#random k

Theres a girl (because your protagonist is usually a boy) who is pretty. And excited to spend time for you. Shes like super friendly, once you get past the minor wall of nonchalance she tries to put up in the first few.

There is a catch.

If you ask her out, her social link reverses.

Because she trusted you. She wanted to be your friend, without any ulterior motives. And she likes spending time with you, talking with you, but was not intrested in dateing you, and became worried when you asked her out that all the time spent was to build up to that.

And it's happened before that people only spent time with her cause they wanted to date her, and she really hoped you were diffrent. She likes you as a friend, but not as a boyfriend.

Thats of course only revealed if you work to upright her social link.

Or later in the social link, if you never ask her out. With the later being the reveal that she appreciates that you only wanted to be her friend.

This of course prompts a question to ask her out. Say no and the link will max. Ask her if she's changed her mind about dating you over time and it will break.

Why? Because you missed the point. She just wants a friend. You spent all this time and money on eachother because you were friends. And you can accept that and keep the social link, or walk away from her and the connection you had with her.

-Why do I want this? Because I'm tired of the "every girl wants the protagonist" stick, and want one girl at least who spefically does not want the protagonist, and not for the reason that she's into someone else.

-She's pretty and nice and intrested because that builds its own history of this being a problem she has had before, and she tries to be nonchalant at first because this has happened before.

The protagonist is not the first friend of a diffrent gender who has walked away from her upon being friendzoned. And shes scared of it happening again, and then really hopefull when it looks like it won't be the case.

Why does gender have to make things complicated.

I think she would be a star.

- Would I ever expect to see this? No. Persona is so tropey, and anime coded that I wouldn't expect to see an aromamtic story well represnted in it. Or an extended exploration of problems with being a pretty girl.

Look at what they did with Ann.

Happy Birthday Desmond Miles

Yes I know Therion is a Lone Wolf character. But that also makes it funny. Therion is like, 'Other theives, nah. You know what my heist needs? Drugs. I need an apothecary.'

So he asks. "Hey buddy, want to join me on my heist?"

To which Alfyn, -who doesnt charge what people can't afford, and is on a mission to do good- tells him "sure I'm in. "

And so they set out on a quest to break into the mansion.

Or so happns in my game. As Alfyn is not acknowledged by any of the story characters, it's probably meant to imply that Therion broke in alone, or they might have matching friendship bracelets.

So if this were a novel or written, it would probably go, Therion rants to Alfyn about how absoloutly terrible his last heist went, and Alfyn decides "we should be traveling companions."

His other closest option, is Primrose, who is on a vengeance quest, which probably involves diffrent kinds of crimes.

So we have; Local healer leaves home for the first time, and immediately gets involved in crimes with his new friend.

Fave Au, warm and soft, family, ghost.

I haven't really made a lot of AUs for Ghost Trick so much as Alternative timelines, but I suppose another fic set in the verse of ‘changed fate: variation” could count. 

Set in the POV of living Jowd

Notes on it under the cut

He has some heavy issues, of self sabotage, alcoholic, suicidal tendencies, and a hate on for androids at the start of the game. Plus, he's going to be bringing baggage in from the other timelines. 

All of that going on, and it's not hard for him to reset the loop, and drag problems from the last loop into the current ones. 

There will be variables of course. After all, it's still being controlled by the player character. One who goes for different results, or maybe even a different player each loop. 

But Connor's relationship with Hank and the world can change based on how Hank treats him as well as the player's choices. 

(Of course, Treating Connor nicely upon meeting him for the first time Again is not going to go well when last time he got hit by a truck in front of Hank. Or Hank shot him. Or North. Hank has issues, and Has seen Connor die so many times that sometimes he’s in a very “fuck it lets burn it to the ground” mood. And we can't discount Amanda, and how she may change her tactics in reaction to Hanks)

There's also morality to consider. If he is figuring out what to say and how to act to bring software instability, is - does that truly make Connor a deviant? Is that a choice he should be taking away from him?  How do you live in a Time Loop with an inorganic being and give them freedom? Can he change his coworkers? Maybe even the direction of the revolution itself with information further down the loop?

-On Connor's end, there is the fact that he is manipulating Hank until the bridge scene. That is where he starts to question. And begin self reflection. 

 As he says to Hank earlier, 

 “I am whatever you want me to be.”

And it works. Everything about his appearance and dorky mannerisms is designed for humans to project upon him someone he isn't.  And it works on human players too. 

They want to see him as a cinnamon roll. As he says, his body and voice are designed to facilitate his integration. 

