Persona 5 Royal My Game of 2020 Part II Chapter 3, Chapter 4, and Chapter 5

You may have been wondering why I decided to cut this review into parts. As I was writing this, I noticed how long it was getting and decided to cut it down because of that. That's my reason. Lets begin.

Chapter 3: Ichiryusai Madarame, the Vanity Plagiarist. May 2 to June 5. Thirty Five days in game.

After hearing the great news about Shiho's recovery from her suicide attempt, the group decides to celebrate at the Wilton Buffet Hotel. If you want to know what that hotel looks like, imagine a real fancy hotel and you got it except with a whole bunch of food that would make anyone going on a diet cry in jealously. To bring up something dark about Shiho's suicide attempt, I'm pretty sure that there is one person in game or life who secretly thought or said,"Do a flip!".

I didn't personally but I'm pretty sure someone out there did. Everyone has a dark side after all. It's like how I believe that there is always one person out there in the world who is a living stereotype. I also learned some interesting details about Kamoshita thanks to TV Tropes and the Wiki. I plan to look up tropes about the previous Palace Ruler at the start of the next chapter and do note that I'll be mentioning the unused concept in Persona 5 Royal at a later point since that's rather interesting to me. 

Lets start with the stuff from the Wiki. So like with Pokemon for example, Persona 5 has a anime and manga adaptation. The anime adaptation of Persona 5 is rather infamous for not being as good as the game, looks bad, and not as good when compared to the previous Persona anime especially the dub. The dub for Persona 5 anime made it better from what I heard but like with most animes, the best way to enjoy the series is to read the manga or the original material that it was based off.

This isn't the case with every anime mainly with Demon Slayer. I think the anime made Demon Slayer look amazing despite it being a rather okay story at least in my opinion. 6 or 7 of 10 is the best review I can give it without going into detail about it. I do like Demon Slayer but to be in the top ten best selling manga of all time alongside Black Jack, Crayon Shin-chan, Detective Conan, Doraemon, Dragon Ball, Golgo 13, Kocikame: Tokyo Beat Cops, Naruto, One Piece, I really don't see it. 

Maybe the anime had something to do with these sales or the movie which managed to surpass both Spirited Away and Your Name in terms of sales. I've only seen Your Name which I really enjoyed but to surpass Spirited Away which is arguably one of the best if not the best Studio Ghibli, that does some praise. So lets get back to Kamoshita's appearance in the anime rather than going into detail about Demon Slayer.

Both Boruto and Demon Slayer are popular series that I have an interesting opinion of. So the anime Kamoshita is very similar to game Kamoshita except they go more in depth about the abuse including attacking Shiho with his fists and using his gold medal spike on Joker/Ren. The manga counterpart of Kamoshita is a bit more subdued compared to his other counterparts. He's also far more cunning and I highly recommended reading the manga. 

Lets talk about some tropes because well, one of these tropes have something to do with the unused content in Persona 5 Royal. Our first trope is Animal Motifs and how Kamoshita's ram motif could be a possible reference to Catherine. I do know that in Catherine, it's sheep not rams but it reminds me a lot of that game. The other two tropes are But for me, It was Tuesday and Freudian Excuse which is our connection to Persona 5 Royal's unused excuses. 

Everything is connected. For the first trope, it involves Kamoshita's shadow and how he was used in P5R compared to the base game. In the base game, the shadow never mentioned knowing Shiho as nothing more than another one of his victim. P5R decided to make Kamoshita even more of a villain which isn't that hard to do given the evidence proven in this game. I mentioned before Bunny Shiho but what I didn't know is that there is some meaning behind it.

Bunny Shiho is very weak to physical strikes which is him remembering her very well and what he did to her. The echoes from his Will Seeds also brings it home that he remembers her by name and lusting after her body. The Freudian Excuse is how he says that he did all of this due to people putting more and more pressure on him to succeed which he did when he won the gold. So if you want to see the unused content in P5R, check out this video.

It doesn't have voice acting but does have the text written. The first one shows that Kamoshita was a famous athlete where he donated a lot of money to his old school and won an Olympic medal. I would argue that the first scene paints him in a good light but this light eventually turns dark rather fast with the next two scene. The second scene shows that Kamoshita was in a sexual harassment scandal with a TV anchor and his manager tells him that they have a solution for this problem.

The third and final scene shows that no matter what Kamoshita does, his manager will cover up all of his crimes while he plays the role of a popular athlete and national hero. I really wish that this was in the game just to drive in the point on how far Kamoshita has fallen and how people will do whatever they can to keep the image of a celebrity in a good light. We also learn that Ann can be rather dark at times since instead of killing Kamoshita, he's going to be groveling for the rest of his life.

I'm reminded of what happened to Jose Porla in Fairy Tail with this outcome. After Makarov used Fairy Law against Jose, he went into a state where he couldn't do anything but whimper in fear. I really wish that he did come back maybe during the Avatar Arc but life has a certain way of working out. This is a fate worse than death or Cruel Mercy after all so don't mess with her or any girl with a Persona. This is what Persona 5 taught me.

This is the main reason I don't go for a certain romantic outcome or to a hot spring. By the way, I will be talking about the third time whenever I review Strikers because I have an opinion on that. Spoiler alert about that. It isn't a positive one. There is also a wise saying that shouldn't be neglected. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned so don't piss her off. I do make a point to mention how angering a woman is a bad thing in Zero. 

I'll explain what I mean by that romantic outcome later in this post. We also learn that Kamoshita isn't the only one who could have a palace. According to the cat, anyone whose heart has become warped from their desire can get a palace and we'll see more of that in due time. I wonder if all of them are going to be piece of shits like Kamoshita or maybe more less of one. So the Yen to USD conversion rate isn't the best in my fact.

This is due to that the fact that Kamoshita's gold medal is only worthy thirty thousand yen seems off to me. It would be two hundred eighty-eight dollars and sixty-one cents in the US and this is according to my research so I could be wrong. The low price is mainly due to how much gold is worth and how earning it is worth its weight in gold or something like that. Sounds dumb to me but what do I know? I ain't an expert on how much material something is worth. 

After some discussion on the topic of what to do with the dirty money, we go to the Wilton Buffet Hotel on Children's Day. Fun fact, I didn't know about Children's Day at first. However after doing some more research, I find it to be quite interesting. It's held on different days depending on the country such as May 5 for Japan and June 13 for the United States. I did have some knowledge about the holiday thanks to the first season of Pokemon Episode The Purr-fect Hero.

However, that was such a long time ago so relearning about a new holiday was interesting. We also get stuck selling the medal thanks to Mona throwing us under the bus. This won't be the last time Mona throws us under a bus which is impressive since he is a cat. Thanks to working alongside Bean Daddy or Sojiro, you learn how to make Coffee and Curry. You also get some trivia about Coffee and Curry. If you want to check out some of this trivia, check out this post. 

Doing this helps out in the palace so do this whenever you can. Before we can sell off the medal, we get blackmailed into helping Sojiro. This may seem like a bad thing but I like him so I don't mind helping out whatsoever. We see a news report on Kamoshita's crimes and well, things look to be going good for Joker's school. I bet nothing bad will happen from here on out. Yes. I totally just jinx myself. Before we could leave Leblanc, we see Sae for the first time not interrogation us. 

This won't be the last time we see her at Leblanc you can guarantee it since the plot is just getting started. The best place to sell the medal is the Untouchable model gun shop and how the manager Iwai Munehisa/Munehisa Iwai is a shady man. I mean he gave us a real gun or it could be a model. Either or works. We'll figure that out a later day since it's time to party at Wilton Buffet Hotel. The Wilton Buffet Hotel is pretty much for the rich and important adults not some teens and their simping cat. 

We also see that the Ryuji aka the Blonde Ape only eats meat and the Ann aka the Fiery Panther only eats sweets. There is also the introduction of the Phantom Aficionado Website but learning the eating habits of the two blondes is more important right? We also get stuck watching the table while they get their meat and cake. You make think Ann eating all of these sweets would be a bad thing for her girlish figure but well, she has a great metabolism I'm guessing. 

After they managed to get some rather strange food, Mona and Joker decided to show the blonde duo what fine dining is like. While we get some more food, we get some information about Kamoshita and getting insult by adults. Do note that we can't get any salad because for some reason, Mona doesn't consider this to be fine dining. I mean having your greens is a good thing to have alongside your meat and sweets Mona so let me get some salad damn it. 

It's good for you. At least Joker got a variety of food compared to the blondes. Shortly after stuffing our stomachs to its peak, the boys head to the bathroom and meet up with a certain bald man on our way back to Ann aka Speedwagon. I really wish that in New Game +. you could intimidate him by say something but that would ruin the plot it seems. Can't break the story too much. After dealing with the selfish adults, the gang decides to stay together and this is where you get to name your team. 

In my first two playthroughs, I went with Team Maelstrom because I really love the name. It's a very obvious reference to Zero and in honor of Fairy Legion Royal's return, I went with the name Akatsuki or Dawn/Daybreak. This is also a not so subtle Naruto reference and a minor one for Fairy Tail since it's that Ren's last name. The basic name is the Phantoms if you're curious. Before they can go even after a target, they need to decide on it unanimously. This will be important later on so write this down. 

After naming the gang, we get the next target involving a popular Japanese painter who we'll learn more about later. We also see the twins and Igor again. I'm still coming up for a good nickname for Igor so here is some more information on characters with gag noses. Like raising up our social status, building up our bonds is important since it gives great power and a good reward near the end of the 100 plus hour game. 

Shortly after that, we see Eggman or Egghead talking with the white shirt girl I mentioned before. It's weird to hear a man like Kamoshita with Kun attached to it by the way. You know what I mean right? It is also weird to hear it in English or in text. We learn the white shirt girl's name with it being Makoto Nijima, student council president. I know that I mentioned it before this is when we learn in game. The last name sounds familiar and well, I'll save you my opinion on Makoto until much later. 

To give you a quick snippet of that opinion, I do like her but she is in no way my favorite girl in the Phantom Thieves. Yeah. I'm sure that I'll be upsetting some people with that but I don't care. We learn that Mishima made the Phantom Aficionado Website, creating the term phandom or phans, and gaining him as a confidant or a fanboy. I mean I like the guy but he's a total fanboy and I rather not lie about what he is. We should also not call him by his first name Yukki or else this will happen.

Mishima's ability is useful in my opinion but I plan to talk about the best to worst confidants when we're all done. After gaining the power of fanboys, I decide to hang out with Ann and this is where having a high level of kindness comes into play. Her confidant along with a few others require a certain level of social status before being started. With this in mind, I wanted to try something. Normally, there is a confidant that requires Rank 4 in guts before you can start it.

