narrative parallels in persona 5

Instructions

ive been playing so much persona 5 lately i HAVE to talk about it. Massive spoilers for persona 5 too lol okay so like akechi and joker definitely read as narrative foils. within the context of my analysis, akechi represents corruption within justice, and joker (and also the rest of the phantoms thieves) represent justice within corruption. you can see this clearly within the roles they play in the story. akechi, who has been wronged by shido, works with him and uses his power to do his bidding, while having the facade of a young detective who is working to bring justice to the people that he has killed. joker, who has also been wronged by shido, learns he has this power and instead uses it to take down people in charge who are corrupt and using their power to hurt others. Akechi kills people who show rebellion against shido's plans, and the phantom thieves have their targets change their hearts, in a pursuit of saving their victims. also you can totally see this in their outfits. All of the phantom thieves dress like their going to rob the world most secure vault by doing magic tricks, and joker wears this big trenchcoat is mainly black with red accents, and his first persona is like all firey and would read as evil in another story. akechi has this knight-like getup that is mainly white with red accents. the persona he uses in the beginning is designed to seem noble. he and his persona both look more hero-coded than the rest of the phantom thieves. akechi also eventually sheds this persona (pun intended) during the portion when you fight him, opting for a much more villian-coded outfit/persona. not only does him having multiple personas parallel joker, he also demonstrates one of the big themes within persona 5, shedding your old self. though, in doing this, its more of him starting to lose it, and realizing he's outmatched. but when he eventually sacrifices himself so joker and the rest of the phantom thieves can get away, he more fully realizes that theme. also the p5r cover!!!!! all other members of the phantom thieves (kasumi too i guess) are facing towards the camera, while akechi is positioned away, but looking towards. his hand is in front of his face, and only one eye is visible, which is symbolic of his hidden intentions. also joker is the only other character on the cover using a hand to cover part of their face. yes this is probably just a reference to how he can get new personas, but also akechi!!! akechi does that!!! akechi x joker confirmed!!! thanks for reading my super long rant bout persona 5 i just got my copy back and im super excited to play the third semester and also have my trenchcoat back