He's designed to be likable. He wants Hank to like him, wants to use his friendship, so he starts liking Dogs, or Baseball- or what have you- to have something to bond with Hank over. 

It's “For the mission”, as Loid Forger would say. His body is designed around negotiation and infiltration. He is a manipulator loyal to Cyberlife and their goals. He is pretending to care about the world around him. 

A better relationship with Hank is about the investigation, and that even plays into gameplay as it is genuinely a gameplay advantage later in. 

Hank's relationship with Connor is one of Manipulation, and so is Connor's relationship with Amanda. She is the face of his trust in CyberLife. He cares about her opinion of him, her praise, her love. Not necessarily in any romantic sense, but she and what she represents make up his world when the game begins as his longest and strongest connection. 

If he genuinely cared about Hank or protecting humans, his reaction to finding Hank passed out drunk after a suicide attempt, should have been taking him to a hospital, not “drive me to the crime scene while you have alcohol poisoning.”

Not that he might not care, but until he deviates, that care is going to be for the sake of the investigation, first. 

Until he deviates, until he starts to break away from that loyalty and mindset, he is a Villain protagonist. 

Not to say that he doesn't have his doubts, disagreements, or software instabilities. He does. But it's not going to stop him. 

60- Connor is made of Connor's memories, and has no need to use a filter. It shows how Connor has changed with deviancy. He is learning how to better be humane. He has learned he was wrong, and is starting to make some amends. His arc in the game can be fantastic for the reason that it can be one of deradicalization. 

-So this is also Hank and Connor trying to manipulate each other. Hank  believes that Connor can be a better person (sometimes) and get him to that place where he can question and deviate, and Connor is trying to befriend Hank to use him for the Mission. 

If Hank had been able to pick a place to redo his life from, he would have gone further back and saved his son and marriage, but he's here and it's a hell of a ride. 

So Hank has 4 people working against him. Connor wants to manufacture a relationship for the investigation (How do I de-radicalize him without becoming inauthentic over the many loops?). Amanda. The Player. And of course himself because his baggage follows him across the loops. 

The deck is very stacked against him. But, it wouldn't be a compelling TT story without obstacles. 

K:- Oh boy, do you mean Party, or overall confidants?

Well, I might as well answer for all, but I'll start with Party. Thank you for the wait. It was a lot longer then I intended but I hope the read makes up for it.

All of the confidants of persona 5 are people with regrets, or products of them. They have been hurt. They may have hurt others in return. Or maybe they didnt but are still reeling. There is one exception to that, and that is Igor.

I like Goro Akechi and Ryuji Sakamoto best of the party members.

Ryuji is the guy friend. He shoots his mouth off, asks questions where the player can't, and is ride or die. Unlike past persona guy friends, he's a lot better at drinking his respect women juice, and mostly only gets up to those kind of shinanagins around other guys, such as Mishima, to the point where it doesn't jive well with me for the rest of his characterization. He tries to put on faces to fit in- like we all do- to sometimes be cooler then he really is, but, when the cards are down, he's the first one running to save you, even if you have been mean to him in the past, such as him going out of his way to save the track team, even after they beat him up.

For all he got caught up in the fame aspects of being a Phantom Thief at times, he's also genuinally in it to help people, and I can respect that.

Tarotwise he does his arc well. I will try to keep these tarot talks short and to the point.

Ryuji is the chariot. He starts in reverse with a lack of control over his life and the direction it is going in, and as the game goes on he gains control of his life through joining the phantom theives.

As the game goes on, he encounters obstacles, and as the series goes on, he gets better and better at navigating with focus and confidence.

It's not a perfect intergration of confident growth and story based game sections, because persona 5 has the same flaw as persona 4 in this regard, and that is its confidants and story beats are not intergraded.

Persona 3 had its share of flaws, but one of its strengths was that the growth of its characters was not tied to their social links. Even if you are in reverse with Yukari, she will still find her own reason and determination to fight Nyx as the end of the world approches. Or at least that's the case in OG, I have not yet played Reload.

Persona 4 and 5 suffer a bit from this by tying characters more to their confidant, and less to the story progression, so the characters are more static in growth across the story.

E:- Eyo, ngl this suddenly feels like me coming in with a kazoo after Beyonce just performed 😭 . I’ll be honest, when it comes to me liking any character within games/books/media in general it's mostly an evolving taste of what I like at the moment to where we are right now.

