Fridge / Persona 5

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Fridge Brilliance

Fridge Brilliance: Phantom Thieves and their Personas

• The appearance of each character's Phantom Thief costume is supposed to reflect their idea of a rebel. The truth of that really hits home when you take a close look at the party members and their costume:
  • Joker starts the show with his black coat and outfit. A bit non-specific, but perhaps purposefully so: it's perfect for blending in with the shadows in order to get away with whatever you want. Take a closer look and you'll see his outfit even has a bit of a tuxedo feel with the undershirt, coattails, and shoes. Now who was wearing a fancy suit when they falsely accused Joker and started this whole mess?
  • Ryuji is a former track star who's been branded as a punk by society. His outfit certainly reflects him embracing that with the metal plates, leather jacket, and club-like weapons like a back-alley street thug.
  • Ann grew up admiring a cartoon super villainess for her free spirit. Little wonder her costume basically looks like an Expy for Catwoman's.
  • Morgana's outfit looks like it might not fit, given his mascot-character appearance. However, it fits in with his thoughts that he is a human, and thus is "rebelling" against the idea that he is truly a cat.
  • Yusuke is an artist and (partially due to his poverty) takes a rather old-fashioned view of things. His rebel persona therefore has the tight jumpsuit and striking mask of a romanticized period-drama ninja thief.
  • Makoto is the prim-and-proper, reason-over-emotion head of the student council. What else would reflect a rebel to her but a hot-blooded biker chick?
  • Tech-savvy Futaba is almost deceptively easy to place as a black hat hacker, but take a closer look. With all the high-tech gizmos and powers her persona grants and the fact that she's always riding inside of it instead of being on the battlefield with the others she's like the final boss from a video game!
  • Haru's own persona calls her a "princess", a role that she's desperate to break away from. Hence her outfit reflects nobility, but looks more like it's meant for a gentleman burglar than a female courtier like Milady's dress. The hat also invokes the look of the three musketeers, enemies of Milady de Winter.
  • Akechi follows a similar theme to Haru. A white outfit that just screams disgraced/exiled noble (which he sort of is being Shido's bastard son). His true costume reveals another side to the rebel, though: The stripes on his outfit look like a prison uniform, like the countless people he's helped lock up. It also serves as a hint that he, like Joker, is a prisoner of Yaldabaoth. Moreover though, it heavily resembles the outfits of Neo Featherman series though dark and twisted (albeit still bird-like) showing that he was once an idealistic boy who wanted to be a hero, but became a Fallen Hero because of his inner darkness.
  • "Kasumi"/Sumire admires Joker, and thus her Thief garb is like a female version of his with a leotard added into the mix, befitting her gymnast background. This is also alludes to how she steals Kasumi's identity in order to gain semblance of self-confidence and self-esteem and becomes a mockery of her deceased twin in the process, very fitting of being the representation of a Doppelgänger.
• The thief outfits and weapons also represent how others perceive them.
  • Joker is thought of as a shifty criminal, and some of the rumors you see in the hallway even imply the students think he is carrying a knife on him, just by reputation; his awakening manifests a knife for him to fight with. His pistol is quick to draw and fire, easy to conceal and ideal for quickly dispatching a target before moving on.
  • Ryuji is perceived by others at school as a violent no-good thug after his altercation with Kamoshida; the outfit, shotgun lead pipe make him look the part, he even mentions after his awakening "Kamoshida's cognition ain't changing, so I'll act like the troublemaker I am!"
  • For Ann, people around school see her as a shameless flirt who uses men, like she's a Femme Fatale. As Panther, her sexy catsuit and whip makes her looks like a woman who dominates men.
  • Morgana looks like a miniature mascot, hard to see and easy to miss, with weapons he can easily use. Igor probably meant to make Morgana an ally and give him some things that wouldn't be hard to use due to his miniature size, like the slingshot since Morgana can't pull the trigger of a real gun.
  • Yusuke is seen as a quiet cold artist, who's quick to draw his weapon/brush in a flash when the moment strikes. His outfit also has white, black and blue, frequently seen as cold/winter colors.
  • Makoto is is shown to be rather interested in masculine media, Yakuza stories and the like, and is shown to be rather deadly outside the metaverse. In addition her perception of a rebel wouldn't be tied in with law breaking or causing trouble for the innocent. She looks like a Fist of the North Star character because her idea of a rebel is one who stands up when chaos and brutality are the norm to try and protect the weak. Her use of a revolver also reflects her dream of becoming a police officer like her father.
  • Futaba was really interacted with by Sojiro, he saw her as a strange but exceptional girl, like a high tech specialist. Her Persona being a UFO also represents how alien she is to everyone: strange but fantastic.
  • Haru has a refined elegant look, but is armed with a brutal axe and grenade launcher, many saw her as a proxy of her father and perhaps perceived as being capable of being as ruthless and aggressive as he is as a business man. Her axe is also most effective when leveraging centrifugal force, reflecting her ballet skills.
  • Akechi is seen by all his fans as a hero and all around "pleasant boy" even as the second Prince detective, his outfit being very princely, his weapons being fantastical, his fans believing him to be capable of doing impossible things just by being star struck by his charisma. His Black Mask outfit also fits, given it looks like the in universe Neo Featherman series outfits, mashed with a prisoner theme: Shido and Yaldabaoth see him as nothing more than a doll to be used and thrown away when it bores them. His new weapons also match his cold, no-nonsense demeanor. In Royal though, it also makes him appear as a "dark hero".
  • "Kasumi"/Sumire is seen as an accomplished gymnast who has a big chance to get it big into major competitions, thus the leotard and her Battle Butler way of fighting. Her ponytail and lack of glasses are subtle implications that people will rather see the accomplished Kasumi, rather than her mediocre self. Her rapier is designed for quick strikes, and her lever rifle is the same type as the one used by Satanael along with being well-suited for her hit-and-run fighting style much like the the Scout.
• The appearance or namesakes of the Phantom Thieves Personas are also rather fitting concerning their circumstances or how they rebelled from society.
  • Akira/Ren has Arsène, based on the fictional character Arsène Lupin. Lupin was written as a force of good, but often found on the wrong side of the law, which is well symbolized by Arsène's Gentleman Thief combined with his angelic black wings, who is also Chained by Fashion. Akira/Ren had just recently found himself on the wrong side of the law and branded a criminal for something he didn't do, but is still a good person.
  • Ryuji has Captain Kidd, based on the real-life figure William Kidd. William Kidd was a pirate, who are often stereotyped as having eyepatches, golden teeth, and peg legs. The third is actually very fitting, considering Ryuji's leg was broken by Kamoshida and thus he'd have a bum leg for awhile. The real-life William Kidd did have a bad temper, and once accidentally killed a crew member during an argument- something like Ryuji killing the track team by attacking Kamoshida. Kidd was also notably tried and executed under shaky grounds (most of what he did was pure privateering) due to politicking- much like how Kamoshida provoked Ryuji to violence and "executed" him wiht a Career-Ending Injury to further his goal of promoting the volleyball team.
  • Ann has Carmen, based on the character that the same play is based around. Carmen is a known heartbreaker and deconstruction of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope. This is fitting because Ann has been trying to keep away from Kamoshida, never confronting him while his cognition of Ann shows that he wants her to be his Manic Pixie Dream Girl. Carmen is shown having two broken hearted men in chains with herself, which befits how Ann not only stops running away from Kamoshida to fight against him, but also destroying his cognition of her, in essence intending to break his heart. Ann also uses her (albeit pretty bad) acting abilities and beauty to get information out of everyone the thieves need info from. Carmen is a seductive and beautiful woman who uses men to get the information or favors she wants. This is Ann's view of rebellion: using people's perceptions of her against them. But unlike Carmen, Ann only defends herself against unwanted intrusion into her life instead of baiting men to rob them, hence unlike Carmen she earns her freedom.
  • Morgana has Zorro, based on the fictional character of the same name. His character was seen as a savior who defends the commoners of the indigenous peoples of California from tyrants and villains who seek to control them. He hides his fighting abilities when pretending to be a commoner, instead opting to look like a coward and a fop. He also has a horse named Tornado. Fittingly enough, Morgana specializes in Wind/Garu spells, and his cat form has been used more than once to innocuously spread calling cards. Morgana was also created by Igor to find Persona users to help him and defeat/overthrow Yaldabaoth, therefore being a "Savior" to Igor and the rest of Japan.
  • Yusuke has Goemon, who is based off of the real life figure Ishikawa Goemon. Goemon's supposed earlier life involved the death of his parents while he was very young which led to him swearing revenge upon the killers, which befits how Yusuke's mother was left to die by Madarame and he in turn swore revenge upon him. Goemon's acts of stealing from the rich and giving to the oppressed poor is also fitting in the sense that he's stealing Madarame's fame and giving it back to the oppressed artists he's long since subdued. Goemon's appearance is also fitting, looking like a Japanese ink wash painting brought to life, and Yusuke is an artist!
  • Makoto has Johanna, who is based on the supposedly fictional Pope Joan. Pope Joan was said to have disguised herself as a man to infiltrate the church and have risen up to the Papacy, only to be ousted as a woman and killed when she had delivered her child in full view of everyone else. Makoto similarly tried infiltrating the Phantom Thieves at the behest of the principal, which lead her to the point of finding Kaneshiro's hideout who was intent on making her into a sex slave (aka "with child"?). Her awakening could be seen as her "Death" (which in the Tarot symbolizes change) and rebirth into a Phantom Thief. And what better way to ride out of your old life than on an awesome supernatural motorcycle!?
  • Futaba has Necronomicon, a fictional Tome of Eldritch Lore in the Cthulhu Mythos by H. P. Lovecraft. Its fictional author was said to be "Mad Arab" Abdul Alhazred, which gives a nice connection to Futaba's Pyramid Palace theme. Not to mention the factor that the Necronomicon is said to be a book of forbidden and eldritch powers fits Futaba. Afterall, what better Persona for a girl who indulges in the illegal art of hacking? Furthermore, its UFO appearance hits in the sense that Futaba has alienated herself from everyone else but has been trying to make contact with others like aliens in urban legends do.
    • It also connects to her previous identity as Medjed; as Yusuke notes in his research into Medjed the deity, the Egyptians considered Medjed to be imperceptible and unknowable (they also thought he had Eye Beams), and artistic depictions set Medjed apart by always depicting him facing the reader, while all other Egyptian art depicts the subject looking to the side. Medjed is a very Lovecraftian god for something from Ancient Egypt, something that fits Futaba's alien symbolism quite well.
  • Haru has Milady, based on the fictional character Milady De Winter from The Three Musketeers. Milady De Winter is known as a spy and criminal, who had married into royalty but was nearly killed by her husband when her status was found out. And after she manages to survive and tries to get vengeance, she is found out and later executed by beheading. This fits Haru as she willingly joins the Phantom Thieves in hopes of reclaiming her father's heart, and that her fiance is a Domestic Abuser intent on using her as his plaything. And while Haru succeeds in her "vengeance" of stealing her father's heart, he gets killed and essentially leaves heading the company to Haru who doesn't know the first thing of being a CEO, essentially being left headless. The loads of guns within Milady's dress is also fitting, because when faced with the idea of a future with someone like her Fiance, that's exactly the kind of protection you'd want to keep him away.
    • Also, the guns hidden beneath the dress could reflect Haru's own hidden side, keeping her interests (such as slasher films), and repressed violent temper hidden under the veneer of a prim, demure lady.
  • Akechi has Robin Hood and Loki, based on a fictional story of the same name and the god of deceit and lies in Norse Mythology. Robin Hood's appearance fits with Akechi's desired public image, and his story fits as stealing from the rich to give to the poor. But when the rightful king returns, Robin Hood gives up being a thief and is knighted by the King...which is essentially what Akechi does the moment he's done working with the Phantom Thieves, going back to being Shido's lapdog. Loki is fitting in the sense that he's one of the parties responsible for instigating Ragnarok, the all-out war at the end of the world in Norse Mythology. He killed a beloved figure, insulted the gods over their past misdeeds and gave a Motive Rant to how he did all of his, and even fathered a few of the monsters responsible for tearing up the world when Ragnarok comes. This all fits how Akechi intends to build Shido up (killing a "beloved" figure), oust The Conspiracy (insult the gods on their misdeeds) and even testify of all of his own to further break down Shido (Motive Rant to how he did all of this). And that "Fathering Monsters" bit also helps in the fact that Loki has the power to make Shadows go berserk, essentially turning them into vicious monsters! As well, one of Loki's most noted powers is shapeshifting. Akechi has the ability to change his Metaverse Outfit, and uses the false facade of a "Detective Prince" to hide his inner darkness.
    • Or more appropriately, "killing" Joker which kicks off the arc for the final palace target as ultimately Akechi like Loki was punished for his actions for being responsible for Baldur's death. However despite Akechi's death and Shido's heart being stolen, it was too late for the gods to stop Ragnarok, and for the Phantom Thieves, it was the Day of Reckoning that threatened the world. It also later comes into light in the wake of Maruki's final attempt at trying to persuade Joker to give up on his Change of Heart attempt when he was given his Calling Card and Akechi asks Joker if he was really determined to stop Maruki even if the change of heart means Joker will answer for his crimes and Akechi may die. After Baldur's death, Loki disguised himself as the giant Thok who refuses to cry even though Loki's daughter Hel promised to resurrect Baldur if everyone wept for him. Akechi would reject the mercy and sorrow of Maruki's offer to ensure Joker's quest for justice is fulfilled even if he ends up being condemned to death.
    • It's hinted that 'Loki' is his natural Persona and Robin Hood represents Joker as sole Confidant. So the persona based on the idea of 'A Phantom Thief is my friend' would be the one based on the story of a heroic and friendly thief, while the one he uses as Black Mask is someone who was accepted among the gods but used his position to make mischief and eventually betray them.
  • His ultimate Persona Hereward The Wake shows Akechi's resolve as both a public hero and a rebellious knight who answers to no one but himself in deciding his own fate. Not the cruel totalitarian methods of Shido, the authoritarian dogma of Yaldabaoth or Maruki's condescending benevolence.
  • Kasumi has Cendrillon (a.k.a. Cinderella) in which many people don't imagine her as a thief. However, Cinderella does in fact rebel against her family to attend the ball against their wishes, thus making her fit in the theme of rebellion. This could be a statement towards Kasumi being an Aloof Ally since Cinderella became a rebel while not really becoming a criminal. As well, the persona also reflects the fact Kasumi feels like she's been helped throughout her life, as Cinderella was only able to attend the ball thanks to the fairy godmother.
    • Her Persona being Cendrillon actually makes more sense once we see The Reveal, that "Kasumi" is actually Sumire and she asked Maruki to turn her into her dead sister, the real Kasumi. Just as the Fairy Godmother used her magic to give Cendrillon a chance at happiness by letting her go to the ball, Maruki gave Sumire a chance to escape her grief by using his Persona to change her into her sister. Both Cendrillon and Sumire are given the opportunity to be someone else thanks to a more powerful being! But sadly, just as Cendrillon's happiness only lasted until midnight, Sumire could only live in the illusion for so long, and not all people can be fooled by their respective changes. In Sumire's case, she's fooling nobody but herself; even the protagonist raised heavy suspicions on it.
    • In addition, according to the original Cendrillon tale, the Glass Slippers the Fairy Godmother gave Cendrillon kept her from being recognized by her family. Cendrillon the Persona is made entirely out of glass, AND when Sumire has her true Awakening, the Kasumi personality she was pretending to be transforms into/fuses with Cendrillon. Meaning that it's possible Cendrillon was a manifestation of Sumire's desire to truly be Kasumi. She wanted a pair of Glass Slippers so the world can only see her as the more popular "Kasumi" and not the depressed Sumire.
    • Cendrillon is also made of glass in this game, so this is also a metaphor of Sumire's ego and self-esteem being around as frail as glass.
• What each of the personas first say to their owners fit too.
  • Arsene tells Joker that he’ll be willing to commit “sacrilegious acts” (his thefts) for his own sense of justice, even if it chains him to hell.
  • Captain Kidd tells Ryuji since his name’s ruined anyway why not cut loose?
  • Carmen asks Ann who will avenge Shiho if not her? And that forgiving Kamoshida was never an option.
  • Goemon congratulates Yusuke on having finally stopped averting his eyes to the truth and there’s beauty and vice in the world and it’s up to him to show the difference.
  • Johanna commends Makoto on finally finding her own sense of justice and to please not lose sight of it again. Symbolizing her no longer being a puppet of corrupt figures like the principal.
  • Necronomicon tells Futaba the Wakaba cognition is just an illusion and to reach for the truth.
  • Milady tells Haru that freedom can only come from betrayal and Haru chooses to “betray” her father.
  • During “Kasumi’s”/Sumire’s false awakening Cendrillon references that rather than have “life in cinders” (what she considers her own life as Sumire) she seeks “towards splendor” (what she considers Kasumi’s life). She asks if those are really the shoes she chooses to wear and obliquely references a spell she’s under.
    • In Cendrillon’s true awakening, she tells Sumire that this fits her better for her and the spirit of Kasumi within her and asks if she’s ready for her debut (as Sumire and not “Kasumi”).
• The appearance and stories of the evolved Persona's of the party members is also fitting.
  • Ren/Akira/The PC has Satanael at the end game, who is said in game to be a Gnostic representation of Lucifer before he fell from grace.
    • His wings go from feathered to black bat wings, as he is draped in armor that looks fine, as well as a dark halo, representing how the PC is willing to embrace being a criminal if it means it's for the good of mankind.
    • He represents a more beneficial representation of Lucifer, how he freed mankind from ignorance and gave them free will. The Protagonist's endgame at this point is to free humanity (or at least the general public of Japan) from Yaldabaoth's influence. Notably, Artistic License – Religion is in play, as Satanael isn't shown in actual places as being a good being. This could be interpreted that the PC is no longer going by societal expectations, but creating his own meaning in the world.
    • While not shown in the plot of Royal and appearing as DLC (though the original plan was for him to be included), his third-tier Persona is Raoul, the name taken from Arsene's middle name (and possibly true name), it was the same name of a young thief (heavily implied to be Arsene Lupin as a boy.) Showing that despite becoming a criminal, Raoul is stated have many friends, allies and lovers which holds true for Ren/Akira/The PC at the end of the game where he has befriend many people and gained the help of various individuals who is responsible for his quick release from Juvenile Hall at the end of the third semester vs the two month stay. His stylish resemblance shows off his charisma and charm and the sleek but artificial wings show how he made the ways for his freedom.
  • Ryuji has Seiten Taisei, the titular Monkey King in Journey to the West.
    • He rides a living cloud and wields a staff weighing 800K, which shows how Ryuji is able to work under the pressure and go wherever he pleases at the same time.
    • "Seiten Taisei" is noted to be a title Sun Wukong gave himself after his rampage in heaven (meaning Great Sage, Equal of Heaven). After extending his own life, he was found by Buddha and crushed underneath the Five Fingered Mountain for 500 years until freed by a Monk, who he then followed. Ryuji had notably changed his image after the incident with Kamoshida, going from a good kid to a delinquent to fit where he was at. He was crushed by Kamoshida's own hands, and was going to be executed by Kamoshida's Shadow. While Ren/Akira/The PC isn't exactly a monk, he does free Ryuji, and Ryuji proceeds to follow Akira loyally.
    • In the third Semester, Ryuji's persona becomes William whose appearance is replaced with a modern delinquent with running shoes and a sleek modern motorboat or speedboat instead of a wooden boat or cloud. Symbolizing his freedom and desire to fight Maruki to maintain that sense of freedom.
  • Ann has Hecate, the Greek Goddess of Witchcraft, Crossroads, and Necromancy.
    • Carmen's twindrills have turned into wicked hair with eyes in them, she wears some armor on her upper body and the two broken hearted men have become rabid dogs at Hecate's command. This well represents that while Ann does have very good looks, she won't let herself be defined by them and that she knows how to look out for, reject and control those who would seek to get to her via her looks.
    • Hecate is also known as being more at home at the fringes of Greek society, how she defies boundaries, eludes definition, and is even seen as a savior by some. Ann became a Phantom Thief by accidentally stumbling onto the Cognitive World, and finds a place she can belong in the Phantom Thieves. As a model, she also eludes definition, and is in with the other protagonists in starting the Phantom Thieves, in essence becoming "saviors" to the oppressed populace.
    • Hecate at first glance looks quite evil. This isn't just related to Ann's desire to emulate female super-villains, but also because one of Hecate's main characteristics is that in one way or another, she's 'scary'... just like an evil-looking female super-villain figure would seem to be at first glance.
    • Hecate is identified with another goddess Angelos within her backstory. Hecate is commonly theorized to be a foreign goddess who gradually became assimilated into the Greek pantheon, partially through identification with gods like Angelos. Ann, similarly, is a mixed race girl who finds her place among the Phantom Thieves.
    • Celestine, Ann's third persona is depicted as a modern pop culture take with a rather fierce appearance to her. Her outfit is now a dominatrix inspired outfit with her hair braids shaped like a heart. This shows Ann seeing Shiho moving onward by herself despite the traumatic events dealt to her and choosing to commit to hard work to be a better person as well as acknowledging her trust in Joker for being there for her during her lowest moment.
  • Morgana has Mercurius, the Roman God of Commerce, Luck, Travelers and Thieves. Mercurius is much more lean in build, wears more roguish attire and wields a caduceus in stark contrast to Zorro who had a bulkier build, armor and wielded a sword. This shows how Morgana has embraced his lifestyle as a thief and is a general benefactor/guide to the Phantom Thieves as a whole.
    • Moreover, Mercurius is the Roman version of Hermos, the messenger of the Gods... much like how Morgana was created by the real Igor to help the protagonist. He also has a lot of blue and yellow in his design, reflecting Morgana's creation as a Velvet Room attendant.
    • Also, Morgana's Trademark Favorite Food is tuna, which (alongside several other large, predatory fish like swordfish) tend to contain large amounts of the element mercury.
    • Morgana gets Diego as his third persona which carries colors of the Velvet Room in his outfit and no longer has the Zorro out and instead wears a more casual outfit, realizing that despite getting a human form, it wasn't as hyped up to be as he realize that deep down he was just a part of the human subconsciousness and saw his duty of guiding humanity more important than just being human.
  • Yusuke has Kamu Susano-o, the Japanese God of Storms.
    • Susano-o is now a Walking Shirtless Scene with tattoos covering his skin, baggy pants, stark white hair and a scarf with an actual sword compared to Goemon's over the top traditional wear, black pompadour and his sword looking like a huge pipe. This befits how Yusuke seems to be getting more in touch with modern society and the people around him.
    • Susano-o was known for rampaging through Heaven when he lost to Amaterasu, and was eventually thrown out. He then finds out about the Orochi from a grieving family who lost 7 daughters and are about to lose the last one. Susano-o proceeds to kill it, take a sword from its innards, and gift them and two other items to Amaterasu as an apology. This seems to befit how Yusuke has embraced the lifestyle of a Phantom Thief, going from a possible enemy of them to someone who helps venerate them. He even creates the calling cards past the 3rd palace.
    • Gorokichi, Yusuke's third persona is depicted as a hip stylish bancho with a pompadour and a cigarette. This comes after Yusuke has the true Sayuri shown in the galleries and the fame of his mother's work publicized. Yusuke realizes that to be a famous artist, one must have their own style and not just be carried on by the legacy of their mentors and his case both Madarame and his mother.
  • Makoto has Anat, a goddess of War that has appeared in several northwestern Semitic Religions.
    • Anat is a Transforming Mecha of a Motorcycle, plated in steel. The calm face of Johanna has been replaced by an angry visage of a woman with horns. This represents how Makoto won't let society's labels define what she can or can't do, and how she can be or go wherever she wants to if she puts the effort into it.
    • Anat is known in multiple stories to have avenged her fallen brother by killing Mot, and dragging him back from the underworld. This befits how Makoto was "dragged into reality" by the Phantom Thieves, as well as her desired purpose in life by the end of her Confidant by becoming a Police Commissioner. It also befits how protective she is of her sister, Sae, when she becomes the object of the Conspiracy's fancy.
    • Agnes represents Makoto's growth as a person and realizing her sister's pursuit in her career of law and believing her father's death was responsible for her estranged relationship with her sister and instead of seeing it as a burden instead sees it as a drive to move onward to support her sister as much as Sae supports her. Agnes is represented as an heavily armored racing bike, with the faceplate becoming a golden angelic hood ornament compared to the demonic visage of Anat as symbol of Makoto's purification of her inner desires after her experiences with the criminal underworld in her pursuit of justice.
  • Futaba has Prometheus, the Greek Titan who gave mankind fire.
    • Prometheus appears like a ball engraved with rainbows and having what appears to be a smiling face emoticon. This seems to befit how Futaba now views life, instead of a lifeless wasteland, there is possibility, vibrancy and color that she has come to experience from her time with the Protagonist.
    • Prometheus is known as the titan who gave mankind fire and knowledge, which had incurred Zeus's wrath. He was to be chained to a rock, an eagle ripping out his liver each day, only for it to regrow in the night, to which the cycle would continue ad infinitum. He was freed by the hero Hercules during the 12 Labours. This befits how Futaba was tormented by her own self-loathing thanks to the men in black sent by a "god" (aka Shido), and it wasn't until "heroes" saved her (aka the Phantom Thieves) that she started to get better.
    • Al Azif is Futaba's third persona and goes from the smiling orb back to a more sleek and refined UFO as Futaba's realization that wanting her mother back from the dead was out of desire to go back to the safety and innocence of not having to face society. But it was through her strong bonds with the Phantom Thieves that broke her out of her shell and see a brighter future for her. Azif represents the amalgamation of her mother's knowledge and her newfound core in the Phantom Thieves and Sojiro as family
  • Haru has Astarte, the Mesopotamian Goddess of Love and War.
    • Astarte appears to be a black silhouette of a woman with her hair let loose, wearing nothing but lingerie, a large crescent moon symbol on her forehead, and her bottom half is concealed by what appears to be a constantly rotating triple headed skull that faces three directions. One with its eyes open, the next with them half open and the last with them shut. It also appears to have a rotating halo like thing around itself. This seems to befit on how Haru is able to be more open to people in spite of her status, being able to open her eyes to everything around her.
    • Astarte is known as having multiple associations, mainly with Goddesses like Aphrodite or Ishtar. She is known as the "Queen of Heaven" in some contexts, but she's also been known to have been demonized into Astaroth, one of the three dukes of Hell. Haru was well known for her high status as Okumura's daughter, but after her father confesses and dies, and she falls in with the Phantom Thieves, it befits how she's become one of the forces for criminals, which society in game could perceive as "Hell".
    • Haru gets Lucy who has a very mechanical looking legs in resemblance to her father's palace's robotic workers and has Astartes top compared to the seemingly hollow Milady whose gloves is sewn on to her extravagant ballroom dress, here Lucy is a more fashionable look to her as she carries a briefcase loaded with money. This symbolizes Haru's acceptance of her role as Okumura Food's heiress and realizing that for all the immoral actions her father took, it was a means to an end to fulfill his family's desires and for his daughter's happiness.
  • Akechi has Loki, the trickster god from Norse Mythology.
    • When one looks at Loki, he has Dazzle Camouflage, a type of camouflage used on ships to mislead onlookers as to what direction they're going. Furthermore, its legs seem to shift into horse's legs at the knee down, his fingers turning into claws and the braids on its head turning a fiery red at the tips. It has horns and wears a malicious smile on his face. In a way, Loki's appearance shares a lot of similarities with Arsène, given they share the smiling face, horns and fingers. Both are the initial Personas of their respective users, but while Arsène is known to be a good guy, Loki is well known for being a malicious troll. Both Akira/Ren and Akechi were put into positions where they were dehumanized by society, but while Akira/Ren tries to make the best of his situation, Akechi wallows in it and becomes more corrupted. It even shows in how Loki is becoming more monstrous in appearance, like how Akechi has become a monster as well. The factor that Dazzle Camouflage is used on ships also details his relationship to Shido: he's trying to misdirect people from hurting Shido, at least not until he can sink the ship himself.
    • Loki is known as a trickster god in Norse Mythology, who usually got people into as much trouble as much as he got people out of it. However, after Balder's death and during a night the other Aesir were being cruel to him, Loki drunkenly ranted about how he caused Balder's death and how much everyone else sucked. In retaliation, they killed his children, tied him to a stone and make venom drip into his eyes. When Ragnarok happened, he was one of the confirmed casualties. This befits how Akechi was doomed to fail or die no matter what he did, be it by his father's cognition of him, a death sentence for all the murders Akechi did, or fail to defeat Joker as the two couldn't help but fight each other as per Yaldabaoth's game. And unlike the rest of the Phantom Thieves's Personas, Loki was demonized by Christianity marking him as a villain, much like how Akechi was demonized by society for being a bastard child and for saying the Phantom Thieves aren't justice.
    • If Joker establishes a genuine bond with Akechi in Royal, it becomes Hereward which takes on an armored knight form of Robin Hood, this solidifies Akechi's desire to rebel against the false lie cast upon by Maruki even though it may kill him. Hereward like Akechi both died rebelling against a powerful king and came back from the dead and the final stage of both Joker and Akechi's desire to rebel at Maruki's everlasting happy world, the very definition of pure nihilism and emptiness that transcends beyond absolute dictatorship and oppression. Moreover, Hereward also heavily resembles a certain dark knight if he were an archer. This further symbolizes his role as a dark but heroic figure, especially one can be pretty coarse since he no longer has the front of the charming detective prince.
  • "Kasumi"/Sumire has Vanadis, another name of Freya, a major goddess from Norse Mythology:
    • One interesting fact about Vanadis' appearance is that she looks like a female version of Arsène: red skin and black feathers. Again, this alludes the Mythology Gag as the Doppelgänger in this verse. And like Cendrillon, Freya is one of the most celebrated gods of the mythology. This is a good sign that Sumire's gradually building up a positive self-image as she recognizes her own merits, continuing her rebellion against herself, the one who believes that she's nothing without becoming Kasumi. It's also no longer made out of glass, indicating that Sumire no longer has a frail self-ego.
    • Despite unlike the other mythical beings that act as the ultimate personas of the Thieves, Freya was never disgraced and much beloved in the original myth, the name chosen for her here, Vanadis, is actually a clever reference that maintains the theme of the rest of the Ultimate Personas. The name stands for "the dís of the vanir". The "dis" being a ghost, spirit or deity associated with fate who can be either benevolent or antagonistic towards mortals while the Vanir refers to the clan of magic-using gods (as opposed to the Proud Warrior Race Aesir.) Why is this important? It's an allusion to the backstory of Freya. To summarize: in the very early days, an enchantress visited the Aesir and offered her services to them, that being she can pull and pluck the strings of fate with her magic to cause miracles. Initially enjoying her power, they would soon come to suspect and turn on her. They end up tying her to logs and setting her on fire. She'd burn to ash before coming back. After three failures, she reveals to be Freya and thus begins the Aesir-Vanir War. The name referenced her role among the vanir as the expert in manipulating fate (befitting the Phantom Thieves creed). All of this symbolizes how Sumire impersonated as Kasumi and lent service to the Phantom Thieves, only for the magic to fade and expose her as the mentally unstable and guilt-ridden Sumire, allowing Maruki to indirectly manipulate her as a weapon against the Thieves during the time he went berserk. It embodies her being a beloved figure who was once disliked in the past for her actions beyond her control.
    • This also applies to Ella which resembles Cendrillon, although it's no longer made of glass and her boots are made out of silver or diamond. Unlike Cendrillon, it's also pure white, indicating that Sumire had became a Determinator type of person and has successfully overcame her guilt of her sister's death and gained her own identity instead of pretending to be her sister.
• Each of the 10 Phantom Thieves have qualities that correspond to the Sefirot (And the reverse of what they represent thereof).
  • Morgana: Malkuth — Kingdom: Represents the Kingdom, or the material world. While it might be the lowest of any Sefirah, it also has the potential to be the highest, or equal to the highest. This is symbolized that Morgana is one of the three root structures of the Phantom Thieves — Without Morgana, the team cannot form, and their morale will be greatly shattered if he happens to leave the party like between the Futaba and Okumura arcs.
  • Futaba: Yesod — Foundation: Represents energy, imagination and communication and acts as a transmitter to all the Sefirah above. Futaba acts as the transmitter, or more accurately, the Navigator and intelligence of the Phantom Thieves. Without Futaba, the rest of the Phantom Thieves will be left unable to execute a large majority of their heists.
