renarin

Foreword

To say this has been needed for a while is an understatement.

This post will aim to dive into ways that those within the wider Persona community, and even those mainly within the Global (English) community, have hijacked what was and still remains a comfort community for many out there. For many creators, I will not be naming them by name, but I will be talking about their actions. Thank you.

Anti-Chinese Rhetoric

To say the game has been the subject of numerous racist and sinophobic assumptions wouldn't even cover a miniscule amount of how much it happens. This ranges from;

Calling Wonder, the protagonist, a "Chinese Joker", a "Temu Joker" or even a "(slur beginning with C targeted towards those of Asian descent) Joker".

Calling the Lunar New Year event, a common holiday celebrated by several Asian countries, "forced".

Misinforming people that Wonder was not designed by Shigenori Soejima, when it's common knowledge that Soejima himself did design him, and continues to advise on the game to this day. Instead, stating that he was "designed by the Chinese".

Calling certain characters' "Chinese-ified" versions of existing characters within Persona.

There are many more examples of this, and some of this has even been perpetuated by multiple well-known members of the Persona community on social media. A well-known content creator has previously referred to the game as "Temusona", and even joked that Yaoling Li, a character of Chinese origin, was a "product placement".

Mistreatment of Other Regions

The Global community, mainly the English speaking side, has impressively managed to make the Chinese, Japanese, and Korean audiences of the game unite against them. A lot of the previous section carries over here, with a content creator routinely agreeing with comments that those communities were "entitled".

This brings me to my next point.

Abstinence of Content Creators

Many content creators do not attempt to dispel or even stop the consistent racism, misinformation, amongst other things, within their own specific communities. At most, these content creators will simply ignore these comments, but it is their duty to call out these people and say that this is not right. People continue to spew hate, because content creators do not do anything to stop this. Whilst they are not responsible for the opinions of others, they are responsible for ignoring it when it starts hurting other people. A content creator recently made a habit of posting misinformation, deleting it, and then hid behind the Persona Anonymous account to call fans that corrected them "rabid".

It's not good enough.

Misrepresenting the Existing Community

Many people, including those with many fans, continue to label existing P5X fans as things that they are not, and make up situations to prove themselves right in many situations. These include;

Stating that existing P5X fans defend the Kiuchi Arc, when an overwhelming majority of the community were never fans of it and even disagreed with the removal of certain scenes for the Global release.

Stating that existing P5X fans defend the game's gacha mechanics, when an overwhelming majority of the community don't defend the concept of gambling, but rather point out ways that the game has made it easier to obtain characters and weapons as time has progressed.

Stating that existing P5X fans make up wild theories on the spot to justify the game's existence, whilst not realising that those fans have now completed Chapter 4 of the game, whilst Global only just finished Chapter 3. They also state that existing fans do not understand the lore of the game, when they've been playing it for nearly 2 years.

Certain figureheads within the Persona community also elevate these people to simply discredit an existing game that they were never going to like in the first place out of what seems to be malice than anything.

Other Issues

In no particular order;

Content creators and fans making sexualised and lewd jokes towards the 16 year old Motoha Arai during Summer Year 1. Whilst many people are not a fan of how the game sells characters in swimsuits as additional units, and this is a whole other can of worms, it does not excuse these kinds of comments. Other comments from community members about 16 year old Tomoko Noge have also persisted, as well comments about the protagonist, Wonder.

A content creator stated that the harem scene was a P5X creation, despite its first appearance in base Persona 5, and the existence of being disloyal persisting as far back as Persona 3.

Several content creators sending their own fans behind the scenes to attack others that apparently "misrepresent" their opinions.

Shuake shippers sending death threats towards people who shipped Wonder & Joker as a pairing.

Content creators and their fans encouraging harassment of people who enjoyed seeing Wonder represented in art of Persona's 30th Anniversary.

The several grifting content creators who use the game's name to stir up more controversy.

Fans who have harassed the game's voice actors.

Fans who have harassed the game's developers. A content creator even encouraged those within their audience to demand for a developer's firing.