Ryuji- In real life I draw out his last name like one does to Moto Moto. My blondie, my ride or die, my bestie with the trauma from another drama. He deserves EVERYTHING. OKAY I AM NOT OKAY ABOUT HIM, I JUST WANT HIM TO BE HAPPY AND HAVE A GOOD LIFE AND THAT HIS FEMUR HEALS RIGHT CAUSE THATS FUCKED. Shido and Kamoshida deserves to get hit by a car!

Listen man had every right to just fall into depression and stay there, but he didn't. Yes he’s hot tempered, reckless and overall goody, but Ryuji stands on business when his friends need him. His bright smile makes me love him.

 Kamoshida deserves to get hit by a car that drips lemon juice into his wounds and suffers testicular torsion for his life.

K:- He deserves that indeed Eclipse!

I like a lot of the adult confidants, but I want to start with talking about Yoshida.

Toranosuke Yoshida is a politician who like many who reach positions of power, loose sight of why they wanted that power in the first place in favor of luxury. He made many mistakes, and eventually became shunned for his blunders and reputation.

And maybe most of us would quit at that point, but this guy has genuine passion for politics. He has been trying to regain his position for 20 years. He's mellowed out, realizes his mistakes, and decided to go back into politics on his own merit, losing 7 elections. He is good at connecting with his audience, and remains level headed against hecklers, and isnt even mad at his mentor who framed him.

He also serves as a contrast to Masayoshi Shido, in both his political style and attitude towards it.

Tarotwise, the sun in an upright position represents that your personal fulfilment provides others with inspiration and joy as well. And Yoshida has come to that point in his life, where through forging connections with his audience, he is able to make their lives brighter and better.

And that also ties well into Mishima Yuki's arcana! The moon is one of the more complicated cards in the deck in contrast to the simplicity of the sun.

E:-Mishima Yuuki: Okay, I will admit the only reason I knew of him was a fanfic one shot reader insert. Was it good? Yes absolutely. Was it smutty, ABSOLUTELY. If you are vaguely aware of my faint presence on this blog, then yes I am a Thirsty hoe and occasionally ashamed (the Catholic guilt).

 Mishima was very weak, scared, desperate and pathetic when we met him. His time under Kamoshida was abusive and rampant negligence on behalf of the school and his parents. Mishima is a victim with no support, trying to survive and it's easy to see yourself in his shoes. I can't stress how his parents can watch their child crumble and look so depressed right before their eyes and not be more concerned. Or anyone else in the matter of the parents of the players. After the events of Kamoshida, Mishima was able to grow and slowly integrate into the Phantom Group, our group's connection with regular people so to speak. While I haven't fully played the game and only been able to comment via screenshots, I can understand the actions Mishima took once the Phantom Thieves launched off. I don't approve but I understood why.

When you have been powerless for a long time, to suddenly be elevated in a position of being able to do something— questions are what you are going to become with that responsibility? Maybe that's why I like him so much, you know it's going to go down but how and why. 

K:-The moon is a card about illusions, fears, anxiety, the subconscious, and intuition. It's about more too, but I think these ones are pretty relevent to Mishima.

He starts the game as an abuse victim alongside the other members of his team. Powerless. Afraid.

And then, something changes. You -The Player, come along, and defeat his coach. Now he is known as a victim, but also it gives him power though you. He knows the identidy of Joker, and decided of his own initiative to run the social media for the PT.

And that gives him power. A formally powerless kid now in charge of deciding whose Justice takes priority. YOU take on requests that he deems important and sends to the group.

And like Yoshida, that is where he starts making mistakes and letting the power get to his head. He starts to make plans to have the Thieves take out his past bullies. The Thieves notice, and consider changing his heart.

But instead something intresting happens. They don't have to fight him, or change his heart. Instead, they talk.

And thats unique.

From then on, he works on changing himself. He was given a wakeup call. He even protects and befriends one of his former bullies.

Like Yoshida, he was put in a position of power that offered great corruption. And likewise, while it hurt him, it did not consume him. They both chose to be better people going forward.

We have two Dads, Sojiro Sakura and Munehisa Iwai. Both of them are shop owners with an adopted child, who left their former job behind.

Iwai is from a Yakuza background, and has left that behind to try to raise his adopted son. Sojiro left his government official job when his friend Wakaba sent a distress message before dying, to raise her daughter.

