Fanfic / Vanishing Act

Vanishing Act is a completed JoJo's Bizarre Adventure and Persona 5 crossover by Shocker, where the invisible baby becomes a Phantom Thief of Heart.

The long version: In a World… that wasn't reset by Made in Heaven, Joseph Joestar has died. With his wife also dead the bulk of his inheritance falls to his adopted daughter, Shizuka Joestar. Originally the invisible baby from Diamond Is Unbreakable, Shizuka has grown into a (usually) visible teenage girl. With her father's business rivals gunning for her inheritance Shizuka decides to lay low in Tokyo for awhile.

And so, the day after he awakens his Persona, a new student transfers to Akira Kurusu's class. While he can feel that there is something different about Shizuka, Akira has more important things to worry about. But that changes when Shizuka saves a student with her Stand, leading them all into a new bizarre adventure...

After several years, a semi-sequel/expansion Vanishing Act - The Royal Chapters (AO3 link) focusing on the Royal content was posted.

---

This Fan Fic contains examples of:

• Actor Allusion: In the 6th omake, Junpei hears Nero talking and mistakes him for Yu Narukami. Both characters are voiced by Johnny Yong Bosch.
• Adaptational Badass:
  • In canon Shizuka was just an invisible baby who could turn other things invisible. Not only is she grown up in this story, but Shizuka's Stand has gained a physical form with the requisite Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs.
  • Shiho Suzui didn't do much in canon. Here she becomes a Persona-user, member of the Arditi and surprisingly displays an aggressive streak.
  • Shizuka's "Confidant ability" allows her to teach the Phantom Thieves a power they didn't have in canon: the ability to summon Personas in reality.
  • Cognitive Sugimura gets some extra bells and whistles in his fight, including Eye Beams.
  • Futaba's Persona Necronomicon has Combat Tentacles and transdimensional warp capabilities.
  • Hifumi Togo, the sweet shogi-playing Confidant with a chuuni personality and a passion for shogi has a Stand. Moreover, instead of being a Confidant, she becomes a full-fledged Phantom Thief.
  • Sae Niijima is stabbed with the Stand Arrow in order to save her from the influence of a psychotic breakdown, giving her a Stand of her own.
  • A lot of canon enemies get a boost in difficulty compared to the standard in-game difficulty or other adaptations of the story. In particular, Akechi can take on all the Arditi at once, and Shadow Shido is a very difficult battle, to the point where he rips off and destroys Joker's hand.
• Adaptational Early Appearance:
  • Shizuka meets and becomes friends with Haru Okumura during the Madarame arc, when in-game you won't even see her until after the third dungeon.
  • While it's not a person, Akira ends up getting Sae's Judgement Confidant well before its canonical appearence.
  • Also, the Phantom Thieves learn about and discuss the death of Wakaba Isshiki before the canonical Medjed arc begins.
  • Haru's fiance appears in chapter 39, leading to the Phantom Thieves entering Okumura's Palace. Haru ends up entering said palace and learning the identities of the Phantom Thieves.
• Adaptational Heroism: An incredibly minor example in the form of Makoto. In the game, she blackmailed the Phantom Thieves into helping her take care of Kaneshiro, threatening to reveal their identities if they didn't. In this fic, she merely asks them, promising that she had no intention of turning them in. The main reason for this is Shizuka being part of the Arditi. Her being Makoto's Only Friend, she can't bring herself to turn her in.
• Adapted Out:
  • The Piggytron mech battle. Shadow Kaneshiro tries to summon it, but Sergio has none of that and breaks the vault it... is. By repeatedly smacking Shadow Kaneshiro into it.
  • Due to the Arditi catching onto Akechi's facade early on before he approached them to lure them into Sae's palace and Sae being saved from Akechi's use of "Call of Chaos" on her via a Stand Arrow, the canonical Gambit Roulette where Akira had himself arrested to the police and bank on convincing Sae to help them didn't get to happen here.
• Alternate Universe Fic: Besides being merged with the Persona setting, there's one large change in the Jojo universe: Made in Heaven did not reset it. Exactly how this happened is unknown, and isn’t relevant to the plot in any case.
• And the Adventure Continues: The story ends with the now grown up thieves living their fulfilling adult lives while still dealing with the supernatural and Stand users, doing what they do best, fighting against injustice.
• An Arm and a Leg:
  • During the Cognitive Sugimura fight, Sergio uses Breakthru to rip his leg off. The robot still proves to be a threat.
  • Shizuka chops off one of Death 13's arms.
  • During the raid on the ship Palace, Shido tears Akira's left hand off.
• And Here He Comes Now: During the Shujin Academy trip to Hawaii, Ryuji says that Yusuke (who goes to a different school) would love the view. Cue Yusuke appearing since his school's flight got redirected.
• Animal Motif: Shizuka has that of a bumblebee, both in her Phantom Thief costume and Stand, whose battle cry is "BAZU", the Japanese word for buzz. Likewise, her Phantom Thief codename is Sting.
• A Rare Sentence: In Chapter 40, Makoto advises Shizuka not to let people punch her in the face (she was trying to help Haru), then thinks that wasn't a piece of advice she ever thought she'd say.
• Ascended Extra:
  • Baked into the fic's very premise. Shizuka was a minor character from Diamond Is Unbreakable who completely vanished (hah) when it ended. Here, she's a main character.
  • In canon, Shiho Suzui is Put on a Bus after her attempted suicide. Here she's caught by Shizuka as she falls so her injuries aren't as severe as in the game, and then patched up by a Stand wielding doctor courtesy of the Speedwagon Foundation. And then she gains a Persona and joins the Phantom Thieves as Nemesis.
  • Hifumi Togo, in canon, is a confidant who was originally planned to be a main character but was cut out due to time constraints. In this story, not only is she a natural Stand user, but gets recruited to the Phantom Thieves in late September.
  • The SIU Director gets named and his Palace gets visited in between Sae's and Shido's Palaces since the Thieves catch on to the fact that taking out Shido wouldn't dismantle the Conspiracy, so they instead go after another big member in order to cripple its reach.
  • Mannish Boy, the user of the Stand Death 13, shows up in Arisawa's Palace, most likely in the employ of Mr. A.
• Awful Truth:
  • When Shizuka expresses the desire to find what happened to her birth parents, Original Character Satoshi Morihiro raises the possibility that the answer might be something she's better off not knowing. Later, he discuss the possibility of her parents having been killed by Kira outside of town and Shizuka awakening to her Stand powers by her desire to hide from him.
  • It's implied that Satoshi found a truth he didn't want to know when he went searching for Mr A's identity.
• Babies Ever After: Happens between Ryuji and Shiho in the epilogue. And apparently Rise and Yu, given a magazine Ann is holding.
• Badass Family: The Joestar Family of course. This actually bothers Shizuka somewhat as she is worried as to whether she can live up to the legacy of heroism and badassness the rest of her family has set.
• Badass in a Nice Suit: Sergio/Diabolik's thief costume is a full three-piece suit.
• Blatant Lies: In Chapter 54, Akira asks Shizuka if she edits her own wiki page. Shizuka answers with a drawn out no, while her eyes shift behind her sunglasses.
• Battle Couple: Two pairs in the Arditi: Ryuji/Shiho and Makoto/Shizuka.
• Battle Cry:
  • Shizuka's is 'BAZU', as mentioned above.
  • Sergio makes use of a concise 'VATTENE' (Begone) when using his Stand.
  • Akira tries something similar with Arsene, though his Persona can only manage a mad cackle while pummeling.
  • Subverted with Man in Black, who only does a soft, understated laugh when attacking.
• Bedsheet Ghost: The Medjed Persona resembles one, based off its presumed mythological depiction.
• Berserk Button:
  • Do NOT mess with Shizuka's Cool Shades.
  • Shiho has a particular hate for anything perverted. Which is understandable, given what happened with Kamoshida.
  • Kaneshiro has a vivid memory of the enigmatic Mr. A pulling apart one of his subordinates for operating a human trafficking ring under his nose.
  • As Akechi learns the hard way, you don't mess with Akira's friends.
  • As always, making fun of Josuke's hair.
• Beware the Nice Ones:
  • Despite his reputation, Akira is generally a rather nice and helpful guy. But a quick flash of anger from him is enough to send Futaba's uncle running, and he was sorely tempted to set Arsene loose on the guy. Akechi learns this the hard way.
  • Haru is, how to say it, a little Trigger-Happy.
• Big Damn Heroes:
  • In Chapter 36 Shizuka, who is trapped by an enemy Stand-user, gets help from the sudden arrival of Ryuji.
  • In Chapter 57, Makoto comes to Shizuka's rescue before the Chemical Brothers could kill her.
  • From the same chapter, Aigis interrupts the fight between Akihiko and Sanshiro.
  • In Chapter 58, one of Mr. A's thugs attempts to shoot Akira after Akira's been exhausted by a battle. As Akira wonders if he can stop the bullet, a voice rings out: "STAR PLATINUM: THE WORLD!"
  • In Chapter 97, Sanshiro is about to take out Sergio, when Sae and a BFG formed by her Stand Luck Be A Lady scores a headshot. It's only enough to gain his attention though.
  • In Omake 6, Labrys and Junpei are cornered by Yaldabaoth's angels, with the former switching to Shadow Labrys and prepared to make a Last Stand. They are rescued by none other than Nero himself.
• The Big Damn Kiss:
  • Makoto gives one to Shizuka after beating the Chemical Brothers.
• Birds of a Feather: Non-romantic examples. This is part of the reason that Sergio and Yusuke became friends and both Shizuka and Futaba almost immediately recognized each other as fellow geeks.
