Dejihuam · 2y
AHHH I FORGOT: I also wanted to ask why Akiren tried to dissuade the PTs from doing Okumura’s palace. I know you said in my last… last question that it served to divide the group and isolate Akechi, but was that all? Or was there more reason to it? I guess it wasn’t much of a gamble, since the likelihood of them leaving Haru’s father to abuse his employees and daughter was… pretty much non-existent but still! Just curious 👀👀
he knew that they would end up going after okumura no matter what! so he was taking advantage of the situation to both cause problems for the group, and to play some 4D chess and deflect suspicion from himself (since why would he call out that it was a trap if he was involved in setting it?)
Dejihuam · 2y
Wow! Another question from me?? It’s almost like I think about Synthesis way too much.
Okay, this is kinda a big one (since it’s kinda supposed to be a question), but uh… who did Sae ask to follow Akiren in the bad end? And Akiren said that he was planning on having Goro hang himself in prison, but shot him anyways in the bad end so I was wondering what that was about 👀
Sorry for all asks aksmfnsk I just have many thoughts about these little guys
absolutely no problem omg!!! i always appreciate questions!
the character sae is talking to in that ending is actually meant to be an OC belonging to the ever wonderful @/babelfell, they have a character who's a private investigator and i asked them if i could sneak in a reference to her in that ending. she might make an appearance properly if i ever write something else following that ending!
and as for that: due to sae interfering, goro stays in interrogation much longer than intended and there's now a neutral third party who knows the he was in and what he did and didn't admit to, so akiren's plan, which was contingent on goro actually being transferred to and left alone in a holding cell, gets derailed and he has to deal with him sooner. i imagine he's pretty annoyed about this tbh
Dejihuam · 2y
Me again, I was wondering why Akiren was so quick to apologize to the Thieves for the fight in Okumura’s palace but was completely different with Goro. Was it just because he wanted to get along with them? Or did something happen to change his mind? Also, was he actually with his producer when he didn’t show up for that PT meeting? Or was he doing his… “other” job?
what i was trying to show in his actions around the fight in okumura's palace is that he IS trying to sow discord between goro and the thieves ("the last thing i'd want to do is get between you and your leader", haha...) but he also doesn't want any of them to catch on or even suspect that he's doing this deliberately. so he's pretty unflattering to them alone with goro, trying to alienate him from them in the guise of being concerned about him as a friend, but when it's apparent that that isn't working this time the way it did during the oft-alluded to first fight over okumura, he does a 180 because it's more important to him in the moment that they all believe he's on their side. it's too quick, though, and goro even notes that he might not being honest there.
...that said, he is a very lonely person at heart and part of him does wish he could have been friends with the thieves for real, so i feel like them trying so hard in that scene to reach out to him does actually move him too. (hence the blushing! he's touched even if he doesn't want to admit it!)
and he was indeed doing his other job :) i was going to get to it in my commentary thread but i'm a little worried about continuing that on twitter right now, but while being caught by paparazzi wasn't specifically his plan, akiren isn't making any effort to hide that he's at the crepe shop WITH someone and even shows that off in his instagram picture on purpose, even if he doesn't show goro's face (including the bit about him swapping crepes with goro because he feels like his actual taste in food doesn't fit his image.) it was meant to not add up that he gets in so much trouble for being seen with a friend after he's being very open about being out with a friend, as a way of hinting, though goro doesn't catch it, that akiren might have been lying about what was going on with him that night.
Dejihuam · 2y
Hi!! I love Synthesis and wanna know anything you can share. I know most of Akira’s past is left up to interpretation, but I was curious about how you think the PTs will react to him being the Black Mask in the true ending? If that’s something you wanna leave for headcanons, than I wanna ask: do Akira and Ann become friends? It’s a common headcanon that Ann tries to befriend Akechi and I was wondering if she’d do the same for Akira.
Hope you’re having a nice day!
thank you so much for the message!! i don't want to give a specific answer to how all the PTs would react, since like you said, i'd like to leave it open for everyone who plays to imagine where things might go from there. :) but i do think ann would be one of the people most likely to try and give akiren a chance, especially given that he's giving himself up to the PTs willingly in the true end. (goro brings up her reasoning for letting shido live when he's trying to convince akiren that they could work together for a reason, after all.)
Phantom Thief · 2y
I just want you to know that one of my friends bought the zine bundle & we ended up playing Synthesis on discord w a small group of friends and man, it was SO fun. We ended up voicing all the characters and had an absolute blast. Thank you for making this small game!