  • Ann: Hod — Glory, representing intellect and determination. It also represents the left leg, symbolizing that how Ann is one of the initial muscles of the party, but she is a magical attacker. It symbolizes "conceding to a cause" as opposed to Netzach's "overcoming a cause", symbolizing how Ann concedes to the thought that "There IS something wrong about her situation with Kamoshida" instead of denying it. The reverse works too, as Ann had once conceded to the cause that "there is NOTHING that she can do to protect Shiho save for stalling Kamoshida" until Joker makes her realize that she has a way past.
  • Ryuji: Netzach — Victory, representing emotion and art. It also represents the right leg, symbolizing how Ryuji is one of the initial muscles of the party, yet focuses on Physical attacks (Instead of Ann's magic). It embodies itself by overcoming all causes, with the ultimate victory being overcoming death. This represents how Ryuji brashly tried to retaliate against Kamoshida, but ended up being gravely injured and his reputation ruined. He however, is perfectly and emotionally capable of overcoming this, by teaming up with Joker, Morgana and Ann to overcome Kamoshida, him and Ann's collective oppressor.
  • Yusuke: Tiferet — Beauty, representing individuality, coordination of parts, balance and symmetry. Yusuke is obsessed with beauty and arts due to being an artist himself, yet fails to see Madarame's sheer ugliness and vice because he was blinded by years of his former mentor's (seemingly) genuine care. Once his confrontation with Madarame is settled, he manages to learn and practice the true beauty of art in his very own way.
  • Haru: Gevurah — Justice, representing strength, courage and righteousness. It represents the left arm that repels those who were deemed undeserving of one's kindness, symbolizing how Haru is an all out attacker with whatever it means to withstand attacks and dish them out. While initially not mustering enough strength and courage to expose her father who used to care for her dearly but whose ambition driven him to sell her fate to a sleazy playboy, she finally manages to do so once she finds out that he fully knows what kind of person her would-be fiance was, betraying her father for the time being so he can reconsider for his actions.
  • Makoto: Chesed — Mercy, representing benevolence, order and laws. It represents the right arm that embraces all creation and bestows it upon goodness, symbolizing how Makoto is a jack-of-all-trades party member that can fulfill nearly any role on her own. The "benevolence" part comes from the fact that she supplies most of the materials for the party and acts as the "team mom" (especially during Scramble), while the "order and laws" part manifests itself as Makoto being a student council president whose whole family has been working (or used to work) at law enforcement or jurisdictionary departments — with her father being a police officer and her sister being a Prosecutor. Makoto is enforcing the law that society deserves, she even fights her own sister once it's been exposed that she blatantly rigs cases to defend the court's name.
  • Sumire/Kasumi: Binah — Understanding, representing stability and female energy, although initially it represents itself as lack thereof, as Kasumi has no proper understanding of her sister, Sumire's suicidal depression and mental instability because of her genuine kindness, which later caused her sister to walk into traffic without looking and led to her death. Sumire also does not understand Kasumi's true nature and her true inner strengths (not by imitating Kasumi's footsteps, but to execute her own movements), constantly being focused on how Kasumi was better than her in every way and how she was a failure. In spite of this, once Joker advances her true confidant, Sumire manages to understand her deceased sister's true nature, her real inner strengths and stabilize her mind, being able to walk out as her own person. She musters the emotional strength to oppose Maruki and aspires to enter internationals on her own instead of being a shadow of Kasumi's lost glory. Binah and Chokmah also connects themselves to Kether, forming the "Royal trio" that acts as the most important crux of Joker's personal relationships.
  • Akechi: Chokmah — Intelligence, representing creativity, institution and male energy. While Akechi was a complex planner and a wise strategist, he lacks all the rationality to execute a legit plan other than to murder people under Shido's orders to catch him off guard, resulting in his Bolivian Army Ending fate that remains uncertain till this day. However, in the Third Term, despite being a product of "Actualization" in some sort of way, he, alongside Joker and Sumire, are the only people who were able to constantly see what Maruki's "paradise" was; an illusion, a denial of truth and a lie, and is genuinely sickened by it. Binah and Chokmah also connects themselves to Kether, forming the "Royal trio" that acts as the most important crux of Joker's personal relationships.
  • Joker: Kether — Crown, represents the consciousness and the connection between the human and divine. Joker is the de facto crux of the team, acting as its chief leader and tie-breaker, as well as having infinite utility courtesy of his true Wild Card. (As opposed to Akechi who had the Wild Card but was unable to utilize it due to having no bonds) As Kether represents the consciousness, if Joker, as the leader is knocked out, the whole team is "knocked unconscious" and perishes, i.e Game Over.
• If Atlus' goal was to portray the Thieves as ambiguous anti-heroes, they've succeeded in doing this with the voice cast alone. The protagonist and Ryuji are voiced by Jun Fukuyama and Mamoru Miyano respectively, their most famous roles? Lelouch Lamperouge and Light Yagami. Two characters who define Ambitious Anti-Hero.
  • On that note, Ann is voiced by Nana Mizuki...and one of her most famous roles is Dark Magical Girl Fate Testarossa.
  • And Yusuke is voiced by Tomokazu Sugita, and his most famous roles are very unconventional heroes.
  • While usually voicing characters in more lighthearted productions, Morgana's voice actor Ikue Otani also voiced Enfant Terrible Mannish Boy/Death 13. She's also voiced another cute mascot, Pikachu. along with Tony Tony Chopper, who despite being one of the heroes, is essentially a wanted criminal. His English voice actress, Cassandra Lee Morris, also fits the ambiguously dark trend as she voiced Kyubey, who is also an adorable yet mysterious mascot with more to him than meets the eye.
  • In contrast, Goro's voice actor Soichiro Hoshi is most famous for Kira Yamato and other idealistic, kindhearted and thoughtful young men. And Goro is very much a kind hearted and thoughtful young man on the surface. Once he shows his true character, he shows an even bigger contrast with the team and their respective voice actors. Similarly, his English voice actor, Robbie Daymond, is probably most well know for his role as resident Nice Guy Prompto Argentum from Final Fantasy XV who shares a similarly dark and tragic backstory but completely differing present-day personalities.
  • Kasumi is voiced by Sora Amamiya. She has a fair share of Anti-Hero characters as well such as the eponymous protagonist of Akame ga Kill!, who is a member of a rebel organization who fights against a tyrannical empire, and the brash yet ultimately principled Touka Kirishima of Tokyo Ghoul who eventually fought The Conspiracy that formed the human-ghoul divide for the sake of maintaining power, and finally to bring coexistence into fruition. Meanwhile, her English voice actor, Laura Post, takes a darker turn when one realizes that her usual portfolio involves voicing commanding and villainous characters, not least of which being Ragyo Kiryuin of Kill la Kill — an adult so utterly tyrannical and abhorrent that she's basically an amalgamation of every single major target the Thieves faced who took part in or benefited from Shido's conspiracy (the only exceptions being Shadow Futaba, Shadow Sae, and Maruki, with the first one being the embodiment of the upright Hermit while the last two are decent but misguided people). Applying the same logic to Akechi (whose entry is basically the opposite of this one) cements that, despite her opposing stance before The Reveal, she's indeed an ally of the Thieves once she understands what they're about and finally accepts the truth about herself as Sumire.
  • Haru arguably bucks this trend given that her English voice actress Xanthe Huynh is more known for voicing kind, gentle and/or motherly roles. Though in this case, Haru would be a first dip into an Anti-Hero role (though more of a type 2). Likewise with her original voice actress Haruka Tomatsu, who is widely known by Nice Girl roles such as Asuna from Sword Art Online fame.
• The Seven Deadly Sins theme with the bosses can also apply to the Phantom Thieves - however, theirs are not "distorted" versions, but healthy recognitions that they are in fact people, and motivate their heroics to an extent. This subtly foreshadows how the ultimate villain wants to eliminate desire altogether and turn humanity into an emotionless race of drones.
  • Pride: The protagonist is very fond of smirking when he has the upper hand and what else could you describe defying a cognitive god and summoning a version of Lucifer himself to fight back? This confidence is also what makes him an ideal leader, and as lampshaded by Ryuji, that god desperately needed to be censured for his own arrogance and vanity.
  • Wrath: Ryuji losing himself in a fit of anger and punching Kamoshida led to the track team disbanding and his reputation becoming that of an angry delinquent with a Hair-Trigger Temper. His anger also happens to be about a real wrong, and it kept him going even before he awakened his Persona when it seemed like Kamoshida would get away scott free.
  • Gluttony: Yusuke is the quintessential Starving Artist whose mind is filled with art and creativity, to the point he forgoes food and spends what little money he has on whatever catches his attention. As a result, Yusuke is very enthusiastic whenever the subject of food is brought up, especially if somebody else is paying. Said hunger also comes with the ability to recognize his means and when he is being denied sustenance purely so others can exploit him for money.
  • Sloth: Haru and Futaba. Haru never spoke up and remained a Nice Girl despite everybody forcing her to do whatever they wanted while Futaba, despite having evidence, continued to believe she was the reason her mother committed suicide and never bothered to deny it, not to mention when she was given the calling card, it had Sloth written on it like the other Targets with their sins. Haru also recognizes how easy her life is and that she really is luckier than everyone else to be born as rich as she is, and shows prudence and an honest recognition of when she'd just get in the way. Futaba, on the other hand does have distorted Sloth and it was strangling her alive-after she has her heart stolen, she switches to her original sin, righteous Wrath in the same vein as Ryuji.
    • When Maruki drops the pretense and reveals himself as a Persona-user, he also fits with Sloth; he awoke as a result of being overcome with despair and a desire for everything to stop hurting, but for entirely altruistic reasons of watching his lover succumb to her own Despair Event Horizon; he thus has the capacity to construct comforting illusions, which he uses to remove overwhelming anguish. The problem is that when Yaldabaoth unwittingly corrupts this power, he becomes distorted and believes that painlessness is the same as happiness; He then became his own version of the Demiurge, seeking to return humanity to a state of innocence in his personal Garden of Eden, unable to hurt, but unable to strive either. His boss fight ends up pitting the healthier sins against him to reintroduce them to his paradise, a la the Serpent of Eden.
  • Greed: Morgana gets very excited whenever he sees the Treasure, to the point it could potentially ruin the heist or get the Phantom Thieves in trouble. His ambitions are generally channeled into being the best he can at his job, and he's not at all remiss to others sharing in his acquisitions.
  • Envy: Makoto, Akechi, and Kasumi/Sumire. Makoto envied those around her who weren't being pressured by authority figures and knew what they wanted to be in life. This generally drives her to live up to those expectations and causes her to empathize with people in similarly poor situations. Goro Akechi, meanwhile, envied the protagonist and the bonds he made. Akechi wanted to be needed and have friends but his past kept him from developing any true and healthy relationships while the protagonist, whose record pushes everybody away, has everything he ever wanted-and this desire is truly distorted, as this jealousy drives him to drag others down to his level. As for Kasumi, or rather as Sumire, she lives under the shadow of her sister Kasumi that for her the latter represents everything that she can't be. She attempted to run away from Kasumi only to not notice incoming traffic for this, only for Kasumi to get hit by it in place of her, and her desire to become like her sister thanks to Maruki's powers really gives her some semblance of confidence and self-esteem. And although she accepts herself as Sumire, she still wants to become like her sister, but as an inspiration to improve herself as she finally recognizes her own merits.
  • Lust: While Ann herself isn't a sexpot, she's quite proud of her ability to induce lust (she is a fashion model after all) and is driven by her desire for attention and companionship, a less carnal expression of Lust. This is also a motivation for her to be a good friend, and enables her emotional maturity and social intelligence.
    • Remember, Yaldabaoth uses 9 deadly sins instead of the original 7 (though the two additional sins were once considered sins looking into the research). What are the two additional sins? Hollowness and Vanity. These fit Futaba and Akechi, respectively. Futaba falls into despair due to her mother's death and her twisted belief forces her into stagnation because she feels responsible. In other words, she becomes hollow and needs the Phantom Thieves to sort her out. Vanity fits Akechi well, too. Akechi wishes to be seen as a hero, and does everything he can to promote his appearance of a detective of justice. However, like vanity, this appearance is only skin-deep, and internally Akechi is an immature teen with a troubled past and a hero complex who can't accept that he isn't the best. Seeing as both of these are not original deadly sins, it makes sense that for both Futaba and Akechi, their representations of these skins are distorted, rather than healthy. Both characters overcome these vices in some form: Futaba fills her life with her new friends and the desire to track down the true culprit behind her mother's killing. In his final moments, Akechi sacrifices himself to save the other Phantom Thieves in a way that no one could see, and no one else will ever believe the truth about. Even when he returns to help the Phantom Thieves in the Third Term, their final heist isn't broadcasted and Akechi knows he'll likely disappear and lose everything he could have. He pushes past the vanity to finally fight for his own justice.
• The elemental affinities of the main characters symbolize aspects of their personalities and central motivations.
  • Joker's original Persona is skilled at Curse attacks, suggesting mischievousness, darkness, and an antisocial nature. For Joker, although his intentions and goals are ultimately just, his image is that of a crooked delinquent and dangerous criminal, befitting of a Curse affinity.
  • Morgana's Persona is skilled in Wind attacks. In the Persona games, users of Wind skills tend to be thoughtful and whimsical individuals. Morgana, with his cunning nature and capricious personality, fits this pattern.
  • Ryuji's Persona has an Electric affinity, which tends to denote traits such as high energy and a driven and temperamental nature in the Persona series.
  • Ann's Persona is skilled in Fire attacks. Fire users in the series tend to be related through their warmth and their passionate and spirited nature. Ann is flirty, sociable, and energetic, making her a bit of a Genki Girl. (Also, she’s the hottest member of the group.)
  • Yusuke's Persona is skilled in Ice attacks. The Ice element carries many of the classical connotations of water in the Persona series, namely emotionality, changeability, and intuition, three characteristics that drive most of Yusuke’s antics and dialogue throughout the story.
  • Makoto's Persona is skilled in Nuclear attacks. Though there is little precedent to rely on for the personality powers of Nuclear (since the element was absent between Persona 2 and Persona 5), Makoto’s anger and reactivity exhibited in the events leading up to her awakening evokes the idea of an atomic reaction. In addition nuclear gets technicals on all 3 statuses that come from attacking with basic elements. Even if the individual pairing won't help you have to go out of your way to make a team composition where she wouldn't have a chance to have a powerful follow up representing her more strategic and team focused attitude.
  • Futaba's Persona is skilled at analyzing enemies. It should be noted that Futaba has gotten her Persona like how the cast of Persona 4 got their Persona. As pointed out in the Fridge page of the game, the elemental attributes of the Investigation Team's Personas pertain in some way to what each Persona was as a Shadow. Futaba's shadow manages to know the truth behind her mother's death instead of believing the lies Shido's men told. Because of this (along with Futaba being a Playful Hacker), it makes sense for her persona to be a scanning persona that has the power to know "forbidden wisdom".
  • Haru's persona is skilled at Psychokinesis skills. Psychokinesis is, like Nuclear, a relatively unused element in the series, but equipment and other gameplay mechanics hint that Psychokinesis is related to mysticism and souls—fitting, given the meaning of the Greek word “psyche.” Thus, affinity with Psychokinesis would, like Ice, suggest intuition and empathic ability, which Haru demonstrates adeptly when she sees right through Makoto and Joker’s attempts to convince her to help them, and later reads Morgana like a book during his reunion scene with the Phantom Thieves.
  • Akechi's persona is skilled at both Bless and Curse attacks. Bless affinity suggests justice, goodness, and purity, while Curse affinity (as mentioned above with Joker) suggests mischievousness, darkness, and antisocial tendencies. Though this can be interpreted a few ways, Akechi’s image best fits the characteristics of Bless prior to the revelation that he is the one in the black mask. After this point, and in Royal’s third semester, Akechi specializes only in Curse skills, as that element better fits his cruel, dark, and psychopathic nature. It could be argued that Robin Hood’s Curse affinity was a sign that Akechi’s hero-of-justice façade was not all that it seemed.
  • Kasumi's Cendrillon has Bless attacks, which alludes her happy and optimistic personality and her good-naturedness. Unlike in Akechi’s case, the revelation of Kasumi’s true identity as Sumire does not change her affinity; though her façade was false, her good-heartedness was not.
• Each of the Party's Persona's weaknesses also makes sense in regards to how they interact with each other.
  • Ryuji and Morgana are constantly sniping at each other despite working together. Fittingly, each of their elemental weakness is to the other's element.
  • Ann has enough people skills to work in an industry as cutthroat as modeling. Yusuke has No Social Skills, but is not the most easy to influence person around. Fittingly, they are weak to each other's element.
  • Haru and Makoto are direct Foils to each other. Makoto had a loving father who died and a sister Promoted to Parent who neglected her, Haru had an Abusive Parent who only saw her as a tool and most of her company only care about her so much as they can influence her. They are, also, weak to each other element.
  • Ren and Akechi (at least with his Robin Hood persona). Hero with Bad Publicity vs Villain with Good Publicity. Is it any wonder that they are weak to each other's element? Arsène is also notably weak against Ice, and Yusuke is somewhat responsible for getting the group into trouble with Madarame. Additionally, out of the three people that explored Doctor Maruki's palace on January 2nd, Sumire was the only one to outright accept it at first unlike Joker and Akechi (who no longer uses his Robin Hood persona and now actually blocks curse attacks making him weak to bless in that arc); causing her to go against them for a brief time.
    • Relatedly, this also applies to Raoul, Joker's third tier Persona introduced in Royal. Though Raoul is weaker than Satanael due to losing the Bless immunity that Satanael had, and no longer weak to Ice like Arsène, this represents Joker not only losing the public support that allows him to make Satanael powerful to defeat Yaldabaoth, with light often being associated with divinity, Joker can either agree to Maruki's reality or keep fighting on to reject Maruki's reality in the Third semester. By re-obtaining a weakness to Bless magic, Joker chose to embrace that he is human and will fight for humanity.
• What's also fitting is how each of their final evolved personas gain a resistance to an additional element as well.
  • Ryuji's Seiten Taisei is resistant to Fire. It shows that he's starting to cool down as a person and think more rationally compared to emotionally.
  • Ann's Hecate is resistant to Electric, which shows that she's beginning to come more down to earth and realize how much effort it takes to work compared to the miniscule flashes of work she's put in.
  • Morgana's Mercurius is resistant to Bless, which shows that he no longer needs anything to light his past.
  • Yusuke's Susano-o is resistant to Wind, which shows he won't be blown away by material needs for his work.
  • Makoto's Anat is resistant to Curses, which shows that she is no longer letting people's negative criticism affect her as much as it could.
  • Futaba's Prometheus doesn't gain any resistances due to being a scanning persona, but hers does get the new skill "Treasure Seeker", which goes to show how she's now able to see the value of other people and the good in them.
  • Haru's Astarte is resistant to Ice, which shows that she realizes being cold to others solves nothing and how she can warm up to people she doesn't initially trust.
  • Despite not having an evolved Persona, Akechi's Loki repels Curses and Bless attacks. He's notably past the point of caring if anyone hates and curses him, and he doesn't believe in a light, hopeful future. He tells the party to "keep that [hopeful/justice] shit to themselves" and as other people have pointed out, his plans would more than likely lead to him getting executed, but his endgame is to ruin society in return because It Is Beyond Saving. When Akechi becomes playable with Loki in the third semester, it does not have another resist since as stated before Loki is not a true evolved Persona. However it does block Curses since at that period of time, he stopped bothering to put up a facade of a "Detective Prince". Once it truly evolves into Hereward, it gains a resistance to Psy, which represents his desire to protect his mind from being controlled or manipulated by anyone.
  • Akira/Ren has Satanael, who Absorbs Curses, Blocks Bless, and is resistant to all save Almighty. It could be seen as a mixture of all of the above, given that Ren/Akira has gotten past how dehumanized everyone but his allies have treated him, and has learned how to reconnect with people in many ways. He can absorb Curses because his reputation doesn't mean anything to him, and he can take what's being thrown at him, and can block bless attacks because he doesn't let so called higher authorities affect his path in life.
  • Sumire's Vanadis is resistant to nuclear showing her self-esteem is now no longer as nuclear as it once was.
• How each of the Showtime attacks and style show the relationship between each of the characters as well as the foils.
  • Ann and Morgana do a parody of a love confession before they shoot the Shadow with guns. This is obviously a dig at Morgana's crush on Ann but it also shows that aside from Joker's relationship with the other Thieves, Ann and Morgana were the first two people who got along with no issues since Ryuji and Morgana argue a lot and before the misunderstanding cleared up, Ryuji believed in the rumors about Ann and Kamoshida.
  • Ryuji and Yusuke eat at a ramen noodle shop when a Shadow shows up and both of them shoot it to death. Ryuji is a Big Eater while Yusuke is a Starving Artist so both of them have a reason to want to eat. Plus, aside from Joker, who has a close relationship with everyone, and Akechi, who is a Guest-Star Party Member, both of them are the only human males and they stick together in some events such as the Hawaii trip.
  • Ann and Yusuke have them in a Jidaigeki setting where Ann has a paper parasol like a geisha before using her whip to take off the floors and then have Yusuke slash the Shadow in one hit. Ann is naturally beautiful according to other people while Yusuke shows beauty through his art. There is also Yusuke seeing Ann as his muse and even after he officially joins, still asks Ann to be his subject for his next painting.
  • Makoto and Ryuji fight a Shadow in a Wild West setting with both of them using their melee weapons which fits both of their looks as they have a more outlaw style. Both of them are the more strategic members of the group with Ryuji planning the big picture while Makoto irons out the smaller details. It also displays a bit of irony that the honor student and the delinquent make a pretty effective team.
  • Haru and Morgana have Haru using her gun to attack a Shadow while riding on Morgana in his bus form. Morgana was the one who showed Haru the Metaverse and Haru in turn sees Morgana as her senpai, in short, Morgana is guiding Haru during their Showtime. Both of them are probably the most flamboyant out of the Phantom Thieves where Haru acts like a hero of justice while Morgana often empathizes style.
  • Haru and Makoto both fight a Shadow using Japanese joshi puroresu style with Makoto as the Strong Style with her hard hits and Haru as the King's Road where she is more in character and showy. Both of them are third year students who are very hard working and diligent unlike the other members who are either Brilliant, but Lazy or are seen as pariahs. Both of them are also the first friends they have that are around their age so they have a lot in common with each other.
  • Joker and Akechi attack a Shadow at a rooftop during a dark and stormy night like Batman. Both of them are the perfect foils for each other both were manipulated by the Greater-Scope Villain and both of them are Wild Cards.
  • Joker and Sumire attack a Shadow at a church. As such, both of them were being manipulated and their lives were nearly ruined by someone although for Sumire, she merely ruined herself without outside influence at all and her manipulation was merely being Brainwashed for the greater good at best. The real Kasumi also appears during the Showtime halfway, indicating that both Sumire and Kasumi never hated each other to begin with and it's just a mix between delusional thoughts and selfishness that blinded her.
• Why are all of the third-stage Ultimate Personas of the Phantom Thieves the original names of the fictional characters they represent? This indicates that they had been awakened as a sign of true rebellion and the "rebel" identity is no longer just nominal. The Phantom Thieves are unwittingly used by Yaldabaoth to set a rebellion to his favor up until he was Hoist by His Own Petard by the very Thieves and the public that he wants to manipulate. This transmogrification proves that they are now officially rebels against authority and control and they no longer need to hide it.
• Ann having absolutely horrid physical stats (worst strength, worst endurance and second-worst agility) makes perfect sense once you realize that she doesn't even slightly care about keeping herself in shape. She eats whatever she wants and she is never seen exercising, which is brought up during her Confidant when she tries to work out only for Ryuji to correct a lot of misconceptions about it. Sure her metabolism keeps her thin, but it doesn't mean she's healthy.
  • Something else to tie into this is her high luck — namely how lucky she is to have such an incredible metabolism that lets her indulge in such a lifestyle. Considering how much of a mixed bag genetics can be, she basically dodged a serious bullet.
• In a similar vein, Ryuji having low agility makes sense when you remember he's still recovering from a broken leg. While he can still run quickly with enough buildup, the guy can't break into top speed as quickly or as easily as others without risking the chance of hurting himself. Furthermore, as Ryuji is shown to be very insightful when it comes to physical fitness, it's likely that he has to take a moment to make sure he's not doing anything to hurt himself before he takes action. However, to compensate, he has great strength and the highest endurance in the party, showing that despite his limitations he's still very much in good physical health.
  • There's also the fact that despite suffering a broken leg less then a year ago, Ryuji is still running.
• In fact, most of the party members have stats that reflect their personalities and lifestyle:
  • Makoto has rather balanced stats and the highest base HP of the female party members. She's also one of only two in the same group that's shown to exercise regularly, with a focus on martial arts, and keep a balanced diet.
  • Yusuke is a Starving Artist, so him having the weakest defenses and HP of the human male party members makes sense. His artistic abilities inform his combat style, favoring quick strikes thanks to his excellent reflexes and power backed up by using a sword, ultimately giving him the party's strongest physical attack power.
  • Morgana is a cat (-like creature), so his HP and endurance is naturally the worst of the front line fighters, but he makes up for it with catlike reflexes and luck.
  • Futaba, however, takes the cake in having low stats across the board, including HP, with the noted exception of luck. She's even worse than Ann at taking care of herself, holing herself in front of a computer most of the time and chowing down on instant yakisoba. The fact that she's still cute as a button and manages to get out of bad situations easily can only be because she has naturally great luck.
  • Haru is an Ojou, and while she has experience as a ballet dancer and does gardening, it doesn't really translate into real physical training, especially since she hasn't done ballet in years. Also, she's used to having everything catered. Hence, she's a bit of a Glass Cannon with a penchant for Awesome, but Impractical weapons. Strikers also reveals that she incorperates some ballet into her fighting style.
  • Akechi's has HP and SP similar to Joker's and well-rounded stats, since he's already been running around the Metaverse killing people for years. His stat spread and (in Sae's palace) skill list are all rather uncertain with no clear theme, showing his desire to stand out and be part of a team, but failing to do so. By the time he rejoins as Black Mask, he settles on a "theme" of just causing death and destruction, showing that he no longer really cares and is fine with that.
  • "Kasumi"/Sumire is the other female team member who exercises regularly and eats healthy, but her sport of choice, gymnastics, emphasizes agility and flexibility over endurance and strength. This means she has a naturally high evasion rate, but when she does take a hit, it'll hurt because of her low HP and very low endurance. In fact, both her initial and third-tier personas are literally made of glass.
  • This also extends to the party members in the sequel:
    • Sophia looks like a mysterious little girl who is curious about the human heart and the world around her, causing her HP and Endurance to be a bit low in exchange for powerful offensive and healing magic abilities as well as attacking with yo-yos. Her healing spells might also reflect how she was led out of Alice's jail by the thieves, and wants to support them in return as thanks.
    • Zenkichi is a man in his mid-40's, meaning his age is catching up with him and limiting his fighting ability. His movements in battle are notably a bit slow and stilted, and when he activates Fury mode, he slowly drains HP as he struggles to keep up with the quicker movements of the kids. That being said, his experience as a police officer and the level of physical fitness that requires gives him high HP and good physical stats, showing that while he may be past his prime he's still in great shape.
• Why does Goro Akechi only have two Personas when he's a Wild Card like Joker? Because he only has one bond before he met Joker, the bond between him and Shido, and that relationship is definitely a poisonous one.
  • Related to the above, it's more than likely Robin Hood was Akechi's original Persona before Yaldabaoth's influence gave him the Wild Card ability. Yaldabaoth's influence gave him Loki, which corrupted the young man with the power it gave him.
  • Duality is a large part of the story, with Akechi being no exception. In the case of his Personas, Robin Hood and Loki show the big conflict going on in Akechi. Robin Hood represents his desire to be a hero who is loved by everyone, while Loki represents his anger and desire for revenge for being abandoned and ostracized. Robin Hood is also his desire to bring justice to the corrupt people in his life (i.e. Shido), while Loki shows his malicious desire to make those same people suffer like he has, no matter how many innocent people do too.
  • Robin Hood and Loki also both criminals in their stories. Robin Hood, a thief who stole from the rich to give to the poor, was loved by the general public while Loki, a notorious trickster, was hated by just about everyone. Robin Hood, and by extension the far more honorable Phantom Thieves, may be what Akechi wants to be but thanks to The Conspiracy and his father, he's nothing more than the detestable Loki who only wants to others to suffer for his own selfish desires.
    • On the topic of what Akechi wants to be, why is Robin Hood's motif white instead of traditional green? The wrong color scheme could also represent that Akechi's view of a hero is fundamentally incorrect. While Akechi's motives may be (or were initially) good, he doesn't understand what a hero actually is, so his view of his own 'heroic' Persona is distorted as well. It also makes sense as to how Akechi's Persona is based on the arguably most popular figure out of all the initial Personas the Phantom Thieves have; However despite his popularity he's the only one you can't read up on to correct any misconceptions Joker or Akechi (as Morgana often recommends having the Persona's user read the book when you finish) could have about him from "common knowledge" or various adaptions.
    • Adding to the above, Robin Hood's design, save for the bow, brings to mind much more of a traditional American Superman-type hero, with the white and shiny armor, exaggerated upper body rather Robin Hood's more traditional roguish portrayal. This shows Akechi's distorted desire to be a hero known for his noble and upstanding deeds, and revered by the media and general public, rather than a wanted "underground" hero who doesn't care for fame or popularity and just wants to help the poor.
    • On another Akechi note, it's fitting that someone who represents Emptiness won't even give the audience (or even himself) the closure of knowing if he died; his story will remain forever unfinished after the point where he confronts his cognitive self.
• Why do Ryuji and Morgana argue so much? Morgana is similar to a tiger, being a cat; and Ryuji's name has the word for "dragon". Their relationship is effectively "Tiger Versus Dragon".
• When Joker evolves Arsene into Satanael, and Maruki evolves Azathoth into Adam Kadmon, there's a key similarity; both parties have the full support of the masses, and this power becomes real through the Metaverse. As such, it's likely that Joker couldn't have repeated Satanael's entrance at any point; the real world was currently 'supporting' Maruki's reality due to his influence, so only Maruki could use that power for himself.
• The various members of the Investigation Team in Persona 4 obtained their Persona by rejecting their Shadow selves, then someone else defeating their Shadows, and then accepting their Shadows, which are the manifestation of the things they try to suppress about themselves. The Phantom Thieves obtain their own Personas in what at first seems to be a different way. However, the Phantom Thieves' Shadows are the representation of their counterparts' desires to rebel in some fashion that they've kept suppressed to function in society. Even before their Awakening, their counterparts already show signs of nonconformity and already paid the price of showing them as a result, showing that in a way they partially accept their Shadows, they just need to have a time and opportunity to embrace and to showcase them. Their exposure into Metaverse speeds up the process. In Persona 5 we see what happens when a person does what the Investigation Team couldn't, not just outright accept the parts of themselves that they suppressed, but fully embrace them. In short, what will happen when someone chooses "You are me" instead of "You're NOT me!" is what Persona 5 shows. Their Awakening might be painful as hell, but compared to P4's Awakening, they got it easier.
• Morgana's infatuation with Ann makes a lot more sense following The Reveal that he was created by Igor and serves under the Velvet Room attendants, as well as his interactions with Caroline and Justine in Persona Q2. A young, blonde girl with powerful magic accurately describes most of the attendants, whom Morgana addresses quite formally without at first understanding why, so calling her "Ann-dono/Lady Ann" is almost instinctual.

