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@camellye​​ yeah !! I do think wanting meaning is what makes him attach his identity to him and the strega children being special and his huge messiah complex ( not simply that he’s a narcissist but a little of that too lmao ) I have always thought there's some paradoxical thinking in him somewhere, or at least a denial of his own emotions and attachment, and that leads you to wonder if his reasons for denying himself emotionally is strategic or just... traumatic. But what's interesting to me is that you'd expect someone like that to have a very straight forward “nothing matters, I hate people” philosophy, something more like adachi, but instead he has that “wise cult leader” trait where he can seem to relax and ascribe meaning to things for other people, helping Jin have a purpose, giving worldly advice about acceptance and the nature of things all throughout his dialogue in a not even cynical way sometimes. Like when he describes love, it’s not even negatively, it’s kind of light hearted, an inevitable part of life, It’s Chidori who rejects it as stupid. He just... says whatever lmao

And that’s another thing I always considered, the fact Takaya was meant to be an inverted version of the protag, so maybe it would make sense if he has a gift for instilling purpose and motivation into others, like a social link- he just says whatever he thinks you need to hear, but can’t inspire himself, and that translates into his cult leader vibe and a feeling of insincerity. “ People hear what they want to hear ” as he says.

and of course that only makes it harder to tell what he’s thinking if sometimes he’s just lying lmao !!

*busts through door with the conspiracy board* So i’m losing my mind right? Because I keep coming back to thinking about Takaya and what in christ’s name his characterization is supposed to be like. 

I’m the kind of person who doesn’t really like to just do whatever I feel like with a canon character, i’m all about that media analysis, give me one of those multiple choice questions about “based on what this character has said, what do you think they feel about etc” I love it. And if I get the vibe a character is just poorly written or not very well thought out, I probably won’t rewrite them, I’ll just lose interest.

But I get this impression… they really thought about what takaya’s personality is… he’s just a very weird guy? Lmao, like what little we see of him is trying desperately to convey a specific, well rounded archetype of character that I don’t quite recognize but I can tell they have something in mind? But without the full picture he looks confusing.

This is what I mean– Takaya is somehow both extremely passionate and a total nihilist. A poet that can reason out the beauty of life but hates it anyways. He’s described as being damaged by his experiments to the point of being drunk on indifference and almost carefree, like a goth hippy, but also he will lose his mind about being chosen and of importance as if he has a responsibility that causes him stress. He’s intelligent and cunning but also… just not trying that hard and spends most of his time not giving the main protagonist much thought.

Literally, I mean the novel takes place mid game and he is dealing with a problem utterly unrelated to any of the main characters, and he doesn’t even seem in a hurry to deal with them.

He’s visibly happy to have found another surviving strega child in the novel where he actively tells them generally innocent advice of just being happy with the simple life he has with the adopted mother who cares about them ( he assumes they’ll be dying soon, but still, he clearly understands the value of what they have and that’s odd?), and even consistently in the main game gives advice about death that is completely correct by the game’s own logic– but then he’s ALSO… completely indifferent to the death of Chidori… possibly… because he believes in her freedom to choose that outcome based on the movie, but… isn’t simply indifferent to the end of the world, he actively fights to ensure it, he makes a point of that in the in-character AMA… 

which might be tied to the religious side of him which is present in all depictions of him… and might explain the one thing he seems to actively care about which is being “chosen” to ensure the fall possibly ( do you notice they never directly say what they’re even chosen for I’m losing it– )  

and… then there’s the musical which puts more of an emphasis on a general dislike of the world, being fed up with it’s pointless pain and hardship… but that doesn’t necessarily contradict also having a hedonistic appreciation for short term happiness and wanting to live only for today, as he tells Jin… and family and friends might count as that to him.

And these sound like they might just be inconsistencies?? but they’re consistent inconsistencies across all his depictions just in different instances! And it just gives me this strong vibe that he has a motivation in mind, a specific philosophy to his character that all the different people writing him have been instructed on and just… aren’t telling us lmao?

