#i think harus second awakening would be cute for her to see

[samarecharm]

For someone who has such a soft spot for monkey anthros and monkey-adjacent creatures (chimchar my beloved), i am shocked that it never crossed my mind to sketch up Seiten Taisei, the coolest little monkey in the world…

[lesbienbys]

After watching a playthrough of p5r and finally playing through the game myself a year later (I've reached the last palace in royal ;-;) I think I have my final thoughts about each of the characters established at this point and I thought I'd share them here instead of twitter because of the character limit. Obvious spoilers for royal and I also mention a p3 and p4 character personality trait but that's about it! TLDR at the bottom

Morgana: akira loves him so I love him :)

Ann: ann is my favorite female pt member and I've only grown to love her more after playing the game myself and seeing how powerful she is, allowing me to keep her in my party the whole game. The writing does her so dirty as a character and her confidant isn't my favorite. Although I did like her rank 9 with shiho, I thought that was v cute (if we skip the fact that you can say you like her while she's emotionally vulnerable). But yeah ann is so great and she really feels like the glue of the group to me!

Ryuji: best boy. Heart of gold, dumb of ass. I really don't mind the whole liking girls thing because he's a teenager, but the writing takes it too far sometimes which I don't contribute to his character at all. But I think I realized how much I loved him as a character when all the pt members are stuck in the velvet room jails and he starts his monologue by talking about his memories of the first palace, and I started tearing up? His was the only one to make me do that because that's when I realized he's been with me since the beginning 🥺

Yusuke: due to atlus' writing once again, I didn't really like yusuke at all in the beginning. I grew to like him more after the palace was over because I really did like his whole story arc. However, the incident that made me really love him though was when I was watching a playthrough and the streamer hadn't romanced anyone yet so they automatically got the beach trip with the bros. This scene is of course a slog to go through because I guess we're supposed to think harassing women is funny idk??? But then fucking yusuke shows up with his stupid lobsters and made me laugh SO hard during a scene where I wasn't having fun. And that's when I was like, okay I love him and his weirdness. His confidant was also excellent and I love him and akira together platonically/romantically.

Makoto: this is where my opinion on a character seems to be... unpopular. When I first got to know makoto I wasn't really feeling her as a character and hoped she would grab me after she awakened. And when she did I was SO excited because her outfit and her persona (johanna my beloved) were so cool and badass. But then after her palace finished I just. Never thought about her again. And I think most of this does attribute to the writing, because her palace and confidant are so Bad, I just couldn't connect with her at all through them. Also her becoming a cop was also one of the worst decisions I've ever seen and makes absolutely no sense. So she's definitely my least favorite member sadly.

Futaba: SHE!!! Oh my god I love her to bits, her palace and confidant are some of the best ones in the game. I'm also such a sucker for found family tropes and so of course I immediately adopted her as ren's sister (shipping her with the protag makes me very uncomfortable fyi). There's not much to say other than she's the best gremlin and I relate to her a lot with her nerd energy. Her palace is up there as the more interesting one in the game.

Haru: I know haru's character can be pretty hit or miss because of how late she comes into the game. I will say that I was pretty neutral on haru's character because of this, until I experienced strikers and went back to royal. I loved her a lot more a second time around, her sweet personality contrasted with her heavy weapon and twisted thoughts when talking about killing shadows makes her such an interesting character for me. I think her weakest point would be the writing surrounding her father's death, I really wished we had seen more of her emotions surrounding it (I also wanted there to be more conflict between her and akechi because that would have made some great group conflict, definitely better than when morgana leaves). But other than that, I think she's excellent and wonderful.

Sumire: My first experience with the game, I felt neutral with her in vanilla because she was just There. Then royal came along and seeing her arc mixed with maruki's really made me love her character a lot more. And while I really loved how she went from depending on akira's opinion for her own self-worth to trying to grow on her own, I don't think it's executed well in the game. I see her saying she wants to be more independent, but then you can also romance her which actually makes it worse for her imo (her constantly looking for the protag's approval after having us learn about her extreme self hatred is not cute to me). I do think her issues make her a more compelling character, the romance thing just bugs me personally (I could have written a much better romance for them tbh but anyways). Her persona is *chefs kiss* and her outfit is one of my favorites. She's also very fun to play as.

Akechi: saved this one for last because I could write a whole essay on this character, but I will try to refrain lmao. I immediately liked his character because you can just Tell he's being two-faced. And you start to see a glimpse of that when he tells akira that he hates him. I knew he was the traitor of the group obviously, but the game surprised me by having him go as far as to shoot the protagonist. I will never forget experiencing that moment for the first time, because that's when I was like oh he's really fucked up. Which of course made me much more interested in his character. I was devastated after the engine room and then elated at the start of royal when I thought he was "alive." Speaking of, akechi's character was already my favorite in vanilla but royal pushed his character to be one of my favorites ever in fiction. 2/2 was one of the most emotionally devastating things I've ever experienced, and it just made his character even more interesting which I thought wasn't possible. I can never stop thinking about how he tells akira to go back to their own reality and how much of an affect akechi's life has on akira's decision. He has so much conviction in his beliefs that he would rather choose to go back to a reality where he is dead than live in a false reality where he is being controlled by someone again. I just want to study him in a lab. I do have a hang-up on his character though. I really dislike that atlus doesn't give him a proper ending to his arc and toys the audience on whether or not he's alive because something something fanservice. The writer in me really wishes they would have left him off as being dead because it would have made his story hit a lot more. Finally, I personally feel like shuake are soulmates on both a platonic and romantic sense, but I think my unpopular opinion is that I don't wish they had a romance route in the game. Tbh I'd rather they confirm he was gay rather than have a romance arc because I'm afraid atlus would obliterate his character knowing their track record on romances and lgbt topic in general. But that'll never happen so!

TLDR tier list:

Akechi

Akira (yes he's his own character)

Yusuke

Ann

Futaba

Ryuji

Haru

Sumire

Morgana

Makoto

[akechi-stole-my-heart]

makoto? 👀

Thank you for the ask!

What I like about them

I love Makoto's arc of realizing she's just a tool of adults who don't care about her, and its not worth it to compromise herself just for their approval. It's very powerful and relatable. I also like her confidence and intelligence. She really is like an honorary second leader to the Phantom Thieves who keeps them grounded. Without her the Thieves probably would have been found out a lot sooner. Akira can be...a little reckless, lol.

Also. She's hot.

What I dislike about them

Ok, before I get into this rant, let me first say: Makoto is one of my favorite Thieves. She's slowly lowered in my internal ranking of them over the course of the past year as I've soured on where her arc ended up and other Thieves overtake her as I grow to better appreciate their arcs, but I still love her, and I say all of this as a Makoto stan.

That said. Literally everything about her becoming a cop. It's not only an insult to Akira's trauma and a flat-out contradiction of the game's core themes, but it also walks back any progress Makoto makes in her character arc. Because, let's face it, Makoto can be a bit of an authoritarian. She's very uncompromising and stubborn in her point of view. Her confidant wants you to think that her friendship with Eiko expands her worldview, but in then the entire situation resolves with Makoto being Right and using her Fist of Justice to force Eiko into doing what Makoto thinks is best. Like a cop would. What happened to Makoto's flaw of being too stubborn and close minded? The narrative ends up taking Makoto's side and saying she was right all along. She doesn't learn anything.

