I am once again obsessing over Akechi's fuckass speech in the engine room. As a reminder (transcript taken from u/Wacklocklord2007 on reddit):
Teammates!? Friends!? To hell with that! Why am I inferior to you!? I was extremely particular about my life, my grades, my public image! So someone would want me around! I am an ace detective! A celebrity! But you... You're just some criminal trash living in an attic!! So how!? How does someone like you have things I don't!? How can such a worthless piece of trash be more special than me!? This argument is MEANINGLESS!!
This speech is easy enough to remember—I have most of it memorized—but what's less easy to remember is what happens before it. The Thieves (notably minus Joker) are desperately pleading with Akechi to turn against Shido. This culminates with Morgana saying (transcript taken from this website):
Follow your true feelings...! Even if you think people hate you or don’t want you around, that’s--
The "true feelings" Morgana is referencing here is Akechi's """"friendship"""" with Joker, but more specifically Akechi's desire to do good or to be a normal kid. Some of the pleading that the Thieves have been doing is Joker themed (talking about the smile they shared before the first part of the fight), but the majority of it is about trying to get Akechi to see past his self-worth issues and to recognize that he can be wanted.
Anyway, all of this is to say that I find it hilarious that he chooses to respond like this:
Why am I inferior to you!?
But you... You're just some criminal trash living in an attic!!
How does someone like you have things I don't!?
Joker hasn't spoken since before the beginning of the fight. He seemingly has no interest in joining the Thieves in talking Akechi down from evil, probably because he knows that this is not the way to do it. And yet, despite this, Akechi's is only talking to and about Joker in his speech.
You could maybe read the first "you" as referring to the Thieves in general, but he makes sure you can't read it that way for long, clearly referring to Joker with the lines about criminal trash. It's really quite beautiful, and somewhat hilarious, how Joker is really the only person he deems worthy of his attention and his loathing (and his loving). He snaps in response to the Thieves' prodding, but when he does snap it's literally entirely Joker-themed. In a way, Joker is the only conduit through which Akechi can feel his own emotions and snap out of the major dissociation that plagues his life.
That's pretty romantic, huh?
yousharknotpass
gummygunk
turnnoffyourmind
stormborns
prguitarman
pixelskylines
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
vaporwave
romaincrisis