However, I had Rank 5 in Guts so I started this confidant with him much earlier than I normally do since I usually do it around Late May to June. This is something interesting that I never done before and was curious if it could work. This confidant is the Hanged Man Confidant Iwai whom we met earlier. A good way to do this is by eating a lot of burgers at Big Bang Burger. I didn't know that eating burgers makes you more gutsy but well, I guess eating a lot of processed meat makes you a real man?

Who really knows what it means to be a real man. Another status you should probably focus on for a certain confidant later on is Knowledge. The questions in classes help in this regard and well here is a list of the answers. Normally, I wouldn't do this but I'm sure that these questions are something that most people wouldn't normally know especially those who are unaware of Japanese history or those who aren't super genius aka me. 

The gang later meet up with Makoto once again and well, my first impression of her wasn't the best. In my opinion, she is acting like a bitch or someone who doesn't mind their own business. This was just my first opinion on her my first time around and well, my opinion changed on her thanks to several playthroughs and time thinking about it. We also lose our hideout spot because of her so yeah. Not the best first impression to say the least. 

After meeting her, we decide to head into Mementos, the incarnation of the Collective Unconscious or everyone's palace. Do note that I never played the base game of Persona 5 before. I have it but I have no desire to go through it. I didn't experience the original Mementos but I think it got better in Royal. Take this with a grain of salt. We also get to see Morgana transform into a car by embracing his inner Kamer Rider or Power Ranger. 

I do know that Kamen Rider and Power Rangers are slightly different things but they are similar enough to me. Him turning into a car is based off the classic Studio Gihibi film My Neighbor Totoro and his running cycle is like Doremon. The more you know. We also get this comic as a response to the Phantom Thieves learning how to drive Morgana so that's a good thing right? This comic is hilarious since Baby Park makes everything funnier. 

That's just a fun fact after all. After some exploring, we meet up with Nakanohara whom I called mushroom head. His head just looks like a mushroom to me especially with his hair. Before we take him on, we learn about a man named Madarame and it's fighting time. Even though mushroom head isn't important in the story over all but he is in this chapter, I think his Shadow being Obariyon is pretty good since he dances during battle. That's my reason for liking him. 

Nothing about the mythology or anything along those lines. He's a decent dancer but not as good as this guy is. He or Obariyon should run a country with one of them being an evil move. Even though he has some sick dance moves, he's no match for a Kohryu's Thunder Reign. Thanks New Game+s for destroying the dreams of a dancing demon. He was maybe going to be a star but nope. Fate had other plans for him.

Due to it being an exclusive to P5R or Persona 5 Royal, we met Egg Boy Jose and how he breaks Mementos/the game even more thanks to the power of flowers and stamps. I'll explain what I mean by that in time since along with powerful Personas, your New Game + can break the game easily. This is only possible if you do a lot on your first go around which I did since I wanted more power to rule over all. 

After finishing up in Mementos, you see a certain character staring at the group. Is this character important or not? The fact that I'm bringing it up probably means so and it isn't subtle about that since he's in the opening if you recall. The next day is when you learn about a certain way of advancing a confidant and how it relates to taking down targets in Mementos. What I usually did was have up to three at the very least targets before going to Mementos since going there takes up a precious day. 

You only have so many of those after all since some days don't allow you to do much except progress the story. On Monday, you learn about Ann having someone having this strange feeling someone is watching her. Perhaps this is important. By hanging out with the blond ape Ryuji enough times, you eventually unlock the Gym in Shibuya. Said gym alongside another location are easily something I ignored on my first playthrough of P5R and regretted it. 

I'll explain what that means later and after spending the next couple of days, we begin midterms. By using that list I mentioned above, you can easily ace the midterms. Doing this is another boost to the important social stats. On the third day of midterms, we meet a major P5R exclusive in the form of Doctor Maruki. I won't be spoiling how important he is to P5R in time but I can say this. Despite the manga starting long before P5R was a thing, he is there in the story.

Not sure if he's going to have the same role but who knows. With the offer of free snacks, I grew to like Doctor Maruki because you're a monster if you refuse free snacks. If you're on a diet, you aren't a monster but who could hate a guy like Maruki? He's a total dork and nothing like Kamoshita. This man is important since he forms a confidant with you and the game mention he's going to be here until only November. 

So keep an eye on it. You also see him with Yoshizawa who is another P5R exclusive character so he is an important character for a reason. After each visit, your SP is boosted so even more of a reason to see the man. On the final day of midterms, you meet up with the strange man from last week. Our stalker has a name and it is Yusuke Kitagawa who wants Ann to be his model for his next art piece and Mona finds him suspicious. I wonder why. 

I wish this scene and this scene happened in New Game + or in P5R. Like with the whole Speedwagon thing, it would make absolutely no sense but it would be funny to see. This unique young man is a student of Kosei High, the student of the man Madarame whom mushroom head mentioned earlier, and the man who said this. I really love that line and how its done in English since it works so damn well for most things. 

Never heard it in Japanese before but I don't have any desire to since well, I choose not too. This line is perfect. Thanks to Sae, we also learn about how much of a criminal Madarame is but compared to Kamoshita, I find him to be a lesser evil. He's still an awful human being but compared to Kamoshita, I don't find him that bad. I may rank who is the worst of the worst in this game so stay tuned for that. We learn about him being a plagiarist of those he teaches and a abuser toward them. 

The former is more prevalent in the art world even the latter is obvious bad in general. On the way to Madarame's shack, we can play pet the Morgana and I always play this game by button mashing said cat. It isn't out of malice or anything but well, you gave me the option so I must do it. Don't that with a real cat unless you want to get scratched. Before meeting up with Madarame, we meet up with the SIU Director and I thought he was suspicious from the very start of my first playthrough. 

He just seems so suspicious. After meeting up with Madarame and having Yusuke yelling at us, we eventually learn about the painting known as Sayuri and how Madarame has a palace. Compared to Kamoshita's place, this place is a bit more modern and totally fitting for thieves. I mean it's an art museum and thieves are known for stealing priceless art rather than entering a castle. A castle can have fine art but do you see cat burglars breaking into a castle often in fiction.

It's also gaudy and sticks out like a sore thumb just like Kamoshita's castle did. Get used to places that stick out like a sore thumb in this game. All the portraits on display in the museum are former and present students of Madarame. Yusuke is the last one of these students and with the Infinite Spring, you see who Madarame really is as a person. He steals those whom he teaches in exchange of a place to live which isn't equivalent exchange at all. 

Madarama is shown different compared to Kamoshita who beats those students into serving him but both of them abuse or take advantage of those under their care and guidance. When we go meet up with Yusuke, we learn that he is interested in Ann as a model rather than someone of the opposite sex. That's what I got from him and well, he's European Material which is a reference to the Legally Blonde musical. Who knew?

This is shown rather well when he is focused on painting rather than having a conversation with her or the others. After Morgana goes off to do some investigation, he noticed a rather ostentatious door compared to the rest of the shack. This door has something hiding behind it. I mean it stuck out like a sore thumb compared to the rather terrible looking shack. Yusuke may not be interested in Ann as a woman but having his ideal model being nude is another story.

He isn't a pervert like Kamoshita but still. He's a teenager after all. After getting a new hideout thanks to Makoto's meddling, Mishima gives us some more information about Madarame in the form of Nakanohara aka mushroom head. After hearing about what Madarame did to mushroom head's senior art student and Yusuke's connection to Madarame, we decided to help Yusuke before he goes the same route as mushroom head's senior.

I do know his name but it's really fun calling him mushroom head. Before we can get start with this job to salve Yusuke, we learn about certain obstacles in the palace. Get used to these being here and plan for it. For me, I usually went after the palace or at least the obstacle so I can complete the palace in a single or two days. Before we can start working on Madarame's place, we unlock traits in Personas. Traits are something incredibly important and can be broken.

Even though I'm not the biggest fan of Zorro, I like his trait especially against bosses. Before we can get too far, we learn about Treasure Demons thanks to Mona's love of treasure. Fitting for a thief. Treasure Demons are Personas whose ability isn't for combat but for fusion instead especially a certain type of fusion. Before we can get too far into the palace, we see the ostentatious door in the shack inside of the palace. This is the first of many obstacles that our heroes come against.      

Before handing this obstacle, head back to the Velvet Room because you unlock the confidant of the Twins and see their unique relationship in action. I really grew to like the twins over time and on New Game +s, you can easily Rank 10 this confidant. This does cost a lot of money but having a Rank 10 before completing the second place is always a good thing. The Strength Arcana is one of the few confidants that doesn't have Sae commenting about it.

Completing this confidant also doesn't take up any time in game. It just cost time in real life to create said fusion and a whole lot of cash in game especially if you want to complete it early on the game. The way I did this the first time around was by looking online since it doesn't really tell you how to do it on your own. At least to my knowledge. The best way to do this is by looking at these three links in no particular order. Link 1, Link 2, and Link 3. 

Another way to break this confidant on New Game +s is by registering these specific Persona with these certain skills in your first playthrough so you only need to spend the cash on them on the second or third playthrough. At Level 15, the total cost for completing this confidant is about 97,514 or ninety-seven thousand five hundred fourteen yen. In USD, this number would be nine hundred thirty-six dollars and thirteen cents. The difference between the amount of money is worth between countries is interesting.

This number was calculated after adding up all of their prices, some of these personas have been leveled up thanks to previous playthroughs, and the prices may be different from you. When you complete a confidant in P5R, you get voice acting. I wish every level or rank had this but it's better to have the first and last level/rank with voice acting than no voice acting I guess. Once that's all done, we eventually head back to Leblanc and have Ann go nude is the only way to open up the ostentatious door. 

I do wish there was another way but nope. Using Ann's feminine charm is our only plan. After watching a rather unique scene involving Ann in a whole load of clothes similar to Edolas Gray, we get the door open in Madarame's palace. We also see that Yusuke is a gentleman and doesn't look at Ann when she is stripping. Good man. She also isn't the best at being seductive or acting the part. I like Ann but well, her acting needs serious work like a lot. 

Once the door opens up, you and Skull have to fight a powerful Nue. This isn't a problem if you have a Persona with a fire attack or have it being really high level but caution is advised. Once the Nue goes down, we see that there are several copies of Sayuri lying around. To try and trick Yusuke, Madarame claims that he's in severe debt and had to handmake Sayuri in order to pay off said debt. He also says that some of his former students have given him their work due to him having writer's block.

Like with Ann's seduction from earlier, Madarame's lie is destroyed. Compared to Kamoshita whose crimes are simple at least to me, I'm not too familiar on the world of art and plagiarism. Lets just say that this is one of the reasons why I don't consider Madarame to be that bad of a guy. I mean I get that he's a monster for stealing the work of countless artists for years but well, he's small potatoes compared to Kamoshita and some of the other scum bags in this game. At least to me. 

