Tokyo twice is still just acting in humanity’s best interests. In fact, playing hero itself can be considered escapism that blinds you from your true desires even more (Ryuji), unless you’re aware of why you want to play hero. Joker never had this epiphany like Ryuji had, nor does he have strong motivations to do what he’s doing like the rest of the PTs, so it can’t be said he’s actually following his heart.

This is reflective of P5's themes too, of the final boss being the manifestation of people's desires to stay prisoners to society. And humanity's worst, most dangerous inmate is Joker himself, which can be interpreted as him being the one who wants to free prisoners but wants to stay imprisoned (LOL). His desire to be that someone who frees other prisoners may be a result of his own projection, that he can’t save himself so he’ll save others. Yaldabaoth comments how Joker's psyche manifested as a prison, and Lavenza talks about how the Velvet Room was originally planned to help Joker develop as a person in the very same prison rather than rehabilitate him. If the Velvet Room is a representation of the guest's journey in P3 and P4, then Joker's journey is as a prisoner to society. He is only trapped behind the bars in prisoner garments when he remains unaware of Yaldabaoth's influence, but even in his Phantom Thief costume the form of the prison doesn’t change even once he’s free from the bars. To me, I interpret this as Joker's ideal that he believes he will forever be trapped in the prison of never expressing himself, but he is at least free to live for the sake of others. At the start, he’s behind bars because he struggles to accept that it is right for him to live for others, but confronting Yaldabaoth is a pivotal moment where he unapologetically makes the decision to save humanity. And the moment he truly feels ‘free’ to live that way.

I'm inclined to believe that his upbringing is what shaped him to be the way he is today - my theory is that he was loved, but not for being himself but for being "someone else". It is something common: Hifumi, Makoto and Haru were seen in this way by people they loved. But the difference is that they recognized these expectations were wrong, so they were unhappy. Makoto, though, agreed with some of her sisters' expectations, until she met PTs and suddenly she wasn’t meeting anyone’s expectations, and this led her to realize she never needed to. The way she was content staying ignorant goes to show how that prison is bearable and comfortable to live in if you're capable of meeting most if not all expectations. I like to think Joker was this kind of person, until the incident with Shido happened. Both Makoto and Joker's reactions when they're suddenly not living up to the expectations of people around them are to try harder - Makoto rushing recklessly for Kaneshiro, Joker changing himself after moving to Tokyo. Or else people will leave them and not care about them anymore, except Makoto has decided that that's a false belief now.

However, unlike Makoto, Joker loves people too much to even think that they were wrong for placing expectations on him. When he awakens his Persona, he’s judging whether he was right or wrong in his choice to act, whereas Makoto’s awakening represents her letting go of the weight of people’s expectations on her. You can even pick the option of ‘I may have been wrong’ when Joker awakens, but he still awakens - going to show his ‘true mask when facing hardships’ is one who wants to keep supporting and protecting people, even if he’s wrong and it hurts him. I like to think Makoto was able to criticize other people and her sister because her father taught her her self-worth by loving her unconditionally in the past and showing her she didn’t have to live to satisfy anyone. The same goes for Hifumi and Haru. But Joker likely never had this unconditional love to realize this, so his only choice is to push forward to keep meeting people's expectations while wanting to protect them, even if it means becoming a villain and outcast. He has to meet people's expectations, or else he has no reason to live - the only Joker who exists is the Joker someone needs.

But it's because of this, that the desire to be perfect to meet people's expectations is strong in both Makoto and Joker, and hence they view Akechi as their rival. Akechi is very clearly the pinnacle of perfection on the outside. But Joker's feelings for Akechi are stronger, because Makoto no longer needs acknowledgement - her rivalry with him just continues because of the past. For Joker, if he had Akechi's perfection, it would be far easier to live the life he's chosen for himself. What Makoto and Joker don't realize is that Akechi is only able to achieve this state of perfection because he does it selfishly for himself, not to meet the expectations of the people, so it's impossible for them. They will never have his confidence and pride because they are never living entirely for themselves. In fact, Akechi's way of living for him and only himself is a total foil to Joker himself, who entirely lives for other people. It's because of how different they are, that after meeting Joker, Akechi was able to realize what he truly wanted and where he had gone wrong - the 'requited love' Joker has for the people around him who celebrate him as a hero. But it's only because Joker is on such an extreme Akechi is able to see it - being on extreme clearly means there's something wrong with it, though.

