#bsd greatest thief

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

Asagiri, I am willing to forgive you for many things, but not for introducing a kickass time-stopping catgirl thief who apparently stole highly classified government documents

and then killing her off without even giving us her name

[meloriri]

AKECHI GORO — PERSONA 5 NAME ANALYSIS

Major p5r spoilers, minor “The Boy Detectives Club” spoilers.

First and foremost, I’m starting with Akechi because I thought his name was the most obvious, so I know the references in his name better. I will be making a post about Joker too, and hopefully more if I find enough material.

Akechi, meaning wisdom and intellect, Goro meaning “Fifth son.”

You might think that it was smart of the persona devs to name him Akechi for this reason, but it actually goes far deeper than that. (There’s reason for the name Goro too!)

(i promise this is relevant) Edogawa Rampo is a Japanese author who is highly important to mystery and thriller genre. He lived through the 19th-20th century and wrote many books considered classics.

Being a mystery writer, of course Edogawa had a main detective character. Known in the stories as “Japan’s greatest detective” is Akechi Kogoro, a private investigator inspired by Sherlock Holmes. That being said, naming your detective character “ Akechi” is pretty much equivalent to naming your detective character “Holmes.” Funny, right?

Akechi Kogoro is undeniable a genius, but quite eccentric. (For any BSD fans, the character Rampo is somewhat based off of Kogoro!) He appears in MANY of Edogawa’s books, as well as Edogawa’s juvenile fiction series, The Boy Detectives Club. Kogoro is a master of disguise, particularly good at disguising as young women. (Perhaps explaining Goro’s more typically effeminate appearance?)

Of course, Akechi Goro in Persona 5 is inspired by Akechi Kogoro, but it goes farther than that! I believe Goro is specifically based off of Kogoro in “The Fiend Of Twenty Faces,” the first book in Edogawa’s juvenile fiction series. The fiend of twenty faces is a gentleman thief based off of Arsène Lupin. I don’t want to spoil his name, So I’ll be calling the gentleman thief Kichi. Kichi and Kogoro have a relationship of mutual respect despite being rivals. Kichi is particularly well known for a character inspired by him, that character being Joker from Persona 5. I’d say Kichi is a notably worse person considering he threatened a group of ten year olds, but thats another story.

I won’t get too into whatever Kichi has going on since that’s more related to Joker than Goro, but you get the idea. Initially however, Kichi was going to be called “The phantom thief of twenty faces” but it was ruled out because… It wasn’t appropriate enough for kids..? Regardless, Joker and Goro are clear parallels to Kichi and Kogoro, from Mutual respect to their rather dramatic rivalry.

SECTION TWO - Akechi Goro & Akechi Mitsuhide

Goro’s name holds a genius double meaning — The other being historical figure Akechi Mitsuhide. Considering this is based on reality rather than fiction, this part may be a bit disturbing. I’ll be using Goro for Akechi Goro and Akechi for Akechi Mitsuhide, because it feels wrong to use his given name.

PS: Im a random canadian teenager, Please tell me if i got any history wrong!!!

Akechi was a samurai in the Sengoku period, but also a grand traitor. Best known as Oda Nobunaga(One of the three great unifiers of Japan)’s killer. Akechi was Oda’s bodyguard, but rebelled against him and forced him to commit seppaku, which is essentially suicide. Goro’s use of mental shutdowns is likely a reference to this, as is his rebellion against the Phantom Thieves.

SECTION THREE - Crow, Kuro, and Karasu.

Goro’s codename “Crow” is pronounced in Japanese as “Kuro”, which is “coincidentally” also the word for black. Because of this, as soon as the Black Mask was mentioned (i had already been spoiled on Goro’s codename) I immediately knew it was going to be him.

Crows represent misfortune and death, but also self-reflection and intelligence.

And finally, something that was most likely unintentional but I found funny nonetheless. When Akechi first teams up with the Phantom Thieves, he suggests his codename be “Karasu”, meaning crow. The other members suggest Crow instead since they all have english codenames. The first time (I think?) Joker is given an official name is in a spin-off manga, in which they call him Akira Kurusu. It probably means nothing, but I found the idea of codename Karasu working with Kurusu pretty funny, so I decided to mention it anyway.

