#im cursed with knowledge but not closure so i can only go so far

[apple-cores]

Somsnosa and Instar, with their appearance around hylics 2, and appearance x years into the future [scanned 2021, with new color]

also 3 year twinniversary

[godaime-obito]

my fill for @kakaobiweek2019 day 14: free day. im on my monster bs; enjoy konoha plus 100% more gorgons and witches

Obito hasn’t been back to Konoha in a long time. Not since before the cave, and the witch, and the curse. But as much as he dreads being back here, risking seeing familiar faces, he can at least be sure there won’t be any more witches. At least not ones like Kaguya was. The city has an excellent grasp on its supernatural population. Thank you Tobirama Senju: master of regulation and city planning.

The streets are the same as he remembers, dimly lit by old lights, but some of the stores have changed. Obito wonders how many closures and grand openings he missed the last decade and a half. His favorite dango stand is gone, and it makes him feel exceptionally old for only being 28. It’s silly of him; it was just a little stand. He detours from his path to the administrative building, where he intends to register the type of supernatural being he is and, well, finally report in as not being dead, to check that Ichiraku’s Ramen is still there.

Dusk is falling over Konoha. It’s settling in to be a foggy night as well and the streets are emptier than he expected. Ichiraku’s banners wave in the slight breeze, barely illuminated by the shop’s single outdoor light. They’re still open, and he can hear customers talking inside. A shout, a giggle, and then a reprimand in familiar voice.

Obito would be lying if he said he didn’t recognize who the last voice was. It’s not too late for him to turn back to his original path, content in the knowledge the shop is still here. He doesn’t, instead he slips through the curtain and quietly takes a seat on the opposite end of the bar from the ones already there. Ayame comes to take his order. She’s about the same age as him. He remembers coming here with Sensei and Kushina-neechan and seeing her tracing her father’s steps, eager to learn the family business. She doesn’t recognize him. To her credit, he is wearing a mask.

He wonders if he’s changed too much to be recognized at all, even without the mask. He was already scarred when he woke up after Kanabi Bridge, but then the witch happened too. Uchiha aren’t supernatural, despite their eyes. He was normal until the curse. He still can’t believe he was turned into a gorgon. Logically he knew gorgons originated from a curse, but he thought nowadays they were all just descendants of the ones originally cursed, not that there were witches running around still using it all haphazard. He couldn’t remove the mask if he wanted to without temporarily or even permanently freezing anyone who isn’t also a gorgon, and he has to keep his hood up in case he gets emotional and his hair goes serpentine on him.

Never mind. He doesn’t want to linger on that. He’d even rather think about Kakashi. If Obito spoke loud enough for him to hear would Kakashi know his voice like Obito knew his? Does he want to be recognized? It would be better to go unnoticed, but at the same time he wants to be important enough to remember. Wants Kakashi to have retraced every memory of the team’s time together the way Obito has.

Glancing over, he catalogues the other customers. Kakashi and three others, all of them sitting together. The others are just kids. He can only see their profiles; A blond boy, a girl with pink hair, and a boy with black hair and a very Uchiha look. They’re eleven or twelve or thirteen. About the age he was when he last saw Kakashi. The man’s new team, for which he is the Sensei? He can’t imagine him teaching anything. But it’s been a long time. People change. Obito certainly has.

He can’t help repeatedly glancing over as he eats. He feels like a real creep, but Kakashi is right there. He looks so much like Obito imagined. Well, considering a portion of his imagining was just ‘the same mask covering half his face’ maybe that’s not too impressive. It seems like the others might be ready to leave the last time he looks over and his gaze lingers in preparation for it being his last chance to see them.

Kakashi glances his way before he finishes starring and catches him in the act. It’s embarrassing, but with the orange mask on he at least he can’t see the weird face Obito’s probably making. He quickly shifts his eye back to his ramen. Maybe Kakashi will just move on and forget the strange man with one eye and a bright orange mask staring him down during his team dinner? Yeah, right. He’ll probably track him down and bother him later. Obito had to get ramen and see him, and now he’s going to be dodging him every step of the way. Literally hunted by his past. He shouldn’t have pissed off Konan; he could still be in Ame, which is blessedly low on both witches and ghosts. Or at least low on ghosts from his past. Plenty of the other kind.