• Bland-Name Product:
  • An example where the bland name version coexists with the original. The narration for Chapter 11 explains the Wilton Hotel from canon Persona 5 should not be confused with the real-life Hilton Hotel chain.
  • Parodied later when the group are talking about Destinyland, and Shizuka gets interrupted repeatedly when she asks if they mean Disneyland. The experience confuses her greatly.
• Blinded by Rage: The Phantom Thieves defeat Miwa, one of Mr. A's Deadly Aspects, through Shiho taunting her to Draw Aggro, until they can trap her Stand in place and attack it directly.
• Blindfolded Vision: Shiho's thief outfit includes a blindfold, evoking the traditional image of Lady Justice. She can apparently see through it just fine, as if the material wasn't there at all.
• Blown Across the Room: In Chapter 57, Sanshiro's Stand American VI (which is revealed later to be Powered Armor) sends Aigis flying.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Sae after Akechi makes her Shadow go berserk.
• Break Out the Museum Piece: Needing to pull out all the stops for the final battle, Shizuka gets her hands on the Red Stone of Aja from her family's vacation home.
• Breath Weapon: The Sphinx shoots out fireballs for some reason.
• Busman's Holiday: The Arditi's school holiday in Hawai'i has them dealing with some Stand users from Mr. A's organization.
• Call-Back:
  • Shizuka's Confidant with Akira is that of the Aeon arcana, a unique arcana that was created for Aigis in the FES version of Persona 3 and reused for Marie in the Golden version of Persona 4. Like with Aigis and Marie, it reflects a new Confidant being inserted into an already existing setting, and like before the meaning of the Aeon arcana, "A common theme for characters representing the Aeon Arcana is their attempts to fully understand themselves, as well as the world around them. In both of the Aeon Arcana's appearances, the Social Link characters in question were unfamiliar with the way the real world works, and struggled to discover their own place in this unfamiliar world." applies to Shizuka as well, if in a slightly different way to before.
  • In Chapter 3, when Morgana is stuffed into his bag, Akira says "Pee on my books, and you die." Way later, in Chapter 26, Akira is faced with the possibility of bringing Morgana on a rollercoaster. His reaction? "Puke on my books, and you die."
  • In Chapter 28, Mitsuru Kirijo explains that she wants to keep tabs on the Phantom Thieves because they remind her of Strega and worries they might follow the same path as Strega did.
  • While investigating Akira, Akihiko makes a mental comparison with Shinjiro about perceived delinquency having little merit.
  • Interlude 3 is a reference to the Elizabeth "dates" from Persona 3, except this time Akira is taking Caroline and Justine for a tour around Tokyo.
• The Cameo:
  • Rohan makes a brief appearance in Chapter 16. Turns out Ryuji and Shiho read Pink Dark Boy. His presence actually speeds up the Madarame arc when he points out Madarame's a fake. He appears again in Chapter 26 where he watches Madarame's confession.
  • Koichi and Okuyasu show up in Chapter 48, and Hol Horse of all people gets a scene in Chapter 55.
  • Giorno Giovana makes a brief appearance near the end of the story and puts his faith in the Phantom Thieves.
  • The rest of the Investigation Team (Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Kanji and Teddie) also show up in a later chapter, watching the events from the Amagi Inn.
• Canon Welding: Word of God states that the Kirijo group developed their anti-Shadow weapons by drawing on the technology of Von Stroheim's cyborg parts after the American occupation of Japan when the Speedwagon Foundation started working in the country. Aigis is the result.
• Casual Danger Dialogue: In Chapter 30, Akira asks Shiho about her feelings for Ryuji while in the middle of a Shadow fight.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • At the end of Chapter 53 The Man Behind the Man realizes that things are going Off the Rails and responds by making something start growing in Mementos.
  • The letter opener Akechi gave Sae as a gift. We only learn many chapters later why it needed to be so sharp - to have Sae assassinate her boss after Akechi inflicts a breakdown on her.
  • In Shizuka's fight against Paradise City, she uses her light powers to render him blind. She does the same thing against Shido.
• Chekhov's Gunman:
  • The Stand-users Shizuka fights generally appear or are referred to a few chapters before she throws down with them.
  • Stand-investigator Satoshi Morino mentions he has a son in Hawaii. Many chapters later...
  • Rohan's Heaven's Door becomes pivotal in helping to prove that Akechi is Black Mask and that he works for Shido by reading a comatose Okumura's mind.
  • One of Mr. A's Elite Four, Okabe, runs into a Stand user that wants to take the empty spot in Mr. A's elite group by beating Okabe. Though Okabe thrashes him, he reappears later using his Stand to track the retreating Phantom Thieves to the hidden Speedwagon Foundation clinic and lead Mr. A there.
• Chuunibyou: Used in a joke in Chapter 56.
  Sergio: "Oh please, all Stand users are chuunis. The flair for being overly dramatic is hardcoded into our DNA".
• Cool Shades: Shizuka is almost constantly wearing sunglasses of various types. Her adoptive father made it a tradition of giving her a pair on her birthday (and since he's now dead she won't be getting any new ones), and damaging them is a very severe Berserk Button for her on par with insulting her brother's hair.
• Combat Clairvoyance: The power of Flaming Telepath, Hifumi's Stand.
• Combination Attack:
  • Ann and Sergio pull one off during the Shadow Kaneshiro battle. Breakthru shoots debris through Carmen's fire, creating molten lava.
  • During the Shadow Okumura battle, Yusuke and Ann combine their powers to impale a robot with an icicle and melt it, shorting the robot out.
  • During the Shadow Shido battle, Yusuke, Ann, and Ryuji trap Shido in ice and then melt it, covering Shido with water, followed by a large lightning bolt from Ryuji. It isn't enough until the wounded Akira has Odin shoot a second bolt of lightning at Shido.
• Comically Missing the Point: Justine's reaction to learning about crane games in Interlude 3.
  "So it aims to build frustration, while making people spend more and more money on objects that seem easy to attain... such an insidious instrument of torture." She was sure, with a little effort, they could make some kind of fusion ritual out of it.
• Continuity Nod:
  • In the anime adaptation of Stardust Crusaders, Iggy's Heroic Sacrifice was accompanied by the following narration: "But Stands are the soul’s manifestation. Iggy’s soul had moved on its own. It had no choice but to move!". In Chapter 6, when Shizuka explains to Ann she saved Shiho, she says "My Stand had no choice but to act."
  • In Chapter 7, Ann asks Shizuka if she planned the events of the chapter. Shizuka says it was just a delightful turn of events, but the reader knows she did plan it, for the most part. This is a reference to - and inversion of - Joseph's final taunt to Kars in Battle Tendency.
  • In Chapter 11, Shizuka's suggestion for the Phantom Thieves' team name is "Stardust Crusaders". The others don't really like it.
  • In Chapter 16, Shizuka refers to the time she saved Rohan as a baby in Diamond in Unbreakable. She doesn't actually remember it, and Rohan never told her exactly what happened (probably because he used his Stand on her) but Shizuka gets the feeling Rohan saved her too.
  • Also from Chapter 16, Ryuji really liked Rohan's Pink Dark Boy: Iron Sea.
  • And when Josuke visits Shizuka at the end of Chapter 16, she thinks about how protective he is of his family.
    "Just ask Angelo and Terunosuke."
  • In Chapter 24, Shizuka sees a news report about Rise Kujikawa. Turns out she's getting engaged to the P4 protagonist.
  • In Chapter 28, Mitsuru and her guest Naoto Shirogane refer to their own past experiences when discussing the Phantom Thieves.
  • Chapter 30 has a subtle one. Akira's Confidant with Shizuka is the Aeon Arcana, and in this chapter he reveals his first Aeon Persona, Camazotz. Camazotz is from Mayan Mythology, referencing the Mayincatec Stone Mask and Pillar Men from Jojo... and possibly also Persona 2. Camzotz was an enemy in that game, and its mythological home Xibalba played a role in the plot.
  • Akira's first impression of Akihiko is someone who drinks only protein shakes.
  • Chapter 35. The Phantom Thieves learn about a crazy stalker at Shujin. From their chat log:
    S.J: oh, my friend Koichi had one of those.
    A.T: how'd he deal with it? 
    S.J: married her
  • In Chapter 46, when running from the crumbling Palace, Shizuka screams "HOUDINI THE WORLD! HOUDINI THE WORLD!", hoping for an 11th-Hour Superpower.
  • The "delivery man" in Chapter 52 is wearing Nametame's delivery uniform from Persona 4
  • Chapter 53 shows the Speedwagon Foundation has a group of secret medical clinics and safe houses collectively named after Erina Pendleton, wife of Jonathan Joestar.
  • In Chapter 54 Futaba hacks a cell phone with one of Necronomicron's tentacles, which is noticed by the phone's owner after the hacking. This subtly references the scene in Stardust Crusaders when Telence D'Arby finally sees Hermit Purple connected to Jotaro's controller.
  • In the same chapter, Teddie, or at least his costume, is now the mascot of Junes. And when Shizuka hears about Persona 4's plot, she finds it strangely familiar.
  • In Chapter 58, when the Arditi tells Jotaro they're going to fight for what's right, he thinks briefly of Kakyoin.
  • In Chapter 76, when Akira asks Sergio whether a Stand that can alter the Metaverse is possible, Sergio brings up Heavy Weather from Stone Ocean.
• Convenient Coma: In Chapter 53, after his Shadow's life is saved, Haru's father is attacked by a Stand-user, had part of his soul sucked out, and put into a coma, preventing him from revealing the Conspiracy to anyone.
• Cosmic Plaything: How Mitsuru views Minato in retrospect, feeling that every facet of his tragic life was all designed to lead him to save the world from the Fall.
