#ga929

I know it's already been two months since chapter 5 released, but honestly it still feels like a freakin' fever dream come true! I loved it! it makes me satisfied to know all the theories I posted on this site in the past about Aran and her sister have been right on the money right from the start. I definitely LOVE how they not made Ms. Katayama a proper collaborator and confidant to the PTs of Hopes, but also have the chapter actually show her progress in investigating Magatsukami on the team's behalf. I sure hope she'll be able share what she found with them in chapter 6 later this year. Yuzuru Haigamine .... there's definitely some connection between her and the Hirano sisters; my money's betting on her being Airi's childhood best friend and by extention Aran. After seeing them enter the Metaverse via the Shibuya Station, will she be friend or foe? I sure hope it's the former.

I know this is probably just copium-fueled wishful thinking on my end at this point, but I have a gut feeling we may get one more female story thief next April for the 3rd year anniversary next year. how could I be sure of that, you ask? because of two things: first, the story thieves' Unbound Desire Forms combat roles, and second, Mementos. As we all know, their Unbound Desire roles are unique for each member: Assassin for Radiant Closer, Guardian for Ricochet Soy, Strategist for Tempest Riko, ad Sweeper Nocturnal Luce, with my theory being Unbound Wonder will be Virtuoso, Unbound Cattle will be Medic, and Unbound Anri will be Elucidator, leaving only Saboteur left, which would only be filled in by a possible future 8th member, plus I theorize their regular role would be Assassin since while Janosik is considered and Assassin Persona, Wonder is still a Wild Card meaning he's not technically tied down to any one role. As for Mementos, it's been established that aside from the Depths and Da'at there are 8 total paths pre-Third Semester. And I believe it's the same for here in P5X as when phase 1 of Chapter 4 released in the US and I played it, I looked at the overall map of Mementos after the 4th path was unlocked and noticed that asied from the 4 open ones there were 4 other areas that were comepletely blacked out with a question mark on them, while later on I saw a YouTube walkthrough of the Chinese version showing that the 5th Path Akzeriyyuth opened up in Chapter 5 ( reducing it to 3 paths left unopened) but noticed that as of this moment it had only one floor, and it wasn't even a border floor like the others! This leads me to conclude that a. we'll be exploring more of Path #5 in Chapter 6, and b. when Chapter 7 comes around that's when Path #6 and ergo 8th Story Thief will appear as c. I believe Path #7 will be when we deal directly with Magatsukami himself. Fingers crossed I'm right.

I saw the post where OP asked if the people the Phantom Idols were based on awoken to real Personas what would they be, and I'm here to tell you after 2 months of extensive researching I may be to help you with suggestions for each one, though I must tell you right off the bat that I believe their appearances are exactly the same as Persona Duos because their Greek names are just placeholders for real names, and that I feel Kiskil-Lilla should remain the same .

Please respond as soon as you are able and let me know what you think so far of all this so I can also list down all the real Personas that I've researched so far, if you would permit me to, of course. 😅

Haha, don't worry, I prefer one long ask to a flood of short asks! It's easier to tag and manage. That said, this ask is already long, so I'm going to put the rest of my response under a cut to keep this from getting longer!

Yeah, the new way that they name and organize the files (starting in Pinky's update) made it easier to find the weapon icons without doing a bunch of digging, so I thought I might as well include it in Aigis' asset post if I had it, haha.

Here's Pinky's and Koromaru's!

For now, you said finished Chapter 6, right?

Well, I have a theory about Magatsukami as to why he’s doing all these terrible things:

I think, in his youth, Magatsukami, real name Kokoro Maga, had a friend he was close with, until one day said friend betrayed him and framed   him for a crime/sin he didn’t commit. And when Kokoro tried to confront the former friend about it, they refused to accept any responsibility for their fault, and maybe even cruelly tell Kokoro they were just using him from the start and that that’s how humans in the real world work.

This must have traumatized and twisted Maga’s cognition to the point he became completely convinced ALL human beings in general were nothing more than ruthless, cold-hearted backstabbers who would happily betray, deceive, use, manipulate, frame, scapegoat, swindle,  and just plain old blame each other for their own problems without a second thought or even a hint of remorse, all the while utterly refusing to take any form of responsibility or accountability for their own actions.

This leads me to believe that the real reason why Magatsukami created the Divine Justice website in the first place ( which he claims is to entertain the masses, but I think that’s just a bs bluff and that the one he really wants to entertain…is himself) is because he delusionally believes he’s enacting a self-righteous, envy-driven revenge on ALL of humanity by playing god on them, and punishing and exposing them for being the infallible and defective delivers that he claims them to be by having them destroy each other through social media.

