#YUKARIS A MODEL TOO IT MAKES SENSE

[uwro]

model AU 🎶inspired by 2000s phone ads lol

[arcplaysgames]

Kawakami continues to be my stealth fave. When Operation Maidwatch started, I fully planned to skip it entirely because lets be real, the set-up was horrendous. Then I figured that'd be less funny so I decided to try it For The Bit.

So fucking glad I did.

Kawakami is in the hospital after collapsing from overwork. And what do you know but the people blackmailing her show up to say howdy and while she is still in bed ask her when her next payment will be.

fuck stealing their hearts, i'm gonna steal their car and drive it into a river

I.... think the implication with "sister company" is transferring from the maid gig to full sex work? Which: I'm pro-SW 'til the day I die but this ain't the way, Kawakami, the way is getting these fuckers off your chequebook.

btw for the side-quests, I love when Reverie is just like "Gimme a full name. Thanks. The Phantom Thieves will handle it." LISTEN. I DON'T CARE. If Ryuji can walk around singing his self-made Phantom Thieves theme song, then Reverie can be an intimidating weirdo to random people.

BOY THE PENULTIMATE LOVERS LINK SURE IS JUST REVERIE THIRD-WHEELING HUH

this was so fucking funny, Ann and Shiho are having a serious heart to heart and Reverie is just here as extra muscle to help Shiho with the stairs.

I'm very glad to finally see Shiho again though I assume it will be for the last time.

WHEN I TELL Y'ALL

I FUCKING SAT ON THIS DECISION FOR LIKE FIVE MINUTES

because I do like Ann a lot! probably more than any of my options so far except maybe Tae, but I don't like her that way, but maybe I would like her that way if I gave her a chance? UGH it's agony but I went with the Just Friends route.

EVEN THOUGH "YOU HAVE ME" IS SOMETHING A FRIEND WOULD SAY SO I LITERALLY HAD TO LOOK UP THE LOVERS CHEATSHEET TO VERIFY WHAT IT MEANT.

Ann, you are still best girl, though admittedly you finally have competition.

I did wrap up Ann's Confidant.

As far as the Lovers go, hers is the weakest to me personally. I would rank them Yukari > Rise > Ann. But I think this is because I don't.... understand Ann's life goals. Which may be just my blind spot personally. Ann's dream of becoming a supermodel to inspire people falls kind of flat because I think modeling is an important job and career but I don't.... connect it to like.... inspiration and stuff?

It's so odd it feels like I'm missing something.

But Ann herself, I adore. I would rank her as honestly one of the kindest people in a Persona game, genuinely good-hearted and just seeking a way to harness that.

New Persona for Ann! Hecate!

Yusuke visited like every other day in summer vacation, so I got some premium hangout time and managed to max his Confidant out too.

AND LEMME TELL YOU SOMETHING

YUSUKE SHOULDA BEEN THE FORTUNE. He makes zero fucking sense as the Emperor. There is nothing about him or his arc that lends itself to the Emperor, but BOY HOWDY does his arc spin 'round and 'round like a perfect wheel.

After some more artist's block, Yusuke finally puts together a piece for the exhibition run by that one jerk who wanted to package and sell Yusuke like a brand. He takes first place!

TURNS OUT THAT THE WHOLE BRANDING THING WAS A FUCKING RUSE. The guy truly was invested in Yusuke's success as an artist and came up with the whole branding thing to get Yusuke angry and get his head in the game.

THE WHEEL FUCKING SPINS AND SPINS.

I'm so fucking annoyed that he's the Emperor, I just don't see it, it makes no sense. Better options were WAITING.

nah only when the game lets me flirt with you even though we're not allowed to kiss. I adore you, Yusuke.

New Persona Get and WAIT NO GO BACK ugh why is it Susano-o AGAIN? And this Susano-o doesn't look NEARLY as cool as Yosuke's. 8C I will miss Goemon and his cool pipe. 8C

wait is this just disneyland. /googles. lmao the Maihama station is right next to Disneyland. ahahahaaha

I will be boycotting this destination for the entire game! 8)

what else did I do outside the MSQ.......

OH YEAH I'm allowed to hang with Sojiro again finally!

TURNS OUT THE GUY HASSLING SOJIRO IS FUTABA'S FUCKING UNCLE

he wants money or he'll file for custody for Futaba (where he'll have an upper hand as he's a blood relative and Sojiro is not)

Futaba actually shows up to bully Sojiro for some food and immediately freaks out at seeing her uncle.

When Wakaba died, Futaba got handed around between her relatives for a while and ended up with severely neglected by her uncle. Then Sojiro stepped in and adopted her.

Like with Kawakami's blackmailers, I want to wreck some havoc on this bastardman.

Sojiro truly is Best Dad, I'm with y'all on this at last. Sojiro, please adopt Reverie. That should be the no-romance end for Reverie, he just gets adopted by the Sakuras.

I FINALLY got my courage high enough to talk to Iwai the fake(?) arms dealer? AND NOW I THINK I'M DOING CRIMES? i mean uh more crimes. additional crimes. like smuggling weapons?

also like. The Solid Snake/Iroquois Pliskin vibes off this guy, he looks and feels like he just got back from the Big Shell and is laying low until Philanthropy is ready to take out another metal gear.

However unluckily for him, he's also my literal favorite card in the Majors, the Hanged Man, the card I am the most particular about, so he's pretty much doomed to disappoint me through no fault of his own. Because I'm the only person who actually Understands the Hanged Man, you see. Just me.

Okay that sums everyone up, back to the MSQ.

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

@triplegirl1​ That’s fair, like my point isn’t that he’s drop dead gorgeous (bish/fem way) but he is DEF a lot better looking than the rag stain that the anime gave me. DX (P4MC/Souji is more of a handsome boy with a bit of pretty, he has a choice to go either way depending on the artist)

(under the cut cause more to dissect and pictures)

MM makes it work, the 3D model P5D did (predates MM) was......not so believable. The P5D model does a disservice to it his more pretty boy features:

Is it the longer hair? The outfit? The art style? Maybe it’s that his face is more round in the manga to appear more fem (aka the mangaka changed the chars face structure while they are crossdressing, not saying they did, it’s a possibility and I need to look at it later).

P3MC is also has a very pretty face, but......

What was the goal Atlus? Less than bare min? The only good thing is everything below the head tbh. Out of them all his outfit fits the best (game wise). But nothing with the hair (literally the other two MC’s wore wigs, but you’re too good???? You’re the only one not wearing a wig amongst your team!)? You know what they could’ve done, that would’ve been like....fun? Give him Hamu’s hair! Or a blue version or her hair! Hell, give him long hair I don’t care. Other chars had a wig and he doesn’t? He’s the only MC without a wig to boot!

Like, I like the maid outfit, P3′s maid outfit’s my fav (I don’t mind P4′s, P5D’s and P5R’s Sumi are ok but....I hate P5′s). But I ask......what’s the point? 

P4′s crossdressing costumes are my fav, partially because of the personality that comes from the references (Kanji for Marilyn Monroe, Yosuke for Natsuki from P3 (or at least a vague call back), P4MC for Saya from Blood (The Last Vampire ver irrc), and Teddie for Alice).... But what’s the point for P3/5?

P3: MC has the maid outfit the girl’s wear....ok?  Ken gets a Gekkou HS girl outfit, with hair reminiscent of Yukari and Toriumi....and that’s stretching is so like?? Junpei gets a cheer outfit that the girls got for P3D???? Why????? Aki’s the only one that makes sense cause at least he becomes a police officer. 

P5: MC has an outfit similar to ones that the girls got in that game (imo it fits the Last surprise MV), and Ryuji is kinda like Anne (the way they put the twin tails is just.......so bad....), but why reference Anne???? She’s in the damn game.....would’ve been more fun if it was a reference to Yukino or Lisa (or even Chie), Yusuke wins for at least referencing something of Goemon.

I think P5D did something better than P3D for once (3 to 2), but only cause I could make more sensible connections to the “why”. But even then it’s kinda....eh. 

Personally, I’d make....

P3: Makoto Y dress like Hamuko (unlike Anne, she’s not in the game, and it’d at least be tongue in cheek/a way to technically have her in the game), be it him dressed as her, or just have her be a whole ass skin (imo it should be both, the trade off is she obvie doesn’t get any alt outfits). Aki can stay as is, Junpei........I’d have him dress as Chidori or Ayase (be like the Yosuke of the group, I’m leaning towards Ayase for Magician parallels tho), Ken I’d have him dress as a demon (Alice is taken, so maybe Nekomata? Like a DemiKids/Devil Children version of a demon tho, keep it child friendly). 

