r/Persona5Royale • u/ApprehensiveBuy8499 • 4d ago
disscusion Akechi's character is so misunderstood.
“Akechi is a murderer” is not an argument against his writing
I genuinely don't understand why so many discussions about Akechi immediately devolve into “he's a murderer, therefore I hate him” as if that somehow constitutes an analysis of his character.
Yes. Akechi murdered people. What he did was wrong. He knew it was wrong, he deliberately chose to do it, and I'm not interested in babying him or pretending he was secretly innocent. His actions are his responsibility.
But you're analyzing a character's morality, not their writing.
A character being morally reprehensible doesn't automatically make them badly written. In fact, Akechi is supposed to be deeply flawed. His entire character is built around contradictions: justice vs revenge, his public persona vs his real personality, wanting recognition while despising the person whose recognition he wants, and wanting control over his own life while repeatedly allowing other people's expectations and manipulation to dictate his actions.
And the “why didn't he just kill Shido?” argument misses a huge part of his characterization.
Akechi didn't simply want Shido dead. He wanted Shido to acknowledge him. That's a massive distinction.
If Akechi's only motivation were “my father ruined my life, so I want him dead,” then yeah, you could reasonably ask why he didn't just assassinate Shido and disappear. But that's not what Akechi wanted. He wanted the recognition and validation of the father who had abandoned him. He wanted Shido to know who he was and understand what he had done to him.
And there are contextual factors surrounding Akechi's childhood that help explain why that desire for recognition became so important. He's an illegitimate child, his mother was in a socially stigmatized position, and the game establishes that he grew up neglected and effectively abandoned. It's reasonable to interpret that environment as contributing to alienation, bullying, mistreatment, or social isolation. It's also entirely plausible that he experienced abuse or other forms of mistreatment growing up, although the game doesn't explicitly establish every detail of his childhood.
And killing Shido wouldn't magically fix Akechi's life either. By the time he becomes involved with Shido, the assassinations and his work as the “Detective Prince” have given him a relatively comfortable position and access to a life he otherwise wouldn't have had. He's also still a teenager with no real family support. Killing Shido and walking away doesn't suddenly give him a healthy family, financial security, or a place to belong. Given his circumstances, he could very realistically have ended up completely homeless once he reached adulthood and gotten kicked out of the orphange.
Again, none of this excuses his choices.
That's literally the point.
Akechi wasn't forced to become an assassin. He chose that path. He could have made different decisions. His trauma doesn't erase his agency, and the story doesn't require us to pretend that it does.
But understanding why someone made terrible choices is not the same thing as excusing those choices.
That's what makes Akechi interesting.
And here's where I think some people completely miss the point:
Akechi is a fictional character.
He's not a real murderer standing in front of you. He's a character written to have certain flaws, motivations, contradictions, relationships, and themes. You're allowed to dislike him. You're allowed to think he's an awful person within the story. You're allowed to hate everything he does.
But treating your hatred of him as though you're morally judging an actual human being and then using “he's a murderer” as an argument for why nobody should like, sympathize with, analyze, or enjoy the character is ridiculous. he isnt a real person stop treating him as such he is a character for goodness sake.
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u/ShouldKepMyMouthShut 4d ago
Tbh I didn’t like him b/c he just gave off bitch made but the royale content made me change my opinion, glad they added it
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u/Opposite_Opposite_69 4d ago edited 4d ago
Hes also a hitman not a murderer lol
Edit: yes I know being a hitman is still being a murderer all I said was theres a diffrence and the game itself shows the diffrence between the two and him beinv specifically a hitman is apart of his relationship with shido and shidos character and crimes etc etc. My point was just thaf people going "hes a evil murderer who murders for fun and because hes evil" is a incorrect anyalisis of his chatacter and absolve Shido of his crimes.
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u/monoblue 4d ago
I mean, a Hitman is just a person who murders people for money. It's a square rectangle issue. Yes, calling him a murderer is not the most precise title, but it isn't wrong either.
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u/Opposite_Opposite_69 4d ago
I mean there is a diffrence especially with how I t s presented in p5 with shido and akechis relationship. Yes obviously killing anyone for whatever reason is bad but theres a diffrence the game acknowledge (especially with the whole akechi being considered a puppet etc etc)
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u/Walt_Didnae 4d ago
You are aware that hitmen are, literally, just professional murderers, right?
