Maruki Analysis (??) Thingy I Made Bc Im Horribly Sick & Have Nothing Else To Do

maruki analysis (??) thingy i made bc i’m horribly sick & have nothing else to do

he has a strange..selfless selfishness to him where like. he genuinely Does want to help ppl but his reality is something only he wants. even tho he frames it as better for humanity he’s the one who wants to live in a world where ppl can simply just forget their pasts, he’s the one who wants to live in blissful ignorance. he’s constantly running from his past but in doing so he only ends up hurting himself & those around him

even when akira does accept his reality he’s still miserable. he could’ve easily used his powers to live the life he wanted to w/ rumi but no, instead he chooses to make a world where he flat out doesn’t exist. rumi, akira, nobody remembers him, everyone else gets to live happily meanwhile he’s left to carry the world of his shoulders. i feel he just..doesn’t think he deserves to be happy

we don’t know anything about his backstories but honestly, i think he was depressed & had bad self worth issues even before everything. he cares very little for himself like as shown in his diary entry where he refers to himself as a “lowly researcher” and wonders if he’s even good enough for rumi, when he throws himself away to adam kadmon, & again where even in his perfect world there’s nothing for him

all in all, maruki is just an extremely sad person who’s only coping mechanism is running away

Here's my interpretation of Zenkichi's mother as she would appear in "Prison of Grief." Both normal and Cognition forms! More info under the cut! (tw: talks of various forms of abuse (namely child abuse and spousal/domestic abuse), mentions of victim blaming too)

Maki Hasegawa was a very cold and abusive woman to both her son and even her husband, Junichi. She controlled every aspect of Zenkichi's life and decisions. What he should look like (to the point of forcibly cutting his hair when he kept growing it out), who he interacts with, relationships, everything. She planned out his whole life to the letter. Why though? Because she didn't want to have him to begin with and she made sure he knew that whenever she got mad at him. That and having him took away any youth she had, prompting her to often dress up and go out every night even when Zenkichi would ask questions. Her husband could barely do anything and simply shuts down whenever Zenkichi gets scolded. He and Zenkichi did try to report her but were dismissed. They were ignored because no one would believe that the two were being abused, let alone by a woman and that they should just endure it. Zenkichi especially since he's still growing so therefore, he might have deserved it. She also NEVER approved of Aoi when Zenkichi met her as a child, thinking of her and her family as "bad influences" since meeting her provided the catalyst to him becoming more independent and regaining his own life. This whole experience became part of why Zenkichi decided to take up a career in law enforcement, so that no one would suffer the way he did. Especially because of societal stigmas. Junichi does eventually get him out and gain primary custody of him, but it still ended up going south for them before Zenkichi decided to cut BOTH of them out of his life.

So sorry for all the spamming today! I just feel like leaving notes here is a lot better than on Twitter! But here's another old concept that was collecting dust:

tw: stalking, harassment, major character injury, death threats

Also MAJOR P5S SPOILERS!

-Concept: What if the secretary that supposedly killed themselves had a relative/family member that basically held a grudge against Zenkichi for participating in the coverup (for the murder of his wife)? Basically blaming him for the hell their family went through.

-So they end up stalking him whenever he's in Tokyo, gathering info, just following him around. Nothing huge at first since they don't exactly know who he is. Then they learn after Konoe and Owada get arrested which made the news. -Perhaps there was a press conference that they secretly attended and Kaburagi answers some questions before crediting Zenkichi Hasegawa for his aid in the case. Bingo! That's what they needed! Zenkichi actually notices a figure with a hoodie obscuring their face among the crowd but decides not to stress about them for now, thinking that he was just seeing things. -That was when the notes and letters start. Basically threats against him and sometimes just words like, "MURDERER" on them along with, "I HOPE THE PHANTOM THIEVES STEAL YOUR HEART OR WORSE!" "I HOPE YOU DIE LIKE YOUR WIFE DID!" He was bothered, but willing to ignore them at first but the last one? Good god did that rattle him severely. He still tries to keep a level head, but the notes become more frequent and even somehow ended up at his own house! In Kyoto! -And Akane? She starts to become aware too, especially with how stressed her dad seems lately. That and she snooped a bit out of concern and finds the notes he kept as potential evidence (in his own secret hideout maybe?):

"Dad? Is someone bothering you at all?"

"What do you mean?"

*Shows him what she found*

"Akane... Where did-"

"I'm sorry, I know I should've done that but... I just, I felt like something was wrong and... I don't want things to go back to when mom died..."

"Akane... They're all just petty threats and I'm just saving them for evidence. Probably for a restraining order at best..."

"Then why does it not reassure me in the slightest?" -Turns out, Akane had every right to be concerned. They step up their game a bit. Now there's dangerous packages added to the mix, one of which gets Zen hurt by a bundle of razors at work. Thankfully it was not a serious injury and he dismissed it as a nasty prank from a co-worker. But now it catches Kaburagi's attention as she expresses concern too. He still tries to keep calm though but gives her permission to investigate and maybe some protection if needed. -He finally loses it though when Akane nearly gets hurt by a bundle of rusty nails left on his front door and then gets a message from an unknown number saying to check the PhanSite. He does (after being filled in on its purpose by the others and Akane) and pales to see a request made towards HIM. He feels sick as he reads the message attached to it saying that he needs to pay for ruining their life and taking away a loved one:

"What...?! Who in the-?!"