P5: I’d keep Yusuke as is (he can be the Teddie, tho I’d make his outfit more like a Oni Jorou from SMT reference), I’d have Ren dress like someone from Cat’s Eye (or Catwoman, or another famous female thief, be like Yu and reference another (animated) medium), and Ryuji......man they REALLY wanted to slap pigtails on this poor bastard....either another famous person (like Marilyn Monroe, or if they REALLY want a school girl, then either Lisa/Chie/Yukino, Yukino would work with his short hair and delinquent appearance). 

sorry felt like it was the right moment to talk about the cross dressing outfits 8U

[notcorrect-persona5]

In Defense of Yosuke’s Parents

I’ve seen so many posts about Yosuke having bad parents which really surprised me because I didn’t get that impression at all. I’ve been meaning to make a post in defense of his parents, but I’ve been working on a Yu analysis. After I saw @personuhh​’s post I thought I’d offer an alternative perspective. I’ll be addressing some of the things they brought up first, and then I’ll get into additional evidence. I have edited this post since I originally posted it because I I wanted to elaborate and reword some things.

My Response

You’re right, Yosuke does take on way more responsibility than a part-timer should. However, I don’t think that’s his parents doing. It seems like Junes is extremely understaffed. In his social link, Yosuke says his dad was “bugging him to find helpers.” I volunteer at a small location of a large church (much like the Inaba branch of Junes), and I have been asked to find more volunteers over and over again because they’re desperate for more help. It’s a lot of work and not enough people. Additionally, both Yu and Chie come in to help due to the lack of staff. I wouldn’t be surprised if Mrs. Hanamura helped out too as Teddie’s under the impression that Yosuke’s parents are always together (which I’ll talk about later). 

On top of that, Yosuke mentions part-timers ditching work and slacking off. When an employee doesn’t show up, Yosuke (and Teddie) are often called in because their managers know they’ll show up. People who are reliable are given more responsibility, period. It sucks, but if someone needs help they aren’t going to ask someone who they don’t see as dependable. I volunteer at church every week, and I have been asked countless times if that’s okay because they don’t want to overwork me. Every time I say I don’t mind, and I assume Yosuke would have the same reaction if asked. Not only is it Yosuke’s natural instinct to help people, but he was kind of a pushover before the events of (and at the start of) Persona 4. In his third awakening, Yosuke says he was overworked and taken for granted. That’s not okay, and it’s a huge problem, but Mr. Hanamura isn't the cause of that. Mr. Hanamura is the general manager; his job isn’t to create the part-timer’s schedules. 

It’s true that Yosuke tries to work out the problems of other employees and listens to their complaints. There is no indication that Yosuke was told to do this, and I don’t know why he would be. In his social link, there are two girls who act as if he has more power than he does. They demand a raise, ask him to give them the day off, and assume he has knowledge about another employee’s schedule. Yosuke says he doesn't have the power to help them, and in a manga page he says “I may be the manager’s son, but I’m still just an employee.” Yosuke is doing much more than the average part-timer, but he isn’t being given the responsibilities of a manager.

As for the Junes concert, Mr. Hanamura did not tell Yosuke he was going to be fired. Yosuke came to that conclusion himself. Mr. Hanumura did not ask Yosuke to find a solution or ask Rise for help. Yosuke only asked Rise for help because he was scared of moving again. I understand how the phrase “awfully nice for some reason” could come across as odd, but I don’t think he meant his dad isn’t usually nice. In the Persona 4 Manga that scene is translated as “My Dad’s been extra nice to me” meaning his dad is nice, he’s just being extra nice, and I’m not surprised. Yosuke was extremely unhappy when he moved to Inaba. Despite trying to hide his feelings, you can see in The Magician that he didn’t do a very good job of it. And now that Yosuke is finally happy, they might be forced to move again. Of course, Mr. Hanamura would feel guilty. Oftentimes, when people feel guilty, they start acting nicer - unnaturally so - to make themselves feel better. Chie (who is already very kind) even does it after she and Yukiko spend Yosuke’s money on clothes for Teddie. Yosuke notices the shift in her attitude and tells her that he’s worried. It’s the same reaction he had toward his dad’s behavior.

The only reason I bring up Chie is to show an in-game example of someone being overly nice due to guilt. What Chie did was wrong, that’s why she feels guilty. The reason Mr. Hanamura would feel guilty is his job may have to move his entire family again. The cause of their guilt is different, but they are responding the same way.

I don’t think Mrs. Hanamura not wanting her son to own porn is unreasonable. My mom doesn’t like magic, so I wasn’t allowed to read or watch Harry Potter growing up. Similarly, a friend of mine wasn’t allowed to watch iCarly. As for Mrs. Hanamura burning Yosuke’s porn in Arena, that’s the third time (that we know of) that she’s seen his porn. I assume she’s told him she doesn’t want him looking at pornography, but he continues to do so anyway. Burning his magazines may seem dramatic, but she was likely just frustrated that he kept disobeying her. 

I don’t think Yosuke’s parents are the reason why Yosuke wants to be seen as manly. I haven’t seen anything that implies that. I think Yosuke’s desperation to be seen as a man comes from Japanese society and his fears regarding his sexuality.

Mr. Hanamura came up with this slogan because they were selling jinbei's which are traditionally worn by men. It’s a play on words. This isn’t the first time Mr. Hanamura has come up with a cringey slogan.

It seems Mr. Hanamura has that stereotypically “dad humor” which is typically associated with positive father figures (it’s not always). Yosuke saying his dad is still saying the “MANsoon” slogan gave me reminds of kids being like “Dad, that’s a bad joke, stop”, but the dad continuing to make his bad jokes regardless. It’s very Disney Channel and sit-com like.

I don’t remember Teddie saying he watches violent war movies with Mr. Hanamura, but I don’t see how that connects to the idea of Mr. Hanamura pushing Yosuke to be a “more masculine, traditional, unshakable, unemotional man.” The idea that only those types of men watch war movies is the type of thinking Kanji’s and Naoto’s shadows were trying to address. I don’t think Mr. Hanamura cares about being that type of stereotypical/traditional man because of his relationship with Teddie. Teddie is not very masculine (he even says so in Persona Q, screenshot will be later), and he isn’t hiding it. 

This exchange is from Kanji’s Persona 4 Club Profile. Teddie went to the store to buy female clothing, and he asked Kanji to make him a dress (the one from the cross dressing pageant). He already owned his “Alice dress” before the cross dressing competition, and I assume he’s worn it. In Arena, you can see the dress is hung out in the open in their bedroom. He also wears hair clips. 

This is not “masculine behavior” yet the Hanamuras don’t seem to have a problem with it. If anything, I’d say they’re pretty open-minded. If they disliked that way Teddie behaved, Teddie would change himself to fit the way they want him to be. I mean, the kid literally grew two new bodies in effort to get people to like him. Due to Teddie’s low self-esteem and need to be loved, he takes any sort of criticism to heart and does his best to act the way others want him too. In Persona Q, Yukari says he’d be cute if he was quiet, so Teddie stops talking. 

In Persona Q, Teddie says he’s realized that to steal hearts he needs to be manly. He gets this realization from Koromaru. He did not think this prior. 

Teddie saying Koromaru gave him this realization means the Hanmuras never said anything to him about his less masculine behavior. 

As for the song lyrics you posted, I don’t really think that means anything. Yeah, people often relate to the music they listen to, but they don’t have to relate to every lyric or even song. My favorite artist is Taylor Swift, but I don’t really like romance. I don’t relate to most of her songs, but I still jam out to them. I could be super wrong about the song thing though because I’m not a huge music person.

My Own Additional Analysis (with some elements of response)

In this section I’m going to talk about Mr. and Mrs. Hanamura’s character and personality, their relationship with each other, Teddie, and Yosuke.

Let’s start off by talking about their personality. They seem to be very carefree people. Yosuke has less than average grades. In the Persona 4 Animation, he didn’t even show up to one of the exam days. Academics is extremely important in Japanese society, yet his parents don’t seem to be pushing him to get better grades. Considering how carefree Yosuke can be, it makes sense that he may have gotten that trait from his parents. 

Yosuke’s family is pretty wealthy. It’s mentioned more than once. They also live in a pretty big house (you can see it in The Magician), Yosuke’s cell phone seems to be a newer model, and he has a large, flatscreen TV in his bedroom which wouldn’t be very common when the game took place. Despite this, Yosuke works for his own money. He complains about being broke and needing save up. I think the reason why Yosuke has a job despite being well-off is because his parents want him to have work experience and grow up to be a hardworking person, so he can succeed in life. It makes me think that hardwork is important to them.

Due to this conversation, I think Mr. Hanamura is a very honest man. Yosuke says he was surprised his dad was against selling gas masks, likely because from a business standpoint, that’s a really big missed opportunity. I think it’s also worth noting that ATLUS talks a lot about how people naturally fit into the masses, including the main characters. That’s why it’s surprising that his father is going against the masses. Although he’s losing money and has faced many hardships running Junes, Mr. Hanamura refused to do something that was against his moral compass.