I should probably write a more in depth analysis of her at some point because it is SO frustrating but I'm really tired of the fandom taking it out on her when its the writers' fault for screwing up what was intended to be her character arc.

Favorite moment

Her Awakening, no contest. One of the best Awakenings in the whole game.

Least favorite moment

Any scene that revolves around her dream to become a cop. Especially when the game forces Joker to support her in that goal after everything he's been through.

A situation with this character that I want to see explored more

This is probably obvious by now, but I want to see Makoto realizing her dream of becoming a "good cop" is fundamentally flawed and changing her career goals accordingly, deciding to reform the system in a way that doesn't turn her into just another cog in the machine that nearly ate her up in the first place.

An interesting AU for this character

AU where she hates the police.

Jk. Sort of. There was art I reblogged the other day where Makoto is a cop and Haru is an underworld crime boss and they fall in love and I think that is very very sexy I would totally read a fic about it. Here it is.

A crossover

I'm bad at thinking of crossovers so I'm just not going to try.

OTP (or OT3+ etc…. just… favorite ship)

Makoharu!!! It's my second favorite Persona 5 ship after Akeshu. I Love Them. Their friendship in the game is really sweet, I love how Haru is able to get Makoto to relax and loosen up a little, and how they're both ruthless but in contrasting ways. They're like opposites and yet the same (haha, like akeshu). They're just so cute and wholesome. And the Aesthetic is perfection. I adore their showtime.

Other ships?

Makoann is cute.

BROTP

Makoto and Akechi, also Makoto and Ryuji. The Potential of both of those friendships is tragically untapped in canon other than Makoto and Ryuji's Showtime, which to be fair, is amazing.

NOTP

Makoto x Joker. I don't hate it but I also don't ship it to the point I haven't romanced her despite her being my waifu. Yeah I know I'm a weirdo. I plan to romance her on a future playthrough ok.

An assortment of headcanons

She plays animal crossing and has her island organized Just So. The Thieves make fun of her for practically running a military state with how organized it is and how stale its aesthetic becomes with everything made of metal and stone. Haru helps liven the place up by planting flowers all around the island.

Makoto becomes like a surrogate older sister to Akane and becomes the kind of person for Akane that she wishes Sae had been for her.

Makoto and Haru go to the same college and become roommates (oh my god they were roommates).

send me some p5 characters

[akiwirain]

Persona’s Talk AU??

I keep seeing all of these cool headcanons about each of the group’s personas talking to them throughout their day ... and ofc I have to expand upon it, because it sounds so cool??

So imagine:

Ann: her persona is as fierce and fiery as she is. she’s constantly giving advice to Ann and just genuinely helping out. Carmen is supposed to be known for her charm and using that to make men fall for her, then discarding them.

Cue Ann getting asked out at school by some guy ...

“Uhh, well, you see—“

“Ooo, tell him yes!! He’s a bit cute!!”

“....No.”

Ann never listens to Carmen’s comments about woeing the men around her. Carmen isn’t the happiest about it, but Ann doesn’t mind much. She isn’t ready for a relationship and her persona will have to just accept that.

Ryuji: Using his awakening as an opening point, Captain Kidd reallt wants to just ... wreak havoc and let loose. He’s almost a fun side in Ryuji’s head, constantly wanting to have an adventure. He also helps a lot with Joker, by giving Ryuji advice on how to be a good right hand man.

Morgana: Zorro is known as a defender, along with being a masked outlaw (most of the personas are based off outlaws oof). I would imagine he would just aid Morgana in his quest to help others.

Cue Zorro chastising Morgana when he makes comments about Ryuji:

“He won’t get better with that talk.”

“Tsk, if he even has the mental capacity to get better.”

“Everyone has the ability to get better ... including you.”

Let’s just say Morgana does a lot of tuning out in these moments.

Yusuke: Goemon was a skillful individual who would steal from the rich and give to the poor. Using this, I’d imagine Goemon would help aid Yusuke in his aid to find who he is. His entire confidant link could be Goemon trying to help him find his way. When Yusuke gets offered the deal, Goemon is sure to tell him not to accept. Goemon wants Yusuke to make his own path and have a sense of self in all of his work. To not be tainted by greed, like his master.

In this way, Goemon pushes Yusuke and Yusuke is quick to agree and accept the help. Goemon maybe views Yusuke with a certain ... guardian-like view. I’d imagine he’d be proud when Yusuke finds his way.

Makoto: Johanna is based off of a Pope who disguised herself as male to well, be a Pope. She essentially goes against societies norms and with this, I believe she would push Makoto to push through the box she had previously been in. Whenever an adult asks something of Makoto now, Johanna is quick to inform her to choose her own path—be her own person.

When Makoto gets a bad feeling about who her friend is dating, Johanna backs her up.

“I agree, this man does seem rather suspicious..”

“Exactly! I have to investigate further.”

Johanna wouldn’t be afraid of trouble and would be just as rash as Makoto. In the end, they would each have good intentions, but wouldn’t want to be held back by the norms of society.

Futaba: Necronomicon almost seems like a reference to how Futaba was Medjed, but yet fake Medjed’s were made. Necronomicon was a book that ended up getting fakes circulated (along with a cult following ... yikes). I would imagine Necronomicon to be partially quiet. It wouldn’t say much, except when things get immensely serious and Futaba is spiraling.

Futaba might be out, seeing people and freaking out, but Necronomicon gives a simple,

“It’ll be alright.”

Somehow it works and Futaba doesn’t feel as alone.

Haru: Milady is essentially an independent woman (who don’t need no man (forgive me)). She was fierce and apparently rather manipulative and was branded a criminal, along with a villain. She would also bring others to ruin, more focused on personal gain.

I would imagine this would come up when Haru is so focused on being selfless. She has to overcome her reasoning and realize that no, she wants to change her father’s heart because she doesn’t want to marry, even if it’s partially for the people her father hurt. Milady would be quick to tell her to unleash this side of herself, learn to be selfish. I’d imagine after losing her father, Milady would be quick to comfort her, would be quick to lead her to want retribution for whomever was the black mask.

Maybe even lead Haru to thinking it was the Phantom Thieves at first?

Cue Sae meeting with Haru about the calling card and mentioning the principal:

“It seems we were deceived, my dear.”

“No. No, it couldn’t have been them. The-The principal ... that..”

Cue angst and Haru having to talk to the others, while Milady still is in the back of her mind, doubtful. Eventually she quiets, realizing that Haru truly belongs with them. She wants Haru happy, after all.

Sumire: Cendrillon is really just a French adaption of Cinderella. In essence, it’s Sumire putting on that gown and playing pretend (as in, being Kasumi, because Maruki allowed her to do so). Cendrillon relates to Sumi’s wishes and that’s what leads to them being so easily manipulated by Maruki.

Cendrillon, after being awakened, helps to keep Sumire motivated. She would be talkative during Sumire’s gymnastic practices and would get Sumire to truly do her best.

When Sumire finds out the truth after watching the video, Cendrillon is silent and practically in the same pain Sumire is. She knows what it’s like for that magic to disappear.

This is where things get interesting ... multiple persona users:

Akechi:

Robin Hood would be Akechi’s more ... childish side. The side that was more innocent and truly wanted justice for what happened to his mother, along with himself. Robin Hood is known to steal from the rich and give to the poor, much like Goemon. Robin Hood would be the side of Akechi that pushes him to do good.