They need contrasting stats to raise the social link with them, as well (Bravery and Kindness respectively) which suits their confidants. Futaba is a very crucial part of Sojiro's, and while Kaoru is important to Iwai's social link as well, Futaba's is story relevent to the phanton theives, while Iwai's story of working with the Yakuza is still connected, I think, to the dealings of Shido and his cleaner, but not as crucial to understanding the story. This makes them a slow confidant to raise, especially the first time. Joker is initally intimidated by Iwai, and Sojiro is trying not to get personal at the start, as despite taking him in, Joker and his criminal rep could be a threat to keeping his adoptive daughter, if Joker gets into big trouble. He does not want that.

In another contrast to eachother, Iwai has to confess something to his son (Yakuza), where Futaba has to confess something to her Dad (being a phantom thief). Iwai is the one who starts his confidant being suspicious at the protagonist, where Sojiro started the game being suspicious of the protagonist. They both turn out to be good dads, and both need work (as in labour) put into their confidants to raise them.

Now lets talk Tarot.

The hanged man is a card in suspension, both literally and meaningfully. Upright it can mean sacrifice, waiting ,contemplation, pause, surrender, lack of direction and new perspective. In reverse, it can mean stalling, stagnation, apathy, avoidence, resistence, and indecision.

Iwai starts it in reverse. He stsrts with giving Joker a model gun and just waiting around for whenever Joker has enough guts to approch him about it. On a first gameplay he's going to be waiting for a long time, even if the protagonist does nothing but eat hamburgers and get doctors appointments, ect.

His biggest avoidence in the confidant is that he is avoiding telling Karou about his past. He waited too long in fact, and so other parties acted in such a way that he eneded to come clean.

He waited too long, before acting, and while his relationship with his son came out fine, his reluctance did get them into danger that could have been avoided.

In contrast, the Hierophant is a card about mentorship, spiritual wisdom, Conformity, tradition, ect. Its the Masculine counterpart to high priestress, who is about inner wisdom, subconscious, spiritual knowledge, intuition, and the unkown. Makoto Nijima would not have been my first pick for that, but I've already talked about that.

So Sojiro starts off very traditional in that he treats Joker how society says Joker is supposted to be treated. Like a criminal. And as the game goes on, he teaches Joker about Baristaing (Job skill), softens up on him, and forges a more parental relationship with both Joker and his foster daughter. And that even includes Dating advice.

His confidant is entwined with Futaba, and rooted in becoming the guardian figure she needs including keeping her out of the hands of her abusive relitives.

The beauty of having an arcana is to have a theme about them. Both in how they compliment and contrast against each other. A persona is a mask worn to face the world, and 5's theme is well done by having them all be social outcasts in one way or another.

Your tower, Shinya is an asshole kid who is bullied and bullies, and changes his perspective and behavior over the game. He's not acutally all that bad of a kid, so much as he's initally wearing his Asshole gamer face everywhere initally, as that's how he gets respect in the world. As the King. Even when trying to teach Joker his fave game, he's cussing up a storm apparantly.

Your Star, Hifumi is a Chuunibyou who wants to be a profesional Shogi player. Both she and Shinya's Lives are being negatively impacted by their mothers. Shinyas mother is agressive and argumentitive with his school, which gets him bullied. He views it as a war to be won. Hifumi's Mother is fixing her matches to have an Idol daughter, instead of letting her get better at Shogi by learning from her mistskes. She wants to be challanged at Shogi.

Your fourtune, is initally someone who is caught up in a large scam, spredding the scam because she believes.

E:- E:- Ann Takamaki: My Queen, my other blonde bestie who deserves nothing but good things and a section of fanfics that have her as an adult dating her rival model/friend/ Like this is needed why isn’t there more of Rivals to Lovers, we are failing her! Okay but in all seriousness, I do enjoy Ann, her courage and bravery in her story and her friend that fell victim to the Trauma Red Walking Future. I can't imagine the fear she has in the moments she can't say no, or realizing her friend was up on that roof ready to plunge to her death. She came out swinging, shaking but fighting.  I adore Ann as much as I adore Ryuji, and I sincerely wished the game treated her better.

K:-K:- Ohh yes, Ann deserved to be treated better by the game. Her outfit is iconic, but she even says in game she is uncomfortable with it, and I would rather her feel like a badass in an outfit that doesn't sexualize her, as she has enough problems like that in IRL. 

Onto tarot, the lovers card is a card about choices and relationships, it's a duality card, similar to the devil. Both cards show a naked man and women and a winged being, a key difference between them being the nature of the being, and the use of chains to connect the nudes to the devil. 

The devil (upright) often represents your shadow self, that which holds you back from being the best you that you can be. Your negatives, be it thought patterns, relationships, addictions. Choosing instant gratification or the easy way, over long term well being. 

