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Ryukita people, I have a request

I am still on the fence with whether or not I should ship it and add it to my Persona 5 AUs, and it is a little tough to find information about the ship. So if you feel like it, feel free to tell me why you like the ship and what about it you find interesting!

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I wish I could talk more about my views on Naoto's writing, but it's really... difficult? Both to gain any confidence in talking about it, as well as figuring out how to properly word my feelings, because my feelings about it can get really intense

Which brings up the problem of I don't want to come across as annoying or whiny or draw the attention of the wrong people, because this is a topic that hits very close to home and is something I feel strongly about. But the issue with that is that somehow through P4s abysmal writing of him, Naoto as a character nestled his way deep into my heart, so I want to talk about him more, because he's special to me, especially related to his story in regards to being trans! But it's tough

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It's still Akechi's birthday where I am *throws this at you*

(also pride flags for queer headcanons because pride month)

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BIRD FUN FACT!

Okay so you know Akechi's black mask outfit? You know these things on his mask?

A neat thing to me is that these resemble tomial teeth, which is a thing some birds have that are these protrusions in their top beak (and matching notches on their bottom beak)

The thing though is that, to my knowledge, crows do not have tomial teeth. They are found on falcons, shrikes, and a few other types of birds

And you wanna know what tomial teeth are used for? They are most often used by birds to more easily kill their prey :)

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I don't know if I plan to do anything more with this concept in my AU because I don't know if I want to directly have characters from the different games interact outside of whatever canon does with that concept maybe (haven't played any of the spin offs), but because of how I view both Naoto and Akechi in my AU I find it interesting to think about the idea of Naoto at least directly acknowledging Akechi's disappearance post-P5R

In my AU, Naoto gets brought up a few times directly during conversations Akechi and Ren have for a few different reasons, and Ren's eventually able to pick up on Akechi having a genuine positive view of Naoto. I imagine it would bring up a lot of emotions for Ren to see Naoto talking about Akechi being missing post-game with genuine care. I would imagine Naoto has a good understanding of the sensationalization that the media is doing whenever Akechi being missing is brought up, with there being little to no genuine seeming coverage. The general public doesn't truly care about Akechi as a person, they only care about him as the Detective Prince, or even just as an interesting story to pass the time. Naoto's willing to call this out, his own experiences as a Detective Prince and dealing with everything that happened because of any fame that came with that making him feel like he has something meaningful to say here. I think Ren, still very much grieving and trying to work through everything that happened with Akechi over the events of the game, would feel a lot of things hearing someone else express genuine concern and care for Akechi, especially Naoto of all people, when anyone else in the media who he's seen talk about him treats his disappearance more as entertainment or as a quick way to generate some attention by randomly going "Hey do you remember that this famous guy is missing?" and talking about whatever common theories would exist. Naoto never personally knew Akechi, so it's not the same as someone caring about him despite knowing his true self, but it's 100× better then most of the stuff Ren sees talking about Akechi, so it feels comforting in a way, but it's also painful

Since Akechi is alive post-game in my AU, I imagine Akechi himself seeing that would impact him a lot as well. I don't think he would fully accept it per se, as Akechi definitely struggles with accepting that some people genuinely care about him, but it would mean something to hear someone he looks up to talking about him like that. Naoto mentions something like "it's very likely Goro Akechi has real people in his life who worry about his safety. Not his fans, but family or friends who know him as a person." and it makes Akechi think about Ren, and it makes guilt about keeping his survival a secret bubble up along with a million other feelings. Akechi knows that it's for the best that he stays away though. He's able to convince himself of that at least

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!! Good addition and good thing to bring up, because while certain people shipping two characters might view them in way that makes it less interesting due to putting them into a shipping trope, that does not inherently make shipping less interesting, because that is a thing that only some people do

Whether or not people do that is a case-by-case basis thing, and you are allowed to be annoyed with some people in fandoms reducing characters down to fit them into fandom tropes, BUT that does not mean every single person that ships something is doing that so using that as a way to put down anyone who ships something is unfair because that is a generalization

Rambling about something I've noticed in fandom in general but I am using Shuake as the example because I've seen it with them a decent amount, which is some people claiming that seeing them romantically inherently makes their dynamic less interesting or less meaningful then seeing them either platonically or as fully not liking each other

Maybe my view of romantic relationships and the differences between them and friendships is not standard but I don't think there are enough changes between viewing them as romantic and platonic for it to make a difference? Like I don't know man, if I viewed their relationship platonically I would have a nearly identical view of their relationship because the basis of how I view them comes from canon. There is still Akechi's whole confidant and the engine room speech, there is still the perfect reality and the fact that Ren carries Akechi's glove with him. There would still be the OVA with very clear colour theory choices and Ren crying about Akechi (and before someone says something yes I know that the OVA is likely considered secondary canon), and the way I interpret those scenes would still be the same

I frankly don't care if you don't see them romantically, or if you personally prefer platonic dynamics in general, that's not an issue and I think that's a good thing about fandom, is seeing different peoples thoughts on the characters. My issue comes with people saying things about the game that are either up to interpretation or just false as if they are 100% facts and if you think differently you are wrong. I can understand not liking their dynamic even, the things that happen in the game can be hard for some people to look past in a way that makes their dynamic enjoyable, BUT putting down people who think differently isn't the answer I think