AWW i'm so glad you had a good time!!! thank you so much!!! ❤️
Phantom Thief · 2y
why wasnt goro a regular in crossroads in roleswap :)
/ synthesis spoilers
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i'm sorry to say there's no deep answer here! i just liked the idea of jazz jin still being goro's place and crossroads still being akiren's, so i wrote around it. (i imagine muhen would fill a similar gameplay role as ohya, though i don't think he'd be the devil arcana. maybe the tower, like his brother in p3?)
Phantom Thief · 2y
gay 😻
gay!! 🌈
Phantom Thief · 2y
I notice people say villains are only better if they're just evil and acting like they're superior types of characters, but I just don't find that interesting. Instead people also get harassed if they just don't like an evil guy.
it is an unfortunate truth of the internet that people are way too pressed about what fictional characters other people like and dislike 😔
honestly i recommend just following people who make the content you're into and blocking anyone who harasses people, they're not worth your time
Phantom Thief · 2y
People try to make redemption into an objective thing, and I can't think of a single one that people like and will leave you alone for. All I see is "corruption is better" "some people are just evil", I never see any posts telling me how redemption can be liked. People just like Zuko, but if he was relevant today people would be saying it sucked. I just want to be able to like redemption without being made to feel bad for it. I just want to be left alone without having my tastes always called into question.
hell yeah anon! there's redemption arcs i've hated (and corruption arcs i love) but it can be written so well and be such a beautiful thing, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with enjoying it! the world is bleak as hell and fictional characters are not real people, they are malleable concepts who don't have to "deserve" anything, sometimes seeing people heal and find ways to do good even after having horrible things in their pasts just feels really good and people should be able to enjoy that in peace
Phantom Thief · 2y
Do you think Gouto would ever have to go to the vet??
hmmm, good question! the animal bodies he possesses are mortal, since his first cat body does die in soulless army, but it's unclear if the cat body is still capable of getting sick or injured in a normal way. i think even if he could he wouldn't be able to be treated by a normal vet - he's definitely not a normal cat! he'd probably need someone from the kuzunoha clan to tend to him, or if he was really in bad straits, have his soul transferred to a different body.
Phantom Thief · 2y
Which one do you prefer joker' undershirt sleeveless or not?
i prefer sleeveless! i just love the rokuro saito art and i'm so used to it at this point that when i see people draw him with long sleeves under the coat it looks wrong to me
Phantom Thief · 2y
Tatsujun ran so Akeshu could trip and fall and spill their drink everywhere
tatsujun's great, very cool OTP! my experience of p2 is limited to some pretty edited-down let's plays, but i really like what i've seen and appreciate that 90s atlus was willing to have a textually bisexual male protagonist and a gay love interest. i'm very much looking forward to managing to sit down with a longplay so i can appreciate tatsujun with full context and i'd love to see it get more love if atlus ever puts out a p2 remake/remaster
Phantom Thief · 2y
i mean that anon is just akeshu anti but swap does suck lets be real
what's your favorite trope/AU, anon? it doesn't have to be akeshu, whatever ship (or lack thereof) you prefer.
i'm not here to waste both our time arguing about something as subjective as taste in silly fanfic tropes, but i'm always interested to see people being positive about what they're into! and luckily we're in an era of fandom where it's easier than ever to filter out stuff you don't like and find stuff you do :)
Phantom Thief · 2y
Your zine is an AU and might as well be OCs, it proves the point that Akeshu is popular due to tropes they can fit, and not because the writing in Persona is good.
so instead of arguing about something neither of us are going to change our minds on, what mainline/other megaten ships DO you like, if modern persona isn't your thing? i'm still kinda new to the franchise outside p5 and wasn't big on p4 myself, and i'm curious what ships you were talking about in your first message
if you put all this energy into making stuff that you like instead of belittling the hard work of a huge portion of the fandom because you hate their ship it'd be a better use of your time and mean more underrated gay smt stuff out there in the world for all of us to enjoy so win/win
Phantom Thief · 2y
I wish other SMT would do some gay, I think the gay ships are way better in other titles over modern Persona. I include P5r, that people treat as the holy grail (no pun intended) of gaybait but its only popular due to it being easy to fit for fandom tropes. I'm probably the only lesbian in fandom who doesn't think yandere mlm ships are the shit though.
gonna be real anon you're entitled to your opinion but if you are expecting agreement that akeshu's popularity is unjustified the retrospring of someone who developed an akeshu visual novel for an akeshu zine is an odd place to look for it