Final Words

Let's hop straight into this. Some general ground rules;

I have to predict the unit, their role, and element for each update. For each one correct, I get a point.

I also have to predict the "theming" of the update, but as this is harder to predict, I get a point if I predict "along the lines" of what comes true.

Holidays will not be accounted for. If an update is delayed or is extended, it won't affect any points. Each update will be presumed to be 3 weeks long.

Already announced units and updates won't count.

CN schedule.

I'll do this again when we reach June.

Okay! Here we go.

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January 8 2026

Prediction: Junpei Iori (N/A), Physical, Single Target DPS.

Update: Persona 3 collab continuation. (N/A)

As Junpei is already confirmed to be arriving next update, the only points on offer here are within his role and element. We haven't had a Physical unit since Turbo, and I don't see Junpei getting a non-DPS role. As his Hack N' Slash synergy is a single target move, this seems like an obvious one, as much as I'd prefer him to be an AOE unit.

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January 29 2026

Prediction: Narumi Nashimoto (N/A), Psy, AOE DPS.

Update: Valentine's + Lunar New Year. (N/A)

Again, similar to Junpei, this is more or less confirmed. Lunar New Year and Valentine's are fusing this year around, which could make for an interesting update. Narumi will hopefully be our first Psy unit since Haru, and with the theming of new units being the same element as past P5 collab characters, I unfortunately think she's going to usurp Haru's throne. Hopefully, she's actually a Single Target DPS!

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February 19 2026

Prediction: Koromaru, Curse, AOE DPS.

Update: Persona 3 collab continuation.

We don't have long left until the second anniversary at this point, and I don't think Junpei will get his own section of the collab, so instead, it'll be split across two updates with Narumi coming in the middle to accommodate for the particular holidays. I don't see Ken nor Shinjiro pairing with Junpei, especially the latter since they'll be sharing an element (spoilers for later), and Aigis is most likely going to be the "last" P3R unit of the collab. Three DPS units in a row is rare, but not unlikely, and to follow the "P5 collab characters getting screwed for no reason" theme, I think we'll see Koromaru here take down Joker.

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March 12 2026

Prediction: Hiyori Koide, Bless, Debuffer.

Update: Semi-filler; countdown to 2nd Anniversary.

This might be a little left-field, but I'm predicting Hiyori to be our final pre-Anniversary unit, and that she would be added to the Standard banner afterwards. This may seem like a wasted prediction since her City Life activity was only just added, but especially with her placement on the 1st Anniversary synergy poll, her taking the "Turbo" slot works out. We've been needing a new character to be added to the Standard banner, we haven't seen a Bless Debuffer whatsoever, and I think with her love for cats and supporting them, her main function would be summoning feline companions to debuff the enemies in the battle. This is the first prediction I'm least confident in.

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April 2 2026

Prediction: Orange Tabby, Wind, AOE DPS.

Prediction (2): Aran Hirano, Psy, Debuffer.

Update: Chapter 5 of the story begins; 2nd Anniversary.

Yes, you read that correctly. I think the unit to celebrate P5X's 2nd Anniversary is going to be the damn cat. We don't really have a pattern to go off of, and the tabby is fairly popular. Another Wind unit is also sorely needed, with AOE DPS filling a combination slot that we've yet to see. Similar to how Turbo and Ange could work very well together last year, I'm predicting we'll see a similar thing with Hiyori into the Orange Tabby. As it's very likely the story will be continuing here too, Aran being a Debuffer fills the last slot we need for story members' roles, and her colour scheme fits Psy, so that all adds up.

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April 23 2026

Prediction: Nahobino, Almighty, Single Target DPS.

Update: SMT V collab story.

Two crazy predictions in a row, I know, but I really think this is when we're going to start getting a bit wild with the units that can be added to the game. I think that a collab with the Shin Megami Tensei series as a whole will be announced on the 2nd Anniversary stream, with the units as a whole being extremely sporadic. This wouldn't be a "Year of SMT", and if this did happen, I'd see the next SMT unit taking months to even drop. The Nahobino is an extremely easy fit into P5X, making the Almighty element mean more of something; especially after we've just gotten an SOS-boss that benefits from Almighty damage, and honestly, the twins aren't particularly meant to deal big damage in my opinion. Bring in Nahobino, show that the devs truly will allow anyone in this game if they can make it work. Just like Makoto accompanied Ange last year, I can see the Nahobino accompanying... well, in my opinion, the orange tabby. What a pairing.

