akechi is so interesting to me because he sucks so bad. love when a guy is doomed by the narrative and it's so fucked (complimentary) that he's so desperate that he's willing to kill the only person who really understood him. but i think the fantasy of the joker/akechi ship, especially in an imagined post-canon where akechi lives and everything's just Fine, does BOTH their characters such a disservice. akechi is a foil to the PTs and a reflection of the fucked up social forces they're working against, and because joker knows this he's willing to give akechi multiple chances to work together despite everything he's done. bc of his empathy and his understanding that things didn't have to turn out this way for any of them. reducing all of that to "they were pining for each other" completely erases all of the thematic complexity and character development that makes their dynamic interesting in the first place!!
SLAMS HANDS ON TABLE eXACTLY. Like. The whole... social link is getting to know a guy who's lying to your face. You get little bits here and there but it's not until it's too late that you realize (these are interesting) and then all of that being taken at face value is VERY‼️
ALSo and forgiVE me for throwing shade at shekky but Joker wanting him to come back isn't "I want to be with the guy who GETS me" it's "I want this guy to face consequences like Kamoshida and the others did" and "I don't want to be separated from my beloved friends (who are EVERYTHING TO ME) to sit my ass in JAIL FOR TWO MONTHS" which HAPPENS and is so FUCKED because p5 establishes that dying is the easy way out w/ kamoshida and guess who WENT AND DIED- because the "Stay" ending shows that that's what Joker's wish was in the end and not JUST Akechi and auuugh rolls joker around like a katamari and wails.