The lovers is a card about open communication, honesty, and getting clear about your beliefs.

"At its heart, The lovers is about choice. The choice about who you want to be in this lifetime, how you connect with others and on what level, and what you will and won't stand for. To make good choices you need to be clear about your personal beliefs and values-and stay true to them.”

Key words include Upright- Love, unions, partnerships, Harmony, relationships, values alignment, ballance, and  choices, 

 Reversed includes- Self love, disharmony, misalignment of values, imbalance, conflict, detachment, indecision

Ann starts the game as an SA victim. Well, it's implied, but never outright confirmed about Ann.  The abusive volleyball coach wasn't only hurting Ryuji. He was hurting all of his players male and female with abusive training. And Particularly, her friend Shiho, who tries to commit suicide over… well it's not directly confirmed what he did to her, but we can  make solid guesses. 

And he is based on real Japanese problems, particularly this guy.

But this isn't about Him, it's about Ann. And Ann is making choices about her in this confidant. She's choosing to hold tight to her relationship with Shiho, refusing to let the trauma of it drive them apart. 

She's choosing to pursue her career in modelling, and making active lifestyle choices to be better at it, like going to the gym and eating better. She's even learning from her rival Mika, and admiring her for it, even when it hurts her chances at the job. 

Rise social link was about her relationship to her idol job, Yukari's was about connecting to other people and to an extent her connection to her parents, and Lisa was very in reverse for a lot of her game. Strained relationships, trouble communicating, more invested in Tatsuya then he is her. Yukari has those problems too, but gets more time to work on them.

The lovers tend to have a problem with being sexualized. 2/4 of them are foreign (at least partially), which does mean they have problems about being bullied when younger for it, and sexualized about it when older. 

Your Devil is a reporter who has given up, and over the course of the confidant reignites her journalistic passion and gets closure. She is actually among the most story relevent confidant in the game, and I think she gets more hate then she deserves. I can't say she is a favorite, but I do think her confidant is worth the time. So what if the benifit she gives you in gameplay isnt as cool or useful as the other confidants.

Tae Takemi, your Death, is running an illegial clinic, because someone used a drug she was devoloping before it was totally ready, and when things went wrong, blamed her. She is being blackmailed. She is still working on drugs to help people, she is using your protagonist as a medical guina pig to test said drugs in exchange for selling him medicine, she is saving a girl, while still feeling guilty for a patient she thinks she killed.

She is your Death, which represents endings and new beginnings. Transformation. Change. Letting go.

The death card is feared and misunderstood, much like she is.

In reverse it is about refusal to change/ let go.

She used to work for the university, but after she became scapegoated for the disastrous medical trial, she starts thw game cynical and insecure, earning a reputation of "the plauge. She agrees to use Joker as a test subject, when he volenteers to be a test subject, and doesn't use his name. The confident deals a lot with her past, and ultimatly, I think this was an intresting aplication of the Death Tarot, as I don't think it was her that ultimatly needed to change her ways.

She was always a good doctor who wanted to help her patients, even starting an illegial clinic when her rep was ruined. It was Oyamada who needed to change.

He was jealous of her sucess and inovations, and while he genuinally wanted to help people, he felt he wasn't sutible for his position. In his jealousy, he stole credit for the drug she was devoloping as his, and pushed for use too recklessly. He then doubled down, threatning Tae into compliance, and claiming Miwa (the paitent hurt) had died, sending Tae into a depressive spiral.

Through forcible intervention of the Phantom Thieves, Oyamada let go of his jealousy, and gave her hope. Doing this, gave her hope back, and led to her working on the drug again, submitting her notes to the hospital Miwa was in. This led to a change of circumstances again, as she is offered a position at that hospital. The Death Arcana has apways had a variety of representation, which is very cool

Your teacher, the Temprence, is also having blackmail problems.. Shes working two jobs to try to pay off the blackmail.

Everyone in this game has a reason for being a reject to normal Japanese society in some way from Ann's objectification for being beautiful and forgin, to Futaba cutting herself off from the world due to blaming herself for her mothers death. And even when she realizes that wasnt her fault, shes still autistic and socially awakard, which is not socially harmonious or coheasive.

Persona 5 is a game about Japanese society, and Japanese issues. The need for the changes of hearts, are based on real issues coming out in in the 2010s. It is being bold within that context, while also shying away from full commitment of themes, with stuff like having Ann's introduction be about the sexual objectification she faces, and then putting her in the scanty cat villian suit that she's uncomfortable in. And that's hardly the last time she is sexually objectified. I'm not even going to go into the dancing game.

