You Fucking Heard Him .

You fucking heard him .

Persona 5 Strikers Monarchs/Antagonists 2/?: Ango Natsume, "Nightmare Dragon Ango" "The Sendai Cage of Vanity" "Ango Natsume is a character from Persona 5 Strikers. He is a famous author from Sendai."

Decided to do a separate post with textless versions of the Monarch backgrounds I did for my gifsets (except for Ubukata since he doesn't make any appearances). If anyone wants any of them as banners, feel free to message me!

Ok, when I learned the full context of the red haired "Shadow Joker" the first time I actually remembered being disappointed because of the potential of a character arc for Joker himself but nowadays I can see why and it makes a lot more sense.

Shadow Akane, by this point, had grown delusional and paranoid/felt betrayed by everyone around her to point where she thinks that everyone, including the real PTs and her own father are out to get her when they just want to help her. Complete with denying the truth of her whole situation and how she also acted selfish so therefore was no saint either along with said father. Both screwed up but she refused to believe it, her anger was amplified and warped by EMMA to the point of being unreasonable. To her, she's the victim of all of this and therefore is justified for acting the way she did. But, obviously, it's not as simple/black and white as she thought and she wasn't the only one who suffered (Zenkichi, her grandparents, etc.).

At the same time though, there's also a tragic undertone as well as there's implications that she was also facing loneliness as well due to Zenkichi's frequent absences and burying himself into his work which worsened when Aoi died. She is still technically a child after all. A severely traumatized one at that. Remember this chilling line:

"The real Phantom Thieves... Would never hurt me... The real Phantom Thieves... Are my friends!"

Which leads to the fake PTs, notice their poses and such. Akane knew so little about them despite her claims so they're more like a stereotypically anime-like in nature. It's a small look at how shallow her views on them are and, again, how little she really knew about them. And the original title in the Japanese version for Cog!Joker is, "My Dear Joker" which is a nice touch with her huge crush on him and another good look at her obsession... Which is why it sucked that the English dub changed it to the generic, "Akane's Joker" as there was some strong meanings in the original translation but it is what it is I guess.

Of course, there's also the idea that she could also be pushing everyone away to avoid being hurt again... Or that she thinks she'll cause more pain and be a burden (remember her rant to Makoto, there's a lot of implications/interpretations of her mental state and views there). She felt that she had been hurt and betrayed too many times and the moment she learned that the PTs are working with her father (a cop) who then becomes a PT himself, she snaps. All she could trust is herself and the fake PTs at that point (To quote Gravity Falls: "Trust no one").

In a way, they're kind of like imaginary friends for her but with more of a tragic but still somewhat messed up reason with all the context mentioned above. And the thing is, she doesn't realize that she was being used at her most vulnerable. She was nothing but a puppet that was conjured up from EMMA's suggestion and Konoe not bothering to think all the way through due to his over-reliance on the A.I. and being manipulated too. At the same time though, who's to say she still had some form of autonomy even if it's a small amount. It's somewhat ambiguous like with Maruki and Azathoth.

But anyways, my point is that: The Cog!PTs may seem disappointing but when you look at all the symbolism and more into Akane's character and psyche, it all makes sense and can actually be brilliant. They represent her own superficial/shallow views on them, her paranoia and anger, but also her fears, grief, and loneliness because of her own trauma. At the same time though, her past behavior and actions wasn't excused either along with Zenkichi's and it's, again, brilliant. I do generally wish that the ending after the fight was a little better and more emotional but eh, besides that one tasteless attempt at a dark joke, it's ok for what it is and still packed a punch.

Persona 5 Strikers Monarchs/Antagonists 7/?: Kuon Ichinose, "The True Culprit" "The Jail of the Abyss" "Kuon Ichinose is a character from Persona 5 Strikers. She is the creator of the popular EMMA concierge application. Ichinose is a misanthropic psientific and AI genius who created the EMMA app so she could create a god that can grant humanity's desires via a complex learning system mounted within the AI. She shut down her emotions due to unknown circumstances, and she never displayed any of them even when both of her parents died. Nobody save for her parents ever understood her eccentric behavior. When she was in her university, people merely saw her like a freak and wondered if she was even human to begin with, since she does not respond to any queries and was constantly closed within her research lab. This caused her to think that she was an emotionless doll."

A pair of abused and lost souls that seek justice above all else... But took different paths to achieve it. One on the path of eventual healing, the other on the path of self-destruction. One is outcasted while the other is loved. One desires and regains free will, the other unknowingly steals it from others under the belief that they're "saving" them. In the end though... Who was the hero and who was the villain in their stories?