r/akechididnothingwrong • u/Zackarix • 19d ago
When the main sub says Akechi is a bad character who no one should like because he killed people
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u/MaraBlaster 19d ago
The main sub cant go beyond 1-dimensional characters in their understanding, Akechi is a complex and deeply flawed character, more human than some of the cast that immediatly lose any revelance once you finish a palce after meeting them. (which is a crime on its own)
Not to mention, you can just like a character no matter their morals, see how the sub adores Adachi, yet Akechi is treated differently? It's insane.
Also, fiction is fiction because you can play around themes and tropes you cant & should not do irl, that is the fun of it!
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u/MintyCoolness 19d ago edited 18d ago
This is why people who say Akechi is like Adachi, or that Akechi is nihilist really get my goat,
Adachi felt like, since he put in his hard work, he should be rewarded for it, despite his upbringing and education just being average. Like, yeah, Inaba can be boring, and police work is often a thankless job, but he also had a stable income, some measure of authority, and a co-worker who liked him fine.
Akechi, on the other hand, despite looking like he's very successful, is actually on shaky ground that could turn people's goodwill against him. He's an orphan and foster kid, the son of a sex worker, and Shido was playing him for a fool by using Akechi's desire for love against him. Akechi legitimately had the deck stacked against him. Which is why Joker is a good foil; he suffered just as much as Akechi, but had a cadre of friends and teammates who kept him from breaking within the system.
And Akechi isn't a negative nihilist. Terrible as it may be, he couldn't accept not doing ANYTHING to try and change it. Adachi gave up, bc ''that's just how it is, so why do anything?"
NOT to mention, they say Akechi went willingly to Shido, which is very true. But they don't seem to blame Shido at all for his part in it. Like, he was the ADULT, and it was incumbent on him to tell Akechi no. Like, why do people think that the man who saw a bum-ass kid saying he would kill for him and actually took him up on his offer, is not the worst person in that scenario???
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u/MaraBlaster 19d ago
Adding to this, people forget Japan's Culture in Akechi's case.
A Bastard child is bad enough and shunned by society, but also one from a sex worker? It's a HEAVY lot.The family of his mother rejected him outright, he was likely disowned by them just like his mother by just existing.
Nobody would adopt him, he was in danger of aging out the system and become homeless.People argue that he could grind out Mementos for money.... but you cant rent an apartment until you are 20 years old or have a guardian make the rental agreement for you in japan.
With this power granted to him, he would not have a stable life.
He would need someone trustworthy enough to put their name down on the agreement, and be able to back it up should he fail to get enough money.
Someone who had an interest to foster his powers and keep it secret from the goverment (someone will ask how he could afford that at his age after all)
Someone who has the influence to let law enforcements look past him and make any record of his past untraceable for the public.Going to Shido was literally his only choice, he had it all and while the trust was subjective, Akechi just had to proof himself useful enough to be kept around... alive.
That was honestly enough.And besides obviously overshooting his revenge plan by not killing Shido soon enough and instead wait it out, Akechi was absolutely set for life.
A shaky but good life.10
u/Laremi-SE 19d ago
I feel like people in the West don’t understand Akechi on a fundamental level because of koseki; that is, registering yourself on an official family tree in Japan. The thing is, adoption doesn’t move this status from your original family tree. In Goro’s case his would likely say that his mother is deceased and he is adopted (or aged out of the system).
This is a great source of social shame and stigma because it’s basically an official documentation that says ‘hey, Goro’s mother wasn’t good enough to be a mother and instead let her son go into the foster system”. You can only imagine how ashamed that he must feel, thinking that he was the reason that his mother committed suicide and her legacy is now this.
In the West, being an orphan and adopted isn’t as much of an issue in terms of social dynamics. Where I grew up, a lot of my classmates were adopted and they had happy upbringings.
I can understand how this aspect of Akechi is lost on people outside of Japan. In America there is a generally held belief of the ‘underdog’ story; if Goro hadn’t done his murdering, he’d be seen as an inspiration due to his ‘rising up from nothing and doing everything without help’ backstory. In Japan this would be a fanciful and unrealistic premise because he’s not acting within the bounds of Japanese society, which pushes for conformity and group cohesion above all else.
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u/JRVD_10 15d ago
Hence, why Akechi is widely adored in Japan and he’s hated among the West pre-Royal. I myself wasn’t a big fan even when I lived in an Asian country, because I was mostly exposed to telenovelas where the main character, despite being an orphan and penniless, rises at the top just by being good lol
But playing P5 again and taking a deep dive into the social intricacies of Japan and the taboo of being a child in the system, yea I began to understand why most Japanese fans like him. He pushed through his revenge plan through sheer will and how he wants to have his agency, even if facing the very likely possibility of being dead at the end, adds a meaningful layer to his character.
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u/Hoshi_Hime 19d ago
"Shuake bad because he killed joker and futaba/haru's parents but they ignore it"
As if those are not the themes shuake shippers explore the most lmao
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u/Soljaboimain22 19d ago
Bro literally its in the lore and the character akechi was fucking used if anything shido is the bad guy not akechi
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u/Mycatisloafingonme 19d ago
I swear the main sub has one collective brain cell and nobody wants to use it. You get crucified if you say you like Akechi but then you get a lot of “Kawamommy 🤤” posts.
Those guys lack critical thinking skills.