Obito manages to avoid seeing Kakashi again for a full week. A true testament to his greatly improved ninja skill. He couldn’t even avoid him a full day as a kid. He’s not so clumsy now, except perhaps in the moments he most needs to be graceful and said grace immediately abandons him. No, he doesn’t want to think about that.

His luck runs out on a bright and beautiful day at an open field used as a training ground. Obito isn’t actually training, just lying in the grass enjoying being alone, only to be suddenly not alone.

“Hello there,” a voice calls from a short distance away, “I’ve seen you around lately, but I don’t think we’ve been introduced.” Kakashi is standing at the edge of the trees bracketing the field, leaning lazily against one.

“To the contrary,” Obito replies, “I think we have been before. I couldn’t forget a mask as nice as yours.” He doesn’t move from his spot on the ground.

“Strange,” Kakashi says, “I don’t think I could forget one as livery as yours either, yet it doesn’t seem to ring a bell.”

“I suppose we met before I started wearing this mask,” he answers.

“Well then,” he exclaims, “You must introduce yourself! It’s only proper to do it again whenever you change masks.”

“Of course!” Obito says, rather enjoying their little façade of a conversation. “How about a trade?” he proposes.

“A trade?” Kakashi prompts.

“I’ll reintroduce myself if you take off your little mask,” he says, “Why I’ll even take my mask off too.” Ha. What do you have to say to that Kakashi? He’s worn that mask practically since birth and never shown anyone his face. Obito wouldn’t be surprised to find out Sakumo never saw his own son’s face.

“You drive a hard bargain,” he says with consideration, “I don’t know if seeing my face is good for your health.”

“Are you being vain or self-deprecating? “Obito wonders aloud, “Does that mean it’s too ugly or too beautiful to be seen?”

“Neither,” Kakashi says cheerfully, “Just too powerful. I have a very strong face you know.”

“What a coincidence! That’s also why I started wearing this mask.”

The air is tense in the field. They stare at each other waiting to see if either will break character or give in. He considers just taking off his mask for the satisfaction of seeing Kakashi frozen in place indefinitely. Obito wants to see Kakashi’s face even more than he wants to freeze him though. He sizes him up a moment and then finally stands up and moves towards Kakashi.

“How about I give you a few hints first?” Obito suggests, “We haven’t seen each other in more than a decade and I was born here in Konoha. He comes to a stop just in front of him. “Ring any bells?” he asks.

“I suppose it does a bit, but it’s still far too vague,” he answers. Kakashi’s tensed slightly after is approach, slight enough a less observant person would miss it.  

“Really?” Obito drawls, “How about this: Bakashi.” His heads jerks at the sound, utterly shocked, and he moves forward without thinking. He aborts halfway through a step towards him, but it’s too late. Obito snaps a hand toward him and grabs ahold of the top of his mask and pulls downward as Kakashi tries to step back again.

He is beautiful. However, Obito doesn’t feel particularly overpowered by it. Kakashi looks less like Sakumo than he thought he would, and he has a rather adorable mole below his lip. Oddly it almost sounds like he’s being hissed at. Kakashi’s mouth isn’t moving, but his hair is. He glances up at it. Snakes. He looks back down at Kakashi’s bewildered face.

“You’re… okay?” he says.

“What the fuck Bakashi. You never mentioned being a gorgon. We were teammates for years,” Obito complains and jerks off his own mask, tossing it on the nearby ground.

“O- Obito?” Kakashi says. He looks no less confused than a moment ago and his hair is still made of little silver snakes. They’re kind of cute. “It never came up? How are you okay? Where have you been all this time?” he adds. He doesn’t seem like any of this has sunk in yet.

“I was pulled out of the rubble by a plant creature. I wanted to come back, but then I got cursed and had to fight a witch to the death,” he explains, “It didn’t get rid of the main part of the curse though. Guess it’s permanent.”

“Curse? Permanent?” Kakashi questions. In response Obito yanks back his hood and allows it to transform. Unlike Kakashi’s short hair and snakes, Obito’s hair is long. He hasn’t bothered to cut it since he was crushed, and his meter-long pitch-black snakes twist out into the air around them. Their scales glimmer with a blue tint in the sunlight.