It's execution is flawed in part due to being needed to be a sellable product. But it's characters have heart. They can be unconfortable characters at times. Yusuke's introduction was uncomfortable to a lot of people, and while he can be a likable character with fun quirks, the values he learned from Madarame, and that still crop up, even as he is trying to do better, mean that he isn't one of my favorites, even if he is likable.

E:- Akira Kurusu- I have been bluntly told I am very biased towards pretty boys, with curly hair and soft expressions and main characters vibes and yeah that pretty much made Akira my weakness. While he is the avatar for us to push our agenda into, his responses do amuse me, especially regarding any flirting aimed at Ryuji and general jokes. While we are in action with him and his choices, most sides I do like seeing his reactions to some of the situations we put him in or the story.

K:-The fool is a card about journeys , opportunities, and beginnings. Upright Keywords include freedom, innocence, originality, adventure, idealism, spontaneity. 

It's not a surprise Atlus uses this Arcana, to represent your self -insert protagonist who is new to the area and going to get opportunities to meet people, do new things,and go on adventures. It's a solid formula, and as the fool is the start of the tarot, structuring the story as the journey, with the other Arcana as people you meet along the way, lessons you learn from them, and potentially becoming the world at the end with the connections and lessons you learned. 

Reverse key words can be holding back, recklessness, risk taking, distracted, naive, foolish, gullible, stale, dull. 

They start in reverse, Akira particularly in the perception of other people, Minato/Katone coming into this party with depression and initial disregard of their life. And through their journey, even if you personally choose the dialogue options, the protagonist connects to these people around them, and grows as a person. Narratively having social links/confidants rank up makes for better character and writing, but the journey is about the people you meet and what happens to them, not just how well you get along with them. Although, learning to get along with these people has serious gameplay benefits, so you are encouraged to do it. 

And in Original P5, even if you are ranking up no one, Akechi, Morgana, Sae, and Igor autoranks, so lol get bonded idiot!

Sae is so funny, Her confidant context is hilarious. She ranks up talking to the protagonist as he tells her an incredible story about the metaverse after being drugged and having his ass kicked. And she believes him. The circumstances are horrible given Joker is captured, but a wild bonding experience on both on their parts. 

A little bit of game to story disintegration there too. How is the protagonist using better and better justice Persona in the past given at that point he at most met Sae in passing then? Bonds through time? She can send psychic vibes to the past? Reverse? Time travel? I have no idea how it should work. 

I personally like Fanon Joker better then Canon Joker. Marigolds varient is one of my favorites.

But Judgement!

Upright Judgement is about Self-evaluation, awakening, renewal, rebirth, purpose, inner callings, reflection, absolution,  and reckoning

Reversed it is about  self-doubt, lack of self awareness, failing to learn lessons, self loathing, inner criticism, and ignoring the call.

The judgement card indicates a life changing decision, of intuition and intellect, unlike the logic of the justice card. Reflect and evaluate on your actions in order to understand where you are called to go now, and how to grow as a person. How to be true to yourself and your needs. 

Sae is the first human judgement since Eriko Kirishima. 

Game wise, you are being asked “ are you going to stick to the values you have learned as a phantom thief?” Similar to Ryouji, rejecting that call leads to a bad ending. 

Characterwise, Sae herself is at a point where she too is reflecting and making big life choices. The PTs go to her Palace, and find that it represents a Cassino- reflective of her job, to which she has become ruthless and competitive in pursuit of climbing the ladder as a prosecutor. The ideals she had entered the job with had been dimmed, diminished in worth. Diminished by her fathers death, the Japanese legal system,the corruption of the politics around her, the pressure of raising Makoto, of being a women in the workforce. She has become a hypocrite, jealous, bitter, resentful.  The PTs do not change her heart. Through her encounter with them, through knowing the protagonist, learning the story, she changes her own.

She is a test. If you pass judgement, you may continue to play. Both complementary and contrasting to Akechi.

I rather like what this site says under career. I feel it applies to her. 

“Perhaps you have been too harsh on yourself lately. If you’ve made mistakes at work, you may find that it is hard to let those feelings of disappointment with yourself go, instead of making amends and moving on. You may be left with a lingering sense of doubt about your own abilities. Alternatively, this card can signal that you are unable to take responsibility for your own actions, and not learning the lessons you need to in order to take the next steps in your career. Your lack of awareness when it comes to handling yourself may be grating on colleagues. Have you been doing all that you can when it comes to your work projects? Have you communicated well? Or do you always shift the blame to others?”