Joker’s Numbness to His Own Emotions, and Akechi Awakening Them

I absolutely love the ship for how they complete each other. The game focuses a lot on what Joker means to Akechi, but their relationship vice versa is way more important and personal to me. BE WARNED IT'S JUST MY DELUSION THOUGH. Let’s first talk about Joker's reaction to Akechi's death, that was either to forget or to hold onto the glove. I'm inclined to think forgetting is even an option because Akechi hadn't fully wormed his way into Joker's heart like the latter did. It’s as if deciding to forget something painful so you can keep functioning as normal, even if you want justice/closure for it (like with Shido). Because Akechi’s influence wasn’t strong enough for Joker to grow out of his society-conforming attitude, it’s still an option (and more about how Akechi may have reinforced and justified this attitude later on in the Boiler Room discussion).

Honoring their promise, to Joker, is still something he does out of caring about the other's best interest. As shown in how opting to talk about the glove when Akechi tells you to leave at his last moments makes Akechi happy. It did show Akechi that he still mattered to someone in his last moments, after all. But not expressing his grief about Akechi's death goes to show nothing has changed with Joker. Maybe he wasn’t that sad, but Third Semester proves that wrong. It seems more that he doesn’t realize how much he cares about Akechi, as he never expresses what Akechi means to him even when Maruki clarifies that his decision to revert reality would mean Akechi would be gone.

He did react with apprehension in making the decision, probably because 1) he was deciding whether to kill someone off right in front of them 2) Maruki's words were implying how important Akechi is to him, that he's been ignoring his emotions and he should carefully make a choice. For himself. Even if he knows the right answer, the reality is that Akechi is dead and that he has to go back to that. The way he doesn't seem to care about Akechi's words on 'finding a way back' goes to show he never trusted Akechi to survive in the first place, and only talked about the glove to appease him. That moment of hesitation was important to his characterization for me, as it was like a moment when a numb character has finally been told to feel for himself and be selfish. People pleasing does reign, but it doesn’t change that Joker was told to think more about it for himself.

I would like to think that although Joker’s reaction to Maruki dangling Akechi’s life in front of him could be considered his people-pleasing, the tidbits from their social link shows Joker just isn’t aware of how much Akechi matters to him and that moment makes him just, realize. From the start, he was surprisingly perceptive about Akechi - I interpret this as the surprise of being acknowledged by someone so popular, perfect, in an entirely different league from him and/or initial attraction. Then there’s how Akechi had single-handedly showered Joker in love in the way he makes it a point to talk about every small thing he notices about Joker - being so highly scrutinized like that if you grew up being unseen/seen as someone else is so goddamn satisfying. Especially by someone you perceive as superior and/or have an attraction to. How Joker then felt safe to be pushy and playful around Akechi, because he felt Akechi would accept it and find it to be yet another amusing side to Joker. Joker was able to show glimpses of his real self to Akechi, even if small. To me, it’s why Joker cares so much for someone who lied to him all this time: it doesn’t change that Akechi paid such close attention to understand the real him when everyone else chose to see him the way they want to.

Then there's how he’s also nothing like the real Akechi, someone who can survive alone and be so unapologetic about his emotions no matter how deviant they are. It’s a form of freedom Joker has never had nor considered, that seeing it at first makes him feel nothing because he’s content where he is. If he were to ever run into a wall because he couldn’t express himself, Akechi would be the first one he would remember. Like how Akechi approached Joker and had an interest in him, sharing more about himself - as if because he wanted Joker to save him. It's the same for Joker, too, that Akechi serves to remind him of his absence of emotional freedom that he doesn’t realize because he’s numbed himself far too much. 'We love other people because they have something we don't have', something along the lines of a quote in my favourite romance manga (Skip and Loafer, pls go watch). Akechi's selfishness and ability to act alone for his own sake, even if misguided, is something Joker can never bear to do if faced with his own happiness and the happiness of many more.

Joker’s Justice VS Akechi’s Justice - The BOILER ROOOOOM

If not for his friends, if not for Akechi’s small mistake, Akechi would have won and killed him. Akechi might have been able to achieve his goals that way, without having to let go and compromise on what he wants, or he may have failed entirely. It's only because Akechi was human and Joker was surrounded by people that Joker was saved from his demise, and Akechi's happiness was robbed from him - showing how Joker's way of living, his justice, is superior.

Does that mean Akechi’s way of living has always been wrong?