After escaping Madarame's private security company, the trio of Mona, Panther, and Yusuke show up with Panther being in Yusuke's arms. In response to this, he gets a push to the ground from Panther and a bump on the noggin thanks to Mona. On his way out of Madarame's heart, Yusuke learns the cold hard truth about his master and we also see Shadow Madarame. I do like his design at least compared to Shadow Kamoshita.

At least, we don't see what's under the gaudy robe and the makeup is on purpose. Madarame is nothing more than a thief and fake. Like with Kamoshita, I wanted to give him a name fitting his title of fake thief and I came up with one. Smeargle. Fitting no? It isn't at all insulting like Kamoshita but it works for me since Smeargle is known for something involving art. Once Yusuke finally sees and accepts the truth about Smeargle, he awakens to his Persona in the form of Goemon. 

He also has one of my favorite awakenings in the games. Whenever he appears, I always hear this sound and it does this in game. Nice touch. He also reminds me of Lord Oden from One Piece or Yamato since she was inspired by Oden's legacy.  After taking down Ippon-Datara, we gain the power of Yusuke aka Fox ,which we learn shortly after entering the palace for the third time, who is a really cool guy and a weirdo but that's why I like him. 

If you ask me why I like characters like this, weirdness is something I really like to see in a character and makes them more memorable for me. Why do you think I like Ichiya from Fairy Tail so much? We also learn that Yusuke knew the truth about his teacher Smeargle from the start and shows how strong he is. Like with the possible expulsion thanks to Kamoshita, we have a new time limit. Smeargle's art show ending.

We already knew about this but he will take legal action against the group because of him being one paranoid son of a gun. It's time to teach this old man a lesson and hopefully, we don't need to do it more than once unlike this one. After helping out Dr. Maruki and Bean Daddy for a single day, we go into Smeargle's palace and plan the infiltration route. In due time, you eventually run into Jack Frost running around. 

From what I gathered, Jack Frost is considered the mascot of Atlus on the same level of Pikachu for Pokemon and I can see why plus he and the others says this. One of my favorite moments in P5 Strikers no doubt except for the fact that three of them didn't join in on the madness. After taking down the Kurama Tengu, we learn/obtain about Skill Cards that can be used to help for the Strength confidant aka the twins. 

You may have noticed that I haven't mentioned locked treasure chests over time and this is because I have an item known as the Perma-Pick. This allows me to open up any locked treasure chests without wasting a lock pick. I do find this item incredibly useful and worth taking the time of making lock picks. After hopping through paintings, we reach the room where spotting the difference of Sayuri comes into play. 

If you're like me and doesn't notice the minor details of things, this may be a challenge for you. Over time, I learned the difference by having a picture of Sayuri by my side while doing this. Once you figure what is the real deal, you plan the infiltration route and the way that they do this is straight out of an heist movie. I mean you can see that too right? Before we leave the place, I want to talk about the struggle it took to get the red Will Seed. 

On my first playthrough, this took me about an hour. I may have been exhausted at the time of looking for this seed but I couldn't find this last seed for the life of me. The location is something that I had to lookup because I thought it was impossible to find and well, I learned the importance of looking at the map. In the main treasure hall, there is a very small vent that you can crawl through and that will lead you to a locked treasure chest. 

After using the grappling hook to climb through the rafters, you entered another vent and this area is where the will seed is. Do note that the shadow known as Arahabaki can be a challenge mainly if you bench Mona. I say this because of its weakness toward nuclear or wind. There is an item and a Persona in the palace for nuclear attacks but still. We don't get our Persona user for that element until later. This is a challenge for me since finding the damn seed is more of a challenge than the fight. 

I could just be bad at reading maps. After planning the route, we gain the power of the Electric Chair and this is super important for gaining some really powerful items. I highly recommend looking up what you can get using the chair. Without context, this may sound awful but this chair alongside another thing can make some powerful gear. On 5/22, buy the Outdoors Kit. It's super healthy against Smeargle's boss for a reason that I'll be explaining in due time. 

Wait a day before sending the card so you may obtain this item. By sending the calling card, it's time to take down Smeargle's entire career and we'll do this heist style. Like with Shadow Kamoshita, Shadow Smeargle shows up to call out the thieves. However, I'm sure that he doesn't noticed Yusuke being there like Shadow Kamoshita did I think. Not a hundred percent sure on that. Another way you can change out the party is by going to the status menu and selecting the members you would need. 

For my run personally, I pick Fox, Panther, and Skull since Joker is always there for every possibly team combination. He is the main character after all. This is because of Shadow Smeargle's boss fight teaching the importance of element weakness mainly the second half. As someone who plays Pokemon as his main RPG for a long time, this was easy once I figured this weakness out. When compared to Shadow Kamoshita, Shadow Smeargle or Azazel's appearance is less memorable. 

It's fitting for the theme of art that this chapter has and how he is actually an awful artist. Anything Smeargle makes isn't bold or brash but belongs in the trash. However, the first boss of Asmodeus is much more memorable to me because I mean just look at it. I do know the name of Azazel thanks to High School DXD and it isn't because of the name being involved with boobs. I remember this name because Azazel is a good character in that series. 

By taking down Smeargle using the power combo of New Game +, type mastery, the power of Baton Pass, elemental weakness, and Fox, his treasure is the real Sayuri and it's a nice painting I think. Like I said before, I don't know art whatsoever. I did learn what the word Ersatz meant. It means sham. The more you know I say once again. Get used to the Shadows begging and claiming that they are the victims. This is the case for Kamoshita and Smeargle so I'm expecting this going forward. 

Before we send him away, he mentions a certain black mask figure and I don't think he means the actor who played Obi-Wan Kenobi. Do remember this since it's important. After this, we meet up with Igor and the twins. They also mention how they don't know the black mask but well, I have my doubt mainly with Igor. To me, Igor seems like this all wise and knowing figure when it comes to Personas and the heart but will lie for his own amusement. That's what I got from him during my first playthrough. 

The voice made me suspicious of him. After this, we live our daily life in Tokyo and this includes a school mandated cleanup at the end of the month. It's a P5R exclusive so I'll be taking about it in time. There was an encounter with Makoto but it isn't that important except she mentions something. One of the major things I did was build up a connection with two adults. These two adults are Toranosuke Yoshida or Tora and our homeroom teacher Sadayo Kawakami who is also a maid. 

Yep. I'm not joking. Lets talk about Rukia aka Kawakami or Becky for a bit. This may sound like your typical premise for an Harem anime or anime in general which it probably is but don't get me wrong. Her confidant is incredibly useful especially if you're doing New Game +s and there is another reason why Becky is a good character. I'll explain later in due time but I'm waiting on something to happen first. We also get thrown into this confidant by Mishima and Ryuji aka Operation Maid Watch.

I always answer with I'm a dad as a response to this so at least, there is that. Tora on the other hand is someone I have a personal history with. It all stems from my first playthrough. Like with how I'm planning on ranking the bosses of the game, all of the non-playable confidants will be ranked as well and their English voice actors will be revealed in these posts once I go to Rank 10 on their confidant. So since we completed the twins, lets begin with their voice actors since they share the same actress. 

Caroline and Justine's voice actress is Carrie Keranen. This voice actress I didn't know at first so I did some research. Some of her more famous roles at least for me personally are Baise from Hunter x Hunter, Ichiyo Higuchi from Bungo Stray Dogs, Malena from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Part 3 Stardust Crusaders, Mitsuki from Kappa Mikey, Yuri Koigakubo from Toradora, and Alya Césaire/Rena Rouge from Ladybug and Cat Noir. Not much but a good amount to say the least. 

I'm sure that the other characters will have more famous actors right? I mean I do know a couple since watching a lot of animation for the east and west has introduced me to a lot of talented folks so here is hoping for the best. In due time, we get started with the school cleanup and Yoshizawa makes another reappearance. Her incident is very similar to one in Joker's past so time to step it once again. Lets just hope this one won't get me arrested. This is just one of the many signs of this being a P5R exclusive. 

We also see Doctor Maruki who is being fawned over by these teenage girls and won't be another Kamoshita since well, he isn't the type. I mean I can't see it. Makoto also shows up alongside Haru who I would say is Persona's version of Tenten. She also goes by the name Mature Third-Year in game. If you know who Tenten is and how she gets very little screen time except in filler, the comparison makes too much sense. At the end of it, you gain the gymnastic star as a confidant and her first name. 

Her first name is Kasumi and her confidant is special for a couple of reasons. Two reasons that aren't too spoiler heavy in my opinion are that it's an exclusive to P5R like Maruki is and how it goes to five stars or Rank 5 unlike the others that go to ten stars/Rank 10. If I go into detail on why that is, we will get into spoiler territory in my opinion. That will be later on so just you wait. After the cleanup, we go back to living our life. I also didn't miss that One Piece reference on the last day of May. 

Yeah. Captain Kidd may have done the same thing as Gol D. Roger but he didn't inspired the dream of a Straw Hat wearing boy now did he? Well, I don't think he did. I could be wrong about that since my knowledge on real life pirates is limited to if they had a reference in One Piece. In due time, June 5th arrives. On said day, Smeargle holds a press conference and confess to all of his crimes like Kamoshita did a month ago. He does make this face and well, it's a hilarious sight. 

Like with Kamoshita, let me tell you who voiced Smeargle in English. In English, he's voiced by Kyle Hebert and where do I begin with the voices this man has done. Here are just some of them since he's the more famous at least compared to Kamoshita. This is my opinion mind you but still, most people know or heard of Kyle Hebert. This resume is much more impressive compared to Carrie Keranen for me at the very least. 

Some of these roles are Gohan from Dragon Ball Z and Super, Aizen from Bleach, Capone Bege from One Piece, Escanor from Seven Deadly Sins, Fat Gum from My Hero Academia, Karasu from YuYu Hakusho/Yu Yu Hakusho, Kiba Inuzuka from Naruto, Morel Mackernasey from Hunter x Hunter, Noriaki Kakyoin from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Part 3 Stardust Crusaders, Ryu from Street Fighter, and Yoshinobu Gakuganji from Jujutsu Kaisen. 

Pretty impressive resume if I do say so myself. By revealing a major art scandal to the world involving Smeargle, we see several characters react to the news in a different light compared to the faceless mob around them. There characters are Makoto, mushroom head, and the other one is a character who met before. You may have forgotten about him if you haven't a terrible memory like me or haven't seen the opening in a while but we'll find about him in due time like next chapter.                 