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May 14 2026

Prediction: Ken Amada, Bless, Guardian.

Update: Persona 3 collab continuation.

From one collab to another, I think 't is where we'll see Ken finally arrive to the game. After two jam-packed updates, we need a more grounded one, and Ken can certainly help with that. Having another Guardian unit is always helpful, and whilst I don't see him replacing Yukari in terms of Highlight / Theurgy support, (Yukari should hopefully be buffed at this point to boost both instead of just Theurgy.) I think he'll specialise in reducing damage to the team, and using Tetrakarn and Makarakarn in some capacity. Ultimately, Ken should be the ultimate supporting unit. You can honestly exchange 'Guardian' for Buffer or Sustain.

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June 4 2026

Prediction: Seiji Shiratori, Ice, Single Target DPS.

Update: Chapter 5 of the story; part two.

And finally, I think this is where we'll finally see Seiji get his moment of glory. After placing 3rd in the 1st Anniversary synergy poll, he's confirmed to be getting some sort of additional unit with a synergy as a result, but somehow, his will probably be the longest wait with Katayama and Narumi (who placed 2nd and 1st respectively) have already received units. Due to his graceful nature as a fencer and somewhat cold exterior, I can see his upgraded form being an Ice unit. As Mitsuru is more so used for her Sub-DPS qualities, this wouldn't be too much of a worry for powercreep. And then in general, this is where we'll see the second part of Chapter 5, which most likely will culminate in some sort of boss. Maybe we'll fight the manifestation of Aran's sister? Who knows!

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Here we go, again.

To fans of the Persona 4 Arena games, this may be a familiar sight. An unknown entity masterminding things behind the scene that shares a lot of traits to arguably one of the best villains to grace the Megami Tensei series? it has to be Nyarlathotep, right? Well, unlike those games, this time I am almost 99.9% confident that Persona 5: The Phantom X will see the return of the Crawling Chaos to the series.

For reference, because apparently I have been doubted before, hello! I'm Ren. I'm a day one player of P5X, having played the CN release for a week before switching to the TW server due to its easier accessibility, account protection, and not having to steal a Chinese person's ID to access the game. I'm one of the co-directors of Persona 5: The Fandub X, an English fandub group of the game that has been officially recognised by the developers of P5X themselves. I'm a big P5X-lore nerd and enjoy analysing as much as possible.

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How will this post work?

It's simple. This won't be some mega-analysis where each detail is put under a microscope, (well, kind of) but we'll be mainly comparing what we've seen so far in the game, (and partially in the files) to previous appearances of Nyarlathotep in the series alongside his traits. To make things easier, I'll be using TV Tropes, and also because I have not played Persona 1 or the Persona 2 duology in quite some time, but I'd like to think I know enough. I've also consolidated with many fans of these original games, with all of them also believing that this is the game that we will see Nyarlathotep return. Some points will be longer than others, but it'll be a lot of quickfire details and you can make your own conclusions.

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Who exactly is supposed to be Nyarlathotep in P5X?

So far, the main antagonist of P5X is lining up to be the man seen in this image, who is seemingly Magatsukami, the admin of Divine Justice, the site where many of the games' antagonists emerge from. The purpose of Divine Justice starts off rather normal at first, a simple gossip site where the public can deem people as 'Phantoms' (or 'Menaces' in the localised version) and this will often cause said person to be shunned by society and seen in a worse light.

