#contextual distortion

[jacksmusesp5]

‘Adult reputation’ or rather, ‘reputation among the adults’.

Just in case it needed emphasising why the translation choice of ‘public image’ and ‘celebrity’ was just plain bad.png

It wasn’t to do with his image. At all. 

That is but a side effect of his charisma. It’s to make things easier for him, for adults to accept him, for people to give him less of a hard time for his age and situation....

....as he alluded to before, even. 

Hell, he was empathising with Sae’s plight for the exact same reason- struggling to get by in the adult world. Needing to grow up. Needing to be smart, and cheat the game that you’re thrust in, lest deal with the cards you’re dealt.

Though he does talk about ‘his fame and trust vanishing’, that doesn’t change that it wasn’t the thing he held in the highest regard. He desired to be useful and reliable to adults, because for one, the second he’s not useful he’s ‘punished’ in some way, ruined or dead meat thanks to Shido (just in case that hasn’t been emphasised enough)....

..and for another, Goro wanted to be seen by Shido as worthy, and essential as his right-hand man. To change Shido’s cognition of him.

To not have to FEAR him.

That meant no matter what, Goro had to surpass everyone else before him. Every adult. Ergo, his reputation had to be airtight, and with that, he was constantly on the climb, thinking that he would at least get ahead of him, and eventually have him respect him. That he would one day pose an legitimate threat despite being an illegitimate child.

Expectation, on top of expectation. One task, one crime, after another. And it was all for naught - it simply wasn’t enough. And he realised too late.

That is what Goro was lamenting, rather than his fame.

[jacksmusesp5]

Hey, hey hey hey!

Lookie here. This is the ‘honest beliefs cannot always get you through’ line.

This isn’t just about a competitive world, it’s about a world in which you are forced to grow up. The adult world. That’s what he’s saying....

What the fuck!?

[jacksmusesp5]

(Part 1) "Akechi deserved to die" I think is a very American mindset. Our Criminal & Justice system for minors is a mess (ex. kids can be trialed as adults and 16yo being sent to prison and not being released until they're like 50) and many aren't bothered by that. In Japan they're more focused on rehabilitating minors and giving them a new start (a really big theme throughout the game).

In Japan they’re more focused on rehabilitating minors and giving them a new start

Emphasis because this- this is the reason why he’s the teenaged antagonist. 

It’s also part of why the PT feel more inclined to work with and help him- he’s still young. They easily saw themselves in him and wanted to give him the chance he never had.

[jacksmusesp5]

the thing i think the most about akechi, beyond just pointing out the abuse and yaldabaoth is he's what happens to kids who are utterly failed not just by one adult, but an entire system. a system that does view kids as pariahs if they're illegitimate, if they're orphans. one where there's no resources. one that's really sad because imo in persona 5 while we see most of the people saved, it calls to mind societal failures on a systemic level.

Yeah.. I was actually reading into this earlier. It’s bad enough for institutionalised kids/orphans, let alone illegitimate.

I really wish they would have elaborated more on Akechi’s history, even if it’s about something Japanese society knows. Because it doesn’t mean that the ins and outs of its effect on Akechi are fully appreciated by the text itself. You don’t even know much about his mother, besides that she was ‘aijin’, she had an (apparently very memorable) relationship with Shido, and she died out of shame for bearing Goro. You don’t even know if she loved him (hell, you get that much for Yusuke and Futaba..)

Granted, it may not have been feasible to learn that much about her if Goro himself didn’t know, or remember. But really, skimping on his experience growing up in care? This is something that shaped his whole damn existence.

Besides, you know they can make whole arcs on the things that are big societal problems in Japan and outright attack them, so it feels like it was skimped unnecessarily. So much of Akechi’s arc was to be honest, and given what they’re touching on here is thematic and nigh crucial to the whole game it’s.. really sad. 

What’s worse about this is that the effects of the systemic failure - that is, the external - didn’t stop even when he ‘became wanted’ by the public. He still had to hide his ‘status’ out of shame, and he was trapped into becoming the public’s puppet. He was barely human to anyone, even when he was ‘most beloved’.

In the end, it felt like they didn’t address the societal problem so much as make a cursory example of it. Maybe in this case because it’s so deeply woven that there isn’t a singular enemy to deal with, idk.

[jacksmusesp5]

So 反逆 refers to ‘mutiny’, which I suppose is part of why Goro rejected that. He has a somewhat different term for it, referring to his justice-seeking as 反骨 which is ‘rebellious spirit’- heart, even (as he adds with 心) - and with the context given, towards one person specifically.

One way or another, rebellion of the heart is pretty much the root of how the Metaverse costumes manifest. So this would have to do with his awakenings- his rebellious spirit and his resentment, both. These go hand in hand in both awakenings of course, but... at different intensities.

There’s something else about this word which is interesting, though. 

It can also refer to one having backbone and resilience, as well as spirit of defiance. The latter I suppose is where ‘contempt’ might have come from, but what I’m getting from this is, this rebellion was a spirit to not be crushed. 

Whether by the life foisted on him by Shido, or by Shido himself.

[jacksmusesp5]

Come to think of ‘first/last-name basis’ re Goro....

We have Sae, who makes a point of calling him ‘Akechi-kun’. She addresses him as one would normally to a ‘kouhai’ in a business setting, which doesn’t sound unusual (he’s also male, so there is that). It’s a way of showing respect while still maintaining one’s place above the other hierarchy wise. 

That said.. Goro’s comfortable/familiar enough with her to address her by ‘Sae-san’, but she has no issues with that despite being his superior. 

Once again, business setting. I know this has been addressed here before, but it’s Sae’s continued use of ‘Akechi-kun’ that interests me, despite Goro being given permission to drop ‘Niijima’ (hell, even talking about her as such to other people), and what other layers this might have.

With Goro still being young, it may be infantilising to call him by his first name, especially given the adult image he is very concerned about upholding. Sae respects that, not wanting him to be degraded for his age, as she is denounced often for her gender. It’s a stigma she’s all too familiar with. She suggests a casual basis with her though, as a way to not have him ‘keep it up’ all the time.

Their relationship is something, all right.

[jacksmusesp5]

Okay so... this was the ‘someone like that saying he’d support me’ line.

....I’m not seeing a ‘like that’ (dubious on its own..), but.. ‘like you’...? If that is so, and it’s referring to power, that is most evidently a reference to Goro’s Metaverse-using ability rather than the specific power of ‘rampage’.

Why?

His previous line, of course. Notice that he says both rampage and mental shutdown, here, it’s not just rampages. Essentially, he's talking about the overall power Goro has which Shido cannot use.

[jacksmusesp5]

(x) 'Dance’, huh... Just the word alone suggests 'in the palm of your hand' control and manipulation. And he ‘enjoyed it’ as well...?

...You’re a real emotional sadist aren’t you, Shido