Chapter 4: Junya Kaneshiro, the Gluttonous Yakuza Fly. June 5 to July 9. Thirty Five days in game.

Like with Kamoshita, lets talk about some tropes involving Smeargle and the unused content involving him. Both palace rulers so far haven't been subtle about how they're abusive others but in the case of Smeargle, it's worse. To the students like Yusuke and mushroom head, Smeargle was their parent figure and this is a case of Abusive Parents. He's a leech toward Yusuke's talents while just giving him enough kindness to make Yusuke thing he's a great man.

According to TV Tropes, this is heavily implied to be Stockholm Syndrome on Yusuke's end and Smeargle did care about him. His treatment of his students is explained even more than in Persona 5 according to Strikers. Yusukes says that not all of his students have beds and some of them sleeping on the floor. Smeargle is also a dirty coward and his name is rather ironic. To explain the latter trope, we need to talk about his given name of Ichiryusai.

Ichiryusai means top artist which given his tendency to scam his students and later steal their work with him claiming that it's his own. The reason why Smeargle is a coward is because he begged for his life and grovel until the very end while is different compared to Kamoshita who accepted it in the end. So if you want to see Smeargle's uncut content, check out this video and there is no voice acting so get ready to read. 

The first thing to mention is that Ichiryusai Madarame isn't his real name but a pen name. Another author with a pen name is the author of Harry Potter herself J.K. Rowling. Despite her being transphobic which is something I dislike about her and having an article about her political view, you can't ignore the impact Harry Potter has on popular culture. It's still mentioned ten years after the last movie came out. 

Lets get back to Madarame who wasn't so bad back when he was around Yusuke's age. He claimed that he would reach the top of the art world using his own strength rather than comparing about money. He didn't give up on his dream even when he was middle age and not having a stable living situation. I think the biggest thing to be cut was how he let Yusuke's mom died when she was a seizure. This would have easily made Smeargle a bigger piece of shit than Kamoshita if this stayed in the game.

It didn't but oh well. So for the next couple of palace rulers, there isn't any cut content for them so I won't be mention it. There is still some cut content I could talk about but that content is for much later in the game so lets begin. Despite the neutrality from the familiar boy and Makoto, the Phantom Thieves are happy with their success. We also see Ryuji is looking forward to getting famous and not about helping people. 

This will be mentioned again in the future and probably be an issue later on. We also see Ann's amazing acting talent again and learn that Yusuke is leaving the nest of Smeargle's cage to spread his wings. He tries to stay at Ann's place but well, that ain't happening for an obvious reason. There is also another Makoto sighting. I wonder if she's going to be important or something like that. Nah. We also meet or learn about Kaneshiro whose nickname will show up in time.

We also get more screen time with the totally not at all suspicious SIU director. He's talking alongside someone who sounds just like Speedwagon and they're a politician. Yeah. Speedwagon is no way a bad guy but this guy who sounds like him is. After Ryuji forces us to head to Kichijoji, we get some new locations that I find to be incredibly useful. We also get more Makoto and like Ann, she has a special quirk. 

This special quirk is that she absolutely sucks at being sneaky and surveying someone without being noticed. In Kichijoji and for part of this chapter, she is following Joker around like a stalker and has her face hiding in a copy of manga. I can't tell which magazine it is based off off hand but the moral of this story is that Makoto is no way good at investigating without being seen by the person she's supposed to be investigate. 

Fun fact, I noticed this on my first playthrough and not my later playthroughs. I mean she sticks out like a sore thumb and she really needs to learn some sneaking tips from Solid Snake who is a master of stealth. That may not make any sense at first but if you play Smash Ultimate, it just might. I mean both of them wear tight fitting clothing and could be considered bad ass by some. I'm not one of those people mainly since I haven't played a Metal Gear before but if you are, good for you. 

You thought I was talking about Makoto but nope. Some of these useful locations here in Kichijoji at least in my humble opinion are the Secondhand Shop which is where you can sell sooty clothing that you haven't gotten washed yet, the Temple where you can get some SP and that's always a good thing if you like to use it, another place to pay some SP items, the Jazz Club where you can get some special abilities for you and your allies' Persona if you so desire, and the Dart Club.

All of these locations are important to me at the least being that the Dart Club is the most important since this is the place where you boost your Baton Pass and techniques. I've mentioned the power that the Baton Pass has and I highly recommend coming to this place. On my second playthrough, I focused on this place and this helped out incredibly in a certain boss fight. I'm not kidding when I say this so go here often and bring a pal. 

Technique is also important for this boss and the game as well but raising up the power of Baton Pass is super helpful. An incredibly skill that I wished I knew on my first playthrough but I'm telling you this so that you can be smarter than me.. This along with the Gym in Shibuya and the Temple are something I totally missed out on. It eventually tells you about the power of Baton Pass and I ignored it. Guess I wasn't thinking about it since I was so invested in the story my first go around.

Before ending out the week, head to Kichijoji on Sunday nights to get a SP item. On the sixth day, we get to be in summer uniforms and this means we get to see if some is pale or not. Plus some other stuff during the rain. I'm not saying what though but just watch any anime and you'll figure out what I mean by that. Ryuji however didn't know about that at first since well, he isn't the smartest tool in the shed if you haven't notice. 

We also see Eggman and Makoto talking about the investigation with her lacking solid evidence. Like with Yusuke in the prior arc, this is the start of the Makoto story arc and I really grew to like Makoto because of it. I first didn't like Makoto since she seemed nosey and only cared about finding out the truth regardless of what could happen if she does. She was also working with Eggman who I called being a villain. He isn't subtle about his villainous traits.

However, this isn't the case with Makoto and it's a prime example of judging a book by its cover too damn early. We also get to head to the TV station because of the social studies field trip and this trip will be important for the story. You also don't even get a choice in the matter. Before getting a chance to live your life, you get a scene with Kasumi under an umbrella and this scene helped me go down a certain route.

This certain route will be mentioned after obtaining one more thing and will be in this section of the review hopefully. If all goes to plan, this will be the case. Once obtaining my fourth target, we head into Mementos. Like I mentioned before, I'll be mentioning how the power of flowers and stamps break Mementos. In new game+, you can challenge the twins right now and I don't recommend this. I mean you can if you want to but only if you have the perfect set up. 

I do not and never plan on doing that. There is also the mention of the Reaper and I didn't challenge him on the first time. When Morgana makes mention of him being a powerful opponent, I listened. Second playthrough and after some preparation, I took down the reaper. Like with the Twins, planning and studying the reaper's pattern is key to winning against the reaper but I would recommend challenging him unlike the twins. 

So how do flowers and stamp break Mementos? In Mementos, you collect Flowers which can be used to buy things in Jose's store. You also get items from Jose by collecting all three Will Seeds and bringing it to him. These items from the store and skull are really good over time in the game. The next thing is that Stamps are something that you collect by going through Mementos and collecting these stamps can boost experience, items, and money. 

By collecting all of them in a run prior, New Game +s allows you to all stamps collected prior. This can break the game and I intended to do that by raising up the money and items to the max. The experience will be boosted up over time. For your first time, go with you find the most important. If I remember right, I went with experience and money the first time around. This is because despite morality being relative, money isn't. 

At least that's what I got from Gravity Falls but this was just an amazing joke. That show was really good. Can't believe it's been almost ten years since it comes out. Gods I feel old. After finishing up in Mementos, I get a massage from Becky. This is a result of maxing out the confidant with her in a previous playthrough. Doing this allows you to go out after going to either Mementos or a palace. This is super helpful if you want to complete every confidants in a certain run.

This is what I did my second time and this run as well. By doing this, I decided to hang out with the twins since because you get some good items from this and get to see the two being adorkable such as Justine disliking the dreaded and mysterious pickles along with the twins liking the child's toy aka a spaceship. I don't like/love little girls who are secretly much older than what they look like but their interactions are adorable. By doing all of them, you get a reward for doing this. 

It won't be useful for a long time but it will be worthy especially if you like the twins and want to see them more as characters. They only last for a certain period of time so make sure you do this before its too late. Thanks to Eggman pushing the investigation onto his "favorite" student aka Makoto, she is made aware of the students getting bulled thanks to some crimes in Shibuya. At least for me, it shows that Makoto is a people pleaser and tends to get labeled because of that.

This is an important theme of Persona 5 if you haven't noticed and Makoto's story shows this off. Like with the One Piece reference, I noticed another important theme of Persona 5 at least to me. This theme is totalitarianism and if you really think about it, it makes sense. According to some rumors, Ann learns about Eggman and Makoto knowing about Kamoshita's crimes ery well with both of them doing jack shit about it. Eggman yes but Makoto. I doubt it. 

I mean he ignores the cry of help involving the criminal organization when Makoto brings it up unless it has something to do with the Phantom Thieves. Principal Eggman really only cares about the school's reputation not the students and to do this, he uses Makoto's older sister as a way to get Makoto to do what he wants. After seeing this, I decided to hang out with Kasumi. Another special thing about her confidant is that you have to accept her invites in order for her rank to go up.

She's only available on certain days and these days depend on the month. Just look at this and you'll get what I did during my playthrough. Pay attention to how she has been having a slump in her gymnastic career. This is important. I keep saying this to make sure it sticks in your heads. At the TV station and getting some no shit commentary about the industry from the PR woman, we eventually meet the boy who doesn't like a certain type of sushi but does like a type of cake instead. 

If you know anything about this game, I just spoiled a massive point in the story but this is a spoiler heavy review. This boy is the Detective Prince Goro Akechi and well, he's the opposite yet similar to the thieves. Like with the cake spoiler, this is a spoiler to the character which we'll learn in tume. Akechi and Joker have a conversation about the thieves and if they're good or bad. Akechi is one who thinks they're criminals and well, I disagreed with this because why the hell not and I just wanted to.

If you know the story, I consider him to be a hypocrite for reasons I'll explain later. Not sure about that but that is what I feel about that. With Akechi's confidant in hand, there is a difference compared to the base game and P5R. In the original game, Akechi's confidant went along with the story like Igor and Morgana. However in P5R, you have conversations with Akechi for a majority of it except for two. It's an interesting difference to say the least. 

The next day, we see Haru aka Persona's Tenten walking to school. In game, we're not going to learn her name for a WHILE so get used to seeing Tenten. Oh and the blonde duo of the Phantom Thieves need to learn the art of being silent. Mainly Ryuji but that's a character flaw. Makoto shows up and well, we get a girl fight between her and Ann. Unlike a guy fight, their fight is with words and this can be more deadly in my opinion.

