Kasumi Yoshizawa Analysis
[MASSIVE PERSONA 5 ROYAL SPOILERS]
While, in his concept and philosophy, Maruki is incredible and Akechi has one of my favourite arcs in the game, Sumire combines the best of both worlds and stands as my uncontested favourite of the whole story. However, unlike Joker, she is incredibly difficult to talk about because where does one end or begin when trying to say something new about such a complex character without just retelling her story? Probably the best place to start is her philosophy and purpose as a character so:
"What is she?" is the best question to ask on this front because she really doesn't fit into any classical archetypes or tropes and that is part of what makes her so hard to discuss: her writing is so intensely human, despite all that some fans might flanderise Sumire as a dandere while a very interesting argument I read claims her as a subversion of the manic pixie dream girl, it is evident that she is ultimately an anti-trope and that could be the baseline for her philosophy, for her struggling attempts to be more than human and the consequences of such an attempt.
Artificial perfection is one of the many threads that runs through her character and why it is so genius that she is such a subversion of archetypal characters because Sumire spends the story trying to become an archetype, trying to become the trope of a manic pixie dream girl or a perfectly polite, talented, inoffensive, superior-in-every-way woman through Kasumi. Sumire's arc in unbecoming Kasumi is not one of accepting that 'it's okay to be inferior' nor is it quite as simple as our flaws make us human but it is one of opening her eyes to see that the way she once viewed the world was built by the bricks of her inferiority complex. Sumire saw the world and those in it as so far above her and so flawless because the only thing she ever gave credit to were her own flaws, potentially explaining why she is so stuck in using honorific titles to talk about everyone but herself, and the first step in her transformation is arguably the rooftop scene where she explains to Joker her secret resentment towards Kasumi for so many years before and after her death. Realising that Kasumi was imperfect, was ignorant in places, was not the ideal woman nor the ideal sister is a wonderfully layered scene that seems to deconstruct the whole taboo of speaking ill of the dead, for Sumire makes her first step towards selfhood when realising the dead she has tried so hard to emulate was never real and she comes to love her sister far more when realising that they were both humans, flawed and ignorant and messy. That is not to say she admonishes the strive towards perfection, "Beauty is Devotion" is the quote for her splash screen and that fits her staggeringly well. Perfection is always an admirable goal and Sumire never gives up the fight to become the perfect version of herself but that is a task of 'Devotion', where action is supported by thought and thought is supported by action. Sumire embodies the pursuit of perfection as Kasumi by pretending that menial acts and small shows of personality will bring you closer to perfection until she casts away "the weak, insecure Sumire" and realises that real pursuit is found in honesty, rebellion, and bettering the world in what ways you see fit, only then can you strive to become perfect or something resembling it.
To a similar effect, the depiction of mental illness in her is so expertly and tastefully done. Through the course of the game, it never seems like her struggles with depression, impostor syndrome, or her inferiority complex are ever fully resolved or reverted, she is not 'cured' in such a quick amount of time and it seems apparent that these struggles of hers will stretch into the future but, in fact, the game does something far more inspiring with her issues and does not show that they are fully conquered, but instead that they can be and they will be. For all that I love Futaba as a character, having a palace where her mental health issues can be stolen away is a hard one to view through a narrative of recovery but Sumire has no palace, has no treasure that can be taken to cure her, but must instead take up arms to fight against what has destroyed her. I will touch on this more in the romance/Joker section but Sumire's small victories against her mental health being built by a push from the people (or more accurately, person) who love her and then being built by active, constant efforts ties so well into Sumire's ultimate idea of rebellion and her conflict/allyship with the Phantom Thieves: she believes the world can only forcibly change when the exact amount of effort is put in to change it: Beauty is Devotion, after all. Her mental health journey throughout the game is honestly an inspiring one, it starts with a reclamation of her identity, is motivated by love and support, then is built upon by her active effort and willpower to be better, eventually making the first major step to recovery when she finds renewed purpose in life and a goal she wishes to achieve. It is a genuine and thoughtful guidebook towards overcoming such issues and never once does Sumire put forth the idea that it will be easy or immediate: she acknowledges that she will fall again, she acknowledges that she needs help to stay on her own two feet for now, but she also acknowledges that one day she will heal and be able to return the favour to those who gave her the patience she needed. She will live in spite of it, her rebellion is intertwined with the will to live. She continues to see her life bettered, overcoming the suicidal ideation, the self loathing, and the depressive episodes because all of it can be rooted out by love and purpose given the will.
