Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 5 Stray Thoughts (Again)

Yeah, okay, I’ve already done 2 of these kinds of rants for Persona 5, but look.  Do you have any idea how many hours I dropped into this game?  Just because it turns out to be 1 of the best RPGs ever made, that doesn’t mean I don’t still want to get my rants’ worth out of all the time I spent on it!  So you’re sadly just going to have to bear with it, and put up with me cashing in on that investment with 1 last collection of impressions, observations, and what could perhaps only generously be called thoughts!



- Dojima, Adachi, Naoto, Sae, Akechi...does Shin Megami Tensei: Persona just not believe that competent detectives can exist?  I’d trust Chief Wiggum to solve a case before I’d let any of the chuckleheads in law enforcement within the Persona universe pick up a magnifying glass.


- It’s honestly shocking that the Phantom Thieves largely manage to maintain their anonymity, all things considered.  The members are constantly discussing, openly and without any sort of volume control, their activities in crowded public spaces, just practically announcing themselves in the middle of full restaurants and shops.  Ren is literally incapable of forming a friendship with another human being who won’t eventually make him as a Phantom Thief.  They’ve got Mishima handling their public relations, and I’m pretty sure not a single solitary human being on Earth exists who would have bet on Mishima managing to go a whole year without spilling the beans.  The gang pops in and out of reality in the middle of crowded city plazas and street corners in full view of any and every passerby.  And Ryuji...goddamnit, Ryuji.  Why don’t you holler just a bit louder that you and Ren are Phantom Thieves every time you call him?  You’re so eager to self-report that I’m surprised you don’t tell Ren to put you on speaker first, make sure all of downtown Tokyo can listen in on your next move as vigilantes.

You’d think that after the scares that came of both Makoto AND Futaba each deducing the Thieves’ identities and briefly blackmailing them with that knowledge, back to back, these schmucks would get a little less casual about talking shop while surrounded by strangers, but nope!  The fact that the group JUST missed being doxxed by hackers a mere week prior doesn’t deter Ryuji in the slightest from loudly griping in the middle of a beach absolutely jam-packed with strangers about how he deserves more respect from the ladies for all his work as a Phantom Thief.  I’m not asking for games of cloak-and-dagger intrigue, here, but I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect these kids to at least make some kind of effort to stay clandestine.  The CW Flash takes his secret identity more seriously, and I don’t think there’s a full dozen people in Central City who that guy hasn’t unmasked himself in front of.


- Some of the settings of the villains’ mental palaces really deserve some applause for the creativity and symbolism they incorporate.  From Shido’s pleasure cruiser aggressively drifting through the flooded ruins of Tokyo to Okumura’s tacky, colorful sci-fi theme dehumanizing and distancing the laborers and employees he views as machines, Persona 5’s creators put some thought and creativity into these representations of their villains’ distorted perceptions and desires.  My favorite is Kaneshiro’s: the image of a mansion-bank floating over the district that he scams, above the miserable peons below, is great, and the people below him being walking, talking ATM machines may be heavy-handed, but it’s still good.  The touch that I really loved was realizing that all the yen bills in the air weren’t just floating aimlessly in the wind, but were actually being discreetly sucked up into his bank-palace--the trail of money is there, yet the method of collection subtle enough that the observer won’t even see it at first.  That’s some artful design there.


- While we’re talking about the palaces, I also love that they all (with the exception of Maruki’s) fit into the game’s thief theme by being classic targets for grand, showy heists and break-ins.  Casinos, Egyptian tombs, museums, major transportation hubs, castles, cruises for the wealthy elite, and, of course, the classic bank vault, they’re all exactly the kinds of places that form the backdrops to heist movies, comic book villain plots, Carmen Sandiego capers, and so on.  Very neat!


- In order to escape the collapse of Futaba’s pyramid palace, Morgana transforms into a car, inverts his trunk into a cushioned landing spot for the rest of the party to jump onto, and then sucks them inside.  And may I just say, it is so refreshing and brave a thing to see Atlus make such a bold gesture of inclusion toward the anal vore community!


- Let’s see...wears a prominent red baseball cap...of elementary school age...expresses a desire to be the best...and let’s not forget the line, "He forced me into a battle...and when I lost, he told me I owed him money."
Yup, the evidence all lines up.  Shinya Oda, confirmed to be a Pokemon Trainer.


- Sae's interrogation intro to Haru's Social Link is peculiar.  Like, she's demanding to know who Ren's inside man for Okumura Foods is, AFTER the arc is fully wrapped up, and the overall events and actions of that arc hardly even involved any kind of insider access to Okumura Foods, anyway.  Not to mention that of Haru’s contributions as a friend and Phantom Thief go, her personal association with her father barely even registers.

I mean I get that they can't exactly have Sae open this Link with, "You look too well-nourished for a normal human being. WHO'S YOUR VEGETABLE SUPPLIER, YOU FUCKING ANIMAL!?"  But even still, there had to be a better, more relevant quality of Haru’s to call attention to as her definite contribution.


- Uh...why does the gang start disappearing, during the game’s finale?  Okay, sure, the Phantom Thieves are being forgotten by the public’s cognition, fine.  Got it.  Heavy-handed message received.  But, like...Ryuji’s mom still remembers that her son exists, right?  Sojiro’s probably stirring some coffee and some curry with the same utensil as he gets dinner ready for his kids at this very moment.  Surely Shiho has not suddenly out of nowhere forgotten about her (I want to add ”girl” to the front of this word like you wouldn’t believe)friend Ann.  Haru has an entire goddamn corporate empire with her name on it.  Sae is sitting next to the red Batman phone just waiting to pick it up and call in a tactical subpoena on Shido’s ass the moment she hears from her sister that the job’s done.  These kids exist OUTSIDE of their crimefighting identities, too!  Ren didn’t answer every question in class right and dominate the exam rankings for a year straight just for these schmucks not to remember that he’s valefuckingdictorian!


- So the game presents the fact that stopping Maruki will mean that Akechi will no longer be alive, and it’s acting like any rational, emotionally healthy human being’s knee jerk reaction to this information isn’t gonna be, “There’s no downside!”  Seriously, I can’t think of a better reason to stay the course.


- During the ending, Ren gives back the diary that Sojiro gave him the year before, which he’s been using to save his game.  It’s a very sweet moment of farewell and gratitude between adoptive father and son.  I like how meaningful and poignant it is.

...But I also like to giggle whilst I think about what will happen when Sojiro actually opens that thing up and starts reading.

“Why’d you write 6 entries over the course of 4 minutes on October 9 that all just say “Couldn’t remember whether I saved yet today”?
“What’s this entry here that just reads “Stat-maxed Neko Shogun lol” mean?
“...Jesus Christ, just how many times did you order your teacher to travel across town in the middle of the night to fix you a cup of coffee!?”