there was a post about the typical structure for the three options we usually get in P5R - the first one being "play nice, do the expected", the second "be mean" and the third is sth random, trickster-like. its interesting that rens 3 responses to akechis line about them possibly being rivals and friends in another timeline fall neatly into this structure with the third calling back to the sentence that actually progressed their SL: only by being the ungovernable joker that ends up slaying god could we form a bond with akechi. i think this broadly applies to all of rens bonds, but is most prominent with akechi (ren also didnt have too practical a reason to get close to akechi /not clearly shown in the game). the thing is, choosing the trickster-third is an easy choice when your friends are dead and the world is taken over by an evil god, but what if falling in line gets you exactly what you want ? what if you can obtain your deepest desire, happiness all but guaranteed, if you just give up your freedom ?
with the situation inversed, rens 3 responses to akechi on 2/2, while still following the above structure, now has a different meaning to it: the first "this isn't trivial" second "don't oversimplify this" third "i won't fold". the third option is still the trickster one - he wont fall for the temptation of paradise, not yielding to anyones control (also the one akechi's most visibly satisfied with, as this is the same ren who told him "we're rivals" in the SL, the same ren he was jealous of and admired for being free and ungovernable). the second says that akechis is understating the problem, an impersonal way of disagreeing that makes it less about anyones feelings i.e. its not that i care for you or anything (its not this tsundere sounding, just the approach has the effect of expressing distance, a variation of "be mean"), which is ironic bcs while trying to make it not about akechis life ren is still disagreeing with akechis take that the threat akechis his life is trivial, a "be mean" that still suggests he cares. this and the first option, just like rens response to akechis friend line, are both options that indicate "doing what's expected". the dilemma of third semester means that not only is ren expected to care for akechis life here, it is also what ren wants enough to give up the freedom hes fought god for earlier. narratively, ren is supposed to want to choose the "falling in line" options here, bcs he's the one who has to wake up from the dream and overcome his wish like the rest of the PT (2/2 being in leblanc adds to this). ofc, the true trickster would never fold to this, but third sem is not about saving the world, its about what you do as the victims themselves. thats why the struggle gets the limelight, thats why we got more dialogue for the first 2 options. just like how we progressed earlier and was rewarded for the trickster option, third sem wants and rewards us for choosing the falling-in-line options bcs its story is about choosing freedom despite wanting to give up.
but the cool thing here is this: ren cares for akechi here bcs its max SL, but considering the whole game, the first 2 options, the "expected" ones, are actually ren caring for the life of a murderer who has killed him at one point. ren caring for akechi at all and to this point, which is only possible if he's a full trickster proven earlier, is itself a rebellion against the expected ! the trickster himself hesitating over the freedom of the world, for the life of a murderer ! that "betrayal" is another bigger rebellion against expectations, most of all akechi's who recognized and admired that trickster spirit more than anyone else in the game (in intensity and in words) (but also theres a layer here of akechi already predicting this might happen, why he came on 2/2 to begin with, but i think he still is surprised). ren isn't just a hero who rises up against tyranny, he is someone who goes entirely out of one's expectations for him. that is why, beside the fact that akechi is max SL here, choosing either of the first 2 options for the "this isnt trivial" choice is more in character for ren and is in fact, what the game most wants you to choose.