I have written Takaya… for years now… and I think I still don’t quite know how to capture every aspect of his character at once  sdfjklhsfd

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*busts through door with the conspiracy board* So i’m losing my mind right? Because I keep coming back to thinking about Takaya and what in christ’s name his characterization is supposed to be like. 

I’m the kind of person who doesn’t really like to just do whatever I feel like with a canon character, i’m all about that media analysis, give me one of those multiple choice questions about “based on what this character has said, what do you think they feel about etc” I love it. And if I get the vibe a character is just poorly written or not very well thought out, I probably won’t rewrite them, I’ll just lose interest.

But I get this impression... they really thought about what takaya’s personality is... he’s just a very weird guy? Lmao, like what little we see of him is trying desperately to convey a specific, well rounded archetype of character that I don’t quite recognize but I can tell they have something in mind? But without the full picture he looks confusing.

This is what I mean-- Takaya is somehow both extremely passionate and a total nihilist. A poet that can reason out the beauty of life but hates it anyways. He’s described as being damaged by his experiments to the point of being drunk on indifference and almost carefree, like a goth hippy, but also he will lose his mind about being chosen and of importance as if he has a responsibility that causes him stress. He’s intelligent and cunning but also... just not trying that hard and spends most of his time not giving the main protagonist much thought.

Literally, I mean the novel takes place mid game and he is dealing with a problem utterly unrelated to any of the main characters, and he doesn’t even seem in a hurry to deal with them.

He’s visibly happy to have found another surviving strega child in the novel where he actively tells them generally innocent advice of just being happy with the simple life he has with the adopted mother who cares about them ( he assumes they’ll be dying soon, but still, he clearly understands the value of what they have and that’s odd?), and even consistently in the main game gives advice about death that is completely correct by the game’s own logic-- but then he’s ALSO... completely indifferent to the death of Chidori... possibly... because he believes in her freedom to choose that outcome based on the movie, but... isn’t simply indifferent to the end of the world, he actively fights to ensure it, he makes a point of that in the in-character AMA... 

which might be tied to the religious side of him which is present in all depictions of him... and might explain the one thing he seems to actively care about which is being “chosen” to ensure the fall possibly ( do you notice they never directly say what they’re even chosen for I’m losing it-- )  

and... then there’s the musical which puts more of an emphasis on a general dislike of the world, being fed up with it’s pointless pain and hardship... but that doesn’t necessarily contradict also having a hedonistic appreciation for short term happiness and wanting to live only for today, as he tells Jin... and family and friends might count as that to him.

And these sound like they might just be inconsistencies?? but they’re consistent inconsistencies across all his depictions just in different instances! And it just gives me this strong vibe that he has a motivation in mind, a specific philosophy to his character that all the different people writing him have been instructed on and just... aren’t telling us lmao?

I have written Takaya... for years now... and I think I still don’t quite know how to capture every aspect of his character at once  sdfjklhsfd

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/// P3:HEX - Before the Dawn \\\

>>> Now on Ao3

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Strega makes use of their first ‘paycheck’.  Part 1 / ??

i have never drawn a comic looking thing before. forgive... if its not very pretty--

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I think about what little of that one manga that’s english translated and how Takaya talks to Chidori in just those parts and it was so unexpectedly..... dad like gfdkljhfdg

Like, I feel like people get the impression Takaya has some intimidating cult leader grasp over the Strega members but then you read it and he’s unironically like  “ You’ll understand when you’re older, honey ”  even though they’re going to die soon. And she’s like “ Dad, I’m tired, can we go home--”

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Hello there!