In fact, as the story progresses, the designation of the Phantom title directly relates to the cognition that the Phantom Thieves fight in the Metaverse. This is seen when Kei Akashi is designated as a Phantom, his Shadow form receives a significant power-up. Magatsukami seems to be using Divine Justice as a way to manufacture Phantoms to push a current unknown agenda. Magatsukami is also part of a high-brow conspiracy group, that also includes antagonists Hiromu Miyazawa, Kei Akashi, and most recently, Takami Shimotsuna. These three serve as a simple member in Miyazawa's case and trusted associates in Akashi and Shimotsuna's case. All three of these also have roles within the media, hinting that Magatsukami wishes to eventually control the media itself.

There is a lot more to Magatsukami as a character, but a lot of who he is has been shrouded in mystery, which makes sense for a character like Nyarlathotep, who often does not reveal himself properly until the climax of the story. We also have not seen his face yet... or have we?

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The eyes.

The two models we have of Magatsukami show him with golden eyes or red eyes. Fun fact! Nyarlathotep has been shown in his human forms with both of these eye colours. He is mainly seen with the golden eyes, especially when disguised as Jun's father or Tatsuya himself.

There's another part of this model that links him to another character we've seen...

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The avatars.

This is Kokoro, described as an extremely famous person within the entertainment industry, mainly as a director. Takami Shimotuna, someone closely associated with the conspiracy, is very drawn towards him. Kokoro and Magatsukami both;

Share the same voice actor of Takaya Kuroda.

Share the exact same model.

Share the exact same earring and piercings.

Considering that we have yet to see Magatsukami's face in the game officially, and that his eyes are conveniently covered up here, I believe that if Magatsukami is Nyarlathotep, then Kokoro is one of his avatars. Nyarlathotep has shown to exist amongst various people at once, and that he will often disguise himself as people close to those that he wishes to manipulate to his own ends.

Could the disguise of Kokoro be used to manipulate people like Shimotsuna (as if she needed any manipulating) and others within the entertainment industry?

This is self-explanatory when you look at the portrait images.

Both his "forms" we've seen so far are clearly human, with Magatsukami himself also having access to the Metaverse.

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The colour scheme.

Arguably, a "smoking gun" to many.

Yes, a character's hair is what we're on about.

Green and black. His robe is dark blue. I'll show you some images of the other forms that Nyarlathotep takes and I'll let you be the judge of why the colour scheme of Magatsukami is so suspicious.

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The three poisons.

This is another simple one. The concept of the three poisons of Buddhism are used in the final three Cross-Fates bosses of the original Persona 5 collab. Nyarlathotep also brings these ups.

Even if it's a coincidence, it's a very suspicious one, especially with how emphasised they are within the crossover collab that is confirmed to be important to the overall story of P5X.

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The obvious.

Magatsukami seems like a master of manipulation as the head honcho of the conspiracy-esque group. Also, he's not had to intervene so far... apart from a moment that has yet to be shown in the story.

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Is he finally intervening?

The final phase of the fourth arc is arriving very soon, and the main crux of it involves breaking Shimotsuna's recorder so her Shadow is weakened within her Palace. Magatsukami is seemingly on his way to the festival in which this heist will be taking place, potentially under his disguise as Kokoro. Just as he did with boosting Akashi's Shadow in the Metaverse, will he be doing the same with Shimotsuna's Shadow when she comes under threat from the Phantom Thieves.

I've got a feeling we'll be seeing the Shedims again.

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Are the writers even capable of this?

Yes, actually.

The writing team of P5X changed extremely early on in development, with director, Yusuke Nitta, taking the reigns from a currently unknown Atlus writer. If my only credit was writing the Kiuchi Arc in its current state, I would also want to remain unknown. Regardless, Yusuke Nitta is also responsible for Persona 5 Strikers, Persona 5 Tactica, and most importantly, the Third Semester of Persona 5 Royal. Nitta has shown his love and willingness to adapt more "oldsona" tendencies into the things that he writes (to the point original demons seen in games like Persona 1 appear in Royal), and P5X is no stranger to this.

