Really Though I Can't Even Begin To Tell You How Many Times I've Seen The Acab Takes Along With That Annoying Haru Image - Tumblr Posts

Honestly, even when I still have my own criticisms with how she was handled and how some things could have been improved, I agree fully! Strikers even kinda calls out the, "tear it all down" mentality with Akane to an extent which I thought was good! It's not trying to give an "OMG ACAB" message. It's more nuanced than that.

But really though, great take!

Aight so this may be my hottest take to date but having seen the discourse around Makoto on this site it must be said: People accusing Makoto and the entirety of P5 of bootlicking are fucking idiots.

Now, while IRL I'm under no illusion of the heroic 'good cop' that means to cure the corruption of the police force from the inside (given that most either quit or die doing so), P5 makes a very concerted effort to show on a more fantastical scale that it's not the individual that needs changing but the system.

Kamashida, Kaneshiro, Shido, by Qlipoth World they're among the rest of the disillusioned masses who in all facets of society, the police, education, crime and politics, turn a blind eye in apathy. That's why the final boss of vanilla P5 isn't Shido, the one corrupt individual who we'd all like to think is the source of all wrongs in society, but Yaldabaoth, the embodiment of the system that perpetuates it.

After the defeat of Yaldabaoth begins what we and the Thieves hope is a new day, with the metaverse gone the Thieves must now act to change the system through their actions in the real world, and this idea is furthered by the adult confidants of the game. Adults, who at the beginning of the game are all viewed by the player and the Thieves with animosity, who we see through confidants like Tora and Kawakami, are trying to change the system.

Makoto becoming a police officer is not only reinforced by her history with her father but as exemplified by Sae becoming a defence attorney is a statement that the system CAN change, not that we should seek to tear it all down but to make changes through policy both personal and political to do so. Almost as though that's the only things are gonna get better in real life.