“Oh,” Kakashi breathes. “Are they poisonous?” he asks

“No. I… I didn’t know that was even an option,” Obito stutters, “the fuck. Could I have accidently poisoned myself with my own hair if they were? Fuck. Are yours poisonous?”

“No,” he replies and finally breaks out of his daze. Unfortunately for Obito, he does so in order to laugh at his bewildered outrage. “You can’t poison yourself. Gorgons are always immune to their own poison. Although, if anyone could have managed to do so it would be you,” he teases.

“It’s not funny Bakashi,” he says.

“Of course not,” he says still laughing. “I’m just… really glad to see you,” Kakashi says. The laughter abruptly cuts off. “I really thought you were dead,” he murmurs.

“But I’m not,” Obito assures him, “Sorry I’m late.” His snakes are getting awfully friendly with Kakashi, flashing their little tongues to smell him and winding around his arms to slither up him.

Kakashi looks intently at him, soaking in his face and scars, before stepping even closer. His silver snakes rub against Obito’s own snakes and brush against his forehead. Obito stand perfectly still as he waits to see what he’ll do. Even his snakes, who often have minds of their own, go still.

Obito inhales sharply as their lips press together. He shivers as he eagerly allows Kakashi to deepen the kiss, and his snakes seem to spring suddenly back to life. They wind around Kakashi’s own silvery ones, and do their best to loop around his torso as well. When their lips finally break apart, Obito is flushed a gasping lightly. Their lips are still only centimeters apart, as the entwined serpents prevent them from stepping away from each other.

“Just one thing,” he says, “Were you born a gorgon? Your dad definitely wasn’t a gorgon. Oh my god, he really didn’t ever see your face.”

“Yes, I was born this way. My mother was a gorgon,” Kakashi says with fond exasperation, “Aren’t there bigger things we should be addressing?”

“Well, since I won’t be leaving again,” Obito says, “I imagine we’ll have plenty of time to get around to whatever it is you think is important to talk about. But I want you to explain how these cheeky snakes work.”

This certainly didn’t turn out to be the reunion Obito was expecting. Honestly it went way better. He’ll take it, copious unexpected revelations and all.

 Kakashi’s hair snakes are conception bank silver boas & Obito’s are northern black racers

[hexidecimaldrms]

HAPPY BELATED BORTH JOV

@gabbyzvolt25 im hop you lomve it uwu

Dio would never forget the night he turned his brother into a vampire.

It started with the fact that Jonathan didn't die at Ogre Street, as he had planned around; rather, he had gotten lucky and charmed his way out of the situation using his "chivalry". At first, this was a minor setback, and Dio figured with his luck everything would work out in the end. Even when confronted by his brother and his new acquaintance back at the Joestar manor, he was not afraid.

"Jojo... I accept my fate. I want you to handcuff me, for my wrongdoings affected you the most."

As expected, Jonathan folded like putty in his hands. The minute he approached, Dio plunged the knife he had pilfered from his drawer into his brother's stomach, smirking triumphantly at his foolishness. Jonathan pressed a hand to his wound, paling at the sight of the blood covering it.

Not missing a beat, Dio then shoved the mask onto his face, prompting his brother to grasp at his hand to remove it. Just as planned, Jonathan smeared blood all over his masked visage, forcing the spikes in the sides of the aforementioned mask to impale themselves into his head.

Dio's adopted brother fell to the floor with a heavy thud, bringing an even heavier silence with it. The riff-raff with shaggy blond hair that Jonathan had dragged home covered his mouth in abject horror, his eyes widening almost comically.

And then, the mask started to glow. Waves of light emanated from his brother's face, blinding everyone in the room. Just as soon as it started, however, the light stopped. Jonathan slowly sat up, the mask clattering to the floor beside him. His shallow breaths formed clouds in the air, and what little they could see of his teeth were sharpened to needle-like points. His previously blue eyes had shifted to an almost demonic red, and his skin had paled to an alabaster white.

In a blur of movement, Jonathan lunged for one of the policemen, tackling him with inhuman strength. Within seconds, the innocent officer had shriveled up like a raisin, and Jonathan's fingers were covered in what Dio assumed to be the man's blood.

"So... Thirsty..." said Jonathan while turning to look his adopted brother directly in the eye. "Dio... I'm so very thirsty... What have you done to me?"