And I say it’s envy driven revenge because I think Kokoro is so convinced that all humans are betrayers with a strong “Never My Fault” mentality that seeing anyone feeling genuine remorse over their actions (or even blaming THEMSELVES instead of others for things that might not even their fault at all) repulsed him, because it makes him think: “If they could do that,  then why FUCK didn’t “that person” do the same for ME!?!? IT’S NOT FAIR!!!“. Which to me explains  why he basically told Aran to kill herself when she started blaming herself for her sister Airi’s death instead of anyone else, and why he sounded somewhat disappointed when he said she was "one of those types of people” when he held her captive in the previous chapter.

Lastly I think the fact that he’s willing to use any means necessary, even creating and using Menaces via Shedim as proxies to kill innocent people in order to keep his identity completely anonymous should serve as proof of his demented world view of people.

This is all just speculation until the next main  story patch comes out, though.🤔🤨🤔🤨

No worries, no rush on your other post! Take your time. 

Hmm, this is an interesting theory about Magatsukami, and that does sort of sound like the kind of thing the developers would write… but it also sounds a lot like what they did with Akashi already, honestly? Not identical, but there’s a similar “I was betrayed by someone I trusted, and now I’m convinced everyone is malicious and using that to justify my own actions” idea here. I think personally I’d prefer if Magatsukami was more like Shimotsuna, where it’s less reliant on a tragic betrayal type of backstory, and more based in who he already was as a person.

To take a step back, I think there are a couple really interesting pieces in play here so far:

1. He has a cognition of himself in his Palace- we’ve never really seen that before. To me, that suggests he strongly sees Kokoro as something separate from himself, or at least as a clear character he’s playing that doesn’t directly connect to himself or his own Persona (which is interesting, because Kokoro does seem to be a persona in the psychological sense). Because of that, I’m not sure we can take everything that Cognitive Kokoro said in Chapter 6 as literally Magatsukami’s own thoughts; it’s not like a Shadow, who we know is obviously the true self. This could also be related to how he’s able to have both a Persona and a Palace?

2. On that note, he has both a Persona and a Palace. This isn’t supposed to be possible, so I’m expecting we’re going to learn more about how this works later on. I guess, given how Persona awakenings work in this game, it could have something to do with extremely strong desires that allowed him to awaken a Persona, but also extremely distorted desires that created a Palace? Or two very strong, conflicting desires, one of which led to a Persona and the other of which distorted into a Palace? It’d be interesting if it has something to do with Divine Justice as well. We also don’t really understand the connection between Cetus and the Shedim- they’re absolutely connected in some way, but we haven’t really known a Persona to operate by summoning more shadows/cognitive beings before like Cetus does. Though we have seen Palace rulers summon shadows to help them, so it’s possible that strangeness is tied to the Palace ruler/Persona user strangeness, maybe.

3. He seems to find the Phantom Thieves to be naive/hypocritical to some extent, or at least Cognitive Kokoro did. I don’t remember the exact dialogue, but the impression I got was that it has something to do with that question that’s been brought up before (by Aran and Igor, at least): What about “negative” desires? Are the Thieves invalidating people’s desires by only allowing them to have “positive” desires, and changing the hearts of those with “negative” desires? Cognitive Kokoro, at the very least, seems to recognize the public’s desire for entertainment, even if it’s malicious entertainment where they laugh at the misfortune of others, as a valid desire. If the Phantom Thieves are really trying to restore the public’s desires, are they going about it the wrong way by making themselves the arbitrators of which desires are “allowed”? That’s not to say I’m siding with Cognitive Kokoro here by asking these questions, but I have a feeling that these questions are going to be crucial to understanding Kokoro Maga and where the plot is going from here.

4. Kokoro Maga is being set up as an Akechi parallel, at least partially, because of the themes of justice and specifically the fact that he seems to have gotten his Metaverse abilities two years before the protagonist. This could tie into how he’s able to have both a Persona and a Palace (as per point #2 above)- maybe Kokoro also has two Personas, and while one is active as Cetus, the other is in Shadow form as the Palace ruler? But more directly important, I think that suggests he’s being set up by the plot as a sort of ideological opposition to the Phantom Thieves, and/or specifically Wonder. I could also imagine the Envy sin tying in here, because Akechi sure envied Joker’s life and friends compared to his own life and (lack of) friends.

POSSIBLE P5X SPOILERS FOR FUTURE CONTENT GOING FORWARD:

Pardon my French, but DAMN THAT BASTARD MAGATSUKAMI! Not only did he lure the Phantom Thieves of Hopes into a trap, but he forced them into a position where they no choice but to knowingly walk into it. And then he used the aftermath of Shimotsuna's..."Breakdown" (not that she didn't have it coming to her for a long time, if you ask me😒) let's call it, to make them look like the bad guys, just like what happened to Okumura in the PTs of Hearts' case. I have more to say about him, but I'll save it for a later date. What I will say though is that all this sadly could have been largely avoided if the guy that was harassing Riko and Motoha during the school was kicked out of the school sooner. 😥

So, Ms. Katayama eavesdropped on the group's conversation, huh? I'm a little worried where this will go? Will she become the Sojiro of their group, or will she go overprotective mom mode and try to forbid from being phantom thieves in an attempt to protect them, I sure hope it's the former.