Fridge Brilliance: Velvet Room/Confidants

• The Velvet Room taking the form of a prison, instead of an elevator or limo. This time around, you're not trying to reach a goal, but running away from a hierarchical society that's rejected you and your friends.
  • The prison not only represents his feelings of entrapment but also the subconscious fear Joker has of being caught for his actions.
  • And in light of The Reveal, it foreshadows that Igor has been replaced by a being that wants to control rather than free you.
  • In addition, fake!Igor also greets the protagonist with "Welcome to my Velvet Room" while the real Igor only ever refers to it as the Velvet Room.
  • Not only that, but in Persona 4 Margaret reveals that the shape of the room and its residents are selected by their master. The prison shape was chosen by a being that supposedly expresses surprise at its shape at the start of the game. Even from the previous game we were given hints of the truth.
  • In the previous two games, Igor is exceedingly benevolent at all times, offering to turn back time and give you as many chances as you need should you fail a main story mission. In this one, Igor mocks you for losing his "game"... First time players may think this is the game taking a Darker and Edgier route, but it is, in fact, yet another clue towards the impostor's identity.
  • This extends to even the attendants. Caroline and Justine wear uniforms of washed-out blue instead of the deep Velvet Room Blue of their siblings. Why is this? Because they've been diluted from their original form, Lavenza. Once they are combined again by use of the fusion guillotine, Lavenza regains the full blue of the classic Velvet Room.
  • Also consider that an elevator and a limo are forms of transportation and transition. The previous protagonists arrive in a new town and school not knowing anyone, and their developing of social links helps them grow as people by forming attachments and a connection to a home they previously only saw as temporary. The P5 protagonist, however, arrives as a victim framed for a crime and comes to a city filled with people trapped by similar unfortunate circumstances, like a prison. By helping these others free themselves, who in turn help him, they're able to organize a successful "jail break" from the unfair situations hoisted on them and move forward with their lives.
• Even after the real Igor returns to the Velvet Room, when interacting with him or Lavenza, Joker is still in his Phantom Thief garb. This seems like Gameplay and Story Segregation, until you realize that Joker's garb isn't reacting to the "ruler" of the Velvet Room, but the ruler of Mementos itself (where the Velvet Room is currently sealed). Aka Yaldabaoth, or in Royal during the third semester, Takuto Maruki/Azathoth, who also sees you as a potential threat (even if they would rather not get into conflict with you at all).
• The Velvet Room having twin attendants this time makes sense. The room and its residents are connected to the current guest's psyche and the game's theme is individualization; what other type of person wants to assert their own individual identity more than a twin?
  • Also, the twins may also represent the two different paths (glory or ruin) that the protagonist may take.
  • They also represent the protagonist's duality in his life between his public and secret persona.
    • The scene when the protagonist is in the Velvet Room follows along this line of thought. The twins are on either side of his cell, and if they're representative of the dual faces he shows to the world (the meek student and the confident trickster), then he, the real person, is caged between them.
  • Another plausible possibility is that they are supposed to represent the trope Good Cop/Bad Cop, given the nature of this game. This becomes blatantly obvious when Caroline shows to be aggressive and abusive, while Justine takes a calm approach.
  • However, given that they were once one person and split into two, it likely embodies how rather than one Wild Card owner, there's two in Joker and Akechi. In fact, Caroline and Justine's dynamic and interactions could mean that perhaps one represents for Joker and the other being for Akechi
  • They are represented by the Strength Arcana, which, aside from the obvious symbolism of being the strongest boss in the game, is number eleven of the twenty-two listed, meaning that they evenly bisect the list. This is yet more foreshadowing of their true nature as Lavenza. One list split in twain, and the list of persona you're made to create for them is another failsafe by Lavenza to remind them of who they truly are.
• In previous games, the attendants of the Velvet Room who deign to fight the protagonist have always wielded Persona's of undeniable might, such as Helel, Loki and Uriel. In this incarnation, however, Justine and Caroline go on the offensive with such entities as Slime, Agathion and Mandrake. Their power levels remain as hellish as ever, to be certain, but the drop in the quality of Personas is highly noticeable nevertheless. Most likely, the disparity in power arises from 'Igor' dividing them into two separate entities, thus dividing their power and making them easier to control. It is only when the pair combine their might that Ardha, a Persona truly befitting keepers of power such as they, presents itself, thus hinting at their true nature.
  • Even better, said persona, Arhda, is a being composed of two halves (Shiva and Parvati), much like how Caroline and Justine are two halves of Lavenza.
• In P3, Elizabeth is a girl around Minato/Makoto's age though more outgoing and energetic to contrast his brooding and distant but secretly caring nature; in P4, Margaret is an Older and Wiser woman but with her own strange sense of humor to parallel Yu's maturity and wittiness. In P5, the Velvet twins are younger than Joker and at first, a little disturbing: This reflects Joker's own mental immaturity and how people might see him as a little odd. It's then even more meaningful, as they're actually two halves of an entity split by force through malice, reflecting how Joker was a victim of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
  • The Velvet Room assistants can be seen as representatives of the Anima/Animus of the protagonists, which in Jungian terms means that they represent the protagonists' emotional development. In Persona 3, the protagonists are fairly mature, but are still emotionally caught up in their past, so Elizabeth and Theodore are young adults. In Persona 4, it's implied that Yu has had to grow up fast because of his parents always working & moving, so Margaret is a mature woman with a childish side. In Persona 5, Joker is a very cocky and mischievous figure, who has also had his emotional development ruined by everything that happened to him, so his Anima is a small child that has been split in half. Furthermore, Elizabeth, Theodore and Margaret tend to be nice to their guests, but Caroline & Justine can be quite rude and cruel, further showing Joker's damaged emotional state. However, given how Lavenza acts and there being two Wild Card users instead of one, it could be argued that one of them (maybe Justine) is Joker's anima while Caroline would be Akechi's.
• The tarot illustrations of the Confidants are notable in that, while the first version (P2) and the second version (P3 & P4) of the illustrations are cryptic befitting of the Velvet Room's mystic charm, the Confidants' version portrays an outright insulting picture of the Arcana, i.e. The Fool is bitten by the dog, The Priestess is reading a porn, The Justice's scale is heavier on the money, etc., which shows just how much malice the Velvet Room has in this game. This is further proven by the yellow eyes the cards have, which shows the shadow self demonstrating its reversed nature.
  • It also depicts the way Joker establishes his Confidants, as they are met in the reversed state. None of them are exactly established on ideal terms but out of a bargain in order to help one another. Each of them fits their character:
  • The Fool shows the dog biting him. Instead of a nurturing Velvet Room, it's a prison environment coupled with Igor being more of a nuisance than of a help. Until the end where the true Igor appears and helps you find your friends imprisoned in their own cells and reinvigorates their resolve.
    • Also, Igor is the Fool confidant, and the picture shows a dog biting the fool in the ass. Foreshadowing that empowering the protagonist will come back to bite 'Igor', perhaps?
  • The Magician's getting himself hurt while practicing his art due to being distracted is similar to how Morgana only cares about becoming a human instead of his intended purpose of leading them to the true Igor, due to his amnesia.
  • The Priestess is doing something she'd be decried for due to her station (looking at porn in place of holy scriptures, and seemingly of a female subject at that) while Makoto's arc also deals heavily in allowing herself to act against her "perfect" image adults both expect and demand of her. A lot of Makoto's Confidant takes place outside of the school, of which she wants to study the culture out of a desire to deviate from Sae's ideas on how to be successful as a person. By the end, she returns to path of justice, but through experience rather than through education.
  • Empress: Haru is quite openly flirtatious with the MC in her Confidant, which goes against the whole "pure princess" thing, which she stands up against, and how she's already in an arranged marriage to another man, much like the Empress is in an unfitting state of undress and pose for her position. Seeming unsuited for the role she is meant for also ties into how she's clearly out of her depth when it comes to inheriting and running her family's business as it is now after her father's death. The Empress holding her staff in a menacing fashion with a shield by her side as if ready for a fight could also be seen as relating to Haru's use of aggression as a means of stress relief and her blunt approach to controlling the company and the arranged marriage. She finally stands up for herself and wishes to restore the good name of Okumura Foods through one of her board members who agrees with her ideas and makes her stand against the arranged marriage.
  • Emperor: The Emperor is seen here as seemingly shirking his duties in favor of taking a smoke, while Yusuke does things that similarly jeopardize his health (spending his money on not-food things when he's starving, eating dangerous things like wild mushrooms, donating blood to the point where he's going to pass out), and his loss of passion stemming from the revelation of how uncaring Madarame was to his pupils and art. Eventually, through his friends and self discovery, he discovers the joy of art again.
  • Hierophant: Sojiro is meant to be your guardian, but at the start of the game, he mostly belittles and dismisses the MC instead of guiding him, like the Hierophant is in its illustration. Only after helping him realize deep down that he IS a good parental figure to Futaba does he represent the true Hierophant, stern but willing to listen.
  • Lovers: Ann, for good reason, has a hard time trusting men, and this heightened awareness of their behavior leads to her often accusing the male characters of perving on her; and while often accurate, this isn't always the case. On her card, instead of it being a matter of the man choosing between the two women, Cupid is similarly impulsive and picking "the right girl" for him regardless of who he wants, as Cupid's choice is opposite who the man's looking at; likewise, Ann thinks striving for an acting career will give her a better sense of self for Shiho and was ultimately forced to make a choice when Shiho changes schools, making her decide if the acting career was a good choice in the first place. Eventually, she sees how her charms can be used to inspire to others and wants to be a better person to help them, the same way she thinks Joker has helped her grow, as well as seeing that her talent as a model requires dedication and trust just like a loving relationship does.
  • Chariot: Ryuji's leg was broken by Kamoshida before the story started because of his inner impulses, and it's a huge basis of his struggles. The man on the Chariot card has a broken arm. Chariots were also historically used for races and as a symbol of victory, things Ryuji has now lost because of his injury and his lack of self control that destroyed his life. Ryuji prevails by helping his former team establish an honest organization and ensuring Yamaguchi does not become another Kamoshida through self restraint and confidence in himself.
  • Justice: Akechi has a distorted sense of justice and can't comprehend love and friendship, so the "heart" doesn't weigh very much for him in contrast to the selfish desires for which he acts and his perception towards Joker, unable to decide if he should consider him ally for helping him bring the unjust to justice or to turn him in as he was a criminal and must answer for his actions. After Maruki's actions, it was weighing to either allow Joker to live in a world where he would live a happy but stagnant life or to return to the reality where Akechi died protecting his sworn rival as Akechi makes the firm decision to make Joker earn his freedom instead of being given it.
  • Hermit: The card makes him look like he's making fun of the peers by sticking his tongue out, showing Futaba is smart but not wise, unable to comprehend social norms despite being a computer whiz among all things due to her isolation from society. Ultimately, she learns to be a bit wiser with all the knowledge she had discovered from her withdrawal from society.
  • Fortune: The Wheel is being crushed by the demon's weight. Chihaya has very powerful fortune abilities, but she's weighed her reputation down by using it to scam people. In a way, she's also "threatening" them with misfortune to make them buy holy stones, as she's under the belief that the futures she see can't be changed like how the demon is hindering the wheel's ability to spin freely and skewing potential outcomes. She overcomes that and lets fate take its course to guide others.
  • Strength: The woman is meant to be gently taming the lion, but instead, she's treating it cruelly, much like how Caroline and Justine treat MC pre-character development by being cruel and dismissive respectively. Eventually, they see the protagonist's desire for reform and allow him to create a persona beyond his powers.
  • Temperance: The angel pouring the jugs of water is in a scandalous pose while the river bed is dry. Kawakami's been forced into lewd conduct moonlighting as a maid to continue being a teacher. But the exhaustion of doing and separating both jobs makes her unable to attain her best self and forget why she was working so hard to keep being a teacher. By helping Kawakami remember how she wanted to atone for her failure (to never abandon her students again), she embraces both sides of her jobs, seeing it as a form of nurturing others and helping Joker readjust to society by lightening his load.
  • Tower: Arrows are the forerunners of Guns in terms of ranged weapons, and Shinya's whole thing is he's really good at shooting... and he's very confrontational when he doesn't need to be (because he "has to win"). The people are already falling from the tower; the arrows aren't needed. Ultimately, he stops bullying others and lets his own skills do the talking.
  • Moon: The moon is driving the creatures mad, much like fame does to Mishima. Mishima's behavior as his confidant goes on borders on insanity before you talk his shadow out of it. Mishima eventually finds the strength in himself and becomes the very turning point in leading the Phantom Thieves to their true goal.
  • Sun: The sun is shown smiling and shining over a barren desert, as if oblivious to the effects of its light. In his youth, Yoshida was complicit in some harmful scandals due to his inexperience that hurt people who had looked up for him, sort of like a sun drying up its land. This caused people to distrust him wanting to be in a place of importance in the present, regardless of his current intentions, as he's already "burned" them in much the same way. Yoshida regains his optimism as a politician with Joker's help and inspires others, even in the face of certain defeat against Shido's party.
  • Judgement: One of the people being "judged" is dead - indeed, Sae's profession is one that sends people to their deaths, and she also spends most of the game interrogating and judging the Protagonist, who at that point is more or less condemned as he's been caught by the police and implicated for his crimes.
  • Death: The Reaper represents not literal death but rather change, transformation, regeneration, and cycles. Tae was forced to change after her reputation was ruined, losing her good name as a doctor in favor of "The Plague" much in the same way this version of Death lacks its actual title for being similarly associated with misfortune. Eventually, she accepts that loss of reputation for the sake for helping others, but is able to rebuild from there.
  • Devil: The devil here represents Ohya's boss, who suffocates her with his overbearing authority and determination to sabotage her investigation. In the normal card, the Devil is essentially causing his victims to bind themselves, harming themselves with their own impulsiveness and selfishness. Ohya, on the other hand, is being bound by someone else's impulsiveness and selfishness: that of her boss rather then her own investigations, which would have put herself in danger. Ohya would take responsibility of her own pursuit for the truth, even if it kills her.
  • Star: Normally, the woman is nurturing the land, but here she is nurturing herself at the EXPENSE of the land. Hifumi's rep as a Shogi master is thanks to her mother rather than herself, who does it so she can feel like she meant something at the expense of Hifumi's personal happiness and freedom. Hifumi would sacrifice her own reputation as a Shogi master to bring something to the Shogi world on her own without sacrificing her own happiness.
  • Hanged Man: This was the trickiest one. The Hanged Man is traditionally a man who is hanging serenely by the ankles, symbolizing willing self-sacrifice for enlightenment and achieving freedom through restriction. However, the Hanged Man in Persona 5 doesn't look enlightened at all as he's ignoring his situation by being on his phone; Iwai spends his time believing that keeping the truth from Kaoru to maintain the illusion of a normal family instead of accepting that he was once a criminal just for the sake of a family. Iwai eventually comes to terms with telling Kaoru the truth so that he can be a proud father and show that the Gecko on his back is indeed an irezumi that represents him.
  • The World: It shows us Yaldabaoth's vision of humanity, as being complacent fools who need masters like him to control their lives, instead of beings who are capable of enlightenment (since he isn't) and achieving great things on their own. Ultimately the Thieves take the "Heart" of the world and lets humanity think for themselves as they should.
  • The Faith: Kasumi's Arcana in The Royal. The card depicts a skeleton with a noose around its neck while being pulled along by two demons. Considering Kasumi's stance on the Phantom Thieves, it reflects her views of them as being harmful to the people they're helping. Post-revelations about her later and her true awakening switches the card into a living priest being carried by two slaves. It represents the fact that the real Kasumi is revealed to have died months ago and that the girl impersonating her (and the Kasumi that the players have known throughout the story) is actually her sister Sumire. During her Face–Heel Turn, she exhibits the Arcana's reverse in the form of violent overconfidence, insisting that she's indeed the real Kasumi and not the good-for-nothing self (Sumire), and siding with Maruki, who turns out to be the mastermind of the events of the third semester, fighting alongside him in order for her to keep up with the lie. Upon comparing the two versions together after understanding her background and motivations:
    • The first one represents Sumire (representing the two demons) using Kasumi's identity (representing the skeleton) for selfish reasons in order to boost her zero confidence and self-esteem. Not to mention the unique card's appearance represents Maruki's cognitive overlay in effect around her.
    • The second symbolizes her (now representing the two slaves) being weighed down by guilt of her sister's death and later the impossible expectations Shujin put into her that really put undue pressure on her (representing the living priest). Her true awakening is about her rebelling to her biggest oppressor: herself. Her awakening means that she must realize that she's better than what she thinks she is, which is one of the hallmarks of the upright Faith Arcana. It is noted that the card changes in the standard variant once the cognitive overlay disappears.
  • The Consultant: It shows an image representing Maruki's endgame of Lotus-Eater Machine, by fusing Mementos to the real world to do so. This also represents how he serves as the guide of the Phantom Thieves as well, considering their issues, representing his Anti-Villain character which still represents its upright until he realizes that Shido placed his research lab funding embargo and the effects of Yaldabaoth's Day of Reckoning turns it in reverse that lead to the events of the third semester. It is also a variant of the Magician, in which what Maruki literally is and like in the same vein as Morgana, he provides help to the group. After finally being defeated by Joker, he is finally be able heal his own grief and despair, overcoming his delusion as a savior, and thus eventually be able to gain enough strength for him to move forward. Much like past characters of the standard Magician Arcana, namely Junpei, Yosuke and Morgana, he also had the grief of losing his romantic interest and managed to make it go unrequited as well, even if she's technically back.
• The Death Arcana in Persona 5 doesn't have a name on it unlike the other Arcana. Why? Because the tarot in the game are based on the Marseilles deck, where the only card without a name is Death.
  • Rather appropriate given that Tae Takemi herself has been blacklisted by the medical community.
• Almost immediately in in the Fortune Arcana, Chihaya has you buy a "Holy Stone" that breaks into pieces upon coming home, and is revealed to be just rock salt. This may in fact be none other than Himalayan Pink Salt, which aside from its pink color and somewhat stronger flavor, is known for various claims of being able to absorb negative energy when heated by light or flame, popularizing rock salt lamps. However, just as these "Holy Stones" are little more than a sham, these various claims are unsubstantiated and have little hard evidence.
• Normally, the Fool Arcana represents the protagonist and their team. This time, however, the card represents Igor... because this "Igor" has been using you the entire time.
  • One could even say that he was playing you for a fool.
  • With the reveal of "Igor"'s true identity in the endgame, it turns out that the Fool confidant has been built with the Big Bad this whole time. However, after he reveals himself and the real Igor returns, the confidant stays maxed yet still portrays Igor. This is because it now represents the real Igor, with whom you don't need to strike a deal and nurture it over time, as he has been putting absolute trust in you from the start.
• Ohya being the Devil Tarot confidant may seem like it comes out of left field, considering that previous Devil representatives are usually more along the line of sleazeball fast talkers... until you realize that the bar she meets you at is called the Crossroads. Since Roman times, crossroads have been seen as the place where devils and other malignant entities approach people to make deals, a la Gaunter O'Dimm. In fact, in-game starting her confidant is explicitly referred to as "making a deal" with her.
• On first glance, Tae's obsession with saving Miwa-chan can be chalked up to Tae simply being a good and caring doctor. However, late in the confidant Tae reveals that she was a very sickly child with medicine being the thing that saved her from certain death. Therefore, it is quite likely that one of the main reasons why Tae cares so much about Miwa-chan is because she reminds Tae of herself in her younger days.

