#also it can be argued makoto in p3 movies is awful with bonds

[auncyen]

on the one hand, I don't really care for "Akechi was the intended velvet room guest" theory because 1) this is a game where people like to talk exposition and no one says anything like that 2) the velvet room is about getting power from relationships. Akechi is bad at relationships. "hell yeah this is our champion" seems weird to me 3) p5's plot and yaldabaoth's plan literally hinges at akechi stirring shit up. while the PT empathize with Akechi I think that's more "hey, all of us have been socially isolated and hit a point where we either DID make bad decisions or were ready to make bad decisions that would have alienated us even further" and not "any one of us could have literally been the black mask" because Akechi was also fairly unique in his emotionally complicated relationship to Shido, who was both manipulative and in a strong position to influence others. Most of the cast has a relationship to someone manipulative, yes, but not with that much influence. Or it's just not emotionally complicated. (I think the best replacement for Shido in that sense would be Okumura, making Haru the "Black Mask" candidate, but she's concerned enough about morals that it seems difficult to see her doing mental shutdowns. although she could probably go for psychotic breakdowns on anyone she believed corrupt--seeing it as exposing their wickedness to the world and, more selfishly, pleasing her father and proving herself too useful to marry off to some partner who'd need an explanation for why she literally disappears off the grid for hours on end.)

on the other hand, since Yaldabaoth's plan hinges on Akechi, Akechi being the Velvet Room's intended guest would mean Igor looked at Mementos forming and was like, maybe we should get ahead of the game for once. maybe we should head this off before it becomes a problem. let's find someone who's been hurt by the system and would work to show others that they can fight back and reform it. So I do like the idea of the Velvet Room being proactive and accidentally agitating Yaldabaoth into attacking.

...I'm still just not sure Akechi would be the guest choice but you know, they could have been planning to do some tutoring on the bonds bit.