A main theme that has been highlighted heavily in P5X is that of the concept of alternate worlds, timelines, and what's heavily theorised, a time loop that the main protagonist, Wonder, is currently trapped in. Ring any bells? The Persona 2 duology covered very similar concepts, mainly in the transition from Innocent Sin to Eternal Punishment. P5X from its second arc onwards, (it's more prevalent from the third onwards) strays away from the typical "newsona" formula. There's no, "Point A to Point B", presenting the bad guy, showing you what they do, and then asking you to defeat them, there's greater emphasis on cognition, on timelines, on what has happened in whole other realities, with rules of the Metaverse being changed to accommodate the story Nitta and his team wish to tell.

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Final words.

Despite the title, this has been a popular theory in the community for a while, mainly ever since the original model was discovered in the files. I am a firm believer of the theory, not as a means to try and "convert the crowd to P5X", but because it's what myself and a lot of us actually do believe. P5X's story has only been getting better, with a much different way of storytelling than the typical Persona game, and despite its gacha-style, I believe that by the end of it, the P5X story will go down as one of the best in the series.

Feel free to make your own conclusion! I could be very wrong, I could have messed a few things up in the post itself, but I did my best at nearly 1 AM in the morning! Happy theorising, folks!

Depravity of the Media: An Early Look at P5X's Fourth Arc

(Keep in mind, I'm using screenshots from BuffMaister's playthrough of the game, so there will be very wonky translations, but it's the best I have.)

After many months of the glorious Katayama-Akashi Arc, P5X finally progresses onwards as we reach what is currently dubbed as the 'Shimotsuna Arc', focusing on the new Phantom Thief, Shoki Ikenami, and the palace ruler, Shimotsuna Takami. The former is the son of two-accomplished stage actors, whilst the latter is an extremely powerful media mogul who has an... apparent attraction, let's say, towards Ikenami and other male members of the party like Shun and Wonder.

First off, the bar is often quite low for the Persona series when it explores the possibility of older female characters and younger male characters in relationships, take the Devil social link from Persona 4, the Hermit social link from Persona 3 and... well, a good chunk of Persona 5, that most people tend to scrub from their minds when discussing the series' social life aspects. Whilst P5X is no stranger to including romance options with older female characters (that even the writers don't appear to like), Shimotsuna, however, is treated like the predator she is made out to be and the situation early on is called out for being extremely uncomfortable. So, fair enough! In the mainline games where this would be probably laughed off, it's treated as it should be.

Shimotsuna is made out to be quite a depraved and vile woman from the moment we meet her. She threatens to jeopardise Ikenami's career, (something we'll return to later) takes pictures of the group without their consent, and refers to her secretary (who seems to be another important character in this arc), Daichi Ousaka, as a "dog" and her as his "owner". She is the classic example of a high-profile influencer of sorts using her power and connections within the media to both ruin lives and take hold of them. This is where we dive into the main themes of this arc; the media itself, and how it can ruin lives.

We learn from Ikenami that whilst his parents are seperated, the two are still in love, just seperated by country. An article (that's heavily implied to have been written by Shimotsuna) implied that Ikenami's mother had cheated on his father. Due to the nature of the scandal, Ikenami's mother's career was ruined, with it getting so bad she had to return to Italy, not allowed back in Japan again due to fear from the media. This is something that I don't remember P5 exploring a lot outside of Mishima and the Phan-Site, that being how the media can manipulate reality itself, almost subconsciously. With enough power and influence, forged realities can then become the truth in people's eyes. This tore Ikenami's family apart, it made him a target of bullying, and whilst Ikenami remained close with his mother, his father became a shell of himself. It already makes the early beginnings of this arc incredibly personal.

Ikenami even states in a conversation with Wonder and Shun that for the longest time, he hid his true feeling away from his parents, playing the good child who wanted to be an actor just like them. In a world where false stories tore his family apart, he himself put up a false smile to keep his family together.

When we get into the palace, Shimotsuna's Shadow resides in the 'Anthill of Pride', a fairytale-like land where those who work underneath her are seen as ants, mere workers who serve their queen. It matches her position in the media, whilst some of the puzzles within the palace require Wonder to "praise" Shimotsuna in order to temporarily transform into an ant with a construction helmet, further symbolising that Shimotsuna sees those who praise her as simply servants willing to serve a greater purpose.

