"Megatron... Begone!" // "Pillage Him, Satanael! ...Begone!"

"Megatron... Begone!" // "Pillage him, Satanael! ...Begone!"

So, I was replaying some clips and noticed the way his chest heaves before he yells. Holy cow. He was distraught.

So I went mad with power and made a couple more aesthetic boards so enjoy! BeFunky link: Collage Maker: BeFunky - Create Photo Collages Online

AkeSumi board:

Hermit!Maruki from my own Arcana Swap AU: A shut-in researcher since a traumatic incident in college with Shibusawa occasionally stopping by to help him stay fed. His Persona is "Weishaupt" and is based on the founder of the Illuminati.

Justice!Zenkichi from the same AU: A celebrity Detective/Inspector who hides a dark secret. False Persona is Valjean and true Persona is Fenrir from Norse Mythology.

So I remembered doing a bit of digging on the possible meanings behind the fox statues that take the forefront of Akane's Jail and found this:

This definitely paints the symbolism in both a heartbreaking and even small heartwarming light due to a convo I had with a Twitter mutual about them.

All of this would make sense considering that the main puzzle is reuniting the Mother and Father Fox statues to open a path. Which can represent how she felt like her family became broken after her mother died. She wanted it all to be fixed so badly. When it was happy.

It helps that the locations/shrines you have to pray to in order to reach the Mother Fox shrine and reunite the statues are labeled: "Couple," "Harmony," "Parental," "Daughter," and "Fortune" respectively.

(I thought that comment from Makoto was interesting to note)

Another thing is that the whole puzzle is also primarily triggered by locating and activating the Father Fox shrine first.

Her Jail in general is just so subtle with the symbolism compared to the other Monarchs but at the same time it can show her isolation and feeling closed-off/not being willing to open up about her trauma. Because to her, no will listen or believe her. So minus well just hide. Despite her apparent anger and hatred towards Zenkichi though, she just wants it all to be ok again deep down. She wants her father back, she wants her mother back, she wanted all the happiness back that was abruptly taken away from her that day.

This is further supported by her Shadow's dialogue as she disappears (how he had changed after Aoi died):

But a summary: Akane's Jail can actually be much deeper when you really think about it as it's more than just her obsession with the PTs. It's also about an angry but traumatized kid who probably wanted her whole family back but probably knows that it just isn't possible so resorted to unhealthy coping mechanisms and lashing out instead along with feeling alone and neglected as a result of her father's absence along with being denied justice for her loss for 2 years.

And that's also part of why her character hits so close to home along with Zenkichi. At least for me.

So here's a commission I had done by the brilliant @xiewaz of Maruki basically IMMEDIATELY after finishing P5R, it's a really beautiful ode to perhaps my favourite character of all time and you should definitely go check out their other work.

Fun fact! Royal released in the West on my birthday. I T - W A S - M E A N T - T O - B E

Persona 5 Strikers | ▶ dev. ATLUS