Just Some Ordinary Attic Trash

These two

“Akechi is unaffected by the dream world because he’s a Wildcard user like Joker”, is what most people would say.

I thought that was the only reason too UNTIL my recent reply I made about Maruki and Akechi. Something suddenly sparked in my brain when I was thinking about what I said, and so… I came into a conclusion that the real reason why Akechi is unaffected by the dream world is because:

Maruki never had a counseling session with Akechi and therefore, he cannot tamper with Akechi’s cognitive “shadow”. Akechi is completely immune to Maruki.

I’ll elaborate. When it comes to the public masses, Maruki was able to alter their memories and “made their dreams come true”, because he was able to tamper with their shadows in Mementos. All of the public’s shadows resided in Mementos. However, tampering with everyone’s shadows takes time because Maruki needed to find each shadow one-by-one. That’s why not everyone is affected by the dream world yet when Joker entered it for the first time.

Maruki and the PTs

Persona users are a different case, because their cognitive shadows became one with them. Their shadows will not be seen in Mementos at all. Maruki used a different method to tamper with Persona users and that is counseling and learning about their wishes and their past memories. He was able to tamper with their cognitive “shadows” this way.

But Maruki had a counseling session with Joker too, so why didn’t he alter Joker’s memories? Well firstly, Joker is Wildcard so he is aware of the dream world. Secondly, I think Joker was CLOSE to being affected, but Lavenza helped him become immune to it. Before the dream world transition, Joker had a strange dream where he was in his school but it was dark and empty. Joker followed Lavenza’s butterfly out of that school. It’s a sign that Joker repelled Maruki’s power on him. I guess that’s a perk of being a Wildcard with a Velvet Room.

Maruki cannot alter Joker’s memories BUT Maruki can look into Joker’s memories and use that to bring Akechi and Joker together in the dream world (Wow, a ShuAke shipper on deck much? 😂).

Maruki and Akechi

So back to Akechi. Maruki never had a counseling session with Akechi. Maruki doesn’t know Akechi’s wish. He doesn’t know Akechi’s past memories. Therefore, Maruki couldn’t look into Akechi’s memories. He also couldn’t tamper with Akechi’s cognitive shadow nor can he alter his memories.

Akechi is completely immune and unaffected. That’s why Maruki couldn’t manipulate him. That’s why Akechi had a will of his own and wanted to get out of the dream world. Joker on the other hand, had the disadvantage of Maruki being able to see his memories. Hence the angsty 2/2 scene.

Although I do think Akechi being a Wildcard does add on to being unaffected too…

And the Actualization Ending?

In the Actualization Ending (the “bad” ending where Joker accepted the dream world), Akechi’s behavior suddenly changed back to his old princely personality. Does that mean Maruki was finally able to alter Akechi’s memories? Hmm I don’t think so 🤔. Akechi is STILL aware that he’s still in the dream world. I think he wouldn’t be aware if Maruki tampered with his cognitive “shadow”.

As you can see in this bad ending picture below, Akechi and Joker are the only ones looking at the player or the camera. This indicates that they are both still aware that they’re living in the dream world.

So yeah, those are my thoughts on why Akechi is unaffected. I’m not sure if I’m forgetting anything. Again, I still do think that Akechi being a Wildcard adds on to that too. I think that Akechi and Joker are aware of the dream world because they’re both Wildcards.