Dio was too stunned to speak. He had expected the mask to end his brother's life, but instead it had transformed him into something almost larger than life; a being only clothed in the guise of humanity.

Jonathan then ran towards his brother, his eyes narrowing into small slits. Dio stepped back, terrified for the first time in his life. He shut his eyes and jammed the knife clutched in his right hand forward, hoping it would slow his approach. He felt the knife sink into flesh, but shortly after he felt the weight of an entire body push past his last line of defense. Jonathan plunged his fingers into Dio's neck, his eyes unfittingly apologetic. He could feel the blood draining from his body, and for a second, Dio felt the cold hands of death wrap themselves around his being.

That is, until the speeding form of a bullet whizzed past him, barely missing his head. Through the hole it had put in his brother, he could just make out the blond meddler, shakily holding a still-smoking gun. Jonathan's faced tensed in pain, and Dio used this as his chance to escape. At this rate, unless he did something, he was going to kill them all in cold blood.

In a fit of madness, he knocked over a nearby lamp, setting the carpet ablaze. Dio then began to flee up the countless stairs of the Joestar manor, uncaring of the fate of those left below. To his chagrin, the meddler was not far behind in pursuit, shouting incomprehensibly. Jonathan began to make his way up the wall, terrifying Dio more than he should have. The flames consuming the manor below silhouetted his form in a way that made him seem as if he was rising out of hell itself, the fact that his eyes were glowing doing nothing to rectify the situation.

Dio cursed to himself as he watched Jonathan steadily climb. He wasn't expecting his brother to be so resilient, and he was beginning to lose his patience. Gritting his teeth, Dio jumped down from the third floor balcony, determined to take his brother down with him. Surprisingly, Jonathan did not resist; he instead elected to go down with dignity, either unwilling to or unaware of his ability to change his fate within an instant. As the flames surrounded them both, a million thoughts ran through Dio's mind; but at the forefront was the fact that to his knowledge, this was how his story ended.

Of course, this was not the case. The three moles on his left ear had entrusted him with the devil's luck once more, causing Jonathan to become impaled on the statue of the Joestars' guardian angel. He shrieked out in pain, and the last thing Dio saw before he blacked out was the mangled form of his adopted brother.

When Dio awoke, he was cradled in the arms of the meddler from earlier, in front of the still-ablaze Joestar manor.

"Should probably introduce myself," he said offhandedly. "Call me Speedwagon. I dunno what your deal is, but you really did a number on Mr. Joestar."

"I had to." Dio sneered back. "It was either me or the both of us, and it's quite obvious which option I chose."

"No need to get snarky, you devil. If it weren't for me, you wouldn't be alive right now."

Dio tried to wrestle himself out of Speedwagon's grasp, but it felt as if his body was completely paralyzed.

"Hmph. You can try to escape all you want, but your injuries aren't gonna let 'ya."

"And so? What do you plan to do, turn me into the authorities?" Dio spat.

"I would, but I've got a feeling that this isn't the last we'll be seeing of Mr. Joestar, and you'll need all your strength for the next encounter." Speedwagon replied with a silly grin. "So I'm taking you to an inn, so you can rest up."

Dio internally sighed and rolled his eyes. As much as this was his responsibility, the last thing he wanted to do was romp around with some scruffy street man in some desperate bid for closure. But on the same hand, he didn't have much of a choice.

"Fine then. But don't you think for a second I'm doing this because I want to."

"Sounds good to me. Shall we be off, then?"  Speedwagon said with a knowing smirk.

"If you insist."

Dio and the meddler then set off into the dark night, rain clouds rolling in as if they were cued by some invisible playwright.

[luucarii]

Persona 5 Ramblings

this shit is long. like really long.

and I sound like a crazed fangirl so....

MAJOR SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT. IM TALKING ABOUT LIKE ALMOST EVERYTHING BUD!!!

also, i curse way too much in this... apologies in advance 

also, happy father’s day even though this has nothing to do with it :)

THIS IS ALL BACKGROUND ON ME BEFORE I GOT THE GAME SKIP TO THE NEXT BOLD PART IF YOU WANT TO HEAR MY OPINION ON THE GAME ITSELF.

