![]() ![]() So how has this changed in Royal? How Royal shifted the narrative He pays for his mistakes with his life, and in doing so, is redeemed. Though he (in my opinion) is beyond redemption, his death offers the only fitting conclusion to his story. In other circumstances, Akechi may very well have been the hero, rather than the villain. Akechi has experienced a hard life growing up, and molded himself into the Detective Prince, to strike back at his neglectful father and satisfy his own need to feel wanted, and successful. ![]() I would argue that his arc in the base Persona 5 is fairly well-written, with a satisfying conclusion. After triumphing over Akechi in Shido’s Palace, the story takes another twist – Akechi sacrifices himself to save Joker and the Phantom Thieves, and is killed in the process. He reveals himself to be the culprit behind the mental shutdown cases, and tries to kill our merry band of heroes. So where does Akechi fit on this spectrum? In the original Persona 5, he’s definitely of the Darth Vader variety – he spends the majority of the narrative hiding behind his false Detective Prince mask, before eventually betraying the Phantom Thieves. Even if he cannot erase the evil he’s inflicted on the world, he does, to some degree, redeem himself. We can see an example of this kind of redemption in Star Wars, with Darth Vader’s sacrifice – though not wholly redeemed, his decision to help Luke by turning on the Emperor ultimately changes the course of events for the story. Then, you have the other side of the spectrum – where the villain is never quite ‘good’ but finally decides to make a good choice, and usually dies before the narrative concludes. The purest form of redemption would be the aforementioned 180 situation – as in Avatar: The Last Airbender, where Fire Nation prince, Zuko, abandons his throne and his pursuit of capturing the Avatar, to instead help Aang and his friends restore balance to the world. But there are different degrees to redemption – as we see in countless examples of popular media. There’s a basic flow to these kinds of arcs – the mistake, the enlightenment, the atonement/punishment, and of course, the resulting redemption. This doesn’t have to be a complete 180 – a villain can still be a villain, perhaps just making a singular choice to aid the heroes, or a decision that seems at odds with their (evil) characterization. ![]() Starting with basics: in writing, the premise of a ‘redemption arc’ is the element of a narrative that (loosely) takes a certain character from being one of the ‘bad guys’, to one of the ‘good guys’. Persona 5′s writing fails to execute a satisfying redemption arc for the games’ chief anti-hero, and in doing so, creates an oddly unearned sense of tragedy for his character. Since his story has been changed significantly in Royal, I thought a discussion was in order – namely, how does Persona 5 Royal set up Akechi’s redemption arc? And is it handled well? The short answer, in my opinion, would be no (the long answer being absolutely not). Though acting at the behest of would-be Prime Minister, Masayoshi Shido, Akechi is a villain in his own right. However, in one of Persona 5‘s final twists, Akechi is revealed to be the culprit behind dozens of murders, and the “mental shutdown” cases. I’ve always been fascinated with Akechi’s character – he’s presented as clever, charismatic, and endearing. You get to hang out with the games’ most contentious anti-hero – you can play pool, grab a coffee, or unwind at the bathhouse. The progress of your relationship with this character (who I lovingly refer to as Light Yagami, because, come on now) used to be tied to story progression, but in Royal, he’s now a confidant like any other. One of my favourite initial changes was to the Justice confidant, Goro Akechi. Jumping back into the world of Persona 5 with Royal was a great experience – a lot of quality-of-life changes and additions made the vanilla game even better. You’ve been warned! Akechi’s first battle finisher. MASSIVE spoilers for Persona 5 Royal ahead. ![]()
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