Fridge Brilliance: Palaces/Palace Rulers

• The various Palaces are, aside from reflections of their owners, also all classical "heist" locations: a wealthy nobleman's castle, a museum, a bank, a pyramid, a space station, a casino, a cruise ship, a prison and a Laboratory. While most of them very obviously fit the Phantom Thief motif and are classical targets for "bumping off", four of them can seem a little out there. And yet, they still make sense:
  • The pyramid? Well, you're robbers, of course; now, you're engaging in tomb robbing. The treasure was even located in a sarcophagus (before it got up to walk around and help the team). There's even a segment at the start in a nearby "town" where you deal with "competing tomb robbers", clear out of classic tomb raiding films!
  • The space station? This one's probably the most esoteric, but there have been plenty of pieces of sci-fi media about infiltrating high-tech bases for various reasons; the treasure in the Palace itself even takes the form of a high-power energy core for Okumura's ship, which is a common target for such actions in other stories. Thus, the Phantom Thieves could be seen as Space Pirates in this context. On the other hand, the discrepancy between it and the other Palaces as being somewhere thieves usually wouldn't rob could hint at the fact that the Phantom Thieves shouldn't be there: things end up going horribly wrong for them right after this heist.
  • The depths of Mementos can even be viewed as a "prison break" (aka something in which Thieves can do to their comrades) as the Phantom Thieves are breaking people out of Yaldabaoth's prison.
  • Last but not least, the Laboratory. While raiding a laboratory seems odd, remember this laboratory is also a model of the Garden of Eden and the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. The first trickster of Gnosticism is the snake, who basically "robs" humanity away from the Demiurge's Garden of Eden by making Adam and Eve realize the Demiurge was imprisoning them in ignorant bliss. The Thieves are trying to stop the current Demiurge appointed to the top of the world, Maruki and Azathoth from "enlightening" humanity with eternal, nihilistic non-suffering. Additionally, raiding laboratories for information and technologies are often targets of thieves in fantastical settings (such as superhero comics).
• The natures of various Palaces symbolically reflect the ruler's personality and sin in ways that are both explicitly spelled out in-story and implied:
  • Kamoshida sees Shujin Academy as a castle; not only a place where a king resides (as Ryuji complains), but a fortress, showing how Kamoshida knows that as long as he keeps his abuses to Shujin, where the principal covers for him, he'll be protected from the consequences of his actions.
  • Madarame's palace is an art museum based on his shabby house. An art museum isn't a place where you live or work (unlike Kamoshida's palace being based on his workplace), it's where you display your completed work for others to see. Madarame doesn't see his house as his living space, he sees it as a display piece for his fabricated persona; indeed, his shadow later states that he actually lives in a much nicer place that's under a mistress's name.
  • Kaneshiro's palace is a bank based on Shibuya. The obvious part is that he sees Shibuya only as a source of money, but it also symbolizes his lack of ambition, since he's keeping all his money locked up in Shibuya in a bank vault (where it's safe but not doing anything) instead of using it to build outward like Okumura did with his space station palace.
  • Futaba's Palace is a pyramid based on her house. Pyramids are tombs, and Futaba believes her mother wanted her dead. By shutting herself up in her house, she's essentially burying herself in her self-loathing. And Medjed the god is represented as a Bedsheet Ghost, so it's no wonder that Medjed the hacker would be found in a pyramid, because where else would an Egyptian ghost hang out?
  • Okumura's Palace is a space station, representing the childhood dreams he thought he'd achieved, and its Treasure is its power core, representing how his distorted desires are the only thing holding that belief together (and setting it apart from real-life space stations, which are solar-powered and thus, to complete the metaphor, don't need to rely on a Treasure since they have external support); if he didn't have them, he would have realized that his desire for wealth was ruining his personal life.
  • Sae's palace is a casino based on her courthouse. Since she no longer believes in justice, she thinks it's entirely up to chance whether the law condemns or exonerates you; therefore, a courtroom might as well be a casino. And under this system, the only way to be sure of the outcome you want is to cheat, which is the basis of Shadow Sae's boss fight. It's also interesting to note that outright gambling is illegal in Japan, so having a casino Palace shows how dangerously close Sae is to becoming an actual criminal like the Phantom Thieves.
  • Shido's Palace is a cruise ship. The obvious symbolism is that it's floating over a sinking country like how Shido will 'sink' Japan to ensure his own power and that it's something that he can steer (unlike actual countries where you need to heed the will of their people to some extent or get overthrown), but it also underscores his lack of connection to Japan, as cruise ships routinely sail through international waters and dock at ports around the world. While Shido's speeches compare Japan to his ship, that's clearly a lie and he actually sees Japan as just a favorable port for his Ark of the Elite to dock and exploit until it falls under the sea, at which point he'll move on, unlike Yoshida who is a genuine patriot.
  • Mementos is based on the entire city of Tokyo; as Japan's capital it is the home of the legal system that the country unthinkingly supports even as it becomes corrupt and oppressive. It also takes the form of a giant subway system, where everyone goes but no one has any personal connection, and most of the people met there are strangers, much like the faceless masses who empower Mementos.
    • Mementos is underground, growing more distorted the deeper you go until you reach the Holy Grail in the center of the Earth. In the Divine Comedy, Hell was depicted as an underground pit, with Satan at the deepest levels and in the center of Earth to the point where gravity inverts around his midsection.
• The symbolic appearance of each boss.
  • Kamoshida: An ugly tyrant that demands respect and offerings for past glories, refusing to do anything befitting a king in the present. The men of his kingdom are his soldiers, fighting his battles while their king indulges himself with the women and other pleasures.
  • Madarame: His entire appearance could be likened to a self-portrait, art that many famous and brilliant artists like Vincent Van Gogh create. But Madarame's self-portrait reveals his ugly soul and vanity, requiring four separate canvas' for only his face.
  • Kaneshiro: A fly and a pig overindulging himself on money, not caring what happens to the people he takes it from.
  • The Sphinx- The protector of a pyramid's treasure and its Pharaoh, the sphinx takes down all intruders wishing to steal from the Pharaoh's tomb. But unlike the normal Sphinx, this Sphinx wishes only for the Pharaoh to stay in her tomb forever.
  • Kunikazu: As befitting a man overwhelmed with greed, he refuses to fight himself, instead relying on manpower bought with his money - in fact, he's the only boss not to undergo a demonic transform at all. Employees who take untold amounts of punishment but never refuse to work, while he remains sealed inside his spacesuit, away from the consequences of his actions.
  • Sae: A woman who once believed in justice but upon seeing Japan's law system, how corrupt and rigged against the defendant it was, became twisted by what she saw and turned into a monster who only believed winners can get ahead in life-a great Black Knight with no liege but her own ambitions.
  • Goro: An illegitimate child who was screwed from the get-go from a mere label and a horrible home life, sharing the beliefs of the other Phantom Thieves but having no one to guide or care for him, letting his misanthropy and anger consume him and abuse the powers Yaldabaoth bestowed upon him. The outfit Loki grants him is dark blue and black, is evocative of a prison uniform with its stripes, excessive belts wrapped across his body, and the large neck brace that serves as part of his helmet. Akechi is a true "prisoner of fate," doomed to fall from the get-go, from his birth to the false accomplishments to the false praise Shido bestows upon him - evocative not only of the despair and emptiness that his life has bought, but of Loki himself as well. Additionally, its vague resemblance to a Featherman outfit invokes that he Used to Be a Sweet Kid who genuinely believed in justice before he become consumed by his darkness.
  • Shido: A man who only sees the masses as stepping stones for his own glory. Instead of the leader serving the general public, the general public serves the whims of their leader like sacrifices-he also thinks himself perfect, with his demonic form being little more than extra muscle piled on his human form. This also makes him a political strongman who fights as a literal strongman.
  • Yaldabaoth: A colossal machine-like evil God, representing how rigid, degrading and oppressive the societal order can be and how despite all this the people maintain and uphold it because they're too afraid to do otherwise.
  • Berserk Cendrillon: Cendrillon, but being of a red coloration instead of the usual blue, with a deranged look on her face as well as completely forced and mechanical movements. Cendrillon is being driven berserk by Maruki stimulating Sumire's delusional thoughts, so it wouldn't be able to fight normally and freely.
  • Maruki: A clean well dressed scientist to his more scruffle but down to earth look who believes he figured out human psychology enough that he can provide for everyone's desires and ending their suffering, only to succumb to his hardships and public insanity himself and became just as misguided as the other palace owners who oppress people when he lost control of his persona and let it took him over - and who fights as a mighty wizard in golden armor, still holding to his idealism, but one who relies almost completely on the demon who feeds his worst ambitions.
    • And there's also Maruki's Persona, Azathoth/Adam Kadmon: Azathoth takes the form of a rotten, tree-like organism with a golden bone plate acting as its center body who never talks. This represents that it festers ignorance among humanity and making them nothing more than metaphorical husks, and its tree-like form foreshadows its evolved form; the embodiment of ultimate enlightenment through the Sefirot (the Tree of Life), Adam Kadmon, who appears as a brilliant, golden humanoid robot who uses more standard and simplistic attacks. It also acts as if it were its own entity, more so than its previous form, Azathoth. This symbolizes that regardless of what the Thieves thought of it or Maruki, they merely wanted to guide humanity to a golden age for earnest, and not to harm the Phantom Thieves unless they have to. Adam Kadmon's head crest, seamless metal hide, and overall build are also a reference to Japan's Ultra Series heroes the same way Makoto and Johanna are a reference to Kamen Rider. In Maruki's eyes, he's a savior from another world guiding humanity into a brighter future.
    • There's also the fact that some may view Azathoth as a more warped version of a caduceus, a symbol commonly associated with medical practitioners (i.e.: doctors), representing how Maruki views himself as a healer despite the twisted methods he uses to do so. Meanwhile, Adam Kadmon resembles an imposing humanoid figure decked in radiant golden armor, reflecting how Maruki puts up the front of a benign leader that genuinely wishes to lead humanity to an eternal golden age despite how tormented he is underneath.
• The security icons of the Palace rulers once their Shadows are revealed give ultimate hints as to what their real world treasures are (with the exception of Maruki and the People of Tokyo):
  • Shadow Kamoshida is holding his medal.
  • Shadow Madarame has the "Sayuri" behind him with the portion containing baby Yusuke covered up.
  • Shadow Kaneshiro is holding wads of cash, likely his bank notes from his briefcase.
  • Shadow Okumura has a spaceship flying in the background.
  • Shido doesn't have a unique "Shadow" icon, but the lack thereof can also foreshadow how his treasure, and later his confession, would amount to nothing for the Thieves.
    • On the other hand Shadow Futaba and Shadow Sae don't have anything, the former doesn't even gain a unique portrait once the group meets her Shadow. That's because Futaba's Shadow wasn't trying to harm Futaba or the Thieves once she figured out their intentions, and the real Futaba became the treasure when she entered her own Palace. Meanwhile Sae's Shadow was a genuine threat to Thieves and her real world self's psyche, hence the hostile portrait change, and her treasure is left deliberately vague since she came to her senses by herself and her Shadow eventually returned to her.
    • Look closely at Shadow Futaba, and you'll see that she's holding herself, hinting that she is the Treasure.
• Each of the Palace's skyline give some insight about their owner's true nature.
  • The skyline of Kamoshida, Madarame and Kaneshiro's Palaces all appear as nighttime with a distorted hue (deep pink, blue and green, respectively) that is never found in the real word, indicating that they are all bad news from the start and are deluded beyond comprehension.
  • Niijima's Palace's skyline appears as nighttime, indicating that she desires control and oppression like the other Palace rulers. However, it's also a clear night instead of the skyline being distorted with a different color, indicating that she's not that evil, and ultimately she's just rigging cases to find a living because she can't otherwise.
  • Okumura's Palace has a pitch black skyline, symbolizing that just like any of the targets above, he's also drowned and corrupted by his ambitions. In reality, that's actually the vastness of space and not an actual skyline, so the "sky" in this case, represents how the public demonizes him to goad the Phantom Thieves into an overconfidence trap. The realistic space scenery makes him relate more to the sympathetic targets, but the absurdity of it being space means he is still as delusional as the unsympathetic ones.
  • Futaba's Palace, unlike the other ones, is the only one where the sky was an ever-consistent daylight. While it symbolizes how she views the outside world as a hell as it's constantly blazing-hot (as opposed to the pyramid/her room which is cool and well-ventilated, it also sheds light into her true nature that unlike the previous targets, she's just a sweet girl torn by trauma and Survivor Guilt.
  • Then, we have Shido's Palace and the Qliphoth World, whose skies all appear as twilight instead of night or day. This might be weird considering those are the greatest evil of all evils and a bright sky upon a Palace supposedly means an owner of goodwill, but twilight is the transformation from day, to night. While a twilight sky is a beautiful sight which symbolizes how they believe that they are guiding the public to a golden age, they are actually guiding them to ruin, since the twilight guides directly from daylight into nighttime.
  • Last but not least, we have Maruki's Palace. The outlook of this Palace is a clear night, symbolizing the darkness and suffering caused by the outside world. However, inside the Palace is extremely well-lit with a warm, white or yellow sunlight. Since the interior is actually a globe with the world's continent printed on it, it might symbolize how Maruki believes that with his reality, nobody will need to suffer, for suffering is impossible within the ultimate and genuine realization of humanity's happiness. However, the exterior and the topmost core where Maruki and Azathoth were fought are still those of the night, symbolizing that Maruki's "happy world" is an illusion and a lie, after all.
• The random enemies fought in each Palace have a tendency to reflect the theme of the Palace:
  • Kamoshida's Castle: Early-game mooks such as Pixie and Jack-o-Lantern, horse and knight themed shadows who might guard a castle, and Lust-themed shadows such as Succubus and Incubus. There's also Silky, who serves to reflect his views on women.
  • Madarame's Museum: Abstract-looking shadows, many from Japanese Mythology, who might be found in art pieces or have to do with art (such as Jack Frost and snow sculptures or Shiki-Ouji and origami).
  • Kaneshiro's Bank: Buff, brutish shadows like Oni and Take-Minakata who might be employed as guards, and pretty women such as Leanan Sidhe like the ones the real Kaneshiro keeps around.
  • Futaba's Pyramid: Egyptian and/or Middle Eastern shadows such as Thoth, Mot, and Anubis.
  • Okumura's Spaceport: Sci-Fi themed shadows such as Mothman and those which look like space aliens, such as Decarabia and Girimehkala.
  • Sae's Casino: Notably has a large number of female shadows, reflecting Sae's frustration on the status of women in Japanese society. Many are also covered in riches and/or are of East Asian origin (representing wealth due to their golden-clad attires), fitting for a Casino.
  • Shido's Cruiser: Royalty-themed shadows like Forneus and King Frost, reflecting how Shido sees himself as essentially the king of Japan.
  • Depth's of Mementos/Qliphoth World: Shadows related to Christianity and/or Judgement Day, which is made even clearer in Royal. You even fight the four Archangels before facing the Holy Grail/Demiurge.
  • Maruki's Lab: Shadows from fairy tales, such as Cu Chulainn, Siegfried, Fafnir and Bugs, reflecting how Maruki seeks to give everyone a "Happily Ever After" in his world. Nebiros and Belial still fit this, since they can be fused into Alice. A couple of Lovecraftian shadows (Byakhee and Hastur) join in as well, tying in with his Initial Persona (Azathoth) and symbolizing that his paradise is artificial like Lovecraftian myth. Maruki's shadows are also often mythical entities associated with death, chaos and misfortune, as opposed to Yaldabaoth's ones that represent more straightforward holy or apocalyptic figures, forming a contrast with each other.
• The Safe Rooms are a weakness in the Palace Ruler's Distortion due to a lack influence or power, preventing them from sending Shadows in there and making them prime areas for the Phantom Thieves to rest and recuperate during their infiltration. In each case, there is a reasonable explanation as to why the distortion is weaker in those areas.
  • In Kamoshida's Palace, the existence of safe rooms are likely the result of a lack of influence. While him being allowed to assault and harass his students as he pleases due to the Principal covering it up to save face and keeping him around due to his reputation as an Olympic medalist gives him a sense that he's a king, the most influence he really has on the school is in the sports related areas such as the gymnasium or the PE faculty office, and maybe the class he himself is in charge of. In rooms such as another teacher's classroom, which the safe rooms are implied to be, he would likely have less overall influence and power than the actual teacher, weakening the distortion as a result.
  • Madarame is known to take in many apprentices who he's had make art for him to publish as his own. A weakness in the distortion upon entering a safe room will show that in reality it is an artist's painting room, meaning that's likely where he has them do work. In there his pupils are able to freely express themselves through without him looming over them, such as the painting at the exhibit that Ann felt expressed Yusuke's anger and frustration at being a source of paintings for Madarame. This shows that these rooms are the one places where his students feel they're able to escape his abuse and can freely express themselves, thus weakening his influence there.
  • Kaneshiro's safe rooms makes sense due to the wide scale of the place of his distortion. While he's ultimately a dangerous and influential criminal, he's still ultimately a minor member of The Conspiracy and is spreading himself thin. The safe rooms represent how he doesn't and never can have full control over Shibuya; there are still places he cannot know.
  • When the Distortion in Futaba's Palace wavers, keen-eyed players will notice that what appears is her room in the real world. While Futaba has proclaimed that Sojiro's house is her tomb and that it's where she will die, the room that she never leaves is effectively the place she feels most at ease. In other words, it's a Safe Room less because the distortion there is weak, but because she views it as such- and since Futaba wants the Phantom Thieves to break into her palace, it's safe for them too.
  • While Okumura was the CEO of his company and, as Haru's Confidant implies, the majority shareholder, that doesn't mean that he didn't face any kind of opposition within it. During his confession he admits to orchestrating the illnesses or even deaths of certain executives who opposed his desire to expand Big Bang Burger to overseas. There's also the fact that one of the major characters in Haru's Confidant, a high-ranking executive named Takakura who joined the company out of respect for Haru's grandfather, is stated to have tensions with Okumura due to how differently he did things compared to his father, to the point that it was rumored that he was elated when Okumura died since it presents him the opportunity to bring the company back to its roots. Since Okumura's palace covers the entire headquarters, it obviously has safe rooms representing (and presumably being the offices of employees who opposed him) these pockets of resistance.
  • One of the reasons for Sae's distortion is the fact that, despite all the hard work she puts into her job as a prosecutor, she's looked down on by her co-workers and others involved in law such as detectives due to being a woman in a male-dominant field, something which frustrates her to no end. While the courthouse is her Palace, she is fully aware that she doesn't have complete control over it due to the general lack of respect she receives, thus the Safe Rooms; those are where other prosecutors hold sway.
  • Shido's palace draws its power from his political campaign, and while Yaldabaoth has made him extremely popular, nothing in democracy is unanimous and Shido still had opposition (such as Yoshida if you finish the Sun Confidant) who did get votes. Hence why there are safe rooms; those represent the offices of opposition politicians and the votes of people who weren't taken in by Yaldabaoth.
  • The Prison of Regression is the Palace for the people of Tokyo, the majority of which are Apathetic Citizens who couldn't care less about what's going on in the country or who's controlling them so long as they have some kind of peaceful and carefree existence. That being said there are a select few individuals, such as the Phantom Thieves and all your Confidants, who view themselves to be more than just cogs in the machine, as shown when they're the only ones to notice the fusion of Mementos and the Real World. This lack of complete, blind obedience to societal norms, or more accurately to the Holy Grail, is a sign to the limit of Yaldaboath's influence and that there are people who are free of his mass-manipulations.
  • While the sheer scale of the target's power makes their existence even odder, there are two possible explanations as to why Maruki's lab has safe rooms. One is that it's like the Prison of Regression above (which it connects to and occupies in its place) in that certain individuals are interfering with its influence, which in this case would be those who aren't enamored with or benefiting from his new reality like the Phantom Thieves. Another possible explanation is that the Cognition is weak because of Maruki himself, whether it be because his actions are less his own and more because of his Persona devolving from Adam Kadmon to Azathoth and manifesting the distortions on its own, because Maruki might not be the sole resident or authority of the laboratory way back in time, or simply because of his genuinely welcoming and pacifistic nature causing him to inadvertently create them, since unlike previous targets he doesn't want to hurt the Thieves.
• Perhaps there might be a lot more Shido can do using the Metaverse with Wakaba's research in his hand, but he falls flat just like any other target save for collapsing his Palace, something that has failed numerous times before (and even Ryuji gets out alive because the explosions in the Metaverse don't kill). This is actually fitting, considering that he represents the sin of Pride, which means that his hubris is too extreme that he outright neglects to learn more about it other than to use it to kill anyone he doesn't like.
• While the real Shido has a backup plan for Akechi assassinating him, the Cognitive Akechi trap probably wasn't coming from his real person, but from his Shadow. Shido in real life might be a power-hungry and good-for-nothing politician who can't glue himself without the help of Akechi and the Holy Grail, but fitting to his sin of Pride, he does have an insufferably high ego, and as seen with the cheater in Mementos that could literally make his Shadow invincible through cheating in video games, the Metaverse does put Your Mind Makes It Real to full effect. As a result, Shadow Shido would become an almighty political strongman and a genius tactician who could set up a nice ambush against the real Akechi should he fail his mission or dare raid his Palace — and actually pull it off.
• You'll probably miss it the first time through, but in Ryuji's conversation with the Protagonist, they actually say the three coordinates necessary to use the Meta-Nav. Ryuji even explicitly refers to Shujin academy as "Kamoshida's castle."
  • The first episode in the Animation brings emphasis to this by showing the Meta-Nav react to the keywords.
  • The exact same thing happens when Kasumi blunders into Maruki's Palace - she laments how she's a burden to Dr. Maruki, and that it's a stadium, not a lab. Eagle-eared players can use this to figure out who the True Final Boss is as early as October.
• Why is Madarame's Palace a museum? All other Palaces are fantastical settings that the owner wants, but could only dream of. Madarame, however, already has numerous pieces in museums and spends a lot of time in his exhibitions. His Shadow even rants about his low opinion of the art world. So why fantasize about a fancier version of his day-to-day life? Because he doesn't really have pieces in museums. All the works in his exhibitions are stolen from his students. He hasn't put out anything truly original in almost two decades. His Palace is all about vanity, so he fantasizes that all his students themselves are his creations. That way, he can rationalize to himself that the talent of the students he's exploiting is, in some manner, his own. It's not just Madarame lying to the public for fame and profit. The Palace represents him lying to himself that he's still some great artist instead of a washed up old failure jealous of those who actually have artistic ability to soothe his battered ego.
  • Another thing about Madarame's Museum Palace. Unlike how an art museum is supposed to be, there's barely any art in it. The only pieces that can even be called a proper painting in an art museum is the portals leading the Distorted Maze. The other pieces are just cognitive paintings of his pupils, plagiarized copies of "Sayuri", two sculptures that emphasize his vanity and Japanese fan decors. Even in his Palace, a golden art museum, he doesn't even have any work within it. He's just stealing the credit of his student's artwork (in a way that he was literally stealing them!) and didn't produce anything of his own value within the past few years.
• Madarame's plagiarism theme shows even in his boss fight. His Shadow uses "unique" moves that are just renamed versions of normal skills like Magaru, Mabufu and Megido. Even his attacks are plagiarized!
  • For added brilliance, the only attack his human form can use is Madara-Megido, which is a shoddy knockoff of the regular Megido both in terms of name and power. If this is what he is truly capable of on his own, then his genuine art talent has devolved to match that henohenomoheji, and all the "fancy" works he plagiarized are naught but a cover for that.
  • Not only that, Shadow Madarame praised himself for coming up with the "brilliant scheme" of selling copies of the painting Sayuri to collectors by making them think they're buying the supposedly stolen original so they will keep quiet about it and allow him to use the same con over and over again for more money. It turns out that isn't even an original scam at all. In 1911, Argentine Con Man Eduardo de Valfierno allegedly masterminded the theft of the Mona Lisa by former Louvre worker Vincenzo Peruggia not because he wanted the painting itself, but rather because he planned on selling six forgeries of it that he shipped around to world and close to their eventual millionaires buyers before the heist even took place because he knew that it would be harder to pass the copies through customs after word of the robbery would hit to the newspapers. That's it, even as a scam artist, Madarame is nothing but a sad imitator who doesn't hold a candle to the real deal.
  • Royal expands upon this with his new strategy: "True Fake" has Madarame summon four elementally-themed Ersatz copies of himself which also use renamed versions of mid-tier magic spells. Not only can said copies be exploited for One Mores and Baton Passes, but as the battle goes on the copies begin to show signs of degradation; they can be summoned with very low HP and are afflicted with random ailments such as Freeze or Sleep, meaning a high chance for Technical Damage, and this chance only increases the longer the battle continues. His ability to copy other works is rapidly failing him.
• Why is Futaba's shadow helpful rather than antagonistic? Shadows are the repressed feelings about oneself, Futaba knew that her mother loved her, but the blame thrown at her made her repress it. Unlike Shadows of P4 who embodied negative feelings, Futaba's Shadow was made of her positive feelings and righteous anger, thus worked to repair her self's fractured psyche. The only things opposing the Thieves in her palace are traps, representing her instinctive desire to push others away even when she really consciously wants to welcome them.
  • Extending this, Shadows are reversals of a person's current selves given form. For example, Chie is upright Chariot (determination), while Shadow Chie is reverse Chariot (lack of conviction). When you meet Futaba and then see her Shadow, the roles are reversed themselves: Shadow Futaba is upright Hermit (moving forward) whereas present Futaba is reverse Hermit (cannot leave behind). It is little surprise that the Shadow ends up lecturing their current form for missing the truth, something that was massively hammered in P4 but performed the other way around.
• Futaba's Palace resembles an Egyptian pyramid, and her Persona is the Necronomicon, named after a tome of forbidden knowledge in the Cthulhu Mythos. The tome's author was Abdul Alhazred, a madman who lived in Yemen circa 700 AD, and at that time, Yemen was part of the Umayyad Caliphate, which spanned much of the Middle East and North Africa, including parts of modern-day Egypt. Alhazred even journeyed to the ruins of Memphis, one of Egypt's great ancient cities.
  • Necronomicon seems like the odd one out of a group inspired by outlaws and criminals; however, if you are familiar with the 'Cthulhu Mythos', the Necronomicon was written by Abdul Alhazred, a Muslim apostate. Another explanation is that unlike the rest of the cast, Futaba didn't need to rebel to awaken.
    • Actually, thinking about it... what exactly is the Necronomicon, anyways? It's a tome of forbidden secrets. Futaba's rebellion isn't as concrete as the others because it's more subtle- she rebels by refusing to go along with The Conspiracy's plan to pin her mother's death on her conscience. She rebels by holding onto the forbidden secrets that she knows are true- that she didn't kill her mother, and that her mother loved her.
    • Speaking of Futaba's Persona, near the end of the game she says her Persona is a bit special because she wants to learn the truth. Now consider that she gets her Persona from accepting her Shadow self, and her Phantom Thief mask is really a pair of visor-goggles. All of these are references to Persona 4. The reason Necronomicon doesn't fit the theme of the other Personas is because Futaba is actually a Seeker of Truth. The rebellious part comes from the "forbidden" part of the Necronomicon, she wants to seek the truth that evil hides and isn't afraid to break laws and taboos to reveal it.
• The Pyramid of Wrath being the most sympathetic target becomes brilliant when you think about the old adadge that Wrath is the most likely of the Seven Deadly Sins to be caused by morally good motives.
• The Palace right before the story catches up to the present day is a casino. The palace's owner claims to want to "fight it out fair and square", but the entire dungeon's gimmick is that you have to go through rigged casino games in order to make it to the treasure, and in order to get through, the Thieves have to cheat themselves in order to beat the rigged odds. This is very fitting from a meta-narrative standpoint on two levels. First, you know that no matter what happens during the heist, the ending is a Foregone Conclusion where the heist goes awry, and the Protagonist gets captured. Second, the reason the heist goes awry is because it's all a setup by Goro to capture the Thieves, meaning that even the heist itself was rigged for failure. And to top it all off, the Protagonist escapes from this situation by "cheating" again, this time by cheating death so that he can escape with Sae's help and strike back against the Conspiracy when they least expect it.
  • Considering the Palace's owner and its real-world location, Sae who is a prosecutor, and the courthouse. You could see it as one big metaphor for how rigged the system is. Especially against people like the Phantom Thieves.
  • It might also mean that Shadow Sae knows the Police are coming and stalls for time so that it can be fought in the real world - where both individuals DEFINITELY hold the same amount of power.
  • In a twisted sense, Shadow Sae really is the only person in her boss fight who is fighting "fair and square", since both the Phantom Thieves and Akechi have ulterior motives and do not actually intend to steal her treasure. Shadow Sae, on the other hand, doesn't know this and is fighting for her life and her Treasure just as if the casino heist was real.
• Why does Shido's Shadow manage to remember the protagonist when Shido himself can only remember his face being familiar? Because of two reasons. One, Shido was extremely drunk at the time and refused to make appearances at the trials that charged Joker with assault. He only had the fuzzy memory of Joker's face when he was drunk. Second, Shido's Shadow is Shido's subconscious and has access to everything Shido subconscious remembers, allowing it to easily recall the memory of Joker when he sees his face. Thirdly, he couldn't care less about the people he crushed. When Futaba and Haru confronted Shadow Shido about Wakaba and Okumura's death, he doesn't even acknowledge them as obstacles in any sort of way and flat out admits that he didn't care even if their deaths indicate the most important day of the two innocent girls' lives. Will he actually care about a random kid he ruined, considering it's heavily implied that suing people for petty reasons was a daily routine for him?
• Shido has claimed that "A small leak can sink a great ship", and this brings into gameplay itself during Royal. During his first 2 phases in his true Samael form, he has a multitude of Magic and Physical attacks, and can kill Joker instantly using a Heat Riser, Charge buffed triple chain Tyrant's Fist > Tyrant's Judgment > Tyrant's Wave combo. But during his third form when his HP goes below a quarter? He starts fighting Joker one-on-one and only uses Severe Tier Fire/Ice/Wind/Elec/Bless Magic and Heat Riser (Or Debilitate if he hits a weakness.) The fatal flaw? Not only the protagonist can swap personas to match the next attack he uses (Which is extremely predictable if the player has a keen eye) so he nulls, repels or absorbs said attack, a resourceful player can even spam Magic Ointments on Joker and he doesn't even start using almighty unlike most bosses, or even mid bosses who do have backup options assuming all of their normal attacks are blocked. This means that as long as Joker has Magic Ointments to block his attacks, he would kill himself trying to attack him.
• Shido sees himself as God's Chosen One to lead Japan into the future. The general public, with the exception of the party and Confidants, single-mindedly support him in the end-game because Yaldabaoth is using his influence to amplify Shido's oratory beyond all limits of sanity. That the protagonist and his party, half of whose lives have been heavily affected by Shido's actions, should be the ones to take him out suggests that such a destined meeting is no coincidence. Sae even lampshades how the chance meeting between Shido, Joker and Ryuji is what inspires the latter to propose the Phantom Thieves keep operating after having stopped Kamoshida. One of Joker's responses to her ("It was all just a game") implies that Yaldabaoth also arranged this to keep his 'competition' from ending prematurely.
• An interesting detail about Maruki's research lab Palace in the third semester is there is a mental health check room that requires you to choose between 2, 3 and 5 options respectively about what leads to happiness. The correct answer is what fits Maruki's current mindset, everything else is wrong and will cause you to be attacked by Shadows. The catch is that the Shadows are all just fodder shadows without any remarkable enemies in between so it does very little to punish you for wrong choices, and in the areas with 3 to 5 options you can even cheat by looking at the windows of the celling for Shadow therapists. This indicates that while Maruki is distorted to believe apathy is happiness, he does have some sort of mercy to any invaders against his ideal world unless he has to fight.
  • The first question of the quiz is "One day at school, you see that your good friend has been led away by a group of scary people! You want to help your friend...But if you fight them alone and lose, you can easily get hurt. If you go look for a teacher, there would be no danger to you. But if you don't succeed in time, your friend will most likely get hurt. Which would you do in this situation? A. Go after your friend. B. Go get help." This is a chillingly accurate metaphor to Kasumi and Sumire's situation, since Kasumi died risking herself trying to save her sister from danger.
  • The third question makes a lot more sense once the sequel's events are involved. It's: "You've gained power to steal people's hearts! Thoughts, emotions, information...you can steal all of it from anyone in the world! Not only that, you can use this power without fear of getting caught! In this scenario, which sounds closest to what you would do?" The answers are: "A: Steal something valuable B. Never steal anything C. Steal my own heart to heal. D. Steal evil hearts to fix society and E. Steal the one I love's heart". The correct answer is D, and if you look at the context of Persona 5 Scramble, it makes a lot more sense why this would lead to happiness while the others don't. For Konoe, Ichinose and EMMA, the answer to happiness is when all of humanity's hearts are forcibly changed so they can't commit any crimes, and thus all people are exempt from wrongdoing. As for the other answers, A. Steal something valuable relates to Ango Natsume's instance, where he changed his publisher's hearts with EMMA's Jail function so the money goes to him instead when he realized that they were just fleecing his plagiarized novel for their profit, B. is for Hyodo who thought that she had nothing to steal because she's satisfied on how great she's been maintaining Sapporo, only to have several corrupt politicians force her to step down for a scandal that she didn't have major involvement in and is forced to Change their hearts as a result, C. is for Ichinose trying to "correct her flaws" with Sophia, which didn't work out for her as Sophia triggered her insecurities. and E. Steal the one I love's heart relates to Alice, who used the same function from EMMA to make every men in Shibuya fall for her because her crush was taken away by jealous school bullies after they humiliate her physically and later, on the net. Needless to say, all of these don't end up well.
• This doubles with Fridge Horror but in Royal, much like he does in the real world, after Shadow Kamoshida gets definitively rejected by Ann, he ends up replacing his cognition of her with a subservient Shiho instead.
• In Maruki's Palace, the Dimmer puzzles in the topmost level consist of mixing red, blue and green lights. When all three colors combine together at full intensity, it results in pure, white light. And white is the main coloration of the Sephirot Keter, also known as the source where all life manifests from.
• Once the Phantom Thieves get 4 out of 5 of the invitation letters in Shido's Palace, Shido inexplicably orders Akechi to assassinate the nobles who handed them over (with little justification, which fully tips off Akechi to the fact that something is definitely wrong, making him realize that Joker is still alive and the Phantom Thieves are still active). This seems a bit odd, since normally Palace owners in the real world are completely unaware of what is going on in their palaces. However, Shido is aware of his own Palace, which makes him more attuned to what happens inside (which he demonstrates later when his Shadow is defeated, as he actively realizes that his heart is about to be changed), making him subconsciously wary of anyone who he can't trust even in his own psyche, and because the cognitions of the nobles betrayed his trust (even if it was by force), he loses his trust in their real counterparts and wants them eliminated just to be sure.
  • This is seen as early as the first letter, where Shido calls up Politician Ooe to discuss his funding. The second letter involves the former noble, whom Shido calls to ensure that he's loyal, quite notably asking about said loyalty.
• Many people have called out Shido for his stupidity in planning to kill Akechi, who's the only reason his conspiracy got off the ground and his only way of exploiting the Metaverse, but if you think about it, he has to. Most of his political campaign is focused around accusing the government of not being able to stop the mental shutdown epidemic. Thus, when he becomes Prime Minister, the shutdowns have to stop or he'll fall into his own trap. At that point, Akechi becomes more dangerous (knows too much, is unstable, Shido knows he's planning a betrayal) than useful (since now he can only collect blackmail through the Metaverse), so he has to die. This is also why Shido is so insistent that Akechi eliminate loose ends right now; he knows he won't be able to kill people through Akechi for much longer.
  • This also exposes a new problem with the plan as a whole; it was from the very start going to undermine itself. Shido knows perfectly well that Akechi is a temporary asset, and he still heavily relies on Akechi's mental shutdowns for his conspiracy's power, and never seems to consider any other ways to deal with the inevitable opposition he will face in office. Like father, like son; Shido's plan had the exact same problems that Akechi's did. This also speaks to Shido's pride; he doesn't think he'll need to work to gain the people's favor because he thinks he's the chosen one and thus entitled to it, and he thinks that obviously once he's Prime Minister people will fall in line and he won't even need the untraceable mental shutdowns to ruin people.
• Shido's Palace being a boat traversing a flooded world makes sense when you consider what he says about himself; that he was chosen by God. His Palace is meant to represent his belief that he is The Chosen One leading his worthy followers to salvation and into a better future. It's Noah's Ark.
  • When climbing the outside of the ship to get to the IT President and obtain the fourth letter, eagle-eyed viewers will notice "The Ark of Elite" on the side of the ship, further displaying Shido's belief.
• Each of the Palace Rulers cardinal sin is eventually turned against them in order to ensure absolute victory against them.
  • Kamoshida's shameless Lust for his glory days as a former Olympian as well as his perverse sense of it towards high school girls reside in the form of his crown and cup respectively. By prioritizing the destruction of the cup and then arranging for either Morgana or Ryuji to knock the crown out of Kamoshida's reach, he becomes weakened enough for the Phantom Thieves to easily hand him his crown, symbolizing how meaningless Kamoshida's life will be once he's later stripped of his gold medal in the real world.
  • Madarame's cold calculated sense of Vanity as a decayed artist who leeches off young promising artists until they dare speak out against him or worse is embodied by his ability to paint party members with the same black tar brush making them weak to all affinities not unlike how he blacklists those who dare rise against him in the art world. Painting him with that very same brush ensures an easy victory. In Royal, he can also manifest clones of himself, but they can be destroyed easily and slowly decay in quality, showing how he started as a good artist (the cognition paintings aren't bad at all) but slowly decayed into a talentless hack as seen in the present.
  • Kaneshiro's Gluttony-like appeal towards money as a notorious mobster in the criminal underworld is easily turned against him during his boss fight when the Phantom Thieves keep him distracted with their most rare items while they focus on bringing down his giant Piggytron. In Royal, his guards are literally money-grubbing flies that are only in for the money, so by tricking him into spending all of the money in his bank to cripple the Thieves, the Guards will run away and never return, allowing the Thieves to finish him off as he spends the rest of the fight remorseful.
  • Cognitive Wakaba, the true ruler of Futaba's palace has a strong sense of Wrath against Futaba as the real deal was wrongfully led to believe, but once Futaba awakens to her Persona, she's able to keep a cool head and help guide the Phantom Thieves to a comeback victory! Royal attempts to have Wakaba make Futaba doubt herself, but so long as you calmly shoot down Wakaba's angrish talking points, victory will be yours.
  • Okumura's rampant unscrupulous Greed leads to him treating his employees like soldier robots that he can order to self-destruct at a whim; in Royal, even the cognitive copy of his daughter is just as dispensable. To win the battle in time, a calculated, precise game of attrition must be played and with a correct layout, you can create a chain of Baton Passes that pile obscene amounts of firepower onto the robots, disposing of them quickly until Okumura finds out he can summon no more, effectively folding to your offensives that are just as greedy and reckless as his business practices.
  • Niijima's amoral sense of Envy leads to her using a rigged roulette to potentially cripple the party just like how she's willing to cross the ethical line at her job in order to make sure she and Makoto can support themselves as women in a patriarchal workplace. Unfortunately for her, the Phantom Thieves have no problem turning the tables against her, leading to her hulking out into her true form once you expose her dirty cheating and use the roulette wheel to your advantage. Royal sees the Roulette working solely in her favor after she's exposed, but the contents of the new Roulette makes sure that she's nothing more than a normal opponent forced to fight fair and square.
  • Shido's overbearing sense of Pride as the head of the Conspiracy has him believing he's untouchable so much so that his initial Shadow form looks just like his real-world counterpart. His boss fight is no slouch having no less than five forms to help further drive the point home. In Royal, Shido also isolates Joker to a one-on-one fight in a last-ditch effort to win, but his pride also leads to him using attacks in an extremely fixated order with no attempts to surprise a Wild Card user. This means as a Wild Card, Joker can actually use the extensive knowledge of his personas to No-Sell his attacks leading to a beaten-down Shido genuinely admitting defeat.
  • Yaldabaoth purposefully manipulates the public into Sloth and ruin as an incarnation of absolute order and apathy who refuses to entertain silly ideas like "hope" and purposely rigged the events of Persona 5 wanting only him to win over the masses from the onset, even tampering with the Velvet Room to ensure Joker stood no possible chance against him, until the chosen Trickster actively stands up against him and refuses his offer to rule alongside him, kicking off the very thing it feared; a true rebellion. This kicks off in turn a chain reaction as the reinvigorated Phantom Thieves tear through the false gods' merging of Mementos and reality, bringing the so-called "ignorant masses" to their senses and culminating in them cheering for their rogue heroes, allowing Joker to bring out Arsene's true potential as Satanael who literally blows Yaldabaoth's mind with one powerful shot.
  • Maruki's painful bottled up Sorrow over what happened to his ex-fiance caused him to unknowingly awaken a Persona that subtly allows him to overwrite a person's cognitive reality without their consent leading to the identity crisis of "Kasumi" and upon getting a temporary job at Shujin, the leader of the Phantom Thieves acting as his sounding board for his thesis on cognitive psience along with the group's exploits positively affecting society allows him to create a world where no pain and suffering can exist after he fully awakens his persona, without the consent of anyone whose reality he's tampered with. Despite he understands Joker's choice to tear down the good doctor's false reality, Maruki still won't go down without a fight, befitting of a depressed man who refuses to properly deal with his grief. Therefore, he becomes weaker and weaker at each phase, eventually degrading into a broken man only capable of exchanging fists with Joker before finally letting go of his past trauma.
• The bosses also tend to have subtle tactical weakness against the person or people with Character Focus:
  • Kamoshida will occasionally buff his attack, requiring Ann to use Tarunda to remove the buff and keep his attack in check. He's also so fixated on her that he only uses his powerful lick attack against her, and not Joker. Ryuji is bulky enough that he's able to take even Gold Medal Spike without guarding and still be able to fight afterwards.
  • Madarame's painting form has varied drain-type resistances preventing you from getting rid of them all at once. The best strategy is to use all-hitting physical attacks to remove the dangerous eyes and nose, leaving only the mouth and its sole physical attack, and Yusuke will be packing the powerful Vicious Strike to do this. In Royal, you can chain Baton Passes onto Yusuke to unleash a souped-up and no-cost Vicious Strike, which will finish off the clones even with resistance and leave Madarame unable to do anything.
  • The Thieves are unable to do anything to the Sphinx before Futaba shows up, but once she does, she can spawn a harpoon to make it vulnerable and warn you of its dive-bomb attack, and can create an all-party physical barrier in Royal.
  • Okumura's main strategy involves sending his Corporobos against you who are each weak to two elements. Between Haru's Psy and Morgana's Wind, they can down most of them, missing only the MDL-AM's which can be covered by Ryuji or Makoto, greatly simplifying Baton Pass strategy.
  • Sae becomes a berserker once her cheating is outed, requiring Makoto's healing and defense buffs if you want to survive the fight.
  • Shido comes at you with an arsenal full of powerful physical and elemental attacks which can incapacitate your party members. Joker and his Wild Card ability is the only person capable of keeping up with him and thwarting his strategy.
  • Maruki has a couple of attacks which are Nuclear and Bless-type, elements which Sumire's third-tier Persona resist and No-Sell respectively.
• Futaba's and Sae's palaces end up being a Call-Forward to Persona 5 Strikers. While you never fight Futaba's shadow like Sae's, the battles end with none of the Thieves stealing the target's treasure. Instead they talk them down to realize they're trapping themselves in their own sins, and that they are strong enough to conquer it and change for the better. This is the exact same method that the Phantom Thieves employ when they deal with the Jail Monarchs in the sequel game. Additionally, not having their treasures taken is what protects Futaba and Sae from becoming Yaldabaoth's puppets like the other Palace rulers, just like how the Monarchs are freed from the Demiurge's influence once they give up their "crowns".
• While it's possible to obtain 3,000,000 yen, it's impossible to pay off Kaneshiro. There are actually two reasons for that. The first would be that the characters simply have no intention of paying such an asshole. Another motive would be that if they perhaps pay him, they wouldn't be his 'customers' anymore and, as such, they wouldn't be able to access his Palace anymore.
• Each of the titles of the theme music for each are appropriate.
  • "King, Queen, and Slave" represents how Kamoshida sees himself, the girls of the school, and the boys of the school respectively as shown when you find three books with those exact titles in his Palace.
  • "A Woman", of course, refers to the Sayuri.
  • "Price" is appropriate for Kaneshiro's money focused bank.
  • "Days When My Mother Was There" refers to Futaba deeply missing her mother.
  • "Sweatshop" refers to how Okumura treats his employees in his factories.
  • "Whims of Fate" is all about how Sae sees trials as up to the whims of fate that she controls of course.
  • "Ark" evokes the imagery of Noah's ark with Tokyo flooded and only the chosen few on the ship.
  • "Freedom and Security" is all about how Yaldabaoth is offering the public freedom and security from thinking for themselves.
  • "Gentle Madman" of course refers to how Maruki truly doesn’t want to fight the phantom thieves and genuinely is doing this to make everyone happy but it's clear that he's distorted and not in his right mind. By extension, "For Happiness" builds on that since his ultimate goal is making everyone happy.
• In the following game, the Demiurge and her Lock Keepers are all weak to Bless and Curse, since she is a fake God who doesn't hold a candle to either the real thing, or the demons below. It's more subtle here, but Yaldabaoth has a similar susceptibility: none of his arms repel Bless or Curse attacks, which combined with their unstated higher power makes moves like Makougaon and Maeigaon quite useful against him. He is, of course, a shadow with a god complex born from humans, who just isn't as all-powerful as the genuine Lord, no matter how much he thinks he is.

