#while akira's (kinda) called goro out for it. a little bit. the fact remains that his boyfriend has been a piece of shit to haru

[orcelito]

It's so interesting playing p5r and watching Haru's social link... in discacc, I kinda gloss over most of the social links, bc theyre largely the same as in the game, but with her... I'm gonna have to really pick apart how her friendship with Akira develops lol. Bc of how things have been set up, their friendship will be fundamentally different from how things are in the game... they CAN be friends, I just... need to smooth some things out first...

[loopmasu]

Why i love Goro Akechi (BIG SPOILERS)

i see alot hate towards my favorite pancake boi and as he did attempt murdering the MC and his whole redemption was forced and a little bit rushed, but Akechi is a great character and this is why i personally love him.

what people have to understand about his backstory is that ITS VERY SAD He lost the one person that was suppose to love him unconditionally at a very early age living at least ten years of his life without a mother.

Its hard to talk about but as someone who's grown up with a suicidal and depressed mother that has actually attempted suicide i empathize with Akechi aloot, I've often thought how would my life would be without her, and i too like Akechi would one, blame myself for being a burden, and two, blame the world for driving my mother to suicide (in my case it would be bad boyfriends, idle family members that have stood by and let her suffer and corporations that have fired her even though shes an excellent worker. Unlike Akechi, i have a pretty positive relationship with my father.) fortunately my mother has decided to live on but if i lost her there would be absolutely no one to help me. (either than my father who i barley know but still have a good relationship with) there would be no friends that would take me in and let them live with them, my family members would probably give me the same treatment they gave my mother when she was suffering and ignore me (much like how Futaba's siblings treat her once her mother allegedly committed suicide, if it wasn't for Sojiro AKA BEST-DAD, best girl would live a horrible life with her uncle and eventually succumb to her sadness)

I've thought extensively of how my life would turn out if my mother ever lost to depression and i thank god she hasn't. Unfortunately for my fav pancake boi, this was not the case. His mother gave in to the depression and took her own life leaving Goro as a child on his very own (Akechi's case being much worse than mine since i don't really know any other family members of his either than Shido... and yea....Shido definitely inst father of the year) Goro had to live his whole life By himself, no came to his rescue and no friends were there to support him and reach out to the truth. the suicide of his mother has had a huge impact on his mental well being (much like it did for Futaba), if the one person who was suppose to always be there for you and help you grow just left, and by there own hands, it would cause your mental state to skew as well.

Now since Akechi has lived his whole life depending on no one but himself because there has been no one there for him, its perfectly understandable for him to be cynical of others and unwilling to make connections, especially with joker, who has everything Akechi's ever wanted and more. i say unwilling because while Akechi would love nothing more than to be BFFS with joker and the rest of the thieves, this would mean acknowledging the fact that he has been living in an unsightly manner. i believe Akechi's biggest conflict is with himself, as he wants nothing more than to avenge his mother and goes to the ends of the earth to do so even becoming his father's assassin to secure a way into his life, but he also wants the love and recognition hes never gotten from having friends or loving family members, these are two things Akechi cant have in his perspective so he has to hide one side to get the other and vice versa (i guess that's why he has Robin Hood representing his need for recognition and Loki to represent his need for vengeance by any means). He has to hide the fact he is a killer and has done awful things to accomplish his objective in order to gain recognition from others without being seen as mad and he has to hide the fact he wants recognition and love from others to justify his means for vengeance. BUT a big yellow cup gives this broken mind a means to have both of his dreams by giving him access to the metaverse AND a persona. with this Akechi's will to gain both of his objectives is fortified and there is no going back, he pledges himself to revenge while gaining respect all own his own, No morgana to help guide and tutor him, no teamates to empathize with and form bonds with, just a a shithead father who you want personally thrust into a living hell, while also being seen as useful by said shithead.

What i believe began to make Akechi go mad was his jealousy/ friendship with joker. Joker has Friends there for him when he needs them, alive parents that may have sent him away but are still gonna take him back come march, a great positive male role model that is best-dad, and is still a rebel that gets revenge on his enemies in his own way ( a much more efficient way). Joker has all these things despite the bad reputation he has and as we've seen this infuriates Akechi who has believed he only needs himself for over ten years now. while Akechi's relationship with Akira grows he becomes more and more close and willing to open up, but this is all while knowing that Akira poses a threat to his power trip and delusional mindstate. accepting Jokers friendship and joining the phantom thieves meant acknowledging his way of life as wrong, so yes while he was growing closer to Joker he also had to harbor animosity towards him as well ( this may explain his smile as he murders his only friend who he perceives as his enemy at the moment because to think otherwise would mean to acknowledging he is in fact wrong, so he forces himself to believe his actions are just)

The failed assassination of Joker was not only a hindrance to his ultimate goal of revenge but meant once again having to question his own way of life after believing he had just validated it by defeating someone he secretly wanted to be friends with. by the point of the shido palace THERE IS TRULY NO GOING BACK FOR GORO the election is about to take place and shido is on his way to victory, any thing in his way was perceived gone, sure it caused him a lot of pain to get there but his master plan is days from fruition, THEN HE FIGURES IT OUT , joker isnt dead and their now attempting to accomplish something goro has literally been killing people to do.THIS is why akechi begins to lose it in the ship, because Joker literally has found a way to do everything he hasn't been able to but simply can not accept it, which is why he gets edgy AF.

So you fight it out with Akechi and he finally begins to accept you, your friendship, and your way of life, he then gives his own life (being suicidal and having depression is hereditary so its probably not the first time akechis thought of ending his own life) and your dreams become one (tears). in the end i guess this or serving time in prison would have been the only things left for Akechi ( which i would have liked to see, one thing i can never forgive Akechi for is killing wakaba, if you hate the world because it killed your mother why would you literally do the exact same thing to Futaba? cmon Goro) BUUUUT i would've really loved if Akechi was the main villain and continued rejecting the phantom thieves (kinda like part 7 DIO, part 7 DIO also has this sad backstory but he remains a villain all the way through doing anything in his power to win the steel ball run race to find his father that abandoned him and his mother) idk he felt like a more complex villain than Shido. He was also a wild card persona user that was a rival to Akira... yea, so much wasted potential. ALSO IM CALLING IT NOW AKECHI TRICKED THE PHANTOM THIEVES/ THE WORLD AND ISNT REALLY DEAD, HE IS A TRICKSTER AS WELL.

anyway these are the reasons i absolutely love Goro as character despite his clear flaws, i think he is one of the most complex phantom thieves and will always be my favorite pancake thanks for reading this long rant of mine.