It's still hard for me to interpret how Joker felt in the Boiler Room, but these kinds of thoughts that start from how Akechi could have gotten his way are likely the strongest as it involves Joker's own wellbeing and Akechi's grand goals that were the focus of the situation. Of course, the exchange in the Boiler Room can be interpreted as just Akechi's one-sided spite for Joker, but it's better if it's mutual. Joker never reaches out to save Akechi as desperately as the other PTs do, and I like to think it's because it’s another numb moment for Joker. This was their promised battle to the death, and Akechi lost. Joker’s justice won - a justice where you should live in society doing your best to support other people without bothering anyone, even if you’re suffering and suffocating. This reinforces the justice that dictates Joker's true self has to stay trapped forever. Even if you can meet expectations and accept suffering, no matter how much people love you… it'll still be a difficult and empty life if you can't freely be yourself. Yu is able to break out of this because he knows he has a safe place with his friends to express himself, that his emotions are ‘normal’, but Joker still doesn’t feel entirely safe - not when the PTs describe their group as a place where misfits can feel at home. It isn’t a place where you can feel ‘normal’ - the PTs just reinforce that your true feelings are deviant in society. Seeing an opposing justice lose so badly… a justice that dictates you to be yourself and free, when Joker knows he isn't happy deep down, would stir some feelings of nihilism in him. There is just no place in the world for deviants like them.

But it doesn’t bother Joker so much because he’s already taken ownership of the fact that he’s a deviant, as with his awakening. He can’t be saved, and he’ll just keep plowing through if so.

Both ends of Akechi and Joker's justices are flawed. Akechi's justice disregards the wellbeing of the people around you, Joker's justice disregards your own wellbeing. Akechi is able to give himself a second chance because of the kindness that Joker's justice displays– Even if you stepped out of bounds of society from the pressure, you should still live and take responsibility for the good of both yourself and other people. The gentleness and open arms of this justice, or at least the people practicing it, allows Akechi to integrate it into his own and properly complete him as a person with the ‘love’ and ‘selflessness’ he was missing. In the end, it was the PTs who saved Akechi, but it was Joker who opened his eyes to it - to living with an open heart to people, as happiness cannot come without trust. That's why Akechi knows what's right for him now, because the two justices have come together.

However, Joker continues on his justice, disregarding his own wellbeing. It's fine as long as he's around people who acknowledge his presence, as long as it takes a shape Joker agrees with. Because his way of living has always been centered around playing a role and meeting expectations. But at home where these expectations have become increasingly unrealistic, especially because of the incident with Shido, it's a different story. Joker is likely aware of his fear, but pushes himself to face it like the PTs have decided with their own dreams - I interpret the message of Joker's Metaverse self in the mirror in the True Ending of P5R as representing his determination to tread reality with that same, self-sacrificing justice, no matter how difficult - the same way he dealt with Maruki’s reality. I find it exciting to explore how the story would continue after Joker returns home because of that.

He doesn't grow like any of the PTs or Akechi in the canon events because his way of living isn’t wrong nor does it bring him any pain (because he’s not blind, he’s aware of his choices from the awakening of Persona). But his way of living only brings him happiness when he’s with people who have reasonable expectations/unconditional love for whoever he is. As long as he can meet their expectations. But the people who shaped him to live being someone else - his family - won’t have reasonable expectations for him, especially after the incident with Shido. They say the people who can hurt you the most are the people who love you, because they have a vested interest in your happiness, but have ideals of what happiness is and can grow unreasonable in controlling you for you to be happy. It’s normal and parents get over it after their kids have their rebellious phase, but it’s another story of worse if you can’t express yourself properly - and that’s why as you grow up it’s necessary to better understand yourself and have boundaries. I do HC Joker has a hard time expressing himself properly out of anxiety/autism, which is why he speaks so little. And he accepted whatever the people around him wanted without much resistance because it was more difficult to express yourself for him. I feel like this is where Akechi’s justice serves to complete Joker, to break him free from the silly bonds that trap and define him and give him a good wake-up call to not give up on expressing and understanding himself.

Akechi and Joker represent selfishness and selflessness deviants of society to me, two emotions that have to coexist in perfect balance to be happy. What more, they also go to show that choosing to grow up selfish or selfless happens when you aren’t loved for being yourself - you know that you have to co-exist with people who don’t love you, so you survive by either beating them down or pleasing them. I find there’s a lot more to talk about Akechi-Joker foils over Adachi-Yu, that it discusses the whole concept of living in a society which rejects you. Exploring Joker’s character does add a lot more to the discussion, but that’s just me.

Dynamics of two people that complete each other are always, always my OTPs… P5 has its problematic writing but thank you very much for Akeshu Atlus (This is beyond delusional but how Justine (J=Joker) and Caroline (C=Crow) complete each other to create Lavenza (L=Love)??? How Justine has Joker’s composed sassy demeanor and Caroline has Crow’s aggressive behaviour????? Justine seeming to be in charge of the Compendium containing all the Persona born from Joker’s bonds???)

#persona 5 #p5r #ren amamiya #akira kurusu #goro akechi #akeshu #p5 joker #p5 akechi #shuake

66 notes · View notes