• Crazy Enough to Work: Shizuka wants to help Shiho recover from her psychological trauma. So she gets the brilliant idea to bring Shiho into Kamoshida's monster-infested Palace. Despite the many, many ways this could have gone wrong, it works - and Shiho ends up with her own Persona. Shizuka then does it again by bringing Makoto to Kaneshiro's Palace in order to make Makoto feel useful. It's even crazier this time because Kaneshiro didn't blackmail Makoto in this story, which means Makoto lacks the personal grievance that Shiho had. At one point even Makoto wonders why she's going along with it... but it works, again, and she gets her Persona. Ironically, when it's suggested the Phantom Thieves bring Haru into the Metaverse, Shizuka is against it... because she thinks Haru wouldn't hurt a fly.
• Crossover: Besides being a JoJo/Persona 5 crossover, characters from Persona 3 and Persona 4 are also popping up in the background.
  • While briefly travelling the multiverse, Futaba ends up in the universe of Raidou Kuzunoha, and also glimpses the words of Steel Ball Run, Baoh and Digital Devil Saga.
  • Nero from Devil May Cry shows up in an Omake to bail out Junpei and Labrys.
• Curb Stomp Cushion: Satoshi has the crap beaten out of him on his assault on Mr. A's base, and he knew that going in, but before the killing blow, he manages to get one last fireball shot off from his Stand that leaves some wicked burns on Mr. A's face.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • One of the side missions of Shido's Palace involves getting a letter from an official who is a raging pervert. Shiho's Berserk Button is pressed, she marches up to the official, and proceeds to literally stomp him into submission.
• Cutaway Gag: In Chapter 41 the characters realize Morgana is missing, with Sergio saying he'll come back eventually. Cut to Futaba spying on the Phantom Thieves. When she hears them bring up Morgana, the cat darts out from under Futaba's desk.
• Daddy's Girl: Shizuka clearly cared deeply for her adopted father Joseph.
• Dead Man Walking: Shadow Kaneshiro says this phrase just before vanishing. Because he knows Mr. A won't let him stay alive.
• Deadpan Snarker: Akira is depicted this way, there being very few situations where he doesn't have a dry or witty remark on standby.
• Death by Adaptation: Kaneshiro gets offed by Mr. A soon after his change of heart.
• Deceased Parents Are the Best: Shizuka's adoptive parents certainly raised her right, but they're both dead before the story begins. Justified, thanks to Joseph and Suzie's advanced age when they adopted her.
• Declaration of Protection: Akira says this to Futaba during one of their face to door conversations.
• Deconstructed Trope: A minor example. When Shizuka and Makoto have The Big Damn Kiss, it's noted to be less than glamorous with how tired they both are, and with Makoto's complete inexperience. Shizuka still notes that she loved it utterly.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: In Chapter 27, this comes up when Shizuka recounts her family's history to the Arditi:
  Akira: Your dad was friends with a Nazi cyborg?
  Shizuka: It was, uh... a different time.
• Description Cut: In Chapter 23, Yoshio of the SID, comments that he's sure Shizuka is mature and level headed. Cut to Shizuka shouting threats at Azazel.
• Dead Man Writing: After getting Tired of Running, Satoshi Morihiro writes one such letter to his son Oyama, before embarking on his Suicide Mission against Mr. A.
• Deus Exit Machina: After learning about the shenanigans going on in Tokyo, Jotaro intends to go there... but then he gets a call about a vampire outbreak in Argentina and leaves to stop it. Not surprising, given that Jotaro would break the plot.
• Didn't See That Coming:
  • As in canon, Makoto confronts the Phantom Thieves on the school rooftop after Kamoshida's change of heart. Except this time Makoto's friends with Shizuka, who's also there on the rooftop. The narration explains that Shizuka's presence completely derails Makoto's plan, turning her into a stammering mess.
  • Akechi didn't realize that the Arditi had discovered Okumura's Palace and had split up to deal with it and Medjed at the same time because he was too focused on following Akira. When he learns that they already sent Okumura a calling card, he's left rushing to kill Okumura before he spills anything.
• Dirty Mind-Reading: G-rated version played for comedy. When trying out the mind-reading ability of Flaming Telepath, Hifumi's Stand, she tries it out on Sergio and gets a Luminescent Blush when she reads that he thinks she is very pretty.
• The Don: There have been a few references to a mysterious Stand-using criminal known only as 'Mr. A', who is seen as being the true kingpin of Tokyo.
• Door Stopper: The entire story is over 610 thousand words long.
• Dramatic Irony:
  • Shizuka befriends Makoto early in the story. In Chapter 16 Makoto tells herself she'll protect Shizuka, completely unaware that Shizuka is very capable of protecting herself. The punch-line comes several chapters later when Makoto awakens her Persona to protect Shizuka... and Shizuka certainly needed it!
  • The Phantom Thieves take the mental shutdowns more seriously than they do in canon. So, shortly after Kaneshiro's change of heart, they learn about a mental shutdown victim named Wakaba Isshiki who died in front of her own daughter. It's a good thing they weren't in Leblanc at the time, because otherwise said daughter would be listening.
  • In Chapter 46, Akira summons an original Persona, Medjed to fight Cognitive Wakaba. At the time he was unaware that Futaba was the original Medjed.
  • In canon, the protagonist gets captured by the police during the casino Palace, where he's then interrogated while Akechi wait for a chance to kill him. In the story Akechi is the one who gets captured by the Arditi, with Akira interrogating him while he's in Speedwagon custody.
• The Dreaded:
  • Mr. A is this for Kaneshiro, as he instantly turns from tough arrogant crimeboss to scared stammering child when talking to the enigmatic Mr. A.
  • Like in canon, Jotaro is this to Stand users who know about them. Both Mr. A, and the associate he considers to be his main counter against Jotaro, admit that they'd rather have an entire continent between them if possible.
• Deuteragonist: Akira and Shizuka are arguably each other's deuteragonist. Both characters share narrative focus and contribute much to the plot. Akira is still the Wild Card holder and leader of the Arditi, but Shizuka is the initial focus of the story and has her own plot that's somewhat divorced from the other Phantom Thieves.
• Dungeon Bypass:
  • When dealing with Kaneshiro's Palace, the Arditi enlist Sergio and Breakthru's help to catapult them all the way up to the floating bank, instead of going through the whole rigamarole of them getting blackmailed and using that to their advantage.
  • In general, Shizuka's Stand is often used by the thieves to bypass Palace security levels whenever possible, and especially more so as her Stand gets stronger in time.
• Elemental Shapeshifter: Paradise City, a Stand that Shizuka fights early in the story, takes the form of a concrete monkey that can travel through and merge with cement, able to change the shape of his limbs into different weapons.
• 11th-Hour Ranger: The Grand Finale has Yu Narukami, Rise Kujikawa and even Minato Arisato joining the coalition to beat Yaldabaoth.
• Elite Four: Mr. A has four top Stand-using agents, known as the Deadly Aspects.
• "Eureka!" Moment: Shizuka get this in Chapter 33, when she realizes the significance of the pancakes comment.
• Everybody Knew Already: In-universe, the secret identities of the Phantom Thieves are rather easy to guess. Makoto figured it out because she correctly thought Ryuji was behind the first calling card, while Naoto just needed to look for Kamoshida's most prominent victims. Other parties are pretty sure Shizuka is a Phantom Thief, simply because she's a Joestar. Notably, Jotaro and Jolyne seemed to figure out Shizuka and her friends were the Phantom Thieves instantly.
• Everyone Can See It:
  • It doesn't take long for the group to catch onto the budding feelings between Ryuji and Shiho. Except for Yusuke.
  • After finally noticing Haru's crush on him, Akira comments on how everyone must have already noticed already.
• Everyone Has Standards: This is the reason that Makoto considers for why Shizuka joined the Phantom Thieves in taking out Kamoshida, considering that she has no personal reason to hate Kamoshida's guts unlike Ryuji, Akira, and Ann. She's right, but Shizuka also joined in order to live up to her family's legacy of righting wrongs and punching evildoers in the face.
• Evil Counterpart:
  • Mr. A and his followers are this to the Phantom Thieves. Sanshiro describes them as all being outcasts like the thieves, coming from hard backgrounds. However rather than try to change society, they're of a mind that society can't be changed and would instead prefer to be at the top of the food chain. Also, Lars says he acts as an assassin because it gives him a place to belong - which is one of the motivations of the Phantom Thieves.
    Sanshiro: The world is just like that, a big fuckin' thumb pressing down on a section of the people. You can either knuckle under it... or you can be the thumb.
  • Camael to Morgana. Both mysterious entities born in Mementos, with the former claiming to be born of something more powerful than hope. While Morgana has a Persona, Camael eventually gets a Stand.
• Eye Beams:
  • Cognitive Sugimura can fire a laser from his "eye" in this fic.
  • The Medjed Persona fires light elemental ones.
• Expy:
  • Paradise City is a pretty clear pastiche of Red Hot Chili Pepper, just with cement instead of electricity.
  • Shizuka's Phantom Thief outfit is somewhat inspired by 50's Greaser culture but even more heavily by her grandmother Lisa Lisa.
  • Being a handsome, cocky Italian with supernatural powers, Sergio is described as being the Caesar to Shizuka's Joseph. It later comes up that he is a Zeppeli by blood.
• Extreme Omnivore: Seems to be the power of Smash Mouth, another enemy Stand. When it first appears, it eats a trash can lid in a few seconds and converts the metal into a volley of carbon bullets.
• Fastball Special:
  • In Chapter 50, Shizuka throws Ryuji into the air to attack a target on the ceiling.
  • The final battle has Sergio use Breakthru's propulsion powers to launch Prometheus at Yaldabaoth.
• Fighting Spirit: It's a Jojo/Persona crossover, so of course you're going to have souls materialised into fighting entities everywhere.
