You Know, I've Often Seen Takes (mostly Anti) That Basically Say That Maruki Should Have Been Punished

You know, I've often seen takes (mostly anti) that basically say that Maruki should have been punished for his actions... Mostly of the severe/horrific kind that even involves Joker letting him fall to his death (which is SEVERELY OOC btw). Though to be perfectly honest... He actually does when you think about it, it's just more subtle. As he said during his breakdown, he gave up everything for his dream and he's not exactly wrong. He's lost his perfect reality, his research/his life's work, he doesn't get back with Rumi as one would expect, he fully quits his job as a counselor/therapist, he's lost everything except for maybe Shibusawa and the PTs themselves. The biggest thing is though, is that he starts to let go of those losses and uses them to start over. He even uses his job as taxi driver to help Joker get away from the police and seems more than happy to do so. Also, remember his final interaction with Joker which best sums up one of Royal's main messages:

So yeah, I feel like he already faced punishment for what he did. But as per the message there, he uses it to improve and heal and potentially atone. That's at least my takeaway here.

Plus remember how Ichinose tried to turn herself in at the end of Strikers only to be rejected because no one believed her about the supernatural occurrences (her case was odd though because Zenkichi was exposed to it too so he could've vouched for her story there, then again he would probably be dismissed too but it's hard to say) so jail time wouldn't work if Maruki even remotely tried (which I wouldn't be surprised if he did but who knows).

Can I just say Sumire is goddamn fascinating to me and it’s a shame because I feel like what a lot of what is implied about her gets sort of softened to make her a likeable waifu?. Like, Sumire’s wish is not to bring back Kasumi, her wish is to be her dead sister. Her self-loathing is so bad it becomes selfish because rather than a world of both Sumire and Kasumi, she hates herself so much that she’d rather assume Kasumi’s personality and talent. That’s so selfish! And interesting! And for the record I’m not saying Sumire is a bad person or anything, just a very damaged one and I wanna know more!

Like, the pain of just being Sumire is so intense for her that rather reverse the traumatic incident of her sister dying once Maruki starts bringing people back from the dead (remember, when she thinks she’s Kasumi she believes Sumire died in front of her! A sister still died! She’s just handling it better because she believed Kasumi would handle it better-) she would rather just not suffer. And also this isn’t Kasumi lived while Sumire died (though I don’t think Maruki would have helped her with that one). This is Sumire gets everything Kasumi did, her talent her confidence her beauty her name, while the real Kasumi stays dead under Sumire’s name.

Sumire’s ideal world is where her sister is still dead but it is ideal because she is the perfect sister. That’s, that’s fucked up! I wanna know more!

Ooo! That last one is actually a good point! From what I've heard about P4 and it's development, it's definitely messy. Especially since some of the cut content was, well, cut at the last minute. Strikers definitely took a risk in that area and while I can't say it's perfect either, I'd say it paid off tremendously!

And yeah, I was ok with Haru's arc in Strikers at first but then I looked back at it noticed some issues. Namely how it felt stagnant or like she didn't change much (her showing concern for a sick worker is new)? People would say the same about the others but there was at least something different added to the table and they used the strengths and morals they learned in the previous game to reach out the Monarchs. Haru just remains mourning which I would say fair enough but at the same time it seems like even Atlus was lost on what to do with her other than that trait and the tropes they would primarily use for comedy (which isn't bad sometimes per se and people have different tastes, just got old quick (ex: the "We despise the police" jokes in 1st arc which I wouldn't say is bad, just felt forced along with the fact that it probably would have worked better if said by someone else as she would the least amount of problems with the police realistically but like I said, not terrible but could have been better)). I guess that's why she's such a mixed bag for me because she can be endearing in one moment but then stale and frustrating in the next moment. Like you said, her situation is complicated. It's just that there wasn't any or enough focus on it. Let alone to make her likable or relatable sometimes (but that depends on the person).

You know, I've often seen takes (mostly anti) that basically say that Maruki should have been punished for his actions... Mostly of the severe/horrific kind that even involves Joker letting him fall to his death (which is SEVERELY OOC btw). Though to be perfectly honest... He actually does when you think about it, it's just more subtle. As he said during his breakdown, he gave up everything for his dream and he's not exactly wrong. He's lost his perfect reality, his research/his life's work, he doesn't get back with Rumi as one would expect, he fully quits his job as a counselor/therapist, he's lost everything except for maybe Shibusawa and the PTs themselves. The biggest thing is though, is that he starts to let go of those losses and uses them to start over. He even uses his job as taxi driver to help Joker get away from the police and seems more than happy to do so. Also, remember his final interaction with Joker which best sums up one of Royal's main messages:

So yeah, I feel like he already faced punishment for what he did. But as per the message there, he uses it to improve and heal and potentially atone. That's at least my takeaway here.

Plus remember how Ichinose tried to turn herself in at the end of Strikers only to be rejected because no one believed her about the supernatural occurrences (her case was odd though because Zenkichi was exposed to it too so he could've vouched for her story there, then again he would probably be dismissed too but it's hard to say) so jail time wouldn't work if Maruki even remotely tried (which I wouldn't be surprised if he did but who knows).

Makoto's finally done guys! Now all that's left is Ann, Ryuji, and Yusuke! Made her look more punk/biker-like and incorporated stuff from Shadow Sae! The original idea was a short boyish cut ("lesbian cut") but it wasn't working out so I went with a ponytail instead since it is often associated with tomboy characters (Makoto was an attempt but failed imo). It actually looks better tbh.

...Also, I am NOT editing her Sprite again. The weird angle is just so damn hard to work around so no more!

Haru

Futaba

Guess it's sad Maruki hours because... This bit hit way too close to home and even cemented him as a favorite character.

Like... No... Honey... 😭

So here's an old alternate ending/scenario for Akane's Jail that came about from a chat I had with @creepymarsh and posted on Twitter a long while back:

After the boss fight with the cognitive PTs, she kind of like still remains in denial of the truth and starts lashing out herself (kind of like an Avatar State sort of thing from AtLA), screaming and crying her eyes out ("I DON'T WANT TO BE ALONE AGAIN" "EVERYONE WILL HURT/BETRAY ME AGAIN" "LIARS"). Everyone just has trouble getting close to her to calm her down from what's technically another tantrum… Except Zenkichi just starts to quietly walk up to her, not being phased by her attacking him now. Thing is though… She keeps missing every time, almost like she doesn't want to hit him. She does end up nicking him on the cheek which knocks his mask off, but he doesn't pick it back up to put it on which symbolically shows that he's willing to let himself be vulnerable now and show his true face. H gets closer and she ends up crying and screaming more at this point ("GO AWAY" "YOU NEVER CARED" "WHY NOW" "I WANT MY MOM BACK"). He just looks at her with sympathy and leaves himself wide open for her to attack him. She screams at him again like usual but he doesn't budge, telling her to do it. She screams louder and she launches another attack and it misses again.

Zenkichi: You don't truly hate me do you? You're scared…

She remains in denial and he continues talking the same speech like in canon before hugging her tightly and she gives the same canon response. Everything else just continues like normal after she faints except the group tells him right away that her Shadow disappearing is perfectly normal and she'll be fine as opposed to after it (I just hated that bit so much). But yeah, more of an emotional delivery complete with a small dash of angst and symbolism!