Whenever Akechi is around the Phantom Theives, Robin Hood is loud. He likes to remind Akechi that .. “maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if we belonged here. With them.”

Loki, on the other hand, is based off a trickster god in mythology. He is known for both mischief and trickery. I imagine this side is awakened from Akechi’s sense of revenge. It’s the more enraged side of him that he uses to paste the mask on day by day.

Loki likes to be loud and opinionated. He likes to remind Goro of his plans and how he can’t turn back now.

The two personas would essentially fight a lot and it drives Akechi insane.

Cue Akechi getting a text from Shido about a target in mementos:

“Come on, let’s just get it done now. We need to enact our revenge after all, don’t we?”

“We could stop now. We could end your pitiful father’s tirade here and enter his palace..”

Akiren: Arsène is his starter persona, so I’ll start there.

Arsène is known for targeting criminals and is essentially an anti-hero. He’s also known as a Gentlemen Thief! With this, I think he’d really just encourage Akiren’s will of rebellion.

Cue Akiren getting to LeBlanc late one night after a mementos run:

“Ah, you’re back.”

“Quick, think of a lie.”

“Uh-“

“You were at the bathhouse!”

“I was at the bathhouse...”

“Okay?” Sojiro never really cares and gets back to his crossword puzzles. Akiren is still grateful to Arsène anyway.

Ah, but his other personas...

At first, it’s okay. He has a small arsenal that he carries around and while some are louder than others, it’s tolerable.

Until Igor raises his stock.

Eventually, he has 12 personas in one sitting and it’s never quiet. No matter what persona he’s holding in stock, they like to talk to one another or make comments on his daily life.

Or, alternatively, it only matters what mask he is wearing at the time.

Say, he’s hanging with a certain friend, so he cues up the matching arcana of that friend. That persona is quick to make comments on how to achieve max results with that friend and how to advance their confidant.

Cue Akiren meeting with Ann and cuing up a Lover’s persona.

I’d imagine some of the persona get aggregated at never being useful besides being used for comments and never for combat.

Anyway! That’s all the Phantom Thieves.

I don’t know if I’ll do Maruki?? Or even maybe the second/third awakening personas? I think it might be an interesting concept though!

[akechicrimes]

loki appreciation agenda continues because i am speculating on the reasons why goro can change outfits. this is a super speculation-heavy post on goro’s outfit-changing abilities based on theories that loki was created through experimentation to force goro to awaken a second persona, and i don’t think i can necessarily “prove” anything in this post, but the lore on how personas work surprisingly checks out so it’s plausible if nothing else.

anyway, i think goro has two different outfits because he awakened to his “first” persona, twice.

explanation under cut:

(FIRST of all, i know there’s doylist explanations for why certain characters get new outfits and others don’t. this is a watsonian explanation because i have goro akechi brainworms and i cannot stop thinking about my boy.)

the basic premise is that your outfit is something you get when you have the will to rebel. outfits manifest when you’re in a palace that sees you as an enemy, thus activating your rebellious spirit to tell them to suck a dick.

that rebellious spirit comes from a moment of resolve: knowing that you don’t want to die, knowing what it is that you fight for, and knowing whose ass you want to beat. usually, then the character manifests a mask, hears the voice of their persona inside them, and they rip it off.

the will of rebellion also typically triggers a character awakening to their first persona. i’m going to call it the starter persona.

insofar as i can tell, a starter persona is a very specific type of persona that comes from a very specific type of phenomenon:

the manifestation of your resolve/will of rebellion

the persona you get when you awaken to your persona-using abilities for the first time

the first form of your persona

a persona that is unique to you and your soul

theoretically a persona that comes from within you, rather than an external source (e.g. shadow negotiations or the velvet room)

a persona gained under extreme duress marking a drastic resolve in oneself

a starter persona is not:

an evolved edition of your starter persona due to a moderate change in yourself (second-tier/third-tier awakening)

a new persona gained through capturing a shadow (akira’s new personas)

a new persona gained through fusing pre-existing personas (velvet room)

when a second-tier persona occurs, or a new persona is gained through shadow capture or fusing, a new outfit is not gained, because outfits come with the starter persona only.

so my theory is that robin hood and loki are both “starter” personas, even though loki was gained ostensibly way, way after goro had awakened to his general ability to summon personas. loki is not a persona that was gained through shadow negotiations or the velvet room, and loki is not an evolved form of robin hood, since robin hood and loki coexist and first-tier personas disappear when they turn into second-tier personas. 

loki is basically as if goro underwent his first awakening, but a second time, and that’s why there’s a separate outfit for him, in the same way that all the phantom thieves get an outfit when they awaken for the first time.

and now i’m going to go into way too much detail about how starter personas are a very hyper-specific phenomenon that are different from the wild card ability to gain multiple personas and are also different from second-tier awakenings:

CASE ONE: wild cards

wild cards demonstrate very well that starter personas are unique in that they’re created from within a persona user, whereas other personas that wild cards can wield must come from outside sources. and even for wild cards who have six jillion personas, they really only have one starter persona (and in akira’s case, one accompanying outfit). 

i think it’s alright to assume there’s something unique about arsene in relation to akira, in the same way that izanagi is unique to souji or orpheus is unique to minato. every other persona that these wild cards get have to be gotten from either capturing shadows in the wild, or from fusing captured shadows in the velvet room. they’re personas that are found from outside of the wild card, and then taken in to become one of the wild card’s masks.

by contrast, arsene, izanagi, and orpheus seem to come from “within” the wild cards, in the same way that any non-wildcard undergoes an awakening to pull a persona from inside themselves. arsene, izanagi, and orpheus aren’t gained through capturing a pre-existing shadow or fusing pre-existing shadows. so even though akira and other wild cards can wield multiple personas, all of them only have one starter persona.

i’d theorize that, although wild cards have the ability to wield many different masks, the other personas are more like impermanent additions to the general ability to wield multiple personas, which comes with the starter persona. (arsene and izanagi in particular seems really stick around even when you fuse him away, especially since arsene comes back in a second-tier awakening as satanael and izanagi as izanagi-no-okami.)

(NOW THAT I’VE SAID THAT, according to persona lore, all personas come from the sea of the soul! i did not forget. when i’m making the distinction between a persona that comes from “within” a persona user and a persona that has to be found externally, i mean that all shadows/personas ultimately come from the vast sea of the soul/collective unconscious that connects all human beings, but these personas get obtained through different ways: starter personas seem to be summoned from the sea of the soul entirely internally, whereas other shadows have to be summoned from the sea of the soul from either finding them in palaces, mementos, or the velvet room.)

akira, obviously, does not get a new outfit every time he gets a new persona, although that would have been cool as fuck. the outfit happens only when the starter persona is awakened--the persona from within akira, rather than a persona he acquired from the outside.