In Persona 4 Drama CD #1, Junes is closing down half of the electronics section due to a lack of sales. Despite this taking place in March, Teddie panics and hopes to sell a TV set in a month in exchange for keeping the TV they enter the TV World through where it is. 

Yosuke isn’t afraid to ask his dad two huge favors with a not very good reason (side note: Yosuke had to lie because the truth is that’s the TV he and his friends used to go into the TV world and fight shadows). Despite Yosuke’s best efforts, his father says no. He doesn’t really have any choice but to close part of the electronics floor. Junes is losing money by keeping it open. I think Mr. Hanamura gave him the vouchers because that’s the only other way he can help. Teddie made a deal that if he sells one TV set by the end of the month, they’ll keep the TV that leads to the TV world. He’s trying to advertise the TV set by promising other surprise items coming with it. These Junes vouchers are part of those surprise items. 

It’s no secret that many of the shopping district families despise Junes and the Hanamuras. Many horrible things have been said about their family, yet Junes still teams up with the shopping district in the YasoInaba Case File to help keep them afloat. Whether or not this was Mr. Hanamura’s idea, he’s the one who has to approve it, and he does. Despite being treated horribly by them, he still wants to help the shopping district. Junes teaming up with shopping district might be a good business move, but they didn’t really need to do that. The problem is that Junes is taking away the shopping district’s business. Junes doesn’t need to team up with the shopping district to do well. The two of the teaming up benefits the shopping district way more than Junes. It doesn’t do much for Junes other than the shopping district maybe not hating them. At the end of the day, the shopping district families would still shop at the shopping district to keep their businesses afloat, so Junes isn’t getting a lot more business.

When Teddie came to the real world, Yosuke offered to take Teddie home with no hesitation. He didn’t think it would be a problem with his parents or show any concern about how he would convince them. I think this goes along with them being pretty carefree as well as showing that they’re kind and generous people. Not everyone is willing to take others in like that. Yosuke’s also comfortable with asking his parents such a huge favor.

Teddie talks about Yosuke’s parents in a really positive light, and I would say they treat him like their own son. For example, on January second Teddie says, “I got New Year’s gifts! Yosuke’s mom and dad gave them to me!” (edit: Someone said “notice how Yosuke doesn’t say the same thing.” He doesn’t need to. It’s Japense culture to give younger family members gifts for new Year’s. Yosuke saying something would be the equivalent of, “omg my parents gave me a birthday present!!” It would have been weirder if he did say something then. Teddie is excited because because this is his first New Year’s. He’s never experienced this before. Also, Yosuke did get New Year’s money. He talks about saving it on 1/10 when walking to school).

I think I remember Teddie saying he watches movies with Mrs. Hanamura, but I have no idea where he says that. There’s a 50/50 chance I made that up and convinced myself it was canon, so don’t take my word on that one. 

Teddie breaks A LOT of rules at Junes. He steals topsicles, rode a handi mover through the store, slept on both a display bed and the floor of electronics department, been yelled at for eating samples, been chased by store security, and Yosuke had to monitor Teddie during his late night shift because they didn’t trust him to work alone. Teddie’s a terrible employee, yet he hasn’t been fired. I think the reason for this is he’s basically the manager’s son. I do want to say that just because they consider Teddie as their own child doesn’t mean they treat Yosuke as anything less. I haven’t seen a single thing that has implied that there is favoritism going on.

Yosuke and Teddie act a lot like brothers (Naoki even suspects that they're related), and Yosuke’s parents seem to treat Teddie like their own son. He even wears their family crest in offical art. I looks like ATLUS wnted the four of them to be a family. And If that’s the case, it wouldn’t make any sense for Mr. and Mrs. Hanamura to be bad parents.

Additionally, if Mr. and Mrs. Hanamura treated Yosuke badly, and Teddie noticed, I think Teddie would say something.

The second Yukari said something slightly mean about Yosuke, Teddie defended him. He doesn’t like when other people say mean things about Yosuke. Not to mention conflict really stresses him out. If Yosuke’s parents treated him badly, I there’s a chance Teddie might see the problem.

I think it’s also worth noting that Yosuke’s parents have a really healthy marriage.

This quote implies that they’re rarely apart and get along really well. A happy marriage doesn’t automatically equal a healthy household or good parents, but it really increases the likelihood. 

For context, Yosuke is talking about Teddie in this picture. I’m not from Japan, so I don’t know if most families there eat breakfast together, but my family - despite being very close - does not. We all eat and start our day at different times. In my mind, eating breakfast together is a very domestic thing to do. Even the phrase “Hanamura family breakfast” screams domestic to me.

This conversation gives me the sense that Mr. Hanamura has a great deal of trust and respect for Yosuke. I mean, I don’t think he would accept Yosuke’s idea if he didn’t. Adding a kid’s menu would be pretty exspensive. Not only do they have to print the kid’s menu, but they have to design them, create new menu items, and depedning on what’s on the menu buy more food or ingredients. That adds up, and if it isn’t successful then they’ll lose money. Mr. Hanamura has to approve that idea, and he’s putting in trust that it’s going to be successful. Also, Yosuke is comfortable enough to “push really hard” for his idea.

All in all, it is my personal opinion that the Hanamurs are a really close family. It would make sense for ATLUS to go in that direction to create a contrast to the Narukami’s, after all. That being said, neither headcanon is wrong. It just comes down to how we interpret the very little information we’re given.

[princekirijo]

Now that I've gushed LET'S HEAR YOU TALK ABOUT WHAT YOU LOVE ABOUT MITSURU, QUEEN 💕💕💕💕💕😤

OH THANK YOU QUEEN!!!

To be honest this is a really difficult question to answer because there’s so much it’s hard to vocalize if that makes sense? I’ll do my best though. This got really long so I’ll try put in a read more thing but I’m sorry if it doesn’t show up that’s just Tumblr being stupid.

So OK let’s get the obvious thing out of the way. Mitsuru Kirijo is hot. She is the reason I’m a lesbian. Like that red hair? Those eyes? I feel like every wlw had the same experience playing P3 and we all just collectively went yes she is hot as hell and we all felt for that one chick who sits outside the student council room gushing about her. And then her Arena design is just 😳

Then there’s like literally everything else? I love her character development throughout the game, how she’s cold and secretive at the start but she slowly warms up by the end and makes some real life long friends. And her relationship with Yukari is obviously my favorite story arc in the game. No matter how you want to view it (platonic/romantic) it’s really nice to see how close they became at the end of the game and how important Yukari was in Mitsuru’s development.

I also like that even though she’s seemingly cold and unapproachable she’s still the mom/older sister friend of the group and genuinely cares about them. She signs them up for summer classes so that they won’t fall behind (ok without their permission but she did have their best interests in mind) and also she’s always the one to instigate a discussion (e.g. when the gang first meet after Ryoji tells them about Nyx she’s the one who tries to start up a discussion). And even though she says herself that she did view them as simple assets in her mission to end the dark hour as opposed to people, she actively tries to fight that. When it’s pointed out to her, she feels horrible, apologies and changes her ways. I’ve always had a soft spot for mom/older sister friend characters so like Mitsuru fits right in.

There’s also her social link. It’s one of my favorites in the game (probably second or third) just because it’s so funny? Like this seemingly intelligent individual who can do no wrong, can’t wrap her head around the concept of eating with her hands. Like she’s so funny and cute about it especially when she believes whatever you say about ramen etiquette. And my absolute favorite part is when she just verbally choke slams her asshole of a fiancee. Like normally it’s like oh look the protagonist is saving the girl but NO. Mitsuru makes this man run for his mommy (what a QUEEN). But her social link is also really sad too because up until that point she was willing to marry him for the sake of the company regardless of her own needs. And like she’s been doing this all her life...

Which brings me into my next point I just love how complex she is? Like there’s a lot of depth to her character and it makes her really interesting. She is cold and unapproachable but there’s a reason for this. She had such a rough childhood (really no childhood at all) and I would go so far as to call her a child soldier. Fighting shadows at such a young age, being experimented on by scientists and having all the responsibilities associated with being the heir to an extremely powerful and dark company is bound to make you tough. And yet she never complains about it. She keeps her head held high and keeps fighting and I admire her for that. Of course this has the unfortunate drawback of her not knowing how to ask for help and this is something I relate strongly too. We both put this pressure on ourselves to be perfect and we both neglect our own needs in favor of others. She’s so hardworking and she’s honestly a role model for me. The way she works so hard to atone for the sins of the past and make up for mistakes WHICH SHE NEVER MADE. She has this generational trauma thrust onto her at such a young age and she just deals with it? What a queen (but also please love go get some therapy).