Fridge Brilliance: Unsorted

• The dominant color of P5 being red, as opposed to P3's blue and P4's yellow. Red isn't a calming color like blue or a happy color like yellow and is used to excite, foreshadowing P5's more action-oriented nature.
  • Red, blue, and yellow are also primary colors, this would extend the contrasting themes between P5 and the previous games.
    • Red and blue are primary colors of light. Yellow isn't; it's a combination of red and green light.
  • It goes deeper than that! The color motif corresponds to the emotions that the protagonists of each game are confronting: 3 is blue, and centers on depression, despair, and grief. 4 is yellow and centers on fear, deception, and cowardice. 5 is red, and focuses on anger, vengeance, and outrage. If they ever do Persona 6, this troper's money is on the dominant color being green, centered on envy, jealousy, and ambition.
  • It's also worth noting that this is the second time that a Persona game has used red for its theme colour, with the previous being Persona 2... which had very similar themes to this game, such as people's perceptions of reality actually altering it, and a masked figure named Joker who had control over people's hearts and desires.
• The ice skating on concrete. You play as a bunch of teenagers running away from society's law; they are always at risk of being caught. You could say they're always on thin ice.
• Okumura's Palace consists of the headquarters for Big Bang Burgers represented as a spaceport, he's using his own company to boost himself into a political career, and you fight his Shadow just as he's about to launch off. Kunikazu is reaching for the stars.
• Unlike most other Palace Treasures, Shido's treasure, his Legislator's Pin, is completely worthless. It has absolutely no monetary value; That's because his entire person is just worthless. He absolutely cannot do anything to benefit other people, and even his Charisma is bestowed by Yaldabaoth, in which he can easily revoke using Joker.
• The first trailer made it seem as if the main character was a standard silent protagonist, only for everyone to be blown away when he turned out to be a hot-blooded thief. We were all literally hooked by Joker's ruse.
  • So in other words, you never saw it coming.
• The reason why the human party members have golden eyes before obtaining their Personas is because in that moment they're internally confronting their Shadows. When they have the determination to stop hiding their discomfort with life, they can (literally) take off their mask and see the dark side of themselves face-to-face, taming their Shadows and gaining Personas. This also explains why the Personas come out of their bodies while granting them their cool outfits: it's their Shadows' last act of showing "their true selves" before giving way to their Personas.
• In the OP, Morgana is first shown with the text "Luxuria" before being shown on the other screens with the rest of the deadly sins. Why Lust instead of something more thief-fitting, like Greed? It's because the first dungeon is Kamoshida's Caste of Lust, and it's where the protagonists first met Morgana and the concept of Personas.
  • Another point to bring up is that this Palace is also where Morgana first meets Ann (both the cognitive version made by Kamoshida, and the real deal) and develops his crush on her.
• Makoto Niijima. Repressed student council president? Constantly scrutinized as the academic and behavioral model for an entire school? No wonder she seems to have anger issues.
  • Plus, Sae has very little time or patience for Makoto to be anything 'but' a "good child", and that has some negative effects.
• The Greater-Scope Villain, Yaldabaoth is known as the Gnostic interpretation of the God of monotheistic religions, a false god that created the universe and shaped the heart and soul into mortal forms. Keeping this in mind, it's fitting that he impersonates Igor, the Big Good and the one responsible for helping you develop your Personas.
• A meta one here for the developers. Usually, the fact of a character changing voice actors isn't something to take note of, but in this case it might have been a subtle bit of foreshadowing to the point about the bait and switch with Igor that takes place.
  • Likely this was intentional since it wasn't just a change in voice actor, but the entire vocal performance for Igor. For long time players of the Persona series, there are few recurring characters outside of the Shadows and Igor, who in the last game had a distinctly nasal voice. The completely different voice acting to a deep baritone is thus Fridge Brilliance on two levels: for the series newcomers, they'd get the brilliance of the voice acting only after the reveal. But for longtime fans of the Persona series, the voice acting switch is a Double Subversion of player expectations: from the outset these players are being conditioned to view Igor with hesitancy because he sounds so obviously different, yet because there's no in-game acknowledgement of the change until The Reveal, the wariness seems unfounded. But The Reveal subverts THAT conditioned expectation by not just having the change in Igor be plot relevant, but by having him as being impersonated by the Greater-Scope Villain.
• Why is the first available party member you meet, Morgana, a healer? Igor created him to find and help those who could stop the Big Bad. He would naturally want him to be able to keep them alive once they met.
• The reason for there being nine sins instead of the traditional seven: Two of the "sins", hollowness and vanity, are alternate interpretations of sloth and pride, respectively. Hollowness could also be read as despair, which ties into Futaba's pyramid dungeon and the reasons why it forms.
• Considering Goro's background as a victim of child abuse, the weapons he uses during Sae's Palace, which are inspired by a Japanese children's anime, might be based on the subconscious memory of one of the only outlets of escape he had from his crappy home life.
  • Alternatively, considering his usage of those weapons exclusively during his stint as a Phantom Thief his weapons could be his interpretation as to what a Phantom Thief is actually like, with the toys being a representation of how he doesn't take them seriously.
  • It can also be seen in his desire to be seen as the hero of the story, with his evil persona costume reflecting how said desire has corrupted him.
  • His use of these weapons actually provides a parallel situation with his predecessor as Detective Prince. Naoto's dungeon was heavily influenced by sci-fi anime in the same way Akechi's weapons are.
  • Said toys are seen in the anime in a flashback when he was a child, showing that they did seem to embody his desire to be a hero.
• On a similar tack, and going into a kind of "Fridge Tearjerking", even, it can at first seem rather random and out-of-character for Makoto to be so afraid of "spooky things", as the Futaba chapter demonstrates - she fights supernatural beings on a motorcycle and otherwise loves things like gory, violent Yakuza movies, so what the hell would she have to be afraid of? But then you realize: the problem in a situation like the one where she so thoroughly loses her nerve is that she's worried about being ambushed out of the dark, with no way to defend herself. Her Confidant reveals that her father was killed in the line of duty by a hit-and-run vehicle ambush he had no way of stopping. Of course she's afraid in that situation. She's probably had that particular phobia for a long time.
• Goro is named after Kogoro Akechi, a Japanese Expy of Sherlock Holmes. It subtly foreshadows how Goro is a "fake" copy of a Great Detective, as opposed to his predecessor "Detective Prince" Naoto. It also gives an easier way to reference to another famous traitor, Akechi Mitsuhide, which makes the targets of his betrayal, Joker and Shido, making more sense: Mitsuhide's lord, Oda Nobunaga was known for rebelling from and shunning old traditions during his conquest on Japan, similar to Joker and Shido, while Shido's ambitions are easily compared to those of Nobunaga's.
  • Oda Nobunaga was even referenced in one of the questions the teacher would ask you during class. He also came up during exams. Shadow Shido even wears a Japanese war leader outfit when fighting you on chariot.
  • There's also the fact that the game has several references and nods to Arsene Lupin, and Maurice Leblanc did use Sherlock Holmes himself as an antagonist to his phantom thief, something the game itself points out just a few in-game days before Akechi is introduced to the team.
• Goro's Persona, Robin Hood noticeably lacks the character's famous green motif and is instead white. Just like Goro, it's not showing its true colors.
• Robin Hood is an odd choice in the lineup of Personas, since even though he was a rebel, some tellings of the story end with him swearing allegiance to the crown after King Richard returns. So why would Goro's rebellious heart manifest as someone like that? Goro is actually serving Shido and the establishment, and the "rebellious" part comes from that he isn't actually loyal to them or the Phantom Thieves' "rebellion," but is serving both sides for a personal gain, effectively making Robin Hood a facade.
• Akechi often comments on how refreshing or different Joker's comments are compared to the rest of the public's perception. He feels like Joker is one of the few who understands what it's like to be unable to escape preconceptions or expectations of one's self. This is not only foreshadowing his knowledge of Joker as a second Wild Card holder but is symbolic of how he sees him, re: his second persona, Loki, who sees Thor as having everything he believes he himself in entitled to: loyal friends, loving parents, sense of purpose, etc. Akechi asks Joker specifically about this after suffering a second consecutive defeat inside Shido's palace. Joker has no good or easy answer.
  • Almost as if to enforce the Loki/Thor parallel between Joker and Akechi, look at the latter's moveset during his boss fight, it consists of Physical, Bless, and Curse moves with one Almighty attack as a desperate measure. Thor is strong against Physical, Curse, and Bless. That's right, he's practically the best Persona Joker can use against Akechi.
• All Myths Are True in this universe, or at least perception of them is, since you can create personas based on Judeo-Christian archangels, Hindu devas, and Greek deities. On the long list of famous names are also Thor, Norse God of Thunder and Storms, and the Allfather himself, Odin. The only other really recognizable Norse god seems suspiciously absent. Because he's Akechi's real persona.
• With the DLC outfits based on Catherine, Goro's outfit is based on Boss. Boss, AKA Thomas Mutton, was the Hidden Villain of his own game and slips up in the same way.
  • In fact, many of Goro's DLC outfits lampshade his status as the traitor, not strictly because they're all different from the others, but because the outfit he gets saddled with is usually a villain's outfit. Instead of the standard Karukozaka uniform for the Shin Megami Tensei if... set, he wears Big Bad Ideo Hazama's white uniform. Instead of the Seven Sisters uniform for the Persona 2 set, he wears the Kasugayama uniform, which is worn by Jun Kurosu, who served as The Heavy for most of the game. Instead of Raidou's outfit for the Devil Summoner set, he wears the uniform of General Munakata, one of the game's antagonists. It's quite brilliant, and serves as a nice Shout-Out for players who are familiar with those games. It also explains what a lot of the fandom took as a joke before the game was released, as covering him up in these pre-release materials helped hide his costume theming until you got to see him wear them in game.
• At first, the reason why the belief counter in the Phantom Thieves begins to erase them seems like an out of nowhere move for the villain, until you stop to think about the beginning of the game. What did we have to do at the beginning? We had to accept that this was a work of fiction or Yaldabaoth wouldn't let us play the game. No wonder the Phantom Thieves faded so quickly, everyone was made to accept they weren't real at the very beginning! The only reason why they didn't was because of something Yaldabaoth didn't see coming. The villain sure isn't a slouch this time, he took steps to take care of things in Meta!
  • Not to mention the fact that it foreshadowed that the imposter is a Control Freak, since saying no to him will result in you being booted back to the start screen. It's his way or the highway.
• The Persona 5 protagonist is fairly lazy compared to his predecessor, and can nap or work on side projects in class. Fittingly enough, the Diligence stat doesn't return in P5.
• Because of his reputation, this game's protagonist has very few friends at school, and his "school life" is lacking in comparison to the previous two games. His fellow Shujin thieves (Ryuji, Ann, Makoto, Haru, Kasumi^note in Royal), Yuki Mishima (who gained the protagonist's friendship after Kamoshida's heart is changed, and runs the Phantom Thieves' website), Sadayo Kawakami (Ann and the protagonist's homeroom teacher) and Takuto Maruki (Hired by the principal to soothe the mental health of Kamoshida's victims) are the only Shujin-related people who are close to him. This is reflected in the fact that none of your cooperation links involve you joining school clubs. Your co-op links are with adults working across the city, an elementary-aged latchkey kid (Shinya Oda), and a shogi player who attends another school (Hifumi Togo). You only get close to Kawakami after discovering her second job, and Yuuki's co-op doesn't take place at the school at all and focuses on his personal life and his job as the thieves' PR manager instead. The same mostly applies to the Phantom Thieves who do attend Shujin, and even then, you don't truly actively partake or join in whatever club or group they do (Ryuji helps out the track team which was disbanded when Kamoshida took power, and Makoto is the Student Council President. Makoto being on the council isn't even focused on that much in her co-op either, save for about two scenes.)
  • This also applies in the main story. Shujin is a major setpiece for your first week in Tokyo and is the real world location of Kamoshida's Palace. Once his heart is changed, Shujin loses its importance in the setting, aside from the occasional note that the principal is a member of The Conspiracy (and a low-ranking member at that). The second and final time it's used is for the school's fall festival, but absolutely no fun is had, because it takes place not long after Kunikazu Okumura was killed, and Goro, who comes to the festival as a guest speaker, finally reveals that he knows about the thieves and joins your party. To top it all off, once Sae frees the protagonist from prison and he fakes his death, he has to lay low for a while and stops attending school for the rest of the game.
  • This, however, becomes somewhat better in Royal; Not only the protagonist has a third semester courtesy of Akechi taking his place, hangouts with Kasumi and Maruki do happen in the school, a field trip is added and the school's fall festival becomes one of the forced hangouts with Kasumi. Not a lot, but it is still portrayed better than in Vanilla.
• The game tends to mark vacations as turning points unlike the previous games, where they are merely used as hangout or resting points for the protagonist's adventures. It acts as a reminder that you are eternally imprisoned and you are not taking a break.
  • The first is the Hawaii school trip. While it seems to be a fine vacation at first, right after it, you are greeted with Kobayakawa's assassination and the game instantly goes Tone Shift.
  • The second time where this happens is during the school festival event, where it acts as another Tone Shift point which Akechi takes the chance to frame you for Okumura and Kobayakawa's murder. The atmosphere difference between this and other school festivals in past Persona games is just...stark.
  • You are not taking a break even after you beat Yaldabaoth and reach the New Year in Royal! Unlike in Persona 3 or 4 where it acts as an opportunity to date the girls, the New Years event is merely the beginning of a series of brand new oddities, with Wakaba, Okumura, and the father of the Niijima sisters implied to be alive, and Kasumi's father calling her something among the lines of "Sumire". It's not tense unlike the Cultural Festival, just really freaky.
• "Friend Awakening Battle" usually plays during battles where a friend awakens to their Persona, but there are a few special cases where it's used for the second part of a Sequential Boss. All of these, however, still fit the "friend awakening" theme if you think about it.
  • The second part of the Leviathan fight. Unlike the other targets, Sae performs a Heel–Face Turn of her own free will after the fight and becomes an ally of the thieves.
  • The second part of the traitor battle. Foreshadowing that Goro really did come to care about the Thieves and his Redemption Equals Death after the fight.
  • The best part? The music played during the battle is called "Will Power", which describes those who had awaken their form precisely. Every party member, this means come out of their difficulties and unleash their "Will power" to change the world. For the two bosses, that is to describe their entire life: Sae is a female prosecutor who is struggling in making a stand in a male-dominant society while taking care of her sister. Akechi is a famed celebrity who has come from a background of despised illegitimate son(as well as an orphan), overcoming the prejudice and judgment with his will to live.
• Belphegor, the demon of Sloth, can be seen multiple times throughout the game, but never as a full-fledged boss. This may have something to do with Sloth being represented by the people of Tokyo, whose desires are not twisted enough to form a Palace by themselves and instead combine to form the massive labyrinth of Mementos.
• Notice how high-level personae shifted to lower levels much more heavily compared to Persona 3 & 4 like Isis becoming a low-level Priestess Persona from her Ultimate Empress status? It could have been Yaldabaoth messing with the compendium and personae to try and doom you in your journey.
• The protagonist learns a lesson in class about how the gentleman thief Ishikawa Goemon was boiled alive. Fittingly enough, Yusuke's Persona Goemon is weak to Fire.
• There's an early indication as to who the traitor may be: take note of Akechi's uniform when aiding the Phantom Thieves. In particular, his mask, which has a very long nose. Considering he's lying to get on the Phantom Thieves' good side long enough to destroy them, sounds an awful lot like Pinocchio...
  • The art book notes that Goro's red mask was meant to evoke that of a Tengu, a type of Japanese spirit that, while protective of others and ultimately good, are nefarious for their pride. The comparisons to Pinocchio and to commedia dell'arte masks that have followed were not initially in his design plan, but are nearly as apt nevertheless.
• The traitor wears a mask with a long nose on it. He lies to you and stabs you in the back. Guess who also has a long nose and has been lying to you the entire game? Igor. That is to say, the false Igor that was taken over by Yaldabaoth.
  • Related to the above there is another possible Shout-Out to be found with the reveal. After all most people's first guess for the posed question here in any other context would be Pinocchio himself, which suits how Akechi really does grow to care about the team like he pretended to. "Igor" however has more similarities to the Coachman in this case though, making asses out of you and your party to try and accomplish his own goal.
  • You can look at it in this way: the fridge page for Captain America: The Winter Soldier does note that Bucky Barnes being the Winter Soldier (which a majority of fans who read the comics knew about beforehand) was a surprise to hide HYDRA infiltrating SHIELD. The sort of obvious reveal that Akechi was the traitor ended up hiding and foreshadowing Igor being Yaldabaoth and the true culprit behind the Metaverse.
• Shadow Futaba couldn't help but screw over the Phantom Thieves one last time because when she became Futaba's Persona, that meant the Palace was about to collapse and possibly kill the Thieves yet again. And Futaba can easily escape her Palace collapsing because her Persona can fly!
• Haru is noted in several aside conversations and Mementos blurbs for being particularly bloodthirsty and sadistic in battle while being soft-spoken and ladylike in the outside world. This is a nod towards the inspiration for her persona, Milady DeWinter, who acts the civilized lady towards society in general but is actually a ruthless and cutthroat villainess. It's also why Milady is so fond of mentioning betrayal.
• Why is Jack O'Lantern weak to Wind? Because, Wind hits burning enemies for Technical damage!
  • Even better: when Wind spells are used as a follow-up attack to do extra damage to an enemy/ally with a Burn status ailment, it's a case of fanning the flames.
• In Royal, Shadow Kaneshiro (on foot) blocks Gun. This is most likely a nod to the animation where he blocks all of Joker's gun shots just by dancing around.
• The screen is shown to shake and move during cutscenes and the like. Why is that? Because the game up until a certain point is the protagonist's memories and he was drugged before Sae got to him to prevent him from remembering.
• Sandman is fought in Futaba's Palace. As well as the Palace being surrounded by sand, she herself is a Heavy Sleeper.
• Yusuke ended up in Hawaii instead of LA because a bad storm forced his plane to land on the islands. The thieves also believe their fireworks show got rained out because of Yusuke's presence. This is all humorously fitting as Yusuke's Ultimate Persona is the god of storms, Susano-o.
• The use and portrayal of the Holy Grail as the final treasure of the game is incredibly apt for the game's themes of treasures and hearts, and even the franchise's tarot motif. Not only is it a Public Domain Artifact that represents one of the most sought and iconic treasures in history and myth, it's also the ancestor of the hearts suit in modern card decks. Added to it being at the core of the earth and having giant veins spouting out of it, it wouldn't be wrong to say you steal the heart of the world in the end. (Incidentally, this comes up in class several weeks before the matter.)
• The Phantom Thieves tend to believe Shadows represent the true nature of people and on some level, they're right. Shadows do represent the target's true nature but even Shadows hide their true feelings. In Persona 4, the Investigation Team saw their Shadows and thought what they saw was the truth. Shadow Kanji made everybody think he was gay with his... personality but really, Shadow Kanji just wanted somebody to accept him for who he is. Shadow Chie, meanwhile, looked like a dominatrix who used Yukiko to stoke her own ego but as the social link with Chie proves, Chie loves her best friend like a sister. It's almost the same with the Shadows presented in Persona 5. Madarame may use his students to fuel his vanity but some evidence shows that he actually cared about Yusuke like a parent on some level, taking him in before he showed any artistic talent and panicking when he had a fever. Shido also might use others to further his own goals but he does genuinely believe he can steer Japan to a better future. In short, Shadows may paint a clearer picture of a person's true nature but Shadows are just one half of a whole and are just as likely to hide true feelings as their other halves are.
• The mentor figure, fake Igor, as the final enemy. It perfectly follows the constant theme of the game of those trusted with leadership betraying the trust they're given and abusing their power. After all, what could be a greater betrayal to a gamer than the mentor NPC who's been giving them power and advice all this time stabbing the player character in the back?
• Okumura in Royal has a Cognitive Haru that he uses to give him power to debuff enemies, although once every robot he sends against the party is down, he summons the Cognitive Haru and turns her into a robot that he orders to self-destruct after a turn. The catch is that Cognitive Haru does not hit very hard and her self-destruct ability doesn't do a lot against the party; This means that even if he sacrificed everything he had, including his daughter, he will not get anything he wished for.
• Makoto's Japanese voice actress Rina Sato is best known for voicing Mikoto Misaka from the Raildex franchise. Makoto however is a subversion to Mikoto. Both characters are similar in that they hold positions of prestige^note Makoto is the Student Council President while Mikoto is one of seven Level 5 espers in Academy City and were both manipulated by an evil conspiracy^note Makoto was used by Principal Kobayakawa who was a member of Shido's Conspiracy to gain dirt on the Phantom Thieves, while Misaka is part of a cloning project that is instrumental to the Big Bad's plans.. Minor dimensions to the comparison include the fact that both have attachments to animal characters from their childhoods and their missing fathers both seek to correct the evils in society. However, their personalities contradict one another. Mikoto is celebrated for being one of Academy City's strongest espers but that aside is simply a regular student with mass popularity. Makoto on the other hand is the Student Council President of Shujin Academy but is powerless, seen as Principal Kobayakwa's glorified gopher and prior to joining the Phantom Thieves had no friends. Likewise, Mikoto is shown to be very assertive and eager about social situations and spending time with people around her age while Makoto is socially withdrawn preferring to study and read books with her Confidant revealing that she has no clue what people her age like to do for fun. Lastly, Mikoto in spite of her mass popularity has a rather unpleasant personality as she is very rash, often tends to break her dormitory's rules and is generally rude to her possible love interest Touma. Makoto in spite of having a cold exterior is actually very sensitive and one of the kindest characters in the game and if you choose to romance her is a lot more straightforward about her feelings towards Joker only showing hesitation since she doesn't understand how love works.
• Ann's outfit as Panther being a Shout-Out to Catwoman actually makes sense as Ann is quarter-American herself and Catwoman is an American comic book character.
  • Another reason for Ann's cat suit - she's a cat burglar. So is Morgana.
  • Though more of a minor design note when it comes to her outfit, the cleavage window and high neck of her outfit is reminiscent of a "Queen Ann" neckline.
• Despite all Iwai's skill at making and modifying weapons, the best ones in the game can only be obtained through transmuting Personas. Unlike normal weapons which rely on the enemy's belief alone, transmuted items actually have a Shadow's power infused into them as well, giving them some real power in the other world.
• The Phantom Thieves may be a Gender-Equal Ensemble when one looks at its members and sees four boys (Joker, Ryuji, Yusuke, and Akechi) four girls (Ann, Makoto, Futaba, and Haru) and one cat (Morgana) but a closer look will reveal that there's actually five boys in the Phantom Thieves. Morgana sees himself as male, making the gender ratio 5-4. How can the Phantom Thieves be a Gender-Equal Ensemble when the boys outnumber the girls? Other than Akechi being revealed to be the traitor and leaving the group, there was one other female character who was supposed to be a part of the Phantom Thieves but was cut out due to development taking too long. Now who is this character? Hifumi Togo, the Star Confidant. If Hifumi hadn't been cut from the Phantom Thieves, she would have made the team's gender ratio an equal 5-5.
  • This could also be part of the reason why Morgana can freely crossdress with the alternate costumes without comment, as for example with the butler/maid set he also gets a maid outfit like the girls do. It helps stress his Ambiguous Gender status of being a cat in a way that doesn't get in the way of dialog or the story, making things appear to be more balanced than if he were a girl instead which would still have left the gender ratio skewed with Hifumi's absence.
  • With Royal's addition of another girl, Kasumi, this team can still be equal in both genders without having to exclude anyone.
• Shido claims that he was chosen by God to lead Japan. The final boss, who had orchestrated the entire plot of the game (thus letting Shido carry out his plan to rule Japan until he says otherwise), takes the form of a demiurge, Yaldabaoth.
• Compared to the previous game, the secret enemy (the "traitor" brought up through the frame story) is easy to catch on to. That's because in the Good/True Endings, the party knew early on that Akechi was the spy. Unlike Adachi, the whole party had every reason to suspect him and so you see him in that light.
• Morgana isn't nagging the Protagonist by forcing him to go to bed, he's trying to make sure he gets enough rest. Joker is already on thin ice at school, so he can't afford any lateness or absences due to over sleeping.
• If the player does not agree to Igor's This Is a Work of Fiction in the opening, he comments that your cognition is that the game is reality in booting you back to the main menu. Considering the Your Mind Makes It Real aspects of cognition in the game, Igor seems to be stopping you from playing the game to stop the game from becoming real.
  • It's also another form of the contract seen in previous Persona games, but the problem is that the fake Igor is addressing the player directly rather than in-game with a written contract. In other words, it's a Morton's Fork: you either accept Yaldabaoth's reality, or you make it your own reality. Considering Yaldabaoth is a Control Freak, he does not want you going for the latter option. Really makes the whole "rigged from the start" take a new context.
• While in Hawaii, Ann interrogates Ryuji about his preferences by asking which of the two girls he would he choose if they both confessed to him. That situation is what's portrayed on the design of several versions of The Lovers arcana tarot card, including the one used in Persona 5. This actually acts as a double whammy when you know the original meaning of the Lovers. It was once used about choosing between the quick instantly rewarding path (signified by the closer but more beautiful woman) and the arduous but more lasting path (signified by homely but matronly looking woman). Ryuji picking the one "with the better bod" is basically him saying he likes the nice and easy path, with instant gratification but it may not last long.
• Sae Niijima is this game's Judgement Confidant. Fitting, considering she spends your entire interaction with her judging your actions. And even better, your entire plan hinges upon said judgement.
• As noted by Hoist by His Own Petard on the Targets page, Shadow Okumura's Big Bang Challenge normally does Almighty damage but instead heals allies debuffed with Hunger and removes it at the same time. As the move involves a ton of food blowing up in everyone's faces, it's no surprise it was enough to stuff people up and remove their hunger —while overfeeding non-hungry teammates into a severely painful stomachache.
• Akechi's idle stance while in the Metaverse mirrors the Protagonist's exactly (minus the slight swaying). This may seem like a case of recycling animations, but it makes sense: halfway through his boss battle, he expresses that he was envious towards the Protagonist and wished he could have met him earlier. His admiration and jealousy for him may have showed through in his body language; it is possible he was subtly mimicking him.
• Akechi being called a Detective Prince takes on some bleaker connotations once one realizes that Shido, his father, is an aspiring autocrat, not unlike the king of an absolute monarchy. Also, there's the bitter irony of Akechi being called a prince when he was born out of wedlock to a father who wants nothing to do with him.
• Why does Sae make such a big deal about a confession... when it's implied that Joker gave her everything BUT the name? It would be a simple matter to confirm various minor details. Well, besides the method being impossible to prove? She's not wanting to do more investigation. She's wanting an EASY ANSWER! In short? Instead of caring about the truth, she wants an easy lie. And in the true ending, because she doesn't get it, she's forced to see the truth for herself!
• Ryuji's association with monkeys underlines his Hot-Blooded attitude, rough fighting style, and desire to break free of society's restraints, but it could also be a subtle nod to Lupin III, whose author goes by the name Monkey Punch and whose protagonist often gets compared to a monkey himself.
• When you first get Yusuke on the team, Morgana justifies the maximum number of party members as separating the group into the leading team and back-up team, where the leading team will focus on the task at hand while the back-up team falls behind and only step up when switching members out. With that said, it makes sense why they were able to investigate Sae's Palace with Goro on the team.
• The black and red color scheme of the game and its association with the Phantom Thieves can be reminiscent of Magatsu Inaba, the dungeon where the murderer of Persona 4 waited for the Investigation Team, and Magatsu Izanagi, the murderer's Persona. In a way, the Phantom Thieves can be considered heroic Foils to the TV Killer: he had his own problems with society, but instead of trying to make things better, he instead abused his special power to toy with and end the lives of innocent people just to keep himself entertained in his boring post. He also takes his blame of society to unreasonable extremes, too, blaming everyone but himself for the results of his actions.
• The Final Boss room happens to be a Panopticon, a hypothetical kind of prison conceived by utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham in 1787, which imprisons people with their own paranoia by rendering them unable to see the other inmates or the one guard. Bentham intended the Panopticon to be more humane (and cheaper) than a traditional prison, since the inmates can be controlled without physically harming them, but in modern times it's come to be viewed as a cruel and unusual symbol of authoritarianism and rule by fear, a perfect abode for a God of Control like Yaldabaoth.
  • This actually fits the whole Metaverse-based distortions encompassing Tokyo well - the terror of Mental Shutdowns and Psychotic Breakdowns is only upheld by Goro Akechi, a single mentally unstable teenager, yet the public has absolutely no idea about this, effectively terrorizing them into complete silence towards Shido and his criminal Antisocial Force's takeover under the fear of being gruesomely assassinated out of nowhere. In this perspective, Akechi can be considered the sole warden of Tokyo if it were a panopticon, considering that nobody else has the ability to directly assassinate through supernatural means and those few others who had (namely, the Phantom Thieves of Hearts) are unwilling to.
• The Palace of the True Final Boss in Royal resembles a mechanical structure mixed with a tree, with the sole structure on the ground level being an incredibly tall elevator shaft scaling straight upwards into its main body, a globe, located within an incredibly high latitude. The structure, consisting of 10 separate facilities, scale progressively upwards into a monitoring room connected to the heart of Mementos, and finally the Garden of Eden on the topmost area, filled with hundreds of cognitive patients scaling upwards into the "enlightenment" of eternal happiness. Based on this, the whole structure happens to be the Sefirot, the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, who guides the individual into enlightenment, fitting for its owner who wishes to guide humanity towards the end of all suffering. Furthermore unlike normal religion where no mortal may surpass or become equal to God, Kabbalah lets mortals become equal to God via the Sefirot's enlightenment, symbolizing how its ruler is more or less a mortal who had ascended into a God. Because Kabbalah lets man go on the same level of God, however, it's often associated with the occult and the mysterious instead of the holy, perfectly fitting for Maruki being a delusional savior.
• The Depths of Mementos and the true Final Palace of Royal beautifully contrast each other. On the side of Yaldabaoth's Mementos Depths, you have a hellhole made from massive bones and carcasses of creatures, prisons pulsating with veins and mind controlling devices, Ignorant Masses who give up all of their thought to eternally suffer in the prison complex, its Shadows consisting of apocalyptic or angelic figures who are bent on annihilating all dissidents and escaped convicts at all costs, and its ruler being nothing short of a Shadow of collective thoughts, manifesting itself as a Nyarlathotep-esque manipulator masquerading itself as a saintly god clad in white. On the other side, there's a mechanical replica of the Kabbalistic tree of life, its interior being a warmly-lit mental health clinic, followed by a cold and featureless research ward and a gorgeous rooftop garden based on the Biblical Garden of Eden where the cognitive patients seek for "enlightenment" in ignorant bliss, and the Shadows kindly welcome most guests to receive salvation. Ironically however, the Shadow inhabitants of the Palace are seemingly straight out from the bowels of hell, namely Lovecraftian Abominations, Heretic deities and Nordic fairytale heroes/villains, and its ruler's Persona being from the same Mythos as Nyarlathotep. Yet the ruler's motives are noble, seeking to undo all suffering in a similar fashion like Innocent Sin's Philemon.
• Okumura's MDL-WKR (in and of itself a pun on 'model worker') robots are weak to fire-type attacks. They're weak to being 'fired'.
  • The party also sees a conveyor belt dumping broken-down ones into a vat of molten metal for fuel. And the higher-ranking robot enemies have different elemental weaknesses, presumably because they've risen to positions where they're no longer as expendable as the everyday employees.
• The Phantom Thieves steals hearts but this doesn't only apply to criminals and the scum of society, they will also steal the fan's hearts as they fall in love with the game and its characters.
• Both of the Shadows the Black Mask demonstrates his psychosis ability on are "guard dogs". Cerberus guarded the gates of Hades and Cu Chulainn got his famous nickname after becoming Chulainn's bodyguard as repentance for killing his hound. Though the Black Mask is more of an attack dog, a mad dog is a pretty good descriptor of him. This is made all the more poignant by his awful upbringing, which makes him akin to a dog that's become aggressive and hostile thanks to an abusive owner.
  • Furthermore (and the game leaves this out of his bio), Cu Chulainn was well known for going into a terrifying frenzy during fights, to the point where even his allies knew to clear out when they saw him get this way, mimicking the way the Black Mask can make people go psychotic and harm people around them. Additionally, Cu Chulainn killed his own son, perhaps Foreshadowing the Black Mask's fate.
• The moral ambiguity of what the Phantom Thieves do by "stealing hearts" gets a little greyer if you take the other games into account. On the one hand, it means depriving someone of their free will through violence, not helped by the fact that almost every other major target they changed their hearts of don't actually atone for their crimes, and their confessions hardly even made sense to authorities. On the other hand, we've seen plenty of times what happens when someone is forced to confront their dark side directly. Your mileage may vary in terms of what you consider the line between purifying someone's inner darkness and brainwashing them, but having distorted desires that are so out of control that they're basically polluting the collective unconscious is a problem that really can't be fixed any other way. The Metaverse affects people just as much as people affect it, and past a certain point, the distortion becomes a self-perpetuating upward spiral, and even the best therapists in the world can't help someone change unless they want to; those distorted desires at the core of that emotional feedback loop mean that the victim isn't actually capable of wanting to change. Near the end of the game this was made clear; it turns out that the moral greyness wasn't greyness but darkness; the Phantom Thieves were doing it because the Conductor is deliberately setting up the circumstances to toy with humanity and the Phantom Thieves themselves in a rigged thought game, and it is intentional that the targets lose all free will and become apathetic husks. When it comes to Mementos targets and the major targets from Scramble, where the Conductor's presence is nonexistent and the Thieves were always capable of talking the target's Shadow away from their distortions after a fight, they actually atone for their crimes, making the Phantom Thieves being more aligned to purifying someone's hearts instead of brainwashing them by force.
• The first short story where Arsène Lupin is featured, he's caught in a boat. You know who has a boat for a Palace? Masayoshi Shido, the man who got the protagonist put on probation!
• Morgana is infamous for constantly nagging the player to go to sleep. Two of his weapons, the Sleeper Blade and Resting Sword, force the ENEMIES to go to sleep. Ironically, he also has access to Patra, which CURES sleep to a target.
• After the Metaverse is destroyed and Morgana finally returns, his dialogue portrait has changed to reflect his "normal" cat appearance, instead of his Metaverse humanoid appearance. With the Metaverse gone, your cognition of him changes.
• This might be unintentional, but in the original Persona, the playable characters entered someone's idealized dream world. Said dream world was a distorted reflection of the city the game took place in. For example, a hospital in the real world was replaced with a castle in the dream world. There were also demons running around everywhere. An idealized, distorted, monster infested world born from a persons desires...sound familiar? It gets better: The dream world's creator had an important item that was analogous to a Treasure.
• In Kaneshiro's Palace, you can see the distorted versions of every shop in Central Street... except the Airsoft store. Despite being on the minimap, the game never lets you actually get to the door. Considering just who runs the store, it might be a sign that not even Kaneshiro was that greedy enough to kick the hornets' nest.
