HEADCANON : AKIRA IS THE JESTER ARCANA, NOT THE FOOL. ( spoilers below. )
the fool is number zero. it is the void from which all other things begin. however there are several variants of the fool, i.e. the jester arcana.
—— and though akira certainly fits the FOOL PROFILE, as did all the other wild cards, he cannot be classified as the fool. he is the jester arcana, disguised as a fool. ( being that my main end verse is the deal with yaldabaoth, in which akira accepts the deal proposed by the false deity, allowing for his world to crumble. making him a TRUE TRICKSTER, living up to his name. )
depending on the verse / au, the jester can change into the world, ( as the fool arcana does in canon ) meaning : true ending route, akira will free igor and save shibuya; or the jester can transform into hunger, which is another variant of jester and lust arcana, which means akira either sell out his friends / is the murderer ( role reversal au ) / or akira has made the deal with fake!igor. akira is headcanoned as the jester BECAUSE of the endgame paths.
the jester and hunger arcana are not found in standard tarot decks, no; however, they are the thoth tarot equivalent of other arcanas. ( and have appeared in the previous persona game : p4g. )
the jester arcana is meant to invoke the fool arcana, numbered 0. the jester symbolizes much of what the fool symbolizes : ignorance, spontaneity, and freedom, but in a suppressed form. in contrast to the fool, the jester acts like a fool instead of genuinely being a fool. which coincides with akira’s thought processes and routes during various verses.
the hunger arcana, akira’s transformed arcana if the route ends up being bad, symbolizes the danger of losing control, of being consumed by power. the card also implies strength, but strength which comes through dominance. it is not true power, but the pure bliss of abusing power.