And look I could sit here and talk for hours about how I love her Personas and how well suited they are, how special she is to me for helping me accept my sexuality, how much of an absolute MONSTER she is in portable (no marin karin spamming here), how gay she is (in my opinion lol) but I’ve already rambled on long enough. Mitsuru is a special character for me and honestly? I just love everything about her.

[queensconquest]

veritcs said:  1-10!

( MULTIMUSE QUESTIONS )

1. Which of your muses to do relate to the most?         Hacker  ,  without  a  doubt.  I  have  mentioned  it  a  bit  before  in  a  post  ,  but  a  lot  of  his  struggles  and  faults  I  experience  as  well  ,  but  his  strengths  as  well.  Although  my  skills  aren’t  in  hacking  ofc  ,  but  having  an  area  one  excels  in  is  definitely  my  situation  as  well  as  a  struggle  with  motivation  if  I  don’t  have  an  interest.  It’s  not  that  I  can’t  focus  ,  I  just  don’t  want  to  which  isn’t  good.

2. Which of your muses was an unexpected muse?          I  can’t  really  say  any  of  mine  now  are  particularly  unexpected  ,  since  the  ‘  unexpected  muses  ‘  are  also  all  the  same  type.  But  I  would  say  Yukari  was  most  likely  the  most  unexpected  ?  He’s  drastically  different  from  the  type  strongly  associated  with  me  ,  although  people  have  come  to  see  characters  like  him  &  rufus  as  being  my  type  as  well.  But  I  do  remember  the  surprise  when  I  initially  picked  him  up.

3. Have any of your muses taught you anything in writing them? What?          Unwillingly  ,  yes.  Like  doing  research  for  Vil  taught  me  all  sorts  of  etiquette  rules  ,  Sigma  taught  me  a  lot  about  greek  culture  (  and  even  a  bit  on  the  written  language  )  ,  back  when  I  actively  wrote  chuuya  (  even  if  he’s  a  request  muse  )  ,  doing  the  research  for  Arahabaki  (14  pages  into  google  search  and  3  libraries  later-  )  or  even  for  Lucifer  &  Fenrir  ,  a  lot  of  it  has  been  informational  teaching.  But  in  regards  to  life  lessons...Yes  to  a  degree  ,  I  just  don’t  have  the  courage  to  really  step  out  if  you  know  what  i  mean  ? 

4. Which muse required the most research for?          Hmm...  Probably  Byakkomaru  or  Vil.  Byakkomaru  I  did  a  lot  of  research  historically  to  learn  about  his  culture  back  when  he  was  human  and  to  plan  out  his  human  /  vampire  /  demon  timeline  as  well  as  who  the  one  other  master  he  willingly  served  as  a demon  before  Shinya  was.  Vil  I  have  done  a  lot  of  research  for  etiquette  because  his  whole  dorm  is  based  on  elegance  (  although  I  never  did  end  up  posting  that  etiquette  list  )  as  well  as  model  information  since  he  is  one  as  well.  

5. Do you think your writing style changes for different muses?         Sometimes  ?  I  think  certain  characters  definitely  have  a  more  distinct  feel  to  them  Rufus  &  Yukari  both  tend  to  have  a  lot  of  metaphors  or  poetic  feel  to  them.  Nagare’s  tends  to  be  quite  blunt  with  how  he  is  often  quite  blunt  and  not  a  lot  of  detail  unless  its  setting  up  scenery  or  situation.  I  think  it  tends  to  be  a  bit  more  subtle  ,  but  I’m  not  entirely  sure  if  it  comes  across  or  not.

 6. Is your time divided equally between each muse?          No.  But  I  try  to.  It’s  just  that  there’s  a  LOT  less  interest  in  some  of  my  muses  than  there  is  in  others  ,  so  they  get  less  time  by  far  even  if  I  do  try  to  write  hcs  &  share  pictures  of  them  too.

7. Do you have a technique for switching between muses or do you just do it?          I  just  do  it  tbh.  No  technique.  But  sometimes  I  will  listen  to  a  muse’s  playlist  I  made  /  watch  a  couple  video  edits  to  wake  up  a  muse  if  I  need  to  do  that.

8. Which of your muses is the most difficult to write?          TO  write  ?  A  good  question.  I  guess  it  depends  on  if  we  mean  just  writing  in  general  or  an  aspect  of  writing.  Because  Lucifer’s  easy  to  write  but  trying  to  explain  his  emotions  /  thought  can  be  difficult.  But  maybe  Vil.  He  is  both  easy  and  hard.  His  voice  and  him  as  a  character  is  easy  for  me  to  write.  But  Vil  is  a  perfectionist  so  his  perfectionism  sets  off  my  own  perfectionism  that  sometimes  ends  up  in  a  cycle  or  me  rewriting  something  4-5  times  because  it  just  doesn’t  sound  right  if  that  makes  sense  ?

9. Which of your muses is the easiest to write?          Nagare  and  Yukari  are  often  quite  easy  for  me  to  write  ,  along  with  Solomon  and  Lucifer.  (  And  I’m  slapping  Sigma  onto  this  list  because  i  can  ALWAYS  write  Sigma  when  I  get  the  opportunity  to.  And  he  lets  me  let  out  my  inner  mythology  nerd  too  ).  These  muses  are  generally  the  most  consistently  active  

10. Is there a crossover you just can’t resist?         Not  really.  I  like  doing  crossovers  (  far  more  than  AUs  bc  those  always  fail  for  me  )  but  I  can’t  say  there’s  one  I  can’t  resist.

[tacitusauxilium]

verse;; flip flop

In this verse:

Every Phantom Thief and couple confidants are swapped--meaning that Persona 3 people and Persona 5 people are in different universes. Instead of Akira/Rin being the leader, it is now Minato leading the phantom thieves.

Personas are the same as of now. I have not thought THAT ahead into what Personas they might have with them being thieves, or if they would stay the same.

I also haven’t taken outfits into consideration.

And, also, this story would take place IN IWATODAI, just that the areas will be a bit different--so that everyone can go to the same high school.

Which leads me into the next few points:

Minato <--> Rin/Akira

So, he does have a twin sister, Minako, but she had a mental shut down and he wants to know what the hell cause her to have that happen (his parents also had mental shut downs too). Which lead to his parents sending him to Iwatodai to live with SHINJIRO, which will be explained further down.

Yukari <--> Ann

Yukari is a model in this verse, on the side just like Ann, and she still does Archery. She uses her modelling skills to save money for her and her mother--her mother is a bit more friendly this time around. The baseball coach hits on her, sexually, and leads to her almost losing her confidence, but Shiho keeps her going, no matter what.

Junpei <--> Ryuji

Junpei does get into the extra-curricular of baseball. However, his team was brought down by Kamoshida--he whacked a baseball bat at Junpei when he was late to a practice (his father, in this verse, is still a drunkard of sorts, but once his dad found out he had liver cancer and has to help him, Junpei still hates his dad, but is more willing to help him now), hence he has a limp on his right leg, a scar still on the back of his leg when they tried to fix up his knee.

Koromaru <--> Morgana

This is an odd one--a talking Koromaru, yet what would he look like in the Metaverse? I’m not so sure, but it’ll be something similar to what Morgana looks like--I feel Koromaru would be talking very elegantly, since Shiba Inus are just pretty and everything. XD He would have the same motives that Morgana does, but he was just a random dog picked out of the blue who got lots of attention because he was a loner and his owner died.

Mitsuru <--> Makoto

I feel this is obvious since they are both student council members--presidents especially. She would still live with her father, a top prosecutor in the area, just like Sae, and they would also explore his dungeon, too. There really isn’t much difference with them, tbh, I just can’t think of anything to really remove or add at the moment.

 Akihiko <--> Yusuke

Akihiko got into his school’s program because of his boxing scholarship--so it shows he is itching to fight and to let off some steam. Aki’s personally isn’t as wild as Yusuke’s. They do go after Akihiko’s boxing coach because he started to give drugs to those who aren’t fit to make it to the top (usually steroids), and Akihiko doesn’t want that to happen to him--he knows he is the best and that’ll happen if he does do well, also he can’t leave because if he leaves, he loses his scholarship. So his coach also has a palace as well

Fuuka <--> Futaba

THIS IS GONNA BE LONG. I figured this was would be very obvious. I mean, WHY NOT? Anyway, so here is where Fuuka and Shinji play into the story--Fuuka’s parents were very acclaimed doctors, as they were in P3. So, they were working together with cognitive psience and with Minato and Minako’s parents as well--they were great friends and knew what they would doing could kill them. Literally. 