CASE TWO: general persona users and second tier awakenings

normal persona users don’t have the ability to find external shadows and make them into their own persona. normal persona users have only their starter persona which they got from within themselves, in the same way arsene is unique to akira, and are born from a moment of internal resolve. their personas are all “internal affairs,” so to speak.

normal persona users also have the option of a second-tier awakening, though. second-tier awakenings involve only the starter persona, a new resolve in the character, and again seem to be a persona that comes from “within.” so it seems a bit like the persona user has “awakened” a second time. it’s certainly an entirely internal event, requiring no additional personas obtained from palaces, mementos, or the velvet room.

but the second-tier persona is not an entirely new starter persona. second-tier personas are just their pre-existing already-awakened starter personas changing into a slightly different persona with the same abilities. second-tier personas inherit all the stats and abilities from the first as well, a bit as if it’s just the starter persona in a different form. so although the phantom thieves “awaken” a second time, it’s not so much an awakening so much as it is just an evolution of a pre-existing persona.

this makes sense in terms of the “personas manifest as a will/resolve to rebel” logic, too. it’s not necessarily that they manifested an entirely new resolve to rebel; their pre-existing resolve to rebel just evolved, changed, or was reaffirmed.

there’s also a visual cue for this: awakening a starter persona is a whole fucking deal involving a stressful situation, thinking you’re going to die, usually having to face some asshole in your life who abused you, hearing voices, screaming, manifesting your mask and ripping your face off. second-tier awakenings don’t involve this lmao. god could you imagine if it did. it’d actually be so funny tbh

second-tier awakenings, also, seem to be a phenomenon specific to “starter” personas, or personas obtained from within. you wouldn’t see a persona that akira got from a shadow negotiation evolve in the same way that arsene evolves into satanael, or carmen evolves into hecate, or izanagi evolves into izanagi-no-okami. you could argue that “high pixie” is a second-tier of “pixie,” but there’s no way to make pixie have new resolve and evolve into high pixie like a pokemon; pixie would have to be fused with some other persona to create high pixie. personas obtained through external means have to be fused with other personas, or absorb the life force of other personas through executions. 

anyway, to get back to the point about goro’s two-outfit deal, second-tier awakenings also don’t get you new outfits. which makes sense if we assume that outfits come with obtaining a starter persona, since second-tier awakenings are just your starter persona evolving and is not actually an event in which you obtain an entirely new starter persona.

CASE THREE: haru and sumire

weird fact i forgot until i wrote this meta!! but both haru and sumire are cases of people who got their outfits and a “semi-awakening” to their personas, that then led to a period of not quite being able to actually summon their persona. so, from what we can understand, their will to rebel is there, just not solidified enough to manifest a persona.

morgana, our resident lore expert, tells us that when haru has her outfit but not her persona, milady is more or less there already, just confused due to conflicted feelings about haru’s father, and therefore can’t fully take shape. so she can sort of summon milady, but just not in an effective way that can deal battle damage.

personally i think this is just the atlus writers creating a reason to have haru in the palace in cute clothes without having her go through an awakening, so that she could awaken later for full dramatic effect. but since morgana went to such lengths to explain the mechanics of it and tell us that milady is technically already there, it’s a really interesting case study that demonstrates outfits are not something that are specific to having a starter persona, but doesn’t guarantee that that persona can be summoned.

the same thing happens to sumire: she gets her outfit sometime in october, and for some reason can use cendrillon up until she remembers that she’s sumire and not kasumi. then she winds up in a state like haru’s, where she has an outfit, has the will to rebel, and technically even has cendrillon, but she just can’t summon cendrillon. then she has to go through the whole song and dance of ripping her face off to awaken to cendrillon (which might be kasumi’s soul depending on the interpretation of the scene). and of course, from there her starter persona can have a second-tier and third-tier awakening to vanadis and ella.

but it looks like the same case as haru, ultimately: she technically had cendrillon, but wasn’t able to use it or manifest it because her resolve was jank as fuck with all her identity issues.

SO BASICALLY: 

what i’m getting at is that the outfits come from awakening to a starter persona only. 

a starter persona is, as shown above, a hyper-specific phenomenon in which you pull a persona out of your soul, as opposed to capturing an external shadow and adding it to your pre-existing persona abilities, or transforming your pre-existing persona into a new one. awakening your "first” persona is a thing that happens only when you dig up all the weird sediment from your soul when you think you’re going to die, generally. starter personas come from a moment of internal resolution, and the resulting persona seems to be unique to that person and the circumstances of the persona’s awakening.

really, it’s such a theatrical ordeal, too. like i mentioned before, starter personas get obtained through this WHOLE fucking ritual involving stress, hearing the voice of your persona inside you, manifesting your mask, ripping your face off, manifesting your outfit, etc, etc. (i think it’s fairly important to note that ripping the mask off is the first instance of the larger outfit showing up, too; the mask itself, the outfit, and the starter persona seem to come hand in hand.)

we already know that loki is not a second-tier awakening of robin hood, because robin hood co-exists with loki. we also know that loki is not a persona gained through shadow negotiation or fusion, because external personas that are gained through those methods don’t come with an outfit.

so it really looks like goro just manifested the internal will to rebel, and the accompanying new outfit and entirely new persona, twice.

this, actually, fits really well with the medical experimentation thing, since starter personas, the will to rebel, and the outfit seem to come from stressful situations, where the persona user, in an attempt to not die, pulls a new persona out of their soul from no external source. if the featherman game is implying what i think it is, shido’s scientists and maybe wakaba were trying to force a persona out of goro with stress and trauma, in the same way that you’d manifest a persona for the first time. these scientists were not handing him shadows to turn into personas, like how the wild card is intended to be used. these scientists were not trying to transform robin hood into a new form, like how a second-tier awakening is supposed to work. they were inducing the same conditions that you’d need to awaken a persona for the first time.

it also makes sense from an in-universe perspective, because i’m assuming that, since goro and these cognitive psientists didn’t know jack shit about the metaverse at the time, goro just told them what he knew about persona awakenings: he awoke to robin hood under duress, he reached into his soul, found robin hood there, did a bunch of yelling, pulled off his face, BAM. robin hood. so the scientists said, well, if you wanna see a phenomenon a second time, you might as well recreate the conditions from the first time, right? make him pull off his face again and see what happens.

that would explain how loki is unique to him, in the same way that arsene is unique to akira, or any of the other personas are unique to their phantom thieves. it would explain why there’s an accompanying outfit to go with loki as well--it’s literally an entirely different “first” awakening, as if he manifested the ability to summon a persona twice, rather than just adding on new personas to his pre-existing ability. and it also explains how he has two unique personas that are separate from each other.

it also explains why he never seems to, say, use robin hood while in the black mask outfit, and why he never uses loki while in the white crow outfit. it’s not a cosmetic choice; the outfit is tied to the persona he’s using at the time. the outfit is tied to the separate awakening, and the separate “first” persona that was generated from that awakening. (EDIT: goro does actually use loki very briefly while still in the white crow outfit during his boss battle, although presumably loki is not “fully” summoned because loki is blacked out/colored strangely/vaguely see-through.)

(meanwhile, hereward doesn’t get a new outfit to match him because he’s a tiered transformation awakening. a pre-existing power gets transformed. hereward even existing is also good evidence that robin hood and loki are “starter” personas rather than personas gained through external means, since shadows obtained through mementos/palaces/velvet room don’t get tiered evolutions.)

which is a really interesting bastardization of the wild card ability, if that’s actually what happened. because he’s a wild card with the ability to wield multiple personas, he was able to awaken for the “first” time twice and wield two different personas, but in an extremely corrupted way, not at all the way that wild card abilities are intended to be used.

and i know that this is all just speculation at this point, but it does make hereward look a little bit like goro managed to finally fuse together the two “corrupted” halves of his wild card ability into a singular, whole persona. something or other--growth can only occur when thesis and antithesis synthesize? ...something like that.

anyway i’ve never felt so much like matpat in my life.