Okay, so I’ve mentioned vaguely how Persona 5 is my first encounter with the Persona series. I’d heard bits and pieces about the series but I never really understood the concept of Persona until maybe mid April of this year. I was on spring break from school and I don’t remember how exactly how I stumbled across it but i found this playthrough of Persona 5 on youtube and I was mildly interested. So I clicked on it, and into the emotional rollercoaster that is this game i went.

At the time, there was only about 11 episodes of the play through (each around an hour long) so I binged watched each episode ending up with me staying up past 2 am. I was just so invested. The opening drew me in the minute the camera showed off that smug little bastard Joker’s smirk over the casino (I’ll get into why I love this kid and the rest of the cast later). I was confused since I was going into Persona 5 with no knowledge of the whole concept of Personas at all. I was kinda just like “wow this looks badass. What is he doing? Oh my god, this game is so pretty.”

I ended up skipping around once I got tired of waiting for a new episode and watched this long ass livestream. I got to about Okumura’s Palace before there was nothing left for me to watch but the boss battles uploaded, which did spoil me a little bit and got me a bit confused but I was so interested that I honestly didn’t care. I was so surprised at Niijima’s Palace and her boss battle as a whole and was like “SHIT THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF THE GAME!!!! OH MY GOD EVERYTHINGS BACK”

From there, I skipped straight to the traitor - aka Akechi’s battle - and can I just say, I was not surprised that he had a Persona but I was surprised that he betrayed the group considering all the story shit I skipped. Shido’s fight was fairly interesting to me but again, I skipped a bunch of story shit so I was really just rooting for the Phantom Thieves because this was THE ASSHOLE WHO GAVE MY POOR LITTLE AKIRA A CRIMINAL RECORD.

Skipped a bunch of shit again and onto the fight with Yaldobaoth. At this point I was drawing a lot of similarities to Xenoblade Chronicles, fighting a God for freedom and then THEY PULLED THE WHOLE BELIEF THINGY (which they did at the end of Okami as well) AT THE END WITH MISHIMA AND THE REST OF TOKYO BELIEVING IN THE THIEVES AND I WAS SOBBING LIKE A LITTLE BITCH AT 2 AM.

And after that, I made it a point that one day I’d play this game for myself. And it was maybe a few days after that I finally got the game.

Now at the time (and still now) I didn’t own a PS4 and was forced to use my brother’s when he was at work. Adding to the fact that school was beginning to start up again, I had at most maybe 6 hours to play a day if homework didn’t take up all my time. So what might’ve taken me a few weeks to beat took me almost 2 months to beat because of timing. 

BUT OH WELL, I HAD THE GAME, I PLAYED THE GAME, I LOVED THE GAME AND NOW IM GOING TO SQUEAL LIKE A FANGIRL OVER EVERY ASPECT OF THIS GAME THAT I ADORED.

GAMEPLAY

Okay, so I’ve played my fair share of JRPGs and Persona 5 was a nice familiarity. All the dungeon crawling, the fighting, turn-base combat, ya’ll get it.

BUT UM THESE DUNGEONS (Palaces if you would) ARE FREAKING GORGEOUS, HELL THE GAME ITSELF IS GORGEOUS.

Each Palace and their respective Shadow ruler has their own design, personality and each are based on the seven deadly sins which (after finishing FullMetal Alchemist a few months earlier) I thought was clever and interesting.

Kamoshida’s castle was a nice balance of a first dungeon and “hey we’re not gonna hold your hand, this is fairly simply kill some Shadows, find the infiltration route and don’t get kicked out.” ALSO RYUJI AND ANN’S AWAKENINGS. JUST THAT. INCREDIBLE.

Madarame’s museum had a little bit more difficulty but was still fairly easy. The security bars kinda gave me a little anxiety considering I was still getting used to all the controls (I had just finished an Xbox One game before playing this so my buttons were mixed up) and the little painting guessing game was a bit dumb considering each Sayuri looked EXACTLY THE SAME TO ME (except the color swapped ones) ESPECIALLY CONSIDERING YUSUKE WAS THERE AND COULD HAVE EASILY TOLD US BUT NO HE WANTED TO TEST AKIRA’S ART SKILL. ARE YOU APART OF THE PHANTOM THIEVES OR NOT YUSUKE??????????

but i digress…

Kaneshiro’s bank was fun but GOD SEND THOSE FREAKING SECURITY CAMERAS AND THOSE SHADOW DOGS TO HELL OH MY GOD I HATED THOSE. See my thing is, I’m not exactly a stealthy person. Which is why I love hiding because you can sneak up on Shadows and ambush them easily. I hate raising security level and those damn dogs were so annoying and just ugh. Those dogs are honestly one of the few grips I have with the game. Also, MAKOTO IS THE ACTUAL QUEEN.

