Trikoto All Out Attack (Persona 5 AU)
Happy belated day to Mikoto! (I'm only 6 days late this time, woah).
Let me explain. (iykyk)
Persona 5 AU Explanation:
To those who aren't familiar with Persona 5 or Persona 5 Royal, its a game and all you need to understand for this artwork is that the 'metaverse' is a cognitive world which can be entered with an app. Since it was a cognitive world, I figured it made sense for Mikoto and his alters to have separate physical bodies in the metaverse.
(I know some alters look very different to the host but seeing how the MVs portray John, I think they see themselves with roughly the same appearance).
In the metaverse, there are shadows and distortions which can be fought with 'personas'. Personas are essentially a person's shadow and awakening a persona means rebelling and accepting one's true self, the good and bad.
Which is why I put quite a lot of thought into their metaverse outfits. It should represent their idea of rebellion and their 'true' self image. So I really really really want to ramble.
To those know know the game: I borrowed the portrait composition from the Royal Trio's all out attack.
Concept Explanation:
(For the sake of simplicity, the red protector alter will be referred to as John and the green gatekeeper/'scapegoat' will be just referred to as Midori. Host will still be referred as Mikoto. I don't usually talk much about Mikoto because I get that a lot of the fandom focuses on how Mikoto is bad representation or something and that's not something I get to really have an opinion on. Despite that, I personally do think there are other alters but as of now these are the three that have the most 'solidified images'. )
The overall concept I had was the princess (prince in this case) stuck in a tower guarded by a dragon with a knight of shining armor fighting to save the prince.
So starting with Mikoto, he's wearing a white cape, blue gloves, blue shirt underneath. Unfortunately the portrait cuts out a lot of his metaverse outfit but my concept for him was something that looked kind of royal? He's the prince in the concept. Except I was thinking it should still look quite practical, so something he can actually fight in. Mikoto isn't weak by any means. He's quite strong and can tolerate a lot so I wanted to show that even if he was the 'prince to be saved', he's not a damsel in distress. Furthermore, being stuck in a tower is quite a lonely experience which I imagine Mikoto often feels (not just in Milgram but throughout his life). However, he doesn't complain much and he tries to get along with everyone which aligns with the 'perfect princess' behaviors or rather, the "perfect victim". Thus, he's mostly wearing white which is a color for innocence and purity.
Next up is Midori. He's the dragon guarding the princess. The "monster". I've mentioned before that I think Midori was the one fronting in neoplasm (hence why I think technically he's the real John even if a majority of people call the fight part protector John. But they could be co-fronting and both could be John which adds to the convenient false binary). Seeing as Midori tries to take all the blame for the murders and portrays himself (and John) as the 'evil alter' it helps to make Mikoto look more innocent, more like an innocent, perfect victim. Midori and John are taking everything that isn't societally acceptable to place Mikoto on a pedestal (or tower XD) of sorts.
I've seen somewhere before that so called evil alters are misguided protectors and I thought that it's kind of like the dragon guarding someone in a tower. Midori is protecting Mikoto in his own way and that way is by making himself the "monster". By no means am I calling him a monster, that's how he sees himself or needs to portray himself to protect Mikoto.
An extra layer to this imagery is that Midori is also believed to be the gatekeeper. He keeps things away from Mikoto and only lets things through if he thinks its safe for Mikoto. But also implied in MeMe, Midori might be 'managing' or 'organising' the switching from Mikoto and John to prevent conflict or distress to Mikoto. Also green is used a few times for doors in Double. It's kind of like how the dragon keeps the knight away from the prince.
Last but not least, John. John's the knight his role has been explained to a degree from the earlier sections. He's supposed to be the knight in shining armor, the one who saves the prince. However to "save" the prince, he must get his hands dirty. It's clear John wants Mikoto's admiration or gratitude for being his savior. But will Mikoto accept his "true" self? To directly oppose Mikoto who wears white to symbolize his 'innocence', John perceives himself who's tainted or corrupted and wears a black armor. John (and Midori) need to appear as "evil" as possible to make Mikoto innocent.
Overall I just tried to portray using their metaverse outfit of what rebellion looks like to them. I think for the whole system, rebellion is about protecting themselves. What happened to Mikoto in his childhood is "less relevant" to adult Mikoto who's being oppressed at work. So Mikoto's way of protecting himself is to be the one society can accept. Midori's way of protecting Mikoto is by keeping things away from him and taking up the blame. John's way is to fight the threats and take up the blame.
To my IRL friend who occasionally stalks my socials, the Milgram x Person 5 AU is becoming more and more real >:D