[justmenoworries]

Don’t hate me for saying this, but: I think Beastars would be immensely more interesting if the main pairing was Legosi x Louis instead of Legosi x Haru. Some rambling under the cut.

It’s not that I hate Haru. Haru is great, honestly I think she’s one of the best female characters I’ve seen in an anime for a while. I love her personality and the whole anti-slut shaming message her story gives. But...I don’t know, I think pairing her up with Legosi is a major downgrade for her character. Sure their interactions are cute, but they never struck me as couple-cute, more like deep-friendship-cute. I’d honestly like their relationship more if Beastars pulled a ��gotcha!’-moment and made them end up as friends rather than boyfriend and girlfriend. Louis’ dynamic with Legosi is so much more suitable for the type of ‘forbidden love’-story the anime seems to try to tell with Legosi and Haru: Louis and Legosi have a lot of chemistry and tension in almost every scene they’re in together and in a way they can see through each other better than anyone else. Yet they’re both dealing with a bunch of emotional baggage, Legosi with his awakening instincts and Louis with his enormous Inferiority complex to carnivores. The scene where Louis slips out of his facade for a second and snaps at Legosi not to pretend like he’s harmless while trying to goad him into hurting him was so powerful because that’s the first time Louis has been that open with someone in his social circle. Legosi is probably the only person at school who has ever seen him like this. Sure it wasn’t all that pleasant for either of them, but the fact that now both of them know something about the other that the rest of the school doesn’t (Legosi opens up about how he feels he has to suppress himself and act meek because for a predator acting standoffish is more shameful than anything else right after Louis has his little breakdown) just gave this scene something special, y’know? Seeing those two trying to work out a relationship by sorting out their unhealthy habits just strikes me as way more interesting as what Legosi and Haru have right now. (Again, no hate towards Haru. She is amazing and deserves the world, you can’t change my mind.)

[imagine-the-phantom-thieves]

since you've beaten p5r, any thoughts regarding kasumi and maruki? and new content in general?

get ready fellas I’m about to pop off

Also? There’s gonna be some spoilers, yikes.

Okay so for starters, I find it totally worth what I paid, and this is coming from someone who has technically paid full price for Persona 5 on four different occasions now, and played probably well over 500 hours of vanilla.

I like the changes made to the palaces to help veterans have a fresh experience for all of them so it doesn’t feel like you’re just going through the motions for more times than you’d like to admit, and tweaks to the bosses are fun and help them come together into something more complete feeling. Except for Kaneshiro. 

Also apparently everyone hated the old Madarame boss fight? I didn’t know this but apparently it was super frustrating? Personally I find the new one more annoying but I onno, maybe I’m dumb.

I like that you can see a lot of later introduced characters like Haru and Ohya just hanging around before they’re properly brought to the player so things like Haru being abruptly shoved in the story aren’t nearly as left-turny. 

And something I have endless amounts of love for are things like the darts minigame, and how we have more times where the thieves just hang out together that aren’t obnoxious, intrusive and boring. Not that I’m trying to throw shade at other remakes of Persona games.

Why would I do that?

No, I don’t have a blind hatred for a certain other remake of a Persona game, you’re projecting. 

Speaking of things that are obnoxious, intrusive and boring, which, as a way to compact the phrase, I’ll just use the word ‘Marie’. No particular reason, but, y’know. So, speaking of Marie, you know what isn’t? Kasumi.

Kasumi is so not Marie, it was the best surprise to me. Like, when I found out she wasn’t going to be an MC, which made me sadder than it would and why I just decided to do it myself I couldn’t help but dread she’d just be Marie. Like, bro?? Bro??? She’s so pleasant and sweet, she isn’t an ‘endearing’ tsundere, she’s just a girl with a completely understandable conflict. Also? Her abilities are good. Unless you want to make good on using Ryuji’s new instakill. Then Chaines Hook kinda sucks.

Her actual character arc about not only trying to cope with her sister’s death, but also trying to force herself to accept that she is Sumire and the feeling of survivors guilt that spawns from her feeling of inferiority toward her sister is also really compelling, and really reminds me of Beat’s character arc from The World Ends With You? This isn’t a bad thing, Beat’s the best character in TWEWY and that’s a hill I’ll die on. 

But seeing her go from ‘Well, I hope I can win, but I’m not much without Kasumi’ to ‘Yeah, I will win internationals, for both of us!’ is one of the most heartwarming things in a game chock full of ‘em. 

Also she’s real cute

Although what I don’t like about Sumire is how late in the game you get her. Like, let’s think for a minute. She awakens to her Persona during the Okumura arc, but she has other things she needs to do. Yeah, okay, fine. Sae arc? She’s just kinda hanging out, even follows you into the palace. Still doesn’t join. Okay, whatever, it’s annoying, but I’ll deal.

Except then Morgana just kinda cans her during the Shido arc for no actual reason. I can only assume they didn’t want to try during the Shido arc which is why the Ruse Cruise is still one of the worst dungeons in the game, second only to ‘Padding: The Dungeon’, also known as Kaneshiro’s bank.

Oh also??? The reworked confidant abilities?? Fucking yummy. The most notable ones I can think of off top my head is Ryuji’s instakill actually being worth it, Ann’s sexy technique actually being pretty useful, the Velvet Room privlages  being shuffled around so if you want to do the whole Strength confidant in the middle of July, you can, and also Akechi has them now.

Also this so isn’t important, but I like how each Thief’s ‘talk’ ability affects different types of Shadows. Like, it’s cool.

Jose is also a fun addition. Do I know what he is? No. I’ve just been calling him the egg child, so he’s just,,, egg. Egg does sippy sippy on some flowers, is adorable, and makes Mementos tolerable. Egg good.

Probably the best actually change from vanilla though is probably the fact that the song. Y’know... that song. The Mementos song? It’s almost completely gone, and that’s great because the Mementos song makes me wanna die, and it mostly gets replaced by bops. 

Now, you may be going, “Maruki, aren’t you forgetting someone? Like, I onno, your namesake?” 

Yeah bud, time to shift the spotlight to the star.

Takuto Maruki is the absolute highlight of Royal, and if he was the only change that was made, I’d recommend it anyway. One of the best things about him is that his presence makes it so there’s more than like, two adults that all of the thieves can have a degree of trust with. The fact that he’s so pleasant to interact with doesn’t hurt either. Also? Those confidant abilities? Good shit. 

Although it’s probably just good game design to have some of the best confidant abilities go to the people you need to max out to get the best ending...

That didn’t stop ‘The Mishima incident’ but oh well

Anyway, spoiler time. Again.

Maruki being the final boss, in retrospect, really shouldn’t have been surprising. Although I was kinda expecting Sumire to inexplicably be God, but like, sad angsty God because that’s how low my standards got pegged for no reason in particular. 

But Maruki’s character motivations are real good? Which is weird, because normally ‘guy who tries to control the world because his loved one is dead/traumatized’ is a gross and also boring plot, but something about him just... makes it work? Mostly because he isn’t on a brutal murder rampage and literally just wants it so everyone at all is happy without a worry.

Which is apparently a bad thing?

And while you can argue that the final boss is kind of an ‘anti-climax boss’, may I guide you to why I defended the vanilla Okumura fight- 

Boss fights don’t need to be epic, and some of the best ones are just appropriate. 