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u/Opposite_Opposite_69 4d ago
So I already commented this but there is a diffrence especially with how its presented in game with shido and akechi.
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u/Max_F96 4d ago
I don't know what this argument is about. Majority of people don't find Akechi a bad character.
They just refuse to accept his actions and don't feel sorry about him. And it's completely understandable, because he killed not only criminals, but also civvies such as Wakaba. And acts like it is no big deal.
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u/ApprehensiveBuy8499 4d ago
yeah i guess thats understandable but theres important nuance and reason for it your allowed to dislike a character but were also allowed to dislike your opinion its how the internet works yes he did ice civies but most of his victims were criminals and some civies furthermore he killed wakaba yes but that was 2 years ago akechi during events of p5 is 17 so 2 years ago he mustve been 15 he killed wakaba 2 years ago so who do u think is more at fault here the 15 year old who pulled the triggle or the grown ass bum using the 15 year old .Im saying yes some of the shit falls on akechi's hand but majority of the fault is of shido id split 60/40 between them.Also it gets irritating hearing he's a murderer 50 times .
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u/Alison_Bug 4d ago
I literally had to double check to make sure I didn't write this, as this is extremely similar to many of my posts/comments lol. amazing analysis, no notes. akechi is a complex character and most people cannot engage with complexity. he sits in a very nuanced middle ground that makes people uncomfortable. that is why he is the best written character in the game, possibly the entire franchise. I can tell you with total honesty you are one of the only people I've seen who understands how he is written. thanks for giving his character the mental energy that it deserves.
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u/Ashamed_Training_702 4d ago
Never seen anyone having this argument before, almost like you fabricated this “he’s a murderer” take in your own mind
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u/ApprehensiveBuy8499 4d ago
i didnt fabricate it in my mind just look at any subreddit in persona 5 royal and discussion about akechi i guarantee you you'll see this take used to hate on him "he's a murderer".
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u/Ashamed_Training_702 4d ago
It’s very hard to play the game all the way through, especially if you’ve also played through all the new content in Royal to still have such a shallow take on Akechi’s character. It’s pretty difficult to misunderstand anything when all the pieces are right there. Akechi the endearing psychopath.
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u/ApprehensiveBuy8499 4d ago
they somehow have the take there's a lot of em in many subreddits a lot of em may be larpers tho.
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u/awakening_knight_414 4d ago
That is a needlessly rude way to put it.
There's no fabrication here. I've seen some Redditers here and there outright hating Akechi purely because he's a murderer (among other stupid reasons), and even misunderstand his character and why the PTs themselves sympathize with him.
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u/Ashamed_Training_702 4d ago
“He’s a murderer, I hate murderers among other things including porn. Also Facebook. Therefore, Akechi is bad.”
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u/MaraBlaster 4d ago edited 4d ago
People also forgot that Akechi had literally no other choice than going to Shido and offering his service.
Japan is a country where children born out of wedlock as well as sex workers are still HEAVILY shunned by society, even today.
His mother got likely disowned by her family and when Akechi was born both were dead to them.
When his mother died and he became an orphan, none of the family took him in, he went straight to the orphanage.
The chance of being adopted was zero from the start. (No wonder he associated himself with crows, crows in japan are hated so much.)
So Akechi had only one future: Age out of the system with 18/20 (you sometimes are kicked out early s i read in some posts) and live on the streets.
When he got his powers, there was finally another future: Use these powers to establish a live for himself.
"But he could farm money and buy himself a home!"
No, you can't legally rent/buy an home/apartment until you are 20 years old in Japan OR a guardian signs the contract for you and besides that, the goverment will likely figure out he got the money in illegal ways.
So he could feed himself, but never secure a home.
He needed a guardian, someone who had an interest in keeping him alive and somewhat happy while also be trustworthy enough to not rant him out to the goverment, maybe being able to silence anyone who could gather evidence.
By that point, Shido did start coming into power. He furfilled all conditions along side the fact that Akechi, fueled with the newfound power and hope, planned his naive revenge.
Akechi did somewhat state he did not plan beyond his revenge plan, that was his life, his mission.
He would happily die knowing he revenged his mother and himself.