Words have the power to pierce through the strongest of armors. There is also a whole lot of mewing from the sidelines and not from Morgana. It was shown with Makoto and well, you feel bad for her since you see her side of the story but the thieves don't see it and let what the rumors about her decided what she is like rather than getting to know her. After this, we get a short term roommate in the form of Yusuke and this is only possible since Ann doesn't like house guests or maybe just male ones.

One of Yusuke's many quirks is that he is AWFUL with money and eating in general. We also have our second party at Leblanc where the gang meets Bean Daddy. This all happens with Joker being dragged along for the ride. The fate of being a silent protagonist it seems. We also see the power of media in this case going forward. I'll bring this up in a later chapter since I have a point to make. Before we get some hotpot, we learn who Makoto's sister is.

It's Sae and we learn this if you remember her last name. I probably forget the first time around and well, it makes sense if you look at their faces. They are similar enough to be related and also Makoto's apartment is really nice like very nice. Must cost a lot of money to maintain and thanks to so light nudging from Sae, we learn more about Makoto. I really do like this since it paints a different picture. If only a certain character could have this amount of screen time.

You know exactly who I'm taking about if you've played the game before. After a good hotpot and stopping the ape and cat from being pervs, we get backstory sharing. Like in Fairy Tail, every member has a tragic past prior to joining the group. This is something I noted on my first playthrough since that I'm a superfan of that series. Thanks to another flashback, we learn that Speedwagon has some serious power since he can convince the woman he was abusing to tell a lie rather than the truth.

I would call her a bitch but well Speedwagon is the bigger evil. Morgana is the only one without any memories of the past and won't be getting them back for a while. After meeting up with the twins and Igor, we get some more power from the evil sounding old man in the velvet room. This will help in breaking the games and ranking up confidants. We also see Akechi and Makoto with these scenes being the start for a rivalry between Akechi and the Phantom Thieves.

For those who watch Death Note, it's like that. I don't watch Death Note but I did read the sequel with the Trump character so that should count right? We also see that everyone gets on Makoto for being a good girl and pushover. Upon a conversation between Bean Daddy and Yusuke, we get Sayuri in Leblanc and it makes a nice backdrop. After being called to the Student Council Room, Makoto figures out who the Phantom Thieves are by her stalking or Ann and Ryuji's loud mouth.    

I mentioned both of them but you could say the blondes were responsible for this but Makoto is a smart girl. She would have figure it out even without the blonde ape's loud mouth. His mouth rivals an Exploud or any member of that family plus Present Mic. The fact that Makoto could figure this out in lets say a month and Sae can't figure it out with the police helping her. Who's the real genius in that family huh? We also get more cat fighting between Ann and Makoto but they get over it in time.

Best Boy Yusuke says that it was Ryuji's fault but like I say before, Makoto would have figured it out in time. I don't disagree with Yusuke. Like with the precious palace, we get blackmailed into changing a heart of a mafia boss or Yakuza by Makoto. In response to this, I always respond with something witty which makes me laugh every time I see it. Even though we're being forced in taking down this boss, the thieves decide to take the mob in order to prove Akechi wrong and Makoto as well. 

In response to the mafia attacking students, Eggman blames Makoto instead of herself. Like with Ann, I have the issue of writing Makato rather than Makoto. You may not see this in the post because I check if I do. In this Chapter, Eggman is painted as a very bad guy and fitting the Bald Man Squad perfectly. After seeing Ann trying to get information from Iida not the one from MHA, her cat Francois informs us about Nishiyama. In due time, we learn that students are being forced to smuggle drugs.

He is being forced to do this after delivering them the money. Makoto also gets our number by digging through our personal records and well, Bean Daddy is impressed with the ladies man talent of Joker and he's a good man. Even though the main reason to take down the mafia and their leader is to help those who are weak, Ryuji wants to show up Akechi and we meet up Ichiko Ohya. She's a unique character to say the least. Yusuke also hates to waste drinks since he's poor than your average man.

Good to know and we see that a whole lot of people put a lot of pressure onto Makoto's shoulders. In due time, she's going to snap and I really hate to be the guy who sets her off. We also unlock Yusuke's Confidant whose I maxed on my second playthrough and it's rather interesting to say the least. It allows you to copy skill cards. This could be great help for the Twins's confidant on repeated playthroughs or if you have a real strong skill card and want more of it.

After doing some detective work thanks to the reporter who met before in Shinjuku aka a super sketchy place, we learn that this boss is Junya Kaneshiro. I mean we already knew that from Sae earlier but Joker in the past didn't. It's confusing to say the very least. Also we sacrifice Ryuji to the duo of Angel and Julian. These two have some controversy behind them but what doesn't these days? Am I right? I did this because I'm still a little salty from getting discovering by Makoto due to his big mouth.

When I first played this game, I didn't mind it at all since it was harmless and didn't last more than a minute before it was over. I mean those two do reappear but only for a couple seconds. I get why people find it bad but to me, it doesn't over stay its welcome and it isn't a repeated gag. For me, it's like the Okama from One Piece. I get how they are offensive but to me, they're likeable characters aka Bon Clay or Ivankov.

There are also future events involving women troubles told to us by a fortune teller. I can be really petty sometimes if you didn't know. Read Fairy Legion and Fairy Legion Royal. We also meet Lala Chan and I like this character. May be a minor one but she is voiced by Mick Wingert. I'm also using she because I'm taking a shot in the dark. Honestly, I'm not sure and the wikia says female so we're going with that until I'm proven wrong. 

It's similar to how I sometimes get Magna and Tiger's gender confused. I mean Magna is female and Tiger is male but they transitioned. I really like that little detail in My Hero Academia and shows world building in a clever way. It isn't your face about it but it's there. Oh and make sure to call Magna with female pronouns or you'll get in trouble with the League of Villains. Overhaul learned that lesson the hard way. 

Back to Persona 5, we get this info and Ohya's confidant. Like I said, she is an interesting character and I'll leave it at that. We also sell out Mishima to her in order to get this information but this is because of Maid Watch. He also gets the attention of Ohya so better than Angel and Julian I guess. After finding some key words from yourself and Ryuji, we see Junya's palace aka a bank that floats over Shibuya. It sticks out compared to the castle of Kamoshita and museum of Smeargle. 

It floats above the area and is the biggest palace so far. One of my favorites in terms of scope since we're in a flying bank. It's like the future but today. We learn even more about Makoto being that her dad died and how Sae is forced to work her butt off for her and Makoto. A fan comic says that her dad is Akikko from Persona 3 and I'm not against. Haven't played Persona 3 but world building between games is always nice. It's just also adorable.

We also get some screen time of the man in the anime. Oh and little Makoto is adorable. Like I mentioned before, Makoto has a lot of stress put upon her. Well I think this is what causes her to explode and getting called useless. She has a whole bunch of flashbacks and I bet this leads up to something. Not at all subtle about this but well, we get Makoto acting rather strange even for her. The strangeness of Makoto comes in the form of going to Kaneshiro to help out the thieves.

This plan isn't the best. In fact, it's one of the worst plans you could come with. Ryuji could come up with a better plan like the one where he gets a taxi by jumping in front of one. Do note that this worked in his favor rather than him getting hit by a car since we finally meet the man behind the operation and well, Kaneshiro is rather chunky compared to the muscular Kamoshita and elderly Smeargle. After getting blackmailed with pictures, we are forced to get them three million yen. 

If you're playing like I am, I could pay it easily but nope. Things can't go my way. After Makoto tells the group about her problems, they start to be see her in a better light since she says sorry for her involvement with Kamoshita and how she didn't do since she didn't care at the time. The cat fight between the two girls ends here. If only another set of running gags could end here. We'll talk about that later. 

Like before, Ryujj's big mouth opens up the way to Kaneshiro's bank thanks to Makoto and we meet Shadow Kaneshiro. With the reveal of Shadow Kaneshiro, Kaneshiro's nickname is Porky. I mean like with Smeargle, it's fitting to me at least. It works to say the least. Some names I had in mind were Big the Cat, Fat Cat, Grimace, Midas, and Venonat. Yeah. These names aren't the best but well, the name Porky does. 

Do note that I'm not talking about the Mother series Porky or Pokey. It's time. All of that build up for Makoto leads to one thing and this thing comes in the form of Awakening this Persona. This Awakening is easily one of the best in the entire game and well, I think you should see it in action yourself thanks to this. This moment right here made me like Makoto since her Persona isn't some god but a GOD DAMN MOTORCYCLE! 

In my first playthrough, this scene was amazing. I didn't know about Hell Rider just yet and I got the hype behind her shortly after that. Do note that she isn't my favorite girl in the series mainly due to my first impression of her not being the best and a certain scene in Strikers. You know the one and I'll talk about that scene one day. Not today but later. It may not be a fair reason to dislike her but well, I'm a petty person sometimes.

Thanks to the power of the Fist of the Phantom Star, we make our escape by her breaking the way with her bike and Mona going after her in the Phantom bus. Less dramatic than the bike. I wonder in the interrogation if we mentioned that Makoto is a Phantom Thief, she would faint. Just wondering and well, don't make Makoto angry. Ann is making sure about that since she and Makoto became friends after this which is a good idea. 

Once Porky's palace opens up, I started this from the very start since it's time to begin the Showtimes and I'll be ranking them later on alongside some other topics. We also get the introduction of Makoto's codename in the form of Queen and this fits with Joker since both of them are playing cards. The other four don't and spoilers. The other thieves don't either. We also see that Mona and Skull are totally the types to be under a girl's thumb. 

This was pointed out in game not by me. We learned about Showtimes thanks to a guard dog. These are super moves that require two characters in particular to complete. The first one we get involves Mona and Panther in a loving embrace of gunfire and bombs. This one is probably my least favorite since they only get better from here. One of the will seeds for this palace involves swinging over a pit of money that would make Scrooge McDuck jealous maybe. 

Diving in it won't be like this pool of money I hope. Like with Smeargle's palace, the final will seed can be difficult to find. It's hidden within the vault maze and requires turning the vault in just right. It's till easier to find than the last one inside of Smeargle's palace. After kicking electrical panels, breaking open several pigs, and doing some simple at first glance math, we make our way into the vault and Porky is done for with our strength. 

Not just yet though. We're going to build up a new confidant rank that only happens during the night and some Baton Pass level up. However before leaving, we get an uneasy feeling and head to the velvet room. This is the introduction of the Fusion Alarm and well, this is for helping creating some powerful Personas or items. Some advice for this alarm is that doing a fusion or creating an item more than twice will cause a mistake. 

Before doing anything, SAVE beforehand. It's to make sure you get what you want instead of something you don't want. Sometime what you don't want can be a good thing but well, it's good to be careful. It's just a personal recommendation. For my first playthrough, I ignored it since I didn't know about fusions and what they had to offer. The second playthrough. I made the best gun and weapon for each playable character. 