Am I saying I wasn’t dissapointed that Adam Kadmon wasn’t an actual boss fight and was just another ‘press X to win’? No, I totally was. I was really mad. But the ‘fight’ afterward, one on one against Maruki, is a weirdly satisfying conclusion, with the cutscene afterwards also striking a chord with me.

But basically, Takuto Maruki is the best character in Persona 5. I would say in the whole Persona series, but I haven’t played 3 in a while, so Junpei may still have that crown, but I also haven’t played one or either version of 2, so series veterans are gonna call me a loser.

Those were my scattered thoughts on Persona 5 Royal, and I’m 80% sure I’m forgetting something, but oh well, I’ve been here for over an hour.

[twilightknight17]

Forgetting to buy more SP patches before taking on the final boss was probably a mistake.

Forgetting to sell the items I can’t take into NG+ for cash that I can take into NG+ was probably a mistake.

Forgetting to get Arsene out of Lockdown so that I can record his awesome new stats for NG+ was probably a mistake.

In my defense, I was really excited. I wonder if the game will let me make a side trip while I’m out...buying flowers. Because that is what it has come to.

Buying flowers.

Shinya is a terrible brat and wasn’t in Akihabara at ALL until the day before the deadline. Thanks, Shinya. There goes my max confidants. Blugh. At least I got some other things done. Got the award for the maid cafe, so I don’t have to go back except once to open the Twins field trip. I still suck at batting even with third eye. But I am a champ at fishing, it only took me like five trips to the fishing pond to catch the Guardian! I could have done it in less if I’d figured out how to manage my bait properly sooner.

Smile, Akira, we’re awesome! ...still not even halfway to enough fish points for the award, though. :/

I am also awesome at the crane game in Akihabara, and by that I mean I am persistent and have enough yen that it doesn’t matter how many tries it takes.

Ryuji truly knows the way to my heart. <3 I missed two episodes of Featherman; one I forgot to check the TV, and the other I was laughing so hard at the title that I forgot to write it down. But I know where they are, so it’s something else for NG+. ^_^

So I romanced Sumire, and I’m...slightly off-put. Only slightly. Not because of her, but once again, because of the writing. Sumire is cute, but the game is singling her out as “special” again.

She is the only one who confesses to you, and you explicitly have the option to turn her down, rather than the implications of a confession that you can shoot down indirectly (Haru’s, Makoto’s, Futaba’s), or the absolute fucking galaxy-brain leap of logic that is Ann’s dialogue choices. X’D

If you ignore that, though, they’re stupidly cute. Akira’s a little shit, as usual. Sumire asks you to “look at her”, based on her whole confidant thing of realizing that having someone you care about watching you makes you want to do better.

And so Akira looks.

And looks closer.

Dorks. XDDD

They’re sweet. Not my favorite romance route; that still goes to Haru. I think in the end I still prefer Akira adding another member to his army of younger siblings. He’s gotta be better than Yu. XDDD

So I got Kasumi’s rank 10 and literally the next day was February 2nd, and I spent the afternoon getting her third-tier persona. So I didn’t even get to see...Vanadis? in battle. Vanadis matches a little too well to Arsene for my tastes, and Ella is pretty, but I’m not sure how I feel about it looking kind of bride-ish when Maruki’s running around in a wedding tux.

.

Anyway...what do we do the night before the meeting that will decide everything?

We make curry and we pretend everything isn’t about to go to hell.

.

So, Maruki. Let’s chat.

Does no one die in your world? Or move away? What if someone’s dream is to move abroad, and someone else’s dream is for that person to stay with them forever? If what we saw in your Palace is any indication, both of them would be tortured into accepting new dreams where they wouldn’t hurt each other. Dreams that you deemed acceptable. And that’s why you’re wrong.

So you’re giving up your happiness to make sure everyone else is happy? Why can’t you just use your powers to make her remember you, without the trauma? Are you not all-powerful?

Or are you running away from the person that reminds you how helpless you used to be? You’re not moving on, you’re dwelling, and using it as an excuse to be terrible. For all of your kindness, you know Akira is a threat. And benevolent or not, you’re being manipulative. You’re using Goro against him. You’re hoping that he makes the decision you didn’t, and chooses the person he cares about over the reality he wants.

Every time he says something like this, I feel exactly the way he says he didn’t want me to. Newsflash, asshole, that’s exactly what it seems like. If we break your reality, you’re heavily implying he won’t be here afterwards. And you’re gambling that it will be too much pain for Akira to bear, because you know how important they are to each other.

Goro, meanwhile, is both perfectly determined and perfectly stupid.

“Don’t tell me you think dangling my life before us is going to have any impact on our decision.”

Goro. Honey. Do you really think he cares so little that he wouldn’t hesitate for just a moment?

Akira practically throws the calling card at Maruki before he leaves, which I think sums up his feelings pretty well.

I appreciate that Morgana understands that this is something between them.

Goro doesn’t want to be controlled or manipulated ever again. Which... I get it. He’s never had a chance to have full control of his own life. But that doesn’t mean Akira isn’t going to be upset by the idea of him dying. Again.

Two out of three dialogue options are basically “hang on one fucking second,  your life matters to me.”

“Don’t oversimplify this.”

“Oh, but it IS simple. Do you think I’d be happy with this? Being shown mercy now of all times? I don’t want to be pitied-- this isn’t something I’m debating with you! Your indecisiveness is essentially a betrayal of my wishes.”

It’s not pity, you stubborn, idiot boy. ...and I hate that you see it as a betrayal.

Maruki is...very confident. And very kind. And part of the reason he upsets me is because he isn’t wrong, in many cases. But he uses that to justify imposing his will on everyone.

And being kind doesn’t mean that you are free from sin. You can be kind and still be manipulative. And selfish. In the end, that’s what separates him and Akira. Akira, despite all of his hesitation, refuses to be selfish. Even when he has every right to be. He will not hurt someone else to prevent himself from being hurt.

He will not hurt Goro by refusing to fight Maruki, even if it will rip his own heart to pieces.

Oh, I like you. At first glance, the silhouette was very similar to one of Mordred’s original pieces of concept art, though, and I was ready to Yell before I looked closer. XD

And so, at 11:30pm, having completely forgotten the several things I needed to have done before the meeting with Maruki, we head in to steal the Treasure.

This man needs to stop. How dare he know how much I love Cool Stairs?

I find it very concerning that the core of Eden is a writhing mess of tentacles. The metaphorical worm in the apple? X’D We were so close to getting Nyarlathotep, but Azathoth is suitably intimidating. And I appreciate that he’s using the same concepts as the Thieves: his will to rebel against what he sees as an unfair reality, and removing his mask to summon his distorted persona. Thanks for validating all of my headcanon meta about Adachi and Palaces all in one go.

But...

I can’t do this. What the fuck are you wearing?

At least Azathoth is cool.

Somehow I managed to bring exactly the right team to get consistent four-person baton passes for the whole first round. That one was about half an hour.

...the second round was an hour and fifteen minutes because holy shit this thing was a tank and had entirely too many arms and really needed to stop healing.

The torch is very pretty, at least.

And then before we can completely book it out of there, he steals the torch back and literally forces his second awakening so he can keep going. And at that point...what is he even hoping to accomplish? What is he going to do? Are you really willing to kill us to maintain this illusion?

The answer is apparently yes because it was a surprisingly poetic battle as each teammate in turn got a chance to fling themselves in the way and stop it from crushing Joker to death with it’s big giant hand.