That’s all I caught on to!! Let me know if I got anything wrong :)

[eyes-of-mischief]

weekly fic recs | 17

fandoms: aftg, bnha, bsd, dc, mdzs, tgcf

aftg

Pressure Points by puddlejumper99

(explicit) (underage)

Neil enrolls at Columbia High School and remarkably fails at remaining invisible

the bittersweet between my teeth by alaynes

In which Neil Josten is a Time Jumper, and everywhere he goes he keeps seeing one man.

Neil's throat dried; the sound of keys rang in his ears, but so did his voice. Andrew Minyard stared back at him, expression inscrutable.

bnha

From Muddy Waters by HLine

- but the sleeve of his tracksuit was bulging, tearing and ripping and a mass of twisted flesh, nearly as big as the boy himself and nauseatingly familiar (the arm of the man that had torn a hole in his side with a grin and left him a frail shadow of himself) swung forward and slammed into the flat face of the giant robot.

Izuku wants to be a hero more than anything.

pocket change by oushu

(graphic depictions of violence)

It’s funny to him, how this all ended up. It wasn’t like he was anyone special. He was raised by his single mother, in a middle-class neighborhood in Mutsufasu. Then Mom lost her job and they’d had to downsize drastically.

He doesn’t know if moving to the slums started something or accelerated what had already begun.

bsd

pull the trigger tighter and watch our distances explode by niwakaame (oolongteas)

The world looks like a big spider’s web, colorful and bright and full of light.

In which Nakajima Atsushi sees the strings of fate, and beyond that.

icarus in flames by setosdarkness

(major character death)

Anything that he can ever want will always be lost. Dazai has tried his best to not get attached to anything or anyone. But even a kitsune cannot escape gravity, and so he cannot help but crave keeping the sun for himself.

dc

A Gentlekid Thief by Blazonix

Tim didn't mean to become the notorious thief Red X; it just sort of happened. Just like how he somehow wound up being Batman’s greatest nemesis - his therapist.

He would like to remind whatever higher forces are out there that he is still only 12.

To Hell and Back by Nyame

(graphic depictions of violence, major character death)

Oliver Queen was the sixteen-year-old scion of the wealthy Queen family before a boat trip gone awry landed him on the island hell of Lian Yu.

Three years prior, Barry Allen, all eleven years of age, woke up to a whirlwind of gold and scarlet and watched as a man in a yellow suit ruined his life. Three years after, he washes up on the shores of purgatory.

Kara Zor-El, age twelve, had neither luxury. She was shoved into a space ship, baby cousin in hand, and tossed into the ebony abyss as her planet exploded around her, landing in a world so similar and yet so very different from her own.

(Or: The AU where Oliver, Barry, and Kara survive Lian Yu together for years, raising a baby Kal-El, and are eventually rescued – by the League of Assassins)

Eternally by meyari

(mature)

Timothy Drake is only the latest name that he's used. Tim is actually immortal like Ra's, his Beloved, though Tim's method of surviving eternity has more to do with reincarnation than it does with extending his lifespan. Despite eons of being born, living and dying, Tim still has things to learn from life and those that he loves the most.

tgcf

half the world away by moonsteps

“Hypothetically speaking,” says Xie Lian, “what would you do if someone—not me, of course—told you that they have feelings for San La—your roommate? Even though they live halfway across the world and it will probably never happen and—”

“This is an incredibly specific hypothetical situation,” says He Xuan through a mouthful of his dinner.

(Or: Xie Lian falls in love with his best friend's roommate. This wouldn't be a problem if they didn't live on opposite ends of the world.)

tgcf x mdzs

a warm coal in the hearth of our hearts by eccentrick

No one truly likes a pitiful beggar; maybe they'll get a bit more money the first few days, but that quickly dries up. People like to see success stories, like to see the unfortunate dregs of society have smiles on their thin faces, and feel like they've helped in the long run. If you stay small, you'll only become smaller and blend in with the trash. Wei Ying is a good, smart boy. So he smiles and giggles and jokes. Most days he still goes hungry.

Wei Ying is an orphan who fights to survive alone on the streets. But, sometimes, the streets give back just as it takes.