• The most reliable ways to raise your Kindness are by working with plants and making coffee. Haru, easily the sweetest member of the group, does both.
• At rank nine of the Confidant relationships with the Phantom Thieves, they can shield Joker from an otherwise fatal attack. Guess what rank you are at with Goro Akechi when he sacrificed himself to save the Phantom Thieves?
  • On the topic of the Justice Confidant, it's something of a joke amongst the fandom that, seemingly paradoxically, you rank up when Akechi comes to kill you. However, one could say you're still learning more about what the Arcana represents by seeing its opposite.
• As has been noted several times Akechi's final fate is left nebulous. It's strongly suggested that he died, but that's mostly because Futaba can't sense his presence afterwards. The thing is, Futaba never seemed able to sense him when he was stalking them through Okumura's Palace and he also got the drop on them in Shido's Palace even though they had been expecting to confront him at some point in the future, even if it wasn't there. Assuming Akechi survived this, this ability to avoid being tracked probably would help him escape without anyone noticing.
• Although he does grow out of it, one of Ryuji's running gripes for a long time is wanting to out himself as a Phantom Thief and at least show the world that he is responsible for their accomplishments. The final stretch of the game does throw him a bone in this regard: the Thieves organize a mass hijacking of Japan's entire public broadcast system where they make their first true public appearance, and the battle against Yaldabaoth takes place in the middle of Shibuya with a massive slew of spectators watching down below.
• If Joker romances a female Confidant between November 20 and December 19 when he's Faking the Dead, he's taking that lucky lady's heart while he legally does not exist - or in other words, he's being a phantom thief of her heart.
• Who are the main three villains of Persona 5? Masayoshi Shido, a cruel and manipulative man who cares for nothing but the misery of the people of Japan and is willing to use and kill basically anybody, including his bastard son Akechi while passing himself off as a messianic figure akin to those of Jesus Christ; Yaldabaoth, an angelic being who impersonates God, or the father, while being nothing short of yet another powerful Shadow who leads the general public to ruin and pass his totalitarian rule off as what they actually want; and Adam Kadmon, a spirit of pure light bestowed to Maruki in the form of a persona so he may become the messiah of humanity like a real Jesus Christ, but instead was driven berserk thanks to Yaldabaoth's awakening combined with Maruki's own personal plight, corrupting it into the Blind Idiot Azathoth. As a result, it and Maruki guides humanity into pure existential nihilism whom Maruki (and it) believes is a golden age. In other words, you're fighting twisted mockeries of the Son, the Father, and the Holy Spirit. Now look at the main character: his ultimate Persona is Satanael, and he outsmarts Yaldabaoth and free his friends from the depths of the Prison of Regression, then saving the world from Yaldabaoth's clutches. Yes - He gets better. He's a genuine saviour, complete with mimicking the Passion for he outsmarted and withstanded two betrayals, in the guise of a Dark Messiah; and he's even willing to snap Maruki out of his madness, even when his madness meant the well being of everyone and everything he cared for.
• Futaba's change of heart might look very familiar to anyone who has gone through therapy, especially the heist itself. Her shadow sits her down and talks through the root of her issues with her, forcing her to confront her past instead of hiding it. Shadow Futaba carefully unpicks all of Futaba's thought processes regarding her mother's "suicide". This makes Futaba think through her distorted thoughts and realize that she is seeing things completely incorrectly, causing her to change her own heart. In other words, Futaba is put through a super-fast version of cognitive therapy, with her own Shadow self as the therapist! Even better, her Treasure is herself, or rather, her own undistorted view of her life and personality. Once she starts to challenge her illness, she's able to see her "true self" again and recover.
• The game already gives reasons why the Thieves don't actually steal the sixth Treasure, but there's potentially two more.
  • Assuming that you don't steal every single Treasure on the last day possible, they know that processing a change of heart takes some time. They don't have any time in the sixth Palace. The police are waiting to strike at any second. If they took the Treasure, Sae would need time to process her change of heart, which might stop her from doing the interview. This would get Joker killed without a doubt.
  • Furthermore, they know that a Shadow self isn't necessarily entirely malevolent. Shadow Futaba was a benevolent, helpful Shadow, who could easily be reasoned with. Just like Futaba, Sae isn't a bad person, she's just massively lost her way due to the cruel actions of others. By this logic, Shadow Sae can also be persuaded to change by herself - and once Sae's cognition begins to change, Joker can push it the rest of the way.
  • Also, if a person's Treasure is taken rather than convincing the Shadow Self to change, their reaction would be different. If the thieves stole Sae's treasure, she would have confessed before an unsympathetic police force and fired unceremoniously before ultimately being killed to be silenced.
  • Also, even if they wanted to steal the real Treasure, they couldn't because Sae read her calling card the night before. As Morgana notes, to steal the Treasure, they have to do it the day the target reads the card^note the only target who read the card the night before and had his Treasure successfully stolen, Maruki, expected and wanted to face the Phantom Thieves and had unprecedented control over his Palace, likely prolonging the Treasure's tangibility... but Akechi doesn't know that. They intentionally botched the calling card part to make sure the Treasure lost tangible form, which did three things:
    1. It left Akechi oblivious to the fact the briefcase was a decoy, allowing them to continue stringing him along;
    2. It forced them to rely on reasoning with Shadow Sae to actually change her heart;
    3. It prevented the Palace from collapsing, allowing Futaba to send Sae and Akechi in as part of the plan.
• The first class quiz focuses on Plato's tripartite theory of the soul, but there's more of his work playing a major role just beneath the surface: namely the entire interrogation between Joker and Sae as a demonstration of the Socratic method in action.
  • Sae enters the interrogation room with a clear belief that Phantom Thieves are terrorists responsible for the psychotic breakdowns and mental shutdowns.
  • Joker, in the role of Socrates, begins to show it contradicts with other beliefs Sae holds, at the point when Makoto joins the Phantom Thieves. Sae loves her sister and considers her a good person, forcing her to start to reconsider and be more open to Joker's story. Fitting, this is where the Judgement Confidant unlocks.
  • Covering the events of Futaba, Okumura and Sae's Palaces produces more information that Sae recognizes as logical, and she begins to acknowledge the existence of the Conspiracy.
  • Ultimately, the Socratic method is intended to acknowledge one's ignorance, which is the first step towards true knowledge and wisdom. In the True Ending, after Joker holds firm, Sae admits she doesn't know what the truth is anymore. As a result, this leads to her learning the whole story and getting the truth she was looking for after all!
• Akechi is considered "the second advent of the Detective Prince", pointing out he's yet another after Naoto in 4, being a young genius who chooses to work on solving crime, but it takes a deeper meaning when you look at his stats and skills. He focuses on Bless, Curse, and Almighty skills as well as decent Physical skills, being a high cost, high damage type, just like the playable Naoto. It's also revealed he's chosen to be viewed as such when he freaks out and starts commenting that every facet of his life was carefully calculated so that he public would see him as he wanted them to. His title is truly fitting in that respect considering he was more or less trying to trick everyone (Phantom Thief and conspiracy alike!) into trusting him by acting as a detective on their sides and the player by filling the party member gap that Naoto filled in the last game.
• The game's final twist is mostly hidden from new players by banking on the fact that after twenty years and so many games there is no way a returning fan would ever suspect Igor. After all, he's Igor. Him being a bit out-of-character is concerning, but nobody who met him without playing a past game before would think for a minute that he was the villain. In other words, the same thing that protects people like Kamoshida and Madarame is what is protecting Yaldabaoth on a meta level.
  • This fits into the game's theme perfectly. The Thieves have spent the whole game fighting corrupt and dishonest people who use others for their own gain. With each having affected one of Joker's friends. Only for it to turn out that someone whom the player and Joker trusted and believed in to be one of them as well.
• Even after starting the Judgement Confidant as part of the plot, you don't get bonus EXP for fusing Judgment Persona. The reason? It's Sae Niijima's confidant link, which is taking place during the flash-forward framing story. You're not getting fusion experience because technically the link hasn't started yet. Only after you pass that point in the story do you get the benefits.
• Unlike the rest of the Thieves Haru's Persona demands more proof of her conviction after being awakened. This seems odd until you consider the circumstances. While her desire to escape life as her father's puppet was real, she was being used by Morgana as part of his plan to get back at the rest of the Thieves. Meaning that she was still just a puppet. Haru must have subconsciously realized the hypocrisy of this. So while Milady did awaken it waited until she could decide for herself, with nobody influencing or manipulating her before truly answering her.
  • Alternatively it could be seen as Haru having realized the truth that she does not want to be a puppet, but lacking the courage to truly do anything about it. Taking action only at the behest of someone else, rather than for herself.
  • The brilliance of both of these is that it ties into the very reason Haru even joins the group: to change the heart of her corrupt father. Her father was using her as a tool to get ahead in the world, so she teams up with Morgana to change his heart, but in doing so ends up being used as a tool by another person. Its by effectively saying "screw that!" to being used by her father and Morgana that she awakens her Persona fully. Ironically enough this process does ends up changing the heart of her father, and is a major step in mending Morgana's friendship with the group, meaning she also changed the heart of Morgana as well.
• Yaldabaoth's plan is to make all of humanity fit within a certain specified criteria, never letting them think for themselves, or grow as individuals or a community, again, and he calls himself a God. He is quite literally declaring himself as the new Status Quo.
• The lyrics of "Beneath The Mask" are appropriate on a meta-level for Joker. The lyrics state that this "shapeshifter" hides "both face and mind" which are "free for you to draw." Persona protagonists, including Joker, are usually blank slates that the player can impose some form of characterization on through the responses they choose (and their own imagination). As the player who decides on Joker's actions, words, and even the Personas he has, we really are "drawing" a face and mind on to him, just as the song says.
• Ryuji's ultimate persona Seiten Taisei and Chi You, the Persona you unlock when you finish his Confidant, was once of the Tower Arcana, then you realize that Ryuji's situation fits with the Tower Arcana. Not being aware that the situation with Kamoshida was suspicious to begin with, when he provoked Ryuji, he chose to strike back, only to be physically crippled and treated as a delinquent. Much like the arrogance before the fall, Ryuji's rage cost him.
• Most Confidants end with Joker having to steal the heart of someone in order to help them out. The target in Mishima's is actually him. Unlike nearly everyone else who are being antagonized or oppressed by another, the only one holding Mishima back is himself.
  • On that note, Yoshida is one of the few Confidants that does not require a Mementos quest to complete. While he is impacted by the embezzlement scandal in the past, this is not the cause of his present troubles. Like Mishima, Yoshida is held back by himself in his case lacking confidence to believe in his abilities. But why does Yoshida not have a shadow? It's because Yoshida is consciously aware of his flaws and mistakes, and what Joker does is give him the push he needs to overcome it on his own by giving him moral support.
• At the end of Sae's interrogation, selling out your fellow Phantom Thieves or Confidants leads straight to a bad end. After all, the reason the Phantom Thieves were formed to begin with was to fight back against people who abused their positions of trust and authority. By ratting out your friends, you're proving you're no better than them.
• Makoto always dreamed of being a policewoman. Police officers usually try to take the suspect into custody alive, if only because you can't question a corpse. So they often use less lethal weapons. Like flashbang grenades. Makoto's got the Flash Bomb physical skill that, just like a flashbang grenade, can disorient the enemies. True, her version definitely isn't less than lethal, but it's still based on a weapon in widespread use among police forces.
  • On the same note, when it comes to lethal weapons, cops have a tendency to believe that Revolvers Are Just Better.
  • In Real Life, less lethal weapons aren't completely harmless. They can still do significant damage to someone even if it's used correctly- and outright misuse can turn a less lethal weapon into something that can outright kill someone. This makes the use of Flash Bomb to finish off a Shadow a Surprisingly Realistic Outcome.
• Morgana learns the Lucky/Miracle Punch/Rush skill. A low/med damage but high Critical skill that's great at knocking down targets. It's pretty similar to a Groin Attack: not very lethal, but stops anything short of a Shadow that no-sells Physical or a straight-up boss dead in their tracks, perfect for setting up a more lethal follow up attack (like an All-Out Attack). The fridge part... He's the one with the most experience at being a Phantom Thief. The rest of the crew are forced to become phantom thieves by circumstances outside of their control, but Morgana was practically born one. How fitting he ends up with the best cheap shot of all the team?
• Why is the theme of the "Prison of Repression" called Freedom and Security? It's a reference to the Benjamin Franklin quote "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." And sure enough, even though most of Tokyo follows Yaldabaoth and it doesn't save them from being erased.
• Beyond the more traditional, symbolic meanings of the Moon, Mishima is also representative of his Arcana in that his role involves orbiting the Phantom Thieves like the moon does the Earth.
  • It actually goes further than that: like the moon, Mishima (at least at first) doesn't produce his own "light" (popularity, fame, justice, etc.) but instead hopes to glow with light reflected from the Phantom Thieves.
• Look at the Psi- Attacks animations. They are the perfect epilepsy trigger, so by using the Psi- skill line you're making the shadows have epilepsy attacks.
• In the casino heist, the way to progress through the major obstacles of the palace is through coins that the team collects. The final obstacle is a pair of scales that can only be activated if the team has 100,000 coins. Immediately after acquiring the required coins, the requirement is changed to 1,000,000 coins. Akechi, through a bit of trickery and savvy gambling, manages to acquire 910,000 coins, which brings the team's total to 1,010,110 coins. 1,010,110 in Binary is the letter 'V' in ASCII. In other words, the roman numeral for 5.
• Akechi hardly seems to be brought up again after Shido's defeat, but there seems to be a subtle hint that Joker at least hasn't forgotten about him or his apparent sacrifice. Taking to account that Akechi originally tried to kill him with a headshot, that Yaldabaoth made both of them Wild Cards, and that all the other allies and Confidants had their share of the spotlight for the final battle, it's not hard to interpret Joker using Satanael to shoot Yaldabaoth in the head as an appropriate sendoff to his fallen ally, who was all that was left. Doing what Akechi tried doing to him, except now towards the very being that had been using both of them. Making what was already a great moment all the more epic, satisfying, and touching.
• After Akechi's "off-screen death", we hear little about him or his arcana again. Especially in the end, where the only arcana that does not show up is the Justice Arcana (the one that represents Akechi). That is because Justice no longer resides in anyone anymore. Prior to his death, Akechi asked Joker to deliver justice in his stead. In the final battle, Joker manages to pass on this ideal to the rest of the people. It is basically an example of "my life will end, but my thoughts will live on."
• All of the Phantom Thieves' costumes seem to involve gloves of some sort. This makes sense in a way because, well, they're thieves. Thieves and burglars traditionally wear gloves in order to avoid leaving any traces of themselves, even fingerprints, behind at the scene of their crimes. Even Morgana gets in on this action in a way. His two front paws are white compared to most of his body being black. A look which, on cats, is commonly described as "mittens".
  • In addition, Joker's gloves are red. Which could have two possible meanings. The first being a reference to his criminal record which everyone judges him for, and from what we learnt later on, the fact that Yaldabaoth really manipulated people to think that he is indeed the most dangerous criminal and a threat against humanity. All they see is not a person, but a criminal with blood on his hands (even though he never killed anyone) and a threat against order. The second could have to do with his inability to get away with his actions. The phrase "caught red-handed" typically refers to someone being caught in the middle of a crime. He is apprehended by the police for the "crime" of defending a woman against the corrupt Masayoshi Shido, and even the beginning of the game shows him in the process of being cornered and captured by the authorities while doing a heist as part of the Phantom Thieves.
• At first it might seem somewhat contrived that the only seat for Joker in class is next to Ann. But Ann herself is a social outcast, which explains why nobody who doesn't have to wants to sit next to her.
  • It doesn't really work as Japanese schools use designated seating arrangements but the metaphor is still apt.
• The star motif you see a lot in the UI is most likely a reference to the 108 Stars of Destiny in the Water Margin, which is about a group of bandits overthrowing a corrupt regime. The developers did use the novel as inspiration.
• Makoto's Confidant requires that Joker have max Charm to complete it, despite Eiko's boyfriend (who Joker is being compared to) not being very, well, charming. It makes sense, though, because Joker has to out-charm Tsukasa, who's very good at piling on superficial flattery to get his way. The purpose of having maximum Charm is to show Eiko how someone who is really, genuinely charming acts and help put some initial, desperately-needed cracks in Eiko's illusions about her boyfriend.
  • Also, Makoto is well known in the school as a hard working person, and someone with a certain level of authority by some people, including Eiko. Anyone Makoto would be dating (or rather, pretending to) would need to be seen as charming enough to get her to notice them and have it be a genuine relationship. If you don't have enough Charm, it doesn't sell the illusion that Makoto and Joker are dating.
• Unlike in the previous game, where the characters would go to an actual metalworks shop to obtain their weapons, all of the weapons that the characters in Persona 5 get are specifically named as models and fakes, with Iwai noting that the guns are all fake and the model blades would be less useful in a real fight than even a butter knife. However, it makes sense given the characters' situations. Unlike small rural town Yasoinaba, the characters are all minors living in the big city of Tokyo, and unlike the protagonist of Persona 4, Persona 5's lead has a criminal record. Besides the very fact that a noted criminal would be unable to purchase real weapons in any capacity, no weapons shop in their right mind in a big city like Tokyo would be caught dead selling real weapons to minors. Especially not actual guns.
  • Likely also helped along by the fact that many of the shops in Yasoinaba are already in serious trouble financially due to Junes taking a lot of their business, so a traditional metalworks shop like that one would be looking more for any source of income possible. Meanwhile, Iwai, while fully capable of obtaining and modifying guns, would refuse to do so. Both on principle of trying to leave his criminal past behind, and the fact that his shop is fairly well to do, and thus he is not desperate enough to resort to selling real weapons to minors.
• Coffee you learn to make from Sojiro is great for restoring SP... Because you go in a mental world where people believe that Must Have Caffeine is much more true than it actually is (You'd have to drink coffee instead of water for it to actually work instead of just being a Magic Feather).
• Anyone familiar with the medical practice of "triage" can understand why Tae Takemi is so disinterested in clearing her name. When resource are scarce doctors will compare the severity of their patient's conditions to decide who takes priority. Tae knows her own reputation is beyond saving, and that no matter how unfair her own situation is, it pales in comparison to her old patient who will die if a remedy to her condition is not found. So instead of wasting time trying to "save a doomed patient", she has chosen to focus on completing her work to save someone who still has a chance.
• During the Futaba/Medjed Arc, Makoto is extremely proactive in taking the lead with helping Futaba overcome her social anxiety, right down the scheduling with the other thieves activities for Futaba to do throughout the last week of August. At first you would think this is just a case of Makoto displaying her Big Sister Instinct but when you consider that she knows that Sae was previously trying to threaten and blackmail Sojiro with accusations of Child Abuse, you can see why Makoto would go the extra mile here.
• In Royal, when fighting the Sphinx Wakaba, she will claim that Futaba cannot possibly live on without her mother in this harsh, cruel world, and any response you (or Joker) makes that somehow agrees with her or even implying that you want to use her cognitive research to bring her back to life will make Futaba depressed and she will significantly longer to restore the ballista. Futaba, or the other Phantom Thieves might not actually want that to happen in the first place, preferring to deal with the grief, face on, head on instead of escaping into a reality that Futaba's mother or other people important to them, are still alive. However, this does not mean that they don't yearn for this to happen to them on a subconscious level, allowing Maruki, another cognitive psience researcher that somehow gained the ability to warp history and reality, warp it in their very favor by making Wakaba, or other acquaintances of the Phantom Thieves that are long dead or left them, reconcile with them or outright exist as if they didn't die. Needless to say, it isn't exactly a good thing to them, regardless of Maruki's intent.
• Unlike the other Phantom Thieves, Futaba didn't gain her Persona by tearing off her mask (the only exceptions being Akechi, and Morgana, who already had an awakened Persona when the Protagonist first saw them in Mementos). This is because she had no mask to tear off. Futaba wasn't hiding her true face from other people, as one usually does when adopting a persona in the usual sense. Futaba kept herself hidden in her room all the time in order to avoid people, and because she never interacted with them and believed everything they thought about her, she believed she had nothing to hide. And her 'true self' that she was avoiding doesn't wear a mask, because Shadow Futaba wanted to confront her with the truth about her mother and show her her true self. Futaba only wears a Phantom Thief mask, her goggles, after that confrontation. Because she's finally gained the strength to create a Persona and face both other people and the world around her.
• Part of the meaning behind the "Joker" nickname is that, in playing cards, the Joker is a "Wild Card" that does not belong to any suit. However, also remember that there are two Jokers in a standard deck, hinting at the presence of another Wild Card Persona user, who turns out to be Akechi.
• The Traitor's apparent Complexity Addiction regarding his ultimate plan. Why didn't Akechi just put a bullet in Shido's chrome dome and be done with it? Doing so in real life would obviously be impractical; Shido's an influential politician with no shortage of bodyguards to ventilate Akechi before he can even get within ten feet of the guy with malicious intent, and the only way Akechi could likely get a firearm is through Shido's influence. In the Metaverse? Shido's combined forms have 19800 HP, all of the severe-level single target elemental attacks in the game, and Heat Riser and Debilitate. Akechi has 7200 HP, a couple of heavy-level elemental attacks, Brave Blade (which gets repelled by Shido's Beast form), and Heat Riser. And this is ludicrously high-balling Akechi's chances by taking him at the absolute height of his power. Akechi at the beginning of his journey with a poopy level 1 Persona? Pfft. Trying to kill Shido directly would be tantamount to suicide. Taking the long road and slowly infiltrating his conspiracy was the only way 15-year old Akechi could come up with to get his revenge. By the time Joker and his The Power of Friendship antics waltz in, he's in way too deep to consider backing out now (and even if he does, there's the serious risk of Shido pulling a He Knows Too Much/You Have Failed Me if he tries it).
  • This also makes Shido's quote before attacking the party on the Beast form one, showing that not only is he way harder than Akechi was, but Akechi wouldn't have stood much of a chance to stop him anyway even if the party didn't outsmart him at Sae's palace.
    Shido: Let me make myself clear. Do not think of me as you did my foolish son who acted so brashly.
    • In the other hand however, it's highly possible that Akechi will succeed, since the rest of Shido's inner circle are not known to be competent and if one pays very close attention, Akechi is the only person capable of actually threatening anyone effectively amongst his arsenal, and the rest are just a rabble of yes-men and opportunists. This means that the remainder of his henchmen might actually screw up any attempts to prevent Akechi from assassinating Shido in the real world. However, this is exactly where the Public and Yaldabaoth come in handy — the Public might very will just treat Shido's demise as another news piece and stop caring altogether after a while, in which Yaldabaoth would just erase Akechi by abusing public cognition just like what he did with the Phantom Thieves — aside that since Akechi doesn't have as strong of a mind as Joker nor does he have any legitimate bonds, there's no chance in hell he will go anywhere after being banished.
  • The plan itself, in addition to being almost needlessly complex, helping his target rise only to make them fall, almost sounds like something a young child would think up, Akechi himself is 17/18 in the game and would have started killing shadows in the metaverse at around 15/16. while 15/16 may sound like an age where you could have some maturity, Akechi himself has had a very bad childhood and his emotional growth is very much stunted by his mother's suicide and him being passed along various foster families afterwards. It is this Akechi: bitter and emotionally stunted, that received the Metanav from Yaldabaoth.
• The code name for the last party member is "crow" instead of "karasu". This does follow their system for naming, but it also has another meaning. In Japanese the English word "crow" can sound like the word "kuro" or "black". Every time it's used, they're saying that he's the black Persona-user right to his face.
  • One of Kawakami's lessons mentions that the kanji for "bird" and "crow" are extremely similar, with the only difference being one extra dot on the "bird" kanji. Joker's mask has a distinct bird-like appearance that contrasts with Crow's black mask, and not only are the two are very much alike but what separates them is something Joker has but that Crow lacks and craves - in this case, Joker's friends and the bonds he has with them.
• When he first transforms into a vehicle, Morgana mentions the only reason he can do so is because a large number of people that created Mementos have a belief that cats and cars are related. Why? Because it's a common saying of those who are evaluating the state of a car's engine. A perfectly sounding engine 'purrs like a kitten'.
  • His exact words were that "cats turning into buses is a surprisingly common theme." This could be a reference to My Neighbor Totoro.
• Why do the health items you buy at drug stores have both a positive and negative effect on the character? Because like in real life, drugs that are made to target a condition in the body, often have side-effects that negatively effect other areas in the body. This also shows how good of a Doctor Takemi is, because her custom made drug items have great benefits with no negative effects, but they also cost a lot more Yen, which is also Truth in Television about modern medicine.
• Later on, once you find out the truth of the Metaverse and Mementos, you'll notice that your entire "Phantom Thief" career is nothing more than a cleaner job and you are not and never rebelling against society; your rebel premise is just a Bait-and-Switch goal. The Big Bad Yaldabaoth has employed you to silence the people whose desires are too serious for society by silencing them and return them to the Prison of Regression; You aren't actually doing any good for them. As a Truth in Television portrayal of finding a job, for a 16 year old high-schooler the most appropriate part time job for them is the cleaner seat in a mall. And you know what happens once they are worthless? The landlord fires them, just like how Yaldabaoth decided that you shouldn't exist after all the personalized Palaces were gone.
• One thing that most people see as an Ass Pull is how Ryuji somehow survives the explosion from Shido's cruise liner, somehow blasting him away and out of the Palace which led to his survival. However, one must remember that a mechanic that goes well in Persona games is the Social Links, especially for Party Members to make them more useful as they gain more abilities with each level, with a second awakening that gives several good things to their Personas. Since it's near the end of the game, it's reasonable to assume that you completed Ryuji's Confidant or are close to doing such. Assuming you got up to at least Rank 8 with him, which grants the "Endure" ability (survive with 1 HP), it suddenly becomes plausible as to how Ryuji survives the ship sinking and escapes, somewhat like how Akechi's Rank 9 coincides with him dying for the Phantom Thieves.
  • Assuming you completed his Confidant, he gets Seiten Taisei as his upgraded persona. The Second Awakening in Persona 5 gives an "Evade Element-This-Persona-Is-Weak-To", as well as a resistance against an additional element. What Resistance does Ryuji get? Fire Resistance. Given the explosion was undoubtedly fire based, his survival becomes even more plausible.
    • In addition, the mythology of Seiten Taisei coincides with that of this seemingly impossible survival. The more common name that Seiten Taisei is known by in modern media is Son Wukong, the infamous Monkey King. Who, among multiple other fantastic powers, has immortality. A good part of Son Wukong's repertoire of incredible feats includes him surviving attacks and events that would have killed most individuals several times over. If the game is indeed assuming that Ryuji survived the attack while having Seiten Taisei, it could be that he's simply doing the same as his persona would have done.
  • Also, his initial Persona and his third-tier has a boat while Seiten Taisei himself is riding on a cloud. Obviously he would survive in water.
• Kasumi doesn't fit in with the rest of the Thieves' brand of rebellion because she's a rebel without a cause. Unlike them, she has been getting helped her whole life while most of them struggle through their regular lives and she wants to rebel by spurning that help. The other Thieves had to rebel when they had no other choice or for a good reason. She is a rebel who is rebelling against something unnecessary and rebelling against their rebellion.
  • And then it's shown that the Kasumi we know is her sister, Sumire, who is one of the patients of the True Final Boss Maruki and it's completely her fault for entrusting her problems to him, since Maruki at that time is just a therapist with magical powers. No wonder she doesn't fit; she doesn't need to rebel against authority or oppression, she needs to rebel against herself.
• Kasumi entered school while Kamoshida was still around emotionally and physically torturing students and feeding on their suffering. Based on her pretty appearance and that Kasumi isn't Kasumi, but the mentally unstable, insecure Sumire, one might think that she would render herself a red target for Kamoshida's abuse, especially after the disguise drops off, where she would render herself as a particularly vulnerable target. Be warned that Kamoshida might abuse people simply because he doesn't like a specific person, or because he is attracted on the looks of a specific young women. But why he doesn't bother even a hand on Sumire? Her father is a famous talk show director who knows Akechi personally. Something this big getting out will result in his boss commissioning a Mental Shutdown on Kamoshida and Kobayakawa's cranium.
  • This is also why Makoto or Haru aren't in range of Kamoshida's abuse. The former will obviously rattle too much attention from the Police that Shido might order a Mental Shutdown on Kobayakawa or Kamoshida. As for the latter, remember Okumura frequents the Black Mask's services.
  • Even in the Thieves' Den, Akechi blatantly says that he will kill Kamoshida if that abuse he's doing ever personally affected him. Kamoshida can't really do anything but to sexually or emotionally harass nobodies like Shiho or Mishima, who aren't even worth two cents in the current social order.
  • There's no evidence that Kamoshida had any idea that there was a conspiracy behind the mental shutdowns and psychotic breakdowns. The simplest and most likely explanation is that Kamoshida didn't dare to target the famous daughter of a TV producer because either could have easily brought public attention to him and his other crimes weren't well hidden at all. Other likely factors probably were that Yoshizawa doesn't train in Shujin itself, but under her coach Hiraguchi in an off-school gym, which limited his chances to approach her, and that Yoshizawa arrived to Shujin less than a week before Shiho's attempted suicide, forcing him to lie low for the time being and then his Change of Heart came about.
• In the original interpretation of Christianity, Satan is not the Big Bad but essentially the Secret Test of Character given form, tempting humans with sin to see if they remain pious. Fittingly, to unlock him you must "remain pious" by not selling out your friends when Sae offers a deal - and if you take it, you receive damnation in the form of Akechi brutally murdering you.
• Yaldabaoth impersonating Igor has a really brilliant insight to it. Igor amounts to a part of the Great Will in Persona's side of the Amala Network, alongside Philemon and Nyarlathotep. And the Great Will is the true god of the Persona reality. So Yaldabaoth is really usurping the true god and impersonating as him.
• Yaldabaoth alludes to lemmings in his Motive Rant before the final battle. The famous image of lemmings blindly jumping off cliffs was actually set up by documentary filmmakers, just like Yaldabaoth rigging the "game" between Joker and Akechi to "prove" that humanity needs his control.
• In Royal, there's a retro mini-game called "Featherman Seeker" whose contents resemble Akechi being manipulated to turn against the Phantom Thieves by Shido or Yaldabaoth and what seems to be his final moments in the cruiser Palace, to chilling accuracy. While the protagonist "Gray Pigeon" obviously refers to Akechi (who even has "Gray Pigeon" as his Featherman costume), pay the attention of both names of the main in-game villain, who also acts as the protagonist's mentor. They are all Meaningful Names.
  • The fake name the villain uses is "Osagiri", which means "great fog" in Japanese. However, the word "Sagiri" is the exact term that was used to refer to Izanami's avatars in Persona 4, giving it a double meaning as "great avatar of god," something that Yaldabaoth definitely acts like when he was impersonating Igor. It should also be noted that Osagiri trains Gray Pigeon just like the fake Igor being ruthless but overly enthusiastic in training Joker. "Osagiri" was also a false name, and when the entity reveals its true identity, it admits that there was no "Osagiri" to begin with, further implying that it's supposed to represent the fake Igor.
  • The villain's true name, Alya is actually the Arabic name for the Theta Serpentis star, of the constellation Serpens, represented by the snake. Yaldabaoth, in Gnosis, is often depicted as a serpent with a lion's head. Shido's Shadow form, Samael, also takes the form of a serpent in Shin Megami Tensei, in addition to Shido himself having heavy lion motifs.
  • The name is also a shout out/parody of Jetman's commander Aya Odagiri, who while strict wasn't actually a traitor.
    • Speaking of Akechi's Gray Pigeon costume, while the other Featherman outfits are an obvious reference to Gatchaman/Jetman which is what the show is a shout out to, his with it's high collar and black bodysuit is instead inspired by Gokaiger a Sentai show where the team are Antiheroic pirates who were initially only in it for themselves. They also have the ability to change their appearance to those of more traditionally heroic Sentai teams (it was an Anniversary show) which fits Akechi's ability to change his appearance with Robin Hood.
• Kasumi is said to had been never lost a gymnast competition or got anything below the top 2 runner ups. She is also a lot more confident in terms of gaining a victory or to other people. So why does the one you encounter looked so insecure? It's because she isn't Kasumi, and Sumire's qualities are still subconsciously inside. This probably explains what actually impaired her performance save for grieving for her dead sister; Sumire's inferiority compared to Kasumi was interfering with it.
• "Kasumi"/Sumire's statements take an extremely ironic turn during The Reveal. She disagrees with the Phantom Thieves because she believes that Helping Would Be Kill Stealing and their actions are incorrect. Sumire was the very one who asked Maruki to solve all of her personal problems by transforming her into Kasumi; The entire thing wasn't even Maruki's fault at all. While this might be the real Kasumi's mindset and not Sumire's, remember that Kasumi arranges most of Sumire's life and sacrificed herself for helping Sumire by preventing her from being ran over by a car, making this statement even more ironic than ever.
• In a Shin Megami Tensei sense, Kasumi is effectively a Doppelgänger, a demon that impersonates a person and is said to be a sign of ill omen. Not only she is one for her sister, the real Kasumi, her Metaverse form and Ultimate Persona also mirrors Joker and Arsene, respectively.
  • Speaking of which, the closest girl to the protagonist will always have a special origin since Persona 3, and they are either added in an expansion or had their roles expanded there. In Persona 3 she was a robot, in Persona 4 she was a quarter of a goddess and in Persona 5 she was a doppelganger of her dead sister.
• During a Thieves Den skit between Shinya and Yoshida discussing in front of the Mammon-Okumura statue, Yoshida comments that even in "such an organization", not every member might obviously have malicious intent, and circumstances might sometimes lead to members violating their moral codes. This foreshadows that not every high ranking member within Okumura's company approves his unethical business and political practices. In fact, Okumura's successor, Takakura, actually does not support Okumura's political ambitions.
• Sumire believes that she is completely inferior to her sister Kasumi. Despite this, she isn't; She outright told Maruki that she is better in terms of cooking compared to Kasumi who sometimes cooks weird food as seen during one of the fake Kasumi's hangouts with the protagonist. Furthermore, while she cannot get 1st or 2nd runner ups consistently, she is still able to make into the top plays in gymnastics and is by no means, bad at the sport.
• Just why is Sumire completely unaffected by Maruki's dream world? She already had her wish given. You cannot kill a thing that is already dead.
• Why is Maruki's persona Azathoth but it has no relation with Nyarlathotep? That's because it's a metaphor. Adam Kadmon's wisdom is directly tied to Maruki's treasure. What happens if you are in the dark and your torch gets removed from you? You go blind. You will not be able to decide a path on your own. And what Azathoth is? A blind, braindead entity that only destroys or creates with no substance.
  • Additionally, it might also be a corrupted version of the "Azoth," the very essence of life in the Kabbalah and the cure to all in terms of Alchemy; Azathoth is truly a "cure to all suffering," yet a perverse variant of it. It also represents physical and spiritual perfection, although it degrades the spiritual by giving people whatever they wanted, making it "imperfection by perfection."