Even Shimotsuna's weapon of choice, a wand of sorts is referred to as a "magic recorder", reminiscent of her phone in the real world that she uses to capture damning evidence to then publish to the world. She's able to use this wand to turn some of the party members into magazines, symbolising that to them, they're nothing more than an image on an article, words underneath a headline, all to push her own agenda against the world.

Ultimately, we end this first part of the arc with Ikenami's awakening and Shimotsuna forced to retreat further into her palace, and with the preview of the next part featuring both Daichi and Aran, it's exciting to wonder exactly where this arc will go. There's one thing for sure though, and it's that we're going to dive even deeper into how depraved and desperate the media can get, what distances they'll go to get a story, with the consequences for the Phantom Thieves potentially being critical if things go wrong. The stakes are only getting higher and higher.

Why P5X's third arc changed everything.

There are huge spoilers for the narrative of 'Chapter 3: Concert for Rulebreakers' & 'Chapter 4: Gluttony's Finale' below, please proceed with caution. This also contains mentions of abuse, suicide and trauma.

It's no secret that I'm very passionate about Persona 5: The Phantom X, what many may see as a simple "cash-grab gacha game", I instead see it as what may potentially be one of the greatest narratives Atlus has told across their various series. This includes mainline Persona, Shin Megami Tensei and even the recently released Metaphor: ReFantazio, my second favourite game of all time.

This all started with the release of P5X's third arc, focusing on the palace of Kumi Katayama, the protagonist's homeroom teacher, and a teaching consultant at Kokatsu Academy, Kei Akashi. Without diving into too much detail, the palace itself is a first in the series in that it is technically shared by two people. Whilst the main body of the palace reflects the desires of Katayama, it's secretly being manipulated and usurped by Akashi, who has his own section of the palace known as the 'Control Centre of Gluttony', with Katayama's section being labelled as the 'Dam of Wrath'.

To sum things up early, this is one of the best arcs in the entire Persona series, and it comes from the silly mobile gacha game. I'm sure all those weird Atlus fans are probably having a stroke right now upon hearing those words, but don't threat, I'm here to explain my reasoning without giving too much away if you wanted to experience it for yourself. I will be using screenshots from the blog 'P5X Theories', an excellent blog that does a wonderful job at reporting news and translating various pieces of information about the game, please consider giving them a follow.

Kei Akashi is introduced to us through the 'Dean of Academic Affairs', Yamanashi, who in secret is a lot more sinister than what's initially let on. Akashi has been hired as a consultant to spot problems within Kokatsu and create an environment that allows teachers to better educate its students. In actuality, Akashi was sent here by a mysterious figure known only as 'Magatsukami' to identify the Phantom Thieves. The stakes are high, but only to those in-the-know, our current Phantom Thieves don't have a clue that they're being targeted. It's why I much prefer this current group to our old set of thieves who got lost in the fame of it all, eventually becoming subservient to the internet masses.

The Phantom Thieves of Desire have a much more 'personal' connection to not only each other, but their targets. Kiuchi's career was unknowingly ended by a young Motoha, Miyazawa was nearly responsible for destroying the business of the man Shun saw as a father, and now... we come to Katayama. She's one of the more tragic characters in the series as a whole. Her palace is reminiscent to that of Futaba, born not from guilt of consequences, but of regret, fear, and anger towards her current situation.

Not before long, Akashi's influence is felt around the school. Despite his "lies" as a consultant, it's clear that he exists within the school to sew tension amongst its teachers, mainly that of Katayama, to the point where two girls who 'admire' Akashi call Katayama a 'tyrannical teacher' for simply wanting them to follow the rules. We are also introduced to the eventual newest member of the Phantom Thieves, Riko Tanemura, who has a close relationship with Katayama, having known her for a year or so at Kokatsu. Akashi calls Katayama's way of teaching as "outdated", and he supports the students more than anything. It's clear to both Katayama and the Phantom Thieves that if Akashi got his way, the students would be left to their own devices, potentially damaging their prospects of a future.

And that's what this arc is all about, creating a future for yourself and letting go of the past.

