i don't really like the fanon of strega being drug dealers. it was never even implied (shinjiro was exception)
it's not like they choose to do drugs as adults, they were forced to become addicts as children.
so portraying them as this "cool edgy crack sellers" is kinda messed up tbh
takaya getting interested in protagonist in reload was so forced and awkward. they had zero chemistry, it was the same repeating monologue.
his whole linked episode was a total failure in my eyes. so many missed opportunities.
agreed. it really felt like a linked episode with two people who don't speak the same language… which is wild bc I really liked koro's!! 😭
(my complaining got too long-winded so I'm shoving it under the cut)
but idk man. there was zero connection between makoto & takaya whatsoever. which is like. yeah, I know that there shouldn't be!!
but consequently most of the LE felt like nothing to me.
I walked away from every LE like, "ok...?"
and this is coming from a foremost lover of takaya who did manage to find small bits of dialogue that I enjoyed, hidden in his LEs.
(primarily how salty takaya is about anything that disrespects the deaths of the test subjects that came before SEES; iirc makoto's perceived indifference to the sacrifices of all the other kids ended up being the reason that takaya realized he could never be on the same side as makoto. unavoidable battle. etc, etc.)
overall tho, takaya never opened up to makoto or explained anything in any way that matters, which would have made players more sympathetic to strega.
because ok, yeah, ofc takaya wouldn't open up to makoto.
takaya is wholly against SEES & what SEES wants to do, unlike akechi who is conflicted inside.
like, initially takaya entertains the notion of being friendly with makoto bc takaya believes that there's inherit meaning in which people fate chooses to bless with a persona. and makoto has been blessed with many personas, so takaya wants to understand why.
he doesn't connect to or like makoto as a person, clearly.
additionally, takaya would sooner cut his arm off rather than recount a maudlin sob story (his own past, lol). bc he's soooo over it. (he isn't.) and the past doesn't bother takaya anymore. (it does.)
so the LE was a faulty premise from the start imo.
like, idk!! I know some people who enjoyed takaya's LE bc it reinforces takaya's place as a foil/"false messiah", but I personally didn't need that. that always seemed obvious from the original P3.
and in light of all the "usual" relationship-with-the-protag tropes that takaya would never participate in, it felt like the LE progression pretty much kept me waiting for the "oh shit" moment & we just… never got one.
there was no payoff.
(unless you count takaya's extra theurgy moment, which imo didn't need a LE to happen at all, seeing as jin's extra phase happened without a LE.)
and maybe that's a "me" issue?? bc at the end of the day, I don't want yet another rival character for my shounen protagonist.
I wanted the only GROUP of persona-user antagonists to have better representation, not a limp attempt to make takaya on his own more like the P4/P5 antagonists.
imo takaya is special bc he ISN'T a lone wolf, like adachi & akechi are, and atlus fumbled that in his LE.
in contrast, jin's 10/31 speech was the one added dialogue that was thoroughly AMAZING, bc it shows a completely different side of this character & how he values his memories with takaya & chidori.
in that one scene, it's made obvious (& even justified imo) why jin doesn't want the dark hour to disappear, which was never explicit before P3R. jin's desire to keep his bittersweet memories at all costs, bc they define who he is, plays heavily into the "value of memories" motif that is omnipresent throughout the persona series.
(altho unfortunately most players didn't absorb anything jin said, bc they still claim that jin makes no sense & he only opposes SEES bc takaya does 🙄)
but that's why we needed more elucidating scenes like 10/31, and not less. and takaya's LE unfortunately added almost nothing elucidating... which is sadly why I'd have to agree that most of it was a waste of time.
there are some fun moments, but it's mostly just filler.
esp after the promo trailers included jin's new lines, I ended up so disappointed that that was THE ONLY INSTANCE where they added deep, emotional dialogue like that for strega.
takaya getting interested in protagonist in reload was so forced and awkward. they had zero chemistry, it was the same repeating monologue.
his whole linked episode was a total failure in my eyes. so many missed opportunities.
i have kind of mixed feelings about shadow cry.
on the one hand im grateful that strega even got a novel, with jin as protag as well
i enjoyed reading about their daily life and i like izumi.
but i also think there wasn't enough interaction between strega (except maybe jin and chidori) and takaya almost felt like a background character
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