• Maruki's ultimate persona Adam Kadmon is the ultimate personification of humanity's potential, and is the light and wisdom that shines through humanity. That is why Maruki's treasure is the torch that he uses to revive Adam Kadmon; By accidentally removing the torch from it, Yaldabaoth is also removing all of humanity's potential and regressing them into blind idiots.
  • Adam Kadmon is also the embodiment of Kether, the top of the Kabbalah and the mind of the real god, while Azathoth is simply god as a natural force, mindless but real and active. In both sides of him, Maruki also shows himself to be a far wiser and more enlightened person than Yaldabaoth ever was, accepting both the world as it was and the true spiritual reality.
• Maruki's own version of reality, if you look at it in a certain angle, is just straw nihilism in its finest form. Rather than Yaldabaoth, it would be more similar to allowing Nyx to carry out The Fall, as he merely gives everyone they wanted for the sole purpose of ending all existential suffering; all of them. Obviously there will be no character development, no growing or walking forward and no fun to be had. It is simply empty happiness, a form of happiness that has reached its extreme and devolved into pure nihilism; His sin is Melancholy/Tristitia for a very good reason.
• Akechi, Yaldabaoth and Maruki's deals reflect the final outcome of the metaverse had Joker accepted any of them.
  • Akechi represents Chaos, as after he killed Joker, Shido would inaugurate and he might take the chance to spill all of the beans as only Akechi knows about any of them. Shido would be discredited and Akechi might take the chance to ferment mass social unrest, if he gets around Yaldabaoth, of course.
  • Yaldabaoth represents Law, as he completely stagnates all of humanity's free will and leaves them completely unable to think for themselves, pessimistic and seeking for his or Joker's help, while Joker and Yaldabaoth murder all opposition mercilessly to maintain order.
  • Maruki represents Neutral, as he allows all of humanity to live freely without suffering or pain, yet stagnates them much like Yaldabaoth, or more accurately, Nyx, since the people within his world aren't any different from being Technically Living Zombies. This is something that a normal or realistic Neutral outcome cannot achieve in any means, but nevertheless tries to do so without the stagnation part.
• The second line of Rivers in the Desert's chorus is "The last ace in a lost hand". What do you call the final community card in Texas Hold'Em? The river.
• Joker, Sumire and Futaba wears glasses in real life but when in the Metaverse, if Joker or Sumire rips off their masks, they don't have them. Yet, when Futaba rips hers off, her glasses are still there. Why? Because Joker and Sumire don't need their glasses to see while Futaba does.
• In the cutscene after defeating Kamoshida his palace begins to crumble. Everyone is surprised and worried, except Morgana who is simply grooming himself. This might seem like a gag, but excessive grooming is something that cats do when they are stressed.
• A rather minor but kind of mixed with Fridge Horror. During the New Years event of Royal, Kasumi mentions that Meiji Shrine is usually quite crowded during New Years, but when she arrived there this year, she found out that barely anyone was there. If everyone's wish came true because of Maruki creating a cognitive reality overlay on top of Tokyo, how will there be any more wishes or yearns?
  • The order in which the teens arrive in the cutscene mirrors their situations. Joker arrives by himself, symbolizing how his mind has not been altered by Maruki in any way, leaving him alone in a world he doesn't belong in. The Phantom Thieves whose cognitions Maruki altered are at the shrine. "Kasumi"/Sumire is already there, but she's by herself, which represents how she was cognitively altered before the Lotus-Eater Machine and she's not affected by the false reality. The six remaining Thieves are walking together, which symbolizes how they are completely ensnared in the illusionary bliss and ignorant to the sudden changes in their lives.
• When Lavenza appears to the Phantom Thieves in the nurse's office everyone but Akechi does "!" while Akechi does "!?" as Akechi never met Lavenza before and who knows how much Joker told him about her when they meet up again. He is probably surprised and confused when Lavenza just showed up out of the blue and he doesn't know who the heck she is.
• When "Kasumi" phones Joker prior to The Reveal, her phone is in incredibly poor condition. (Battery runs out quickly, poor call quality etc.) That's probably because when (the real) Kasumi sacrificed herself to save Sumire from nearly being hit by traffic, she pushed her so hard that it broke her phone.
• While it's Awesome, but Impractical, going for the biggest power boost on the Tyrant Pistol gun, made from Lucifer, will have it reach 666 Atk.
• The Fool Confidant is the final Confidant to Max out in the original version of Persona 5. This makes a lot more sense considering the place where it Maxes out is the deepest floor of Mementos a.k.a the Qliphoth. The bridge between Chokhmah and Kether (Iweleth to Bacikal, in reversed context) is represented by Aleph, the Fool in Esotericism.
• Why do the Shadows in this game transform into demons? It's possible that the Shadows were always demons to begin with. Even during Persona 2, it's noted that "people nowadays have weird ideas about magic" in reference to a puzzle that mixes up Japanese, Chinese and Greek mythology. In the SMT universe, Gods Need Prayer Badly is in full force, so since humanity now has very wrapped ideas about demons or are otherwise ignorant and uncaring, their forms were corrupted and they transformed into shadows.
  • The above is also reflected in the negotiations; in all other games that involve demon negotiation, you must please them or invoke their interest in some fashion. In this game, none of the demon's real names are revealed until a negotiation is successful. In that case, the demon says that it remembered its real name. You saved them from distortion, and they join you because they're grateful.
• Both Futaba and Maruki are knowledgeable in the subject of Cognitive Psience and carries both a Lovecraftian and Creator God motif via their Personas and their evolved forms, respectively symbolizing madness-inducing knowledge and Fire or the light created by it. Both Shido and Yaldabaoth carries a water based motif to respectively the former's Palace (A cruiser) and the latter's false form (A Grail); Water quenches fire aka human desire and rebellion. In addition, members of the conspiracy usually have a water motif to them while sympathetic ones have a fire/light related motif.
  • Kamoshida's water motif is based on the wine goblet he holds, a cup where he is drunk from the power that he impulsively uses to get laid and abuse his authority on
  • Madarame's water motif is from his ink, blotting out the accomplishment of his pupils to promote his own.
  • Kaneshiro's water motif is his money, the implication that he has massive financial assets when in reality he owes others so much money that he had resorted to drug dealing to cover up his spending.
  • Okumura's water motif is the Spaceship, a grandiose expression of his skyrocketing rise to power only to be undermined by the greed of others more powerful than him.
  • Sae, being a sympathetic target has a fire motif, characterized by the blinding lights of the casino and how she is gambling her success in taking down the Thieves to bolster her own career. Unaware of the fact once they are brought in she is likely going be killed as well.
• When you find out about Maruki's past through his palace, you learn that his attempt to create a lab to research cognitive psience was quashed by Shido and the conspiracy. Yet, unlike Wakaba they didn't induce a mental shutdown or even a psychotic breakdown on him. While it's possible it's because Maruki wasn't as big a threat as Wakaba, it makes further sense given that Maruki has no Shadow... Maruki has a Persona (even if not awakened... yet). Had they sent Akechi to try and off him, it would just likely awakened Maruki's Persona, and given how strong Adam Kadmon/Azathoth is, Maruki could've easily defeated him. And not just that, but likely use his Actualization on Akechi and possibly bring to light the Conspiracy.
• Throughout Persona 5, most of your Confidants are kicked off by forming a deal with somebody. Furthermore Dummied Out content in the original version reveals it was meant that reversing and breaking Confidants has them rescind their deal with you (specifically, those that aren't the Phantom Thieves, which includes Mishima, or plot relevant like Sojiro and Sae.) If you take the bad ending on 2/2, Akechi coldly tells you that "Our deal's off." right before Maruki's reality fully asserts itself, meaning you just broke his Confidant.
  • In a similar vein, during Maruki's false reality ending, most of Joker's friends don't interact with him bar Sojiro. By letting Maruki get his way, you broke every other Confidant Joker had forged since the events that led to him forging the bonds never happened in the first place within Maruki's reality.
  • This Confidant break was shown even earlier, but this time not because of the protagonist. When the seven Thieves who are still brainwashed meet up and begin to question the dream reality, they all start to realize they turned their backs on Joker somehow, and Ann comments that if they don't figure out what's wrong, they'll lose their connection to Joker soon. In this case, the Confidants themselves were actually the first to break their own deals by unknowingly giving into their desires and abandoning their promises to protect Joker if he were in danger.
• It seems odd at first that Morgana would veto bringing Kasumi along to Shido's palace for the final heist with the claim that the enemy is too dangerous for someone inexperienced despite doing so for Haru. But then remember that Morgana is a pretty good judge when it comes to a Persona user's power and potential, and his decision may have saved Kasumi's life. Since "Kasumi" wasn't really Kasumi, but instead Sumire who had a false awakening with her cognitive overlay, her powers were unstable in the long run. Maruki himself pointed out there was no telling when the overlay would wear off, and it is implied her exposure to the Metaverse sped up the process. If Sumire came to the final palace and broke down in the fight against Shido, she would have become a liability to the Thieves. The others wouldn't have time to calm her down or get her out of the cruise liner against the most dangerous Palace ruler alive. In hindsight, it was for the best that Morgana declined her offer for help.
  • To add onto that, during the early part of the Okumura Palace, Morgana explicitly keeps Haru from participating in combat for the exact same reason; she didn't experience her full awakening. It was until after that occurred that she was allowed to officially join the party.
• How come Sumire and Akechi have no weaknesses when you go against them in their boss fights? Well, both at the time were in the midst of serious Sanity Slippage. Even if they were hit with their weakness, their mental state at the time would probably force them to power through it instead of getting knocked down, thus making use of that tactic pointless.
• When Akechi rejoins the party the Third Term, Loki interestingly has only one Curse skill, even though he is meant to be the technical "Curse" using party member and is weak to Bless because of it. On the other, Loki has a wider variety of Physical, Gun and Almighty skills, and Hereward's unique move is an Almighty attack. Remembering that Joker and Arsène's Persona line were the first primary "Curse" using members, it's possible that Akechi wants to branch away from being too similar to the protagonist, and doesn't bother learning elemental skills. To match his now openly-deranged fighting style, he and his Personas focus more on skills that deliver heavy damage to as many shadows as possible.
  • Hereward's unique trait is Ingenious Spirit, designed to reduce the SP use of an ally's support skills and Almighty attacks by half. This reflects Akechi's preference towards Almighty skills, his blunt, no-nonsense attitude towards wasting resources, and also that deep down, he still cares for the Phantom Thieves and Joker, supporting them in a subtle way.
  • It's also worth noting that outside Joker, no one among the Phantom Thieves learn Almighty skills except for him, meaning only those two are able to take advantage of his upgrade. Indicating that while he's capable of being cordial towards them, in the end the only one he managed to truly strike a bond with out of them is Joker.
• Although Akechi owns up to his crimes and is bluntly honest about how insane he is, he doesn't change his cynicism or murderous attitude or try to make amends with anyone other than possibly Joker. Given that they're all stuck in Maruki's Lotus-Eater Machine, why would Akechi even bother to make an effort to change if it won't amount to anything in the true reality? He'd save his redemption and any possible attitude changes for after they restore the world, assuming he'd even be alive when they return.
  • In addition to above, whenever Akechi showed signs of remorse and wanting to atone in the real world, such as in Shido's Palace or talking to Sae and Joker in Christmas Eve, he wasn't hiding his true personality of being a jerk. But his portraits and tone were livelier, more sincere/filled with emotion, showing genuine relief and happiness to atone his crimes. Of course with Maruki taking away Akechi's redemption that he wanted to earn fair and square, this would add onto Akechi's bitterness that he had his freedom yanked away again, he'd ramp up this negativity in Maruki's "Paradise of Happiness" to spite the man.
  • Another instance of the above possibly being Akechi's genuine personality is in the Thieves Den. There, Joker's cognition of him is open about being a jerk, condescending towards the Thieves at times and sits by himself when not playing cards, but he doesn't always mock them during some of their zanier antics and simply chats with them at other times. He can even interact with Maruki somewhat civilly if only to validly point out the latter's foolishness. As before, his more relaxed portraits are used instead of his apathetic Third Term ones. Since the Thieves Den is a temporary hideaway from the real world, it means the Akechi there wouldn't have to deal with Maruki's reality or savior-complex for a short time and just drop all his guards down.
• The final area of Maruki's palace represents how Maruki believes his reality would be: a beautiful garden paradise reminiscent of the Garden of Eden. While it's true that the Garden of Eden was supposed to be a paradise, the reason humans were exiled from the garden was because they obtained forbidden knowledge - and it was only once they left did humanity and civilization start to grow. This means in order to stay in Maruki's paradise, humanity would have to live in complete ignorance and never grow, complacent with the world given to them and never questioning why. Anyone who attempted to gain knowledge on their own would be cast out (much like how the Phantom Thieves' fake realities shattered when they noticed something was amiss and tried to seek the full truth).
• Why does Maruki's Palace function so differently than the others? Because it's likely an "artificial" Palace. While most are built from the subconscious, we got proof they can be consciously tinkered with as seen with Shido. However, he's a novice compared to a true cognitive psientist like Maruki who even has a Persona. Maruki acknowledges reality as it is, but also driven by what he believes it should be. It's likely he used his understanding to create his "artificial palace". However, after the Day of Reckoning when Adam Kadmon goes berserk and becomes Azathoth, it drives more from his subconscious because he is now fully into it. It's attached to Mementos rather than separates and spreading out throughout it. The path near it is gray and sleek, a proof of its artificiality and how the roots are multicolored rather than white shows how much it sticks out. It shows how from his "center of command" he influences all of Mementos and thus everyone's mind, connecting their Shadows to his reform center. We're fully seeing him take over.
• Why is Maruki easier to beat with Adam Kadmon than Azathoth? It's an inverse of Sanity Has Advantages. Without the light of truth that his treasure represents, Azathoth has become blind, but then powerful by usurping Mementos. This is Maruki as The Unfettered and his Persona without restraint. It's why he's strongest there. When he steals back his treasure and restores Adam Kadmon, he also restores the wisdom he lost and with that, the self-doubt and concerns over his plan along knowing Joker would not go with it. He's become more subconsciously aware of his doubts. It's why the fight becomes more of a standard battle and not as difficult. Then when he gives himself to Adam Kadmon and gives him total control, that's him surrendering entirely to his ideals, but also rendering Adam Kadmon vulnerable through also making him feel Maruki's desperation. Joker shoots the mask off is him breaking Maruki's faith in that Persona and thus, why Adam Kadmon is defeated for good.
• Despite questions regarding Maruki's questionable approach with counseling along with the presence of the potentially artificial palace, he is still quite smart and he does help the Thieves in a roundabout way. All of them realize sub-conscious desires or things about themselves that allow them to better confront and handle their problems through that awareness... that wisdom. In fact, Maruki's master plan could possibly be using his Palace as a sort of "holodeck" that manifests the desires of his client and allow them to better understand themselves.
  • Additionally, the Thieves did have help through Joker in going through, suggesting that Joker and Maruki's approaches combined would yield the ideal results. After all, Maruki is the Councillor Arcana, which is just a variant of the Magician Arcana. As we've seen, Magician Arcanas work quite well with Fool Arcanas in partnerships.
• The ability to have a Persona and a Palace at the same time is said by Morgana to be impossible, yet somehow, Maruki was able to have both at once. However, not only is there a reason for this, there is precedence:
  • Futaba awakened to her Persona inside her own Palace, and it remained intact long enough to defeat the Cognitive Wakaba... after which, it almost immediately began to collapse. In a way, Shadow Futaba wasn't the cause of Futaba's distorted thoughts: she may have been initially, but overtime this changed as Futaba's false memories became stronger. At some point, all the cognitive distortion was passed onto Cognitive Wakaba - the representation of Futaba's false memories - and it became the center of distortion holding the Palace up instead, leaving Shadow Futaba to only become Futaba's repressed positive, wrathful self. Once Cognitive Wakaba was gone, the Palace followed shortly thereafter.
    • And by extension, this represents Shadow Futaba's inability to control her own Palace, representing the fact that Futaba believes more to what people had fed to her about her mother's death rather than being skeptical about it, investigate it, and make her own conclusions like what Shadow Futaba wants her other self to do; she's no longer it's Ruler, practically speaking. That belongs to Cognitive Wakaba now, aka the "Beast who Rules the Palace". And since Cognitive Wakaba was the distortion, that could also make the spirit of her mother's true feelings Futaba's actual Treasure, which is why "Futaba herself was the Treasure".
  • Then with Maruki, he semi-awakened to his Persona to heal Rumi, which began his distorted thoughts/dream up to a certain level - only once he truly awakened, on the Day of Reckoning, did Maruki become fully distorted. How was he distorted in the first place though? Because thanks to Yaldabaoth's machinations, rigging his game and casting a pall of apathy over the populace, Adam Kadmon degraded into Azathoth, a blind idiot... a blind, distorted idiot. In other words, Maruki did accept his other self and awaken to his Persona, but his other self had already been distorted from the start, and this is how he could have a Persona and a Palace at the same time: his (degraded) Persona is the source of his own distortions. Once Azathoth became Adam Kadmon, the distortion was gone but the overwhelming desire to make everyone happy still remained to some extent... then once Adam Kadmon was defeated, this desire went away as the Palace (along with the Metaverse) began to collapse.
    • Although, pay attention to Maruki's awakening. Unlike anyone else who actually awakened a Persona, none of Maruki's awakenings feature his Shadow Self or yellow eyes, both of them which qualify as standard awakening behavior in both 4 and 5. Then if one was familiar with Persona 5 Scramble's endgame, the final boss (which is a rogue AI, not a Persona), acts very similar to Azathoth/Adam Kadmon in terms of modus operandi, even vaguely sharing some bodily features. He might had been awakened to an AI-like artificial persona with someone else giving him a push. The base structure might even be an entirely different thing altogether, probably something used to conduct cognitive psientific experiments (with Maruki being a very possible test subject) under a different owner, until his Persona occupied the facility.
• A bit of bittersweet Fridge Heartwarming. In Maruki's dream world, Futaba seems to have as close a relationship to Sojiro as she does in reality despite her mother now being alive to raise her. At first, you could just brush this off as one of the many deliberate inconsistencies that show how things are all wrong, but here's a catch: Sojiro's in this dream world as well. And what does he state as one of his biggest regrets earlier in the game, something which Maruki would no doubt have fixed for such a good man in his "perfect world"? That he never got to tell Wakaba he loved her. It's possible that in this reality, Sojiro isn't just Futaba's adopted father; he's her actual step-father. In fact, this most likely is what Maruki chose to do for Sojiro, considering that he himself can sympathize with the pain of a lost love. Of course, sadly, while that part is not to last, Futaba still gets to have her father who loves her dearly in either reality.
  • Given that during Maruki's reality Wakaba asks Sojiro if he's going to get hitched, it would seem he still hasn't been able to confess.
• Compared to the previous two installments, it's incredibly difficult to achieve the top rank in exams during the first playthrough. You have to have a Rank 4 in Knowledge by the first exam that takes place in May and a completely maxed out Knowledge rank for every other exam. So at best the player would likely finally be able to achieve it by the final exams. Such a high requirement is likely tied to the fact that Shujin Academy is an Elite Prep School, so of course it would be difficult to perform better than other students in exams.
• One may be left wondering how Ryuji never got expelled after the fallout with the Track Team the year before Joker enrolled at Shujin. The entire incident got quietly swept under the rug with Kamoshida breaking Ryuji's leg getting justified as being "self-defense" after Ryuji hit him first and the track team got disbanded. One would think then the Ryuji would've likely been expelled since he was specifically accepted into Shujin on a Track Scholarship, and his academics is consistently revealed to be rather poor. But then you remember that Principal Kobayakawa is a Slave to PR and likely didn't want to deal with any publicity of their track star getting into a fight with a coach, having his leg broken, and then getting kicked out of the school. Keeping Ryuji around was likely Kobayakawa's way of damage controlling the situation.
• The Virtue angel is non-present in this game. Why? This is a game about the Seven Deadly Sins!
• Aside from Joker, Sumire is the only party member who doesn't outright hate Akechi (merely finding him "ruthless") when he rejoins the party during the third semester in Royal. This is perfectly justified since she wasn't a Phantom Thief when Akechi betrayed the group in Sae's Palace (only joining the heist after Akechi had already left), nor was she present when he tried to kill them in Shido's Palace - combine that with their fairly affable meetings early on in the game and her first Metaverse encounter with him coming post-Heel–Face Turn, and it's easy to see why her view on him is far less negative than the other thieves' are.
• Similarly, aside from Joker, Akechi seems to hate Sumire slightly less than he hates the other thieves, displaying noticeable concern whenever she's hurt in battle, refusing to fight her out of fear of hurting her and eventually stopping her from risking her life to save Maruki during the Final Boss. This makes sense when you consider they got along fairly well during their one meeting before the Phantom Thief business truly started, her being completely absent from Shido's Palace (meaning she never got a chance to attack him during his Villainous Breakdown) and the later revelation that she was essentially brainwashed by Maruki - he might be more sympathetic to her on the initial basis that they used to be friends and she's a rookie with none of the other thieves' history, and later on because he knows how it feels to be a pawn to a bigger threat.
• The Nuclear element in this game is represented by a teal-colored trefoil, and the Nuclear attacks themselves are colored teal or light blue. Now, what color is Godzilla's Atomic Breath in most of his appearances?
• Morgana's constant reminding of Joker to go to sleep makes sense given his form- cats are known for sleeping.
  • It also could be that, as a creature of the Velvet Room, he feels instinctively driven to connect the Trickster with Igor. His behaviour in Starlight is very much that of a servant who not only wants to get their work done but do it as soon as possible.
• It's mentioned that Akechi lives in a condo despite being only eighteen at the oldest and still in high school. At first it's a detail that seems to support his accomplishments, that he's so successful that he can afford to live on his own at such a young age and while that may be true it's certainly not the only reason. Akechi's a foster kid. Once he's legally an adult the system is no longer obligated to care for him and he'd be forced to take care of himself. He's living on his own because he has to, there's no one in his life that would be willing to take him in. Word of God mentions that his apartment has only barebones necessities which reaffirms that Akechi is an isolated teenager who grew up way too quickly.
• It makes sense that Joker sets a new record for romanceable options when compared to his predecessors, his MO is stealing hearts.
• The change to guns having their ammo refilled at the start of every battle in Royal makes sense when you consider that since the guns work cause the shadows think they are real, it stands to reason that the shadows would also think that the Phantom Thieves would already have them fully loaded.
• Morgana doesn't do a very good job of hiding himself whenever he's in Joker's bag and yet no one seems to bother him about it at school. The students won't try as you can hear some speculate that Joker is a case of The Quiet One who is likely to flip out if confronted, so they don't want to risk it considering his criminal record. The adults? Well, Sojiro brings it up the first time he sees Morgana saying that if Joker has a pet to take care of, he's less likely to act out. And since Joker generally keeps his head down and out of trouble, the teachers turn a blind eye to Morgana.
• The occasional "Take Your Time" loading screens that appear aren't telling you to "take your time" in the sense of calming down or being thorough. They're using the same phrasing as the calling cards - the game is telling you it's literally stealing your time away by making you look at a loading screen!
• Before Futaba is introduced, Sojiro has several phone conversations with her. In one of them, he tells her that Joker is just a part-time employee, and (after what was probably her disagreeing) insists the same thing again. Futaba has spy cameras in the cafe, as is revealed many hours of playtime later, so of course she knew Sojiro was lying to her!
• One of the implications is that the reason Mementos and the Cognitive World is based in Tokyo is because of Japanese social pressure to conform and see themselves as one entity and that is why they can be exploited through it. And this is seemingly indicated in game by the foreign man who hangs out by the alleyway to Iwai's shop. He is one of the few NPCs to be totally unaffected by the public's constant drastically changing opinions and is frequently confused by stuff like the other people around him becoming obsessed with the Thieves and then immediately forgetting they exist not soon after. Since he obviously doesn't see himself as Japanese and likely comes from a country with a more individualistic culture, he's not connected to Mementos.
• While driving around in Mementos, Akechi (in both the vanilla game and Royal) and Sumire are the sole party members who never respond to anyone's dialogue, only initiating it. While this may be an oversight by the writers (since many Mementos conversations are easy to miss and are just there as little tidbits) due to their less prominent roles^note  Akechi was only a temporary member in the original game and Sumire doesn't join until the final palace., it actually makes perfect sense:
  • In Akechi's case, during Sae's palace, since the rest of the team found out over the course of his tenure that he intended on betraying them, they obviously wouldn't want to engage in small talk with the guy, so him not responding to the others is a clear indicator that either nobody said anything to him or he chose to keep his mouth shut. His attempts to start conversation, while indicative of his genuine bond with them, were likely to appear more reliable and to not blow his cover - it's evident by the way many respond to him that they don't trust him or are indifferent towards him trying to befriend them. When he returns in the third semester of Royal, the conversations he kickstarts are noticeably a bit more natural and the other thieves are far more comfortable with talking to him, but he still never chimes in because he knows that they haven't fully forgiven him for what he's done and initially only let him rejoin because they needed his help, not because they wanted it.
  • Sumire has a much simpler explanation - she's completely new to the team and doesn't know the others sans Joker very well at first, so it's understandable that she'd be less inclined to conversate.
• After people started hitching a ride on Medjed's name, Futaba switched her hacking codename to Alibaba. Now what did Alibaba do in his original story? He gathered information on the thieves he found out about, looks (or scans) for any vulnerabilities, gains access to the caves, and extracts riches without leaving clues he was there. Replace cave with machine and riches with data and it sounds a lot like hacking.
• With Mementos Targets, there can be links found between the target's crimes and personalities and the Shadow forms they take, whether it be in their lore or appearance.
  • Nakonahara is a clingy ex-boyfriend stalking his ex-girlfriend. Fittingly, he takes the form of an Obaryon, demons from Japanese folklore who cling to people's backs until they get home.
  • While Jack Frost and Black Frost don't necessarily link to the characters lorewise, their usage sums up the relationship of the bully duo of Takanashi and Sakoda. While Takanashi is a bully himself, he's practically a saint compared to Sakoda, the one pushing him to these actions, which makes the fact that he's the weaker Jack Frost while Sakoda is the bigger and more intimidating Black Frost all the more fitting.
  • Heiji Ono takes the form of a Koropokkuru, a race of creatures in Ainu folklore who didn't want to be seen but aided the Ainu people from time to time, but were quick to retract their kindness after one ambushed one to get a glimpse of it. This reflects how he feels like he's invisible to his family, which is what prompts his assaults in Kichijoji in a bid for attention.
  • Makagami turns into Mithras, the God of an obscure religion that was practiced during the Roman Empire. While he doesn't exactly have a God complex, this is likely a reflection of his belief that he's the boss of the burglary ring due to how he got the other members to join and is manipulating them into taking part, and that his motives stem from being The Un-Favourite, with his parents preferring his more intelligent brother.
  • Hikari Shimuzu takes the form of a Yaksini, a war spirit that are, in some cultures, depicted as some kind of enchantress. This is a reflection of how Shimuzu wants her crush to like her but takes a violent approach in her attempts, which is what led to her getting referred to as a Sadist.
  • Ryoko Aino takes the form of a Nekomata, fitting how she's a Crazy Cat Lady.
  • Nozomi Odo takes the form of Setanta, who took the place of a man's dog after he killed it in self-defence, becoming the legendary Cu Chulainn. When confronted on his Blackmailing, he tries excusing his actions as him being part of a larger chain of convenience stores that needs to bring money in for his employers, positing himself as some who's also under the thumb of his superiors. It could also represent how he sees the part-timers, as Setanta effectively became a slave after killing his soon-to-be master's dog.
  • Shoichi Oyamada takes the form of Thoth, the Egyptian God of Knowledge who's role is to maintain the universe, similarly to how Oyamada is the head of a Hospital. The fact that he turns into a God of Knowledge is also a reflection of his overblown confidence in his intellect and medical knowledge, having administered Takemi's experimental medicine thinking it'd work(which it didn't) and apparently dealing with patients as if they were on a conveyor belt by giving a quick diagnosis and moving onto the next, which is shown to lead to a few errors when one of them goes to Takemi.
  • Yuya Uchimaru has more of a Visual Pun for his shadow form. He turns into Fuu-Ki, who looks as if he could be wearing a wife-beater if you squint hard enough, fitting seeing as the reason you're going after him is because he's a domestic abuser who could potentially put his girlfriend in the hospital.
  • The Takase's turn into Oberon and Titania when fought, both of whom are Fairy Royalty and essentially gods who, in a Midsummer's Nights Dream, saw no problem manipulating mortals and lesser beings for their own ends. This is similar how they exploited their adopted son and later Kawakami so they could lavish themselves in wealth like royalty.
  • Yumeko Mogami takes the form of Bugs, or Bugbear. Being a Stalker with a Crush, she naturally views herself as the best person for Ikesugi to be with, when in reality she isn't, as reflected by how Bugs is not the most family friendly depiction of a teddy bear, being covered in blood, having sharp fangs and apparently using skulls as stuffing.
  • Kazuo Tsuboi takes the form of a Pisaca, demons who devour humans. This is likely a reflection of Tsuboi's Social Darwinist mindset, claiming that he's allowed to abuse and harm cats since they're beneath him on his preconceived pecking order.
  • Yuichi Fukurai is a con artist and leader of a cult who, when fought, transform into Baphomet. In most forms of Satanism, another cult, Satan is often depicted as some kind of goat man like Baphomet and is often seen as the figurehead, similarly to how Yuichi is the leader of his. His methods are also reflected in his moveset, attempting to brainwash the party between hitting them with powerful psychokinesis, similarly how he brainwashes the members of his cult and tries to milk them for all they have.
  • Akimitsu Tsuda takes the form of Belphegor, a demon of Sloth who encourages indolence among humans by encouraging get-rich quick schemes. To make up for the Hong Kong Triads swindling him in a deal for a bunch of guns, he plans to make up for the money they lost by coercing Iwai into making a bunch of real guns to make up for the lost. The fact that he's a demon representing sloth is also indicative of his inability to accept the fact that he's a relic of the old days of the Yakuza and that he should simply retire.
  • Taizo Naguri takes the form of Kin-Ki, an Oni renowned for his strong body that no weapon could pierce. Naguri mostly picks fights with elderly men who, considering their age, are incapable of fighting back against him, which likely contributes to his belief that he's invincible in a fight.
  • Shinsuke Kishi takes the form of a Kumbhanda, a spirit in Buddhism known to suck the life out of humans. This fits with how he steals the credit for his employees' work, effectively killing any chance of of climbing the career ladder.
  • Shinpei Honjo takes the form Take-Minakata, a god who challenged Take-Mikazuchi to a sumo match for Japan's control, only to lose his arms in the process and be forced to flee. This resembles how Honjo was originally an honest journalist who wanted to expose the truth like Ohya, but lost his passion for it due to the difficulties of having to get around obstructive higher ups and having to care for his family and now works to obstruct Ohya for that sake, effectively tying his hands.
  • Yasuo Jochi takes the form of Ippon-Datara, who is believed to be the disgraced spirit of a blacksmith. This reflects his role as a land speculator who buys land to build new buildings on, and the "disgrace" could represent how he fears losing his job if he can't get the land.
  • Fumio Akitsu turns into Legion, a Persona with multiple faces to fit with how he's survived so long by constantly changing his face and appearance.
  • Yoshiniku Nejima is an infamous Gun About cheater who takes the form of Ose, a humanoid resembling a cheetah. Get it?
  • Mitsuyo Togo takes the form of Lilim, demons similar to succubi that are believed to kidnap children. Mitsuyo actions largely revolve around her exploitation of her daughter Hifumi and her celebrity status, acting as if she has free reign to control her life and effectively robbing her of her free will. She often uses Hifumi's physical appeal to this end, marketing her as a beautiful Shogi prodigy and forcing her to do pin-up shoots for magazines despite her clear discomfort with them.
  • Yohei Kiritani takes the form of a Rakshasa, bloodthirsty, man-eating demons who are believed to be guardian spirits in the southwest. This reflects how he views himself as a heroic figure akin to the Phantom Thieves, in spite of his willingness to kill and murder those he deems evil.
  • Youji Isshki takes the form of a Girimehkala, a humanoid elephant creature that possesses a singular eye that said to cause sickness to any who gazes at it. Not only is he a Fat Bastard, but a lot of Futaba's mental troubles can be traced back to him due to the inhumane way he treated her when she was under his care, with her having a panic attack after she sees him again for the first time in years.
  • The Magario's take the form of a Succubis and Incubis, demons who inspire lust in humans for their own ends, usually for the sake of sustenance. This links with how they're forcing their daughter to create pornographic videos for the sake of making money off it, instead of doing anything themselves or letting her get a normal job so that she can go to through school and live a normal life.
  • Hanae Oda takes the form of a Dakini, wrathful, female spirits in Hinduism whose name can also be used for woman who have reached a certain amount of spiritual development. Being a single mother, Hanae desires to be strong for both herself and Shinya but misinterprets it as the need to constantly win and as result is an extremely aggressive woman who will argue with anything she finds inconvenient and encourages Shinya to act the same way she does.
  • Yoshihito Wakasa takes the form of Chernabog, a God of Death in Slavic mythology. There is a bit of Fridge Horror to this, seeing as the people he scams are entirely elderly folks, people who are effectively nearing the end of their lives. For all we know, Wakasa scamming them and taking their money may very well be quickening the process.
  • Shiro Asakura takes the form of (the infamous) Mara, an evil entity in Buddhist myth who tried to use his daughters to seduce the Buddha to prevent him from reaching enlightenment. Asakura encourages the girls he sponsors to prostitute themselves to important individuals in order to climb the entertainment ladder. There's also the Visual Pun in how he also gets in on sexually harassing them.
  • Hikaru Arihara takes the form of Tam Lin, a fairy who's known for luring woman away so he can ruin them. Arihara himself is a playboy who manipulates the women he seduces into fighting over him, to the point of even physical violence and forcing them to drop out of school, for little more than his own amusement. This is further emphasized by how he has a skill called Womanizing, which 100% brainwashes any female party member, forcing them to attack anyone else in the party on his behalf.
  • Nao Minamoto takes the form of Yoshistune, who like Nao lost his family at a young age and was eventually Driven to Suicide, which is what Nao plans on doing.
  • Anji Fuwa takes the form of a Unicorn, creatures most commonly associated with fantasy. This reflects his use of the Idol Singer Lily-Nyan for Escapism from his poor family life.
  • Izuo Amasaki, or AlMaask Ouzi as he goes by online, takes the form of Macabre, a Grim Reaper figure representing a form of art representing death. This fits with his self-image of an artist who causes acts of destructions and even assaults people.
  • Kuniko Kagami turns into Rangda, a demonic entity known to each children, which works with her plans to drag her daughter into a Murder-Suicide. The name Rangda also translates to "widow" in old Javanese and Balinese, fitting as one of the deaths leading to her Despair Event Horizon was her husband.
• To recruit new Personas, Joker has to get them in a Hold Up first by knocking all of the enemies in a group down and having the other Phantom Thieves surround them, and it won't work if Joker is incapacitated or he doesn't have any teammates available to surround the enemy. This further justifies why Akechi - the other Wild Card - couldn't get new Personas even if he did form bonds with others like Joker did: he worked alone in the Metaverse before he joined the Phantom Thieves, and thus he wouldn't have been able to get any enemies in a Hold Up to begin with.