Futaba’s temple was by far the longest one for me in terms of gameplay hours (in game time took me about 2-3 days) but it was still fun nonetheless and I’m glad Futaba (who is one of my favorite female characters) got some closure on her story with her mother and was able to rise above that. I’m a sucker for tragic backstories when their well executed. (i still to this day do not know how to pronounce her Persona…)

Okumura’s spaceship was my favorite aesthetically because I’ve always been interested in space and the stars and the little puzzle at the end with the space pockets was a nice bit of challenging and flying through Metaverse space. ALSO HARU HAS FLUFFY FLUFF HAIR AND HAS MY SECOND FAVORITE PHANTOM THIEF OUTFIT 

hmm, i wonder who has my favorite Phantom Thief outfit... Joker... It’s Joker... god damn those red gloves

Niijima’s casino, which OH MY GOD WERE BACK TO THE BEGINNING AND AKECHI’S WITH US AHH, and WHIMS OF FATE IS BEST PALACE THEME.

It was my favorite palace, no questions asked.

Shido’s ship was another long one but finally getting revenge on this dick was incredible. Also, AKECHI AND RYUJI PLAYING WITH MY FEELINGS.

Mementos was a good idea as a whole but the way it was executed everything just sort of blended together for me and there were only a few requests that stood out to me. The music was bland (one of the blandest on the soundtrack, especially compared to the other Palace themes casually mentions Whims of Fates again) and during the late floors of Mementos, everything got so dark and it was really hard to see.

CHARACTERS

expect this to be me screaming a lot.

Akira Kurusu (Protagonist)

okay, um, i love this boy. like a lot. LIKE I WOULD DIE FOR HIM.

For a silent protagonist this guy sure has a lot of character. The rare times he speaks in cutscenes, specifically the ones where he’s Joker, he has this sort of cocky arrogance yet when he’s little Akira in his Shujin uniform he’s a quiet little curious boy. He’s incredible under pressure, like there’s only a few things that make him crack and his dialogue options are priceless.

I especially love Joker because I’m an honest to god mess when it comes to smug bastards and I have an unhealthy love for those crimson gloves of his.

But honestly he doesn’t deserve half the shit he gets in game. Besides the whole “game” set up by Yaldobaoth, he was sent away from his family and presumedly the friends he had back in his hometown all because of his probation, literally no one treats him with any sort of respect when he gets to Shibuya. Sojiro reminds him countless times the first what 3-4 months that he’ll be kicked out if he breaks his probation which (besides doing all that illegal shit as Phantom Thieves) he honestly just goes to school (a place where he gets even more shit from teachers and students), hangs out a little after and comes straight home. I know Akira’s been established to have a bad reputation because of his record but don’t these people have eyes??? Can’t they see that he’s obviously not a bad guy based on what he’s doing in school and not getting involved with the police??? Sojiro's exempt from this because he at least grows to like having Akira around and trusts him enough to go out at night, work in the store alone and lock up from him when he leaves.

AKIRA IS A GOOD BOY WHO DIDN’T DESERVE ALL THE SHIT GIVEN TO HIM

Also, Xander Mobus did a good ass job with his voice

Ryuji Sakamoto

see this post that basically sums up my feelings on this boy.

Also, Max Mittelman.

Ann Takamaki

CAN I JUST SAY ANN IS ONE OF THE BESTEST FRIENDS IVE EVER SEEN???????

Like she went through all that shit with Kamoshida, the harassment, possibly rape, all for freaking Shiho’s sake. Just… wow. That’s some freaking loyalty there. Shiho's the closest friend she has at Shujin (at least before the events of the game) and God knows how long she went along with Kamoshida’s bullshit all for Shiho. I mean I may sound a bit repetitive but holy shit that just amazes  me. SHE. ENDURED. SEXUAL. HARASSMENT. ALL. FOR. HER. BEST. FRIEND. And the minute she watched Shiho’s suicide attempt that was it. Any last bit of restraint she had left broke and she went full on at Kamoshida all for revenge for her best friend. My god.

