Persona 5: Royal couldn’t have come at a better time. Titles like Persona 5, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and even Doom Eternal have been selling so well even ignoring their already absurd popularity.
And, Persona 5: Royal is a fantastic upgrade from the first release. New characters, improved mechanics, and a whole new narrative make for an awesome experience. But, much of the game has the same problems its always had, and it’s time we talk about them.
10 That Awful Predation Scene
First and foremost is a series of scenes from the original game. Atlus has always been disappointing with its representation of minorities, gender, and sexuality. One issue that drives fans mad is the homosexual characters in their games, even in the Royal release.
In Persona 5 this is primarily seen in the form of the two older homosexual guys who act “stereotypically gay” and prey upon an underage Ryuji in a way that isn’t representative of gay men in any day or age. What’s even worse is that they’ve done this well in the past.
9 That Unfair Ryuji Scene
Speaking of Ryuji, there’s a scene that anyone, who thinks he’s one of the best Confidants, absolutely hates. There’s a moment near the end of the game where it appears as if Ryuji has died, sacrificing himself to save the others. It really seemed like he had, and the cast is torn up about it.
Of course, Ryuji walks in a second later and acts like everything’s fine, as he got blasted away rather than being caught up “inside” the explosion. The reaction from the rest of the Phantom Thieves after this loudmouthed sweetheart almost sacrificed himself for them is to beat him up without explaining why. Simply: because they scared him.
8 Those Awful “Kek” Jokes
Internet humor in media doesn’t age well. Because Social Media is so accessible, memes age at a rapid rate. So it’s usually a good idea to avoid including them in films, comics, or video games. Persona 5 does this primarily with the characters Futaba and Mashima, both of whom are on the Internet near constantly.
The worst example by far is the conversation between the two of them and Joker where Mishima utters the phrase “Kek.”
7 The Overabundance Of Innuendo Related To Kamoshida
Fans believe Kamoshida was a horrible dude. In comparison to the next villain of Madarame, Kamoshida is worse. Stealing one’s protege’s work is horrible and Madarame is a deplorable human being, but Kamoshida is a sexual predator.
More than that, he’s assault women before, drove students to suicide, lied, cheated, beaten children, and ruined Ryuji’s track career. Yet, his Palace is filled with innuendo and symbolism is just unnecessary.
6 The Nudity Pressure Forced Upon Ann Tamaki
As far as the horrible stuff in Persona 5 goes, this is pretty light. The whole interaction with Ann Takamaki being a “nude” model for the artist Yusuke is funny, if not a bit trite.
It’s obvious that Ann doesn’t actually want to be a nude model and that Yusuke does purely want her to be nude for the sake of his art, but it doesn’t change the fact that Ryuji and Joker pressure Ann into acting the part for the sake of their goals. Thankfully, the girl isn’t actually peer pressured into getting naked, but the implication is still not great.
5 The Way-Too-Dark Bad Ending For Kaneshiro’s Palace
Anyone who has played the games knows that each Palace has a time limit. The limit itself is different for every Palace and serves as a way of saying, “Finish stealing the treasure by this date or the Phantom Thieves are finished.”
Making most if not all the deadlines is pretty easy and players actually only struggle with how much time they should spend grinding in the Mementos versus advancing their Confidants. But, each Palace’s fail-state actually has a short cinematic tied to it during the Sae Nijima interviews. And, the one for Kaneshiro’s Palace in regards to Makoto Nijima or “Queen” is horrifying.
4 The New And “Improved” Predation Scene
Atlus has a real habit of saying they’ll “fix” their problems in the next release like with Erica in Catherine: Full-Body. What actually happens is they just change the context a bit, creating a whole new problem, and making the situation even worse by implying that they actually believe their new version is a “fix”.
In Persona 5: Royal, this is seen with the homosexual predation seen with Ryuji. In the original game, its implied these two older men are kidnapping Ryuji for physical or “intimate” reasons. Now, in Royal, they’re still kidnapping Ryuji, still acting in a comical and stereotypical manner, and still predating on an underage student, but now they’re forcing him to cross-dress rather than sexually assaulting him.
3 Gun Control
Atlus understandably develops their games with a Japanese audience in mind. So, gun control is a non-issue there.
The ease of which the underage main characters are able to purchase and wield guns is terrifying. Atlus hides this by saying that Iwai’s shop is for Airsoft guns and that they only become real “firearms” in the Metaverse, but the whole story surrounding Iwai’s Confidant is built around actually selling guns and interacting with the Yakuza, so they really didn’t avoid the issue at all.
2 Anything That Reinforces The Idea Of Futaba Being “Family”
When it comes to the popular Confidant picks in Persona 5, there are three girls that come up most often as the “go-to romance choice.” These girls are Makoto Nijima, teacher Sadayo Kawakami, and your faux little sister Futaba Sakura.
Hiring a high school teacher as a maid then romancing her is uncomfortable in its own right, especially if the gender roles were reversed. But what fans focus on is Futaba. Numerous times throughout the story, it’s made clear that Futaba is practically a little sister, just not bound by blood.
1 The Background Behind The Phantom Thieves First Hideout
Here is a fact that many people sort of glossed over: Kamoshida drove Ann’s friend Shiho to attempt taking her own life.
Shiho is a sweetheart and it’s heartbreaking that she was driven to this; she attempts to take her own life by jumping off the school roof. Luckily, she survived. But, the worst thing about this is, not long after, the Phantom Thieves use the roof as their first hideout.