Fuuka’s parents had mental shut downs, Minato and Minako’s parents did as well, and Minako was Shuji Ikutsuki’s first subject to see if the mental shut down truly worked. It did. So Minato was transferred into safety before Minako and their parents died. Fuuka was basically parent-less, Minato was being transferred to Iwatodai, realizing that his parents must have died along with his sister (now, he was living with some family BEFORE moving to Iwatodai), and Fuuka wondered the streets, unsure of where to even go.

Hence, she stumbled upon Chagall coffee shop and almost bumped into Shinjiro as he was leaving. Fuuka explained what she knew, making Shinjiro sympathize with her--he didn’t have any parents either, that he knew of very well that is, and he began to let her stay with him, ready to adopt her. I SHOULD NOTE THAT EVERYONE IS THE SAME AGE AS THEY WERE IN P3.

Shinjiro, however, is in his mid 20s.

Anyway, so he is ready to adopt her until he finds out that Minato is going to be in his care, since Shinjiro was friends of the Arisatos, only because he took care of the twins when they were younger--knowing Minako was dead, along with her parents, took him by surprised, but then he took Minato instantly and tried to welcome him with open arms.

This makes Fuuka a bit...sheltered and lonely. Shinjiro, unintentionally, gives his focus to Minato, since they knew each other. Fuuka does’t ask for Shinjiro’s help for much of anything, feeling that maybe she should have died with her parents so she wouldn’t have to feel this loneliness--this leads to her having her own palace.

I also have a feeling that Fuuka would totally make Aigis, once she focuses her efforts and has her Persona--albeit it might be a tiny robot a la a certain character in Dangan Ronpa 2. 

Ken <--> Haru

Now, I was really REALLY not sure about this. I wanted to substitute Shinjiro in instead of Ken, but thought this might work wonders.

So, Ken meets Koromaru inside of his own mother’s palace--not sure how that will go since I wouldn’t know what she would do as a living--perhaps a toy company? Or maybe a food company like Okumura?

Granted, the only way they would see Ken is whenever he would hang out with the other kid who has the social link with the game and the cheater (I cannot think of his name).

Ken would be motherless--no father in the picture too. 

So his family would own Gekkoukan High, as well as another establishment--his family will feel discomfort because they didn’t realize how fucked up a couple teachers were at the school and they have to do crowd control.

I haven’t developed much of anything with him tbh.

Shinjiro <--> Goro

So, this is where I was gonna have someone like Aigis here--since she didn’t really truly belong, but she did in a way. So, I thought Shinjiro would be interesting here. He’d only help--during Fuuka’s palace, since he is her guardian, and soon to be more? Eh. I don’t wanna push ships just yet.

Shinjiro isn’t going to back stab the team -- he’s only helping with the one mission because he felt he owed it to Fuuka. Something he tells the Phantom Thieves is that there is a group that are possibly pursuing the same goals as they do, but he believes that they are the ones doing the mental shutdowns as the Phantom Thieves are not. Shinjiro was suppose to be a part of that group (STREGA), but he changed his mind the day he was going to go join--Fuuka popped up and changed his mind.

So, that’s the one and done deal with him--he doesn’t bring up his Persona much. Now that I think about it, I think he’ll come back to take down the members of STREGA, for sure, knowing they killed Minako, Fuuka’s parents, and the twins parents.

Strega

This was going to be in Goro’s spot--but, I think this would be interesting to talk about as a separate group of people.

So, Jin and Takaya are the main issues--the group has to take them down since they knew that Ken’s mother died because of them and that they were the ones who took down Fuuka and Minato’s parents, as well as MInako--this makes Fuuka, Minato, and Shinjiro furious and they get more motivated to help everyone take them down.

Jin and Takaya get taken down towards the end of the Metaverse--Chidori is taken down during Shuji’s dungeon, because Jin and Takaya took her down by themselves, surprised that they would take down someone like her, a navigator of sorts, too. She knew too much and getting attached to the thieves was her demise.

Jin would be taken down before they go after the holy grail, whereas Takaya is taken down before taking on Yaldabaoth, calling for salvation and all that BS.

Haven’t thought of them much--just randomly came to me while typing this all up.

This is all I could think of at the moment--I think the only social links that will change is possibly... ...Sae’s, which would be Mitsuru’s father social link, and Sojiro’s and Goro’s, since Shinjiro is taking up both slots, more or less. I think Chidori might be the one who’ll take a social link FOR Goro, since it’ll make sense since she seems to be a bit neutral on the whole matter--she is more outgoing, happier (much compared to P3), and a vocalist who gets interviewed about the thieves.

But yeah? I did it! :D Now to shoot myself in the foot.

[itsbenedict]

No Driver’s License: Omakes 29.4-29.6

No Driver’s License is a Madoka Magica game I’m running for five players, using a homebrew of Yaruki Zero’s Magical Burst system. It follows five magical girls as they deal with an upheaval in the world’s magic system caused by some strange new three-eyed Incubators. They have to figure out what’s going on, who to trust, and how to put a stop to the cycle of despair.

I post session logs and omakes weekly sporadically, both as a reference for the players and for anyone who wants to follow along with the party’s misadventures.

[adventure log- read from the beginning]

[session 29]

Quick heads up- things are gonna be kind of wonky from here on out, on account of weird scheduling issues have made regular sessions infrequent, and omake side-sessions more frequent and plot-important. On top of that, the omakes kind of jump around the timeline, so... here, the omakes that were played later come chronologically before the ones played earlier, and those earlier ones are sort of big game-changers, so they’ll get their own post later.

Last time on No Driver’s License, the team defused a thorny situation at Denny’s, obtained a new ally, and were attacked by a mob of angry cats. This time... in 29.4, Sakura spies on the cannibals to get some intel about their powersets. In 29.5, nothing happens. Don’t worry about it. In 29.6, Ibara brings some food to Reiko, and finds an unexpected glimmer of hope.

29.4 (Sakura, Kimiko, Emiko)

So, Sakura wants some hard intel. They’ve got access to infinite mana to craft the magic items they’ll need to stop the cannibals, but in order to tailor their arsenal to the foe they’re facing, they need to know some more about what their enemy can do. To get that info, Sakura takes one of Makoto’s stealth amulets, and follows the cannibals after school.

Now- the Amulets of Somebody Else’s Problem only have their full effect when you are somebody else’s problem, and Sakura- as a member of the team that kidnapped Yoshe- isn’t somebody else’s problem. That said- both cannibals fail to roll high enough to notice her following them.

Sakura makes and passes some additional rolls to get in close without being noticed, thanks to Maurice, her familiar. She’s able to overhear what they’re talking about.

Sakura has no trouble taffying any witch familiars that make themselves a problem. From there, she’s able to get a decent view of Emiko as she fights the witch. The way this works is- she rolls Magic to get a sense for what Emiko’s abilities are doing. On an 11+, she succeeds and gets the exact ability description copy-pasted from the character sheet. On a 10 or less, she sees the ability in action, but doesn’t necessarily know all the specifics.

Farn helpfully compiled a google doc of everything Sakura learned from this fight:

After all this, Emiko finally manages to take down the witch... and Fumi-chan is there, to revive Kimiko.

Sakura... is having a lot of trouble keeping herself from just attacking right now, while they’re comparatively vulnerable. But... comparatively is comparatively, and if she tried anything, it’d probably go badly. She manages to hold back.

Kimiko’s back, and then... it’s Emiko’s turn to witch.

The witch this time is pretty standard- just a big giant knight in shining armor in the middle of a battlefield, for Kimiko to beat on. Here’s what Sakura manages to get on her from this fight:

And then... Emiko’s a seed, and Sakura has one more shot.

...Not feeling good, huh.

29.5 (???)

So... something happened, even though it didn’t. What didn’t happen... was probably the least fun thing that’s happened so far in No Driver’s License. Someone attempted to talk to someone else, but played the situation... exactly incorrectly, such that there was no realistic way that the person in question could’ve responded well to it. It was kind of a catastrophic social situation that was no fun for anyone at all.

Thankfully, it didn’t happen. No one even remembers it happening. The consequence of the thing happening was that it didn’t even happen, and in fact, who did it even happen to? No one knows! Because as far as anyone can tell, it didn’t actually ever happen, so, hey, don’t worry about it.

29.6 (Ibara, Reiko)

Ibara lugs the food down to the bunker, where she’s unexpectedly tackled by Takamine Mitsuki, who thought she was Seina- the only one of the group allowed in the bunker. Thankfully, she rolls well enough to avoid being knocked over and dropping the food.

Nails is there, too, and she’s skeptical of the idea of Ibara cooking. Fear of Mystery Food X wells up within her, and Ibara’s only partially successful at allaying those fears.