White Mask Wonder....I wonder what Merope was up to while "Igor" was talking with Nagisa? 🤔🤨🤔🤨

I wanted to add this in my act 3 post, but I read a few months back on this site that someone posted that they theorized the Phantom Idols weren't just Wonder's cognitions in fact his teammates form previous time loops. Looks like their theory was confirmed to be right on the money just like mine.

The topic I wanted to discuss the most, Aran and her big sister. I have a new theory about her sister; a few days ago, I was looking at her character page on the Megaten wiki, and it said she showed visible discomfort when Akashi was officially condemned as a Menace back in chapter 3, and the same thing happened again when Shimotsuna was officially certified as a Menace too. Here's my theory: what if Risa (my placeholder for Aran's sister's name until otherwise) was officially condemned as a Menace on Divine Justice for some major specific reason, and it caused a chain of events that ultimately led to her death and Aran's memory loss? I think the fact Aran says "if this keeps up, it'll be as last time" without even realizing backs this up. That would also mean Divine Justice has been around for a very long time. Now, I don't know how it relates to the upcoming "Archives of Envy" arc, but if the heart anklet in the evidence that matches the one the dead woman was wearing in Aran's flashback is any indication, it's definitely related to Aran in some capacity.

I know you've been asked this question a million times already, but if Aran does become the next story thief to take center stage, what do you think her would be now? And if she AND Motoha do get 'Wild Desire" Forms (As I like to call them) at the end of the year just like the others barring Wonder and Cattle, what do you think they would look like?

On the subject of Motoha, I think Risa was just like her in the sense that she was free spirited, happy-go-lucky, and most of all had a strong sense of justice, which is probably why Aran maybe subconsciously chose Motoha for the role of the protagonist of the Phantom Famiglia for the play. Not to mention the fact Motoha was always the first to defend and advocate for Aran when the others questions whether or not she was a bad guy, this leds me to believe the two girls will become close just like Shun and Shoki did.

This is just a crack theory as have no real evidence to back it, but what if the Tengdao 3D Model was actually Risa? I mean considering the police are definitely going to be involved in the next arc, she most certainly going play a major role to some extent.

With the theme of "Memories and Truth Intertwining", I'm sure the next will not only focus Aran, but maybe also both Nagisa's future visions AND Lufel's missing memories too.

That's all I really have to say. I know there's a lot information to process, but please let me know what you think.

Woah, you had a lot of thoughts to share, huh? This ask's already pretty long, so I'm going to answer under a cut and keep this post from getting even longer, haha:

I'm not quite sure how to answer this?

Do you have a screenshot? It doesn't look any different as of 4.4.1 in Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau, if I'm understanding what you're referring to correctly.

I agree, the cognitions are definitely Shimotsuna's parents, or at the very least, we're being led to believe they are. I think they're fun designs, though! They're "unpleasant" in a way that feels like it says a lot about how Shimotsuna really sees them. And they seem to mix buglike elements (from the Palace itself) with over-the-top regal looks and... cake? Cake/frosting-like elements? Which is not only a fun combination, but also suggests some things about the area where we're going to encounter them, especially given all the presents.

I think you're likely right that they spoiled her rotten and raised her to look down on others, but the apparent birthday theme of the area they're in (the cake features on the cognitions, plus all the presents) has me extremely curious. The fact that they seem to be huge might also say something about how Shimotsuna sees them- either she only remembers them as a child, or they feel larger-than-life even as an adult. Depending on their relationship, I could even believe that their size represents Shimotsuna feeling like she could never live up to them; maybe she always feels belittled in their presence?

Then again, it could go in the other direction- maybe it's just that she sees the Phantom Thieves as small (belittling them), and her parents as another set of protectors like Daichi. The area could seem birthday-themed because someone's birthday is often treated as a day "all about them", so maybe it represents Shimotsuna believing she's all her parents should ever care or think about (whether that reflects reality of not).

I don't think "purified" is quite the word I'd use; like I just mentioned in another post (you sent this before I'd typed that post, so I know you couldn't have read it already- just to save me from typing it all again, haha), it's more just a standard of the series' lore that Shadows and Personas are basically the same thing, with the Persona just being accepted/generally more under control and healthier.

That is to say, especially given how much Futaba's Persona awakening already references P4, with its focus on the truth, I think we could always have assumed Futaba's Shadow's monstrous form would have still be Necronomicon, haha. And vice-versa for Sae; that's just how Shadows and Personas work*.