And she changes her tune to be in value with herself. After she helps you, she helps you again by defending you in court, and even changes careers after to become a defence lawyer.

E:- Goro Akechi: Listen, I am guilty of saying “Ooooo pretty boy! Yes yes!” To him. I love the voice acting, his over vibe and the layers he has to his character! He already felt off to me in the beginning, as one who indulges in crime and thriller novels, a little nudge to his genuine self under his mask. Goro is a survivor, who does bad things. That doesn't stop him from being a victim of the circumstances that surround him and oppressed him as he grew older, however his take on revenge and admittedly reckless actions harm many caught in the crossfire. Goro is so complex that my little shallow puddle of affection isn't enough to explain the motives of a character and his growth in the game. Growth being the soft usage in some eyes as growth isn't always positive.

Now, do I believe Goro is allowed one kill. Yes. Should it be Akira? Course not. Should it be the low key, drug dealers in Miami look like Shido. Yes yes he should. I can't fully indulge my love of the character here, as I am slowly making my way through the game via screenshots and fanfics.

I wasn't first introduced to Goro in my own playthrough. It was through my friends. 

Where he uno reversed Makoto's attempt at interrogation on her live. Funny shit, I decided.

And there and then, I decided I liked him. The more I learned about him, the more reasons I have to like him

And I wanted to talk about the other martial artists in persona.

Lisa Silverman and Chie Satonaka did not get into jeet kune do or kung fu do through practicing in any dojo. They got there (sort of) by being really into Bruce Lee. So how much philosophy they put into their practice is questionable.

I mention both arts because Bruce Lee was a practicioner of Kung Fu, before coming to devolop his own martial philosaphy of "no way as way" and his martial art style "the way of intercepting fist."

Lets backtrack and start with Kung Fu.

Kung Fu is grounded in the philosaphy of Taoism.

"Taoism Founded by Lao-Tzu (604-531 BCE) and recorded in the ‘Tao Te Ching’, is a collection of teachings for living in harmony with nature, other people and within yourself. The Tao (simply translated as ‘The way’ or ‘path’) is considered to be a transcendent force and the source of all creation.

The life goals or three jewels for a Taoist are compassion, humility and moderation. Taoism is about living within nature’s laws and in harmony with the cycle of nature. It is about recognising that everything is interconnected, that everything you do affects everything else around you. Taoists seek to live in harmony with the Tao. Kung fu aims to keep us in harmony and balance."

"Lao-Tzu developed the concept of Yin and Yang to explain that all things have two aspects. Both are necessary and harmony can only be achieved through seeking a balance of Yin and Yang energies. Examples of Yin and Yang are hot and cold, bright and dark, male and female. This is an important concept in kung fu because it relates to the development and application of physical power in our techniques.

This notion is captured in the Taoist symbol comprised of an outer circle representing the universe. The circle is divided into a Yin division (black) and a Yang division (white) with the curved line separating the divisions indicating a state of flux (Qi) with a smaller circle of Yin in the Yang division and Yang in the Yin division.

The forces of Yin and Yang are well demonstrated in the nature of water — both soft and yet with immense power. The nature of water is also used to explain another central concept to Taoism which is striving for non-action or paradoxically ‘wei wu wei’ which means ‘action without action’.

In Taoism, Qi (pronounced chee) means air or breath; Qi is considered the basis of life. Very simply put, Qi is a kind of vital energy or force that is fluid and constantly changing form. Qi is an important energy which can be used to attain equilibrium.

In the human body, Qi (along with blood and fluid) travels along channels known as meridians which lead to the organs. The flow of Qi can be regulated through the use of points along these meridians to enhance health and wellbeing.

Kung fu and related activities such as Tai Chi aim to enhance the flow of Qi through the body. Kung Fu and Tai Chi uses Qi, meridians and pressure points as a means of self-defence and building health.

So Bruce Lee devoloped from that style to come to his own philosophy "No way as way" Bruce Lee devised Jeet Kune Do as an attempt to strip away the restrictive to get at the core truth of effective, adaptable combat.

The principal of "no way as way" is that posessing no rigid form or structure conffered immense freedom and adaptability. The art has an emphisis on being formless and responding directly to circumstances. The way of intercepting fist emphasized explosive attacks to directly intercept an opponent’s movement.

At its core, the philosophy of Jeet Kune Do is one of liberation from rigid constraints and structures. It prizes boundless adaptability as the height of strategic wisdom.