This ties into the personas themselves: their designs, history, and the subtle semantic connotations in both of her awakening scenes. Because of how it connects to the mental health argument, I absolutely must talk about her two awakening scenes to Cendrillon: the first as 'Kasumi' and the second as an honest Sumire. At first glance, it seems like Cendrillon introduces herself in the same way to 'Kasumi' and Sumire. In the first scene, Cendrillon begins with "So adamant." In the second, "Such tenacity." While this looks near-identical at first, the change in words represents everything that Sumire's path into honesty, rebellion, and growth stands for. Through Sumire's eyes, Kasumi's best feature was being adamant: she was bold, unapologetic, and barreled forward through life without ever stopping or stumbling and this is what Sumire initially tries to do with herself, to be firm and have practices and ideals that never waver. However, wavering is too human to avoid; thus being adamant seems to depict a sense of dishonesty or ignorance to her words. Cendrillon recognises that Kasumi is charging forward with the blinders on and gives her temporary power to keep living the lie until she can't anymore, until the truth and will to live overpowers the falsehoods. Only then do the words become 'Such tenanity' which, though sounding similar, suggests a far different resolve in Sumire than the one she had as Kasumi, no longer is it about adamancy and sticking to a lie but it is now about tenacity and escaping the lie for all that it hurts. Tenacity comes with the subtext of pain and living despite the pain and it is there she makes the decision to fight Maruki properly, tenacity is what defines Sumire in the absence of Kasumi: Sumire is damaged, broken, and wanted nothing more than to cease being herself through either death or deception, all until she realised her pains are conquerable and it is that tenacity which gets her back up. This is the same story as her mental illness: tangible, tactful proof that her life in cinders doesn't need to last forever if she wills it changed; she can wear the glass slippers and see herself transformed.
Transitioning between her persona and rebellious spirit into the romance with Joker, the designs surrounding her as a phantom thief are so genius and sweet that I routinely obsess over these details. First of which being her phantom thief outfit (stylistically one of my favourite, if not my favourite, design of the whole group) that so elegantly encapsulates a lot of what I have already discussed. Yes, of course there is the argument that she looks similar to Joker because she was originally going to be a FeMC but 1) I am so glad they didn't do that, 2) they explained things away so cleanly that we need to focus on the content of the text, and 3) if they were worried that it didn't make sense, I'm sure they had time to change it, so I will be tackling this with the acknowledgement that Sumire intentionally mirrors Joker to help their combined story and romance. As such, my personal idea that seems constantly supported throughout the game of why Sumire resembles Joker so much is that every phantom thief's outfit (as Morgana explains) comes from what one views as the ultimate rebel. For Joker, a gentleman thief; for Ryuji, a pirate; for Makoto, a biker; for Futaba, a hacker, etc etc etc. However, Sumire has a much more intimate and internal idea of what makes a rebel as proven by her grassroots, effort-based view on rebellion as stated earlier. Therefore, Sumire comes to resemble Joker himself, not because she also thinks Gentleman Thieves are the best form of a rebel but because she thinks Joker, the man who has suffered so deeply and exacts ultimate kindness on the world around him despite that, embodies what it means to rebel and her inspiration to move forward in life and live despite her suffering, her lies, and her flaws is rooted in Joker. This is a straight adorable visual metaphor for how the most important people in our lives can keep us on our feet and help us survive, to rebel against suffering.
As for raw, romantic fluff, Cendrillon and Arsene complement and contrast each other to represent how the souls of Joker and Sumire are intertwined but not yet understood. Then, Vanadis perfectly complements and mirrors Arsene/Raoul to prove that Sumire has now been honest, changing from blue to red as a sign of rebellion to regain her bodily and mental autonomy and facing the truth for once while matching Joker's soul so closely. Then finally, Raoul and Ella both don wedding outfits to prove that their souls have now made a bond of matrimonial intensity to bolster each other, covering each other's weaknesses and strengths (as perhaps also shown in her Veil of Sunrise ability). If the embodiment of their souls being married isn't yet enough evidence, lest we forget their showtime also takes place in a church where Joker dips Sumire in front of an altar. Regardless, all of their shared design elements representing an eternal connection to one another as lovers who give the other something worth fighting for is the pinnacle of this romance, neither partner is defined by the other but they are both enhanced to be their most honest, tenacious selves.
To take this from Joker's lens for a moment, the final fight gains a whole new context in the case of her romance too. While every other non canon option only benefits the partner and not Joker, Joker's story is so enhanced by being in love with Sumire and parallels them both to Maruki/Rumi so expertly. Whereas the cost of losing for Joker in a world without Sumire is, essentially, just that he lives a happy, pain-free life, it is not quite the same in the obvious world where he is in love with Sumire. For in this world, the cost of losing to Maruki is that Sumire is forced to become Kasumi again, forced to give up her struggle, her rebellion, and what makes her Sumire, so what Joker has to fight for while being with Sumire is keeping the woman he loves from being erased from within her own psyche. This beautifully contrasts Maruki with Rumi whose argument was "I love her, therefore I will erase her pain, even if I erase her love for me" as opposed to Joker whose argument is "I love her, therefore I believe in her to stand on her own two feet and fight all that which ails her." Both arguments are genuine professions of love but, in fighting Maruki, Joker fights to prove to the world itself that Sumire is stronger than her trauma, her flaws, and her mental issues. In turn, after Sumire has used her love of, and inspiration from, Joker to stand proudly as Sumire and no one else, Joker has used his love of Sumire to inspire his own path towards healing and selfhood.
To finally conclude, despite the fact there is always more to be said about her, this is one of the most layered, fascinating characters in the game and that I have seen full stop. Ultimately, Sumire embodies rebellion, both politically by fighting for one's autonomy in someone else's image of a perfect world and individually to join in on the lengthy, difficult, and painful rebellion of fighting against mental struggles and torment. Sumire allows for joy in sorrow, for love in loneliness, and for life in the face of wanting everything but.