• Finger Poke of Doom: Sergio's Stand Breakthru works by imparting momentum into whatever it touches, so it doesn't actually need to punch anything to launch it; a simple and gentle tap of its knuckles is enough to send the touched object flying. In fact, the longer Breakthru touches an object, the more momentum he can impart.
• Fix Fic: While the author does not go out of his way to make everything be perfect, he does respond to most things that the fandom have found lacking story wise with things like presenting Haru to the group earlier than in canon, removing the subplot of Morgana leaving the Thieves, or Goro being directly confronted while possessing a very real threat to the Arditi during Sae's palace.
• Flashback Cut: When Morgana turns into a car for the first time and asks who will drive him, Shizuka thinks about the time she drove a car. The story then flashes back to an incident where Josuke chases down a Stand-using thief. Okuyasu is hanging on for dear life outside the moving car Josuke is in, and twelve-year old Shizuka is actually driving the car, feet unable to reach the pedals. The story then cuts back to the present, where Shizuka says someone else should drive.
• Flat "What": Although prone to make exclamations like her father, Shizuka's reaction to Shadow Kaneshiro's gangster dialogue is a simple "What."
• Flunky Boss: Unlike in canon, Shadow Kaneshiro summons minions during the Thieves' fight with him.
• Foil: Shizuka is in some ways one to Akira. Both of them moved to Tokyo due to circumstances beyond their control, and have to live away from their families. However, while Akira moved because of his criminal record, Shizuka moved because she became a wealthy heiress. Even Shizuka's introduction to Shujin Academy contrasts with Akira's. For Akira, the Shujin staff made it clear they didn't want him there. For Shizuka they bent over backward to the point where the Principal sends Makoto to help Shizuka if she needs anything.
• Force and Finesse: Generally speaking, Personae and Stands can be described as such. Personae have a large repertoire of direct, powerful elemental attacks and all pack a mean physical punch, with some specialising more in healing, status effects or navigation. Stands, on the other hand, have a singular trick that can be leveraged for maximum combat effectiveness like invisibility or trap generation, and not all of them are physically powerful, though they certainly can be. Shizuka describes the difference between them like this in Chapter 77.
• Foreshadowing:
  • In Chapter 24 it's mentioned Shizuka is looking at property listings. Chapter 27 reveals that she's actually rented a place for the Phantom Thieves to meet in.
  • In Chapter 16 Makoto gets worried about Shizuka's choice of friends and decides she will protect her. The reader snickers to themselves. Many chapters later, Makoto awakens her Persona... to protect Shizuka.
  • In the fifth interlude, Shizuka is described as wearing a Dark Side of the Moon T-shirt. In the chapter following her Stand evolves into Houdini Eclipse.
  • There were several incidents over the course of the story where Akira's left hand was in grave danger. Shido tears it off during their last encounter.
• For Want Of A Nail:
  • Shizuka's presence has already had a butterfly effect on a few events. Most notably saving Shiho during her suicide attempt, leading to Shiho becoming a Phantom Thief.
  • In general, the Phantom Thieves learn things faster than they did in canon. For example, Rohan explains that Madarame is stealing his students' paintings about a day before the canon Phantom Thieves figured it out themselves. Similarly, there's Makoto's reaction to learning the Phantom Thieves' identities. Because Shizuka befriended her earlier, Makoto simply asks Shizuka for help against the yakuza blackmailers.
  • Due to a number of changes, Haru is met earlier and fully awakens her Persona right away. On that note, the part where Morgana leaves the Phantom Thieves doesn't happen. (Morgana even got some sushi!)
  • Not all of the changes are positive though. The presence of Stand users brings Mr. A and his Stand-using criminal ring into the mix giving the Thieves another enemy they have to face. Also, Yaldabaoth starts stepping up his game in the face of the Thieves going off-script, first creating Camael, and then influencing the weak-minded so that it can temporarily manifest in the real world. And then Camael gets pierced by the Stand Arrow.
• Fragile Speedster: Houdini is this relative to Star Platinum and Crazy Diamond, it can't hit quite as hard, isn't quite as tough, but is just as fast.
• Frame-Up: As in canon, the Phantom Thieves get framed for a murder to discredit them in the eyes of the people. Unlike in canon, the Conspiracy has to sacrifice someone other than Okumura.
• Friendly Fireproof: The Chemical Brothers' are a pair of Mr. A's Stand-wielding assassins, with one generating vertigo-inducing sound to keep their targets disoriented, leaving them easy pickings for his brother's swarm of flying Piranha. However, the piranha-wielder is not immune to his brother's Stand, so he has to wear earplugs to keep from getting affected.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: In place. Akira's already involved with Iwai's confidant as of the Madarame arc, even though the Guts requirement would make such a thing only possible on NG+.
• Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: During the mission to get the Phantom Thieves out of Dies Irae, the group encounter a cognition of Ryuji's abusive, alcoholic father, mutated into a giant. With Ryuji stricken with fear, Akira gives him a slap to snap him out of it.
• The Glomp: What Yukari and Aigis deliver to Minato.
• Goomba Stomp: During the Azazel battle, Arsene, Goemon, and Captain Kidd attack the eyes and nose by diving onto them from the air, feet first.
• Gratuitous Italian:
  • Just before heading off to fight Kamoshida Shizuka quotes the battlecry of the Arditi, a group of Italian special forces in World War I. Akira liked it and so later on the Phantom Thieves name themselves after the Arditi.
  • Sergio, an SID member and also from Italy, occasionally injects Italian into his sentences. There's also his Battle Cry, "Vattene!", Italian for "Begone!"
• Green Around the Gills: Ryuji takes on a "Hulk-ish" tinge to his face when Sergio's Stand Breakthru launches Morgana and all his passengers through Mementos to Kaneshiro's Palace, which is hovering in the air.
• Greaser Delinquents: This look is part of Shizuka's thief outfit.
• Greater-Scope Villain: It's heavily implied that Erebus, Izanami, and Yaldabaoth were all creations of Nyarlanthotep, operating outside the boundaries of reality.
• Grievous Harm with a Body: Sergio destroys Shadow Kaneshiro's vault (actually the Piggytron mech) by continually slamming Shadow Kaneshiro into it.
• Groin Attack: Shizuka defeats Hol Horse with one of these by complete accident.
• "Groundhog Day" Loop: The power of Lynott, an enemy Stand user, and his Stand, Time in a Bottle. Everything within the Stand's radius is reset as soon as the buttons on its palms are pressed, including memories, but excluding damage dealt to one's body.
• Ground Punch: At the start of his fight, Shadow Kaneshiro hits the floor so hard it leaves fissures.
• Guile Hero:
  • Shizuka was raised and taught by the biggest Guile Hero of canon Jojo, Joseph Joestar, so she fights by using unconventional tactics and the environment, coupled with her invisibility powers. Joseph would be proud.
  • Akira is one, as befitting the Trickster, but he's also a variation. Whereas Shizuka fights with her wits, Akira commands with them. In battle, he manages his teammates' actions and prepares overall strategy.
• Guns Are Worthless: Played with. While guns in the real world are very much as effective as it should be (unless there is a sufficiently fast Stand), in the Metaverse, while functional, they don't do as much damage as a Persona/Stand. On the other hand, if you weaken the target congnition...
  • On the other side of the subversion coin, Naoto uses her handgun to drive off a Stand-wielding intruder.
  • Again subverted: Mista shoots and kills angels in an omake. Then again, his Stand does make bullets more deadly, but it doesn't change the fact it's a normal gun and normal bullets.
• Happily Adopted: Shizuka clearly loves her adopted family, who more than reciprocate it in full and then some.
• He Knows Too Much: Kaneshiro is a bit more aware of things this time around which results in Mr. A killing him after his change of heart.
• Heroism Won't Pay the Bills: Defied! In Chapter 59 Shizuka uses her connections to give the Arditi a cut of the Phantom Thief merchandise profits. Even Morgana gets a check, for the sake of fairness.
• Hidden Depths:
  • Shiho, the soft-spoken Nice Girl from canon, shows she has an aggressive streak after awakening her Persona. She outright says she'll kick Kamoshida's ass.
  • On the surface, Shizuka appears incredibly cocky and wry. But beneath that she's a cauldron of worries and insecurities, stemming from her heroic lineage and her uncertainty about her birth parents.
• Hoist by His Own Petard:
  • Junichiro Shioma, villainous user of the Stand Smash Mouth, is killed when his Stand's power collapses part of a ceiling onto him.
  • Okabe's Stand, Sing You Sinners, creates an area-effect where Toon Physics applies. Shizuka defeats him by using her own knowledge of American cartoons against him.
  • Yaldabaoth's schemes, though successfully weakening humanity's desires for control, also weakened humanity's desires to die as well, i.e. Erebus. With Erebus weakened, Nyx was not being drawn to Earth as strongly, freeing up Minato Arisato enough to return to Earth and help his old allies against the new threat.
• Hold the Line:
  • During the Sphinx battle, it summons an army of Shadows from the pyramid Palace. Several of the Thieves have to hold back the army of Shadows running to the top of the pyramid while the others deal with the Sphinx.
  • SEES, the Investigation Team, and other Stand users like Jotaro, Josuke and Sae help guard the Tokyo tower from attacking Angels, to allow the broadcast of the Phantom Thieves to reach everyone in the world.
• Hollywood Acid: Azazel's paint is re-imagined as a caustic substance that dissolves the floor.
• Home Base: By the start of the Kaneshiro arc, Shizuka rents out a property that the Arditi can use as a hideout. It's a bit shabby, but the group are fine with it.
• Humanoid Abomination: Akira isn't quite sure what Caroline, Justine, and Igor actually are. But he's very certain that whatever they are, they most definitely aren't human.