Bruce Lee emphasized that adopting any single rigid style or perspective acts as a limitation: “The moment a technique is solidified as a routine, it becomes an organization of paralysis.” Rather than adhering to set patterns of attack and defense, Jeet Kune Do stresses remaining flexible to fold to ever-changing circumstances.

This is encapsulated by Bruce Lee’s philosophy of “no way as way” – lacking defined shape or form. For Bruce Lee, embracing formlessness confers freedom to adapt. As he famously stated, “Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless, like water.” JKD’s “no way” doctrine evokes the flow of water conforming to the vessel containing it, mirroring opponents and situations.

Rather than flashy, intricate sequences, Jeet Kune Do focuses offensive tactics around the most straightforward blitzes overwhelming opponents. Defense prioritizes efficient evasion and blocks minimizing motion.

So lets talk about Comabt. Chie is an ice user with a lot of physical moves. Her low endurance makes her a glass canon, and in her base game she doesn't really learn a lot of ice moves. Which doesn't jive easily with her attack focused skillset. If she has a specialty its criticals, which focus on her luck stat.

Lisa's inital persona is an earth type elemental (rigid), and Lisa's ruling stat is agility, with about equal in attack and dexterity without specialized equipment. Upon persona evoloution she gains acess to water attack skills.

Both of them have personas with connection to water, but none of them fuly embrace water. Chie's persona stops learning magic, and I think that signifies how Chie tries to overcome her weakness by physically training with the protagonist in her social link, berating herself when it doesn't go as planned. She chooses to grow herself physically instead of trying to achieve harmony, forgetting about her friends and making it more about her. Its only later into the social link that she analyzes her own weakness as well as others and finds a way to get the bullies to back off.

Lisa first summoned her persona in childhood. Her shadow has had a long time to grow and she made a lot of mistakes. Such as drugs, dating older men for money, wanting to date Tatsuya for status, was a hyporcrite to her friends. Over the game she reconects with her childhood friends, comes to a place of caring about Tatsuya for who he is to her (claiming she will love him regardless of it being recrepocraited), and reconises that she was selfish and attention seeking. She fights her shadow and admits that she has a place for her shadow inher heart.

Lisa's personality adapts in the game reflected I feel by her persona gaining the element of water, in contrast to Chie's ice's rigidy. Her persona still has an earth major, but she is adapting to "no way” doctrine evokes the flow of water conforming to the vessel containing it, mirroring opponents and situations." Its a change reflecting a lifestyle. And it connectects to regaining her connection to her childhood friends through its evoloution item being her childhood featherman mask (their childhood bond)

Of course that gets undone by the end of the world, and the retconning of their lives in the second one.

I could also probably talk aboht their arcanas and character growth, but this is meant to be about Martial arts, so instead I'll start talking about Boxing.

Of the persona characters, Akihiko seems to be the only one who took up boxing for tbe sake of boxing in any sense. Ulala took it up to vent fustration, Akira (smt if) was taught it by his schools janitor, and as far as I can tell Reiji Kido took up boxing because the last time he attempted murder with a weapon (knife), his opponent dodged.

Reiji and Akira share an afinity for death magic. Ulala is unique in that she goes from earth to wind magic.

Akihiko uses electric.

So what is the martial philosophy of boxing? It doesn't have a formalized philosaphy, in part because boxing is probably the oldest martial art form out there. It has been refined from ancient Greeks, and is older then that actually.

To sum it up simply "The philosophy of boxing emphasizes the importance of technique, timing, and mental acuity. Its principles revolve around maximizing power through proper body mechanics and strategic thinking in combat." Its not a formalized Way, like the other martial arts mentioned here, so much as an accumulation of techniques across multile counties and cultures, which is a facinating thing in its self.

Their not united in a particular inital reason to use boxing, beyond wanting to be stronger. Reiji and Akihiko learn that wanting to be strong for the sake of being strong isn't the important part, and that connections with others are the reason behind the fighting. Akihiko even reflects that in movest by learning healing spells (protecting others). You can't do it alone. That Ulalas JOKER fueled confession to Maya happens in the gym (where she practices boxing) feels important too.

On a less serious note, Akira just uses boxing to punch his way up the path to becoming god of the new world dimension. But crucially with the power of demons and friendship (Tamaki)

Boxing

Previous post about Makoto and Aikido

My late entry for minovember week 2

C38 second person pov

"There comes a time when the world gets quiet and the only thing left is your own heart. So you'd better learn the sound of it. Otherwise you'll never understand what it's saying."