For darts, I made sure everyone or most of the group at Rank 2 or 3 for Baton Pass since it can be incredibly helpful.  After doing this three times, I got what I want being that it was Morgana I ignored since he just happened to be the one I ignored. It's what the game decided upon when I went for darts and not because of personal reasons I hope. Ann is the only Rank 2 but the group of Joker, Makoto, Ryuji, and Yusuke are Level 3. 

With this in mind, we begin our heist on Porky's palace. This is the first Shadow who doesn't have a member of the thieves in the room upon hearing about the calling card. In terms of Shadow Porky's true form, it's rather tame compared to the other two. Shadow Kamoshita and Shadow Smeargle looked like  demons but Shadow Porky or Bael is just Porky with bug eyes and wings. You can see where the name Venonat could come from thanks to him being Bael.

The name Porky is a given since he's large and there is not so subtle pig theme throughout the place if you haven't noticed. I really have too much fun with coming up with names. I hope this trend can continue onward. Despite Bael being rather insect like, he reminds me of Duke Evelue and I love Piggytron as a concept. I mean it's a Piggy Bank mech and my inner child screams in joy but it doesn't have gun swords. 

If it had some gun swords, it may have defeated us. I really didn't want to do this but well, we had to make him pay with the Fist of the Phantom Star. I didn't plan for this but I just so happen to get Moxie Star aka Queen and Skull's Showtime so it was fitting no? Queen ,with her fists of fury, took down the corrupt piggy fly. In the end, Piggytron betray its master due to him being obsessed with money. The only thing I don't like about Shadow Porky is his mustache. 

Makes him look like a creep and well, it worked. Before leaving, Porky mentions Black Mask and how they are using the palaces to their advantage. By yeeting Mona, we escape the palace with a bar of gold and Queen at the wheel. We escape the bank with the only thing injured was Ryuji's ass. It has a crack and well Yusuke gets the wrong idea. There is also Morgana and he looks to have died thanks to the power of gold. We'll miss our talking simp cat won't we folks. 

What's that? He didn't die? Oh. Never mind. Cancel the funeral and tell the replacement mascot we'll see them in the next Persona game. We get to see what Porky's treasure is and it's play money not five million yen for everyone like they expected. Think Monopoly money except with Porky's mug on it so it's worthless. Compared to the Olympic Medal and Sayuri, it's a downgrade but the case could be worth something right? 

We can also use the play money for paper to burn during the winter or use the case to look fancy or hit people so look at the positives here. However, the SIU Director is planning something. That plan is going on hold since we got at least two weeks of messing around in Tokyo. Some of these events including seeing the master fisher herself Becky and making Jojo poses with Yusuke in the church. Yes. I used the same clip twice but I just like this one a lot.  

On July 9th, we eventually learn that Porky has been arrested and things are looking up for the Phantom Thieves but down for Akechi who is no way upset by this at all. Like with Kamoshita and Smeargle before, it's time for some other roles that Porky's English voice actor Jalen K. Cassell has done. He is the voice actor I chosed for Donovan Sazaba in Fairy Legion Royal but lets see what other roles beside Porky he has done.

Like I mentioned before, he's Abengane from Hunter x Hunter, Okuyasu Nijimura from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Part 4 Diamond is Unbreakable, and Vanilla Ice from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Part 3 Stardust Crusaders. Another role I also wanted to mention is Thor from Records of Ragnarok as well and you really should read the manga. It's amazing and if you think Adam fighting Zeus is the strangest fight, you'll see another weird fighting involving Buddha.

This is my favorite fight so far with my least one being the one involving Thor. Jalen is also 6 foot 4 which means he's a tall man. So to spice things up a bit, I'll be talking about the secondary antagonist for this arc Eggman himself. If you didn't know, Principal Eggman is voiced by Richard Epcar and he has been a lot of characters that I know. These characters are Ansem from Kingdom Hearts, Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, and Raiden from Mortal Kombat.

Another character is Old man Joseph Joestar from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Part 3 Stardust Crusaders and Part 4 Diamond is Unbreakable. With Porky in jail and the Phantom Thieves are getting the respect that Ryuji thinks they deserve. Nothing could go wrong with their plan Right? I mean it isn't like we end up bruised and beaten by the police while getting interrogated by Sae or anything like that. Lets find out how things turned upside down.     

Chapter 5: Medjed's Menaceand Futaba's wrathful pyramid of self-inflicting pain. July 9 to August 21. Forty Four days in game.

So like before, lets talk about Porky's tropes and that's it. No cut content for him which shows that there was really nothing they could do to make him more of a bastard. So in the Persona 5 Anime, they made Porky even more of a jackass or fat bastard by having his men strip her naked before getting her photos taken. When compared to Kamoshita and Smeargle, Porky is very much a misogynist and no a He-Man Woman Hater which is just fun to say.

He often claims that women are stupid and powerless with them being nothing more than sex slaves which he tries to make Makoto and Sae become.  It's one of the reason why I considered him to be deplorable as a human being and don't think I forgot about how he was blackmailing high schoolers into debt. He also tries to play the sympathy card by saying that he was once poor so him extorting the poor now is okay which it isn't. 

So one thing I always wondered about Porky is that he is the sin of Gluttony not Greed. I always just assumed that whenever a character is really greedy, they wants money or a total penny puncher like Mr. Krabs. He basically gives three million yen to his mistress mainly because why the hell not. He only wants money to show off rather than keeping it for himself. So the obvious motif of Pigs is why Porky is a thing since mother of god, it's so damn obvious.

It's not at subtle like how his name means "Money Castle". He also reminds me of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle character of Baxter Stockman and this is coming from a guy who has never watched Ninja Turtles before. I know the characters decently well and I've seen the live action movies before along with the shows at times before. The reason why Porky reminds me of Baxter is because of how he speaks in a lot of slang and moves his hand like a rapper.

Yep. Slang and moving his hands reminds me of Teenager Mutant Ninja Turtle because they came from the 90s where that was the norm. So despite Porky being not connected to anyone in the Phantom Thieves at a personal level like Kamoshita and Smeargle were, he is somewhat. His actions have been effecting Sujin Academy which is where five out of six Phantom Thieves go to school. I count Morgana in this because he goes with Joker to the school every day.

He doesn't decided to randomly go to school with Yusuke for a day. At this point, Morgana could be the school mascot but Eggman won't have that. With Porky arrested and the police taking the credit for the arrest, people are going nuts over the thieves. It's like the public is a very fickle bunch or something like that. One moment, they couldn't give a damn about you. However in the next, they care. I wonder if this is a plot element or something. 

We do see her finally standing up to Eggman which probably felt cathartic to her and also finals next week so hurrah. I'm good thanks to the power of the internet but Ann and Ryuji are another story. Even with the promise of getting rid of her recommendation, she stands up to him. Will Eggman do something about this? I doubt it since he would have to leave his chair and that's rare to see. We also see Makoto finding her place with the Phantom Thieves.  

After this, we get Sae as a confidant after we swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth. Our next target is someone who isn't a person but a group known as Medjed who went after us first. This arc is all about Bean Daddy and on my first playthrough, I was excited since Sojiro was such an interesting character. We also see his dapper hat again so plus in my book and the SIU Director who is planning with someone. 

He's aware of the gang's actions in the Metaverse and how we'll going to get blamed for the mental shutdown cases. With this in mind, we shouldn't try and do anything to let this happening right? Nah that would be smart. We have to study for finals and eventually, fight against Medjed. Can't change the story mainly since most of the game is told in a flashback but still. We also learn that Makoto wants to change a certain someone's heart and I wonder if we have meet that person. 

I also learned that Akechi is a sore loser. He was proven that the Phantom Thieves aren't criminals but using his silver tongue, we're now vigilantes. Ryuji is getting excited about the whole popularity crazy and well, he keeps on jinxing us. This is one of the reasons I throw him under the bus whenever I can. I like the dude but man, additional playthroughs make you think about stuff you didn't noticed before. We also see an orange hair girl listening to our conversation.

She's probably important to the plot like Makoto and Yusuke were. Oh and to those who didn't know by now, Akechi doesn't like the Phantom Thieves. I mean he has a serious hate boner for them. After the exams, we don't have any more questions but we do get a P5R exclusive involving Joker's two special friends Akechi and Kasumi. Here's the comic (Panel 1 and Panel 2) version of this scene and if you want voice acting to go with, go to (1:55 in the video). 

If I had to pick between the two in the comic, I would go with Kasumi. The one in the game is much more about if the Phantom Thieves are good or bad. Don't get me wrong. I love this game but mother of the gods, we get that you don't like the Phantom Thieves Akechi. Is there anything else to your character that isn't shown off in your confidant? I could have missed this under the whole Phantom Thieves are bad thing he does.

When I do my rankings, I will be paying close attention to what they tell me. I do like this stuff because despite me both liking and hating Akechi at the same time, I do like his voice actor. It's oddly soothing and one of my favorites in the game. After three playthroughs, I'm pretty sure I can say this. Akechi is more obsessed with the Phantom Thieves than both Mishima and Ryuji are. This may be a hot take but wow, just replace Fairies with Phantom Thieves and you got Akechi.  

To stop off on the Akechi hate/bashing train for a moment, I want you to remember what Kasumi said about how a person should solved their own problems rather than rely on the Phantom Thieves to do it for them. Like with Akechi before and with the power of knowing the story ahead of time, I'm calling her a hypocrite. This is just my opinion but this will be brought up later. Once the whole Phantom Thieves argument is over, we enjoy the last couple of days of freedom before the exams.

We're doing this by going to Mementos and handing SIX requests. We also see what happen to Goemon and I doubt how he was boiled is like how Oden was boiled except he died a man among men. To make this go by a little faster, I made sure to have Ryuji's confidant go up to 9 and let the money roll in. You'll learn why I did this later on. Upon finishing this task, it's time for Finals and acing them is our number one priority. 

So on the midterms, we did have the highest rank so we have to impress everyone with how smart we are. We also have that competition with Ryuji and I'm pretty sure we won. No contest since Ryuji don't study. The school also shows bias toward athletes and I'm sure this is nothing new to you. Thanks to the Doc, we learn about a certain girl who sounds Kasumi's past but I doubt it is just that but for something else.

It may be going on way but thanks to the power of New Game +s, we see a new angle to something along those lines. Before we can pick our next target, it's time to celebrate taking down Porky. Before the fireworks festival, we get to see Ryuji and Yusuke come up with their new super move. This day is special since it's the origin of my favorite line in the game. I really grew to love this line on my second playthrough and well, it's something that I'll remember forever.