• Hypocrite: The Phantom Thieves proceed to show Akechi just how much he is one during their confrontation.
• I Just Want to Be Normal: If the ideal worlds of the Phantom Thieves can be summed up it would be this, Hamon (Shizuka and Sergio) and castle (Hifumi) notwithstanding.
• Immediate Self-Contradiction: In Chapter 25 Sergio asks Shizuka if she has a plan to fight an enemy Stand-user. Shizuka says she does, but the narration - which reflects the characters' thoughts - says she didn't.
• Impaled Palm: In the middle of a Stand battle, Shizuka inflicts this injury on the enemy Stand, keeping its user from using its palm-activated "Groundhog Day" Loop powers.
• Improv Fu:
  • This is Shizuka's fighting style. Whether it's by dropping chandeliers on Shadows, creating an invisible cage from metal in Mementos, or distracting enemies by calling them names, Shizuka uses the environment and unconventional tactics to her advantage.
  • Sergio's fighting style also is very environment-focused, most commonly by using his Stand Breakthru to send debris shooting at his targets.
• I'm Taking Her Home with Me!: Two minutes into Okumura's Palace with Futaba's Shout-Out-laden snark, and Shizuka desperately wants to do this.
  Oracle: So this is Okumura's Palace, right? *starts humming the Imperial March*
  Sting: Oh my god she is perfect. Hey, if things don't work out with Sojiro, can I adopt her?
  Joker: No.For several reasons.
  Oracle: Just don't feed me after midnight!
  Sting: Oh my god Joker please!
• I Never Said It Was Poison: During their first meeting, Akechi makes reference to going out for pancakes. While an innocuous statement on its face, Morgana was talking about pancakes earlier, and Shizuka realizes that if Akechi heard Morgana, it would make him either a Persona or a Stand user.
• In Spite of a Nail:
  • In Chapter 16, Shizuka makes a plan to talk with Yusuke. The reader knows this plan would avert the nude model incident... but two chapters later, Ryuji opens his big mouth at the wrong moment. This causes things to play out the way they did in canon. Even Shizuka wonders how things went wrong so fast.
  • As of Chapter 28, most of the canon events have occurred in some fashion, albeit with extra stuff happening in the background and in between arcs.
  • Despite Okumura not suffering a mental breakdown, the Arditi are still hit with a smear campaign that tanks their public support thanks to Akechi framing a couple of other breakdowns on them. However, it doesn't nearly effect them as much since they've been aware of the scope of The Conspiracy for a while.
  • The SIU Director's shadow still gets killed, only this time by Death 13 instead of Akechi.
  • Akechi manages to survive until the endgame, instead of dying in Shido's Palace, and learns about Yaldabaoth, but he still ends up dying in order to save the Phantom Thieves.
• Instant Expert: In Interlude 3 Akira takes the Velvet Room twins on a tour through Tokyo, including the arcade and batting cages. Despite not knowing what crane games and batting cages are, the twins are terrifyingly good at them. But what do you expect from the Superbosses?
• Invisibility: The main ability of Shizuka's Stand.
• Invisible to Normals: As seen in-game, Personas aren't invisible to normals in the Metaverse. But in this fic Stands are, as seen when Shizuka brings Shiho to the Metaverse. However, Shadows seem to be able to see Shizuka's Stand just fine. This might have something to do with Persona-users being able to see Stands in the real world or Metaverse, since Shadows and Personas are connected. Finally, Personas can only be seen by Stand or Persona-users when summoned in the real world.
• Invulnerable Knuckles: Averted. Houdini punching away objects or projectiles causes Shizuka's knuckles to sympathetically bleed.
• Ironic Name: In Chapter 21, Shizuka says she is well aware that her name ('Quiet') is pretty ironic given how loud and boisterous she is.
• Jumped at the Call: Shizuka needs no convincing to steal Kamoshida's heart once she learns of the Metaverse. She's also eager to continue being a Phantom Thief afterward.
• Kicking My Own Butt: Implied; when Shizuka hears that Sae called Makoto useless, she thinks that if her adoptive brother Josuke said anything half as insensitive to her, Crazy Diamond a.k.a. Josuke's own soul, would kick his ass on principle.
• Kill It with Water: During the Shadow Okumura battle, the Execurobo MDL-ED is defeated when Yusuke impales it with an icicle and Ann melts it, causing the water to short it out.
• Large Ham: Sergio lampshades the tendency of Stand-users to be dramatic in Chapter 56.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: The story doesn't even bother teasing the fact that the Arditi knew Goro was lying to them instead stating outright that they'll be turning his plans against him.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
  • In Chapter 19, upon hearing that Palace security measures are likely to get tougher in the future, Ann exclaims "What is this? A videogame?" Technically, it isn't but it's based on one.
  • The Running Gag where Akira gets compared to the Persona 3 and 4 protagonists.
  • In Chapter 27, Shizuka tells the others the history of the Joestar family. The characters' reactions to various scenes mirror that of many of Jojo readers.
  • In Chapter 41, the Phantom Thieves divide themselves into two groups to take on two Palaces at once. Ann says it feels weird, referencing that this doesn't happen in the game.
  • In Chapter 54 suggests Shizuka keeps random junk in her pockets like any JRPG character.
  • For some reason, Yukari is the only one who comment on Speedwagon's full name.
  • Due to the effects of Sing You Sinners, Makoto ends up 'staring at the camera' without realising it.
• Let's Split Up, Gang!:
  • The Arditi divide into two groups in order to tackle both Futaba and Okumura's Palaces at the same time. Much to Akechi's dismay.
  • They split in three teams after Akechi provoke a psychotic breakdown on Sae, one to fight her Shadow, other to implement plan B and the last one to follow the escaping Akechi.
  • The team also splits into two to deal with the last members of the Deadly Aspects, the final barrier between them and Mr. A.
• Light 'em Up:
  • Shiho's Persona Aradia is specialized in light magic and buff spells.
  • This is also implied to be the full extent of Houdini's power, with visibility/invisibility hinging on the refraction of light. Shizuka uses this principle to temporarily blind Paradise City by keeping the light from entering his eyes. Its evolved form, Houdini Eclipse, can not only alter light and color to create illusions, but can absorb light and blast it out as Frickin' Laser Beams.
• Light Is Not Good: Camael's appearance has a lot of angelic cues, and he uses bless attacks. But considering who he works for, he's far from holy.
• Line in the Sand: After Shadow Kaneshiro is defeated the Phantom Thieves get confirmation that a dangerous killer is running around in the Metaverse. Unlike in canon they take this very seriously, prompting Akira to tell the others that they're free to Opt Out if they want to. None of them do.
• Little Miss Badass: Shizuka is described as being short and slender, but is still incredibly tough and dangerous in a fight. Apparently even without using her Stand.
• Logical Weakness:
  • As in the video game, Shadow Okumura sends out robot minions from the ceiling. The Thieves eventually realize they can attack the place the robots come from.
  • Lars' Paper Master abilities fail him when Naoto soaks his armor with a fire extinguisher, and later when Shizuka catches him in a propane explosion.
  • Touta's Stand, Bloody Sunday, only works in a very specific set of circumstances. Haru, knowing these circumstances, traps him in a position where he is unable to bring his full power to bear and subjects him to a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown.
• Lotus-Eater Machine: What Camael's Stand, Dies Irae, creates.
  • This is also a major plot point of the third term of the story, as it is in Persona 5 Royal.
• Love Confession: Shizuka gives on to Makoto in Chapter 52.
• Make It Look Like an Accident: Shizuka does some research into the mental shutdowns and explains that they're timed to occur when the victim is occupied. Such as when they're taking a bath, or on the stairs, or crossing a street. The result is usually fatal, and covers up what actually happened.
• The Magic Touch: The power of Sae Nijima's Stand, Luck Be A Lady. One touch can turn mundane objects into deadly weapons, such as a Nerf gun into a high-powered sci-fi cannon.
• Manipulative Bastard: Even after being captured by the Arditi, Akechi proves to be this. He tricks Akira and the Arditi into going after the SIU director Arisawa, knowing that thanks to Mr. A's connections, the Conspiracy has a Stand-user that can alter the Metaverse enough to lay a trap for the thieves.
• Meaningful Echo: Before they enter Kamoshida's Palace for the last time, Shizuka recites the motto of what would become the Phantom Thieves' namesake: "We either win, or we all die". The narration repeats the motto when Haru's father is put into a coma by a Stand-user and the Thieves start to understand what they're up against.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Shizuka renames Achtung Baby to Houdini for this fic, this fits the naming criteria for Stands as Houdini is the name of a song by Foster the People, but it ALSO fits the the Persona theme of tricksters and "rebels from society" for Persona 5 as per this article about Harry Houdini himself: here.
  • The name of Shiho's Persona, Aradia, also fits, on more than one level.
  • Akira names the Phantom Thieves after the Arditi, an Italian special forces unit in World War I. It's explained in story their name meant "The Daring Ones". Also their motto, which Shizuka quotes, translates to "We either win, or we all die". A motto that may prove prophetic if canon Persona 5 was any indication...
  • Shizuka's middle name turns out to be Elizabeth, after Joseph's mother Elizabeth Joestar a.k.a. Lisa Lisa.
• Mecha-Mooks: The robots in Okumura's Palace. During the fight with Shadow Okumura he sends out all of them at once (instead of only using up to four at a time).
• Megaton Punch: How Shizuka beats Okabe.
• "Metaphor" Is My Middle Name: When asked to make a distraction against Madarame, Shizuka claims that distraction is her middle name. It's actually Elizabeth.
• Metronomic Man Mashing: Houdini does this to Paradise City in Chapter 13, causing it to fall apart into chunks while it's caught in a tarp.
