The internet has been in an uproar lately over the newly announced person 5 derivative game, Night Ghost (P5X). Fans were intrigued by the new characters, but they were also excited to meet their old favorites again. But when I looked at the screenshots, I noticed that one person was missing: Goro Akechi. What’s up, Atlus? You can’t just pretend that real person 5The main antagonist of was not also the most compelling character in the series. He was a true member of the Phantom Thieves group, and his enemies can die in anger because of it.
Goro Akechi is a high school student who acts as a rival to the main protagonist of person 5. In the original game, he is known for betraying the group after posing as his friend. He also does this in the enhanced Real release, but this 2019 update of the game adds additional scenes for it. These social interactions make Akechi feel more like a friend in trouble, rather than some idiot cop who changed his mind at the last second.
Like most RPG antagonists, Akechi has a tragic backstory. His mother died when he was young and he grew up as an orphan (which he usually faces considerable social stigma in Japan). Akechi wanted revenge on his negligent and cruel father, so she cooperated with him to get close enough to kill him. Unfortunately, his father also planned to murder his son all along. Akechi finally recognized that the protagonist is a person similar to himself and decided to sacrifice himself to ensure the escape of the heroic Phantom Thieves.
It also helped that in Real, players were able to spend more time with him in a whole new arc. The post-match added a new semester in which reality has completely changed. In this altered Tokyo, each character has their personal tragedy undone, and each person lives a happy life. This is the only scenario where Akechi can be saved. However, he rejects the artificial world and the false happiness that comes with it. Since it is implied that he died in the original plot, defeating the owner of this world means that he will cease to exist. he doesn’t care. For him, dying is preferable to living under the control of some higher power.
But I wanted him to live! When you chase the ending where the artificial world is destroyed, Real scoffs at the possibility that Akechi might have survived. And then I held my breath at the prospect of seeing Akechi again in the game’s sequel. Struggle. I never finished that musou game despite completing so many others. Akechi wasn’t in it, and that was definitely part of the reason. I wasn’t terribly invested in a P5 in which he did not exist.
I was hoping it was a fluke. Akechi is good and deserves to appear in other spin-off games. Now it seems that P5X I might be disappointed too, and I’m starting to lose hope that Atlus remembers who it is. This is homophobia, and I will not stand for it. Atlus, give us my wild bird son or give me death.