Lets just say that because of Ryuji trying too hard in being cringe, I will be planning my revenge on him in due time. Oh and Kasumi's inability to succeed is heartbreaking because you see that she's trying so hard but thanks to New Game +s, it hurts even more once you know the truth. To look on the brighter side, it's time for the fireworks festival and yukatas. With a crowd, I'm sure that the firework festival will go great and we see Yusuke having game since he has girls flirt with him.

Oh and in the girl in the black yukata looks more purple to me and Yusuke turns them down due to being against the tradition of yukata. If Ryuji flirts, he crashes and burn. With the firework festival getting soaked, we see to some fanservice. All of the guys look at Ann's legs. Remember the festival getting rain. We also see Haru once again and learn that being a hero in the darkness is something Ryuji is against. We see Sae return and threaten Bean Daddy.

I may know what's going on now but on my first playthrough, I knew that Bean Daddy can't be a criminal. He's way too nice. We also learn that Medjed are attacking the Phantom Thieves and Akechi don't like either groups since neither of them follow his sense of justice. Get used to Akechi being salty toward the Thieves and over time, I grew to hate it. That's why I took month long breaks between playthroughs. It really does help and thanks to Medjed calling us, it's time to go along fates path.

We also keep the top grade in our grade and won against Ryuji. It was no contest but being the glasses characters means having the top grades obvious. After ranking up Becky to Rank 9, we see the twins and Igor once again. I think I'm going to change Igor's name to something else and I think it'll be the crypt keeper or vulture. Lets just say this will be my name making for this arc since Medjed isn't a single person but a organization. 

It doesn't really work along the other titles but it's a reference to an item in the game. At lunch, we get an unknown number in the form of Alibaba and if they are friend or foe. Bean Daddy also knows Makoto thanks to a certain white haired woman aka Sae. Thanks to hanging out with Leblanc, we only give more fuel to the fire. We also learn about who Alibaba wants Futaba Sakura aka the little bean or Sojiro's daughter. 

However, we've never meet Futaba since we're stuck in Leblanc and never been to Sojiro's house. Later runs, you do know and can't do anything about it. When we ask Bean Daddy about this, he gets angry and leaves. After a failed investigation on Futaba in our home, we see Sojiro and Sae arguing about Futaba alongside a Wakaba. Sae is trying to get his custody revoked and it's because of cognitive psience. This will make sense in time. 

The next day, the young Makoto know the women threatening Bean Daddy and I don't think he's an abuser. After Alibaba decides to call the whole thing, we decide to make amends for the failed fireworks festival. According to Yusuki, his way of filling himself up with ginger and then Sushi will not work thanks to Makoto. The line deliver of this is priceless by the way. Sae isn't happy about the Phantom Thieves either just like Akechi who goes on his anti-Phantom Thieves rant. 

I keep bringing it up since it's a core part of his character in my opinion. The power of sushi fills up the hero's stomach after the whole Medjed thing and once again, Ryuji doesn't know how to shut the hell up. The revenge is coming up soon and well, I think it's time to reveal such revenge. Lets sell out Ryuji to Akechi by claiming that he's a Phantom Thief even though Akechi's hate boner for the Phantom Thief is strong. It's stronger than steel this hate boner. 

After he leaves, we learn that Medjed will destroy Japan if the Phantom Thieves don't reveal themselves to the public. This won't happen so off to Boss's place. Makoto figures out that Alibaba and Futaba are the same person due to some detective skills. After a cute scene involving Makoto being scared of the dark, we meet Futaba in the shadows of the house and she is Inkling girl. I did know about this prior to my first playthrough and after playing Persona 5, I grew to love this comic. 

We also get to learn about Futaba's tragic past thanks to Bean Daddy and her birth mother Wakaba is a very unique woman who had an awful way of going out. It also scarred the poor girl and she blames herself for her death but Bean Daddy can't save her even when she is suffering from both visual and auditory hallucinations. However there is a way to save her from these hallucinations by the power of changing someone heart. 

Oh and Morgana being gone is something to get used and trust me. It isn't very nice at all on repeat playthroughs. We also get Sae to listen to us and this means we go up another rank with the woman somehow. After some time and no singing happen so this scene, this scene, or this scene isn't canon maybe, we get the last keyword for Futaba's palace and it is a scorcher. The anime shows this scene off perfectly as well. 

It fits the summer theme and compared to Porky's dungeon, this is something more subtle. Yes. A giant pyramid in the desert is more subtle compared to a giant floating bank in the sky. It's also a giant shame that in Part 3 of Jojo, they never went inside of a pyramid. I mean they were in Egypt and not a single tomb was entered to my knowledge. Once the boulder ,that wouldn't be too far out of place in Indiana Jones, kicks the Thieves out, we get to finally begin helping Futaba and also taking down Medjed. 

I'm sure things will go just fine after we take them down. Upon doing some last minute stuff, we begin our excavation into the pyramid but not as the Phantom Thieves. When I got P5R the first time, I bought all of the DLC and this includes the costumes that change the battle music. So there is also time for the Phantom Dancers to make their appearance but nope, it's time for the Persona Rangers to make their debut. I also find the idea of Power Rangers and Pyramid fitting in a way. Don't ask me why.

As of 2021, I don't think they've done an Egyptian theme Power Rangers but ninjas/samurais is another story. It's also fitting since the Featherman are seen in Futaba's room. The only one who didn't change was Mona since well, the circus Afro fits perfectly. After collecting the stolen Papyrus aka the map from the bandit with the power of bullets, we get to investigate the pyramid from the bottom. There is also quicksand so yeah, Shadow Futaba has more issue compared to every other palace rulers.

By using the power of our personas to take down several Mummies, we eventually begin taking down the massive door in front of us and go through Futaba's trauma one day at a time. Like what Fox says earlier, we're pushing our way through the doors of her heart. Like with every member of the Rangers or Thieves except Afro Cat who didn't become a Persona Ranger since his dancing career is on the rise and won't stop whatsoever, we've seen them being mistreated by adults. 

For Fox, it was because of Smeargle. For the duo of Panther and Skull, it was Kamoshita. For Queen, it was Eggman and Porky if we didn't stop him. For Joker, it comes in the form of Speedwagon. However compared to the others, Futaba's mistreatment comes from those who are related to by blood. There is another thief whose mistreatment is blood related but we haven't met them yet. According to the first mural, Wakaba had materal neurosis and masked adults read Futaba's suicide note to their child. 

I know that it wasn't really masked men but still. Reading a parent's suicide note directly to their child is one of the worst things you could do to a child who just lost their mother or father. They'll think that it is their fault which isn't true at all. After another round with the boulder, we get to deal with mural number two. Mural number two shows Wakaba jumping in front of a car aka how she committing suicide. The car itself isn't a truck so Wakaba didn't reincarnated I don't think.

So not Isekai life for her. We also hear a lovely voice who says that Futaba seeing her mother died RIGHT in front for her caused her to repress the memory. If you don't take care of the Coffin-borne god fast, there is a chance one of your party becomes into a rat. All of the thieves do get a mask on them which is really cute but can't do anything while embracing their inner rat. After dealing with bridges of light and dealing with an indecisive palace ruler, we reach mural number three. 

Once the puzzle is solved, we hear Futaba wanting to go on a trip with her mother but her mother is against this. However before we can get the treasure, we need to get Futaba to open up her room in reality. This may sound like an impossible task but we can do it if we work really hard at it. She has to do it herself. If she didn't, this would be much easier. We also gains the power of the gallows which can be useful in gaining extra strength for a persona of your choosing. 

In due time aka a couple of days, we eventually begin the heist and Futaba sees her own shadow who is telling her to stop blaming herself for her mother's death. We also see Futaba's room and it's a total mess. I get that in real life, we're still in a pandemic but still, you can throw the trash out by placing outside the door without leaving the room. Sojiro will take it out for you Futuba. Your living conditions isn't healthy at all. 

She also understands how the world of the heart/mind works but has trouble asking for help which is totally normal. Asking for help is always the hardest thing to do. I speak from experience when I say this. Futaba also gets the wrong idea about how stealing hearts work and it was adorable. She also lies about having the app on her phone. In time, she reads the card and it's time to raid the palace. After taking down several enemies on her way there, we eventually fight the boss. 

Unlike normal palaces, we don't fight Shadow Futaba but the guardian of her tomb Wakaba Isshiki cosplaying as the mighty Sphinx. For many reasons, this boss fight is different compared to the previous three. For example, the boss's name isn't named after a demon and constantly moves around the arena like a hawk. She's also a cognition and well, it's time to skin this cat or clip its wings. Not sure which one applies here but it works. 

After some time trying to clip the beast's wings with bullets and skin the cat using the elements, Futaba shows up in her own palace. She also accepts that her mother's death wasn't her fault and in a similar fashion to Persona 4 I presume, she accepts her shadow and gains a Persona. There are also tentacles and well, this game was made in Japan after all. I've grown to accept this kind of stuff over time and well, I expect it to happen in Edens Zero when it started. I hasn't be proven wrong. 

You may think that a UFO would be weird in Egypt but conspiracy theory are a thing. We got someone to help us out in our time of need. With a single shot, the Sphinx goes down and Futaba is able to move past her tragedy, However like every other Persona user except for Mona, she is tired out from battle and requires several days rest. This is because of her being weaker than the other Phantom Thieves and like a battery, she'll be back to normal in no days. 

The day that she wakes up is on the twenty first so get ready to wait for a while or not at all depending on when you fight her mother. Futaba is able to leave perfectly fine but the rest of the rangers, they have to escape by going down the pyramid by running down and getting into the Mona car. This may be the end of the Persona Rangers but at least, the day is saved right? Yusuke did get smacked though by Ann and Makoto since the artist really can't read the room. 

He could probably paint a masterpiece but understand women is impossible. In the meantime, my bond with Ryuji has reached its peak and we lose Captain Kidd for Seiten Taisei or I'll like to call him Punk Rock Goku. We'll learn about Ryuji's voice actor later. All of the Phantom Thieves have the ability so who will be the next one? Fun fact about PRG (Punk Rock Goku), he was my first Second Evolution Persona I got on my first playthrough and I usually goes for him first because of that. 

Sentimental value. We also see that Caroline hates hurting Joker even though it's her job as his warden and how Justine pushes her work onto her sister. Oh. If you need to raise up either Ryuji or Yusuke's Confidant, they do tend to show up at Leblanc to hang out during the summer. On the tenth of August, I think it's time for me to address something that I've been mentioning for a while. In Persona 5, you have the option of dating any female confidant. 