• Mistaken for Gay: After Mishima reveals that he created the Phan-site and starts fanboying to Akira, Shizuka seems instantly convinced he has a crush on Akira. Or she's just being flippant.
• Mood Whiplash: Chapter 52 is mostly a beach episode, but then it ends with a Stand-user attacking Haru's father. Chapter 53 then has the Thieves beach trip cut short by the news.
• Multiple Reference Pun: Shizuka's code name is Sting, referencing her Animal Motif but also the singer. Similarly, she renames her Stand to "Houdini", referencing both a song and the escape artist.
• Mundane Made Awesome: Kind of. When the Phantom Thieves fight Miwa, Shiho is able to lock up her Stand and set her up for defeat using the ability to read her surroundings and use them to her advantage... that she learned from volleyball.
• Mundane Utility: Shizuka uses Houdini Eclipse power over light to make her hair look pink as a joke.
• Mutually Exclusive Magic: If one has a Stand or a Persona, they can't have a Shadow or a Palace. This is why Shizuka's Plan B for Sae Nijima's Shadow going berserk is to stab her with the Stand Arrow, giving her a Stand and instantly removing her Shadow.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Shizuka has her own Confidant arc, as if she was actually in the video game itself. She even has her own Confidant ability, which enables the other Phantom Thieves to, with some training, summon their Personas in reality.
  • In Chapter 16, Shizuka notes that Rohan Kishibe seemingly hasn't aged a day since she first met him. This is a reference to Jojo creator Hirohiko Araki (who Rohan is a loose Author Avatar of). Shizuka even references the "secretly a vampire" meme.
  • In Chapter 49 Shadow Okumura tells the Phantom Thieves if he had more time he could ascend to the political world. This subtly references his "Utopia"/escape plan from canon. Since the Phantom Thieves attacked ahead of schedule, the plan isn't done yet.
  • In Chapter 50, the Execurobo MDL-ED uses it's Big Bang Challenge attack, but it misses when the Thieves attack it first. When Akira asks if everyone's alright, Morgana says he's kinda hungry - a reference to the status effect the Big Bang Challenge attack causes in-game.
  • In Chapter 54, Morgana tells Akira he's feeling useless and Akira reassures him. And then...
    Akira: "And besides, what else would you do? Run off and leave the group in a huff?"
    Morgana: "Yeah I... I guess that would be a pretty crummy thing to do,"
  • Hifumi getting a stand and Shizuka wanting her to join the Arditi is one to how Hifumi was originally meant to be a member of the thieves until she was Demoted to Extra due to the game already taking way too long.
  • Akira making his new artificial hand go into strange positions is a reference to how Joseph himself did the same thing when he first got his artificial hand.
  • Futaba mentions that Raidou reminds her of Jotaro, a reference to them sharing an English VA in Matthew Mercer.
  • The Wicked Star arc takes its name from a chapter in Eyes of Heaven's story.
  • The final chapter of Wicked Star sees Sojiro reveal that he's caught on about the romance between Akira and Futaba. The narration makes a blatant reference to what happened to Kars.
  Akira remained frozen in place, his glassy eyes affixed to a blank wall of the church. Though he wished for death, he was unable to die. Eventually, Akira stopped thinking.
  • Nero's appearance in Omake 6 is a reference to his uncle's guest appearance in the SMT series.
• Naginatas Are Feminine: Shiho's weapon for the Metaverse is a naginata. It goes well with her Ninja motif.
• Named by the Adaptation:
  • The Persona 5 protagonist is named Akira Kurusu, after the manga adaptation. When Vanishing Act started in April 2017, this was the closest the protagonist had to a Canon Name.
  • In Persona 5 proper there's a scene where the player enters a name for the Phantom Thieves team, though in practice they're called the Phantom Thieves of Hearts in spoken dialogue. When the aforementioned scene comes up in the fic, Akira decides on the name "The Arditi, the Phantom Thieves of Hearts". The Arditi were an Italian group of special forces soldiers in World War I. Akira picked the name because Shizuka quoted the Arditi's motto before the heist of Kamoshida's treasure, having heard of it from her mother Suzi Q.
  • Interestingly, the Persona 3 protagonist is referred to as "Minato", his name from the manga adaptation.
  • Kaneshiro's nightclub is named "Club Decadence".
  • Joining the trend is the SIU Director, dubbed Arisawa.
• Ninja: Shiho's Phantom Thief outfit is essentially a ninja, complete with throwing stars and a naginata.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Akira gives one to Akechi for all the shit he made him, Futaba, and Haru go through, summoning his many Personas one after the other to deliver the beatdown. The only reason he didn't kill him was Ryuji snapping him out of it.
• Noodle Incident:
  • Sergio refers to an old Stand battle he had in Chapter 43.
  "Why, one time I was chasing a Stand user who could alter the world around him to resemble Picasso paintings. And, well, long story short you haven't experienced discomfort until you've been split across fractal dimensions."
  • In chapter 47, Tonio mentions Shizuka saving his restaurant from a bar-headed goose. When Akira asks what that was all about, Shizuka simply replies 'Stand user.'
• No-Sell: After the start of the Shadow Okumura battle Ann shoots a giant fireball at one of the robots. However, the robot is the Execurobo MDL-ED, who is arguably the actual boss in the game itself. The robot emerges from the fireball with minimal damage.
• Note to Self: In Chapter 35, Shizuka gets in a fight with a time-looping Stand-user. Shizuka loses her memory in each loop but her physical condition persists, so she leaves messages to herself by having her Stand write them on her body.
• Nothing Is the Same Anymore: Unlike in canon, the Phantom Thieves realize everything has changed when they get confirmation of a killer in the Metaverse. Kaneshiro's murder drives the point home.
• Not What It Looks Like: Remember how Akira has fake relationship Makoto during her Confidant route? Shizuka, who has a crush on Makoto, ends up seeing them together and gets the wrong idea. Fortunately, Akira is quick to clear it up.
• O.C. Stand-in: Shizuka is this by necessity, as she was just a baby in canon. Her personality in the story is that she's a Nice Girl who's still willing to beat the crap out of someone who's asking for it. She has also adopted some of Joseph's personality traits, as noted under Shared Family Quirks. At the same time, she is still grieving over the deaths of her parents, wonders why she was abandoned as a baby, and feels her family is far more amazing than she is.
• Off the Rails: The big derailment in the plot occurs when the Phantom Thieves explore Okumura's Palace shortly after clearing Kaneshiro's, and even clear both Futaba and Okumura's palaces concurrently. Even Yaldabaoth is caught off guard.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Akechi has this reaction upon hearing that the Phantom Thieves are going after Okumura far sooner than expected.
  • It happens again when the Arditi corner him in Sae's palace and reveal they knew he was a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing all along while picking apart his cover story and previous lies with evidence gathered by Hifumi, Rohan, and Futaba.
• One-Steve Limit: The Persona 3 protagonist, who is referred to in passing, has the name Minato from the manga adaptation. This is probably because his name in Persona 3: The Movie is "Makoto Yuki", and Persona 5 has a Makoto already.
• Only Friend: Shizuka becomes Makoto's only real friend early in the story, and seems poised to have a similar relationship with Haru.
  • Also, before meeting the Phantom Thieves, Sergio seemed to be this to Yusuke too.
• Original Character: Many new Stand-users were created for the story.
• Our Angels Are Different: Heavily armored entities that bleed a tar like subtance. In Camael case it appears that he have a body under the armor.
• Paper Master: Lars Gunsche's Stand, Painkiller, has this power. Any paper he touches becomes incredibly resilient and rigid, allowing him to wear paper armour under his clothes, use origami shuriken and darts that cut better than real ones, and wield a sheet of paper like a blade.
• Paranormal Investigation:
  • The Stand Investigation Division, or SID, a subdivision of the Speedwagon Foundation that came into existence after the full scope of Kira's killing spree became known to the foundation. They primarily look into unsolved murders/disappearances that reek of Stand-user activities.
  • Mitsuru's Shadow Operatives. After Madarame's confession she becomes convinced that something supernatural is going on, and tasks her own investigator to look into things: Naoto Shirogane.
• Parental Abandonment: Shizuka's birth parents abandoned her as a baby for unclear reasons. Notably, no-one was looking for a missing baby when Joseph found her. On top of that, her adoptive parents are both dead when the fic begins. The prime suspect is her barely escaping a Kira murder, and SID research and a dirty trick from Mannish Boy point to this being the case.
• Playing with Fire: Instant Crush, the Stand of Satoshi Morihiro, takes the form of a cigar that generates surges of heat and smoke.
• Pop-Cultured Badass: Shizuka was raised on a steady diet of comic books and movies, has a deep love for superhero comics and pro wrestling, and can still kick any baddie's ass. Not surprising, given that Joseph was also an example of this trope.
• Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure: On occasion, Shizuka makes a reference to something and then asks if what she referenced is obscure in Japan. The joke is then twisted when Futaba joins the team, since she not only understands Shizuka's references but makes some of her own. Ann says there's two of them now.
• Posthumous Character: For the purposes of Vanishing Act Joseph Joestar is this, having died shortly before the story begins.
• Powered Armor: What 'American VI', Sanshiro's Stand final form, is. Sergio is quick to point out that if Shizuka was there she would "(Tell an) unabridged history of Iron Man right now"
• Power-Upgrading Deformation: Averted. Futaba mentally comments that while she would like to tell Makoto that Shadow Sae's less-than-pleasant-looking form is due to Akechi making her go berserk, it is her actual true form.
• Pre Ass Kicking One Liner: Never think that Akira will always be nice:
  "Akechi... I'm going to break your fucking jaw."
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Haru gives a chilling one to Cognitive Sugimura.
  Cog!Sugimura: W-wait Haru! I can change!