Fridge Horror

Fridge Horror

• The sinking realization that pretty much all of the main villains are people who could actually exist in one way or another: corrupt individuals who have the money and influence to shirk the law and do pretty much whatever they want without fear of reprisal. The difference, however? There are no Phantom Thieves in the real world who can magically steal hearts and bring them to justice. In the real world, people like Kamoshida and Shido are unstoppable.
  • The worst part is that the other half of what makes said people unstoppable is also true. Most people couldn't be bothered to even try to stop them, even if they could.
  • And now that Mementos is gone, this has become true in-universe; there is nothing even the former Phantom Thieves can do to combat corruption.
• How do the Phantom Thieves believe that the Changes of Heart they were doing by stealing their target's material treasure were okay, despite the Palace Rulers all became weeping husks with no traces of their former selves instead of like, someone that is going to atone for committing heinous crimes? Changes of Heart were never supposed to look like those coming out from Kamoshida or Madarame in-game, as seen in minor Mementos targets and the Monarchs of Strikers.^note While several Mementos targets are truly heinous such as Futaba's uncle, all they did was to give an sincere apology and stop indulging in their distorted behavior. In addition to their targets being irredeemably reprehensible, the Phantom Thieves had never pulled out enough actual Changes of Heart to tell if their targets had properly undergone one. Much later on in the game, it turns out that the Holy Grail was actively tampering with the results so the targets never return to the Sea of Souls as intended, but instead to the Prison of Regression where they become just like the rest of the public before them. When the Thieves learn about this, they were throughly shocked for good reasons.
• In every bad ending, Joker has charges placed against him. While the bad endings were all drug-induced hallucinations contradicting the In Medias Res prologue and thus couldn't happen at the time in the story's reality, Joker believes they did and believes that he deserves to be in prison for failing to help his friends. Joker might even be glad that Akechi kills him soon after, all because the drugs in his system made him believe he failed his friends.
  • It's even worse if the would-be victim of your target happens to be the girl you're trying to romance. That means if you fail to complete a palace on time, Joker dies believing that he failed to protect the love of his life from either falling into the hands of a known sexual predator, being sex-trafficked by the mafia, committing suicide due to her crippling depression and self-hatred, or being sold off into an abusive marriage.
  • To really drive home how horrifying these endings are and erase any doubt that Joker's guilt would've crushed his resolve if he truly believed any of these things happened, let's look at Makoto's Bad End scenario as an example. Failing to finish the Third Palace on time leads to a bad ending where Makoto is found heavily drugged and brutalized at an "illegal services shop." Given that Kaneshiro's organization has been shown to rely on coercion rather than outright force and that the blackmail photos haven't been released (since there haven't been any policemen stopping by Leblanc to inquire as to what you were doing in a nightclub), Makoto must have willingly given herself over to them in order to protect the Phantom Thieves and her sister's reputation. If the implication that Makoto gave in to Kaneshiro's blackmail and almost got herself killed while whoring herself out wasn't bad enough already, there's the likely reason why the only coherent words she was able to say afterward was the protagonist's name: even in her would-be drug-ailed state and traumatized beyond belief, she was still asking him for help. To add insult to injury, the only thing that accomplishes is leading the police straight to the protagonist's door as the prime suspect of what was done to her.
  • Furthermore, some aspect of Makoto's predicament in this scenario actually mirror other people. Giving herself up to the world of drugs and prostitution to spare her sister and friends would indicate a sense of crippled self-esteem to where she honestly believes that suffering this herself is preferable to causing trouble for others; mind-breaking depression like that would be more the purview of Futaba, who the protagonist met after Makoto, and Sumire, whose truth he would unlock at about the end of Royal. This clearly shows that the drugs they put in his system are scrambling his memories to where he's associating actual details to the wrong times and people. And that's not even bringing up how Makoto being drugged-up in and of itself and accidentally getting him arrested by saying his name is a blatant reflection of the fact that he is the one who's been drugged-up, at the hands of the investigators no less.
• If Joker cheats on a romance option:
  • If Joker cheats on Futaba there is nothing to prevent her from relapsing back into depression. As Yusuke proves, having a Persona does not make you immune to such negative feelings. If that happened, and she wasn't a Persona user, she may have even formed another palace.
  • Even with that in mind, there is also the possibility brought up by Persona 4: The Animation and Persona 4: Arena. Namely, that crossing the Despair Event Horizon can cause a Persona to turn back into a Shadow. Even considering that Futaba has a Persona, she likely stands a chance of losing it and forming a second palace due to Joker cheating on her.
    • It should also be noted that Futaba's resolve only protects her from tragedies induced by falsehoods and lies. Wakaba's "suicide" because of "regretting having birthed Futaba" is a lie, but Joker cheating on her is as blatant as a Devil in Plain Sight. In other words, the Persona DOES NOT protect her from the grief of being cheated alongside eight other women by the only person she thought she could trust, and if her Persona is lost via this way and a second Palace is formed, it would be a completely different monster.
  • Joker cheating on Haru also makes him little better than the philandering, stupid asswipe she was previously being forced to marry, which explains her seemingly subdued but intense anger when she snaps on Joker with the rest of his wronged lovers.
  • Special mention goes to Ms.Kawakami. She's risking not only her reputation, but her entire career by dating Joker. Imagine how awful and betrayed she must feel to discover that the boy who helped her regain her passion for teaching, who she was risking her whole future to be with, was a two timing jerk.
    • To make matters worse, if Joker romanced Ann, Makoto, or Haru, Kawakami will run into them on Valentine's Day. Imagine how humiliating and horrific it must feel for Kawakami to have to explain that she was in a relationship with a student... to three of her other students. And the very same student they were all dating as well!
    • As if all that wasn't bad enough, Kawakami would also have to go ask them to keep her relationship with Joker secret so she could keep her job. While Ann, Makoto, and Haru would have no problem keeping her secret, that fact that they know at all would be upsetting on its own.
  • Oh and do not forget Sumire. Cheating against Sumire just takes Joker's jerkassery up a notch. He's the only person who was actually capable of coping with her grief towards her sister's death save for Maruki, who wasn't a madman during the time he first met her and genuinely gave her a better temporary solution until actual methods have to be done. To make things even worse, Joker fought Maruki and snapped him out of his insanity right before this; She probably wouldn't be able to take the Trauma Conga Line of her sister's death, then her counselor turning into a madman and the only person who gave her any motivation to cope with both of these cheating on her..all in a year. There's no wonder she's in denial about what she witnessed, then calls Joker out with a straight face "You're terrible, Senpai!" if he does it.
  • Having a Persona gives one a better sense of who you are, and prevents a change of heart since there is no Palace or treasure to steal. So if Joker decides to cheat, it means he must truly be a manipulative jerk deep down, with no way of changing that.
  • Speaking of Cheating, there are two scenes that didn't made itself into the game, but were heavily implied to be Valentines' Day and White Day events if Joker allows Maruki to overwrite reality. He celebrates Valentines and White Day with 10 lovers and Sae, yet all of the women act like mindless extensions of him instead of their real selves. This indicates that if Joker really goes Harem, he's doing it for the sake of manipulating all of his lovers to fall for him willingly and unconditionally.
• Yusuke's obsession with food takes on a horrifying bent when you realize that, like other victims of neglect, the psychological trauma of prolonged malnutrition probably makes him feel compelled to eat. He may even have a mild case of PTSD.
  • And if that doesn't make Madarame look appalling enough, remember that Yusuke attends Kosei High School on a scholarship, which he mentions he could lose on multiple occasions. The son of a bitch, for all his vast amounts of wealth, was too greedy even to pay his own cash cow's tuition.
• Just how terrifying the Black Mask is? Think back to Madarame's palace. Didn't he mention there was someone else in a black mask? That someone would be Akechi, who has no qualms killing basically anyone as soon as an order is issued. Akechi was obviously around there, and very much could have killed Shadow Madarame, and the only reason he didn't was because the Phantom Thieves weren't popular enough to warrant the effort. Shadow Madarame also cries out to Yusuke in a very distressed voice after you defeat him. He's totally terrified of the Black Mask killing him, which he most likely can.
• Likely because of the Grail's meddling, all members of Shido's political conspiracy and the general public are kept in the dark about the Phantom Thieves's true identities. However, anyone who forms a Confidant with Joker are released from the Grail's mind control, allowing them to truly perceive who the Phantom Thieves really are. Naturally, this means the confidant you formed with Akechi also allows him to become a legit threat against you, because unlike Shido he knows exactly who to deal with very well.
• In the pre-Boss Fight meeting at the hideout, Haru asks the team if defeating the Cognition of her fiancé will have any effect on her father. By then they know that it won't from their experiences in previous Palaces, but then Haru hits herself with the particularly upsetting bit of Fridge Logic as to why they never ran into the father's Cognition of herself. The game doesn't elaborate, but the implication is that her father cares so little about Haru that she doesn't even warrant a Cognition in his Palace. All the while her slimeball of a fiancé not only has a particularly realistic one but also powerful enough to serve as a Mini-Boss to boot because Kunikazu sees him as his ticket to the political world and thus more important to him than his daughter.
  Haru: Now that you mention it, why isn't there a cognitive version of me? Is it somewhere in there?
  Morgana: Well, I could imagine a couple of reasons why we haven't seen it... but I don't think you'd like them.
  Haru: [downcast] ...
  • In Royal, we finally get to see Okumura's Cognition of Haru...and she wouldn't enjoy seeing it. Okumura's cognitive Haru is an android perfectly obedient to Okumura and carries out all of his orders without question...Only for when no other Corporobo is left, he transforms her into another robotic puppet just like them, and he orders it to self destruct within 2 turns. This means that no matter how much he loves his daughter, if he has to succeed, he can sacrifice her life regardless of cost.
• Okumura's version of Cognitive Haru was saddening and terrifying enough, but the text on the Sacrifice Order that he used on her was the same as the other workers. This means that he has now saw his daughter to be as disposable as the rest of his workers.
  "Effective immediately, you have been assigned the position of suicide bomber. That is all. Company Identification: Okumura Foods Proprietor: Kunikazu Mammon Okumura"
• It's a good thing that Yusuke isn't paying attention to the plot when you go see fake Les Mis with him. Who knows how he would have handled the applicability of Fantine and Cosette's story in the first act to his own tragic life.
• The police drugging and beating the protagonist at first seems like it's only allowed because Shido has most of the Tokyo police force in his pocket. However, Sae, a prosecutor who is not in Shido's pocket, interviews him in his drugged up state and never once tries to inform a higher authority of the protagonist's mistreatment. This is because, in Real Life, Japan has a HUGE problem with abusive interrogations of suspects by police officers[1]. Japan currently has a conviction rate of 99% mostly because the suspects, after being subjected to a brutal interrogation potentially lasting for nearly a month, will often submit a confession to get out of the interrogation[2]. The situation has started to improve only because of highly publicized sentence turnovers for men who had already served 20+ years on their life sentences. The reason the sentences were overturned: little or mostly circumstantial evidence except for their confession. So yes, what the protagonist went through in police custody, minus the attempted (or successful) murder he suffers while detained, is not only highly plausible, it's most likely happened already.
• When you see Sae's Palace and how obsessed with winning she is, her threats to Sojiro suddenly become a lot worse. Not only could she have been serious about taking him to family court, but if so she'd have happily gotten Futaba taken away to get what she wanted.
  • Given how guilt-ridden and borderline suicidal Futaba was at the time, seeing all the suffering Sojiro would have gone through during the trial because of her might have pushed her over the edge.
• As the second Palace following immediately after Kamoshida's, the abuse that took place at the hands of Madarame isn't nearly as grotesquely explicit as that of the former, but there are still some suggestive hints scattered throughout the arc such as Madarame's shadow referencing children needing to be whipped as a form of discipline. The entire sequence where Yusuke desperately tries to stop Ann from wandering the shack takes on a whole new meaning once you know what mistreatment he's had to endure living under Madarame's parentage: he's downright terrified.
  • And then there are the "inconveniences" that Yusuke mentions if he fails to submit a new work to Madarame. Three guesses on what this implies.
• A minor example, but when The Protagonist starts a relationship with Ann late in her confidant, she will accidentally confess her feelings to him. Assuming these feelings are present even if The Protagonist does not start a relationship with her, she's stuck watching the boy she loves to get together with another girl every time he chooses someone else. If he's still single by the end, then Ann watches him leave without ever confessing her feelings to him.
  • Same goes for Haru, Futaba and Sumire, who unlike Ann, definitely form a crush on the Protagonist no matter what.
• Lavenza and the real Igor's fate in the bad endings. In the first case where Joker fails/is caught and killed, Igor is left a prisoner of Yaldabaoth, while Justine and Caroline presumably never realize the truth and reunite to become Lavenza, staying the impostor Igor's pawns. If the Protagonist accepts Yaldabaoth's offer, then not only is Igor left imprisoned, Lavenza, whose finally regained her identity, gets a front row seat to the guy she put all her hopes in betraying her, as well as his ideals. She's Forced to Watch as he turns to evil while she and the other Phantom Thieves remains as Yaldabaoth's prisoner.
• Each of the Confidants in the game are people who suffer immensely both before and during the events of the game. A lot of them have people who keep ruining their lives at every turn for one reason or another. As such, it's typical for most Confidants to eventually have you go into Mementos to change their hearts, as it's usually the only way to give the Confidants any chance to get back on their feet (with a few exceptions). However, the good endings always show Mementos and the Meta Nav disappearing and the Phantom Thieves stripped of this ability. The end result is that any Confidant whose tormentor you had yet to purify will be stuck being victimized by them, potentially for the rest of their lives. How bad can it get? Let's go down the list from the least to most devastating turn of events if their respective oppressors succeed.
  • Shinya would be the least hurt by virtue of being able to grow up and get away from his mother, but the stain between parent and child is always a tragedy. Her constant need to "win" and "be strong" in order to get what she wants would make people avoid him and stunt his emotional and empathic growth at best, and it causes lots of trouble for those she targets, which could lead to even more trouble for both of them. That's before we take into account the chance of Shinya following in his mother's footsteps and becoming a full-on bully just like her, which was pretty close to happening before he and Joker meet (if they meet at all). It says a lot when this is one of the least awful fates one of the Confidants can be inflicted with.
  • Failing to change the heart of Ohya's boss, Honjo, will result in Ohya being crushed by the over increase quota and either working herself into exhaustion or being fired for failing to meet the ludicrous demands. Either way, not only would Ohya's career in journalism be over, but Kayo would be lost forever.
  • Like Shinya, the strain and resentment that would build from her mother's constant rigging of her matches and pushiness to become and idol can't be understated, but it's made even worse since at least Shinya was still allowed to pursue his passion in video games as a passion. Hifumi would eventually be forced to ditch Shogi if her mother continued with her plans. That's before we talk about the horrors that can come from working with criminal organizations, something that Iwai's confidant below and Kaneshiro make abundantly clear is something no one should ever mess with.
  • Combined with implications of other crimes he did outside of his need to destroy Takemi's career, it's safe to say that Ann puts it best as to what would happen if you fail to stop Ohyamada.
  "People might die if we don't change his heart and a good doctor will have to quit!"
  • Failing to stop Futaba's uncle, Isshiki, will end with Sojiro potentially getting falsified abuse charges and Futaba to deal with an uncle who's likely going to up the abuse he's already inflicted on her, potentially even killing her if she doesn't choose suicide as the way out first.
  • Failing to save Kawakami from the Takeses will cause her to work herself to death. Combine that with Shadow Mr. Takese talking about how he was king to use what happened to Taiki to "get back at people", it means that they will likely start targeting other people to blackmail and guilt trip into paying them loads of yen as well.
  • If you don't change Fukarai's heart, at best Chihiya could spend a decent portion of her life in prison and be forced to live with the stigma of being a monster all over again and at worst she'll be a slave to him as he keeps stealing from innocent people who just want to have good fortunes.
  • Iwai's old Yakuza partner, Tsuda has to be the scariest. It's stated very clearly that if you don't change his heart, he'll kill Iwai, guns or no guns and likely do the same to Karou just to tie up loose ends.
• Mixed with Harsher in Hindsight, after the big reveal at the end of the game, the voiced This Is a Work of Fiction at the start of the game takes on a very sinister new meaning, given the voice saying it is Yaldabaoth. In the final part of the game, he erases the Phantom Thieves from existence because the public believes they weren't real. It's possible that by forcing the player to agree the story is a work of fiction and the characters within aren't real, he's making YOU complicit in erasing them.
• Thanks to the Your Mind Makes It Real state of the Metaverse, toy guns became real guns with live ammunition. The Shadow Operatives are supposed to hunt Shadows and deal with Persona-related activity, and they use Evokers (aka gun like items) to summon their Personas. If they somehow found themselves in the Metaverse, the enemies' cognition could interpret the Evokers as real guns, and when they try to summon their Personas, they could accidentally shoot themselves.
  • That's unlikely because an Evoker doesn't look like a real gun (if anything, Evokers look more like squirt guns), which is a stated requirement for a model gun to work like a real one in the Metaverse.
    • Explain Goro's ray gun, then.
    • The user doesn't have to believe it's real for the gun to become real, the one being shot at does, which is why they work at all. The ray guns work because Shadows are affected by fictional ideas as much as real ones because the idea is what matters in their reality, they ARE ideas themselves. If an Evoker looks like a squirt gun to the Shadows in the Metaverse, it'll shoot water.
    • Persona 4: Arena also establishes that the Shadow Operatives don't need their Evokers in places like the Metaverse. In the TV World (another branch of the Collective Unconscious), they can summon their Personas under their power.
• One case of horror that laps back into brilliance: unlike previous games, once you max out Caroline and Justine's Confidant (or reach rank 5 in Royal), you gain the ability to create Personas that have higher levels than Joker. The horror comes in when you remember Elizabeth's final battle in Persona Q, where she tries to summon a Persona stronger than her and ends up being possessed by Zeus - you effectively bribe the twins to do something that puts your life in grave danger. The brilliance comes in when you realize that unlike the real Igor, Yaldabaoth probably wouldn't mind this happening - after all, he plans to get rid of you anyway. (Although he too might be threatened if something like Lucifer or Satanael control you to attack him.) And the fact that Lavenza still lets you do this after exposing Yaldabaoth could be justified as a sort of Godzilla Threshold - yes, you risk falling victim to Demonic Possession, but if this is the only way to ensure you can defeat a mad god, then so be it. And given the stakes involved in Royal's third term, she continues to let you do it there, too. Contrast with Strikers where Lavenza won't even let you power up a persona past your current level, as this time she understands the threat is a lesser one, and doesn't need to put her trickster in more danger.
• A minor but depressing one: from a set of characters profiles published in Maniax Magazine, Haru's ideal lover is described as "someone who I can share meals with." While the simplicity can be seen as somewhat romantic, it also shows just how bad her situation with her family and her fiance was that her expectations for such an ideal are so low (and perhaps explains why she was so quick to fall for Joker upon meeting him properly).
  • Expanded upon in Royal, during counselling, she mentioned that the only time she ate with her family since the company become big was at formal functions and business meetings. Her father is so preoccupied with work that he can't even have time to eat with her family as it is financially unproductive to do so.
• For such a distortedly arrogant and prideful person to be labeled as "the final target", the cognitive existences in Shido's palace are surprisingly, normal people; even the Shadow Nobles within it are Affably Evil folk that don't actually go hostile until they tell them to hand over the introduction letter. However, it should also be noted that the passengers within his cruiser Palace are nothing other than nobility and not a single middle to lower class person appears in it at all. This indicates that he believes that anyone other than his own brand of elites simply don't have any rights to exist under his rule.
• Lavenza's talk of the game being rigged from the start isn't just about how unfair Joker's situation is. It was the nature of the Palace targets they face, given Yaldabaoth's goal of eliminating human desire, he intentionally gave Joker the most reprehensible people as Palace targets just so to justify that people with desire are terrible human beings and must be imprisoned and stripped of all desire. It doesn't absolve them, but it does show how much foresight he put into the game.
• One who plays this game will soon realize that the protagonist is being ostracized and treated with contempt like some sort of criminal once he's been put onto probation. Just why? Look no further to the Quarantine Cell a.k.a. the compromised Velvet Room deep in Mementos, supposedly housing the most dangerous criminal ever. That's actually the protagonist himself who Yaldabaoth imprisoned as his other subject in his solitaire game. In other words, the public held contempt like you are some sort of dangerous killer because Yaldabaoth made them think you really are some sort of dangerous criminal.
• Madarame painting over the baby in Sayuri is bad enough by itself, but it gets worse if you remember who the baby is. Sayuri is a self-portrait painted by Yusuke's mother, and was intended as a gift for him, meaning that Yusuke is the baby. Madarame then spent a good chunk of Yusuke's life stealing his ideas, abusing him, and treating him like he wasn't a person. In other words, Madarame keeps painting over the baby in the name of money and his ego.
• Why does Joker start with level one courage despite being the only one who would stand up to Shido's molestation? His life was nearly ruined by it. This implies that his default courage was high only to end up damaged by the trauma of getting burned so badly and betrayed for it. Poor Joker.
• According to Yusuke's SNS message in November 22, Shido won the competition for who people would most like as their boss. This might not seem like much, but it's contextually terrifying; Shido is notorious for being a horrid boss who will kill whoever isn't his bootlicker quickly, including Akechi aka the only person he could use to legitimately threaten his opponents. It might be glossed over easily, but it just displays how dangerous the More than Mind Control placed on the public by the true Master of Mementos is.
• In Royal at least, when you get back from Shido's palace, you catch a snippet of the news that mentions a body was found with wounds that suggest they were kidnapped and then killed elsewhere. That's a good description of what probably happened to Akechi.
• Morgana spend quite a while as a stray cat during the epilogue. If the Side Quest "Calling For Justice For Cats" wasn't completed, he would have been in real danger during that time.
  • In Royal, another Mementos target that will pose a threat to Morgana occurs as early as after Madarame. If the Side Quest "If Cats Disappeared from the City" is not cleared during Okumura and the aforementioned epilogue, he will risk getting "Catnapped". Not to say that the target of that request DID go after Morgana before.
• There's a Mementos target during the Third Semester which is an internet streamer that goes around filming him vandalizing stuff and attacking people just to piss others off. Based on how notorious the Phantom Thieves are during both in Maruki's fake reality and the true reality, it's just lucky that this guy didn't manage to go into LeBlanc and vandalize everything.
• If you failed to retrieve Kaneshiro's Blackmail on time, you will learn that Makoto ended up in an illegal services shop drugged and brutalized. Now, this may be seen as implied rape, but remember what happened to Joker exactly in the Casino Heist (Since Casinos are also illegal in Japan) after his arrest. The same fate, trying to change the heart yourself and end up being apprehended as you are beaten up and forcibly administered drugs to confess who were your accomplices.
  • Speaking of Kaneshiro, if you take the time to talk to the ATMs dotted around his palace, one of them can be heard begging him not to hurt his daughter. You have to wonder just how many girls he's already forced into prostitution.
• And to top it all off, despite the higher stakes involving the entire Japanese society, there is a lack of interactions or guidance from the characters from the previous games, and in particular Naoto, who would be the most likely character to investigate. This paints an even bleaker picture of Yaldabaoth, Shido, and his henchmen's evil plans to silence their opposition - as their brutality and cunning is such that even Yu, Mitsuru, and co were helpless against it. Heck, maybe Naoto was unable to stop the other false incriminations Shido's prosecutors initiated. It is even possible that Naoto, in particular, made one step too far in her dealing with the police, and got eliminated (either her reputation ruined to forced retirement, or herself outright falsely incriminated and incarcerated) - explaining her absence in this game.

  • Not to mention how after she believes that the true culprit has not been caught during the middle of Persona 4, most of the police refuse to believe her due to her age and gender. Having tons of cases where Shido got away with his crimes may have lowered her self-esteem.
  • Fortunately (or unfortunately), a more appropriate explanation to this is their mental strength has faded in time, or simply sealed in Mementos. They could easily be just enjoying life till the day of reckoning like anyone else.
  • Actually, anyone out of Tokyo is not affected by the distortions. Since the distortions really only revolve around Mementos (just like how Tartarus only affected Tatsumi or Midnight Channel only affecting Inaba) UNLESS if the Wild Card in question committed an "act of betrayal" (such as making a deal with Yaldabaoth), the Shadow Operatives and Investigation Team won't even know about it unless they step right into Tokyo. Tokyo isn't their major base of operations, so they basically have nothing to do with it. In fact, Akane from the game's sequel was streaming Shido's calling card in Kyoto and guess what, she didn't get dissed for supporting a criminal group — instead, she was actually popular and a positive influence for broadcasting and spreading the Phantom Thieves' exploits out of Tokyo.

  • It doesn't get any better after Yaldabaoth either — Once Maruki takes over Mementos, there are no wonders that any of the Persona 3 or Persona 4 cast will be affected. For Persona 3, expect a lot of sudden revivals, such as Shinjiro never being murdered by Takaya, Mitsuru's father revived and well, Makoto (Yuki) being revived and SEES goes all happy about it...Not knowing that these were illusions all along. Since Joker isn't there to snap them out, they would remain trapped until Azathoth/Adam Kadmon is defeated. For the Persona 4 cast, Saki would be revived and happily hanging out with Yosuke, while Adachi would get out of jail and become buddies with Yu and Dojima. It is so defying towards the Persona 3 and 4 cast's moral code that it would cause a massive morality doubt as soon as they are snapped out.
  • Want to make that even worse? Imagine how the Persona 1 and 2 casts will be affected. We're not just talking about people coming back from the dead here; Katsuya and Tatsuya's lives for example would be entirely rewritten to accommodate their father never getting framed, Baofu's relationship with Ulala would simply never happen, perhaps the whole first game would be written out of history because Maki was never sick, and so on and forth. After all, Maruki's power grants the wishes of anyone still alive to have them; that could go as far as a hundred years back. Just imagine the impact.
    • Well, the Persona 1 cast’s universe already got destroyed in the first half of Persona 2, so how much they even exist at this point is uncertain. And the timeline seems to have remained a little stable (Japan didn’t win World War 2, America isn’t an inferno), so it looks like people canceling each other out is functioning. But… this is the SMT multiverse. By the 90s of this universe, corporations knew about Shadows. Mementos has the same massive red tendrils as the Amala Network. Satanael and the Demiurge are having an order vs chaos conflict. And Joker just defied the will of the Presence. Joker probably won’t get to see old age, because this universe will likely die before then. Worst thing is, if the Demiurge chose Joker ahead of time, the Presence probably considers Joker the greatest threat to his life since the Demi-Fiend. And since the Presence is alive, the Demi-Fiend isn’t Lucifer’s top general. Did the Demiurge even choose Joker, or did Lucifer chose him and the Presence wanted to steal him? If a foretold Demi-Fiend wasn’t enough to win, what weapon would be most likely to use? Probably a Persona user who embodies his pre-fall self.
• At the beginning of the game, the player character stops Shido from what likely would have been raping a woman. Given that no one mentions Shido having any romantic past, Akechi was his illegitimate son whom he didn't live with, and that Akechi's mother was Driven to Suicide by the whole ordeal, it's entirely likely that Akechi was conceived in the same kind of activity that the player tried to prevent at the beginning of the game. Royal confirms that Akechi's mother was a stripper, meaning she would've left herself vulnerable to Shido as a part of the job, making the horrifying deed even easier to commit.
• When the false Igor tries to dispose of Joker for supposedly failing his rehabilitation, he specifically states that Joker is to be executed, and demands that Caroline and Justine do so. What does fusion in P5 entail? The twins executing two or more personas. What is the purpose of fusion? Taking the best traits of those personas to make a new, better, more useful persona. Yaldaboth isn't just trying to kill Joker, he's trying to take the power of the Wild Card and create a new, more suitable pawn in his plan.
  • What exactly was he going to fuse Joker with? Well, he does have “copies” of Makoto Yuki and Yu Narukami just hanging about. Copies. Definitely copies. The fact that no Shadow Operatives are raining down on all the obviously Shadow activity in Tokyo despite the online presence and Naoto isn’t interested in an actual case involving confirmed phantom thieves is worrying.
• One of the most glaring ones in Royal is the cognitive Shiho in Kamoshida's Palace; You CAN beat it up and she can be spammed for 1 mores this way because it's horribly weak to literally any attack. Shiho is beaten a lot by Kamoshida.
• In Royal, you are given the option to casually hang out with Akechi. Assuming if you are playing this game to its fullest potential, this will probably be done multiple times within the Vanilla campaign block, with a few such as the brunch alongside Kasumi being story-based events, all the while when this obviously dangerous man is maintaining a friendly facade and treating you like you are his only friend. Now think of this person betraying you, shooting (a copy of) you in the head with a Slasher Smile on his face and going batshit insane in front of you in the cruiser, and even during his Heel–Face Turn it didn't help that he's just eerie and your other comrades just treated him like some sort of dangerous beast ready to kill them all despite you are the one who brought him back with Maruki's "help". The fact that you are knowingly hanging out with somebody who probably killed thousands, directly or indirectly just makes this even more unsettling.
• Just how DANGEROUS is the Call of Chaos, aside from the usual heart-chain breaking berserkness, and partial memory loss side-effect? Goro Akechi forgot what actually happened against the Shido-made cognitive copy of him, presumably the fight wasn't just two gunshots long. And he casts the Call of Chaos on himself AGAIN during his Showtime Union with Joker, EVERY TIME IT TRIGGERS, meaning that his memories are going to become fragmented. And it could be that the worst part of this spell isn't revealed...
• Why can't the party members trapped in Maruki's fake reality assist you in combat at all? That's because Maruki made it as if all of those tragic events didn't happen, effectively wiping out the events afterward that results in their awakening. In other words, by granting this reality, he wiped out their personas momentarily in one go.
• Some of the early details regarding Kasumi's confidant don't exactly bode well. Hers is the Faith Arcana, which represents both self-confidence and belief in others. Positive attributes, right? It certainly fits with her belief that "the only one who can help you is you." Well, take a look at the card. Unlike all the other confidants, it has a black border and tears in the image. Additionally, Kasumi's confidant has been confirmed to only have five ranks. Anyone who has played the previous game's expansion will remember Adachi's arcana changing once his true colors were revealed. Could the same be true for her? What might her true intentions and arcana be?
  • It turns out that "Kasumi" that players have known is NOT Kasumi; the real Kasumi sacrificed herself to save her sister Sumire from trying to run away from her only to be nearly hit by traffic because she was jealous of her talent, which caused Sumire to be ridden with guilt and she consulted Maruki to turn her into Kasumi. The Faith Arcana that is shown all along before The Reveal is fake (i.e. black border, teared up, no golden eyes on the figures on that card, and inverted colors of the letters) and will remain as such until Sumire is free from Maruki's clutches. After that, the Arcana will change its form into an original one like the rest, and will get ten ranks instead of five.
• There's a rather unsettling aspect about Sumire in this game considering the Vanilla true ending (where you failed to max Maruki's confidant before the deadline). The Actualization Maruki used on her is just a temporary solution that is expected to wear off (hence Maruki going to Shujin to monitor her or her father calling her back home every hour) and once it wears off and she relapses, she didn't have Joker to help her as well, so she's obviously going to commit suicide or render herself catatonic for real. Not the best outcome to begin with for her situation, at all.
  • Not just for Sumire, but there is also concern for Rumi's condition in both endings. Even though Maruki says that Rumi is happy in his utopian reality, we know from Sumire that the cognitive changes are only a temporary solution in the real world. With Adam Kadmon gone and all of Maruki's powers reverted, there's no telling if Rumi relapsed back into catatonic despair, this time with no support and suddenly left without her fiancé.
• It's one good thing that Sumire seeks help REALLY quick. It's implied that it didn't take her around more than a week or two for her to do it thanks to her father. If not? She might already had a Palace, not a Persona, considering how serious her depression and self-esteem issues actually are not unlike Futaba's situation. But here's the catch: Futaba's oppressor are her mother's murderers, who made her a scapegoat for their murder in an unnecessary act of cruelty. Her Shadow Self, meanwhile, chided her for failing to question any of the holes surrounding her mother's death, immediately accepting that inconsistency, and distancing herself from other people in an unhealthy manner. She was ultimately able to reassess her situation, bravely rejected the Antisocial Force's deception, and thus regain control of herself. And it's already established that, barring Wakaba's tragedy, Futaba's fairly confident with her own skin. Unlike Sumire, whose oppressor and her greatest obstacle in her rebellion is herself, a reflection of her lack of faith towards her abilities and even her own worth. On top of that, Sumire was truly responsible for Kasumi's death and "stealing her dream", as Kasumi sacrificed her life to prevent Sumire from being ran over by an incoming car because she ran away to distance herself from Kasumi. It will be hard for her to awaken her Persona since she might reject her Shadow Self who will surely remind her of what she had done, and it will go awry if she does so for the aforementioned reasons. Maruki's method in dealing with her predicament is questionable at best, but one can't deny that he prevented the inevitable and effectively allowed the protagonist to snap her out completely just by talking to her for a few times after "Kasumi" has been peeled off completely.
• Why does Shinichi often call Sumire (As "Kasumi") home when she goes out for too long? The Kasumi overlay is just something to stop her from offing herself for a while and it's supposed to lift off eventually. He's worried that she would suddenly go into a fit and off herself for real. Can you blame him for being overprotective to his remaining daughter after he lost his other daughter Kasumi?
• Prior to The Reveal, Sumire might have thought herself as Kasumi thanks to the cognitive overlay, but to the rest of the people around her? She's still Sumire and she's insane for assuming her dead sister's identity. Small wonder the students in Shujin just treat her as some special snowflake, they probably aren't jealous and just treated her as mentally unstable and unworthy of the scholarship.
• Related to the point above, because of that, she snaps so hard that the cognitive manipulation wears off enough to pull a brief Face–Heel Turn. There's simply no way that she can accept having been received a lofty scholarship treatment and having that taken away simply because the school faculty and the students treated her as insane.
• During the fight with Cendrillon, it should be fortunate that the Cendrillon that Maruki ripped out is fake and he knows it. If it's real, Maruki's ripping out Sumire's shadow and she will die.
• During the solo fight between Joker and Sumire, Joker can defeat her within a few hits. Furthermore, she can only attack with Physical and Bless, and if Joker has a persona that blocks both? She can't get around that at all. That's because she's not stable or experienced enough for combat, in addition to already going in an Unstoppable Rage to the point that she couldn't possibly concentrate.
  • Small wonder, then, why Akechi steps aside to let Joker deal with her alone and tells him point blank it's so she can come out alive. If she's in such a dire state that Joker alone can take her in about a minute, what's to stop Akechi in all his berserk ferocity from killing her with excessive force?
  • Of course even if Sumire could concentrate her attacks are limited to just her Persona's type because she's not a Wild Card, which on a different horror note just shows how powerful and dangerous Wild Card's are even to other Persona users. If they set a Persona that resists their opponents abilities they're basically helpless unless they happen to be someone like Naoto with Almighty attacks. Even against Akechi himself in their duel and battle on the ship Joker can set himself up to block or reflect all but his few Almighty attacks. Despite Akechi being a Wild Card himself his small Persona pool of just Robin Hood and Loki limit what he can do to even scratch Joker. Imagine if a Wild Card goes rogue, or in Akechi's case had managed to develop his ability past just the minimal two.
• During Sumire's Rank 7 Confidant, when she and Joker were in the fitness centre, she tells him that Kasumi would bring her to the gym and she would become fatigued very easily when training there while Kasumi trains without any issues. While fitness centre training can be tough and one may pass it off as Kasumi having more stamina than Sumire, remember that quick fatigue is a sign of severe depression and the sister's physical qualities aren't supposed to differ this much. She's tiring out easily not because of the training, but because she's suffering from a major depressive disorder.
• Sumire does not appreciate the "Snack Pack" gift if you ever bring the item for her during a date event. That probably reminds her of Maruki manipulating her cognition and thus the traumatic experience of losing Kasumi, since Maruki is known for giving snacks to the people who went to meet him.
• Maruki had a special power which he can use to soften severe mental conditions such as depression which was later amplified by a berserk persona that turned him into a madman. This ability also happens to be the one he uses to turn Sumire into Kasumi since she requested him to do it, and according to Lavenza, he can't activate it fully on his volition, only subconsciously. And there's only two records that this ever happened; Rumi and Sumire. What do those two have in common? They lost a beloved caretaker and got their mind royally fucked up as a result. Sumire most probably reminded Maruki of Rumi, pushed his buttons and caused his powers to act up. So every time he went to meet someone like that, he may activate it for no apparent reason; in other words, should he ever met Futaba when she was still a Hikkikomori, he might even make Futaba see her mother while nobody did. It's lucky that he didn't saw many people who got their mind fucked up for tragically losing a caretaker since if he would ever see them more people might be affected and look insane to the outsider.
• Why does Maruki constantly like to give out snacks to his guests? Pay attention to his flashback with Rumi, before he awakened his actualization abilities on her. When he asks if she wants some snacks, she doesn't respond because she was in some sort of extreme depression. A similar thing occurred with Sumire, who rejects the snacks because she was in extreme depression, although unlike Rumi, she was still in the right state of mind to properly respond. Any of his other guests (who aren't as depressed as Rumi or Sumire) do actively take the snacks. He's probably using it to determine if someone was actually suffering from a mental disorder, because for him, anyone who doesn't take the snacks are most likely crippled by mental disorders.
  • It makes sense realistically, too. If they take it, he’s gained trust. It’s a tiny little contract. If they don’t, he knows they have trust issues because free food is the most base animal desire at the most basic parts of your brain and your distrust of others is overriding your brain’s desire for food. If they don’t reply, catatonia or even more distrustful.
• The fact that Azathoth, Nyarlathothep's "father" had to use a good natured person to help him create his ideal world just to beat Philemon/Igor shows just how far humanity has fallen thanks to Yaldaboth and the Palace owners creating a reality where the wishes of the innocent go unfulfilled and even punished while bad people get what they want.
  • Azathoth is also the "blind idiot god," a braindead being who merely creates and destroys subconsciously. Judging from how Adam Kadmon requires the torch that acts as Maruki's treasure to form, Yaldabaoth probably separated its wisdom from it with his plans and turned it into braindead Azathoth that is only capable of using its powers for mass stagnation without understanding the consequences. Since Adam Kadmon in the Kabbalah is the anthropomorphic form of the perfect human, this means that by unleashing his plans of world domination, Yaldabaoth also unwittingly and ignorantly concealed the wisdom from humanity and turned them into blind idiots without any room for growth as they are imprisoned in eternal happiness. This also corresponds to the original portrayal of Yaldabaoth who ignorantly, with well-intent sealed the physical Adam in the Garden of Eden only for the snake (the protagonist) to awaken him and Eve, making them realize that the Garden of Eden is a prison.
• Maruki had his ex-girlfriend Rumi fall to catatonic depression because her entire family got murdered and then reminding her of her family has became a Trauma Button for her. What happens next is the same screaming and head clutching like Hikari from Persona Q2 once she heard her father said "Why do you have to be like that." While the chibi models in Q2 downplay this...Just imagine what happens if it's using the same models as this game! Seeing Hikari getting hit with a trigger-based breakdown without the chibi models is actually more visually terrifying than you think.
• The bad ending for accepting Maruki's deal, in all circumstances, happens after you snapped all of your teammates out of his spell bar Sumire for the direct offer, and when Igor and Lavenza are set free. The second offer is even worse since it can happen after all of your teammates bar Akechi fully awakened and grown up from their desires. In other words, the protagonist, if he accepts any of these deals, is merely accepting it out of either personal gain, pure jerkassery or an emotional reactionary fear of losing Akechi, and unlike the deal with Yaldabaoth, he clearly doesn't enjoy this by even a bit. Since you are the one making a decision for him, it's no wonder why he would look like a serial killer in the graduation photoshoot and look at you (Yes, YOU) in the credits snapshot while all of his other friends looked so happy during both shoots. He's probably thinking that you doomed his entire future and is effectively questioning you: What the Hell, Player?
  • Oh and do not forget that one of the consequences of cutting a deal with Maruki is Sumire reverting into Kasumi, and not only she reverted into Kasumi, she is now officially a perfect copy of Kasumi. In some sense, you killed off Sumire for real.
  • And not just Sumire, but also Igor and Lavenza who now that both metaverse and real world have merged and had the protagonist failed to reach the treasure in time would see that Lavenza disappears. So you traded the lives of the Velvet Room and Sumire so Joker can live free.
  • Oh and there's another major and rather unsettling aspect that also acts as a Bilingual Bonus. After you accept Maruki's reality, all of your teammates will transfer to Shujin, including Futaba, Morgana and Yusuke. Shujin means "Prestigious" here in the literal sense, but it's also a wordplay on "Inmate."^note Shujin can be read as "秀尽" (Prestigious) or "囚人" (Inmate) This symbolizes that all of the protagonist's friends are now truly inmates in Maruki's Modern Stasis, Happily Ever After behind the prison known as the Gnostic Garden of Eden.
• If you trade the Will Crystal of Sorrow to Jose during a new game plus, you can get a Bracelet of Sorrow which lets you use Guiding Tendril. Exactly what does this attack do? It summons Azathoth tendrils to down all opponents on screen and do some damage to them, usually resulting in a Hold-up. You're effectively doing what Maruki did to Sumire so he can evoke the fake Cendrillon from her a.k.a apprehending them with tentacles so you control their cognition. While the ones Maruki used aren't actually the tentacles from his persona but just wiring from Mementos, the one you used are.
• Think about the Personas and final bosses in this game.
  • On the one hand, we have Yaldabaoth, who is essentially YHVH. And this guy was created by humanity itself. YHVH has been around for millennia and we all know what a top-tier Crapsack World the main SMT is. Yaldabaoth got extreme power in the blink of an eye. If the Phantom Thieves didn't beat him as fast as they did, who knows how the Persona universe would end up.
    • Not to mention, anyone can become a Persona user, and yes Personas can manifest as angels (as displayed by Eriko and many other personas of the Justice arcana and a few from the Judgement arcana). The mini-bosses before Yaldabaoth are the Archangels. Which means, if any given person has even the slightest affinity to Judgement arcana, or peace, law and order, they would instantly become Yaldabaoth's puppets in a far more direct fashion than the mainline Law Hero thing.
  • On the other hand, we have the presence of demo- em, shadows, and Personae that reference the Cthulhu Mythos. Heck, your teammate's persona is THE Tome of Eldritch Lore. Last time we saw that was in Persona 2, back when Nyarly was pulling the strings. Even if their presence in this game is just a coincidence, who says he won't take advantage? And not even butterfly-Philemon appeared in this game...
    • Memento’s tendrils look incredibly similar to the Amala Network tendrils between levels, as well as just its general color scheme. The Presence is alive, so the Demi-Fiend isn’t working as Lucifer’s top dog. Who’s the best candidate? Probably the guy who embodies Lucifer’s pre-fall self. The Presence was trying to replace Lucifer finally. With Joker. And failed. And now Joker has a direct connection to Lucifer. And the Presence’s literally eternal wrath coming for him. The Persona universe might be in for a conception.
• Remember how the entire plot kicked off because of Shido suing Joker for assault? While Yaldabaoth unquestionably orchestrated everything behind the scenes, imagine what would have happened if Joker had never been on probation and sent to Tokyo. That's right: his friends would never have met him and continue living miserable lives since they didn't overcome the problems that plagued them. Ryuji and Ann would keep on experiencing ostracism from their classmates and suffering from Kamoshida's tyranny. Yusuke would endure more abuse from Madarame. Makoto would never break away from her insecurities of not being useful to anyone. Futaba would continue blaming herself for her mother's death and shutting herself in her room. Haru would be stuck in a loveless marriage with a Jerkass her father had chosen to be her husband. And Sumire would eventually stop being effected by Maruki's cognitive filter, this time without having Joker to fall back on, which would have either rendered her catatonic or driven her to suicide. Joker getting a false charge of assault was bad enough, but his friends would endure much worse fates had he not been there to help them. To summarize, Joker would continue living a regular life while everyone else won't ever have the opportunity to rebel against the adults who wronged them.
• Maruki didn't show up in the vanilla version because the devs didn't put him in. Simple enough. However, as noted on Shido's character page, it's rather unusual that he simply let Maruki go instead of killing him to tie up loose ends like he usually does. All of this is to say that there might also be an in-universe answer as to why Maruki isn't around in the original P5: Shido gave him the usual treatment.
  • This also makes you think why Sumire isn't in the game. Her father's show does exist in the Vanilla version so obviously you'd think that he exists too so why didn't her remaining daughter appear? Meta reason: she simply wasn't created yet. In-game reason: she probably died along her sister.
• On Sundays Joker can go buy bread... from the church. And if how incredibly sacrilegious that is isn't enough to disturb, consider that the Metaverse would almost definitely ensure transubstantiation.
• Kaneshiro's Palace has the least Safe Rooms out of all Palaces. And his distortion is 'All of Shibuya'. Let that sink.

Fridge Logic:

Can be found here.

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