And THEN he goes even further and validates some canon meta and me all at once by fusing with his own persona in a continuing last-ditch effort to... I really think he’s trying to kill us. I think he’s that far gone. Or at least his persona is. Because after the fusion, it’s specifically called “Adam Kadmon”, not Maruki. The persona is in control. It’s canon that if you try to summon something stronger than you, it can overtake and possess you. I know Maruki seemed to willingly give up control, but it’s also possible that forcing his second awakening like that left him with a persona that was entirely too strong for him.

(Nevermind that him being that strong in the first place is kind of ridiculous. That’s a discussion for after the final credits. I’m just hyped that someone fusing with their persona was a thing that actually happened!)

He’s so big. Where’s Satanael so I can fuse with him and we can have a megazord fight in Collapsing Ideal Tokyo? XD

The kids up the Holy Shit Quotient by a mile by catching the giant fist all together so that Joker can deal the final blow.

And what a final blow it is.

I really like this, because I don’t know if it was deliberate, but I read it as a callback to Daybreakers. Which came out before the game, iirc, so the first real piece of content. It’s just on a bigger, grander scale.

Everything comes full-circle in the end.

I really like the Mona helicopter. XD I just wish it was a little bigger, because poor Goro squished into the bottom. And poor Akira not managing to make it into the helicopter.

And this asshole WILL NOT STAY DOWN.

What is the point of punching it out on top of the collapsing Palace? Are you trying to kill us both? Do you just want to keep going until neither of us can stand? Dude.

And of course Akira won’t let him die. I think the upsetting thing about this, though, is really that you don’t get the chance to say a proper goodbye to Goro. Or anyone, really, but mostly Goro. The Palace crumbles, Akira wakes up in jail, the Thieves wake up the next morning after fighting all night, and Goro is...gone.

At least the Thieves seem properly sad this time. Even if it’s only for one scene.

Lavenza calls it “ironic” that “your wish for other’s happiness prevailed over your own.” I just call it unfair. Once again, hasn’t he done enough? At least he was only technically in jail for nine days from his perspective, but that must have been a whiplash of an adjustment.

Out of jail, Sojiro acknowledges he was Terrible at the beginning of the year, it’s 2:30am, time to do Valentines and then go to bed before the final walkaround.

And then Valentines passes. I spent it with Sumire. They’re cute.

And then it was February 15th and all the rest of the girls gave me chocolate?? It was just a constant ambush of being given chocolate all day?

And then it was March 3rd, and the Thieves are all splitting up and moving away? Are we sure this isn’t Scramble’s timeline? I get it, narratively, they’re taking the opportunities to move forward that Maruki’s reality would have denied them, but it still hurts.

And then it was March 13th and I still can’t save and now it’s 3am and apparently we get to play out White Day and Sojiro is giving me advice for the perfect date because captain idiot here forgot to plan anything and what heckin’ restaurant is getting this flustered that just mentioning Sojiro’s name is enough to get a table when they’re fully booked and---

Now it’s the 14th and I have to go buy flowers for my dinner date and I have finally been given control and saved and I am free.

Now next time I play I have to see if I can go sell my leftover items, because I’ve got a couple-hundred-thousand yen worth, and also rescue Arsene from prison. X’D

More thoughts on Maruki and everything after I see the ending, most likely.

[ocarinnas]

tagged by @haru-kaas   thank you so much dear anto!!!!! ilyy 💕💕💕 (this is one of my favorites to do!!)

Rules: Pick three fandoms, answer the questions and tag 10 people

tagging (it’s optional and it’s okay if you already did it!): @shoto-doroki @radicorn @kiraime @dominantecode, @ikizais,  @usagiyamah @todorokiv @asahishinna @tmakisamajiki @asukariyo @zoldyckie @kishitan-iis @maginpui @aizawashoutta @katsvra

my chosen fandoms:

hunter x hunter

pandora hearts

fire emblem (im just going to include everyone from all the games i know ok)

The first character you loved:

killua (basycally because who doen’st love him jk) i mean, i thought he was cute since the beginning and... ofc for some time i was worried but then when he confessed that he just wanted to be gon’s friends i just adopted him just like that.

oz??break??? it’s so hard because you don’t know much of the characters at the beginning so you just stick with the ones that appears more? 😂 i just know that i started loving gilbert and alice later on. and i honestly like oz!! he has a nice personality for a main character!! 

maybe marth/lucina because i loved her design!!!! and the mystery behind her appearence too!

The character you never expected to love so much:

KOMUGI!!!!! she’s a princess!! the best girl!!!! so intelligent, so brave, so adorable!!!!!!! i love heeeer 

THERE’S SO MANY!!!! you get attached to so many omgggg. I love oswald, and i also love leo and elliot, omggg. I never thought i’d like oswald (because of how he’s presented to us at the beginning) buut i loved getting to know more of him and every time he appeared he looked so gorgeous im sad and full of feelings now ;;; ALSO ELLIOT AND LEO. i never thought elliot would have THE BEST ARC EVER (i repeat “the best arc ever” forever in my heart, i love you mochizuki jun) in the story of mangas. i love him so much and he deserved better. leo was another !!!!!surprise!!!! and i absolutely absolutelyyy love his beautiful eyees!!! *sobs*

takumi????? THIS was a surprise hahahahaha. leo has always been my favorite, even at the very first trailers of fe: fates, and i was always like wHY DO YOU HATE ME SO MUCH when takumi would talk to us while i was playing the birthright version. i mean i liked him because he was family too but he was not my favorite??? but now look at me, takumi is my #1 unit in fire emblem heroes 😂😅 (and i even gathered 180+ orbs just to summon him). what can i say gotta protect that smile 👌

The character you would date:

no no no im just a single mother of two golden-hearted kids (that can kill you in a blink of an eye). im so proud of my boys!

....ummm..i’d say leo? if he was older though

i married gaius in awakening and kaze in fates, that’s pretty much the answer 😂

The character you relate to the most:

sorry! i can’t think of anyone r n!!!

that’s a good question, i’d say oz because i do relate to how fast he adapts to situations, like nothing really surprises him. it just feels he’s satisfied with how things are in his life because in the end he doesn’t hold too much expectations? (i see a lot of that in the relationship he has with father) he doesn’t expect much and even pretend he doesn’t care but in the end he just doesn’t want to be hurt by the harsh reality and that’s pretty much how i deal with life tbh............. :’) 

KELLAM!!!!!  (hahah im the most unnoticed person in this whole world! i just experienced it today, nobody actually listen to what im saying 😂 im basically a ghost! 👻)

The character you’d slap:

hisoka 

jack

that’s a good question....xander? hahaa

Three favourite characters (in order of preference):

killua, gon, alluka

echo, leo, oz  (actually idk about the second and third, this is hard!!)

fjorm, kana (m/f), morgan (m/f) (yes!! i absolutely love the children too!)

A character you liked at first, but don’t anymore:

can’t think of anyone!

jack…….......... 

azura? i still like her!!!!! i just had an idea that her personality would be different!

Three OTPs:

meruem x komugi

rufus x sheryl!!!! oz x echo, vincent x ada (although i’ll ALWAYS be a gil x ada shipper lol)

frederick x lissa, chrom x sumia, henry x tharja

[badlydrawndrawnings]

Persona 5 AU

You know, I figure I should talk about how Haru and Goro swap roles as a result of their father swapping roles.