After some more gameplay, the Dam of Wrath is discovered, and it's clear that this belongs to Katayama, but that's not who they first discover in the palace... it's actually Shadow Akashi. Just like at Kokatsu, the dam is receiving advice from a consultant, Akashi, and in actuality, he is using the dam itself to power himself and his control centre. Just as Akashi feeds off of the negativity he creates from harassing Katayama, pushing her to her breaking point and causing her to get suspended, his shadow feeds off of her work in the dam and the workers alongside her. In this reality, Akashi rules over all. He is the judge, jury, and, executioner. During his final fight, Akashi continues struggling for control and power, he's absolutely obsessed with it. He goes down the same villain he was introduced as, and even when he tries apologising for his actions, the man who hired him attempts to have him killed off.

As we discover following the defeat of Shadow Katayama and Akashi's control centre officially opening up... Akashi himself is an extremely broken man. His career within the film industry was ruined after an affair amongst other issues, he eventually fell into a deep depression, consumed by nothing more than to want to lash out at the world. His philosophy gave to him by his superior, that the strong are meant to eat the weak, and it's through that he becomes a consultant, is recruited by Magatsukami, and is willing to do anything to out the Phantom Thieves.

Akashi was taught that he cannot fight back if he is too weak, and so he begins seeing himself as somebody who is strong. It's this philosophy he employs onto Katayama, mentally straining her to the point where it's reflected in Shadow Katayama's eventual transformation into her boss form. Akashi's tendrils piercing the body of Katayama, not draining her power, but giving her power, filling her with the rage that represents her own lashing out against the world. All in all, Akashi attempts to turn Katayama into a version of himself he never wishes to look back on, somebody abused by the powerful and manipulated to their whims. Whilst Akashi himself survived such an issue, potentially from an intervention by Magatsukami, Katayama... was not going to be so lucky.

We find out at some point in the story that Akashi had previous victims as a consultant, all of which had committed suicide. In a vision of Wonder's, he sees something disturbing, and even though I may not have understood the dialogue at the time, the voice acting and image is all I needed to see the put the pieces together.

Once again, just like he had previously, Wonder receives a vision of ruin. What could happen and what he can't let happen. After her suspension, the group end up finding Katayama at Crossroads, where she seems to be quite literally drinking away her troubles. With dialogue from Riko stating that "she was injected with too much power", it's clear what metaphor you can make from such a statement, what Akashi's influence pushed Katayama to do when she was not allowed to help give her students a future.

After her shadow falls, the group talk with Katayama, and they all still see her as their "teacher", their true mentor at Kokatsu. She's weeping at this point, calling herself a terrible teacher and attempting to own the labels that were placed upon her, and it once again links back to letting go of the past and embracing the future. Katayama was manipulated and verbally abused to the point where those lies manifested as reality in her mind, and soon lead to her shadow. The message of this first arc is simple; it's protecting your future. In regular Persona 5, we never had a ruler so personal to the group apart from maybe Sae, but that heist was more-so a well-thought out distraction. As P5X breaks away from doing "another Kamoshida" and "better Madarame", it shows the mainline series what Persona is sometimes missing and that's raw emotion. You feel so sorry for Katayama, and you want to kick the shit out of Akashi.

Maybe I'll write more one day, mainly covering Riko Tanemura's second awakening and why it's so important, but with all the discourse still surrounding P5X, I wanted to talk about how much this arc truly impacted me. This is what Persona should be. Strip the tropes, the wacky bullshit, the jokes, and bring it down to earth. If the story continues upon these beats, choosing a more typical RPG-style of storytelling as opposed to sticking with the main formula, we might be looking at an all-timer.

As revealed in the latest update through the Battle Pass weapon silhouettes, a new character is being added before 4.0. This will be Turbo, real name; Mayumi Hashimoto. She uses a flag as her main weapon.

I should use this more considering my realm of resources for getting P5X info has expanded out considerably ever since…. the Alt Mont update? Goddamn, it’s been a while. I frequently post about the game @ nicorenin on the bird app though.