Heal Yourself, Genius.
I must be almost finished with Persona 5 Royal! I've just entered the Palace on 3 February; here are my notes.
Back in early 2021, I ranked all the Persona 4 and 5 party members, and I placed Akechi last of the Persona 5 cast. It's incredible how quickly he shot up to become one of my favourite characters as soon as Royal allowed him to be openly awful.
'Show me what you can do.' Playing darts is way more intimidating now that Akechi is watching and judging me.
Usually, multiple pals show up for a darts game. When you invite Akechi, he shows up alone. He's not here to socialise; he's here to destroy you. Which is weird, because you're playing cooperative darts.
Oh, huh, is Akechi left-handed? He aims the dart with his left hand. (EDIT: As timydamonkey has reminded me, Akechi's left-handedness explicitly comes up in a confidant scene! Whoops.)
Enjoyably weird blend of sincerity and insincerity in Akechi's 'I'm counting on you' at the start of a darts game.
Aww, I really like Sumire's reaction if you turn down her confession. I feel a bit bad with Haru, where she's obviously into you and all you can do if you don't want to date her is evade the subject, so I'm glad we actually get to talk openly here.
Ryuji, Ann and Makoto have been my team for the entire game, but I've now switched Ann out for Akechi, just because his uncontrollable cackling when he attacks brings me so much joy. I'm just glad he's having fun.
The flashback to Rumi losing her memories is agonising. Maruki is such an interesting villain!
I laughed aloud when Joker dipped Sumire at the end of their Showtime attack.
'See you around, cosplay kids.' This nameless NPC just absolutely murdered me and my cool outfit.
'Anyways... thanks for askin' me here today. I'm all cheered up now 'cause of you!' Ryuji's so goddamn cute. And then I gave him a present he liked and got the message 'It feels like I really captured Ryuji's heart!'
'What, you came just to see me? Just the sort of brainless sentimentality I'd expect from you.' Once again, I love Akechi so much more now that he's stopped pretending to be a good guy and is just unapologetically a shit.
His unimpressed 'I guess I should thank you' after we invite him to the jazz club! He hates us so much! I love it.
I like that Sumire feels that her time living as her sister did genuinely help her. I just love unhealthy coping mechanisms.
Hey, I managed to get the missable Akechi scene! I was slightly concerned, as I didn't learn there was a missable Akechi scene until after making all the choices that could potentially lead to it. The Persona series can be extremely unforgiving if you don't know exactly what you're doing in advance.
Can't believe Maruki is an Akechi/protagonist shipper.
I suspected Akechi's mysterious survival might be because of Maruki's reality! But it's only just hit me that that means we lose him if we go back; I don't want that!
'Or are you really so spineless that you'd fold over some bullshit, trivial threat to my life?' He's such a great hateboyfriend. I can't believe we have to give that up.
'I don't want to be pitied - this isn't something I'm debating with you!' He's so prickly and so perfect. I can't believe how completely my feelings about him have changed in Royal. (Did someone steal my heart?)
Rei (my housemate, not the protagonist) happened to be in the room when we entered the final Palace after the calling card, and enjoyed the motivational music. We had a little dance party.
Back in early 2021, I ranked all the Persona 4 and 5 party members, and I placed Akechi last of the Persona 5 cast. It's incredible how quickly he shot up to become one of my favourite characters as soon as Royal allowed him to be openly awful.
'Show me what you can do.' Playing darts is way more intimidating now that Akechi is watching and judging me.
Usually, multiple pals show up for a darts game. When you invite Akechi, he shows up alone. He's not here to socialise; he's here to destroy you. Which is weird, because you're playing cooperative darts.
Oh, huh, is Akechi left-handed? He aims the dart with his left hand. (EDIT: As timydamonkey has reminded me, Akechi's left-handedness explicitly comes up in a confidant scene! Whoops.)
Enjoyably weird blend of sincerity and insincerity in Akechi's 'I'm counting on you' at the start of a darts game.
Aww, I really like Sumire's reaction if you turn down her confession. I feel a bit bad with Haru, where she's obviously into you and all you can do if you don't want to date her is evade the subject, so I'm glad we actually get to talk openly here.
Ryuji, Ann and Makoto have been my team for the entire game, but I've now switched Ann out for Akechi, just because his uncontrollable cackling when he attacks brings me so much joy. I'm just glad he's having fun.
The flashback to Rumi losing her memories is agonising. Maruki is such an interesting villain!
I laughed aloud when Joker dipped Sumire at the end of their Showtime attack.
'See you around, cosplay kids.' This nameless NPC just absolutely murdered me and my cool outfit.
'Anyways... thanks for askin' me here today. I'm all cheered up now 'cause of you!' Ryuji's so goddamn cute. And then I gave him a present he liked and got the message 'It feels like I really captured Ryuji's heart!'
'What, you came just to see me? Just the sort of brainless sentimentality I'd expect from you.' Once again, I love Akechi so much more now that he's stopped pretending to be a good guy and is just unapologetically a shit.
His unimpressed 'I guess I should thank you' after we invite him to the jazz club! He hates us so much! I love it.
I like that Sumire feels that her time living as her sister did genuinely help her. I just love unhealthy coping mechanisms.
Hey, I managed to get the missable Akechi scene! I was slightly concerned, as I didn't learn there was a missable Akechi scene until after making all the choices that could potentially lead to it. The Persona series can be extremely unforgiving if you don't know exactly what you're doing in advance.
Can't believe Maruki is an Akechi/protagonist shipper.
I suspected Akechi's mysterious survival might be because of Maruki's reality! But it's only just hit me that that means we lose him if we go back; I don't want that!
'Or are you really so spineless that you'd fold over some bullshit, trivial threat to my life?' He's such a great hateboyfriend. I can't believe we have to give that up.
'I don't want to be pitied - this isn't something I'm debating with you!' He's so prickly and so perfect. I can't believe how completely my feelings about him have changed in Royal. (Did someone steal my heart?)
Rei (my housemate, not the protagonist) happened to be in the room when we entered the final Palace after the calling card, and enjoyed the motivational music. We had a little dance party.