Onto her confidant ranks, Ann is just a charismatic bundle of joy who just wants to make people happy. Yeah she butted heads with that girl (forgot her name…) and did fall down a little in terms of confidence but Akira and Shiho helped her through it and brought her back on her path of what she wants to do… Just ugh, I love Ann so much.

Yusuke Kitagawa

Yusuke’s a fan favorite and for good reason.

His backstory about how Madarame took him in after his mom died and overlooked his painting which led to the later plagiarism is an interesting one and I love how the Sayuri, the only thing left to connect him to his mother, is an important factor that leads to his realization of “oh shit this guy’s a dick who watched my mom die without helping her and he used me for money and fame.”

As a character though, Yusuke’s freaking weird. But i love him because of it. He has his formal tongue but that formal tongue casually overlooks any weird shit that comes out of his mouth. He doesn’t give any flying fucks about what people think of him and he speaks his mind like there’s no tomorrow. I still crack up at the nude painting scene with him and Ann because his mix of awkwardness and passion to paint a nice ass picture is just incredible. Also, another thing. He’s. So. Damn. Passionate. Like he ties art into everything, even fighting Shadows and he’s always looking for new ideas for paintings.

Also, Matt Mercer

Makoto Niijima

MAKOTO IS QUEEN.

She’s not my favorite female, that role goes to Futaba but she’s definitely number 2.

I genuinely have a love for the Niijima sisters because they complement each other so well. Sae’s the head of the house who also works tirelessly just to support her younger sister and it’s clear to see why Makoto would feel useless. She’s a high school student and as a student you really can’t do much that’ll pay the bills and keep food on the table unless you have a job which Makoto’s student council president and (i’m assuming) is in everything so it’d probably be hard as is to get a job and be of some sort of use to her sister. Then Kaneshiro comes around threatening her and Thieves and her sister and she just doesn’t want to feel useless anymore. She wants to do something after being forced to sit back and watch other people be counted on. And just, ugh, her awakening is by far my favorite out of all of them just because of everything behind it and just MAKOTO IS AMAZING, CASE CLOSED.

Also, Cherami Leigh.

Futaba Sakura

By far my favorite female as I feel our personalities are pretty damn similar. Besides her being a hacker and me not knowing anything about possibly illegal things like that, I relate to Futaba as she’s an introvert. She and I value our alone time and (although for different reasons) like being shut in. Now I’m not going to say Futaba and I share the same backstory because my God I’m honestly baffled how this girl went through years in solitude after her mother’s death thinking it was her fault. For one, she WATCHED HER MOTHER DIE IN FRONT OF HER. HOLY SHIT HOW DID THIS GIRL MANAGE TO FUNCTION WITH THAT MENTAL IMAGE IMPRINTED IN HER BRAIN???? AND THEN FOR YEARS ON END SHE LOCKED HERSELF UP AWAY FROM THE WORLD AND BEGAN HAVING ACTUAL PHYSICAL AND VERBAL HALLUCINATIONS AND IF IT WASNT FOR THE PHANTOM THIEVES SHE PROBABLY WOULD HAVE ENDED UP KILLING HERSELF AND I DONT WANT TO THINK OF A WORLD WITHOUT THIS ADORABLE LITTLE OTAKU.

also, i really ship her and Yusuke Inari

Haru Okumura

For one, Haru is freaking adorable, I mean look at her. She has the short little fluffy fluff hair and her voice is so light and feathery and polite and WHY DOES SHE COME SO LATE IN THE DAMN GAME????

I was lucky enough to manage to finish her confidant before the end of the game but when her confidant first opened up to me (getting rank 5 Proficiency was a bitch) at that point I was planning on not doing her confidant at all, I was just planning on getting Baton Pass and ditching her because I didn’t think I’d finish it. I did (at the cost of not finishing Makoto’s, still extremely disappointed on that) and I have to say Haru’s confidant was by far my favorite one out of the ones I maxed out.

