We need to talk about how three whole P3 characters clock that there's more to Akechi than meets the eye after like 20 minutes with him and how this foreshadowed the direction his character and relationship with Joker would pan out in P5R. Because while the P4 cast assumed it was just boy-and-dog wholesomeness, and the P5 cast hadn't yet figured out there are more complex reasons for a teenager to be an assassin beyond simple 'evil'...
... then you got the P3 Suicide Squad clearly realizing he has a darker side. Because they know from personal experience what self-destructive spirals look like. It's because of this that I find Shinji and Ken to be some of the most emotionally-aware and selfless persona characters. I like that they're able to display those sides of themselves through their interactions with Akechi.
Mind you at this point in their story, both Shinji and Ken are actively planning their own deaths, yet here they're trying to stop Akechi from proceeding with his own. The hypocrisy is very obvious and very depressing when you realize that by the end of their stories, 2 of these 3 boys will be dead*. And Ken only managed to survive because others intervened to save him. The other two did not have that until it was too late.
Not to mention Koromaru, who is the bestest boy in the whole franchise. He never holds it against Ken for trying to kill Shinji even though he was close with Shinji too. He just met Akechi yet he's already trying to save him.
Koromaru gives the most unconditional love in the franchise. His endless empathy is one of his key character traits. It's kinda funny how many gamers call him "good boy" while actively hating Ken and Akechi (two characters Koro canonically loves and wants to help).
PQ2 is mostly fluff when it comes to the main characters (because it's a spin-off, they cant do too much), but they handled Akechi's character perfectly. He's one of the few that seriously gets character development. And all the dynamics line up with people's canon characterization.
It makes total sense that the P5 cast (minus Joker, who canonically has a genuine bond with Akechi at this point) wouldn't show empathy for Akechi before learning his backstory, since he directly hurt them and is planning to kill their leader.
It makes total sense that the P4 cast assumes Akechi is just normal, since they're relatively well-adjusted kids (despite everything) with existing support systems. They dont have the framework to understand what a kid who slipped through the cracks looks like. It even makes sense for Teddie to wanna hug Akechi 24/7 because he was just born yesterday and can't see through Akechi's cutesy facade
It makes total sense that the P3 characters who are the most self-destructive are the ones who recognize what that behavior looks like, feel empathy for him, and try to reach out.
It makes total sense that Akechi does NOT snap at them for trying, and instead is visibly shaken. The images below are his reactions to Shinji and Ken+Koromaru respectively. Two separate scenes where he is confronted with compassion:
Despite fandom-wide characterization that he's volatile or psychopathic, he actually responds in a very fragile, sorrowful way. And you know this is genuine because he's not being watched. This is the first time anyone has figured out he's going through something painful, the first time he feels seen, without having to disclose anything to them first.
This is also the ONLY time besides the engine room that we see him reconsidering his plans. Apparently the official artbook says that this experience made Akechi afraid of reverting back to his old self? I can't verify that but regardless, it's clear that being shown explicit sympathy for the first time impacted him to the point where he's hesitating about returning to the real world. We see him have the 'regrets' Shinji was warning about.
And the craziest part is that this is all pre-Royal. Some people attribute Akechi's complexity or empathize-ability to Royal """fixing""" his character. Yet Atlus was here in 2018 writing crossover stories about Vanilla Akechi deserving that empathy unconditionally and slowly changing because of it. Truly a glimpse of things to come.
*Akechi is alive in the Royal True Ending, which I consider canon, but PQ2 was released before Royal. So when they were writing this game, Akechi qualified as dead like Shinji