From there, Ibara heads to one of the furniture barricades that separates Reiko’s part of the complex from the rented-out rooms. Reiko’s about to blow her top at one of the team being there unauthorized, but Ibara leads with apologizing and offering food, so Reiko doesn’t get a full head of steam going.

Ibara assures Reiko her gem’s not in danger- but Reiko can’t exactly say the same. Hers is in dangerous condition since the bounced check incident, but she’s stable for now. She offers to buy any Grief Seeds the party might find for money, though.

Ibara lets her know that the cannibals are almost dealt with, and the families aren’t going to need to stay too much longer. Reiko... seems happy about this news, but Ibara can tell she’s sort of in a bad mood anyway? She rolls +Heart to try and get something more specific, but rolls snake eyes- the Power of Love.

Reiko really likes the food, though, so she opens up enough to... ask Ibara for help on her math homework. And... Ibara fails her real roll, because come on, Ibara hasn’t been to school in over a month, and she wasn’t exactly a model student before, either.

Ibara goes into Yukari’s whole insider trading fiasco, and they commiserate over the cops being useless. Apparently, Reiko’s mom was recently arrested- but she’s taken out predatory loans to buy lawyers to try and get her off. Again. And... Ibara puts two and two together.

Ibara produces the knife, which she indeed pocketed when Yukari wasn’t looking.

It’s about then that Reiko... realizes she isn’t angry. That she’s happy, that even though Ibara’s in her house and she’s failing math, she isn’t blowing up. Because of friendship, or something? She finds this... incredible. She barely has words.

Then Ibara heads off to deliver some food to the rest of the people in the bunker.

Ibara- getting a little spooked- tries to reassure them that cooking was her own idea, and she wanted to do it for fun, and that they wouldn’t be burdening her by eating it- just the opposite.

It’s around this point that Ibara gets a text from Homura, who is indicating that Ibara’s “variance is spiking”, meaning that something happening here has the potential to heavily affect the odds of Madoka existing.

It’s time to... examine Ibara’s wish, a little.

Well... I guess we’ll find out, huh? Because it’s around this time that Yukari calls the team together for an emergency meeting. What sort of emergency meeting? A meeting to deal with the consequences of Omakes 29.1-29.3, the contents of which we’ll explore next time.

[jjinomu]

Hii!!!/// How are you!! I like you model so much omg!!! Hope you are pink in this year!! May i ask you some question😂😂😂 1:)How to rigging jacket?? 2:)How to make muscular abs tda base😂 3:)I make a eyelash on meta for my tda model and how to merge eyelash with facial together 😂😂 Thank you😂

hi i’m pretty okay! thank u so much ehhe wowee that’s a lot of questions, i’ll try to answer them to the best of my ability, i can’t provide any images or video tutorials at the current moment, so bear with the verbal instructions and hopefully something makes sense leoeleoelolol i unfortunately use a lot of PMX lingo so i hope you have at least some experience, but if not then i’ll add some pictures later to make it more simple to understand askdjalskd

for jacket rigging:

usually for short jackets, i rig straight to the base no bones or nothing because it’s usually not necessary 

for longer jackets or jackets if you want to rig them properly (for e.g ruby’s jacket or yukari’s), i use the skirt plugin to add rows of bonesskirt row bones are proportional to the length, for ultra long coats (like kaitos) i’ll aim for maybe 8-12 rows of bones, 8-10 columns works well too, depending on the amount of vertices/mesh you have

NOTE: the more vertices the more tricker to rig and perhaps the more rows you’ll need- most of my jackets aren’t super high poly because i don’t want to hassle trying to rig an actual disaster of a coat (i already hate rigging coats as it is hehe) so i opt for less rows, which means less post and less mess-up

if it’s an opened longer coat, usually the front column of bones isn’t rig to much, so you can go through each of those bones, rig 0 to any of the vertices showing (make sure you only rig 0 to the vertices that are highlighted red/purple rather than anything that’s black) across all the bones in that column, and then delete the column. additionally, make sure to delete the physics that were connected to those (now deleted) bones, and joints connected to those physics so that it’ll flow more like a coat should

some additional advice!!! go forth and check out some jackets other people have rigged (or stuff i’ve done as well if you’d like e.g. kiyoteru’s jacket/coat) and see how they’ve done it so that you have an idea of what to do, all jackets are differently rigged so it’s good to observe (as long as you’re not stealing them tho hehe) and experiment!!! it’ll always look silly (especially with coats!! i have such bad rigging issues with coats) but trial+error and lots of suffering will hopefully get you somewhere hehe

for muscular abs:

asdjaklsjd you’ve asked the wrong person!!! i’ve never had any muscular tda edits with abs so i can’t help you much there bc i’ve no experience unfortunately so idk my suggestion is that maybe you should look at references and texture them instead idk???? 

for eyelashes:

you’ll need to add the eyelashes onto your model in PMX and individually go to each eye morph, right-click the cntrl+e function (for editing that eye morph), select the eyelash and move them to their right placement in the edit window and save!! it’s pretty similar to how you would move the eyelash in your normal PMX editing window so shouldn’t be too difficult- only a little tedious hehe

or!!! alternatively, if you already have eyelash morphs, but they’re separated from the eye morphs, and you want to merge them, here’s a tiny tutorial on how to merge them, as long as they have the same japanese name (i.e. blink for the eye morph is also blink for the eyelash morph- but in japanese) then that should work out totally fine!!!

hopefully something there helps you out!! when i get a chance i’ll include some visuals too!!

[truffuri]

Long Ass Post About my (mostly negative) Thoughts on P3D and P5D

I’ll save everyone the trouble and let you know that Shinji, Ryoji, and Goro aren’t confirmed (yet) for being in P3D or P5D and I just want to express something.

Let me just say I’ve pretty much given up on Atlus a lot these past few years. Persona 4 is probably my favorite game of all time and I constantly find myself going back to play it even with all of its flaws. I’ve been very invested in the Persona franchise for years and I’ve played and purchased just about every SMT game and spin-off to come to the US. And I’ve given up on Atlus making anything that makes sense, instead of just reusing the exact same ideas that have shown to make money in the past.

Let me also say, I’ve given up on Ryoji. He’s my favorite character in Persona 3, but hey I’ll be realist. He’s in the game for about 1/8th of its run and isn’t a part of S.E.E.S. I don’t know why I had faith that Atlus would ever want to try and rewrite one of the shittiest main villains in all of the Persona games or perhaps give him a second chance. Even though it's obvious from his treatment in the movies and in the stage play they tried to give him a bit more something but completely ignore all that effort to go back to the idea that no one is buying P3D for the boys they only care about their wifus. Even though Ryoji is not presented as a villain and it seen as the MC’s best friend, and is a character specifically written to be sympathized and pitied to be likeable, fuck that. I’ve given up. I can kinda get the logic behind Ryoji, I do still have faith that he probably will be added in the game as a one song, $5, DLC character (I mean if Adachi got in so can Ryoji).

But honestly I don’t understand why Shinjiro isn’t immediately confirmed for the game. It’s like Atlus loves writing characters you are clearly supposed to like and then forgetting about them because “oh yeah, well he died so everyone probably just forgot about him by the end of the game”. Shinji is as much a member of S.E.E.S as Akihiko or Mitsuru are. I see him as more of a permanent member than Yukari or Junpei ever were. And I mean I’m being real here, why the fuck is Ken Amada in this game if Shinji isn’t? Did they just think that because Ken was in Arena Ultimax he suddenly became likeable? Shinji is a much more iconic member of S.E.E.S than Ken (because lets be honest, if there was one character in the entire game I never saw coming in any way shape or form it was Ken Amada. I knew Koromaru was gonna be a member of S.E.E.S before I thought Ken was). If Naoto can get into P4D, why the fuck can’t Shinji? They’re in their respective games for the same amount of time pretty much, just that one is presented in the middle and one is presented at the end. It’s pretty shitty in my mind to reduce Shinji down to a DLC character, because he actually was a lot more valuable to players than that. If you want DLC characters you can have your hands full with Metis, Koromaru, Chidori, Ryoji, Elizabeth, and Theodore.

P4D had 10 characters that each had 2+ songs. So far P3D has 6. That seems way too low in my opinion? If they are sticking to the idea that each character kinda gets their own style of remixes (which they should because that’s about one of the only design choices I liked in that game) then that means that each character would get about 4+ songs to themselves? That seems like a bit too much, and it would be better to space it out over other characters so you can have a more colorful cast of kids all having a good time. Akihiko and Shinji dancing together is about as iconic as Yosuke and Narukami tbh???