-He gets in touch with everyone via video chat and that's when he fully breaks down from all the stress that's been building up:

"Please... Help us! I don't want to end up nearly losing the only family I have left again!" -Futaba gets in touch with Mishima who proceeds to delete the request after she pleads that Zenkichi is genuinely a good person despite everything. This pisses the stalker off and feeling that the PTs "failed" them decides to take "justice" into their own hands. -They plan accordingly, keeping an eye on his activities and routine while he, Kaburagi, and the PTs try to figure it all out with Akane growing more worried. Especially when someone has been watching her streams and leaving disturbing comments. Especially about her dad. -One day, Zenkichi had to work late and gets a call from Akane, who immediately tells him to come straight home right after work. He notices how anxious she sounds and tries to reassure her again. She just responds that he come home and that she also wants to talk to him. -He's concerned now but agrees and they end the conversation there. It's late and dark out by the time he leaves and while walking to the train station, he hears a noise and starts to ready himself. He hears the noise get louder before turning around and pinning the assailant to the ground, knife sliding away. He questions them, having concluded that this was the person that threatened him and, by extension, his family only to be knocked off of them and a struggle starts as he tries to keep them away from the knife. -But sadly, they fought dirty and was able to free themselves. Zenkichi chases them only to feel pain as he looks down to see a knife in his gut. They twist it, causing him to cry out in pain before pulling it out, causing him to fall to the ground. They look down at him, clearly enjoying the high they got from the action and stomps on him. He cries out again and they kneel to his level, almost giggling madly as they express their desire to continue to the torture to make him "suffer like they did." -There was more beating and Zen was reminded of his interrogation back in P5S and freezes up, not fighting back. He snaps out of it when they grab him by his hair but before they could do anything worse... "FREEZE! DROP YOUR WEAPON AND PUT YOUR HANDS UP NOW!!"

-They pale and turn to see an angry Kaburagi pointing her gun at them. They panic and run off, dropping the knife in the process. Kaburagi could have chased them, but she had another priority right now.

-She tries to keep him alive as she calls for help and even tells him to stay awake for Akane's sake. He does survive the encounter but now there's a pissed off group of teens and daughter now...

-Also, PT!Akane since this could easily be her breaking point.

Phantom Thief Akane notes!

Self-explanatory! Shall we start?

Persona ideas:

-Cosette (Also from Les Misérables and Jean Valjean's adoptive daughter, self-explanatory there).

-Esmeralda (Hunchback of Notre Dame, also by Victor Hugo.), third tier would be Esmeralda's birth name Agnès but that might be confusing since that's a name shared with Makoto's third tier so not sure. Element would be fire. Just feel like the character fits Akane's fiery personality pretty well (regardless of whether you're familiar with the book or Disney version) and Zenkichi's Persona was also from a Victor Hugo novel so it would be some fun theming with the two.

-Hua Mulan (pretty sure we all know that one), Mulan's own story would probably be something Akane would relate to a bit after her change of heart (Mulan having disguised herself as a man to take her father's place in the military as a way to protect him (as he is of old age)). It would maybe symbolize her desire to protect Zenkichi now after he did so much to protect her. Now it's her turn. The element for this Persona would probably be either Bless or Nuke (Or Ice as a reference to Mulan starting an avalanche in the Disney film). Though going with this, it would be tough to figure out the second and third tiers for her.

-The initial concept I have right now is: Esmeralda -> Hua Mulan -> Agnès but again, not quite sure.

Design:

-The ideas I do have are somewhere along the lines of maybe being inspired by old fashioned fencing outfits or taking inspiration from one of Asami Sato's outfits from The Legend of Korra (namely her fighting outfit).

Codename: -My bf came up with the perfect Codename for her: Lupine! To add a Wolf theming with Zenkichi and apparently there is a flower under that name too and the meaning fits Akane to a T!

-Plus, the "Lupin" part of the name would be a cute reference to Joker since his Persona is based on Arsene Lupin. Especially if we go with the HC of Zenkichi adopting Joker! Weapons:

-This is tough since I DOUBT Zenkichi would let her use a gun. I imagined her melee weapon being a type of rapier but I'm not sure.

-A Twitter mutual also suggested a fan, sword, sai, or a form of a cognitive weapon.

After some thinking: I'm gonna pull the plug on this project. I just didn't have the motivation anymore. HOWEVER, I will remake the first entry of it because Zenkichi and Akane venting and crying it all out after Owada finally gets arrested is still one of my favorite HCs! So maybe look forward to that? *shrug*

Gonna maybe focus on that and the "Beneath the Mask" remake (rename to be determined) before tackling the next chapter of Prison of Grief (to avoid burnout mostly too). That's all for now!

So... I guess I should address a long forgotten elephant in the room...

This little planned project here! Now I WAS working on it and had several ideas but... Then I started focusing on other projects that I ended up feeling more passionate towards.

"So what's gonna become of it??"

Well... I don't know if I'm gonna full on cancel it since I don't feel that spark anymore or just put it on hiatus... I'm already planning on remaking my "Beneath the Mask" oneshot along with continuing "Prison of Grief" (especially since me and Creepy were able to determine the fic's full length which would be about 8 chapters or so) so not really enough time and energy to focus on it. I hate having to abandon it so that's why it's fate is uncertain right now. That doesn't mean my passion for writing Zenkichi and Akane content is gone though! I love and care them too much still to give that up! I'm just gonna think about it really. That's all!

I hope you guys have a Happy Holidays this year and stay safe!

I know Strikers takes place about a year after P5 but... The designers definitely missed some opportunities with the PTs' character designs. That and Yusuke growing his hair out is one of my favorite HCs!