  Haru: Oh yes Sugimura, I really do believe you can change.
  Cog!Sugimura: Y-you do?
  Haru: Yes. I believe you can change into a stain on the ground.
• Pseudo-Crisis: In Chapter 46, the Arditi escape a crumbling Palace. When they re-enter the real world they can't find Shizuka and start getting worried. Then it turns out she's in a nearby alleyway vomiting.
• Rage Breaking Point: After beating Akechi, just a single thought of everything he did drives Akira past his normally calm demeanor to just start pummeling him into the floor, and even start choking him out.
• Rapidfire Fisticuffs: It's a Jojo cross so of course Shizuka is going to do this.
  • Akira even gets Arsene to give it a try, though with mad cackling instead of any sort of Battle Cry.
• Reality Warper: Futaba claims Personas being summoned in the real world is a minor example of this. The Persona-user channels the power from the cognitive world into reality, essentially willing reality to change so that a Persona can manifest.
  • Later on she declares that this is Prometheus's main ability. Too bad that this is the reason that it can take her against her will to another dimension to escape from Camael's Stand.
• Recursive Fanfiction: The appearances of Shizuka and her Stand are based on this series of fanart, which is actually based on a Japanese fanfic featuring Shizuka.
• The Rest Shall Pass: During the final confrontation with Mr. A and his remaining Deadly Aspects, half of the Arditi stay behind to confront Sanshiro while the rest go on to the next, Okabe.
• Running into the Window: Weaponized variant; since Houdini can make anything it touches invisible, one of Shizuka's go-to moves is to drag a heavy barricade (like a dumpster) into the way of a pursuer, turn it invisible, and listen for the inevitable crash.
• Running Gag:
  • Shizuka making a reference to something, then asking if the reference is obscure in Japan.
  • Akira screaming internally.
  • Any time a previous Persona character sees Akira they'll compare him to their own game's protagonist. Similarly, any time one of Akira's friends sees Yu Narukami they'll compare him to Akira.
• Sacrificial Lion: Dr. Lifeson is killed by Mr. A's goons when they assault the hospital. Not because he was a target, but because he was in the way.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Shizuka says the rules tend to become flexible when enough cash is splashed. But she does admit to feeling a little bad about doing it.
  • Happens when Sugimura gets rough with Haru in front of Shizuka, who breaks his nose in retaliation. Shizuka can tell he's a rich boy, but tells him that she is not the kind of girl who he should play the money game against, being a Joestar and all.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
  • When their first battle with Camael goes south fast, the Arditi don't hesitate in executing the Joestar Family secret technique of throwing up a distraction and retreating in quick order.
  • Not Futaba herself, but Necronomicon/Prometheus does this whenever Futaba is in too much danger, taking her to a place it considers "safe", like out of the Metaverse. So when the world itself start to be overwritten, it takes her to another universe - specifically, that of Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army.
• Shared Family Quirks: Shizuka shares Joseph's propensity to loudly swear and exclaim in English. She's also a bit of a pervert like Joseph was in his youth.
• Ship Tease:
  • There is some between Shiho and Ryuji, which goes to Official Couple.
  • There's also a little bit with Makoto and Shizuka, with Shizuka thinking that she wants to be more than "just a friend," to Makoto. Though she keeps these thoughts to herself. Notably, during the blackout scene at Sojiro's house, Makoto clings to Shizuka instead of Akira. Shizuka finally confesses her feelings for Makoto in Chapter 52.
  • Chapter 52 also suggests a Love Triangle between Akira, Futaba, and Haru. Only later does Akira get together with Futaba.
  • More recently between Sergio and Hifumi.
  • This seems to be the case with Haru and Yusuke as of late.
• Shockwave Stomp: Azazel is more of a physical attacker than he was in canon. At one point in the fight the nose painting slams down into the ground, hitting Akira with the shockwave.
• Shout-Out:
  • From Chapter 11:
    "With great power, comes great responsibility. Spider-Man isn't obscure in Japan, right?"^note Well there's this...
  • In Chapter 14, Shizuka's reaction to the H.R Giger-esque appearance of Mementos is "a brief wave of movie nostalgia":
    "Game over man, game over..."
  • In Chapter 15, Shizuka was prepared to leg drop Yusuke "Hulk Hogan style", announces "Shizukamania's running wild", and then wonders aloud if the others know who Hulk Hogan is.^note He did wrestle a few times in Japan, but nowhere near enough to be considered a household name.
  • In Chapter 26, Shizuka thinks of Goro Akechi as a "Light Yagami looking dude". (Ironic, since Ryuji shares a Japanese voice actor with Light).
  • Two in Chapter 28. The first is "The Legion of Doom never met up at a metro station" and the second is "Yakuza-types weren't really known for their kindness. Unless they were the kind who went around in stylish disco suits."
  • In Chapter 30, Sergio chooses Diabolik as his thief name.
  • In Chapter 38, Shizuka says Akira is "bishonen deer caught in the headlights", which is a reference to this post.
  • In Chapter 49, Futaba starts humming the Imperial March, and then says not to feed her after midnight. After Futaba adopts her Oracle codename, Shizuka wonders if she's intentionally referencing Batgirl. Finally, Shadow Okumura's resemblance to Darth Vader is lampshaded by Shizuka.
  • In Chapter 53, Shizuka says her father used to rant about "Afghanistan, air travel, George of the Jungle, and Rob Liefeld".
  • In Chapter 56, Akihiko and Hideki Sanshiro's fight is much like a major fight in Yakuza.
    • In the same chapter, Shizuka hums a few notes from the first episode of Don't Hug Me I'm Scared.
  • In Chapter 67, Sergio brings up Freddy Krueger when explaining Death 13.
  • Shizuka humming notes from the second episode of Don't Hug Me I'm Scared in chapter 63.
  • In chapter 6 of The Royal Chapters, Shizuka likens their Lotus-Eater Machine situation to For the Man Who Has Everything and quotes a passage from the story in her head.
• Shout-Out Theme Naming: As with Jojo canon, many new characters and Stands are named after famous songs/artists in some capacity.
• Simultaneous Arcs: Due to butterflies, the Futaba and Okumura arcs occur at the same time.
• Smoke Shield: During the battle against Cognitive Sugimura, Haru fires her entire arsenal at him, covering him in smoke. Haru says she doubts it stopped him, and indeed he runs out from the smoke shortly afterward.
• Sophisticated as Hell: Shizuka claims to be 'totally fuckin' cultured' when Yusuke says he doubts Ann's friends have any interest in fine art.
• Spanner in the Works: Shizuka Joestar is a major factor in the major diverting points of the story. Her friendship with Makoto smooths over the latter's introduction to the group. Recruiting more members (Shiho and Sergio), as well as meeting Haru early, allowed the Phantom Thieves to scout out two Palaces at the same time, which really screws up Akechi's plan to murder Okumura. Her knowledge on Stands allows her to find other users to help the Phantom Thieves (some unofficially like Lifeson, others officially like Sergio and Hifumi). She also makes back-up plans like the idea to use a Stand Arrow to counteract a mental shutdown if things went south. But sometimes things happen beyond her control, like Yusuke still being offended enough to force Ann to model nude for them to come back to Madarame's shack.
• Spared by the Adaptation:
  • Black Mask fails to kill Okumura in his Palace, unlike in canon. Even after another assassination attempt by one of Mr. A's people, Okumura is still very much alive.
  • This also applies to all of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure characters (with the exceptions of Rohan and Giorno) that are still alive in Part 6, as Jotaro and Jolyne are able defeat Pucci and stop his plan to reset the world.
• Squee: Downplayed with no actual squeal, but Lavenza gets a very big grin when she sees the Trickster (Akira Kurusu), the Savior (Minato Arisato), and the Seeker (Yu Narukami) all in the same room.
• Starter Villain: Paradise City/Yngwie, as per Word of God. He's the first Stand-user Shizuka fights in the story. Despite Yngwie being called "the best that money can buy", Shizuka is able to defeat him single-handedly. However, her victory attracts the attention of other Stand-users in Tokyo.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: Shizuka has done this a few times; easy for her since her Stand's power is Invisibility.
• Stealth Pun: From Chapter 30: "...Skull. He's kinda boneheaded". It's a Stealth Pun because no-one comments on this.
• Stronger Than They Look: Shizuka ends up on the wrong end of this in Chapter 40. While trying to teach Haru how to defend herself, Shizuka asks Haru to hit her, expecting it to be weak. Haru hits Shizuka hard enough to leave a bruise.
• Stock Ninja Weaponry: Shiho's thief costume equips her with shuriken, as opposed to a firearm.
• The Strategist: Akira proves to be an effective battlefield tactican, managing his teammates actions and preparing overall strategy.
• Successful Sibling Syndrome: A version that applies to an entire family: Shizuka compares herself unfavorably to her relatives who did incredible things. Shizuka hasn't, which is why she immediately hops on the Phantom Thief train.
• Summon Magic: Stands and Persona, as in canon. The difference here is that Shizuka is trying to teach the other thieves how to summon their Personas in the real world, similar to Stands, while in the Metaverse Shizuka has to summon her Stand by touching her mask, similar to a Persona.
• Super-Senses:
  • Kashmir, the Stand of Yoshio Aikawa, allows him to sense and track Stand users by their neuroelectricity. It also boosts his other senses beyond normal levels.
  • Star Platinum's perception is apparently strong enough that it can pick up on things Shizuka has made invisible.
• Talk to the Fist: Sergio interrupts Shadow Kaneshiro's introduction of his Piggytron mech by smashing him into the safe that makes up said mech. Multiple times.
  Sergio: Sorry. I have a hearing disability. Whenever I hear a piece of shit talk to me, all I can hear is 'please punt me into the nearest wall.' How rude of me.
