¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I wanna start off saying that I loved p5 and I loved p5r even more. I feel like they really capitalized on and emphasized what made the original so great With Royal. But that new ending really got me thinking.

As I was playing the game, I immediately loved Maruki. I had a weird feeling about him though, especially during his 10th social link when he assured me “we’d meet again.” Then I accidentally spoiled myself and found out he had a palace, but all I knew was that he had one, not why, so I was really curious about it. At the same time though, I assumed he’d just turn out to be another bad guy somehow bc that’s how everyone always ended up, so I also thought I’d been right to be suspicious of him and was really disappointed about it. 

Now, to switch gears a little bit: while I can’t remember how I felt while playing p5, I definitely found myself thinking while playing p5r “The Phantom Thieves aren’t really completely right with what they’re doing.” I didn’t have a problem with the target’s heart being changed, but I didn’t always agree with the things the Phantom Thieves would tell the target afterwards. After all, most of what they said were just their opinions, not actual facts. Like, yes, please stop these people from extorting, blackmailing, literally murdering people, etc., but all the extra talk afterwards never really felt right. For the most part I dismissed it though, bc ultimately I felt what they were doing overall was for the best in the long run. Until Maruki’s palace.

Once we got to Maruki’s palace, I felt myself very harshly disagreeing with what the Phantom Thieves were doing. In fact, I felt like a downright villain opposing him—so much so that initially I accepted his offer. I saved beforehand so I knew I had nothing to lose. I also knew it “wasn’t the correct choice” according to the game, but I honestly thought it was the better of the two. Let me explain.

My first big issue was with the way the Phantom Thieves handled the Sumire situation. After she found out the truth, Maruki gave her a choice. He didn’t force her to stay as Kasumi; he let her decide what she wanted for herself. I’m sure that had she decided to be Sumire, he would’ve let it happen, His heart was in the right place from the start. On the other hand, the Phantom Thieves (only Akechi and the protag at this point, but still) completely disregarded her feelings and choice in the matter bc “they’re always right.” Her freedom to live her life the way she wanted was completely stripped from her for the sake of someone else’s biased and selfish opinion. I understand that sometimes what’s right for a person doesn’t always align with what they want, but the goal is usually to help the person heal, not the exact opposite. The Phantom Thieves had no way of really knowing whether or not she would ever actually be able to properly handle her grief. In fact, a lot of people can’t and end up turning to self-destructive ways of coping or choose to just end everything. What Sumire had just learned about herself was no small matter, yet I feel like it was treated way too lightly. I really appreciated Maruki really considering her and her feelings and giving her an out if she felt she needed it. Good for her for being able to find strength within herself after being forced to live out a decision she didn’t choose, but what if she hadn’t?

Now to the second big thing I had an issue with: taking down Maruki completely so that he can’t accomplish his goal of...world peace? Seriously? We’re fighting a guy who wants world peace? And the reasoning is so weak I still don’t quite understand it. All people shouldn’t be able to live happily forever because they should just learn to work through their negative emotions? I’m calling BS on that. In reality, the only reason it works out better to work out our problems is because there literally isn’t a way for everyone to magically just be happy; the only options we actually have are somehow getting through the pain or succumbing to it. But Maruki offers a solution that would be incredible yet impossible in real life. Now from a practical standpoint, I don’t think it’s realistically possible for everyone to be happy since I feel like there would be too much conflict of interest, but if it were actually possible, that would be amazing. I get the saying “you appreciate the good more once you’ve experienced the bad” but like...never having to experience anything bad would be great. It doesn’t necessarily mean you’re happy all the time just because you’re not sad. You could be neutral. And again, yes it’s nice to get stronger from actually getting through negative experiences, but not everyone is strong enough to do that.

I just found it really ironic that the Phantom Thieves harped on Maruki for being selfish when they were literally the most selfish ones. I’m sorry, but how many people are really going to choose to not be happy? Not many, I’d wager. Also, it’s not even like Maruki was enforcing his own sense of happiness on people; he literally screened them to see what the person themselves felt would make them happy and then he did his best to accommodate them. He still gave them their own choice. Even when it came to interacting with the Phantom Thieves, he never forced his will on them—on the contrary, he chose to fight them, something he himself didn’t even like to do. He even gave them more time to come to their own decisions and conclusions.

In conclusion, I don’t get how rejecting Maruki’s offer was the better option, at least not with the weak rebuttal they gave. I would’ve more readily accepted “We’re not sure how this would last long term given the mysterious properties of the metaverse” than what they actually gave me. I don’t buy setting up the guy who wants world peace as the bad guy, or that the Phantom Thieves (or more specifically, the protag) are always unquestionably right in their judgement. The game even sets you up to make you feel like you’re making the wrong choice (rather than an alternate choice) by accepting Maruki’s offer, both before and after accepting (the ‘after’ i’m referring to is Lavenza blatantly saying you made the right choice if you rejected the offer). I’m all for a good vigilante, but this was too much for me. All that said, I still enjoyed the ending and the game overall, I just didn’t agree with everything I’ve already stated.