And to each their own but personally I do not see the interest in looking at their dynamic through the lens of "rivals who fully hate each other". Canonically they are weird about it and blur the lines of what their relationship to each other is so no matter if you ship them or not consider letting them be weird about it! That's more related to my personal media interests but I think not taking the time to think about their dynamic makes the game less interesting. Either as rivals or friends or lovers or whatever there is very little difference between how their relationship would be in my mind because the canon stays the same regardless

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Rambling about something I've noticed in fandom in general but I am using Shuake as the example because I've seen it with them a decent amount, which is some people claiming that seeing them romantically inherently makes their dynamic less interesting or less meaningful then seeing them either platonically or as fully not liking each other

Maybe my view of romantic relationships and the differences between them and friendships is not standard but I don't think there are enough changes between viewing them as romantic and platonic for it to make a difference? Like I don't know man, if I viewed their relationship platonically I would have a nearly identical view of their relationship because the basis of how I view them comes from canon. There is still Akechi's whole confidant and the engine room speech, there is still the perfect reality and the fact that Ren carries Akechi's glove with him. There would still be the OVA with very clear colour theory choices and Ren crying about Akechi (and before someone says something yes I know that the OVA is likely considered secondary canon), and the way I interpret those scenes would still be the same

I frankly don't care if you don't see them romantically, or if you personally prefer platonic dynamics in general, that's not an issue and I think that's a good thing about fandom, is seeing different peoples thoughts on the characters. My issue comes with people saying things about the game that are either up to interpretation or just false as if they are 100% facts and if you think differently you are wrong. I can understand not liking their dynamic even, the things that happen in the game can be hard for some people to look past in a way that makes their dynamic enjoyable, BUT putting down people who think differently isn't the answer I think

And to each their own but personally I do not see the interest in looking at their dynamic through the lens of "rivals who fully hate each other". Canonically they are weird about it and blur the lines of what their relationship to each other is so no matter if you ship them or not consider letting them be weird about it! That's more related to my personal media interests but I think not taking the time to think about their dynamic makes the game less interesting. Either as rivals or friends or lovers or whatever there is very little difference between how their relationship would be in my mind because the canon stays the same regardless

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It's important to keep in mind that if you love a ship enough (or a dynamic in general, doesn't have to be romantic) it can attack you at any time even if the thing you are doing has nothing to do with them

You can be listening to Heathers: The Musical and hear:

"I wish your mom had been a little stronger

I wish she'd stayed around a little longer

I wish your dad were good

I wish grown-ups understood

I wish we'd met before they convinced you life is war

I wish you'd come with me"

and think oh woah this specific section is like those weird rivals from that video game and then you feel sad

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Sleepy ...

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You know, I actually really like the fact that Akechi didn't go through a standard redemption arc that you would first think they might do for him. There are differences in his character during the third semester and actions that he takes that shows he isn't actively against the other characters anymore, but he never had to "become good" for his role in the third semester to make sense. He is still irritable, still resentful, still angry. In fact, he is allowing himself to express his negative emotions more freely then he ever did before, and while I believe the third semester version of himself is still a version of him hidden by a mask, it's a version of himself that seems a lot closer to his natural self then the detective prince mask does

In terms of the story though, despite him not becoming a noticeably nicer person, you are still meant to care about him. The story has the most impact when you care about him enough that the fact he is going to die has an emotional impact, and when the fact that Ren wants him to be alive makes sense. It's comforting, in a roundabout way, to see a character who doesn't have to become more pleasant and kind for the narrative to go "you should care about him" to as strong of a degree as the third semester does

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I don't remember if I posted about this concept before but I think it would be really funny and very very fitting if, post-game, Ren and Akechi had one of those proposals where both people planned to propose at the same time

Imagine Akechi goes through a whole speech and becomes emotional during it, trying to make Ren understand how important their relationship is to him before pulling out the ring box and asking the question. Akechi looks at him, and he sees that Ren looks overly surprised and isn't saying anything, so he begins worrying that something had changed since they last discussed the idea of getting married and starts to panic a bit, but then after a few seconds of silence Ren pulls out a ring box from his pocket and shows it to him and Akechi just goes "... Oh what the hell"

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I want to ramble more about Shuake but I would have to look back on my posts to see if I have anything to expand on or anything new to say

SO as another idea I mightttt do like, lyric breakdowns or general explanations for the Shuake playlist I have, because even though a lot of it seems very self-explanatory I enjoy yapping

(For reference this is the playlist)

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As much as the L.A.V.A Persona 5 Royal streams are mostly just funny, the "We could have been great together" thing genuinely haunts me a little bit. It's a natural extension of things said in the game, but the change of phrasing makes it just... ough

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"My husband has a cold, and he's talking about the future like a man dying in battle."

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Sometimes I have very specific references that I think are amusing

Anyone know that "Oh Hitman" bit from Secret Sleepover Society? That but Shuake

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finally done with my workload today, decided to slap some colors on an old kannao doodle!