(Another Thing I Noticed While Fighting Sumire, If You Watch The Background, You Can See Maruki Calling

(Another thing I noticed while fighting Sumire, if you watch the background, you can see Maruki calling out to you guys every now and then in the distance. So uh. Yeah that’s a thing!)

Huh, very interesting! Like, what does he say? That is unless it's inaudible? I'm just very intrigued and curious!

This has got to be the third remake of Aoi here but here she is! I felt like the 2nd attempt felt too conservative and didn't really fit to how I HC Aoi's personality in hindsight so gave her a haircut and be dressed in more loose and brighter clothing. Also, recognize the hair clip? New angsty HC there for poor Akane...

‪I just want them happy at the end of it all‬

Another Prison of Grief Ch. 3 WIP!

Consider this a slight rewrite of that exchange in Strikers but make Makoto come off as more understanding. It was HARD but I managed! Chapter is almost done!

Ok, we've all seen the HCs about Joker having PTSD and trauma and it's very valid and I can see that... That is until people go way too far with it and make his trauma more like, "uwu soft delicate baby" to the point of infantizing all of it. So let me propose this: Joker going through Post Traumatic Growth! Especially in Strikers. The basics are this here:

Now he is VERY open to interpretation! I buy that he has trauma, especially cop trauma. But at the same time... I feel like he would have started growing little by little. He does still hide his pain, put up a front/mask for everyone. But I feel like he would slowly start opening up more. It also helps that he has Morgana with him, both during P5/P5R and before Strikers where it was stated that the cat came home with him so he can vent or talk to someone as much as he can manage (ESA Mona for the win!). He also still remains a kind boy despite the hardships, even showing sympathy to people like Akechi and Maruki because he can tell that he could have ended up like them had he not found a caring support system.

Speaking of which... His friends, while a mixed bag and definitely needed to take that unhealthy worship of him down a notch, do care and that's probably what helped his growth as well. He had no one to turn to at the start of his probation, even his guardian gave him the cold shoulder. Then came Ryuji, then Mona, then Ann, everyone. He starts to see things differently afterwards. That it's not bad to try to help (Arsene apparently reassures and doesn't shame him if you choose the other option (that shows regret for helping that woman) during his awakening).

Then come Strikers. Now you could argue that it's still there and you'd probably be right. It doesn't magically disappear, it still lingers (some dialogue options for example) but he also actually seems to be getting better even if it's still gradual. The fact that it was made clear that his loving support system in the form of his friends still care about him (to the point where they took the time to actually gather and surprise him with a welcome back party, especially since two of them are college students) no doubt helped that too. Just that he isn't gonna be overly dependent on them still. He will walk on his own two feet to keep going and grow but he will fall back to them if needed. He falls, they'll catch him. And yes, being framed and possibly facing jail time probably caused a bit of a trigger for him but the fact that he's actually behaves rather neutrally towards Zenkichi when he had every right and reason to understandably join the others in being hostile and distrusting towards him really shows how strong he can actually be without a mask (That and a part of me is now wondering if he's a bit of an empath too along with maybe being aware of the hypocrisy of their bias). And this is before getting to know the guy too. He snarks at him during the trip with the others but he's still neutral. Now you could argue that he still hides his trauma and pain and I agree but I like to think some of his goofy moments are more real. Look at his overly theatrical dialogue options in the 2nd Jail, he's clearly having the time of his life! And him laughing at the Venus prank they pulled on Zenkichi. Those examples are clearly pretty genuine to me. He's starting to feel like an actual kid. Especially since he has more freedom to actually be one. And back to Zenkichi for a second, perhaps he also saw a bit of himself in the guy too and that would also explain his behavior towards him.

But I digress: Joker with PTSD, trauma (cop trauma especially), triggers, etc? Valid, fair!

But Joker going through PTG, especially in Strikers? Also valid and hell yes!!

Give me more of Joker growing and overcoming his pain/moving on. Him standing on his own feet and finding his own happiness and path! Especially with how much his support system grows in each game. He has them and he's happy for it! THAT'S the type of content I wish is discussed and done more often! Why focus more on the bad when there can be good sometime later? Who knows really? All I can say is that you can do and even combine all of that without infantizing him and ignoring canon evidence. That's it.

If anything happened to them I’d actually curl up and cry