Haru Okumura (Takakura) [Arcana: Justice/Fool aka Wild Card] <- Goro Akechi (Shido) [Arcana: Not Stating]

As the Beautiful Detective Princess, Haru is beloved by girls and boys, men and women, for different reasons. Girls look up to her, women see her as breaking boundaries, boys just find her cool and cute, and men...split if she's going to last long. A sweet, kind heart girl with a strong sense of justice, she finds the PT's actions as criminal due to their methods (however, when the PT’s name get damage after the death of Kaneshiro and Shido, she believes their innocence of the murders). In her spare time, she enjoys ballet and gardening (she has a nice small garden at home). No one knows she is Okumura's bastard daughter, or the fact she moonlights as a supernatural hitman in the Metaverse. Everyone only knows her as (Eiji) Takakura, 'niece' (first cousin once removed; easier to say niece), as Haru’s mother was a cousin of his. (This is of course a cover story; Haru isn’t related to Takakura at all. Okumura ask the man to take in the child, saying she’s the daughter of a friend of a friend. Takakura  suspects otherwise, but will never speak thoughts.)

Despite the love and care Takakura  gives her (Takakura wants what’s best for Haru), Haru is driven to be acknowledge by  Okumura, wanting him to admit he left her and his former fiancee alone, and plans to get that by getting him to prime minister, only to reveal the truth after the election. Haru gets along well with Sae, in part for not asking for sushi. Haru worries for Sae a lot, and sometimes brings Sae fresh vegetables for her and her sister to eat. (Makoto is jealous of Haru for having the better relationship with Sae, but grows out of it by the time of the Space Station Palace).

Haru joins the PT after showing them the photos of them entering Shido’s Palace. She blackmails to steal the heart of the Sixth Palace Owner, in exchange for However, her plans on betraying them differs. Originally planing on 'selling' the PT out and shooting Joker in the head (the PT never suspects Haru as being the Persona User working with the conspiracy), the fact that one party member left and rejoin so quickly nip it. So Haru play nice with everyone in Okumura's Palace, but she let one slip up: one room is fully biometric, meaning it can only be access by 'people' with authority...or with Okumura's blood. The PT realize this too late. 

Haru traps them all, explaining they're all going to die. She gives out her backstory and her motives, and she and the PT fight (the PT, especially Goro of all people, try to reason with her). She is brought back to her senses, and the PT agree to finish the job together when Cognitive!Haru shows up, injuring Haru. Everyone learns Okumura knew of Haru's plan, and learn about Okumura's plan for Haru after the election, that she was going to suffer a fate worse than death. However, it may be better to kill her now. The PT (re: one PT member) intervene and kills Cognitive!Haru. While Haru does live, her injuries in the Metaverse ended up causing her to into comatose in the real world for the rest of the game, even in the final battle. She wakes up after Ren/Akira/Joker is in jail, and she gets Sae for the two to switch places. 

I joking applied game mechanics and figure her Co-Op/Confidant story is automatic moving with the plot, but it isn’t going to like Goro’s with the EXP bonus. Her Special Bonus and Skills is being able to grow vegetables at Shujin Academy,  accessable at rank 2, 4, and 5,  (2 it's here does Haru bring up her love of gardening) as she and Ren/Akira/Joker meet at random places and it just ranks up. When she becomes a party member, she gets all the regular members skills except one.

On a more serious note, Milady is no longer Haru's Initial Persona. Frankly, keeping Milady in this AU doesn’t seem like a good idea. Honestly torn between Irene Adler, being 'the woman' that outsmarted Joker and the PT for a good while, or Josephine Balsamo, as she is part of the Lupin lore. Ultimate Persona is Eris, Goddess of Discord. Also, I like to think that Haru keeps her almost all her Persona skills as in canon, expect she now has Deliberate.

Being the son of Masayoshi Shido is a heavy burden, especially given the fact Goro knows he's really Shido’s bastard child (Shido’s attempt to hide it from his son fail). A brilliant, cold, standoffish third year at Shujin, he's a stickler for keeping the status quo, which makes many students afraid of him. Everyone that does get the chance to speak/know him think of him as a haughty prick that needs to be taken down a few pegs, as Goro tends to insult people he views ‘lower’ than him. That being said, everyone can’t deny he a food lover with good taste (mostly with fancy tuna sushi,) and athletically build (favorite sports is rock climbing; darts is his second).

Goro is honestly a sensitive, decent person. His behavior is just an attempt on keeping people at arm lengths, as he is in full self-loathing on his true status, and believes people will treat him differently. Goro joining the PT isn’t like Haru; while he has access to the Navi App (for quite awhile actually), he never half awaken his Persona. He put in a request to change the heart of his father as a result, but nothing came of it...until recently, as Shido is now the number one requested person (which shocks the PT as they can’t find too much dirt on him). Goro only learns of the PT identity's after the PT fail to figure out Shido’s Palace Location or Keyword. Goro is a tag-along, and awakens after seeing the Cognitive Version of his mother: a cannibalistic, fire monster-like human on its legs (Shido doesn’t have good opinions of Ms. Akechi), screaming at him for killing her and ruining her life. After defeating her and leaving the Metaverse, Goro tells the PT the truth of his family, and his father’s crime in regards to his friends at the National Diet and for the business.

Seeing Shido's death in front of him took a toll, being reminded of finding his mother's dead body. He leaves the PT for part of the exploration of Sixth Target’s Palace, to make peace with everything, and rejoins after Haru joins (he is glad the PT had an extra pair of hands). Goro’s role in getting Joker out of police custody is...complicated, and that will be discussed later. All I can say is that Goro has to be a red herring, as he and the PT agree he should contact the Conspiracy. 

Goro is the PT member that saves Haru after she almost dies from her Cognitive self. While he never plans on forgiving her, he tells Haru he can empathize, as he too is a bastard child, and would have probably done the same thing if Shido had not taken him in (then Haru goes into coma). Goro is with Haru when she awaken, and he tells her what happen while she was out.

Having Robin Hood as his Initial Persona seems odd, so it's between Inspector Javert, being 'scum' of society that made his way to be a proper member of society, or Jean Valjean, as he is 'changed' and wants to do better. Ultimate Persona is Loki because I want to keep him. I like to think that the skills are the same, but now he has Heat Riser (or Luster Candy). 

I say Co-Op/Confidant storyline would be Goro and the the aftermath of Shido’s death, trying to become a better person, and being ‘in charge’ of the Red Lodge business. It’s in quotes as Goro is still in high school and needs to go to college before he fully takes over, so he’s stuck dealing with the philosophies Shido’s partners that are on account, clean: silent yet seemingly loyal Hitomi Makimura and eccentric yet ambitious Kou Kougami, If I joking add game mechanics, his bonus and skills are an enhancement of the Demon Negotiation (loosely inspired by some of the games files that show Goro was going to have skills/bonuses). If Joker made the wrong choice, he gets another chance. It evolves to where he can get two extra chances, with the high chance of getting the correct choice, leading to the Demon to 100 agree to what Joker want (Giving money, item, or being a Persona) for three times.

Reading this over made me realize I just put some Persona 1 elements. Haru is the Reiji, as while raised by someone that cares for them, they still want that sweet revenge. Goro is the Nanjo, watching someone they care for died in front of them, and a dickweed (not on the levels of Nanjo though) that grows out of it.