• Taking You with Me:
  • Though Death 13 is defeated, he uses his last bit of strength to kill Arisawa's Shadow-self, killing the man in the real world and framing the Phantom Thieves for his death.
  • Attempted by Sanshiro against Sergio. In the brief moment before Breakthru knocks him out, Sanshiro throws his Stand American I and nails Sergio in the gut. Luckily, Josuke gets there in time.
• Team Member in the Adaptation: Two canon side characters are upgraded to members of the Phantom Thieves in this fic: Shiho Suzui and Hifumi Togo.
• They're Called "Personal Issues" for a Reason: Due to butterflies, the Arditi suspect that Futaba's mother was murdered even before they enter Futaba's Palace. However, Akira feels it's a bad idea to tell Futaba due to her emotional problems and decides to wait until they steal her heart. He ends up telling Futaba the truth when she enters her Palace, as he believes it could stop Cognitive Wakaba.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: In addition to having her Stand catch Shiho when she jumps off the school roof, Shizuka also arranges for the Speedwagon Foundation to both provide a Stand-powered doctor and foot the medical bills.
• Time for Plan B: The Phantom Thieves decide to use theirs after Akechi provoke a psychotic breakdown on Sae. Said plan B involves using the Stand Arrow on Sae.
• Tired of Running: Satoshi's first encounter with Mr. A ended with his wife dead, his son obliquely threatened, and Mr. A cowing him into compliance. After a battle that leaves the Phantom Thieves in bad shape, Satoshi decides enough is enough and stages a solo attack on Mr. A's hideout, clearing out the guards and recording everything to show the Phantom Thieves their opposition, knowing full well he won't make it out alive.
• Title Drop: In Chapter six, when Shizuka is making her plan to bring Shiho into the Metaverse, she justifies it to Ann like this:
  "It's just the entrance. It'll be fine. Even if we get in trouble, I can just get us out all sneaky like. A perfect vanishing act."
  • And again in Chapter 66, when Akechi reveals he has pictures of the Arditi disappearing into the metaverse, he calls it "An interesting little vanishing act you pulled".
• Toon Physics: 'Sing you Sinners', Okabe's Stand, makes the world function like a Max and Dave Fleischer animation in a certain radius, including those inside that radius. While being hurt inside does absolutely nothing life-threatening, once outside the effective range, the injuries become very, very real.
• Toxic Friend Influence: Used as a joke. When Shizuka sees Haru stand up to Cognitive Sugimura, the narration says, "Perhaps Shizuka was good at being a bad influence?"
• Traumatic Superpower Awakening: As in canon, characters summon Personas by having an emotional reaction in the Metaverse. This story adds a new twist, though. With Shizuka's help, it's revealed Personas can be summoned in the real world by vividly remembering the event that awakened it.^note Word of God explains that Morgana doesn't need to do this, referring to his in-universe claim of being on a different level. However, keeping it summoned in reality is mentally taxing.
• Tragic Keepsake: They weren't originally this, but every year on her birthday Joseph would give Shizuka a new pair of Cool Shades. With Joseph dead, Shizuka will get no new sunglasses from him. The ones she has are a memento to remember him by.
• Trap Master: Big Iron, the Stand of Aya Riko, allows her to turn anything non-living the Stand stabs with its feathers into a trap.
• True Companions: The Phantom Thieves; Akira says as much in Interlude 4.
• Tsundere:
  • Akira has Caroline pegged as one. He's right.
  • A very mild, purely platonic example with Rohan and Shizuka. Rohan is largely as arrogant toward her as ever, but does have a bit of a soft spot from when Shizuka saved him in the RPS Kid fight.
• Undying Loyalty: Lars Gunsche to Mr. A, due to the latter altruistically curing the former's cancer. So much so, in fact, that when Shizuka finally defeats him, Lars chooses to slit his own throat rather than live with his failure to his boss.
• The Unfought: Director Arisawa of the SIU. He gets a whole original Palace that the Arditi have to infiltrate, but instead, his Shadow is captured by Mannish Boy, and later slain.
• The Voice: Mr. A, the crime boss of Tokyo, takes pains to keep his identity a secret. If he has to directly communicate to an underling he calls them on the phone from a number that can't be identified. The narration notes he might not even be a single man. When he finally appears, he is a real man and a very deadly Stand user.
• Wait, What?: A quick humorous one appears in Chapter 2, when Shizuka's butler Simmons is learning need to know Japanese phrases, the one that elicits the response in question is: "You misunderstand, I wasn't trying to grope you."
• Waxing Lyrical:
  • In the narration for chapter 2, Shizuka thinks "Things would get better. Life would change," referring to the Persona 5 song.
  • As part of her calling card to Kaneshiro, Shizuka writes 'YOU'LL NEVER SEE IT COMING' on the walls of Kaneshiro's club.
  • In Chapter 45, Futaba thinks she was only happy during "the days when her mother was there", referencing the name of her Palace's song.
  • "Last Surprise" is again referenced in Chapter 50, where the narration says Shadow Okumura "never saw it coming".
• Wham Episode:
  • Chapter 51: The butterfly effect that Shizuka has had on the plot culminates in her foiling Akechi's attempt at murdering Okumura.
  • The entire Daybreakers arc: The Arditi confront Akechi with evidence of his betrayal in the middle of Sae's Palace, which breaks out into a fight between them. Overwhelmed, Akechi resorts to forcing a psychotic breakdown on Sae, which the Arditi respond to by stabbing Sae with the Stand Arrow, giving her a Stand and thus destroying her Palace due to a lack of a Palace ruler. In the end, Akechi is defeated and Sae is let in on everything, but Yaldabaoth decides to start taking a more active role in the plot.
  • Samael Shido (IV) and (V): Shadow Shido is still defeated, but Akira loses a hand during the battle, Morgana turns into a weird cocoon and in their rush to get Akira medical treatment, one of Mr. A's Stand assassins tracks the Arditi down to the Athena facility and Lars is sent with a strike force of Stand users to kill them all.
  • The Indestructible Man In Black (IV): Mr. A and Shizuka have a one-on-one battle that ends in a seemingly Mutual Kill. After a Dying Speech, Shizuka awakens in front of the original Joestar mansion, greeted by Danny and Jonathan.
  • Wicked Star (I): As Akira, S.E.E.S., Yu, Rise, Jotaro, Josuke, and Okuyasu attempt to find a way to free the rest of the Arditi from Camael's illusion, an old friend enters: Minato Arisato, back among the living.
• Wham Line:
  • End of Chapter 33:
    " Dio-sama once described the Joestars as being like a cancer, and now I understand fully what he meant."
  • End of Chapter 50:
    The crack of a gunshot echoed through the chamber.
  • Chapter 58:
    "STAR PLATINUM: THE WORLD!"
  • Chapter 59 has an in-universe example from Futaba, surprising the rest of the Arditi.
    "Oh, by the way, the principal of Shujin died."
  • The Daybreakers:
    Akechi: Sae-san, do me a favor... And murder your boss.
  • The Daybreakers (IV):
    I
    A-M
    Y-A-L-D-A-B-A-O-T-H
  • Death and Justice (III):
    Death 13: LALI HOOOOO PHANTOM THIEVES! LET'S PLAY A GAME!
  • The Indestructible Man In Black (IV):
    Jonathan Joestar: Nice to finally meet you. I was hoping we could have a little chat.
  • The World Under Hell (IV):
    Gotou-douji: Well lookie here Raidou... ya don't see that every day.
  • Wicked Star (I):
    Minato Arisato: I believe I might be of assistance.
• Written-In Absence: Shiho is absent for a part of the Madarame arc, due to therapy sessions.
• Wrong Assumption: When Shiho first hears about Yusuke wanting to paint Ann nude, she instantly believes it's because he's a pervert and feels some distaste toward him. Fortunately, things are soon cleared up between them.
• Wrong Context Magic: Shizuka is initially this from the perspective of Akira, Ryuji, and Morgana, as to them it looks like she has a Persona that she can freely summon in reality. Shizuka also initially thinks Personas are really strange Stands. Eventually they all start cottoning on to the fact that Personas and Stands are really different things.
• You Can't Fight Fate: Implied with regards to Jotaro, given the nature of fate in JJBA. Boingo's Stand foretold that Jotaro would die by getting his face split in half. And while he managed to barely avoid this fate on at least three occasions (Oingo's initial attempt at killing him, being attacked by Kira's Bites the Dust in Part 4, and just barely beating Pucci in this story), he can't shake the feeling that he's only living on borrowed time.
• You Can See Me?:
  • Downplayed with how Akira reacted to Shizuka's Stand. He confronts her on it after seeing it saving Shiho and she reveals it, knowing that if he's able to see it, that'd make him a Stand User. Obviously, she's wrong in that regard.
  • An inversion. In Chapter 41 Shizuka makes her Stand appear in front of Akechi. His startled reaction is all she needs to confirm he's a Stand or Persona-user.
  • Another inversion in Chapter 59, when Hifumi is surprised to see Sergio and Shizuka's Stands.
• You Have No Idea Who You're Dealing With: When Shadow Okumura first confronts the Phantom Thieves, he says they're messing with powers they can't even begin to comprehend. Ironically, the same might be true for the real Okumura...
• You Remind Me of X: Several times, characters from previous Persona games will see Akira and think that he reminds them of their own protagonist, Yu Narukami or Minato Arisato. Similarly, some of the Arditi remark that Yu Narukami reminds them of Akira.
  • Yukari Takeba, upon running into Ann and Yusuke, is briefly reminded of Minato when she looks at the latter due to their blue hair.
• Your Soul Is Mine!: Bloody Sunday, an assassin in Mr. A's employ who can suck out the soul of a person when their eyes meet and their shadows intersect.

---