(isnt it interesting that out of everyones third awakening, only akechis has this kind of 3-part choice ? theres the fact that his third awakening is part of the main story itself which ive alr ranted enough about, but also it shows how much ren actually struggles about it, on top of the UI text showing his hesitation. bcs choices with only 2 options, while indicative of what ren wants to say, are often just 1 choice in disguise and there isnt any actual choosing. oh one more thing that confirms my thought that 2/2 is ren's moment despite it being akechi's awakening: the same "betrayal" mentioned in other PT's third awakening is used by akechi referring to ren instead ! the line that came up if you chose "this isnt trivial", seems very intentional. the third awakening with the PTs seem to all involve apologizing to ren then resolving to fight maruki, with little decision making from rens part. we could presume he might get reminded of what he is taking from his friends by rejecting maruki, or he could feel even more motivated getting back to the true reality, what hes built with his friends. but unlike the sense of connection you got from making a choice in a SL rank or 2/2, third awakenings of the PT are more like bonus scenes bcs all the struggle happened earlier when ren, all alone, tried to talk to them... okay i went to check but even in the earlier parts, there were only 2-part choices. ren was pretty clear on what he wanted to do, until he heard about akechi and only akechi)
(thinking about akechi's SL requiring ren to be a truer trickster... ren being a completionist pokemon master not wanting to miss anything only for akechi to yeet himself off the board is a funny thought, but it does feel like not maxxing akechi and missing those 3-part choices on 2/2 is like locking ren out of the "secret third option" that underlies his whole trickster thing. like third sem is about grief, and grief is often holding onto the past bcs you're afraid of finalizing that loss. the binary choice here is to let go or keep holding on. with the og story, there is this message that there is more than the choice of giving up or destroying everything, that with bonds and hope you can make miracles like changing hearts, defeating gods. but with marukis dilemma, what can you do against something that's already happened ? when the battle is against yourself without your bonds, what is the third option, the true trickster move here ? its so nice that only with akechi we get to see this: it's to let go while remembering. if the game likes to beat it over our head that ren is trickster this trickster that, then how nice it is that only with max akechi's SL do we see and get the entirety of the trickster, the true ren beneath the mask, and the biggest miracle of all: akechi's life)
(also how funny it is that being the therapy/ hero friend to all of his confidants, ren also helped his therapist save himself in the guise of saving the world. third semester has maruki whom ren helped nurture into a full blown adult-with-distortion, its almost like an extension of the SL. like two things akechi said, one about personal justice being selfish and one about the happiness of individual and the many, third sem discusses that precise point of when "saving someone" is taken too far. when what the thieves does, most exemplified by what ren does such as changing hearts and saving his confidants, is taken to the extreme such that they lose sight of themselves and disregard the individuals they are supposed to save as well. maruki has an interesting position of a parallel to the thieves' heroism and victim of grief, someone ren helped and also helped ren, as well as another adult who wanted to play god. but consider the theme of "saving someone" of p5r from the very start of the game, the character who's more relevant to this story of ren's than anyone else is ofc, akechi. bcs the biggest victim in the story before it turned into "saving the world" was akechi, bcs akechi was the first victim whose tragedy led to all the victims after, bcs fighting shido and then yaldy was, in essence, for akechi who was the biggest victim under their hands. the parallel with ren also being a victim of those two, and also a victim of maruki. third sem discusses the extreme of "saving someone", when you throw yourself away for others you also end up throwing them away as people as well (omg throw away your mask): selfish selfless acts bcs of grief and regrets, when ren accepts marukis deal at the cost of what he has built with his friends even if he clearly doesn't want it just to "save" ppl, when it seems to benefit everyone but he like maruki is only running away from the choice of grief and making everyone do that too. and when you lose sight of yourself, you also lose sight of others.
the original "grief" of ren began when he saved that woman and his whole life crashed down around him - he lost everything. that pain fuelled all of his future saving endeavours, to prevent others from becoming helpless and isolated like himself. he does believe in the justice of it, but third sem is talking about his saving taken to the extreme, which is only explainable with this. it also forms the basis for his other wish: to stay in leblanc, to have a place to belong. so in the og, ren did all of it to save himself, akechi and the world. then with maruki, the saving became magnified as he failed to save himself, lost his home in tokyo and the only victim he couldnt save. lost in that grief, that's how he parallels with maruki and could potentially in running away from his grief choose to "save" the world. that's how he would justify throwing away everything he's made for himself until that point, practically his identity to us as the player, to "save" the world and "save" himself. and with that, throwing away akechi's agency to "save" him doesn't seem so terrible, so hard to accept anymore. akechi is symbol for all the victims, for the "ren" who will be killed by that choice, for the rest of the world who will die to a madman in paradise. if its too subtle to see what ren is doing to himself by accepting marukis deal, akechi is the reflection we need to see just how much ren is betraying himself with that choice. akechi is key: he is the most blatant response to what is wrong with maruki's world, simultaneously the person to benefit the most and the least from paradise, and someone to show us the right way of saving the world: helping people save themselves, and that includes you yourself)
(its so beautiful that akechis despairing situation made it so compelling to take marukis deal: only something so world-defying could save him from that tragedy of a life. that rens situation is also only salvageable by a miraculous, delusional intervention. it really conveys the weight of grief, of how much someone in darkness longs for the light even if it means destroying the world and themselves with it. and yet the end of it shows a message about hope just as beautiful: the world may seem to end in this moment in time, but the future and what we make of it is full of miraculous potential. like ren being free, and akechi being given a second chance)
(i meant to say, akechi being the one to reject the only way he could be saved... it's such a "hope in himself and humanity" moment. ren's guiding light. the one most afraid of and tormented by the dark, knows better than anyone what despair looks like. even if it means he had to remain in that darkness forever, he will fight for the light that saved him for a moment, for the ren that accepted him for who he is. he won't let himself nor ren put themselves in chains out of despair, never again)
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