Love your content btw 👀 your artwork is just 👌

Ofc I wouldn't mind asking if you got some favorite ships regarding the Strega trio if you happen to have any? Multiple if you do! 👉��� Thank you and have a good day~

Hey there! Thanks, I'm glad you like it! I've been working on finding some way to draw takaya that looks alright, now i just gotta figure out the other two lol

Yeah !! Bare in mind, I have a RP account for takaya, so not only will most of these be ships with him but some of this is definitely from other's portrayals of a given character, if they seem like crack ships lmao. but I have had some fun-- and some unexpected lmao-- ship thoughts.

First off, I do wanna establish, as far as I know the Strega guys have no official age-- based on the wiki-- so I always imagined they had about a 2 year gap lower and lower, Takaya the oldest at 20 and Chidori the youngest at 16, making Jin in the middle as 18.

So my all time favorite, and prob the most expected, has always been to see Jin & Takaya together! Call me cliche, but I have such a soft spot for the cold and evil characters that secretly are attached to those around them, which in canon he really seems to care in some never to be known way, and I can't help loving the sheer amount of layers of complexity that comes with two people who must have been through hell together, and being one of the only people capable of reading between Takaya's lines-- a very odd and emotionally stunted person, I'm sure. Also it was funny writing this literal death cultist get flustered and embarrassed.

Takaya and Sho / Minazuki. Hahaa yeah, this is mostly from someone I wrote with once, though we didn't write that long, but they just.... have a lot in common... amongst both of sho's identities. And also, I feel like Sho was a good example of those ships ( friendships as well ) with Takaya that was just..... "underneath this guy's composed exterior is someone who just really enjoys causing damage, do you want to go batshit with me?" ( Adachi was also this ) as well as having a lot of potential for soft conversation about feeling alienated from the world.

Not just Takaya wise, due to a group I was in, I was thinking how cute Jin and Futaba would be as just. Ultimate recluse nerd pair lmao-- but as of right now I haven't thought about my Jin characterization as much as Takaya's!

AND then.......... Unironically........ Takaya and Nyx? As in Nyx, goddess of the night, mother of shadows, yeah. And I don't know how to describe this other than...... I mean this almost in a metaphorical way.... but also very literal, I want him to kiss the moon god. This one is a long story, don't worry about it--

And Chidori and Junpei are a given for me, those two are adorable, i can't really picture them with anyone else lol

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Everyone says he looks like a velvet room attendant but there’s no proper art of it that i can find so that was my first idea gdfhjkgddgf--

fun headcanons below cut

After his death, Takaya takes the form of a velvet room attendant due to an unnatural use of the subconscious world during his experimentations. This caused his pale hair and golden eyed appearance in life, but the velvet room attendants mostly refer to these events vaguely, such as " A terrible crime that changed and damaged his existence. "

He also probably goes by a different name, but the sight of his tattoos when he rapidly grows tired of dressing formally makes it pretty obvious to the player who he is lol  ( hey, be glad he even wore a shirt for you, let alone a tie- )

His soul now appears in a form literally chained to the velvet room ( by his ankle ). He insists on how much he desires to rest, which only later becomes clear that he means to die, and often passively mixes his nihilistic view of life and religious respect for the gods into the advice given to the protagonist, but challenges them to prove him wrong, regardless. He is a... noticeably outspoken and opinionated attendant to say the least.

The true nature of why he appears chained is only revealed in his social link, where he eventually achieves a peaceful death.

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Has anyone done this yet? No? Ok.

Atlus is doing a product survey rn so ofc my brain is like “Yeah Strega merch would be great thanks!” XD like that’ll ever happen jbvjkdbj

If anything the best I can see happening is Chidori products since, you know, Junpei and all that.

OG Comic by @c-rowlesdraws : https://c-rowlesdraws.tumblr.com/post/173468660432/every-time

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wow i can’t believe they’re real--

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YEAH HI UH --

This is the side blog to @revolver-jesus where I dump art and non-rp related strega things (mostly takaya, since that’s who I write, but i’ll get around to the other 2 lol)!! I mostly made this to finally stop clogging my rp notes with art notes 

anyways uh-- inbox open for strega related questions & suggestions !!  Activity is perpetually low but feel free