This isn't new and something featured in more modern Persona games before hand. The concept of dating a male confidant on the other hand isn't possible but it was in Persona 3 since you had the option to play as a female. I get why you don't date any males since a game where you have a same sex relationship is rare not common. Just look at Fire Emblem for an example of this. In Persona 5, you have nine options to pick from and ten options to pick in Persona 5 Royal. 

A variety of choices and you can go with all of the girls. This is known as the Harem Route. In all three of my playthroughs, I never went with the Harem for a very simple reason and let me explain why by going into great detail about it since well, I like ranting about random and pointless crap. This next section is a spoiler for the romance aspect of the game. It's a minor aspect to the game but an aspect that we need to address if you want to know why I will NEVER go want with the Harem Route. 

You have the option of dating a model aka Ann, a doctor aka Tae, a shogi master aka Hifumi, a teacher aka Kawakami, a woman who can see the future aka Chihaya, a reporter aka Ohya, a heiress to a multinational company aka Haru who we haven't meet yet but I've made mention to already, a hacker who can make app games in a snap aka Futaba, a police commissioner aka Makoto, and an athlete in Kasumi. 

As you can see, all of these woman have promising futures and let me stress this. There is NO bad option whatsoever. All of these girls have something special to them and picking one should be based off what you like not what others decided. It can be their looks or their personality but I tend to like a character based off the latter rather than the former. There is also the Harem option but I'll never go with that option since you're basically stringing along several women's hearts. 

They are fictional women yes but nope. That's wrong to me and there is nothing you can do to change my mind on that unless you have the Meta-Nav and change my heart on the issue. If there is a harem where the girls are okay with this, that's an another story but it only works in a harem based story and in a fictional world. Harems aren't exactly well accepted and not exactly common. In fiction, that's another story. There is a whole category for those type of stories. 

If you want an example of a harem based story, just look at the series The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You. To give you a quick premise of the story, the main character get not one but one hundred girlfriends. These girlfriends aren't exactly normal and if you can name a trope like loli or tsundere, there is a girlfriend in that series that fits that trope. There is the Valentines Day massacre and it comes to be if you pick the Harem route. 

You know the saying. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned so times that by ten and it won't be a good thing. In Persona 5 Royal, five of the girls have Personas so pissing them off is a very bad idea. In my first playthrough, I went with Kasumi mainly because I was unaware at the time about how she was a P5R exclusive and could be considered Joker's girlfriend. I'm not saying that she is mind you. After my first playthrough, I learned that most people usually went with Makoto.

Do note that this isn't a bad choice but not really for me at all. So in my second playthrough, I went with Futaba. My reason why is that I like geeky girls and dating her has an extra benefit. If we presume that they stay together until marriage, you can technically become the legal son of Bean Daddy so that's a major plus to me. He may also want grandkids to spoil but this idea comes from this comic so this is not canon much to my dismay. 

I mean I do consider him to be Joker's dad in game but having legal proof makes it official. That was my reasons and I didn't go with that this time around. So with eight choices down since I don't want to go with a girl I already went with in a previous playthrough, who did I go with. Lets list off some girls who I didn't go with and these unlucky ladies are Chihaya, Kawakami, Ohya, and Tae. The reason why is simple. 

They are adults and Joker is still in high school. I may be an adult in real life but in game, Joker is still in high school. That is just weird for me and I won't being doing that. Do note that there is nothing wrong in picking those options at all since there is this cute comic showing off one of the mentioned pairs but well, I just didn't want to go with them since I had made my choices in mind for this exact playthrough. 

With half of them down, lets go through the next half. The next two who won't be receiving a calling card tonight are Hifumi and Makoto. I know that the latter may be a shocker but hear me out. Do note that I really like Makoto especially over time but that's the popular choice and I try not to make those choices if at all possible. That was shown in Fairy Legion where I shot down two of that series' most popular pairings for my own. 

If I played a fourth playthrough, Makoto won't be my first choice since there is another Phantom Thief who stole my heart thanks to Strikers and fan comics. Hifumi is a character who I find to a be a great character but not really for me. I'll talk about her later on and how she was going to be more than just a confidant. Tom Fawkes pick her on his run and I respect him for doing so plus not doing the Harem Route. 

A very smart man that Tom is because stringing along other people is wrong and will get you killed especially if you take the Harem Route in this game. Above, I listed what their careers are and how they could destroy you both physically and socially. Back to Hifumi. She's a great girl but who are the last two? And the runner up goes to Haru. Yeah. If you ask me which character got the least respect/screen time in both version of the game, it would be Haru or Tenten.

I sound like I'm joking here but well, that's a running gag among the phandom and I grew to like her over time especially thanks to Strikers. It wasn't with my first playthrough but my second and third since I was more familiar with the Phandom at this point. Haru is a character I will be talking about in great detail later on so stay tune. Another reason is that Haru is a late game character and while it is possible to date her upon unlocking her confidant, it's isn't an easy task at least for me writing this. 

So the winner is Ann. I was going to pick her for my second playthrough but Futuba beat her there. It was a close race at the time. My reasoning for picking Ann is simple. I like blonds. That's it. Nothing too outrageous or complicated I think. This is the case in real life especially in fiction.  Android 18 is my favorite Dragon Ball character hands down and Alexis Rhodes is one of my favorite characters from Yugioh as a whole.

I've had several crushes on blondes before in real life especially in high school. These are just some examples and you know. Blonds are more fun. When I get to discussing all of the main cast in greater detail, you'll see why I picked Ann. So overall, Ann is the winner. The other reason is to spite Morgana mainly because of what happens very soon. I'll explain why in time. However if there was a red head other than Kasumi, I would go for her since I like red heads but not Prude Knight. 

Fun fact about my first playthrough, I was going to go with Tae since she was an interesting character and who doesn't like the sexy doctor trope? She's also a total punk character. However like I mention up above, the age gap is something I can't get past. Do note that I wish there was an option to pick a male to date. I don't swing that way at all but your game should have the option for players who do which makes the game even more personable. 

The guys in Persona 5 are just as good as the girls if not better than some of them and Joker should be allowed to date either gender. Well, I'll be going into detail on that could work in the next Persona game and it will be done at the beach. Back to the review and off the topic of romance for right now. In this time frame, I got a bunch more rank 10s. These rank 10s consist of Ann, Kasumi or Rank 5 in her very special case, Kawakami, Ryuji, Tae, and Tora. 

Yeah, it's a noticeable upgrade compared to only getting the twins. So like with the twins, I think it's only far to list their voice actors but not all six of them. I will only be listing the three adult voice actors since the trio of Ann, Kasumi, or Ryuji are main characters compared to the adults. Those three will get their actors will be revealed later on so lets begin with Sadayo Kawakami. Her English Voice actress is Michelle Ruff whose vocal work I've heard about. 

Some of these roles are Elie Valentine from Rave Master aka Fairy Tail's predecessor, Euphemia li Britannia from Code Geass, Miharu Sena Kanaka from Girls Bravo which was the first harem Anime I've ever seen, Rukia Kuchiki from Bleach which I've mentioned once before, Shion from Sword Art Online, Yoko Littner from Gurren Lagann, Yukari Takeba from Persona 3, and Zoe Orimoto from Digmon Frontier. 

Her most famous role ,at least to me, is Rukia and it was the first thing I noticed about the teacher when I first played Persona 5. You could argue Yoko Litter but hey, both choices are more obvious than Elie and Zoe huh. Next up is Tae Takemi who has two voice actress playing the punk rock doctor. Yeah. I'm not too familiar on the reason why Kristen Potter ,who played Tae in Persona 5, didn't reprise her role in Persona 5 Royal.

I did find something on Reddit. According to this post, she moved away and was unable to reprise her role. That's all I got. So for me, I've only heard Kristen's voice as Lucia von Bardas in the Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes cartoon and Ran'Tao from a Bleach filler arc. Yep. This actress is a complete mystery to me and something that may change but I doubt it. So the voice actress for Tae in Persona 5 Royal and the anime is a woman by the name of Abby Trott.

Hopefully I know more roles of her compared to Kristen which I do. She plays Ichi Mezato from Mob Psycho 100, Kirako Haruno and Yamagiwa plus Huckleberry Finn from Bungo Stray Dogs, Nezuko Kamado from Demon Slayer aka one of the most successful manga within the last decade, Veronica Liones from Seven Deadly Sins, and Yoh Asakura from Shaman King 2021. She also played five characters from Hunter x Hunter.

These five characters are the Auctioneer, Eliza, Fumi, List, and Machi who is one of my favorite Phantom Troupe members. Probably my favorite but not too sure. See. I knew more roles of Abby's compared to Kristen especially her role as Nezuko. Lets go onto Toranosuke Yoshida and his voice actor William Salyers. I think two of his most famous roles for me are Rigby from Regular Show and Doctor Octopus in Spider-Man PS4/PS5. 

I loved that version of Otto in that game and the reason why I went with both PS4 and PS5 is because they're the same game basically except one has a slightly better Peter Parker model in my opinion. It isn't the one on the more modern console. He also plays Dog Boy on Close Enough which I considered to be Regular Show but for adults who grew up with Regular Show. Yeah. We made major progress on making some powerful bonds. 

With some of the confidants aka Kawakami and Tae, you will have to go into Mementos and help them out with their problems before you're able to continue their confidant going forward. Tora you don't but that's for another reason I'll talk about later. There is also social stats you have to raise up but that's a given. With Ann's confidant ranked out to ten, we get the Persona of Hecate in the place of Carmen so we won't have to search for her anymore. 

In my first playthrough, I didn't get this until the end of the game so I didn't have a chance to use it. This wasn't the case back with my second playthrough and this playthrough has Hecate being born of a maiden love so it should be stronger right. So the last day of this chapter is the same day that Wakaba died. It makes the date even more signification for symbolic reasons. As Bean Daddy opens up to Joker about why he adopted Futaba, she shows up. 

Seeing her wide awake and out of her shocks Bean Daddy. We also see Futaba handle the whole Medjed problem within a cleaning session since well, it is no way healthy to live in that mess. She also goes back to sleep shortly after. With Medjed taken down for good, it seems that things are looking up for the Phantom Thieves and nothing could go wrong right? Before we close off this post, lets talk about Wakaba Isshiki for a bit since Medjed is a group not a person. 

Her voice actress Erin Fitzgerald is the one I used for Grace Fullbuster in Fairy Legion Royal but she plays Chie Satonaka from Persona 4 and it's spinoffs, Genocide Jack or Jill from Danganronpa, Guren from Naruto Shippuden's Filler, Juleka Couffaine and Rose Lavillant from Miraculous Ladybug Season 1, and Nazz Van Bartonschmeer (I'm not joking here. That is her last name) /May Kanker both from Ed, Edd n Eddy.