Goro I have the same opinion on pretty much, don’t write a character who is specifically meant to be pitied and liked when you just throw him out like trash because he’s not Futaba the ultimate wet dream wifu. I think it would be an interesting dynamic to get him to dance with the other characters, something that you really couldn’t get from any of the othes. I don’t know why Atlus treats Goro like the terrible stepchild in every single piece of media they release despite the fact he was an important character in the game and they obviously took time designing him a persona, a full moveset, and a phantom thief outfit like they did all the others. The only nice thing I will say for Goro possibly being a DLC only character is that P5D just doesn’t have the source material to draw music from so it might have a thinner OST. P4D took from P4, P4G, Arena, and PQ and P5D is only gonna be able to take music from the one game, so it’s possible they couldn’t come up with enough songs to hold 8+ characters (because I’m assuming the velvet room attendants are also going to get their own song like Margret did) and have everyone get at least two each. But I doubt that's the case and most likely they just wanted to use the space a Goro song would take up for about 4 thousand more models showing off Anns ass (the fact they seperated the girls and the boys in the PV is very, “don’t worry your wifu’s are also in the game too” to me) I also didn’t have hardly any hope for Goro to begin with because he is constantly thrown to the curb.

And the reason I just don’t get any of this, is because I doubt many people who don’t like Persona are interested in these games. I mean, stand alone they suck as rhythm games. If you want a good rhythm game on the vita or ps4 don’t worry, project diva has got you covered with many choices to choose from. They’re making a game that is supposed to sell pretty much only to their fans, and then cutting out key characters and expecting nobody to care? Or selling them as DLC characters because you fucking know people like Adachi too much to pass up the nasty ass remix of Fog?

And I’ll leave with that I guess. I do have quite a bit of faith that they’ll make all of the above characters DLC songs, but I don’t agree with that choice. If a character is a main character, is presented within the game as being part of the team (S.E.E.S or Phantom Theives) than they should be treated just as much as a character as the others. Atlus needs to take a tip from Danganronpa and learn to treat characters who live up to the end or die in the first hour all the same (with the exception of main boys and highly debated love interests). They might be saving a few characters as unlockables like Margaret was, but I’m pretty sure those positions will be easily filled by Elizabeth and Lavenza/Caroline/Justine.

But with all that being said, I am disappointed but I also am happy these games got green lit. I do get tired of Atlus’s constant reusing of the exact same game method but I’m still a slave to them and get happy when I see other characters I like in cute outfits and dancing around on screen. I just wish they all could be there because it feels so incomplete without certain members.

[imaginative-mortal]

I have risen from the void!

Hello, friends, and followers! I'm not dead- or am I? Have I risen from the grave!??!?! Anyway, I just decided to pop on here and tell what I've been up to ~ So, I made a Nu Goth Yuzuki Yukari. She turned out really well! I made her skirt physics... FROM SCRATCH! That's right, I've been messing with physics, son! •superhero pose• She works very well, and is pretty much finished! BUT. Her stocking textures are giving me grief, hence why you haven't seen her yet. I also made someone else! Ol' Yan-kun. AKA, Yandere-kun! He turned out really well too! He needs blood sliders and stuff- did I mention that I know how to make sliders now too? I should get paid for this, OMG. ANYWAY. His hair is giving me a lot of trouble. The back physics drag if that makes sense. I have a feeling I have to make them from scratch, and I really don't want to. •sobs• ALSO! I'm very, very heavily considering putting Yukari up for download when she's finished, and Gooms when I finish her. And probably my Yan-kun and Yan-chan when I finish them. I might even make another Luka edit and put her up too! BUT. I don't know if I want to just... put them up. I did pour my entire soul into Yukari, and my hands fell off twice while I was making her... •cries• [okay, not actually falling off, but they did get really stiff. RIP me] I still have flashbacks about all the clipping! I might have them for note download on my DeviantArt. It's not that I'm afraid of people stealing my edits, and stuff. [okay, maybe a little. I don't have a lot of trust within the MMDC] I'm more afraid of people using these models for fetish stuff, and things of the like. Things that go against TDA's rules. I don't want to get in trouble, okay!?!?!? Note download to me sounds the safest. And, that way I know people actually read the rules. ANYWAY! I need to stop rambling, OMG. Just... wanted to let you all know I'm not dead or anything. ... How do I end this? •turns into a potato• [I've never been very good at writing endings... hence why my main story has like a million alternate endings, oops.]

[downtomyunderoos]

kindness

// akihiko sanada (downtomyunderoos) & yukari takeba (loversquiver)

1. Akihiko --

“Don’t be killed, alright? That’s the best you can strive for.”

2. Yukari --

He places the scuffed evoker into her grasp as if it belongs.

As if she does.

She doesn’t want to merely hang on—but, for now, she can’t fight this.

Tooth and nail is all she’s got.

Fingers wrap around the grip of the phony gun, pulling it close to jackhammering heart. It weighs hundreds of times heavier there than it does when grasped in the palm of her hand.

A deep silence reigns.

She knows Kirijo has reservations about letting her continue with them on their patrol. Yukari has to prove her wrong—has to prove herself durable. Valuable. Somehow.

The two Senpai flank her, Sanada knelt on his haunches, Kirijo standing with arms crossed; presumably deliberating her fate. She’s in the middle, asphalt at her bruised rear. She knows she messed up. They don’t want it to happen again, and neither does she.

The lack of conversation leaves room for her to defend herself.

“… I’ll stay at the back,” she swears, reholstering. No more running in half-cocked. The sound of the snap is meant to reassure them that she’s serious and means it; that she won’t fall out of line and jeopardize everyone again.

Eyes dart between the pair. Sanada’s the one she lingers on the longest, who she pleads silently with the most.

Funny, how desperate she’s become.

3. Akihiko --

What possessed their newest member to directly confront a shadow mob as well as Death on her own despite being a bow user he hasn’t a clue.

It definitely wasn’t her persona, however.

Of all people to wonder, Akihiko Sanada shouldn’t be one of them and he knows. He did find it more of a feat despite having to dive in and rescue her. This fact is fresh at the forefront of his mind, and less than an hour keeps him from commenting on Takeba’s performance or being proud of both her and himself.

Although shaken up now, Takeba showed promise and now the will to continue. Unlike what Mitsuru thinks, as long as she allows the faux gun to be handed to her, Takeba is deserving of another chance. They’re all positioned on the same gritty asphalt, all in this together. Akihiko feels the downcast aura of his kouhai, and he makes his peaceful opposition to Mitsuru by nodding and stretching his arm towards Takeba with an open hand.

“I’ll hold you to that.”

4. Yukari --

It’s a show of compassion, of confidence, and the impression will outlast this night. When she doubts, when she’s unsure, when she needs someone to model herself after, she’ll remember the time Senpai held out his hand and bestowed real trust.

Trust in her performance?

… it wasn’t a performance. He can sense that in spite of her awkward way, she dimly (abashedly) comprehends. She couldn't hide her inexperience, but there’s something about her that he must recognize as worthy of second chances and so she takes what’s offered while the sentiment is fresh in him.

(Freshness is more than welcome in this oppressive, dank atmosphere; she’s thankful for this singular opportunity to breathe a bit easier.)

Conscious about appearing too eager - too scared, too undignified - she grips his hand with strength, uses it for a split second’s worth of leverage. Gratitude expresses itself in the peaceful lowering of her head just before fingers release. She’s up on her feet again, so time to stand assured; nothing else and nobody else to cling to for support.

Not that kind, anyway…

True to every promise, she sticks at their backs, never again laying fingers upon the 'gun’. It’s easy to feel gratuitous when they’re so quick, so efficient.

Still, long-range efforts are made. She subdues two screeching blobs for them, manages to seize weakness in an aggressive third and surprise even herself.

She’s left breathless, however, just from that meager bit of exposure.

The sky clears, coffins take the shape of living, ignorant bodies, and then it’s the three of them in pursuit of the dormitory. Yukari trails behind, feeling that’s still her place even when the hour isn’t so dark.

“This is… every single night?“ An utterance directed at Sanada-senpai’s moving back as they overtake an amoeba-shaped rain puddle glistening at the foot of the stoop. Her own reflection is murky, hesitating upon the shallow surface.

What she really wanted to ask was: Why does the water turn red?

5. Akihiko --

He’s twisting knots out his wrist while hearing her speak. The amount of experience the two have mirror their contrasting moods, almost making Akihiko sound insulting by how casually he takes her question.

"Nah, we don’t fight every night,” he says due to eyes preoccupied with leather gloves. It’s when they remove themselves Akihiko realizes that’s probably not what their newest member was referring to.

“Oh, you mean– Yeah. Every night.”

Akihiko nodded during to emphasize, to punctuate formality. Takeba’s the first to join SEES who is younger than he. Their relationship is senpai and kouhai, teammates, but now she’s acting like a duckling cowering behind him. This along with the fact she asked such a question has him vaguely remember the newness and absurdity of the Dark Hour. Honestly, he almost forgot such feelings.