Her whole thing is now that her father’s dead, she’s basically the one inheriting everything from Okumura Foods and she never really understood anything to begin with and she thinks everyone who’s trying to help her is just doing it for their own self-gain.  Okumura Foods, at this point, is attempting to rise back up after all the shit her father put the company through and all the current bad reputation it has. Haru’s never had a chance in her life to make things for herself. She’s always been told what to do and has been very obedient (even agreeing to marry a literal dickhead all for her father’s company) and suddenly she’s given all control and doesn’t know what to do with it. All these happy smiling faces offering their help just seem like people attempting to take advantage of her incompetence. Akira helps her through it like the amazing boy that he is and Haru ends up finally being able to speak her mind about the company and what SHE wants to do. She gives the company up to someone who she believes is trustworthy and decides that she’ll one day open a small little cafe like Leblanc in the future after college. And honestly, just her overcoming her distrust and her previous shell of being obedient to rising up and making her own decisions it makes me so happy and proud to see her grow and change and just UGGH I LOVE EVERYONE IN THIS DAMN CAST.

Morgana

This cat, literally this cat. HE BELONGS WITH AKIRA AND THE REST OF THE THIEVES NO ONE CAN CONVINCE ME OTHERWISE.

Loud-mouthed, a little bit arrogant, Morgana is just an amazing character in general for me. I know Ryuji’s technically supposed to be the comic relief (and he does fulfill this role, don’t get me wrong) but I feel Morgana takes this spot too, especially the two bickering like an old married couple. I know some people hate on Morgana because of how he treats Ryuji and the amount of “go to bed” memes on Tumblr but all around Morgana is just a cat who was just looking for a place to call home. He was just looking for people to accept him.

And a part of me honestly hopes if there’s an add on for this game in the future, Morgana gets a human form because I’d love to see that.

Also, please tell me I’m not the only one who still mixes up Morgana’s gender. I still sometimes call him a her just out of habit because I can’t hear Cassandra Lee Morris as anything but a girl.

Also, Cassandra Lee Morris.

Goro Akechi

OKAY SO CONTROVERSY??? MAYBE??

I LIKE AKECHI

NO FUCK THAT

I LOVE AKECHI

LIKE HONEST TO GOD THIS BOY DESERVED BETTER.

Don’t misunderstand, I know he killed people. I know he caused all those shutdowns and was planning on killing the Thieves and eventually Shido himself (which now begs the question, say he did kill Shido, what next?)

I’m not denying anything he did. And yes, his backstory (although extremely saddening) does not justify his actions. He knew what he was doing and he still did it.

Akechi took the wrong path in his life. If anything you can sort of compare his story to Futaba’s in the sense that they both lost family members and were left with nothing. In Futaba’s case however, she still had people trying to help her. She had Sojiro who took her in after her uncle was abusing her or something and she had the Thieves who literally changed her heart and made her see the truth.

Akechi had absolutely nobody.

His mom died (suicide if I remember correctly), he was thrown into foster care, his own father (seriously, fuck Shido. Not just because of how he was with Akechi but everything in this damn game) didn’t even knew he existed. He had no acknowledgement, no affection, nothing. He was forced to make do with what little scraps he could find and make a life for himself.

Again, don’t misunderstand me. I know he killed people and his backstory does not justify his actions because he knew what he was doing was wrong. I’m just saying maybe if he had someone, anyone who was there to help him out, to pull him out of his misery he most likely would have been a different person. He wouldn’t have had his revenge for Shido be his only reason for living and he wouldn’t have gone out the way he did. It’s hard not to feel bad for him. He’s been alone all his damn life and all this guy really wanted was a friend, some teammates, people who wanted him around. I just wish Akechi had gotten a way to repent. I hate the fact that he died. One because we lost a good character and two because I genuinely believe that he wanted to change at the end. Akira changed him. The Thieves changed him. I wish he had gotten an ending where he could own up to his mistakes and be able to make up for lost time.

Just… ugh.

I’m apart of the “Akechi deserved better” group.

And I also ship Akeshu really really really hard.

Also, Robbie Daymond was freaking fantastic.

VERDICT

THIS IS LONG ENOUGH SO LET ME SUM IT UP IN A SENTENCE.

PERSONA 5 IS AMAZING, I LOVED IT.