The toe of his oxford shoe unintentionally dips and splashes into another incoming puddle. The three’s footsteps serve as background noise amidst the dry air. It’s debatable whether Akihiko continues the conversation to ease Takeba or because his attention guided to her. There seems to be a tense connection between her and Mitsuru, and he remembers again for one reason or another. This time of a friend who was part of the bygone trio.

“How’re you holding up on your first day?” Akihiko asks over his shoulder. It’s as if he’s asking how her first day of school went.

6. Yukari --

Some consolation is extracted from the reassurance, even if it wasn’t quite what she was asking. She debates rephrasing the question, but he soon catches on.

“I see.”

Her expression is solemn as she tip-toes around the puddle rippling in Senpai’s wake. Upon glancing up she finds him with eyes focused her way and quickly nods back in kind. She doesn’t want to seem ungracious. Though, his willingness to keep the conversation going does take her somewhat by surprise.

But not in a bad way.

“It’s… a lot to get used to,” she admits, honestly. The weight on her thigh still clings as a reminder. Of how wretchedly she screwed up before, of the horrified looks on their faces when she proceeded despite their orders… of the sweet, nostalgic voice heard the moment a rusted scythe was raised and the evoker dropped from her hand…

Yukari resisted an incredible urge to shudder and swallowed the bitterness in her throat, steeling herself incase either of them were to peer her way again. She could cry and vomit and give herself a headache later.

“But I’ll get used to it.” Insistence; quiet, but possessing just enough strength and volume to convince even herself.

7. Akihiko --

The reality of that statement is dark, but Akihiko’s tone applauds her resilience. However, at first he takes her attempt at tackling the Dark Hour impersonally, to let her deal with mental repercussions by herself, but their short exchange pulls him in. No matter how one looks at it, Takeba isn’t Mitsuru, but even so, someone – especially with existing, more competent teammates – shouldn’t cope alone. Despite how, uh, consolation isn’t Akihiko’s forte.

How strange it feels to take the role of your best friend.

He’s still contemplating after the three retreat into the dorm once the Dark Hour stops. It shuts itself off instantaneously, so rudely as how it intrudes between normal hours. Akihiko’s tending to a glove adorned with loitering grime while the second half of the pair waits to be scrubbed. This could be done later, he supposed, but the stools at the back beckon while Takeba’s present.

This is when Akihiko goes from toe dipping to plunging halfway.

He observes her tired features, recalls her hoarse insistence, and goes even further back when she fell mid-battle in terror. It might be too much to delve into considering the nature of shadows among prey, but he proceeds while his left hand remains diligently scrubbing. Dimmed lighting filters out lingering hostility from the prior atmosphere and gives Akihiko more solemn features.

"Hey… what happened during that fight? You.. don’t look well.”

8. Yukari --

The lounge is deemed a safe middle ground between Kirijo on the steps, sensory equipment in tow, and Sanada at the bar. While the latter remains, scrubs and scours, Yukari places herself at the very edge of the chair nearest the front door with palms pressed to cold knees, belongings at her feet.

It’s hard to say which jars her more - his question, or the remark about her appearance. Both make her face that she’s weak, and not nearly as persuasive as hoped.

“I really don’t know,” pushes out in place of the grotesque details. Disappointment (in herself) manifests in rigidity of form and distortion of bloodless features. She fumbles fingers over attached metal, the first she’s touched it since re-holstering earlier, and finds she still can’t do so without quivering.

So she ceases; looks up, despite how humiliating it is.

Maybe it’s because there’s someone displaying a shred of real concern that it almost feels okay to open up about what happened… or, to be more accurate, didn’t happen in regards to her attempt at evoking.

It’s unknown how long the feeling will last, if it’ll even go anywhere useful at all, but it’s here for now. The guard is still up, but she’s taking a peak out from behind, testing the waters.

“Sanada-Senpai… the first time you…”

She gesticulates in effort to give meaning to the words, but particularly the weighty, anxiety-ridden pauses in between. Hands settle over her heart when she isn't preoccupied in this manner.

“What… was it like?”

9. Akihiko --

Did he expect her to have an answer? Well, Akihiko definitely doesn’t expect a question to deflect back. It lowers his gaze to darkened red and slows the movement of his hand as he hesitates and tries to exactly recall and grasp the best words for his experience.

( Not saying something so life-changing is easy to forget. )

He remembers the beginning. When Mitsuru coolly entered his life and teased him with a gun as if it were an autographed baseball. When he learned the Dark Hour’s meaning. When his inexperienced stiff hand positioned the evoker on his perspired forehead and how he met Polydeuces for the first time. How he quickly figured out his reason for joining SEES. There’s no need to explain these scenarios, however.

Akihiko pinpoints, staring into what seems to be the void, with brows furrowing. There isn’t much of a difference between his first summon and now, honestly. What helps to respond is how he peered from Mitsuru’s watchful eyes down to the evoker cradled in his hands. At the time the object felt foreign and, especially because of its shape, illegal.

"It was new, that’s for sure.” Akihiko pauses with the maintenance and leans over, closer, to his gloves, hugged into the leg crossed over the other. He continues more seriously. “It was like going through mental shock. An exaggerated epiphany, I guess. How do I put this… I felt.. released.”

Wow, uh, explaining sounds weirder than he expected. He’s not sure if answering her like this would help at all or at least make her feel better. Takeba’s tired expression doesn’t give much hope. Akihiko watches her, contemplating, remembering before he pulled the trigger that his adrenaline-rushed mind scrambled with thoughts regarding his sister, regret, and power. It contrasted with how he felt after and when he gazed at Polydeuces in awe. Another him, huh…

“You know, Takeba, it’s not so bad after… Having a persona, I mean. Aren’t you curious to see yours?”

10. Yukari --

Released…

It’s strange, and frightening, but the idea of letting go appeals more than her tight chest will allow her to communicate. The problem isn’t a lack of desire. It’sgetting herself into that mindspace; to the point where she can mimic suicide without breaking a sweat.

Those two made it look so easy…

She wants to ask why they can do that—and if it’s normal to hallucinate that your dead father’s corpse is reaching for you, beckoning you into decayed arms—but his question begs her to refocus. After taking a breath, she does.

“I… I do want to see it.” She’s supposing as much as she’s admitting. And then arrives uncertainty, burgeoning behind the ribcage. Hands clutch crimson satin tied into a bow that’s become lopsided and limp over the course of the midnight hour. “But they come from us, right? From… inside us? What if…”

Her gaze drops along with her willingness to finish.

What if what’s inside me is hideous?

11. Akihiko --

That expression doesn’t look good…

That is to say, Akihiko doesn’t know what she’s getting at, either. Being confused makes his attempts at quickly figuring out what his kouhai’s saying in vain.

“C'mon– it’s not like your insides will come out,” he jokes, hiding that he’s sweating it; darkness has his side. Though… there is a possibility that she’ll puke. Maybe they should prepare a bag. "You’re over thinking this.“

Akihiko briefly leans forward then back as his crossed legs shifts now with the other overlapping. Oh man, he really doesn’t know how to talk to her.

"Just take things slow. You’ll get the hang of it soon. Rest first and try again later.”

12. Yukari --

Vision strains on him while he jokes and insists she’s over-thinking. Thing is, she knows this isn’t the way to get it done. Maybe if her zeal for combat were stronger, she’d be able to plow through stained streets as they do, lift the metal to her skull and…

“I will try,” she tells him, though lips still want to tremble. Without sounding a bit like her assured, natural self, she knows it doesn’t matter—he doesn’t know her well enough for it to matter.

( And he won’t know her. Nobody she meets here will ever know anything. And it’ll be just fine. She’ll be just fine. )

Finding her stuff again, she gathers up and makes ready to exit the scene, but halts before disappearing behind the partition. She eyes the edge good and hard before turning focus back onto him.

“Tomorrow… can we try again tomorrow?” It feels like she’s asking a lot, when she doesn’t like to ask anything of anyone. But just this much seems okay, from him. She finds the edge again while she waits for his answer, quiver belt dangling heavily from fingers. “Just… for practice on moving targets.”

13. Akihiko --

His attention almost returns to gloves once it seems she’s done. That is until.

Is she eager? Not that she’s jumping with excitement per say, but does Takeba seek to one-up this night’s performance? He senses a sort of quiet determination.

Akihiko could only rely on empathy based on his own experiences. Perhaps she’s frustrated, or even guilty…

That said, because of the size of their team, the success rate of pulling strings for her is close to nil. Not that he doesn’t want to. He respects those wanting to move forward, and with her he didn’t expect it to happen this soon. Softly he smiles in contrast.

"It’s really up to Mitsuru. Some nights she could get pretty cautious to wait, and since you’re new… However, I will definitely ask on your behalf.”